It’s lightsabers, polka kings, and sequels galore this week on Between the Streams, as we look at a wide variety of new content hitting screens. But first, a number: 487.
That’s the tally, according to the New York Times, of all the new television shows that aired in 2017. You heard us right, almost 500 new TV shows debuted last year, and that number is only likely to grow in the short term as both traditional networks and streaming services invest billions (Netflix alone is expected to spend $8 billion in 2018) to catch your attention in the ever-broadening sea of stories. For reference, the number climbed from 466 shows in 2016, which itself was a massive jump from the 288 shows that made their way to screens the year before. Instead of calling the current era television’s “golden age” maybe it should be rebranded as TV’s “loaded age.” In any case, next time someone gets mad at you for avoiding their favorite show, you’ll have some hard data to back up your lack of action.
When it comes to news, we’ve got plenty this week, including some cool new info about Star Wars IX, the film already stoking much debate following Rian Johnson’s (somehow) controversial middle entry in the trilogy, The Last Jedi. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has said Disney is already plotting out the next 10 years of Star Wars, which may include many of the characters introduced in The Force Awakens. But the latest news has to do with filming for Episode IX, which apparently will begin in the western Scottish county of Argyll in June of this year.
As mentioned in our Last Jedi op-ed, returning director J.J. Abrams will have no small task ahead of him with the final film for the latest trilogy as he seeks to tie up storylines, lace the three films together cinematically, and give some sort of temporary conclusion to a host of characters that may well live on in film for the next decade or more.
For something completely different, we found out this week about a whole host of sequel and spinoff news, including a planned sequel for Netflix’s $90 million fantasy/buddy-cop film, Bright, a possible spinoff for Black Mirror’s Star Trek-esque episode from season 4, USS Callister, and a trailer for the much-anticipated Sicario 2.
And of course, there’s Netflix’s new movie starring Jack Black, Polka King, which is based on a documentary about a very intriguing scam run by a Polka singer, and stars a rip-roaring comedic cast that includes Jenny Slate, Jason Schartzman, J.B. Smoove, and Vanessa Bayer. The film premieres in just one week, and aired a new trailer recently.
Also this week, we’ll discuss Apple’s new Serial-inspired TV series, the Slender Man trailer, True Detective season 3, George R.R. Martin’s Nightflyers series, and much more.
So tune in and hit us up live at 2 p.m. PT today, or take us along for the ride with our podcast version by following the links at the top of this story.
