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      Late Night Laments That Trump Didn’t Testify at His Trial

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      Jimmy Fallon said Trump wanted to take the stand in his criminal case on Tuesday, “but then he saw it was three steps without a handrail.”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.False TestimonyDonald Trump’s defense rested in his criminal trial on Tuesday. Despite previous statements, Trump did not testify on his own behalf.“He wanted to take the stand, but then he saw it was three steps without a handrail,” Jimmy Fallon joked on Tuesday.“That is shocking. Trump is not talking? What happened — did he write himself a check for $130,000?” — STEPHEN COLBERT”So he’s doing the opposite of what he told us he was going to do over and over again? That’s not the Donald Trump I know, and I played full-contact hockey without a helmet this morning.” — MICHAEL KOSTA“Is it possible that Donald Trump is full of [expletive]?” — MICHAEL KOSTAThe Punchiest Punchlines (‘Fourth Reich’ Edition)“OK, if you zoom in, you can see they slipped in the words ‘A Unified Reich.’ A Fourth Reich, if you will.” — JIMMY KIMMEL, on a video reposted on Trump’s Truth Social account“The good news is Trump wants to bring the country together. The bad news is that country is Germany in 1933.”— JIMMY KIMMEL“Evidently MAGA now stands for ‘Make America Germany Around 1938.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“When they saw the ad, even Confederate statues were, like, ‘You should take that down.’” — JIMMY FALLON“What else does this man have to do for people to see what he is? Grow the mustache?” — JIMMY KIMMEL“How many of his supporters do you think would say, ‘All right, that’s too much for me.’ I’d guess maybe 10.” — JIMMY KIMMELThe Bits Worth WatchingBillie Eilish performed her new single “Lunch” on Tuesday’s “Late Show.”What We’re Excited About on Wednesday NightThe “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star J.B. Smoove will appear on Wednesday’s “Daily Show.”Also, Check This OutGraceland served as Elvis Presley’s personal home in Memphis from 1957 until his death in 1977, at the age of 42.Brandon Dill/Associated PressThe actress Riley Keough claims that a company is fraudulently planning to auction off the Memphis home of her grandfather, Elvis Presley. More

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      ‘Outer Range’ Is a Dizzying Sci-Fi Drama, With Buffalo

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      The second season of this Amazon series, all of which is available now, cranks up both the time-travel and the outrageous soapiness.Season 1 of “Outer Range,” on Amazon, was intriguing and unsatisfying — lush, expansive and compelling, but also marred by abundant faux-deep nonsense and a total lack of resolution. It’s a “this is my family’s land, grumble grumble” ranch drama ostensibly starring Josh Brolin, but the real star of the show is a big hole. And not just any hole — a magic hole! A hole that transports you through time! Sometimes people disappear. Sometimes the hole disappears.I happily devoured that first season but didn’t think I cared much about it. And yet, I kept thinking about “Outer Range” in the two years since its debut. When I watched other shows in which people dejectedly shook their heads, slowly put on their cowboy hats and then sadly — maybe … sexy-sadly? — stammered wisdom, I thought, “What ever happened to that hole show?” When I saw other dramas include bar fights that went way wrong, I wondered, “Is that the exterior of that bar from that hole show?” What was that other series where people were constantly tripping on earthy psychedelics? Where did I just see that actress play a different zany lady? Ah, right: the hole show.I don’t know if Season 2, which premiered last week, rewards my devotion per se, but I also marathoned its seven episodes, bouncing between enchantment and eye-rolling. I love my dumb show! Sometimes you just want to see a Native American sheriff fall into a hole, travel back to 1882, reconnect with her Shoshone ancestors, meet another time traveler à la “Outlander,” come back to the present day and be driven to the hospital by Josh Brolin under tense circumstances. Sometimes you want to see people’s eyes go black like in that episode of “The X-Files” with the snake lady. There’s something invigorating about a show that just does not care if the actors playing the younger and older versions of the same person resemble one another whatsoever.“Outer Range” emphasized drama over sci-fi in Season 1, but Season 2, all of which is available now, cranks up both the time-travel-portal aspect and the outrageous soapiness. The hole is less a profound mystery and more an incredibly handy mechanism for creating bananas telenovela moments. I’m your son! Or I didn’t die! Or I’m … you! Work your magic, magic hole.The show loves its musings and mantras about time. “Time doesn’t have a beginning or an end, it just is,” we’re told. “Time is a river.” “Time reveals all.” Such lines are fine on their own, though they inevitably recall “time is a flat circle,” the “True Detective” quote that has become synonymous with TV shows getting high on their own supply.The performances in “Outer Range” hail from different planets. Brolin grounds his work as Royal, who is secretly a time-traveler from the 1800s, in a simmering, fragile stoicism, whereas Lili Taylor, as his long-suffering wife, channels the aggression and frustration of a Melissa McCarthy character. Imogen Poots is the dreamy, dangerous boho blonde, out of the “Orphan Black” Rolodex of crazy sages, while Shaun Sipos and Noah Reid, as embittered brothers, would be at home in “The Righteous Gemstones.”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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      ‘Doctor Who’ Episode 3 Recap: Scenes of Destruction

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      In an episode simmering with tension, the Doctor and Ruby discover an army of religious soldiers on a largely deserted planet.Season 1, Episode 3: ‘Boom’After an opening double episode featuring talking babies and a jazzy villain, the latest “Doctor Who” installment is a clear attempt by Russell T Davies, the showrunner, to convey a more serious side.To write the show’s latest installment “Boom,” Davies recruited Steven Moffat, a former “Doctor Who” showrunner, who is best remembered for a dramatic 2007 episode called “Blink” that fans revered.With that episode, Moffat struck fear in a generation of British kids (myself included) by inventing the Weeping Angels, terrifying stone statues that only move when you look away. Seventeen years later, the episode remains a master class in small-screen tension building.Moffat evokes the same simmering tension with “Boom,” right down to the onomatopoeic episode title. Here, though, it’s a land mine, activated when the 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) steps on it and ticking closer to detonation, that causes the stress.It’s a compelling setup that gives Gatwa the chance to show new emotional depths for the Doctor. But the script and effects are bombastic, and I found myself wishing for something to be stripped back. In this first season with Disney dollars, “Doctor Who” is clearly not doing anything by halves, but the lavish “Mad Max”-esque scenes of destruction threaten to overshadow Gatwa’s pitch-perfect performance.The episode opens with two soldiers — both deeply religious, one of them blind — hobbling through dense, flame-flecked smoke. The place? Kastarian 3, a planet ravaged by war. The year? 5087. Carson (Majid Mehdizadeh-Valoujerdy) has heard that his army’s enemies are lurking in the fog, but John (Joe Anderson), a devoted father with bandaged eyes, insists this isn’t the case.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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      Stephen Colbert Slams Justice Alito for Using His Wife as a Scapegoat

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      Colbert joked that Alito “dropped a dime on his gal” when the Supreme Court justice blamed his wife for the flying of an upside-down American flag at their home shortly after Jan. 6.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.(Blame It On My) Wife GuySupreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has come under fire after photos showed an upside-down American flag flying in front of his Virginia home shortly after the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.Stephen Colbert said on Monday that there is “no possible reason for a Supreme Court justice displaying a symbol of insurrection at his home, which is why, when this photo was published, Alito immediately did the right thing, owned up and blamed his wife.”“So he dropped a dime on his gal, citing the landmark case of ‘Me Just Tryna Live My Life v. Ladies Be Crazy, Amirite?’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“And that’s significant because, at that time, the upside-down flag had become a symbol of the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement, and even worse, all of Alito’s garden gnomes were fully Q-Anon.” — STEPHEN COLBERT“So, Alito clearly knew about this because he came and went for several days, and, to paraphrase my favorite spangled banner, ‘The flag was still there.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT“By the way, if you didn’t like those jokes, they were my wife’s idea. I just came home, and the jokes were there. I had nothing to do with those jokes.” — STEPHEN COLBERTThe Punchiest Punchlines (The Defense Rests Edition)“Speaking of Trump’s hush money trial, today after calling 20 witnesses over the past month, the prosecution rested their case. When he heard, Trump was like, [imitating Trump] ‘Big deal, I’ve been resting the whole case.’” — JIMMY FALLON“Prosecutors concluded their case today. The defense is expected to rest tomorrow, and I have to say, I don’t think the defense has ever been more well rested than this one.” — JIMMY KIMMEL“Today, Michael Cohen was back on the stand in Trump’s hush money trial and he admitted to stealing $30,000 from the Trump organization. It’s nice at the end of one trial when they tease the next trial.” — JIMMY FALLONThe Bits Worth WatchingThe Tony nominee Eddie Redmayne discussed playing the Emcee in the Broadway revival of “Cabaret” on Monday’s “Tonight Show.”What We’re Excited About on Tuesday NightThe journalist and filmmaker Sebastian Junger will discuss his new book, “In My Time of Dying,” on Tuesday’s “Daily Show.”Also, Check This Out“Stax: Soulsville, U.S.A.,” on HBO, looks back at the influential record label that turned out hits and minted stars like Isaac Hayes, seen here at the 1972 Wattstax concert in Los Angeles.Howard BinghamHBO’s new series, “Stax: Soulsville, U.S.A.,” details the triumph and tragedy of the iconic record label that was home to Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes and the Staple Singers. More

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      ‘Stax: Soulsville, U.S.A.’ Review: Looking for a Little Respect

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      An HBO series tells the triumphant, tragic story of the record label Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes and the Staple Singers called home.Multipart music documentaries come at us these days with the insistence and abundance of the old K-tel collections, scrambling to satisfy the cravings of every variety of pop nostalgist. Recent months have added “James Brown: Say It Loud” (A&E), “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon” (MGM+), “Kings From Queens: The Run DMC Story” (Peacock) and “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story” (Hulu), among others, to the rotation.That’s four Rock & Roll Hall of Fame acts right there. But if you are looking for something even bigger — the arc of America across the 1960s and ’70s, set to a rough and infectious soundtrack — I know a place: “Stax: Soulsville, U.S.A.,” premiering Monday on HBO.The stormy, relatively short history of Stax Records (it went from founding to bankruptcy in 18 years) is rich material, shaped by a serendipitous blend of personality, geography and studio acoustics and propelled by the regional dynamics of race, class and music in Memphis, away from the record-industry centers of New York and Los Angeles.The director Jamila Wignot, who has profiled Alvin Ailey for “American Masters” and directed episodes of Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s “Finding Your Roots,” brings more organizational sense than imaginative flair to the four-episode series. “Soulsville, U.S.A.” gives a conventional talking-heads treatment to a story that calls out for more. But that story, tracking from innocence to cynicism and triumph to calamity, is so involving that Wignot’s straightforward approach isn’t fatal.And the interviewees doing the talking are a notably varied and engaging group. They include the white farm boy Jim Stewart, earnest, folksy and disastrously naïve, who founded the label with his sister Estelle Axton; the charismatic Black businessman Al Bell, who came on as promotions director and saved the company when it seemed doomed, only to preside over its eventual demise; and Booker T. Jones, leader of the house band Booker T. and the M.G.’s, who looms over the early episodes like a cool, cryptic, scholarly guru of soul.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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      ‘S.N.L.’ Season 49 Highlights: Trump Trolling, ‘Dune’ Buckets and Beavis Breakdowns

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      Season 49 of “Saturday Night Live” has just ended. Here’s a look back at its most memorable monologues, sketches, product parodies and impressions.Season 49 of “Saturday Night Live” is barely in the history books, and everyone seems ready to turn the page to next season, when this long-running NBC sketch comedy series will tackle the 2024 presidential election and celebrate its golden anniversary.But “S.N.L.” did much more than simply mark the time in its 49th season: It gave us some memorable monologues, catchy comic songs and preposterous commercial parodies; it found the best argument in favor of nepotism; and it tried, yet again, to find someone to impersonate President Joseph R. Biden on a regular basis. And, when no one was expecting it, it served up a sketch so silly that its own cast members profoundly lost it.Join us now as we look back the best of the past season of “S.NL.”Cold open of the seasonWith its premiere delayed by the Writers Guild of America strike, “S.N.L.” started its season only a few days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel — a topic that seemed far too fraught and tragic for the program to comment on, and surely not in the wheelhouse of its host, Pete Davidson, who is no one’s idea of an astute political comedian.Yet “S.N.L.” and Davidson rose unexpectedly to the occasion, and the host addressed the topic at the start of the show, even before the customary monologue segment. Reminding the audience that his father, a firefighter, had been killed in the 9/11 attack on New York, Davidson said:“I saw so many terrible pictures this week of children suffering, Israeli children and Palestinian children. And it took me back to a really horrible, horrible place. No one in this world deserves to suffer like that, especially not kids.”Davidson added, “I’m going to do what I’ve always done in the face of tragedy, and that’s try to be funny. Remember, I said ‘try.’”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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      Michael Emerson Still Reigns as TV’s King of Creepy

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      The actor has played unsettling men on shows like “Lost” and “Fallout.” In the new season of “Evil,” he might be raising the Antichrist.On one wall of the actor Michael Emerson’s Manhattan apartment hangs a large self portrait he drew about 40 years ago. In the intentionally distorted image, Emerson peers out menacingly from behind his circular glasses. His wife, the actor Carrie Preston, thinks it serves as a fitting summation of his career.“You know, Carrie brought this up recently saying, ‘There’s the template for so much of what you have done as an actor,’” he said. “For me it was just a laugh. It’s still the same mix of having fun and yet being a little, what’s the word, terrifying.”It’s true: If you want someone to be creepy on television, you call Michael Emerson. The 69-year-old actor had his breakout role in 2000 playing a serial killer in “The Practice,” a performance so memorably distressing it won him a guest actor Emmy. He went on to unsettle viewers for years as the unpredictable Ben Linus in “Lost,” and as the computer wizard Harold Finch on “Person of Interest.” This year he showed up for one episode of the Prime Video series “Fallout,” from the “Person of Interest” creator Jonathan Nolan, as a quietly menacing scientist. They aren’t all bad guys, but you’re never quite sure.Emerson is currently inhabiting his most ghoulish role yet, in the aptly named Paramount+ show “Evil,” returning for its fourth and final season on May 23. Emerson plays Leland Townsend, a demonic emissary who constantly torments the heroes, a group of investigators played by Mike Colter, Katja Herbers and Aasif Mandvi. This trio works for the Roman Catholic Church to determine whether various strange goings-on are the result of satanic forces or more mundane phenomena. Leland’s main goal is to promote the forces of darkness by any means possible.In Emerson’s hands, Leland is a captivating, often frightening agent of chaos who is surprisingly goofy for someone who is OK with child murder. In the new season, he is raising his biological son — he nefariously arranged the baby’s conception earlier in the series — and believes the child is the Antichrist.“I don’t know anyone that does unsettling better than Michael Emerson,” Michelle King, who created “Evil” with her husband, Robert, said in a video interview.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’s on TV This Week: ‘Abbott Elementary’ and ‘The Good Doctor’

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      The ABC comedy wraps up its third season. The medical show airs its series finale.For those who still enjoy a cable subscription, here is a selection of cable and network TV shows, movies and specials that broadcast this week, May 20-26. Details and times are subject to change.MondaySTAX: SOULSVILLE, U.S.A. 9 p.m. on HBO. Satellite Records in Memphis (now Stax Records), which opened its doors in 1957, helped start the careers of Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave and more. This documentary series uses archival footage and interviews to look back on the relationships shared by musicians, songwriters and producers and highlights the work they all did in pushing the racial barriers of the time.SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE 9 p.m. on Fox. All season the judges Allison Holker, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and JoJo Siwa have been sharing feedback with the dancers in this competition show with episode themes including Broadway, music videos and movies — and now it is time to crown a winner.TuesdayTHE ROOKIE 9 p.m. on ABC. This show, staring Nathan Fillion as the oldest rookie in the Los Angeles Police Department, is wrapping up its 6th season this week. The penultimate episode left things on a cliffhanger, with Dr. London on the run, potentially endangering her immunity deal. Will we have to wait a year for loose ends to be tied up?Freddie Highmore in “The Good Doctor.”Disney/Jeff WeddellTHE GOOD DOCTOR 10 p.m. on ABC. Over the seven seasons of this show, we have really seen Shaun Murphy (Freddie Highmore) go on a full journey. He started as a nervous young surgeon and has blossomed into a top guy in his field, a husband and a father. Highmore told Deadline that he hadn’t expected the show to run seven seasons, “but one of the things that I have always appreciated about the show — and saw as potential from the very beginning — is the opportunity for Shaun to evolve and learn and grow and change,” he said.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