John Amos, Good Times and Roots star, dies at 84 / Amazon orders Reacher spinoff / ABC's in-house production studio is folding

PLUS: Nobody Wants This creator Erin Foster responds to criticism her Netflix series perpetuates Jewish stereotypes.

John Amos, Good Times and Roots star, dies at 84
The Emmy-nominated actor died on Aug. 21 of natural causes, Amos’ family announced today. “It is with heartfelt sadness that I share with you that my father has transitioned,” K.C. Amos, his son, said in a statement. “He was a man with the kindest heart and a heart of gold… and he was loved the world over. Many fans consider him their TV father. He lived a good life. His legacy will live on in his outstanding works in television and film as an actor.” Amos was "the TV writer turned Emmy-nominated actor who starred as the stoic father on Good Times before he was fired from the landmark sitcom for objecting to stereotypes and admittedly letting his temper get the best of him," as Mike Barnes describes Amos in his The Hollywood Reporter obituary. Amos career began to take off in 1969 as a writer and performer in sketches on the 1969 CBS variety program The Leslie Uggams Show, where he worked alongside writer-producers Lorenzo Music and Dave Davis, who ended up working on The Mary Tyler Moore Show the following year. They tapped him to play weatherman Gordy Howard in a recurring role. That role led to a meeting with Norman Lear and a guest appearance on Maude, where Amos appeared in a three-episode stint as Florida’s husband, setting up his most memorable role on Good Times in 1974. On Good Times, Amos' James Evans struggled to find full-time work, but “he provided for his family with any job that he could find," said Amos in a 2014 interview with the TV Academy. 'We managed to survive, and America loved that show. It was close to how most Americans lived at that time.” Amos was fired after Season 3 over disagreements with executive producer Lear and his writing staff over what he described as silly, stereotypical storylines. “We had a number of differences,” said Amos. “I felt too much emphasis was being put on J.J. in his chicken hat, saying ‘Dy-no-mite!’ every third page. I felt just as much emphasis and mileage could have been gotten out of my other two children, one of whom aspired to become a Supreme Court justice, played by Ralph Carter, and the other, BernNadette Stanis, who aspired to become a surgeon…But I wasn’t the most diplomatic guy in those days, and (the show’s producers) got tired of having their lives threatened over jokes. So they said, ‘Tell you what, why don’t we kill him off? We can get on with our lives!’ That taught me a lesson — I wasn’t as important as I thought I was to the show or to Norman Lear’s plans." In 1977, Amos played the older version of Kunta Kinte on ABC's Roots, earning his only Emmy nomination. In the 1980s, Amos recurred on Hunter and reteamed with Lear on the short-lived 1984 CBS All in the Family spinoff 704 Hauser. Amos went on to have recurring roles on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The District, Two and a Half Men, The Ranch and The West Wing, where he played the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Amos co-starred with Anne Heche on the 2006-2008 ABC dramedy Men in Trees. In 2019, Amos reteamed with Lear again for Live in Front of a Studio Audience. His final TV role was on The Righteous Gemstones in 2022. "The truth of it is, when I started acting, I never thought I would live this long, much less be an actor,” Amos told TVLine with a chuckle in 2022. “I’ve had a blessed career, and I attribute that to my faith in God and the fact that I was raised right. I had the chance to portray a father on a situational comedy that so many Black fathers and men of all races could identify with and appreciate.” ALSO: John Amos died nine months after The Hollywood Reporter detailed his family’s in-fighting over "his care, his legacy and his love.”

Nobody Wants This creator Erin Foster responds to criticism her Netflix series perpetuates Jewish stereotypes
Glamour writer Jessica Radloff called out Nobody Wants This, in particular, for its negative stereotypes of Jewish women. "In fact, after I watched the first two episodes of Nobody Wants This, I called my mom and said, 'I can’t imagine any guy who watches this show who would then say, "I really want to date a Jewish girl!” We come off as controlling, marriage-hungry women who want to plan dinner parties and alienate anyone who doesn’t share those same dreams,'" Radloff wrote. David Bashevkin, a rabbi and academic, said the show’s trailer featured a “whole lot of classic Jewish stereotypes.” Allison Josephs, who uses Jew in the City to advocate for accurate representations of the Jewish community in the media, said Nobody Wants This portrayed Jewish women as having “rampant” xenophobia. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Foster responded: "I think we need positive Jewish stories right now. I think it’s interesting when people focus on, 'Oh, this is a stereotype of Jewish people,' when you have a rabbi as the lead. A hot, cool, young rabbi who smokes weed. That’s the antithesis of how people view a Jewish rabbi, right? If I made the Jewish parents, like, two granola hippies on a farm, then someone would write, 'I’ve never met a Jewish person like that before. You clearly don’t know how to write Jewish people, you don’t know what you’re doing, and that doesn’t represent us well.'"

Leighton Meester boards Apple TV+'s Buccaneers Season 2
Meester's role on the London-based period drama is being kept under wraps.

Fired ABC News meteorologist Rob Marciano is poised to make a comeback on CBS News
Marciano, who was ousted from his Good Morning America job earlier this year over reported anger management issues, will join CBS News as part of its expanding weather network, Oliver Darcy reports in his Status newsletter. Darcy reports Marciano maintained a good relationship with Wendy Fisher, the former ABC News executive who is now heading up CBS News’ weather operation.

Amazon orders Reacher spinoff starring Maria Sten
Sten, who stars as Frances Neagley on Reacher, will reprise her role in an untitled series that will follow Neagley as a private investigator in Chicago. When Neagley learns that a beloved friend from her past has been killed in a suspicious accident, “she becomes hell bent on justice,” according to the official logline. “Using everything she’s learned from Jack Reacher and her time as a member of the 110 Special Investigators, Neagley puts herself on a dangerous path to uncover a menacing evil.” Sten's Neagley appeared in Seasons 1 and 2 of Reacher and will appear in the upcoming Season 3.

MGM+ renews Billy the Kid for a third and final season
The drama series starring Tom Blyth as the legendary Old West outlaw will conclude with an eight-episode final season.

Lorne Michaels: Why SNL won't bring on Donald Trump or Kamala Harris before the election
“You can’t bring the actual people who are running on because of election laws and the equal time provisions,” Michaels explained to The Hollywood Reporter, and then clarified: “You can’t have the main candidates without having all the candidates, and there are lots of minor candidates that are only on the ballot in, like, three states and that becomes really complicated.” In 2008, presidential candidate John McCain appeared on SNL three days before the election. His running mate Sarah Palin appeared weeks earlier alongside her portrayer, Tina Fey
ALSO:

• SNL's Season 50 premiere delivered 5.3 million viewers, a four-year high

• Spirit Halloween roasts SNL as an "irrelevant 50-year-old show" after the retailer was mocked on the season premiere

ABC's in-house production studio is folding after nearly 40 years and hits including The Golden Girls, Blossom, Home Improvement and Boy Meets World
"Disney’s long-expected move to fold ABC Signature into 20th Television brings to an end the media conglom’s in-house TV studio, which started off as Touchstone Television a decade before Disney bought ABC, subsequently being renamed ABC Studios and more recently ABC Signature," says Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "Launched in 1985, Touchstone TV’s first major hit was Golden Girls, which ran on NBC for seven seasons. Other successful series from that era include Blossom, also for NBC, and Home Improvement, Ellen and Boy Meets World for ABC."

Frank Fritz, former American Pickers star, dies at 60
Fritz, who co-hosted the History Channel reality show with Mike Wolfe from its premiere in 2010 until 2021, died on Monday, two years after suffering a stroke. "It’s with a broken heart that I share with all of you that Frank passed away last night," Wolfe wrote on Instagram this morning. "I’ve know Frank for more then half my life and what you’ve seen on TV has always been what I have seen, a dreamer who was just as sensitive as he was funny. The same off camera as he was on, Frank had a way of reaching the hearts of so many by just being himself." He added: "Who would have ever dreamed we would share the cockpit of a white cargo van in front of millions of people interested in our adventures."

PBS' American Experience is tackling The American Vice President on the night of the vice presidential debate
The documentary premiering tonight "explores the little-known story of the second-highest office in the land, tracing its evolution from a constitutional afterthought to a position of political consequence," says PBS. "Focusing on the fraught period between 1963 and 1974, when a grief-stricken and then scandal-plagued America was forced to clarify the role of the vice president, the film examines the passage and first uses of the 25th Amendment and offers a fresh and surprising perspective on succession in the executive branch."

Pete Rose dies three months after HBO released a docuseries on his life
The controversial former Major League Baseball player and manager, who received a lifetime ban for gambling, died Monday at age 83. In July, HBO released the four-part Pete Rose docuseries Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose.

All American: Homecoming creator breaks down the series finale
Creator and showrunner showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll, who wrapped up three seasons of the All American spinoff on Monday night, says: "Shockingly, this is my first series finale in this way. I think I’ve just been really blessed to be on shows that have had a substantive run."

Jimmy Kimmel recruits Andy Richter as his Tim Walz
Richter made his debut as Jimmy Kimmel Live!'s Tim Walz Monday night after former Late Night with Conan O'Brien head writer Robert Smigel tweeted Richter "would tear it up" portraying Kamala Harris' running mate. Richter and Kimmel previously collaborated on the short-lived 2017 ABC game show Big Fan.

The Office's Australia lead Felicity Ward says Ricky Gervais personally approved her casting
“Ricky Gervais has approved a female lead, he’s very excited about a female lead — just in case anyone is angry,” the Australian comedian quipped during the Prime Video Presents: Trailblazers event on Tuesday in London, where she debuted a trailer from the series. Asked about how she was feeling about the show’s imminent release on Prime Video in Australia and the U.K. on Oct. 18, she said jokingly: “Pretty chill actually. English people and people that love The Office, they’re like, ‘Hey, whatever you do with it is fine.'” Ward plays Hannah Howard, the manager of Sydney-based box company Flinley Craddick.

Industry creators ink three-year deal with HBO
Mickey Down and Konrad Kay are currently under an overall deal that expires at the end of 2024.

Amazon orders college-set romantic drama series adaptation Off Campus
Elle Kennedy's popular five-book series is headed to the small screen. Off Campus "depicts the elite ice hockey team, and the women in their lives, as they grapple with love, heartbreak, and self-discovery—forging deep friendships and enduring bonds while navigating the complexities that come with transitioning into adulthood," according to Deadline.

CNN unveils its website subscription plan
Frequent users of CNN.com will begin seeing a paywall unless they subscribe for $3.99 a month or $29.99 per year. Most CNN.com users are unlikely to see a change.

Sandra Oh to narrate a new version of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko audiobook
The new audiobook edition, released today, marks Oh's first time narrating an audiobook.

Sarah Hyland's ex-manager sues over Modern Family royalties
Richard Konigsberg, who says he served as Hyland's personal and professional manager for 15 years, alleges that she fired him in April to get out of paying the 10% he is owed from her Modern Family royalties plus additional wages she earned during their time working together.

Sherlock producer: We'd still love to do the show with Benedict Cumberbatch
“We love that show and there is a future for it. One day. Maybe. If everyone wants to do it,” said executive producer Sue Vertue, wife of Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffat. Co-creator Mark Gatiss recently expressed hope for a Sherlock film.

Charles Barkley teams Jeff Zucker to form his own production company
Barkley is launching Round Mound Media, a new production venture backed by the former CNN and NBC boss. “Round Mound Media is about creating an outlet for my vision to share compelling, original stories meant to captivate audiences across the world,” said Barkley, in a statement. “I’ve always looked for projects and relationships that will allow me to be authentic, and hopefully to build my platform for making the world a better place. EverWonder Studio is the perfect partner to be my creative home and bring this to the next level. Fans will love what we have in the works and I’m excited to get started.”

TCM releases its Halloween schedule
Turner Classic Movies' October is packed with horror films, from 1936's The Walking Dead to 1932's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Gossip Girl is headed to Netflix
All six seasons of The CW hit will be available on to stream on Netflix on Oct. 29.

Billy Crystal is a grieving child psychiatrist in Apple TV+'s Before trailer
Crystal co-stars with Rosie Perez in the limited series psychological thriller, premiering Oct. 25.

The Franchise's official trailer mocks superhero franchises and method acting
The satirical comedy created by Jon Brown and executive produced by Armando Iannucci and Sam Mendes premieres on HBO on Oct. 6.

Watch Travis Kelce in Amazon's trailer for Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity?
Celebrities taking part include Bravo stars Garcelle Beauvais and Lala Kent, comedians Nikki Glaser, Natasha Leggero, Nicole Byer and Ron Funches, plus NFL vets Ryan Fitzpatrick and Chad Ochocinco. Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity? premieres Oct. 16.

Netflix unveils a new Squid Game Season 2 teaser
"You're invited to get back in the game," says the new teaser for Season 2, premiering Dec. 26.

American Horror Stories releases its Huluween trailer
The horror anthology series returns Oct. 15 for a five-episode mini-season.

Disney+'s John Williams documentary gets a premiere date and trailer
Music by John Williams will be available to stream on Nov. 1, along with a limited theatrical release in New York, Los Angeles, and London on the same day.