While America hits a COVID death milestone, the White House parties. Literally.

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

It’s Thursday, and I’m going to skip the political crap today and begin with some emergency puppies, because today’s news, it’s a bummer without bringing President Temper Tantrum into it.

Going Viral

We lost more than 3,000 Americans to COVID yesterday — at least 3,053, maybe as many as 3,266, if you believe Worldometers, but probably even more than that. It’s more deaths than the Great San Francisco Earthquake, more than Pearl Harbor, more than 9/11.

Not one Republican leader, up to the President and the Vice President, has acknowledged this terrible milestone. And, in fact, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell chose today to announce that there would be no stimulus bill if he can’t protect meatpacking plants and grocery chains from being sued for killing their employees with their unsafe practices.

Also yesterday, the White House held two (2) Hanukkah parties for more than 200 people. What could go wrong?

This helps explain the deep cleaning plans for the White House that the Biden administration has made.

But an FDA panel is expected to vote today on the Pfizer vaccine. It’s likely to pass, but thanks to President Bungle’s worthless administration, we may not be able to distribute enough vaccines to the entire country until mid-2021.

For a good healthy cry, listen to this:

The head of the CDC, Dr. Redfield, “ordered the destruction of an email written by a top Trump administration health official who was seeking changes in a scientific report on the coronavirus’s risk to children” according to the author of the report. This is very bad!

DON’T WORRY: Rudy Guiliani is receiving the super-special expensive drug regiment that saved President Mongo’s (and Chris Christie’s and Ben Carson’s) life, and he’s being super gross about it:

“If it wasn’t me, I wouldn’t have been put in a hospital frankly,” Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, told WABC radio in New York. “Sometimes when you’re a celebrity, they’re worried if something happens to you they’re going to examine it more carefully, and do everything right.”

Reminder: If you go to the hospital tomorrow, you are not going to have access to this treatment, and had this treatment not been available, at least one of those men listed above would be dead by now. But sure, COVID is “treatable.”

Texas Agriculture Commissioner and general scumbag, Sid Miller, has contracted the virus.

COVID is ruining business for so many small businesses, including A Christmas Story House & Museum in Cleveland. But hey! Now you know there is A Christmas Story House & Museum in Cleveland!

Speaking of struggling businesses, Y’ALL NEED TO BE NICER TO RESTAURANT EMPLOYEES, I AM NOT EVEN KIDDING WITH YOU. Look at this bullshit from a recent study:

  • Over 80% of workers (83%) report that their tips have declined during COVID-19. This decline is severe: nearly two thirds (66%) report that their tips have declined by at least 50%.
  • Over three-quarters of workers (78%) report experiencing or witnessing hostile behavior from customers in response to staff enforcing COVID-19 safety protocols, and nearly 60% (59%) report experiencing such hostility at least weekly.
  • Over one-half of workers (58%) report feeling reluctant to enforce COVID-19 protocols out of concern that customers would tip them less. Indeed, two thirds of workers (67%) report having received a lesser than usual tip after enforcing COVID-19 protocols on customers, usually on a frequent basis.
  • More than 40% of workers (41%) reported that there has been a noticeable change in the frequency of unwanted sexualized comments from customers, and just over one quarter (25%) report that they have experienced or witnessed a significant change in the frequency of such sexual harassment

The study is called — and I am not fucking kidding, “Take Your Mask Off So I Know How Much to Tip You,” because that’s a thing male restaurant patrons say to female servers. For. Real.

Welp, Ellen DeGeneres tested positive, so they’re shutting down the entire show until January.

Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet had to shut down for a second time after 16 positive tests.  😬

Vanity Fair has a good, long piece about how quickly Hollywood is going to be able to recover from all of this. It’s incredibly expensive to be producing right now, but in the long run, it’s more expensive to not be producing anything…

All Other TV News

Grey’s Anatomy will never die. Fun fact: it premiered the same year as Lost!

I mean, good for Steve Kornacki that he’s spreading his talents around, but as an MSNBC binge-watcher, I better not lose his rumpled khakis and button-downs to sportsball, dammit.

When the news about Discovery+, the streaming service from the Discovery family of networks, was announced, I made a comment about how A&E would probably be next to stream. What I did not expect was that A&E would partner with their biggest rival and provide content on Discovery+. Interesting times.

AMC has made a deal with Samsung to launch streaming outlets on their TVs.

R.I.P., Box sets. You served us well.

Netflix has revealed their most-watched titles and it gets … granular. “Top Dramas Involving Families”?

Warming Glow has the best TV Best Of list on the market.

Go on with your bad self, Brian Baumgartner!

The Grammys totally woofed this one: they invited Tiffany Haddish to be the host of the “Premiere ceremony,” but refused to pay her expenses, which is just some nonsense. What is she, a freelance writer?

First, she needs to get the Presidential Medal of Honor, then the Pope needs to make her a saint.

Here are a bunch of pop culture ornaments for your pop culture tree.

Renewals

In Development

  • iCarly will be rebooted at Paramount+: and with the original cast.
  • Jessica Simpson has signed a deal with Amazon, which will make both a docuseries and a scripted drama based on her memoir. (Is it really that rich? I mean … OK.)
  • A female Zorro series from Robert Rodriguez and Sophia Vergara is being developed at NBC.
  • Single Drunk Female, a comedy pilot starring Sofia Black-D’Elia and Ally Sheedy has been ordered at Freeform.
  • The Gordita Chronicles has been given a pilot order at HBO Max.
  • Extrapolations, an anthology series about climate change, has been given a series order at Apple TV+.
  • F*ck Feelings is being turned into a TV series.
  • Young Woman and the Sea starring Daisy Ridley is close to landing at Disney+.
  • Radio Girls is being adapted into a limited series.
  • The Ipcress File is being turned into a miniseries at ITV.

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • Batwoman returns on The CW on January 17.

  • Servant returns on Apple TV+ on January 15.

  • 4 Blocks will debut on HBO Max on December 17.

  • Deliciousness will premiere on MTV on December 14.

  • Beastars returns on Netflix in July.

  • Pinocchio will debut in theaters and on VOD on Christmas Day.

R.I.P.

Marguerite Ray, The Young and the Restless actress

Dale Sheets, Agent, studio executive, and television pioneer

Terry D. Porter, Agent and producer

Jason Slater, Original member of Third-Eye Blind

WATCH THIS

One Night Only: The Best of Broadway: Tina Fey hosts this celebration of Broadway, with performances from the casts of “Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations,” “Chicago,” “Jagged Little Pill,” “Diana: The Musical,” “Jersey Boys,” “Mean Girls” and “Rent,” as well as an appearance by the cast of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” Also, a bunch of celebrities will make appearances. Donations related to the show will help the entire Broadway community as they try like the rest of us to get through this goddamned pandemic.  7 p.m., NBC

Time’s Person of the Year: I’m not saying it should be “Karen,” but my vote is for “Karen.” 9 p.m., NBC

House of Ho: This new reality series follows the Ho family, a wealthy Vietnamese family who have built their fortunes here in my hometown of Houston. Series premiere. HBO Max

Let Them All Talk: Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, Dianne Wiest and, Lucas Hedges star in this Steven Soderbergh dramedy about a group of friends who try to reconnect on a cruise. HBO Max

The Wilds: After a plane crash, a group of young women is stranded on a mysterious island in this new series that is part Lord of the Flies, part Lost, and part The Society — and receiving really solid reviews. Series premiere. Amazon

Silent Night: A Song for the World: A documentary about the creation of the most beloved Christmas carol, written in Salzburg in 1818.  7 p.m., The CW
Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Bruce Springsteen, J. Balvin, Mandy Moore
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Blake Shelton, Jenny Slate, My Morning Jacket, Kaz Rodriguez
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: James Corden, Fleet Foxes
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Andrew Rannells
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Emily Blunt, Kyle Chandler, Sturgill Simpson
  • The Daily Show: The Daily Social Distancing Show
  • Conan: Joe Manganiello
  • Watch What Happens Live: Kristin Chenoweth, Patricia Altschul
THUR 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Station 19
(new)		 Grey’s Anatomy
(new)		 A Million Little Things
(new)
CBS Young Sheldon
(repeat)		 B Positive
(repeat)		 Mom
(repeat)		 Mom
(repeat)		 Star Trek: Discovery
(new)
CW Silent Night: A Song for the World
(new)		 News/Local
FOX Thursday Night Football
(live)
NBC One Night Only: The Best of Broadway
(new)		 Time’s Person of the Year

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