Weekly Entertainment Recap: Week of June 26th, 2023

iCarly Season 3 Episode 5 (Paramount+): It is surprising that it took this long to get to an episode about deep fakes and they handle it surprisingly well. There are a few logical inconsistencies about the world they build in this episode, specifically how no one noticed that Carly’s face was on a new vegan product that was stacked basically to the roof in Spencer’s coffee shop. It also seems that there is a major focus on the A-plots and the B-plots are basically afterthoughts because this is the second episode where the B-plot is forgettable at best.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episode 2 (Paramount+): The problem with this episode is that it is trying to use science fiction to be topical but does so in a way that does not logically make sense. The ban on genetic modifications as a pretext for discrimination could be interesting, however, there are two issues at hand. Number one, the modifications at the core of the episode happen to children who lack the power to consent, and number two, the episode broaches the topic of noticeable against not noticeable modifications (similar to the X-Men issue) which also does not play into the nuance either. It’s a good surface-level analysis, however, it breaks the surface on things that could be more interesting while not going any deeper. It also makes it seem like the discrimination was wrong specifically in this case rather than broadly in general because of the good that she did which is cumbersome as well.

Secret Invasion Episode 1 (Disney+): After the longest gap between projects since WandaVision launched, Secret Invasion is finally here with one of the strongest pilot episodes of the Disney+ shows. The ending is a little out of left field and is a little disappointing, but this show does have a ton of great atmosphere building going into the rest of the episodes. That said, it would have been nice if the trailer for The Marvels was postponed because knowing Nick Fury survives and goes back to SABER does remove some of the stakes.

Superman and Lois Season 3 Episode 12 (The CW/CW App): When it was announced that Jon Cryer would not be returning to play Lex Luthor in Superman and Lois after being the best live-action Lex in the last decade, there was a degree of skepticism about Michael Cudlitz taking over. Fortunately, he absolutely nails the role and it will be interesting to see if he can beat Cryer to be the best Lex in the last decade. Based on his performance in this episode, he’s off to a great start though.

This Week In Theaters:

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: In what will hopefully be the last Indiana Jones movie, Harrison Ford returns for the fifth time in another globetrotting film alongside Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, and Boyd Holbrook in a movie directed by Logan’s James Mangold.

Last Week At The Box Office:

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: $19.3 Million

Elemental: $18.5 Million

The Flash: $15.3 Million

No Hard Feelings: $15.1 Million

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts: $11.6 Million

Programming Notes:

The final round of announcements regarding what programs will be returning next season at the CW has been announced. Gotham Knights has not been picked up for a second season and Superman and Lois was picked up for a final, truncated season, much like The Flash.

Two other more troubling notes arose over the course of the last week that do not bode well for the future of entertainment media. The first is that Paramount will be following in the footsteps of Warner Brothers and Disney in removing content from their streaming service that does not perform to internal standards to take a tax write-off. To be clear, while jokes were made about the existence Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, this show (and the others being removed) employed tons of actors, writers, directors, and other people who will no longer be able to showcase their work to prospective future employers and will no longer be able to receive royalties on them. In the case of Rise of the Pink Ladies, the show ended under a month ago and is already being removed from the streamer. Most of the shows being removed are also not available on home media (some are like The Witches from Max and Star Trek: Prodigy on Paramount+) so they are just gone forever with no way to rewatch them in the future.

The other troubling note is that Warner Brothers has taken the initial steps to get rid of Turner Classic Movies. The short version of what happened was the staff was reduced by a substantial margin and several key executives were laid off. For those who may not know, TCM is a very important tentpole when it comes to film preservation considering a lot of the films aired on the network are not available for purchase or stream elsewhere. They air movies 24 hours a day on the channel without commercials with mini-documentaries about the history of film. For people who want to learn about movies before the modern era or movies that may not be the biggest names, TCM is an invaluable resource.