Entertainment News: Charlie Brown back on broadcast; Wonder Woman to HBO Max; and more.

Pandemic News

  • New Orleans has canceled all Mardi Gras parades for 2021 due to Covid
  • Guns N’ Roses announced the all have the first stadium concert tour since Covid. It will start with dates in New Zealand and Australia in November 2021.

Renewals, Coming Soon, and Casting News

  • Fans were outraged when they learned that “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” were moving to Apple TV+ from the previous home on ABC. Now it has been announced they will also have special airings on PBS.
  • The film “Wonder Woman 1984” will be released to theaters and HBO Max on Christmas Day.
  • The Walking Dead seasonable 10 will resume on February 28.
  • “For All Mankind” the alternate history moon landing drama from Apple TV+ will have season 2 starting February 19.
  • “The Mysterious Benedict Society” based on a series of YA novels has moved from Hulu to Disney+ before it’s 2021 premier. This is the first time a TV series has switched streaming services before even premiering.
  • Netflix has renewed “Space Force” for season 2 and says it will get a “creative revamp” whatever that means.
  • Netflix has canceled its supernatural series “The Order” after 2 seasons.
  • Nick Jonas will replace Gwen Stefani as a judge on “The Voice”
  • Hulu has renewed “Woke” for season 2.
  • Conan O’Brien will leave his late-night timeslot after 28 years in June 2021. Will have a weekly variety show on HBO Max.

Politics and Showbiz

  • A Fox news anchor in Milwaukee has been suspended for staying he wished which McConnell had died instead of Alex Trebek. Which makes him more of an idiot? Saying it or thinking he can get away with saying it?

Miscellaneous News

  • Several Wall Street analysts have up their ratings on Disney despite the pandemics impact on film and theme parks. It’s because of better-than-expected earnings from the streaming media divisions.
  • Iconic franchise “Tower Records” which declared bankruptcy 14 years ago is returning as an online venue selling vinyl records, cassettes, and CDs.
  • Comedian Sinbad is recovering from a stroke.

In Memoriam

  • Paul Hornung Heisman Trophy winner, Green Bay Packers and Notre Dame star who appeared in many TV commercials. Age 84.
  • Doug Supernaw country music singer age 60
  • Walter C Miller TV director for CMA, Emmy0, Grammys, Tony awards. Age 94
  • Lynn Kellogg daytime Emmy winner was in the original Broadway production of “Hair”. Age 77
  • Ben Watkins who participated in MasterChef Junior. Age 14 cancer.
  • Herbert F.Solow an executive at Desilu Production who took Gene Roddenberry’s original pitch for Star Trek as well as other TV executive positions. Age 88.

Links of Interest

Entertainment News: Farewell Trebek; Umbrella renewed; Edgy Dave Chapelle monologue double standard; and more

Delayed premieres of primetime series are finally starting to hit the airwaves. Stay in touch with my Facebook timeline for daily announcements of what premieres tonight. Also check out the previous installment of this blog for my review of the new CBS sitcom “B Positive”. I checked out the new Showtime comedy series “Moonbase 8” starring Fred Arneson and John C Riley. It’s about simulated moon base located in the Arizona desert to prepare for eventual permanent base on the moon. It’s so ridiculous and not funny that I didn’t bother writing a review. If for some reason your huge fans of these guys you might check it out just for them but it did nothing for me.

Pandemic News

  • MSNBC political commentator Rachel Maddow in staying home and self quarantining after being exposed to Covid 19. She has tested negative but will sit out the remainder of the election coverage.
  • During production of “Jurassic World: Dominion” they used 40,000 Covid tests on cast and crew.
  • Billionaire SpaceX/Tesla founder Elon Musk develops flulike symptoms he had 4 antigen Covid tests in the same day taken by the same nurse on the same machine. Two of them will positive and 2 were negative.
  • Disneyland hotels are no longer taking reservations as California shutdown deepens.
  • Good Doctor star Richard Schiff has Covid.

Renewals, Coming Soon, and Casting News

  • ABC has ordered a primetime celebrity Wheel of Fortune.
  • Netflix has renewed “The Umbrella Academy” for season 3.
  • “The Outsider” has been canceled that HBO and is being shopped to other outlets.
  • Disney+ has announced the new Marvel Cinematic Universe series “WandaVision” will premiere January 15.
  • The launch of NASA astronauts aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Dragon spacecraft will be aired live Saturday on Discovery Channel and Science channel in addition to the usual coverage on NASA and numerous YouTube channels.
  • Dolly Parton will have a Christmas special on CBS December 6
  • Comedian ventriloquist Jeff Dunham will have 3 comedy specials on Comedy Central. The first will be Friday after Thanksgiving and the other two will premiere in 2021.
  • Reality competition series “Lego Masters” has been renewed for season 2 with host Will Arnett returning. This was a guilty pleasure of mine for season 1 even though I never played with Legos.
  • Former “The Walking Dead” star Danai Gurira will appear an upcoming biopic “The Fighting Shirley Chisholm” about the iconic African-American congresswoman.

Politics and Showbiz

  • Twitter announced that once Donald Trump leaves office he will no longer be exempt from being banned from the platform for inappropriate tweets. Up until now they’ve simply been flagging is questionable messages but because he is a public figure of importance they’ve not been completely shutting down his account.
  • Dave Chapelle is being lauded for his edgy opening monologue on last week’s SNL in which he went from bashing Trump to calling for unity. But I’m surprised there has been no comment about the fact that he dropped the N-word multiple times during the monologue and later as a sketch. This further reaffirms the double standard that black people can use the word but it is so offensive if a white person uses that it can destroy their career. Words either are offensive or they are not. If we’re going to have zero tolerance then let it be zero tolerance.
  • CBS has announced that at least 50% of its non-scripted shows such as Survivor, Amazing Race, and Big Brother will be minorities setting a diversity goal.

Miscellaneous News

  • The Notre Dame upset of number one ranked Clemson was the highest-rated Notre Dame game in 15 years.
  • Former “Prison Break” star Wentworth Miller says no longer is interested in playing straight characters. That means no more sequels or reboots of Prison Break. One can only imagine the outrage if a straight actor declared he would never play a gay character.
  • Former St. Elsewhere star Norman Lloyd recently celebrated his 106th birthday.
  • Disney+ now has 73.7 million subscribers. ESPN+ tops 10 million.

In Memoriam

  • A: The most iconic game show host in history who just passed away at age 80 of pancreatic cancer. Q: Who Is Alex Trebek? Episodes of “Jeopardy!” That he had already taped will air through December 25.
  • Norm Crosby standup comedian who was the master of the verbal malaprop. Age 93
  • Ken Spears cocreator of Scooby Doo. Age 82.
  • Tommy Heinsohn MBA announcer and basketball Hall of Famer. Age 86

“B Positive” is Morbid Humor but It Works

We will have to give CBS’s new sitcom “B Positive” credit for having an original premise. Our main character Drew played by Thomas Middleditch is a recently divorced man with a teenage daughter who discovers he’s in total renal failure and in need of a kidney transplant. While at a friend’s wedding he bumped into an old friend from high school Gina played by Annaleigh Ashford. She is a hard partying, hard drinking, drug addicted train wreck. When she’s sober, she works driving a shuttle bus full of elderly people from an assisted living home taking them to doctor’s appointments, chemotherapy etc. She decides to offer him a kidney and hilarity ensues.

Really?

Oh I forgot to mention she has a split personality. Her party persona is Rebecca and her responsible self is Gina.

Like I said… We’ve not seen this premise before. But can we really laugh at a man facing his own demise? He might never get to see his daughter get married, have kids etc. Is it really funny that his fate depends on such an irresponsible person who constantly cracks jokes about the mortality of the people that she drives around in her bus?

The answer is… we might be able to laugh at that. As I’ve said in this blog many times before – the ultimate test of a sitcom for me is “Does it make me laugh?” On numerous occasions this one did for some reason. But these are not very likable characters. Drew is an okay guy but given the enormity of what he’s facing along with regrets over his divorce and disappointing his daughter he’s not a very happy guy. Gina/Rebecca are not at all likable. And if she really does have dissociative personality disorder (formerly known as split personality) can we really make fun of her?

It had its funny moments. It made me laugh. I’ve got a very dark (sometimes sick) sense of humor. My guess is lots of people won’t find it funny and some might even be offended. I guess spending my whole life these past 65 years thinking that I didn’t have very long to live has given me the ability to laugh in the face of mortality.

We don’t know to what extent the old folks who ride Gina’s shuttlebus will play in the show but I did recognize one familiar face in the back of the bus. Veteran comic character actor Bernie Kopell who is most known as playing the Doc on the old 1970s romantic comedy series “Love Boat” makes an appearance on the bus.

The double entendre of the show’s title encourages us to “be positive” in the face of these tragedies and I suppose it partially succeeds. Even though I kind of liked it I’m not sure how many more episodes I will watch. I’m going to give this one a cautionary “Could be watchable” but this one is going to be an acquired taste that some people won’t acquire. Travel with caution.

In case you never noticed before, any actors names or TV or movie titles in these blogs will link you to the IMDb page so you can see what other roles they’ve had or who played in those programs or films. I don’t always list actor’s credits in the text so if you’re wondering who someone is just click on the links.

Entertainment News: Farewell 007; Johnny Depp fired; Connected goes online only; and more.

The delayed premieres of a number of series will be coming up soon. Check my daily Facebook messages to see what’s new tonight. If a new series appears that’s worth reviewing we will review it.

Meanwhile new seasons of Star Trek: Discovery and The Mandalorian are looking really good. Highly recommend both. Now on with the news.

Renewals, Coming Soon, and Casting News

  • Former Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams will star in a new dark comedy for HBO Max called “Two Weeks to Live” starting November 5.
  • A reboot of “Tiny Toons” has been ordered for 2 seasons at HBO Max and Cartoon Network.
  • “Ted Lassio” the Jason Sudeikis comedy has been renewed for season 3 at Apple TV+
  • Remember the juvenile novels you read that as a kid about inventor Tom Swift? CW network is planning a spinoff from Nancy Drew based on Tom Swift. There’s a twist. He’s now African-American, gay, and a billionaire.
  • CBS has renewed “Big Brother” for season 23.
  • Peacock streaming service has canceled “Brave New World” after just one season.
  • Fox is spinning off a show from “The Masked Singer” called “The Masked Dancer” that will premier in December.
  • CW announced delayed premiere dates in January/February for most of it series. See the link at the bottom for details.
  • HBO Max has secured rights to a number of older Comedy Central shows including Dave Chapelle, Key & Peele , Inside Amy Schumer and others.
  • Fox has canceled “Filthy Rich” and “Next” after just one season. Current episodes will complete.
  • Dave Chapelle will host next week’s Saturday Night Live
  • NBC has moved its social distancing TV show “Connecting” off the air and will be on streaming service Peacock.
  • NBC has extended its contract with Jimmy Fallon for three more years.
  • Hilarie Burton real-life life of Jeffrey Morgan will play Negan’s wife in a flashback scene in the” The Walking Dead”.
  • Hulu has announced “Castle Rock” has been canceled after 2 seasons.
  • Christopher Nolan film “Tenet” will be available on home video December 15.

Politics and Showbiz

  • Kanye West has received approximately 60,000 votes in 12 states in his bid to be president.

Miscellaneous News

  • Netflix standard plan is going to cost $14 per month up from $13 per month. The premium plan will increase from $16 up to $18.
  • “Baby Shark” is now officially the most viewed video on YouTube
  • Jeannie Mai has dropped out of the season “Dancing with the Stars” because of an abscess in her throat that led to infected tonsils and other areas. She had emergency surgery and is doing okay.
  • Today show weatherman Al Roker remove he has prostate cancer. He will undergo surgery and the prognosis is good.
  • Johnny Depp has lost a libel lawsuit against the newspaper that claimed he was a wife beater. The judge ruled that the statement was essentially true. As a result Warner Bros. has filed him from any upcoming “Fantastic Beasts” films. The part of Gellert Grindelwald will be recast. “Fantastic Beasts 3” has been filming step September but it is unknown if he had shot any scenes yet.

In Memoriam

  • Iconic Scottish actor Sean Connery the most famous 007. Age 90.
  • British comedian Bobby Ball age 76 Covid 19
  • Nikki McKibbin who reached the final three of season 1 of American Idol. Age 42. Aneurysm.
  • Charles Gordon Oscar-nominated producer of “Field of Dreams”, and “Waterworld”. Age 73. Cancer.
  • Eddie Hassell actor who appeared in “The Kids Are All Right” and “Surface” age 30. Shot outside his girlfriend’s apartment. No suspects or motive.
  • Jeremy Stevens Emmy-winning writer for “Everybody Loves Raymond”. Age 83 renal failure
  • Actress Carol Arthur who appeared in “Blazing Saddles” and “Hot Stuff” and was the wife of Dom DeLuise . Age 85
  • John Sessions Scottish actor and comedian who appeared on “Whose Line Is It Anyway?. Age 67. A heart condition.
  • Character actress Elsa Raven who was the “save the clock tower” lady in back to the future. Age 91
  • Ken Hensley Keyboardist for classic rock band “Uriah Heep” age 75.

Links of Interest