“Lovecraft Country” Brilliantly Mixes the Horrors of Racism and Supernatural Monsters

Pandemic News

• “Jurassic World: Dominion” has been filming on the island of Malta but will cutback its presence there due to increased COVID 19 infections.
• Ken Jeong has withdrawn as a judge for the UK version of “The Masked Singer” because of Covid 19 travel restrictions.
• Directors UK, a British organization representing 7500 screen directors, as updated guidelines for nude scenes suggesting perhaps actual partners be used as body doubles when filming sex scenes and asking them to reevaluate scripts to determine if intimate scenes are absolutely necessary to the story. All of this in light of the pandemic.
• The next season of “The Masked Singer” has resumed production after pandemic delays. This year they will have fan voting as part of the format.
• In the fall the Tony Awards will be a virtual event. I don’t know how you give awards when Broadway shut down all but a couple of months early in the year but I guess they will figure it out. No specific date has been set yet.
• Syndicated talk show “The Kelly Clarkson Show” will return to the studio with a virtual audience. Let’s hope they finally provide with the makeup artist. She looks really strange not wearing makeup in the shows that she has recorded from home.
• The Kentucky Derby has decided it will not have fans at the track after all. They had originally planned to allow a limited number of reserve seats. The race will be September 5 postponed from its usual date in May.
• The Australian version of “The Masked Singer” has been shut down after several crewmembers tested positive for coronavirus.
• The Jimmy Kimmel version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” was one of the last non-scripted shows to be shot before the pandemic. It was taped without an audience. Now season 2 is in production again without audience.

Renewals, Coming Soon, and Casting News

• Showtime has canceled “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels” after 1 season and we are VERY disappointed. It was one of the best new TV shows of the year. HIGHLY recommend you go back and catch it on demand.
• “Warrior Nun” has been renewed for season 2 by Netflix
• All of the American Idol judges and host Ryan Seacrest are signed on for next season however notably absent from the announcement is mentor Bobby Brown. No word on his return.
• New Jason Sudeikis comedy “Ted Lasso” has already been renewed for season 2 on Apple+
• Comedy Central’s “Drunk History” has canceled its seventh season that had already begun preproduction. Season 6wrapped up in August. The struggles of producing the show during the pandemic were just too big.
• Nat Geo drama series “The Right Stuff” about the original Mercury 7 astronauts will premiere October 9 on Disney+. Based on the book by Tom Wolfe which was previously made into a film 1983.
• Showtime has greenlit a new comedy called “Moonbase 8” starring Fred Arminsen and John C Riley.
• Both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton will portray Batman in the upcoming “Flash” movie.
• Tosh.O will end with season 12 on Comedy Central. Producers are looking to shop the series elsewhere.
• Disney will also make its upcoming live-action version of “Mulan” available for $30 by Apple, Roku, and Google in addition to Disney+. It was also announced that the price for other countries such as Canada, UK, and Spain will only be about $26 rather than the $30 US customers will have to pay.
• The new “The Batman” series on HBO Max is set to take place in “Year One” prior to the Matt Reeves movie.
• CW has announced that they will recast Elongated Man for a brief appearance after actor Hartley Sawyer was fired over past racist and misogynist tweets.

Politics and Showbiz

• An upcoming season 6 episode of “Lucifer” on Netflix will feature a “Black Lives Matter” theme.
• Cincinnati Reds announcer Thom Brennaman made an anti-gay slur on a live microphone after returning from a commercial break. He made a very sincere apology on air and then left broadcast. He has been suspended by Fox Sports Ohio but no word if it’s permanent or not. During his apology even speculated it might be the last time he was on air realizing the severity of his offense.
• NFL Kansas City Chiefs have banned Native American face paint and headdresses at future games. My question is… What if you really are Native American?
• Cleveland radio station WTAM has fired news anchor Kyle Cornell after referring to Kamala Harris as “colored”. While I understand that particular word has gone out of appropriate use, I fail to understand why “people of color” is okay but “colored people” isn’t. I guess it goes back to the old George Carlin routine “It’s okay to prick your finger but you can’t finger your prick”.
• Former NHL player and coach Mike Milbury has been suspended during the of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for saying that the bubble environment in which the playoffs are being held because of the pandemic is really great “Not even any women here to disrupt your concentration”.

Miscellaneous News

• The zoo featured in the Netflix series “Tiger King” has been closed to the public after its federal animal exhibition license was revoked.
• At age 98 Norman Lear is the oldest person in history to receive an Emmy nomination.
• There is a big shakeup at the CBS courtroom drama “All Rise”. Five of the seven original writers for the show have walked out saying that they had to do much behind-the-scenes to keep the scripts from being racist and offensive. For example one episode slated for season 2 had a Latin American gang preying on citizens with machetes. A Latin American writer as well as costar Lindsay Mendez refused to participate and the script was rewritten.
• George RR Martin is suing a production company over the rights to his werewolf novella “The Skin Trade”. The company had purchased the rights to the story but had to start production within five years. Just before the deadline they put together a bare-bones cast and crew and filmed very few scenes then shut down. Martin says the token production was insufficient.
• Korean K-Pop group BTS were the first band ever to rack up 100 million YouTube views in 24 hours
• Len Goodman Chief Judge of “Dancing With The Stars” has had a skin cancer removed from his for.
• The season 3 finale of “Yellowstone” is the most watched cable TV show of 2020 so far. It had 5.2 million viewers.

In Memoriam

• Actor Ben Cross most known for playing British Olympic athlete Harold Abrams in a 1981 “Chariots of Fire” but also known for playing Spock’s father Sarek in the 2009 Star Trek. Age 72.
• Jesse Goins featured on Discovery’s “Gold Rush” age 60. He collapsed on set. No official cause yet.
• Todd Nance drummer and founding member of the Georgia jam band “Widespread Panic” died suddenly after complications of a chronic illness. No age given. He had been with the band for over 30 years.
• Drag queen Chi Chi DeVayne whose real name was Zavion Davenport who appeared on multiple seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race is died of kidney failure at age 34.
• Frankie Banali drummer for metal band “Quiet Riot” age 68 pancreatic cancer.
• Frank Cullotta Las Vegas mobster who was a key advisor on the film “Casino” age 81 COVID 19.
• Jack Sherman guitarist for the “Red Hot Chili Peppers” age 64
• Singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle age 38. No cause given. He is the son of country rocker Steve Earle.
• Character actor Alan Rich who was one of the few actors to maintain a career after being blacklisted in the 1950s McCarthy hearings. Age 94. Dementia.

Links of Interest

• Supernatural’s Farewell: Everything We Know So Far About the Final Episodes
• What’s Coming to Hulu in September 2020
• Giancarlo Esposito on What It’s Like to Play a Person of Color Among Star Wars’ Fascist Villains
• Andy Muschietti Says ‘Flash’ Standalone Movie Will Travel Through Time, Reveals New Suit – DC FanDome
• Network Comedies’ Future Threatened By Outdated Broadcast Business Model