Oh, nothing. Just thinking about this carving of a dog, glowing gold from unknown thousands of pats from loving hands, over four and half centuries. pic.twitter.com/HBKNohiMG7
— Sam (@korvys) August 20, 2021
#MeToo
The R. Kelly trial is underway, and already he’s been accused of having an abusive six-month-long relationship with a 16-year-old, and giving one 17-year-old victim herpes, viciously beating her, and forcing her to get an abortion against her will. It was also revealed that the reason Kelly married a 15-year-old Aaliyah when he was 27 was because his manager thought she was pregnant and they were trying to avoid statuary rape charges. It’s going to be a rough trial for Kelly. GOOD. (And again, it’s worth remembering that he is on trial today in large part because of the bravery of Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly documentary, and the women who participated in it. Let’s hope they get justice this time around.)
The New York Times published a troubling report about the Time’s Up organization and its leaders’ relationships with people — notably men — in power, including Andrew Cuomo and their role in helping him protect his reputation while dealing with the sexual harassment allegations against him. The report also claims that President of Time’s Up, Tina Tchen, held back a letter from women’s groups to President Biden when he was a candidate, that urged him to respond to a sexual misconduct allegation, and that she wanted to create “a new for-profit consulting arm that could allow her and others to advise corporations, including those facing abuse accusations, board and staff members grew concerned, according to meeting notes.” Basically, according to some members, the organization has moved away from helping women to protecting the men who abuse them.
Ms. Tchen has no intention of resigning, and Time’s Up says they’ve hired an outside group to investigate.
Oh, and The International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has stripped Cuomo of the Emmy they gave him for his daily press conferences during last spring’s COVID surge in New York.
The Queen wants her sex pest son to keep all of his military titles. As this piece points out, remember how Harry was stripped of all of his military titles and he didn’t even go to a sex monster island to sexually abuse minors?
Porn star Peter North has been accused of raping and violently abusing his wife.
All Other TV News
Wait, hold up, The Rachel Maddow Show is going to move from being nightly to once a week? Apparently, it’s designed to allow Maddow to do other film, TV, and media projects, but I can’t imagine MSNBC is thrilled with letting their most popular primetime host go like that.
American Horror Story returns tomorrow, and you can get in the mood with these creepy radio broadcasts (another is expected to drop today, and one tomorrow):
No, that was not Steve Zahn’s penis in White Lotus, but he’s fine with doing nudity, in case you needed to know that.
John Cleese, whom I adore, is doing a show in the UK about cancel culture called Cancel Me, “in which he speaks to activists and victims of cancel culture, including some famous faces.” I’m not going to rant again about how no one is actually being “canceled,” they are just facing consequences, I’ll just point out that John Cleese once sued a newspaper writer for writing an op-ed that suggested that his career was stagnating. It’s always remarkable to me that the people who scream the loudest about not being able to offend people anymore are among some of the most easily offended.
c'mon pic.twitter.com/w9BYjxb51f
— mark (@kept_simple) August 23, 2021
Y’all really are refusing to watch Wellington Paranormal, huh.
I’m genuinely not here to try to sell you on another streaming service, but if you have Paramount+, I do recommend catching up with Evil season two, it’s been great fun. It returns after a short hiatus on August 29, and here’s a little reminder of where everything stands.
An Infowars host (but unfortunately, not Alex Jones) has turned himself in after being charged for his involvement in the January 6 insurrectionist riot. I’m shocked, shocked, I say.
Tom Girardi has been moved into a senior living facility, so either he really has dementia or he is really committing to pretending he has dementia.
Oh, Nicholas Brendon, not again. Please get help.
Renewals
- Motherland: Fort Salem has been renewed for a third and final season on Freeform.
- Peace Of Mind with Taraji has been renewed for a second season on Facebook Watch.
In Development
- Coercion, a sex-trafficking drama, has been ordered at Showtime.
- Snowflake Mountain; Dance Monsters; and Dated and Related, three reality series, have been ordered at Netflix.
- An untitled Halloween adventure-comedy starring and produced by Marlon Wayans has been ordered at Netflix.
- DeMane Davis has signed an overall deal with Warner Bros. Television.
Casting News
- Celina Smith has landed the lead role in Annie! Live on NBC.
- Amy Brenneman has joining Shining Girls on Apple TV+.
- Rachel Bay Jones is joining the cast of The Good Doctor on ABC.
- Jessica Matten has joined Dark Winds on AMC.
- Megan Mullally, Tyler Alvarez, Michelle Buteau, Aasif Mandvi, Teala Dunn, and Isabella Ferreira are joining an untitled coming-of-age romantic movie on Hulu.
- Brian Stepanek, Muretta Moss, Lexi DiBenedetto, Dora Dolphin, Sophia Woodward, Catherine Ashmore Bradley, Morgan McGill, Aubin Bradley, Ella Allan, Mia Allan, Lexi Janicek, and Charlotte Ann Tucker have been cast in A Loud House Christmas on Nickelodeon.
- Yael Stone, Rob Collins, Callan Mulvey, and Shantae Barnes-Cowan have been cast in Firebite on AMC+.
- Joe Carroll has been added to Five Days at Memorial on Apple TV+.
- Peter Porte is joining Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem on Peacock.
- Emma Appleton and Bel Powley have been cast in Everything I Know About Love on BBC One.
Mark Your Calendars
- Netflix has released the dates for 42 movies debuting this fall. Some of them will be included below, but for the full list click here.
- Army of Thieves will premiere on Netflix on October 29.
- Cruella will be available on Disney+ on August 27.
- The Kelly Clarkson Show will return on September 13.
- Teenage Euthanasia will debut on Adult Swim on September 19.
- Luna Park will premiere on Netflix on September 30.
- Night Teeth will premiere on Netflix on October 20.
- Intrusion will debut on Netflix on September 22.
- Attack of the Hollywood Clichés! will premiere on Netflix on September 28.
R.I.P.
Micki Grant, Actress, writer, and director who was the first Black woman on a daytime program, the first woman to write both the music and lyrics for a Broadway show and the first Black woman to direct a Broadway show.
Charlie Watts, Drummer for the Rolling Stones
Bill Clotworthy, NBC standards and practices executive who was known as “Dr. No” at Saturday Night Live
Jimmy Hayes, Former NHL player
Brian Travers, Founding member of the band UB40
WATCH THIS
Bachelor in Paradise: Last week’s premiere only aired on Monday night, and believe it or not, I had actually stupidly held out hope that this season this nonsense would only be on once a week. Of course, I would never be that lucky. 7 p.m., Tuesday
Supergirl: Supergirl and Zor-El somehow create a whole new threat to National City. Final season premiere. 8 p.m., The CW
Hereditary: Genuinely, this is the scariest movie I’ve seen in the past 20 years — if not even longer. If you don’t think you can handle it, you can’t. 5:20 p.m., Showtime Showcase
Late Night:
- Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Andy Samberg, Andrea Bocelli
- Late Night with Seth Meyers: Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone, J.B. Smoove, Taylor Tomlinson, Jerome Flood II
- The Late Late Show with James Corden: Lorde
- Jimmy Kimmel Live: Lizzo, Kane Brown, the Jonas Brothers, guest host Niall Horan
TUES. | 7:00 | 7:30 | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 |
ABC | Bachelor in Paradise (new) |
The Ultimate Surfer (new) |
CBS | NCIS (repeat) |
FBI (repeat) |
FBI: Most Wanted (repeat) |
CW | Stargirl (new) |
Supergirl (new) |
Local |
FOX | Lego Masters (new) |
Fantasy Island (new) |
News/Local |
NBC | America’s Got Talent (new) |
Capital One College Bowl (new) |