View From the Peak - Everything Coming to Paramount+ in December 2023

 

Trim the tree, spin the dreidel and get ready for a winter wonderland on Paramount+! The season of giving has arrived and we’re stuffing stockings with a mountain of entertainment this year with our special holiday collection 'Tis the Season for Streaming. Our youngest viewers will be delighted by the streaming premieres of two new animated adventures with the recent addition of PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie and the upcoming Baby Shark’s Big Movie. The star-studded cast of the crime drama Finestkind deliver powerful performances in its streaming debut. And documentary fans will receive a gift pack of news series, including The World According to Football, Thriller 40 and  Born in Synanon. For more of what audiences can expect to unbox in December, check out this month’s edition of View from the Peak.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Tommy Lee Jones, Toby Wallace, Jenna Ortega and Ben Foster in Finestkind In December, audiences will be treated to the streaming premiere of the crime drama Finestkind, starring Ben Foster, Toby Wallace, Jenna Ortega and Academy Award® winner Tommy Lee Jones. The film tells the gripping story of two brothers who have led dramatically different lives and are reunited during one fateful summer. To learn more about the project we sat down with its writer and director Brian Helgeland. Q: We understand Finestkind is a very personal story for you. Could you tell us a little bit about the personal experiences from which you drew while writing this story and then directing the film? My first memory as a child was dropping my father off at the docks at the boat he worked on. I then wouldn’t see him again for a week. His father was a commercial fisherman before him. I began the script for Finestkind nearly 30 years ago. It’s an incredibly personal project. All of the characters are based on people I knew from home, all with whom I fished in the two years that I myself was a commercial fisherman. The character of Charlie was a loose sketch of me as a young man just out of college which is when I first fished. And the character of Mabel is also a loose sketch of myself as a young person who grew up in the city of New Bedford and was looking for a bigger world for myself without knowing how to go about finding it. So, it’s very personal. My journey in life making movies has taken me not only around the United States, but also the world. But part of my heart, and most of his family, stayed in New Bedford. I always wanted to go back there to make this movie and I finally did.   Q: At the center of this film are a pair of brothers who have a difficult relationship. Can you tell us about their journey? I grew up with two great sisters. As I like to say, I never had brothers until I started fishing. The brother relationship is based a lot on the relationships I had with my fellow fisherman. I also wanted to explore different facets of how you end up in that world and using two half-brothers gave me a great angle to do that. It also gave me two very different fathers to explore. The character of Charlie is in search of another way to live and he needs his brother Tom to show him. Tom is an emotionally isolated character who doesn’t realize how much he needs his younger brother. The push and pull between them drives the movie in many ways.   Q: Are there any stories you want to share about working with the film's phenomenal cast? I really think it’s one of the best casts I’ve ever worked with, from a true veteran like Tommy Lee Jones to exciting young actors like Jenna Ortega and Toby Wallace. They all have in common a love for what they do and a desire to be authentic in the characters they play. Jenna has the big driving scene in the film and she did a lot of her own stunt driving. At one point she had to drive a 25-year-old car off the sidewalk and onto the street at a pretty good clip. At take maybe 7, the car pulled up short like something was wrong and I hurried down and found Jenna looking down at the car’s driveshaft sitting in the middle of the street. She’d literally driven it out of the car. It was pretty great. A lot of the guys, including Toby, also went out on commercial fishing boats to learn how to be fisherman. Ben Foster, in particular, went out 75 miles offshore in February for a week. The seas were 15 feet the whole time he was out there. That’s dedication. Get ready to raise anchor and set sail for Finestkind’s streaming premiere on December 15.

WATCH THE TRAILER

While you might have to wait a little longer to unwrap some of your presents, our gift to audiences this season, the Paramount+ Holiday Collection, titled 'Tis the Season for Streaming, is already here with double the films and episodes for the whole family to enjoy. Our very own team of elves have hand-picked the finest in festive entertainment and packaged them up in more than 20 curated carousels with special treats for everyone’s tastes, with heart-warming holiday romances such as A Christmas Proposal and Bridget Jones’s Diary, seasonal specials from kids’ favorite franchises including SpongeBob SquarePants and The Loud House, and classic Christmas comedies like Scrooged and Bad Santa.   We also have a special present for football fans this season, with an unmissable lineup of games. The action kicks off on Thanksgiving Day with the NFL on CBS matchup between the Washington Commanders and the Dallas Cowboys. We’ll follow this up on Christmas Eve with a live, local market game. On Christmas Day, Swifties should keep an eye out for their favorite popstar when Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs host the Las Vegas Raiders.   To make the season even sweeter, Paramount+ has announced a special new Black Friday deal. New subscribers can sign up and pay just $1.99 per month for 3 months of our Paramount+ Essential Plan and $3.99 per month for 3 months of the Paramount+ with Showtime Plan. Use the promo code BLACKFRIDAY now.

WATCH THE PARAMOUNT+ HOLIDAY CAMPAIGN SPOT

TECH TALK

Paramount Streaming has seen an incredible year of innovation with new advancements and features that have contributed to a tremendous 46% increase in total viewing hours in the third quarter.  Content discovery and personalization continues to drive new features, including the launch of Prominent Carousels, Targeted Micro-Genres and Personalized End-Card Recommendations. This new way of merchandising content has led to a 22% increase in playback rates.  This year, the service streamed more than 5,000 live events worldwide by leveraging cutting-edge technology and improved infrastructure, which included catch-up live moments for sporting events, making Paramount Streaming beyond primed and ready to handle the massive crowds for Super Bowl LVII in 2024.

WATCH THE 2023 PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS REEL

MOUNTAIN OF MOVIES

In December, audiences are invited to swim along, and sing along with iconic pre-school favorite crooner Baby Shark in Baby Shark’s Big Movie, the first film from the popular kids franchise. After garnering more than 13 billion views on YouTube and getting the whole planet to sing doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo, Baby Shark’s movie debut will see the titular tyke teaming up with aquatic artists from all over the sea played by real-world singing sensations, including Ashley Tisdale, Cardi B and Lance Bass. In the film Baby Shark also teams up with a pod of beluga whales portrayed by the popular K-pop group ENHYPEN. You can watch the music video for their song from the movie "Keep Swimmin' Through,'' by clicking the link below. It’s safe to go back in the water when Baby Shark’s Big Movie premieres on December 8.

WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO

DOCU SERIES

The transformation of an idealistic drug rehabilitation community into a hierarchical cult is detailed in Born in Synanon, a Geeta Gandbhir-directed docuseries coming to SHOWTIME and Paramount+. The series tells the story of Cassidy Arkin, who was born into Synanon and lived there until the age of six. Across four episodes, viewers will watch as Cassidy, for the first time, comes to terms with the stark reality of what she experienced as a child. Throughout the series, additional former Synanon members share their own harrowing and heart-breaking stories of corruption and abuse. Prepare for a revelation when Born in Synanon premieres on the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME plan on December 12.

WATCH THE TRAILER

STREAMING SOON

ORIGINALS, EXCLUSIVES & PREMIERES & EVENTS 12/1: The World According to Football* premiere 12/2: Thriller 40* premiere 12/5: Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too? premiere 12/7: The Envoys Season 2 premiere 12/8: Baby Shark's Big Movie premiere 12/11: The Billion Dollar Goal premiere 12/12: Born in Synanon premiere 12/15: Finestkind premiere LIBRARY SHOWS December 1 SpongeBob Twas the Night Before SpongeMas Special December 2 Robbie the Reindeer** December 4 The Price Is Right at Night Christmas Week** December 6 Digman! (Season 1) Deliciousness (Season 3) Ryan's Mystery Playdate (Season 4) December 8 Ghosts UK** (Season 2) December 10 A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop** December 13 Love & Hip Hop: Miami (Season 4) December 15 The National Christmas Tree Lighting** December 17 Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday Celebration Concert Special** December 22 The 25th Annual a Home for the Holidays** December 23 Frosty Returns** December 27 The 46th Annual Kennedy Center Honors** December 31 New Year's Eve Live: Nashville's Big Bash** MOVIES December 1 10 Cloverfield Lane 12 Dates of Christmas 40 Days and 40 Nights A Very English Christmas A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas A Vineyard Christmas A Walk on the Moon Adult World* Airplane II: The Sequel* Airplane!* American Hustle* Angel Heart Angela's Ashes* Barbarella Bend It Like Beckham* Body Cam Braveheart Caddyshack Carriers Cheech & Chong's Still Smokin' Christmas by Candlelight Christmas Casanova Christmas Cupid Christmas in Scotland Cloverfield Coupled Up for Christmas Crawl Critical Condition* Dead Presidents* Deck the Halls Dirty Dancing* Eat, Love, London Emma (1996) Ernest Saves Christmas Face/Off* Finding Vivian Maier* First Blood Florence Foster Jenkins* Grindhouse: Death Proof* Grindhouse: Planet Terror* Hondo How Stella Got Her Groove Back* I'll Be Home for Christmas* Imagine That* Jack Reacher Jackass Number Two Jersey Girl John Grisham's The Rainmaker Joyful Noise Judas and the Black Messiah Just Like a Christmas Movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Machine Gun Preacher* Madea's Big Happy Family Megamind Milk Money* Mimic* Mimic 2* Mimic 3: Sentinel* Mother! Pretty Baby* Rambo III Rambo: First Blood Part II RED RED 2 Regarding Henry Rise of the Guardians Rosemary's Baby Rounders Scrapper* Set It Off* She's All That Sirens Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins Tales from the Darkside: The Movie Tangerine* Teaching Mrs. Tingle That Thing You Do!* The Addams Family (1991) The Christmas Classic* The Dead Zone The Face of Love* The Fighting Temptations The Fugitive The Hours The Iron Giant The Ladies Man The Prophecy* The Prophecy 3: The Ascent* The Prophecy II* The Prophecy: Forsaken* The Prophecy: Uprising* The Shawshank Redemption The Shining The Thing* The To Do List The Virgin Suicides The Words Total Recall* Trainspotting Trapped in Paradise* Triple 9* Twisted Up in Smoke War of the Worlds What's Eating Gilbert Grape Witness Wuthering Heights* December 7 Showing Up* December 9 Transformers: The Last Knight December 11 Jules* December 20 Golda* December 21 Beau Is Afraid* December 26 No Escape* SPORTS 12/2: SEC Championship – Georgia vs. Alabama* 12/3: NFL ON CBS Week 13 (check local listings) 12/3: Major League Fishing* 12/3: Serie A – Napoli vs. Inter 12/8: Serie A – Juventus vs. Napoli 12/9: NCAA Men’s Basketball – Illinois @ Tennessee* 12/9: College Football on CBS – The Army-Navy Game* 12/10: NFL ON CBS Week 14 Doubleheader (check local listings) 12/10: Barclays Women’s Super League – Arsenal vs. Chelsea 12/10: Barclays Women’s Super League – Tottenham vs. Manchester United 12/11: Concacaf W Gold Cup Draw 12/12-12/13: UEFA Champions League Matchday 6 12/12: UEFA Champions League – Manchester United vs. Bayern Munich 12/13: UEFA Champions League – Newcastle United vs. AC Milan 12/14: UEFA Europa League – Matchday 6 12/14: UEFA Europa Conference League – Matchday 6 12/16: NCAA Men’s Basketball – Kansas @ Indiana* 12/16: CBS Sports Classic – UCLA vs. Ohio State & North Carolina vs. Kentucky* 12/16: Argentina Liga Profesional de Fútbol Final 12/17: NFL ON CBS Week 15 (check local listings) 12/17: Dubai Sail Grand Prix* 12/18: UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Draw 12/23: Serie A – Roma vs. Napoli 12/23: NFL Slimetime* 12/23: PBR Rodeo* 12/23: Rogue Invitational* 12/23: NCAA Men’s Basketball – Vanderbilt vs. Memphis* 12/24: NFL ON CBS Week 16 (check local listings) 12/25: NFL ON CBS Christmas Day – Las Vegas Raiders @ Kansas City Chiefs 12/29: Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl* 12/30: Serie A – Juventus vs. Roma 12/30: PBR* 12/30: NCAA Men’s Basketball – Creighton @ Marquette* 12/30: NCAA Men’s Basketball – UCLA @ Oregon* 12/31: NFL ON CBS Week 17 Doubleheader (check local listings) Throughout December: Italian Serie A competition Throughout December: Argentina Liga Profesional de Fútbol competition Throughout December: Campeonato Brasileirão Série A competition Throughout December: Scottish Professional Football League competition Throughout December: Combate Global competition Throughout December: AFC Champions League competition Throughout December: Barclays Women’s Super League competition *Title is available to Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers. **All Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers can live stream CBS titles via the live feed on Paramount+. Those titles will be available on-demand to all subscribers the day after they air live. Dates for library titles are subject to change.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: November 19

 

 Fear the Walking Dead:  So the dead chick was just the girl’s mom, not Alicia?  She better show up alive next week otherwise, what has this back half of the season even been about?  This show is just sputtering to an end.

 

A Murder at the End of the World:  How convenient, a true crime writer was invited to a retreat where someone died.  I have a sinking suspicion that the tech billionaire or his wife was the one that did the killing to see if she could solve the murder.  But this show just really made me miss my iPod.

 

Survivor:  Ugg, the only interesting contestant this season is already gone.  But this new twist on the auction was just stupid.  It was just musical chairs, except you lost your vote when the music ran out.

 

The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion:  I was laughing at the dude who lost, but then I read about how they changed the rules after he won the first two which lead to Jordan sweeping the last three, may I would cry at the blatant manipulation too.

 

Quantum Leap:  I do not think we got to see what Ben looked like, but it seemed like he was an old dude considering his peers which makes him forcing himself on the blond chick even creepier. I did laugh when Ben did not tell her his last name, because someone in that time period would likely be very racist against Asians.  But is Ben just going to jump around in time with her this season?  Did she have connections to the four episodes we did not see her in?  Will she end up being involved in the Quantum Leap program in the future?

 

Lessons in Chemistry:  How Gumpian that the preacher knew Calvin so personally.

 

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters:  Kind of annoying that I had to read the Wikipedia plot of a six year old movie within 30 seconds just to understand what was going on.  I do not even remember John Goodman being in that movie.  The math is also hurting my brain. John Goodman and Kurt Russell are about the same age; young John Goodman and young Kurt Russell are about the same age, but John Goodman's character was in the 70's and Kurt Russell's character is from last decade. That is a bit of a leap.   Russell has got to be in his nineties by now if he was in his twenties/thirties back during the fifties.

Around the Tubes: November 18, 2023

 

     

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 Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie!, Lauren Spencer Smith, Lyn Lapid, Shania Twain, Olivia Newton-John, Adam Blackstone, and Game Show Network.

- “Whoa Mama!” Grab your favorite pair of suspenders, hike up those pants, and get ready to celebrate the holidays with Steve Urkel. From executive producer Wyatt Cenac, Warner Bros. Animation, and Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment comes Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie!, an all-new animated holiday movie musical for the whole family to enjoy. Starring the beloved and kind-hearted Steve Urkel, the breakout character from the series Family Matters, Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie! features the voices of Jaleel White (as Steve Urkel), joined by Nicole Byer (“Nailed It”), Roy Wood Jr. (“The Daily Show”), and Kym Whitley (“The Bay”). The film will be available exclusively on Digital from participating digital platforms where you purchase movies, including Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu, and more, on November 21, 2023.  The holiday season is here, and brilliant but accident-prone super genius Steve Urkel has only one mission: to make the holidays the best they can be for everyone! However, things are off to a not so merry start after he ruins a celebration at his local shopping mall and humiliates the department store Santa. Hoping to make things right, Steve invents a device that helps people spread holiday cheer but it only manages to make things worse. Using his big brain and even bigger heart, it’s up to Steve to help the city rediscover the holiday spirit.

-Global breakout Lauren Spencer Smith celebrates the holiday season with her powerful rendition of the iconic “Santa Baby,” alongside an original, “Broke Christmas.” The cover showcases Lauren’s impressive vocal range while  “Broke Christmas,” conveys the relatable burden of holiday spending. Check out “Santa Baby” here and “Broke Christmas here.  Earlier this month Lauren’s cover of “Hallelujah,” appeared exclusively on Apple Music as part of their Carols Covered annual global holiday program. Check it out here.

- 21-year-old singer and songwriter Lyn Lapid reveals her new single “east side,” taken from her forthcoming deluxe EP to love in the 21^st century: the epilogue, out December 1st on Mercury Records/Republic Records. Listen to “east side” now HERE and watch the visualizer HERE!  Lyn says, “I’m so excited to share my new song ‘east side,’ it’s a really special and personal song I wrote about my hometown friends back in Maryland. I wrote about how my hometown friendships over the years have turned into ‘low maintenance friendships,’ mostly because I don’t see my old school friends as much as I used to, yet despite everything it hasn’t affected our friendship at all. We’ve grown to live such different lives with them being in college and me pursuing music full time, we don’t talk or hangout as much as we used to, but our friendship still remains strong even if I’m not as close with them anymore.”

- On November 17, Mercury Nashville/UMe is set to release multiple expanded U.S. and International 2LP vinyl editions of Shania Twain’s widely acclaimed November 2004 compilation album Greatest Hits, marking the first time ever that this record-breaking collection of hits will appear on vinyl. With countless chart-topping anthems throughout Shania’s discography, Greatest Hits represents so much more than a collection of classics – it’s a genre-defining celebration of the queen of country pop. Greatest Hits was certified by Guinness World Records as being the fastest-selling hits collection by a female artist in the U.S., with first-week sales of 529,000 units, sending it well on its way to achieving global sales of over 5M units to date. Both the U.S. and International versions of Greatest Hits have been remastered from the original tapes, and they each now contain two additional tracks: Shania’s latest hit, “Giddy Up!” as well as the fan-favorite “Life’s About To Get Good.”

- MCA/UMe releases both vinyl and CD editions of Dame Olivia Newton-John’s smash-hit, tenth studio album, 1978’s Totally Hot, a record that further reinforced her status as a surefire international superstar. In celebration of Newton-John’s first-ever platinum-certified album’s 45th anniversary, Totally Hot returns to vinyl for the first time in decades in two different options, in addition to being made available on CD and on all major digital platforms.  Totally Hot is available in the following formats: limited-edition 1LP neon coral red vinyl, standard weight 1LP black vinyl, 1CD, and Digital. All versions of Totally Hot can be ordered HERE.

- Emmy® award-winning musical director, musician, singer, and songwriter Adam Blackstone unveils the cover art and tracklist for his forthcoming second solo album and first Christmas album, A LEGACY CHRISTMAS, which is set for release on November 24 (“BASSic Black Friday”)!!  Pre-order/Pre-save HERE.   The album features a myriad of A-list guests, including Andra Day, BJ The Chicago Kid, Boyz II Men, Keke Palmer, 2023 Stellar® Awards New Artist of The Year Lena Byrd Miles, and more. With a total of ten joyful songs, A LEGACY CHRISTMAS warms up the season as the perfect soundtrack!

- This Thanksgiving and Black Friday, Game Show Network will be running marathons of fan favorites and new additions.  The marathons will feature Split Second and America Says, both hosted by John Michael Higgins, People Puzzler hosted by Leah Remini, Switch hosted by Jeff Hephner, and Family Feud hosted by Steve Harvey. Joining the Game Show Network staples is a run of Card Sharks, hosted by Joel McHale.  The episodes will run 8a - 6p on Thursday, and 8a - 8p on Friday.

THANKSGIVING 11/23

8:00a- Switch (Jeff Hephner)

11:00a- America Says (John Michael Higgins)

2:00pm- People Puzzler (Leah Remini)

BLACK FRIDAY 11/24

8:00a- Split Second (John Michael Higgins)

11:00a- Family Feud (Steve Harvey)

4:00p- Card Sharks (Joel McHale)

57 Channels and Only This Is On: November 12, 2023

 

 Fear the Walking Dead:  So Morgan recently went back to Atlanta and now Dwight is going all the way to Virginia?  Geez, it is like there is unlimited fuel in the apocalypse.  How are these people driving long distances?

 

Survivor:  Well, Kaleb’s Shot in the Dark turned out was worthless if he was just voted out the very next week.  But it looks like we are heading for an all chick’s alliance.  How often does that actually work out?  Just Parvati?

 

The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion:  How appropriate on the Pride episode, it comes down to two gay homosexuals being up for elimination?

 

Doom Patrol:  Well, that did seem like a pretty definitive ending.  I wonder what would have happen if there was a third season.  Would Rita have stayed dead?

 

Loki:  They really suck Sylvie with that silly mullet all season?  I feel really bad for her.  So Loki is just He Who Remains Now?  Though I am confused what actually happened to Who He Remains.  But this whole season was confusing.

 

Lessons in Chemistry:   I recently got three free months of Apple TV+ and got caught up on this show.  It is hilarious.  Though of the shows I have watched so far, there seems to be a theme on this service of shows that I laugh a lot through, but I am not entirely sure if they are actually supposed to be funny (The Morning Show and See being the other two that fit this bill).  Calvin being hit by the bus followed by an episode with a talking dog was just wild.

 

As for the latest episode, I was surprised none of Elizabeth’s audience actually showed up to the protest.  Except her rowing partner was there but was not actually even mentioned at all like he was a glorified extra.   And just how does the priest know Calvin?  I get a very strong female Forrest Gump from this show and these giant coincidences just feeds into it.