Pop Culture Odds and Ends – Happy Holidays Edition

After months of build up, the holidays are finally here. The run-up to Christmas started so long ago that it almost feels anticlimactic now that it has arrived. I’ve kind of struggled with getting into the spirit most of my adult life and this year is no different; I even took two trips to NYC in December to try and kick start something in my cold, dead heart, but my attitude toward this weekend’s festivities is generally meh. Part of that is that my family is all local, so there is not great reunion coming. For now, our Christmas celebration is all adults, which is kind of boring; hopefully things will be a little more exciting when we have a new baby in the family next year.  I’m not really a Grinch, I just wish I felt more excited about the holidays. Hopefully the rest of you are a little more enthused, whatever you celebrate.

I may not be all that jazzed about Christmas, but I am always jazzed to bring you the pop culture roundup. This week there was a lot of pop culture goodness out there in the ether. Get yourself caught up on what you might have missed with this installment of the week in pop.

Television

• Julia Roberts is headed to TV with an adaptation of the novel Today Will Be Different.
• Sonequa Martin-Green will be the lead of Star Trek: Discovery.
• Molly Ringwald will play Archie’s mom on Riverdale.
• Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot) is bringing Metropolis to TV as a miniseries.
• Hmm…The DuckTales (woo-hoo) remake has put together a pretty great vocal cast. David Tennant as Scrooge McDuck is a fantastic choice.
• The writers of This is Us will make their attempt at a How I Met Your Mother spinoff.
• Emily Rossum appears to have won her pay dispute with Shameless; the show was just renewed for an 8^th season.
• Amazon will give Unsolved Mysteries an update.
• Wendell Pierce has joined Amazon’s Jack Ryan series (starring favorite of the blog, John Krasinski).
• Jimmy Kimmel shares how much he’s getting paid to host the Oscars. It’s a lot less than you think.
• Alec Baldwin gets $1,400 per SNL episode to play Donald Trump.
• Starz has canceled Blunt Talk, which I enjoyed but I won’t miss all that much.
• The third season of Fargo has added more people to the cast (it’s always good when Shea Whigham turns up).
• Snoop Dogg, Common, and RZA will lend their voices to The Simpsons.
• Zach Braff hints that another season of Scrubs could happen.
• The audience of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is among the wealthiest.
• Is Homer Simpson actually a god?
• Matthew McConaughey is ready to return for True Detective season 3.
• CBS is considering a reboot of The Honeymooners. “To the moon, Alice” will probably not plays as well today.
• Reboots for All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Good Times are in early stages.
• When SNL returns in January, Felicity Jones will host.
• Niecy Nash will play the leader of a group of “treacherous manicurists” in the new TNT show Claws.
• Netflix’s Lost In Space series has cast Ignacio Serrichhio as Don West.
• The team behind Wet Hot American Summer will regroup for a sci-fi Love Boat show.
• The Goldbergs are doing a Karate Kid episode.
• Vulture compiles all the literary references on Younger.
• NBC wants to turn Single White Female into a TV series.
• Robert Durst claims that he was using meth during his interviews on The Jinx.
• Carrie Preston will reprise her role in The Good Wife spin-off.
• During the holiday hiatus Superstore will launch digital episodes.
• UPROXX ranks the Friends Christmas episodes.
• Netflix renews Haters Back Off.
• Seeso has renewed Take My Wife.
• CBS’ Superior Donuts will debut in February.
• Bryan Cranston hints that a Malcolm in the Middle movie would hinge upon fan interest.
• Can’t get enough of shotput or curling? The Olympic Channel will launch in 2017.
• E! has renewed Rob & Chyna. Seems they will have a lot of material after this weekend.
• A&E is doing a docuseries Generation KKK about high-ranking members of the Klan and their families.
• Lamar Odom has landed himself a reality series about his road to recovery and sobriety.
• The executive producer of @midnight is developing the workplace comedy #Blessed at NBC.
• Here’s what’s coming and going from Netflix in January. And Hulu.
• I’m not really sure how that would work, but Charlie Hunnam is interested in appearing in the Sons of Anarchy spinoff, Mayans MC. Unrelated, I am suddenly more interested in Mayans MC.
• A Russian reality TV show about surviving winter in Siberia says that everything is allowed – including rape and murder.
• There is now an official Bachelor fantasy league which seems like an idea that ESPN stole from Bill Simmons.
• Colin Quinn to write and star in an ensemble comedy pilot.
• TLC is giving “Chewbacca Mom” her own digital shows because everything must be driven into the ground.
• Need to catch up on TBS comedies? They’ll end 2016 with a binge-a-thon of 5 series. I plan to catch up on People of Earth  and The Detour; heard good things about both.
• Gloria Estefan has remake the theme song for the One Day at a Time reboot.
• Freeform has given a series order to Alone Together, the comedy from The Lonely Island.
• The Lonely Island and Michael Bolton have teamed up for a Netflix Valentine’s Day special.
• Steve Burns confirms why he left Blue’s Clues.
• The Golden Globes red carpet will stream on Twitter.
• Starbucks is launching an online animated series.
• Gilmore Girls Sean Gunn (aka Kirk) drops by YouTube Red’s horror comedy series 12 Deadly Days.
• Shonda Rhimes is teaching a TV-writing workshop.

 

 

Movies

• Lin-Manuel Miranda has written songs for a new animated feature Vivo.
• Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell are attached to a movie musical about movie musicals.
• Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn’s movie has a new title and a release date.
• Jennifer Lawrence wants to bring Mystique to the Guardians of the Galaxy universe.
• Leonardo Di Caprio, Al Pacino, and a “de-aged” Robert De Niro will star in Martin Scorsese’s next two films.
• Rooney Mara and Jonah Hill have joined Gus Van Sant’s movie about a quadriplegic cartoonist.
• Megan Fox could play Poison Ivy in Gotham City Sirens.
• Dick Van Dyke will appear in the Mary Poppins sequel.
• James Franco joins the cast of Alien: Covenant.
• Redacted has been rumored to appear in Pirates of the Caribbean 5.
• George Clooney is developing a movie about the “White Helmets” in Syria.
• Woody Harrelson will write, direct, and star in a live-event film.
• Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger is getting a biopic.
• Alex Timbers (Motzart in the Jungle) is in talks to direct Emma Stone’s Cruella De Vil movie.
• The National Film Registry will add 25 new films.
• Dermot Mulroney was the unseen cello player in Rogue One.
• Allison Janney joins Margot Robbie’s Tonya Harding movie.
• Scheduling kept David Bowie from playing Gandalf in The Lord Of The Rings, which would have been a very different movie.
• Ryan Reynolds explains why Deadpool worked and Green Lantern did not.

 

Trailers

• Dunkirk:

 

• Snatched:

 

• Despicable Me 3:

 

• Unforgettable:

 

• Sneaky Pete:

 

• Blade Runner 2049:

 

• Taken (the TV series):

 

• The Good Fight:

 

• Arsenal:

 

• Sense8 – A Christmas Special:

 

• Riverdale:

 

• Homeland, season 6:

 

• The Path, season 2:

 

• Billions, season 2:

 

• Going in Style:

 

• Truth and Lies: The Menendez Brothers:

 

• John Wick: Chapter 2:

 

• The Boss Baby:

 

• The Bronx Bull:

 

• The Bye Bye Man:

 

Music

• The 2017 class of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have been announced.
• The Roots will open the NBA All-Star Game.
• Camila Cabello has departed Fifth Harmony.
• Passion Pit’s Michael Angelakos has made a Christmas album.
• Kelly Clarkson helped a fan get engaged at her concert.
• Lady Gaga debuts a music video for “Million Reasons.”
• Metallica has spent the week jamming in a supermarket and playing Metallica trivia with fans.
• Pitbull received $1 million to promote Florida’s “sexy beaches.”
• Chairlift are breaking up.
• Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard have reunited in song.

Books

• Method Man wrote a Ghost Rider Christmas comic.
• DC comics had canceled The Legend of Wonder Woman series.

Theater

• Taran Killam will make his Broadway debut as King George in Hamilton. He was so good at New York City Center’s production of Little Shop of Horrors.

Stand-up

• Jim Gaffigan’s new stand-up special will debut on Netflix January 10^th.

 

Best of 2016

• Rolling Stone offers up the best horror movies of 2016.
• A.V. Club goes in a different direction with the 20 worst films of the year.
• A.V. Club also contemplates the best TV performances
• UPROXX lists the best country albums of 2016.
• UPROXX staff writer Steven Hyden lists his 50 favorite albums of the year.
• The New York Time names the top books of 2016 as well as the best new podcasts.
• Vulture makes its selection for the year’s best comedy podcasts and the best comic-book covers.
• Huffington Post names their 21 best movies of 2016.
• NPR’s Ken Tucker names his favorite albums.

 

Odds and Ends

• You can use Alexa to track Santa on Christmas Eve.
• Celebrate the holidays by streaming Marvel-themed Yule logs.
• Sorry folks – Jedi is not recognized as a religion.
• Bill Murray is opening a Caddyshack-themed bar.
• Richard Marx helped subdue a violent jet passenger (and did we know Marx was married to Daisy Fuentes?)
• Amy Schumer bought her dad back the family farm that they had to give up when she was a kid.
• John Waters will receive a lifetime achievement award from the Writers Guild of America.
• The Saved by the Bell pop-up diner is going out on a nationwide tour. That saves me a trip to Chicago.
• Adam West’s Batman paintings will be temporarily exhibited in Idaho.
• Neil Patrick Harris answers 73 questions for Vogue.
• GQ did a feature on Jesse Plemons.
• Chris Pratt gave wife Anna Faris’ engagement ring an update.
• The children of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively made their debut (and we now know the name of their second child).
• Rumor of the week – Drake and J Lo are an item.
• Carrie Ann Inaba is engaged.
• Margot Robbie married boyfriend Tom Ackerley.
• Ryan Lochte and fiancée Kayla Rae Reid are expecting their first child.
• Future and Jeezy have each donated $25,000 to the United Negro College Fund.
• Amber Heard has filed a court order after Johnny Depp refuses to pay divorce settlement.
• R.I.P. actor Bernard Fox, best known for his roles on Bewitched and Hogan’s Heroes.
• Zsa Zsa Gabor has died. She was 99.
• This one really hurt – broadcaster Craig Sager lost his fight with cancer.

Supercuts and Mashups

• 2016 Live TV News Bloopers:

 

• “All I Want For Christmas” Carpool Karaoke:

 

• An acapella cover of the Westworld theme song:

 

• A Christmas Carol supercut:

 

• Jimmy Fallon, The Roots, Paul McCartney, and the cast of Sing perform “Wonderful Christmastime”:

 

• Hamildolph:

 

Stephen Colbert gives “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” a 2016 remix:

 

• Fargo as a holiday comedy: