Around the Tubes: January 15, 2022

   

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting.  This post includes blurbs on  Dollface, The Legend of Vox Machina, Attica, The Great, Betty White, Adventure Time, The Reboot, Dexter: New Blood, The Plot, Eddie Vedder, Glass Animals, and Bastille.

- Check out the official trailer and key art for the upcoming season of Hulu’s original comedy series "Dollface"!  “Dollface” returns with 10 all-new episodes Friday, February 11, on Hulu.  Season two follows Jules (Kat Dennings) and her best friends - post pandemic, post heartbreak, heading toward turning thirty. Having successfully reunited with her friends (Brenda Song, Shay Mitchell, and Esther Povitsky), Jules must now balance keeping their group together as the women navigate work, love, and a deeper relationship with each of themselves.

- Prime Video starts off the new year with the release of the official trailer for The Legend of Vox Machina, the upcoming highly anticipated adult animated fantasy-adventure series from Critical Role and Titmouse. The first season will consist of 12 episodes, with three episodes premiering every week starting January 28 in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.   Based on the beloved characters and adventures of Critical Role’s first livestreamed tabletop role-playing game (RPG) campaign, The Legend of Vox Machina is an animated fantasy-adventure series for adults that follows Vox Machina, a band of misfits with a fondness for boozing and brawling. In a desperate attempt to pay off their mounting bar tab, these unlikely heroes end up on a quest to save the realm of Exandria from dark magical forces. From a sinister necromancer to a powerful curse, the group confronts a variety of obstacles that not only test their skills, but also the strength of their bond.

- Leading into Martin Luther King Jr. Day, SHOWTIME is releasing its Oscar-shortlisted documentary feature ATTICA for free, beginning today. Available for viewing through the end of Black History Month, ATTICA is on Sho.com and YouTube, as well as across multiple SHOWTIME streaming and on demand platforms.  SHOWTIME delves deep inside the bloodiest prison rebellion in U.S. history with ATTICA, a feature-length documentary from Emmy^®-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Freedom Riders, The Murder of Emmett Till) and co-director Traci A. Curry. Named one of the National Board of Review’s Top 5 Documentaries of 2021, the film recounts in vivid detail the five-day 1971 prison rebellion at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York, which took the lives of 29 inmates and 10 hostages – the deadliest single day of violence Americans inflicted on each other since the Civil War.

- Hulu has renewed The Great, from Tony McNamara (THE FAVOURITE), for a 10-episode, third season. The critically acclaimed second season debuted on Hulu on Friday, November 19, 2021 and is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes at 100%. The series is currently nominated for three Critics’ Choice Awards. 

- To honor and celebrate what would have been Betty's 100th birthday, on Monday, January 17, starting at 9 a.m. ET, Game Show Network will air a 4-hour marathon of $25,000 PYRAMID episodes featuring the golden girl of game shows. 

- h My Glob! Get ready embark on a magical journey through the Land of Ooo and beyond when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment brings the Emmy-nominated Max Original, Adventure Time: Distant Lands to Blu-ray and DVD on March 8, 2022.  Binge all four specials from the limited series and explore the unseen corners of their world with characters both familiar and brand-new. Adventure Time: Distant Lands is priced to own on Blu-ray for $19.98 SRP ($24.98 in Canada) and on DVD for $14.98 SRP ($19.98 in Canada).

- Hulu has ordered the Original comedy Reboot, from creator and executive producer Steve Levitan and 20^th Television to series.  Judy Greer will star opposite previously announced Keegan-Michael Key and Johnny Knoxville, replacing Leslie Bibb in the role of BREE.  Steeped in the irony of the television industry’s continuing inclination to “reboot” hit shows from the past, the series begins when Hulu reboots an early 2000’s family sitcom, forcing its dysfunctional cast back together. Now they must deal with their unresolved issues in today’s fast-changing world.  

- With its finale on Sunday, DEXTER: NEW BLOOD wrapped up a record-shattering season for SHOWTIME. For its 10-episode run, DEXTER: NEW BLOOD is averaging over 8 million weekly viewers across all platforms, becoming the most-watched series in SHOWTIME history. With a total of 3 million viewers on Sunday alone, this was the biggest SHOWTIME finale in more than eight years, surpassing the season-three finale of HOMELAND in 2013. The finale – written by series showrunner Clyde Phillips – also set a new SHOWTIME record with 2 million viewers from streaming and on demand platforms on Sunday.  Thanks in large part to DEXTER: NEW BLOOD and new drama series YELLOWJACKETS, SHOWTIME delivered the most signups in its history during the fourth quarter of 2021.

- After a highly competitive bidding war across multiple streaming platforms, Disney’s Onyx Collective has ordered the limited series “The Plot” from Endeavor Content. The eight-episode series will stream on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ in all other territories.  The series is an adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name by Jean Hanff Korelitz. Korelitz’s book “You Should Have Known,” was also adapted into HBO’s “The Undoing” in 2020, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant.  “The Plot” stars and is executive produced by Oscar, Emmy^Ⓡ, BAFTA and NAACP Image Award-winning actor and producer Mahershala Ali (“Swan Song,” “Green Book,” “Moonlight”). Ali will produce along with executive producers Mimi Valdés and Amatus Karim Ali through their Know Wonder production company. Know Wonder recently produced the critically acclaimed feature film “Swan Song” and the Emmy-winning documentary “We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest.”

- Eddie Vedder releases a new single entitled “Brother the Cloud.” It heralds the arrival of his highly anticipated new album, Earthling, available on February 11th via Seattle Surf/Republic Records. The digital pre-order/pre-save for Earthling just went live on all streaming platforms—HERE and physical pre-order (cd, vinyl & cassette HERE).  Listen to “Brother the Cloud”—HERE.  Earthling, which was produced by Grammy Award® winning producer Andrew Watt, is Vedder’s first album since 2011’s Ukulele Songs and his first solo tour in over a decade.

- he distinctive nature of Brandon Boyd’s forthcoming album, ECHOES AND COCOONS (pre-order at https://orcd.co/echoesandcocoons ), is as evident in the newest single “Dime In My Dryer” as in the other singles that have been released thus far - “Pocket Knife” and “Petrichor.” SPIN describes the newest track as ‘curiously textured’ and today you can hear it for yourself.  “Dime In My Dryer” is a tale of discovery of what is important in life when forced to slow down.  “It was in the relative silence of a world mostly shut down that I noticed how loud things had been in the before-times,” explains Brandon. “Not the obvious part of my life that is governed by big sounds and traveling, no, but that chatter or noise that emits from our shared experience as people. All of a sudden it would stop for brief intervals and in those gaps is where I began to see the parts of my life and my general experience that offered more signal and less noise.”

- Critically acclaimed GRAMMY® Award nominated global sensations Glass Animals have started off 2022 with a recording-breaking milestone and first in their career—today, “Heat Waves” climbed to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, breaking the record for the longest climb to Top 5 in Hot 100 history at 51 weeks. Not to mention, “Heat Waves” rose to #3 on the Top 40 Radio Chart and #6 on the Hot AC Radio Chart this week, and over past two weeks, it peaked at #1 on Spotify US Top 50 Chart, surpassed 1 billion Spotify streams, and amassed a new peak of 969K streams on the platform in a day. In addition to their GRAMMY® Awards Nomination for Best New Artist, the band was also recently nominated for two BRIT Awards for Song of the Year (“Heat Waves”) and Best Rock/Alternative Act. They celebrated the announcement with a performance at “The BRITs Are Coming 2022”—watch HERE.

 - Bastille drops their latest single “Shut Off The Lights” from their fourth studio album Give Me The Future out February 4^th—listen to “Shut Off The Lights” HERE. To celebrate the upcoming album, today, Bastille announces their 2022 US tour dates as part of their upcoming “Give Me The Future Tour.” The US leg kicks off on May 14^th in Memphis, TN and makes stops in Los Angeles on May 20^th, New York on June 7^th, and more—see the full list of tour dates below. Tickets will be available via pre-sale starting on Tuesday, January 18^th and via general on-sale on Friday, January 21^st at 10AM local time at https://www.bastillebastille.com/.

Previewing Ray Donovan: The Movie

 

There is a running joke that once Showtime picks up a show, they will run it into the ground.  This is mostly thanks to Dexter and Weeds which premiered a year apart and both went on for eight seasons (and while the Dexter reboot just wrapped up, a Weeds reboot is also coming soon, albeit on Starz, not Showtime).  Over the next five years they would premiere shows like Homeland, Shameless, Californication, and Nurse Jackie that would go on for at least five seasons.  But the thing is, shows that premiered after that have not lasted that long.  In the past decade, there have been six one and done shows, while I’m Dying up Here, Dice, SMILF, and Kidding all got canned after two seasons.  The only shows that premiered in the past decade that Showtime let run forever like the old joke are Billion, about to start its sixth season, and Ray Donovan which went to seven season, but Showtime was trigger happy in canceling the show, ending the show without giving it the obligatory final season that most long running shows are afforded.

 

But after some outcry, the show will be able to wrap up properly with a two hour movie.  Now, the movie will be premiering almost two years to the day the finale aired.  To give you a sense as to how long ago that was, in January 2020, very few people were worried about COVID-19 back then.  By season seven, Ray and the rest of the Donovan clan had been in New York for most of the previous three seasons.  By my estimate, Ray and Mickie had tried to kill each other and reconciled a couple hundred times by then.  The season ended with a shootout between the Donovan’s and the Sullivan’s (Jimmy Sullivan raped Ray’s sister Bridget years ago resulting in Bridget taking a nose dive off a roof and the knowledge recently came to light) with Ray’s daughter’s husband Smitty dying as a result.

 

Thankfully the show starts off with a lengthy three minute recap but done like recent episode “Previously On” montage where it is just quick clips and very little dialogue.  Then in the first scene, Ray tells someone, “I killed my father.”  Wait, did I really forget Ray killed Mickie and they did not even put that part on the recap?  Well, no, and he did not kill him off screen either as Mickie shows up on screen, and like for much of the seventh season is trying to sell off papers worth multi-million dollar.  The “I killed my father” line is just a set up for the movie.

 

The movie is split up in two parts, and continues the trend of the seventh season where they flashback to the early life of the Donovan clan back in Boston.  Much how the modern day storyline picks up after the events of the shootout and starts with Smitty’s funeral, the flashback also start with a funeral, this time of Bridget’s.  The flashbacks also tie back into the events of season one as we see many things that are the catalyst of the beginnings of the series.

 

The whole Donovan clan is back.  Well, not Ray’s son who I guess is still in military school and does not even get one mention.  While not gratuitous, we do get to see a bunch of familiar faces, well in the case of some of the flashbacks; the names are familiar even if the faces are different.  While it takes some time to remember just where the last season left off (it may be wise to re-watch the finale before the movie) the movie does a good job tying up loose ends and should leave longtime fans satisfied.

 

Ray Donovan: The Movie airs Friday at 9:00 on Showtime.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: January 9, 2022

 

Dexter: New Blood:  I believe this was the very first time Dexter took down the Big Bad before the finale… unless he is the Big Bad and Angela takes Dexter down in the finale.  That would be a fitting end to the series… except they are definitely going to do another season eventually.  I thought we were going to get a full flashback episode like a lost episode of the original show, maybe with the whole gang returning, but alas.  Dexter cut that story short and waited to give the full story until they got into Kurt’s dollhouse. 

 

So that is where the podcaster at.  But much like how we never learned just how Kurt figured out Dexter killed his kid; we do not know how she ended up down there.  We know Kurt lured runaways to his hotel and locked them up, and he did try that once with the podcaster, was she actually dumb enough to go with him again?  Not that Kurt is very bright either.  Did he really think he would roll up on Dexter’s cabin in a large and loud tanker, spray the entire cabin with gasoline and wait for them to come out after the cabin was on fire?  Has anyone was actually there, they would have heard the tanker pull up.  Not that Dexter has a great plan either, alerting Kurt that he found his underground bunker.  What if he was close and locked them in?  And again we are treating that screw as some sort of smoking bullet.  How could that possibly tie back to Dexter?

 

Claws:  So the judge kept on bring up how Brice was not the biological father and then gives custody of the children… to his uncle who is not biologically related to the children.  Huh?  But I still think Jenn will eventually joining Uncle Daddy and Quiet Ann and eventually the whole group will turn on Desna.

 

Yellowjackets:  So Van was not the first to die and managed to survive having a wolf chew off half her face and make it back a couple of miles back to the cabin where they only have rudimentary antibiotics, most of which was used on coach’s leg.  Though there was something weird with her POV; could something mystical have kept her alive?  But we did not have to wait long to have an actual first death… assuming Laura Lee did not manage to survive that plane exploding the way Van survived being mauled.    I must say, when Nat talked to her sponsor, my first though was, oh, that is adult Laura Lee based solely on her looks.  C’mon Lottie, you saw Laura Lee encased in red a couple episodes, why are you letting her fly that plane?  Maybe give the talisman that she gave to Van that Tai stole and give it to Laura Lee.

 

We also got the big reveal that Adam was the blackmailer and has no digital footprint.  That really leans into the theory that Adam is really Javi.  Though I never bought into that theory because Javi have been very insignificant to this point, basically Shauna gave him a few pages of her diary and that was about it.  Plus the timeline does not really line up if Adam graduated in ’04, which would have made Javi about ten in 1996.  Javi at the very least looks like a middle schooler if not an underclassman.  But of course Adam could be lying about when he graduated.  If that really is Javi, then is he really behind the postcards and killed his brother?  The keep on pointing out that only family can get banking information so seems very likely he emptied the account.  But that would be a huge letdown if Javi was behind everything.

 

Psycho Misty update:  she did blow for the first time.  And a lot of it.  Aswesome.  Then she had to profusely apologize to her bird.  But just how long is she going to keep that reporter down there?  Until she solves Travis’s murder?  Then what?  Is she actually going to kill her or let her go?

 

But just how much time does Callie spend at her friend’s house?  She just came home to get a change of clothes.  She then eats with her parents but then Shauna said Tai could stay in her room because she was going back to the friend’s house to spend another night.  Things do seem like they are going to pick up next week with Homecoming (unless they save that for the finale).  Will we finally get to learn of some of the other survivor?  Will One Eyed Van show up?  It will be annoying if of the other survivor besides the main four decide to skip the event and we are still left guessing.  And Jeff was Homecoming King?  Was Jackie the queen then?  This may be as awkward as that dinner with Jackie’s parents.

 

The Book of Boba Fett:  Holy Hutt sighing.  But those twins are giving off big time Lannister vibes.  Do they really need to be that close to each other?  It does seem like maybe the Hutt’s are behind the assassination plot from last week and are in cahoots with the Mayor.

 

The Challenge: All-Stars: Well, there goes my prediction of Jodi and Brad winning,  I thought they might pull I out because it seemed like Brad had the much better strategy than Darrell, but on the flip side Janelle seemed to have a better strategy than Jodi and Darrelle managed not to keep hitting Janelle on the head with cinderblocks.

 

The Blacklist:  I do not think I really needed to see what happened to Ressler between the seasons, but after watching this episode… I still think I did not need to see that.

Around the Tubes: January 8, 2022

   

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting.  This post includes blurbs on Pam & Tommy, Sex Appeal, The Weeknd, James Brown, Foxes, nd Betty White.

- Check out the all-new trailer and key art for Hulu's "Pam & Tommy." The limited series premieres with three episodes on February 2nd. New episodes stream weekly.  Set in the Wild West early days of the Internet, “Pam & Tommy” is based on the incredible true story of the Pamela Anderson (Lily James) and Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) sex tape. Stolen from the couple’s home by a disgruntled contractor (Seth Rogen), the video went from underground bootleg-VHS curiosity to full-blown global sensation when it hit the Web in 1997. A love story, crime caper and cautionary tale rolled into one, the eight-part original limited series explores the intersection of privacy, technology and celebrity, tracing the origins of our current Reality TV Era to a stolen tape seen by millions but meant to have an audience of just two.

- Check out the official trailer and key art for the Hulu Original Film "Sex Appeal." The film premieres Friday, January 14th.  Avery Hansen-White doesn’t do things she isn’t excellent at. So when her long-distance boyfriend hints at wanting to take their relationship to the next level, she sets out to master her sexuality, employing her oldest friend, Larson, as a test subject. In this hilarious teen comedy, Avery's study results in the realization that there's more to sex, and love, than mechanics. Relationships require both head and heart.

- The Weeknd has officially dropped his latest album, Dawn FM (XO/Republic Records). The surprise release began with a compelling trailer for the project and the reveal of the album cover and track list earlier in the week. The album, deemed a “sonic experience” by The Weeknd, showcases a unique cast of features from Tyler, the Creator, Lil Wayne, Quincy Jones, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Jim Carrey.  Listen to Dawn FM HERE.  As a part of the rollout, The Weeknd appeared in “103.5 Dawn FM”, a live stream experience which aired exclusively on the Amazon Music channel on Twitch and in the Amazon Music app.

- Celebrating the pioneer of funk James Brown, Urban Legends, a division of UMe, Universal Music Group’s global catalog company, has teamed up with multi-instrumentalist and member of The Roots, Stro Elliot, to create Black & Loud: James Brown Reimagined by Stro Elliot, out February 4, 2022. The album, consisting of ten remixes of classic James Brown songs, will be available digitally on DSPs, physically as an LP on black vinyl, and will also have a clear vinyl color variant available as an e-commerce exclusive on the Urban Legends website HERE. Listen to the first single, "Machine No Make Sex," now HERE.

- Foxes shares her latest single "Absolute," taken from her highly-anticipated upcoming album, The Kick, due for release on February 11 2022 via [PIAS] Recordings. An ode to freedom and late-night euphoria, the disco-infused track was produced by Ghost Culture (Daniel Avery, Kelly Lee Owens).  Discussing the track, Foxes (Louisa Rose Allen) says:  “'Absolute' is about the middle of one of those nights, when everything around you feels perfectly aligned. The people, the sound and the freedom to be exactly who you are.”  Foxes’ first album in over five years, The Kick features recent singles ‘Sky Love’, ‘Dance Magic’ and ‘Sister Ray’. It was written and recorded remotely via zoom during the height of the pandemic, offering a form of escapism. Inspired by the desire for freedom that the world collectively shared over the last 18 months of lockdowns, the near-animalistic desperation to socialise, and a longing to dance again, Louisa naturally pivoted the sonics to feed that escapism and create a record that simultaneously feels close to her euphoric, dancefloor-filling pop roots that brought us hits like ‘Let Go For Tonight’, ‘Youth’ and ‘Body Talk’, while still feeling completely fresh. Unafraid of the art of the well-loved melancholic-banger, lyrically The Kick touches on themes of loss and heartbreak, narrating painful places and soundtracking new beginnings to create an album for the post-pandemic world and a summer of never leaving the party early.

- This SATURDAY, January 8 starting at 9 a.m. ET, Game Show Network will air an 8-hour marathon of MATCH GAME episodes featuring the golden girl of game shows and America's sweetheart, Betty White.  Join us to celebrate a lifetime of laughter and pay tribute to the one and only Betty White.

The Best Movies That I Watched in 2021

 

1.       The Suicide Squad

2.       Black Widow

3.       In the Heights

4.       Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

5.       Freaky

6.       Queenpins

7.       Promising Young Woman

8.       1917

9.       Coco

10.   We Broke Up

11.   Judas and the Black Messiah

12.   Bill & Ted Face the Music

13.   Encanto

14.   Vacation Friends

15.   Zoey's Extraordinary Christmas

16.   Raya and the Last Dragon

17.   Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

18.   The King of Staten Island

19.   The Gentlemen

20.   A Bad Moms Christmas

21.   A Quiet Place Part II

22.   Five Feet Apart

23.   Isle of Dogs

24.   Cruella

25.   Godzilla vs. Kong

The Ten Most Anticipated Events of 2022

 

10.  The End of The Walking Dead (returns 2/20):  It is the end of an era with The Walking Dead ending after eleven seasons.  Though much like the titular characters, the show will live on with a Carol and Daryl spinoff (spoiler alert, they do not die… though I may actually enjoy a show following the zombified duo more than what we will actually get) and of course there is always Fear the Walking Dead and supposedly those Rick movies, so I guess this is not truly the end.

 

9.  Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin:   The original show had possibly the worst plot twist in the history television when Allison’s brother turned out to be Allison’s other brother who was about seven years too young from when they already established the character to be.   The soft reboot with Allison and Mona was pretty bad.  Still, the quick glimpse in the HBO Mas 2022 teaser got me weirdly excited for the third go-around.

 

8.  Single Drunk Female (January 20):  I know nothing about this show, there has not even been a trailer released yet, but based solely on the name, I will be watching.

 

7.  Pam and Tommy (February 2):  When Hulu announce they were going to do a show about the infamous sex tape, I went, huh?  Then they announce Seth Rogen as the dude who obtained the sex tape, and again went, huh?  But I was also intrigued.  This is one of those shows you just hope completely goes off the rails.  Though I really hope we do not have to see how the Winter Soldier steers a boat. 

 

6.  Problematic Sporting Events (Maybe?):  Nothing I love more than international sporting events and we will be getting two this year… maybe.  With the Omicron variant wreaking havoc all over the world, it seems like the Winter Olympics may follow the Summer’s lead and postpone a year (the NHL already pulled out their players).  Hopefully things will be better by summer for the Men’s World Cup.  Oh wait, they pushed that to the late fall because some shady regime in Qatar, where it hits triple digits in the summer, presented the highest bribe and they proceed to have essentially slave labor build the soccer stadiums.    The Winter Olympics are just as problematics because it is being held in China who has a long history of human rights violations.  Sigh.  But hey, maybe both events will be canceled, but with money to be made and them being held in places that do not care about the well-being of people, probably not.

 

5.  The Next Game of Thrones (Maybe?):  Ever since Games of Thrones was winding down, networks and streaming serves have been on the lookout for that elusive next Game of Thrones.  There are a few contenders coming out.  Here are a few ranked from least likely to most likely.  Halo was supposed to be Showtime’s foray into the attempted Game of Thrones market but their corporate daddy gave that to Paramount+ (Showtime did get The Man Who Fell to Earth, which I am pretty confident in saying will not be the next Game of Thrones).  While this is huge IP, space stories do seems to have a ceiling and The Mount is near the bottom of the most subscribers’ power ranking.

Next up is Lord of the Rings which is one of the biggest IP names out that that spawn two very successful trilogies earlier this century.  Amazon has the big pocket and a large subscriber base, but as Apple has shown with Foundation, shelling out a lot of money on IP alone will buy you the next Game of Thrones.  Plus while a lot of people subscribe to Prime, there also seems to be a lot of people that do not realize Prime Video comes with that two day free shipping.

So the most likely next Game of Thrones will be… Game of Thrones.  After spending a lot of money on a Pilot that got scrapped, HBO went with another story and we will likely be getting House of the Dragon this year.  But it is not guaranteed it will do as well as the original show.  House of the Dragon will have to win over a lot of fans who were disappointed with the choppy final season and pretty bad finale.  But on the bright side, this show will not have to hope George R.R. Martin finishes the books before the get to that part of the story

 

4.  Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, More Star Wars and Marvel Shows on the Ploose:  I will be watching all the shows they release but the MCU seems to be having diminishing returns.  The Mandalorian was great, but will Star Wars fatigue set in when they start pumping out more shows too?  I was fairly meh on the first episode of the Book of Boba Fett.  Here is my power raking of the shows that are likely coming to the Ploose this year: 

1)      Obi-Wan Kenobi

2)      Ms. Marvel

3)      Secret Invasion

4)      Andor

5)      Moon Knight

6)      She-Hulk

 

3.  Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (December 16) and Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8):  While superhero fatigue is setting in, the two goofier heroes of their respective cinematic universes and thus stared in some of the more entertaining movies.

 

2.  The Woman in the House across the Street from the Girl in the Window (January 29):  Now there is a title.  But all I need to know is the series is starring Kristen Bell so I may have to re-subscribe to Netflix for the first time in a while.

 

1.  The Season Finale of Yellowjackets (January 15):  Last episode was wild, Laura Lee’s plane blew up and it seems like Adam turned out to be the blackmailer, which could mean he could be adult Javi.  Of course after Van survived being mauled by wolf, I half expect Laura Lee to crawl out of the lake at the start of next episode.  Okay, I have actually seen the next episode and no spoilers, but there is a very big reveal and a popular Reddit theory gets vindicated.  Okay, one spoiler: the girls butcher a Seal.  No spoilers for the finale, mostly because I have not seen it.  But considering how bat-shirt crazy things have been I am sure there will a few more jaw dropping moment for the last episode.  It looks like the girls will be going to a reunion.  I have to image we finally learn of some of the other crash survivor that made it to middle age.  But will we see the presumed dead Jackie like I have been predicting all season?  Will we learn of anyone else who is with Misty during the dining scene from the premiere?  Oh, and the finale is entitled “Sic Transit Gloria Mundi” or “the glory of the world” in Latin, a phrase spoken when anointing a new Pope.  One has to assume a new leader will be coroneted during the earlier timeline.  Yeah, this is going to be wild.  And since the show was already been renewed, we may get more than three episodes this year.

 

Here is everything else I will be watching while trying to stay warm this winter:

Mondays

8:00 – The Neighborhood (CBS, January 3)

9:00 – Snowpiercer (TNT, January 24)

 

Tuesdays

How I Met Your Father (Hulu, January 18)

Dollface (Hulu, February 11)

8:00 – Young Rock (NBC, March 15)

8:30 – Mr. Mayor (NBC, March 15)

9:00 – Abbott Elementary (ABC, January 4)

9:30 – Black’ish (ABC, January 4)

 

Wednesday

The Book of Boba Fett (Disney+, already started)

Pam and Tommy (Hulu, February 2)

8:00 - The Goldbergs (ABC, January 5)

8:30 - The Wonder Years (ABC, January 5)

 

Thursdays

Peacemaker (HBO Max, January 13)

The Dropout (Hulu, March 3)

8:00 – The Blacklist (NBC, January 6)

9:00 – Ghosts (CBS, January 6)

9:30 - B Positive (CBS, January 6)

9:30 – Pivoting (Fox, preview January 9, regular timeslot premiere January 13)

10:00 – Grown’ish (Freeform, January 24)

10:30 – Single Drunk Female (Freeform, January 20 back to back episode starting at 10:00 the first week)

 

Fridays

Search Party (HBO Max, January 7)

2022 Winter Olympics (NBC, February 4)

8:00 – The Blacklist (NBC, February 25)

 

Sundays

8:00 – Killing Eve (BBC America, February 27)

9:00 – Billions (Showtime, January 23)

9:00 – The Walking Dead (AMC, February 20)

9:00 – Fear the Walking Dead (AMC, april 17)

10:00 - The Righteous Gemstones (HBO, January 9)

10:00 – Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber (Showtime, February 27)

57 Channels and Only This Is On: January 1, 2022

 

Dexter: New Blood:  Uh oh, Dexter breaking his code once again leaving a lot of DNA in the campground.  There is a reason why he does his kills in plastic, which is going to be a lot to clean up.  I wonder if he shows Harrison the body and how to clean it up next week.  Then his girlfriend is on his case linking him to two needle pricks.  Will they dust the drug maker’s house for prints now?  The last time Dexter broke his code; he broke into dude’s house, and then put his gloves on.  His prints should still be on the window.  But what will she do with the information about the pricks?  Is Dexter going to have to move again?  Maybe head back to a warmer climate.

 

Claws:  So Desna is already on the out with no longer Quiet Ann, things seem to be fracturing with Jennifer.  Is that going to be this season, Desna just becoming estranged from everyone on the show and then the inevitable reunion for the finale? 

 

Yellowjackets:  Oh wow, I did not have Van very high on my who will die first power ranking.  Actually that list was just Coach Ben and no one else.  But what is with Tai sleepwalking up trees?  Is this where it started and that traumatic experience has caused her to do it again?  And how did Tai get the totem that Lottie gave to Van?  Is the totem how Tai got safely into the tree to avoid the wold attack?

 

What I found most interesting was the talk in the car when Natalie was talking about how everyone did some bad things, Shauna disagreed and she should not drag everyone into her “pit of despaired.”  Interesting choice of words because we know there was a literal pit out in the Canadian wilderness.  Was Shauna not part of that whole thing?  I wonder if there will be a split in the groups between the cannibals and non-cannibals.  Could Nat be part of the pit group and Shauna part of a different group?  Then could Shauna and Jackie be part of two different groups because that will be a rough relationship going forward?  How do you read someone else’s diary?  Bad form Jackie.  

 

Back in present day, Misty is going full Citizen Detective by any means necessary in this week’s Misty psychopath watch.  So the reporter says that Travis’ back account was emptied shortly after he died.  That has to be Javi.  Who else could do it but a family member?  Unless, maybe, the account was not that big and Nat had his information.  Though the show has been very stingy up to this point with who is still alive outside the four main women and the already dead Travis.

 

Now it is time for my favorite part of the show: fashion watch.  So, not only did Jackie bring one argyle sweater vest, she brought multiple sweater vests to a soccer tournament for no apparent reason.  Not to be out down Mari, who seemly got more screen time this week than the previous seven episodes combined, went full eighties prep school villain wearing a polo shirt with a sweater wrapped around her neck.  Awesome.  Then poor Van, dies in a Coed Naked Soccer shirt.  How did our parents actually let us wear those, or the Big Johnson shirts (though I was not allowed to get the Big Johnson “Liquor in the front, poker in the back” shirt), back then?

 

The Book of Boba Fett:  Well that premiere left me feeling… whelmed,  I realized fairly early, that I do not really care that much about Boba’s backstory.  I enjoyed the old PlayStation 2 game, but do not really see it.  Nor do I care that much about the Tuscan Raiders stuff though it seems like we will be getting a duel timeline show for at least another episode or more.  Sigh.  Maybe we will see Obi-Wan at some point to set up his series.    

 

The Challenge: All-Stars: It is too bad Jodi did not order a milkshake so Ayanna could have gone full Daniel Plainview and tell Jodi she drinks her milkshake, she drinks it up.  But I wonder just how long this challenge took. Having to run a mile while remembering things had to take quite a few trips.

The 100 Best Songs of 2021

1. Funeral - Maisie Peters feat. James Bay 

2. Hate Myself - dodie 

3. drivers license - Olivia Rodrigo 

4. doomsday - Lizzy McAlpine 

5. Elevator Boots - Counting Crows 

6. jealousy, jealousy - Olivia Rodrigo 

7. Making a Fire - Foo Fighters 

8. good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo 

9. How Not To Drown – CHVRCHES feat. Robert Smith 

10. Broken Horses - Brandi Carlile 

11. Like a Ship - Leon Bridges and Keite Young 

12. Wilder Days - Morgan Wade 

13. John Hughes Movie - Maisie Peters 

14. A-O-K - Tai Verdes 

15. Elvis Song - Maisie Peters 

16. Steam - Leon Bridges 

17. deja vu - Olivia Rodrigo 

18. Volcano - Maisie Peters 

19. A.M. RADIO - The Lumineers 

20. Circles - Wyn Starks 

21. brutal - Olivia Rodrigo 

22. Renegade - Big Red Machine feat. Taylor Swift 

23. Hypotheticals - Lake Street Dive 

24. Dried Up River - The Lone Bellow 

25. Redemption - Nathaniel Rateliff 

26. justified - Kacey Musgraves 

27. Better Man - Taylor Swift 

28. For Your Consideration - Maggie Rose 

29. Harshest Critic - Allison Ponthier 

30. What You Say - Cold War Kids 

31. Diamond Studded Shoes - Yola 

32. Halfway - Mimi Webb 

33. Dustland - The Killers feat. Bruce Springsteen 

34. Stand For Myself - Yola 

35. Vermillion Park - Emily Wolfe 

36. All Too Well (10 Minute Version) - Taylor Swift 

37. Valentine - Snail Mail 

38. Open up the Heavens - Jade Bird 

39. BIG SHOT - The Lumineers 

40. Shapeshifter - Alessia Cara 

41. Silk Chiffon – MUNA feat. Phoebe Bridgers 

42. Excuses - Audrey Mika 

43. rubberband - Tate McRae 

44. Bad Posture - Abby Anderson 

45. Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home) - Elle King and Miranda Lambert 

46. The War Inside - Tom Morello feat. Chris Stapleton 

47. Back in Ohio - Lucero 

48. Last Resort - Natalie Hemby 

49. You Signed Up For This - Maisie Peters 

50. Woman You Got - Maddie & Tae 

51. Dancer - Léon 

52. Bath Salts – DMX feat. JAY-Z & Nas 

53. Now is the Time - Jade Bird 

54. Crawling Kingsnake - The Black Keys 

55. Last Day on Earth - beabadoobee 

56. Feels Like - Gracie Abrams 

57.BRIGHTSIDE - The Lumineers 

58. Solar Power - Lorde 

59. The Bottom - Gracie Abrams 

60. simple times - Kacey Musgraves 

61. bad ones - Tate McRae 

62. I Don't Live Here Anymore - The War on Drugs feat. Lucius 

63. wish i loved you in the 90s - Tate McRae 

64. Seventeen - Léon 

65. Hush Money - Lake Street Dive 

66. Not Dead Yet - Lord Huron 

67. Scarlett - Holly Humberstone 

68. Psycho - Maisie Peters 

69. Mess It Up - Gracie Abrams 

70. no body, no crime - Taylor Swift feat. HAIM 

71. Motorbike - Leon Bridges 

72. Enter Sandman - Alessia Cara and The Warning 

73. Beggin' - Måneskin 

74. Ain’t Lookin’ - The Wild Feathers 

75. Phoenix - Big Red Machine feat. Fleet Foxes & Anaïs Mitchell 

76. Last Train Home - John Mayer 

77. breadwinner - Kacey Musgraves 

78. Friendly Fire - Holly Humberstone 

79. Cold Heart (PNAU Remix) - Elton John and Dua Lipa 

80. Shouldn't Matter but It Does - John Mayer 

81. Oh My God - Adele 

82. I Bet You Think About Me - Taylor Swift feat. Chris Stapleton 

83. coney island - Taylor Swift feat. The National 

84. Leave The Door Open - Silk Sonic 

85. Sugar and Spice - Jocelyn & Chris Arndt 

86. Poor Boy a Long Way From Home - The Black Keys 

87. Family Farm - The Hold Steady 

88. Cologne - beabadoobee 

89. Girl From Rio - Anitta 

90. Next - Olivia Holt 

91. Skate - Silk Sonic 

92. It’s time to go - Taylor Swift 

93. Bed Head - Manchester Orchestra

94. How Low - Heartless Bastards 

95. Overpass Grafitti - Ed Sheeran 

96. Backburner - Maia Sharp 

97. If I Was a Cowboy - Miranda Lambert 

98. Witchoo - Durand Jones & The Indications, Aaron Frazer 

99. We're Good - Dua Lipa 

100. Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran

The Twenty-Five Best Music Videos of 2021

1. good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo 

2. All Too Well (10 Minute Version) - Taylor Swift 

3. John Hughes Movie - Maisie Peters 

4. deja vu - Olivia Rodrigo 

5. I Bet You Think About Me - Taylor Swift feat. Chris Stapleton 

6. Love Dies Young - Foo Fighters 

7. Popular - Pom Pom Squad feat. Matthew Caws of Nada Surf 

8. Psycho - Maisie Peters 

9. Doomsday - Lizzy McAlpine 

10. brutal - Olivia Rodrigo 

11. Shivers - Ed Sheeran 

12. Solar Power - Lorde 

13. simple times - Kacey Musgraves 

14. A-O-K - Tai Verdes 

15. Hate Myself - dodie 

16. Silk Chiffon – MUNA feat. Phoebe Bridgers 

17. Survivor - Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats 

18. Monday - The Regrettes 

19. Bad Habits - Ed Sheeran 

20. Mood Ring - Lorde 

21. Woman You Got - Maddie and Tae 

22. justified - Kacey Musgraves 

23. Fallen Fruit - Lorde 

24. drivers license - Olivia Rodrigo 

25. Love Is Not Enough - Ashe