It was Agatha all along

Spinning off from WandaVision is a series based on the villain of the show, Agatha Harkness. Played by Katherine Hahn, the show hasn't officially been given a greenlight yet, but it is in active development with WandaVision writer Jac Schaeffer on board.

No one at Disney/Marvel is confirming it. But that's pretty standard for Marvel properties - deny everything until they are ready to announce it.

It's interesting that so far the only live action Marvel series to receive a second season confirmation has been Loki (a show that has seemingly set up the framework for all of the Marvel and TV shows that we can expect to see over the coming years by introducing the 'multiverse'). Both WandaVision & The Falcon and Winter Soldier seem very much one and done limited shows. And maybe that's what we will come to expect from these Marvel shows: Just a whole bunch of connected limited series that never get the chance to feel stale - but then spin-out elements into shows of their own like this Agatha show. A smart play for the longevity of Marvel as a top tier entertainment brand.

Now just sit back and watch social media revel in using that obnoxious gif of Hahn winking in the show.

TeeVee Snacks

YouTube has cancelled its annual Rewind end-of-year video. Read: Variety
A look back at the BBC series of Robin Hood for its 15th anniversary. Read: Radio Times
FX comedy Better Things will end with its fifth season. Read: Indiewire
Gaven Morris is set to step down as News Director at the Australian ABC News. Maybe it is time to hire someone who knows what they are doing*. ("knows what they are doing" means calling '730' 'The 7:30 Report' again. Because that's what everyone has still called the show for the past decade). Read: Mediaweek
How does Malory Archer depart the series Archer (following the death of Jessica Walter? Read: Deadline

The fight to control your TV viewing

5-10 years ago there was a fight for HDMI1. Essentially, if you are selling an Apple TV set-top box, Playstation video game console, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast, or any other device that plugs into your TV, you know that there is only a limited number of HDMI plugs on the back of a persons TV. You wanted to make sure that your device was THE device that people would be using. And that often meant being first in the list of devices people use when you clunkily press that button on your remote 1-4 times to select the HDMI input you need.

It's 2021 now and who gives a shit about that anymore? That battle has already been won - we plug a lot fewer devices into our TV's nowadays and people have already made up their minds. They either use the in-built apps on their TV, or they use a Roku or an Apple TV (I'm talking broadly - so all of you nerds with a NVIDIA Shield - you've been heard).

But that doesn't mean that there isn't still a fight to be the platform that controls your viewing. These companies are now bypassing the fight to be HDMI1 or the first app on your devices main screen and are instead trying to control the whole user experience. In the last few weeks Amazon announced it is selling TVs that has an in-built Amazon Fire interface. And today UK pay television provider Sky is launching 'Sky Glass'.

Sky Glass is a TV that essentially replicates the Sky pay TV service, but instead of using a satellite on the roof to deliver the signal through to a set top box and then into the TV, it is streamed directly by your TV. Users can then add Sky TV services to other TVs in the house through the sale of an additional Sky Puck device at a cost of £10 per month. It all sounds a little too controlling and lacks the ease and relative inexpense of how consumers access every other service they watch. (Really, they are charging £10 per month for a box when you can buy a Chromecast with Google TV for £60 outright???).

The smallest 43-inch model is £649 upfront, or you can spread the payments at £13 per month over 48 months, or £26 per month over 24 months. The 55-inch model works out at £849 upfront, or £17 per month over 48 months, and £34 per month over 24 months. The largest 65-inch Sky Glass TV is £1,049 upfront, or £21 per month over 48 months, and £42 per month over 24 months.

It is believed that the Glass product will soon be available for Australian Foxtel subscribers and also for US Comcast cable TV subscribers.

Always Be Watching reminds its readers that it is ill-advised to buy a TV directly from your TV provider. Don't be locked into one service - you never know 18 months from now if that service will still carry the shows/channels you watch regularly. It may be convenient now - but television sets aren't cheap and you don't want to be stuck with one that is locked into a service provider you don't want to be with.

Claire Foy to play Sheryl Sandberg in upcoming series

Lean in folks, here's an interesting TV show on the horizon. Anonymous Content, the production company responsible for smart, adult shows and movies like Spotlight, Mr Robot, The Wife, Counterpart, and many more, is producing a series based on Doomsday Machine. The book, written by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang, examines Facebook's growth as it has sought to avoid all sorts of political and social issues.

The series covers the period beginning with disinformation and the 2016 election and covers the the internal struggles leading to the most recent revelations reported in the Wall Street Journal and NYT: the disclosure of XCHECK, a program that shielded VIP users including Donald Trump from the platform’s normal rules and regulations; news that the company was aware of the mental health risks posed by Instagram to younger users despite their public downplaying of the issue; and a push by Zuckerberg to use the News Feed to push out positive stories about Facebook to help shape public opinion.

There's no word yet on who is playing the cretinous Mark Zuckerberg, but we know that Claire Foy from The Crown will play Sheryl Sandberg - the company's Chief Operating Officer. Sandberg is especially odious as she presides over Facebook while also publishing self-help, female empowerment books. Not that there is anything wrong with self help or female empowerment - but it's all a bit rich coming from a woman who is preaching this in her off-hours away from a company that is damaging the mental health of its users (especially young women), alongside offering a tool that is destroying democracy and the fabric of society across the globe.

Yeah - I'm interested in watching this.

Sabrina headed to Riverdale

Recently concluded Netflix series Sabrina was based on the Archie Comics character Sabrina The Teenage Witch. It's not often that a TV crossover takes place after one of the shows has been cancelled, but we're going to see the titular Sabrina heading over to the Archie TV show Riverdale for a guest appearance.

Kiernan Shipka will reprise the role of Sabrina in the season 6 episode The Witching Hour(s).

In the episode, Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) is performing a dangerous spell which could mean the difference between life and death for one of the Blossoms. She gets assistance from Sabrina who is visiting from Greendale.

"from Greendale to Riverdale 😈

See u in Season 6."

- @kiernanshipka on IG pic.twitter.com/pML4wja3QN
— Archie Comics (@ArchieComics) October 7, 2021

Today in Squid Game news

Sales for white slip-on Vans are up 7,800% thanks to Squid Game. This is according to shoe website Sole Supplier who have a vested interest in making you think about buying a pair and letting you know that they sell them. So take this data point however you choose.

Trailer Park

Here's the final trailer for Dune, hitting cinemas and HBO Max from Oct 22 in the US. It is already out in some international markets. It lands in Australia Dec 2.

Documentary series What Happened, Brittany Murphy debuts Oct 14 on HBO Max.

The Afterparty debuts on Apple TV+ this coming January. The comedy is from Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

The Afterparty is a murder-mystery comedy set at a high school reunion afterparty. Each of the eight episodes will feature a retelling of the same night told through a different character’s perspective, each with its own unique visual format and film genre to match the teller’s personality.

Spreadsheet debuts on Paramount+ Oct 27.

Lost In Space blasts off for a third and final season on Netflix Dec 1.

Love Hard debuts on Netflix Nov 5.

An unlucky-in-love LA girl (Nina Dobrev) falls for a rugged East Coast guy (Darren Barnet) on a dating app and decides to surprise him for the holidays - only to discover that she's been catfished by his childhood friend (Jimmy O. Yang).

Gwyneth Paltrow continues her campaign to be awful (it has to be intentional, right?) with new Netflix series Sex, Love & goop. I'd be more forgiving of the show if it embraced an Oxford comma.