I’m not on vacation this week, but I’m giving myself a little break from blogging. This is partially just because there isn’t much going on this week in the world of pop culture but also because I want some time to think about the future of the blog. Even with my reduced blogging schedule, this is still a big time commitment and I’m not sure if the interest is still there. So on top of some relaxing, I have some thinking to do.
But I couldn’t leave you completely without any pop culture hook-up this week, so on to the roundup. As usual, I’ve searched to bring you the best pop culture news that the web has to offer. So as the hazy days of summer come to a close, get yourself caught up on what you might have missed in the last week.
Television
- Stranger Things is officially back for a second season!
- Grimm’s upcoming season will be its last.
- Connie Brittton’s days on Nashville may be coming to a close.
- Taylor Kitsch will play the cult leader David Koresh in a limited TV series about Waco.
- Alison Brie will star in Jenji Kohan’s comedy for Netflix about the GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling).
- TNT orders a pilot based on Let The Right One In.
- Rumor – Marvel may be working on a The New Warriors series starring Squirrel Girl.
- A Connecticut town will be transformed into Stars Hallow for the (unfortunately sold out) Gilmore Girls fan festival.
- The bosses on Seinfeld, ranked.
- Jon Favreau will direct the first episode of Seth MacFarlane’s space series
- Phylicia Rashad is headed to season three of Empire.
- Toni Collette will star in a new ABC drama from the creators of Black-ish.
- Kristen Bell is developing an animated musical series.
- Diablo Cody will adapt the British sitcom Raised By Wolves for ABC.
- Starz has renewed Survivor’s Remorse.
- Lifetime has found its Britney Spears for their unauthorized biopic.
- HBO has purchased a sketch show from Tracey Ullman.
- Stranger Things’ Shannon Purser (aka Barb) has landed the role of Ethel in the CW Archie reboot, Riverdale.
- Marcia Clark is getting her own legal drama at NBC.
- Thomas Gibson’s loss is Paget Brewster’s gain – she’s been bumped up to a series regular on Criminal Minds after his firing.
- Pretty Little Liars will end in 2017.
- Yvonne Strahovski joins Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
- Zach Braff will direct and star in a comedy pilot for ABC, based on the podcast StartUp.
- Slow TV is coming to Netflix.
- Supergirl will have to deal with Metallo in season two.
- Damon Dash is working on a series about Roc-A-Fella Records.
- The BBC plans to adapt The Miniaturist for television.
- Lip Sync Battle is getting a live special.
- Mark-Paul Gosselaar will recreate an iconic Saved By The Bell scene for Family Guy.
- Because there are no new ideas, A&E is also doing a JonBenet Ramsey special.
- Marsai Martin (Black-ish) will appear in Amazon’s American Girls special.
- Jason Alexander is set to appear on The Simpsons.
- Robert Zemeckis has sold NBC a “modern retelling of the Noah’s Ark story from the Bible.”
- The new cast of Dancing With The Stars was revealed.
- Predicting what new fall show will be cancelled first. The #1 contender seems likely.
- Charles Osgood is retiring from CBS Sunday Morning.
Movies
- The Rock is the highest paid actor in the world.
- Warner Brothers wants to turn the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child into a movie trilogy because of course they do.
- Will Lin-Manuel Miranda star in the film adaptation of In the Heights?
- Julie Bowen has joined the Melissa McCarthy comedy, Life of the Party. Matt Walsh will also join the fun.
- Captain Marvel has narrowed down the short list of potential directors to three women.
- Dan Harmon is punching up the Doctor Strange script.
- REDACTED is rumored to be the villain in the upcoming Affeck solo Batman movie; Joe Manganiello is in the running to play him.
- Sarah Paulson is the latest actress to be circling the female-led Ocean’s Eleven remake
- Christoph Waltz is in talks to star in the adaptation of Alita: Battle Angel from Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron.
- John Krasinski and James Coden get fired from some classic film roles:
- John Krasinski says that he might have played Captain America, but was intimidated by Chris Hemsworth’s body (aren’t we all).
- Examining the similarities between Captain America and Austin Powers.
- That Chris Evans bicep bulge in Captain America: Civil War was not digitally enhanced.
- The Russo brothers confirm that while Steve Rogers lives on, his days as Captain America may be over (at least temporarily).
- For those of you wondering what Thor and Mark Banner were up to during Civil War:
- The setting for the adaptation of The Girl on the Train has been changed from London to NYC.
- Ryan Reynolds paid out of his own pocket to keep the Deadpool writers on set.
- Matt Bomer will play a transgender woman in a film based on Tim McNeil’s play, Anything.
- Elizabeth Olsen joins Jason Sudeikis and Ed Harris in the drama Kodachrome.
- An Angry Birds sequel is in the works.
- Karen Gillan is part of the new Jumanji movie.
- Richard Linklater’s semi-sequel to The Last Detail will star Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell and Laurence Fishburne.
- Helen Mirren may join Disney’s live-action Nutcracker.
- Anne Hathaway to star in the adaptation of the memoir Live Fast Die Hot.
- Vincent D’Onofrio has joined Bruce Willis in the Death Wish remake.
- Sam Mendes is in talks to helm the live-action adaptation of James and the Giant Peach.
- The Maze Runner: The Death Cure will resume production early next year after star Dylan O’Brien was injured on set.
- Transformers: The Last Knight has cast Liam Garrigan as King Arthur – conveniently a role that he also plays on Once Upon A Time.
Trailers
- A Dog’s Purpose:
- A United Kingdom:
- Lion:
- My Blind Brother:
- Empire, season 3:
- The Greasy Strangler (NSFW):
- Planetarium:
- Famous in Love:
- Manchester By The Sea:
- Luke Cage:
- Westworld:
- Blunt Talk, season two:
- Three Days of Terror: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks:
- Those Who Can’t season 2:
- The Flash season 3:
- Insecure:
- The Prequels Strike Back: A Fan’s Journey:
- The Disappointments Room:
Music
- Mashable ranks all the VMA performances.
- All hail the Queen – Beyoncé set a new record for VMA total wins (24).
- Chance the Rapper getting a surprise hug from Beyoncé is all of us:
- Prince’s home will be open for tours.
- Vulture looks at 41 albums to get excited about this fall.
- Taylor Swift the VMAs this year for conveniently-timed jury duty.
- Also missing from the VMAs was Justin Bieber, who instead opted to sing karaoke at a strip mall.
- Listen to Wilco’s new song, “Someone to Lose.”
- Fans invited Adele to their wedding and she said yes.
- Phil Collins came out of retirement to sing with Leslie Odom, Jr. at the U.S. Open.
- Questlove is hosting a weekly show on Pandora.
- R.E.M. is reissuing Out of Time.
- Jennifer Lopez surprises ex-hubby Marc Anthony on stage at his NYC concert.
- Concertgoers are suing Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg over a concert railing collapse.
- Sturgill Simpson is mad that the ACM Awards named an award after Merle Haggard.
- Former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo is playing some reunion shows with The Misfits.
- The VMAs gave Kanye four minutes of airtime to do whatever he wanted; here’s how he used it.
- Before Teyana Taylor was in Kanye’s “Fade” video, she was on My Super Sweet 16.
- Smash Mouth lead singer Steve Harwell collapsed on stage.
- Kings of Leon have a new album and a new sound.
- Sisqo explains the meaning behind the “Thong Song” lyrics “dumps like a truck,” so that age-old mystery is solved.
- Lemmy Kilmister now has a statue in West Hollywood.
- Lorde says her new album is in the production stage.
- Lady Gaga’s meat dress from the VMAs a few years ago has inspired a meal at a restaurant in China.
- Liam Gallagher announced a solo album.
- What are previous VMS best new artist nominees up to now? UPROXX investigates.
- Chris Brown allegedly threatened a woman with a gun.
- Miley Cyrus’ homeless date from the 2014 VMAs is selling her Moonman on eBay.
- Spike Jonze directed a perfume commercial:
Theater
- Jennifer Holliday is joining The Color Purple.
- While the online lottery will continue, the live #Ham4Ham shows for Hamilton are ending.
- Barbra Streisand visits her old Broadway dressing room, finds a shrine to Barbra Streisand.
Stand-up
- A George Carlin bit that was shelved after September 11th has now be released.
- Patton Oswalt will make his return to standup next month.
- Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy are teaming up for a new stand-up special.
Books
- Bob Odenkirk is writing a memoir.
- Pretty Little Liars’ Ian Harding is releasing a book of essays.
- Lena Dunham is writing a short story collection,
Odds and Ends
- Jennifer Lopez and Casper Smart have reportedly called it quits.
- Richard Branson was in a serious bicycling crash.
- Days of Our Lives’ Kassie DePaiva has leukemia.
- Zac Efron is in mourning after his dog, Puppy, passed away.
- Blac Chyna got in on the new family business – posing nude on the cover of Paper Magazine.
- Mark Chapman, John Lennon’s killer, was denied parole.
- Game of Thrones Carice van Houten and Guy Pearce welcomed a (non-smoke) baby boy.
- Bea Arthur’s homeless shelter for LGBT youth will open in NYC next year.
- Mariah Carey’s sister was reportedly arrested on charges of prostitution in Saugerties, NY.
- Mexican musical legend Juan Gabriel has died. He was 66 years old.
- This one broke my heart – Gene Wilder has died at 83 years old.
Mashups and Supercuts
- Garfield’s Jon Arbuckle sings Drake:
- Kanye Things:
- A supercut of people touching things in movies:
- Kevin Bacon does his best Tom Petty impersonation on The Tonight Show:
- The Indian version of the Friends theme song:
- Rouge Binks:
- Avengers: Full House:
- Coldplay paid tribute to Gene Wilder in concert:
- And finally, may these Game of Thrones attack ads tide you over until the next season: