Pop Culture Odds and Ends – Guess Who’s Back, Back Again

Well friends, I had a hell of a week last week. Not only was work bonkers, but I also had a death in the family which obviously kind of upended my week. This week isn’t shaping up to be a lot better, frankly, but it’s time to get back on the blogging horse before y’all forget about me completely.

So while I try to get life in general sorted out, get yourself caught up on this slightly supersized edition of the pop culture roundup. There’s a little bit of something for everyone.

Television

• I was getting a little nervous, but AMC finally renewed Better Call Saul.
• NBC has cancelled The Carmichael Show.
• Syfy gives a pilot order to George R.R. Martin’s Nightflyers.
• The final six Game of Thrones episodes may all be extra-long.
• Vulture ranks Game of Throne characters from least to most evil.
• Sense8 will return with a two-hour special next year.
• Someone figured out how much coffee each character on Friends drank.
• Mahershala Ali could star in a third season of True Detective.
• Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim won’t return to Hawaii Five-0.
• Rosario Dawson exits New Mutants; Alice Braga will take over the role.
• Netflix has cancelled Girlboss.
• ABC cancelled Downward Dog.
• Netflix renews Dear White People.
• Alexis Bledel will be a series regular in the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale.
• Season 3 of Rick and Morty will premiere next month.
• You’re The Worst will return in September with an hour-long premiere.
• The second season of NetGeo’s Genius will focus on Picasso.
• Warner Brothers is developing a live-action Jetsons sitcom.
• Melanie Lynskey and Sissy Spacek join Hulu’s adaptation of Castle Rock.
• Angela Lansbury may co-star in the BBC’s Little Women miniseries.
• Heather Graham joins the cast of Law and Order True Crime: The Menendez Brothers.
• The whole cast will reunite for a Rocko’s Modern Life movie.
• TJ Miller explains why he left Silicon Valley.
• Seeso is selling off its original series.
• F is for Family renewed for a third season.
• Netflix is doing a reality series with magician Justin Willman.
• Rachel Bilson is heading to Nashville.
• Penn Badgley will return to TV in Greg Berlanti’s stalker drama for Lifetime.
• The third season of Fuller House will debut on the 30^th anniversary of Full House’s first episode.
• Colton Haynes joins the cast of American Horror Story season 7. Meanwhile Lady Gaga will not appear.
• There are a lot of jokes in the credits sequence for Silicon Valley.
• Ice Cube will unveil his three-on-three basketball league on Fox Sports.
• Ne-Yo, Naya Rivera, and Faizon Love to star in a YouTube Red drama series.
• Bachelor in Paradise has implemented a new drug policy.
• Maria Menounos is stepping down from E! News after surgery for a brain tumor.
• Olivia de Havilland is suing FX over Feud.

Movies

• Ron Howard is officially taking over as director on Han Solo.
• Wonder Woman is now the highest-grossing DCEU movie so far.
• There are six Marvel movies scheduled between 2019 and 2021.
• Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones are close to signing on to star in Ad Astra.
• Neve Campbell has been added to the cast of Dwayne Johnson’s action thriller Skyscraper.
• Ben Affleck has agreed to be in a sequel to The Accountant.
• Top Gun 2 gets a July 2019 release date.
• Michelle Rodriguez threatens to quit the Fast & Furious franchise over its treatment of women. Vin Diesel has also weighed in.
• The It remake will be rated R.
• The Conjuring series will get another installment.
• The Film Academy invited 774 new members.
• Tituss Burgess will play a psychic in I Hate Kids.
• Taraji P. Henson will reunite with Tyler Perry for She’s Living My Life.
• Kenya Barris is writing a biopic about Russell Simmons.
• Macaulay Culkin will star in Seth Green’s newest film. WWE’s Randy Orton will also star.
• Carnage will be the villain in the Venom movie.
• Gwendoline Christie the latest actor to join Robert Zemeckis’ new drama.
• Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner are in talks to write a remake of Toni Erdmann.
• A Toy Story writer debunks a fan theory about Andy’s dad.
• Michael Beach lands a role in Aquaman.
• Evan Peters will return as Quicksilver in another X-Men movie.
• HBO Films is developing an adaptation based on The Real Pepsi Challenge.
• Tyler Perry will play Oscar Micheaux for HBO.
• Jennifer Lopez will return to rom-coms with the film Second Act.
• Melissa McCarthy’s The Happytime Murders will hit theaters August 2018.
• Tom Holland confirms a fan-theory about Iron Man 2.
• Will Ferrell doesn’t rule out a sequel to Step Brothers.
• Saw 8 is happening and will be titled Jigsaw.
• Joel Edgerton will direct Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman in Boy Erased.

Trailers

• New season of Game of Thrones:

 

• Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle:

 

• Pitch Perfect 3:

 

• The Incredible Jessica James:

 

• Marvel’s Inhumans:

 

• Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later:

 

• Insecure:

 

• Fun Mom Dinner:

 

• My Little Pony: The Movie:

 

• The Greatest Showman:

 

• I Do…..Until I Don’t:

 

• Good Time:

 

• A Bad Mom’s Christmas:

 

• Stronger:

 

• Marshall:

 

• Logan Lucky:

 

• Borg vs McEnroe:

 

• Person to Person:

 

• I’m Sorry:

 

• Breathe:

 

• Polaroid:

 

• She’s Gotta Have It:

 

• Battle of the Sexes:

 

• Ballers, season 3:

 

• Death Note:

 

• The Foreigner:

 

• To The Bone:

 

• Room 104:

 

• Cult of Chucky:

Music

• Adele had to cancel her final two tour dates (ever?) due to damaged vocal cords.
• Fyre Festival co-founder arrested on charges of fraud.
• Ruff Ryders are doing a 20^th anniversary tour.
• Haim is hitting the road.
• Public Enemy will make their new album a free download.
• Future announced a world tour.
• Kanye West has reportedly split from Tidal.
• St. Vincent dropped a new ballad.
• Drew Barrymore makes a cameo in the music video for SZA’s song “Drew Barrymore.”
• Guided By Voices announce their second album this year.

Books

• Jimmy Fallon is writing another children’s book.

Theater

• Jerry Springer – The Opera will open off-Broadway.
• Indecent will stay open on Broadway a little bit longer.
• For all your Hamilton sing-a-longs, there is now an instrumental album of the show.
• The revival of Cats will close on Broadway December 30^th.
• Ryan Murphy may bring The Boys in the Band to Broadway.

Stand-up

• The Upright Citizens Brigade will reunite for a night of improv at Carnegie Hall.
• Uproxx list their best stand-up comedy specials of 2017 so far.

Odds and Ends

• George Clooney sold his tequila company for up to $1 billion. I need to start making some smarter investments.
• Hannibal Buress hired a look-alike to walk the Spider-Man red carpet for him.
• Nicki Minaj received the key to the city in Queens.
• James Cromwell sentenced to a week in jail after a protest.
• In a moment of life resembling art, Adam Scott’s pizza making class in Italy resulted in the creation of a calzone (this makes sense if you watched Parks and Recreation).
• Gilmore Girls’ Scott Patterson is launching his own line of coffee.
• Lou Ferrigno aided a fan who had a seizure.
• Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West are rumored to having a third child via surrogate.
• Still no official baby confirmation, but Beyoncé and Jay-Z have trademarked the names Rumi and Sir Carter.
• Jon Hamm and Jenny Slate may be dating and I really don’t know how I feel about it.
• Glee’s Charice Pempengco is now known as Jake Zyrus.
• Johnny Galecki’s home burned down in the California wildfire.
• Erin Andrews and Jaret Stoll were married in Montana.
• Hayley Williams and Chad Gilbert are splitting up after 10 years together.
• Actor Henry Deutschendorf, who played baby Oscar in Ghostbusters II, has died. He was 28.
• Actress and podcaster Stevie Ryan died. She was 33.
• Swedish actor Michael Nyquist has lost his battle with lung cancer. He was 56.
• The Afghan Whigs’ guitarist Dave Rosser passed away.
• Michael Bond, creator of Paddington Bear, has died. He was 91.

Mashups and Supercuts

• Here’s a saxophone cover of Iron Maiden:

 

• A string quartet plays Foo Fighters:

 

• “Get Lucky” recreated in a variety of classical styles:

 

• A supercut of New York City in cinema:

 

• I would watch the hell out of this fake Warren G. Harding biopic from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver:

 

• Movie characters deliver insults (NSFW):

 

• My Cousin Vinny as a courtroom thriller: