TV
R.I.P. Alan Kalter, David Letterman’s Longtime Announcer Dead at 78
Alan Kalter, the longtime announcer of Late Show with David Letterman, has died at the age of 78. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kalter passed away Monday (October 4th) at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut. A cause of death was not immediately made available. Kalter served as the Late Show announcer for 20 years between 1995 and 2015. In addition to announcing each night’s guests during the show’s opening, Kalter frequently appeared in sketches — much to the delight of Letterman. One reoccurring bit saw Kalter concurrently host his own talk show, Alan Kalter’s Celebrity Interview, off to the side of the stage. Kalter was also the keeper of the “Late Show Secret Word,” as well as a renowned singer known for his memorable and impromptu performances of “You Ain’t See Nothing Yet” and “Do...
HBO’s Succession Turns Its Family Feud Into All-Out War in Season 3: Review
The Pitch: When last we left the backstabbing, mega-wealthy Roy family, prodigal son Kendall (Jeremy Strong) finally plunged the dagger in the back of his imperious father, Logan (Brian Cox), by holding a presser in which — rather than acting as the “blood sacrifice” Logan wants to throw to the wolves — he publicly laid bare incriminating accusations of malfeasance within Waystar Royco’s Cruises division. It’s a ballsy act, one born of two seasons’ worth of tension between them, the latest move in their perpetual chess game. But the question remains: What now? Well, fresh off his impulsive gamble, Kendall rallies the troops: Initially, he’s just got Greg the Egg (Nicholas Braun) on his side, having snuck him the Cruises documents he needs to support the accusations. But what of Shiv (...
SNL Season 47 Premiere Recap: The Highlights and Lowlights
This past summer felt like a tumultuous one for Saturday Night Live, despite (or possibly because of) its usual between-season silence about major changes to the show—broken, as per tradition, shortly before the start of a new season. Season 46 ended with what felt like possible sendoffs for several long-tenured members of a record-sized cast—and then word flew around over the summer that SNL impresario Lorne Michaels was trying to convince some veteran players to stick around for not just the next season, but several more after that, dangling a more flexible work schedule in front of familiar faces like Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, and Cecily Strong. The Michaels Plan seems to have been put into motion with Season 47: McKinnon, Bryant, and Strong are all back, at least according to the ope...
Scrubs is 20, So Pour Yourself an Appletini and Revisit 20 Iconic Music Moments
For its long (some might say too long) nine-season run on NBC, Scrubs was probably the best sitcom on television. And yet, it’s easy to forget just how influential Bill Lawrence’s goofy, absurd, heartbreaking show about the residents, staff, and patients of Sacred Heart Hospital was to the fabric of network comedy. Like Lawrence’s later show — the Internet’s current darling/core of shockingly bitter Internet discourse Ted Lasso — Scrubs worked tirelessly to thread its wacky, colorful characters and endearingly cinematic sight gags with an essential core of dramedic sentiment. You could count on Scrubs to make you laugh for twenty minutes, but in the last two before the credits, it was liable to make you cry. Much of the success of that thematic juggling act was bolstere...
Dog the Bounty Hunter Finds Brian Laundrie Clue and/or Trash
Dog the Bounty Hunter is out to clean up the streets. As part of his quest to find potential murderer Brian Laundrie, the reality TV star and former bondsman is now holding up random trash to the Fox News cameras, because hey, you never know, it might be a clue. The latest breaking news involves a partially crushed can of Monster Energy. Never mind that Laundrie was reportedly a health nut and environmentalist, and therefore unlikely to consume energy drinks or toss them aside — the infamous bottle-blonde mullet is on the case, either literally on Laundrie’s trail or merely picking up litter. Either way, Fox News will be there. Laundrie is a person of interest in the murder of Gabby Petito, a #VanLife influencer who was reported missing on September 11th and whose body was subsequentl...
Challenge Rookie Priscilla Just Proved She’s A ‘Sneaky Mofo’
Rarely can the evolution from sweet kitten to sinister wildcat reach completion within a few minutes, but on the latest episode of The Challenge, Priscilla — a lovable Love Island contestant from the U.K. — bared her fangs and single-handedly blew up the Veteran Alliance. Not bad for a rookie who’d only just competed in her very first elimination round. But now that Priscilla has fired shots, can she shield herself from the counterstrike that’s surely headed her way? On tonight’s of Spies, Lies and Allies, and with Berna and Hughie standing as the only rookie/rookie team left in the game, Priscilla, Jeremiah and Bettina — the only rookies who’d yet to compete in The Lair — considered that one or two would likely be coming nominees. And, though Amber briefly considered volunteering he...
How Maci Faced Her ‘Biggest Fear’ On Teen Mom OG
Maci endured a “terrifying” experience on the last season of Teen Mom OG: The Tennessean was at a local gas station when a shootout began (she was trapped in a bathroom as the violence unfolded). The mother of three was thankfully unharmed; however, post-traumatic stress from the incident persisted and she’s opened up about experiencing nightmares. Now, during this week’s episode, Maci was able to “take control” and visit the gas station with Taylor by her side. “If you don’t want to do it today, we don’t have to,” Taylor told an overwhelmed Maci, as she rested her forehead against the steering wheel. After a few deep breaths, Maci opened the door and made her way to the pump. After she placed the nozzle, she promptly got back int...
What’s the Deal with Seinfeld’s Bizarre Pilot?
In this age of streaming, serialized television, and full-season orders for everything, the pilot feels like a lost, forgotten art. You see, kids, back when television aired on a handful of networks and you had to watch whatever happened to be on the boob tube at any given moment, network executives would order a test episode, or “pilot,” to see whether a show would work. It’s a pre-natal version of the show you’d come to know and love, often with characters, approaches, or visual tics that were dropped by episode 2. Now, Netflix is bringing Seinfeld, in all its remastered HD glory, to its shores on October 1st, offering audiences new and old the chance to binge their way through all ten seasons of the iconic, game-changing sitcom. But if you truly start at the beginning, with its dee...
Dave Chappelle Announces New Netflix Special The Closer
Dave Chappelle is here to rescue you from your existential dread — or, at least he’s going to try. Today, the renowned comedian has unveiled the trailer for The Closer, his new Netflix standup special, just ahead of its release on October 5th. “Comedians have a responsibility to speak recklessly,” Chappelle says in the trailer’s first seconds. “Sometimes, the funniest thing to say is mean. Remember: I’m not saying it to be mean, I’m saying it because it’s funny.” Billed as Chappelle’s “sixth chapter” — meaning his sixth Netflix special overall — The Closer follows 2019’s Sticks & Stones. See the trailer for The Closer below. Chappelle’s 2021 so far has been mind-boggling, to say the least. Back in June, he joined Foo Fighters onstage at Madison Square Garden fo...
‘This Is The True Story’: The Real World Homecoming Renewed For Two Additional Seasons
“This is the true story” of two more Real World casts reuniting for a special homecoming. The Real World Homecoming is returning to Paramount+ for two additional seasons of the hit unscripted juggernaut. Following the successful and critically acclaimed The Real World Homecoming: New York, season two will reunite original cast members from MTV’s The Real World: Los Angeles later this fall. A third installment will be announced at a later date. More “lives taped”! After spending decades apart, the upcoming seasons will reconnect the onetime strangers turned roomies to find out what happens how the series transformed their lives since the cameras stopped rolling, and to find out, once again, what unfolds when “people stop being polite… and start getting real....
Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 11 Gets Premiere Date, First Trailer
Here’s some news that’ll leaving you feeling pretty, pretty, pretty good: Curb Your Enthusiasm’s 11th season will premiere on Sunday, October 24th. In anticipation, HBO has shared a new teaser trailer, which you can see below. Season 11 will span ten episodes in total. The 40-minute season premiere airs Sunday, October 24th beginning at 10:40 p.m. ET/PT, with new episodes airing subsequent Sundays at 10:30 p.m. ET. Many Curb regulars are returning alongside series star Larry David, including Susie Essman, Jeff Garlin, Cheryl Hines, J.B. Smoove, Ted Danson, and Richard Lewis. Advertisement Related Video Of course, this is the first season of Curb filmed in the COVID era, and the aforementioned teaser heavily implies that the pandemic will play a part in the upcoming episodes. “The World Has...
NBC Greenlights Reboot of Dick Wolf’s Original Law & Order Series
Though it’s been over a decade since Law & Order ceased production, the popularity of its spinoffs like Law & Order: SVU prove there’s always room on air for some good, old-fashioned crime drama. Well, get ready to hear some more dun-duns: NBC has announced that its reviving the mothership series of Dick Wolf’s beloved franchise for its 21st season overall. While a premiere date is still TBD, we can expect the new installment of Law & Order will once again follow — say it with us, now — “the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.” The show will be produced by Universal Television and Wolf Entertainment — with Wolf executive producing, of course — and Rick Eid returning as showrunner. While no cast members have been o...
