Bandersnatch, the rumored Black Mirror interactive movie, is rumored to be dropping on 28 December.
Bandersnatch is reportedly 90 minutes long, but there’s 312 minutes of interactive footage, which allows viewers to dictate the events of the film.
I’m fascinated by the launch of an interactive movie on Netflix. It seems like a cool, fun thing for Netflix to do, but the execution of this will be very interesting - keep in mind that Netflix is available on a very broad number of platforms, each with their own specific technologies and user interfaces. Will Bandersnatch be available on EVERY Netflix platform?
Jack Black is now a YouTube star. Well, he has a channel. And that channel has more views than YOUR YouTube channel.
Do you want to read the smartest interview you’ll read in 2018 with two of TV’s most distinct creative voices? Matt Zoller Seitz has a great interview with The Marvelous Mrs Maisel writer/directors Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino where the two discuss the many visual choices made in directing the visually ambitious comedy series.
We get asked a lot, “Does it bother you that it’s just perceived as a feel-good show?” There’s an implication that, because the show has such a positive energy and our character is a joyous, bustle-through-life kind of gal, that there’s no depth, and that unless a comedy makes you want to stick a shiv in your eye at the end, it’s not art. Our feeling is (a) It’s supposed to be a comedy. You are supposed to laugh at it. That’s inherently what’s supposed to happen in a comedy. And (b) Just just because it looks beautiful, because it’s got musicality to it, because it’s funny and basically sweet, I don’t understand why that should be consider less artful.
You know, we’re giant Atlanta fans. We love Atlanta. But it’s tonally a completely different show from ours, with a completely different kind of story to tell. I do think that some people think of this show as “Oh, it’s the thing we need right now,” which is great. I need wine right now. And I will have some after I hang up. But this show is very carefully researched, and a lot of highly skilled artisans work in every area, from our costumes to our sets and our cinematography to our special effects and our actors.
I’ll admit that I missed entirely that Yoko Ono was a character in that one episode.
I recently interviewed Lizzy Caplan for her new TV drama Das Boot on the SBS podcast The Playlist, which I am guest co-hosting this week and next.
Apparently the Friends cast are still making $20 million a year from the show, thanks to a lucrative renegotiation of their deal midway through the series run.
If you find value in the Always Be Watching newsletter, which usually takes about an hour every morning to put together, maybe considering chucking a few coins in the collection jar each month with a subscription. The newsletter will continue to be free, but subscriptions help justify me doing this every day.
There’s a funny conversation on Twitter this week with people discovering that the movie within the movie Home Alone is not actually a real film. In it, Kevin is obsessed with an old gangster pic Angels With Filthy Faces, which is a parody of the James Cagney flick Angels With Dirty Faces.
There’s a great quiet joke in Home Alone 2 with Kevin watching its sequel, Angels With Even Dirtier Faces.
Better though, is this Sesame Street parody.
Decider has this great list of (US) shows that you probably missed (or, likely, have never heard of) in 2018. There are a few in there I wasn’t across in any way.
And finally…
Call The Midwife got THE Santa Claus to guest star in its Christmas special. You’re right - there really isn’t much to talk about this week.
