> '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.

> One of Salke’s defining moves at Amazon was to secure television rights to the same literary works, which she achieved at great expense. The first season of Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” premiered in 2022 with a big global marketing push and critical acclaim — as well as a reported budget north of $450 million for the first batch of episodes. Previously, Warner Bros. pushed out two massively successful film franchises with auteur Peter Jackson beginning in 2001. Those films grossed over $5 billion at the worldwide box office and brought home a best picture Oscar for one of the entries.

> “We’ll see,” Salke told Variety when asked how much “LOTR” would be too much for the market. “We love our original series. We’re extremely proud of it, and invested long term. So, we definitely think there’s enough fan love to sustain ours for a long time.”

> PBS built out its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team in fiscal year 2022. The public broadcaster’s second annual DEI report, released Monday morning, noted that the network created a DEI Office during the period and hired a staff, including DEI head Cecilia Loving and DEI director Gina Leow, in addition to establishing employee resource groups and DEI advocates and committees.

> The moves coincided with its workforce reaching 44 percent BIPOC, a six-year high and higher than the 37 percent average across the broadcast industry. Fifty-six percent of PBS’ 551 total staffers are white, 20 percent are Black, 11 percent are Asian, 10 percent are Hispanic or Latino, 2 percent are multiracial, less than 1 percent are Pacific Islander and none are Native American. Among the executive ranks, 29 percent of PBS execs are Black and the rest are white. More than half of the network’s technicians and administrative support staff are BIPOC (63 percent and 57 percent, respectively). Sixty percent of all staff identify as women, including 43 percent of the executive ranks. Meanwhile, PBS’ 27-member board has 13 women (compared to 14 last fiscal year) and 10 people of color (up from eight).

> PBS has also tracked the race/ethnicity and gender demographics of its hiring, promotion and exits, which all reached six-year highs in fiscal year 2022. Among the 147 newest employees, 73 percent are women and 48 percent are BIPOC. Women comprised nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of the 69 promotions and 53 percent of the 95 exits, while 35 percent of last year’s promoted employees and 36 percent of departures were BIPOC.

Maybe they thought they were working for the good guys, but the Citadel turned out to be an evil organization, like The Alliance of Twelve (Alias), that’s why they set out to destroy it, to save the world!

> When head of Amazon Studios Jen Salke came to Joe and Anthony Russo with an unusual idea for a TV show, they were intrigued by the potential to do something brand-new.

> Salke imagined an action spy show that was the first-ever global TV series, with a main show and then local offshoots around the world, starring local talent. It had never been done before, but that’s what the Russo brothers liked about it from the start. “Anthony and I have reached a point in our careers where the ambition is the compelling part of the approach for us,” Joe Russo tells Vanity Fair. “We’re looking for new ways to tell stories.”

> Through their production company, AGBO, the Russos embarked on a years-long journey to bring Citadel to life. The Amazon series stars Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas as elite spies who work for Citadel, a spy organization that has no allegiance to any country. As seen in Vanity Fair’s exclusive first-look images, the high-concept, action-packed spy thriller is set after the fall of the spy organization, when the two agents must attempt to piece together what happened. One of the main problems: Their memories have been wiped. “This is secrets on steroids,” showrunner David Weil says.

> With standout supporting performances by Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville, this ambitious new series will premiere its first two episodes on Prime Video on April 28. It’s a big, bold swing—and it’s actually just the beginning, with spin-off series already deep into production around the world. “We’re not just creating a story, we’re creating this world that’s spanning countries and continents,” Madden says. “That can be daunting, but also super exciting.”

> I really wouldn't call Ms Wagenknecht left-wing

Sahra Wagenknecht is a well-known left-wing German politician. She was a member of Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) since the 90s, before that party merged with another party to form the Left Party (Die Linke).

She is also the founder of Aufstehen, a left-wing collective movement.

You’re confusing two events that took place in Berlin on Friday and today.

There was a big rally on Friday in Berlin in support of Ukraine, the next day, there was this protest by a different group.

Just because we don’t agree with the protest, doesn’t mean that we need to make up stuff to downplay it.

The protest took place in Berlin, the capital of Germany, not a small town in Saxony. It has been reported by major news agencies like Reuters & the German news broadcaster Deutsche Welle. The German police also reported on the number of the protesters.

DW

> Police in Berlin said on Saturday afternoon that roughly 13,000 people had attended an event in central Berlin organized by a controversial socialist politician, Sahra Wagenknecht, and a prominent writer and feminist, Alice Schwarzer.

> The Rebellion for Peace rally organizers have received fierce criticism from many politicians, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who say the demonstration could weaken public support for Ukraine's fightback against Russia.

> Organizers had reckoned with a likely turnout in the region of 10,000 but police estimates exceeded these figures despite freezing temperatures and sleet. ..

> Saturday's rally follows a protest in solidarity with Ukraine, attended by some 10,000 people in Berlin on Friday night — the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion.

"A demonstration against supplying Ukraine with weapons for war with Russia attracted 10,000 people on Saturday, drawing criticism from top German government officials and a large police presence to maintain order."

"Organised by a prominent left-wing German politician, the protest comes a day after the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which drew promises of more weapons from western allies, fresh sanctions against Russia and shows of support for Kyiv across the globe."

""We call on the German chancellor to stop the escalation of arms deliveries. Now!...Because every day lost costs up to 1,000 more lives - and brings us closer to a 3rd world war," the protest's organizers said on their website."

"The "Uprising for Peace" was organised in part by Sahra Wagenknecht, a member of Germany's left-wing Die Linke party."

"Germany, along with the United States, has been one of the biggest suppliers of weapons for Ukraine."

> Amanda Abbington has revealed she believes “nepotism” helped land her role in hit BBC drama Sherlock.

> Abbington was cast as Mary Watson, the wife of Sherlock Holmes’ friend and detective partner Doctor John Watson in 2014. At the time, Abbington was in a long-term relationship with Martin Freeman, who played Watson.

> “Because I was with Martin at the time, there was a lot of [accusations of] nepotism being banded about,” she told the Full Disclosure podcast. “It’s true, it was that.

> “Both Mark [Gatiss] and Steven [Moffat, the show’s writers] said they were trying to figure out who the best person would be to play Mary and they thought it would be the person who was going out with him.

> “It made sense. And we’d worked together on many things.”

> The New York owner of the TNT and TBS cable networks, the HBO Max streaming service and the Warner Bros. production studio reported a net loss of $2.1 billion for its fiscal fourth quarter after the company wrote down $1.85 billion in assets and faced nearly $1.2 billion in restructuring expenses.

> Revenue fell 9%, excluding the results of foreign exchange, and the company saw ad sales decrease 14% as its TV networks, even as it worked to add subscribers to its HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming outlets.

> As Hollywood giants focus on making their streaming businesses profitable, they have started raising the subscription prices for the likes of Disney+ and HBO Max. In contrast, streaming giant Netflix is dropping some of its prices in more than 100 international markets.

> “Effective immediately Netflix is to drop monthly subscription pricing in more than 100 territories globally,” but not in North America and Western Europe where average revenue per user is higher, Ampere Analysis research manager Toby Holleran wrote on Wednesday. “The SVOD incumbent’s basic tier will record the highest percentage drop across a large number of territories. These territories, which span Central and South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and the Asia Pacific regions will see discounts for the basic tier range from 20 percent to nearly 60 percent, with the price drop kicking in instantly for new and existing subscribers.”

> This Netflix price drop affects “more than 10 million,” or more than 4 percent of the company’s more than 230 million subscribers as of the end of 2022, the expert estimated.

> While Netflix didn’t unveil the pricing changes in a big announcement, it communicated them locally. “Starting today, our Basic Plan in Malaysia is now RM28 per month for both new and existing members,” the streamer tweeted in that country, for example. The 28 Malaysian Ringgit ($6.32) is down from 35 Ringgit ($7.90) previously.

"The search for debris from an object that was shot down over Lake Huron has been suspended, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)."

"A U.S. fighter jet shot down an "unidentified object" over Lake Huron on Sunday on orders from U.S. President Joe Biden, according to the Pentagon."

"The object was first detected Saturday evening over Montana, but was initially thought to be an anomaly. Radar picked it up again Sunday, where it was hovering over the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, heading over Lake Huron."

"Once the object was shot down, Canadian and American authorities deployed search crews, who scoured the waters for four days before being called down."

"After conducting an extensive search in the Lake Huron area with the assistance of the Canadian Coast Guard and other domestic and international partners, a decision was reached to suspend the search due to several factors including deteriorating weather and the low probability of recovery," said the RCMP in a statement issued Thursday."

Regarding the last 3 objects, the general was very specific that those are not balloons.

Reuters:

> VanHerck said the military was unable to immediately determine the means by which any of the three latest objects were kept aloft or where they were coming from.

> "We're calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason, said VanHerck.

"The Pentagon last summer formed the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which has reviewed 366 reports of unidentified aerial phenomena, or what most people refer to as UFOs. Of those, 171 “demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities, and require further analysis,” according to a report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence."

> quickly sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation lab at Quantico, Va., for analysis.

Let's hope Mulder and Scully of this reality are on the case!

Edit: Kidding aside, it’s interesting that high ranking military officers, like NORAD Commander Gen. Glen VanHerck, are not discounting the possibility of aliens.

"On Sunday, the head of U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command wouldn’t rule out that the airborne objects the Pentagon has been shooting down are connected to aliens or extraterrestrials.

“I’ll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out, I haven’t ruled out anything,” said Gen. Glen VanHerck in a briefing late Sunday. “At this point, we continue to assess every threat or potential threats unknown that approaches North America with an attempt to identify it.”

Creating 'Fauda'

> Raz and Issacharoff, Jerusalemites whose families both originally came from Arab countries, have been friends since they were 16 and were both in the elite unite, called the Duvdevan, which is featured in the series.

> They had joined the reserves of the unit, working in the West Bank, when they came up with the idea of Fauda. By then Issacharoff was already a top journalist and Raz a jobbing actor. “Avi asked me if I had a dream and I told him I wanted to write something about the people we were then with, about the mental price they were all paying, the price everybody surrounding them was paying,” says Raz. “We both wanted to talk about the Palestinian side too because knowing who they are is just as important.”

> Finding someone willing to make the show was a struggle. Israelis live with the conflict; when they watch the television they prefer light entertainment. Raz and Issacharoff got a lot of no’s.

> “We managed to find someone to help us pitch to the production company Yes,” recalls Issacharoff. “There was one guy and three women in the room. He was enthusiastic, the women seemed less so. They said, ‘This show won’t be watched by women.’ But they still took it on, it became the success it became, and when they did research into the viewers, they found more women were watching the show than men.

> “We don’t know the exact reasons for the success but I think a big part of it is the authenticity. We took stories from real life, from our lives, and we put them in the story. Every episode of Fauda, every character, you will find something that is real. And sometimes we almost predict things; in our third season we wrote about our team being exposed while they were working in the Gaza Strip. As we were writing it, there was a real team of undercover soldiers that were exposed – so we were having this strange dialogue with reality.

Future of 'Fauda'

> Because the show has become such an international success – with India making the first local version – Raz and Issacharoff have a very international outlook. Their company, Faraway Road Productions, is planning to team up with creatives from across Arab nations to create more work that crosses borders...

> There are also plans for a show set in London and, of course, more Fauda. “We are talking very seriously about making a Fauda movie and we are very open to more seasons,” says Raz. “This has all been a brilliant adventure and we are not sure when it will end.”