Nic Pizzolatto reposts nasty True Detective: Night Country messages / Jimmy Kimmel ready to exit late-night / Jon Stewart responds to left-wing backlash
PLUS: Shane Gillis accused of promoting Holocaust deniers ahead of his SNL-hosting debut.
True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto reposts nasty messages about Night Country’s finale, prompting Kali Reis to respond
Pizzolatto spent Monday night using his Instagram Stories to share some of the harshest criticisms of the Issa López-created True Detective season that ended Sunday. Pizzolatto later deleted the reposts, but screenshots were shared on Twitter/X, including comments saying Night Country “butchered and misappropriated” the first season’s “all time classic dialogue,” and calling the season "so disrespectful" and a “hot mess” and criticizing the finale’s reveal as “self righteous vigilantism.” Pizzolatto’s criticism caught the attention of Night Country star Kali Reis. When one Twitter user observed that the creator was “posting other people’s stories about how Issa López ruined the franchise like an absolutely enormous baby,” Reis retweeted it with her own message. “That’s a damn shame…but hey I guess ‘if you don’t have anything good to share, sh*t on others’ is the new wave,” she wrote with a shrug emoji. Pizzolatto even drew criticism from his fellow writers. "It’s not a good look for a showrunner, or even an ex-showrunner," tweeted The Good Wife and Evil co-creator Robert King. American Gods and Pandora vet Will Landman added: "If I was an creator of a TV series that I was now only getting money from it by the executive producer clause in my contract, I would simply shut the hell up when the series I crafted is doing the biggest numbers it ever produced. But that’s just me I guess." Pizzolatto was more subtle earlier in the season when he wrote "can't blame me" for Night Country.
Jimmy Kimmel on his late-night future: "I think this is my final contract"
Kimmel is currently in his 22nd season after signing a three-year extension in 2022 to keep him around through Season 23. In an interview about his Oscars-hosting prep, the 56-year-old Kimmel tells the Los Angeles Times he thinks he's ready to call it quits. “I think this is my final contract," he says. "I hate to even say it, because everyone’s laughing at me now — each time I think that, and then it turns out to be not the case. I still have a little more than two years left on my contract, and that seems pretty good. That seems like enough.” He adds of his post-talk show future: “I don’t know exactly what I will do. It might not be anything that anyone other than me is aware of. I have a lot of hobbies — I love to cook, I love to draw, I imagine myself learning to do sculptures. I know that when I die, if I’m fortunate enough to die on my own terms in my own bed, I’m going to think, ‘Oh, I was never able to get to this, and I was never able to get to that.’ I just know it about myself.”
Shane Gillis accused of promoting Holocaust deniers ahead of his SNL-hosting debut
Seth Simons, the comedy critic whose resurfacing of Gillis' racist and homophobic podcast jokes in 2019 led to the comedian’s firing days after his Saturday Night Live hiring, writes in The Daily Beast that viewers watching Gillis host this weekend "will eventually meet Bill McCusker, the brother of Gillis’ co-host Matt McCusker, and Andrew Pacella, their longtime friend. The two have appeared nearly 20 times since 2019 on Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, currently Patreon’s top-ranked podcast with more than 80,000 paid subscribers. They have hosted a podcast of their own, War Mode, since 2020. Thanks in part to the exposure they received on Gillis’s platform, Pacella and McCusker have grown their audience to more than 12,800 Patreon subscribers, generating more than $32,000 in monthly income. Also, they’re Holocaust deniers. McCusker and Pacella have dedicated their podcasting career to exploring conspiracy theories, of which they subscribe to quite a few. They are Sandy Hook truthers, arguing in two separate episodes of Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast that the slaughter never happened. They are 9/11 truthers who believe, per Pacella, that 'the Israelis' knew about the attacks in advance and may have orchestrated them 'to take over our media and destroy our country.' They believe in Pizzagate, the conspiracy theory that inspired a gunman to fire three shots at Comet Ping Pong, a Washington, D.C., pizza shop." Simons adds: "In the comedy world, there’s a popular argument that it does not matter what comedians say or do, because they are just comedians: It’s all a joke, and no one takes them seriously. But Shane Gillis—who has stood by the racist comments that led to his firing in 2019—illustrates that comedians actually have all the same powers as anyone else with a public platform. When a popular, mainstream stand-up comedian like Gillis sits down with Holocaust deniers and alt-right provocateurs on his podcast—which currently has nearly 50,000 more paying subscribers than the highly influential, long-running 'dirtbag leftist' show Chapo Trap House—the Holocaust deniers and alt-right provocateurs walk away with a bigger audience, and their beliefs take deeper root in our society."
Tom Sandoval makes odd comparison of "Scandoval" to O.J. Simpson and George Floyd
In a New York Times profile on how the Vanderpump Rules star "Became the Most Hated Man in American," Sandoval was asked why he thought his "Scandoval" got so big. “I’m not a pop-culture historian really,” he responded, “but I witnessed the O.J. Simpson thing and George Floyd and all these big things, which is really weird to compare this to that, I think, but do you think in a weird way it’s a little bit the same?” The profile's author, Irina Aleksander, writes that "Some of what Sandoval had said had gotten back to Bravo, and everyone was concerned. What was it that he said about O.J. Simpson and George Floyd exactly? Maybe Sandoval wasn’t ready for this. The Bravo publicist asked if I really needed to see Sandoval again. Could the network facilitate an interview with one of the show’s other stars? Bravo said it would get back to me about next steps." Alexander added: “I think I knew what he meant. He was trying to express the oddity of becoming the symbolic center of a nationwide discussion and a major news story; what he communicated instead was something more honest, which is just how much the experience had made him lose perspective.”
Jon Stewart responds to left-wing backlash to criticizing Biden in his Daily Show return
“The response to the first show last Monday was universally glowing — OK, maybe not universal,” Stewart said in his second weekly Daily Show episode in response to left-wing critics. “But (the backlash was) on Twitter! Everything on Twitter gets a backlash. I’ve seen Twitter tell Labradoodles to go f*ck themselves. I just think it’s better to deal head on with what’s an apparent issue to people. I mean … we’re just talking here! It was just one f*cking show! It was 20 minutes! I did 20 minutes in one f*cking show! But I guess as the famous saying goes: ‘Democracy dies in discussion.’ But look: I have sinned against you, I’m sorry. It was never my intention to say out loud what I saw with my eyes and then brain.” ALSO: Stewart's Daily Show return averaged more than 3 million viewers.
How NCIS paid tribute to David McCallum
Monday's episode sent off McCallum, who died last September at age 90, and his original character Donald “Ducky” Mallard. “I’ve lost a few people in my life, but never have I sat down and written a script or a story about them in the weeks following their departure. It was very odd… but helpful in a way,” NCIS star Brian Dietzen, who co-wrote the emotional episode with Scott Williams, told The Wrap. “A lot of the grief of losing a friend is softened by the fact that he’s a 90-year-old man who lived so much life.”
Hoda Kotb wants Kelly Rowland to return after she allegedly walked off Today over an unsatisfactory dressing room
Kotb addressed the controversy, in which Rowland allegedly bailed on co-hosting the fourth hour of today last Friday, this morning on Today with Hoda & Jenna. “I just want to say this: I have great love and admiration for Kelly Rowland. I adore her, and I want her to come back on our show, and I want her to host again,” Kotb said.
Kieran Culkin will be joined by his four brothers, including Macaulay Culkin, on The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy
All five Culkin brothers — Kieran, Macaulay, Rory, Christian and Shane —will act together for the first time on the Amazon Prime Video animated series.
Masters of the Air becomes Apple TV+'s most-watched series launch
Apple TV+ wouldn't reveal specific numbers, put its announcement puts the World War II miniseries above other hits, including Hijack, Severance and The Morning Show.
Gilmore Girls' Kelly Bishop to publish her memoir, titled: The Third Gilmore Girl
"From my first steps onto a Broadway stage, to the town of Stars Hollow, I am excited to take my fans along with me through the story of my life,” the 79-year-old Tony winner says of her upcoming book, which will be published this fall. Besides playing matriarch Emily Gilmore on Gilmore Girls, Bishop is best known for playing the mother of Jennifer Grey’s character Baby in Dirty Dancing.
Ike Barinholtz to become the first Celebrity Jeopardy! contestant to compete in Jeopardy!'s Tournament of Champions
Barinholtz, who won the first season of Celebrity Jeopardy!, will be among the contestants on the Tournament of Champions, which kicks off on Friday.
Jane Lynch and Alan Cumming board Hulu animated series The Bravest Knight for Season 2
Lynch and Cumming will respectively play Lug Lug, a vegetarian ogre and the pompous schemer Sheriff Reginald in the LGBTQ-themed animated series that retraces the path of Sir Cedric, a onetime pumpkin farmer turned fearless hero.
TikTok star Sabrina Brier to guest on Abbott Elementary
The social media influencer is best known for playing Biljana #3 in the Kyle Gordon: Planet of the Bass viral music video last summer.
Peacock-exclusive NFL playoff game helped drive the biggest day on streaming that Nielsen has ever measured
January also featured nine of the 10 highest volume days on streaming since Nielsen began tracking that metric, with Jan. 13 topping the list at 40.78 billion minutes of viewing. That night, the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins in the first streaming-exclusive playoff game.
Loretta Lynn's granddaughter is competing on American Idol
Emmy Russell, 25-year-old granddaughter of the late country music icon, will be featured on the Feb. 25 episode of Idol.
Happy 40th birthday, Trevor Noah!
The Daily Show hosting alum and four-time Grammys host celebrates his 40th birthday today.
American Music Awards ceremony turns 50
The Dick Clark Productions music awards show made its debut on ABC on Feb. 19, 1974, with 15-year-old Michael Jackson and 16-year-old Donny Osmond among the presenters.
Watch the trailer for Formula 1: Drive to Survive Season 6
The Netflix sports docuseries returns on Friday.