Month: July 2021

Jennifer Carpenter will return for Showtime’s ‘Dexter’ revival. The actress played Dexter Morgan’s sister Deb Morgan for all eight seasons of the original Showtime series, and was famously killed off in the 2013 series finale. Carpenter isn’t the only character to return from the dead — John Lithgow, who won an Emmy for his role as the Trinity Killer, is also returning. Both Carpenter and Lithgow are expected to appear in flashback scenes.

Showtime’s 10-episode revival is set 10 years after Dexter (portrayed by Michael C. Hall) went missing in the eye of Hurricane Laura, with the character now living under an assumed name in Upstate New York.  The series ended in 2013 with Dexter going on self-imposed exile as a lumberjack in Oregon and living a solitary life, a finale which many fans harshly criticized.  Original showrunner Clyde Phillips returns for the revival, and he said: “We basically do get to start from scratch. … Ten years, or however many years, have passed by the time this will air, and the show will reflect that time passage. So far as the ending of the show, this will have no resemblance to how the original finale was. It’s a great opportunity to write a second finale.”

The ‘Dexter’ revival is expected to debut this fall on Showtime.

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The streaming service Disney+ has renewed ‘Loki’ for Season 2, it was first revealed in the Season 1 finale.  In a post-credits scene in the episode, a case file was shown with a red stamp reading “Loki will return in Season 2.” The finale also set the stage for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which opens in theaters in March 2022.

‘Loki’ is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Loki takes place after the events of the 2019 film Avengers: Endgame. Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, reprises his role in the series.

‘Loki’ is the third Marvel scripted TV series to premiere on Disney+, following WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Marvel’s next Disney+ series, What If…, will premiere in August; a trailer for the show last week teased “infinite possibilities” in the Marvel universe.

Jerry O’Connell is joining CBS’s ‘The Talk’ as a permanent co-host, replacing Sharon Osbourne who left earlier this year. The 47-year-old O’Connell has guest-hosted the show for the past few months; he joins co-hosts Sheryl Underwood, Amanda Kloots and Elaine Welteroth and Carrie Ann Inaba (who is currently on a leave of absence from the series.)

Jerry said during Wednesday’s show after the announcement: “It’s really exciting. First of all I want to say, you ladies have been so welcoming to me, I mean, I came here as a guest, months ago, and just from the moment I walked in, you’re just gracious, you’re kind, you’re fun, and it worked.  And here we are and we’re gonna have a lot of fun, we really are.”

O’Connell is the first male co-host to ever be instituted on The Talk.  Osbourne exited the show after getting in an on-air argument with co-host Underwood. The two were discussing Piers Morgan’s comments regarding Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey. The debate between Osbourne and Underwood would lead to an investigation after Welteroth complained of “a racially insensitive and hostile environment” o the show.

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Nicolas Cage revealed in an interview that his plans to star as the “Tiger King” Joe Exotic in an Amazon series have been scrapped, because producers felt that interest in the true-crime case had “faded.” Cage told Variety:  “We should clear the record. I read two excellent scripts, which I did think were excellent, but I think Amazon ultimately felt that it was material that had become past tense because it took so long for it come together. They felt at one point that it was lightning in a bottle, but that point has since faded into the distance and it’s no longer relevant.”

An Amazon representative confirmed that the project is no longer in development.  The Amazon project was supposed to have been an eight-episode series written by Dan Lagana, based on a 2019 Texas Monthly article, “Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild,” rather than a direct adaptation of the Netflix series.  Cage’s casting was announced in May 2020.

Joe Exotic — real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage — is serving a 22-year prison sentence after being convicted of plotting to murder longtime rival and animal rights activist Carole Baskin, as well as violating federal wildlife laws. The story became publicized last year following the release of the Netflix documentary series, “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.”

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Netflix announced the new series Cooking with Paris, starring Hilton hotel heiress Paris Hilton. Hilton will executive produce and host the series from her own kitchen, and, according to Netflix, she will also ‘showcase kitchen wardrobe and welcome her celebrity friends as guests.’

The 40-year-old Hilton posted a YouTube video “Cooking with Paris” on Jan. 13, 2020, which earned over five million views and inspired the six episode half-hour show.

Cooking with Paris will premiere Aug. 4th.

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On Tuesday morning, father-daughter duo Ron Cephas Jones (‘This Is Us’) and Jasmine Cephas Jones (‘Blindspotting, Hamilton’) announced the nominations for the 73rd Emmy Awards.

The Crown and The Mandalorian lead the nominations with 24 nominations each; WandaVision, Ted Lasso, HBO’s Lovecraft Country and The Handmaid’s Tale also earned multiple nominations.

This year’s ceremony, hosted by Cedric the Entertainer. will be held live, with a limited audience of nominees and their guests. Last year’s show went almost fully virtual amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Check the link here for the full list of Emmy nominations. The Emmys will air Sunday, Sep. 19 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS and be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.