20 Questions On Deadline Podcast: Rachel Bloom Talks New Hulu Comedy ‘Reboot’, ‘The School For Good And Evil’ & How She Deals With Rejection

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic “Reasonable Doubt” has a healthy amount of “Scandal” in its DNA. The series was created by former “Scandal” writer and producer Raamla Mohamed; Kerry Washington directs the first episode. And the swirling intrigue around a self-styled do-gooder protagonist — who’s unconventional in her methods, and irresistibly drawn to drama — will recall Olivia Pope, the character Washington played on the ABC drama. Back then, Olivia unwound with a glass of red wine; as if to flex the looser, loucher possibilities of streaming, Emayatzy Corinealdi’s Jax Stewart ends her day with a cigarette. That seems an apt distillation of a series that’s charged with a nervy energy; “Reasonable Doubt” places Corinealdi’s very flawed protagonist at its center and watches as she generates smoke, and steam. Jax is a former public defender who now works in high-profile criminal defense in Los Angeles; her attention is divided between her caseload and her attraction to a man she once defended, incarcerated for many, years but still a vivid part of her life.

Rachel Bloom, Keegan-Michael Key and Judy Greer hit the red carpet for the premiere of their new series, Reboot, held at the Fox Studio Lot on Monday (September 19) in Los Angeles.

“The first person I thought of and the first person I talked to several years ago was Keegan-Michael Key because he was a friend, and I thought it would be an interesting way to use him as this erudite actor. And so he was the first one. So that character just seemed natural to me,” Levitan said of getting the cast together. “I had some people in mind as I went through it, but, it’s a funny thing that happens, you know? You have your idea of a character and you start writing it and certain people are dead on.

Keegan-Michael Key) who unsuccessfully pursued a film career after the show (but nobody appreciated his insights from having attended the Yale School of Drama); Bree Marie Larson (Judy Greer), who has a romantic past with Reed, followed up the sitcom with a stint on a terrible sci-fi show, then left Hollywood to marry the Duke of a small Nordic country; Clay Barber (Johnny Knoxville), who did some stints of stand up comedy after “Step Right Up,” in between getting arrested for disorderly conduct, and Zack (Calum Worthy), the show’s former child star who’s all grown up now and feels the need to prove it by driving a red sports car and telling his fellow cast members that although they’re back together for this show, “It’s different now, because we’ve all had sex.” Rachel Bloom (“Crazy Ex Girlfriend”) co-stars as Hannah, a writer pitching this reboot who wants to make an edgier version where the sitcom characters “don’t do the right thing anymore”, and Paul Reiser co-stars as Gordon, the original “Step Right Up” creator who wants the reboot to be more traditional. Naturally, this leads to some awkward clashing between Gordon and Hannah, as they have different creative approaches to this reboot project. Shows that attempt to be meta can sometimes get too inside baseball with showbiz references, but “Reboot” is clever and funny, for the most part.

The Oscar race came into sharper focus at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, with actors like Brendan Fraser and Michelle Yeoh cementing their lead contender status, and big-budget studio efforts like The Fablemans and Glass Onion premiering to raves.

While the Emmys drew mixed reviews, the film festivals closed to strong applause this week, not only for their movies (we’d forgotten some) but for their star turnout (forgot a few of them, too).

EJ Panaligan editor Disney, Amazon Studios, Fox Corp., Warner Bros. Discovery and other major Hollywood players are pledging support for the Roybal Film and Television Production Magnet, a major educational outreach initiative championed last year by George Clooney and others. Paramount and NBCUniversal/Telemundo Enterprises are also signing on to become founding partners of the Los Angeles Unified School District magnet facility. These companies join previously announced founding partners History Channel/A+E Networks, Netflix and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The group has committed to providing more than $4 million in funding for the school, which opened in August with 150 students at the Edward G. Roybal Learning Complex in downtown Los Angeles.

Amazon Studios, Disney, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal/Telemundo Enterprises, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery have signed on as Founding Partners of the Roybal Film and Television Production Magnet Fund, which was established by George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Creative Artists Agency’s Bryan Lourd, to support The Roybal Film and Television Production Magnet, a specialized academy created to drive transformational change across the industry by building a more inclusive pipeline of historically underrepresented college- and career-ready students pursuing below-the-line careers in film and television.

Sophia Anne Caruso and Sofia Wylie star as Sophie and Agatha, “two misfits and best friends” who “share the unlikeliest of bonds” in the new trailer for “The School for Good and Evil“.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Rachel Bloom has joined the cast of “Julia” Season 2 at HBO Max, Variety has learned exclusively. The series is inspired by the life of Julia Child and her long-running cooking show “The French Chef.” The first season debuted in March 2022 and the show was renewed in May. Bloom will appear in a recurring role as Elaine Levitch. The character is described as “a dynamo who comes to WGBH by way of CBS to work with Julia on ‘The French Chef.'” Bloom will next be seen in the Steve Levitan Hulu comedy series “Reboot,” which premieres Sept. 20. She is best known for her work on the CW musical dramedy series “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” which she co-created and executive produced in addition to starring. She received five Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations for her work on the series, winning one of each. Her recent credits include the Disney+ film “Chip ‘N’ Dalel: Rescue Rangers” and the upcoming Netflix film “The School for Good and Evil.” She published the book “I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are” in 2020.

The trailer for Netflix’s highly anticipated The School for Good and Evil has finally arrived!

Do you ever wonder where every great fairytale begins? Coming this fall, the new Netflix film “The School For Good & Evil” from director Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids”) and based on the string of novels by author Soman Chainani tries to answer those questions. READ MORE: ‘The Sandman’ Trailer: Tom Sturridge Plays Neil Gaiman’s Master Of Dreams In Netflix’s New Series The supernatural adventure pic boasts a rather impressive cast with Charlize Theron, Michelle Yeoh, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Sophia Anne Caruso, Sofia Wylie, Kit Young, Peter Serafinowicz, Ben Kingsley, Rachel Bloom, Rob Delaney, Patti LuPone, and Cate Blanchette will lend her voice as the film’s narrator.

There’s something depressing in watching talented comedians struggle to get laughs from weak screenwriting. This repeatedly happens in the first three-to-four episodes of Hulu’s “Reboot,” a show with a great cast and even a clever idea but faulty comic timing and clichéd joke writing.

“The School for Good and Evil,” which debuts Oct. 19 and stars Charlize Theron and Kerry Washington. There’s also Tim Burton’s TV series “Wednesday,” which doesn’t yet have a release date but is a series-long spin on the Addams Family daughter starring Jenna Ortega.And master of Netflix horror Mike Flanagan – the mind behind the “Haunting of Hill House” and “Bly Manor” shows as well as “Midnight Mass” – is back with his Christopher Pike adaptation “The Midnight Club,” which premieres Oct.

Film premiere and headlines spilling from a trio of fests in full swing (Venice), just starting (Telluride) and queued up (Toronto) have indie exhibitors and distributors the most hopeful since Covid hit that a stream of new films could fire up the arthouse market.

Todd Field’s Tár clearly struck a chord with the world premiere audience inside the Venice Film Festival’s Sala Grande tonight. The movie was given a standing ovation of more than six minutes, which was only halted when the film team filtered out.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic “Tár,” written and directed by Todd Field, tells the story of a world-famous symphony orchestra conductor played by Cate Blanchett, and let me say right up front: It’s the work of a master filmmaker. That’s not a total surprise. Field has made only two previous films, and the first of them, the domestic revenge drama “In the Bedroom” (2001), was languorous and lacerating — a small, compact indie-world explosion. His second feature, “Little Children” (2006), was, in my opinion, a misfire, though his talent was all over it. But “Tár,” the first film he has made in 16 years, takes Todd Field to a new level. The movie is breathtaking — in its drama, its high-crafted innovation, its vision. It’s a ruthless but intimate tale of art, lust, obsession, and power. It’s set in the contemporary classical-music world, and if that sounds a bit high-toned (it is, in a good way), the movie leads us through that world in a manner that’s so rigorously precise and authentic and detailed that it generates the immersion of a thriller. The characters in “Tár” feel as real as life. (They’re acted to richly drawn perfection down to the smallest role.) You believe, at every moment, in the reality you’re seeing, and it’s extraordinary how that raises the stakes.