“We’re going to have to wait to see what happens.”

It’s Thursday, and we are now 40 days away from Election Day.

Let’s look at a sweet old blind dog and his new puppy friend:

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Political Crap

You know what? Let’s just let President Anti-Democracy tell you, in his own words:

Reporter Brian Karen: “Win, lose, or draw in this election, will you commit here today for a peaceful transferal of power after the election?”

President Disaster: “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens. You know that. I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.”

Karen: “… Will you commit to making sure that there’s a peaceful transferal of power?”

President Underminer: “Get rid of the ballots and…we’ll have a very peaceful—there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation. The ballots are out of control. You know it. You know who knows it better than anybody else? The Democrats know better than anybody else.”

I mentioned yesterday that The Atlantic ran a sobering piece outlining how President Fartgobbler might try to steal a Biden win by having friendly state legislators go along with his “these mail-in ballots are questionable so we’re going to throw them out and appoint electors ourselves” plan. You add to this a Supreme Court in his pocket who might agree to throw out ballots he doesn’t like, and possibly uphold elector shenanigans, and we were already in nightmare land.

So when he went on TV yesterday and threatened violence if the election doesn’t go his way — and let there be no question: refusing to a peaceful transfer of power is, indeed, a threat of violence — you can understand why people are setting their hair on fire:

I am trying VERY HARD to be optimistic and not let the fuckers get me down about this, but I gotta tell you, it’s difficult. After the body blow that was Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016, I know I’m not the only one out there who is bracing herself for another disappointment. But that’s what they want: they want us to feel hopeless, as if it doesn’t matter what we do, they will either win through the electoral college as they did in 2016, or they’ll just outright steal the election. They want us to feel as though either way, we’re screwed, so we might as well just stay home.

We can’t give them what they want. Listen to Asha:

And to fight the creeping despondency, DO something, if only to make yourself feel more powerful and in control:

And I know this might be scary for a lot of us, but if you’re healthy and young, try to vote in person if you can. The key to President Autocrat’s plan is to contest mail-in votes. If your vote is placed in person, it’ll be harder for him to erase it, no matter what happens. It’s a lot to ask of voters during a pandemic, but he’s telling us exactly how he’s going to try to steal the election. It’s up to those of us who can put our bodies on the line to try to prevent that from happening.

And Republicans are terrified of us doing that — of showing up. Here in Texas, a group of Republicans is suing our Republican governor for moving early voting up a week. They want us to have less time to vote so that the polling sites will be more crowded and voting will take longer. It’s all an effort to discourage us from voting at all because they know the more of us who vote, the more in danger their hold of power is. 

Finally, some palate cleansers:

SOUND ON.

You know what is genius about this get out the vote video made by Atlanta strippers, besides the fact that it was made by Atlanta strippers? The fact that it focuses on down-ballot races. Get your booty to the polls:

Black Lives Matter

Had the President of the United States not directly threatened democracy and this election, this would have been the biggest story of the day: a Kentucky grand jury declined to charge two police officers who murdered Breonna Taylor in her home, and only indicted one detective for endangering Taylor’s neighbors with reckless gunfire.

Kentucky literally cares more about a wall than the life of a Black woman.

This news is infuriating but not surprising. The Governor of Kentucky is calling for the information that was given to the grand jury to be made public — there is some concern that the prosecutors did not give the jurors any information about Taylor’s death to even consider. Whatever happened, however this grand jury came to this conclusion, it was bullshit.

“I was born and raised in Kentucky. Cut tobacco on the farms of Kentucky. Both my parents and my sister live in Kentucky. I own a home in Kentucky, and I was there last month. The justice system I was raised to believe in holds people responsible for their actions. Her name was Breonna Taylor and she was shot to death in her bed by 3 white police officers, who will not be charged with any crime for her death. I know the community. I know the commonwealth. And I was taught in the schools and churches of Kentucky what is right and what is wrong. I’m ashamed of this decision.” — George Clooney

There have been protests all over the country in response to this terrible decision. In Louisville, two police officers were shot, neither have life-threatening injuries, and in Buffalo, a truck plowed through protestors. Tensions remain high, and we are a tinder box right now.

In other Black Lives Matter news:

Gabrielle Union led an all-Black live reading of a Friends episode to encourage people to learn about their voting rights and raise awareness of voting in general.

Zack Snyder is filming some new Justice League scenes with Ray Fisher.

MLB and the Players Association are donating $10 million to increase diversity in baseball from youth leagues up through the majors.

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This one is special. My King Chad tribute is now on a wall on display at Downtown Disney. 🐾 It is a full circle moment for me: my final two projects as a Disney Imagineer last summer were working on the Children’s Hospital project and the Avengers Campus. To millions of kids, T'Challa was a legend larger than life, and there was no one more worthy to fill those shoes than Chadwick Boseman. I'm so thankful to be able to honor Chadwick's life and purpose in this way. I am grateful to the Disney family for being so supportive of my journey as an artist. @waltdisneyimagineering @disney @marvelstudios @disneyland 🐾✨ #LongLiveTheKing #KingChad #WakandaForever #Phambili #DowntownDisney #BlackPanther #ChadwickBoseman #RIPChadwick #WDI

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As artists and performers, all we want to do is create; all we want to do is spread love. Unfortunately, the reality of our reality television experience is that the “fandom” of the show can be toxic at times. My sisters and myself have received countless letters of hate and death threats since our appearance on television. Listen and watch as a few of my POC sisters and I share our stories, along side some of our allies who are also demanding that this treatment of queens who are not white ends now. I am forever grateful for the experience RPDR provided me and I remain a viewer and avid fan to this day. My hope though is that one day the fan base learns to treat me and ALL of my sisters, regardless of race, with the love and respect we all equally deserve.

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Do you know who I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for? The woman who was fired from her show for making racist comments who went on a talk show to try to rehabilitate her image and was asked about the racist things she said. No ma’am. Tamron Hall has nothing to apologize for.

Uncle Ben’s Rice has rebranded itself. Good.

Going Viral

The Flash will begin production on October 1; DC’s Legends of Tomorrow will begin on October 5; All American resumes on September 28; Superman & Lois, Titans, and Kung-Fu will start up in mid-October; Stargirl will begin at the end of October; and Doom Patrol will return in January.

All Rise; Manifest; and Lucifer all returned to production this week; and Bob ♥ Abishola had a table read.

This Is Us resumed production today. Its premiere date has been pushed up two weeks and will now debut on October 27.

… but Superstore has been pushed back to October 29, and Connecting … has been pushed back to October 8.

Gargling with mouthwash can’t hurt.

Inside the quarantine bubble of The Great British Baking Show. BECAUSE WE NEED BAKED GOODS NOW MORE THAN EVER, DAMMIT.

The New York Metropolitan Opera is canceling the 2020-2021 season and won’t reopen until next year.

Black Widow; Eternals; and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings are all moving to later release dates rather than debut on Disney+. So I guess Mulan didn’t do as well as we first heard?

In good news: Johnson & Johnson is starting the final stage of a one-shot COVID vaccine on 60,000 people on three continents. Unfortunately for President Virtually Affects Nobody, it won’t be ready until next year, not next month. The FDA is planning to announce stricter standards for an emergency authorization of a new vaccine — which is a good thing for public safety and trust in the eventual vaccine. However, President Doesn’t Know How Science works is decrying the move as being “political” because irony is not merely dead, this asshole has single-handedly set irony’s corpse on fire, swept up its ashes, placed them in a pillowcase, and tied it to a rocket before shooting it into the depths of outer space.

All Other TV News

Netflix just got an ear-full from Republican senators opposed to David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’s plan to adapt The Three-Body Problem as their next project, because the novel’s author, Liu Cixin, made some really inflammatory comments about China’s Uighur Muslim population and in support of China’s deplorable treatment of them.

When asked in 2019 about imprisoning Muslims in Xinjiang, Liu Cixin responded, “Would you rather that they be hacking away at bodies at train stations and schools in terrorist attacks? If anything, the government is helping their economy and trying to lift them out of poverty.”

NOW. A couple of things.

I agree that this statement is disgusting but I don’t know whether or not Netflix should drop this project — I don’t have enough information to make an educated opinion at the moment, and will be curious how both Netflix and Weiss and Benioff respond before I jump to any conclusions.

But, 1. Isn’t this “cancel culture” which the Right claims to loathe? 2. If I were a cynical person, I might think that these senators don’t actually give a fuck about the Uighurs and this was merely an attempt to inflame the culture wars — that these senators are showing their base that they are willing to stand up to China and “corrupt” Hollywood elites six weeks before an election. (It also doesn’t hurt that the Right wingnuts are still worked up over the Netflix film Cuties, and will be more than happy to take up pitchforks against Netflix again.)

Speaking of Benioff and Weiss (who, you might remember already had one show —  Confederate — “canceled” thanks to public outcry), they’ve finally explained their decision to not include Lady Stoneheart in Game of Thrones. SPOILERS, Y’ALL: 1. They didn’t want to have too many resurrections (even though her resurrection would be in keeping with a universe in which resurrections were a thing but WHATEVER); 2. They wanted to keep Cat’s death an emotional gut-punch; and 3. They didn’t want to spoil things Martin has coming up in the books. A huge WhatTheFuckEver to that one, though.

And while we’re talking Game of Thrones, we’ll never know what the plot of the Game of Thrones prequel series that Naomi Watts was going to star in, apparently.

Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch made less money last year (but still made WAY TOO MUCH MONEY).

Ratched and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest could one day meet, but it’s not going to happen next season.

James Corden swears he was never in the running for Ellen’s show. OK.

OH HEY, REAL HOUSEWIVES BULLSHIT:

Lisa Vanderpump was her typically shady self when it came to Teddi being fired from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

E! dug up a bunch of old pictures of the Beverly Hills housewives, if you’re interested.

Dorinda is a lunatic.

Yolanda is a grandmother!

Heal up quickly, Buddy “Cake Boss” Valastro!

In news that I only care about, I’m sure: Holy shit, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter might be merged. This is not great news for the entertainment press.

Renewals

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • Closer Look Thursday will air on NBC on October 8 — in primetime!
  • Truth Seekers will premiere on Amazon on October 30.

  • The Undoing will debut on HBO on October 25.

  • Father of the Bride Part 3(ish) will debut on Netflix tomorrow.

  • City So Real will debut on National Geographic on October 29.

  • The Salisbury Poisonings will air on AMC on October 1.

  • Freedia Got A Gun, a documentary about Big Freedia and gun violence, is coming to Peacock on October 15.

  • The Queen’s Gambit will premiere on Netflix on October 23.

  • Ghostwriter will return on Apple TV+ on October 9.

R.I.P.

Harold Evans, Legendary publisher, editor, and journalist

Coliesa McMillian, One of the subjects of My 600-lb Life

WATCH THIS

Star Trek: Discovery: The CBS All Access series makes its premiere on CBS (thanks to COVID-19 ruining the fall season). Series premiere (again, sorta). 9 p.m., CBS

Haute Dog: It’s a dog grooming competition. DOG GROOMING. Series premiere. HBO Max

The Murders at White House Farm: A look into a thirty-year-old murder of three generations of one family, and the detective who looked past the obvious suspect. Series premiere. HBO Max

Celebrity Family Feud: Season premiere! 7 p.m., ABC

Press Your Luck: Season premiere! 8 p.m., ABC

Match Game: Season premiere! 9 p.m., ABC
Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Chris Rock, Jonathan Majors, Sasha Sloan
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Alicia Vikander, Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Rep. Katie Porter, Tony Romo
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Sharon Stone, Alicia Keys
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Norman Reedus, Aminé
  • The Daily Show: The Daily Social Distancing Show
  • Conan: Jane Lynch
  • Watch What Happens Live: Bethenny Frankel
THUR 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Celebrity Family Feud
(new)
Press Your Luck
(new)
Match Game
(new)
CBS Big Brother
(new)
Love Island
(nre)
Star Trek: Discovery
(new)
CW Mysteries Decoded
(new)
Penn & Teller: Fool Us
(repeat)
News/Local
FOX The Masked Singer
(repeat)
Filthy Rich
(repeat)
News/Local
NBC Council of Dads
(repeat)
Blindspot
(repeat)
Law & Order: SVU
(repeat)

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