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Tag: television

  • Matthew Perry’s ‘Friends’ cast mates mourn their friend, say they are ‘all so utterly devastated’

    Matthew Perry’s ‘Friends’ cast mates mourn their friend, say they are ‘all so utterly devastated’

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    LOS ANGELES — The stars of “Friends” say they are mourning the “unfathomable” death of Matthew Perry.

    “We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew,” Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer said in a joint statement to People on Monday. “We were more than just cast mates. We are a family.”

    From 1994 to 2004, each of the five actors appeared in every episode of all 10 seasons of the NBC sitcom along with Perry, who was found dead at his Los Angeles home on Saturday at age 54.

    “There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss,” the statement said. “In time we will say more, as and when we are able. For now, our thoughts and our love are with Matty’s family, his friends, and everyone who loved him around the world.”

    It was the first public statement on Perry’s death from Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc or Schwimmer.

    After an initial investigation, the Los Angeles County coroner has deferred giving a cause of death, which may take weeks to determine.

    Others public mourning Perry on Monday included Salma Hayek, his co-star in the 1997 rom-com “Fools Rush In,” which Perry had said was probably his best film.

    “It’s taken me a couple of days to process this profound sadness. There is a special bond that happens when you share dreams with someone, and together you work towards them,” Hayek said in an Instagram post. “Throughout the years, he and I found ourselves reminiscing about that meaningful time in our lives with a deep sense of nostalgia and gratitude. My friend, you are gone much too soon, but I will continue to cherish your silliness, your perseverance, and your lovely heart.”

    Perry is being mourned by fans worldwide, including some who placed flowers and heartfelt tributes outside the New York building that served as an exterior for the show.

    Others who worked with Perry expressed their sorrow on Sunday, included “Friends” co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane, who said, echoing the style of the show’s episode titles, that this “truly is The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken.”

    Morgan Fairchild, who played mother to Perry’s Chandler Bing on the show, and Maggie Wheeler, who played Chandler’s sometime girlfriend Janice, gave similar sentiments.

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  • Bill Maher attacks ‘the real deep state’ of government regulators, administrators, and zoning officers

    Bill Maher attacks ‘the real deep state’ of government regulators, administrators, and zoning officers

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    Bill Maher is the latest convert to the idea that America’s addiction to regulatory process and public input is preventing us from having nice things like renewable energy and new housing.

    In a Friday monologue on his HBO show Real Time, Maher laid into “the real deep state” of “regulators, administrators, contract reviewers, project managers, fee accessors, special commissioners, zoning officers, and consultants whose job seems to be to make sure that nothing ever happens and then charge you for it.”

    Specifically, the comedian called out federal permitting regulations for taking nearly two decades to approve a transmission line that will connect a wind farm in Wyoming with consumers in Nevada, and he mocked San Francisco’s bureaucracy for turning a privately gifted public toilet into a $1 million project.

    That same San Francisco bureaucracy, Maher notes, takes 627 days to permit a new home.

    “Sure, there are people living on the streets, but that’s because we want to make sure the apartments they don’t live in are perfect,” he said.

    The situation in San Francisco might actually be even worse than Maher’s description. A recent state audit of the city’s housing policies and practices put the average time for fully permitting a residential project at 1,128 days—a little over three years. Reason has covered multiple episodes where the city fined developers for building more units than the zoning code allows and ordering existing, occupied (but unpermitted) homes to be dismantled.

    Maher has a history of complaining about the pettier forms of government regulation and America’s failure to build big projects like we used to. His latest rant hits some novel notes by focusing on the ways that the country’s complex, highly participatory regulatory process—where an endless parade of bureaucrats, third-party groups, and concerned citizens all get a say—makes building an unnecessarily long, expensive prospect.

    He’s echoing the general critique of mostly liberal “abundance agenda” writers and activists, who think America’s main problem is that we don’t have enough stuff—and that we don’t have enough stuff because we make building new stuff needlessly difficult.

    There’s a lot to recommend about this worldview, which echoes longstanding libertarian critiques of the regulatory state. There are good reason for libertarians to be suspicious of abundance-agenda liberalism as well, given how easily it conflates the need to deregulate private economic activity with the desire to speed up the construction of government-subsidized megaprojects.

    Still, it’s refreshing to hear liberals blaming regulations, and not just a lack of government funds, for holding back new infrastructure and new housing.

    Environmental permitting and zoning policy have a (deserved) reputation for being dry, technical issues only the most obsessive policy wonks could really get excited about. They are also policy areas that have a profound—and profoundly negative—impact on where we live and how much we pay to keep the lights on.

    Maher’s rant is a glimpse into a world where all this cost-increasing red tape is the subject of productive populist rage: The big guys are out to get you by keeping new homes and power plants in interminable regulatory limbo.

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    Christian Britschgi

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  • What to stream this week: Annette Bening, Jason Aldean, Awkwafina, NKOTB and ‘Blue Eye Samurai’

    What to stream this week: Annette Bening, Jason Aldean, Awkwafina, NKOTB and ‘Blue Eye Samurai’

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    Awkwafina starring as a game-show-obsessed woman in “Quiz Lady” and the animated historical drama “Blue Eye Samurai” about a mixed-race, revenge-seeking female samurai in Japan are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you

    Also among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are a studio album from Jason Aldean, a new Hulu series made from Charmaine Wilkerson’s novel “Black Cake” and Annette Bening portrays a real-life hero who swam the treacherous passage from Cuba to Key West in 2013.

    — It took Diana Nyad more than 30 years and five tries to swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys. “Free Solo” filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “Nyad,” streaming Friday, Nov. 3 on Netflix, dramatizes her feat of endurance, along with the perseverance of her closest friends and collaborators. Bening plays Nyad, who was 60 when she began training herself again for the open-ocean swim. In a stand-out supporting performance, Jodie Foster plays her friend and trainer Bonnie Stoll. In my review, I wrote that there is enough here to help the film “if not swim against the tide of sport-biopic convention then at least ride a swift current to the finish line.”

    — In “Quiz Lady,” a 30-something accountant named Anne (Awkwafina) has devotedly watched every episode of “Can’t Stop the Quiz” since she was 4-year-old. After her pug is kidnapped and held for ransom, Anne and her estranged sister Jenny (Sandra Oh) embark on a mission to get Anne on “Can’t Stop the Quiz,” a “Jeopardy!”-like show in which Will Ferrell plays an Alex Trebek-like host. “Quiz Lady” debuts Friday, Nov. 3, on Hulu.

    — The formidable trio of Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed and James Allen White anchor director Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails,” a sci-fi drama set in a near-future where couples can use science to determine if they’re meant to be together. In the film, which debuts Friday, Nov. 3 on Apple TV+, Buckley and White play a couple with a 100% positive score, proving that they’re soulmates. But things get complicated when Buckley’s character hits it off with a colleague (Ahmed).

    — AP Film Writer Jake Coyle

    — Last month, the singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who turned his unique brand of beach bum soft rock and “Margaritaville” escapism into a lifestyle and movement, died. As the music world continues to mourn the loss of a giant, Mailboat and Sun Records have teamed up to release his final album, a posthumous release titled “Equal Strain on All Parts,” recorded earlier this year. It features Paul McCartney, Emmylou Harris, Lennie Gallant, Angelique Kidjo, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Buffett’s light-hearted, goodtime jams live on, as evidenced on the previously released tracks, “My Gummie Just Kicked In” and “Bubbles Up.”

    — “Highway Desperado” is the 11th studio album from mainstream country juggernaut Jason Aldean, released on the heels of his first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single, the controversy-creating “Try That in a Small Town.” Produced by Michael Knox, Aldean says “Highway Desperado” takes inspiration from his live show. “I think when I look back on it, I built my career early on my live show, and have been on the road touring since I was 18 years old,” Aldean said in a press release. “For us, touring is our favorite part. Getting on the bus and going town to town and playing our shows and doing our thing and seeing the fans… the title for the tour and album was really inspired from that.”

    — In 2008, after having been on a hiatus as a group for 12 years, Boston boy band New Kids on the Block returned with a new album, “The Block.” This year, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the album responsible for the second chapter of their career, NKOTB will release “The Block: Revisited.” It includes four previously unreleased tracks as well as a new remix of their single “Dirty Dancing,” this time featuring a new generation of boy band: Dino, DK, and Joshua of the best-selling K-pop group SEVENTEEN.

    — For some, Australian-via-Zimbabwe rapper-singer Tkay Maidza ’s unique vocal tone might be most closely associated with her cover of the 1988 Pixies’ song “Where Is My Mind?” as utilized in an Apple AirPods commercial. (She recasts the song in a style all her own — quite the feat for a track frequently covered and tethered to the final scene in “Fight Club.”) But it’s her original work that deserves attention. “Sweet Justice,” her sophomore album that follows 2016’s self-titled debut and a 2020 EP series — is an eclectic collection of soulful electronics and psychedelic production elevated by her playful flow and smooth vocal tone.

    — AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

    — Before Charmaine Wilkerson’s novel “Black Cake” was published in 2022, Oprah Winfrey secured the TV rights in a bidding war and it’s now a new Hulu series. The first three episodes of “Black Cake” drop Wednesday, with new episodes released weekly. It follows Benny and Byron, adult estranged siblings whose mother has died and left them a mysterious flash drive with the details of her family history, explaining how she arrived in California from the Caribbean in the 1960s. The story also connects to a Caribbean Black cake from their heritage.

    — Another popular novel, the WWII-themed “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr, has also been turned into a series. Shawn Levy directs the story of Marie (played by newcomer Aria Mia Loberti) as a blind, young woman in hiding in German-occupied France and a Nazi solder named Werner (Louis Hoffman). He’s an orphan who was drafted against his will and the show explores how they’re linked by a radio broadcast, despite their different backgrounds. The four-episode series also stars Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie and premieres Thursday on Netflix.

    — The animated historical drama “Blue Eye Samurai” about a mixed-race, revenge-seeking female samurai in Japan is already getting praise for its use of 2D and 3D artistry. Maya Erskine voices the lead character, Mizu, alongside Masi Oka, George Takei, Randall Park, Kenneth Branagh, Brenda Song, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Darren Barnet. “Blue Eye Samurai” drops Friday, Nov. 3 on Netflix.

    — Naturalist Sir David Attenborough narrates a long-awaited third installment of the “Planet Earth” series. The new episodes use modern technology including drones, submersibles, and high-speed cameras to capture both awe-inspiring views of nature and the heartbreaking struggles of wildlife because of climate change. “Planet Earth III” debuts Saturday, Nov. 4 on BBC America and AMC+.

    — In 2021, National Geographic premiered the limited series called “9/11: One Day in America,” to critical acclaim. A second installment called “JFK: One Day in America” premieres Sunday, Nov. 5. The three-part series has previously unseen testimony from surviving witnesses to create an oral history of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Nov. 22 marks the 60th anniversary of his death. “One Last Day: JFK” will also stream on Disney+ and Hulu a day later.

    — Alicia Rancilio

    — The bad news: Humanity is extinct. The good news: Our robot descendants are fans of human culture. In The Talos Principle II, you are an artificial intelligence on a mission to figure out how people screwed it all up, and maybe avoid repeating their mistakes. The 2014 original, from the Croatian developer Croteam, was one of the more challenging puzzle games of its generation. The studio is promising a wider array of 3D brainteasers in the sequel, with new techniques like gravity manipulation and mind transference — not to mention “questions about the nature of the cosmos and the purpose of civilization.” If you dig mind-benders like Portal and The Witness, you probably already have Talos II on your wish list for Thursday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.

    — Another highly regarded European studio, France’s Don’t Nod, is back with another intriguing puzzle game, Jusant. The goal here is to climb to the top of a gigantic, mysterious tower, but as you ascend, you’ll discover different environments and artifacts from a lost civilization. I found it exhausting to just watch the preview, but the developer — best known for the time-twisting adventure Life Is Strange — describes Jusant as “a meditative journey.” And you have an adorable companion, a watery blob named Ballast, to ask for clues when you get stuck. The conquest begins Tuesday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.

    — Lou Kesten

    ___

    Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/entertainment.

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  • What to stream this week: Annette Bening, Jason Aldean, Awkwafina, NKOTB and ‘Blue Eye Samurai’

    What to stream this week: Annette Bening, Jason Aldean, Awkwafina, NKOTB and ‘Blue Eye Samurai’

    [ad_1]

    Awkwafina starring as a game-show-obsessed woman in “Quiz Lady” and the animated historical drama “Blue Eye Samurai” about a mixed-race, revenge-seeking female samurai in Japan are some of the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you

    Also among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are a studio album from Jason Aldean, a new Hulu series made from Charmaine Wilkerson’s novel “Black Cake” and Annette Bening portrays a real-life hero who swam the treacherous passage from Cuba to Key West in 2013.

    — It took Diana Nyad more than 30 years and five tries to swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys. “Free Solo” filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “Nyad,” streaming Friday, Nov. 3 on Netflix, dramatizes her feat of endurance, along with the perseverance of her closest friends and collaborators. Bening plays Nyad, who was 60 when she began training herself again for the open-ocean swim. In a stand-out supporting performance, Jodie Foster plays her friend and trainer Bonnie Stoll. In my review, I wrote that there is enough here to help the film “if not swim against the tide of sport-biopic convention then at least ride a swift current to the finish line.”

    — In “Quiz Lady,” a 30-something accountant named Anne (Awkwafina) has devotedly watched every episode of “Can’t Stop the Quiz” since she was 4-year-old. After her pug is kidnapped and held for ransom, Anne and her estranged sister Jenny (Sandra Oh) embark on a mission to get Anne on “Can’t Stop the Quiz,” a “Jeopardy!”-like show in which Will Ferrell plays an Alex Trebek-like host. “Quiz Lady” debuts Friday, Nov. 3, on Hulu.

    — The formidable trio of Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed and James Allen White anchor director Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails,” a sci-fi drama set in a near-future where couples can use science to determine if they’re meant to be together. In the film, which debuts Friday, Nov. 3 on Apple TV+, Buckley and White play a couple with a 100% positive score, proving that they’re soulmates. But things get complicated when Buckley’s character hits it off with a colleague (Ahmed).

    — AP Film Writer Jake Coyle

    — Last month, the singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who turned his unique brand of beach bum soft rock and “Margaritaville” escapism into a lifestyle and movement, died. As the music world continues to mourn the loss of a giant, Mailboat and Sun Records have teamed up to release his final album, a posthumous release titled “Equal Strain on All Parts,” recorded earlier this year. It features Paul McCartney, Emmylou Harris, Lennie Gallant, Angelique Kidjo, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Buffett’s light-hearted, goodtime jams live on, as evidenced on the previously released tracks, “My Gummie Just Kicked In” and “Bubbles Up.”

    — “Highway Desperado” is the 11th studio album from mainstream country juggernaut Jason Aldean, released on the heels of his first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single, the controversy-creating “Try That in a Small Town.” Produced by Michael Knox, Aldean says “Highway Desperado” takes inspiration from his live show. “I think when I look back on it, I built my career early on my live show, and have been on the road touring since I was 18 years old,” Aldean said in a press release. “For us, touring is our favorite part. Getting on the bus and going town to town and playing our shows and doing our thing and seeing the fans… the title for the tour and album was really inspired from that.”

    — In 2008, after having been on a hiatus as a group for 12 years, Boston boy band New Kids on the Block returned with a new album, “The Block.” This year, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the album responsible for the second chapter of their career, NKOTB will release “The Block: Revisited.” It includes four previously unreleased tracks as well as a new remix of their single “Dirty Dancing,” this time featuring a new generation of boy band: Dino, DK, and Joshua of the best-selling K-pop group SEVENTEEN.

    — For some, Australian-via-Zimbabwe rapper-singer Tkay Maidza ’s unique vocal tone might be most closely associated with her cover of the 1988 Pixies’ song “Where Is My Mind?” as utilized in an Apple AirPods commercial. (She recasts the song in a style all her own — quite the feat for a track frequently covered and tethered to the final scene in “Fight Club.”) But it’s her original work that deserves attention. “Sweet Justice,” her sophomore album that follows 2016’s self-titled debut and a 2020 EP series — is an eclectic collection of soulful electronics and psychedelic production elevated by her playful flow and smooth vocal tone.

    — AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

    — Before Charmaine Wilkerson’s novel “Black Cake” was published in 2022, Oprah Winfrey secured the TV rights in a bidding war and it’s now a new Hulu series. The first three episodes of “Black Cake” drop Wednesday, with new episodes released weekly. It follows Benny and Byron, adult estranged siblings whose mother has died and left them a mysterious flash drive with the details of her family history, explaining how she arrived in California from the Caribbean in the 1960s. The story also connects to a Caribbean Black cake from their heritage.

    — Another popular novel, the WWII-themed “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr, has also been turned into a series. Shawn Levy directs the story of Marie (played by newcomer Aria Mia Loberti) as a blind, young woman in hiding in German-occupied France and a Nazi solder named Werner (Louis Hoffman). He’s an orphan who was drafted against his will and the show explores how they’re linked by a radio broadcast, despite their different backgrounds. The four-episode series also stars Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie and premieres Thursday on Netflix.

    — The animated historical drama “Blue Eye Samurai” about a mixed-race, revenge-seeking female samurai in Japan is already getting praise for its use of 2D and 3D artistry. Maya Erskine voices the lead character, Mizu, alongside Masi Oka, George Takei, Randall Park, Kenneth Branagh, Brenda Song, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Darren Barnet. “Blue Eye Samurai” drops Friday, Nov. 3 on Netflix.

    — Naturalist Sir David Attenborough narrates a long-awaited third installment of the “Planet Earth” series. The new episodes use modern technology including drones, submersibles, and high-speed cameras to capture both awe-inspiring views of nature and the heartbreaking struggles of wildlife because of climate change. “Planet Earth III” debuts Saturday, Nov. 4 on BBC America and AMC+.

    — In 2021, National Geographic premiered the limited series called “9/11: One Day in America,” to critical acclaim. A second installment called “JFK: One Day in America” premieres Sunday, Nov. 5. The three-part series has previously unseen testimony from surviving witnesses to create an oral history of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Nov. 22 marks the 60th anniversary of his death. “One Last Day: JFK” will also stream on Disney+ and Hulu a day later.

    — Alicia Rancilio

    — The bad news: Humanity is extinct. The good news: Our robot descendants are fans of human culture. In The Talos Principle II, you are an artificial intelligence on a mission to figure out how people screwed it all up, and maybe avoid repeating their mistakes. The 2014 original, from the Croatian developer Croteam, was one of the more challenging puzzle games of its generation. The studio is promising a wider array of 3D brainteasers in the sequel, with new techniques like gravity manipulation and mind transference — not to mention “questions about the nature of the cosmos and the purpose of civilization.” If you dig mind-benders like Portal and The Witness, you probably already have Talos II on your wish list for Thursday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.

    — Another highly regarded European studio, France’s Don’t Nod, is back with another intriguing puzzle game, Jusant. The goal here is to climb to the top of a gigantic, mysterious tower, but as you ascend, you’ll discover different environments and artifacts from a lost civilization. I found it exhausting to just watch the preview, but the developer — best known for the time-twisting adventure Life Is Strange — describes Jusant as “a meditative journey.” And you have an adorable companion, a watery blob named Ballast, to ask for clues when you get stuck. The conquest begins Tuesday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.

    — Lou Kesten

    ___

    Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/entertainment.

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  • ‘Friends’ creators, actors, family mourn Matthew Perry: ‘The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken’

    ‘Friends’ creators, actors, family mourn Matthew Perry: ‘The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken’

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    Matthew Perry was widely mourned this weekend by friends, co-stars and some very famous fans, including his childhood classmate, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; his “Friends” mom Morgan Fairchild; and even Adele.

    Perry, who played Chandler Bing on NBC’s “Friends” for 10 seasons, was found dead at his Los Angeles home on Saturday. He was 54.

    “This truly is The One Where Our Hearts Are Broken,” “Friends” co-creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane, along with executive producer Kevin Bright, said in a joint statement Sunday.

    “We are shocked and deeply, deeply saddened by our beloved friend Matthew’s passing,” Kauffman, Crane and Bright wrote. “We will always cherish the joy, the light, the blinding intelligence he brought to every moment – not just to his work, but in life as well. He was always the funniest person in the room. More than that, he was the sweetest, with a giving and selfless heart.”

    Perry’s family also gave a statement to People Magazine, writing that they are heartbroken by the loss.

    “Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend,” the family said. “You all meant so much to him and we appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love.”

    Others, some who knew him, some who didn’t, took to social media to express their grief.

    Trudeau, who attended elementary school with Perry while their parents worked together, wrote a tribute on X, formerly Twitter.

    “I’ll never forget the schoolyard games we used to play, and I know people around the world are never going to forget the joy he brought them,” Trudeau wrote. “Thanks for all the laughs, Matthew. You were loved — and you will be missed.”

    Perry’s mother served as press secretary to Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, during his time as prime minister.

    Adele took a moment to talk about him during her show in Las Vegas on Saturday night. She recalled how his work made her laugh and said that even though she’d never met him, there is a strange thing that happens sometimes when an entertainer dies that makes you feel personally sad.

    “I just want to say how much I love what he did for us,” she said to the cheering crowd.

    Saturday Night Live also showed a tribute card for Perry during the weekend’s episode. Perry once hosted the show, in 1997, which featured one sketch where he played Matt LeBlanc’s character Joey and Colin Quinn played Chandler.

    Fairchild, who played Chandler’s mother on “Friends” wrote on X, that she was “heartbroken about the untimely death of my ‘son’.”

    “The loss of such a brilliant young actor is a shock. I’m sending love & condolences to his friends & family, especially his dad,” Fairchild wrote.

    She had also worked with Perry’s father, actor John Bennett Perry, on several television series.

    Another frequent “Friends” co-star, Maggie Wheeler, who played his girlfriend Janice, wrote, “The joy you brought to so many in your too short lifetime will live on. I feel very blessed by every creative moment we shared.”

    Selma Blair, who also appeared on an episode of “Friends,” posted on Instagram that she was “broken hearted.”

    “My oldest boy friend,” Blair wrote. “All of us loved Matthew Perry, and I did especially. Every day. I loved him unconditionally. And he me. And I’m broken. Broken hearted. Sweet dreams Matty. Sweet dreams.”

    Many Hollywood actors crossed paths with Perry, who had worked steadily on screen since he was a child.

    Wendell Pierce, who worked with Perry on “The Odd Couple,” wrote on X that for two years, “Matthew Perry was my boss, my colleague, and a giving, kind, funny man. I pray and hope he is at peace.”

    Shannen Doherty shared a photo on Instagram and reflected on their friendship, which extended back to an appearance on “Beverly Hills 90210,” and included a Valentine’s Day date in Malibu once.

    “We were a gang way back. We all grew up together going to the Formosa … We played dare and Matt had to say ridiculous things to girls at the bar. We just always had fun and supported each other. You would always find us all together in a booth speaking in our own made up language. And yes, Matt always had THAT sense of humor,” Doherty wrote. “I could be more poetic or say things better but right now, shock and sadness prevail.”

    Gwyneth Paltrow, writing on Instagram, recalled meeting Perry at the Williamstown Theater Festival in the summer of 1993, where they were both doing plays. The “Friends” pilot had been shot but not yet aired. The actor and lifestyle guru recalled Perry as funny, sweet and fun to be with.

    “We drove out to swim in creeks, had beers in the local college bar, kissed in a field of long grass. It was a magical summer,” she wrote. “I am super sad today, as so many of us are. I hope Matthew is at peace at long last. I really do.”

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  • Matthew Perry, Emmy-nominated ‘Friends’ star, dead at 54

    Matthew Perry, Emmy-nominated ‘Friends’ star, dead at 54

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    LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Friends” star Matthew Perry, the Emmy-nominated actor whose sarcastic, but lovable Chandler Bing was among television’s most famous and most quotable characters, has died at 54.

    The actor was found dead of an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home Saturday, according to the Los Angeles Times and celebrity website TMZ, which was the first to report the news. Both outlets cited unnamed sources confirming Perry’s death.

    “Matthew was an incredibly gifted actor and an indelible part of the Warner Bros. Television Group family,” the company said in a statement. “The impact of his comedic genius was felt around the world, and his legacy will live on in the hearts of so many. This is a heartbreaking day, and we send our love to his family, his loved ones, and all of his devoted fans.”

    Perry’s publicists and other representatives did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

    Asked to confirm police response to what was listed as Perry’s home address, LAPD Officer Drake Madison told the AP that officers had gone to that block “for a death investigation of a male in his 50s.”

    Perry’s 10 seasons on “Friends” made him one of Hollywood’s most recognizable actors, starring opposite Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer as a friend group in New York.

    As Chandler, he played the quick-witted, insecure and neurotic roommate of LeBlanc’s Joey and a close friend of Schwimmer’s Ross. During the show’s hijinks, he could be counted on to chime in with a line like “Could this BE any more awkward?” or another well-timed quip.

    Perry was open about his long and public struggle with addiction, writing at the beginning of his 2022 million-selling memoir: “Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.”

    “Friends” ran from 1994 until 2004, winning one best comedy series Emmy Award in 2002. The cast notably banded together for later seasons to obtain a salary of $1 million per episode for each.

    By the “Friends” finale, Chandler is married to Cox’s Monica and they have a family, reflecting the journey of the core cast from single New Yorkers trying to figure their lives out to several of them married and starting families.

    The series was one of television’s biggest hits and has taken on a new life — and found surprising popularity with younger fans — in recent years on streaming services.

    Perry described reading the “Friends” script for the first time in his memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”

    “It was as if someone had followed me around for a year, stealing my jokes, copying my mannerisms, photocopying my world-weary yet witty view of life. One character in particular stood out to me: it wasn’t that I thought I could ‘play’ Chandler. I ‘was’ Chandler.”

    Unknown at the time was the struggle Perry had with addiction and an intense desire to please audiences.

    “’Friends’ was huge. I couldn’t jeopardize that. I loved the script. I loved my co-actors. I loved the scripts. I loved everything about the show but I was struggling with my addictions which only added to my sense of shame,” he wrote in his memoir. “I had a secret and no one could know.”

    “I felt like I was gonna die if the live audience didn’t laugh, and that’s not healthy for sure. But I could sometimes say a line and the audience wouldn’t laugh and I would sweat and sometimes go into convulsions,” Perry wrote. “If I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get I would freak out. I felt that every single night. This pressure left me in a bad place. I also knew of the six people making that show, only one of them was sick.”

    He recalled in his memoir that Aniston confronted him about being inebriated while filming.

    “I know you’re drinking,” he remembered her telling him once. “We can smell it,” she said, in what Perry called a “kind of weird but loving way, and the plural ‘we’ hit me like a sledgehammer.”

    In the foreword to Perry’s memoir, Lisa Kudrow described him as “whip smart, charming, sweet, sensitive, very reasonable, and rational.” She added, “That guy, with everything he was battling, was still there.”

    An HBO Max reunion special in 2021 was hosted by James Corden and fed into huge interest in seeing the cast together again, although the program consisted of the actors discussing the show and was not a continuation of their characters’ storylines.

    Perry received one Emmy nomination for his “Friends” role and two more for appearances as an associate White House counsel on “The West Wing.”

    Perry also had several notable film roles, starring opposite Salma Hayek in the rom-com “Fools Rush In” and Bruce Willis in the the crime comedy “The Whole Nine Yards.”

    He worked consistently after “Friends,” though never in a role that brought him as much attention or acclaim.

    In 2015, he played Oscar for a CBS reboot of “The Odd Couple” that aired for two seasons. He told the AP that playing Oscar Madison, the character originally made famous in the 1960s series by Walter Matthau, was a “dream role.” He also said he was surprised how much he enjoyed being filmed again in front of a live audience.

    “I didn’t realize I missed it really until it actually happened, til we actually shot the pilot and there was a studio audience there and I realized, ‘Wow, I really like this. This is nice,’” he said. “You kind of ham up for the people in the audience. My performance never got better than when there was an audience there.”

    Perry was born Aug. 19, 1969, in Williamstown, Massachusetts. His father is actor John Bennett Perry and his mother, Suzanne, served as press secretary of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and is married to “Dateline” correspondent Keith Morrison.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Alicia Rancilio, Janie Har, Hillel Italie, Ryan Pearson and Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

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  • The strike has dimmed the spotlight on the fall’s best performances. Here’s 13 you shouldn’t miss

    The strike has dimmed the spotlight on the fall’s best performances. Here’s 13 you shouldn’t miss

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    NEW YORK — The fallout from the actors strike, now past 100 days, has been widespread throughout the film industry. Movies large and small have postponed. Sound stages remain shuttered. Adjacent industries have been devastated.

    Another effect is that some great performances haven’t gotten the attention they deserve. For most movies, actors haven’t been able to promote their work.

    As the strike pushes into Hollywood’s awards season, it’s increasingly muting the reception for some of the best performances of the year. With so many out of work due to the strike, no one should cry for muzzled Oscar campaigns. But actors deserve the chance to take a much-deserved bow.

    Interim agreements have permitted some of the fall’s standouts – among them Sandra Hüller in “Anatomy of a Fall” and Cailee Spaeny in “Priscilla” – to hit red carpets and bask in standing ovations. And two of the year’s biggest hits – “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” both likely to be Academy Awards heavyweights — debuted as actors walked out.

    Hopefully, the strike will end in time for some of the stars of upcoming releases to get the attention they deserve, among them Andrew Scott in “All of Us Strangers,” Aunjanue Ellis in “Origin,” Emma Stone in “Poor Things,” Jeffrey Wright in “American Fiction” and Carey Mulligan in “Maestro.” Negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the studios have continued this week.

    But to give the best performances of September and October a little shine, here are some of the standouts you might have missed during the SAG-AFTRA work stoppage, and where to watch them.

    Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” boasts some of the best work in years by a pair of longtime Scorsese collaborators in Leonardo DiCaprio (as the easily corrupted Ernest Burkhart) and Robert De Niro (as the venal local power broker William Hale). But this is Lily Gladstone’s movie. As Mollie Kyle, she’s the preternaturally calm and graceful presence amid a churning hive of 1920s criminality. Some could fairly wish the film was more given over to Mollie’s perspective, but Gladstone’s gentle power in “Killers of the Flower Moon” doesn’t need to assert itself. It’s self-evident. (Currently in theaters)

    Choosing just one performance to isolate in Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” is a fool’s errand. First, there’s Paul Giamatti. In his second film with Payne, following “Sideways,” he plays a curmudgeon instructor at a 1970s boarding school tasked with staying over Christmas break with a handful of students. Sessa, in his first film, is among them. Randolph, the school cook whose son has died in Vietnam, is there, too. Each is stellar in radically different ways but ultimately the same one: They comically and empathetically imbue their characters with humanity. (Playing in theaters)

    Jamie Foxx has a ball playing a flamboyant personal injury lawyer who sounds more like he’s preaching from the pulpit than cross-examining a witness in Maggie Betts’ “The Burial.” Foxx’s attorney takes a case out of his comfort zone in defending a mild-mannered Mississippi funeral home owner (Tommy Lee Jones) against a corporate chain buying up local businesses. Foxx and Jones prove a surprisingly well-suited duo in this crowd-pleasing, throwback courtroom drama. (Streaming on Amazon Prime Video)

    Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “Nyad” is first and foremost a showcase for Annette Bening, who gives a tenacious, vanity-free performance as the marathon swimmer Diana Nyad. But so much of what makes “Nyad” a touch more than a conventional sports drama is Jodie Foster’s supporting turn as Bonnie Stoll, Nyad’s close friend and trainer. “Nyad” is often less about its namesake than how the people in Nyad’s life respond to her obsessive drive. Foster, a rare presence on movie screens these days, has seemingly only grown more confident and at ease as an actor. (Now streaming on Netflix)

    “Cassandro,” another sports biopic with a courageous queer protagonist, chronicles the scrappy rise of Mexican American luchador Saúl Armendariz, a.k.a. Cassandro. Bernal (“Amores Perros” and “Y tu mamá también”) pours himself into the inspirational story of the groundbreaking wrestler. It’s among Bernal’s most nimble transformations — not just physically in the ring but in embodying the sheer joy and undaunted spirit of a natural performer. (Streaming on Amazon Prime Video)

    You may have noted Eve Hewson, daughter of Bono, in ensembles like Steven Soderbergh’s “The Knick” or in the Irish comedy series “Bad Sisters.” But John Carney’s “Flora and Son,” a charming movie about music and rebirth, gives her center stage. Hewson stars as a working-class single mother in Dublin whose online guitar lessons (Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the instructor) transforms her life and her relationship with her 14-year-old son (Orén Kinlan). Just as Carney’s “Once” was a breakthrough for Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, Hewson is a revelation in “Flora and Son.” (Streaming on Apple TV+)

    Colman Domingo has long been a powerhouse on screen. (Among many other things, he was the menacing pimp of “Zola.”) But George C. Wolfe’s “Rustin,” a biopic of the civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, gives Domingo the kind of grand, historical platform that can define an actor. The film is set mainly during the run-up to the 1963 March on Washington, which Rustin was the architect of. Rustin was a complicated figure — a dedicated activist and an openly gay man — yet Domingo’s layered, astute performance captures him fully. (Playing in limited theaters Nov. 3, streams Nov. 17 on Netflix)

    Even though Garth Davis’ “Foe” is a bit of a dystopian soup, Aaron Pierre proves an arresting, penetrating presence. The film is led by committed performances by Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal, who play a couple living in an old farmhouse in a science-fiction future. But when a mysterious visitor (Pierre) arrives with disquieting news – Junior (Mescal) is to be sent to a space station – he becomes a regular, vaguely malevolent houseguest with unclear motives. Not everything quite works in “Foe” but Pierre is electrically beguiling. (Playing in theaters)

    In Chloe Domont’s high-finance drama “Fair Play,” Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich start out lovebirds and end up bitter rivals, but the two actors steadfastly remain equally riveting throughout. The film, about two hedge fund analysts in a secret relationship, puts gender roles through a Wall Street meat grinder. For Dynevor, it’s a breakthrough. For Ehrenreich, it’s a kind of post-“Solo” comeback. (Streaming on Netflix)

    No, that’s not a misprint. Marshawn Lynch, the former elite NFL running back known as “Beast Mode,” is tremendous in a small role in Emma Seligman’s raunchy lesbian teen comedy “Bottoms.” Most of the movie belongs to Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri – both chaotically brilliant – who play high-schoolers who start a quasi Fight Club in a convoluted scheme to bring them closer to their crushes. Lynch plays the teacher who sponsors them. It’s not just a funny performance but a poignant one for the footballer. Lynch did it, he’s said, because he had regrets about how he handled his own sister’s coming out in high school. (Playing in theaters, available for digital rental)

    ___

    This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Gael García Bernal’s first name

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  • The 5 Best New TV Shows of October 2023

    The 5 Best New TV Shows of October 2023

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    After a few scant months, TV has, to a great extent, rebounded in October 2023. Horror stalwart Mike Flanagan returned with a devilishly fun Poe update that might be his final Netflix series before moving to Amazon. Showtime’s Fellow Travelers gave us the rare prestige period drama that earns its self-seriousness. And as the SAG-AFTRA strike continues, outstanding international imports—a heart-wrenching Canadian drama, a gritty Korean thriller, a wildly offbeat family sitcom from the UK—continued to fill holes in a release schedule pocked with production delays. Here are the best new shows I had the pleasure of watching this month.

    Bargain (Paramount+)

    In a dimly lit hotel room in the middle of nowhere, a teenager (Jeon Jong-Seo) meets the grown man (Jin Sun-kyu) to whom she’s promised to sell her virginity. But before the $1000 transaction can be completed, he wants to make sure he’s going to get exactly what he’s paying for. As creepy as his interrogation quickly becomes, he’s right to be suspicious. Nothing about this girl or this place is what it seems. 

    There are plenty of reviews out there that will give you a more thorough summary of this grimy, violent Korean thriller from creator Jeon Woo-sung. Personally—with the caveat that squeamish viewers should steer clear—I think you should go into Bargain knowing as little as possible about the plot, which shifts tectonically within the premiere. Suffice to say that if you appreciate the lurid thrills, dark humor, and caustic social commentary that define many of the Korean entertainment industry’s most celebrated exports, from the films of Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook to Squid Game, you’re sure to be riveted by this six-part series that laments the sad state of a society that (much like our own) reduces human bodies to their market value.   

    Everyone Else Burns (The CW)

    From its many abrasive characters to its working-class Manchester setting, Everyone Else Burns couldn’t be more different from its wealthier, saccharine family-sitcom counterparts on American TV. At the show’s center is the Lewis family, an unhappy foursome who belong to a radical Christian sect that believes the End Times are upon us. When we meet patriarch David, a self-important prig with an absurd bowl haircut played by The Inbetweeners alum Simon Bird, he’s rousing his long-suffering wife, Fiona (Kate O’Flynn from Landscapers), and kids at four in the morning with the news that Armageddon is upon them. “Finally!” exclaims his preteen son Aaron (Harry Connor), a fire-and-brimstone true believer. When he realizes it’s only a drill, he draws a picture of David burning for eternity in a Dante-esque tar pit. Meanwhile, poor, sheltered 17-year-old Rachel (Amy James-Kelly) just wants to parlay her straight A’s into a college education. [Read the full review.]

    The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix)

    Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher opens in much the same way as the Edgar Allan Poe story of the same name: A man arrives at a decrepit home, summoned by an old acquaintance who is deathly ill. But from there, the series expands in directions both typical and wildly unexpected. Like Flanagan’s other adaptations, it riffs on plots and motifs from the author’s most famous works—“The Raven,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “Annabel Lee,” “The Pit and the Pendulum.”

    Yet House of Usher also dares to bring Poe into the most contemporary of contexts, reimagining the unfortunate Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood) as the patriarch of an opioid empire in the mold of the Sacklers’ Purdue Pharma. A series of what appear to be tragic coincidences has just befallen the family: Roderick’s six adult children (by five different mothers) have all died, gorily, one after the other. Now afflicted with nightmarish delusions, he has promised a confession to the attorney, Carl Lumbly’s C. Auguste Dupin, who has spent decades laboring to catch the Ushers, whose drugs have killed hundreds of thousands, engaged in illegal activities. [Read the full ranking of Flanagan’s five Netflix horror series.]

    Fellow Travelers (Showtime)

    It’s just months before President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the 1953 executive order that authorized a witch hunt for queer government employees that the sometime lovers at the center of Showtime’s lively, insightful, and often devastating historical drama Fellow Travelers, adapted from Thomas Mallon’s acclaimed 2007 novel, first meet. Hawkins Fuller (Matt Bomer) is a shrewd D.C. operative with a surrogate father in the high-minded senator Wesley Smith (Linus Roache) and a potential match in Smith’s daughter, Lucy (Allison Williams). It doesn’t bother Hawk that he has to hide his anonymous encounters with other men. For him, life is a performance in which the ends justify the means. “I’m a registered Republican, but I don’t vote because I don’t see the point,” Hawk explains, adding that he feels the same way about religion.

    He doesn’t believe in much of anything until Tim Laughlin, a young, fresh-off-the-bus transplant played by Bridgerton breakout Jonathan Bailey, comes into his life. (Even then, the word love isn’t in Hawk’s vocabulary.) Bursting with Irish Catholic earnestness, Tim dreams of helping his idol Joe McCarthy (Chris Bauer) save the world from the scourge of Soviet communism. At the same time, he’s desperate to overcome his queerness, in which he once guiltily dabbled, having been raised to believe that gay sex is a mortal sin. As a tryst evolves into something more, against both men’s better judgment, Hawk gets Tim—whom he nicknames Skippy, for his floppy-haired ingenuousness—a job in McCarthy’s office. There, he has a front-row seat to the audaciously hypocritical machinations of the senator and his deputy, Roy Cohn (a wonderfully weaselly Will Brill), as their assault on “un-American activities” invades the bedroom. [Read the full review.]

    Little Bird (PBS)

    The Canadian drama Little Bird introduces two parallel stories. On Saskatchewan’s Long Pine Reserve in 1968, police and social workers wrench Indigenous girl named Bezhig Little Bird (Keris Hope Hill) and two of her siblings from their poor but loving parents and place them in an orphanage. Seventeen years later, in Montreal, a young Jewish law student named Esther Rosenblum (Darla Contois) is celebrating her engagement to a nice boy from her family’s congregation. What could these two protagonists possibly have in common? They’re actually the same person. And an ugly incident at Esther’s engagement party inspires her to chase what little information she has about her adoption in hopes of reconnecting with her birth family.

    Created by Jennifer Podemski, whom Reservation Dogs fans will recognize as Wille Jack’s mom, and Hannah Moscovitch (Interview With the Vampire), Little Bird recounts a painful moment in Canadian history known as the Sixties Scoop, when social workers swept through Indigenous communities and removed some 20,000 children from their parents. Unflinching in its indictment of a system that treated these families as less than human, the series makes a poignant companion to Rez Dogs and Dark Winds, which have revisited the brutal re-education of Native American youth at boarding schools. It also forges generous connections. A more simplistic story would frame Bezhig’s adoptive parents as villains. Instead, Podemski and Moscovitch subtly link her abduction with the experiences of her adoptive mother (Lisa Edelstein), a Holocaust survivor. Among other things, Little Bird is a reminder amid the carnage in Israel and Palestine of the solidarity that should—but so rarely does—exist between oppressed peoples.

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    Judy Berman

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  • ‘Our Flag Means Death’ Creator on the Season Finale: “They Get to Have a Little Happiness”

    ‘Our Flag Means Death’ Creator on the Season Finale: “They Get to Have a Little Happiness”

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    It was jaw-dropping. In New Zealand, you go out the west side of Auckland, and it’s like the most beautiful beach you’ve ever seen. You go to Bethells Beach, and you can turn the camera here; you can shoot the entire thing. You’d shoot it a little bit this way, you’ve got, like, a Bergman movie. You go to the ocean, you’ve got From Here to Eternity. The freedom that you have and the beauty, I’ve never experienced anything like that before.

    The battle scenes seemed to be far more elaborate and really felt like the show was leveling up. What went into filming those?

    Jacob Tomuri, our stunt coordinator, is exceptional. He did Mad Max; he’s Tom Hardy’s stunt double, and he’s just so capable and good. And so a lot of it this season was that we have a short time frame, we move very quickly, and, again, we have a half-hour budget. We don’t have a one-hour budget, and we don’t have a one-hour shooting schedule. So a lot of it was just picking our shots and saying, Okay, we’re going to do a battle sequence. Let’s storyboard it. Let’s make sure that we know what the stunts are going to be, and let’s make sure that the location is spectacular. So we shoot it on that sandbar behind Bethells Beach, and it was like a dune which went on forever…. A lot of it is just seeing what New Zealand has to offer geographically. And then deciding, yes, let’s do that, and then building it around that, and then making sure that we’ve planned enough, that we can pull it off in a way that’s safe but also has enough size.

    What was the idea behind having Stede as a merman in episode 3?

    The idea was to make something that was just beautiful, and to get beauty and have beauty around them seeing each other again and their need for each other. To do that and to do it in a way that it’s a comedy, but to do it in a way that’s earnest and genuinely doing it and singing a Kate Bush song. We hit on the idea of a mermaid early on in the season two room, and [we said], Oh yeah, well, we have to put that in. There can’t really be mermaids on the show, but there can be in limbo, kind of purgatory, brain-damaged land as Blackbeard’s dying.

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    Sarah Catherall

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  • What to Know About Netflix’s ‘Doona!’

    What to Know About Netflix’s ‘Doona!’

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    Warning: This post contains spoilers for Doona!

    Doona!, out Oct. 20 on Netflix, adapts the popular South Korean webtoon The Girl Downstairs for a K-drama about a former K-pop idol who may or may not fall for her regular-guy roommate. Starring the South Korean actor Bae Suzy (who in real life was part of a K-pop girl group) as the titular Doona, the series is helmed by Lee Jung-hyo—the director of 2019’s internationally acclaimed romance romp Crash Landing on You.

    Doona! is part of Netflix’s continued foray into webtoons—and one of at least four webtoon-based K-dramas coming to the platform in 2023. These web comics, primed to thrive on mobile platforms, have amassed tens of millions of readers in Korea since gaining popularity in the early 2000s and inspired many hit K-dramas, including last year’s zombie horror All of Us Are Dead and the 2018 rom-com What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim.

    Read More: Why So Many Of Your Favorite K-Dramas Are Based on Webtoons

    Doona! follows Lee Doona, the linchpin of K-pop girl group Dream Sweet. At the peak of her career, Doona makes the surprising move to drop out from the industry and reside in a sharehouse in a college town, where she meets Lee Wonjun, a 20-year-old freshman living upstairs who barely knows who she is.

    Their first meeting goes awry after Doona, a sweetheart in the public eye, acts out of character and accuses Wonjun of being a stalker. But Doona soon begins pestering him to eat together and hang out more often. Wonjun learns that Doona has no concept of life outside celebrity, and is only now learning about the real world. Over nine episodes, the two characters navigate their mutual attraction and their respective personal issues: Doona has to decide if she wants to continue a life as an entertainer, while Wonjun is trying to secure a job and a stable life as his family’s breadwinner and deal with an old love who resurfaces at his university.

    Bae Suzy as Lee Doona in DOONA! Kim Seung-wan—Netflix

    Bringing Doona! to TV

    Director Lee Jung-hyo wanted Bae Suzy to play Doona, given her history as K-pop idol. From 2010 to 2017, Suzy performed with the Chinese-Korean group Miss A under JYP Entertainment. Playing Doona, Suzy tells TIME, she sometimes felt envious of the character when she reflected on personal experiences as an idol.

    “There were certain moments where I wasn’t even able to detect the fact that I was going through a tough time,” she says. “Doona, she was able to know that she was going through a tough time because she was so honest.”

    The K-pop industry has been notorious for being cutthroat and difficult for its young trainees, and has been plagued by scandals and deaths related to mental health issues. In the series, Doona gets overwhelmed by the push-and-pull of constantly meeting the public’s expectations while simultaneously failing to do so.

    “Celebrities and people in the entertainment industry, they are still just your everyday people,” Suzy says. “I was able to express the very raw feelings and emotions that the character goes through. I was very happy to be able to capture that.”

    How Doona! differs from the webtoon The Girl Downstairs

    The source material, The Girl Downstairs, is a weekly webtoon by Min Song-a which ran for over three years beginning in 2019 and gained a large following. With 41 million views on the WEBTOON platform, it has been published in eight different languages, and its 150-plus episodes have been compiled into three separate books.

    The Girl Downstairs is replete with meet-cutes, confessions, third (and even fourth) party tensions, all blossoming into what it self-reflexively calls a “heart-throbbing” and “heart-aching” love story.

    Given its lengthier format, much of the plot of The Girl Downstairs meanders: for a while, readers are left to guess with whom Wonjun will be romantically involved. The tone of the webtoon is also more comical and outlandish, with foil characters behaving like caricatures.

    DOONA! (L to R) Bae Suzy as Lee Doona, Yang Se-jong as Lee Won-jun in DOONA! Cr. Kim Seung-wan/Netflix © 2023
    Bae Suzy as Lee Doona, Yang Se-jong as Lee Won-jun in DOONA! Kim Seung-wan—Netflix

    Doona! isn’t completely spared from the comedy, but it gives more screen time to developing the dynamics between Wonjun and Doona, and takes on a more slice-of-life tone peppered with quieter, lovey-dovey moments.

    “The sheer volume had to be condensed into the live action series so I was able to focus on the two main leads,” director Lee Jung-hyo tells TIME. “Rather than it being a romantic comedy, we focus more on the romance aspect of it.”

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    Chad de Guzman

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  • Will Smith joins Jada Pinkett Smith at book talk, calls their relationship brutal and beautiful

    Will Smith joins Jada Pinkett Smith at book talk, calls their relationship brutal and beautiful

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    BALTIMORE — Will Smith joined Jada Pinkett Smith on stage as she promoted her new memoir in her Baltimore hometown Wednesday night, pledging lifelong support for her just a week after she revealed that the couple had been separated since 2016.

    “Jada is the best friend I have ever had on this planet, and I am going to show up for her and support her for the rest of my life,” he told the crowd at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, crediting Pinkett Smith’s sacrifices for his successes, news outlets reported.

    Smith’s appearance with their two children, Jaden and Willow, and his son Trey Smith, was apparently a surprise for Pinkett Smith. It came at the end of a talk about her book, “Worthy.” Pinkett Smith said the family, including her aunt and uncle and Will Smith’s mother and sister, was in town to celebrate the 70th birthday of her mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, on Wednesday.

    Smith called their relationship “brutiful,” explaining that it was both brutal and beautiful.

    “It is a sloppy public experiment in unconditional love,” he said, a description that prompted Pinkett Smith to double over in laughter.

    Pinkett Smith told The Baltimore Sun that their estrangement was in the past and that she and Smith have been working in the last 18 months to repair their relationship.

    “Will and me are good,” Pinkett Smith told Laura Coates of CNN, who moderated Wednesday night’s discussion. “All the people who don’t understand and got something to say are just going to have to fall in line.

    “The truth of the matter is I’m not leaving Will’s side and he’s not going to leave mine. We’ve been on a powerful quest. And I’m happier than I’ve ever been,” she added.

    The book by the actor, who first revealed the bombshell news of their separation to NBC’s Hoda Kotb, details their marriage, her Hollywood journey, her unconventional parenting style and gives her perspective of Smith infamously slapping Chris Rock during the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony over a joke about her shaved head (Pinkett Smith revealed in 2018 that she had a form of alopecia ).

    Pinkett Smith told The Associated Press that she is feeling free since opening up about the separation.

    “It’s a weight off my shoulders, honestly,” Pinkett Smith said in an AP interview this week. “Ever since the Oscars, it’s so interesting how such an intense event can bring you closer together, and I would say that after that, we really dove in and dug in and got to this beautiful place we are now.”

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  • Wall Street’s Q3 expectations have been all over the place. Now, a swing to profit growth is ‘likely’ — with a bigger rebound next year

    Wall Street’s Q3 expectations have been all over the place. Now, a swing to profit growth is ‘likely’ — with a bigger rebound next year

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    Wall Street spent much of this year getting more tepid on third-quarter corporate profits, with expectations for subdued growth giving way to expectations for a slight decline.

    But after results from a handful of companies soundly beat estimates in recent days, one analyst who tracks the ebbs and flows of earnings data says at least a slight profit gain for the quarter is more likely — with potentially double-digit percentage growth next year.

    FactSet Senior Earnings Analyst John Butters, in a report out Friday, said that of the 32 companies in the S&P 500 Index
    SPX
    that reported third-quarter results through Friday, 84% have reported per-share profits that were above Wall Street’s expectations, and he said they were beating those expectations by a greater degree than usual.

    The index collectively, so far, was putting up a third-quarter earnings growth rate of 0.4% — compared to estimates on Oct. 6 for a 0.3% decline. Most companies, he said, tend to turn in earnings results that beat estimates.

    “Based on the average improvement in the earnings growth rate during the earnings season, the index will likely report year-over-year growth in earnings or more than 0.4% for Q3,” he said.

    That assessment follows quarterly results from big companies like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Delta Air Lines, Inc.. Both the bank and the airline reported better-than-expected profits. JPMorgan
    JPM,
    +1.50%
    Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said U.S. consumers and businesses “generally remain healthy,” despite thinning pandemic-era savings, while Delta
    DAL,
    -2.99%
    pointed to enduring “robust” travel demand.

    More broadly, the quarter will be a look at how customers are faring amid still-high prices, an approaching holiday season and borrowing costs that could stay higher for longer. Recession pessimism has shown signs of easing. But Citigroup Inc.’s chief financial officer, Mark Mason, said on Friday that the bank expected a soft economic landing with a “mild recession” in the first half of 2024. However, he said such an outcome was “hard to call,” amid a strong job market.

    Financial forecasts tend to fluctuate as analysts digest real-life financial data. For now, they expect S&P 500 index earnings growth of 7.6% for the fourth quarter, and 0.9% for 2023 overall, according to FactSet. Next year, at the moment, looks better, with expected earnings growth of 12.2%.

    This week in earnings

    More names from the financial sector will report in the week ahead, following results from JPMorgan, Citigroup
    C,
    -0.24%
    and Wells Fargo & Co.
    WFC,
    +3.07%    .
    Reports from Morgan Stanley
    MS,
    -0.03%
    and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
    GS,
    -0.18%
    will offer more context on deal-making and market sentiment, while earnings from credit-card giants Discover Financial Services
    DFS,
    -1.47%
    and American Express
    AXP,
    -0.12%
    will get more granular on customer spending.

    More airlines, like United Airlines Holdings Inc.
    UAL,
    -2.76%
    and American Airlines Group Inc.
    AAL,
    -2.82%    ,
    will also report, providing more detail on whether revenge travel still has any life left. Earnings are also due from Johnson & Johnson
    JNJ,
    +0.33%
    and AT&T Inc.
    T,
    -0.62%    .

    In total 55 S&P 500 companies total will report quarterly results this week, including five from the Dow, according to FactSet.

    The call to put on your calendar

    Has Netflix become a utility? Hollywood’s writers will start returning to work, while talks with actors and studios have stalled. But the TV-and-film production limbo hasn’t been the only headache for streaming platform Netflix Inc., which reports quarterly results on Wednesday. The company will report amid greater pressure to boost profits, as the entertainment industry tries to find its footing in the streaming era. Ahead of the results, Wolfe Research analyst Peter Supino recently expressed concern that Netflix’s
    NFLX,
    -1.53%
    ad-supported plan was slow to catch on with viewers. Bernstein analysts likened the company to a mature, durable “utility.” But they also compared the stock to a long-running TV show that, while still good, might be starting to bore its audience. Executives will be hoping for better a better reception from investors.

    The number to watch

    Tesla margins: When EV maker Tesla Inc. reports results on Wednesday, it will be “all about margins,” Deepwater Asset Management’s Gene Munster said in note recently. Those results, and the focus on margins, will follow price cuts, and questions over profit growth and enthusiasm for Tesla’s
    TSLA,
    -2.99%
    new Cybertruck. And Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas, in a research note, said the year ahead could be “volatile.”

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  • Suzanne Somers, of ‘Three’s Company,’ dies at 76

    Suzanne Somers, of ‘Three’s Company,’ dies at 76

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    Suzanne Somers, the effervescent blonde actor known for playing Chrissy Snow on the television show “Three’s Company” and who became an entrepreneur and New York Times best-selling author, has died. She was 76.

    Somers had breast cancer for over 23 years and died Sunday morning, her family said in a statement provided by her longtime publicist, R. Couri Hay. Her husband Alan Hamel, her son Bruce and other immediate family were with her in Palm Springs, California.

    “Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th,” the statement read. “Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly.”

    In July, Somers shared on Instagram that her breast cancer had returned.

    “Like any cancer patient, when you get that dreaded, ‘It’s back’ you get a pit in your stomach. Then I put on my battle gear and go to war,” she told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “This is familiar battleground for me and I’m very tough.”

    She was first diagnosed in 2000, and had previously battled skin cancer. Somers faced some backlash for her reliance on what she’s described as a chemical-free and organic lifestyle to combat the cancers. She argued against the use of chemotherapy, in books and on platforms like “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which drew criticism from the American Cancer Society.

    Somers was born in 1946 in San Bruno, California, to a gardener father and a medical secretary mother. Her childhood, she’d later say, was tumultuous. Her father was an alcoholic, and abusive. She married young, at 19, to Bruce Somers, after becoming pregnant with her son Bruce. The couple divorced three years later and she began modeling for “The Anniversary Game” to support herself. It was during this time that she met Hamel, who she married in 1977.

    She began acting in the late 1960s, earning her first credit in the Steve McQueen film “Bullitt.” But the spotlight really hit when she was cast as the blonde driving the white Thunderbird in George Lucas’s 1973 film “American Graffiti.” Her only line was mouthing the words “I love you” to Richard Dreyfuss’s character.

    At her audition, Lucas just asked her if she could drive. She later said that moment “changed her life forever.”

    Somers would later stage a one-woman Broadway show entitled “The Blonde in the Thunderbird,” about her life, which drew largely scathing reviews.

    She appeared in many television shows in the 1970s, including “The Rockford Files,” “Magnum Force” and “The Six Million Dollar Man,” but her most famous part came with “Three’s Company,” which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984 — though her participation ended in 1981.

    On “Three’s Company,” she was the ditzy blonde opposite John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt in the roommate comedy.

    “Creating her was actually intellectual,” she told CBS News in 2020. “How do I make her likable and loveable … dumb blondes are annoying. I gave her a moral code. I imagined it was the childhood I would’ve liked to have had.”

    In 1980, after four seasons, she asked for a raise from $30,000 an episode to $150,000 an episode, which would have been comparable to what Ritter was getting paid. Hamel, a former television producer, had encouraged the ask.

    “The show’s response was, ‘Who do you think you are?’” Somers told People in 2020. “They said, ‘John Ritter is the star.’”

    She was promptly phased out and soon fired; Her character was replaced by two different roommates for the remaining years the show aired. It also led to a rift with her co-stars; They didn’t speak for many years. Somers did reconcile with Ritter before his death, and then with DeWitt on her online talk show.

    But Somers took the break as an opportunity to pursue new avenues, including a Las Vegas act, hosting a talk show and becoming an entrepreneur. In the 1990s, she also became the spokesperson for the “ThighMaster.”

    The decade also saw her return to network television in the 1990s, most famously on “Step by Step,” which aired on ABC’s youth-targeted TGIF lineup. The network also aired a biopic of her life, starring her, called “Keeping Secrets.”

    Somers was also a prolific author, writing books on aging, menopause, beauty, wellness, sex and cancer.

    She was in good spirits and surrounded by family before her death, even giving an interview to People Magazine about her birthday plans to be with her “nearest and dearest.”

    Hamel, in the People story, said she’d just returned from the Midwest where she had six weeks of intensive physical therapy.

    “Even after our five decades together, I still marvel at Suzanne’s amazing determination and commitment,” Hamel said.

    She told the magazine that she had asked for “copious amounts of cake.”

    “I really love cake,” she said.

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  • Suzanne Somers, of ‘Three’s Company,’ dies at 76

    Suzanne Somers, of ‘Three’s Company,’ dies at 76

    [ad_1]

    Suzanne Somers, the effervescent blonde actor known for playing Chrissy Snow on the television show “Three’s Company” and who became an entrepreneur and New York Times best-selling author, has died. She was 76.

    Somers had breast cancer for over 23 years and died Sunday morning, her family said in a statement provided by her longtime publicist, R. Couri Hay. Her husband Alan Hamel, her son Bruce and other immediate family were with her in Palm Springs, California.

    “Her family was gathered to celebrate her 77th birthday on October 16th,” the statement read. “Instead, they will celebrate her extraordinary life, and want to thank her millions of fans and followers who loved her dearly.”

    In July, Somers shared on Instagram that her breast cancer had returned.

    “Like any cancer patient, when you get that dreaded, ‘It’s back’ you get a pit in your stomach. Then I put on my battle gear and go to war,” she told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “This is familiar battleground for me and I’m very tough.”

    She was first diagnosed in 2000, and had previously battled skin cancer. Somers faced some backlash for her reliance on what she’s described as a chemical-free and organic lifestyle to combat the cancers. She argued against the use of chemotherapy, in books and on platforms like “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which drew criticism from the American Cancer Society.

    Somers was born in 1946 in San Bruno, California, to a gardener father and a medical secretary mother. Her childhood, she’d later say, was tumultuous. Her father was an alcoholic, and abusive. She married young, at 19, to Bruce Somers, after becoming pregnant with her son Bruce. The couple divorced three years later and she began modeling for “The Anniversary Game” to support herself. It was during this time that she met Hamel, who she married in 1977.

    She began acting in the late 1960s, earning her first credit in the Steve McQueen film “Bullitt.” But the spotlight really hit when she was cast as the blonde driving the white Thunderbird in George Lucas’s 1973 film “American Graffiti.” Her only line was mouthing the words “I love you” to Richard Dreyfuss’s character.

    At her audition, Lucas just asked her if she could drive. She later said that moment “changed her life forever.”

    Somers would later stage a one-woman Broadway show entitled “The Blonde in the Thunderbird,” about her life, which drew largely scathing reviews.

    She appeared in many television shows in the 1970s, including “The Rockford Files,” “Magnum Force” and “The Six Million Dollar Man,” but her most famous part came with “Three’s Company,” which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984 — though her participation ended in 1981.

    On “Three’s Company,” she was the ditzy blonde opposite John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt in the roommate comedy.

    “Creating her was actually intellectual,” she told CBS News in 2020. “How do I make her likable and loveable … dumb blondes are annoying. I gave her a moral code. I imagined it was the childhood I would’ve liked to have had.”

    In 1980, after four seasons, she asked for a raise from $30,000 an episode to $150,000 an episode, which would have been comparable to what Ritter was getting paid. Hamel, a former television producer, had encouraged the ask.

    “The show’s response was, ‘Who do you think you are?’” Somers told People in 2020. “They said, ‘John Ritter is the star.’”

    She was promptly phased out and soon fired; Her character was replaced by two different roommates for the remaining years the show aired. It also led to a rift with her co-stars; They didn’t speak for many years. Somers did reconcile with Ritter before his death, and then with DeWitt on her online talk show.

    But Somers took the break as an opportunity to pursue new avenues, including a Las Vegas act, hosting a talk show and becoming an entrepreneur. In the 1990s, she also became the spokesperson for the “ThighMaster.”

    The decade also saw her return to network television in the 1990s, most famously on “Step by Step,” which aired on ABC’s youth-targeted TGIF lineup. The network also aired a biopic of her life, starring her, called “Keeping Secrets.”

    Somers was also a prolific author, writing books on aging, menopause, beauty, wellness, sex and cancer.

    She was in good spirits and surrounded by family before her death, even giving an interview to People Magazine about her birthday plans to be with her “nearest and dearest.”

    Hamel, in the People story, said she’d just returned from the Midwest where she had six weeks of intensive physical therapy.

    “Even after our five decades together, I still marvel at Suzanne’s amazing determination and commitment,” Hamel said.

    She told the magazine that she had asked for “copious amounts of cake.”

    “I really love cake,” she said.

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  • Actor Suzanne Somers, who played Chrissy Snow on past US TV sitcom “Three’s Company,” has died at 76, publicist says

    Actor Suzanne Somers, who played Chrissy Snow on past US TV sitcom “Three’s Company,” has died at 76, publicist says

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    Actor Suzanne Somers, who played Chrissy Snow on past US TV sitcom “Three’s Company,” has died at 76, publicist says

    ByThe Associated Press

    October 15, 2023, 4:28 PM

    LOS ANGELES — Actor Suzanne Somers, who played Chrissy Snow on past US TV sitcom “Three’s Company,” has died at 76, publicist says.

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  • Can ‘Frasier’ Come Home Again—And Should We Let Him In?

    Can ‘Frasier’ Come Home Again—And Should We Let Him In?

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    Frasier’s return was inevitable in our reboot-infested era. Roseanne, Will & Grace, Murphy Brown, One Day at a Time, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air: they’ve all made comebacks over the last decade, with varying degrees of success. So it was only a matter of time before Kelsey Grammer once again donned his tweed blazer and brandished his grandiloquent vocabulary— especially since the 90s sitcom classic about a family’s internal culture war turned into a surprisingly popular pandemic rewatch. Served up by a dream ensemble including David Hyde Pierce, the late John Mahoney, Jane Leeves, Peri Gilpin and Bebe Neuwirth, the original Frasier’s eleven gently prickly seasons offered perfect comfort viewing, particularly at a time of uncertainty and dread.

    Rebooting an old favorite in a way that retains its original charms but updates the template for a different cultural era is ridiculously tricky, which is why so many much-anticipated remakes sputter out, leaving a fog of disappointment in the air. The new Frasier’s level of difficulty was increased by the fact that none of those original cast members would be joining Grammer (apart from a few cameos later in the season). So all that’s left of the old Frasier is….Frasier. 

    Instead of starting from scratch and conjuring up something entirely fresh, though, this Paramount+ series tries to reconstitute the show’s beloved dynamics with an almost entirely new cast of characters and ensemble of actors. In time, the formula may work. But right now, the organic warmth that inspired the pandemic binging isn’t there yet.

    In 2023, Dr. Frasier Crane is at loose ends, having just buried his father and quit his successful Dr Phil-type TV show, Dr. Crane. It made him a household name, but he’s tired of being a showman. Frasier longs to be taken seriously. (What else is new?) During a brief visit to Boston to see his son Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott) and deliver a guest lecture at Harvard to the class taught by his old pal Alan (veteran British actor Nicholas Lyndhurst), Frasier is offered a gig equal to his ambitions: a professorship in the Harvard psychology department.

    The original Frasier revolved around a class clash between pompous liberal sophisticates (Frasier and his equally erudite brother Niles) and red-blooded Americans (embodied by their cantankerous retired-cop dad). This time around, multiple characters have been assembled to fill Niles’s shoes. Alan is a withered, eccentric academic who takes perverse pride in neglecting his teaching duties. Popping in and out of the storyline for no real reason, there’s also Niles and Daphne’s son David (Anders Keith), a Harvard student who takes after his father. A snobby fusspot, he carries a laminated card listing his allergies, explaining earnestly that “the ones in red are fatal.”

    Substituting for Frasier’s blue-collar dad is his blue-collar son, who dropped out of Harvard to become a firefighter. While Frasier drinks pricey Macallan scotch, Freddy drinks a cheap alternative called scootch. “This reminds me of a place one would wrestle a rat for a crust of bread,” Frasier says snidely about Freddy’s (perfectly fine) apartment. The son, meanwhile, tries to hack away his dad’s pretensions: “Aren’t you late for the boarding school where you teach unruly adolescents the true meaning of poetry?” 

    Olivia (Toks Olagundoye), head of Harvard’s psychology department, slips into Roz’s role when she lures Frasier to take a teaching job there. Frisky, manipulative and competitive, Olivia’s character seems far less well sketched out than some of the others, though Olagundoye brings glee to the role.

    I got several episodes in before I recognized the chemical imbalance at the heart of the reboot. Grammer overshadows everyone sharing the screen with him other than Lyndhurst, an English comedy legend best known for the 1980s sitcom Only Fools and Horses. Even though Grammer’s been away from the part for nearly 20 years, Frasier fits him like a glove—a very expensive Italian leather one. Grammer switches flawlessly between physical comedy and waspish wordplay, glowing with charm even when his character is being patronizing or domineering. 

    I know way more than I’d like to about real-life Grammer, from his supporting role as a cad in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills to his praise for Trump. But all of that washes away the instant he takes charge in Frasier—which he does in almost every scene. Poor Freddy feels like a moderately hunky placeholder by comparison, unlike his gruff grandfather, so memorably played by Mahoney. He can’t possibly function as a counterweight in the generational tug-of-war this series is built around. And there’s a fatal implausibility to the scenario: how on earth could the conjoined loins of Lilith and Frasier have produced this earnest bro?

    For the faithful, the show offers a few cute shout-outs to the past —in particular, Frasier and his academic gang take to hanging out at an Irish bar with Freddy’s firefighter pals that bears a passing resemblance to Cheers. (The place, sweetly, is called Mahoney’s.) Just like in the original series, silly episode chapter titles such as “Downton Tabby” and “A Psychiatrist and a Firefighter Walk into a Bar” punctuate every episode. Grammer once again croons the jazzy-bluesy closing theme, “Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs.” (I still have no idea what those lyrics are about.) The furniture and interior decor seem to have been stashed in a stage-scenery storage room for three decades and brought out for continuity’s sake. Even the canned-sounding live studio audience laughter sounds like a flashback to the 1990s. 

    So much of the look and sound of the original Frasier has been reconstructed—yet the spirit has gone AWOL. Perhaps we should’ve known that scrambled eggs wouldn’t keep for 19 years.

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  • Frasier review: This reboot of the classic 90s sitcom is ‘fun but creaky’

    Frasier review: This reboot of the classic 90s sitcom is ‘fun but creaky’

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    The reboot, which picks up two decades later, is more of a pleasant throwback than a reinvention, and that seems to be the point. This new series does everything possible to echo the old, including replacing its missing characters ­with facsimiles.

    Frasier is back in Boston, where he was the unlikely regular at the bar in Cheers before he got his own spin-off series. Mahoney died in 2018, so filling the working-class slot, we have Frasier’s son, Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), who has dropped out of Harvard to become a fire fighter, as if salt-of-the-earthiness skipped a generation.

    Hyde Pierce chose not to be in the reboot, but instead there is Niles’s son, David. He is played by Anders Keith, a newcomer with expert comic timing, who enlivens every scene he is in. He makes David a delightful echo of Niles, as a nervous, socially inept Harvard student, almost as grandiloquent in his speech as his uncle.  

    But with the exception of David, the new characters never take off. There is a Cheers-like bar where Frasier hangs out with his one-note old Oxford classmate, Alan (Nicholas Lyndhurst), a psychology professor at Harvard who loves Scotch whisky and hates to work. They also meet there with Olivia (Toks Olagundoye), the ambitious head of the university’s psychology department. She is desperate to recruit Frasier, who in the years between series has become rich and famous doing a television version of his old radio call-in show; this fictional Harvard is relentlessly silly. And Freddy’s roommate, Eve (Jess Salgueiro), is a waitress at the same bar (really, Boston isn’t that small) and vaguely echoes the common-sensical Carla from Cheers. 

    Grammer, as always, has impeccably sharp delivery and timing, and the show has fun skewering Frasier’s elitism. In a pompous tone, he tells the sleep-deprived mother of a crying baby, “Cherish these times. They disappear with a cruel swiftness”, only to find that the sound of his voice puts the infant to sleep. That’s funny once. That the joke is repeated gives Frasier its creaky sitcom feel. The reboot is full of such obvious tropes.

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  • Coyotes agree to deal with Scripps Sports to show games over the air

    Coyotes agree to deal with Scripps Sports to show games over the air

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    The Arizona Coyotes have reached a four-year deal with Scripps Sports and will become the second NHL team to broadcast games over the air

    ByJOHN MARSHALL AP sports writer

    SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Arizona Coyotes have reached a four-year deal with Scripps Sports and will become the second NHL team to broadcast games over the air.

    Scripps will broadcast all non-national Coyotes games to roughly 3 million people in Arizona and Utah in the deal announced Thursday. The Vegas Golden Knights are the only other NHL team to broadcast its games over the air.

    “One of the challenges of the (regional sports model) is it was really shrinking in terms of the number of households that had access to our games,” Coyotes President and CEO Xavier Gutierrez said. “That was really counter to what we were trying to do and that’s super serving our fan base and really try to capture new fans, especially as we’re building the young, exciting team.”

    The deal comes a day after Diamond Sports Net Arizona agreed to end its telecast rights agreement with the Coyotes. Diamond Sports has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in Texas since March. The company said in a financial filing last fall that it had debt of $8.67 billion.

    The Coyotes become the third Arizona sports franchise to seek an alternative to Diamond and Bally Sports Arizona.

    The NBA’s Phoenix Suns moved their games to local television and the streaming service Kiswe. Major League Baseball took over Arizona Diamondbacks’ broadcasts this season after federal bankruptcy judge granted a motion in July for Diamond Sports to reject its rights agreement.

    All but one Coyotes games will be available on the Antenna TV network via KNXV.2 — channel 15.2 over the air with an antenna — and on Cox cable.

    The Coyotes’ broadcast team will remain in place and broadcasts will include pregame and postgame coverage.

    The Coyotes also are working on a streaming option for fans to watch their games.

    “There’s a lot of disruption in the media right now and we were concerned after the Suns moved on from Bally and obviously after the Dbacks made the decision to move on,” Gutierrez said. “We were the last team under contract with Bally and we were very concerned we would end up in the situation where we couldn’t have our games be seen in the market.”

    Arizona opens the season Oct. 13 at New Jersey.

    ___

    AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL

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  • All Trump, all the time? Former president’s legal problems a boon to MSNBC

    All Trump, all the time? Former president’s legal problems a boon to MSNBC

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    NEW YORK — During a recent “Morning Joe” discussion of another development in the four indictments of former President Donald Trump, NBC News reporter Ken Dilanian predicted, “we are in for a real show next year.”

    MSNBC is not just counting on that to be true. The network is built around it.

    The news outlet is hyper-focused on Trump’s legal jeopardy, with a team of experts ready to dissect every ruling, every filing, every comment. The approach has seen success — even with some Republicans — with potential for more and the obvious questions of what happens when the bubble bursts.

    “MSNBC has pretty well-established themselves as the leading anti-Trump network, certainly of late,” said Jon Klein, a former CNN president and news analyst. “Once you’ve chosen your lane, you may as well go for it.”

    Certainly, the recipient of its attention has noticed.

    In a late September post on Truth Social, Trump complained about “one-sided and vicious coverage” on NBC News and, particularly, MSNBC. He said they should be investigated for “country-threatening treason” and said MSNBC’s endless coverage of Russia and “other things” amounted to a campaign contribution to Democrats.

    The network would not make anyone available to talk about its strategy. MSNBC’s prime-time viewership was up slightly over last year in the third quarter, while CNN and Fox News Channel saw double-digit declines, according to the Nielsen company. So far this year, Fox has averaged 2.18 million viewers, MSNBC 1.51 million and CNN 639,000.

    Without making clear how many of its viewers are Republicans, MSNBC said its GOP audience increased 24% this spring, compared to 2022, and 37% in a middle America region that includes Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Iowa.

    The rapid advancement of cord cutting has shrunk the number of available viewers for cable networks, and it’s still uncertain where news streaming will settle. That makes it more important than ever for a network to identify a specific audience it wants to serve. Fox News has made billions of dollars through that strategy.

    Emphasizing one story to the near-exclusion of others has happened in spurts before, such as CNN’s all-consuming attention to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight in 2014 and MSNBC during Trump’s impeachments.

    This story is unlikely to fade from the headlines anytime soon.

    During the first day of Trump’s civil trial in New York on fraud charges Monday, it was the lead story on each one of MSNBC’s shows from 3 p.m. to midnight. Nicolle Wallace discussed it for a half hour in the afternoon, capped off with some caustic commentary from a regular analyst, former Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.

    Joy Reid predicted the trial would “completely shatter whatever remains of the myth of Trump as an extremely wealthy and successful businessman — you know, the original big lie.”

    Half of Jen Psaki’s prime-time show was devoted to the topic, with former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and former New York U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara as guests. Rachel Maddow, as is her wont, took a circuitous route to the story, comparing former President Jimmy Carter’s effort to eliminate the guinea worm with Trump’s ex-presidency.

    “Donald Trump went to court today, and once again New York did not care,” said Lawrence O’Donnell, who nonetheless made the story his chief topic.

    It was par for the course on a day Trump’s legal issues made headlines. While not all topics of cable news fascination merit the attention, that’s not the case given the unprecedented nature of what a former president who is seeking that office again is facing, Klein said.

    There’s a need to explain complex legal maneuvers, and “the better job you do of it, you’re going to engender loyalty from your viewers,” he said.

    To that end, Ari Melber’s 6 p.m. Eastern show, “The Beat,” is often the most-watched on MSNBC. The Emmy-winning NBC News legal analyst with a penchant for rap lyrics is a lawyer who specialized in First Amendment cases and brings a methodical, “follow the facts” style to the issues he addresses.

    Like other MSNBC opinion hosts, he’s hard on Trump. Yet Melber is respected enough as a lawyer that some figures in Trump world, like Peter Navarro and lawyer Joe Tacopina, have appeared on “The Beat” to tell their stories.

    MSNBC has assembled a team of legal experts that has appeared throughout its lineup and gained trust through familiarity.

    They include law professors Andrew Weissmann, former lead prosecutor in special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, and Mary McCord, who worked at the Department of Justice and was an attorney for the District of Columbia for two decades. Together, they host the podcast, “Prosecuting Donald Trump.”

    Chuck Rosenberg, who worked at the FBI and was acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration at the end of the Obama administration, also hosts a podcast called “The Oath.”

    Other regulars are Neal Katyal, a former acting solicitor general who frequently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and co-authored the book, “Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump”; Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney in Michigan; and Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney in Alabama.

    During a recent appearance, Weissmann worried that he was getting lost in the weeds discussing a judge’s options to sanction Trump for speaking out on one of the cases against him.

    “You’re in a safe space, Andrew,” host Psaki said. “This is a safe space for nerds.”

    It’s all very reminiscent to Ariana Pekary, a former MSNBC producer. During the Trump impeachments, the network would leap on any morsel of news, sometimes blowing it out of proportion. Occasionally producers would leave the first segment of a show’s rundown open until the last possible moment, recognizing something about Trump will probably come up, she said.

    Ratings, available in 15-minute increments, proved it’s what the audience wanted to see, she said.

    She worried that it was becoming an obsession, and corrosive to the democracy, and said so publicly when she resigned in 2020.

    “It’s probably wise as a business model,” she said, “but I think it’s terribly unwise for the country.”

    To some extent, MSNBC has also benefitted from wheel-spinning at CNN, which is about to get its third chief executive in less than two years. Viewers have flocked away from CNN in alarming numbers.

    During big moments in the story this year, when indictments were announced, MSNBC assembled its top team for special coverage, and the anchors lapsed into the kind of giddiness you’d see from children on Christmas morning.

    “The fine line you walk is in not overreaching,” Klein said. “There’s enough in the actual facts that you don’t have to gild the lily and go overboard. That’s when they might risk turning off the independent-minded viewers who don’t like Trump.”

    There’s little chance these legal actions are going to be resolved anytime soon and, of course, there’s still a presidential campaign ahead.

    “This is their time to make hay,” Pekary said. “The sun is shining on MSNBC with these indictments, and they’re going to make the most of it.”

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  • Jets-Chiefs is highest-rated TV show since the Super Bowl, thanks to Taylor Swift and 2 million more female viewers

    Jets-Chiefs is highest-rated TV show since the Super Bowl, thanks to Taylor Swift and 2 million more female viewers

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    Taylor Swift continues to boost the NFL’s profile.

    NBC’s Sunday Night Football game between the New York Jets and the Kansas City Chiefs averaged 27 million viewers, making it the most-watched TV show since Super Bowl LVII in February, according to NBC’s PR team.

    Swift attended the Chiefs’ 23-20 win and was shown on the television broadcast several times, alongside celebrities Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds. Swift has a new public friendship and rumored relationship with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and the interest in that topic has led to increases in TV ratings for the two games Swift has attended, and to boosts in sales of NFL merchandise.

    Swift’s massive fanbase has influence across all ages and all types of people, but she is particularly popular among women and girls, and that group is who propelled NBC
    CMCSA,
    +0.34%
    and Sunday Night Football to such lofty viewership heights.

    “Viewership among teen girls (age 12-17) spiked 53% from the season-to-date average of the first three weeks of SNF, while the audience among women aged 18-24 was up 24%, and women 35+ increased 34%,” NBC said. “The collective growth resulted in an approximate viewership increase of more than 2 million female viewers.”

    Viewership peaked at an estimated 29.4 million viewers between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m. Eastern, as the Jets attempted to claw their way back in the second quarter of the game. Last year’s Sunday Night Football games averaged 19.9 million viewers, according to same-day data released by Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

    In preparation for Swift’s attendance, NBC used a Swift song, “Welcome to New York,” as the theme music for its video promo of the game, which was viewed roughly 8 million times.

    Since Swift was first linked to Kelce, the Chiefs tight end has enjoyed the Taylor Swift effect. For example:

    • The “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce” podcast, featuring Kelce and his brother, shot up to No. 1 on Apple’s podcast charts last week.

    • Kelce’s social-media influence has flourished, with his Instagram followers jumping from 2.7 million followers to 3.8 million in about two weeks.

    • Kelce had one of the top five highest-selling NFL jerseys last week, and sales of Kelce merchandise spiked 400% on Fanatics, the NFL’s official merchandise seller.

    See also: Want to watch every NFL game this season? Here’s how much it will cost you.

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