Entertainment

Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons will make history as the first to feature a deaf actor and use American Sign Language — despite characters only having four fingers.

The episode, titled “The Sound of Bleeding Gums,” follows Lisa Simpson as she tracks down the deaf son of her favorite saxophone player and helps him get a cochlear implant. Deaf Glee and I Hear You veteran John Autry II voices the character. Simpsons writer Loni Steele Sosthand drew his inspiration from the Oscar-winning film CODA, as well as his jazz-loving father and deaf brother.

“When we were talking about this Bleeding Gums character in our initial brainstorms, we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if Lisa discovers this whole other side of his life,'” he tells Variety. That led to him having a son, and then we based that character at least somewhat on my brother. And the story grew from there.”

“The Sound of Bleeding Gums” airs Sunday, April 10 on Fox at 8 p.m. ET. 

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With the forthcoming addition of No Time to Die, Daniel Craig‘s final turn as the suave super-spy, Amazon Prime will soon be the place to go for all your 007 needs.

Starting April 15, the streaming service will have access to every canon film in James Bond’s 25-movie history, from 1962’s Dr. No to 2021’s No Time to Die — meaning you can re-watch the adventures of every guy to hold the license to kill: Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Craig.

As 007 fans know, 1967’s version of Casino Royale, starring David Niven and Woody Allen (!), and 1983’s Never Say Never Again, which had Connery reprising the iconic role, aren’t considered “official” Bond films.

Prime recently acquired every movie in MGM’s 4,000 movie library, among them the cinematic exploits of Ian Fleming‘s iconic MI6 agent.

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Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson and his wife, Christina Evangeline, have called it quits after 11 years of marriage, a source tells Us Weekly.

“Kenan and Christina are completely amicable,” says the insider, who reveals the couple “officially” separated in back in November 2020. “They remain close as coparents and have remained very close throughout the separation.”

The source adds the split was a “mutual decision” between the two, explaining that the 43-year-old Kenan star and Christina, 33, “really just grew apart and wanted different things.”

Thompson sees his estranged wife “almost every day still” when he’s in town and the duo often “go to dinners just the two of them,” according to the insider.

And while neither has “officially filed for divorce” as of now, the source tells the magazine, “It can happen soon.”

Regardless, the insider insists Kenan’s “very active in his daughters’ lives. He’s an amazing father, especially given his schedule and obligations.”

“The kids spend majority of the time with their mom but he always makes sure to see them,” the source continues.

Thompson and Evangeline tied the knot in 2011.

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Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson have taken another formal step in the evolution of a celebrity relationship: They’ve gone from ‘Instagram official’ to ‘red carpet official.’

The pair walked the rug at Los Angeles’ Goya Studios Thursday night to celebrate the premiere of Hulu’s new reality series The Kardashians, which just debuted on the streaming service.

And while they arrived together, Pete played the supportive boyfriend by letting Kim shine by herself at one point to preen for the paps. All the better to show off her skin-tight, metallic Thierry Mugler gown, a tribute, Page Six says, to the designer who passed away this January.

For his part, Pete wore a black-on-black tuxedo suit, with a white t-shirt and sneakers.

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The highly rated iCarly reboot returns for its second season Friday, and the show’s cast is thrilled the original fans love the revival.

Nathan Kress, who returns as Freddie, admitted that he was worried fans wouldn’t like the reboot, telling ABC Audio, “The internet loves to be negative and critical about everything…For a show that was so nostalgic to kids as they grew up and so foundational to their lives — while trying to bring it back in a new way? It was high-stakes stuff! The anxiety level was very high.” 

Star Miranda Cosgrove agreed, saying, “It was a lot of pressure. We really wanted people to like it.”

One person not sweating it was Jerry Trainor, who returns as Spencer. “I didn’t doubt us for a second,” he attested. “I was like, ‘Oh, we’re coming back? You’re welcome, America!'”

When the positive reviews arrived, Kress said everyone felt “a wave of relief knowing we did it!” He believes fans love the show because producers were able to balance what fans loved about the original iCarly, while keeping things fresh. “Literally, the math checks out,” he said.

With season one cleared, Cosgrove revealed, “We got to relax a little bit” this time around, and teased some shenanigans the iCarly crew gets into. “There’s a lot of stunts and weird things. I get to hit Jerry the face with the cantaloupe,” she laughed. 

Trainor deadpanned, “I get lit on fire. I sacrifice my body.”

iCarly also amps up the nostalgia factor by bringing back Josh Peck, who starred alongside Cosgrove in her first show, Drake & Josh. She said it “was awesome” bringing Peck into the iCarly crowd.  She revealed he “plays Carly’s manager” and appears on “multiple episodes.”

iCarly is streaming now on Paramount+.

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In the new spy thriller All the Old Knives, out today on Amazon Prime Video, Thandiwe Newton and Chris Pine play CIA agents with a lot of secrets. It’s an old school kind of movie, full of action and romance and international intrigue, which drew in Newton.

“I was really intrigued by the world of the CIA, which wasn’t familiar to me,” she tells ABC Audio. “And as a woman in that high level, I just thought I’d love to represent that.”

Pine agrees, telling ABC Audio he loved “the romance…the intrigue” and “the thriller” of the movie, explaining, “It was every kind of, the kind of films that I like to watch, that I like to read as an actor reading scripts. And was just passionate about making it happen.”

Newton thinks it’s the kind of story that will keep us all guessing, and when she watches movies like this, she’s not trying to figure it out the whole time.

“I’m not the read the last page of the book person,” she says. “I don’t understand that. But, yeah, I mean I do understand, of course, you don’t wanna be so scared all the time. No, I love not knowing.”

Pine also loves the element of surprise, and admits it can be annoying to watch with people who are constantly trying to guess the twist.

“That’s what my father does and it drives me crazy,” he shares. “In the middle of it he’ll be like, well, he’s going to die. Or, she did it…He’s done it since I was a kid, and I just can’t stand it.” 

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The critically acclaimed Hulu series The Dropout wraps up its season on Hulu today. Based on the ABC Audio podcast of the same name, the series stars Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of blood testing company Theranos, who is awaiting sentencing on fraud charges.

William H. Macy plays Dr. Richard Fuisz in the series, one of the few who seemed impervious to Holmes’ charms. In fact, he doesn’t like her at all, for a simple reason.

“She was this little kid that grew up next door to Richard,” he tells ABC Audio. “And when she decided to invent a medical device, which is what he did for a living and it made a fortune doing it, she didn’t come to him and ask for his advice for help, and he was furious about that.”

Despite her conviction, Macy believes Holmes started out with a “brilliant idea” before going to “the dark side.”

“She hated that people had to give blood in the hospital all the time, and they do stick you like a stuck pig in the hospital. And she wanted to do something to alleviate suffering in the world,” he explains. “And had this thing worked, you could have gotten, there could have been one in every drugstore. So everybody would know a whole lot about his or her medical history and medical future.”

“But when she couldn’t deliver and when her engineers couldn’t find the technology to make this box work…she started covering her tracks,” he continues. “Once you become, once you’re on the cover of Time magazine, it’s really tough to say, well, I was wrong, I’m not going to invent this thing.”

The Dropout also stars Utkarsh Ambudkar, Kate Burton, Laurie Metcalf, Alan Ruck and Sam Waterston.

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Nine-time Academy Awards host Billy Crystal called the incident between Will Smith and Chris Rock “terribly distressing.”

In the latest episode of HBO Max’s Back on the Record with Bob Costas, the host was admittedly hesitant to ask Crystal about the so-called “slap heard ’round the world.”

Crystal was game to respond, though, albeit briefly. He said, “It was a most disturbing incident for sure. It was an assault.”

Billy then demurred, explaining that, as a host, he always felt responsible to be “in charge” of the shows he’s emceed, in case something goes sideways. He recalled that when he was hosting the Grammys one time, late comedian Jackie Mason made an “inflammatory” joke, as did the guy who followed him on stage, rock ‘n’ roll legend Little Richard. Crystal explained that he came out and improvised a joke to defuse the situation. 

Returning briefly to the Smith slap, Crystal said, “What we saw was terribly distressing,” adding, “It’s just unfortunate what has happened in society that this could happen now.”

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In a first-ever intimate conversation about her upbringing, Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis will sit down with Oprah Winfrey to discuss her new memoir, Finding Me.

Streaming giant Netflix announced the news on Thursday, revealing that the 48-minute special event, titled Oprah + Viola, will premiere on April 22. 

“For the first time Viola shares memories of her childhood marked with unimaginable poverty, disturbing abuse and ‘all the things that cause you pain,'” Netflix said in a press release. “Viola reveals how ‘giving up hope that the past could be different’ has brought her peace, forgiveness and a sense of self.”

Davis shared the news in a joint statement with Netflix’s sub-brand, Strong Black Lead, a division aimed at telling stories of the Black experience.  

“Viola also explains how she manifested the loves in her life and what it took to become one of the most celebrated and talented actresses of our time,” the announcement said.

The news comes on the helm of Davis’ upcoming portrayal of former first lady Michelle Obama in the new Showtimes series The First Lady, which premieres April 17.

Davis’ tell-all memoir Finding Me will be published on April 26.

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A rat in your kitchen is arguably a bad thing — unless it’s Remy, that lovable, scampering chef from Ratatouille — but TBS’ Rat in the Kitchen takes that to another level. 

“It’s part cooking competition that you’re used to, but then Knives Out, sort of a whodunnit,” describes stand-up comic and co-host Natasha Leggero. 

Each episode features a group of chefs, plying their skills in an effort to win a cash prize, but that’s where the similarities to other shows end, she explains. A “rat” is chosen in secret before the competition begins, and their job is to secretly screw up the dishes presented to Leggero, and her co-host, legendary chef Ludo Lefebvre. 

“[T]hey are there to sabotage the rest of the chefs’ dishes, and they are all working together as a team — including that rat. So nobody knows who the rat is. So everybody is sort of suspecting everybody,” Leggero explains.

Sometimes, however, the surprise is that the chef messes up a dish all on their own, Ludo admits. “I mean, look, in the show, I eat some amazing dish[es], and I eat some very bad dish[es], like disgusting dish[es]. So definitely sometimes you feel that the rat [sabotaged] the dish because it’s very bad. And at the end, you realize he was not the rat.”

“Right,” Leggero adds with a laugh. “His grandmother gave him a bad recipe…”

She adds she wanted to be part of the show — particularly because she can’t cook — so she’s happy to just serve up the comedy. “Ludo is funny, but he is like, extremely serious about food. And, so you know, I think it’s just a good combo.”  

Rat in the Kitchen airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. on TBS.

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