HOTCHKA Daily News - June 17, 2022

STREAMING NEWS

★Peacock has set August 25 as the premiere of the new Bill Nye series The End is Nye, which sends Bill Nye into the most epic global disasters imaginable - both natural and unnatural - and then demystifies them using science to show how we can survive, mitigate, and even prevent them. Each stand- alone episode takes a hell-bent dive into the mystery and terror of one specific threat. Every catastrophe is abundant with thrills, but also offer hope and a way forward - a scientific blueprint for surviving anything that comes our way. The series is hosted and executive produced by Emmy Award winner and renowned science educator, engineer, author, and inventor Bill Nye. Each episode also features a brief cameo by longtime science advocate and series EP Seth MacFarlane.

★Hulu's Solar Opposites returns Wednesday, July 13 with eleven new episodes. To prepare for the upcoming Solar landing, check out the new catch up video and a first look at season three.

 

TV NEWS

★Britt Robertson joins ABC's new spin-off series The Rookie: Feds in the role of Laura Stensen, the 'black sheep' of a family of brilliant academics and the youngest person ever allowed into the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit. The series stars Niecy Nash-Betts as Simone Clark, the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy, Frankie Faison, who plays Christopher “Cutty” Clark; and Felix Solis, who guest-starred as Special Agent Matthew Garza in the two Rookie episodes, which served as backdoor pilots for The Rookie: Feds.

★Mina Starsiak Hawk and Karen E. Laine are back in a new 14-episode season of HGTV's hit series Good Bones. Mina, a real estate agent and mom of two, and Karen, a lawyer, will continue to buy more dilapidated properties in their hometown of Indianapolis, demo them down to the studs and renovate them into dazzling family homes. This season, Mina will focus on even more ways to expand their home reno business. With the real estate market in flux, Mina and Karen will branch out into new neighborhoods and take on client renovation projects. And, for the first time ever, the pair will tackle a commercial renovation for a fellow female entrepreneur who is moving her bridal shop to a bigger space. In the season premiere, Mina and Karen will return to the popular Fountain Square neighborhood to transform a quaint, yet expensive, cottage-like home. To make a profit, they will need to add plenty of modern amenities and updates without losing the vintage charm.

★HBO comedy series The Rehearsal will debut July 15, and will be available to stream on HBO Max. Nathan Fielder (Nathan For You, HBO's How To with John Wilson) returns to television for a new series that explores the lengths one man will go to reduce the uncertainties of everyday life. With a construction crew, a legion of actors, and seemingly unlimited resources, Fielder allows ordinary people to prepare for life's biggest moments by "rehearsing" them in carefully crafted simulations of his own design. When a single misstep could shatter your entire world, why leave life to chance?

 

 

 

 MOVIE NEWS

★Guy Ritchie, who directed the live action remake of Disney's Aladdin to a $1 billion global box office, will reteam with the House of Mouse for a live action re-do of animated Hercules. The film will be produced by AGBO, the production company run by Avengers: Endgame directors Joe & Anthony Russo.

IN MEMORIAM

★Actor Tyler Sanders, who was a regular on the Amazon Prime Video series Just Add Magic: Mystery City, has died at the age of 18 at his home in Los Angeles. His agent confirmed the news but provided no addition details except to say the death is under investigation. Sanders has appeared in several short films, and guested on TV series JLW Academy, Fear the Walking Dead, The Rookie, Just Add Magic, and most recently on 9-1-1: Lone Star. He's also had roles in films The Reliant and The Price We Pay, which is listed as being in post-production on IMDb.

 

★French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant has died at age 91. Trintignant appeared in more than 130 films during his career and had numerous stage roles. He won the César Award for Best Actor three times for Three Colors: Red, Fiesta and Amour. He won the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor award in 1969 for political thriller Z. Though he had been acting since 1955 in the French TV movie L'assassin a pris le métro, and had roles in such films as Law of the Streets, ...And God Created Woman, and Les liaisons dangereuses, his breakthrough role came in 1969's A Man and a Woman which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Screenplay. He reprised the role of Jean-Louis Duroc in 1975's Hustle, 1986's A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later, 2006's Stranger Than Fiction and 2019's The Best Years of a Life, which is his last completed film. Other notable film credits include The Conformist, The Outside Man, The Last Train, Playing With Fire, The Passengers, Other People's Money, Deep Water, Under Fire, Confidentially Yours, Cover Up, The City of Lost Children, and Happy End.

TRAILERS

Country Queen | Official Trailer | Netflix

For All Mankind S03E02: Game Changer

© Apple TV+

For All Mankind changes things up from the season opener as a new player enters the space race.
by Jeremy Fogelman

The latest episode of For All Mankind is called “Game Changer” and more than one game is changed here. Of course the big storyline is about tech company Helios whose billionaire CEO Dev Ayesa (Edi Gathegi) wants to not only send a ship to Mars but beat the US and Russia to get there. This links to getting things intriguingly reconnected with Karen and Ed again, as Karen is able to sell her Polaris for apparently millions of dollars because Dev admits to having a personal stake in it.

His speech about his dad coming from Kenya and crying at the sight of the USSR landing on the Moon affected him, and the Polaris ship (not so much the station itself as tourist stop) is perfect for the Methane fuel they’re working on. He interestingly mentions the Swahili word for Harambee meaning essentially “all pull together”, no relation to the infamous gorilla, but it does make sense considering the oddly democratic nature of Helios we see later.

The drama gets kicked when Molly picks Ed to be the commander of the Mars mission, with Danielle heading the backup one in 98 -- Molly says that her knowing the science better will serve as the ideal leader after they get there, but Ed is a test pilot at his core, able to deal with the unknowns of space travel. He delightedly invites daughter Kelly to join the mission, and she actually accepts -- although considering how the episode ends, instead of the drama of two family members on a team, it looks more likely we’ll get two family members competing.

Things are moved further a bit with a few other people as we see Senator Ellen with her hubby and beard Larry advising on her VP pick, not McCain as he’s too progressive (which the closeted Ellen would prefer) but a “Jim Bragg” who is more liked by the evangelical set. And almost surprisingly, Bragg agrees to be the VP pick despite Ellen pointing out that there may be times she needs him to support legislation he doesn’t agree with. He even refers to wanting to take the party away from the old white guys -- if you can imagine.

We briefly catch up with Aleida on the Moon who video calls home to her father (who is distracted by a missing watch) and her son (who is distracted by the classic great cartoon DuckTales). But it’s not really the main storyline, which is tied into the Helios mission -- there are also two scenes of Danielle with her family in which they support her going later, and then support her suddenly going sooner.

© Apple TV+

This turnaround is due to Margo showing up and being surprised (in a bad way) by Molly’s choice of Ed. She then proceeds to fire Molly for going against orders (which I would say is a bad look for optics) and tells Ed he’s commanding the mission. He doesn’t take this back and forth well, getting drunk and playing the race card with Danielle at the new Outpost (which we see is now a kitschy place), who is obviously disappointed about Ed commenting about “other factors at play”.

So she quite justifiably storms out, as Ed should’ve known better despite his pain and drunken state. He further embarrasses himself by crashing into Karen’s security gate, who helps him inside under the watchful eye of Danny, who is now a creep. The kid admitted he still loved Karen earlier in the episode, but thankfully Karen does shut it down even if she was foolish enough to ask him about the song choice in the first place.

But the storylines twist together again as we see Ed voted to command the new Helios mission, as we see Margo, Danielle, Molly, and Danny watch the announcement on TV. The only one unambiguously happy is Molly, of course, but it’s a great cliffhanger to set up the now three-way space race.

It’s a pretty great episode, with a focus less on the tense action of the season premiere and more on the classic sort of science and political drama the show is known for. It’s a twist I should’ve seen coming but didn’t -- yet it made enough sense that I was glad to be fooled. A great follow-up for this third season to Mars.

The Boys S03E05: The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies

© Prime Video

The Boys shakes things up as the gang considers a new deadly mission.
by Jeremy Fogelman

The latest episode of The Boys is called “The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies” but I’m for the first time unsure if the episode title is meant to have special meaning. The episode gets into a few interconnected storylines, some of which have relatively interesting satire instead of just the same old jokey parodies.

We see a few scenes of fallout of the last episodes, like Homelander struggling in a board meeting because he doesn’t really know any business things (the theme of being unsure of who you are), which is then later connected to Starlight wanting his help to track down and stop Soldier Boy. When she’s commiserating with Hughie about their messy situation in Russia, the show drops a few “subtle” advertisements to the delicious, cool, crisp cans of White Claw which I found amusing because the show is usually pretty subtle about in-show advertising.

There’s more of the problematic nature of Hughie taking the temporary V, loving the feeling of not being afraid. This comes to a head again in the final moments of the episode, when Starlight tries to get Hughie to come back from his and Butcher’s plan of helping Soldier Boy to murder his former teammates in exchange for the old supe’s help to take out Homelander. The “I don’t need you to save me, I need you” fights against Hughie’s self-esteem issues, and it’s clear that he’s heading down a path that ends in the self-destruction of Butcher -- if he can’t stop.

The big setup to where we end up is Maeve pushing forward the narrative again, actually hooking up with Butcher in a classic sort of hate-hookup situation, with a reiteration of that theme as Butcher points out that the V simply makes him more him -- doesn’t make him worse or better, just more. She only has one of the big cliffhangers of the episode as Homelander and Black Noir attack her, leading us to suspect she may be dead (although I never trust that sort of thing in this show without confirmation).

© Prime Video

The episode really plays on this identity issue through a lot of our villains and heroes alike, including with Kimiko in the hospital who is delighted to not have powers, giving us that classic Karen Fukuhara smile we rarely get in this show. She gets caught in another fantasy in her head and actually kisses Frenchie in an awkward moment -- but is it really what either of them want? After all, Nina is still coming for them.

The jam packed episode also follows up with A-Train as he gets into it with racist supe Blue Hawk, who non-ironically mocks about being “canceled”, says he doesn’t see color, only crime -- which just happens to be in black neighborhoods. This is the sort of satirical touch that feels extremely close to reality, just a step further than politicians would say out loud. Similarly, Homelander proclaiming things to be safe on the Fox News parody when they clearly aren’t doesn’t feel so far from reality either.

The episode drops a semi-major new character called “The Legend” (played by Paul Reiser), in what I call a lot more charitable portrayal than the comics. His shtick is pretty amusing, though, and he plays a pretty important role in the episode to grant knowledge to the heroes. The other cameo (of sorts) is Seth Rogen showing up paying for a fancam of Crimson Countess in a sort of Boys parody of OnlyFans. MM gets more drama at home when he gets infuriated by stepdad Todd taking Janine to a Homelander rally and making her a fan of the dude -- his triggering of the connection to Soldier Boy connects to Soldier Boy’s own PTSD triggering related to that Russian music. Clearly the dude isn’t over his horrific and tortured captivity.

It’s a pretty crowded episode, but I felt one that was a bit more coherent thematically than usual, which wasn’t as funny in general (Paul Reiser aside) but more dramatically entertaining than usual. One of the issues with a show like this is balancing all of the characters and their storylines, but so far this season has been handling that pretty well, and this episode is a good example of that.

HOTCHKA Daily News - June 16, 2022

STREAMING NEWS

★Marvel superhero Wonder Man is the next character heading to the small screen via Disney+. Shang-Chi filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest, producer on Community and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, will serve as head writer and executive producer, respectively. If the project progresses satisfactorily, production should begin in 2023.

★All nine episodes of the new medical drama series SkyMed will debut on Paramount+ Sunday, July 10. SkyMed follows the triumphs, heartbreaks and tribulations of budding nurses and pilots flying air ambulances in remote Northern Canada. Weaving together intense character journeys with high-stakes medical rescues, a diverse cast of young medical responders must rely on each other for survival at 20,000 feet in the air. The series stars Natasha Calis (Nurses) as Hayley, Ace "Aason" Nadjiwon (Batwoman) as Bodie, Morgan Holmstrom (Siberia) as Crystal, Praneet Akilla (Nancy Drew) as Chopper, Thomas Elms (The Order) as Nowak, Mercedes Morris (Between) as Lexi, Kheon Clarke (Riverdale) as Tristan, and Braeden Clarke (Outlander) as Jeremy. SkyMed is produced by Piazza Entertainment in association with CBC and CBS Studios.

TV NEWS

★Season 2 of HBO's drama series Industry will premiere Monday, August 1 at 9:00 PM, and will be available to stream on HBO Max.

★Nickelodeon has ordered new animated pre-school series Super Duper Bunny League. The series (26 episodes) centers on a diverse group of bunny friends who must battle danger as they defend their city and the world from their archnemesis. Super Duper Bunny League is slated to launch 2024 in the U.S. and continue to roll out on Nick Jr. channels internationally. Based on the kids' comic book series by cartoonist Jamie Smart.

★HBO is said to be in the very early stages of developing another Game of Thrones spin-off series, this one centered on Jon Snow, with Kit Harrington attached to reprise the role.

MOVIE NEWS

★Zac Efron is set to star in The Iron Claw, the latest drama from writer-director Sean Durkin. A24 will finance and distribute the film. Based on the true story of the Von Erichs, the film follows the rise and fall of the Von Erich family, a dynasty of wrestlers who made a huge impact on the sport from the 1960s to the present day.

★Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has become the tenth Marvel film to cross the $400 million mark at the domestic box office after 41 days of release. It is currently the second highest grossing film of the year behind Top Gun: Maverick. The film is looking to end its global theatrical run around the $950 million mark, falling short of one billion. The film will launch on Disney+ June 22, 47 days after the theatrical release.

TRAILERS

Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight 🐻🐉 Official Trailer | Netflix After School

 

James May: Our Man In Italy | Official Trailer | Prime Video

 

BLONDE | Official Teaser | Netflix

 

Fanático | Date Announcement | Netflix

 

How to Change Your Mind | Official Trailer | Netflix

 

D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?! | Official Trailer | Netflix

 

Machine Gun Kelly's Life In Pink | Official Trailer | Hulu

ABC Announces Fall Premiere Dates for 2022-2023 Season

© ABC

Return dates have also been set for critically acclaimed comedy breakout Abbott Elementary, and fan favorites Bachelor in Paradise and Grey's Anatomy, which served as ABCs highest-rated program last season.

• Hilary Swank Drama Alaska Daily Joins Station 19 and Grey's Anatomy Thursday Nights, Starting Oct. 6
• New Drama The Rookie: Feds, Starring Niecy Nash-Betts, Set To Debut Tuesday, Sept. 27, Following the Return of Fan-Favorite Reality Series Bachelor in Paradise
• BIP Hits the Beach for a Second Night of Romance on Mondays Beginning Oct. 3, Followed by the Return of The Good Doctor
• Star-Studded Celebrity Jeopardy! Debuts Alongside the Return of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and The Rookie on Sunday, Sept. 25; AFV Returns the Following Week, Sunday, Oct. 2
• Breakout Hit Abbott Elementary Is Back in Session as Wednesdays Comedy Block Returns Sept. 21, With The Conners, The Goldbergs and Home Economics; Reba McEntire and Jensen Ackles Join Big Sky on Its New Night, Capping Off the Evening
• Shark Tank Dives Back Into Business on Friday, Sept. 23, With Its First-Ever Live Episode, Followed by ABC News 20/20 Season Premiere

Following its third consecutive win as the season's No. 1 entertainment network among Adults 18-49, winning six of the last eight seasons based on entertainment programming, ABC has set Fall premiere dates for its new and returning series for the upcoming 2022-2023 season, including new female-led dramas Alaska Daily (formerly known as Alaska) and The Rookie: Feds as well as the newest primetime game show Celebrity Jeopardy! Return dates have also been set for critically acclaimed comedy breakout Abbott Elementary, and fan favorites Bachelor in Paradise and Grey's Anatomy, which served as ABCs highest-rated program last season.

Summer may have ended, but romance awaits as Bachelor in Paradise turns up the heat on TUESDAY, SEPT. 27 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EDT), followed by the debut of The Rookie spinoff series, The Rookie: Feds, starring Niecy Nash-Betts (10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT). The search for love continues as BIP begins its two-night weekly run on MONDAY, OCT. 3 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EDT), preceding the return of hit drama The Good Doctor, which hits 100 episodes this season.

ABCs No. 1 comedy last season in Adults 18-49, Quinta Brunson-helmed Abbott Elementary, returns on its new night, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21 (9:00-9:31 p.m. EDT), joining network comedy staples The Conners (8:00-8:30 p.m. EDT), The Goldbergs (8:30-9:00 p.m. EDT) and Home Economics (9:31-10:00 p.m. EDT) for a laugh-filled evening. Then, Reba McEntire and Jensen Ackles step into the world of Big Sky on its new night, bringing with them a new mystery to unravel as the mercurial matriarch of an established local family and the new sheriff in town, respectively.

Alaska Daily (10:01-11:00 p.m. EDT), from Oscar-winning writer Tom McCarthy (Spotlight) and starring two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank, joins Station 19 (8:00-9:00 p.m. EDT) and TVs longest-running primetime medical drama, Grey's Anatomy (9:00-10:01 p.m. EDT), on THURSDAY, OCT. 6.

Sundays on ABC are synonymous with family fun as Hollywood stars test their knowledge with the ultimate game of trivia on Celebrity Jeopardy! (8:00-9:00 p.m. EDT), debuting SEPT. 25, and followed by the return of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (9:00-10:00 p.m. EDT). The evening culminates with The Rookie (10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT), and AFV joins the Sunday lineup on OCT. 2 (7:00-8:00 p.m. EDT).

The first-ever live episode of Shark Tank, featuring all six original Sharks, swims into the weekend FRIDAY, SEPT. 23 (8:00-9:01 p.m. EDT). A new season of ABC News 20/20 (9:01-11:00 p.m. EDT) follows.

Additional premiere dates for the 2022-2023 season will be announced at a later date.

ABCS FALL PRIMETIME SCHEDULE (all times listed are Eastern/Pacific) follows below. New shows are in bold.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21

• 8:00 p.m. The Conners
• 8:30 p.m. The Goldbergs
• 9:00 p.m. Abbott Elementary (new night)
• 9:31 p.m. Home Economics
• 10:00 p.m. Big Sky (new night)

FRIDAY, SEPT. 23

• 8:00 p.m. Shark Tank
• 9:01 p.m. 20/20 (two hours)

SUNDAY, SEPT. 25

• 8:00 p.m. Celebrity Jeopardy!
• 9:00 p.m. Celebrity Wheel of Fortune
• 10:00 p.m. The Rookie

TUESDAY, SEPT. 27

• 8:00 p.m. Bachelor in Paradise
• 10:00 p.m. The Rookie: Feds

SUNDAY, OCT. 2

• 7:00 p.m. Americas Funniest Home Videos

MONDAY, OCT. 3

• 8:00 p.m. Bachelor in Paradise
• 10:00 p.m. The Good Doctor

THURSDAY, OCT. 6

• 8:00 p.m. Station 19
• 9:00 p.m. Greys Anatomy
• 10:01 p.m. Alaska Daily

NEW FALL SERIES

ALASKA DAILY (Thursday, Oct. 6, at 10:01 p.m. EDT)

From the mind of Tom McCarthy (Spotlight), Alaska Daily stars Hilary Swank as Eileen Fitzgerald, a recently disgraced reporter who leaves her high-profile New York life behind to join a daily metro newspaper in Anchorage on a journey to find both personal and professional redemption.

Alongside Swank, Alaska Daily stars Jeff Perry as Stanley Cornik, Matt Malloy as Bob Young, Meredith Holzman as Claire Muncy, Grace Dove as Rosalind Roz Friendly, Pablo Castelblanco as Gabriel Martin, Ami Park as Jieun Park and Craig Frank as Austin Greene.

CELEBRITY JEOPARDY! (Sunday, Sept. 25, at 8:00 p.m. EDT)

Celebrity Jeopardy!, produced by Sony Pictures Television, is an all-new game show premiering this fall. This new series welcomes celebrity contestants to compete for a chance to win money for a charity of their choice.

THE ROOKIE: FEDS (Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 10:00 p.m. EDT)

From the executive producers of flagship series The Rookie comes The Rookie: Feds, starring Niecy Nash-Betts as Simone Clark, the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy. The spinoff was introduced as a two-part event during the fourth season of The Rookie, where Officer John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and the LA division of the FBI enlist the help of Simone Clark when one of her former students is a suspect in a terror attack.

The Rookie: Feds stars Niecy Nash-Betts as Simone Clark, Frankie Faison as Christopher Cutty Clark and Felix Solis as Special Agent Matthew Garza.

HOTCHKA Daily News - June 15, 2022

STREAMING NEWS

★Apple TV+ has renewed sports drama Swagger for a second season. The show is inspired by NBA star Kevin Durant’s experiences as a kid.

★Cobra Kai star Peyton List will headline a new eight-episode drama sereis for Paramount+, School Spirits, based on the upcoming graphic novel by Nate and Megan Trinrud and Maria Nguyen. The series revolves around a teen (List) who is stuck in the afterlife who decides to investigate her mysterious disappearance alongside a group of other students who are also stuck in limbo at their high school.

★Billy Crystal will reteam with Analyze That producer Barry Levinson on the Apple TV+ limited series Before. Crystal will play a child psychiatrist who recently lost his wife when he encounters a troubled young boy.

★Jerry Sienfeld's Netflix comedy Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story has added Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Amy Schumer, Hugh Grant, James Marsden, Jack McBrayer, Tom Lennon, Adrian Martinez, Bobby Moynihan, Max Greenfield, Christian Slater and Sarah Cooper to the cast. Set in 1963 Michigan the film details the battle between rivals Kellogg's and Post to create a pastry that would change the face of breakfast forever.

TV NEWS

★Crank Yankers returns to Comedy Central for a 7th season Wednesday, July 7 at 8:00 PM with back-to-back episodes.

★Garret Dillahunt will be joining Starz's crime drama Hightown in a recurring role in Season 3.

MOVIE NEWS

★Focus Features has set a limited release for Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies on December 2, 2022 in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, expanding wider on December 16. The film is based on Michael Ausiello’s best-selling memoir, and stars Jim Parsons, Ben Aldridge, Sally Field. Antoni Porowski, Nikki M. James, Jeffery Self, and Bill Irwin.

★Lionsgate's Dirty Dancing sequel starring Jennifer Grey has been dated for a February 9, 2024 theatrical release. The studio's adaptation of Judy Blume's Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is shifting to April 28, 2023 from September 16 of this year.

STAGE NEWS

★Beanie Feldstein & Jane Lynch will depart Broadway's Funny Girl revival on September 25. Feldstein returns to the show Friday after a week off following a positive COVID test. No replacements have been announced, but producers would be wise to stick with Feldstein's understudy Julie Benko, who has been earning rave reviews while she's been filling in for the star.

TRAILERS

Tulsa King | Teaser | Paramount+

 

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin | Official Teaser | HBO Max

 

Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical | Official Teaser | Netflix

 

Supreme Team (2022) Official Trailer | SHOWTIME Documentary Series

 

Maggie | Official Trailer | Hulu

 

Tuca & Bertie | Season 3 OFFICIAL TRAILER | adult swim

HOTCHKA Daily News - June 14, 2022

STREAMING NEWS

★The second season of the HBO Max reality dating series FBoy Island will premiere Thursday, July 14 with three episodes. Three more episodes will drop the following week, with two episodes the week after that, and the final two episodes the following week. Nikki Glaser returns to host.

★The Roku Channel has renewed animated series Doomlands for a second season consisting of ten 15-minute episodes.

★The eighth season of Love Island UK will premiere in the US on Hulu Tuesday, June 21. New episodes stream daily through Saturday, with 'Unseen Bits', and the weekly recap 'Aftersun' also streaming on Saturdays. The Season 8 finale will stream August 16th with a reunion special to follow on a date TBA.

★Netflix is turning the hit Korean drama Squid Game into a competition series. 456 players will compete -- we assume they will not be killed off -- for the largest cast prize ever for a reality competition series: $4.56 million. Casting is now underway.

© Netflix

★Netflix has renewed Korean creature drama Sweet Home for a second and third season, which will be produced back-to-back.

TV NEWS

★The Wendy Williams Show will officially end its 13 year run earlier than originally planned, with the finale set for this Friday, June 17. Wendy will not be present but there will be a tribute video montage.

MOVIE NEWS

★Crazy Rich Asians and Superstore actor Nico Santos has been announced as a cast member of the recently completed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Others who have been announced since filming ended are Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) and Daniela Melchior (The Suicide Squad).

★Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero from Crunchyroll and Toei Animation will be released in the North America on August 19, and in international markets in August and September.

TRAILERS

The OFFICIAL Trailer for The Challenge: USA 🇺🇸

 

Seal Promo | Shark Week 2022

 

Cristela Alonzo: Middle Classy | Official Trailer | Netflix

 

The Fallen | Official Trailer (HD) | Premieres June 30 on ALLBLK

HOTCHKA Daily News - June 13, 2022

STREAMING NEWS

★Hulu has revealed the fifth season of The Handmaid's Tale will debut September 14 with two episodes.

★The Flash alum Carlos Valdes will star with Mae Whitman in Hulu's musical romantic comedy series Up Here. Set in the waning days of 1999, the series follows the extraordinary story of one ordinary couple, Lindsay and Miguel, as they fall in love and discover that the single greatest obstacle to finding happiness together might just be themselves – and the treacherous world of memories, obsessions, fears, and fantasies that lives inside their heads.

© Netflix

★Rian Johnson has revealed the title of the first Knives Out sequel for Netflix -- The Glass Onion, which will drop this holiday season. Daniel Craig will reprise the role of Benoit Blanc, with new cast members Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick and Madelyn Cline.

★HBO Max has renewed Starstruck for a third season.

© HBOMax Latin America

★HBO Max Latin America has ordered an original Dark Knight animated feature, Batman Azteca: Choque de Imperios (Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires) from Warner Bros. Animation and DC in partnership with Anima and Chatrone.

TV NEWS

© The CW

★Joseph Morgan confirmed via his Instagram account that he will be reprising the role of Klaus Mikaelson in what is now the series finale of The CW's Legacies on June 16.

★Julia Duffy and Mindy Cohn have joined the recurring cast of Apple TV+ comedy series Mrs. American Pie, with Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Carol Burnett, Ricky Martin, Amber Chardae Robinson, Allison Janney, and Leslie Bibb.

★Michelle Yeoh and Justin Chien will star in the Netflix series The Brothers Sun, which is set in the world of Taipei gangsters, and comes from American Horror Story co-creator Brad Falchuk and Byron Wu.

© Pluto TV

★PlutoTV has launched a free 24-hour streaming channel dedicated to all things Transformers. Content on Transformers TV includes such fan favorites as Transformers: Bumblebee Cyberverse Adventures, Transformers: Prime and Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

★Former Supergirl star Mehcad Brooks is flying to NBC's Law & Order for its 22nd season, filling the void left by Anthony Anderson who had signed for a single season.

★Hallmark Channel has greenlit the new rodeo-themed drama Ride, a new series that will debut in 2023.

MOVIE NEWS

★In a sure sign that movie-going has shaken off the effects of the pandemic, Jurassic World Dominion scored the best non-superhero opening of the pandemic era with $145 million domestically. It's the third best opening of a Jurassic movie behind the first two Jurassic World movies. Globally, the film has earned $389 million.

© Sony Pictures Animation

★The filmmakers behind the animated sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse revealed a new villain at the animation festival Annecy -- The Spot, voiced by Jason Schwartzman, whose spots on his body can send him into any dimension he wants. The film will hit theaters on June 2, 2023, followed by Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse on March 29, 2024.

★A third Paddington movie is in the works, and it now has a title: Paddington in Peru. The film will be directed by Dougal Wilson, taking over for Paul King who exited the project to focus on the Wonka prequel film with Timothée Chalamet.

STAGE NEWS

★Jennifer Hudson has joined the elite group of award winners known as EGOTs following the 75th Annual Tony Awards. Hudson won a Tony for her producing role on A Strange Loop, which was named Best Musical. She is now just the 17th person to win the Emmy (as producer on the animated Baba Yaga), Grammy (two, The Color Purple cast album and her self-titled 2009 album), Oscar (Supporting Actress, Dreamgirls) and the Tony.

IN MEMORIAM

★Actor Philip Baker Hall has died at the age of 90. Hall's five decade career featured many memorable film and TV roles, but he may be best known to fans of Seinfeld for his first of two appearances as Lt. Bookman, the library detective who tracked Jerry down for not returning a book checked out in 1971. He made a return appearance for the series finale. Hall also had a memorable role on Curb Your Enthusiasm as Larry David’s ultraserious Dr. Morrison in a pair of episodes. Hall's breakout role came in Paul Thomas Anderson's debut Hard Eight, and appeared in two more Anderson films -- Boogie Nights and Magnolia. Other film credits include his uncredited debut in Zabriskie Point (1970), Coma (uncredited), The Man with Bogart's Face, Three O'Clock High, Midnight Run, Say Anything, Ghostbusters II, An Innocent Man, Eye for an Eye, The Rock, Air Force One, Buddy, The Truman Show, Rush Hour, Enemy of the State, Psycho (1998), The Contender, The Sum of All Fears, Die, Mommie, Die!, The Amityville Horror (2005), The Zodiac, The Shaggy Dog (2006), Zodiac, The Lodger, The Chicago 8, Mr. Popper's Penguins, 50/50, People Like Us, Argo (uncredited) and The Last Word. TV movies include The Last Survivors, Mayday at 40,000 Feet, The Hostage Heart, Kill Me If You Can, Terror Out of the Sky, Samurai, The Night the Bridge Fell Down, This House Possessed, Goddess of Love, Incident at Dark River, Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232, Stormy Weather, M.A.N.T.I.S., Roswell, Without Warning, Witness to the Mob, Partners, Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, Path to War, Mrs. Harris, and Clear History. Hall appeared on several TV series as guests and regulars including Good Times, Man From Atlantis, M*A*S*H, Emergency, The Waltons, It's a Living, Quincy M.E., T.J. Hooker, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Benson, Hardcastle and McCormick, Mariah, Miami Vice, Family Ties, Falcon Crest, Matlock, Bagdad Cafe, Murder, She Wrote, L.A. Law, Nurses, Civil Wars, Cheers, Empty Nest, Madman of the People, Chicago Hope, The John Larroquette Show, 3rd Rock from the Sun, The Practice, Millennium, Michael Hayes, The Fugitive (2000), Pasadena, Night Visions, Everwood, Monk, Boston Legal, The West Wing, The Loop, Big Love, Psych, Worst Week, Warren the Ape, Modern Family, The Newsroom, Childrens Hospital, Ruth & Erica, Madam Secretary, BoJack Horseman, Second Chance, Room 104 and Messiah. Hall also appeared in the Amiee Mann music video 'Save Me'.

★Fashion illustrator and costume designer May Routh died June 1 at the age of 87. Routh's iconic looks include costumes for films such as The Man Who Fell to Earth (her first credited film), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, My Favorite Year, Ghost Story, Being There, Splash, Newsies, Ronin and Reindeer Games. On TV she contributed to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Blood River, Love, Honor & Obey: The Last Mafia Marriage, Roswell, Andersonville, A Face To Die For, George Wallace, Pirates of Silicon Valley and Helter Skelter. Routh earned Emmy nominations for her work on Andersonville and Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter (1991).

★Billy Kametz, a popular voice actor in anime and video games, died June 9 from colon cancer at the age of 35. Kametz provided voice work for more than 100 projects, including American dubbing for Neon Genesis Evangelion, Konosuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!, Osomatsu-san, Re: Zero, Starting Life in Another World, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, A.I.C.O. Incarnation, Fugitiva, Record of Grancrest War, Sword Gai: The Animation, Sirius the Jaeger, Back Street Girls, Cells at Work!, Mecard, Beyblade Burst, The Rising of the Shield Hero, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts, Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san, The Bonfire of Destiny, High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World!, Gundam Build Divers Re: Rise, Vinland Saga, The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.: Reawakened, Cagaster of an Insect Cage, Isekai Quartet, Dorohedoro, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Baki, Pokémon Journeys: The Series, Japan Sinks: 2020, Bungou to Alchemist: Shinpan no Haguruma, Aggretsuko, The Idhun Chronicles, Ikebukuro West Gate Park, High-Rise Invasion, Beastars, The Way of the Househusband, Welcome to Demon-School, Iruma-kun, The Seven Deadly Sins, Pokémon, Attack on Titan. He also guested on The Owl House, and provided the voice of Patrick in the animated Resident Evil series. His video game work includes Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff, Marvel Avengers Academy, Epic Seven, Pokémon Masters, The Outer Worlds, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games: Tokyo 2020, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise, Wasteland 3, and Black Desert: Eternal Winter. Pennsylvania native Kametz got his break with Disney as part of the entertainment staff on the cruise line, and moved to California when he was offered the role of Aladdin in Disneyland’s Musical Spectacular. He had announced a break from work earlier this year to return home to Hershey following his cancer diagnosis. He won the Best Voice Actor Performance (ENG) at the 4th Crunchyroll Anime Awards for the role of Naofumi Iwatani in The Rising of the Shield Hero in 2019.

TRAILERS

Rap Sh!t | Official Teaser | HBO Max

 

America The Beautiful | Official Trailer | Disney+

 

The Sessions - Official Trailer | Prime Video

 

Boo, Bitch | Official Trailer | Netflix

 

Team Zenko Go Season 2 Trailer | Netflix Jr

 

First Class | Official Trailer | Netflix

 

The Future Of | Official Trailer | Netflix

 

Sins of the Father Trailer | Official Trailer | A Tubi Original

 

All Star Shore | Official Trailer | Paramount+

Hallmark Announces Three New 'Christmas In July' Movies

Crown Media Family Networks announces an early kickoff to its annual "Christmas in July" programming event on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, with holiday themed movies airing 'round the clock beginning Friday, June 24th at 6:00 a.m. ET/PT through Thursday, June 30th.

The candy cane is passed to Hallmark Channel on July 1st for daily movie merry-thons continuing through July 31, including three all-new original premieres. The first weekend features a marathon of fan favorites as voted on by viewers participating in new, weekly polls launching every Monday on the Hallmark Movie Checklist app through June 19.

During the event, viewers will be able to retreat from the hot summer sun and transport themselves to the snowy scenes of holiday movies from 10 a.m. - Midnight every day. Additionally, Hallmark Channel is gifting fans with three all-new original movie premieres with "My Grown-Up Christmas List," "Campfire Christmas," the network's first holiday movie featuring a Christmas in July theme, and "Christmas in Toyland."

Saturday, July 9: "My Grown-Up Christmas List"

• Stars: Kayla Wallace ("When Calls the Heart"), Kevin McGarry ("The Wedding Veil")
• Taylor (Wallace), a journalist, and Luke (McGarry), in the military, share a special bond that grows between them over the course of five Christmases that they spend together and apart.

Saturday, July 16: "Campfire Christmas"

• Stars: Tori Anderson ("NCIS: Hawai'i"), Corbin Bleu ("Love, for Real"), Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman ("Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.")
• Romance rekindles for Peyton (Anderson) and her closest friends when her parents decide to host a holiday themed reunion before selling their family-owned summer camp.

Saturday, July 23: "Christmas in Toyland"

• Stars: Vanessa Lengies ("Turner & Hooch"), Jesse Hutch ("Batwoman")
• To save hundreds of jobs right before Christmas, a data analyst (Lengies) and toy store manager (Hutch) must work together to keep the in-store experience alive

HOTCHKA Daily News - June 10, 2022

STREAMING NEWS

★Uma Thurman and Henry Golding will join the cast of The Old Guard 2 for Netflix. First film stars Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Veronica Ngo and Chiwetel Ejiofor are slated to return.

© AppleTV+

★AppleTV+ has renewed musical comedy series Schmigadoon! for a second season. Cecily Strong, Keegan-Michael Key, Academy Award-winner Ariana DeBose, Dove Cameron, Jaime Camil, Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Ariana DeBose, Ann Harada, Jane Krakowski, Martin Short and Aaron Tveit are set to return, with Tituss Burgess and Patrick Page joining the cast.

★Peacock's 'faith vs technology' dramatic series Mrs. Davis, starring Betty Gilpin and Jake McDorman, has added Margo Martindale, Andy McQueen & Ben Chaplin to the cast.

© HBO Max

★HBO Max has cancelled dark romantic series Made For Love after two seasons.

TV NEWS

★Anne Heche is set to star in Girl in Room 13 for Lifetime. Inspired by actual events, Girl in Room 13 examines the story of Grace (Larissa Dias), who was addicted to opioids after her doctor prescribed them for a sports injury at a very young age and after three stints in rehab, she is finally ready to turn her life around. Under the watchful eye of her mother, Janie (Heche), Grace takes on a job at her family’s restaurant. But her past will not let her go and when her friend coerces her into meeting her former love interest and drug dealer, Richie (Max Montesi), she finds herself imprisoned in a hotel room with no way out, held captive and repeatedly violated so she becomes compliant to be sold into human trafficking. Heche will play Grace's mother Janie.

★Gabriela Quezada, originally set for a recurring role, has been upped to a series regular ahead of the series premiere of The CW's Walker Independence.

© Paramount Network

★Paramount Network has announced more casting for the fifth season of Yellowstone. Josh Lucas will return to the series for the first time since 2019, along with Kylie Rogers and Kyle Red Silversteing, who last appeared in 2020. Jacki Weaver, introduced in Season 4, will also return. New recurring cast members will include Kai Caster, Lainey Wilson, Lilli Kay and Dawn Oliveri. Additionally, Mo Brings Plenty and Wendy Moniz, recurring cast members since the series premiered, have been promoted to series regulars.

MOVIE NEWS

© A24

★Everything Everywhere All At Once, still in theaters, has become A24's highest grossing film at the global box office with $80.9 million, surpassing the company's Hereditary at $80.2 million.

★Legendary Entertainment is developing a feature film based on the video game Duke Nukem with Cobra Kai creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg among the producers.

TRAILERS

Dragon Age: Absolution | Official Teaser | Netflix

 

Castlevania: Nocturne | Announcement | Netflix

 

Sonic Prime | First Look | Big the Cat & Froggy | Netflix After School

 

THE CUPHEAD SHOW! New Episodes | Official Teaser | Netflix

For All Mankind S03E01: Polaris

© AppleTV+

For All Mankind kicks off its third season with a reminder that’s it one of the best sci-fi shows on TV.
by Jeremy Fogelman

As we start Season 3 of For All Mankind with the premiere episode of “Polaris”, the show once again shows us a jam-packed little montage of the ten years since the end of Season 2. Of particular note are Gary Hart actually winning the election in 1984, maybe because it was too early for the sex scandal that made him drop out. We also see things like a lunar peace treaty, a booming Soviet economy, breakthroughs in nuclear fusion technology, a Beatles reunion tour, the US planning a mission to Mars in 1996, a now Senator Karen running against Clinton for President, and blink and you’ll miss it, North Korea switching from nuke research to space research.

© AppleTV+

That little detail will make all the difference in this episode. We join many of our old friends on the new space tourism station Polaris, run by Karen and her now husband Sam (Tracy’s ex, the really rich dude). The big event we’re there to see is new astronaut Danny Stevens (son of Gordo and Tracy, of course) getting married so everyone’s coming.

Ed comes with his new wife Yvonne, and Danielle with her new husband and stepson -- one of those relationships doesn’t survive the episode, of course. Back on Earth, Margo is still running NASA and trying Mars rocket tests with Aleida as the engineer, but she’s also casually going to dinner at Aleida’s home with her family. And more problematically, still an unrealizing asset for Sergei and the KGB.

Molly (now visually impaired with a guide dog) argues with Margo about who should lead the Mars mission between Ed and Danielle. Margo argues that Ed is on the older side and is more impulsive, while Danielle is the more cautious, scientifically capable. While Molly argues that’s precisely the reason he’s a better fit to get a ship there, while Danielle is better suited to running things once they’re already there.

© AppleTV+

It’s an interesting debate, but the big drama of the episode happens in two parts: One is Karen realizing that Danny is dancing in his “first wedding dance” to their song from ten years ago, and the other is that the station is hit by a piece of North Korean debris. Suddenly one of the rockets can’t be turned off and is going full speed, which means that the station will keep increasing in speed (while spinning) until the gravitational forces are so high that the station will simply rip itself apart.

The captain of the station tells us it’s 4Gs (or so) so we have a limit to consider and a ticking time bomb. The episode doesn’t skimp on the deaths though, losing two astronauts almost immediately and Sam later when the elevator crashes due to the elevated gravity. But son of heroes Danny does his own heroic deed and manages to save everyone -- and doesn’t die either, miracle of miracles (I though that would’ve been cheap if they did that).

We also get some interesting connections back to the Ed/Danielle debate, as Danielle is one of the guests first to notice something to wrong, seeing the wedding cake beginning to sink and feeling off, while Ed argues with his wife and injures his leg or knee. And that means he can’t be the self-sacrificing hero type this time, despite his best efforts. A good way to show the capabilities and differences between the two of them.

Although it is a “ticking clock” episode it’s a pretty compelling one, showing us glimpses of all our pals ten years gone by, and it’s a very tense, action-packed episode to get through. A great opener to season three, I think, and a good omen for the extreme 90s season of For All Mankind.