R.I.P. Michael Madsen / Ginny & Georgia tops Nielsen's streaming charts / Digman! delayed

PLUS: CBS Evening News co-anchor John Dickerson tells viewers Paramount's $16 million Trump settlement "poses a new obstacle."

Michael Madsen dies: The prolific tough-guy character actor was 67
Madsen, best known for starring in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, was found dead Thursday morning at his Malibu home. He died from cardiac arrest. In a career spanning more than four decades, Madsen racked up nearly 350 TV and movie credits. "One of the finest character actors of the past 40 years, Madsen instantly grabbed viewers’ attention in any scene he was in, with his trademark husky drawl," says Christian Blauvelt in Indiewire's obituary for Madsen. "He was a scene-stealer without ever chewing the scenery, always embodying various degrees of laconic. Born in Chicago in 1957, and the sister of fellow screen star Virginia Madsen, he nonetheless embodied traits filmgoers would identify more with that of a cowboy, and he often wore a 10-gallon hat, bolo tie, and sunglasses when appearing on the red carpet." The New York Times' Alex Williams adds: "Mr. Madsen never achieved true leading-man status like his soul mates Charles Bronson and James Gandolfini — but perhaps, measured by volume, he did. A tough guy’s tough guy, he seemed ubiquitous in his 1990s heyday, one of those guy-who-was-in-everything actors, like Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman." (Madsen and Gandolfini starred in the 1993 John Cusack film Money for Nothing.) In the 1980s, Madsen had guest roles on St. Elsewhere, Cagney & Lacey, Jake and the Fatman, Quantum Leap and Miami Vice. In 1985, Madsen starred in the short-lived ABC crime drama series Our Family Honor. He returned to series TV in 2001 in Deadwood creator David Milch's short-lived CBS crime drama Big Apple, which also starred Ed O'Neill, Titus Welliver, Kim Dickens, David Strathairn, Glynn Thurman and Donnie Wahlberg. In 2005, he starred in ESPN's poker-themed drama series Tilt. He went on to recur on 24 as Jack Bauer's friend Jim Ricker in 2010, and had guest roles on CSI: Miami, Bob's Burgers, Blue Bloods, The Mob Doctor, Rob Schneider’s Real Rob and Hawaii Five-O. In an Instagram post, actress Virginia Madsen said of her older brother: "He was thunder and velvet. Mischief wrapped in tenderness. A poet disguised as an outlaw. A father, a son, a brother — etched in contradiction, tempered by love that left its mark. We’re not mourning a public figure. We’re not mourning a myth — but flesh and blood and ferocious heart. Who stormed through life loud, brilliant, and half on fire. Who leaves us echoes — gruff, brilliant, unrepeatable — half legend, half lullaby.”

CBS Evening News co-anchor John Dickerson tells viewers Paramount's $16 million Trump settlement "poses a new obstacle"
“Can you hold power to account after paying it millions? Can an audience trust you when it thinks you’ve traded away that trust? The audience will decide that," Dickerson said at the end of Wednesday's CBS Evening News, which he co-anchors with Maurice DuBois. He added: "Our job is to show up to honor what we witness on behalf of the people we witness it for. The network’s first heroes ran to rooftops during the bombing of London. Its current ones carry that same instinct."

Ginny & Georgia tops Nielsen's streaming charts with its biggest week ever
Thanks to the release of Season 3, the Netflix series racked up 2.88 billion minutes of viewing for the week of June 2-8. "That’s the highest weekly total in the show’s history so far, beating 2.73 billion minutes in January 2023, a week after the premiere of season two," says The Hollywood Reporter's Rick Porter. "Ginny & Georgia also had the fourth-biggest week of any title so far this year on Nielsen’s streaming charts, behind Squid Game (4.6 billion minutes) in early January and two weeks for The Night Agent (3.11 billion and 2.92 billion) in January and February. (Nielsen figures for Squid Game’s third and final season, which opened to huge viewing worldwide, according to Netflix, won’t be available for a few weeks.)"

Digman!'s Season 2 premiere date pushed back two weeks following South Park delay
Like South Park, the Andy Samberg animated comedy was supposed to return on July 9. With South Park's delay two weeks, Digman! will also return on July 23.

Disney+ gives The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder an early Season 4 renewal
In advance of the Season 3 premiere on Aug. 6, Disney+ has ordered a fourth season of the animated sitcom reboot of The Proud Family.

Beyond the Gates' first week off unnerves fans
"The good news is that Beyond the Gates has already created a rabid fan base. The bad news is that those fans don’t appreciate a break in their stories," Deadline's Lynette Rice says of the CBS soap. "After five months of airing originals, CBS put the the sudser in repeats for the July 4 holiday week. At least the network didn’t air any old reruns from the first daytime sudser to focus on a Black family; CBS chose to repeat the first five episodes from Gate‘s launch week in February." Last week, Beyond the Gates creator Michele Val Jean tried to prevent any outrage, tweeting: "To those asking: preemption-rerun decisions are made way above my pay grade so no insight into that. The good news is the upcoming reruns are premiere week so those of you who missed it can catch up with how it all began."

Watch Hollywood native Noah Wyle learn on the set of The Pitt he’ll be honored with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star
"I'm thrilled this is the show that put it over the top," said Wyle, a Hollywood native who used to spend his childhood walking on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, told his castmates. Other ER alums who have Hollywood Walk of Fame stars include Julianna Margulies, Ming-Na Wen, John Stamos, William H. Macy, Angela Bassett and Mariska Hargitay.

The Man Show co-creator Daniel Kellison to release a memoir on working for David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and Rosie O'Donnell
Kellison, whose Random House comedic memoir I'm on a Moon was originally titled The F*ck-Up, will chart his rise a near-disastrous internship to becoming one of David Letterman's top producers, who famously convinced Drew Barrymore to flash Letterman on The Late Show in 1995. After eight years working for Letterman on Late Night and Late Show, Kellison became the original executive producer of The Rosie O'Donnell Show — until his firing after eight months. In the late 1990s, Kellison, Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel formed Jackhole Productions, co-creating Comedy Central's The Man Show and Crank Yankers. Kellison was also Jimmy Kimmel Live!'s original executive producer, lasting for its first year.

General Hospital recasts Kirsten Storms' Maxie Jones role with Nicole Paggi
Paggi is taking over the Maxie role after previously filling in for Storms in December 2023.

Julie Chen Moonves says she was shocked when she learned who Big Brother's "epic" and “polarizing” mystery houseguest was
"What I can say is the mystery houseguest, when I was told who this person is, I had to expect the unexpected!" Chen Moonves tells EW. "I never expected that person. And I was very excited because, in my opinion, getting that person is epic. And that person is also very polarizing. So there's going to be a strong reaction in both directions for this mystery houseguest. The accomplice this person's going to have — they're going to have responsibilities, and they may or may not be able to pull it off, and that will affect the game. And the masked visitor — very disruptive, and on another level that is more far reaching than Ainsley last year. Ainsley could do only so much, but this masked visitor is going to wreak havoc in ways that we've never seen before. And I would say on a deeper level. Much deeper. It's more three dimensional."

Bobby Moynihan: I was sent an envelope full of bullets while working at SNL
"I got an envelope full of bullets once at work, just like an envelope with a drawing of one of my characters holding a machine gun and the envelope had bullets in it," Moynihan said on Syd & Olivia Talk Sh*t podcast, per EW. "It was Riblet and there was like an amazing anime drawing of Riblet, like, firing a machine gun. And then it had bullets in it and it was instantly taken from my hands,” he added, referring to his “Weekend Update” character.

Bert Kreischer's Netflix comedy Free Bert adds Chris Witaske, Christine Horn and Sophia Reid-Gantzert
The Bear's Witaske, Snowfall's Horn and The Baby-Sitters Club's Reid-Gantzert will join the comedian in the comedy starring the comedian as a version of himself.

Amazon unveils the trailer for The Assassin, starring Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore
The Prime Video UK series, starring Hawes as a retired assassin and Highmore as her estranged son, premieres July 25.