Around the Tubes: November 9, 2019

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 Reprisal, Jack Johnson, Mary J. Blige, Snow Patrol, Chelsea Cutler, Maja Kristina, The Russian Five, Desus and Mero, Billions, and Wrongful Conviction.

- Hulu released the official trailer for upcoming drama series Reprisal from the executive producer of The Handmaid’s Tale. The series stars Abigail Spencer, Rodrigo Santoro, Mena Massoud, Rhys Wakefield, Madison Davenport, Gilbert Owuor, David Dastmalchian, W. Earl Brown, Craig Tate, Wavyy Jonez, Shane Callahan and Rory Cochrane. Reprisal will premiere all episodes Friday, December 6th only on Hulu.


- Multi-platinum recording artist and environmentalist Jack Johnson announces the release of Brushfire Records’ This Warm December, Vol. III, the latest in a trilogy of coveted holiday albums from his label. This Warm December, Vol III features both original and holiday-classic songs from Jack Johnson and friends, including G. Love, Bahamas, Mason Jennings, Zach Rogue (of Rogue Wave), Zach Gill, Paula Fuga and more. Fans are able to pre-order This Warm December Vol. III, with an immediate digital download of the original first track, “New Axe” by Jack Johnson starting today, November 8. The full-length album will be available on November 22 with limited-edition vinyl available on December 13, all through Johnson’s own Brushfire Records. To pre-order the album visit, thiswarmdecember.com.

- Mary J. Blige, the legendary Grammy and Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist and honorary Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, will release an immersive box set of her biggest 1990s hits along with rare remixes, HERstory, Vol. 1, on December 6 via UMe. The collection will be released in three physical forms: a set of eight standard-weight black 7" vinyl records, a 1CD version, a 2LP set and a digital version. From her solo 1992 hit "You Remind Me" to the 1993 remix of "What's the 411" featuring K-Ci (of K-Ci and JoJo) and the Notorious B.I.G., HERstory, Vol. 1 tells the story of Blige as she first established herself as a tour de force of '90s R&B.

- Snow Patrol have announced details of a new album. Reworked features 13 reimagined versions of some of the band’s biggest hits alongside three brand new recordings and will be released on 8th November via Polydor Records. The record accompanies a Reworked tour in November and December and follows the release of Reworked EPs 1 and 2. Twenty-five years into a career that has taken in one billion global track streams, five UK platinum albums, an Ivor Novello award and Grammy and Mercury Music Prize nominations, Reworked marks a period of looking back and taking stock. “After 10 years of no success, no-one – least of all us – expected us these last 15 years to sell 17 million albums, headline festivals and play to thousands of people all over the world,” says frontman Gary Lightbody.

- Singer, songwriter and producer Chelsea Cutler reveals her long-awaited debut album, How To Be Human, will be released in January 2020! In celebration of the album announcement, Chelsea debuts the video for her latest single “Lucky” feat. Alexander 23 today—watch it HERE!

- Bbuzzworthy 21-year-old Swedish songstress Maja Kristina shares her brand-new single entitled “Idiot. Check out “Idiot” HERE via Eddie O Entertainment/Republic Records. Known for alternative pop, straight shooting lyricism and raw emotions, Maja once again delivers an anthem that’s as confessional as it is catchy. On the track, vulnerable verses give way to a quick-witted refrain where she calls out an ex without pulling any punches.

- - Critically-acclaimed documentary The Russian Five will make its U.S. television debut on Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 11 p.m. ET on NBCSN, immediately following coverage of the Wednesday Night Hockey matchup between the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers. The Russian Five tells the story of the first five Russians to play hockey together in the National Hockey League (NHL) and how they helped transform the Detroit Red Wings from perennial losers to back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions. Toward the end of the Cold War the Red Wings hatched an audacious plan to draft the best Soviet players from behind the Iron Curtain and help them defect to Detroit, sneaking them out under cover of night and whisking them to the Motor City where they won the fans’ hearts and changed the way hockey is played in North America forever.

- The most expansive and ambitious aerial series explores America’s great cities from breathtaking heights – filmed from helicopters and drones equipped with cutting edge 4K/Ultra High Definition cameras to see our iconic and most treasured landmarks from a birds-eye view. Aerial America returns with 3 episodes Sunday, December 8 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel.

- Desus and Mero on Showtime and The Bronx Brewery (TheBronxBrewery.com) today announced that the iconic Bronx comedians, Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, and their home-borough brewery will collaborate this fall on the launch of a limited-release lager. Named Bodega Boys Beer after their wildly popular "Bodega Boys" podcast that put The Bronx-born duo on the map, the collaboration will be an easy-drinking and light-bodied lager with a refreshing, crisp flavor at 5.5% ABV. The limited-edition lager will be available in 4-packs of 16 oz. cans at The Bronx Brewery's Taproom & Backyard located at 856 E. 136th Street in the Bronx. To celebrate the launch, The Bronx Brewery and the late-night show will host an exclusive event at the brewery on November 15.

- Emmy® and Golden Globe® winner Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) and Golden Globe nominee Corey Stoll (House of Cards) have signed on to guest star in multiple episodes of the fifth season of the hit Showtime drama series Billions. Margulies will play Catherine Brant, an Ivy League sociology professor and bestselling author. Stoll joins in a season-long arc as Michael Prince, a business titan from a small town in Indiana. Starring Oscar® nominee and Emmy and Golden Globe winner Paul Giamatti, and Emmy and Golden Globe winner Damian Lewis, Billions is currently in production in New York and will return to the network in 2020. Billions averages 4.5 million viewers per week across platforms.

- The 9th season premiere episode of the Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom podcast has been released here. The episode presents the case of Rodney Reed, the innocent man sentenced to death row in Texas after being wrongfully convicted for killing Stacy Stites in 1996. With overwhelming evidence of his innocence drawing international outcry from the likes of Rhianna, Kim Kardashian, Dr. Phil, the Texas State Legislature, law enforcement groups, and many others, the podcast - which has over 10,000,000 series listens - urges the public to join the petition to the Texas governor to halt this injustice.

Previewing Shameless: Season Ten

After being the most consistent show of the decade, Shameless ended with a big change as Fiona rode off into the sunset, heading south after a big payday leaving the rest of the Gallagher clan to fend for themselves. The shakeup was supposed to be bigger because after his character’s own happy ending, being reunited in jail with his one true love, Cameron Monaghan also announced his departure only to announce he was returning to the show a couple months later. Too bad they locked his character away for a pretty violent crime.

With no more Emmy Rossum we get what I believe is the very first update to the title sequence in the ten season history. So instead of getting to see Fiona urinate every week, we get to see Debbie urinate every week (it took me until the second episode to catch that). And instead of Debbie wrapping Liam in toilet paper, Liam is the one who wraps Frannie. Then instead watching Fiona fork the dude who left the show back in the first season but we still got to see his naked behind every week, Ian and Lip get busy in the Gallagher bathroom. Although they did not update all the scenes which leads to a very weird moment of seeing a very young Carl followed by a grown very naked Carl about a minute later.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same and Shameless is as consistent as ever. The new season even starts off with Fiona, sort of. Even without Fiona and Ian in prison, there are still five Gallaher’s livings in the house with another one on the way. Yep, Lip’s baby mama is now very pregnant but was worried about having a child with severe health problems in her family. But she is going to great lenths to make sure her kid comes out all right. Somehow Frank is still allowed to stay; I guess he is still recovering from the broken leg from last season. Luis Guzman is back as Frank’s lone friend but he may be worse off than Frank now.

Without Fiona around, Debbie has stepped up as head of the household, though she was kind of taking that role last season when Fiona was spiraling. But she is hording all the money Fiona left her but knowing her brothers and father, that may be the smartest decision. Micky got arrested to give Ian the fairytale ending, but months later, they are much more Married with Children inside a six by eight cell. Then there is Liam who is starting to embrace his black heritage. So Shameless is as shameless as ever.

Shameless airs Sundays at 9:00 on Showtime.

Previewing Back to Life

In a measure of full disclosure I have to mention I have never seen Fleabag. I do know that swept the Emmy’s earlier this year but in the overabundance of streaming site, Prime has just fallen by the waste side as an extra pay service even if just for a month to steam everything and cancel. I bring this up because in every mention of Back to Life, everyone also mentions Fleabag, the two shows even share a producer. But I did like Hulu’s This Way Up which also got many Fleabag comparisons.

Since Fleabag won all the Best Comedy awards and This Way Up was pretty funny, I was expecting Back to Life to be humorous, but, it is not very funny at all. And I am not entirely sure if it was really supposed to be (British humour can be to us Yanks sometimes). The lead actress gives herself hideous bang early on and there is a lady cop hamming it up later in the season, but the laughs are far and few in between.

The subject matter is pretty heavy as the show revolves around who spent half her life in prison; she spent eighteen years there after being locked up when she was eighteen. And that is not the least of her parents problems as mom has been hooking up with a much younger man and poppa is oblivious to it all. Oh, and this being a small town so no one forgets what she did.

Except us the audience does not really know. Considering she spent almost two decades behind, it clearly is something serious. So really, Back to Life is much less a comedy as it is a mystery and breadcrumbs of what exactly happen through each of the six episode, the show is just delivered in the comedy like twenty-five minutes installments. I wish I knew this going in because going in thinking it was a comedy, I came away feeling very underwhelmed.

Back to Life airs Sundays at 10:00 on Showtime. Or if you just want to watch the show as a two hour and thirty minute movie, Showtime is releasing all six episodes at midnight this Sunday On Demand or via the Showtime Anytime app.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: November 3, 2019

Watchmen: So we actually got a quick answer to kind of a silly question from the premiere, how do two black people have three white children. Everything else was mostly confusing and still kind of boring.

The Affair: Ooo, our very first duel perspective… whatever that means. I am still not entirely what different things happening during different acts means. When it went back to Noah, I was convinced Helen was dead. But are we officially done with Joanie now? She has been absent for a couple episodes now and there is just one left.

Mr. Robot: Wait, Tyrell does not want to be killed by The Dark Army so he just walked away to bleed out to death in the wood? But I guess whatever that glowing thing will save him. But that storyline was still better than the FBI storyline where she pleasured herself to sleep on Christmas Eve where she dreamed about being killed by the Dark Army.
You can download Mr. Robot: on iTunes.

Castle Rock: I do not think Pops is done as done as the doctor thinks. I think that he can be reborn like his nephew. It was all but confirmed this week that is not the same nephew since his dog, who has better sense than Ace, wanted to attack him. But what exactly is he and what exactly does he know of Ace’s life? And what are these invasion of the body snatchers type people’s obsession with eggs? He did mention this started four hundred years ago and we learned that some thought it was witches while others think Satanist. But neither are known for body snatching.
You can watch Castle Rock on Hulu.

Survivor: Island of Idols: They did a good job making me wonder which way Aaron was going… right up until the point where he did not reciprocate dude’s fist bump. I do not even care if that was kind of a huge spoiler because it was just so forking hilarious. Not quite, “Natalie, can I have your jacket?” but it was up there.
You can download Survivor: Island of the Idols on iTunes.

The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2: I understand having an alliance with the other team to keep yourself from going in, but you have to draw the line somewhere, and that was a colossal dumb move by Joss. I get Kayleigh, she is the weakest and she needs to stick around by any means necessary, but for Joss to put in Georgia instead of Smashley just handed the Americans the win right there. Had he picked Smashley, best case scenario, the Americans loose two strong players and you gain one, worst case scenario, the U.S. loses one and you stand pat. Instead you risk the truly worst case scenario which would have been Georgia going home and Tori staying with the U.S. Picking Smashley may have been the only way the Brits could have win, yet Joss stupidly stayed loyal to people who will not be sharing their winning with him.
You can download The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 on iTunes.

The Good Place:Mmmm, Michael let Bad Janet go. Kind of makes me think if the whole show has been a test for Michael to see if demons can be reformed.
You can download The Good Place on iTunes.

Titans: So if Starfire is now mad that her sister is queen, why did she leave and refused to return when summoned? Makes about as much sense as Batman not having voice mail. But why even wait until Superboy woke up? Why didn’t Old Robin call him when he arrived to let Superman know?

The Blacklist: So Aram just happened to crash the same wedding and just so happened to get the nametag as Red’s buddy? There has to be something else to his lady friend. She was a part of that death club so she is not above shady things.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Around the Tubes: November 2, 2019

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 High Fidelity, Back to Life, Mallrat, Killing Eve, BENEE, Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Emilia Clarke, and Common Knowledge.

- A departure from Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel and beloved 2000 film, Hulu’s High Fidelity centers on Rob (Zoë Kravitz, who also serves as an executive producer), a female record store owner in the rapidly gentrified neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn who revisits past relationships through music and pop culture, while trying to get over her one true love. All 10 episodes of the romantic dramedy launch Friday, February 14, only on Hulu. High Fidelity also stars Da’Vine Joy Randolph, David H. Holmes, Jake Lacy, and Kingsley Ben-Adir. The series is developed for television by writers Veronica West & Sarah Kucserka. West and Kucserka executive produce alongside Midnight Radio’s Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec, Jeff Pinkner, and Scott Rosenberg as well as Nick Hornby and Jeff Reiner. Jesse Peretz will direct and executive produce the pilot. Midnight Radio’s Adrienne Erickson will serve as producer. The series is produced by ABC Signature Studios, part of Disney Television Studios.

- Showtime will release all six episodes of the new series Back to Life to its subscribers at midnight on Sunday, November 10 prior to its on-air debut that night at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The episodes will be available for on-demand streaming or download on the Showtime and Showtime Anytime® apps, as well as for viewing via Showtime On Demand. Back to Life will debut on air with back to back episodes and continue with two new episodes every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

- Mallrat’s arrival has been nothing short of extraordinary. From the sleepy town of Brisbane, Australia, the 21-year-old has cemented herself as a "woman revolutionizing pop" [Paper Magazine] . With refreshingly honest observations of day-to-day life layered over saccharine melodies, there's a slow-burning restlessness in her sound that is impossible to ignore. With a colossal mind, attitude and voice, Mallrat takes the stage at The Late Late Show with James Corden to perform lead single, "Charlie" off of the EP Driving Music EP. Named after her golden labrador retriever, Charlie, Mallrat's wistful vocals are stacked against shimmering textures of pop. WATCH JAMES CORDEN PERFORMANCE HERE.

- Heavenly Recordings and Sid Gentle Films will release the original soundtracks for Killing Eve Seasons 1 and 2 on December 13th, 2019. In the US the product will be available for download on December 13th, 2019 and physically on January, 10th, 2020. “You have to tick every box for a piece of music to work in cinema or TV,” says DJ turned film composer David Holmes. “It can’t just almost work: it has to slot in perfectly.” As post-episode surges towards song-seeking app Shazam testify, Holmes and music supervisor Catherine Grieves left no box unmarked with their BAFTA-winning music for Seasons 1 and 2 of BBC America’s Killing Eve. Adapted from Luke Jennings’ Codename Villanelle novellas by lead-writers Phoebe Waller-Bridge (S1) and Emerald Fennell(S2), the Emmy-winning spy series has established itself as a swaggering, slippery, playful and punchy thriller of cat/mouse obsession like no other. And it comes with killer soundtracks to match, modern classics of pick’n’mix curation cut from the cloth of cinematic style but tailored with a moody, mischievous vivacity of their own.

- Averaging nearly 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify and receiving critical acclaim, buzzing 19-year-old indie pop phenomenon BENEE shares a brand-new single entitled “Monsta” and announces the release of her upcoming STELLA & STEVE EP out November 15th. Check out “Monsta” HERE.

- Republic Records and Sony Pictures Entertainment release the year’s biggest and most-anticipated album, Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). Check out Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) HERE. The blockbuster record features the runaway smash “Don’t Call Me Angel (Charlie’s Angel)” by Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, and Lana Del Rey, “Pantera” by Anitta, and “How It’s Done” by Kash Doll, Kim Petras, ALMA, and Stefflon Don. Additionally, it boasts a total of five new songs from co-executive producer and Grammy®-winner Ariana Grande. These include another triple threat anthem “Bad To You” featuring Normani and Nicki Minaj, “Nobody” with the legendary Chaka Khan, and “Got Her Own” with Victoria Monét as well as Grande’s own solo song “How I Look On You.” The soundtrack also spans tracks from Danielle Bradbery, M-22, Arlissa, and Kiana Ledé as well as the unparalleled Donna Summer.

- Daenerys vs. Varys: Emilia Clarke Reveals Conleth Hill's Coffee Cup-gate Confession from The Tonight Show.


- Starting now, fans of Game Show Network’s popular knowledge-based game show Common Knowledge will be able to test their knowledge with the Common Knowledge Skill For Alexa. Like the TV show, the skill features those practical, everyday questions that everyone should know, such as: what should you do when you have a fever? Or, how can you tell if a watermelon is ripe?

Previewing Into the Dark: Pilgrim

The first season of Into the Dark started off with what ended as the best of the bunch. Unfortunately the very next installment ended up being the worst. The second season started out with another strong Halloween tale but thankfully the follow up is a vast improvement over last November’s offering.

Pilgrim features a modern family that hires an acting troupe to reenact the first Thanksgiving so they can celebrate like they used to when everyone was unplugged. If you have seen any Into the Dark installments before, you know things go horribly wrong. Yes the new “pilgrims” take their roles a little too serious, never breaking character even though they show up days early to prepare

Of course the black daughter is not having any of this and sets out to discover what is up with these weirdos. Unfortunately we never know what exactly is going on with the new pilgrims other than maybe it may be because of a wishbone wish. Though it definitely is never explained why the family is eating a full turkey days before Thanksgiving.

Still the episode is funny in parts. Sure I am not sure it was supposed to be funny, but I did laugh quite frequently. Most of the laughing happened at the end when things just completely come off the rails. Even though it is a vast improvement on last Thanksgiving episode, I cannot help but coming away with thinking there is a much better pilgrims taking Thanksgiving too serious story that could have been explored.

Into the Dark Season Two Power Ranking:

1. Uncanny Annie (October)
2. Pilgrim (November)

Into the Dark: Pilgrim premieres tomorrow on Hulu.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: October 27, 2019

Watchmen: So I take it, the old black dude at the end next to Don Johnson at the end was the young black kid escaping Tulsa at the beginning of the episode. But I found most of the premiere (aside from the awesome Oklahoma performance) pretty boring and confusing… so basically just like every other show ad film Damon Lindelof has been a part of.

The Walking Dead: So the gay dude has an Evil Dead arm now? Cool. But I forgot how many surrogate kids Carol had and they all died. Although I think she killed two of them because they were kind of psychopaths. Ugg, this show has been on way too long. I barely remember most of it at this point.

The Affair: I found it interesting that last week we got Whitney’s wedding prep through Noah’s eye but it was even more surprising that when Noah’s scandal broke, it was though Helen and Whitney’s eyes. Whitney’s act was partiularlly heartbreaking once I realized the douche she used to date was kind of her father and with her new guy she kind of turned into her mother. She has looked so beaten down this season I am beginning worry she will not make it to the end.

Mr. Robot: The annoying dude who was the only bad part of the first season is back? Oh joy. And White Rose listening to Culture Club was a bit gratuitous.
You can download Mr. Robot: on iTunes.

Wu-Tang: An American Saga: So the show just ends with Ghostface and RZA after they shot and robbed a crazy dude? For this whole time I was thinking this was a limited series, but I went back to the press release and it does call it just a series so I guess there can be more. So was RZA really robbed of his tapes and shot the dude to get them back? I do not remember that being in the Showtime doc. Nor do I remember Ghostface knocking up his sister. I kind of want to check his Wikipedia to see if Shuri is listed as one of his baby mama though we do not really know yet if she keeps the baby. If the show does get a second season, I hope they start calling themselves by the Wu names, I am still not entirely sure which ones are GZA, Inspechtah Deck, Cappadonna are or is they even included U-God yet.
You can watch Wu-Tang: An American Saga on Hulu.

Castle Rock: So is Annie crazy and she never killed the dude or is she crazy because she is seeing the dead guy? Or is there possibly a third option, she did kill him and he is back somehow? That is where I am leaning. But the one thing that bothers me with that theory, what happened to the big hole at the construction site? Did no one notice it? Did whatever revived the nephew fill it up?
You can watch Castle Rock on Hulu.

Survivor: Island of Idols: I got excited when they said there would be no Island of Idols this week, but unfortunately they seem to increase the amount of useless commentary from Sandra and Rob at Tribal Council this week.
You can download Survivor: Island of the Idols on iTunes.

The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2: Is Jordon really that stupid? Dude survived being murdered by Turbo earlier this season but them continued to goad him this week. At some point, Turbo is going to get through those security guards and murder Jordan and I will feel as sorry for him as I would someone who poked a bear one too many times.
You can download The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 on iTunes.

The Good Place: Poor Jason, gets his heart ripped out by learning Blake Bortles gets traded. Later learns he was replaced by a Super Bowl winning quarterback only to find out he broke his clavicle. I do wonder if they will be able to work in Gardner Minchew II at all this season (the broken clavicle thing seemed to be added late). Although maybe because of Jeremy Blermiey, Jason may gets to get a Jaguar’s Super Bowl win in his afterlifetime.
You can download The Good Place on iTunes.

Titans: So where was Rose when all of this was going? Was she off at college? Did she learn about her father and bolted without bothering to tell her father? Is she even the daughter of Deathstroke’s wife? Does Deathstroke have side pieces? Did Jericho and the wife just not know about her which is why she was not even brought up?

Around the Tubes: October 26, 2019

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 Lizzy Caplan, The L Word: Generation Q, The Toys That Made Us, Anna of the North, Oh Wonder, The Oak Ridge Boys, Ready for War, Pariah: The Lives and Times of Sonnny Liston, and Cats.

- Lizzy Caplan’s Meeting with President Obama Did Not Go Well from Late Night with Seth Meyers:


- Showtime as released the official poster and trailer for the highly-anticipated new series The L Word: Generation Q premiering on Sunday, December 8 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The sequel to the groundbreaking drama series The L Word®, which originally ran on Showtime from 2004-2009, continues to follow the intermingled lives of Bette Porter (Jennifer Beals), Alice Pieszecki (Leisha Hailey) and Shane McCutcheon (Katherine Moennig), along with new characters Dani Nùñez (Arienne Mandi), Micah Lee (Leo Sheng), Finley (Jacqueline Toboni), Sophie Suarez (Rosanny Zayas) and Gigi (Sepideh Moafi) as they experience love, heartbreak, sex, setbacks and success in L.A.


- What was your favorite toy growing up? If you know, or if you don't, set your schedule - Netflix's hit docu-series The Toys That Made Us is back with its third season on November 15th. Watch the trailer HERE and get the 411 at Den of Geek HERE. A nostalgic deep-dive into the legendary toys, action figures, and figurines that shaped America's childhoods, this season will tell the stories of Power Rangers, My Little Pony, Wrestling, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, following prior seasons' coverage of the likes of Barbie, G.I. Joe, LEGO, Hello Kitty, and more.


- Anna of the North releases her heartfelt sophomore album Dream Girl. With hypnotic vocals and relatable, genuine lyrics, the album is a tantalizing addition to Anna's newest chapter. Consisting of thirteen songs that nestle comfortably between electric pop and soulful harmonies, Anna is in full control as she cements herself as one of the most exciting and endearing artists out there. Adding to the celebration, Anna announces her biggest tour to date, a headlining tour hitting 15 cities including New York, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles.

- Oh Wonder releases their brand new track “Better Now”—listen HERE! The British alt-pop duo recently returned with their acclaimed single “Hallelujah,” which has already surpassed over 5 million streams within a month—watch a video of the stunning unplugged studio version HERE!

- GRAMMY® Award-winning and Country Music Hall of Fame members, The Oak Ridge Boys, have released their 8th holiday themed album yesterday, Down Home Christmas, available everywhere music is sold from Lightning Rod Records/Thirty Tigers. The new album marks the 3rd collaboration with famed Nashville hit-making Producer Dave Cobb. Down Home Christmas includes standards such as "Amazing Grace" and "Silent Night," plus new originals like "Don't Go Pullin' On Santa Claus' Beard" written by Americana hit-maker Anderson East and Aaron Raitiere, and "South Alabama Christmas," written by Jamey Johnson, Bill Anderson and Buddy Cannon.

- Showtime Documentary Films has announced that the acclaimed documentary feature Ready for War, which explores the phenomenon of deported United States military veterans, will premiere on the network on Sunday, November 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The documentary follows three green card holding soldiers at various stages in this process: one in Tijuana fighting to come home to American soil and reunite with his family; another in ICE detention in the U.S. fighting deportation; and a third, lost in the clutches of a drug cartel in Ciudad Juarez, waging a war that was never meant to be his own. Andrew Renzi (Fishtail, They Fight) directs the film, with multi-platinum selling artist Drake (Euphoria, Top Boy) and David Ayer (Fury, End Of Watch) serving as executive producers. Embedding with the dangerous cartels for two years, Renzi and producer Nick Boak envelop viewers in a world of life-or-death stakes from beginning to end. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and will have its U.S. premiere at AFI Fest in Los Angeles on Tuesday, November 19.


- Showtime Sports has released the official trailer and key art for the upcoming documentary film Pariah: The Lives and Times of Sonnny Liston, premiering Friday, November 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Written and directed by Simon George and told through original conversations with luminaries, historians and some of Liston’s closest friends and family, PARIAH chronicles the rise and precipitous fall of one of the most vilified and misunderstood sports champions of all time. To watch and share the official trailer for Pariah, click the link.

- niversal Pictures announced that global music icon Taylor Swift and legendary composer Andrew Lloyd Webber have collaborated on a new, original song written for Universal Pictures’ film Cats, based on Lloyd Webber’s record-shattering stage musical. The song, “Beautiful Ghosts,” will feature in both the film and in the end credits. Cats, in theaters December 20, is directed by Oscar®-winning filmmaker Tom Hooper (Les Misérables, The King’s Speech), and stars Swift, James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Rebel Wilson and Royal Ballet principal dancer Francesca Hayward.

Previewing ZOMBOAT!

They say you cannot judge a book by its cover, but I have long asserted that you can judge a television shoe by its title. Take the latest British import coming to Hulu, ZOMBOAT! Of course I will watch something called ZOMBOAT! I do not need to see a trailer. I do not need to know who is in it. I do not need to know who created it. All I need to know is that it is called ZOMBOAT! God bless whoever said, you know Zomboat is a good name for a show, but do you know what will make it better? All caps and an exclamation point. Awesome.

For those not sold on the title alone (fine, whatever), ZOMBOAT! stars two sisters Leah Brotherhead (White Gold) and Cara Theobold (Downton Abbey) who decide to escape the zombie by boat. Which seems pretty wise considering zombies cannot swim. I do believe Fear the Walking Dead tried that back in season one but evil humans foiled that plan. The Walking Dead and many other zombie properties exist in this world which is a nice change of pace from shows with people who are just clueless to the concept of the undead; but what they learned from NCIS New Orleans is hilarious. Although the boat they get on is a canal boat that is barely faster than the classic slow walking Romero zombies on this show.

Making things more complicated are two stowaways, two bros, one who likes to take his shirt off, the other who likes to complain about the how the other one still finds time to take his shirt off, even in the zombie apocalypse. So the four have to traverse the English waterways looking for a safe place, though they weirdly leave the safe confines of their boat a little too often. But I guess you need to have a reason to be sprayed with blood at least once in a zombie show.

ZOMBOAT! Premieres today on Hulu.

Previewing Castle Rock: Season Two

Though Stephen King himself was not involved, the first season of Castle Rock, based on King’s works with more Easter Eggs than most people could count, had the hallmarks of a Stephen King novel in that it had a very high concept, two outstanding episodes, some slow moving ones, and ultimately a pretty mediocre ending. One thing the first season was a true iconic King character, sure there was an old version of Alan Pangborn and Jack Torrance’s niece.

The show seemingly set up season two with an end credits scene with the niece heading out west, presumably to Overlook Hotel. Instead the show remains in the titular town though no one from the first season shows up in the second season (that I have spotted anyway, halfway through). Granted they did set up multiple universes in the first season, so we may not even be in one of the two universes we saw last season. But there are references to the Warden killing himself and fires that happened last year. But the setting is the same, we do see the bridge that Ruth jumped off and the bar Jackie Torrance hung out in. Though Shawshank Prison has been shut down.

So no familiar faces this season but there is one very familiar famous name: Annie Wilkes. Yes the main character of Misery and made famous on screen by Kathy Bates. Lizzy Caplain (Cloverfield) is a younger version of the character still rocking the same shoulder length hair cut (flashbacks shows Annie has been wearing the same hairstyle from grade school). Oh and she is also crazy with fits of anger.

We are introduced to Annie and her daughter Joy (I have a bold prediction about her at the end of the review) and they are running away from something with Annie taking temp nursing jobs along the way to get some money and steal some anti-psychotics to keep her sane. But a car crash in Castle Rock, now celebrating its four hundredth anniversary, forces the duo to stay a little longer than Annie would like.

Annie has multiple run in with Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption) and his family while in town. Everyone calls him “Pops” though no children of his own, he did help raise two nephews and two Somali refugees who lost their parents to war. Paul Sparks (Boardwalk Empire) plays the nephew who rents out a place for Annie to stay and is in a blood feud with his “brother” who lives in Jerusalem’s Lot (Salem’s Lot is also a part of this season as well of the theme of rebirth… I think, Annie is not proving to be a reliable narrator) who both want a part of Pops’ minor crime racket and is portrayed by Barkhad Abdi (who utted the iconic line, "I am the captain now" in Captain Philips).

Season two of Castle Rock is a little more even that its predecessor which means there is nothing as great as the two stand out (though a fifth episode flashback comes close) but there are no boring parts that plagued parts of last season. The new season is missing a Jackie Torrance character; Jane Levy sure added some much needed levity to the show. But this is a very different type of story and different type of storytelling because it is at times if we are seeing Annie’s psychotic breaks or if what she (and the audience) seeing something that is actually happening. Still, Lizzy Caplan is great in the role as she knows she is slowly going crazy no matter how hard she tries to avoid it.

But here is my bold prediction; Lizzie Caplan is not the Annie Wilkes we read about in the books, after this Annie dies, her daughter takes the name and goes on to torture authors. Or maybe she will meet up with Jackie Torrance out west and we will eventually get a Castle Rock season populated by all relative of famous Stephen King characters.

The first three episodes of Castle Rock are on Hulu today with a new episode premiering every Wednesday.

A Long Time Ago We Used to Be Friends... And it Is Nice to See You Again

Full Disclosure Notice: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the DVD I reviewed in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.

Okay, let me get this out of the way first, this is a review of the DVD Veronica Mars: The Complete First Season (2019) which is kind of stupid and a little confusing. Yes this is the new season, listed as number four on Hulu and called season four by everyone except apparently Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. But it will not be too hard to tell apart from the original first season as Kristen Bell has long hair in the new season and is sporting a gun which she never used when she was on free television. The 2019 version with just two disks is significantly smaller and is as thick as the movie version of the show.

The first Veronica Mars first season launched the same year as this blog and topped my very first Best Television Shows of the Year… and the second… and the third. Unfortunately it was eligible for a fourth because The CW unceremoniously canceled it so they could air shows like Farmer Takes a Wife and Pussycat Dolls Present. By some miracle they were able to revive the show via Kickstarter which was a trial balloon that was not that successfully since no other major studio tried to revive a show or movie that way since.

Then last year I was scrolling Deadline when something popped out like a fever dream: a Veronica Mars reboot was coming. I had to read the article a couple times to make it sink it and realize just where it was being revived, which thankfully turned out to be Hulu, a streaming site I already subscribed to. Then it was a long wait until it debuted. Sure there was plenty of casting notices (it was weird that Dick Casabancas Sr. was announced before Junior), trailers and other cast interviews to pass the time.

And then it premiered and it was like seeing old friends again. Sure calling this season one was silly, but maybe Warner Bros. Home Entertainment because it is not the same show anymore, and really it should not be. With Veronica in thirties now, you cannot have silly high school cases like missing dogs and test cheats (though there is a new character who seems like a young Ronnie fill in if they chose to go that route later). Then with only eight episodes instead of twenty-two, gone are the cases of the week mysteries, replaced with one long case to take up Ronnie’s time.

Rejoining Kristen Bell is Enrico Colantoni as her father Keith and Jason Dorhing returns as the obligatory psychotic jackass turned beau Logan who has been dating Veronica since the movie. Those three are the only characters that get the main title sequence but we get multiple episode from Dick, Wallace, Weevil, and Deputy Leo who has gotten a promotion but will always be Deputy Leo to me. There are also plenty of cameos from the original seasons including a few that they could not quite fit into the movie.

Among the new cast are Oscar winner J. K. Simmons who plays an associate of Dick Sr. from his stint in Chino (we saw Dick Sr. flee the country because of SEC violations and turned himself in at the end of season three). Patton Oswalt plays a pizza delivery boy by say/true crime aficionado by night who gets caught up in the first crime. Bell’s The Good Place co-star Kirby Howell-Baptiste is a bar owns in Neptune. Then there are a few more recognizable cameos throughout the season including someone Dick unsuccessfully hits on who has spent the last decade on one of the most popular sit-coms.

The case in question is a serial bomber that has attacked Neptune at the height of Spring Break. The problem with a single case taking an entire season to solve is that many episodes that just devolve into a red herring of the week. There are multiple suspects that are fingered through the season but at the end, most just turned out to be insignificant.

Still, of all the single season to solve only one mystery shows, Veronica Mars is one of the best with its witty banter and the chemistry between the Mars’ who just continue to make their claim as the best father-daughter team on television. Veronica Mars also goes straight to the top of the otherwise lackluster best television show reboots of all time. The DVD is kind of bare bones in terms of special features; there is just the 2019 Veronica Mars Comic-Con panel that runs about twenty-six minute. But I believe this is the first time the show will be available to watch in Canada (sorry non-North Americans, you will still have to wait unless you have the right DVD player).

The show was on the bubble during its short run last decade but we are in different times and a show with a dedicated on a streaming site may have a better chance at renewal (Veronica Mars has been in the top five on Hulu’s popular tab for most of its run). We are also in a time when shows do not need to air once a year. So hopefully Kristen Bell, creator Rob Thomas, and Hulu will hopefully agree to give us a fifth season of Veronica Mars in a year or three (just do not make us wait like as song as we did for the movie or fourth season). Or as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will likely call it: Season Two (2020ish).

Own VERONICA MARS (2019): THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON on DVD today (October 22).

57 Channels and Only This Is On: October 20, 2019

Supergirl: So it was Lena who kidnapped Eve last week. Okay, that makes no sense. So what was the whole Leviathan thing that Eve was running from last season? And what the fork is going on with Lena? She just does not make any sense this season at all.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

The Affair: Noah is the protagonist of this show, but the way that reporter laid it out; Noah is a pretty horrible person. But the thing is, we do know he did not have sex with the publicist. Or did he as we have seen, how Noah’s scenes have shown up, they do not always line up what other people say it was. Could we get a flashback act from the publicist to get her side of the story? Or maybe the teacher’s assistant? I do vaguely remember thinking she definitely wanted to have sex with Noah. Or maybe that is what Noah though and her version could be completely different.

Mr. Robot: Wait, there is a third personality? People have long theorized that the American Psycho dude was also Elliot, and there were times I bought into it, but it just seems very unlikely at this point. But I did theorize that Darlene would start seeing Angela like Elliot saw Mr. Robot but she admits that she really does not see Angela. So maybe Angela is Elliot’s third personality. Seems plausible since she just died tragically. I kind of hope it is not someone we het that is still alive and the writers have to explain how Elliot was that person all along.
You can download Mr. Robot: on iTunes.

Wu-Tang: An American Saga: So dude is released from prison, commits aggravated assault on the guy who drove him home, shots his gun off when he arrives home, and starts killing people. I really hope that was some poetic license and not based on actual events because I really do not want to know people like that exists. But I am pretty certain this part was probably poetic license, but I liked how Ghostface’s little brother coins the iconic title, “Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nuthin’ ta fork wit.”
You can watch Wu-Tang: An American Saga on Hulu.

Survivor: Island of Idols: I have been harsh on the stupid Island of Idols twist this season, and it continues to be stupid, but at least Noura spending all that time practicing being the call only for her tribe to make here sit out meaning she loses her vote at the next Tribal Council. Or did she lose her vote at HER next Tribal Council? That was pretty unclear. Because if it was the former, it is kind of no harm no foul because her team won. Maybe this is why only someone from the losing tribe should be sent to the Island of Idols.
You can download Survivor: Island of the Idols on iTunes.

The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2: If the rest of the season boils down to Team Cara Maria vs. Team Georgia, consider me Team Georgia all the way.
You can download The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 on iTunes.

Almost Family: Finally the guy Julia forked that might be her brother in the first episode is back. Thought I still find it weird that instead of finding out if they were related by looking at the DNA results, they just admitted it in that video. Also weird is that Brittany Snow is not the first Pitch Perfect actress to fork her half-brother on screen as Anna Kendrick already did that in A Simple Favor.
You can download Almost Family on iTunes.

Stumptown:So Donal Logue was evil… but not really. Alrighty. I still wish he was around for Dex’s 1500 hours. But I am sure he will pop up again eventually.
You can download Stumptown on iTunes.

The Good Place: Many people predicted that Vicky switched out Michael during the handover (I never bought it) but it turned out it was Janet that got kidnapped all along. So do they not really need Janet to keep the neighborhood together this whole time? That was just Bad Janet’s excuse to explain any hints that she was not Good Janet? I guess we should have all guess this when Janet rudely told Jason that the Jaguars traded Blake Bortles right after breaking up with him.
You can download The Good Place on iTunes.

Titans: Man, imaginary Batman was kind of annoying. If that is what Nightwing really thinks of him, no wonder he went to the other coast.

The Blacklist: When did Aram turn into James Bond? After he shot all the bad guys with their own gun and kissed the damsel in distress, I thought that was going to turn out to be a dream sequence and then Ressler and Lizzie would wake him up as they rush in to save the day.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Around the Tubes: October 19, 2019

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 Dollface, Lord Huron, Hero The Band, Keb’ Mo’, Evie Irie, KIANA LEDÉ, Great Performances, Celeste Barber: Challenge Accepted, Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, In Concert With CMS, Britain in Color, and A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish

- Kat Dennings stars as a young woman who, after being dumped by her longtime boyfriend, must deal with her own imagination when she literally and metaphorically re-enters the world of women, in order to rekindle the female friendships she left behind. The series also stars Brenda Song, Shay Mitchell, and Esther Povitsky. All episodes of Dollface will be on Hulu November 15.


- Having just wrapped up an 18-month tour in support of their album Vide Noir in Calgary, AB last week, Lord Huron and director Ariel Vida have announced today they are further exploring the world of Vide Noir with a feature-length film of the same name. By no means a mere visual album, Vide Noir is a neo-noir mystery film set in late-Sixties Los Angeles, chronicling a surreal, nocturnal journey through the lens of a space-and-time-bending drug. The film was directed by Ariel Vida and written by Lord Huron’s Ben Schneider, and features a score by the band with new arrangements of their music throughout. Lead by newcomer Victor Mascitelli and NOS4A2 and The Goldfinch star Ashleigh Cummings, the film will be released in early 2020 and serve as both a stand-alone exploration of and the final chapter in the story of Lord Huron’s Vide Noir.

- Decateur, GA’s very own Hero The Band reveal their new EP Back To Myself today via LAVA Records/Republic Records—listen HERE! The EP features title-track “Back To Myself” released earlier this summer, as well as new single “Trouble In My Mind” alongside four new songs. See the full tracklist below.

- With an iconic career spanning over a quarter of a century, four-time GRAMMY Award-winning contemporary blues and Americana artist, Keb’ Mo’ has released his first-ever holiday album, Moonlight, Mistletoe & You, via Concord Records. The 10-track album, produced by Keb’ himself and recorded by Zach Allen at Stu Stu Studio in Franklin, TN, is now available here.

- Sixteen-year-old Sydney-born singer/songwriter Evie Irie releases the official music video for “The Optimist” today. Watch HERE.

- Averaging 3 million monthly listeners on Spotify, breakthrough R&B starlet and one of 2019’s fastest rising artists, KIANA LEDÉ returns with a brand new single entitled “Easy Breezy” today. Get it HERE via Republic Records.

- Sam Moore and Dave Prater – the groundbreaking duo, Sam & Dave, who brought their gospel roots to Soul music, were one of the primary chart stars at the Stax and Atlantic labels in the '60s. Bringing the passion of call and response to their wailing soul side, the duo were honored by The Recording Academy™ as one of the recipients of the Special Merit Awards, The Lifetime Achievement Award in May in Los Angeles. As previously announced, in collaboration with PBS' Great Performances series, the Recording Academy™ presents "GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends ®," the fourth annual all-star concert offering a prime-time spotlight for the Academy's 2019 Special Merit Awards recipients. Recorded at the Dolby Theatre, the event premieres nationwide Friday, Oct. 18 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), pbs.org/gperf and the PBS Video app.


- Celeste Barber comes to Showtime for her first network comedy special, Celeste Barber: Challenge Accepted, premiering Friday, November 1 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. In the hour-long special filmed at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City, Barber, hailed by Vogue Australia as “The Funniest Woman on Instagram,” exposes the stories behind some of her most famous Instagram celebrity parody images, her new relationships with famous people, the pitfalls of being married to someone so much hotter than her and what it’s like to be an Anti-Influencer.


- Showtime has announced the development of a new untitled limited series based on the bestselling book Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, written by Mike Isaac. Brian Koppelman and David Levien (BILLIONS) will executive produce and write the series, as part of their overall deal with SHOWTIME. Isaac will co-executive produce the project. The limited series will be produced by Showtime. The announcement was made today by Gary Levine and Jana Winograde, Presidents of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc. Pivoting on Travis Kalanick, Uber’s hard-charging CEO who was ultimately ousted in a boardroom coup, the Showtime limited series will depict the roller-coaster ride of the upstart transportation company, embodying the highs and lows of Silicon Valley. Even amid the radical upheaval generated within the global tech capital, Uber stands out as both a marvel and a cautionary tale, featuring internal and external battles that ripple with unpredictable consequences.

- ALL ARTS is happy to announce a new weekly series titled In Concert With CMS that will premiere this Sunday, October 20 and air weekly on the ALL ARTS broadcast channel and be available to stream on the ALL ARTS app and website. The series was created in partnership with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, in celebration of its 50th anniversary season.

- This November, Smithsonian Channel will transform decades of black and white, bringing figures like Winston Churchill, Queen Victoria and Frank Sinatra – and events like the Hindenburg disaster – into the full-color world they lived. The network today announced the season three premiere of the critically lauded and audience-beloved series America in Color, as well as the launch of a new series, Britain in Color. Deeply researched to ensure accurate colorization, the six new episodes of America in Color explore rich themes that still resonate today, from the changing roles of the American worker to immigration and the enduring values of small-town America. The three-episode season of Britain in Color brings to life the full glory of the British Empire and the royal family as well as the iconic Prime Minister. America in Color returns on Sunday, November 17 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, and the season premiere will be available to stream on the network’s YouTube page beginning Sunday, November 10. Britain in Color premieres on November 17 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

- Break out the mistletoe and holly. The day is here - and it feels just like Christmas morning. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is excited to bring you the music and the magic of the holidays with the release of A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish – Available NOW on Digital, and on Blu-ray and DVD on October 29. Check out this exclusive clip from the film that will get you excited to relive the timeless tale of Cinderella with a modern-day, holiday twist! Iconic to the characters, the clip reveals Kat’s step-family making her feel unwanted, in true Cinderella fashion!

Previewing Looking for Alaska

Aww nostalgia, when we sit and reminisce about the good old days by blocking from our minds of all the horrible things that happen in our youth and just focus on the pop culture we loved. And I am all for the nineties nostalgia that is in full swing right now which I believe was started when Anna Kendrick reminded us how great a song No Diggity was (then in the second Pitch Perfect featured an entire 90’s Hip-Hop Jamz category during the Riff-Off). Since then Dave Matthews Band were an integral part of a critically acclaimed movie, a Lauryn Hill sample topped the Billboard charts, Friends is the most popular show on Netflix, Wonderwall has been on Spotify’s most streamed for eighty percent of the last year, most of the Roseanne cast is back on television while The X-Files and Twin Peaks saw new seasons recently, Hootie and the Blowfish has reunited and is touring with Barenaked Ladies.

But Hulu is really trying to start a 00’s nostalgia trend. Earlier this year they rebooted Veronica Mars and now they are launching a new series set a year after Veronica Mars launched on something called UPN. But now that I think about it, now that the nineties nostalgia is bringing back Beverly Hills 90210 and Billy Ray Cyrus has the biggest song of the year with a gay country rapper who samples Nine inch Nails and Nirvana while taking his name from one of the greatest rappers of the nineties, maybe it is time to start a 00’s nostalgia trend.

In 2005, a Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage were two years from essentially launching The CW as we now know it with Gossip Girl and now they are back together for another take on a literary work, Looking for Alaska based that year. And their new show looks like something that could have also fit in during those early days of the young network. Well, if The CW had a much bigger budget, better casting agent, and more money for bigger and better songs. After a teaser of what is to come, the show essentially opens with All These Things I’ve Done. What a great song, I am warming up to the 00’s nostalgia. There is also a bizarre Milkshake cover I did not even realize it was the song until it was over. They do seem to bounce between originals and modern covers from the era on this show mostly for the better.

In a measure of full disclosure, I have not read the John Green the book Looking for Alaska is based on or any of his books, or seen The Fault in Our Stars or Paper Town, the two movies that were based on his other books (a third is coming to a Hulu competitor later this year). I did scroll the non-spoilery parts of the Wikipedia page and was surprised how many accusations of pornography were leveled at the book as the show is something that could have very well aired on The CW aside from a couple naughty words and bizarrely an incident with a tube of toothpaste, but even then the camera cuts away really quick before becoming too graphic. In fact there is a scene in the first episode where a guy is told “You can let go now” which is very much like a PG-13 version, new millennium version of “You can blink now.” And since both Green and Swartz (who wrote the first episode) are my around my age, I am convinced whichever of those two wrote the line was influenced by Doc Hollywood.

Looking for Alaska stars Charlie Plummer (Boardwalk Empire) who plays the kind of kid who back in 2005 has no one but his parents show up to his birthday party, probably knowing copious amounts of famous last words is the greatest conversation starter. So he convinces his parents to send him to a boarding school in Alabama (though it took me about half the first episode thinking this was a summer camp). And wouldn’t you know it, he is able find plenty of friends there. There is Denny Love (Empire), his roommate that introduces himself as “The Coronal” (and dubs the new guy Pudge because… irony?), and his buddy Jay Lee (American Vandal). Dude even manages to catch the eye of a recent Romanian immigrant Sofia Vassilieva (My Sister’s Keeper). The Coronal also has a girlfriend played by Landy Bender (who I was surprisinged to learm she is played by the fowl-mount little girl with too much make-up in the criminally forgotten Jonah Hill comedy The Sitter) but I never quite understood that relationship. Oh yeah, and then there is Alaska.

Kristine Froseth plays the titular character. The only thing I had seen her in previous was The Society where she was pretty forgettable. Granted everyone on that show was pretty forgettable. It took me about four or five episodes to realize there were two douchebags with perfectly coifed hair. Then there were three or four brunette chicks that just blended together too. But as Alaska, Froseth is enigmatic; you can tell why clerk would sell her beer with a crappy ID or why Plummer would be so obsessed with her even though he can easily hook up with a cute Romanian.

There also two adults in the show both expertly played when they could have easily come off as clichés. Timothy Simons (Draft Day) plays the Dean of Students but manages to not come off as the completely buffoon who returns to the school he once attended nor an evil authoritarian, but plays the role with the right amount of strictness and empathy. Ron Cephas Jones (Mr. Robot) is the one lunged theology teacher who the perfect people to be around the end of the series.

Not knowing much about the show with a pretty unknown cast based on a book whose author I have never read but base his work, basically only wrote The Fault in Our Stars as a sad sack kids dying in love story based on the trailer. But Looking for Alaska is a witty coming of age story with an abundant amount of pranks between Plummer and the Weekday Warriors (basically the rich kids who go home to their big houses on the weekend) with a homicidal swan terrorizing anyone who comes near him. Looking for Alaska is a fun show about young love and school pranks… until it isn’t.

It is not a spoiler to say something bad ends up happening; the show starts off with a car crash and though the first few episodes are mostly light and low stakes as the pranks get more elaborate, there is a slow creeping dread that seeps into the show thanks to the place card at the end of each episodes that tells the number of days before… presumably the car crash. This ramps into top gear when “1 day before” starts an episode and then ends with one of the main character driving away angry. The next episode starts off with someone saying, “Something terrible has happened” and minutes later we see the place card that simply says, “After.”

Had they adapted the book when it came out, it likely would have been a movie. Thankfully the rights languished in development hell for a decade and a half, long enough for the proliferation of television outlets, some that are not afraid of shows that will not run for two-hundred episodes. So instead of a two hour movie, an hour dedicated “Before” an hour dedicated “After,” Looking for Alaska gets to sprawl to almost eight hours letting up live with characters, and the show is much better for it. Looking for Alaska is an expertly crafted show that touches on every bit of emotion you could possibly want from a television show. If you do cry sometime “After” (or three) or laugh hysterically during the one final prank, I worry for your soul.

If I have one complaint is that Looking for Alaska is only a limited series with these eight episodes being all the time we get with these characters. Had this gone multiple seasons (and the “After” does not happen until late in the run), Looking for Alaska could have gone down a one of the great high school dramas. I actually would not mind if Hulu pulls a The Handmaid’s Tale and go past the book (with one big retcon preferably). Instead it will just have to go down as one of the best limited series in the history of television.

All episode of Looking for Alaska are on Hulu today.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: October 13, 2019

Supergirl: Somehow it seems like Brainiac 5 got more annoying in between seasons. But anyway. I seems like the show is going to just rip off the most recent season of Young Justice with people being brainwashed with VR. And did Lena already get brainwashed? It seems weird how upset she was that Kara did not tell her about Supergirl, Kara finally tells her, pulls the story about at the last minute, but then still seems mad? Huh? And did Lena send the new owner another story or just nothing at all? If Lena always keeps her promises, and then reneges to the new owner, she is just doing what Kara did to her.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

The Walking Dead: So were are just under a decade into the apocalypse and a Russian satellite is just now falling to earth? Not bad craftsmanship. Other than that, kind of a boring premiere.

The Affair: Gee, Whitney is getting married and yet, we get to see the set-up from Noah’s point of view even though the only thing he did without her was get poison ivy and visit an empty house. Though as we see future Joanie, I have been wondering what her relationship to the Soloway’s is and here we at least see Noah try to see her. And as we have seen very different versions of the same events, we actually her two people talk about one of them, Whitney says her mother save her sister while Noah thought it was Alison. But that was the very first episode and I vaguely remember it happened let alone what Noah and Alison’s versions played it out. Then we got a definitive answer of what happened to Alison, her boyfriend did kill her. Admits it to but then claims she is crazy… should have taken him up on the whole killing him offer.

Mr. Robot: Last season during the one shot episode, I felt this building dread that Angela was not going to make it out of the building. Once she did, I thought it would be smooth sailing for her especially after turning out to be the powerful dude’s daughter… and then she gets her brains blown out first thing in the last season. But what a weird scene, for a while I thought that was still part of the “Previously On” because I vaguely remember old dude telling Angela she was his daughter in a place like that but then the scene just kept going making me realize a minute later, oh, this is new.

But is Angela really dead? Eliot is not the best narrator. We have seen him shot in the head before during the season where he had been in prison without telling us for almost half the season. Darlene did see her, sure in a coked up haze. Or maybe she is dead-dead but she pops up in Darlene’s head much like Eliot sees Mr. Robot. Then there is a way she comes back in the way White Rose promised Angela that she could see her mother ago with the machine she was building. Either way (or even the fourth way where she is dead-dead and we never see her again), I am kind of dreading the finial season the way I dreaded the final season of Game of Thrones)
You can download Mr. Robot: on iTunes.

Wu-Tang: An American Saga: Thankfully they put the real music video in the end credits to save me a trip to YouTube afterward. Goodness that was bad, I cannot imagine a Denise Williams sample would have made it much better. Having that song flop may have been the best thing that could have happened to RZA. Also, kudos, to the description maker of the episode that simply read, “Industry Rule #4080…” To the kiddies unaware, that is a line from A Tribe Called Quest which finishes, “record people are shady.”
You can watch Wu-Tang: An American Saga on Hulu.

Survivor: Island of Idols: I am not sure what was dumber, the girl alliance who got rid of Vince who was a solid number for them or Vince not using his Idol even though it was only good for two weeks. Probably Vince because he just followed countless others who think playing their Idol is a sign of weakness. But everyone thinks you have an Idol because you went to the mysterious Island of Idols, you can only play it twice (and who knows if you are going back the next week), you play it just in case people are trying to flush it.

But the women were pretty dumb to. In modern Survivor, voting to keep your Tribe physically strong is dumb. One, puzzles are the great equalizer now. Two, you are three weeks in, there is a swap coming soon, maybe next week. You have to think to yourself, who would I rather be swapped with, Vince, or one of the other three dudes you are wary of?
You can download Survivor: Island of the Idols on iTunes.

The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2: Good riddance Bear, please never come back.
You can download The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 on iTunes.

Almost Family: Thankfully that found a much better shade of red for Brittany Snow this week. And I laughed pretty hard when Roxy said she would look after her father. That should end badly.
You can download Almost Family on iTunes.

Stumptown: I did not care too much for the first couple episodes because I was unsure what the show wanted to be. But if the show ends up being Dax following around Donal Logue, I would enjoy that show. Unfortunately it does not look like it will be that.
You can download Stumptown on iTunes.

The Good Place: So who was the hooded figure at the end? My first thought was death. But selfishly I hope it is The Real Eleanor.
You can download The Good Place on iTunes.

Titans: So all that to have Superboy save Jason Todd even though everyone even vaguely familiar with the comics knows he is going to die eventually? Meh, but I did like Krpto (even though he basically killed a dude) and the drunken lady doctor. If only Cadmus Labs on Supergirl had anyone as entertaining as her.

The Blacklist: So Lizzy’s mother is moving next door. But doesn’t Red visit regularly? Seems like she should be caught soon.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Around the Tubes: October 12, 2019

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 Krypton, Desus & Mero, The Swan Princess, The Avett Brothers, Charlie’s Angels, Phantogram, BENEE, Memphis Bell in Color, Battle of Midway: The True Story, Marvel’s Helstrom, Couples Therapy, and The President Is Missing.

- Watch as the battle to free Krypton from Zod begins! Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release the action-adventure hit series Krypton: The Complete Second & Final Season on Blu-ray and DVD on January 14, 2020. From executive producers David S. Goyer (Man of Steel, The Dark Knight Trilogy) and Cameron Welsh (Constantine, The Last Ship), Krypton tells an entirely new story in the mythology of DC’s iconic Superman universe! Fans can purchase the sets with all 10 exhilarating episodes from season two plus two bonus featurettes including, “The Fate of Superman” and “Villains: Modes of Persuasion.” Krypton: The Complete Second & Final Season is priced to own at $24.98 SRP ($30.99 in Canada) for the DVD and $29.98 SRP ($39.99 in Canada) for the Blu-ray which includes a Digital Copy (US Only). Krypton: The Complete Second & Final Season is also available to own on Digital via purchase from all major digital retailers. Krypton: The Complete Series, which includes both seasons of Krypton will also be available for fans to own on Blu-ray and DVD for $54.97 / 44.98 SRP ($63.99 / $52.99 in Canada). Order due date for both releases is December 10, 2019.

- Desus & Mero will return from its summer hiatus with all-new episodes airing every Monday and Thursday at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT, starting on Monday, October 14. Desus & Mero features the duo chatting with guests at the intersection of pop culture, sports, music, politics and more, as well as giving their take on the day’s hot topics in their signature style in front of a small live studio audience from New York City. Upcoming guests include DaBaby (on October 14), Taraji P. Henson, Forest Whitaker and Ta-Nehisi Coates.


- In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Golden Globe®-nominated animated classic The Swan Princess, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is making the fan-favorite available in brilliant high definition for the first time ever with a collectible anniversary edition Blu-ray and in 4K HDR on digital, both available on October 29th. The Swan Princess, a magical, musical animated adventure based on the classic fairy tale "Swan Lake" has captured the hearts of audiences around the world. The winner of the Film Advisory Board Award of Excellence and the Parents' Choice Award, it's the heartwarming story of the beautiful princess Odette, who is transformed into a swan by an evil sorcerer's spell. Held captive at an enchanted lake, she befriends Jean-Bob the frog, Speed the turtle and Puffin the bird. Despite their struggle to keep the princess safe, these good-natured creatures can do nothing about the sorcerer's spell, which can only be broken by a vow of everlasting love. The Swan Princess is bursting with color, dazzling animation, beautiful music and the vocal talents of Jack Palance, John Cleese, Steven Wright, Sandy Duncan and Michelle Nicastro. The 25 anniversary Blu-ray release includes an all-new featurette entitled “A Look Back, Tease Ahead,” plus a variety of additional archival features.

- The Avett Brothers: Tell the Truth on The Tonight Show:


- Republic Records and Sony Pictures Entertainment unlock the pre-order for the year’s biggest and most-anticipated soundtrack album, Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). The star-studded tracklisting to the soundtrack has been revealed and includes four new songs from co-executive producer and Grammy-winner Ariana Grande. New Grande songs include another triple threat anthem “Bad To You” featuring Normani and Nicki Minaj, “Nobody” with the legendary Chaka Khan, “Got Her Own” with Victoria Monét as well as Grande’s own solo song “How I Look On You.” The soundtrack also includes tracks from Anitta and Danielle Bradbery as well as the infamous Donna Summer. See full track listing below! Pre-order Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) HERE.

- Hot off the heels of their North American headline tour, Phantogram releases their new single, “In A Spiral,” from their highly anticipated upcoming project, today—listen HERE!
Of the inspiration behind “In A Spiral,” Sarah Barthel of Phantogram says, “‘In A Spiral’ started from a beat that Josh had in his back pocket for quite some time, which I had gravitated to immediately and written some vocal ideas for. But the song was waiting for the right moment to reveal itself to us... We threw it on at the last minute while we were preparing to go record in Joshua Tree at the magical Rancho de la Luna with our friend Boots, and once we got out there everything started to fall into place.”

- Buzzing 19-year-old indie pop phenomenon BENEE shares her new single “Find An Island” – listen HERE! “Find An Island” charms listeners with its chantable hook, “Find an island, far away from me, a shipwreck lost at sea…nobody knows but me.” Of the alternative bop, BENEE says “Howdily doodley! This is a song I wrote about my best bud because sometimes ya hate your friends, but you always love them.”

- The Circus: Inside the Wildest Political Show on Earth takes stock of this political moment in a new episode titled “Desperate Times, Desperate Measures,” airing on Sunday, October 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Co-hosts John Heilemann, Alex Wagner, and Mark McKinnon are joined by contributor Jennifer Palmieri, an alumna of the Clinton and Obama administrations and a Hillary Clinton campaign veteran, as the show tracks the escalating desperation of the White House, whistleblowers and 2020 candidates. For a preview of this week's episode, go to: youtu.be/lLXyIvMZMlA.

- Smithsonian Channel continues its annual initiative honoring Veterans Month with two all-new specials to air this November. Memphis Bell in Color tells the story of the famed Memphis Belle – a B-17 bomber plane that became a symbol of the Allies’ desperate fight against the German Luftwaffe during WWII – with vibrant color footage of the iconic aircraft in combat. Turning toward the Pacific theater, Battle of Midway: The True Story revisits one of the most pivotal battles in United States naval history – a decisive victory that turned the tide in the United States’ punishing fight against Japan. Memphis Bell in Color will premiere on Sunday, November 10 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, and Battle of Midway: The True Story will premiere on Monday, November 11 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel.

- Showtime announced it has picked up a second season of the acclaimed docu-series Couples Therapy, from Sundance Award winning filmmakers Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg and Eli Despres. The second season will also feature world-class therapist Dr. Orna Guralnik. Described as “raw and delicious” by the The New York Times, “addicting” by GQ and “compulsively watchable” by Jezebel, Couples Therapy has received critical praise from press and viewers alike, and is currently airing on Fridays at 10 p.m. ET/PT. To watch a first look from this week’s episode, visit: youtu.be/A9sxVJaylls.

- Marvel Television and Hulu have announced casting for Marvel’s Helstrom - the live-action series based on the popular Marvel comic book. The series will mark Marvel’s first foray into terror and is slated for debut in 2020. In Marvel’s Helstrom, Daimon and Ana Helstrom are the son and daughter of a mysterious and powerful serial killer. The siblings have a complicated dynamic as they track down the terrorizing worst of humanity — each with their attitude and skills. Tom Austen (“Grantchester,” “The Borgias”) as Daimon Helstrom - A professor of ethics who moonlights as an exorcist, Daimon has no illusions about saving a world he has no patience for; he just hopes he can help a few of the people closest to him. In his battle against a hidden world, Daimon is determined to root out demons as they arise, and will not stop until they're vanquished. Sydney Lemmon (“Succession” “Fear of The Walking Dead”) as Ana Helstrom - By day, Ana runs a successful auction house and suffers no fools, but her true interest lies in hunting down those who hurt others. Traumatized by her father as a child, Ana is driven to rid the world of those like him, even as she secretly worries her father will return. Elizabeth Marvel (“Homeland,” ”The Meyerowitz Stories”) as Victoria Helstrom - Plagued by demons both real and imagined, Victoria has been institutionalized for twenty years. While she struggles to be herself, she hopes to repair her relationship with her children. Robert Wisdom (“Ballers,” ”Watchmen”) as Caretaker - Caretaker is a guardian of knowledge of the occult. He uses his knowledge and his relationship with Ana to help keep demonic forces at bay. June Carryl (“Mindhunter,” “Dead Women Walking”) as Dr. Louise Hastings - A psychologist with a strong faith but an open mind, Hastings is head of the psychiatric hospital where Victoria is being monitored. She has watched over the Helstrom family for years, caring for them as best she can. Ariana Guerra (“Raising Dion,” “Insatiable”) as Gabriella Rosetti - A woman balancing logic and faith, Gabriella arrives from the Vatican to help Daimon and Hastings uncover cases of demonic possession. She wants to save everyone she can, including Daimon. Alain Uy (“The Passage,” “Paper Tigers”) as Chris Yen - Yen is Ana's business partner and her closest friend -- some would say surrogate brother. He carries out the bulk of the auction house's responsibilities and assists Ana with whatever she needs.

- Showtime has announced that Emmy and Golden Globe nominee David Oyelowo (Selma) will play the title role in the drama series The President Is Missing. The network has ordered a pilot, which is currently in pre-production and scheduled to shoot in 2020. Academy Award® winner Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects), Anthony Peckham (Invictus), Heather McQuarrie and Oyelowo will executive produce the series. Peckham is writing the adaptation. The announcement was made today by Gary Levine and Jana Winograde, Presidents of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc.

- Trump Administration revisions to the federal Lead and Copper Rule, announced today, fail to protect people and communities from toxic lead contamination. The National Wildlife Federation views the move as yet another instance where the Trump Administration is failing to protect the nation’s drinking water and public health. “Justice delayed is justice denied—and the sad truth is that this rule will not help the vast majority of the millions of America’s living right now with the injustice of toxic lead in their water,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “Lead is a neurotoxin. It poisons kids’ blood and brains. EPA had the perfect opportunity to adopt a science-based approach and to accelerate the replacement of lead pipes across the country, but instead it opted to retain the current unsafe approach and allow unsafe pipelines to continue poisoning residents until the residents make investments first (regardless of whether they can afford it). It’s not just a missed opportunity — it’s a betrayal of our public health. We call upon Congress to step up to protect our drinking water and our communities.”

57 Channels and Only This Is On: October 6, 2019

The Affair: After being completely missing last week we get a complete episode of just Joanie this week. Plus we got a confirmation of the timeline; Allison does not die for another two years. So we are three years until Noah’s movie gets made? They have taken some big time jumps on the show so it is nice that someone is paying attention. We also got Cole’s second wife in the future and a Noah mention, but I still wonder if she will ever run into the guy who raised her for a couple years or even the Soloway children. And if Cole was in his seventies when he died, is the army guy who killed Allison still alive to pay for his crime? All I know is I want more of that reporter.

Fear the Walking Dead: Well they finally took my advice to clear out the ghost town, but only after Ginny was on her way. Oh, and it turns out she evilly killed all those people. But how very Bond villain of her to just walk away and let Morgan die without seeing him actually die. Almost as silly of Grace not having radiation poisoning, but instead turned out to be pregnant.
You can download Fear the Walking Dead on iTunes.

Wu-Tang: An American Saga: Wait, Method Man played lacrosse? I kind of want a Method Man playing lacrosse spin off. Can we resurrect Rock ‘n’ Jock for a lacrosse game with Method Man and other celebrities we would have never guessed played the sport.
You can watch Wu-Tang: An American Saga on Hulu.

Survivor: Island of Idols: Last week’s premiere was a giant ball of flaming shirt. But I have softened on this season a little this week because Kellee is just content gold this week. And much like the lone bright spot of last season Lauren (not be confused with this season’s Lauren the killjoy), Kellee also played colligate soccer. But even Kellee could not do much to improve the borefest that is the Island of Idols. And unfortunately, unlike the lone bright spot of last week, they did not vote the annoying dude this week. Meh.
You can download Survivor: Island of the Idols on iTunes.

The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2: I had no idea until they went against each other this week that Nicole and Jenny were two separate people. And it was kind of lame that TJ let people sit out of trivia. Make everyone go at least once, that made no sense especially when people were going twice.
You can download The Challenge: War of the Worlds 2 on iTunes.

Almost Family: I did not have much expectation for this show considering the premise was so absurd, but I have to say the three sisters really made this show compelling. Though it is kind of silly that the black chick stole the chick with the bad redhead dye job’s boyfriend only for her to turn out to be a lesbian. But I will still watch every episode.
You can download Almost Family on iTunes.

Stumptown: Oh, so this is going to be a P.I. show? They kind of completely dropped the ball telling the viewer what exactly the show was going to be in the promo and the first episode.
You can download Stumptown on iTunes.

The Good Place: Oh wow, we learned a new curse word this week. And I have already called five different people deckheads so far since. But the sad day we all feared all summer finally happened this week, Jason learned the Jags cut Blake Bortles. Now if only he can meet Gardner Flint Minshew II.
You can download The Good Place on iTunes.

Titans: I think we all knew Jason Todd would die eventually, but is he really going to be killed by Deathstroke? And if that fall kills him, don’t you have to bring in Batman at that point, having his apprentice die?

The Blacklist: Oh yeah, Red got stabbed at the end of last episode. Could have used that in a “Previously On: instead of a flashback in the middle of the episode. I have trouble remembering things I watched last week let alone what I watched four months ago. But I guess we do learn around the same time Red does.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.