Television

Subterms

    More stories

    • 88 Shares169 Views

      in Television

      Boba Fett Spin-Off Series Confirmed by Disney

      by

      Disney

      The new project called ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ is scheduled to come out in December 2021 on the Mouse House streaming service after it’s officially announced by the movie studio.

      Dec 20, 2020
      AceShowbiz – Actor Temuera Morrison is set to reprise his role as Boba Fett in “The Mandalorian” for a new “Star Wars” spin-off series.
      The forthcoming project was teased during the season two finale of “The Mandalorian”, which debuted on Disney+ on Friday (18Dec20) – just one day after the death of the original Boba Fett, British actor Jeremy Bulloch.
      Fennec Shand, the character played by Ming-Na Wen, is also expected to feature in “The Book of Boba Fett”, which will launch in December, 2021.

        See also…

      It’s the latest Star Wars spin-off in development – Rosario Dawson is set to star in “Ahsoka”, focused on her fan-favourite character Ahsoka Tano, while executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are also developing “Rangers of the New Republic”, with both series taking place within the same timeline as “The Mandalorian”.
      Disney bosses are additionally working on “Obi-Wan”, with Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen, as well as “Andor”, a prequel series to 2016 movie “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”, starring Diego Luna.
      The “Star Wars” franchise started to flourish again after creator George Lucas sold his production company to Disney. A new trilogy began in 2015 with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. It introduced a new heroine played by Daisy Ridley and new characters portrayed by Adam Driver and John Boyega.
      The movie series continued with “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” 2017 before concluding with “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” in 2019. More standalone films are expected to be released in the coming years.

      You can share this post!

      Next article
      Shawn Mendes Denies Feuding With Justin Bieber During Early Career More

    • 163 Shares189 Views

      in Television

      Eve Fights Back Tears Over 'The Talk' Co-Stars' Sweet Tributes During Final Episode

      by

      CBS

      The ‘Let Me Blow Ya Mind’ hitmaker wraps up her four-season stint on the daily talk show virtually from London months after fellow former co-host Marie Osmond made her exit.

      Dec 19, 2020
      AceShowbiz – Rapper/actress Eve fought back tears on Friday, December 18 as she bowed out of her stint as a co-host on U.S. daytime show “The Talk”.
      The “Let Me Blow Ya Mind” hitmaker, who is married to British businessman Maximillion Cooper, wrapped up her four-season stint virtually from London, as she and co-hosts Sharon Osbourne and Sheryl Underwood reminisced about her time on the series.
      Sharing her love and pride for Eve, rock matriarch Sharon said, “What you’ve meant to me while you’ve been on this show, it isn’t measurable.”
      “I have to tell you, we never met before this show but you knew my kids (Jack Osbourne and Kelly Osbourne)… They would go, ‘Aw, mum, she’s the best, she’s so friendly, so lovely.’ I knew that you were gonna be so friendly and a lovely person, but I didn’t know how wonderful it would be.”
      “You’ve got your wings now and you are flying…,” Sharon smiled. “You are open about yourself, you care so much about what goes on in the world, you care so much about your community, and I feel that whatever your next steps are, it’s not just gonna be making a record and touring, you’re gonna do much more than that, Eve Cooper! You’re unstoppable right now.”
      Meanwhile, comedienne Sheryl gushed, “You are everything a woman aspires to be: funny, fashionable, smart, sexy. You’re powerful with a delicate presence, a great philanthropist, businesswoman, artist, wife and mother.”
      Calling Eve a “sister” who will “forever” be in her heart, she added, “The door is always open for you to come back and share everything that you are about to achieve.”

        See also…

      Touched by the sweet tributes, Eve wiped away tears as she credited “The Talk” bosses for giving her a “springboard” onto bigger and better things, and saluted her co-hosts, including Carrie Ann Inaba, who was absent as she battles COVID-19.
      “I truly, genuinely, for real, love you…,” she said. “I have been so lucky and so grateful to be a part of this show. I’ve learned from each of you ladies…, I have gotten so much from all of you, and you guys have been beyond supportive….”
      “I will be forever grateful… This is not goodbye, this is, ‘I’ll see you later.’ Thank you.”

      Eve’s exit comes months after singer Marie Osmond departed the show earlier this year.
      They will be replaced in January 2021 by actress Amanda Kloots, the widow of tragic coronavirus victim and Broadway star Nick Cordero, and journalist Elaine Welteroth.

      You can share this post!

      Next article
      YFN Lucci on Breaking Up With Reginae Carter Over Cucumber Party: ‘I’m Just Hosting’ It

      Related Posts More

    • 100 Shares109 Views

      in Television

      Sesame Street Creates New Muppets for Rohingya Refugees

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeHoliday TVBest Netflix DocumentariesAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘R’ is for Rohingya: Sesame Street Creates New Muppets for RefugeesNoor and Aziz are Rohingya Muppets who will feature in educational programming that will be shown in refugee camps.A child in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Grover the Muppet in 2018.Credit…Ryan Donnell/Sesame WorkshopDec. 19, 2020, 2:03 a.m. ETBANGKOK — Six-year-old twins Noor and Aziz live in the largest refugee camp in the world. They are Rohingya Muslims who escaped ethnic cleansing in their native Myanmar for refuge in neighboring Bangladesh. They are also Muppets.On Thursday, the Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that runs the early education TV show “Sesame Street” and operates in more than 150 countries, unveiled Aziz and Noor as the latest Muppets in their cast of characters.The twins will appear with Elmo and other famous Muppets in educational programming about math, science, health and other topics that will be shown in the camps.They will speak Rohingya, the language of a group of people that the Myanmar authorities have refused to recognize as a legitimate ethnicity. Elements of Sesame Workshop’s curriculum will be dubbed into Rohingya.“They are among the most marginalized children on earth,” said Sherrie Weston, the president of social impact for the Sesame Workshop, who traveled to the Rohingya refugee camps several times to help formulate the Muppet twins’ characters and story lines. “For most Rohingya children, this will be the very first time that characters in media have looked like them, have sounded like them, and really reflect their rich culture.”More than half the residents of the Rohingya refugee settlements in Bangladesh are children. Many suffered trauma after security forces in Myanmar forced them out of their villages, murdering some of their fathers and raping their mothers.A survey by Doctors Without Borders, released in the wake of a brutal campaign in 2017 that compelled more than 750,000 Rohingya to flee the country in the span of a few months, found that at least 730 children below the age of five were killed from late August to late September of that year.The legacy of violence lingers in Bangladesh and has been incorporated into the Muppets’ histories. Noor, one of the Muppet twins, is scared of loud noises, just as many Rohingya children are today, as gunfire resounds in their memories.The Sesame Workshop has long sought to champion diversity and social justice. Muppets and their young playmates on Sesame Street have had autism, H.I.V. and Down syndrome. They have been homeless and struggled with the stigma of having an incarcerated parent. An Afghan Muppet exemplified the importance of educating girls.The muppets Noor and Aziz are Rohingya Muslim and new characters in the Sesame Street cast. Credit…Sesame WorkshopNoor and Aziz, as conceptualized by Sesame Workshop, are playful and get along well. Aziz, a boy, helps the family with household chores and is steeped in the Rohingya tradition of storytelling. Noor, a girl, is confident and loves learning. The programming chose to depict them specifically as twins so that they would able to play together as a girl and a boy in a way other siblings in this traditional Muslim community might not be able to as easily.“By modeling girls and boys being equal, by having characters that love to learn, it is important that we’re not only inspiring young girls, giving them a sense of possibility that they may not have had, but that we’re showing little boys that girls can have equal roles and responsibilities,” Ms. Weston said.The programming depicts the Rohingya Muppets as living in a vast warren of tent shelters where more than a million mostly stateless people have been crammed with little hope of returning to Myanmar. United Nations officials have suggested that their exodus bears the hallmarks of genocide.Life in the Rohingya refugee camps can be far harsher than what Noor and Aziz’s back stories suggest. Girls, who are often kept from school, tend to get married before they reach adulthood to ease the financial burden on their families. This year, hundreds of Rohingya girls spent months at sea in overloaded fishing vessels trying to get to Malaysia, where they had been promised as child brides to Rohingya men laboring as undocumented workers. Dozens died during the journey.On Friday, in Kutupalong, the biggest of the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, Ajmat Ara, 8, shook her head when asked whether she knew of a furry collection of characters called the Muppets. Unlike many girls, she is lucky and goes to a school run by an educational charity.“We’re learning English and Burmese in school,” she said, before running off to play.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in Television

      Report: Donald Trump in Talks to Develop 'The Apprentice' Reboot After Presidency

      by

      NBC

      It isn’t the first time that Trump is reported to be in negotiations to develop a political version of ‘The Apprentice’, though the president of the United States said last year that it was just a ‘fake reporting.’

      Dec 19, 2020
      AceShowbiz – Donald Trump may back to TV entertainment after completing his task as the president of the United States. According to a new report, Trump is considering to bring back his reality show “The Apprentice” with a reboot after leaving the White House.
      Two sources who are close to Trump revealed to the Daily Beast that POTUS referred to the show in recent weeks in an allegedly private concession of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the November election. He was said to be asking aides some questions regarding the show such as “How would you like to see ‘The Apprentice’ come back?” and “Remember ‘The Apprentice’?”
      The outlet stated producer and creator Mark Burnett “is an opportunist. Trump was his meal ticket before and he’s keen to bring the show back to life, especially in the face of the disaster MGM has become.”

        See also…

      A spokesman for Burnett, however, denied the reports. The spokesman told the Daily Beast that it was “not true” that he’d been in talks with Trump about a revival. It was also unknown if NBC would be willing to be a home for a show starring the businessman-turned-president.
      “The Apprentice” debuted in 2014 on NBC, featuring contestants competing to work for Trump. The show quickly became a hit as it earned over $400 million during the show’s run for 11 years.
      It wasn’t the first time that Trump was reported to be in negotiations to develop a political version of “The Apprentice”. Trump caught wind of the report and immediately shut down the speculations, dubbing the story “fake reporting” in a tweet.
      Writing on the blue bird app in November 2019, Trump said, “Fake News is reporting that I am talking to Mark Burnett about doing a big show, perhaps The Apprentice, after the presidency, which I would assume they mean in 5 years.” He went on insisting, “This is not true, never had such a conversation, don’t even have time to think about it. False reporting!”

      You can share this post!

      Next article
      Barack Obama Gushes About Daughter Malia’s British Boyfriend in Rare Candid Moment

      Related Posts More

    • 163 Shares99 Views

      in Television

      'Morning Show' and 'American Crime Story' Shut Down Productions Due to Covid-19 Scares

      by

      The filming of the TV drama starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon and the Ryan Murphy-created anthology series have been halted following coronavirus concerns.

      Dec 19, 2020
      AceShowbiz – Production on Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon’s TV Drama “The Morning Show” and Ryan Murphy’s “Impeachment: American Crime Story” has been paused after a number of positive COVID-19 tests.
      A night shoot for “The Morning Show”, set to take place in Culver City, California on Thursday (17Dec20), was cancelled after one crewmember was diagnosed while those they had been in contact with were forced to self-isolate.
      A second round of testing was scheduled to take place on Friday to double check results in the event the crewmember had received a false positive, reports E! News.
      It’s unclear if any of the show’s stars are among those affected.
      Filming on season two of the Apple TV+ series began in October following the COVID-19 shutdown delay.

        See also…

      Meanwhile, filming also ground to a halt on the Los Angeles set of “Impeachment: American Crime Story”, which will chronicle the impeachment of former U.S. President Bill Clinton following his 1998 affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.
      According to TMZ, “multiple” positive test results among both cast and crewmembers forced officials to close the set earlier this week, although it’s unclear which of the actors were affected.
      The drama series will star Beanie Feldstein as Lewinsky, Clive Owen as Clinton, and Sarah Paulson as late White House whistleblower Linda Tripp.
      And there was also a COVID-19 scare on the set of Piper Perabo and Scott Foley’s upcoming dramatic comedy “The Big Leap”, with shoots halted on Wednesday as a result of a number of positive diagnoses.
      Fox studio officials had been shooting the pilot in Chicago, Illinois, and had just four days of work left to wrap.

      You can share this post!

      Next article
      Fiona Apple Has Thought About Boycotting Grammys Due to Dr. Luke Nomination

      Related Posts More

    • 88 Shares179 Views

      in Television

      Comfort Viewing: 3 Reasons I Love ‘Dallas’

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyComfort Viewing: 3 Reasons I Love ‘Dallas’Before prestige cable series ruled television, a wily Texas oil baron kicked up drama on network TV with classic cliffhangers and family feuds.The Ewing clan spent 14 seasons clashing over love, money and oil. Clockwise from top left: Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal, Barbara Bel Geddes, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Jim Davis and Charlene Tilton.Credit…CBS Photo Archive/Getty ImagesDec. 18, 2020When April rolled around and the reality of many, many more weeks of quarantine set in, I started looking for anything other than reality on television.Usually a marathon of “The Real Housewives of New York City,” “Vanderpump Rules” or “Teen Mom” is a digital cure for whatever ails me, but this weird and intense year posed a challenge to even the most reliable go-to stress salves.The search was on for something I could lose myself in, and I found the answer on the free streaming service IMDB TV: “Dallas,” the seminal prime-time soap opera that aired on CBS from 1978 to 1991.I started with a rewatch of the Season 3 finale, “A House Divided,” which made “Who shot J.R.?” the signature obsession of the summer of 1980.Naturally I had to immediately watch Season 4’s “Who Done It?,” which drew 83.6 million viewers when it aired, the second-largest non-Super Bowl broadcast audience of all time. By the end of the week — OK, the end of the next day — I’d skipped around to more than a dozen episodes, and committed to a full-blown 14-season binge.The number of seasons doesn’t tell the full “Dallas” story. Even in a broadcast era when most series aired at least 22 episodes a season — compared to the 10 to 13 that is standard for modern cable and streaming shows — “Dallas” took the “everything is bigger in Texas” sentiment to heart. Several seasons included 30 episodes and Season 9 had 31, equal to half the entire run of “Breaking Bad.”Here are reasons this throwback held my attention throughout a 357-episode rewatch.J.R. EwingLarry Hagman became the defining “Dallas” star as the power-grabbing, blackmailing, philandering J.R., the eldest son of Jock (Jim Davis) and Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes).It isn’t just that J.R. engages in those activities so relentlessly, but that he does so with unabashed glee that makes him so fun to watch. Every episode of “Dallas” ends with a trademark freeze frame, and many of those are close-ups of a grinning J.R., just after he’s double-crossed a business associate or driven his long-suffering alcoholic wife Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) to another sanitarium stay.J.R. does have some redeeming qualities. The charm Hagman wrings out of uttering one “Darlin’” is worth both of those Emmys he was nominated for. And he genuinely loves his daddy, his mama, his brother Bobby (Patrick Duffy) and his son John Ross (Omri Katz), even though they often take a back seat to his obsession with Ewing Oil. During my rewatch of the Bobby funeral episode, which ends with a freeze frame of a heartbroken J.R. looking up at the sky, I realized that the slick but soulful oilman was my gateway antihero. A New Jersey mobster, an Albuquerque meth kingpin and a couple of suburban Russian spies later won my heart on cable, but it all started with a Stetson-wearing conniver on CBS each Friday night.Duffy left “Dallas” but Hagman eventually convinced him to return, leading to the infamous “Dream Season.”Credit…CBS Photo Archive/Getty ImagesThe Cliffhangers“Who shot J.R.?” is TV’s most earth-shattering cliffhanger, one that had fans all around the world donning “Who shot J.R.?” T-shirts and buttons and drinking J.R. beer to commemorate the whodunit.But “Dallas” writers liked to leave viewers hanging at the end of every season, from the paternity of Sue Ellen’s baby (is J.R. or his enemy Cliff Barnes the father?) to the series finale, a two-part “It’s a Wonderful Life”-style examination of all J.R. has wrought that ends with a gunshot that leaves the audience wondering if the guilt-ridden oilman had killed himself. (The answer came in a later TV movie, “Dallas: J.R. Returns.”)And then there’s the Season 9 finale, when Pam Ewing (Victoria Principal) wakes up to a surprise: her dead ex-husband Bobby showering in her bathroom. Duffy had quit the show at the end of Season 8 but when ratings started to slip, Hagman asked his best friend to return. Duffy agreed, sparking “The Dream Season,” TV’s most famous do-over. Season 10 opens with confirmation that Bobby is alive and squeaky clean, and that everything that happened in Season 9 had all been Pam’s dream.Family AffairsWhen the Ewings aren’t fighting with each other for control of Ewing Oil, they’re loving and fighting, fighting and loving like it’s a sport. It’s no small feat to keep the middle of a 31-episode season moving, so sometimes those dizzyingly frequent Bobby-Pam and J.R.-Sue Ellen breakup-makeup cycles happen across just a few episodes.In one infamous instance, a family affair proves to be too literal. Jock and Ellie’s rebellious teen granddaughter Lucy (Charlene Tilton) has regular romps with a ranch hand, Ray (Steve Kanaly), during Season 1, only for Ray to later find out he’s Jock’s illegitimate son. Yep, Lucy is his biological niece. (Couldn’t we have gotten a do-over here?) From then on, Lucy and Ray’s early history is ignored and he becomes an avuncular presence in her life.A less disturbing soap opera plotline comes via the series-spanning Barnes-Ewing feud, introduced in the pilot when Bobby marries Pam, the daughter of Jock’s enemy, Digger Barnes. The next generation fuels the fight, with J.R. and Pam’s brother, Cliff (Ken Kercheval), swearing to destroy each other on a near-weekly basis.J.R. is far more successful on this front, of course, and Cliff’s haplessness provides regular moments of levity in the form of his unearned bravado and obsession with takeout Chinese food. This comic counterbalance to all those cliffhanging traumatic moments, all the lives brought to ruination by J.R.’s machinations, is part of an underlying cheekiness that runs throughout the series. Again: “Dallas” erased an entire season with one seven-second shower. But as we near the end of a challenging year full of almost as much drama, who doesn’t wish we all had the chance to call a mulligan on this season of our lives?AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 100 Shares99 Views

      in Television

      Mariah! Dolly! Carrie! 2020 Can’t Quarantine This Cheer

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storycritic’s notebookMariah! Dolly! Carrie! 2020 Can’t Quarantine This CheerPop stars try to pull off a Christmas spectacular in tough times, with three sparkly but heartfelt specials now on streaming services.Pop divas in holiday sparkle: from left, Carrie Underwood, Mariah Carey and Dolly Parton.Credit…From left: Anne Marie Fox/HBO Max, Apple TV Plus, CBSDec. 18, 2020, 9:00 a.m. ETWith the C.D.C. advising against faithful friends who are dear to us gathering anywhere near to us, it’s understandable that we all might need some extra assistance getting into the holiday spirit this year. One of the few bright spots of the season, though, is the abundance of new Christmastime musical specials, helmed by some of our most beloved and benevolent divas. Thank the streaming wars, in part: HBO Max, Apple TV+ and CBS All Access have all jockeyed to get a different A-list angel atop their trees, perhaps in hopes that they’ll persuade you to subscribe to one of their services before your long winter hibernation (or at least forget to cancel before your free trial is over.) Whether gaudy, glorious excess or down-home simplicity, each offers a different take on a perplexing question: How do you stage a Christmas spectacular in decidedly unspectacular times?First up is Carrie Underwood, whose “My Gift: A Christmas Special From Carrie Underwood” is streaming on HBO Max. A companion piece to her recent first holiday album, the stately and reverent “My Gift,” Underwood’s special finds her fronting an orchestra led by the former “Tonight Show” bandleader Rickey Minor. Featuring duets with John Legend and, adorably, her 5-year-old son Isaiah (whose pa-rum-pa-pum-pums are impressively on point), “My Gift” is relatively light on pizazz — save for the eight (!) increasingly dramatic costume changes. As Underwood’s stylists told “People” magazine in an article devoted entirely to all of her different “My Gift” outfits, the fact that the country powerhouse wouldn’t be moving around the stage much gave them an opportunity to “break out these giant confections of tulle and sequins that would never really be appropriate for any other event.” The most memorable is a crimson-tinged Diana Couture dress-and-cape number that suggests a cross between a bridal cake-topper and Jude Law on “The Young Pope.”A scene from “Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special,” which features guests like Jennifer Hudson and Ariana Grande.Credit…Apple TV PlusThe splendor and stirring purity of Underwood’s voice is powerful enough that even a plunging ball gown adorned with literal angel wings cannot overshadow it. Underwood’s most sublime belting, though, doesn’t come until the penultimate set of songs, when she absolutely blows the roof off “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “O Holy Night.” It’s enough to make the relative restraint of the rest of the show pale in comparison. “We really wanted this special and my album to be something that people would return to year after year and not feel dated,” she told “People” and, accordingly, there’s nary a nod to 2020 in sight. It’s a safe choice in a production so full of them that, despite its ample cheer, ends up feeling a little hermetic and snoozy.An offering not as worried about time-stamping itself is “Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special,” a star-studded entry from Apple TV+ in the Yuletide streaming wars. It’s certainly the most plot-heavy of the bunch (a neurotic elf played by Billy Eichner must restore Christmas cheer to a world low on tidings by booking an impromptu Mariah concert, or something), and the one with a wardrobe that most frequently luxuriates in the lack of F.C.C. oversight of streaming content. Perhaps when she wrote “All I Want For Christmas Is You” she was singing to double-sided tape.Though a tad convoluted, Carey’s special is full of one-liners and knowing winks; when the elf has trouble tracking her down, she informs him, “It’s called elusive, darling.” Woodstock makes a brief, animated cameo (perhaps to remind us that Apple owns the streaming rights to the “Peanuts” specials, too), which provides a segue into Carey’s gorgeous, sultry rendition of “Christmastime Is Here.” A lot happens throughout these overstuffed 43 minutes, and the special could have done without some of the bells and whistles. The whistle notes, however, are another story.The most diva-licious moment of the whole affair comes when Carey is joined by two very special guests, Jennifer Hudson and Ariana Grande — who she stages behind her, so that they end up looking like the Supremes to her Diana Ross. Classic elusive chanteuse. By the song’s finale, though, she’s invited them both to stand beside her and riff. It provides the opportunity for something the world has been waiting for ever since a young Grande earned the nickname “Baby Mariah”: They look at each other respectfully, inhale deeply, and harmonize their whistle notes. This must be the exact sound heard when the Covid-19 vaccine enters one’s bloodstream.In “A Holly Dolly Christmas,” Dolly Parton offers the crackling warmth of a hearth.Credit…CBSA woman who might know is Dolly Parton, generous Moderna vaccine trial donor and star of the heartwarming CBS special “A Holly Dolly Christmas.” An hourlong show originally made for Sunday-night broadcast on CBS (and now streaming on CBS All Access), hers is the most traditional of the bunch, and hardly the flashiest: “It’s not a big Hollywood production show, as I’m sure you’ve noticed,” Parton says, gesturing around a set meant to look like a homey church. But she also specifies, “We have managed to do this show safely …. testing, wearing masks and social distancing.”Parton is such a charismatic presence that she doesn’t need guest stars, plot twists, or costume changes to keep this a transfixing show. Whether she’s hamming it up during “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” or filling the spiritual “Mary, Did You Know?” with empathic emotion, her special offers the crackling warmth of a hearth. Before singing her classic “Coat of Many Colors,” she tells a moving story about her late mother’s selflessness, her painted eyes brimming full of tears the entire time. Just try not to cry along with her.Earlier in the fall, Stephen Colbert showed just how tall an order that is, when he was reduced to tears after Parton burst into a ballad a cappella during their televised interview. “Like a lot of Americans,” he explained, “I’m under a lot of stress right now, Dolly!” It’s nothing to be ashamed of, though: Plenty believe there’s something deeply cathartic about Parton’s voice and her overall demeanor. As Lydia R. Hamessley writes in her recent book “Unlikely Angel: The Songs of Dolly Parton,” “For many listeners, the restorative effect of Dolly’s music seems to flow to them directly from Dolly herself, so they often experience her as a healer.” Which sounds like something we could all use right about now. As Parton spins yarns about her humble beginnings and sings songs of enduring faith in the face of despair, “A Holly Dolly Christmas” might, actually, be an effective cure for the 2020 holiday blues.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

    • 163 Shares129 Views

      in Television

      Late Night Compares Trump Health Adviser, Paul Alexander, to a Comic Book Villain

      by

      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyBest of Late NightLate Night Compares Trump Health Adviser, Paul Alexander, to a Comic Book VillainThe former Health and Human Services adviser’s leaked emails encouraged herd immunity to deal with the pandemic, writing of Americans, “We want them infected.”Stephen Colbert said on Thursday night that the Department of Health and Human Services should be changed to “the Department of Hell and Human Sacrifice.”Credit…CBSDec. 18, 2020, 1:48 a.m. ETWelcome 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. We’re all stuck at home at the moment, so here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.‘Department of Hell and Human Sacrifice’Stephen Colbert left his remote studio to interview President-elect Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, together in Wilmington, Del., on Thursday night. But before their conversation, he weighed in on former Health and Human Services science adviser Paul Alexander’s leaked emails urging health officials to adopt a “herd immunity” approach to Covid-19.“If your plan to save humanity involves killing millions of people, you’re not a health adviser; you’re a Marvel villain.” — STEPHEN COLBERT[embedded content]Seth Meyers agreed with Colbert’s villainous assessment, taking issue with Alexander’s writing of Americans, “We want them infected.”“‘We want them infected.’ That is some real super villain [expletive] right there. I mean, Bane might say that, but even he wouldn’t put it down in an email.” — SETH MEYERS“Just think about how monstrous and sociopathic that is — they wanted people to get sick. I know in the Trump era, every news story lasts five minutes and our brains have all been turned to mush by the constant crush of insanity, but this story should never be forgotten. Anyone who enabled this should be held accountable for it. You can’t just let something like this go. You go through your spouse’s things and find a bunch of love letters to an ex saying, ‘I want my husband to die,’ you don’t just toss it in the trash and say, ‘Oh, well. Water under the bridge.’” — SETH MEYERSThe Punchiest Punchlines (Pushing Trump’s Buttons Edition)“In January, Atlantic City is blowing up a former Trump casino, and the highest bidder in a live auction will be the one to press the button. I say we hold Biden’s inauguration in Atlantic City, and then let him push the button.” — JIMMY FALLON“We should chip in and get this for Hillary Clinton, right?” — JIMMY KIMMEL“You know two seconds before they do it, Eric Trump is going to wander out of the front door like, ‘Is the event not inside?’” — JIMMY FALLON“Of course, the easiest way to make a Trump casino implode is to just put Trump back in charge of running it again.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Bits Worth WatchingDua Lipa and Jimmy Fallon performed “Christmas Is All Around,” better known as the song from the movie “Love Actually,” on Thursday’s “Tonight Show.”Also, Check This OutSome of television’s best moments of 2020 came in, clockwise from left, “Sherman’s Showcase,” “What We Do in the Shadows,” “Saturday Night Live” and “The Midnight Gospel.”Credit…Clockwise from top left, Michael Moriatis/IFC; Russ Martin/FX; Will Heath/NBC; NetflixThe best television episodes of 2020 include a dream dinner party on “Bojack Horseman,” election week’s celebratory “Saturday Night Live” and the beginning of the docuseries “The History of the Seattle Mariners, a Dorktown Special,” on SB Nation.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More