Thirty-one years ago today, a little show called The Golden Girls debuted. Like most women my age, I am inexplicably enraptured by this series about the friendship of four women over 50 (and in one case, really over 50). I actually liked the show when it originally aired, even though in retrospect I was way too young to have fully appreciated the series and some of the jokes sailed right over my head. But Saturday nights tended to be when my parents went out (“date night” before there was such a thing as “date night”) and I have vivid memories of me, my friend, her older sister, and my brother (who had no choice in the matter) settling in to watch Rose, Blanche, Dorothy, and Sophia do their thing. I’m not really sure what an eight year old was getting out of the show, but I loved it. I remember how old they all seemed back then, which goes to show you the power of perspective. When I revisited the show as an adult, I was surprised by just how much sexual innuendo the show got away with; I guess when it’s coming out of the mouths of senior citizens, people are willing to let more slide. Despite the fact that I own the entire series on DVD, I will still stop and watch a few episodes if I ever come across it on television. When I went to California to visit my best friend, it happened to be right after Bea Arthur died and we were more than content to just sit on the couch all day and watch a Golden Girls marathon in her honor despite the fact that I had just flown across the country. I think it’s the friendship at the heart of the show that’s so appealing to so many people; this show fully embraced the idea that friends are your family and though “the girls” bickered and called each other names and sometimes drove each other crazy, in the end they loved and supported one another through it all. And who doesn’t want that? So happy anniversary Golden Girls – thank you for being a friend.
On to the pop culture roundup…………
Television
- The Creative Arts Emmys were presented this weekend; here’s the full list of winners. Amy Poehler finally has an Emmy!!
- When the Divergent TV movie happens, don’t expect to see Shailene Woodley involved.
- Hulu is working on an adaptation of the fantasy book series Thrones of Glass
- This Game of Thrones theory might make redacted more important than previously believed.
- FX has cancelled Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll.
- FX has also deposed Tyrant.
- ABC has cancelled Mistresses.
- Kirstie Alley will be a series regular on Scream Queens.
- America Ninja Warrior has been renewed for another season.
- Vince Gilligan and Michelle MacLaren are reuniting for a miniseries about Jonestown for HBO.
- Jessica Walter says the return of Arrested Development is “looking real good.”
- For the first time in the history of Survivor, the whole cast had to be evacuated.
- Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone are developing a family comedy at Fox.
- FX has ordered an AI horror series from the director of Mockingjay.
- Dick Wolf is creating a new FBI series for USA.
- Nashville has cast transgender actor Jen Richards in a recurring role.
- Hulu has ordered Seth Rogen’s Future Man to series.
- Richard Madden will star in Amazon’s sci-fi pilot Strange New Things.
- Star Trek: Discovery will connect to an original series classic episode in its first season.
- Katey Sagal will star in a comedy pilot for CBS about a Chicago doughnut shop.
- Kevin Connolly will appear on Pitch.
- SNL has added new cast members.
- A classic deceased Simpsons character will return from the dead on this year’s “Treehouse of Horrors” with his mind on murder and murder on his mind.
- Jackie Hoffman has joined the cast of Feud.
- Vulture ranks all of Netflix’s original series.
- Jason Katims has sold a legal dramedy about feuding sisters to CBS.
- Protestors rushed the stage after Ryan Lochte’s Dancing With the Stars performance.
- The Great British Bake Off is jumping from BBC to Channel 4 – and the hosts have quit the show.
- USA has ordered a pilot for the drama The Sinner, starring Jessica Biel.
- Jack Davenport will guest star on The Mindy Project.
- Picnic at Hanging Rock will be turned into a six part mini-series.
- Jon Glaser Loves Gear will premiere next month on truTV.
- Fred Savage, Kourtney Kang, and Nahnatchka Khan are developing a comedy for NBC.
- Cartoon Network’s Regular Show will end after the upcoming season.
Movies
- Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling are in talks to play Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who, respectively, in Ana DuVernay’s big-screen adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time. Storm Reid has been selected as the lead.
- Get your Oscars ready – a new Paul Thomas Anderson/Daniel Day-Lewis movie is coming in 2017.
- Julianne More and Ken Watanabe to star in an adaptation of Bel Canto.
- Michael Cera may join Aaron Sorkin’s poker drama.
- Joe Manganiello is officially playing Deathstroke in the upcoming stand-alone Batman movie.
- Daniel Radcliffe will co-star with Zachary Quinto in the ominously-titled cartel drama, We Do Not Forget.
- You may not be cool with it, but Radcliffe is A-OK with another actor playing Harry Potter.
- If you’ve been impatiently waiting for a third G.I. Joe movie (and who hasn’t), you can blame The Rock’s busy schedule.
- James Franco will star in the movie adaptation of The Game.
- Benicio del Toro will star in a Predator reboot.
- Dax Shepard will co-direct a new animated Scooby-Doo movie.
- Alfonso Cuaron will write and direct a new movie set in Mexico City.
- The villain for Wolverine 3 has been confirmed.
- Billy Crudup will play the father of The Flash in an upcoming DC movie.
- Johnny Depp will investigate the murders of Tupac and Biggie in the film Labyrinth.
- The crowd-sourced Super Troopers 2 has begun filming.
- Surprising no one, director J.A. Bayona confirms that there will be a Jurassic World trilogy.
- The Avatar sequels will be a family saga about Jake, Neytiri, and their children.
- Kelly Rowland and Cat Deeley will star in the Lifetime romantic-comedy, The 10th Date.
- A movie based on the life of boy-band manager Lou Pearlman is in development.
- A film adaptation of Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game is headed to Netflix.
- Fox is making an action movie about 70s Stan Lee.
- Casey Affleck will write, direct and star in the film Light of My Life.
- A dumb Grease fan theory has been making the rounds, but has been debunked.
Trailers
- Live By Night:
- Legion:
- Gold:
- Collateral Beauty:
- Divorce:
- Goat (red-band trailer):
- Free Fire (red-band trailer):
- Saving Banksy:
- Miss Sloane:
- Fifty Shades Darker:
- Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life:
- All Eyez On Me:
Music
- Bruce Springsteen discusses his family’s history of depression in his Vanity Fair interview.
- Those crazy bastards at Vulture ranked all 314 Springsteen songs.
- Kanye confirms that his joint album with Drake is really happening.
- A Tupac-inspired pop up restaurant opened yesterday, the anniversary of his death.
- David Bowie’s final studio recordings will be released.
- Usher dropped his new album on Tidal ahead of its official release date.
- Lady Gaga and Florence Welch are doing a duet.
- Gaga is now the rumored front-runner for the Super Bowl halftime show.
- The White Stripes are no longer a band (boo) but they just released a new music video for an old song:
- Mel B confirms that a three-person Spice Girls squad is reuniting.
- Phish dropped a new song.
- A Justin Timberlake concert film is headed to Netflix.
- Per Gigi Hadid, Taylor Swift is back in the studio.
- Katy Perry has said she’d collaborate with Taylor Swift under one condition.
- I found this “breakdown” of every Taylor Swift breakup fascinating, if only because I didn’t realize Jake Gyllenhaal inspired so many songs.
- Celine Dion released a new song in the wake of her husband’s death.
- Meat Loaf is releasing a new cd.
- Game of Thrones’ Loras Tyrell (Finn Jones IRL) released a mixtape.
- During a tour stop in St. Louis, Beyoncé stopped the show for a proposal between her choreographer and back-up dancer:
- Bel Biv Devoe have released a new song and announced a new album.
- Ariana Grande is going out on tour.
- Fans are streaming “Hot in Herre” repeatedly to help Nelly pay his IRS bill.
- There is a new line of Public Enemy action figures. And yes, Flavor Flav is still inexplicably following me on Twitter.
- Ranking the songs of Ben Fold’s Rockin the Suburbs (“Losing Lisa” should be way higher).
- Ready to feel old? Toni Basil, who had the one-hit wonder “Hey Mickey!” is almost 73 years old!
Stand-up
- Louis C.K., Jon Stewart, Jim Gaffigan, and Jerry Seinfeld will team up (with a little help from Bruce Springsteen) for Heather’s dream show Stand Up For Heroes.
Books
- Alan Moore says he’s retiring from comics.
- Bruce Springsteen is going out on a book tour.
Theater
- Tituss Burgess is trying to bring The Preacher’s Wife musical to Broadway.
- Muriel’s Wedding is the latest film to get a stage adaptation.
- Danny DeVito will make his Broadway debut in The Prince, alongside John Turturro and Tony Shalhoub.
- Family Ties will be adapted as a stage play.
- A musical about Donna Summers is in the works.
Odds and Ends
- Amy Schumer was hospitalized in Paris with food poisoning.
- Demi Lovato now co-owns the rehab facility where she received treatment,
- Matthew McConaughey has made his directorial debut – a Wild Turkey commercial.
- Sarah Paulson’s date for the Emmys will be Marcia Clark, who she portrayed on The People vs OJ Simpson.
- This is just speculation, but would explain a lot: Tom Cruise allegedly made Katie Holmes signs a dating contract as part of their divorce agreement.
- Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love has gone public with her relationship with her relationship with her best friend Rayya Elias.
- Miley Cyrus is opting out of red carpets.
- Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna are having a baby girl.
- Actor John Hostetter, who played the stage manager John on Murphy Brown, has died. He was 69.
- The Lady Chablis, who appeared in the film Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil, has died.
- Children’s books author Anna Dewdney has passed away. She was 50.
- Actress and activist Alexis Arquette has died. She was 47.
- The patriarch of the TLC reality show The Willis Family has been arrested on child rape charges.
- David Bowie’s estate denies that his ashes were scattered at Burning Man.
- Pitch Perfect co-stars Anna Camp and Skylar Astin got hitched.
- Amanda Seyfried and Thomas Sadoski are engaged.
- Alec and Hilaria Baldwin welcomed their third child together, Leonardo Ángel Charles Baldwin
- Lacey Chabert and husband David Nehdar welcomed their first child.
Mashups and supercuts
- The Fast and the Furious recreated with toy cars:
- Several TV doctors reunited for a commercial:
- Michael Phelps lip syncs Eminem:
- Eddie Murphy can do a surprisingly good Tracy Morgan impression:
- Meg Ryan and Adam Scott star in James Corden’s Beyoncé soap opera:
- Ellen DeGeneres and Tom Hanks have a Pixar showdown:
- Celine Dion raps….sort of:
- Southern University marching band does Drake:
- Happy Gilmore gets the 8-bit treatment:
- Adam Sandler knows his way around product placement:
- Postmodern Jukebox puts their spin on “Never Gonna Give You Up”:
- Goosebumps meets American Horror Story:
- And finally, Harry Potter as a 90s sitcom: