Entertainment

A first look at Glen Powell starring in the new half-hour comedy series Chad Powers was released on Thursday, featuring a photo of Powell with a mop-top haircut decked out in football gear.

The series coming to Hulu, which has officially started production, has an executive producing team that includes former NFL stars Peyton and Eli Manning, Powell and Loki veteran writer Michael Waldron.

The release also noted that the show is based on a sketch that originally aired on ESPN+’s Eli’s Places series, in which Eli explored various college football scenes across the country.

Powell, who has been featured in a streak of several high-budget films in recent years, including Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You, Twisters and Hit Man, co-wrote the pilot with Waldron.

The Manning brothers are no strangers to entertainment, hosting ESPN’s Manningcast, a Monday Night Football broadcast of Peyton and Eli Manning.

Disney, the parent company of ABC News, is the majority owner of Hulu.

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Martin Short has earned another Emmy nomination for his role as Oliver Putnam, the ambitious but financially struggling Broadway director on Only Murders in the Building, opposite Selena Gomez and his buddy and longtime comedy partner Steve Martin.

The 74-year-old actor and comedian discussed his six-decade career in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, including how long he’d continue appearing in the Hulu comedy.

Says Short, “In the ’70s, I remember watching Tony Randall on Johnny Carson, and The Odd Couple had been going for four years, and Johnny said, ‘Tony, how long will you stay with this show?’ And Tony just looked at him and said, ‘John, that’s the dumbest question I’ve ever been asked. I will stay with the show as long as it exists because it’s a hit, and a hit is a fluke. In show business, there are singles, there are doubles, there are triples, and there are strikeouts. But a home run is very, very rare.'”

“I totally agree with that,” he tells the outlet.

Short also seemed to dispel rumors of an offscreen romance between him and Only Murders in the Building guest star Meryl Streep, saying they’re just friends.

Only Murders in the Building returns for its fourth season Aug. 27 on Hulu. 

Hulu is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor stars in The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, the new film streaming on Hulu on Friday.

The Oscar nominee caught up with ABC Audio at the Disney Upfront event in May, where she said the film is about lifelong friendships between women.

“It’s about [this] group of women who save themselves through their relationships,” Ellis-Taylor said. “They have this life when they’re younger, and then when they grow up, they have to save each other. It’s a great story about sisterhood and women friendships, which are the best.”

Ellis-Taylor said that not only is the film about wonderful women, it stars “some really wonderful women,” too.

“The iconic Sanaa Lathan and the Emmy Award winner Uzo Aduba and a bunch of other young women who are – I think this is some of their first movies,” Ellis-Taylor said.

The sisterhood and strong connections extended outside of the characters they played. Ellis-Taylor said she holds all of her co-stars in high regard, but that she’s always “had a tremendous amount of respect for” Lathan in particular.

“Sanaa and I graduated from graduate school at the same time,” Ellis-Taylor said. “Even if we weren’t friends, I felt a connection to her because we kind of had similar journeys in that way. But I just have such respect for them because they’re just all so brilliant.”

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Paramount+ has dropped the trailer for season 2 of its Frasier revival, premiering Sept. 19. The upcoming season will feature a return to his old radio station, KACL, and the trailer gives us a peek at his reunion with characters from the original series, including Dan Butler as Bob “Bulldog” Briscoe, Harriet Sansom Harris as Frasier’s agent and Peri Gilpin as Roz. Kelsey’s real-life daughter Greer Grammer also shows up as Roz’s daughter, Alice Doyle, along with Amy Sedaris in an undisclosed role. Patricia Heaton joins season 1 regulars Jack Cutmore-Scott, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Toks Olagundoye for season 2 …

Ahead of its fifth season premiere on Sept. 9, CBS Media Ventures has renewed The Drew Barrymore Show through the 2025-26 season. “Drew is a one-of-a-kind talent who is an integral part of the CBS and Paramount family,” Wendy McMahon, president and CEO of CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures, said in a statement. The Drew Barrymore Show is averaging 1.1 million viewers, with nearly 6 billion minutes watched this season, according to CBS Media Ventures …

The Television Academy has announced Greg Berlanti as the 2024 Governors Award recipient. “Greg is an extraordinary creator who consistently delivers characters and stories that are in dialogue with the real world,” Television Academy Chair Cris Abrego said in a statement. “His commitment to representing three-dimensional LGBTQ+ characters in particular has paved the way for greater cultural understanding and acceptance of a community that is often under attack in both social and political discourse.” Berlanti will receive his Emmy statuette during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, held live from Los Angeles on Sept. 15 …

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Lionsgate’s forthcoming big-screen adaptation of James O’Barr’s classic graphic novel The Crow his theaters Friday.

The revenge film stars It‘s Bill Skarsgård and actress-singer FKA Twigs.

As in the comic and the original movie, The Crow centers on Eric Draven, who is murdered along with the love of his life, Shelly, only for him to be supernaturally resurrected and avenge their deaths.

The 1994 original is synonymous with the tragic death of its lead, Brandon Lee: The only son of legendary martial artist Bruce Lee was mortally wounded by a mishap with a firearm on set on March 28, 1993. He was 28.

“In stepping away from the first Crow, we are going to experience a great loss. Like, first of all with Brandon Lee,” Twigs tells ABC Audio.

“But second of all, a great loss of where culture was at that time musically. And kind of just on a sensory level of, like, on the street, things are very different. And even I often think to myself, ‘Oh, I wish I … could have experienced what it would be like to go and see The Cure in concert, or to kind of live this romanticized version of what goth was then. … It’s a great loss because it’s just not like that anymore.”

She continues, “But I think in stepping into this new Crow, I really wanted to focus on what we gained, which was really an incredible love story between Eric and Shelley.”

FKA expresses, “This love is worth fighting for, and I am so excited for younger generations to feel that fire for themselves and the type of relationships that they deserve, the same way that Eric and Shelly fought for the relationship with each other that they finally achieved and deserved.”  

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After the docuseries about the life of David Beckham became a hit for Netflix, Variety says the streaming service is serving up a show about his better half. 

Victoria Beckham appeared in the previous series, called Beckham, and made headlines — and memes — for a scene where her former soccer star hubby forced her to admit she wasn’t working class as claimed, and was in fact driven to school in a Rolls-Royce in her youth.

Beckham’s missus will take center stage in the as-yet-untitled series he’s co-producing, which promises appearances by her family and friends.

An official synopsis reads, “Her Posh Spice days may be behind her, but today Beckham is on a journey to build a fashion empire — and now, fans will be able to see the story behind it all.”

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While speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago Wednesday evening, Mindy Kaling gave a shout-out to Ben Affleck, a day after Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce to end their highly publicized second chance at love.

From the podium, Mindy trumpeted, “I couldn’t leave here without giving a shout-out to the amazing delegation from my home state, Massachusetts. I love you, Massachusetts!”

She added, “Everyone is always hating on us! But they just don’t get it! Go Sox! Go [Celtics star] Jayson Tatum! Ben Affleck, hang in there!”

She added, “Dunkin’ Donuts is the best coffee in the world!” The franchise is a New England staple, which is why Massachusetts-born-and-raised Affleck has partnered with the brand.

Other than sharing a home state, Kaling goes way back with Ben — sort of.

Mindy co-wrote and starred in a hit 2003 off-Broadway play called Matt and Ben, a comedic take on Matt Damon‘s longtime friendship with Affleck and their collaboration on the Oscar-winning script for Good Will Hunting.

The production landed Kaling a writing job on NBC’s The Office, in which she also co-starred and eventually co-produced.

Incidentally, Kaling played Damon in Matt & Ben, with her co-writer Brenda Withers as Affleck.

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In a chat with Saturday Night Live vets Dana Carvey and David Spade on their Fly on the Wall podcast, Punkie Johnson unpacked why she decided not to return to the show for the upcoming 50th season.

As it turns out, she almost left ahead of season 49, and for the same reason. 

“I talked to my team,” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Look, I don’t really know if I belong at this job, so maybe I should step away.” That said, “I told them super, super late, like right after I found out I got to go back.”

“And it was like, ‘Well, Punkie, you need a plan. You can’t just quit your job.'”

Johnson said the first half of that season was “tremendous” for her: “I think I got like three or four sketches on. … And usually I only get maybe two or three on the entire season, so I’m like, ‘Oh man, I’m killing it. Like, this is my season.'” 

As is common practice with SNL, a performer is paired with a writer, and in Johnson’s case it was Ben Silva — who left the show after those sketches aired.

Punkie says after Silva left she found herself without someone who could translate her stand-up sensibilities to sketch format. 

Ultimately, she decided, “I didn’t really feel like I fit, like I didn’t feel like that was my zone. That show is for a different type of person. I came from stand-up so I just thought everybody else came from stand-up.”

Johnson announced her exit at the beginning of August, insisting there’s no “bad blood” with the show. 

“I was part of one of the most elite institutions in comedy, and I’m so grateful. That’s still my people,” she said.

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Given how delightfully cheesy the 1997 original is — and what wise guys the two stars are — it’s raising some eyebrows that Paul Rudd and Jack Black are reportedly circling a reboot of Anaconda. 

The Hollywood Reporter, however, says that’s the case.

The director will be Tom Gormican, who helmed the hit absurdist Nicolas Cage/Pedro Pascal comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, so this likely won’t be a down-the-middle remake.

The original starred Owen Wilson, Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, and featured Jon Voight as a scuzzy Paraguayan snake hunter in a performance so over the top that it has been immortalized in memes and GIFs.

The movie, about a National Geographic film crew in search of the massive reptile, became a cult hit, grossing more than $130 million. It went on to spawn a 2004 sequel before the franchise went the way of Sharknado with a pair of Sci-Fi Channel horror comedy films in 2008 and 2009.

As for Black and Rudd, THR says it’s not clear who is playing whom, but the two main characters in Gormican’s project are guys having mid-life crises who seek to remake their favorite snake movie — only to run into real trouble in the jungle. One’s a wedding photographer and the other is a fading actor hoping to get back into the spotlight.

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The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has changed its ratings system.

Where formerly there was a Critics Score, based on an average of what professional reviewers had to say about a movie or TV show, as well as an Audience Score, there will now be a “Verified Hot” designation used instead of the latter. 

A moviegoer’s review will only count if it can be verified that they bought a ticket to the particular movie — for now, only via its affiliate Fandango. 

That said, the “Verified Hot” designation could also be used to show how audiences are reacting to so-called “critic proof” movies — that is, flicks audiences love but professional reviewers might not, like the Fast and Furious films.

The system could also combat so-called “review bombing” — that is, people trashing films they haven’t seen.

“On Rotten Tomatoes, fans love to consult our verified audience score, in addition to the Tomatometer critics’ score, when discovering new movies and deciding what they want to watch next,” said Amanda Norvell, SVP of direct-to-consumer services at Fandango.

She continues, “With the addition of Verified Hot, we are excited to celebrate and shine a spotlight on the theatrical films that fans have unanimously embraced and have taken the time to share their incredible moviegoing experience with other fans.”

Rotten Tomatoes also announced that the summer hits Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Deadpool & Wolverine, Fly Me to the Moon, Inside Out 2, Twisters and It Ends with Us are the first films to get the new designation.

Additionally, the company is retroactively adding the badge to more than 200 films going back to May 2019. 

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