(NOTE LANGUAGE) A week after the so-called “Slap heard ’round the world,” Oscars co-host Amy Schumertells fans she’s taking a break.
To her Instagram over the weekend, Amy posted a picture of her spooning in bed with her two-year-old son Gene, with the caption, “Out of office reply for the next month. Thanks.”
Her message to her more than 11 million followers was met with immediate support, gaining more than 200,000 likes.
Some of the replies were from fellow famous moms like Ali Wentworth,who noted, “Well deserved,” and Debra Messing, who said of the sweet shot, “Nothing is better!”
Last Monday, Schumer had vented about what went down between Will Smith and Chris Rock during the Oscars telecast the night before, saying she was, “Still triggered and traumatized” by the situation.
Incidentally, Amy also addressed the slap while performing a stand-up date at The Mirage Theater in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
According to E!, she called the occurrence, “a f**king bummer,” and she expressed, “it was really just sad…It says so much about race, about toxic masculinity, it’s just, everything.”
“It was just really upsetting,” Schumer also added.
One of the biggest movie stars of all time is coming to the small screen: Harrison Ford‘s first starring TV series project will be in an Apple TV+ comedy called Shrinking.
According to the streaming service, the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movie veteran will play Phil, a “down-to earth” and “blue collar shrink” who works with show co-creator Jason Segal‘s grieving therapist.
The latter causes some waves when, in his current state, he decides to tell his patients what they really think of him.
Also starring in the series from Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence will be none other than Ted Lasso Emmy winner Brett Goldstein who, along with Segel, plays one of Phil’s therapist proteges.
For his part, Ford’s character is recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s, “which forces him out of his comfort zone as he grapples with intrusive friends, his estranged family and his legacy.”
This will be Ford’s first time on the small screen in decades. He reprised his role as the “Man in the Hat” in an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles in 1993, and before leading man status found him in 1977’s Star Wars, he appeared in guest roles on the long-running Western series Gunsmoke, and 1970s TV shows including Ironsides and Love, American Style.
Actress Selma Blairopens up in the April/May issue of AARP The Magazine, and talks about living — and really living — with multiple sclerosis.
The former Cruel Intentions and Hellboy star first went public that she had MS in 2018, and has since become a role model for others living with the degenerative condition. Her trials and tribulations were chronicled in the documentary Introducing Selma Blair, and in her book, Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up.
Her MS not only informed the book’s content, but how it came together, Selma tells the magazine. “When I sat down to write Mean Baby after the prefrontal brain damage, it came out as if from the 8-year-old I was when I first wanted to write a book!” she laughs, calling that “beautiful.”
Selma also adds, “My mother was a harsh critic, and I always wanted her to edit my book. [When] she died of cancer…I felt such a profound sense of grief and loss. But when I started down the path of embracing life and writing about it, the documentary about me became very rooted in my mother, a love letter to her, as I try to let go.”
The magazine feature and the film spotlight Blair’s optimism, despite her illness. “I’ve always been a talker and prone to drama, so even if my voice falters or goes into a spasm, I talk through it — I’m learning not to give it a rest!” she declares.
Blair also adds, “I realized that if I’m lucky, I could reach 85, MS or not. Our abilities are always fleeting, but when they fail, it’s always treated as a tragedy. How do we enter a chaotic shift in our life without feeling it’s an end to something? We just have to adapt.”
While host Jerrod Carmichael said in his monologue that he was over talking about Will Smith‘s slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars, Saturday Night Live was all about it.
“I’m not gonna talk about it,” the stand-up first said, referring to the incident only as “it.”
Carmichael marveled that the incident had, at that point, “it” only happened six days ago, and yet it feels like we’ve all been talking about it forever.
“Like, doesn’t it feel like it happened when we were all in high school?” He added, “It feels like it happened somewhere between Jamiroquai and 9-11.”
That said, the sketch show teed off on the incident a few times, with one sketch that had Carmichael playing a seat filler eager to meet Chris Redd‘s Smith at the show, only to become less enthused as the “it” played out in real time.
Jost’s co-host Michael Che noted, “Love makes you do crazy things. You know what else makes you do crazy things? Crazy.”
As for Smith’s resigning from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences after the attack, Jost joked, “He wasn’t going to, but then Jada gave him that look.”
Che and Jost also welcomed Kenan Thompson to the Update desk, playing O.J. Simpson, who in real life had opined.
As O.J., Thompson said, “I mean, Will, I don’t want to say that you’ve got rage issues, but if the glove fits…”
The Sony Pictures vampire superhero Morbius managed to fight off a critical drubbing to earn a respectable $39.1 million opening at the domestic box office, enough for the weekend’s top spot. The movie, starring Oscar-winner Jared Leto as one of Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man baddies, debuted to $84 million worldwide: Decent, but nowhere near Spider-Man:No Way Home‘s numbers, nor even another Spidey-adjacent Sony offering, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which opened to $90 million domestically last fall.
In the second-place slot this weekend is last week’s box office champ, the Channing Tatum/Sandra Bullock romantic romp The Lost City. The adventure film, which also stars Daniel Radcliffe, earned $14.8 million in its sophomore frame.
The Batman took in another $10.8 million domestically for third place. Starring Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz, it also crossed the $700 million mark globally after five weeks with $710.5 million, and counting.
Rounding out the fourth and fifth places in theaters over the weekend, respectively, were Tom Holland‘s blockbuster video game adaptation Uncharted, which earned $3.6 million, and the anime adventure Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie, which earned a bit under $2 million.
Both films are also scoring overseas: Uncharted, from Sony Pictures, has a worldwide haul of more than $234 million, while Jujutsu‘s bottom line was also boosted from foreign theaters, pushing its worldwide take to $149.1 million over the weekend.
Broadway performances of Macbeth, which stars Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga, have been cancelled through April 7 after a “limited number” of positive COVID-19 results were detected among the company. “We deeply apologize for the inconvenience this causes ticket holders. All tickets for the cancelled performances will be refunded at the original point of purchase,” the production said on social media. Macbeth just began previews on March 29 and is set of officially open on April 28…
Paramount+ has unleashed the first full-length trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the latest new series in the Star Trek saga. The series, which debuts next month on the streamer, follows Captain Christopher Pike and the USS Enterprise crew in the decade before the original Star Trek series time frame. Strange New Worlds stars Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One, and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The first episode of the 10-episode seasonpremieres Thursday, May 5 with episodes being released weekly on Thursdays…
Barrie Youngfellow, who starred in the ’80s sitcom It’s a Living, died last Monday, March 28, according to her family. A cause of death was not disclosed. She was 75. In an obituary, her family wrote, “She was the best of friends and had many loyal ones. Loved a good story and a nice bottle. Had a great laugh that confirmed her sense of life. Even during her decline, she could shoot off a good one liner.” Youngfellow appeared in 120 episodes of It’s A Living, which was renamed Making a Living and aired from 1980 to 1989. She also has credits in Blossom, Murder, She Wrote, Trapper John, M.D., It Takes Two, Good Time Harry, Three’s Company, The Jeffersons, Emergency!, Carter Country, and more…
The highly anticipated women’s sports drama Long Slow Exhale premieres today, and the show runners warn it’s a story no one has seen before on television.
Long Slow Exhale stars Rose Rollins as J.C. Abernathy, the head coach of a women’s college basketball team who gets swept up in a horrific sexual abuse scandal involving her star player and assistant coach. With her career on the line, she aims to find the truth — no matter what or who stands in her way.
Pam Veasey, who created the show, told ABC Audio that her aim was to “create a strong female lead who was flawed and redeemable in a world that you hadn’t seen before.” Veasey added that the story also shows just how many lives a sexual abuse scandal touches and asks, “What is the journey of those coaches — or the players, or the victims or their parents?”
Producer Casey Haver said the goal of the project was to tell an “authentic” story that wasn’t “[exploitative] in any way.” Director Anton Cropper added that meant being mindful when it came to exploring every “character’s headspace” to “really understand how they were affected and how their choices affected others.”
Rollins said she appreciated the show’s sensitivity and bold storyline because it created such “multi-layered, complicated” characters. The actress added that her character’s arc had such a strong impact on her, she unintentionally began method acting.
“I’m not exaggerating. I would dream as J.C. — I would have J.C.’s dreams,” she remarked, calling the experience “a head trip.”
Ian Harding, who portrays assistant coach Eddie Hagan, said it was “tricky” playing someone who is accused of an unspeakable crime but doesn’t believe “what he did was wrong,” which leads to some “painful scenes.”
The 64th Annual Grammy Awards aired live from Las Vegas Sunday night on CBS, hosted by Trevor Noah.
Here is the complete list of winners in the major categories:
Record of the Year
“Leave the Door Open,” Silk Sonic
Album of the Year We Are, Jon Batiste
Song of the Year
“Leave the Door Open,” Brandon Anderson, Christopher Brody Brown, Dernst Emile II & Bruno Mars, songwriters (Silk Sonic)
Best New Artist
Olivia Rodrigo
POP
Best Pop Solo Performance
“driver’s license,” Olivia Rodrigo
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
“Kiss Me More,” Doja Cat Featuring SZA
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Love For Sale, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga
Best Pop Vocal Album Sour, Olivia Rodrigo
ROCK/ALTERNATIVE
Best Metal Performance
“The Alien,” Dream Theater
Best Rock Song
“Waiting on a War,” Foo Fighters
Best Rock Performance
“Making a Fire,” Foo Fighters
Best Rock Album Medicine at Midnight, Foo Fighters
Best Alternative Music Album Daddy’s Home, St. Vincent
R&B/RAP
BEST R&B PERFORMANCE (TIE)
“Leave the Door Open,” Silk Sonic
and
“Pick Up Your Feelings,” Jazmine Sullivan
Best Traditional R&B Performance
“Fight for You,” H.E.R.
Best R&B Song
“Leave the Door Open,” Silk Sonic
Best Progressive R&B Album Table for Two, Lucky Daye
Best R&B Album Heaux Tales, Jazmine Sullivan
Best Rap Performance
“Family Ties,” Baby Keem Featuring Kendrick Lamar
Best Melodic Rap Performance
“Hurricane,” Kanye West featuring the Weeknd and Lil Baby
Best Rap Song
“Jail,” Dwayne Abernathy, Jr., Shawn Carter, Raul Cubina, Michael Dean, Charles M. Njapa, Sean Solymar, Kanye West and Mark Williams, songwriters (Kanye West featuring Jay-Z)
Best Rap Album Call Me If You Get Lost, Tyler, the Creator
COUNTRY
Best Country Solo Performance
“You Should Probably Leave,” Chris Stapleton
Best Country Duo/Group Performance
“Younger Me,” Brothers Osborne
Best Country Song
“Cold,” Dave Cobb, J.T. Cure, Derek Mixon & Chris Stapleton
Best Country Album Starting Over, Chris Stapleton
DANCE/ELECTRONIC MUSIC
Best Dance Recording
“10%” by Kaytranada feat. Kali Uchis
Best Dance/Electronic Album Alive, Rüfüs Du Sol
GOSPEL/CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC
Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song
“Believe For It,” CeCe Winans; Dwan Hill, Kyle Lee, CeCe Winans & Mitch Wong
Best Gospel Album Believe For It, CeCe Winans
Best Contemporary Christian Music Album Old Church Basement, Elevation Worship & Maverick City Music
Best Roots Gospel Album My Savior, Carrie Underwood
LATIN
Best Latin Pop Album
Mendó, Alex Cuba
Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album
Origen, Juanes
Best Regional Mexican Music Album A Mis 80s, Vicente Fernandez
Best Tropical Latin Album Salswing!, Rubén Blades y Roberto Delgado & Orquesta
COMEDY
Best Comedy Album Sincerely, Louis C.K.
MUSICAL THEATER
Best Musical Theater Album The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, Composers/Lyricists Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, Producer Emily Bear
MUSIC FOR VISUAL MEDIA
Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media (TIE)
Caros Raphael Rivera, The Queen’s Gambit
and
Jon Batiste, Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor, Soul
Best Song Written For Visual Media
“All Eyes on Me” (from Bo Burnham: Inside), Bo Burnham
MUSIC VIDEO/FILM
Best Music Video
“Freedom,” Jon Batiste
Best Music Film Summer of Soul, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, video director; David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent & Joseph Patel, video producers
Estelle Harris, best known for playing George Costanza’s mother on Seinfeld, has passed away at age 93.
Her son, Glen Harris, confirmed Saturday that she died of natural causes in Palm Desert, CA.
“It is with the greatest remorse and sadness to announce that Estelle Harris has passed on today, leaving a hole in my heart too deep to describe,” her son said in a statement. “Her kindness, passion, sensitivity, humor, empathy and love were practically unrivaled, and she will be terribly missed by all those who knew her.”
In addition to her role as Estelle Costanza on Seinfeld opposite Jerry Stiller as George’s father Frank, Harris was also well-known for voicing the role of Mrs. Potato Head in the Toy Story franchise.
“One of my favorite people has passed – my tv mama, Estelle Harris,” Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza on Seinfeld, said in a Twitter post. “The joy of playing with her and relishing her glorious laughter was a treat. I adore you, Estelle. Love to your family. Serenity now and always. #RIPEstelleHarris.”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine on Seinfeld, also reacted to the news on Twitter, writing, ”RIP Estelle Harris. I love you.”
Harris is survived by her three children, three grandsons, and a great grandson.
It’s a wrap for Star Trek: Discovery. Sonequa Martin-Green has just finished her latest voyage as Captain Michael Burnham in Season 4…and she still hasn’t come back to Earth.
“It was quite profound,” she tells ABC Audio of the season ender’s surprise Stacey Abrams cameo. “She was utterly wonderful! You have this civil hero right in front of you. This legend in-the-making right in front of you.”
As it turns out, Abrams was no stranger to being in front of the camera, Martin-Green says: “And also completely talented! Because it turns out she’s acted some, and she did a fantastic job as the President of United Earth.”
While promoting her new partnership with Crest, to raise awareness for good oral hygiene for kids, Martin-Green says things are going full-speed ahead for the cast and crew of Discovery.
“We officially have gotten into our groove. I love where we end in Season 4,” she says.
And she’s happy for the setup going into Season 5. “With peace being restored, and The Federation really building exactly, and strengthening and everything. And I think that we are going to have some time where we can kind of coast there. And I applaud the writers for that. For the art imitating life in that way right? Because that big conflict in Season 4 is very much a representation of the pandemic.”
Episodes of Star Trek: Discovery are available now on Paramount+.
