Around the Tubes: June 19, 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 This Way Up, American Rust, Bitchin': The Sound and Fury of Rick James, Carrie Underwood, Lord Huron, Nonah Kahan, Styx, American Giglio, and UFO.

- Season two of the BAFTA award-winning series is set after the events of the season one finale, with things in flux for Aine (Aisling Bea, "Living With Yourself;" "Quiz") and her sister, Shona (Sharon Horgan, "Catastrophe;" "Military Wives"). Aine's starting to leave her time in rehab behind and live less cautiously, which may not be entirely wise. Will she and Richard (Tobias Menzies, "The Crown;" "Game of Thrones") make a go of it? Or continue to exist in the odd tension of the employer and employee? How will Shona and Charlotte (Indira Varma, "Game of Thrones;" "Luther") manage running a new business together and having feelings for each other? Will Shona be able to go through with marrying Vish (Aasif Mandvi, "Evil;" "The Brink")? Planning a wedding? Can she tell him what happened? Is there anything more to tell?  This Way Up season two on Hulu July 9, 2021

- SHOWTIME will premiere its new drama series AMERICAN RUST, starring Emmy winner and Tony nominee Jeff Daniels (THE COMEY RULE, The Newsroom, Godless, The Looming Tower) and Emmy nominee Maura Tierney (YOUR HONOR, THE AFFAIR, The Report, Beautiful Boy), on Sunday, September 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The season will consist of nine episodes.

- SHOWTIME Documentary Films today announced the new documentary feature BITCHIN’: THE SOUND AND FURY OF RICK JAMES, directed by Emmy^®-nominee Sacha Jenkins (WU-TANG CLAN: OF MICS AND MEN, BURN MOTHERF*CKER, BURN!). BITCHIN’ is an intimate yet propulsive look at Rick James, one of rock, funk and R&B’s most legendary and often underappreciated figures. The film will have a World Premiere at the Tribeca Festival tonight as part of the festival’s inaugural Juneteenth programming slate, ahead of the SHOWTIME premiere later this year.  Featuring rare footage of James’ incredible live shows, never-before-seen home video, original interviews with legendary artists, collaborators and friends, and a treasure trove of recorded interviews with James (who died in 2004), the documentary presents a full picture of James’ dramatic rise and fall, focusing in on the “Punk-Funk” music he left behind.

 

 

- Seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner and three-time ACM Entertainer of the Year Carrie Underwood has recorded her first-ever gospel LIVE performance DVD, My Savior: LIVE From The Ryman. The DVD will be released internationally on July 23 by Gaither Music Group in partnership with Capitol Records Nashville with distribution by Capitol Christian Music Group/Universal. Filmed at the celebrated Ryman Auditorium, known around the world as “The Mother Church of Country Music,” the country music superstar brings her best-selling, critically-acclaimed studio album My Savior (Capitol Records Nashville) to life on that legendary stage with breathtaking performances of traditional gospel hymns Underwood grew up singing such as “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art.”

- Lord Huron continue to celebrate the release of their latest album, Long Lost, by bringing “Mine Forever” to the stage on The Late Late Show with James Corden – watch the performance HERE.  Upon release, Long Lost captured #1 on The Americana/Folk Album and Tastemaker Albums Chart, #2 on Vinyl Albums & Alternative Albums chart, #3 Top Rock Albums Chart, #4 Top Album Sales Chart and #23 on the Billboard 200 chart.

- Hot off the heels of the release of his latest single, “Part of Me,” Noah Kahan announces his highly-anticipated sophomore album, I Was / I Am, will be released on September 17^th. I Was / I Am is available for pre-order now HERE.  The critically acclaimed Vermont singer and songwriter took two years of milestones and transformed them into I Was / I Am, alongside his Busyhead collaborator and Grammy Award-winning producer Joel Little (Taylor Swift, Lorde, Shawn Mendes, Jonas Brothers, Khalid) and engineer Mark Rankin. Preserving his commitment to vivid lyricism, Noah crafted the new music with faster tempos and sweeping hooks, recharging his overall vision.

- A new era of hope, survival, and prosperity is here with the release of CRASH OF THE CROWN, STYX’s new studio album, which was written pre-pandemic and recorded during the trying times of the pandemic.  The legendary rockers--James “JY” Young (lead vocals, guitars), Tommy Shaw (lead vocals, guitars), Chuck Panozzo (bass, vocals), Todd Sucherman (drums, percussion), Lawrence Gowan (lead vocals, keyboards) and Ricky Phillips (bass, guitar, vocals)--released their 17^th album today on the band’s label, Alpha Dog 2T/UMe, which is available as clear vinyl, black vinyl, CD, and on digital platformsand at Styxworld.com.  They’ve already released two singles from the new album:  the title track which premiered exclusively during Eddie Trunk’s “Trunk Nation” program on SiriusXM Satellite Radio last month, and “Reveries” which dropped June 4.

- SHOWTIME has picked up the drama series AMERICAN GIGOLO, starring Jon Bernthal (Ford v Ferrari, The Walking Dead) and written and directed by Emmy nominee David Hollander (RAY DONOVAN). Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the original film, will executive produce along with Jonathan Littman and KristieAnne Reed. Bernthal also serves as a producer. The project is a production of Paramount Television Studios. The announcement was made today by Gary Levine and Jana Winograde, Presidents of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc.  AMERICAN GIGOLO is a present-day reimagining of the iconic 1980 film. Bernthal will play Julian Kaye, who is introduced 15 years after he's been arrested for murder and struggling to find his footing in the modern-day Los Angeles sex industry, while seeking the truth about the set-up that sent him to prison all those years ago and also hoping to reconnect with Michelle, his one true love, played by Gretchen Mol (Boardwalk Empire).

- SHOWTIME announced it will air UFO, a four-part docu-series from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot and Glen Zipper exploring our fascination with unidentified flying objects, and what clandestine influence the American government, lucrative private companies and the military may have in shielding the truth behind extraterrestrial phenomena to further their own agendas. Directed by Mark Monroe (Icarus) and Paul Crowder (Riding Giants), the series explores unsettling theories of a subject that recently reached national headlines, and has historically been the focus of powerful politicians and CEOs, while average citizens pursuing the very same truth have been ridiculed and ostracized. The series is a co-production by Bad Robot and Zipper Bros Films. SHOWTIME will release all four episodes of the new series UFO to its subscribers at midnight on Sunday, August 8, prior to its on-air debut that night at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: June 13, 2021

 

Fear the Walking Dead:  I never thought they were going to launch the nukes because what happens to this and the other shows if America becomes a nuclear wasteland.  But he did still get one rocket off with ten warheads.  Um, so now what?  Are they just going to be duds what have been sitting around too long?  I thought maybe Morgan would be able to redirect them to the ocean, but it looks like he will not try.  But one thing I do not understand about the madman’s plan, if he was directing the missiles on himself, who was going to let Alicia out of her bomb shelter if it is locked from the outside?

 

The Chi:  So they are going to defund the police and replace them with an untrained (unpaid?) community outreach?  Yeah, they deserved to be mocked for that.  But I wonder if by the end of the season, they “solved” policing a city without actual realize they are needed.  Like most things, the real answers lies somewhere in between the two extremes that the loudest voices propose.  It will be interesting to see where the writers lie.  But some angry white cop has to be on the top of the who killed the mayor power ranking.  But that would be as bad as the writers thinking they can solve policing if the shooter is not a major or at the very least recurring character.

 

Black Monday:  Wait, is Blair able to shoot people threw a television?  Not that kind of show but I think he may become the prime suspect.  Ironically I thought the preacher was the prime suspect of Blair’s shooting.  The same person had to do both shootings, but who?  Now I am beginning to think maybe Blair’s shooting was supposed to miss so maybe Tiffany.  But can she easily get on the preacher’s jet to do the shooting?  Maybe her partner, who is the preacher’s daughter.

 

Cruel Summer:  Well, that was crappy.  The Laid montage did not help it out either.  But on the eve of the finale, I have a few predictions: Annabelle is the gun Kate shoots Martin with, that is the gunshot we heard back in episode one and Joy was able to get the police to cover it up.  Kate saw Mallory dressed at Jeanette.  And Angela knew Martin and he was the reason she moved to town to find out the truth of his death.

 

The Handmaid’s Tale:  I predicted that the Waterford’s would be out of prison by the end of the season, I just did not think it would take this long.  Halfway through the episode, I thought he was going to get released in exchange for Hannah, but he does not even have to help with her release he just gets let go on the promise of information.  But what I do not understand is how the US dude was able to get his release if Fred is being tried in Canada. 

 

Manifest:  So Cal is Olive’s age now because he touched the tailfin?  Where did he go and age five years?  I vaguely remember the airplane flew back in time for a couple seconds and returned in the future.  Did Cal go back in time, hang out for five years and was somehow transported right back to the same time.  But why did nothing happen to his dad?  But at least the Single White Female remains stupidly entertaining.  Chick just straight up murdered someone because she thought the baby was her guardian angel.