Entertainment

Martin Short insists his rumored romance with Meryl Streep is just that — a rumor.

“We’re not a couple,” Short, 73, shared during an appearance on the Sunday, January 28, episode of Bill Maher‘s Club Random podcast, adding, “We are just very close friends.”

The Oscar-winning actress, 74, guest starred on season 3 of Short’s Hulu series, Only Murders in the Building last year, and sparked dating rumors when they appeared to be getting very cozy at the January 7 Golden Globes.

“Well, you should, because there’s nothing more powerful in Hollywood than a power couple,” Maher responded, joking, “It worked for Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. It worked for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.”

Short was married to actress Nancy Dolman from 1980 until her death from ovarian cancer in 2010. They have three children together: Katherine Elizabeth, 40, Oliver Patrick, 37, and Henry Hayter, 34.

Meanwhile, a rep for Streep told People in October that she had separated from her husband of 45 years, Don Gummer. They share four children: Henry Wolfe Gummer, 44, Mary Willa “Mamie” Gummer, 40, Grace Jane Gummer, 37, and Louisa Jacobson Gummer, 32.

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House of the Dragon actress Milly Alcock has nabbed the role of Kara Zor-El, the cousin of Superman, in the upcoming Warner Bros. feature Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, according to James Gunn, the co-CEO of DC Films. Prior to that, she’ll most likely appear in one or two DC Studios projects, one of them possibly being Gunn’s Superman: Legacy, which begins filming this spring. Alcock will be succeeding Sasha Calle, who played the same role in The Flash …

Variety reports Blockers actress Geraldine Viswanathan has been tapped for a part in Marvel’s Thunderbolts, replacing Ayo Edebiri, the Emmy-winning actress from Hulu’s The Bear. Edebiri dropped out of the film due to scheduling conflicts. Viswanathan joins Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Edebiri is the second star to depart Thunderbolts, following Steven Yeun, who left in January …

Taylor Sheridan‘s upcoming drama Landman, starring Billy Bob Thornton, is staffing up its supporting players for the “modern day tale of fortune seeking in the world of oil rigs.” James Jordan, who has appeared in Sheridan’s Yellowstone, 1883, Mayor of Kingstown and Special Ops: Lioness, will play Dale Bradley, “a petroleum engineer and a blue-collar bear of a man.” When Calls the Heart‘s Kayla Wallace will play Rebecca Savage, “an extremely capable and intimidating liability attorney”; country music star and actor Mark Collie will play a West Texas sheriff; and Paulina Chávez will play Ariana, “a young mother whose family has suffered a misfortune.” The show will also star Ali Larter, Michelle Randolph and Jacob Lofland …

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Elizabeth Taylor‘s story will be told in a new documentary series.

The project, which is being called Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar, is being commissioned by BBC Arts and will be executive produced by Kim Kardashian, who will also star in the series.

According to a press release, the series will be a three-part box set documentary series about the Academy Award-winning legendary actress.

The series “gives Elizabeth Taylor the significance she richly deserves, in all her incarnations: as an actor, rebel, business mogul, and activist — to reveal how Taylor created the blueprint for modern celebrity,” the press release states.

“The series will take a deep dive into Taylor’s craft and technique as an actor — one who mesmerised cinemagoers, but also changed the relationship between audiences and stars,” the press release continues. “We’ll see how she reinvented the nature of fame, even as she smashed the glass ceiling in Hollywood, before going on to become a billion-dollar businesswoman, activist and advocate.”

The series will include never-before-heard audio tapes, interviews and unseen TV footage, alongside footage from her films.

“Elizabeth Taylor was unapologetically herself, a fighter,” Kardashian said in a statement in the press release. “She is proof that you can keep evolving and changing and have different chapters in your life — and she paved the way for all of us who came after her with that blueprint.”

Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar is currently in production and will air on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

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Marvel’s acclaimed animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur returns on Friday for a second season on Disney Channel and Disney XD, and streams the next day on Disney+.

The series was a big winner at December’s Children & Family Creative Arts Emmys, which was a thrill for star Diamond White. White voices the lead character, a super-genius girl who becomes half of the titular superhero team after befriending a dino.

“I think I was in Atlanta while the Emmys happened,” White recalls to ABC Audio, “but just seeing all the producers on the show and the creative people on the show, like, post, like, ‘We are at the Emmys!’ and ‘We just won five!’ It was incredible to see.”

She adds, “I cannot believe that we actually took home five. Like, that’s crazy.”

Apart from the industry recognition, a major joy for White is seeing young fans — especially fans of color — taking to her character, Lunella Lafeyette, who moonlights as Moon Girl.

“I actually ran into this girl at … the fair and she was wearing a Moon Girl T-shirt,” the actress says.

“I walked up to her and I was like, ‘I just want to introduce myself. I’m Diamond, and I voice her, and can I take a picture with you?’ Because, like, I’ve never seen this in real life.”

White adds, “And she had no idea that I was the voice, but she was freaking out after I told her. I was like, ‘Wow, we’re really making an impact.’ And it’s just, like, really beautiful to see.”

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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Although most outlets had The Beekeeper buzzing by the new Mean Girls musical film to top the box office over the weekend, Variety reports the opposite was actually true.

In a photo finish, Mean Girls topped the Jason Statham revenge pic by a mere $200,000: The former ended up with $6.9 million to the latter’s $6.7 million.

Paramount, which released Mean Girls, suspected to the trade that the NFL action on Sunday kept male moviegoers glued to their TVs, which could account for male-skewing Beekeeper‘s slightly weaker than previously thought close to a slow box office weekend.

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The new trailer for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire dropped on Monday — and with it, the jaws of millions of the franchise’s fans.

The trailer opens with a voice-over that heralds the return of an original antagonist, William Atherton‘s Walter Peck, the representative of the Environmental Protection Agency who tried to shut the ‘busters down in the 1984 original.

He’s apparently up to his old tricks. With some callback footage of the first film, Peck recaps its climax — which saw him covered in melted marshmallow — by saying, “According to these hacks, they saved the world.” He adds that there were “no witnesses.”

This time, he’s questioning the team’s new members: Paul Rudd‘s Gary Grooberson, as well as Egon Spengler’s descendants who are carrying the torch — Egon’s daughter Callie, played again by Carrie Coon, and his grandkids Phoebe and Trevor, played respectively by Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard.

The movie centers on a mysterious artifact that Dan Aykroyd‘s Dr. Ray Stanz explains can unleash an “unimaginable evil” that can “command an army of ghosts” and bring about “a second ice age.”

They’re going to need help, and so also returning is Ernie Hudson‘s Winston Zeddemore. It’s explained in 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife that he’s parleyed some of his fortune to bringing the team back together. Bill Murray‘s Dr. Peter Venkman is shown packing his proton pack and then marveling at the appearance of another veteran, Annie Potts‘ Janine Melnitz, “in uniform!”

Also returning is Slimer, the piggish ghost from the first film.

Apart from its stunning visuals, Rudd again steals the show in the trailer, confessing to Callie as she protests, “You know what? Bustin’ makes me feel good.”

The movie haunts theaters March 22.

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The Paley Center for Media announced Monday the schedule for the 41stannual PaleyFest LA, its annual television festival “celebrating creative excellence.”

This year’s event, which will take place from Friday, April 12, through Saturday, April 20, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, will feature the stars of The Morning Show, Young Sheldon, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Loki, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and the forthcoming live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series.

Stars already signed up to attend include Loki‘s Tom Hiddleston, The Morning Show‘s producers/stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, Larry David and Cheryl Hines from Curb and the star of another show that’s about to have its final season, Young Sheldon‘s Iain Armitage.

Additionally, the confab will host a special 25th anniversary panel for Family Guy and a celebration of ten years of Late Night with Seth Meyers.

“The Curb cast and I are looking forward to seeing you all at PaleyFest!” Larry David expressed, joking, “Just a heads up, I may not sound like myself. Since shooting ended I’ve been passing the time by playing the Jew’s harp, which has damaged my teeth and given me a pronounced lisp.”

He continued, “I have ordered special dentures from Estonia, but they may not arrive in time. Fingers crossed. In any event, see you there.”

Young Sheldon executive producers Steven Molaro, Steve Holland and Chuck Lorre added, “What better way to say goodbye to a show we love than with people who love it as much as we do at PaleyFest!”

Family Guy creator and star Seth MacFarlane snarked, “While I’d been counting on a 24th anniversary celebration at PaleyFest, this is the next best thing, and I’m honored to participate.”

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Apple TV+’s Emmy-winning Severance is getting “back to work,” in the words of executive producer/director Ben Stiller.

The twin Hollywood strikes had ground production on the series’ second season to a halt, but on Monday, Stiller posted to social media a black-and-white shot of series lead Adam Scott running intensely in a scene.

In the offbeat series, Scott’s Mark Scout leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives, and who discover their company isn’t what they thought.

The cast also includes Oscar winners Patricia Arquette and Christopher Walken as well as Emmy winner John Turturro.

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In a detailed analysis of what Americans were watching on streaming in 2023, Suits toppled a record previously held by The Office during the pandemic.

According to Nielsen data quoted by Variety, U.S. viewers watched 57.7 billion total minutes of the former USA legal drama in 2023, making it the most-watched show on streaming — and beating The Office‘s record of 57.1 billion from 2020.

Interestingly, we weren’t all stuck at home in 2023, but viewers apparently still found a way to cram in pandemic-levels of bingeing.

Coming in second place was the kids show Bluey on Disney+; it pulled in 43.9 billion minutes watched, followed by NCIS in third place (39.4 billion), Grey’s Anatomy (38.6 billion) and another kids show, Cocomelon (36.3 billion).

The trade points out that four of the top 10 titles stream exclusively on Netflix: Grey’s, Cocomelon; the #7 spot holder, Gilmore Girls, and the tenth-place finisher, Supernatural.

Netflix also had bragging rights over the top 10 most-watched original streaming titles: Seven out of the top 10 were Netflix shows. Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso was the most-watched original show, followed by Netflix respectively filling in the rest of the top five with The Night Agent, Ginny & Georgia, Virgin River and Love is Blind.

When it comes to movies, family films dominated the top five: Disney+’s Moana was the most-watched with 11.6 billion minutes watched; Disney’s Encanto (9.7 billion) was second; The Super Mario Bros. Movie was third on Netflix and Peacock with 8.8 billion; Disney’s Elemental ranked fourth (8.6 billion), and Minions: The Rise of Gru rounded out the top five with 7.1 billion for Netflix.

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Paris Hilton celebrated her son Phoenix’s huge milestone over the weekend.

The reality star posted a series of videos on her Instagram Story on Saturday, sharing glimpses of her son’s first birthday party.

Paris Hilton shared clips from her son Phoenix’s first birthday celebration with “Sliving Under The Sea” as the theme of the party.

For the uninitiated, “sliving” is a term coined by Hilton; a mash-up of “slaying” and “living your best life.”

The shindig which appeared to be held at her home, was also attended by celebrity parent friends including Kelly Osbourne, Lance Bass and Rumer Willis.

One clip shows the backyard area being decorated with balloons and cushions in the shapes of ocean creatures. A white horse dressed as a “unicorn” also was spotted in one of the videos.

“It’s Phoenix’s first birthday and we have a ‘Sliving Under the Sea’ theme. I’m so excited,” she wrote over a video.

Another clip features Hilton holding Phoenix in her arms, who adorably sported a pair of sunglasses and stylish cap.

Other mini guests in attendance included Osbourne’s son 13-month-old Sindey, Willis’ nine-month-old daughter Louetta Isley and Bass’ 2-year-old twins, Alexander and Violet.

Hilton and husband Carter Reum share two children together, Phoenix and two-month-old daughter London Marilyn whom they both welcomed via surrogate.

Earlier this month, Hilton wrote a sweet tribute on Instagram to mark Phoenix’s first birthday, sharing a carousel of pictures of her little boy.

“One year ago, a beautiful angel baby entered our lives, bringing so much love and happiness,” she captioned the post. “My precious little one, you are more than a dream come true. You make my life complete Every day with you is a priceless gift, and I’m endlessly grateful to be your mommy.”

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