television
Page: 10
It’s not a surprise that Homeward Bound: Grammy Salute to the Songs of Paul Simon, which aired on CBS on Wednesday Dec. 21, was so satisfying.
Paul Simon has long been regarded as one of our top songwriters. He won the 1970 Grammy for song of the year for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and was nominated in that category for “Mrs. Robinson” and “Graceland.” He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1982 and received that organization’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 1998. In 2007, he became the inaugural recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
Many of the participants on the two-hour special spoke warmly about Simon’s songs. Elton John recalled early days when he and Bernie Taupin would sit on the floor listening to Simon & Garfunkel’s Bookends through headphones and marvel at the songs and the sounds. Garth Brooks sai,d “When your stuff was playing, our house was a sweet place to be in.” Dustin Hoffman said, “The Graduate would not be The Graduate” without Simon’s songs. Sting, Herbie Hancock, Oprah Winfrey and actor Woody Harrelson also paid tribute to the master songwriter.
Ken Ehrlich, who was the producer or executive producer of the annual Grammy telecast for four decades from 1980-2020, executive produced this special (and co-wrote it with David Wild). Ehrlich’s talent, taste and connections are a big reason the show was so compelling.
Here are nine of the most memorable performances from the special, which is available to stream on demand on Paramount+.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Rodin Eckenroth / Getty
Mary J. Blige is taking the airwaves by storm as she’s poised to have her own talk show on BET next year thanks to a recent partnership deal.
According to reports, the star R&B singer has signed a deal with BET to produce scripted and unscripted content through her company, Blue Butterfly Productions. The first project from this deal coming into fruition is a new talk show called The Wine Down. The synopsis of the unscripted talk show has Blige as the host connecting with various guests from the worlds of entertainment, politics, sports and social media over a good bottle of wine.
“Throughout her legendary career, Mary has blazed trails to become a global superstar. With Blue Butterfly, Mary develops awe-inspiring stories of the Black experience while uniquely using music to set the foundation. Mary has been a vital part of the BET family and we are eager to see our partnership flourish through this partnership,” said Connie Orlando, BET’s executive vice president of specials, music planning, and strategy in a statement.
As part of the deal, BET will have first looks at unscripted projects through Blue Butterfly and second looks at scripted works. The Wine Down will have actress Taraji P. Henson and Yung Miami of the City Girls among its initial guests, with more to be announced at a later date. “BET has been one of my biggest supporters throughout my career,” said Blige in a statement. “Being able to now create together, for them to be so supportive of my vision for the type of content I will create, is something I am grateful and excited for. We already have multiple projects in the works and there is much more to come.”
Mary J. Blige has been steady at work on the small screen, thanks to her role as Cha-Cha in Netflix’s hit series The Umbrella Academy and her current role as the street-hardened matriarch Monet Tejada on the Starz series Power Book II: Ghost. A date for the premiere of The Wine Down hasn’t been announced.
Jessica Chastain says a scene was altered in George & Tammy with the help of co-star Michael Shannon to give country icon Tammy Wynette more agency in the Showtime limited series.
In the first episode of the series, based on Wynette’s personal and professional relationship with fellow musician George Jones, the duo is confronted with their future while Wynette is still married to her soon-to-be ex-husband Don Chapel.
In an interview with Marie Claire, the actress and producer on the Golden Globe-nominated show shared that, in an early outline of the scene, Jones gets Wynette alone by distracting Don with an escort. For Chastain, the sequence around this moment was upsetting.
“I read it, and I was deeply disturbed,” Chastain recalled. “[Tammy] was just kind of sitting there. People were creating stuff so she could be caught rather than her making decisions.”
Giving the country music icon and voice behind hit “Stand By Your Man” agency in her narrative was incredibly important to Chastain. “The song isn’t about being a doormat,” she said of Wynette’s famed single. “And the reality is Tammy Wynette was married five times.”
Ultimately, the subplot was nixed and during filming, Shannon would make a tweak of his own, changing a line that implied George didn’t acknowledge Wynette’s agency in their physical relationship into one that underscored it.
“[Michael] changed the line from, ‘Yes, I’m going to f— her’ — excuse the language — to ‘I sure would like to,’” Chastain remembered. “The second he said, ‘I sure would like to,’ it was like, ‘Oh, yes, this is happening.’ Because he sees her as someone who gets to make the decision. And that’s working with an actor who’s very aware he doesn’t own me.”
Shannon, who worked with Chastain on 2011’s Take Shelter and celebrated their shared collaborator Guillermo del Toro during his recent MoMA career tribute, said the line switch was a byproduct of them being “so in tune with one another.”
“The notion of sitting in front of another man and looking at a woman and proclaiming that you’re going to f— her seems a little neanderthal to me,” he said. “I mean, if I was the woman in question, I wouldn’t enjoy that so much.”
The scene is ultimately just one way Chastain saw to not just assert Wynette’s choices and humanity in the limited series about her life and relationship — “she made decisions in her life,” the actress noted — but ensuring she was equally respected within the storytelling.
“To be a producer, and to have a production company, means you get to police that in the writing,” she said. “You get to say, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. We need to honor women as human beings. And they make their own choices — just like men do.’”
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
Austin Butler brought his “casual” version of Elvis to Saturday Night Live, and SNL cast member Sarah Sherman graced the stage as “Jewish Elvis.”
Sherman’s “Jewish Elvis” was the star of Butler, Cecily Strong, and Ego Nwodim’s retirement home in a sketch Saturday night. Butler dressed like a grandma and appeared to be the performer’s biggest fan in the theater — even revealing a T-shirt under her blouse with her catch phrase, “This is a zizzaster!”
“The first night of Hanukkah, they really kick things off with a bang,” Strong says in the clip below.
“Oh my god, I’m so horny I’m gonna friggin’ explode,” exclaims Butler, who was the host of SNL for the night in an episode that featured Lizzo as musical guest.
“Oh! I’m like Niagara Falls over here,” adds Butler later in the sketch. “My chair is gonna friggin’ drown. Ruin me, Jewish Elvis!”
Butler at one point throws a pair of underwear on stage, and at another jumps on stage to kiss Sherman’s Elvis. (The actor starred as Elvis Presley himself in Baz Luhrmann’s film released this year.)
Watch the “Jewish Elvis” sketch to see how the retirement home performance ends.
Cecily Strong is the latest cast member to depart NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
Strong’s final show will be Saturday night’s (Dec. 17) edition. The news was announced Saturday on SNL’s social media accounts (see below).
She joined the sketch show, executive produced by Lorne Michaels, in 2012, its 38th season. Over the years, she created such characters as “The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party” and impersonated such celebrities as Kendall Jenner, Megyn Kelly and Liz Cheney.
It’s understood that the plan had been for Strong to return for only the first half of the current season. Fans had noticed her absence from the opening credits of the season premiere in October, but at the time she was appearing in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and thus was unable to tape SNL in New York.
Strong next stars in the second season of AppleTV+ Schmigadoon!, which is also executive produced by Michaels. She also took a hiatus from SNL while filming that series.
Strong follows on the heels of other cast members who have recently left SNL, including Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Pete Davidson.
Saturday night’s SNL features host Austin Butler and musical guest Lizzo.
Austin Butler tried to make a quick visit with Jimmy Fallon to get some advice before his SNL hosting gig this weekend. Instead of finding Fallon, he found an Elvis on the Shelvis in a skit for The Tonight Show.
“Who is this?” Butler — who starred in a biopic about rock ‘n’ roll icon Elvis Presley — asks in the skit, picking up the doll off the mantle.
Elvis on the Shelvis, played by Fallon, then comes to life for a musical performance.
“Well, I move around the house when I’m a-home alone/ You did what you did/ You done what you done/ Elvis on the Shelvis never tell no one,” Fallon’s Elvis sings.
“You’re going on the top of my tree,” Butler says after the Elvis on the Shelvis show.
Butler’s SNL episode with musical guest Lizzo airs Saturday (Dec. 17) on NBC.
Watch his clip with Fallon below.
As we collectively process yesterday’s season finale of The White Lotus — What happened between Ethan and Daphne on Isola Bella? Will Greg still inherit Tonya’s money? Did Cameron ever get his suitcase? — the show’s theme song has gotten a house remix from Los Angeles-based producer Enamour.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
On the edit, which you can listen to here, Enamour artist adds layers of percussion and a house bounce to the already hypnotically strange original, “Renaissance (Main Title Theme).” The remix extends the track to six and half minutes, making good use of the source material’s spooky turkey gobble vocals.
The Enamour remix has gotten rinsed by Mikey Lion, who played it during a set last weekend in Los Angeles. Forthcoming Enamour releases are coming via Factory 93, Anjuadeep, Days Like Nights.
The original White Lotus season two theme was composed by Cristobal Tapia De Veer, a Chilean-born Canadian film and television composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist who’s also worked on the scores for Utopia, Black Mirror and the first season of White Lotus, the theme song for which was a variation on that for season two.
For the second season, Tapia De Veer beefed up the theme’s beat and added some primal urgency to the shrieking vocals, with this original serving as something of a dance track in and of itself.
In related news, White Lotus star Jennifer Coolidge took part in a conversation with Ariana Grande during which she credited the pop star for helping launch her recent career renaissance.
“I’m curious if you know that when people ask about how my life has changed … Yes, I got to do White Lotus, but I think it really started with you asking me to be in the ‘Thank U, Next”‘ video,” the actress told Grande as part of her Entertainment Weekly Entertainers of the Year cover story published today (Dec. 12).
“I mean, from there I got Promising Young Woman and this whole thing,” she continued. “You were sort of the instigator. I really believe that. I think if you hadn’t put me in ‘Thank U, Next’ and done that imitation, I don’t think I would be here where I am.”
Miley Cyrus has announced some of the guests who will ring in 2023 with her and Dolly Parton for NBC’s annual New Year’s Eve special.
Cyrus stopped by The Tonight Show this weekend to have a chat with Jimmy Fallon about the upcoming holiday show, revealing that Sia, Latto and Rae Sremmurd are among the other musical artists who will be joining the festivities.
“Sia is coming. She’s one of my favorite artists,” Cyrus told Fallon.
She continued, “We have Latto.”
And Cyrus rounded out the reveal to announce the news that “Rae Sremmurd, who are friends of mine,” will be appearing. Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party is set to air on NBC Dec. 31, live from Miami.
“As we get closer to the show, I want to start revealing who else we have. But the lineup is very me. It is curated in a way that makes no sense, but makes total sense,” Cyrus explained.
Speaking of the theme of change around the new year, Fallon then asked Cyrus to give him a hand with shaving off his beard — which she agreed to do, but warned, “I don’t know what you’re gonna look like.”
Watch her Tonight Show clips below.
Succession‘s Kieran Culkin and Only Murders in the Building‘s Selena Gomez popped into the latest episode of Saturday Night Live for a Father of the Bride reunion.
Steve Martin and Martin Short both hosted the Dec. 10 show, which saw the comedic duo reprise their iconic characters, George Banks and wedding planner Franck Eggelhoffer, respectively, in a bit that riffed on the film and franchise sequels.
Culkin returned as a grown Matty Banks, while SNL castmembers took the family’s other various roles, including Chloe Fineman impersonating Diane Keaton in her role of mother Nina Banks and Heidi Gardner as the titular bride Annie, originally played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley. Bowen Yang also starred in the sketch, appearing as Howard Weinstein, second-in-command to Short’s Eggelhoffer — a role originated by BD Wong.
Returning to 24 Maple Dr., the Banks family is gearing up for yet another wedding for Annie, who is now 52 in Father of the Bride: Part 8. The imagined sequel follows Annie “three decades and seven divorces later,” as she opens her heart to the potential of marriage yet again.
In typical fashion, Martin’s George is dragging his feet, though this time it might be easier to understand why. “Annie, what makes you think I can afford another Nancy Meyers-style wedding?” he gasped. “I’m financially drained!”
“But daddy, I’m your little girl,” Gardner’s Annie whines before Martin snaps back, “You’re 52! Your mom started driving Lyft to pay for your last wedding.”
It’s quickly revealed that a shrimp tower and performances by Nicki Minaj were included in previous weddings, ceremonies orchestrated by none other than Yang’s Weinstein and Short’s Eggelhoffer, who is still using his signature and unintelligible accent.
“That’s right, Martin Short is back as the beloved wedding planner Franck doing an accent that I think is still OK,” the sketch’s voiceover says. “Let’s all agree it’s still OK.”
Culkin and Gomez make their appearances soon after, with the Succession star’s voiceover introduction hilariously acknowledging that audiences likely forgot the actor was in the film, but that it’s OK. “Did you forget that Kieran Culkin is in this movie? So did we, and so did he. But he was, and now he’s on Succession, so good for him.”
Gomez, who crashed Martin and Short’s monologue earlier in the night, ultimately makes an appearance as Annie’s wedding performer. “How much is she gonna cost me,” Martin asks before Gomez casually responds “$1.8 million easy.”
But it’s a price Martin’s George is willing to pay for his “little girl — my menopausal little girl,” he joked.
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
The SHOWTIME mini-series George & Tammy, based on the lives of country music legends George Jones and Tammy Wynette, premiered on Sunday (Dec. 4) with 3.3 million Live+Same Day linear viewers across Showtime, Paramount Network and CMT, with SHOWTIME calling the series the most-watched premiere in its nearly 50-year history.
The series, starring Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon, chronicles the lives of one of country music’s most well-known couples. Though Jones and Wynette were wed for only six years (1969-1975), they are inextricably linked in the canon of country music, known for both their own solo hits, as well as a string of hit duets including “We’re Gonna Hold On,” “(We’re Not) The Jet Set,” “Golden Ring” and “Two Story House.” The series unfurls the both the tumultuous and romantic aspects of their relationship, with the first episode, “The Race Is On,” centering on Wynette’s whirlwind romance with Jones while still married to songwriter Don Chapel.
“George & Tammy made history as the most watched SHOWTIME premiere ever, thanks to the mesmerizing performances of Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon,” said Chris McCarthy, president/CEO of Showtime & Paramount Media Networks, via a statement. “The riveting and complicated tale of the king and queen of county music is a testament to the creative firepower of Abe Sylvia and our incredible partners at Freckle Films and 101 Studios, led by David Glasser.”
The series is based on the book The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George, which was written by the couple’s daughter Georgette Jones, who is also a singer-songwriter (Wynette also had three children with former husband Euple Byrd). Future episodes will air exclusively on SHOWTIME on-air, on demand and streaming.