Fox News host Neil Cavuto came to the defense of Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday, asking why he’s become so “vilified.” Fauci went off on Senator Rand Paul during a Tuesday Senate hearing, after the Kentucky Republican accused him of lying to Congress about the U.S. funding gain of function research in China. Fauci said, “Senator Paul, you do not know what you’re […]
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Paramount+ will continue The Good Fight for another season. The ViacomCBS streaming service has ordered a sixth season of the legal drama starring Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald. The pickup comes less than halfway through the show’s fifth season, which premiered June 24; Paramount+ releases episodes weekly. “The Good Fight’s provocative, whip-smart, and no-holds-barred world remains as […]
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Cable news service CNN said Monday it will launch a standalone digital-video subscription called CNN Plus sometime in the first three months of 2022, a streaming service that will have its own selection of programming but won’t unlock access to any of CNN’s traditional channels. Parent company WarnerMedia didn’t confirm an expected price nor plans for a discounted bundle with its […]
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Fox Quietly Implements its Own Version of a Vaccine Passport While its Top Personalities Attack Them
Tucker Carlson has called the idea of vaccine passports the medical equivalent of “Jim Crow” laws. And other Fox News personalities have spent months both trafficking in anti-vaccine rhetoric and assailing the concept of showing proof of vaccination status. But Fox Corporation, the right-wing talk channel’s parent company, has quietly implemented the concept of a vaccine […]
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Attorney General Merrick Garland prohibited federal prosecutors on Monday from seizing journalists’ records in leak investigations. Garland first promised this move was coming back in June. It reverses years of the Justice Department’s policy and, according to a release from the department, the policy is effective immediately. Garland sent out an internal memo about the […]
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Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga will join forces for a pair of shows at Radio City Music Hall in August that are being billed as their final appearances together, reps for the two singers announced Monday morning. The “One Last Time: an Evening With Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga” shows will take place August 3 and 5, with a special […]
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Arthouse bounced higher this weekend as Morgan Neville’s Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain hit $1.9 million — the strongest specialty opening this year and the best yet for Neville (20 Feet From Stardom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) His documentary is No. 8 at the U.S. box office. Pig starring Nicolas Cage hit No. 10. Both films had under 1,000 […]
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The TV development logjam that emerged across broadcast, cable and streaming last year as the pandemic raged is showing little sign of abating as COVID-19 restrictions lift. Multiple TV writers and lit agents tell Variety that the market is incredibly challenging, with little appetite from buyers for new projects. Among the factors contributing to the situation is […]
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The days of trying to curry favor with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association by giving its members gifts, in the hope of being rewarded with Golden Globe Award nominations or wins, are over. On Thursday, the HFPA — still trying to get back in Hollywood’s good graces months after a Los Angeles Times piece exposed demographic and ethical shortcomings […]
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Once again one of Hollywood’s top talent agencies is closing the doors because of the coronavirus. Just hours after Los Angeles County health officials unveiled a new indoor mask mandate to combat the surge of the Delta variant in the region, WME notified local staff that their sprawling Beverly Hills office will be closing down for at least a week. […]
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COVID-19 restrictions have rendered travel to the Land Down Under a little difficult as of late, unless you’re a world-famous reality star, gubernatorial candidate and former Olympian. In spite of a recent travel ban that’s left an estimated 37,000 Aussies stranded, Caitlyn Jenner flew to Australia to film “Celebrity Big Brother.” Australian outlets reported Friday […]
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MSNBC host and NBC News correspondent Kasie Hunt announced her departure at the end of Way Too Early on Friday, promising that she would announce her next move “in the next few weeks.” Hunt plans to join CNN, according to a source familiar with her plans. Variety, which first reported the move, also reported that she would focus largely […]
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NBC is not moving forward with “Law & Order: For the Defense,” which had been announced earlier this spring as the latest installment of Dick Wolf’s “Law & Order” franchise. Instead, “The Blacklist” will shift to Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET this fall, when “For the Defense” had originally been scheduled. “For the Defense” had been […]
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Katey Sagal is set to star in an original movie at premium cable outlet Epix. The Rebel actress will play a former country music star turned recluse in Tattered Hearts, a thriller that’s part of a series of films Blumhouse Television is making for Epix. It’s slated to debut sometime in 2022. The movie will follow an up-and-coming country music duo who […]
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Britney Spears was granted a request to hire her own attorney on Wednesday, a development that could mark a major shift in how her 13-year conservatorship case has been handled. The pre-scheduled court hearing was forced to address the sudden departure of her court-appointed attorney, Samuel D. Ingham III, who has handled her case since 2008. Los Angeles […]
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Jerry O’Connell has joined daytime talk show “The Talk” as its first male co-host, more than three months after former co-host Sharon Osbourne made her controversial exit. “It’s fun, and it works, and we’re going to have a lot of fun,” O’Connell said during the announcement on Wednesday’s episode. His addition comes after serving as a […]
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Former President Donald Trump’s endorsement for Jesse Watters’ new book reads like a publisher’s synopsis – because that’s exactly what it is. The blurb directly plagiarizes HarperCollins’ description of Watters’ “How I Saved the World.” Trump released his statement on the Fox News personality’s book, “How I Saved the World” on Wednesday. The blurb contains […]
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have set up their second project at Netflix as part of their company, Archewell Productions, overall deal with the streamer. Created by Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, Pearl is a family-focused animated series that revolves around the adventures of a 12-year-old girl who is inspired by influential women in history. The series is currently in the development […]
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Henry Cavill will star in the upcoming rom-com, “The Rosie Project.” The film, which has been in the making for a few years at Sony Pictures, is based on Graeme Simsion’s novel of the same name and will follow the former “Man of Steel” actor as Don Tillman, a genetics professor on his journey to […]
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A judge has sided with Sacha Baron Cohen in a lawsuit filed by former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore against the “Borat” star, with Baron Cohen beating a $95 million defamation lawsuit Moore brought in 2018. The lawsuit stemmed from an interview Baron Cohen did with Moore on behalf of his Showtime series “This Is […]
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“WandaVision” has proved magical for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, earning the mega-franchise 23 total Emmy nominations Tuesday, leading the limited-series field. Among them: nods for best limited series, leads Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, supporting actress Kathryn Hahn and that irresistible earworm “Agatha All Along.” “WandaVision” joined “Watchmen” and drama series “The Boys” as the only superhero shows to date to earn […]
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Showtime has picked up the half-hour comedy series “I Love This For You,” based on former “Saturday Night Live” star Vanessa Bayer’s own story of overcoming childhood leukemia. Bayer co-created the series and will executive producer and star in it. Fellow “SNL” alum Molly Shannon will also star, while Cybill Shepherd, who had originally signed on to star opposite […]
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The Obamas’ Higher Ground and Fatherhood producers Temple Hill are re-teaming for a new project at Netflix. The companies are developing Blackout, a film and TV “event” that is being adapted from six different love stories, each penned by a different writer. The project, Netflix notes, is being developed concurrently as a TV series and film adaptation. That means that some of […]
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“It was the complete experience of a lifetime,” said a beaming Richard Branson of his trek into space, a place where no billionaire has gone before. “Now looking down at the spaceport, congratulations to everybody for creating such a beautiful plane and all the hard work for getting us this far.” Branson’s rocket was released at an […]
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Fox News Channel’s Maria Bartiromo and Donald Trump pushed baseless theories on her Sunday show about the shooting death of Ashli Babbit, the insurrectionist who was killed breaking into the U.S. Capitol – and online observers immediately took her to task with one person saying, “Maria has gone full cuckoo.” On this week’s “Sunday Morning Futures […]
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