STEVE CARELL doing FX limited comedy series

A final plot-filled DUNE trailer / Claire Foy as FB's Sheryl Sandberg for new series / New TV & Movies Weekend preview

Oct 8, 2021

Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY October 8, 2021.

Where if you’ve ever met me… you know my fashion acumen 🕺 matches my name spelling ability. But even I know this is a killer cover.

And here’s the link to ADELE’s first big interview piece in the magazine.

AND: I totally just lost half of today’s audience didn’t I?

ALSO: The “Ted Lasso” finale dropped today - for those of you that stuck with the show this year, here’s show co-creator Bill Lawrence’s breakdown of the episode for you in a DEADLINE chat if inclined.

📽 THE SILVER SCREEN

JUST TWO ITEMS

NEON buys US rights to LA porn-biz movie “Pleasure” that played SUNDANCE this year. A24 had bought the rights after SUNDANCE but… apparently had some conflicts over creative cuts to the graphic film regarding a theatrical release. NEON is releasing the full explicit version, Date TBD, Price not disclosed. /Variety
HULU’s “Hellraiser” reboot produced by Clive Barker does the gender switch thing, with Jamie Clayton (“The L Word: Generation Q”) as “Pinhead”. Movie just wrapped shooting. /Variety

📺 THE TV SET

Steve Carell doing limited comedy series at FX

Called “The Patient”, from “The Americans” showrunners Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg. About a psychotherapist who’s held prisoner by a serial killer with 1 request: help him curb his homicidal urges.

10 episodes, no timeline indicated. This is Steve’s third straight TV project after “The Morning Show” and “Space Force”. /THR

Claire Foy playing FACEBOOK’s Sheryl Sandberg in a new series going out to buyers

Called “Doomsday Machine”, using a book called “The Ugly Truth” from 2 NY TIMES reporters as source material.

The show will cover FACEBOOK over the last 5 years, from the 2016 election through the latest bombshells from the whistleblower leak of internal documents in the WSJ.

Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Ayad Akhtar is writing, ANONYMOUS CONTENT (“Mr. Robot”) is producing with WIIP (“Mare of Easttown”), so we’ll see which Network or Streaming service bites. /Deadline

MARVEL developing “WandaVision” spin-off series around Kathryn Hahn’s character

She played “Agatha Harkness” in the show, “Wanda” head writer Jac Schaeffer is doing the writing again here for DISNEY+. /Variety

ALSO IN TV

APPLE TV+ renews “Foundation” for Season 2. Showrunner David S. Goyer has planned out 8 Seasons of the show. I had planned out getting rich by doing a newsletter - hopefully things work out better for David. /THR
HBO SPORTS orders weekly late-night sports show “Game Theory with Bomani Jones”. The ESPN journalist will uh… look at timely issues in sports. Not a lotta details here tbh, other than a 2022 TBD production timeline in NYC, and Adam McKay is an Exec Producer. /Deadline
The FOOD NETWORK and Bobby Flay are parting ways at the end of the year. Mainly because they were very far apart on their negoatiations to renew his contract. /THR
AND Just to finish the week out with a nice promotion - RCA Records promotes Jamie Abzug as new Head of Publicity. She’s been with the company since starting as an assistant in 2004. /Variety

💻 A quiet day in THE MEDIA BIZ

Don’t worry Michael, earnings season is around the corner! via Giphy

Ok Ok - GOOGLE announced they’re going to ban ads from appearing around content denying climate change so… that should fix it. Also good to know this practice was A-OK up until October 2021…. Well make that November 2021 - doesn’t start til next month (will use combo of automated tools and human review to enforce it). Essentially the thinking is if the people posting it can’t make money from it, there will be less of it. /Axios

AND while we’re on GOOGLE, Digital ad prices there and at companies like FACEBOOK and AMAZON have risen so much in 2021, +30% vs 2019 in some cases, during time where things like APPLE’s iOS privacy updates have made the ad tracking worse than ever. This “paying more for less effective advertising” has reminded media buyers to give platforms like good ol TV another look. /Axios

🏦 STOCK NOTES:

Some tech media stocks (TWITTER, SNAP) made back at least some of their losses this week, up about 4% but that was about it.

👩‍💻 THE FSS FEED:

(new Stuff to Watch this weekend, Friday - Saturday - Sunday)

FRIDAY

IN THEATERS:

MGM “No Time to Die” - Only in theaters. And - in our hearts.

STREAMING:

MOVIES

PARAMOUNT+ “Madame X” - Madonna concert movie/documentary, Click Here to Watch or Add to Your List

AMAZON PRIME “Justin Bieber: Our World” docu - Click Here to Watch or Add to Your List

SERIES

PEACOCK “The Amber Ruffin Show” returns

TV:

ABC “Shark Tank” - Season premiere at 8p

SATURDAY

NBC SNL - Kim Kardashian and Halsey

SUNDAY

New “60 Minutes” at 7p on CBS

CBS “The Equalizer” - Season 2 Premieres at 8p with the rest of the Sunday Night lineup

NBC SNF is BILLS vs CHIEFS at 8p

AMC+ “Fear the Walking Dead” - Season 7 hits the AMC streaming service. Will air on AMC next Sunday.

WEEKEND READS

This Will Smith GQ Cover story got a lot of attention this week as it’s a rare interview with “the real Will” for lack of a better positioning, as he lives his “fuck-it 50s”.

Good insider info about the dynamic between the Bobs at DISNEY (Iger & Chapek) during Iger’s 21-month goodbye process from Kim Masters.

If you were sent this newsletter or… just kinda found it:

🎥 TRAILER HOUSE

WB / HBOMAX “Dune” ….one more trailer - Definitely much more plot driven than the other ones. By far. Hits theaters & streaming in 2 weeks, and gotta say kinda surprised WARNER MEDIA’s keeping with the HBOMAX on this after “Shang-Chi” and “Venom” openings. But I guess when you’ve already written the checks… 🤷‍♂️

HBOMAX “What Happened, Brittany Murphy?” trailer - 2 part docu looking into the mysterious situations that led up to her death. Premieres Thu Oct 14

NETFLIX “Sex, Love and goop” trailer - Docu/reality series about couples working with sex therapists to explore eroticism and their sexual relationships with Gwyneth Paltrow. And that’s not how one says that is it? 🤔. The 6 episodes premiere Thu Oct 21

APPLE TV+ “The Afterparty” teaser trailer. The Class of 2006 has a reunion where… one of them is killed. Tiffany Haddish arrives at the Afterparty to investigate, with each episode focusing on an individual character’s POV, “Rashomon” style. And… I should probably clarify this is a comedy series. Sam Richardson, Ike Barinholtz, Ilana Glazer and Dave Franco among some of the classmates. Premieres in Jan TBD.

NETFLIX “FOUND” trailer - Docu about 3 adopted American teen girls who discover they’re blood-related cousins, and head to China together to discover their roots. Premieres Wed Oct 20, also in select theaters

CLARIFICATION

From yesterday - the new Damian Lewis show “A Spy Among Friends” will air on SPECTRUM ON DEMAND here, and BRITBOX UK in… well the UK. BRITBOX US subscribers will not have access.

🎧 PLAYING ME OFF

OLD DOMINION“Walk on Whiskey” - If you loved the Easy-Listening 80s Music style vibes of JOHN MAYER’s “Sob Rock” but were like “Ahhh!! Why can’t a Country act do this and also talk about alcohol??” Today is your day my friend. No? Just me?

From their new Album out today, also booze themed - “Time, Tequila and Therapy”. Disclaimer: Don’t put your drinking and therapy in that order.

Listen to the song here on SPOTIFY

If you need new tunes:

THE WAKEUP Spotify playlist

Email me anytime - just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.

-Sean McNulty

@theseanmac on TWITTER

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or I’m also here on CLUBHOUSE

The Wakeup