> 'Skelton Crew' stars Jude Law and is from Jon Watts, the filmmaker behind Tom Holland’s recent trilogy of Spider-Man films. It centers on a group of kids lost in the galaxy, trying to find their way home. The series is executive produced by The Mandalorian masterminds Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. It is set in the New Republic era of Star Wars storytelling.

> The good news about this new thriller, Rabbit Hole, is that it isn’t a million miles away from 24. Kiefer Sutherland plays John Weir, a corporate espionage expert who finds himself neck-deep in an enormous conspiracy. There are shadowy figures. There are characters guided through high-tension situations while wearing earpieces. There are moments where Kiefer Sutherland sees something catastrophic about to happen, but is too far away to stop it, so he just shouts “NO!”, and then it happens anyway. This is well-worn territory but, God, I want it fed to me like peeled grapes to a Roman emperor.

> And there’s a version of Rabbit Hole where this is all that happens. It’s Kiefer Sutherland granite-jawed, lurching from crisis to crisis, singlehandedly trying to stave off disaster. The first episode certainly comes close to achieving that. Weir is essentially a paranoid spy who knows that someone is on to him, and he spends much of the episode shooting concerned glances into his rearview mirror. As it unfolds, you can feel yourself relaxing into it, the same way you’d relax into any old-fashioned network drama about a tough yet compromised protagonist. However – and I’m going to try my best to avoid spoilers – Rabbit Hole then turns on a dime and becomes completely and irreparably loopy.

> Sutherland finishes the first episode pinballing between so many absurd cataclysms that it starts to feel like a prestige drama version of Mr Bean. There had been hints at this from the start – the cold open ends with Sutherland in confession, barking: “God? Maybe he can tell me WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!!!” at what must presumably be a particularly disconcerted priest – but this is the point where the loopiness ramps up beyond all comprehension. And you know what? It’s great.

> This is largely because – unlike 24, where all the stupid stuff happened because that show chewed up ideas like a threshing machine – Rabbit Hole seems to be doing all this purely for fun. There is an unmistakeable lightness here amid all the disaster. Sutherland’s Weir isn’t a fully fledged hero. He’s too frustrated and befuddled for that. He bickers. He wisecracks. He loses fights with teenage skateboarders. As such, Sutherland appears to be enjoying himself. And when, aside from that video of him flinging himself into a Christmas tree, has anyone ever been able to say that?

> It helps that he’s surrounded by an incredibly game cast. Charles Dance (playing a character you’ll quickly be able to figure out thanks to some impressive flashback prosthetic work) is just as up for having fun as Sutherland. But what really supercharges the show is Meta Golding, an actor so far best known for a very small role in the Hunger Games films. Golding is astonishing here. Her character falls somewhere between “hostage” and “love interest”, which sounds wildly problematic on paper. But she plays it with such motormouthed ferocity that she pretty much walks away with every scene she’s in. Neither Sutherland nor Dance have ever had this much chemistry with another actor. She’s a real discovery.

> Bob Odenkirk could find himself in the rare Emmy air this year. AMC will submit Odenkirk’s new series, “Lucky Hank,” in comedy categories for this year’s Emmy competition, Variety has confirmed.

> Of course, AMC is also submitting the final episodes of Odenkirk’s “Better Call Saul” in the drama fields. Should Odenkirk be nominated in both the best drama actor and best comedy actor races, he would become the first performer in history to be nominated in both genres in the same year.

They should rename the service Apple S+

"The US Marshals service fell victim to a ransomware security breach this month that compromised sensitive law enforcement information, a spokesperson said on Monday.

The federal agency which is perhaps best known for its work in tracking down and capturing fugitives wanted by law enforcement notified the US government of the breach, and agents there began a forensic investigation, the chief of the Marshals’ public affairs office, Drew Wade, told Reuters in a statement.

“The affected system contains law enforcement sensitive information, including returns from legal process, administrative information and personally identifiable information pertaining to subjects of USMS investigations, third parties and certain USMS employees,” Wade said to Reuters.

The cyber-attack took place on 17 February, when the agency “discovered a ransomware and data exfiltration event affecting a stand-alone [Marshals] system”, after which the system was disconnected from the network, Wade said.

The Marshals service is part of the US justice department. Besides its work with fugitives, it also provides security at federal courthouses across the country, among other duties."

Might be a good time to call in the Eraser!

Primetime Total Viewers:

1. Fox News averaged 2.26 million total viewers in primetime, down 14% from a year earlier.

2. MSNBC averaged 1.17 million viewers, down 2%,

3. CNN averaged 587,000, down 24%.

25-54 Demo:

1. Fox News averaged 299,000, down 33%

2. CNN averaged 122,000, down 42%

3. MSNBC averaged 119,000, off by 15%.

> In Matlock, written by Jane the Virgin creator Urman and inspired by the classic TV series starring Andy Griffith, after achieving success in her younger years, the brilliant septuagenarian Madeline Matlock (Bates) rejoins the work force at a prestigious law firm where she uses her unassuming demeanor and wily tactics to win cases and expose corruption from within.

> Andy Griffith starred as the folksy lawyer on the original Matlock, which ran for six seasons on NBC and then another three seasons on ABC.

Kathy Bates is a great actress, so I’m going to check this out. But this constant gender-swapping the past couple years really shows the lack of any creativity in Hollywood.

If they can’t come up with new interesting female characters, then they should remake/revive female-lead TV shows like ‘Alias’ , ‘Charlie's Angels’, ‘Murder, She Wrote’, ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’, ‘Damages’, ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’, ‘Dark Angel’, ‘The Bionic Woman’, and ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’

Well, he may need it for his afterlife journey through Duat, the Egyptian underworld!

> it's already as creative as a network exec.

🤣🤣🤣

Despite media hyperbole surrounding ChatGPT/Bing, They’re not true AIs aka conscious machines. Their responses are based on predefined parameters set by their human programmers.

An AI like HAL 9000 is still far in the future.

> The robots won’t take over Hollywood if the WGA has anything to do with it.

> One of the most interesting demands set out in the guild’s Pattern of Demands, which was unveiled earlier today, was the idea of regulating AI.

> Or as the WGA put it, “Regulate use of material produced using artificial intelligence or similar technologies”.

> A few years ago, it would have seemed crazy that AI would be able to replicate the work of TV and film writers. However, the rise of ChatGPT and other services, has shown that it might be closer than ever.

> For instance, I asked ChatGPT if it had a pitch for a reboot of AMC’s Mad Men.

> “Mad Men is back and better than ever. This time, the show takes place in the modern day, following a cast of characters as they navigate life in the cutthroat advertising industry of the 21st century. Our main protagonist is a new creative director at a major ad agency, and she’s determined to make her mark in the industry. Along the way, she’ll have to contend with the old-school, male-dominated corporate culture, as well as a new generation of ambitious millennials. With stories of ambition, power struggles, and office politics, Mad Men will appeal to a whole new audience, while still retaining the wit and charm of its original incarnation. Get ready for a wild ride,” ChatGPT wrote.

> It might not make it past the development team without a bit more work but given that ChatGPT spat this out in less than 30 seconds, who knows what is possible in the future.