In the days after last weekend’s premiere of “Surviving R. Kelly” — the harrowing Lifetime documentary in which multiple women level detailed accusations of sexual misconduct against the singer — public outcry against him has reached fever pitch, particularly for RCA Records, his longstanding label, to end its relationship with him. As of this writing, Kelly
Universal Pictures is moving Jordan Peele’s horror-thriller “Us” back a week to March 22 to build more buzz following its selection as the opening title of the South by Southwest Film Festival. “Us,” which follows a family confronted by a group of doppelgängers, stars Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, and Elisabeth Moss. Nyong’o and Duke play
January 8, 2019 4:12PM PT St. Vincent has plans in the works to produce a new album for ’90s girl-band Sleater-Kinney in 2019. The indie rock artist behind 2015’s Grammy-winning best alternative music album, “St. Vincent,” announced the news on Twitter Tuesday along with a photo of the artists together in the studio. Entering the
Lifetime says its six-part documentary series “Surviving R. Kelly” garnered an average of 2.1 million total viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings. The series, which included interviews with #MeToo founder and civil rights activist Tarana Burke, musician John Legend and others, documents the decades of sexual abuse allegations against the R&B artist. It aired across
In today’s TV News Roundup, Amazon sets the release date for upcoming docuseries “Lorena.” FIRST LOOKS [embedded content] Netflix has released the trailer for the fifth of “Grace and Frankie,” which stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as women who became unlikely friends after their husbands left them for each other. In the new season they are dealing
January 8, 2019 3:04PM PT Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx issued a plea for possible victims of sexual abuse by the hands of R. Kelly to come forward as Lifetime series “Surviving R. Kelly” places a spotlight on allegations against the musician. During a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Foxx called the allegations in
Hulu’s accelerating year-over-year subscriber growth has brought it to the 25 million milestone. But continued questions linger about the platform’s profitability and programming, particularly as Disney looks to further its own streaming ambitions following the integration of Fox’s entertainment assets. The 48% jump from the prior year outpaces Hulu’s 40% gain in SVOD and live-TV
Amazon Alexa is coming to compatible Razer devices via Razer Synapse 3 in the second quarter of the year, Razer announced Tuesday from CES. The company also announced that its Razer Chroma Connected Devices Program is officially live with 15 new partners. This means over 300 devices now work with Razer Chroma-enabled games and applications, according
January 8, 2019 1:30PM PT The potential continuation of “NYPD Blue” at ABC is bringing back some familiar faces. Kim Delaney will reprise her role as Det. Diane Russell in the pilot, while Bill Brochtrup will return in the role of Police Administrative Assistant John Irvin. They join previously announced new cast member Alona Tal, who
January 8, 2019 1:24PM PT TCL is giving the label “smart TV” a whole new meaning at CES: The Chinese consumer electronics company showed off a TV set that analyzes the visual content of a video, and then changes color tones accordingly. The demo on display on the show floor Tuesday was able to identify
Lindsay Lohan is making a comeback. The former child star and tabloid magnet, now 32-years-old and living permanently in Dubai, is reinventing herself with a hospitality business in Greece. With the debut of her latest beach club in Mykonos, Lohan is making a return to the spotlight with an MTV reality show, “Lindsay Lohan’s Beach
Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston have a Herculean task this weekend: Taking on “Aquaman.” Hart and Cranston co-star in STX Films and Lantern Entertainment’s “The Upside,” one of the three movies opening nationwide on Friday that will have to compete with reigning box office champ, “Aquaman.” And unless a new title (the other two releases
We’ll preface this by saying yes, ugly sneakers may not be for you. But there are five stages to loving and accepting the divisive style. 1) Initial Denial: You’re confused as to why anyone would choose mutant dad kicks. 2) Deep Disgust: Their omnipresent existence makes your skin crawl. 3) Bargaining: “Maybe if they were
NBC’s long-running daytime television series, “Days of Our Lives,” has been renewed for a record-breaking 55th season. Recently having aired its 13,500th episode in 2018, this renewal firmly establishes the iconic, 57-time Emmy Award-winning soap as the network’s longest running program, having been on television since 1965. Set in the fictional Midwestern town of Salem,
Despite rumors of their death, gaming phones are still alive and well, but they’ve got a long way to go before they’re widely adopted. That doesn’t mean that the growing list of smartphones with features created with the gamer in mind — from a faster display to better audio to physical controls — don’t have
U.S. consumer spending on home entertainment hit a new record in 2018, buoyed by subscription streaming as well as transactional video-on-demand (TVOD), DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group announced Jan. 8. Total consumer spending on home entertainment during the year shot up to an estimated $23.3 billion, up 11.5% from 2017, the DEG said, noting that
Daniel Dae Kim is stepping out from behind the scenes of ABC’s “The Good Doctor.” In addition to serving as an executive producer on the popular medical drama, Kim will also appear on Season 2 of the show in the recurring role of Dr. Jackson Han, a brash new chief of surgery at St. Bonaventure. Dr.
Jordan Peele’s horror-thriller “Us” will launch the 26th edition of the South by Southwest Film Festival on March 8. “Us,” which follows a family confronted by a group of doppelgängers, stars Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, and Elisabeth Moss. Nyong’o and Duke play a couple who are taking their children to their beach house. The movie
January 8, 2019 11:00AM PT Sonos has started a private beta test of Google Assistant on its smart speakers, and is looking to launch the integration to the public this year. Google Assistant will be directly integrated into speakers with voice input, while older models will work in conjunction with Google Home and similar smart
Google used its massive presence at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas Tuesday to tout a number of new Google Assistant integrations, as well as a range of new features for the AI assistant. One of the entirely new Assistant-based devices debuting at the show is the Lenovo Smart Clock, a 4-inch smart
The Directors Guild of America is largely considered the top Oscar season barometer. Only twice has a film won the Academy Award for best picture without a nomination from this group: Laurence Olivier’s “Hamlet” in 1948 and Bruce Beresford’s “Driving Miss Daisy” in 1989. So with those statistics in tow, and with this year’s DGA
January 8, 2019 10:52AM PT Bill Simmons’ Ringer Films is partnering with HBO on “Showbiz Kids,” a documentary about children in the entertainment business. The film will feature interviews and examinations of the lives and careers of the most famous former child actors in the world. It will be directed by Alex Winter, a former
If the president says it, is it breaking news? The Big Four broadcast networks have come down hard on one side of the issue — all agreeing to air President Donald Trump’s prime-time address on immigration and the U.S. border with Mexico. The speech comes exactly three weeks before Trump’s State of the Union Address
Kurt Patat has been named YouTube’s Global Head of Consumer and Entertainment Communications, the company announced today, overseeing consumer, music, creator and YouTube Originals communications teams. According to the announcement, he will direct all communications strategies and campaigns to drive YouTube’s 1.9 billion users to the brand’s premium and ad-supported entertainment content, including original series,
January 8, 2019 10:30AM PT In keeping with Fox’s renewed push into unscripted programming, the broadcaster has ordered a new version of the reality competition series “Paradise Hotel.” The original series first aired on Fox in 2003. International versions have since been produced in more than 18 countries. It follows a group of singles who check
The Directors Guild of America has nominated Alfonso Cuaron for “Roma,” Bradley Cooper for “A Star Is Born,” Spike Lee for “BlacKkKlansman,” Adam McKay for “Vice,” and Peter Farrelly for “Green Book” for its top feature film award. Cooper also received a DGA nomination for its first-time director award on Tuesday, along with Bo Burnham
January 8, 2019 10:02AM PT Bret Baier will continue to deliver his “Special Report” to Fox News Channel viewers for the forseeable future, after he and the 21st Century Fox-owned cable-news unit signed a new multi-year deal. Baier will continue as anchor and executive editor of his 6 p.m. program as well as chief political anchor
Riot Games partnered with Alienware for exclusive use of its hardware during official esports competitions, the companies announced Tuesday at CES 2019, in Las Vegas. Alienware will power the esports competitions of “League of Legends” as official display partner in major events, including the “League of Legends” Championship Series and the League of Legends European Championship.
Over the two decades she worked at Comcast, Kavita Vazirani was responsible for ensuring the company got a return on investment for billions of dollars in marketing spend. But now that she’s in her second year in a new role as executive VP of insights and measurement at Comcast-owned NBC Universal, she brings the perspective
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts will announce the nominations for its 72nd Awards on Wednesday from its London headquarters near Piccadilly Circus. Early birds in the U.K. and Continental Europe and night owls in North America can watch this year’s announcement via live stream on BAFTA’s official Facebook page beginning Wednesday at 7:30 a.m.