Around the Tubes: April 30, 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 Showtime Free Preview, Schitt’s Creek, The Beach Boys, Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall, Sheryl, Neneh Cherry, and AccuWeather NOW.  

- SHOWTIME today launches a Free Preview with select distributors through Monday, May 2. Viewers can now access the network's award-winning programming on the Apple TV app for free — no subscription necessary. Viewers can simply visit apple.co/Showtime on iPhone, iPad or Mac to be directed right to the Free Preview, log in with their Apple ID*, and press play. Viewers can also watch the SHOWTIME Free Preview on the Apple TV app on Apple TV 4K and HD, or supported smart TVs, gaming consoles, and cable set-top boxes.  The SHOWTIME Free Preview is also available on other participating distributors, including Cox Communications, Mediacom, Liberty Communications of PR, Breezeline, Hotwire Communications, WOW!, Cincinnati Bell (now altafiber), TDS, BendBroadband, Service Electric Cablevision, Service Electric Cable TV & Communications, Buckeye Broadband and more in 157 markets across the U.S.

- Hulu announced that it will be the dedicated subscription video on-demand destination for critically acclaimed and fan favorite series “Schitt’s Creek” in the U.S. beginning October 3, 2022.  “Based on the number of ‘Schitt’s Creek’ GIFs we Slack every day, it’s no surprise that we are absolutely thrilled to welcome Johnny, Moira, Alexis, ‘Daviiid’ and the wonderfully unique residents of Schitt’s Creek to Hulu,” said Joe Earley, President of Hulu. “We can’t wait to share the award-winning, blisteringly-funny, yet heartwarming series and characters with our subscribers. We know they’ll fit in nicely.”  “Schitt’s Creek” centers on an outrageously wealthy video store magnate, Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy); his former soap-star wife Moira (Catherine O'Hara); and their two adult children – the self-described black sheep of the family David (Daniel Levy) and career socialite Alexis (Annie Murphy). When the family suddenly find themselves broke, they have no choice but to move to Schitt's Creek, a small-town Johnny once bought as a joke. Forced to live out of a motel, with their pampered lives a memory, they struggle to find jobs and relationships and, most importantly, figure out what it means to be a family in the loveable town they’ve reluctantly come to call home. 

- Upon signing to Capitol Records in 1962 and releasing their first album, Surfin’ Safari, that same year, the three young brothers, cousin, and friend from Hawthorne, Calif., known simply as The Beach Boys, soared to popularity with their ebullient sound that embodied the Southern California beach lifestyle with sunshiny vocal harmonies, twangy guitars, upbeat songs about surf culture, and their youthful exuberance. Propelled by the hits “Surfin’” and “Surfin’ Safari,” the album, which uncommon for its day, featured mostly original songs, spent 37 weeks on the Billboard chart and set the course for one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful bands of all time, who have gone on to sell more than 100 million records worldwide. With each album, The Beach Boys refined their songwriting and production skills, rapidly evolving from their early surf beginnings to create some of the most sonically exquisite and most important and beloved music ever made.  Sixty years after first transmitting their good vibrations around the globe, The Beach Boys, the first American pop band to reach the 60-year milestone, remain one of the most legendary and influential groups to date, with their timeless music reverberating through modern culture today as strong as ever. In celebration of their 60^th anniversary, UMe, the global catalog company of UMG, is pleased to be a part of some of the major initiatives planned to celebrate “America’s Band” throughout 2022-23. To kick off the yearlong celebration and provide the perfect summer soundtrack, Capitol Records and UMe will release a newly remastered and expanded edition of The Beach Boys career-spanning greatest hits collection, Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best Of The Beach Boys, on June 17. Originally released in 2003, the album soared to no. 16 in the US and stayed on the chart for 104 weeks. Now certified 4x platinum for sales of nearly four and a half million albums, the collection has been updated in both number of songs and audio quality, expanding the original 30-track best of with 50 more of the band’s most beloved songs for a total of 80 tracks that span their earliest hits to deeper fan-favorite cuts and from their 1962 debut album, Surfin’ Safari through to 1989’s Still Cruisin’.

- Craft Recordings, Concord Originals and Marathan Films are excited to announce the production of the documentary concert feature film Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall, directed by two-time GRAMMY® Award winner Bob Smeaton (The Beatles Anthology and Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsies) and narrated by Academy Award®-winning actor Jeff Bridges, who like his iconic character “The Dude” in The Big Lebowski, is a fan of the band. The film features the ONLY full concert footage of the original Creedence Clearwater Revival to ever be released.

- On March 11, a full-length documentary film directed by Amy Scott, entitled Sheryl about the singer-songwriter's life and career, premiered at SXSW, ahead of the May 6 premiere on SHOWTIME. An intimate story of song and sacrifice, Sheryl navigates an iconic yet arduous musical career while the artist battles sexism, ageism, depression, cancer, and the price of fame, before harnessing the power of her gift.  In conjunction, UMe/Big Machine Records will release a new album called Sheryl: Music From The Feature Documentary digitally and on 2CD on May 6. The release features Sheryl Crow’s biggest hits, including "If It Makes You Happy," "Soak Up The Sun, "All I Wanna Do, "My Favorite Mistake, "Redemption Day," and many more, as well as deep tracks and three newly recorded songs. To preorder Sheryl: Music From The Feature Documentary, click HERE

- Neneh Cherry announces a new project titled The Versions out June 10^th, a collaboration album of covers from her expansive catalogue by an all-female line-up of some of the most exciting and revered artists of our time. Listen to superstar songwriter Sia’s version of Neneh’s hit “Manchild” out today below.  LISTEN TO “MANCHILD” BY SIA HERE.  WATCH THE LYRIC VIDEO HERE.  PRE-ORDER THE VERSIONS HERE.  The Versions is a 10-track album featuring Neneh Cherry reworks from artists that have a personal connection to the artist and her music. Sia expresses her love for Neneh and her family saying, “Neneh was my favorite artist when she hit the scene. I saved my pocket money for red filas and dreamt one day we would meet. When I was struggling with my mental health in my early twenties, I somehow ended up in their house being taken care of as if I was one of their own children. I called her husband during a suicide attempt, who had been mentoring me as an incredible music producer, and they gave me all the love I could have dreamt of. I owe them a huge thanks and would sing ‘a-b-c’ for them if they asked. Neneh, my very first queen, Cameron my bonus dad, I love you forever amen!”

- AccuWeather NOW^TM, the new video streaming product from AccuWeather, the proven leader in weather forecast accuracy, announced it has officially launched on Amazon Freevee, a free ad-supported streaming service that delivers premium content without having to purchase a subscription.  Amazon Freevee viewers will now have to access AccuWeather’s forecasts as well as 24/7, continuous daily programming, dedicated to all things weather, including extreme and natural events, global forecasts, climate and weather-related news impacting our changing world and long-and short-form documentaries through the streaming platform, accessible and free to watch and stream from any device.  Amazon Freevee is free, customizable and includes critical weather information from AccuWeather NOW^TM streaming service into their platform listing.

Previewing I Love That for You

 

The truth is stranger than fiction.  And whenever fiction thinks it has come up with something they think is stranger, the truth comes through and proves it still is the strangest.  Case in point, when Showtime ordered I Love That for You, a story about someone who lies about their cancer diagnosis to get a job, they probably thought it was some farfetched comedy premise.  But about a month before the show premiered, new broke that a writer on Grey’s Anatomy lied about having cancer and having an abortion.  The truth remains undefeated in its weirdness.

 

I Love That for You stars Vanessa Bayer whose own childhood leukemia inspired the show (it is unknown if Breyer liked about still having cancer to get on Saturday Night Live or if Bayer as a child guilted nurses into giving her cake like her character in flashbacks does).  But instead of SNL, her character’s dream is to be a host on the Special Value Network, basically a fictional Home Shopping Network.  Fellow SNL alum Molly Shannon plays her mentor.

 

Jenifer Lewis, fresh off the series finale of Black’ish plays the CEO of SVN and anyone who watched her former shows knows she can easily deliver great one liner with her sharp tongue and steals every scene she is in.  The other notable part of the show is Bayer’s love of nineties music, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, and The Cranberries are all featured in the first episode.  Though the only reference in the second episode is that someone wears a Tribe Called Quest shirt.

 

I Love That for You airs Sundays at 8L30 on Showtime, but episodes are uploaded the Friday before each televised episode On Demand and streaming.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: April 24, 2022

 

 

Fear the Walking Dead:  Oof, that was a fairly week way to return from a hiatus.  Then they killed off the only mildly interesting part of it.

 

The Endgame:  So the cameraman turned out to be the president who stole all the gold in the Federal Reserve.  What?!?  This show is just getting batshirt crazy and I am all for it.  How does he get all that gold out of there?  How did Elena know this?  That heist deserves its own episode.

 

The Girl from Plainville:  They have been telling us of the altercation between Coco and Co, it almost feels like a letdown to finally see that.  Not to mention, Coco kind of deserved it.  Though to see him flack off on his job to play video games on top of his attempted suicide, it does seem like that kid needed a lot more help than what he actually got.

 

Moon Knight:  I am not up on my Egyptian mythology, but that was not Ammit at the end, was it? And Mark freeing Steven but sees another person trapped inside a tomb and just keeps walking seems very cruel of him.

 

The Real World Homecoming: New Orleans:  It was interesting they had the cast enter much like they did the first time but they did not have <strike>David</strike>Tokyo meet Julie on the trolley, leaving her to enter the house last.  Though, considering everything that happened after the original show, not that surprising that had Julie enter last by herself..  Speaking of things that happened after the show, it is a shame they filmed this at the same time as The Challenge: The Senior Tour 3 so we would have gotten a possibly even more awkward reunion of Julie and Veronica; you think writing a defamatory letter is bad, Julie almost murdered Veronica.  But anyway.  Who would have guessed that Tokyo would have been the biggest voice of reason twenty years later?  But I have very little relocation of Danny or Jamie from the original season.

 

Survivor:  My goodness, just how many advantages does Drea have now?  That has to be a record for most at a single time.  I do routinely complain about all these new twists, but I have to admit, I did like that the new caught red handed beware advantage turned out to be literal.  How she did not go straight to the ocean after getting back to the beach is beyond me.  I wonder if Tori will do anything after catching Drea literally red handed.  Would anyone believe her?

 

The Flight Attendant: I thought for sure after the first episode the new flight attendant was Casey’s doppelgänger, but after the second, I am not quite sure.  It is really doubtful it is the lady in the couple that copied Casey’s phone and abducted her neighbor.  Cheryl Hines does give me older Casey vibes, but why would someone high up in the CIA set Casey up herself?  The show set up a lot of questions in these first two episode, we will see if they can successfully answer them all.

 

Halo:  Oh wow, our first action sequence since the first episode.  You would think a show based on a first person shooter would have a little more action.  But I guess television has a budgetary restraint.  I guess that is why we do not get any live action video game television shows.

 

Ghosts:  I thought for sure someone would get sucked off this episode, instead we just got a sucked off fake out.  Though Sam and Jay almost got sucked down.  Is this show just going to turn into The Money Pit in season two?

 

The Blacklist:  One thing I am surprised red did not ask was who even would know where this person hiding the safe was and where Red even got his safe.  But it looks like Red sound out the who… or at the very least who this person wants to think is behind all this. I am having a hard time believing that Mr. Kaplan was behind Lizzie’s death, oh and she threw herself off a bridge five years ago.

Around the Tubes: April 23, 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 Curb Your Enthusiasm, Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons, The Circus, Elton John, Florence + the Machine, Of Monsters and Men, Glass Animals, Eddie Vedder, Marcus King, The Survivor, The Chi, and Fellow Travelers.

- HBO’s iconic comedic series, from writer/producer/comedian Larry David, will have you laughing in your seats as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Eleventh Season on DVD June 14, 2022. Life will be prett-ay, prett-ay, prett-ay good as you binge on all 10 episodes from the outrageous eleventh season. Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Eleventh Season will retail for $19.99 SRP ($24.99 in Canada) and will also be available to own on Digital via purchase from all major digital retailers. All seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm are now available for streaming on HBO Max.  Starring Larry David as an over-the-top version of himself, the iconic Emmy® and Golden Globe®-winning comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm offers a tongue-in-cheek depiction of the writer/producer/comedian’s fictionalized life. With Jeff Garlin (as manager Jeff Greene), Susie Essman (as Jeff’s wife Susie), Cheryl Hines (as Larry’s ex-wife Cheryl), JB Smoove (as Leon), and Richard Lewis and Ted Danson (as themselves), all reprising their roles alongside a rotating cast of familiar faces, including Vince Vaughn (as Freddy Funkhouser) and Tracey Ullman (as Irma Kostroski), Season 11 finds Larry once again seeking and dispensing his own peculiar brand of social justice.

- The Emmy^® nominated series THE CIRCUS: INSIDE THE GREATEST POLITICAL SHOW ON EARTH wraps up the first half of its seventh season this Sunday in the Sunshine State, where Governor Ron DeSantis is making Florida the central battlefield in a fight over cultural issues that has nationwide implications for this fall's elections and beyond.  Hosts John Heilemann, Alex Wagner, Jennifer Palmieri and Mark McKinnon fan out across Florida, covering the fallout from a spate of new, controversial laws, driven by the governor, that include what opponents call the "Don't Say Gay" law and legislation restricting access to abortion. Meanwhile, the Governor and state Republicans escalate their fight with Disney over its opposition to a new law, enacting legislation to strip the company of a special longstanding tax privilege.  For a preview, go to: https://youtu.be/G7g6PiyzbN4

- Hulu's Original docu-series "Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons" premieres on Thursday, July 14th.  Investigated with journalistic rigor, Matt Tyrnauer directs this searing and provocative exposé of the Victoria’s Secret brand as well as their then CEO, the larger-than-life, enigmatic billionaire, Les Wexner. Truth is not what it seems; as the underworld of fashion, the billionaire class, and Jeffrey Epstein are revealed to all be inextricably intertwined with the fall of this legendary brand.

- UMe today announces the 50^th-anniversary reissue of Elton John’s Madman Across The Water. Available to pre-order now on stunning 3-CD and 1 Blu-ray Super Deluxe Box Set, 4-LP, 1-LP Limited Edition colored vinyl, and 2-CD formats, the album will be released on June 10. Pre-order here.  Spawning the hits “Tiny Dancer” and “Levon,” Madman Across The Water was Elton’s fourth studio album, released only two years after his debut. Recorded in 1971, it was a foundation stone of what was to become a dazzlingly prolific decade for the global-icon-in-waiting. Madman Across The Water was largely written after Elton had made his initial foray to America, offering the opportunity for lyricist Bernie Taupin to witness first-hand the landscapes and people he’d only seen on a screen or on the page. Recorded at Trident Studios in Central London in February and August 1971, it was the first album where all five players of Elton’s fabled band lineup (Dee Murray, Nigel Olsson, Davey Johnstone, and Ray Cooper) were featured. The album also featured Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who plays Hammond organ on three songs.  A newly unveiled Piano Demo of “Tiny Dancer,” taken from the archives and previously unheard, will be available to stream in full later today Here. Watch a preview of the track now Here. Recorded at Dick James Studios in central London in Spring 1971, it is an intimate performance of the song with Elton alone at the piano as a guide for the band later to follow.

- Florence + the Machine unveil a new single, “Free,” today with a video starring acclaimed actor Bill Nighy as Florence’s anxiety and directed by Autumn de Wilde—listen and watch here. The track is the latest from Florence’s forthcoming fifth LP Dance Fever, out May 13.  Florence has shared three songs from Dance Fever thus far—“My Love” (plus remixes from co-producer Dave Bayley of Glass Animals and Meduza), “King” and “Heaven is Here”—all of which arrived alongside videos by the acclaimed director de Wilde featuring choreography by Ryan Heffington.

- Gearing up for another momentous chapter, multiplatinum Icelandic collective Of Monsters and Men unveil a new single entitled “This Happiness” today. Listen to “This Happiness” HERE and watch the official video HERE.  The song sets the stage for the group’s forthcoming EP out June 10th and its accompanying documentary – both titled TÍU (meaning ten in Icelandic).  The documentary, directed by their friend Dean DeBlois (Heima, Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon), follows the band on a trip around their homeland of Iceland. When their Fever Dream world tour was cut short due to the pandemic, they instead intimately performed their new songs in special locations around Iceland that are meaningful to the five of them, much like they had on their very first tour 10 years earlier. No big venues, big festivals or big audiences…just the five of them as it was at the beginning.

- The critically acclaimed, record breaking BRIT and GRAMMY Award-nominated global sensations Glass Animals today releases “I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)” with acclaimed songwriter and artist Albert Hammond Jr.. The original version, released last year, is the first new music from the British four-piece since the colossal global impact of “Heat Waves.” The official video, directed by Drew Kirsch (Taylor Swift, Shakira), captures the power of dance in the post-lockdown world, and now guitarist of legendary rock band The Strokes, Albert Hammond Jr., puts his own spin on the song, written by Dave Bayley about letting off steam after being in a pressure cooker for two years. The Oxford band has since become global hitmakers and record breakers, with “Heat Waves” peaking at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for five weeks, the longest-leading #1 song by a British group in over 25 years, since Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” in 1997 – and its reign is now among the top 10 longest ever for #1 songs by British groups, including The Beatles (see full list below). Producer and frontman Dave Bayley also joined Denzel Curry on stage at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival last weekend for a surprise performance of “Tokyo Drifting,” and becomes the producer of the moment, co-writing, producing, and remixing Florence + The Machine’s latest single “My Love,” described as “Nick Cave at the Club”.  LISTEN TO “I DON’T WANNA TALK (I JUST WANNA DANCE)” WITH ALBERT HAMMOND JR. HERE

- Pearl Jam’s own Eddie Vedder has teamed up with NASA to interview the crew aboard the International Space Station in celebration of Earth Day 2022. The compelling interview released today touches on climate change and what the astronauts had to say about having a front-row seat to our changing planet.  Watch Eddie Vedder’s Interview HERE.   The interview is the second collaboration with NASA teams as he worked with them on his “Invincible” music video inspired by their Artemis I Moon mission in support of his recent chart topping album Earthling. Watch the “Invincible” music video here!

- Marcus King today announced the release of Young Blood, his new solo album, produced by Dan Auerbach and released August 26 on Rick Rubin’s American Records/Republic Records. Pre-order available here: https://MK.lnk.to/youngblood.  All hail to Marcus King. The 26-year-old Grammy nominated innovative songwriter and phenomenal performer. Soon to become rock royalty with the release of Young Blood, a timeless concoction of swaggering rock and supersonic soul, drawing on his most stadium sized rock influences. He soon embarked on a world tour with headline dates across the U.S and Europe and festivals including Stagecoach. For more information please visit: https://MK.lnk.to/tour

- On April 27, 2022, in honor of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) and in conjunction with the premiere of The Survivor film on HBO, Reboot and USC Shoah Foundation will host a conversation about the film with director Barry Levinson, lead actor Ben Foster, who stars as Holocaust survivor Harry Haft, and producer Matti Leshem.  Levinson’s The Survivor tells the true story of Jewish boxer Harry Haft, who, in order to evade murder in Auschwitz, must test the limits of his moral and physical strength to survive a gladiatorial boxing spectacle staged between prisoners for the amusement of his captors. Levinson delivers a portrait of a man haunted by his survival. An examination of one man’s journey from unspeakable horrors to freedom, forgiveness and redemption, The Survivor debuts Wednesday, April 27 at 8:00 p.m. ET on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.

- SHOWTIME has announced that the highly anticipated fifth season of its hit drama series THE CHI will return with its first new episode on Friday, June 24^th, available on streaming and on demand for all SHOWTIME subscribers before making its on-air debut on Sunday, June 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Each new episode of the fifth season will be available on Fridays on streaming and on demand. Season four ended as one of the network’s most-streamed series ever, averaging 4.2 million weekly viewers. THE CHI, from 20^th Television (HOMELAND), is currently in production on 10 episodes in Chicago.  “We’re so honored to be in our fifth season and grateful to the fans that show up for us and make sure people know about THE CHI,” said series creator and executive producer Lena Waithe. “We appreciate the fans so much and hope everyone enjoys this upcoming season. Lots of love.”

- SHOWTIME announced today that Emmy nominee and Critics Choice Award winner Matt Bomer (The Normal Heart, The Boys in the Band) will star in the limited series FELLOW TRAVELERS, which he will executive produce with Oscar nominee Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia) and Robbie Rogers (All American, My Policeman). Daniel Minahan (Halston, American Crime Story: Versace) will executive produce and direct the first two episodes. Co-produced by Fremantle with SHOWTIME, FELLOW TRAVELERS will go into production this July in Toronto. The announcement was made today by Gary Levine and Jana Winograde, Presidents of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc.  Based on the novel by Thomas Mallon, FELLOW TRAVELERS is an epic love story and political thriller, chronicling the volatile romance of two very different men who meet in the shadow of McCarthy-era Washington. Bomer will play handsome, charismatic Hawkins Fuller, who maintains a financially rewarding, behind-the scenes career in politics. Hawkins avoids emotional entanglements – until he meets Tim Laughlin, a young man brimming with idealism and religious faith. They begin a romance just as Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn declare war on “subversives and sexual deviants,” initiating one of the darkest periods in 20^th-century American history. Over the course of four decades, Hawk and Tim cross paths through the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the drug-fueled disco hedonism of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, while facing obstacles in the world and in themselves. 

Previewing The Man Who Fell to Earth

We see shows move from time to time, mostly because of cancelations and other places willing to continue it. But I do not remember a time when two shows got traded like professional sports players.  But that happened in the case of Halo and The Man Who Fell to Earth.  Okay, it was less of a trade and more like a cooperate overlord ordering a more high profile project to attack subscribers to their newly rebranded streaming serves and was nice to send back a different IP back in return.

 

Halo premiered last on Paramount+ to a mixed bag; it was met with a resounding meh by critics and the loudest voices on the internet but it was the most watched premiere in the history of the streamer.   Now it is time for the other half of the trade, The Man Who Fell to Earth to premiere and it is, well, not any worse than Halo, but I am not sure if it is much better.

 

The show is based on a 1963 Walter Tevis book of the same name that has already has been turned into a movie starring David Bowie released in 1976 (full disclosure notice: I have not read the book or read the movie; though I thought I had seen a remake, but it turns out that I was thinking of the similarly titled movie with a similar premise, The Day the Earth Stood Still with Keanu Reeves).  Bill Nighly plays Thomas Jerome Newton; the same character as Bowie, but it not the main character of the new show.  The Man Who Fell to Earth does honor David Bowie by naming each episode in the first season after one his songs.

 

The show does follow a new man who falls to Earth decades after the original played by Chiwetel Ejiofor.  He can spit gold, has four stomachs, and will vomit copious amounts of water if exposed to even small doses of radiation.  He quickly finds Naomie Harris a brilliant scientist who now works cleaning up stuff to support her daughter and sick father to reluctant help him.

 

Watching Ejiofor try to be human, it is hard not to think of Alan Tudyk on Resident Alien, another extraterrestrial who is not great at talking like a normal person and is unable to pick up on the most obvious social.  Though, to be fair, Tudyk did get a head start by watching months of Law and Order reruns before interacting with anyone else.  This show does tease that Ejiofor will eventually learn to act more human with an opening scene where he is doing his best tech billionaire speech.  But the first couple episodes are just Ejiofor being the most extreme case of fish out of water.

 

The show does pick up with the introduction of the Flood siblings (Rob Delaney and Sonya Cassidy) in the third episode.  They are the contentious heirs of a tech company that has ties to Newton.  Jimmi Simpson also shows up as a CIA agent who is on the hunt for both aliens.  While The Man Who Fell to Earth does have the slight edge in the trade for Halo, at the end of the day, this feels like a lackluster trade of a fifth starter for a catcher between two teams barely in the playoff hunt.

 

The Man Who Fell to Earth airs Sundays at 10:00 on Showtime.

Previewing Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain

 

Showtime continues its HIP HOP 50 series, devoting two years leading up to the 50^th anniversary of the musical genre with two documentaries near and to my heart over the next two week.  Back in 1991, Cypress Hill released their debut album and the very next month, the Geto Boys released their seminal album with the controversial cover, We Can’t Be Stopped.  Premiering on 4/20 (obviously) is Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain.  Later this year is the premiere of Bushwick Bill: Geto Boy (date TBD).

 

Insane in the Brain comes from photographer and director Estevan Oriol, who was the group’s personal videographer who filmed plenty of footage that has gone unseen until now.  It follows the group from being one of the first to mix Latin music with hip-hop to being the first rap group to play the Reading Festival.  The doc features a firsthand account and archival footage of everyone in the group as well as new interviews from Ice-T, Chuck D, Fred Durst, and, of course, Cheech and Chong.  But maybe the most noteworthy statement in the doc comes from Ruffhouse Records founder Chris Schwartz who absurdly claims, “For all intents and purposes, Philly is the birth place of gangsta rap.”  What?  I am not sure about that.

Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain premieres tomorrow at 8:00 on Showtime.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: April 17, 2022

 

 

Killing Eve:  I hope TV learned two important lessons from Killing Eve: 1) do not change your showrunner every season.  2)  Shows about antagonists have a short shelf life (though everyone should have learned this from Billions).  What a clusterfork of a final two episodes.  Why did Constantin’s apprentice kill him (or why was she on the shoe at all)?  Why was the 12 meeting on a boat at the same time as a gay wedding?  Why did Caroline try to kill Eve and the crazy French assassin?  None of this season made sense.

 

The Walking Dead:  So Daryl had the Stormtroopers stuck in a house full of zombies but instead decided to ambush them while they were all spread out around plenty of cover.  That was not the smartest plan ever.

 

Billions:  For a second there I thought Mike Prince actually brought down Axe and Chuck in consecutive season.  But then I thought, if we do not see Chuck sentenced by the end of the episode, he will probably weasel his way out next season.  Except he was able to weasel his way out by the end of this episode.  I do not understand his replacement’s plan.  Wouldn’t having Chuck under indictment when she had a real warrant this whole time be fraud, or wouldn’t anything Chuck do to get Prince on illegal stuff entrapment?

 

Super Pumped: The Fight for Uber:   Of course they leave the first and arguably the best (though I would say it is Corduroy, which I do not remember being on the show) to start and finish the final episode.  After being kind of meh on the show, I was actually enjoying the finale episode, probably because Travis was finally getting his componence, up until the point he went on his diatribe to the camera and the stupid dream sequence.  Hollywood is having a big problem at determining lengths of its stories and the story of Uber probably should have been a movie.  Or maybe it should have just stayed a book.

 

Moon Knight:  I kind of enjoyed when Mark took over in the first season but they stayed with Stephan’s POV were he would just come to with bodies everywhere.  I did not really care for the reverse.  Though I guess the last time it happened it was some third personality that it does not seem like Mark knows about.  But now I am wondering if every time there is a blackout it has been this third personality.  But I did not really understand the plot of the episode.  I thought that Ethan Hawke needed the scarab to find Ammut’s tomb but the sarcophagus is the only way to find it?  So what was Ethan Hawke digging?

 

Survivor:  How did they manage to make the Turn Back Time advantage worse?  It was even more confusing this time around.  But it was still a stupid twist because of course if you give someone a choice between being safe and not being safe, they will choose safety.  But man, did Hai turn on Lydia for no apparent reason really quickly.  Seems like a horrible idea to sacrifice your closest ally right at the merge.

 

The Blacklist: So they knew that Red was going to save the evil arms deal, but were cool with just looking at the paper the FBI guys handed them?  At least look at the database to see they are who they say they are.

 

Around the Tubes: April 16, 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 Conversations with Friends, bülow, Neneh Cherry, UB40, Amy Winehouse, All Things Go Music Festival, Lyn Lapid, Ziwe, Spirit Halloween, Bushwick Bill: Geto Boy, and the American Ultimate Disc League.

Check out the trailer for Hulu's "Conversations with Friends" featuring the original song "Sidelines" by Phoebe Bridgers created for the series.  The limited series premieres all 12 episodes May 15, 2022 on Hulu.  “Conversations with Friends” follows Frances, a 21 year old college student, as she navigates a series of relationships that force her to confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time.

- This week, alternative pop singer and songwriter bülow shares new EP booty call via Republic Records/Universal Music Canada. The new EP highlights the new sound from bülow, which has been unleashed with previously released tracks “Playin’ Me Back” and “Don’t Break His Heart”. Listen to “Booty Call” HERE

- ‘Buffalo Stance’ was a career defining track from Neneh Cherry’s debut album Raw Like Sushi that grabbed everyone’s attention, making a global impact on music, fashion, and culture and still continues to do so. As Booker Prize winning author Marlon James says, Neneh created a movement of inclusivity and became a figurehead in the queer community with this track that so fiercely shined light on the struggles of inner city life, especially for the marginalised.  ‘Buffalo Stance’ means to “stand proud,” and today we see what the modern day version of that looks like in the accompanying video for Robyn’s re-imagining of the track, produced by Dev Hynes and featuring Mapei. Directed by Manchester-born India Sleem, who now resides in Brooklyn, the video stars model and actress Indya Moore, best known for their role in the hit TV series Pose, whose story is incredibly inspiring from leaving home at 14 - escaping a transphobic family, foster care, homelessness, and ultimately becoming an iconic and especially important figure amongst the LGBTQ+ community. Indya is joined by other young queer and BIPOC creatives in the video, who may not previously had the opportunity to show off their “buffalo stance” - their skills, their beauty, their power, their queerness.

- UB40 Featuring Ali Campbell & Astro will release their new album Unprecedented, June 17 via UMe.  The album will be released as a black 2LP, a limited-edition white-color 2LP, 1CD, limited-edition cassette as well as digitally.  All formats include their new single “Sufferer”, which Ali has dedicated to his beloved friend and bandmate of over four decades, Astro, who tragically passed away last November.

- UMe, Island Records, and BBC announce the release of Live at Glastonbury 2007 – the iconic performance of Amy Winehouse’s Pyramid Stage set at Glastonbury 2007, coming to vinyl for the very first time on Friday, June 3rd.  Showcasing the inimitable artistry of one of the UK’s most gifted and accomplished singers of all time, this emotionally charged live set will be released as a 2LP on black vinyl, with an exclusive crystal clear edition available HERE. The 2007 performance on the festival’s legendary Pyramid Stage, 15 years ago this summer, was Amy’s second Glastonbury appearance and a performance that saw the world completely fall in love with her music. As well as a second set later that same day on the Jazz World Stage, Amy returned the following year to perform again on the Pyramid stage, cementing herself firmly in the canon of great Glastonbury performances.

- The 2022 All Things Go Music Festival returns to the iconic Merriweather Post Pavilion on October 1st, where it will host 16 artists across multiple stages. The independent festival has grown year over year and continues to support women in top billing positions with 2022 headliner and youngest GRAMMY Song Of The Year winner, LORDE - in addition to Mitski, Bleachers, King Princess, Lucy Dacus, Bartees Strange and more stacked on the bill.  Tickets go on sale Friday, April 15th at 10 am EDT and can be purchased at https://www.allthingsgofestival.com/

- After releasing a slew of viral singles over the past year, breakout songstress Lyn Lapid drops her long-awaited debut EP The Outsider today—listen HERE. The EP, dedicated to all “the outsiders” like Lyn, features 8-songs, including her new single “Pager” alongside fan favorites like “In My Mind,” “I Guess That Was Goodbye,” and the title track “The Outsider.” See the full tracklist below.  On the EP, Lyn says, “I would best describe ‘The Outsider’ as a collection of the different parts of myself that I discovered growing up, and how I learned to accept and set myself apart from the community I grew up in and the people I encountered throughout my life. The focus track of the EP, ‘Pager,’ perfectly encapsulates that sort of idea I had, and it’s the one track on the EP where I specifically talk about the kind of community I grew up in. I grew up in an academically rigorous and competitive community where careers in the fine arts were highly stigmatized and discouraged, so you can imagine the kind of reaction I got when I decided not to go to college and pursue a career as a musician; it was kinda awful, and I got a lot of backhanded comments. I knew that music was my true passion ever since I was little, and eventually I figured I could never win everyone over with the choice I made for myself. I learned to stick with the people who truly got behind me and cut ties with anyone who didn’t.”

-  SHOWTIME has released a first look at the highly anticipated second season of ZIWE, the critically acclaimed late-night variety series, starring and executive produced by Ziwe (Dickinson, Succession, The Great North). ZIWE will return with all-new interviews, musical numbers, guest stars, sketches and more starting Friday, April 29 on streaming and on demand for all SHOWTIME subscribers, before making its on-air debut on Sunday, May 1 at 11 p.m. ET/PT. The season will continue to drop new episodes every Friday via streaming and on-demand platforms before appearing on air Sunday night.  The season’s first installment will include six episodes, before returning for a second installment of new episodes later this year. The trailer previews more of Ziwe’s signature, provocative interviews with season-two guests including Charlamagne Tha God, Chet Hanks, Emily Ratajkowski, Ilana Glazer, Hannibal Buress, Nicole Byer, Mia Kalifa, Adam Pally and Deux Moi, along with special appearances by Jane Krakowski and Luann de Lesseps.  To watch and share the season two trailer, go to: https://youtu.be/_m0H7DyqsJ0

-  Strike Back Studios and Hideout Pictures continue their busy production schedule in 2022 having wrapped principal photography of “Spirit Halloween.” When a new Spirit Halloween store appears in a deserted strip mall, three middle school friends who think they’ve outgrown trick or treating make a dare to spend the night locked inside the store Halloween night. But they soon find out that the store is haunted by an angry evil spirit who has possessed the creepy animatronic characters. The kids embark on a thrilling and spooky adventure in order to survive the night and avoid becoming possessed themselves.  After a nationwide search the production found a group young up & coming actors to round out the cast including Donavan Colan (“Zoe,” “Getaway”), Dylan Martin Frankel (“Raven’s Home,” “Life & Beth”), Jaiden Smith (“Blue Bloods,” “The Mothership”), and Marissa Reyes (“Raven’s Home”).The film also offers audiences a cast filled with beloved veteran actors including Rachael Leigh Cook (“He’s All That,” “Love, Guaranteed”), Christopher Lloyd (“The Tender Bar”, “Back to the Future Trilogy,”) and Marla Gibbs (“El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, “227”).

- BUSHWICK BILL: GETO BOY, a documentary film that was previously announced as part of the SHOWTIME^® HIP HOP 50 series, is no longer airing on Friday, April 29.  The other SHOWTIME HIP HOP 50 titles for April will premiere as scheduled: LA MADRINA: THE SAVAGE LIFE OF LORINE PADILLA (Friday, April 15) and CYPRESS HILL: INSANE IN THE BRAIN (Wednesday, April 20).  HIP HOP 50 runs over the next two years and encompasses unscripted series and features, podcasts and digital shorts by and about some of the foremost names in the genre, culminating with the 50^th anniversary of the genre in 2023. Previous titles include YOU’RE WATCHING VIDEO MUSIC BOX, RICKY POWELL: THE INDIVIDUALIST and ROLLING LIKE THUNDER. 

- The American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL) today announced its 2022 14-week regular season schedule, which begins on Friday night, April 29, and concludes on Sunday, July 31. Click here to see the entire 2022 season schedule.  The 2022 AUDL schedule will feature each of the 25 teams playing 12 regular season games. After a three-division configuration in 2021 due to the pandemic, the AUDL’s traditional four division format—the Central, East, South, and West divisions- will return, with three playoff spots in the Central, East, and West divisions and two in the South division. The postseason schedule will be broken into two rounds: a divisional wild card game, and a championship, and the winner of each division’s championship game will have the right to represent at the 2022 AUDL Championship Weekend, starting Friday, August 26 in Madison, Wis.  The AUDL’s 11th season is headlined by three expansion teams; the Colorado Summit, Portland Nitro, and Salt Lake Shred, each competing in the West division, and also includes the newly relocated Oakland Spiders from San Jose. Some teams will even have a new look and leadership, as the Dallas Legion unveiled its new logo this past February and the Chicago Union, Philadelphia Phoenix, and Toronto Rush have all undergone several front office and coaching personnel changes.