Fake, animated thirst traps. AND: "Pamela Anderson".

Remember when animated thirst traps mostly only extended as far as Betty Rubble, Jessica Rabbit, and Japanese cartoons involving tentacles?

(I will also admit a strong interest in Rosey from The Jetsons, but I've always had a thing for matronly robots.)

The New York Times, with less to focus on in a post-Trump world, has a feature exploring the fact that animated dads are apparently getting hotter.

Not mentioned in the article is the thirst for the dog father in Animated show Bluey.

“Hotness is not just how they’re drawn — it’s all these other things that come together,” replied the writer Bim Adewunmi, a former host of the crush-centric podcast Thirst Aid Kit. She pointed out that Disney had hired the “Lost” actor Daniel Dae Kim to voice Benja: “We interviewed him in person at Sundance in 2020, and I sound like such a pervy teenage girl, but he has a hot aura. He radiates calm, like a good friend.”

If the hot animated dad thing feels like a modern phenomenon, that’s in part because early Disney movies were more content to leave the protagonist’s parents out entirely. Later, Disney might have thrown in a dad or two for plot purposes, but they tended toward elderly and doddering, like Jasmine’s father in “Aladdin.”

Pictures emerge of Pam Anderson / Tommy Lee bio-series

The first pictures from a Hulu bio-series detailing the relationship of Baywatch megastar Pamela Anderson and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee have been released and just tell me you aren't keen to see this.

Check 'em out:

Paramount+ launches in Australia - August 11

Minutes after sending last Friday's Always Be Watching where it was lamented that we didn't yet have a launch date for Paramount+, news broke that the streaming service will launch in Australia on August 11. (Psst, Channel 10 [the local anchor for Paramount+] - it'd be nice if you would add me to your media release mailing list. It's embarrassing asking a second time).

The new service will cost $8.99 a month, ad-free. The library will be smaller than the US library (30,000 titles+ vs 20,000 titles+). You can read more about it here:

Five Bedrooms shifted to Paramount+

When the new streamer launches in Australia, local series Five Bedrooms will move from the broadcast Channel 10 to Paramount+ for its second season. Previously, the network had stated that the show would return to Channel 10 later this year.

TV Tonight has a collection of tweets of fans upset about this and I think that's fair. One of my big annoyances is people complaining about how there's too many streaming services to subscribe to with shows spread too far - most of these shows wouldn't exist if not for multiple streaming services. But that's not the case here. Five Bedrooms season 2 was intended for a broadcast release - it is being moved from a free platform to a subscription platform. It is a bit unfair.

An interesting side note - Five Bedrooms was also used as a marquee title for the launch of the hybrid free/subscription platform Peacock when that launched in the US.

Source:

TeeVee Snacks

Aussie sports streamer Kayo has passed 1m subscribers. Cricket is the most-viewed sport on the platform. Read: Mediaweek
Elon Musk on SNL was the third most-watched SNL this season. Read: Deadline
RIP MTV music video bombshell Tawny Kitaen. Read: The AV Club
Fox has dumped its plans to make a series about kids making a shot-for-shot remake of The Goonies. Disappointing. Read: Dark Horizons

Muppets Take Halloween

This all hallows eve, the Muppets will be back for a special that promises a star-studded Muppets cast, celebrity cameos, all-new music and spooky fun for families to enjoy together.

And if Gonzo is on board, I assume chickens.