HBO invited me* to participate in a panel discussion at the Paley Center for Media about their new show Westworld, which debuted on their channel on October 2. (Spoiler alert for the first Episode!) Westworld is executive produced by J.J. Abrams and written and produced by husband and wife team Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. It’s based on Michael Crichton’s 1973 Yul Brynner film of the same name and is a “false-reality drama”about a high-end theme park filled with life-like AI that basically are programmed to let the guests do whatever they want to them. Each AI is programmed within a certain storyline that loops and intersects with other storylines. When a storyline reaches it’s final stage,  then the AI is “wiped” and they are slotted back into another story. But things start to get dangerous when some of the AI’s aren’t fully wiped and are retaining “memories” of previous storylines and what they’ve been through. (Since this is HBO, they go through some ish). Basically, Westworld is what would happen if BioWare went to Jurassic Park, rebuilt it as a live-action, fully immersible, real-time Red Dead Redemption RPG theme park and instead of dinosaurs coming after you, a random AI side-character breaks its protocols, becomes sentient and tries to kill you.

Yeah. You didn’t see that in the promos either did you?  Read on my friend.

So remember when I told you about that BET shoot for the new X Men Apocalypse movie that I did? Well the spots are now live on BET Networks and they sent me copies to share! Let me know what you think! (If you see them on BET scream at the TV for me will ya? I keep missing it!)  Click the links below to view.

If you’ve been following me on twitter and Instagram, then you know I’m really excited about the upcoming series out of Australia and New Zealand called Cleverman. Premiering to critical acclaim at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, Cleverman, produced by the Australian Broadcasting corporation and distributed in the US by SundanceTV, is a story basically asks, “What if only Indigenous people had superpowers?” It’s a very interesting concept, with shades of the X-Men, District 9, Heroes and even the real life Tuskeegee Experiment. With a reported 80% aboringinal cast and a storyline rooted in indigenous mythology, I am definitely looking forward to this show’s debut.

The two Turkish Airline spots (see below) that premiered after the SuperBowl last weekend actually impressed me. Not just because they cleverly advertised the upcoming DC Comics-based Batman vs Superman movie, but because by day, I’m a freelance commercial and promo editor . Needless to say, I was pretty stoked. The spots, directed and edited by Zack Snyder, the movie’s director and supported by ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky London advertise both Gotham City and Metropolis as tourist spots that have been recently added to the roster of Turkish Airlines flight destinations.

That ADHD Show actually isn’t about the medical condition, rather it’s about the geek with varying interests including comics, gaming, tv, movies etc. (I actually met the host Jeff J at the Black Comic Book Festival where I did an interview with him for his other job as a correspondent for NBCBLK a division of NBC News.) Jeff invited me on to talk about the premiere of Legends of Tomorrow, White Canary’s transformation and how Heatwave actually is one of the most entertaining secondary characters we’ve seen in awhile.  Check it out below:

Aldis Hodge stars as “Noah” in the upcoming WGN show Underground

“Underground” a new show whose storyline takes place during the antebellum south is set to premiere on WGN March 9. It stars Aldis Hodge (Leverage, Straight Outta Compton) and Jurnee Smollet-Bell (Friday Night Lights, The Great Debaters) as a field slave and a house slave respectively, who plan and execute a daring escape from the plantation where they’re being held captive. Underground is is being produced byJohn Legend’s production company Get Lifted and also stars Jussie Smolett (Empire) and Christopher Meloni (Law and Order SVU) .  The actors as well as the show’s writers Misha Green (Spartacus, Sons of Anarchy, Heroes) and Joe Pokaski (Daredevil, Heroes, CSI) were on hand during New York Comic Con last year and were all very vocal in pointing out that the show is not “another slave narrative”, but instead should be seen as an adventure about a daring escape. I was lucky enough to interview Hodge to get his take on things and ask him some questions about what made him decide to play a slave on network television.