Star Trek: Discovery available on Netflix South Africa renewed for a third season in 2020 by CBS in the United States.

Star Trek: Discovery available on Netflix South Africa has been renewed for a third season, with Discovery writer Michelle Paradise who was added in the second season who is being promoted to co-showrunner for 2020's third season.

As the third new showrunner on the struggling series, Michelle Paradise, as the third new showrunner, will work alongside Alex Kurtzman on Star Trek: Discovery.

In the United States Star Trek: Discovery is available on the CBS All Access streaming service and is produced by CBS Television Studios and filmed in Canada at the Pinewood Toronto Studios in Toronto.

Outside of the United States the Starfleet set series is available on Netflix.

"The massive success of Star Trek: Discovery's second season launch exceeded our expectations in both driving subscriber growth and generating a phenomenal response from Star Trek fans," said Julie McNamara, executive vice president for CBS All Access originals, in a statement announcing the third season renewal.

"With Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise at the helm, we look forward to continuing Star Trek: Discovery's journey, growing the Star Trek franchise and bringing fans new Star Trek stories for many years to come."

Alex Kurtzman says "Michelle joined us midway through season two and energized the room with her ferocious knowledge of Trek. Her grasp of character and story detail, her drive and her focus have already become essential in ensuring the Trek legacy, and her fresh perspective always keeps us looking forward."

"I'm proud to say Michelle and I are officially running Star Trek: Discovery together."

Beyond Star Trek: Discovery, CBS is also working on a spin-off revolving around the character of Michelle Yeoh working for the mysterious Section 31, an as-yet-untitled drama series with Patrick Stewart who will reprise his role as an older Captain Jean-Luc Picard set decades after The Next Generation, an animation comedy for adults entitled Lower Decks, an untitled Starfleet Academy series, and for Viacom's Nickelodeon channel an animation series.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 17 January 2019.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ The SABC's hypocrisy over R.Kelly's music.

■ Iranian state television anchor arrested after landing in America.
Press TV's Marzieh Hashemi arrested on undisclosed charges.

■ The pay-TV bundle strikes back: How video streaming prices caught up with tradition subscription television.
Rising prices mean streaming services cost as much as traditional satellite pay-TV.

■ Welcome to the era of video streaming bundles.

■ Watching your favourite TV show a million times isn't compulsive. It has a name now: Welcome to "comfort binge".

■ Family Guy seen on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) is phasing out the gay jokes.
"Some of the things we felt comfortable saying and joking about back then, we now understand is not acceptable."

■ Steve Carrell working with executive producer of The Office on a new workplace comedy series, Space Force for Netflix.

■ Netflix and its local video streaming rival Hotstar will both start to censor their content in India.
Self-censorship is an attempt to prevent censorship by India's government.

■ Users have problems with Netflix - beyond the latest price hike.
The original Netflix programming "tends to be hit or miss". And "endless scrolling" is awkward and tiring.
■ Netflix isn't raising prices in India - it can't afford to. It's already the most expensive streaming service there.

■ George R.R. Martin's science fiction horror series, Nightflyers, will become available on Netflix on 1 February.

■ Many people have no idea how much they're paying for Netflix.
Study finds 84% of consumers underestimate what they're spending on video streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others.

■ Uganda's speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga fawns over China and lavishes effuse praise on StarTimes for doing the African country's digital terrestrial television (DTT) switch.

■ Welcome to the new pay-TV world.
The user experience from new entrants is incredibly strong – it is fun, engaging and easy to interact with. The most successful operators have focused on emulating the best features and functionalities of the new market entrants to stay competitive.

■ World of Sport wrestling announces new deals, including with StarTimes in Africa.

■ Content classification changes coming to Britain.
To better protect people watching disturbing content on video streaming services.

■ Chinese censors ban male stars from being seen with earrings on TV.

■ Egyptian idiot: TV and films have given women the impression that they can refuse their husbands' call to bed.

■ First human rights TV channel promises to "give a voice to the voiceless".

■ The reality show Temptation Island hasn't changed. We have.
And it's still trash.

■ Second season of Star Trek: Discovery on Netflix is less interesting.
■ Star Trek: Discovery - the technology won but Rodenberry's visionary society is lost.

■ Why is Colton Underwood always showering on The Bachelor?

■ Julia Roberts won't be back for the second season of Homecoming seen on Amazon Prime Video.

CBS announces yet another new spin-off Star Trek series in development focusing on the adventures of Michelle Yeoh's Captain Georgiou joining Section 31.

CBS in the United States is working on yet another new Star Trek series, the latest a spin-off from Star Trek: Discovery that will focus on the exploits of Captain Philippa Georgiou, who was played by and will continue to be played by Michelle Yeoh.

The second season of Star Trek: Discovery will start on 17 January in the United States on the CBS All Acces streaming service, with episodes that will once again roll out weekly globally outside of America and Canada on Netflix.

The Michelle Yeoh spin-off will revolve around Philippa Georgiou's adventures after the events of Star Trek: Discovery's first season, that will see her become involved in Starfleet's nefarious and secretive Section 31 intelligence division, first introduced during the 1990's spin-off series, Star Trek: DS9.

The latest series will be produced by CBS Television Studios, Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment with Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt as writers.

"Michelle has shattered ceilings, broken boundaries, and astonished us with her grace and gravitas for decades," says Alex Kurtzman, Star Trek executive producer in a statement.

"As a human, I adore her. As an actor, I revere her. Erika and Boey are remarkable, exciting writers who bring a fresh perspective to the world of Star Trek, and we're all thrilled to explore the next wild chapter in the life of Captain Philippa Georgiou."

"I'm so excited to continue telling these rich Star Trek stories," says Michelle Yeoh. "Being a part of this universe and this character specifically has been such a joy for me to play. I can't wait to see where it all goes – certainly, I believe it will go 'where no woman has ever gone before!'"

Besides Star Trek: Discovery entering its second season on Netflix, the new as-yet-untitled Michelle Yeoh Captain Geogiou series there is also an upcoming new as-yet-untitled series featuring the later life of Captain Jean-Luc Picard after the events of the last films of Star Trek: The Next Generation, with Patrick Stewart again playing the iconic role.

There is also a planned half-hour adult animated comedy series Star Trek: Below Decks in development.

Not available on Netflix South Africa are 5 Star Trek: Short Treks episodes serving as prequel vignettes to the second season of Star Trek: Discovery.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 12 January 2019.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ Sherwin Bryce-Pease, the SABC's US and United Nations correspondent, based in New York, is in South Africa.
"At one point George Clooney leans over to me and says..." - Sherwin Bryce-Pease dish about his time as president of the United Nations Correspondents Association.

■ MultiChoice Nigeria again has to emphatically tell Nigerians that DStv won't operate a "pay-as-you-view' system in the West African country.
"We are not going to do it. Our contracts with our suppliers are on a month-to-month basis. The channels do not belong to MultiChoice."

■ The SABC in 2019 - New year, same problems.
Rebecca Sibanda, legal assistant at the Centre for Constitutional Rights, writes that Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, South Africa's latest minister of communications, has very little time to help turn this sinking ship around or the broadcaster may fail.

■ Seattle TV station fires video editor for doctoring footage of American president Donald Trump given a Cheetos-orange tint, a larger than normal head and his tongue hanging out.

■ Comedy Central (DStv 122) rolls out its first rebrand in 8 years.
No word yet from Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) on when the new look from US-based studio Loyalkaspar will be seen in South Africa and Africa.

■ Penn Badgley who was Gossip Girl, wants people to stop lusting after his character in You on Netflix who is not just a stalker but a murderer.

■ The showrunner of Star Trek: Discovery seen on Netflix, on the upcoming second season shakeup.
The Spock viewers meet in season 2 is not there yet.

■ Simply bizarre: Why is The Orville, seen on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) trolling viewers getting rid of its female security chief?
Just like when Tasha Yar left Star Trek The Next Generation abruptly and prematurely, Alara Kitan (Halston Sage) has left the Orville.
■ Is Alara (Halston Sage) gone permanently?

■ The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) dumps R. Kelly's music from its music playlists while in South Africa the SABC doesn't feel a need arose following the multiple allegations of rape and abuse of the singer.

■ The upcoming new docu-drama Valley of the Boom on National Geographic (DStv 181 / StarSat 221 / Cell C 262) about the rise of Silicon Valley, that like MARS has talking heads experts in-between dramatic story, is too jarring here, awkward, and disjointed in an off-putting fashion.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 11 January 2019.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) admits it has underpaid thousands of temporary staffers for years.
"This error should not have occurred, and we apologise to any casual employee who has been underpaid."

■ MultiChoice's DStv Now is broken - and things don't look good.
Problems in Kenya and MultiChoice tells a customer: "We do not have the turnaround time yet for when the services will be back on."

■ Netflix interested in opening a production hub in Toronto, Canada.

■ People from Cameroon picket outside the SABC in Cape Town.

■ British pay-TV customers actually pay a "loyalty penalty" for staying with one company too long instead of switching.

■ German viewers are different: They continue to pay for traditional pay-TV while the country is also seeing massive growth in the use of video streaming services.
Germany also has one of the highest levels of smart TV ownership in Europe.

■ As Anson Mount takes over as Captain Pike and hopefully brings more stability to Star Trek: Discovery's second season, his command style will hopefully mark a return to classic Trek storytelling.


■ Mozambique arrests another journalist.
Amade Abubacar, working for the state-owned Radio e Televisao Comunitaria Nacedje de Macomia in Mozambique's northern Cabo Delgado province, was grabbed by police at a bus stop while conducting interviews.


■ A 1950s TV show had a fear-mongering conman named Trump who wanted to build a wall.

■ A fishing boat from Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel (DStv 121) capsizes, killing 3 in notoriously violent waters.

■ Turkey in shock as horrifying family secrets unfold on live television - ending with the police showing up and arresting an entire family as the audience and presenter applause.

■ Has Netflix won the battle for your TV screen?

■ The abusive has-been Jeremy Clarkson formerly of Top Gear on the BBC, slams the BBC for "suffocating the life out of everything".
Forgetting that he tried to suffocate the life out of the Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon who he physically and verbally attacked in 2015.

■ beIN resumes transmission in Egypt two days after the pay-TV operator started a blackout over a carriage dispute with Egypt's CNE over the commercial terms of providing sports content.

■ Kevin Hunter, husband of Wendy of The Wendy Williams Show on BET (DStv 129) tore into talk show's staffers blaming them for the stories about his alleged philandering.
Staffers thought he was going to give them an update about Wendy's bad health. Instead Kevin ranted for almost an hour about the leaks coming out of the show to the press.

■ A shirtless AJ Kapa and Cole Sprouse of Riverdale seen on M-Net (DStv 101) get wet and wild during a male bonding vacation in New Zealand as they frolick in Lake Wakatipu.

■ The best future-focused science fiction film and TV coming in 2019.

■ Kit Harington of Game of Thrones seen on M-Net (DStv 101) tells GQ Australia that "everyone was broken" by the time filming on the upcoming 8th and final season wrapped.

■ The Sopranos at 20: Television learned the wrong lessons from The Sopranos.

■ Surviving R. Kelly and the unstoppable power of true-crime documentaries.

■ The Bachelor's focus on Colton Underwood's virginity shows a bigger problem.
This season highlights the strange lens through which we as a society view sex.

■ 11 bizarre reality shows that weren't too weird for TV.
From Sperm Race to Splash, to a 23-year old naked man confined to a tiny apartment.

■ New American drama series, The Passage, is decent, at a time when decent might not be enough.

■ IMDb, the film and TV website owned by Amazon, is launching a free streaming video channel, IMDb Freedive, that will be available in the United States on its website.

■ Showmax slows everything down to 60fps for a derivative looking teaser trailer for its local drama series The Girl from St Agnes, copying MTV's Teen Wolf and Netflix's Elite with someone running through the woods and swimming in the school's pool.

THE NEEDS OF THE MANY. Ethan Peck cast as Spock in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery available on Netflix South Africa.

Star Trek: Discovery from CBS Television Studios and available on CBS All Access in the United States and Netflix South Africa in South Africa has cast Ethan Peck to portray the role of the iconic pointy-eared Vulcan, Spock, in the second season of the science fiction drama series.

Ethan Peck, grandson of Hollywood actor, Gregory Peck, will portray the half-human, half-Vulcan science officer of the USS Enterprise made famous by Leonard Nimoy in the original TV series and will still be working under Captain Christopher Pike (portrayed by the recently-cast Anson Mount) in the short time period before Captain James T. Kirk took over command.

"Through 52 years of television and film, a parallel universe and a mirror universe, Mr. Spock remains the only member of the original bridge crew to span every era of Star Trek.," says Alex Kurtzman, Star Trek: Discovery showrunner in a statement.

" The great Leonard Nimoy, then the brilliant Zachary Quinto, brought incomparable humanity to a character forever torn between logic and emotion."

"We searched for months for an actor who would, like them, bring his own interpretation to the role. An actor who would, like them, effortlessly embody Spock's greatest qualities, beyond obvious logic: empathy, intuition, compassion, confusion and yearning."

"Ethan Peck walked into the room inhabiting all of these qualities, aware of his daunting responsibility to Leonard, Zack and the fans, and ready to confront the challenge in the service of protecting and expanding on Spock’s legacy. In that spirit, we're thrilled to welcome him to the family."

The second season of Star Trek: Discovery will unspool with weekly episodes on Netflix South Africa from sometime early-2019, with no specific release date announced yet.

The new live-action Star Wars TV drama series will be more expensive than Game of Thrones.

The upcoming new live-action Star Wars TV drama series will reportedly be more expensive than Game of Thrones - itself one of the most expensive TV productions ever in television's new so-called Gilded Age filled with more ultra-premium, high-cost series than what anyone can ever hope to all watch.

In television's new arms race to make and roll out expensive and prestige-filled series as existing broadcasters try to retain their relevance and ratings, while streaming video services likewise ramp up and splash the cash on lavish shows, Disney is the latest to make it rain mega-bucks to create a must-watch drama.

Hidden inside a lengthy new business article in The New York Times about The Walt Disney Company's as yet unnamed and to be launched Disney subscription video-on-demand service (SVOD), is an eye-watering statistic: that Disney plans to spend $10 million (R134.2 million) per episode - per episode! - on making the new Star Wars drama series.

The New York Times article also reveals that the as yet unnamed Star Wars series will have a first season of 10 episodes. It means that the production budget for the series will be over R100 million.

HBO, producer of the fantasy drama series, Game of Thrones, seen in South Africa and across the rest of Africa on M-Net (DStv 101), in September 2017 revealed that the 7th season of Game of Thrones cost $10 million per episode but that the upcoming final 8th season would cost $15 million per episode, making the last season of Game of Thrones TV's most expensive per-episode show yet.

However, because earlier seasons cost less and had more episodes and because Game of Thrones' last season will only have 6 episodes - and with Star Wars start off with $10 million and also foreseeably running into multiple season in the future - it's clear that Star Wars will actually surpass Game of Thrones as television's most expensive show. For now.

Other shows are however nipping at the heels when it comes to TV-making sticker shock.

Netflix's royalty-laden The Crown available on Netflix South Africa also cost $10 million per episode (Buckingham Palace is a big place with multiple drafty rooms to meticulously recreate inside a soundstage).

And there are other "scary things": The first season of the supernatural drama series Stranger Things also available on Netflix South Africa cost $6 million per episode, and increased to $8 million for the second season.

Star Trek: Discovery made by CBS Television Studios and available outside America on Netflix like Netflix South Africa, had a price tag of $8.5 million for its first season and a total production budget of more than $120 million.

Now take a deep breath because the upcoming Star Wars series with its "most expensive" label that hasn't even landed yet, will be eclipsed by another "most most expensive" show that will make it debut sometime in late-2019.

This one is even further off into production development. Amazon Studios' Lord of the Rings TV series that will unspool on its Amazon Prime Video streaming service, and rumoured to start around 2021, will come in at a cost of $1 billion for at least 5 seasons.

Star Trek: Discovery on Netflix South Africa releases a teaser trailer for the 2nd season; first 4-part characters-driven miniseries will be entitled, Star Trek: Shorts.

One of the several planned miniseries of the revived Star Trek franchise with Star Trek: Discovery will be called Star Trek: Short Treks, with the science fiction drama series that unveiled a teaser trailer for the second season that will start in early-2019 on Netflix South Africa.

With CBS Television Studios that last month expanded its Star Trek: Discovery franchise contract with the series' co-creator and executive producer Alex Kurtzman into a new 5-year deal that will include several possible miniseries, animation and spinoffs, Alex Kurtzman at Comic-Con 2018 in San Diego on Friday during a Star Trek: Discovery panel revealed that the first miniseries will be entitled Star Trek: Short Treks.

Similar to Star Trek: Discovery that is on the CBS All Access in America and available on Netflix outside of the United States, Star Trek: Short Treks will also become available on Netflix South Africa.

Star Trek: Short Treks will have 4 episodes - between 10 and 15 minutes each - and will roll out monthly as it tells specific character-driven stories. Rainn Wilson who appeared as Harry Mudd in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery will be the subject of one of the episodes and will also direct it.

Another episode will introduce Craft (Aldis Hodge) who discovers that he is the only human on a deserted starship.

Another episode will reveal more about the backstory of the Kelpien Saru (Doug Jones), and a 4th episode will chronicle the character of Tilly's (Mary Wiseman) friendship with an unlikely partner aboard the USS Discovery.

"There is no shortage of compelling stories to tell in the Star Trek universe that inspire, entertain and either challenge our preconceived ideas or affirm long-held beliefs, and we are excited to broaden the universe already with Short Treks," said Alex Kurtzman.

"Each episode will deliver closed-ended stories while revealing clues about what's to come in future Star Trek: Discovery episodes. They'll also introduce audiences to new characters who may inhabit the larger world of Star Trek."

The show also released a new teaser trailer for the upcoming second season of Star Trek: Discovery with episodes that will roll out weekly from early-2019, although no specific date has yet been released.

Anson Mount has joined the show as Captain Christopher Pike who takes command of the USS Discovery due to a new mystery - the appearance of red flares across the galaxy - with Rebecca Romijn who will make guest-appearances as the new version of the USS Enterprise Starfleet character Number One that was originally portrayed by Majel Barrett Roddenberry.

CBS Television Studios expanding the revived Star Trek TV franchise into mini-series, animation and possible spin-offs with new 5-year deal with Alex Kurtzman.

CBS Television Studios is expanding the revived Star Trek television franchise into mini-series, animation and possible spin-off series.

The revived Star Trek television franchise currently revolves around Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access and seen on Netflix around the world outside of the United States, like Netflix South Africa.

The current Star Trek: Discovery co-creator and executive producer Alex Kurtzman has signed a new 5-year deal with CBS Television Studios to develop the spin-off series and other content.

"There is a very short list of writer-producer-directors that every film and television studio wants to be associated with, and Alex and his Secret Hideout team are always at the top," says David Stapf, president of CBS Television Studios in a statement.

"His talent, taste and ability to shepherd a successful project is unparalleled. Alex has done remarkable work for our studio, dating back seven years to the launch of Hawaii Five-O, and we are thrilled that he will be partnering with us for a long time to come."

Alex Kurtzman says "CBS has allowed us the great pleasure of reintroducing the world of Star Trek audiences new and old, and we are very excited to keep working alongside them to expand that world."

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 10 April 2018.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ The SABC's disappointing coverage of the life of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela after her death last week.
Why the lack of historical footage on the South African public broadcaster?

■ Naspers' SVOD service Showmax run by MultiChoice, says that in Africa expensive data is slowing down the growth if internet television. 

■ North Americans are the world's biggest TV watching addicts, spending 4 hours per days watching television.

The rest of the world spends nearly 3 hours per day watching TV. Meanwhile millennials and young adults are spending more time on their cellphones and watching TV that way.

■ HBO's Westworld creators are so scared of spoilers leaking about the upcoming 2nd season that will be on M-Net (DStv 101) that they've decided to do spoilers themselves.

■ CBS television executives are freaking out over a looming Charlie Rose expose in The Washington Post.

■ In a new episode "No Good Read Goes Unpunished" The Simpsons addressed the stereotype criticism over the Indian Apu character - and are now facing new complaints. And why The Simpsons' tasteless response to the Apu controversy is so heartbreaking. 

■ Colton Haynes is returning to Arrow seen on M-Net (DStv 101) as a series regular for the 7th season.

■ Star Trek: Discovery available on Netflix South Africa has added Anson Mount who will play Captain Christopher Pike in the second season.

■ FOX News (StarSat 261 / Cell C black 502) accidentally shows viewers that FOX News is the least trusted American TV news channel.

■ How Netflix and Amazon are driving a global reality TV renaissance although the online demand for reality series is still relatively small compared to scripted series.

■ The first photo of the older, reunited Murphy Brown cast.

Not only is Star Trek Discovery kinda trash, so apparently is the lazy international TV press who cover it.

I keep watching the 15-episode first season of Star Trek: Discovery on Netflix in South Africa (as well as probably the most revolting after show ever - After Trek with the incompetent Matt Mira), hoping, hoping, hoping that it will all get better.

Twelve episodes in, and (sadly) Star Trek: Discovery is still largely trash.

So apparently is the international press covering it.

In September 2017 I noted this American TV Guide article about an idiot journalist who, during a Star Trek: Discovery press junket pressed a button on the captain's chair during the on-set press tour in Toronto as part of a set visit - and the alarm it caused when it worked.

Now, besides the American press who were taken to Canada for a Star Trek: Discovery set visit by CBS, Netflix that has the international rights to the show beyond the United States, took international journalist covering television to the Star Trek: Discovery for a set visit as well.

Of course Netflix didn't want any journalists from Africa or South Africa, and Netflix didn't bother or wanted to include any press from Africa or South Africa as part of the international set visit.

Netflix did however take journalists from countries like France, Germany, Poland and several other places like Colombia for a guided Star Trek: Discovery set tour in late August 2017.

Now keep in mind that this is a set visit, so stories from these journalists who were flown to Toronto, Canada by Netflix and stayed at the Park Hyatt hotel should be about the Star Trek: Discovery set visit that took place 5 months ago.

Here at TVwithThinus central I read widely, and haven't seen a single story about the Star Trek: Discovery set visit by foreign press until one article popped up today!

(The interesting article is in French but you can use Google translate, or hopefully this already translated version.)

Where are the articles from the "journalists all over the world" and TV critics who went? The internet should be full of them. And more importantly, why on Earth run a set visit story 3 episodes before the end of a season like the journalist admits is happening?

It should have happened in December before the show started or during the early episodes of Star Trek: Discovery.

Where are the interviews with the cast that undoubtedly must have happened (since interviews with one, two or more cast members and producers are always included as part of the effort publicist make when putting together a press junket for media flying in)?

Besides Star Trek: Discovery just not living up to expectation, is Netflix also not living up to expectation and blatantly dissing South Africa and Africa's press. And how bad is the press who did get a great opportunity who ended up doing nothing or way too late? 

In some mirror universe of course, none of this happened. Yet, sadly, I'm stuck in the one where it did.

Now, can I interest you in some fear ganglia? Apparently it's a delicacy.

Amazon files a patent to create a modern-day holodeck just like in Star Trek; 'blended reality mirror' will use light and projections to create virtual reality scenes.

A holodeck could become reality a lot sooner than when Commander Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation first walked through the doors of one on the USS Enterprise D, with Amazon that has filed, and been granted, a patent for a "blended reality mirror".

Not just being able to superimpose virtual clothing on a user's reflection, the blended reality mirror would also be capable of placing someone in the middle of any projected virtual reality setting, using lights, projectors, mirrors and cameras to create a specific scene - just like the fantastic (and notoriously malfunctioning) holodeck technology from Star Trek.

"These visual displays can be used to alter scenes as perceived by users, for example, by adding objects to the scene that do not actually exist," says the Amazon patent filing.

Face-tracking sensors and sophisticated software will manage the virtual reality display so that users see a realistic blended picture from any angle.

Amazon's patent filing describes the mirror as partially-reflective and partially-transmissive, creating a blended image by scanning an environment to generate a virtual model.
Amazon wants to presumably use the technology created from the patent as a type of "fitting room" to help people try on various outfits and to sell more clothes, but there's obviously also other potential uses.

Speaking of Star Trek and holodecks, the second half of the first season of Star Trek: Discovery will resume this coming Sunday in America with the last 6 episodes that will be made available on Netflix for the rest of the world, with one a week, starting Monday.

Star Trek Discovery on Netflix renewed for a second season; will likely only debut in 2018, episode order unknown.

"I sense renewal. I sense it coming now."  Star Trek: Discovery seen on CBS All Access in America, and through a global licensing deal on Netflix in the rest of the world, has been renewed for a second season.

Thanks to the international licensing deal, it's actually Netflix that pays for the production cost of the series filmed in Vancouver, Canada.

The second season's episodes of Star Trek: Discovery will likely only start to unspool in 2019.

The second half of the first season will start in January 2018.

No episode order for the second season of Star Trek: Discovery was announce with the debut of the first season that was marred by several production delays, that saw the date being pushed back several times.

"In just six episodes, Star Trek: Discovery has driven subscriber growth, critical acclaim and huge global fan interest for the first premium version of this great franchise," says Marc DeBevoise, CBS Interactive president and chief operating officer (COO) in a statement announcing the renewal.

"The series has a remarkable creative team and cast who have demonstrated their ability to carry on the Star Trek legacy. We are extremely proud of what they've accomplished and are thrilled to be bringing fans a second season of this tremendous series."

DAILY TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 23 October 2017

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ Messy Bessie.
SABC acting chief operating officer (COO) Bessie Tugwana is one of top SABC executives embroiled in extremely dodgy deals of millions of rand now under investigation by the Special Investigative Unit (SIU).
Other SABCers embroiled in the money wasting mess are the suspended head of sports, Sully Motsweni; manager in the office of the SABC CFO, Thandeka Ndlovu; and Marcia Mahlalela, strategy and planning manager in the SABC Sports division.


■ MUST READ: 10 things TStv should have done differently before it tried to launch.
Incredibly insightful and spot-on article with 10 excellent points as to why TStv in Nigeria is probably going to fail.

- TStv hype turned out to be a fake flash in the pan.
- What will happen to failure-to-launch TStv after the arrival of Kwesé Nigeria since "TStv is having too much suspicion around them as to their credibility"?
- Kwesé TV Nigeria launches while TStv that made a lot of noise has no decoders to sell.
- Nigerian xenophobia against DStv and MultiChoice Nigeria while TStv is actually responsible for it's own mess and failure to launch.

■ Star Trek fans shocked by profane Star Trek: Discovery's F-bombs and should Star Trek use the F-word?
- Is Star Trek: Discovery on Netflix about to copy the Tribble Kingon twist from "Trouble with Tribbles"?
- Jason Isaacs reveals the chaotic nature of Star Trek: Discovery scripts and script changes.
- What the hell is Star Trek: Discovery; spending time with these characters feels like a drag.


■ Netflix settles with a former executive who accuses Netflix of "tolerating harassment and discrimination".

■ Actress Sean Young says sex predator Harvey Weinstein pulled his penis out of his pants before her.
"You know, Harvey, I really don't think you should be pulling that thing out, it's not very pretty."

■ Actress Heather Kerr says sex predator Harvey Weinstein forced himself on her.
Unzipped his pants, pulled out his penis, grabbed her hand, forced it onto his organ, and held it there.

■ Mickael Chemloul, former chauffeur of sweaty "The Pig" Harvey Weinstein reveals the sex predator's filth.
Kept condoms in the car, binged on sugar before orgies, fury when prostitutes didn't show, raped women in cars and hotels, fed so much at Naomi Campbell's party his gastric band burst.

■ How sex predator Harvey Weinstein exploited the fashion industry as a pipeline to get models.
Project Runway also used to funnel young models to the abuser.


■ Blaise Godbe Lipman accuses APA agent Tyler Grasham of getting him drunk and sexual assaulting him. Film and TV editor Lucas Ozarowski says Tyler Grasham groped him.
The APA agency suspends Tyler Grasham and then fires him over the sexual abuse claims.
- The star of Netflix's Stranger Things, Finn Wolfhard, dumps APA.
- The Disney Channel's (DStv 303) Descendants actor Cameron Boyce is also done with APA.
- Several complaints over Tyler Grasham "hip-pocketing" teenage actors.


■ People in Northern Ireland urged (by the TV Licensing Department!) to turn their TV Licence papers into origami - like paper swans.

■ StarTimes is an embarrassing no-show at the press conference of the sport it sponsors.
Akorfa Dnajkui, StarTimes marketing manager in Ghana is embarrassingly missing without an excuse.

■ Oppressive Mauritania government shuts down all TV stations.
except the state broadcaster, TVM.
Mauritania's five privately owned news stations - Dava, Sahel TV, Chinguitt, al-Watania and Al-Mourabitoun TV - are all shut down amidst civil unrest in the country on orders of the Mauritanian Radio and Television Broadcast Authority.

DAILY TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 17 October 2017.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:


■ The Haggard State of the SABC is not by Fluke or Accident or Coincidence.
My new Huffpost South Africa column on who benefits from a rudderless SABC that continues to limp along.

■ SHOCKER!: How MultiChoice Uganda workers allegedly defrauded DStv Uganda subscribers for a year by over-charging them in forex fraud.
In a shocking revelation, MultiChoice Uganda agents would receive payment from DStv Uganda subscribers in shillings, then allegedly go to a foreign exchange bureau, change it to dollars and post dollars on the MultiChoice Uganda system and retain the balance.
MultiChoice Uganda publicist Tina Wamala has no comment.


■ Reprehensible Star Trek: Discovery on Netflix has lost its soul.
Star Trek: Discovery characters are lame and don't even try; male privilege is alive in the future; and the "Starfleet" officer Tyler is played by Shazad Latif who apparently also plays the albino Klingon Voq, meaning Voq is infiltrating Starfleet looking like a human.
- Filthy Star Trek: Discovery suddenly drops F-words no longer making it a show a family can watch. Did Star Trek: Discovery really need to include F-words?How does profanity trash play on Star Trek: Discovery? "Not so great".
- Is Star Trek: Discovery going too far with the animal cruelty?
- Star Trek: Discovery "embraces gay romance" with first gay couple.
- Star Trek: Discovery coldly goes where better Star Trek has gone before.
- Star Trek: Discovery's trashy changes to Klingon canon is the worst part about this show.


■ Scientologists wants advertisers to withdrew from Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.
Cult members have been writing letters but apparently it's not working.
- The second season of Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath will start on Crime+Investigation (DStv 170) on Wednesday 18 October, much sooner following America, than the first season.

■ Netflix continues its strong international growth.
Netflix adds 850 000 new United States streaming customers in the 3rd quarter and 4.45 million new international sign-ups as part of strong international growth to push the total to 56.48 million.
- Netflix content budget might grow to a staggering $8 billion in 2018.
- "We are growing nicely across the world."
- "Our future largely lies in exclusive original content".
- Netflix plans to release 80 original films in 2018.

■ NBC fires the staffer who leaked the tape of filth-mouth MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell berating staff.
The leaker was fired after all that hammering that made Lawrence goes crazy.

■ Kevin James reveals why he killed off his TV wife in Kevin Can't Wait seen on M-Net (DStv 101).
"We were just running out of ideas. The plot of the show didn't have enough drive" he says as to why Donna was killed off in the sitcom and replaced with his former King of Queens co-star Leah Remini.

■ British TV and film are rife with sexual bullying.

DAILY TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 13 October 2017.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:


■ Mexican soap actor slaps TV reporter through the face in a red carpet interview.
Aggressive telenovela star Eduardo Yanez suddenly turns physically violent and assaults Paco Fuentes.

■ Kate Beckinsale says sexual predator and rapist Harvey Weinstein couldn't remember if he had sexually assaulted her or not".

■ Dawson's Creek star James van der Beek has had his "ass grabbed by powerful, older men".
"I’ve had them corner me in inappropriate sexual conversations when I was much younger".

■ More groping allegations emerge against Ben Affleck.

■ "Horrific" Jason Momoa joked that he gets to rape beautiful women in Game of Thrones.


■ "You will love my dick," Roy Price, Amazon's programming boss said to TV producer.
Isa Hackett, a producer on Amazon Prime Video's Man in the High Castle is making her claim of sexual harassment public. Amazon is utterly silent on what it did regarding Roy Price and the sex harassment claim that she reported to Amazon.

■ Rose McGowan: Harvey Weinstein raped me. Again Amazon is silent.
- Accuses Jeff Bezos and Amazon of a massive cover-up who cancelled her TV series.
- Amazon suspends Roy Price who is abruptly put on "leave of absence".

■ Has anyone in Hollywood fallen faster than Harvey Weinstein?
Star doing red carpet premieres suddenly asked hard questions about sexual harassment instead of the usual softball questions.

■ Harvey Weinstein checks into a luxury 5-star resort after jetting out of LA in a private jet.
He lied about doing rehab in Europe and wants to go somewhere where he can use his cell phone like the Arizona resort with a spa and golf course.
- New TIME does "producer, predator, pariah" Harvey Weinstein cover.
- The Weinstein Company (TWC) near the brink as talent agencies abruptly cut off their talent supply.


■ Remember when Nikki Finke reported Harvey Weinstein's harassment of a man on his deathbed? Referenced his "disgusting behaviour".
- Remember when Nikki Finke told of how Harvey Weinstein ordered her into a "windowless room" and screamed at her for 90 minutes?

■ Peaky Blinders seen on BBC First (DStv 119) is dumping The Weinstein Company (TWC) from the credits.



■ Valor, Seal Team, Shooter: The tropes and "triggers" of the new bunch of American military TV dramas.
- And Riverdale is subverting every "mean girl" TV trope with the Cheryl Blossom character.


■ Australian free-to-air viewers lose The Simpsons and Modern Family.
The struggling Ten is done and out of a deal with 21th Century Fox studios.

■ The SABC is now looking for tenders to bid to become the SABC's service provider for the digital file delivery of content.

■ How those fake TV shows seen inside shows are made.
From This is Us and Insecure - the how, and why, and what of these meta-shows inside series.


■ SABC staff morale is at an all-time low.
Move the slider and listen from minute 13:28 to 17:30.
Bemawu president Hannes du Buisson tells 702: "SABC staff are really, really, very, very low on morale at this point in time" and that SABC staffers "are fed up".


■ Netflix responds to conspiracy theories over its $500 million investment in Canada.
- Meanwhile Netflix's content investment is increasingly international in nature - the international growth is it's secret weapon.


■ After Star Trek: Discovery said there won't be any canon changes it's filled with canon changes; producer says canon changes will be explained.
- As criticism over Star Trek: Discovery grow; producers plead with viewers to be patient.
- Star Trek: Discovery suffers from inconsistent storytelling.
- "Mess": Star Trek: Discovery fails to make its case.
- Star Trek: Discovery takes too long to get where it's going.
- Filming wrapped on first season on Wednesday; second season of Star Trek: Discovery looks likely.


■ The battle to keep arts on mainstream BBC television is shocking, says presenter.
Arts programmes on BBC condemned to a "vicious, Orwellian circle" of little watched platforms.


■ MUST READ: This week's Popbitch tells its like it is - scroll and read from "Blinded by the Lights":
Here's some excerpts:
"Does the principled entertainment journalist ignore these things and just get on with the job at hand?"

"It is these same reporters who could (and should) be breaking these types of stories. The journalists who are rubbing shoulders with the major players, the ones for whom Hollywood scandals are their bread and butter, should be at the forefront of this stuff. And yet they aren’t."

"The implied arrangement is that if you turn up to the Oscars as a guest of Miramax, or you get paid to host a junket at Cannes, or you get an exclusive sit-down interview with the star of a Weinstein vehicle, then you go easy. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you."

"Yet too many newspapers, magazines and journalists are unwilling (or unable) to forfeit the access. They can’t turn down the interviews, the parties, or the chance to get their upcoming book optioned by someone like Weinstein."

"If you’re a reporter attending Hollywood parties, if you’re spending your summer in Cannes, if you’re overseeing front page splashes and conducting double page interviews on movie stars and yet you have somehow managed to have never heard a single Weinstein rumour, pray tell: what the f- have you been doing?"

DAILY TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 3 October 2017.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ How the SABC's Bessie Tugwana allegedly tried to bulldoze in her "friend" over a senior producer.
The SABC's latest acting COO is the last of two appointments by Hlaudi Motsoeneng. Bessie Tugwana allegedly tried to get rid of Nompumelelo Phasha in favour of her "friend" Marcia Mahlalela.
Bessie Tugwana were warned that what she is doing will lead to irregular expenditure at the SABC.


■ Wendy Williams' husband Kevin Hunter has been having an affair with a young massage therapist. Allegedly.
Cheated on Wendy Williams in 2001 and has been living with "Sharina" for years with his mistress living just 9 miles down the road. Brave Wendy flashes an engagement ring to try and prove the love is strong, making sure the left hand is easily visible. She tells her Wendy Williams Show audience on BET (DStv 129)  "You can believe what you want,", says in a statement "there is not 'there' there".
- Rival talk show The Talk trashes in fake-seriously reporting the breathlessness as the audience goes "ooh, aah" - watch.


■ Still with talk, and the failing Megyn Kelly in her new talk show asks Jane Fonda about her plastic surgery - the rest of the interview is a wash-out.
"You really want to talk about that now?" is Jane Fonda's curt reply.

■ End of the TV remote control?
New TV technology changes the channel using body gestures.

■ Siesta Key episode order upped from 10 to 18.
First season of the new MTV reality show increased, will start on MTV (DStv 130) in South Africa and Africa in November.

■ Jason Isaacs talks about his new role as Captain Gabriel Lorca of the USS Discovery in Star Trek: Discovery.
"I deliberately concentrated on not giving a f- ".
And in another interview he says "you don't want to be asking about things that get revealed during the show".
And in another interview "I'm dealing with idiots left, right and centre".

- Executive producer Akiva Goldsman, who directed the 3rd episode talk about Star Trek: Discovery's bigger story and then there's the bastardisation of string theory but with space spores.
 - And Star Trek The Next Generation has just turned 30 years old.

■ Piers Morgan interviews Mariah Carey, sprawled out on a couch in front of a Christmas tree, about the Las Vegas gun massacre.
Because Mimi isn't used enough insightful analyses as an expert on America's gun violence.


■ Hilariously misguided and uninformed Nigerians are mocking DStv as TStv launches.
Clueless that new pay-TV operator TStv isn't an improvement.
- Idiotic Nigerians don't realise the cost doesn't include installation - the "secret" terms and conditions of TStv that consumers are not aware of. Although some Nigerians are catching on, are cautious and are realising the true facts.
- MultiChoice Nigeria is giving GOtv subscribers in Nigeria one month free subscription in October as part of the new GOtv Max bouquet launch.
- Even more idiotic is Nigeria's minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed uttering trash statements at the launch event like "TStv will totally redefine the televison industry in Nigeria". It won't.
- At least Lai Mohammed admits a massive problem Nigeria has with its TV industry at the TStv launch event: The lack of a proper TV audience ratings system in Nigeria that is damaging and holding back Nigeria's TV biz.
- Images from the TStv launch event. Of course no press release or basic press statement but at least the satellite dishes come with potted plants.


■ MultiChoice Namibia held a TV content workshop
for Namibian content producers to explain how to pitch content to TV channels for their shows to appear on DStv. VIA (DStv 147) says it's willing to put Namibian content on the channel. People’s Weather (DStv 180) says it's willing to create a "Namibian block" on its channel.

■ OnseTV on StarSat doesn't have a channel head yet after its launch last week.
Or very clear answers to a lot of questions.

■ "Mulder and Scully are swapping places."
Some teasies about the second season of the revived The X-Files that will be broadcast in 2018.

DAILY TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 26 September 2017.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read - or as it can be called for today, "The Star Trek: Discovery Digest edition" - and that you should read too:

■ The Family Matters house demolished.

The Lincoln Park home in Chicago that served as the exterior for the Winslow house on the sitcom Family Matters is being demolished on 19 September.

■ The filthy-mouth, belligerent MSNBC (StarSat 263) anchor Lawrence O'Donnell goes beserk in leaked behind-the-scenes footage.
8 minutes of the disgusting Lawrence O'Donnell showing how he spews venom when he's under pressure and something goes wrong. Was it leaked on purpose?

■ A brief history of hiding penis drawings and other inappropriate scribbles in cartoons.
After Netflix had to yank an episode of Maya the Bee this week due to a hidden phallus causing embarrassment and reputational damage, here is past examples - from The Little Mermaid's castle penis to An American Tail: Feivel Goes West.

■ Even Oprah Winfrey can't heal Donald Trump's America.
Her first insert for 60 Minutes shows how divided America is.

■ SABC3's Isidingo rips off a TV massacre scene in Friday's episode (watch from 21:16)
recreating Dynasty's infamous Massacre in Moldavia wedding scene - right down to some guests shooting back and producers dribbling blood over various characters to make viewers wonder who is dead and who's alive.

■ Emmy-winning John Oliver reminds viewers (watch from 11:40) that satellite pay-TV decoder may be one of the largest energy-consuming items in your house even when it's turned off
"Pay-TV companies have no real incentive to improve them," he says in Sunday's latest episode, and proceeds to blow a pay-TV decoder up in a talk about corporate consolidation.

■ Pretty Little Liars is getting a new spin-off entitled The Perfectionists.
The show from Freeform that was seen on VUZU AMP (DStv 103). The new teen drama series might end up on DStv in South Africa as well - or perhaps on Netflix like Freeform's The Shadowhunters.
The Perfectionists is set in Beacon Hills with Sasha Pieterse (playing Alison DiLaurentis) and Janel Parrish (who played Mona Vanderwaal and who was ultimately unmasked as the mysterious "A"), both reprising their roles.

■ It's a war behind the scenes of the reboot of American Idol
as the producers and the ABC network are fighting over race. ABC and FremantleMedia that's producing American Idol are fighting over the racial composition of the judges.

■ Transparent seen on M-Net (DStv 101) is doing TV's first transgender, full-frontal naked scene.
In the second episode of the upcoming 4th season of Transparent, actress Alexandra Billings will roll over and first reveal breasts and then for the first time for a transgender actress on television, also her penis.
MultiChoice and M-Net will very likely not show the new 4th season in Nigeria and other countries as part of the ongoing self-censorship not to offend Africa's DStv subscribers outside of South Africa.

■ The death of the video rental store in South Africa is overrated.
Largely because there's instances where MultiChoice literally don't want DStv subscribers' money - people who actually want to rent DStv BoxOffice movies but can't - and the video rental shop turns out to be cheaper.



Star Trek: Discovery
■ Star Trek: Discovery might be worthwhile if it keeps to the Star Trek values.
The latest Star Trek series is now available on Netflix in South Africa and across Africa from Monday 25 September and what will ultimately make it worthwhile "are not the inspirations it draws from elsewhere, but the historical Star Trek values it carries forward.
- Meanwhile legacy broadcasters like CBS discovers with Star Trek: Discovery that TV ain't easy anymore.
- TV critics were prevented from reviewing Star Trek: Discovery before its debut.
This is a highly unusual embargo with CBS that didn't send out screeners to critics - something highly unusual for America's TV biz that, unlike South Africa, very often previews shows to the media beforehand, to get as much coverage as possible for new shows.

■ Star Trek: Discovery was screened privately last week in Los Angeles for Star Trek alumni and selected guests.
Nichelle Nichols who was Uhura, told Sonequa Martin-Green who now is Michael "enjoy this moment. This is yours now".
- Oddly, Netflix that has Star Trek: Discovery internationally as the worldwide distributor couldn't be bothered with any international premiere launch events in key territories like the one in Los Angeles one, or any specific publicity for the show in various countries. Neither did Kwesé TV that announced 2 weeks ago that it's partnering with Netflix for Kwesé Play.

■ Instead of the few Klingon subtitles, Netflix allows you to watch the entire 15 episodes of the first season of Star Trek: Discovery with Klingon subtitles in tlhIngan Hol - just as if you're watching from the Klingon homeworld.
- Does Star Trek: Discovery feel like proper Star Trek? And where the show will go after the first 2 episodes of Star Trek: Discovery that's now available.

■ The new Star Trek: Discovery's illustrative and off-white, painterly opening title sequence is quite a bit of a blatant rip-off of the opening title sequence of the sci-fi drama The Expanse and Da Vinci's Demons, with a bit of Mad Men in there, and melody-wise a bit of Fringe.

■ Australian television has treated Star Trek as badly there as South African television did the past decades. Star Trek Discovery displays many flaws but provides just enough good old fashion Trek for viewers to stick around.
- Unspectacular Star Trek: Discovery described as "Star Trek Lite", "barely achieves lift-off" and is more interesting for its distribution model than its content.
- In America 10 million people watched; the cast also "takes the knee" in the American protest currently sweeping that nation.

■ The article leaves out the "We have engaged the ... Klingons" as a play on the "We have engaged the Borg" but here's 7 Easter eggs in Star Trek: Discovery.
- An idiot journalist pressed a button on the captain's chair during a press tour in Toronto as part of a set visit - and it worked. The media was surprised and the production staff alarmed. And there's a bottle of Picard wine.

■ A Q&A with executive producer Alex Kurtzman revealing post-production on episode 5 started only on Monday; Bryan Fuller bailed when he realised he can't give enough time to it and the show will go down if he doesn't relinquish control to people who can give it all their time; there will never be a 22-episode season, and even if renewed for a second season it won't be shown in 2018.

■ CBS has also created a special after show, After Trek for Star Trek: Discovery to discuss the episodes.
Of course it's too much to expect from Netflix to actually communicate, publicise and actually market this for, or in, South Africa and Africa (although Netflix paid to have this content) so let me give you the details:

- After Trek is a special 46-minute weekly discussion show done by CBS for the same CBS All Access subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service in America. But yes, After Trek is available on Netflix for South African viewers.
So far there is only 1 After Trek episode to jointly discuss the double-barrel first two episodes together, "The Vulcan Hello and Battle at the Binary Stars".
Someone called Matt Mira is the bad presenter and this unbearable Tribble-trash sitting behind a desk and over-moting is really awful. In fact, After Trek looks amateurish trashy and unprofessional. Was the really great Wes Teasdale of The Pensky File not available??
- On YouTube Wes has immediately started doing a podcast/recap of The Pensky File - Star Trek Discovery (as well as the current DS9 run-through) that is much better, also doing 1 episode about both the first 2 episodes.