First of all, Trump is not going to attend the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, surprise surprise. Woman known for her jovial sense of humor, Sarah Sanders, is going in his stead.
But that’s not the best story of the day. The best story of the day is the hilarious — for many reasons — slap fight Jimmy Kimmel and Sean Hannity are currently engaged in.
The fight began after Jimmy Kimmel made a fairly soft joke about Melania Trump’s accent (it begins at the 1:26-minute mark, although the entire clip is pretty good):
Sean Hannity was OUTRAGED, and came after Kimmel on his show on Wednesday night, calling him a “despicable disgrace,” and an “ass clown.”
So, Kimmel responded, and it was brutal. Trigger warning: There is a lot of talk about Sean Hannity’s erections.
And as soon as this was posted online, Hannity responded in kind by tweeting out his big “GOTCHA!”: a bunch of old The Man Show clips:
To which Jimmy Kimmel responded:
Prompting Hannity to drop this undisguised threat:
We all know my biases here: Obviously, I don’t like Sean Hannity, and sincerely believe he should have been pulled from the air over the Seth Rich nonsense. What you probably don’t know, however, is that I didn’t watch a single episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! for years because I hated his work on The Man Show. HATED. LOATHED. I found the show not merely misogynistic, but sophomoric to the point of being unwatchable. And I assumed Jimmy Kimmel Live! was going to be more of the same sort of humor. (I still despise Adam Corolla, for the record.)
Clearly that did not turn out to be the case, but it’s important to remember that The Man Show WAS NOT A SECRET. In fact, it’s not even like The Man Show was some minor program in Kimmel’s distant past that only some people might know about — ABC/Disney hired Kimmel away from The Man Show to host Jimmy Kimmel Live! They knew exactly what they were getting. These clips aren’t some revelation, they are why ABC/Disney bet on Kimmel.
Are the clips gross? Of course they are and had I seen them at the time, I would have thought so then, too. But we are living in a different time — shit, we’re living in a different time from just 6 months ago, before the Weinstein allegations emerged — and it’s difficult to gin up hysteria over 17-year-old clips of Jimmy Kimmel making sexually inappropriate jokes on a show that was about making inappropriate jokes. It would be like, oh, I don’t know, digging up old clips of President Grab ‘Em By the Pussy talking on Howard Stern’s show about having sex with Melania or how sex in the 80s was his personal Vietnam or bragging about walking into beauty pageant dressing rooms while contestants were changing or musing on different celebrities appearances, and trying to get people upset about them.
It’s clear that Hannity, frustrated that people have organized successful boycotts of his colleagues at Fox News, is trying to do something similar to Kimmel, and hopes that the #MeToo movement will be SO OUTRAGED at Kimmel’s behavior that the left will decry Kimmel as a hypocrite and abandon him. But this is not a “Bill O’Reilly sexually abused, harassed and silenced multiple women” moment, nor is it a “Laura Ingraham bullied a teenaged survivor of a gun massacre” moment, nor is it a “Sean Hannity uses his show to spread a conspiracy theory about the tragic death of a young DNC worker” moment. It’s just a “One guy digs up clips of a show that made another man famous to try to attack that man” moment and no one aside from Hannity’s octogenarian viewers are going to think twice about it.
Or maybe Hannity is just cranky because The Maddow Show beat his show last month.
Vanity Fair has an entertaining piece about how Fox News is FREAKING OUT about the Laura Ingraham story behind the scenes. I doubt she’ll be fired the way Bill O’Reilly was — her offense is legally less problematic, and cost the network considerably less — but it’s still satisfying to know that the network is losing money and that there is so much chaos behind the scenes. Oh, and speaking of, her show lost another advertiser this week.
On April 29th, The Simpsons will become the longest-running primetime scripted series on television. And now you know.
Dina Lohan wants to do an Eat Pray Love-like series with the Real Housewives of New York City. Would watch. Also, quick question about the photo in this piece: why is Dorinda orange? Girl looks like an Oompa Loompa.
Here’s the trailer for HBO’s Fahrenheit 451, a movie for our times, unfortunately.
Of course Dennis will return on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Obviously, he will.
Reminder: Roseanne Barr once ran for President.
Confirmation that Streep is on the Big Little Lies set:
And confirmation that Lena Dunham’s HBO series Camping is happening:
Game of Thrones‘ dragons something something spoiler something.
The deal behind “the most expensive series ever.” And might the Weinstein assholes try to worm their way into it? Maybe!
Love is dead. Again.
Renewals
- Pure has been given a second season ahead of its premiere on WGN.
In Development
- Unsubscribed, a comedy series from Tiffany Haddish, is headed to HBO.
- Why We Hate, a documentary from Steven Spielberg, has been bought by Discovery.
- FX has ordered a pilot of an adaptation of Y: The Last Man.
- Jordan Peele’s production company is working on a Lorena Bobbitt miniseries for Amazon.
- Hidden Figures is being developed into a series at Nat Geo.
- High Fidelity is being turned into a series for Disney’s streaming service. Weird.
- Forte, a supernatural Latin musical, is being developed at Fox.
- Book of Hines, an off-the-grid reality series, is in the works at Discovery.
- First Wives Club has been ordered as a pilot at Paramount Network.
- Vor, a Russian mob thriller, is being developed at Netflix.
Casting News
- Busy Philipps is going to guest star in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt — which is interesting because she was set to star in a Fey/Carlock pilot that ultimately was not picked up by NBC last season. Also, we just love Busy Philipps.
- David Fumero is going to guest star on Brooklyn Nine-Nine which is sweet for two reasons: it’s a mini-One Life to Live reunion with Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Melissa Fumero and also, too, they’re married in real life! Who knew?
- Karl Urban is going to star in Amazon’s superhero series The Boys.
Mark Your Calendar
- Detail, a basketball series hosted by Kobe Bryant, will debut on ESPN+ on April 12.
- Total Bellas with return on E! on May 20.
- Iron Chef America will return on Food Network on May 16.
- Girl in the Bunker will premiere on Lifetime on May 28.
R.I.P.
Brian Lancaster, Former Road Rules contestant
Susan Anspach, Actress
Isao Takahata, Animator, director and co-founder of Studio Ghibli
WATCH THIS
FRIDAY
Fastest Car: Exotic race cars are raced against cars built and modified by gearheads. Series premiere. Netflix
Amateur: A film about a young basketball star struggling to fit in with his new team. Netflix
Troy: Fall of a City: Sexy Brits pretend to be ancient Greeks. Netflix
SATURDAY
Saturday Night Live: Chadwick Boseman and Cardi B. 10:30 p.m., NBC
Paterno: Al Pacino stars in this film about the Penn State scandal. 7 p.m., HBO
Trading Spaces: The home decorating series where neighbors ruin each others’ houses is back. Season premiere. 8 p.m., TLC
Ransom: Season two premiere. 7 p.m., CBS
SUNDAY
Killing Eve: Sandra Oh stars in this new thriller from the creators of “Fleabag,” and I can not wait. Series premiere. 7 p.m., BBC
Howards End: Hayley Atwell and Julia Ormond star in this new adaptation of the novel of the same name. Series premiere. 7 p.m., Starz
Unforgotten: A pair of detectives find a body that is connected to a 40-year-old murder case. Series premiere. 8 p.m., PBS
The Walking Dead: Aaron is still looking for new allies. 8 p.m., AMC
Late Night: Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Friday): Tiffany Haddish, Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan Watch What Happens Live (Sunday): Lena Waithe, NeNe Leakes
| FRI. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | Once Upon a Time (new) |
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (new) |
20/20 (new) |
| CBS | MacGyver (new) |
Hawaii Five-0 (new) |
Blue Bloods (new) |
| CW | Dynasty (new) |
Jane the Virgin (new) |
Local |
| FOX | MasterChef Junior (new) |
The Resident (repeat) |
Local |
| NBC | Taken (new) |
Dateline (new) |
—
| SAT. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 | 10:00 | 10:30 | 11:00 | 11:30 |
| ABC | NBA Basketball | News/Local |
| CBS | Ransom (new) |
NCIS (repeat) |
48 Hours (new) |
News/Local |
| FOX | MasterChef (repeat) |
Showtime at the Apollo (repeat) |
News/Local |
| NBC | Will & Grace (repeat) |
Superstore (repeat) |
Dateline (repeat) |
Saturday Night Live (repeat) |
News/Local | Saturday Night Live (Chadwick Boseman & Cardi B.) |
—
| SUN. | 6:00 | 6:30 | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | America’s Funniest Home Videos (new) |
American Idol (new) |
Deception (new) |
| CBS | 60 Minutes (new) |
Instinct (new) |
NCIS: Los Angeles (new) |
Madam Secretary (new) |
| FOX | Bob’s Burgers (repeat) |
Bob’s Burgers (new) |
The Simpsons (new) |
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (new) |
Family Guy (new) |
The Last Man on Earth (new) |
Local/News |
| NBC | Dateline (new) |
Little Big Shots (new) |
Genius Junior (new) |
Timeless (new) |