Hey, remember that Tom Arnold show where he tried to get his hands on the Trump Tapes? The Hunt for the Trump Tapes with Tom Arnold? And how he befriended Michael Cohen in his efforts? Turns out, it might have paid off — a little. In March, Arnold taped a conversation with Cohen in which Cohen told him he helped bury some incriminating photos of evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife back in 2015 in exchange for Falwell’s endorsement of Trump — which he gave just a few days ahead of the Iowa Caucuses. On the Falwells’ behalf, Cohen reportedly flew to Florida to speak to the attorney of an unnamed client and told him that law enforcement would be called if demands against the Falwells did not cease. The lawyer later told Cohen the photos had all been destroyed.
Cohen claims he still has one of the photos on his phone. 👀
Now here’s where things get … salacious and completely speculative and I am not drawing a straight line between these two things, I leave that up to your imagination. All I’m saying is that there have been plenty of eyebrows raised by a story that emerged last winter that Falwell and his wife befriended a Miami pool boy back in 2012, and was soon flying him around on their private jet, offering him “financial assistance” and eventually gave him $1.8 million for a real estate venture. I’M NOT SAYING ANYTHING YOU’RE NOT THINKING.
In the most recent Good Fight episode, an animated sequence is interrupted with a title card that reads “CBS HAS CENSORED THIS CONTENT” for a full 8 seconds. Turns out, it was for real, and not satire — CBS “had concerns about some of the subject matter in the episode’s animated short,” according to a statement. So what was the animated short about? Ironically enough: censorship in China and how American corporations remove content to appease Chinese censors. YEP. I KNOW. The creators nearly quit over the kerfuffle.
Dave Chappelle will be awarded the Mark Twain Prize for Humor. Hooray for this!
200 Bojack Horseman fans from 43 countries recreated the “Free Churro” soliloquy in this video:
Count George R.R. Martin among those who hated the way Lost ended. YEAH, WELL, I HATED THE WAY JON AND GHOST’S RELATIONSHIP ENDED. AT LEAST VINCENT GOT TO BE WITH JACK.
Renewals
- What We Do in the Shadows has been renewed at FX which is a no-brainer as it is the best new comedy on TV.
- Growing Up Chrisley has been renewed on USA.
- Most Expensivest has been renewed by Viceland.
Ratings
Cancel Bear has just announced their final guesses for renewals and cancelations ahead of next week’s Upfronts:
In Development
The CW has ordered three new series:
- Batwoman
- Katy Keene
- Nancy Drew
- However, the Jane the Virgin spinoff is not going forward.
- Glamorous is still being considered; and Lost Boys is getting another pilot.
NBC has ordered another drama:
- Council of Dads
- Intercepted is being developed at Starz.
- Prehistoric Planet from Jon Favreau, is coming to AppleTV+
- The college admissions scandal is being turned into a miniseries, obviously.
- Three Busy Debras has been picked up to series by Adult Swim.
- Ink Masters: Grudge Match has been ordered by Paramount Network.
- Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux, the geniuses behind Bob’s Burgers have signed an overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television.
Oxygen has greenlit six new series:
- Kim Kardashian: The Justice Project
- Injustice with Nancy Grace
- The DNA of Murder with Paul Holes
- Relentless with Kate Snow
- Truth & Justice: The West Memphis Three
- The Lover’s Lane Murders
Oxygen also has five series in development:
- Exploited
- Framed by the Killer
- Florida Man
- The Jane Doe Murders
- The Vanished Project
Viceland has greenlit four new series:
- Danny’s House
- Donkmaster
- How to Rob a Bank
- Fine Young Criminals
Casting News
- John Lithgow is joining the cast of Perry Mason on HBO.
- Billy Bush has finally been hired again. He is going to host Extra Extra for Fox. I wonder if the other magazine show, you know, Extra!, might have something to say about this show’s title.
- Melissa Joan Hart is joining the cast of Nickelodeon’s animated series, The Casagrandes. Also joining the voice cast, Eugenio Derbez, and Ken Jeong.
- Cameron Britton is joining Manhunt, wherever that airs. Spectrum Originals? That doesn’t sound right.
- Ashleigh Murray is officially leaving Riverdale to be on the new Katy Keene series.
Mark Your Calendars
- The Bachelorette returns on Monday. Pray for me.
- Legion returns on FX on June 24.
- Nailed It! will return on Netflix on May 17.
- Ambitions will debut on OWN on June 18.
- Good Trouble returns on Freeform on June 18.
- Hell Den will debut on DrinkTV on Friday.
- This Close will debut on Sundance on September 17.
- Ink Masters returns on June 11 on Paramount.
- Harvey Girls Forever! will return on Netflix on May 10.
- The Wrestlers will debut on Viceland on May 22.
- Vagabond is going to debut on Netflix in September.
- Designated Survivor: 60 Days — a Korean version of Designated Survivor — is coming to Netflix this summer.
- A Bob’s Burgers movie is coming to theaters on July 17, 2020.
R.I.P.
George Litto, Talent Agent
WATCH THIS
The Real Housewives of New York: The ladies try to give a speech. It does not go well. 8 p.m., Bravo
Lucifer: The devil is back and on a considerably sexier platform. Season premiere. Netflix
Empire: Season finale. 7 p.m., Fox
The Goldbergs: Season finale. 7 p.m., ABC
Schooled: Season finale. 7:30 p.m., ABC
Modern Family: Season finale 8 p.m., ABC
Star: Season finale. 8 p.m., Fox
Single Parents: Season finale. 8:30 p.m., ABC
Late Night:
- Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Maya Rudolph, Rita Ora, Kygo
- Late Night with Seth Meyers: Lena Dunham, Ian McShane, Phillip “Fish” Fisher
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Bryan Cranston, RuPaul
- The Late Late Show with James Corden: Christina Applegate, Kenneth Branagh
- Jimmy Kimmel Live: Rebel Wilson, Kyle Chandler, Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers
- The Daily Show: Tyra Banks
- Conan: David Cross
- Busy Tonight: Josh Hopkins, Kevin Morby
- Watch What Happens Live: Sonja Morgan, Bridget Everett
| WEDS. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
| ABC | The Goldbergs (new) |
Schooled (new) |
Modern Family (new) |
Single Parents (new) |
Whiskey Cavalier (new) |
| CBS | Survivor (new) |
The Amazing Race (new) |
SEAL Team (new) |
| CW | Riverdale (new) |
Jane the Virgin (new) |
Local |
| FOX | Empire (new) |
Star (new) |
News/Local |
| NBC | Chicago Med (new) |
Chicago Fire (new) |
Chicago P.D. (new) |