Entertainment

Thanksgiving is just next week, but ABC is already looking forward to New Year’s Eve. The network has announced that 18-time host and executive producer Ryan Seacrest will be back in Times Square to ring in the new year, joined by two returning NYRE vets: actress/producer Liza Koshy and country star Jessie James Decker.

This year, the show will expand to include a pre-taped segment at Disneyland Resort in Los Angeles, hosted by another returning personality, Ciara.

For the fourth year, Emmy, Grammy and Tony winner Billy Porter will be covering the Central Time Zone countdown in New Orleans, and after serving as the LA Party DJ last year, rapper, producer and philanthropist D-Nice will return as the host of the Los Angeles festivities.

Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2022 was the 50th-anniversary of ABC’s annual special, attracting a four-year high of 19.6 million total viewers — an audience that grew to 24.2 million in the minutes leading up to that famous ball drop in the Big Apple.

Musical acts and other guests for this year’s parties will be forthcoming.

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Bravo’s Real Housewives of New York City reboot hasn’t aired yet, but they’ve already lost a cast member in Lizzy Savetsky.

Taking to Instagram Wednesday, Lizzy announced, “I will not be continuing on the Real Housewives of NYC,” before revealing the reasoning behind her decision.

“As a proud orthodox Jewish woman, I though participating in this series would be a great chance to represent people like me and share my experience,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, from the time of my announcement in the cast, I was on the receiving end of a torrent of antisemitic attacks. As this continued, I realized that this path was no longer right for me and my family.”

Lizzy, who runs Bashert, a matchmaking service to help Jewish singles find love, then thanked fans for their support and said she’s looking forward to her “next chapter.”

The announcement comes less than a month after the new cast of RHONYC was announced at BravoCon in October. The remaining cast members are Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Dana Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Jessel Taank and Brynn Whitfield.

Season 14 of RHONYC is currently filming and is expected to premiere in 2023.

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Deadline reports Joseph Quinn, who played the Dungeons & Dragons-loving metalhead Eddie Munson in the latest season of Stranger Things, is in talks to join Lupita Nyong’o in A Quiet Place: Day One. The film, based on an idea from John Krasinski, who directed and starred in the first two films, is said to be a spinoff, rather than a sequel, aimed at setting up a potential Quiet Place universe. Specific details of the film, set to open March 8, 2024, have yet to be revealed…

Keanu Reeves is attached to star in, and Jonah Hill is attached to co-write and direct, an upcoming film titled Outcome, according to Deadline. Plot details are being kept under wraps. Hill previously directed the 2018 coming of age dramedy Mid90s and Stutz, a documentary revolving around his therapist Dr. Phil Stutz and their discussions on mental health, streaming now on Netflix. Reeves next will be seen in John Wick: Chapter 4, set to open in the spring…

Robert Clary, the French actor, singer and Holocaust survivor best known for playing Corporal LeBeau on the World War II-set sitcom Hogan’s Heroes, died Wednesday morning at his home in Los Angeles, his granddaughter Kim Wright told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 96. Born Robert Max Widerman, Clary was the last surviving member principal cast member of the show that starred Bob Crane as Colonel Robert E. Hogan, an American who led an international group of Allied prisoners of war in a convert operation to defeat the Nazis from inside the Luft Stalag 13 camp. Clary also appeared in a number of films and on Broadway…

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The new FX dramedy, Fleishman is in Trouble, premieres Thursday, starring Jesse Eisenberg as a doctor and a father whose marriage recently fell apart. So what kind of trouble is Fleishman in? Show creator Taffy Brodesser-Akner gave ABC Audio a sneak peek.

“His recent ex-wife dropped off his kids a day early for his custodial weekend. And she does not appear to be coming back,” she spilled. “He is left to deal with a child care crisis, an emotional crisis, a child psychology crisis. And he has to figure out what happened and how things could have gone so wrong without him understanding them.”

Eisenberg adds, “the show seems more about like a marriage, what it’s like to be married and righteous, what it’s like to kind of hold on to something that is slipping away, that you know, were hoping would be sustainable in a relationship.”

Fleishman is in Trouble comes at a time when antisemitism is more pervasive than ever, in the modern era. And while the show isn’t about Judaism specifically, it does feature Jewish characters and actors, including Lizzy Caplan and Adam Brody, who are freaked out by the current climate.

“It’s horrifying,” Caplan shared. “I mean, there’s nothing else to say other than for the first time in my life, it’s the thing that I think about in a real world fearful way.”

Brody echoed the same feelings, adding, “It’s the first time I’ve gone, like — and again, very privileged, so, you know, I don’t want to seem so naïve — but for me to go, wow, this is a real, pervasive thing right now that again is in vogue, is like a is very popular right now. That’s something.” 

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While the 1983 movie is about as ubiquitous on TV as Mariah Carey is on the radio come holiday time, it has taken until 2022 to properly revisit A Christmas Story.

Peter Billingsley, who starred as Ralphie in the original and plays him as a grown man in HBO Max’s A Christmas Story Christmas, explained to Collider what took so long.

Billinglsey, who also produced the film, commented, “I mean, it’s been 39 years, so it’s quite a long time. So I think, to some degree, now or never. I think the idea of Ralphie as a dad was a very intriguing thought.”

He admits there’s been a desire to revive the property in the past. “I had been approached about things. Nothing ever felt right. This one’s been in active development for four years, and a lot of the right pieces had to come together. We really needed the resources to build the original house and the whole neighborhood.”

Getting to collaborate with his friend Vince Vaughn as a co-producer helped seal the deal. “I got to work with Vince … which was awesome, and bring back the whole kid cast. So, it’s been a while that we’ve been working on it, and we didn’t feel comfortable saying yes till all the right pieces fell … and then we said, ‘Okay, we have the confidence that this was the time to go now.'”

A Christmas Story Christmas debuts November 17 on HBO Max.

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Candace Cameron Bure is facing backlash from celebrities and a leading LGBTQ organization over her recent comments about “traditional marriage.”

In an interview with WSJ. Magazine published November 14, Bure was asked if her cable network, Great American Family, would feature same-sex couples at the center of its holiday movies, as its rival Hallmark Channel has done in recent years.

The Full House actress, who also serves as the network’s chief content officer, replied, “I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core.”

The term “traditional marriage” is often used to define the institution of marriage as being between a man and a woman, a concept which excludes same-sex unions.

Further opening up about joining Great American Family in April, Bure said, “My heart wants to tell stories that have more meaning and purpose and depth behind them.” She added that the people behind the network are “Christians that love the Lord and want to promote faith programming and good family entertainment.”

Bill Abbott, the president and CEO of GAC Media, also chimed in on the issue of including same-sex couples, telling WSJ. Magazine, “It’s certainly the year 2022, so … [t]here’s no whiteboard that says, ‘Yes, this’ or ‘No, we’ll never go here.'”

Out celebrity JoJo Siwa took to Instagram to respond to Bure’s comments about “traditional marriage”: “This is rude and hurtful to a whole community of people,” she wrote.

One Tree Hill alum Hilarie Burton Morgan also weighed in on Bure’s interview, calling the Full House star a bigot.

Bure’s interview prompted a reaction from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, as well, with the organization’s president and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis, commenting in part, “It’s irresponsible and hurtful for Candace Cameron Bure to use tradition as a guise for exclusion.”

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Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his husband, Justin Mikita, have welcomed their second child.

The couple announced the arrival of their new baby, Sullivan Louis Ferguson-Mikita, via surrogate in a joint Instagram post on Tuesday.

“Sad to be away from my @takemeoutbway fam tonight but we ran off to welcome our newest little one, Sullivan Louis Ferguson-Mikita,” Ferguson wrote in the announcement, referencing his Broadway play Take Me Out.

“A special thanks to @drshahinghadir for helping us grow our family & our incredible surrogate and all of the nurses and doctors,” the caption continued. “We are overjoyed to be a family of four.”

“My incredible understudy @timmytwright will be on tonight and tomorrow and I will be back in the ball game on Thursday 11/17,” Ferguson finished. “I know Tim has you all in wonderful hands.”

Their post was flooded with congratulatory comments and well wishes from friends and fans alike.

Ferguson’s former Modern Family co-star Sarah Hyland commented, “The SWEETEST.”

Actress Amanda Seyfried added, “Jesus what a day! Congratulations sweet boys!!!!”

Ferguson and Mikita are also parents to 2-year-old son Beckett Mercer.

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A show about the undead is getting a live send-off.

Ahead of the final episode of AMC’s The Walking Dead on Sunday, November 20, at 9 p.m. ET, the network has announced it is holding a special live event.

Hosted by Talking Dead‘s Chris Hardwick, The Walking Dead Live: The Finale Event will kick off at 8:30 p.m. on AMC and AMC+. It will feature peeks of the finale to come, red carpet arrivals and interviews with some of the stars who made the post-apocalyptic show a phenomenon when it debuted October 31, 2010.

Following the final show of the series, Hardwick will return at 10:30 p.m. for a special “super-sized” episode of Talking Dead that will “dive deep into the series’ last episode and season, look back at some of the most iconic moments from the show,” and feature interviews with the cast and special guests, as well as “preview what’s to come from the forthcoming spin-offs in the expanding Walking Dead Universe.”

These include Isle of the Dead, starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan‘s Negan and Lauren Cohan‘s Maggie, as well as a limited series focusing on the series’ original hero, Rick Grimes, for which Andrew Lincoln will be reunited with his onscreen love, Black Panther franchise star Danai Gurira as Michonne.

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Dr. Peter Grossman, of Los Angeles’ Grossman Burn Center, gave the media an update Wednesday on Jay Leno‘s condition, after he was seriously burned in a garage fire last week. 

Grossman explained that although Leno’s burns to his face, hand and chest were serious, the comedian and former Tonight Show host was in good spirits Wednesday. He has been up and walking around the hospital, even handing out cookies to children in the burn unit.  

Grossman clarified that Leno suffered “significant, deep second-degree” burns and “possibly” some third-degree burns in the incident, during which the avid car collector and gearhead was sprayed with gasoline from an antique car and set ablaze by a stray spark in his Burbank garage.

Leno has also been receiving hyperbaric therapy to minimize the damage and stimulate healing. Grossman said Leno underwent a skin graft procedure, noting it’s “too early to tell” if more will be needed.

The 72-year-old was listed in good condition despite his injuries, with a full recovery expected. Grossman, who is also a plastic surgeon, remarked it “is still way too early to tell” if there will be permanent scarring from the burns. 

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While Brendan Fraser continues on the awards track for his performance in The Whale, you won’t see him at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards.

While the controversial Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization that runs the event, has vowed to clean up its image, the actor is standing fast.

As reported, Fraser claimed to GQ in 2018 that he was sexually groped in 2003 by Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Philip Berk, an event that contributed to a depressive spiral for the one-time box office champ. Berk, who was fired years later for making racial insensitive remarks, denied the accusations.

In 2021, the HPFA itself was targeted by a Los Angeles Times exposé that revealed the group didn’t have a single journalist of color in its ranks; that same year, Berk was fired for his emailed comments, not the Fraser accusations. The organization saw its partner NBC walk away, and held a non-broadcast, celebrity-free event in 2021.

To GQ‘s November issue, Fraser says he received a “non-apology” from the group after his accusations went viral and triggered an internal investigation into Berk’s behavior.

Now, even if he’s nominated for the January 2023 event — which seems likely — Fraser vows he “will not participate,” regardless of the fact Berk is no longer with the HFPA. “I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association,” Fraser said, adding, “…my mother didn’t raise a hypocrite. You can call me a lot of things, but not that.”

The Doom Patrol star also relayed that while sharing his story was difficult, he is grateful it resonated with some fans he meets, who share that his story helped them deal with their own trauma.

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