Latest Television News

HBO Asia, Hulu Japan Set Action-Survival Series 'The Head'

'The Head' still - H 2020
Courtesy of HBO Asia

The thriller series follows a murder mystery inside a polar research station during the darkness of the Antarctic winter. It will begin airing in parts of the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and South America in June.

AT&T-owned WarnerMedia's HBO Asia has wrapped production and is readying the release of Antarctic survival thriller series The Head.

The show, produced in association with Hulu Japan and Spanish production house The Mediapro Studio, will premiere on HBO and HBO Go in the Asia-Pacific region on June 12, WarnerMedia said Thursday. The company also released the first trailer for the action series (see below).

The Head is set in the Polaris VI international polar station in Antarctica during the dark, six-month Antarctic winter. A select group of climate change scientists from different countries are in charge of keeping the base operational during the long polar nights. But suddenly the station stops communicating with the outside world — team members turn up dead and a killer is on the loose.

Helmed by Spanish director Jorge Dorado (The Pier, Mindscape), the suspense-driven story unfurls over six hourlong episodes. Dialog is in Dutch and English, reflecting the international nature of the story and cast. The polar station's scientists — and the actors who play them — hail from the U.K., Denmark, the U.S., Ireland, Japan and Spain.

The cast includes Tomohisa Yamashita (Code Blue), John Lynch (The Terror), Katharine O'Donnelly (Mary Queen of Scots), Alexandre Willaume (Below the Surface, Tomb Raider), Laura Bach (Sprinter Galore), Sandra Andreis (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), Amelia Hoy (Killing Eve), Chris Reilly (Allied, Everest), Richard Sammel (Inglourious Basterds) and Tom Lawrence (The King, The Crown).

Aside from Asia, The Head has lined up releases in Europe and South America, although no North American broadcast has yet been set, WarnerMedia said. In Scandinavia, the show will be aired by platforms operated by Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT), and in Spain it will go out on OrangeTV. Globoplay, the Brazilian streaming service run by TV giant Globo, also has picked up the series for a release in select Latin American markets later this year.

The series was shot in a 2,000-square-meter studio in Tenerife, Spain, where the purpose-built set of the Polaris VI research station was erected. The set was built to actual scale and based on information about real layout and operation of arctic scientific facilities. The production crew also shot many of the show's exteriors in Iceland, although most of the story is set inside the polar station — giving the series the filmmakers' desired feeling of "encapsulation," WarnerMedia said.

The Head was created and written by Àlex Pastor and David Pastor, with screenwriter Isaac Sastre also collaborating on the script. Executive producers include Laura Fernandez Espeso, Javier Méndez, Ran Tellem, Bernat Elías, Mariano Baselga, Kazufumi Nagasawa, Jorge Dorado, Àlex Pastor and David Pastor.

Stephen Colbert Declares "Full Disclosure, I Did Not Watch Much of the Convention"

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert - Publicity - H 2020
CBS

Going live after night 3 of the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, Stephen Colbert declared, "Full disclosure, I did not watch much of the convention." He then clarified, "I did not watch any of it."

The late-night host explained that there are many major issues in the world right now such as the coronavirus pandemic and the impending hurricane "making landfall as we speak," and yet the RNC's message is: "Who’s up for 4 more years?"

He acknowledged that he didn’t do his job tonight and he feels "great"about it, adding that the reality show portrayed in Republican conventions doesn’t reflect our actual reality. "Why subject ourselves to the lies?" asked the late-night host.

Noting that the CDC was recently pressured to change testing quidelines, Colbert said, "We’ve reached the point where Donald Trump is dictating our health regulations." He challenged the CDC to stand up to Trump, who seems to think testing is not a good idea. "We are one news cycle away from the CDC saying that the mail in ballots give you clamydia," joked Colbert.

He later said that people should care about every law the president is breaking. But if you’re getting too numb, The Late Show has a prescription for you. A parody video advertisement for "Not Normalzol" then appeared, claiming to be a prescription strength "slap to the face" where you think "treason is no biggie." The medicine "penetrates your "outrage fatigue" and must be taken with alcohol.

Colbert also said it’s hard to watch the Republican conventions because they are terribly produced." He added, "I know what’s going to happen, because they revealed the monster on the first night."

Later in the monologue, Colbert said, "Donald Trump does not care if you live or die of COVID or of racism, as long as he wins." He encouraged viewers to vote in the upcoming election in order to change the current administration.