It’s almost as if Fox News would rather talk about Dr. Seuss “being cancelled” (he’s not) than anything the Biden administration is actually accomplishing …

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

It’s Thursday, and I will never stop laughing at this tweet:

Black Lives Matter

So what is the Right outraged about this week? Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced they will stop publishing six old Dr. Seuss titles over accusations that they contain racist imagery. Those books include: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat’s Quizzer. Of those, I’ve heard of exactly two.

Dummy Jr. is out here crying that he has memorized The Cat in the Hat — which is not one of the books in question — and his fellow-minded travelers are screaming that the “Left” is canceling Dr. Seuss. Fox News in particular has been having a multi-day meltdown over something that is not actually happening: the majority of Dr. Seuss’s books will continue being published, just not ones that portray Africans as wearing grass skirts and Asian people running around with chopsticks.

It’s almost as if Fox News doesn’t want to have to talk about anything that the Biden Administration is actually accomplishing with the COVID-relief bill or their vaccination program …

When the Golden Globes aired on Sunday, they did so under a cloud thanks to an L.A. Times report that revealed the 87-member Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization that runs the awards ceremony, does not have a single Black member. Not a great look for a group that is already under criticism for being one big stupid grift. They put out a statement last weekend:

“We are fully committed to ensuring our membership is reflective of the communities around the world who love film, TV and the artists inspiring and educating them,” the HFPA said in a statement on Thursday. “We understand that we need to bring in Black members, as well as members from other underrepresented backgrounds, and we will immediately work to implement an action plan to achieve these goals as soon as possible.”

And just like that, a new hashtag was born: #TimesUpGlobes.

The actual organization, Time’s Up, called on HFPA to reform the organization, and Color of Change demanded real action, not just in who is a member of HFPA, but on the types of movies and programs they choose to celebrate.

However, with members saying that the criticism of HFPA “mostly stems from jealously,” this might be a long road.

Chris Harrison gave his GMA interview this morning and said that while he knows there’s work to be done, he plans on returning to The Bachelor family of shows. ABC has not confirmed that he will, however. And after the interview, reportedly Michael Strahan told his GMA colleagues that he felt Harrison’s apology was a “surface response.” 👀

Meanwhile, a new mini-scandal within The Bachelor family has popped up over former Bachelor contestant Taylor Nolan’s 10-year-old tweets.

 

TCM intends to continue showing now-controversial classic films like Gone With The Wind, Psycho, The Searchers, My Fair Lady, and Gunga Din, but they will do so with an introduction featuring a trio of hosts discussing the cultural issues surrounding the films.

This is a very good piece on why Ta-Nehisi Coates’ upcoming Black Superman needs to address the main character’s Blackness, and not just be a Superman who happens to be Black.

Ray Fisher is pretty sure Black Superman is just a means to distract people from the way WarnerMedia tried to destroy his reputation after he spoke out about Justice League shenanigans:

This time, WarnerMedia responded.

Fisher also put out a statement accusing Warner Bros. Pictures executives: Toby Emmerich, Geoff Johns, and Jon Berg of having “racially-discriminatory conversations” on the set of Justice League.

Jeremy Lin has had it with your anti-Asian racism.

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are meeting with Osage leaders ahead of filming their upcoming Apple movie, Killers of the Flower Moon, which is about the murder of several Osage members in the 1920s.

This is interesting: in a study conducted by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, in TV shows, Black women are more often portrayed as leaders or intelligent than White women. However, the majority of Black female characters have light or medium skin tones, suggesting that “colorism” is still rampant in casting practices.

Networks and streamers are promising to do better and set up diversification plans. ABC/Disney showed off a plan to try to diversify at leadership positions; Freeform’s president, who is a woman of color, has said that diversity is one of her priorities; WarnerMedia is launching an expanded entry-level Access Writers program; Netflix pledged to do better and is putting $100 million towards just that, but pointed out that they’re actually doing a pretty good job if you think about it: Bridgerton, anyone?

Former New York Times reporter Donald McNeil Jr. has learned nothing.

Renee Montgomery, a recently retired member of the WNBA team the Atlanta Dream has bought the team with two partners from that asshole Kelly Loeffler. Amazing.

All Other TV News

Whaaaaaat? The well-known conservative actor Tim Allen was a fan of Former President Diarrhea Mouth? Next thing you’ll tell me is that Allen doesn’t like kids!

Speaking of kids, they really liked Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry on Apple TV+.

HBO Max is planning on releasing a cheaper, ad-supported platform because it turns out “most people on this planet are not wealthy.” Huh!

A+E isn’t giving up on linear broadcasting and in fact, are increasing original hours of programming by 50%.

ALEC BALDWIN HAS HAD ENOUGH OF YOU TWITTER ASSHOLES.

Going Viral

We are somewhere between 531,000 and 518,000 deaths here in the United States but new cases are still ticking downwards. And in some good news: some 52.9 million Americans have received at least one dose of a vaccine and 27 million of us are now fully vaccinated. However, this is still not good enough news to just take off our masks willy-nilly and start eating in restaurants at full capacity like some fucking morons would have you believe, but it’s good news.

President Biden referred to Greg Abbott and Tate Reeve’s decisions to reopen their states and remove mask mandates as “Neanderthal thinking” and Neanderthals everywhere are insulted.

New York is going to reopen Radio City Music Hall, Lincoln Center, nightclubs, and music venues at 33% capacity on April 2. And California is in talks with the MLB to bring fans back to the games this season.

Dr. Facui’s COVID-19 model is going to the Smithsonian. I’m willing to donate a few pairs of sweatpants if they ask nicely.

Comcast seems confident the Tokyo Olympics are going to happen this summer.

Alamo Drafthouse is filing for bankruptcy because of the virus, and Netflix is over here dancing on their grave.

The SAG Awards are going to be pre-taped this year to deal with virus restrictions — and only an hour long, which is UNTHINKABLE for an awards show. Is that even allowed? And speaking of awards shows, there are more coming at us soon, including the Oscars next month. After the shitshow that was the Golden Globes, this New York Times writer has some tips on how to run a smooth socially-distanced show. Step one: make sure people are muted on Zoom.

ATX TV Season 10 is going to be held virtually again this June.

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is being pushed back to August with hopes to be in person.

Streaming services are doing a better job of bouncing back with productions than the networks are. This is not a trend that the networks needed.

Sinclair Broadcasting is cutting 5% of its workforce thanks to the virus.

The Real World‘s Eric Nies had COVID, which is why he couldn’t be in the house during the taping of The Real World Homecoming: New York. It is not surprising, so why did he act like it was some big mystery?

Love Island will return to ITV this summer. Nature is healing.

South ParQ’s Vaccination Special will air on Comedy Central on March 10.

Renewals

  • See has been renewed at Apple TV+ for a third season.
  • Steve on Watch has been given 20 more episodes on Facebook Watch.

In Development

  • A Party Down limited series is coming to Starz, I AM SCREAMING.

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • Without Remorse will launch on Amazon on April 30.
  • The Moodys returns on Fox on April 1.
  • No Activity will return on Paramount+ on April 8.
  • Thunder Force will debut on Netflix on April 9.
  • Last Chance U: Basketball debuts on Netflix on March 10.

R.I.P.

Bill C. Davis, Playwright and screenwriter

Mark Josephson, Founder of Rockpool and the New Music Seminar

WATCH THIS

The Real World Homecoming: New York: Paramount + debuts today, and among its first offerings is this reunion series in which the original cast of The Real World move back into the loft where they lived together nearly 30 years ago, in a series that changed television forever. Brace yourselves, fellow Gen Xers. Series premiere. Paramount+

Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Younger Years: This new CG animated series explores SpongeBob’s summer camp days. Series premiere. Paramount+

SpongeBob SquarePants: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run: GARY GOES MISSING in this new movie whose plot was stolen by recent Lady Gaga news, apparently. Premiere. Paramount+

For Heaven’s Sake: In this true-crime documentary produced by Funny or Die, a pair of friends try to solve the mystery of a relative who went missing back in the 1930s.  Paramount+

Coming 2 America: Prince Akeem is back and returns to Queens to find his long-lost son in this sequel to the 1988 classic.  Amazon

Persona: The Dark Truth About Personality Tests: This new documentary explores the ethical issues of relying on the Myers–Briggs personality test and how it can impact everything from dating to job prospects. Premiere. HBO Max

Boss Level: A special agent is caught in a time loop on the day of his murder in this new action film that sounds an awful lot like the Tom Cruise film Edge of Tomorrow, but this one co-stars Naomi Watts and Mel Gibson. (tries to suppress eye roll) Premiere. Hulu

Lucky: In this horror film, a self-help author finds herself terrorized by the same stalker/slasher in a clever metaphor for the real-life terrors women face every day. Premiere. Shudder

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Tracy Morgan, Sam Heughan, Pete Lee
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Ike Barinholtz, Lilly Singh
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Jane Fonda, Kylie Weaver, Peter Womack, Brian Min & Lila Moreno of “Tooning Out The News,” Kings of Leon
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Daisy Ridley, Caroline Polachek
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Sacha Baron Cohen, Wesley Snipes, Charlotte Lawrence
  • The Daily Show: The Daily Social Distancing Show
  • Conan: Paul Bettany
  • Watch What Happens Live: Garcelle Beauvais, Kelly Rowland
  • A Little Late with Lily Singh: Andy Puddicombe
THUR 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Celebrity Wheel of Fortune
(new)		 The Chase
(new)		 The Chase
(new)
CBS Young Sheldon
(new)		 B Positive
(new)		 Mom
(new)		 The Unicorn
(new)		 Clarice
(new)
CW Walker
(repeat)		 Legacies
(repeat)		 News/Local
FOX Hell’s Kitchen
(new)		 Call Me Kat
(new)		 Last Man Standing
(new)
NBC Superstore
(new)		 Young Rock
(repeat)		 Law & Order Special Victims Unit
(repeat)		 Dateline

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