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Kim Kardashian is reportedly dating again.
The 44-year-old reality superstar – who has North, 11, Saint, nine, Chicago, six, and five-year-old Psalm with ex-husband Kanye West – split from 'Saturday Night Live' comedian Pete Davidson, 31, in late 2022 after nine months together, and now she is said to be involved with someone who is not in the public eye.
A source told UsWeekly: "Kim has started dating someone new and keeping it very under wraps.
"She’s said the next person she dates will be someone who isn’t famous."
The 'Kardashians' star – who was initially married to Damon Thomas from 2000 until 2004 and then to Kris Humphries for a period of 72 days in 2011 – doesn't speak out much about her private life but did note last year that she was going to "take [her] time" with finding love again.
Speaking on the 'On Purpose with Jay Shetty' podcast, she said: "I think I'll always be a hopeless romantic and always want to be in love and definitely love sharing my life with someone, and love creating a life with someone.
"I definitely will take my time. And I think there's so many factors, especially when you have kids and being mindful of people that enter in your life. I think just having that mutual respect, treating people with respect is just a given."
The SKIMS founder went on to add that a "grounded person" is the result of good relationships and stressed that "mutual respect" is the key to any successful union,
She added: "I truly think someone is such a solid person when they have really grounded relationships. Grounded in love and relationships can be different things. You know, sometimes you have your group of girlfriends that you love to go on vacation with, and then sometimes you have, you know, your other friends that you work really well with. Every relationship can be different. If you have just a mutual respect around the, across the board, that's I think the number one thing."
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George Joseph Kresge Jr., who was known to generations of TV watchers as the mesmerizing entertainer and mentalist The Amazing Kreskin, has died at age 89.
Kreskin's friend and former road manager, Ryan Galway, told news outlets that he died Tuesday at his home in Caldwell, New Jersey, where he spent much of his life. Galway did not provide additional details.
Inspired by the crime-fighting comic book character Mandrake the Magician, Kreskin launched his television career in the 1960s and remained popular for decades, making guest appearances on talk shows hosted by everyone from Merv Griffin to Johnny Carson to Jimmy Fallon.
Fans would welcome, if not entirely figure out, his favorite mind tricks — whether correctly guessing a playing card chosen at random, or, most famously, divining where his paycheck had been planted among the audience. He also hosted his own show in the 1970s, gave live performances and wrote numerous books, including “Secrets of the Amazing Kreskin” and “Mental Power Is Real.”
Although he was a talk show regular, one host wasn't amused by a Kreskin stunt. In 2002, he claimed that a UFO would appear over Las Vegas on the night of June 2, and added that he would donate $50,000 to charity if he was wrong. Hundreds of people gathered in the desert, in vain. Kreskin acknowledged to radio personality Art Bell that his prediction was a hoax, a way of proving that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks the year before had made people susceptible to manipulation. Bell called the ruse “lame, lame, lame” and banned him from his show.
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Jamie Foxx suffered a stroke caused by a bleed on the brain.
The ‘Django Unchained’ actor was hospitalised in April last year after suffering a mystery “medical complication,” which his family decided to keep private, and the comedian has now revealed exactly what happened to him and recalled losing his memory for 20 days amid his terrifying health battle.
He quipped on his Netflix special 'Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was….': “On April 11, I was having a bad headache, and I asked my boy for Aspirin. I realised quickly that when you’re in a medical emergency, your boys don’t know what the f*** to do.”
He shockingly spilled: “I don’t remember 20 days."
The teary-eyed star admitted to the audience after declaring he was "back": “You don’t know how good this feels."
The 56-year-old star insists it’s still “a mystery” what happened.
He said: “It is a mystery.
“We still don’t know exactly what happened to me."
After starting his sentence with "What had happened was,” Jamie broke down in tears and was comforted by the applauding audience.
He then said: “Your life doesn’t flash before you. It was kind of oddly peaceful.
"I saw the tunnel, but I didn’t see the light. It was hot in that tunnel."
Jamie quipped: “S***, am I going to the wrong place?”
Jamie credits his sister Deidra with “saving [his] life” after she “aimlessly” drove him around before taking him to Atlanta’s Piedmont Hospital, where he underwent a life-saving procedure.
Addressing why his family wanted to keep details of his health scare to themselves, he said: "I was dizzy from the stroke, so my head would bob around, and my family thought everyone would 'meme the f***' out of me."
Jamie vividly remembers waking up on May 4, and being unable to walk.
He recalled: "When I woke up, I found myself in a wheelchair. I couldn’t walk."
Jamie didn't want to believe he'd had a stroke and recounted his therapist telling him about his ego: "You need to kill the old Jamie so the new Jamie can thrive."
He also reflected: "God blessed me with money and fame, but when I forgot about God, He blessed me with a stroke."
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Ryan Reynolds is unsure what will happen with Deadpool after ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’.
The 48-year-old actor starred opposite Hugh Jackman’s X-Men hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster, though has now admitted his future as the the ‘Merc with a Mouth’ is uncertain.
Speaking with Andrew Garfield, 41, as a part of Variety's ‘Actors on Actors’ series, Reynolds said: “I don’t know what the future of Deadpool will be, but I do know that we made the movie to be a complete experience instead of a commercial for another one.”
‘The Proposal’ star – who shares daughters James, nine, Inez, seven, Betty, five, and 22-month-old son Olin with his wife Blake Lively – added making the ‘Deadpool’ films “swallows [his] whole life”, and that he “kind of dies inside” when he misses seeing his children grow up due to the hours required to make the movies.
He said: “Honestly, my feeling is that the character works very well in two ways. One is scarcity and surprise.
“So it had been six years since the last one, and part of the reason is that it swallows my whole life. I have four kids, and I don’t ever want to be an absentee [father].
“I kind of die inside when I see their faces and they do a sports thing or something and I missed it.”
Reflecting on ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’, Reynolds emphasised Disney and Marvel Studios had been “so supportive” of him and the project, even if the former company’s CEO Bob Iger had requested one of the jokes from the film to be removed.
He said: “Disney and Marvel, they were so supportive from the jump.
“I think I had one line that Bob Iger wanted out of the movie, and we took it out. I’ll never repeat it. I promised I wouldn’t … They were incredible partners.”
After listening to Reynolds’ experience on ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’, Garfield – who had played Spider-Man in ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ in 2012 and its sequel two years later – said it was “lovely” to have been asked back to portray Spidey again for 2021’s ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ in a multiverse adventure with fellow big screen wallcrawlers Tom Holland and Tobey Maguire.
He said: “It's not that I missed it. It felt undone, it felt undone for me , like I imagine you've felt with your version of that.
“It was just very gratifying, it was very like … You know, it's like you're invited to a party and then the party ends slightly prematurely than you wanted it to end, and then you're like, I've gotta reckon with being disinvited to this party.”
The ‘We Live in Time’ star insisted it was “so soothing” to have worked in the “playpen” of the MCU after Sony Pictures’ producer Amy Pascal asked him back for the blockbuster.
He said: “But coming back, and Amy Pascal reaching out and asking me about it, it was like, yeah, being re-welcomed to the party.
“And it could be a party finally because – kind of what you said about Deadpool being more of an adjacent, peripheral, like the more scarce character. There was something so soothing about it being a playpen for the first time, for me and Tobey. […] The pressure was on Tom. Tom had to hold that universe together.”
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Ben Affleck has "no interest" in dating "at the moment".
The 52-year-old actor is said to be focused on work and is not looking to find love again just yet, four months after Jennifer Lopez, 55, filed for divorce in August after two years of marriage.
An insider told The New York Post's Page Six column: “Ben has no interest in jumping into another relationship at the moment."
They added: “Ben’s divorce from Jennifer hasn’t even been finalised, but even if it were, dating is just not where his head is at.”
Meanwhile, Ben's ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, is said to have “encouraged” Ben to work on his marriage with the 'On The Floor' hitmaker.
The '13 Going On 30' star, 52, was hitched to Ben from 2005 to 2018.
And a source recently told Page Six about Jennifer’s apparent advice to Ben before he split from the performer: “When things started getting rocky between Ben and Jennifer (Lopez), Jen was very supportive of their relationship and encouraged Ben to work on their marriage.”
The insider added that Jennifer has “no problem” with J.Lo, adding: “At the end of the day, she just wants Ben to be happy.”
The 'Argo' star spent Thanksgiving with Jennifer and their children.
The former couple reunited for the holiday with Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12.
And a source told Page Six Ben was overjoyed to spend the holiday with his family as he feels as if he can “just be himself” around Jennifer and their children.
The pair not only enjoyed family time over Thanksgiving – they also partnered up with the Midnight Mission cause during the day to help feed 2,000 homeless and near-homeless people in downtown Los Angeles.
The insider added: “Even though Ben and Jen have been split for a while now, he feels a certain level of comfort with her.
“Ben has a strong relationship with Jen that will never dissipate because they have a lot of history together and she’s the mother of his kids.”
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Staffers at Thank You Books in Birmingham, Alabama, San Francisco's City Lights Books and The Nook in Cedar Falls, Iowa, are among 600 booksellers receiving $500 holiday bonuses from James Patterson, t he bestselling novelist who has been awarding independent store employees since 2015.
“Booksellers save lives. Period," Patterson said in a statement released Tuesday through his publisher, Little, Brown and Company. "I’m happy to be able to acknowledge them and all their hard work this holiday season.”
The winners, including Davis Gustafson at Thank You Books and Erin Messer at City Lights, were nominated by co-workers and customers among others. Recipients also include Brandon Conrad of the Nook, Gina Marx of The Lynx in Gainesville, Florida, and Kirstin Kraig of Whale's Tale Books in Lakewood, Colorado. Patterson chose the winners from thousands of applications.
“We appreciate Mr. Patterson’s financial generosity as well as his generosity of spirit. We all continue to be awed by, and grateful for, Mr. Patterson’s continuing support of independent booksellers,” Allison Hill, CEO of the American Booksellers Association, said in a statement. "It means everything to have him recognize and reward the valuable role booksellers play in the industry.”
Along with his gifts to booksellers, Patterson has given millions of dollars to schools, libraries and literacy programs. In 2015, the National Book Foundation presented him an honorary National Book Award — the Literarian Award — for “outstanding service to the American literary community."
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Her memories of recording “Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree” are a little hazy. She remembers the producer placing decorations around the studio and blasting the air conditioner on a warm Nashville day to create a holiday spirit. The musicians, she recalls, nailed it in a couple of takes.
That's about it. After all, Brenda Lee was 13 years old at the time — and it was 66 years ago, in 1958.
Somewhat implausibly, her celebration of a “Christmas party hop” is more popular today than ever before. It's an unusual trajectory, even accounting for the fact that music listeners during the holiday season tend to embrace songs they've known for years.
“Rockin'” eclipsed Mariah Carey's perennial favorite “All I Want for Christmas is You” last December to top the Billboard music chart and make Lee, at age 78, the oldest woman to achieve that feat. A week later, following a birthday, she beat her own mark. Kendrick Lamar likely stands in her way of doing it again this year.
Another record: Sixty-five years represented the longest interval between a record being released and making it to No. 1.
“It is a good song,” Lee told The Associated Press. “It's a song that anybody can sing. You can join in, you can sing it, everyone is happy. I sure am glad that I have it. I never thought in my life that a Christmas song would be my legacy. But I'll take it.”
‘An ear worm on steroids’
It's a phenomenon that music journalist Holly Gleason noticed recently while stopping for coffee in Nashville, near the neighborhood where Lee lives. The song came over the loudspeaker and the room — parents, kids, hipsters — erupted in singing and laughter. “It's kind of an ear worm on steroids,” said Gleason, whose 2017 book “Woman Walk the Line: How the Women in Country Music Changed Our Lives” featured Lee, among others.
The song manages the neat trick of sounding retro yet not dated. Sweet guitar licks snake around Lee's voice in the original recording. Boots Randolph's saxophone solo drives it home. The party flies by quickly, the song over in two minutes, six seconds.
Composer Johnny Marks already had some seasonal hits to his credit, including “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “A Holly Jolly Christmas.” He specifically sought out Lee for his new song in 1958 and it's easy to see why: Who better to convey its innocence and spirit than a 13-year-old girl at the forefront of the Baby Boom? Rock ‘n’ roll was in its infancy then, too.
In the song, Lee sings about “mistletoe hung where you can see, every couple tries to stop.”
In real life, she hadn't experienced her first kiss. “Lord, no,” she said. “Not to say I didn't want to. I wasn't even allowed to date until I was 16.”
What is the ‘new old-fashioned way,’ anyway?
The song hits plenty of holiday reference points — pumpkin pie, caroling, boughs of holly. You can overlook the part of the chorus that doesn't make much sense: what is the “new old-fashioned way,” exactly?
The simplicity of “Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree” is a big part of its appeal, said Nathaniel Sloan, a musicologist at the University of Southern California and co-host of the “Switched on Pop” podcast. Like many successful holiday songs, it evokes nostalgia for a happier, more peaceful time — even if that's more imagination than reality, he said.
The style is more rockabilly than traditional rock or country, and Sloan believes that has much to do with why it continues to sound fresh.
“The thing that has always stunned me about the song is that you're listening to a 13-year-old's performance, and it doesn't sound that way to me,” he said. “There's a depth to the vocal, even a weathered quality, that I can't believe she was so young. It's pitch-perfect.”
For all of its success, the song was barely noticed upon its release in 1958. Not until two years later, when Lee's profile was higher through hits like “I'm Sorry,” did it make the music charts. Its biggest boost came 40 years after that, when “Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree” was featured in the hit movie “Home Alone.” The movie itself has become a holiday staple, giving more exposure to the song each year.
Her record company continues to push the song, recording a video in 2023 that included guest appearances by Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood. This year it has released “Noche Buena Y Navidad,” a Spanish-language version using artificial intelligence to create a vocal derived from Lee's voice.
The record company is throwing Lee a birthday party
Universal Music is holding a party for her in Nashville to celebrate her 80th birthday on Wednesday. “She's just a force and a character,” said Cindy Mabe, the company's chairwoman and CEO. “She's full of spunk in the same way that 13-year-old girl was.”
“Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree” made the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2019. It has been streamed more than 2.5 billion times globally and certified seven times Platinum, meaning at least seven million copies sold. Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus, Meghan Trainor, Kacey Musgraves and the duo of Darlene Love & Ronnie Spector are among the artists who've covered it.
Lee has sung it countless times over the years, most recently at a charity event last year. It made her concert setlist even in the heat of summer. How much money the song has earned is murky; the record company wouldn't talk about it. The bulk of its income would likely go to Marks' estate.
“It has never been a money thing for me,” Lee said. “It’s been a love thing. The money is great, yes, and I’m grateful. But I would be singing it on the corner for pennies because that’s what I love to do.”
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Vancouver's Gabriel LaBelle says snagging his first Golden Globe nomination feels so "surreal" he hasn't wrapped his head around it yet — though that might be because he was among the last to hear the news.
The 22-year-old earned a nod Monday for best actor in a motion picture comedy for playing a young Lorne Michaels in Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” a film dramatizing the shambolic 90 minutes before the inaugural episode of “Saturday Night Live.”
"Literally everyone else knew before I did," the 22-year-old said during a call from San Diego on Monday evening, explaining he was fast asleep when the nominations were announced.
"I turned my phone on from airplane mode to about 150 messages from friends and family. I was just really grateful that I knew that many people who would reach out to me," laughed the actor, who broke out for playing a fictionalized version of a young Steven Spielberg in 2022's "The Fabelmans."
LaBelle said he hasn't had time to process the nomination's significance.
"I think it's too soon to actually know what it is or if it means anything at all. But I think it does. I hope it does."
He was among several Canadians to receive Golden Globe nominations, including fellow first-timer Pamela Anderson, who is up for best actress in a dramatic film for her starring role in "The Last Showgirl," about a veteran Las Vegas performer struggling to reinvent herself when her show suddenly ends after a 30-year run.
In "Saturday Night," LaBelle portrays a frazzled and frustrated Michaels, navigating a series of unforeseen challenges while leading a group of inexperienced comedians and writers. He stars opposite Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase and Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster, Michaels' wife at the time.
LaBelle said Shuster, who was a writer for "SNL," showered him with praise after "Saturday Night" had its Canadian premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
"She said all the things that a young actor could dream of. That meant so much to me. I cried in the bathroom at the wrap party after hearing them," he said, adding that she commended him for capturing Michaels' mannerisms and energy.
LaBelle said that after receiving Shuster's compliment, the Golden Globes nod just feels like "extra candy and icing on the cake."
"In terms of getting him down as a person, I think that will always be the most meaningful (honour) because she was actually there and she knew him."
LaBelle said while filming "Saturday Night," Reitman stressed that the actor shouldn't fall into the trap of doing "a Lorne Michaels impression."
"He just wanted me to focus on (playing) a young artist who's making something different that people don't believe in, and everything goes wrong. So how do you convey that level of care and passion and still be someone that people root for?"
LaBelle, who made his acting debut in CTV's 2013 police procedural "Motive," said it feels "super cool" to receive his first Golden Globes nod for playing a Canadian icon.
"I feel like people don't really know about Canadians through Hollywood. And it's not like this is a PSA movie on Canadians and Canada, but it definitely feels cool."
Other Canadians competing for awards include Hamilton, Ontario's Martin Short, who received his fourth nod for playing a theatre director in Disney Plus’ “Only Murders in the Building," and Quebec filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, who's up for best drama film for his sci-fi sequel “Dune: Part Two."
LaBelle said he hasn't yet received feedback on his performance from Michaels himself.
"As far as I'm concerned, I don't know if he's even seen it. And if I was him, I wouldn't watch it. He's got to finish this latest season of his show before he has time to be nostalgic."
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The Golden Globes will return in January with major star appeal thanks to a slew of big name nominees, including Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Denzel Washington, Ariana Grande and more.
Nominations for the 82nd awards ceremony were announced Monday. The show will be televised by CBS and streamed on Paramount+ on Jan. 5.
Comedian and actor Nikki Glaser was chosen to host next year’s ceremony.
Glaser has made a name for herself as a riotously sharp wit, especially at roasts, including recently for Tom Brady, who she needled for his complex love life and his one-time advocacy of crypto. She earned an Emmy nomination for her latest special, “Someday You’ll Die” for HBO, which dealt with everything from offering to pay for her friends’ abortions to her darkest porn habits.
Glaser cited Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Ricky Gervais as inspirations. She’ll follow last year’s host Jo Koy, who was slammed by critics for a fumbled opening monologue and a rushed pace throughout.
Jacques Audiard’s audacious musical “Emilia Pérez,” about a Mexican drug lord who undergoes gender affirming surgery, leads all nominees with 10.
That put it ahead of other contenders like the musical smash “Wicked,” the papal thriller “Conclave” and the postwar epic “The Brutalist.”
“The Apprentice,” about Donald Trump as a young man, also landed nominations for its two central performances, by Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn.
“The Bear” leads all television nominees with five.
With his 11th nomination, Denzel Washington is the most-nominated Black performer at the Globes.
Steve Martin is nominated for the four straight year in the best television actor in a musical or comedy series category for “Only Murders in the Building.” The nomination marks his ninth overall and could be his first-ever Globes win.
There are 26 first-time nominees including Grande, Dakota Fanning, Glaser, Seth Meyers, Zoe Saldaña and Pamela Anderson — who surprisingly earned a nod for “The Last Showgirl."
The embattled Globes, which are no longer presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are still in comeback mode after years of scandal and organizational upheaval.
You can see a full list of nominees here: https://apnews.com/hub/golden-globe-awards
What are the Golden Globes?
The Globes are the first major ceremony of awards season. They’re not exactly an Oscar bellwether, but they’re known for a few things: being a boozy, sometimes irreverent party and a glamourous gathering of the biggest television and film stars.
A Globes win can help build momentum for a movie or actor’s Oscar campaign. As the first televised awards show of the year, they get ahead of similar ceremonies like the Screen Actors Guild and Critics Choice Awards and are nearly two months before the Oscars, which this year will be held on March 2.
Double nominees please
Stan, Kate Winslet and Selena Gomez are all double nominees.
Gomez is up for both best performance by a female actor in a supporting role for “Emilia Pérez" and best performance by a female actor in a television musical or comedy series for “Only Murders in the Building.”
Winslet is nominated for both best performance by a female actor in a drama for “Lee” and best performance by a female actor in a limited anthology series for television for “The Regime.”
Stan earned a nod for both best performance by a male actor in a drama for “The Apprentice” and best performance by a male actor in a musical or comedy for “A Different Man.”
Viola Davis will be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for her decorated career, starring in an array of powerful roles from “ Fences ” to “ The Woman King.”
The actor has won praise for a string of compelling characters in films such as “The Help,” “ Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom ” and “Doubt,” while captivating TV audiences through the legal thriller drama “How to Get Away with Murder.”
The DeMille Award has been bestowed to 69 of Hollywood’s greatest talents. Past recipients include Tom Hanks, Jeff Bridges, Oprah Winfrey, Morgan Freeman, Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand and Sidney Poitier.
The Golden Globes are raising a glass to former “Cheers” star Ted Danson by naming him the Carol Burnett Award honoree.
Danson, a three-time Globes winner, has been a fixture on TV since he broke out as Boston bartender Sam Malone on NBC’s comedy “Cheers.” His other credits include “The Good Place,” “Mr. Mayor,” “Fargo,” “CSI” and “CSI: Cyber,” “Damages” and “Becker.”
Danson currently stars in Netflix’s “A Man on the Inside,” which earned his first nomination since 2008 and 13th overall.
The Carol Burnett Award was inaugurated in 2019 and is presented to an honoree who has “made outstanding contributions to television on or off screen.”
Past recipients include Norman Lear, Ryan Murphy and Ellen DeGeneres. The first was Burnett herself.
Danson and Viola Davis will be praised at a gala dinner Jan. 3 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. For the first time, the Globes will host a separate event dedicated to both awards.
The Golden Globes, known as the “party of the year,” will bring back the celeb-beloved Nobu Restaurants group.
Chef Nobu Matsuhisa returns with several signature dishes, highlighted by The Gold Standard Roll — sushi that includes king crab inside, topped with salmon, gold flakes and caviar, and yuzu sauce on the side. The dish is served in the restaurant for $77.
Other dishes from Matsuhisa include seaweed tacos, yellowtail jalapenos, sashimi salad, black cod and three pieces of tuna, white fish and salmon sushi.
“This is kind of like harmony with the caviars and, jalapenos," said Matsuhisa, who served signature Japanese food at the ceremony last year.
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It could be argued that 2024 wasn't the best year for television.
Highly anticipated shows like the final season of “Stranger Things," “The Last of Us” and “The White Lotus” didn't even make it on the calendar and will instead return in 2025. Streamers and networks tightened their budgets by saying yes to less.
Writing off this year's selection, however, seems unfair. There were new standout comedies, dramas, reality TV and remakes of old favorites that caught the attention of viewers, awards voters and the zeitgeist.
In no particular order, here are 10 new shows from 2024 to check out before the new year.
In 2024, pop culture experienced a Brodyssance when Netflix's “Nobody Wants This” reminded many why they had a crush on Adam Brody in the early aughts when he was on “The O.C.” In this rom-com created by Erin Foster, Brody plays a rabbi named Noah who begins dating a gentile named Joanne (the always entertaining Kristen Bell) and their courtship as thirtysomethings unfolds. Before reaching their happily ever after, a number of obstacles — like religious differences, family pressures and career goals — need to be addressed. Hope is not lost, however, and throughout it all Noah and Joanne remain a good match. The supporting cast, by the way, is also a delight.
The British series “Supacell” introduced a smart spin on the superhero template. Created and written by Rapman, the show centers on a group of Black, working class people in London who discover they have superpowers. At first, it seems the powerful are linked by just the color of their skin but their real connection is a family history of sickle cell disease. The show addresses themes like the medical exploitation of the Black community, poverty and how the media often overlooks cases of missing people of color. The show has been renewed for a second season and is on Netflix.
Another fresh take on the world of superheroes and their villains is “The Penguin,” on Max. The story picks up after the 2022 film “The Batman” starring Robert Pattinson but here, Batman is more a background character to the gangster story of Oz Cobb. Colin Farrell played the criminal kingpin in the Pattinson film and reprises that role here. Cristin Milioti has also gotten positive reviews — and a Golden Globe nomination — for her portrayal of villain Sofia Falcone.
When CBS first announced a new “Matlock” with Kathy Bates in the lead role, it seemed like just a gender-flipped remake. Au contraire. Bates plays Madeline Kingston, a wealthy lawyer who comes out of retirement under the alias Mattie Matlock (with a similar folksy demeanor as Andy Griffith's). Her reason for returning to work is that she needs money but, in reality, she's out for revenge. It's also fun to see how the series addresses older people being often overlooked and underestimated, which Madeline sometimes leans into for her own benefit. It streams on Paramount+. (Bates also snagged a Globe nomination.)
When “Vanderpump Rules” spinoff “The Valley” debuted on Bravo in spring, some fans rolled their eyes. It follows three former “Vanderpump” castmates — Jax Taylor, Brittany Cartwright and Kristen Doute — now living more settled lives amid a new circle of friends. Taylor and Doute knew the assignment — or just quickly fell into old habits of saying too much and stirring the pot. The new cast also impressed. Janet Caperna positioned herself as both above the drama and very much living for it. Jesse Lally showed vulnerability over the demise of his marriage to castmate Michelle Sanai, while also being an unapologetic snob. Viewers watched Taylor and Cartwright's marriage spiral, too (they're now divorcing). It streams on Peacock.
Another adaptation with a twist is Prime Video's “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine. It shares a title with the film starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, but differs dramatically: Glover and Erskine play spies assigned to pose as a married couple named John and Jane Smith. They quickly go from strangers to co-workers to lovers. Each episode sees John and Jane on a new assignment, with notable guest stars like Alexander Skarsgård, Michaela Coel and Sharon Horgan. The show was nominated for 16 Emmy Awards and three Golden Globes.
Andrew Scott stars in “Ripley,” a neo-noir Netflix adaptation about the con artist and serial killer created by Patricia Highsmith. Like the 1999 movie starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law, this limited series is based on the Highsmith's “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Tom Ripley is hired by a wealthy businessman to travel to Italy and encourage his son, Dickie, who is living a life of leisure, to return to the States. Ripley ends up becoming enamored with Dickie's lifestyle and the ruse turns deadly.
Brian Jordan Alvarez created and stars in FX's “English Teacher” as Evan, a high school teacher in Texas, juggling the normal demands of the job amid societal changes. In one episode, Evan must show sensitivity to a student who has self-diagnosed herself with a made-up disease. In another, he successfully gets the school's gun safety program shut down but then is told all faculty must receive firearm training. As the adults on the show often struggle with getting it right, it's the students who seem less bothered with labels. The show also has a great soundtrack. It streams on Hulu.
“Shogun” had a triumphant first season on FX, winning a historic 18 awards at this year's Emmys — including best drama series and best actor and actress in a drama for Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai. It's set during the power struggles in feudal Japan and is based on a 1975 James Clavell novel. FX didn't skimp on the production value, netting comparisons to “Game of Thrones.” It was originally planned as a limited series, but now two more seasons are planned. Episodes stream on Hulu.
Jake Gyllenhaal starred in his first TV series, “Presumed Innocent,” for Apple TV+. Gyllenhaal is Rusty Sabich, a Chicago prosecutor accused of killing a colleague. Gyllenhaal's real brother-in-law, Peter Sarsgaard, plays Rusty's adversary, another lawyer trying to prove his guilt. The story comes from a Scott Turow novel that was made into a Harrison Ford film in 1990 but doesn't follow either to the letter. It was the streamer's most watched drama series so far and a second season has been ordered, with Gyllenhaal staying on as an executive producer.
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Taylor Swift sold more than $2 billion worth of tickets for her 'Eras Tour'.
The 'Cruel Summer' hitmaker has been on the road for the last 21 months and following her 149th and final show in Vancouver, Canada, on Sunday (08.12.24), it has been revealed the $2,077,618,725 ticket revenue is double the gross ticket sales of any other concert tour in history.
According to figures confirmed by Taylor Swift Touring to the New York Times, a total of 10,168,008 people attending the shows, meaning tickets sold for an average of around $204 each. The figures exclude resale prices.
The biggest single audience Taylor performed for was on 16 February 2024, when 96, 006 people attended her gig in Melbourne, Australia.
And across the 'Karma' singer's eight gigs at London's Wembley Stadium, 753,112 people got to see her in action – a figure that equates to roughly the population of Seattle.
During the final show on Sunday, Taylor thanked her fans for making the 'Eras Tour' "the most exciting, powerful, electrifying, intense, most challenging" experience of her life.
Introducing 'All Too Well', the 34-year-old singer said: "The tour has been different from any tour I’ve ever done before in so many ways I can’t count, but I’d like to tell you a few. I’ve been touring since I was 15 years old and basically what I would do in the beginning … I would make an album, and then I would go on tour and the tour would be named after that album.
"And then I ended up putting out so much music so quickly that basically I had to think of a new way to do it, and I really hoped it was something that you would like, and I came with this idea of the 'Eras Tour.'
"And then the craziest thing about this has been — and the reason this has been the longest tour — is because you guys have made this into something completely unrecognizable from anything I’ve ever done in my life with your traditions, your passion…
"I never thought that writing one line about friendship bracelets would have you guys all making friendship bracelets, making friends and bringing joy to each other. That is the lasting legacy of this tour, that you have created such a space of joy and togetherness and love, and I couldn’t be more proud of you, honestly. That is all you."
Later in the set, Taylor hailed the tour the "adventure of a lifetime" as she praised her band and crew.
She said: "This tour has been the adventure of a lifetime, and I speak on behalf of my band, my crew, who all left their families and spent time away from everything they know and love and performed when they were sick, when anything was going on in their lives, they made sure this show happened for you. We will never forget you giving us that moment."
At the end of her final song 'Karma' – which included a lyric change in tribute to boyfriend Travis Kelce, "the guy on the Chiefs" – Taylor hugged her dancers and backing singers and instead of exiting by being lowered beneath the stage as at previous shows, the star opted to walk out with her team.
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The Hub on Martin, Penticton
Dec 19 7:30 pm
Lake Country Brewing, Lake Country
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Green Gables Daycare, Kelowna
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