EXCLUSIVE: Abbott Elementary finished out its sophomore season with gold stars all around.
19.04.2023 - 15:03 / variety.com
Janelle James, the first thing that comes up is that she got her big break from Chris Rock. Wrong! Rock did hire her as a comedian on his 2017 “Total Blackout Tour,” but James says that’s as far as it goes. “He’s done a lot,” she says, carefully choosing words to describe someone who is credited too frequently for her rise. “He’s done enough for me. He didn’t make my career or anything.” She adds, “I was never close with Chris Rock. We went on tour together, and then I didn’t speak to him after that.” And of course, she followed what happened to him at the Oscars, but hasn’t watched his Netflix special. She doesn’t want to be cornered into talking about him or the slap in interviews like this one. “I want to truthfully be like, ‘I ain’t seen it. No opinion!’ I don’t want to be involved.”
James has more important things to talk about on this day. She’s become a hot commodity in the industry with her Emmy-nominated breakout role on “Abbott Elementary,” the hottest sitcom on network TV. Her inept Principal Ava Coleman makes an average of 3.3 million viewers a week laugh on the mockumentary show created by and starring Quinta Brunson. The ABC series, which debuted in December 2021, has landed every award in town — from the Emmys to the Golden Globes — and it’s made the entire cast (from Sheryl Lee Ralph to Lisa Ann Walter to Tyler James Williams) sitcom famous. In Season 2, James’ story arc has only expanded, making her character a fan favorite, despite being selfish and rude. “It’s not easy to play an unlikable character and still win the audience over,” says Brunson. “In the first season, there were a lot of people who weren’t on board with Ava, but her performance brought people in.” James’ wit and timing comes from
EXCLUSIVE: Abbott Elementary finished out its sophomore season with gold stars all around.
Met Gala, and it was an epic night celebrating fashion. After the exclusive event is the after-parties, and celebrities will change their outfits and rage the night away. One of the parties reportedly had a chaotic scene, which made Kylie Jenner call it a night.Richie Akiva, Doja Cat, and Diddy threw one of the exclusive parties, but it got crowded.
The Met Gala After Party hosted by fashion designer Stella McCartney and director Baz Luhrmann appears to be the most star-studded one of the night!
Salma Hayek looked to one of the most everlasting fashion icons as inspiration for a New York City event. Hayek shared a look of herself on her Instagram, calling out Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as a reference.Watch Salma Hayek in ‘Black Mirror’ season 6 trailerSalma Hayek celebrates Channing Tatum’s birthday with steamy photo: ‘So jealous’Salma Hayek and Valentina Paloma stun at Time GalaA post shared by Salma Hayek Pinault (@salmahayek)Hayek was attending a Gucci event and looked the part, dressed in a golden dress suit with some black details.
Teyana Taylor brings some color to the red carpet in a fun paint-splattered look for Gucci’s Meatpacking Boutique Grand Opening event in New York City on Saturday night (April 29).
William Earl Variety will return in-person with its TV FYC Fest on June 7 in L.A., featuring HBO/Max Chief Casey Bloys, Kerry Washington, Elle Fanning, Janelle James, Gina Rodriguez and Weird Al Yankovic. Fanning (“The Great”), James (“Abbott Elementary”), Rodriguez (“Not Dead Yet”) and Washington (“UnPrisoned”) will participate in a roundtable celebrating Disney’s TV female comedy standouts. Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content will offer his vision for TV storytelling with Cynthia Littleton, co-editor-in-chief of Variety, in what will be his first interview following the series finale episode of “Succession.”
James Corden is leaving The Late Late Show much like he entered: with a bang.
While no footage was offered, Sony did take time in the CinemaCon presentation to tease the next installment in the “Bad Boys” franchise. Sony’s opening presentation featured Will Smith and Martin Lawrence stumbling through an intro with confusion about whether they were happy or unhappy not to be at CinemaCon. The film is four weeks into shooting, and the brief joke pre-taped bit concluded with the stars introducing Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group President Josh Greenstein who came to the stage and bragged about 23 theatrical releases for the coming year, emphasizing a wide variety of movies beyond just conventional blockbusters.
Brent Lang Executive Editor Will Smith and Martin Lawrence kicked off CinemaCon by talking up their return to “Bad Boys” business. “We’re hype, we’re excited,” Smith told the crowd of movie theater owners. He apologized for not being able to be in Las Vegas for the annual convention of the exhibition industry…well, kinda. “We’re not sorry we couldn’t be there,” Lawrence admonished him, noting they were four weeks into film the fourth film in the franchise. “We glad we not there because we here and they’re paying us to be here,” Smith said.
Tracy Morgan.The diehard Knicks fan won’t eat anything at the World’s Most Famous Arena when he cheers on New York against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Playoffs Sunday, he dished to The Post.“Well I’m a pescatarian now, so all I eat is fish and vegetables, so I eat before I go,” he said.And the Bed-Stuy native isn’t about to get crabby when it comes to other celeb Knicks fans — the real ones and those only after front-‘roe’ photo ops.“Yo, listen, I can’t be calling people out like that,” he said. “If you a Knick fan, you a Knick fan at heart. I can’t be saying who’s not and who is.
“Fresh Prince” reboot “Bel-Air,” she had come off a heavy role and told her manager she wanted to play someone who was rich and beautiful. She wanted lighter fare.“That’s it, I don’t wanna do any more sad stories about black people,” she told me on this week’s episode of “Renaissance Man.” “I’m like, ‘I’m done. I don’t [want to] be crying in the street over my dead black boy.
star Janelle James is a woman of mystery that prefers to keep it that way. In conversation with for the cover of its latest issue, the comedian explained that there are many facts about her life that she doesn't believe people need to know, like her age.«I'm grown. I have a 20-year-old son.
Janelle James is getting real.
fans, you're in for an emotional ride tonight! Series star Tyler James Williams issues a warning for viewers while on Wednesday's episode of . «A lot of things happen,» Williams tells host Jennifer Hudson about the season 2 finale airing on Wednesday, April 19. «It's going to be good, it's a good one.
Netflix is owning up to the long delay they had with the Love Is Blind live reunion.
Just two days after the “Love Is Blind” Season 4 live reunion fiasco, which delayed the livestream for over an hour with many viewers unable to watch the special until the next day, Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters said the delayed was caused by a “bug.” “From a technical perspective, we’ve got the infrastructure,” Peters said during Tuesday’s earning call. “We had just a bug that we introduced, actually, when we implemented some changes to try and improve live streaming performance after the last live broadcast Chris Rock in March and we just didn’t see this bug in internal testing because it only became apparent once we put sort of multiple systems interacting with each other under the load of millions of people trying to watch ‘Love is Blind.'”While fans of the reality dating series tuned in to the special expecting for the reunion to rehash the season’s drama and give a status update for how each couple’s relationship has evolved since their respective wedding days, viewers were met with a error message on the live stream.Despite the livestreaming troubles, the reunion reached an audience of 6.5 million viewers, Peters said.“We’re really sorry to have disappointed so many people,” Peters continued.
The Love Is Blind reunion didn’t end up being live on April 16 due to “technical difficulties,” but apologetic Netflix brass are very pleased with the viewership the streamer had once the special finally aired.
Lary Simpson, who launched a career in entertainment law at Tri-Star Pictures before leaving legal practice to join older brother Don Simpson in motion picture production, died Jan. 25 of cancer at his home in Noank, Connecticut. He was 77.
Abbott Elementary predicted a walk-off home run from a baseball player less than 24 hours before it happened.During episode Mom which aired in the US on Wednesday (April 12), Baltimore Orioles fan Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams) is seen talking with lunch lady Shanae about the score of that day’s Orioles game.“Adley Rutschman hit an opposite-field walk-off homer and Cedric Mullins was a single shy of the cycle,” Gregory remarks (via IndieWire).During the team’s match against the Oakland Athletics on the following day (April 13), Rutschman won the game with a walk-off home run. Gregory, however, was slightly off on the details, as it wasn’t opposite-field, while the overall score also wasn’t the same.Whatta rutschMAN pic.twitter.com/19JkUnUSeS— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) April 13, 2023Speaking in a post-match interview, Rutschman revealed this was the first time in his life he’s ever hit a walk-off home run.
Since its debut, Abbott Elementary, which follows the lives of a group of teachers at an underfunded school in Philadelphia, has shone a light on the struggles of teachers across America who aren’t receiving the support they need to help students thrive.