A friendly reminder that the Oscars are this Sunday and it’s long past time movies in which white people come along and solve racism STOP GETTING NOMINATED. STOP IT, WHITE PEOPLE, GOD DAMN.
Chandler Riggs concedes that he wasn’t a very good actor on the later seasons of The Walking Dead, and that might have been why Carl was killed off. Ouch.
For those of you who are a fan of Documentary Now!, here’s a very comprehensive list of the real documentaries they are based on and where you can watch them.
Yikes: a stunt gone wrong injured multiple people on the set of L.A.’s Finest. Here’s to hoping everyone gets better soon.
Smollett Update:
After posting his $100,000 bail, Jussie Smollett returned to the set of Empire yesterday. He apologized to his cast for putting them through all of this and swore he is innocent. His lawyers echoed this and accused the Chicago police of creating a “spectacle.” And despite the Chicago police’s insistence that Smollett sent himself the threatening letter, federal authorities investigating the case say they have not made any conclusions.
However, Empire has chosen to remove Smollett from the final two episodes of the season.
“The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us” said series executives Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney, Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer in a statement released Friday. “Jussie has been an important member of our ‘Empire’ family for the past five years and we care about him deeply. While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out. We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of ‘Jamal’ from the final two episodes of the season.”
Robin Roberts, who interviewed Smollett, says if it is a hoax, it has “set back race relations.” And Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo urged Smollett to come clean if it was a hoax, and throw himself on the mercy of the court.
And LGBTQ groups are worried what effect this story will have on actual hate crime reporting:
“Among the cases cited by the Anti-Violence Project: On Jan. 19, just 10 days before Smollett talked to police, a gay couple said they were brutally attacked for holding hands in downtown Austin. (The men suffered broken bones, lacerations and memory loss). Just eight days later, on Jan. 27, a black transgender woman was shot in Houston parking lot. (She survived). That same day, a 50-year-old man said he was jumped by four men and a woman outside a gay bar in Philadelphia. (The victim was sent to the hospital and treated for a head injury). Last week, a gay man living in Salt Lake City was punched after his assailant asked him if he was gay. The attack was caught on video, which has since gone viral.”
Trevor Noah points out that Jussie Smollett is an idiot. A CHECK? YOU PAID THEM WITH A CHECK?
The Daily Show‘s Jaboukie Young-White is 1. hilarious but 2. also here to remind us that in 47 states “a gay and trans panic defense” is permitted — meaning, in 47 states, including Texas (obviously) you can defend killing or assaulting a gay or trans person by saying they hit on you and it made you temporarily insane. It’s disgusting and we need to follow California, Rhode Island, and Illinois lead and wipe such defenses from the books.
Time’s Up
Two more women have come forward to accuse R. Kelly of sexually assaulting them when they were underage. Additionally, a grand jury has been convened in New York state to look into abuses in addition to the grand jury in Illinois and the investigation in Georgia, and the Department of Homeland Security is investigating if Kelly violated the Mann Act.
Former Fox News doctor Keith Ablow has been accused of horrific behavior by three female patients. They accuse him of luring them into sexually humiliating and abusive relationships while being treated by him for depression. The whole story is deeply disturbing.
Michael Jackson’s estate is suing HBO for $100 million over Leaving Neverland, claiming the documentary violates a non-disparagement clause HBO signed with Jackson back in 1992. Interesting.
The CEO of Time’s Up had to resign after her son was accused of raping a woman. Wow.
A study looking into diversity in Hollywood reveals that minorities and women are making gains in television, but not film. This is hardly surprising considering how many more opportunities there are in television.
In Development
- Kin, a multi-generational family drama from Reese Witherspoon’s production company, has been bought by Starz.
- The Old Guard, a female-led action movie starring Charlize Theron and KiKi Layne, is coming to Netflix.
- The Goes Wrong Show has been greenlit at BBC.
Casting News
- Josh Gad is going to star in Avenue 5, HBO’s space comedy pilot.
- Andie MacDowell and Kathleen Turner have been cast in the Fox dramedy pilot Let’s Spend the Night Together.
- Brooke Shields will star in Glamorous, a drama pilot at The CW.
- Adam Pally and Abby Elliott are going to star in the NBC comedy pilot Uninsured.
- Adrian Grenier and Sydney Morton have joined the cast of the pilot Cipher on Syfy.
- Skylar Astin and Alex Newell have been added as leads in the Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist pilot at NBC.
- Denise Richards is joining The Bold and the Beautiful.
- Ryan Devlin and James Jordan are returning to Veronica Mars.
- Carra Patterson, Sarah Levy, Paola Lázaro, and Joanna Adler have been cast as the leads in the Patty’s Auto pilot at Fox.
- Tiffany Marie Smith and Charlie Field are your new Meghan and Harry.
- Stella Maeve will be in an upcoming episode of God Friended Me.
- Jonny Beauchamp and Julia Chan are joining the Katy Keene pilot at The CW.
- Tunji Kasim has been cast as the male lead in The CW’s Nancy Drew pilot.
- Svetlana Efremova and Charlie Hewson are joining Spinning Out at Netflix.
- Cameron Gellman has joined the cast of Stargirl on DC Universe.
- Carmela Zumbado is joining the cast of You on Netflix.
- Cameron Britton can’t confirm that he will return to Mindhunter. HMMM.
Mark Your Calendar
- Fleabag returns on BBC on March 4 but no word on when we will get it over here in the U.S. In the meantime, we will have to be satisfied with a trailer:
- Losers will premiere on Netflix on March 1. It looks wonderful:
- Deep State returns on Epix on April 28.
- Victor and Valentino debuts on Cartoon Network on March 30.
- Animal Cribs returns on Animal Planet on March 1.
- Mama June: From Not to Hot will premiere on WE tv on March 15.
- Moonshiners: Whiskey Business will premiere on Discovery on March 13.
- 2019 iHeartRadio Music Festival will air on The CW on March 14.
- I Ship It will premiere on The CW on April 19. It currently is on CW Seed.
R.I.P.
Mark Bramble, Tony-nominated Broadway director
WATCH THIS
FRIDAY
Paddleton: Mark Duplass and Ray Romano star in this film about a man with terminal cancer and the friend he asks to help him end his life on his own terms. Looks like a bittersweet tearjerker. Netflix
Workin’ Moms: This is a Canadian comedy series that has finally made its way over here via Netflix and y’all … it looks good. Click this link to watch the Netflix trailer which they have not made public on YouTube for reasons that I can only imagine have to do with rights with CBC or something. Netflix
SATURDAY
2019 IFC Spirit Awards: The film awards ceremony where Sorry to Bother You gets its proper due. 4 p.m., IFC
O.G.: Jeffrey Wright stars as a former prison gang leader nearing the end of his sentence in this HBO original film. 9 p.m., HBO
Point Break: I will always let you know when Point Break is on if I see that it is on. My solemn vow. 8 p.m., Sundance
SUNDAY
The Oscars: The film awards ceremony where Sorry to Bother You gets none of its proper due. 7 p.m., ABC
The Oscars Red Carpet: Technically, the red carpet will begin in earnest at around 5 or so, but if you just want to spend the entire day looking at famous people in clothes, the festivities begin as early as noon. 12 p.m., ABC & E!; 4 p.m., E!; 5:30 p.m., ABC
True Detective: Yeah, yeah, the season finale, but more importantly, WILL THEY DEBUT THE GAME OF THRONES TRAILER TONIGHT? (Disregard if the trailer has already debuted, which is entirely possible.) 8 p.m., HBO
Whiskey Cavalier: Maggie from The Walking Dead and Noel from Felicity are federal agents in this new version of Moonlighting. Series premiere. 10:30-ish ABC
The Walking Dead: A supply run for the Kingdom turns deadly. Ruh roh. 8 p.m., AMC
Late Night:
- Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Friday): John Legend, Hasan Minhaj
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: (Friday): Don Cheadle, Colin Quinn
| FRI. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | Fresh Off the Boat (new) |
Speechless (new) |
20/20 (new) |
| CBS | MacGyver (new) |
Hawaii Five-0 (new) |
Hawaii Five-0 (new) |
| CW | Whose Line is it Anyway? (repeat) |
Whose Line is it Anyway? (repeat) |
Penn & Teller: Fool Us (repeat) |
Local |
| FOX | Last Man Standing (new) |
The Cool Kids (new) |
Proven Innocent (new) |
Local |
| NBC | The Blacklist (new) |
The Blacklist (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 (live) |
News/Local |
| CBS | Ransom (new) |
48 Hours (new) |
48 Hours (new) |
News/Local |
| FOX | 9-1-1 (repeat) |
Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and back (repeat) |
News/Local |
| NBC | NHL Hockey (live) | News/Local | Saturday Night Live (repeat) |
—
| SUN. | 6:00 | 6:30 | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | The Oscars Red Carpet (live) |
The 91st Oscars (live) |
| CBS | The Big Bang Theory (repeat) |
Young Sheldon (repeat) |
The Big Bang Theory (repeat) |
Young Sheldon (repeat) |
FBI (repeat) |
| The CW | Local | Supergirl (repeat) |
Charmed (repeat) |
Local |
| FOX | The Simpsons (repeat) |
Bob’s Burgers (repeat) |
The Simpsons (repeat) |
Bob’s Burgers (repeat) |
Family Guy (repeat) |
Family Guy (repeat) |
Local/News |
| NBC | Dateline (repeat) |
Ellen’s Game of Games (repeat) |
America’s Got Talent: The Champions (repeat) |