Kate Walsh to star in CBS family comedy pilot The Tillbrooks / Keith David joins Jake Johnson’s NBC PI comedy pilot / Hulu developing a yacht rocker comedy
PLUS: Whoopi Goldberg is getting the documentary treatment from The Perfect Neighbor director.
Kate Walsh to star in CBS family comedy pilot The Tillbrooks
The former Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice star is returning to her multicamera sitcom roots for a family comedy co-starring Rhys Darby. “Walsh will play the Tillbrooks matriarch Jocelyn who knows what she wants and expects to get it,” per Deadline. “Highly theatrical and exceedingly ambitious, Jocelyn can frequently be found breaking out into song or scheming for ways to elevate her family’s status.” As Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva notes, “Walsh’s first notable TV role was playing a major recurring character on the ABC’s multi-camera sitcom The Drew Carey Show, which, like The Tillbrooks, was produced by WBTV and filmed on the Warner Bros. lot, as did another multi-cam sitcom she recurred on simultaneously, The Norm Show, from the same creator, Bruce Helford.”
Keith David joins Jake Johnson’s NBC PI comedy pilot
The Emmy-winning actor and The Lowdown star will play Garner Taggert, who runs the Garner Taggart PI Agency. A tough guy with somewhat antiquated views of the world, he is the boss of Johnson’s Mickey Wilder a former LAPD cop turned PI. The untitled comedy is from Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Dan Goor and Luke Del Tredici.
Whoopi Goldberg is getting the documentary treatment from The Perfect Neighbor director
The untitled documentary from The Perfect Neighbor’s Geeta Gandbhir will expand on the EGOT winner’s 2022 autobiography, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother and Me. The film will offer an intimate look into the life of the comedian and actress, tracing Goldberg’s rise and told through the observational verité of her today, according to Variety. “Whoopi Goldberg is a brilliant and groundbreaking storyteller who has shaped the landscape of entertainment for years,” Gandbhir said in a statement, adding: “I, along with my partners Sam Pollard and Alisa Payne at Message Pictures, Whoopi’s long-time producing partner Tom Leonardis, President of Whoop, Inc, and Imagine Documentaries are honored to bring her story to life in this documentary.”
Mo’Nique releases an open letter calling out Whoopi Goldberg for “schooling” her on The View in 2018
The Oscar winner took to Instagram to pen an open letter to “Sister Whoopi” about their 2018 The View Clash, in which Goldberg criticized Mo’Nique’s decision not to participate in additional promotion for her starring role in Lee Daniels’ acclaimed 2009 movie Precious. “The tone of (watching the resurfaced) comments today seems different from the energy eight years ago, with many people now agreeing with my sentiments about not working for people or entities I don’t owe anything to,” Mo’Nique wrote. “I wonder, have your feelings changed since that time?” She added: “I was also intrigued to learn that in 1993 there was an attempt to sue you (to appear in the flop) Theodore Rex, because it was alleged that you had made a verbal commitment to the film. Your defense was that you never actually committed. You can imagine how confused I was when I discovered this, especially since when I explained that my only contractual obligation was to Lee Daniels, it didn’t sway your opinion enough to stop you from saying you could have ‘schooled’ me on doing what they expected from me … I’ll await your reply about whether you still feel you schooled me correctly.”
Hulu developing a comedy about a washed-up yacht rocker who teams up with a hungry young rapper from producer Mark Ronson
Titled Double or Nothing and created by Theodore Bressman and Neel Shah with Mark Ronson aboard as an executive producer, in the half-hour comedy series, “a washed-up yacht rocker gets a second chance at greatness when he teams up with a hungry young rapper to make the album of both of their lives,” per Deadline. “It’s a half-hour comedy about getting it right the second time around.”
It: Welcome to Derry co-creator confirm Season 2 is in the works
While a second season hasn’t been officially greenlighted, Andy Muschietti said at the Saturn Awards Sunday that he and sister Barbara Muschietti are working on Season 2 of their HBO horror series. “There’s not much we can say but yes,” said Muschietti. “We’re very proud that the expectations are high after the first season. I think we’re going to deliver something that is greater.”
Joshua Jackson speaks out on Dawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek’s death: “The tragedy of that loss for his family is enormous”
“He and I shared this amazing time at a very young point in our lives,” Jackson said on Today. “I know both of us look back at that time with great fondness, but I will also say that I know I’m really just a footnote in what he accomplished in his life.” Jackson added that, over the years, Van Der Beek “became what we usually just call a ‘good man.’ A man of the kind of belief, the kind of faith that allowed him to face the impossible with grace. An unbelievable partner and husband. A real man that showed up for his family and a beautiful, kind, interested, dedicated father.”
Oscars announce Sinners and KPop Demon Hunters musical performances
Breakout star Miles Caton and Oscar-nominated songwriter Raphael Saadiq are set to perform the nominated song “I Lied to You” from Sinners. They will be joined by an ensemble that includes Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith in a tribute to the film’s visual and musical style. KPop Demon Hunters’ singing voices EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Reri Ami will perform their song “Golden.” This year, our music performances are inspired by two of the most powerful cultural phenomena in film: Sinners, the most nominated film in Oscars history, and KPop Demon Hunters, a global pop culture sensation,” Oscar producers Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan said in a statement. “These show moments are more than just performances — they expand into cinematic tributes that celebrate the relationship between music and storytelling and why these films resonated so deeply with audiences around the world.”
American Music Awards returning to Las Vegas and Memorial Day
After returning last year after a three-year hiatus, the AMAs will stick with Las Vegas and its Memorial Day airdate on CBS. But while last year’s ceremony was held at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, this year’s will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Monday, May 25.
PBS’ Masterpiece renews The Forsytes for Season 3 ahead of its U.S. premiere
The period drama, which will make its Season 1 debut in the U.S. on March 22, will head into production on Season 3 next month in the UK and on location in Europe, according to Deadline.
Love Story’s Dree Hemingway says she wrote a “love note” to Daryl Hannah before portraying her on the JFK Jr.-Carolyn Bessette FX series
“It was really just a love note to her saying how much I admired her, how much I’ve admired her as an actress and a woman, prior to even being cast as Daryl,” Hemingway, the daughter of Mariel Hemingway, tells Nylon. “How much I really just fell in love with her as a human being. I watched interviews and that feeling of really spending time with somebody you’ve never spent time with, but researching. That was really the note, and just not like ‘Hey, I want to meet you or talk to you.’ Just, like, “It was really an honor of my lifetime to be able to portray you and research you.” Hemingway said that she did not reach out in order to meet Hannah in person, but instead to say that it was an “honor of a lifetime” to “portray” and “research” the Splash star. “I would have loved to directly have spoken to her,” Hemingway said, but acknowledged that her “nerves” had gotten the better of her. “I also didn’t want to intrude in any way. I didn’t want to make her feel awkward if that were something that she didn’t want to do or something.” Hannah has since blasted her portrayal in Love Story via a New York Times essay.
CNN and Variety reteam for an Oscars red carpet pre-show after their Timothée Chalamet-Matthew McConaughey town hall went viral
CNN is returning to the Academy Awards red carpet for the first time in nearly a decade with Sunday’s pre-show, which will air live on the cable network and stream for subscribers on CNN’s digital platform.
Heartstopper creator Alice Oseman says the YA series’ movie finale won’t be released before her final book is released on July 2
“It won’t be coming out before the book. It was so important to me that the book comes out first, so people can experience the end of the story in the book,” Oseman said today at a Q&A. “The series was the adaptation, not the other way around.”
Sheryl Underwood recounts her The Talk feud with Sharon Osbourne on The View
Underwood’s week-long guest-co-hosting gig on The View has resulted in her discussing her five-year-old feud with Osbourne that stemmed from a 2021 on-air clash over racism and the British Royal Family. “I sat next to her for years, and I do believe that when she’s hurt, she’s really hurt,” Underwood said, per EW. “I believe that what really happened to me, I’d gotten into a couple of problem discussions on The Talk. Y’all know. Amen, right? God let me live to correct some of the things that I said.” Underwood’s comments prompted Joy Behar to quip: “And God canceled that show,” as the audience erupted with laughter.
Dark Winds reuniting Zahn McClarnon with his The Son co-star Paola Núñez
Núñez, who starred with McClarnon on the 2017-2019 AMC series The Son, is joining Dark Winds in a series regular role for Season 5. She will play Luisa Alvarado, a lead investigator for the U.S. Attorney’s office and someone from the past of McClarnon’s Joe Leaphorn.
Ballard adds Ever Carradine
The Handmaid’s Tale alum will recur on the Amazon Prime Video Bosch spinoff as “a devoted mother whose past involvement in an influential spiritual movement continues to shape her present,” per Deadline. “Resilient and relentless, she’s driven by one goal: protecting her daughter at any cost.”
Fire Country and Sheriff Country set their first crossover event
The two-hour CBS crossover event will take place on Friday, April 3.
What Not to Wear’s Stacy London and Clinton Kelly are reteaming for a digital series and podcast tackling Hollywood fashion
London and Kelly, who reunited last year for Amazon’s Wear Whatever the F You Want, are joining forces again for Why’d They Wear That?, which will be distributed as a web series and podcast.
Whitney Leavitt to reunite with her Dancing with the Stars partner Mark Ballas in Broadway’s Chicago
Ballas will play Billy Flynn for a four-week stint beginning April 6.
New Girl creator Liz Meriwether renews her TV deal with 20th Television
Meriwether’s new deal will put have her surpassing 20 years at the studio, where she’s also worked on The Dropout, Single Parents, Bless This Mess and Dying for Sex.
Yahya Abdul-Matten II is a broken special forces mercenary out for redemption in Netflix’s Man on Fire trailer
Billie Boullet, Bobby Cannavale, Alice Braga, Scoot McNairy and Paul Ben-Victor also star in the seven-episode thriller series, premiering April 30.
Watch Miley Cyrus reprise her Hannah Montana role
Disney+ shared a teaser for the March 24 special marking Hannah Montana’s 20th anniversary.
Acorn TV teases Brooke Shields You’re Killing Me
Shields, Amalia Williamson and Tom Cavanagh star in the six-episode murder mystery series premiering this spring.
Netflix explores cheating allegations in the professional chess world in Untold: Chess Mates
The sports docuseries’ Volume 5’s second episode premieres April 7.