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      Melissa Benoist Hits the Campaign Trail in ‘The Girls on the Bus’

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      After six years on “Supergirl,” the actor and producer took a crash course in political journalism to prep for a new Max series.Melissa Benoist has made a habit of playing journalists on television.She spent six years as the hero of “Supergirl,” Kara Danvers, who works in media when she’s not saving the world. Now Benoist is taking on the role of a campaign reporter named Sadie McCarthy in the Max series “The Girls on the Bus,” a very loose adaptation of the former New York Times reporter Amy Chozick’s nonfiction book “Chasing Hillary.”But Benoist does not think she’d be a good fit for the profession. Asked about the choice of some political reporters to refrain from voting in the elections they cover, she explained in a phone interview that she would be a “terrible journalist.”“I’m too emotional,” she said. “I’d for sure be biased.”“The Girls on the Bus,” created by Chozick and Julie Plec (“The Vampire Diaries”), is a fictional and frothy account of the lives of women chronicling a series of Democratic presidential contenders on their way to the national convention. Benoist’s Sadie works for a New York Times stand-in called The New York Sentinel, and is given an opportunity to return to the road after being publicly embarrassed during the previous election cycle when a video of her crying after her candidate lost, a journalistic no-no, went viral.The show has a fantastical bent, and not just because Sadie has conversations with the ghost of Hunter S. Thompson (P.J. Sosko). Despite arriving in an election year and taking inspiration from Chozick’s book about covering Hillary Clinton, the political landscape of the show looks very different from our current one. Sadie and her cohorts grapple with familiar topics, but they do so in a sort of parallel universe where the bonds they form while tracking down sources is at the center of the tale.In the series, Benoist’s character, left, competes and bonds with other reporters on the campaign trail played by, from left, Carla Gugino, Christina Elmore and Natasha Behnam.Nicole Rivelli/MaxFor Benoist, the show is her first series regular role since “Supergirl” and her first venture as a producer. In an interview, she discussed her crash course in political reporting and why that word “girl” keeps following her around. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.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

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      ‘The Late Show’ Goes Live to Recap the State of the Union

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      “Depending on what happens in November, next year might just be a Kid Rock concert and an immigrant catapult,” Stephen 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.Biden State of Mind“The Late Show” went live on Thursday night, after President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.Stephen Colbert said that the press had so far described Biden’s address as “feisty, fiery, heated, supreme, crunch wrap. I’m sorry. It’s really late and I’m hungry.”“It was kind of a tense night, because it feels like this might be the last time we get a State of the Union. Depending on what happens in November, next year might just be a Kid Rock concert and an immigrant catapult.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Now, coming into tonight’s speech, critics said Biden’s State of the Union challenge was to dispel ‘old-man vibes.’ Really? In Congress? Kinda hard to fight off the old-man vibe when you’re speaking to a room that looks like an open casket convention.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“On the Democratic side, they wore white. On the Republican side, they were white.” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Punchiest Punchlines (State of the Union Edition)“Well, guys, if you’re watching at home, I assume you’re still cleaning up from your big State of the Union party. Yeah. What kind of wings do you want — right wing, left wing?” — JIMMY FALLON“Yeah, earlier tonight, President Biden delivered the annual State of the Union address, and Biden’s speech was historic. It was the first time that the font size on the teleprompter was 8,000.” — JIMMY FALLON“Biden looked out at the members of Congress and said, ‘Finally, a place where I seem pretty young.’” — JIMMY FALLON“Thanks to rules giving former members of Congress floor access, George Santos attended the State of the Union. Come on! You can’t just go back to your old job like you never left — unless you’re Jon Stewart. Keep it up, Jon! You’re crushing it.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“Tonight, the room was filled with over 500 members of Congress, but Senator Mitch McConnell wasn’t there. Well, he attended, but he wasn’t there.” — JIMMY FALLON“Ahead of the president’s arrival there, members of the Supreme Court filed in. Interestingly, Justice Clarence Thomas did not attend. It’s nice to know he’s willing to recuse himself from something.” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Bits Worth WatchingOn Thursday’s “Daily Show,” Ronny Chieng asked his “Kung Fu Panda 4” co-star Awkwafina to interview him about his role in the movie.Also, Check This OutKaty O’Brian and Kristen Stewart in “Love Lies Bleeding.”Anna Kooris/A24Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian find love in a hopeless place in Rose Glass’s new neo-noir thriller “Love Lies Bleeding.” More

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      in Music

      Steve Lawrence, Who Sang His Listeners Down Memory Lane, Dies at 88

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      With his wife, Eydie Gorme, and sometimes on his own, he kept pop standards in vogue long past their prime. He also acted on television and on Broadway.Steve Lawrence, the mellow baritone nightclub, television and recording star who with his wife and partner, the soprano Eydie Gorme, kept pop standards in vogue long past their prime and took America on musical walks down memory lane for a half-century, died on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 88.The cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease, said Susan DuBow, a spokeswoman for the family. He had been diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s in 2019.Billed as “Steve and Eydie” at Carnegie Hall concerts, on television and at glitzy hotels in Las Vegas, the remarkably durable couple remained steadfast to their pop style as rock ’n’ roll took America by storm in the 1950s and ’60s. Long after the millennium, they were still rendering songs like “Our Love Is Here to Stay,” “Just in Time” and “One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)” for audiences that seemed to grow old with them.Mr. Lawrence and Ms. Gorme recording in the 1960s. As Steve and Eydie, they performed at Carnegie Hall, on television and in Las Vegas.via Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesMr. Lawrence, a cantor’s son from Brooklyn, and Ms. Gorme, a Bronx-born daughter of Sephardic Jewish immigrants, met professionally in 1953 as regular singers on “The Steve Allen Show” a late-night show on NBC’s New York station that would go national the next year as “Tonight.” Their romance might have been the plot of an MGM musical of the ’40s, with spats, breakups, reconciliations and plenty of songs.When they finally decided to get married, Mr. Lawrence and Ms. Gorme faced a roadblock, as they recalled in a dressing-room interview with The New York Times at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas in 1992.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

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      What to Watch This Weekend: A Surreal Family Comedy

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      The Turkish series “A Round of Applause” offers a fresh and surprising vision of anxiety and alienation.Cihat Suvarioglu in a scene from “A Round of Applause.”NetflixThe Turkish series “A Round of Applause” (in Turkish, with subtitles, or dubbed) is a vivid, imaginative depiction of family neuroses. The concept of sublimated despair is a pillar of contemporary television, but the show’s surrealism is fresh and surprising — made even more so by the sense of creeping sameness of so many other shows right now.“Applause,” on Netflix, follows Zeynep (Aslihan Gurbuz), her husband, Mehmet (Fatih Artman), and her son, Metin (played at various ages by Rezdar Tastan, Eyup Mert Ilkis and Cihat Suvarioglu), though the show begins before his conception. First, Zeynep and Mehmet have some friends over for dinner, but the guests’ behavior becomes stranger and more childlike during the visit — they’re too scared to sleep in their own bed during a thunderstorm, they say. They behave petulantly at the breakfast table and eventually go so far as to call Zeynep and Mehmet “mom” and “dad.” The show’s surrealism gains momentum from there, and the warped perspective becomes more central — more grotesque, more exciting, funnier — as the show goes on.When we meet Metin, he’s in utero, portrayed as grown man, bearded and smoking and ranting like a political prisoner. He has already absorbed all of his mother’s unhappiness, he wails, yanking on a massive umbilical cord for emphasis. He lacks purpose; he feels oppressed; he doesn’t want to be born, not yet at least, not until he’s ready. Metin’s mournful skepticism of life itself plays out through his hyper-articulate childhood and adrift adulthood, first as a boy whose playground girlfriend dumps him for being “suffocating,” then as a 13-year-old who writes his mother a rap called “The Funeral of Meaning on Earth,” and later as a grandiose, depressed DJ. On the one hand, this despondence has been with Metin since before he even existed. On the other, it is nurtured throughout his life by his mother’s blind praise and his father’s emotional detachment.There are six half-hour episodes of “Applause,” and they left me in a glorious daze, both delighted by its absurdist humor and fascinated by its dreamlike vision of anxiety and alienation. The show is an unflattering portrait, but it’s not a caricature; its exaggerations become truer than true, more like a myth than a joke. More

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      Ronny Chieng Is Sad to See Nikki Haley Go

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      “The Daily Show” guest host bemoaned that Haley dropped out after President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump crushed Super Tuesday “like it was an audition for a Life Alert commercial.”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.Same Old, Same OldNikki Haley dropped out of the presidential race on Wednesday after President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump dominated Super Tuesday elections.“No! The baby boomer death grip continues,” Ronny Chieng said while hosting Wednesday’s “Daily Show.”“So it’s now officially Trump and Biden. They crushed the primaries like it was an audition for a Life Alert commercial.” — RONNY CHIENG“Yep, now it’s pretty much certain that we’re going to have a rematch between Biden and Trump. At this point, the only thing that can stop them is a flight of stairs.” — JIMMY FALLON“Yeah, after the results came in, both guys threw big victory parties with confetti made from shredded classified documents.” — JIMMY FALLONThe Punchiest Punchlines (Nikki Haley Edition)“Presidential candidate Nikki Haley announced today that she is ending her campaign for the Republican nomination. Well, she’s a reasonable person. You don’t have to tell her 16 times.” — SETH MEYERS“That’s right, Nikki Haley is ending her presidential campaign. But, as an olive branch, Melania has offered her first lady.” — SETH MEYERS“But here’s the good news for Haley. She’s only 52, which means she can run for president at least eight more times.” — JIMMY FALLON“No! Don’t quit now, Nikki! You were only 80,000 delegates behind!” — RONNY CHIENG“If you drop out, who will little girls without any principles, convictions or charisma look up to?” — RONNY CHIENGThe Bits Worth WatchingOn Wednesday’s “Late Show,” Ariel Elias shared a story of her comedy stand-up set going viral.What We’re Excited About on Thursday NightRicky Martin will promote his Trilogy Tour with Enrique Iglesias and Pitbull on Thursday’s “Tonight Show.”Also, Check This OutTop, Colman Domingo, left, as the title character in “Rustin” and the real Bayard Rustin; center, Leonard Bernstein, left, and Bradley Cooper as the conductor.Clockwise from top left: Netflix; Eddie Adams/Associated Press; Jason McDonald/Netflix; Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times; Liz Parkinson/Netflix; Associated PressMaking biopics can be complicated by input from real people whose lives are recreated onscreen. More

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      Playing a British Rogue, With Added Firepower

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      Daniel Ings has built a career playing charming, posh men. His latest role is a chaotic aristocrat in Guy Ritchie’s series “The Gentlemen.”In the first episode of Guy Ritchie’s new Netflix series “The Gentlemen,” a British aristocrat is forced to dress up in a chicken suit and dance on camera at the pleasure of a gangster to whom he owes money. He flaps his arms wildly, thrusts his head forward and crows at the top of his voice, as tears stream down his face.The man in the costume is Daniel Ings, an actor whose face people might recognize more than his name. He is best known for playing Luke, a lovable womanizer on the sitcom “Lovesick,” but he has also appeared in many other television roles that fit a certain archetype: the charming, posh British man, who is a bit of a cad.In “The Crown,” he played a roguish friend of Prince Philip; he was the unreliable father of Dr. Jean Milburn’s baby on “Sex Education” and the resentful husband on Lucy Prebble’s “I Hate Suzie.”“I probably should show some range at some point,” Ings, 38, joked in a recent interview at a London hotel. But he enjoyed playing “the cheeky chappy,” he said, as well as the challenge of transforming characters who, on paper, seem quite unlikable into endearing onscreen presences. When Ings reads a script that frames his prospective role as a villain, he said, he thinks, “I bet I can find something childlike, something fun in there.”To play Freddy in “The Gentlemen,” Ings brought this approach to what might be his most reprehensible character yet. The arrogant, drug-addled eldest son of a duke, Freddy is passed over in his father’s will in favor of his younger brother, Eddie (Theo James), who discovers organized criminals running an enormous weed farm underneath the family estate.Ings as Freddy Horniman, wearing a chicken suit, in “The Gentlemen.”Christopher Rafael/NetflixFreddy is passed over in his father’s will in favor of his younger brother, who discovers that organized criminals are running an enormous weed farm under the family’s estate.NetflixWe 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

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      Drake Bell Will Detail Abuse He Suffered as a Child Star

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      The former Nickelodeon actor is set to describe sexual abuse he experienced at the hands of a former dialogue coach, according to a new docuseries. Court documents detail the back story.Jared Drake Bell, a former star of the hit Nickelodeon series “Drake & Josh,” will speak publicly about abuse he suffered at the hands of a 41-year-old dialogue coach when he was 15, according to the network airing a new docuseries about the grimmer aspects of children’s television.Mr. Bell, now 37, will describe his relationship with the dialogue coach, Brian Peck, who pleaded no contest in 2004 to two felonies: oral copulation with a minor, and lewd and lascivious acts with a child, according to public records.Mr. Peck was sentenced to 16 months in prison and registered as a sex offender in California, according to state records. Before entering his pleas, he worked in children’s television for years, including on hit Nickelodeon shows like “All That.”Mr. Bell could not be reached for comment and a trailer released by Investigation Discovery, which produced the docuseries, coming out March 17, “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV,” did not contain any details of his account. But a transcript of Mr. Peck’s sentencing hearing in 2004 quotes the victim, who is not identified, as saying, “I have to live with this for the rest of my life. And let me tell you, it’s horrific.”Attempts to reach Mr. Peck were also not successful. In the transcript, Mr. Peck said he felt “deep and profound remorse” for his actions and took responsibility for them. He said he found the victim to be an “extremely talented” working professional who he considered “equal to me and my friends.”In court records reviewed by The New York Times, prosecutors said Mr. Peck sexually abused the teenager over a period of four months in 2001 and 2002. Mr. Peck was 41 and the victim was identified as being 15 years old.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