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      Oprah, Meghan and Harry Draw 17.1 Million Viewers to CBS

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The British Royal FamilyliveInterview and FalloutWhat Meghan and Harry DisclosedWhat We LearnedRace and RoyaltyAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyOprah, Meghan and Harry Draw 17.1 Million Viewers to CBSA two-hour special revived a faded TV genre, the “big-get” prime-time interview that once drew tens of millions for exclusive sit-downs with people like Michael Jackson and Monica Lewinsky.Meghan Markle and Prince Harry described racism within the royal family during an interview with Oprah Winfrey.Credit…Harpo Productions, via ReutersMarch 8, 2021Updated 4:36 p.m. ETOprah, Meghan and Harry drew a sizable audience on Sunday night, making for an old-style prime-time television moment in the age of on-demand viewing.Oprah Winfrey’s explosive two-hour interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, who had largely kept their silence after announcing last year that they would give up their duties as members of Britain’s royal family, attracted 17.1 million viewers on CBS, according to preliminary Nielsen figures.The number of viewers climbed as the show went on. It drew 16.9 million in the first hour and 17.3 in the second, Nielsen reported. That audience was about twice the size of the viewership for the prime-time ratings winner in a given week.In a time when Netflix and other streaming platforms dominate viewing habits, the ratings for “Oprah With Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special” were strong — but they did not come close to the figures of similar prime-time exclusives from past decades. And the number of viewers fell short of the 22 million who watched a similarly ballyhooed interview in 2018, a “60 Minutes” episode in which Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) told Anderson Cooper about her past affair with Donald J. Trump.Ms. Winfrey’s special aired after days of anticipatory coverage hinting at what the couple might reveal about their experiences with the royal family and their decision to leave the palace behind.Meghan did not hold back during the interview, telling Ms. Winfrey that she had contemplated suicide while living as a royal. She also blamed Britain’s first family for not providing her with sufficient protection from Britain’s ferocious tabloid press and described racism within the royal family, saying that, during her pregnancy, there had been “concerns and conversations about how dark” the skin of her child would be. Harry revealed a strained relationship with his father, Prince Charles, and brother, Prince William.The high level of interest in a special on a big broadcast network was something of a throwback to a moment when prime-time television interviews, jampacked with commercials, became a gathering spot for a mass audience.The “big get” interview is a TV genre unto itself, in which a famous anchor or host elbows out rivals to land an exclusive sit-down with a newsworthy subject. It is also a genre past its heyday. Along with Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters, Ms. Winfrey, an interviewer extraordinaire who started her TV career in the 1970s, was a major player when the competition for such shows was at its height.In 1993, Ms. Winfrey’s prime-time interview of Michael Jackson at his Neverland Ranch, broadcast by ABC, attracted an audience of at least 62 million. Six years later, also on ABC, Ms. Walters sat down with Monica Lewinsky for a two-hour special that drew 48.5 million.Since then, the rise of digital media and its infinite screen-time options has cut deeply into the might of the big broadcasters. As the viewing audience fractured, opportunities for must-see prime-time interviews became vanishingly rare. Even the biggest one-on-ones of recent years have lacked the drawing power of the specials from two decades ago and more. The audience of 17.1 million for Ms. Winfrey’s interview of Meghan and Harry matched the number of viewers who tuned in when Caitlyn Jenner revealed that she was transgender to Ms. Sawyer on a 2015 episode of ABC’s “20/20.”The Sunday night special was unusual in that it was not overseen by a network news division. Ms. Winfrey’s company, Harpo Productions, produced it, and CBS paid at least $7 million to license the show, according to a person with knowledge of the arrangement. (The Wall Street Journal previously reported the figure.) The deal was also a gamble: It was taped after the network had bought the rights, according to two people with knowledge of how the show was made. During the interview, Ms. Winfrey said she had been trying to land the exclusive with the couple for about three years.CBS emerged the winning bidder despite Ms. Winfrey’s rocky experience at “60 Minutes,” where she was a special contributor in 2017 and 2018. In a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ms. Winfrey revealed that the show’s producers had criticized her delivery, saying she had “too much emotion” in her voice, even when she said her own name. (Ms. Winfrey has maintained a connection to the network through her good friend Gayle King, an anchor of “CBS This Morning,” and appeared on that show Monday.)Further complicating CBS’s attempt to get the big get was the thicket of media companies surrounding Ms. Winfrey and the former royal couple. Ms. Winfrey has her own cable network, OWN, and is a major part of the streaming platform AppleTV+. Recent episodes of Apple’s “The Oprah Conversation” have featured her interviews of Barack Obama, Dolly Parton and Mariah Carey.Meghan and Harry, for their part, signed a multiyear deal with Netflix last year to make documentaries and other shows. They also signed on to make podcasts for Spotify and released the first installment on Dec. 29. It included guest appearances by Elton John, Tyler Perry and other celebrities, as well as the first public utterance from their son, Archie.The pact between CBS and Harpo Productions was largely focused on TV rights. The interview ran live on ViacomCBS’s newly rebranded streaming service, Paramount+ but at least for now will not be available on Paramount+ for on-demand viewing. Instead, the special will be available on CBS.com and the CBS app for 30 days, a CBS spokesman said.Originally slotted for 90 minutes, it ended up a two-hour show. Before the broadcast, CBS released teaser clips, and British tabloids that have been unfriendly to Meghan shot back with anonymously sourced items on her apparent misdeeds.The estimate of 17.1 million viewers will only grow after Nielsen tabulates some viewers who streamed the special, as well as out-of-home viewing.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Prince Harry Finally Takes On White Privilege: His Own

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The British Royal FamilyliveInterview and FalloutWhat Meghan and Harry DisclosedWhat We LearnedRace and RoyaltyAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCritic’s notebookPrince Harry Finally Takes On White Privilege: His OwnMeghan Markle and Harry’s interview revealed a catalyst for their reinvention, our critic writes: Harry’s racial awakening after attacks on Markle.Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak with Oprah Winfrey about racism and other issues in a blockbuster interview on CBS on Sunday night.Credit…Harpo Productions, via ReutersMarch 8, 2021Updated 4:30 p.m. ETIt was well worth the wait. The first joint interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle since they stepped down from royal life last year (a process that became officially permanent last month) did not disappoint.I, for one, watched this tell-all with Oprah Winfrey while texting with many of the same Black women with whom I watched their wedding in 2018. Back then, we shared OMG emojis because we were pleasantly surprised by the way Black culture was so powerfully celebrated and Markle’s African-American identity so thoughtfully integrated into their ceremony at St. George’s Chapel.Now, we were aghast at the couple’s allegations that racism toward Markle and its various consequences were a primary reason they fled their home to find freedom in sunny California.Based on Markle’s deep commitment to women’s rights and the interview’s promo clip — Winfrey asks her, “Were you silent or were you silenced?” — I went into this assuming it would be a feminist revision of the couple’s fairy-tale romance. “The latter,” Markle responded in the interview. Later, she’d compare her life as a royal to Princess Ariel losing her voice after falling in love with a human in “The Little Mermaid.” In that analogy, this interview is the final breaking of that spell, with Markle now fully in control of her voice. It reminded us that she never needed a Prince Charming to rescue her, while showing us that their very modern marriage is what saved and ultimately liberated them both from the trappings and the trap that is the Crown.But therein lies the true catalyst for their radical reinvention: Harry’s racial awakening. Here, I do not just mean the accusations from the couple about the deep anxiety some royals had about the potential skin color of their son, Archie — which resulted, they said, in him not being offered the traditional rituals of the royal hospital picture, the title “Prince” and the security that comes with that status. Rather, the second hour of the interview was a culmination of a process that Harry had been undergoing since their first date in 2016, when he was becoming more cleareyed, confrontational and emboldened to take on the British monarchy into which he was born, and the white privilege that holds it up and has benefited him his entire life.Typically, we see racial awakenings as a tragic rite of passage for Black people. In slave narratives and early 20th-century African-American autobiographies and novels, there is often a moment in which a Black child realizes she is not only different from her white peers but that her darker skin or African-American parentage makes her inferior to them. The literary critic Henry Louis Gates Jr. once described it as a “scene of instruction.” In books like W.E.B. DuBois’s collection “The Souls of Black Folks,” from 1903, or Nella Larsen’s novel “Passing,” from 1929, this traumatic rupture is always intimate and severe, the first and most formative experience in a lifetime of racist insults.An official wedding photograph released by Kensington Palace in May 2018.Credit…Alexi Lubomirski/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAs Black parents, we try to prepare our children for these inevitable encounters with The Talk, the sage advice and survival strategies we hope might blunt the damage of these betrayals. But every Black person I know has had such a moment. Mine was my senior year in high school when my white classmates charged that the only reason I had been admitted to the University of Pennsylvania was because of affirmative action, an insinuation that equated being Black with being underqualified, and an injury that has caused me to obsessively overachieve in almost every aspect of my professional life.I’ve rarely heard white friends discuss their parallel experiences of first realizing their privilege. In fact, this summer was unprecedented in the sheer number of public figures and predominately white organizations that released statements or tweets acknowledging their role in perpetuating systemic racism. In private, I and many of my Black friends received more sympathetic emails or Black Lives Matter solidarity texts from our white colleagues than ever before. It seemed, suddenly, white people too were having their own version of The Talk.And in popular culture, these awakenings are appearing with more frequency. In this season of NBC’s “This Is Us,” Randall’s white siblings, Kate and Kevin, are, as a result of the Black Lives Matter protests this summer, slowly coming to terms with how much their own white household, and their ongoing refusal to deal with racism, has harmed their African-American brother, who was adopted.Without such recognition by our white family members and friends, racial inferiority is merely thrust onto Black people as a unique burden that we must bear, disprove of and reject. This innocence is at the core of white privilege, and by extension, white power.Back in 2005, when Harry wore a Nazi uniform to a costume party, it would have been impossible to predict his trajectory. By last fall, however, his awakening was well underway, with him talking about how his marriage to Markle immediately changed his understanding of race. “I had no idea it existed,” he said of unconscious bias in British GQ. “And then, sad as it is to say, it took me many, many years to realize it, especially then living a day or a week in my wife’s shoes.”Last night, he took it a step further. First, he noted how “the race element” distinguished the tabloid frenzy surrounding Markle from others in the past. “It wasn’t just about her, it was about what she represents,” he said. Next, he indicted his family for not taking on the racist attacks hurled at their own, and then linked their institutionalized reticence or refusal to intervene to Britain’s much longer history of imperialism.“For us, for this union and the specifics around her race, there was an opportunity — many opportunities — for my family to show some public support,” he told Winfrey. “And I guess one of the most telling parts and the saddest parts, I guess, was over 70 female members of Parliament, both Conservative and Labour, came out and called out the colonial undertones of articles and headlines written about Meghan. Yet no one from my family ever said anything. That hurts.”With this provocation, Harry suggests the Royals were not merely unwilling to accept his biracial Black wife and their multiracial child but also what Markle embodied: the millions of Black people throughout Britain and the Commonwealth who finally saw themselves in the monarchy through Markle’s existence, finding optimism in this interracial union.And with that confession, Harry declared his independence from British racism — whether he realizes it goes beyond his family’s treatment of his son and is an essential ingredient to the monarchy itself, I don’t know. But I turned off the interview wondering how American race relations will further change him. That the couple landed in the United States during a pandemic that has disproportionately harmed African-American and Latino families, and in a period of racial protest and rising white nationalism, feels a bit like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.But, maybe that’s the point.Freed from the constraints of not being able to confront racism head-on might mean that he will dedicate his life to dismantling it, not just out of necessity, but also as a way of writing a new chapter in his family’s history and bequeath his children a legacy of antiracism.And if that is the case, it really will be better than any fairy tale ever imagined.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Making Chess Sing: ‘Queen’s Gambit’ to Be Adapted for the Stage

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMaking Chess Sing: ‘Queen’s Gambit’ to Be Adapted for the StageA creative team has not yet been set for the proposed show, which would be based on the 1983 novel that spawned the hit streaming series.Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomas Brodie-Sangster in the Netflix adaptation of the novel “The Queen’s Gambit.”Credit…via NetflixMarch 8, 2021, 11:02 a.m. ETBeth Harmon is making her next move.A production company led by a Disney heir is planning to adapt “The Queen’s Gambit” into a stage musical. The fictional story is about an orphan girl — that’s Harmon — who becomes a pill-popping prodigy in the overwhelmingly male world of chess.Level Forward, a company whose founders include Abigail Disney, a grandniece of Walt Disney, said on Monday that it has won the rights to adapt Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel, which has become newly noteworthy thanks to the enormous success of last year’s streaming series adaptation on Netflix.Level Forward is not yet announcing a creative team or any other details of the project.The company has a decidedly progressive bent (it describes itself as “an ecosystem of storytellers, business people and social change organizers”), and is a relatively recent but active player in the theater industry, co-producing four Broadway shows in 2019: “What the Constitution Means to Me,” “Slave Play,” “Jagged Little Pill” and a revival of “Oklahoma!”The game of chess, although seemingly unlikely fodder for song-and-dance, has inspired at least one other musical: In the 1980s, the lyricist Tim Rice collaborated with Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of Abba to write “Chess,” a fictional account of a tournament between an American and a Soviet grandmaster. The show had a well-received score that remains an object of affection and fascination for some, but, despite repeated efforts at revisions, it has not found success onstage; it ran for two months on Broadway in 1988.“The Queen’s Gambit” project is just at the start of its developmental life, and it’s not yet clear when or where there might be a production.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      In Oprah Interview, Meghan Says Life as Royal Made Her Suicidal

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The British Royal FamilyThe Oprah InterviewWhat Meghan and Harry DisclosedWhat We LearnedBehind the InterviewAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘I Just Didn’t Want to Be Alive Anymore’: Meghan Says Life as Royal Made Her SuicidalIn a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Duchess of Sussex said she had asked officials at Buckingham Palace for medical help but was told it would damage the institution.Oprah Winfrey’s highly anticipated two-hour interview with Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, aired on CBS Sunday night.Credit…Joe Pugliese/Harpo Productions, via Getty ImagesPublished More

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      What’s on TV This Week: ‘Coming to America’ and the Grammy Awards

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWhat’s on TV This Week: ‘Coming to America’ and the Grammy AwardsThe original “Coming to America” airs on Paramount Network. And this year’s Grammy Awards airs on CBS.Eddie Murphy, left, and Arsenio Hall in “Coming to America.”Credit…Paramount PicturesMarch 8, 2021, 1:00 a.m. ETBetween network, cable and streaming, the modern television landscape is a vast one. Here are some of the shows, specials and movies coming to TV this week, March 8-14. Details and times are subject to change.MondayCOMING TO AMERICA (1988) 10 p.m. on Paramount Network. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall discussed the comic chemistry that they share, which is a — perhaps the — key ingredient in this fish-out-of-water comedy. “I’m a stand-up comic and a guy who does TV,” Hall said. “Eddie is a movie star. But we share with each other because the bottom line is we’re both comfortable in our own skin.” In “Coming to America,” Murphy plays a prince from a wealthy African country and Hall plays his sidekick, in a journey that takes that pair to Queens, New York. The movie, directed by John Landis, immortalized Murphy and Hall’s easy rapport; pair it with the sequel, “Coming 2 America,” which was released last week.TuesdayAMERICAN EXPERIENCE: VOICE OF FREEDOM 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). The life of the great contralto Marian Anderson — whose groundbreaking career included becoming, in 1955, the first Black singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera — is covered in this documentary program, which debuted last month and airs again on Tuesday. Its appraisal of Anderson’s life is built around footage of her famous 1939 performance at the Lincoln Memorial, which was attended by 75,000 people and became a symbolic moment in the civil rights movement.COVID DIARIES NYC 9 p.m. on HBO. Five filmmakers in their late teens and early 20s capture their pandemic-era lives in this series of short, first-person documentaries. Several of the filmmakers’ family members are essential workers, including a Washington Heights bus driver and a postal worker.WednesdayCynthia Erivo in “Harriet.”Credit…Glen Wilson/Focus FeaturesHARRIET (2019) 8 p.m. on HBO. Cynthia Erivo will return to screens later this month, playing Aretha Franklin in the third season of National Geographic’s “Genius.” It’s not her first time embodying a foundational figure from America’s past. Erivo played Harriet Tubman in this 2019 biopic, directed by Kasi Lemmons, which dramatizes Tubman’s escape from bondage and her leadership in the underground railroad. Erivo’s performance is “precise and passionate” and the film itself “rousing and powerful,” A.O. Scott wrote in his review for The Times. Leslie Odom Jr. and Janelle Monáe also star, and the score is by Terence Blanchard.CAKE 10 p.m. on FXX. This anthology series is called “Cake,” but what it offers are more like cake pops: Little comedy shorts, both animated and live-action, that make it easy to consume more than you intended. The show’s fourth season, which debuts Wednesday, offers an array of fresh shorts from a variety of creators.ThursdayGeorge MacKay in “True History of the Kelly Gang.”Credit…IFC FilmsTRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG (2020) 6 p.m. on Showtime 2. It was easy to miss the release of this film last April, when potential U.S. viewers would have been distracted by the newly arrived coronavirus (and by “Tiger King”). But fans of Westerns — intense ones — might consider giving it another look. The movie offers a fictionalized account of the life of the legendary outlaw Ned Kelly, who led a gang in Australia in the 19th century. George MacKay plays Kelly during the gang’s final days, as they evade the law in Australian bush. The film, directed with elaborate flair by Justin Kurzel, is based on a Booker Prize-winning novel by Peter Carey — but Glenn Kenny, in his review for The Times, wrote that the language in the film pales next to the book’s prose. “A climactic shootout with startling strobe-like lighting effects is undeniably impressive,” Kenny wrote. “But the jumpy, springy qualities of the movie’s visual style are unfortunately undercut by its verbal content.”FridayJo Van Fleet and James Dean in “East of Eden.”Credit…Everett CollectionEAST OF EDEN (1955) 6 p.m. on TCM. How do you heave “East of Eden,” John Steinbeck’s chunky and elaborate tale of two families in California’s Central Valley, onto film? This adaptation, directed by Elia Kazan from a screenplay by Paul Osborn, does so by focusing on only a slice of the book. It casts James Dean and Raymond Massey as the sons of a strict Christian farmer, focusing on family tensions that deepen when the younger son (Dean) discovers that his mother (Jo Van Fleet), who he’d been told was dead, is alive and running a brothel in Salinas. He also develops a relationship with his older brother’s girlfriend (Julie Harris). This was Dean’s first leading film role, and he didn’t exactly get a standing ovation from the Times critic Bosley Crowther. “This young actor, who is here doing his first big screen stint, is a mass of histrionic gingerbread,” Crowther wrote a 1955 review. “He scuffs his feet, he whirls, he pouts, he sputters, he leans against walls, he rolls his eyes, he swallows his words, he ambles slack-kneed — all like Marlon Brando used to do. Never have we seen a performer so clearly follow another’s style.” The director, Crowther added, “should be spanked for permitting him to do such a sophomoric thing.” Crowther did like the CinemaScope cinematography, though.SaturdayTHE 2021 NICKELODEON KIDS’ CHOICE AWARDS 7:30 p.m. on Nick. After an admirably weird appearance alongside Maya Rudolph at the Golden Globe Awards last month, Kenan Thompson will take on full hosting duties for this year’s installment of Nickelodeon’s film and TV awards show, where his oddball humor will be served with a side of green slime. The nominees list has little overlap with the higher-brow awards shows. It includes Jim Carrey for “Sonic the Hedgehog” and Vanessa Hudgens for “The Princess Switch: Switched Again.”SundayFrom left: Taylor Swift, Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa are among the artists announced as performers for the 63rd annual Grammy Awards.Credit…Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images For Iheartmedia, Rich Fury/Getty Images For Visible, Kevin Winter/Getty Images For DcpTHE 63RD ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS 8 p.m. on CBS. Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, BTS, Harry Styles, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are among the performers at this year’s Grammy Awards ceremony, which will be hosted by Trevor Noah on Sunday night. (The broadcast will mix live and recorded performances.) Swift, Lipa and Beyoncé dominate the nominees list; other performers up for multiple awards include the rapper Roddy Ricch, who will also perform, and the singer-songwriters Brittany Howard and Phoebe Bridgers.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Allen v. Farrow’ Episode 3 Recap: Investigations and a Custody Trial

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Allen v. Farrow’ Episode 3 Recap: Investigations and a Custody TrialFilmmakers delve into dozens of boxes of records that documented the investigations into Dylan Farrow’s accusation of sexual abuse.Mia Farrow with her daughter Dylan in “Allen v. Farrow.” Episode 3 focuses on police and court documents, much of which had never been made public.Credit…HBOMarch 7, 2021In the previous episode of “Allen v. Farrow,” the HBO documentary series that examines Dylan Farrow’s accusation of sexual abuse against her father, Woody Allen, the filmmakers introduced viewers to key video footage of a 7-year-old Dylan explaining events to her mother.Although the footage, shot by Mia Farrow, had not been released publicly before this series, its existence has been the subject of controversy. Allies of Mr. Allen saw it as proof that Mia, Dylan’s mother, had coached Dylan. Others saw it as clear evidence that the accusations were true.Episode 3 revisits this footage and delves into the investigations, court proceedings and familial turmoil that followed.Mr. Allen has long denied the accusations of sexual abuse, and, after the first episode aired, a spokesperson for him said that the docuseries was “riddled with falsehoods.”This episode is built largely off police and court documents, much of which had never been made public, including a trove of more than 60 boxes of documentation that was in a lawyer’s storage room.Frank S. Maco, a state’s attorney in Connecticut, who worked on the case. He asked the child abuse clinic at Yale-New Haven Hospital to evaluate Dylan Farrow.Credit…HBOA high-profile police inquiryIt was Dylan Farrow’s pediatrician who first reported her allegations to the authorities, leading to investigations by the Connecticut State Police and the New York City Child Welfare Administration. (Dylan Farrow said the sexual assault occurred in the attic of the family’s Connecticut summer home.)In an extensive interview, Frank S. Maco, then a state’s attorney in Connecticut, says that he intended to investigate the accusation “quietly,” but that Mr. Allen held a news conference at the Plaza Hotel, where he shared the news of the investigation. Mr. Allen called the allegations a “gruesomely damaging manipulation of innocent children for vindictive and self-serving purposes.” He also declared his love for Soon-Yi Previn, Mia Farrow’s daughter, suggesting that the allegations were a result of Mia lashing out over that relationship.“They were doing a great job painting Mia Farrow as a scorned woman who would say anything,” said Rosanna Scotto, a broadcast reporter who covered the news at the time.Armed with that narrative, Mr. Allen went on a media campaign, while Ms. Farrow stayed relatively quiet. She told filmmakers that she was trying to establish some semblance of normalcy for her children.The Yale-New Haven reportMr. Maco, the prosecutor, said that he asked the child abuse clinic at Yale-New Haven Hospital to evaluate Dylan Farrow, to determine whether she would be traumatized by taking the stand at a trial and whether there were any “impediments” to her ability to testify — including any ability to “perceive, recall and relate.”During a seven-month inquiry, experts interviewed Dylan Farrow nine times, a number that child abuse and legal experts tell the documentary filmmakers was excessive for a child subject.“I would repeat the story over and over and over again,” Dylan Farrow says in the episode. “It was grueling and it was intense.”The final report stated that there were “inconsistencies” in Dylan Farrow’s statements and that she had “difficulties distinguishing fantasy from reality.” It found that her accusations were “likely reinforced and encouraged” by her mother. The clinic shared the results with Mr. Allen and Mia Farrow without telling Mr. Maco they were doing so, he said, and Mr. Allen announced the determinations at a news conference.Later on, during the custody battle between Mr. Allen and Ms. Farrow, the director of the clinic said in a deposition that its practice was to destroy notes; experts interviewed in Episode 3 say that this is antithetical to common practice in their field.The New York investigationThe inquiry by New York City’s Child Welfare Administration was being spearheaded by Paul Williams, a caseworker who interviewed Dylan Farrow and found her to be credible.Within two weeks of the investigation, Mr. Williams determined that there was sufficient information to open a New York-based criminal investigation, but he was told by superiors that in high-profile cases like this one, it was customary for the “big wigs” to take responsibility and for the welfare administration to relinquish control, according to case records reviewed by the filmmakers.A lawyer for Mr. Williams, Bruce Baron, says in the documentary that at the time, his client “wouldn’t shut up” about the case at work, and he was fired for insubordination. Mr. Williams sued the city over the firing, arguing in part that the city had suppressed information about the case; he won in court and got his job back..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-rqynmc{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-rqynmc{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-rqynmc strong{font-weight:600;}.css-rqynmc em{font-style:italic;}.css-yoay6m{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-yoay6m{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1dg6kl4{margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:15px;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}.css-1pd7fgo{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1pd7fgo{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-1pd7fgo:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1pd7fgo{border:none;padding:20px 0 0;border-top:1px solid #121212;}.css-1pd7fgo[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-1pd7fgo[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-1pd7fgo[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-1pd7fgo[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-k9atqk{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-k9atqk strong{font-weight:700;}.css-k9atqk em{font-style:italic;}.css-k9atqk a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;border-bottom:1px solid #ccd9e3;}.css-k9atqk a:visited{color:#333;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;border-bottom:1px solid #ddd;}.css-k9atqk a:hover{border-bottom:none;}Understand the Allegations Against Woody AllenNearly 30 years ago, Woody Allen was accused of sexually abusing Dylan Farrow, his adopted daughter. A new docuseries re-examines the case.This timeline reviews the major events in the complicated history of the director, his children and the Farrow family.The documentary filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering spoke about delving into this thorny family tale. Read our recaps of episode 1 and episode 2.Dylan Farrow wrote an open letter in 2014, posted by the New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof, recounting her story in detail.Our book critic reviewed Mr. Allen’s recent memoir, “Apropos of Nothing.”A.O. Scott, co-chief film critic, grappled with the accusations and his complicated feelings on the filmmaker in 2018. In looking through Mr. Williams’s case files, the filmmakers found notes about a conversation he had with Jennifer Sawyer, a social worker who had interviewed Dylan Farrow for the Yale-New Haven report. According to the notes, Ms. Sawyer told Mr. Williams that “she believes Dylan” and believed that the child had “more to disclose.”In a seven-month period, Dylan Farrow was questioned nine times by clinic workers.Credit…HBOThe custody battleOn Aug. 13, 1992, nine days after the alleged sexual assault, Mr. Allen sued Mia Farrow for custody of their three children: Dylan Farrow, Moses Farrow and Ronan Farrow.In a taped phone call between Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, Ms. Farrow brings up his lawsuit against her and accusations that she was an unfit mother, to which he responds, “And I’m going to make them stick.” Ms. Farrow begged him to drop the case.During the trial, which started in the spring of 1993, Mr. Allen testified that he believed Ms. Farrow had “brainwashed” her daughter and that he was not alone with Dylan on the day that she said he assaulted her.The judge ultimately sided with Ms. Farrow, saying that Mr. Allen exhibited grossly inappropriate behavior toward Dylan and that “measures must be taken to protect her.” The judge called the Yale-New Haven report “sanitized,” considering the destruction of the notes and the team’s unwillingness to testify at trial.Expert analysisAt the end of the episode, the filmmakers return to the footage of Dylan Farrow taken by her mother, and show child abuse experts analyzing the video for the documentary. At the custody trial, where the footage was entered as evidence, Mr. Allen said that Ms. Farrow had asked her daughter “in a leading way about molestation.”But after seeing the footage, one of the documentary’s interviewees, Anna Salter, a child abuse expert and psychologist, said that Ms. Farrow did not make any “overt suggestions” in her questioning. One “implicit” suggestion Ms. Farrow makes, Dr. Salter said, is asking her daughter if Mr. Allen took her underpants off. (Dylan responds that he hadn’t done so.)“From my point of view, what’s important is Dylan’s response: Does she go along with the suggestion?” Dr. Salter said. “But she doesn’t.”As Ms. Farrow says in a taped phone call between her and Mr. Allen played at the top of the episode: “Dylan’s a baby; how could you do that to her?”Mr. Allen’s response is inaudible.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Watch These 13 Titles on Netflix Before They Leave This Month

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWatch These 13 Titles on Netflix Before They Leave This MonthEvery month, dozens of movies and TV shows expire from the streaming service. These are the ones not to miss in March.March 5, 2021, 2:31 p.m. ETThis month’s slate of catch-them-before-they’re-gone titles on Netflix in the United States is an especially eclectic assortment of romantic comedies, far-out indies, family fare and martial arts. Dates reflect the final day a title is available.From left, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine and Vanessa Hudgens in a scene from “Spring Breakers.”Credit…Michael Muller/A24 Films‘Spring Breakers’ (March 13)The director Harmony Korine (“Gummo,” “Trash Humpers”) made his first big play for mainstream respectability with this 2012 effort, subversively casting the tween-entertainment superstars Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez and Ashley Benson (and his frequent star and wife, Rachel Korine) as four party-hungry college students whose spring break getaway turns into a crime spree. A scene-stealing James Franco co-stars as Alien, a hedonistic drug dealer who puts them to work, but “Spring Breakers” is focused less on its drugs-and-guns plotline than its visceral components, casting a candy-coated, drug-induced haze over the viewer that replicates the head space of its protagonists.Stream it here‘Chicken Little’ (March 15)This 2005 feature from Walt Disney Pictures — one of the final films to make the transition from Netflix to Disney+ — isn’t widely considered one of the studio’s classics. And that’s just fine; it has the feel of a B-side, a giggly sidebar free of the outsized ambition (and, frequently, stodginess) of too many big Disney events. Zach Braff voices the title character, whose warnings that the sky will fall are first ignored as another of his tall tales. “Chicken Little” is enjoyably irrelevant and self-aware, particularly in its clever opening sequence, narrated by Garry Marshall. Joan Cusack, Amy Sedaris, Steve Zahn, and the Disney legend Don Knotts also join the fun.Stream it here‘Silver Linings Playbook’ (March 16)“Annie Hall” was advertised as “a nervous romance,” and that tagline also applies to this 2012 comedy-drama from the director David O. Russell. Bradley Cooper stars as a schoolteacher who moves back in with his parents (Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver) after his release from a mental institution, hoping to steady himself after an ugly divorce; Jennifer Lawrence won an Oscar for her work as a young widow who becomes his unlikely partner, first in competitive dance, then in romance. It all sounds much more conventional than it is, thanks to the anything-goes spirit of Russell’s direction and the spiky, complicated performances of his knockout ensemble.Stream it hereNikolaj Coster-Waldau and Carice van Houten in “Domino.”Credit…Saban Films‘Domino’ (March 27)Production issues plagued this, Brian De Palma’s most recent feature, and the filmmaker all but disowned the final result. So it’s difficult to give the picture a full-throated endorsement. But out of its messy making and compromised completion, one can still find enough traces of De Palma’s snazzy, baroque style — inventive camerawork, creative compositions, ingenious set pieces and cheerful indifference to plot — to warrant at least a curiosity peek. It’s far from top-tier DePalma, but at least it has some personality, which is more than you can say for most thrillers these days.Stream it here‘Extras’: Seasons 1 and 2 (March 30)In the mid-aughts, Ricky Gervais used his cultural cachet to land a series of all-star cameos in this cringe-comedy look at the life of an actor. In the first season, Andy Millman (Gervais) is a struggling nobody, working as an extra and dreaming of something better; he gets it in the second season, landing a catchphrase-spouting starring role in a bad sitcom, and discovers he might’ve preferred anonymity. The series co-creator and co-writer Stephen Merchant appears as Andy’s wildly ineffective agent, while such stars as Kate Winslet, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Stiller, Daniel Radcliffe and (especially) David Bowie entertainingly send up their own personas in guest roles.Stream it here‘Killing Them Softly’ (March 30)Brad Pitt teamed up again with Andrew Dominik, the writer and director of “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” for this noir-tinged adaptation of the crime novel “Cogan’s Trade.” Pitt and James Gandolfini (in one of his final roles) star as two contract killers sent by their Mob bosses to take out a group of small-timers who robbed the wrong poker game. But “Softly” is neither a traditional gangster movie nor a Tarantino-style hit-man flick. Dominik sets the film during the 2008 financial crisis and presidential election, the better to situate his central thesis: that capitalism and organized crime aren’t as far apart as we might like to think.Stream it here‘Chappaquiddick’ (March 31)The drowning death of Mary Jo Kopechne, inside a car driven into a pond and then abandoned by Senator Ted Kennedy, was one of the darker moments in a family history plagued by tragedy — and one in which a Kennedy was not the victim, but the villain. This 2017 historical drama from the director John Curran revisits that event and makes an admirable attempt at being evenhanded; Senator Kennedy, played with a combination of determination and self-doubt by Jason Clarke, isn’t drawn as a monstrous figure, but neither are his considerable sins forgiven. Most important, Curran vividly recreates the atmosphere of that fateful weekend in 1969, the same weekend as the moon landing, a moment in which anything seemed possible — except undoing what Ted Kennedy did.Stream it here‘Enter the Dragon’ (March 31)After headlining several influential kung fu movies in Hong Kong, Bruce Lee made his big breakthrough to American audiences with this 1973 Warner Bros. production. Lee stars as a martial arts instructor who is hired by British spies to gather intelligence against a crime lord at a fighting competition — a silly plot, but one sturdy enough to hang several genuinely jaw-dropping fight sequences on. “Enter the Dragon” became one of the highest-grossing action movies of all time, but tragically, Lee didn’t live to see its success; he died less than a month before its premiere. Yet its influence lives on, in the cinema of John Woo, Jackie Chan, Quentin Tarantino and …Stream it hereStephen Chow, top, in a scene from his film “Kung Fu Hustle.”Credit…Saeed Adyani/Sony Pictures Classics‘Kung Fu Hustle’ (March 31)… Stephen Chow, who co-wrote, co-produced, directed and starred in this 2005 international hit that mashes up Lee-style action, Chan-style slapstick and Looney Tunes-style cartoon high jinks. Chow stars as a would-be gangster in 1940s Shanghai who attempts to ingratiate himself with the infamous “Axe Gang” but finds his skill doesn’t quite match his aspirations. Chow can execute an action beat with the best of them, and he packs plenty of them into the picture’s lightning-fast 98 minutes. But he also eschews the solemn seriousness of too many contemporary action movies, embracing goofy special effects and broadly comic characters to keep his audience on its toes.Stream it here‘Molly’s Game’ (March 31)The Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin made his feature directorial debut with this 2017 adaptation of the memoir by Molly Bloom, who ran secret poker games for the obscenely wealthy until she got in too deep with the Russian Mob. Jessica Chastain stars as Bloom, and her icy cool demeanor and rapid-fire delivery make her an ideal Sorkin heroine. Idris Elba stars as her lawyer, and the two of them perfect a rat-tat-tat back-and-forth that, at its best, recalls Hepburn and Tracy. The pace drags a bit — the film runs a leisurely 141 minutes — and the emotional keys held by Molly’s father (Kevin Costner) feel a bit too much like shorthand Freud. But it’s an engaging picture, filled with solid performers and smart dialogue.Stream it here‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ (March 31)Stephen Chbosky wrote and directed this 2012 adaptation of his best-selling young adult novel, in which a shy young man (Logan Lerman) attempts to survive not only the typical trials of the teenage years but also his own depression and trauma. Emma Watson and Ezra Miller play his best friends, convincingly conveying the kind of to-the-end-of-the-world tightness that never seems as indestructible as in those vulnerable years. Joan Cusack, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, and Paul Rudd provide ample support as the refreshingly complicated adults in his orbit.Stream it here‘School Daze’ (March 31)Spike Lee’s sophomore film, after his micro-budgeted and critically acclaimed debut, “She’s Gotta Have It,” was this big, bold ensemble musical set on the campus of a Historically Black College over a busy homecoming weekend. Though steeped in the specific politics and activism of its 1988 release, stubborn issues like classicism, colorism and misogyny are very much in the conversation. Lee’s cast is first-rate — Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel L. Jackson and Jasmine Guy make early appearances — and his directorial confidence is striking as he moves smoothly from the intimacy of “She’s Gotta Have It” to an Altman-style mosaic of music, comedy and confrontation.Stream it hereRomany Malco and Mary-Louise Parker in a scene from Season 3 of “Weeds.”Credit…Monty Brinton/Showtime‘Weeds: Seasons 1 to 7’ (March 31)Before creating the Netflix sensation “Orange Is the New Black,” Jenji Kohan gave Showtime one of its longest-running series with this half-hour comedy-drama chronicling the exploits of Nancy Botwin (Mary Louise Parker), who goes from typical Starbucks-sipping soccer mom to white-collar drug dealer after the death of her husband. Parker is electrifying in the leading role, adroitly capturing the character’s combined (and often conflicting) sense of responsibility, desperation and danger. The later seasons struggle to retain that balance, but the early years, which explore the rich, comic possibilities of suburban weed-slinging, are both dark and delightful.Stream it hereAlso leaving in March:“All About Nina” (March 17); “I Don’t Know How She Does It” (March 22); “Blood Father” (March 25); “Ghost Rider” (March 26); “Inception,” “The Prince & Me,” “Sex and the City: The Movie,” “Sex and the City 2” and “Taxi Driver” (March 31).AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Party Down,’ a Cult Hit, Is Getting a Revival on Starz

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Party Down,’ a Cult Hit, Is Getting a Revival on StarzThe short-lived but beloved sitcom about a team of misanthropic cater-waiters will be revived with a six-episode limited series.Adam Scott in “Party Down,” which is being brought back for a six-episode limited series.Credit…StarzMarch 4, 2021The short-lived Starz sitcom “Party Down,” about a team of misanthropic cater-waiters in Los Angeles, aired in 2009 and 2010 in relative obscurity, then turned into a cult hit in the years since its cancellation. Now, the show will be revived with a six-episode limited series, Starz said on Thursday.Created by John Enbom, Dan Etheridge, Paul Rudd and Rob Thomas, the ensemble comedy lasted only two seasons in its original run. Now it is available to stream on Starz and Hulu, and in recent years, the popularity grew to such an extent that there started to be talk of a possible movie or a reunion.The network has decided to give fans what they’ve been asking for.All four creators are returning for the revival series, with Enbom as showrunner. It is unclear how many of the cast members will return.Part of the show’s allure is the chemistry of its comedic ensemble, all costumed in white collared shirts and pink bow ties: Lizzy Caplan, Ryan Hansen, Jane Lynch, Ken Marino, Adam Scott and Martin Starr. (Lynch left the show for “Glee” and was replaced by Jennifer Coolidge and then Megan Mullally.) They all play cater-waiters with Hollywood dreams who are instead spending their days passing out hors d’oeuvres and schlepping cases of wine and cheese from one party to the next.Thomas said in a news release that after the cast reunited in 2019 for a panel hosted by Vulture, they were determined to get the team back together again.“The cast is so busy these days that finding a window where we can do it may require trigonometry,” he said, “but we’re determined to make it happen.”Writing for The New York Times last month, Alexis Soloski said of the sitcom: “It has the DNA of a workplace comedy in that it brings together people who would never know each other otherwise. But it’s also a hangout comedy in that the waiters work as little as possible.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More