It sounds like HBO expects ‘The Last of Us’ to be its next ‘Game of Thrones’ (but with fewer dragons)

by Therese Odell, posted in watch this

A thing I learned today: emus are aspiring backyard grillers:

GIVE THOSE BIRDS SOME PROPANE AND TONGS.

All Other TV News

HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us is shaping up to be one of the network’s most expensive series ever — we’re talking more expensive than Game of Thrones‘ expensive. I’ve never played the video game the series is based on, but between it being from Chernobyl‘s creator (and Ted Cruz nemesis) Craig Mazan; it starring my boyfriend Pedro Pascal, and Little Miss Badass herself, Bella Ramsey; and HBO placing a bet on the series worth a not-so-small fortune, consider me sold.

“THREAT LEVEL MIDNIGHT.”

Looks like Kenan Thompson won’t be leaving Saturday Night Live anytime soon, thank goodness.

This feels like a no-brainer, but the Department of Justice has barred federal prosecutors from seizing journalists’ records in leak investigations. It’s infuriating that it ever came to this thanks to Bill Barr and his fucking goons.

BoingBoing shared this wonderful 1968 pitch reel for Sesame Street, if you’re looking for a punch in the nostalgia feels:

Congratulations to Ashley Iaconetti and Jared Haibon.

So Jeff Bezos strapped himself to a giant dong and went to the outskirts of space today, and Damon Lindelof had some thoughts about it.

#MeToo

ReFrame, a gender equity coalition founded by Women in Film, the Sundance Institute, and IMDbPro, has announced their list of shows to receive the ReFrame Stamp this year. “The ReFrame TV Stamp is awarded to scripted television and episodic productions that hire women or individuals of other underrepresented gender identities/expressions (including those who are non-binary or gender non-conforming) in four out of eight key roles including writer, director, producer, lead, co-leads, and department heads.” Some of the recipients including Emmy-nominees WandaVision; Bridgerton; I May Destroy You; and Pose, but there are a lot of titles here.

I regret to inform you that Piers Morgan and Megyn Kelly are trying to bully a woman of color again because they are complete assholes.

Britt McHenry has left Fox News after reaching a settlement with them following her harassment by her co-host George “Tyrus” Murdoch. Tyrus, it should be noted, has not been fired by the network, and continues to make appearances.

Andrew Cuomo was questioned this weekend by investigators from the New York State attorney general’s office in the sexual harassment accusations against him.

It’s a shame that women fighting has become such a trope that it’s notable that the female characters in Ted Lasso are not, in fact, rivals, but friends who lift each other up, but here we are.

Women in sports literally can not win: The European Handball Federation fined the Norway women’s beach team for wearing bike shorts rather than bikini bottoms in a recent competition. Meanwhile, a Paralympic world champion was told that her shorts were “too short and inappropriate” at a recent competition.

Film producer Dillon Jordan has been arrested and charged with running “an extensive and far-reaching” prostitution ring.

Ron Bultongez, a former American Idol contestant, has been charged with multiple counts of sex with a minor.

NFL player Richard Sherman was arrested for “burglary domestic violence,” and denied bail last week.

The woman who sued Diplo for forcing her to perform oral sex has dropped her lawsuit against him.

A new book claims that Ken Starr, the special prosecutor who went after President Clinton for a blowjob, was behind the sweetheart deal Jeffrey Epstein received from federal prosecutors back in 2008. I would say that this is unbelievable, but sadly, I know better.

Chrissy Teigen did not win over many people with her recent whine on Instagram about being in the “cancel club.”

Cornelius, the Japanese composer for the Olympics, has stepped down from his position after interviews resurfaced where he laughed about bullying and torturing a disabled classmate for years. I initially thought that his resignation was an overreaction, but then I read what he claimed he did to this child.

It should be noted that Cornelius is the third person to step down from the Tokyo Olympics’ organizing committee. “Yoshiro Mori, former president of the Tokyo organizing committee, stepped down in March after sexist comments in which he suggested women talk too much during meetings. Shortly after, Hiroshi Sasaki, the original creative director of opening ceremonies, left after it became known he called Naomi Watanabe an ‘olympig’ and suggested she “tumble from the sky decked out in pig ears’ during the opening ceremony.”

Harvey Weinstein has been extradited to Los Angeles to face rape charges there. Bye.

Well, THAT took long enough.

Britney Spears updates:

After last week’s hearing, Britney Spears was allowed to hire an attorney of her own choosing, and she has hired Mathew Rosengart to represent her. At the hearing, Mr. Rosengart asked Jamie Spears to resign from the conservatorship, but Spears refused to do so. In the same hearing, Britney Spears asked that her father be investigated for abuse. All in all, Britney Spears seemed pleased with how the hearing turned out.

And then the drama broke out. Britney’s mother Lynne posted a cryptic message on Instagram that was interpreted by some to be a message of support to Britney, while Britney’s sister Jamie Lynne posted to her Instagram stories messages that read: “Once you choose hope, anything’s possible,” and another that read “Dear Lord, Can we end this bull shit once and for all. Amen.”

But Britney was not having it and responded on Instagram with her own message which some read as an attack on her sister Jamie Lynne, specifically:

There’s more back and forth between the sisters — you can read the entire story here.

But in her fight with her sister, Britney also posted on Instagram that she will not be performing again as long as her father remains in control:

More importantly, Britney’s new lawyer says he’s moving “aggressively and expeditiously” to remove Jamie Spears from his position on the conservatorship.

And Britney’s case has inspired a new bipartisan bill that would give the subject of a conservatorship more control: “individuals would have the right to ask that their private guardian or conservator, who is appointed by the judge, be replaced with a public guardian employed by the state, a family member or a private agent, which the bill argues would provide more accountability. Currently, individuals typically must prove in court that abuse or fraud has occurred in order for a guardian to be replaced.”

Renewals

In Development

  • The Final Girl Support Group is being adapted into a TV series at HBO Max.
  • Tampa Baes, a lesbian docuseries, has been ordered at Amazon.
  • The Climb, a rock-climbing competition series produced by and starring Jason Momoa.
  • Sundance Now has won the rights to the British remake of Call My Agent!
  • Al Madrigal has signed a multi-year overall deal with CBS Studios.

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • Malignant will stream on HBO Max and be released in theaters on September 10.
  • Clickbait will premiere on Netflix on August 25.
  • 9-1-1 returns on Fox in the fall.
  • The 4400 will debut on The CW on October 25.
  • Chucky will debut on Syfy and USA on October 12.

  • OWN Spotlight: Oprah and Jennifer Hudson premieres tonight on OWN.
  • Gone for Good will debut on Netflix on August 13.
  • Johnson will debut on Scripps’ Bounce on August 1.
  • Romeo Santos: King of Bachata will debut on HBO Max on July 30.
  • The Program: Prison Detox will debut on Discovery+ on August 25.
  • Control Z will return on Netflix on August 4.

R.I.P.

Francine “Frankie” Lons, Mother of Keyshia Cole, and co-star on Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is

David Leckie, Australian television executive

Robby Steinhardt, Co-founder and co-lead of the band Kansas

WATCH THIS

The Flash: The Flash enlists his children from the future to defeat a new adversary, Godspeed. Season finale. 7 p.m., The CW

America’s Book of Secrets: Thanks to the virus, there’s new attention on researching the origins of pandemics and how they can be stopped before they become another COVID-19. Of course, it would help if we could just convince people to GET THE DAMN VACCINE.  8 p.m., History

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Jonas Brothers, Zoe Lister-Jones
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Kristin Chenoweth, Tim Robinson, Simon Rich, Taku Hirano
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Jason Sudeikis, Yola
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Henry Golding, Robin Thicke, guest host Anthony Anderson
  • Watch What Happens Live: Mindy Kaling, Rachel Zoe

TUES. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC NBA Finals
(live)
CBS NCIS
(repeat)		 Love Island
(new)		 FBI: Most Wanted
(repeat)
CW The Flash
(new)		 Superman & Lois
(new)		 Local
FOX Lego Masters
(new)		 Mental Samurai
(new)		 News/Local
NBC America’s Got Talent
(new)		 Capital One College Bowl
(new)

3 thoughts on “It sounds like HBO expects ‘The Last of Us’ to be its next ‘Game of Thrones’ (but with fewer dragons)”

  1. The only good part of the billionaire space race is that Wally Funk finally made it to space and more people know about the Mercury 13. Sadly I’m sure that picking her for the trip was done purely for PR purposes.

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