Assorted TV news

Started by Jeremy Blackman, December 04, 2016, 03:42:19 PM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Sleepless

He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

polkablues

Sounds good to me.

Also, this is happening:

My house, my rules, my coffee

wilberfan

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2019/06/10/cnn-takes-viewers-to-the-movies-on-sunday-july-7-430210/20190610cnn01

CNN Takes Viewers to "The Movies" on Sunday, July 7

New Six-Part CNN Original Series, Executive Produced by Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog, Features Interviews with Steven Spielberg, Julia Roberts, Ron Howard, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and More

NEW YORK - June 10, 2019 - Emmy Award-winning executive producers Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog bring The Movies to CNN on Sunday, July 7, at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The new six-part CNN Original Series explores American cinema through the decades and the cultural, societal and political shifts that framed its evolution. Combining archival footage and interviews with leading actors, directors, producers, critics and historians, the series showcases the most pivotal moments in film that have stirred the imagination and influenced our culture.

The series features interviews with Paul Thomas Anderson, Alec Baldwin, Ellen Burstyn, Tim Burton, Cameron Crowe, Billy Crystal, Robert De Niro, Jon Favreau, Antoine Fuqua, Morgan Freeman, Bill Hader, Tom Hanks, Amy Heckerling, Ron Howard, Holly Hunter, Angelica Huston, Baz Luhrmann, Julianne Moore, Ed Norton, Rob Reiner, Molly Ringwald, Julia Roberts, Maya Rudolph, Ridley Scott, John Singleton, Steven Spielberg, Sharon Stone, Robert Zemeckis and many more.

The Movies, which follows in the footsteps of CNN's popular Decades series, kicks off with a two-hour episode highlighting the groundbreaking films of the 80s including The Empire Strikes Back, E.T., The Breakfast Club, Back to the Future, Coming to America, When Harry Met Sally and Do The Right Thing.

Following are airdates and episode descriptions for The Movies (all times are Sunday, 9-11 p.m. ET/PT) -

(7/7) The Eighties - The episode explores the crowd-pleasing titles of the 80s such as The Empire Strikes Back, T. and The Breakfast Club.

(7/14) The Nineties - The episode explores movie stars of the 90s like Julia Roberts and Will Smith and beloved films such as Jurassic Park, Titanic and Pulp Fiction.

(7/21) The 2000s To Today - The episode explores popular films of the 2000s such as Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and Moulin Rouge.

(7/28) The Seventies - The episode explores the films of the 70s that pushed the medium of movie-making such as The Godfather, The Exorcist and Jaws.

(8/4) The Sixties - The episode explores the popular films of the 60s such as West Side Story, Bonnie and Clyde, and The Graduate.

(8/11) The Golden Age - The episode explores the most iconic films from the 1930s through the 1950s such as King Kong, Casablanca and A Star is Born.

CNN is producing a six-part companion podcast to The Movies where entertainment experts Lisa France, Sandra Gonzalez and Kristen Meinzer discuss the groundbreaking films of each decade and talk to some of today's biggest movie stars. The podcast will launch Monday, July 8 on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast platforms, with new episodes available weekly.

wilder

I Want My MTV premieres on A&E September 8th. Won't dive deep but still looks damn fun



Quote from: Brian OrndorfTo do the story of Music Television justice, a production would probably need a limited series to even begin to scratch the surface of the entertainment empire. For "I Want My MTV," directors Tyler Measom and Patrick Waldrop give themselves 80 minutes, and they only examine the highs and lows of the 1980s. Business world evils and nostalgia compete for attention in the documentary, which tries to understand how a cable channel initially promoted as "video radio" grew into the top force of pop culture domination during the '80s, working its way from a roster of 250 videos to complete control of a generation. It's a fascinating tale of trial and error, brilliant marketing, and the sheer power of music. Measom and Waldrop don't get anywhere near a satisfying understanding of the MTV experience, but they certainly achieve a compelling overview of technical hurdles and the evolution of a trendsetting media behemoth.

While one might expect the saga of Music Television to begin with the debut of the first video shown on the channel ("Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles), "I Want My MTV" actually commences with a Mike Nesmith interview. The musician was part of the early formation of music videos, with The Monkees building on the success of The Beatles and their movie, "A Hard Day's Night." Taking that experience into the 1970s, Nesmith won accolades with his "Rio" video, inspiring the debut of "PopClips," a program created in 1979 that brought short-form music video filmmaking to the masses. Or at least an audience hungry to see their favorite bands in motion. Warner Cable showed interest in the concept, and while Nesmith bowed out of production responsibilities, the corporation elected to move ahead with a new version of "PopClips," soon called Music Television, or MTV.

Measom and Waldrop attempt to collect as many interviews as possible with key players in the birth of MTV, using anecdotes and memories to best understand how the first staff was gathered, including the initial round of Video Jockeys, with Mark Goodman and Alan Hunter representing the pack in the documentary. A quest for financial support commences and graphic choices are made, with a small amount of cash from Warner Cable and cheap, simplified visuals helping MTV reach its launch date of August 1, 1981, using imagery from the moon landing to announce to the world that a new television innovation has arrived. Trouble is, few cable empires carried MTV, pushing the company to define its appeal through attitude, hoping to reach a young audience, and a small assortment of videos, including a plethora of British artists already used to the challenge of creating music clips.

Of course, talk of MTV's rise is highly enjoyable, tracking their slow growth as American artists slowly caught on to the value of appearing on the channel. Requiring a show of force to spread MTV across the country, the execs came up with the "I Want My MTV!" campaign, enlisting The Police, Pete Townshend, and Pat Benatar to help encourage kids to pester cable providers for Music Television. The scheme worked, helping to turn the channel into a juggernaut, influencing music, movies, and adolescents, with the documentary identifying a few of the artists who became royalty during their time on the air, including Michael Jackson and Madonna. The rise of directorial creativity is also examined, with the helmers highlighting A-Ha's partially animated "Take on Me" as a classic example of artistry mixing with promotion. The buzz of success doesn't last for long, with "I Want My MTV" examining accusations of racism initially fueled by Rick James and gracefully probed by David Bowie, who asked Goodman why black artists weren't featured more often on the channel (Goodman admits he botched his response). Also troubling is the rise of misogyny in video production, with Nancy Wilson of the band Heart sharing her experiences with objectification.

There's a lot to process in "I Want My MTV," and not a lot of run time to allow the production a chance to really work its fingers through the history of the channel. Only short highlights and lowlights remain, and the story ends with MTV's sale to Viacom, who worked extremely hard to remove music from Music Television, creating reality shows instead, including "The Real World." Measom and Waldrop don't have enough energy to really pick a fight with the horrors of MTV as it delved into grody exploitation aimed at impressionable minds. In fact, they celebrate the "16 and Pregnant"-ification of the channel, which is very odd, but "I Want My MTV" isn't exactly journalism. It's meant to be a party filled with memories, old clips, and famous faces discussing the glory days of music videos. With low expectations, the documentary entertains, though this subject deserves a more exhaustive and critical dissection.

WorldForgot

Hell yes!

There's a book that reads like an 'oral history' of this network's creation by the same name . It is a very fun read, and I highly recommend it if, like me, you grew up wanting more music videos than cartoons. Also, I write some of our network/show promos at the network I'm at and -- ' I Want My MTV ' -- iz still considered a gold standard of personality-branding.

wilberfan

I watched "I Want My MTV" a week or so ago, and quite enjoyed it--even tho I've never had cable, and my prime music-consuming years were starting to be behind me.  (My MTV was "Friday Night Videos"--anyone remember that program?)


WorldForgot

Facts, lol. We have that same "that's not the truth, Ellen" face as an emoji react in our work slack.
Not to mention her Susie Bannion.