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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
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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
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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
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‘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
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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
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Kenneth Colley, 87, ‘Star Wars’ Actor With a Commanding Presence, Dies
A fixture onscreen and onstage, he became a fan favorite as Darth Vader’s ally, Admiral Piett, in “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.”Kenneth Colley, the British character actor whose stone-cold portrayal of Adm. Firmus Piett, Darth Vader’s trusted officer, in the Star Wars film “The Empire Strikes Back” turned him into a fan favorite and earned him a call back for “Return of the Jedi,” died on June 30 in Ashford, England. He was 87.His agent, Julian Owen, said in a statement that he died in a hospital from complications of pneumonia after contracting Covid-19.Mr. Colley became a memorable screen presence for international audiences who could recognize his dour, stony face even if they didn’t know his name. A versatile supporting actor, he was often tapped to play stern detectives, military men and, on multiple occasions, Adolf Hitler, and had been active for nearly two decades onstage and onscreen before his appearance in “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980).In a 2014 interview, he recalled that when he walked into an office to meet Irvin Kershner, the director of “The Empire Strikes Back,” Mr. Kershner told him he was looking for “someone that would frighten Adolf Hitler.” Mr. Colley, with his gaunt face and steely eyes, fit the bill. Admiral Piett is appointed top commander of the Imperial fleet after his superior is killed by Darth Vader (whose physical presence is played by David Prowse) for his poor judgment. Mr. Colley often said that he saw Admiral Piett as a shrewd operator who followed orders for the sake of survival in Darth Vader’s world. In his interpretation of the character, he reinforced the severity and tension felt in the camp as the Rebel alliance evades capture.The film grossed more than $200 million in its original release, according to the site Box Office Mojo, with Admiral Piett emerging as an unexpected crowd pleaser.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
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How TV Shows Like ‘The X-Files’ Trained Us to Be Conspiracy Theorists
Pop culture didn’t create the real-world mythologies roiling our politics, but it helped write the scripts“The X-Files,” the alien-invasion conspiracy thriller, had one of TV’s most memorable taglines: “The Truth Is Out There.” It was both a promise and a tease.Read one way, it’s a slogan of hope: The truth has been hidden from you, but you will find it. Read another way, it’s a taunt: The truth is always out there, a mirage, coming tantalizingly close but then slipping through your fingers, goading you to press further.This dynamic was, of course, a boon for a TV series that unfolded at length, over hundreds of episodes, movies and revivals. It is also part of the lure of conspiracist thinking in general.The promise of elusive answers implores you to plunge deeper, deeper, into a thriller of your own, one that you both consume and help construct. It says that the absence of answers is itself a kind of evidence. Proof is proof and so is the lack of proof. All you need to do is follow one more lead, click one more link, chasing your goal like an exotic bird, following its call of truth, truth, truth.Conspiracy-based TV shows did not invent the idea of plots and cabals. As Richard Hofstadter wrote in the 1964 essay “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” panics about the Masons, the Illuminati and more bedeviled public life long before the tube. Nor did TV create the QAnon mythology or the suspicions about the Jeffrey Epstein files that are now roiling the very MAGA movement that coalesced around these and other obsessions.The 1960s TV series “The Prisoner,” created by and starring Patrick McGoohan, surfaced at a time when cultural power was consolidating, also breeding countercultural suspicion. Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix, 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
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Sandra Oh Knows What’s Great About Middle Age
During the Los Angeles fires in January, the actor Sandra Oh, like many of her neighbors, had to make a decision: What would she pack in her car if she had to evacuate? Her first thoughts were about her journals. “There’s a lot of them,” she told me when we spoke last month onstage at the Tribeca Festival, “and I thought: I can’t take them all! Do I take the first ones? Do I take the past 10 years? It just makes you think, What are the things that are very, very important to you?”Oh has kept diaries since she was a young girl growing up as the daughter of Korean immigrants in Canada. She wrote about her big feelings as a little kid, the discrimination she faced when she landed in Hollywood in her early 20s, the ups and downs of her 10 years playing Dr. Cristina Yang on “Grey’s Anatomy” and her thoughts around her more recent roles, like the intelligence agent Eve Polastri in “Killing Eve.” The diaries, she once wrote, are a place where she is “putting together all the clues of my life.”That life has been a trailblazing one. None of the characters Oh is most famous for were originally written for an Asian actor, including her upcoming stint as Olivia in Shakespeare in the Park’s “Twelfth Night, ” which opens in August in New York City. Now in her 50s, she is reflecting on what it took to get where she is and how she’s still growing in this “ rich middle” of her life.It is rare to be able to see a person processing the events in her life even as they are still happening. So it was wonderful when, onstage at Tribeca, Oh read from her diaries for the first time publicly. Then we spoke again, this time not in front of an audience.Listen to the Conversation With Sandra OhThe actress discusses discrimination in Hollywood, what she’s learned about herself in her 50s and her iconic role on “Grey’s Anatomy.”Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | iHeart | NYT Audio AppWe’re going to be reading from some of your journals. I want to start with an excerpt from a momentous day in your career: your last day on “Grey’s Anatomy,” which you were on for 10 seasons. Ten seasons. It was amazing.April 25th, 2014. Yesterday was my very last day of work on Grey’s Anatomy. It was joyous. I waited for my call time. I felt excited and jumpy to get to work. I had my hug from Laura and my first-last makeup from Norm. Desiree and I danced to Michael Jackson in the trailer. It was fun. I passed everything out and wrote some more cards. Grabbed a lousy lunch at the screening. Took lots of pictures. Lots of hugs. Then after lunch they surprised me with the ceremony-thingy for me. Tony and Joan — cake sheet and cider. Very lousy and cheap and wonderful.I’m interested in you saying that it was joyous. This was the end of the biggest thing in your career. Why were you so happy? I’m still figuring out what that decade of my life was. Not everyone gets to know that they’re leaving a show. I was in a very, very fortuitous position, and I took advantage of it fully, meaning that I wanted to leave well. And I think that for me, one of the proudest things that I have in my life is how I left the show. I was as conscious as possible with all the crew members and actually even with the public. It was basically to help people say goodbye as I was saying goodbye. More
