Television

Willard Scott, the former longtime weatherman for NBC’s Today show, has died at the age of 87. Al Roker, who succeeded Scott on the daily morning show, announced Scott’s death on Instagram Saturday. No cause of death was provided. “We lost a beloved member of our @todayshow family this morning,” Roker wrote. “Willard Scott passed peacefully at the age of 87 surrounded by family, including his daughters Sally and Mary and his lovely wife, Paris. He was truly my second dad and am where I am today because of his...

From the return of the monstrous Roy family on Succession to a reboot of The Wonder Years — this one directed by Fred Savage rather than starring him — this fall’s crop of TV premieres is far more robust than we got last year during an earlier stage of the pandemic, when film and television production was just starting again after a long hiatus. The upcoming slate includes more Marvel and Star Wars spinoffs, sci-fi and fantasy epics, long-awaited adaptations and remakes, comedy giants reuniting, and even a few athletes who made as much...

Christopher Lloyd appears as the live-action version of the cartoon mad scientist he partly inspired, Rick Sanchez, in a new trailer for the Season Five finale of Rick and Morty, airing this Sunday, September 5th. Adult Swim shared the 14-second clip on social media Friday, with live-action versions of Rick and Morty (Jaeden Martell) popping out of a wormhole, and Rick proclaiming with a characteric belch, “Morty, we’re home!” (The “C-132” in the tweet’s caption is a nod to how different universes within Rick and Morty are named, with the...

A review of this week’s Ted Lasso, “Headspace,” coming up just as soon as I jazz scat… The title of “Headspace” primarily points to this week’s Keeley-Roy plot, a very smart bit of business that creates a temporary hiccup in their relationship without undercutting what makes them such an entertaining and fundamentally happy couple. Roy is flourishing as one of Ted’s assistants, but because he and Keeley now work for the same team, there is no separation between their work and home lives. They are together all day, every day,...

Issa Rae does some reflecting in the fifth and final season teaser for Insecure, airing on October 24th via HBO. “I just wanna be drama free and happy,” Rae’s character, Issa Dee, tells herself in the minute-long clip. Her double appears in the mirror, suggesting, “Maybe there’s a little voice in your head that’s telling you you’re not done.” Rae replies, “That’s you! You’re the voice in the back of my head!” HBO announced the hit series’ fifth season would be its last back in January. The show, which was...

Cedric the Entertainer travels to Napa Valley to examine the history of the region and the unique wine it produces in the pilot for the new series, Wine Uncorked, airing on Spirits Network. Cedric features in the show and serves as a producer, while the program is hosted by Patrick Ney. Wine Uncorked mixes classic food-and-travel TV infotainment with some solid comedy bits (like all Spirits Network programming, fans will also be able to purchase wines featured in the show while watching). In the opening moments of the pilot, for instance,...

It’s been so long since FX’s American Crime Story debuted (Obama was still president!) that it’s easy to forget how much trepidation surrounded that first season, The People v. O.J. Simpson. The O.J. trial was a circus at the time it unfolded. Producer Ryan Murphy’s track record seemed even more fragile in 2016 than it does now, circa the death rattle of Glee and misfires like Scream Queens. And the casting felt odd in so many places: David Schwimmer as Kim Kardashian’s dad? John Travolta doing TV for the first...

Netflix has announced that Seinfeld will finally arrive on the streaming platform October 1st. The news was accompanied by a cheeky trailer that urged viewers to prepare themselves for “2021’s hottest new show — well, not actually new but never seen before… on Netflix.” Amidst a montage of classic Seinfeld clips, the clip also touted the “spectacular, breathtaking, outrageous 180-episode premiere” of the show created by “rising stars Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld.” Seinfeld’s arrival on Netflix has been two years in the making, with the platform announcing it had...

Mike Richards — who was once primed to be Alex Trebek’s successor on Jeopardy! — is out as the executive producer of that show and Wheel of Fortune, The New York Times reports. Sony Pictures Television announced that Richards would leave his post Tuesday, August 31st. It’s a surprising reversal that comes after the company appeared to back Richards to stick around behind-the-scenes after a series of controversies forced him to relinquish his role as the new Jeopardy! host. “We had hoped that when Mike stepped down from the host...

For nearly 40 years, Ed Asner was the answer to a great TV trivia question: Who is the only actor to win both drama and comedy acting Emmys for playing the same character? The legendary actor, who died Sunday at the age of 91, won three Emmys in the Seventies for playing curmudgeonly newsman Lou Grant on the classic workplace comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and another two for translating the role into its acclaimed one-hour drama spinoff Lou Grant. Even when Orange Is the New Black‘s Uzo Aduba recently...

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. Whether you’re staying in or heading to the theaters, this September has something for every taste, including a return to horror by a modern master, to a movie in which Nicolas Cage wanders through a post-apocalyptic Japan. History buffs have their pick of a new Ken Burns documentary or a new Ryan Murphy docudrama, and fans of musicals...

Ed Asner, the prolific character actor and seven-time Emmy winner best known for playing Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, died Sunday at his home in Tarzana, California, The New York Times reports. He was 91. Asner’s death was confirmed by his family on Twitter, though no cause was given. “We are sorry to say that our beloved patriarch passed away this morning peacefully,” the Asner family said. “Words cannot express the sadness we feel. With a kiss on your head — Goodnight dad. We love you.” We...

Indigenous activists discuss the difficulties of getting authorities to seriously investigate crimes against Native Americans in a new clip from Dateline’s upcoming special, The Secrets of Spirit Lake, airing August 27th at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. The clip comes from Andrea Canning’s report on missing and murdered Indigenous women, with a specific focus on the disappearance of Carla Yellow Bird. Carla’s case, in particular, exposed numerous issues in how law enforcement handles crimes against Native Americans. “I’ve heard law enforcement tell the family and even myself that this person...