Tony, Grammy and Oscar winner Cynthia Erivo is the latest celebrity to pop up — in animated form — in Apple TV+’s new series Strange Planet.
However, don’t expect to recognize her by her looks. The show — like Nathan W. Pyle‘s internet comic on which it’s based — centers on nameless, blobby “beings.”
That said, Erivo’s voice is clear as day in a clip released to Rotten Tomatoes from the sixth episode, in which her character sings in front of an audience about having stage fright.
To fight her fear, she performs blindfolded.
“Never feel that good when I perform in front of beings,” her character starts singing, after feeling for a photo of a loved one in her guitar’s neck. “I work best for an audience of one.”
As the being sings about losing her “other half,” a friend pulls off the blindfold to reveal to the teary-eyed musician; Erivo’s character is now able to finish the tune in front of a packed, cheering audience.
On Wednesday, August 30, ABC will reveal the women vying for Gerry Turner‘s heart on The Golden Bachelor.
That information was revealed in a teaser, set to Tina Turner‘s “The Best,” of some of the singletons of a certain age getting gussied up to meet the 71-year-old retired restaurateur.
Turner’s search for love will begin on Thursday, September 28, at 8 p.m. ET. The show will be followed by Bachelor in Paradise, premiering at 9 p.m. ET.
Ayer and Bernthal in 2014 – Mireya Acierto/Getty Images
Jon Bernthal recently welcomed his Fury director, David Ayer, onto his Real Ones podcast for a wide-ranging interview, including the lingering controversy over his 2016 superhero movie Suicide Squad.
Ayer called it his “biggest heartbreak” in Hollywood. “That s*** broke me,” he added.
The movie starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie was a box-office hit, but fell flat with fans. In the years since, Ayer has been vocal about how his version differed from the one Warner Bros. released to theaters.
“Come right off Fury, right? I had the town in my hand — could’ve done anything, and I did do anything,” Ayer said.
“And [I] go on this journey with [Suicide Squad] … authentic, truthful, let’s do all the rehearsal, let’s really get in each other’s souls. Let’s create this amazing, collaborative thing, right?” Ayer said.
“And then Deadpool opened, right? And they never tested Batman v. Superman, so they were expecting a different result, and then they got hammered by all the critics. Then it’s like, ‘OK we’re going to turn David Ayer’s dark, soulful movie into a f****** comedy now.'”
Incidentally, Ayer said earlier this month on social media that James Gunn — who directed the sequel The Suicide Squad and who now heads DC Films — insisted a so-called Ayer cut of Suicide Squad “would have its time to be shared.”
“All I know is my unseen film plays much better than the studio release,” Ayer wrote, explaining there is “real and organic” interest from fans wanting to see it.
He added Gunn “absolutely deserves to launch his DC universe without more drama about old projects,” though he feels “chained” to the film. “I’m riding a tiger here and navigating this situation the best I can,” he expressed.
Crazy Rich Asians and The Terminal List star Constance Wu will play Audrey, and High School Musical veteran Corbin Bleu, Seymour, in an upcoming stage production of Little Shop of Horrors.
The curtain goes up September 26 at New York City’s Westside Theatre.
In a statement, Wu said,“Little Shop has been my #1 favorite musical since I first saw a community production growing up in Richmond, Virginia. The music is so wonderful & I love Audrey. I relate to her scrappiness and finding beauty in the simple things.”
She adds, “I am so excited to be in this production, singing and performing alongside the brilliant Corbin Bleu, and enjoying the thrill of … alive theater with the audience.”
For his part, Bleu said of Little Shop, “I watched the film on repeat. It’s a perfect musical and this is definitely a dream fulfilling moment for me.” He said of his co-star, “We both love and crave live theater – our mutual excitement is kinetic.”
Other co-stars include Broadway vets Bryce Pinkham and Brad Oscar playing, respectively, Dr. Orin Scrivello and Mushnik, and Aaron Arnell Harrington as the voice of Audrey II, the man-eating plant.
Tickets are on sale now through January 5 at Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200.
Drea de Matteo, who famously played Adriana La Cerva, the romantic interest of Tony Soprano’s mentee Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos, has joined OnlyFans.
The move was apparently a joke at first for the star, who has also appeared in Sons of Anarchy and its spinoff, Mayans M.C. In September of 2022, she posted a bikini video of herself to Instagram, noting in the caption, “Only Fans page coming soon,” with a crying laughing and a clownface emoji and adding, “jk,” which is short for “just kidding.”
However, De Matteo wasn’t kidding with the new venture. She is charging subscribers $15 a month for racy content, like her profile photo which shows her wearing nothing else but cowboy boots.
De Matteo joins other mainstream stars like Cardi B, Bella Thorne and Denise Richards on the platform, which is famous for its adult content providers.
In fact, according to data from OnlyAccounts.io, OnlyFans creators posted almost 200 million pieces of content between January and July of 2023 — 58% more than they did at the same period in 2022. The platform is poised to have a record year.
Simone Biles is commonly hailed the G.O.A.T. — greatest of all time — for good reason. She proved why once again Sunday, August 27, with her historic all-around win at the 2023 U.S. Gymnastics Championships.
Biles, who claimed three titles on the night, made history in San Jose, California, as the first gymnast to win eight U.S. all-around titles and the oldest woman ever to win the all-around.
The 26-year-old seven-time Olympic medalist and 2016 Olympic individual all-around champion also took gold in the balance beam and floor exercises, posting a two-day score of 118.45 for all-around.
Biles previously shared the record for all-around national championships with Alfred Jochim, who won seven men’s all-around titles from 1925-30 and 1933.
Her two-day winning total included a 29.300 on beam and 30.200 on floor, plus she scored 28.400 on uneven bars for the bronze in that apparatus and put up a 30.550 on vault.
Biles now holds 27 U.S. titles and 35 national championship medals overall since her senior debut in 2013.
Following the competition, Biles was also named to the USA Gymnastics 2023-24 Senior Women’s National Team.
Dancing with the Stars pro Witney Carson has announced she will not be returning for the upcoming 32nd season.
“This was not a decision that we took lightly. We definitely thought and prayed about it for a while, but we will not be doing Dancing With the Stars this season,” she revealed in a TikTok posted Sunday, August 27. “As much as that pains me to say, I just felt very at peace with it.”
Carson, who shares 2-year-old Leo and 3-month old Jet with husband Carson McAllister, expressed that her family situation also led to her departure from the series.
“Leo’s at an age where he needs consistency and dependability, and he hasn’t had that ever since he’s been born. We’re just really trying to give him that right now,” she said.
The 29-year-old also shared that she doesn’t “feel quite mentally and physically ready for what the show calls for.”
Carson ended her message with hopes of returning one day, but in the meantime, she plans to continue to cheer on everyone else.
“I will be rooting for everybody on the show, I cannot wait to watch. I’m so excited,” she expressed. “I definitely think this is just a break. I hope it’s not goodbye. But for now, we will be there No. 1 cheerleader watching. Love you guys.”
Disney+ has canceled Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. after two seasons, according to TVLine. The updated take on the popular 1990s ABC series Doogie Howser, M.D., which starred Neil Patrick Harris, followed Lahela “Doogie” Kamealoha -played by Peyton Elizabeth Lee — “a half-Asian, half-white 16-year-old girl with a genius-level intellect who has breezed through college and medical school and is now working as a doctor in Hawaii,” per the streamer…
Disney+ has decided not to move forward with its live-action series adaptation of the popular children’s fantasy books, The Spiderwick Chronicles, according to Deadline. The eight-episode series from Paramount Television Studios and 20th Television, has already completed production, is currently being shopped to other potential buyers. The move reportedly comes as part of the content cost-cutting and strategy shift announced by Disney in May…
Arleen Sorkin, the actress best known for voicing Harley Quinn on Batman: The Animated Series, has died following a long battle with multiple sclerosis, representative for Sorkin’s husband, television producer and screenwriter Christopher Lloyd, said in a statement obtained by Entertainment Weekly. Mark Hamill, who played the Joker opposite Sorkin’s Harley Quinn, wrote on social media that Sorkin was “Not just a wonderful talent, but a truly wonderful person.” Sorkin also earned praise for her role as Calliope Jones Bradford on the NBC soap Days of Our Lives from 1984-1990, and later reprising the role in 1992, 2006, and 2010. Her other TV credits include Frasier and a brief stint hosting America’s Funniest Home Videos…
Clive Rose – Gran Turismo/Gran Turismo via Getty Images
Gran Turismo squeezed past Barbie to claim top honors at the domestic box office with an estimated $17.3 million. The film, starring David Harbour, Orlando Bloom and Djimon Hounsou, and based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a guy who was so good at the car racing video game that he was able to translate his skills to the real racing world, earned $36.5 million overseas.
Right behind Grand Turismo, in second places was Barbie grabbing an estimated $17.1 million. The film earned an estimated $18.2 million internationally, bringing its six-week global tally to $1.34 billion.
After topping the box office in its debut last week DC’s Blue Beetle, dropped to third place with an estimated $12.7 million. Thus far, the superhero origin story has earned $46.3 million at the domestic box office and $81.8 million worldwide.
Taking fourth place was Oppenheimer with an estimated $9 million at the North American box office for a six-week total of $300 million domestically and $777.1 million globally.
Rounding out the top five was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, delivering an estimated $6.1 million. The animated feature has grossed $98.1 in North America million to date.
Legendary TV star Bob Barker, who hosted the famed game show The Price Is Right for 35 years, has died. He was 99.
Barker died at his home the morning of Saturday, August 26, his longtime publicist Roger Neal told ABC News. He was a few months shy of his 100th birthday.
“He had a wonderful life,” Neal said.
Born in 1923, Barker was raised in South Dakota and Missouri, among other places, before eventually enlisting in the United States Navy during World War II. He never saw action, and after returning home to attend college at Drury University, he got his start in radio and smaller shows.
His big break came when game show creator Ralph Edwards heard him on the air and reached out about Truth or Consequences in the mid-1950s. Barker said Edwards had hosted the show himself on radio and this was one of the TV iterations.
Almost 20 years later, in September 1972, Barker began a job that would end up being the work he is most known for: The Price Is Right. On this program, Barker would give the audience a chance to guess prices on everyday household items, from couches to cars. Getting close to the actual price was the name of the game.
“I was 48 and didn’t have any thoughts about the rest of my life. It was just another show I thought I would have fun with and be well paid for,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2007.
With Price, Barker got to put his experience talking with and interviewing the everyday person to good use, which he said he got from his early days in radio.
One of Barker’s most memorable additions to Price was his concern for animals and animal rights. This began in the early 1980s and lasted well into his retirement in 2007. Eventually, he ended every episode by saying, “Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.” In fact, the show got rid of fur coats as prizes because of Barker.
“I myself was not aware of the cruelty to animals in the production of fur until about 1981. I said to [my producer] that I was very much involved in the anti-fur campaign and it’s embarrassing to be on the stage giving away fur coats. And he said, ‘I understand your position. They’re gone,'” Barker told EW.
Barker also started a foundation, which has contributed millions to various causes over the years.
After leaving the show in the late 2000s, Barker returned in 2013 for a special tribute on his 90th birthday. New host Drew Carey invited the legend back to the show he had made famous.
“The audience gave me a standing ovation. I had a lump in my throat the first moment I was on the show practically. It was just a thrill, a pleasure,” he told TV Guide about being honored.
The one constant for Barker from his early days in radio to The Price Is Right was his wife, Dorothy Jo Gideon, whom the host met in high school and married in 1945. Barker told ABC News in 2007 that Dorothy Jo was the driving force behind his love for audience participation, his trademark. She was also a force behind his fight to help animals.
“She was ahead of her time. She really was. She stopped wearing fur coats before anyone was stopping. She became a vegetarian before people were becoming vegetarian. And I gradually did the same thing with her,” he said.
His wife died in 1981 of lung cancer. He never remarried.
“I never had any inclination to remarry. She was my wife,” he said.
