Television

Subterms

    More stories

    • 100 Shares149 Views

      in Television

      ‘Somebody Somewhere’ Is Back for Its Final Season

      by

      The HBO dramedy about a Kansas woman finding love and community after tragedy returns for its third and final season on Sunday.Bridget Everett in a scene from Season 3 of “Somebody Somewhere.”Sandy Morris/HBO“Somebody Somewhere,” a perfect dramedy starring Bridget Everett as a Kansas woman finding love and community after her sister’s death, returns for its third and final season starting Sunday at 10:30 p.m., on HBO. The show is full of ecstatic tenderness and easy warmth, but it avoids pat tidiness.Sam (Everett) is ebullient and loyal, and over the course of the series, her life has stabilized a lot: The cold clutch of grief has loosened, her friendship with Joel (Jeff Hiller, fantastic) continues to blossom, and she’s more comfortable singing in front of everyone. But her battle between vulnerability and defensiveness wages on. As often as “Somebody” is a detailed taxonomy of love — platonic, familial, religious, romantic — it is also a portrait of loneliness. Perhaps there is no such thing as “enough” love, the show admits; things can be wonderful without being perfect, and they can be painful but still worth it. Even the seemingly simple love of a dog comes with complications.One of my favorite parts of “Somebody” is how often the characters laugh. They all find each other screamingly funny, for good reason, and they’re all able to laugh at themselves, too. Usually when we think about Big Acting Moments, they’re quivering, tearful monologues, sobbing or ranting. “Somebody” certainly has those, but its more cathartic scenes are ones of laughter — where the real bonding happens, the real changes, the real surrender. They are also where the ensemble shines the brightest.One of the primary arcs of the show is about Sam’s re-embracing her singing voice, and in the first episode of Season 3, she sings “Smalltown Boy” alone in her car. She moves through various harmonies but then backs off a big wail, sighing that she wishes she could hit that note. But it seems like she could hit it, if she could relax into it and be a little brave.“I’ve never been comfortable expressing my feelings in public, you know?” admits Brad (Tim Bagley), Joel’s prim and adoring boyfriend. “Yeah, I think I understand that,” Sam replies. “I think that’s what’s so great about singing: Somehow the music just makes it so much easier. It’s like you’re not doing it alone.” More

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in Television

      Erin and Sara Foster Discuss ‘Nobody Wants This’ and Their ‘IVF, Baby’ Shirts

      by

      Sara and Erin Foster took a short break to discuss the hit show loosely based on Erin’s life, everyone’s love of Adam Brody and their advocacy for reproductive rights.On Tuesday morning, Sara and Erin Foster, the sisters behind the Netflix series “Nobody Wants This,” joined a video call from their respective homes in Los Angeles. Sara, 43, was wearing an oversize sweatshirt, and Erin, 42, was in a bathrobe.The sisters are known for their laid-back style, but by any standards they’ve had a busy month.“Nobody Wants This” premiered Sept. 26, rising to the top of Netflix’s ratings within a week. The show, which is written by Erin and produced by both sisters, was inspired by Erin’s real-life love story of falling in love with her now-husband, the music executive Simon Tikhman, before converting to Judaism. In the Netflix version of the story, Joanne, a blonde, agnostic relationship podcaster played by Kristen Bell, and Noah, a bearded rabbi played by Adam Brody, navigate the various hurdles of getting into a serious relationship.Last week, with less than a month before Election Day, the Fosters also waded into the debate over reproductive rights and in vitro fertilization. They released a limited edition T-shirt through their fashion brand, Favorite Daughter, with the bold, black words, “IVF, Baby.” (The sisters partnered with CCRM Fertility on the project. All proceeds will be donated to Resolve: the National Infertility Association.)“They just launched like four days ago, so we haven’t had a chance to run into anyone wearing them yet, but we hope we do,” said Erin, who underwent 20 rounds of I.V.F. before welcoming a daughter in May. Sara, who has two daughters with her ex-partner, the former tennis star Tommy Haas, said sales were higher than expected.The sisters chatted about this whirlwind time in their lives.This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 88 Shares169 Views

      in Television

      Late Night Condemns Trump for Stanning Hitler

      by

      On Wednesday, Seth Meyers said he was “starting to think Trump doesn’t watch the ends of documentaries.”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.‘Mein Bad’Donald Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, John Kelly, said the former president had said more than once while in office that Adolf Hitler “did some good things.”On Wednesday, Seth Meyers said he was “starting to think Trump doesn’t watch the ends of documentaries.”“Once you have to explain to someone that Hitler is bad, there’s not much else to talk about. You don’t see many first dates survive that.” — SETH MEYERS“Seriously, Trump, Hitler never did anything good. He even sucked at waving. Like, dude, God gave you elbows — use them.” — MICHAEL KOSTA“I don’t even think you have to know history. You can probably get all the info you need from Mel Brooks movies and Bugs Bunny cartoons.” — SETH MEYERS“This is the first election where reporters have to ask, ‘Who’d you root for when you watched ‘Saving Private Ryan’?” — JIMMY FALLON“Trump made it worse today when he said, ‘Oops, mein bad.’” — JIMMY FALLONThe Punchiest Punchlines (Lose Yourself Edition)“At a campaign event in Detroit, Eminem introduced Barack Obama. Which makes sense, they both made a career out of pretending to be Black.” — GREG GUTFELD“You know, somewhere, Trump is yelling at his aides: [imitating Trump] ‘How could M&Ms betray me? I don’t understand. Is there no loyalty?’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“But it’s nice to see Obama pay homage to Eminem because it means that Black people have finally accepted that Eminem is the greatest rapper of all time. And look — no, stop — I know how it feels. I went through it every time Tiger Woods won a golf tournament, OK?” — MICHAEL KOSTA“Was that song Osama bin Laden? Because Obama killed it.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“I will say, maybe Obama should skip that line about ‘dropping bombs,’ you know? Are you still rapping, or are you doing a drone strike?” — MICHAEL KOSTAThe Bits Worth WatchingMembers of the New York Liberty joined Jimmy Fallon for a team selfie celebrating their WNBA championship on Wednesday’s “Tonight Show.”What We’re Excited About on Thursday NightJulia Louis-Dreyfus will take “The Colbert Questionert” on Thursday’s “Late Show.”Also, Check This OutThe gang’s all here for the sixth and final season of “What We Do in the Shadows.”Russ Martin/FXThe vampire comedy series “What We Do in the Shadows” returned for its sixth and final season on FX and Hulu this week. More

    • 163 Shares189 Views

      in Television

      Ron Ely, Who Played an Updated Tarzan in the 1960s, Dies at 86

      by

      He later built a career as a reliable TV guest star. His life turned tragic in 2019 when his son killed Mr. Ely’s wife and was then shot to death by the police.Ron Ely, a veteran television actor best known for his role as an educated, urbane vine-swinger on the 1960s show “Tarzan,” died on Sept. 29 at the home of one of his daughters near Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 86.That daughter, Kirsten Ely, announced the death on Wednesday on social media. It had not been previously reported.A tall, muscled Texas native, Mr. Ely (pronounced “EE-lee”) had made his name by the early 1960s as a reliable supporting actor on popular TV shows like the sitcoms “Father Knows Best,” “How to Marry a Millionaire” and “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” before landing the lead role on “Tarzan” in 1966.The show, which ran on NBC for 57 episodes across two seasons, featured a Tarzan updated for a modern audience. Gone were the semi-verbal grunts of previous iterations; in this version, Tarzan had left the jungle and learned the ways of modern civilization before deciding to return to the creature comforts of his former home.Gone, too, was Jane, Tarzan’s traditional love interest, though Cheetah, his chimpanzee sidekick, remained.Mr. Ely performed almost all his own stunts, which left him with two broken shoulders, a torn back muscle and two lion bites.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 100 Shares189 Views

      in Television

      Danny Amendola’s ‘DWTS’ Lift Inspires TikTok Dance Trend

      by

      Danny Amendola’s smooth lift on “Dancing With the Stars” spawned numerous imitators (with varying results). TikTok cautions users that it can be dangerous.Katie Fraser and her fiancé, Amandeep Sandhu, woke up the other day feeling sore and experiencing mild pain. They hadn’t fallen out of bed or exercised vigorously, though it felt that way. Rather, they had tried to recreate a move done by Danny Amendola on the ABC show “Dancing With the Stars.”On an episode that aired on Oct. 15, Mr. Amendola, 38, a former N.F.L. player, and his partner, Witney Carson, a dancer and choreographer, performed a sexy routine set to the song “Unsteady” by X Ambassadors. At around the 45-second mark, Mr. Amendola lifted Ms. Carson, who was laying on the ground, by pulling her up by her ankle.The pair, who performed the move seamlessly, drew immediate cheers from the studio audience. They also unwittingly created a trend on TikTok as others have tried to recreate the move, which apparently is so difficult that TikTok added a disclaimer to some of the videos. “Participating in this activity could result in you or others getting hurt,” it reads.“I had seen their dance posted online and I thought it was absolutely beautiful,” Ms. Fraser, 28, wrote in an email. “Then I saw the TikTok trend going around of other couples trying and begged my fiancé to try it with me.”Like Johnny’s iconic lift of Baby in the movie “Dirty Dancing,” Mr. Amendola’s lift of Ms. Carson has proved appealing for many, but is considerably harder than it looks.

      @mollythemom @Dancing with the Stars #DWTS HERE WE COME! Dance by @Witney Carson ♬ original sound – Walmart Amy Adams

      @madismellie Why is this all I want to do now😂💃🙈 @Dancing with the Stars #DWTS @Witney Carson #leglift #husband #witneycarson #dannyamendola #mykindofdatenight ♬ Unsteady – X Ambassadors We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares149 Views

      in Television

      ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Returns One Last Time

      by

      One of TV’s few great funny ha-ha comedies begins its sixth and final season this week on FX and Hulu.One of my absolute favorite shows, FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows,” is back for its sixth and final season, with three new episodes now streaming on Hulu. The show, set within a household of vampires on Staten Island, remains goofy and grotesque, full of warped zingers and silly asides.Only the first three episodes of the season were made available to critics, and they introduce a few new facets, including a long-dormant additional roommate, Jerry the Vampire (Mike O’Brien). His fellow vampires were supposed to wake him in 1996, and he’s peeved to discover that not only did they let him oversleep for so long, but they also haven’t achieved any of the world-conquering goals they’d all set. Elsewhere, Guillermo, the lovable familiar, has re-entered the regular human work force — first at Panera and then at a financial firm (where they keep odd hours … hmm…).In the wake of Jerry’s disapproval, Laszlo (Matt Berry) feels motivated to get back to the lab and take another crack at one of his hideous experiments. Colin (Mark Proksch) tags along, and lo, he too has a knack for freaky discoveries. “Another young scientist inspired,” Laszlo crows. “First Mr. Oppenheimer, and now Colin Robinson.”“Shadows” faces the most vexing question for both vampires and sitcoms: Does anything change? It’s the curse and comfort of immortality and comedy alike, that everything tends to — has to? — reset and reset and reset to the norm. Even when “Shadows” stretches itself with format, as in Season 4’s brilliant HGTV episode, or in season-long surprise arcs, as with Colin’s gleefully bizarre death and rebirth, everything finds its way back to how it always was.My fondest hope is that “Shadows” has a few final tricks up its sleeve, but even its waning fifth season brought me plenty of joy last year. At a time when funny ha-ha comedies are rare, losing one of our jokiest shows stings extra hard. More

    • 125 Shares179 Views

      in Television

      Seth Meyers Isn’t as Nice as You Think He Is

      by

      There was a hole in Seth Meyers’s office at “Saturday Night Live” for seven years.A sketch he’d written was cut for someone else’s piece, and in a fit of what Meyers described as “door-slamming petulance,” he threw the dressing room entrance open so hard that the door handle went through the wall. Michael Shoemaker, a producer on the show who has become perhaps Meyers’s closest professional partner, refused to get the crater fixed.“I want you to see it every day,” Meyers recalled Shoemaker telling him. “I want you to remember how small of a thing it was.”Shoemaker said his response to Meyers’s tantrum was a little simpler: “Stop it,” he told him. Then Shoemaker quoted Meyers’s father, whom he had gotten to know: “When something goes wrong, you have to think, what is it that you did that you could have done better?”Aggravated pettiness might seem at odds with the persona Meyers has crafted over more than two decades on television: 13 years on “S.N.L.,” with the final eight as an anchor of Weekend Update, followed by a decade as the comedically precise but genial host of “Late Night With Seth Meyers.” He struck a similarly charming note in 2019 in his first stand-up special, “Lobby Baby,” about the birth of his second child in the unexpected location the title suggests.Seth Meyers at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan, where he has a monthly stand-up residency with John Oliver.Sinna Nasseri for The New York TimesHowever, when Meyers’s new HBO special, “Dad Man Walking,” premieres on Saturday, the idea that he could be an antagonist — even if only of the most benign and humorous type — might make more sense. It’s about parenting, specifically the reality that “good parents have moments where they really hate what their kids are doing,” Meyers said. And while the broadly cantankerous tone of the special seems like a departure, it actually reflects a facet of Meyers that has always been there.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 88 Shares169 Views

      in Television

      Angela Merkel Is Solving Crimes on TV

      by

      This fall on TV from the rest of the world: a German small-town murder show called “Miss Merkel,” an Italian “Citadel” and an Israeli act of witness.Plucked from the bountiful fall harvest of international series, this selection of notable shows travels from the sheerly fanciful — Angela Merkel whiling away her retirement investigating small-town murders in “Miss Merkel” — to the achingly real, as survivors of the Oct. 7 attacks tell their stories a year later in the Israeli series “Picture This.”‘The Tower’Gray and quiet in tone, this British cop show is a little like a more serious, less amped-up “Line of Duty” and a little like a simpler, less emotionally walloping “Unforgotten.” Situating it between two of the most absorbing British crime dramas of recent years does not do this modest series (its four-episode third season concluded last week on BritBox) any favors, but it holds its own as a character piece in genre clothing.Gemma Whelan (the seagoing Yara Greyjoy in “Game of Thrones”) stars as Sarah Collins, a by-the-book detective sergeant in a working-class, racially mixed district of south London; the show’s title refers to the apartment building from which a Muslim girl and a policeman fall to their deaths in the first season. Collins is variously allied or at cross purposes with a cocky inspector (Emmett J. Scanlan), a nervous rookie (Tahirah Sharif) and a tough, stoic constable (Jimmy Akingbola) in stories involving agonizing questions of personal and professional conduct; all four are excellent.‘Miss Merkel’Angela Merkel, free of her duties as chancellor of Germany and retired to the fictional Klein Freudenstadt (Little Happy Town), stays sharp by solving the occasional local homicide in two German television movies that premiered Tuesday on MHz Choice. This Merkel, played by the veteran stage actress and director Katharina Thalbach, is a gossipy, evidence-stealing, slightly smug 70-ish pixie whose stern East German upbringing gives her the wherewithal to run rings around feckless local cops in the former West.That attention-grabbing twist on the cozy-village mystery (the films are based on novels by David Safier) does not entirely make up for some lackluster direction and a Teutonic propensity to deliver even sharply written laugh lines with as little expression as possible. But Thalbach’s running patter of political in-jokes and jabs at Merkel’s contemporaries and successors is consistently amusing, even accounting for the number of references that are most likely opaque to American viewers. “How do you manage to exploit me for your own goals against my beliefs?” Mike (Tim Kalkhof), her young bodyguard and reluctant crime-solving partner, plaintively asks, speaking for a generation of European politicians.Matilda De Angelis stars in “Citadel: Diana” as an operative caught between rival spy organizations.Marco Ghidelli/Prime VideoWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More