Television
Another Show Bites The Dust: AMC Networks Scraps Michael B. Jordan’s ’61st Street’
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: AMC Networks / 61st Street Watching television continues to be a complicated mess because a show you invest in can quickly end up on the chopping block. 61st Street is one of those shows. Spotted on Deadline via Variety, AMC Networks announced it would not renew Michael B. Jordan’s and Peter Moffat’s drama 61st Street, starring Courtney B. Vance, Aunjanue Ellis, and Tosin Cole, along with Invitation to a Bonfire. Both shows have become the latest victims of Hollywood’s mission to cut costs. 61st Street’s cancellation hurts because it will leave its fans hanging the most. Per Deadline: AMC Networks has scrapped both shows after revealing that it would take around $400M of content write downs. They form part of the company’s one-time write-off last yea...
Chris Rock To Headline First Netflix Live Global Comedy Event
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Netflix / Netflix Chris Rock will be making comedy history as his next special with Netflix will be streamed live to a global audience. According to a press release from the streaming platform, the new special, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, will air March 4, 2023. The new stand-up special will take place in Baltimore, Maryland, airing at 10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT. It will also be the first comedy event to be streamed live across the globe to Netflix viewers. The venue for the special has not been announced, and there is no word on when tickets for the show will be available. Related Stories “Chris Rock is one of the most iconic and important comedic voices of our generation,” said Robbie Praw, Netflix Vice President of Stand-up and Comedy Formats in a statem...
Cher and Kelly Clarkson Trade Tales About Willie Nelson’s Bus: ‘I Got a Contact High’
Oscar, Grammy and Emmy winner Cher visited The Kelly Clarkson Show earlier this month, but NBC saved a few clips from Cher’s chat with Kelly Clarkson for a post-holiday treat that they shared online the day after Christmas (Dec. 26). Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In one clip, Cher is talking about her fragrance line with Scent Beauty entitled “Decades,” a four-part collection with each scent representing her take on a particular decade. “I was shocked the ‘70s didn’t smell like marijuana,” Clarkson told Cher of her “Me” Decade-themed scent. “I was like, oh, this one will obviously smell like Willie Nelson’s bus.” “Oh my God, I’ve been on Willie Nelson’s bus, it smells exactly like marijuana,” Cher responded. Clarkson, no stranger to the world...
Mary J. Blige To Host New Talk Show ‘The Wine Down’ On BET
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Rodin Eckenroth / Getty Mary J. Blige is taking the airwaves by storm as she’s poised to have her own talk show on BET next year thanks to a recent partnership deal. According to reports, the star R&B singer has signed a deal with BET to produce scripted and unscripted content through her company, Blue Butterfly Productions. The first project from this deal coming into fruition is a new talk show called The Wine Down. The synopsis of the unscripted talk show has Blige as the host connecting with various guests from the worlds of entertainment, politics, sports and social media over a good bottle of wine. Related Stories “Throughout her legendary career, Mary has blazed trails to become a global superstar. With Blue Butterfly, Mary develops awe-inspiri...
9 Can’t Miss Moments from ‘Homeward Bound: Grammy Salute to the Songs of Paul Simon’
It’s not a surprise that Homeward Bound: Grammy Salute to the Songs of Paul Simon, which aired on CBS on Wednesday Dec. 21, was so satisfying. Paul Simon has long been regarded as one of our top songwriters. He won the 1970 Grammy for song of the year for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and was nominated in that category for “Mrs. Robinson” and “Graceland.” He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1982 and received that organization’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 1998. In 2007, he became the inaugural recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Many of the participants on the two-hour special spoke warmly about Simon’s songs. Elton John recalled early days when he and Bernie Taupin would sit on the floor listening to Simon & Garfunkel’s Bookends through hea...
Starz To Develop 50 Cent-Produced British Boxing Drama
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: JACK GUEZ / Getty 50 Cent is setting his creative sights on the ring as the Starz network is developing his new drama series focusing on the world of British boxing. According to reports, the network is moving forward with developing the new series, which is entitled Fightland. The synopsis for the series details how a former world champion fighter who left the sport in disgrace is pulled back to that world after finding that his childhood best friend and training partner disappears. “To save his friend,” the official synopsis continues, “the troubled fighter will have to return to a way of life that nearly destroyed him — one that cost him everything to leave behind.” Related Stories 50 Cent, aka Curtis Jackson, will serve as an executive producer for th...
Cecily Strong Leaving ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Says Goodbye in Character on ‘Weekend Update’ Segment
Cecily Strong is the latest castmember to depart NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Strong’s final show was Saturday night’s edition on Dec. 17. She appeared as Kimberly Guilfoyle in the cold open and other segments, including one about “Jewish Elvis” as well as “Weekend Update.” In the latter, she played recurring character Cathy Anne, who was saying “goodbye” because she was going to prison. She joked that she’d be fine because she had “friends on the inside, they seem to be doing OK” as a photo of recently departed castmembers Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant were shown onscreen in prison garb. “Everybody has to go to jail at some point, right? It’s my time now,” she added. Breaking character a bit toward the end, she said: “I had a lot of fun here. And I feel really lucky that I have had so many ...
Austin Butler Can’t Help Falling in Love With Sarah Sherman’s ‘Jewish Elvis’ on ‘SNL’
Austin Butler brought his “casual” version of Elvis to Saturday Night Live, and SNL cast member Sarah Sherman graced the stage as “Jewish Elvis.” Sherman’s “Jewish Elvis” was the star of Butler, Cecily Strong, and Ego Nwodim’s retirement home in a sketch Saturday night. Butler dressed like a grandma and appeared to be the performer’s biggest fan in the theater — even revealing a T-shirt under her blouse with her catch phrase, “This is a zizzaster!” “The first night of Hanukkah, they really kick things off with a bang,” Strong says in the clip below. “Oh my god, I’m so horny I’m gonna friggin’ explode,” exclaims Butler, who was the host of SNL for the night in an episode that featured Lizzo as musical guest. “Oh! I’m like Niagara Falls over here,” adds Butler later in the sketch. “My chair ...
How Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon Changed a ‘George & Tammy‘ Scene That Initially ‘Disturbed’ Her
Jessica Chastain says a scene was altered in George & Tammy with the help of co-star Michael Shannon to give country icon Tammy Wynette more agency in the Showtime limited series. In the first episode of the series, based on Wynette’s personal and professional relationship with fellow musician George Jones, the duo is confronted with their future while Wynette is still married to her soon-to-be ex-husband Don Chapel. In an interview with Marie Claire, the actress and producer on the Golden Globe-nominated show shared that, in an early outline of the scene, Jones gets Wynette alone by distracting Don with an escort. For Chastain, the sequence around this moment was upsetting. “I read it, and I was deeply disturbed,” Chastain recalled. “[...
Austin Butler Finds Jimmy Fallon’s ‘Elvis on the Shelvis’ Ahead of ‘SNL’
Austin Butler tried to make a quick visit with Jimmy Fallon to get some advice before his SNL hosting gig this weekend. Instead of finding Fallon, he found an Elvis on the Shelvis in a skit for The Tonight Show. “Who is this?” Butler — who starred in a biopic about rock ‘n’ roll icon Elvis Presley — asks in the skit, picking up the doll off the mantle. Elvis on the Shelvis, played by Fallon, then comes to life for a musical performance. “Well, I move around the house when I’m a-home alone/ You did what you did/ You done what you done/ Elvis on the Shelvis never tell no one,” Fallon’s Elvis sings. “You’re going on the top of my tree,” Butler says after the Elvis on the Shelvis show. Butler’s SNL episode with musical guest Lizzo airs Saturday (Dec. 17) on NBC. Watch his clip with Fallon...
Miley Cyrus Reveals Some of Her ‘New Year’s Eve Party’ Lineup on ‘The Tonight Show’
Miley Cyrus has announced some of the guests who will ring in 2023 with her and Dolly Parton for NBC’s annual New Year’s Eve special. Cyrus stopped by The Tonight Show this weekend to have a chat with Jimmy Fallon about the upcoming holiday show, revealing that Sia, Latto and Rae Sremmurd are among the other musical artists who will be joining the festivities. “Sia is coming. She’s one of my favorite artists,” Cyrus told Fallon. She continued, “We have Latto.” And Cyrus rounded out the reveal to announce the news that “Rae Sremmurd, who are friends of mine,” will be appearing. Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party is set to air on NBC Dec. 31, live from Miami. “As we get closer to the show, I want to start revealing who else we have. But the lineup is very me. It is curated in a way ...
New NPR Profile Celebrates The Intersection Of Double Dutch And Hip-Hop
Source: China News Service / Getty A new NPR profile this week celebrates the art and legacy of jumping double dutch–the game that came to create and define Black Girl Magic as the artform enters its 50th year as an organized sport. “Double Dutch is Black girl magic. It came from a union of young girls in their community getting together to socialize, and to engage in each other’s dreams and ambitions,” Lauren Walker, president of the National Double Dutch League told NPR. In 1973, two New York City policemen, Ulysses Williams and Lauren Walker’s father David A. Walker established Double Dutch as a team sport and got it into schools. The following year, more than 600 people participated in the first New York City tournament. Five years later, four New York d...
