Around the Tubes: July 23, 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 Only Murders in the Building, Mike, This Fool, Hotties, POV, People Puzzler, Em Beihold, Aerosmith, Megadeath, and Doriana Spurrell.

- Check out Charles-Haden Savage’s “hit” song, which debuted at #83 on the German music charts in 1989! Featured in Ep. 204 of "Only Murders in the Building," "Angel in Flip Flops" (written by Steve Martin and Kirker Butler, produced by Paul Schaffer) is out now. Please see the never-before-seen music video and single below. Steve Martin (co-creator, EP, and star) says, “I am as proud of ‘Angel in Flip Flops’ as I am of any work I’ve done that is not that good.” 

- Check out the newest trailer for Hulu's "Mike," starring Trevante Rhodes as Mike Tyson. Episodic images available now.  The eight-episode limited series will launch on August 25 with two episodes, on Hulu. Two new episodes to stream weekly.

- Check out the official trailer and key art for Hulu's "This Fool," which is inspired by the life of comedian Chris Estrada and executive produced by Fred Armisen. The series premieres on Friday, August 12th with all ten episodes.

- “HOTTIES” is a new dating competition series that pits pairs of blind dates against each other in a wild battle to cook up date-night worthy dishes, all while attempting to eat incredibly spicy food.  Set in food trucks in the desert heat, each 30-minute episode sees two pairs of sexy singles make a meal and choke down extreme spicy food challenges in a bid to fast forward the dating process and win a cash prize. Will battling the heat help them burn through first date facades to form a more authentic connection…or will it all just be a hilarious hot mess? Comedian Jade Catta-Preta serves as host, while also judging both what’s on the plate and each of the dates. Whichever couple has the best plate, best date, or both, wins a second date worth $2,500, or…they can split the cash, walk away, and promise to never see each other again!  Stream all episodes on Hulu August 16.

-  PBS television series POV presents an intimate look at the citizens of a small fishing town in Maniitsoq, Greenland as they reckon with their Danish colonial past and a promising future by an American industrial company in the eye-opening documentary Winter’s Yearning, directed by Sidse Torstholm Larsen (Living on the Ice) and Sturla Pilskog (Urban Hunters), and produced by Are Kvalnes Pilskog, Vibeke Vogel and BAFTA Award winner Emile Hertling Péronard (Borgen).  The national broadcast premiere is next Monday, July 25, 2022 at 10pmET/9C, and is available to stream free until August 25, 2022 at pbs.org, and the PBS Video app. In addition to standard closed captioning, POV, in partnership with audio description service DiCapta, provides real time audio interpretations for audiences with sensory disabilities. POV is America’s longest running documentary series and is currently celebrating its 35th anniversary season.

- Game Show Network, the leader in game shows and competitive entertainment, has announced today that the new season of one of its most popular originals, PEOPLE PUZZLER, will premiere on Monday, August 1 at 6 pm ET and will air weeknights at 6 pm ET.  Hosted by two-time Emmy® Award winner and Daytime Emmy nominee for Outstanding Game Show Host Leah Remini, and based on the iconic crossword puzzles in PEOPLE, the No. 1 magazine brand in the country, season three of PEOPLE PUZZLER will feature the familiar pop culture quiz fare along with some special contestants and show themes. 

-  Cementing herself as one of 2022’s breakthrough artists to watch, gold-certified Los Angeles singer and songwriter Em Beihold (pronounced bye-hold) releases her debut EP Egg in the Backseat via Moon Projects/Republic Records today!  Get Egg in the Backseat HERE.  About the EP Em commented, “I am so excited for Egg in the Backseat to be released into the world. I had the most fun making this EP with my collaborators (Dallas Caton, Alex Veltri, Michael Coleman and James Ghaleb), and I feel it comes through in the music. If you liked “Numb Little Bug,” be prepared for some more blunt, sunny pop."

- In continued celebration of their 50^th anniversary, today, the four-time GRAMMY® Award-winning and Diamond-certified rock legends Aerosmith, (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Brad Whitford and Joey Kramer), announce the launch of 50 Years Live!: From the Aerosmith Vaults, the band’s new “official bootleg” streaming concert series featuring five deep, archival, and unreleased multi-camera live shows from Aerosmith’s vast personal vaults. With the entire production of all five concert films supervised by Aerosmith, the series kicks off with a live stream of Live From The Summit, Houston, TX, 1977, a combination of classic live performances from a two-night stand in Houston in 1977 that captures the band in all its raw and powerful rock n’ roll splendor. Live From The Summit, Houston, TX, 1977 will premiere on Aerosmith’s official YouTube channel on July 29^th at 12pm PT/3pm ET and will be available, in its entirety as a gift for fans, for one week only and can be viewed HERE. Highlight clips from Live From The Summit, Houston, TX, 1977 will also be added to Aerosmith’s YouTube channel on July 30^th and will include “Back In The Saddle,” “Mama Kin” and “Sweet Emotion.”

-  MEGADETH premiered Night Stalkers: Chapter II, the next installment of a multi-part short film being released alongside MEGADETH’s next single “Night Stalkers” from their new studio album The Sick, The Dying…And The Dead! being released on September 2, 2022, via UMe. Both the video and single for “Night Stalkers” feature a special appearance by the iconic artist Ice-T.  Watch Night Stalkers: Chapter II, HERE.  Created by Dave Mustaine, produced by Rafael Pensado, and directed by Leo Liberti, Night Stalkers: Chapter II is the next episode in the multi-chapter saga about the origin of Vic Rattlehead as we continue to follow the tragic events leading to our operative’s complete transformation as he systematically exacts his revenge.

 

- Americana singer-songwriter Doriana Spurrell is releasing her new single, "Sunday," today (from her forthcoming EP). Recommended if you like: Brandi Carlile, Nick Drake, Elliott Smith, The Lumineers. "...Spurrell’s writing draws power from the smallest and most intimate of moments, tracing small stories that enlace into poetic meditations of life and meaning... 'Sunday' takes a winding tour through intimate character portraits, portraying a family clinging together through hard times. Keening country guitar tones and pastoral waves of strings ripple through the track as Spurrell’s vocals bring to it a warm and wistful sheen... The track feels almost nostalgic as it surveys a life full of both trials and warmth, holding the moments of stolen joy close like treasured memories." - Under The Radar

57 Channels and Only This Was On: July 17, 2022

 

 

Westworld:  With Neo-Delores gone this episode I came to the realization that that storyline is my favorite this season.  Weird they put her in the “Previously On” when she was not in the episode.  But it was cheap they led us to believe Caleb’s daughter was captured only to have her escape at the end so we would know that was not his real daughter at the very last moment.  But what exactly is Charlotte going to do with him?  But welcome back Bernard who is apparently now Dr. Strange living out every possible outcome looking for the one.  But at least Dr. Strange did not take years (decades?) to do it.

 

The Chi:  Oh joy, a Christmas episode in the squelchering heat of July.  The one problem with the switch to shorter season is that we rarely get holiday episodes anymore, but when we do, it just feels awkward watching those months away from the actual episode.   I took the way under on Emmitt’s celibacy, but is he really going to break it with Keisha?

 

Flatbush Misdemeanors:  Okay, that funeral was funny.  But c’mon, instead of wearing a salmon suit, wear darker, less dressy attire.  A dark shirt seems better than a salmon suit.

 

In the Dark:  Murphy Mason, this is your life.  Everyone that has ever been on the show popped up in the trial… well, one person was conspicuously missing.  I have a feeling she will end up being a surprise witness in the next episode.  Will she actually admit to be the one who killed Nia?  But it was really annoying to see Murphy and Darnell have it out in the courtroom when we know they are going to be chummy chummy later in the season before he gets shot.

 

Only Murders in the Building:   "Soooooo, how was prison?" Martin Short is just one of the best at line readings. Casting the evil girl from Fear the Walking as Lucy was an... interesting choice. But she works better than some of the other casting this season. I felt really bad for Mabel when she started feeling around Lucy like how Charles and Oliver feel around her. I found it really interesting that Del the Funky Homosapien sampled the Brazzos song because whenever someone says Mrs. Gambolini, I always hear it in the cadence of Mistadobalina. So maybe that is not a coincidence.

Okay, onto theory corner. I have suspected Howard ever since spotting his black eye in the first episode and I believe his Nina punched him excuse as much as his the cat did it excuse. Though we have now seen the killer twice (or at least presumably it is the killer); last episode attacking Bunny and this episode with Lucy inside the wall and neither really looked like Howard to me. Maybe I need to go back and look, but to me, it looked like a tall thin man, who could only mean one person: Jane Lynch.

I did put the presumably in parenthesis because, why, after killing Bunny, climb a couple floors to Charles' floor? Unless they live on that floor (like Nina but after threatening to get revenge on Bunny's killer, likely not her). Or were they already going to plant the bloody knife? Now I definitely need to re-watch to see if the killer had a bloody knife.  And the (presumed) killer sneezing also makes me think they are probably not a cat guy, who has been my guess most of this season.

 

Motherland: Fort Salem:  Shocker, the president is still alive.  But why let the vice president take power? 

 

The Challenge: USA:  You got to love any challenge that involves heights and being smart.  But the elimination was confusing, that one dude seemed to be peddling the hardest but his team always seemed behind.  Was his teammate that bad?  I feel like there was something they were not showing up.  The other team failed getting the memorization in one try too.

 

Ms. Marvel:  Like most Marvel properties, this show just sputtered to the end because they have a third act problem and a villain problem.  I did like the Home Alone montage and everyone just randomly popping up at the high school but the fight itself was meh because they never really seemed to figure out who the bad guy was.  Kamron kept going up to the line but never crossed it.  Damage Control was doing shady things, but it was mostly just the one agent who has not gotten much screen time.  But overall, the still ended up being the second best Disney+ show after Loki, and probably the second best thing in Phase 4 so far.

 

The Old Man: So Jeff Bridges is not playing the titular character?  It is not even John Lithgow?  That was a plot twist I did not see coming.