Lee Daniels‘ latest TV series, The Ms. Pat Show, premiered August 12 on BET+, and the Empire creator says he is proud after years of struggling to make the sitcom happen.

“Years before, we tried to find the right writer, right visionary for it, trying fight studios and networks that wanted to do it, but were afraid to do it because it was too black and was too real,” Daniels said during a TV Critics Association panel Tuesday, according to Deadline. “We have never seen a voice like this on television…it was worth the fight — years of fighting.”

The Oscar-nominated director adds that he did not lose faith in the show after it was dropped in 2016 by Fox, and dropped by Hulu in 2019.

The Ms. Pat Show is based on the life of series star Patricia Williams, who overcame her criminal past to become a successful comedian. She portrays a married mother of four living in her real-life hometown of Plainfield, Indiana, in a suburban white neighborhood.

“I’m just proud to be out front and a different type of mom where I don’t have to be chopping up vegetables,” Williams said during the TCA event. “I’m a convicted felon and you get to see a side of a mom Hollywood doesn’t really want you to see, other than on Cops.”

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Actress Selma Blair had a reason to smile at discovery+’s Television Critics Association panel for her upcoming documentary Introducing Selma Blair: Her multiple sclerosis is in remission. 

“My prognosis is great,” the former Cruel Intentions star said. “Stem cell [treatments] put me in remission. It took about a year after stem cell for the inflammation and lesions to really go down.”

Blair, 49, had undergone chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant to essentially “reboot” her nervous system, she explained.

The actress also said that she’s been feeling much better of late, but didn’t want to rush to make headlines. “I was reluctant to talk about it because I felt this need to be more healed and more fixed,” she noted.

“I’ve accrued a lifetime of some baggage in the brain that still needs a little sorting out or accepting,” the actress continued. “That took me a minute to get to that acceptance.”

Blair added, “I have really felt unwell and misunderstood for so long that it’s just me.”

Selma revealed her diagnosis in 2018, later telling ABC News’ Robin Roberts that she felt “relief” after she finally learned why she’d been suffering years of crippling pain and other physical symptoms. 

“I was really struggling with, ‘How am I gonna get by in life?'” she told Robin. “And [being] not taken seriously by doctors, just, ‘Single mother, you’re exhausted, financial burden, blah, blah, blah.’ And so when I got the diagnosis I cried with some relief. Like, ‘Oh, good, I’ll be able to do something.'”

Introducing Selma Blair, which profiles the actress’ life with MS and her struggles with her treatment, opens in theaters October 15 and starts streaming on discovery+ on October 21.

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It appears Pete Davidson has moved on from another Hollywood star.

The Sun reports the SNL vet and The Suicide Squad co-star has split from his latest girlfriend, Bridgerton‘s Phoebe Dynevor.

The pair had been linked since last February, and he’d even traveled across The Pond to spend time with the British actress: the couple were spotted together engaged in some PDA during Wimbledon in July. 

However, it seems COVID-19 had something to do with the apparent break-up, reports The Sun. While long-distance relationships are hard enough, trying to traverse the distances with pandemic flight restrictions “has made everything more difficult,” a source told the tabloid.

“It was pretty telling when Phoebe headed to Croatia with her mates this week rather than going to see Pete in America,” the gossiper continued. 

The source explained of the pair, “Their mates think they make a great couple, but the distance has made it completely unworkable. They had fun and will remain close, but unless something drastic changes, their relationship won’t recover.”

Davidson has previously been linked to a series of A-list beauties, including his former fiancée Ariana Grande, Underworld‘s Kate Beckinsale, and Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood‘s Margaret Qualley. 

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While New York Yankees fans might not want to be reminded of Field of Dreams after their recent loss at the film’s Iowa location, Peacock TV has announced a series based on the Kevin Costner classic.

The streaming service has tapped The Office writing alum and Parks and Recreation co-creator Michael Schur with producing a modern take on the Oscar-nominated film, in which Costner played a man mystically prompted to build a baseball field in his cornfield. 

“The series will reimagine the mixture of family, baseball, Iowa and magic that makes the movie so enduring and beloved,” the streaming service said in an announcement.

“[W]e could only have entrusted [it] to Mike Schur,” said Erin Underhill, president, Universal Television of the “iconic” film’s adaptation, adding, “His talent, his love for baseball and his reverence for its themes make him the perfect choice to revisit this beloved film that evokes nostalgia and visceral emotion in so many of its fans.”

Universal Television, which backed Schur’s The Good Place and Parks and Rec for NBC, is producing the series.

Incidentally, the love for the film was recently shown in the ratings for that Yankees/White Sox matchup in Dyersville, Iowa, which were the highest of any game since 2005. It drew a big numbers on streaming as well.

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