| Cult of Mac

Apple wants to corner the market on squeaky-clean TV shows

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Don't expect to find much swearing, violence or sex in Apple's original TV shows.
Don't expect to find much swearing, violence or sex in Apple's original TV shows.
Photo: JESHOOTS.com/Pexels CC

Apple may have upward of 20 original TV shows in production, but don’t expect to find them filled with adult themes or material.

According to a new report, Apple is aiming for shows with broad appeal, which translates as no “gratuitous sex, profanity or violence.” While this rule won’t be an absolute, it does mean that only a small number of Apple TV shows will receive a TV-MA rating.

Apple taps child star for murder mystery show

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A show about girl reporter Hilde Lysiak is coming to Apple TV.
Girl reporter Hilde Lysiak solved a murder when she was 9 years old. What have you done today?
Photo: Scholastic

Apple has already nailed down the lead role for its upcoming TV show about a young girl who solves a local murder mystery.

8-year-old Brooklynn Prince from The Florida Project has been cast to play Hilde Lysiak after Apple just recently secured the rights to turn her life story into a TV show.

Video game developers are set to shine in Apple comedy show

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Rob McElhenney, one of the writers of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, has teamed up with an old partner on a new Apple TV show.
Rob McElhenney, one of the writers of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, has teamed up with an old partner on a new Apple TV show.
Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr CC

Another day, another Apple TV series. The company continues to build a library of shows, despite having announced no plans what it will do with them.

The latest is a comedy set at a video game development studio. It’s reportedly being created by the team behind It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Jin Lee’s Korean epic Pachinko is headed to Apple TV

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Pachinko
Pachinko, the story of a Korean family's tumultuous move to Japan, will be a TV series.
Photo: Grand Central Publishing

Apple was the high bidder for the rights to create a TV series based on Pachinko, a best-selling book about a Korean family written by Min Jin Lee.

This is one of nearly two dozen TV programs Apple is paying to produce, even though the company has announced no plans for a video service. Yet.

Emmy-winning actress joins Apple’s sci-fi epic See

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Alfre Woodward at Global Green USA's 12th Annual Millennium Awards.
Alfre Woodward at Global Green USA's 12th Annual Millennium Awards.
Photo: Global Green USA/ Flickr CC

Apple’s sci-fi drama See already has Jason Momoa from Aquaman, and now he’s joined by Alfre Woodward, who has no less than four Emmys and an Oscar nomination.

Aside from some of the cast, a director, and the writer, all we know about See is that it will be an “epic, world-building drama set in the future,” according to Variety.

Hilde Lysiak’s amazing real-life girl-detective story coming to Apple TV

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A show about girl reporter Hilde Lysiak is coming to Apple TV.
Girl reporter Hilde Lysiak solved a murder when she was 9 years old. What have you done today?
Photo: Scholastic

Ever since the days of Nancy Drew, girl detectives have been a staple of young adult fiction. But Hilde Lysiak is the real deal: at 9 years old, she solved a murder.

Apple purchased the TV rights to her story, and will turn it into a 10-episode series. The show, which is as-yet untitled, will be a mystery drama.

Tag stars strain to hit high notes in new Carpool Karaoke teaser

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We all know Ed Helms can sing, but what about his Tag castmates? Find out in the new Carpool Karaoke teaser.
We all know Ed Helms can sing, but what about his castmates?
Photo: Apple

Jeremy Renner, Ed Helms and Jon Hamm are ready to sing your socks off in the latest episode of Carpool Karaoke.

The trio, who star together in the upcoming film Tag, bring their vocal talents to Apple’s musical TV show for an all-new episode. Apple released a teaser this morning, and it looks like it could be one of the funniest Carpool Karaoke episodes yet.

Just watch as Hamm tries to hit the high notes!

Apple battles HBO to acquire new J.J. Abrams sci-fi show

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JJ Abrams
J.J. Abrams' latest show would be a big coup for Apple.
Photo: Gage Skidmore/Wikipedia CC

Apple and HBO are vying for a new sci-fi drama series written by Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams. The untitled show is the first bit of TV writing Abrams has done since working on Fringe a decade ago in 2008.

In addition to Fringe, Abrams co-created the popular TV show Lost, as well as creating both Felicity and Alias. He has also executive-produced multiple shows in the past few years, including HBO’s Westworld, Showtime’s Roadies and Hulu’s upcoming Castle Rock.

With Planet of the Apps, Apple fails to crack the code for good TV [Review]

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Screen Shot 2017-06-07 at 11.45.49
When it comes to original programming, this isn't exactly Netflix's House of Cards.
Photo: Apple

With its new reality show Planet of the Apps, Apple didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. It slapped a new body on a well-worn vehicle — wannabe entrepreneurs pitching their precious ideas to a panel of questionable celebrity experts — and drove straight to “Meh-ville.”

We talk iPhone 7s features and Tesla’s Model 3 on The CultCast

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Tesla
This Model 3 could have carried an Apple logo one day.
Photo: Tesla

This week on Cult of Mac’s: Rumors point to an iPhone 7s with a drastic redesign, facial recognition and the return of the glass front and back. Plus: Folks around the world line up for the Tesla Model 3; Apple is making a show about apps hosted by technology expert musician Will.i.am; why the new iPad Pro is not a notebook replacement for the masses; and, in a bizarre plot twist, Apple seeks FBI’s iPhone unlocking secrets.

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