Entertainment

LeVar Burton is kicking off his week-long tenure as the newest Jeopardy! guest host.

Taking the podium for the first time, Burton saluted former host, the late Alex Trebek.  “As a longtime viewer of the show, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to guest host Jeopardy! And I’m proud to be here to honor Alex’s legacy,” Burton said. “I’m gonna do my best to ensure that these talented Jeopardy! contestants enjoy their moment here as well.”

Prior to his debut, Burton credited his fans for making his time on the show possible. Following Trebek’s passing, a Change.org petition was launched to have him take over the Jeopardy! reins. At last check, it had over 258,000 signatures.

In April, Jeopardy! show runners added Burton to their impressive roster of guest hosts, which included Mayim Bialik, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and Good Morning America hosts Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos, among others.

Following the announcement, the Star Trek: The Next Generation alum tweeted, “THANK YOU… to all y’all for your passionate support! I am overjoyed, excited, and eager to be guest-hosting Jeopardy!, and will do my utmost best to live up to your faith you in me.”

Burton will hold down the fort until July 30.  Following his tenure will be CNBC broadcaster David Farber, who will take charge through August 6.  The final guest host is Fox Sportscaster Joe Buck, who will take over Jeopardy! until August 13.

A permanent replacement for Trebek, who died November 8 from pancreatic cancer, has not yet been announced.

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Simone Biles left competition early at the Tokyo Olympics team competition Tuesday after a rare stumble on vault, and she will not be competing in the rest of the competition for the team event.

USA Gymnastics said in a statement, “Simone has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions.”

NBC had reported earlier that her coach said she withdrew due to a “mental issue.” Details were not immediately clear.

All eyes were on Biles to see if she would attempt a Yurchenko double pike on vault. Instead, as the Americans opened competition on vault, Biles bailed in the middle of her Amanar attempt, bringing down the difficulty level of her vault.

Rather than 2.5 twists, she only did 1.5, resulting in a score of 13.766 — remarkably low by Biles’ standard. The Americans ended that first rotation out of four about a point lower than the athletes from Russia.

After that vault, Biles spoke with her coach and a trainer. She left the competition floor and returned as her teammates were preparing for uneven bars. She has since stood by her team, wearing sweats and cheering them on.

The U.S. women’s gymnastics team is competing in the team finals at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday, seeking to bring home the gold for the third time in a row.

This is one of the strongest gymnastics teams the world has seen, led by all-time great Biles and uneven bars phenom Sunisa Lee. The team is rounded out by Jordan Chiles, who’s powerful on floor, and Grace McCallum.

The U.S. has medaled in every women’s gymnastics team event at the Olympics since 1992. That included three golds, two silvers and two bronzes.

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Former star and co-producer of The Office, B.J. Novak, has unveiled a slew of stars joining his FX on Hulu anthology comedy series, The Premise. 

Tracee Ellis Ross, Daniel Dae Kim, Jon Bernthal, O’Shea Jackson Jr., and Ed Asner have been named as players in the anthology, each episode of which tackles hot-button issues like gun control, “woke” culture, police brutality and more. 

FX on Hulu calls The Premise a “fearlessly ambitious new series that uses comedy to engage with the biggest issues of our unprecedented modern era.”

The network says the series, which was created and will be hosted by Novak, “combines daring comedic premises with equally daring dramatic performances, creating a new tone for a new time.”

Other stars who will appear include George Wallace, Lucas Hedges, Kaitlyn Dever and Beau Bridges.

The series will premiere its first two episodes — “Social Justice Sex Tape” starring Ayo Edibiri and Ross, and “Moment of Silence” starring Bernthal and Boyd Holbrook — on Thursday, September 16 on FX on Hulu.

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Now this deal will make your head spin: Universal and its related company, the streaming service Peacock, have inked a reported $400 million deal to bring three new Exorcist films to the big and small screens. 

According to the studio, the film will be produced by the horror masters at Blumhouse, and will star Exorcist‘s original Oscar-winning lead, Ellen Burnstyn, and Hamilton and One Night in Miami Academy Award nominee Leslie Odom Jr..

David Gordon Green, who successfully rebooted the Halloween franchise for Blumhouse, will be calling the shots behind the camera for the continuation of the 1973 horror classic that was directed by William Friedkin. In that film, Burnstyn plays the horrified mother of Linda Blair‘s character, a girl who gets possessed by the devil. 

The Exorcist, the first horror film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, earned Burnstyn a Best Actress Academy Award.

The first of the three new Exorcist films is expected to hit theaters October 13, 2023.

The deal is the latest collaboration with Blumhouse and Universal, which together have generated more than $3 billion at the box office globally, thanks to hits like Get Out, Split, and The Invisible Man. 

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Less than three months after his Army of the Dead had a hit debut on Netflix, director Zack Snyder has dropped a teaser for a prequel to the action film, called Army of Thieves.

The film centers on the pre-zombie fighting days of Matthias Schweighöfer‘s safe cracker and scene-stealer Ludwig Dieter, who in this adventure is recruited by Fast & Furious veteran Nathalie Emmanuel for an epic heist. 

Teased with pulling off a big job in Europe while world is distracted by the nascent undead outbreak, Emmanuel’s Gwendoline tempts Dieter with “one last chance to be a legend.” 

Schweighöfer himself is in the director’s chair this time, with Snyder producing. The snippet certainly feels like its own stand-alone adventure: set to Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries,” the clip that debuted as part of this past weekend’s Comic-Con@Home features gunplay, car stunts and, of course, the sight of massive money vaults clicking open. 

Army of Thieves debuts on Netflix later this year, but Snyder also has both a sequel to Army of the Dead and an animated spin-off called Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas also coming to the streaming giant.

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In a surprise for fans, Marvel Studios has announced that Black Widow will be dropping on all HD digital platforms earlier than anticipated: August 10. 

The film, which debut in theaters and via streaming on Disney+ Premiere Access on July 9, will also be coming to Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, and DVD on September 14.

Black Widow will also be packaged with never-before-seen bonus footage, including nine deleted scenes, as well as a gag reel and three featurettes. The three “making of” segments center, respectively, on the genesis of the project with director Cate Shortland, a feature on Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh‘s on-and-off-screen sisterly relationship and their training, and another on the worldwide scope of the spy thriller/standalone adventure of Johansson’s super-spy Avenger.

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC Audio.

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Pete Davidson and Phoebe Dynevor may be taking their relationship to the next level. Reports state that the SNL star is considering a move to the U.K. to be closer to his new love. 

Sources tell OK! magazine that since the sketch comedy show has been on hiatus, “Pete’s been nesting with Phoebe across the pond, and the relationship is getting serious.”  Dynevor is from the U.K. and is currently filming season two of the steamy Netflix hit Bridgerton. 

The pair, who first sparked romance rumors in March, “are ready to take it to the next level,” the source adds, noting that Davidson’s contract with SNL is “coming up this year” and “it makes sense for him to think about moving.”

Davidson, 27, and Dynevor, 26, made their first public, and PDA-packed, appearance at Wimbledon on July 3, and while the insider notes that the two “may seem like an odd pairing,” they insisted “they’re the perfect match!”

Prior to Dynevor, The King of Staten Island star has been romantically linked to actress Kate Beckinsale and model Kaia Gerber, as well as pop star Ariana Grande, to whom he was engaged for five months. 

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Dexter, which ran for eight seasons on Showtime, will debut its limited-run return on November 7, the cabler revealed over the weekend, along with a new trailer. 

The reboot picks up nearly a decade later, with Michael C. Hall‘s titular character now living under an assumed name in the small town of Iron Lake, New York.  Despite embracing his new life, a series of unexpected events revives his Dark Passenger.  

John Lithgow, who played Arthur Mitchell — a.k.a. the Trinity Killer — in the 2006-2013 Showtime crime series, confirmed to Deadline in June that Arthur would return in a flashback.  Clancy Brown, Alano Miller, Johnny Sequoyah and David Magidoff round out the revival’s cast.

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Jennifer Lopez is letting the world know she’s found love in an old flame and posted a photo of her and Ben Affleck sharing a sweet kiss over the weekend.

Lopez had jetted off to St. Tropez to celebrate her 52nd birthday and revealed that she had taken Affleck with her.

Sharing a slideshow of her beachy getaway on Saturday, JLo went Instagram official with her old flame.  The first three pictures show the “On the Floor” singer flaunting her toned physique while the final snap is of her and Affleck kissing.

“5 2 … what it do … [pink heart emoiji],” Lopez cheekily captioned the post — sending her 166 million followers and her famous friends, such as Laverne Cox and Kelly Rowland, into a frenzy.

In April, Lopez and Affleck sparked rumors they were back together. Then, last week, when Lopez’s friend Leah Remini shared photos from her 51st birthday bash, she included a snap of Affleck, 48, wrapping his arms around her and Jennifer — marking the first time the couple was captured together on social media.

Lopez’s snap confirms what fans have been hoping to hear since the spring: Bennifer has officially rekindled their flame. Their romance began in 2002 and the two announced their engagement later that year. Jennifer and Ben never made it to the altar, though, going their separate ways in 2004.

Affleck married actress Jennifer Garner and went on to have three children with her.  They divorced in 2015. Meanwhile, Lopez wed singer Marc Anthony and had twin children with him.  Their marriage ended in 2011.

Lopez later became engaged to Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, but the two ended it in April.

 

 

 

 

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