Streaming event takes gamers back to the future
Dust off your joysticks! Sometimes it takes a new way of viewing televised “content” to appreciate old-fashioned TV.
The streaming services Twitch and Shout! Factory join forces to present a seven-day marathon of old episodes of “Starcade.” For those not in the know, “Starcade” was a syndicated series that ran from 1982 to 1984 featuring contestants competing in such classic arcade video games as “PacMan,” “Donkey Kong,” “Galaga” and “Centipede.” It was seen on WTBS, the “SuperStation” now known as TBS and was the first television series to embrace gamer culture. In its time it was essential for introducing new arcade games to consumers.
The six-day arcade-o-rama will be hosted by Twitch’s own Erika Ishii, from the series “Geek & Sundry.”
The marathon begins today at 2 p.m. and will air through Friday on Shout! Factory’s official Twitch channel: twitch.tv/shoutfactorytv.
Aficionados of 1980s pop culture and remakes will have fun comparing and contrasting the cheap cable production values of “Starcade” with the facsimile seen on the Netflix comedy “Glow.” “Starcade” is a show that characters on “The Americans,” “Halt & Catch Fire” and “The Goldbergs” might have watched. You know the kids on “Stranger Things” were fans!
BUSY RICCI
Catch “Pumpkin” (8 p.m., This TV) and “Mermaids” (10 p.m., This TV), back-to-back films featuring Christina Ricci. Ricci can be seen in “Z: The Beginning of Everything,” streaming on Amazon Prime. “Z” offers a period look at the tempestuous life of Zelda Fitzgerald, married to novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald during the heady days of the Jazz Age and the hangover of the Great Depression. The sets and costumes are far better than much of the dialogue. “Z” has been renewed for a second season.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› The top eight perform on “So You Think You Can Dance” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
› Fashion Police” (8 p.m., E!, TV-14) reviews the highlights and questionable choices seen at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards (6 p.m., MTV).
› Johnny Depp and Heather Graham star in the 2001 Jack the Ripper mystery “From Hell” (8 p.m., Cinemax).
› Tulip and Cassidy feel slighted on “Preacher” (9 p.m., AMC, TV-MA).
› Stuck in the bio-dome on “Scorpion” (10 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
› A race against the clock on “Midnight, Texas” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
› Watto’s rebound does not go smoothly on “Loaded” (10 p.m., AMC, TV-MA).
› Shakespeare confronts religious enforcer Topcliffe on “Will” (11 p.m., TNT, TV-MA).
› New friends needed on “Kevin Can Wait” (8 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-PG).
› Denver finals of “American Ninja Warrior” (8 p.m., NBC, repeat, TV-PG).
› “Bachelor in Paradise” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
› Lynda Carter guest-stars as the president on “Supergirl” (8 p.m., CW, repeat, TV-14).
› Maya’s secret revealed on “Superior Donuts” (8:30 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-PG).
› Violet’s woes mount on “Mom” (9 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-14).
› Cambodian treasure on “Hooten & the Lady” (9 p.m., CW, TV-14).
› An embarrassing secret on “Life In Pieces” (9:30 p.m., CBS, repeat, TV-PG).
› Justin Long plays “To Tell the Truth” (10 p.m., ABC, repeat, TV-PG).
Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin.tvguy@gmail.com.