I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on The Great, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, Beastie Boys Story, Into the Dark, Black Monday, Pearl Jam, Kōkua Festival 2020- Live From Home, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, BENEE, James Blake, The Score, Planet of the Humans, Jesus Trejo: Stay at Home Son, and FilmRise.
- Check out the official trailer for Hulu Original comedy series The Great. All 10 episodes of The Great will premiere May 15, only on Hulu.
- Showtime has released the series premiere of its new drama Penny Dreadful: City of Angels early for free online sampling, on streaming platforms and on demand. The series stars Tony® and Emmy® winner Nathan Lane, Natalie Dormer, Daniel Zovatto, Kerry Bishé, Rory Kinnear, Adriana Barraza, Michael Gladis, Jessica Garza and Johnathan Nieves. Tony and Golden Globe® winner and three-time Oscar® nominee John Logan, the creator, writer and executive producer of the Emmy-nominated series PENNY DREADFUL, continues in those same roles. Michael Aguilar (KIDDING) also serves as executive producer. The premiere episode is available for free now on YouTube and SHO.com. The 10-episode series will officially premiere on-air this Sunday, April 26 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime. Showtime is also supporting the Farmworkers Covid-19 Pandemic Relief Fund to help raise funds for farmworkers and their families, similar to the Vega family depicted in the series. California produces over two-thirds of the fruits and nuts and over a third of the vegetables consumed in the U.S. With this series set in Los Angeles, the network is donating in support of those who feed us through their labor and ensure our food supply, as these communities may be among the hardest hit due to lack of resources.
- Beastie Boys Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz tell you an intimate, personal story of their band and 40 years of friendship in this live documentary experience directed by their longtime friend and collaborator, and their former grandfather, filmmaker Spike Jonze. "Beastie Boys Story" is set to premiere on the heels of the 26th anniversary of the release of Beastie Boys' No. 1 charting 1994 album, "Ill Communication." The film reunites Beastie Boys with director Spike Jonze over 25 years after directing the music video for the album's immortal hit single, "Sabotage." On Apple TV+ now.
- Check out the new trailer for Into the Dark's May episode, DELIVERED! In the series' Mother's Day installment, a pregnant woman's life is upended when she realizes someone close to her has darker plans for her and the baby.
- The final four episodes of the second season of the acclaimed Showtime comedy series Black Monday will premiere Sunday, June 28 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, concluding with the season finale airing on Sunday, July 19. The series, which began its 10-episode run in March, aired six episodes of its second season before pausing due to post-production issues related to COVID-19. Viewers can catch up on the first six episodes Sundays, starting May 17 at 8:30 p.m., or watch On Demand or streaming.
- Pearl Jam announced the Gigaton Visual Experience – a special audio-visual event available free to all Apple TV app users in over 100 countries for seven days before being available to rent or buy. This immersive visual album experience pairs the band's inspired visuals, produced by the award-winning Evolve Studios, to create an unparalleled experience that enhances Gigaton's massive scope. The event will be available in Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, revolutionary audiovisual technologies developed by Dolby, which will bring the album alive through immersive audio and ultravivid picture quality.* This audiovisual album experience is only available as a limited time event on Apple TV 4K and on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac users. Their eleventh album, and first in nearly seven years, Gigaton has received acclaim as their greatest and most adventurous work to date. Watch here: https://apple.co/PearlJam.
- In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day and in support of the Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation and Covid-19 relief efforts, multi-platinum artist and environmentalist Jack Johnson announces Kōkua Festival 2020- Live From Home, a livestream on Saturday, April 25th in partnership with Amazon Music. Jack Johnson will host and perform within a two-hour livestream from his front porch in Hawai‘i and share the digital stage with special at-home performances from Kōkua Festival alumni including: Ben Harper, G. Love, Ziggy Marley, Lukas Nelson, Paula Fuga, Kawika Kahiapo, John Cruz, Anuhea, Ron Artis II and his brother Thunderstorm Artis. Viewers will also be treated to at home cooking lessons from some of Hawaii’s top chefs, Ed Kenney and Mark Noguchi. Additionally, fans can get ready for the festival with the Kōkua Festival 2020 Playlist, and tune into Amazon Music’s Twitch channel at 12pm HST/3pm PT/6pm ET on April 25th at www.twitch.tv/amazonmusic or Jack Johnson’s Facebook to watch the show.
- Republic Records releases Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: Season 1, Episode 10 (Music from the Original TV Series) in conjunction with the critically acclaimed new NBC television series Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, produced by Lionsgate and Universal Television in association with the Tannenbaum Company, Feigco Entertainment and Universal Music Group’s Polygram Entertainment. Get it via Republic Records HERE. New EPs will be released in tandem with each new episode of Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, which will air weekly on Sundays at 9pm ET/ PT on NBC.
- Poised to be one of the best new artists of 2020, New Zealand’s indie pop sensation BENEE has become one of the most-listened to artists in the world this month as her latest track reaches over 200 million in total streams and over 1 million in global consumption. Within a short time, BENEE has gone from canvasing Soundcloud with covers out of her teenage bedroom to rising the charts with her latest song “Supalonely” [feat. Gus Dapperton] and amassing over 400 million streams of her catalog around the globe. Listen to “Supalonely” ft. Gus Dapperton HERE.
- You’re Too Precious' marks James Blake’s first release of 2020, and a period in which James has also won widespread praise for his intimately uplifting live streams under lockdown. These have already featured a 2-hour production masterclass, on top of career-spanning sets including fan favourites, intimate covers, and a further taste of brand new material...
- Gold-certified and critically acclaimed LA-based, New York-born rock band The Score—Eddie Anthony and Edan Dover—reveal their new single “Best Part.” Get it HERE via Republic Records. On the track, bold percussion echoes beneath the sing-song refrain, “I can be a liar, I can be a cheat, I can be neurotic, I can be a freak, I can be everything in between, but you always find the best part of me.” Bold guitars roar as “Best Part” resounds with raw rafter-reaching power.
- Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Michael Moore announced today that he is releasing a brand new documentary film on his Rumble Media label – and is offering it as a gift, free of charge, in the midst of the global pandemic. On Tuesday, April 21st, beginning at 9:00 am EDT, Planet of the Humans, directed by filmmaker and environmentalist Jeff Gibbs and executive produced by Michael Moore, will make its world premiere on Michael Moore’s YouTube channel at YouTube.com/MMFlint (click here for direct link to the full film: https://youtu.be/Zk11vI-7czE). Moore is scheduled to be the main guest on CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night to make his first appearance for the film.
- Jesus Trejo takes the stage in his first Showtime comedy special Jesus Trejo: Stay at Home Son, premiering on Friday, May 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Filmed at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood, the hour-long special is full of candid humor as Trejo gives us a front-row seat into his amusing family dynamics. An only child of immigrant parents, Trejo learned many life lessons in some of the most unconventional ways. From running his first marathon to winning his first fight, JESUS TREJO: STAY AT HOME SON explores the lengths he’ll reach to meet his parents’ expectations.
- In this new frontier of self-quarantine and sheltering in place, streaming TV has become a must in providing some much-needed comfort and distraction while we’re indoors and staying safe. FilmRise, the company at the forefront in shaping the ad-supported free streaming landscape, is happy to help with its selection of nostalgic and comforting TV shows streaming for free. FilmRise content can be seen on free streaming platforms including The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Tubi, IMDb TV, Crackle, Vudu, Sling, Stirr, Samsung TV Plus, Stirr, Xumo and many more – including FilmRise’s own apps on Roku, Fire TV and on iOS and Android powered devices. FilmRise is happy to announce that two very popular classic TV series - “My Favorite Martian” and “The Rifleman” are now available to stream for free beginning this month. “My Favorite Martian” stars Ray Walston as a Martian who gets stranded in Los Angeles and is rescued by a newspaper reporter played by “The Incredible Hulk” star Bill Bixby. “The Rifleman” chronicles the adventures of a Wild West rancher (Chuck Connors) who wields a custom rapid-fire Winchester rifle. The series had many notable guest stars throughout its run, including Dennis Hopper, Harry Dean Stanton, Martin Landau, and Sammy Davis, Jr., to name a few.