We know which luxurious location will be the setting of the next ‘White Lotus’ murders

by Therese Odell, posted in watch this


This collection of stoned pets is what you need today:

@thestrandvet

SO SCHLEEPY 😴 . . . . #veterinarian #vet #vetclinic #animalsoftiktok #funnyanimals #cute #cuteanimals #fyp #gabapentin #sedated #vetnurse #vetclinicthings #behindthescenes

♬ Because I Got High – Afroman

Here’s A BUNCH OF TV News

I am so fucking tired of having to write about school shootings. My heart is broken, again, by what happened in Nashville yesterday. But I am not going to rewrite the same bunch of words I always do when something like this happens. Instead, I’m just going to ask: When are we going to acknowledge that not doing anything isn’t working? Something … anything … has to be better than just doing nothing, right?

I’m also going to ask you to look at this Washington Post piece that, using the autopsy reports of two victims of school shootings (with their family’s explicit permission) animates the awful power of AR-15s, visually demonstrating why this weapon, specifically, should be banned.

In response to this violence, Prime Video has delayed the premiere of the trailer for their upcoming series Dead Ringers.

The fourth season premiere of Succession brought 2.3 million viewers, which is the highest-rated premiere ever for the series. (That said, The Last of Us debuted to 4.7 million and grew from there; and House of the Dragon premiered with 9.9 million. Just for some comparison.)

And Yellowjackets premiered to 2 million viewers across platforms, the biggest season two premiere for Showtime in a decade.

The White Lotus is officially headed to Thailand for the third season. Mike White had suggested it was going to take place somewhere in Asia after season two ended: “I think the third season would be maybe a satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality. It feels like it could be a rich tapestry to do another round at White Lotus.”

This story of Robin Williams protecting Nathan Lane from Oprah’s questions about his sexuality when he wasn’t ready to come out yet is very sweet.

This isn’t TV-related, but Elon Musk is about to make Twitter much, much, much worse. First, he announced that previously verified accounts will be losing their blue check marks unless they pay for Twitter Blue. Then he revealed that only those Twitter Blue users who pay $8 a month will appear in the For You page, which is practically inescapable. And if you thought, “well, I’ll just mute anyone who has a blue check mark,” he’s also making it easy to hide your checkmark — demonstrating that he knows exactly how much everyone hates the people who pay for that feature. It’s no wonder that Twitter’s value has dropped by more than half of what Musk bought it for.

As you might have noticed, I use Twitter a lot for this page — it’s a particularly great space to get people’s funny or insightful reactions to TV shows. But lately, I’ve noticed that the “top” feed for any subject hasn’t been refreshing that often, and I’m seeing the same stale tweets over and over again. I’d really appreciate it if someone would hurry up and make a replacement Twitter already, because this is some bullshit that is only going to get bullshittier.

#MeToo

Johnathan Majors, current star of Creed III and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and star of Lovecraft Country, was arrested for “strangulation, assault and harassment” in New York City. A woman who has not been named “sustained minor injuries to her head and neck and was removed to an area hospital in stable condition.”

Majors is denying the allegations and his lawyer claims he is “completely innocent.”

But the lawyer didn’t leave it at just a denial. In her statement, the lawyer launched the DARVO technique, a common manipulation method employed by abusers. DARVO is an acronym for “Deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender.”

Here is the lawyer’s statement in full:

“Jonathan Majors is completely innocent and is provably [sic] the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows. We are quickly gathering and presenting evidence to the District Attorney with the expectation that all charges will be dropped imminently. This evidence includes video footage from the vehicle where this episode took place, witness testimony from the driver and others who both saw and heard the episode, and most importantly, two written statements from the woman recanting these allegations. All the evidence proves that Mr. Majors is entirely innocent and did not assault her whatsoever. Unfortunately, this incident came about because this woman was having an emotional crisis, for which she was taken to a hospital yesterday. The NYPD is required to make an arrest in these situations, and this is the only reason Mr. Majors was arrested. We expect these charges to be dropped soon.”

As Pajiba illustrates:

Deny: “Mr. Majors is entirely innocent and did not assault her whatsoever.”
Attack: In a statement released shortly after the arrest, Chaudhry (Majors’ attorney) claimed that the woman “was having an emotional crisis, for which she was taken to the hospital.” (Majors’ team is also characterizing her not as Majors’ girlfriend, but as a “woman he knows.”)
Reverse victim and offender: Chaudhry maintains that her client “is completely innocent and probably the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows.”

DARVO is an effective technique that weaponizes our collective internalized misogyny, turning our empathy away from the female victim and towards the male aggressor whom we tend to want to believe more. The situation is already being compared to the Johnny Depp mess in which the same DARVO tactics were employed.

In the meantime, the U.S. Army has paused ads that Majors stars in; and Disney has some hard decisions to make.

Sheryl Lee Ralph says that a famous TV judge sexually assaulted her in full view of network executives at a corporate event. It sounds like it took place when she starred in Moesha on UPN between 1996 and 2001. Ralph was prepared to file a lawsuit, but was pressured by the network to drop it. She was also clear that it was not Judge Greg Mathis. “I love him. He’s a great man,” she said. 

Judge Joe Brown is out here preemptively claiming it wasn’t him:

“Promote manhood.” Hmm. Sounds like you might have just told on yourself, Judge.

Victoria Pedretti reveals that a “well-known” actor told her how much he respected her acting before revealing that he had masturbated to her often.

Both Peretti and Ralph were urged to reveal the men in question, but after what happened to Amber Heard, why would anyone subject themselves to that?

In an interview with Andy Cohen, Wendy McClean-Covey said that Jeff Garlin’s departure from The Goldbergs was “a long time coming.”

The domestic violence charges against Rick & Morty creator Justin Roiland have been dropped for insufficient evidence. However, all of the gross, harassing, and downright disgusting texts and DMs to women and girls, they are still out there. They are real and they exist.

Rob King, a senior vice president at ESPN, has been fired, reportedly following complaints about harassing social-media posts.

Gross: a Boston radio sports journalist made a racist joke about an ESPN reporter, Mina Kimes, and when he was called out for it, the radio station’s response was basically, “he was trying to make a misogynistic joke, not a racist one.”

Juliette Lewis opened up being labeled “crazy” after doing Natural Born Killers, whereas her co-star Woody Harrelson was recognized as an “actor.”

“Way back when I did ‘Natural Born Killers,’ they thought I was crazy, but they didn’t think about Woody Harrelson. They accepted him as he was acting, but a woman showing volatility and repulsive behavior was certainly, you know [not acceptable],” she said at the Season 2 premiere of “Yellowjackets” this week.

Related: In the new Prime Video series Swarm, there is a sex scene involving ChlĂśe Bailey that has upset some viewers — not because of anything in particular about the scene, but that she is in it. As she points out, no one is criticizing her scene partner Damson Idris.

Bella Ramsey says they didn’t receive an early role, despite the director liking their performance, because they didn’t have a “Hollywood look.” I’m sad to say that nothing about this surprises me, and I’m glad she landed the role of Lady Mormont in Game of Thrones because it was clear she was born for the part.

The Wizards of Waverly Place showrunners have confirmed that Alex and Stevie were a couple. However, back in the day, Disney would never allow a same-sex couple to be depicted.

Related: I really did not expect that I would have so much respect for Jojo Siwa: 

@itsjojosiwa

Inspired by a true story.😨 (side note if that meeting was today I would literally just press play on this song….)

♬ Mother – Meghan Trainor

I’m also incredibly proud of Brooke Shields and how she has managed to survive everything that she was put through.

And this is a good piece about Kelly Ripa and how hard she had to fight to be respected by the network and the executives at Live! She was kept in the dark about both Regis Philbin’s and Michael Strahan’s departures; she didn’t get her own office for three years; and she had to share the bathroom with the studio audience — even when she was pregnant. Even after Regis and Strahan left, they tried to save the office and bathroom for a male replacement, but Ripa just moved her shit in without their permission because fuck that bullshit. This is completely insane:

Prior to Seacrest, Ripa says she was always being treated as second fiddle to whoever was sitting next to her. After years of being told that the janitor’s closet was good enough, Ripa assumed that, having been elevated to the main host slot following Philbin’s departure, she had earned the right to a real office.

“They said, ‘Oh, no, we’re saving that.’ And I said, ‘Saving it for what?’ And they go, ‘Well, for when the new guy comes.’ And I looked at them, and I said, ‘I am the new guy,’” Ripa recalls. “I just moved my things. I forced my way into the office because I couldn’t understand how I would still be in the janitor’s closet and somebody new would come in and get the office.

“Initially, I thought this is just what happens, and they don’t have to fill me in because I’ve only been here 10 years. I’m still the new girl. But then, when I was the more senior on-air person, it was like watching the same movie all over again: All of those offices that were not available to me were suddenly made available, with walls knocked down to make them twice as big. It was fascinating for me to watch — the need to make the new guy comfortable and respected, but I couldn’t use those offices. I had to use the broom closet.”

Cancellations

  • Billions will end with season seven on Showtime.
  • Britannia has been canceled at Sky after three seasons.
  • The Rising has been canceled after one season by Sky after having previously been renewed for a second season.

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • Firefly Lane returns on Netflix on April 27.
  • The Kardashians returns on Hulu on May 25.
  • Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures will premiere on Disney+ on May 4.
  • Florida Man will premiere on Netflix on April 13.
  • 100 Foot Wave will return on HBO on April 16.
  • Dalgliesh reutrns to Acorn on April 24.
  • The Good Mothers will debut on Hulu on April 5.
  • The Marked Heart returns on Netflix on April 19.

R.I.P.

Royal E. Blakeman, Former President of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

Tom Leadon, Guitarist who worked with Tom Petty and the brother of Eagles co-founder Bernie Leadon

WATCH THIS

American Experience: The Movement and the ‘Madman’: This documentary tells the story of the showdown between President Richard Nixon and the antiwar movement through first-hand accounts. Premiere. 8 p.m., PBS

Mae Martin: SAP: Mae Martin, star of the critically-beloved series Feel Good, gets her first stand-up special on Netflix.  Netflix

The Sixth Sense: M. Night went from this to making movies about homicidal trees. HOW? 6:30 p.m., FXM

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Adam Sandler, Nicholas Hoult, Penn & Teller
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Andy Samberg, Chris O’Dowd, Jessi Klein, Fred Armisen
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Mary J. Blige, Alison Roman
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Owen Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Lior Suchard
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Ben Affleck, Nicholas Braun, ChlĂśe
  • The Daily Show: Guest host John Leguizamo

TUES. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC The Rookie
(new)		 The Rookie: Feds
(new)		 Will Trent
(new)
CBS FBI
(repeat)		 FBI: International
(repeat)		 FBI: Most Wanted
(repeat)
CW Superman & Lois
(new)		 Gotham Knights
(new)		 Local
FOX 9-1-1: Lone Star
(new)		 Accused
(new)		 News/Local
NBC Night Court
(new)		 American Auto
(new)		 The Voice
(new)		 That’s My Jam
(new)

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