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- in Television
Jon Stewart Supports Friend Stephen Colbert Through CBS Cancellation
Stewart admitted that he was “certainly not the most objective to comment on this matter” before sharing his feelings about the end of “The Late Show.”Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.Too Little, Too Late?On Monday, late night hosts responded to the news that “The Late Show” will end next May. Stephen Colbert gratefully acknowledged the outpouring of support he’d received since the announcement last Thursday, while also lamenting the grief and anger fans have been expressing.“Folks, I’m going to go ahead and say it: Cancel culture has gone too far,” Colbert said, keeping a comical bent.“I want to thank everybody who reached out to me over the weekend, including one text from an unknown number offering a high-paying I.T. work-from-home job for only two to three hours a day. Yes, I am very interested, and I will be sending you my routing number in May. Daddy needs a job.” — STEPHEN COLBERTBoth Colbert and his friend Jon Stewart offered a similarly expletive-laden response to CBS, while the latter admitted he is “certainly not the most objective to comment on this matter.” Stewart reminisced about his shared history with Colbert on “The Daily Show” back before Comedy Central launched “The Colbert Report” as a successful spinoff.“We were two pretty good-sized fish in a reasonably small basic cable pond. Both of our shows reached an inflection point in 2015. Stephen chose to challenge himself by seeing if he could succeed the legendary David Letterman in, quite frankly, a much bigger pond than the one he and I had been swimming in, and I quit.” — JON STEWART“And, if I may, watching Stephen exceed all expectations in the role, and become the No. 1 late night show on network television, has been an undeniable great pleasure for me as a viewer and as his friend.” — JON STEWART“Now, I acknowledge, losing money, late-night TV is a struggling financial model. We are all basically operating a Blockbuster kiosk inside of a Tower Records. But when your industry is faced with changes, you don’t just call it a day. My God! When CDs stopped selling, they didn’t just go, ‘Oh, well, music, it’s been a good run.’ — JON STEWART“Well, over the weekend, somebody at CBS followed up their gracious press release with a gracious anonymous leak, saying they pulled the plug on our show because of losses pegged between $40 million and $50 million a year. Forty million’s a big number. I could see us losing $24 million, but where would Paramount have possibly spent the other $16 million … oh, yeah.” — STEPHEN COLBERT, referring to the $16 million Paramount agreed to pay President Trump to settle a lawsuit“I believe CBS lost the benefit of the doubt two weeks prior, when they sold out their flagship news program to pay an extortion fee to said president. At that time, poor Andy Rooney must have been rolling over in his bed. That’s right, he’s alive. Andy Rooney is alive.” — JON STEWART“So here’s the point: If you’re trying to figure out why Stephen’s show is ending, I don’t think the answer can be found in some smoking gun email or phone call from Trump to CBS executives, or in CBS’s QuickBooks spreadsheets on the financial health of late night. I think the answer in the fear and pre-compliance that is gripping all of America’s institutions at this very moment — institutions that have chosen not to fight the vengeful and vindictive actions of our pubic hair-doodling commander in chief. This is not the moment to give in. I’m not giving in! I’m not going anywhere — I think.” — JON STEWART“And now, for the next 10 months, the gloves are off. Yeah! I can finally — I can finally speak unvarnished truth to power and say what I really think about Donald Trump, starting right now: I don’t care for him. Doesn’t seem to have, like, the skill set. Doesn’t have the skill set to be president. You know, just not a good fit. That’s all.” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Punchiest Punchlines (Bawdy Birthday Card Edition)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
- in Television
TV Show Helps Identify Mother and Child Found Dead in Rome Park, and a Suspect
When two bodies were found in a popular Roman park, Italians wanted answers. A TV program specializing in missing people helped identify them, and a suspect.Rome’s largest park, Villa Doria Pamphili, is something of a haven from the city’s bustle and occasional chaos, a place for runners and picnickers and anyone seeking a bit of nature. That vision was shattered last month by the discovery of two bodies: a toddler and a woman, found naked within hours of each other in the brush near an edge of the park.Investigators were stumped. There were no identifying documents, and the woman’s body was so decomposed it would have been difficult for anyone to identify her visually. The gruesome case immediately brought sensationalist front-page headlines — “Rome, horror in the park, woman and child dead” read one in Rome’s daily La Repubblica. Il Corriere della Sera, in Milan, called it “a whodunit in a park in Rome.”The country was hooked; the police under pressure.With few leads, and a media frenzy underway, investigators took an unusual step. A spokeswoman appeared on a popular television show called “Chi l’ha Visto?” — or “Who Has Seen Him?” — to ask for the public’s help.And viewers of the show, which looks for missing people, did what they had done for 37 seasons: They searched their memories for clues.All the police had to go on was that the woman had four visible tattoos and that a preliminary autopsy had revealed the child was her daughter. People who frequented the park recalled seeing a young woman and child that may have fit that description in the company of a man.What unfolded, over several weekly shows, was a sad tale of a young Russian woman’s shattered dream of creating a life for herself abroad. With each revelation, the cachet of “Chi l’ha Visto?” increased, as did questions about the police’s lack of intervention when concerned passers-by had called them about the couple and the child.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
- in Television
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Theo Huxtable on ‘The Cosby Show,’ Dead at 54 After Drowning
Mr. Warner, who played the only son of Bill Cosby’s character on the beloved 1980s sitcom, drowned in Costa Rica.Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the actor who rose to fame as a teenager playing Theo Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” in the mid-1980s, died in Costa Rica on Sunday. He was 54.Mr. Warner apparently drowned while swimming at a beach on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica near Limón, according to the country’s Judicial Investigation Department. The authorities said in a statement that Mr. Warner had apparently been swept away by a strong current, and that bystanders had tried to rescue him. The area is popular with surfers.“The Cosby Show,” which ran on NBC from 1984 to 1992, was a must-see-TV cultural touchstone whose final episode was covered as front-page news in The New York Times. That article began: “Theo Huxtable graduated from N.Y.U. yesterday, albeit on videotape, and like a lot of graduations it was a bittersweet occasion.”Mr. Warner, who was 21 at the time, had played the role of the Huxtables’ middle child and only son since he was 13. The show’s portrayal of an upper-middle-class Black family — Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad played a doctor and a lawyer raising children in a Brooklyn townhouse — was celebrated as an overdue corrective against harmful stereotypes on television.“It’s sad, in a way,” Mr. Warner said when its run ended. “Our extended family is breaking up. And I can be nostalgic to an extent. But the show for me has always been a steppingstone in my career. It’s too early in my career to be nostalgic.”Mr. Warner, left, as Theo Huxtable on a 1987 episode of “The Cosby Show.”NBCUniversal, via Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
- in Theater
‘Joy’ Review: A Rags-to-QVC-Riches Story
Betsy Wolfe shines as the inventor of the Miracle Mop in a largely dull Off Broadway show.A cynic could question the very existence of a musical about the inventor of the Miracle Mop. But consider that there have been movies about Beanie Babies (“The Beanie Bubble”), Flamin’ Hot Cheetos (“Flamin’ Hot”) and Pop-Tarts (“Unfrosted”), and “Joy: A New True Musical” does not seem so random anymore. And unlike Cheetos, the self-wringing mop at least made women’s lives a little bit easier — for it is they who still handle most of the housecleaning.The title inventor and entrepreneur is Joy Mangano, who had already inspired the 2015 film “Joy,” in which she was portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence. In Ken Davenport and AnnMarie Milazzo’s show, it’s the Tony Award nominee Betsy Wolfe’s turn to don the title character’s sensible slacks. Wolfe (“& Juliet”), a dead ringer for Mangano, has a down-to-earth warmth and precise comic timing, and she is a confident singer. She is the main reason to catch the wholesome, low-boil production now running at the Laura Pels Theater.The word “miracle” comes up so often in the show — starting with the mop’s name and ending with the grand finale, “Go Make a Miracle” — one might assume the action is set in Lourdes instead of on Long Island. Joy’s rags-to-QVC-riches story did not hinge on divine providence, but on very human ingenuity, guts and persistence.We first meet our heroine in the early 1990s, and her life is a mess: She’s has split from her ne’er-do-well husband, Tony (Brandon Espinoza); just lost her job with an airline; and is stuck between her separated parents, the philandering Rudy (Adam Grupper) and the agoraphobic Toots (Jill Abramovitz).Fortunately her imagination can’t be tamped down, and Joy — always bursting with gadget ideas — comes up with a design for a more efficient mop. After failing to find distribution, she finally gets a break when QVC lets her peddle her ware on TV.Davenport’s book takes a few liberties with Mangano’s journey, but they don’t impact the big picture — or appear to trouble Mangano, who’s plugging the show on her website. The stage Joy has only one child, Christie (Honor Blue Savage), instead of the real-life three; Ronni (Gabriela Carrillo) has morphed from Mangano’s longtime friend to a supportive QVC employee.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
- in Television
‘Washington Black,’ Plus 7 Things to Watch on TV This Week
The screen adaptation of the popular historical novel premieres, and a Billy Joel documentary airs.Between streaming and cable, there is a seemingly endless variety of things to watch. Here is a selection of TV shows and specials that are airing or streaming this week, July 21-27. Details and times are subject to change.A true-crime safari and life in an emergency room.In September 2016, Bianca and Larry Rudolph, who were both big game hunters, went to Zambia hoping to hunt a leopard. On the morning of Oct. 11, when the couple were supposed to leave their hunting camp, Bianca was shot in the chest with a gun. The new three-part documentary series “Trophy Wife: Murder on Safari,” examines the events leading up to her death and the trial, which found Larry guilty of murder and mail fraud; he was sentenced to life in prison. The documentary features interviews from prison with Larry, who has maintained his innocence. Streaming Monday on Hulu.A still from “Critical: Between Life and Death.”Courtesy of Netflix“The Pitt,” the HBO drama following doctors in a Pittsburgh hospital emergency room, just received 13 Emmy nominations, but the new documentary series “Critical: Between Life and Death” is a real look at one of London’s emergency departments. The city’s Major Trauma System treats 12,000 patients with the most critical of injuries each year, and the show follows doctors as they decide how best to treat their patients and the journeys of those receiving medical care. Streaming Wednesday on Netflix.Two novel adaptations, one modern, the other historical.A novel by May Cobb — “The Hunting Wives” — is getting a screen adaptation. In the show, Sophie (Brittany Snow) leaves her big city life and job in Chicago to move to East Texas with her husband and son. While there, she meets Margo Banks (Malin Akerman), a member of the titular hunting wives who party hard and spend their nights doing target practice. When a body is discovered near where the clique hangs out, Sophie is suddenly part of a murder investigation. Streaming Monday on Netflix.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
- in Theater
Dolly Parton Musical’s Nashville Debut Draws Flocks of Fans
Parton’s life and career have always been rooted in Tennessee. For her fans, it was only fitting to see the debut of her biographical musical here, too.They came from across the country and drove in from the rest of Tennessee on Friday, braving the steamy heat of Nashville after a summer storm in sparkling boots, sequined jackets and butterfly accessories. There was even a blonde wig or two, piled high.It was fitting for the first public performance of the musical biography of the woman Tennessee proudly claims as one of its own: Dolly Parton.“She wanted her people to see it,” said Kim Mynatt, 61, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., the first in line with her husband at least two hours before the curtain rose at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts on Friday. “That’s one of the things I love about her.”Nashville, of course, has its own Broadway: the downtown strip of honky-tonks and performance venues that has cultivated generations of musical talent. Yet it is an unusual place for a theater production, already aiming for a 2026 opening on Broadway in New York, to hold its world premiere.Unless, of course, that show is the story of Dolly Parton.Mallory Peterson, 7, center, of Erwin, Tenn., going through the Dolly Parton makeup with her mother, Jasmine Peterson, right, 28, and aunt, Caelyn Maden, 16.William DeShazer for The New York TimesKim Mynatt of Murfreesboro wears Dolly Parton shirts and jewelry.William DeShazer for The New York Times“Dolly’s what got me here,” said Mynatt, who wore a 1989 Dollywood seasonal shirt — one of at least 30 Parton-themed shirts she owns — and one of Parton’s official pink butterfly statement necklaces. “The woman has never disappointed.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
- in Television
Canceling ‘The Late Show’ Is Bad News for Late-Night TV, not Stephen Colbert
The art form was already in decline; this may hasten its demise. But don’t fret about the host. His talents are better showcased elsewhere.Getting canceled may end up being the best thing that ever happened to Stephen Colbert. The same cannot be said for its impact on late night television.Consider that Conan O’Brien turned into a folk hero after NBC took away his time slot and that David Letterman hit the height of his popularity after he didn’t get the job as host of “The Tonight Show.” Until last week, Colbert, host of “The Late Show,” was the ratings leader of an art form in decline.Then CBS, citing economic issues, announced that his program would go off the air next May, news that came at a time when its corporate parent, Paramount, needs the government’s approval for a merger with the Skydance company. Now Colbert, one of the most prominent critics of President Trump, seems to many like a comedic martyr. For the next 10 months, his show will have a spotlight in a way it never has before. He will not only have a chance to continue to make fun of the president, but he also will be setting himself up for his next act.Marrying a pugilistic comedic streak with courtly manners, Colbert became the finest conversationalist of the current hosts and his political monologues helped him become a ratings leader. He respected the history and conventions of late-night television, perhaps to a fault. But you also got the sense that “The Late Show” wasn’t always the perfect showcase for his myriad talents.His quick, improv-honed wit and intellectual depth could feel hamstrung by the show’s short segments. And sometimes when he got on a good riff or dug into an area of major interest (Tolkien, faith, the history of comedy), you wondered if it would fit better on a podcast.Before taking the job, Colbert developed an elite reputation in comedy circles as a Second City performer, a comedy writer and a correspondent on “The Daily Show.” But mostly he was known for “The Colbert Report,” an inspired and singular reinvention of the late-night form whose greatness has already been overshadowed by his later work. Satirizing a blowhard conservative pundit through entire episodes, he somehow managed to lead guests nimbly into arguments, making jokes and serious points at the same time. He conveyed a clear point of view while often saying the opposite. Improvising multiple layers of meaning, he pulled off one of the great comedic feats of this century.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More
