TV
‘Broody, Wounded, And Charming’: Regé-Jean Page Is Bridgerton‘s Dazzling Duke
By Sara Radin Bridgerton, the new period romance from Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, mixes all the highly stylized drama of Grace Mercy West Hospital with the pomp and powdered wigs of Regency Era England, as eight siblings duke it out for love, status, and, well, dukes. But when a controlling older brother comes between young beauty Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dyneover) and a superior suitor, causing her to fall out of favor with the queen and one particularly biting gossip columnist, she hatches a plan to redeem herself in the eyes of society. She strikes a deal with Duke Simon Bassett, a decided bachelor with a playboy reputation, to pretend to be madly in love. She hopes the handsome facade will spark jealousy in prospective husbands; he hopes it will curb the pressure to marry fr...
Showrunner of the Year Eric Kripke on The Boys: “We Should Always Be Punching Up”
Eric Kripke is anxious. It’s two days before Thanksgiving and the veteran showrunner is already hard at work on the third season of The Boys. He’s three episodes into scripting, things are moving, but something is gnawing at him from deep inside. “It’s become really fun and breezy to write again,” Kripke admits over Zoom. “That worries me. It’s feeling enjoyable. I should be in intense, deep introspection for this.” Kripke has every reason to be precarious. In less than a year, he’s given Amazon a critical and commercial smash, and they’re running with it. They gave the early green light for Season 3, and they’ve even commissioned a spinoff series. Opportunity is expanding right before Kripke’s eyes — and fast. Fortunately for him, Kripke thrives amidst this kind of aggressive expansion, s...
Nicolas Cage Details the History of Swear Words in New Netflix Trailer: Watch
Netflix’s History of Swear Words has received its first official trailer, and it’s a fuckin’ doozy. The Nicolas Cage-hosted series is a dive into the origins of the words “fuck”, “shit”, “bitch”, “dick”, “pussy”, and “damn”. Fittingly, the trailer begins with a dapperly dressed Cage standing up from his seat and screaming the F-bomb at the top of his lungs, which seems like a good indication of what the show is all about. Netflix describes the six-episode series, which was produced by Funny or Die, as such: “An education in expletives: the history lesson you didn’t know you needed. History of Swear Words, hosted by Nicolas Cage, is a loud and proudly profane series that explores the origins, pop culture-usage, science, and cultural impact of curse words.” Throughout the trailer, Cage is jo...
His Dark Materials Renewed For Third and Final Season
Although season 2 doesn’t wrap up until next week, HBO and BBC have a third and final season for His Dark Materials. The TV adaptation of Philip Pullman’s beloved book trilogy has already covered The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife, so season three will correspond with the events in The Amber Spyglass, thus bringing the fantasy-drama epic to a close. Production is set to begin in Cardiff, Wales in March 2021. According to Deadline, season two only consisted of seven episodes due to COVID-19 restrictions, but season three will take eight episodes to tell the conclusion of Lyra (Dafne Keen) and Will’s (Amir Wilson) journey. The series is produced by Bad Wolf in association with New Line Cinema for BBC One and HBO, with Pullman himself involved in New Line’s rost...
First Look: The Teen Mom OG Cast Is Going To Rise Up Like A Mother
The Teen Mom OG ladies are “not going to take it” when the brand-new season begins. In a supersized first look at the upcoming episodes — premiering on January 26 — Amber, Catelynn, Cheyenne, Maci and Mackenzie are experiencing changes during this “new normal.” From Cory asking Cheyenne “are you f*cking pregnant?” to Amber revealing that Gary wants her to live on his land (in a trailer), the women are showing viewers the good and bad times. And the funny moments too. “Don’t dip your French fry — oh you did it, in the milk. Is it good?” Cheyenne asks Ryder, who sweetly replies, “Yeah.” “Can I try it?” Watch more of the young women in the clip above and do not miss the return of the OGs on Tuesday...
Kristen Wiig’s SNL Return Stresses an Uncertain Future for Character Actors
When Kristen Wiig hit the stage to deliver her monologue this past weekend on Saturday Night Live, she said it felt like coming home. She reiterated this point at the end of the show, during the goodnights. In between, she backed up her statements by comfortably re-settling into the rhythms of the show, and reviving two of her many recurring characters: Sue, the woman who can’t handle surprises; and Mindy Gracin, the addled stage star who appears on the game show Secret Word. Wiig still stands among the most beloved centerpiece stars of SNL this millennium, and this week’s episode underlined a major reason why, at least in terms of the popular consciousness: She originated a lot of recurring characters on the show. So many, in fact, that she can reprise two second-string ones like Mindy Gr...
Top 25 TV Shows of 2020
Our Annual Report continues as we reveal the Top 25 TV Shows of 2020. Stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles in the days and weeks to come about the best music, film, and TV of the year. If you’ve missed any part of our Annual Report, you can check out all the coverage here. It feels strange to say, but television has never felt more important than it did in 2020. With the ensuing COVID-19 pandemic all but trapping us in our homes, the medium has served as an essential, if not comprehensive, escape for viewers worldwide. This notion became clear with Tiger King, a show that nabbed record eyes (or so Netflix says) in the budding days of lockdown. The world became so scary, we looked to a bizarre tale of over-the-top zoo owners and assassination attempts for comfort. With...
Silence of the Lambs TV Series Clarice Is Not Allowed to Mention Hannibal
CBS is getting ready to premiere Clarice, the upcoming sequel TV series to The Silence of the Lambs. But in a bizarre legal twist, the show’s script will be forced to omit any mention of Hannibal Lecter or past plot lines involving the character. As Entertainment Weekly reports, the rights to author Thomas Harris’ characters are divided between MGM and the Dino De Laurentiis Company. MGM holds the rights to all the characters from the 1991 film, including Clarice Starling, Ardelia Mapp, Paul Krendler, Buffalo Bill, and more. Meanwhile, Dino De Laurentiis Company owns the rights to all other Hannibal characters, including NBC’s cannibal doctor himself. So Clarice can’t mention Lecter the same way that Bryan Fuller’s show Hannibal couldn’t acknowledge Starling. All of thi...
John Mulaney Enters Rehab for Cocaine and Alcohol Abuse
John Mulaney has checked into rehab for cocaine and alcohol abuse. According to Page Six and PEOPLE, the 38-year-old comedian entered a facility in Pennsylvania this past weekend. Mulaney has long been open about his history with substance abuse. In an interview with Esquire last year, he said he began drinking and experimenting with drugs at age 13. He first became sober at the age of 23. During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this month, Mulaney admitted that the quarantine had negatively impacted his mental well-being, and he sought to find structure by going to work for his friend Seth Meyers. “I really needed a job. I like having a boss and having assignments to do,” Mulaney explained to Kimmel. “When I’m in charge of something… not so much the best thing. I wanted to ...
Disney Officially Announces The Book of Boba Fett From Jon Favreau and Robert Rodriguez
Following its surprise reveal at the end of The Mandalorian’s season 2 finale, Disney and Lucasfilm have formally announced production on The Book of Boba Fett, a new Star Wars spinoff series starring Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen. Appearing on Good Morning America on Monday morning, Jon Favreau confirmed that The Book of Boba Fett is separate from The Mandalorian season 3. Favreau will serve as an executive producer on the new series alongside Dave Filoni and Robert Rodriguez, who directed Chapter 14 of The Manalorian and reintroduced Boba Fett to the Star Wars universe. Production on The Book of Boba Fett is set to begin early next year ahead of a planned December 2021 release on Disney+. Favreau said that once they wrap filming on Boba Fett, his team will begin working on the third s...
Anya Taylor-Joy on What’s She’s Streaming, Breaking Netflix, and Why She Loves Weirder Characters
Our Annual Report continues today with the announcement of Anya Taylor-Joy as our TV Performance of the Year. Stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles in the days and weeks to come about the best music, film, and TV of the year. If you’ve missed any part of our Annual Report, you can check out all the coverage here. Chess and Anya Taylor-Joy have had quite the year, thanks to The Queen’s Gambit. One month after its October 23rd debut on Netflix, Scott Frank and Allan Scott’s adaptation of Walter Tevis’ 1983 novel became the most-watched scripted miniseries in Netflix history. Not surprisingly, interest in chess skyrocketed with “How to play chess” peaking in Google searches and chess boards being wrapped everywhere throughout this holiday season. At the center of it all, ...
SNL Releases Sequel to Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles: Watch
Earlier this year, Saturday Night Live aired an animated short imagining the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in their middle ages. Now, just in time for Christmas, SNL has gifted us a sequel. Watch it below. The second installment once again finds Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael faced with the stark reality of being middle-aged, out-of-shape turtles whose day jobs are now in cubicles working customer support. They wear New Balances, ride the Peloton, and one of them is diabetic — but doesn’t know it. Michelangelo suffers from impotency, Donatello is disappointed to learn his daughter is choosing not to come home for Christmas, and Raphael is still coming to to terms with Donald Trump’s election loss. Middle-Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles was conceived and written by Kyle M...
