Television

Lynn Cohen, the veteran actress best known for her role as Magda on the hit HBO series “Sex and the City,” died on Feb. 14 at her home in Manhattan. She was 86.Her death was confirmed by her son, Laurence Frazen.Ms. Cohen was seen in numerous movies and television shows, and in both Broadway and Off Broadway stage productions. But she didn’t achieve her greatest fame until late in life, through her role as Magda, the stern Eastern European housekeeper employed by Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) on “Sex and the City.”“I auditioned and they called me right away to do the episode, but my mother was turning 90 years old in Texas,” Ms. Cohen said in a 2018 interview with Cosmopolitan. “I said, ‘I would love to do this but I’m sorry, I have to be with my mother and she’s turning 90 and she’s sexier than anybody on the show.’ And they moved the date for me.”Magda first appeared in the show’s third season, in 2000. Ms. Cohen was supposed to appear in only one episode, “Attack of the Five Foot Ten Woman,” in which Magda memorably replaces Miranda’s vibrator with a statue of the Virgin Mary and later tells her that she’ll need to learn to cook if she ever wants a boyfriend.But the character returned in 12 more episodes over the following seasons and in both “Sex and the City” movies. When Miranda had a baby, Magda became her nanny.Lynn Harriet Kay was born on Aug. 10, 1933, in Kansas City, Mo. Her father, Louis Kay, was a salesman; her mother, Bertha (Cornsweet) Kay, worked in retail.After spending a year at the University of Wisconsin and a year at Northwestern University, Lynn Kay moved to St. Louis. While there she played roles in regional theater productions and taught at a summer theater program.Her marriage in 1957 to Gilbert Frazen ended in divorce in 1960. She married Ronald Cohen, an actor and writer, in 1964.Ms. Cohen and her husband moved to New York City when she was in her mid-40s, and she made her Off Broadway debut in 1979 in “Don Juan Comes Back From the War.” Over the next decades she appeared in more than a dozen Off Broadway productions, including “Hamlet,” “The Traveling Lady,” “I Remember Mama” and “Total Eclipse.”Ms. Cohen made her Broadway debut in 1989 in Peter Hall’s production of Tennessee Williams’s “Orpheus Descending.” Her second and last Broadway appearance was in a 1997 production of Chekhov’s “Ivanov.”In 2013, Ms. Cohen played Mags, an 80-year-old woman who volunteers to participate in the dystopian competition in “Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” Her many other film credits include Woody Allen’s “Manhattan Murder Mystery” (1993) and Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” (2005), in which she played Golda Meir.Among her television credits were “Law & Order,” on which she played a judge in 12 episodes from 1993 to 2006, as well as “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Blue Bloods,” “The Affair,” “Chicago Med,” “Damages” and “Nurse Jackie.”In addition to her son, she is survived by her husband and two grandchildren. More

What’s on TVWHITMER THOMAS: THE GOLDEN ONE (2020) 10 p.m. on HBO; stream on HBO platforms. The Los Angeles-based comedian, actor and musician Whitmer Thomas keeps audiences guessing with his unusual, deeply personal sets. Is it appropriate to laugh when he performs his goth-pop song “Partied to Death?” (“My mommy drank herself to death/and I know she tried her very best/But now I can’t party because my mommy partied to death.”) Such painful realizations are sprinkled throughout this new comedy special, filmed at the same Florida bar where Thomas’s mother used to perform with her band. Much of the special is on the lighter side, though. Thomas riffs on his childhood in Alabama and his time in an emo rock band, and performs songs from his upcoming debut record, “Songs From the Golden One.”51ST N.A.A.C.P. IMAGE AWARDS 8 p.m. on BET. This annual awards show celebrates the work of people of color in film, television, music and literature. Netflix leads going into the show, with nominations for “Dear White People,” “When They See Us” and “American Son,” among others. Lizzo received six nominations, including entertainer of the year, while Beyoncé has eight, including best female artist and documentary, for “Homecoming.” Anthony Anderson returns as host.ALMOST FAMILY 8 p.m. on Fox. This drama series, based on the Australian show “Sisters,” requires that you shut off your critical thinking switch for a moment. Julia (Brittany Snow) learns that she’s not an only child after all when her father, a successful fertility doctor, admits he used his own genetic material to conceive dozens of children over the years. The news unites Julia with two half sisters (played by Megalyn Echikunwoke and Emily Osment), and the three find comfort in their connection. If you’re wondering whether the father faces any repercussions for impregnating all those women, this two-hour season finale follows a trial brought against him in court.THE HIDDEN KINGDOMS OF CHINA 9 p.m. on National Geographic. Michelle Yeoh (“Crazy Rich Asians”) narrates this two-hour special on China’s landscape and diverse wildlife. We get a glimpse of soaring mountains and tropical jungles, and meet animals like the giant panda and the Tibetan fox.What’s StreamingMS. PURPLE (2019) Stream on Hulu; rent on Amazon, Google Play, Vudu or YouTube. This melancholic drama from Justin Chon (“Gook”) dissects the reunion of two siblings in Los Angeles’s Koreatown. Kasie (Tiffany Chu), a karaoke hostess, is left reeling after her bedridden father’s live-in nurse quits. With little help in sight, she reaches out to her aimless, estranged brother, Carey (Teddy Lee). Both have yet to recover from their mother’s abandonment years ago. Tending to their dying father lays bare their wounds and offers them a chance to regain a sense of family. Jeannette Catsoulis named the movie a Critic’s Pick in her review for The New York Times, calling it “a moody, downbeat drama soaked in color and saturated with sadness.” More

Warner Bros. Television

That is not the only time that Jenn Lahmers appears to piss Seales off in an interview with other ‘The Real’ co-hosts as she calls her ‘newbie’ while talking about the daytime talk show hitting its 1000th episode.
Feb 22, 2020
AceShowbiz – “The Real” co-hosts were celebrating for the show’s 1000th episode and stopped by “Extra TV” for an interview with Jenn Lahmers. As they talked about the exciting milestone that the daytime talk show hit, things went well during the interview. However, that changed after Lashmers brought the topic of alleged tension between Amanda Seales and fellow co-host Jeannie Mai up to the discussion.
At one point, Lashmers pointed out to Seales, “You and Jeannie have butted heads on a couple of topics…,” before Seales quickly cut her off . “Have we? Stop… No because you know what…,” Seales snapped.
“It comes with the territory, right?” Lashmers continued to ask, to which Seales responded, “That’s not the territory we’re coming from. We’re not butting heads. And I think it’s very, very important, especially at a table of diverse women….” Mai agreed and encouraged Seales to continue explaining, saying, “Say it.”
“…to very clearly delineate the difference between having a difference of opinion than butting heads. You’ll know when I’m butting heads because when I butt heads, there’s only going to be one head standing and as you can see, we’re still here,” Seales added. Seales and Mai then quietly toasted one another.
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That was not the only time that Lashmers appeared to piss Seales off. Earlier in the interview, Lashmers said, “1,000 episodes. Does it feel like it’s six seasons, already?..I mean not for you because you’re a newbie.” Seales looked at the camera and deadpanned, “But I been in this game for a long time.” Co-host Loni Love could also be seen assuring Seales by holding Seales’ hands and giving her a nod of approval.

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WENN/Brian To

Confessing that he was not genuinely prepared for life after the hit TV series, the star and director of ‘A Quiet Place’ claims that casting directors were ‘afraid’ to work with certain cast members.
Feb 22, 2020
AceShowbiz – John Krasinski struggled to adapt to life after “The Office” came to an end as casting directors were “afraid” to work with alumni from the show.
The actor played the beloved character, Jim Halpert, for nine seasons on the hit TV series, which came to an end in 2013 – something he told Esquire he “wasn’t prepared” for.
“‘The Office’ was so big at the time, but I think a lot of people were afraid to cast certain cast members in anything else because they were just known as that one thing, which I completely understood,” he said. “It wasn’t an aggressive anger towards it. It was just a reality that I think I wasn’t, if I’m honest, genuinely prepared for.”

However, the “A Quiet Place” star confessed he would “absolutely love to do” a reunion special with stars including Jenna Fischer, Rainn Wilson and Ellie Kemper if the opportunity arose, adding: “‘The Office’ was absolutely everything to me. I mean it is my beginning and my end. I’m pretty sure at the end of my career I’ll still be known for Jim. That was my first experience with Hollywood. It was the first creative family I’ve ever had.”
The 40-year-old continued: “In many ways, they will always be the most important people in that most important experience in my career. So yeah, if they did a reunion, I would absolutely love to do it.”

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NBC

The announcement of the big news was made after stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow and others post the same promotional photo of the cast of the popular series.
Feb 22, 2020
AceShowbiz – It’s really happening! It has been revealed that the cast of “Friends” will be reprising their roles for a reunion special that is set for HBO Max.
The announcement of the big news was made on Friday, February 21 when stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer simultaneously posted the same promotional photo of the cast. “It’s happening….” they wrote in the caption.
Matt LeBlanc also teased the reunion special. However, instead of the same photo that others posted on their respective accounts, the Joey Tribbiani depicter shared a photo of the cast of 1970 CBS Korean war set medical drama “M*A*S*H”. “i don’t remember this episode of friends,” one confused fan said in the comment section. “Joey thats no the photo!!!!” one other added.

“Of curse. Of all the 5 actors, Joey/Matt is the one to post a completely random picture,” another fan noted. Meanwhile, someone wasn’t exactly surprised because “THIS IS SUCH A YOU THING IM LIVING FOR IT.”
The special, as well as all 236 episodes of “Friends”, will be available upon the streaming service’s debut. “Guess you could call this the one where they all got back together — we are reuniting with David, Jennifer, Courteney, Matt, Lisa, and Matthew for an HBO Max special that will be programmed alongside the entire ‘Friends’ library,” said Kevin Reilly, chief content officer at HBO Max and president of TBS, TNT, and truTV, in a statement.
“I became aware of ‘Friends’ when it was in the very early stages of development and then had the opportunity to work on the series many years later and have delighted in seeing it catch on with viewers generation after generation. It taps into an era when friends – and audiences – gathered together in real time and we think this reunion special will capture that spirit, uniting original and new fans,” he added.
Ben Winston is tapped to direct the special in addition to serving as executive produce alongside “Friends” executive producers Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane. Also executive producing the special are Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc, Perry and Schwimmer with Emma Conway and James Longman on board as co-executive producers. Warner Bros. Unscripted & Alternative Television and Fulwell 73 Productions are behind the program.

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Charles Hobson, an Emmy Award-winning producer who helped shatter racial stereotypes by delivering a black perspective that had been missing from early television programming, died on Feb. 13 in the Bronx. He was 83.His daughter Hallie Spencer Hobson confirmed his death, from heart failure, in a hospital.Mr. Hobson, who lived in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, was instrumental in the success of the groundbreaking series “Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant” and “Like It Is,” which introduced white audiences to everyday life in black communities. Those places had been largely invisible, or defined by negative images, during the first decades of TV’s evolution.His programs not only provided a singular perspective on contemporary issues; they also gave an unfiltered voice to people who had been neglected when television was struggling through its adolescence.“Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant,” which ran from 1968 until 1970 on WNEW-TV in New York, has been called the city’s first regular program written, produced and presented by black people.“Here was not a ‘ghetto’ filled with enraged protesters and rioters,” Charles Musser, who teaches film and media at Yale University, has written. “Here were people struggling to live their lives with dignity, grace and ambition.”The show’s 52 half-hour episodes featured entertainers like Eubie Blake, Harry Belafonte and the drummer Max Roach; the champion pool player Cisero Murphy; and uncelebrated local teachers, police officers and street performers. It was broadcast at 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. but still managed to find an audience. Social historians regard it as a vital video time capsule of an urban neighborhood.“This was a way for blacks to hear their voices,’‘ Mr. Hobson told The New York Times in 1998. “Here’s a community of about 400,000 people at that time, with all of their culture and churches, and no coverage.”“People spoke their hearts and their minds,” he said of the residents featured on the program. “They didn’t know how to do anything else at that time because there weren’t any models.”Mr. Hobson had an impact not only on black audiences but also on white viewers, who were introduced to people, places and problems they might not have contemplated before.Rhea L. Combs, supervisory curator of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture, said in an email that Mr. Hobson “gave voice to black communities at a time their issues, triumphs and concerns were either ignored or misrepresented in mainstream media.”Charles Blagrove Hobson was born on June 23, 1936, in Brooklyn to West Indian immigrants. His father, Charles, was a machinist who worked for the city’s Housing Authority. His mother, Cordelia (Spencer) Hobson, was a maid.Charles grew up in a brownstone on Hancock Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant; the family moved to an apartment in Crown Heights after he was mugged when he was 18. He graduated from Boys High School, earned a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College in 1960 and served in the Army.Lore has it that after college, when he was working temporarily as a rug salesman, he was listening to the listener-supported New York FM station WBAI and grew so exasperated by its subpar treatment of black gospel music that he contacted the station to complain. He was invited to host his own weekly show to prove he could do better. He did, and in 1963 the station hired him full time.Mr. Hobson was WBAI’s production director until 1967 and later a producer for television stations in Washington and New York.“Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant” was conceived by Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, a community development group, and began with a $45,000 budget. It was hosted by James C. Lowry and the actress Roxie Roker, a local resident who was later a regular on the sitcom “The Jeffersons.”“It’s so unplanned, it’s so informal, it’s so — I hate to use the word — but genuine,” Professor Musser said of the program in 1998. “Just about anyone in the community could show up and be on TV.”Mr. Hobson was also the first black producer of the WABC-TV program “Like It Is,” another early public affairs program that focused on minority issues. (The program, which ran from 1968 to 2011, had a black host, Gil Noble, but originally an all-white production staff.) “Like It Is” won seven local Emmy Awards.In the late 1970s, Mr. Hobson was senior vice president for international co-productions at WETA in Washington.He produced the 13-week PBS series “From Jumpstreet: A Story of Black Music” (1980) and the nine-part PBS-BBC co-production “The Africans” (1986). In 1989, he was hired to be the director of market planning for WNET, the New York public television station. He taught film in Munich as a Fulbright scholar in 1996.In the 1980s he began Vanguard Documentaries, which produced “Porgy and Bess: An American Voice” (1998) and “Harlem in Montmartre: Paris Jazz” (2009) for “Great Performances” on PBS, and Treasures of New York: The Flatiron Building” (2014) for WNET.In addition to his daughter Hallie, from his marriage to Cheryl Chisholm, which ended in divorce, he is survived by his wife, Maren Stange; their daughter, Clara Hobson; a sister, Delvita Lovell; and a brother, George. His first marriage, to Andrea Marquez, also ended in divorce.Mr. Hobson left New York temporarily in 1972 to become director of the Center for Mass Communications at Clark College in Atlanta (now Clark Atlanta University), seeking a respite from the whirlwind of the broadcast industry.“In addition to the job stress, no position can insulate a black from the pressures of being black in this society,” he told The New York Times Magazine in 1982.“My success is based on coming up with interesting, culturally redeeming projects and finding the money and staff to oversee the production and distribute the program,” he added. “I’ve made a lot of progress. It makes you feel good when you realize that you can succeed in their system.” More

Don’t worry if it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month or even your year: The cast of “Friends” is making a comeback to your TV screen.Fifteen years after audiences last saw Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey on network television, the gang is returning for an untitled, unscripted exclusive special for HBO Max, a new streaming service. In addition to the special, subscribers will also have access to all 236 episodes of the Emmy Award-winning series when the streaming service makes its debut in May, executives said in a statement on Friday.“Guess you could call this the one where they all got back together — we are reuniting with David, Jennifer, Courteney, Matt, Lisa and Matthew for an HBO Max special that will be programmed alongside the entire ‘Friends’ library,” said Kevin Reilly, the streaming service’s chief content officer.On Instagram, cast members posted a Rolling Stone cover photo from the show’s early days.“It’s happening,” they wrote.The announcement of the unscripted special comes just weeks after the show’s removal from Netflix.“Friends” has enjoyed a rich cultural afterlife, as audiences rediscovered — or, for younger viewers, discovered for the first time — the show in reruns or on streaming services.In 2014, a replica of Central Perk, a fictional coffee shop that figured heavily as a setting in the show’s 10-season run, was set up in the SoHo section of Manhattan to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its debut. More

The Umbrella Academy, the comic book series about the adopted siblings and misfit heroes who inspired the Netflix show by the same name, is getting a spinoff: You Look Like Death.This six-issue story is written by Gerard Way — who cocreated the comic book series and is an executive producer of the TV show — with Shaun Simon. It will be drawn by I.N.J. Culbard. This is Simon’s first work on the Umbrella Academy, but he previously wrote the comic book The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys with Way, in 2013.Dark Horse Comics will publish part one of You Look Like Death in June. The comic will focus on Séance (also known as Klaus Hargreeves), who is a heavy drinker and drug user who can communicate with the dead. Séance finds himself in Hollywood and alone when he runs into trouble.It is a flashback tale set around 10 years before Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite, which was the first volume of the comic book series. “I imagined a pretty wild decade for Klaus — full of ups and downs, seedy places, supernatural excursions and internal battles,” Way said in a statement.The Umbrella Academy, which debuted in 2007, was created with the artist Gabriel Bá, who is also an executive producer of the TV show. The comic won an Eisner Award, the industry equivalent of an Oscar, for best finite series in 2008. The third and most recent volume, Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion, was published last year. For fans of the TV series, a teaser about Season 2 appeared on Wednesday: An image showing the umbrella logo was posted on Twitter with the tagline “When are they?” More