Around the Tubes: November 20, 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 Pam & Tommy, The Expanse, Mother/Android, Crossing Swords, How I Met Your Father, U2, Eddie Vedder, Lyn Lapid, Frank Sinatra, Neon Trees, Yusuf / Cat Stevens, Aerosmith, DC’s Stargirl, Letterkenny, Adrienne, and The D’Amelio Show.

- Hulu Original limited series "Pam & Tommy" premieres with the first three episodes on Wednesday, Feb. 2. New episodes stream weekly.

-  Prime Video released the official trailer for the sixth and final season of the sci-fi fan-favorite The Expanse. The new season will debut on Friday, December 10th with the first episode and continue weekly for six weeks, culminating with an epic series finale on January 14, 2022. The Amazon Original series will be available exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 territories around the world, and is produced by Alcon Television Group.  This season of The Expanse picks up with the solar system at war, as Marco Inaros and his Free Navy continue to launch devastating asteroid attacks on Earth and Mars. As the tensions of war and shared loss threaten to pull the crew of the Rocinante apart, Chrisjen Avasarala makes a bold move and sends former Martian Marine Bobbie Draper on a secret mission that could turn the tide. Meanwhile in the Belt, Drummer and what’s left of her family are on the run and hunted for betraying Marco. And on a distant planet beyond the Rings, a new power begins to rise.

- Check out the official trailer for Hulu Original Film "Mother/Android" starring Chloë Grace Moretz!  The film premieres Friday, December 17, 2021 on Hulu.  Set in the near future, “Mother/Android” follows Georgia (Chloë Grace Moretz) and her boyfriend Sam (Algee Smith) through their treacherous journey of escape as their country is caught in an unexpected war with artificial intelligence. Days away from the arrival of their first child, they must face No Man’s Land – a stronghold of the android uprising, in hopes of reaching safety before giving birth. 

- Check out the all-new trailer and key art for the upcoming second season of Hulu's "Crossing Swords." All episodes premiere Friday, December 10th only on Hulu. Another ten episodes of bingeable mayhem, representing the next chapter in the adventures of Patrick the long-suffering squire (Nicholas Hoult) as he climbs the ladder of knighthood in the service of the volatile King Merriman (Luke Evans). There are new friends to make, new enemies to vanquish, and new horrors to scar Patrick for life; including bloodthirsty leprechauns, an island of killer monkeys, and a shadowy villain who could destroy everything Patrick has ever known! From creators John Harvatine IV and Tom Root, and Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, the producers of Robot Chicken and Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K.! 

- Hulu's "How I Met Your Father" premieres on Tuesday, January 18 2022.  In the near future, Sophie (Hilary Duff) is telling her son the story of how she met his father: a story that catapults us back to the year 2021 where Sophie and her close-knit group of friends are in the midst of figuring out who they are, what they want out of life, and how to fall in love in the age of dating apps and limitless options. 

- Island Records, Interscope, and UMe today announce the 30^th Anniversary Edition release of U2’s seminal album Achtung Baby, which will see a special Standard and Deluxe vinyl release on November 19, ahead of a 50-track digital boxset available December 3, 2021.  Thirty years ago, Bono described Achtung Baby as “the sound of four men chopping down The Joshua Tree” while Jon Pareles of the New York Times wrote that “stripped-down and defying its old formulas, U2 has given itself a fighting chance for the 1990's”. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance and became one of the most significant records of the nineties and of U2’s career.  Recorded over six months at Hansa Studio in Berlin and Windmill Lane in Dublin, Achtung Baby is U2’s seventh studio album. Produced by long-time U2 collaborators Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno with Steve Lillywhite, Achtung Baby was engineered by Flood and released on November 18, 1991. Lead by The Fly, four other singles followed: Mysterious Ways, One, Even Better Than The Real Thing, and Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses. Watch here:

- Eddie Vedder announces the release date for his highly anticipated new album Earthling available on February 11^th via Seattle Surf/Republic Records and launched the physical pre-order (cd, vinyl & cassette). In addition, today he has released the second song from the upcoming album titled “The Haves.”  Pre-Order Earthling HERE (cd, vinyl & cassette), listen to “The Haves” HERE and watch the official lyric video HERE.  Earthling, which was produced by Grammy Award® winning producer Andrew Watt, is the first album since Vedder’s 2011 Ukulele Songs. Available today, fans can purchase a special limited-edition 7-inch vinyl featuring “Long Way” and “The Haves” HERE and HERE via Pearl Jam’s Ten Club.

- Lyn Lapid releases XMAS 01, which features two new original holiday songs, “Messed Up On Christmas” and “Candy Cane Kisses”—listen HERE.  Lyn says, “I’m so excited for my first Christmas themed release. The first song of the bundle is called ‘Messed Up On Christmas,’ and it’s a little sad girl song about feeling lonely around the holiday season. I feel like a lot of people can relate to wanting to spend Christmas with someone special, but not being able to. Ironically, the second song of the bundle is called ‘Candy Cane Kisses,’ which is sonically the literal opposite of the first song, and it’s dedicated to that special someone, whoever that may be, and not wanting anybody or anything else but that person for Christmas. I hope y’all enjoy it! It was so fun recording them.”

- An animated silhouette of Frank Sinatra, one of popular culture’s most captivating singers, opens a new video for his heartfelt “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” available here.  As the song continues, the animation beautifully reveals a tender story about facing the holiday season in a new city while trying to build a life. The video is dedicated to those who have made these courageous journeys.  WATCH/SHARE VIDEO FOR “HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS”  

- The platinum selling group Neon Trees has released the video for their latest single “Holiday Rock.” Co-written and co-produced by lead singer Tyler Glenn and producer Dan Book, the single arrives just in time to kick off the season of cheer. The video, which was filmed at Encircle Salt Lake City, features the band celebrating the holidays with friends and family. Watch it here.  “As early as I can remember, when I think of the holidays I think of Christmas music and my Mom, decorating the house to the nines, making sure our house felt the holiday warmth,” states Tyler Glenn.  “I wanted to capture that feeling of cheer that my Mom always seemed to invoke around the holiday season, no matter the year, no matter the struggles: we were going to have Christmas! I wanted to use that classic holiday song template. Simple and feel good, and a bit nostalgic.”  

-  Following last year’s 50^th anniversaries of the era-defining albums, Tea for the Tillerman and Mona Bone Jakon, Yusuf / Cat Stevens is celebrating the succeeding album that immortalized his status as a forerunner in the singer-songwriter movement – the 1971 multi-platinum selling landmark record, Teaser and the Firecat – with a suite of 50^th anniversary editions, available now via A&M/UMe.  Cat Stevens achieved phenomenal success with his early work, but it was Teaser and the Firecat, his third LP with Island Records – A&M in the U.S. – that propelled Cat Stevens into superstardom, spawning some of his most unforgettable hits including “Moonshadow,” “Peace Train” and “Morning Has Broken,” songs by a youthful spiritual seeker, wise beyond his years that would lay the pretext for a poignant new wave of soulful troubadours and poets. Later, “The Wind” would see Teaser and the Firecat celebrated anew, rising to prominence following the song’s use in Wes Anderson’s much celebrated film “Rushmore” as well as the Oscar-winning Cameron Crowe film, “Almost Famous.” Through his spell-binding gift for songwriting and his introspective vision, Cat delivered a universal sense of hope and peace in Teaser and the Firecat that still resonates profoundly to this day.

 

- On November 26, 2021, the four-time GRAMMY® winning and Diamond-certified rock legends Aerosmith will release Aerosmith – 1971: The Road Starts Hear (UMe), a rare and previously unheard rehearsal from 1971 as part of Record Store Day 2021, available locations HERE.  Recently discovered in the Aerosmith vaults, the original tape had not been touched in decades. This historic recording features seven extraordinary tracks showcasing the early, unbridled talent of the future Hall of Fame members including a nascent version of “Dream On,” which they would later record and release on their 1973 eponymous major label debut. Aerosmith is one of the few bands to chart with the same song 5 decades later, the song was a hit in 1973 reaching No. 59 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and re-entered the charts in 2020 at No. 4 on the Hard Rock Streaming Songs chart.

- It’s time to suit up and get ready to face the darkness with the release of DC’s Stargirl: The Complete Second Season on Blu-ray and DVD on February 8, 2022 from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Prepare to shine with an exhilarating ride with all 13 episodes from the second season plus a featurette, and gag reel. DC’s Stargirl: The Complete Second Season is priced to own at $24.98 SRP ($29.98 in Canada) for the DVD and $29.98 SRP ($39.99 in Canada) for the Blu-ray, which includes a Digital Copy (US Only). DC’s Stargirl: The Complete Second Season is also available to own on Digital via purchase from digital retailers.  DC’s Stargirl follows high school sophomore Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger) and her stepfather Pat Dugan (Luke Wilson) as she leads an unlikely group of young heroes to take on the legacy of DC’s very first Super Hero team, the Justice Society of America. In the thrilling second season, Courtney and her friends take on one of the most frightening adversaries in DC’s mythology – the dark entity of corruption known as Eclipso (Nick Tarabay).

- Join us on December 26th back in Ontario as LETTERKENNY returns for its 10th season on Hulu!  Watch the date announcement video here!  The residents of Letterkenny belong to one of three groups: the Hicks, the Skids, and the Hockey Players, who are constantly feuding with each other over seemingly trivial matters that often end with someone getting their ass kicked. In season 10, McMurray and Wayne do some dickering, the Hicks attend a sausage party, the Hockey Players and Skids have a video game battle, the men of Letterkenny receive head to toe physicals…and that’s just for starters, buddy.

- HBO feature documentary ADRIENNE, debuting WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1 (8:00 -9:40 p.m. ET/PT) and directed by Andy Ostroy, the late Adrienne Shelly’s husband, is a celebration of the life and work of the actor, filmmaker, wife and mother and a personal exploration of grief. Shelly starred in over twenty films including Hal Hartley’s indie classics “The Unbelievable Truth” and “Trust.” Known for her early ingenue roles, Shelly strove to tell her own female-centric stories and wrote and directed several movies including the Sundance Film Festival hit, “Waitress.” 

- Hulu announced that it has picked up a second season of “The D’Amelio Show.” The Hulu Original docuseries starring two of social media’s biggest stars – Dixie and Charli D’Amelio along with their parents Marc and Heidi – set a new viewership record on the platform as the most-watched unscripted series among all first-season unscripted SVOD titles for the month following its premiere.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: November 14, 2021

 

 Fear the Walking Dead:  The zombie head was able to wound that dog so much it had to be put down after one bite?  I thought the virus was only in humans.  Seems like a bit of a stretch.  But then again, all these characters are walking around a nuclear fallout willie-nillie, so maybe it is silly to nit-pick. But I will some more.  So they have this ranch outside the blast radius, but Morgan wants everyone to move to the submarine?

 

American Rust:  There has been an increasing problem I have had with a bunch of television shows lately where for some reason I think the show is a limited series only to realize late in to it run that it is actually a full series.  I have spent most of this show under the assumption that it was one and done.  But after that ending I went back to the press release and it turned out that it got a full series order meaning it could come back (granted multiple limited series like Showtime’s own Your Honor ended up getting renewed).  So I guess we have to hope the show gets renewed to see how everything plays out.

 

So it seems like the detectives from Pittsburg showed up and seemingly know something Del does not.  Del’s deputy has noticed that there is a bulletproof vest and handgun missing from the armory and I am not sure he buys Del’s bum arm excuse.  As smart as Del seems sometimes, taking a gun from the armory to kill people seems pretty stupid.  Aren’t the cops in West Virginia going to run the gun which he gave to the pharmacist?  One other major mistake he made, while getting his bullet out of the wall, what about the buckshot that went into the wall with a human cutout missing, but no one in the room having buckshot in them?  I cannot see Del surviving a second season.  Plus Grace seems to be in it too if Del goes away because her husband got plenty of evidence she burned down the trailer.

 

La Brea:  I expected the evil son to vote off his mom, but the other one?  That is some Survivor level betrayal.  But of course they earned their way back. 

 

Supergirl:  I feel like I deserve a “I Watched Every Episode of Supergirl and all I Got Was This Stupid T-Shirt” t-shirt.  What a dumb finale.  They vanquich Lex in the first fifteen minutes with the help of Mon-El, who did not even bring back Saturn Girl with him, and then they wasted the final forty-five minutes on some boring wedding, a wedding that did not even feature the titular character.  And is the future just forked now because Brainiac 5 did not merge with the big brain?

 

Dopesick:  Oh no, poor Loretta McCready could not get out of Harlan alive.  But still infuriating that Oxy gets the black box warning, but even that did not seems to slow the growth of the drug.

 

Survivor:  Yet another live tribal where we, the viewer, are left wondering what the fork was going on.  So was the vote going to be split between Xander and Tiffany but Heather and Naseer managed to get other people to vote for the other one?  Then you had Ricard who had the single worst poker hand telling Xander he better play his Idol.  Well, if you insist so much, seems smart to do the episode.  What a stupid way to try and flush an Idol.  You know what a good way to flush an Idol is: put the most votes on the person if you have enough votes to split, which they did.  But then too many people tried to get cute.

 

The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies: Oh joy, another person gets sent home for a reason we are not even told.  That is the third (?) time that has happened this season.  Remember when this show loved the drama around sending people home.  Of course, back then, Smashley would have never got sent home for what she allegedly said.  But what I do not understand, if Big T was allowed to stay to take the place of Smashley, why did she go back to her team and not Smashley’s team?  But at least someone finally broke up the Emerald team.  They were just complete absurd at elimination, attacking Amanda for not doing what is in their best interest,

 

Doom Patrol:  I am not sure if using a time machine that wipes your memory is the best way to teleport a couple hundred miles.  Giant robot Cliff did seem to make good time going from Florida to Ohio using his giant body.  Though I am not entirely sure how the time travel memory thing works.  Rita got hers back when she traveled the second time by Madame Rouge, who somehow got hers back thanks to Rita, traveled somewhere, but then came back to this time lost her memory once again.  So Cliff no longer has his body, Cyborg no longer has his powers, and Jane (seemingly) is no longer primary… but hey, Larry got his power back. 

 

The Challenge: All-Stars: Casey and Teck is the duo I never thought I needed and now I want it every episode / season.  Disappointing we did not get to see how that team was made because they have no obvious ties; Teck stopped appearing about half a decade before Casey popped.  It does seem likely they were the last two left.  But Casey still got it, a complete shame she was relegated to alternative for the first season, she is still very entertain.  Tina still got it two just coming through with one liner and putting TJ in his place after TJ mocked how no one walked across the beam.  If I am not mistaken, Tina, Veronica, and Jilsella attacked Johnny Mosley so bad back in the day, he never returned as host.  But can you blame the player?  Neimehah was the only one the tried and fall on his balls and came in last.

 

But all we got this week was the challenge, no elimination, not even nominations.  Before the main show went to ninety minutes, they would routinely do eliminations every other episode.  I wonder if that is going to happen on all-stars or that was just a one-time thing because there were so many people that need to be (re)introduced.  I would be fine with more episodes this season.

 

Guilty Party:  So Beth breaks into the house, manages not to find anything but some sticky icky, smokes it, that kisses the dude so the other dude does not kill her.  Well that was a waste of an episode.

 

Big Sky:  So creepy dude that has been following the kids that they pepper sprayed followed them to the cop’s house and killed the cop for them?  What is going on there?  The only thing I can think of is maybe he is one of their fathers.  But now we know why Rick’s brother is doing with Ronald, he wants to Stockholm him until he confesses to everything, clearing his family name.  Stupid.  I just want thuis storyline to end.

 

The Blacklist:  So what is left of Red’s hair is grown back to the very short length he was going it.  But I thought for sure when Park gave Ressler her urine, it was going to out she was pregnant.  It turned out to be worse.