57 Channels and Only This Is On: August 7, 2022

 

Westworld:  They still cannot get the fidelity tests eight for humans.  That does not bode well for Caleb’s longevity on the show.  Though, maybe he is not really dead and is being kept in storage just like the Man in Black.

 

The Chi:  Last week’s episode was entitled “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off,” named after the great Jermaine Stewart song, and of course, this episode starts off with all the main characters with most, if not all of their clothes off.  Jermaine Stewart would be so disappointed.  Everyone should have just drunk more cherry wine.

 

Flatbush Misdemeanors:  Why exactly does Dan’s mom have box labeled “Wikileaks?”  But if she got back with her husband, does that mean Dan can get his job back?

 

In the Dark:  Were we supposed to know who the dude who killed the queenpin was?

 

Only Murders in the Building:  In a season full of daddy issues we finally got to see Mabel's dad and that got sad real quick. But my biggest take away from this episode was the person fleeing Mabel's apartment looked a bit skinnier than Glitter Guy and Guy in the Wall that Lucy saw. I have long thought that the killer and the art thief are two different people, so Glitter Guy/Guy in the Wall could very well be the art thief but not the killer (though I am beginning to think Glitter Guy and Guy in the Wall may even be two different people). Howard, Theo, and Will all have the build of Glitter Guy and Guy in the Wall, so who are our skinnier suspects? Cinda, Alice, Poppy, the waiter, and the still yet to be seen this season Oscar. So maybe my original theory that Cinda (and/or possibly Poppy) is killing people to keep her podcast going may end up being right. My last takeaway from this episode, did Oliver predict/cause this blackout?

 

Motherland: Fort Salem:  After an episode everyone went on separate missions, everyone is back together, even Rayell, but I feel like I for not understand where everything is happening.  I am getting late season Game of Thrones vibes where everyone can just go the length of the country (or even overseas) over the course of an episode.

 

The Challenge: USA:  Man, the editing really felt like Sarah was going to be eliminated.  But I feel bad for whoever get cat guy next week because it feels like he may go in every week until he is gone.

 

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin: What the fork us going on with Mouse?  At first I thought she was doing her own version of To Catch a Predator, but now I wonder if she is just looking for a father figure.  Could that be her sperm donor?  But my prediction that Karen is A took a big hit this week, assuming a ballerina would not be able to lift a football player by his neck.  But Faran is picking up my Kelley is actually Karen theory.

 

The Resort:  So weird dude is leaking knowledge, whatever that means, but can see the future.  Okay.  Not really the big twist I was expecting. There has to be more.

 

Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head:  The duo watching reality shows during the last reboot did not quite work, but YouTube does fit a little better, them watching an ASMR was hilarious, but I still prefer music videos.  Though I think less of Beavis for like K-Pop.

Around the Tubes: August 6, 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 Tell Me Lies, John Legend, The Offspring, Marcus King, Quinn XCII, POV, and Mason.

- Check out the trailer and key art for Hulu Original drama series "Tell Me Lies" based on Carola Lovering's novel starring Grace Van Patten and Jackson White.  "Tell Me Lies" will premiere Wednesday, September 7 with three episodes on Hulu.  New episodes stream weekly.  “Tell Me Lies” follows a tumultuous but intoxicating relationship as it unfolds over the course of 8 years. When Lucy Albright (Grace Van Patten) and Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White) meet at college, they are at that formative age when seemingly mundane choices lead the way to irrevocable consequences. Although their relationship begins like any typical campus romance, they quickly fall into an addictive entanglement that will permanently alter not only their lives, but the lives of everyone around them.  CAST: Grace Van Patten, Jackson White, Catherine Missal, Spencer House, Sonia Mena, Branden Cook, Benjamin Wadsworth, Alicia Crowder.

- Multiplatinum, 12-time Grammy Award-winner John Legend announced his highly anticipated eighth studio album, LEGEND, out September 9^th via Republic Records.  Executive produced by Legend and prolific producer-writer Ryan Tedder (Beyoncé, Adele, et al), the forthcoming project is a vibrant double album suffused with an unapologetic spirit of sensuality and joy, informed by the full vulnerability of pain, praise and healing.  LEGEND is available to pre-order HERE.  LEGEND marks the first time the musician has officially embraced the iconic meaning of his name throughout his illustrious career. “Until this point, I’ve never used an aspect of my name as the title of an album,” Legend explains. “I had to earn that, to live up to it by delivering in the performance and the music. And this is me saying, I’m proud of who I am, I’m confident in the work I’ve done, and I’m just going to declare it.” 

- Iconic Orange County punk band The Offspring was formed in Garden Grove, CA, in 1984 by lead singer Dexter Holland, who also became a licensed pilot and a USC graduate with degrees in molecular biology. The band signed to leading Los Angeles indie label Epitaph for their Smash album, scoring a hit single in “Come Out and Play,” which led to a major-label bidding war and a subsequent deal with Columbia Records.  The Offspring sold the rights to their music publishing and Columbia catalog to Round Hill Music in 2016 and will be releasing their 2005 Greatest Hits album on vinyl for the first time on July 29th.  There will be three different versions available: a black LP with a lyric insert / a limited-edition picture disc that features the band’s iconic flaming skull / and an exclusive limited-edition version that boasts a slipmat with the same logo. Preorders for all three will start on May 20th.   The band did a limited advance release of the Greatest Hits vinyl on April 23rd in celebration of this year’s Record Store Day. Pre-order The Offspring, Greatest Hits here: http://theoffspring.lnk.to/greatesthitsPR

- Marcus King today announced the release of “Blues Worse Than I Ever Had,” the final preview track ahead of his forthcoming solo album, Young Blood, due August 26. The track, co-written with Dan Auerbach, has a laid back groove and saturating slide guitar which soundtrack King’s visceral vocal, reflecting on a moment of despair and the hope that lies beyond it. King stated, “At the time, I’d changed medications when I was trying to process the death of family members. I was coasting through life like a zombie. When I’d get off them, I’d feel things that happened six months ago for the first time and crash down.”  Accompanying the song release, King also dropped a live performance video, created at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound Studio, it features acclaimed musicians including Chris St. Hilaire on drums and Nick Movshon on bass. Watch it here: https://mk.lnk.to/blueslive

- Singer, songwriter, and producer Quinn XCII drops his new single “Backpack” on Republic Records—listen HERE. The end-of-summer anthem is accompanied by the tongue-in-cheek official video co-starring Yung Gravy, Zach Sang, YouTuber Kevin Langue, and more out now—watch HERE.  On “Backpack,” Quinn XCII’s soulful high register rises with acoustic guitar before a head-nodding beat. With a little reggae and a lot of roots flare, he tells a different kind of coming-of-age story as he croons, “She pulled out a backpack with some drugs I never done before, but I still told her, ‘Pass that’. I only said it because I’m trying get lucky like a four-leaf clover.”

-  POV, America’s longest running non-fiction series, follows Peabody Award-winning director Judith Helfand as she reckons with her mother’s belongings following her death, via decades of family home videos in the absorbing Love & Stuff, making its national broadcast premiere on POV, Monday, September 5, 2022 (check local listings), available to stream through November 5, 2022 at pbs.org, and the PBS Video app.  In addition to standard closed captioning, POV, in partnership with audio description service DiCapta, provides real time audio interpretations for audiences with sensory disabilities. POV is currently celebrating its 35th anniversary season.

- SHOWTIME announced today that it has greenlit the half-hour comedy pilot MASON, produced by A24 and created and executive produced by Nathan Min (Joe Pera Talks To You), who also stars. Daniels (Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan), the team behind the film Everything Everywhere All at Once, will direct and executive produce alongside Oscar nominee Steven Yeun (Minari, Nope). A24 is producing the project, with Daniels’ producing partner Jonathan Wang, and Adam Kopp of Universal Remote, Yeun’s banner. The announcement was made today by Amy Israel, EVP, Original Programming, Global Scripted, Showtime Networks Inc.  MASON is a surrealist comedy about a quiet man named Nathan, often misheard as “Mason,” seeking connection in a loud world. Based on the real-life experiences of comedian Nathan Min.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: July 31, 2022

  

Westworld:  There seemed to be some debate on whether Christina was human or robot, but if she is controlling humans with her mind, she has to be a robot.  So I guess that means that Charlotte, who is just a clone brain ball of Delores, created someone who looks like her, reprogrammed her into Christina, but still put Delores’ memories in deep down, because Teddy (presumably sent by Bernard) seems like her is getting her to access them.  That is Bond villain level dumb plan.  Why doesn’t Chorlotte, who is Delores on the inside, just put herself in Delores’ body?

 

The Chi:  When did Emmitt and Trig become cards buddies?  I do not even remember them ever sharing a scene before this.  But there goes Emmitt’s celibacy, the under was easy money.

 

In the Dark:  When the boys were thinking of a place to stay, that made me wonder, just what happened to Guiding Hope?  While I guess Felix stopped paying the electricity bill on account he does not have any money left, but that is at least a place with a roof to stay.  I also got a strong feeling that grandma’s money might be coming from the drug trade and she will end up being at the top of the food chain.

 

Only Murders in the Building:  When we saw the guy in the diner with Will last week, I thought, that kind of has the shape of Will. When we saw the guy on the subway, I thought, that kind of has the shape of Will. But if Will is the one texting Oliver the video of Mabel stabbing Glitter Guy, that is probably, most definitely, not him. So who kind of has the same shape as Will? Well, his possible half-brother Theo. There is also Howard who is the person I first thought of when we saw the guy in the Arconia walls with Lucy. Which of these two would most likely text Oliver and Charles to get out of the building, but would also want to get any evidence of the murder? I wonder if Theo, who we know knows about secret passage ways, saw Bunny with Mabel, contacted the police then texted the other two.

I have never really thought Alice was the killer, maybe she was involved in art theft, but that was some psycho level stuff she was doing there. She may not be at the top of my murder board yet, but she moved much higher after this episode.

Then I was wondering after her reappearance this week, how many seasons does this show have to go before Saz is the victim?

But if I had only one word to sum of this episode, it would be: Soup!

 

Motherland: Fort Salem:  I am surprised everyone split up this week, especially Tally who went the completely different direction as everyone else.  Just how long is she going to stay on the West Coast with just four episodes left?

 

The Challenge: USA:  You gotta love a good comeuppance story, and even though I did not watch Big Brother, I do appreciate Alyssa finally got get revenge on Xander.  But really, what a dumb strategy to break all the glass.  That ended up being a 28 seconds penalty once you factor in the time it took the other team to finish, plus their much shorter penalty.  How did someone with such a short fuse win Big Brother?

 

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin:  Well that was a flaming pile of hot garbage.  And I do not mean that in a good way.  It is clearly just IP fraud where someone came up with a generational slasher idea for a show called “Original Sin” and some executive at HBO Max said, what if we make the slasher a texter, call them “A,” and set it in Millwood?  But apparently Millwood high is a performing arts school that has film and ballet classes.  I know the original show was not high art, but the remake is so bad.  The physiological terror was an interesting take on the dawn of texting that did not take itself too seriously, but this new series is dead set on being serious, sucked all the humor out of the air and does not realize that slasher films do not translate to television because you can only kill so many people.  And I am not expecting them to be Meryl Streep, but the acting is so bad especially Imogen (give that girl a nickname quick) who routinely seems to forget she is supposed to be playing a pregnant lady. Since the show seems extremely predictable, it seems obvious to me that A is really Karen (a name way too on the nose, even though she turned out to be more likeable than the other girls on the show) and Kelly is actually the dead twin.  But on the bright side, at least they kept the theme music, though a crappier version.  Here is my way too early Pretty Little Liars Power Ranking:

1) Noa

2) Karen/Kelly

3) Faren

4) Mouse

5) Imogen

6) Tabby (seriously, enough with the movie references every time she opens her mouth)

 

The Resort:  Well that was weird.  But I feel like maybe it would have been better had it been weirder.  Usually with mystery shows like this, I have big predictions to make, but it does not feel like there is anything to predict other than they are both alive, but I am not entirely sure why I would predict that.  I wonder if I would like it more if it was longer.  When I see 35 minute run times, I guess I expect it to be funnier than it is.

 

Players:  I would be fine if this show does not be renewed.