Bridgerton‘s Jonathan Bailey is set to star in the Showtime limited series Fellow Travelers, opposite Matt Bomer and Allison Williams, according to Deadline. The political thriller follows “the volatile romance of two very different men who meet in the shadow of McCarthy-era Washington.” Bomer will play handsome, charismatic Hawkins Fuller, who avoids emotional entanglements, until he meets Bailey’s Tim Laughlin, a young Fordham University graduate, earnest about his political and religious convictions and filled with optimism about the post-WWII future. Meanwhile, Bailey will return to Bridgerton for season three…
TBS has canceled Nasim Pedrad‘s coming-of-age sitcom Chad ahead of its season-two premiere on Monday, according to Entertainment Weekly. The series follows a 14-year-old pubescent boy — played by Pedrad — navigating his first year of high school on a mission to become popular. The cable network hopes to find another home for the series created and executive-produced by the Saturday Night Live alum…
Midway through its freshman season, Apple TV+ has handed a season-two renewal to Loot, the comedy series starring Saturday Night Live alum Maya Rudolph. Loot centers on Rudolph’s billionaire Molly Novack, whose life spirals downward after her husband of 20 years betrays her. With the help of her devoted assistant Nicholas, played by Kim Booster, and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez‘s Sofia Salinas, who runs Novack’s charity foundation, Molly embarks on a journey of self-discovery. Nat Faxon, Ron Funches and Stephanie Styles also star…
Tuesday morning, a collection of stars will get the early morning wake-up call for which they might have been dreaming the night before: Finding out they’re nominated for an Emmy.
Stand-up comedian and Curb Your Enthusiasm star JB Smoove will read the nominees live Tuesday morning, along with Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Melissa Fumero, ahead of September’s 74th Annual Emmy Awards telecast.
This year, prognosticators seem to agree Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building is ripe for some trophy love in the Outstanding Comedy category, especially considering other likely nominees like FX’s Atlanta, Hacks on HBO, Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Ted Lasso have already won. ABC’s new school comedy Abbott Elementary could snag its first noms.
Then again, there are always the surprise nominations, particularly in the broadly-defined comedy category — like Amazon Studios’ The Boys was last year.
In the drama category, it would be a lay-up for Netflix’s biggest-ever hit Squid Game to get some attention. The show certainly has its fans in the entertainment industry, with Steven Spielberg among those touting creator Hwang Dong-hyuk‘s twisted Korean survival show.
Alongside that import could be previous winners like HBO’s Euphoria and Succession, NBC’s just-wrapped, Emmy-winning drama This Is Us, and Netflix’s hailed Ozark. Stranger Things could also be in the running outside the usual technical categories.
With Emmy magnet The Crown out of contention this year, it opens up more possibilities, including more focus on previous nominees like Better Call Saul, as well as recognition for quirky upstarts that found an audience, including Showtime’s Yellowjackets, as well as another smash, Paramount Network’s Yellowstone.
As they say in TV, stay tuned.
The 74th Emmy Awards will air on NBC Monday, September 22 and also stream on Peacock.
Gabby Windey and Rachel Recchia, who first appeared on Clayton Echard‘s season of The Bachelor, began their journey as the first Bachelorettes to co-star in a full season on Monday by meeting their 32 potential suitors — the most in the show’s history.
If you recall, Gabby, a 30-year-old ICU nurse from Denver and Rachel, a 25-year-old a flight instructor from Clermont, Florida, were devastated when Clayton simultaneously broke up with both of them, following his admission that his heart belonged to Susie Evans. On Monday, however, Gabby and Rachel were ready to move on — even if that meant breaking all the rules on night one.
Both the ladies and their suitors — which included a set of twins, a magician, a drag racer and a meatball enthusiast — tried their best to figure out the logistics of dealing with so many men and two Bachelorettes, which proved to be a daunting task. There simply wasn’t enough time for the women to talk to every guy in the allotted time.
Two men — Tino, a general contractor from California, and Mario, a personal trainer from Illinois — were lucky enough to snag Rachel and Gabby’s respective first impression roses.
As for the others, the two Bachelorettes decided to bend the rules, first, by eliminating three of the men with whom they did get to speak, but didn’t feel a connection. They were Roby, the magician from Los Angeles; and Justin and Joey, the twins from Connecticut.
The remaining men were informed that, in the interest of giving all them a fair shot, Gabby and Rachel had canceled the first rose ceremony, and all of them would be moving forward.
Here are the remaining men after the rose ceremony:
Alec, 27, a wedding photographer from Houston, Texas
Aven, 28, a sales executive from San Diego, California
Brandan, 23, a bartender from Carlsbad, California
Chris, 30, a mentality coach from Redondo Beach, California
Colin, 36, a sales director from Chicago, Illinois
Erich, 29, a real estate analyst from Bedminster, New Jersey
Ethan, 27, an advertising executive from New York, New York
Hayden, 29, a leisure executive from Tampa, Florida
Jacob, 27, a mortgage broker from Scottsdale, Arizona
James, 25, a meatball enthusiast from Winnetka, Illinois
Jason, 30, an investment banker from Santa Monica, California
John, 26, English Teacher from Nashville, Tennessee
Johnny, 25, a realtor from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Jordan H., 35, a software developer from Tampa, Florida
Jordan V., 27, a drag racer from Alpharetta, Georgia
Justin B., 32, a physical therapist from Solana Beach, California
Kirk, 29, a college football coach from Lubbock, Texas
Logan, 26, a videographer from San Diego, California
Mario, 31, a personal trainer from Naperville, Illinois
Matt, 25, a shipping executive from San Diego, California
Michael, 32, a pharmaceutical salesman from Long Beach, California
Nate, 33, an electrical engineer from Chicago, Illinois
Quincey, 25, a life coach from Miami, Florida
Ryan, 36, an investment director from Boston, Massachusetts
Spencer, 27, an army officer from Chicago, Illinois
Termayne, 28, a crypto guy from Naperville, Illinois
Tino, 28, a general contractor from Playa Del Rey, California
Tyler, 25, a small business owner from Wildwood, New Jersey
Zach, 25, a tech executive from Anaheim Hills, California
The Bachelorette returns Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Pete Davidson will make his debut on The Kardashians in the second season of his girlfriend Kim‘s reality show.
At the tail end of a trailer to September’s second season, Kim is apparently trying on — or taking off — a sequined gown in a hotel room, with some of her famous family around her.
She then calls out, “Babe, do you want to shower with me real quick?” only for the camera to pan over to the former Saturday Night Live star comically dropping his phone and jogging after her.
The sneak peek of the new season also hints we’ll see the birth of Kylie Jenner‘s second baby — the son formerly called Wolf; the wedding planning between Kourtney and Travis Barker; and Khloé and Kim discussing Blac Chyna‘s $100 million lawsuit against the Klan Kardashian.
“We’re leaving our fate in the hands of 12 random people,” Khloe says of the jury. “What if they hate us?”
C’mon, how can anybody hate the Kardashians?
The Kardashians season 2 premieres September 22 on Hulu.
Lifelong Barbra Streisand fangirl Lea Michele is getting to step in the former Funny Girl‘s shoes.
The Glee veteran will play Fanny Brice in the Broadway revival of the comedy beginning September 6, replacing Beanie Feldstein in the lead role.
Critics weren’t kind to the latter’s performance of the part that Streisand originated onstage and reprised on the big screen.
Feldstein said that producers were going “in a different direction” with the role. She’s now leaving July 31, but was supposed to make her exit September 25.
For her part, Michele commented on Instagram, “A dream come true is an understatement. I’m so incredibly honored to join this amazing cast and production and return to the stage playing Fanny Brice on Broadway.”
It’s not only a “dream come true,” but some pretty nifty manifestation: Michele’s character on Glee, Rachel Berry, starred in a production of Funny Girl and she performed multiple songs from the famous musical over the show’s run.
It was also announced that veteran stage and screen actress Tovah Feldshuh would be replacing Jane Lynch as Fanny’s mom; Feldshuh starts opposite Michele on September 6.
Michele’s former Glee co-star Lynch was also supposed to make her exit at the end of September.
Three-time Tony Award winner Bernadette Peters hosted her annual Broadway Barks adoption event in New York City’s Shubert Alley on Saturday. This was the 24th year of the event, which aims to find homes for shelter animals. Each year, Peters brings in Broadway stars to introduce the dogs and cats to an adoring crowd.
“For the first time in three years, we’re live in the alley,” she shared with ABC Audio before the performance. “I’m so excited! I can’t wait.”
Not everyone in the crowd was adoring this year, though. Right alongside the Broadway buffs with pens and playbills hoping to get an autograph from the likes of Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster and Jane Lynch were protestors yelling toward the stage and holding signs.
One of the posters read “send the animals home,” which may be referencing the event’s support from the New York Humane Society (HSNY). Theirturn.net has taken credit for the protest, claiming that HSNY makes “minimal effort to find the animals homes.”
Peters addressed the protestors saying, “You are stopping all the animals here from having a chance to be adopted. Isn’t that what you want?” — prompting cheers from the rest of the crowd. Soon after, some protestors were removed, while others filed out of the alley.
Before the event, ABC Audio caught up with Foster and her co-star in The Music Man, Hugh Jackman, to discuss what the event meant to them.
“It’s just a wonderful way to bring a bunch of shelters together and to find homes for some really lucky dogs and cats,” said Foster.
“It just shows the heart that is in this community,” added Jackman.
Despite the protests, many adoption applications were submitted, and potential adopters are being vetted.
On a new ABC game show airing Monday night, 12 people who are related to celebrities will compete to cash in on the fact that they’ve got a famous family member. Called Claim to Fame, the show — co-hosted by Jonas Brothers member Kevin Jonas and his little brother Frankie Jonas — boasts a $100,000 prize.
“We have 12 contestants living in a house together that are all related to a famous relative, but they don’t know who is related to who. And so the idea is you’ve got to maintain your secret identity for as long as you can,” Kevin explains to ABC Audio. “So [there are] a lot of twists and turns, a lot of figuring out who’s related to people by the games we play with them and, y’know, giving away any information as it comes along.”
“There’s a lot of strategy involved, but it’s also just really fun,” Kevin adds. However, he thinks the contestants didn’t realize quite how cutthroat the competition would be.
“[They] went into this thing going, ‘Y’know, I’m going to meet a lot of people that have similar circumstances as me!'” he laughs. “So they thought they were making a lot of friends … and I’m not sure everyone stayed friends the whole time!”
Kevin says he and Frankie were “kept in the dark about who was related to who” so they could play along. As a result, Kevin says, “The reaction … from us [when we start] understanding who’s related to who is very genuine.”
“But then off set, we’re having pools as to see whose guesses are correct,” Frankie laughs. “And surprisingly, pretty much consistently, we were both massively incorrect!”
Claim to Fame debuts Monday, July 11, at 10:01 p.m. ET on ABC.
Ahead of Tuesday’s Emmy nominations announcement — where it’s thought the show will represent in a big way — Hulu has ordered a third season of the beloved comedy Only Murders in the Building.
It’s something of a no-brainer for the streaming service: Both seasons of the 20th Television series starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez are Certified 100% Fresh on the ratings aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
In the announcement, Craig Erwich, president of Hulu Originals and ABC Entertainment, called Only Murders “the true crown jewel of our slate.”
He hailed, “Its appeal across generations, the intersection of humor and heart, and its truly original approach,” as well as its cast.
“We are grateful to be able to continue telling the stories of Charles, Oliver and Mabel to viewers that have consistently shown us they crave more of this story,” Erwichsays of the performers’ respective characters.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) Thor: Love and Thunder had the third-biggest opening of the pandemic era, raking in $153 million Stateside and more than $302 million overseas over the weekend.
For Chris Hemsworth, who, in a Marvel, became the first hero to have four stand-alone movies — some of that success comes back to Christian Bale and his aptly named villainGorr The God Butcher.
Gorr’s deity killing spree eventually puts him toe-to-toe with Hemsworth’s hero.
“He’s my favorite villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” Hemsworth insisted at a recent press event.
“There’s this empathetic quality there…You kind of find yourself going, “Ahh…what he’s doing is wrong. But I get the sort of, the motivation behind it.'”
For his part, Bale — who, of course, played Batman in Chris Nolan‘s Dark Knight trilogy — gave credit for his performance to a trio of makeup artists who had him in the chair four hours every morning.
“[Y]ou don’t really know exactly what you’re doing with a character like that until you see it completely, it’s in your imagination…This was a pious man with tattoos and he’s cut those off. And so we have all of those scars. And that’s when you really get to start playing with it and experiment…,” he said.
Bale self-deprecatingly offered a reason why he was hired, and it had to do with Hemsworth’s…assets, which are on display in the film.
“I think in Gorr, they look for an actor, polar opposites [from Hemsworth]: Someone not relatable, a bit of a loner, creepy. Someone no one wants to be around and nobody wants to see his a**,” he said. “And so I think they went, ‘Yeah, we found that in Bale.'”
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
The back half of the final season of Better Call Saul premieres Monday night on AMC. There has been a lot of speculation about the ultimate fate of Kim Wexler, wife of Jimmy McGill aka Saul Goodman. Because Better Call Saul is a prequel to Breaking Bad, and Kim doesn’t appear in that show at all, many fans assume she’ll be killed. But Rhea [Ray] Seehorn, who plays Kim, says there are other fates for her character that are just as tragic.
“It’s fun being the one that people don’t know where she ends up,” Seehorn tells ABC Audio. “But about halfway through the series, I started to think, ‘Wow, if she is so far down a hole from where we saw her in the beginning that she actually is OK with what Jimmy is doing in Breaking Bad and is fine with it, that’s its own tragedy.'”
Seehorn — who knows how the show ends but isn’t saying — teases other possible “tragedies” that could befall Kim: She could leave Jimmy, or throw him to the wolves to save herself. But either way, she hints, “There’s just not a lot of happy endings going on here!”
Meanwhile, Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk has received four Emmy nods for his role as Jimmy/Saul, but Seehorn has yet to receive a nod. Emmy nominations are announced Tuesday, so how does Seehorn like her chances?
“It’s pretty great to be in that conversation,” she tells ABC Audio. “There’s a lot of brilliant performances out there. I’m thankful that people talk about me in the same group as some of the amazing women that are performing out there in a variety of roles. And I’m … very flattered.”
But, she notes, “It’s a hard thing to to tell yourself, ‘Oh, and now you should wish that it happens!’ Because it might not!”
