the official linkblog of the interwebs covering culture, politics, sports, and tech since 2012.
“Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of ‘South Park’ to ‘South America,’” Parker and Stone said in a statement. “We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount — a Skydance Capitulation.”
South America is some Grade-A marketing, which is no surprise from these guys. I know they’ve always pushed boundaries, but I absolutely love that they’ve ratcheted things up over the last few years.
Dinniman and MacFarlane will serve as executive producers on the project, with Chris Yost (Thor: Ragnarok, The Mandalorian, Cowboy Bebop) also on board as writer and executive producer.
I thought the first book was a fun romp, but I really hope MacFarlane has learned a little bit of restraint after The Orville so they don’t go overboard on this. DCC finds a sweet spot of sentimentality an over-the-top humor and I can see MacFarlane goes way overboard on both directions if he isn’t reined in.
Response to the series was mixed, with The Madison scoring a 60 percent positive rating among critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 74 percent among viewers.
Oi vey. I made it through thirty minutes before I gave up and gave it 1 star. I was interested because of Pfeiffer and Russell, but boy did it not deliver and felt more like a soap opera to me. I wonder what the week two drop off will be like.
This is the news I’ve been waiting for! June 26th!
This is one to keep an eye on when it premiers March 1 on HBO. It stars Jason Bateman, David Harbour, and Linda Cardellini, but more importantly, it comes from writer and creator, Steve Conrad who is also the mind behind the fantastic Patriot as well as my favorite Perpetual Grace Ltd.
In the 6 years we’ve been making these TV+-on-TV-on-TV jokes, I haven’t seen any evidence that this has caused any actual pain for users. Maybe it’s out there and I’m just blind to it, but I just haven’t seen it myself.
100% — I tried to say something similar on Mastodon when this news broke and everyone was making unfunny jokes about it, but Matt says it much better than me. It just doesn’t matter.
Status is the definitive nightly briefing that informs readers about what is really happening in the halls of media power.
A newsletter about the history behind today’s politics. Click to read Letters from an American, by Heather Cox Richardson, a Substack publication with millions of subscribers.
Jason Kottke’s daily links and commentary on art, science, technology, design, film, and culture since 1998.
