On this day in comedy on February 9, 1955, Comedienne, Actress, Marilyn Martinez was born in Denver, Colorado
Martinez got an early start in show business. The youth tap danced to much acclaim on a local TV show. She took acting lessons and began writing polarizing comedy routines; many of them decidedly offensive to some and uproariously hilarious to others.
Martinez was first noticed at the World-Famous Comedy Store in Hollywood. Her in-your-face, raw style was perfect for an era of comedy opposed to being politically correct. She shot from the hip on topics ranging from sex to men to sex with men. Her style was blunt, candid and original. She once said of herself that she was a triple minority: fat, a woman and Hispanic.
Her big break came in the mid-90s when Martinez became a member of the female Latina group, the Hot and Spicy Mamitas. She later joined the Hot Tamales, which featured Eva Longoria. This led to touring and recording the special the Original Latin Divas of Comedy.
When she wasn’t on stage, Martinez was making her mark and enhancing each project where she made an appearance. She was seen on the small screen: ABC’s My Wife and Kids (2001), Starz 1st Amendment and SiTV’s reality show, Urban Jungle (2004). She lit up the big screen in For da Love of Money (2002) and Pauly Shore is Dead (2003).
Marilyn Martinez left behind a grieving husband and a world of comedy fans in the same condition when she passed away on November 3, 2007 of complications of diabetes.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
Check out this clip:
On this day in comedy on February 8, 1974, Good Times premiered on CBS
Created by writer Eric Monte (Cooley High) and actor, Mike Evans (the 1st Lionel from The Jeffersons), Good Times was developed by Norman Lear as a spin-off of Maude (which was a spin-off of All in the Family). The instant hit told the story of the long-suffering Evans family: Florida (Esther Rolle), her husband James (John Amos) and their three children, artistic yet buffoonish JJ (Jimmie Walker), fine as hell Thelma (Bern Nadette Stanis) and mini militant Michael (Ralph Carter) and their life in the projects. They have a drop-in neighbor Willona (Ja’net Dubois) who has an adopted daughter, Penny (Janet Jackson) and they also have a fat building superintendent, Bookman (Johnny Brown). These characters became like the family we loved but didn’t want to live with.
Good Times was set in the 1970s and dealt with a lot of issues from that era. Racism, child abuse, drugs, gang violence, police violence and political corruption were all portrayed (sounds like it could be today) and milked for laughs and pathos. James never could keep a job and the family was always amid a crisis, but through it all they had good times. Why? Because they had each other. That dynamic was evident on camera, but behind the scenes there was conflict not scripted. Esther Rolle and John Amos objected to the stereotypical portrayal of the eldest son JJ and pressed their complaints for a more positive direction of the show. The producer’s answer to tampering with a hit was to fire them both. Rolle eventually returned, but Amos’ character was killed off and the show got new characters to keep the audience and sponsors happy; which they did for a while, but like all good things and times, Good Times came to an end.
The last episode aired on August 1, 1979.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
Check out this clip:
‘Swagger,’ produced by Imagine Television and from writer Reggie Rock Bythewood, is inspired by the NBA superstar’s time playing for the Amateur Athletic Union.
The tech giant has put in development Swagger, a basketball-themed scripted drama inspired by the NBA superstar’s early career. The series, produced by Imagine Television and being written by Reggie Rock Bythewood (Fox’s Shots Fired), is inspired by Durant’s youth basketball experience and explores the world of the Amateur Athletic Union basketball in the nation’s capital as well as its players, their families and coaches who walk the line between dreams and ambition as well as opportunism and corruption. (Durant played for the AAU in Maryland where he was teammates with several future NBA stars.)
Bythewood — who contributed footage for 2000 feature Love & Basketball, written and directed by his wife, Gina Prince-Bythewood — will pen the script and exec produce alongside Imagine Television’s Brian Grazer and Francie Calfo. Durant will executive produce via his Thirty Five Media company with Rich Kleiman also attached. Swagger serves as a reunion for Grazer, Calfo and Bythewood who all teamed for Fox’s Shots Fired limited series last season.
Swagger marks the latest scripted series to be put in development at Apple. The company’s scripted roster, under Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, also includes Octavia Spencer starrer Are You Sleeping as well as straight-to-series orders such as Little America, Damien Chazelle’s untitled drama, Kristin Wiig’s untitled comedy, a morning show drama starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, a Ron Moore space drama, Steven Knight’s See and Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories anthology, the latter of which parted ways with showrunner Bryan Fuller and exec producer Hart Hanson.
Bythewood is repped by CAA and Del Shaw. Golden State Warrior Durant has won a championship, MVP award, is a multiple-time all-star and scoring champion.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Mary J. Blige continues to plant some roots at Netflix.
After starring in the streaming giant’s Mudbound (in an Oscar-nominated role), she’s now been tapped for a role in the upcoming Netflix TV series adaptation of The Umbrella Academy, according to multiple industry publications.
Blige will be a series regular in the adaptation of Gerard Way’s comics.
The live action series follows the estranged members of a dysfunctional family of superheroes (The Umbrella Academy) – Luther, Diego, Allison, Vanya, Klaus and Number Five – as they work together to solve their father Reginald Hardgraves’ mysterious death, while coming apart at the seams due to their divergent personalities and abilities. It takes place in an alternate universe where the assassination of JFK did not happen.
She joins previously announced cast members: Tom Hopper, Emmy Raver-Lampman, David Castaneda, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher and Ellen Page.
Blige’s role, set at a one-year deal for now, is described as the following: Cha-Cha is a ruthless and unorthodox hitwoman who travels through time to kill assigned targets. Even though she has a few gripes about the bureaucracy of her employers, this job is her life. She is sadistic, sociopathic, and her reputation precedes her. Her true love is torture, and she thinks of herself as a “pain artist.” She really doesn’t care for people—except for her partner Hazel.
This is Blige’s biggest TV role to-date.
The Umbrella Academy will be produced by Universal Cable Productions. Steve Blackman (Fargo, Altered Carbon) will serve as executive producer and showrunner, with additional executive producers Bluegrass Television and Mike Richardson and Keith Goldberg from Dark Horse Entertainment. Gerard Way will serve as co-executive producer. The pilot script was adapted from the comic book series by Jeremy Slater (The Exorcist).
Update (2/13): Melissa McCarthy has been tapped to co-star with Haddish. The third female lead is still left to be cast.
Previously reported:
Tiffany Haddish is BUSY.
The Girls Trip breakout is already starring in the comedy series The Last O.G. (set for TBS in January), she’s starring in Kevin Hart’s upcoming film Night School, as well as a female-driven comedy film, Limited Partners set at Paramount.
Now, multiple industry publications are reporting that she has two more films in the works, one at New Line Cinema and one at Paramount.
One is called The Kitchen, and the other is called The Temp.
The Kitchen is based on the Vertigo/DC Entertainment comic of the same name and centers on the wives of Irish mobsters who take over their husband’s businesses after they are arrested by the FBI. It is set in the 1970s, and the wives begin running the business in an even more intimidating manner than their husbands. The Kitchen is the feature directorial debut of Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton).
From Dana Fox, The Temp, said to be a “female-driven” comedy like Limited Partners, is produced by Will Packer and James Lopez. Haddish will also be an executive producer on this. No plot details are available on this yet.
Source: Shadow & Act
As Los Angeles hosts its first NBA All-Star shindig in seven years, LeBron James is prepping a Hollywood bash of his own.
The megastar and his SpringHill Entertainment partner, Maverick Carter, are producing a new House Party, which will revive the Kid ’n Play–fronted New Line comedy franchise that started in 1990 and was followed by sequels in 1991 and 1994. Atlanta’s Stephen Glover and Jamal Olori will pen the screenplay.
“This is definitely not a reboot. It’s an entirely new look for a classic movie,” James tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Everyone I grew up with loved House Party. To partner with this creative team to bring a new House Party to a new generation is unbelievable.”
Fans can expect a star-studded soundtrack, perhaps even James’ good pal Drake, with whom SpringHill is collaborating on Netflix’s crime drama, Top Boy, and Vince Carter doc The Carter Effect.
“We’re trying out some ideas for musicians to be cast in and to be a part of the project,” says Carter, who adds that a cameo by James, in high demand since his well-received performance in Universal’s Trainwreck, also remains a possibility. “There’s no plan for it now, but he’s a fantastic actor, and if he wants a role, Stephen will find a great role to put him in,” adds Carter.
Warner Bros.–based SpringHill is eyeing House Party as the Survivor’s Remorse banner’s first narrative feature, with its Space Jam remake “a ways off,” says Carter. The films join a SpringHill slate that also includes Netflix’s limited series about entrepreneur and activist Madam C.J. Walker, starring and executive produced by Octavia Spencer; Starz’s docuseries Warriors of Liberty City, about a Florida youth football team that has produced more than 40 NFL players; and NBC game show The Wall, which just wrapped its second season.
James, 33, is leading the pack among a group of hoops stars leveraging their appeal in Hollywood. Kobe Bryant is an Oscar nominee for doc short Dear Basketball, while Forest Whitaker, Nina Yang Bongiovi and Jason Samuels are producing an authorized doc about Stephon Marbury’s surprising second act as a basketball god in China (Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah are directing). Even less expected: Steve Nash is producing an untitled feature about the rise of ecstasy and the rave culture in Reagan-era Texas. Says the film’s producer, Braxton Pope: “Steve has great taste and is serious in a sustained way about film and creative content. He’s been an ideal partner.”
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Why is the new season of Atlanta being called Atlanta Robbin Season?
“Everybody gotta eat,” as a character in this new trailer puts it (watch it above to see who). So, yes, there will be robbery.
The series returns to FX next month, and the logline is as short on spoilers as the trailer: Two cousins work through the Atlanta music scene in order to better their lives and the lives of their families.
But here’s what Deadline learned in January at TCA: Exec producer Donald Glover said the title’s subhead “Robbin Season” was added because the show’s creatives “didn’t want to come at the second season in terms of how do we beat last season, rather how do we make this another season of a show I want to watch.”
In the series, Glover plays a college dropout-turned-manager to his cousin, a burgeoning rapper played by Brian Tyree Henry. Season 2 takes place during the holiday season, a time when robberies spike as people both have more money and need more money. “It’s a tense and desperate time,” said EP/writer Stephen Glover, “we wanted it to be a metaphor for our characters.”
Donald Glover serves as executive producer along with Paul Simms, Dianne McGunigle and Stephen Glover. The series is produced by FX Productions.
Atlanta Robbin Season premieres on March 1 at 10 PM.
Take a look at the trailer above.
Netflix has slotted February 14 for the premiere of Chris Rock: Tamborine, the first stand-up special from the Emmy and Grammy-winning comedian in ten years.
In the special, Rock, one of the most popular stand-up comedians of the last two decades, covers of gamut of contemporary issues, with his trademark laser-like observations. Chris Rock: Tamborine is directed by Bo Burnham and filmed at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Chris Rock: Tamborine is the first of two comedy specials from Rock that landed at Netflix in an extremely competitive situation in a deal that sources pegged to be in the neighborhood of $40 million, a record for comedy specials.
Rock has won four Emmy Awards for his standup specials at his previous home at HBO and his Chris Rock Show on the pay cable network.
Rock posted the news on Instagram.
Source: Deadline
Comedy Central is developing Re-Established, a half-hour single comedy starring The Daily Show with Trevor Noah correspondent Roy Wood Jr., with Noah and Aaron McGruder (Boondocks, Black Jesus) executive producing.
Based on an idea by Wood, Re-Established stars Wood as a parole officer willing to bend the rules to help the parolees on his watch, much to the chagrin of his partner and everyone else in his life.
Wood executive produces under his South Park and Princeton Productions banner with McGruder, who also will showrun, via 5 Mutts. Noah executive produces through Ark Angel, along with Norman Aladjem and Derek Van Pelt through Mainstay Entertainment.
Wood is a regular correspondent on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and hosts the series This is Not Happening at Comedy Central.
McGruder currently has Black America in development at Amazon Studios and Hooligan Squad at Adult Swim, as well as several feature projects in the works.
Source: Deadline