I report on TV & media events in L.A. I give good coffee talk & excel at celebrity whispering.
The Big Bang Theory
When you tune in to watch the new HBO Max darkly comedic murder mystery The Flight Attendant, and you should (and you can now, as HBO Max has released the first episode early!), you may be surprised to see Kaley Cuoco playing a role markedly different from Penny on The Big Bang Theory. Cuoco's choice to play Cassie Bowden, the titular flight attendant who travels and parties internationally, is a shrewd and unexpected follow-up to the broad comedy that catapulted her to stardom.
Adapted from ...
The Amber Ruffin Show
When Amber Ruffin's new self-titled show debuts on Peacock, she won't be going far from her day job at Late Night with Seth Meyers. At a virtual press tour for the series, Ruffin explained more about the new show with her fellow executive producers Jenny Hagel and Seth Meyers.
"I love NBC. I love staying in our NBC family. I love the fact that because it is still NBC, I can stay at Late Night and I can literally be at my same desk and the work will feel very similar. It'll take place in Seth'...
Woke Wants to Finally Show Black Nerd Culture in Its 'True Light'
New Girl fans will be happy to see Lamorne Morris in the new Hulu comedy Woke where he portrays cartoonist Keef Knight. Our protagnoist is living well in San Francisco: his comic strip is on the verge of blowing up, and he's making plans to move in with his girlfriend when he has an unexpected encounter that makes him rethink everything about his life as a Black man living in America.
At a virtual panel to promote the show, co-creators and executive producers Marshall Todd (the writer of Barb...
A.P. Bio Stars Tease What to Expect in Season 3
A.P. Bio is returning with more room to run in its third season and makes the most of it. The show's faculty members Glenn Howerton, Paula Pell, Patton Oswalt, Jean Villepique, Lyric Lewis, Mary Sohn and series creator/executive producer Mike O'Brien gave a preview of what's in store at a virtual press conference earlier this summer, setting fans up for a fun new season now that show has moved from NBC to the network's streaming service, Peacock.
For one thing, Howerton teased Jack's students...
Who's The Boss Sequel Series Happening with Tony Danza and Alyssa Milano
One of TV's best-loved father/daughter duos is returning as Tony Danza and Alyssa Milano are set to return to their roles as Tony and Samantha Micelli in a new Who's The Boss? sequel series, according to Deadline. The original version ran eight seasons and produced 196 episodes for ABC from 1984-1992, a timespan that allowed viewers to watch Milano grow up on TV.
The new show is set 30 years after the original series and will center on Tony and Samantha's relationship. Tony is now retired - h...
Nyle DiMarco and the Cast of Deaf U Tease the 'Unexpected' Stories You'll See in Netflix's New Docuseries
When the executive producer and subjects of Deaf U, the new Netflix docuseries about students at Gallaudet University, attended a virtual tour to promote the series, the session was done almost completely in American Sign Language (ASL) but with the help of nimble interpreters, four of the show's subjects and EP Nyle DiMarco fielded questions and talked about telling their stories and showing a wide array of personalities in the Deaf community to prove that Deaf people come from all sorts of ...
Dead to Me Season 2 Review
The second season of Dead To Me opens with Jen Harding (Christina Applegate) and Judy Hale (Linda Cardellini) dealing with the Season 1 death of Steve Wood (James Marsden), as Liz Feldman and the show’s writing team have crafted a season that explores how emotional traumas have deeply bonded Jen and Judy together. The Dead to Me writers continue to be inordinately perceptive at observing how connected anger and grief are, and the many challenges involved with learning to cope and move forward. The result is another season of moving, thoughtful television.
Goodbye Modern Family: 5 Things We'll Miss About the Groundbreaking Comedy
Television audiences are saying farewell to two landmark comedies: Schitt's Creek and Modern Family. Both shows demonstrate that the family sitcom is alive and well and they're true comfort viewing, especially in a time when we're all physically distant but still want to feel emotionally connected to humanity.
When a show runs for ten seasons, the thing we'll miss most is the familiarity of characters we love seeing every week. Modern Family leaves us this week with 11 seasons of stories that...
‘Breeders’ Review: Martin Freeman’s FX Series Is a Painfully Honest Look at Parenthood
If you’ve ever wondered whether you want to have kids or not, Breeders may not be the best show to watch to help you decide. The show is painfully honest about the constant attention children need and the never-ending well of patience a person needs to have, a test most of us are destined to fail.
The show was created by Martin Freeman, Simon Blackwell and Chris Addison; Addison wrote most of the episodes and co-executive producer Ben Palmer directed the handful of episodes sent for review. F...
‘The Sinner’ Review: Season 3 Focuses on a Haunting Friendship
Ever had a friend who was a bad influence on you but you just couldn’t stay away from them? You made some bad decisions with them and got into trouble, but they’re irresistible and life is duller without them. Remember those friends as you tune in to watch the new season of The Sinner.
‘The Great’: Hulu’s Elle Fanning-Nicholas Hoult Comedy Takes Liberties With History – TCA
The lines between history and fiction are blurred in ’s , but it makes for sharp storytelling that contains the spirit of farce and mixes comedic and dramatic moments. Creator, writer and executive producer Tony McNamara, executive producer Marian Macgowan and co-stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult came to TCA winter press tour to talk about how the comedy series came together.
McNamara said he’s not really a fan of period pieces, even though he’s written two of them in The Favourite and Th...
Nat Geo’s ‘Race To The Center Of The Earth’ Promises Survival Show-Meets-Action Film – TCA
As The Amazing Race co-creators and executive producers Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri are making Race To the Center of the Earth, NatGeo’s first global competition series, they’re incorporating the same type of efficiency and organization as they plan the complicated routes four teams will take in the nonstop sprint around the world.
Although the winning team will split a $1 million prize, van Munster and Doganieri insisted at TCA today that this Race is different because the partic...
Freeform’s ‘Motherland: Fort Salem’ Creator Says Series Pays Homage To Witch History – TCA
Freeform’s new drama series Motherland: Fort Salem is set in an alternate America where witches ended their persecution more than 300 years ago by cutting a deal with the government to fight for their country. At TCA on Friday, creator by Eliot Laurence (Claws) said most of the show pays homage to witch history and removes some of the stigma around witches.
Motherland: Fort Salem follows three young women from basic training in combat magic into early deployment. Traditional roles of gender a...
‘The Cave’ Director Feras Fayyad To Reapply For U.S. Visa Following Police Ordeal
Syrian-born filmmaker , director of Oscar-nominated film The Cave, is set to reapply for a U.S. visa after a tough few weeks including being detained by police.
The State Department granted Fayyad permission to enter the U.S. for three months in September, an opportunity the director used to attend screenings of The Cave at the Camden International Film Festival in Maine and AFI Fest in Los Angeles. After returning to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he lives in exile, Fayyad applied for a new visa...
‘One Child Nation’ Explores Sensitive Subject In ‘Independent Lens’ PBS Film – TCA
The sensitive subject of China’s One-Child Policy and suspect adoptions that resulted from it are explored in Independent Lens’s upcoming film One Child Nation by director-producer Nanfu Wang. At the TV Critics Association press tour, Wang and Brian and Longlan Stuy, the film’s subjects and co-founders of Research China, talked about the policy’s impact on China’s culture and adoption procedures.
China’s One-Child Policy ended in 2015 because it was not economically sustainable, and Nanfu Wan...