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 Bob Barker, Chucky, Heist 88, James Bay, Chelsea Cutler, Bastille, Tom Waits, POV, and Hulu unscripted true crime TV shows and films.
- Game Show Network will honor the late Bob Barker with an eight-hour marathon of Match Game episodes featuring him this Saturday, September 2, starting at 9 am. Join us to pay tribute to the legendary Bob Barker.
- Watch the Chucky Season 3 Teaser HERE Season 3 returns on October 4 with fan favorites. In Chucky’s unending thirst for power, season 3 now sees Chucky ensconced with the most powerful family in the world — America's First Family, inside the infamous walls of the White House. How did Chucky wind up here? What in God’s name does he want? And how can Jake, Devon, and Lexy possibly get to Chucky inside the world’s most secure house, all while balancing the pressures of romantic relationships and growing up? Meanwhile, Tiffany faces a looming crisis of her own as the police close in on her for “Jennifer Tilly’s” murderous rampage last season.
- SHOWTIME will debut HEIST 88, led by two-time Emmy Award winning actor Courtney B. Vance (The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, Lovecraft Country) and produced by MTV Entertainment Studios, Bassett Vance Productions and Gunpowder & Sky. Inspired by one of the largest bank robberies in U.S. history, the film will stream exclusively on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME starting on Friday, September 29, and on SHOWTIME Sunday, October 1 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Inspired by true events, HEIST 88 is the unbelievable story centered on Jeremy Horne (Vance), a criminal mastermind with an innate ability to convince anyone to do just about anything, who decides to pull one last job before going to prison. He recruits four young bank employees to steal close to $80 million dollars in a daring and brazen assault on the U.S. banking system. The film takes place in a time before widespread computerization and the vast cybersecurity of today. It also reunites Vance with Keesha Sharp, who portrayed Dale Cochran in the award-winning limited series The People vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, and Bentley Green, who recently starred alongside Vance in the drama series 61st Street. HEIST 88 also stars Keith David (The Nice Things), Xavier Clyde (City on Fire), Nican Robinson (Beef) and Precious Way (Days of our Lives).
- Three-time GRAMMY® Award-nominated and BRIT Award-winning multi-platinum singer, songwriter, and guitarist James Bay releases the official music video for his brand-new single “Goodbye Never Felt So Bad” out now via Mercury/Republic Records. Watch the official music video for “Goodbye Never Felt So Bad” HERE & Listen to the track —HERE. The music video shows James doing what he does best - performing live. Footage taken from his tour on the road shows fans dressing up in his iconic hat, singing along to the song even before it was released. It highlights his performance skills and captivating a crowd.
- In response to overwhelming fan demand, Platinum-Certified singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and engineer Chelsea Cutler shares her anxiously-awaited new single “Your Bones” today—listen HERE. Chelsea also finally reveals her highly-anticipated third studio album, Stellaria, will arrive on October 13th. Pre-order/Pre-save HERE. “Your Bones” initially made waves online across social media, as fans embraced it as an anthem to their own love stories. Thus far, it has amassed 40 million views and counting on TikTok. On the track, cinematic piano underscores emotional verses. In between hummable whistling, Chelsea delivers a powerful affirmation, “I love you down to your bones, naked and afraid, they tell me that’s when you know. I feel you, taking me home, dusk until the dawn, you’re where I wanna go.”
- Bastille have come together with multiple Academy Award® and Grammy®-winning composer Hans Zimmer to release a special reworking of their era-defining international hit single, Pompeii. The glistening rendition, entitled Pompeii MMXXIII came about as frontman Dan Smith and Zimmer were working together on other projects. A captivating live recording of the track was filmed in Cardiff with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, watch a clip of the video here. Hans Zimmer says, “It’s been proven time and time again that a beautiful, crafted song by a great band can have many lives and Pompeii is a shining example of this. Working hand in hand with Bastille and my team at Bleeding Fingers has been an exhilarating experience and an honour to be part of this remarkable journey. I'm so excited to share this rendition with you all!"
- Forty years ago this week, Tom Waits’ transformative creative breakthrough, Swordfishtrombones, was released into the wild, ushering in a new and critically acclaimed era for Waits and his longtime songwriting and production partner, Kathleen Brennan. To honor this metamorphic period, Waits’ spectacular middle-period albums – released on Island Records between 1983 and 1993 – have been newly remastered from the original tapes for reissue on vinyl and CD via Island/UMe, personally overseen by Waits and Brennan. Swordfishtrombones (1983), its sprawling and superb sequel, Rain Dogs (1985), and the trilogy-completing, tragi-comic stage musical, Franks Wild Years (1987), kick off the series today with their new CD releases. The trilogy will be released on vinyl on September 22. The epic song-cycle, Bone Machine (1992) and the Waits (with Robert Wilson and William S. Burroughs) musical fable, The Black Rider (1993), will arrive on vinyl and CD on October 6. September, incredibly, marks the 40th anniversary of Swordfishtrombones, and the 30th of The Black Rider. All of the albums are available to stream and download with the newly remastered audio, allowing fans to hear how these landmark recordings now sound better than ever. Stream and purchase the albums here: https://tomwaits.lnk.to/
-– Multi Emmy® Awards and Peabody Award winning series, POV, exposes–in real time–institutional neglect experienced by a group of disabled Black and brown artists on lockdown inside Coler Specialty Hospital, a New York City rehabilitation and nursing center, during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in Fire Through Dry Grass. Co-directed by one of the residents, Andres “Jay” Molina (feature debut), and Alexis Neophytides, the documentary follows Jay and his fellow Reality Poets as they fight the city to protect the lives of 500 vulnerable nursing home residents. Animated sections of their poetry highlight the danger and imprisonment they feel—and their refusal to be abused, confined, and erased by a system that acts as if their lives don’t matter. The documentary was produced by Jennilie Brewster and Neophytides. Oscar® nominees Sara Bolder and Jim Lebrecht (Crip Camp) are the executive producers. Fire Through Dry Grass makes its national broadcast premiere on POV, Monday, October 30, 2023 at 10pmET/9C (check local listings) and will be available to stream without PBS Passport membership until January 30, 2024 at pbs.org, and the PBS App. In addition to standard closed captioning for the film, POV, in partnership with audio description service DiCapta, provides real time audio interpretations for audiences with sensory disabilities. POV, currently in its 36th season, is America's longest running non-fiction television series.
- This month, Hulu spotlights a robust lineup of compelling unscripted true crime TV shows and films, including all new “Cold Case Files: DNA Speaks”, Hulu Original “Never Let Him Go,” “The Jewel Thief” and more. Rest assured, we've got you covered!
NEVER LET HIM GO: COMPLETE DOCUSERIES (HULU ORIGINAL)
In 1988, Scott Johnson, a gay American mathematician, was found dead beneath a cliff in Sydney, Australia. Steve Johnson, Scott’s brother, would spend the next 35 years trying to solve the mystery of Scott’s death. He could have never imagined the tinderbox he would crack open—a wave of anti-gay violence, homophobia, and fear that cast a shadow for decades. “Never Let Him Go” delves into Scott Johnson’s extraordinary life and mysterious death, and Steve’s dogged, multi-decade quest for justice.
(Streaming Wednesday, September 6)
THE JEWEL THIEF (HULU ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY)
“The Jewel Thief” is the unbelievable first-hand account of Gerald Blanchard, one of the most creative, calculating and accomplished criminal masterminds in modern history. Two unlikely Winnipeg detectives track Blanchard across the globe as he perpetrates a series of increasingly elaborate heists in a quest for fame and notoriety through a life of crime.
(Now Streaming)
MOTHER UNDERCOVER: COMPLETE DOCUSERIES (HULU ORIGINAL)
The gripping new four-part docu-series, “Mother Undercover,” tells the tales of four courageous mothers on a mission to save or get justice for their children. Across four captivating episodes, audiences will witness the extraordinary lengths mothers will go to protect their children. In incidents of murder, international kidnapping, mass suicide and judicial corruption, these four mothers transform into undercover detectives, mounting covert operations and taking matters into their own hands. The series showcases the strength and resilience of these women who give new meaning to the saying “a mother’s love knows no bounds.”
(Now Streaming)
DEMONS & SAVIORS: COMPLETE DOCUSERIES (HULU ORIGINAL)
The three-part series “Demons and Saviors” tells the remarkable story of Christina Boyer– once infamously known as the “poltergeist girl,” now a woman convicted of murdering her three-year-old daughter. Thirty years into a life sentence, Christina still proclaims her innocence. The series follows a group of amateur sleuths who have become consumed by their obsession to exonerate her. Exploring Christina’s troubled upbringing, her alleged telekinetic abilities, and the questions that remain about the death of her daughter, “Demons and Saviors” investigates what is the conspiracy and what is the truth.
(Now Streaming)
SOUND OF THE POLICE (HULU ORIGINAL)
“Sound of the Police” examines the fraught relationship between African Americans and the police, often rife with tension, fear, suspicion and hostility on all sides. Framed by some of the most recent conflicts between Black Americans and police officers, which garnered national media attention, the film traces the country’s complex racial history that set the path for policing in Black communities and fuels the ongoing conflict between African American communities and law enforcement.
(Now Streaming)
COLD CASE FILES: DNA SPEAKS: COMPLETE SEASON 1 (ONLY ON HULU)
"Cold Case Files: DNA Speaks" is a new, 10-part documentary series focusing on murder cases that remained unsolved for decades and were ultimately cracked with DNA evidence. It explores these stunning scientific developments – as well as the unwavering dedication of families and investigators – that eventually brought the killers to justice.
The Emmy-nominated "Cold Case Files" was the original forensic science crime show when it first aired in 1999. This brand-new series is narrated by the original host and executive producer, celebrated journalist Bill Kurtis, and builds on the success of the original with spectacular cinematography, extraordinary crime scene footage, and cutting-edge science.
(Now Streaming)
BTK CONFESSIONS OF A SERIAL KILLER (A&E)
The horrific crimes and psyche of notorious serial killer Dennis Rader. This documentary provides unprecedented access into the mind of Rader, who is currently serving 10 consecutive life sentences in El Dorado Correctional Facility. Dr. Katherine Ramsland shares the intimate details of Rader's past and his gruesome murders while providing insight to arm criminologists and law enforcement on how to better identify and potentially deter extreme violent offenders in the future. The author and renowned professor of forensic psychology leads the examination of Rader's transformation from an American boy to an American monster who wreaked havoc in Wichita, Kan., and went uncaptured for 30 years.
(Now Streaming)
BETRAYAL: THE PERFECT HUSBAND: COMPLETE DOCUSERIES (HULU ORIGINAL)
Jen Faison and Spencer Herron were the perfect couple. She was a successful television producer and he was a beloved teacher of the year at a Georgia high school. For over seven years, Jen thought she was living in a fairy tale romance, but one fateful spring afternoon, when the police showed up at her home, the façade came quickly crumbling down. Her perfect life was torn apart when she learned she was the victim of the ultimate Betrayal. Behind the fairytale romance was a web of lies, affairs and criminal sexual assault. Spencer Herron, the man she thought she knew and loved, was living a double life.
(Now Streaming)
