Attached to its hit freshman sitcom “Abbott Elementary,” ABC has partnered with Scholastic to become the first entertainment brand to provide underfunded schools with free book fairs.
The book fairs take place at seven Title 1 schools between March 14 and 18. Each student will receive two free books and each teacher will receive 10. Participating schools include Philadelphia’s Harrity Elementary, which “Abbott Elementary” is based on, as well as Diehl Elementary in Erie, Pa., Bond Elementary in Chicago, Dayton’s Bluff Elementary in Minneapolis, Freeman Elementary in Flint, Mich. and Cortada Elementary and Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary in Los Angeles.
Additionally, ABC is relaunching its Traveling Teacher’s Lounge initiative, which provides teachers with books from Scholastic, classroom supplies, breakfast and “Abbott Elementary” merchandise. The first round of the lounge, which began on Jan. 3 and visited schools in Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey and Maryland, donated more than 1,000 books, 10,000 notebooks, 100,000 writing utensils and 15,000 art and craft materials. The six new stops added to the traveling lounge are Dallas on March 10, Houston on March 11, Santa Fe, N.M. on March 15, Phoenix on March 16, Reno, Nev. on March 18 and Los Angeles on March 22.
“‘Abbott Elementary’ shines light on and reflects the experiences and challenges faced by our country’s educators,” said Erin Weir, executive vice president of marketing for ABC & General Entertainment. “We had an extraordinary opportunity and responsibility to amplify that mission in our series marketing efforts. Giving back to this deserving community has been a pillar of our campaign from day one, and thanks to several incredible partnerships, like our collaboration with Scholastic, we’ve had the great fortune of celebrating teachers through supply donations, grassroots activations and more, while also sharing the joy of our hilarious new comedy.”
“Our mission at Scholastic has always been to support teachers and provide them with the resources and materials needed to build warm, positive classroom experiences for their students. That’s why we are so thrilled to team up with ABC and ‘Abbott Elementary’ — a show dedicated to uplifting educators and reflecting their experiences — to put books into the classrooms that need them most and get kids excited about reading and learning,” added Billy DiMichele, senior vice president of creative development at Scholastic.
“Abbott Elementary” is a workplace comedy starring creator Quinta Brunson as Janine Teagues, a young and eager second grade teacher doing her best to support the students of her underfunded Philadelphia school. For support, she relies on colleagues including two more experienced less optimistic teachers (Sheryl Lee Ralph and Lisa Ann Walter), an overbearing fellow newbie (Jacob Hill), a kooky and disinterested principal (Janelle James) and a new substitute teacher (Tyler James Williams).
Executive producers include Brunson, Randall Einhorn, Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker. The series, which has received the strongest comedy ratings since the finale of “Modern Family” in 2020, debuted in December 2021 and will return to ABC with new episodes on March 22.
Source: Variety
Paramount+ today announced Emmy Award winner André Braugher (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) will join the upcoming sixth season of the critically acclaimed Paramount+ Original series THE GOOD FIGHT. Now in production, THE GOOD FIGHT is set to return this summer, streaming exclusively on Paramount+.
Braugher will star as Ri’Chard Lane, a showman lawyer and rainmaker who is forced on Liz as a new name partner. A force of nature, Ri’Chard is a wild mix of brilliance, geniality, religion, and joyful hedonism. In short, he’s a handful.
“Our dream of an actor is always someone who can mix comedy and drama equally, and André Braugher is exactly that,” said Robert and Michelle King, series co-creators, showrunners and executive producers. “His work on ‘Men of a Certain Age,’ ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ and ‘Homicide’ has been amazing and funny. We’re ecstatic that he finally has time in his schedule to come play.”
The series is produced by CBS Studios in association with Scott Free Productions and King Size Productions. The series is distributed worldwide by Paramount Global Content Distribution.
Most recently, Braugher completed an eight-season run on NBC’s hit comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” as Captain Ray Holt. He won two Critics Choice Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and received four Emmy Award nominations for his role. Braugher also won an Emmy Award and received a Golden Globe nomination for his starring role in FX’s mini-series “Thief.” In addition to his success on television, Braugher can be seen in numerous feature films including “Baytown Outlaws,” “Salt,” “Passengers,” “The Mist,” “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” and “Poseidon,” among others. On stage, Braugher has performed for the New York Shakespeare festival in “Measure for Measure,” “Twelfth Night” and “Henry V,” earning him an Obie Award for the titular role. Other credits include performances with Joseph Papp’s Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club and the Williamstown Theater Festival.
The sixth season of THE GOOD FIGHT has Diane feeling like she’s going crazy, struggling with an uneasy sense of déjà vu, with everything from Roe v. Wade to voting rights to Cold War aggressions returning. Meanwhile, the lawyers of Reddick & Associates wonder if the violence that they see all around them points to an impending civil war.
“Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler was briefly detained by police in Atlanta in January after he was mistaken for a bank robber at a Bank of America, according to a police report filed Wednesday.
The director confirmed the incident to Variety. “This situation should never have happened,” he said. “However, Bank of America worked with me and addressed it to my satisfaction and we have moved on.”
Coogler was detained and handcuffed after he went to Bank of America to make a transaction on Jan. 7, according to the Atlanta police report. The 35-year-old director — who was wearing a hat, sunglasses and a COVID face mask — went to the counter and handed the bank teller a withdrawal slip with a note written on the back that reportedly read, “I would like to withdraw $12,000 cash from my checking account. Please do the money count somewhere else. I’d like to be discreet.”
The teller, however, misinterpreted the situation as an attempted robbery when the amount of the transaction exceeded $10,000 and triggered an alert notification from Coogler’s bank account. The teller then informed her boss that she suspected it was a robbery attempt and together they called the police. Four Atlanta PD officers arrived at the scene and detained two of Coogler’s colleagues, who were waiting for him outside the bank in a car with the engine running. They informed the officers who Coogler was and what he was wearing, which matched the description of the man suspected of robbing the bank. Coogler’s colleagues were detained in the back of a police vehicle, and Coogler was handcuffed and taken out of the bank by two of the officers. After verifying Coogler’s identity and his Bank of America account, the officers released him and his colleagues.
A Bank of America spokesperson told Variety: “We deeply regret that this incident occurred. It never should have happened and we have apologized to Mr. Coogler.”
Coogler has been filming the sequel to the superhero tentpole, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” in Atlanta. The film is set for release in November.
Ever since the renewed Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of police, there has been heightened scrutiny of incidents of racism across myriad industries — and a laser focus on racism in Hollywood.
Source: Variety
Giancarlo Esposito is staying at AMC for his next series role.
The Better Call Saul veteran will star in and executive produce a drama called The Driver for AMC and its AMC+ streaming service. It will be the third series for Esposito at the cable outlet, following Saul — whose final season begins in April — and Breaking Bad.
“I am over the moon excited, enthused and inspired to be in collaboration with the stellar network and creative team of AMC,” said Esposito in a statement. “Thanks for believing in me. It’s great to be back home!”
Created by Sunu Gonera and Danny Brocklehurst (and based on a 2014 BBC miniseries from Brocklehurst and Jim Poyser), The Driver follows a cabbie (Esposito) whose life is turned upside down when he agrees to chauffeur a New Orleans-based Zimbabwean gangster notorious for exploiting undocumented immigrants at ports in the southern United States. The six-episode first season, produced by AMC Studios in association with A+E Studios and Thruline Entertainment, is set to premiere in 2023.
Esposito was a fan of the BBC series, which starred David Morrissey as the title character, and Gonera got involved through their shared management firm, Thruline Entertainment.
“It’s surreal to be at this point,” said Gonera. “This whole journey started as a simple conversation four years ago in my manager Josh Kesselman’s living room when he said, ‘Giancarlo is keen to play an everyman as his next role. There’s a British show he loves called The Driver. Would you watch the pilot and see if you could come up with a take you both could get excited about?’ Um, would I? You had me at Giancarlo and everyman.”
Said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks, “Giancarlo is a singular talent who is already beloved by AMC viewers through his standout performances in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. We are excited to be continuing his relationship with AMC and AMC+ in a series built around him and an unforgettable character who takes what he thinks is a straightforward job opportunity and finds himself confronted with a world that tests him in ways he could never have imagined.”
Theo Travers (Billions, Power) will serve as showrunner for The Driver. Gonera (Snowfall, Raised by Wolves) will direct the first episode.
“It is a pleasure and a privilege to be working with AMC on this bold reimagining of my U.K. miniseries,” said Brocklehurst. “Sunu Gonera and Theo Travers have both brought superb original voices to the premise and I am thrilled to be going on this ride with them.”
Added Travers, “I couldn’t be more excited to help bring this show to life. I’ve been a fan of Giancarlo’s work since Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. It’s a true honor to have the chance to collaborate with him in this way. The Driver is a high-voltage, dark identity quest for an everyman trying to find renewed purpose in his life.”
Esposito, Gonera, Brocklehurst and Travers will executive produce the series along with Thruline’s Kesselman and Danny Sherman, alongside A+E Studios head Barry Jossen and executive vp creative affairs Tana Jamieson.
The Driver is the latest project for the ever-busy Esposito, who in addition to Better Call Saul recurs on Amazon’s The Boys and Disney+’s The Mandalorian. He’s also attached to Netflix’s forthcoming series Jigsaw and stars opposite Forest Whitaker in Godfather of Harlem on Epix. He is repped by ICM Partners, Thruline Entertainment, Jackoway Austen and Imprint.
Travers is repped by Echo Lake Management and attorney J.R. McGinnis at Felker Toczek.
AMC and AMC+ have been solidifying their future rosters of late. In addition to The Driver, the network and streamer have made three other series pickups recently: Isle of the Dead — a fifth Walking Dead spinoff starring Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan — and dramas Demascus and Invitation to a Bonfire.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
There have been more than a few moments of unintentional comedy gold surrounding the NBA and NBA-adjacent life of former Boston Celtics, Los Angels Clippers, and Orlando Magic big man and 2008 champion Glen “Big Baby” Davis, including a snafu that saw him get kicked out of the wrong seats at the Celtics’ recent home game against the Brooklyn Nets.
But not all of the comedic gold being put out into the universe by the onetime Celtics center is an accident. In fact, quite a bit of it is intentional. The Boston alumnus is pursuing a career as a stand-up comedian, and if you happen to live in the greater Boston area, you can check out Big Baby’s jokes live for yourself at any number of local venues.
With Black-ish nearing the end of its run on ABC, two key members of that show’s team will move to its spinoff, Freeform’s Grown-ish.
The Disney-owned cable outlet has renewed Grown-ish for a fifth season. Marcus Scribner, a series regular on Black-ish throughout its run, will join the show’s cast for season five as Andre Johnson Jr., who will join older sister Zoey (Yara Shahidi) on his journey to being grown.
Additionally, Black-ish showrunner Courtney Lilly will also move to the spinoff. He and Zakiyyah Alexander (Russian Doll, Hunters) will serve as co-showrunners for the coming season. They take over for Julie Bean, who served as showrunner in season four; executive producer Jenifer Rice-Genzuk Henry is also departing.
For Lilly, joining the spinoff will mean he has worked on all three shows in creator Kenya Barris’ -ish franchise. He was also an executive producer of prequel series Mixed-ish, which ran for two seasons on ABC.
The renewal comes a couple of weeks before Grown-ish finishes its fourth season on Freeform. The changes for the next season come at a transition point for the show as Zoey and her classmates are about to graduate from college. Additional casting for season five will be announced later.
ABC Signature produces Grown-ish. Barris will executive produce season five with Alexander, Lilly, Craig Doyle, Shahidi, Anthony Anderson, Laurence Fishburne, Helen Sugland, E. Brian Dobbins and Michael Petok.
Scribner is repped by CAA, Artists First, Imprint and Del Shaw. Alexander is repped by WME, Map Point Management and Gang Tyre. Lilly is with UTA, The Framework Collective and McKuin Frankel.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
The high court will not take up the sexual assault case against the comedian, leaving in place the decision by Pennsylvania’s highest court to toss out his conviction.
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday without comment that it would not review Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case, leaving him a free man and ending a two-decade legal drama that shifted the cultural landscape, destroyed the groundbreaking Black actor’s reputation, and sent him to prison for several years in his late 70s.
The high court — whose nine members include two men accused of sexual misconduct themselves — declined to review a stunning decision out of Pennsylvania that released Cosby from prison in June over the word of a former prosecutor who said he had made a secret promise with Cosby’s lawyers that he could never be charged.
A Cosby spokesperson expressed “sincere gratitude to the justices” on behalf of Cosby and his family for the announcement and said he was the victim of “a reprehensible bait and switch” by the prosecutor and trial judge in the case.
“This is truly a victory for Mr. Cosby, but it shows that cheating will never get you far in life, and the corruption that lies within Montgomery County District’s Attorney Office has been brought to the center stage of the world,” spokesperson Andrew Wyatt said.
The 84-year-old Cosby, according to Wyatt, remains in good health despite being legally blind. He said that “many people are calling for projects for him” and that he is considering a final standup tour.
Accuser Andrea Constand planned to issue a statement later in the day.
District Attorney Kevin Steele in suburban Philadelphia’s Montgomery County said in a statement that asking the high court to revive the case “was the right thing to do,” even if it was a long shot. He thanked Constand for her courage and wished her well.
“All crime victims deserve to be heard, treated with respect and be supported through their day in court,” Steele said.
Steele has said there’s no evidence that Cosby had a legally binding agreement that he could never be prosecuted.
His predecessor, Bruce L. Castor Jr., never put it in writing or told anyone in his office about it. He never mentioned it in public until new evidence emerged and the case was reopened a decade later.
“A secret agreement that permits a wealthy defendant to buy his way out of a criminal case isn’t right,” Steele argued in court in 2016 as he pressed to send the case to trial.
Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill found Castor’s testimony on the point not credible and sent the case to trial. However, the state Supreme Court later ruled that whether or not the supposed agreement was legally binding, Cosby relied on it when he gave eye-popping — and potentially incriminating — testimony in a lawsuit later filed by Constand.
“The principle of fundamental fairness that undergirds due process of law in our criminal justice system demands that the promise be enforced,” Justice David N. Wecht wrote last year.
During the deposition, a seemingly free-wheeling Cosby gave long, stream-of-consciousness answers to questions from Constand’s lawyers. He detailed his sexual involvement with a string of young women, a few still in their teens, over the years. And he recalled giving several of them, including Constand, alcohol or pills while he remained sober.
“I don’t hear her say anything. And I don’t feel her say anything. And so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped,” Cosby said in the 2006 deposition, describing a sexual encounter that came after he gave her three pills for stress, which she said knocked her out.
He was arrested in the Constand case on Dec. 30, 2015, just days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired. Steele had reopened the case after The Associated Press went to federal court to unseal Cosby’s long-buried testimony in Constand’s lawsuit.
Cosby, after giving four days of testimony, had paid her $3.4 million to settle the case.
He went on trial in the criminal case in June 2017. The jury could not reach a verdict. Less than a year later — after media reports about media mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse of women galvanized the #MeToo movement — a second jury convicted Cosby of drugging and molesting Constand.
The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission. Constand has done so.
Scores of women have come forward to say Cosby also sexually assaulted them, but Constand’s is the only one that led to an arrest. His insurer, against Cosby’s wishes, settled a Massachusetts lawsuit involving seven accusers for an undisclosed amount after the 2018 conviction. At least two other lawsuits remain pending against the actor.
Castor, who said he made the deal with Cosby, later represented former President Donald Trump at his second impeachment trial, at which Trump was acquitted of inciting the violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Castor said he declined to arrest Cosby in 2005 based in part on his belief that both parties “could be held in less than a flattering light.” Constand later sued Castor for defamation and won a settlement from him. Castor countersued Constand, but the judge threw it out.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Comedians Chris Rock and Kevin Hart have announced an iconic co-heading comedy show tour that will be a five-show run- to start-titled ROCK HART: Only Headliners Allowed. The shows will be produced by Live Nation and will begin this July.
“Chris and I realized we were both going to be on tour this year we immediately knew we needed to do something special we have been friends and mentors each other for 20 years but we have never shared a headlining stage together until now. I cannot think of a better way to celebrate the return of live comedy than to call headliner show with my brother Chris Rock this is a major moment in comedy and one for the history books”, said Kevin Hart.
Lauded by peers and critics alike Chris Rock is one of our generation’s strongest comedic voices. With a career spanning more than three decades, Rock has enjoyed ongoing success in both film and television as a comedian actor, writer, producer, and Director. Rock recently wrapped production in the upcoming Higher Ground Produced biopic Rustin and David O’Russell’s untitled film. He’s also set to direct an untitled Chris Rock project in 2023.
Hailed as one of the highest-earning stand-up comedians of 2019 by Forbes, Hart’s most recent global comedy tour sold over 100 arenas around the world, and sold over 1 million tickets worldwide in 2018 despite his Irresponsible Tour. Hart continues to break records with his hometown standup performance at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field during his What Now Tour marking it the first time a comedian has sold out an NFL stadium in Philadelphia. Recently Kevin Hart announced his first major tour in four years Reality Check heading to over 30 arenas in North America starting this summer.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Janet Jackson, Kevin Hart and Nicki Minaj are among the headliners announced Thursday for this summer’s Essence Festival of Culture, which returns to New Orleans after a two-year hiatus brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
Others tapped to entertain June 30 through July 3 include New Edition, The Isley Brothers, Jazmine Sullivan, Summer Walker, The Roots & Friends, and D-Nice & Friends, Essence Communications Inc. said in a news release. Additional talent and details will be announced later.
“We are excited to welcome the family back live to New Orleans and thrilled to connect with more of our diasporic family through new digital experiences,” Essence CEO Caroline Wanga said in the announcement.
In addition to the nightly concerts inside the Superdome, the festival will include programming on networking, finance, career, wellness, fashion, beauty, and more at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and other entertainment in venues citywide.
Launched in 1995 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Essence magazine, the festival has evolved into the world’s largest celebration of Black women, culture, and communities, convening more than 530,000 people annually over the July 4th weekend in New Orleans, the company statement said.
The festival, with the 2022 theme “It’s The Black Joy For Me,” plans to expand its digital programming, live-streaming “select on-the-ground activities” as well as creating new digital-only content and experiences, the company added.
And even though some COVID-19 restrictions have been eased, proof of vaccination is required to participate in festival events, organizers said.
Will Smith is ready to revisit one of his signature roles. The actor is attached to star in a sequel to I Am Legend, his celebrated post-apocalyptic 2007 film. Michael B. Jordan is also attached to star in the feature, which will be written by the original film’s co-writer Akiva Goldsman for Warner Bros.
A sequel to I Am Legend has long been bandied about, with a version of the project discussed as far back as 2012.
Goldsman and Mark Protosevich co-wrote the original, which was directed by Francis Lawrence and was praised for bringing an intimacy to the blockbuster sphere, as well as for its images of barren cityscapes. The film grossed $585 million worldwide and ended with the death of Smith’s character, a scientist attempting to find a cure for a plague that has killed most of humanity and turned survivors into monstrous creatures. It is unclear how Smith might return for the sequel.
Jordan is producing the I Am Legend sequel along with Elizabeth Raposo via their Outlier Society. Smith will produce via his Westbrook Studios with Jon Mone. Westbrook’s Ryan Shimazaki will oversee on behalf of Westbrook, while James Lassiter will executive produce. Goldsman, who produced the original I Am Legend, will also return to produce with Greg Lessans via Weed Road Pictures.
I Am Legend, based on Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel, has long been one of Smith’s proudest achievements as an actor thanks to its small moments. For most of the film, he had nothing to act opposite of, save for mannequins and a dog.
“I’m obsessed with trying to put small character dramas into the middle of blockbuster packages. … The most successful I’ve ever been with that concept is I Am Legend,” Smith told The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg in 2015. “I Am Legend easily could’ve been a stage play, right? You know, a one-man show, a dude with a dog — you generally would think you need a little bit more than that for a blockbuster, but to date, that’s my biggest opening and my second-biggest film.”
Smith is in the Oscar race for his work in King Richard, recently winning a SAG Award. Jordan is preparing to star and direct Creed III.
Smith is repped by CAA. Jordan is repped by WME and Johnson Shapiro. Goldsman is repped by CAA and Hansen Jacobson.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter