With all of the hype of Avengers Endgame taking over the box office and becoming the number one box office hit of all time, you knew Saturday Night Live was going to take a stab at a sketch mocking the film. Well, they did, except they even added HBO‘s hit TV show Game Of Thrones in a Family Feud sketch, with host Steve Harvey. and tell us what you think. Here’s the sketch;
#Avengers – you own the board. #SNL pic.twitter.com/LwPyRVBvbl
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) May 5, 2019
TV One continues its tradition of highlighting inspirational music figures with the premiere of the original film, THE BOBBY DEBARGE STORY, which will air on Saturday, June 29 at 8 P.M. ET/7C, followed by an encore presentation at 10 P.M. ET/9C. Debuting during Black Music Month, the film’s stars include Roshon Fegan (Shake It Up, Greenleaf) in the lead role as Bobby DeBarge, Tyra Ferrell (Boyz InThe Hood, White Men Can’t Jump) as Etterlene DeBarge, Blue Kimble (Media) as Tommy DeBarge and Adrian Marcel as James DeBarge. Big Boi (Outkast) portrays legendary music mogul Berry Gordy, while Lloyd appears as Switch member Gregory Williams.
In his first role as a leading man, Fegan brilliantly transforms into the falsetto master and takes audiences inside the tumultuous life of the former lead singer of the late 70’s R&B/Funk Band Switch.
“The most dynamic and powerful acting role I’ve ever portrayed,” shared Fegan. “It was an honor to tell this musical legend’s life story.”
Despite his success in music, Bobby DeBarge, the eldest sibling of the world-famous pop group DeBarge struggled with fame and fortune and found his life in peril. The film explores the highs and lows of the singer’s life in the limelight, including his rise to stardom, coping with memories of his dysfunctional childhood, romantic relationships, struggles with substance abuse, incarceration and failing health.
“It was truly amazing watching the characters unfold in front of my eyes and the incredible acting that was bestowed upon this project,” said the film’s director Russ Parr. “I think a lot of people are going to be surprised by the performances that they see. Although this is a tragic story, I believe it’s told with dignity and respect to the legacy of Bobby DeBarge.” Parr is also a writer and producer known for the award-winning “The Undershepherd,” “Hear No Evil” and “35 and Ticking.”
THE BOBBY DEBARGE STORY is the latest addition to TV One’s successful slate of acclaimed original films that range from dramas and comedies to biopics and more. TV One’s highest-rated original film WHEN LOVE KILLS debuted #1 on cable among African-American households in its premiere time slot. Original feature films LOVE UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT and BOBBI KRISTINA rank at #2 and #3, respectively, in the network’s history – both were also #1 on cable among African-American households in their premiere timeslots. An additional encore for THE BOBBY DEBARGE STORY is scheduled to air for Sunday, June 30 at 9 P.M. ET/8C and 11 P.M. ET/10C.
THE BOBBY DEBARGE STORY is produced for TV One by Swirl Films. Executive Producers are Eric Tomosunas and Teri DeBarge. The film is written by Norman Vance, Jr., directed by Russ Parr with casting provided by Leah Daniels Butler (Leah Daniels Butler Casting) and George Pierre (Pierre Casting). For TV One, Karen Peterkin and Jason Ryan are the Executive Producers in Charge of Production, Donyell Kennedy-McCullough is Senior Director of Talent & Casting and Robyn Greene Arrington is Vice President of Original Programming and Production.
Hundreds of celebrities, sports stars, politicians and executives came out to celebrate Derby Eve with the Bridgeman family at the Trifecta gala, held this year at the KFC Yum Center.
The annual charity event benefits the V Foundation for Cancer Research, which was founded in 1993 by the late Jim Valvano, as well as Louisville’s West End School and the University of Louisville’s Autism Center. This is the 18th year that former NBA star and Louisville businessman Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman and his family — including his children, Eden, Justin and Ryan — have hosted a Kentucky Derby Eve party, each year raising funds for charities.
This year’s party was headlined by musical guest Usher and hosted by comedian Steve Harvey. Among the attendees who walked the red carpet were actor Chris Brown, actress Vivica A. Fox, singer Michelle Williams and celebrity chef Demaris Phillips.
‘Spider-man: Far From Home’ has debuted a new trailer ahead of the July 2nd release; Check out the new trailer below ONLy if you have seen Avengers Endgame!
Comedic actress Erica Ash, probably best known for her role on Starz’ hit show Survivor’s Remorse, has decided to try her hand as a stand-up comedian and she jumped on stage for the first time last Thursday at The Comedy Store during the Crack ‘Em Up Comedy Show!
Word is, she’s seriously jumping into this as she has booked a couple of upcoming gigs.
This is a look at her on stage;
Erica will also be performing on stage at The Flappers Comedy Club this Wednesday with comedians Tony Roberts and Taccara Williams.
Next month grown-ish returns to Freeform for the second half of its sophomore season, and it looks like Zoey Johnson (Yara Shahidi) is a repo victim!
When the show went on its midseason break, we saw Zoey essentially cut off financially by her father Dre (Anthony Anderson) after having a very unsuccessful semester at Cal U.
On June 5, when the show comes back, it looks like Zoey is still going through it.
grown-ish follows Zoey (Shahidi), Dre (Anderson) and Rainbow’s (Tracee Ellis Ross) popular, entitled, stylish and socially active 17-year-old daughter from black-ish, as she heads into her freshman year of college. Shahidi is also joined onscreen by series regulars Trevor Jackson as Aaron Jackson, Jordan Buhat as Vivek Shah, Emily Arlook as Nomi Segal, Francia Raisa as Ana Torres, Chloe and Halle Bailey as Jazz and Star Forster, Deon Cole as Charlie Telphy, Luka Sabbat as Luca Hall and Diggy Simmons as Doug.
Kenya Barris, Anthony Anderson, Laurence Fishburne, Helen Sugland and E. Brian Dobbins are executive producers of the series. ABC Signature Studios produces grown-ish.
Source: Shadow & Act
If you are into horse racing, the Superbowl of the event every year is the Kentucky Derby, and this year, on Saturday, there was a disqualification! The horse named Maximum Security initially won but was later lost the title.
Today, after millions of dollars lost, an appeal filed with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Monday regarding the disqualification of Maximum Security — the horse who initially won the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, has been denied.
After many posts by several actors over the years stating that a fourth Friday film was coming, we actually think that Ice Cube gave the best answer to the question because he was on cable television in front of millions (promoting his Big 3 Draft) and was asked if the Friday film was coming, and his response;
Told y’all it’s coming… #Friday pic.twitter.com/p15BEBBnFn
— Ice Cube (@icecube) May 3, 2019
Mo’Nique came back in fighting form thanks to ads developed by Donald Glover for Adidas to promote his new “Nizza” shoes. The series of ads showed Mo’Nique roasting the living daylights out of Glover, taking him to task for being all manner of bougie. If you’ve been like many out there who have been wondering how the commercial came about, Mo’Nique has now provided the details.
In an interview with Complex, she said the opportunity came after Glover’s creative team reached out to her via her husband and manager, Sydney Hicks.
“Well, Fam Rothstein, who is one of Donald Glover’s teammates, and a sister named Sylvia, they called and spoke to my husband, who everybody knows is my manager,” she said. “They spoke to Sydney, and when I say it was a beautiful negotiation? It was the way it’s supposed to be done. It was professional people dealing with professional people, and we made something beautiful. I wish every deal and every phone call could be the one that came in from Fam Rothstein and Sister Sylvia. I wish they could be that way because it makes it so much easier.”
Mo’Nique continued, saying how respected she felt by Glover’s team. “I remember at the end of the shoot, I asked Donald if could I talk to him and his team, and it was one of those moments that brought tears to my eyes to say to those brothers, ‘This is how it’s supposed to be,'” she said. “And to treat a Black woman with such respect and honor, that for me goes down in my history book, to say there are still those out there that treat us with the respect we’re supposed to be treated with. They’re still out there and I know it seems like we got to dig deep, but dammit his name is Donald Glover.”
Let’s hope that the good time Mo’Nique had with Glover means there could be more projects between the two creatives in the future.
Source: Shadow & Act
Disney has finalized its deal to sell 21 Fox regional sports networks to Sinclair Broadcast Group in a transaction valued at $10.6 billion. Byron Allen, the entrepreneur behind Entertainment Studios, has teamed with Sinclair as an equity partner in the newly formed Diamond Holding Group.
The agreement covers outlets serving major markets around the country. The RSNs have local rights to 42 professional teams, including 14 Major League Baseball teams, NBA teams and 12 NHL teams. Last year, the 21 channels delivered $3.8 billion in revenue across 74 million subscribers.
“This is a very exciting transaction for Sinclair to be able to acquire highly complementary assets,” said Chris Ripley, president- CEO of Sinclair. “While consumer viewing habits have shifted, the tradition of watching live sports and news remains ingrained in our culture. As one of the largest local news producers in the country and an experienced producer of sports content, we are ideally positioned to transfer our skills to deliver and expand our focus on greater premium sports programming.”
The deal, which still requires regulatory approval, promises to vault Baltimore-based Sinclair to a new level of activity on the cable side. The company has been steadily building up its sports assets which at present include the Marquee Sports Network venture with the Chicago Cubs, the Tennis Channel, Stadium, Ring of Honor Wrestling and high school sports programming that airs on its 170-plus TV stations.
For Disney, the sale fulfills a commitment made last year to the Justice Department to divest the Fox RSNs in exchange for receiving approval of the $71.3 billion purchase of 21st Century Fox, which closed in March. The pricetag Sinclair is paying for 21 of Fox’s 22 RSNs is believed to be less than the channels were valued in the larger Disney-21st Century Fox deal. But Disney had a 90-day deadline to divest the channels. It began the sale process last fall but the final list of bidders was short.
Disney is believed to still be finalizing the terms of the sale of its majority interest in the YES Network, which carries New York Yankee games in the team’s hometown market, to the team (which already owns the remaining stake) and Sinclair. Amazon is said to also be a partner in the YES transaction.
“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Sinclair for the sale of these 21 RSNs, subject to the conditions of the consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice,” said Christine McCarthy, Disney’s senior exec VP and CFO.
Allen will become an “equity and content partner” in the Diamond Holdings venture. Allen has also expanded his cable holdings in recent years from the niche outlets launched by Entertainment Studios to include the Weather Channel. Sinclair said Diamond Holdings will be given a $1.4 billion cash influx for operations from a combination of cash on hand and Sinclair debt that the company said was already “fully committed.” An undisclosed source of private equity will add $1 billion to the purchase price with the remaining $8.2 billion coming from debt taken on by Diamond Holdings.
Sinclair is adding to its considerable debt load in taking on the RSNs. But given the circumstances that Disney faced, Sinclair likely calculated that it was a chance to grab the channels at a bargain price.
“This acquisition is an extraordinary opportunity to diversify Sinclair’s content sources and revenue streams with high-quality assets that are driving live viewing,” Ripley said.
“We also see this as an opportunity to realize cross-promotional collaboration, and synergistic benefits related to programming and production.”
Sinclair’s reputation for driving hard bargains with MVPDs on retransmission consent deals for its TV stations has made the company a pariah in the cable industry. ACA Connects, the trade organization for small cable operators, was quick to voice its opposition to the sale on Friday.
“If approved, the transaction would allow Sinclair to raise prices to millions of consumers, including those served by ACA Connects members,” the org stated. “Big 4 broadcast network programming and RSN programming are both critical for ACA Connects members. By jointly negotiating these assets when they serve the same market, Sinclair can raise prices to cable operators for both offerings.”
Sinclair’s pact with Disney for the RSNs comes nearly two years to the day that Sinclair reached a deal to buy Tribune Media. But that transaction was scuttled by regulatory opposition and concerns that Tribune’s 42 stations, many of them in large markets, would give Sinclair too much sway over dozens of local TV markets.
The RSNs set to change hands are: Fox Sports Arizona, Fox Sports Detroit, Fox Sports Florida, Fox Sports Sun, Fox Sports North, Fox Sports Wisconsin, Fox Sports Ohio, SportsTime Ohio, Fox Sports South, Fox Sports Carolina, Fox Sports Tennessee, Fox Sports Southeast, Fox Sports Southwest, Fox Sports Oklahoma, Fox Sports New Orleans, Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports Kansas City, Fox Sports Indiana, Fox Sports San Diego, Fox Sports West and Los Angeles’ Prime Ticket.