300,000 dead by December. Yeah, despite what you might have heard from some idiot, this isn’t just going to “go away” anytime soon.

Welcome to Friday!

To start off your weekend, here’s a dramatic video of a sea otter hiding from a very hungry orca on a boat. Stick around for the last few seconds of the video — it’s worth it:

In shitty news, we’ve surpassed 160,000 American deaths from this fucking virus, and the University of Washington model — the one that the White House uses and has so far proven fairly conservative with its predictions — is now saying that we’ll have 300,000 dead by December.

300,000 dead. That is 100 9/11s, or 75,000 Benghazis for those who measure things in such metrics.

a.p. bio no disbelief disappointment what

And this is super cool: Dr. Fauci’s family is being threatened because dipshits in power decided to politicize this fucking virus.

Additionally, now Fauci doesn’t feel comfortable answering questions about the relative safety of mail-in voting lest he be turned into a soundbite that could make it seem like he’s speaking out against President Contagion. EVERYTHING IS SUPER GREAT AND FINE AND I’M NOT SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS RIGHT NOW.

Meanwhile, the Georgia student who was suspended for posting that picture of her high school, attributed John Lewis’ “good trouble” for inspiring her actions. God bless.

The principal explained that mask-wearing was a “personal choice,” and millions of high schoolers and former high schoolers everywhere were like, “OH. SO NOW HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPALS HAVE COME AROUND TO THE CONCEPT OF ‘PERSONAL CHOICE’? INTERESTING.”

The Tribeca Film Festival has pushed its 2021 dates back. And Sundance has pushed its dates back a week and shortened the festival by three days.

The State Department put out a travel advisory to Americans traveling to New Zealand because they have ~checks news~ 23 positive cases of COVID-19. BITCH, MY STREET HAS 23 CASES OF COVID-19. Also, New Zealand isn’t exactly allowing any Americans cross its border anytime soon, so really this is all hilariously meaningless.

Hey, that Friends reunion y’all are so excited about has been pushed back again because some dumbasses refuse to WEAR A MASK.

Fox Corp’s non-production staff will continue working from home through the end of the year. This, despite the Fox News talking heads downplaying the virus. Cooooooooool.

Fox’s new singing competition, I Can See Your Voice, has resumed filming.

When The Good Doctor returns, it’ll have a COVID-19 storyline. Of course, that will require filming to resume, which it has not as of right now.

Oh, this is interesting: the Real Housewives of New York City reunion was held in person — the first in-person Housewives reunion since the pandemic began.

ITV’s I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! has moved from the Australian jungle to a castle in the United Kingdom thanks to travel restrictions.

All Other TV News

Thighland.

The creator of Lovecraft Country, Misha Green, has some very interesting thoughts about the horror genre and Black storytelling. (I know I keep saying it, but I’m really excited for this series.)

I never thought horror was limiting. Every time people talk about “elevated horror,” I ask, “What’s the problem with the ‘not elevated’ horror?” I love slasher films like “Nightmare on Elm Street.” But when I really started to think about this genre, I wondered, “Why don’t they have Black people, or why do the Black people have to die in the first 10 minutes?” So when I read Matt’s book, I thought he beautifully reclaimed this genre space that hadn’t been for people of color.

That’s what I pitched to HBO. We can launch off the platform of his book, reclaim the reclamation, and make a television show for people of color. In that respect, the show isn’t just horror but really an all genres space. When we were in the writers’ room, we would have our syllabus for each episode. For secret societies, we thought of “The Shining” and “Eyes Wide Shut.” Or a ghost story: “Poltergeist” and “Amityville Horror.” Or adventure: “Indiana Jones” and “The Goonies.” I was like, “This can be all of it.”

But at the end of the day, it’s just a family drama, and we want to love the characters and what they’re going through. What’s so exciting is to see people of color, who don’t typically get to be in those genre spaces, in these spaces now.

Related, here’s a good primer on H.P. Lovecraft, his mythos and influence (and his racism).

Dude, This Is Us‘ Justin Hartley told his wife he’d filed for divorce via text. Not cool.

The Shudder movie Host was inspired by this Zoom prank the filmmaker played on his friends back in April:

The Host trailer if you haven’t seen it:

If you’re looking for a little bit of joy, watch this video of Cheer‘s Jerry being “mat talked” by his idol, Gabrielle Union. HEART: FULL.

Renewals

In Development

  • A League of Their Own, the series, is coming to Amazon.
  • American Song Contest, a singing competition modeled on Eurovision Song Contest, is in the works.
  • The Pack, a dog adventure competition series hosted by Lindsey Vonn, has been greenlit at Amazon.
  • Stay Tuned, a series based on the 1992 movie, is being developed at AMC. Below is a trailer for the movie which I have NO MEMORY OF WHATSOEVER, but it is TV-based, so relevant to this blog:

Casting News

Mark Your Calendar

  • The Undoing will debut on HBO on October 25.
  • The Third Day will premiere on HBO on September 15. It looks spooky.
  • Your Honor will debut on Showtime soon.
  • Pen15 returns on Hulu on September 18.
  • Hoops will debut on Netflix on August 21.
  • Woke debuts on Hulu on September 9.
  • Antebellum will now debut on VOD on September 18.

  • 100 Days Wild will air on Discovery on August 21.
  • Small Axe: Mangrove will premiere on Amazon sometime later in 2020.
  • Aggretsuko will return on Netflix on August
  • Fox released a promo for their fall shows:

R.I.P.

Brent Carver, Tony-award-winning actor

Wayne Fontana, Singer

WATCH THIS

FRIDAY

Pan y Circo: Diego Luna hosts conversations with politicians, activists, and celebrities about a number of topics including gender violence; climate change; decriminalization of abortion; racism and identity; drug legalization; immigration; and COVID-19. Series premiere. Amazon

Being Reuben: Reuben de Maid is one of the biggest make-up vloggers in the world and he’s only 14. This new series takes a look at his family and life. Series premiere. 8 p.m., The CW

Tiny Creatures: Cute animals because God knows we need some right now. Premiere. Netflix

SATURDAY

Richard Jewell: Clint Eastwood directed this movie based on the man who was falsely accused of planting a bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic park. It received decent reviews, though there was an outcry for its depiction of Atlanta Journal-Constitution journalist Kathy Scruggs as a woman who would trade sex for stories, so that’s gross. 7 p.m., HBO

Modern Times: Charlie Chaplin’s classic film is the last time he portrayed The Little Tramp. In it, The Little Tramp tries to survive an industrialized world in the middle of the Great Depression. No reason. 8:45 p.m., TCM

Edge of Tomorrow: In one of Tom Cruise’s best roles, he plays a soldier who is forced to live the last day of his life over and over again. Nope, don’t know what that feels like AT ALL. 8:30 p.m., TNT

SUNDAY

Surviving Jeffrey Epstein: Jeffrey Epstein gets the R. Kelly treatment in this new docuseries that tells the stories of his survivors. Series premiere. 7 p.m., Lifetime

Perry Mason: A sensational trial comes to a close in the season finale. 8 p.m., HBO

Shark Week begins: All sharks all the time. 7 p.m., Discovery

 

FRI. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Shark Tank
(repeat)
20/20
CBS The Greatest #AtHome Videos
(new)
Magnum P.I.
(repeat)
Blue Bloods
(repeat)
CW Masters of Illusion
(new)
Masters of Illusion
(repeat)
Being Reuben
(new)
Being Reuben
(new)
Local
FOX Friday Night Smackdown Local
NBC The Wall
(repeat)
Dateline

SAT. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30
ABC AFV: America This is You!
(repeat)
Shark Tank
(repeat)
The Good Doctor
(repeat)
News/Local
CBS PGA Championship
(live)
48 Hours News/Local
FOX Fox PBC Fight Night
(live)
News/Local
NBC Stanley Cup Playoffs
(live)
Saturday Night Live
(repeat)
News/
Local
Saturday Night Live
(repeat)

SUN. 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC America’s Funniest Home Videos
(repeat)
Celebrity Family Feud
(repeat)
Press Your Luck
(repeat)
Match Game
(repeat)

PGA Championship60 MinutesBig Brother
(repeat)

CBS
The CW Local Fridge Wars
(new)
Taskmasters
(new)
Local
FOX Last Man Standing
(repeat)
Duncan-ville
(repeat)
The Simp-sons
(repeat)
Bless the Harts
(repeat)
Bob’s Burgers
(repeat)
Family Guy
(repeat)
Local/News
NBC Cannonball
(new)
The Titan Games
(new)
America’s Got Talent
(repeat)

 

2 thoughts on “300,000 dead by December. Yeah, despite what you might have heard from some idiot, this isn’t just going to “go away” anytime soon.

  1. So I don’t know if anyone else ever watched Stay Tuned, but it was the favorite movie of a 13 year old Josh for quite a while. It’s basically a pretty funny movie made exclusively to make puns about Hell. I had completely forgotten about it.

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