Media Sandwich

Hogwarts Legacy is finally releasing this week, and only IGN has  bothered to review it. How controversial, how brave of them. But that  means we can read through their review and draw our own conclusions  about the game...without any intention of playing it. This is not a game  journalism podcast. Elsewhere, the Avatar sequels are shaping up to be a  saga worthy of The Godfather...in spaaaace! Also, James Gunn is  actually driving up the sales of classic comic books with his DCU slate  announcements, and thanks to the guy who gave us the Yellowstone  Expanded Universe of high-priced spinoff shows, Showtime can eschew  fresh new material for bizarre new desperate squeezings of Dexter and  Billions.

Nothing can bother us this week, not on Goldeneye week! Intense online  mud-slinging against Forspoken, the new RPG from Square Enix, makes for a  debate on the state of comedic quips in movies and games. Oscar buzz is  in the air around Everthing Everywhere All At Once and Top Gun:  Maverick, and the star of NBC's "Chuck" becomes a problem for WB. Marvel  takes another comic book stab at the Alien franchise, and Fox's  Animation Domination block gets two more seasons. And guess what new  series from Amazon was totally predicted on this very podcast some  months back?

The holidays are long gone, and the big corporations are ready to lay  off huge portions of their workers. First Microsoft hacks away at 343  Industries, prompting a less than reassuring statement from the studio.  Amazon somehow finds a way to keep killing the already basically dead  Comixology, which we didn't think was still possible. Some new movie  trailers brighten up an otherwise dark movie industry week as Alec  Baldwin faces charges for the Rust tragedy, and while everyone else  tucks into The Last of Us, Kyle preferred the cheap nostalgia bait of  That 90s Show.

It's a week of strained relationships between media companies and their  audiences, with Wizards of the Coast dropping the dice under the table  while trying to install a few legal trapdoors with a new Open Gaming  License, Ubisoft cancelling games left and right while delaying Skull  and Bones yet again...anybody ever heard of a long-delayed disaster  called Duke Nukem Forever, by the way? No reason. Elsewhere, Gina Carano  enjoys her post-Star Wars free speech lifestyle to the tune of a  whopping $13,000 at the box office. Awesome. Speaking of Star Wars,  Marvel is celebrating Black History Month with ten cover variants  featuring Black characters from a galaxy far, far away. HBO Max has a  double-edged sword of a week between The Last of Us getting rave reviews  and Velma being almost universally despised. And Paramount  announces--at just the right time--that a Dungeons & Dragons  television show is on its way.

The first episode of 2023 brings some confusion about what kind of show  we're running here. But first, a preview of upcoming video games and  movies, along with a comic book that delves into the consequences of the  January 6 insurrection. Greg Berlanti is starting the new year with a  lucrative overall deal with Warner Television, while AMC and other TV  outlets are un-renewing and un-greenlighting shows like it's going out  of style. And what kind of memes and anime are finding their way into  Congress and the NFL?

On a special bonus episode, Kyle joins his dear old friend Gus at the local library to stack up literal Media Sandwiches that would make  Dagwood proud. While Kyle focuses on filling in Gus's Criterion movie blind spots and introducing him to Greg Rucka's comic book originals, Gus provides some required reading for an Intro to Manga and Anime for his clueless and uninitiated buddy. It's an entertainment recommendation fest for your remaining holidays!

Epic Games breaks the record for largest fine or penalty ever assessed  by the FTC thanks to their predatory microtransaction mechanics on  Fortnite, hashtag great job, crapburgers. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer and  Barbie will release on the same day in summer of 2023, what a  double-feature! Avatar: The Way of Water doesn't hit its projected  opening weekend numbers, but that might be a good thing? Henry Cavill  gets a real Charlie Brown football moment with Superman before  announcing his real passion project. The comic book industry crumbles  further into debt to freelancers who haven't been paid on time in  months, while Amazon announces a video game adaptation for streaming  television, Netflix symbolically repeats history by delivering a killing  blow to their lackluster Blockbuster sitcom, and the new Dr. Who gets a  brand new wardrobe that both cosplayers and Kyle will greatly  appreciate.

A genuinely pleasant surprise in the video game world helps take the stink off the continuing adventures of Microsoft and their fight to acquire Activision-Blizzard, while rumors swirl over James Gunn's massive shake-up of the DC movies. Mark Millar asks the question "what if you had to convince Willy Wonka you deserved superpowers?" And while some talk show hosts bid a fond farewell to their desk and their audience, others are dealing with a class action lawsuit related to ghastly digital paintings of monkeys, and their role in trying to sell URLs assigned to said ghastly monkeys. It's a salty, spicy stack of takes in this here sandwich, dear listener!

This foul year 2022 is almost at an end, and the entertainment industry  is revving up their marketing pushes for their 2023 content! First off,  EA and Respawn have little baby leak on Steam for Star Wars: Jedi  Survivor. Then a trio of big summer blockbuster movies dropped trailers  all on the same day: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,  Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy  Vol. 3. We explore the rapid deterioration of recently merged comic book  publisher Oni Press, then it's back to the teasers and millennial  pleasers with a look at That '90s Show on Netflix. Also, what famous  television mobster's son is being typecast for Disney's Daredevil  revival? All this and more!

What is it with all these big entertainment companies posting their Ls  all over the place this last week? First Microsoft and Sony compete to  see which of them has more reason to complain about their exclusive  titles, then Disney exchanges one Bob for another Bob in an effort to  prevent more Strange World levels of box office failure. Netflix leaves  tens of millions of dollars on the table with The Glass Onion, while  Paramount tries desperately to entice everyone's dad with more  Yellowstone content. On the bright side, DC Comics has a bright new  crossover event for 2023, and Marvel's holiday specials are winning the  battle of the warm and fuzzies. It's a post-mortem on the  Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekend, so put together a leftover sandwich  and put this pod in your ears!