Entertainment

If you’ve ditched your pricey cable bill in favor of streaming entertainment, you’re not alone.

The experts at Insider Intelligence say by the end of 2023, the number of so-called cord-cutters in this country will surpass the number of people paying for traditional TV for the first time.

The cord-cutters’ numbers have been growing for years, but this year will finally be the year they outnumber their cable customer counterparts, according to the research service.

The number of cord-cutters plus people who have never paid for TV will grow to 144.1 million by the end of this year — that’s a jump of 12.5% from last year alone.

U.S. non-pay TV viewers — the sum of cord-cutters and cord-nevers — will grow by 12.5% to 144.1 million by the end of 2023.

In fact, by 2027, the number of people who watch their entertainment without going through their local cable company will “effectively double” the number of traditional pay TV viewers, the industry analysts say.

“Regardless of how one defines pay TV, there is an unmistakable attrition in the number of people who are willing to pay upwards of $100 a month for a live TV bundle,” said Paul Verna, vice president of content at Insider Intelligence.

He adds, “The cord-cutters have won.”

Verna says cable companies will be forced to adapt to survive, catering to a public now used to streaming their news, sports and entertainment via the internet, instead of through their set-top boxes.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

On Wednesday — naturally — Bucket Listers announced a collab with Paramount Pictures for an upcoming interactive Mean Girls Experience.

The folks behind viral attractions like The Golden Girls pop-up restaurant and other experiences celebrating pop culture touchstones will be bringing the classic film — and the forthcoming musical based on it — to real life in New York and Los Angeles in January.

The Mean Girls Experience will be a fast-casual restaurant of “chef driven cafeteria style fare,” including Burn Book Burger Sliders, the Stab Caesar Salad, 1 3 5 Acai Bowl, Kälteen Brownies, Rainbow + Smiles Cake, Is Butter a Carb? Cookies and the Fetch Strudel, all dreamt up by Master Chef semi-finalist Chef Becky Brown.

There’s also an “assortment of fan favorite set recreations of the film’s most memorable scenes and quotes” as well as the Cool Mom Bar, a Mean Girls Museum featuring costumes and props, and the opportunity to take center stage at the Winter Talent Show.

The attraction will be open to the public in Los Angeles on January 12 and New York on January 19; the limited-time runs will coincide with Paramount Pictures’ release of the new Mean Girls musical film on January 12.

Ticket information can be found here.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

These Barbies designed the sets for the highest-grossing film of the year.

Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, the production designer and set decorator on Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, spent endless days perfecting the look and feel of Barbieland.

But, as they told ABC Audio, not every painstakingly crafted detail made it into the final product.

“There was a scene in a real house in America with a little boy playing with the Ken doll’s house,” Greenwood said, before correcting herself: “the Ken Mojo Dojo Casa House.”

That’s right — they actually made a doll-sized, plastic version of that specific set, down to each and every meticulous detail.

“It had La-Z-Boy sofas that lift back, tiny. Mini fridges. We made the doll as well, with a mink,” Spencer said.

The deleted scene starts as a young boy plays with Ken inside his toy Mojo Dojo Casa House.

“He turns to his sister and goes, ‘Make me a sammy.’ And it was a brilliant scene,” Greenwood said. “It got cut for time and rhythm and everything. But that was the most beautiful prop ever.”

Spencer said it took a while to discover what Kendom — and the now infamous Mojo Dojo Casa House — would look like. Gerwig was firm: she wanted it to be ugly.

“Then we were saying to Greta, ‘Do you really mean this ugly? Do you?’” Spencer said.

She did. “It’s the lack of aesthetic that makes it aesthetic,” Greenwood continued.

At the end of the day, they discovered something poetic in their intentionally ugly Kendom sets.

“The abiding image of all those televisions playing the same footage in slow motion of a horse cantering towards you,” Spencer said. “That captured his melancholia as well as everything else. So many ugly things put together become quite beautiful.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

In an Instagram Story, Jennifer Aniston marked November 28th’s Giving Tuesday by raising awareness for the Matthew Perry Foundation in honor of her late former Friends co-star.

The non-profit was established by the actor’s family after his death at age 54 on October 28. Perry suffered from addiction for most of his life. 

“For #GivingTuesday please join me and Matty’s family in supporting his foundation – which is working to help those suffering with addiction,” posted Aniston.

“He would have been grateful for the love,” she continued, adding a heart emoji.

Aniston’s call to action also included Perry’s own words, quoted by the official Instagram of the charity started in his name: “Addiction is far too powerful for anyone to defeat alone. But together, one day at a time, we can beat it down.” 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Serena Williams is saying that it’s “ok to not be ok.”

In a post she shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, the tennis legend said, “I am not ok today,” but it’s okay if you’re not having the best day.

“No one is ok every single day,” she said. “If you are not ok today I’m with you.”

“There’s always tomorrow,” she added. “Love you.”

The tennis legend also shared a photo of her and her daughter, Adira, sleeping on her chest.

“This makes me so happy,” Williams captioned the post.

Williams has always been open about mental health with her followers in the past.

Last year, the Olympic gold medalist, who shares daughters Adira and Olympia with husband Alexis Ohanian, spoke with Selena Gomez about her thoughts on mental fitness for Gomez’ Wondermind, a mental health platform that aims to connect people with mental health tools and media to support their “mental fitness.”

“I did this years ago, before even mental health was a topic among everyone’s mind,” she said. “It was more just like, ‘Alright, I’m shutting myself down today.’ Just subconsciously, it was something I’ve always done.”

“It’s so important to just put yourself first, especially mentally,” she added. “I always have shutdown moments. I have serious boundaries and I don’t let anyone cross those boundaries.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Starz announced on Tuesday, November 28, that production on Power Book III: Raising Kanan‘s fourth season will kick off this week in New York. Meanwhile, season 3 of the family crime drama — based on the original Power series created by Courtney A. Kemp and starring Omari Hardwick as Ghost and rapper 50 Cent as Kanan Stark — will premiere on Friday, December 1. New episodes will be available weekly on Fridays at midnight ET on the Starz app, all Starz streaming and on-demand platforms. Episodes will make their cable debut on Starz at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT…

The musical chairs at Comedy Central’s The Daily Show continues with radio host and TV personality Charlamagne Tha God and actor Kal Penn returning as guest hosts in December. Charlamagne will take the anchor chair the week of December 4, followed by Penn the week of December 11. The Emmy and Peabody Award-winning show announced in September that it will continue through December with guest hosts, before a permanent host is named named in 2024…

Netflix on Tuesday, November 28, released nine first-look photos from The Crown‘s final six episodes, hitting the streaming service December 14. Among them are an all-grown-up look at Prince William and Prince Harry following the death of their mother Princess Diana — played by Elizabeth Debicki — and a peek at Meg Bellamy‘s Kate Middleton. William and Harry — played respectively by Rufus Kampa and Flynn Edwards in part one of the show’s sixth and final season, will be succeeded in the roles by Ed McVey and Luther Ford in the second part…

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The Apple TV+ series Monarch: Legacy of the Monsters is now streaming, and while Godzilla and the other kaiju seen in the show aren’t real, it’s Sean Konrad‘s job to make you believe.

Konrad is the lead visual effects person on the series, which stars Kurt and Wyatt Russell, Anders Holm and Anna Sawai. Konrad tells ABC Audio the secret to creating realistic monsters. “You take something from the real world that’s freaky and strange and then you embellish on it in some way,” he explains.

“So like, a lot of my inspiration is, like, I’ll go to the creepy, strange things at the bottom of the ocean, and then we’ll put together like Pinterest boards and have little chats about it.”

Konrad is a veteran of this particular monsterverse, having cut his teeth on the 2014 Godzilla film. But while his expertise is bringing monsters to life, he says Monarch‘s secret is the humans behind the story.

“Sometimes you get with these big blockbuster films where, ‘OK, I’ve got an idea for an action sequence, and then we’re going to like reverse engineer how the people react to it,'” he explains.

Konrad continues, “Apple was really clear — they wanted big, crazy action scenes. But also a thing that … really works about this is that this is an emotional story with characters, and those characters drive these set pieces. It’s not sort of the opposite way around.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

While appearing on The View, Chris Evans revealed he’s heard rumors that Marvel Studios has been thinking about getting the original Avengers back together. 

But what he hasn’t heard is his phone ringing. 

While on the chat show promoting Jinx, the pet food company he’s partnered with, Evans shared a laugh with co-host Sara Haines — who, incidentally, is a small part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks to an appearance in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. 

“You know, I always see those reports, too, and it’s news to me. I think every couple months, someone says that they’re getting [Robert] Downey, and [Chris] Hemsworth, and Scarlett [Johansson], and everyone’s coming back.”

But he doesn’t know anything beyond the rumors: “No one’s spoken to me about it. And look, I would never say never, but I really — I’m very protective. It’s a very precious role to me, so it would have to be just right.”

Thanks to some creative use of time travel, viewers learned Evans’ Steve Rogers/Captain America got to live the life he’d missed with his love Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) at the close of Avengers: Endgame. 

He passed the Captain America mantle — and shield — to his pal Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). 

Aside from Cap getting his happy ending, Endgame was the literal end for Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow and Downey’s Tony Stark/Iron Man. 

But in the comic book world, people nearly never stay dead.

All that said, Evans noted there are “so many things” he misses about the character — “It’s just intrinsically cool being a superhero” — but he’s also missing his co-stars, “some of my best friends in the world,” as well as the crew he’s worked with over multiple films.

Marvel Studios is owned by ABC News’ parent company Disney.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The magic of the North Pole has landed at the Big Apple again, courtesy of Bucket Listers, the folks who have brought fans real-life pop-up environments from movies and shows including Barbie, Saved By the Bell and The Golden Girls.

They’ve partnered with Disney+ for a peek into Santa Claus’ HQ as seen in The Santa Clauses, the second season of which is now streaming.

Located at The Rooftop at Pier 17, the 65,000-square-foot venue has been transformed into an immersive winter wonderland, complete with the city’s only rooftop skating rink.

“Visitors can snap a holiday pic under the giant Christmas tree, add to the bustle of Santa’s Workshop, or opt to fill up their stockings at Mrs. Claus’ candy bar,” the organizers tease.

“Continue to explore and discover Santa’s famous sleigh, a not-to-be-missed seasonal slide, larger-than-life photo moments, weekend appearances by Santa Claus himself.”

Should be said, it isn’t Tim Allen, but he looks the part.

The pop-up includes an indoor-outdoor bar called The Gingerbread House, offering “the finest seasonal treats and cocktails or mocktails,” plus the ability to reserve private cabins and an additional food menu.

The experience will also offer a signature Santa’s brunch every Saturday and Sunday throughout December.

The rooftop’s postcard-perfect views of New York City’s skyline are there year-round, but from now until January 5, you can enjoy them with some cocoa and s’mores.

Check out the website for ticket info.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Reality show star and entrepreneur Kendall Jenner graces the cover of Forbes‘ 30 Under 30 list and in the accompanying article, sheds some light on her business endeavors.

“I find myself to be a very intentional person,” she explains. “I don’t want to do anything that doesn’t align with my vibes, or my morals, or my feelings and things that really make me feel good and make me feel excited to wake up in the morning.”

She adds she “had to work to get to that place, it wasn’t always that easy.”

Kendall explains she anonymously entered her then fledgling tequila brand, 818, into the prestigious World Tequila Awards in 2020 without any boost from her famous family.

“We wanted to get true, honest feedback,” Kendell expresses. “I wanted the liquid and the brand to stand on their own and for people to love it without me even having to be a part of it because I just wanted it to be that good.”

The spirit ended up being a multiple award winner.

Jenner also discussed what it’s like to have a mother who is the head of the Kardashian empire.

“Obviously, my mom is my mom, but she’s also my manager,” Kendall explains of Kris Jenner.

“We have moments when … we’re talking about business, maybe having a heated conversation about something, and then all of a sudden, she’s like ‘Okay I love you. How are you feeling today?’ and I’m like ‘Oh my God, yeah you’re my mom too!’ she adds.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.