Open Thread

Variety reports: “Saturday Night Live”‘s cold open focused on the national drama surrounding hard-fought elections in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona in the opening sketch of Season 48’s fourth episode. Portraying Dr. Mehmet Oz, cast member Mikey Day, donned a Phillies hat and awkwardly spoke of having a delicious “Philadelphia Cheese and Steak.” Day, as Oz, referred to his Democratic rival …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas will air Thursday, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Musical guests Jimmy Fallon, Willie Nelson, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jimmie Allen, Zach Williams and Miley Cyrus join Dolly on the special. Tom Everett Scott, Angel Parker and Ana Gasteyer also star. The film is described as a modern-day movie musical about …

Deadline reports: Shelley Duvall (The Shining) is gearing up to return to screens via The Forest Hills — an indie horror-thriller from writer-director Scott Goldberg, which marks her first project in 20 years. Also starring Edward Furlong, Chiko Mendez and Dee Wallace, The Forest Hills follows a disturbed man who is tormented by nightmarish visions, after enduring head trauma while …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Hocus Pocus 2 set a record for streaming minutes by a movie on Nielsen’s weekly chart, drawing more than 2.7 billion minutes of viewing from September 26 to October 2. The Disney sequel premiered on September 30, meaning only its first weekend counted toward the total. Netflix’s Dahmer took the top spot easily with almost 4.4 billion …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: Jules Bass, the animator, producer, director and composer who partnered with Arthur Rankin Jr. on the stop-motion holiday TV specials Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, has died. He was 87. Bass died Tuesday at an assisted living facility in Rye, New York, publicist Jennifer Fisherman Ruff told …

CNN reports: The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be honored with a new postage stamp in 2023, the US Postal Service announced Monday. Ginsburg, a longtime liberal member of the high court who died at age 87 in 2020, will be featured on a forever stamp that shows an oil painting of her “facing the viewer in …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Tributes are pouring in for beloved actor Leslie Jordan. Jordan, remembered for his portrayal of Beverley Leslie, on sitcom Will & Grace, among numerous other credits, died this morning in a single-car crash in Hollywood. Jordan played the Beverley Leslie character during Will & Grace‘s original run and when it was brought back in the late 2010s. …

Deadline reports: The massive injuries suffered by author Salman Rushdie have been confirmed by his agent, who says Rushdie has lost eyesight in one of his eyes and use of one of his hands. Agent Andrew Wylie told Spain’s El País about Rushdie’s condition, but would not say if the author was still hospitalized. He did note that Rushdie is …

Deadline reports: Channel 4 has sidelined news anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy for one week after he was caught on tape describing Tory MP Steve Baker as a “cunt” following an interview. Guru-Murthy made the remark, which was not broadcast on television but was later picked up on a livestream, after an interview with Baker, during which he discussed Liz Truss’s government …

Variety reports: A woman who accused “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson of raping her in April 2003 said Friday that she fears retaliation from the Church of Scientology for testifying against him. The woman, who prefers to be identified as Jane Doe #1, told a jury that she fears the church could also go after her three children. She …

Variety reports: Elon Musk could be set to slash Twitter’s headcount drastically once his $44 billion deal for the social network goes through. The mega-billionaire has told potential investors in the Twitter deal that he plans to lay off almost 75% the company’s staff, or about 5,500 employees, to reduce the size of its workforce from 7,500 to just over …

Variety reports: Three-time Tony winner Patti LuPone isn’t leaving Broadway. Despite her recent move to give up her Actor’s Equity card, which fans took as a sign of her impending retirement, she says she’s just taking a break. “I just gave up my equity card, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t perform on-stage,” LuPone told Variety. “Whoever’s in charge …

Variety reports: “Terrifier 2” has become an unexpected box office hit this Halloween movie season. Writer-director Damien Leone’s gory sequel to his 2016 killer clown cult hit shocked the industry over the weekend when it grossed just over $1 million at the domestic box office, up 28% from its $805,000 debut the weekend before. While these grosses may seem low, …

Deadline Hollywood reports: HBO Max has dropped the first footage of Peter Billingsley in his return as Ralphie in the upcoming A Christmas Story Christmas, the sequel to the classic holiday pic A Christmas Story. The brief teaser trailer opens with a panoramic look at the Parkers’ living room, an exact replica of the way it appeared in the 1983 …

Deadline reports: Joyce Sims, whose 1980s hit “Come Into My Life” reached the Top 10 in the US and UK, has died at 63, her family confirmed. No cause of death was given. Sims was touring in the UK as recently as this summer, and had an album released planned for later this year. Her first hit, “All and All,” …

Deadline reports: Netflix faces a number of courtly challenges in the next couple of months, as it prepares to debut both the fifth season of The Crown, and a documentary starring the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Season 5 of The Crown is set to launch on November 5, and already there are rumblings by commentators in the UK that …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: David Gordon Green’s Halloween Ends scared up a healthy $5.4 million in Thursday previews at the domestic box office. From Universal, Miramax and Blumhouse, Halloween Ends stars Jamie Lee Curtis in her final turn as Laurie Strode. The movie hopes to clear $50 million-plus in its domestic debut, despite also being made available simultaneously on Universal’s …

Variety reports: After years of Netflix execs spurning the idea of serving up commercials to viewers, the streaming giant is flipping the switch on its first cheaper, ad-supported plan next month. Netflix Basic With Ads will launch in the U.S. on Nov. 3 at 9 a.m. PT, priced at $6.99 per month, the company announced. The cheaper plan will be …

Deadline Hollywood reports: A promotion for House of the Dragon during last night’s New York Yankees-Cleveland Guardians playoff baseball game on TBS is continuing to draw online eyerolls the day after the stunt. Fox pioneered the notion of wedging network pom-pom moments into its fall baseball coverage. But what mostly soured a vocal assortment of viewers and media watchers was …

Variety reports: Tom Cruise will “hopefully” become “the first civilian to do a spacewalk” outside of the International Space Station when he blasts off to space to shoot a new action movie with director Doug Liman. Donna Langley, the head of Universal Pictures, teased as much during a recent BBC interview. Universal is backing the Cruise space project, which reportedly …