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Q&A: Rory Millikin Talks 'Rennervations'
Being billed as a movie star's "best friend" in nearly any context opens you up for a lot of abuse from people who just assume you're there for the reflected public attention. And appearing in a TV show with actor Jeremy Renner where your primary descriptor is being his buddy...well, Rory Milliken is a braver man than I am.
As it turns, while Milliken is Renner's real-life best friend (and was there when the actor had his recent serious accident), he didn't have much of a desire to be on camera. And I suspect it took a lot to convince Disney+ to sign on to the idea.
But having watched the show's four-episode first season of Rennervisions, it's difficult to imagine the show without Milliken. Renner can be quiet and serious and having his friend around seems to lighten him up in a way that really works.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Milliken about the show, how he met Renner and his impressive tolerance for taking a joke aimed at his expense.
The interview has been lightly edited for clarity. What I can't do is portray in text form how much fun the interview was to do:
Q: One of the things that I noticed watching the show was you are very willing to take a lot of abuse. You are definitely the butt of a lot of jokes. And you have this successful career outside of the show and outside of your friendship with Jeremy. Did you ever have any moments of thinking, "I don't know. This may be one too many jokes for me, frankly."
Rory Millikin: (laughing) I don't really think of it that way. Listen, I'm Irish-Canadian. I love that Jer and I constantly teased each other all the time. So that's the camaraderie, buddy-buddy thing. And I do take a lot of on this one. I get a few in. And I do in real life, too.
But yeah, it's if you take yourself too seriously, then what's life really about? And it comes from great love. And the more creative we have this thing between us, the more creative the show is. And the more it lands, the more you gotta give props for them dropping that.
I got smoked in a few of them. I don't know if you saw the hip-hop thing...
Q: (Laughing) Yeah. That was pretty brutal..
Rory Millikin: I mean, I run my own companies. I build my own brands. All of them help people. Everybody knows me in the business world. They know I don't take myself seriously. I'm usually the first person to be self deprecating. So people that know me in the business world know that. It's it's actually a fun reflection of me and it's actually who I am.
Q: You are definitely a good sport and seem to be more than willing to look a bit awkward on camera. I don't think I've ever seen someone fail at trying to play a cowbell...
Rory Millikin: Listen, that was the closest I could get to doing it. I can't build a car. I can't change the oil. My 14-year-old knows more about cars than I do. And I no nothing about musical instruments. Nothing. My uncle discovered Stevie Ray Vaughn and I grew up around Stevie. I can't begin to play guitar. But when you see a cowbell sitting there, you've got to pick it up. But there's no talent there, my friend.
I think that's why I'm on the show. For that reason. I don't know how to fix a car. I'm not a build guy. I'm just someone who's curious and loves meeting people. I love learning things. And I kind of have a very open perspective on anything that helps to move the hope needle, so to speak.
Jeremy knows that about me. That's why we're such close friends. And I think he just wanted to have the audience's point of view reflected on the show. I'm not someone who's an expert and not someone who's a musician. I'm just somebody who's like anyone else out there watching the show. You know, I don't know how many mechanics or musicians are out there. But I'd say most of us don't have that extraordinary skill set.
Q: Well, it's an interesting perspective. Because I've got some friends who are pretty well known people. And usually when they say "my best friend," it's their publicist or their agent. And honestly, it's nice to see a celebrity who has a best friend that doesn't work for them.
Rory Millikin: So that's funny. It's interesting. The first thing is that I don't have a horse in his race ever. I don't go to set much, I have gotten to any premieres and that's kind of his work. We hang out a lot and I end up staying and living with him a lot. But while I've dropped by a set once or twice, that's where he works. I don't need him in my mushroom factory in Canada. I don't need Jeremy Renner walking around distracting everyone and he doesn't need Rory walking around the set distracting him. You know, this is where we work.
I had no aspirations to be involved in this television series or movies, I have nothing to do with the industry. So I think that's why we're great friends, because we're dads and we have similar outlooks in life and we don't talk a lot about that stuff. Movies. I don't ask him about movies. I don't even see most of his movies.
I met him seven, eight years ago. My buddy who is the singer from Nickelback introduced us. I didn't know who he was and I just seen The Arrival. And I told him that Superman's girlfriend and the guy from The Crying Game were the two stars. And he's like "no I was the star of the movie." And I told him "No you weren't, I just saw the movie." And he explained to me that he was that guy. And that's how not involved I am in show business.
But yeah, it's an interesting point and you're the first person who mentioned it.
Q: So given your relationship with Jeremy, was there some discussions going into the show about whether it would change you relationship? Did one of you say "We got a good thing going here. Do we really want to get involved doing something on camera and working together and take a chance on screwing that up?
Rory Millikin: That was my greatest fear. I'll be very blunt with you. Blurring those lines, I was concerned. And I was more concerned about screwing it up, really. Because, what do I know? And so I just said, "Look, this is your platform, this is your world. Do you really want me here? With a big X on my back? I'm sure Disney was concerned as well. Ann he just said, "Look, dude, you're gonna just need to trust that I know what I'm doing. And trust that I know why you're going to be great at what's going to happen." And he reminded me that it's about helping kids. He said "You help kids, you love kids. This is your chance to do it in a big way."
He also told me that if the show becomes about Jeremy Renner that he is walking, even if it's halfway through the shoot. It has to be about the organizations helping kids. It has to be about inspiring people like me. And me giving the audience's perspective as to how they can get involved in helping local organizations move the needle. He made it very clear the show wasn't about me, but it wasn't about him, either.
And so I had to get over myself. He's got this amazing ability to put things in perspective. But I was reluctant.
I'll be honest with you. On day one we were coming down this corridor, going down the steps and there was this person leading us. I could hear them say "Talent on route. talent on route." That was the first time I had ever heard that. It was so strange and I almost looked around to see who they were talking about. And I realized he was talking about obviously Jeremy and to some extent, I guess myself. The door opens into this huge area where there are vehicles and there's lights and people and headsets. If I'm being honest with you, it was very intimidating.
And he just looked at me to say, you know, this is just us in the kitchen talking like we've done late at night for years. Just forget about it. And that was it. I don't think I ever saw the cameras again after that first moment of getting into that world which to him is normal. There's a lot of cameras and there's a lot of people and there's a lot of lights. So it's daunting. But if you're with someone like him and he keeps it like we're just two best friends. We just slipped into that friendship and then it felt natural. You couldn't give me a script and expect anything out of it. Oh God, it would be a disaster. I couldn't act my way out of a wet paper bag.
Q: Well, for what it's worth, you looked pretty natural in front of a camera. What was your reaction when looked back at some of the episodes for the first time?
Rory Millikin: I was I was relieved that showed the vision that he was safeguarding about it focusing on the organizations and being authentic. And that it wasn't cheesy like a lot of these shows. Some of these other shows, I won't name them. But boy, did they seem scripted and staged and Jer didn't want that. We were concerned with "how do we prevent this from happening?" As he says, never make it about you.
But I was so worried that I had somehow screwed it up. So I was so happy when I saw the results. I don't know how I did it. But people were telling me "Oh, you did great, Champ!" But you know, that's what they're supposed to say. But Jeremy actually tole me that I did great. And he doesn't hand out compliments like that. He doesn't unless they're genuine. So that was great. I was happy that I hadn't screwed up my buddy's show.
But there's this vision that comes through the episodes and the authenticity and how well the organizations came off in their interviews. And then these great kids watching us have fun and the laughter. Yeah, I took a bunch of hits. But if everyone's laughing and my kids and his kids and family are laughing the whole time, it's good. It's a wonderful laugh session. And if the message resonates, what a great gift to be able to give and what an honor to be part of it all.
Q: You've mentioned Jeremy a few times and before I let you go, I wanted to ask you about him. He's had this pretty terrible accident and obviously you were incredibly worried about him. But you also seem to be two people who don't take yourselves too seriously. So I'm wondering how did it take after the accident before you thought "I wonder when it's the appropriate time to joke about this and maybe take a shot or two at him?"
Rory Millikin: The jokes were constant. Oh God, this guy throws himself under the bus before anyone else. We're in the ICU and we didn't even know if he was going to make it out alive. I was there when it happened at the house. So we were in the hospital from Day One. All my kids are gathered around. And when he started to come out of it, he was very conversational. He tried to make light of it but that guy has gone through a lot of pain, a lot of rehab. He's gone through it and the determination is incredible and the family unit support is amazing. So he's very blessed to have the support system he has and all the love and prayers that have been showing up to him has been incredible.
But the guy's never lost his sense of humor. He's cracking jokes non-stop and I'm saying to him "You know, you didn't have to go to these extremes to promote the show."
Q: Sometimes to make the joke work, you've got to push it to the extreme....
Rory Millikin: That's what he was saying. And he's the first to be self deprecating and to take the piss out of himself as the English and Irish like to say. He's the first to do it. But that's just who he is. You'll see it in the show.
Q: Watching the episodes it's clear the two of you have an obvious friendship. And we don't always get to see two guys on screen just being friends and having this comfortable relationship. It's really nice to see.
Rory Millikin: And you know, that's that is between us. That's what he tried to capture and thank you for saying that. Because that's what I was hoping came across. Because what am I there for except to be supportive and to be buddies. The show is really just two buddies sharing these experiences and he's taking me along in his world. It's like as if I was taking him into my mushroom growing world. He would share my enthusiasm and he'd learn a lot in my world. So here I am learning from his world.
It's just a wonderful thing two friends can share. We just went roadtripping. We went on a global road trip to help organizations help kids and help people get inspired to do like-minded things in their communities.
Q: The more I hear you talking, the more I'm thinking the logical follow-up show might be to get him into your world a bit. Say, Rory And Jeremy's Wild Mushroom Adventures.
was really enjoyable and you know, the more you talk I'm thinking, Rory and Jeremy's mushroom adventures. you know, you and Jeremy the legal kind
Rory Millikin: Oh, my Lord, that's probably not a good idea for either of us.
The entire four-episode first season of Rennervations is currently streaming on Disney+.
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Q&A: Music Producer Justin Tranter & Choreographer Jamal Sims Talk 'Grease: Rise Of The Pink Ladies'
Justin Tranter (Executive Music Producer/Songwriter) & Jamal Sims (Choreographer/Director) talk about the new Paramount+ series Grease: Rise Of The Pink Ladies with AllYourScreens.com founder Rick Ellis
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TV Premieres: The Week Of 04/16/2023 - 04/22/2023
Here is a complete list of all the new TV and streaming services premieres, finales and specials airing this week.
SUNDAY, APRIL 16TH, 2023:
Alex Vs. America Season Premiere (Food)
Barry Season Premiere (HBO)
Chaos On The Farm (Lifetime)
Ciao House Series Premiere (Food)
My Clueless First Friend (Crunchyroll)
100 Foot Wave Season Two Premiere (HBO)
The Nutty Boy (Netflix)
The Whole Story With Anderson Cooper Series Premiere (CNN)
Very Scary People Season Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
Waco: The Aftermath (Showtime)
MONDAY, APRIL 17TH, 2023:
90 Day Fiance: Love In Paradise-The Caribbean Season Premiere (TLC)
Love It Or List It Season Premiere (HGTV)
Oggy Oggy (Netflix)
Para - We Are King (HBO Max)
The Weakest Link Season Premiere (NBC)
You, Me & My Ex Season Premiere (TLC)
TUESDAY, APRIL 18TH, 2023:
Alex Borstein: Corsets & Clown Suits (Prime Video)
Deadliest Catch Season Premiere (Discovery)
How To Get Rich (Netflix)
Imma Tataranni Season Three Premiere (MHz Choice)
7 Little Johnstons Season Premiere (TLC)
The Longest Third Date (Netflix)
The Secret Of Skinwalker Ranch Season Premiere (History)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19TH, 2023:
Algiers, America: The Relentless Pursuit (Hulu)
Changing Planet (PBS)
Chimp Empire (Netflix)
Food Truck Prize Fight (Food)
Home In A Heartbeat Series Premiere (HGTV)
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once And Always (Netflix)
Pretty Stoned (MTV)
Sacrificial Princess And The King Of Beasts (Crunchyroll)
The Marked Heart (Palpito) Season Two Premiere (Netflix)
THURSDAY, APRIL 20TH, 2023:
A View To Kill For (LMN)
Belly Of The Beast (Topic)
Erin & Aaron Series Premiere (Nickelodeon)
Ex-Addicts Club (Netflix)
Fired On Mars Series Premiere (HBO Max)
Funny Or Die's High Science (HBO Max)
Grace Season Three Premiere (BritBox)
Mike Judge’s Beavis And Butt-Head Season Two Premiere (Paramount+)
Mrs. Davis Series Premiere (Peacock)
Quasi (Hulu)
The Diplomat Series Premiere (Netflix)
The Price Of Purity (Vice)
To Every You I’ve Loved Before (Crunchyroll)
To Me, The One Who Loved You (Crunchyroll)
Tooth Pari: When Love Bites (Netflix)
Totally Completely Fine Series Premiere (Sundance Now/AMC+)
FRIDAY, APRIL 21ST, 2023:
A Tourist's Guide To Love (Netflix)
Big Beasts (Apple TV+)
Central Airport THF (Film Movement)
Chokehold (Netflix)
Cyberchase Season Fourteen Premiere (PBS)
Dear Mama Series Premiere (FX)
Dead Ringers Series Premiere (Prime Video)
Diary Of An Old Home (Discovery+)
Drops Of God Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
Ghosted (Apple TV+)
Indian Matchmaking (Netflix)
Judy Blume Forever (Prime Video)
One More Time (Netflix)
Rough Diamonds (Netflix)
Secrets Of The Elephants Series Premiere (NatGeo)
Slip Series Premiere (Roku Channel)
SUGA: Road To D-DAY (Disney+)
The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs (Shudder)
Welcome To Eden (Netflix)
Wild Isles (Prime Video)
SATURDAY, APRIL 22ND, 2023:
Ada Twist, Scientist (Netflix)
A Pinch Of Portugal (Hallmark)
Chasing The Rains (BBC America)
Her Fiance's Double Life (Lifetime)
Path Of The Panther (NatGeo)
First Look: 'The Gentle Art Of Swedish Death Cleaning'
Three Swedes: an Organizer, a Designer, and a Psychologist – known as the Death Cleaners - have come to America to help people face mortality and remind us all the ways we are alive.
The Gentle Art Of Swedish Death Cleaning premieres April 27th on Peacock.
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First Look: 'Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie'
The film, which will incorporate documentary, archival and scripted elements, will recount Fox’s extraordinary story in his own words — the improbable tale of an undersized kid from a Canadian army base who rose to the heights of stardom in 1980s Hollywood. The account of Fox’s public life, full of nostalgic thrills and cinematic gloss, will unspool alongside his never-before-seen private journey, including the years that followed his diagnosis, at 29, with Parkinson’s disease. Intimate and honest, and produced with unprecedented access to Fox and his family, the film will chronicle Fox’s personal and professional triumphs and travails and will explore what happens when an incurable optimist confronts an incurable disease. With a mix of adventure and romance, comedy and drama, watching the film will feel like … well, like a Michael J. Fox movie.
Still premieres Friday, May 12th on Apple TV+.
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First Look: 'Silo'
Silo is the story of the last ten thousand people on earth, their mile-deep home protecting them from the toxic and deadly world outside. However, no one knows when or why the silo was built and any who try to find out face fatal consequences. Ferguson stars as Juliette, an engineer, who seeks answers about a loved one's murder and tumbles onto a mystery that goes far deeper than she could have ever imagined, leading her to discover that if the lies don't kill you, the truth will.
The ensemble cast starring alongside Ferguson includes Common (The Chi), Emmy nominee Harriet Walter (Succession), Chinaza Uche (Dickinson), Avi Nash (The Walking Dead), Critics Choice Award and NAACP winner David Oyelowo (Selma), Emmy-nominee Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation) and Academy Award winner Tim Robbins (Mystic River).
Silo is produced for Apple TV+ by AMC Studios and based on the novels by Hugh Howey. The series is executive produced by Yost, Howey, Tyldum and Ferguson alongside Nina Jack, Fred Golan, Rémi Aubuchon and Ingrid Escajeda.
The 10-episode series will premiere globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, May 5, 2023 with the first two episodes, followed by one new episode weekly, every Friday through June 30, 2023.
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First Look: 'Ahsoka'
Friday at Star Wars Celebration in London, Disney+ and Lucasfilm unveiled the teaser trailer for the Disney+ original series Ahsoka,mstarring Rosario Dawson in the title role. Set after the fall of the Empire, Ahsoka follows the former Jedi knight Ahsoka Tano as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy.
In addition to Dawson, Ahsoka stars Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla. The series is written by Dave Filoni, who executive produces alongside Jon Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Wilson, and Carrie Beck. Karen Gilchrist is co-executive producer.
Ahsoka will debut exclusively on Disney+ in August 2023.
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First Look: 'Secret Invasion'
In Marvel Studios’ new series Secret Invasion, set in the present day MCU, Nick Fury learns of a clandestine invasion of Earth by a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls. Fury joins his allies, including Everett Ross, Maria Hill and the Skrull Talos, who has made a life for himself on Earth. Together they race against time to thwart an imminent Skrull invasion and save humanity.
Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Cobie Smulders, Martin Freeman, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Charlayne Woodard, Killian Scott, Samuel Adewunmi, Dermot Mulroney, Christopher McDonald, Katie Finneran, with Emilia Clarke and Olivia Colman, and Don Cheadle.
Ali Selim directs the series and executive-produces, along with fellow executive producers Kevin Feige, Jonathan Schwartz, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Samuel L. Jackson, Ali Selim, Kyle Bradstreet and Brian Tucker. Kyle Bradstreet is also the head writer, and Jennifer L. Booth, Allana Williams and Brant Englestein serve as co-executive producers.
Secret Invasion premieres Wednesday, June 21st on Disney+.
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Q&A: Jason Ruiz & Seth Cohen Talk 'Royal Crackers'
While my reaction to the shows isn't always positive, I make it a point to watch anything new on Adult Swim because the programs are guaranteed to be distinctive and worth discussing.
Adult Swim premieres a new animated series this weekend and it's a compliment when I describe it as feeling like a top-notch Fox animated series.
Royal Crackers was created by and stars Jason Ruiz and it focuses on a family of misfits battling over the future of a rundown cracker company.
Ruiz serves as executive producer of the show along with Seth Cohen and I recently had the opportunity to speak with both of them about the show.
The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Q: Jason, let me start with you. I'm curious, when you went in and pitched the show initially, how close was it to the version that ended up being on the air?
Jason Ruiz: Pretty close by the end, I think. The thing is the show kind of developed over time. There were still a lot of things in the air. This is gonna sound bad at first, but we probably didn't find the show until about episode seven. Then we really FOUND the show. And then we went back and rewrote the episodes to kind of map what we found along the way.
But at first, it was tough. We were playing around with things like "how high is the level of wealth?" That was a big question we had about how do you make them kind of rich, but not to the point of being unrelatable or unlikeable? There were a lot of things we had to figure out. It was basically like I had the characters drawn and some of the character descriptions. Theo and Steve and Deb and the family were who they still are now. That didn't change. But early on it was just character drawings, descriptions, and images and just this premise of this family who was fighting over a kind of measly cracker company.
Q: Seth, you've have experiences with a lot of different types of shows. And I'm wondering how you saw your role and how you could best help the process. What does that look like from your perspective?
Seth Cohen: I think if anything, my experience helps me find talented people. And I think that's what I did in this case, which is to partner with someone who is really talented. When you're in my position, you can be helpful as a sounding board and a sort of guide. Because ideally I'm at 50,000 feet and Jason is on the ground. Jason should only know what's going on with Royal Crackers and I should be aware of what's happening on the show but focus more on this larger ecosystem of entertainment.
I think I'm useful with the nuts-and-bolts discussions. Knowing that usually when we pitch animated shows, we pitch them with this many characters. Should we add a character? They're going to want to know locations. Where would these characters hang out? These are useful prompts for a writer to get and to help them think about things like "how do these characters get along?"
You're setting guide rails. Wide guide rails so that the writer and creators can play around and figure out what works. On some level, you're just gambling that you figure it out and the network is just gambling it works out. You may not get there and I've been part of shows that for whatever reason don't figure it out.
In this case, I think we had a good idea of where these characters would go.
Q: I'll throw this out to either one of you. One of the most important decisions that you make when putting together an animated show revolves around the voicing. And it's challenging because someone can be a "name actor" and they might not be especially great as a voice actor. It's very much a different skill set. So can you talk a bit about that process of finding the right people for the right voices?
Jason Ruiz: It was a process for sure. I knew I wanted to play Steve from the get-go. I was pretty adamant that I could play my character. And then finding everyone else was a challenge. It was an arduous casting process.
I remember casting Jessica St. Clair as Deb, Deb took a while. We were just having a hard time finding the right voice for that character. Andrew is amazing as Theo, but he was not what we were looking for at all. It just wasn't what I imagined when I thought about Theo's voice. I imagined him having a lower register, more like a bass. And because I knew that Jessica was cast already and both of our voices are pretty high up there. And I thought Theo should have a lower voice to kind of balance that out.
And Seth is friends with Andrew Santino (who voices Theo) and he's arguably the biggest star on our show. But he was kind enough to send us line reads and ask "do you want it this way? I could try it this way." I gave him notes and he would try it a different way. And there was something about his work that gave this character so much humanity, so much reality. A lot of the auditions for Theo were coming in super over the top. To the point where you turn on the audition and in five seconds you're thinking "okay, this will be fun to listen to for a minute. But we're trying to make a series here.
Seth Cohen: That's the interesting part of the process. You put out these breakdowns and actors are just doing a bunch of them during the day. I think Jason and I agree that it's sort of a bummer that you just go after someone who might not be right, or even that interested in animation. So I will say that it's great that our cast is super enthusiastic, open to take take notes and try different stuff.
I think it was a process. But we found a really good group and a mix of people who are incredibly experienced and people who are just open to the process. They are just such a pleasure to work with.
Jason Ruiz: Casting David (Gborie) was easy. I heard his voice and I knew he was Darby really quickly. For sure. That was a nice vacation from the casting process.
Q: Well, building on those answers. You spent so much time buried in the process of putting together the show. Animation has such a long, drawn-out production cycle and as you mentioned, you're making all of these changes along the way. How do you keep perspective on what the final version is going to look like? By the time the episode is locked, you've been at for a year or two. How do you keep perspective on the show and get an accurate take on how the audience is going to react or what aspects of the show they might enjoy?
Jason Ruiz: Oh, it's hard. But I mean, that's part of it. That's part of the challenge. And I don't know that you could ever get around that because you've been staring at this same gag over and over and you're just straight-faced about it at some point. And you think "this is not fun. This is not a good joke, or that's not a good bit, or whatever." And it really drives me crazy. Animation just takes a long time. And at some point, it's just not funny at all.
But the long process leads to weird things. We had Gilbert Gottfried as a voice actor and then he passed away. And then a year passed. Two years pass. And we're just thinking "we're going to have Gilbert Gottfried on the show two yeas after he passed." Of course, I think we're okay. And we were very lucky to have him.
It's all especially tough because comedy ages so fast. It just does. All you can do, honestly, is make this a very grand statement. But you've also got to make the thing that you want to make. And that's really all you can do. There are always what-ifs, but there's also comfort with just thinking, "what else? What else was I supposed to do?" I've made the thing that I wanted to make. That gives you a certain amount of comfort for sure.
Royal Crackers premieres three episodes Sunday, April 2nd, 2023 at 11:00 pm ET/PT on Adult Swim. It will be available the following day on HBO Max.
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TV Premieres: The Week Of 04/02/2023 - 04/08/2023
Here is a complete list of all the new TV and streaming services premieres, finales and specials airing this week.
SUNDAY, APRIL 2ND, 2023:
Collector's Call Season Premiere (MEtv)
My Clueless First Friend (Crunchyroll)
My Home Hero (Crunchyroll)
Mysteries Decoded Season Premiere (The CW)
Royal Crackers Series Premiere (Adult Swim)
The Aristocrat's Otherworldly Adventure: Serving Gods Who Go Too Far (Crunchyroll)
The Hand That Robs The Cradle (Lifetime)
2023 CMT Music Awards (CMT)
Uncensored Season Premiere (TV One)
Vinyl Obsession Series Premiere (AXS)
Violent Minds: Killers On Tape Series Premiere (Oxygen)
War Sailor (Netflix)
MONDAY, APRIL 3RD, 2023:
Brokenwood Mysteries (Acorn TV)
Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear (Crunchyroll)
LA Frontera With Pati Jinich (PBS)
Martha Cooks Season Premiere (Roku Channel)
Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields (Hulu) - [first look video]Quantum Leap Season Finale (NBC)
Race To Survive Alaska Series Premiere (USA)
Stone Cold Takes On America Series Premiere (A&E)
The Adventures Of Paddington Season Premiere (Nick Jr.)
WWE's Most Wanted Treasures Season Premiere (A&E)
TUESDAY, APRIL 4TH, 2023:
Finding Your Roots With Henry Gates Jr. Season Finale (PBS)
Homicide Hills Series Premiere (MHz Choice)
My Name Is Mo’Nique (Netflix)
Redefined: J.R. Smith (Prime Video)
The Signing Series Premiere (Netflix)
Skip & Loafer (Crunchyroll)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5TH, 2023:
Dave Season Three Premiere (FXX)
Dr. Pimple Popper Season Premiere (TLC)
Growing Belushi Season Premiere (Discovery)
Hullraisers Series Premiere (IFC)
Journey To The Center Of The Earth (Disney+)
KamiKatsu: Working For God In A Godless World (Crunchyroll)
KONOSUBA - An Explosion On This Wonderful World! (Crunchyroll)
Lewis Capaldi: How I'm Feeling Now (Netflix)
Schmigadoon! Season Two Premiere (Apple TV+)
The Crossover Series Premiere (Disney)
The Good Mothers Series Premiere (Hulu)
The Pope Answers (Hulu)
THURSDAY, APRIL 6TH, 2023:
Beef Series Premiere (Netflix)
Bridgend (Topic)
Celebrity Game Face Season Four Premiere (E!)
Celebrity Prank Wars Series Premiere (E!)
Dr. Stone: New World (Crunchyroll)
Ghost Hunters Season Premiere (Travel)
Grease: Rise Of The Pink Ladies Series Premiere (Paramount+)
I Got a Cheat Skill In Another World And Became Unrivaled In The Real World, Too (Crunchyroll)
IRL: In Real Life Series Premiere (Netflix)
Jeremy Renner: The Diane Sawyer Interview (ABC)
Lizzy Hoo: Hoo Cares!? (Prime Video)
Looney Tunes Cartoons (HBO Max)
Murder At Blackthorne Manor (LMN)
Slasher: Ripper (Shudder)
The Ancient Magus' Bride (Crunchyroll)
The Legendary Hero Is Dead (Crunchyroll)
Wild West Chronicles Season Three Premiere (INSP)
Yuri Is My Job! (Crunchyroll)
FRIDAY, APRIL 7TH, 2023:
Birdie Wing-Golf Girls' Story (Crunchyroll)
Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker (Apple TV+)
Chupa (Netflix)
Gangs Of Lagos (Prime Video)
Gold Rush: Parker's Trail Season Premiere (Discovery)
Hello, Tomorrow! Season One Finale (Apple TV+)
Infidelity Can Be Fatal (Lifetime)
Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed (HBO Max)
Jury Duty Series Premiere (Freevee)
Kings of Mulberry Street: Let Love Reign (Netflix)
Magical Destroyers (Crunchyroll)
Mashle: Magic And Muscles (Crunchyroll)
Oh Belinda (Netflix)
On A Wing & A Prayer (Prime Video)
Praise This (Peacock)
Rokudo's Bad Girls (Crunchyroll)
Schmigadoon Season Two Premiere (Apple TV+)
The Boarding School: Las Cumbres Series Premiere (Prime Video)
The Cafe Terrace And Its Goddesses (Crunchyroll)
The Legend Of J Dilla (FX)
The Very Very Best Of The '80s Season Premiere (AXS)
Thicker Than Water (Netflix)
Tiny Beautiful Things Series Premiere (Hulu)
Tonikawa: Over the Moon For You (Crunchyroll)
Too Cute Crisis (Hidive)
Transatlantic (Netflix)
SATURDAY, APRIL 8TH, 2023:
A Galaxy Next Door (Crunchyroll)
Critter Fixers: Country Vets Season Premiere (NatGeo Wild)
Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet Season Premiere (NatGeo Wild)
Gospel Superfest 2023 Easter Special (BET)
Houses With History Season Premiere (HGTV)
Hunger (Netflix)
Love & Marriage: Huntsville Season Premiere (OWN)
My One-Hit Kill Sister (Crunchyroll)
Pride: A Seven Deadly Sins Story (Lifetime)
Summoned To Another World For A Second Time (Crunchyroll)
The Portable Door (MGM+)
The Professional Bridesmaid (Hallmark)
The Renovator Season Premiere (HGTV)
Totally Weird And Funny Series Premiere (The CW)
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Q&A: Brett Waterman Talks 'Restored'
My wife will be the first person to tell you that my handyman skills are somewhat limited. My biggest transformation job in the past few years was to paint, repair and retile my son's bathroom. And by the time I ended up having to replace and update the toilet, I felt as if I had been working on the project for years.
Like a lot of people, I have this dream of owning a cool old house filled with history and old light switches that don't seem to be connected to anything. Like dating a supermodel, home restoration feels like it would be a wonderful life, albeit one that is way out of my income bracket.
But that doesn't mean that I can't vicariously live the dream and since the show debuted on the old DIY Network, my favorite go-to series has been Restored, starring Brett Waterman. Waterman is a lanky guy in a Stetson who looks as if he was picked out of a casting call of people responding to an ad asking for someone who looks like a guy in Southern California who is passionate about architecture and restoring old houses back to their original beauty. But unlike a lot of TV hosts, he also comes off as casual and knowledgeable without veering into the over-rehearsed territory.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Brett about the show, what led him from a political science path in college to home restoration, and whether or not he still sleeps in the houses he's renovating. The conversation lasted nearly a half hour and honestly, I would have been happy speaking with him for another 30 minutes.
The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Q: When I was doing research for this interview, I saw that you had studied political science at UCLA. I did the same thing, so it's good to see us both taking advantage of our education by not working in the field.
Brett Waterman: (laughing). It certainly didn't work out quite the way we planned.
Q: So how did you get from a guy studying political science and history to home restoration? It doesn't seem like a natural progression.
Brett Waterman: It's certainly not a natural progression, but it's certainly one that's evolved over a lifetime. Everything really starts with the Stetson. I come from a beef and dairy cattle family, originally from Oklahoma. And a good portion of my family came out here to run Adohr Dairies in L.A. So my mom, my grandmother had come out for that. That's how I got here.
But it all started in Oklahoma. I fell in love with the dairies and silos and barns and this great architecture from the turn of the century. It started something in my mind, looking at the purpose of buildings and understanding the architectural structure. And that's been my love my whole life.
In fact, I didn't want to go to college. My parents forced me to go to college, they told me "You're going to get an education." Because all I ever wanted to do as a kid was restore houses. My sister will tell you I was one of those crazy kids who down every toy, every stereo we ever had, every bike, every piece of furniture. I wanted to rip everything apart to know how it was built. And I want to put it all back as if I'd never touched it. Because I really love that idea of fixing things and it started early.
So when I got to UCLA, I had to pick a major. And I love history. I love world history and social political science. And studying all of that really melded everything together. It combined my love of world history and architecture and how that all ties in.
But it's funny, when I came out of UCLA, I didn't start in the building trade. In fact, in the late, in the later 1980s and early 90s there was a housing crisis. So I actually ended up in Boston in the computer industry because I was recruited by Wang Computers. And they shipped me to Boston. Which was great, because it seeded my love of New England and everything around there. I hated computers. I wanted nothing more to do with them. But I loved the architecture.
So after a year there I came back here and said "I've got to find something I love to do," and there was nothing going on in housing. I ended up in the auto industry, I was recruited by Lexis before the division ever started and I was in the auto industry for many years. And then I left to some of the .com craziness in the late 90s and early 2000s. I was one of the original guys at Realtor.com.
I ended up doing fairly well in the corporate world and it fueled - or should I say, funded - my love of architecture. So the entire time I was doing this other stuff, I was buying really interesting dilapidated beautiful houses. I would live in them as I restored them and as they moved me around the country, that's what I would do. And that's kind of how it happened. I just followed my passion in any way I could. And at one point someone asked if I wanted to do a TV show. That's kind of how it all started.
Q: Well, congratulations, you have a more eclectic resume than I did. Which I thought was impossible. But you were talking about the housing drop in the 80s and 90s and it's a very different situation now. And one of the things that strikes me watching Restored is that these houses are now worth a million, two million dollars. I just watched an episode from the new season that highlights a home in Pasadena and my first thought was "I wonder how much that house is worth in 2023?"
Brett Waterman: They bought that house 30 years ago and if I remember what Karen and Tom told me, I think they paid about $300,000 for the house back then. Which in my mind was a lot of money. But they scraped together the money and it is obviously worth a lot more than that now.
I think it's interesting because certainly in areas like Southern California, housing prices are ridiculous. The good thing about it's driven a lot of families and young people and even people that are kind of empty nesters to move out to find interesting places to call home in areas that were kind of on the fringe or further out from the greater metropolitan center of Los Angeles. It's fueled a major revitalization of some communities that have almost been neglected for 50 or 60 years. People are rediscovering the beauty of all these communities all over Southern California. And they're doing it through some of these older homes that kind of capture your imagination for a different era.
Q: From watching the show I know you have a love of the Arts and Crafts style and Mission-style of homes. How much is driven by this is the type of architecture you're naturally drawn to and how is the result of living in Southern California and that's the housing stock that is there? If you're drawn to Victorian style, Southern California might not be the best place to be.
Brett Waterman: So L.A. was one of North America's largest Victorian cities, but we've decimated so much of the Victorian infrastructure. People don't realize that. And you're I think your question is more like, what's my architectural style? Where do I go to? And is it just Southern California? No, I love it all. In fact, my favorite style...are you familiar with Richardsonian Romanesque?
Q: Yeah, I've seen some some pictures of it.
Brett Waterman: We had a lot in LA, this was a very prolific architectural style that was kind of a reemergence of the old Spanish and Roman influences and much of what you see in the gothic influences throughout Europe. An architect named Henry Hobson Richardson was very brilliant and I would argue was America's greatest architect. And you see that style everywhere if you look. It's in the New York State Capital. You'll see it in Cincinnati. You'll see it in Chicago, here in California. I grew up in Fountain Valley, Santa Ana and our courthouse is a Romanesque structure. That's my favorite style.
I mean, I love French Provincial and if you live in Southern California, anywhere in the Southwest, you've got to love Spanish Colonial and then Arts & Crafts. I just love the woodwork. I guess for me, it's the detail. I love the details in architecture, regardless of the style. I love Art Deco, I love Modern. But it's always about the detail.
And too often today, I think architecture is dumbed down. People say "Hey, we're doing modern" and I'm thinking "No, you're doing cheap." There is a difference because modern architecture is Uber expensive to achieve. And I don't mean that in a disparaging way. But I think too often people destroy these grand old houses, even the beautiful Victorian cottages and these bungalows from the 30s and 40s. People will say, "Oh, you know, it's a simple box." And I'll tell them that it's more than that, you just have to look. It was affordable housing when they built it, but it's also quality if you look at the millwork, the details around the doors, the hardwood flooring, the fireplaces...the craftsmanship is unbelievable. But it's always about the detail.
Q: How much of all of this is driven by nostalgia? The funny thing is that I see people getting all giddy over a "mid-century-style" home and I'm thinking "No, this is the basic ranch house I grew up in."
Brett Waterman: I think there is a solace in that. I think for a lot of people, where you live in a ranch home, you live in the country, you live in an apartment or condo...people want to feel as if their home is the place where they nest and where they feel the most comfortable. But it should also evoke something that they think of as how they want to see themselves. I think sometimes we go back to our roots, or our grandparents or something that feels very comfortable to us. And often we pull that into our own spaces trying to recapture some of that sense of comfort and maybe a place of belonging.
Q: Listening to you talk about that ties into something else I wanted to ask you. It strikes me that one of the things you probably had to learn was to be a bit of a psychologist with people. I can always tell you have this desire to take their home back to the way it was originally a hundred years ago. And there will be these discussions where you'll tell them, "No, the crown molding was pink with little lion's heads." And the homeowners look at you like "That may be, history boy. But I'm not living like that." So you have to do this triangulation between restoring as much authenticity as you can, but also respecting their desires.
Brett Waterman: I think that's always a challenge. And I think actually, it's a real privilege. To be able to work with people and restore their homes, because they let you into their lives, right? These are people that are trusting you with their largest investment. It's where they have most of their security infrastructure, and they're turning it over to me.
They're saying, "We want you to help us make the house of our dreams here." And somewhere along the line, I always remind people that I am never going to tell them what to do. But I'm definitely trying to put up a few guardrails, and I'm trying to bolt them down a path to something that I think will achieve the results they're hoping for. But also pay respect to the property. Because I'm a firm believer that we don't own anything in this life. We are all just stewards for a future generation. And if we do a good job in our humanity, we help those around us, we try to make our lives better. And we try to leave something of the past for the future so that they can appreciate all the sacrifices and investments that our grandparents and people before made in our communities. That drives a lot of my mindset for not only my work life, but also what I do personally.
Q: I'm just curious how the show has changed for you over the seasons. Because it seems like I recollect that early on in the show there was an episode where you were sleeping in the house the day before, which I don't think lasted long.
Brett Waterman: Don't kid yourself, I still do that. They just don't film it. I mean, I live in Redlands. So when I'm working in Pasadena or Glendale...I mean, there are nights when I used to keep a sleeping bag around just in case it's a late night. And I think that's one of the biggest challenges the producers have with me. They can't get me out of the dirt. I still want to get in and do a lot of the work. I love to be very much involved in the restoration because that's what drives me. So no, I don't sleep in the houses as much as I did back in the early days. But I still do it.
I think some of the biggest changes over the years have just been my relationship with the producers and production companies. When we first started doing the show, the producers would say "Okay, we're going to set up this thing that's going to happen to you. And we've got to create this act outs." And "act outs" are like a little commercial break. And I would say, "Okay, but why do you have to set something up? When we need to create something in the house, it's going to happen." The house has so much story, don't set something up, just let the house evolve. Don't try to fake it, because it's all there. And they eventually realized that I'm a 57-year-old man, I've been around the block and I am not going to let anyone put something in the way of what I want. And over the years, they kind of figured out that Brett is actually right. The house does always have interesting pieces if you just follow it along and let the house unfold. I think that's one thing that has definitely changed over the years. They've learned to just expect that it is going to happen.
Q: Another thing I suspect that has changed for you over the years of being on the show is that you inevitably become a TV brand. How do you keep all of that other stuff from distracting your work on the house? You've got commercial deals, you got to go to some promotional appearance. But you also have this house the owners have entrusted to you. How do you balance all of those competing conflicts on your time?
Brett Waterman: Well, my family and friends will tell you basically, that I'm all in. So when we're filming the show, it's seven days a week, there's no way around it. Because I want to be involved in the process. I don't have a design team behind me that comes in and says, "Here's what the rooms gonna look like. And here's the paint colors." I'm still doing all that.
I'm working with interior decorators, but I'm out with them nailing down the pieces. I still pick all the colors in every house, I picked all the materials out. Maybe that's crazy. And I know the production company would like me not to do that. But I kind of feel that's what I owe the homeowners. These people that sign up to do the show, they're not signed up to the show for me to shine. They want to improve their house. So I want to make sure as much as I can, that I got my hands in every piece of it all the way along. It's all-consuming.
So a lot of other things kind of fall to the wayside. I don't get to go to the gym. I don't get to go waterskiing, I miss a lot of family trips, I've missed a few weddings. Yeah, it's all consuming. But I also recognize that this stuff in life, this is a blessing. It's a gift to get to be able to do this in front of a national audience. It's super fun, I get to share my passions with a broader audience. Not everybody gets to do that. And I recognize it's most likely a short window. This is a point in your life that you're gonna look back on and go, "that was really fun." And I just want to enjoy it while I'm here. And I'm giving it my all.
Q: I have a suspicion that you are a bit of a perfectionist. And I'm curious, do you ever look back on an episode and think "Wow, I wish I would have done this differently" or made a different decision about something?
Brett Waterman: I do that with every single house. And it's hard for everyone who works for me, for the production company. Because I just get in and see what I see. And I want to fix it. I want to fix that window and they'll tell me "we don't have the budget to do that." But I can't leave it and a lot of times I am fixing stuff way more than we said we were going to do. And I think that's what makes our show a little different from a lot of the shows out there. But as much as we do, I always think about the little thing we couldn't get to.
By the way, are you still in California?
Q: No, I am living in the Midwest now. The Twin Cities.
Brett Waterman: Awesome. My grandpa on my dad's side is originally from Mankato. Oh, my gosh. So are you in Minneapolis or St. Paul?
Q: No, I live in the suburbs just south of St. Paul. The area is great because there are all of these 100-year-old houses that were originally built for meatpacking employees and people who worked at the big Ford plant in St. Paul. People are starting to discover all of these great houses that one family has lived in for 60 or 80 years.
Brett Waterman: St. Paul. Oh, the Summit Avenue area. Oh my gosh. Some of those houses. I remember seeing those 10-15 years ago and even then they were going for like $500,000. And even providing the materials I couldn't have built them for that.
I know we have to go. But I wanted to say that you asked me earlier about living in California. I think there are amazing places all over this country. California architecture is kind of my focus. But there's beautiful architecture in every city across North America. There's a story in every one of those towns and how that house came to be or why that building is built that way. If you've got a city of more than 10,000 people, I gotta tell you, there's a reason they're there. So I love discovering those things.
New episodes of Restored premiere Tuesday nights on Magnolia and previous seasons are available on demand on on Discovery+
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Q&A: Lindsey Uselding & Kirsten Meehan Talk 'Renovation 911'
If you spend any time watching traditional broadcast or cable television, you've no doubt seen commercials for a large company that promises to repair your home or business after a fire or water damage as if "the damage never happened."
That seems like a bit of hyperbole, but there are people who specialize in restoring damaged properties and bringing them back to life. That's the premise of the new HGTV series Renovation 911, which premieres Tuesday night on HGTV. Minneapolis-based emergency restoration experts and sisters Lindsey Uselding and Kirsten Meehan specialize in assessing and repairing damaged properties while working with insurance companies and homeowners to ensure everything is brought back to its original beauty. And maybe even sometimes improving it a bit.
Lindsey oversees logistics and insurance, while Kirsten manages construction and design and I recently spoke to the sisters, who talked about how they got into the business and the challenges they face when dealing with this specific type of restoration.
The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Q: Let me start with you, Kirsten. It's interesting to me the different paths that the two of you took to get where you are right now. It seems like you pretty much knew really early on what you wanted to do. You were working in high school for your dad in the family business. And it seems like that's always the direction you were headed.
Kirsten Meehan: I think that's really kind of you to say. Because looking back, I didn't think I knew what I wanted. But at the end of the day, I kind of knew what I always wanted. So yeah, it just always fit for me. I love demo. I love painting. I loved hanging out with the field staff of my dad's company. I like joking with them in the field. Often at my dad's expense. I loved learning. I loved going to college and being able to paint and having my friends say "How do you know how to do that?
So I was always the go-to person because I'm the only one who knew that much about the process. So yeah, it just kind of formed to be absolutely my identity. You're right on.
Q: And Lindsey, you had a very different path. You worked for several different companies outside of the field and worked for quite a while at Target. And this move seemed like more of not a reluctant choice, but it wasn't something that was a natural choice for you.
Lindsey Uselding: When my dad came to me in 2013, we sat down and laid out the pros and cons list of working together. And to be honest, the cons outweigh the pros at the time. But I knew the opportunity for me and that the future was wide open. So with me in my business mindset, I felt like I could make a positive impact on the business. That was what really sold me - the possibilities of the situation.
Q: Working for your dad is challenging, no matter who your dad is. And I wonder how much of your drive is just driven by the feeling of "Hey, I want to show him that I can do what he can do. And maybe even I can do it better." Does that provide a little extra incentive to accomplish things?
Kirsten Meehan: I'm super similar to my dad. And so we butted heads a lot. We are both are a bit of a perfectionist, we want the job to be perfect. But we sometimes get there in a different way. And I have always really, really taken to heart that I want his respect. I want him to think that he's done a great job in teaching me. So I look up to him. It's kind of hard to put into words how much I admire him. But we're also just so alike that it got a bit messy before Lindsay got to the company. I would call her and be like, "I don't know if I can take that." And she'd say, "I think you can do it." So I've always wanted him to know that I adore him. But also make sure that he was proud of me and respected me.
Lindsey Uselding: I've always leveraged my dad for business advice. My mom is usually my sounding board for advice around my family and my kids and my relationships. My dad was always my sounding board around my athletics and my career. So my dad had listened to me, problem-solving throughout college, and obviously on to my Target corporate path. And so when I sat down with him, I said, "Okay, so are you gonna micromanage me? Are you gonna let me fly?" And he told me "I'm gonna let you fly with you, just me continuing to be your sounding board." And so with that deal, I said, Absolutely. That's a deal. And he did it. Did I do things over and above him? Not always consulting with him? Absolutely. But after the consult, he supported me. And together we've tripled the company.
Q: How did the two of you connect with the producer at HGTV? How do they find you guys?
Kirsten Meehan: That is a crazy story. My best friend from forever from childhood was in LA, and she met an HGTV producer. And she was telling them "You've got to meet my best friend and her sister. They have a construction company in Minneapolis. And this producer gets that all the time. But my friend just didn't give up on it. And finally, the producer said, "We'll just have to start filming on their cell phones and have them send me some clips." So we started doing that. Our family filmed us, our co-workers filmed us. Friends came to job sites in the film. And we sent them to her and she kept asking for more. So it went from this crazy idea to they made a reel, and then they made a sizzle reel. Then they offered us a pilot. And here we are a few years later with a full-fledged eight-episode season. It's crazy. You know?
Lindsey Uselding: I had really no expectations. We were always going to film things that we thought were cool. But what we thought were cool, we didn't know if HGTV or these producers and production companies would think is cool. Because this is our life. But with each step, we just decided, "Okay, we'll do it." We had very few expectations in terms of what was going to happen next. We figured "We'll send all of this in and then we'll never hear back again." Then we would hear back and send more in. So it was pretty surreal if we're being honest.
Q: What has proved to be the most difficult part of this process? Obviously, if you've seen HGTV shows, you know what it looks like. But what was different about it when you were actually going through it?
Kirsten Meehan: It was very interesting asking our clients if they would be okay with having a camera or a couple of cameras and a whole crew coming into their home and filming the whole process. So that was definitely a standout big difference for us. But once we got them on board, my biggest worry is that it would cause a rift between me and Lindsay. Just because we are very good at staying in our lanes, and we do have different strengths. And that's why we work together so well. So that I think going into it scared us both a bunch that it would cover any sort of rifts in our relationship. And it absolutely didn't. But it was just a lot more time than I think either of us thought it would be.
Q: Lindsey, I wanted to make sure that I talked to you about the insurance aspect of it, which is one of the things that fascinated me with the couple of episodes I've seen at the show. Dealing with insurance companies in any situation is not the easiest. Can you talk a bit about how you navigate that and do insurance companies prefer working with someone who knows the process as opposed to just working directly with the homeowner?
Lindsey Uselding: So this is all we know, right? This has been our business since 1977. We've gotten to the point where this is what we do and we try to do it very, very well. There are a lot of insurance companies that respect us. We are on preferred contractor programs where you go through a pretty rigorous screening process to be on these programs. You know, you have to have so many years in business, carry pretty heightened insurance, all of those different things.
So over the years, we've built a really good reputation in our community. And we definitely owe that to our dad, who really built the founding principles that we do quality work, we have the best service and we're going to be a family-oriented company for our team. And carrying these principles out, people want to work with us.
The big thing about this process is that from the insurance company's perspective, you're going to get like for like. This means if you had granite countertops, you're going to get money to get granite countertops put back in your place. That's the biggest thing. If something is damaged beyond repair, you are going to get compensated for what you had. And the most important thing we can do is share with the insurance companies why we think certain things should either be replaced or restored.
That's what we do best. And I think finding a contractor that has that expertise when you have an emergency is really important.
Renovation 911 airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV.
Lindsey oversees logistics and insurance, while Kirsten manages construction and desig
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TV Premieres: The Week Of 03/26/2023 - 04/01/2023
Here is a complete list of all the new TV and streaming services premieres, finales and specials airing this week.
SUNDAY, MARCH 26TH, 2023:
Eva Longoria: Searching For Mexico (CNN)
Great Expectations (PBS)
Housebroken Season Two Premiere (Fox)
John Wayne: Cowboys & Demons (Reelz)
Rabbit Hole Series Premiere (Paramount+)
Ride (Hallmark)
Seeking Brother Husband Series Premiere (TLC)
Stranger In My House (Lifetime)
Succession Season Four Premiere (HBO)
24th Mark Twain Prize For American Humor (CNN)
Yellowjackets Season Two Premiere (Showtime)
MONDAY, MARCH 27TH, 2023:
American Dad! (TBS)
CMT Music Awards Nominee Special (CMT)
Independent Lens: Hidden Letters (PBS)
Like A Girl Series Premiere (Fuse)
Murdoch Mysteries (Acorn TV)
The Young & The Restless 50th Anniversary Celebration (CBS)
2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards (Fox)
TUESDAY, MARCH 28TH, 2023:
CMT Storytellers: Kane Brown (CMT)
Mae Martin: SAP (Netflix)
Renovation 911 Series Premiere (HGTV)
Restored Season Six Premiere (Magnolia)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29TH, 2023:
Abominable And The Invisible City (Peacock)
AEW: All Access (TBS)
A-Ha: The Movie (Viaplay)
CMT Storytellers: Dierks Bentley (CMT)
Emergency NYC Series Premiere (Netflix)
No Way Out (Tubi)
Riverdale Season Premiere (The CW)
Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season Finale (Disney+)
The Big Door Prize Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
Unseen (Netflix)
Wellmania (Netflix)
THURSDAY, MARCH 30TH, 2023:
Big Mäck: Gangsters And Gold (Netflix)
CMT Defining: Carly Pearce (CMT)
From Me To You: Kimi ni Todoke (Netflix)
Prom Pact (Disney+)
RapCaviar Presents Series Premiere (Hulu)
Silent Road Series Premiere (Topic)
The Croods: Family Tree (Peacock)
The Dreamer: Becoming Karen Blixen (Viaplay)
Unstable Series Premiere (Netflix)
FRIDAY, MARCH 31ST, 2023:
Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King (Netflix)
Copycat Killer (Netflix)
Die Hart 2: Die Harter (Roku Channel)
Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. Second Season Premiere (Disney+)
Eva The Owlet Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
Kill Boksoon (Netflix)
Monumental: Ellie Goulding At Kew Gardens (Freevee)
Murder Mystery 2 (Netflix)
Rye Lane (Hulu)
Tetris (Apple TV+)
The Great American Joke Off Series Premiere (The CW)
The Power Series Premiere (Amazon)
The Unheard (Shudder)
2023 Gershwin Prize (PBS)
Whose Line Is It Anyway? Season Premiere (The CW)
SATURDAY, APRIL 1ST, 2023:
Love In The Maldives (Hallmark)
The Basics Of Streaming TV: The Pros & Cons Of Bingeing
Sometimes it's easy to forget that not everyone is an expert on the the ins and outs of the streaming television business. Most people have...more well-rounded lives. And they likely have some basic questions about the streaming television industry and how it works.
This the first in a series of pieces designed to provide an entry-level look at the business of streaming television and it's written for the general consumer.
Today's question: "Is it better to binge release episodes of streaming television rather than release one episode per week?"
A: There are several reasons why binge-releasing episodes of streaming television has become a popular strategy for many platforms, compared to releasing one episode per week:
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Audience retention: By releasing all episodes at once, binge-watching becomes an option, and audiences can watch the show at their own pace. This can help to keep viewers engaged for a longer time, as they can watch the whole season in one sitting, rather than waiting a week for the next episode.
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Word of mouth: When all episodes are released at once, viewers can quickly start talking about the show and share their experiences on social media, leading to more buzz and excitement around the show. This can also help to attract new viewers who may not have considered watching the show if it were released one episode at a time.
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Convenience: Releasing all episodes at once allows viewers to watch the show on their own schedule, which is particularly appealing to those with busy schedules or who live in different time zones. This can make the show more accessible and convenient for a wider range of viewers.
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Avoiding spoilers: By releasing all episodes at once, viewers can watch the show without fear of spoilers or having the plot ruined by others who may have seen the next episode. This can create a more immersive viewing experience and keep viewers engaged without having to worry about avoiding spoilers.
Overall, binge-releasing episodes of streaming television has become a popular strategy for many platforms because it offers a more convenient, engaging, and immersive viewing experience for audiences.
But let's not forget the other side of the argument: Why is it better to release episodes of streaming TV shows at a rate of one or two per week, instead of all at once in a binge release?
Releasing one episode of streaming television per week instead of releasing the entire season at once can have several benefits. Here are a few reasons why:
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Keeps viewers engaged: Releasing one episode per week keeps viewers engaged and excited about the show, as they look forward to the next episode. This helps to build a sense of anticipation and excitement, which can help to maintain interest in the show over a longer period.
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Allows for social media discussion: With a weekly release, viewers can discuss each episode on social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit. This creates a sense of community around the show and allows for more in-depth analysis and discussion of each episode.
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Maximizes exposure: By releasing one episode at a time, the show can stay in the cultural conversation for a longer period. This can lead to more media coverage and social media buzz, which can help to attract new viewers.
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Can increase viewership: Releasing one episode per week can help to build momentum and buzz for the show, leading to increased viewership over time. In contrast, releasing an entire season at once can lead to a spike in viewership initially, but then the show may quickly fade from the public consciousness.
Overall, releasing one episode per week can help to keep viewers engaged, create a sense of community around the show, and maximize exposure and viewership over time.
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