Today In Entertainment MARCH 16, 2021
What's news: The HFPA promises change by next year's Golden Globes, Oscars restrict in-person access, will the ratings suffer? Is a box office bump even possible? Grammy ratings fall to an all-time low, Spike Lee to lead Cannes jury, The Bachelor finale's "uncomfortable" conversation, ABC sets two Bachelorettes for this year, Killing Eve to end. Plus: AMC wants to delay Walking Dead trial, and a review of Zack Snyder's Justice League. --Alex Weprin HFPA Promise ►HFPA's plans for "explicit change." In response to a Monday letter from more than 100 PR firms demanding that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association provide "explicit plans" for "transformational change," the organization behind the Golden Globe Awards issued a statement emphasizing that it has gotten the message. Currently comprised of 87 LA-based journalists for outlets abroad, the HFPA said: "As a demonstration of our commitment, the board has unanimously approved a plan to increase membership to a minimum of 100 members this year, with a requirement that at least 13 percent of the membership be Black journalists... We are committed to making necessary changes within our organization and in our industry as a whole. We also acknowledge that we should have done more, and sooner." The story. +About that letter: "We cannot advocate for our clients to participate in HFPA events or interviews as we await your explicit plans and timeline for transformational change," reads the unprecedented missive from more than 100 PR firms. More. Oscars Noms Analysis ►Oscar nominations analysis: Cause for concern and celebration. "We have entered into uncharted territory, folks. Not only are we in the middle of a global pandemic and the longest awards season ever, but we are now looking at a set of Oscar nominations — announced on Monday morning, less than six weeks ahead of the 93rd Academy Awards on April 25 — unlike any we have seen before," Scott Feinberg writes. The analysis. +Will any best picture nominees see a box office bump? "In what can easily be called a most unusual Oscar season, the box office bump will be not only tough to define but also difficult to calculate," says Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "It will take a marketing push to remind moviegoers of any sort of Oscar theatrical release but based on the numbers is recent weeks and over 50 percent of theaters open, audiences would certainly have an interest in seeing the contenders on the big screen," he continued. The story. +Meanwhile: Hours after revealing, ahead of Monday morning's Oscar nominations announcement, that the ceremony will be spread between the Dolby Theatre and Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, Academy president David Rubin emailed the Academy's nearly 10,000 members to share some news that most of them will find disappointing. --"This year, those attending the awards in person will be nominees, their guest, and presenters," Rubin wrote. In other words, only the nominees, their guest and presenters. "[W]e will not be able to conduct our annual member ticket lottery." The story. Potential bad news for the Oscars... ►Grammy ratings fall to an all-time low. CBS' broadcast of the awards drew 8.8 million viewers and a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49, according to time zone-adjusted fast national ratings from Nielsen. Out-of-home viewing — added in the final ratings — will likely bump that total up further, but the show will still probably end up with only about half of its 2020 audience: 18.69 million viewers and 5.4 in the final ratings. The numbers. --The Grammys also came in well behind CBS' performance last Sunday, when the network drew 17.8 million viewers for Oprah Winfrey's interview special with Meghan Markle and Britain's Prince Harry about their stepping back as senior members of the royal family. ►Just in: Spike Lee will head up this year's competition jury for the Cannes International Film Festival, organizers announced on Tuesday.This year's festival, the 74th edition, was forced to move from its regular dates in May to July due to safety concerns around the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The 2021 festival is now scheduled to run from Tuesday, July 6 to Saturday July 17. More. 'Killing Eve's' End ►Killing Eve's end is in sight. The previously announced fourth season of the AMC/BBC America drama starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer will be its last. Production on the eight-episode final season will begin in the summer in the U.K. and locations across Europe for a 2022 premiere on both cable networks. Additionally, AMC Networks is working closely with Killing Eve producers Sid Gentle Films to develop potential spinoff ideas that will explore the larger world of the show outside of Eve and Villanelle. The story. ►An "uncomfortable" conversation: The Bachelor finale confronts franchise race problem. The Bachelor: After the Final Rose finale special, which aired following the two-hour ending to Matt James' season, saw Emmanuel Acho "sitting in" for Chris Harrison to host what was promised to be an "uncomfortable" conversation. Indeed, the contestant whose past behavior had been called into question — Rachael Kirkconnell — went on to win the season, it was revealed on Monday night. In light of that new information, The New York Times best-selling author and host of Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man focused on the off-screen developments that have taken hold of the season. The story. +Amid ongoing controversy, The Bachelor franchise is committing to not one but two seasons of The Bachelorette. The long-running reality dating franchise is doubling down on its female-led series for what will be the 17th and 18th seasons. The 17th cycle of The Bachelorette will star Katie Thurston and will air this summer. The 18th season, set to air in the fall, will star Michelle Young. The story. In other TV news... +Will Forte's suicide drama series is getting slammed by a mental health organization. The Last Man on Earth actor's new Peacock project Expiration Date – about a man who spends a year plotting his own demise -- is being called "wildly irresponsible" by the nonprofit group Inseparable. The story. +ABC's reboot of The Wonder Years has cast its lead character. Elisha "EJ" Williams will play the central role in the pilot, which is set in the same time 1960s time period as the iconic 1988-93 series but centers on a Black family in Montgomery, Alabama. The show comes from writer Saladin K. Patterson and executive producer Lee Daniels. More. +Beloved Swedish vampire tale Let the Right One In is getting another remake. Showtime has handed out a pilot order for a new take on the genre drama, with Andrew Hinderaker set to pen the script and serve as showrunner. Demian Bichir will star and produce. Seith Mann is on board to direct the pilot. More. ►AMC says holding Walking Dead trial now would be "especially risky." Spending five weeks talking about money from a post-apocalyptic TV show during the COVID-19 pandemic? That would be the "worst test case imaginable," AMC tells a judge. The story. +ViacomCBS' insurance company has filed a counterclaim in their dispute about novel coronavirus-related losses, and it's arguing the media giant hasn't shared enough details about which projects were delayed or canceled for it to adequately assess the claims. Viacom in January sued Great Divide Insurance Company, alleging the insurer breached their contract by failing to pay out on a "Television Production Portfolio Policy," which in all is worth more than $50 million. Instead, Viacom says the insurer took the position that it could only collect on the $1 million in civil authority coverage in connection with government-mandated shutdowns. Great Divide on Friday filed a counterclaim against the media giant. In addition to asserting 41 affirmative defenses, the insurer is also asking the court for a declaration that it owes ViacomCBS no policy benefits. More. ►Film review: John DeFore reviews Zack Snyder's Justice League for HBO Max, writing that "the new version is an improvement in some concrete ways. Its plot and tone are more coherent, with occasional puzzling exceptions. Its visual effects are substantially improved, though still sometimes fakey, and in general the photography looks better — though viewers may resent the frame's nearly square aspect ratio, which was designed with Imax, not widescreen TVs, in mind. But the movie's soul, such as it is, remains unimproved, and at 242 minutes, very few of them offering much pleasure, it's nearly unendurable as a single-sitting experience." The review. ►TV reviews: Daniel Fienberg reviews HBO's Q: Into the Storm, writing that the doc is "a complicated, globe-trotting thriller about the increasing hostility among three very odd men; an origin story for fledgling political voices like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert; and occasionally even a thoughtful treatise on absolute free speech and its discontents. It's a piece of absurdist prankster journalism and a detour into speculative reality so silly it's almost like '50s sci-fi." The review. +Robyn Bahr reviews Netflix's Waffles + Mochi, writing that the kids show "does something few other kids programs beyond the occasional Sesame Street curriculum set out to do: teach children the language of food appreciation." The review. Obituaries: Henry Darrow, the pride of Puerto Rico who starred as the charming Manolito Montoya, the son of a wealthy Mexican land baron, on the 1967-71 NBC Western The High Chaparral, has died. He was 87... Barbara Rickles, the widow of famed comedian Don Rickles, died Sunday on what would have been the couple's 56th wedding anniversary. She was 84... Yaphet Kotto, the compelling character actor who portrayed police lieutenant Al Giardello on Homicide: Life on the Street, a space traveler in Alien and a supervillain in Live and Let Die, has died. He was 81... Isidore "Izzy" Mankofsky, who shot The Muppet Movie, Somewhere in Time and dozens of telefilms including the Farrah Fawcett-starring The Burning Bed, died Thursday. He was 89... In other news... --Rogers Communications is set to acquire rival cable giant Shaw Communications for $26 billion (US$20.8 billion). The deal, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals, will combine Canada's two biggest wireless phone and cable giants as the country heads towards a 5G rollout. --A lawyer for the FTC is suing over a writing credit for a Liam Neeson movie. --Gravitas Ventures has picked up the North American rights to writer/director Leon Pierce Jr.'s Welcome Matt comedy ahead of a planned theatrical and on demand release on May 28, 2021. --Avatar is expected to increase its box office lead over Avengers: Endgame considerably as its box office haul in China grows. --Boat Rocker Studios and former Sirens Media and USA Network executive Jessica Sebastian-Dayeh are teaming to launch a production and media company called Maven. --Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil helmer Michael D. Ratner says the singer was ready to "clear the record." --Idris Elba has signed a global multi-book deal with HarperCollins to publish a range of children's books. --CAA announced on Monday that it will host a 90-minute virtual summit on March 18 focused on public education. --Tiger Woods has struck a longterm partnership with video game publisher 2K. What else we're reading... --"Elliot Page and the fight for trans equality: 'I am fully who I am'" [Time] --"Vice, BuzzFeed facing valuation cuts in SPAC deals" [The Information] --"Beijing asks Alibaba to shed its media assets" [WSJ] --"Ken Burns still has faith in a shared American story" [NY Times Magazine] Today's birthdays: Flavor Flav, 62, Erik Estrada, 72, Chuck Woolery, 80, Blake Griffin, 32, Jhene Aiko, 33.
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