As streaming fans begin to panic that their favorite shows might not return for more after the latest HBO Max cutbacks and Netflix’s struggling subscriber count, certain showrunners are speaking out about where they should go from here.
Mike Schur, known for working on all of your favorite comedy shows such as Parks and Rec, The Office, and The Good Place, thinks that this year will mark a change for streaming shows.
“The first domino to fall was when Netflix announced they had lost subscribers for the first time ever,” Schur said while on The Dan LeBatard Show. “I think that put the fear of God into everybody and now they are all scrambling and trying to cut their losses. It’s bad for people like me and anyone who likes good content.”
Schur, who works primarily with NBC and Peacock, says that when it comes down to it, the streamers are mostly focused on making money instead of quality content. “We get that this is commerce. It’s not a pure expression of artistic creativity. This is capitalism, the upside of it is that you get to make stuff, the downside is when capitalism takes over or there is a downturn in the economy or whatever, they don’t really care about the content,” he explained.
“They care about survival and their stock price. So they get really really harsh with cutbacks and layoffs,” Schur added. This doesn’t bode well for what is supposed to be the year of Peak TV (again). As reported earlier this week, there were over 300 scripts in development during the first six months of 2022. Who knows which, if any, make it to TV?
The showrunner also mentioned that it’s likely more studios will join forces in the near future in order to cover more ground. As it stands now, Netflix users make up over half of the streaming landscape with over 220 million subscribers, though that number has been dwindling over the last year. “I think you’re gonna see more of these companies merging with each other to just try to take a big chunk out of the streaming marketplace.”
Maybe if streamers focused more on expanding on quality shows with dedicated fanbases and less on run-of-the-mill action movies starring tired A-list stars then things would be a little bit more stable. Hmm.
Never underestimate the power of Jack White to sell records. Entering Heaven Alive, his second album of 2022, came out on July 22 and has officially claimed the No. 1 spot on six separate Billboard charts.
The Third Man Records boss knows a thing or two about selling vinyl, so it’s no surprise that one of the six Billboard charts that Entering Heaven Alive topped was the Vinyl Albums chart. As expected, White hit No. 1 on the Rock Albums, Alternative Albums, and the curiously joint-titled Rock & Alternative Albums Chart. Entering Heaven Alive also topped both the Tastemaker Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts. For good measure, the album also debuted at No. 9 on the overall Billboard 200 chart. For context, his other album of 2022, Fear Of the Dawn got as far on the Billboard 200 as the No. 4 spot and also reached the top spot on Rock And Alternative Albums charts.
White is still in the thick of his Supply Chain Issues Tour, which picks back up on August 13 at the Armory in Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Prince’s hometown. Speaking of which, White recently had to dispel rumors that he was “re-editing” Prince’s long lost Camille album that Third Man records will be releasing. He explained in detail what the plans for the release are, saying, “I would never mess with Prince’s music.”
Entering Heaven Alive is out via Third Man Records.
If you’re one of the few Eternals fans who has spent the past nine months painfully awaiting news about a sequel, Patton Oswalt has got you covered. But, unfortunately, he’s probably about to get an angry call (or worse?) from Kevin Feige as a result.
On TODAYTuesday, August 2, Oswalt appeared to promote his upcoming film, I Love My Dad, in which he plays an absentee father who connects with his estranged son by catfishing him. During the interview, host Al Roker asked about Oswalt’s appearance in the MCU. In 2021’s Eternals, Oswalt made an appearance as Pip the Troll in the post-credit scene, which also included someone named Harry Styles.
“They have announced there’s going to be an Eternals sequel,” Oswalt, a fanboy at heart, told Roker. “Chloé Zhao is going to direct it. So, hopefully, there will be more adventures of Starfox and Pip.”
Except that “they” have not announced an Eternals sequel at all, despite an onslaught of MCU announcements at San Diego ComicCon in July. Maybe Oswalt assumed the film was announced along with everything else and honestly, who can blame him? It’s all a lot. Too much, even. Anyways, if frequent tweeter Patton Oswalt is suddenly silent, we know he got a scolding from the Marvel boss. If Oswalt needs anyone to talk to about this unique “accidentally spoiling Marvel stuff” problem, thankfully he has Tom Holland.
Quentin Tarantino doesn’t usually publicly talk about new movies, because what if he gave Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank a bad review and then ran into Hank Fury (I assume that’s the character’s name) at a party? That would be awkward for everyone involved. But the Pulp Fiction filmmaker made an exception for Top Gun: Maverick.
“I f*cking love Top Gun: Maverick. I thought it was fantastic. I saw it at the theaters,” he said on the ReelBlend podcast. That and [Steven] Spielberg’s West Side Story both provided a true cinematic spectacle, the kind that I’d almost thought that I wasn’t going to see anymore. It was fantastic.” Tarantino is a big fan of the original Top Gun movie, directed by the late Tony Scott, and he thinks Maverick is “as close as we’re ever going to get to seeing one more Tony Scott movie. [Director Joseph Koskinski] did a great job. The respect and the love of Tony was in every frame.”
Tarantino also shared an encounter he had with Tom Cruise. When asked how it was possible to make a Top Gun sequel without Scott, the dog-complimenting cliff jumper replied, “I know, that’s why I said no all these years — for that exact reason. We figured out a way.” They sure did… to the tune of the year’s highest-grossing movie.
You can listen to the podcast below.
Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary join us this week to discuss @VideoArchives, the GREATEST movie of all time, and so much more.
Alex Jones historically does not fare well in court. Yes, imagine that! A conspiracy theorist simply cannot hold up his end of the lies when the evidence rolls out, and five years ago, he botched his custody trial while claiming that a “big bowl of chili” prevented him from remembering basic facts about his own children. His current trial — revolving around his defamation of Sandy Hook parents — has unsurprisingly shown him to be a theatrical nuisance, and all of that’s happening after his lawyer was found to have handed over years of Jones’ incriminating text messages over to the other side.
Jones’ lawyers (who have been deemed to be too dumb for Law & Order shows) moved for a mistrial and were denied, and Trevor Noah was so happy to see the moment that Jones realized that he perjured himself, so let’s just say that Jones is not at all happy with the situation. Now, the Jan. 6 committee is preparing to subpoena those texts, too, and Jones went off on a wild rant on InfoWars on Thursday. Via The Daily Beast:
“And it’s just so incredibly sick that I sit there and give the damn lawyers all the text messages and then they send it over to Connecticut,” Jones added, referring to the plaintiff’s attorneys. “The Texas lawyers, before the new one I have never even gave them the stuff I gave them! Or that’s what they claim.”
Jones continued to express dismay that his own lawyers handed over “raw text messages” from 2019 into 2020 that did, in fact, contain discussion of the shooting. He cited one that compared COVID to “Sandy Hook bull,” asking, “How is that even pertinent? How is that lying about something?”
Jones had better get ready to sell more male virility supplements to pay all the damages that he might soon be facing. And whaddya know, he’s already on it.
Not a joke, I’ve run into this pre-roll ad for “InstaHard” while loading up Alex Jones’ show a bunch of times in the last day.
John Woo has finally found his lead for a reimagining of his 1989 classic The Killer. The remake set for Peacock will now star Omar Sy who’s been wowing audiences over on Netflix in the French crime series Lupin. Sy is taking over the role from Black Panther star Lupita Nyong’o, who had to drop out of the role in late 2019 due to a scheduling conflict. The production took a back seat during the pandemic, and now, appears to be back on track with Sy locked in.
The original film written and directed by Woo watches as the disillusioned assassin Ah Jong (Chow Yun-fat) accepts one last hit, in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to the singer (Sally Yeh) he accidentally blinded. Details as to the reimagining’s plot have not been disclosed. But Woo returns to direct the pic announced earlier this year as one of three Universal originals set to debut on Peacock in 2023. He also serves as its producer.
Woo recently made his return to American cinema with the action thriller Silent Night starring Joel Kinnaman. The dialogue-less film recently wrapped production in May.
According to Variety, Kinnaman plays Godlock, “a father on a mission to avenge his young son who was tragically caught in the crossfire of gang violence on Christmas Eve. Shot and nearly killed while in pursuit of the murderers, Godlock vows to avenge his son by any means necessary.”
Like The Killer, Silent Night is also set for a 2023 release, so talk about a good year for John Woo fans.
Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
What we have here is an alternate history situation, one where the space race of the 1960s didn’t end, thanks in large part to Russia beating America to a handful of important achievements. The show is now in season three, so there’s plenty for you to dive into if you want, which you probably should, in part due to a bunch of space cowboys doing cool space cowboy things, and in part because all your television-obsessed friends won’t stop talking about it. Win-win. Watch it on Apple TV Plus.
Phoebe Robinson gets the showcase she’s needed and deserved for a long time with this one, a show about a brash semi-famous podcaster who gets roped into running her brother’s political campaign. Robinson knows a little something about podcasting from her run as a co-host of 2 Dope Queens, so one assumes there is gold to be mined there. This one is cool on a number of levels. Watch it on Hulu.
Rap Sh!t is the latest show from issa Rae and, as such and as you expect, it is extremely good and extremely on-point. The story follows to estranged Miami high school students who reunite to form a rap group, and is just littered with everything you’d expect to see given that description, as well as a fair amount you probably did not expect to see. It’s a good time. Get in there. Watch it on HBO Max.
What if there was a show from the people who made Mr. Robot and Lodge 49 and it was set at a spooky tropical resort and it starred Cristin Milioti from Palm Springs and William Jackson Harper from The Good Place and the whole thing hinged on a mystery they uncovered because one of them crashed a four-wheeler in the jungle and discovered a mangled old Motorola Razr? Well, guess what: there is. Watch it on Peacock.
The first season of Reservation Dogs was a revelation. Just a group of foul-mouthed Native American teens living on a reservation in Oklahoma and getting into trouble and being little rascals. It was also, sometimes, sweet and, also sometimes, heavy, and sometimes there was a mystical figure who would show up and giggle a lot and kind of just screw with everyone for five minutes. It’s a hard show to describe. But it’s a heck of a ride. Watch it on Hulu.
Think of the cartoon icons that stretch across the generational divide from the sheer will of their appeal and the skill with which they are deployed: Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Homer Simpson… Beavis and Butthead. Didn’t see that coming when we were snort laughing along to these idiots as they riffed on music videos and got into idiotic horny adventures in the ’90s, but now they’re back, riffing on music videos (and TikTok videos) and getting into idiotic horny adventures. Some things never change. It’s kinda beautiful. Watch it on Paramount Plus.
Neil Gaiman’s seminal comic book series finally lands on the small screen (while the successful Audible epic keeps cranking with a different cast). The story picks up with Morpheus (the King of Dreams) angry as hell at those who imprisoned him. Tom Sturridge takes on the lead role and guides us through space and time on a cosmic trip. Let’s hope this show is worth the extensively long wait (the project has the unenviable task of piecing together a tapestry of sometimes free-standing stories), but no matter how it turns out, we’re getting Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer. That ain’t nothing. Watch it on Netflix.
Popularly and positively referred to as Euphoria and Succession‘s love child, Industry returns for season two, focussing again on the realm of global finance through the lens of the 20-somethings who are consumed by it and the realities of survival and success in a world post panny where satisfaction seems like a hindrance. Watch it on HBO Max.
Extra extra, there’s some Stranger Things-like comic book content coming your way. This live-action adaptation (of the works of Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang) follows four paper-delivery girls who end up (while only doing their jobs) stumbling into a war of time travelers. They end up springing from 1988 into the future and meeting their eventual selves. Ali Wong stars as one of the grown-up girls, and let’s just say that the future is not easy. These paper girls, however, are here to heal wounds and rock out to Danzig at the same time. A win-win. Watch it on Amazon Prime.
The good news here is that Harley Quinn is back, finally, after a multi-year break due to, well, everything. The delightfully profane animated series remains one of our finest television programs, between Harley and Ivy being a couple now and chaos descending upon Gotham and this show’s version of Bane continuing to be a hopeless goofball. It really is a blast, a beam of sunshine in a world filled with bleak dramas. You deserve to have fun. Watch it on HBO Max.
Nathan Fielder is back with another show that toes the line between awkward and brilliant. His first go-round was Nathan for You, the Comedy Central series where he “helped” people “fix” their businesses. Now he’s got this project, in which he “helps” people plan out conversations and various personal interactions in very, very deep detail. It’s a lot and it’s hard to explain on paper (please do imagine Nathan Fielder pitching this to a confused HBO executive), but it also sounds like a perfectly imagined Nathan Fielder show. Worth a shot. Watch it on HBO Max
The good news here is that the vampires are back. The bad is that… well, there’s not really any bad news. How could there be? This show remains relentlessly fun and silly in a way that almost feels like they’re getting away with something, like someone in charge stopped paying attention and they’re just running wild in their own little sandbox. This is, to be clear, a compliment of the highest order. One of our best shows is back and still humming along in peak form. This is worth celebrating. Watch it on FX/Hulu.
There’s so much we know and so much we don’t know about what’s on the other side of Better Call Saul‘s finale. So much anxiety over what happens to Kim Wexler and, ultimately, what happens to Jimmy/Saul after the events of Breaking Bad. But as the season premiere demonstrated, the thrill is in the journey (with surprising turns, masterful storytelling, and gripping visuals), not just in the destination, meaning sit back, relax, and try and enjoy the shooting star that is this all-time best series’ final notes. Watch it on AMC Plus.
Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish movies available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
Jerrod Carmichael is having a moment, garnering all the praise for his revealing and powerful HBO special (Rothaniel, watch it again!), a great turn as SNL host, and now, for the release of his festival fave narrative directorial debut, On The Count Of Three. But, of course, you knew Carmichael was a force from his previous specials and The Carmichael Show. You’re just happy to see everyone else catch up and, with this film, get the chance to see Carmichael flex his dramatic muscles opposite Christopher Abbott as two friends trying to get the most out of the last moments before they execute each other as a part of a suicide pact. Track it down on your VOD service of choice.
Everybody clap your hands for Cha Cha Real Smooth, the second feature from writer and director Cooper Raiff. He also stars in the comedy-drama as a recent college graduate with an aimless life until he finds a job (bar/bat mitzvah “party starter”) and friends (a suburban mom played by Dakota Johnson and her autistic teenage daughter). It sounds like Indie Movie Trope Overload, but Cha Cha Real Smooth is a real charmer, with a heartfelt performance from Johnson. Watch it on Apple TV Plus.
10. (tie) Jerry and Marge Go Large (Paramount Plus)
PARAMOUNT PLUS
Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening play a married couple who discover a loophole in the state lottery and use it to win millions and millions of dollars. There should be more movies like this. Hundreds of them, probably. But this is a good start. Watch it on Paramount Plus.
Kevin Hart, Woody Harrelson, and Kaley Cuoco team up for a comedy about mistaken identity and assassins and probably a few other things, but mostly those. The fuller description looks like this: A loser from Pennsylvania wakes up on vacation and is somehow assumed to be a world-famous contract killer. Hijinks, presumably, ensue. Watch it on Netflix.
A few years ago, a boys’ soccer team got stuck in a cave in Thailand and the story of their impossible rescue gripped the world. So, naturally, director Ron Howard has made a move about it. Colin Farrell, Viggo Mortenson, and Joel Edgerton play rescue divers called in to save the kids and judging from the trailer, it looks like they’ve all nailed the claustrophobic terror of navigating a flooded underground tunnel that could kill you at any moment. Watch it on Amazon Prime.
The setting: a summer conversion camp run by a group of weirdos. The villain: Kevin Bacon, a camp counselor hoping to scare the gay out of a bunch of Queer kids. The plot: a murderer on a killing rampage deep in the woods who’s targeting a bunch of kids questioning their identity thanks to the out-of-touch adults in their lives. In other words, this is your worst Gen Z nightmare. Watch it on Peacock.
6. Beavis and Butt-Head Do The Universe (Paramount Plus)
PARAMOUNT
Beavis and Butt-head debuted on MTV something like 30 years ago and is still, somehow, against truly staggering odds, still going strong, with this movie sending them to the cosmos and other projects in the works down the line, too. It’s good news, to be sure, but please do imagine telling someone from like 1997 that these two would still be around in 2022 and would be going to space. It would be almost as shocking as the thing where time travel was apparently invented. Watch it on Paramount Plus.
Billy Porter directs a sweet coming-of-age story centered around a trans high school senior named Kelsa who is attempting to navigate… well, all of that. It’s all very sweet and very heartfelt and very Gen Z and it could make for some nice weekend movie if you’re feeling up for a little cry. Who isn’t, sometimes, you know? Watch it on Amazon Prime.
Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard insisted on The Bob’s Burgers Movie getting a theatrical release instead of being plopped directly on streaming. He was right to do so: The Bob’s Burgers Movie is, like the show itself, an absolute delight with lovely animation, fun fan service, and catchy songs (it’s also Disney’s first hand-drawn 2D animated movie in over a decade). If you didn’t catch it in theaters, however, you can now enjoy “Sunny Side Up Summer” at home. Might I suggest pairing it with an Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Zucchini Burger. Watch it on Hulu.
The Gray Man is: Trash-staches. Ryan Gosling as a himbo assassin. Psychotic Chris Evans. A spy thriller. An on-the-run adventure. Trains. Butt-shots. Ana de Armas with a bob cut. And action courtesy of the Russo brothers. In other words, The Gray Man is a hell of a good time and a worthy blockbuster movie night for those wanting to stay on the couch. Watch it on Netflix.
John Lasseter helped build Pixar into a dominant animation brand and now he’s trying to bring the same magic to Apple with Luck, a movie about an unlucky young girl who goes on a whimsical adventure to try to turn her fortunes around. It’s got the starpower (Simon Pegg, Jane Fonda, Pixar staple John Ratzenberger) and the financial backing from Apple, so the big question remaining is whether it has the same spark as those other films he created a few decades ago. Only one way to find out. Watch it on Apple TV Plus.
The Predator franchise was desperate for a new vision following the lackluster response to, well, every Predator movie since 1990’s Predator 2. Enter: Prey. The Hulu film follows a Comanche warrior (played by Amber Midthunder) who has to protect her tribe from an alien predator. Prey gets back to what made the original Predator a classic — and thankfully ignores everything that made Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem unwatchable. Watch it on Hulu.
Celebrities aren’t just like us, but some of them indulge in reality television.Amanda Seyfried might be a talented, prestigious Emmy-nominee now (if she doesn’t win for The DropoutI will become the Joker), but she can’t help but indulge in trashy television. Seyfried is a member of Bachelor Nation, which means… she watches The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and probably its spin-offs including Bachelor in Paradise.
Seyfried discussed being a reluctant fan of the long-running reality dating franchise on SiriusXM’s “The Jess Cagle Show” with hosts Jess Cagle and Julia Cunningham.“I’m writing my thesis right now,” Seyfried joked about the series.
Co-host Julia Cunningham said that she saw Seyfried at one of the live finales (the one for the dreaded Nick Viall’s season in 2017, to be exact). “I remember,” Seyfried said dramatically. “I remember.” It does not sound like it was a fond memory.
“God, I struggle with it more and more each year,” she said. “I really do. This formula works, it does, but it hasn’t evolved quick enough for me to feel, you know, guilty-free when I watch it. But at the same time, this is really embarrassing, I fell asleep last night so I don’t know what happened.” Seyfried added that she is “most passionate” about the show’s decision to have two Bachelorettes for the current season of The Bachelorette. “I also love looking for the authenticity that you so rarely see,” Seyfried added.
When Seyfried was asked which Bachelor she would date, she said “no one” at first. But then she decided on Ben Higgins, who was the Bachelor for season 20, which aired in 2016. “Yes, he told two women he loved them, because he did!,” she said.
Breaking Bad was filmed on location in Albuquerque, New Mexico (32nd in population, number one in statues dedicated to fictional meth-makers!), but one of the show’s most iconic props now resides in Los Angeles. The Krystal Ship — the RV used by Walter White and Jesse Pinkman to cook meth on the go — is part of the Sony Pictures Studios tour, along with a Jeopardy! podium and the Ectomobile from Ghostbusters.
From the outside, the Krystal Ship still looks the same as it did on Breaking Bad. But inside, it’s “completely gutted,” set designer Ashley Marsh told Variety. This proved to be an issue for the latest episode of Better Call Saul, which was partially (and thrillingly) set during the Breaking Bad timeline, but Marsh had a time-consuming solution.
To recreate that set for Better Call Saul, Marsh “religiously rewatched Breaking Bad” and took “8,000 screen grabs.” With careful attention to detail, the team had to replace every beaker, tub of methylamine, round-bottom flask, and more. Everything we see inside the RV on Better Call Saul was new.
Marsh got in touch with Frank Sandoval, an Albuquerque resident who runs Breaking Bad RV Tours. “After signing an ‘ironclad NDA,’ Sandoval was happy to lend some parts of his Bounder — which shuttles tourists around Albuquerque to Breaking Bad locations — to the Better Call Saul team,” according to Variety. Even the window coverings on Saul are the same ones that appear on Breaking Bad. It’s a small detail that most shows wouldn’t bother with. But most shows don’t get turned into statues, either.
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