TV
Kevin Spacey Loses Appeal to Overturn $31 Million House of Cards Damages
Last year, Kevin Spacey was ordered to pay MRC, the producer of Netflix’s House of Cards, $31 million in compensatory damages following his termination from the show. He later petitioned to have the order reversed, but at an August 4th hearing, a judge determined the actor’s appeal had no standing. Spacey was fired from House of Cards in 2017 after eight employees of the show accused him of sexual misconduct. After his termination, MRC was forced to rewrite the show’s sixth and final season to exclude Spacey from the plot, and cut the season down from 13 episodes to eight in order to meet streaming deadlines. After an internal investigation and an evidentiary hearing, a neutral arbitrator concluded Spacey had violated the show’s anti-harassment policy and ordered him to...
HBO Max and Discovery+ Will Become One Streaming Service
Following the recent merger of Warner Bros. Discovery, the company confirmed plans to re-launch its two streaming platforms, HBO Max and Discovery+, as a single service, projected to roll out in the U.S. beginning Summer 2023. Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav announced the news during the company’s Q2 earnings call on Thursday (August 4th). By combining HBO Max, “the most acclaimed streaming service among consumers,” and Discovery+’s library of “real-life entertainment,” Warner Bros. Discovery says the new streaming service will achieve the “best of both” — acknowledging customer complaints aimed at HBO Max’s user interface and Discovery+’s catalog. Ultimately, the company said their “leading objective is growing engagement.” Once both apps are integrated, the company said, they’ll begin ...
Maturity is Scarce in Archer Season 13 Trailer: Watch
TV’s favorite narcissistic secret agent is returning for a lucky 13th season. FXX has today shared the official trailer for the upcoming Season 13 of Archer head of its premiere on August 24th. In this go around of the ever–evolving adult cartoon, Archer and The Agency have been acquired by Fabian Kingsworth and the spy conglomerate known as IIA (International Intelligence Agency), who assign odd missions to the crew. In-between jobs, the crew struggle to find their identity amid this change, fearing that they might succumb to the corporate overlords in the process. “I’m looking for one of you to take the mantle of leadership,” Fabian tells the members of The Agency in the trailer, juxtaposed with a montage of all the spies’ rather foolish recent mishaps. “Until now, I’ve been the car...
Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 Captures Unknown Horrors of the Three-Day Disaster: Review
The Pitch: The world of documentary film seems to believe in one thing: Why have just one documentary covering a disastrous music festival when you can have two? Unlike the paired Netflix and Hulu documentaries which investigated the wildness of Fyre Fest, though, Netflix’s new docuseries Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 at least has a good year or so of distance from HBO’s Woodstock ’99, while rehashing much of the same material. It’s Not a Three-Hour Movie: Trainwreck (previously known as Clusterfuck, and streaming today on Netflix), does have a distinct advantage over the HBO doc — rather than compressing the full breadth of the three-day disaster into one 110-minute film, the series consists of three episodes, structured to mirror the three days of the actual festival. While the episodic stru...
Law & Order Writer Says Alex Jones Trial Too “Dumb” for Fiction
Forget about Law & Order‘s dun-dun, this is just dumb-dumb. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is currently standing trial for a defamation lawsuit brought by the parents of children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, but his own legal team have torpedoed the case. On Wednesday, August 3rd, it was revealed that Jones’ lawyers accidentally emailed the full contents of his phone to the attorneys representing the parents, in the process providing dozens of emails and texts that contradicted Jones’ sworn testimony and suggesting he committed perjury. The reveal was so bizarre that longtime Law & Order writer David Slack weighed in, writing that the twist was too outlandish for fiction, because “on Law & Order we wouldn’t have let a lawyer do something that dumb...
“All Hell Breaks Loose” in Official Trailer for Atlanta’s Final Season: Watch
Donald Glover’s award-winning series Atlanta will conclude with the fourth and final season, and as the new official trailer promises, “All hell breaks loose.” Season 4 debuts September 15th on FX. The trailer shows gunshots, a brief image of what may be a jail cell, burnouts in expensive cars, and little kids with big music dreams and some bottled water to sell. But at the center of it all is Glover’s characer Earn Marks, who seems to be going through a mental health crisis. “You seem frustrated today,” he’s told. “I’m not upset about anything,” he responds peevishly. “I mean, not to flex, but work is good… Then all hell breaks loose.” Check out the trailer below. Advertisement Related Video Season 3 debuted earlier this year and Consequence named it one of the best TV show...
Everybody Hates Chris Animated Reboot Greenlit at MTV Studios
Chris Rock’s busy year continues: Today, MTV Studios announced that they’ve granted a straight-to-series order for Everybody Still Hates Chris, an animated revival of Rock’s popular oughts sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. Like its predecessor, Everybody Still Hates Chris is largely inspired by Rock’s own memories of growing up as a hapless, dorky teenager from a working-class family in 1980s Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. Rock will serve as executive producer of the series alongside showrunner Sanjay Shah, Michael Rotenberg, Dave Becky, and Ali LeRoi — the latter of whom co-created the original Everybody Hates Chris alongside Rock. With both adult animation and revivals of bygone series having a big moment in TV, there’s certainly a market for Everybody Still Hates Chris. Belov...
Sarah Drew on Apple TV+’s Amber Brown, Grey’s Anatomy, Daria, and More
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Amazon Podcasts | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Radio Public | RSS Sarah Drew sits down with Kyle Meredith to talk about Apple TV+’s adaptation of Amber Brown, a new show based on the series of realistic fiction books for children. Advertisement Related Video Drew, who plays the mother character, discusses the themes of kindness, the many different ways to make a family, and the complications of loving someone. The actress also talks about the show’s soundtrack (which includes Wilco and Tai Verdes) and her own love of musicals growing up. She also dives into her work as Stacy Rowe in MTV’s Daria, her more recent role in Cruel Summer, and keeping the door open for her Dr...
Better Call Saul Review: The Past Is Present
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Better Call Saul, Season 6 Episode 11, “Breaking Bad.”] On April 26th, 2009, a television show called Breaking Bad aired an episode called “Better Call Saul.” Thirteen years later, a television show called Better Call Saul aired an episode called “Breaking Bad.” Here we are at a full-circle moment for one of television’s great creative achievements, and yet the significance of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul’s long-promised return as the iconic Walter White and Jesse Pinkman manages not to overshadow the action just now revving up in Omaha, Nebraska. The elegance of this new episode’s name choice, which is split between two very different periods of time for one Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman/Gene Takovic (Bob Odenkirk), cannot be overstated, es...
Immersive Squid Game Experience Launching in the US and UK
In case Netflix’s upcoming Squid Game reality series wasn’t enough for you, an immersive experience approved by the streamer will be launching in the US and UK in September. Brought to you by interactive gaming and technology company Immersive Gamebox, the multiplayer experience will feature all six challenges from the show, including Red Light, Green Light; Dalgona, and of course, Squid Game itself. Each lost challenge results in the loss of a virtual life, while a win earns virtual money in the piggy bank. Two to six people will be able to play at a time. The experience will take place in the company’s “Gameboxes,” using touch screens and motion sensing technology. Advertisement Related Video Immersive Gamebox’s Squid Game experience launches on September 21st in nine US locati...
Comedy Pilot from Everything Everywhere All at Once Directors Greenlit at Showtime
The directing duo behind Everything Everywhere All at Once is coming to SHOWTIME. The network has greenlit a new half-hour comedy pilot from Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan — aka Daniels — called MASON, produced by A24. The series stars and is executive produced by Nathan Min, who’s guest starred on HBO’s Joe Pera Talks With You. MASON draws on some of Min’s real-life experiences. Per a press release: “MASON is a surrealist comedy about a quiet man named Nathan, often misheard as ‘Mason,’ seeking connection in a loud world.” The Daniels will also executive produce, as will Minari and Nope star Steven Yeun. “Nathan has brought SHOWTIME a disarmingly funny and emotional project that feels like a punch to the gut in how astutely it conveys the trials and tribulations...
Westworld’s Daniel Wu on Episode 6’s Big Reveals and His Special Bond With Thandiwe Newton
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Westworld, Season 4 Episode 6, “Fidelity.”] Daniel Wu is no stranger to strange genre tales — the veteran actor has been working constantly over the past few decades on a mix of Hong Kong and American productions, notably starring in the bonkers AMC martial arts drama Into the Badlands for three seasons. Thus, he was more than ready to take on a significant role in Season 4 of Westworld, playing Jay, the leader of a group of human “outliers” who are scrambling for survival in a world now controlled by the robotic “hosts.” As Wu explains to Consequence via Zoom, there was no question of him turning down the job, when Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy asked him about it after the two of them worked together on her directorial debut, the 2021 fi...
