Entertainment

With the seemingly endless need for content in the age of streaming, there are reports that Reese Witherspoon is about to cash in. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Legally Blonde star and her Hello Sunshine production company — which produces Reese’s Emmy-nominated hits The Morning Show for Apple TV+ and Little Fires Everywhere for Hulu, as well as HBO’s Emmy-winning Big Little Lies — is “exploring” a sale, and that the asking price could hit a billion bucks.

Reese’s company also produces a podcast, and is home to Reese’s Book Club.

Dedicated to “shining a light on female authorship and agency,” Hello Sunshine — which Witherspoon runs with her husband, former Hollywood agent Jim Toth, and venture capitalist Seth Rodsky — has developed into a lifestyle brand to boot. Its current successes and potential for churning out new content have attracted Apple as a potential buyer, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Elle Woods would be proud.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Fans of SpongeBob Squarepants, rejoice: The Patrick Star Show debuts today on Paramount+. 

Bill Fagerbakke [FOG-ger-bahk] reprises his voice role as the titular pink starfish. The show also features Tom Wilson voicing Patrick’s dad, Cecil Star, and Cree Summer as Patrick’s oddball mom, Bunny. There’s also Patrick’s genius grandfather, GrandPat, voiced by Dana Snyder, and Patrick’s kid sister Squidina, who’s played by Jill Talley.

Patrick and Bunny gave ABC Audio a hint about the new series, which has him becoming a TV personality.

Patrick says, “Well, I just like to do whatever my bossy little sister tells me what to do, because she gets so mad, so we do a show every night! And we have fun…And my mom gives me sandwiches, and there are these two old guys in the house that I always forget who they are.”

Bunny interjects, “That’s your dad and your grandfather, dear. But I understand they’re hard to recognize — they change their clothes.”

Fagerbakke has voiced Patrick Star since SpongeBob Squarepants launched on Nickelodeon in 1999. He tells ABC Audio it’s “beautiful” to have had the job for this long.

“To be able to have something with such continuity and to have personal relationships with people you work with for over 20 years. That’s something one never expects,” says Fagerbakke. “And man, do I appreciate it.”

Summer adds, “This SpongeBob universe is so beloved that it…just keeps going and keeps growing. And so to be a part of something that is loved this deeply is just an honor.”  

Other members of the SpongeBob Squarepants gang also appear in the new series, the second small-screen spin-off from the flagship show created by the late Stephen Hillenburg, who died of ALS at age 57 in 2018. 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Jennifer Coolidge has a lot to say about Legally Blonde‘s 20th anniversary, which is July 13.  The actress, who played the lovable and hilarious Paulette Bonafonté, has some thoughts on how the movie should celebrate its milestone.

“I’m curious if there will be fireworks,” Coolidge, 59, joked to Entertainment Tonight. “I don’t know what they will do. I feel like it will be a big deal.”

The actress continued, “It’s going to be like a giant jet ride to somewhere really far away and I think there must be a party in some big castle or something… At least that’s what I will be hoping for.”

As for how she feels about Legally Blonde turning 20, Coolidge quipped, “All I had to do was age 20 years and I am at the anniversary. I mean, I didn’t even have to work for this. Twenty years went by and then you get credit for being alive and making it to 20.”

“You see, all of the other girls when we made Legally Blonde were, like, 11,” she teased. “My journey was much harder.”

Coolidge was also asked about the upcoming third Legally Blonde movie, but refused to reveal anything.

“I have not seen the script,” Coolidge confessed. “I am told Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon are talking about it and I hear it is going to be finished soon.  I heard it is close but I haven’t seen it, I really haven’t,” then joked, “I hope I am alive by then.”

Legally Blonde 3 is set to arrive in theaters in 2022, a little under 20 years since the franchise’s second installment — Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde — hit the box office.

Legally Blonde, also starring Witherspoon, Luke Wilson and Selma Blair, hit theaters on July 13, 2001.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

For Marvel movie fans, the wait is finally over: Black Widow swings into theaters today.

The movie is set before Natasha Romanoff’s heroic sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame. Scarlett Johansson‘s character returns to her past, teaming up with her adoptive “family” of spies, including Florence Pugh as Ylena, and their “parents,” Rachel Weisz as Melina and David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov, AKA the Red Guardian, Russia’s answer to Captain America.

The film has the re-assembled team taking on the cruel “Black Widow program” that turns girls into assassins.

They also face off with a baddie known as Taskmaster, who can mimic any opponent he faces. For director Cate Shortland, the order of the day was to make the fights feel real. “The character can do what [Natasha] can do, basically, so she can’t…use those skills,” the filmmaker explained at a recent press conference.

“[The] fights became messy and raw and that was really fun,” she said, adding the goal was, “watching humans fight, not superheroes.”

Johansson explained her character’s eventual sacrifice weighed on her prequel’s performance: “We knew that in this film she had to evolve into a place [where] she had resolved the trauma from her past…that she felt like a different person moving forward…”

Stranger Things veteran Harbour gets big laughs as his past-his-prime Red Guardian. The actor said he’d love to face off with the current Captain America: “I love Anthony Mackie just as an actor, too, and now…whoever wears the suit…Alexei hates that guy and who he represents.”

Harbour adds, “Some of the funniest stuff to me is where [Alexei] is like, ‘[Cap] actually was a colleague of mine…We had a lot of respect for each other.’ I just think that that dynamic would be really fun to see…”

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

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

While the world seemingly slowed to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic, Irish comedian Aisling Bea spent lockdown hard at work writing the next season of This Way Up.

Bea, 37, spoke with ABC Audio about her critically acclaimed comedy series that she wrote and stars in, which airs its second season tonight on Hulu.  The stand-up comedian said writing the next installment during the early days of lockdown allowed her to explore more than just her emotions, but understand what the world was experiencing.

“If the theme of the first series is loneliness, the second one is words and communication, and how we miss each other,” said Bea. “And what we don’t know that one person might say and how you read it and how that affects relationships.”

Beyond writing the second season during a global pandemic, the actress confessed it wasn’t easy to shoot, either.  She said a good chunk of their budget and time was eaten up by necessary COVID protocols, which meant the crew had less to spend on filming.

“Sometimes in a day I would do scenes where there might be a suicide scene, Aine being the funniest in the world, and a sex scene… All in one day,” she recalled. “There’s no processing time… And from a creative point of view, I got through it. But it wasn’t pleasant.”

While unable to tease too much about This Way Up‘s second season, Bea revealed what she focused on when writing the series.

“Don’t make it a TED talk. I love TED talks, but there’s moments I realize ‘Ooh… I’ve accidentally made this a TED talk,'” she remarked, adding that, despite the upcoming serious moments, season two will be “entertaining.”

This Way Up season 2 is streaming now on Hulu.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Shonda Rhimes isn’t leaving Netflix anytime soon.

According to Variety, Rhimes, who initially signed a multimillion-dollar TV deal with the streamer in 2017, has now extended her partnership to include feature films, gaming and virtual reality content. As part of the deal, Netflix will support and invest in Shondaland’s mission to “create DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility) programs that can increase industry workplace representation for underrepresented groups both domestically and in the UK.”

The robust deal comes after the global success of Rhimes’ Regency-era romance Bridgerton. The Regé-Jean Page-led show became one of the most viewed series on the streamer, with 82 million households watching during its first 28 days on the service. Not surprisingly, Bridgerton, which currently is in production for season two, has already been renewed for seasons three and four.

In a statement, Rhimes says moving Shondaland to Netflix was “taking a leap into the unknown” that paid off.

“Today, Shondaland at Netflix is creatively thriving, profitable as an asset and engaging audiences around the world with stories that fearlessly challenge viewers and keep them highly entertained all at once,” she adds. “The entire team at Netflix have been tremendous partners during every step of the process, supporting my creative vision and showing a continued dedication to the innovation that has made Netflix such a powerhouse. The Shondaland team and I are thrilled and excited to be expanding our relationship with our content partners at Netflix.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Naya Rivera‘s family is honoring her memory, and who she was as a daughter, sister, mother and artist, on the one-year anniversary of the Glee star’s tragic death.

Naya’s mother, Yolanda Previtire, told ABC News’ Juju Chang and Good Morning America the sadness associated with losing her daughter often becomes too much for her and her family to deal with.

“Sometimes we’re afraid of the sorrow being so heavy that we’re afraid for our own self, ’cause this is hard. There are no words to describe what we’re going through,” Yolanda said. “All we know is we have each other.”

Yolanda also noted that the family is in therapy to help with the shared trauma.

Naya’s younger sister, Nickayla Rivera, told GMA that what keeps them going is “taking that one day at a time and living it to the fullest, loving each other to the fullest, and not regretting anything. Because I know if we could go back, we’d hug a little bit harder.”

Yolanda added, “I feel Naya’s energy constantly telling me, ‘Mom, be happy. Don’t cry. I’m OK. Go get Josey. Have fun.’ And I feel that it’s coming from her.”

Naya Rivera went missing on July 8, 2020, at California’s Lake Piru, where she’d spent the day with her son, Josey Hollis Dorsey, who was four at the time and will be six in September. After failing to return the boat they had rented for the day, a search began for Naya and Josey. The child was found, wearing a life jacket, alone in the vessel, with Naya nowhere in sight.

Naya’s body was found five days after she went missing. The actress’ death was ruled an accidental drowning and she was laid to rest on July 24, 2020. She was 33.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Marvel Studios has just released the trailer to its animated What If…? series for Disney+, which features the last performance of the late Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman as King T’Challa.

For Marvel Comics fans, issues of What If…? broke with the usual narratives and saw characters swap storylines and powers — and that’s what the series will do.

The MCU’s cast members returned to play their animated alter-egos. Here, Boseman’s T’Challa/Black Panther will swap places with Chris Pratt‘s Star-Lord, buddying up with Michael Rooker‘s Ravager leader Yondu. 

Similarly, Hayley Atwell‘s Peggy Carter swaps places with Steve Rogers in taking the super soldier serum, becoming Captain Carter, and Michael B. Jordan‘s Killmonger is shown rescuing Tony Stark from the Afghanistan ambush that opened Iron Man. 

Acclaimed actor Jeffrey Wright voices the all-seeing The Watcher, whose divinity over time explores each story.

The series also features the voices of other MCU stars, including Josh Brolin again portraying the Mad Titan Thanos; Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury; Chris Hemsworth as Thor; Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones; and Dominic Cooper, who played Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger and the Agent Carter series.

At least according to the snippet, it seems Howard dons the “cave suit” that his son wore on the big screen in 2008’s Iron Man — Captain Carter is shown riding the iron giant’s shoulder as it flies through the air. 

Back in 2019, ABC Audio broke the story that Cooper was working on What If…, and he explained, “[I]t was very exciting to play. And it’s very comical how those relationships which you’ve already established change if those ‘what ifs’ happened. And that’s what’s really exciting about that.” 

The series debuts on Disney+ on August 11. 

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

FX opened the lid Thursday on the twisted world of its upcoming spin-off series, American Horror Stories. Based on Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk‘s star-studded, Emmy-winning series American Horror Story, the new series will showcase a new creepy story every week, as opposed to the flagship show’s seasonal shifting setting.

American Horror Stories features a diverse cast, including AHS: Coven veteran Billie Lourd, Paris Jackson, Merrin Dungey, and Kaia Gerber, also known as the daughter of Cindy Crawford and entrepreneur and producer Rande Gerber.

The new anthology series premieres July 15, exclusively on FX on Hulu.

American Horror Story has earned 16 Emmys since it launched in 2011, including acting wins in the Limited Series or Movie category. James Cromwell earned the outstanding Supporting Actor trophy in 2013 for his work in AHS: Asylum, and Jessica Lange took the Outstanding Lead Actress and Kathy Bates the Outstanding Supporting Actress trophies for 2014’s American Horror Story: Coven.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

The cast for Bachelor in Paradise season 7 has been revealed.

After skipping the 2020 season due to the pandemic, the popular Bachelor spin-off — which features fan favorites from both The Bachelor and The Bachelorette returning for another shot at love — is finally back, with 19 contestants ready to find romance at a beachside Mexican resort.

This season, the only two contestants to have previously competed on Bachelor in Paradise are Joe Amabile from Becca Kufrin‘s season of The Bachelorette, and Tahzjuan Hawkins from Colton Underwood‘s season of The Bachelor.

Fresh off competing for Katie Thurston‘s heart on the current Bachelorette season is Karl Smith. The rest of this season’s contestants all appeared in Bachelor or Bachelorette seasons featuring Peter Weber, Clare Crawley, Tayshia Adams or Matt James.

In addition to a new cast, ABC News previously confirmed that a series of celebrities would be taking over hosting duties on Bachelor in Paradise in the wake of longtime host Chris Harrison‘s departure from the franchise. They include NSYNC singer Lance Bass, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Tituss Burgess, rapper Lil Jon and comedian David Spade.

Bachelor in Paradise season 7 premieres Monday, Aug. 16, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Here are the contestants:

Abigail Heringer of The Bachelor 25 (Matt’s season)
Brendan Morais of The Bachelorette 16 (Clare and Tayshia’s season)
Deandra Kanu of The Bachelor 24 (Peter’s season)
Ivan Hall of The Bachelorette 16 (Clare and Tayshia)
Jessenia Cruz of The Bachelor 25 (Matt)
Joe Amabile of The Bachelorette 14 (Becca’s season)
Karl Smith of The Bachelorette 17 (Katie’s season)
Kelsey Weir of The Bachelor 24 (Peter)
Kenny Braasch of The Bachelorette 16 (Clare and Tayshia)
Mari Pepin-Solis of The Bachelor 25 (Matt)
Maurissa Gunn of The Bachelor 24 (Peter)
Natasha Parker of The Bachelor 24 (Peter)
Noah Erb of The Bachelorette 16 (Tayshia)
Serena Chew of The Bachelor 25 (Matt)
Serena Pitt of The Bachelor 25 (Matt)
Tahzjuan Hawkins of The Bachelor 23 (Colton’s season)
Tammy Ly of The Bachelor 24 (Peter)
Victoria Larson of The Bachelor 25 (Matt)
Victoria Paul of The Bachelor 24 (Peter)

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.