Sorry, you pervs, but the upcoming ‘Lord of Rings’ series is not going to be your new sexytimes show.

by Therese Odell, posted in watch this

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Hey, nerds: Vanity Fair has some exclusive images from the upcoming Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series, along with some story details. Amazon has spent somewhere around $450 million on this series in an attempt to be their Game of Thrones, and it looks it.

However, don’t expect the same level of violence and none of the sex from HBO’s fantasy series: they are going for a more family-friendly series. According to one of the showrunners, Patrick MacKay, their goal was “to make a show for everyone, for kids who are 11, 12, and 13, even though sometimes they might have to pull the blanket up over their eyes if it’s a little too scary. We talked about the tone in Tolkien’s books. This is material that is sometimes scary—and sometimes very intense, sometimes quite political, sometimes quite sophisticated—but it’s also heartwarming and life-affirming and optimistic. It’s about friendship, and it’s about brotherhood and underdogs overcoming great darkness.”

And according to one of the authors of the Vanity Fair piece, Lord of the Rings fan Joanna Robinson, whose opinion I greatly respect, the series, it’s good:

The story is behind Vanity Fair‘s paywall, so here is a link to a Variety piece that gives some details on the plot, and here are a few other images if you can’t access it:

First Images from ‘Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power’ from lotr

Well, this is exceptionally sweet: Quinta Brunson named her charming sitcom Abbott Elementary after her own 6th-grade teacher who inspired her, Mrs. Abbott. They were reunited on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last week (it’s at the 6:40 mark or so).

Brunson also recently gave an interview to Vanity Fair about the success of the show, and how she wanted to make something family-friendly and not dark:

She’s also a student of television, analyzing the trends that come and go. “Network television, if I’m being honest, was just getting super formulaic, and I think that’s what made it not feel cool anymore,” she says. “Then streaming came out…and then all the comedies started getting super dark—because that became cool, for the comedies to get dark and pretty. Which is fine! But they’re dark. You can’t watch ’em with the whole family…. It’s not going to give you the same laughs as a network comedy.”

Abbott is a firmly family-friendly show, designed to tap into every audience quadrant. (“It’s not prestige television,” Brunson adds. “It’s TV for everybody.”)

And I do think that is a huge part of its success and charm. If you’re looking for something a little darker, however, may I direct you to NBC’s underappreciated American Auto? It’s from the creator of Superstore and serves as another wry commentary on the state of American capitalism. I don’t know why it’s not receiving the attention it deserves, but it is a very smart little sitcom.

Netflix is going to screen Squid Game in New York and Los Angeles movie theaters as awards season heats up.

Disney+ added nearly 12 million subscribers in the first quarter, which is staggering. People like them some Boba Fett and Encanto.

This headline makes my back hurt.

That Australian soap opera Neighbours which was just canceled after 1,000 years launched the career of pretty much every famous Australian you can think of, with the exception of maybe Nicole Kidman.

Speaking of, one of the actors in that piece above explained to Jimmy Kimmel how that infamous scene in The White Lotus came to be, if you need to know the details.

That time ESPN canceled a show about the dark side of professional football because it made the NFL SO MAD.

Not everyone loved Betty White. I AM NOT LAUGHING AT THIS STORY, YOU ARE.

Dave Chappelle threatened to pull his businesses from Yellow Springs, Ohio if they went forward with a planned housing development that included some affordable housing. Some people (including Chappelle’s PR team) are trying to argue that Chappelle was opposed to the development as a whole, not just the affordable housing element. But according to the Dayton Daily News who broke this story, the development was permitted to proceed as planned, just without the affordable housing part. So …. yes? He was opposed to the low-income part of this plan? And I didn’t know I could lose more respect for this man …

This isn’t a TV story, so I’ll just let José Andrés have the last and only word on the subject:

Bob Saget’s family released the cause of his unexpected death, and it turns out it was head trauma. “They have concluded that he accidentally hit the back of his head on something, thought nothing of it, and went to sleep. No drugs or alcohol were involved.” Be careful with your noggins, folks. 

Renewals

In Development

  • Futurama has been revived at Hulu, and most, but not all, the original voice cast is returning, including Billy West, Katey Sagal, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr, and David Herman. Noticeably missing is John DiMaggio who voiced Bender, among several other characters. It sounds like a contract dispute that might be rectified.

Casting News

  • Andrea Martin is going to guest star on Only Murders in the Building on Hulu. 

Mark Your Calendars

  • Better Things returns on FX on February 28.
  • The Weekend Away will premiere on Netflix on March 3.
  • My Brilliant Friend: Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay will debut on HBO on March 28.
  • Firestarter will premiere on Peacock and in theaters on May 13.
  • The Adam Project will debut on Netflix on March 11.

  • Biography: Bobby Brown will debut on A&E on May 30.

  • Theodore Roosevelt will air on The History Channel on May 30.

(Unrelated to TV, but look at this amazing photo of a young Teddy Roosevelt watching Abraham Lincoln’s funeral procession. He’s in the circled window.):

  • Marvel Studios’ Assembled: The Making of Hawkeye is now streaming on Disney+.
  • Bar Rescue returns on Paramount Network on March 20.
  • 10 Truths About Love debuts on Tubi on February 11.
  • Light the Night returns on Netflix on March 18.
  • Juvenile Justice premieres on Netflix on February 25.

R.I.P.

Entertainment Weekly

Jeremy Giambi, Former MLB player

Betty Davis, R&B and funk singer

WATCH THIS

I Want You Back: Charlie Day and Jenny Slate star in this romantic comedy about two strangers who are both dumped on the same weekend. They then conspire to help the other win back the affections of their former partners. Wackiness ensues. Amazon

The Girl Before: David Oyelowo stars in this thriller series as an architect who invites a young woman to live in a dream home rent-free, as long as she follows his exacting rules. Series premiere. HBO Max

KIMI: Zoë Kravitz is an agoraphobic tech worker who must leave her home to report a violent crime in this new film from Steven Soderbergh.  HBO Max

Star Trek: Discovery: Fourth season premiere. Paramount+

Dollface: Season two. Hulu

Olympics: Alpine Skiing, Snowboarding, Freestyle Skiing & More 7 p.m., NBC

Late Night:

  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Wolfson
  • The Daily Show: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
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