25 years of Arthur
Hi All!
Hope you’re all ready for the long weekend — I know I am! Let’s skip the preamble today and get right into it.
This week on the blog:
Arthur is ending after 25 years. I loved watching the Phenom everyday after school on TVOKids. I know things need to change and people move on, etc., but it’s sad. I know they’ll do reruns, but I wish they kept it going. In honour of this event, I’ve put together a list of some of my favourite Arthur episodes and moments.
Things to watch this week:
The Canadian women are absolutely dominating and leading at these Olympics. We’ve had some amazing gold medal moments: Maggie Mac Neil, Maude Charron, and the Women’s Eights. We’ve also had incredible performances that resulted in silver and bronze medals. I have been obsessed with watching swimming: Penny Oleksiak is out there trying her absolute best and I’m so hopeful she’ll get her seventh and record-breaking medal this week. She’s had two fourths this week that have been heartbreaking to watch. She’s swimming personal bests and breaking Canadian records but unfortunately they just haven’t been good enough. There will be lots of excitement to watch over the next week and some sports are just getting started. The Olympics are on until August 8th. Watch it all on CBC, CBC Gem, and at cbc.ca/tokyo.
If you need a break from Olympic content, I’ve got some fun stuff for you.
Off the top, we’ve got a new HBO reality show called FBOY Island. It just started last night on Crave. It’s created by Elan Gale who is a former legendary Bachelor producer and he teamed up with Sam Dean from Love Is Blind, so you know this is going to be fun. This won’t be for everyone but for reality people — this will be gold. Watch the trailer here.
Today on Netflix, the second season of Outer Banks just dropped. I know a few people who are obsessed with this show and teens everywhere are pumped to head back to North Carolina. I have a bit of a TV backlog because of the Olympics, but I am adding this to my list to watch after. Check out the trailer here.
Also worth checking out on is a new docuseries called Myth & Mogul: John DeLorean — all about the making of the infamous car. It looks like a lot of fun. Watch the trailer here.
On Apple+ today, we’ve got Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson.Mark Ronson is a very famous music producer and he’s chatting with some very influential people about making music. This looks incredible. Check out the trailer here.
On Monday, head over to Crave and check out two things. First — Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street. This is a doc that had amazing reviews at both Sundance and Hot Docs all about the making of Sesame Street. I cannot wait to watch this. Watch that trailer here. Second — Small Town News: KPVM Pahrump, a documentary series about an independently owned and run local news station in Vegas. It looks perfect. Watch its trailer here.
On Tuesday, Crave starts streaming Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union. It’s a big-budget three-part documentary about former US president Barack Obama. This will be great for any of you political nerds out there. Check out the trailer here.
Lastly, if you are loving Kathy Hilton on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills like I am, you’ll be thrilled to hear that her daughter Paris is back with a cooking show and Kathy will be making an appearance. Cooking With Paris premiers on Netflix on Wednesday. The food will be “hot.” Watch the trailer here.
Other things to check out:
It’s officially been 20 years since ThePrincess Diaries premiered on July 29th, 2001. I was talking with some friends about national anthems that we know (in the context of the Olympics) and one of them said they know three: “O Canada,” “The Star Spangled Banner,” and of course “Genovia (The Land I Call my Home).” The music from The Princess Diaries is iconic and Billboard wrote up a great article about the soundtrack to mark the occasion. So put on some Rooney and read that here.
In industry news the big story of the week is that Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney for breach of contract because Black Widow didn’t have an exclusive theatrical release. To sum up her opinion, because it was available on both Disney+ and in theatres, the movie didn’t make as much money as it should have, which meant she didn’t get the bonuses that she should have. You know what, that’s fair normally — get your money, girl — but it’s a very bad look during a global pandemic. Disney agrees. They fired back saying it shows a “callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.” She already made $20 million on this movie and she wants more. Oookkkaaaayyyy. Here’s a thought: pay your PAs and other assistants more than minimum wage (maybe even a living wage) and then you can have your cut. Just saying…
Moving on…
For those of you who like looking at real estate, Dean from Gilmore Girls aka Jared Padalecki is giving the house tour of the week on AD. It’s a beautiful Texas farmhouse and I’m really into it.
The New York Times has two great YouTube videos this week worth your time. One — part of their ‘Almost Famous’ series is a short doc about Astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell. It’s excellent. Two — there is a short video about forest fire prevention and prescribed burns in California. It’s very interesting.
There are a few new trailers out this week worth noting.
The new Ghostbusters movie, Ghostbusters: Afterlife has a full trailer. I’ve been hearing buzz about this movie for years and I’m very interested in seeing how it turns out. It was mostly filmed in Alberta and when I worked on our Turner Valley episode for Still Standing everyone was talking about how they had just filmed in town. If you know Alberta well, you'll recognize a lot of the locations in the trailer which is always fun.
For Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans, we’ve got the trailer for the final season. It’s not my show, but I know so many of you love it. Watch it here.
Finally, we’ve got a bit of Oscar bait. The trailer for House of Gucci just dropped and wow… it’s wild. I’m so excited to watch it. The only thing that’s making me pause is Jared Leto. The man loves some makeup and body transformations but this is next level.
Have a great weekend,
-Paula
📝📝📝 This newsletter was graciously edited by Emma Sakamoto 📝📝📝
Editor’s Pick:
Let me leave you with this cinematic summer bop that I’ve had on repeat for the past few weeks: “Comme dans les films” by Quebecois pop singer Alexe.
p.s. Just as a heads-up. There is a high chance that I’m going to take next week off. I’ll try to send out a quick what-to-watch, but don’t expect a long newsletter.
I’m going to be volunteering with Camp Ooch and Trillium a few times in August and won’t have as much time for this on top of working and other things.
-p