Streaming News: Close Enough ; Crossing Swords ; Invincible ; Star Trek: Lower Decks

HBO MAX’s Close Enough has a bunch of new clips out continuing the process of introducing us to the characters on the series. Last week it was Alex and Bridgette this week it’s Josh, Emily, and Candace who looks like the spiritual successor to Regular Show’s “Muscle Man”. The streaming service has also released a new social promo that you can see below:

Which one of you cool losers is ready to join the family? #CloseEnoughMAX pic.twitter.com/6mGQWNEeuM

— Close Enough on HBO Max (@CloseEnoughMax) June 15, 2020

Synopsis:

Seth Green was in a new interview with Deadline where he was discussing his studios’ release of Crossing Swords, which is streaming now on Hulu. The adult animated series has been doing super well, but when asked about going potentially “too far”, a subjective term as it pertains to comedy, Seth had an amazing answer that hopefully more producers are paying attention to:

GREEN: I really try and trust my gut. I really try and consider all sides of it. I also believe that sometimes humor needs to be bold and needs to be provocative if it’s going to start a conversation. If it’s going to challenge the normal ideas and say something that either hasn’t been said before or can be supportive of something positive. We never start out to make jokes that are going to actually hurt someone’s feelings and I do look to something like Airplane as a great example of being able to make jokes about everyone that are not hateful or hurtful. They’re more pointing out inherent ironies or using some basic creative transformation to make something funny. But as far as where the line is or how when something is too far, often you have to put it out there to find out.

Just as times change — and times have changed so quickly in such a short period of time — it’s a product of valuable and important evolution. There are even jokes in Robot Chicken that I looked back on — jokes that we told less than 10 years ago that at the time seemed totally OK, that I would never support making now. So you do your best to trust your gut in the moment. I’m never coming from a hateful or hurtful place. We really just want things to be funny.

Seth is right. Comedy is all about intent and I am not in favor of all of a sudden people going ten or so years in the past, finding blackface bits, and demanding apologies as a result. Nobody should have to apologize for comedy that was done decades ago, it’s ridiculous. Freedom of speech and expression are protected by the First Amendment and should be respected. Intent and nuance should be two things that get continued focus in the coming years in order for progression to happen, networks and streaming services need to be more supportive of their producers and not worry about extreme audiences on both sides of the political aisles. Just like the music industry didn’t cower in the early nineties to Tipper Gore, the current political climate shouldn’t edit creators.

Synopsis:

Jack Quaid, voice of Star Trek: Lower Decks’ “Brad Boimler”(formerly Ensign) was in a recent interview with Gold Derby where the topic of his role in the upcoming animated series set to premiere later this year came up. The CBS All Access series is still in production, but I was surprised to learn that there were some COVID-19 delays which haven’t come to light as of yet. Here’s what Jack had to say:

JQ: I don’t know when it’s coming out. I know I’ve recorded most of my stuff for it but it’s a new “Star Trek” show, it’s animated, it’s from Mike McMahan, who’s one of the writers on “Rick and Morty” and he’s frickin’ hilarious. He has this Twitter account basically, I think he still has it, where he’s just pitching new ideas for “Next Generation” episodes constantly and he is just frickin’ hilarious and the show is super funny but it is definitely still “Star Trek.” If you are a huge “Star Trek” nerd, like you say you are, you’re gonna get a lot of the references and a lot of the deep cut jokes, but I think even if you’re new to it, I think it’s something really cool to introduce you to the “Star Trek” universe as well. Me speaking personally, I didn’t know a ton about it when I got cast. I had seen the J.J. Abrams movies but now I’m into it. I’m watching “Next Generation” now in quarantine ‘cause I realized I have to do my research on this, this is like a world, and I’m loving it. I always considered myself a huge “Star Wars” fan and now “Star Trek’s” coming up. They’re about equal now. It’s a super funny show, it is a comedy, it’s animated but it is definitely still “Star Trek,” which is awesome.

Synopsis:

Little news has been made as of late on the front of Amazon Prime’s upcoming one-hour superhero/drama series Invincible. Well, it sounds like that’s about to change because on a recent episode of the podcast CartoonistKayfabe, comic creator/series producer Robert Kirkman sounds super excited about the show, promising something “that you’ve never seen before”.

The series which is expected to star Steven Yeun and J. K. Simmons as Invincible and Omni-Man respectively hasn’t had a lot of footage revealed since it’s 2018 announcement, but Robert says a trailer with a premiere date are coming “very soon”. Robert promises that the violent tendencies of the comic book will be felt in the upcoming adaptation.

Synopsis:

The adult animated superhero series revolves around 17-year-old Mark Grayson (Yeun), who’s just like every other guy his age — except his father is the most powerful superhero on the planet, Omni-Man (Simmons). But as Mark develops powers of his own, he discovers his father’s legacy may not be as heroic as it seems.