Sedition, sexual assault, and more attacks on scientists. The dumpster fire never ends.

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

It is now Thursday, and we are more than halfway through the month. It is 47 days until Election Day and 26 days until early voting begins in Texas.

I need everyone to see my farm friends’ dog in his My Little Pony costume.

GOING VIRAL

Yesterday, I noted that Dr. Redfield, the head of the CDC, testified in front of a Senate committee that 1. masks are important — maybe even more effective at curbing the spread of the virus than a vaccine (that does not exist yet) and 2. a vaccine probably won’t be available until the third or fourth quarter of next year. While none of this is particularly surprising or news to any of us who have been paying attention, it does fly in direct opposition to everything coming out of the White House. 

President Alternative Facts then held a press conference yesterday to call Dr. Redfield — AGAIN, THE HEAD OF THE CDC — “confused.”

“I think he made a mistake when he said that,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “It’s just incorrect information.” A vaccine would go “to the general public immediately,” the president insisted, and “under no circumstance will it be as late as the doctor said.” As for Dr. Redfield’s conclusion that masks may be more useful than a vaccine, Mr. Trump said that “he made a mistake,” maintaining that a “vaccine is much more effective than the masks.”

This ongoing war on scientists and experts will have long-ranging consequences on our politics, our culture, and our country and it is absolutely infuriating.

And let’s take apart that last statement from President Spraytan: “he made a mistake … a vaccine is much more effective than the masks.” OK, BUT THERE ISN’T A VACCINE YET, AND THERE PROBABLY WON’T BE ONE AVAILABLE FOR EVERYONE FOR ANOTHER YEAR. ALL WE’VE GOT FOR THE NEXT YEAR ARE THE MASKS.

Which brings me to this interesting article about the U.S. Postal Service and how it was already in trouble this spring before LeJoy arrived on the scene and began throwing sorting machines away (machines we will not get back before the election — I’m still fucking furious). Anyway, buried in this story is this nugget:

The records also offer fresh detail about the Postal Service’s precarious position in the White House’s early pandemic response. At one point in April, USPS leaders drafted a news release announcing plans to distribute 650 million masks nationwide, enough to offer five face coverings to every American household. The document, which includes quotations from top USPS officials and other specifics, was never sent. But it suggests that the government’s initial interest in tapping the Postal Service as part of its campaign to combat the coronavirus may have been far more advanced than initially reported this spring.

The Postal Service declined to discuss its specific dealings with the White House, Treasury Department or Amazon about plans to distribute masks or its finances. David Partenheimer, a USPS spokesman, stressed in a statement that the mail agency is “firmly committed to being a source of constancy and reliability in every community.”

EXCUSE ME WHAT? So, the White House considered pretty seriously a plan to distribute masks to every American household this spring, but then … didn’t? Why not? What happened? I mean, I have my suspicions about what happened (President Pandemic thought conceding that we needed to be using masks would be contradictory to his message of OPEN EVERYTHING BY EASTER!), but I need some reporters to do some digging, please and thank you.

But just imagine if the White House had signed off on a plan to distribute masks to every American in the spring, how much that could have done to depoliticize the practice of wearing one. This, like the Woodward tapes, is another indication that the White House’s handling of this virus wasn’t merely negligent, it was an act of deliberate malfeasance.

Back to yesterday’s press conference: this man actually thinks that he is the President of only the red states.

THAT IS NOT HOW ANY OF THIS WORKS, AND EVEN IF IT WERE, THE RED STATES? THEY AIN’T MUCH BETTER, FUCKO:

Oh, and that number of Americans potentially dead if we just “herd mentality” this thing that I gave at around 2 million yesterday? Yeah, I was off by a few million.

Hey, Attorney General Bill Barr compared being on lockdown during a deadly pandemic to slavery, so that’s super cool and not completely tone-deaf and definitely won’t get the crazies all worked up. He also threatened to charge protestors with sedition and attacked his own prosecutors at the DOJ, so having a normal one.

Tucker Carlson had a lunatic on his show on Tuesday who claimed that COVID-19 is man-made, and so Instagram and Facebook flagged the clips as disinformation and now he’s SO MAD.

The Batman has resumed production after suspending because star Robert Pattinson tested positive.

Candyman‘s release has been pushed back until 2021.

The Croods: A New Age has actually been moved up to Thanksgiving. This is interesting: because of the new VOD release rules, Universal is betting on two potential windows — Thanksgiving in the theaters and Christmas on VOD.

The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York has established a relief fund for smaller theaters crushed by this pandemic. As bad as things are for movie theaters, I’m genuinely scared for the theater world everywhere, but especially in New York City.

How Supernatural filmed the final two episodes during a pandemic:

The show filmed under the COVID-19 protocols agreed to unions in the U.S. and Canada: mask-wearing at all times, social distancing among the crew and enhanced sanitary procedures for people and the sets. Everyone involved in the production — around 360 people, according to Warner Bros. — was tested three times a week. That crew is larger than usual, Singer said, because staffers who would usually be used for day calls — in the electric department, for instance — were hired to be there full-time instead. A Warner Bros. spokesperson said the production was divided into seven pods, to enforce social distancing. And, Singer said, “Anybody who could work from home, worked from home.”

And then there’s this:

Because of COVID, there could be no wrap party, nor any type of celebration of the show ending, which turned something Singer called “bittersweet” into a sad event.

Alicia Keys honored two essential workers this morning on Good Morning America.

HBO’s The Gilded Age has resumed production after shutting down in March.

Political Crap

I’m not going to spend much time in here today, as most of what I have to say was related to the virus, but two things:

On last night’s Late Night with Stephen Colbert, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog hosted a focus group with President Dumpster Fire’s supporters and showed them a bunch of fake Trump ads to gauge their responses. It goes exactly the way you think it does — SPOILER: his supporters twist themselves into knots to support whatever completely insane, illegal, or immoral thing President NeverWrong suggests. What is heartbreaking about this video is that these are not stupid people (well, not all of them), they are people with moral compasses, but they are willing to compromise their ethics and their intelligence in some completely insane allegiance to this man. This is a cult.

Oh look, another woman has come forward to accuse President Handsy McGropesalot of assaulting her. This time, it’s a former model who claims President TicTac forced his tongue down her throat and groped her at the 1997 U.S. Open, and she has tons of photos to prove she was there.

“He just shoved his tongue down my throat and I was pushing him off. And then that’s when his grip became tighter and his hands were very gropey and all over my butt, my breasts, my back, everything.

“I was in his grip, and I couldn’t get out of it,” she said, adding: “I don’t know what you call that when you’re sticking your tongue just down someone’s throat. But I pushed it out with my teeth. I was pushing it. And I think I might have hurt his tongue.”

I hope she hurt him.

Black Lives Matter

The big news of the week is that Louisville, KY has agreed to pay the mother of Breonna Taylor $12 million for her daughter’s murder by cop. Her mother, Tamika Palmer, insists that there remains much to be done, including criminal charges against the officers who murdered Breonna.

Actor James Tardy has announced that he won’t be returning to Dear White People on Netflix, accusing the streamer and Lionsgate, the producer of the series, of discriminatory compensation practices.

The head of FX, John Landgraf, says that traditional police dramas aren’t coming back to the network, and, in fact, he’s not even sure how to do a cop series right now.

“I don’t mean to say that [cop shows] will cease to exist,” Landgraf told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday. “But FX has never existed to do an ordinary version of any type of show, and I don’t know how to do a cop show at the moment, to be honest with you. I’m not saying one will never be done or there is no way to do it, I just don’t know how to do it.”

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is going to try, however. “Goor confirms that the ‘Nine-Nine’ writers are crafting a storyline about police brutality for the coming season and that, as always, they’ll be thorough: ‘We want to make sure we get it right,’ he says.”

Animated series Gen: Lock increased representation in the writers’ room as a commitment to the #ChangeHollywood initiative.

The NFL returned last week with a game between The Houston Texans and The Kansas City Chiefs (and the less said about the Texans’ performance, the better). During the pre-game, the Texans stayed in the locker room during The National Anthem and then the teams linked arms in a sign of unity while many in the audience booed. Rudy Giuliani had some feelings about the Texans’ gesture, but come Sunday, six more teams remained in their locker rooms during the National Anthem. So I guess, die mad, Rudy and NFL fans?

The real Lady A is countersuing the former Lady Antebellum over this whole name crap.

Chris Rock has no beef with Jimmy Fallon and his blackface impersonation of him.

“Two in three Black Americans don’t feel they see their stories represented on-screen, according to a new study from National Research Group.”

Jason Momoa continues to speak up in defense of Ray Fisher in this whole Justice League mess.

John Boyega has cut ties with Jo Malone, a cosmetics company, after they dropped him from their campaign in China. Fuck that noise.

A performance about BLM on Britain’s Got Talent has generated thousands of complaints because white fragility is a thing.

All Other TV News

Dammit, Jerry.

Jim Carrey is your new Joe Biden, which is just great. This way, no matter who wins on Election Day, I will remain irritated with SNL. JASON SUDEIKIS WILL FOREVER BE MY JOE BIDEN.

Oh lord, Kathy Hilton is in talks to join The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills because we haven’t had enough Richards’ sister drama on this series.

CBS was the 2019-2020 ratings winner, but just barely.

Wait, there are too many streaming services and the smaller ones are going to have to merge with others to survive? I’ve been saying this literally for years, and I’m not a “top media analyst.” I need to update my resume.

“We’re not trying to beat Netflix,” says a network who is in nowhere the same league as Netflix.

These stories about Diana Rigg on the set of Game of Thrones are amazing and hilarious and keeping entirely with both who she and Olenna Tyrell were. R.I.P. Queen of Thorns.

So, Superman & Lois is going to follow Clark and Lois as working parents of teenage boys in Smallville? Huh.

Last week, The 100 killed off a major character, and fans were PISSED. (I don’t watch, so I’m just going to have to take the fans’ word for it.)

This story about Naya Rivera is utterly heartbreaking. Do not click if you want your heart to remain unbroken.

Cancellations

  • Stumptown has been canceled at ABC AFTER HAVING BEEN RENEWED. This virus, man.

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • I Am Greta will premiere on Hulu on November 13.

  • Books of Blood will premiere on Hulu on October 7.

  • The Great North will debut on Fox soon.

  • Good Morning, Veronica will premiere on Netflix on October 1.

  • Country-ish will debut on Netflix on September 25.

  • True Colors will debut on Peacock on September 29.

  • Code 404 will premiere on Peacock on October 1.

  • History of Horror will return on Shudder on October 10.

  • Vampires vs. the Bronx will debut on October 2.

R.I.P.

Stanley Crouch, Critic and author

“Kentucky” Christopher Scott Ellis, Street Outlaws star

WATCH THIS

Departure: A plane goes missing in this completely original idea for a TV show. Series premiere. Peacock

Keeping Up With the Kardashians: 18th — AND FINAL — season premiere. 7 p.m., E!

The Bradshaw Bunch: Terry Bradshaw’s family has a reality show now for some reason. Series premiere. 8 p.m., E!

Spiral: This sure looks like a gay Get Out. FOR IT. Shudder

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Seth MacFarlane, Evan Rachel Wood, Penn & Teller
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Stacey Abrams, David Byrne, Sonny Emory
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Sarah Paulson
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Neil Patrick Harris, Ziggy Marley featuring Ben Harper
  • The Daily Show: The Daily Social Distancing Show
  • Conan: Alec Baldwin
  • Watch What Happens Live: Jane Fonda
THUR 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Celebrity Family Feud
(repeat)		 Holey Moley
(new)		 Match Game
(repeat)
CBS Big Brother
(new)		 Love Island
(new)
CW Mysteries Decoded
(new)		 Penn & Teller: Fool Us
(repeat)		 News/Local
FOX Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back
(repeat)		 The Masked Singer
(repeat)		 News/Local
NBC The Wall
(repeat)		 Law & Order: SVU
(repeat)		 Law & Order: SVU
(repeat)

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