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| Hello again and thanks for reading Inside Streaming. Crazy that HBO and Amazon both posted Season 2 trailers for their big epic fantasy series on the same day. It seems like this must have been on purpose. Amazon's doing its Upfront presentations for advertisers in New York this week, so it's only logical they'd take this opportunity to showcase Season 2 of the "Lord of the Rings" adaptation, "The Rings of Power." HBO must have known that was coming. So how to explain the choice to also drop the Season 2 "House of the Dragon" trailer today? Are they hoping to steal away Amazon's audience with a largely better-received magic castle show? Is it purposeful counter-programming, like if you aren't interested in new "Lord of the Rings," but like crowns and swords, perhaps this will meet your requirements? Unclear. Seems strange to not give one another even 12-24 hours of breathing room. And they said Peak TV was over. Enjoy today's issue! Lon
p/lon-harris | |
| 1 | | Amazon Prime Video opened its first-ever upfront presentation to advertisers in New York this week. The event is being held at Pier 36 in Manhattan, and features appearances from both Amazon executives and celebrity guests. More: - Major announcements included a Season 2 renewal for "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (likely featuring a new cast), "The Boys" returning for a fifth season, a live-action Spider-Man Noir series featuring Nicolas Cage, a "Tomb Raider" series from "Fleabag" vet Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and a sequel for Jake Gyllenhaal's "Road House" remake.
- Amazon also released a first trailer for the second season of its "Lord of the Rings" prequel series, "The Rings of Power"; it returns on August 29.
- Special guests included musical opener Alicia Keys, Alan Ritchson ("Reacher"), Aldis Hodge ("Cross"), Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell ("You're Cordinally Invited"), Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer (an untitled action-adventure series), and hosts Patton Oswalt and Keke Palmer.
- Witherspoon also briefly discussed plans for a "Legally Blonde" prequel series, tracking Elle Woods' high school career.
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. appeared to preview Amazon's upcoming NASCAR coverage, while Roger Federer stopped by to promote his documentary, "Roger Federer: 12 Final Days."
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| 2 | | Comcast announced StreamSaver, an upcoming bundle packaging Peacock, Netflix, and Apple TV+ subscriptions together. Though no specifics were announced, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts suggests the bundle will offer a "deep discount" vs. subscribing to the three services separately. More: - StreamSaver will be available to all Comcast broadband and TV customers.
- Roberts said the goal was both to offer a valuable new package to consumers and to "take some of the dollars out" of competitors' streaming businesses.
- Currently, an ad-supported subscription to each service costs $6.99/month for Netflix, $9.99/month for Apple, and $5.99/month for Peacock (though this is going up to $7.99/month in July).
- Last week, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery announced plans for their own bundle, which will package Disney+, Hulu, and Max together.
- Roberts made the announcement during the MoffettNathanson 2024 Media, Internet and Communications Conference, being held in New York this week.
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| 3 | | DAILY CALENDAR TUESDAY, MAY 14 MADAME WEB: 2024 superhero film, based on the Marvel Comics character and serving as the fourth entry in Sony's spinoff franchise dedicated to Spider-Man supporting characters. Dakota Johnson stars as paramedic Cassie Webb, who unlocks her latent psychic abilities following a near-fatal accident, then uses them to save three teens from a wealthy mogul with his own special powers. Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, and Celeste O'Connor co-star; S.J. Clarkson ("Heroes," "Succession") co-wrote and directed in her feature debut. [Netflix] PILLOWCASE MURDERS: Three-part true-crime docuseries from Randy Ferrell ("Death Row Chronicles"), examining the relatively obscure criminal career of serial killer Billy Chemirmir. For nearly two years, Chemirmir targeted elderly female victims by posing as a maintenance man at various Dallas-area senior care facilities. [Paramount+] THE KILLING KIND: Legal thriller series from the UK, based on the novel by Jane Casey. Emma Appleton stars as a defense attorney who represents a client (Colin Morgan) against stalking allegations, only to become his next target. Elliot Barnes-Worrell and Olivia D'Lima co-star; Zara Hayes and Jonathan H.A. Stewart wrote the adaptation. [Hulu] COLD JUSTICE: The Oxygen true-crime docuseries follows former Texas prosecutor Kelly Siegler and her team as they use modern forensic investigative techniques to crack old, unsolved murder cases. Season 7 premiered earlier this year on cable; all episodes hit Peacock today. [Peacock] DOUBLING DOWN WITH THE DERRICOS: The TLC reality series follows the lives of Karen & Deon Derrico and their 14 children, including quintuplets, triplets, and two sets of twins. Season 5 premieres today on Max and cable. [Max] | | | |
| 4 | | Roku grabbed the rights to exclusive Major League Baseball Sunday games for this season. MLB Sunday Leadoff games will stream exclusively on Roku Channel, starting with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox on May 19. More: - The games will stream live for free with ads; no subscription or sign-up to Roku is required to watch.
- The streams will be available via the Roku app, along with the Roku Channel's website.
- Replays will stream for six hours following the live broadcast.
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| 5 | | HBO released a new trailer for Season 2 of "House of the Dragon." The "Game of Thrones" prequel series returns for an 8-episode second season on June 19. More: - The series centers on a civil war within House Targaryen, around 200 years before the events of the original series.
- The trailer arrives on the same day that Amazon revealed its Season 2 "Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" trailer at its Upfronts presentation in New York.
- Returning "House of the Dragon" cast members include Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D'Arcy, Eve Best, and Steve Toussaint; among the newcomers are Simon Russell Beale, Clinton Liberty, Kieran Bew, and Vincent Regan.
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| 6 | | Apple picked up a film project about Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, who accompanied Edmund Hillary on a notable 1953 summit of Mount Everest. Tom Hiddleston is attached to play Hillary, while Willem Dafoe co-stars as expedition leader Col. John Hunt; casting is underway for the Tenzing role. More: - The project was pitched at Cannes and turned into a "competitive situation" among a number of streamers and studios.
- This is one of the first major deals from this year's Cannes marketplace.
- "Solo" vet Jennifer Peedom will direct; in 2015, she produced a documentary about the Sherpa community.
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| 7 | | "The Simple Life" vets Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie will reteam for a new Peacock reality series. No further details beyond Hilton and Richie's involvement were revealed. More: - Hilton and Richie made the announcement on Monday, with a joint post to their Instagram accounts.
- They wrote "New Era, Same Besties. Coming soon to Peacock."
- Hilton previewed a potential new collaboration with Richie in a separate Instagram post back in May.
- "The Simple Life" debuted in 2003 on Fox and aired for three seasons; it featured wealthy socialite friends Hilton and Richie taking on difficult, low-paying jobs as cleaners, farm workers, camp counselors, and so on.
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| 8 | | Ellen DeGeneres announced a new hour-long Netflix comedy special, debuting later on this year. This will mark her second comedy special for Netflix, following 2018's "Relatable." More: - In a statement, DeGeneres indicates that this will be her final comedy special, and adds "Yes, I'm going to talk about it."
- The "it" likely refers to the toxic workplace allegations against DeGeneres and her chat show, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," which were first made public in 2020.
- The chat series ended in 2022 after 19 seasons.
- Other recent streaming projects from DeGeneres include a pair of environmental documentaries for Dicovery: "Endangered" and "Saving the Gorillas: Ellen's Next Adventure."
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 | Writer | | Lon Harris is the writer and editor of Inside Streaming and was the very first person to ever write an Inside newsletter. He lives in Los Angeles, California, and also writes about TV and film for Fandom, Screen Junkies, Rotten Tomatoes, Gamma Ray and others. Plus he has a Game of Thrones podcast called "Casterly Talk" and competes on The Movie Trivia Schmoedown as "The Professor." | | This newsletter was edited by Lon Harris | |
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