JMG Community

Deadline reports: Tom T. Hall, a Country Music Hall of Famer who wrote “Harper Valley P.T.A.” and was known for such songs as “I LIke Beer,” died today at home in Franklin, TN, according to his son. He was 85. No cause of death was given. A consummate country songwriter, Hall is known for the such classics as “That’s How …

Deadline reports: Broadcaster Nexstar Media said Friday it’s buying The Hill, a leading purveyor of Beltway news, for $130 million as it expands in digital content. The Hill had 48 million average monthly users and 2.2 billion total pageviews in 2020 according to Comscore and attracted more than 4 million followers and 914 million video views on Twitter. It has …

Deadline Hollywood reports: The Television Academy said Thursday that attendees at next month’s Primetime Emmys Awards and Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be required to provide a negative Covid test in addition to being fully vaccinated. This year’s ceremonies are being limited to nominees and a guest with the rise of the Delta variant this summer hampering the return to …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Johnny Depp is complaining that Hollywood is boycotting him, but a Virginia judge just handed the Minamata star a big win in his $50 million defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard. Already pursuing $100 million counterclaim, the Aquaman star attempted a Hail Mary move in April to have Fairfax County Chief Judge Penney Azcarate dismiss the two-year old …

Variety reports: Netflix has released the first look of Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana and Dominic West as Prince Charles in “The Crown.” Season 5, which started production in the U.K. last month, features Debicki as the princess through the early 1990s and West as her estranged husband. Debicki takes over from Emma Corrin, who played Diana in season 4 …

Gothamist reports: Spike Lee’s new four-part “documentary essay,” called NYC EPICENTERS 9/11 ➔ 2021½, brings viewers through the past twenty years using a New York City lens. Set to hit HBO on August 22nd, the docuseries begins in 2020, recounting the pandemic, the demonstrations in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and “the civil unrest and police brutality that …

Variety reports: Despite concerns the delta variant would keep moviegoers at home, Ryan Reynolds’ sci-fi action comedy “Free Guy” had a better-than-expected start at the domestic box office. The movie, from Disney and 20th Century Studios, collected $26 million from 4,165 North American theaters. Given its production budget above $100 million, those ticket sales wouldn’t be much to celebrate in …

Variety reports: Broadway’s revival of “West Side Story” will not be returning to the Great White Way when theaters reopen later in the year. “It is with great regret that we are announcing today that the 2020 Broadway revival of ‘West Side Story’ will not reopen,” producer Kate Horton said in a statement. Broadway has been dark since March 2020, …

NPR reports: All the rumors are true: Lizzo has returned with a bop. “Rumors” works a familiar formula into a groovy, deep-bass synth and triumphant horns as Lizzo clears haters with a smile: “If you thought that I was ratchet with my ass hangin’ out / Just wait until the summer when they let me out the house, bitch.” Fresh …

Variety reports: Britney Spears’ father, Jamie Spears, has agreed to step down from his daughter’s conservatorship. The turn of events is a massive win for the international pop star, who has been under a conservatorship for 13 years, ever since Spears placed his famous daughter under the court-ordered arrangement in 2008 when she suffered a very public breakdown. But, in …

Variety reports: Tituss Burgess is stacking the aces and loading the dice to get to Easy Street as Rooster in NBC’s production of “Annie Live!” In “Annie Live!,” Burgess will portray the sleazy Rooster, younger brother of main villain Miss Hannigan (played by Taraji P. Henson), in this live holiday production of the classic musical. Rooster escapes from jail and …

Billboard Magazine reports: The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” adds another honor to its already historic Billboard Hot 100 run, spending a record-tying 87th week on the chart (dated Aug. 14). It equals the run of Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive,” which logged its time on the tally in 2012-14. “Blinding Lights,” released on XO/Republic Records, bowed on the Hot 100 dated Dec. 14, …

New from our pal Matt Baume: In 1977, the popular cop show Starsky and Hutch tackled a murder mystery centered around a Los Angeles gay bar, complete with a depiction of queer life that’s surprisingly nuanced for the late 70s. Then, less than a decade later, an episode of Murder She Wrote featured a similar storyline, but this time the …

Variety reports: Dennis “Dee Tee” Thomas, a co-founder of soul-funk outfit Kool & the Gang, died on Saturday, his reps confirmed to Variety. He was 70. According to a press release, Thomas died “peacefully in his sleep” in New Jersey. Thomas had just performed with Kool & the Gang at their Los Angeles show at the Hollywood Bowl, which kicked …

Deadline Hollywood reports: As recent polls show Gavin Newsom at significant risk of being ousted in the Sept. 14 recall election, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Casey Wasserman and Andrew Hauptman are among the names chairing a fundraiser next week for the California governor. The Aug. 12 virtual event also is chaired by Van Fletcher and Skip Paul and Stephanie and Mark Robinson. …

The Week reports: A report from Variety this week revealed that Richards, the executive producer of Jeopardy!, is in “advanced negotiations” to succeed Alex Trebek as host. The idea of ending the lengthy job search for Trebek’s replacement by giving the role to the show’s own producer already drew some pushback on social media, especially from fans who wanted the …

Deadline reports: Deadline has confirmed that employees at Amazon Studios are now expected to return to office on Jan. 3, 2022. That’s in line with the rest of the Amazon’s corporate employees in the U.S. and some foreign countries. Originally, Amazon employees were looking to return the week of Sept. 7 after working remotely from home. Amazon won’t require workers …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Jane Fonda explored running for California’s governor in this year’s recall election, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, but ultimately decided to support Gavin Newsom, who is trying to retain his seat in the September 14 election. According to the report in the Chronicle, there were some discussions about putting up a progressive candidate …

Deadline reports: A new statewide poll of 1,000 registered voters shows a virtual dead heat between Californians who want to see Governor Gavin Newsom recalled and those who don’t. The Inside California Politics/Emerson College poll, conducted July 30-August 1, 2021, found 46% of respondents in favor of recalling Newsom and 48% of voters against his recall. Those numbers are within …

Variety reports: Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine has been sold for north of $900 million to a media company backed by the private-equity firm Blackstone Group Inc. Witherspoon and Sarah Harden, Hello Sunshine’s CEO, will join the board of the new company and will continue to oversee day-to-day operations. They will also remain significant equity holders. “Today marks a tremendous moment …