Open Thread

Variety reports: “Yellowstone” actor Forrie J. Smith will not attend the upcoming Screen Actors Guild Awards due to rules requiring all attendees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The “Yellowstone” cast is nominated in the top category of ensemble in a television drama alongside “Succession,” “Squid Game,” “The Morning Show” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.” “I want to apologize to y’all for …

Variety reports: Here’s the logline for the Discovery Plus project: “With more than 150,000 global members, Hillsong has recently been entangled in scandal. ‘Hillsong: A Megachurch Exposed’ will profile numerous ex-members of the church who have come forward to share harrowing allegations of the trauma, abuse, financial and labor exploitation that created a culture of chaos within the church. The …

Deadline Hollywood reports: ViacomCBS is rebranding to become Paramount Global, effective Feb. 16, the latest giant pivot in a rapidly transforming media and entertainment landscape. It’s the name of the company’s storied studio and its centerpiece streaming network Paramount+, which launched in March of 2021. “An iconic global company deserves an iconic global name. One that reflects the power of …

Variety reports: Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes are finalizing details to host this year’s Academy Awards, multiple sources told Variety. The three comic forces appear to be the only emcees in the mix for the March awards show, despite several scenarios that telecast creatives have been weighing. Producer Will Packer has been in meetings for weeks trying to …

Deadline Hollywood reports: CBS is getting into wordplay. The network has ordered a primetime game show reboot of long-running format Lingo with RuPaul Charles to host. The series, which will premiere this year, is a cross between bingo and a word guessing game. It comes as word games are all the jazz, with The New York Times recently acquiring online …

Variety reports: Billionaire developer Rick Caruso filed to run for mayor of Los Angeles on Friday afternoon, ending months of speculation and shaking up the crowded race to succeed Eric Garcetti. A onetime Republican, Caruso is best known as the builder of the Grove and the Americana at Brand shopping centers, among others. He is also a former Los Angeles …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Actress Tara Reid (Van Wilder, American Pie) has launched development on Mikey and Miguel, an adult animated LGBTQ+ sitcom, in which she will also star. The show taking inspiration from Will & Grace and Family Guy is billed as a half-hour, animated joyride through modern-day LGBTQ+ parenthood, full of adult humor, saucy, scenes and heartfelt moments in …

The New York Times reports: Sting has sold his songwriting catalog, including hits with the Police like “Every Breath You Take” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” and solo work like “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free,” to the Universal Music Group, in music’s latest blockbuster catalog deal. The transaction, announced on Thursday by Universal’s music publishing …

Variety reports: Good news, everyone! “Futurama” is being revived at Hulu. Variety has learned that the streaming service has ordered 20 new episodes of the adult animated sci-fi comedy series. The revival hails from David X. Cohen and Matt Groening. Cohen developed the original series with Groening, the series creator. Original series cast members Billy West, Katey Sagal, Tress MacNeille, …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Sherri Shepherd is finalizing a deal to become a permanent host on The Wendy Williams Show, sources tell Deadline. Along with fellow actor Michael Rapaport, Shepherd emerged as the lead guest hosts on the show, filling in on a regular basis for Williams since the beginning of the 13th season as the veteran talk show host took …

Billboard Magazine reports: When Shaylee Curnow — better known to her fans as Peach PRC — set out to record her latest single, the Australian TikTok star had a specific vision in mind: a sarcastic, flippant track making fun of God. Weeks later, that song, aptly titled “God Is A Freak,” has officially been released via Republic Records. Throughout the …

Variety reports: After living through nearly two years of a pandemic that won’t end, Americans, as it turns out, were in desperate need of a laugh. That may explain why Paramount’s go-for-broke action comedy “Jackass Forever” triumphed at the domestic box office while Roland Emmerich’s disaster epic “Moonfall” turned into an epic disaster. The science-fiction catastrophe film crash-landed on the …

Variety reports: Among Spotify users, 19% said they have already canceled their service — or plan to — over the Rogan uproar, according to a Feb. 1 consumer poll conducted by Forrester Research. The study also found that 54% of those who use Spotify have no intention of canceling their subscription, while 18.5% said they would considering canceling only if …

The New York Times reports: James Bidgood, who elevated erotic gay photography to an art in the 1960s and ’70s with his carefully staged phantasmagoric pictures, and who was the anonymous director behind “Pink Narcissus,” a gay film released in 1971 that became something of a cult classic, died on Jan. 31 in Manhattan. He was 88. Brian Paul Clamp, …

Variety reports: The 2022 Oscar nominations are nearly here, and on Thursday morning the Academy announced that actors Tracee Ellis Ross and Leslie Jordan will be on hand to announce the nominees next week. Ross (“Black-ish,” “The High Note”) and Jordan (“Will & Grace,” “The Help”) will host a live presentation of the 2022 Oscar nominations on Tuesday, Feb. 8, …

Variety reports: David Crosby and Stephen Stills have joined Neil Young and Graham Nash in asking their labels to remove their collective recordings from Spotify. According to the announcement, in support of stopping harmful misinformation about Covid-19 on Joe Rogan’s Spotify-hosted podcast, the musicians have decided to remove their records from the streaming platform including the recordings of Crosby, Stills, …

ESPN reports: Brian Flores has sued the NFL and three teams — the Dolphins, the Broncos and the Giants — alleging discrimination regarding his interview processes with Denver and New York and his firing last month by Miami. Flores claims Dolphins owner Stephen Ross attempted to incentivize him to “tank” or purposely lose games shortly after he was hired in …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: More than two years after it was first announced, filming has begun the Grease prequel TV series. Originally titled Rydell High and ordered at HBO Max before moving to Paramount+ and gaining a new title, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies has unveiled its cast and begun production in Vancouver. Set four years before the beloved …

Variety reports: Howard Hesseman, a prolific character actor who became a beloved TV mainstay through his roles on sitcoms “WKRP in Cincinnati” and “Head of the Class,” died Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles of complications from colon surgery he had undergone last summer. He was 81 years old. Hesseman found his most iconic role playing radio DJ Dr. …

Variety reports: Spotify’s market capitalization fell about $2.1 billion over a three-day span this week, coming after folk rocker Neil Young yanked his songs from the audio-streaming giant to protest Joe Rogan’s misinformation-spreading podcast. Shares of Spotify fell 6% from Jan. 26-28. Over the same time period, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 1.7% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average …