Good morning! You should know that this morning your president is calling for the government to launch an investigation into the press:
A little background in case you need it, although I don’t know how you could have missed this kinda amazing story: NBC reported yesterday that following a number of disagreements and Trump’s hilariously disastrous Boy Scout Jamboree performance, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a “fucking moron” in front of a bunch of White House officials and other cabinet members. NBC also reported that Tillerson had to be talked out of resigning by Mike Pence and John Kelly.
Tillerson gave a rare press conference yesterday disputing the idea that he’s ever considered resigning, but when he was asked if he called Trump a “moron,” he refused to answer directly. (Later his spokesperson came gave another press conference where she insisted that he doesn’t “use that kind of language.” OH. OK.)
It’s an interesting situation: someone in the White House clearly wants Tillerson out and leaked this story to NBC, but Trump who has shed an embarrassing number of staffers and one cabinet member just this week, can’t afford to lose Tillerson — yet. (My guess is he’s out by December.)
So what to do? Go to Trump play number one: scream “FAKE NEWS!” In two tweets, Trump managed to claim the whole story is completely fabricated by NBC — pointing out that it has to be fake as it wasn’t verified by Trump, the ultimate arbitrator of reality, apparently — and then tried to distract from the fact that the Senate Intelligence Committee just said they couldn’t rule out Trump collusion with Russia by demanding that they turn their attention to looking into “fake news” being reported by reputable media outlets.
- The Senate Intelligence Committee is looking into fake news — actual fake news that was spread by Russians via Facebook and Twitter to help Trump get elected.
- READ THE FIRST AMENDMENT, YOU FUCKING MORON. GO AHEAD, WE’LL WAIT.
What a time to be alive.
Hey, Fox & Friends is adding another hour, beginning now at 4/5 a.m. giving your president even more crap to tweet about.
Sean Hannity is a cockknuckle.
Alec Baldwin is worried that his SNL impersonation of Donald Trump is “too cuddly.” And it might just be.
Netflix is pulling its Punisher panel from New York Comic Con and a similar Paris event following the Las Vegas shooting. Related: there’s still no release date for Punisher.
Uh oh, next week’s episode of American Horror Story reportedly opens with a mass shooting. FX hasn’t said what they are going to do about it. (I actually wondered if this season wasn’t going to include a mass shooting, considering the direction it’s been going in.)
Game of Thrones will have its first cast read-through on Monday. Meanwhile, the first spinoff pilot script is done.
Now you can own a poster of the best scene in Game of Thrones last season (maybe any season). And it glows in the dark! (Although that green would be better used in a poster of the sept explosion.)
Bob’s Burgers the movie will be on the big screen on July 17, 2020. Plan accordingly.
Ooh, might season two of Westworld include Roman World and Medieval World? It might! (An aside: If Westworld were real, there’s no way I would go. But Roman World …)
How Lost inspired two of the best network shows on television right now.
Larry David reenacting how he quit (and rejoined) Saturday Night Live is pretty great.
All the other networks keep coming out and talking trash about Netflix which doesn’t seem insecure at all.
We haven’t seen the last of Peter from The Bachelorette. He’s going to be on The Bachelor Winter Games, news which reminds me that we are only a few months away from the Winter Olympics and The Bachelor Winter Games.
This is interesting: AMC is going to offer advertisers 6-second ads during The Walking Dead. Remember Vine? That’s how long 6 seconds is.
Here’s the one joke Netflix thought was too much on Big Mouth.
This is only TV-adjacent, but Entertainment Weekly is moving to Los Angeles (where, honestly, it probably should have always been).
Steven Avery, the subject of Making a Murderer, will not be receiving a new trial anytime soon.
Renewals
- The Bold Type has been given two more seasons and a new showrunner.
Cancellations
In Development
- Darren Star is producing a half-hour dramedy about a young woman who moves to Paris for the Paramount Network.
- Starz has given a straight-to-series order for Sweetbitter.
- NBC is developing Find the Good, a family drama from Tony Goldwyn’s production company.
- Showtime has picked up Ill Behavior, a BBC miniseries starring Lizzy Caplan.
- Fox is developing Headshot, a “fun” FBI procedural.
- NBC bought Step Dave, a comedy from Sean Hayes’ production company.
- Hulu is developing L.A. Woman, a comedy based on the memoirs of Eve Babitz.
- Hulu is working on In Theory, a comedy from Vir Das.
- Hulu is also working on a comedy from Ramy Youssef.
- The woman who blew the whistle on General Petraeus will have her life be turned into a drama series.
- Discovery and Google are working on Discovery TRVLR, a virtual reality travel series.
- Nickelodeon’s Nicky Ricky Dicky Dawn is in danger after some cast dramaz.
Casting News
- Tim Meadows and Patrick Brammall will co-star in No Activity on CBS All Access, and Bridget Everett, Jake Johnson, Jesse Plemons and J.K. Simmons will all guest star.
- Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes will star in Bodyguard, a mini-series for BBC One.
- Kether Donohue will co-star on L.A. to Vegas.
- Anabelle Acosta will be joining the cast of Chicago P.D.
- Leland Orser will co-star in TNT’s limited series One Day She’ll Darken.
- Katie Nolan is moving from Fox Sports to ESPN.
R.I.P.
WATCH THIS
Scandal: Season premiere. 8 p.m., ABC
The Orville: I hate this show and I hate all of you who voted for it. Just a reminder. 8 p.m., Fox
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones: Wait wait wait, what happened to Phantom Menace? ~looks around, finds nothing~ I mean, we all would like to pretend that Phantom Menace never happened, but it happened and if you’re going to play all the Star Wars movies, you should play Phantom Menace. 7 p.m., TNT
Late Night: Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Gal Gadot, Jon Bernthal, Miley Cyrus Late Night with Seth Meyers: Kerry Washington, Method Man, New Politics, Gene Hoglan The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Morgan Freeman, Grace Gummer, Nate McIntosh The Late Late Show with James Corden: Michael Fassbender, Ana De Armas, Jack Hanna Jimmy Kimmel Live: Jeff Bridges, Isla Fisher, Steve Aoki featuring Gucci Mane Conan: Jared Leto, Dr. Dale Stuckenbruck, Kane Brown The Daily Show: Kenya Barris The Opposition with Jordan Klepper: Jane Mayer Watch What Happens Live: Kim Zolciak Biermann, Kroy Biermann
| THURS | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | Grey’s Anatomy (new) |
Scandal (new) |
How to Get Away With Murder (new) |
| CBS | Thursday Night Football (live) |
| CW | Supernatural (repeat) |
Arrow (repeat) |
News/Local |
| FOX | Gotham (new) |
The Orville (new) |
News/Local |
| NBC | Superstore (new) |
The Good Place (new) |
Will & Grace (new) |
Great News (new) |
Chicago Fire (new) |