Good news for the millions of Grey’s Anatomy fans out there: The longest-running primetime medical drama in TV history has been renewed by ABC for a 21st season.
The Shonda Rhimes-created show, also the longest-running primetime series in the network’s history, will now run through the 2024-2025 season.
In a statement, Rhimes said, “The loyalty and love of Grey’s Anatomy fans has propelled us into a historic 21st season, and I could not be more grateful. [Showrunner and executive producer] Meg Marinis‘ storytelling is a gift that continues to keep the show vibrant, compelling and alive, and I can’t wait to see what she has in store for next season.”
Grey’s airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and streams next day on Hulu, where the full catalog of past episodes can be binged.
Comic actor Joe Flaherty, one of the Emmy-winning members of the beloved and influential Canadian sketch comedy troupe SCTV,has died, ABC Audio has confirmed. He was 82.
The Comedic Artists Alliance, which had previously led a GoFundMe for at-home care for the actor, passed along a statement from Flaherty’s daughter, Gudrun. “My dad was a kind, sweet soul who blessed all who knew him and those who loved his work,” she began.
“Thank you to everyone who cared for him; he loved that he was able to make people laugh. He will be so deeply missed, but we are eternally grateful to God for him being in our lives,” the statement concluded.
The comic actor parlayed his SCTV fame to the big and small screens, appearing in movies including 1981’s hit Stripes with Bill Murray and 1989’s Back to the Future Part II, playing a Western Union man with a dry sense of humor and a very wet yet important envelope from the past for Michael J. Fox‘s Marty McFly.
He also appeared in the 1996 Adam Sandler hit Happy Gilmore, among others.
On the small screen, Flaherty starred in Police Academy: The Series, the beloved but short-lived Freaks and Geeks, and made numerous one-off appearances in shows like Frasier and That 70s Show.
Lady Gaga teased on Instagram Tuesday that fans will have to wait just one more week for a trailer to the blockbuster Joker.
She shared a poster that shows Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix in full Joker makeup as Arthur Fleck, dipping Gaga as the Clown Prince of Crime’s queen, Harley Quinn. Gaga captioned, “The world is a stage. Joker: Folie à Deux trailer coming April 9.”
The image shows Joker in a tux in his full clown makeup and Harley’s mouth smeared with red all the way to her jaw.
In the span of just two hours, the post has more than 800,000 likes and counting.
Zazie Beetz returns from the original, as does director Todd Phillips; the sequel will also star Catherine Keener and Brendan Gleeson. It hits theaters October 4.
Not much is known of the plot of the film, but Variety previously reported that Folie à Deux will be a “jukebox musical” incorporating 15 “very well-known” songs, including “That’s Entertainment” from the 1953 musical The Bandwagon.
It’s also still unknown if the project will lean into any Batman mythology that the original avoided, though James Gunn as co-CEO of DC Films is already overseeing two film projects concerning the Caped Crusader: a character reboot called The Brave and the Bold and a sequel to Matt Reeves‘ hit The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson.
Actress Angie Harmon said this week that her family dog was shot and killed by a man delivering groceries to her North Carolina home.
“This Easter weekend a man delivering groceries for Instacart shot& killed our precious Oliver,” the actress wrote in an Instagram post Monday. “He got out of his car, delivered the food& THEN shot our dog.”
Harmon said her home’s security camera was being charged at the time of the incident and hadn’t recorded anything.
“The police let him go [because] he claimed ‘self defense.’ He did not have a scratch or bite on him nor were his pants torn,” Harmon wrote.
“He shot our dog with my daughters& myself at home& just kept saying, ‘yeah, I shot your dog. Yeah I did,'” Harmon wrote. “We are completely traumatized& beyond devastated at the loss of our beloved boy& family member. #RIP OLLIE.”
The Rizzoli & Isles star claimed the delivery person’s identity didn’t appear to match the name on the Instacart app.
When reached by Good Morning America, Instacart, which offers grocery delivery services in all 50 states, said it was “deeply saddened and disturbed to hear about this incident.”
The statement continued, “We have no tolerance for violence of any kind, and the shopper account was immediately suspended from our platform. We have been in direct contact with the customer and are cooperating with law enforcement on their investigation.”
According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, a delivery driver told officers on Saturday that he was delivering food at the home when the dog attacked him and he fired a single shot in self-defense. The police also said another dog was present at the home but “did not attack.”
“No criminal charges have been filed in relation to this incident,” the police added.
Each year, Forbes ranks those who have made the very exclusive billionaire’s list, and with it, which people from the entertainment community are among them.
Topping the World’s Celebrity Billionaires list for 2024 is Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchise creator George Lucas. Lucas first made the list back in 1997, largely thanks to owning the merchandising rights for his galaxy far, far away. However, the deal in 2012 to sell his Lucasfilm to ABC News’ parent company Disney for more than $4 billion in cash and stock boosted his net worth to $5.5 billion.
Coming in second is Lucas’ longtime friend and Indiana Jones franchise partner Steven Spielberg. His net worth was estimated at $4.8 billion, largely from profits from blockbusters he’s had a hand in, from the Indy movies to Shindler’s List, to the Jurassic Park franchise, Forbes notes.
Michael Jordan ranked third, with $3.2 billion. He made $1.8 billion from Nike’s Air Jordans and other endorsements, and turned a $175 million investment in the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets back in 2010 into $3 billion when he sold the team in 2023.
Oprah Winfrey came in at #4 with an estimated worth of $2.8 billion, while Jay-Z ranked #5, thanks to money moves in the spirits industry, in addition to his music empire.
Another famous entrepreneur, Kim Kardashian, was #6 with $1.7 billion; Lord of the Rings Oscar winner Peter Jackson took the #7 slot with $1.5 billion, thanks to a billion-dollar sale of some of his Weta Digital company in 2021.
Entertainment mogul Tyler Perry was #8 with $1.4 billion — same as singer, actress and entrepreneur Rihanna (#9). Tiger Woods rounded out the top 10 with $1.3 billion.
Oscar winner Jared Leto replaced Pat Sajak as the host of Wheel of Fortune during Monday night’s episode — temporarily — in an April Fools’ Day prank.
The episode, which aired April 1, began with Leto walking out with Vanna White and waving at the audience as the announcer introduced them as “the stars of our show,” as usual.
As they arrived at their marks, Leto channeled Sajak, telling White to “have a great show” before the two separated and made their way to their usual positions.
Leto — still dedicated to the bit — showed off his hosting chops by saying, “All right everybody, grab those devices. It’s time to give away some money: $1,000 in our first toss-up, the category is On the Map.”
Then the prank was over, with the show cutting to Sajak as host.
Incidentally, the actor and Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman and his bandmate brother, Shannon, recently posted a Wheel-themed video to announce their band’s forthcoming tour starting in July. They portrayed contestants on the actual set of the show, with Sajak and White playing along with the gag.
Zoe Saldaña sat down with The Playlist for an upcoming installment of its podcast The Discourse, and she talked about the future of two of her most famous franchises.
While Saldaña says her run as the green-skinned warrior might be over after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, she thinks the character could live on, saying, “I don’t think Gamora has gone for good.”
Zoe added, “I would think it would be a huge loss for Marvel if they didn’t find a way to bring back The Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s just such a fan-favorite group of misfits, you know?”
While Guardians writer-director James Gunn has left Marvel Studios to head up Warner Bros.’ DC movie universe, this ship may have sailed, but Zoe added his voice and writing was “just so marvelous for and very specific for this genre. And it’s so great for this genre as well.”
Saldaña added, “So, I would be the first one in the first row to sort of celebrate when the Guardians of the Galaxy come back.”
Further, Saldaña talked about a fourth Star Trek film, which has apparently heated back up after several false starts, with The Flight Attendant‘s co-creator Steve Yockey writing a new script.
“I still have hope,” Zoe said, calling her three films as Nyota Uhura “a wonderful experience.”
Saldaña added, “I know that they’re always trying to sort of aim to wrangle everybody together, but I also know that Paramount is working on a new sort of fresh take on Star Trek, which I think is such a wonderful franchise that should live for a very long time, whether or not us as the original remake cast can come back. I don’t know, but I certainly hope so.”
Kyra Sedgwick loves working with her husband, Kevin Bacon, but is sharing the most challenging part about working with him.
“I think the thing you have to hide is the fact that you’ve known each other for 35 years,” said Sedgwick on The View on Monday.
“You’re usually playing strangers who meet,” she added. “Hopefully we’re good enough actors that you will believe us and buy into these characters, and of course you will because it’s not us at all. But it’s great working together, it’s really fun.”
Sedgwick has starred in several films with Bacon over the years. The couple met while on the set of the movie Lemon Sky in 1987.
They wed in September 1988, then went on to star together in the rom-com Pyrates in 1991; the 1995 film Murder in the First; and Cavedweller in 2004.
Bacon also directed Sedgwick in his film Loverboy, which also starred their daughter, Sosie, and son, Travis. Between 2006 and 2009, the Footloose actor directed The Closer, which starred Sedgwick.
In January, it was announced that Sedgwick and Bacon will star in the upcoming film Connescence, a movie about a fictional character named Stan Olszewski, “a chronically underachieving security guard” who “breaks up an attempted robbery at the home of Cynthia Rand,” according to a press release for the project.
Bacon will play Stan, while Sedgwick will play Cynthia, “a successful urologist married to brilliant former Watergate prosecutor Warren Rand.”
Connescence, which is directed by Michael J. Weithorn, will also star Judd Hirsch and Brittany O’Grady.
“We are so excited to work together on screen again for the first time in twenty years in such a funny, moving and original script,” Sedgwick and Bacon said in a statement.
Doctor Strange star Benedict Cumberbatch and The Crown‘s Olivia Colman have signed on to star in The Roses, a reimagining of the 1989 film The War of the Roses. Directed by Bombshell helmer Jay Roach, Deadline says the dark comedy centers on Theo and Ivy — played respectively by Cumberbatch and Colman — a seemingly successful couple that sees, “the façade of the perfect family is a tinderbox of competition and resentments that’s ignited when Theo’s professional dreams come crashing down.” The War of the Roses, directed by Danny DeVito and starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, grossed $160 million worldwide …
Barbara Rush, who appeared in many movies and TV shows, including It Came From Outer Space and Peyton Place, died Sunday, her daughter, Fox News Channel correspondent Claudia Cowan, announced, according to Variety. Rush also appeared in the soap opera All My Children and on 7th Heaven, and films such as Robin and the 7 Hoods …
Deadline reports Poor Things‘ Kathryn Hunter, The West Wing‘s Mary McCormack, The Summer I Turned Pretty‘s Rachel Blanchard, Scream VI‘s Devyn Nekoda, Millennium‘s Klea Scott and Emily Mitchell have joined the cast of the Dakota Fanning-led horror film Vicious. The film, per the outlet, “follows a young woman who, after being left with a strange present from a late-night visitor, must spend the night fighting for her existence as she slips down a disturbing rabbit hole contained inside the gift” …
