Insights Into Entertainment: Episode 13 “To The Future”

We open with the newest Spiderman: Far From Home trailer (with spoiler warning). Then we jump right into Disney Detective talking about the announcement of new Star Wars and Avatar movies followed by Disney’s attempts to acquire Comcast’s remaining interests in Hulu. In entertainment news we look at Billy Joel turning seventy and we happily announce FX picking up one of our favorite shows “What We Do in the Shadows” for a second season and how well it’s doing in the ratings.  Then we finish up with a couple Insightful Picks of the week.

Transcript

Speaker 1:
0:06
Insightful pocket by informative posts. The sites podcast network. Wow.:
Speaker 2:
0:32
Come to insights into entertainment. A podcast series, taking a deeper look into entertainment and media. Your hosts, Joseph and Michelle Wayland, a husband and wife, team of pop culture, phonetics are exploring all things from music and movies to television and fandom.:
Speaker 3:
0:56
The Spiderman far from home trailer is about to play, but if you haven’t seen a bunch of end game yet stopped watching because there’s some serious spoilers about to come up. But if you have seen Avengers end game, enjoy the trailer. Everywhere I go, I see his face.:
Speaker 4:
1:15
Yeah, mission too.:
Speaker 3:
1:18
I don’t think Tony would have done what he did if he didn’t know that you are going to be here after he was gone. The Goldman next iron man now. Well No, I don’t have time. I’m too busy doing your jobs. Oh, I’m kidding. I’m kidding. Look, keep up the good work because I am going on vacation. ADDS up. Nick, for years calling you. I don’t really want to talk to nick. Here’s why. Because if you don’t talk to them and then I have to talk. I want to talk to them. You sent nick fury to voice mail. I got to go. You do not go sniff theory. Darks. What’s up? We’re just talking about the trip. I’m hearing say Markopolos. I think Mj really likes me as we were when I first done. Hello.:
Speaker 3:
2:06
You’re very difficult person to contact Spiderman. This, this Mister Bey could use someone like you on my world. Your world bic is from Earth. Just not out the snap to our home and our division. Yes. Multipurpose. Yep. To do new are coming with us. It’s gotta be something else. Can you use, what about the war off world? Catchy. Myrtle’s unavailable. I’m just a friendly neighborhood. Spiderman. Bitch, please. You’ve been base. What do you want Peter? Go back on my trip with the girl. You weren’t really liking. Tell her how I feel. Mj. I am Spiderman. No, of course. I mean it’s kind of obvious. You’re right. You may not be ready, but this is my responsibility. Saving the world requires sacrifice. Sometimes people tie, stall. Wish you luck. I put in my friends, Damien, the world needs next iron man. You going to step up or not?:
Speaker 5:
3:34
The guys out of here, we are all in check. I work with Spiderman, Spiderman, Spiderman, not boring.:
Speaker 3:
3:40
Spiderman.:
Speaker 6:
3:46
Welcome to insights in the entertainment. This is episode 13 to the future. And that was the trailer or the new trailer for Spiderman far from home.:
Speaker 7:
3:58
Wow. We intentionally did not watch it beforehand so that we could watch it right before we did this and wow. So that’s impressive.:
Speaker 6:
4:10
So what are your, what are your thoughts on that? Let’s start off with:
Speaker 7:
4:13
Oh, teary-eyed. Oh damn that it looks good. I will say I’m not a huge Spiderman fan. I’ve obviously seen them, you know, throughout the years because you’re a Spiderman fan and you know, your son. It was very much into spider man. Um, so I think that we’re actually a couple in between that I didn’t watch. Um, cause it was kind of one of those, you saw it, you saw it before, you don’t need to, you know, see it again. Um, but that, that was really cool. All that, that looks, you know, I definitely liked the direction that they’re, that they’re going with it. So,:
Speaker 6:
4:54
uh, and it looks like they’re definitely, um, kicking off the new, uh, the new phase two phase. They are, um, keeping with the, that guardians of the galaxy style, humor,:
Speaker 7:
5:12
the humor and seriousness and whatnot. But yeah, you can definitely tell it’s a different, it’s a different Spiderman. Absolutely. Absolutely. Very cool though. Yeah, definitely. Cool.:
Speaker 6:
5:25
So let’s just, uh, run down what we’re going to talk about. We’ve talked about the trailer already, so we’re going to look at a Disney detective where we’ve got some information on some, uh, Star Wars and Avatar sequels, uh, films that have been announced. Then we’ve got some information on Disney, uh, trying to acquire the rest of the rights of Hulu, the move into our entertainment news, a wishing Billy Joel a happy 70th birthday. And then one of our favorite shows on TV currently, um, being renewed, which is fantastic since they haven’t even gone through the whole season, which is nice. Yeah. Uh, then we’ll move right into the bar, insightful picks of the week. So Nice. A straightforward show today and I think we’ll get right into it. Sounds good. Go for Disney to tech.:
Speaker 7:
6:31
So as you mentioned, a Disney did announce the dates for their next three star wars films and for Avatar sequels. Um, so the, uh, three star wars films will begin starting, uh, in 2022, uh, they’re going to take a hiatus between, excuse me, a rise of Skywalker, which actually hits this December. Obviously as everybody. Uh, everybody knows, and if you don’t know, you’ve been living under a rock for a while. Um, the next film is a scheduled for December of 2022. Um, two more films will follow. Nothing’s been announced as to what they are at this point. Um, but Avatar, which they’ve been talking about for a while now, um, those have finally gotten their release dates. Um, there’s actually four seat walls planned for that. Uh, so avatar to, um, was, uh, uh, was bumped from 20 December of 2020 to now, December of 2021. Um, and then Avatar, we’ll kind of alternate dates with star wars. I’m going like every other other year. Um, no titles or plots or anything of, of star wars or, or Avatar films. At this point. Just the, the, the dates right now. So we’ll just have to wait and see.:
Speaker 6:
8:06
So a couple of interesting takeaways today. I get from that one, I hope beyond hope that Ryan Johnson is not handling the new series, first of all.:
Speaker 7:
8:20
I think after everything that he did a beforehand and they kind of yeah.:
Speaker 6:
8:24
After his handling last July. Yeah. I think they kinda, well they had promised him the next three movies, so I hope they don’t follow through with that promise. Um, the other thing is where does this leave the side stories for, right. For Star Wars? Because the way that they were running them with a road one solo, that they were the ones that were alternating, right. Alternating:
Speaker 7:
8:58
regular saga years. So if a avatars taking up that mantle, then are we going to see any more cyber? Not that I mind not seeing side movies after seeing, you know, I want to be a pilot solo. Um, but rogue one we enjoyed rogue one was fantastic and maybe that’s what they’re gonna do. You know, since there’s, you know, the saga will be done. Maybe that’s what the other movies we’ll be, we’ll be more side, you know, movies. I don’t know. That’s entirely possible. I mean, we don’t have any directional on where the new movies are going. So are the right, and maybe it has, it’ll have something to do with how the new series that are coming to Disney plus. Do maybe, you know, if some of those series do really well, maybe some of the movies could be based on, you know, like the Mandalorian maybe they do a full length feature.:
Speaker 7:
10:02
Well, so that comes out of this is they’re not confirming that the next three star wars films are a trilogy. Right. They could just spray three standalone. You can do a princess lamb movie. You could do, could she’s not with us anymore. No. You could do a prequel type of, you know, what happened to her, you know, after how she learned how to fly in space and right. You know, her growing up, kind of like what solo was. Um, but you know, didn’t B didn’t become right. Yeah. I mean, that’s certainly a possibility. Hopefully, uh, as the, as the months where on here, we should get some more information. And you know, I’m sure we won’t get any real announcements on direction and Felix operation or something until it comes, gets closer to, but yeah, celebration would definitely be a good place. I am puzzled where they’re going to go with Avatar.:
Speaker 7:
10:59
I don’t know. You know, given how the last movie and it, how you’re going to somehow manage to squeeze a three or four sequels out of it. I think there’s that much story left as it’s been so long. You know, and this has been my thing from, from the get go and I know that there are die hard fans of Avatar and, and whatnot, but for me it kind of seemed like a one and done and didn’t really need to have anything else shown with it. Um, and I know that there were people that saw it like multiple times and there were people that were so obsessed, you know, and wanted to live in Pandora and, and whatnot. But now it’s, again, it’s been so long, you know, so you know, maybe it’ll be a chance to, you know, boost, you know, the original movie because again, you have, you know, kids that weren’t even alive when the movie originally, you know, came out. So maybe it’s, you know, what happens, you know, maybe a little bit more detail of, you know, what happens after that ended or, you know, again, a prequel type thing. Like what happened before man ended up there. Honestly, it’s been so long. I, I really don’t remember much of the movie.:
Speaker 6:
12:23
Well, I’m going to Avatar land, right. Help that either.:
Speaker 7:
12:28
Right. Right. Because it really didn’t, you know, tell you much about the movie, except there was this, you know, beautiful land and some military people showed up. That was really, you know, really it.:
Speaker 6:
12:43
Okay.:
Speaker 7:
12:44
So next in Disney detectives is Disney could take full control of Hulu. So Disney currently actually owned 70% of Hulu right now. And a Disney CEO confirmed that a preliminary conversation with Comcast, uh, has been going on to possibly purchase the last 30%, uh, on the business side. This means that Disney could expand who Lou into international territories without input from Comcast. Um, and that there’s a good chance that some of the shows that you know, people enjoy right now would actually still remain even though Disney would take over. Um, and part of that, uh, part of the deal, uh, sorry, um, that when a Werner media, which is owned by a t and t sold it’s 10% share to Hulu, the deal came with specific terms regarding licensing contact and the channels, uh, that whose line, uh, kept for their TV service. Um, so pretty much they’re, they’re trying to keep an ongoing relationship, um, with it. So it’ll be interesting to see, since obviously Disney has Disney plus coming and then add in Hulu on, on top of that could be, could be interesting to see.:
Speaker 6:
14:10
Well, and the irony here is that the concern that, um, I think Disney probably has it, they take a full stake in it, then they’re going to lose whatever. Um, content con Comcast is providing when Disney themselves are already talking about pulling their content off some of their content off the put onto their Disney.:
Speaker 7:
14:34
Right, right. So it’s kind of like we have all this stuff. Where do we put it? Do we put it here? So we put there.:
Speaker 6:
14:40
Yeah. So I honestly, I don’t, I don’t if this happens, I don’t see Hulu surviving very long. Um, the way it was originally billed with Disney plus is that the more family friendly stuff from Disney was going to go on:
Speaker 7:
14:57
dry was and all the adult exactly what’s going to stay on a little low. So,:
Speaker 6:
15:02
but, you know, I don’t see what purpose Comcast has or what advantage Comcast sees and selling their 30% stake. I don’t, I don’t see them getting, getting anything right. Uh, and given the, a knockdown drag out fight between Disney and Comcast over the Fox acquisition, I can’t imagine there isn’t some bad blood that’s still there, right between the two of them. Um, to be a battle for a while. Yeah. So, and I think Hulu is going to be the casualty of it. And ultimately the, you know, the consumer is going to be the casualty because Hulu was that nice foot in the door to the cord cutters to get away from your cable company. Um, and I, and I honestly think that Comcast would probably be, from a business perspective standpoint, they’d probably feel much better having Hulu go away cause who was a huge, you know, competition with their, their standard or traditional cable business. Right. Right. So she’ll be interesting to see how that pans out. So on two hour entertainment news.:
Speaker 8:
16:22
Yeah.:
Speaker 7:
16:26
So one of our favorite musicians, uh, we realized, uh, turn 70 this past Thursday. Um, and that is Billy Joel. Um, he’s probably the artists that I’ve seen most in concert and I’m guessing you probably have now too, since, uh, since we’ve been together.:
Speaker 6:
16:50
Yeah. Billy Joel and I think the eagles are probably the two we’ve seen the most.:
Speaker 7:
16:54
Right, right. Uh, so he turns 70, like I said, on Thursday, uh, he told rolling stone about his special day and you know, talked about how he’s still being active, um, in his career and life. And he said that he actually had mixed feelings because he was scheduled to play Madison Square Garden on his birthday. So you said on the one hand, I’m happy to be alive. And on the other hand, I don’t know how much of a party I deserve just for making it to 70. I mean, it’s a work night. You can’t have cake, you can’t do anything else because it’s a work too. Yeah. I said that it’s, you know, kind of a Peter pan kind of job. You start out, you’re young, you’re rocking and rolling and that’s what you do all your life. You become a little a myopic about how old you actually are.:
Speaker 7:
17:42
A, he said when he, you know, looks at photos of himself cause that just, you know, doesn’t look right. Know I got old, I lost my hair, you know. Uh, he said, you know, that he was a never, he was never a matinee idol to begin with. And uh, when he’s on stage, he’s still doing the same job that he’s been doing since he was 16. Um, so it’s, you know, it’s, it’s amazing to think, you know, how some performers, you know, they hit that, you know, a certain part of their life and they just, you know, stop recording and stop, stop performing. But he’s constantly, you know, on tour, you know, whether or not he’s taking a couple of months off, you know, every year it seems, hey look, Billy Joel’s back in in concert. And it’s always a great performance. You know, cause we’ve seen him, you know, we haven’t seen him every year that he’s come to town. You know, we see him every couple of years and still a great performer.:
Speaker 6:
18:42
Yeah. He, he puts on a great show and, and you know, there’s certain songs that he has to do because he’s Billy Joel. But what I always loved about his concerts is he always changes it up. There’s certain, it’s a, it’s a formulaic approach to doing concerts, but he’s always changing the variables in there. So you’d never see the same concert twice a matter of how many times.:
Speaker 7:
19:05
Yeah. That is true. And I think that’s why so many people go back and see him over and over again.:
Speaker 6:
19:11
I, the one thing that I love about Billy Joel is he keeps it real. Like even in this interview at rolling stones, you know, he says for me to try and look like a movie star would be ridiculous. I’ve always been a shlubby looking guy and I in about the change because they were, they were asking him about plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery and stuff and you’re like, no, this is, I am what I am. You know. Uh, he does, he does have a cute little, uh, anecdote here where his two youngest kid, I mean he’s 70, right? There’s two youngest kids are three and one. Right? Uh, and he talks about, you know, dropping the kids off at daycare and he says, you know, the difference now is that people think on their grandfather. He says, uh, you know, I take her to school and, and one of the other parents would go, oh your granddaughter, so cute. And he’ll just say, yeah, okay, thanks.:
Speaker 7:
20:01
Obviously we don’t even realize that it’s Billy Joel. Cause I’m guessing if they realize that it was him,:
Speaker 6:
20:07
they quit. They wouldn’t know. Right. But it’s really his, his kids. So, but yeah. Um, Billy Joel was is 70 and he’s still rocking.:
Speaker 7:
20:16
Can alarm. Yeah. He’s actually going to be in Philly in two weeks, I believe. So:
Speaker 6:
20:20
he was actually, like you mentioned in this article, he was at Madison Square Garden for his birthday and his daughters, all three of them came out on stage to sing him happy birthday. Oh, how sweet. Which was very cute. So happy birthday to Billy Joel. Happy Birthday. So next up we’ve got what dear? So:
Speaker 7:
20:46
in our final story in our entertainment section, uh, was news of one of our favorite shows as you mentioned, being renewed for season two and it is what we do in the shadows, which is on Fx. Um, that was one of my insightful picks, um, a couple of weeks ago. So we were very happy to hear that while the season is still, uh, going on, uh, that it was renewed for a second one, a season two, we’ll debut in 2020. Um, an episode count hasn’t been released yet. Um, but today what we do in the shadows ranks in the top five among 34 cable comedy series, including, uh, adults between the ages of 18 and 49. Um, so across all platforms and airings the first five episodes of average, an average audience of 2.8 1 million viewers. So that’s pretty impressive for this little show that’s on Fx. Yeah. And you know, it was really originated from a quirky little cult movies that got a following and we kind of stumbled.:
Speaker 7:
21:58
We just, yeah, we didn’t even know about it. It was just kind of one of those nights of scrolling through and looking for something to watch. It was like, hmm, what’s this? You know? And it totally wasn’t what I was expecting it today. Uh, you know, paying ourselves laughing. Oh my God. Yeah. The movie was hysterical. And then when we found out about the show, it was like, oh my God, this is awesome. And it’s nice because it’s not, you don’t have to have watched the movie to watch the series. It is a complete stand alone. You know, there’s certain quirky things that, you know, it’s done in the same style, right. With the same premise, the differences, the, the plotlines of the shower. We’re completely independent of the movie. Right, right. I would definitely recommend seeing the movies still. Oh absolutely. Yeah. The movie Wa was, was hysterical.:
Speaker 7:
22:53
You know, so it, it’s just a really funny take on if vampire’s we’re living in our modern world and just had no idea how, you know, with the documentary crew following them around and, you know, sometimes casualties happen and there, oops, sorry. We’ll get you somebody else. You know, and, and the different types of vampires that they are, you know, that are there and how, you know, certain ones, you know, we’re able to, uh, you know, assimilate a little bit better than, than others. And you know, just really kind of, it is worth mentioning that it’s only a half hour show, which three episodes in, we finally discovered a really fast, because of course we would watch it, you know, the, the next night, you know, cause again, we don’t usually watch live television. And after a couple of verses were like, wow, that that hour went by really quick and then we had dawned on us that it was only a half hour. Oh no wonder.:
Speaker 6:
23:58
So good to see they’re there. They’re definitely bringing that back. That’s a good show. And I think that was all we had for entertainment yesterday. That’s it for today. So we will move right into our insightful picks of the week.:
Speaker 8:
24:16
Okay.:
Speaker 6:
24:19
And I go to you my dear.:
Speaker 7:
24:20
So after my long hiatus of not talking about a Netflix show, I have a Netflix show because I was getting, we were getting letters from Netflix Netflixing during neglecting them. Hey, we’re going to delete our account. So, um, this is actually a show that has been, I’ve seen advertisements for all over the place. Various people, you know, friends on social media have been talking about it. I’ve even seen regular commercials on TV for it. Um, and you, I mentioned it to you and I said, why don’t we start watching this one together? And you said, okay, and you actually enjoy it as well. And it is the net fuck show dead to me.:
Speaker 6:
25:04
Watching it of course means it’ll be canceling.:
Speaker 7:
25:06
No, no, it’s not going to because too many people like it. Fortunately, you know, fortunately for all the other shows that I would always have you watch, I guess the as many people were, were watching it. Um, so it’s a dark comedy. Um, so there’s some, some, some intense scenes, you know, but yet there’s some, some funny scenes. So the premise behind the show is that Jen’s husband has recently died in a hit and run and she is determined to solve the crime. Um, she kind of runs into an optimistic free spirit who has also suffered a tragic loss of her own. And they actually meet at a support group. And despite their polar opposite, opposite personalities, they become friends. Um, as the women bond over bottles of wine and they’re shared affinity for the facts of life. Judy, the Quirky, free spirit, uh, tries to shield Jen from a shocking secret that could destroy her life as she knows it. So the dark comedy, which explores the weirdly funny sides of grief loss and forgiveness features a really great cast. Um, it stars Christina Applegate, ed Asner is in it. Um, and it’s just, you know, overall it’s, it’s one of those shows were not done with the season yet. I think we’re on episode eight. Um, but every episode it’s a little less than an hour, probably 35, 40 minutes, but every episode gives you just enough of a carrot to keep you coming back for the next, the next episode, very well written.:
Speaker 6:
26:45
Um, and it’s paced exceedingly well. You feel there’s this natural progression to some kind of season ending conclusion, but you don’t feel like there’s any one particular show that’s just a throwaway episode,:
Speaker 7:
27:00
right? Every episode, there’s something that’s revealed right, that you need to know before going forward. Um, and it’s always that little, you know, and sometimes it’s this little snippet of something, sometimes it’s a little bit bigger of a reveal, but it’s always that oh moment that, that you get.:
Speaker 6:
27:20
It’s not, it’s not written like most of your, you know, dramatic comedies are, it’s, it’s sort of a, I don’t know, I want to say almost out of sequence type, you know, stepping outside that regular formula of how these things should be written. Right. And it keeps you not guessing, but looking around the next corner, you know? Right, right. You kind of expect the next thing, the drop and what drops, isn’t it,:
Speaker 7:
27:47
what you were expecting at all. You, you expect, yeah. You expect one thing to happen and then something completely different happens and, and totally catches you off guard.:
Speaker 6:
27:58
Do a very good job pulling you as a viewer into the show with, with that technique. And it’s very well written.:
Speaker 7:
28:05
Yeah. So I’m thinking that probably by the weekend we will end up bingeing the last three or four episodes and,:
Speaker 6:
28:13
and being done. Yeah. And then we’ll find something else that I could watch it. They’ll cancel. Good pick though, dear. Thank you.:
Speaker 8:
28:27
Yeah,:
Speaker 6:
28:29
so my pick of the week is uh, uh, another television show. This one is on the vice channel and it is called dark side of the ring. Um, the Synopsis, The published Synopsis is from backstage controversies to mysterious deaths and unsolved homicides. The series explores a darkest stories from the golden age of professional wrestling and tries to find truth at the intersection of fantasy and reality. Uh, it’s narrated by a Dutch man towel featuring interviews and input from Bruce Pritchard, Aka brother love from wrestling fame, uh, Jim Cornet, Jake the snake Roberts, Scott Hall, Eric Bitch off, and a number of other, uh, golden age, um, wrestling celebrities. Uh, it’s currently in season one. There were five episodes so far in it, and this is done in a style of an investigative documentary. Um, it uses stock footage and have past matches, uh, interviews and reenactments, um, in each episode to recount the history and, and sometimes a healthy dose of speculation surrounding some of the darker episodes of professional wrestling.:
Speaker 6:
29:49
Um, they started out with, you know, the story of Macho man, Randy Savage, and they go through to the death of serious death of, uh, Gino Hernandez. I’m the show does a very good job of, you know, pulling back that veil that, that covers professional wrestling. I used to be a huge wrestling Shane as a kid. Um, and a lot of the stories that they’re telling here are of people that I used to watch herself, um, get to see it as a different perspective that from when you were yeah. Yeah you do. And uh, you know, it, it, it pulls, it lets you take a peek behind the scenes of what’s been described as the male version of a soap opera professional arrest. Um, it’s a dark show, I have to say. No, it’s considering the subject matter that they’re talking about. Most of this, of the topics that they discuss are, uh, you know, the seedy side of wrestling.:
Speaker 6:
30:56
So under belly of the beast, pretty much. Yeah. I mean if you’re a true blue believer in wrestling is real and it’s not sports entertainment and you know, it’s a real competitive thing. This probably isn’t the show for you cause it’s, it’s your, it’s going to shatter your, your image of wrestling. But if you’re the type of person, like I always was, who loves to know the backstory, loves to know who these wrestlers really are. In one of the interviews, um, and one of the episodes there talking to Jake, the snake Roberts who I used to love watch Russell and they say, you know, this Jake, the snake have problems when he says no, Jake, the snake doesn’t have problems but are really in Smith who he is his real name. He had problems with drugs and alcohol and this and that. Um, so they see there’s there the wrestling personas as actual characters, which they are.:
Speaker 6:
31:55
So they, they could separate the tip. Yes, yes. Um, some, some RESAs. I mean if you, if you look at the, if you’re watching the show itself, you’ll see some wrestlers have a very difficult time separating the wrestling personas from the real personas. And that’s where it tends to lead to real problems where these guys see themselves in real life as the image they’re portraying in the ring. And it’s an unrealistic scenario. You know, you, you put these expectations on yourself thinking this is how you really are and it’s an impossible image to live up to. So, um, dark side of the ring, like I said, his own vice, um, check your local listings and channel, uh, guides for air times cause they are at different times in different regions. Very cool. And that is my insightful pick of the week. Good job. And I think we are done today. I think we are. Thank you my dear for your time. As always, a pleasure. And we are recording this mother’s Day weekend, so happy mother’s Day, dear. Thank you. And uh, we’ll be back next week with another great podcast. Have a great week everyone and have a great week.: