TV
Hulu’s The Great Never Lives Up to Its Name: Review
The Pitch: In 18th century Russia, a penniless Prussian noble named Catherine (executive producer Elle Fanning) is betrothed to Emperor Peter (Nicholas Hoult). Catherine, who makes up for what her family lacks in finance with the kind of sick optimism preserved for golden-haired, porcelain-perfect teenage girls in these types of fairy tales, travels across Europe and Asia with wide-eyed hopes of marital bliss, a progressive Russia, and maybe even some pull in court. Of course, as these things go, Catherine’s husband is loutish, childish, and more concerned with drinking himself into a stupor than just about anything else. Catherine is forced to grow up, fast. Their marriage quickly devolves into a battleground. A mere six months in and with all of her dreams shattered in pieces at her feet...
HBO Max Confirms Second Wave of Programming: Adventure Time, Seth Rogen’s American Pickle, Films Galore
Who’s ready for another streaming service? In two weeks’ time, HBO will launch its new premium subscription platform, HBO Max, promising a number of new original titles alongside 10,000 hours of archival content. But there’s plenty more to come beyond its initial slate of programming. The second wave of HBO Max titles will go live beginning Thursday, June 18th, with additional programming added each Thursday thereafter. Among the highlights: a new Adventure Time special called Distant Lands premiering on June 25th; season 2 of Doom Patrol and season 3 of Search Party, both of which are also coming on the 25th; and the new Seth Rogen feature film, American Pickle, which is set to premiere on August 6th. Additionally, at launch HBO Max will be offering every episode of Robot Chicken and...
Tony Shalhoub Recovers From Coronavirus
Tony Shalhoub reprised his famed Monk character during the premiere of Peacock’s At-Home Variety Show on Monday. While the return of Adrian Monk was certainly a welcome sight, Shalhoub also used the segment to share some harrowing news: He’s spent the last few weeks in quarantine battling COVID-19. The revelation came later in the Variety Show episode, following Shalhoub’s brief turn as the obsessive-compulsive Detective Monk, who unsurprisingly has been passing his pandemic time religiously cleaning every inch of his house. Out of character and speaking candidly to the camera, the 66-year-old actor confirmed that he and his wife had tested positive for coronavirus, but were now in recovery. “I hope you’re all being careful and following the protocol. We really are all ...
Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt to Score Jonas Åkerlund’s New Netflix Miniseries Clark
Fellow Swedish artists Jonas Åkerlund and Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt are set to collaborate on a new Netflix miniseries called Clark. Åkerlund will direct while Åkerfeldt will provide the soundtrack for the six-part gangster story. Between Åkerlund and Åkerfeldt, there’s some serious metal pedigree. Åkerlund, a former drummer for Bathory, recently helmed the black metal biopic Lords of Chaos, and has directed numerous music videos for bands like Metallica, U2, and others. As for Åkerfeldt, his prolific songwriting output in the bands Opeth and Bloodbath is more than a worthy resume, with Clark being his first music score project. The miniseries is a six episode drama about Swedish criminal Clark Olofsson, who’s considered the country’s first celebrity “pop-gangster” and “has given ris...
Bob’s Burgers Renewed for Season 11 by Fox
The cast of Bob’s Burgers is always inventing new hijinks in their day-to-day lives. It should come as no surprise, then, that Fox has decided to renew the animated series for an 11th season, inviting Tina, Louise, Bob, Linda, and Gene to cause a ruckus for a little bit longer. It seemed likely that the Emmy-winning Bob’s Burgers would be picked up for another season — especially considering it’s one of the best TV shows of the decade and a feature-length spinoff film is in the work. Today, Fox Entertainment president Michael Thor made it official. Editors’ Picks Season 11 of Bob’s Burgers is slated to air during Fox’s fall 2020 schedule. Thankfully the coronavirus pandemic shouldn’t get in the way, as animated TV series are staying in production because animators and voice acto...
Bill Murray, Guy Fieri, and Their Sons to Compete in Livestream Nacho-Making Contest
By now, everyone is so bored from months of self-quarantining that nothing should come as a surprise anymore. And yet, it’s fair to say nobody expected Food Network’s newest event: a live nacho-building competition between Bill Murray, Guy Fieri, and their sons. The event will raise money for Fieri’s Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, which assists out-of-work restaurant employees during the coronavirus pandemic. The contest, dubbed “The Nacho Average Showdown”, takes place this Friday, May 15th at 5:00 p.m. ET on the Food Network’s Facebook page. Fieri and Murray will hype up their sons, Hunter Fieri and Homer Murray, while they craft towers of nachos live over the internet. Shaquille O’Neal and Terry Crews will serve as guest judges, and Carla Hall will host. The whole thing is presented b...
Lil Dicky’s FXX Series Dave Renewed for Second Season
Lil Dicky’s surreal comedy series Dave has been renewed for a second season. A fictionalized story based on Lil Dicky’s own life, the first season of Dave proved a hit for FX, as it surpassed Atlanta as the network’s most-watched comedy series with a per episode average of 5.32 million viewers. No doubt bolstering Dave’s viewership was the slew of guest starts who appeared throughout the first season, including Justin Bieber, Young Thug, Gunna, YG, Marshmello, Macklemore, MadeinTYO, O.T. Genasis, Ninja, and Charlamagne tha God. That’s not to discount Lil Dicky, a star in his own right, whose comedy-rap videos have amassed hundreds of millions of views on YouTube. The show’s season one cast also included “Pillow Talk” co-star Taylor Misiak, GaTa, Andrew Santino, Travis “Taco” Benn...
Jerry Stiller Gave Seinfeld Its Greatest Blooper
Jerry Stiller stole the screen. That’s not exactly a hot take, so much as it’s a known fact, but it’s worth saying on the day of his death. At 92 years old, the legendary comic lived a lifetime of on-screen vitriol, the likes of which felt limitless and ageless. So, if there’s anything more to say, it’s that we didn’t just lose a person, we lost an energy. Because really, nobody could dust up a storm like Stiller. It’s why most of his famous lines all end with quotations, be it “Serenity now!” or “A Festivus for the rest of us!” or “That’s what I’m talking about!” Hell, he couldn’t even reference colleagues without making a banner statement, which is why we’ll always scream names like “Sid Farkus.” Now, it’s almost impossible to distill a legacy into one clip, but if there was a proper In ...
Jerry Stiller Tributes: Jason Alexander, Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kevin James Honor Comic Icon
Jerry Stiller, legendary actor and comic of Seinfeld and The King of Queens, passed away on Monday morning. In the wake of his passing at the age of 92, countless co-stars and fellow colleagues offered their thoughts and condolences. His son, Ben, broke the news this morning on Twitter: “I’m sad to say that my father, Jerry Stiller, passed away from natural causes. He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years. He will be greatly missed. Love you Dad.” Jason Alexander, who portrayed his on-screen son George Costanza in Seinfeld, tweeted: “He was perhaps the kindest man I ever had the honor to work beside. He made me laugh when I was a child and every day I was with him. A great actor, a great man, a lovely friend.” Editors̵...
Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone Season 2 Sets Premiere Date and Drops Creepy First Trailer: Watch
The Twilight Zone is closer than you think. Today, CBS All Access announced that the second season of Jordan Peele’s reboot will arrive on Thursday, June 25th for what they’ve dubbed “National Twilight Zone Day”. Unlike last year’s run, however, all 10 episodes will be available at once, and you can get a preview of what’s to come in the new trailer. “You are not who you appear to be,” says Billy Porter in a voice over. From there, we get a smash cut of scenes that include a not-so-subtle reference to the Invader from “The Invaders”, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to The Busy Bee Cafe from “The Nick of Time”, what appears to be an homage to 2001’s HAL, and essentially every star on payroll. As previously reported, many of those stars include the aforementioned Porter, Joel McHale, Top...
John Krasinski Reunites The Office Cast for Amazing Virtual Wedding: Watch
As the coronavirus pandemic has dragged on, John Krasinski’s Some Good News has slowly gone from passively reporting on inspiring stories to actively making people’s lives better. Last month, he held a virtual prom for the class of 2020, and this week he hosted a virtual wedding for a pair of The Office superfans — although at the time, they didn’t know it would be their wedding. Nor did they expect that Zac Brown would perform their wedding song, nor that the cast of The Office would reunite to help them celebrate. The story began a few days ago. John Lush’s proposal to Susan Hedrick had echoed an iconic The Office moment, when Jim got down on one knee outside of a convenience store, telling Pam “I can’t wait any longer.” Afterwards, Krasinski invited them onto&nb...
R.I.P. Jerry Stiller, Legendary Comedian Dies at 92
Jerry Stiller, legendary actor and comic of Seinfeld and The King of Queens, passed away on Monday morning. He was 91 years old. His son, Ben Stiller, confirmed the news on Twitter: “I’m sad to say that my father, Jerry Stiller, passed away from natural causes. He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years. He will be greatly missed. Love you Dad.” A comic, an actor, an author, Stiller spent years on the comedy circuit with his wife Anne Meara as the team Stiller and Meara. He’s perhaps best known for his iconic role as Frank Costanza in Seinfeld and Arthur Spooner in The King of Queens. In addition to his roles in both hit series, Stiller also appeared in a number of films alongside his son, including Zoolander, Heavyweights, The Heartbreak ...
