Pop Culture Odds and Ends – Thanksgiving Eve Edition

I feel kind of sorry for the holiday Thanksgiving in that it has kind of been shoved to the wayside by Christmas. As soon as Halloween is over, all the Christmas decorations come out and we basically breeze right by Thanksgiving. Many of the radio stations here have already switched over to their 24 hour Christmas music format and everywhere you look there are reminders of jolly old St. Nick. Even Thanksgiving day gets the short end of the stick, as many people wrap up their family activities early to get in some early shopping. Thanksgiving really needs to get itself a publicist; it isn’t getting the attention that it deserves.

I’ll admit that in practice Thanksgiving isn’t my favorite holiday, but it is in theory. It’s one of the few holidays that is truly American and that doesn’t cut along religious lines. It’s a holiday for everyone and it allows people to pause and think about what they have to be thankful for. That doesn’t happen enough and it really should be a bigger deal, not just a holiday footnote. This has been a crappy year for a lot of people I know, but that’s what makes the reflection that Thanksgiving represents all the more necessary. It’s a chance to focus on what’s good rather than your problems and provides perspective. I’m thankful for a lot of things, but I don’t articulate that enough. Thanksgiving gives me a much needed reminder of that.

Of course Thanksgiving also means spending a lot of time with family, which can lead to plenty of stressful and awkward conversations. I’m sure there are people out there who have a Norman Rockwell-style idyllic celebration, but plenty of people don’t have that experience and spend a lot of time trying to stay away from certain topics of discussion (this year, I’m sure the election is a subject plenty of people are dreading). That’s where the pop culture roundup comes in. When there’s a lull in the conversation or conversations are veering into “danger Will Robinson” territory, pull up this week’s roundup on your smart phone as a distraction. There’s something in here for everyone.

Television

• I don’t know how I’m going to make it until February without new episodes of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
• TBS has renewed Full Frontal with Samantha Bee; the show will move to Wednesday nights.
• Hulu has announced return dates for Casual and The Mindy Project.
• Michelle Yeoh has joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery.
• Sounds like one rumor about Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones is not true.
• Total Bellas has been renewed for a second season.
• Ed Harris has confirmed that he’ll return for the second season of Westworld, so make the necessary adjustments to your theories.

• Keiko Agena (Gilmore Girls’ Lane) has joined the second season of Colony.
• Peep Show’s David Mitchell and Robert Webb are teaming up for a new comedy series.
• Syfy is adapting Stranger In A Strange Land for television.
• Holly Hunter will be the star of Alan Ball’s new series for HBO.
• Duck Dynasty will end after 10 seasons.
• Emma Stone will host SNL December 3^rd.
• TNT is working on a pilot based on the movie Snowpiercer.
• Shannen  Doherty has joined the Heathers anthology reboot at TVLand.

• Frequency and No Tomorrow have not received back season orders from The CW.
• The CW is cheating on DC by developing a series based on Valiant Comics’ Dr. Mirage.
• James Remar joins Gotham in a recurring role.
• Midseason premiere dates for CW shows have been announced; I have to wait until April for iZombie.
• A TV series about the slain Latin pop star Selena is in development.
• Parker Posey will play Dr. Smith in Netflix’s Lost in Space reboot.
• Hmmm…Kelly Bishop was underwhelmed with the final four words of Gilmore Girls.
• The role of Luke on Gilmore Girls was originally written as a female character.

• Conan Without Borders: Berlin will air Wednesday December 7^th.
• VH1 orders a second season of Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party.
• CBS is not ordering more episodes of the medical drama Pure Genius.
• Jim Parsons is developing a comedy for Freeform.
• Courtney B. Vance and Felicity Huffman will play married pundits in a comedy for ABC.
• Disney Junior’s Doc McStuffins has been renewed for a fifth season.
• Elon Musk joined the elite group of people who have voiced themselves on South Park.
• Mini-Community reunion – Gillian Jacobs will guest star on Dr. Ken.
• Elle pulled off an oral history of My So-Called Life without Claire Danes or Jared Leto.
• Fox has ordered a comedy pilot from the creator of New Girl which is set in Antarctica.
• Everything you know is a lie – turns out the cast of Friends didn’t really like their theme song.
• The Vampire Diaries series finale will air in March 2017.
• All the episodes of The Powerpuff Girls will be available on Hulu next year.
• IFC’s Joe’s Pub Presents: A Holiday Special starring Tony Hale is set to air December 21^st.
• Rumer Willis will appear on the third season of Empire.
• Here’s what’s coming and going from Hulu in December. And Netflix. And HBO Now. And Amazon Prime.
• For my local peeps – Lifetime is reportedly making a movie about the Dannemora prison break.

Movies

• Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke has joined the Han Solo movie. No word on if she’s bringing her dragons with her.
• J.K. Rowling says that the Fantastic Beasts movies will span two decades.
• Just when you thought Black Panther couldn’t get any better – Angela Bassett joins the cast.
• Night at the Museum 3 writers hired for a Sesame Street movie.
• Vanity Fair interviewed Jennifer Lawrence.
• A sequel to Wedding Crashers is in the works.
• Lin-Manuel Miranda wants in on the Marvel Cinematic Universe by playing Carnage.
• The “gritty” Robin Hood origin movie is coming in 2018.
• Robert Downey Jr. is slated to make his directorial debut.
• Adam McKay will direct a drama about Dick Cheney.
• Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill’s new move will be directed by Ezra Edelman, who directed the excellent O.J.: Made In America.
• Three was almost a Space Jam sequel made with Tiger Woods.
• A 10-hour authorized Michael Jordan documentary is being shopped.
• Netflix is in talks for acquiring Jared Leto’s crime thriller The Outsider.
• Don’t Breathe is getting a sequel.
• Marc Foster will direct Disney’s live-action Winnie the Pooh movie.
• The films nominated for the 2017 Independent Spirits Awards have been announced.

 

Trailers

• Silence:

 

• Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life:

 

• The Comedian:

 

• Kong: Skull Island:

 

• Barry:

 

• Hidden Figures:

 

• Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events:

 

• Before I Fall:

 

• Crashing:

 

• When We Rise:

 

• The first teaser of the final season of Girls:

 

• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, season 12:

 

• The Man in the High Castle, season two:

 

• The Last Face:

 

• Smurfs: The Lost Village:

 

• Cars 3:

 

• Justice League Dark:

 

• The Book of Love:

 

Music

• Madonna is headed to Carpool Karaoke. So is Bruno Mars.
• Bob Dylan won’t be picking up his Nobel Prize in person.
• Prince’s estate is in a legal battle with Tidal.
• John Legend and Chance the Rapper collaborated on “Penthouse Floor.”
• James Corden will host the 2017 Grammy Awards.
• Britney Spears dropped a new video for “Slumber Party”:

 

• Jesus and Mary Chain is releasing a new album next year.
• Adele just wrapped up her tour, but had to deal with a bat on stage in Mexico.
• Brian Eno announced a new album.
• Coldplay is releasing new music in 2017.

Stand-Up

• Netflix will release three comedy specials from Dave Chappelle.
• Gad Elmaleh will release stand-up specials in both French and English on Netflix.
• The 16^th annual SF Sketchfest has announced its lineup.

Books

• The 2016 National Book Award winners have been announced.
• A new book of Johnny Cash’s poetry has been released.

Theater

• The theatrical release of the filmed Broadway production of Newsies has been announced.
• The musical Amélie with Philipa Soo has set a Broadway opening date.

Odds and Ends

• For those of you who don’t have cable, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade will be streaming.
• I’m all about the Game of Thrones beers, but now the show has inspired a line of wines.
• Ricky Martin is engaged to his partner Jwan Yosef.
• NKOTB’s Jonathan Knight and long-time boyfriend Harley Rodriguez are getting married.
• The cinnamon roll legit looks like E.T.:

• Marc Anthony and wife Shannon De Lima are divorcing after two years.
• Naya Rivera and hubby Ryan Dorsey are also calling it quits after two years.
• Carrie Fisher confirms that she and Harrison Ford had an affair while filming Star Wars.
• Kanye West has been hospitalized after acting erratically and canceling the remainder of his Saint Pablo tour. Glad he’s getting some help.
• Taboo from Black Eyed Peas is battling cancer.
• Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey’s imminent release from prison has been thwarted on appeal.
• Dennis Rodman has been charged after a hit-and-run crash in California.
• This week in pop culture real estate: someone bought the Amityville Horror house.

• A bunch of people, including Bruce Springsteen, Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Hanks, Robert DeNiro, and Vin Scully, will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• Ashton Kutcher wanted to name his son Hawkeye, which I fully support.
• Jazz musician Mose Allison has died.
• Short story writer William Trevor died on Sunday at 88 years old.
• The great soul singer Sharon Jones has passed away. She was 60.

 

Mashups and Supercuts

• Jimmy Fallon, The Roots, and Metallica play “Enter Sandman” on classroom instruments:

 

• The Anchorman cast watches the Cubs win the World Series:

 

• A vintage cover of “Bizarre Love Triangle”:

 

• LeBron: The Musical :

 

• Paul Blart: Mall Cop recut as a serious action movie:

 

• LEGO Stranger Things:

 

• The Rock and Lin-Manuel Miranda present Millennials: The Musical:

 

• James Corden, Anna Kendrick, and Billy Eichner perform the soundtrack to growing up:

 

• Someone compiles all the Suicide Squad scenes of the Joker into one supercut:

 

• #Ham4Bey combines two of my favorite things: Hamilton and Beyoncé:

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!