TV Break: July 2024 - Skydance's Paramount Merger, Tubi's Streaming Dominance, House of the Dragon S2 and The Acolyte S1 Battle, and The Bear Returns

Welcome to TV Break, where Pop Break’s Podcasts Editor Alex Marcus is joined by editor-in-chief Bill Bodkin, and TV Columnist Josh Sarnecky to talk about the happenings in television. Here’s the format of the show: The Best Thing I Saw on TV Last Month – Alex, Bill, & Josh talk about a show/episode/event they liked from the last month including HBO’s House of the Dragon S2, Disney Plus’s The Acolyte S1, Hulu’s The Bear, and Netflix’s Ripley.  News Break – Alex, Bill, and Josh react to breaking news that Skydance has finally completed its long awaited merger with Paramount Global. Streaming Wars – Alex, Bill, & Josh pick a streamer they think “won the month” based on new shows airing/upcoming shows announced etc. Josh gives the nod to Netflix thanks to their conversation starting films like Hit Man, Axel F, Atlas, and Under Paris and their hit series like Bridgerton (plus news that they will be creating their own amusement experience).  Bill passed over Netflix to give props to MAX after they debuted their trailer for The Penguin, converted some of their event series into HBO originals, announced Damon Lindeloff will be writing their Green Lantern series, and earned major ratings with the NBA Finals and House of the Dragon S2. Meanwhile, Alex spoke up for Tubi a month after they beat Disney Plus in total viewers for second behind Netflix, and scored a ton of good press in the process. New Series Spotlight – This month, they reviewed Presumed Innocent, Apple TV Plus’s adaptation of the 1990 Harrison Ford feature film and the 1987 best selling novel by lawyer turned novelist Scott Turow. The series was created by David E Kelley and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, as a local prosecutor accused of murdering his fellow ADA, played in flashbacks by Renate Reinsve, who he happened to be having an affair with at the time of her death. Ruth Negga, O-T Fagbenle, Peter Sarsgaard, and real life husband and wife Bill Camp and Elizabeth Marvel also star.