According to our sources and several social media posts, we have discovered the news that comedian Joe Recca passed away. Recca was mostly known for clean comedy shows and Christian comedy venues. As of this writing, the nature of his passing is yet to be determined.
Joe Recca was born in Chicago and raised in Virginia Beach. He graduated from Norfolk State University with a B.A. Degree in Sociology. Joe moved to Washington DC and started working as a case worker in a halfway house and later as a probation counselor. While working there Joe would perform stand up comedy at the Comedy Cafe. One of Joe’s fellow comedians was a young Dave Chappelle. Joe moved to the New York area to pursue comedy fulltime. Shortly after moving there, he was booked to do Showtime at the Apollo.
Details will follow soon.
Rihanna To Perform At Grammys With DJ Khaled And Bryson Tiller
Rihanna, DJ Khaled and Bryson Tiller will perform their smash hit “Wild Thoughts” on the Grammy Awards, Khaled announced in his characteristically low-key manner on social media Friday night.
#FANLUV! IT’S GO TIME!,” he wrote. “I’m performing #WILDTHOUGHTS at the #GRAMMYS !!!! with the ICON @rihanna AND @brysontiller !! @RecordingAcad! I’M so #GRATEFUL for this opportunity!! #FANLUV the key is – DONT STOP !!! I NEVER GAVE UP!!”
The awards will air live from Madison Square Garden in New York at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on CBS. Previously announced performers include Alessia Cara, Brothers Osbourne, Cardi B, Eric Church, Miley Cyrus, Childish Gambino, Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi, Elton John, Kesha, Khalid, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, Little Big Town, Logic, Patti LuPone, Bruno Mars, Maren Morris, Pink, Ben Platt, Sam Smith, SZA, and U2.
Source: Variety
Steve Harvey’s Daytime Talk Show Renewed For 2nd Season!
CREDIT: COURTESY OF IMG
Steve Harvey took a gamble this past fall on a total remodel of his syndicated daytime talk show “Steve.” He changed the format, moved from Chicago to Los Angeles and shuffled production companies behind the scenes.
“Steve” is getting second year to prove itself now that distributor NBCUniversal Domestic TV has renewed the show for 2018-19 on stations covering 90% of U.S. TV households, including the NBC O&O group.
Harvey shifted his show from a more traditional topical and conflict-driven talk vehicle to a lighter touch featuring more celebrity guests, comedy bits, and audience games. He also made the decision to take control of the production of the show in partnership with IMG, an affiliate of his talent agency, WME. He’d spent the previous five seasons in syndication with Endemol Shine North America and its predecessors.
“It has always been a dream of mine to spend more time on the 405,” said Harvey. “Another dream of mine has been to bring laughs to daytime television. Here’s to killing two birds with one stone with a season two renewal.”
The “Steve” reboot has maintained respectable ratings, by the low standards of daytime syndication these days, but producers hope to see growth as the current season wears on. Introducing the new elements to the show has been a carefully calculated process.
“The daytime audience is very, very loyal, but they know what they want. If you want to do something new you can’t do it right away. You can’t just completely change your format,” said IMG’s Mike Antinoro, exec producer of Steve along with Harvey, showrunner Shane Farley, Gerald Washington and IMG’s Mark Shapiro.
“You have to ease the audience into it. They’ll let you know every quickly if they like it or not,” Antinoro said. “We’ve learned a lot about what’s working from the changes we introduced in September. We’re seeing some growth from where we started.”
Source: Variety
Fox Orders Pilots From Lil Rel, Lee Daniels, And More!
Fox has given a pilot order to the single-camera comedy project that hails from Lee Daniels and Vali Chandrasekaran, as well as a multi-camera from Lil Rey and a one-hour drama from Josh Safran, Variety has learned.
Based on the Israeli series “Nevsu,” Daniels and Chandrasekaran’s series entitled “Our People” follows a man from a bombastic African family who doesn’t have a world in their native language for “privacy” and his fiancee from a mid-western family as they try to build a normal life together — though nobody agrees on what “normal” means. The project received a put pilot commitment at the network in September.
Chandrasekaran will write in addition to executive producing. Daniels will also executive produce via his Lee Daniels Entertainment banner, with Yossi Vassa, Shai Ben-Atar and Liat Shavit, Pam Williams, and Marc Velez also executive producing Both Chandrasekaran and Daniels are currently set up under overall deals at 20th Century Fox TV.
This was one of four projects that Daniels had in development at Fox this year. He is also attached to three drama projects at the network, which are: “Victory,” set in the world of competitive gospel choirs with Julian Breece writing and executive producing; “East of Hope,” described as a multi-racial soap set in an all-American working-class town with Peter Mattei writing and executive producing; and “Mason Dixon,” which follows a black politician’s wife and a blunt-talking good-ol’ boy who form an unlikely alliance, with Breece also writing and executive producing. Daniels is also the executive producer on the Fox shows “Empire” and “Star,” the former of which being the highest-rated show on the network.
Chandrasekaran is a writer and executive producer on ABC’s “Modern Family.” His other credits include the comedies “30 Rock” and “My Name Is Earl.”
Daniels is repped by CAA. Chandrasekaran is repped by UTA.
Additionally, Fox has ordered “Mixtape,” from writer and executive producer Josh Safran, to pilot.
Coming from Annapurna Television in association with 20th Century Fox, “Mixtape” is a one-hour “romantic musical drama” that looks at a disparate group of interconnected people in contemporary Los Angeles, through the lens of the music that defines who they are.
“Mixtape” also sees Megan Ellison and Sue Naegle executive producing, along with co-executive producer Ali Krug.
“Rel,” from writer, executive producer and star Lil Rel, as well as writers and executive producers Kevin Barnett and Josh Rabinowitz and executive producer and showrunner Mike Scully, is a multi-camera comedy receiving a pilot order, too.
In it, Lil Rel is a prideful, self-made success who lives by the code to “always believe in yourself and great things will come” but finds that attitude gets put to the test when he learns his wife his having an affair with his barber. The show sees him trying to rebuild his life post-divorce as a long distance single father on the South Side of Chicago.
Inspired by Lil Rel’s real life, “Rel” also has Jerrod Carmichael on-board as an executive producer. The pilot comes from 20th Century Fox Television.
Mo’Nique Wants Fans To Boycott Neflix Over Pay!
Mo’Nique wants the public to boycott Netflix over what she says is color bias and gender bias. The Oscar Award winning actress and comedian says that she was offered a comedy special for $500,000 by the popular streaming service.
However, she says that her comedian counterparts received way more. In fact, she says that Amy Schumer was offered $11 million and Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle were offered $20 million for their specials.
Source: The Jasmine Brand
The New Freeform Network Sends Zoey Off To Sophomore Year With Season 2 Order Of ‘GROWN-ISH’
At today’s inaugural Freeform Summit, during kickoff panel conversation featuring Kenya Barris and Yara Shahidi, among others, “grown-ish” executive producer alongside executive vice president, programming & development, Karey Burke, surprised series lead, Shahidi, with the news that the network has ordered a second season of the critically-acclaimed breakout comedy. The premiere, which boasted Freeform’s highest debut for a comedy in nearly six years, also earned critical praise from Deadline, which called the series “straight up good, no –ish required,” and BuzzFeed declared, “glows from the inside out.”
Freeform’s “grown-ish,” a half-hour comedy tackling current social issues and complexities facing both students and administrators, follows Zoey (Yara Shahidi), Dre (Anthony Anderson) and Rainbow’s (Tracee Ellis Ross) popular, entitled, stylish and socially active 17-year-old daughter from ABC’s Emmy®-nominated comedy “black-ish,” as she heads into her freshman year of college at Cal U.
The series is produced by ABC Signature Studios and is executive produced by Kenya Barris, Helen Sugland, E. Brian Dobbins, Anthony Anderson, Laurence Fishburne and Julie Bean. “grown-ish” airs Wednesday nights at 8/7c on Freeform.
WATCH: New Trailer For ‘Tomb Raider’ Released!
Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished when she was scarcely a teen. Now a young woman of 21 without any real focus or purpose, Lara navigates the chaotic streets of trendy East London as a bike courier, barely making the rent. Determined to forge her own path, she refuses to take the reins of her father’s global empire just as staunchly as she rejects the idea that he’s truly gone. Advised to face the facts and move forward after seven years without him, even Lara can’t understand what drives her to finally solve the puzzle of his mysterious death.
Leaving everything she knows behind, Lara goes in search of her dad’s last-known destination: a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. But her mission will not be an easy one; just reaching the island will be extremely treacherous. Suddenly, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Lara, who—against the odds and armed with only her sharp mind, blind faith and inherently stubborn spirit—must learn to push herself beyond her limits as she journeys into the unknown. If she survives this perilous adventure, it could be the making of her, earning her the name tomb raider.
From Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, “Tomb Raider” is the story that will set a young and resolute Lara Croft on a path toward becoming a global hero. The film stars Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (“Ex Machina,” “The Danish Girl”) in the lead role, under the direction of Roar Uthaug (“The Wave”), with Oscar-winner Graham King (“The Departed”) producing under his GK Films banner. The executive producers are Patrick McCormick, Denis O’Sullivan and Noah Hughes.
“Tomb Raider” also stars Dominic West (“Money Monster,” “300”), Walton Goggins (“The Hateful Eight,” “Django Unchained”), Daniel Wu (AMC’s “Into the Badlands”) and Oscar nominee Kristin Scott Thomas (“The English Patient”).
Uthaug directed from a script by Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Alastair Siddons. The director’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography George Richmond (“Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation”); production designer Gary Freeman (“Maleficent”); Oscar-nominated editor Stuart Baird (“Skyfall,” “Gorillas in the Mist”) and editor Michael Tronick (“Suicide Squad”); Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”) and costume designer Timothy A. Wonsik (assistant costume designer, “Free State of Jones,” “Iron Man 3”). The music is by Tom Holkenborg (“Mad Max: Fury Road”).
Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures present, a Square Enix production, a GK Films production, “Tomb Raider.” Set for release on March 16, 2018, the film will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by MGM.
‘Empire’s Jussie Smollett Releases First New Single Titled ‘Freedom’!
Rising star Jussie Smollett, of the FOX hit television show Empire has released a new single and music video titled Freedom. The new music video was also directed by Smollett and features his new look behind the camera. Smollett’s new album, “Sum of My Music,” is set to be Released on March 2nd, while Empire returns in March.
‘Black Lightning’ Is Off To The Best Debut For ‘The CW’ In Two Years
Looks like everyone got “lit” last night for Black Lightning!
The show had an impressive debut Tuesday night for The CW, become the biggest debut for the network in two years and the biggest debut for the 9 p.m. timeslot for the network in three years (aside from The Legends of Tomorrow crossover).
It retained complete 100 percent of its lead in from The Flash, scoring a 0.8 in the coveted 18-49 demo, which is extremely good for a CW show.
In Black Lightning, Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) is a man wrestling with a secret. As the father of two daughters and principal of a charter high school that also serves as a safe haven for young people in a neighborhood overrun by gang violence, he is a hero in his community. Nine years ago, Pierce was a hero of a different sort. Gifted with the superhuman power to harness and control electricity, he used those powers to keep his hometown streets safe as the masked vigilante Black Lightning. However, after too many nights with his life on the line, and seeing the effects of the damage and loss that his alter ego was inflicting on his family, he left his Superhero days behind and settled into being a principal and a dad. Choosing to help his city without using his superpowers, he watched his daughters Anissa (Nafessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain) grow into strong young women, even though his marriage to their mother, Lynn (Christine Adams), suffered. Almost a decade later, Pierce’s crime-fighting days are long behind him…or so he thought. But with crime and corruption spreading like wildfire, and those he cares about in the crosshairs of the menacing local gang The One Hundred, Black Lightning returns – to save not only his family, but also the soul of his community.
Based on the characters from D.C., Black Lightning is from Berlanti Productions and Akil Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, with executive producers Greg Berlanti, Salim Akil & Mara Brock Akil and Sarah Schechter. The Black Lightning character was created by Tony Isabella with Trevor Von Eeden.
‘Bad Boys’-Inspired Series Starring Gabrielle Union Scores NBC Pilot Order!
The untitled drama series based on Gabrielle Union’s “Bad Boys” character has been ordered to pilot at NBC.
Union will star as Syd Burnett, her character from “Bad Boys 2.” In the show, she has left the DEA and now has a fresh start in her new job as an LAPD detective. She’s partnered with Nancy McKenna, a working mom who can’t help but look at Syd’s freedom with some grass-is-greener envy. These two have totally different lifestyles and approaches, but they both are at the top of their fields. Union will also executive produce in addition to starring.
The project had received a pilot production commitment at the network in October.
It will be written and executive produced by Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis, who previously worked together on NBC’s “The Blacklist.” Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the “Bad Boys” films, will executive produce along with Jonathan Littman, KristieAnne Reed, Jeff Gaspin, Jeff Morrone, Doug Belgrad. Sony Pictures Television Studios will produce in association with Jerry Bruckheimer Television, Primary Wave Entertainment, and 2.0 Entertainment.
Union and LeBron James are also set as executive producers on a project in development at ABC called “White Dave,” which is based on the life of series creator David E. Talbert.
