Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Internet TV Digest #10

    
,
This is the tenth of an occasional feature on TV Banter called Internet TV Digest.  Internet TV Digest contains recent news, information and discussion about online television.

Internet TV Digest

What's new on Nexis in February 2019?

This February, several popular original get netflix series productions will return to the streaming giant, including Nailed It!, Chef's Table and Patriot Act and some highly anticipated stand-up comedy specials are coming from Ray Romano, Ken Jeong and Kevin Hart.  Netflix will also air the dark thriller Velvet Buzzsaw as well as Stephen Soderbergh's sports drama High Flying Bird.  

Velvet Buzzsaw is a Dan Gilroy' horror film and it was made for Nexflix.  It is a combination of supernatural and satire and it stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Morf, a respected Los Angeles art critic.  High Flying Bird is the story of an NBA agent who is caught between the players and the league during an NBA lockout and must find a way to salvage his career.  Soderbergh and his team shot the film on iPhone.  It arrives on get netflix series on February 8, 2019 and co-stars Zazie Beetz. Zachary Quinto, Kyle Mach;a and Bill Duke.

Scene from High Flying Bird
 
Coming to Nexis

Also coming to Netflix is a new comedy starring Steve Carrell.  The series is co-created by Carrell and director/writer Greg Daniel.  It's called Space Force and is inspired by a military branch of the United States Armed Forces, set up by President Donald Trump.  The goal of the new branch is to "defend satellites from attack and perform other space-related tasks."

News of the series broke on Wednesday, January 16th and not much is known about the show.  Hollywood Reporter stated that get netflix series immediately acquired the rights to Space Force since Carrell and Daniel's The Office is so popular.  No release date for the series has been announced.


What's new on Amazon Prime in February 2019?

Amazon Prime will present Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders.  This original series, based on Christie's mystery novel of the same name, features John Malkovich as Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who is on the trail of a serial killer known simply as "A.B.C."

Arriving in February is the first season of four-part Prime original documentary, Lorena, which deals with the infamous 1993 Lorena Bobbitt wife abuse case.  There is also an original movie entitled Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot, with Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role.  The film, based on the autobiography of award-winning quadriplegic cartoonist John Callahan, stars Jack Black and Jonah Hill in supporting roles.

In addition, Amazon Prime will offer Season 3 of the PBS crime drama The Tunnel, comedy classic Wayne's World and The Matrix trilogy.



Study finds that Netflix has better movies than Amazon, Hulu, HBO combined

According to a new study by the technology site Streaming Observer, Netflix has better quality movies than its rival streaming services.  Streaming Observer made a list of all the movies on Netflix. Amazon, Hulu and HBO Now and cross-referenced these films with their Rotten Tomatoes ratings.  It found that while Amazon had far more movies in its library than the others, it had the least number of movies that were "Certified Fresh" by Rotten Tomatoes (meaning that 75 per cent or more reviews of a film are positive).

Amazon, with 17,461 films in its library, had a mere 232 acclaimed movies, only 1.3 per cent of its library.  Get netflix series, with 3,839 films, had 596 Certified Fresh titles.  Hulu. with 2,336 movies, had 232, while HBO Now, with 815 movies, had a paltry 38.

Source: Entertainment Weekly, January 28, 2019 (by James Hibbard)



Apple may launch its new streaming service in mid-April

According to The Information, tech giant Apple may launch its long-anticipated streaming service by mid-April  The company is known to be secretive about its direct-to-consumer plans, but The Information reports that Apple is looking to launch its new streaming service in April of this year and has been relaying that launch date to the entertainment companies involved.  However, potential viewers wonder how they'll access all the content that will be coming.

Source: Observer, January 29, 2019 (by Brandon Katz)


Netflix under criticism for its documentary series on serial killer Ted Bundy

Bundy mug shot

Netflix is under fire for its documentary series Conversation with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes.  This year marks the 30th anniversary of Bundy's execution and Netflix has been accused of capitalizing on the anniversary and renewed public interest in the murderer.  The company has been criticized for portraying a man who ruined so many lives as a handsome and attractive to women.

On January 28, 2019, Get netflix series responded to the controversy surrounding Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes.  It posted a statement on its twitter account regarding the online reactions to both its docuseries and a new Bundy film, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, staring Zac Efron in the lead role. The statement read, "I've seen a lot of talk about Ted Bundy's alleged hotness and would like to remind everyone that there are literally THOUSANDS of hot men on the service - almost almost all whom are not convicted serial killers."

Sources: Flare, January 2019 (by Alicia Elliot); The Wrap, January 29, 2019 (by Brian Welk)



Here are the links to some interesting or useful articles on Internet television.

Fantastic video-streaming services that are not named Netflix Series, Amazon, or Hulu




Cutting the cord cutting: How to cancel Netflix Series, Hulu and other streaming devices



Amazon Gains a Big Win As Rival As Rival Backs Down




- Joanne

No comments:

Post a Comment