Mornin! It’s MONDAY January 25th, 2021. Where Tom Brady is returning to the Super Bowl (what’s the opposite of excitement?) as the Tampa Bay Bucs will face the team everyone outside of Florida will be rooting for… the Kansas City Chiefs, who won’t go to Tampa until Feb 6th, the day before the game.

They’ll play in front of 22,000 fans in Tampa, 1/3rd of the stadium’s capacity: 7,500 people will be vaccinated healthcare workers sent from the 32 NFL team markets and getting free tix, and 15,000 of which will be rich people who…somehow found a way to get the vaccine.

Email me at Wakeupodcast@gmail.com with any ideas to make this email work better for ya. - Sean

TOP STORIES

± PARAMOUNT moves “A Quiet Place 2” from April to September 17th : DISNEY moves “Kingsmen” sequel “The King’s Man” from March to August 20th.

Movie theaters now have ZERO major Exclusive-to-Theaters releases until at least May:

• DISNEY/FOX has animated “Raya and the Last Dragon” in theaters And streaming on Disney+ for a TBD price ($30?) on March 5. That’s it until “Black Widow” on May 7.

  • “Bob’s Burgers” movie goes from April 9 to undated. Which is also the code word for my high school years.

• WB releasing one big movie a month in theaters… And on HBOMAX the same day thru May.

• UNIVERSAL only has specialty FOCUS FEATURES movies until “F9” aka “Fast & Furious 9” in May.

• SONY & PARAMOUNT sitting things out til May.

The country’s largest theater chain AMC THEATERS has now raised enough cash/debt financing to avoid immediate bankruptcy as feared in Q1.

FUN FACT: There is still literally a billboard for “A Quiet Place 2” from a year ago as you enter NYC’s Midtown Tunnel from the LIE. It’s kinda creepy.

ALT TAKE: The future of VIACOM CBS’s streaming business, PARAMOUNT+ launches March 4th. Premiering “A Quiet Place 2” on the service in April woulda made a hell of a compelling reason to sign up for it. (Currently no known marquee exclusive programming for the PAR+ launch).

± NBCSN cable channel shutting down end of 2021. (THR) WWE streaming moving to PEACOCK.

NHL games + UK PREMIERE LEAGUE soccer matches + NASCAR races will shift to USA NETWORK and PEACOCK in late 2021 (and will occasionally still air on NBC).

NBCU’s current rights deal with the NHL is up for renewal this year.

PEACOCK Premium is also now the home for WWE Streaming in the US. WWE folding it’s current SVOD service into Peacock on March 18th. Big PPV events like Wrestlemania will now stream on PEACOCK complimentary for their paying customers. USA NETWORK still airs WWE programming as well.

No word on NBCSN related layoffs as a result. NBCU also owns THE GOLF CHANNEL.

ALT TAKE: While NBCU got fees from cable companies to carry NCBSN in addition to advertising $$, staffing + resources to create the 150 hours of mostly talk and filler sports programming each week (all due respect to College Hockey and Bull Riding) to surround the maybe 18 hours or so of sports people somewhat watched to a degree (NHL and UK Soccer) was no longer worth it in 2021.

They already have MSNBC, CNBC and now PEACOCK to support the 3rd and 4th tier Olympic sports every other year.

Shifting the games and few original shows that have audiences to streaming on PEACOCK definitely saves staff resources/costs vs a 24/7 linear network.

± Brie Larson doing APPLE TV+ Show called “Lessons in Chemistry” (THR)

Susannah Grant (Netflix’s UNBELIEVABLE) is showrunning. Jason Bateman among producers.

Brie plays a single, pregnant scientist in the 1960’s, fired from her lab job who takes a job as a Cooking TV Show host and changes lives.

± “The Marksman” takes #1 at US Box Office with… $2mil. Hits $6mil total. (Deadline)

“The Croods 2” takes 2nd with $1.8 million, $42mil US total.

“Wonder Woman” petering out at box office, $1.6mil US, $38mil US total, $148 mil worldwide.

THE TV SET:

• SNL returns this Saturday Jan 30 with John Krasinski + Machine Gun Kelly.

  FEB 6: Dan Levy + Phoebe Bridgers

  FEB 13: Regina King + Nathaniel Rateliff

• FOX bringing back “America’s Most Wanted” in March, hosted by Elizabeth Vargas.

• Kenneth Brannagh to play Boris Johnson in SKY TV five-part series on Covid, directed by Michael Winterbottom. Title couldn’t be more British: “This Sceptred Isle”.

• “The Tonight Show” names Colin Elzie new head writer. Has been with the show since 2016.

• Tom Brokaw officially retires from NBC News after 55 years.

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TRAILER HOUSE:

WB “Godzilla Vs Kong” trailer. Hits theaters + HBOMAX on March 26th.

PARAMOUNT+ first TV ad debuted last night on CBS during the football game - News and Sports still get top billing over Entertainment content 🤔

HBO Documentary taking 3 people and buying them followers to see if they can become…. “Fake Famous”. Great spot. Premieres Feb 2nd.

PROGRAMMING NOTES

“Snowpiercer” season 2 premieres on TNT at 9pm.

PLAYING ME OFF...

The new song from the dude that “Drivers License” is apparently about. But - he does have a catchy song.

Have a great Monday! See ya tomorrow.

-Sean McNulty / wakeupodcast@gmail.com

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