Month: August 2022

NBC announced its long-running soap opera Days of Our Lives will be moving to its digital-owned platform Peackock after airing the show for nearly six decades. Currently, Peacock already streams past episodes from the Emmy-winning drama series and previously aired its spinoffs, including Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem and Days of Our Lives: A Very Salem Christmas film.

Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming said in a statement: “This programming shift benefits both Peacock and NBC and is reflective of our broader strategy to utilize our portfolio to maximize reach and strengthen engagement with viewers. With a large percentage of the ‘Days of Our Lives’ audience already watching digitally, this move enables us to build the show’s loyal fanbase on streaming while simultaneously bolstering the network daytime offering with an urgent, live programming opportunity for partners and consumers.”

Starting Sept. 12, Days of our Lives time slot will be filled with the launch of ‘NBC News Daily’. The new hour-long show will be anchored by NBC’s Kate Snow, Aaron Gilchrist, Vicky Nguyen, and Morgan Radford, providing the viewers with “signature world-class reporting and breaking news coverage in a first-of-its kind.” The program will also be streamed simultaneously on NBC News NOW and Peacock.

Days of Our Lives first launched on NBC in 1965; the series celebrated its 55th anniversary in 2020 and was renewed for seasons 57 and 58 on NBC in 2021. The move leaves only three soap operas to remain on broadcast TV, including The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless on CBS, and General Hospital on ABC.

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Selena Gomez’s cooking show Selena + Chef has been renewed for a fourth season on HBO Max. The 10 episode season of the unscripted series will premiere on August 18th with three episodes, followed by three more on August 25th – and the final four on September 1st, exclusively on HBO Max. Selena + Chef premiered in August 2020, inspired by Gomez spending more time in the kitchen during the pandemic.

In season four, Gomez heads to the beach with her friends and family, where Selena will continue to learn the joys of cooking with all-star chefs in a beautiful Malibu beach house. Season 4 featured chefs include Adrienne Cheatham, Devonn Francis, Gordon Ramsay, Kristen Kish, Ludo Lefebvre, Matty Matheson, Nick DiGiovanni, Paola Velez, Priya Krishna and Rachael Ray.   As in the first three seasons, each chef will highlight a different charity. To date, the series has raised $400,000 for 26 nonprofit organizations.

You can view the Season 4 trailer –  here.

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ABC has named Alyssa Farah Griffin as the new conservative co-host on The View.  The network has also signed Republican commentator Ana Navarro, who has appeared on the program regularly for the past 4 years, as a recurring co-host. Navarro, who has been a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, also appears regularly on CNN and is not expected to appear on the The View every day. Both Farah Griffin and Navarro made their debuts on Thursday’s show.

Farah Griffin succeeds Meghan McCain, who had been the show’s primary conservative voice before leaving the series last summer (and was also a frequent critic of  Trump).  Farah Griffin, despite working for the former president, has become critical of his actions since Jan. 6, 2021. The View has been ‘auditioning’ for a co-host since McCain’s departure and had a number of prominent conservative co-hosts filling in, with Farah Griffin among them, and appearing frequently on the program.

Navarro, who has been a guest go-host for the past four years, will step in to replace the other hosts during their absences.  Navarro explained on Thursday’s show she “wasn’t ready to make a full-time commitment” to the show, citing her life in Miami and how frequently she flies back and forth.

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Lady Gaga confirmed on Twitter that she will co-star with Joaquin Phoenix in the sequel to the film  ‘Joker’, titled  Joker: Folie à Deux. The tweet showed a black-and-red video of Phoenix and Gaga’s shadows joining together, along with the caption announcing the sequel’s title and release date: ‘Joker: Folie à Deux 10.04.24’

Joker is the origin story of was Batman’s arch nemesis, Arthur Fleck, and follows as he goes from comedian to villain. The film grossed an estimated $1 billion at the box office and earned Phoenix an Academy Award for Best Actor.

It’s unclear who Lady Gaga will portray, but it was long rumored she has been in talks to play Harley Quinn – — the Joker’s psychiatrist at the asylum who becomes his partner in crime. Variety reports the film will be a musical, although plot details are unknown at this time. Director Todd Phillips, and co-writer Scott Silver are returning for the sequel to the 2019 film that grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.

Joker: Folie à Deux opens in theaters on October 4, 2024.

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The DC film Batgirl, which was scheduled to be released on HBO Max later this year, has been shelved. Warner Bros. Discovery announced they will no longer be releasing the film, starring Leslie Grace in the title role.  Batgirl was directed by ‘Bad Boys for Life’ filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah.

The announcement comes after the project, which costs nearly $90 million to make due to COVID-19 protocols, had already completed shooting. Grace, 27, was set to make her return to the big screen as Batgirl after her breakthrough role in the movie adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical In The Heights. Michael Keaton was also set to return to his Batman role, and the Batgirl cast also included Brendan Fraser as villain Firefly, and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon.

Insiders say that Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav believed Batgirl “simply did not work,” adding that the decision had nothing to do with the cast or directors.  It is also rumored that Warner Bros. made the decision on Batgirl due to its desire to refocus on theatrical releases rather than creating movies for HBO Max.

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Chrissy Teigen and husband John Legend are expecting a rainbow baby after suffering a pregnancy loss nearly two years ago. Teigen and Legend also share 6-year-old Luna Simone, and 4-year-old Miles Theodore.

The 36-year-old Teigen announced the happy news on Instagram, sharing her IVF journey to get pregnant with the couple’s fourth child, alongside photos of her baby bump. Teigen’s post read: “​​The last few years have been a blur of emotions to say the least, but joy has filled our home and hearts again. 1 billion shots later (in the leg lately, as u can see!) we have another on the way. Every appointment I’ve said to myself, ‘ok if it’s healthy today I’ll announce’ but then I breathe a sigh of relief to hear a heartbeat and decide I’m just too nervous still. I don’t think I’ll ever walk out of an appointment with more excitement than nerves but so far, everything is perfect and beautiful and I’m feeling hopeful and amazing. Ok phew it’s been very hard keeping this in for so long!”

Nearly two years ago, Teigen announced that she and Legend had experienced the loss of their third child, Jack, in September 2020 during her pregnancy.  Teigen announced at the time on Instagram: “We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we’ve never felt before. We were never able to stop the bleeding and give our baby the fluids he needed, despite bags and bags of blood transfusions. It just wasn’t enough. Jack worked so hard to be a part of our little family, and he will be, forever. To our Jack – I’m so sorry that the first few moments of your life were met with so many complications, that we couldn’t give you the home you needed to survive. We will always love you.”

Teigen shared on Instagram in February 2022 that she and Legend, 43, were undergoing in vitro fertilization to try and conceive again after the loss of Jack: I wanted to let you guys know I’m balls deep in another IVF cycle to save as many eggos as I possibly can and hopefully make some strong, healthy embryos.”

Pregnant! Chrissy Teigen and John Legend Are Expecting Their Rainbow Baby

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