TV
Steve Martin to Join SNL’s 16th Timers Club When He Co-Hosts Episode with Martin Short
Steve Martin is set to join Saturday Night Live’s illustrious 16th Timers’ Club when he co-hosts the late-night sketch show with Only Murders in the Building co-star Martin Short on December 10th. The upcoming episode will mark Martin’s 16th time hosting SNL, and though he has made a number of guest appearances over the years, it’s been 13 years since he last hosted an episode. That prolonged period between between gigs allowed Alec Baldwin to break Martin’s previous record for most episodes hosted. (Baldwin has top-lined the show 17 times.) Short has also made several guest appearances in recent years, but this will mark his first time hosting SNL since 2012 — and the fourth time in his career. Martin and Short will co-host an episode featuring musical guest Brandi Carlile, who previously...
Willow Review: Fantasy Television That’s Here For a Good Time
The Pitch: It’s been quite a time for super-serious sci-fi and fantasy epics, as anyone who’s attempted to keep up with House of the Dragon, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Sandman, and many, many other shows will tell you. But here comes Disney+’s Willow, with a modern rock song in its heart, a young hot ensemble ready to jump into action, and its own take on swords and sorcery to share. Willow? You Mean Three-Time MTV Video Music Award Nominee Willow, Don’t You? Okay, as a longtime fan of the 1988 film Willow, a person who has spent a lifetime yelling “What do you mean, you haven’t seen Willow?” at people… I know that there’s a good chance that most people are not familiar with the original Ron Howard-directed fantasy adventure. So here’s the deal: In the original movie (w...
Little America’s Second Season Offers a Much-Needed Dose of Optimism: Review
The Pitch: It’s often very difficult to feel optimistic about the general state of things in this country. For people who have grown up and lived through crisis after crisis, the many who were thrust into unsteady job markets and a Sisyphean uphill battle of debt and financial instability, the elusive American Dream sounds like just that — a dream. For the particularly vulnerable, like people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community who face a rapid increase in life-threatening rhetoric, there’s an intersectionality to the frustration and fear that can accompany everyday life in the US. While film and television aren’t an immediate salve for wide-reaching systemic issues, stories do matter, as does representation. Little America, the Apple TV+ anthology series developed by Le...
How Siouxsie and the Banshees Inspired Jenna Ortega’s Goth Dance in Wednesday
Thanks to a delightfully aloof performance from Jenna Ortega, Netflix’s updated Addams Family adaptation Wednesday has been a runaway hit. In one unforgettable scene, Ortega’s Wednesday Addams lets her guard down for a bit and breaks out a series of impressive moves at the Nevermore Academy’s Rave’N dance. On Twitter, Ortega revealed the inspirations for her dance moves, citing “Siouxsie Sioux, Bob Fosse’s Rich Man’s Frug, Lisa Loring, Lene Lovich, Denis Lavant, and archival footage of goths dancing in clubs in the ’80s.” Sioux was the lead singer for Siouxsie and the Banshees, a British rock band that was a pivotal part of the goth-rock scene alongside groups such as The Cure, Joy Division, and Bauhaus. Meanwhile, Fosse choreographed a dance craze called The Rich Man’s Frug in the mu...
Aubrey Plaza Pranked Her White Lotus Co-Stars by Putting Blair Witch Symbols in Their Dressing Rooms
Aubrey Plaza plays a normie lawyer on Season 2 of The White Lotus, but she was up to her usual tricks on the set of the HBO comedy. In a new GQ profile, Plaza owned up to pranking her White Lotus co-stars by planting Blair Witch-style symbols in their dressing rooms — and pretending it wasn’t her. Adam DiMarco was Plaza’s first victim. He came back to his dressing room in Italy and discovered the room’s reed diffusers arranged in an ominous symbol on the floor. After that, to throw her co-stars off the scent, Plaza ravaged her own room. “Who did this?” she asked Haley Lu Richardson and Meghann Fahy. Maybe it was a poltergeist, she suggested. Of course, the staff at the Four Seasons San Domenico Palace — which the cast took over for five months of shooting — knew it was ...
Aubrey Plaza Pranked Her White Lotus Co-Stars by Putting Blair Witch Symbols in Their Dressing Rooms
Aubrey Plaza plays a normie lawyer on Season 2 of The White Lotus, but she was up to her usual tricks on the set of the HBO comedy. In a new GQ profile, Plaza owned up to pranking her White Lotus co-stars by planting Blair Witch-style symbols in their dressing rooms — and pretending it wasn’t her. Adam DiMarco was Plaza’s first victim. He came back to his dressing room in Italy and discovered the room’s reed diffusers arranged in an ominous symbol on the floor. After that, to throw her co-stars off the scent, Plaza ravaged her own room. “Who did this?” she asked Haley Lu Richardson and Meghann Fahy. Maybe it was a poltergeist, she suggested. Of course, the staff at the Four Seasons San Domenico Palace — which the cast took over for five months of shooting — knew it was ...
Why Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon Had to Sing “For Real” in Bio-Drama George and Tammy
When it comes to taking on a challenge like the Showtime limited series George & Tammy, Oscar winner Jessica Chastain says that the challenge is the point. “I’ve always kind of been all in when it comes to this,” she tells Consequence. “It has to cost me something. It can’t be too easy.” No one would ever describe George & Tammy as “too easy” — the six-episode biographical drama spotlights the complicated bond between iconic country singers George Jones (Michael Shannon) and Tammy Wynette (Chastain), with both Shannon and Chastain not only physically transforming themselves as much as possible for their respective roles, but performing all the songs sung by the duo in the series, including hits like “Stand By Your Man,” “Two Story House,” and “Golden Ring.” Jones and Wynette met at...
Squid Game Actor Oh Yeong-su Indicted for Sexual Misconduct
Oh Yeong-su, the Korean actor who recently won a Golden Globe for his role on Squid Game, has been charged with sexual misconduct. According to Variety, the 78-year-old actor was indicted in Korea on Thursday (November 24th) over an allegation that he inappropriately touched a woman in 2017. Oh denied the charges, saying in a statement to local media that he had held a woman’s hand to guide her around a lake. “I apologized because [the person] said she wouldn’t make a fuss about it but it doesn’t mean that I admit the charges,” Oh said. Advertisement Related Video A court official in a Suwon, South Korea said that “everything reported by local media is not factually correct.” The alleged victim initially filed the complaint against Oh last December. The case was closed earlier this year, b...
Squid Game Actor Oh Yeong-su Indicted for Sexual Misconduct
Oh Yeong-su, the Korean actor who recently won a Golden Globe for his role on Squid Game, has been charged with sexual misconduct. According to Variety, the 78-year-old actor was indicted in Korea on Thursday (November 24th) over an allegation that he inappropriately touched a woman in 2017. Oh denied the charges, saying in a statement to local media that he had held a woman’s hand to guide her around a lake. “I apologized because [the person] said she wouldn’t make a fuss about it but it doesn’t mean that I admit the charges,” Oh said. Advertisement Related Video A court official in a Suwon, South Korea said that “everything reported by local media is not factually correct.” The alleged victim initially filed the complaint against Oh last December. The case was closed earlier this year, b...
David Hyde Pierce Won’t Reprise Niles in Frasier Reboot
David Hyde Pierce will not be joining Kelsey Grammer in the Frasier reboot, but Grammer says our beloved psychiatrist will have a good time even without his little brother. “David basically decided he wasn’t really interested in repeating the performance of Niles,” Grammer told People. Fortunately, however, the setback forced the Frasier writers to think up a more interesting plot for its main character than a stale cast reunion. “In a very funny way, it just took us to a new place, which was what we originally wanted to do anyway, which was a Frasier third act,” Grammer said. “It’s an entirely new life for him.” Frasier ran for 11 seasons from 1993 to 2004. Once the sitcom ended, Hyde Pierce went on to work in theater, and most recently appeared in the HBO Max series&n...
Love Actually Cast Reuniting for 20th Anniversary TV Special
The jury’s still out on how many lobsters were present at the birth of Jesus, but at least five of the biggest stars of Love Actually will be in attendance for Love Actually: 20 Years Later, a November 29th anniversary special hosted by Diane Sawyer on ABC. The modern Christmas classic will be represented by director Richard Curtis, as well as the film’s Prime Minister of England (Hugh Grant), his sister Karen (Emma Thompson), washed up rock and roll legend Billy Mack (Bill Nighy), the lovelorn Sarah (Laura Linney), and aspiring young drummer Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster, now all grown up at the age of 32). A trailer for the TV special shows the cast attempting to answer the question, “Love actually is…?” (“Dead,” Grant replies), and offering a behind-the-scenes loo...
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Is Sweet, Slight, and (Kevin) Bacon-Flavored: Review
The Pitch: Did you know that in Britain, there’s a long and proud tradition of ongoing series putting out special episodes for the holidays? More often than not, they’re even broadcast on Christmas Day, when it seems that entire nation turns into couch potatoes. In America, though, our more couch potato-y holiday happens to be Thanksgiving, and our biggest ongoing series happens to be the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thus, this week’s release of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special feels pretty apt. Clocking in at 42 minutes (including post-credits scene), James Gunn’s breezy holiday confection offers a little bit of set-up as to where the titular Guardians, including Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillen), Rocket (Bradley Coop...
