Voice cast of the animated series ‘Golden Axe’ (Photos Provided by Comedy Central)
Emmy winner Matthew Rhys (The Americans) and Danny Pudi (Mythic Quest) will lend their voices to Comedy Central’s new animated series Golden Axe. Liam McIntyre (Spartacus), Lisa Gilroy (Jury Duty), and Carl Tart (Grand Crew) also voice characters in the video game-inspired series.
Star Trek: Lower Decks‘ Mike McMahan and American Dad!‘s Joe Chandler are executive producing and will write the first episode. Chandler’s also confirmed to guide the series as showrunner. Additionally, President/CEO of Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. Haruki Satomi, President/COO of Sega Corporation Shuji Utsumi, and Sega’s Toru Nakahara are involved as executive producers, along with Original Film’s Neal H. Moritz, Pavun Shetty, and Toby Ascher.
“In a hilarious and loving homage to Sega’s 1989 video game series, Golden Axe follows veteran warriors Ax Battler, Tyris Flare and Gilius Thunderhead as they once again battle to save Yuria from the evil giant Death Adder who just won’t seem to stay dead,” reads Comedy Central’s synopsis. “Fortunately, this time they have the inexperienced and underprepared Hampton Squib on their side.”
Golden Axe Cast and Characters:
Matthew Rhys will play Gilius Thunderhead, a grumpy battle dwarf with exceptionally poor hygiene and a chip on his shoulder.
Danny Pudi is Hampton Squib, a naive, inexperienced first-time adventurer who has dreamt of questing his entire life. He hopes his can-do attitude can make up for his inability to actually do stuff.
Lisa Gilroy is Tyris Flare, a fearsome battle sorceress, deadly in a fight and even deadlier with her sharp wit.
Liam McIntyre is Ax Battler, a barbarian warrior with a strict code of honor and sweet golden retriever demeanor. His brawn outweighs his brains, but his heart outweighs his brawn.
Carl Tart is Chronos “Evil” Lait, originally from “Golden Axe III”, is a 100% badass humanoid panther. At least that’s how Chronos describes himself. In reality, he’s uncomfortably cheesy and can’t read a room.
The 10-episode season is produced by CBS’s Eye Animation Productions, Sony Pictures Television, and Original Film. Titmouse is the series’ animation studio, with Chris Prynoski, Shannon Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio and Ben Kalina executive producing.
‘For All Mankind’ poster (Photo Credit: Apple TV+)
Apple TV+ is expanding the world of For All Mankind. The streaming service announced the critically acclaimed sci-fi drama has been renewed for season five. Plus, Apple TV+ has greenlit the spinoff series, Star City.
Star City comes from For All Mankind creators Ben Nedivi, Matt Wolpert, and Ronald D. Moore. Nedivi and Wolpert serve as showrunners on both series.
“Our fascination with the Soviet space program has grown with every season of For All Mankind,” stated executive producers Wolpert and Nedivi. “The more we learned about this secret city in the forests outside Moscow where the Soviet cosmonauts and engineers worked and lived, the more we wanted to tell this story of the other side of the space race. We could not be more excited to continue building out the alternate history universe of For All Mankind with our partners at Apple and Sony.”
For All Mankind‘s first four seasons were executive produced by Wolpert, Nedivi, Moore, and Maril Davis. Additional executive producers include David Weddle, Bradley Thompson, Seth Edelstein, and Kira Snyder. Nedivi, Wolpert, Moore, and Davis executive produce Star City.
“With each new season, For All Mankind continues to build out a fascinating world and capture global audiences through high-quality storytelling that has been so skillfully developed by Ron, Matt, and Ben,” said Matt Cherniss, head of programming for Apple TV+. “There is so much to explore, and we, along with our partners at Sony, can’t wait to dive into this next chapter of the engrossing For All Mankind universe.”
Tyner Rushing and Joel Kinnaman in ‘For All Mankind’ season 4 (Photo Credit: Apple TV+)
Star City and For All Mankind Descriptions, Courtesy of Apple TV+:
A robust expansion of the For All Mankind universe, Star City is a propulsive, paranoid thriller that takes us back to the key moment in the alt-history retelling of the space race — when the Soviet Union became the first nation to put a man on the moon. But this time, we explore the story from behind the Iron Curtain, showing the lives of the cosmonauts, the engineers, and the intelligence officers embedded among them in the Soviet space program, and the risks they all took to propel humanity forward.
The latest season of For All Mankind rocketed the series into the new millennium. In the eight years since season three, Happy Valley has rapidly expanded its footprint on Mars by turning former foes into partners. It’s now 2003, and the focus of the space program has turned to the capture and mining of extremely valuable, mineral-rich asteroids that could change the future of both Earth and Mars. But simmering tensions between the residents of the now-sprawling international base threaten to undo everything they are working toward.
Zak Bagans and his team of paranormal investigators – Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley, and Jay Wasley – return for Ghost Adventures season 29, premiering on May 15, 2024 on Discovery Channel. The new season will kick off with a visit to Torrey, Utah for an investigation into skinwalker sightings.
“This season begins with one the most surreal investigations we’ve ever done,” said Bagans. “The activity the team and I witnessed in and around Torrey, Utah, was terrifying. There is an incredibly old and intense energy permeating the area that has created a vortex of paranormal activity of both the human and non-human kind.”
Season 29 will also include visits to an Arizona hotel plagued by poltergeists and Los Angeles Hospital’s first-ever paranormal investigation. New episodes of season 29 air on Wednesdays at 9pm ET/PT.
Jay Wasley, Aaron Goodwin, Zak Bagans, and Billy Tolley in ‘Ghost Adventures’ season 29 (Photo Credit: Discovery Channel)
Ghost Adventures Season 29 Details, Courtesy of Discovery Channel:
“On a quest to document proof of the afterlife, the Ghost Adventures crew travels to haunted locations where they meet with locals, eyewitnesses and experts to piece together the haunted history of each site. Using the latest scientific gadgets and technology, they initiate an immersive lockdown investigation to capture physical evidence of the paranormal and gain a better understanding of each supernatural mystery.
In the two-hour season opener, ‘Skinwalker Invasion,’ Bagans and the team head to the remote town of Torrey, Utah, where disturbing reports of Skinwalker sightings have left a family in fear. Treading upon sacred ground, with the help of Native American practitioners, they explore whether the recent appearance of these deadly shape-shifting creatures is a result of the misuse of Native American artifacts or if they were summoned. Investigating the area’s buildings and natural foothills, they find themselves caught in a battle between dark spirits and an ancient energy.”
Drew and Jonathan Scott star in ‘Backed By The Bros.’ (Photo Courtesy of HGTV)
Drew and Jonathan Scott are adding to their roster of renovation programs with HGTV’s Backed By The Bros. series. The 10-episode season premieres on June 5, 2024 at 9pm ET/PT and follows the brothers as they assist struggling property investors.
“We look for people who need our help to reach their full potential as property investors and who we can benefit the most,” said Jonathan. “If we don’t think our services will be enough, we won’t back them.”
“We have a lot on the line, too. Our time, reputation, and resources, which are not unlimited,” added Drew. “We are here to support, not take the reins.”
The home renovation and real estate experts also serve as executive producers. Scott Brothers Entertainment produces the new series.
“In every episode of Backed By The Bros, Drew and Jonathan will consider two potential real estate investments. After assessing the properties and meeting the owners, they will decide who to back with their full suite of support. Offering their expert mentorship, project management capabilities, trusted trade contacts, a team of designers and a warehouse full of construction materials, furniture and décor, Drew and Jonathan will bring every resource to the table,” reads HGTV’s synopsis. “The Brothers are ready to help the investors avoid pitfalls, but there’s no guarantee they will listen. Protégés may push back or go rogue, but if they make the right decisions, they’ll get the best return on their investment.
In the season premiere, Drew and Jonathan will review a troubled renovation project in North Hollywood that’s already more than $100,000 in the hole, as well as a detached garage in Burbank that the owners hope to transform into a rental unit. While only one will receive the backing opportunity, the other will still reap the benefits of the Brothers’ consultation and invaluable advice.”
Backed By The Bros. joins their roster of shows streaming on Max that includes Property Brothers: Forever Home, Brother vs. Brother, and Celebrity IOU.
Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder in ‘Hacks’ season 3 (Photograph by Courtesy of Max)
Max’s critically acclaimed, incredibly addictive Hacks ended season two with Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) back on top and riding a wave of success after the release of her TV special. The dynamic duo of comedy legend Deborah and struggling comedy writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) found the perfect outlet to showcase Deborah’s evolution as an entertainer and as a person. Audiences ate up the TV special, and it lit a fire under Deborah’s career. How did she react? By firing Ava.
Season three picks up a year after the season two finale. Deborah’s career is still on fire, and Ava has moved on with her life in LA. However, even with the passage of time, emotions are still raw as the new season premieres on May 2, 2024.
Hacks co-creator, co-showrunner, executive producer, and writer Jen Statsky describes the separation as a way to keep Deborah and Ava’s relationship from growing stagnant.
“This idea of separating them would be a next step in their relationship where Deborah would do something that was partly altruistic, partly her being a little bit scared of the closeness that she felt for Ava, and falling back into old ways.
But then this year apart would allow them to reach new career heights, which you see in the premiere episode. They’re both doing better than ever. Deborah is doing better than ever, even though […] she’s now doing so well she doesn’t have to work as hard for it. Ava is doing amazing, even though she’s been in couples therapy. So how good could the year be?” explained Statsky during an LA press conference hosted by Max.
Statsky continued: “But then like this would make it so that okay, now they’ve both reached these new incredible heights of their career and yet they realize they still need each other. Deborah needs Ava to push her. Ava needs Deborah because there is a spark that she doesn’t get from anyone else. And so, for us, that point of where they separated was always very intentional, because we wanted them to kind of go off in their separate ways to realize what they were missing in each other.”
Hannah Einbinder and Jean Smart in ‘Hacks’ season 3 (Photo Courtesy of Max)
Does Absence Make the Heart Grow Fonder?
According to Jean Smart, even a year apart doesn’t keep Deborah and Ava from falling back into familiar patterns once they get back together.
“I love the way they got back together, because it just felt completely right, just this kind of fake politeness for five minutes and then they start to insult each other. […] But, I mean, I think it was good that they were both off enjoying their lives and accomplishing things that they wanted to accomplish,” explained Jean. “And I’m sure thinking about each other. I mean I had an excuse to say, ’Oh, well, it’d be better for her if I don’t call her.’ But you know, I do think Deborah was a bit altruistic. I think she was trying to do what was right for Ava.”
Hannah Einbinder teased that Ava may have had a much more difficult time adjusting to this forced separation. “While Ava was thriving, certainly, it seems like it was a really heavy weight on her conscious always, when there’s just that one person who is just weighing on your mind. I think Ava’s life, obviously, when we first see her, it’s incredibly together,” offered Einbinder. “But I just think there’s like always that little missing piece without Deborah for her.”
Fans can expect a shift in the dynamic between mentor Deborah and her protégé Ava in season three. Rather than Ava being the one who needs Deborah, season three finds Deborah being the more dependent of the two.
“That’s true. That’s the first time we’ve seen that, really,” said Smart. “Yeah, because Deborah’s at a point where she’s had this great special and everything, but now it’s like, ‘Well, now what do I do? Do I go back to Vegas and do a second-rate club or what do I do? Do I do another bad sitcom?’”
Einbinder believes Ava has shown real personal growth over Hacks‘ three seasons, much of which is attributable to hanging around with Deborah. Deborah isn’t the best role model, but her work ethic is worthy of replicating.
“I think from just between Deborah and Ava, there has been a push and pull of like is Deborah the perfect example for Ava? Maybe in some ways no, but there are a lot of lessons about hard work and cutting your teeth that Deborah has imparted upon Ava. And I think she went into the series kind of in a place of like why is this happening? Why me? I’m getting like canceled. I can’t work.
She’s coming from a place of like not having a lot of strong relationships. And I think through their relationship, Ava is learning about hard work and just like determination and persevering through failure, something she didn’t really deal with much. As it was established, obviously, in the first season, Ava kind of got plucked off the internet and was like a writer pretty quickly, very successful, very young. So, I think she’s had to kind of deal with a wakeup call in that sense,” said Einbinder.
Einbinder added: “She’s always had the spirit of like kind of being a little bit of a contrarian. And she’s kind of settled into that role with Deborah. And I think just having to grow and go through life and go back to LA and right the wrongs that she maybe was a part of in like some of the earlier seasons. She has some good reconciliations with people that she maybe wasn’t respectful towards or really like a solid friend to. […] Still Ava, you know. We love her, we love her.
[…] So I credit a lot of her growth to this relationship. But also, you know, I think maybe she’s learning a couple things from this relationship that are maybe…sometimes they make each other better, but they also make each other worse.”
Dylan Gelula, Jordan Gavaris, Mark Indelicato, Jean Smart, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Paul W. Downs, and Megan Stalter in ‘Hacks’ season 3 (Photo Courtesy of Max)
The Challenges of Shotting Hacks Season 3
The group made it through the Covid-19 pandemic, the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, and Jean Smart’s health scare as a team. Asked during the press conference about the bonds formed coming through such tough times together, Smart replied, “I mean when you go through personal things with people that you work closely with, it does really bond you. And the fact that we work with people who are so incredibly talented, who are also every bit as kind and as nice as they are talented, it’s such a gift. And you think, ‘Well, why can’t it always be that way?’ It should always be that way. But we are, I feel, extraordinarily fortunate in the group of people that we have.”
Hannah Einbinder agreed.
“Yeah, I mean we make a show about the specific depth of the love shared between people who laugh together and it’s kind of meta, because that’s like what we do every day. We are actively doing the thing that we are making this piece of art about. And there is no greater bond than the one between like funny people who collaborate,” said Einbinder. “And it is our love language. And it’s how we deal with everything. And it has, I think, probably gotten us through everything that’s happened. And yeah, the love is real.”
Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom) stars as a real estate tycoon whose world is rocked when he’s forced into bankruptcy in Netflix’s A Man in Full first trailer. The six-episode limited series comes from David E. Kelley who serves as showrunner, writer, and executive producer.
“When Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker (Daniels) faces sudden bankruptcy, political and business interests collide as he defends his empire from those attempting to capitalize on his fall from grace,” reads Netflix’s synopsis.
Poster for Netflix’s ‘A Man in Full’
In addition to Daniels, the limited series stars Tom Pelphrey (Ozark) as Raymond Peepgrass, Diane Lane (Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans) as Martha Crocker, Lucy Liu (Elementary) as Joyce Newman, William Jackson Harper (The Good Place) as Wes Jordan, and Aml Ameen (I May Destroy You) as Roger White. The cast also includes Sarah Jones (For All Mankind) as Serena Crocker, Jon Michael Hill (61st Street) as Conrad Hensley, and Chanté Adams (A League of Their Own) as Jill Hensley.
A Man in Full is based on The New York Times bestselling novel by the late Tom Wolfe. Regina King directed episodes one, five, and six, and also serves as an executive producer. Episodes two, three, and four were directed by executive producer Tommy Schlamme. Additional executive producers include Matthew Tinker and Alexandra Wolfe, with Thomas Wolfe receiving a posthumous executive producer credit.
CBS’s Fire Country returns after a two-week break with an episode that finds Three Rock on the outs with the community. Season two episode seven will air on Friday, April 26, 2024 at 9pm ET/PT. Marie Jamora directs and Sara Casey and Manuel Herrera wrote the script.
Max Thieriot leads the cast as Bode, Billy Burke plays Vince, Kevin Alejandro is Manny, and Diane Farr is Sharon. Stephanie Arcila stars as Gabriela, Jordan Calloway is Jake, and Jules Latimer plays Eve.
“A Hail Mary” Plot: The future of Three Rock is in jeopardy as public opinion of the camp grows increasingly negative.
Fire Country stars Max Thieriot as Bode Donovan, a young convict seeking redemption and a shortened prison sentence by joining a prison release firefighting program in Northern California, where he and other inmates are partnered with elite firefighters to extinguish massive, unpredictable wildfires across the region. It’s a high-risk, high-reward assignment, and the heat is turned up when Bode is assigned to the program in his rural hometown, where he was once a golden all-American son until his troubles began.
Five years ago, Bode burned down everything in his life, leaving town with a big secret. Now he’s back, with the rap sheet of a criminal and the audacity to believe in a chance for redemption with Cal Fire.
It’s been 54 years since The Beatles’ Let It Be last screened, and Disney+ is now set to introduce the documentary to a new generation of fans. Filmmaker Peter Jackson and his Park Road Post Production team restored the film to its original luster, with Disney+ setting a May 8, 2024 premiere.
“Let It Be was ready to go in October/November 1969, but it didn’t come out until April 1970. One month before its release, The Beatles officially broke up. And so the people went to see Let It Be with sadness in their hearts, thinking, ‘I’ll never see The Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,’ and it very much darkened the perception of the film,” says director Michael Lindsay-Hogg.
Lindsay-Hogg continued: “But, in fact, how often do you get to see artists of this stature working together to make what they hear in their heads into songs? And then you get to the roof, and you see their excitement, camaraderie, and sheer joy in playing together again as a group and know, as we do now, that it was the final time, and we view it with the full understanding of who they were and still are and a little poignancy. I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with Get Back, using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
Jackson’s Emmy Award-winning three-part documentary series aired in 2021 and generated renewed interest in the iconic band. Following its debut, Apple Corps asked Jackson and his team to restore Let It Be from its original 16mm negative.
“I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, Let It Be, has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades,” stated Peter Jackson. “I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for Get Back, and I’ve always thought that Let It Be is needed to complete the Get Back story. Over three parts, we showed Michael and The Beatles filming a groundbreaking new documentary, and Let It Be is that documentary – the movie they released in 1970.
I now think of it all as one epic story, finally completed after five decades. The two projects support and enhance each other: Let It Be is the climax of Get Back, while Get Back provides a vital missing context for Let It Be. Michael Lindsay-Hogg was unfailingly helpful and gracious while I made Get Back, and it’s only right that his original movie has the last word…looking and sounding far better than it did in 1970.”
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr starred in the original film and served as executive producers. Neil Aspinall produced, and Anthony B Richmond was the director of photography.
McCall’s on the case of a former Chinese Ministry of State Security agent who needs help on CBS’s The Equalizer season four episode six. “DOA” airs on Sunday, April 21, 2024 at 8pm ET/PT. Paul Holahan directs and Kim Rome wrote the script.
Queen Latifah leads the cast as Robyn McCall, Tory Kittles stars as Detective Marcus Dante, and Adam Goldberg is Harry Keshegian. Liza Lapira plays Melody “Mel” Bayani, Laya DeLeon Hayes is Delilah, and Lorraine Toussaint is Viola “Vi” Marsette.
“DOA” Plot: When a former Chinese MSS agent is poisoned and comes to McCall for help, McCall tracks down the perpetrators and the antidote. Meanwhile, Aunt Vi encourages Dee to protest against a well-known climate change denier.
The Equalizer Series Description, Courtesy of CBS:
The Equalizer is a reimagining of the classic series starring Academy Award nominee and multi-hyphenate Queen Latifah as Robyn McCall, an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills as a former CIA operative to help those with nowhere else to turn. McCall presents to most as an average single mom who is quietly raising her teenage daughter. But to a trusted few, she is The Equalizer – an anonymous guardian angel and defender of the downtrodden, who’s also dogged in her pursuit of personal redemption.
Robyn’s clandestine work and her personal life collide when her smart and observant daughter, Delilah, and her aunt Vi, who lives with Robyn to help her balance life as a working mother, discover her secret career as a vigilante. While Robyn contends with uncertainty at home, she is joined in her pursuit of justice by Melody “Mel” Bayani, an edgy bar owner and sniper from Robyn’s past; and Harry Keshegian, a paranoid and brilliant white-hat hacker.
As Robyn aids the oppressed and exploited, she sometimes works with Marcus Dante, an NYPD detective who once sought to uncover her identity, but now respects the need for Robyn’s type of justice even as he often questions her methods.
It’s a mini This Is Us reunion on CBS’s Tracker season one episode nine. Jon Huertas, who starred as Miguel Rivas on the critically acclaimed drama, directs the Sunday, April 21, 2024 episode.
Justin Hartley stars as Colter Shaw, Fiona Rene plays Reenie Greene, and Robin Weigert is Teddi. Abby McEnany stars as Velma and Eric Graise is Bobby Exley.
“Aurora” Plot: When a widower offers a reward to find his only daughter who disappeared three years ago and is presumed dead, Colter agrees to help track her down. After the missing girl’s father shows Colter a newspaper photo from a recent county fair he’s convinced is her, Colter’s search leads him into the world of amateur ghost hunting and paranormal activity.
Tracker stars Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw, a lone-wolf survivalist who roams the country as a reward seeker, using his expert tracking skills to help private citizens and law enforcement solve all manner of mysteries while contending with his own fractured family. The series is based on the bestselling novel The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver.
