Tag: NBC

Categories
Health

YouTube Star Lilly Singh Is Getting Her Own Late Night Show on NBC


Another woman—and a bisexual woman of color, at that—is breaking into the boys’ club of late night television. NBC is filling Carson Daly’s old time slot (1:35 A.M.) with a brand-new show hosted by YouTube star Lilly Singh called A Little Late with Lilly.

According to Variety, the show will debut in September and feature Singh conducting interviews, as well pre-taped sketches and other “signature elements.”

Singh, of course, is excited for this new gig. “An Indian-Canadian woman with her own late night show? Now that is a dream come true,” she said about the news. “I’m thrilled to bring it to life on NBC, and I hope my parents consider this to be as exciting as a grandchild.” Singh rose to fame on YouTube, where she’s known as “IISuperwomanII” and has over 14 million followers.

She made the big announcement on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Thursday night, March 14. “I’m so excited because I truly get to create a show from scratch,” she told host Jimmy Fallon. “I get to make it inclusive. I get to create comedy segments and interview people and really create something that I believe in. And I’m so honored and humbled.” Singh says the show will be “kind of like my YouTube channel” but joked that now she’ll have more than three staffers.

Getty Images

The social media love for Singh’s new gig is pouring in from celebs like Janelle Monae, Mindy Kaling, and The Rock, as well as non-famous folks who are happy for more diverse representation on late night.

“My heart is so incredibly full. Thank you so much for all the love and positive energy,” Singh tweeted about the enthusiastic response from people. “I’m speechless. I’m overwhelmed. I need to sleep to process all this. More thank yous to come tomorrow ❤️❤️”



Source link

Categories
Health

NBC Cancels Megyn Kelly’s Morning Show Following Blackface Controversy


Megyn Kelly Today has been canceled by NBC following comments she made about wearing blackface on Halloween in a Tuesday taping. An NBC spokesperson said in a statement to Glamour, “Megyn Kelly Today is not returning. Next week, the 9:00 A.M. hour will be hosted by other Today coanchors.” Though Kelly made an on-air apology, rumors have been swirling about the future of the show for days and she did not appear live on Thursday or Friday morning after NBC confirmed to People that it would air taped episodes for the remainder of the week. “They’re contacting the staff and reassigning everyone today. Everyone’s being told that they still have a home here, but it won’t be on Megyn’s show,” one source told People.

The Tuesday incident had some believing that Kelly was defending blackface, asking “What is racist?” She added: “You do get in trouble if you’re a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid that was OK as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character.”

“I can’t keep up with the number of people we’re offending just by being normal people,” Kelly continued.

The backlash was swift. Kelly’s Today colleagues condemned her behavior on the air. “She owes a bigger apology to folks of color,” Al Roker said. And Craig Melvin called her statement “ignorant and racist.”

Kelly was a contentious hire for NBC from the start, given her background at Fox News, where she had a reputation for inflammatory statements like declaring that Santa Claus and Jesus could only be white. And the controversies didn’t stop once she took over the nine o’clock hour of Today. There was an awkward interview with Jane Fonda during which Kelly kept pressing the actress to speak about her plastic surgery. Then there was the time she joked with Suzanne Somers about sex while asleep. Or when she spoke out against gun control after the Las Vegas shooting.

The show has also struggled in the ratings, which is a problem for the network when Kelly is signed to a contract that is reportedly worth $23 million a year. Sources say that Kelly is still negotiating her exit package from NBC which could amount to tens of millions of dollars.

Reactions on social media were mixed, with some praising the choice to cancel the show and others finding it unfair.

Kelly has yet to comment on the cancellation.





Source link

Categories
Health

Matt Lauer's Problematic Past With Women On NBC


PHOTO: NBC

This morning, in a shocking move, it was announced that NBC had fired Today co-host Matt Lauer over “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.” He’s just the latest in a long line of powerful men, many in the media, to face a reckoning over their behavior in the weeks since the Harvey Weinstein scandal first broke.

We’re still waiting for more details on the Lauer situation, but looking back on his almost 20-year history with the Today show, it would appear that there were clues all along to his issues with women. Lauer joined as Katie Couric’s co-host on the show in 1997 and has since risen to a place of incredible power and influence at the network. His latest contract extension just one year ago was reported to be worth $20 million a year.

With great power, there is supposed to become great responsibility but in Lauer’s case, he’s often mishandled his conversations with women, both on and of the air. The news of Lauer’s firing has brought many of these instances back into the conversation.

Here’s a rundown of some of the most obvious ones:

Ann Curry Departs Today

Matt Lauer Ann Curry

PHOTO: NBC NewsWire

Ann Curry’s tenure as co-anchor of “Today” ended in June 2012 after just over a year—though she had been on the morning show since 1997 as the news anchor. It was widely reported that she and Lauer did not get along and that he had much to do with her firing. According to a lengthy New York magazine piece on the inner-workings of “Today”, “Off air, Curry and Lauer had no relationship and barely spoke.” In her teary on-air farewell, the tension between Curry and Lauer is palpable as you can see her try to move away from his embrace—even more noticeable when contrasted with the warmth she shows Al Roker and Natalie Morales. Yet, Lauer prevailed and soon had a new co-host in Savannah Guthrie.

The Anne Hathaway Interview

Matt Lauer Anne Hathaway

PHOTO: NBC NewsWire/Getty Images

Back in 2012, amidst doing press for Les Miserables, Anne Hathaway was photographed getting out of her car for an event in such a way that it showed up her dress, revealing her to not be wearing any underwear. It was horrible enough that the photos were sold and published, but Lauer’s interview with her soon after on Today was extra icky. He opened by greeting her with, “Nice to see you, seen a lot of you lately”. It was icky then, and perhaps even more so now. He then goes on to ask her what lessons she’s learned from it, as if she’d done something wrong in the first place. Anne takes it in stride and with grace—as so many women do—saying: “It was obviously an unfortunate incident. It kind of made me sad on two accounts. One was that I was very sad that when we live in an age where someone takes a picture of another person in a vulnerable moment, and rather than delete it and do the decent thing, sells it. And I’m sorry that we live in a culture that commodifies the sexuality of unwilling participants. Which brings us back to Les Mis.” Lauer’s sexism is on bold display here, and yet outside of some internet and media chatter, there were no serious repercussions.

Hillary v. Trump

Matt Lauer Hillary Clinton

PHOTO: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

During the heat of the 2016 presidential election, candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump sat down with Lauer during a live one-hour forum, with each answering questions for 30 minutes. Lauer was roundly criticized for his constant interruptions of Clinton, while allowing Trump to ramble on. He focused intently on her emails, but did not call into question apparent untruths from Trump on matters like Iraq and Libya. He questioned her fitness for office while asking Trump soft questions like “Why should you be Commander-In-Chief?” The difference in tone was evident and all-too familiar, at least to many women watching. Clinton herself wrote in her book, “What Happened”: “Now I was ticked off. NBC knew exactly what it was doing here. The network was treating this like an episode of ‘The Apprentice,’ in which Trump stars and ratings soar. Lauer had turned what should have been a serious discussion into a pointless ambush. What a waste of time.”

So while today’s news may be shocking to some, to others it’s been evident all along that at the very least, Lauer was an alpha-male with sexist tendencies that he used to put women at a disadvantage.



Source link

Categories
Health

Matt Lauer Fired From NBC For 'Inappropriate Sexual Behavior'


NBC has fired Matt Lauer for “inappropriate sexual behavior. “

At the top of the “Today” show, anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb delivered the message to viewers, revealing NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack wrote in a staff memo that there was a “complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer.” Though it was the first made against the journalist and morning host during his 25-year career with NBC, Lack wrote “we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.”

Lack’s statement also said the company underwent a serious review of the complaint, which represented “a clear violation” of the company’s standards, and Lauer was terminated as a result.

“This is a sad morning at “Today” and NBC News,” Guthrie said. “As I’m sure you can understand, we are devastated. I’m heartbroken for Matt. He is my dear, dear colleague. And I’m heartbroken for the brave colleague who came forward to tell her story and any other women who have their own stories to tell.”

She added: “This reckoning that so many organizations have been going through is important, it’s long overdue and it must result in workplaces where all women—all people—feel safe and respected.”

Last week, CBS News fired its morning anchor, Charlie Rose, after a report in The Washington Post detailed years of sexual misconduct.

This is a developing story…





Source link

Categories
Health

The 'Will & Grace' Revival on NBC: Everything We Know So Far


Debra Messing says she hasn’t had much to laugh about since election night, but that’s about to change soon: NBC just announced that the Will & Grace revival has already been picked up for a second season. What else do you need to know about the Emmy-winning sitcom’s return? Here, everything we know…so far.

The series will return on Thursday, September 28. You can watch Will & Grace at 9:00 P.M. ET/PT, sandwiched between The Good Place at 8:30 and Great News at 9:30 P.M. Season two will presumably air in the fall of 2018, but no official date has been set.

NBC will air a new special to commemorate the original series a week before the premiere. The network and The Paley Center for Media are collaborating on the hourlong special The Paley Center Salutes the Best of Will & Grace, scheduled to air Tuesday, September 19 at 10 P.M. ET/PT. It will feature the best moments from the show’s original eight seasons as well as new and exclusive interviews with the cast and creators. Also included is never-seen-before behind-the-scenes footage.

Legendary director Jimmy Burrows is back to direct. Burrows directed every original Will & Grace episode and will do the same for the 16-episode revival.

You might be able to stream the series soon. Currently, old episodes of Will & Grace aren’t available online (shocking, we know), but cocreator Max Mutchnick said at the Television Critics Association summer press tour that they’re working on making the show available on streaming. The most likely place would be Hulu, which works closely with Universal Television, the studio behind Will & Grace.

The comedy will address politics, sex, social issues, and pop culture. “We’ll be shining a light on what’s happening today in our culture,” Messing revealed at the TCAs. “My hope is that now we can finish the alphabet” in terms of LGBTQ issues, storylines, and characters, noting that the original series mainly covered only lesbian and gay issues.

And don’t forget relationship drama! “They’ve always been successful at life and living,” the producers told EW. “It’s relationships that Will and Grace have always had the trouble with, and they still do.”

Forget the series finale from 2006. If you don’t remember what happened when the show went off the air 11 years ago, well, don’t worry about it. “It was more or less a fantasy, a projection into the future,” note the creators. (But in case you were wondering, Grace had a daughter named Laila with husband Leo, while Will and husband Vincent were raising a son, Ben.) In the revival Will and Grace will be single, without kids, and still living in their New York City apartment. Cocreator David Kohan told EW that “if [we wrote them with] children [now], then it has to be about them being parents, ’cause presumably it would be a priority in their lives. And if it wasn’t a priority in their lives, then they’re just bad parents, right? We frankly did not want to see them being either good parents or bad parents. We wanted them to be Will and Grace.”

But Grace’s love interest, Leo, will return. Harry Connick, Jr. will be back, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be playing Grace’s ex-husband or ex-boyfriend.

We’ll find out why Will and Grace are still living together. “Circumstances bring them together again,” cocreator David Kohan reveals. “They’ve lived their lives. However healthy or unhealthy [their living situation is], that will be addressed.” Joked Debra Messing: “We don’t care about being healthy!”

It’s back in time for Jack and Karen as well. The producers also told EW that Jack will return as Will and Grace’s neighbor, and Karen will “still get her drink on and live in that mansion. Will’s and Grace’s careers (Will is a lawyer; Grace an interior designer) will be the same, and Jack the actor will be teaching his own craft called ‘Jackting.'”

Check out the trailer, below:

[embedded content]

Stay tuned—we’ll update this post as more information becomes available.



Source link