‘Pretty Little Liars: Summer School’: Elias Kacavas Upped To Series Regular For Season 2

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points in the Season 3 finale of “The Mandalorian,” currently streaming on Disney+. It took all eight episodes of Season 3 for “The Mandalorian” to find its way back to itself, which is to say, back to Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his (now officially!) adopted child, Grogu. For most of Season 3, the core relationship of the series — the reason why “The Mandalorian” became an instant global phenomenon — was shunted aside in favor of tracking how Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan Kryze rallied the estranged factions of Mandalorians to take back their devastated homeworld.  Audiences have not responded kindly. Legions of reviews, tweets and YouTube videos vivisected this season of “The Mandalorian” for being “detached,” “unsatisfying,” “sloppy” and “the worst.” What had been a loose and uncomplicated story of Din and Grogu’s ongoing adventures had become instead a sprawling narrative steeped in Mandalorian lore that was brand new (and, even worse, uninteresting) to most people watching. An ironic strength of the show — audiences projecting themselves into Din’s helmet in the absence of Pascal’s deeply expressive face — became a major liability, with episodes in which dozens of helmeted Mandalorians talked to each other in a dry, monosyllabic monotones, with nary a human face to be seen.

EXCLUSIVE: Brian Cox (Succession), Kelly Reilly (Yellowstone), Brooklynn Prince (Cocaine Bear) and Che Tafari (Me Time) are set to lead Little Wing, a new Paramount+ coming-of-age film from Awesomeness, which DGA Award nominee Dean Israelite (Are You Afraid of the Dark?) is directing from a script by Oscar nom John Gatins (Flight).

EXCLUSIVE: Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect triology) has joined the cast of Peacock’s coming-of-age thriller Hysteria ! as a series regular.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The LA Phil has announced the full summer season for Hollywood Bowl’s sister venue across the gorge, the Ford, with a typically eclectic and cross-cultural lineup that includes Mac DeMarco, Lucinda Williams, Jorge Drexler, the Milk Carton Kids, Darren Criss, Arooj Aftab, Meredith Monk, José James, a kids’ show by the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, a dance project from Serpentwithfeet and many more attractions. The smaller-sized amphitheater is one of the most prized venues for musicians to play in Los Angeles, although the Phil’s emphasis in its four months of annual shows there is far less on commercial acts than in maintaining intriguing blend of all possible arts, with jazz, Americana and Latin and global music definitely getting a leg up on pop in the programming.

Onyx Collective announced Monday. Along with returning cast members Emayatzy Corinealdi, McKinley Freeman, Tim Jo, Angela Grovey, Aderinsola Olabode and Thaddeus J.

With just six episodes left in Yellowstone Season 5, there’s a lot of ground to cover.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent The creators of Netflix’s “Sintonia,” one of South America’s biggest streaming show hits, KondZilla and LB Entertainment (formerly Losbragas), are re-teaming to co-produce a slate of series. Ending speculation on what is next for KondZilla, a YouTube phenomenon and LB, both based out of São Paulo, the three series – “After the End,” “A Close Call” and “South” – look set to broaden the partners’ compass from “Sintonia,” the coming of age story of three friends set against the crime and vibrant culture of São Paulo outskirts life, its gangs, thriving music scene, religion and sense of community. 

Jessica Simpson is enjoying her time out and about in New York City. The 42-year-old fashion designer has been spotted rocking a series of chic looks this week.Simpson announced her arrival in Manhattan by posting pics of herself on a balcony overlooking the city wearing black leather pants and thick-heeled black boots with a black tank top and an oversized Kelly green jacket.«There’s no expiration date to a dream,» she captioned the photos, which included her husband, Eric Johnson.A post shared by Jessica Simpson (@jessicasimpson)The mother of three later rocked a brown Elisabetta Franchi mini-dress and oversized shades with knee-high boots, captioning the shots, «Dreamweaver show me the way.»A post shared by Jessica Simpson (@jessicasimpson)Simpson later stepped out in a golden ensemble, wearing an bold yellow cutout mini-dress that flaunted her impressive physique with a gold sequin purse and sky-high gold platform heels.She also donned a one-shoulder black latex gown that appeared to be for a photo shoot.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Oswald Cobblepot is finally getting his moment in the sun. Warner Bros. Discovery executives have unveiled the first look at “The Penguin,” the spin-off series focusing on Colin Farrell’s titular Gotham City gangster from the 2022 blockbuster film “The Batman.” The preview was part of the company’s presentation on Wednesday of its streaming service, Max, a combination of the HBO Max and Discovery+ services. “The Penguin,” which is currently in production, will run for eight episodes. Spoiler alert for that film: After Paul Dano’s the Riddler kills Carmine Falcone, one of Gotham City’s top mob bosses, he floods the major downtown area in a coordinated terrorist attack — leaving Farrell’s Cobblepot with a city in chaos and a power vacuum within Gotham’s underworld.

Nick Carter is being sued for sexual assault and battery by Melissa Schuman, a former member of the girl group Dream.

Extra will officially be back for its 30th season.

A Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin star is sharing new images from the set of season 2! – Just Jared Jr Vincent Cassel has apparently split from his longtime girlfriend – Celebitchy Find out how Chris Pratt‘s son Jack reacted to his Super Mario Bros.

Little Simz has announced that she will be embarking on a North American tour, starting in September this year.The Mercury-winning London artist shared the news on social media today (April 10), writing: “It’s been a long time. Appreciate your love and patience.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Brandi Carlile has been added as a participant in the NAMM Show in Anaheim, Calif. Thursday, where she will be interviewed about the insights she has gleaned into record production over her career. The biggest annual conference for musicians is taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center Thursday through Saturday. Her session, “Brandi Carlile on Producing and Uncovering the Artist in the Studio,” will take place Thursday from 1-1:50 p.m. and will have the singer-songwriter-producer being interviewed by producer/engineer/mixer Dave Way, who has worked on Fiona Apple’s “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” and “Extraordinary Machine” as well as albums by Ringo Starr, Pink and others.

Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior Correspondent Kim Kardashian is adding yet another item to her ever-growing resume: the reality star turned businesswoman is joining Season 12 of “American Horror Story.” Kardashian made the announcement Monday on her Instagram account, posting teaser video with eerie music, along with the eyeball and blood drop emojis as her cryptic caption. The video posted by Kardashian says that she will be joining “American Horror Story” regular Emma Roberts in the 12th season, which is coming this summer. Kardashian’s video reveals that the upcoming season of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series will be called “Delicate.” No other details regarding Kardashian’s character, the magnitude of her role or the season’s theme were revealed in her post. FX did not immediately respond to Variety request for comment, regarding Kardashian’s role.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer The past, present and future of Star Wars was on ample display on Friday at the Star Wars Celebration fan convention, as Lucasfilm unveiled the most robust look yet at the company’s plans for the hallowed franchise. As studio chief Kathleen Kennedy revealed three new feature films and first looks at four upcoming TV series, Lucasfilm made clear it aims to test just how far it can stretch the Star Wars galaxy: creatively, logistically and even historically. Starting with “The Phantom Menace” and concluding with “The Rise of Skywalker,” the previous nine “Star Wars” movies have all taken place within a roughly 70-year timeline, straddling the climactic Battle of Yavin in “A New Hope” that has served as the official fulcrum point for the franchise for six decades. Every live-action and animated spinoff TV series has unfolded within that timeframe, including the shows launched on Disney+: “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett,” “Andor,” “The Bad Batch” and the upcoming shows “Ahsoka” and “Skeleton Crew.” (“Visions,” an animated anthology series launched in 2021, exists outside of Star Wars canon.)

Brooke Shields just dropped her new two-part documentary Pretty Baby on Hulu and she has been doing lots of interviews in which she elaborated on confessions made in the film.

Chris Frantz Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein was indisputably one of the greatest music executives of all time, with a career that spanned six decades and a rare ear for talent that led Madonna, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, Ice-T, Depeche Mode, the Pretenders, the Smiths, and many others to his label. Stein, who died on April 2 at the age of 80, is remembered here by Chris Frantz, drummer of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, who, with Tina Weymouth (now his wife), Jerry Harrison and of course David Byrne, signed with the label late in 1976.  Seymour told this story many times. His first visit to CBGB’s on the Bowery was to see the Ramones. His wife Linda insisted that he see them because they were something new and fabulous and she thought he should sign them, which he did. He was standing outside the club on the sidewalk speaking with [Patti Smith’s longtime guitarist] Lenny Kaye, waiting for Ramones to go on when he heard the support band begin to play. “When my love stands next to your love….”

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is dipping its toe into the pilot development model with Little Sky, a single-camera comedy starring and executive produced by Samara Weaving (Scream VI). The streamer has ordered a pilot for the project, from creator Rightor Doyle (Down Low) who is also set to direct.

Kiss — that’s a good name,” Bogart said.“Do you really wanna talk business right now?” Biawitz, who was Kiss’ manager, replied. Soon after, Bogart signed the band to his fledging label, Casablanca Records, based on the demo alone. “My father signed them sight unseen — he signed them because of the music,” said Bogart’s son, Tim Bogart.