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After a cheating scandal in their 10th season left viewers reeling, the cast members of reality show Vanderpump Rules reunited this week to air grievances, defend their decisions, and hopefully provide some sort of conclusion for their fans. Many longtime viewers have made up their minds and taken sides, and there are some things you might want to avoid saying to one of them.
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As the writer’s strike enters its second week, the effects of not having some of most important people on set around are already starting to show: two of the biggest projects currently in production—Marvel’s Blade reboot and the fifth season of Stranger Things—have been put on ice (along with loads more movies and shows I’ll get to in a minute).
Writers are deservedly fed up with loads of stuff, from the number of exploitative short-term contracts being offered in the age of streaming to low pay to poor residuals to the threat of machine-learning.
Posting on the official Twitter account of the Stranger Things writer’s room, the show’s creators, the Duffer brothers, wrote:
Duffers here. Writing does not stop when filming begins. While we’re excited to start production with our amazing cast and crew, it is not possible during this strike. We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work. Until then — over and out. #wgastrong
Without its writers or showrunners, production has ground to a halt. Hell yeah. Also downing tools is Marvel’s new Blade movie, which has been shut down and “will restart…production once the strike is over”.
And those two are far from the only shows and films affected. A ton of live TV, especially late night comedy programs, have already gone dark, with The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Late Night With Seth Meyers, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! all having stopped filming.
And while networks and studios will be fine for a while coasting on material that had already been written and filmed, if the strike continues and that dries up, they’ll be in trouble. And even when the strike is over they’ll still be in trouble, because production backlogs and rescheduling will be an absolute nightmare.
Of course not every project and studio is hitting the pause button. HBO’s Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon will continue filming, just without its writers, while Amazon’s second season of Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power will do likewise. Disney and HBO are among companies who have also ordered writers back to work, with the latter asking them to perform “non-writing” tasks.
The Writers Guild of America, the union calling the strike, figures that improving their member’s contracts would cost Hollywood a collective $430 million per year. There are already estimates this strike could do $2 billion worth of damage to the entertainment economy. That might seem like some easy sums, just pay these people what they’re worth, but these strikes are never about the money, they’re about control.
Solidarity with everyone manning the picket lines, and best of luck with the coming days/weeks/months.
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Luke Plunkett
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Justin Roiland, creator of TV series Rick and Morty and the recently released High on Life game, has been charged with domestic violence against a former girlfriend.
NBC News reports that it obtained Orange County Superior Court records stating that a criminal complaint was filed against Roiland back in May 2020 by the Orange County District Attorney. The complaint charges Roiland with “one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit.” Roiland was arrested and released with a $50,000 bond in August 2020 and pleaded not guilty to both charges in October of that same year.
According to NBC News the victim says the incident between herself and Roiland occurred around Jan. 19 of that year. A protective order was filed in October 2020, which states that Roiland can not harass, threaten, surveil, or be within 100 feet of an unknown person protected under the order. The order also made Roiland relinquish ownership of any firearms he owned or possessed. The order lasts until October 2023. According to NBC News, Roiland is scheduled to appear in court Thursday for a pre-trial hearing.
Read More: Rick And Morty Creator Used Controversial AI Art, Voice Acting In New Shooter
This news comes shortly after the release of High on Life, a first-person shooter game created by Roiland’s video game company, Squanch Games. Despite the game’s popularity on Game Pass, Xbox’s Netflix-like game subscription service, it’s been at the center of controversy for its use of an AI generator to create poster art and vocal performances. Prior to High on Life’s release on December 13, Roiland launched two NFT projects in 2021 and 2022 called The Best I Could Do and Art Gobblers.
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Kotaku reached out to Squanch Games and Roiland’s lawyer but did not receive a comment by the time of publication.
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Isaiah Colbert
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Barbara Walters.
Toby Canham | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Barbara Walters, the pioneering TV broadcaster who blazed a trail for women in a male-dominated medium, died Friday. She was 93.
Her death was confirmed by her representative, Cindi Berger, who said Walters died “peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones.”
“She lived her life with no regrets,” Berger said. “She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists, but for all women.”
ABC, the network where she last worked, aired a special report Friday night announcing Walters’ death and reflecting on her career. Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company, parent of ABC, said in a statement Walters died Friday evening at her New York City residence.
He called her “a pioneer not just for women in journalism but for journalism itself.”
Walters was known in recent years as the co-creator and matriarch of the hit ABC daytime show “The View,” but older viewers remember her as the first female anchor of a network news program and the pre-eminent interviewer on television. She earned that reputation with a penchant for meticulous preparation, whether she was interviewing despots or divas, models or murderers.
Read more from NBC News:
“I do so much homework, I know more about the person than he or she knows about themselves,” Walters said in a 2014 television special.
That drive proved essential to her success. When she broke into the business in 1961 as a writer on NBC’s “TODAY” show, the idea of a woman sitting down and interviewing a sitting president on prime-time network television (which she did just over a decade later) seemed more fantasy than reality in an industry dominated by men like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.
“She was playing in a field that was such an old boy’s network, literally and figuratively, and she didn’t take no for an answer,” Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, told NBC News before Walters’ death.
“At some point, the things that had been a liability for her, being a woman trying to get a foothold in a male-dominated industry, began to become more of an asset,” Thompson said. “She was smart and prepared, but at the same time she came across as more compassionate (than her male peers).
“Barbara Walters proved to be the evolutionary step between Edward R. Murrow and Oprah Winfrey.”
In some ways, Walters had been preparing for those trademark interviews all her life. Born in Boston on Sept. 25, 1929, Barbara Jill Walters got to see the rich and famous up close as the daughter of nightlife impresario Lou Walters, who owned clubs up and down the East Coast.
“I learned that celebrities were human beings,” Walters said in 2014. “I never thought of a celebrity as someone so perfect and wonderful that I should be put off.”
Inheriting her father’s drive, Walters graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a bachelors degree in English and broke into journalism as an assistant at NBC affiliate WRCA-TV. In 1955, she married businessman Robert Henry Katz, but her first love remained her fledgling career. The couple divorced three years later.
Hired as a writer and researcher on “TODAY,” Walters rose to become the only female producer on the show and started filing in on air occasionally as the “TODAY Girl,” a reporting role reserved for fashion shows, lifestyle trends and the weather that was previously held, among others, by Florence Henderson of “Brady Bunch” fame.
Hardly the kind of hard reporting to which Walters clearly aspired.
Off-air, Walters married the theater producer Lee Guber in 1963, with whom she adopted a daughter, Jacqueline, named after Walters’ older sister, who was developmentally disabled. The marriage would last 13 years.
Her big breakthrough came with an assignment to travel with Jacqueline Kennedy on the first lady’s trip to India in 1962. That led to more newsy pieces and a bump in status to co-hosting responsibilities opposite Hugh Downs — though she didn’t get the official title until 1974. By that time, Downs had left the network and was replaced by Frank McGee.
McGee, who died shortly after being partnered with Walters, demanded that he ask three questions to every one of Walter’s in studio interviews. He was a real newsman, after all.
So, Walters started fielding interviews outside the studio, quickly building a reputation as an incisive and probing questioner.
People were watching — including executives at rival networks. Walters was lured to ABC to become the first female co-anchor of a prime-time news broadcast with an unprecedented $1 million annual salary. It didn’t take long, however, for viewers to sense the tension between Walters and co-anchor Harry Reasoner, who couldn’t be bothered to hide his disdain for this former “TODAY Girl” being billed as his equal.
Her newfound celebrity also drew the ultimate back-handed honor: having her struggles pronouncing hard R’s lampooned by Gilda Radner on “Saturday Night Live.” Walters later admitted she didn’t find the “Baba Wawa” skits funny.
With ratings of her ABC news program a disappointment, Walters’ career was saved by the prime-time interview specials she started for ABC. Her first interview featured President-elect Jimmy Carter, and within a year she had managed a joint interview with Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat — a year before their historic peace treaty.
In 1979 she reunited with Downs on the ABC news magazine show, “20/20,” beginning a successful 25-year run.
But it was her interviews that remained Walters’ passion, compiling her mix of tough and amusing questions on her trademark 3×5 index cards and fussing with the order even after the cameras started rolling. In the 2014 television special that commemorated her retirement from TV journalism, Walters showed off an autographed photo from Cuban despot Fidel Castro that hung on her wall: “For the longest and most difficult interview I’ve ever done in my life.”
Though Walters received much flak for asking Katherine Hepburn, “What kind of tree are you?” — in fairness, a follow up to something the legendary actor had said — she could deliver the toughest of questions, like looking Russian President Vladimir Putin in the eye and asking him if he had ever ordered the death of a rival.
Her exclusive interview with Monica Lewinsky in 1999 earned the highest ratings in history for a prime-time interview. In 1997, Walters debuted a new show that was closer to her “TODAY” roots: a midmorning talk show with an all-women panel called “The View.” While she was co-executive producer and had a seat at the table, she tapped Meredith Vieira as the first moderator.
Over the years, the hit show would include Whoopi Goldberg, Star Jones, Lisa Ling, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Rosie O’Donnell and Meghan McCain among the panelists.
While Walters largely managed to avoid controversy over her long career, she caused a stir with the revelation that she had had an affair with Sen. Edward Brooke, R-Mass., during the 1970s.
After nearly 60 years in journalism, Walters announced she was retiring in 2014.
“I do not want to appear on another program or climb another mountain,” she said. “I want instead to sit on a sunny field and admire the very gifted women — and OK, some men, too — who will be taking my place.”
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Have you ever found yourself paying for over-salted food and overpriced drinks at an Applebee’s and thought: “What if I just stayed here…forever?” Well, a bug making the rounds in the Rick and Morty-adjacent shooter High On Life is allowing such a macabre fantasy to come true.
Released earlier this month on Xbox and PC, High On Life is a shooter steeped in the wacky comedic stylings of Rick and Morty. Developed by Squanch Games, a studio founded by Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland himself, the game is about as loud and obnoxious as you’d expect. Despite obnoxiously bright colors and talking guns capable of delivering a headache or two, the game has soared to the top of Game Pass’s most-played titles. Recently, players have been finding themselves trapped in the game’s rendition of well-known American chain restaurant Applebee’s. It’s a bug for sure, but one that feels fittingly on-point for such an absurd and silly game.
Read More: High On Life: The Kotaku Review
“TRAPPED IN SPACE APPLEBEE’S!!” starts one Reddit thread on High On Life’s subreddit. “Hey guy’s, I love Applebee’s. Like fucking LOVE it. I thought Space Applebee’s would be better (AND IT IS!!) but I am stuck inside. This is my checkpoint, trapped inside with the 2 for $25 for all eternity. Anyone know a way out?? Plz help,” the post continues.
Searching “Applebee’s stuck” or “Applebee’s trapped High On Life” on either High On Life’s subreddit, or Twitter, yields similar pleas for help. A few have even captured some footage to share the struggle.
Others who have managed to escape are finding themselves teleported back into the Applebee’s. “Before going home I saved a human outside of the Applebee’s, I got teleported by accident to the sanctuary then I was teleported back where I was, got killed almost instantly and now I’m stuck in the Applebee’s because the door won’t open.”
In addition to asking Squanch Games for comment, Kotaku has reached out to Applebee’s to find out what one should do if you find yourself in a similar situation.
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Claire Jackson
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LOS ANGELES — Kirstie Alley, a two-time Emmy winner whose roles on the TV megahit “Cheers” and in the “Look Who’s Talking” films made her one of the biggest stars in American comedy in the late 1980s and early 1990s, died Monday. She was 71.
Alley died of cancer that was only recently discovered, her children True and Lillie Parker said in a post on Twitter. Alley’s manager Donovan Daughtry confirmed the death in an email to The Associated Press.
“As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother,” her children’s statement said.
She starred opposite Ted Danson as Rebecca Howe on “Cheers,” the beloved NBC sitcom about a Boston bar, from 1987 to 1993. She joined the show at the height of its popularity after the departure of original star Shelley Long.
Alley would win an Emmy for best lead actress in a comedy series for the role in 1991.
“I only thank God I didn’t have to wait as long as Ted,” Alley said in her acceptance, gently ribbing Danson, who had finally won an Emmy for his “Cheers” role as Sam Malone in his eighth nomination the previous year.
She would take a second Emmy for best lead actress in a miniseries or television movie in 1993 for playing the title role in the CBS TV movie “David’s Mother.”
She had her own sitcom on the network, “Veronica’s Closet,” from 1997 to 2000.
In the 1989 comedy “Look Who’s Talking,” which gave her a major career boost, she played the mother of a baby who’s inner thoughts were voiced by Bruce Willis. She would also appear in a 1990 sequel “Look Who’s Talking Too,” and another in 1993, “Look Who’s Talking Now.”
John Travolta, her co-star in the trilogy, paid her tribute in an Instagram post.
“Kirstie was one of the most special relationships I’ve ever had,” Travolta said, along with a photo of Alley. “I love you Kirstie. I know we will see each other again.”
She would play a fictionalized version of herself in the 2005 Showtime series “Fat Actress,” a show that drew comedy from her public and media treatment over her weight gain and loss.
She dealt with the same subject matter in the 2010 A&E reality series “Kirstie Alley’s Big Life,” which chronicled her attempt to lose weight and launch a weight-loss program while working as a single mother in an unconventional household that included pet lemurs.
Alley said she agreed to do the show in part because of the misinformation about her that had become a tabloid staple.
“Anything bad you can say about me, they say,” Alley told the AP at the time. “I’ve never collapsed, fainted, passed out. Basically, anything they’ve said, I never. The only true thing is I got fat.”
In recent years she appeared on several other reality shows, including a second-place finish on “Dancing With the Stars” in 2011. She appeared on the competition series “The Masked Singer” wearing a baby mammoth costume earlier this year.
She appeared in the Ryan Murphy black comedy series “Scream Queens” on Fox in 2015 and 2016.
One of her co-stars on the show, Jamie Lee Curtis, said on Instagram Monday that Alley was “a great comic foil” on the show and “a beautiful mama bear in her very real life.”
Alley’s “Cheers” co-star Kelsey Grammer said in a statement that “I always believed grief for a public figure is a private matter, but I will say I loved her.”
Another “Cheers” co-star, Rhea Pearlman, recounted how she and Alley became friends almost instantly after she joined the show. She said Alley organized large Easter and Halloween parties and invited everyone. “She wanted everyone to feel included. She loved her children deeply. I’ve never met anyone remotely like her. I feel so thankful to have known her.”
A native of Wichita, Kansas, Alley attended Kansas State University before dropping out and moving to Los Angeles.
Like Travolta, she would become a longtime member of the Church of Scientology.
Her first television appearances were as a game show contestant, on “The Match Game” in 1979 and “Password” in 1980.
She made her film debut in 1982’s “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.”
Other film roles included 1987’s “Summer School,” 1995’s “Village of the Damned” and 1999’s “Drop Dead Gorgeous.”
Alley was married to her high school sweetheart from 1970 to 1977, and to actor Parker Stevenson from 1983 until 1997.
She told the AP in 2010 if she married again, “I’d leave the guy within 24 hours because I’m sure he’d tell me not to do something.”
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Rancilio reported from Detroit. Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
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South Korean actor Oh Young-soo speaks during a press conference at the Welcome Daehakro Festival 2022 in Seoul, South Korea, Sept. 21, 2022. Award-winning “Squid Game” actor Oh will stand trial on charges of indecent assault after a woman accused him of inappropriately touching her in 2017, a South Korean court said. (Park Jin-hee/Newsis via AP)
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Matthew McConaughey, Mila Kunis, Jennifer Hudson and “Abbott Elementary” creator and star Quinta Brunson have been named People magazine’s 2022 “People of the Year.”
LOS ANGELES — Matthew McConaughey, Mila Kunis, Jennifer Hudson and “Abbott Elementary” creator and star Quinta Brunson have been named People magazine’s 2022 “People of the Year.”
The magazine unveiled its annual list Wednesday, with Editor in Chief Wendy Naugle explaining this year’s honorees were selected because of their efforts to help others.
McConaughey was chosen for his advocacy efforts after the Uvalde school shooting rocked his hometown. Kunis was lauded for her fundraising — which People said has topped $37 million — for Ukraine, where she was born.
Hudson and Brunson were honored for their onscreen work. Hudson, who launched a daytime talk show this year, was cited for her efforts to create an inclusive show where everyone felt welcome. Brunson’s “Abbott Elementary,” a critical hit that turned her into an Emmy winner, was praised as a show that brought many joy and showed that different generations can work well together.
Each of the honorees are featured on a special cover that highlights their contributions. Kunis’ includes the quote, “I’m proud to be from Ukraine,” while Brunson includes her statement: “I’m a sign that times are changing.”
McConaughey’s proclaims, “We have to do better for our kids,” while Hudson’s says, “I’m living my dream — and learning as I go.”
Previous People honorees have included George Clooney, Regina King, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Sandra Oh, Selena Gomez and Simone Biles. This year’s special editions will be released Friday.
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NEW YORK — The United States’ 0-0 draw against England in the World Cup drew 19.98 million viewers for English- and Spanish-language broadcasts, the third-most watched men’s soccer game on U.S. television.
The match, which kicked off at 2 p.m. EST on Friday, was seen by 15,377,000 viewers on Fox, the most for a U.S. English-language men’s soccer telecast. The figure was 6% above the 14.51 million for Brazil’s penalty-kicks win over Italy in the 1994 final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, a Sunday 3:30 p.m. EDT start that July 17 viewed by 14,510,000 on ABC, according to Fox.
The U.S.-England game was viewed by 4.6 million on Telemundo, a division of Comcast Corp.‘s NBCUniversal. It was the third-most-watched Spanish language World Cup telecast in the U.S. since at least 2006, topped by the United States’ 2-2 group-stage draw with Portugal in 2014, seen by 6.5 million on Univision with a 6 p.m. EDT start in mid-June, and Brazil’s 2-0 win over Serbia on Thursday, a 2 p.m. EDT game seen by 5.7 million on Thanksgiving.
According to Nielsen, the only men’s soccer matches with more viewership on U.S. television were Germany’s win over Argentina in the 2014 final, seen by 22.67 million, and Spain’s victory over the Netherlands in 2010, seen by 21.36 million. Both those matches, televised by ABC and Univision, were on Sundays in July, with kickoff at 2:30 p.m. EDT in 2010 and 3 p.m. EDT in 2014.
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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports
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NEW YORK — The United States’ 0-0 draw against England in the World Cup drew 19.98 million viewers for English- and Spanish-language broadcasts, the third-most watched men’s soccer game on U.S. television.
The match, which kicked off at 2 p.m. EST on Friday, was seen by 15,377,000 viewers on Fox, the most for a U.S. English-language men’s soccer telecast. The figure was 6% above the 14.51 million for Brazil’s penalty-kicks win over Italy in the 1994 final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, a Sunday 3:30 p.m. EDT start that July 17 viewed by 14,510,000 on ABC, according to Fox.
The U.S.-England game was viewed by 4.6 million on Telemundo, a division of Comcast Corp.‘s NBCUniversal. It was the third-most-watched Spanish language World Cup telecast in the U.S. since at least 2006, topped by the United States’ 2-2 group-stage draw with Portugal in 2014, seen by 6.5 million on Univision with a 6 p.m. EDT start in mid-June, and Brazil’s 2-0 win over Serbia on Thursday, a 2 p.m. EDT game seen by 5.7 million on Thanksgiving.
According to Nielsen, the only men’s soccer matches with more viewership on U.S. television were Germany’s win over Argentina in the 2014 final, seen by 22.67 million, and Spain’s victory over the Netherlands in 2010, seen by 21.36 million. Both those matches, televised by ABC and Univision, were on Sundays in July, with kickoff at 2:30 p.m. EDT in 2010 and 3 p.m. EDT in 2014.
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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports
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NEW YORK — The United States’ 0-0 draw against England in the World Cup drew 19.98 million viewers for English- and Spanish-language broadcasts, the third-most watched men’s soccer game on U.S. television.
The match, which kicked off at 2 p.m. EST on Friday, was seen by 15,377,000 viewers on Fox, the most for a U.S. English-language men’s soccer telecast. The figure was 6% above the 14.51 million for Brazil’s penalty-kicks win over Italy in the 1994 final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, a Sunday 3:30 p.m. EDT start that July 17 viewed by 14,510,000 on ABC, according to Fox.
The U.S.-England game was viewed by 4.6 million on Telemundo, a division of Comcast Corp.‘s NBCUniversal. It was the third-most-watched Spanish language World Cup telecast in the U.S. since at least 2006, topped by the United States’ 2-2 group-stage draw with Portugal in 2014, seen by 6.5 million on Univision with a 6 p.m. EDT start in mid-June, and Brazil’s 2-0 win over Serbia on Thursday, a 2 p.m. EDT game seen by 5.7 million on Thanksgiving.
According to Nielsen, the only men’s soccer matches with more viewership on U.S. television were Germany’s win over Argentina in the 2014 final, seen by 22.67 million, and Spain’s victory over the Netherlands in 2010, seen by 21.36 million. Both those matches, televised by ABC and Univision, were on Sundays in July, with kickoff at 2:30 p.m. EDT in 2010 and 3 p.m. EDT in 2014.
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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports
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LONDON — Matt Hancock, the U.K’s scandal-prone former health secretary, is seeking an unlikely form of redemption Sunday: attempting to win “I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here” — a grueling, often gruesome reality show set in the Australian jungle.
Hancock led Britain’s response to COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic, telling people to stay away from others to protect the health service — then got caught breaking his government’s own rules when video emerged of him kissing and groping an aide he was having an affair with.
He was forced to resign when The Sun newspaper published the CCTV images. This time, though, he knows that camera is on, and is behaving in ways many will find even more distasteful: eating the raw nether parts of camels, cows and sheep, among other things.
“I’m a Celebrity…” sends a group of famous people, often C-list celebrities, to the Australian rainforest, subjects them to trials involving spiders and snakes, and they are eliminated one by one based on a public vote.
While many Britons have been disgusted by Hancock’s appearance, blaming him for apparent failings in the government’s early response to the pandemic, viewers have upended expectations by voting Hancock through to Sunday evening’s final. He is competing against former England soccer star Jill Scott and actor Owen Warner.
The former health chief has already seen the back of Culture Club singer Boy George and former rugby player Mike Tindall, whose wife, Zara, is the niece of King Charles III. Tindall body tackled Hancock in another of the show’s tasks, and has been poking fun at the former health secretary’s politicking.
“He clearly wants to win,” said Tindall, adding that Hancock was constantly aiming his t-shirt with voting number at the camera. “Once a politician, always a politician. Always polling for votes.”
Fellow politicians have been less enthusiastic than the show-voting public. When it was announced that Hancock would appear, he was slated by fellow lawmakers, including many from his own party, and he was suspended as a Conservative member of parliament.
His success seems to have done nothing to ease their ire. Speaking to Sky News Sunday, Cabinet minister Mark Harper said: “I don’t think serving members of Parliament should be taking part in reality television programs.
“However well they do on them, I still think they should be doing the job for which they are paid a good salary — which is representing their constituents.”
Announcing that he was going to “step up,” Australian comedian Adam Hills, host of comedy current affairs show “The Last Leg,” went to Hancock’s constituency in eastern England last weekend and met with locals to hear their problems.
“I reckon I can do a better job in a week than he has done thus far,” Hills said on the show.
Still, a political comeback for Hancock is not out of the question. Conservative lawmaker Nadine Dorries was suspended in 2012 for appearing on the same show. Nine years later, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed her to his Cabinet.
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LOS ANGELES — The Thanksgiving afternoon game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys set the mark for the most-watched NFL regular-season game on record.
The Cowboys 28-20 victory on Fox averaged 42 million viewers, according to Nielsen, surpassing the 41.55 million average for the Dec. 3, 1990, Monday night game between the Giants and San Francisco 49ers on ABC. Average viewer record numbers date to 1988.
The average viewership for the three Thanksgiving Day games on Thursday was 33.5 million, surpassing the previous high of 32.9 million in 1993, when two games were aired.
The average was also up 6% over last year’s average of 31.6 million.
The Buffalo Bills 28-25 win over the Detroit Lions on CBS was the most-watched early Thanksgiving Day game on record with a 31.6 million average.
The night game between the New England Patriots and Minnesota Vikings averaged 25.9 million, the second-highest audience for a Thanksgiving night contest. The Vikings’ 33-26 victory was surpassed only by the 2015 game between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers (27.8 million).
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP—NFL
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Celebrity birthdays for the week of Nov. 20-26:
Nov. 20: Actor Estelle Parsons (“The Connors,” “Roseanne”) is 95. Comedian Dick Smothers is 84. Singer Norman Greenbaum is 80. Actor Veronica Hamel is 79. Broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff is 76. Musician Joe Walsh is 75. Actor Richard Masur (“One Day at a Time”) is 74. Actor Bo Derek is 66. Drummer Jimmy Brown of UB40 is 65. Actor Sean Young is 63. Pianist Jim Brickman is 61. Actor Ming-Na (“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” ″Mulan”) is 59. Rapper Mike D of the Beastie Boys is 57. Rapper Sen Dog of Cypress Hill is 57. Actor Callie Thorne (“Rescue Me,” “Homicide: Life on the Street”) is 53. Actor Sabrina Lloyd (“Numb3rs”) is 52. Actor Joel McHale (“Community”) is 51. Actor Marisa Ryan (“New York Undercover”) is 48. Country singer Dierks Bentley is 47. Actor Joshua Gomez (“Chuck”) is 47. Country singer Josh Turner is 45. Actor Nadine Velazquez (“My Name Is Earl”) is 44. Actor Jacob Pitts (“Sneaky Pete,” “Justified”) is 43. Actor Jeremy Jordan (“Supergirl”) is 38. Actor Ashley Fink (“Glee”) is 36. Bassist Jared Followill of Kings of Leon is 36. Actor Jaina Lee Ortiz (“Station 19”) is 36. Actor Cody Linley (“Hannah Montana”) is 33. Guitarist Michael Clifford of 5 Seconds of Summer is 27.
Nov. 21: Actor Laurence Luckinbill is 88. Actor Marlo Thomas is 85. Actor Juliet Mills (“Passions,” ″Nanny and the Professor”) is 81. Actor Goldie Hawn is 77. Keyboardist Lonnie Jordan of War is 74. Singer Livingston Taylor is 72. Actor-singer Lorna Luft is 70. Actor Cherry Jones (“The Horse Whisperer”) is 66. Bassist Brian Ritchie of Violent Femmes is 62. Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman is 60. Actor Nicollette Sheridan is 59. Singer Bjork is 57. Singer Chauncey Hannibal of BLACKstreet is 54. Bassist Alex James of Blur is 54. TV personality Rib Hillis (“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”) is 52. Rapper Pretty Lou of Lost Boyz is 51. Football player-turned-TV host Michael Strahan (“Good Morning America,” ″Live With Kelly and Michael”) is 51. Actor Marina de Tavira (“Roma”) is 49. Country singer Kelsi Osborn of SHeDAISY is 48. Actor Jimmi Simpson (“Westworld,” ″It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) is 47. Actor Lindsey Haun (“Broken Bridges”) is 38. Actor Jena Malone (“Saved,” ″Life as a House”) is 38. Singer Carly Rae Jepsen is 37. Actor Sam Palladio (“Nashville”) is 36.
Nov. 22: Comedian-director Terry Gilliam (Monty Python) is 82. Actor Tom Conti is 81. Singer Jesse Colin Young (The Youngbloods) is 81. Guitarist-actor Little Steven (The E Street Band, “The Sopranos”) is 72. Bassist Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads is 72. Actor Lin Tucci (“Orange Is The New Black”) is 71. Singer Lawrence Gowan of Styx is 66. Actor Richard Kind (“Spin City,” ″Mad About You”) is 66. Actor Jamie Lee Curtis is 64. Singer “Farmer Jason” Ringenberg (Jason and the Scorchers) is 64. Actor Mariel Hemingway is 61. Actor-producer Brian Robbins (“Head of the Class”) is 59. Actor Stephen Geoffreys is 58. Actor Nicholas Rowe (“The Crown”) is 56. Actor Mark Ruffalo is 55. Actor Sidse Babett Knudsen (“Westworld”) is 54. Drummer Chris Fryar of Zac Brown Band is 52. Actor Tyler Hilton (“One Tree Hill”) is 39. Actor Scarlett Johannson is 38. Actor Jamie Campbell Bower (“Twilight” movies) is 34. Actor Alden Ehrenreich (“Solo: A Star Wars Story,” “Hail, Caesar”) is 33. Singer Candice Glover (“American Idol”) is 33. Actor Dacre Montgomery (“Stranger Things”) is 28. Actor Mackenzie Lintz (“Under the Dome”) is 26.
Nov. 23: Actor Franco Nero (“Django,” “Camelot”) is 81. Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (“Basic Instinct,” ″Showgirls”) is 78. Comedy writer Bruce Vilanch (“Hollywood Squares”) is 75. Singer Bruce Hornsby is 68. Actor Maxwell Caulfield (“The Colbys”) is 63. Actor John Henton (“The Hughleys,” ″Living Single”) is 62. “Good Morning America” co-host Robin Roberts is 62. Singer-guitarist Ken Block of Sister Hazel is 56. Drummer Charlie Grover (Sponge) is 56. Actor Salli Richardson-Whitfield (“Family Law”) is 55. Actor Oded Fehr (“The Mummy”) is 52. Rapper Kurupt of Tha Dogg Pound is 50. Actor Page Kennedy (“Desperate Housewives”) is 46. Actor Kelly Brook (“Smallville”) is 43. Actor Lucas Grabeel (“High School Musical”) is 38. TV personality Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi (“Jersey Shore”) is 35. Singer-actor Miley Cyrus is 30. Actor Austin Majors (“NYPD Blue”) is 27. Actor Olivia Keville (“Splitting Up Together”) is 20.
Nov. 24: Country singer Johnny Carver is 82. Former Beatles drummer Pete Best is 81. Actor-comedian Billy Connolly is 80. Singer Lee Michaels is 77. Actor Dwight Schultz (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “The A-Team”) is 75. Actor Stanley Livingston (“My Three Sons”) is 72. Drummer Clem Burke of The Romantics and of Blondie is 68. Record producer/musician Terry Lewis (The Time) is 66. Actor Denise Crosby (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) is 65. Actor Shae D’Lyn (“Dharma and Greg”) is 60. Guitarist John Squire of the Stone Roses is 60. Guitarist Gary Stonadge of Big Audio Dynamite is 60. Actor Garret Dillahunt (“Raising Hope”) is 58. Actor Conleth Hall (“Game of Thrones”) is 58. Comedian Brad Sherwood (“Whose Line Is It Anyway?”) is 58. Actor Scott Krinksy (“Chuck”) is 54. Guitarist Chad Taylor of Live is 52. Actor Lola Glaudini (“Criminal Minds”) is 51. Actor Colin Hanks (“Life in Pieces,” ″Roswell”) is 45. Actor Katherine Heigl (“Grey’s Anatomy,” ″Roswell”) is 44. Actor Sarah Hyland (“Modern Family”) is 32.
Nov. 25: Actor Kathryn Crosby is 89. Singer Bob Lind is 80. Actor-game show host Ben Stein is 78. Actor John Larroquette is 75. “Dancing With the Stars” judge Bruno Tonioli is 67. Singer Amy Grant is 62. Drummer Scott Mercado (Candlebox) is 58. Singer Tim Armstrong of Rancid is 57. Actor Steve Harris (“Friday Night Lights,” ″The Practice”) is 57. Actor Billy Burke (“Twilight” films) is 56. Singer Stacy Lattisaw is 56. Guitarist Rodney Sheppard of Sugar Ray is 56. Rapper-producer Erick Sermon (EPMD) is 54. Actor Jill Hennessy (“Crossing Jordan”) is 53. Actor Christina Applegate is 51. Actor Eddie Steeples (“My Name Is Earl”) is 49. Actor Kristian Nairn (“Game of Thrones”) is 47. Actor Jill Flint (“The Good Wife,” “Royal Pains”) is 45. Actor Jerry Ferrara (“Entourage”) is 43. Actor Valerie Azlynn (“Sullivan and Son”) is 42. Actor Katie Cassidy (“Arrow,” new “Melrose Place”) is 36. Actor Stephanie Hsu (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) is 32. Contemporary Christian singer Jamie Grace is 31.
Nov. 26: Impressionist Rich Little is 84. Singer Tina Turner is 83. Singer Jean Terrell (The Supremes) is 78. Bassist John McVie of Fleetwood Mac is 77. Actor Marianne Muellerleile (Film’s “Memento,” TV’s “Life With Bonnie”) is 74. Actor Scott Jacoby (“That Certain Summer”) is 66. Actor Jamie Rose (“Falcon Crest,” “St. Elsewhere”) is 63. Country singer Linda Davis is 60. Actor Scott Adsit (“30 Rock”) is 57. Actor Kristin Bauer (“True Blood”) is 56. Actor Peter Facinelli (“Nurse Jackie”) is 49. Actor Tammy Lynn Michaels (”The L Word,” “Popular”) is 48. Hip-hop artist DJ Khaled is 47. Actor Maia Campbell (“In the House”) is 46. Country singer Joe Nichols is 46. Musicians Randy and Anthony Armstrong of Red are 44. Actor Jessica Bowman (“Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman”) is 42. Singer Natasha Bedingfield is 41. Actor Jessica Camacho (“Taken,” “The Flash”) is 40. Singer-guitarist Mike Gossin of Gloriana is 38. Drummer Ben Wysocki of The Fray is 38. Singer Lil Fizz of B2K is 37. Singer Aubrey Collins (Trick Pony) is 35. Singer-actor Rita Ora is 32. Actor Aubrey Peeples (“Nashville,” “Sharknado”) is 29.
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ATLANTA — Todd and Julie Chrisley were driven by greed as they engaged in an extensive bank fraud scheme and then hid their wealth from tax authorities while flaunting their lavish lifestyle, federal prosecutors said, arguing the reality television stars should receive lengthy prison sentences.
The Chrisleys gained fame with their show “Chrisley Knows Best,” which follows their tight-knit, boisterous family. They were found guilty on federal charges in June and are set to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross in a hearing that begins Monday and is likely to extend into Tuesday.
Using a process to calculate a sentencing guideline range based on several factors, federal prosecutors determined the upper end of that range is nearly 22 years for Todd Chrisley and about 12 and a half years for Julie Chrisley. The couple should also be ordered to pay restitution, prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
“The Chrisleys have built an empire based on the lie that their wealth came from dedication and hard work,” prosecutors wrote. “The jury’s unanimous verdict sets the record straight: Todd and Julie Chrisley are career swindlers who have made a living by jumping from one fraud scheme to another, lying to banks, stiffing vendors, and evading taxes at every corner.”
The Chrisleys disagree with the government’s guideline calculations. Todd Chrisley’s lawyers wrote in a filing that he should not face more than nine years in prison and that the judge should sentence him below the lower end of the guidelines. Julie Chrisley’s lawyers wrote that a reasonable sentence for her would be probation with special conditions and no prison time.
The Chrisleys were convicted in June on charges of bank fraud, tax evasion and conspiring to defraud the IRS. Julie Chrisley was also convicted of wire fraud and obstruction of justice.
Peter Tarantino, an accountant hired by the couple, was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the IRS and willfully filing false tax returns. He is set to be sentenced along with the Chrisleys.
Prosecutors have said the couple submitted fake documents to banks and managed to secure more than $30 million in fraudulent loans. Once that scheme fell apart, they walked away from their responsibility to repay the loans when Todd Chrisley declared bankruptcy. While in bankruptcy, they started their reality show and “flaunted their wealth and lifestyle to the American public,” prosecutors wrote. When they began making millions from their show, they hid the money from the IRS to avoid paying taxes.
The Chrisleys submitted a false document to a grand jury that was investigating their crimes and then convinced friends and family members to tell lies while testifying under oath during their trial, prosecutors wrote. Neither of them has shown any remorse and they have, instead, blamed others for their own criminal conduct, prosecutors wrote.
“The Chrisleys are unique given the varied and wide-ranging scope of their fraudulent conduct and the extent to which they engaged in fraud and obstructive behavior for a prolonged period of time,” prosecutors wrote.
Todd Chrisley’s lawyers wrote in a court filing that the government never produced any evidence that he meant to defraud any of the banks and that the loss amount calculated by the government is incorrect. They also noted that the offenses of which he was convicted were committed a long time ago. He has no serious criminal history and has medical conditions that “would make imprisonment disproportionately harsh,” they wrote.
His lawyers submitted letters from friends and business associates that show “a history of good deeds and striving to help others.” People who rely on Chrisley — including his mother and the “scores of people” employed by his television shows — will be harmed while he’s in prison, his lawyers wrote.
They urged the judge to give him a prison sentence below the guideline range followed by supervised release and restitution.
Julie Chrisley’s lawyers wrote in a filing that she had a minimal role in the conspiracy and was not involved when the loans discussed in sentencing documents were obtained. She has no prior convictions, is an asset to her community and has “extraordinary family obligations,” her lawyers wrote, as they asked for a sentence of probation, restitution and community service.
The Chrisleys have three children together, including one who is 16, and also have full custody of the 10-year-old daughter of Todd Chrisley’s son from a prior marriage. Julie Chrisley is the primary caregiver to her ailing mother-in-law, the filing says. Her lawyers submitted letters from family and friends that show she is “hard-working, unfailingly selfless, devoted to her family and friend, highly respected by all who know her, and strong of character.”
If the judge does sentence both Chrisleys to prison, Julie Chrisley’s lawyers asked that their prison terms be staggered so she can remain on supervised release until her husband is done serving his sentence or until their granddaughter turns 18.
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LOS ANGELES — Robert Clary, a French-born survivor of Nazi concentration camps during World War II who played a feisty prisoner of war in the improbable 1960s sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes,” has died. He was 96.
Clary died Wednesday of natural causes at his home in the Los Angeles area, niece Brenda Hancock said Thursday.
“He never let those horrors defeat him,” Hancock said of Clary’s wartime experience as a youth. “He never let them take the joy out of his life. He tried to spread that joy to others through his singing and his dancing and his painting.”
When he recounted his life to students, he told them, “Don’t ever hate,” Hancock said. “He didn’t let hate overcome the beauty in this world.”
“Hogan’s Heroes,” in which Allied soldiers in a POW camp bested their clownish German army captors with espionage schemes, played the war strictly for laughs during its 1965-71 run. The 5-foot-1 Clary sported a beret and a sardonic smile as Cpl. Louis LeBeau.
Clary was the last surviving original star of the sitcom that included Bob Crane, Richard Dawson, Larry Hovis and Ivan Dixon as the prisoners. Werner Klemperer and John Banner, who played their captors, both were European Jews who fled Nazi persecution before the war.
Clary began his career as a nightclub singer and appeared on stage in musicals including “Irma La Douce” and “Cabaret.” After “Hogan’s Heroes,” Clary’s TV work included the soap operas “The Young and the Restless,” “Days of Our Lives” and “The Bold and the Beautiful.”
He considered musical theater the highlight of his career. “I loved to go to the theater at quarter of 8, put the stage makeup on and entertain,” he said in a 2014 interview.
He remained publicly silent about his wartime experience until 1980 when, Clary said, he was provoked to speak out by those who denied or diminished the orchestrated effort by Nazi Germany to exterminate Jews.
A documentary about Clary’s childhood and years of horror at Nazi hands, “Robert Clary, A5714: A Memoir of Liberation,” was released in 1985. The forearms of concentration camp prisoners were tattooed with identification numbers, with A5714 to be Clary’s lifelong mark.
“They write books and articles in magazines denying the Holocaust, making a mockery of the 6 million Jews — including a million and a half children — who died in the gas chambers and ovens,” he told The Associated Press in a 1985 interview.
Twelve of his immediate family members, his parents and 10 siblings, were killed under the Nazis, Clary wrote in a biography posted on his website.
In 1997, he was among dozens of Holocaust survivors whose portraits and stories were included in “The Triumphant Spirit,” a book by photographer Nick Del Calzo.
“I beg the next generation not to do what people have done for centuries — hate others because of their skin, shape of their eyes, or religious preference,” Clary said in an interview at the time.
Retired from acting, Clary remained busy with his family, friends and his painting. His memoir, “From the Holocaust to Hogan’s Heroes: The Autobiography of Robert Clary,” was published in 2001.
“One Of The Lucky Ones,” a biography of one of Clary’s older sisters, Nicole Holland, was written by Hancock, her daughter. Holland, who worked with the French Resistance against Germany, survived the war, as did another sister. Hancock’s second book, “Talent Luck Courage,” recounts Clary and Holland’s lives and their impact.
Clary was born Robert Widerman in Paris in March 1926, the youngest of 14 children in the Jewish family. He was 16 when he and most of his family were taken by the Nazis.
In the documentary, Clary recalled a happy childhood until he and his family was forced from their Paris apartment and put into a crowded cattle car that carried them to concentration camps.
“Nobody knew where we were going,” Clary said. “We were not human beings anymore.”
After 31 months in captivity in several concentration camps, he was liberated from the Buchenwald death camp by American troops. His youth and ability to work kept him alive, Clary said.
Returning to Paris and reunited with his two sisters, Clary worked as a singer and recorded songs that became popular in America.
After coming to the United States in 1949, he moved from club dates and recording to Broadway musicals, including “New Faces of 1952,” and then to movies. He appeared in films including 1952’s “Thief of Damascus,” “A New Kind of Love” in 1963 and “The Hindenburg” in 1975.
In recent years, Clary recorded jazz versions of songs by Ira Gershwin, Stephen Sondheim and other greats, said his nephew Brian Gari, a songwriter who worked on the CDs with Clary.
Clary was proud of the results, Gari said, and thrilled by a complimentary letter he received from Sondheim. “He hung that on the kitchen wall,” Gari said.
Clary didn’t feel uneasy about the comedy on “Hogan’s Heroes” despite the tragedy of his family’s devastating war experience.
“It was completely different. I know they (POWs) had a terrible life, but compared to concentration camps and gas chambers it was like a holiday.”
Clary married Natalie Cantor, the daughter of singer-actor Eddie Cantor, in 1965. She died in 1997.
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Mayan Lopez’s co-star in her new NBC sitcom “ Lopez vs Lopez ” happens to be her real-life dad, George Lopez.
The two play a father and daughter who are repairing their relationship after years of not getting along. As is the Lopez way, art imitates life: George’s previous TV roles in “The George Lopez Show” and “Lopez” were also based on his real life. After divorcing her mother, Ann, in 2012, Mayan Lopez says she felt resentment toward her dad and the two didn’t have much contact until they reconnected during the pandemic.
“Two years ago my dad and I weren’t really talking, but family became something that was really important when the whole world was up in flames,” she said. “As you grow older, you start to see your parents as people.”
Mayan Lopez recognizes her dad didn’t always know how to relate to her because he was abandoned by his own parents and raised by his maternal grandmother, whom he did not get along with. “He didn’t always know how to relate to me. I get to kind of have that (perspective) now.”
The genesis of “Lopez vs Lopez” came about when TV producer Debby Wolfe stumbled upon Mayan’s TikTok account.
“Someone was talking about my dad, the past things that have happened, you know that my dad was unfaithful, about my parents’ divorce, and it was getting a lot of likes. And I was like, ‘You know what? I want to say something about it because some of the facts aren’t right.’ And I thought, ‘What will get people’s attention?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, let me just twerk upside down (against) a wall. Why not? I’m a comedian. I’ll go for the joke.’”
Wolfe saw that, plus Mayan’s other content, including videos with her dad and even posts of both her parents together, bickering like they were still married and thought, “This is a show.”
The opportunity was a dream come true for Mayan who studied sketch comedy and improv and also trained at Second City. She’s also respectful of her dad’s talent and showbiz experience.
“I have a world-class comedian to be able to learn from,” she said. “I take his advice and his knowledge and I have my own things that I bring to the table. He even says we make each other better because he’s like, ‘Oh, there’s another one of me.’ We bounce off of each other and collaborate on set. We’ll write things and even improvise as we’re performing. It’s been great to work with him in that way.”
Mom is also around too and “so proud.”
“We perform in front of a live audience and my mom’s there every week,” said Lopez. “She was there for ‘The George Lopez Show’ that was based on (dad’s) life. And now we have another show. It’s kind of the Lopez way of doing things, making our life art so that people can enjoy and also be able to be a representation of the Latin community.”
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NEW YORK — Kevin Conroy, the prolific voice actor whose gravely delivery on “Batman: The Animated Series” was for many Batman fans the definitive sound of the Caped Crusader, has died at 66.
Conroy died Thursday after a battle with cancer, series producer Warner Bros. announced Friday.
Conroy was the voice of Batman on the acclaimed animated series that ran from 1992-1996, often acting opposite Mark Hamill’s Joker. Conroy continued on as the almost exclusive animated voice of Batman, including some 15 films, 400 episodes of television and two dozen video games, including the “Batman: Arkham” and “Injustice” franchises.
In the eight-decade history of Batman, no one played the Dark Knight more.
“For several generations, he has been the definitive Batman,” Hamill in a statement. “It was one of those perfect scenarios where they got the exact right guy for the right part, and the world was better for it.”
“He will always be my Batman,” Hamill said.
Conroy’s popularity with fans made him a sought-after personality on the convention circuit. In the often tumultuous world of DC Comics, Conroy was a mainstay and widely beloved. In a statement, Warner Bros. Animation said Conroy’s performance “will forever stand among the greatest portrayals of the Dark Knight in any medium.”
“Kevin brought a light with him everywhere, whether in the recording booth giving it his all or feeding first-responders during 9/11 or making sure every fan who ever waited for him had a moment with their Batman,” said Paul Dini, producer of the animated show. ”A hero in every sense of the word.”
Born in in Westbury, New York, and raised in Westport, Connecticut, Conroy started out as well-trained theater actor. He attended Juilliard and roomed with Robin Williams. After graduating, he toured with John Houseman’s acting group, the Acting Company. He performed in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Public Theater and in “Eastern Standard” on Broadway. At the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California, he performed in “Hamlet.”
The 1980s production of “Eastern Standard,” in which Conroy played a TV producer secretly living with AIDS, had particular meaning to him. Conroy, who was gay, said at the time he was regularly attending funerals for friends who died of AIDS. He poured out his anguish nightly on stage.
In 1980, Conroy moved to Los Angeles, began acting in soap operas and booked appearances on TV series including “Cheers,” “Tour of Duty” and “Murphy Brown.” In 1991, when casting director Andrea Romano was scouting her lead actor for “Batman: The Animated Series,” she went through hundreds of auditions before Conroy came in. He was there on a friend’s recommendation — and cast immediately.
Conroy began the role without any background in comics and as a novice in voice acting. His Batman was husky, brooding and dark. His Bruce Wayne was light and dashing. His inspiration for the contrasting voices, he said, came from the 1930s film, “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” about an English aristocrat who leads a double life.
“It’s so much fun as an actor to sink your teeth into,” Conroy told The New York Times in 2016. “Calling it animation doesn’t do it justice. It’s more like mythology.”
As Conroy’s performance evolved over the years, it sometimes connected to his own life. Conroy described his own father as an alcoholic and said his family disintegrated while he was in high school. He channeled those emotions into the 1993 animated film “Mask of the Phantasm,” which revolved around Bruce Wayne’s unsettled issues with his parents.
“Andrea came in after the recording and grabbed me in a hug,” Conroy told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018. “Andrea said, ‘I don’t know where you went, but it was a beautiful performance.’ She knew I was drawing on something.”
Conroy is survived by his husband, Vaughn C. Williams, sister Trisha Conroy and brother Tom Conroy.
In “Finding Batman,” released earlier this year, Conroy penned a comic about his unlikely journey with the character and as a gay man in Hollywood.
“I’ve often marveled as how appropriate it was that I should land this role,” he wrote. “As a gay boy growing up in the 1950s and ‘60s in a devoutly Catholic family, I’d grown adept at concealing parts of myself.”
The voice that emerged from Conroy for Batman, he said, was one he didn’t recognize — a voice that “seemed to roar from 30 years of frustration, confusion, denial, love, yearning.”
“I felt Batman rising from deep within.”
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DALLAS — Conference USA’s new media rights deal with ESPN and CBS steals a page from the Mid-American Conference’s playbook, with the new-look league agreeing to play midweek games throughout October to try to increase visibility and build its brand.
“We obviously had an example to look at and ratings from how the MAC has done,” C-USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod told The Associated Press on Thursday. “Really, this is a membership decision. And if they’re not going to buy in and commit to it, then we would not have done it. I can’t give enough credit to the coaches, who understood the importance of exposure.”
The five-year deal starts next season as Conference USA goes through extensive membership turnover.
Six current C-USA members are leaving after this season to join the American Athletic Conference. Liberty, Jacksonville State, New Mexico State and Sam Houston State are joining C-USA next year and Kennesaw State is scheduled to join in 2024.
C-USA will eventually be a 10-school conference, keeping UTEP, Florida International, Middle Tennessee, Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky.
“It’s almost like a brand-new entity,” MacLeod said. “And that did absolutely play into the exposure piece. Plus, sometimes our programs are better than maybe the perception is out there because not enough people are seeing them.”
Financial terms were not announced.
The new deal keeps CBS Sports Network as the primary home for C-USA’s top football and men’s basketball games.
CBS Sports Network will also air the C-USA football championship, the men’s basketball tournament semifinals and championship game, the women’s basketball championship game and conference title games for baseball and softball.
The new agreement guarantees C-USA football games will be on ESPN cable networks, something the soon-to-be expiring contracts did not. C-USA’s last deal often sent fans scrambling to figure out where to watch their teams — including Facebook streams and the NFL Network.
“We listened to our fans, quite honestly,” MacLeod said.
All October conference games will be played midweek. ESPN networks will carry eight of those games a year.
The MAC began using a midweek-heavy football schedule about 10 years ago and now plays all of its games before Saturday throughout November. MACtion has become a popular brand, though playing Tuesday and Wednesday nights is not always easy for players and coaches and fans who want to attend the games.
“All of those concerns are legitimate,” MacLeod said. “It’s a little bit of a disruption to campus to have a midweek football game. So it was a lengthy process. But the group was together and ready to go.”
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More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP—Top25. Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://bit.ly/3pqZVaF
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BERLIN — An ambassador for the World Cup in Qatar has described homosexuality as a “damage in the mind” in an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF only two weeks before the opening of the soccer tournament in the Gulf state, highlighting concerns about the conservative country’s treatment of gays and lesbians.
Former Qatari national team player Khalid Salman told a German reporter in an interview that being gay is “haram,” or forbidden in Arabic, and that he has a problem with children seeing gay people.
Excerpts of the television interview were shown Monday on the ZDF news program Heute Journal. The full interview, which is part of a documentary, will be shown Tuesday on ZDF.
About 1.2 million international visitors are expected in Qatar for the tournament, which has faced criticism and skepticism ever since the gas-rich emirate was selected as host by FIFA in December 2010. Concerns about LGBTQ tourists attending the World Cup have also been expressed for a long time.
In the interview, Salman also said that homosexuality “is a spiritual harm.”
“During the World Cup, many things will come here to the country. Let’s talk about gays,” Salman said in English, which is simultaneously dubbed into German in the TV segment. “The most important thing is, everybody will accept that they come here. But they will have to accept our rules.”
The interview was cut short by a media officer of the World Cup organizing committee after Salman expressed his views on homosexuals, ZDF reported.
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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports
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