HBO
Record Number of Black Performers Receive Emmy Nominations in 2020
#EmmysSoWhite? Not this year. On Tuesday morning, the Television Academy announced its nominations for the 2020 Emmys, delivering what’s reportedly their most diverse slate in history. As Variety points out, out of the 102 acting nominees this year, 35 of those slots went to Black performers, accounting for 34.3% of the total slate. For context, that’s an increase from the previous high of 27.7% in 2018, and especially last year’s 19.8%. It’s a refreshing change that aligns with the vision of Television Academy chairman and CEO Frank Scherma, who led off this morning’s event by saying, “2020 isn’t just about the global health crisis. This year we are also bearing witness to one of the greatest fights for social justice in history, and it is our duty to use this medium for change.” However,...
HBO’s Latest Sneak Peek Of ‘Lovecraft Country’ Has Us Shooketh
Source: Eli Joshua Ade / HBO / Courtesy of HBO When HBO announced its new thriller Lovecraft Country in May, fans were excited because J.J. Abrams and Jordan Peele were associated with the project. However, this latest Comic-Con sneak peek allows us to see what the sci-fi juggernauts have in store for us this summer. The 10-episode series is based on Matt Ruff’s horror novel of the same name. To summarize, the story follows three Black characters as they embark on a road trip across then-segregated America in the 1950s in search of a missing family member. The trio eventually discovers themselves battling supernatural monsters and rampant racism which, in itself, is a horrific theme to explore. The latest sneak peek sets us up for what’s to come. V...
Cthulu Rises in First Official Trailer for Lovecraft Country: Watch
HBO has unveiled the first official trailer for Lovecraft Country, a new prestige horror series from Jordan Peele, J.J. Abrams, and showrunner Misha Green. It premiered at Comic-Con this weekend, when the cast participated in a virtual panel discussion and shared an exclusive three-minute scene from the show. Lovecraft Country is based on the 2016 book by Matt Ruff, which sets Lovecraft’s cosmic horrors in the Jim Crow south of the 1950s. The story tracks avid reader Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors) as he searches for his missing father (Michael Kenneth Williams) with his childhood pal Letitia (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance). The first and second teasers emphasized the relationships between the main characters, while dwelling on the white, hu...
HBO Bringing Ta-Nehisi Coates’ ‘Between the World and Me’ To Television
Source: Ismael Quintanilla / Getty You love to see it. Ta-Nehisi Coates’ nonfiction work Between the World and Me is coming to HBO as a special. Vulture is reporting that Coates’ book, which is described as “a powerful letter to his teenage son looking back on his life through the lens of structural racism,” is coming to HBO and will be similar to the 2018 Apollo stage performance. Per Vulture: “Technically, they’re adapting the Apollo Theater’s 2018 stage performance, which featured readings from the New York Times bestseller. The special will also include animation and both archival and documentary footage. Kamilah Forbes, executive producer of the Apollo and an old friend of Coates’s (she’s even in the book), will once again direct the adaptation, as well as executive pro...
Ben Stiller, Darren Aronofsky to Adapt Stories From Stephen King’s If It Bleeds
Hollywood continues to devour Stephen King’s latest collection If It Bleeds. Last week, it was confirmed that Netflix, Ryan Murphy, and Blumhouse are adapting “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone”. Now, according to Deadline, we know where the other stories are going. The book’s second story, “The Life of Chuck”, has been scooped up by Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa. So far, the veteran filmmaker is only attached to produce, but the surrealist trifecta of a tale would be a perfect fit for the brazen auteur. Next up is Ben Stiller of all people, who has optioned the fourth story, “Rat”. If all goes to plan, Stiller would both star and direct the film, which follows a troubled writer who makes a Faustian bargain with, well, a furry critter. And finally is the titular novella featuring Holly Gibney. Details ar...
Michaela Coel Turned Down $1M Netflix Deal Over Attempted Copyright Jig
Source: Karwai Tang / Getty Chewing Gum star Michaela Coel may have gained her cross over success thanks to Netflix, but after the deal surrounding her new series, I May Destroy You, left her at a disadvantage the British star is explaining why both BBC and HBO are now the series’ new home. During an interview with Vulture, Michaela Coel details why the partnership with Netflix ended after the launch of her new show due to the negotiation for placement leaving her with no rights to the show. Recalling a conversation she had asking Netflix if she could keep at least five percent, Michaela said: “There was just silence on the phone. And [the senior development executive at Netflix] said, ‘It’s not how we do things here. Nobody does that, it’s not a big deal.’ I said,...
Mahershala Ali Lands “Dream Role”, To Play Legendary Boxer Jack Johnson In HBO Series ‘Unruly’
Source: Chelsea Guglielmino / Getty Get the awards ready, Mahershala Ali is coming for all of them. Marvel Studio’s new Blade, Marhershala Ali, will be hopping in the boxing ring and playing the legendary boxer Jack Johnson who was the world’s first Black heavyweight champion. Vulture reports that Ali has signed on to play Johnson in an upcoming HBO limited series called Unruly. Per Vulture: “Based on the Ken Burns documentary Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson and its accompanying book by Geoffrey C. Ward, the series will be written by playwright Dominique Morisseau and produced by Tom Hanks’ production company, Playtone.” This will be the second time Ali will portray Johnson. The actor first played Johnson in the 2000 stage revival of the play The Gr...
Top 10 TV Shows of 2020 (So Far)
Our Mid-Year Report comes to a captivating conclusion today as we reveal the Top 10 TV Shows of 2020 (So Far). In case you missed it, be sure to revisit our previous mid-year lists for top albums, songs, metal albums, and films. Television’s always been there. There’s a reliability to the boob tube that gives us solace day in and day out. It’s the reliable notion that no matter how awful things get in real life, you can always eject, curl up on the couch, and escape into a story. Well, rest assured, television has been working overtime in 2020. As billions of people across the world stay locked inside — we can only hope — the small screen has become less of a life line and more of a permanent member of the family. Fortunately for all of us, we’ve been living in a time of Too Much Televisio...
Issa Rae & Bette Midler Team Up For HBO Special ‘Coastal Elites’
Source: HBO / HBO Issa Rae stays getting those checks. On Monday (Jun 22), HBO announced that Issa Rae and Bette Midler will be starring in the new series, Coastal Elites, a series that will explore the deeply divided politics and the universal pursuit of human connection during the pandemic through a series of confessionals. The series, which was produced entirely under quarantine, “tells stories of breaking down and breaking through in the summer of 2020 that are funny, searing, poignant and now,” HBO said in a statement. The series written by Paul Rudnick and directed by Jay Roach will explore the deeply divided politics and the universal pursuit of human connection during the pandemic through a series of confessionals from five characters played by Issa Rae, Bette Midler, Sar...
Issa Rae & Bette Midler Team Up For HBO Special ‘Coastal Elites’
Source: HBO / HBO Issa Rae stays getting those checks. On Monday (Jun 22), HBO announced that Issa Rae and Bette Midler will be starring in the new series, Coastal Elites, a series that will explore the deeply divided politics and the universal pursuit of human connection during the pandemic through a series of confessionals. The series, which was produced entirely under quarantine, “tells stories of breaking down and breaking through in the summer of 2020 that are funny, searing, poignant and now,” HBO said in a statement. The series written by Paul Rudnick and directed by Jay Roach will explore the deeply divided politics and the universal pursuit of human connection during the pandemic through a series of confessionals from five characters played by Issa Rae, Bette Midler, Sar...
HBO’s Perry Mason Tweaks the Past to Build a More Exciting Future: Review
The Pitch. When I heard that Perry Mason was soon to be gracing HBO, I will have to admit, I laughed. Forgive me, Perry Mason obsessives, but my chief memory of the reruns of the Perry Mason TV show of the 1950s and 1960s (to which this series bears no resemblance) from adolescence is that my father used it on Sunday nights as a sleep aid. Usually, he conked out somewhere during the opening theme. When I stayed up to watch the show, what I saw was a collage of grays, whites, and blacks, a moving gallery of future character actors and movie stars swirling around imperious and determined courtroom lawyer Mason, played by Raymond Burr. Ultimately, there wasn’t anything terribly dramatic about any of it except for Mason’s eyebrows and the occasional blast of wobbly soundtrack. And ye...
Adele Is Binge-Watching This New British TV Series
Adele has found a new obsession. She’s stanning I May Destroy You. Like the rest of us, the “Hello” singer has been killing time in lockdown by binge-watching TV. With HBO’s new series, she’s discovered a total gem. It’s “the best thing I’ve seen on British TV for yeaaaarssss!!,” the superstar singer enthuses about I May Destroy You. “Go watch it on iplayer right now. It’s wholesome, uncomfortable, hilarious but terribly sad and then awkward…and then it makes you cough a bit for no reason and also makes you go put the kettle on, for no reason.” Directed by and starring Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You spans 12 half-hour episodes. According to its blurb on the IMDB, the series explores the question of sexual consent in contemporary life and how, “in the new landsc...
