Month: September 2024

Paramount+ announced in a press release that Season 2 of the spy thriller series Special Ops: Lioness will have a two-episode premiere Oct. 27. The second season is currently filming in Texas, and hails from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan.

Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman star and executive produce the series, with the cast also including Laysla De Oliveira, Genesis Rodriguez, Michael Kelly, Morgan Freeman, Dave Annable, Jill Wagner, LaMonica Garrett, James Jordan, Austin Hébert, Jonah Wharton, Thad Luckinbill and Hannah Love Lanier.

Season 2’s official synopsis reads: “Joe (Saldaña), Kaitlyn (Kidman), and Byron (Kelly) enlist a new Lioness operative to infiltrate a previously unknown threat. With pressure mounting from all sides, Joe is forced to confront the profound personal sacrifices she has made as the leader of the Lioness program.”

Season 1 of Lioness set a record as the streamer’s most-watched worldwide series premiere on launch day, with nearly 6 million total viewers in its first week across Paramount+ globally and on a linear preview on the Paramount Network.

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Lady Gaga released her new album titled “Harlequin,” a companion album to the upcoming film “Joker: Folie à Deux,” in which she stars alongside Joaquin Phoenix.  Gaga’s announcement of Harlequin on her Instagram page came after she previously shared that she was working on a surprise project, in addition to working on her upcoming seventh studio album.

Harlequin is comprised of 13 tracks, with song titles including, “Good Morning,” “Get Happy (2024),” “Oh, When the Saints,” “World on a String,” “That’s Entertainment,” “Smile,” “The Joker” and “Folie à Deux,” among others. The singer had teased an 80-second preview of one of the songs from Harlequin — “The Joker,” accompanied by a video in which Gaga’s Harley Quinn takes a midnight stroll through Paris’ Louvre Museum for a bout of midnight mischief.

“Harlequin” is separate from Gaga’s upcoming seventh studio album that she’s also been working on and also has teased on her social media pages. Earlier this month, she announced that the first single of her new studio album will be released on an unspecified date in October.

In Todd Phillips’ upcoming Joker musical sequel, Gaga will portrya Harley Quinn, starring opposite Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker.

“Joker: Folie à Deux” premieres in theaters on October 4.
To stream Harlequin head HERE.

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Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building has been renewed for season five, with the show’s fifth installment to be comprised of 10 episodes.

Season 4 is currently airing, with weekly episodes dropping on Hulu every Tuesday, leading up to the season finale on Oct. 29.   In addition to Steve Martin (Charles Hayden-Savage), Selena Gomez (Mabel Mora) and Martin Short (Oliver Putnam), the fourth season feature Meryl Streep, Jane Lynch, Eugene Levy, Zach Galifianakis, Eva Longoria, Richard Kind, Melissa McCarthy, Kumail Nanjiani and Molly Shannon.

In the new season, the main trio (Martin, Short, Gomez) take a whirlwind trip to Los Angeles when a movie studio wants to turn their podcast into a film, while also trying to solve the murder of Sazz Pataki (Lynch), the former stunt double of Martin’s character.

A release date hasn’t been announced for season five yet, but is expected to premiere sometime next summer.

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NBC’s Today show co-anchor Hoda Kotb announced she is leaving the show after five years as co-anchor, and nearly three decades at NBC. Kotb is the co-anchor of Today alongside Savannah Guthrie, and also the co-host of Today’s fourth hour alongside Jenna Bush Hager.  Kotb will stay in her current role until the beginning of 2025, and will remain with NBC in some capacity beyond leaving Today.

The 60-year-old journalist and broadcaster made the announcement Thursday in a letter to Today staff, which the show published online. Kotb wrote in part: “As I write this, my heart is all over the map. I know I’m making the right decision, but it’s a painful one. And you all are the reason why. They say two things can be right at the same time, and I’m feeling that so deeply right now. I love you and it’s time for me to leave the show. My broadcast career has been beyond meaningful, a new decade of my life lies ahead, and now my daughters and my mom need and deserve a bigger slice of my time pie. I will miss you all desperately, but I’m ready and excited.”Happily and gratefully, I plan to remain a part of the NBC family, the longest work relationship I’ve been lucky enough to hold close to my heart. I’ll be around. How could I not? Family is family and you all will always be a part of mine.”

Kotb also announced the news on-air during Thursday morning’s broadcast, surrounded by her colleagues, including Savannah Guthrie, Jenna Bush Hager, and Al Roker.  Kotb noted her daughters, Haley, 7, and Hope, 5, as motivation for the decision, sharing: “I realized that it was time for me to turn the page at 60, and to try something new. This is the right time for me to move on.”

Kotb has co-anchored Today with Guthrie, 52, since early 2018; making history as the first-ever pair of female co-hosts of Today.  Kotb has hosted the Today show’s fourth-hour broadcast at 10 a.m. since September 2007. She was joined by co-host Kathie Lee Gifford in April 2008, and Bush-Hager later took on the co-hosting role in August 2019 (following Gifford’s departure).

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NBC has set its initial round of guest hosts for the first five episodes of Saturday Night Live Season 50, posting on its socials: “first five shows!!! #SNL50”. The series airs on NBC at 11:30 p.m. ET and streams on Peacock.

Jean Smart is set to host for the first time, kicking-off the season on Sept. 28 with musical guest Jelly Roll. Smart is fresh off her third Emmy win for the Max comedy “Hacks,” while Jelly Roll is to release his new album, “Beautifully Broken,” on Oct. 11.

The Oct. 5 episode will be hosted by comedian Nate Bargatze, with Coldplay serving as musical guest. Bargatze returns to the “SNL” stage after hosting in 2023, while Coldplay will be making it’s eighth appearance as musical guest. Coldplay will release its 10th album, “Moon Music,” on Oct. 4.

Ariana Grande will host “SNL” for the second time on Oct. 12 with musical guest Stevie Nicks. Grande’s film adaptation of the Broadway musical “Wicked” debuts in theaters Nov. 22, while Nicks returns to “SNL” after performing in 1983.

For the Oct. 19 episode, Michael Keaton will host along with musical guest Billie Eilish; Keaton stars in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” currently, with his next film, “Goodrich” coming to theaters Oct. 18.  Eilish marks her fourth stint as “SNL” musical guest.

Comedian John Mulaney (and former ‘SNL’ writer from 2008-2013) will host on Nov. 2, with first-time musical guest, Chappell Roan. Mulaney will host for the sixth time, and will star in the Broadway play “All In: Comedy About Love,” opening Dec. 11. Roan is currently rocking the pop music world with her hit songs “Good Luck, Babe!” and “Hot to Go!”

“Saturday Night Live” will also celebrate its 50th season with a live primetime special on Feb. 16.

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Kate Winslet is set to star in  in the Hulu series ‘The Spot’, a drama from screenwriter Ed Solomon.

The official logline states, “When a successful surgeon (Winslet) and her schoolteacher husband begin to suspect that she may be responsible for a child’s hit-and-run death, their quest for truth spirals into a web of mounting suspicion and dark secrets, testing their resolve and their relationship as they confront the possibility of hidden guilt and betrayal.”

Solomon created, wrote and will showrun The Spot, while also executive producing along with Winslet. Solomon’s credits include Men in Black, the Now You See Me movie franchise and the tv series, Mosaic. 

Winslet most recently starred in the HBO limited series “The Regime,” and previously starred in the HBO limited series “Mare of Easttown,” for which she won the Emmy Award for best actress in a limited series (she also won in the same category in 2011 for the HBO series “Mildred Pierce.”)  Winslet will also return to HBO for the limited series “Trust,” which is currently in the works.

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