So there will be a new Queen Charlotte, after all.
This one isn’t in England (where the real Princess Charlotte is further back in the heir-apparent list). It’s in the fictional world of “Bridgerton.”
The first two seasons (still available on Netflix) had Golda Rosheuvel (shown here) as the old — and rather grumpy — queen. Now, however, news comes of the prequel. Read more…
(The new season is half-way here now. It officially began Sept. 19, but several shows will wait until early October; one new one arrives Nov. 4. With that in mind, I’m keeping the new-season overview here at the top and updating it. Here are three stories that I posted earlier; the first two have been rewritten throughout.)
A new TV season is here now. It has a few shows and a lot of promos. What it lacks is the old blend of Hollywood hope, hype and a sense of something big.
There have been big things lately, but not on the broadcast networks, the ones that send out shows for free (with commercials) over the air.
A “Game of Thrones” prequel on HBO collided with a “Lord of the Rings” prequel (shown here) on Amazon Prime, both spending mega-money – reportedly $200 million for 10 HBO episodes, $465 million for eight Amazon ones. What’s a mere broadcast network to do? Not much; consider: Read more…
Dottie Roman and Elizabeth II had a lot in common, you know.
Both were queens – one of country music, the other of the British empire. Both will remain visible – one via flashbacks, the other via stamps and money and such. And both planned their own funerals.
The differences are also important, of course:
— Dottie is fictional, portrayed by Susan Sarandon(shown here, center) in “Monarch,” at 9 p.m. Tuesdays on Fox. Elizabeth, we’re told, was real.
— At her funeral, Dottie suddenly soared above the stage – a giant, holographic image, singing powerfully. Elizabeth didn’t … but it would have been really cool if she did. Read more…
1) “The Simpsons” season-opener, 8 p.m., Fox. Homeris forlorn (shown here) after being mocked at a town hall. Then he finds a cause – a group with conspiracy theories about the zoo’s missing tortoise. It gives him, Marge says, “a chance to be a big fish in a small, weird pond.” It’s a funny episode, launching a string of openers: “The Great North” at 8:30, “Bob’s Burgers” at 9 and “Family Guy” at 9:30, with its versions of “Silence of the Lambs,” “American Beauty” and “Forrest Gump.” Read more…
Like many young actors, Scott Prendergast was drowning in debts and doubts.
He twas 35, with no money, no insurance and $27,000 in credit-card debt. “My mother was constantly having to step in and save me and fix my life,” he told the Television Critics Association.
Then a crisis turned everything around. Parts of that – 17 years later – are being re-created in “So Help Me Todd,” which debuts at 9 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 29) on CBS.
Skylar Astin plays Todd, an unemployed detective who is hired by his mom, a big-time lawyer. Prendergast wrote the script and is a producer, which makes things complicated. “You’re basically casting a proxy of yourself,” he said. “And then someone is playing sort of a version of your mother.” Read more…
