Disney and its terrible, horrible, no good, very bad few weeks

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

Try to not be charmed by the sheer joy of this:

making a music video from nonononoyes

All Other TV News

IMPORTANT RACHEL ZEGLER/OSCARS UPDATE: Disney managed to find her a ticket, and she’s going now. Well, that’s one crisis averted.

But speaking of Disney and self-induced headaches: Disney employees staged a walkout yesterday and plan to continue for a full week to protest Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and CEO Bob Chapek’s weak response to it. Though Chapek apologized for saying that corporate donations don’t really matter, and pledged to stop donating to all Florida politicians, employees felt it was too little, too late.

There were coordinated messages from their different divisions, including Marvel Studios:

And Disney+:

Hulu:

FX:

ESPN:

Walt Disney World:

Last week, two ESPN Women’s Basketball broadcasters took a moment of silence to show their solidarity with their LGBTQI+ colleagues.

This all comes on the heels of Disney employees urging the company to protect its LGBTQIA+ employees, including reversing a plan set into motion in 2020 to move all of their Imagineers to Florida.

In response to all the hullabaloo, Disney has paused a planned executive retreat to deal with the ongoing crisis.

And Pixar has restored a same-sex kiss in the upcoming film, Lightyear. It was revealed in the midst of the controversy that Pixar had a history of cutting any references to the LGBTQIA+ community in their films, including a simple rainbow sticker in a San Francisco storefront, deeming it “too distracting.” They also chose to not make a character in Luca queer, because they couldn’t figure out how to do so without creating a romantic relationship for her.

Just to cap a bad couple of weeks off, in the midst of all this mess, it was revealed that Disney included The Port Neches-Groves “Indianettes” High School drill team in a parade at Disney World. The drill team was not allowed to wear their headdresses, but they were allowed to do this …

Disney released a statement of regret: “The live performance in our park did not reflect our core values, and we regret it took place. It was not consistent with the audition tape the school provided and we have immediately put measures in place so this is not repeated.”

Somebody pour Disney a cocktail, they need one.

Jussie Smollett update: After the actor had an outburst at his sentencing, Cook County placed him in the jail’s psychiatric ward, to his family’s alarm. However, his detention was short-lived, as an appellate court ordered his release pending the appeal of his conviction. What a mess.

Anthony Mackie is opening a 20-acre studio in East New Orleans, which will be a huge boon to a community that could really use it.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is as confused as you are by the announcements of The Walking Dead spinoffs. Why spoil the ending of The Walking Dead by announcing which characters are going to be in the spinoffs ahead of the series finale? Why would you do that?

Here’s a story about two Real Housewives from different shows who are bickering because of Kanye West’s penis. The world we live in, folks.

We have our first glimpse of Stranger Things, season four.

Netflix might charge you extra for sharing your password soon. Sorta unrelated: someone I don’t know has my Netflix password, that, or my husband or sons have been binge-watching Emily in Paris, Raising Dion, and a whole bunch of anime — all of which they deny doing. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Two — TWO — Jeopardy! contestants thought that the 77-year-old Diana Ross was 95 years old and people were mad.

The contestants in question are terribly sorry:

Going Viral

Two weeks ago:

New York Times

This week:

New York Times

The number of cases and deaths continue to dip down, reaching the lowest they’ve been since the Delta surge began last summer. (Remember Delta? Yeah, good times.) There is some concern that we are seeing a surge of the BA.2 Omicron variant in Europe — we tend to follow close behind Europe in these trends, and some states are starting to see an uptick in cases. That said, the variant doesn’t seem to cause more extreme illness and is not evading the vaccine, so the CDC is remaining relatively calm. Just get that shot, dammit.

Meanwhile, over on Worldometer.com, we’re expected to surpass 1 million American deaths today, the same day that federal funding for treatment and testing for the uninsured runs out after Republicans blocked additional funding. Which just makes good sense because it’s not like this virus has had sudden mutations and surges that leave us flat-footed in terms of testing and treatment.

Coverage for vaccines will run out in about two weeks, so get them boosters now.

The virus is still ripping through political figures and celebrities:

Former President Obama tested positive recently.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton revealed yesterday that she tested positive.

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff tested positive.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki revealed that she tested positive and will not be traveling to Europe with President Biden today.

Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan tested positive and missed the season two premiere event.

Succession‘s Sarah Snook tested positive and had to miss the Critics Choice Awards.

Kenneth Branagh and actor Ciarán Hinds both tested positive and had to miss the Producers Guild Awards. (You might note that all four of these actors are in the U.K. where BA.2 is going crazy.)

CBS News’ Tony Dokoupil has tested positive.

Desus Nice tested positive and Desus & Mero‘s taping had to be postponed.

Hailey Bieber suffered a “stroke-like” condition that might be related to COVID. She has recovered.

Jill Duggar and her husband both tested positive.

Meanwhile, some venues and spaces tick closer to being back to normal: the Tony Awards will be held in person at Radio City Music Hall in June; Los Angeles is allowing indoor “mega-events” as long as attendees are vaccinated or have proof of a recent negative test; The Oscars will not require attendees from other countries to quarantine; and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah will return to its studio and a live audience on April 11.

PLEASE DO NOT DRINK THE COVID TESTING SOLUTION, OR PUT IT IN YOUR EYES OR NOSE. MY GOD.

Renewals

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • Candy will debut on Hulu on May 9.
  • The Pentaverate will debut on Netflix on May 5.
  • The Offer will premiere on Paramount+ on April 28.
  • A Very British Scandal premieres on Prime Video on April 22.
  • A Black Lady Sketch Show returns on HBO on April 8.
  • Derry Girls returns on Netflix soon.
  • Woke returns on Hulu on April 8.
  • One Perfect Shot will premiere on March 24 on HBO Max.
  • Sketchbook premieres on Disney+ on April 27.
  • Heartstopper premieres on Netflix on April 22.
  • Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is coming to Peacock soon.
  • Senzo: Murder of a Soccer Star will premiere on Netflix on April 7.
  • Smother returns on Peacock on April 28.
  • Detective Conan: Zero’s Tea Time debuts on Netflix in July.
  • Clark premieres on Netflix on May 5.

  • Sex & Murder returns on HLN on April 24.

  • Better Call Saul‘s fifth season will begin streaming on Netflix on April 4.

R.I.P.

Lawrence Dane, Actor who appeared in Mod Squad, Bonanza, and The F.B.I., among others

Barbara Maier Gustern, Broadway singing coach

Steven Knauss, Directors Guild of America Associate Western Executive Director

Timmy Thomas, Singer and songwriter

WATCH THIS

Clive Davis: Most Iconic Performances: The legendary producer takes viewers through some of his favorite performances over the decades. Premiere. Paramount+

Parallels: In this French series, a group of four friends are split in time and space during a mysterious event in this new series. Premiere. Disney+

Harvey: Elwood P. Dowd has an invisible friend. 7 p.m., TCM

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Joe Jonas, Gabriel Iglesias, Wolf Alice
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Chris Laker
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Lisa Kudrow, Michael Chiklis, Allison Russell
  • Watch What Happens Live: Dr. Jen Armstrong, Gina Kirschenheiter

WEDS. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC The Goldbergs
(new)		 The Wonder Years
(new)		 The Conners
(new)		 Home Economics
(new)		 A Million Little Things
(new)
CBS Survivor
(new)		 Beyond the Edge
(new)		 Good Sam
(new)
CW The Flash
(new)		 Kung Fu
(new)		 Local
FOX The Masked Singer
(new)		 Domino Masters
(new)		 News/Local
NBC Chicago Med
(repeat)		 Chicago Fire
(repeat)		 Chicago P.D.
(repeat)

2 thoughts on “Disney and its terrible, horrible, no good, very bad few weeks”

  1. My sister in law once logged out my families netflix account at my house and logged in her own to finish a show. She then forgot to log hers out. Since she didn’t ask first I filled her list with anime, Korean soap operas and Thomas the Train before logging her out.

    Reply

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