I apologise in advance for putting Fish Heads in your mind
Always Be Watching is about the screen industry. It’s focused on the shows that we watch mostly, but also a little about the movies we see, the games we play, and the various other screens we engage with.
But today I have audio on the mind.
This week has two notable audio shows finishing up.
Over the weekend the final episode of The Dr. Demento Show went to air. The radio DJ played his last show in 55 years with a top 40 most demanded demented discs and tapes.
The radio show has impacted culture in all of the best ways. Notably, it gave us Weird Al.
But also it gave us Fish Heads.
The other show ending is WTF, Marc Maron’s podcast. He has been running twice-weekly interviews with a who’s who of those who lead and define culture. He has published his podcast for 16 years and I’ve been listening for at least 15 of those.
Tomorrow morning when I walk my dog, I’ll be pressing play on the final episode. We don’t know who he will be interviewing (Adam Sandler? Marc’s father?), but I know I won’t be alone in feeling like I have lost something when Marc winds out his show and says goodbye to the cat angels everywhere.
Tin foil hats for my friends, heads in the sand for my enemies
David Sirota and Jared Jacang Maher from podcast The Lever have a new book coming out - Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America. The pair contend that former Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell wrote a memo that became a roadmap for dismantling democracy.
They claim that ‘a shadowy network of corporate elites, political operatives, and Supreme Court justices has worked behind the scenes to dismantle campaign finance laws and rig the system in favor of the ultra-wealthy.’
Before Project 2025, this sort of thing sounded like nonsense. Now… I am not dismissing this so quickly.
The two have an article in The Guardian that is hooked on the headline that ‘Bari Weiss’s ascent at CBS News was 50 years in the making.’
Worth a read for those of us who are at a point where tin foil hats are starting to seem more and more like legitimate lifestyle choices.
This untold story of American media began in the news business’s Watergate-era transition. In the first half of the 20th century, journalism had swung between the triumphs of investigative reporting and the excesses of Citizen Kane-like oligarchs wielding their media properties as political weapons. But by the early 1970s, the pendulum was swinging back toward the muckrakers – journalism had once again become a problem for the ruling class, exposing national security and corporate scandals – and giving a platform to advocates like Ralph Nader who were holding power accountable.
Irate about Nader and other troublemakers, a prominent tobacco industry attorney named Lewis Powell penned a 1971 call to arms for the nation’s largest lobbying group, the Chamber of Commerce, and its corporate members.
He noted that “most of the media, including the national TV systems, are owned and theoretically controlled by corporations which depend upon profits, and the enterprise system to survive” – and that therefore they should start deliberately amplifying defenders of the status quo, and stop providing platforms to critics of big business.
News Desk
WBD reportedly rejected the Paramount Skydance deal because the proposed $20 per share was too low. Read: Variety
A deal has been done that makes a revival of The Inbetweeners possible. Expect it to follow-up with the original characters and not a reboot. Read: Variety
Sky in the UK has picked up the rights to the upcoming A24 Peacock series Friday the 13th. Read: Deadline
Yellowjackets will end with its fourth season. Read: The AV Club
Prime Video has cancelled its two, not especially good, action shows Butterfly and Countdown after one season each. Read: Deadline
A third season of X-Men 97 has been given the greenlight. Read: Deadline
Joining the cast of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (in a voice actor capacity) is Stephen Colbert. Read: The AV Club
DC is adapting 90s comic book event Batman: Knightfall into a multi-part series of animated films. In this day and age of HBO Max, the ultimate home for these films nowadays, I don’t understand why these aren’t limited event animated series rather than animated feature films. Comics make so much more sense serialised. Read: Dark Horizons
Joseph Gordon Levitt has an untitled AI film in development at Netflix. Rachel McAdams will star (presumably not as the AI). Read: The Wrap
Trailer Park
All Her Fault debuts on Peacock Nov 6. It stars Sarah Snook, Dakota Fanning, and Jake Lacy.
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy debuts on January 15. The show stars Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti.
Wonder Man debuts Jan 27 on Disney+.
Hollywood actor Simon Williams is thrust into the world of superheroes as he gets powers of his own, and becomes the new superhero Wonder Man.
The Copenhagen Test debuts on Peacock Dec 27 and stars Simu Liu and Melissa Barrera.
A first-generation analyst realizes his brain’s hacked, allowing access to his senses. Stuck between the agency and hackers, he acts normal to reveal the culprits.
Reckless debuts on SBS Nov 12.
Feuding siblings cover up an accidental hit and run.
Bat-Fam debuts on Prime Video
Invincible returns for season 4 on Prime Video in March.
That’s the newsletter for today.
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