They had me at the opening reference to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Read the rest

Mitch Wagner writes, "Omniverse CEO Jason DeMeo says a piracy lawsuit against his streaming TV service is full of crap. Omniverse faces piracy litigation from an alliance of content companies. But DeMeo says his company has a mind-blowing 100-year deal that allows it to stream TV channels over the Internet. Looks like somebody more than 25 years ago may have traded the crown jewels for a handful of beans, and Omniverse is enjoying the benefit today." Read the rest

Coming to Finnish and British TV this spring—and hopefully soon to the U.S. too.

MOOMINVALLEY [YouTube] is a brand new adaptation of the much-loved Moomin stories of Tove Jansson, a Finnish-Swedish writer and artist whose books have been translated into over 50 languages. Directed to a family primetime audience, the drama fantasy series is full of life and laughter for lifelong Moomin fans and complete newcomers alike.

The English-language cast is spectacular: Matt Berry, Rosamund Pike, Richard Ayoade, Will Self, Warwick Davis, Kate Winslet, Akiya Kenry, and starring Taron Egerton as Moonintroll. Read the rest

In 1994, Ikea ran this television commercial in major East Coast US markets. (Interestingly, the commercial's art director was Patrick O'Neill who went on to be Chief Creative Officer at everyone's favorite Silicon Valley start-up disaster Theranos!)

From a 1994 article in the Los Angeles Times:

A few East Coast Ikea stores have been targeted by angry protesters who have jammed phone lines since last week. One store in Hicksville, N.Y., was briefly evacuated last week after a bomb scare. No bomb was found.

At issue is the homosexual relationship between the two men in the Ikea ad, who talk about how buying the dining room table together shows their commitment to each other. If it becomes clear to other major marketers that Ikea's business is not harmed--and perhaps even helped--by the ad, it could profoundly affect the way major advertisers speak to gays and lesbians.

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I've really been enjoying the new 'MythBusters Jr', Adam Savage's new science exploration show featuring... kids. Really smart awesome talented kids.

Adam Savage will be Tweeting live during tonight's two premiere episodes, and they start airing an hour early (at 8 pm ET) for parents with wee ones. Read the rest

Robert Ray Shafer who played Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration on the US version of The Office apparently posted the below to his Facebook page confirming a documentary in production about the beloved show. Of course this will be a documentary about a mockumentary. According to this Facebook post, the documentary "That's What She Said (And They Said Too)" is expected to be premiere on the show's 15th anniversary in 2020. (via r/DunderMifflin)

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David Lynch has directed many television commercials but this one from 1993 for Adidas, titled "The Wall," gives any surreal perfume commercials (including Lynch's own) a run for their money. (See what I did there?) You can find a directory and clips of Lynch's other commercial, ad, and promo work here.

(via r/ObscureMedia)

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Once again, Comcast is repeating its annual tradition of hiking "broadcast TV" and "regional sports network" hidden fees at a rate far above inflation, typically raising them from $14.50 to $18.25/month, rise of about 25%. Read the rest

During the 2018 Emmys, Director Glenn Weiss proposed to his girlfriend Jen. Read the rest

The first season of True Detective was a sensation, arguably qualifying as some of the best television of all time. The show's second season? Not so much. Read the rest

I'm headed to DC to sit down in studio with BookTV's "In Depth" on August 5; it'll air live on Aug 5 at 12PM Eastern/9AM Pacific and be repeated on August 6 at 12AM Eastern/(9PM Pacific on Aug 5) and on Aug 11 at 9AM Eastern/6AM Pacific. It's a phone-in! Read the rest

Samsung's new QLED TV comes with configuration option: take a picture of the wall behind it before you hang it up and it will use it as a background wallpaper, drawing UI widgets (like weather display, etc) overtop of it, creating the hi-rez illusion that your TV has disappeared, leaving nothing behind but the bezel. Hard to get it aligned properly, and probably a config option on most TVs (but buried 11 menus deep and just advertised as "set wallpaper" rather than "make TV vanish"). (via Red Ferret) Read the rest

Deadwood fans have been teased by rumors and malarkey about a final season or a movie that would tie up the loose ends of the series, for years.

Back in 2015, the whispers about a Deadwood movie going into production grew from whispers to a quiet mumble. Then, in 2017, Deadwood creator David Milch said that he'd completed a script that'd appeal to the show's followers and new viewers alike. Fast forward one more year to 2018: a whole twelve years after the last episode of season three went to air. According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO has finally announced that production on a Deadwood movie will start this October. Tell your God to prepare for blood!

If you're not familiar with the show, love blood, excellent writing, complex characters and dark humor, you need to get on it. During its three-season run, Deadwood chalked up eight Emmy Awards for its portrayal of the life and drama surrounding the citizens of Deadwood, South Dakota in the 1870s. While the show's roots are rooted in the Old West, at a time when outlaws and gunfighters still held sway, the story lines covered over the series' 36 episodes are more Shakespearean in scope than Spaghetti Western.

If Deadwood sounds like your thing, you're in luck: it's currently streaming on HBO Go, Amazon Prime Video, and can be bought outright on iTunes, Google Play or as a DVD or Blu-ray box set from Amazon for under $50. Image via HBO Read the rest

Marc Zicree (writer on Star Trek:TNG, DS9 and more) and friends are kickstarting another volume in their enormously successful fan-funded, "retro and stylish" Space Command science fiction show. Read the rest

There's a long history of TV programs that exploit the personal struggles of individuals for ratings. Now there's a new game show that tackles the student loan crisis. Like its predecessors in this genre, it's bad. Read the rest

Ambien manufacturer Sanofi issued a masterfully worded public statement on Wednesday in response to recently-fired ABC TV star Roseanne Barr's latest Twitter meltdown.

In a series of wackadoodle tweets she posted late last night, 'Roseanne' blamed Sanofi's prescription sleep medication for the racist tweets that got her eponymous show canceled. Read the rest

I’d like to share a project I’m working on that could have an impact on your future freedoms in the digital age. It’s an open video development board I call NeTV2.