ABC has ordered additional episodes of black-ish Season 4, the network announced Monday.
Along with Grey’s Anatomy and American Housewive, the series went from a 22-episode order to a 24.
This means Grey’s will cross the 300 episode mark.
For the fourth straight year, black-ish has earned additional episode orders. This season saw it move to anchor Tuesday nights, a move from its traditional Wednesday spot. It also sparked a spinoff on sister network Freeform, airing in 2018.
This is the second batch of ABC extensions, as The Good Doctor received a full-season order earlier this month.
No word on if The Mayor will receive an extension ahead of a renewal decision.
Source; Shadow & Act
Lupita Nyong’o is steadily rolling in her post-Black Panther moves.
She’s in talks to star in the Charlie’s Angels reboot, and now, she’s set to star in a zombie comedy called Little Monsters with Josh Gad. It’ll also star Alexander England. The title of the film is the only relation it has to the 1989 black comedy of the same name.
England will play a musician Dave, who crushes on the teacher on his nephew’s school trip named MissCaroline (Nyong’o). However, acting on those feelings are compromised by personality from a kids show named Teddy McGiggle (Gad), who also likes Miss Caroline. In the midst of this, there is a zombie outbreak and Dave and Miss Caroline must protect the kids.
Production on the film is underway in Sydney.
Source: Shadow & Act
Girls Trip breakout star Tiffany Haddish and Chance the Rapper have been tapped to host Saturday Night Live.
Haddish is set for November 11 and Chance is set for November 18.
Taylor Swift will be the musical guest for Haddish’s episode and Eminem will be the musical guest for Chance’s.
This is Haddish’s first SNL appearance. Chance appeared twice as a musical guest.
Haddish is only the twelfth black actress to host SNL.
Source: Shadow & Act
Vanessa Williams has joined the recurring cast of Me, Myself & I on CBS.
The series, written by Dan Kopelman, stars Bobby Moynihan in a comedy about the defining moments in his character Alex’s life over three distinct periods — as a 14-year-old in 1991 (Jack Dylan Grazer), at age 40 (Moynihan) in present day and at age 65 in 2042 (John Larroquette).” Jaleel White’s co-stars as Daryl, the best friend of Alex over 50 years.
Williams joins fellow recurring cast members Tia Mowry and Tim Reid.
She will play Kelly Frasier, a rival-turned-love interest of 65-year-old Alex.
“I have been a huge fan of Vanessa Williams for a long time. Seeing her in the role of Kelly, playing off of John Larroquette, is like attending the Olympic Games. I can’t wait for the Me, Myself & I viewers to see Vanessa as Kelly,” said Kopelman.
The show airs Mondays on CBS.
Source: Shadow & Act
On this day in comedy on October 25, 1971, Comedian, Actor, Musician, Craig Phillip Robinson was born in Chicago, Illinois
Robinson followed in his mother’s footsteps. She was a music teacher and he taught music at Horace Mann Elementary after graduating from Saint Xavier University. He got into comedy as a stand-up and improv artist through The Second City in Chicago. After doing his share of clubs with his cabaret style of performance (complete with keyboard and off-the-cuff song renderings), Robinson caught a break, got noticed and got the role as the recurring character, Darryl, on the NBC hit, The Office.
On television Robinson’s been seen on Arrested Development, Halfway Home, The Bernie Mac Show, Reno 911! Friends, Eastbound & Down, LAX, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Ghosted and Mr. Robot. He’s provided voices for Sausage Party, Shrek Forever After, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Escape from Planet Earth, The Cleveland Show, American Dad and Henchmen.
Craig Robinson’s film appearances include Pineapple Express, This is the End, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Hot Tub Time Machine, Knocked Up, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Peeples, Fanboys, Night at the Museum, Get On Up and Morris From America, where Robinson won the Sundance Film Festival Dramatic Special Jury Award for Individual Performance.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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On this day in comedy on October 25, 1972, comedic actress Persia White was born, 1972
Raised in the Bahamas, White got her first show business exposure at the Miami Coconut Grove Children’s Theater when her mother relocated the family to South Florida. White studied dance, singing, painting and acting. She honed her crafts, got her SAG card right out of high school and moved to Hollywood to make her fortune.
Persia White appeared in low budget films and did guest starring spots on sitcoms (The Steve Harvey Show, Sister, Sister, The Parent ‘Hood, Malcolm & Eddie, Clueless), until she landed the television role that defined her to viewers: Lynn Searcy on the UPN sitcom, Girlfriends. On the show her character is the bohemian of the group. She’s more sexually liberated and was known to have orgies, one-night stands and short-term boyfriends.
Girlfriends (which also co-starred Tracee Ellis Ross, Golden Brooks and Jill Marie Jones) aired from 2000-2008. When it left the air White continued guest-starring and played in her rock band, XEO3. In 2009 she released a solo album, “Mecca”.
The multi-talented White co-produced the award-winning documentary, Earthlings and won the American Black Film Festival’s Best Performance by an Actor (Dysfunctional Friends).
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
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The Bad Boys hit movie franchise is getting a spinoff TV series centered on the character played in the second film by Gabrielle Union.
No one would comment but I hear the untitled project, which is currently being pitched to TV networks, already has garnered strong interest from multiple places and is expected to land a major commitment. It hails from the Bad Boys movies’ producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Doug Belgrad via his 2.0 Entertainment and Primary Wave Entertainment. Sony Pictures TV Studios, whose movie sibling is behind the feature franchise, is the studio.
The untitled Bad Boys spinoff is being written by The Blacklist writers-producers Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier. Union’s Special Agent Sydney “Syd” Burnett, introduced in the sequel Bad Boys II, is the sister of Detective Lieutenant Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) who was romantically involved with Marcus’ partner, Detective Lieutenant Mike Lowrey (Will Smith). She is an undercover operative with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). You can watch a trailer for Bad Boys II below.
Union just became available as BET announced that her popular series Being Mary Jane will end with next year a two-hour series finale movie.
I hear the idea for a Bad Boysoffshoot centered around Union’s character came from Primary Wave Entertainment, which manages the actress, in the company’s first broadcast development season since it brought in former NBC Universal TV Entertainment chairman Jeff Gaspin as President. He executive produces the project alongside Union’s manager Jeff Morrone.
Also executive producing the potential series are Belgrad and Jerry Bruckheimer TV’s Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman and KristieAnne Reed.
Belgrad worked on Bad Boys during his 25-year career as a Sony movie executive. He was the creative executive on the first movie, which established Lawrence and Smith as feature stars. As he segued into producing with the launch of 2.0 Entertainment last fall, one of the Sony features he set out to co-finance was the long-gestating Bad Boys 3. His film slate also includes Sony’s upcoming Peter Rabbit and the Elizabeth Banks-directed Charlie’s Angels reboot.
Because it is based on existing Bruckheimer IP, the project does not fall under Jerry Bruckheimer TV’s overall deal at CBS TV Studios. Via that pact, Bruckheimer TV has set up three drama projects at CBS: Main Justice, a legal drama inspired by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder; Unthinkable, an FBI crime drama penned by MacGyver executive producer David Slack; and Whistleblower from NCIS: New Orleans executive producer/co-showrunner Chris Silber,
Source: Deadline
Jamie Foxx is back in tune with Ray helmer Taylor Hackford. Foxx has just joined the cast of Signal Hill, the working title of the drama that will star Anthony Mackie as attorney Johnnie Cochran,.and Elizabeth Banks as Mary Neiswender, an investigative newspaper reporter for the Long Beach Press-Telegram who investigated and broke stories on the coverup. Long before he defended O.J. Simpson in the trial of the century, Cochran established himself as a legal superhero because of his unrelenting pursuit of justice in the Signal Hill police brutality case in 1981. Foxx, who won the Best Actor Oscar for the Hackford-helmed Ray, here will play Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt. Cochran represented the former Black Panther party leader and Vietnam vet in helping to overturn a murder conviction that sent Pratt to prison for 27 years for a crime he said he didn’t commit. Cochran helped Pratt to settle a false imprisonment suit for $4.5 million in 1992.
The script is by David McMillan. Mackie and Jason Spire will produce with Robbie Brenner, Kevin McKeon and Jeff Kwatinetz. Hackford will also be producer. McMillan is exec producer and the hope is to go into production in January. UTA and CAA are co-repping domestic rights.
While Cochran would go on to represent celebrities from Simpson to Michael Jackson and Jim Brown, his rise to fame as an advocate for blacks suffering in police brutality cases was galvanized by his work in the landmark Signal Hill case. He represented a football player, Cal State Long Beach star Ron Settles, who had been picked up for speeding in Signal Hill, in Los Angeles County. Shortly after his arrest, he was found hanged in his cell. The police called it a suicide, but an autopsy — performed after Cochran persuaded Settles’ family to exhume the body — showed that he had been choked to death. The family was awarded $760,000 in a civil suit, the police chief resigned, and reforms were mandated.
Robert Guillaume, the urbane actor who received two Emmy Awards for portraying the acidic butler Benson on a pair of ABC sitcoms, died Tuesday. He was 89.
Guillaume, a baritone who also starred on the stage and voiced the wise mandrill Rafiki in The Lion King (1994) and its related sequels, video games and TV series, died at his home in Los Angeles, his wife, Donna Brown Guillaume, told the Associated Press. He had been battling prostate cancer.
Guillaume’s penchant for playing distinguished characters resolutely defied racial stereotypes — as he did on ABC’s critically acclaimed Aaron Sorkin series Sports Night, on which he played Isaac Jaffe, the managing editor of a ESPN-style news program.
In 1999, Guillaume had a mild stroke while in his dressing room on the Sports Night set.
“I was fortunate in the sense that the stroke I suffered was not so debilitating that I could not move around with some degree of regularity,” he said in a 2008 interview. “My wife Donna suggested to Aaron that perhaps we could incorporate the stroke into the series and he agreed … it allowed me to come back and not pretend that I had not had a stroke.”
Guillaume’s polished portrayal of the imperious family retainer Benson DuBois endured for nine years, first in three seasons on Soap (1977-80) and then on the spinoff Benson, which ran until April 1986. Both shows were created by Susan Harris.
Benson’s personal arc went from butler/cook to state budget director and finally to lieutenant governor. He even ran for governor against his former boss, Eugene X. Gatling (John Noble), but that race — a season-ending cliff-hanger — went undecided because the show went off the air.
“When I got the role of Benson, I was not the happiest camper,” Guillaume said on an installment of Oprah: Where Are They Now? that aired in January 2016. “I had reservations, because you’re serving food, you’re serving the family and all that sort of thing. … It’s like nothing has changed since the 1800s.
“But the more I examined the role and read the script, I figured out a way to take some of the stench off the idea.”
Guillaume’s Emmy for outstanding actor in a comedy in 1985 made him the only black man to win in that category. He also received the supporting comedy actor trophy in 1979, earning six noms in all for playing Benson.
Guillaume also collected a Tony nomination for best actor in a musical in 1977 for playing Nathan Detroit in a revival of Guys and Dolls (Frank Sinatra did the part in the 1955 film), and he replaced the original Phantom Michael Crawford in an L.A. production of The Phantom of the Opera, receiving plaudits from audiences and critics alike.
He was born Robert Williams in St. Louis on Nov. 30, 1927, and raised by his maternal grandmother. Following high school, he served in the U.S. Army, then attended St. Louis University. He majored in business administration, but all the while fantasized about singing with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Guillaume persevered with his dream and won a scholarship to the Aspen Music Festival. He parlayed that opportunity into an apprenticeship at Cleveland’s Karamu Theater, where he appeared in operas and musical comedy.
He moved to New York and went on to perform in a number of musicals and big productions on Broadway, starting with Finian’s Rainbow in 1960 and then with Kwamina, Tambourines to Glory and Purlie.
Guillaume also appeared in the films Seems Like Old Times (1980), Lean on Me (1989), Death Warrant(1990), The Meteor Man (1993), First Kid (1996), Spy Hard (1996) and Big Fish (2003). And he wrote, directed and starred in the 1986 ABC telefilm John Grin’s Christmas.
Guillaume also starred as a divorced marriage counselor on the 1989 ABC series The Robert Guillaume Show; served as the narrator of the HBO animated series Happily Ever After; and guest-starred on Julia, Marcus Welby, M.D., All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Good Times, The Love Boat, L.A. Law, Diagnosis Murder, Touched by an Angel and 8 Simple Rules … for Dating My Teenage Daughter.
In 1992, Guillaume partnered in The Confetti Co., which published read-along books and audiocassettes (he was the narrator) of traditional fairy tales written with a multiethnic approach. Two years later, he received a Grammy Award for his Rafiki vocals on a spoken-word album for kids.
Source; Hollywood Reporter