Mystery surrounds streamer Criterion as Shanghai Blossoms bloom
Also: Skyscraper Live viewership announced as copycats climb the building
According to Deadline, the new Wong Kar Wai TV show Blossoms Shanghai has a Feb 26 release date via Mubi in Latin America, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Turkey, and India. It will roll out the 30-episode series in batches of 10 monthly.
The well-resourced Deadline advises that there’s no word on a US or UK release. Reporter Max Goldbart may be shocked to discover that Criterion launched this in the US and UK months ago. You can stream it right now on the Criterion Channel streaming service where new episodes are being released every Monday.
The big question I have is when the show will get an Australian release? When Criterion picked up the US and UK rights, it also picked up distribution rights for Australia. But, as my fellow arthouse cinema loving Australians will note, Criterion Channel doesn’t stream down under.
Which actually leads to two questions:
Will Criterion license the show in this territory to another streamer?
Or, more interestingly, does Criterion Channel have plans for an Australian launch? I’m hoping for the latter, but lets see…
Netflix climbs to #3
The Netflix live special Skyscraper Live, which saw Free Solo climber Alex Honnold climb the Taipei 101 building live streamed was the third-most watched show on Netflix, placing behind scripted drama His & Hers and Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials.
6.2 million views were recorded for the live event. Read: THR
Would viewership have been higher for the event had it not been delayed by 24 hours due to weather? Also, there was greater competition for eyeballs as a result of the revised day.
The reschedule placed the Skyscraper Live event right up against Paramount’s UFC324 event, which delivered 5.93 million concurrent streams at its peak. That was both Paramount+’s largest exclusive live stream event to date and a greater reach across linear, broadcast, and streaming than a UFC event has had in almost a decade.
UFC 325 takes place this weekend in Sydney. Read: MMA Fighting
Apparently the TaiPei 101 building has been roped off after a number of countless copycats have tried climbing the building following Skyscraper Live. I suspect these aren’t people trying to scale the whole building as much as clinging to the side and/or climbing to the first floor for the Instagrams.
News Desk
If Paramount is able to snare the Warner Bros Discovery business from the clutches of winning bidder Netflix, it plans $6 billion in cuts that will come from back office, finance, corporate, legal, technology, infrastructure and real estate. Read: The LA Times
Keeley Hawes has been cast in a role in the new Lara Croft TV series. This is notable as Ms Hawes has voiced Croft in the video games since 2006. Read: Radio Times
Halle Berry’s production company HalleHolly (co-led with exec Holly Jeter) has announced a film and TV production slate that would have Halle Berry starring in most of them. They include an adaptation of the Bill Clinton / James Patterson novel The President is Missing and Peacock menopausal mystery series Zero F***s. Read: Deadline
A French Zorro TV series starring Jean Djurdin (The Artist) has been acquired by MHz Choice in the US and Canada. It’ll debut there June 30. It has already aired on France 2 and on Paramount+ in select countries. I’m keen to see an Australian network or streamer pick this up. Come on ‘BR’ at SBS… Read: Variety
In an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, the host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Stephen Colbert, announced that the final ever episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will air Thursday May 21. On a side note, in the 2025 Conundrums episode of the Slate Political Gabfest late last year, Colbert said that he knows what he has planned after he finishes the show and I’m curious to know if it will include former CBS news presenter John Dickerson, who was seen sporting a Late Show cap on the most recent video episode of the podcast. Read: Late Nighter
Netflix has unveiled a slate of Japanese content, including 13 shows, eight anime series, three films, and 47 baseball games (to be broadcast in Japan). Read: THR
Shrinking has been renewed for a fourth season ahead of the season three return today. Read: The AV Club
CBS is planning a crossover between soaps The Young and The Restless and new soap Beyond The Gates. An FYI to Australian soap fans, Beyond The Gates is streaming in Australia on Plex. There’s nearly 220 episodes already on the service to watch with new episodes added regularly (I assume daily in line with the US, but I don’t know how current it is being kept). Read: Variety
ITV in the UK has ordered a local version of reality dating show Farmer Wants a Wife, to be branded as Farming For Love. Read: C21
Game developer Spry Fox has bought itself out from Netflix after three years, saying it needs a broader audience for its upcoming social game Spirit Crossing. Read: The Verge
Former Paramount co-CEO and one-time Head of The Class student Brian Robbins has launched new production company Big Shot, which will make animated and hybrid live-action films. Sony Pictures Entertainment will distribute. Big Shot has announced it has the rights to Eloise at the Plaza, which is also currently being adapted by into a live action film at Netflix with Amy Sherman-Palladino writing/directing. Read: Variety
With famed composer Philip Glass pulling the debut of his new symphony from the Kennedy Center, does that now make Philip Glass an enemy of the people? Read: THR
Stuart Heritage at The Guardian has a fun list of TV characters you never actually see on screen. I’d suggest that Home Improvement’s Wilson should be on a list like this. Read: The Guardian
Renée Elise Goldsberry (of Hamilton fame, but also a longtime recurring actor on The Good Wife) will reunite with Robert and Michelle King as a main cast member on new series Cupertino. Read: Deadline
Bowl Cuts
A new feature on Always Be Watching, I’m breaking out a space for the onslaught over the next week or so of Super Bowl commercials (the Super Bowl is on Feb 8).
Today we have a teaser for a commercial starring Emma Stone and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos for Squarespace. The teaser is 15 seconds long, while the TV commercial will be a whopping 30 seconds.
The promotional poster for the TV ad is pretty cool.
Trailer Park
A24 reality series Neighbors debuts Feb 13 on HBO. I’m hoping much like the Seth Rogen movie from a few years back, this gets retitled in Australia and the UK as Bad Neighbours, so as not to confuse it with the recently cancelled Aussie soap.
A new HBO and A24 late-night series, NEIGHBORS examines stories of absurd, outrageous, and dramatic real-life residential conflicts from a wide range of larger-than-life characters across the United States, opening a verité portal into the lives of contemporary Americans. Each episode introduces a new set of neighbors in the heat of their grievances, uncovering spirited disputes about property lines, animal ownership, and even a yellow Speedo. Directors and emerging talents Harrison Fishman and Dylan Redford filmed for over two years, traveling across the country and fully immersing themselves in these neighbors' lives to capture an unfiltered and intimate portrait of everyday people and document the fundamentally American pursuits of life, liberty, and property.
Daredevil: Born Again returns for season 2 on Disney+ March 24.
The new Boots Riley film I Love Boosters is released in cinemas May 22.
Salve Geral: Irmandade (AKA State of Fear) debuts on Netflix Feb 11.
As São Paulo erupts in an unprecedented wave of violence, a lawyer with underworld ties must strike a deal with the police to rescue her kidnapped niece.
The Art of Sarah debuts on Netflix Feb 13.
A body found in the middle of town. A luxe label on the rise. A detective tests every stitch of a woman's story that keeps changing. What really happened?
That’s the newsletter for the today.
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