Friday, May 8, 2020

Yen Press Releases Light Novel, "Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai"

Yen Press expands its renowned light novel catalog with the release of Rascal Does Not Dream Of Bunny Girl Senpai.  The high school rom-com is written by Hajime Kamoshida and illustrated by Keji Mizoguchi and debuts today (Tues., April 28th) in-print and digitally.

Yen Press also announced the launch of the novel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/yenpress/status/1253376571861336070

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai notably inspired a hit anime adaptation, which currently streams on Hulu and Funimation.com, as well as a bestselling manga series and a live-action feature film that was released in Japan last year.

RASCAL DOES NOT DREAM OF BUNNY GIRL SENPAI Summary:

Out of sight, out of mind!

Bunny girls do not live in libraries. This is simply common sense. And yet, that's exactly where Sakuta finds one in the wild. More bewildering is who the bunny girl is: Mai Sakurajima, a girl one year older than Sakuta, famous at their school for her acting career even though she's currently on break. To top it all off, it seems like no one else in the library can see Mai at all, no matter what she does or...wears. Wanting to find out more about this mystery and maybe get a little closer to this beautiful upperclassman in the process, Sakuta launches an investigation to discover why an unforgettable bunny girl keeps becoming totally invisible.

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Thursday, May 7, 2020

CBS Renews 80 Percent of its 2019-2020 Lineup for 2020-2021 TV Season

CBS Announces the Return of 23 Series for the 2020-2021 Broadcast Season

Network Brings Back the #1 Show on Television NCIS for Its 18th Season, #1 Comedy “Young Sheldon,” #1 New Series “FBI: Most Wanted,” #1 New Comedy “Bob ♥ Abishola” and #1 News Program “60 Minutes”

Network to Return Seven Shows with Over 10 Million Viewers Per Week, More than Any Other Network

Television’s Top Freshman Class Brings Back Five Series: “All Rise,” “Bob ♥ Abishola,” “Evil,” “FBI: Most Wanted” and “The Unicorn”

Network to Win 12th Consecutive Season by a Margin of 1 Million Viewers

CBS Also #1 In Primetime, Daytime and Late Night for the Fourth Consecutive Season

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CBS announced the return of 23 series, renewing 80% of its top-rated lineup for the 2020-2021 broadcast season. The Network will announce its new series and 2020-2021 primetime schedule in the coming weeks.

The returning shows include the #1 program on television NCIS, #1 comedy YOUNG SHELDON, #1 new series FBI: MOST WANTED, #1 new comedy BOB ♥ ABISHOLA, and the #1 news program 60 MINUTES.

Among today’s additional renewals are the dramas ALL RISE, BLUE BLOODS, BULL, FBI, MACGYVER, MAGNUM P.I., NCIS: LOS ANGELES, NCIS: NEW ORLEANS, S.W.A.T. and SEAL TEAM; comedies THE NEIGHBORHOOD and THE UNICORN; reality series UNDERCOVER BOSS; and the law and justice program 48 HOURS. They join the previously announced renewals of EVIL, MOM, SURVIVOR, THE AMAZING RACE and YOUNG SHELDON.

“Thanks to these exceptional shows, we’re going to win the current season by 1 million viewers,” said Kelly Kahl, President, CBS Entertainment. “Next year, we’ll have these strong returning series as our foundation…and Super Bowl LV too. It’s a well-balanced lineup across Entertainment, News and Sports that will put us in an incredibly stable position for 2020-2021.”

Highlights for returning shows include:

  •     CBS has renewed seven shows watched by over 10 million viewers per week, more than any other network: NCIS, FBI, BLUE BLOODS, YOUNG SHELDON, BULL, 60 MINUTES and FBI: MOST WANTED.
  •     CBS’ top freshman class will see the return of #1 new series FBI: MOST WANTED, #1 new comedy BOB ♥ ABISHOLA, ALL RISE, EVIL and THE UNICORN.
  •     All shows from this season’s Monday night lineup have been renewed. THE NEIGHBORHOOD and BOB ♥ ABISHOLA rank among the top comedies on television, with larger audiences than every comedy on all other networks. ALL RISE is the #3 new drama on any network, and BULL has been Monday’s top entertainment series at 10:00 PM this season, averaging over 10.5 million viewers.
  •     All three Tuesday night dramas will return, with each averaging over 10 million viewers per week, including NCIS, averaging over 15.33 million viewers; FBI, with 12.55 million viewers; and FBI: MOST WANTED, which averages 10.18 million viewers.
  •     SURVIVOR, a series currently watched by nearly 10 million viewers, returns for its 21st season.
  •     YOUNG SHELDON and MOM return as the #1 and #2 comedies on television.
  •     MACGYVER, MAGNUM P.I. and BLUE BLOODS return from a night the Network wins this season by +3.6 million viewers.
  •     Also returning are: 60 MINUTES, television’s #1 news program, and NCIS: LOS ANGELES and NCIS: NEW ORLEANS, the most-watched entertainment programs on their night.

CBS is on track to finish the current season as America’s Most Watched Network for the 12th consecutive year by a margin of 1 million viewers. The Network is also #1 in primetime, daytime and late night for the fourth straight year.

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Wednesday, May 6, 2020

NatGeo Announces Sprecial Presentation of "The World According to Jeff Goldblum"

National Geographic Announces Special Linear Presentation of Its Disney+ Hit Series, THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JEFF GOLDBLUM

Two Back-to-Back Episodes, “Sneakers” and “Pools,” Will Air Monday, May 11, Beginning 9/8c, on National Geographic

Full 12-part Season Streaming Now on Disney+

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Join international treasure and superstar Jeff Goldblum on a delightful journey where the ordinary becomes extraordinary! THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JEFF GOLDBLUM, produced by National Geographic for Disney+, will make its U.S. linear television debut on Nat Geo, Monday, May 11, 2020, at 9/8c, with two back-to-back episodes of ‘staff-pick’ favorites “Sneakers” and “Pools.” The entire first season is currently available only on Disney+.

    “At a time when everyone needs a little more fun in their lives, this special sampling of our hit show will add a spring to your step and, after two episodes, I’m certain you’ll want to hop on over to Disney+ to explore it all.”

In THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JEFF GOLDBLUM, Jeff pulls on the thread of deceptively familiar objects to unravel a world of astonishing connections, fascinating science and history. From sneakers, pools, ice cream, coffee and cosmetics to everything in between, he uncovers how even the simplest things have incredible, sometimes eccentric back stories.

Throughout the season, Jeff has entertaining, insightful encounters with people who are intimately connected to each episode’s featured subject, including world-famous industry giants, pioneering mavericks, scientists and passionate obsessives. They help him understand each item’s often surprising history, its current significance in our lives and the impact it will have on our collective future.

“Jeff’s distinct sense of humor and endless charm draw you into his fascinating world where ordinary, even seemingly mundane objects become extraordinary when seen through the prism of his curious and witty mind,” says Geoff Daniels, EVP, National Geographic Global Unscripted Entertainment. “At a time when everyone needs a little more fun in their lives, this special sampling of our hit show will add a spring to your step and, after two episodes, I’m certain you’ll want to hop on over to Disney+ to explore it all.”

The two episodes airing on Nat Geo May 11 are the following:

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JEFF GOLDBLUM — “Sneakers”
Airing on National Geographic Monday, May 11, at 9 PM ET/PT

Jeff Goldblum sets out to investigate the multibillion-dollar industry of SNEAKERS that’s transformed into an expansive phenomenon. His journey includes the basketball court, the boardroom, the country’s sneaker convention — Sneaker Con — and Adidas’ high-tech labs. Finally, he meets “The Shoe Surgeon” Dominic Ciambrone, who makes a customized sneaker fit for Jeff’s feet only.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JEFF GOLDBLUM - “Pools”
Airing on National Geographic - Monday, May 11, at 9:30 PM ET/PT

Jeff Goldblum takes a dip into the world of POOLS and follows his curiosity about its impact and ability to break boundaries. Jeff’s journey includes experiencing an LA water park, an aqua-therapy center and NASA’s neutral buoyancy lab, where he discovers firsthand the unique qualities of water and our relationship with it. He even tries his hand at synchronized swim routines in the process.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JEFF GOLDBLUM is produced by National Geographic and Nutopia with Jeff Goldblum, Matt Renner, Jane Root, Peter Lovering, Arif Nurmohamed and Keith Addis as executive producers.


ABOUT NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between the National Geographic Society and Disney, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic’s media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children’s media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 132 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers … and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

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Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Amazon and NFL Renew and Expand Streaming Partnership

National Football League and Amazon Renew and Expand Streaming Partnership

Thursday Night Football to be available on Amazon Prime Video and Twitch to more than 150 million paid Prime members worldwide, and in more than 200 countries and territories

Amazon Prime Video and Twitch secure rights to exclusively stream one additional regular season NFL game in 2020 to a global audience

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Football League (NFL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced they have reached a multi-year agreement to renew their exclusive partnership to deliver a live digital stream of Thursday Night Football Presented by Bud Light Platinum to a global audience across hundreds of compatible devices. Amazon Prime Video and Twitch will stream the 11 Thursday Night Football games broadcast by FOX, which will be available to more than 150 million paid Prime members worldwide, and in over 200 countries and territories on the Prime Video and Twitch sites and apps across connected living room devices, mobile phones, tablets and PCs. All Thursday Night Football games broadcast by FOX will also be distributed in Spanish on FOX Deportes and are expected to be simulcast on NFL Network, continuing the league's "Tri-Cast" model of broadcast (FOX), cable (NFL Network, FOX Deportes), and digital (Prime Video and Twitch) distribution.

    Amazon and National Football League renew and expand streaming partnership ahead of 2020 season

Additionally, the NFL and Amazon announced an agreement to exclusively stream one regular season game globally on Prime Video and Twitch, which will be played on a Saturday in the second half of the 2020 NFL regular season. In keeping with the NFL's long-standing commitment to make its games available on free, over-the-air television, the game will also be televised in the participating teams’ home markets.

"As our relationship has expanded, Amazon has become a trusted and valued partner of the NFL,” said Brian Rolapp, Chief Media and Business Officer for the NFL. “Extending this partnership around Thursday Night Football continues our critical mission of delivering NFL games to as many fans in as many ways as possible both in the United States and around the world."

"We are thrilled to renew our Thursday Night Football deal with the NFL, and are excited to expand our relationship to include exclusive global streaming rights to an additional regular season game in 2020," said Marie Donoghue, Vice President of Global Sports Video at Amazon. "We know Prime members and the Twitch community around the world love the NFL, and we remain committed to giving them the best and most customizable streaming experience possible, with a broad selection of premium content available at their fingertips."

Thursday Night Football on Prime Video and Twitch will continue to provide members a unique viewing experience with interactive features like X-Ray and Next Gen Stats powered by AWS that bring fans closer to the game. On Prime Video, members can choose to watch the FOX broadcast, the FOX Deportes Spanish language coverage, and from multiple alternative audio options exclusive to Prime Video. The NFL and Amazon will continue to collaborate on additional NFL content and enhanced fan viewing experiences around Thursday Night Football.

In 2019, Thursday Night Football Presented by Bud Light Platinum delivered an average audience of 15.4 million viewers, including FOX, NFL Network, FOX Deportes, NFL digital, FOX Sports digital, Prime Video, Twitch, and Verizon Media mobile properties – up +4% versus the 2018 Thursday Night Football season average (14.9 million). Digital streaming across Prime Video, Twitch, NFL digital, FOX Sports digital and Verizon Media mobile properties in 2019 surpassed an average minute audience of over 1.0 million – up +43% versus the previous year (729K).

The NFL and Amazon first partnered to distribute Thursday Night Football during the 2017 season. This multi-year renewal continues a strong relationship between the NFL and Amazon which, in addition to Thursday Night Football, also features the Emmy-winning Amazon Original All or Nothing. Produced by NFL Films, season five of the sports documentary series premiered on Friday, February 7 with All or Nothing: The Philadelphia Eagles, available exclusively on Prime Video. Additionally, since 2017, the NFL has utilized Amazon Web Services as its official cloud and machine learning provider for the Next Gen Stats platform, which provides real-time location data, speed, and acceleration for every player during every play on every inch of the field.

The NFL is the most valuable content in all of sports and entertainment with 42 of television's 50 most-watched programs of the calendar year in 2019. Thursday Night Football is a top-five show in all of television and the number two show in primetime.


About Thursday Night Football
Thursday Night Football started in 2006 with an eight-game schedule exclusively on NFL Network. By 2012, Thursday Night Football had grown to a 13-game schedule exclusively on NFL Network, where it remained through the 2013 season. For the 2014 and 2015 seasons, CBS partnered with NFL Network to present an expanded 16-game Thursday Night Football schedule. For the 2016 and 2017 seasons, NBC and CBS partnered with NFL Network to present Thursday Night Football with additional digital distribution via Twitter (2016 season) and Amazon (2017 season). In January 2018, it was announced FOX Sports would produce Thursday Night Football for the next five seasons with Amazon signing a two-year extension to their original deal.

For more information about Thursday Night Football, including ways to watch, visit: NFL.com/TNF.

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

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DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for April 28, 2020

DC Comics New Comic Books – Tuesday, May 5, 2020:

Batman and the Outsiders #12

DC Super Stars Facsimile Edition #17

The Flash #753

Green Lantern Season 2 #3

Hawkman #23

House of Whispers #20

Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #4 (of 9)

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Friday, May 1, 2020

Review: "BOO! 2: A Madea Halloween" is a Typical Inferior Sequel

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 8 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Boo 2! A Madea Halloween (2017)
Running time:  101 minutes
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual references drug content, language and some horror images
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Tyler Perry
PRODUCERS:  Ozzie Areu, Will Areu, Tyler Perry, and Mark E. Swinton
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Richard Vialet (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Larry Sexton
COMPOSER:  Philip White

HALLOWEEN/COMEDY

Starring:  Tyler Perry, Cassi Davis, Patrice Lovely, Yousef Erakat, Diamond White, Lexy Panterra, Andre Hall, Brock O'Hurn, Tito Ortiz, Taja V. Simpson, Inanna Sarkis, Hannah Stocking, Mike Tornabene, Akende Munalula, and Elizabeth Hinkler and Emily Hinkler

Boo 2! A Madea Halloween is a 2017 comedy and Halloween movie from writer-director Tyler Perry.  It is a direct sequel to Boo! A Madea Halloween (2016) and is also the tenth film in the Madea film series.  In Boo 2!, Madea and friends travel to a supposedly haunted campground to rescue a teen relative, but end up running for their lives from the boogeyman.

Boo 2! A Madea Halloween opens on the 18th birthday of Tiffany Simmons (Diamond White).  Tiffany is the daughter of Brian Simmons (Tyler Perry) and his ex-wife, Debrah (Taja V. Simpson).  Tiffany wants to be treated like an adult, which is just fine with Debrah and her new husband, Calvin (Akende Munalula).  However, Brian still sees Tiffany as a baby girl, and he has planned for Tiffany a birthday party that is more appropriate for a child.

Brian's aunt, Mabel “Madea” Simmons (Tyler Perry); Brian's father who is also Madea's brother, Joe Simmons (Tyler Perry); Betty Ann “Aunt Bam” Murphy (Cassi Davis); and Hattie Mae Love (Patrice Lovely) also attend the party.  Unhappy with the party and the guests, Tiffany and her friend, Gabriella (Inanna Sarkis), make plans to attend a late-night Halloween party being thrown by Jonathan (Yousef Erakat) and the brothers of Upsilon Theta fraternity.  However, the party is being thrown at the notorious and supposedly haunted campground at “Lake Derrick.”

Madea overhears Tiffany's Lake Derrick plans and alerts her father, Brian, who decides to let Tiffany attend the party just to teach her lesson.  Madea is unwilling to let it go at that, so she rounds up Joe, Bam, and Hattie to take a trip to Lake Derrick and rescue Tiffany and Gabriella from that Halloween party.  However, it is Madea and company who will find themselves needing to be rescued from a chainsaw wielding maniac, ghostly sisters, and assorted monsters.

I am playing catch-up on my Madea movies, as this film was released almost two-and-a-half years ago, and the (allegedly) last Madea film, A Madea Family Funeral (2019), was released a year ago.  When I reviewed Boo! A Madea Halloween back in 2017, I wrote that the film had “its moments,” and I gave it a grade of “B-.”  Since that review, I have seen the film countless times, and it has become one of my favorite Madea movies and one of my favorite Halloween movies.  If I graded the original film now, I would give it at least an “A-.”

Boo 2! A Madea Halloween actually has its moments.  The first hour of the film has an awkward pace, and that hour is not well-written.  Early on, Boo 2! seems like nothing more than a quickly-produced sequel meant to grab cash from a surprise hit movie.  The final forty minutes of t Boo 2! really picks up, and it gets close to being as funny as the original film.

So if you did not get enough Boo! A Madea Halloween and want a little more, you have Boo 2! A Madea Halloween.  And if you need to see every Madea movie, then, you will want to see Boo 2!  If you don't like Madea, well...

C+
5 of 10

Tuesday, March 10, 2020


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.


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A Negromancer COVID-19 May 2020

Welcome to May 2020.  Welcome to Negromancer 2.0.  This is the rebirth of Negromancer, the former movie review website as a new movie review and movie news site.

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