Entertainment

Another week means another episode of American Idol.

With host Ryan Seacrest along for the ride, judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie were back at it again scouring the United States for the next big star. Here’s a look at this week’s top auditions. 

Kicking things off on Sunday was 17-year-old Tristen Gressett, who showed off his many talents, which included playing guitar and harmonica as he belted out “Piano Man” by Billy Joel. While his audition was entertaining, it was his second audition of “Colors” by Black Pumas, where he stripped back some of the gimmicks, that would earn him a ticket to Hollywood.

Cadence Baker, 18, earned herself a standing ovation from the judges after singing a slowed down and countrified version of Whitney Houston‘s hit “I’m Your Baby Tonight.” Not only did she make it to the next round, Luke even proclaimed “she may be the winner.”

26-year-old gospel singer Dontrell Briggs sung his heart out with his cover of Tasha Cobbs’ “For Your Glory,” leaving the judges torn over his future. With Lionel giving a “yes” and Katy a “no,” Luke was left with Briggs fate in his hands. Briggs then sang for his life and gave Luke chills while singing Chris Stapleton‘s “Tennessee Whiskey,” winning a ticket to Hollywood.  

Katy couldn’t help but declare Dakota Hayden “Top 10 material” after hearing his version of Luke Combs‘ “When It Rains It Pours.” Needless to say, the country singer earned himself a trip to the west coast. 

Sadly, not everyone was lucky enough to continue pursuing their dreams of becoming the next American Idol. Inspired by season 19 runner-up Willie Spence, Taniya Boatwright gave it her all while singing Sam Cooke‘s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” but it wasn’t enough to get a golden ticket, however Lionel did encourage her to come back and try again.  

Closing out the episode was 28-year-old Sam Finelli. Sam, who was diagnosed with autism, moved the judges to tears and earned himself a standing ovation after singing “Rainbow” by Kacey Musgraves. The judges all praised him and shared words of inspiration, with Lionel declaring “Your handicap is your gift.”

American Idol returns Sunday, March 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On Sunday, the 27th annual Critics Choice Awards, airing on TBS and The CW, honored the best in movies and TV with hosts Taye Diggs and Nicole Byer.

Netflix’s Power of the Dog was the big winner in the film category, earning four awards in all, including best picture, best adapted screenplay, best cinematography and best director honors for Jane Campion.

Belfast was also a multiple award winner, with best acting ensemble and best original screenplay.

Will Smith took home best actor honors for King Richard and Jessica Chastain won best actress for The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Best supporting actor and actress trophies went to CODA‘s Troy Kotsur and West Side Story‘s Anna DeBose.

On the TV side, Ted Lasso took home the most awards, including best comedy and best actor, supporting actor and supporting actress in a comedy series for Jason Sudeikis, Brett Goldstein and Hannah Waddingham, respectively. Succession won for best drama, with best supporting actor and actress honors going to Kieren Culkin and Sarah Snook.

Mare of Easttown also took home top prize for limited series. Lee Jung-jae walked off with best actor in a drama series for Squid Games and Melanie Lynskey won best actress honors for Yellowjackets.

MOVIES

Best picture
The Power of the Dog

Best actor
Will Smith, King Richard

Best actress
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Best supporting actor
Troy Kotsur, CODA

Best supporting actress
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story

Best young actor/actress
Jude Hill, Belfast

Best acting ensemble
Belfast

Best director
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

Best original screenplay
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast

Best adapted screenplay
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

Best cinematography
Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog

Best production design
Patrice Vermette, Zsuzsanna Sipos, Dune

Best editing
Sarah Broshar and Michael Kahn, West Side Story

Best costume design
Jenny Beavan, Cruella

Best hair and makeup
The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Best visual effects
Dune

Best comedy
Licorice Pizza

Best animated feature
The Mitchells vs the Machines

Best foreign language film
Drive My Car

Best song
“No Time to Die” — No Time to Die

Best score
Hans Zimmer, Dune

TELEVISION

Best drama series
Succession

Best actor in a drama series
Lee Jung-jae, Squid Game

Best actress in a drama series
Melanie Lynskey, Yellowjackets

Best supporting actor in a drama series
Kieran Culkin, Succession

Best supporting actress in a drama series
Sarah Snook, Succession

Best comedy series
Ted Lasso

Best actor in a comedy series
Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso

Best actress in a comedy series
Jean Smart, Hacks

Best supporting actor in a comedy series
Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso

Best supporting actress in a comedy series
Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso

Best limited series
Mare of Easttown

Best movie made for television
Oslo

Best actor in a limited series or movie made for television
Michael Keaton, Dopesick

Best actress in a limited series or movie made for television
Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown

Best supporting actor in a limited series or movie made for television
Murray Bartlett, The White Lotus

Best supporting actress in a limited series or movie made for television
Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus

Best foreign language series
Squid Game

Best animated series
What If…?

Best talk show
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Best comedy special
Bo Burnham: Inside

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

William Hurt, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1986, has reportedly died at age 71.

Deadline and other outlets cite a statement by Hurt’s son, Will, that reads, “It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday. He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes. The family requests privacy at this time.”

It had been reported in May of 2018 that the elder Hurt had terminal prostate cancer.

In the ’80s, Hurt was nominated for Best Actor three years running; he won for Kiss of the Spider Woman, but was also nominated for 1987’s Broadcast News and 1986’s Children of a Lesser God.  He earned his fourth Oscar nomination, for Supporting Actor, for 2005’s A History of Violence, the latter for a role that featured fewer than ten minutes of total screen time.

Hurt was also known for his roles in Altered Images, The Big Chill, Body Heat and Gorky Park, among others. To younger fans, he was familiar for his recurring role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in five Marvel movies: The Incredible Hulk, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and Black Widow.

Hurt also had a distinguished career as a theater actor, winning an Obie, a Theatre World Award and a Tony nomination.

Hurt was married and divorced twice, and leaves behind four children.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Good news, Deadpool fans: The long-anticipated third movie starring Ryan Reynolds‘ red-suited “merc with the mouth” has a director. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Reynolds, who also is a producer of the blockbuster Deadpool series, has tapped his friend and Free Guy and The Adam Project director Shawn Levy to call the shots for the in-development threequel.

Incidentally, the news comes the day The Adam Project debuted on Netflix.

Deadpool and Deadpool 2 writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are also back in the fold for the third go-round — the first to be co-produced by ABC News’ parent company Disney, following the company’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox.

Levy was also behind the camera for the hit Night at the Museum films, starring Ben Stiller, and is an executive producer and episode director on Netflix’s Stranger Things. Following multiple pandemic-related delays, his Free Guy became one of the highest-grossing movies of 2021, earning $331.5 million worldwide.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Well, it’s official…Instagram official: Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson are an item. 

Kim’s socials sported new pictures of the pair, one with Pete standing in the foreground, selfie-style, and another with the couple on the floor, Kim cradling Pete’s head like a reality-show version of The Pieta.

Another photo is just of Kim, kneeling to show off the silver thigh-high boots she’s sporting in the other pics.

“Who’s car we gonna take?” Kim captioned the photo set, a reference to the Ben Affleck/Jeremy Renner movie The Town. She included a snapshot of stills from the movie to help people make the connection.

The 28-year-old Saturday Night Live cast member and the 41-year-old influencer and entrepreneur have been linked since October of last year, eight months after Kim filed for divorce from Kayne West.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Wednesday marked two months since the untimely death of Bob Saget, and the somber milestone was noted by Saget’s wife, Kelly Rizzo, on Instagram. 

The Full House actor, 65, was found dead in a hotel room in Orlando, Florida, on January 9.

“2 whole months,” Kelly wrote in a note, alongside a picture of the pair embracing. “I’ve experienced that now time means nothing and everything at the same time. You count the weeks, and the months, they’re strange and surreal milestones.”

Her message continued, “How can it be 2 months without you?? But also it feels like yesterday you were here — and it still also feels like you never left? I like to say it’s all a very weird new universe. Learning how to navigate it is quite the journey.”

In February, Saget’s family revealed that he died from head trauma.

“They have concluded that he accidentally hit the back of his head on something, thought nothing of it and went to sleep,” his family said in a statement obtained by ABC News. “No drugs or alcohol were involved.”

Since her husband’s death, Rizzo has shared several posts about her time spent processing the loss. She also opened up about Saget’s incredible impact during an appearance on Good Morning America in late January.

“He did everything for everybody — if you had a problem, he was the first person that was going to take care of it and help you,” she said on the show. “And he was just the most caring and kind and thoughtful person…he was just the most absolutely wonderful husband that I ever could have dreamed of.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Page Six is reporting that Bachelorette alum Clint Arlis‘ January death was by suicide.

Arlis, who unsuccessfully competed for Kaitlyn Bristowe‘s affections on season 11 of the show, was 34.

According to the publication, Arlis had been having mental health issues following a breakup, but his family said he’d been doing better since moving back in with his parents. 

When news of his death broke, Bristowe — who ultimately chose Shawn Booth during her season of the show — called Arlis’ passing an “absolute tragedy,” and noted in an Instagram story, “[E]ven though things didn’t end on the best terms for us, from his time on the show until today, I have heard nothing but incredible things about that person.”

If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

As lawsuits amount gainst him and the other producers of the doomed film Western Rust, Alec Baldwin‘s attorneys filed a motion to try to absolve him from the fatal shot he fired at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. 

Hutchins was mortally wounded on October 21 of last year an director Joel Souza was injured when a live round in a Colt-style pistol Baldwin aimed at her during rehearsal discharged. Baldwin insisted to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he didn’t pull the trigger, and claimed he was assured the gun was “cold,” or safe.

A criminal investigation into the shooting is ongoing.

“[S]omeone should be held legally culpable for the tragic consequences,” says Friday’s filing by Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas, but declares, “That person is not Alec Baldwin.”

“Baldwin is an actor,” the filing continues. “He didn’t announce that the gun was ‘cold’ when it really contained a live round; he didn’t load the gun; he didn’t check the bullets in the gun; he didn’t purchase the bullets; he didn’t make the bullets and represent that they were dummies; he wasn’t in charge of firearm safety on the set; he didn’t hire the people who supplied the bullets or checked the gun; and he played no role in managing the movie’s props. Each of those jobs was performed by someone else.”

Last month, Hutchins’ widower filed a wrongful death suit against Baldwin, one of the producers on the film. To NBC’s Today show, Matt Hutchins said, “The idea that the person holding the gun and causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me.”

As for Baldwin’s interview with Stephanopoulos, Hutchins said, “Watching him, I just felt so angry. I was just so angry to see him talk about her death so publicly in such a detailed way and then to not accept any responsibility after having just described killing her.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Season four of the hit Freeform show Good Trouble is here! The first episode is streaming now, and it’s already spicing things up with some big changes.

One of those changes will include seeing a lot more of Priscilla Quintana, who was promoted to a series regular this season. She plays a pregnant Isabella in the series, and for those wondering if she’ll finally give birth, she tells ABC Audio, “we will just have to wait and see.”

“Fingers crossed, but you never know,” she teases. 

What Quintana will dish, though, is that viewers will get to see Isabella find her own voice and learn to love herself. 

“This season, she’s exploring more of who she is. She’s finding her own voice,” she explains. “And one of the most important things that she does is she’s growing a life inside of her and realizing that,” the actress adds. “If you if you want to be able to fully love this human, you’re growing inside of you, you have to love yourself first, and she has never truly done that before.” 

Also this season, Good Trouble introduces a new mysterious character — an investigative journalist named Joaquin — played by Bryan Craig.

“[Joaquin] has come to L.A. and to the coterie on kind of like secret personal mission,” he shares. “Along the way he obviously creates relationships with these people and I’m hoping even after he gets what he wants and finds his answer that he sticks around.”

Unfortunately, whether or not Joaquin will stick around, is a question even Craig doesn’t know the answer to just yet. 

“It’s funny because everyone thinks that we have answers and we really never have answers past the script that’s in front of us,” Craig says, before adding, “I think some interesting stuff is coming up.” 

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NOTE LANGUAGE) Kim Kardashian‘s recent advice to young women about working hard didn’t go over well on social media — at all. 

The reality TV star and entrepreneur spoke to Variety when she advised women, “Get your f**king a** up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days.”

The comments, which also ran on an online video, drew flak all over social media, including from The Good Place‘s Jameela Jamil, who wasn’t having it. 

“I think if you grew up in Beverly Hills with super successful parents in what was simply a smaller mansion … Nobody needs to hear your thoughts on success/work ethic,” Jamil wrote on Twitter. 

In reference to Kim saying she has the same 24 hours in a day that other women have, Jamil replied, “99.9% of the world grew up with a VERY different 24 hours.”

While Jamil admitted that Kim and her famous sisters are a “super impressive family of businesswomen” with “a genius manager in their mother” who have put in, “their own hard work and personal sacrifices,” she also noted there’s “a LOT of photoshop and a decision to not care about misleading people about their beauty claims whilst never disclosing how much secret work goes into their appearances…”

Jamil ended with, “Just take the money, use it for good and chill the f*** out when lecturing others about grind and hustle. And learn how to brag without putting others down who have less.”

Her comments were liked by actress Yvette Nicole Brown, who offered in the comments, “Lecturing those who weren’t born on third base about their work ethic is ridiculously rude and disrespectful.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.