One thing a number of people noted by the trailer for The Mandalorian is how much it looked like a feature film. The reality of the show will be that it will likely feel fairly traditional with occasional large set pieces that lean hard on spectacle.
But… that trailer does play like a movie. And it is intentional. This is the dawn of TV as spectacle.
Brian Lowry at CNN:
Even so, most superhero and sci-fi fare targeted to television has taken into account the differences between movies and TV, with Netflix's Marvel shows, such as "Daredevil" and "Jessica Jones," having put more emphasis on drama than action and special effects.
Several new series, by contrast, appear to up the ante in that regard, including "The Mandalorian," Netflix's upcoming "The Witcher" -- starring Superman actor Henry Cavill -- and a long-gestating Amazon series based on "The Lord of the Rings."
Source: CNN
American Horror Story has a trailer for its 9th season - inspired by 80s slasher films.
Peaky Blinders returned in the UK for its 5th season with a massive ratings uptick. The show, which had previously aired on BBC Two, made the move to BBC One and comfortably won the 9PM slot with a 22.8 share, and peaked at 4M viewers. That’s up on the season 4 series return at 2.3M viewers. What a difference a channel makes.
Reminding us that you can take the boy out of Brunswick, but you can’t take the Brunswick out of the boy, there’s a fun look back at Australian comedy Acropolis Now with Nick Giannopoulos reflecting back on making the show. Here he is talking about the creation of fan-favourite Effie:
Giannopoulos said he and the cast wanted Effie to make an entrance like Fonzie in Happy Days, and that’s exactly what happened.
“Mary and wardrobe came up with the idea of making her hair bigger because Mary had been going out and all of the girls in Melbourne back then had been teasing up their hair,” Giannopoulos said.
“For some reason they all had that high bouffant hair. I will never forget it.
“I went and did my make-up for the next episode she was in, and there is Mary sitting there in the chair and I couldn’t stop laughing.
“The hair was getting higher and higher and she was becoming funnier and funnier.
“Mary, being the wonderful comedian that she is, just kept pushing them and wanted to go bigger.”
Source: News.com.au
Eddie Murphy will return to SNL as a host on Dec 21. Notable as it is the first time he’s been there as a host since 1984.
Source: Indiewire
In the new trailer for Briarpatch, a series created for TV by Andy Greenwald (one of the co-hosts of TV culture podcast The Watch), Rosario Dawson is one scene away from asking: “Am I a good man?”
John Pankow and Richard Kind will be back for the Mad About You revival series. The announcement has me curious about returns from Leila Kenzle, who played Fran, and Anne Ramsay who played Lisa. I’d be very much okay without any appearances from the actors who played the parents (those that are still with us), though it’d be remiss if they can’t get in an appearance or two by Jerry Adler who played the building superintendent. He’s 90 years old and still working - recently on Transparent and The Good Fight.
Source: Deadline
Weathering With You has been chosen to represent Japan as its entrant as Best Feature Film for the International category in the 2020 Oscars. It’s currently playing in Australian cinemas (with a North American release on the horizon). I caught it on the weekend and it’s really pretty darn good. Worth a trip to the movies.
Source: Deadline
A trailer for one of Apple TV+’s originals has dropped. This is for Dickinson, starring Hailee Steinfeld as 19th century writer and poet Emily Dickinson.
