Celebrity Family Feud and Jeopardy! Masters have been renewed by ABC.
Celebrity Family Feud will be back for a 10th season, hosted by Steve Harvey. Joining as showrunner is Myeshia Mizuno, who also serves as showrunner on the network’s unscripted courtroom comedy series, Judge Steve Harvey.
Two specials will also air later this year in celebration of the show: Family Feud: Decades of Laughs and Family Feud: The Best of Steve Harvey.
The game show and specials will air this summer on ABC and stream next day on Hulu.
Jeopardy! Masters will return for another tournament-style season later this spring. Produced by Sony Pictures Television and hosted by Ken Jennings, each hourlong episode will showcase some of the highest-ranked current Jeopardy! contestants, with two high-stakes games.
The full field of contestants competing for the title of Jeopardy! Masters champion will be announced at a later date. The show will air on ABC and stream next day on Hulu.
Celebrity Family Feud is produced by Fremantle. Jeopardy! Masters is executive produced by Michael Davies.
Class will stay in session at Abbott Elementary.
Mere days after returning with its strikes-delayed and supersized third season, the Quinta Brunson comedy has been renewed for a fourth season at ABC. The news was announced by co-star William Stanford Davis (aka Mr. Johnson) on Saturday at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, where he was a surprise guest during ABC’s time before the press corps.
Disney Television Group president Craig Erwich also announced renewals for Celebrity Family Feud and Jeopardy Masters, as sources say Dancing With the Stars will also return for its 33rd season.
Season three returned Wednesday with ratings that were on par with its sophomore debut (2.8 million total viewers and a 0.5 in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic for its first part and 2.7 million and a 0.5 for the latter). The comedy, which earned Brunson an Emmy, is a co-production between Disney’s 20th Television and Warner Bros. Television, where co-creators and co-showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker are housed with an overall deal.
The Philly-set mockumentary was originally conceived by Brunson as an animated comedy that evolved into a live-action series after meeting Halpern and Schumacker earlier in her career. The duo, who also oversee the animated Harley Quinn franchise for Max, also suggested Brunson star in the series in addition to writing the role that was inspired by her mother, a retired teacher.
The cast includes Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, Davis and Emmy winner Sheryl Lee Ralph. Exec producers include Brunson, Halpern, Schumacker
In a show of its value to ABC, Abbott Elementary is the first series the Craig Erwich-led network has renewed for the 2024-25 broadcast season.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Mo’Nique is turning her latest interview into a bag!
Following her riveting one-on-one with Shannon Sharpe last week, the actor has now joined forces with fellow comedian, Katt Williams. On Friday (Jan. 9), Mo’Nique announced on Instagram Live that she would be going on tour with Williams, who also broke the internet during his nearly three-hour interview on “Club Shay Shay,” earlier in February.
While sitting next to her husband, Sidney Hicks, Mo’Nique dropped the exciting news.
“I wanna tell y’all about my twin brother Katt Williams, baby. Guess what? I’m gonna be joining my brother — my twin brother — Katt Williams on the Dark Matter Tour,” she announced.
“I cannot wait to see y’all, Connecticut,” she spoke of her first date on stage. “I’ll see y’all tomorrow night with our brother, Katt Williams. All over New York with our brother Katt Williams,” she elaborated. “And I’ll say this, too—and I told him this: I said for as funny and as talented as you are, your heart is far bigger.”
Mo has wasted no time getting back into the groove of making fans laugh. So far, Mo has taken center stage in New York and Connecticut.
Mo’Nique’s tour announcement follows Kevin Hart’s ex-wife, Torrei Hart, has also joined Williams on tour.
Last week, while on “Club Shay Shay,” Mo’Nique unleashed bomb after bomb that shocked us. Not only did she call out Tiffany Haddish, but she resurfaced her beef with Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey.
Source: BET
Netflix has picked up the stand-up special “Chappelle’s Home Team – Donnell Rawlings: A New Day,” the latest installment in a series of stand-alone comedy specials executive-produced by Dave Chappelle. “Chappelle’s Home Team – Donnell Rawlings: A New Day” is Rawlings’ first solo stand-up comedy special for Netflix, and is set to premiere on Feb. 27.
Directed by Emmy and Grammy award winner Stan Lathan, the special was filmed at The Hard Rock Cafe in New York City during the New York Comedy Festival in November. “Chappelle’s Home Team – Donnell Rawlings: A New Day” is executive produced by Chappelle, Rikki Hughes, and Lathan.
“It’s a new day, and Donnell Rawlings is feeling good. Dressed in a blue suit, red socks, and lotioned ankles, he’s here to discuss toxic relationships, traveling to New Zealand, aging, co-parenting and much more,” reads the special’s synopsis.
Rawlings was previously featured on “The Degenerates” (2019) and on “Snoop Dogg’s F*cn Around Comedy Special” (2022). Rawlings then joined Chappelle on his special “Dave Chappelle and Friends” at the Hollywood Bowl and performed a solo during the previous Netflix is a Joke comedy festival, where he will perform again as it returns this spring.
Rawlings was previously seen in sketches as “Ashy Larry” on “Chappelle’s Show.” He also appeared as Damien “Day-Day” Price on HBO’s “The Wire,” and he also starred as Dez in the animated Pixar film “Soul.”
The Rawlings special is the third installment of “Home Team,” which features comedians spotlighted and chosen by Chappelle.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and comedians like Donnell are not only friends but have inspired my own career,” Chappelle said in a statement. “Anyone in the comedy community knows these names and knows their time to shine is long overdue. I am proud to be a part of this moment.”
The first special released as part of “Home Team” was “Chappelle’s Home Team – Earthquake: Legendary,” which premiered in February 2022. It was followed by “Chappelle’s Home Team – Luenell: Town Business” on September 2023.
Source: Variety
Katt Williams will debut his new comedy special, which will stream LIVE on Netflix from the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California, as part of Netflix Is A Joke Fest on May 4, 2024 at 7PM PDT/10PM EST.
This will be Katt Williams’s third comedy special with Netflix. His previous specials include World War III and Great America.
The show is part of the Netflix is a Joke Comedy Fest taking place in Los Angeles from May 2-12 with a comedy marathon of over 300 shows across 35+ venues.
Netflix is a Joke Fest, the biggest comedy festival in North America, is back and bigger than ever. Produced by Netflix in association with Live Nation, the star-studded celebration of comedy from May 2 – May 12, 2024 will feature over 300 live stand-up shows, special events, table reads, sketch and more with the best comedians and artists in the world.
For 11 days, the comedy community will take over more than 35 of Los Angeles’ most beloved landmarks such as Hollywood Bowl, The Greek, The Dolby, The Forum, The Palladium, Orpheum Theatre and The Wiltern as well as historic comedy venues including The Hollywood Improv, Largo, Laugh Factory and The Comedy Store.
Comedian Kevin Hart and his global media company Hartbeat have taken more and more of a role in the sports world over the past few years. Hart has been doing his Cold As Balls cold-tub interview series since 2018, in addition to showing up on various other networks’ sports coverage, and Hartbeat has come up with a variety of other sports-related programming during that time too.
And now, Hartbeat is doing some notable things around Super Bowl week. They’ve announced two live tapings of Cold As Balls Thursday and Friday, and will also be presenting Shaquille O’Neal’s “Shaq’s All-Star Comedy Jam” Friday and Saturday.
Here’s more from a release there:
Hartbeat, the global media company creating entertainment at the intersection of comedy and culture, will further expand its ongoing investment into the sports content and experiential space by launching two live events at Resorts World Las Vegas during Super Bowl weekend. Starting Thursday, February 8, 2024, Hartbeat will deliver special live tapings of “Cold As Balls” – the hit sports interview series hosted by Kevin Hart – in collaboration with The Giving Back Fund and the Inspiring Children Foundation’s “Big Game Big Give” fundraising event Hartbeat and Shaquille O’Neal’s Jersey Legend Productions will also present the return of Shaq’s All-Star Comedy Jam at Resorts World Theater.
Cold As Balls (Presented by Old Spice Total Body Deodorant)
Kevin Hart and a star-studded lineup of athletes and sports personalities will take center stage at the annual “Big Game Big Give” fundraising event for back-to-back afternoons of laughs with live episode tapings of the internet’s biggest sports interview series, Cold As Balls (Presented by Old Spice Total Body Deodorant). Watch Kevin Hart interview his guests about their careers as they take the plunge into the “post-game” cold tub. Guests to be announced.
Shaq’s All Star Comedy Jam
Hartbeat and Shaquille O’Neal’s Jersey Legends Productions are bringing the beloved stand-up comedy showcase, ALL STAR COMEDY JAM, to Resorts World Theatre inside Resorts World Las Vegas for back-to-back nights of championship-level comedy, hosted by Deon Cole and featuring performances by D.L. Hughley, Earthquake, Desi Banks, and Aida Rodriguez. For more information and tickets, visit the site.
And over email, Hartbeat president and chief distribution officer Jeff Clanagan told AA the live format’s the natural next step for Cold As Balls:
“The synergies between sports and entertainment have long been something we’ve been interested in, dating back to the launch of Cold As Balls in 2018 and the viral Peacock series Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg,” Clanagan said. “At Hartbeat, we’ve created an ecosystem that can produce, market, and monetize IP and experiences all under one roof.
“By expanding Cold As Balls to a new live format alongside our longtime partners at Old Spice, and bringing Shaq’s All Star Comedy Jam to Super Bowl Weekend in Las Vegas, we’re excited to continue our investment in the sports space and unlock new ways to create memorable experiences that unite comedy, culture, and sports.”
We’ll see how this shift to a live format goes for Hartbeat and Cold As Balls. But the show has certainly made an impact over its seasons so far, and has made some significant pivots amidst challenging times. And Hart has continued to be a notable sports figure, including even with ESPN alternate NBA telecasts recently. We’ll see what comes from his live shows.
Source: Awful Announcing
Peacock‘s limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist continues to add to its A-list cast.
Don Cheadle is the latest actor to sign on to the drama, which tracks an armed robbery (and its fallout) on the night of Muhammad Ali’s 1970 comeback fight in Atlanta. Cheadle joins a cast that also includes Kevin Hart (who’s also executive producing), Samuel L. Jackson, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard, Dexter Darden (who’s playing Ali), and Myles Bullock.
Fight Night is based on an iHeart podcast and will follow “the heavyweight fight and criminal underground heist that introduced the world to the city dubbed ‘the Black Mecca,’ and the cop and the hustler at the center of it all,” according to the show’s logline. Oscar and Emmy nominee Cheadle will play the aforementioned cop, JD Hudson, one of the first Black detectives on Atlanta’s police force who is assigned to Ali’s security detail and to work the robbery case.
Fight Night comes from Universal Television, Will Packer Media and Doghouse Pictures, which produced the podcast. Shaye Ogbonna (The Chi) created the TV series and will serve as co-showrunner with Jason Horwitch (Peacock’s The Calling). They executive produce with Hart and his Hartbeat Productions partners Bryan Smiley and Mike Stein; Packer and Sabrina Wind of Will Packer Media; Conal Byrne and Carrie Lieberman of iHeartPodcasts; Jeff Keating of Doghouse Pictures; Lars Jacobson; and Craig Brewer (Dolemite Is My Name, Hustle & Flow), who’s also directing four episodes. Tiffany Brown of Hartbeat, Kenny Burns and Erika Johnson are co-EPs.
Cheadle’s recent credits include Marvel’s Secret Invasion, where he reprised his long-running character James “Rhodey” Rhodes, feature film White Noise and Showtime’s Black Monday, for which he earned a pair of Emmy nominations. He is repped by UTA and Viewpoint.
Dave Chappelle has won his fifth Grammy for best comedy album and second in a row for What’s in a Name, a 40-minute Netflix special taken from a speech at his former high school, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, where he defended his controversial 2021 special The Closer, which won the comedy album prize at the 2023 Grammys, and expressed support for freedom of expression.
With his win at the 2024 Grammys, Chappelle beat fellow nominees Wanda Sykes (I’m an Entertainer), Sarah Silverman (Someone You Love), this year’s Grammys host Trevor Noah (I Wish You Would), and Chris Rock, whose Selective Outrage live Netflix special featured Rock speaking out publicly about being slapped onstage by Will Smith at the 2022 Oscars. Chappelle wasn’t in attendance to accept the award, which was handed out during the premiere ceremony, where the majority of this year’s Grammys are given out, so presenter Rufus Wainwright accepted it on his behalf.
Chappelle’s What’s in a Name was quietly released on Netflix in July 2022 and was taken from a speech he gave at the school the month prior, which was intended to be a ceremony celebrating the renaming of the school’s theater for Chappelle. But instead, Chappelle said he wanted to “defer” the renaming to highlight “the nuance of art” and “my right, my freedom of artistic expression” and said he wanted the new name to be the Theater for Artistic Freedom and Expression.
“Rather than give this theater my name, I would like to give these students my message,” Chappelle said in his speech.
During the special, Chappelle defends The Closer, which sparked backlash for material focused on the transgender community, including Chappelle saying he’s on “team TERF”or “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” and aligning himself with J.K. Rowling, who has made a number of statements viewed as anti-trans. The special prompted a virtual walkout and public rally at Netflix’s offices as the streamer has continued to support Chappelle and the special.
The Closer also sparked criticism from current Duke Ellington students, when Chappelle initially returned to his alma mater in November 2021, when the renaming ceremony was set to take place. During that event, a number of students criticized The Closer, remarks Chappelle said “sincerely hurt me.”
“The more you say I can’t say something, the more urgent it is for me to say it,” Chappelle says in part during the Duke Ellington speech captured in What’s In a Name. “It has nothing to do with what you are saying I can’t say. It has everything to do with my freedom of artistic expression.”
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
SHOWTIME has picked up a second season of the critically acclaimed half-hour dramedy series DREAMING WHILST BLACK, which garnered industry praise for its inaugural season, including nominations from the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards and the NAACP Image Awards. Featuring returning star and BAFTA Award winning co-creator and co-writer Adjani Salmon (Chivalry), season two is expected to commence filming later this year in the UK. The season will premiere in the U.S. on streaming and on demand for Paramount+ for subscribers with the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME plan, on air on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, and in the UK on BBC Three and iPlayer. The series is co-produced by Big Deal Films in creative collaboration with A24. A24 will also distribute the series globally.
Loosely inspired by real-life events, DREAMING WHILST BLACK season one tells the story of Kwabena (Salmon), an aspiring filmmaker stuck in a dead-end recruitment job who takes the first step toward achieving his dream. Along the way, he is quickly confronted with the tribulations of balancing finances, love, and his own sense of reality. The series was adapted from the web series and acclaimed Big Deal Films-produced BBC pilot of the same name, which earned Salmon the 2022 BAFTA for Emerging Talent: Fiction and Screen International Star of Tomorrow. The show and Salmon have secured additional award recognition within the UK, including The Royal Television Society’s 2022 Breakthrough Award win for Salmon and series nominations in the International Emmys and the Broadcast Awards.
“The response to DREAMING WHILST BLACK has been overwhelmingly loving, raucous and humbling,” said Salmon. “I’m blessed that we have a chance to entertain da peopledem again. Like season one, our goal is to end up being shared in the Aunties WhatsApp Groups.”
“DREAMING WHILST BLACK really resonated with BBC viewers who felt the warmth and humor radiating from Adjani Salmon’s brilliant comic creation” said Jon Petrie, Director of Comedy Commissioning at the BBC. “It was a no brainer for us to press go again on this multi-award winning series and we can’t wait to see more.”
“Adjani Salmon is a creative force whose authentic and complex storytelling in DREAMING WHILST BLACK has rightfully gained widespread acclaim,” said Nina L. Diaz, President of Content & Chief Creative Officer, SHOWTIME/MTV Entertainment Studios & Paramount Media Networks. “We are thrilled to greenlight a second season and work alongside our partners at A24 and Big Deal Films to further explore these rich and hilarious characters who have resonated so deeply with our audience on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME.”
“DREAMING WHILST BLACK season one struck a chord with audiences all over, offering a dose of relatable chaos, hard truths and laughs in between,” said executive producer Dhanny Joshi of Big Deal Films. “We couldn’t be more excited to go again and give the people what they want – a second season.”
Co-produced by UK-based indie Big Deal Films and A24, Dhanny Joshi and Thomas Stogdon return to executive produce for Big Deal Films, along with Salmon. Nicola Gregory serves as producer. The original web series was co-written by Salmon and Ali Hughes and was created by Adjani Salmon, Max Evans, Laura de Sousa Seixas and Natasha Jatania of 4 Quarters Films.
Netflix is teasing the new film Back in Action.
The streaming service shared a first-look photo for the action comedy Thursday featuring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz.
Back in Action is written by Seth Gordon and Brendan O’Brian and directed by Gordon.
Foxx and Diaz play former spies who are dragged back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown, years after giving up life in the CIA to start a family.
The photo shows Foxx and Diaz’s characters posing and wearing formal wear after a fight in an elevator.
Kyle Chandler, Glenn Close, Andrew Scott, and Jamie Demetriou also star.
Foxx was spotted back on the Back in Action set in Atlanta in January in the wake of his health scare.
The actor was hospitalized for an undisclosed “medical complication” in April 2023 and addressed his “tough” health battle at a Critics Choice Association event in December.
Back in Action will premiere on Netflix in 2024.
In addition, Netflix announced Wednesday that The Jamie Foxx Show, a sitcom starring Foxx that aired from 1996 to 2001, will start streaming March 1.