Who are the smartest college students in the country? A new primetime Jeopardy! event aims to answer that question.
Jeopardy! National College Championship starts tonight, and host Mayim Bialik tells ABC Audio, “It’s kind of a March Madness of the best kind. But obviously, there’s three contestants per game, not two. And we start with 36 and we get down to three.”
And, just like March Madness, the students are from colleges all over the country.
“Ivy Leagues, public colleges, small colleges, historically black colleges,” Bialik shares. “Just colleges from places, you’re like, ‘Where is that? I don’t even know where that is.'”
Although the students are all staggeringly smart, that’s not necessarily enough to take home a win. Bialik notes that other factors like timing, nerves and focus also play a part.
For those who tuned in to the Professors tournament, Bialik shares that this college primetime special won’t feel that same “because this generation is so collaborative.”
“They were so friendly with each other, it felt really different. It felt more like they were on the same team,” she says.” Whereas the professors felt like, you know, grown up professors competing against each other.”
Bialik adds, “A lot of the categories are really, really fun in the college tournament. There is a lot more laughter than with the adult contestants I think.”
Not only is it more fun, she says that the students may have a slight edge when it comes to “certain aspects” of the game show due to having an “easier command of technology.”
Bialik has served as the interim host of the syndicated Jeopardy! show, alongside Ken Jennings, but when it comes to the search for a permanent replacement for Alex Trebek, she doesn’t have much news to share.
Hulu has dropped release dates for several high-profile limited series, including the anticipated The Dropout, starring Amanda Seyfried, Amy Schumer‘s Life After Beth, and Elle Fanning in The Girl from Plainville.
The Dropouttracks the meteoric rise and catastrophic fall of Elizabeth Holmes, disgraced founder of the medical technology company Theranos. Holmes took Silicon Valley and Wall Street by storm with her promised revolutionary blood scanner, only to be exposed as a fraud when it was discovered she knew the machines never worked.
The trailer shows Seyfried playing Holmes both as an ambitious student, and later reinventing herself in the model of Apple legend Steve Jobs. Holmes is shown lapping up the limelight — and even in a mirror practicing the odd voice she affected in public — and then as a cornered figure, covering up the failure of her technology as her employees seek to expose her. William H. Macy, Laurie Metcalf, Naveen Andrews, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Stephen Fry and Sam Waterston also star in the eight-episode series launching March 3.
Life After Beth, which was written, directed, executive-produced and stars Amy Schumer, has the comedian and actress playing a wine distributor with a successful personal and professional life. Hulu teases of the 10-episode series, “When a sudden incident forces Beth to engage with her past, her life changes forever.” Michael Cera, Susannah Flood, Violet Young, and Kevin Kane also star. The show debuts March 18.
The Girl From Plainville is another ripped-from-the-headlines offering from Hulu, debuting on March 29. The eight-episode series, starring Elle Fanning, Chloë Sevigny, and Colton Ryan, centers on Michelle Carter‘s relationship with Conrad Roy III, who killed himself after repeated texts from Carter urging him to do so. Carter was eventually convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
(“Life After Beth” trailer contains strong language.)
The New Zealand-born filmmaker is the first woman to be nominated in the best director category twice. She was first nominated in 1994 for The Piano, and again Tuesday for The Power of the Dog at this year’s Oscars.
Competing alongside Campion, 67, for the best director trophy at the 94th Academy Awards are Kenneth Branagh for Belfast, Paul Thomas Anderson for Licorice Pizza, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi for Drive My Car, and Steven Spielberg for West Side Story.
Only six other women have been nominated for best director: Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties in 1977, Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation in 2004, Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker in 2010, Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird in 2018, Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman in 2021, and Chloé Zhao for Nomadland in 2021. Of those, only two women — Bigelow and Zhao — have won the Oscar for best director. Zhao’s win last year made her the first woman of color to win best director.
Campion also snagged nominations for best picture and best adapted screenplay at this year’s Academy Awards for The Power of the Dog. The film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee, is based on Thomas Savage‘s 1967 novel of the same name. Cumberbatch was nominated for best actor, Dunst was nominated for best supporting actress and both Plemons and Smit-McPhee were nominated for best supporting actor.
The Power of the Dog leads the pack of nominees this year, with a grand total of 12 nods. In addition to the three nominations for Campion and the four cast members, the movie was also nominated for best cinematography, best original score, best sound, best production design and best film editing.
Disney/Pixar has released the first trailer to Lightyear, the animated action movie origin story behind the action figure Buzz Lightyear, who was voiced by Tim Allen in the Toy Story films.
Chris Evans voices “the real” Buzz Lightyear, a Space Ranger on a dangerous intergalactic mission. The trailer shows the character launched into deep space, where he runs afoul of a “massive robot” that Toy Story fans will recognize as the inspiration for Evil Emperor Zurg, as well as his robotic minions.
In a statement, director Angus MacLane noted, “In Toy Story, there seemed to be this incredible backstory to [Buzz] being a Space Ranger that’s only touched upon, and I always wanted to explore that world further. So my Lighytear pitch was, ‘What was the movie that Andy saw that made him want a Buzz Lightyear toy?'”
He added, “I wanted to see that movie. And now I’m lucky enough to get to make it.”
The movie, which also features the voices of Oscar-winner Taiki Waititi, Emmy-winner Uzo Aduba, Keke Palmer, James Brolin, and Efram Ramirez, as well as Ratatouille vet Peter Sohn as Buzz’s robot cat companion, Sox, opens in theaters June 17.
An Oscar nomination is a feather in anybody’s cap, but for Lin-Manuel Miranda, his brand-new nom for Encanto‘s original song, “Dos Oruguitas,” puts him closer to a Hollywood high-water mark: The coveted PEGOT.
Miranda already has a Pulitzer, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony, thanks to both the stage and small-screen productions of his phenomenon Hamilton, but an Oscar could make him just the third person to win a PEGOT, joining Rita Moreno, Mike Nichols, and Barbra Streisand.
Just 16 people have won the EGOT, including Moreno, Nichols, Richard Rodgers, Helen Hayes, John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Tunick, Mel Brooks, Whoopi Goldberg, Scott Rudin, Robert Lopez, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, John Legend, and Alan Menken.
Incidentally, the term EGOT was first coined by former Miami Vice co-star Phillip Michael Thomas, who manifested in 1984 that he’d secure all four honors within five years. Alas, he’s never earned any of the trophies. Thomas’ failed quest for the EGOT — and his gold EGOT necklace — were later spoofed by Tracy Morgan‘s character on 30 Rock.
Both served as something of a warning to Miranda, who once told ABC Audio, “I honestly think that the moment you start chasing an award is the moment it goes away.”
He added with a laugh, “I am forever proud of like Rita Moreno for being like the Boriqua [fellow Puerto Rican] who is the EGOT, and she can stay the Boriqua who is the EGOT as far as I’m concerned. Because she’s Rita Moreno and then there’s mere mortals over here!”
Miranda adds, “I mean, it’s…my goal is just to make things I’m passionate about…and that’s the only thing that’s really worth pursuing. Everything else is gravy — fun, but gravy.”
The Oscar nominations were announced at 8:18 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday morning. The Western The Power of the Dog leads with 12 nominations in multiple categories, while the sci-fi epic Dune followed close behind, with 10.
Emmy-nominated black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross and Emmy-winning The Help veteran and Call Me Kat co-star Leslie Jordan presented the nominees in all 23 categories live via a livestream on Oscars.org and the Academy’s social media sites.
The 94th Annual Academy Awards will air live on ABC on March 27. The ceremony will be returning to Oscars’ home at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles.
Here are the nominees:
Best motion picture of the year
Belfast – Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas, Producers CODA – Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, Producers Don’t Look Up – Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers Drive My Car – Teruhisa Yamamoto, Producer Dune – Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter, Producers King Richard – Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith, Producers Licorice Pizza – Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers Nightmare Alley – Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper, Producers The Power of the Dog – Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier, Producers West Side Story – Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers
Achievement in directing
Belfast – Kenneth Branagh Drive My Car – Ryusuke Hamaguchi Licorice Pizza – Paul Thomas Anderson The Power of the Dog – Jane Campion West Side Story – Steven Spielberg
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Javier Bardem – Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield – tick, tick…BOOM!
Will Smith – King Richard
Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Ciarán Hinds in – Belfast
Troy Kotsur – CODA
Jesse Plemons – The Power of the Dog
J.K. Simmons – Being the Ricardos
Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman in – The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz in – Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman in – Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart in – Spencer
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose – West Side Story
Judi Dench – Belfast
Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard
Best animated feature film of the year
Encanto – Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer Flee – Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie Luca – Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren The Mitchells vs. the Machines – Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht Raya and the Last Dragon – Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho
Achievement in cinematography
Dune – Greig Fraser Nightmare Alley – Dan Laustsen The Power of the Dog – Ari Wegner The Tragedy of Macbeth – Bruno Delbonnel West Side Story – Janusz Kaminski
Achievement in costume design
Cruella – Jenny Beavan Cyrano – Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran Dune – Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan Nightmare Alley – Luis Sequeira West Side Story – Paul Tazewell
Best documentary feature
Ascension – Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell
Attica – Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry Flee – Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) – Ahmir – Questlove – Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein Writing with Fire – Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh
Best documentary short subject
Audible – Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean Lead Me Home – Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk The Queen of Basketball – Ben Proudfoot Three Songs for Benazir – Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei When We Were Bullies – Jay Rosenblatt
Achievement in film editing
Don’t Look Up – Hank Corwin Dune – Joe Walker King Richard – Pamela Martin The Power of the Dog – Peter Sciberras tick, tick…BOOM! – Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum
Best international feature film of the year
Drive My Car – Japan Flee – Denmark The Hand of God – Italy Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom – Bhutan The Worst Person in the World – Norway
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
Coming 2 America – Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer Cruella – Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon Dune – Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr The Eyes of Tammy Faye – Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh House of Gucci – Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
Don’t Look Up – Nicholas Britell Dune – Hans Zimmer Encanto – Germaine Franco Parallel Mothers – Alberto Iglesias The Power of the Dog – Jonny Greenwood
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Be Alive” from King Richard – Music and Lyric by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
“Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto – Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Down To Joy” from Belfast – Music and Lyric by Van Morrison
“No Time To Die” from No Time to Die – Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
“Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days – Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
Achievement in production design
Dune – Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos Nightmare Alley – Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau The Power of the Dog – Production Design: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Amber Richards The Tragedy of Macbeth – Production Design: Stefan Dechant; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh West Side Story – Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo
Best animated short film
Affairs of the Art – Joanna Quinn and Les Mills Bestia – Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz Boxballet – Anton Dyakov Robin Robin – Dan Ojari and Mikey Please The Windshield Wiper – Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez
Best live action short film
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run – Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger The Dress – Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki The Long Goodbye – Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed On My Mind – Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson Please Hold – K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse
Achievement in sound
Belfast – Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri Dune – Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett No Time to Die – Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor The Power of the Dog – Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb West Side Story – Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy
Achievement in visual effects
Dune – Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer Free Guy – Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick No Time to Die – Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver Spider-Man: No Way Home – Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick
Adapted screenplay
CODA – Screenplay by Siân Heder Drive My Car – Screenplay by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe Dune – Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth The Lost Daughter – Written by Maggie Gyllenhaal The Power of the Dog – Written by Jane Campion
Original screenplay
Belfast – Written by Kenneth Branagh Don’t Look Up – Screenplay by Adam McKay; Story by Adam McKay & David Sirota King Richard – Written by Zach Baylin Licorice Pizza – Written by Paul Thomas Anderson The Worst Person in the World – Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
Olympic diver Tom Daley still applauds Simone Biles‘ decision to withdraw from several events she was predicted to win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. While many were shocked by the move, Daley understood she bowed out in order to protect herself.
“It wasn’t just about mental health, it was… about her physical health,” the British athlete told ABC Audio. “She was very brave to speak up and I think it was really important to know that athletes are human beings, too.”
Daley, who captured hearts by knitting in between his Olympic events this summer, said athletes should not be “expected to be these invincible heroes” because “we do have things that can get to us.”
One of those things is “the twisties,” which is what Biles experienced in Tokyo. Daley says this phenomenon, in which the brain and the body feel out of sync, also affects divers and can be potentially dangerous.
“It is an extremely scary thing because you get lost in the air and you don’t really know which way’s up and which way is down,” he explained, adding he suffered the twisties after the 2012 London Olympics. The Olympic gold medalist said Biles was not just protecting her mental health: she knew pressing on could’ve resulted in a career-ending injury.
“The difference between diving and gymnastics is that if you get lost in the air, you land in the water in a heap… and it hurts. But for a gymnast? When you land on the floor — that’s hard. So if you land the wrong way up or you land on your head, that’s a serious injury,” Daley remarked.
Biles recently spoke to PORTERmagazine about the ordeal. “I felt scared,” she recalled, and reiterated she that she doesn’t regret withdrawing from the Olympics.
Kristen Wiig is reuniting with her Downsizing co-star Laura Dern for Apple TV+’s Mrs. American Pie, a 10-episode comedy series revolving around Palm Beach high society in the 1970s. Wiig will reportedly play Maxine Simmons, “an outsider” trying to “cross that impermeable line between the haves and the have-nots,” according to the streaming service. “Mrs. American Pie asks the same questions that still baffle us today: ‘Who gets a seat at the table?”Apple TV+ asks. Dern, an executive producer on the series, is “eyeing a key role” in the comedy, per a press release, but details are being kept under wraps…
Academy Award-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones has been tapped to star in Disney+’s National Treasure TV series, based on the movies of the same name starring Nicolas Cage, the streamer announced on Monday. The series will follow a new, younger heroine, Jess, played by Lisette Alexis, a DREAMer who embarks on an adventure to uncover the truth about her family’s mysterious past and save a lost Pan-American treasure also being sought after by Bille, a nefarious black-market antiquities expert, played by Zeta-Jones. Disney is the parent company of ABC News…
Amazon Studios will release the first teaser-trailer for its long-awaited The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series on Sunday, February 13 during the Super Bowl, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The multi-season series, costing a reported $465 million — the most expensive ever made — will tell the tales that happened before Frodo and Sam trekked to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring, as seen in Peter Jackson‘s Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy. The series will premiere Friday, September 2, on Prime Video, with new episodes being rolled out each week…
The Shanae show continued on Monday’s episode of The Bachelor, leading to a two-on-one date between her and one of the other ladies to determine who stays and who goes home.
But first, Clayton needed to get to the bottom of a confrontation between Shanae and some of the other ladies during last week’s group date. Shanae, after hearing the others plotting to get her sent home, found herself on the losing side of a football game — resulting in her team going home and the winners spending time with Clayton. Worried the others would talk about her without the chance to respond, she crashed the afterparty, angering the others.
Before the rose ceremony, Clayton heard both sides of the story — first from the winning team, then from Shanae — in an effort to sort things out. Shanae delivered an award-winning apology that afterwards, in a reveal, she’d admit was an act.
When the roses were handed out, Shanae would stay, while Jill and Lindsay W. were sent home, along with Siera, whose parting words to Clayton were to choose “the right girl” and not “be stupid.”
The international journey continued in Toronto, with a group date featuring some of the ladies roasting each other, although Shanae — who wasn’t even on the date — took most of the heat. The date rose went to Rachel.
A pair of one-on-one dates went to Serene and Gabby, who each walked away with roses as well.
The episode ended with a one-on-one date at Niagara Falls featuring bitter rivals Shanae and Genevieve, delivered with the ominous message: “Into the falls your journey goes…only one comes out with a rose.”
However, the date may also carry consequences for Clayton, whose decision could change their feelings about him.
The Bachelor continues Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
For some lucky stars, they might be receiving a wake-up call today that they won’t mind getting: The Oscar nominations will be announced at 8:18 a.m. Eastern time/5:18 a.m. Pacific.
Emmy-nominated black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross and Emmy-winning The Help veteran Leslie Jordan will do the honors later this morning, presenting nominations for all 23 categories live via a livestream on Oscars.org and the Academy’s social media sites.
This year, the western The Power of the Dog has racked up various wins, including Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, and the Best Film trophy at this year’s mostly ignored Golden Globes. Its lead Benedict Cumberbatch is a likely candidate for a Best Actor nomination, but the Oscars have been known for its surprises, too.
Tick, Tick…Boom!‘s Andrew Garfield could also be recognized, after a year in which the Hacksaw Ridge Best Actor nominee logged three lauded performances: One in the acclaimed Lin-Manuel Miranda-directed musical Tick, Tick…Boom!, as well as his performance as televangelist Jim Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and as one of three Peter Parkers in 2021’s biggest movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Similarly, could Will Smith pick up another nomination, this time for King Richard? Could critic favorite Licorice Pizza get a ticket to the Big Dance, or will Oscar shower more La La Land-type love on the musicalsTick, Tick…Boom! and West Side Story? And could House of Gucci be nominated for a Razzie AND an Oscar?
Stay tuned.
The 94th Annual Academy Awards will air live on March 27 on ABC.
