Entertainment

With Halloween fast approaching, Disney+ has a spooky new offering perfect for family fun night. The new mini-movie Muppets Haunted Mansion is out now and it combines the Muppets, Disneyland, and Halloween all into one.

Gonzo tells ABC Audio that the message of Muppets Haunted Mansion is not being afraid to face your fears.

“I think facing your fears is a way to sort of set yourself free in life. I want everybody to face their fears,” Gonzo remarked. “Why not just have some fun? You never know what can happen.”

The Muppet also provided a great mantra that anyone can recite when feeling a bit overwhelmed, which is “Don’t turn away. Don’t be afraid. Face them!”

Miss Piggy shared a few tips of her own, which all revolved around why you should carry a photo of her around at all times.

“If you get a little nervous, a little anxious, you’re scared… You have a picture of me! You can look at it and you can think, ‘Oh, I have Miss Piggy with me. She will help me through this!,'” the prima-donna declared.

Yvette Nicole Brown says facing her own fears of starring alongside such a famous crew led to her having the time of her life.

“It lived up to every expectation, and working with Pepe and Gonzo was every dream come true,” the actress raved. “Everyone that works at Muppet Studios is joyful, kind, professional — a little naughty in the best way. So when you’re on set, you literally are having the best experience!” 

Added Gonzo, “We had a great time with you, too!”  

Muppets Haunted Mansion is streaming now on Disney+.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) When the Real Housewives of Potomac taped their season six reunion special on Thursday, a superstar housewife from New York City was a surprise guest: Nicki Minaj!

In May, Pink Barbie had requested to host the show. and executive producer/host Andy Cohen responded at the time, “I want to see this.”

“GUESS WHO B***S?!!!!! #Andiconda #RHOP REUNION COMING SOON ON @BRAVOTV @bravoandy #Moment4Life yall better binge watch this season chile,” Nicki captioned three Instagram photos of her on the set with Cohen.

Andy commented, “It’s the Reunion I could never get away with! At the end of ours, tonight @nickiminaj surprised the #RHOP and did her own thing! #AndyConda.”

RHOP cast members were thrilled to see the “Motorsport’ rapper in da house.”Yesssssss!!!!!” Gizelle Bryant wrote, while Karen Huger added “All right now” and Robyn Dixon shared a series of emojis. Wendy Osefo commented, “Yessssss Queen.”

Nicki Minaj just celebrated the first birthday of her baby boy she calls Papa Bear with a huge party, and she was amazed by the gifts from her mentor, Lil Wayne, as well as presents from Diddy.

Last week, Wayne celebrated his 39th birthday in Miami, and surprisingly, Nicki wasn’t invited. Young Money Entertainment president Mack Maine quickly apologized for what he said was an oversight.

Minaj is also excited about her hew collabo with former Little Mix member, Jesy Nelson. She is featured on Nelson’s debut solo single, “Boyz,” which dropped Friday and includes a sample of Diddy’s “Bad Boy 4 Life.”

 

 

 

 

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If you’re a LEGO fan, the Danish company has just dropped the gauntlet: a 9,090-piece, four-and-a-half-foot long, 1:200 scale model of the HMS Titanic.

Available in November, it’s the largest set the company has ever assembled, and for $630, you get your money’s worth.

The massive ship is hyper-detailed: once assembled, it can be separated into segments safely — not like that iceberg did — so that its inner workings, and Titanic‘s famous features like its grand staircase, can be revealed. 

Once built, the ship splits into three parts, giving builders a cross-section view of the ship, including the various travel class compartments, Titanic‘s massive boiler room, and more. The model features working cargo cranes and piston-driven engines, as well as tensioners that tighten the lines between its massive masts.

Other features include lifeboats — gonna need those — as well as swimming pools, a working anchor, and a stand and nameplate to display in front of your magnum opus. 

Not included, however, are any LEGO Minifigures of Jack and Rose from James Cameron‘s Titanic — or any figures, for that matter, as the scale of the traditional LEGO people wouldn’t sync with the size of the ship. 

By the numbers, the 9,090-piece HMS Titanic model edges out LEGO’s previous record holder, its 9,036-piece Roman Coliseum set.

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If you needed any other hint that Halloween is close upon us, consider that The Simpsons is airing its latest “Treehouse of Horror” anthology on Sunday. 

The annual event spins several spooky stand-alone stories from Springfield’s favorite family, but for the latest installment, there will be five segments instead of the traditional three. 

“Treehouse of Horror XXXII” will feature one segment inspired by Edward Gorey‘s creepy animation, called “The Telltale Bart.” Voiced by a Vincent Prince sound-alike, the segment will chronicle Bart’s “evil deeds each month of the year.”

The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XXXII airs Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern on Fox.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Billie Lourd, the daughter of the late Carrie Fisher and granddaughter of the late Debbie Reynolds, is opening up about the grief she experienced after losing both family members so suddenly.

Fisher passed away December 27, 2016 and, barely 24 hours later, Reynolds died from a stroke.

“It was brutal. It was really, really brutal, and I still hesitate and stutter because it’s really hard for me,” Lourd told the New Day podcast. “I miss my mom every day and my grandma, but really, my mom the most.”

Lourd revealed how she remembers her famous mother and Star Wars legend.

“She was the greatest, funniest person ever. She was my best f****** friend, ever.  There’s no one who will ever be as funny as her,” the 29-year-old actress described.  “She is amazing.”

Lourd also revealed that her mother taught her what not to do when raising her own son, Fisher, whom she welcomed last year with partner Austen Rydell.  She said that is to be her child’s parent and not his friend.

“My main job when [my mom] was alive was taking care of her and making sure she was okay… I was her main support,” the actress reflected. “I grew up really fast because I was her best friend. I was her mother, I was her kid, I was her everything. And that’s one of the things I’m learning not to do with my kid.”

“That’s one of the things that I will not do to my son is put this pressure on him that I had on me,” said Lourd. 

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Woody Harrelson may play the bad guy in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, but cops in D.C. said he was in the right when he socked a man in an incident late Wednesday evening.

According to a police report, Harrelson was with one of his three daughters at the famous Watergate hotel when an aggressive person approached him, taking pictures of them both.

When the unnamed suspect refused Harrelson’s request to knock it off, witnesses told cops the suspect “lunged” at the actor “in attempt to put his hands around his neck.”

In response, Harrelson punched the aggressor in the neck, a move that police later deemed was legitimate self-defense. No charges against Harrelson were reportedly filed, nor is it clear if Harrelson will be pressing charges against the aggressor.

Harrelson is currently in D.C. shooting the HBO miniseries The White House Plumbers, about the Watergate scandal.

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Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman knew he had something special when he was cast as Dr. Charles Zeller, a close colleague of the teenaged doctor Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha, on the Disney+ series Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.

Bowyer-Chapman tells ABC Audio that while “much of the original essence” of ABC’s medical drama Doogie Howser, M.D. “still exists” within the new series, Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. “is very much a breath of fresh air.”

“In the sense that the stories that were so often…told — [where] the protagonists and the heroes that are often… clothed in white skin — that isn’t necessarily the case in the show,” he explains. “We get to show the strength and power and genius and brilliance and perseverance of everyone else. Everyone who’s existed in the margins for so long.”

That representation, Bowyer-Chapman says, is not only necessary, it’s long overdue.

“As revolutionary as the original series may have been in the late 80s and early 90s, where we are in 2021, it really is about showcasing the stories and lived experiences of marginalized folk,” he says. “And people who don’t necessarily have the spotlight put on us for, for the most part, in mainstream television and films.”

Thankfully, Disney+ gets it right with Doogie Kameāloha, M.D., Bowyer-Chapman says, adding that the series is truly setting the bar for diversity and representation.

“The cast is built of majority people of color, majority Hawaiian natives, tons of AAPI representation,” he says. “I mean, myself, as a Black biracial queer person, as a series regular on the show, it’s something that is not often seen, especially in Disney entities.”

Doogie Kameāloha, M.D, also starring Peyton Elizabeth Lee, is now available to stream on Disney+.

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By now, you’ve probably at least heard of or seen Netflix’s latest hit Squid Game. Well, the popular drama is now making a change to its series all because of an editing fail that exposed someone’s real phone number — and it’s driving the owner nuts. 

Numerous times throughout the show, a business card with a phone number is shown, which players are supposed to call to be entered into the games. That phone number was supposed to be edited to remove the middle or last four digits. However, that didn’t happen, unfortunately, and curious viewers took it upon themselves to test it out. 

The owner of the actual phone number that was displayed told Korea Times that they’ve been “bombarded with calls and text messages” since Squid Game‘s September 17 release. 

“It’s impossible to live a normal life. Many people who have watched the series call me day and night to say they want to join the game, and my phone battery runs out in less than half a day,” the owner explained.

That wasn’t the only person affected by the snafu either. Another person, whose phone number is one digit off, has also experienced an influx of calls, telling the newspaper, “The stress from incessant prank calls is driving me crazy.”

Hopefully, the madness won’t last for much longer for the two. In a statement on Wednesday, the streaming service said, “Together with the production company (Siren Pictures), we are working to resolve this matter, including editing scenes showing the phone number where necessary.”

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With Star Trek icon William Shatner boldly going to space this Tuesday, some professional astronauts spoke with ABC News about Hollywood’s most famous space traveler’s upcoming journey aboard Jeff Bezos‘ New Shepard vehicle.

NASA Astronauts Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, Tom Marshburn and ESA Astronaut Matthias Maurer are also headed to the final frontier, but are scheduled to blast off in one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Dragon rockets on October 30,bound for a six-month mission to the International Space Station.

Barron told ABC News, “I think it captures the imagination of so many of us to see Captain Kirk…getting to fly in space…Who doesn’t want to see that happen? I know I do!”

Chari offered, “…[M]y words of advice he should try to get as many catchphrases as he can while he’s weightless like ‘Beam Me Up Scotty.’…'”

Marshburn said he wasn’t a Trekkie, but noted of Shatner, “I think he’s quite brave…and so all the kudos go to him for doing this, he’s a pioneer and I hope he enjoys it.”

Maurer tells ABC News, “I watched Trek as a kid, and now to know that, Captain Kirk is now at the age of 90 is flying to space, I think that’s a marvelous idea and I think you can never be too old to live a dream.”

Shatner, who played USS Enterprise Captain James T. Kirk on Gene Roddenberry‘s beloved sci-fi series and in seven feature films, will be joined by a senior Blue Origin employee and two co-founders of space-related technology companies for the sub-orbital mission, designated NS-18.

Shatner, who turned 90 in March, will become the oldest person to fly to space, surpassing the record set in July by 82-year-old astronaut and New Shepard traveler Wally Funk.

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The season two finale of Ted Lasso drops today on Apple TV+, coming not long after the show’s first season dominated the Emmys a few weeks ago.

Brett Goldstein won an Emmy for playing the team’s gruff but lovable team captain, Roy Kent. He’s also a writer on the show, and he tells ABC Audio that if season two felt a little different, or there were some surprising choices, that was all part of the plan

“What people really like is to be surprised. And that’s what people liked about the first [season] is they weren’t expecting it,” says Goldstein, who also appeared alongside Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis in the films We’re the Millers and Horrible Bosses 2.

“They weren’t expecting the way any of the characters[or] any of the stories. And so really, what you have to do is keep surprising people. You shouldn’t do what people are expecting because inevitably they’ll feel slightly disappointed because they’re like, oh, yeah, I guess that’s what I wanted to happen,” he continues. “Whereas what you were impressed with the first time was the surprise. And I think that’s the trick is to keep people on their toes.

Juno Temple plays Keeley Jones, who works as the team’s public relations person. She says she’s excited that people are loving the series.

“[I]t meant a lot to us when we were making it, you know? And so the fact that people not just are enjoying it, they say like, ‘it really meant a lot to me and it made me feel good,” says the 32-year-old actress, who wholeheartedly agrees, noting, “I fully concur that it made me feel good making it.”  

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