The big new at the start of the new season of Major Crimes is that Rusty got a haircut! Okay not exactly life changing but all jokes aside, there are three characters at the end of the episode who actually do make life changing decisions that will certainly play out for the rest of season five; one by himself, and two who make the plans together.
But before that, there is a case to solve (and that case inspires one of those big life changes). The case of the week involves a volunteer at a homeless outreach program who gets in a fight with her boyfriend while helping. Oh, and after the fight, the boyfriend goes down to Tijuana with friends and conveniently left his cell phone at home. Douchebag boyfriend or mentally unstable homeless person who mistakes kindness for an attack? And of course on a show like this, there are still more red herrings to find along the way.
And while a few characters are looking at big changes to their future, Buzz is looking backward. He has requested the thirty old cold case of his father and uncle and look to finally close that chapter of his life by looking for clues that reopen the case. I smell a season finale case of the week plot cooking.
Major Crimes airs Mondays at 10:00 on TNT. You can also download Major Crimes on iTunes.
On the cover of Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing's Shocking is a sculpture of a pair of nude female conjoined twins sitting on a sideways rocking chair with their heads on fire, which was pretty shocking for 1988. The band was just a little early because truly nothing is shocking anymore especially on television where deaths have become so commonplace no one even bats an eye. Oh, The Walking Dead killed off another black dude; it must be that time of the season. But I have to admit I was pretty shocked when The Last Ship ended last season with someone walking up to Doctor Scott and shot her point blank. Sure I am the guy who likes to see the cold body until I see I believe someone is dead (and am still a bit suspicious even then… I am looking at you The Blacklist), but a child could kill someone at point blank range, certainly militia man can, right?
I will not spoil Dr. Scott’s fate except to say we get definitive word before the title sequence rolls. Dr. Scott or not, it does not really matter, they were able to mass produce the cure even before she was shot and season three starts off one hundred and fifty-four days into the new president’s tenure who has now taken up shop in St. Louis where the area now has consistent power and some people can even watch his address to the nation on television.
So, um, why is there even a season three if everything is hunky dory? Well those evil Chinese are possibly hording the cure, letting the virus mutate across Asia so the Nathan James has to travel half way around the world to once again try to get the cure in the hands of the sick while fighting off power hungry warlords who gain more power with every death. Except they are down a captain as Chandler has taken a post in the new administration and has stayed in the land-locked new capital and Slattery has now taken the helm of the destroyer. New mother Lieutenant Foster has also traded her navy blues for some civilian clothes in the administration, separating her from her baby daddy.
Of course a diplomacy mission takes Chandler to Japan, not too far from where the Nathan James is sailing. It is also not far from a former flame in the form of Bridget Reagan (Agent Carter) who has taken up in the Chinese consulate during the virus outbreak and is also visiting the same Asian summit. Oh and at the end of the first hour of the two hour premiere someone dies. But to be honest, despite being a recognizable face, I would say this death was nothing shocking.
The Last Ship airs Sundays at 9:00. You can also download The Last Ship on iTunes.
House of Lies: This show was the first US production to film in Cuba since they lifted the embargo and, well, it kind of looks like every Central / South American setting.
Preacher: So the Irish dude is a vampire, the way he devoured the cow I though he was going to be something more demonic. Though there is still some question of what is up with the Preacher, something inhabited him last week and clearly he thinks he now has some power of persuasion telling the girl to wake up at the end, except we have to wait a week to find out if she does.
You can download Preacher on iTunes.
Penny Dreadful: Oh man, why are they getting rid of Mr. Lyle? He was the most entertaining part of the show. But of course since this is television they replaced him with a younger hotter model. But I guess they also needed to replace the hot demon chick even though you would think a witch could survive a simple gunshot wound. I guess this helps put Ethan back on the good side (he did walk away from his father instead of killing him). And now the gang can get back together just in to help Vanessa battle Dracula. But what a weird scene with Vanessa telling the museum guy there is some ancient evil trying to take her soul and not only does not run, goes on a monologue about the vampire bat before having sex with her. How long until he dies or at least getting under Dracula’s spell? I give I two episodes.
The Americans: So this is the closest Spy Philip has been to FBI Agent Stan since that time Elizabeth got caught back in I think season two being at the same park at the same time. But now that they have officially announce an end date after two more season I am just going to assume the Jennings are never going to be caught. Now my big question is when in the eighties will the show end? The season finale took place in January 1984. I was kind of surprised when I looked up the date of the Oakland-Washington Super Bowl because it seemed like it should be later. I thought the premiere took place during the Reagan inauguration which means only three years have elapsed in four seasons. If the Jennings did not get caught, I was hoping the series would at least last until at least the fall of communism but the fall of the Berlin Wall is five years and a half away and eight year until the end of The Soviet Union. So unless there is a sizable time jump we will not get there.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals III: Really, another episode where no one was sent home. So what are we up to, the sixth episode and only one team has sent home via the Jungle and actually stayed away. Except since another team went home voluntarily, will Jessica and Johnny replace them next week? And I kind of have to side with Camilla on the whole token scandal. It is Christina’s responsibility to keep track of her token and should not just be throwing it around willy nilly. How hard is it to tuck it in your sports bra so it does not get lost like I saw many people do? Now I was too lazy to go back and re-watch it, but if it was a situation where the tokens were color coded to the teams, then I can see disqualifying Camellia if she picked up, say, Christina’s blue token when her teams were red. But of course all that drama did not matter because another dude when home because of his girlfriend (at least this time was noble as she was entering the emergency room) and of course Nany and Wes did not draw a black skull.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.
Orphan Black: Welcome back Helena. Way to spray your clone with copious amount of blood. Speaking of welcome back, holy Delphine sighting. That was so unexpected, during that final scene I originally thought it was Felix; sister until they kept talking about Delphine during the “next time on” package.
You can download Orphan Black on iTunes.
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 House of Lies, Barely Famous, Winsanitty, Power, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Keith Urban, and Masters of Sex.
- This Sunday, June 12th at 9:00, our favorite corporate sharks are boarding their last flight, in grand, historic style, to Havana, Cuba for the conclusion of the Showtime comedy series House of Lies. Shot entirely on location and directed by series creator and executive producer Matthew Carnahan, this final episode, “No Es Fácil,” marks the first time an American scripted series was shot in Cuba since the restoration of diplomatic relations. Don Cheadle (Miles Ahead) headlines the stellar cast, which includes Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars), Emmy® winner Ben Schwartz (Parks & Recreation), Josh Lawson (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues), Donis Leonard Jr. (Criminal Minds), and Emmy winner Glynn Turman (In Treatment). As we conclude the series, the Pod is assessing their personal portfolios: in their constant quest for the almighty dollar, how much is enough? How much money buys happiness and at what cost?
- Season two continues to satirize the reality TV genre by exploring the endless hypocrisy of Hollywood wealth and fame. Each episode of Barely Famous, featuring multi-hyphenate producers, actresses and writers Erin and Sara Foster, dives into the world of celebrity in a docu-style format through the eyes of the delusional, hilarious and beautiful Foster sisters. Celebrity cameos this season include Chris Martin, Chelsea Handler, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Zach Braff, Kate Upton, Cindy Crawford, Brooke Burke, Dr. Phil, Ali Larter, Lauren London, Joey Fatone and more. Check out the Supertrailer here.
- GSN has partnered with participation TV technology company iPowow on the new game show series, Winsanity, to allow viewers – for the first time ever in cable TV – to play along at home in real-time on their mobile devices against other viewers, see their results on-screen and also get a chance to win prizes throughout the season. The play along at home feature will be part of the show, beginning with the series debut on Thursday, June 9 at 9:00 on GSN. The new iPowow play-at-home game at WinsanityLive.com, allows viewers watching the show in real-time to play along for free and stack the facts in the correct order, using their smartphone, tablet or laptop.
- Anchoe Bay Entertainment gears up for the much-anticipated release of the Starz Original series Power: The Complete Second Seasonon Blu-ray™ and DVD on Tuesday, June 14th. Executive Produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and created by Courtney A. Kemp (“The Good Wife”), POWER is a drama that straddles the opulent Manhattan lifestyle of the rich and infamous and the underbelly of the international drug trade. The second season picks up where it left off: James "Ghost" St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick) doubling down on his drug business to save his nightclub and dream of a legitimate future. His work troubles pale in comparison to juggling his relationship with his wife, Tasha (Naturi Naughton), and his first love Angela (Lela Loren), who's also an Assistant United States Attorney investigating his drug organization. Ghost is set further back from his dream by his business partner Tommy (Joseph Sikora) who loves the drug game, and his former mentor, Kanan (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson), fresh out of jail, and looking for revenge. Season two has Ghost in a race against himself: can he get out of the drug game alive before Angela discovers who he is? The third season of POWER premieres on a new night Sunday, July 17 at 9:00 on Starz.
- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Greatest Hits collection will be available on vinyl for the first time in North America on July 29 as a double LP on 180-Gram Black Vinyl. The album is the biggest selling in the band’s illustrious catalog, with sales surpassing twelve million copies since its 1993 release.
Tune in to watch Keith Urban on AT&T Live at the iHeartRadio Theater NY airing exclusively via nationwide broadcast this Friday (tonight), June 10 at 9:00 on the AUDIENCE Network DIRECTV Ch 239/U-verse Ch 1114.
- Niecy Nash and Betty Gilpin will be guest stars on the fourth season of Showtime Networks’ critically acclaimed drama series Masters of Sex Nash, who will appear in a multi-episode arc, plays Louise Bell, a local AA - chairperson running Masters’ (Michael Sheen) court-ordered daily meetings. She fervently believes in AA’s message, and uses it to push Masters to reevaluate his life. Gilpin, who will also appear in a multi-episode arc, will play Nancy, a former medical student of Barton’s (Beau Bridges), who partners with Masters adding a second MD to the practice. Production on season four recently began in Los Angeles.
Longtime readers know I have an irrational hatred of Lost. For six years I thought I was watching a sci-fi show with some relationship aspects but when the how ended I realized all those sci-fi elements did not matter and Lost was no different than all the other nighttime soaps on ABC at that time that just happened to take place in different places. Desperate Housewives took place in the suburbs, Grey’s Anatomy took place in a hospital; Lost just happened to take place on a deserted island with mystical power. But ignored the random four toed statue just offshore, the show was more about Jack and the relationship with his imaginary son. If I could turn a frozen donkey wheel to go back in time to tell my younger self to not watch that show I would.
The first time I saw the trailer for Wrecked, it was completely cold. I had never heard of the show, did not know what to expect. So when the promo started with a group of strangers stranded on a deserted island, I thought, oh goodness no. Then the previous serious tone of the ad ended with a joke and the comedy station TBS logo splashed on the screen, I realized it was not a cheap Lost rip-off, it was actually a cheap Lost parody.
Wrecked is more in vein of a Mel Brookes broad parody than the horible Wayans brother cram in as many references in a minute as they can. Sure the show opens up with the close up of a dude’s face and there is a character in the premiere that I am pretty sure the casting agent said, “get someone who looks exactly like Matthew Fox.” And unlike the creators of Lost who famously wanted to kill off Jack in the first episode of Lost, the writers gleefully do it in the promo for the show. Um, spoiler alert for anyone who did not see that promo.
Really aside from the setting and the brief stint from a Jack-like character, there is not else tying the show to Lost. No flashback, no smoke monster (yet) for better or worse. When the cop admits to another character he was not actually a cop prior to crashing I was fully expecting a flashback with a sight gag of him being the furthest thing from a respectable cop.
Also where the characters on Lost all had roles and their uses, Wrecked is populated by some useless and incompetent people. There is the grown up douchebag frat boy and his long suffering sorority girlfriend, an incompetent male flight attendant, a vapid sports agent, the pretentious liberal, and maybe the most reliable castaway is a podiatrist. Sure there is someone who can kill a boar (possibly with her bare hand), but she is not all there. The cast is rounded out with a loveable lunk who is upbeat despite having his legs crushed by debris and is played by the only recognizable member of the cast played by the lizard man from the best episode of the recent The X-Files reboot. Happy Endings’s Eliza Coupe does show up in the premiere as the higher strung flight attendant but is not seen after the plane crash. We do not see her die so possible she is on the other end of the island with The Others.
After years of putting on traditional sitcoms in vein of eighties multi-cams, TBS is ramping up more adventurous programming starting earlier this year with Angie Tribeca which is currently the funniest show on television and followed that up with the everything goes hilariously wrong The Detour. Wrecked may not be as funny, but in a summer which is lacking anything else in the funny department there are plenty of laughs to be found. My favorite bit being when one castaway finds a DVD player with two hours left of charge and then has to decide whether to watch the important and powerful Selma as possibly their last movie they ever watch, or watch Dumb or Dumber To.
The first season of Casual ended in maybe the most casual way, with someone walking in on the girl who he is seeing (who has another serious boyfriend in their open relationship) in bed with his sister. The same sister whose one night stand the guy participated in a foursome with and the girl in the open relationship. Well that was the start of the finale, the season ended just like it began, with the guy, the sister, her daughter in the back of a church. But instead of an imaginary funeral of their father, it is his real wedding to their mother.
The first season of Casual was about dating at different stages of life. Valerie was a recent divorcée dealing with the grief of that ending and trying to find something new, usually disastrously (like ending up in your brother’s bed with his girlfriend). Alex has never had a serious relationship but your aimless twenties start to get old when you are well into your thirties. Then there is Valerie’s daughter Laura who is navigation high school while possibly making the worse decision of the all by making a sex tape in hopes of making her photography teacher jealous.
As the second season start, the family is still together in the same house but there are plenty of changes. Alex has moved into Phase 3 of his life which apparently involves running at dawn, fresh fruit drinks, and yoga. And he is not even picking up chick at yoga either. Laura cannot go back to her old school after a sex scandal and her mother sleeping with photographer teacher. While Vanessa, well, he is dealing with birds and construction in a neighboring office.
There are big changes in the personal lives as well as professional. After what happened last season, Alex’s dating app need help to stay afloat. In walked the very person you do not want see walk into your office: Pete Campbell. Even worse, no one punches him in the first couple episode, granted we had to wait four or five seasons before Lane did something every viewer wanted to see. Disappointment of not seeing Pete Campbell getting decked by a British dude aside (c’mon Leon, you can do it), if you enjoyed the first season, there is plenty in the second to renew your Hulu subscription.
New episodes of Casual premiere Tuesdays on Hulu where the first two episodes of season two (and the entire first season) are available now.
Nothing like some gunfire to liven up a wedding reception. Just that happened to Korsak after tying the knot which ended the sixth season of Rizzoli and Isles. The seventh, and final, season begins tonight with Rizzoli running down the assailant and Isles mending to wounded, which she herself includes. No signs point to Alice Sands but that is exactly who the Boston Police Department focuses on.
Sands is the former drug kingpin who dropped out of the academy after coming in second too many times to Rizzoli and now has decided to harass Rizzoli by burning down her house and kidnapping Maura. And now she is believed to shoot up a wedding leaving at least one in critical condition.
There are back to back episodes tonight and the second involves a fatal car crash which may not be as simple as it looks that the team investigates while still on the hunt for Sands. The second ends with not one but two shocking conclusions. There also may be new love in the air this season. Oh and zombies. There are zombies next week.
House of Lies: Oh Jennie, why re you making out with the fourth member out of four of a boy band? At least hold out for the second banana. I was going to laugh at the mayoral candidate getting in a fight with that boy bander, but it reminds me too much of what Donald Trump is capable of. You know Trump would punch the fourth banana from One Direction. And his poll numbers would go up.
Preacher: With the proliferation of comic book adaptations and the limited amount of competent actors, it is only a matter time because everyone starts being in two or more properties; heck, despite being a much maligned franchise Fantastic Four’s Johnny Storm has found his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe twice (Chris Evans as Captain America and Michael B. Jordan in an undisclosed role in the upcoming Black Panther standalone). I wish there were some nineties east-coast / west coast rap level of loyalty when it comes to the two big comic book companies, but alas here we have Howard Stark in the DC property (granted a DC imprint Vertigo which I do not believe is tied into the DC Universe; not that the television shows and movies are connected unless you want to believe they are all art of the multi-verse). The lady who plays Tulip was even on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
I really did not know much about the comic the show was based on but the premiere was mostly enjoyable but suffered a little from overhype (seriously writers of the world, can we please stop with the “best pilot ever” tag, I think most people are smart enough to realize you say that just in the hopes of getting your name in the promo). The star of the episode had to be the Irish dude (though honorable mention to the homemade bazooka); what is up with that dude? I am tempted to go to the comic wiki page. Dude jumps out of a plane with nothing but an umbrella (an a bottle of wine) but The Penguin he is not as he splats on the ground with his intestines all out then gets back together by depowering a cow. Yep this should be a fun summer show.
You can download Preacher on iTunes.
Penny Dreadful Last week we spent the entire episode with Vanessa in the loony bin learning how she met Dracula and this week we (pretty much) spent the whole episode with Ethan (okay we got a couple scenes with Dr. Jekyll but really until Mr. Hyde shows up, those scene are inconsequential). And the two episodes were very glaring, I kind of got bored last week, but the Ethan backstory was fascinating and well put together. My one complaint was I just knew right when his father drew his gun, that the episode was going to end on that cliffhanger. Crap. Now we have to wait a week to see if Ethan embraces the dark side or the light. Okay, daddy’s gotta die. Right?
The Americans: So the FBI are inkling closer to the Russian scientist (thanks to the promo monkeys for letting us know how that turns out) so we have one week to see if this is the time when the Jennings actually get caught by the FBI or maybe the scientist dies before he can talk. But what I found interesting was Oleg taking about the Challenger. Are the writers going to suggest the Russians had something to do with that?
You can download The Americans on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals III: So here we are in the fourth week and only two teams were sent home from the jungle. Well actually only one went home because the first team came back for no apparently reason. If you were going to do that, how about have the loser of this Jungle battle the returning team to see who gets back in the game? I would have much rather have Jessica and Johnny back than the other team whose only memory I have of is remember writing I have no idea these people were in this game when they were eliminated the first time.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.
Orphan Black: Can the next NBC live musical please be Jesus Christ Superstar starring Tatiana Maslany? Or even better Maslany as Alison Hendrix playing Judas?
You can download Orphan Black on iTunes.
We have reached that time of the year where most of the spring shows have ended (there are one more Americans, two more House of Lies ever after tonight, two more of Orphan Black, and four more of Penny Dreadful) and summer shows are slowly trickle out. Actually looking like it will be a very slow summer, it seems like everything is airing at 10:00 on either Wednesday or Sunday, but not much else. Maybe some of the new shows that really have not grabbed my attention with lackluster trailers (Animal Kingdom, Good Behavior, Queen of the South) will end up being this year’s Mr. Robot which had a meh trailer but ended up being great (TNT which airs those first two is in definitely need of a hit as it has launched a critical or commercial hit since maybe Falling Skies; and that show is not on the air anymore). Here is what I will be watching while trying to avoid allergens outside over the next couple months.
Mondays
9:00 - Angie Tribeca (TBS, June 6)
10:00 – BrainDead (CBS, June 13)
Tuesdays
Casual (Hulu, June 7)
8:00 – Pretty Little Liars (Freeform, June 21)
10:00 – Wrecked (TBS, June 14)
Wednesdays
10:00 – The Challenge Rivals III (MTV, already started)
10:00 – Royal Pains (USA, already started)
10:00 – Tyrant (FX, July 6)
10:00 – Mr. Robot (USA, July 13)
10:00 – You’re the Worst (FXX, August 31)
Thursdays
10:00 - Aquarius (NBC, June 16)
10:00 - Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll (FX, June 30)
Sundays
9:00 – The Last Ship (TNT, June 12)
9:00 – Ray Donovan (Showtime, June 25)
10:00 - Preacher (AMC, already started)
10:00 - Murder in the First (TNT, June 19)
10:00 – Roadies (Showtime, June 25)
10:00 - The Strain (FX, August 28)
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 Purity, The Look of Silence, Masters of Sex, Shameless, The Affair, Homeland, Mind of a Giant, and White Famous.
- Showtime announced the pick-up of the new limited series Purity, based on the novel of the same name from best-selling author Jonathan Franzen, and starring and executive produced by internationally-acclaimed actor Daniel Craig. Todd Field (Little Children, In the Bedroom) will write, direct and executive produce, along with executive producers Scott Rudin, Eli Bush, David Hare and Jonathan Franzen. Hare and Franzen will also serve as writers on the series. Field will direct every episode. Purity will be a 20-episode limited series set to air over the course of two years on Showtime. Production will begin in 2017.
- Joshua Oppenheimer’s Oscar®-nominated The Look of Silence is the incredible story of a man confronting his brother’s killers and demanding they accept responsibility for their crimes. Adi, an optometrist who survived the 1965 Indonesian genocide, takes this unimaginable step in a society where murderers remain in power. To break the spell of submission and terror, he forces them, and us, to reckon with his country’s dark history. A companion piece to Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing, also an Oscar® nominee, The Look of Silence has been hailed as a “masterpiece” by The New York Times for bearing witness to the collapse of 50 years of silence. Winner, Grand Jury Prize, Critics Prize and Human Rights Award, 2014 Venice Film Festival. Trailer.
- Showtimw announced its fall premiere schedule, with the critically-acclaimed drama series Masters of Sex returning for a fourth season on Sunday, September 11th at 10:00, and the seventh season of the network’s No. 1 comedy series Shameless premiering on Sunday, October 2nd at 9:00. Then, on November 20th at 10:00, the third season of the Golden Globe-winning hit drama series The Affair will make its debut. The three series will be available on Showtime on-air, on demand and over the internet. Also Homeland will shift from its regular slot in the fall to a winter premiere in January 2017. The series will return to the U.S. after spending the last two seasons shooting in South Africa and Berlin. Season six is set to begin production in New York starting in August.
- Across Africa, elephants are in crisis. Each day, 96 elephants fall victim to poachers, human-elephant conflict and habitat loss. In 2013, Paul G. Allen launched the Great Elephant Census, the first pan-African aerial survey of savanna elephants in more than 40 years. Soon after surveyors began their work, they observed something that truly surprised them. In the past 40 years, in the face of growing threats, elephants have changed where and how they live in their historic ecosystems. This incredible discovery, combined with the latest studies from the top elephant researchers in the world, revealed that elephants are learning to adapt and survive in ways we’ve never seen before. We join the experts in Africa to see their work firsthand in Mind of a Giant, premiering Sunday, June 19, at 9:00 on Nat Geo WILD.
- Showtime has given a pilot order to White Famous, a half-hour comedy executive produced by Academy Award® winner Jamie Foxx and Tom Kapinos. White Famous will be written by Kapinos, based on an idea by Jamie Foxx, who will guest star in a recurring role. A co-production between Lionsgate Television and Showtime, the project will focus on a talented, young African-American comedian whose star is rising, forcing him to navigate the treacherous waters of maintaining his credibility as he begins to cross-over towards becoming “white famous.” White Famous marks a return to Showtime for Kapinos who created, wrote and executive produced seven seasons of the hit series Californication.
Networks are getting creative with how the roll out new shows these days but none were are bizarre as how TBS debuted Angie Tribeca with a twenty-five hour commercial free marathon and then if you missed it, you could watch all episode via On Demand or if you only watch shows on weekly televised schedules, the season re-aired Mondays. Oh, and before it aired, TBS renewed it for ten more seasons. Okay each season would last one episode so basically it was just like greenlighting a ten episode second season because dumb jokes is what the show does best.
Because of its unconventional rollout it is hard to tell if it was a success or not. The TBS PR department has spun it into one touting 65 million social media impressions and 32% of all binge a thon viewers being first time TBS viewers. We will see how many turn into regular viewers when Angie Tribeca has a more traditional second season. The second season starts Monday with new episodes weekly. Okay to ween you in, the first week there is back to back episodes.
The first season ended on a cliffhanger with a bomb strapped to J. Geils’ chest and Angie refusing to leave his side while it counted down to zero. We do learn the fate of the two cops early on before we flashfoward one year later. Despite the possible gme changing episode and the time jump, the show continues with it dumb fun vibe leave no joke unmade. There are actually a couple changes. Unfortunately the screaming guy coming out of the title sequence is no more (c’mon, South Park made it about ten seasons before running out of ways to kill Kenny, you cannot go more than one; but alas).
The bigger change is there is an actual overarching plotline that weaves throughout the season involving a plot to bring down the mayor that brings in the FBI in the form of Heather Graham (playing Diane Duran, natch) and a not so dead guest from the first season. But there still are plenty of silly case of the week plots including a sushi chef murder which features a creative use of sub-titles, an spin on the ever increasing number of drug advertisements, and a dead boy bander that features actual former boy banders (surprisingly Joey Fatone does not play “the fat one”), and the conclusion of the season long plot is successfully enjoyable and slightly confusion in the most Angie Tribeca way possible at the same time (although they leave a very obvious Scooby Doo joke left unsaid; maybe the one missed joke the show has not made ever). Graham is not the only notable face; Maya Rudolph show up as a romance novelist brought in to help on a cast lampooning all the cop shows with wacky consultants (R.I.P. Castle), Dani Pudi as a app developer for cheaters, an ER reunion during the organ theft episode, and many blink and you will miss them cameos. But sorry, no Bill Murray this season, but if you enjoyed the first season, there is plenty to enjoy in season two. Or technically seasons two through eleven.
I pretty much trashed the new Ariana Grande album last week, but I will say this is one of the least bad songs off the album. It helps that it just her and not one of those embarrassingly bad guests she had on the album. The video reminds me of like a less drug filled version of Rihanna’s We Found Love video; that may even be the same dude. But that pretty much sums up her career, despite naming her album Dangerous Woman, Grande comes off like a less dangerous version of Rihanna.
Lake By the Ocean – Maxwell
Cake by the Ocean was one of the songs that you hear and go meh, and move on. Except that it starts getting more and more airplay and the more you hear it, the more you hate it to the point where I see Maxwell has a new song out called the similarly titled Lake By the Ocean and my first thought was ugg. Which is a shame because it actually is a good song that should go in the Babymaking Playlist, but man, I really hate that Cake By the Ocean song.
Spiral – Eric Clapton
Kind of a cool concept for a music video for a song entitled Spiral but the problem is that Eric Clapton does not really have any distinctive visual periods. I would call myself a fan, but I really could not name the corresponding period to each picture in the video.
Hell No – Ingrid Michaelson
I have never done a list of the worst music videos of the year list, but if I did, Ingrid Michaelson’s social media filter themed video would definitely be number one. There is nothing more annoying than scrolling through Instagram and your feed is flooded hot chicks using whatever the new annoying filter is. (Um, not that I have an Instagram account solely devoted to following hot chicks or anything.)
House of Lies: This was the second time this season the group got high to close a deal. Nice work if you can get it.
Penny Dreadful: So we do get a full flashback episode with Vanessa in the mental hospital and it was Frankenstein’s monster as the orderly. Kind of horror movies set up, girl in mental hospital and orderly learn to accept each other, a quick scare in the middle, and then at the end we finally see the Lucifer.. and then his brother… Dracula? And Lucifer is scared of Dracula? Mmm, alright. I kind of wish this was mixed in with other character’s segments because there was not much going on to fill an entire hour.
Gotham: I think I actually liked Clayface as Gordon more than I liked Gordon himself. Of course none of the guys figured out it was an imposter and it took Barbra only thirty seconds spot that it was not him. Speaking of doppelgangers, that last person out of the bus certainly looked a lot like Bruce with Edward Scissorhand hair.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.
Blindspot: So just who is Jane Doe? Taylor Shaw was a very compelling story arc that apparently is not who she is (though this is television, they can always have a twist next season and be like, nope, she really was Taylor, the bones were planted and Kurt’s dad was brainwashed; and of course my clone theory could still be in play). So Kurt arrests Jane, who surprisingly goes willingly. Sure he does not even give a reason, what exactly is she under arrest for? He does not know she killed a dude. She did not still someone else’s identity, it was assigned to her by the FBI themselves. I do have a sinking suspicion that the start of the next season, one of her tattoos will be integral to a case Kurt is working on and he will begrudgingly let her out of custody.
The Path: So the season ends where the first episode did, but instead of Eddie hallucination the leader dying with a snake slithering on him, he actually sees the cancer stricken leader up and walking around… or did he? A pretty vague ending. Still some other plot points things left unresolved. I spent most of the season wondering if certain characters were going to leave the cult while other would join. It seemed like the husband died under iffy circumstances yet that was not brought up this week and it seemed that the FBI guy may actually be back in, especially if he starts to believe Eddie’s prayer helped. And I am not entirely sure what I saw at the end. Cal spoke of a miracle a couple episodes ago, is the leader now cured and that is the miracle? Is Eddie hallucinating the leader, who is already dead, and the leader came to him in a passing of the torch situation?
You can stream The Path on Hulu.
The Americans: If one would flip, I always thought Philip would be the one as he actually seem to have empathy for his victims while Elizabeth is more single minded at her tasks. Last week was the first time I remember seeing empathy from her asking out of her con on the Asian people and then again when she got a call from the wife. Of course all that went out the window when she stabbed a dude in the neck in front of her daughter. Hard to claim to be a non-violent spy when you can kill a man that easily and not blink.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.
Nashville: The show was a late cancel and it did seem like there was a good chance it was coming back (they just hired a new showrunner for a potential next season) but it did seem like they rushed to put a nice bow on every storyline (well, except Juliet’s plane going missing and of course Layla can never end up happy). Especially the Maddie, she gets mad when Deacon tries to save her from a skeevy dude at a concert caressing her leg, but is glad when he is there when a skeevy producer does the same thing. But it was definitely time for this show to go, probably could have ended last season.
The Challenge: Rivals III: So this is the fourth episode and we still have had only one elimination. As much as I enjoy see Camillinator just going H.A.M. on everyone, let’s cut some of that down and get back to one elimination per episode. Or cut down on time spent on challenges by getting rid of heat based challenges. Sure I enjoy seeing people dropping from heights into water, but we only saw three heats this week and we still have three or four left to get through. (also ending on a is Camilla hurt cliffhanger loses its suspense when we see her at the elimination on the promo for next week, stupid promo monkeys.) Figure out how to have everyone go at once because these heat based challenges are getting too repetitive. Or do a spelling bee, c’mon, who’s against a spelling be challenge (except the actual contestants)?
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.
Orphan Black: The Donny getting arrested scene was great, probably the most entertaining this season, but why did Allison not go down for the drug business too? As great as Donny in jail will likely be, Allison in prison would be so much better.
You can download Orphan Black on iTunes.
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 Of Men and War, Hip Hop Honors, Roadies, I Am Rebel, Barely Famous, Left Behind, Hater, and Dating Naked.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, affects almost 30 percent of the 834,467 Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans treated through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Consumed by anger and traumatic memories long after their return, soldiers often resort to drugs or suicide to end their suffering. Filmmaker Laurent Bécue-Renard provides a searing account of how the disorder has affected veterans and their families in Of Men and War, an unparalleled look at the enduring consequences of PTSD and the role treatment can play in helping soldiers reclaim their lives. The documentary, an Official Selection of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, has its national broadcast premiere during the 29th season of POV (Point of View) on Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, 2016 on PBS. American television’s longest running independent documentary series, POV is the winner of a 2013 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.
- With hip hop dominating pop culture, VH1 today announced the triumphant return of Hip Hop Honors to celebrate the trailblazing first ladies of hip hop. The show will pay homage to the female pioneers, trailblazers and trend-setters who lead a movement and infiltrated the ranks of the male-dominated genre to make their voices heard and still do today. VH1’S Hip Hop Honors will air Monday, July 11th at 9:00 Live from NY. (Scooter's Note: The gender specific idea is absurd, other than Queen Latifah, who is worthy of being honored? How about honoring Nas, EPMD, Gang Starr, Geto Boys, Biz Markie, The Pharcyde, The Roots, Coolio, Black Sheep, Leaders of the New School, or even 3rd Base first. I cannot imagine anyone will be that excited to see Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, Even and whoever did the female part to Positive K's I Got a Man.)
- Showtime has debuted the new trailer for its highly-anticipated comedy Roadies, the first original series from creator, executive producer, writer and director Cameron Crowe. With an ensemble cast headed by Luke Wilson (Old School, Enlightened) and Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Carla Gugino (San Andreas), the one-hour music series will premiere on Sunday, June 26th at 10 p.m. ET/PT on air, on demand and over the internet. Roadies gives an insider’s look at the reckless, romantic, funny and often poignant lives of a committed group of roadies who live for music and the de facto family they’ve formed along the way. The series chronicles the rock world through the eyes of music’s unsung heroes and pays homage to the backstage workers who put the show on the road while touring for the successful arena-level group, The Staton-House Band.
A backyard chemist invents the world’s most infamous club drug. A crime scene photographer changes the way police fight crimes. A civil rights activist hijacks a plane, causing sweeping airport security reforms. The first dark-side hacker revolutionizes computer security. These seemingly disparate stories share a common thread: outsiders finding their voices by rebelling against the status quo. Beginning Sunday, June 5, at 9:00, National Geographic Channel will take viewers inside these relatively obscure stories with I Am Rebel. Executive produced by Doug Liman (“The Bourne Identity,” “Suits,” “Covert Affairs”) using his signature style of propulsive, action-packed and character-driven storytelling, each episode of I Am Rebel is told entirely through first-person interviews and stylish and suspenseful re-creations that blur the line between feature films and documentaries. Each story reveals the lightning bolts of change that can emerge from the fringes of counterculture, effecting change that reverberates through history.
- VH1 announced Wednesday, June 29th at 10:00 will be the premiere date for the celebrity filled second season of Barely Famous, featuring multi-hyphenate producers, actresses and writers Erin and Sara Foster. Celebrity cameos this season include Chris Martin, Chelsea Handler, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Zach Braff, Kate Upton, Cindy Crawford, Brooke Burke, Dr. Phil, Ali Larter, Lauren London, Joey Fatone and more. VH1’s Barely Famous returns with six, half –hour episodes on Wednesday, June 29th at 10:00PM & 10:30PM ET/PT.
- To be trapped behind enemy lines is every soldier’s worst nightmare: a situation all fighters train for, few experience and even fewer survive. From the producers of National Geographic Channel’s critically acclaimed Locked Up Abroad and Inside the Hunt for the Boston Bombers, new series No Man Left Behind combines gripping personal testimony with vivid reenactments and archival footage to shed light on the stories of modern war heroes and special agents who overcame incredible odds in some of the most hostile environments on earth. Premiering in the U.S. on Tuesday, June 28, at 9:00,
- Coming off their successful collaboration on the Peabody Award-winning documentary Listen To Me Marlon, Showtime will once again team up with acclaimed filmmakers R.J. Cutler (The September Issue, The World According to Dick Cheney) and John Battsek (Searching For Sugar Man, The Tillman Story) on a feature-length documentary about the extraordinary life and times of comic legend John Belushi. For the first time, Belushi’s widow Judith Belushi Pisano has agreed to cooperate with the making of a film about the late comedian’s life, and provided the exclusive photo of John from her private collection. Directed by Cutler and produced by Battsek, the documentary is set to begin production in the fall, with long-time Belushi collaborator Sean Daniel serving as executive producer along with Bill Couturie. Cutler will also produce. The film will be produced in association with Sky Atlantic.
- Ben Shepherd returned to his garage rock roots and assembled a group of musicians that became Hater, in Seattle, playing guitar alongside Soundgarden band mate, drummer Matt Cameron, as well as ex-Monster Magnet guitarist John McBain, Devilhead vocalist Brian Wood, brother of the late pre-grunge outfit Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood, and fellow Devilhead bassist John Waterman. Their self-titled debut album was recorded in between Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger,1991, and, their Grammy Award winning album Superunknown,1994. Hater was released on A&M Records on September 21, 1993, and is now being reissued on CD, and for the first time digitally and on vinyl, by UMe on July 15th.
- VH1 turns up the heat as the network’s provocative reality dating series Dating Naked returns for a third season on Wednesday June 29th at 9:00. Hosted by Rocsi Diaz, this season once again features two main daters, David and Natalie, as they search for love on a tropical island paradise. Shot on location in Bora Bora, the two explore the art of romance, free of preconceived notions, stereotypes – and clothes. Each week, two new men and women will strip down for a shot at igniting a spark with our primary daters – but in the end, only one can win their hearts. Over the course of 12 one-hour episodes the competition gets HOT as sexy new singles arrive on the island each week, vying for David and Natalie’s affections. Produced by Lighthearted Entertainment and VH1, Dating Naked season 3 premieres Wednesday, June 29th at 9:00 on VH1.
Adele gets a bad rap for being too boring, it is probably because she is the biggest artist right now and people would rather have the biggest artist on the planet be a bit more exciting but hey, she is better than when Katy Perry or Lady Gaga wore that crown. Okay, Adele’s music video can be described as boring. The new one is just Adele standing in one spot and after realizing she is no D’Angelo, they thought, maybe we should just layer other takes over the first one.
After soft sales of her last album (granted I liked it), it sounds like Alicia Keys is jumping on the Caribbean dance trend that is going on right now that I am already ready to end. And those double jointed people are freaking me out.
Let Me Love You – Ariana Grande featuring Lil Wayne
Ariana Grande’s last album was just cheesy fun, but her latest, oh goodness, it is just pure hot trash. She just spent too much time trying to make everyone think she is an adult even though she still could pass as fourteen. And somehow the guests are even worse: Future, Nicki Minaj, and uggg, Lil Wayne shows up on this track which is one of the more annoying. Oh, Ariana, please go back to being cheesy because you just cannot pull off being some grown up sexpot.
Once Upon a Time: The best part (and really, increasingly the only good part) of the show is the pre-tease break. Except this season they defeated Hades in the anti-penultimate episode and we got a two hour tease of what is to come next. Color me uninterested already. So we meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde who split themselves into two different entities which was just introduced to have the Evil Queen and Regina at the same time. I am guess they are going to explain the Evil Queen did not die from her heart being crushed because she is so evil she does not even have a heart. And how good is purely good Regina if she is willing crush someone’s heart? I was more in in the quick page flip in the books in the library where we saw Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. I would rather take a trip through American folklore than a severely watered down version of Penny Dreadful.
You can download Once Upon a Time on iTunes.
House of Lies: It was pretty clear that movie producers in the eighties were doing copious amounts of cocaine by the types of movies they greenlit: a mannequin romantic comedy, one with a dead guy as the main character, both inexplicably got sequels. But the most shocking movie that got made with 20/20 hindsight was the feel good racist comedy Soul Man where noted white dude C. Thomas Howell takes tanning pills to get a scholarship for African-Americans. With all the outrage of blackface and cultural appropriation these days I thought we would never see that storyline ever again. It probably also lessens the outrage by having black guy (with a white mother) play the faker as white people do not care much about whiteface. Though I still do not know how there was not more outrage surrounding White Chicks.
Penny Dreadful: So Vanessa has met Dracula before. I thought we would get a lengthy flashback in a future episode; instead we get a one minute scene tacked on the end of the episode. Maybe it is just a tease for a lot more flashbacks next week. And was that even Dracula? It looked more like Frankenstein’s monster in his previous life without hair. And about Frank, was that remembering his younger self? Bu it looked like that kid was near death. Unless Dr. Frankenstein implanted a child’s brain into the monster’s body. Or maybe he has residual memories of all his body parts. As for his creator, we did learn his buddy’s experiment is only temporary. The question now is has Dr. Jekle already taken his cure or does that come later?
Quantico: No wonder Asher could not make it at Quantico, dude was not even smart enough to jump out of the car before it went over the bridge. But then again, how smart am I for making it all the way through the season?
You can download Quantico on iTunes.
Gotham: How disappointing that Hugo Strange is implanting new personas in the people he resurrects but Fish Mooney remembers who she was. I thought we were finally going to learn what Batman villain she turns in to. But we did get Clayface… I think.
You can download Gotham on iTunes.
Blindspot: Wow that was the worst death scene in recent memory. But I guess when you are killed off a show, why bother trying anymore (well except if you hope to get more work somewhere else). But maybe the bigger bombshell was that Kurt’s father confessed to killing Taylor Shaw like everyone thought prior to Jane Doe showing up with markers saying she was and was not Taylor. We do have to wait until the finale to see if this was the ratings of a delusional man or a real bedside confession, but you have to assume it is the latter. Unless, could this be an Orphan Black situation and Jane Doe is a clone of Taylor? That could be really interesting and explain the DNA inconsistencies.
You can download Blindspot on iTunes.
Castle: It was probably for the best that ABC canned this show, most shows have a shelf life of five seasons if they are lucky so eight is enough (bad old person’s pun intended). But oh, was that final scene crammed in. I guess we can assume had the show been renewed and Kate was not returning, she does not survive the gunshot. Actually that scene seemed crammed in to as if they tacked that on after learning Stana Katic was not coming back.
You can download Castle on iTunes.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Gee, and I just got done talking about the worst death scene, this one came pretty close with Hive and low rent Electro bro-ing down before their inevitable deaths. And this is exactly why I hate it when shows open up X amount of time in the future before flashing back, we knew someone die and Yoyo’s cross had something to do with it and then in the last episode five different characters played hot potatoes with it. But of course Electro ended up with it because there can be no happy couples on a Weadon show (Really the only fake out they had was when Fitz had the cross for a scene). But hey at least we finally got rid of Ward… unless he turns out to be what the Irish doctor was working on. Please no. That body did look feminine. A mate for Vision? Also six months in the future Daisy has gone rouge and Coulson is reporting to a director (is that Talbert or is there a new head of SHIELD). And why six months? The show seems to move in real time and six months puts us in November when presumably the season will start in late September. Doctor Strange comes out in November but I doubt there will be much cross over with that movie. I wonder if we will have to wait a month or two until we see that scene and prior to that is Coulson searching for Daisy or in that basically where the season will start?
You can download Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on iTunes.
The Path: All season I have ping-ponged back and forth predicting this character is going to join the cult while that one would be joining. Here we are with one episode left and it looks like I was wrong every time. There was a time I thought FBI guy would join, but after his diatribe with Eddie, that is never going to happen, especially after learning Allison’s husband did die under suspicious circumstances. And Allison looks to be coming back into the fold (although that may not last long after she sees the autopsy. I thought the teens would run away together, and Hawk actually did leave, but sneaky Cal nipped that in the bud. But the biggest transition is Eddie. They teased his moments of doubt early in the season, but mostly re-found his way after time in the program in the room. Was that punch his way of exiting the cult?
You can stream The Path on Hulu.
Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II: Usually I have a good sense of how the winds are blowing going into the finals but I was a bit shocked at how Aubrey did not win and it was not even because of that silly evict a jury member (worst twist since Redemption Island). Sure her Final Tribal was less than stellar (how do you not play up how well you adapted after your two biggest allies were pulled from the game?). But congratulations to Michele who did a much better job playing up her underdog role than Aubrey. Poor Tai, does not even get a pity vote. I originally thought it was a bad decision to split the votes and not take Cydney to the final three but in retrospect, I am not sure it matter with Michele winning either way. Maybe Cydney wins the Jury Veto (which is a stretch because for a Brawn, she was not that great in challenges) and bans Julia, then maybe Tai could have gotten Aubrey, Joe, Neil, and Debbie, but I think instead, Michele wins by a larger margin.
But Michele winning was not the biggest shock of the night, seriously, what was Sia doing there? And was that even really her? In real time it sounded to me her accent was coming and going. If it was, Sia just continues to get weirder. Wow. Then we got a tease for next season: Millennials vs. Gen X. Meh. Didn’t the last time they separated end up being an epic fail (that would be the Jimmy Johnson season that was won by Fabio). Probably one of the bottom five seasons of all time. And just by the trailer the Millennials were getting on my nerve already. If they are going to divide by age, I wish they would have done three of four tribes: people in the their twenties, thirties, and forties plus, and maybe fifties plus.
You can download Survivor: Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty II on iTunes.
The Americans: Kind of a throwaway episode because I never thought Reverend Tim was ever in much danger. Really having an emotionally pregnant woman now knowing their secret was the bigger danger. The more ingesting part of the episode was Stan’s old boss getting approached by the KGB. I kind of wanted him to take the offer. Instead he runs through a glass door. Not the best escape plan. It will be interesting how this effects the main storyline.
You can download The Americans on iTunes.
The Challenge: Rivals III: The first challenge really suck, now this, this is the challenge I have come to know and love, grinding on a bar of soap. Awesome. Not so awesome is replacing LeRoy with some nobodies. Actually worse than nobody, somebody who thinks acting crazy will get them more screen time. More annoying was T.J. canceling the Jungle for no good reason. So that is two of three episodes where no one when home.
You can download The Challenge: Rivals III on iTunes.
The Blacklist: There was never a point where I thought Lizzie was dead, the only question I had was who helped her. I had thought it was whoever was trying to kidnap Lizzie but it ended up being Tom and Red’s henchwoman. And I long assumed the person that was trying to kidnap was her not so dead mother. Nope, wrong again, it was her dad, or someone claiming to be her dad. That puts a crinkle in my long theory that Red was Lizzy’s dad. After the chunkiness of this season (somewhat reasonable due to a real life pregnancy) this sets up a very interesting season four.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.
Orphan Black: Crystal is quickly moving up my Clone Power Ranking. She almost made me forget there was no Allison this week. Almost. Seriously, do not make me go a week without an Allison fix.
You can download Orphan Black on iTunes.
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 Dr. K’s Exotic Animal ER, The Return, Marvin Gaye, Squeeze, Richard Marx and Friends, Missing Dial, ALL ACCESS: Quest For The Stanley Cup, Carol Burnett's Favorite Sketches, House of Lies, and Will.
- Whether it’s emergency surgery on a squirrel monkey or X-rays on a skunk, there is no such thing as a boring day at Dr. Susan Kelleher’s exotic animal ER. Each episode, rock-star-vet Dr. K and her talented team brace for injured animals that run, fly, crawl or slither through the door. Dr. K’s Exotic Animal ER premieres Saturday, May 21, 9:00 on Nat Geo WILD. This season, Dr. K has her hands full with more incredible creatures with critical cases. From an albino python with a respiratory illness to a marmoset plagued by a mystery ailment, it’s a roller-coaster ride for the staff, loving pet owners and animals. Still, no matter whether the patient is cute and cuddly or big and deadly, Dr. K understands these pets are her clients’ beloved family members. With boundless compassion for animals, Dr. K and her team perform heroic feats to save their patients and help their families.
- In 2012, California amended its “Three Strikes” law—one of the harshest criminal sentencing policies in the country. The passage of Prop. 36 marked the first time in U.S. history that citizens voted to shorten sentences of those currently incarcerated. Within days, the reintegration of thousands of “lifers” was underway. The Return examines this unprecedented reform through the eyes of those on the front lines—prisoners suddenly freed, families turned upside down, reentry providers helping navigate complex transitions and attorneys and judges wrestling with an untested law. At a moment of reckoning on mass incarceration, what can California’s experiment teach the nation? The Return the remarkable and timely new documentary film from three-time Emmy nominated filmmakers Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway that will have its national television debut on the PBS series POV this Monday, May 23 at 10:00. (Check local listings.) The trailer is available here.
- It’s been 45 years since the release of Marvin Gaye’s momentous album, What’s Going On, May 21, 1971, on the Motown subsidiary Tamla Records. To mark the occasion, Universal Music Enterprises is preparing a series of special vinyl releases, including a seven-LP box set, Volume 3: 1971-1981, which features on 180gm vinyl Gaye’s final seven studio albums for the label, on May 27, a follow-up to the first two installments of the collection. The albums included are: What’s Going On (1971), Trouble Man (1972), Let’s Get It On (1973), Diana & Marvin (1973), I Want You (1976), the double-LP Here, My Dear (1978) and In Our Lifetime (1981). In addition, four of the albums from the box set - Let’s Get It On, Diana & Marvin, Here, My Dear and In Our Lifetime – will be made individually for the first time in several years. Also releasing for this anniversary is a special 10” vinyl EP, available June 24, featuring the original 7” mono single versions of “What’s Going On” and “God Is Love” on one side, which are different to the later album versions, and two “Motown: Re-imagined” versions of the title song on the other side: a duet version with new Motown artist BJ the Chicago Kid and an unplugged “Coffeehouse Mix,” both using only the original instrumentation. This unique “What’s Going On” EP will also be released digitally.
- Squeeze, the seminal British pop act whose songs have tenderly and wittily chronicled life and love stretching across four decades, are launching a U.S. tour, their first as a band in four years. Squeeze will be supporting their latest album Cradle to the Grave that was released October 2015 their first album of new songs in 17 years. Following a successful, critically-acclaimed acoustic duo run in 2015 aptly titled The At Odds Couple Tour, Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford have now brought together the full band for a 19-date run. Tickets go on sale this Friday May 20, with additional dates to be announced. For up to date tour information please visit: squeezeofficial.com.
- Tune in to the AUDIENCE Network special Richard Marx and Friends airing Friday, May 20, at 9:00 (DIRECTV Ch 239/U-verse Ch 1114). Watch as the GRAMMY-winning singer/songwriter thrills the Hollywood crowd at Red Studios in Los Angeles with his band and an orchestra, performing both his hits and new fan favorites. Marx's esteemed colleagues--singer/songwriter Eric Benet and legendary rocker Kenny Loggins--drop by and join in on a few classic tunes. In the episode, Marx also joins Ted Stryker for an in-depth interview covering a wide range of topics throughout Marx's 30-year career. Richard Marx's "Greatest Hits Tour" is now underway (HERE).
- National Geographic launches a covert investigation into the disappearance of adventurer Cody Dial. Missing Dial premieres May 22 at 10:00 on the National Geographic Channel.
- Showtimw Sports is giving viewers an opportunity to sample the first episode of the anticipated new series ALL ACCESS: Quest For The Stanley Cup across multiple platforms and devices as well as on NHL Network following the series premiere on Friday, May 20 at 9:00 on Showtime.
- This June, audiences can tune in to PBS for the very best of the legendary variety series The Carol Burnett Show with Carol Burnett's Favorite Sketches. Distributed by TJ Lubinsky's TJL, the premiere provider of nostalgia pledge programs to public television stations, the special will air nationally on PBS on June 3rd at 9:00 (Check Local Listings).
- On Sunday, June 13th at 9:00, our favorite corporate sharks will board their last flight, in grand, historic style, to Havana for the conclusion of the Showtime comedy series House of Lies. Shot entirely on location and directed by series creator and executive producer Matthew Carnahan, this final episode, “No Es Fácil,” marks the first time an American scripted series was shot in Cuba since the restoration of diplomatic relations.
- TNT, a division of Turner, has given the greenlight to Will, an unconventional period drama centered on a young William Shakespeare, played by newcomer Laurie Davidson. Will is the newest of five bold original series coming to the network over the next year, a slate that also includes Animal Kingdom, Good Behavior, The Alienist and Tales from the Crypt. Today's news comes as TNT joins its fellow Turner brands as part of the Turner Upfront 2016 presentation in New York. Also announced this morning, TNT has ordered a pilot for Civil, a gripping drama about a second American Civil War. And Niecy Nash (Reno 911, Scream Queens, The Mindy Project) has just been cast in TNT's previously announced pilot for Claws, an outrageous dramedy set in a Florida nail salon.
What a horrible week for female comic book leads, Agent Carter gets canceled, then ABC passes on the Mockingbird spinoff, and Supergirl gets demoted to The CW (and has to pick up shop and move to Vancouver from sunny LA). Last season was big for comic books, this season not so much only two will pop up and one is based on the Archie's comic and the one that will feature superheroes is a comedy that has an insurance salesman as a lead.
The other big trend from last year, movie adaptations, continued to this year despite everyone from last year failing miserable. One of the lone success stories of last year was The X-Files reboot and Fox has two more reboots, Prison Break and 24, while CBS is resurrecting MacGyver (Showtime’s reboot of Twin Peak may see the light of day next season too).
The big theme of this season is time travel; surprisingly none are a Quantum Leap reboot. Oh, and there are a crapload of comedies coming next season (fifteen by my count and emphasis on crap, seriously, there is an imaginary friend show and Kevin James is coming back to the small screen; and those two did not even my least anticipated list). CBS is going back to a two-hour block on Mondays, ABC is expanding its Tuesday lineup to two hours, and NBC is try to resurrect Must See TV on Thursdays though they still only have one lone hour devoted to comedy like last season, but this time on a school night instead of the Friday dead zone. At any rate here are the five shows that piqued my interest.
1. The Good Place (Thursdays at 8:30 on NBC): This show had me at Veronica Mars and Sam Malone. Thankfully the promo did not suck. The show even has the greatest bit of self-censorship since Battlestar Gallatica invented the word “frack.”
2. Powerless (Midseason, NBC): We hit superhero saturation a season or two ago but this different as it is the first superhero comedy (or least the first since The Tick which of course is getting rebooted on Amazon). And the lead is not actual superheroes but “insurance adjuster specializing in regular-people coverage against damage caused by the crime-fighting superheroes.” This is a DC property so hypothetically we could see cameos by so big names in tights but since Batman is a boy on Gotham and we can only see Superman from afar or in a lenses flare on Supergirl I am guessing we will see more DC deep cut like The Wonder Twins, Skeets (not even with Booster Gold), Plastic Man, Apache Chief, and, one can only hope, Black Manta stops by to pollute the local bay. Although the lack of a trailer makes me a bit weary.
3. Timeless (Mondays at 10:00 on NBC): They had me at Abigail Spencer (Sally Draper's teacher that of course Don hooked up with) and created by Shawn Ryan (Terriers) but I will stick around for lines like “I am black, there is literally no place in American history that will be awesome for me.”
4. Conviction (Mondays at 10:00 on ABC): Okay we are already starting to scrap the bottom of the barrel to get to five “anticipated” series. But hey, it does star Hayley Atwell even if it is not as Peggy Carter. But, sigh, that American accent needs work. C’mon, couldn’t have she played the Prime Minister’s daughter who moved to America for a sliver of anonymity and kept the accent? I never understood why studio execs keep on hiring actors with iffy American accents to play Yankees. Either let them keep their foreign accent or just hire an actual American.
5. Downward Dog (Midseason, ABC): Yeah, this season’s slate of shows are really bad when a talking dog show makes my most anticipated shows list, but I will admit, I laughed a couple times and will watch just to see if he ends up killing that fracking cat.
Bonus. A Few Good Men Live! (TBA, NBC): Hidden deep within NBC's press release was their first ever live adaptation of a play after three musicals of varying success. It was literally one sentence and the third to last line before listing all the returning shows and legal mambo jumbo. No casting, no director, or even a producer yet, but I am more excited for this than their announce live musical. And one of the big problems with the musicals is getting big enough names to give up three or four months of rehearsals for one performance but I am guessing a play will need less time to prepare so maybe we will get more bankable names. May I suggest Coach Taylor as Tom Cruise, Lieutenant Dan as Jack Nicholson, Dr. Dre as Kiefer Sutherland, Lyla Garrity as Demi Moore, and, well, Kevin Bacon can just reprise his role because dude just does not age.
As the great philosopher Butt-Head once pondered, how would we know if something was cool if there weren't things that sucked, here are the five shows you could not pay me to watch next fall (click on their names to watch the trailers where available; networks were pretty stingy on mid season trailers this year)).
1. Taken (Midseason, NBC), Lethal Weapon (Wednesday at 8:00 on FOX), The Exorcist (Friday at 9:00 on FOX), Training Day (Midseason, CBS), Frequency (TBA, The CW): The Muppets had a quick slide last fall, Minority Report and Rush Hour were DOA, and Uncle Buck was pushed to summer to probably die quietly, while Limitless is currently in limbo but if it returns it will likely be on channel other than CBS. Yet the networks are actually increasing the number of movie adaptations (and that does not even count Time After Time based on a book that also inspired a movie, the MacGyver reboot, or Riverdale based on the Archie's comic). But hey, at least NBC was smart enough to pass on a proposed Cruel Intentions reboot (something FOX tried a decade and a half ago with a pre-fame Amy Adams) and Taken sounds the least bad. I was actually excited with the Taken-prequil sounding Legends on TNT when it started, unfortunately that did not turn out very well.
2. Still Star Cross (Midseason, ABC) – People complain about Gotham calling it, “Batman without Batman.” But there still is young Bruce Wayne who is supposed to grow up to be Batman (though doubtful we will ever see it on the show). Sill Star Crossed features Romeo and Juliet without the star crossed lovers. Instead the story takes place after their deaths and their cousins are now forced to marry to end the Capulet and Montague feud. What the frack? Oh and it was created by Shonda Rhimes, the worst thing to happen to television since they stopped letting you fast forward On Demand. She used to make ABC’s Thursdays unwatchable, and now she is soon to make the whole network unwatchable with five shows on the All Broads Network (not to be confused with CBS who passed on Nancy Drew for being “too feminine” and touts their most diverse lineup ever despite all their new fall shows being led by a white dude).
3. Doubt (Midseason, CBS): When are television executives going to learn what the movie executives learned a long time ago: America hates Katherine Heigl. Her crappy CIA show remains the lone show ever to air most of its episodes after The Voice not to get a second season.
4. Marlon (Midseason, NBC), Lethal Weapon (Wednesday at 8:00 on FOX): The Wayans family started out great with In Living Color, but has a member of the family done anything funny since? And what ever happened to the In Living Color reboot, wasn’t that supposed to happen a year or two ago?
5. This Is Us (Tuesdays at 9:00 on NBC): This show started out good enough, welcome back Mandy Moore! From the writer and directors of Crazy Stupid Love (and The Neighbors and Galavant)!! But everything goes wrong after that. Seriously, how does the guy from Heroes still get work? He can hide behind a bad Keanu Reeves beard all he wants but he still cannot act. Same goes for the Smallville version of Green Arrow. And what is this show even about? A bunch of people are born on the same day and… what? I may still end up hate watching.
Bonus. Hairspray Live! (TBA, NBC), The Rocky Horror Show (Halloween, FOX), Dirty Dancing the Musical (TBA, ABC): We are living in a golden age of live musicals, NBC got things started and sure it was a rough state, but hey, The Sound of Music Live! and Peter Pan Live!. They final figured out the formula with The Wiz Live!. Then Grease: Live showed up on FOX and raised the bar even hired. Unfortunately the musicals set for next season are based on three musicals I do not really care about and two of them are not even live. Why bother? Meh, can someone please take may idea of through copious amounts of money at Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling for Guys and Dolls Live! And is Selena Gomez and Jason Street in West Side Story Live! too obvious?
And here is what I tentatively plan on watching next season.
Mondays
8:00 – Gotham (FOX)
8:00 – The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
9:00 – Lucifer (FOX)
9:00 – 2 Broke Girls (CBS)
9:30 – The Odd Couple (CBS)
10:00 – Timeless (NBC)
10:00 – Conviction (ABC)
Tuesdays
8:00 – The Middle (ABC)
10:00 – Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC)
Wednesdays
8:00 – Survivor (CBS)
8:00 – Blindspot (NBC)
8:00 – The Goldbergs (ABC)
9:00 – Modern Family (ABC)
9:30 – Black-ish (ABC)
Thursdays
8:00 – The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
8:30 – The Good Place (NBC)
9:00 – Notorious (ABC)
10:00 – The Blacklist (NBC)
Fridays
8:00 – Last Man Standing (ABC)
9:00 – Grimm (NBC)
Sundays
8:00 – Once Upon a Time (ABC)
10:00 – Quantico (ABC)
I do not know if this The Avett Brothers attempt at a pop song, but that is a weirdly danceable bassline. I do not know if this will get them on the pop charts but I kind of dig it and am really looking forward to their next album after their last one was just okay. What I a, looking forward to is whatever the continuation to this video ends up being. Seriously people, stop it with the “To Be Continued…” nonsense.
When I saw M. Night Shyamalan directed the new music video from Andra Day I thought weird and kind of random. But instead of a big twist at the end, it came at the beginning when we learned the guy was paralyzed (and no there was no twist at the end where he rises up). Though the timing is a bit weird because the theme mirrors exactly the new Daenerys Targaryen movie whose trailer is been in heavy rotation recently where the raven-haired Khalissi becomes the caretaker (and then probably more) to a paralyzed man.
Wow, Rachel Platten certainly has very culturally diverse fan base. I am glad I was not invitred because I would have just starred creepily for a minute before the other person left. Actually, I probably would have been the person who brought a dog with me.
Go Insane – Lucius
Interesting concept from Lucius, 3107 photos making up the video, but I guess there is not much difference between this and stop motion animation, at least the effects were weird and interesting.
