Television

In an episode hosted by Jonathan Majors, this week’s Saturday Night Live cold open took Ted Cruz to a fictional version of Sesame Street. After Cruz spent the week attacking Big Bird on Twitter for his pro-vaccine stance, Aidy Bryant reprised her role as the Texas senator hosting a far-right version of the kids’ show called “Cruz Street.” “For 50 years I stood by as Sesame Street taught out kids dangerous ideas like numbers and kindness, but when Big Bird told children to get vaccinated against a deadly disease, I...

A review of this week’s Succession, “Retired Janitors of Idaho,” coming up just as soon as I let the rabbit eat a bagel… Succession is a comedy. Yes, it submits as a drama at every awards show, and has done quite well with that strategy. But some of that is about eligibility rules and some of it is about strategy (the Emmy drama categories have become much easier in recent years as the industry’s focus has shifted to miniseries), in a kind of gaming of the system that would no...

Like catching a roadrunner without getting an anvil dropped on your head, adapting animated stories into live action is a high-risk endeavor. There are so many things you can do with relative ease in the former medium that create enormous difficulties in the latter. It’s not just about spectacle and style, but tone. There’s a distancing effect to animation that allows weirder concepts to feel perfectly logical, and for mismatched elements to blend together seamlessly. Sometimes, the live-action adaptation works, and it turns out that Brendan Fraser is an even...

Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update tackled Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress, Kyle Rittenhouse’s tearful testimony and the termination of Britney Spears’ conservatorship during the latest episode, which also featured a 10-minute performance of musical guest Taylor Swift’s breakup epic “All Too Well.” “Well, the lesson we all learned this week is ‘Never break up with Taylor Swift,’ or she will sing about you for 10 minutes on national television,” co-anchor Colin Jost joked after the performance. “At the very least, return the scarf.” The duo then turned to “real news.”...

While Taylor Swift was this week’s Saturday Night Live musical guest, she also made a surprise appearance in Pete Davidson’s sketch titled “Three Sad Virgins.” In the musical parody, Davidson roasted the Please Don’t Destroy comedy trio of John Higgins, Ben Marshall and Martin Herlihy who denied being virgins. Though Davidson claimed the song was about them, he quickly called them out directly and added that they didn’t have “any swag.” As Davidson’s friends protest, he says they just need to get to the bridge of the track: “I thought...

Will Smith and Jimmy Fallon went toe-to-toe in the “Name That Song Challenge” on The Tonight Show Tuesday, Nov. 9. The name that tune-style game featured the Roots playing a song one instrument at a time, and then it was up to Fallon and Smith to buzz in once they knew the song. The game began with a hip-hop classic, and while Fallon hit his buzzer first, it turned out he didn’t have the song’s title on-hand, just the first lines: “It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder…”...

A new chapter begins for Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) in a short clip teasing And Just Like That, the Sex and the City reboot heading to HBO Max. The first two episodes arrive on Dec. 9, with the following episodes premiering weekly on subsequent Thursdays. The show features Sara Ramírez, Sarita Choudhury, Nicole Ari Parker, Karen Pittman, Chris Noth, Mario Cantone, David Eigenberg, Willie Garson, and Evan Handler. Famously, Kim Cattrall, who played Samantha in the original series and its big-screen sequels, will...

Products featured are independently selected by our editorial team and we may earn a commission from purchases made from our links; the retailer may also receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Grammy Award-winning artist Adele is back and ready to step into the spotlight again after a six-year hiatus from recording and touring, and the superstar singer is making her return with Adele: One Night Only — a new concert special airing on CBS and streaming on Paramount+ Sunday, November 14. Buy: Paramount+ Subscription at $4.99 The special will be...

Ageless wonder Paul Rudd was named People’s latest Sexiest Man Alive, but not before Stephen Colbert, a “sexiness adjudicator,” put the actor through a rigorous interview process on Tuesday’s Late Show. Colbert, as a representative of the LSSC Sexiness Research Institute, was tasked with finding the new Sexiest Man Alive, with Rudd — or “Raul Pudd,” as he’s listed on Colbert’s docket — among those interviewing for the position. “When it comes to sexiness, what’s you biggest weakness?” Colbert asked. Rudd responded, “Well, I have a weird foot. I suffer...

The first thing you need to know about the new Paramount+ drama Mayor of Kingstown is that it is not a spinoff, reboot, or in any other way tied to Mare of Easttown, despite the two shows having sound-alike names. It’s the most confusing bit of series nomenclature since NCIS launched while CSI was still on the air, or perhaps going back to when ABC and CBS debuted dramas called Once and Again and Now And Again in the same season. Then again, maybe the echoing title is helpful. Mayor,...

Expect more NSFW drama in the upcoming episodes of Gossip Girl, which returns for the second part of season one on November 25th on HBO Max. The new episodes will continue the story from part one, which debuted in July, as teased in a new trailer. “She’s baaack,” a synopsis noted. “Gossip Girl is ready to return for her second act, and she’s holding nothing back. Give thanks, followers. She’ll see you at Thanksgiving. XOXO.” Developed by showrunner Joshua Safran, a writer and executive producer on the original series, the series...

Mary McCartney ushers in the holiday season in upcoming episodes of Mary McCartney Serves It Up, her vegetarian cooking show featuring famous friends and family. Her father Paul McCartney, fashion designer sister Stella McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, and Reese Witherspoon are set to appear in the next four episodes, which stream on Discovery+  beginning Nov. 23. In a trailer for the new slate of shows, Sir Paul shares the secret recipe of his favorite cocktail, “Maccarita,” his spin on a margarita. Oprah gets excited about making homemade dip for the first...

Kieran Culkin, who plays Roman Roy — “one of the top 10 worst humans on TV” — on HBO’s hit satire, Succession, made his debut hosting Saturday Night Live. But it wasn’t his first time on stage in Studio 8H. During Culkin’s monologue, the actor recalled how he performed on SNL with his older brother, Macauley Culkin, back in 1990 when Mac was the child star of the hit Christmas comedy, Home Alone. Culkin cued up a vintage clip from the episode that shows the credits rolling and the cast...

Saturday Night Live skewered Aaron Rodgers’ disastrous first post-Covid interview earlier this week by bringing the Green Bay Packers quarterback (played by Pete Davidson) to Jeanine Pirro, with Cecily Strong reprising her role of that Fox News host. “Our first guest is brave enough to say ‘Screw you, science. I know Joe Rogan.’ Please welcome NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers,” Strong’s Pirro said. “It’s my body and my Covid,” Davidson’s Rodgers said. “I can give it to whoever I want. But suddenly, the woke mob has come after me.” Rodgers’ 10-day...