Top TV News of the Week: The End of Late Night Talk Shows? Drew Adds More To Crew, 'Twilight' Gets Animated, 'Only Murders' Get More Murders, Trailer: Kathy Bates in 'Matlock' Revival
Dim the lights, Jimmy Fallon
So, it’s been a week, right?
Good news is that Only Murders in the Building is getting yet another season! It might be time for the trio to move, not sure how safe that building is with all those murders.
More murderous TV news includes the casting of JonBenet Ramsey’s parents in an upcoming Paramount+ series and Hulu takes on the infamous Murdaugh family in a new series starring someone who was a former Quentin Tarantino femme fatale.
‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’ Downsizes To Four Shows A Week
Looks like the landscape of late night talk shows is changing as The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon joins Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Kimmel in reducing the amount of live shows per week to just four. Since Johnny Carson, Jay Leno and David Letterman left the world of late night, audience enthusiasm has dropped. The new generations are getting their celebrity interviews through TikTok channels and podcasts. Beginning immediately, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon will be live Monday through Thursday and reserve the Friday slot for reruns. Could this be the beginning of the end of late night television?
‘Twilight’ Animated Series Picked Up By Netflix
Netflix has given a straight-to-series order for a new animated series based on Stephanie Meyer’s 2020 novel “Midnight Sun'“, which retells the events of the original “Twilight” series of books, but from Edward’s perspective. Sinead Daly (Tell Me Lies) will pen the script and Meyer will serve as executive producer. Stream all five films in the Twilight saga for free on Freevee.
The Duffer Brothers New Series ‘The Burroughs’ Will Be Star-Studded
What’s up next for the Duffer Brothers after Stranger Things is over? Netflix’s favorite duo will stay at the streamer with a new supernatural mystery, The Burroughs. The ensemble cast includes Alfred Molina, Gene Davis, Alfre Woodard, Denis O’Hare, Clarke Peters, and Bill Pullman. The Duffer Brothers will produce this eight-episode series about a group of unlikely heroes in a retirement community who must unite to confront an otherworldly threat — protecting the one thing they all need most….time.
George R.R. Martin Rips Max’s ‘House of the Dragon’ Storyline
Eek! Nothing like the god-author of the Game of Thrones universe telling off the creator of the Max series House of the Dragon that they butchered his work. George R.R. Martin, author of the books based on the popular HBO series wrote, in a now deleted blog post, that series co-creator Ryan Condal shifted the character Helaena’s decision of which of her infant sons have to have murdered as forced upon her by murderous trespassers. Not only was the outcome of her choice different from the book, but the trespassers in the novel were much more frightening and believable.
Martin went on to write that Helaena’s character in the book showed more courage by offering her own life to save her son’s instead of in the series just offering her jewelry. While Martin agrees that some changes were made for budget reasons, he did criticize Condal for taking creative liberties that will inevitably shift the storylines, ending the blog post with “there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if House of the Dragon goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated in seasons 3 and 4”. You can learn more about this feud in the Official Games of Thrones podcast where Condal says his peace on the matter.
‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ Promotes Experts to Show Regulars
Drew Barrymore is adding a little more celebrity to her daytime talk show. Valerie Bertinelli will join the talk show as a new member of the Drew Crew. Bertinelli will serve as a lifestyle expert. She will join co-anchor of “Drew’s News” Ross Matthews, celebrity stylist Chris Appleton, Project Runway All-Stars alum and fashion expert Zanna Roberts, and interior designer Mikel Welch. Also promoted to regular is Chef Pilar Valdes in the kitchen and sustainable living guru Danny Seo. The new season begins Monday, September 9.
We’re Here cancelled at Max after 4 seasons
Bosch: Legacy to end with Season 5 at Amazon Freevee, Prime Video
Beacon 23 cancelled after two seasons at MGM+
The Winter King cancelled after one season at MGM+
Only Murders in the Building renewed for Season 5 at Hulu
Sept 24 - Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval comedy special premieres on Netflix
Jan 12 - All Creatures Great and Small: Season 5 premieres on PBS Masterpiece
Pic of the Week: The Handmaid’s Tale: Final Season begins production for 2025 release date
Melissa McCarthy and Clive Owen cast as JonBenet Ramsey’s parents in new Paramount+ series about the infamous murder scandal
Patricia Arquette cast in the lead role in a limited series about the Murdaugh Family at Hulu
Jermaine Fowler joins Tracy Morgan in Paramount+ comedy series Crutch
HBO adds Josh Brolin as Hal Jordan in upcoming Green Lantern series
AMC’s Interview with the Vampire series spinoff The Talamasca cast Nicholas Denton (Dangerous Liaisons) in lead role
Poker Face: Season 2 to star Cynthia Erivo, Margo Martingale and BJ Novak
Bad Sisters’ Eve Hewson and The White Lotus’ Murray Bartlett cast in car racing comedy Downforce at Hulu
Reacher spinoff series in the works at Amazon
Damon Wayans, Jr developing a NYC-based firefighter drama at CBS
Widows Bay series at Apple TV+ about a mysteriously cursed New England island and its superstitious citizens.
Trailer of the Week: Kathy Bates in ‘Matlock’
More Trailers
The Diplomat: Season 2 (Netflix)
Joan (The CW)
Law & Order (NBC/Peacock)
Barney’s World (Max)
Grotesquerie (FX on Hulu)
A Very Royal Scandal (Prime Video)
Fire Country: Season 3
Happy Birthday 🎉
September 7
Jodie Turner-Smith, 38
Michael Emerson, 70
Evan Rachel Wood, 37
Dianne Farr, 55
Devon Sawa, 46
Shannon Elizabeth, 51
Corbin Bernsen, 70
Toby Jones, 58
J Smith Cameron, 67
Oliver Hudson, 48
September 8
Heather Thomas, 66
Martin Freeman, 52
Emma Laird, 25
Jonathan Taylor Thomas, 44
Gaten Matarazzo, 21
David Arquette, 52
P!nk, 44
Born on this Day: Peter Sellers (1925-1980)
Born Richard Henry Sellers to a family of actors in a suburb of Portsmouth. His parents worked in an acting company that was run by his grandmother. In his early years, Sellers enlisted in the Royal Air Force, serving in World War II. After returning from war, he learned to play the drums and impressions and later becoming the voices of many characters on the BBC radio program “The Goon Show”. That led him down a path to film making his debut in Penny Points to Paradise (1952) and Down Among the Z Men.
However, his first big break was playing a criminal in the 1995 film Ladykillers. Although a small role, it led him star as union man Fred Kite in I’m All Right Jack. That film led him to star in more comedies or films that used his comedic talent like in 1962’s Lolita where he played a mentally unbalanced TV writer with multiple personalities and another Stanley Kubrick film, Dr. Strangelove in 1964 for which he earned an Oscar nomination. He continued to be featured in other notable and career-lifting films like The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, and The World of Henry Orient.
So it was the time in the sixties of free love and drugs. Sellers was at the height of his career and on the evening of April 5, 1964 he suffered a near-fatal heart attack after inhaling amyl nitrates aka “poppers” while having sexual relations with his second wife Britt Ekland. Billy Wilder had to replace Sellers in his film Kiss Me, Stupid as it was in production when Sellers had a heart attack.
Sellers kept with comedy in the mid-sixties in 1965’s What’s New, Pussycat, and had newfound popularity with fans obsessed with all-things British like The Beatles and James Bond movies. However, Sellers had a big ego which made him notorious in Hollywood for not being easy to work with. Throughout the late sixties and early seventies he struggled to find a movie that would keep his career on the up.
In 1974, the character of Inspector Clouseau would be revived for television and writer/director Blake Edwards would hired Sellers to reprise his role. The series idea turned into a film instead with additional Pink Panther sequels, all of which turned out to be very successful at the box office.
His newly reestablished celebrity in the late seventies got him roles in Being There and another Oscar nomination for the Dustin Hoffman-Meryl Streep drama Kramer vs. Kramer.
Both Sellers’ physical and mental health was on the decline. He became erratic on set and his compulsive behavior would have him clashing with directors and actors during production. His heart health was also dire as he refused to take heart medication after his near-fatal heart attack. On July 24, 1980 at the age of 54, he collapsed from a massive heart attack at the Dorchester Hotel. He died at a London hospital and was survived by his three children and fourth wife, Lynne Frederick.
Peter Sellers’ most applauded films can be streamed today.
Being There (buy or rent on Apple TV+ or Prime Video)
The Pink Panther films (stream on Max)
The Party (stream on Tubi)
Casino Royale (stream on Tubi)
A Shot in the Dark (stream on Max)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Prime Video)
Lolita (stream on Tubi)