January, February, March… April! Let’s take a look at five premieres airing this month. Jump after the break. Continue reading TV reminder: 5 premieres to look out for in April
‘Nashville’ is prepping a three-city spring tour
Starting to see a trend here! Following in the steps of other musical television series Glee and Smash, ABC’s country drama Nashville is stepping outside the box that’s in your living room to perform songs from the show live on a three-city tour. The tour will make stops in Chicago (4/25), Washington, D.C. (5/4), and New York (5/6). Those actors participating are Charles Esten (Deacon Claybourne), Chris Carmack (Will Lexington), Clare Bowen (Scarlett O’Connor), Jonathan Jackson (Avery Barkley), Sam Palladio (Gunnar Scott), and Will Chase (Luke Wheeler). Chase will only be featured in NY performance. Tickets go on sale April 4 at Chi-town’s Joe’s Bar, D.C.’s Lincoln Theatre, and NYC’s Best Buy Theatre.
“We’re thrilled to have an opportunity to showcase our artists in a live setting where fans can enjoy the music from the show in a more intimate setting,” said Dawn Soler, Senior VP TV of Music at ABC Entertainment Group. “Each song is a crucial part of our storyline and each week our multitalented actors are able to breathe life into the story by performing these wonderful lyrical works.”
“We have an exceptionally talented cast of great actors, many who are also wonderful singers, musicians and songwriters,” said Steve Buchanan, Nashville executive producer and president of the Opry Entertainment Group. “It is exciting to be able to hit the road and be face to face with our show’s fans.”
It’s unfortunate that the show’s two big stars Connie Britton (Rayna James) and Hayden Panettiere (Juliet Barnes) are a no-show and that the tour is so short; and what’s puzzling is that the Nashville tour isn’t setting up shop in the very city that makes up the heart of the show. Regardless, if you’re a fan of series, its stars and the music (and if you live in one of the three lucky cities) then this tour is definitely something to get excited about. Scarlett and Gunnar are going to duet because they have to, am I right?!
[Via THR]
Google makes watches “smart” with Android Wear
Google is making a big play when it comes to wearables. First, of course, there’s Google Glass, those high-tech spectacles still be tested in the field before being unleashed to the mass market. And while we wait for that, Google wants to get consumers hyped with another wearable powered by Android: the watch.
Smartwatches have been a thing for years; Samsung, in fact, has been working on their own “Galaxy Gear” watches recently and does anyone remember Motorola’s MOTOACTV? Anyway, those smartwatches failed to make it big and Google hopes to make a splash in the wearables market with their latest software initiative Android Wear.
Simply put, Google is developing a new version of Android suited for watches that various manufacturers–from big industry players like Motorola and Samsung to fashion brands like Fossil–can use to power their hardware. Like Android on Google Glass, Android Wear aims to make wearables like watches “understand the context of the world around you, and you can interact with them simply and efficiently, with just a glance or a spoken word.” In other words, a smartwatch powered by Android Wear will provide you with contextual updates depending on your location and daily schedule. For example, when you arrive at the airport your smartwatch will automatically recognize where you are and pull up relevant information such as flight details and even your boarding pass. Now of course, you’re smartphone can likely do the same thing (think Google Now or Apple’s PassBook app), but having this kind of quick, glance-and-go information on your wrist instead of inside your pocket makes things more convenient and efficient.
In addition to providing contextual information, Android timepieces can give you straight answers to spoken questions. Speak aloud “Ok Google” and pose a question to receive an answer on the fly. Want the score to the Knicks game? Ask your watch and it’ll bring to the surface the information you’re looking for. You can also use this spoken service to request things like taxis, make restaurant reservations, and even send a text. Android Wear also promises to serve as a helpful way to monitor your health and fitness, as well as stream content such as music and movies to your phone and TV.
Google hopes that developers will jump on the Android Wear bandwagon and start tailoring their apps for the wearable OS; a Developer Preview is available today. To date, Google is working with Asus, HTC, LG, Motorola, and Samsung, chip makers Broadcom, Imagination, Intel, Mediatek, and Qualcomm, and fashion brands like the Fossil Group to create new and intuitive smartwatches. They’re not giving a very specific timeframe as to when consumers can expect to their hands on Android Wear watches, but they tease they’re coming “later this year.” In fact, Motorola and LG are already starting to show off what they’ve got up their sleeves with Moto 360 and G Watch, respectively.
Jump after the break to watch a couple clips showing off these new watches. And brace yourselves–Google says this is just the beginning for Android Wear: “we’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible with mobile technology.” Glasses, watches, what’s next? Apple, ahem, your move.
[Via Google] Continue reading Google makes watches “smart” with Android Wear
Sony reveals Project Morpheus, virtual reality for PS4 gamers
From Virtual Boy to true Virtual Reality–[expletive] is about to get real.
This month at the 2014 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Sony revealed the latest piece of hardware they’re working on. No, it’s not the PS5 but rather”Project Morpheus.” That’s the code name for their attempt at virtual reality hardware. It’s something that’s straight out of the future–a sophisticated-looking head-mounted unit gets strapped to your noggin and you peer into two LCD 1080p displays (that merge into one) with a 90 degree field of view. Simply put, Morpheus is going to fully immerse you in games like never before. Or in Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida words Morpheus promises “to build on our mission to push the boundaries of play.”
Morpheus, at its core, aims to “create experiences that deliver a sense of presence – where players feel as though they are physically inside the virtual world of a game.” Furthermore, “presence is like a window into another world that heightens the emotions gamers experience as they play.” I think you get the picture.
Morpheus is PlayStation branded hardware that is still very much in the prototype stage. A handful of details, however, managed to trickle out from GDC as a number of units were in fact playable at the conference. The VR headset works in tandem with PS4; accelerometer and gyroscope sensors inside collaborate with the PlayStation Camera to deliver VR experiences. Also, the PlayStation Move controller as well as the PS4’s standard DualShock controller assist in said experiences. For example, future gamers will strap Morpheus on and be transported to a castle with a fire-breathing dragon. Tilt and move around your head as if you are actually there to view your landscape. Whip out your PS Move controller and suddenly you wield a sword to take down the otherworldly beast.
In addition to visuals, Sony is also making Morpheus an all-encompassing virtual reality experience by incorporating 3D audio technology. Gamers will be able to hear sounds coming from all around them in real-time depending on their head orientation. For example, sounds will barrage you from above you (think helicopters flying overhead) and even below you (the pitter-patter of footsteps rushing up a flight of stairs). A stereo headset jack on the unit allows you to plug in any kind of headphones you like to fully step into a virtual world with realistic visuals and 360-degree audio.
As made clear earlier, Project Morpheus is still in its infancy state in terms of final design and function. However, Sony is eager to share the hardware and SDK with developers so that early kinks can be fixed and exciting software can be developed. At GDC, Sony had a dogfighting shooter EVE Valkyrie and stealth actioner Thief playable inside Morpheus, as well as in-house demos “The Castle” and “The Deep” demonstrating the VR headset’s basic functions. In time, more games will be made for it. I think we know what Sony will be hyping when E3 rolls around this June.
Jump after the break to watch Project Morpheus in action.
[Via Sony] Continue reading Sony reveals Project Morpheus, virtual reality for PS4 gamers
‘The Walking Dead’ season 4 finale poster teases Terminus
This Sunday AMC airs the season 4 finale of The Walking Dead. At the very end of last week’s penultimate episode (spoiler alert), Glenn finally reunited with Maggie and together–along with Bob, Sasha, Tara, Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita–they finally made it to Terminus. Nearly all season long we’ve been teased with the Terminus sign reading, “Those who arrive survive.” Now that a bulk of our group has made it to “sanctuary” what happens next? Will Rick, Carl, Michonne, Carol, Judith, Tyreese, and Daryl’s group of Claimers all converge at Terminus? And who took Beth? Is Terminus actually a safe haven as it promotes itself to be, or will it turn out to be another Woodbury…or worse?! So many questions are left dangling in front of our eyes just like those poor rats the late Lizzie fed to the walkers outside the long-forgotten prison. Sunday night, we find out if those who arrive at Terminus truly survive.
New extended ’24: Live Another Day’ trailer is here
Your wish is my command. A third clip hyping the upcoming ninth season of 24 has surfaced, following the incredible Super Bowl spot and this 34-second teaser. “Risk” is the lengthiest look at the new season thus far and it promotes the same kind of high-stakes action and intensity you are used to seeing from the Kiefer Sutherland led series.
Speaking of the 24 Super Bowl commercial, you’re going to want to jump after the break to watch a behind-the-scenes look at how that secretive spot was made.
24: Live Another Day premieres May 5 on FOX. Continue reading New extended ’24: Live Another Day’ trailer is here
First details spill from upcoming ‘American Horror Story: Freak Show’
AMERICAN HORROR STORY SEASON FOUR: pic.twitter.com/6OHYzGjPMd
— Ryan Murphy (@MrRPMurphy) March 24, 2014
As has been the case each year, American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy has fun with his fans by slowing doling out details about the next incarnation of his adored anthology FX series. For the fourth round, he started with the upcoming season’s title: American Horror Story: Freak Show (see the revealing tweet embedded above). EW managed to scoop up a tantalizing bit of the plot:
Set in Jupiter, Florida, in 1950, Freak Show finds Jessica Lange playing a German ex-pat who is managing one of the last freak shows in the U.S.
On March 28 at PaleyFest celebrating AHS: Coven, Murphy confirmed that the majority of the witchy season’s cast will return for Freak Show: Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts, Gabourey Sidibe, Frances Conroy, Jamie Brewer, Denis O’Hare, and Evan Peters. The newest addition to the AHS cast is Michael Chiklis (The Shield). Season 4 will also try to reel back some actors from the series’ first two seasons, Murder House and Asylum.
At PaleyFest Murphy elaborated, “It’s not a circus, it’s not a carnival, it’s a freak show set in 1950, and it was a concept that Jessica Lange talked about as she wanted to play this type of character.” The season, like Coven before it, will be shot in New Orleans though, as previously stated, it will take place in Jupiter, Florida.
So we’ve got the what, the when, and for the most part the who for the upcoming Freak Show. That’s quite a start! Stick it here for more details regarding the next installment of AHS as they creep in.
NBC makes official three more series renewals
Here’s a quickie: On March 19, NBC renewed Chicago Fire, its spinoff Chicago PD, and supernatural genre series Grimm. Joining these three series next season are the previously renewed The Blacklist, Parks and Recreation, The Voice, and Celebrity Apprentice.
Movie trailer round-up: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’, ‘Peanuts,’ ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ & more
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are coming back to the big screen in a live action/CGI film produced by Michael Bay (Transformers) and directed by Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath of the Titans). Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello are back and bigger than ever before–these CG turtles are massive in terms of sheer size. The big bad Shredder is played here by William Fichner and the TMNT will be battling his Foot Clan in New York City. Megan Fox also stars as April O’Neil, the famed fearless reporter who jarringly isn’t sporting red hair and a yellow raincoat for the reboot. The TMNT canon is being altered for this movie; the teaser reveals that Shredder and April’s father conspired to scientifically create heroes and thus were born the Turtles. Our heroes look strange but the action sequences look fun–it may not be the TMNT rebirth we were all expecting but that doesn’t mean you won’t go and see it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cowabunga into theatres August 8.
Jump after the break to view more trailers. Continue reading Movie trailer round-up: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’, ‘Peanuts,’ ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ & more
New ‘Orphan Black’ trailer & Tatiana Maslany riddled cast photo
In just over a month Orphan Black returns to the airwaves and with it comes all the crazy clones played masterfully and delicately by actress Tatiana Maslany. Pick ’em out in the cast photo embedded above. The brand new one-minute trailer packed with new footage and dialogue that you’re itching to watch is located right after the break, so get to it! Is that a new clone I see teased at the very end? Entertainment Weekly says yes.
Orphan Black returns for its second season April 19 on BBC America. Continue reading New ‘Orphan Black’ trailer & Tatiana Maslany riddled cast photo
CBS renews 20 series for the 2014-15 season
On Thursday CBS renewed 20 series consisting of 9 dramas, 6 comedies, 3 reality shows, and 2 newsmagazines and they are:
NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, Person of Interest, Criminal Minds, CSI, Elementary, Hawaii Five-0, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, The Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls, Mike & Molly, Mom, The Millers, Two and a Half Men, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Undercover Boss, 60 Minutes, and 48 Hours.
Those CBS shows still “on the bubble” and that haven’t been greenlit for another season at this time include veteran The Mentalist and freshman dramas Intelligence and Hostages (the latter of which has a .01% chance of returning), and freshman comedy The Crazy Ones.
“The best way to launch new shows in the fall and throughout the season is to surround them with a strong and stable lineup of successful series,” said CBS Entertainment Chairman Nina Tassler. “The shows we’re picking up today cut across every night of the week and feature genre leaders, time period winners and the most-watched shows on broadcast television.”
Note: The network renewed Survivor for two additional cycles and The Big Bang Theory‘s renewal includes three more seasons of the hit Chuck Lorre sitcom.
“Comedy is a big part of our schedule, and The Big Bang Theory is the biggest comedy force on television,” said Tassler. “This multi-year deal further strengthens our network’s position for future seasons and marks another chapter in the great partnership CBS enjoys with Warner Bros. Television for delivering audiences the best in comedy. We’re proud to work with and showcase the incredible talents of Chuck Lorre, Steve Molaro and this amazing cast every week.”
Jimmy Fallon, The Roots & Idina Menzel perform ‘Frozen’s “Let It Go”
Every now and again Jimmy Fallon and The Roots get together with musicians and cover popular songs with them. Jimmy and his Tonight Show house band broke out the classroom instruments most recently with the wickedly talented Idina Menzel to perform a fun version of her big, Oscar-winning Frozen tune “Let It Go.” Enjoy!
Bonus clip! Jump after the break to watch my favorite “Let It Go” cover by Nigerian singer Alex Boye featuring a very talented 11-year-old Lexi Walker and The One Voice Children’s Choir. Continue reading Jimmy Fallon, The Roots & Idina Menzel perform ‘Frozen’s “Let It Go”