RIP Younger?

A pandemy benefit

One of the positives to come out of the COVID pandemic has been new TV formats. Nippon TV in Japan is going to the international market with two that sound wildly entertaining:

Double Booking was filmed with actors remotely in two different studios:

The worst possible scenario for a date begins to unfold in ways one would never imagine: the story of fooling and being fooled among one man who made a mistake of double booking a date with two different women while on his computer screen. And just when you think this is a frantic love comedy, an unexpected twist in the final three minutes sets the stage for some unexpected suspense.

Meanwhile Piggyback Challenge may be the format of 2020:

Couples compete against other pairs while piggybacking their partner as they clear the given tasks such as shopping, jogging or dining within a time limit, in pursuit of their dream prize. As physical exhaustion sets in, can couples keep calm and focus on cooperating to clear the game? Or will extreme pressure bring out the frustration, drama and true characters that can lead to epic falls? If they fall off, they are immediately disqualified. Simple as that.

Source: Prensario

Speaking of piggyback’s… while trying to find video of the show Piggyback Challenge I failed. But I did find this video compilation of piggyback scenes from K-dramas. Enjoy.

Diana Rigg battled a gender pay gap and won. But not much.

When the late Diana Rigg joined ITV drama The Avengers, she discovered after filming 12 episodes that she was earning £90 per week while a cameraman on the show was getting £120.

"No, I didn't stamp my foot. All I said was, 'Look, this is unfair,' and I got double, £180. It still wasn't a huge amount. Any argument about money is ugly, but at the same time I felt I was being exploited and I had to put a stop to it."

She spoke up, but when she spoke openly about it the newspapers got wind and made a fuss about the situation:

"I was represented as a mercenary young woman stepping out of line and demanding money.

"I was lonely as well because no one supported me. I did get more money, but thereafter I was labelled as go-getting and 'hard' - and it was unfair because I wasn't."

Source: BBC

Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg in The Avengers

Sleep at the Fresh Prince’s not-in-Bel-Air house

Want to hear something shocking? The exterior for the house featured in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air isn’t actually in Bel-Air. It’s in Brentwood. Still fancy, but.

As part of a promo deal with Air BnB, you could book the mansion. Past tense, obviously, with the house now already fully booked out.

Check it out: AirBnB

The end of Younger?

Creator Darren Star has said that they are unofficially working on the 7th season of Younger as the final season. When the show goes back into production, it will likely also incorporate the pandemic.

“A lot of episodes were written” before the pandemic, Star notes. Plus, “the action of Younger sort of picks up where the last season left off, which was before the pandemic. But I do think we’re looking forward to incorporating it into the action as the season progresses.”

Source: TVLine

Good Times revival

A few weeks ago I mooted the idea of an animated Golden Girls revival. Some of you were supportive. Some of you were supportive and still didn’t sign the petition I created to push the idea out into the world. And others were hostile.

Well, there’s something in the water because TV legend Norman Lear has given the go-ahead to an animated TV series based on his classic 70s series Good Times.

Source: Deadline

2020’s it-guy

Lovecraft Country’s Jonathan Majors is having one heck of a year. 2020 may have been a trash fire for most of us, but Majors has gone from obscurity to being one of the leads in Netflix hit Da 5 Bloods, then he’s served as the lead in the buzzy HBO series. Now he’s just signed on to be (potentially) the bad guy in the next Marvel Ant-Man movie.

Source: Deadline

TeeVee Snacks

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver has been extended to 2023. Hopefully without the audience. Source: Variety
Steven Soderbergh’s Quibi series has dropped early on the platform. Source: thefutoncritic
Efforts to make the return of the NFL more ambient with fake crowd sounds did not go well. Read: Awful Announcing
The new Google streaming device is expected to debut Sept 30. Source: The Streamable
Hulu has purchased 100 hours of Vice shows. Source: C21
ITV is aiming for Net Zero carbon emissions by 2030. Source: ITV