Steve Carell is coming back to television. He’s just signed on as the co-lead, opposite Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston in the upcoming Apple series currently known as ‘Untitled Morning Show Series’.
Written by Kerry Ehrin based on an original idea by Media Res’ Michael Ellenberg and directed by Mimi Leder, the yet untitled series provides an inside look at the lives of the people who help America wake up in the morning, exploring the unique challenges faced by the women (and men) who carry out this daily televised ritual.
Good cast, and I am always there for anything with Mimi Leder’s name attached, but anyone else a little disinterested in the story potential of a breakfast TV series?
This is a newsletter dedicated to screen culture, but look at me now going rogue with this story that doesn’t involve any screens.
Amy Winehouse is going on tour. In her further-exploitation tour of 2019, Winehouse will be brought back to life and tour packed venues as a hologram. This is just one of several dead celebrities who are going back to the stage.
There are also private research labs that can create 3D models of a human face using just one high-quality reference image, Seymour told Feldman, and it’s only a matter of time until that technology is commercially available.
But to make Winehouse’s hologram (or light creature, I guess), Tudor tells Vox that Base will just have to hire an actress who resembles her physically to don a motion-capture suit and create a bank of movements. Tudor didn’t mention if Winehouse ever had a 3D scan taken of her face, but it seems unlikely, so his company will also have to work through an elaborate process to make a digital recreation of that. Given that she was a very famous person who was photographed literally thousands of times, it may be tedious, but it won’t be difficult.
Jamie Poniewozik at the NYT has this interesting look at Fox News and Donald Trump’s 2018 reboot of its 2014 immigration scare coverage. Greatest hits on a golden oldies channel.
Tonight Bill Collins wraps up his 55-year career of film reviewing on television.
Continuing television’s commitment to maintaining the integrity of the justice system, Jerry Springer is possibly coming back to TV as the host of Judge Jerry.
And finally…
ABW celebrates its impending departure from day-to-day living this coming Saturday to dive into the World of Red Dead Redemption 2 with these articles about the game:
Kotaku takes a look at the truth behind Rockstar’s “crunch” time forcing excessive overtime put in by staff in the lead-up to the new game’s release.
RDR2 has a 60-hour story with 500,000 lines of dialogue.
And Polygon looks back at the first game, asking: Why Red Dead Redemption is the best western ever made.
