Hulu Announces a Kevin Smith Movie Review Show and More Original Series

“Spoilers,” a new half-hour movie review show hosted by Kevin Smith, will be coming to Hulu on June 4th. The streaming website unveiled the upcoming series yesterday along with the rest of its summer slate, a collection that also includes previously announced originals “Up to Speed” (from Richard Linklater) and “We Got Next” (from writers from “The Game,” “The Office” and “Are We There Yet?”), as well as seven acquired shows from the U.K. and Canada, among them season two of “The Booth at the End.”

The Smith-hosted “Spoilers” will run ten episodes and will feature New Jersey’s finest along with 50 film fans talking about a blockbuster they all watched opening night. There’s hardly a shortage of online venues at which to hear Smith talk these days, but “Spoilers” should at least be interesting in offering Smith’s version of movie criticism, a profession with which he’s had a exhaustingly contentious relationship in the recent past.

Some of his well-aired issues resurface in an interview he just did with Wired in which he explains that the idea of the show is to “Watch the movie with everybody, we take them out and pay for them to go see the movie, kick back — on opening day, none of this early bullshit, ain’t doing it like those critics, doing it legit — and then just go down the street, sit down and have a gabfest, man.” And in a teaser for the series, he says that “wouldn’t it be great to have a show where we don’t review movies, we revere movies?”

Here’s the full Hulu summer slate:

HULU ORIGINAL SERIES

“Spoilers” — For fans of: “Inside the Actors’ Studio,” “Comic Book Men,” “Real Time with Bill Maher,” “Conan,” “The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon.” New episodes premiere every Monday beginning on June 4; Entire ten-episode series (produced by SModCo) available on August 6. Kevin Smith’s Movie “Revue” – This multi-act film extravaganza mixes lively group chats, interviews with movie and pop culture icons and animated shorts. Each week, Kevin, special guests and movie lovers passionately sound off on the year’s most anticipated summer blockbusters, gushing over their favorite scenes and debating the details frame by frame.

“Up To Speed” — For fans of: “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations,” “The Cruise,” “Waking Life,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Exit Through the Gift Shop” A Travel Show About The Road Less Traveled – This new travel series was created by filmmaker Richard Linklater (“Bernie,” “Dazed and Confused”) and represents his first foray into episodic TV storytelling. Each week “Up to Speed” follows tour guide, historian and flaneur Timothy “Speed” Levitch (“The Cruise”) as he visits the monumentally-ignored monuments of America’s cities, from the shoe gardens of San Francisco to the luckiest subway grate in New York City. The series, produced by Cinetic Media, premieres on Hulu and Hulu Plus in August. Said Richard Linklater, “Speed Levitch is one of the most effusive, articulate people I know, and one of America’s funniest freethinkers. Hulu has a highly engaged and intellectually curious audience, and I’m excited to give them a glimpse of Speed’s unique and idiosyncratic worldview as we take the concept of a travel show and turn it on its head.”

“We Got Next” — For fans of: “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “The League,” “Men of a Certain Age” A Bro-mantic Comedy – “We Got Next” is a raunchy, sarcastic and out-of-bounds half-hour show about a pick-up basketball team of four guys who should never have been friends in the first place. Each week, the guys’ courtside banter consistently escalates into a run of terrible advice and poor decision-making. Cast includes Paul Bartholomew (“Paul The Male Matchmaker”), Lance Barber (“Big Bang Theory”), Bumper Robinson (“The Game”) and Bill Fagerbakke (“Coach”). Executive produced by Kenya Barris (co-creator of “America’s Next Top Model”), Hale Rothstein (writer, producer of “The Game”) and E. Brian Dobbins, with co-executive producer Danny Leiner (“Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle”) directing. The series premieres in August on Hulu and Hulu Plus. Said co-creator Kenya Barris, “This is a show built around what guys do when it’s just the guys. It’s as raw and honest as it is ridiculous and raunchy. That’s the comedy of real life. I’m excited to bring this show to Hulu.”

HULU EXCLUSIVES

“Rev.” — For fans of: “The Office” (U.K.), “Peep Show,” “Spaced,” “Parks & Recreation,” “House.” New episodes premiere every Sunday beginning on June 3; Entire series available on August 26. Meet The Rev. Adam Smallbone. From a sleepy, rural parish, the newly promoted vicar has moved to the busy, inner-city world of St. Saviour’s in East London. It’s a world in which he has little experience, and it shows. It really shows. “Rev.”is a contemporary sitcom about the enormous daily frustrations and moral conflicts of an inner-city vicar. Cast includes Tom Hollander (“Pirates of the Caribbean”), Olivia Colman, Steve Evets, Miles Jupp, Lucy Liemann, Simon McBurney and Ellen Thomas. Originally broadcast on BBC Two in the U.K., the show has received widespread critical acclaim, winning the 2011 BAFTA’s “Best Sitcom,” and nominated for the 2012 BAFTA’s “Best Sitcom,” and Hollander receiving a nod for “Best Male Performance in a Comedy Program.” The series premieres on Hulu and Hulu Plus on June 3rd from BBC Worldwide Americas Digital Distribution. There are six episodes in season one; seven episodes in season two.

“The Yard” — For fans of: “South Park,” “Family Guy,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “Summer Heights High,” “The Wire,” “Archer,” “Arrested Development.” New episodes premiere every Thursday beginning on June 7; Entire six-episode series available on July 12. A mockumentary miniseries that originally aired on HBO Canada, “The Yard” offers a bizarre juxtaposition of two rival cliques of elementary school children, where tension develops much like the quintessential crime-family thriller. The show has comically been referred to by Canadian television critics as “‘The Wire’ and ‘The Sopranos’ with kids.” The cast and crew have respectively been nominated for the 2012 Young Artist Award and the 2011 Directors Guild of Canada Award. The series, brought to Hulu by Entertainment One (eOne) and produced by Whizbang Films, premieres on Hulu and Hulu Plus on June 7th.

“Derren Brown: Inside Your Mind” — For fans of: “Criss Angel,” “Penn & Teller: Tell a Lie,” “Fact or Faked,” “Mythbusters,” “Lie to Me,” “Psych,” “The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon,” “Conan.” New episodes premiere every Saturday beginning on July 7; Entire four-episode series available on July 28. Derren Brown is a performer like none other in the world. He uses psychology, magic, showmanship and suggestion to achieve things that for anyone else would be impossible. In the U.K., he is multi-award winning performer and has done a variety of huge and baffling stunts including predicting the national lottery and playing Russian roulette on live TV. Brown brings his elaborate feats to U.S. audiences in this specially shot compilation. His technique challenges traditional preconceptions of magic in the grand tradition of Houdini and modern performers such as Penn & Teller, David Blaine and Criss Angel. However, Brown’s mind-reading of unsuspecting, everyday people gives magic a new angle that never ceases to amaze.

“The Booth at the End” (Season Two) — For fans of: “The Booth at the End” (Season One), “Lie To Me,” “Bones,” “Castle,” “Grimm,” “Touch,” “Lost,” “Psych,” “Fringe,” “The X-Files.” Xander Berkeley, best known for his roles as “George Mason” in FOX’s “24” and “Percy” in The CW’s “Nikita,” stars as an enigmatic man occupying the corner booth of a diner. He possesses the power to grant desires, contingent upon recipients performing mysterious tasks. This half-hour psychological thriller begs the question: “How far would you go to get what you want?” Directed by Adam Arkin (“Justified,” “Grey’s Anatomy”), the five-episode season two premieres on Hulu and Hulu Plus in July.

“Pramface” — For fans of: “My So Called Life,” “New Girl,” “Awkward,” “Secret Life of the American Teenager,” “Up All Night,” “Skins” (U.S. and U.K.), “Hart of Dixie,” “One Tree Hill,””Teen Mom.” New episodes premiere every Thursday beginning on July 19; Entire six-episode series available on August 23. Jamie and Laura are two young, free and single teenagers who, after hooking up at a party, soon find they have a very big complication on their hands. Laura is pregnant. So even though they barely know each other, they now have one thing in common — and it’s getting bigger. “Pramface” brings humor and heart to a tricky subject, following these two unexpected parents-to-be as they try, and frequently fail, to negotiate family, sex and what happens once nine months is up… The series premieres on Hulu and Hulu Plus on July 19th from BBC Worldwide Americas Digital Distribution.

“The Promise” — For fans of: “Homeland,” “Munich,” “Persepolis,” “Pillars of the Earth.” New episodes premiere every Saturday beginning on August 11; Entire four-episode series available on September 1. With nearly a decade of extensive field research on the part of award-winning writer and director Peter Kosminsky, “The Promise” is a BAFTA-nominated, four-part political thriller and love story. The serial drama examines the origins of the Middle East conflict in events that took place under British rule sixty years ago. The bold and honest series cuts between the life of Erin, an 18-year old Londoner in present day Israel and Gaza, and that of her military grandfather who was part of the British peace-keeping force in Palestine at the end of the second World War. The miniseries garnered widespread critical acclaim upon its airing in the U.K. and was subsequently nominated for “Best Drama Serial”by both BAFTA and Royal Television Society.

“Little Mosque” — For fans of: “Modern Family,” “Arrested Development,” “Parenthood.” New episode premiere every Thursday beginning on June 28; Entire 91-episode series available on August 23. “Little Mosque” is a light-hearted and comedic fish-out-of-water tale about a small Muslim community that rents the parish hall of a small town church to use as a mosque. The multi award-winning, half-hour series features a cast of both Muslims and non-Muslims in storylines that the New York Times says “explore the funny side of an often misunderstood life.” “Little Mosque” has received awards from around the world including the prestigious “Search for Common Ground Award” for promoting cross-cultural understanding. It has been lauded for its frank and authentic portrayal of real issues within the Muslim community as well as its delicate balance of the irreverent with the reverent. Produced by WestWind Pictures, “Little Mosque” is available in 90 countries including Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

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