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      Taye Diggs Can’t Resist a Good Rom-Com

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      “There is the element of love, which can be so serious and so complicated, but when you add the dynamic of humor, it makes it so much more real and exciting and fun to watch.”Taye Diggs got his big break when he played the landlord Benny in the original Broadway cast of “Rent,” back in 1996, and he credits the stage for creating, as he put it, “who I am and why I am who I am.” Problem is, live performance had been taking a back seat in his life.“Once one is lucky enough to cross over to film and TV, it’s easy to get kind of stuck and become an audience member when it comes to theater, and then fear starts to set in,” Diggs said. “I found myself in the audience wondering how these actors onstage memorized all their lines. That’s when I started to get scared.”Not scared enough to turn down the opportunity to step into “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” though — Diggs is currently in rehearsals for the show, in which he’ll play the scheming, wealthy Duke of Monroth starting Tuesday and through Sept. 28.Diggs’s presence on New York stages has been sporadic in the decades since “Rent.” One reason is that he has been living in Los Angeles; the other is why he’s in California.His screen career took off a couple of years after “Rent,” when he helped Angela Bassett track down her mojo in his film debut, “How Stella Got Her Groove Back.” This led to lead roles in the beloved rom-coms “Brown Sugar” and “The Best Man.” Diggs has also been a steady presence on television, with lengthy runs on “Private Practice” and “All American.”But now he’s putting his summer to good use by returning to Broadway, his first appearance there since a stint in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” in 2015. It helped that he’s a fan of “Moulin Rouge,” having seen the show, he said, about 10 times. And the Duke is a juicy character.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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      A Brief History of CBS’s Late-Night Eras

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      With the hosts Merv Griffin, Pat Sajak, David Letterman and Stephen Colbert, CBS has taken many runs at late-night TV. Some were more successful than others.For more than five decades, families across the United States have welcomed a slate of CBS late-night shows into their living rooms, bedrooms and — thanks to smartphones and tablets — even bathrooms.But CBS said on Thursday that it was getting out of the late-night television business by canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” when the host’s contract ends in May. Executives at the network said in a joint statement that the decision was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”(In March, the network canceled “After Midnight,” a late-night comedy panel game show hosted by Taylor Tomlinson.)During Thursday’s taping of “The Late Show,” when Colbert announced the news, he said that he empathized with the boos from the audience and that he had the pleasure of working on the show for the past 10 years.“And let me tell you, it is a fantastic job,” he said. “I wish somebody else was getting it.”Here is a brief history of CBS’s late-night television eras.‘The Merv Griffin Show’ (1969-72)The host of “The Merv Griffin Show” with Louise Lasser, left, and Liza Minnelli in 1971.Michael Ochs Archives/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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      Shannon Sharpe Settles Lawsuit Accusing Him of Rape

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      A lawyer for the woman, who had sought $50 million in damages, said both sides acknowledged a “consensual and tumultuous relationship.”Shannon Sharpe, the podcast host, sports media personality and former N.F.L. star who was accused of rape by a former sexual partner, has settled her lawsuit for undisclosed terms, according to the woman’s lawyer.The lawyer, Tony Buzbee, said on social media on Thursday that both parties agreed that the sexual relationship was consensual, and that the lawsuit would be dismissed.The woman, who filed the complaint anonymously, had sought $50 million in damages. Mr. Sharpe’s lawyer has said that before the lawsuit was filed, he had discussed offering her at least $10 million.“Both sides acknowledge a long-term consensual and tumultuous relationship,” Mr. Buzbee said in a statement. “After protracted and respectful negotiations, I’m pleased to announce that we have reached a mutually agreed upon resolution. All matters have now been addressed satisfactorily, and the matter is closed.”Mr. Buzbee did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for Mr. Sharpe, 56, declined to comment.The woman, who is described as being in her early 20s, filed a lawsuit in April claiming that Mr. Sharpe had raped her in her apartment on two recent occasions. Lanny Davis, a lawyer who was representing Mr. Sharpe at the time, denied the allegations and released graphic text messages that he said depicted a “consensual, adult relationship that included role-playing, sexual language, and fantasy scenarios explicitly requested” by the woman, whom he named.Mr. Sharpe won three Super Bowls as a tight end with the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens and has become a media personality since his retirement after the 2003 season. His interview-based podcast “Club Shay Shay” grew in popularity after an episode last year with the comedian Katt Williams, and he is also a commentator on “First Take,” ESPN’s morning debate show.But Mr. Sharpe has not appeared on ESPN since April, when he announced he would step back until the start of the N.F.L. preseason to deal with what he called “false and disruptive allegations.” An ESPN spokesman declined to comment regarding Mr. Sharpe’s status.Throughout the legal process, Mr. Sharpe continued to host “Club Shay Shay” and his secondary podcast, “Nightcap.” More

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      Why Is Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ Getting Canceled?

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      Maybe the “Late Show” decision is purely financial. But after Paramount’s cave over “60 Minutes,” it is hard to trust.In 2005, on his satire “The Colbert Report,” Stephen Colbert coined the term “truthiness,” meaning a statement that was not actually true but represented a reality that the speaker wished to inhabit.In 2015, Colbert replaced David Letterman on CBS’s “Late Show,” which under him became one of the biggest and most prolific launchers of satirically guided missiles during the Trump era. In 2024, President Trump — who has repeatedly bemoaned his late-night coverage — said CBS “should terminate his contract.”Now, in 2025, CBS has said that it is canceling Colbert’s show at the end of its season, next May. Executives stressed, in the announcement, that the cut was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”Is that the truth, or merely truthy?There is good reason that CBS would need to offer that assurance. The network’s parent company, Paramount, just this month settled a lawsuit from President Trump, over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, for $16 million. At the same time, Paramount was hoping to close a multibillion-dollar merger with the company Skydance, which required the approval of the Trump administration.Many legal experts said the deal was an unnecessary concession in a frivolous case. At minimum it undermined one of TV journalism’s most accomplished independent voices. Some people called it “a big, fat bribe” — actually, those were Colbert’s words, in a blistering monologue a few days ago, which also mentioned speculation that CBS’s future owners might try to rein him in.Talk show hosts have bitten the hand that signs the contracts before; Letterman needled NBC and its then-parent, General Electric. But back then, the issues did not involve conflicts with a president willing to pull any necessary levers to punish and influence media outlets.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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      Generative A.I. Destroys a Building in Its Netflix Debut

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      The streaming company said it used the technology onscreen for the first time in an Argentine science fiction show.To make a building collapse in Buenos Aires, Netflix creators turned to generative artificial intelligence for the first time onscreen.Ted Sarandos, one of Netflix’s chief executives, said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call on Thursday that the technology was a strong tool for creators and was accompanied by “real people doing real work.”“We remain convinced that A.I. represents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper,” Sarandos said.But for “The Eternaut,” an Argentine show that incorporated the A.I. work, the decision also came with significant savings.The cost of creating a similar scene with traditional visual effects would not have been feasible within the show’s budget, Sarandos said. The use of A.I., he said, allowed creators to complete the scene 10 times as quickly.“The Eternaut,” a six-episode series adapted from a science fiction comic, debuted on April 30. In the series, the rare snow descending on Buenos Aires turns out to be fatal, killing anyone who comes into contact with the snowflakes. One survivor becomes determined to battle this threat, and others.The use of A.I. in movie and television production was a main concern in Hollywood in 2023, when SAG-AFTRA, the union representing tens of thousands of actors, went on strike for 118 days. The contract it reached included a specific provision about the use of A.I., guaranteeing that the technology would not be used to create digital replicas of actors’ likeness without compensation or approval.While “The Eternaut” is the first use of generative A.I. onscreen, Netflix is also considering how to integrate the technology into other areas like member experience. Gregory Peters, one of the company’s chief executives, said during the earnings call that there was “tremendous room and opportunity” for the use of new generative technology in personalization and recommendations.Netflix exceeded Wall Street’s forecasts for the second quarter, earning $11.1 billion in revenue and $3.1 billion in net income.The most-watched film during that period was “Back in Action” starring Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx, and the British drama “Adolescence” was the most-watched television show. More

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      ‘Washington Black’ Is a Defiantly Joyful Fable

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      Adapted from the Esi Edugyan novel, this Hulu series follows a child who escapes slavery and embarks on a life of swashbuckling adventure.As the opening scenes of “Washington Black” come into view, the narrator Sterling K. Brown tells viewers that what’s about to unfold is “the story of a boy brave enough to change the world.”In the sweeping 19th-century adventure that follows, the wide-eyed, kindhearted George Washington Black, a.k.a. Wash, escapes the Barbados sugar plantation where he has been enslaved since birth, finds freedom and romance in Canada and uses his keen intellect to make marvelous scientific breakthroughs.The eight-part series, based on Esi Edugyan’s acclaimed 2018 novel of the same name, debuts Wednesday on Hulu.As the saga bounces back and forth in time, Wash (played by Eddie Karanja) as a boy and by Ernest Kingsley Jr. as a young man) hones his prodigious artistic talents with help from Christopher Wilde (Tom Ellis), a white scientist who facilitates the boy’s escape from bondage. Wash learns crucial lessons about the world — and his socially precarious place in it — as he soars through the air in a fantastical flying machine, sails the Caribbean Sea with pirates, rides a dog sled through the Arctic tundra and dodges a relentless bounty hunter hired by his former enslaver.Brown’s production company, Indian Meadows Productions, secured the rights to the novel in 2019 and the show’s creator, Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, set about transforming the transcontinental coming-of-age tale for the screen.Tom Ellis plays a scientist who facilitates the boy’s escape from bondage.Lilja Jonsdottir/DisneyWe 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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      Alt Comedy Is Dead. Long Live Alt Comedy!

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      The term has fallen out of fashion, but the experimental spirit of the genre lives on in the refreshingly off-kilter Brent Weinbach and Eddie Pepitone.If Nathan Fielder performed stand-up comedy, he might look something like Brent Weinbach.It’s not only that Weinbach maintains an impenetrable deadpan or seeks out awkward silence (“Round of applause if there are any gay people in the closet here tonight”) or builds jokes around overly elaborate setups. His new special, “Popular Culture” (YouTube), also exploits the central conceit of Fielder’s “The Rehearsal,” including several bits where Weinbach prepares for a future event with a practice run. To get ready for fatherhood, for instance, he acts out responses to discovering his daughter smoking marijuana. Things get weird.Weinbach’s hour, a very funny collection of eccentric impressions, oddball advice and flights of fancy, would have once been quickly classified as alternative comedy. So would the new special from Eddie Pepitone, “The Collapse” (Veeps). That term has fallen out of fashion in part because it became too vague, and yet I increasingly find myself missing it. All genre designations rely on simplifications, but they provide a useful shorthand that helps audiences navigate a vast culture.Alternative comedy meant theatrical novelty to some, indulgence to others. But for a couple of decades starting in the 1990s, it signaled something more specific. Weinbach and Pepitone, both Los Angeles-based comedians, are wildly different in sensibility, not to mention volume. Weinbach’s equanimity evokes that of a TV weatherman; Pepitone projects the chaotic energy of a thunderstorm. But they share the spirit of classic alt comedy: experimental, self-aware, at odds with conventional style and notions of success.Weinbach’s first special, which closed with his pitch-perfect impression of generic stand-up, was called “Appealing to the Mainstream” (2017). Pepitone made “For the Masses” three years later. These titles are tongue-in-cheek, pointedly.“I’m not a mainstream guy,” Pepitone says more directly in his new special, later adding that people ask him if he has seen the new Marvel movie and he balks: “I only watch extremely independent movies from places with no drinkable water.”There’s a touch of the professional wrestling heel in Eddie Pepitone’s comedy.Peter BonnelloWe 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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      ‘Shari & Lamb Chop’: A Singular Talent Gets Her Due

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      Shari Lewis’s pioneering role in children’s television becomes clear in a new film that can be perfunctory about her life.I was a PBS-watching child, and one of the shows I loved was “Lamb Chop’s Play-Along,” with a theme song I could still sing for you today and an infinitely earwormy outro, “The Song That Doesn’t End.” (Sorry.) I was a little old for the show when it started airing in 1992 — I watched with my brother, who would have been a toddler around then — but no matter. The mechanics of the puppetry and ventriloquism were entrancing, and they all revolved around a curly-haired woman named Shari Lewis and her puppet friends, especially the lightly sardonic and always funny Lamb Chop.My mother told me she used to watch Shari and Lamb Chop on TV, too. But it wasn’t till I was older that I realized what a trailblazer Lewis, who died in 1998, had been over her long career. She’s the subject of Lisa D’Apolito’s light and nostalgic new documentary, “Shari & Lamb Chop” (in theaters), which is full of archival footage stretching from Lewis’s early days on “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts,” the CBS variety show that provided her big break, through the children’s shows she hosted single-handedly (so to speak) with her puppets from the mid-1950s to 1960s, including “Facts N’ Fun,” “Shariland” and “The Shari Lewis Show.”The film explores her work in the years after “The Shari Lewis Show” was canceled, including nightclub acts, variety shows, telethons, county fairs and guest turns on various TV shows. And it chronicles her triumphant return to TV in the 1990s with “Lamb Chop’s Play-Along,” as well as her emergence as an advocate for children’s educational television.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