Written by Jon Williams
Terminator: Dark Fate is in theatres
now, and is available for pre-order on DVD
and Blu-ray.
This big-budget blockbuster is a blast from the past, a unique entry in a
franchise that has been entertaining audiences for 35 years.
The
Terminator, the first film in the series, was a sensation from the
moment in hit theatres in 1984. It starred Arnold
Schwarzenegger in the titular role of an emotionless cyborg mercenary sent
from the future to assassinate Sarah Connor before she can have a son who will
grow up to lead the human resistance against their machine overlords. Hailed by
fans and critics alike, it spawned a 1991 sequel, Terminator
2: Judgment Day, in which Schwarzenegger’s cyborg is once again sent
back in time, this time reprogrammed to protect Sarah and her young son against
a more advanced Terminator model capable of shifting its shape. Another
smashing success, this is the highest-grossing movie of Schwarzenegger’s career
to date.
These first
two Terminator films were written and
directed by James
Cameron, who has had quite a career in the film industry, to say the least.
After the success of The Terminator,
he helped Sylvester Stallone write the screenplay for Rambo:
First Blood Part II, then went on to write and direct the sci-fi hits Aliens
and The Abyss. He followed up T2 with True Lies, an action thriller starring Schwarzenegger and Jamie
Lee Curtis. Then in 1997 came Titanic,
the tale of doomed romance aboard the doomed ship starring Leonard
DiCaprio and Kate
Winslet. That film won 14 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best
Director, and it held the record for highest-grossing film of all time until
2010, when it was overtaken by Avatar—another
Cameron film.
While
Cameron may have turned his attention to these other acclaimed projects after T2, the franchise did not wither in his absence.
In 2003, Terminator
3: Rise of the Machines showed how Skynet, the artificial intelligence
ruling the machines, managed to rise to power despite the events of the first
two movies. Then the series came to the small screen with The
Sarah Connor Chronicles, a show that ran for two seasons with Lena
Headey starring as Sarah Connor as she protects and trains her son John for
his role in the future. Terminator
Salvation brought the franchise back into theatres, showing the
struggles of John Connor ( Christian
Bale) as the leader of the human resistance. Then in 2015, Terminator
Genisys brought Emilia
Clarke into the series as Sarah Connor in a past that has been fractured by
time travel.
Genisys was planned to be the new
direction for the franchise until James Cameron returned to the fold. He
provided the story for Dark Fate,
which reunites Schwarzenegger’s Terminator and Linda
Hamilton’s Sarah Connor in a movie that serves as a direct sequel to T2. The films and TV show produced in
the interim are now considered to be part of an alternate timeline. At present,
future films are planned to follow on from Dark
Fate.
James
Cameron has made some of the most groundbreaking and popular cinema of all
time. Keep his movies on your shelves using the links above, or SmartBrowse on
our website for more. Also, make sure your comics-loving patrons know there is
plenty of Terminator content for them to enjoy on hoopla digital as well!
Written by Jon Williams
Batman is
one of the oldest and most beloved superheroes, having now been around for 80
years. Now, though, his most famous nemesis is stepping into the spotlight. Joker launches into theatres this
weekend with plenty of buzz, looking to thrill audiences and break box office
records. Here is a look at how the character has evolved throughout its various
iterations over the years.
The Joker is
nearly as old as the Caped Crusader himself. He made his first appearance in
the premiere issue of Batman early in
1940, and the two have been fighting ever since. The original origin story
holds that he fell into a vat of chemical waste, altering his appearance and
driving him insane. This has changed often, due ostensibly to the mercurial
nature of the character. In the comics he has been by turns a vicious murderer
and a mischievous prankster. Patrons interested in these exploits will find a
wide range of classic and contemporary comics from DC on hoopla
digital.
Being aimed
more or less at kids, those iterations of the Joker were generally lighthearted
in nature. Things began taking a darker turn with Tim Burton’s 1989 take on Batman,
which saw Jack
Nicholson portray the Joker as a twisted gangster intent on taking out the
population of Gotham City. Mark
Hamill provided what many consider the definitive voice of the animated
Joker beginning in 1992 with Batman:
The Animated Series and continuing for years through several animated
projects and video games, including the movies Mask
of the Phantasm (1993) and Return
of the Joker (2000), and even up through recent outings like The
Killing Joke.
After
Nicholson’s incredible performance and with Hamill holding down the fort on the
animated side, the Joker wasn’t seen again in live-action form until 2008. In The
Dark Knight, the middle film of Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Batman
trilogy, Heath
Ledger made it worth the wait with a powerhouse performance that earned him
an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Unfortunately, it was a posthumous
award, as the actor tragically passed away shortly before the film’s release.
Since then,
however, focus has returned to the Joker, with a variety of big names playing
him. He was portrayed by Jared
Leto in 2016’s Suicide
Squad along a team of super villains, with Harley Quinn and Deadshot
among them. This movie has a sequel in development as well as several planned
spinoffs, so fans will be seeing this version of the Joker again. In 2017’s
animated Lego
Batman Movie, he was voiced by comic actor Zach
Galifianakis. And now, in Joker,
he’s played by Joaquin Phoenix in an unhinged performance that is already
drawing raves.
Batman vs.
the Joker is a rivalry that has stood the test of time. Visit our website for
plenty of Batman media across all our formats, and point your patrons toward hoopla
for comics and more they can enjoy immediately on all their devices.
Written by Jon Williams
The music
world is in mourning this week after the recent passing of two popular figures:
singer-songwriter Eddie Money and multitalented musician Ric Ocasek, best known
as a member of the band the Cars.
Edward
Mahoney took the stage name Eddie Money in 1968 when he moved from New York to
California to pursue a career in music following a short stint as a trainee
with the NYPD. Performing in clubs around San Francisco allowed him to steadily
grow a fanbase and eventually secure a recording contract. He started with a
bang; his self-titled debut album, released in 1977, contained “Baby Hold On”
and “Two Tickets to Paradise,” two big hits that are still in frequent rotation
on classic rock stations. After a second album, Life for the Taking, in 1979, he hit his stride in the 1980s, releasing
five albums that spawned hits like “Think I’m in Love,” “Take Me Home Tonight,”
“I Wanna Go Back,” and “Walk on Water.” His album production dipped after that,
with just three released in the 1990s, followed by Wanna Go Back, an album covering hits from the 1960s, in 2007. A
new album release was planned for July of this year, but was put on hold due to
Money’s health issues.
Unfortunately,
most of Money’s individual albums are currently out of print on CD, with the
exceptions of Playing
for Keeps (1980) and Where’s
the Party? (1983). However, SmartBrowsing his name on our website will give
you a choice of two greatest hits compilations and a live album. In addition,
his 2007 covers album, Wanna Go Back, is
available for patrons to borrow from hoopla digital.
Like Money,
Ric Ocasek began his musical journey in the 1960s but saw his greatest success
in the 1970s and ‘80s. He was one of the founding members of the Cars, who
released their debut album in 1978. In their ten initial years together, they
would release six albums and such timeless hits as “Just What I Needed,” “My
Best Friend’s Girl,” “Shake It Up,” and “Drive.” After a 23-year breakup, the
band reunited for a final album, Move
Like This, in 2011, and they were inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. Ocasek also released seven albums as a solo
artist. He was also a noted musical producer, both for the Cars and his own
solo work in addition to bands like Weezer, No Doubt, and Bad Religion, among
others.
Of the Cars’
albums, only Panorama
(1980) and Heartbeat
City (1984) are currently available on CD, but a SmartBrowse will show
a number of compilations and soundtracks their music appears on. Luckily, all of their albums (and
more) are available on hoopla digital for patrons to explore and enjoy, as are
four of Ocasek’s solo
albums.
Written by Jon Williams
Last week,
the annual event that is Comic-Con International took place in San Diego,
California. The four-day extravaganza allows fans, celebrities, and creators to
come together in a celebration that generally centres on science fiction and
fantasy but branches out to encompass all aspects of pop culture. As happens
each year, there was plenty of news and buzz to come out of the many panels and
presentations that made up this year’s convention.
Marvel is
the biggest name in movies right now, and coming off the success of the blockbusters
Avengers:
Endgame and Spider-Man:
Far from Home, there wasn’t much of a blueprint for where the franchise
would go for “Phase Four” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That is no longer
the case, as Marvel used Comic-Con as a platform to announce its slate for 2020
– 2021. In theatres, first up is the previously announced Black Widow, starring Scarlett
Johansson along with David
Harbour and Rachel
Weisz. Then fans can look forward to The
Eternals, a superhero ensemble that will include stars such as Angelina
Jolie, Salma
Hayek, and Richard
Madden, in 2020. The following year will kick off with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, featuring a martial arts
hero that has been a part of Marvel Comics since 1973 but has not yet made it
onto the screen. Then comes Doctor
Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with Benedict
Cumberbatch reprising his role from the 2017
film in what is being teased as Marvel’s first horror movie. Finally, there
will be Thor: Love and Thunder,
directed by Ragnarok’s Taika
Waititi and with Natalie
Portman returning to the franchise to become the goddess of thunder. And for
television, there’s even more Marvel news. Familiar Avengers characters will come to the small screen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier ( Anthony
Mackie and Sebastian
Stan), WandaVision ( Elizabeth
Olsen and Paul
Bettany), Loki ( Tom
Hiddleston), and Hawkeye ( Jeremy
Renner), while What If…? will be
an animated series that featuring Jeffrey
Wright and a number of familiar voices as it explores alternate realities.
Marvel wasn’t
the only beloved franchise to make waves at Comic-Con. Patrick
Stewart’s return as the beloved character Jean-Luc Picard from Star
Trek: The Next Generation was announced last year, but a new trailer provided
the first extended look at the new series (simply titled Picard). The trailer contained some surprises, such as the return
of other fan-favourite characters Data (played by Brent
Spiner) and Seven of Nine ( Jeri
Ryan), while the panel revealed that Jonathan
Frakes and Marina
Sirtis would also be appearing in the show in their familiar roles from The Next Generation. While that was the
biggest news, the panel also covered the upcoming third season of the acclaimed
Star
Trek: Discovery, as well as the upcoming series Lower Decks. Expected to premiere in 2020, the show will focus on
lower-ranking officers on a non-vital starship, and will be the first Star Trek in animated form since The Animated Series furthered the
adventures of the original crew from 1973 – 1975.
Horror had
quite a presence at this year’s SDCC. The biggest release was probably the new
trailer for It: Chapter 2, which
comes to theatres on September 6. It’s the sequel to the 2017
blockbuster that became the highest-grossing horror movie of all time, and it
picks up (more or less) 27 years after the first film left off. Both movies are
based on the Stephen
King novel of the same name, which is frequently cited as one of his best.
Staying in the King family, it was announced that the show NOS4A2 (based on a
novel by Joe Hill, King’s son) had been renewed for a second season. Hill
also discussed the upcoming shows Locke
& Key, adapted from a series
of comics he created with artist Gabriel Rodriguez, and Creepshow,
which is based on the 1982 movie written by King and directed by George
Romero. That show will be produced by Greg Nicotero, who is most famous for
The
Walking Dead, which offered plenty of details for the original show and
the spinoff Fear
the Walking Dead, as well as a new show yet to come. There was also an
interactive exhibit promoting the new season of American
Horror Story and a trailer for Guillermo
del Toro’s adaptation of Scary
Stories to Tell in the Dark.
And still
there’s more. Tom Cruise showed up to surprise the crowd with a trailer for Top Gun: Maverick, the long-awaited
sequel to the high-flying
1986 hit. There was also a trailer for Cats,
the upcoming movie version of the Andrew
Lloyd Webster musical that will star Taylor
Swift, Idris
Elba, and Judi
Dench, to name just a few. There was also a look at Terminator: Dark Fate, which will welcome James
Cameron and Edward
Furlong back to the franchise and pick up following Terminator
2, with the intervening installments being considered part of a
different timeline. For TV, there was plenty of info on new shows The
Dark Crystal, His
Dark Materials, and Snowpiercer,
as well as new seasons of Westworld,
The
Expanse, Rick
and Morty, Preacher,
and more.
Those are
just the highlights of the shows, movies, and more that presented at this year’s
Comic-Con International in San Diego, and you can bet your patrons will be
looking for all of these titles and their related media. Let us know what you’re
looking forward to, and stay tuned to Midwest Tape for news on these and other
exciting releases as they approach.
Written by Jon Williams
There are
certain media franchises that become so popular that they transcend just the
world of entertainment and become cultural touchstones. For three such
franchises, 2019 is they year in which they will come to an end—or at least
wind down their current iterations. Let’s take a look at them.
On April 26,
Avengers:
Endgame was released into theatres in North America. It debuted with a
bang, taking in the largest opening-weekend box office gross of all time with
more than $350 million. It has steadily added to that total and now stands as
the second on the list of highest-grossing films of all time. While it seems
unlikely to take over the top spot, it’s still in theatres and will definitely
add to its total, currently over $825 million. Endgame is the culmination of 22 films in the Marvel Cinematic
Universe that started with Iron
Man in 2008. While this movie may have brought the story of the
Avengers to a close, the same certainly can’t be said for the MCU as a whole.
On the immediate horizon is Spider-Man:
Far from Home, the sequel to 2017’s Homecoming,
with Tom Holland starring as the titular webslinger. This will mark the formal
end to “Phase Three” of the MCU, but future plans include a Black Widow movie
featuring Scarlett Johansson’s character, a Black
Panther sequel, a third Guardians
of the Galaxy installment, and plenty more on screens both big and
small. There is definitely plenty to look forward to from Marvel in the future,
although whether it continues to work together toward one cohesive story
remains to be seen.
The eighth
and final season of Game
of Thrones premiered before that, on April 14, and came to its
conclusion on May 19. Before the season began, we
examined the likelihood of broken ratings records, particularly for the
series finale. Those predictions came true, as the season’s sixth episode, the
show’s last, drew more than 19.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched
series finale in history for a show on cable. While the final season drew mixed
reviews from fans and critics, viewership numbers remained strong throughout,
and hunger for related content has kept author George R.R. Martin’s Fire
& Blood, a tale that begins centuries before the events of the
show, on the bestseller list since its publication last November. With the show
in the rearview mirror, fans will have to be content with Fire & Blood to hold them over for now, but there are more
stories to come. For one thing, Martin still has two books left in his Song
of Ice & Fire, the novel series that inspired the show. It has been
eight years since the last, A
Dance with Dragons, was published, and while no date has yet been
announced for the arrival of the next, The
Winds of Winter, recent updates from Martin have fans optimistic that it
will be finished in the not-too-distant future. HBO also has plans for a number
of companion shows, with at least one currently going forward with Naomi Watts
set to star.
Then, later
this year, the Star Wars sequel
trilogy will come to a close when Episode
IX: The Rise of Skywalker comes out on December 20. Of course, this echoes
1983, when Return of the Jedi
concluded the original
trilogy, and 2005, when Revenge of
the Sith did the same for the prequel
trilogy; however, it’s actually a culmination of all three, as The Rise of Skywalker will drop the
curtain on the saga of Anakin Skywalker and his offspring. The current trilogy
began in 2015 with The
Force Awakens, the one film that Avengers:
Endgame trails on the all-time box office list, and continued with The
Last Jedi in 2017. After this film there will be a short hiatus for Star Wars on the big screen, but it
definitely will be back—a new film series, set in a different era from the
Skywalker films, is set to begin in December 2022 with Game of Thrones
showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss at the helm. In the meantime, Pedro
Pascal will star in the upcoming TV show The
Mandalorian, to premiere November 12 of this year, and Diego Luna will
reprise his role from the standalone blockbuster Rogue
One in another, as-yet-unnamed TV series.
So while
these beloved franchises may be coming to a close, each in its own way, fans can
take comfort in the fact that there are still plenty of stories to come in the
respective universes. And patrons will always be eager to revisit these favourites
or immerse themselves for the first time. Use the links above to put these
great movies and TV shows on your shelves, and SmartBrowse on our website for a
plethora of related content.
Written by Jon Williams
Many
performers approaching 70 years of age and nearly 50 years into their career
would be slowing down and coasting on their past success. Many performers, but
not Bruce Springsteen. The recent announcement of his upcoming solo album Western Stars, releasing June 14, came
just a short time after the conclusion of Springsteen on Broadway, his
intimate performance show that was originally planned to run for eight weeks
and instead ran for well over a year. On top of that, Springsteen has also said
that he’s written enough material for a new album with the E Street Band, so
fans can be on the lookout for that (plus new tour dates) as well.
Springsteen’s
passion for music began at a young age, and he started playing for audiences
when he was in his teens. He performed with a number of different musicians
over the next several years until signing his first record deal in 1972. That
led to his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., in
1973. That was followed later that same year by The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street
Shuffle. These albums were well received by critics but did not sell
especially well, so Springsteen spent nearly a year and a half and recruited
the help of his friend Steven Van Zandt as he threw everything he had into his
next album.
These
efforts paid off when Born to Run was released in August
of 1975. On the strength of his incredible live performances, the album went to
#3 on the Billboard 200 and a star was born. He built on that success with Darkness on the Edge of Town in 1978,
The River in 1980, and Nebraska in 1982, three albums that
helped to polish Springsteen’s image of a smart, soulful songwriter with their
unflinching looks at working-class life and American politics.
Then in June
of 1984 came the album Born in the USA. The iconic title
track, along with smash singles like “Dancing in the Dark” and “Glory Days,”
made Bruce Springsteen a household name and, over time, a rock n’ roll legend.
Since its release it has sold more than 30 million copies, making it one of the
bestselling albums of all time. Shortly thereafter, he played a prominent part
of the star-studded charity hit “We Are the World,” further cementing his place
in the music and pop culture pantheon of the 1980s. He then showed a more subdued
side of his musical personality with the 1987 album Tunnel of Love.
The
five-year break in albums following Tunnel
of Love was Springsteen’s longest to date. He made up for it by releasing
two albums, Human Touch and Lucky Town, on the same day in 1992.
He would release just one more album in the ‘90s, 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad (currently unavailable), but the decade was
notable for other reasons, among them an Academy Award and a slew of Grammy
Awards for the song “Streets of Philadelphia” and his induction into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. In the aftermath of 9/11, he made a triumphant
return with the 2002 album The
Rising.
Since then,
Bruce has been as prolific as ever, releasing six albums with no more than
three years in between up through 2014. That year’s High
Hopes was his most recent leading up to the release of Western Stars, but as noted above, he
has been far from idle. The year of 2016 was particularly busy, seeing the
release of Chapter
and Verse, an 18-track career retrospective in conjunction with his
autobiography, Born
to Run—the audiobook, which he narrated, won the Audie Award for Best
Memoir. That year he was also presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
the highest honour for a civilian in the United States, by President Barack
Obama.
Bruce
Springsteen is a music icon and a rock n’ roll legend, and he’ll be in the
forefront of pop culture for the foreseeable future. In addition to the release
of Western Stars, he’s also promising
a documentary on the making of the album, as well as a new album and tour with
the E Street Band. With his popularity high and holding steady, now is a great
time to make sure your library’s shelves are stocked with plenty of material
relating to the Boss. SmartBrowse his name on our website to find his
discography of studio and live albums, concert films, and much, much more from
his acclaimed career.
Written by Jon Williams
Eleven years
and twenty-two movies in, the Marvel
Cinematic Universe is stronger than ever. In its first weekend of release,
the highly anticipated Avengers:
Endgame set a record with over $356 million made at the box office.
That’s nearly $100 million more than the previous record holder for opening
weekend box office gross—last year’s Avengers:
Infinity War, which this movie follows on from. And with the entire
weekend box office totaling $392 million, Endgame
enjoyed a staggering 90% market share. 1 (It’s also worth noting that
the weekend’s second place movie was also from Marvel— Captain
Marvel, adding $8 million to its current $414 million total in its
eighth weekend of release.)
The numbers
are even more astounding on a global scale. Endgame
brought in over $1.2 billion around the globe. Fewer than 40 movies have made
over a billion dollars in the entirety of their theatrical runs, and Endgame did it in just one weekend.2
Infinity War was the previous record
holder in this regard as well; it took 11 days to cross the billion
dollar-mark.3
Ticket sales
for Endgame are likely to remain
strong for the foreseeable future, as those who weren’t able to secure tickets
for opening weekend look to see it for the first time and as die-hard Marvel
fans return for repeat viewings. With that being the case, more box office
records are sure to fall, with all-time marks in its sights. Topping the $937
million domestic record of Star
Wars: The Force Awakens and the $2.8 billion global record of Avatar
will be a tall order, but both are certainly within the realm of possibility.
These films
are popular with library patrons as well as moviegoers. Use the links above to
pre-order Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel and get them on your
shelves as soon as they are available, and SmartBrowse on our website to find
other entries in the ever-popular MCU.
Written by Jon Williams
Taylor Swift
has had social media buzzing lately. Starting on April 13, each day she posted
a cryptic photo to her Twitter
and Instagram accounts
with the caption “4.26.” It culminated on Thursday with the unveiling of a butterfly mural by artist
Kelsey Montague at Nashville’s famed Gulch neighbourhood, and the wait ended
at midnight with the release of her new video and single, “Me!” Full details on her forthcoming
seventh album haven’t yet been announced, but she has assured fans that it will
be releasing soon.
Swift is
hardly a stranger to buzz, as she’s been a sensation for most of her life.
Developing a passion for music at a young age, she signed her first record deal
when she was just fourteen years old. After developing her songwriting voice
and her musical chops, she burst onto the country music scene in 2006 with her self-titled
debut album at the age of sixteen. While it never made to the top of the album charts (it peaked at #5), its staying power made it the longest-charting
album of the 2000s, and it has been certified 7X platinum. She followed that up
in 2008 with Fearless,
a diamond-selling monster hit that won two Grammy Awards (including Album of
the Year) and made her a bona fide star. Then two years later, in 2010, came Speak
Now, which sold more than a million copies in its first week alone and
has since gone platinum six times over.
Through her
first three albums, Swift’s sound was primarily country, with more and more pop
sensibility being added on each disc. That pop sound came even more into the
forefront on 2012’s Red,
another multiplatinum-selling success. She left the country sound behind
altogether on her fifth album, 1989,
and was rewarded with a 9X platinum smash hit that gave her a second Album of
the Year Grammy and which was covered
in its entirety by Ryan Adams. She gave her pop sound a darker edge on 2017’s
Reputation,
which is her most recent album release leading into her much-anticipated
seventh. If the candy-coloured video and bright tones of “Me!” are any
indication, the tone of her upcoming album will be a 180-degree departure from Reputation.
As if her
stellar music career weren’t enough, Swift has also dabbled in the acting side
of the entertainment industry. She started with a role in a 2009 episode of CSI,
and made her feature film debut as part of the ensemble cast of 2010’s Valentine’s
Day. In 2012 she voiced the character of Audrey in the animated
adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s The
Lorax. She returned to TV for an episode of New
Girl in 2013, and appeared in the 2014 adaptation of the beloved YA
novel The
Giver. She has taken a break since then, but will be starring alongside
such names as Idris Elba, Rebel Wilson, and Ian McKellen in the upcoming movie
version of Cats, coming to theatres
this December.
Taylor Swift’s
new album will be one of the biggest music releases of the year. Your patrons
will be looking for it as soon as it is released, and her back catalog will be
in demand as well. Stay tuned for more information on the album as it becomes
available, and SmartBrowse her name on our website for live albums, karaoke and
lullaby discs, bio videos, and more. Also, make sure to let your patrons know
that her music and plenty of other content is available for checkout from hoopla digital, all
with no waiting or late fees!
Written by Jon Williams
This Sunday begins the long-awaited and highly anticipated
eighth season of the hit HBO show Game of Thrones. The abbreviated
final season will consist of just six episodes (although four of those will run
around 80 minutes, 20 more than the typical episode) and will culminate in the
series finale on May 19. Over the course of the show’s seven seasons to date,
its ratings have continued to climb, making it one of the most-watched cable
series. With nearly two years of hype building up since the Season
7 finale that aired on August 27, 2017, plus the anticipation of who—if
anyone—will survive to take the Iron Throne, the eighth season’s viewership
numbers are sure to set new records, and the series finale will likely go down
as one of the most watched of all time.
On network television, of course, those numbers are
untouchable. The series finale of M*A*S*H on February 28, 1983, drew
upwards of 105 million viewers, making it the most-watched television episode
ever. The only other broadcasts that garner that type of viewership are the
American Super Bowl each year. The closest any show has come since was ten years later,
with the series finale of the hit sitcom Cheers, which came in at 84 million
on May 20, 1993. Before M*A*S*H, the
record was held by the wrap-up of The Fugitive on August 29, 1967,
watched by 78 million people. Rounding out the top five most-watched series
finales are two more sitcoms: Seinfeld (May 14, 1998) with 76
million and Friends (May 16, 2004) with 52
million. In the realm of science fiction and fantasy, the record is held by Star Trek: The Next Generation,
which came to an end on May 23, 1994, with an audience of 31 million.
Network broadcasts, though, have always had the advantage of
being available to anyone with a television set, without the necessity of
additional equipment or subscription fees. That’s why ratings for shows airing
on cable networks are measured in a category of their own. For cable series,
the top two most-watched series finales belong to HBO, the same network that
airs Game of Thrones. First up is the
mob drama The Sopranos, whose controversial
blackout ending aired June 10, 2007, to 11.9 viewers. Coming in second, and
holding the top spot until The Sopranos
came along, is Sex and the City, which bowed to an
audience of 10.6 million on February 22, 2004. Those numbers are especially
impressive considering HBO is a premium network which has traditionally
required an additional subscription fee on top of a cable package. Then in
third place is the acclaimed AMC drama Breaking
Bad, which, like Game of Thrones,
started off to relatively modest ratings and then steadily built over time.
That show finished up on September 29, 2013, with 10.3 million viewers.
So how will the Game
of Thrones finale fare? Obviously it won’t approach the numbers of network
shows like M*A*S*H or even Friends, but it has an excellent chance
of setting a new record for cable shows. Season 7 averaged upwards of 10
million viewers, and the season finale drew over 12 million. With anticipation
at an all-time high, the numbers for Season 8 should leave those behind easily.
And with two more novels to come in George R.R. Martin’s novel
series and a spinoff series in production from HBO, the fever is sure to
last for years to come.
Written by Jon Williams
This coming
weekend, the biggest American sporting event of the year will take place. Super Bowl
LIII will determine the year’s NFL championship in a matchup between the Los
Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots. Beyond its implications for the
sport, the Super Bowl has become a huge cultural event, with over a hundred
million people likely to watch in North America. Even people who normally don’t
follow football tune in—for the camaraderie of sharing the event with friends,
for the innovative commercials that air during the broadcast, and, of course,
for the halftime musical entertainment.
With such a
wide audience, it’s no wonder that the halftime show is such a coveted slot for
musicians. The featured performer this year will be multiplatinum rock band Maroon
5. They’ve been a fixture in the music scene since 2004, when singles like “This
Love” and “Sunday Morning” propelled their debut album, Songs
About Jane, to multiplatinum status. They’ve released five more studio
albums since then, all of them selling over a million copies. Their most
recent, Red
Pill Blues, was released in 2017, driven by singles like “What Lovers
Do” (featuring SZA) and “Girls Like You” (featuring Cardi B). Singer Adam
Levine has also helped to keep the band in the spotlight by serving as a judge
on the hit musical talent show The Voice since its inception in 2011.
Traditionally
the Super Bowl halftime show is a collaborative affair, and this year is no
different. One musician joining Maroon 5 for the festivities will be rapper Travis
Scott. After several EPs and mixtapes, his debut album Rodeo
was released in 2015 and went platinum on the strength of singles “3500” and
Antidote, as well as guest appearances from stars like Kanye West, Justin
Bieber, and the Weekend, to name just a few. He followed that up in 2016 with Birds
in the Trap Sing McKnight, another platinum outing. His newest album, Astroworld,
was released in August of last year and is still a staple near the top of the
Billboard albums chart. Scott is nominated for three awards at this year’s
Grammys, which will take place a week after the Super Bowl.
Another
musician joining Maroon 5 and Travis Scott onstage will be Big
Boi, who hails from the Super Bowl’s host city of Atlanta. Along with Andre
3000 as the multiplatinum hip-hop duo Outkast,
Big Boi came into the spotlight in the mid-1990s. The duo has released six
albums together and won six Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album and Album
of the Year for Speakerboxxx/The
Love Below in 2003. Since their last album together in 2006, Big Boi
has focused on his solo career. His debut, Sir
Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, came out in 2010. He’s
followed it up with two more albums, the most recent of which, Boomiverse,
came out in 2017.
While the
halftime show is the musical focal point of the Super Bowl, it’s also an
enormous honour for a musician to get the opportunity to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the game kicks off. This year that honour goes to another Atlanta
native, Gladys
Knight. With a career dating back to the early 1960s, she is a true
R&B/soul music legend, both with her band the Pips and on her own. Known
for her early work, she has continued to record, with her most recent album, Where
My Heart Belongs, coming in 2014.
With so many
people watching the Super Bowl and its musical performances, patrons will no
doubt be interested in hearing more from these incredible artists. Make sure to
have plenty of their CDs on your shelves, and if your library is a hoopla Digital customer, don’t forget
to direct your patrons there as well—they’ll find these artists and more,
available with no holds, no waiting, and no late fees.
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