Rich Heldenfels, Pop Culture Wanderer

I loved this in its original form and generally am not fond of technical revamps of movies and shows. Still, this one has me curious -- and may justify replacing my beloved old DVD set. The official word: HBO will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo mission moon landing with a special encore presentation of the Emmy®-winning 1998 miniseries FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON. On Monday, July 15, all 12 digitally remastered episodes will launch on HBO GO, HBO NOW and HBO On Demand. On Saturday, July 20, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo mission moon landing, HBO2 will air a marathon of all 12 episodes, starting at 8:45 a.m. (ET/PT). To celebrate the anniversary, the standard definition visual effects have been replaced with brand-new CG effects that are based on reference models from NASA. In addition, an HD BluRay edition, set for release July 16, will feature remixed audio in Dolby ATMOS, as well as an exclusive “Inside the Remastering” featurette, which delves into t...

Some items from the list on my desk ... Leslie Moonves. The head man at CBS is under fire for accusations of repeated sexual misconduct, as reported by Ronan Farrow in the New Yorker.  When I was a TV critic and on press tours, Moonves was a popular figure with many because of his charm and his accessibility, not to mention he was a smart guy. But that does not remotely excuse what appears to be years of aggression and threats on his part; in fact, it makes it worse because his public likability hid so much. And, as Farrow reported, CBS had a toxic environment which must be blamed on the man in charge.  As my friend Mo Ryan tweeted about Farrow's p iece, it "gets at the core of my frustration in reporting on these issues: The institutional complicity & enabling. For decades. Systematic silencing." Also from Ryan: " without real, *systematic* change on an *institutional* level, those abused and assaulted will continue to be driven out & abusers wi...