Open Thread

Deadline Hollywood reports: Michael Cole, who starred as Pete Cochran on the hit counterculture drama Mod Squad and later played Harlan Barrett on General Hospital during a 50-year acting career, has died. He was 84. Cole was one of the three young hippies-turned-cops alongside Julie (Peggy Lipton) and Link (Clarence Williams III) in Mod Squad, which debuted in September 1968 …

Variety reports: “Emilia Pérez” has a lot more to sing and dance about, raking in 10 nominations at Monday’s 2025 Golden Globe Awards nominations. Jacques Audiard’s charming drug cartel musical, acquired by Netflix out of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, scored the most nods out of any feature film contender. It’s up for best motion picture – musical or comedy, …

Variety reports: Alisyn Camerota, whose steadying presence on air helped make her a prominent face of CNN during the first Trump administration, is leaving the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed outlet, she disclosed via social media on Sunday. “Big News, Everyone! — today is my last day on CNN. Tune in at 4:50p (et) for my sign off. Keep it here for …

Variety reports: Golden Globe voters have received their ballots and are starting to consider their choices for the best work in film and television. With 15 film categories — six of them split between drama and comedy/musical — the Globes are a bellwether for the Oscars. Under the HFPA, the awards were criticized for favoring star power over quality. But …

Billboard Magazine reports: Kendrick Lamar is back with another massive week on Billboard’s charts, thanks to his new surprise album, GNX. Released without advance notice Nov. 22 on pgLand/Interscope/ICLG, GNX blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (dated Dec. 7) with 319,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. Concurrently, all 12 GNX tracks enter the Billboard Hot …

Billboard Magazine reports: Wicked has been making box-office history since it opened on Nov. 22. The long-awaited film adaptation of the 2003 Broadway musical has already grossed $372.9 million worldwide, a total topped by only three other films that were based on Broadway musicals. Seven film adaptations of Broadway musicals appear on Box Office Mojo’s list of the top 1,000 …

Variety reports: The Spotify Wrapped 2024 year-end data dive is out — and Taylor Swift is again at the top. Swift ranked as the No. 1 most-streamed artist globally in 2024 on Spotify, nabbing the crown for the second year in a row. That’s largely on the strength of her latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” which was the most-streamed …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Armie Hammer‘s gradual return to Hollywood continues, we can reveal, with a cameo appearance in a new music video from actress and singer Georgina Leahy. Hammer appears fleetingly in the pop track as a character called “Kannibal Ken” according to the song’s official YouTube credits. The song, titled Typical Squeeze, is about a rebellious woman who is …

Theatre Mania reports: Under the leadership of new artistic director Gavin Thrasher, the chorus of nearly 300 voices will perform holiday classics and unique seasonal offerings with a special twist, some of which have been part of the NYC Gay Men’s Chorus’s annual holiday concert tradition since the chorus’s founding 40 years ago. Selections include: “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” …

Deadline reports: The actor’s name is Slawomir Sobala and he plays “the most despised person in the world.” He knows he likely won’t receive any awards for his performance despite its power and timeliness and the personal risks in its physical production. His movie, titled Putin, opens January 10 on screens in 64 countries, including about 200 in the U.S. …

Deadline reports: The Thanksgiving stretch is delivering an unprecedented estimated $422M at the domestic box office. AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron says that this weekend is “a national phenomenon” when it comes to moviegoing. The Wednesday through Sunday tally for all movies breaks the previous Thanksgiving record for all titles from 2018. Distribution sources always felt we were in for …

Deadline reports: Romy and Michele are getting ever closer to another reunion: In a new interview, Mira Sorvino says a follow-up to the 1997 hit comedy Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion starring herself and Lisa Kudrow is “so close to being greenlit.” In the exclusive interview with People, Sorvino reports that a deal has been done with a director, …

Deadline reports: A small group of protesters who held Palestinian flags and anti-genocide posters briefly halted this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. The group — which has not been identified — jumped the protective barriers at W. 55th Street and Sixth Avenue where they sat on the ground and chanted “Free Palestine.” The group blocked the large …

Billboard Magazine reports: It’s official: Shaboozey‘s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” spends a 19th week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, tying the all-time record set by Lil Nas X’s Billy Ray Cyrus-featuring “Old Town Road” in 2019. The song holds at No. 1 the week the same week that his new single, “Good News,” debuts on …

Variety reports: Earl Holliman, the handsome actor who won a Golden Globe for his supporting role in “The Rainmaker” and appeared in numerous Westerns and dozens of films including “Giant” and “Forbidden Planet,” died Monday in Studio City. He was 96. His partner Craig Curtis announced his death. Holliman also starred in the first episode of “The Twilight Zone” in …

Variety reports: Everything’s still coming up Milhouse for Pamela Hayden. The actress, who has voiced Bart’s best friend on “The Simpsons” for 35 years, is retiring after Sunday night’s episode, “Treehouse of Horror Presents: Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes.” But Hayden said she has no regrets in parting ways with the long-running show. “How many actors can say they’ve worked …

Deadline reports: Robbie Williams has called for the music industry to create a support group for “young stars struggling with fame” following the death of former One Direction singer Liam Payne last month. Williams, who came to fame himself as a 16-year-old with the UK pop group Take That, spoke of his own struggles and hoped a “think tank of …

Variety reports: “Wicked” is pocketing lots of green, with the Universal release coming in on the upper side of projections to head toward the third-biggest domestic opening of the year. Now forecasting a $117 million sum for the weekend, that’d only be behind “Deadpool & Wolverine” ($211 million) and “Inside Out 2” ($151 million) among 2024 releases. And Paramount’s “Gladiator …

ABC News reports: “Wicked” hits theaters today. While fans of the musical may be looking forward to singing along, AMC Theaters thinks the “popular” choice is to remain quiet. The movie chain plans to play a 30-second advisory before the film, reminding moviegoers that “silence is golden.” That means no singing and no wailing. Fans will possibly be able to …

The Wrap reports: Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi have moved to rural England, put their Montecito estate on the market and plan to never return to the United States, telling friends the election of Donald Trump was their primary motivation, a person close to the former TV host told TheWrap. Though the incoming Republican administration was the cited …