Every August, while everyone else is trying to make the most of what’s left of the summer, I’m anxiously anticipating what I consider the herald of better days – the arrival of pumpkin spice season. This has been especially true this year, since my summer kind of stunk. I have no idea what this autumn will bring, but whatever it is will be vastly improved by sipping some pumpkin coffee and beer and discovering all the new ridiculous ways that companies are cashing in on the popularity of the pumpkin spice trend. I had my first pumpkin coffee on August 21st and I will rid this pony as long as I can. Then the dreaded peppermint season commences and I can go back to being miserable.
So while I settle in to being basic for the next few months, get yourself caught up on all the pop culture that you might have missed in the last week.
Television
- Many winters may be coming before we see the final season of Game of Thrones.
- Among the zombies in the Game of Thrones season finale were members of the band Mastadon.
- Lots of people are naming their dogs after Game of Thrones characters.
- Bob Odenkirk hints that Better Call Saul will revisit the Breaking Bad years.
- HBO has renewed Room 104.
- NBC’s Xena reboot is DOA.
- Lorne Michael says Saturday Night Live will be live coast-to-coast this season.
- Ryan Gosling and JAY-Z will be the host and musical guest, respectively, in the SNL season premiere.
- Starz has picked up Black Samurai, a show from Common.
- Reese Witherspoon will drop by The Mindy Project.
- Katee Sackhoff is headed to The Flash. So is Michael Emerson.
- Marcia Clark is developing a crime series for ABC.
- You Can’t Do That On Television is getting a reboot.
- Orlando Bloom to star in a fantasy-noir series for Amazon. Bloom will also produce.
- Amazon has renewed Transparent for a fifth season.
- Matthew Weiner is bringing a lot of his former Mad Men crew to his new series.
- The producers of Justified are working on an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Detroit novels.
- An eight-day South Park marathon is coming to Comedy Central next month.
- CBS has landed a single-camera comedy from Ben Schwartz, Laura Moses, and Gary Sanchez Productions.
- Shohreh Aghdashloo will appear in Netflix’s The Punisher.
- Thomas Kail, the director of Hamilton, is developing a comedy series with Fox.
- Hulu has ordered the ensemble comedy series All Night.
- If you don’t have Labor Day weekend plans, Comedy Central will air every episode of Broad City.
- People of Earth may transition to more of an anthology series.
- The 4th season of Jane the Virgin will the series’ shortest yet.
- Fleabag will return with new episodes in 2019.
- Terry O’Quinn joins the cast of Castle Rock.
- Humans of New York is getting a Facebook TV series.
- UnREAL has its episode count cut for season 4.
- Richard Flood is coming to Shameless.
- The Walking Dead plans to “thin the herd” in season eight.
- Diane Guerrero will be a series regular on season two of Superior Donuts.
- Nick Kroll’s new animated series Big Mouth will feature Kroll, John Mulaney, Maya Rudolph, Fred Armisen, Jason Mantzoukas, Jordan Peele, and Jenny Slate.
- Epix has renewed Get Shorty.
- There is another Jumper TV show in the works – this one with Jamie Bell.
- Here’s what’s coming and going from HBO Now in September. And Netflix.
Movies
- Alamo Drafthouse is doing an all-clown screening of It.
- David Hasselhoff wants a Knight Rider movie in the style of Logan and directed by Robert Rodriguez.
- If there is a Knight Rider movie, the studio is rumored to be eyeing John Cena to star.
- Bryan Singer’s biopic on Queen casts its band members. Rami Malek to star as Freddie Mercury.
- Maya Rudolph joins the cast of Melissa McCarthy’s The Happytime Murders.
- Ed Skrein backs out of a role in Hellboy after controversy over whitewashing.
- Margot Robbie and Jared Leto will reprise their roles in a Joker and Harley Quinn standalone movie.
- There is another Starsky and Hutch reboot in development with James Gunn attached.
- Liam Neeson will play Mark Felt (aka Deep Throat) in a new biopic.
- Will Ferrell will produce and star in an adaptation of The 100 Year-Old Man.
- You can tour Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, better known as the stand-in for Camp Crystal Lake in the first Friday the 13th movie.
- Pedro Pascal is in talks to play a villain in The Equalizer 2.
- Another Fantastic Four reboot may be coming; this one would be based on an unpublished Mark Millar children’s book.
- Martin Lawrence doesn’t think that Bad Boys 3 is going to happen.
Trailers
- Super Troopers 2:
- Tulip Fever:
- Black Mirror, season 4:
- Heathers (TV series):
- Little Evil:
- The Cuckoo’s Calling:
- Last Flag Flying:
- One Mississippi, season 2:
- Gunpowder:
- Brawl In Cell Block 99:
- BoJack Horseman, season 4:
- Literally Right Before Adam:
- Killing Gunther:
- The Opposition with Jordan Klepper:
- Tim & Eric’s Bedtime Stories:
Music
- Rumor – Beyoncé in talks to record the theme for the new James Bond song.
- The Foo Fighters dropped a new music video.
- Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff have a new EDM song.
- Here are the 2017 MTV Video Music Award winners.
- Taylor Swift released a new song and music video.
- Frank Ocean dropped a new song on Blonded Radio.
- AC/DC’s Brian Johnson performed live for the first time in nearly 2 years.
- Lady Gaga has a new documentary coming out on Netflix.
- Game of Thrones’s The Mountain appears in Katy Perry’s music video for “Swish Swish.”
- Eddie Vedder turned up on Twin Peaks.
- Cara Delevingne appears on her ex St. Vincent’s new album under an assumed name.
Stand-up
- Netflix is hosting a 25th Anniversary Def Comedy Jam special.
- Amy Schumer negotiated to get more money for her Netflix special.
- Demetri Martin is going out on tour.
- Patton Oswalt’s new standup special debuts in October.
- Here is the schedule for Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents.
Theater
- Noah Galvin and Taylor Trensch will replace Ben Platt in Dear Evean Hansen.
- Disney’s Newsies musical will come to Netflix in September.
Odds and Ends
- Depressing but not unexpected news – 14 of the highest-paid actors make more than the highest-paid actress.
- A new voice actor for Kermit the Frog has made his debut.
- Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio quote Titanic to each other.
- James Cromwell’s ringtone is kind of perfect.
- This week in pop culture real estate – Eleanor Rigby’s grave is on the market.
- A housing development in Australia had streets named after Game of Thrones characters, but people complained about Lannaster Road.
- Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan welcomed their second daughter.
- Bill Cosby’s retrial for sexual-assault won’t happen until 2018.
- The Bachelor’s Nick Viall and Vanessa Grimaldi have called it quits.
- Director Tobe Hooper, best known for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, has died. He was 74.
- Playwright Bernard Pomerance has died. He was 76.
- Actor Jay Thomas has passed away. He was 69.
Mashups and Supercuts
- A (fake) trailer for High School Musical 4:
- The trailer for the second season of Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party channels Ghost:
- Sesame Street parodies “Despacito”:
As Heather's World Turns 