Around the Tubes: October 8, 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 Let the Right One In,  The Paloni Show! Halloween Special!, R.E.M., Lyn Lapid, Oh Wonder, Jon McLaughlin, Vera Blue, Ed, Edd n Eddy, The Circus, All the Smoke, and Koala Man, The I Love The 90s Tour.

- SHOWTIME released the series premiere of its new thriller, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, early for free online sampling on streaming platforms and on demand to subscribers and non-subscribers ahead of its October 7 premiere. The episode is available now on Sho.com and Showtime.com, as well as across multiple SHOWTIME partner platforms.  The new series stars Oscar nominee Demián Bichir (A Better Life), Tony winner Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls, Power) and rising young actress and singer Madison Taylor Baez (Selena: The Series) as well as Grace Gummer (Mr. Robot), Ian Foreman (Merry Wish-Mas), Jacob Buster (Colony), Nick Stahl (Sin City) and Kevin Carroll (Snowfall). LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is executive produced by award-winning playwright, writer and producer Andrew Hinderaker (Away, PENNY DREADFUL) who also serves as showrunner. Seith Mann (HOMELAND, #FreeRayshawn, Raising Dion) is also an executive producer and directed the pilot, as well as multiple episodes. Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements are executive producers for Tomorrow Studios (an ITV Studios partnership). Alex Yves Brunner, Simon Oakes and Carl Molinder also serve as executive producers. Alissa Bachner is co-executive producing, and Bichir serves as a producer on the series. The 10-episode series officially premieres on streaming and on demand Friday, October 7, with its on-air premiere Sunday, October 9 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME.

- Check out the all-new trailer for Hulu's upcoming "The Paloni Show! Halloween Special!," from "Solar Opposites" creator Justin Roiland. The special stars Roiland, Zach Hadel, Pamela Adlon, Vatche Panos, and Karl Wahlgren. It premieres on October 17, 2022.  TRAILER: HERE

- Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes, and long-time friend and promoter Velena Vego announce a special two-night benefit concert celebrating one of the most prolific rock bands, R.EM., and their debut E.P. Chronic Town. This once-in-a-lifetime concert celebrates the 40th anniversary of one of our most legendary rock bands while also bringing together musicians across all genres who have long-admired R.E.M. and their culture-shifting catalog.    Both evenings will be hosted by award-winning Comedian David Cross, with Rich Robinson and other special guests performing the five-track E.P. in its entirety including “Gardening At Night,” “Wolves, Lower,” and “1,000,000.” Additional guest performances will include fan-favorite tracks spanning the decades. Dates for the two-night benefit are set for December 14 at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, GA, and December 15 at the Coca-Cola Roxy in Atlanta, GA. All net proceeds from the concert will benefit Planned Parenthood. General ticket on-sale for the Coca-Cola Roxy show will begin on October 7 at 10am/ EST. Tickets for the 40 Watt Club performance will begin on October 11 at 10am/ EST.   The house band for this two-night spectacular consists of Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees, R.E.M.) on drums, Sven Pipien (The Black Crowes) on bass, as well as Rich Robinson (The Black Crowes) on the guitar and vocals. Additional world-renowned artists confirmed to perform include, Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes, Darius Rucker, Steve Wynn, Kevin Kinney of Atlanta-based rock band, Drivin’ N Cryin’, John Cameron Mitchell, Fred Armisen, David Ryan Harris, Lenny Kaye of Patti Smith Band, Elf Power, Pylon Reenactment Society, and producer of Chronic Town, Mitch Easter of Let’s Active. The Indigo Girls and John Driskell Hopkins of Zac Brown Band will join the performance on December 14 only.  In addition to the star-studded list of legendary artists announced, fans can also expect surprise performances from other very special guests each night.  

- After releasing her debut EP this past spring, 20-year-old breakout songstress Lyn Lapid is back today with her latest single “Detached”—listen HERE.  On “Detached”, once again Lyn Lapid opens up without fear. Out of the gate, her emotionally charged vocals shine over glimmering piano and cinematic production. The verses give way to a question, “How are you so detached?” The song seesaws between intimate introspection and soaring vocal dynamics. “Detached” hints at the energy and honesty of Lyn’s next chapter, beginning now. She originally posted a viral TikTok teasing the track, which gathered over 1 million views and 200 thousand likes.

- Oh Wonder has shared their much-anticipated new album 22 Make, which is available now on Republic Records and features its titular focus track—listen HERE.  An emotionally unguarded but ultimately positive body of work, 22 Make includes “Can We Always Be Friends?”, brooding first single “Magnificent”, the anthemic “Fuck It I Love You”, and cinematic road movie “True Romance”. It completes Oh Wonder’s two-part 22 Break project, whose first installment was teased last year and continues the group’s remarkable journey together thus far. 

- Island Def Jam/UMe celebrates the 15^th Anniversary of Jon McLaughlin’s stirring debut album, Indiana, by releasing a remastered, digital-only 15 Year Anniversary edition on all streaming partners. Initially released in 2007, the digital-only deluxe edition features a new a cappella version of the title track “Indiana” featuring Straight No Chaser, as well as two as two b-sides from the original recording session, one of which has never been released. A CD and LP version will also be released at a future date. Indiana will be available to stream or purchase on Friday, October 7 HERE.  Indiana produced two singles, “Beautiful Disaster,” and “Human.” The lead single, “Beautiful Disaster,” was originally released in April 2007 and peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart. The song was also featured in the 2007 movie Georgia Rule and the TV series A Little Thing Called Life. The second single, “Human,” found great success and was featured in the hit TV series Scrubs, Flashpoint, and Ghost Whisperer. All Music reported that Indiana was “packed with tunes that tackle love, loss, family, and friends with all the honesty and ardor of a young troubadour setting out to make his mark with nothing but a piano and some great pop hooks.”

- Following the 50^th anniversaries of Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ seminal albums Mona Bone Jakon, Tea for the Tillerman, and Teaser and the Firecat, 2022 will see the legendary singer-songwriter celebrate 1972’s Catch Bull At Four with a newly remastered 50^th anniversary edition. The platinum-selling title, which marked Cat Stevens’ most successful chart album, will be available on vinyl for the first time since its original release on both 180-gram black vinyl and limited edition 180-gram orange vinyl, which will be available exclusively on CatStevens.com, UDiscover Music and Sound Of Vinyl. Catch Bull At Four will also return to CD for the first time since its reissue in 2000 and the new remaster will also be available for streaming in both standard and stunning hi-resolution audio. All formats will be released December 2^nd via A&M/UMe.  Pre-order Catch Bull At Four: ycs.lnk.to/CatchBullRemasteredPR

- Vera Blue reveals the official video for her new single “Mermaid Avenue” today—watch HERE. The song is from her upcoming new album Mercurial, set for release on October 28^th. Pre-order and pre-save the album HERE.  On the video, Vera Blue says, “The video for ‘Mermaid Avenue,’ directed by friend and creative weapon Billy Zammit, is all the video ever needed to be. Magical, dreamy, nostalgic, and moody with splashes of light, colour, melancholy emotions, and beautiful views. I love the rawness of this clip and the way it perfectly paints the picture and setting of what the song is about. It’s bittersweet with an emotive performance, and I truly hope you all enjoy it. I loved working with Billy on this one, and we are so proud of what we’ve created together by the ocean.”

- Grab the popcorn, and get ready to revisit some of your favorite classic Cartoon Network series! For the first time ever on Digital and DVD, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Complete Series and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends: The Complete Series on Oct. 18, and for the first time on Digital comes Courage the Cowardly Dog: The Complete Series. All three series are produced by Cartoon Network Studios. 

- The Emmy^® nominated docuseries THE CIRCUS: INSIDE THE GREATEST POLITICAL SHOW ON EARTH continues its seventh season this week in Arizona, a crucial battleground in the midterms and a hotbed for election denial.  Hosts John Heilemann, Mark McKinnon, and Jennifer Palmieri, hit the road in the Grand Canyon State along with guest host Tim Miller – a former Republican-turned #NeverTrump political strategist; writer-at-large for The Bulwark; and author of the recent New York Times best seller Why We Did It. Between campaign rallies, press gaggles, and a highly anticipated Senate debate, The Circus explores the slate of Arizona Republican candidates echoing Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was fraudulent, and the implications for future elections if they prevail.  For a preview, go to: https://youtu.be/EyxbkeprcNY. 

- SHOWTIME SPORTS^® announces the return of ALL THE SMOKE WITH MATT BARNES AND STEPHEN JACKSON to SHOWTIME. The two NBA champions and hosts agreed to a multi-year extension of SHOWTIME Basketball’s successful video podcast, as well as expanded roles contributing across SHOWTIME SPORTS platforms. SHOWTIME Basketball is the fast-rising content vertical that features compelling content from every corner of the sport and recently announced the addition of award-winning journalist, Rachel Nichols. The latest episode of ALL THE SMOKE dropped today, and features an extensive sit-down with eight-time NBA All-Star Dwight Howard.

- At New York Comic Con on October 6th, Hulu paneled the upcoming original adult animated series "Koala Man" and announced the casting of Jemaine Clement, Rachel House, and Jarrad Wright with Miranda Otto and Hugo Weaving set to make guest appearances.  Previously announced cast includes Hugh Jackman, Sarah Snook, Demi Lardner, and creator Michael Cusack.  "Koala Man" follows middle-aged dad Kevin and his titular not-so-secret identity, whose only superpower is a burning passion for following rules and snuffing out petty crime in the town of Dapto. Though it may seem like any other Australian suburb, forces of evil both cosmic and man-made lie in wait to pounce on unsuspecting Daptonians. On a quest to clean up his hometown, and often roping his frustrated family into his adventures, Koala Man stands at the ready. He’ll do whatever it takes to defeat villainous masterminds, supernatural horrors, or worse: jerks who don’t take their rubbish bins down on the proper days.

- Multi-platinum and Grammy-winning rapper Coolio was set to perform on Sirius XM’s ‘90s on 9 Presents The I Love The 90s Tour with Vanilla Ice, Rob Base, All 4 One, Tone Loc and Young MC when he was found unresponsive at a friend’s home on September 28, 2022 after suffering a heart attack.In   response, the Oct. 9 I Love The 90s show will feature a tribute to Coolio and the entire show will be live-streamed for free from Haute Spot via VanillaIce.com. Donations from the event will benefit Coolio’s family. The livestream is presented courtesy of Universal Attractions Agency and Lightstream Media, the multimedia production arm of Lightstream Presents.

 

The fourth season of the popular video podcast debuted on Thursday, August 25 featuring an interview with fan favorite and former NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace, and continued with episodes featuring NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan, All-Pro Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill, Hall of Famer and Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd and NBA Finals MVP and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. New episodes of the industry-leading weekly series will be released on the SHOWTIME Basketball YouTube channel on Thursdays with future guests to include NBA All-Stars Kenyon Martin and Caron Butler, Grammy^®-nominated rapper Freddie Gibbs and more.

Previewing Let the Right One In

 

In a measure of full disclosure, I have not read the book, Let the Right One In.  Nor have I watched the Swedish movie based on the book.  Though I did watch the American remake, Let Me In with Hit Girl.  Granted, as I try and remember that movie which I have not watched since shortly it was released, the only thing I remember is a pretty cool one shot car crash shot from inside the car. 

 

Okay, I also remember the general premise of an elderly father taking care of his vampire daughter who has been stuck in a twelve year old body for a while and has to move periodically to avoid being caught.  That general premise remains for the new televised version; one again entitled Let the Right One In, but then severely deviates from my vague recollection of the movie.  The setting has moved to New York City, from a more rural area.  There is also a secondary storyline featuring an elderly father and his son who is older than the vampire girl.  The show is not quite the IP fraud Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, but anyone hoping for another faithful adaptation that has a little more room to breathe on the small screen show should temper their expectation.

 

Let the Right One In stars Demián Bichir (The Bridge) as the father who has moved him and his vampire daughter back to the City after spending the last ten years searching for a cure.  The spiking murder rate will help him hide the way he obtains her diet.  Just his luck, he move next door to a detective (Anika Noni Rose, Them) investigating all those murders who has a son around the same age as his daughter… or the age she was when she stopped aging.

 

Though, the show does not even start there.  Instead, the first scene involves a college aged kid who looks like he is enjoying his very first sunrise.  It because clear that this was probably the first sunrise he saw in a while as a couple seconds later, he burst into flame.  He turns out to be the son of a drug maker whose painkillers got everyone hooked and was sued out of business.  Now the father has called his daughter (Grace Gummer, Mr. Robot) home, hoping she can find the cure he was never able to.  Oh, and to tell her that the brother she thought was dead, is a vampire and got burnt to a crisp because his latest cure failed miserably.  Surprise.

 

Let the Right One In is the last of four vampire shows to premiere over the past month, but I guess it does say something that this was the first I even bothered to watch, three of the four tied to popular books that were previously movies.    While it probably is the best this show has deviated from the plot of the book because it needs to fill in the plot to stretch it out for a season, and the doctors trying to find a cure is an interesting addition, you do have to wonder where the writers expect to go after the first season.  The young actress playing the vampire is not going to look like a seventh grader for very long.  But if the mad scientists do cure her, which would dramatically chance what potentially future season would be.  It is already bordering on IP fraud, having a Let the Right One In show without a vampire daughter would make it full IP fraud.

 

Let the Right One In airs Sundays at 10:00 on Showtime.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: October 2, 2022

  

House of the Dragon:  These time jumps are just killing this show.  Alicent and Rhanera were two of the few characters I cared about and now they are being played by new actors.  Now that have five children between them that I guess I should know, but do not care enough to learn their names.  Then out of nowhere the one Strong brother kills his father and brother.  Why?  Who knows?  Hopefully the show settles down now.

 

City on a Hill:  So that is it?  Drydan avoids prison, instead is just on life support.  I highly doubt that Jackie will stay there until he can hail Drydan off to prison.  I have a feeling this case might not even be mentioned if there is a fourth season.

 

Quantum Leap:  Al’s daughter may be the only thing that could almost make this show interesting.

 

Reboot:  I have not watched a dating show since Flavor of Love, but the more they talk about Fork Buddy Mountain, the more I want to watch it.

 

La Brea: So they jumped into a portal in Seattle and somehow were transported not just in time, but space too, just a couple miles from where the La Brea sinkhole took everyone.  How convenient.  So does every sinkhole portal in the world take you to the same mile or so radius?  Does that glass building in the middle of 10,000 BC have something to do with it?  Is it drawing all the wormholes to that time and general location?  But I cannot fault the teenagers who get transported to 1988 and one of the first things they do is watch Alf.  But I can fault them for trying to get back to 10,000 B.C.  How about trying to find a way back to 2021?  Though if the glass building is drawing everyone back there, maybe going back may be the best way back to their own time.

 

The Handmaid’s Tale:  Well, it is nice to know June has not gone so completely off the rails that she was willing to kill Serena while she was still pregnant. 

 

Tell Me Lies:  So Stephan came clean and admitted he was in the car when Macy died.  Or was he?  He did not look like he was in a car crash that night.  Hard to believe that a crash that killed the driver would leave the passenger unarmed.  Though, my first though was that he was the one that was driving.  I wonder if that is it or we will actually see what happened that night later this season.  But what was bizarre is dude liked about hooking up with her roommate, was there when she died and did nothing about it, and Lucy got back with him and even one of her friends saying he was still hooking up with his ex did not sway her.  I am beginning to think Lucy deserves him if all these warning signs are not swaying her.

 

Survivor:  I cannot believe some was so dumb to open the Beware advantage right before Tribal where it is going to be a tight vote considering the Beware advantage took away your vote for the previous two seasons.  Luckily for him, the switched it up having to wait for everyone to say some dumb phrase at an Immunity Challenge to collecting beads which seems a lot easier.  Obvious the arts and craft is an easy way to do it.  We will see if anyone in the other two tribes thinks of it.  Though, not like it ended up mattering because the two girls ended up splitting their votes anyway and they did not need the third vote, making that editing just unnecessary.

 

Resident Alien: Good riddance mayor.  They should have taken the living son too.  But what do they want with him and his unborn child?  What did they even do with the alien tracker’s kid?