Padma Lakshmi’s got Houston’s back.

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

This dog is clearly the American cousin of that Irish cricket-loving dog I posted earlier this week.

And I’ll have you know, Rookie is an actual bat dog who loves his job and is good at it.

HIRE A BAT DOG, ASTROS.

All Other TV News

I really should have seen this coming: Padma Lakshmi is having to defend Houston after people attacked her and Top Chef for choosing to film in Texas despite our new insane abortion law. As she points out, Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the U.S. (or possibly the most diverse, according to some metrics) and the majority of us, including our city government, are opposed to not just that bill, but to our state government as a whole because seriously, fuck those guys.

What’s more, she is putting her money where her mouth is, and supporting organizations on the ground here, fighting this hateful law:

People’s reactions to Lakshmi’s response are understandably mixed, with most insisting that a boycott of Texas is the only way to deal with our stupid government. In fact, The Wire‘s creator David Simon, took that very stance, pulling an upcoming production for HBO that is set in Texas out of Dallas.

He went on to get into a bunch of Twitter fights with people about it because he’s David Simon:

And I completely understand and don’t entirely disagree with him. But I agree more with Padma Lakshmi’s position that pulling a production, especially one like Top Chef which is coming to Houston to deliberately showcase our city’s diversity and small businesses, would hurt women and people of color more than a boycott would do good.

Maybe I’m just being selfish in a desire to show off how beautiful my hometown’s culinary scene is, but having lived in Texas for the majority of my life, I also know well enough that economically punishing our big cities — which vote blue — is not going to persuade the Republican-held state government to change their ways. They hate our cities, they are literally writing laws to harm us and prevent us from voting. If anything, a boycott against Houston would only delight them.

Interesting: Rachel Maddow is eventually going to move to a weekly show, giving up her very coveted 8/9 p.m. primetime MSNBC spot. If she does, it looks like Nicole Wallace might inherit that spot.

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Union (IATSE) is on the verge of a strike to demand livable wages and more humane working conditions. This could hugely impact productions, so stay tuned.

These big-name stars all appeared on All My Children at one point or another. I was aware of all of them except Daniel Dae Kim, which is deeply embarrassing for me, as I’m 1. a huge All My Children fan (or was. R.I.P. AMC), and 2. I’m supposed to be the Lost expert over here.

Succession was at the Television Critics Association yesterday where they insisted the show isn’t about money or even wealth, but instead love and power, and I guess I see it. Kinda.

Also, no, there are no Easter Eggs in the Succession title sequence. They’re not that kind of show.

Going Viral

Last week:

This week (technically this week + 1 day since I didn’t do this yesterday For Reasons):

Cases and hospitalizations continue to go down, deaths continue to go up. Some models suggest that we are past the worst of it, but I also remember where we were a year ago, and how everything went sideways during the winter when people returned inside and traveled for holidays, so who knows. Hopefully, my pessimism is misplaced.

Here’s a handy calculator to determine your likelihood of contracting COVID-19 in various situations. I have to say, it’s distressing to see that I, a fully vaccinated person dining with other vaccinated people inside a restaurant here in Houston am at a Very High Risk for contracting this fucking virus, all because other people also won’t get vaccinated. GUH.

Because break-through cases do happen:

Other people who have contracted the virus:

Wendy Williams, whose show was delayed as a result.

Laura Loomer, who once said she wanted to get the virus to prove it was no worse than food poisoning.

Tarek El Moussa, whose HGTV show had to postpone production.

And a bunch of anti-vaxxers continues to die from the virus, including:

George Holliday, the man who filmed the famous Rodney King beating.

Truffles, the Trumpian, anti-vaxx clown.

And this would-be-bride who wrongfully believed taking vaccine would make her infertile thanks to bullshit misinformation out there.

In fact, there are so many people dying unnecessarily of this disease, that someone created the r/HermanCainAward subreddit, highlighting the anti-vaxxers who continue to die of this virus. For instance, Craig made fun of masks and the vaccine, and now he, his brother, and his mother are all dead.

Craig thought covid was dumb and overhyped. Made fun of masks and vax. Craig is dead, his brother is dead, his mother is dead all within a month from HermanCainAward

If only anti-vaxxers’ behavior only impacted themselves … sadly, because anti-vaxxers are filling our hospitals, people with other medical conditions are not being treated and are dying. So fuck this nonsense that vaccination is a personal choice and it doesn’t matter to me, a vaccinated person, whether you get vaccinated or not.

And fuck Tucker Carlson.

And fuck this Texas restaurant for kicking out a family for wearing masks because their baby is immunocompromised. People can be such monsters.

And you’ll never believe this but Sarah Palin is unvaccinated. Related: her state just has announced their hospitals will go into crisis-care standards, which basically means they have to ration care because they are so crushed by cases right now.

Brazil’s President Bolsonaro being forced to eat pizza outside in New York because he’s unvaccinated is perfect.

Here’s Jake Tapper telling Mississippi’s Governor Potato that his method of doing absolutely nothing to combat the virus isn’t working:

Nicki Minaj claimed that the White House invited her to come talk about the vaccine, but they didn’t. They offered to have their doctors call her and answer her questions. Hopefully, this ends the Nicki Minaj portion of the discourse.

Some good (-ish) news: the Pfizer vaccine appears to be safe for kids between 5-12, and should be approved by the FDA by Halloween. The question, sadly, remains how many parents will actually give their kid the shot?

Also, the FDA has approved booster Pfizer shots for 65 and older and immunocompromised folks.

The Beijing Olympics will require all athletes to be fully vaccinated. IS THAT SO HARD?

The Emmy producers are SO MAD at Seth Rogen for pointing out the obvious: that holding the Emmys inside a sealed tent is not any better than holding them inside a building. He’s not wrong.

The National Association of Broadcasters has canceled their Las Vegas show set for next month for some reason.

CNN has pushed their full return date back to January.

A Michigan meteorologist has been fired for refusing the vaccine mandate at his affiliate. Good.

Southwest is trying a carrot and stick approach: paying employees more for getting vaccinated and cutting sick days for the unvaccinated.

The Daily Show has reopened the Pandemmys. Yay.

The Late Late Show with James Corden plans on bringing a vaccinated audience back next week.

Oh hey! New variant alert!

Listen to the Pope, y’all, and please get vaccinated.

Renewals

Cancellations

  • Derry Girls will end after this third season on Netflix.

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • Tiger King 2 is coming to Netflix sometime before the end of the year. Prepare.
  • Muppets Haunted Mansion will debut on Disney+ on October 8.
  • Night Teeth will debut on Netflix on October 20.
  • The Sex Lives of College Girls will debut on HBO Max on November 18.
  • Black As Night will debut on Amazon on October 1.
  • Britney vs Spears will premiere on Netflix on September 28.
  • The Rookie will return on ABC on September 26.
  • SEAL Team will return on CBS on October 10.
  • Manhunt will return on Acorn TV on October 18.
  • Karma’s World will premiere on Netflix on October 15.
  • “Fall-O-Ween” will begin on October 1 on TBS, TNT, and truTV.

R.I.P.

Melvin Van Peebles, “Actor, writer, director, producer and icon of Black cinema”

Peter Palmer, Actor who originated the role of Li’l Abner.

WATCH THIS

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: A powerful Congressman becomes the suspect in a sex-for-housing scheme in the season premiere. 7 p.m., NBC

Law & Order: Organized Crime: Stabler infiltrates a crime family in the season premiere. 9 p.m., NBC

Kenny Rogers: All In for the Gambler: Kenny Rogers is celebrated in this star-studded concert event. 8 p.m., CBS

Foundation: Jared Harris and Lee Pace star in this highly-anticipated adaptation of the classic Isaac Asimov trilogy. Series premiere Apple TV+

Goliath: Final season premiere. Apple TV+

Creepshow: Season three premiere. Shudder

Doom Patrol: Season premiere. HBO Max

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Michael Strahan, Justin Willman, the Killers
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Ike Barinholtz, Jenny Slate, Andē
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Anderson Cooper, John Mayer
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Ben Platt
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Ringo Starr, Simone Biles, the Doobie Brothers
  • The Daily Show: Jason Isbell
  • Watch What Happens Live: Kate Hudson & Octavia Spencer
THUR 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Holey Moley
(new)		 The Hustler
(new)		 The Hustler
(new)
CBS Big Brother
(new)		 Kenny Rogers: All In For The Gambler
(new)		 Bull
(new)
CW Coroner
(new)		 The Outpost
(new)		 News/Local
FOX The Masked Singer
(new)		 Alter Ego
(new)		 News/Local
NBC Law & Order: SVU
(repeat)		 Law & Order: Organized Crime
(repeat)

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