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EXCLUSIVE: Crackles financial-makeover hit Going from Broke is overhauling production methods for its upcoming second season in an effort to depict the impact of Covid-19.

The Ashton Kutcher-produced show, whose debut season drew more than 17 million views to become the streaming services biggest original series, features college students and graduates grappling with debt. Student debt now affects some 44 million borrowers with $1.7 trillion in outstanding loans, a burden that has exponentially increased for many Americans during Covid-19.

Season 1 premiered in October 2019, and by the time work began on a new season, the coronavirus pandemic had shut down production in much of the world. Even once shooting was allowed to resume, the producers of Broke felt the shows mission compelled it to reflect the financial impact of the pandemic. That would mean a different approach.

The new season, produced by Flicker Filmworks, is set to begin streaming in March. Episodes will be shot over a six-week period beginning later this month. In its new format, the show will follow six new cast members from around the country, documenting their emotional financial makeovers. In May, finished episodes for the full season will debut on Crackle, revealing whether each cast member has succeeded in going from broke.

New material is expected to surface within as few as 48 hours of shooting, some of it as minisodes streaming on Crackle and some on social media and digital platforms. Along the way, Kutcher and Dan Rosensweig, CEO of student services firm Chegg and host of every episode, will conduct a conversation across media platforms about student debt and the financial turmoil of the pandemic.

In a press release, Kutcher said,This awesome production model brings viewers inside the transformation process. Going From Broke is the first makeover show that invites the audience to engage with the cast, financial experts and each other across social media while watching the process unfold live.'

In an interview with Deadline, Crackle Plus president Philippe Guelton said altering the approach to production was a way to capture the fragile emotional state of the country. The new way of producing the show will enable us to go more in-depth than the first season, which featured closed-end, stand-alone episodes.

Covid-19 has exacerbated the dire financial situation that so many young people already found themselves in, Rosensweig added in the press release. In the second season, he continued, the stakes are higher; people are struggling with unemployment, mounting debt, and potentially physical and mental health issues. We have the opportunity to provide a lifeline and help them get back on track, working with them in real-time to get them on the path to financial freedom.

Crackle is now controlled by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, whose Crackle Plus unit also includes other ad-supported streaming services. The company took over operations of the 17-year-old service in 2019, assuming full ownership at the end of 2020.

From a business standpoint, Guelton said, the financial model established by Going from Broke is attractive for Crackle and Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment. Brand integrations by Chegg and other companies essentially fund the shows production. Crackle, he said, hasnt completely abandoned the scripted series it was known for in the Sony days, when its slate featured dramas like The Oath and The Art of More. But unscripted fare, especially in sports has helped it gain traction with viewers and advertisers. It also helps the company depend less on the costlier prospect of facing off against Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and a host of well-funded new streaming players.

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Crackles Ashton Kutcher-Backed Hit Going From Broke Alters Season 2 Production Methods In Bid To Capture Real-Time Covid-19 Issues - Deadline

OTTAWA -- There will be no spring election. There cant be a spring election. Its ridiculous to even THINK theres going to be an election in June with coronavirus variants spreading, the slow ramp-up of vaccines and ominous predictions of a third infectious wave on the horizon.

But there was something in Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus eyes this week that elevated the temperature of spring election fever to plausible from the impossible.

It was his confident swagger at the speed of the vaccine rollout.

Those six million doses by the end of March coupled with India kicking in fresh supplies and new manufacturer approvals set up tens of millions of doses arriving by June. And its all repeatedly backed by Trudeaus personal guarantee that any Canadian who wants a shot at symptomatic immunity gets a shot by September.

Then there was that curious tweet from former Trudeau principal sidekick and soulmate Gerald Butts, predicting the current hand-wringing over vaccine shortages is going to seem like a distant and transparently partisan artifact by the May 24 weekend, if not Easter.

Now Butts is an artifact of sorts himself, having been banished from the PMO inner circle exactly two years ago for his role in the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

But he crowned most of the current cabinet ministers so he retains friendships in high places. And hes not the sort to go wildly rogue in social media crystal-ball gazing without an informed vision of whats ahead.

Add those signs of a spring in the prime ministers electoral step to the checklist Trudeau seems to be in a sudden rush to tick off, most of them appealing to areas of niche Liberal support.

This weeks gun control announcements were a foot-dragging second shoe to drop after assault weapons were outlawed last year, but they will be welcomed in big cities the Liberals need to hold.

This weeks policy tweak to fast-track permanent residency for immigrants living here will bolster his ethnic community credentials.

The new Canada-led coalition of countries attacking political hostage-takers like China, albeit done with a wink without actually naming China, was an overdue blast of noisy diplomacy backing our Canadian prisoners who desperately need enhanced political pressure for their freedom.

Trudeaus pledge to pour billions of deficit dollars into rapid transit, backed by permanent funding which wont kick in until long after his prime ministerial portrait is hanging in the Commons, got a thumbs-up from metropolitan leaders.

And then theres the looming and long-overdue budget, which offers a tempting starting line for any spring campaign.

Expect it to crank open the floodgates to crazy amounts of stimulus spending to help business recover, a fiscal rescue mission which will likely be welcomed on Bay Street and risky for opposition forces to attack.

Which brings us to the Erin OToole factor, or lack thereof.

While the Conservative leader and prime-minister-in-waiting is eliminating some of his partys biggest problems, specifically social conservative MP Derek Sloan, the unfortunate reality is that OToole has simply not consummated a defining bond with voters during the traditional leadership honeymoon.

While being largely unknown means hes not generally disliked, its a bit late to introduce yourself to voters once the writ is dropped, particularly if any spring vote becomes a mostly mail-in ballot following a virtual campaign.

Look, there are a hundred reasons why Justin Trudeau does not deserve easy or safe re-election. That list includes early pandemic detection and control failures, runaway deficits, his ethical lapses, broken or delayed promises, his governments secrecy, those control freaks running his caucus and a sense hes now well past his best-before date.

But a quick, trouble-free vaccination blitz would almost guarantee that voters roll out the red carpet to another Liberal government.

If Trudeaus vaccination timetable becomes a reality along with the even-better-case scenario prophesized by buddy Butts, todays vaccine delivery is just the downpayment.

Theres a mega-shipment on the way that could throttle the pandemic in Canada early - and inoculate Trudeau from defeat in a spring election.

Thats the bottom line.

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Don Martin: There is absolutely zero chance of a spring election, unless... - CTV News

And its primary means are twofold: Its members engage in street protests in lots of cities; and its leaders push for 10 specific reforms set forth in Campaign Zero, which calls for an end to broken windows policing, more community oversight of police departments, stricter limits on the use of force, independent investigations of police misconduct, community representation in municipal governments, body cameras, better training, an end to policing for profit, demilitarization, and union contracts that dont protect misbehaving police officers from being held accountable.

If you disagree with any of my characterizations about the means and ends of those groups, we are at odds over facts, not values, and I am open to seeing evidence that challenges my assessment of a complicated matter. Bearing that in mind can make hashing out the truth less fraught and more likely to proceed constructively and profitably.

Given my understanding of the facts, where do I stand?

Black Lives Matter

For starters, I dont think Black Lives Matter belongs in the online conversation about whether Americans should be denouncing violence on all sides. The movements end of stopping unjust police killings is laudable; and its leaders and the vast majority of its members openly favor nonviolent means. Plus, unlike Nazis, nothing about the future it desires is inseparable from initiating violence. That doesnt mean it is beyond criticism. It is a large, free-wheeling movement without clear leaders, and individual participants have no doubt acted badly on many occasions, as is true of groups as varied as the Sons of Liberty in 1775, anti-Vietnam War protesters, and the Tea Party. I have criticized Black Lives Matter activists in the past for disrupting a Bernie Sanders event and for the tactic of blocking freeways.

But I draw a distinction between objectionable acts of civil disobedience and engaging in violence. Some Black Lives Matter critics blame the group for the killing of five Dallas police officers. But the gunman acted alone, using tactics that the protest movement never urged or used, and group leaders denounced the killings. The group has the same relationship to the Dallas killer as nonviolent pro-life groups have to the extremist who perpetrated a mass killing at a Planned Parenthood.

Antifa

Note that I am speaking of self-described members of the group, not anyone who shows up in the streets to protest against fascists. Antifa and antifascism are no more synonymous than being a member of Black Lives Matter and believing that black lives matter.

The initiation of extralegal street violence by self-appointed judges in masks is ethically wrong, legally wrong, and in the case of Antifa, tactically idiotic. (I can think of nothing more likely to contribute to Donald Trumps reelection than roving bands of masked, violent leftists attacking not only Nazis carrying swastikas in the streets, but journalists covering protests, or crowds at Ann Coulter or Milo Yiannopolous speeches.) It is an easy call for me to denounce Antifa members who participate in or endorse extralegal violence. That does not contradict my simultaneous judgment that Antifas stated end of resisting fascism is laudable. If they showed up in force to protest Nazi rallies, but refrained from initiating the use of force, using it only lawfully in self defense, I would have nothing but praise for them.

Continued here:
Distinguishing Between Antifa, the KKK, and Black Lives ...

On Thursday's edition of ABC's"The View," co-host and conservative punditMeghan McCainequated the insurrection with the protests against police violence during thesummer of 2020.

"When I think of people doing things in the name of political violence, I just think of terrorists, I just think this is crap that happens in other countries," McCain said of the insurrectionists and rioters who capitalized on Black Lives Matter protests last June. "I worry about this line that has been moving and moving and moving since last summer, and now we see this."

Comparingthe Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol to last summer's race riots is a concerted right-wing effort to defend Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial.

McCaineffectively downplayed the violent attack by delusional Trump supportersby insinuating that killing five people and destroying the U.S. capitol based on a baseless lie that the election was stolen is somehow similar to millions of Americans taking the street to protest the continual murder of innocent black bodies.

Race riots, however, are not a new phenomenon that 2020 miraculously uncovered. In fact, uprisings against the violence of white supremacyhave been around since the inception of this country, spurred on first by the violence against Native American genocide and then Africanslaves.

McCain's ahistorical reference to political violence being terrorismfailsto recognize that the point of BLM protests is to combat state-sponsored violence andterrorism against Americans.

"I'm just having a hard time watching this trauma and revisiting this trauma over and over again," McCain said of the new video footage from the Senate trial. "It's disgusting, it looks like something out of a third world country, or a horror movie, it's unfathomable, it almost doesn't look real."

"As an analyst, I understand that the argument from the Republican side is that we have to move on, we have to be focusing on Covid relief I disagree," she said. "I still think there should be a fine line and that there should be a standard that this cannot happen."

She continued: "But that fine line, for me, isn't only with the capitol riots, it's also when you are standing as a journalist on TV and there is a city on fire behind you and things are being rioted and small businesses are being looted. There is no political cause that I justify violence, or looting, or burning things down, or attacking people across the board. And i think we need to hold that standard no matter what, as Sarah said, no matter what your political ideology is."

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Meghan McCain suggests Black Lives Matter protests led to ...

By Nancy Salguero McKay

Why should we celebrate Black history? Because it is our American Historybecause it is our personal history. Every aspect of our society and everyday culture is influenced by Black history! The foundation of our country is based on the contributions, the labor, and daily struggles of Black Americans.

How can we discuss our present or our past without the influence of our neighbors, our friends, or our communities? Why do we ignore how all of us are connected in one way or another? Why do we see more differences than similarities in each other? We all want the same thingthe same healthy community, the same safe neighborhood for our children to grow in, and to feel that we belong and are accepted as we are.

The Black Lives Matter in American History Community Exhibit, organized by the Highline Heritage Museum, traces the struggles and resilience of Black Americans who have fought for equity and justice from our nations beginnings to the present. The Black Lives Matter movement is a cry to end the tragedies of gun violence and systematic racism that Black communities have experienced for generations. This community exhibit features work by our local artists, community members, and students alongside stories of courage from Black history. Together, they reflect national and local perspectives on American history and the Black experience.

In the installation of this community exhibit, we utilized 11 window fronts around downtown Burien. The Highline Heritage Museum was honored to collaborate with the African American Writers Alliance, Highline High School, Choice Black Student Union, Evergreen High School, Minor Matters, Lawtiwa Barbersalon, Classic Eats restaurant, local artists, and community members.This public exhibit runs from Feb. 5 to April 30, 2021.

In our preparation for this exhibit, we interviewed people who were able to share and vocalize their messages. There is a vulnerability to exposing your emotions in public. This project is not about them versus us; it is about slowing down for a moment and asking for understanding. We are honoring and celebrating Black History month, but this celebration should be organically happening every day.The importance of black history should be celebrated beyond February.

Heres a map and photos of the exhibits, courtesy Maureen Hoffmann:

This article was written for the Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce by Board Member Nancy Salguero McKay. Nancy is the Executive Director of the Highline Heritage Museum located in Burien. The museums mission is to collect, preserve, and tell the stories of the Highline area and its people. For more information, please visit their website at

The Seattle Southside Chamber has served the communities of Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park, SeaTac, and Tukwila since 1988. For more information about the Chamber, including a full list of member benefits and resources, please visit their website at

The Highline Heritage Museum is located at 819 SW 152nd Street in Burien:

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Learn why Black Lives Matter in American History at Community Exhibits around Burien - The B-Town (Burien) - The B-Town Blog