Around the Tubes: December 24, 2021

  

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  The Legend of Vox Machina, Taylor Swift, Ben Harper, The Binge, and We Need to Talk about Cosby.

- Prime Video kicks off the holiday season with a special announcement: The Legend of Vox Machina, an upcoming adult animated fantasy-adventure series from Critical Role and Titmouse, will now premiere on January 28, 2022 in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. Along with the new premiere date, Prime Video released an exciting new clip and image from the series. 

- Following their historic releases, Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) and Fearless (Taylor’s Version) show no signs of slowing down with total consumption of each album moving over 2 Million album equivalents globally.  Since its release, Red (Taylor’s Version) has moved over 1 Million album equivalents in the U.S. alone, with Fearless (Taylor’s Version) on track to do the same this month.  Named the “No.1 Greatest Pop Star of 2021” by Billboard, Taylor caused a global media storm with the release of Red (Taylor’s Version) last month.  Red (Taylor’s Version) marked Taylor’s 10th album to move over 1 Million album equivalents globally during its release week, adding a brilliant new chapter to her legacy. The release saw Taylor becoming the first and only artist to simultaneously debut atop the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 chart three times, and in less than 16 months! It also sent 26 songs from its release onto the Billboard Hot 100, setting a new record for the most simultaneously charted Hot 100 entries among women.

- For this holiday season musician, producer and label founder Ben Harper and his Mad Bunny records present Sonic Chapters Volume 1, which will begin streaming December 29, 2021 exclusively on youtube.com/relixchannel.  Harper curated and assembled these sweet and powerful performances featuring Hey! King, Birdthrower, Harris, The Cush and Jake Etheridge, recorded in these artists’ homes, and rehearsal spaces. Harper closes the show with an acoustic performance filmed at his family owned Folk Music Center in Claremont, California.  

- Hulu has greenlit the next installment in The Binge franchise, a raunchy holiday feature titled The Binge 2: It’s A Wonderful Binge..  Jordan VanDina, the screenwriter behind The Binge for Hulu and American High, has been tapped to direct the feature from an original script he wrote. This marks VanDina’s feature directorial debut, and continues American High’s mission to create unique opportunities for first-time filmmakers.

- SHOWTIME Documentary Films announced WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT COSBY, a four-part docuseries from Emmy-winning director W. Kamau Bell (United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell) that offers an in-depth look at the revolutionary career and personal descent of Bill Cosby. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT COSBY will screen at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, ahead of its SHOWTIME premiere on Sunday, January 30 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. All episodes will be available across all SHOWTIME streaming and VOD platforms on January 30. To watch and share the trailer, visit: https://youtu.be/raCuh_Q6Ve8.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: December 19, 2021

 

Dexter: New Blood:  There was a moment this episode where I thought to myself, is Dexter going to kill the podcaster or is Kurt going to be the one.  Kurt seemingly was going to try and it was surprisingly Dexter who was the one who saved her.  Dexter did get some vital information on the ride home as he figured out it was not her that tipped Angela off to his real name.  But will Dexter ever find out it was her daughter via his son as to how that information got out. 

 

But it looks like Angela will not stay mad very as she now needs Dexter.  My first thought it was for revenge after finding her friend, but obviously she will want him to use his forensic expertise despite telling her he killed Dexter to get away from that life. It seems obvious to assume Kurt killed her and put her body there, but we only saw Angela find the one body and clearly Kurt killed more.  Plus that passageway seemed fairly tight for the two relatively skinny lawmen and Kurt is a bit bigger.  Though fifteen years ago, I guess Kurt could have been a bit thinner and the reason why there was only the one body is Kurt stopped skipping meals.  But where are the other bodies?  It looked like he was trying to preserve the one he shot through the eye.

 

Yellowjackets:  The episode critics received were named after nineties pop culture moments (do not ask me why Showtime changed them to more generic titles for the official release).  This episode was entitled “Blood Sugar Sex Magic” after the Red Hot Chili Peppers album.  We got a lot of the first and second, not much of the third.  The fourth… well, that is still debatable I guess.  Obviously it was Halloween, but just how real was the “magic” in the earlier timeline?  Why would Shauna spin the knife in an infinity sign on purpose when asked if they would survive?  And Lottie could have been possessed or is just straight up losing it (or possibly both)?  Misty poisoning the coach because she likes him is up there with destroying the black box on the psycho level.  Not to mention, turning off a sick person’s machine just to scare kids.

 

So was giving Nat the owl so she could spy on her?  It certainly seems like she could be behind the postcards, but how would she have killed Travis and draw the signals if she was with Nat the whole time, so I think she really is just doing her best Veronica Mars impersonation.  It also seems like they confirmed Jackie’s death if her parents were giving Shauna her jersey.  We also got confirmation that Shauna is pregnant, but there is no way that could be Callie… could it?  The baby would be born in 1997 which would make the kid twenty-four, but Callie is clearly a teenager, she does have a college fund and a curfew.  So what happens to the kid?  I have stated before that I think there is still a chance Jackie is alive, what if she stole the kid and have been living in the Canadian wilderness this whole time and are working as a team to torment the survivors?  Could one of them be the woman in the window the kid sees?

  

Hawkeye:  I enjoyed Florence Pugh in the Black Widow movie but that kitchen scene was way too far over the top.  I was surprised that it turned out that Clint was the one that killed Echo’s dad.  Sure we know Clint went on a murderous rampage as Ronin during The Blip, but I thought there was going to be a twist where the real big bad of the show pretended to be Ronin to kill off her dad.  The story of what happened that night still seems a little fuzzy maybe there will be a twist in the finale.  But we did learn who the real big bad of this season was and it is a really big dude, Kate’s mom hired Yelena to kill Clint and is working with Kingpin.  Okay, not the biggest reveal, everyone guessed that is who Uncle was (it was either Kingpin or Mephisto) back when we first learned of him.

 

Survivor:  I have long joked that Erika would win this season ever since she broke the Turn Back Time Hourglass because I figured even if she lost; she would break the hourglass again until she won.  This was a joke because she seemed fairly insignificant coming out of the merge.  They spent so much time of the Black People alliance, and yet under-edited when an actual minority won, and the first female of an all newbie season since Michele.

 

But my favorite part of the finale was just how delusional Xander was.  The befuddled look on the jury’s face when Xander was explaining how they did not respect Erika was hilarious.  Then he actually saves Erika so he did not want Erika to have some hero moment by wining fire making and she still almost swept the votes save a pity vote from Danny to his close ally DeShawn.  I do not remember a time someone went into Final Tribal that confident and ended up not getting one vote.  Russell maybe.

 

The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies: Way to reward the cell that lost by letting them pick anyone to be teammates with in the final leg of the final.  Of course Kacee and Kyle were going to pick CT and Tori respectively.  Poor Devin and Emy were then stuck with each other.  Granted, they probably deserve each other.

 

The Challenge: All-Stars: Ooof, poor Tyler, gets passed over by Casey, who is not the strongest competitor this season, being stuck with one of the few weaker females Jasmine, loses because of her, but because of Kendal not being medically cleared, only him, not Jasmine has to compete.  You could actually see his arm wrapped during his confessional, so you could tell things would not go well for him during elimination.  It may be time to retire Pole Wrestling before Laterrian breaks someone’s hip.

 

Now our teams are set for the rest of the season and the Jodi/Brad duo seems like the team to beat.  The only team that could have matched them was Laterrian and Kendal but replace Kendal with Jasmine and that team looks much weaker.  Joanna was the highest placing female last season so maybe she and MJ could be a dark horse.  Or maybe there will be more Brittany Spears trivia so Casey and Cohutta can dominate.

 

It was weird hearing people talk about how close they were to the finals since there had only been four weeks of eliminations up to this point but twelve contestants made the finals last season.  After this week’s elimination, there are fourteen people left so if they do the same, there would only be one more elimination before the finale.

 

Big Sky:  I am supposed to case Ronald killed Cassie’s dad?  We have barely seen him.  But it is long time past Ronald’s expiration date.  The drug cartel storyline is much more interesting.

 

Around the Tubes: December 18, 2021

    

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  How I Met Your Father, Yellowjackets, The Dropout, Letterkenny, George Harrison, Sing, Gary Owen, and Supergirl.

- Check out the official trailer and key art for Hulu Original Series.  "How I Met Your Father"! The 10-episode first season of the series premieres exclusively on Hulu Tuesday, January 18, 2022.   In the near future, Sophie (Hilary Duff) is telling her son the story of how she met his father: a story that catapults us back to the year 2021 where Sophie and her close-knit group of friends are in the midst of figuring out who they are, what they want out of life, and how to fall in love in the age of dating apps and limitless options. 

- SHOWTIME has renewed the critically acclaimed survival drama YELLOWJACKETS for a second season. Created and executive produced by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson (Narcos), the one-hour drama series stars Melanie Lynskey (Castle Rock), Oscar^® and Emmy^® nominee Juliette Lewis (Camping), Emmy nominee Christina Ricci (Z: The Beginning of Everything) and Tawny Cypress (Unforgettable). Jonathan Lisco (Animal Kingdom, Halt and Catch Fire) joins Lyle and Nickerson as executive producer and showrunning partner. Produced for SHOWTIME by studio Entertainment One (eOne), Karyn Kusama (Destroyer, Girlfight) executive produces and directed the pilot. Drew Comins of Creative Engine also serves as executive producer. The premiere of YELLOWJACKETS has been seen by over 4 million viewers across platforms to date. Season one of YELLOWJACKETS, which received a Critics’ Choice nomination for ‘Best Drama Series,’ is currently airing Sunday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT and will finale on Sunday, January 16.

- The Hulu Original The Dropout premieres with three episodes on Thursday, March 3rd. New episodes stream weekly.  Money. Romance. Tragedy. Deception. Hulu’s limited series “The Dropout,” the story of Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried) and Theranos is an unbelievable tale of ambition and fame gone terribly wrong. How did the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire lose it all in the blink of an eye?  The series stars Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes and Naveen Andrews as Sunny Balwani.

- The residents of Letterkenny belong to one of three groups: the Hicks, the Skids, and the Hockey Players, who are constantly feuding with each other over seemingly trivial matters that often end with someone getting their ass kicked. In season 10, McMurray and Wayne do some dickering, the Hicks attend a sausage party, the Hockey Players and Skids have a video game battle, the men of Letterkenny receive head to toe physicals…and that’s just for starters, buddy.  LETTERKENNY Season Ten premieres on Hulu Sunday, December 26th.

- An all-star cast from the worlds of music, TV, film and comedy have come together to honor George Harrison in the first-ever official music video for his iconic hit song, “My Sweet Lord.” Directed by Lance Bangs, and executive produced by Dhani Harrison and David Zonshine, the video stars Fred Armisen and Vanessa Bayer as metaphysical special agents who are tasked by the head of a clandestine agency, played by Mark Hamill, to search for that which can’t be seen.  WATCH “MY SWEET LORD” VIDEO.  Along the way dozens of agents team up to look high and low for what may have been right in front of their face all along, mirroring the seeking nature of the song. More than forty musicians, actors, comedians, directors, artists and other creatives make appearances, ranging from Harrison’s friends and former band mates Ringo Starr and Jeff Lynne; to actors Darren Criss, Jon Hamm, Rosanna Arquette; musicians Joe Walsh, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Reggie Watts, comedians Moshe Kasher, Natasha Leggero, Patton Oswalt; comedy duos Tim and Eric (Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim) and Garfunkel and Oates (Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome); and others like writer, actor, director Taika Waititi (“What We Do In The Shadows,” “Jojo Rabbit,” “Thor”) and visual artist Shepard Fairey. The video also features Harrison’s wife Olivia Harrison and their son Dhani Harrison, who appear in scenes with actress Aimee Mullins and actor Rupert Friend, respectively.

- Illumination, Universal Pictures and Republic Records release the Sing 2 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, out now. It accompanies the eagerly awaited new chapter in Illumination’s blockbuster animated franchise, Sing 2, which opens in US theaters on December 22, 2021.  Listen to the Sing 2 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack — HERE.  The soundtrack features three original works – U2’s “Your Song Saved My Life,” Sam i feat. Anitta, BIA & Jarina De Marco on “Suéltate,”, and a record from Adam Buxton with Fancy Feelings feat. DSCOSTU entitled “Tippy Toes”. The soundtrack also features a special Sing 2 Mix of the record “Soy Yo” by Bomba Estéro as well as a cover of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” from Keke Palmer ft. Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Reese Witherspoon & Tori Kelly.

- Three-time EMMY® Award winner Bo Burnham has released the long-awaited physical editions of his chart-dominating critically acclaimed album, INSIDE (The Songs). The CD and vinyl are available in stores nationwide today. It is available at major retailers while a limited-edition yellow vinyl can be found exclusively at Target.  Inside (The Songs) is available at all DSPS through IMPERIAL, a division of Republic Records — Listen HERE.  Bo Burnham has also released his official Inside merchandise, available now at boburnham.store.

 

- Famed comedian Gary Owen returns to SHOWTIME for his fifth stand-up comedy special, GARY OWEN: BLACK FAMOUS, premiering Friday, December 31 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. In the hour-long special, filmed in his hometown of Cincinnati at the Memorial Hall OTR, Owen hilariously embraces his new life as a divorcé following a very public and messy end to his marriage. Unable to diffuse rumors until now, Owen airs some of his dirty laundry and continues to dazzle viewers with more of his beloved real-life stories. But as Owen likes to say, this one ends with a “big twist!”  To watch and share a trailer from GARY OWEN: BLACK FAMOUS go to: https://youtu.be/YuvjgrDdNhY.

- After six supercharged seasons, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and DC mark the end of an epic era with the final installment of the action-packed series with the release of Supergirl: The Sixth and Final Season on Blu-ray & DVD March 8, 2022. Fans can purchase the sets which, in addition to all 20 super-powered episodes from season six, also contains an all-new featurette and deleted scenes. Supergirl: The Sixth and Final Season is priced to own at $24.98 SRP for the DVD ($29.98 in Canada) and $29.98 SRP for the Blu-ray ($39.99 in Canada), which includes a Digital Copy (U.S. only). Supergirl: The Sixth and Final Season on is also available to own on Digital via purchase from digital retailers.  Supergirl: The Complete Series will also be available, containing all 126 exhilarating episodes from the phenomenal series, as well as countless hours of bonus features from all six epic, not-to-be-missed seasons. Supergirl: The Complete Series is priced to own on DVD for $119.99 SRP ($134.99 in Canada), and on Blu-ray for $134.99 SRP ($154.99 in Canada), representing a substantial savings over purchasing all six seasons individually.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: December 12, 2021

 

Dexter: New Blood:  Holy Angel Batista sighting.  I was not expecting anyone for the original show to show up except the three that were already in the main cast.  I wonder if anyone else will pop up.  Granted, who is still alive?  Masuka and Quinn.  Then there is also Eshter and Cody.  I wonder is Harrison is lying about Hannah.  I also rolled my eyes when Angela gears started going when Batista mention Harrison’s name as that is not a common name.  Though it does makes sense for her to look Dexter up after her kid mentioned that Harrison mentioned that Jim was not actually Jim.  But does she confront her?

 

And Dexter is getting sloppy after so much time without a kill.  First he went after the guy when the police had just as much information as him not thinking they would check out the same diner.  Then he enters the dude’s house then puts on the gloves.  He better hope the police buy his staged overdose and not dust that window for prints.  But how exactly did he get the guy clothed and take down the kill room in time?  Dexter talked about remembering the Code, but he forgot the first rule, only go after people the law could not get.  The police had both guys seemly dead to rights.  Let the law run its course.  Then go after them if they do not get them.

 

Fear the Walking Dead:  I actually saw the news of Kim Dicken returning to the show while watching the show and assumed that was a spoiler that Madison would have a cameo in this episode.  Thinking she would be at Padre.  Except she never popped up.  I guess she was the big surprise guest they hyped for Talking Dead and was also the big announcement.

 

Except Alicia never got to Padre because she absurdly thought the zombie Senator would lead her there.   Oh, and she got bit by said zombie and cut off her arm, but may not have cut it off in time.  Didn’t they already do the Schrödinger’s Cat with Alicia thinking she may have been infected?  C’mon, girl’s just got an infection, no one takes that long to turn into a zombie.  Just get some antibiotics.  But it turns out she is not sick enough to declare war on Strand.  I wonder if Madison is already in the compound or if Alicia eventually finds Padre with Madison inside.

 

Yellowjackets:  I am a big fan of karma, but boy, mocking someone for not knowing if the safety is on or off and then accidentally shooting yourself in the face because you forgot to put the safety on is even a bit much by karma standards.   But my favorite part of the episode was, when all the other girls were wearing athleisure wear that they brought to a soccer tournament, for no apparent reason, Jackie brought along an argyle sweater and was wearing it around the Canadian wilderness.  For this week’s Misty psycho watch, it certainly seems like she trip coach on purpose after she was the only one to raise her hand to cut the deer’s throat but the coach still picked someone else.

 

But finally things start to tie into the past with Taissa and Shauna after meeting in the first episode about the postcards and never talking about it after.  The former was haunted by woodland animals while the latter was actually sees Jackie (in her argyle sweater) and says something very ominous when relating to their time in wilderness.

 

 The Walking Dead: World Beyond:   Pretty blah finale, Huck redeemed herself with a suicide mission, so did her husband.  Evil chick got a promotion.  The outpost just moved into a mall.  Oh… and then then there was the end credits scene.  Apparently there are fast moving, 21 Days Later type variants in Europe.  What!?!

 

Hawkeye:  Well that was a letdown.  We were left with the cliffhanger of Jack putting Clint’s own Ronan sword to his throat only for that to be diffused very quickly.  I was interested with what Kate’s mom talking about Black Widow being able to be killed.  What exactly does the world know about what happened to Black Widow.  We know she was not killed, but sacrificed herself.  Black Widow’s own sister seems to be easily convinced that Clint killed her.  Is it not commonly known that Black Widow scarified herself to get an Infinity Stone that brought back half of them?

 

Survivor:  When DeShawn talked about his truth bomb, I thought he was going to throw Danny under the bus as multi-millionaire football player who would not need the money.  Instead, he bizarrely blew up Erika’s game which was not going to help him in the moment.  But it will lead to an interesting dynamic going back to camp with DeShawn still in the game and Heather now knowing her closest ally planned on dumping her before Final Tribal.  But with so few people left and Ricard still having the largest target on his back, the truth bomb may not change unless Ricard wins the next Immunity Challenge.  After that, it is fire.

 

The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies: How do you get the easiest puzzle quickly and not get the simplest at all?  Tori even gave Emmanuel the cheat code of put five in the middle.  But pretty convenient for Tori to get the strength elimination and Devin to get the brains one.  It would have been interesting had those been flipped.

 

So now we are back to teams with TJ saying you do not want to be on the losing team.  Would he really cut half the finalists in one swoop?  It seems more likely that the losing team will have to go into the area with only two moving on.  This could lead to Nany vs. Kacey or CT vs. Devin could be a Johnny backpack situation, all I know is I do not care who wins at this point.  I am tired of everyone left at this point.  Nineteen ninety minute episodes is just way too much (which does not even count the likely two reunion shows that will follow).

 

The Challenge: All-Stars: Oh Tina, so entertaining, but you cannot just flame out like that even if there was no way you are beating Melinda.  At least go half speed.  Casey at least tried multiple times even though this challenge severely disadvantaged the vertically challenged.  But like I brought up last week, these two alliances that have formed still leave out half the cast.  What exactly are those people thinking?  And at what point do the burn votes of Tyler and Casey end up actually get voted in?  If I were those two, I would be a little worried.

 

Guilty Party:  So that was it?  Beth and an escaped convict are just going to travel to Wyoming together to hunt down the real killer with possibly a dead person in the back of the van?

 

Big Sky:  If Tonya went to the ranch alone, why did she exit the passenger’s seat?  What a weird continuity error.  And am I supposed to know who the kid of the weird dude was?  I was drawing a black at that reveal.

 

The Blacklist:  I know there was a time jump, but they aged Agnes up way too much to the point it is a little distracting as I spent too much trying to figure out how old she is compared to how old she should be.

Around the Tubes: December 11, 2021

    

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 The Expanse, Benee, John Mellencamp, Don’t Look Up, Licorice Pizza, Paul McCartney and Wings, Cat Stevens, and The Hating Game.

- The Expanse season 6 episode 1 available now.  The sixth and final season of The Expanse picks up with the solar system at war, as Marco Inaros and his Free Navy continue to launch devastating asteroid attacks on Earth and Mars. As the tensions of war and shared loss threaten to pull the crew of the Rocinante apart, Chrisjen Avasarala makes a bold move and sends former Martian Marine Bobbie Draper on a secret mission that could turn the tide of the conflict. Meanwhile, in the Belt, Drummer and what’s left of her family are on the run after betraying Marco. And on a distant planet beyond the Rings, a new power begins to rise.  Series stars Steven Strait, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Cara Gee, Frankie Adams, Keon Alexander, Nadine Nicole, and Jasai Chase Owens reunite for the most epic season yet.

- New Zealand’s platinum sensation BENEE unveils the official video for her latest single “Doesn’t Matter” today—watch HERE. Co-directed by BENEE and New Zealand actress and director Aidee Walker, the cinematic visual co-stars BENEE, her guitarist Tiare Kelly, and her pup TUI. The lulling production underscores pensive moments, as the lyrics detail her struggles with mental health and OCD diagnosis. The video brings these feelings to life in artful and eloquent fashion, standing out as BENEE’s most confessional statement yet.

- John Mellencamp’s highly anticipated new album Strictly A One-Eyed Jack is set for release January 21 on Republic Records. Pre-order for the LP begins today HERE.  Listen to new album track “Chasing Rainbows” HERE and watch the official lyric video HERE.  The album features the previously released Bruce Springsteen duet “Wasted Days” (watch the official music video HERE) which continues to receive widespread critical acclaim:

- Republic Records releases Don’t Look Up (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film), listen HERE.  The soundtrack includes “Just Look Up” featuring Ariana Grande and Kid Cudi, who star in the film—and perform the song—as pop music power couple Riley Bina and DJ Chello.  The “Just Look Up (Full Performance from ‘Don't Look Up’)” premiered today, watch it HERE. Brand-new track “Second Nature,” performed and co-written by Bon Iver, is also released today with the soundtrack. Listen to “Second Nature” HERE.

- Republic Records announces the release of the limited edition first pressing vinyl for Licorice Pizza Original Motion Picture Soundtrack out now. It is also joined by a limited-edition red vinyl which can be found at select indie retailers today.  Experience the Licorice Pizza Original Motion Picture Soundtrack—HERE and limited edition first pressing vinyl HERE.  The album accompanies the new film from eight-time Academy Award®-nominated writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson which opened in select New York and Los Angeles Theaters on November 26^th and will open across the country on Christmas Day December 25^th, 2021 via United Artists Releasing.

- Marking this week's 50th anniversary of the December 7, 1971 release of Paul McCartney and Wings' Wild Life, UMe announces the February 4, 2022 reissue of Wings' debut LP as a limited edition half-speed mastered vinyl pressing. Pre-Order the 50^th Anniversary Limited Edition of Wild Life HERE.  Following the eclectic charm and intimacy of 1970's solo McCartney and 1971's homespun lo-fi indie-pop progenitor RAM credited to Paul and Linda McCartney, Wild Life found Paul once again redefining his post-Beatles creative identity, this time beginning his tenure as a founding member of Wings. A rollicking left turn from its predecessors, Wild Life was recorded in barely more than a week, with more than half of the songs captured in a single take. The end result would be eight songs running the gamut from joyous freewheeling jams to proto-chamber pop to spare introspective musings — all bristling with a raw, jagged energy akin to the grungiest of garage bands—whether on the careening blues-rock rave-up of opener "Mumbo," a reggae-tinged reimagining of Mickey & Sylvia's "Love Is Strange," or the plaintive and heart wrenching ballad "Dear Friend."

-  Fifty years since its release, the original motion picture soundtrack for Hal Ashby’s 1971 classic cult film “Harold and Maude,” made up exclusively of songs by Cat Stevens, will be released on February 11^th, 2022 in new 180g 1LP / 1CD / Digital release formats via A&M/Cat-O-Log/UMe. The new edition of the soundtrack will combine Cat Stevens’ nine original songs, as well as dialogue from the film, for the first time.  Hal Ashby’s 1971 film about the unlikely friendship-turned-love story of suicidal teenager Harold Chasen (played by Bud Cort) and 79-year-old free spirit Maude (played by Ruth Gordon) is now widely praised as a bona fide cult classic. Filled with dark humor and existential drama, the film represents the potentially glorious benefits that can arise from a balanced partnership between conservative pragmatism and colorful free-spirited idealism. It reveals the deep lying synergy that exists between seemingly opposing views and how, when united, they can flourish to their mutual advantage.

- Today alongside the release of the highly anticipated film The Hating Game, Republic Records and Federal Films releases The Hating Game (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). Based on the best-selling book by Sally Thorne, The Hating Game stars Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell and is out now in select theaters and everywhere On Demand and Digital.  LISTEN TO THE HATING GAME (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) HERE.  WATCH THE HATING GAME TRAILER HERE.  The 11-song soundtrack features new music by artists Angelina Jordan, Astrid S & Dagny, bülow, Claire Rosinkranz, and Joy Oladokun, alongside fan favorite tracks by BENEE, Jeremy Zucker & Chelsea Cutler, Lyn Lapid, and more.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: December 5, 2021

Dexter: New Blood:  Well I was wrong in guessing the dude was maybe drunk when claiming his son was still alive.  He was definitely lying.  So does he not want the cops to figure out he is dead so they do not come snooping around his murder house?  Does he want to be a vigilante like someone suggested?  Then it looks like Harrison is becoming like dad.  But is he an altruistic killer like his father?  Instead of waiting until they have done something horrible to take matters into their own hand, did Harrison injure the dude to keep him from going on a shooting rampage?  Is Dexter going to teach him how to do righteous killing?  I am now beginning to think Harrison may kill the evil oil guy to impress the sheriff’s daughter.

 

Fear the Walking Dead:  They kept on talking about Padre especially when regarding Alicia, I assumed it had nothing to do with fathers, but South Padre Island.  But she was milling around this whole time with antagonists of the season?  But claims she had no affiliation with the people who attacked Stand’s building?  And where did Dwight and Sherri come from? The last I remember of them, they were doing piledrivers on zombies at a wresting gym.  It looks like next week is going to fill in the gaps of what Alicia has been up to since being locked in the bomb shelter and they have quite a few answers they need to give because that reveal was just confusing. 

 

Oh, and speaking of people who just showed up randomly after being absent on screen for a while: where did Wendell come from?  Stand said he was in the building and safe last week, but that was Stand, so not the most reliable source.  Instead he just popped up this week as if we have not seen him for a season or two.  I do wonder if he will be part of Alicia’s flashback next week.  It would be weird he had this big moment losing his wheelchair and we only hear about secondhand and they do not actually show it.

 

Yellowjackets:  So no one decided to check the attic while it was still light out, just going to wait until it is dark and creepy to check it out?  But that body looks pretty old.  So the question is, did that person go up there to die or did someone kill them?  And what really killed that bear?  A pack of wolves is a reasonable answer, but too many years of watching television has taught me the most logistical answer is not always the most likely.  Could whatever killed the bear kill the person in the attic?  I am not the best at determining how long a body has been decomposing.  Somebody did carve that symbol into the trees.  Was it the dead person?  The person that killed the dead dude?

 

Then in present day, we learn that Travis survived the Canadian wilderness only to maybe be murdered twenty-five years later.  Is it by the person sending the postcards?  And what exactly was Nat right about?  Could the person Taissa hired be the one is sending out the postcards?  I just do not see how she would know that symbol and she would definitely not being killing Travis… I think. 

 

The Walking Dead: World Beyond:  I was not expecting that globe to be such a big part of the show after we saw its creation recently.  But couldn’t running over the zombie at the right moment let one into the globe since there were some big holes in it? 

 

La Brea:  So dude is just going to watch from Seattle to Los Angeles with his one legged daughter?  I have been wondering why none of the girls on Yellowjackets have just tried walking to civilization.  Ontario north to south is only about 500 miles.  Seattle to Los Angeles more than doubles that, 1135 miles according to Google maps. Maybe more because it is probably best to stick to the coastline.  But even then, how do you know when you have reached L.A. without any visual cues?  But I figured out it would take about 16 days to walk going about twenty minutes mile pace for ten hours a day.  The Seattle to L.A. would probably to take five to six weeks minimum.  But hey, maybe they will find a prehistoric Seattle tribe that has a boat they can borrow.

 

So did Josh and Riley go to 1988 with Lily?  Did they go somewhere else?  If Lily went to a different time, how does the Lily that was in Seattle still exist?  What exactly did the scientist lady do to create these portals?  How did they build a massive building in 10,000 B.C.?  Who is Silas and is Isaiah really his grandkid?  Where are his parents?  So many questions going into season two.

 

Hawkeye:  So the Uncle has to be Mephisto, right?  Well, either that or Kingpin.  But after Ralph Boner, and the Power Broker turning out not to be the comic book accurate Power Broker, I am weary that Uncle will turn out to be who everyone assumes it to be.  But Clink came face to face with his old Ronan sword this week.  Should be interesting to see how he reacts to the knowledge of Kate’s future step-father having that.

 

The Real World Homecoming: Los Angeles: Well, that was depressing.  What David did was wrong, but he had a hard time of it too.  But I really wish they did not spend an entire episode on it.  Every time you think they finally got some closure, they would show another clip of someone stoking the fires and everything went off the deep end again.  Enough already.  Schedule some fun for them to do.  It is time to move on.  If they keep needling people like this, and the whole Becky thing last season, future casts will start deciding not to do a reunion on mass.  Rumor has it they are going to skip over six seasons and do New Orleans next.  Though, I would mind them putting Julie in a room with Veronica and have them relive that time Julie almost released Veronica’s safety harness while going between two building.  Same neither have gone on the Senior Tour (though, again, rumor has it one will show up on season three).

 

Survivor:  When I saw how much time was left when they went to the final ad break, I thought that was going to be a spoiler because there seemed to be so little time left.   Except the new dumb twist (the fifth of this season?) was just a Let’s Make a Deal game that took less than a minute where Deshawn just had a one in three chance of staying in the game.  I was surprised more people did not sit out.  Especially someone like Xander who still had an Extra Vote and Idol to play with just in case.

 

Speaking of another dumb twist, surprisingly Lianna did not use her Shot in the Dark so that had no effect on the game as just one person used it.  Another surprise was Xander used his Extra Vote after holding onto it so long.  Was that going to expire too?  Why hold on to it this long only to save Ricard in case Erika flipped her vote? 

 

The Challenge: Spies, Lies, and Allies: What a dumb move by Logan.  I would have definitely picked Devon just looking at it and it would have been the right pick because Devon has no endurance.  Then Emanuel wins but does not get to pick his team.  Instead YJ explains there are going to be two more elimination that night.  Are people going to be able to change?  All the women and Kyle are not dressed for elimination.  And then just how are they going to determine who gets sent into the Arena.  Or are all five people of each gender going to participate at the same time?

 

The Challenge: All-Stars: Do you believe in highly unlikely’s?!?!?  Prior to Nany coming on the scene, Casey was my all-time favorite contestant.  After some boring seasons in a row from Nany, Casey may have made it back to the top of that list after this week’s dominant performance.  How far she has come from arguably the weakest player in the history of the show, to come back after a decade and win her first ever daily challenge win, not part of a team. 

 

She then showed just how mature she has become in her time away from the show by winning graciously.  Just kidding.  She was drunk with power and I loved it.  But kudos to Nehemiah for coming up with the plan to throw in both people with Life Shields to keep them from saving Derrick.  You pretty much have to throw in the Life Shield winners every week now because of this. 

 

We also got a breakdown of the house with Derrick, Brad, Cohutta, Darrell, and MJ on one side with Nehemiah, Steve, Laterrian, Teck, and Melina on the other.  Except that leaves out all the other women and Tyler.  Obviously Jodi is Team Derrick and Casey threw Kendal in because she is close with Derrick.  Casey threw her lot in with Team Nehemiah this week as the winner, and Tina and Jodi have beef so you can add her to that team too.  But that still leaves Ayanna, Janelle, Jasmine, Jonna, and Tyler as question marks.

 

Guilty Party:  What exactly was in the new article that would have helped Toni?  She never found an alibi or any hole in the case about her.  Really, the best way to get Toni exonerated would be finding the real killer.  Oh, lucky for Beth, she knows the killer now because the moron just told her.  But the question going into the finale, can she find evidence that could hold up in court?