HBO Max has just announced that is very much in the J.J. Abrams business.
In a new press release, the upcoming streaming service has given series orders to three major one hour dramas from Abrams’ and wife Katie McGrath’s Bad Robot production company. One of those series will feature characters from DC Comics’ Justice League Dark universe, which has struggled to make its way into theaters. The supernatural take on the Justice League is now full steam head on HBO Max, however, but with very little in the way of details, according to The Hollywood Reporter:
JLD debuted in DC Comics in 2011 and is a team featuring magic-based characters such as Zatanna, Deadman, Swamp Thing and John Constantine. Over the years, Warners has attempted to get a big-screen version of the ground with filmmaker such as Doug Liman and Guillermo Del Toro coming and going. Warners-backed streamer DC Universe also had a short-lived drama series based on Swamp Thing and produced a Constantine TV series for NBC with the character ultimately folded into The CW’s Arrow-verse. (The fate of DC Universe as a home for scripted originals remains murky at best.)
As THR notes, launching a Justice League Dark series on HBO Max may not bode well for DC’s other streaming service. As for the two other Bad Robot series coming down the pipe, here are the official details straight from HBO.
Duster:
Set in the 1970’s Southwest, the life of a gutsy getaway driver for a growing crime syndicate goes from awful to wildly, stupidly, dangerously awful. Morgan is currently a writer on “The Walking Dead”. Previously, she was a co-executive producer and writer of AMC’s “Into the Badlands” and “TURN: Washington’s Spies,” and was a writer for NBC’s “Parenthood” and Showtime’s “Shameless.” Produced by Warner Bros. Television.
Overlook:
A horror-thriller series inspired by and featuring iconic characters from Stephen King’s masterpiece The Shining. “Overlook” explores the untold, terrifying stories of the most famous haunted hotel in American fiction. The project reunites Bad Robot, King and WBTV, who previously collaborated on the acclaimed psychological-horror series “Castle Rock” for Hulu.
Saturday Night Live comedian Michael Che announced the devastating news that his grandmother had died of COVID-19 on April 6 in an Instagram post. He said he was “obviously very hurt and angry that she had to go through all that pain alone,” but he was “also happy that she’s not in pain anymore.”
Everyone handles grief differently, and Che explained that he was going through “the whole gamut of complex feelings everybody else has losing someone very close and special.”
A week and a half later, Che has announced that he’s doing something to honor his grandma—paying rent for the month for all 160 units in the public housing complex his grandmother used to live in in New York.
In response to a comment, Che explained that his grandmother had lived in the New York City Housing Authority building more than three decades ago, before moving south. But, he wrote, “it’s crazy to me that residents of public housing are still expected to pay their rent when so many New Yorkers can’t even work. Obviously I can’t offer much help by myself. But in the spirit and memory of my late grandmother, I’m paying one month’s rent for all 160 apartments in the NYCHA building she lived in.”
“I know that’s just a drop in the bucket,” he continued. “So I really hope the city has a better plan for debt forgiveness for all the people in public housing. AT THE VERY LEAST.” Che then called on Mayor DeBlasio, Governor Cuomo, and Diddy, saying “Let’s fix this! Page me!”
Channeling grief into giving is a beautiful way to honor someone who has passed away, especially in a time when so many are in dire need of assistance. No doubt having a month’s rent covered will be a nice surprise and at least a slight ease of burden for families in that apartment building.
Well done, Michael Che. Let’s hope your generosity spreads to others who have the means and the heart to share the wealth.
‘SNL’ Star Michael Che’s Grandmother Dies From COVID-19
Previously on the Best and Worst of NXT: Io Shirai became the new number one contender for Charlotte Flair’s NXT Women’s Championship, Ever-Rise fell again, and Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa finally ended their four-year feud with a balls-kicking swerve. Wrestling’s gotta wrestling.
In short, wrestling being declared an essential service during a pandemic because of well-timed political donations and then firing a bunch of its non-employee employees after bragging about turning a profit anyway and having 500 million on hand is the most carny shit of all time. That’s the latest in a seemingly endless series of reasons why it’s hard to watch and support the shows, ESPECIALLY when you can imagine how terrible most of these people feel going out and doing a live show during a plague while their friends and co-workers are still in the process of finding out they’re being let go when they need their jobs the most.
Now that I’ve typed that out, I’m going to assume 30% of the comments section will be “actually” posts from armchair economists and the Corporations Are People Too crowd, skip those completely, and try to write about the wrestling show in the context of the wrestling show. I like and appreciate the wrestlers, even when I don’t, independently of the honestly pretty monstrous corporation in charge of them. But it’s 2020, right? Which one of us DOESN’T work for an evil corporation?
Best: NXT UK
Up first this week is Finn Bálor vs. Fabian Aichner. It’s the pamphlet you read while you wait for your Finn Bálor vs. WALTER novel to arrive. Aichner is solid and occasionally very good, but he’s still just the color-corrected, real-life version of Red and Green from Smackdown vs. Raw. Finn foots him to death, as you’d expect, in the same way he’ll presumably foot-kill Alexander Wolfe and Marcel Barthel while we tread water hoping Finn and WALTER can get to the same place at the same time, stay healthy both in the ring and in the dangerous world outside of it, and hopefully have some fans around to watch it. Honestly, just send Dominick Mysterio out there with some Dvořák and a greatcoat and see what you can get out of it.
Finn returns later in the night to interrupt Velveteen Dream (trying to win the Cat Game from Super Troopers by saying “Adam Cole” in full as many times as possible in one conversation) and tell him to be kerful about attributing “greatest ever” status to NXT Champions. They’ll have a one-on-one match next week — another one you really wish fans could be around for, to make it special — because Adam Cole is dedicated to socially distancing out by the pool and letting his girlfriend’s thriving, self-perpetuating dentistry bring in the household capital.
Best: This Charlotte Flair Video Package
Maybe It’s Over: Xialiyah, The Legend Continues
Xia Li and NXT Lifer Aliyah have been feuding on and off since September of last year, and hopefully this decisive, three-minute win with a finisher for Li ends their Gargano and Ciampa-esque run together. The best these matches ever get is, “not embarrassing,” because bless her heart, Aliyah has been in NXT longer than Iron Mike Sharpe had that cast on his arm.
I’m not a huge Xia Li fan right now either, but she’s got a very clear upside, and it’ll be even more clear when she gets a finisher better than a Trouble in Paradise to the back you have to be in Child’s Pose to take. Wrestlers (read: Aliyah) have GOT to stop selling that like it’s a knockout blow. Being “knocked out” isn’t the only way you should be pinned, you know? Sometimes the idea is that a part of your body is hurt too much for you to kick out. At the very least, a part of your body is hurt so badly you’re in shock or too busy reacting or something to pay attention to the count. If you get knocked out from a kick to the middle of your back you’re either the weakest person in the company, or your opponent’s got super strength and just kicked your spine in half, Mortal Kombat-style.
Just A Setup For Next Week: Kai Another Day
In other women’s division news, the Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai beef has pivoted into a tag team match (player) after Nox defeats Raquel Gonzalez with Shotzi Blackheart running interference on Kai’s interference. Kai tries to cheat, because I guess Shawn Michaels also has to help Diesel win matches now, and Shotzi shows up (sans tank, sadly) to even the odds. Gonzalez falls victim to the Payback counter, is sapped by the Divas Memorial Distraction Roll-Up, and takes the pin. Next week it’ll be Nox and Shotzi (tag team name: SHAX) versus Kai and Gonzalez, for momentum.
Worst: That’s Not An Anaconda Vice
Dexter Lumis squashes Tehuti Miles and wins with the “Anaconda Vice,” which is not the Anaconda Vice. The way Merrin Dahmer over here is doing it, it’s a head and arm choke, like the one Jake Hager’s been doing. This is like when WWE decided any running knee strike was a “Shining Wizard.” If you’re going to put your name next to Hiroyoshi Tenzan’s and CM Punk’s, you need to at least bother to secure the arm and do it right. Watch your tapes, Hannibal Summerisle.
Speaking Of Funny Murderer Names
Killer Kross makes his formal, in-person debut (kind of?) this week by attacking Tommaso Ciampa. He’s now known as KARRION KROSS, which is what Jesus was doing before he was crucified. Kross is working a Ke$ha gimmick, so I’m excited for when his wrestling goes more acoustic and he starts doing covers of country matches.
Note: I am aware that my Kesha jokes are already 11 years old, so if you’re not a dying old person like me, here’s a replacement joke. “Kross crawls over Ciampa’s body and says the words, ‘tick tock,’ setting up their next six months of unnecessarily choreographed, 15-second dance battles.”
Best: KING CUERNO ALERT
Despite taking off his mask and wrestling at live events as “Jorge Bolly,” WWE’s called an audible and wants El Hijo del Fantasma to be — get this — El Hijo del Fantasma. Crazy, right? I’m hoping this brilliantly talented motherfucker with the best consistent dive in wrestling history gets to be more like Andrade and less like the Lucha Dragons, and that he has little to nothing to do with cruiserweights being kidnapped by randos in luchador masks in the Full Sail parking lot. Although I’ll be honest, if it’s revealed Fantasma ordered those abductions so he could kill them, stuff them, and mount them in his trophy room, I’ll lose my shit.
Wish they’d let him keep the more unique mask design, though. WWE likes to homogenize those luchador masks until there’s no actual design, and you can barely tell the dragon guy from the cat guy, or whatever. Global homogenization and assimilation doesn’t do design or individuality any favors, I guess.
Best: The Interim Cruiserweight Championship Tournament Begins
As mentioned:
it’s ridiculous that this tournament’s happening at all, given that Jordan Devlin’s not exactly sitting at home refusing to defend the championship, it’s the goddamn world’s fault, despite how much I like the miniature G1 setup
Drake Maverick was announced for this and then let go almost immediately after, so given his comments about it on social media it’s hard to go into this with anything but cautious discomfort. Although I guess that could be said for almost anything happened on live, “essential” wrestling shows during a global health disaster
With all that understood, yeah, Akira Tozawa vs. Isaiah Scott is a good match. I’m always down for one of these surprise “actually Akira Tozawa’s gonna WIN now” bouts. Tozawa’s one of my very favorites, and one of the worst low key creative crimes of the past several years is signing THAT guy and turning him into an average, relatively personality-free cruiserweight like the rest of them. There’s not a huge difference between Tozawa and most of the people he wrestles aside from the fact that he’s Japanese and barks sometimes, which does a tremendous disservice to him being creatively off the wall and one of the most legitimately entertaining weirdos in wrestling.
Best: Keith Lee Is Adorable And You Should Love Him
Not a lot to say about this video package other than, “to know Keith Lee is to love him,” and possibly, “OH MY GOD LOOK AT KEITH LEE AS A BABY.” My only complaint is that Dominik Dijakovic didn’t crawl up from out of the water in the background and demand another North American title shot.
Best, But Also I Miss Fans: Timothy Thatcher Debuts As NXT Tag Team Champion
Finally this week we have Stallion Matt of the BroserWeights being forced to pick a replacement for Stallion Pete by Stallion Regal and ending up with Stallion Timothy Thatcher. They’re defending the BroserWeights’ Tag Team Championship against Pony Strong and Pony Fish. I think “Pony Strong” is just a stallion, isn’t it? Also, a “Pony Fish” is technically a hippocampus. So it’s two stallions including one substitute stallion against an additional stallion and a sea-horse.
Anyway, (1) Timothy Thatcher is a great replacement for Dunne, as he’s basically what would happen if Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch did the Fusion Dance and dressed up as Drew Gulak, and (2) I love that Pete Dunne’s wearing a WWE 2K19 jacket, and not a WWE 2K20 one. Pete knows what’s up. In case you’re wondering, Kyle O’Reilly didn’t make the show because he has diabetes, and if you’re immunocompromised in any way you should be staying the hell away from people right now.
This was easily the best match of the night and a strong way to debut Thatcher, although like a lot of these situations, it sure would’ve been fun to hear the roar of the people in the crowd who knew the name. Although if that was the case Pete Dunne would just be here? Anyway, Thatcher’s a tremendous addition to the show, and I hope Vince McMahon never sees him, decides he’s boring, and gives him a character where he’s a dorky loser who is boring and sucks. I also hope that when WALTER can finally show up again, Thatcher joins back up with him and helps Finn Bálor and Matt Riddle learn important lessons about mat sacredness.
Best: Top 10 Comments Of The Week
Mr. Bliss
I’m sitting here thinking “Tehuti Miles out here dressing like Dwayne Wayne,” and then Byron says “Loomis looks like he’s from a different world” and now I’m afraid Byron can read my mind but screws it up just like he screws up everything else.
AddMayne
Taylor Swish
I’m waiting for the report that WWE has cut back on catering, so Undisputed Era, Riddle, and a bunch of other guys are sitting in a circle as Asuka cooks them Korean BBQ on a tiny copper grill.
Baron
Byron: Thatcher doesn’t even have a social media account
Seth: Hmmmmmmmmm
Dexter Lumis should just go sit in the stands for the rest of these tapings and stare at Byron.
troi
Marcel Barthel sounds like the name of a snooty cartoon mouse
The Voice of Raisin
It’s the second most unfeeling, coldest, and murderous Thatcher in UK history!
EvilDucky
Keith Lee pouncing Adam Cole into the cheap seats will NEVER not make me laugh
notJames
The way Tozawa’s clutching his head after that running senton, maybe Lawler meant to call it the rammin’ noodle moonsault.
Mac&CheeseMainEvent
*Matt Riddle eyes private jet and nods*
Riddle, to himself: “Hmm. I got to break Pete out of the UK and bring himself back to the states. And there is only one way for me to get there and I’m looking at it—-”
*hand comes down on Matt’s shoulder*
Triple H: “Riddle. Today is not the day.”
Riddle: “I tried, bro.”
That’s it for this week’s Best and Worst of NXT. At least it was better than TakeOver, he said for the first time ever.
As always, make sure to drop down into our comments section and let us know what you thought of the episode, and if you liked or laughed at anything in here, give us a share on social media to help us out. It helps more than you know, especially during all this COVID-19 nightmare where we’re trying to keep freelancers lancing freely writing about almost wrestling shows.
Join us here next week for Jack Gallagher getting taxidermied El Hijo del Fantasma, Drake Maverick vs. Jake Atlas in a match that will make us have a lot of complicated feelings, KUSHIDA vs. Tony Nese, and Dakota Kai and her mom vs. Tegan Nox and her weird friend from school. See you then!
The new Quibi streaming service offers plenty of weird-looking shows that promise to embrace their oddness in a delightful way. Like Dishmantled, which includes host Tituss Burgess’ absolutely giddy reactions to seeing food launched into chefs’ faces. That’s a captivating kind of strange, depending on how your boat floats, and one upcoming show, Dummy (starring Anna Kendrick), looks really out there. Yep, this is the same Anna Kendrick who can win an Oscar nomination while holding her own next to George Clooney (in Up In The Air) and then pop right into the Twilight Saga. This Quibi show, though, looks nuts, and Kendrick executive produced the bite-sized project.
This show comes from the mind of Cody Heller (Deadbeat, Wilfred). According to Deadline, she reportedly found inspiration in her relationship with fiancé Dan Harmon (Rick & Morty, Community). There’s gotta be a lot of layers there, because in this show, Kendrick’s character, Cody, discovers that not only does her boyfriend keep a sex doll in his closet, but it’s a talking sex doll. The doll can rant, yes, through an uncanny-valley form of CGI, and it’s got a sassy personality and a feminist bent.
Will this show go full-on Thelma & Louise? It’s hard to guess, but Cody (a writer suffering from block) freaks out just like everyone else would, but then she and the doll become tight friends (at the suggestion of Cody’s therapist) and take a road trip together. “I have news for you, babe,” the doll tells Anna Kendrick. “We’re all sex dolls until we topple the patriarchy.” Oh boy.
Jason Bateman “stopped by” Jimmy Kimmel Live! where the Ozark actor revealed he was already prepared for our current pandemic thanks to a hand-washing technique he picked up from a certain Leonardo DiCaprio film.
While video-calling from his home office, the already hygienic Bateman joked that not much has changed for him as he’s already very skilled at sprinting the other direction whenever someone sneezes. But he took things a bit further when he revealed to Kimmel that his normal hand-washing routine is based off of DiCaprio’s performance in The Aviator.
“The big one that I incorporated, and I learned this from Mr. Leonardo DiCaprio in the Howard Hughes movie, where he scrapes his hands with his fingernails so that you get the soap underneath the fingernails,” Bateman told Kimmel. “It’s pretty genius.”
As history buffs know, during the final years of his life, Hughes became an intense germophobic recluse as his mental health severely declined, so naturally, Kimmel seemed a bit concerned by this information. “So you are taking your hand-washing tips from an actor who is channeling a lunatic, a recluse? Someone who died insane.” Not missing a beat, Bateman helpfully added that Hughes also had “famously long fingernails” just to make his confession even more strange.
But the interview went elsewhere, and Bateman shared humorous anecdotes about prepping for Easter under quarantine and how he’s struggling with his daughter Maple’s second grade schoolwork thanks to his years being a child actor where education wasn’t exactly a concern. Speaking of Maple, you can see her walking around in the background during the whole interview, so it was only a matter of time until she started knocking on the window and waving at Jimmy.
“I keep her outside,” Bateman joked. “That way there’s more food for me inside the house.
Devs (FX on Hulu) — The finale has arrived with everything coming to a head with Forest and Katie’s machine, and all that confusing quantum physics talk. What will Lily do at headquarters, and will this come down to free will or fate?
The Innocence Files (Netflix) — This docuseries explores eight wrongful conviction cases taken up by the Innocence Project and other organizations that worked against all odds to overturn. All of the stories illuminate difficult truths about the broken U.S. criminal justice system and the families that suffer unimaginable collateral damage.
Desus And Mero: A quarantine edition features illustrious guest Alicia Keys.
Young Sheldon (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) — Sheldon picks a strange place to have a scientific breakthrough, and Dale goes gambling with Meemaw, oh boy.
Katy Keene (CW, 8:00 p.m.) — Alex is attempting to put the Pussycats together again, and it’s about damn time. Oh, and Katy nabs some advice from Gloria.
In The Dark (CW, 9:00 p.m.) — The second season premiere sees the gang dodging Nia’s crosshairs and attempting to save Guiding Hope, all while Murphy’s recovering from that Dean encounter.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (NBC, 8:30 p.m.) — Holt’s looking for help from Jake on a personal-professional matter, while Charles and Terry team up elsewhere.
Man With A Plan (CBS, 8:30 p.m.) — Is Lowell getting back together with his cheating ex? Adam and Don really don’t want this to happen, and Joe’s having unexpected pacemaker side effects that Bev is not enjoying.
Will & Grace (NBC, 9:00 p.m.) — Karen get support from Will and Grace while attempting to humiliate Stanley and Danley Walker. Should go over quite nicely.
Better Things (FX, 10:00 p.m.) — There’s a wolf pack and a flashback, maybe in that order, maybe together, maybe it will be chaos!
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert: Trevor Noah, Christine and the Queens
The Late Late Show With James Corden: Bob Odenkirk, JP Saxe, and Julia Michaels
People’s Party is coming with all the content this week. Not only will Talib Kweli chat with RZA on Instagram for a special live edition of the show on Friday, but he also sat with hip-hop legend Everlast for Monday’s regular episode. In this exclusive preview, Everlast and Kweli reveal and discuss the origins of Everlast’s biggest hit: House Of Pain’s St. Patrick’s Day staple, “Jump Around.”
As it turns out, the reason Everlast and co. threw such a vicious diss to Ruffhouse Records CEO Joe Nicolo at the end of the record is because Nicolo originally tried to sign House Of Pain, but offered them “a ridiculously shitty deal.” “The next thing I know, I get called into the offices of Tommy Boy,” Everlast elaborates. “They’re like, ‘Alright, don’t panic…’ They play a record, and it’s Kriss Kross [“Jump”].” Apparently, Nicolo had heard “Jump Around” before its release and in an effort to circumvent the song’s eventual success, he’d employed Kriss Kross to make the similarly-titled “Jump.” Tommy Boy instead pushed “Jump Around” nationwide, ensuring it’s — ahem — everlasting success as one of hip-hop’s biggest hits ever.
Watch Everlast’s explanation of the song’s origins above.
People’s Party is a weekly interview show hosted by Talib Kweli with big-name guests exploring hip-hop, culture, and politics. Subscribe via Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.
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