Around the Tubes: January 19, 2022

        

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 First Lady, Deep Water, Eddie Vedder, The Police, Benee, Letterkenny, NBA All-Star 2022, Beyond Ed Buck, Super-Pumped, How I Met Your Father, and Billions.

- SHOWTIME has released the official trailer for THE FIRST LADY, which is set to premiere on Sunday, April 17 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The new anthology drama stars Oscar^®, Emmy^® and Tony winner Viola Davis (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom), as former first lady Michelle Obama, Oscar and Emmy nominee Michelle Pfeiffer (French Exit) as Betty Ford and Emmy and Screen Actors Guild^® winner Gillian Anderson (The Crown) as Eleanor Roosevelt. Produced for SHOWTIME by Lionsgate Television, the 10-episode series, created by Aaron Cooley, is executive produced by Oscar winner Cathy Schulman (Crash), who also serves as showrunner, and Oscar and Emmy winner Susanne Bier (The Undoing) executive produces and directs all of season one.

- In recognition of all the twisted Valentines out there, Hulu has released a teaser trailer along with the poster for the psychological thriller “Deep Water,” starring Ben Affleck (“Gone Girl”) and Ana de Armas (“Knives Out”), directed by expert thrill master Adrian Lyne (“Fatal Attraction,” “Indecent Proposal”). “Deep Water” will debut March 18 exclusively as a Hulu Original in the U.S.  Based on the celebrated novel by famed mystery writer Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley), “Deep Water” takes us inside the marriage of picture-perfect Vic (Affleck) and Melinda (de Armas) Van Allen to discover the dangerous mind games they play and what happens to the people that get caught up in them. Directed by Adrian Lyne from a screenplay by Zach Helm and Sam Levinson, based on the novel “Deep Water” by Patricia Highsmith, “Deep Water” stars Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts, Lil Rel Howery, Dash Mihok, Finn Wittrock, Kristen Connolly, Jacob Elordi, Rachel Blanchard, Michael Braun, Jade Fernandez, Grace Jenkins, Brendan C. Miller, Devyn Tyler and Jeff Pope. The film is produced by Arnon Milchan, Guymon Casady, Benjamin Forkner and Anthony Katagas.

- Watch an intimate conversation between Vedder and Bruce Springsteen which was filmed on Bruce's farm in New Jersey as the two break down Vedder’s new album, Earthling - from production and appearances by Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr, Elton John and Andrew Watt, to Vedder’s songwriting. Directed by Thom Zimny, the special originally debuted on Amazon Live and is now available on Eddie Vedder’s YouTube page.  Watch it HERE

- The Police - Greatest Hits is being reissued on vinyl via UMe/Polydor in celebration of the 30^th anniversary of the original release. Remastered at Abbey Road and cut at ‘half-speed’ for ultimate sound quality, the set contains two heavyweight black LPs with expanded artwork and packaging in a bespoke gatefold sleeve which enhances the original artwork.  A multi-platinum selling global smash on CD, it had a limited vinyl release upon its original release in 1992 which has long been out of print resulting in the original vinyl copies becoming highly sought after by fans. This collection is a perfect introduction to The Police for new admirers, original fans and vinyl collectors alike. It is available to pre-order now from https://ThePolice.lnk.to/TheGreatestHits.

- New Zealand alternative pop star BENEE presents the music video for her dreamy new single “Beach Boy” out now—watch HERE. “Beach Boy” heralds the arrival of her much-anticipated LYCHEE EP on March 4^th.  Once again, BENEE delivers a larger-than-life cinematic visual (directed by Rory Pippan, creator of her hit “Supalonely” video), her widescreen vision filled with “BitchCraft” and escapades with a vampire boyfriend.

- - Hulu reveals first look teaser trailer and exclusive image from debut season of the "Letterkenny" spin-off starring "Shoresy" creator and writer Jared Keeso in title role.  Debut season slated to launch Spring 2022.  The six-episode, half-hour Hulu Original comedy sees the foul-mouthed, chirp-serving, mother-loving, fan favorite character, Shoresy, join a senior AAA hockey team in Sudbury on a quest to never lose again.

- NBA TV will be the destination for extensive coverage of NBA All-Star 2022, with live and original programming starting Thursday, Feb. 17. Wall-to-wall live programming from Cleveland will include All-Star practices and media availabilities throughout the weekend as the NBA celebrates its 75th Anniversary season, plus the latest news and analysis from a premier roster of commentators via the network’s signature studio show, NBA GameTime.  Two members of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team – Charles Barkley and Julius “Dr. J.” Erving – will be featured in Basketball Stories: “Sir Charles & The Doctor” on Monday, Feb. 21, at 8 p.m. ET. The hour-long one-on-one conversation with the two former Philadelphia 76ers teammates will include them discussing their time together in the City of Brotherly Love, top moments from their careers and more.

- ALLBLK, the popular streaming service for Black TV and film from AMC Networks, announced the world premiere of Beyond Ed Buck, streaming Thursday, February 24. Co-executive produced by Jayce Baron and Pose star, Hailie Sahar, Beyond Ed Buck begins by examining and analyzing the tragic deaths of Gemmel Moore (2017) and Timothy Dean (2019), two gay Black men who died at the hands of democratic political donor, Ed Buck. Buck was found guilty of several charges, including supplying fatal doses of methamphetamine to both men in July of last year. 

- SHOWTIME has renewed the new anthology series SUPER PUMPED for a second season, to be based on Mike Isaac's next book, a deep dive into Facebook's transition from groundbreaking startup to the power it has become. The new season will focus on the relationship at the center of that metamorphosis –  between Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg –  and the world-changing forces unleashed, intentionally and unintentionally, as a result. The second season pickup comes ahead of the premiere of the first installment SUPER PUMPED: THE BATTLE FOR UBER, based on Isaac’s bestselling book, which is set to debut on Sunday, February 27 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Each season of the SUPER PUMPED anthology series, featuring an entirely new cast of actors, will explore a story that rocked the business world to its core and changed culture. As in season one, Brian Koppelman and David Levien (BILLIONS, Rounders) and Beth Schacter (BILLIONS) will executive produce, write and serve as showrunners on the series. Paul Schiff will also serve as executive producer. The anthology series is produced by SHOWTIME and is part of Koppelman and Levien's overall deal with the network.

- Hulu has renewed How I Met Your Father for a 20-episode second season. The Hilary Duff starring first season debuted on Hulu on Tuesday, January 18^th.  In the near future, Sophie is telling her son the story of how she met his father: a story that catapults us back to the year 2022 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. 

- SHOWTIME has picked up a seventh season of its acclaimed drama series BILLIONS, starring Oscar^® nominee and Emmy^® winner Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll and Maggie Siff. Season six is currently airing on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME.  In season six of BILLIONS, the dust of season five clears to reveal a world that has evolved. With Axe (Damian Lewis) gone and Michael Prince (Stoll) assuming his place, Chuck (Giamatti) must develop a new strategy that is keener and more sophisticated than before. All the players, from Wags (David Costabile) to Wendy (Siff), from Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) to Sacker (Condola Rashad), and of course Senior (Jeffrey DeMunn), must sharpen their weapons and look for new alliances in order to survive. Daniel Breaker (Girls5eva), who stars as Scooter, the brilliant and locked-down Chief of Staff for Prince, has been upped to series regular. The ground is ever shifting and the stakes absolute. New king, new war, new rules.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: February 13, 2022

  

Claws:  Well, that ended exactly how I thought it would end after they started the season with Desna shooting a pregnant Quiet Ann.  The writers probably thought they were being clever, butt by adding that scene they really telegraphed the turn big time. Plus I really hate shows about antiheroes where they do not get the comeuppance that they deserve.  Only Uncle Daddy, but he still got to go to gay heaven, so not even the worst ending he could have had.  Then that illusion was confusing, I still am not sure where that second boat came from and how Quiet Ann got on it.

 

Billions:  Last week I was wondering what happened to the Los Angeles Olympics that were already awarded in 2028.  While that city has yet to be mentioned, Chuck did say they were going to try to, “steal the Olympics.”  This show really tries to make it look like it takes place in the real world; it is surprising they would take on something this big especially since the Olympics are clearly not going to move, so it is very obvious Chuck is going to win this war.  But hey, we did get Scooter and Wags bonding over Cat in the Cradle… that was entertaining.

 

Snowpiercer:  Wow, I was not expecting Layton to take over Snowpiercer that quickly.  Though I am not entirely sure what happened.  How did Layton get on the train so fast?  And why did he try to break the window.  Seems like a really dumb thing to do.  But now what?  They go to the Horn of Africa and just hope it is habitable?

 

Pam & Tommy:  Okay, Tommy listing off his list of enemies was pretty funny.  But was that supposed to be Motley Crue that Tommy was recording with?  I thought they were broken up when this whole thing was going on, or at least Vince Neil was no longer there.  But the most interesting Motley Crue event of this week was not on this show but the Nikki Sixx/Eddie Vedder fued.  But really sad Sixx thinks this is a competition, Pearl Jam is one of the greatest bands of all time that still puts out decent albums and the Crue are a joke hair metal band that everyone stopped paying attention before Pearl Jam even put out their first album.  I was shocked to see that Motley Crue has actually put out two albums this century.

 

The Book of Boba Fett:  That really felt like a fast food version of television: sure it tvstes good, but the more I think about it, the more I regret it.  It looked great, Mando was great, The Grogu return was great.  Fennic going ninja on the evil doers was great.  The Freetown citizens coming through like the Knights of the Vale was great.  The Wookie refusing to die was great.  Yet, the episode was not great.  It suffered from the superhero syndrome of having to unnecessarily having to destroy a city in the final fight.  I forgot the Rancor was still around.  I do not understand how Raylan got so injured that he was presumed dead, but will be kept alive by Boba’s tank and the mod guy.  It looked like he got shot in the shoulder and only was shot once unlike the deputy who was shot multiple times.  And it was disappointing that Cad Bane made a great entrance only to die in his second appearance.  For a second, I thought that was going to be him in the tank\.  But hey, Darth Maul was cut in half and still survived.