Savage Brian Williams is the best Brian Williams

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

It is Friday! You made it!

This baby goat was born within 24 hours of this photo being taken, that’s how small that dog is:

Before we begin today, I’m going to do something that I don’t often do in this space and make a viewing recommendation. I somehow slept on Hulu’s release of Derek DelGaudio‘s In & Of Itself last week and did not include it in my “Set Your DVRs” post. I think I didn’t include it because I didn’t understand what it was, and the reason I didn’t understand what it was is because to tell too much about it is to strip it of some of its power.

What I can tell you: Derek DelGaudio‘s In & Of Itself is a theater show performed by Derek Delgaudio, a magician and performance artist. And magic is involved in In & Of Itself, but to call it a “magic show” is to really miss the forest for the trees. I don’t want to give away any more than that, because you really truly should go into it as blind as you possibly can and I also don’t want to overhype it. But I will say that the show has a very profound emotional effect on some people, including your trusty blogger. It is well worth 90 minutes of your time this weekend.

Now on to your regularly scheduled nonsense:

Brian Williams is a catty little bitch and I AM HERE FOR IT. Last night on his MSNBC show, The 11th Hour with Brian Williams, Williams teased that he had exclusive footage of the Mar-a-Lago meeting between Donald Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (which is a thing that happened so that McCarthy could kiss the ring and beg Trump to not attack his House Republicans) and he played the following:

  Seriously, his being removed from the NBC anchor spot was worth it if only for this moment.

Delicious. Give Brian Williams all of the Emmys.

Well, look who has finally joined Twitter: Welcome to Hell, Jon Stewart! You’re going to hate it here!

Philippa Goslett has replaced Joss Whedon as showrunner on the upcoming HBO series, The Nevers. Whedon said he left the show because 2020 has been so stressful or somesuch, while HBO said they “parted ways” which is a suggestion that it had more to do with all the other crap surrounding Whedon in recent years.

Hey, Bridgerton fans — the show’s creator is promising more “peak thirst” in season two.

Seinfeld‘s Michael Richards sounds like a weirdo.

What the Hell, Nerds?

A reminder that an iCarly revival is happening on Paramount+.

Going Viral

Another 4,000 Americans died yesterday. But the number of positive cases continues to trend downwards, so hopefully, in a couple of weeks this number will trend downwards with it.

Today’s good news is that Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine is proving to be effective — though by how much seems to vary wildly. I’ve seen numbers all over the place, but this from The New York Times seems promising:

“The vaccine was 85 percent effective in preventing severe disease in all three regions where the trial was run: the United States, Latin America and South Africa. After 28 days, none of the vaccinated participants who developed Covid-19 had to be hospitalized.

The company reported that the vaccine’s protective effect seems to increase with time.”

Unfortunately, its efficacy dropped in South Africa, which suggests it might not be as effective against the mutated virus. The vaccine will probably be approved by the FDA by early next month.

Novavax also announced that its vaccine is 90% effective — although, it too is not as effective against the South African variant. That said, while neither vaccine seems to be particularly effective at preventing the spread of the disease, they do seem to prevent severe illness and death, which is terrific news.

The WHO is investigating the origins of the virus.

Two federal reports have come out that find the previous administration mishandled the pandemic from the very earliest days, when the first American evacuees from Wuhan returned home a year ago:

“…they were met by U.S. health officials with no virus prevention plan or infection-control training — and who had not even been told to wear masks, according to a federal investigation.

Later, those officials were told to remove protective gear when meeting with the evacuees to avoid “bad optics,” and days after those initial encounters, departed California aboard commercial airline flights to other destinations.”

But it wasn’t just the federal government who done fucked up. One year ago, New Yorkers who had just returned from Wuhan were told by New York health officials that they had no reason to quarantine and that they should go out and celebrate Chinese New Year’s in crowds.

Caitlin Doughty, an L.A. mortician who runs a death-positive YouTube channel (not in that she likes death, just that she tries to make it less scary for the rest of us), explains the crisis her industry is currently experiencing.

Pray for the Hamptonites who can’t get their hands on decent caviar this winter.

The Super Bowl could serve as a superspreader event if people attend parties and go out to bars and restaurants.

And Super Bowl ads are going to look different this year because of the virus. First Super Bowl diaper ad ever, for instance.

The Karlovy Vary Film Festival is forging ahead with its plans to be held in person in July. We’ll see.

Britain’s Got Talent has been canceled — or at least put on hiatus for a season — because of pandemic-related production complications.

In Development

  • A Buck Rogers reboot is being developed by George Clooney’s production company.
  • WeCrashed, a limited series starring Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway about the WeWorks catastrophe, has officially been ordered by Apple TV+.
  • Pushing, a birth center workplace comedy, is in development on NBC.
  • Ultra Violet & Blue Demon has been given a series order at Disney Channel.
  • Subnormal and Black Power, two Black-themed documentaries, are being produced by Steve McQueen for BBC.

Casting News

Mark Your Calendar

  • Temptation Island will return on USA on February 16.
  • OWN Spotlight: (In)Visible Portraits will air on OWN on March 2.
  • The March on Washington: Keepers of the Dream will air on National Geographic on February 18.
  • Balthazar will premiere on Acorn on February 8.

R.I.P.

Cicely Tyson, Actress, civil rights activist, and exemplar of the “Black is Beautiful” movement. Ms. Tyson refused to take roles that demeaned Black people and encouraged her fellow Black actors and actresses to do the same. She gave her last interview to Live with Kelly and Ryan! just two days ago, and they aired it this morning.

Marie Harmon, Actress who appeared in a number of 1940s Westerns

WATCH THIS

FRIDAY

The Little Things: Denzel Washington and Rami Malek star in this new movie about a pair of cops who investigate a serial killer. It is being simultaneously released in theaters. HBO Max

The Dig: Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, and Lily James star in this film about the discovery of the Sutton Hoo burial site, a 6th-to-7th century Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Suffolk, England. Netflix

We Are: The Brooklyn Saints: This docuseries follows a youth football team in Brooklyn and its coach who offers inner-city kids a safe haven. Series premiere. Netflix

SATURDAY

Saturday Night Live: It’s back, with three new episodes. John Krasinski & Machine Gun Kelly 10:30 p.m., NBC

Wendy Williams: The Movie: HOW YOU DOIN’? Premiere. 7 p.m., Lifetime

The Mummy marathon: Starting at the beginning of this year, HBO has seemed to move away from premiering new movies on Saturday nights, which is interesting. Is this a way to push subscribers towards HBO Max? Dunno! Anyway, this is happening instead.  7 p.m., HBO

SUNDAY

The Lady and the Dale: This four-part docuseries follows the story of Elizabeth Carmichael, an entrepreneur in the 70s who, during the oil crisis, introduced a fuel-efficient, three-wheeled car called The Dale. Premiere. 8 p.m., HBO

The Long Song: Based on the novel of the same name by Andrea Levy, THe Long Son follows the story of July, a plantation slave in the last days of slavery in 19th-century Jamaica. Series premiere. 9 p.m., PBS

Desus & Mero: Third season premiere. 10 p.m., Showtime

Axios: Fourth season premiere. 5 p.m., HBO

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Friday): Justin Timberlake, London Hughes, Anuel AA & Ozuna
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: (Friday): “The Late Show”‘s Best of President Biden & Vice President Harris

FRI. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Shark Tank
(new)		 20/20
CBS MacGyver
(repeat)		 Magnum P.I.
(repeat)		 Blue Bloods
(repeat)
CW Whose Line Is It Anyway?
(new)		 Whose Line Is It Anyway?
(repeat)		 Penn & Teller: Fool Us
(new)		 Local
FOX Friday Night Smackdown Local
NBC The Blacklist
(new)		 Dateline

—

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 NCIS: New Orleans
(repeat)		 48 Hours 48 Hours News/Local
FOX PBC Fight Night
(live)		 News/Local
NBC Ellen’s Game of Games
(repeat)		 Law and Order: SVU
(repeat)		 Saturday Night Live
(repeat)		 News/
Local		 Saturday Night Live
(John Krasinski & Machine Gun Kelly)

—

SUN. 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC America’s Funniest Home Videos
(repeat)		 Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?
(new)		 Card Sharks
(new)		 The Rookie
(repeat)
CBS 60 Minutes NCIS: Los Angeles
(repeat)		 NCIS: New Orleans
(repeat)		 NCIS
(repeat)
The CW Local Batwoman
(new)		 Charmed
(new)		 Local
FOX Name That Tune
(repeat)		 The Simp-sons
(repeat)		 The Great North
(repeat)		 Bob’s Burgers
(repeat)		 Call Me Kat
(repeat)		 Local/News
NBC Weakest Link
(repeat)		 The Wall
(repeat)		 Chicago Med
(repeat)		 Dateline
(repeat)

One thought on “Savage Brian Williams is the best Brian Williams”

  1. Brian Williams The 11th Hour on msnbc is my favorite news show. I just listen to it on Alexa every night. It took me just a few seconds for that clip to register with me then I was chuckling to myself…”you beautiful, sly fox, Brian.”😄

    Reply

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