Entertainment

Alex Levy and Bradley Jackson are back! The Morning Show returns to Apple TV+ on September 17, and the second season’s final trailer makes one thing certain — the show’s leading ladies have to work even harder to outsmart the nefarious forces working against them.

The season apparently takes place nine months after Jennifer Aniston‘s Alex and Reese Witherspoon‘s Bradley expose their media company — live on their morning show — for covering up for the show’s former male anchor Mitch Kessler, played by Steve Carell, who preyed upon several female coworkers.

Season two starts with Alex being convinced by Billy Crudup‘s Cory Ellison to return to the UBA network, telling her, “You are the only thing that can save us.”

The events then start to play out, with the arrival of COVID-19 and several employees of color taking note of the racism that holds them back from promotion, with Desean Terry‘s Daniel explaining, “There is a pattern of behavior around here that disadvantages the people of color.”

Not to mention that the journalistic exposé about UBA’s misdeeds that was being written during the events of the first season is now public, with the network also reeling from falling ratings and public outcry.

In all, season two will find even more UBA employees being pitted against each other in a play for power — with special focus placed upon tearing apart the truce between Aniston’s Alex and Witherspoon’s Bradley.

The trailer also introduces new characters, such as Greta Lee, who plays executive Stella Bak, and Julianna Margulies as Laura Peterson — a TV anchor with an agenda of her own.

Hasan Minhaj, Ruairi O’Connor, Tara Karsian, Valeria Golino and Holland Taylor will also join the new season.

The Morning Show‘s second season premieres September 17 on Apple TV+.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander in the series, has been arrested for drug possession. 

TMZ obtained a copy of the 50-year-old actor’s mug shot and reports that the arrest happened last week when Brendon was driving erratically in Vigo County, Indiana.  Police, saying he was swerving his vehicle and disregarded a traffic signal, pulled over Brendon’s vehicle and noted he was sweating “profusely,” and also “appeared nervous due to a visibly racing pulse on his neck and shaking hands.”

The website reports when police asked for Brendon’s ID, he allegedly provided them with one bearing the name Kelton Schultz, saying it belonged to his twin brother.  Brendon does have a twin brother by that name, who goes by the stage name Kelly Donovan.

A search of the actor’s car yielded a “small plastic bag that contained crystal/powder residue,” along with a pill bottle with medication prescribed to a “Nicholas Bender.” The prescription was for amphetamine salts, which are commonly used to treat conditions like ADHD and narcolepsy. Brendon told police he and his twin “have the same prescription and they fill each other’s prescription.”  He also allegedly admitted to taking some of his brother’s pills.

Police brought out a K-9 search unit but the dog failed to locate more narcotics, only plastic bags that contained an unknown residue.

Brendon was arrested and charged with obtaining a prescription by fraud — along with failure to identify — with police writing in their report, “He was using his brother’s ID to procure more or that the ID he initially handed me belonging to Kelton is fraudulent.”

Brendon has struggled with addiction for many years, with rehab stays, incidents and arrests going back more than 15 years.

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Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

After revealing on Sunday that she had tested positive for COVID-19, Melissa Joan Hart had some good news to report.

“I wanna let you know I’m doing so much better,” the Sabrina the Teenage Witch alum, looking a little run down, shared in a video posted to her Instagram account on Monday. “Feeling like I’m probably at like, 75 percent. My last video, I was probably [at] 20, 25 percent.”

Melissa says her 15-year-old son, Mason, who also tested positive, is doing better as well, and her youngest son, six-year-old Tucker, who also contracted the virus, has been asymptomatic.

Hart’s 13-year-old son, Braydon, is COVID-19 negative so far, but they’re still waiting on the results for her husband, Mark, which Hart says “got lost in the mail.”

“So, all staying very isolated and separate. Just wanted to send love to everyone out there,” the 45-year-old actress declared.

Melissa added that she’s gotten plenty of chicken soup to help her get better and thanked her fans for the “outpouring of love” she’s felt since revealing her diagnosis.

 

 

 

 

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It wasn’t Tom Holland who accidentally leaked precious secrets about an upcoming Spider-Man movie, but the 25-year-old actor did his part to hype the franchise’s third installment before the official teaser dropped on Monday, following an alleged leak the day prior.

Taking to Instagram stories, Holland warned, “You ain’t ready!” 

Soon enough, Marvel dropped the official teaser-trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home, which picks up right after Spider-Man: Far from Home‘s cliffhanger, where Jake Gyllenhaal‘s villainous Mysterio unmasks Peter Parker as Spider-Man and wrongfully accuses him of his murder.

The situation weaves a tangled web for Peter, who’s grappling with losing his secret identity while trying to prove his innocence to the world, which dubs him “public enemy #1.”  

Desperate, Peter seeks out the help of Benedict Cumberbatch‘s Doctor Strange and asks if there’s a spell to make everyone forget he’s Spider-Man. Unfortunately, the spell goes haywire and sends the world plunging into chaos. Alternate multiverse realities begin to crash into one another, bringing back familiar faces from Spider-Man’s past, including Jamie Foxx‘s Electro and Alfred Molina‘s Doctor Octopus. In addition, we can hear Willem Dafoe‘s chilling Green Goblin laugh.

The trailer ends with Strange’s ominous warning: “Be careful what you wish for, Parker.”

While the teaser features villains from past Spider-Man incarnations, it doesn’t confirm if original Spider-Man Tobey Maguire or successor Andrew Garfield will also appear in the MCU as rumored. Maguire appeared in three Spider-Man films in the late 90s and early aughts, while Garfield took over the mantle in 2012 and 2014.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is a co-production of Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios. It swings into theaters December 17.

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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Vanessa Bryant posted to social media a touching tribute to her late husband, Kobe, on Monday, which would have been his 43rd birthday.

In a note accompanying a photo of her and the late basketball legend kissing, Vanessa wrote, “Happy birthday, Papi,” and, in Spanish, “I love you forever” and “eternal love,” next to a broken-heart emoji and the number 43.  

Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were killed in a January 26, 2020, helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, that also took the lives of fellow passengers Alyssa Altobelli, John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, Payton Chester, Sarah Chester and Christina Mauser, as well as pilot Ara Zobayan.

In February of this year, the National Transportation Safety Board primarily blamed Zobayan for the deadly crash, which occurred when he got disoriented in poor flying conditions. The agency also faulted Island Express Helicopters Inc., which operated the aircraft, for poor oversight of pilot review and other safety matters.

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Even though the show started shooting in July, the Sex and the City follow-up …And Just Like That will be coming to HBO Max before the year’s out. 

HBO Max has announced the series, starring and executive produced by Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristen Davis, will debut this fall. There’s no firm date yet, but the streaming service dropped …And Just Like That into its newly released fall schedule. 

…And Just Like That also stars returning SATC stars Chris Noth, Mario Cantone, Evan Handler and David Eigenberg. as well as Grey’s Anatomy‘s Sara Ramirez and Empire‘s Nicole Ari Parker, the latter of whom it’s speculated will replace Kim Catrall‘s Samantha Jones, albeit playing a new character.

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Taraji P. Henson‘s Facebook Watch series, Peace of Mind with Taraji, is coming back for a second season.

Facebook Watch announced on Monday that Henson’s Daytime Emmy-nominated series, which focuses on mental health, is officially getting a new season with 10 episodes. Co-hosted by Henson and her best friend Tracie Jade, the series debuted in December 2020 and helped to shine a light on the “challenging mental health issues facing us today — especially those in the Black community.”  Season two production of Peace of Mind with Taraji has already begun in Los Angeles. The new season will debut later this year on Facebook Watch.

In other news, HBO has revealed that the fifth and final season of Issa Rae‘s hit comedy, Insecure, will premiere in October. Although an official release date has yet to be announced, it was previously reported that filming for the final season had wrapped back in June.

Finally, it appears that Nicole Ari Parker may be the new Samantha Jones in the upcoming Sex and the City revival And Just Like That… According to The Guardian, Parker will reportedly replace Kim Cattrall as the fourth member of the New York friend group. The report comes after fans lashed out about the reboot without Cattral in her signature role as Samantha. Parker is said to play Carrie’s new best friend, documentarian Lisa Todd Wexley. As previously reported, three of the original show’s four main stars — Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon — are all set to return to the series.

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Ryan Reynolds‘ Free Guy had the distinction of having the best second-weekend performance of the pandemic era, but if you’re still not ready to go the theater, you’re in luck. 

20th Century Studios has announced that the film is coming to digital sooner than expected, on September 28, and will debut on Blu-ray, DVD and 4K Ultra HD on October 12.

The movie has an audience score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, and has been “Certified Fresh” with critics on the review aggregator, with an 82%.

The home version of the film will be packed with special features, including deleted scenes, a gag reel and special featurettes, including one with Taika Waititi‘s endless ad-libbing for his character Antwan, and another that lets viewers explore Free City, main character Guy’s hometown — which he comes to realize is actually a video game. 

20th Century Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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(NEW YORK) — Mayim Bialik is the first guest host for the syndicated version of “Jeopardy!” amid Mike Richards’ exit.

Sony Pictures Television confirmed the news to ABC News Monday, noting that she is currently scheduled to tape three weeks of episodes, totaling 15 episodes, when production resumes this week.

The production company also said additional guest hosts will be announced as production on the upcoming 38th season of the quiz show continues.

The “Big Bang Theory” alum, who was announced earlier this month as the new host for “Jeopardy!” primetime specials and spin-offs, with Richards tapped to host the syndicated version before he announced Friday he was stepping away “effective immediately” amid resurfaced controversial remarks.

Bialik guest hosted “Jeopardy!” earlier this year from May 31 to June 11.

Richards announced he was departing as host in an internal note to “Jeopardy!” staff.

“It pains me that these past incidents and comments have cast such a shadow on Jeopardy! as we look to start a new chapter,” Richards, who remains an executive producer of the program, began.

He added that he was “deeply honored” to be asked to serve as the permanent replacement for Alex Trebek, who died last November after a years-long battle with pancreatic cancer, but it had “become clear that moving forward as host would be too much of a distraction for our fans and not the right move for the show.”

Sony Pictures Entertainment, who said in a statement to ABC News they were “surprised” to learn of Richards’ past comments, is looking for a new permanent host for the syndicated game show.

“I want to apologize to each of you for the unwanted attention that has come to Jeopardy! over the last few weeks and for the confusion and delays this is now causing,” Richards concluded. “I know I have a lot of work to do to regain your trust and confidence.”

Richards came under fire last week after a report from The Ringer exposed past disparaging comments made about women on “The Randumb Show,” a podcast he hosted from 2013 to 2014, the recordings of which have since been deleted. Richards has apologized for the comments.

The report also brought to light a 2010 lawsuit in which a former model on “The Price Is Right,” during Richards’ tenure on that program, alleged her contract was not renewed after she gave birth. Of the discrimination case, which was settled out of court without any admitting of wrongdoing, Richards said the allegations “don’t reflect the reality of who I am.”

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