HBO Max
What’s Streaming on HBO Max in November 2020
HBO Max is heading to Bel-Air for Thanksgiving. As previously reported, Will Smith and the Banks are reuniting for The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air Reunion Special. Unlike their previous get-together over Zoom earlier this year, the family is actually meeting on the set of their iconic Bel-Air home. What’s more, the streaming giant will host the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame 2020 Inductions, which includes Depeche Mode, The Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Nine Inch Nails, The Notorious B.I.G., and T-Rex. Other exclusive originals this month include the second season of His Dark Materials, the series premiere of Industry, and the original comedy Superintelligence starring Melissa McCarthy, Bobby Cannavale, and James Corden. Editors’ Picks In terms of archival material, HBO Max is bri...
Chappelle’s Show, Nathan For You, Reno 911!, and Key & Peele Coming to HBO Max
Several of Comedy Central’s premiere titles — including Chappelle’s Show, Nathan For You, Reno 911!, and Key & Peele — are coming to HBO Max starting November 1st. These series will be streaming on WarnerMedia’s premium streaming services as part of an ongoing licensing deal forged with Comedy Central’s parent company ViacomCBS. The deal also gives HBO Max access to the entire South Park library as well as Inside Amy Schumer. It’s worth noting that all of these titles will be non-exclusive to HBO Max, which explains why Chappelle’s Show is also coming to Netflix starting November 1st. These titles are also available on ViacomCBS’s own streaming platform, CBS All Access, which will be rebranded as Paramount+ in 2021. According to The Hollywood Reporter, at some point ViacomCBS inte...
Tiny Toons Revived for New Series on Cartoon Network, HBO Max
Tiny Toons Looniversity, image courtesy of Warner Bros. Animation The Tiny Toons are set to invade your TV once again. The beloved Looney Tunes spin-off has been revived with a two-season, straight-to-series order of Tiny Toons Looniversity. The new cartoon is set to air on both Cartoon Network and HBO Max, though exactly how WarnerMedia plans to roll out the episodes across the platforms isn’t yet clear. What is known, however, is that Steven Spielberg is back to produce through his Amblin Television. Erin Gibson of the Throwing Shade podcast is on as showrunner, in addition to co-executive producing with Nat Cash (Adventure Time). Amblin’s Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank are also on as executive producers. As the name implies, the show will be set in Acme Looniveristy, the institution whe...
HBO Max Releases Trailer for West Wing Reunion Special: Watch
On October 15th, the cast of The West Wing reunites for a special one-off theatrical stage presentation airing exclusively on HBO Max. In anticipation, the first trailer has been unveiled, and I’m happy to report that my liberal heart just bursted into a thousand pieces. The special brings back together President Jed Barlet (Martin Sheen) and his loyal White House staff (Bradley Whitford, Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, Rob Lowe, Dulé Hill, and Janel Moloney) for a reenactment of the Season 3 episode “Hartsfield’s Landing”. The episode — which sees Josh Lyman (Whitford) obsess over the voting results in a small New Hampshire town — is an apt choice given the reason for this reunion. The special serves as a voter awareness campaign benefiting Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote non-...
Green Lantern HBO Max Series Rings Seth Grahame-Smith as Showrunner
Green Lanterns (image via HBO Max) and Seth Grahame-Smith, photo courtesy of author In brightest day, in darkest night, no evil shall escape Seth Grahame-Smith’s sight! The author-turned screenwriter/producer will serve as showrunner on HBO Max’s forthcoming series based on DC Comics’ Green Lantern. Originally announced a year ago, the show has also received a straight-to-series 10 episode order. Graham-Smith (IT producer, The LEGO Batman Movie writer) will co-write the first of those shows alongside Marc Guggenheim, the co-creator of The CW’s Arrowverse. Guggenheim previously co-wrote the failed 2011 Green Lantern movie with Greg Berlanti, who also returns for the TV adaption as producer. But who’s behind the series is perhaps less interesting to fans than who’s in it. The Green Lanterns ...
The Witches Heading to HBO Max Before Halloween
Robert Zemeckis’ re-imagining of Roald Dahl’s The Witches is heading to HBO Max. The potential Warner Bros. blockbuster was originally slated for theatrical release on October 9th, but will now bow on the streaming service on October 22nd. “The Witches is a wonderful reimagining of Roald Dahl’s timeless tale that combines world-class filmmaking with fantastic performances. It’s fun for the whole family and ideal for this time of year,” said Toby Emmerich, Chairman, Warner Bros. Pictures Group. “This film, with its stellar cast, is outstanding,” said Casey Bloys, Chief Content Officer for HBO and HBO Max. “We are thrilled to be able to use our platform to deliver timely, relevant and engaging new content during this time when the theatrical experience is not available to everyone.” The...
Adult Swim Pulls The Boondocks, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Episodes over “Cultural Sensitivities”
Several episodes of the Adult Swim series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Boondocks, and The Shivering Truth have been “permanently retired due to cultural sensitivities,” The Daily Beast has learned. The Adult Swim archives are part of the massive library offered by new streaming service HBO Max. But certain controversial episodes didn’t migrate over. Aqua Teen Hunger Force is missing the Season 6 shocker “Shake Like Me”, in which Shake is bitten by a radioactive Black person, the experience of which changes his appearance and behavior to be more stereotypically Black. ATHF also arrived without the incomplete Season 5 episode “Boston”, which is a parody of a real-life bomb scare caused by the guerrilla marketing campaign for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film...
John Cena’s The Suicide Squad Character Peacemaker Gets HBO Max Spinoff
Before the character even makes his big screen debut, John Cena’s Peacemaker from The Suicide Side has been given a TV spinoff. Deadline reports that HBO Max has picked up Peacemaker for an eight-episode, straight-to-series order. Cena will reprise his role, while The Suicide Squad writer-director James Gunn will also make the streaming transition. He’ll write the series and direct a number of episodes, as well as executive produce alongside fellow The Suicide Squad producer Peter Safran. Cena will co-executive produce. The series will focus on the origins of Peacemaker, a character said to “love peace so much, he’d kill for it.” More vigilante than hero or villain, he was created by Joe Gill and Pat Boyette for Charlton Comics before eventually being acquired by DC Comics. The original Pe...
Zack Snyder to Shoot New Justice League Scenes in October: Report
When Warner Bros. finally agreed to let Zack Snyder finish his director’s cut of Justice League, they were pretty clear that there would be no reshoots. After all, they were dumping some $30 million into the project just for re-editing and special effects work alone. However, it now seems the studio has reversed course, as The Hollywood Reporter has it that a “week- or so- long” shoot to capture new footage is set to take place next month. According to THR, much of the principal cast is expected to return for Snyder’s new shoot. That includes Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, and — most surprising of all — Ray Fisher as Cyborg. Fisher had a large portion of his character’s story excised when Joss Whedon took over directing and rewriting duties from...
Raised by Wolves Renewed at HBO Max for Season 2
Good news for sci-fi lovers: HBO Max has already decided to renew Ridley Scott’s new apocalyptic drama Raised by Wolves for Season 2, mere weeks after its debut. While the new TV series just launched earlier this month, it’s already taken off as the streaming platform’s top-performing original by far. In today’s announcement, HBO revealed that Raised by Wolves saw an audience growth rate of nearly 50% (!) in its second week alone. In addition to serving as executive producer, Scott directed the first two episodes, marking his first-ever TV show for American audiences. “When I think of Raised by Wolves, I think of artistry; artistry in crafting a compelling storyline, artistry in the out-of-this-world production design, special effects and cinematography, artistry in our actor’s portrayals ...
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Renewed for Three More Seasons
HBO has announced a three-season renewal for its award-winning satirical news show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The new deal will keep John Oliver dissecting socio-political shortcomings and feuding with Connecticut towns through at least 2023. “We’re all extremely happy to be able to continue to do our show on HBO for another three years, or until the end of the world, whichever comes first,” said Oliver in a press statement. Since Oliver moved from The Daily Show correspondent to premium cable host in 2014, Last Week Tonight has earned two Peabody Awards and an astounding 16 Emmys. That includes four last year, including taking home the Outstanding Variety Talk Series trophy for the fourth year running. It will have a chance to extend that streak to five at this year’s ceremony, w...
HBO Max’s Raised By Wolves Is Astounding Science Fiction: Review
The Pitch: On a mysterious virgin planet called Kepler 22-b, a small ship crash-lands, containing two androids and 12 frozen human embryos — a last-ditch chance to kick-start the human race after holy wars and devastation destroyed Earth. Following the programming of their atheistic Creator, Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim) successfully bring six of the embryos to term, and set up a kind of life on the dusty planet, farming potatoes and learning the rational ways of their maker. But the harshness of the planet, and the androids’ own imperfections as parents, cut the group of children down to one, a young boy named Campion (Winta McGrath), who represents the last of humanity. That is, until an Ark containing Mithraics (religious fanatics who praise a sun god called So...
