T’Challa Visits “Black Jeopardy” on SNL
In one of the most hilarious sketches of the night, host Chadwick Boseman brought his Marvel alter ego King T’Challa of Wakanda (aka Black Panther) to NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
T’Challa struggles during the game until he finally gets the hang of it.
If you missed it, have a chuckle below:
SNL airs Saturday nights @ 11:30pm ET on NBC.
Midnight, Texas: “Lemuel, Unchained” Sneak Peeks
Angels, vampires, psychics, witches, assassins, racist biker gangs, ghost grandmas and a talking cat! Welcome back to Midnight, Texas.
The cast of NBC’s sexy supernatural summer series attended San Diego Comic-Con a couple of weeks ago. TVLine sat down with the cast and chatted with the cast about what’s to come.
Here are two sneak peeks from episode three titled “Lemuel, Unchained”:
Midnight, Texas airs Mondays at 10pm/9c on NBC.
Midnight, Texas: “Bad Moon Rising” Sneak Peeks
Angels, vampires, psychics, witches, assassins, racist biker gangs, ghost grandmas and a talking cat! Welcome to Midnight, Texas.
The first episode of the supernatural mystery aired earlier this week. TV Guide interviewed showrunner Monica Owusu-Breen to discuss what’s going to happen next.
Here is an excerpt from the interview:
Bobo took the fall for Aubrey’s murder! That’s not right, what’s next for him?
Monica Owusu-Breen: That storyline gets resolved in the second episode. It appears to be resolved in the second episode, I should say. We wrote a pilot and it was with the intention with the murder mystery guiding the entire series. When the pilot was shot, the network came to me and said, “Murder mysteries are done in a lot of shows. Can this be a supernatural show, with supernatural villains coming in and out of this world?” [NBC wanted] to really hit that.
So like every show, we’re sort of trying to figure out what we really are. So I went off and thought about it, and thought if I couldn’t do a supernatural show in a town like Midnight, I should hand in my Writers Guild card. So what begins as a murder mystery, you’ll see in Episode 2 opens up a bigger mystery and a bigger obstacle for the Midnighters and for Manfred (Francois Arnaud) specifically.
So the murder mystery won’t be the main thread of the season?
Owusu-Breen: No, that’s Bobo’s (Dylan Bruce) story. Every character has their own story, and the murder mystery and the fallout from that is Bobo’s story more than it is the story of the town.
Manfred is our window into this world, but soon he’ll have to be more proactive in the show. What drives him later throughout the series?
Owusu-Breen: I think what’s interesting about Manfred is that he’s a guy who’s used to running from things. I mean he grew up in gypsy caravan and he’s traveled the world, and whenever there were problems he and his grandma would leave. So the idea of committing to home and committing to a community is one sort of obstacle for our character Manfred who is not used to being alone. But I don’t think humans were meant to be alone, I don’t think we function well alone. For Manfred too, it’s about finding that community and place, where he is willing to take charge, and to lead, and to fight and to risk his own safety for this group of people who he will grow to feel a part of.
Okay, now we have to talk about my favorite character. There are so many supernatural characters, and you’re introducing all these different types of beings, and then, out of nowhere, we get a talking cat!
Owusu-Breen: Mr. Snuggly!!! I will describe it — because this show is wackadoo. I love wacky, I know I love it, I hope we find an audience who is as enamored with this crazy universe as me. When I read the books, I remember Mr. Snuggly was just always around, and then midway through the books or three-quarters through the books, he starts talking. But by that point he had been around often enough and the world had gotten nutty enough it was like, of course the cat talks. it kind of made sense in that weird Charlaine-inspired supernatural universe that of course a witch would have a familiar, and of course that familiar would have a voice. It’s a polarizing figure [laughs] but it makes us laugh.
Here are four sneak peeks from episode two titled “Bad Moon Rising”:
Midnight, Texas airs Mondays at 10pm/9c on NBC.
TBT: Polly
Do you remember Polly?
On November 12, 1989, NBC aired a re-telling of Disney’s 1960 Hayley Mills classic Pollyanna. This version transposed Eleanor Porter’s classic novel Pollyanna and its white characters into a middle-class black community in the Alabama of the 1950s, and transformed the drama into a show-stopping musical.
The story is timeless. It’s about a “Glad Girl” that brings along a contagious spirit of happiness and optimism when she visits her wealthy aunt one summer.
Keshia Knight Pulliam starred as the “Glad Girl” Polly. Phylicia Rashād was cast as her Aunt Polly. Vanessa Bell Calloway was cast as Nancy, Celeste Holm as Miss Snow and Brandon Adams as Jimmy Bean.
The movie was a sort of family affair. Phylicia Rashād’s younger sister Debbie Allen both directed and choreographed Polly, and was the driving force behind the musical. Debbie also co-wrote with her husband, Norman Nixon, the words and lyrics of the film’s gospel-infused centerpiece, “Stand Up”.
Polly was a ratings hit! Its success prompted Disney to assemble a 1990 sequel, Polly: Comin’ Home!
Here are some of Polly‘s musical numbers:
Celebrity Apprentice Premiere Date Announced
The Celebrity Apprentice has been off the NBC airwaves since Spring 2013, but the Donald is back! The latest season of the celebreality competition series will return to NBC on Sunday, January 4, 2015 @ 9pm ET, before moving to it’s regular Monday @ 8pm ET timeslot.
NBC plans to air back-to-back one-hour installments each week (so double the boardroom showdowns and several firings per night).
The cast includes:
— two-time World Series champion Johnny Damon
— comedian Gilbert Gottfried
— star of Deadliest Catch Sig Hansen
— singer Kevin Jonas
— actor Lorenzo Lamas
— NFL star Terrell Owens
— talk show host Geraldo Rivera
— television and Beverly Hills 90210/Sharknado‘s Ian Ziering
— Gold Medal Olympic snowboarder Jamie Anderson
— actress Vivica A. Fox
— TV host Leeza Gibbons
— reality star Brandi Glanville
— reality star Kate Gosselin
— gold medal Olympian Shawn Johnson
— former Miss USA and star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta Kenya Moore
— and The Cosby Show‘s Keshia Knight Pulliam.
Trump’s children — Don Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump — will serve as his advisers. The winner of the competition will score a $250,000 donation to his or her designated charity.
H/T: TVLine
NBC 2014-2015: What’s New? What’s Cancelled? What to Expect?
Last month the major broadcast networks announced their 2014-2015 television season pickups and cancellations. We will be breaking down for you what’s coming (and going) on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and The CW.
Next up: NBC!
NBC Orders Constantine, The Mysteries of Laura and More to Series
NBC added several new shows to its fall 2014-15 schedule, including Constantine, based on DC Comics’ supernatural mysteries series, and Debra Messing’s detective drama The Mysteries of Laura.
Here’s the logline/casting/pedigree info for each of the new series:
Constantine (Drama)
EPs | Daniel Cerone (Dexter), David S. Goyer (Batman Begins)
CAST | Matt Ryan, Lucy Griffiths (True Blood), Harold Perrineau (Lost)
Based on the characters in DC Comics’ stories about John Constantine, an enigmatic and irreverent con man-turned-reluctant supernatural detective who is thrust into the role of defending us against dark forces from beyond. (more…)