Internet TV Digest #14

    

This is the 14th 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 coming to Netflix 

March 2020 will see the arrival of Season 3 of Jason Batman's acclaimed crime drama Ozark. It will be available on Netflix on March 27.  Season 3 of  the popular comedy-drama On My Block will be available on March 11.  Season 3 of the Spanish language teen series Elite will be available on March 13.  Season 2 of the Korean  horror-thriller Kingdom will be available on March 13. and Season 3 of the supernatural animated hit series Castlevania on March 5.

 Academy Award-winner Octavia Spenser stars in Self Made, a four-part limited series about Madam C.J. Walker, an African American entrepreneur who built a haircare empire selling products for Black women (available March 20).  The series also stars Blair Underwood as her husband, C.J. Walker.

Blair Underwood and Olivia Spenser in Self Made

Season 2 of the fantasy series The Witcher is set to go in production mode and is expected to air in mid-2021.  Based on the Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher stars Henry Cavill as mutated monster hunter Geralt of Rivia.  Its eight-episode first season of the series consists of "monster of the week" tales that usually end with a twist

SOURCES: What's on Netflix; Digital Weekly


Amazon Prime series "Hunters" criticized for historical inaccuracy

The Amazon Prime series Hunters came under fire from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memoral.  The series stars Al Pacino as the leader of a band of Nazi hunters in 1970s New York who discover that hundred of escaped Nazis are living in the United States.  It depicts fictional atrocities occurring in Nazi death camps, such a game of human chess which people are killed when pieces are removed from the board.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memoral, an organization which represents the former Nazi concentration camp, stated: "We honor the victims by preserving factual accuracy."

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times


HBO Max, WarnerMedia's new streaming service, is coming to YouTube TV 

On February 20, 2020, Warner Media and YouTube TV announced a distribution deal.  The deal means that HBO and Cinemax will be coming to YouTube TV for the first time, as well as WarnerMedia's new service, HBO Max.  HBO Max will be launched this May at a cost of $14.99 a month for subscribers.

YouTube TV subscribers will have a choice between adding on either HBO or Cinemax to their current subscription or alternate streaming services such as Hulu.  They will also be able choose HBO Max's expanded streaming service instead.

In addition, the agreement will permit YouTube TV to continue streaming WarnerMedia networks TBS, TNT, truTV, CNN, HLN, Turner Classic Movies, Adult Swim and Cartoon Network, which have been available on the Google-owned live streaming service since 2018.

HBO Max is a direct-to-consumer streaming service.  It includes the HBO Library, Warner Brothers films and 31 Max Originals.  In tandem with HBO, HBO Max will stream a total of 69 originals in its initial year

The much-anticipated Friends reunion will air on HBO Max.  The original cast (Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow , Matt Leblanc and David Schwimmer) will participate in this special when it debuts in May.

SOURCES: techlaunch.com, "Warner Media's new streaming service, HBO Max is coming to YouTube TV, along with HBO & Cinemax;" The Associated Press


Netflix series raises questions about murder of Malcolm X

Malcolm X

Who Killed Malcolm X?, a Netflix documentary series about the assassination of the American civil rights activist, has resulted in a reinvestigation of the 55-year-old case. On February 7, 2020, following the premiere of the six-part series, Manhattan Distict Attorney Cy Vance announced that his office intends to review the circumstances surrounding the February 22, 1965 killing of Malcolm X, moments before he was to speak at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City.

The series takes issue with the narrative that convicted three men for the murder of Malcolm X (One of the three men has admitted his guilt, but claims that the other two are innocent).  The documentary series postulates that four members of a Nation of Islam mosque in Newark, New Jersey were involved in the assassination.

SOURCES: Independent; Time Magazine


Netflix launches Top Ten Lists

Netflix has provided its viewers with more data on the popularity of its television show and films.  On February 24, 2020, Netflix launched a Top Ten feature on its home page.  The Top Ten row is updated each day with the most popular titles within a subscriber's country.  The position of the row changes to reflect the subscriber's interest in specific shows and movies.  The subscriber is provided with a better sense of what's trending by clicking the tabs of movies and TV shows in order to find top ten lists for each particular category.

Netflix began experimenting with top ten lists last year in the United Kingdom and Mexico.

SOURCE: The Verge


- Joanne