Steve Pond's Blog, page 81

‘John Carter of Mars’ Animated Series to be Unveiled at Comic-Con | Exclusive

A new animated series based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic sci-fi novel series “John Carter of Mars” will be developed by the author’s estate and showrunner Michael Kogge, with the first sneak peek at the planned series to be revealed this Friday at a Burroughs-themed panel at San Diego Comic-Con.

The series traces its roots back to 1912 with the pulp serial “Under the Moons of Mars” published by the magazine The All-Story and later as a novel titled “A Princess of Mars.” The series followed Civil War veteran John Carter as he is transported to Mars — called Barsoom by its inhabitants — and becomes a warrior who wages battles against beasts and aliens.

The novels and the pulp comics adapted from them became part of the foundation for modern-day sci-fi. Alongside the likes of “Flash Gordon,” “John Carter” became an inspiration for George Lucas on “Star Wars” and James Cameron on “Avatar,” among many others.

“A Princess of Mars” was adapted into the 2012 Disney film “John Carter” directed by Andrew Stanton, but infamously bombed at the box office amid mixed reviews and an immense production budget.

Prior to that film, several attempts had been made to adapt Burroughs’ “John Carter” novels, including by Burroughs’ own son, John Coleman Burroughs, who worked with famed “Looney Tunes” animator Bob Clampett to develop a test reel to present to MGM for a series of nine-minute animated shorts that would appear as opening features at movie theaters. But MGM turned down the pitch and the series was never developed.

That makes this new “John Carter of Mars” the first animated adaptation of the novels, something that Michael Kogge believes will be embraced given the interest in action-packed animation on streaming in recent years.

“In this era of incredible animation, with shows like ‘Castlevania,’ ‘Blood of Zeus’ and ‘Twilight of the Gods’ pushing the genre of fantasy action-adventure to new heights, there couldn’t be a better time for the Martian saga of John Carter and Princess Dejah Thoris to be told through bold, ground-breaking animation,” he said in a statement.

Kogge is well-versed in all things “John Carter,” having written an audio series based on Burroughs’ novels that is currently being recorded with a cast that includes Sean Patrick Flannery, Bruce Boxleitner and “Star Wars” veteran Ian McDiarmid. He will be joined on the animated project by Jim Sullos and Wolf Larson, who will oversee for Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

“The explosive rise of action-adventure animation has captivated audiences around the world, making it the perfect moment to launch our John Carter animated series. This marks a new era in storytelling for the Edgar Rice Burroughs universe and we’re excited that Michael Kogge will help bring Mars to life,” said Sullos.

Kogge is represented by WME and Felker Toczek.

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Kevin Feige’s Son Wasn’t Into Marvel … Until He Played ‘Marvel Rivals’

This year at the box office, superhero films like Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*,” “Captain America: Brave New World” and even the DC hit “Superman” have seen low turnout from moviegoers under 25 compared to films like “A Minecraft Movie.”

But Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige isn’t worried that the next generation is disinterested in superheroes. He just believes that every generation finds their passion for it in different ways. He’s seen that personally with his son, who wasn’t interested in what he did for a living until he played the hit video game “Marvel Rivals.”

In a conversation with trade reporters on the Disney backlot on Friday, Feige was asked about whether he thinks about how to keep interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe high among kids and teens who weren’t even born when “Iron Man” started the series back in 2008. The Oscar-nominated exec noted how growing up, his son only “feigned interest in a supportive way” in his work on superheroes like Spider-Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Scarlet Witch.

But that changed with the release of “Marvel Rivals,” the NetEase hero shooter that has been played by more than 40 million people worldwide. The game features many of the heroes that have become stars of the MCU as well as others who have yet to make a big screen appearance like Squirrel Girl, Luna Snow and Jeff the Land Shark, the latter of whom got a shoutout from Feige as he talked about his son’s love of the game.

“Suddenly, he was asking me to tell him more about Hela. Tell him more about The Punisher and these other characters. And then he started seeking them out in the shows,” he said.

Feige used his son’s entry through a video game into the superhero world he has worked in for a quarter-century as an example of how Marvel, with its constantly growing web of multimedia, always finds something that gets different people across generations interested. Beyond “Marvel Rivals,” he noted the success of the Disney Junior preschool TV series “Spidey and his Amazing Friends,” which since 2021 has offered a toddler-friendly portrayal not just of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man but also Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy’s version of the webslinger.

That show premiered in August 2021, months before Marvel Studios and Sony released the $1.9 billion box office smash hit “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” The fact that these characters are so malleable and can have different versions existing alongside each other in various forms of media is something that Feige sees as superheroes’ greatest strength.

“In 2021, on ‘Spidey and His Amazing Friends,’ the Green Goblin was making evil snowmen who were throwing snowballs at Spider-Man. At the same time, on the big screen, he’s killing Aunt Mae,” he quipped.

So just as 90s kids who saw the Fox Kids “Spider-Man” animated series were eventually led to Sam Raimi’s film trilogy, so too could Gen Z and Gen Alpha be led from “Marvel Rivals” and other video games and TV shows to “Avengers: Doomsday” and whatever films the MCU has to come in its third decade of existence.

That future includes the X-Men, which will be introduced in full in “Avengers: Doomsday” with Patrick Stewart and other stars of the 2000s films featuring the mutants. But Feige promises that there will be more than nostalgia, and that the X-Men will bring with them the thematic core that has made the Marvel mutants so timeless to generations of youth.

“You look at what the X-Men comics have always been, and they have been young, and they have been a place to tell stories about young people who feel different, and who feel other, and who feel like they don’t belong,” he said. “That’s the universal story of mutants.”

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Where to Watch ‘Robot Chicken: Self-Discovery Special’

“Robot Chicken” is officially returning for its newest special “Robot Chicken: Self-Discovery Special” to celebrate its 20th anniversary. And of course, we’ve got all the details about when it hits TV screens.

When Seth Green and Matthew Senreich launched “Robot Chicken” on Adult Swim in 2005, it became an instant hit that fans stayed up late to watch. Between jokes targeting pop culture and Hollywood giants like Mario and Luigi and filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, “Robot Chicken” has stood the test of time as an adult animated classic.

“Robot Chicken” is executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green and Senreich also write, voice and direct the award-winning series. Stoopid Buddy Stoodios partners, John Harvatine IV and Eric Towner, also serve as executive producers. 

Here’s everything you need to know about how, when and where to watch the new “Robot Chicken” special.

When does “Robot Chicken: Self-Discovery Special” come out?

The “Robot Chicken: Self-Discovery Special” premieres on Sunday, July 20 at 11:30 p.m. EST/PST.

Will “Robot Chicken: Self-Discovery Special” be streaming?

Yes, after it makes its premiere on Adult Swim, it will be available to stream the next day (Monday) on Max.

Who’s in the cast?

Some of the voice actors set to be featured in the special include Seth Green, Matthew Lilard, Katee Sackhoff, Michaela Watkins, Guy Fieri and more.

What’s “Robot Chicken: Self-Discovery Special” about?

Per Adult Swim “the latest installment, ‘The Robot Chicken Self-Discovery Special,’ follows the hapless Robot Chicken Nerd as he seeks self-discovery America’s way: going on reality shows! Will he find a 90 Day Fiancé – or end up Shark Week chum? With parodies of fan-favorite series from Discovery, Food Network, and TLC, the new special arrives on Adult Swim this summer.” 

Watch the trailer

The post Where to Watch ‘Robot Chicken: Self-Discovery Special’ appeared first on TheWrap.

7 Best New Movies Streaming on Paramount+ Right Now

Paramount+ is at it again with more movies added to their library, and we’re back again with the titles we think you should tune into first.

Truly, the platform is bringing in some heavy hitters, including the movie that features one of Denzel Washington’s most iconic performances and the film adaptation of Truman Capote’s popular novel “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” This month, Paramount+ is offering some of cinema’s most popular flicks, as well as some films that spawned from popular TV shows.

Here are the seven best new movies Paramount+ is rocking with in July 2025.

“Chicago” (Miramax Films)“Chicago”

In the first musical adaptation of the hit 1975 stage musical of the same name, Renée Zellweger stars as Roxie Hart, a woman whose dream is to one day be a famous vaudeville star, though she lives a lackluster life married to a lowly but loving mechanic husband. But after she fatally shoots a furniture salesman, with whom she’s having an affair, she ends up in prison. Her bombshell case attracts media attention and she soon gains notoriety she’s always longed for. However, when she has to share that airtime with beautiful nightclub performer Velma (Catherine Zeta-Jones), Roxie finds herself willing to do whatever she can to maintain the spotlight.

Warner Bros.“Training Day”

For those who have always wanted to know where the famous movie line “King Kong ain’t got nothin’ on me” came from, you’re in luck. It’s now available on Paramount+. The film follows Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke), a rookie cop who’s paired with veteran officer Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) on his first day with the Los Angeles Police Department. However, Jake soon learns that the crime he has to fight on the streets might just be less dangerous than his partner sitting right next to him in his police car.

Paramount Pictures“Breakfast at Tiffany’s”

In the film adaptation of Truman Capote’s book of the same name, Audrey Hepburn plays Holly Golightly, a young woman living in New York City who becomes inspired to nab herself a rich, old fellow after she sees her new neighborhood dating an older, wealthy woman. She soon takes up the lifestyle of an expensive escorts in hopes of finding herself an affluent suitor to marry.

20th Century Fox“Titanic”

Now, if you haven’t seen this … let’s do better. This is definitely in the top five list of most iconic movies, so go ahead and take the opportunity to watch this heartbreaking but beloved love story. Separated by their socio-economic statuses, Rose (Kate Winslet) and Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) find love on a voyage from England to New York City. However, their love and lives are soon threatened by an unsuspected iceberg that the ship is headed towards.

“Jackass: The Movie” (Paramount Pictures)“Jackass: The Movie”

Everyone sometimes needs something to turn on when they feel like turning their brain off. And “Jackass: The Movie” is totally your answer. If you were a fan of MTV’s prank comedy series “Jackass,” you’re in for a treat because Johnny Knoxville’s crew made an entire movie of their wild, crazy and absolutely hilarious stunts.

“Airplane!” (Paramount Pictures)“Airplane!”

Another classic on this list is the comedy “Airplane!” The parody film from Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Arthur Hailey, Hall Bartlett and John C. Champion spoofs several hit ’70s disaster movies through a hilarious plot. In an effort to land a plane full of food-poisoned passengers, a drunken rogue pilot is forced to work with his ex-girlfriend while juggling a series of wacky events that go down in the air.

“Seabiscuit” (Universal Pictures)“Seabiscuit”

Yeah, we may always treat Tobey Maguire as film’s most beloved Spider-Man, but he trotted along movie screens in other iconic roles as well. In the historical drama “Seabiscuit,” Maguire portrays the real-life story of Canadian jockey Red Pollard and his journey to making his undersized racehorse Seabiscuit one of the most successful thoroughbreds of all time.

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Federal Judge Dismisses Donald Trump’s Copyright Lawsuit Against Bob Woodward

A federal judge dismissed Donald Trump’s copyright lawsuit against Bob Woodward, publisher Simon & Schuster, and Paramount Global Saturday. Trump filed the suit in 2023 over Woodward’s use of recordings of interviews with the president for his book “Rage” as well as his audiobook “The Trump Tapes.”

Trump claimed he had copyright interest in the recordings. U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe ruled Trump’s claim does not “plausibly allege” he should be named a co-author of “The Trump Tapes.”

“The Supreme Court has instructed, under the Copyright Act, ‘the author is the party who actually creates the work, that is, the person who translates an idea into a fixed, tangible expression entitled to copyright protection,'” Gardephe explained.

In his original filing Trump referred to Feb. 28, 2023 copyright registration in which he claimed to be a joint author with Woodward. Gardephe also shot that down and noted that “while copyright registration may constitute prema facie evidence of ownership, where there are conflicting and adverse copyright registrations, the Copyright Office does not resolve the competing claims, and courts are called upon to make ‘an independent determination of copyright ownership.”

Trump has the option to amend his complaint before August 18, though the judge added it is “unlikely” he will be able to arrive at a different result.

More to come…

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Nearly Three-Quarters of Podcast Audiences Play the Video, Too, for Some Reason

Nearly three-quarters of podcast consumers play the video as they listen along, even though it’s pretty mucho just two people sitting at microphones chatting most of the time, according to a survey cited in a Saturday report in the New York Times.

Often the videos are minimized on the listeners’ screens – and they’re not missing much, as they rarely contain any actual visual aids. But only about a quarter listen to the audio only.

The research, from an April survey by Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights, was the center of a Saturday deep-dive on the behavior by the New York Times, which spoke to several people who gave anecdotal reasons for the habit.

About 30% of podcast listeners just have the video playing in the background, or minimized on their device while listening, according to the Signal Hill survey. But that still leaves a significant portion who are watching … talking heads.

Signal Hill said the behavior holds across age groups, suggesting it’s not just a trend among Gen Z-and-younger, whose taste for video is virtually a pillar of their consumer identity.

The survey found another strange anomaly – a paradox, even – among people who consume podcasts on YouTube, where 58 percent listen to audio only, or with the video minimized in the background. YouTube is the largest single platform for podcast intake, though a large majority of consumers use other platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, the Times reported.

“I don’t have the ability to watch the entire thing through, but I do my glance-downs if I hear something funny,” 31-year-old Zoë McDermott, a title insurance producer from Pennsylvania, told the Times. “It’s passive a little bit.”

Many ad deals require podcasters to have a video component, as consumers have come to expect it, the Times reported.

“It feels a little more personal, like somebody is there with you,” McDermott said. “I live alone with my two cats and I’m kind of in a rural area in Pennsylvania, so it’s just a little bit of company almost.”

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John Oliver Says Colbert Cancellation at CBS is ‘Very, Very, Very Sad News’

“Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver noted that the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is “very sad” while speaking with reporters Saturday night. Oliver added of his friend, “I love Stephen, I love his staff. I love that show, it’s incredibly sad.”

On a more positive note, Oliver also said he is “partly excited to see what they’re gonna do for the next ten months.”

The medium of late night television “mean a lot to me” Oliver continued, “not just because I work in them, because even growing up in England, I would watch Letterman’s show, which of course was Stephen’s show, and think about what a glamorous world that was.”

Colbert announced the cancellation of his show this week. After admitting he’d only just received the news the night before, Colbert added that he agreed with the booing audience.

The decision was explained by CBS as “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night” but was blasted by Colbert’s supporters as one step closer to giving in to censorship.

Rosie O’Donnell weighed in on the move on July 18.

“How long do all of the voices against this horrific administration have in terms of their careers and ability to make money,” O’Donnell asked on TikTok. “Because this madman, this mentally incapacitated, physically ill, mentally ill man is spiraling out of control. His dementia is out of control. His self-regulation – which he has none of to begin with – is missing. He’s horrible.”

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The 10 Most Outrageous ‘Robot Chicken’ Sketches

As we approach the premiere of Seth Green’s “Robot Chicken: Self-Discovery Special” to honor the animated adult stop-motion sketch comedy series’ 20th anniversary, we wanted to remember some of the show’s most iconic sketches.

When Seth Green launched “Robot Chicken” alongside Matthew Senreich on Adult Swim in 2005, it became an instant hit that fans stayed up late to watch. While some sketches may not hold up today due to some of the crude jokes, let’s just say “Robot Chicken” isn’t afraid to stretch the limits of comedy, no matter how dark the gags become.

Check out the best sketches we chose below.

“Jason Vorhees at Home”

In this quick sketch, viewers get a behind-the-scenes look at Jason Voorhees’s life when he’s not out and about murdering people. He’s a normal guy who does his own laundry and enjoys a good puzzle every now and again.

“Voltron Got Served”

Paying homage to dance battle culture and the film “You Got Served,” “Robot Chicken” shows Voltron showing off his best moves.

“Care Bear Cleansing”

The Care Bears turn a new, murderous leaf when they decide to launch a genocide on the Care Bear Cousins in an effort to save their race of Care Bears.

“Tooth and Consequences”

While visiting a child to drop off their earnings for a tooth, the Tooth Fairy overhears an incident of domestic violence happening between the child’s parents. That’s when she takes matters into her own hands.

“Pokemon Outtakes”

After years of putting on a show for kids, Squirtle has an emotional breakdown and breaks character. But Pikachu warns him of the consequences if he doesn’t get his act together.

“The Emperor’s Phone Call”

Just when Emperor Palpatine was having a good day, he gets a bad phone call from Darth Vader about the status of the Death Star.

“M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘The Twist'”

This sketch takes a hilarious jab at filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan’s tendency to incorporate unexpected plot twists in his films. “What a twist” became a running joke throughout “Robot Chicken” seasons.

“Delicious Gummy Bears”

In one of the darker sketches, a gummy bear gets caught in a bear trap and is forced to chew herself out of it.

“Mario and Luigi Go To Vice City”

When iconic video game characters Mario and Luigi can’t cross their bridge in Mushroom Kingdom, they take another route through Grand Theft Auto’s Vice City

“Bop It … or Else”

The popular ’90s kids’ toy turns out to have its own killer ulterior motive in this hilarious one-minute sketch

The post The 10 Most Outrageous ‘Robot Chicken’ Sketches appeared first on TheWrap.

7 Best Prestige Dramas Streaming on HBO Max Right Now

Television has evolved a lot over the course of the last 25 years. The success of shows like “The Sopranos,” “The Wire” and “Breaking Bad” throughout the late ’90s, 2000s and early 2010s made many viewers start taking the medium and its possibilities a lot more seriously than they did before. That, combined with the explosion of streaming services in the 2010s, resulted in a boom of expensive, complex, ambitious and sometimes star-studded ongoing and limited series.

That means most streaming platforms are bursting with countless worthwhile prestige dramas for you to watch. Here are seven of the best that you can stream right now on .

“Station Eleven” (HBO Max)“Station Eleven” (2021)

The best dystopian sci-fi series of the last many years, “Station Eleven” was the victim of bad timing. Coming less than two years after the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., the series, about a global pandemic that leaves humanity’s few survivors wandering around a dilapidated Earth, was not the kind of escapist entertainment many were seeking in late 2021. Those who skipped it, however, missed out on a limited series that felt transcendent and — perhaps most surprising of all — genuinely healing. 

“Station Eleven” deftly avoids nearly every post-apocalyptic fiction cliche. It is a series not about the worst of humanity but the best. Based on Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 novel of the same name, it is a moving examination of the power of art, the importance of compassion and the difficult but necessary process of seeing beyond our own past traumas in order to connect with those around us again. It’s not hyperbole; “Station Eleven” is a revelation.

“The Leftovers” (HBO)“The Leftovers” (2014)

Like “Station Eleven,” “The Leftovers” takes place in a world rocked by a global event. Based on a 2011 novel by Tom Perotta, the series follows several characters, including a struggling police chief (Justin Theroux), a grieving matriarch (Carrie Coon) and her reverend brother (Christopher Eccleston), as their lives and the lives of others intersect in the wake of the sudden disappearance of 2% of the world’s population. The series, which comes from Perrotta and “Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof, spends most of its first season dwelling in its characters’ bare, ugly pain. Its second and third seasons, however, see “The Leftovers” embrace dark humor, romance and surreality.

The result is a show that started out strong and became, in its final two seasons, remarkable. Featuring career-best, breathtaking performances by Coon, Theroux, Eccleston and Amy Brenneman, “The Leftovers” is a powerful and, at times, mind-bending TV series. Less classifiable than even “Lost,” it’s a series about the two-way nature of grief and learning to embrace the unknowable parts of life, no matter how painful or inexplicable they may be.

“Chernobyl” (HBO)“Chernobyl” (2019)

Rarely has a true-life tragedy inspired a piece of media as scathing, measured or haunting as “Chernobyl.” “The Last of Us” showrunner Craig Mazin‘s historical drama explores the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 and the Soviet Union’s subsequent clean-up and cover-up efforts. It is an unflinching depiction of the real-life consequences of government corruption, irresponsible leadership and scientific skepticism. Pulling from multiple historical documents and real-life accounts of the disaster, “Chernobyl” crafts a damning portrait of the carelessness that caused its central meltdown and the politically-minded thinking that very nearly made it even worse. 

As it charts the efforts of multiple scientists and government officials to contain the deadly radioactive effects of the Chernobyl nuclear plant’s destruction, the series repeatedly spotlights the human toll that the disaster wrought. Constructed with masterful control and confidence by both Mazin and director Johan Renck, “Chernobyl” is a timeless series that asks in both its very first line of dialogue and in every minute that follows, “What is the cost of lies?”

“Show Me a Hero” (HBO)“Show Me a Hero” (2015)

David Simon will always be best known for creating “The Wire,” despite the fact that he has spent the past two decades making equally important, dramatically compelling shows. Of those, few are as underrated or affecting as “Show Me a Hero.” Based on a 1999 nonfiction book of the same name, the limited series follows Yonkers mayor Nick Wasicsko (Oscar Isaac) as he ends up caught in the late 1980s at the center of a conflict instigated by a group of middle-class white residents who are passionately opposed to the city’s new, federally-mandated affordable public housing developments.

“Show Me a Hero” is, in other words, not all that different from Simon’s other, more well-known projects. It is a series about the importance of local government and city planning, the racial and class tensions that have long kept America divided and the uncaring, soul-killing nature of the country’s bureaucratic machine. Anchored by a reliably commanding lead performance from Oscar Isaac, “Show Me a Hero” functions as both an involving and rousing tale of governmental victory and an American tragedy. It is, as Simon told Charlie Rose in 2015, a series about what happens when “everybody doesn’t feel like they share at least some sense of the same America.”

“Sharp Objects” (HBO)“Sharp Objects” (2018)

An unfairly forgotten entry in the Prestige TV boom of the late 2010s, “Sharp Objects” is a surreal and engrossing Southern Gothic thriller. Based on “Gone Girl” author Gillian Flynn’s debut novel of the same name, the Martin Noxon-created miniseries follows Camille Preaker (Amy Adams), a reporter prone to self-harm who is sent back to her Missouri hometown to investigate the murders of two young local girls. Once there, she is reunited with her hypercritical, controlling mother (Patricia Clarkson) and finds herself haunted by traumatic childhood memories.

Directed with dreamlike, elliptical style by the late Jean-Marc Vallée, “Sharp Objects” is a disturbingly mesmerizing cross between a family drama, serial killer mystery and a swampy summertime horror story. It is a lot of things, but it is held together at all times by Adams’ fierce, thorny central performance, which ranks high as one of the best she’s ever given. Still streaming on HBO Max, those who catch up on “Sharp Objects” now will also be treated to a memorable guest performance by a young, pre-“Euphoria” Sydney Sweeney in an episode that hits with the emotional force of a freight train.

“The Knick” (Cinemax)“The Knick” (2014)

“The Knick” is one of the hidden gems of the mid-2010s Prestige TV surge. Created by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler and directed entirely by “Ocean’s Eleven” filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, the series follows a doctor (Clive Owen) working at a New York City hospital in the early 20th century and the fellow doctors and nurses who are lured in by his brilliance and also caught in the wreckage of his self-destructive, reckless tendencies. Thanks to its unflinching, often bloody reenactments of turn-of-the-century medical procedures, the series is most definitely not for the easily squeamish or faint of heart.

That, coupled with the fact that it aired its two seasons originally on Cinemax of all networks in 2014 and 2015, resulted in “The Knick” flying under most mainstream TV viewers’ radars. It deserves to be more widely known and discussed, though. Premiering the same year as “True Detective” Season 1, the series was an early indicator of the star-and-director-driven era of Prestige TV that would soon follow it. Directed with economic, assured style by Soderbergh, who remains as gifted a technical craftsman as practically any other working director, “The Knick” is a deeply immersive, surprisingly entertaining drama.

“Scavengers Reign” (HBO Max)“Scavengers Reign” (2023)

When TV viewers think about prestige dramas, animated shows — for better or worse — do not usually come to mind. But if there is any animated series that definitely qualifies as a “prestige drama,” it is “Scavengers Reign.” This adult sci-fi series from creators Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner follows the survivors of a damaged interstellar cargo ship mission who end up stranded on an alien planet covered in strange, symbiotic plant life and populated by dangerous creatures the likes of which they have never encountered before.

Bursting with moments of awe-inspiring sci-fi wonder and chilling, terrifying cosmic horror, “Scavengers Reign” is a hypnotic, mesmerizing series. It is full of mind-bending sequences that, much like the flora and creatures featured on its central planet, defy expectation and explanation. The series received a late surge of critical acclaim and fan support months after its initial premiere in October 2023, but that did not stop Max from canceling it after just one season in early 2024. As disappointing as that is, it does not detract from the power of “Scavengers Reign,” a series that entrances, unnerves and keeps your eyes locked on it from its opening moments all the way to its last.

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‘The Institute’ Release Schedule: When Are New Episodes Streaming?

“The Institute” is the latest Stephen King adaptation to land on the small screen.

The series adapts the 2019 novel by the master of horror, which follows a teenager with a genius-level intellect and the ability to move things with his mind, who is abducted in the middle of the night and shipped off to The Institute. It’s a place where bad people run bad experiments on them to increase their abilities and use them.

Here’s everything you need to know about where and when to tune in for the first season of MGM+’s “The Institute.”

When does “The Institute” Season 1 come out?

“The Institute” Season 1 premiered on Sunday, July 13.

How can I watch “The Institute” Season 1?

The first season of “The Institute” streams exclusively on MGM+. If you want to check out the new Stephen King series, you will need to get a subscription to the service.

If you want to give it a try first, the first episode is also available to stream for Amazon Prime Video subscribers.

Are episodes released weekly or all at once?

The first two episodes of “The Institute” dropped together on Sunday, July 13. The remainder of the season will drop weekly on MGM+. Here is the full rundown of the new adaptation.

Episode 1: “The Boy” – July 13Luke wakes up at The Institute, kidnapped by Ms. Sigsby, who claims he’ll be saving the world. Tim signs on as night knocker for the local cops.Episode 2: “Shots for Dots” – July 13Luke bonds with the others as he starts to plot his escape. Sigsby manages fallout from the security breach. Tim starts to look into The Institute.Episode 3 – July 20Episode 4 – July 27Episode 5 – Aug. 3Episode 6 – Aug. 10Episode 7 – Aug. 17Episode 8 – Aug. 24What is “The Institute” Season 1 about?

The Stephen King adaptation follows a genius-level kid with mild telekinetic abilities who is abducted from his home in the middle of the night and placed in the titular institute and experimented on to have his powers used. While that’s happening, a former police officer takes a dead-end night knocker job to hide from his past and moves closer to a destined run-in with the institute. Here’s the official synopsis:

“Teen genius Luke Ellis wakes up in a strange place full of children who got there the same way he did, and who all, like him, possess unusual abilities. This is The Institute, run by the mysterious Ms. Sigsby.

“In a nearby town, haunted former police officer Tim Jamieson has come looking to start a new life, but the peace and quiet won’t last, as his story and Luke’s are destined to collide.”

Who is in “The Institute” Season 1 cast?

The series stars Joe Freeman as boy genius Luke Ellis and Ben Barnes as haunted cop Tim Jameison. They’re joined by Mary-Louise Parker as Ms. Sigsby, the person in charge of The Institute.

Others include Simone Miller, Julian Richings, Hannah Galway, Robert Joy and Fionn Laird.

Watch the trailer:

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