Best fall TV show prospects, 2019: The Mandalorian, etc.

TV shows from traditional networks are a lot less interesting in the age of streaming video. Few people anymore want to watch a series in hourly installments spread over 10 to 20 weeks, especially one interrupted by commercials.
Viewers prefer watching shows on their own schedules, free of commercials, with the ability to binge-watch multiple episodes in a sitting. They also like the unrated nature of many streaming shows today.
Last fall, I gave one new network show a try, NBC’s “Manifest,” but it was boring, uninspired and pretentious. So, I wasn’t surprised when it got canceled after its first season. I gave up on it midway through the season.
The new shows I’m most excited about are on streaming networks.

• The Star Wars series “The Mandalorian,” premieres on Nov. 12 on the new Disney+ service.
• CBS All Access will premiere “Star Trek: Picard” in early 2020. It’s a continuation of the story of Jean-Luc Picard, which began with “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and carried over into several movies.

There are almost too many good shows to watch on streaming services these days. Recent favorites include “The Boys” on Amazon Prime and “The Haunting of Hill House” on Netflix.
As a fan of science-fiction, fantasy and horror stories, I’m drawn to three new network TV shows: “Emergence,” “Prodigal Son” and “Evil.”
ABC is back with another sci-fi mystery show in “Emergence.” ABC has a poor track record with such shows. Last year, it canceled “The Crossing” after one season, joining a long list of such one-and-done shows at ABC. I would be surprised if “Emergence” gets renewed.
“Emergence” premieres on Sept. 24. It follows a police chief who takes custody of a young child found near a mysterious accident. The girl has no memory of what happened or who she is.
“Prodigal Son” premieres Sept. 23 on Fox. It centers on a young criminal profiler whose father is an infamous serial killer known as “The Surgeon.”
“Evil” premieres on Sept. 26 on CBS. In the series, a skeptical psychologist allies with a priest and a contractor to investigate purported supernatural incidents.

Photos: Promotional posters for “The Mandalorian” and “Star Trek: Picard.”

Song of Summer 2019: ‘Old Town Road,’ duh.

The competition to be named the “song of summer” wasn’t even close this year.
“Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus topped the charts all season. In fact, it broke the record for the longest-running No. 1 song on Billboard’s Hot 100. It was the No. 1 song for 19 consecutive weeks until it was dethroned this week by “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish.
Personally, I prefer “Bad Guy” to “Old Town Road,” which always struck me as a novelty song.
Given how song charts can be manipulated by record companies, it might be more interesting to crown a musical artist of the summer. This year’s breakout artist was Eilish, followed by Lizzo.
Last summer’s breakout star was Cardi B, even though Drake took song of summer honors in 2018 with “In My Feelings.”
The idea behind song of summer is to name a song that captures the season. A song of summer can bring back memories of vacations, parties, beach outings and the like because of its constant play during a particular year.
The song of summer is officially named after Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer. Most music fans use Billboard’s chart, but there are others. Rolling Stone, Spotify, Shazam and iHeartRadio are among those that also crown a song of summer.
My personal favorite songs this summer included “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish, “Juice” and “Truth Hurts” by Lizzo, “Never Really Over” by Katy Perry, “Nightmare” by Halsey, “Mother’s Daughter” by Miley Cyrus, and “Senorita” by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello.

Here is a list of recent songs of summer, according to Billboard magazine:

2008   “I Kissed A Girl” by Katy Perry
2009   “I Gotta Feeling” by The Black Eyed Peas
2010   “California Gurls” by Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
2011   “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO feat. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock
2012   “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen
2013   “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke feat. T.I. + Pharrell
2014   “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea feat. Charli XCX
2015   “Cheerleader” by OMI
2016   “One Dance” by Drake feat. WizKid & Kyla
2017   “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee (feat. Justin Bieber)
2018   “In My Feelings” by Drake

Photo: Cover of Time magazine featuring Lil Nas X, dated Aug. 26, 2019.

Related reading:

Here’s What The “Gay Song Of Summer” Was Since 1994 (BuzzFeed; June 21, 2019)

A Billboard No. 1 Is at Stake, So Here’s an Album With Your Taylor Swift Hoodie (New York Times; June 9, 2019)

Want to Get on the Radio? Have $50,000? (Rolling Stone; Aug. 6, 2019)

Is Billie Eilish An “Industry Plant”? (BuzzFeed; Aug. 17, 2019)

From TikTok smash to Billboard record-breaker: How ‘Old Town Road’ gamed the system and won the summer (Washington Post; Aug. 22, 2019)

Sexy Tinker Bell artwork

Occasionally I like to check up on how pop culture artists are riffing on Disney characters in their work.
In July 2013, I did a roundup of sexy depictions of Peter Pan fairy Tinker Bell. In this post, I’ll review some more sexy Tinker Bell artwork.

Comic-book artist J. Scott Campbell has drawn Tinker Bell for his Fairytale Fantasies calendars. (See example above.)

Italian artist Emmanuel Viola, aka Evvi, has created illustrations that reimagine Disney princesses as tattooed hipsters. (See his version of Tinker Bell below.)

Pin-up artist Elias Chatzoudis made this come-hither version of Tinker Bell.

Pin-up artist Andrew Tarusov did a series of illustrations depicting Disney heroines as Playboy magazine cover models. Here’s his version of Tinker Bell in a bathtub.

Artist Adam Hughes made a sketch of a buxom Tinker Bell sitting on a flower.

Artist James Dillon Wright, aka Dillon Boy, created a series of illustrations called Dirtyland that showed Disney princesses as objects of desire on smut magazines. Here’s his bondage art of Tinker Bell with cartoon characters Tom and Jerry.

Russian artist Otto Schmidt made this cheeky depiction of Tinker Bell and Peter Pan.

Artist Deacon Black made this black-and-white drawing of a voluptuous Tinker Bell.

And finally, here’s some Tinker Bell cosplay from Danielle DeNicola, aka Ellei Marie.

The 10 hottest women in the LFL, 2019 edition

Since Google has branded this blog as “adult: sexual content” based on less than 0.5% of its posts, we might as well embrace it. Google’s Blogger platform has an issue with photos of women in bikinis apparently.
So, Tech-media-tainment today will feature its picks for the 10 sexiest players in the LFL women’s football league in 2019. This is the fourth straight year that I’ve attempted this feat.
As Taylor Swift sings on the song “You Need to Calm Down”: “We see you over there on the internet; Comparing all the girls who are killing it.”
Yeah, that’s me. Guilty.
This is no easy job for any red-blooded American man. The Legends Football League is jam-packed with strong, attractive women. Narrowing the list to just a few leaves out a great deal of beautiful, athletic women.
To make the list, the ladies must be active on social media and post a lot of photos. From there, the selection process is purely subjective.

Taylor Boryca

Taylor Boryca is a wide receiver and defensive back with the Omaha Heart. (See also photo at top.)

Ninotchka “Nina” Claud

Ninotchka “Nina” Claud is a wide receiver for the Los Angeles Temptation. She also is a personal trainer at Nvision Fit.

Kandy Cooke

Kandy Cooke is a tight end and linebacker with the Nashville Knights.

Monique Gaxiola

Monique Gaxiola is a center, tight end and linebacker for the L.A. Temptation.

The Lopez sisters

Sisters Marissa and Miriah Lopez play for the L.A. Temptation. Both work in the fitness industry in Los Angeles.

The list continues in part two …

The 10 hottest women in the LFL in 2019, part 2

What follows is the second part of Tech-media-tainment’s look at the sexiest women in the Legends Football League, in alphabetical order. (See part one for the first group.)

Chasity Morales 

Chasity Morales is a wide receiver and cornerback for the Austin Acoustic. She also is owner and head trainer at F45 Training in the Deerfield neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas. (See also photo at top.)

Aneshea Shali 

Aneshea Shali is a tight end and linebacker with the Nashville Knights. She also is a U.S. marine and owner of NxtLvlUp Fitness.

Rachel Washington 

Rachel Washington is a corner and wide receiver for the Austin Acoustic. She also is a model.

Melody Decena Wyatt 

Melody Decena Wyatt is a cornerback with the Atlanta Steam. She also is a fitness model.