Entertainment

Former Late Show host David Letterman got a hero’s welcome when he returned to New York City’s Ed Sullivan Theater, where Stephen Colbert now holds court as host.

Letterman was introduced to a thunderous reaction from the studio audience Monday, prompting Dave to tell Colbert, “Oh my God, Stephen, control your people,” and saying self-deprecatingly, “I will say this is the most enthusiastic audience I’ve been near since the night I announced I was quitting.”

Dave left his post eight years ago, and Monday night was the My Next Guest Needs No Introduction host’s first return to the venue.

In a lengthy interview with his predecessor, Colbert asked Letterman what he missed most about hosting his show, to which Dave answered, “I miss everything.”

The now-bearded 76-year-old added of the late-night gig, “Mostly it’s fun and very few things in life provide one the opportunity.” A notorious perfectionist back in the day, Letterman also admitted to his successor, “I can’t speak for you or to you on this topic, but for me, if you muck one up, 24 hours later you get to try again, and that’s a pretty good device.”

Looking back, Letterman called his musical guests “one of the great parts of the show” and a “tremendous gift.” He also recalled being frightened by Green Day drummer Tre Cool, who would “lunge” at him after every appearance. One time, he jumped up and fell off the stage.

“I assumed he was kidding around,” Dave said. “Perhaps he actually wanted to hurt me, but looking back now I thought what a great experience that was.”

Dave also gave Colbert his flowers, saying of the show’s success, “You make it look easy.”

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While one might think the deadly serious Manhattan Project movie Oppenheimer would have little in common with HBO’s Emmy-winning political satire Veep, you’d be wrong.

In fact, director Christopher Nolan has Veep to thank for his blockbuster’s Oval Office set.

In a discussion that was part of Variety‘s Artisans Screening Series, Oppenheimer production designer Ruth De Jong revealed the crew was set to use a replica of the presidential office at Yorba Linda, California’s Nixon Library, but the deal fell through just days before Gary Oldman was slated to sit behind its desk as President Harry S. Truman.

Oldman only had time to shoot per the original schedule, so De Jong scrambled, and her supervising art director, Samantha Englander, managed to snag Veep‘s set, which had been disassembled and packed flat since the Julia Louis-Dreyfus comedy wrapped in 2019.

“It was a mess,” De Jong said.

She assembled a team to work around the clock for five days to get the important office back into shape — and rapidly build a lobby and a cabinet room for Oldman’s Truman. She noted that “the paint was still wet” when Oldman performed.

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While this time of year has become synonymous with Mariah Carey on the radio, for many, fall also means the Sandman cometh: Adam Sandler and his smash “The Hanukkah Song.”

In fact, some have dubbed him “the Mariah Carey of Hannukah,” but he laughed that title off in a chat with Access Hollywood. “No,” he said with a laugh. “Mariah Carey is for all of us.”

“But man, I’m happy to be a part of Hanukkah, that was a good time of life to be associated with a song and the holidays,” Sandler continued. “I’m very proud of that.”

Sandler debuted the ditty during a Weekend Update segment on Saturday Night Live in 1994, but he credits the host that evening, Roseanne Barr, with giving him the spotlight.

“They were talking about Roseanne singing it, and she was nice enough to say, ‘No, let Adam do that, that’s his, he wrote it, that’s his song.'”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Adam, who can be now heard as the voice of a grade school pet lizard in Netflix’s Leo, says he remains “very proud” to still be associated with the song and the holiday. He notes, “If it comes on the radio, and I hear it, I get excited. That’s still awesome.”

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“Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger. Can I take your order?”

Pretty soon that famous quote from the beloved 1997 film Good Burger will again be heard all around the world.

For writers Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert, who penned the original Nickelodeon movie, bringing to life long-awaited sequel Good Burger 2 has been a dream come true.

“This has been a dream 26 years in the making,” Seifert told ABC Audio.

He spoke about the balance between coming up with a script and film that would hopefully satisfy fans of the original, but also telling a “bigger, more explosive story.”

Kopelow said he didn’t feel any pressure trying to live up to the expectations and success of Good Burger. “I just wanted people to hear a new story,” he said.

As for how the sequel came to be? It was just a matter of the right timing, given the writers had kept in touch with stars Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell over the years.

Seifert said it felt like no time had passed the moment Kenan and Kel appeared on set in their Good Burger uniforms.

As for their wishes for the film: “It’s the same thing when we did the show All That — we just wanted kids to laugh,” Kopelow said.

Good Burger 2 premieres Wednesday, November 22, exclusively on Paramount+.

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Kerry Washington’s Onyx Collective series UnPrisoned has been renewed for a season two on Hulu. The show is inspired by creator Tracy McMillan‘s life, with Washington playing Paige, a relationship therapist and single mom whose life is upended when her father returns from a 16-year prison stint. Season one of UnPrisoned was Onyx Collective’s most-viewed premiere on Hulu.

ABC and Dick Clark Productions have renewed their deal to air Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest through January 1, 2029. This year’s broadcast airs live Sunday, Dec. 31, at 8 p.m. on ABC. More details about the event – including co-hosts, performers and additional locations – will be announced soon.

NBC has announced midseason premiere dates for a slew of its scripted shows. Among those returning in January are Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime. The network also confirmed that the third season of La Brea, premiering January 9, would be its last. As far as unscripted show, The Voice will return for its new season on February 26.

Deadline reports a sixth Jason Bourne film is in the works at Universal, though sources tell the outlet that the project is still in the very early stages and an actual movie may still be a long way off. All Quiet on the Western Front filmmaker Edward Berger is in talks to direct, but, currently, there’s neither script, nor a perspective writer. Over five films — four of which starring Matt Damon — the blockbuster franchise has grossed over $1.6 billion worldwide…

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Winter is coming, but it was already a little nipply for actor Jon Hamm when he started work on the new season of Fargo.

Show creator Noah Hawley is known for getting weird with his series, which drops its first two episodes of the new season Tuesday night, but the trailer already had the internet abuzz.

It was revealed in the sneak peek that Emmy winner Hamm’s character, a conservative sheriff named Roy Tillman, has pierced nipples, and fans couldn’t stop talking about it.

“It’s not the first body part I’ve had be a conversation starter. So, you know, hey, here we are,” the actor joked to ABC Audio.

Hamm doesn’t actually have pierced nipples, so a little movie magic was in order.

“Sitting in a makeup chair and having someone do a plaster cast of your nipples is a very strange experience,” he said. “I certainly didn’t have that class in theater school.”

Hamm expressed, “It’s all part of the wonder of this strange business we’re in. So I was happy to do it. I thought it was a very funny quirk of the character.”

Jon continued, “[I]t’s a fun little part of Roy that I think lends a three dimensionality to his existence.”

Co-star Dave Foley agreed with a laugh, “That’s not usually the part of Jon Hamm’s anatomy people want to talk about. Famously.”

He noted that the prosthetic nipples “look great” and add a “nice, weird detail” to the character.

He said of the finished product, “Yeah, I think they look great. I think it’s a nice weird thing. That that character would have pierced nipples is a nice, weird detail.”  

Fargo‘s fifth season also stars Juno Temple, Joe Keery, Lamorne Morris, Richa Moorjani and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

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A new trailer for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom splashed down, and for all its action, it opens up with a tender moment: Jason Momoa‘s comic hero Arthur Curry talking to his baby son.

The infant is a chip off the old block, using his aquatic telepathy to talk “to the fishies” in a tank.

“You and me, son,” he tells the boy. “We’re special: We’re connected to the land and the sea … I can’t wait to show you how awesome this world can be.”

However, the peace is interrupted by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II‘s Black Manta, who is back from the first movie with revenge on his mind.

“I’m gonna kill Aquaman, even if I have to make a deal with the devil to do it.”

At the center of that deal, the mythic Black Trident, and Manta’s oath to end Aquaman’s bloodline. That puts Aquaman’s whole family at risk, baby included, so he forges an unlikely alliance with his former brother baddie Orm, the former king of Atlantis.

The trailer also shows returning players Nicole Kidman as both characters’ mom, Atlanna, and Arthur’s human dad, Tom, played by Book of Boba Fett veteran Temuera Morrison. There are also the over-the-top underwater battles, the likes of which director James Wan broke new ground with in the original film.

Interestingly, it doesn’t show Amber Heard‘s Mera.

Warner Bros.’ synopsis reads, “After failing to defeat Aquaman the first time, Black Manta wields the power of the mythic Black Trident to unleash an ancient and malevolent force. Hoping to end his reign of terror,” Aquaman and Orm “join forces to protect their kingdom and save the world from irreversible destruction.”

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will now be released on December 22.

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This year’s ATX TV Festival has announced it will stage a five-year anniversary panel with the cast and creatives of Suits.

The series surprised even its creators when it found an explosion of popularity on streaming this year — four years after it ended.

The organizers of the Austin, Texas, TV expo, which runs from May 30 to June 2, say creator/EP/showrunner Aaron Korsh will be there, along with former cast members Patrick J. Adams (Mike), Sarah Rafferty (Donna) and Dulé Hill (Alex), “with more to be announced in the coming months.”

The series also starred Gabriel Macht, Rick Hoffman, Abigail Spencer and, famously, Meghan Markle, who played paralegal Rachel Zane and left the series in 2017, on her way to walk down the aisle with Prince Harry in 2018.

Incidentally, she recently told Variety that Suits‘ newfound love from streaming fans was “wild,” saying she had no idea why it became such a phenomenon.

She added, “It was great to work on, such a great cast and crew. We had a really fun time. … It’s hard to find a show you can binge-watch that many episodes of these days, so that could have something to do with it. But good shows are everlasting.”

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Iman Vellani says she’s not concerned The Marvels had the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s worst debut, then suffered the studio’s biggest-ever opening week drop over the last weekend.

“I don’t want to focus on something that’s not even in my control, because what’s the point?” the 21-year-old tells Yahoo! Entertainment. “That’s for Bob Iger.”

Iger is the CEO of Disney, the parent company of Marvel Studios and also ABC News.

Vellani reprised her role of Kamala Khan from the Disney+ television series Ms. Marvel, joining Brie Larson from Captain Marvel and Teyonah Parris from WandaVision.

Vellani added the movie’s box office “has nothing to do with me. I’m happy with the finished product, and the people that I care about enjoyed the film.”

The actress insisted, “It’s genuinely a good time watching this movie … it’s not that deep and it’s about teamwork and sisterhood. It’s a fun movie, and I’m just so happy that I can share it with people.”

In fairness, The Marvels might not have won over critics, but it does have an 83% Audience Score from the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Also coming to The Marvels defense is no fan of comic movies, author Stephen King. He said he found “barely masked gloating” over the movie’s bombing “very unpleasant.”

He later added, “Some of the rejection of The Marvels may be adolescent fanboy hate. You know, ‘Yuck! GIRLS!'”

Vellani enthused, “Having Stephen King in anyone’s corner is pretty awesome.”

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On Monday, CBS announced that its top-rated cop drama Blue Bloods will officially turn in its badge at the end of the upcoming 14th season.

The network says the final season of the Tom Selleck-topped series will be broken into two parts: the first will begin on Friday, February 16, and finish in fall 2024.

In the announcement, Selleck, who plays NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan on the show, said, “For the past 13 years it has been an honor and a privilege to work on a show that not only celebrates the men and women who protect and serve in New York City, but also displayed the importance of family.”

He added, “Working alongside these incredible actors, writers, producers, directors and crew has been a dream come true and I’m grateful to have been a part of this extraordinary group for over 275 episodes.” Selleck added thanks to the network and CBS Studios “for their steadfast support and we offer heartfelt gratitude to the fans who gathered with us for dinner every Friday night.”

Every episode showed the Reagan family gathering for family dinners.

Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment, and David Stapf, president of CBS Studios, saluted Blue Bloods, saying in part, “It ruled Friday nights with unprecedented dominance since its premiere and established itself as a pillar of our winning lineup with an exceptionally devoted fan base.”

They added, “We’ll be forever grateful to the legendary Leonard Goldberg for developing this signature series and to the amazing cast led by Tom Selleck, who America embraced as family and watched as welcomed guests at the Reagan dinner table.”

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