Around the Tubes: June 12, 2021

              

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting.  This post includes blurbs on The One and Only Dick Gregory, Broken Diamonds, Pete Lee: Tall, Dark, and Pleasant, Desus and Mero, Clairo, Eric Clapton, Evie Irie, The Oak Ridge Boys, and Billions. 

- SHOWTIME Documentary Films today announced that it has acquired worldwide rights to THE ONE AND ONLY DICK GREGORY, the directorial debut from producer Andre Gaines (The Lady and The Dale, Bill Nye: Science Guy). The documentary feature unpacks the career of Dick Gregory, the activist, pop-culture icon and thought leader who changed the lives of millions across the world through constant disruption and awareness. The film will have a World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, June 19 as part of the festival’s inaugural Juneteenth programming slate, ahead of the SHOWTIME premiere on Sunday, July 4 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. 

- Broken Diamonds: Debuts on Cable VOD + In Theaters on July 23rd and On Demand August 23rd.  In the wake of his father’s death, a twenty-something writer (Ben Platt, DEAR EVAN HANSEN) sees his dream of moving to Paris put in jeopardy when he’s forced to temporarily take in his wildly unpredictable, mentally ill sister (Lola Kirke, MISTRESS AMERICA). From Black Label Media, the producing team behind LA LA LAND. 

- Pete Lee takes the stage in his first SHOWTIME comedy special, PETE LEE: TALL, DARK, AND PLEASANT, premiering on Friday, July 9 at  9 p.m. ET/PT. Filmed at the Tempe Improv in Arizona, this special dives into Lee’s outrageous struggles with people pleasing, relationships, sex, drugs and motion-sensor sinks. In this hour-long special directed by Brian Volk-Weiss, Lee hilariously educates us on why it sucks to be a nice guy and how he hates conflict, unless the person he’s talking to likes it – then he of course does too. To watch and share the trailer from PETE LEE: TALL, DARK, AND PLEASANT, go to: https://youtu.be/O_aeQf9DEMU.

- SHOWTIME has announced that DESUS & MERO will mark its return to a revamped studio when it resumes new episodes beginning Sunday, June 20 with guest Lil Nas X. The show has been filmed remotely from the hosts’ own homes since March 2020. Currently in its third season, DESUS & MERO will continue to air weekly on Sunday and Thursday nights at 11 p.m. ET/PT from New York City on SHOWTIME. Each episode of DESUS & MERO, which won a WGA Award earlier this year, features co-hosts Desus Nice and The Kid Mero giving their take on the day’s hot topics and chatting with guests at the intersection of pop culture, sports, music, politics and more, with past guests including President Barack Obama, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, YoYo Ma, Missy Elliott, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Eddie Murphy, Demi Lovato and David Letterman.

- Clairo revealed her new single, “Blouse,” as well as the news of her forthcoming sophomore studio album, Sling, will see its global release on July 16^th via FADER Label/Republic Records– Pre-save/add/order HERE.   Written and recorded in up-state New York at Allaire Studios, Sling was co-produced by Clairo and Golden Globe/GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Jack Antonoff and was announced last night following Clairo’s live performance of “Blouse” on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Watch the stunning performance HERE.

- This summer sees the Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Eric Clapton’s eponymous first solo album, originally released in August 1970. It is being issued on 4CD and 1LP (standard black) formats and will also be released digitally. The album launched June 9, with the release of two tracks: After Midnight (Delaney Bramlett Mix) & Blues Power (Eric Clapton Mix).  The album represents one of rock history’s most successful reinventions. After emerging as one of the seminal guitar heroes of the ’60s, the English superstar decisively re-established his musical priorities with Eric Clapton. It marked Clapton’s transition from flamboyant instrumental icon to well-rounded recording artist, downplaying sonic pyrotechnics in favour of a song-focused ensemble approach that would lay the groundwork for his massively successful solo career. For the occasion, he surrounded himself with a new cast of American musicians, tapping into a rootsy musical foundation that provided an inspired framework for his talents. This Anniversary Deluxe Edition presents Eric Clapton – Eric Clapton in three separate mixes:  The Eric Clapton Mix, The Delaney Bramlett Mix and The Tom Dowd Mix (The UK Version). The Eric Clapton mix is being released in full for the first time. This anniversary collection also includes some singles, alternate versions and session outtakes.  Pre-order link:  https://EricClapton.lnk.to/4CD

- Evie Irie unveils her new single “The Idea Of You” today via Republic Records. Listen to “The Idea Of You”— HERE. Watch the lyric visualizer for “The Idea Of You”— HERE.  After returning to her home town of Sydney from LA during 2020, Evie Irie has been channeling her pop punk dreams in to songwriting with some of Australia’s most progressive producers. “The Idea Of You” is a 90s power punk throwback, with visuals to match. Evie’s vocal range showcases the reason she’s been heralded as one of the great new vocalists, and this new single sets us up for an exciting era with this teenage pop wunderkind.

- GRAMMY® Award-winning and Country Music Hall of Fame members, The Oak Ridge Boys’ new album Front Porch Singin’ is available now from Lightning Rod/Thirty Tigers. This is the group’s fourth collaboration with Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb. The highly anticipated album has been featured in People.com, Entertainment Tonight, Newsmax, Wide Open Country, Taste of Country, Cowboys & Indians, and an in-depth interview for The 700 Club. Front Porch Singin’ is available to stream and download on all digital services today!  To watch The Oak Ridge Boys Interview with The 700 Club, visit HERE.

- SHOWTIME announced today that season five of the hit drama series BILLIONS, starring Oscar^® nominee and Emmy^® winner Paul Giamatti and Emmy winner Damian Lewis, will return on Sunday, September 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT with five new episodes. For fans looking to catch up, the season five premiere episode of BILLIONS is now available for free on YouTube, Showtime.com and Sho.com, as well as across multiple SHOWTIME partner platforms. All episodes are available to stream for subscribers on SHOWTIME and across all SHOWTIME partner platforms. BILLIONS has been renewed for season six, which will premiere early next year.

Summer 2021 TV Schedule

 

Some spring shows still have an episode or two left, but Summer television kicks into high gear with the premiere of Loki today.  Interestingly this will be the first Disney Ploose show to debut on a day that is not Friday.  I wonder if going forward we will be getting Marvel shows on Wednesday and Star Wars shows stay on Fridays because we are getting close to the place where they will likely start airing concurrently.

 

Wednesday was the day when Disney’s other streaming service, Hulu, released their weekly shows, and 9 Perfect Strangers will come out that day, but later in the summer, they are releasing Only Murders in the Building on Tuesdays.  Then there will be two FX on Hulu shows airing on Mondays while two others will premiere on Thursdays.  It is nice that it looks like they are spreading things out so we do not have to cram everything in on weekends.  Now if only they would release the episodes in prime time so we do not have to wake up early to watch so we do not have to spend all say avoiding spoilers.  I have a Sophie’s Choice for the next two weeks as what to watch in the morning on Wednesdays: Loki, Cruel Summer, or The Handmaid’s Tale (all a part of the Disney cooperate family).

 

Speaking of FX on Hulu, one of those shows will be Y: The Last Man which I long ago dubbed the Chinese Democracy of television.  We will see if it actually does come out.  Hopefully it will be more worth the wait than the Guns ‘n’ Roses album was.  Here is everything else I will be watching while trying to stay cool.

 

 Mondays

Reservations Dogs (FX on Hulu, August 9)

Y: The Last Man (FX on Hulu, September 13)

 

Tuesdays

Only Murders in the Building (Hulu, August 31)

8:00 – DC’s Stargirl (The CW, August 10)

9:00 – Supergirl (The CW, August 24)

  

Wednesdays

Loki (Disney Plus, June 9)

Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu, August 18)

9:00 – In the Dark (The CW, June 23)

10:00 – The Bold Type (Freeform, already started)

 

Thursdays

Behind the Music (Paramount+, July 29)

Grown-ish (Freeform, July 8)

8:00 - Brooklyn 99 (NBC, August 12)

10;00 -What We Do in the Shadows (FX, September, 2)

Fridays

The Olympics (NBC, July 23)

 

Sundays

7:00 – A Discovery of Witches (AMC, June 27)

9:00 - The Chi (Showtime, already started)

9:00 – Kevin Can Fork Himself (AMC, June 20)

9:00 - The White Lotus – (HBO, July 11)

9:00 - Wellington Paranormal (The CW/HBO Max, July 11)

9:00 – The Walking Dead (AMC, August 22)

10:00 - Black Monday (Showtime, already started)

10:30 - Flatbush Misdemeanors (Showtime, already started)

57 Channels and Only This is On: June 6, 2021

 

 Mare of Easttown:  Well that suffered from one too twists.  Not to mention really obvious when the case gets solved with almost an hour left there is another one coming.  Sad thing is, the fake ending made more sense than the real one.  So the old dude waited until his very nice pizza slicer and Eagles Championship Cup went missing to mention someone stole his gun the very night someone was murdered and was returned sans two bullets?  That and the ex-boyfriend threatening the friend at gunpoint which went nowhere the next episode kind of puts a damper on a strong season.

 

Cruel Summer:  Aww, nineties technology.  Martin rewound the tape multiple times and it took until the third one for me to finally see Kate in the window… I think, maybe it was Annabelle.  But kind of a stupid reveal of what happened to the football player that the he blamed Jeanette for.  Unless that was not it?  The bartender said they do not employ people with a record.  I thought maybe he was going to take the fall for Jamie, claiming he was driving since Jamie was drunk, but that did not happen.  Maybe she did something that helped him get that record.

 

The Handmaid’s Tale:  Um, so why after daily protests, were the Waterford’s met with cheers all of the sudden?  Were people that happy Gilead was producing children that they could forgive all the rape and slavery?  But poor One Eyed Willie, back under the thumb of Aunt Lydia. 

 

The Challenge: All-Stars:  Pretty lame they only invited the finalist (but Beth instead of Aneesa for some reason).  I understand we are still in a pandemic, but at least let people come in via Zoom.  It is a shame as much as Kendal and Alton got mentioned; they could not defend or explain themselves.

 

The Blacklist:  Aw, man.  They brought back the cage only for Red to steal it.  But were they implying at the end that the woman that Red killed was not actually Lizzy’s mom?