Tuesday, November 21, 2023

View From the Peak - Everything Coming to Paramount+ in December 2023

 

Trim the tree, spin the dreidel and get ready for a winter wonderland on Paramount+! The season of giving has arrived and we’re stuffing stockings with a mountain of entertainment this year with our special holiday collection 'Tis the Season for Streaming. Our youngest viewers will be delighted by the streaming premieres of two new animated adventures with the recent addition of PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie and the upcoming Baby Shark’s Big Movie. The star-studded cast of the crime drama Finestkind deliver powerful performances in its streaming debut. And documentary fans will receive a gift pack of news series, including The World According to Football, Thriller 40 and  Born in Synanon. For more of what audiences can expect to unbox in December, check out this month’s edition of View from the Peak.


IN THE
SPOTLIGHT

Finestkind
Tommy Lee Jones, Toby Wallace, Jenna Ortega and Ben Foster in Finestkind

In December, audiences will be treated to the streaming premiere of the crime drama Finestkind, starring Ben Foster, Toby Wallace, Jenna Ortega and Academy Award® winner Tommy Lee Jones. The film tells the gripping story of two brothers who have led dramatically different lives and are reunited during one fateful summer. To learn more about the project we sat down with its writer and director Brian Helgeland.

  • Q: We understand Finestkind is a very personal story for you. Could you tell us a little bit about the personal experiences from which you drew while writing this story and then directing the film?

    My first memory as a child was dropping my father off at the docks at the boat he worked on. I then wouldn’t see him again for a week. His father was a commercial fisherman before him. I began the script for Finestkind nearly 30 years ago. It’s an incredibly personal project. All of the characters are based on people I knew from home, all with whom I fished in the two years that I myself was a commercial fisherman. The character of Charlie was a loose sketch of me as a young man just out of college which is when I first fished. And the character of Mabel is also a loose sketch of myself as a young person who grew up in the city of New Bedford and was looking for a bigger world for myself without knowing how to go about finding it. So, it’s very personal. My journey in life making movies has taken me not only around the United States, but also the world. But part of my heart, and most of his family, stayed in New Bedford. I always wanted to go back there to make this movie and I finally did.
     
  • Q: At the center of this film are a pair of brothers who have a difficult relationship. Can you tell us about their journey?

    I grew up with two great sisters. As I like to say, I never had brothers until I started fishing. The brother relationship is based a lot on the relationships I had with my fellow fisherman. I also wanted to explore different facets of how you end up in that world and using two half-brothers gave me a great angle to do that. It also gave me two very different fathers to explore. The character of Charlie is in search of another way to live and he needs his brother Tom to show him. Tom is an emotionally isolated character who doesn’t realize how much he needs his younger brother. The push and pull between them drives the movie in many ways.
     
  • Q: Are there any stories you want to share about working with the film's phenomenal cast?

    I really think it’s one of the best casts I’ve ever worked with, from a true veteran like Tommy Lee Jones to exciting young actors like Jenna Ortega and Toby Wallace. They all have in common a love for what they do and a desire to be authentic in the characters they play. Jenna has the big driving scene in the film and she did a lot of her own stunt driving. At one point she had to drive a 25-year-old car off the sidewalk and onto the street at a pretty good clip. At take maybe 7, the car pulled up short like something was wrong and I hurried down and found Jenna looking down at the car’s driveshaft sitting in the middle of the street. She’d literally driven it out of the car. It was pretty great. A lot of the guys, including Toby, also went out on commercial fishing boats to learn how to be fisherman. Ben Foster, in particular, went out 75 miles offshore in February for a week. The seas were 15 feet the whole time he was out there. That’s dedication.

Get ready to raise anchor and set sail for Finestkind’s streaming premiere on December 15.

WATCH THE TRAILER


While you might have to wait a little longer to unwrap some of your presents, our gift to audiences this season, the Paramount+ Holiday Collection, titled 'Tis the Season for Streaming, is already here with double the films and episodes for the whole family to enjoy.

  • Our very own team of elves have hand-picked the finest in festive entertainment and packaged them up in more than 20 curated carousels with special treats for everyone’s tastes, with heart-warming holiday romances such as A Christmas Proposal and Bridget Jones’s Diary, seasonal specials from kids’ favorite franchises including SpongeBob SquarePants and The Loud House, and classic Christmas comedies like Scrooged and Bad Santa.
     
  • We also have a special present for football fans this season, with an unmissable lineup of games. The action kicks off on Thanksgiving Day with the NFL on CBS matchup between the Washington Commanders and the Dallas Cowboys. We’ll follow this up on Christmas Eve with a live, local market game. On Christmas Day, Swifties should keep an eye out for their favorite popstar when Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs host the Las Vegas Raiders.
     
  • To make the season even sweeter, Paramount+ has announced a special new Black Friday deal. New subscribers can sign up and pay just $1.99 per month for 3 months of our Paramount+ Essential Plan and $3.99 per month for 3 months of the Paramount+ with Showtime Plan. Use the promo code BLACKFRIDAY now.  
WATCH THE PARAMOUNT+ HOLIDAY CAMPAIGN SPOT


TECH
TALK

Paramount Streaming has seen an incredible year of innovation with new advancements and features that have contributed to a tremendous 46% increase in total viewing hours in the third quarter. 

Content discovery and personalization continues to drive new features, including the launch of Prominent Carousels, Targeted Micro-Genres and Personalized End-Card Recommendations. This new way of merchandising content has led to a 22% increase in playback rates. 

This year, the service streamed more than 5,000 live events worldwide by leveraging cutting-edge technology and improved infrastructure, which included catch-up live moments for sporting events, making Paramount Streaming beyond primed and ready to handle the massive crowds for Super Bowl LVII in 2024.

WATCH THE 2023 PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS REEL


MOUNTAIN
OF MOVIES

In December, audiences are invited to swim along, and sing along with iconic pre-school favorite crooner Baby Shark in Baby Shark’s Big Movie, the first film from the popular kids franchise.

After garnering more than 13 billion views on YouTube and getting the whole planet to sing doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo, Baby Shark’s movie debut will see the titular tyke teaming up with aquatic artists from all over the sea played by real-world singing sensations, including Ashley Tisdale, Cardi B and Lance Bass. In the film Baby Shark also teams up with a pod of beluga whales portrayed by the popular K-pop group ENHYPEN. You can watch the music video for their song from the movie "Keep Swimmin' Through,'' by clicking the link below.

It’s safe to go back in the water when Baby Shark’s Big Movie premieres on December 8.

WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO


DOCU
SERIES

The transformation of an idealistic drug rehabilitation community into a hierarchical cult is detailed in Born in Synanon, a Geeta Gandbhir-directed docuseries coming to SHOWTIME and Paramount+.

The series tells the story of Cassidy Arkin, who was born into Synanon and lived there until the age of six. Across four episodes, viewers will watch as Cassidy, for the first time, comes to terms with the stark reality of what she experienced as a child. Throughout the series, additional former Synanon members share their own harrowing and heart-breaking stories of corruption and abuse.

Prepare for a revelation when Born in Synanon premieres on the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME plan on December 12.

WATCH THE TRAILER


STREAMING
SOON

ORIGINALS, EXCLUSIVES & PREMIERES & EVENTS

12/1: The World According to Football* premiere
12/2: Thriller 40* premiere
12/5: Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too? premiere
12/7: The Envoys Season 2 premiere
12/8: Baby Shark's Big Movie premiere
12/11: The Billion Dollar Goal premiere
12/12: Born in Synanon premiere
12/15: Finestkind premiere


LIBRARY SHOWS

December 1

SpongeBob Twas the Night Before SpongeMas Special

December 2

Robbie the Reindeer**

December 4

The Price Is Right at Night Christmas Week**

December 6

Digman! (Season 1)
Deliciousness (Season 3)
Ryan's Mystery Playdate (Season 4)


December 8

Ghosts UK** (Season 2)

December 10

A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop**

December 13

Love & Hip Hop: Miami (Season 4)

December 15

The National Christmas Tree Lighting**

December 17

Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday Celebration Concert Special**

December 22

The 25th Annual a Home for the Holidays**

December 23

Frosty Returns**

December 27

The 46th Annual Kennedy Center Honors**

December 31

New Year's Eve Live: Nashville's Big Bash**

MOVIES

December 1

10 Cloverfield Lane
12 Dates of Christmas
40 Days and 40 Nights
A Very English Christmas
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas
A Vineyard Christmas
A Walk on the Moon
Adult World*
Airplane II: The Sequel*
Airplane!*
American Hustle*
Angel Heart
Angela's Ashes*
Barbarella
Bend It Like Beckham*
Body Cam
Braveheart
Caddyshack
Carriers
Cheech & Chong's Still Smokin'
Christmas by Candlelight
Christmas Casanova
Christmas Cupid
Christmas in Scotland
Cloverfield
Coupled Up for Christmas
Crawl
Critical Condition*
Dead Presidents*
Deck the Halls
Dirty Dancing*
Eat, Love, London
Emma (1996)
Ernest Saves Christmas
Face/Off*
Finding Vivian Maier*
First Blood
Florence Foster Jenkins*
Grindhouse: Death Proof*
Grindhouse: Planet Terror*
Hondo
How Stella Got Her Groove Back*
I'll Be Home for Christmas*
Imagine That*
Jack Reacher
Jackass Number Two
Jersey Girl
John Grisham's The Rainmaker
Joyful Noise
Judas and the Black Messiah
Just Like a Christmas Movie
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Machine Gun Preacher*
Madea's Big Happy Family
Megamind
Milk Money*
Mimic*
Mimic 2*
Mimic 3: Sentinel*
Mother!
Pretty Baby*
Rambo III
Rambo: First Blood Part II
RED
RED 2
Regarding Henry
Rise of the Guardians
Rosemary's Baby
Rounders
Scrapper*
Set It Off*
She's All That
Sirens
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Tangerine*
Teaching Mrs. Tingle
That Thing You Do!*
The Addams Family (1991)
The Christmas Classic*
The Dead Zone
The Face of Love*
The Fighting Temptations
The Fugitive
The Hours
The Iron Giant
The Ladies Man
The Prophecy*
The Prophecy 3: The Ascent*
The Prophecy II*
The Prophecy: Forsaken*
The Prophecy: Uprising*
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shining
The Thing*
The To Do List
The Virgin Suicides
The Words
Total Recall*
Trainspotting
Trapped in Paradise*
Triple 9*
Twisted
Up in Smoke
War of the Worlds
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Witness
Wuthering Heights*


December 7

Showing Up*

December 9

Transformers: The Last Knight

December 11

Jules*

December 20

Golda*

December 21

Beau Is Afraid*

December 26

No Escape*

SPORTS

12/2: SEC Championship – Georgia vs. Alabama*
12/3: NFL ON CBS Week 13 (check local listings)
12/3: Major League Fishing*
12/3: Serie A – Napoli vs. Inter
12/8: Serie A – Juventus vs. Napoli
12/9: NCAA Men’s Basketball – Illinois @ Tennessee*
12/9: College Football on CBS – The Army-Navy Game*
12/10: NFL ON CBS Week 14 Doubleheader (check local listings)
12/10: Barclays Women’s Super League – Arsenal vs. Chelsea
12/10: Barclays Women’s Super League – Tottenham vs. Manchester United
12/11: Concacaf W Gold Cup Draw
12/12-12/13: UEFA Champions League Matchday 6
12/12: UEFA Champions League – Manchester United vs. Bayern Munich
12/13: UEFA Champions League – Newcastle United vs. AC Milan
12/14: UEFA Europa League – Matchday 6
12/14: UEFA Europa Conference League – Matchday 6
12/16: NCAA Men’s Basketball – Kansas @ Indiana*
12/16: CBS Sports Classic – UCLA vs. Ohio State & North Carolina vs. Kentucky*
12/16: Argentina Liga Profesional de FĂºtbol Final
12/17: NFL ON CBS Week 15 (check local listings)
12/17: Dubai Sail Grand Prix*
12/18: UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Draw
12/23: Serie A – Roma vs. Napoli
12/23: NFL Slimetime*
12/23: PBR Rodeo*
12/23: Rogue Invitational*
12/23: NCAA Men’s Basketball – Vanderbilt vs. Memphis*
12/24: NFL ON CBS Week 16 (check local listings)
12/25: NFL ON CBS Christmas Day – Las Vegas Raiders @ Kansas City Chiefs
12/29: Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl*
12/30: Serie A – Juventus vs. Roma
12/30: PBR*
12/30: NCAA Men’s Basketball – Creighton @ Marquette*
12/30: NCAA Men’s Basketball – UCLA @ Oregon*
12/31: NFL ON CBS Week 17 Doubleheader (check local listings)
Throughout December: Italian Serie A competition
Throughout December: Argentina Liga Profesional de FĂºtbol competition
Throughout December: Campeonato BrasileirĂ£o SĂ©rie A competition
Throughout December: Scottish Professional Football League competition
Throughout December: Combate Global competition
Throughout December: AFC Champions League competition
Throughout December: Barclays Women’s Super League competition


*Title is available to Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers.

**All Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers can live stream CBS titles via the live feed on Paramount+. Those titles will be available on-demand to all subscribers the day after they air live.

Dates for library titles are subject to change.

Sunday, November 19, 2023

57 Channels and Only This Is On: November 19

 

 Fear the Walking Dead:  So the dead chick was just the girl’s mom, not Alicia?  She better show up alive next week otherwise, what has this back half of the season even been about?  This show is just sputtering to an end.

 

A Murder at the End of the World:  How convenient, a true crime writer was invited to a retreat where someone died.  I have a sinking suspicion that the tech billionaire or his wife was the one that did the killing to see if she could solve the murder.  But this show just really made me miss my iPod.

 

Survivor:  Ugg, the only interesting contestant this season is already gone.  But this new twist on the auction was just stupid.  It was just musical chairs, except you lost your vote when the music ran out.

 

The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion:  I was laughing at the dude who lost, but then I read about how they changed the rules after he won the first two which lead to Jordan sweeping the last three, may I would cry at the blatant manipulation too.

 

Quantum Leap:  I do not think we got to see what Ben looked like, but it seemed like he was an old dude considering his peers which makes him forcing himself on the blond chick even creepier. I did laugh when Ben did not tell her his last name, because someone in that time period would likely be very racist against Asians.  But is Ben just going to jump around in time with her this season?  Did she have connections to the four episodes we did not see her in?  Will she end up being involved in the Quantum Leap program in the future?

 

Lessons in Chemistry:  How Gumpian that the preacher knew Calvin so personally.

 

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters:  Kind of annoying that I had to read the Wikipedia plot of a six year old movie within 30 seconds just to understand what was going on.  I do not even remember John Goodman being in that movie.  The math is also hurting my brain. John Goodman and Kurt Russell are about the same age; young John Goodman and young Kurt Russell are about the same age, but John Goodman's character was in the 70's and Kurt Russell's character is from last decade. That is a bit of a leap.   Russell has got to be in his nineties by now if he was in his twenties/thirties back during the fifties.


Saturday, November 18, 2023

Around the Tubes: November 18, 2023

 

     

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 Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie!, Lauren Spencer Smith, Lyn Lapid, Shania Twain, Olivia Newton-John, Adam Blackstone, and Game Show Network.


“Whoa Mama!” Grab your favorite pair of suspenders, hike up those pants, and get ready to celebrate the holidays with Steve Urkel. From executive producer Wyatt Cenac, Warner Bros. Animation, and Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment comes Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie!, an all-new animated holiday movie musical for the whole family to enjoy. Starring the beloved and kind-hearted Steve Urkel, the breakout character from the series Family MattersUrkel Saves Santa: The Movie! features the voices of Jaleel White (as Steve Urkel), joined by Nicole Byer (“Nailed It”), Roy Wood Jr. (“The Daily Show”), and Kym Whitley (“The Bay”). The film will be available exclusively on Digital from participating digital platforms where you purchase movies, including Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu, and more, on November 21, 2023.  The holiday season is here, and brilliant but accident-prone super genius Steve Urkel has only one mission: to make the holidays the best they can be for everyone! However, things are off to a not so merry start after he ruins a celebration at his local shopping mall and humiliates the department store Santa. Hoping to make things right, Steve invents a device that helps people spread holiday cheer but it only manages to make things worse. Using his big brain and even bigger heart, it’s up to Steve to help the city rediscover the holiday spirit.


-Global breakout Lauren Spencer Smith celebrates the holiday season with her powerful rendition of the iconic “Santa Baby,” alongside an original, “Broke Christmas.” The cover showcases Lauren’s impressive vocal range while  “Broke Christmas,” conveys the relatable burden of holiday spending. Check out “Santa Baby” here and “Broke Christmas here.  Earlier this month Lauren’s cover of “Hallelujah,” appeared exclusively on Apple Music as part of their Carols Covered annual global holiday program. Check it out here.


21-year-old singer and songwriter Lyn Lapid reveals her new single “east side,” taken from her forthcoming deluxe EP to love in the 21st century: the epilogue, out December 1st on Mercury Records/Republic Records. Listen to “east side” now HERE and watch the visualizer HERE!  Lyn says, “I’m so excited to share my new song ‘east side,’ it’s a really special and personal song I wrote about my hometown friends back in Maryland. I wrote about how my hometown friendships over the years have turned into ‘low maintenance friendships,’ mostly because I don’t see my old school friends as much as I used to, yet despite everything it hasn’t affected our friendship at all. We’ve grown to live such different lives with them being in college and me pursuing music full time, we don’t talk or hangout as much as we used to, but our friendship still remains strong even if I’m not as close with them anymore.”


On November 17, Mercury Nashville/UMe is set to release multiple expanded U.S. and International 2LP vinyl editions of Shania Twain’s widely acclaimed November 2004 compilation album Greatest Hits, marking the first time ever that this record-breaking collection of hits will appear on vinyl. With countless chart-topping anthems throughout Shania’s discography, Greatest Hits represents so much more than a collection of classics – it’s a genre-defining celebration of the queen of country pop. Greatest Hits was certified by Guinness World Records as being the fastest-selling hits collection by a female artist in the U.S., with first-week sales of 529,000 units, sending it well on its way to achieving global sales of over 5M units to date. Both the U.S. and International versions of Greatest Hits have been remastered from the original tapes, and they each now contain two additional tracks: Shania’s latest hit, “Giddy Up!” as well as the fan-favorite “Life’s About To Get Good.”


MCA/UMe releases both vinyl and CD editions of Dame Olivia Newton-John’s smash-hit, tenth studio album, 1978’s Totally Hot, a record that further reinforced her status as a surefire international superstar. In celebration of Newton-John’s first-ever platinum-certified album’s 45th anniversary, Totally Hot returns to vinyl for the first time in decades in two different options, in addition to being made available on CD and on all major digital platforms.  Totally Hot is available in the following formats: limited-edition 1LP neon coral red vinyl, standard weight 1LP black vinyl, 1CD, and Digital. All versions of Totally Hot can be ordered HERE.


- Emmy® award-winning musical director, musician, singer, and songwriter Adam Blackstone unveils the cover art and tracklist for his forthcoming second solo album and first Christmas album, A LEGACY CHRISTMAS, which is set for release on November 24 (“BASSic Black Friday”)!!  Pre-order/Pre-save HERE.   The album features a myriad of A-list guests, including Andra DayBJ The Chicago KidBoyz II MenKeke Palmer, 2023 Stellar® Awards New Artist of The Year Lena Byrd Miles, and more. With a total of ten joyful songs, A LEGACY CHRISTMAS warms up the season as the perfect soundtrack!


This Thanksgiving and Black Friday, Game Show Network will be running marathons of fan favorites and new additions.  The marathons will feature Split Second and America Says, both hosted by John Michael Higgins, People Puzzler hosted by Leah Remini, Switch hosted by Jeff Hephner, and Family Feud hosted by Steve Harvey. Joining the Game Show Network staples is a run of Card Sharks, hosted by Joel McHale.  The episodes will run 8a - 6p on Thursday, and 8a - 8p on Friday.

THANKSGIVING 11/23

8:00a- Switch (Jeff Hephner)

11:00a- America Says (John Michael Higgins)

2:00pm- People Puzzler (Leah Remini)

BLACK FRIDAY 11/24

8:00a- Split Second (John Michael Higgins)

11:00a- Family Feud (Steve Harvey)

4:00p- Card Sharks (Joel McHale)