One of the luxuries of having a small family is that I don’t have that many people to shop for, so I’ve basically been done with my Christmas shopping since the end of November. But now we enter the phase that I hate – the wrapping of the presents. Everything that I have purchased is sitting in my living room, quietly taunting me and begging to be prettied up with festive paper. I blame the cat for putting off wrapping – and admittedly he does get in the way – but it really is my least favorite part of gift giving. Everything is relatively boxy this year, so it isn’t even much of a challenge, and yet I’ve been kicking this particular task down the road for weeks. If it wasn’t for the fact that my nephew seems to enjoy unwrapping gifts everyone might have been receiving their present in gift bags (best case scenario) or plastic bags from the store (which I am pretty sure I have done in the past). I need an elf.
So while I try to see if I even have tape, get yourself caught up on the pop culture that you might have missed with this week’s roundup.
Television
- NBC is apparently working on a revival of The Office. No Krasinski, no interest.
- John Legend will play the titular character in NBC’s live presentation of Jesus Christ Superstar which I am sure everyone will be cool about (spoiler alert: they won’t).
- HBO is bringing back Curb Your Enthusiasm for a 10th season.
- The Roseanne revival debuts March 27, 2018.
- Catherine Keener has joined Jim Carey’s Showtime series.
- HBO’s 2 Dope Queens specials will begin airing in February.
- HBO has picked up two new shows executive produced by Issa Rae.
- NBC is trying to make a U.S. version of The IT Crowd once again.
- Ring in the new year with a Breaking Bad marathon.
- BBC America has pulled the plug on Dick Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.
- Sam Rockwell will be the first SNL host of 2018.
- If Gandalf appears in the Lord of the Rings TV series, Ian McKellen is ready to suit up.
- Netflix is considering a mini-series about Watergate produced by George Clooney.
- Diego Luna and Michael Pena will appear in the fourth season of Narcos.
- Chris Hardwick and David X. Cohen are developing a comedy for NBC.
- Casey Wilson and Jackie Clarke are also developing a comedy series at NBC.
- Bill Lawrence is developing a new comedy at CBS.
- Love is dead (after its third season at Netflix).
- Unsurprising – Maio Batali has been fired from The Chew.
- The BBC is developing a documentary about the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
- The Paramount Network (formally known as Spike TV) is developing a Latino sketch comedy series.
- Comedy Central has picked up the syndication rights to The Office.
- Here’s what’s coming and going to Netflix in January. And Hulu. And Amazon Prime.
Movies
- A director’s cut of It is coming in 2018.
- An animated The Addams Family film will hit theaters October 2019.
- YouTube Red has dropped Super Size Me 2.
- Tiffany Haddish and John Cho joined the cast of The Oath.
- Logan Browning will join Allison Williams in The Perfection.
- A Marlon Brando biopic is in the works.
- Niecy Nash says a Reno 911! movie is being developed.
- The Room will screen at theaters on January 10th.
- Rob Lowe to star in and direct a remake of The Bad Seed for Lifetime.
- Kevin Smith almost directed a remake of The Toxic Avenger.
- You can stream John Williams’ score to Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
- Jack Black and Nick Jonas wrote a theme song for Jumanji. It isn’t good.
- Kevin Hart would be interested in starring in a Mrs. Doubtfire remake.
Trailers
- Ocean’s 8:
- The Commuter:
- The Polka King:
- Early Man:
- Sicario 2: Soldado:
- The Nutcracker and the Four Realms:
- Mortal Engines:
- Our Cartoon President:
- Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies:
- Gringo:
Music
- Christmas came early: Chance The Rapper dropped an extended version of last year’s holiday mixtape.
- Lady Gaga is doing a Las Vegas residency.
- The Foo Fighters made sure that the last SNL of 2017 ended on a rocking note.
- The story behind the music of The Muppet Christmas Carol.
- Ranking all 147 Michael Jackson songs.
- Always be prepared: Ed Sheeran wrote a James Bond theme song a few years ago.
- The Decemberists perform a song about Benjamin Franklin, written by Line-Manuel Miranda (NSFW):
- There in an Eminem inspired pop-up restaurant in Detroit.
- Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” cracked Billboard’s Hot 100 for the first time.
- Charlie XCX’s new mixtape is streaming.
Books
- Kristen Roupenian, who wrote the short story Cat Person that went viral, has landed a book deal.
Stand-Up
- Splitsider talks to Russell Peters.
Theater
- Kristin Chenoweth is attached to play the Meryl Streep role in a stage musical of Death Becomes Her.
- Adam Driver is headed to Broadway in a revival of Burn This.
Awards Season
- All the presenters at the SAG Awards will be women.
- Women will be wearing black at the Golden Gloves his year.
- Joe Kerry (aka Stranger Things’ Steve) will shave his head if David Harbour wins a Golden Globe.
- Oprah will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes this year.
- Here are the shortlist of films that will be considered for Best Hair and Makeup at the Academy Awards.
Best of 2017
- Vulture looks at the 10 best stand-up specials of 2017. So does Uproxx.
- The best horror movies of 2017.
- Best true crime shows and podcasts of 2017.
- The year’s best country albums.
Odds and Ends
- This week in sexual assault/harassment allegations: Russell Simmons, Travis Smiley, Johnny Iuzzini, Morgan Spurlock (who in a twist, accused himself), Dustin Hoffman (again), T.J. Miller, Gene Simmons, and Gary Goddard.
- Speaking of which…..Matt Damon should probably stop talking about the issue. He’s forcing me to agree with Minnie Driver – and we all know how I feel about her.
- Catt Sadler said that she left E! News over a massive gender pay gap.
- Eva Longoria is expecting her first child.
- Anna Kournikova and Enrique Iglesias have welcomed twins.
- Mindy Kaling has reportedly given birth to her first child.
- Pat DiNizio, the lead singer of The Smithereens, has died. He was 62.
- K-Pop boy band singer Jonghyun has died. He was 27.
- Heather North, the original voice of Daphne on Scooby Doo, has died. She was 71.
Mashups and Supercuts
- Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Stephen Colbert sang a Christmas carol:
- Ed Sheeran and Anne-Marie cover “Fairytale of New York”:
- This guy reads The Night Before Christmas as different celebrities:
- Run the Jewels apparently syncs up well with Diner, Drive-Ins, and Dives:
- Darlene Love, Anna Kendrick, Jimmy Fallon, and The Roots cover “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on kid instruments: