Open Thread

The Hollywood Reporter reports: Norm Crosby, the stand-up comedian who spent more than five decades amusing and bemusing audiences in nightclubs and on television as the “Master of the Malaprop,” has died. He was 93. Crosby died Saturday of heart failure at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. The likable Boston native also appeared as a regular on …

Variety reports: The latest episode of “Star Trek: Discovery” includes a storyline that viewers have almost certainly never seen before on a major television series: A romance between a non-binary character, a human named Adira, and trans character, a Trill named Gray. What’s more, Adira and Gray are played respectively by the non-binary actor Blu del Barrio and the trans …

Variety reports: Johnny Depp will no longer portray the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in the “Fantastic Beasts” film franchise, the actor announced Friday. “I wish to let you know that I have been asked to resign by Warner Bros. from my role as Grindelwald in ‘Fantastic Beasts’ and I have respected and agreed to that request,” he wrote Friday on …

Variety reports: Christmas is now underway on radio across the country, as stations flip to all-holiday formats a bit earlier than usual. In some smaller markets, such as WWIZ in Youngstown, Pa., the move to wall-to-wall seasonal tunes happened as early as late September. But this week, major stations in key cities such as Los Angeles’ KOST also flipped the …

Playbill reports: Paul Harvey, an 80-year-old former music teacher and composer living with dementia, has captured the heart of England after a video of Harvey improvising a sweeping, romantic piece of music at the piano posted by son Nick went viral. Following a radio broadcast of the tune—titled “Four Notes”—on BBC Radio 4, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra’s Daniel Whibley gave it …

Playbill reports: Hamilton Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr. has partnered with bipartisan election advocacy organization RepresentUs to release a new music video performance of Hamilton’s “Wait For It,” encouraging citizens to believe in the efficacy of elections and to wait for their officiated results. The video is released on Election Day 2020 in an election cycle that has been marked …

The New York Times reports: The first polls will close at 6 p.m. Eastern time in parts of Indiana and Kentucky. Then there will be a steady stream of poll closings, every hour and sometimes every 30 minutes, until the last polls in Alaska shut down at 1 a.m. Eastern time. In a normal year, results would start flowing in …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Presidential candidate Kanye West isn’t evidently pinning too many hopes on winning the election after setting an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! The rapper will feature on the ABC late-night show on Wednesday November 4. West has qualified for ballot access in 12 states but his run hasn’t been particularly smooth as he lost appeals in five …

Playbill reports: There are few things we can count on in these uncertain times, but this we know to be true: If John Mulaney is hosting Saturday Night Live, there will be showtunes. The comedian and Oh, Hello star/co-creator did not disappoint Broadway enthusiasts as emcee of the Halloween episode, bringing musicals back to life in a Times Square souvenir …

New from our pal Matt Baume: Why do all these homosexuals keep kissing Roseanne? That’s the question on everyone’s lips, but there was only one thing on Roseanne’s lips in 1994 and that was Muriel Hemmingway, on one of the most controversial TV episodes of the decade. The sitcom Roseanne featured way more queer characters than other shows of the …

Variety reports: Taylor Swift approved her song “Only the Young” for a pro-Joe Biden advertisement, a source close to the situation confirms to Variety. The song, from the Netflix documentary “Taylor Swift: Miss Americana,” appears in a new Biden ad that made the rounds on social media on Friday, four days before the 2020 election. California’s Democratic representative Eric Swalwell …

Variety reports: Here comes another price hike for Netflix customers in the U.S.: The streaming giant is raising the price of the Standard two-stream HD plan, its most popular package, by about 8% — going from $12.99 per month to $13.99. In addition, Netflix’s Premium tier (with four streams and including 4K Ultra HD content) is going up by $2, …

Variety reports: MGM has delayed “Respect,” the Aretha Franklin biopic starring Jennifer Hudson, by seven months from Jan. 15 to Aug. 13 in the latest shuffle of a major title amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The studio also announced Tuesday that it has removed “Tomb Raider 2,” starring Alicia Vikander, from its March 19 release date. “Respect,” titled after Franklin’s …

Variety reports: Netflix’s “The Midnight Sky,” an apocalyptic sci-fi drama starring and directed by George Clooney, offers insight into a possible future where unspecified destruction renders the earth uninhabitable. In a trailer released on Tuesday, Clooney’s character is searching for a way to warn other survivors against returning to Earth after a global catastrophe. The film, based on Lily Brooks-Dalton’s …

Deadline Hollywood reports: The near final numbers are in and 60 Minutes‘ election edition looks to have taken down Sunday Night Football, the World Series and pretty much everything else on TV since the Oscars. With 17 million viewers, the sit-downs with Lesley Stahl and Norah O’Donnell (and one petulant POTUS walk-off) with Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Adele made her Saturday Night Live hosting debut last night, but instead of bringing her musical talent to the Studio 8H stage, the Grammy-winning singer brought it to The Bachelor mansion. In a skit inspired by the ABC dating series, Adele joined a number of cast members a potential matches for Beck Bennett’s bachelor. “I’m here because …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie has announced on Facebook that he is retiring after a 50-year career of performing and acting. Guthrie said ill health caused by a series of strokes led him to acknowledge that he was no longer up for the road. The pandemic and its cancellations also played a part in his decision to hang things …

Playbill reports: The teaser trailer for The Prom on Netflix has dropped—and it’s full of “Zazz” with stars Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, Andrew Rannells, and newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman. As previously announced, the film adaptation of the Tony-nominated musical debuts December 11 on the streaming giant. Directed by Ryan Murphy, the movie features Streep as Dee Dee Allen, …

Deadline Hollywood reports: A holiday musical featuring country and pop music superstar Dolly Parton is set for a November 22 bow on Netflix, and the first trailer is now out to pave the way. In Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square, a rich and nasty woman, Regina Fuller, returns to her small hometown after her father’s death to evict everyone …

Playbill reports: Check out Taylor Iman Jones, Ashley de la Rosa, and more stars from the various national tours of Hamilton singing “The Schuyler Sisters” to rally the vote below. Rounding out the group of performers are Angelicas Marja Harmon, Sabrina Sloan, and Ta’Rea Campbell; Elizas Zoe Jenson, Victoria Ann Scovens, and Joanna A. Jones, and Taylor Iman Jones and …