Ask LeVar Burton to host ‘Jeopardy!’ already, you cowards!

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

It’s Monday.

And here are two very tiny, very brave doggos, protecting their home from a dopey intruder:

All Other TV News

The fight to boycott or not to boycott Georgia over its stupid and unnecessary voter suppression laws continues afoot: Just a couple of days after Stacey Abrams reiterated that a boycott would only help the GOP, and a couple of days after this piece ran, explaining why Hollywood will probably not go through with a boycott, news broke that production on Apple’s runaway-slave film Emancipation will be leaving the state. Star Will Smith and director Antoine Fuqua released a statement reading:

“At this moment in time, the Nation is coming to terms with its history and is attempting to eliminate vestiges of institutional racism to achieve true racial justice. We cannot in good conscience provide economic support to a government that enacts regressive voting laws that are designed to restrict voter access. The new Georgia voting laws are reminiscent of voting impediments that were passed at the end of Reconstruction to prevent many Americans from voting. Regrettably, we feel compelled to move our film production work from Georgia to another state.”

Interestingly, here’s a piece about how a boycott backfired spectacularly (though it doesn’t really apply because it was a boycott of a single TV show, not an entire state).

The Talk returns today for the first time since the Sharon Osbourne brouhaha erupted. The episode plans to open with a “discussion about race and healing,” which should be easier to accomplish without Osbourne at the table, honestly.

My goodness, Jeopardy!, what is it going to take to get LeVar Burton a guest-hosting gig? This is becoming stupid. I mean, y’all let Dr. Oz do it. DR. OZ!

Two fugitives featured on the reboot of America’s Most Wanted have been captured (though it was unclear whether or not the show had anything to do with it, considering they were caught in Madrid).

We’re down to the final two American Horror Story choices:

MacGyver has been canceled, so you know what that means: there’s a campaign afoot to save it.

Of course DMX loved The Golden Girls, he wasn’t a monster.

OH:

Kim Goodwin, a longtime CBS News executive, has been named the new head of ABC News. Hopefully this will help end the catfight between David Muir and George Stephanopoulos.

The Conners’ showrunner explains why they had Becky fall off the wagon: “we thought we may have done a little bit of a disservice making it look so easy that someone could stop cold turkey.” It’s an interesting conversation for a show that strives to be realistic and reflective of contemporary American life.

Did Shameless end on a satisfactory note for you? SPOILERS EVERYWHERE, JUST BE FOREWARNED.

Absolutely not, and let’s stop talking about it already, lest we manifest it.

Going Viral

Good news: we got 4.6 million shots in arms on Saturday. That’s incredible. We are currently at about 20% of the population fully vaccinated, 36% with at least one vaccine, and at this rate, if people continue to agree to get the shot, we could have 70% of the population vaccinated by June 11, reaching the bottom threshold for herd immunity. Still, cases continue to rise: there were nearly 82,000 new cases on Friday, and there has been an 11% increase over the past two weeks. We need to convince those who are reluctant to receive the vaccine that it’s in their best interest and their communities’ best interest to do so.

And as for my idiot governor out here trying to claim that Texas is reaching herd immunity? No one knows what the fuck he’s talking about. Even the most generous numbers (which would be the number of us who have been vaccinated [about 19%] + the number of people who contracted and survived the virus [about 29%] + the people who didn’t know they were sick [probably about an additional 2% but we’ll really never know]) only add up to somewhere around 50% of the population WHICH IS NOT HERD IMMUNITY NUMBERS, YOU IDIOT. “I don’t know what herd immunity is, but when you add that to the people who have acquired immunity, it looks like it could be very close to herd immunity,” he said (in an interview on Fox News). OH, YOU DON’T SAY.

Because the right-wing is having a freakout about the concept of vaccine passports, it’s increasingly unlikely we will have a standard, centralized app for our vaccine information. As a result, there will be a patchwork of different apps, which opens up the possibility of scams and phony passports that might steal your personal information. Lifehacker has some good tips on how to protect yourself from scams.

Luke Bryan is being temporarily replaced by American Idol OG Paula Abdul as he has contracted the virus:

The movie theater business is severely hurting. Here in Houston, we’ve lost our last art house theater (and last surviving old theater) when Landmark ceased operations at the River Oaks Theater. Hopefully, the business will bounce back now that people are being vaccinated and things are slowly returning to normalish, but it might take longer for smaller, niche businesses like art-house movies.

The TV industry is bickering with Nielsen over how they recorded viewing during the pandemic. Basically, Nielsen reported that linear viewership was down, and streaming was up, but TV networks are like, “NUH-UH, YOU’RE COUNTING WRONG AND BEING LAZY.” The truth is complicated, Nielsen did use a smaller sample size during the pandemic which may have skewed some numbers. But honestly, linear networks were not and continue to not offer as much original programming that isn’t reality-based. Just from my purely anecdotal perspective and experience, viewers did move to more streaming services during this time?

Not only did the Former Liar-in-Chief’s administration pressure the CDC to change or block reports about the virus, they literally celebrated — “Yippee!!!” — when they were successful in lying to the public.

The Hollywood Bowl is reopening in May and will host an 11-week concert series beginning in July.

Renewals

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendar

  • The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills returns to Bravo on May 19, and if I can hurry through these New York recaps and start on BH, maybe I’ll be ready by then …
  • In Treatment will return on HBO on May 23.
  • Mythic Quest returns on Apple TV+ on May 7.
  • Dynasty returns on The CW on May 7.
  • Legends of Tomorrow will return on The CW on May 2.
  • A Black Lady Sketch Show will return on HBO on April 23.
  • Ziwe will debut on Showtime on May 9.
  • Elite returns on Netflix on June 18.
  • Domina will premiere soon on Sky.

R.I.P.

Joseph Siravo, Actor in The Sopranos, American Crime Story, and For Life among others

Nikki Grahame, Star of the U.K.’s Big Brother and her own reality series, Princess Nikki

Harry Kooperstein, Emmy-winning director and producer

John Clabburn, Australian TV director

WATCH THIS

Pray, Obey, Kill: This five-part documentary chronicles a complex murder case that took place in a small Swedish village, home to a tight-knit Pentecostal congregation. Premiere. 8 p.m., HBO

All American: Spencer is forced to deal with some difficult truths in the spring premiere. 7 p.m., The CW

America’s Most Wanted: Criminals rejoice: America’s Most Wanted is airing its season finale, and you won’t be put on blast — at least until it returns. Season finale. 8 p.m., Fox

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Snoop Dogg, H.E.R.
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: John Oliver, Chloé Zhao
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: John Boehner, Shelley FKA DRAM
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Rainn Wilson, Tom Odell
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Andy Garcia, Clayton Kershaw, Noga Erez
  • The Daily Show: The Daily Social Distancing Show
  • Conan: Steven Yeun
  • Watch What Happens Live: Nicole Byer, Kenan Thompson
  • A Little Late with Lily Singh: RZA

MON. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC American Idol
(new)		 Rebel
(repeat)
CBS The Neighborhood
(new)		 Bob ♥ Abishola
(new)		 All Rise
(new)		 Bull
(new)
CW All American
(new)		 Black Lightning
(new)		 Local
FOX 9-1-1
(repeat)		 America’s Most Wanted
(new)		 News/Local
NBC The Voice
(new)		 Debris
(new)

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