Roseanne Reboot

The Roseanne reboot premiered tonight on ABC with an hour long episode. One thing that viewers will notice is the fact that the show did not shy away from political humor. The first half hour addressed a hilarious political feud between Roseanne and her sister Jackie over the fact that both women voted for a different political candidate, a topic as we all know that has led to many discussions among families since last year. One thing I really enjoyed seeing was how the topic of expression was addressed with Darlene’s son Marc who wants to wear girl’s clothes, a topic that Roseanne and Dan do not like and are worried for the safety of their Grandson. I also liked how the show was able have Sarah Chalke, who played Becky when Lacy Goranson went to college as the intended mother of the Baby that Becky plans to carry when announces that she is going to be a surrogate.

 

I really enjoyed the premiere a lot and felt the show went off to a good start. I didn’t watch the original series until I was much older because when the original series was on I was a child. I am looking forward to the next episode and finding out more about what the characters have been up to. You can watch the new season of Roseanne Tuesday nights on ABC check your local listings for show times and I believe tonight’s episode will be available on Hulu as well as ABC.com later tonight.

https://slate.com/culture/2018/03/the-roseanne-reboot-reviewed.html

Best Buy to pull CD’s from its stores this summer

You may have heard by now that Best Buy has announced to music suppliers that it will pull all CDs from the stores as early as July 1^st.  While I should not be completely surprised by the announcement given that we now have more options available when it comes to listening to our favorite artists’ and songs such as Apple Music, Pandora, and Spotify, I will admit that when I first heard the news I was stunned. The first CD I bought was Britney Spears’ first album Baby, One More Time at the age of 9 and even to this day I will still by CD’s by some of my favorite artists. To me there’s just something exciting about going to Best Buy or my local music store to Browse or buy CD’s.  

An Article from National Public Radio (NPR) sates that in 2015, music streaming has resulted in the first increase in the music industry’s global revenues since the year 1999 by $500 million. The article also says that in 2016, streaming services became the primary way that Americans listened to music. In fact, The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has estimated that 112 million people worldwide now pay for access to streaming services and that those streaming services have contributed toward a 20.5 % decline in downloads and a 7.6% decline in physical revenue in 2017.

Best Buy generates only $40 million annually in CD’s and while they are pulling CD’s they will continue to sell vinyl for the next two years because of a commitment they have made to venders. As for other stores, Target has announced that it wants music to be sold on a consignment basis and currently, Target takes the inventory risk by agreeing to pay for any goods that are shipped within 60 days and must pay to ship back any unsold CDs for credit. With consignment, the inventory risk goes back to the labels. For now it seems that Best Buy is the only store making the decision to pull CD’s from its shelves.

As I said earlier, I am not completely surprised because streaming is now the primary way that we get access to our entertainment not just with music, but also our favorite television shows and movies. This announcement also makes me wonder how long it will be before DVD’s and Blu-rays are pulled from the shelves as well. What are your thoughts on the announcement? Feel free to comment below if you would like I will also have links to the articles as well.                

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/06/583666258/best-buy-to-pull-cds-from-its-stores-according-to-report

https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8097929/best-buy-to-pull-cds-target-threatens-to-pay-labels-for-cds-only-when

Genie Francis dropped to recurring status on ABC’s General Hospital.

Over the weekend news broke on several soap and entertain publications that soap opera icon Genie Francis has been dropped to recurring status on General Hospital. Francis was told the news in late 2017 that she would be dropped to recurring status in 2018. Frank Valentini, the soap’s Executive Producer wanted Francis to appear in only 12 episodes. It is reported that Francis was devastated by the decision and refused to agree to appear so infrequently on the soap.

This decision has also come as a surprise to the writers at General Hospital who had planned a long-term storyline for Francis’ character Laura Collins with Laura running for mayor of Port Charles. That storyline has been altered when the decision was made. Genie Francis has played the role of Laura off and on since 1977 and many soap fans tuned into to Luke and Laura’s wedding in 1981 which is the most watched episode in soap history and gave the show 30 Million viewers during that episode. In addition to General Hospital Francis has also been on other popular soaps such as All My Children, Days of Our Lives, Loving, and The Young and the Restless. Arthur Toretzky, Genie Francis’ agent, confirmed to Entertainment weekly that Francis has been dropped and said “She did not want to leave the show as a series regular, it was not her choice to leave.” Francis also commented on the news of her GH firing saying “ I would like to thank all of my wonderful fans for their support. It has made me feel so much better.”

While I personally have not been a regular viewer of General Hospital for a few years now, I think Frank’s decision to do this is outrageous not only to Genie Francis who helped save this well-known soap from cancelation in the mid 70’s, but also to all of the fans who have watched and supported this soap and Genie through the years. As a soap fan this really upsets me because we only have 4 daytime soaps left on the airwaves. General Hospital, Days Of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless, and The Bold and the Beautiful. If this is Frank’s idea of helping the show grow he is going about it the wrong way and this decision in my opinion could cause GH to lose longtime viewers. While it is too early to tell if Francis’ firing has made an impact on the soap ratings wise one thing that is clear is that fans are not happy about this decision at all and in my opinion this isn’t the direction the soap should be headed especially because General Hospital will be celebrating its 55^th Anniversary in April of this year.

I really hope Frank reconsiders his decision and places Genie back to a series regular, but if he does not this is the perfect opportunity for Days or The Young and the Restless to reach out to Francis and reprise one of her roles. If you would like to contact General Hospital and let them know your thoughts you can do so by calling the General Hospital comment line 323-671-4583. General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC check your local listings for air times. What are your thoughts about the decision? Drop a comment below if you wish.

Thanks for reading

Sincerely,

Tom        

 

 

 

Grey's Anatomy episode 1800-799-7233

Thursday was the return of the hit medical drama Grey's Anatomy. After what felt like a long winter break Grey's Anatomy returned with a very special episode entitled 1800-799-7233. The Episode picks up where we left off in November where Jo ( Camilla Luddington) runs into her abusive ex- husband Paul (Matthew Morrison).  I thought this episode was amazing and did a great job addressing the subject of Domestic Violence not only by having a PSA about Domestic Violence, but also having the phone number for the National Domestic Violence hotline as the title of the episode. I really give credit to Shonda Rimes and the entire team and cast for doing this storyline because in my opinion this subject does not get enough attention and to me a lot of  shows tend to stay away from this subject because it could be to triggering or hard for an audience to watch. I really enjoyed watching Jo Stand up to her ex- husband during the episode because she was finally able to make her voice heard and put an end to the pain and fear she had been carrying with her since she came to the show and you can really feel the emotion Jo had during the episode. I really enjoyed the scenes with Jo and Paul's girlfriend Jenny ( Bethany Joy Lenz) as Jo told Jenny about her relationship with Paul and the abuse she suffered from him. I also loved the moment when Jo gave her number to Jenny as a outlet for support.  Next Thursday episode continues with this storyline where Paul is injured in an accident and is suddenly a patient at Grey-Sloan Memorial.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence there is help available 1800-799-7233 or  visit http://www.thehotline.org/ 

Nashville season 6 final season

Tonight was the beginning of the 6th an final season of  the beloved series Nashville.  I am going to keep this post short because I don't want to give away any spoilers to anyone who hasn't seen tonight's episode yet. while I am extremely bummed that season 6 is going to be the last season of this amazing show! tonight's episode was very strong the cast and crew did an amazing job the music was flawless as always. I am looking forward to seeing what this season has in store for everyone!

If you saw tonight's episode please feel free to drop me a comment how are you feeling about the show? do you think it should have been cancelled ? what was your favorite part ?



Thanks,

Tom

13 reasons why

Last week, I started watching the Netflix original series 13 Reasons Why and last night I watched the last two episodes.   For those who don't know 13 reasons why is about the story of Hannah Baker, who was the subject of bullying and betrayal brought on by students at her high school and because of this she decides to take her own life by committing suicide. She leaves a series of 13 tapes which explain the reasons why she ended up ending her life. I know public reaction to the series has been somewhat negative given the subject matter  of suicide and dark scenes in the show, but I really felt that this was a good series and it really addresses the issue of bullying and the subject of rape which I know is a very hard topic to address, but I felt the series did a great job addressing these topics. I also like the fact that if the episode is going to have scenes that maybe hard for some viewers to watch their is a warning message placed at the beginning of the episode to let the viewer know what the content is going to be. I found this series hard to watch at times not just because of the subject matter, but because of the pain that Hannah felt especially in the shows last two episodes, but overall the show was really well done and the cast was amazing.

I did enjoy this series and I am looking forward to checking out the book as well as season 2 of the series when it is released. Below is a link to the website that is introduced at the beginning of the series.
http://13reasonswhy.info/#usa


 thanks for reading

Tom  

Happy New Year everyone

Hey everyone !

I hope you all had a wonderful New Years Eve what did everyone do? I spent the New years eve watching the Twilight Zone Marathon. I don't really have any new years resolutions, but I am going to use 2018 to focus on the positive things that are happening in my life and find ways to enjoy myself and try to distress more. if anyone would like to share what they did, or what their 2018 resolutions are for the new year please feel free to do so in the comments. I hope this year is amazing for everyone and I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you along the way.

Thanks for reading

sincerely,

Tom