Entertainment

Bel-Air has found its Fresh Prince.

Peacock revealed in an announcement video on Tuesday that they have tapped newcomer and West Philadelphia native Jabari Banks to play the role of Will in the forthcoming The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot, Bel-Air. Original Will and Fresh Prince star Will Smith surprised Banks in the video, sharing the news of his casting. As previously reported, the hourlong series is a reimagining of the ‘90s sitcom as a drama series. It is based on a viral YouTube trailer created by writer Morgan Cooper that explores Will’s “complicated journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the gated mansions of Bel-Air.” Additional casting has yet to be announced.

In other news, Starz has announced additional casting for the second season of Power Book III: Raising Kanan. LeToya Luckett, Omar Dorsey, Krystal Joy Brown and Paulina Singer have all been tapped for recurring roles. Luckett will play Kenya, Jukebox’s mother who comes back into her life; Dorsey a charismatic businessman named Cartier “Duns” Fareed; Brown will play Marvin’s anger management therapist, Renée Timmons; and Singer will star as Zisa, an up-and-coming singer looking to make a name for herself. A season two premiere date for Raising Kanan has yet to be announced.

Finally, Paramount+ has unveiled a Thursday, November 11 premiere date for their The Game reboot. During the Television Critics Association virtual presentation on Tuesday, Paramount+ shared that Tim Daly and Toby Sandeman have also been added to the cast. Meanwhile, fan favorite Coby Bell will make a special appearance in his original role as former footballer Jason Pitts. As previously reported, the new series is set in Las Vegas and centers on a “modern-day examination of Black culture through the prism of pro football.”

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Mike Richards is officially out as executive producer of Jeopardy! after recently stepping down as the quiz show’s new permanent host.

The news was shared with Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune staff Tuesday via an internal note from Suzanne Prete, the executive vice president of business and strategy for both game shows.

“I’m writing to let you know that Mike will no longer be serving as EP of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! effective immediately,” Prete wrote in the note, which was obtained by ABC News.

“We had hoped that when Mike stepped down from the host position at Jeopardy! it would have minimized the disruption and internal difficulties we have all experienced these last few weeks. That clearly has not happened.”

Prete said an executive from production company Embassy Row will be assisting with production “on an interim basis until further notice” to “ensure that production remains on schedule” for the new season.

Prete ended the note by thanking the entire team for their “cooperation and professionalism” throughout the “challenging” past few weeks.

Richards’ exit as executive producer closes out what has been a tumultuous month for the Jeopardy! brand. After having been announced as the late Alex Trebek‘s successor on Aug. 11, he stepped down from hosting duties on Aug. 20.

Richards had come under fire for resurfaced controversial remarks he made on The Randumb Show, a podcast he hosted from 2013 to 2014. A report from The Ringer exposed various disparaging comments he made about women, 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.

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Bachelor star Kelley Flanagan tearfully opened up to fans on Monday about a recent change in her health, revealing that she has tested positive for Lyme disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium transmitted to humans via infected tick bites. Common symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue and a skin rash. Without treatment, the infection can spread to the joints, heart and the nervous system. Most cases can be successfully treated with antibiotics over the course of a few weeks.

Flanagan hinted that she may have been unknowingly wrestling with the disease for a while, telling fans while wiping away tears, “I always felt like my body’s been so much more sensitive and super reactive to a bunch of things.”

Noting that she “just got the results back,” the reality star said she is now focused on making a full recovery.

In a lengthy caption, Flanagan expressed, “[I] decided to finally get tested for serval different things and tested positive for [L]yme disease and several other co-infections. It’s a blessing and a curse because now i can target why i feel off so often but also means several different lifestyle changes and extensive research on how to help/hopefully cure this!”

She also revealed that her siblings also wrestled with the disease, noting her journey will be “tough for me seeing what my brothers have gone through mentally and physically.”

“I’m going to put so much of my time and energy into figuring this out and combating this,” Flanagan closed, promising to keep fans in the loop on her “new journey.”

Bachelor Nation rallied around Flanagan, with Kaitlyn Bristowe, Ashley Iaconetti, Victoria Fuller, Raven Gates, Kristian Haggerty and several others sending in their well wishes and encouraging words.

 

 

 

 

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John Cho will bring the character Spike Spiegel to life in the Netflix live-action reboot of Cowboy Bebop, but admits he had a hard time wrapping his head around the age difference separating him and his character.

In the Cowboy Bebop anime, which ran for one season between 1998 and 1999, Spike is listed as being in his mid 20s. Cho is 49. In a new interview with Vulture, the actor admitted the age difference was his “biggest fear” going into the project and that he “had to get over it.”

“I’m not a person who says age is just a number or whatever. It was gonna be harder — physically. And I was gonna look different than a 25-year-old guy,” he explained. “At some point, the opportunity is ‘Yes or no — do you wanna do it?’ And I did wanna do it. So I wasn’t gonna stop myself from doing it.”

Cho said he then learned that his age gave him an advantage at depicting Spike, saying it allowed him to make the character more well-rounded.

“I couldn’t have done it when I was 27. I mean, maybe I would’ve been better suited athletically, but in terms of my discipline, I am strangely better suited at this age,” the Star Trek star continued. “I don’t think I would’ve done justice to the emotional depth we tried to give Spike.”

Cho added that younger actors are best suited to make vengeful characters filled with rage, adding, “That might’ve been a more pronounced element in the character. What I’m better at, being older, is showing weakness and vulnerability and love. Those things are more accessible to me. Personally, I’d prefer the version I’m able to do now. That’s my taste.”

Cowboy Bebop premieres November 19 on Netflix.

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The 17th season of Discovery’s hit Deadliest Catch recently premiered, and in addition to the many dangers of crab fishing on the Bering Sea, this season sees the crews dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the show’s biggest stars, and the show’s technical consultant — F/V Northwestern Captain Sig Hansen — says at the height of the pandemic, he and the crews felt “blessed,” because their work was deemed essential.

“I’ve had friends that are on other fishing vessels…that literally did not leave their boats for eight to nine months, they could not step on land,” he explained to ABC Audio via phone.

“The state of Alaska, we went through our own COVID regulations. You’ve got federal, state, and then every [harbor] has its own set of regulations as well. So, quite honestly, we were so fortunate to be able to go out there and go to work, you know.”

Hansen explains how it’s still amazing to see how people follow the show after so many seasons. “It’s been this snowball. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard families come up to me… ‘My grandson watches Deadliest Catch or my granddaughter or my mother or my father.’ It’s just a generational thing where I think families watch it together.”

Sig adds, “And I still think that’s a good thing, even though this is a dangerous factor in Deadliest Catch, you’ve got that work ethic all the guys have up there. I just think…that’s important for people to see.”

After fishing his whole life as his father did, the captain, best-selling author, and entrepreneur says he’s got no plans to quit his “day job.”

“Yeah, it’s an addiction, it’s in your blood.”  

Deadliest Catch airs tonight at 8 p.m. on Discovery.

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Ashley Graham is counting down the days until she meets her second child, who is due soon.

Taking to Instagram recently, the supermodel shared a tastefully nude maternity shoot where she proudly shows off her curves and stretch marks in the untouched photo.

“Uh oh she’s naked again,” she cheekily captioned the snap.

In the photo, Graham, 33, drapes her arm over her breasts and stands slightly to the side, showing off the stretch marks on her stomach and hips. 

The model also shared another photo from the maternity shoot, where she stands to the side and shows off her growing stomach.

Graham has regularly rallied for body positivity by sharing unfiltered snaps of her figure and by proudly displaying her stretch marks and cellulite. 

She is expecting her second child with husband Justin Ervin.  The two share a son, who was born in January 2020.

She first revealed her pregnancy in July, writing, “The past year has been full of tiny surprises, big griefs, familiar beginnings and new stories. I’m just beginning to process and celebrate what this next chapter means for us.”

 

 

 

 

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The latest episode of Fox’s reboot of that ’70s classic Fantasy Island airs tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern. Roselyn Sanchez stars as Elena Roarke, a descendant of Ricardo Montalban‘s iconic and mysterious host, Mr. Roarke.

The actress tells ABC Audio that she remembers the original series well. “I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. So I remember it was the 70s, I was young, but everybody knows when you say Fantasy Island — for me, it was La Isla de la Fantasia. You know, I was very familiar with the show and I remember that, Tattoo and Ricardo Montalban. I remember ‘The plane, the plane!’ In my case, it was ‘La avion! La avion!’

Sweetening the deal for Sanchez, the new series was shot in her native Puerto Rico. “I was actually going to go back to my homeland. To do it was a dream! It was incredible,” she says.

Sanchez adds of her series, “The original was maybe a more mysterious [show]. You know, the Roarke character was not as involved with the fantasies and the guests. This time around, she’s very human, she’s very much involved, and she feels for them, and she’s also going through her own self discovery.”

The first Fantasy Island ran on ABC from 1977 to 1984. Fantasy Island was rebooted in 1988 but only lasted a season. It was also made into a poorly-received horror film of the same name in 2020, with Michael Peña in the lead.

Sanchez adds, “[I]n the end, we just want people to have a good time. And it’s visually stunning…it’s well acted, it’s well-written, and so I’m hoping that people are going to embrace it and love it as much as they did the original.”  

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Selena Gomez‘s new Hulu series Only Murders in the Building debuts today. It features Selena and comedy legends Steve Martin and Martin Short as neighbors who make a true-crime podcast while investigating a murder in their apartment building. In real life, Selena is a fan of true-crime content — though not necessarily the murder-y part of it.

“I love the psychology behind it,” she explains to ABC Audio. “I think it’s really interesting to see how people solve the cases. It is weird to say that I’m interested in it, but I think that it’s not so much that I’m interested in, necessarily, the morbid part. I think it’s more just the fascination of [figuring out the] A to Z.”

While Selena is decades younger than her co-stars, Martin Short tells ABC Audio that he and Steve Martin loved working with her.

“I think what was the delightful element of it was how quickly she fit in with our energies, in the sense that we all approach creating something in front of the camera [in] the same [way],” Short notes. “It should be light, it should be fun. You should want to go to the set…And it was kind of ideal…how quickly we all fell into the same similar type of filming groove.”

As for what it was like for her, working with the two legendary funnymen, Selena says she wasn’t cracking up after every scene…but “most scenes,” she tells ABC Audio.

“The laughs didn’t stop when the cameras stopped rolling. It was really fun,” she adds. “Obviously, we had moments where it was silent and we were able to enjoy each other’s company. And then most of the time, it was just us shooting the s***.” 

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The death of Matthew Mindler, a 19-year-old former child actor who appeared opposite Paul Rudd in the comedy My Idiot Brother, has been ruled a suicide by authorities in Pennsylvania, according to TMZ.

Mindler was found dead on August 28, three days after the Millersville University freshman was declared missing, the school’s president announced, relaying the news to Mindler’s fellow students “with a heavy heart.”

TMZ reported that while the manner of death has been ruled suicide, no cause of death has yet been determined pending toxicology reports.

Mindler appeared in a few productions over his brief career, with credits for As The World Turns, the aforementioned Rudd film, which also starred Rashida Jones and Zooey Deschanel, and also Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

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.

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