Television

Subterms

    More stories

    • 100 Shares149 Views

      in Television

      Late Night Laughs at Elon Musk’s SpaceX Explosion

      by

      “When people saw the rocket light up and start smoking, they were like, ‘All right, happy 4/20, everybody!’” Jimmy Fallon joked on Thursday.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.Light It UpSpaceX and its chief executive, Elon Musk, saw the company’s Starship rocket explode on Thursday, just four minutes after launch.“Yeah at first, when people saw the rocket light up and start smoking, they were like, ‘All right, happy 4/20, everybody!’” Jimmy Fallon joked.“SpaceX is now saying they triggered the explosion, but originally when it happened, they called it a ‘rapid unscheduled disassembly.’ That sounds like what celebrities say when they’re getting divorced: ‘Our marriage is going through a rapid unscheduled disassembly — please respect our privacy at this time.’” — JIMMY FALLON“I have to hand it to him — ‘rapid unscheduled disassembly’ is one hell of a way to describe your rocket blowing up. That’s up there with ‘wardrobe malfunction’ and ‘conscious uncoupling.’” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Right after the giant explosion, Elon was like, ‘Oh, crap, did we launch a Tesla by mistake?’” — JIMMY FALLON“Elon’s defenders were quick to point out that this was only a test and the rocket was actually supposed to explode, which is definitely what I would say if my $3 billion rocket exploded.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (Expensive Overcompensation Edition)“And to the haters who said Musk couldn’t possibly destroy something faster than Twitter, joke’s on you.” — JORDAN KLEPPER“They’re calling this the most expensive penis overcompensation in American history.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Yeah, it took off fast, was flying high and then, all of a sudden, it exploded — kind of like Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign.” — JIMMY FALLON“That disassembly cost SpaceX $3 billion, which, you could defame four different voting machine companies for that much money.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Bits Worth WatchingDanny Trejo joined Stephen Colbert to make some recipes from his new cookbook, “Trejo’s Cantina,” on Thursday’s “Late Show.”Also, Check This OutLittle Richard in 1956. The rock ‘n’ roll trailblazer is the subject of the documentary “Little Richard: I Am Everything.”Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo/Magnolia PicturesThe new documentary “Little Richard: I Am Everything” presents the early rock ’n’ roll performer as a man of many contradictions. More

    • 100 Shares179 Views

      in Television

      ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Series Finale Recap: Saying Farewell

      by

      In the end, the final season of “Picard” was a worthy send-off for the “Next Generation” crew.Season 3, Episode 10: ‘The Last Generation’“What began over 35 years ago ends tonight,” Jean-Luc Picard says, standing on his favorite bridge and glaring at his most distasteful enemy. It recalled his “The line must be drawn here!” from “First Contact.”This was ostensibly a reference to the Federation’s longstanding battle with the Borg, but it also might as well been about “The Next Generation” franchise. (The show began airing in 1987 and 35 years ago would be 1988.) And if this is the last time we see of these characters, then that’s OK. Not because this season of “Picard” wasn’t a strong one. Quite the opposite, in fact: It was quite good and recaptured everything that made “Next Generation” what it was.The characters all used special skills to work together and save humankind. Some of the dialogue was campy. There were plot holes. And there were the classic “Star Trek” tropes, like Jean-Luc nonsensically going to the Borg cube, when he was likely the least physically capable of the old crew in fighting off the Borg.But overall, this season was a worthy send-off for the crew. It wasn’t perfect, but neither was the show or any of the movies. But it was worth doing. The story justified its existence. It advanced each of the main characters, and filled in some gaps.And it confirmed one last time that “The Next Generation” was greater than the sum of its parts. That might have been why the first two seasons of “Picard” didn’t work well. Jean-Luc wasn’t the best character he could be without his old friends to bounce off. The chemistry wasn’t as fluid. The story wasn’t as deep.In the finale, we learn a bit about what the Borg have been up to, though I remain baffled that no one brings up Jurati or the whole Good Borg thing from last season. (Maybe it was for the best.) There was no collective left — only the Borg Queen remained, she claimed, though we know from last season’s events that this isn’t exactly true.It was Jack who found the Borg Queen, at least from her telling. She speaks in a way contrary to what we’ve known about the Borg: She says she was lonely and that the Borg were left to starve. (This kind of undercuts the Borg’s whole message of being the perfect beings.) But now, the Borg want to evolve rather than assimilate, and Jack is the perfect partner to do that. In order to survive, the Borg Queen, I think, resorted to Borg cannibalism. Yikes! Hope those drones won Employee of the Month or something.The Borg and the changelings came to an agreement in which the changelings would be the Borg’s vehicle to carry out some villainous plan to help them procreate. Aside from an ill-fated revenge that they didn’t really need the Borg for, I don’t know what else the changelings really got out of this alliance.Elsewhere, classic Star Trekking happens. Worf and Riker fight off some baddies on the cube. Beverly uses her now finely honed combat skills to fire weapons. (It’s somewhat amusing that Geordi refurbished the Enterprise D for display at the fleet museum and also included a loaded torpedo system. Thank goodness he went above and beyond!) Data shows off his lightning fast piloting skills, assisted by his newly acquired gut instinct.Beverly is faced with an impossible decision: Blow up her son and save the galaxy, or, uh, don’t. I loved that Geordi is the one who asks her permission, because he now understands a parent’s love for a child. And when it comes time to fire on the beacon, Geordi really, really doesn’t want to do it.Jean-Luc finds another solution. He assimilates himself so he can get in contact with Jack in the Borg collective. Jean-Luc isn’t human, of course. He is an android — apparently, he can just plug himself in to the network like a flash drive. Jean-Luc tells Jack that he is the missing part of Jean-Luc’s life. (Patrick Stewart plays this perfectly.)Jean-Luc is finally able to admit to himself how lonely he was outside of Starfleet, and that Starfleet merely covered up that loneliness rather than filling it entirely. Jean-Luc gives his son something he’s craved his whole life: approval and unconditional love. And Jean-Luc also won’t let his son go. He offers to stay in the hole with him so they can climb out together. Jean-Luc gets to be the father he never knew he wanted to be.Eventually, Jean-Luc’s pushes Jack to unassimilate himself and turn against the Queen. And that’s that: The universe is saved again. Our thanks to the crew of the Enterprise for the umpteenth time.The episode ends in the only appropriate way for the “Next Generation” crew: They sit around and toast each other. Jean-Luc quotes Shakespeare. And then they whoop and play cards, just like at the end of “All Good Things…,” the series finale of the original “Next Generation.”The end wasn’t perfect, but it was proper. And that’s all about all you can ask for from a season like this. I don’t need any more — I want the Enterprise D crew to Costanza it and leave on a high note. They’ve earned it.LeVar Burton in “Star Trek: Picard.”Trae Patton/Paramount+Odds and endsSomewhat amusingly, Jean-Luc does not express any concern or mention Laris throughout any of this season, another example of the team behind “Picard” trying to erase the first two seasons of the show from existence. But Laris, for her part, actually appeared in the season premiere and, one could argue, help put the events of the reunion in motion.I keep thinking about that scene early this season with Riker and Jean-Luc at the bar, when Riker has to defend the honor of the Enterprise D. We didn’t know it then, but that foreshadowed the whole season.I would have liked to hear a bit more about what Worf has been up to since the events of “Nemesis.” At the end of “Deep Space Nine,” Worf was named an ambassador to Qo’noS. In “Nemesis,” Worf somehow just becomes a member of the Enterprise crew again with little explanation as to why. In this season, it’s implied that Worf helped destroy the Enterprise E. A bit more detail would have been nice. The “Worf as comic relief” thing also grew thin on me, like when he fell asleep on the bridge immediately after he is part of saving civilization again. But there is a fun callback in the last scene of the episode: Beverly saying Worf should have another glass of prune juice. A warrior’s drink!Pavel Chekov’s son, Anton, being president of the Federation was a nice touch. Anton is likely a reference to Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov in the rebooted feature films beginning in 2009. He died in 2016 as a result of a car accident.When Seven and Raffi figure out a way to transport assimilated crew members off the bridge using phaser rifles, it’s quite the deus ex machina. That technology would’ve been helpful all season!That was a funny moment when the cook is ordered to pilot the Titan. He didn’t even finish flight training, why is Seven making him take the wheel? Have Raffi do it! (Within minutes, the cook executes complicated evasive maneuvers, so that must have been some training.)At first, I found New Data to be quite jarring but after a couple episodes, this version grew on me. When he says he hates the Borg, you can see the Lore side of him burst through. It’s a fresh take on Data and Brent Spiner pulls it off nicely.That was a nice bit of wordless acting from Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis when Riker heads down to the cube for yet another mission with Jean-Luc. The swashbuckling Riker gives the slightest of smiles, as if to say, “You know who you married. You know why I have to do this.” And Troi reluctantly agrees. Later, when Troi tells Riker he will only have a minute or so to save Jean-Luc once the Enterprise fires on the Cube, he responds again with cool confidence in a near death situation.There will certainly be some disappointment among fans that Kate Mulgrew did not reprise her role as Admiral Janeway this season. The events in “Voyager” presumably are the reason the Borg cube was in such terrible shape when Jean-Luc beams aboard. Given the multiple references to Janeway and what was happening on Earth, it would have been nice to have gotten a glimpse of her. (And man, how gnarly does the Borg Queen look now?)Ah, there’s Tuvok, offering Seven her own ship. As Vulcan as ever.In the grand scheme of things, this is still only the second most successful attack by the Borg on Earth. Sure, they get to Earth, bring down the planetary defense systems and attack cities directly — all while using Starfleet ships. But in “First Contact,” they actually went back in time and assimilated all of Earth before the pesky Enterprise crew initiated a do-over. And honestly, if Jean-Luc and his merry band couldn’t rescue Earth from Evil Jack, they could just do what they did last season or in “First Contact”: Go back in time. It’s easy!Troi gets to drive the Enterprise D again. It went better than it did last time, when she crashed it.Beverly is an admiral now? What a promotion, considering the decades she spent out of Starfleet running a rogue operation. I wonder if Riker, Geordi or any of the others were like, “Hey, what about us?”Ed Speleers did an admirable job as Jack Crusher. It’s not easy to go toe-to-toe with Patrick Stewart, but Speleers fits in seamlessly as Beverly and Jean-Luc’s son. (While we’re here, what’s up with Jack’s brother, Wesley?)I hope all of you stuck around for the post-credits scene. Q is still alive! Of course he is. We don’t acknowledge last season around these parts. More

    • 113 Shares169 Views

      in Television

      How a ‘Succession’ Actress’s Daughters Joined the Family Business

      by

      In the first film Mouna and Lina Soualem made with their mother, Hiam Abbass, personal attachments went out the window: “There’s no time for that.”Hiam Abbass: I see you both as a continuation of my path, in a way. But I didn’t plan it. As a mother, I just wanted you to do what you wanted to do.Lina Soualem: Mouna, you always knew you would be an actress. I felt that because both our parents [their father is the French Algerian actor Zinedine Soualem] acted, I would never be as good as them, so I started working in journalism first. I think I had to go through that to find my voice.Mouna Soualem: I love your discipline and commitment [as a filmmaker], Lina. You don’t let go when you want something. It’s different being an actor, when so much is out of your control and sometimes you must let go or you’ll go crazy.H.A.: We can also let go in order to be somebody else. The first time the three of us collaborated, for my film “Inheritance” (2012), I was playing a mother, and you two were playing my daughters. When we’re on set, though, I don’t relate to you both as my daughters, just as you don’t relate to me as your mom. There’s no time for that.culture banner More

    • 138 Shares99 Views

      in Television

      What Laura Dern and Diane Ladd Have Learned From Each Other

      by

      Ladd wasn’t sure she wanted her daughter to act. But Dern grew up going to work with her mother — and soon they were sharing the screen. Laura Dern: The great news about the endless challenges you had raising me as a single parent is that, when you brought me with you on location, I got an up-close view of what it really means to be an actor. Diane Ladd: When I was doing “A Texas Trilogy” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in 1976, you were 8 and sat with me during rehearsal. At one point the play’s director said, “Diane, you didn’t move there.” I said, “I know where I moved,” and you said, “No, Mother, he’s right.” You were really paying attention. I didn’t want you to go into acting. It’s a hard business for anyone but, as a woman, they really judge you, and for a lot more than the work. I said, “Laura, be a lawyer. Nobody cares if your backside’s too big when you’re a lawyer.”culture banner More

    • 125 Shares109 Views

      in Television

      How Two ‘Yellowjackets’ Actresses Created the Same Character, Decades Apart

      by

      In sharing a role on the Showtime series, Juliette Lewis and Sophie Thatcher took cues from each other about never going for the obvious choice.Juliette Lewis: I first met Sophie in a big office building in Burbank before we shot the pilot [for the TV series “Yellowjackets”]. We were both like, “Oh, it’s you!” She plays a younger version of our character, Natalie, so she studied what I was doing, picking up my heaviness on set. The character is like a loaded weapon — there’s the possibility of danger at any time. Not every actor her age can make you feel that. I had that quality early on — one thing I was recognized for because of “Natural Born Killers” [the 1994 film in which Lewis played a violent fugitive] was that I could scare you. Similarly, Sophie carries herself as a rare bird because she can’t help it.culture banner More

    • 125 Shares179 Views

      in Television

      Laurie Simmons and Lena Dunham Argue About Earrings, Not Art

      by

      Laurie Simmons: My father was a first-generation American small-town dentist on Long Island with an office off our kitchen and a darkroom in the basement; I’d sit at his feet as he developed his dental X-rays. I see his work ethic in you — you’re relentless in your desire to keep making things — but I’d like to think that came from me, too.Lena Dunham: Well, it did. I’ve seen you go into your studio and come out 12 hours later in the same outfit looking confused, like you don’t know when you went in. Growing up, I spent a lot of time in that space. My favorite thing to do was to look through the loupe at slides on the light box. And then you’d take the red pen and X out the ones that weren’t good.L.S.: I can’t believe you remember that.culture banner More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Television

      Jimmy Kimmel Chides Fox News for Not Covering Its Lawsuit Settlement

      by

      Kimmel joked the lack of coverage had to be an oversight: “Man, oh, man, is Rupert Murdoch going to be mad when he finds out about this!”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.Willful IgnoranceFox News and Dominion’s settlement continued to dominate the news cycle on Wednesday — everywhere except on Fox News.Jimmy Kimmel joked the omission was surely an “oversight,” saying he was curious “how Fox News was going to cover the story about themselves” and was unable to find anything about it on their home page.“Nothing about the huge payment for lying to their viewers.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Man, oh, man, is Rupert Murdoch going to be mad when he finds out about this!” — JIMMY KIMMEL“This massive settlement was the number one story on every single cable news network except one. Take a guess.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Dominion also has a defamation case against Rudy Giuliani, also for $1.3 billion. That’s a lot, man. They are suing Rudy for everything he’s got, which at this point, I believe, is a stolen CVS shopping cart full of empty merlot bottles and a jar full of spare teeth.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Look, I’m happy for Dominion, but Dominion was not the only injured party here. What about, you know, our faith in democracy? There are people who will not trust elections for the rest of their lives, and I have to talk to those people! I’m going to be arguing with them at Trump rallies every four years for the rest of my life. And you know what? I’m not naïve. I didn’t expect this lawsuit to restore this country’s faith in elections or even for me to get a little cashola, no. But I was at least hoping to get a couple of weeks of joy out of seeing Sean Hannity up there on the stand, sweating through his shirt like a beached manatee. Would that have saved democracy? I don’t know. But it would have been nice to see.” — JORDAN KLEPPER, guest host of “The Daily Show”The Punchiest Punchlines (Lie-ability Edition)“This is a huge hit to Fox’s bottom line, although it’s not clear if insurance will cover some of Fox’s liability. Of course, Fox has to have liability insurance to insure their ability to lie.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Although, I don’t know who would insure them. Maybe Frauders: [singing] ‘We are Frauders, insuring Fox was dumb, dumb, dumb!’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Two hours after the settlement was announced he can’t confirm how much Fox News paid? If only this Fox News anchor had some source at Fox News!” — STEPHEN COLBERT, referring to Fox News host Howie Kurtz saying he couldn’t confirm the settlement amountThe Bits Worth WatchingMichelle Obama surprised patrons of a Midtown bookstore with Jimmy Fallon’s help on Wednesday’s “Tonight Show.”What We’re Excited About on Thursday NightIndie rock trio boygenius will perform on Thursday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”Also, Check This OutFrank Ocean performing at The Parklife Festival in 2017. Ocean has backed out of his second Coachella performance this weekend.Visionhaus#GP/Corbis via Getty ImagesFrank Ocean pulled out of Coachella this weekend, citing a leg injury that led to a disappointing headlining performance last Sunday. More

    • 113 Shares179 Views

      in Television

      ‘The Diplomat’ Review: Save the Marriage, Save the World

      by

      Keri Russell stars in a Netflix political thriller that doubles as a high-style romantic comedy.Debora Cahn most recently served as an executive producer and writer on “Homeland.” Keri Russell most famously played a hyper-efficient assassin on “The Americans.” Their collaboration in the new Netflix series “The Diplomat” — Cahn created it, Russell stars — would lead you to expect something dark, violent and complicated.But a look further back in Cahn’s history shows that she started her career with a long run as a writer and producer on “The West Wing.” And that’s the spirit she’s brought to “The Diplomat,” a political thriller laced with romance and written, with some success, in an Aaron Sorkinesque high-comic, high-velocity style.So you would be right about complicated, at least. Geopolitical crises and amorous complications are thick on the ground, intertwining and constantly morphing in ways that can be hard to follow. (The serial twists and breathless explanations both contribute to and help to obscure the plot-greasing implausibilities necessary for a show that puts earthshaking events in a comic framework.)Russell plays Kate Wyler, a career American diplomat suddenly and surprisingly named ambassador to Britain. She arrives in London with her trailing spouse, Hal (Rufus Sewell), a more experienced and renowned diplomat who is now expected to smile for the cameras but otherwise keep his mouth shut. For them, artifice is an essential element in both statecraft and marriage.Kate and Hal’s union is on its last legs, as it turns out. But thanks to an improbable, possibly MacGuffinish twist, it is mandatory that they stay together. So one pole of the plot is their highly cultivated Bickersons act, a will-they-or-won’t-they screwball anti-romance between an unforgiving woman and a roguish, egomaniacal man; you may see ghostly images of Carole Lombard and John Barrymore. At the same time, Hal, along with Kate’s fiercely competent deputy, Stuart (Ato Essandoh), is tasked with turning the combative Kate into a more refined diplomat, an arduous process with echoes of “My Fair Lady” and “Kiss Me, Kate.”The rom-com complications — they also encompass Kate’s attraction to the British foreign minister (David Gyasi) and a classic secondary romance between Stuart and the C.I.A. station chief (Ali Ahn) — and the political machinations bounce off and intensify one another, in the old “West Wing” style. An attack on a British warship in the Middle East starts an eight-episode chain of events involving Iran and Russia that has Kate shuttling between the American president (Michael McKean) and the British prime minister (Rory Kinnear, who stands out in an excellent cast) and, with Hal’s help, salvaging U.S.-U.K. relations while pretty much literally saving the world.“The Diplomat” is concerned with the dynamics of the international order, the proper balance between idealism and realpolitik, and the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it’s essentially a show about a marriage. The conceit of Kate as the undiplomatic diplomat — a woman whose stone-cold, steel-trap strategic abilities would be considered suitable for the Court of St. James’s — is, to put it kindly, absurd, but its main purpose is to set up the contrast with the smoother, more devious, more obviously diplomatic Hal.And you can see how Russell’s coldblooded excellence in “The Americans” would recommend her for the part of Kate. (In an amusing nod to Russell’s long run as the murderous Elizabeth Jennings, Kate is asked whether she poisoned a fellow diplomat and deadpans, “Not my style.”) But while she’s perfectly proficient, and has no trouble conveying the character’s intelligence and, when called for, her uncertainty or anger, Russell is not as funny as the show needs her to be. Relaxing into the role and giving the emotional connections the casual, spontaneous feel that the rom-com structure calls for are not her strengths.Luckily for “The Diplomat,” Sewell has no trouble getting in touch with his inner Barrymore, and he walks away with the show. Hal is petulant, childish and arrogant, but he’s smart and charming enough to get away with it, and Sewell both embodies the charm and shows us the flashes of doubt and nobility that redeem him. Making an over-scaled, too-good-to-be-true romantic construction like Hal feel absolutely real is a trick right up there with saving the world from global war. More