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      ‘Law & Order’ Is Having an Identity Crisis

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      The franchise has always portrayed the police as flawed but ultimately good. The latest spinoff does away with that ambivalence.If you were going to watch a police procedural — which, for the record, I don’t particularly recommend — you could do worse than NBC’s “Law & Order” franchise. Across 32 years and more than 1,200 episodes, the original series and its six American spinoffs have offered a gentle critique of law enforcement, presenting a parade of flawed individuals navigating a byzantine justice system. Detectives are stymied by bureaucrats and squabble with lunkhead patrol officers, who reliably contaminate crime scenes. Idealistic prosecutors grow disillusioned and leave for nonprofit work. And yet the franchise still hinges on a lesser-of-two-evils logic: The institutions may be imperfect, and the cops imperfect, but their vocation is, by definition, good. There are always more victims to avenge, and none better equipped to do it than the New York Police Department.This cautiously optimistic view of policing was once embodied by Elliot Stabler, the detective played by Chris Meloni since the 1999 premiere of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” A hotheaded ex-Marine, Stabler initially clashed with authority and struggled to adapt to married life, receiving reprimands from his captain and consulting a shrink. But paired with his compassionate partner, Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), he proved an exemplary cop and father. He was dogged and intuitive, a man who gave more than he took, rough around the edges but heroic nonetheless.And yet the franchise’s latest spinoff, “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” has done away with all that fortitude. In the pilot, Stabler’s wife is killed by a car bomb, leading him to contemplate violent retribution. He grows a goatee. He goes undercover. He has a rockin’ good time. In a scene from the second season, airing now, we find him training in a boxing gym, where he’s approached by a sultry mob wife — a suspect in a sex-trafficking sting — who presents him with a pair of carnation-pink panties and invites him to her home. Once there, Stabler spikes her drink with an incapacitating agent, and they kiss until she passes out. Stabler hustles into her bedroom and riffles for evidence, escaping through a back door when her husband arrives.Stabler’s wife is killed by a car bomb, leading him to contemplate violent retribution. He grows a goatee.Never mind how implausible this sequence feels, especially given Stabler’s background as a sex-crimes detective. The tone is sleazy, owing more to 1980s action flicks than the trademark “Law & Order” grit. It’s a far cry from the franchise’s origins: middle-aged cops and attorneys plagued with lousy diets and troubled families, a dour but lively metropolis teeming with nosy neighbors and wisecracking witnesses. Instead, “Organized Crime” depicts a backlot version of New York, its desolate cityscapes almost devoid of pedestrians. Stabler’s task force targets deep-pocketed warlords and ethnic outfits, armed traffickers who hijack shipping containers and vaccine supplies. Officers meet informants on abandoned waterfronts, and everybody drives around in a giant black S.U.V. Cruising gang-controlled neighborhoods, Stabler is anxious, adrift and thirsty for vengeance. Whatever happened to America’s dad?While Stabler busies himself with mobsters and madams, the long-running “Special Victims Unit,” whose fictional plots often riff on real-world headlines, has become a lugubrious public-service announcement on modern policing. Now a captain, Benson has been elevated to virtual sainthood, leading an understaffed unit and deflecting misogyny from her superiors. In the aftermath of George Floyd, even her pristine character is tested by institutional bias and dysfunction — and her commanding officer, a Harvard-educated Black man, is replaced by a chauvinistic white man prone to victim-blaming.Benson’s relentless drive for justice remains. An arc in the 22nd season recalls the 2020 Central Park bird-watching incident, in which a white woman filed a false report against a Black man. (The charge against her was later dismissed.) The show’s stand-in for the bird-watcher is arrested; after he’s exonerated, Benson apologizes. “We both want the department to own up to their mistakes and to make changes moving forward,” she tells him. “We can get rid of the worst cops.” Her promise echoes Mayor Eric Adams’s campaign claim that he once worked to “reform the police” from the inside, and it’s a stretch even by “Law & Order” standards. The franchise once focused on good work done by flawed people, but now even “S.V.U.” takes a more evangelistic stance. Police departments may abuse their power, it concedes, but they are redeemed by the likes of Olivia Benson.Stabler is an avenger, Benson a heart-of-gold administrator.What’s jarring about the way “Organized Crime” and “S.V.U.” have diverged is how thoroughly both shows sacrifice realism to preserve optimistic attitudes toward policing. The original “Law & Order,” which aired from 1990 to 2010 (a revival begins this month), took pains to establish its characters as public servants, not superheroes. On the job, the detectives and attorneys wore drab, rumpled suits and worked desk phones from cramped offices. Off the job, they drank and avoided their families, because dealing with predators makes for a harrowing day. For some of them — Sam Waterston’s Jack McCoy, S.Epatha Merkerson’s Anita Van Buren — the lack of glamour suggested selflessness: Clearly they could’ve made more money elsewhere.Judging by the show’s longevity, this vision was a palatable one, a big-tent philosophy that allowed the show to celebrate the justice system while acknowledging its failures. A tone of knowing cynicism lent the writing credibility; a wariness of machismo and bureaucracy gave it tension. It maintained a certitude that New Yorkers needed protection from their neighbors, and that those who provided it merited sympathy.But in a time of skyrocketing funding and increased attention on police brutality, that big tent has collapsed. “Organized Crime” and “S.V.U.” face a new hurdle: They must demonstrate that cops are indeed the good guys. Both have cagily staked their territory. “S.V.U.” pays lip service to reform without seriously considering it; “Organized Crime” looks the other way entirely, supposing a wasteland of a city overrun by militant thugs. Stabler is an avenger, Benson a heart-of-gold administrator who could maybe be talked into some additional sensitivity training.It bears mention that another spinoff, “Law & Order: Hate Crimes,” was announced and then put on hold in 2019. Given the franchise’s expositional method and penchant for moral ambiguity, it’s unsettling to contemplate what that show might have looked like. In interviews, the franchise’s creator, Dick Wolf, has stressed that the shows maintain a nonpolitical lens on current events. But the incoherence of the new installments is a statement in itself. The shows could not ignore that millions of Americans were so shaken by police violence that they took to the streets in 2020. But it’s also true that some share of “Law & Order” fans must have thin-blue-line flags draped from their porches. Two roads diverged in a wood, and “Law & Order” pretends to take them both.Opening page: Screen grab from YouTube. Above: Virginia Sherwood/NBC; Chandan Khanna/Agence France-Presse, via Getty Images; Heidi Gutman/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank, via Getty Images. More

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      Late Night Dunks on Trump for Getting Dumped During Tax Season

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      “It’s like getting divorced on Christmas Eve,” Jimmy Kimmel joked.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.‘H&R Cellblock’Last week, Donald Trump’s longtime accounting firm Mazars USA cut ties with the former president and his family, saying financial statements they prepared for him from 2011 to 2020 should “no longer be relied upon.”“In other words, ‘We are not going to prison with you, Mr. Trump,’” Jimmy Kimmel joked on Tuesday night.“So, for those nine years, no one should trust any of his financial statements, or any of his statements.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Good for them, standing up and doing the right thing 10 years too late.” — JAMES CORDEN“The New York attorney general and Manhattan district attorney have been trying to determine whether the insurers, lenders and others Trump dealt with were misled about the strength of his finances. Let me save you guys some trouble: They were.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“If there’s any karma in this world, they dropped him for a younger, hotter client.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“What new information could have come to light right now? Were they like ‘Wait a minute — Trump organization? As in Donald — does that have something to do with Donald Trump?’” — JAMES CORDEN“Now he’s going to need someone else to do his taxes. I suggest H&R Cellblock.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“I tell you, there’s nothing more depressing than getting dumped by your accountant during tax season. It’s like getting divorced on Christmas Eve.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“I like the idea of Donald Trump angrily now setting up a TurboTax account to get his taxes done.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“A lot of people believe this could be it for Donald Trump — this could be the one. I don’t know. How many ‘the ones’ have we had now. We’ve had like 400 or something?” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (Kamila Valieva Edition)“I also know that nobody believes her excuse, right? That she accidentally took her grandfather’s heart medication, but I do. I believe her, because I know what it was like growing up me and my family — we always had a big bowl of loose pills all mixed together. It’s an easy mistake to make.” — TREVOR NOAH, on the Russian Olympic skater Kamila Valieva testing positive for a banned substance called trimetazidine“She tested positive for three substances that can be used to treat heart problems. Imagine how devastating that must be: You train your whole life to be in the Olympics, follow all the rules, put in all the hours, eat the right things. Last minute, you accidentally take your grandfather’s heart medicine.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“No one is focusing on the fact that her grandpa took her medication, now he’s dominating bingo at the old folks home.” — TREVOR NOAH“But again, I’m not saying Russia did it on purpose; I’m not saying that. I’m just saying don’t be shocked when later this week they use 15-year-olds to invade Ukraine.” — TREVOR NOAH“Her lawyer said maybe her grandfather drank something from a glass, saliva got in and this glass was somehow later used by the athlete. Ah, the old ‘must be from Grandpa’s saliva’ defense, huh?’” — JIMMY KIMMEL“We’ve all shared a big, wet cup of water with Granddad, haven’t we?” — JIMMY KIMMEL“I think the real question is, how much of your grandfather’s saliva are you coming in contact with and why?” — JIMMY KIMMEL“And why does this keep happening to Russia? These poor people. Will you leave them alone?” — JIMMY KIMMEL“I can’t believe they caught someone cheating and they’re still letting her compete while they investigate more. Like guys, it almost feels like the investigation is not about whether she cheated or not, it’s almost like the real investigation here is ‘OK, let’s see what the drugs can do — let it rip! Come on, let’s just see. We want to know, right? Everybody wants to know.’” — TREVOR NOAHThe Bits Worth WatchingRoy Wood Jr. dived into the history of Black athletes at the Winter Olympics on his “Daily Show” segment “CP Time.”What We’re Excited About on Wednesday NightRebecca Hall, the director of “Passing,” will appear on Wednesday’s “Late Late Show.”Also, Check This OutAudra McDonald, Denée Benton and John Douglas Thompson in “The Gilded Age.”Alison Rosa/HBOHBO’s “The Gilded Age” seeks to depict an elite class of 19th-century Black New Yorkers with historical accuracy. More

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      ViacomCBS renames itself as it plays catch-up with Paramount+, its streaming service.

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      On Tuesday, Shari Redstone staged her second hourslong investor presentation in two years. Both events were designed for the same purpose — to reposition her old-line media company, ViacomCBS, as a streaming giant in the making, one capable of competing head-on with Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video, despite a late start.This time, there was less snickering.“Some of you thought we were on an impossible mission,” Robert M. Bakish, the chief executive of ViacomCBS, said during the presentation on Tuesday. “It’s not only possible. It’s happening.”To highlight the importance of its fast-growing Paramount+ streaming service, Ms. Redstone, the company’s chair, announced that ViacomCBS would rename itself Paramount Global.Paramount+ had 32.8 million subscribers worldwide at the end of its most recent quarter, up from fewer than 19 million a year earlier. In the three months that ended on Dec. 31, Paramount+ added 7.3 million customers, the result of offerings like “1883,” the prequel to “Yellowstone”; “Clifford the Big Red Dog”; and National Football League games. (A year earlier, ViacomCBS was adding about a million streaming subscribers a quarter.)The company’s streaming portfolio (Paramount+ and niche services from Showtime, BET and Nickelodeon) now has about 56 million subscribers. Mr. Bakish said that number would grow to 100 million by 2024, more than the roughly 70 million the company had previously forecast. The company also raised its 2024 streaming revenue goal to $9 billion, from $6 billion.Streaming brought in about $4.2 billion last year, including advertising sales from the free Pluto TV service.Paramount+ unveiled a barrage of additional programming to fuel continued growth. The expanded lineup will include fresh content from franchises including “Yellowstone,” “Beavis and Butt-Head,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Real World,” “Dora the Explorer,” “NCIS,” “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Transformers” and “South Park.” Paramount+ will be the exclusive first stop after theatrical distribution for all Paramount Pictures movies beginning in 2024. (Many previously went to Epix, a premium cable channel.)Starting this summer in the United States, Paramount+ subscribers will be able to upgrade to receive Showtime content, including the new hit drama “Yellowjackets” and older series like “Billions.”ViacomCBS shares declined about 6 percent in after-hours trading. Richard Greenfield, a founder of the research firm LightShed Partners, cited investor concern about Mr. Bakish’s “meaningfully stepping up spending” on content.It may be growing quickly, but Paramount+ continues to lag behind competitors like Disney+, which added 11.8 million subscribers worldwide in its most recent quarter to reach 129.8 million. Netflix has about 222 million. More

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      Kathryn Kates, Actress of ‘Seinfeld’ Babka Fame, Dies at 73

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      She had a long screen career but may be best remembered as the counterwoman who tells Jerry and Elaine the bad news that her bakery was out of chocolate babkas.Kathryn Kates, who appeared as a counterwoman in two memorable scenes from “Seinfeld” involving baked goods in short supply — chocolate babkas and marble rye bread — and racked up numerous screen credits over nearly 50 years, died on Jan. 22 at her brother’s home in Lake Worth, Fla. She was 73.The cause was lung cancer, the brother, Josh Kates, said.Ms. Kates, who lived in Manhattan, had roles in dozens of television shows and movies, including the recent series “Shades of Blue” on NBC, “Friends From College” on Netflix and “The Good Fight” on CBS.She appeared in five episodes of “Law and Order” — a fixture on the résumé of most New York working actors — as Judge Marlene Simmons. She also had a recurring role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black,” as the mother of Jason Biggs’s character, Larry Bloom. And she was cast as Angie DeCarlo, an Italian beauty shop owner, in “The Many Saints of Newark” (2021), the prequel movie to “The Sopranos.”But it was in two episodes of “Seinfeld” (1990-1998) that she made an indelible mark.Sporting a yellow apron and a New York attitude, Ms. Kates appeared in Season Five’s “The Dinner Party” as the bakery clerk who announces to Jerry and Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) that the store’s last treasured chocolate babka had been sold just ahead of them. Offered a cinnamon babka instead, Elaine calls it a “lesser” babka, to which Jerry objects, intoning, “Cinnamon takes a back seat to no babka.”The scene includes a memorable coughing fit by Ms. Kates’s character next to a wall of baked goods and her closing lines to a loitering Jerry and Elaine: “Can I get you anything else? How about a nice box of ‘scram’?”The episode also features Jerry’s exaltation of another New York bakery mainstay, the black and white cookie, as something of a model for better race relations. “Look to the cookie!” he declares.In an interview last year with “This Podcast Is Making Me Thirsty,” a podcast about “Seinfeld,” Ms. Kates recalled getting the part for which people would recognize her on Manhattan streets for decades.The whole writing staff, including Mr. Seinfeld and the show’s co-creator, Larry David, watched as she read her lines and delivered her cough in an audition. She had earlier auditioned for other small parts on “Seinfeld,” but the brassy counterwoman was her lucky break.Two seasons later, Ms. Kates, again in her yellow apron, reprised the role in the episode “The Rye.” This time she tells a crestfallen Jerry that the bakery’s last loaf of marble rye has been sold, complicating a plot to restore George into the good graces of his future in-laws.Ms. Kates devoted much of her time to running The Colony Theater in Burbank, Calif., of which she was a founding member. There, she and the actress Barbara Beckley were co-general managers from 1975 to 1981. She appeared in numerous Colony productions.“Kathy was New York through and through,” Ms Beckley said. “She did some wonderful roles with us.” But she added: “She was not a leading lady. She was much more of a young character actress, and not a Hollywood type at all.”Kathryn Jane Kates was born Jan. 29, 1948, in Queens. Her father, Louis Kates, was an electronics engineer. Her mother, Sylvia (Fagan) Kates, was an actress who, under the stage name Madelyn Cates, appeared on television in the hospital drama “St. Elsewhere” and the series “Fame” and played the eccentric concierge confronting Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) and Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) in the 1967 film version of “The Producers.”Ms. Kates grew up in Great Neck, N.Y., on Long Island, and graduated from Great Neck North Senior High. She studied acting at New York University.After graduating in 1971, she moved to Los Angeles in 1974 and focused on theater. Her early television credits included appearances on the legal drama “Matlock” in 1991 and other cameo roles in “Rachel Gunn, R.N.” and “Hudson Street.”In 1993, she married Joseph Pershes, an executive at a video distribution company. They divorced in 2006. In addition to her brother, she is survived by a sister, Mallory Kates.When asked in the podcast interview about appearing on “Seinfeld,” Ms. Kates responded that she was always grateful to have work. “I have loved every job I’ve ever had,” she said.And as for her babka preference? She favored chocolate. More

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      Stephen Colbert Sets the Mood for Valentine’s Day With His Viewers

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      “Hey, don’t mind me, I’ll just be over here doing my thang — a long monologue,” Colbert joked.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.Bringing Sexy BackLate night celebrated Valentine’s Day by pointing to a new study reporting that Americans are having less sex than ever.Stephen Colbert said that his viewers were surely having a great holiday, joking, “It’s almost midnight and you’re doing the sexiest thing there is: You’re watching TV.”“I hope you’re having a sensual Valentine’s Day, which, if you’re watching this, you’re probably not.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“So, how’s it going out there? Looks like you’re having a great night. Just know I’m rooting for both of you — wait a second, all three of you.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Hey, don’t mind me, I’ll just be over here doing my thang — a long monologue. And maybe later, if we’re lucky, some Toyota commercials. And I’ve got 400 people in this room with me who just like to watch.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“And I’m happy to help, because America could use a little help in the seduction department right now. Because according to new research, Americans are at a 30-year low for sex. And again, no judgment: Whatever doesn’t float your boat. I’m not going to kink-shame the jigsaw puzzle/Breathe Right Strip/lights out by 9 p.m. lifestyle.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“The study says there are a number of possible reasons for it, including fewer people getting married, an aging population. But let’s be honest: We all know what the real reason is — unlimited porn. The same reason people at the Olive Garden are eating more breadsticks — it’s unlimited.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“I think it’s weird having Valentine’s the day after the Super Bowl. I was out past midnight last night flipping SUVs and setting mattresses on fire, now I’m supposed to be romantic? I don’t know, I’m all charged up!” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Punchiest Punchlines (The Day After Edition)“Yesterday, as I hope you know, was Super Bowl Sunday, also known as — a.k.a. ‘Cryptocurrency Awareness Day.’” — JIMMY KIMMEL“It’s all crypto now. Even the halftime show, bloods versus the cryptos.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“It was crypto and Peacock all day long. There were more ads for Peacock than there are living peacocks on the planet earth.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak, and — it was supposed to be Mary J. Blige, but Snoop Dogg smoked all the j’s, so it was just Mary Blige.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“But it really was quite a game. The big hits, the long draws, and that was just Snoop right before the halftime show.” — JAMES CORDEN“This is a headline in The New York Post today: ‘Snoop Dogg smokes weed right before star-studded Super Bowl halftime show.’ Yeah, no kidding. He smokes weed right before everything.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“For Snoop, that’s a performance-enhancing drug.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Two legends of hardcore gangsta rap, or as the kids today call them: Martha Stewart’s friend and the headphones guy.” — STEPHEN COLBERT, on Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre“I was so excited and nervous my palms were sweaty, knees weak, arms were heavy. There was vomit on my sweater already, mom’s spaghetti.” — JAMES CORDENThe Bits Worth WatchingTrevor Noah dedicated Monday night’s “The Daily Show” to a conversation with musician India.Arie about Joe Rogan, unconscious racism and why she took her music off Spotify.What We’re Excited About on Tuesday NightJohn Oliver will sit down with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday’s “Late Show.”Also, Check This OutIvan Reitman in 2011. Matt Sayles/Associated PressFilmmaker Ivan Reitman, best known for “Ghostbusters,” “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” and “Stripes,” died on Saturday. More

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      Isabel Torres, Actress Known for ‘Veneno’ on HBO Max, Dies at 52

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      Ms. Torres was one of three transgender performers to play Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez, a beloved Spanish television personality, in the eight-part streaming series.Isabel Torres, the Spanish actress best known for playing the transgender singer and television personality Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez in the HBO Max series “Veneno,” died on Friday. She was 52.Ms. Torres’s family confirmed her death in a statement on her official Instagram account. The statement did not specify a cause or say where she died.In recent years, Ms. Torres had documented her treatments for lung cancer on Instagram. In November, she shared a video in which she said she had been told she had only about two months to live.“Let’s see if I get over it,” she said. “And if not,” she added, “what are we going to do? Life is like that.” She said the video would be her last, though she continued to post photographs for several weeks.Ms. Torres had acted sporadically since the mid-1990s before she found her largest audience in 2020 in “Veneno,” as one of three transgender performers who portrayed Ms. Rodríguez, a transgender singer and television personality. In the show, Ms. Rodríguez, who was known as “La Veneno” (“The Poison”), rises to fame after being interviewed by a television journalist in a park in Madrid where she had been working as a prostitute. She becomes a fixture on Spanish television and the most prominent transgender person in the country before her death in 2016 at 52.“Veneno” is based on the book “Listen! Not a Whore, Not a Saint: The Memories of La Veneno” by the journalist Valeria Vegas. Created and directed by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, the series debuted on the Spanish streaming platform Atresplayer Premium in 2020 and was then picked up by HBO Max.Ms. Torres was the oldest of the three actors who played Ms. Rodríguez in the eight-part series. In one Instagram post, Ms. Torres said it was the role of a lifetime, adding that she had gained weight to transform herself for it.For her performance, she won an Ondas Award for best actress in a television series.Ms. Torres was born on July 14, 1969, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, according to imdb.com.In 1996, she became the first Canarian woman to have her gender legally changed on her identification, according to the Spanish news outlet Las Provincias.In 2005, she became the first transgender woman to be a candidate for the title of Las Palmas Carnival Queen, Las Provincias reported. Last year, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria honored her as its “favorite daughter.”Information about her survivors was not immediately available.In an interview with The Advocate last year, Ms. Torres said that she was surprised to discover how much she had in common with Ms. Rodríguez when she was cast in “Veneno,” and that she had seized on those similarities to shape her performance.“I think in it there was a lot of me, and in her there was a lot of all of us,” she said. “I never thought we would have a lot of similarities, and at the end, after seeing the character, learning her story, and learning to love her through her wounds, I understood that we share a lot in common.” More

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      Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall to Host the Oscars

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      The comic actresses are in final talks for the job, which the producer Will Packer is adding back to the ceremony. The event had been hostless for the past three years.Wanda Sykes, left, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall are in final negotiations. Photographs by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images; Jamie Mccarthy/Getty Images; Jerod Harris/Getty Images The Oscars, seeking cultural relevance again after last year’s ceremony hit record low ratings, have a host again. Three, in fact.Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes are in final negotiations to host the 94th Academy Awards next month, according to six sources with knowledge of the discussions. The three comic actresses come to the gig with varying levels of expertise, including stints hosting the MTV Movie Awards (Schumer in 2015) and the BET Awards (Hall in 2019). Sykes also had her own talk show, which ran from 2009 to 2010, and has hosted ceremonies including the GLAAD Media Awards. The news was reported earlier by Variety.Will Packer, who was hired in October to produce the Oscars telecast, explored several unconventional ideas for structuring the show, including the option to pair two hosts for each hour. Until this weekend, Packer was also in discussions to add the actor Jon Hamm as a fourth Oscars host, and invitations were also extended to previous hosts, including Chris Rock and Steve Martin. Martin was pursued for the role alongside his “Only Murders in the Building” co-stars Selena Gomez and Martin Short. But that plan was scuttled because of scheduling conflicts.Schumer, Hall and Sykes will be taking on one of the most high-profile jobs in town, and also one of the most scrutinized. Hosting the ceremony was once viewed as a feather in the cap by top comedians like Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg. But the Oscars have gone hostless for the last three years, which began as a matter of expediency when Kevin Hart dropped out of the 2019 ceremony after refusing to apologize for jokes and tweets that were considered homophobic.Since then, the academy has instead asked stars simply to open the show, including the comic trio of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph at the 2019 Oscars, as well as Regina King, who delivered an earnest monologue at the top of last year’s ceremony. Those kickoff positions have proved easier to book, since many stars are still leery about the time commitment and potential backlash that a solo hosting gig can bring. But without a host, there are fewer opportunities for the show to produce viral, talked-about moments like the star-packed selfie taken by the host Ellen DeGeneres in 2014.And in an era when television ratings are dwindling, the Oscars need all the buzz they can get: This year’s show is viewed as a make-or-break moment by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group that votes on the Oscars and recently opened a pricey museum in Los Angeles. After last year’s edition pulled record-low ratings, the academy has sought new ways to draw eyeballs, including a contest letting viewers vote on their favorite film of the year. That winner, which will be announced on the telecast, provides a potential berth for blockbusters like “Spider-Man: No Way Home” that failed to make the best-picture race when the nominations were unveiled last week.The academy is set to officially announce the hosts Tuesday on “Good Morning America.” The 94th Academy Awards will be held on March 27.Brooks Barnes More

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      Anna Sorokin on ‘Inventing Anna’ and Life After Rikers

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      In an interview ahead of the Netflix show’s release, Ms. Sorokin spoke about how her life has changed since the end of her Anna Delvey days.The release of “Inventing Anna,” a nine-part Netflix series created by Shonda Rhimes, has brought the case of Anna Sorokin back into the spotlight. Ms. Sorokin, 31, lived for several years in the 2010s as Anna Delvey, a wealthy German heiress of her own invention, convincing members of Manhattan’s elite to finance her fine dining and travel.Ms. Sorokin was arrested in 2017 after bilking banks and failing to pay hefty Manhattan hotel bills. I covered her trial for The New York Times in 2019; she was convicted on eight counts and sentenced to four to 12 years in prison.After moving through five correctional facilities, Ms. Sorokin was released in February 2021. Six weeks later, she was rearrested by immigration authorities for having overstayed her visa. She has spent the last year in ICE detention, where she is fighting deportation to Germany.Over several phone calls to the Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, N.Y., Ms. Sorokin spoke about the Netflix show (for which she was a paid consultant), life in detention and the looming question of remorse. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.Back in 2019, around the time of your trial, you told me: “The thing is, I’m not sorry” for the financial crimes you were accused of. The quote has followed you around ever since, and was even the first question brought up in your parole board hearing.I told the parole board that I felt like I was taken out of context. And I said you showed up as a surprise, and my feelings from that trial were really fresh. I did feel quite defiant. It was just really a couple of days after my guilty verdict. I was still processing.What would your answer be now?I feel sorry for the way my case is being perceived. And I feel sorry that I resorted to these actions that people think I’m glorifying now.I feel sorry for the choices I’ve made. Definitely, I don’t feel like the world would be a better place if people were just trying to be more like me.The Netflix series “Inventing Anna” is about a very specific point in time in your life — your mid-20s. You’re 31 now. Do you feel that you’ve changed?I feel like I changed immensely just due to the fact that I’ve been exposed to so many people and just seeing other people’s walks of life. Even though I thought I was so well traveled and I lived in Europe, lived in the States and lived in different countries, I was so sheltered. Having been to prison and having been through the criminal justice system, it just exposed me to a whole different kind of a person, and my problems before just seem ridiculous.Julia Garner as the fictional German heiress Anna Delvey in the Netflix series “Inventing Anna.”Nicole Rivelli/NetflixIf you could go back in time, would you go back and do things differently?With the benefit of hindsight, I would have changed lots of things, but this is just not how life works. So I am just building on my experiences and learning from them.Netflix paid you $320,000 for your life rights to the series, and you consulted on the project. [A Netflix spokeswoman would not confirm the figure but wrote that the payments were made to an escrow account monitored by New York State’s Office of Victim Services.]The Fake Heiress Who Conned New York’s WealthyAnna Sorokin, whose story is now revisited in Netflix’s “Inventing Anna,” was found guilty of theft of services and grand larceny in 2019.A Serial Scammer: Ms. Sorokin, a Russian immigrant, pretended to be a German heiress, swindling New York’s elite out of more than $200,000.She Is Not Sorry: In interviews with The Times, Ms. Sorokin was eager to explain her actions as the missteps of a naïve young woman. (Here is what interviewing her was like.)‘Inventing Anna’: The mini-series by Shonda Rhimes works as a clichéd morality tale but stumbles as a piece of storytelling, writes our critic.Fiction vs. Reality: A reporter who covered Ms. Sorokin’s trial in 2019 for The Times explains what the series gets right (and wrong).Yes, and that’s why, to reference that BBC interview where I was asked “Does crime pay?”, I could not honestly say “no,” in my situation, because I did get paid. For me to say “no” would just be denying the obvious. I didn’t say that crime pays in general.How has that money been used?I paid $198,000-something for restitution, which I have paid off in its entirety and right away, and the rest of it to my legal fees. Your social media presence has also played a part in your remaining detention. You made quite the hyperbolic statements there while you were out last year.I always saw my social media as satire. It was never meant to be serious. Part of me throwing my story around and using my voice is to put more public awareness on the nonsensical things inmates have to go through every day.Julia Fox read an article you wrote for Business Insider and shared it to her Instagram story. She called you “my dear sis” and said you’re “killing it from behind bars.” How do you know Julia?We have some mutual friends — she is a girl about town. We actually connected on Instagram when I was out, and we DM’d a bit, and then she jumped on my Clubhouse, which was really random. I was answering people’s questions about my experience, and she made the forum so much better. She asked all the right questions. We have a similar sense of humor. She was never judgmental, and we’ve stayed in touch ever since.She has lots of interesting creative projects going on, and I feel like the media is not doing her justice talking about her dating life. We are actually working on a little something together.Do tell.Really soon.Let’s talk more about your ICE detention. You were released from serving your sentence and then rearrested six weeks later based on overstaying your visa.ICE came to see me three times, starting in December 2020, and the final time they just let me know: We’re not interested in you.So I was in shock when I was arrested. I knew it was a possibility, but nothing had changed in my circumstances from six weeks before. So it’s flabbergasting. Why not arrest me straight out of prison? It’s not like I fell through the cracks. [A spokesperson for ICE would not comment on the specifics of Ms. Sorokin’s ICE detention.]I don’t think this is such a controversial or radical thought: that prison is really a waste of time and it’s not efficient. Between my arrest and my release, the first officials who asked me any questions about my crime were the parole board.There are programs for people with drug addiction and people who are sexual offenders and programs for violent inmates. But there’s absolutely nothing for financial crimes. I took a program for culinary arts. That has to say something about this system.Many of the people inside ICE do not speak English. You’ve spent some time trying to help non-English speakers without lawyers push through the system, but it’s been a struggle for you and for them.It’s just really hard to find what your options are. There’s no way to do your own research here whatsoever. The books are from like 20 years ago. I’ve yet to find any immigration cases that even resemble mine.I have a lawyer, but some people here don’t, because you cannot be a burden to the government while defending your immigration case. You either have to find some charity that will help you or represent yourself.I have not heard of a single success story of someone being arrested and finding a good free immigration lawyer while in jail. The system is predatory: You’re set up for failure.What do you have with you in your cell?My cell is pretty depressing. I have a whole bin of just legal paperwork. I have lots of books — mainly books. And some trail mix to snack on. It is as austere as it can get.What are you reading now?I just actually started “Super Pumped,” by Mike Isaac — it’s the Uber story. [Mr. Isaac is a technology reporter for The Times.] So I’m reading that for nonfiction, and for fiction I’m reading “We Need to Talk About Kevin.”I just got through all of a Jonathan Franzen book. I wouldn’t say I binged, but I read “The Corrections,” which I never would have gotten through on the outside, and I read “Purity” as well. I have not read “Crossroads” — the new one — because last time I asked it was not available in softcover, and I cannot have hardcovers.Do you have any friends at Goshen?There are people I’ve been friendly with, but they’ve all left. I’m just kind of doing my thing and I’m writing. I do have a lot going on and just kind of trying to manage my projects.The Netflix show is a fictionalized version of one set time in your life. Beyond the series, what would you like viewers to know about you?There is definitely a lot more to my story that I’d like to share. With that in mind, I’m working on multiple projects. I’m working on a documentary project with Bunim Murray Productions in Los Angeles. I’m also working on a book about my time in jail and working on a podcast as well.I’m not trying to encourage people to commit crimes. I’m just trying to shed light on how I made the best out of my situation, without trying to glorify it. This is what I’m creating out of that story. More