This week in TV news: HBO fantasy hit continues reign over Internet piracy, Netflix teases more Gilmore Girls (maybe), Generation KKK canceled following backlash, Attack on Titan season 2 trailer release, and late music superstar George Michael’s “Carpool Karaoke” connection.
For the fifth consecutive year, HBO’s hit fantasy series Game of Thrones was the most pirated TV show, according to TorrentFreak. The piracy and filesharing news site compiled data from several sources, including public BitTorrent trackers. The series was followed by AMC’s The Walking Dead (again in second place), newcomer Westworld also from HBO, two CW superhero series The Flash and Arrow, long-running CBS comedy The Big Bang Theory, History’s Vikings, Lucifer on Fox, USA’s Suits, and Amazon streaming series The Grand Tour. “Traffic-wise the interest was roughly on par with last year,” TorrentFreak reported. “The highest number of people actively sharing an episode across several torrents was 350,000 at its peak, this was right after the season finale came online.”
Spoiler warning: This section reveals an important plot detail from Netflix revival series Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.
Streamer Netflix, which treated us this year to a Gilmore Girls revival, teased fans with a reference to the mystery of Rory Gilmore’s (Alexis Bledel) baby daddy. Viewers will recall that the Netflix four-episode season ended with Rory’s “I’m pregnant” confession to her mom Lorelai (Lauren Graham). “Where’s an eighth grade science fair when you need one? #GilmoreGirls,” the Netflix US Twitter account tweeted on Thursday. Fans quickly speculated that Netflix would bring the mother-daughter duo back to solve the series cliffhanger.
Where's an eighth grade science fair when you need one? #GilmoreGirls pic.twitter.com/6qYnjbn32q
— Netflix US (@netflix) December 28, 2016
After experiencing backlash from celebrities and the public last week, A&E changed the name of its show Generation KKK to Escaping the KKK: A Documentary Series Exposing Hate in America. Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo tweeted her distaste for the concept, calling for an A&E boycott: “Shame on you A&ETV” and, “So I guess A&E stands for … we will try to put Anything and Everything on TV… because we are a bunch of desperate pathetic TV execs.” The show was to document four individuals trying to escape families deep in the Ku Klux Klan. The Wire actor Wendell Pierce also used Twitter to express anger over the program, saying, “The truth is revealed: Generation KKK was a TV show that paid Klan members to participate. Our call for a boycott revealed this truth.”
The truth is revealed: Generation KKK was a TV show that paid Klan members to participate. Our call for a boycott revealed this truth.
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) December 25, 2016
Despite the name change — an attempt to assuage the public — the show was canceled. The network released a statement saying that the show’s producers violated network documentary policy by paying a nominal fee to participants, expressing that the goal of the program was to “expose and combat racism and hatred,” but that “these payments are a direct violation of A&E’s policies and practices for a documentary.”
Fans around the globe were shocked and saddened by the unexpected passing of music superstar George Michael on Christmas Day. To cheer us up during this difficult time, let’s travel back to the magic moment in 2011 when James Corden and Michael kicked off the “Carpool Karaoke” sensation in a Red Nose Day promotional video. (The fun starts at about 2 minutes, 15 seconds in and picks up again at 12 minutes, 50 seconds.) We will miss you, Mr. Michael.
