Tag: Peacock

2023 Golden Globe Awards: ‘The Banshees of Inisherin,’ ‘Abbott Elementary’ are the top winners

January 10, 2023

Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell in “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)

Tyler James Williams, Chris Perfetti, Quinta Brunson, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Lisa Ann Walter in “Abbott Elementary” (Photo by Prashant Gupta/ABC)

With three awards each, the Searchlight Pictures comedy/drama “The Banshees of Inisherin” and the ABC comedy series “Abbott Elementary” were the top winners at the 80th annual Golden Globe Awards, which were presented at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, on January 10, 2023. NBC had the U.S. telecast of the show, which was livestreamed on Peacock. Jerrod Carmichael was the host of the ceremony. The Golden Globe Awards are voted for and presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” a movie about fractured friendship between two men in 1923 Ireland, won the awards for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy; Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (for Colin Farrell); and Best Screenplay (for Martin McDonagh). “Abbott Elementary,” a series about an underfunded elementary school in Philadelphia, won the Golden Globes for Best Comedy Series; Best Actress in a TV Series – Musical or Comedy (for Quinta Brunson); and Best Supporting Actor – Television (for Tyler James Williams).

Other multiple winners, with two awards each, were Universal Pictures’ “The Fabelmans” (Best Motion Picture – Drama; Best Director, for Steven Spielberg); A24’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, for Michelle Yeoh; Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, for Ke Huy Quan); and HBO’s “The White Lotus (Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television; Best Performance by an Actress in Supporting Role, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television, for Jennifer Coolidge).

Eddie Murphy received the Cecil B. DeMille Award, a lifetime achievement prize. Ryan Murphy received the Carol Burnett Award, given to a pioneering person in television.

Presenters at the show were Jennifer Hudson, Coolidge, Jenna Ortega, Niecy Nash-Betts, Ana de Armas, Claire Danes, Letitia Wright, Billy Porter, Glen Powell, Jay Ellis, Henry Golding, Sean Penn, Hilary Swank, Colman Domingo, Nicole Byer, Ana Gasteyer, Cole Hauser, Mo Brings Plenty, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Tracy Morgan, Regina Hall, Natasha Lyonne, Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillén and Quentin Tarantino.

The 2023 Golden Globe Awards telecast was produced by Dick Clark Productions and Jesse Collins Entertainment in association with the HFPA. Jesse Collins and Dionne Harmon served as executive producers.

Here is the complete list of winners and nominations for the 2023 Golden Globe Awards:

*=winner

MOVIES

Best Motion Picture – Drama

  • “Avatar: The Way of Water” (20th Century Studios) 
  • “Elvis” (Warner Bros.) 
  • “The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures)*
  • “Tár” (Focus Features) 
  • “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures)

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

  • “Babylon” (Paramount Pictures) 
  • “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures)*
  • “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) 
  • “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (Netflix) 
  • “Triangle of Sadness” (Neon) 

Best Director, Motion Picture

  • James Cameron (“Avatar: The Way of Water”) 
  • Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 
  • Baz Luhrmann (“Elvis”) 
  • Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 
  • Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”)*

Best Screenplay

  • “Tár” (Focus Features) — Todd Field 
  • “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) — Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert 
  • “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) — Martin McDonagh*
  • “Women Talking” (MGM/United Artists Releasing) — Sarah Polley 
  • “The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) — Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

  • Austin Butler (“Elvis”)*
  • Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) 
  • Hugh Jackman (“The Son”)
  • Bill Nighy (“Living”) 
  • Jeremy Pope (“The Inspection”) 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

  • Cate Blanchett (“Tár”)*
  • Olivia Colman (“Empire of Light”) 
  • Viola Davis (“The Woman King”) 
  • Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) 
  • Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”)  

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

  • Lesley Manville (“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”) 
  • Margot Robbie (“Babylon”) 
  • Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Menu”) 
  • Emma Thompson (“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”) 
  • Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)*

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

  • Diego Calva (“Babylon”) 
  • Daniel Craig (“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”)
  • Adam Driver (“White Noise”) 
  • Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)* 
  • Ralph Fiennes (“The Menu”) 

Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture

  • Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 
  • Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 
  • Brad Pitt (“Babylon”)
  • Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)* 
  • Eddie Redmayne (“The Good Nurse”)

Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture

  • Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)* 
  • Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 
  • Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 
  • Dolly De Leon (“Triangle of Sadness”)
  • Carey Mulligan (“She Said”)

Best Original Score

  • “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) — Carter Burwell
  • “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) — Alexandre Desplat 
  • “Women Talking” (MGM/United Artists Releasing) — Hildur Guðnadóttir 
  • “Babylon” (Paramount Pictures) — Justin Hurwitz*
  • “The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) — John Williams  

Best Non-English Language Picture

  • “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany) 
  • “Argentina, 1985” (Argentina)*
  • “Close” (Belgium) 
  • “Decision to Leave” (South Korea) 
  • “RRR” (India) 

Best Original Song

  • “Carolina” from “Where the Crawdads Sing” (Sony Pictures) — Taylor Swift 
  • “Ciao Papa” from “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) — Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro 
  • “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures) — Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Benjamin Rice
  • “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios) — Tems, Ludwig Göransson, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler 
  • “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” (Variance Films) — Kala Bhairava, M. M. Keeravani, Rahul Sipligunj*

Best Animated Motion Picture

  • “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix)*
  • “Inu-Oh” (GKIDS) 
  • “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” (A24) 
  • “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” (DreamWorks Animation) 
  • “Turning Red” (Pixar) 

TELEVISION

Best Television Series, Drama

  • “Better Call Saul” (AMC) 
  • “The Crown” (Netflix) 
  • “House of the Dragon” (HBO)* 
  • “Ozark” (Netflix) 
  • “Severance” (Apple TV+) 

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy

  • “Abbott Elementary” (ABC)*
  • “The Bear” (FX)
  • “Hacks” (HBO Max)
  • “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu) 
  • “Wednesday” (Netflix) 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

  • Jeff Bridges (“The Old Man”) 
  • Kevin Costner (“Yellowstone”)*
  • Diego Luna (“Andor”)
  • Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”)
  • Adam Scott (“Severance”)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama

  • Emma D’Arcy (“House of the Dragon”) 
  • Laura Linney (“Ozark”) 
  • Imelda Staunton (“The Crown”)
  • Hilary Swank (“Alaska Daily”)
  • Zendaya (“Euphoria”)*

Best Actress in a TV Series – Musical or Comedy

  • Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”)*
  • Kaley Cuoco (“The Flight Attendant”) 
  • Selena Gomez (“Only Murders in the Building”) 
  • Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday”) 
  • Jean Smart (“Hacks”) 

Best Actor in a TV Series – Musical or Comedy

  • Donald Glover (“Atlanta”) 
  • Bill Hader (“Barry”) 
  • Steve Martin (“Only Murders in the Building”) 
  • Martin Short (“Only Murders in the Building”) 
  • Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”)*

Best Supporting Actor – Television

  • John Lithgow (“The Old Man”) 
  • Jonathan Pryce (“The Crown”) 
  • John Turturro (“Severance”) 
  • Tyler James Williams (“Abbott Elementary”)*
  • Henry Winkler (“Barry”)

Best Supporting Actress – Television

  • Elizabeth Debicki (“The Crown”) 
  • Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”) 
  • Julia Garner (“Ozark”)*
  • Janelle James (“Abbott Elementary”) 
  • Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”) 

Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

  • “Black Bird” (Apple TV+) 
  • “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” (Netflix) 
  • “The Dropout” (Hulu) 
  • “Pam & Tommy” (Hulu) 
  • “The White Lotus” (HBO)*

Best Performance by an Actor, Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

  • Taron Egerton (“Black Bird”) 
  • Colin Firth (“The Staircase”) 
  • Andrew Garfield (“Under the Banner of Heaven”) 
  • Evan Peters (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”)*
  • Sebastian Stan (“Pam & Tommy”) 

Best Performance by an Actress, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

  • Jessica Chastain (“George and Tammy”) 
  • Julia Garner (“Inventing Anna”) 
  • Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”) 
  • Julia Roberts (“Gaslit”) 
  • Amanda Seyfried (“The Dropout”)*

Best Performance by an Actress in Supporting Role, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

  • Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”)*
  • Claire Danes (“Fleishman Is in Trouble”) 
  • Daisy Edgar-Jones (“Under the Banner of Heaven”) 
  • Niecy Nash-Betts (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) 
  • Aubrey Plaza (“The White Lotus”) 

Best Performance by an Actor in Supporting Role, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

  • F. Murray Abraham (“The White Lotus”) 
  • Domhnall Gleeson (“The Patient”) 
  • Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”)*
  • Richard Jenkins (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) 
  • Seth Rogen (“Pam & Tommy”) 

2023 Golden Globe nominations: ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ is the top nominee

December 12, 2022

Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell in “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)

For the 80th annual Golden Globe Awards, Searchlight Pictures’ dark comedy film “The Banshees of Inisherin” is the leading contender, with eight nominations. In the TV categories, the ABC comedy series “Abbott Elementary” is the top nominee, with five nominations. The ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, on January 10, 2023, airing live from 5-8 p.m. PT/8-11 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Jerrod Carmichael will host the show. The nominees were announced by actresses Selenis Leyva and Mayan Lopez on December 12, 2022.

The Golden Globe Awards are voted for and presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). Produced by Dick Clark Productions and Jesse Collins Entertainment in association with the HFPA, the Golden Globe Awards are viewed in more than 210 territories worldwide. Helen Hoehne is president of the HFPA. Jesse Collins and Dionne Harmon will serve as executive producers.

From a Golden Globe Awards press release:

“Four new television category awards were introduced earlier this year and will be awarded for the first time at the 2023 Golden Globe Awards ceremony … The new categories include Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical, Comedy or Drama Television Series; Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical, Comedy or Drama Television Series; Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television; and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. The four new awards will replace the former awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television and Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.”

Here is the complete list of nominations for the 2023 Golden Globe Awards:

MOVIES

Best Motion Picture, Drama

  • “Avatar: The Way of Water” (20th Century Studios) 
  • “Elvis” (Warner Bros.) 
  • “The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) 
  • “Tár” (Focus Features) 
  • “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures)

Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

  • “Babylon” (Paramount Pictures) 
  • “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) 
  • “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) 
  • “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (Netflix) 
  • “Triangle of Sadness” (Neon) 

Best Director – Motion Picture

  • James Cameron (“Avatar: The Way of Water”) 
  • Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 
  • Baz Luhrmann (“Elvis”) 
  • Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 
  • Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”)

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture

  • “Tár” (Focus Features) — Todd Field 
  • “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24) — Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert 
  • “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) — Martin McDonagh 
  • “Women Talking” (MGM/United Artists Releasing) — Sarah Polley 
  • “The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) — Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama

  • Austin Butler (“Elvis”) 
  • Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) 
  • Hugh Jackman (“The Son”)
  • Bill Nighy (“Living”) 
  • Jeremy Pope (“The Inspection”) 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama

  • Cate Blanchett (“Tár”) 
  • Olivia Colman (“Empire of Light”) 
  • Viola Davis (“The Woman King”) 
  • Ana de Armas (“Blonde”) 
  • Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”)  

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

  • Lesley Manville (“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”) 
  • Margot Robbie (“Babylon”) 
  • Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Menu”) 
  • Emma Thompson (“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”) 
  • Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

  • Diego Calva (“Babylon”) 
  • Daniel Craig (“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”)
  • Adam Driver (“White Noise”) 
  • Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 
  • Ralph Fiennes (“The Menu”) 

Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture

  • Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 
  • Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 
  • Brad Pitt (“Babylon”)
  • Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 
  • Eddie Redmayne (“The Good Nurse”)

Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture

  • Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) 
  • Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) 
  • Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) 
  • Dolly De Leon (“Triangle of Sadness”)
  • Carey Mulligan (“She Said”)

Best Original Score – Motion Picture

  • “The Banshees of Inisherin” (Searchlight Pictures) — Carter Burwell
  • “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) — Alexandre Desplat 
  • “Women Talking” (MGM/United Artists Releasing) — Hildur Guðnadóttir 
  • “Babylon” (Paramount Pictures) — Justin Hurwitz 
  • “The Fabelmans” (Universal Pictures) — John Williams  

Best Non-English Language Picture

  • “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany) 
  • “Argentina, 1985” (Argentina) 
  • “Close” (Belgium) 
  • “Decision to Leave” (South Korea) 
  • “RRR” (India) 

Best Original Song – Motion Picture

  • “Carolina” from “Where the Crawdads Sing” (Sony Pictures) — Taylor Swift 
  • “Ciao Papa” from “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) — Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro 
  • “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount Pictures) — Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Benjamin Rice
  • “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel Studios) — Tems, Ludwig Göransson, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler 
  • “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” (Variance Films) — Kala Bhairava, M. M. Keeravani, Rahul Sipligunj 

Best Animated Motion Picture

  • “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Netflix) 
  • “Inu-Oh” (GKIDS) 
  • “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” (A24) 
  • “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” (DreamWorks Animation) 
  • “Turning Red” (Pixar) 

TELEVISION

Best Television Series – Drama

  • “Better Call Saul” (AMC) 
  • “The Crown” (Netflix) 
  • “House of the Dragon” (HBO) 
  • “Ozark” (Netflix) 
  • “Severance” (Apple TV+) 

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy

  • “Abbott Elementary” (ABC) 
  • “The Bear” (FX)
  • “Hacks” (HBO Max)
  • “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu) 
  • “Wednesday” (Netflix) 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

  • Jeff Bridges (“The Old Man”) 
  • Kevin Costner (“Yellowstone”)
  • Diego Luna (“Andor”)
  • Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”)
  • Adam Scott (“Severance”)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama

  • Emma D’Arcy (“House of the Dragon”) 
  • Laura Linney (“Ozark”) 
  • Imelda Staunton (“The Crown”)
  • Hilary Swank (“Alaska Daily”)
  • Zendaya (“Euphoria”)

Best Actress in a TV Series – Musical or Comedy

  • Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”) 
  • Kaley Cuoco (“The Flight Attendant”) 
  • Selena Gomez (“Only Murders in the Building”) 
  • Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday”) 
  • Jean Smart (“Hacks”) 

Best Actor in a TV Series – Musical or Comedy

  • Donald Glover (“Atlanta”) 
  • Bill Hader (“Barry”) 
  • Steve Martin (“Only Murders in the Building”) 
  • Martin Short (“Only Murders in the Building”) 
  • Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”) 

Best Supporting Actor – Television

  • John Lithgow (“The Old Man”) 
  • Jonathan Pryce (“The Crown”) 
  • John Turturro (“Severance”) 
  • Tyler James Williams (“Abbott Elementary”) 
  • Henry Winkler (“Barry”)

Best Supporting Actress – Television

  • Elizabeth Debicki (“The Crown”) 
  • Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”) 
  • Julia Garner (“Ozark”) 
  • Janelle James (“Abbott Elementary”) 
  • Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”) 

Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

  • “Black Bird” (Apple TV+) 
  • “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” (Netflix) 
  • “The Dropout” (Hulu) 
  • “Pam & Tommy” (Hulu) 
  • “The White Lotus” (HBO) 

Best Performance by an Actor, Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

  • Taron Egerton (“Black Bird”) 
  • Colin Firth (“The Staircase”) 
  • Andrew Garfield (“Under the Banner of Heaven”) 
  • Evan Peters (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) 
  • Sebastian Stan (“Pam & Tommy”) 

Best Performance by an Actress, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

  • Jessica Chastain (“George and Tammy”) 
  • Julia Garner (“Inventing Anna”) 
  • Lily James (“Pam & Tommy”) 
  • Julia Roberts (“Gaslit”) 
  • Amanda Seyfried (“The Dropout”) 

Best Performance by an Actress in Supporting Role, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

  • Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”) 
  • Claire Danes (“Fleishman Is in Trouble”) 
  • Daisy Edgar-Jones (“Under the Banner of Heaven”) 
  • Niecy Nash-Betts (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) 
  • Aubrey Plaza (“The White Lotus”) 

Best Performance by an Actor in Supporting Role, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television

  • F. Murray Abraham (“The White Lotus”) 
  • Domhnall Gleeson (“The Patient”) 
  • Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”) 
  • Richard Jenkins (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”) 
  • Seth Rogen (“Pam & Tommy”) 

2022 Primetime Emmy Awards: ‘The White Lotus,’ ‘Ted Lasso,’ ‘Succession’ are the top winners

September 12, 2022

by Carla Hay

“The White Lotus” team members Sydney Sweeney, Natasha Rothwell, Mike White, Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge and Alexandra Daddario at the 74th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on September 12, 2022. (Photo by Evans Vestal Ward/NBC)

With five prizes, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, HBO’s anthology series “The White Lotus” was the top winner at the 74th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which were presented at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on September 12, 2022. Following close behind in Emmy wins were Apple TV+’s comedy series “Ted Lasso” (four Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series) and HBO’s “Succession,” which won three Emmys, including Outstanding Drama Series. Kenan Thompson hosted the ceremony, which NBC televised live in the United States. Peacock livestreamed the ceremony. The show is presented by the Television Academy, which votes for the nominees and the winners.

In addition to winning Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, “The White Lotus” creator/executive producer Mike White got Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series Or Movie and Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Two co-stars of “The White Lotus” also won Emmy Awards: Murray Bartlett (Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie) and Jennifer Coolidge (Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie). White, Bartlett and Coolidge are all first-time Emmy winners.

Other first-time Emmy winners at this ceremony included Sheryl Lee Ralph of ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” (Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series); Quinta Brunson of “Abbott Elementary” (Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series); Matthew McFadyen of “Succession” (Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series); Amanda Seyfried of Hulu’s “The Dropout” (Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie); Michael Keaton of Hulu’s “Dopesick” (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie); Lee Jung-jae of Netflix’s “Squid Game” (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series); Lizzo of Prime Video’s Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls” (Outstanding Competition Program); and Jerrod Carmichael of HBO’s “Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel” (Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special).

Some of the repeat Emmy category winners included Zendaya of HBO’s “Euphoria” (Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series) and Julia Garner of Netflix’s “Ozark” (Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series), who each won in 2020. Those who repeated their Emmy wins from 2021 included Jean Smart of HBO Max’s “Hacks” (Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series); John Oliver of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (Outstanding Variety Talk Series); and “Ted Lasso” stars Jason Sudeikis (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series) and Brett Goldstein (Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series).

The Governors Award (a non-competitive category) went to the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media “in recognition of their efforts to promote gender balance and foster inclusion throughout the entertainment industry,” according to a press release from the Television Academy. The institute’s founder Geena Davis and president/CEO Madeline Di Nonno accepted the award.

Presenters at the show included Oprah Winfrey, Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, Angela Bassett, Ariana DeBose, Rosario Dawson, Diego Luna, Natalie Zea, Mindy Kaling, B. J. Novak, Emmy host Thompson, Bowen Yang, Lee Jung-jae, Jung Ho-yeon, Kerry Washington, Gael García Bernal, Sarah Paulson, Shonda Rhimes, Sofia Vergara, “Hacks” Emmy winner Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Selma Blair, Martin Short, Steve Martin, Selena Gomez, Pete Davidson, Juliette Lewis, RuPaul Charles, Ayo Edebiri, Jeremy Allen White, Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Molly Shannon, Vanessa Bayer, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Regina Hall, Markella Kavenagh, Ismaël Cruz Córdova, Kelly Clarkson and Will Arnett. John Legend performed during the In Memoriam segment. Sam Jay was the on-air announcer, and Zedd was the event DJ.

Done+Dusted and Hudlin Entertainment produced the ceremony. Ian Stewart, Reginald Hudlin, Byron Phillips and Jane Mun were exevcutive producers. Done + Dusted’s Hamish Hamilton was the show’s director. 

Here is the complete list of nominees and winners for the 2022 Primetime Emmy Awards:

*=winner

Outstanding Drama Series

  • “Better Call Saul” (AMC)   
  • “Euphoria” (HBO)   
  • “Ozark” (Netflix)   
  • “Severance” (Apple TV+)   
  • “Squid Game” (Netflix)   
  • “Stranger Things” (Netflix)   
  • “Succession” (HBO)*   
  • “Yellowjackets” (Showtime)  

Outstanding Comedy Series

  • “Abbott Elementary” (ABC)   
  • “Barry” (HBO)
  • “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (HBO)   
  • “Hacks” (HBO)   
  • “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Prime Video)
  • “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu)
  • “Ted Lasso” (Apple TV+)*
  • “What We Do in the Shadows” (FX)   

Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

  • “Dopesick” (Hulu)   
  • “The Dropout” (Hulu)   
  • “Inventing Anna” (Netflix)   
  • “Pam and Tommy” (Hulu)   
  • “The White Lotus” (HBO)*

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

  • Jason Bateman (“Ozark”)  
  • Brian Cox (“Succession”)  
  • Lee Jung-jae (“Squid Game”)*   
  • Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”)  
  • Adam Scott (“Severance”)  
  • Jeremy Strong (“Succession”)  

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

  • Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve”)   
  • Laura Linney (“Ozark”)  
  • Melanie Lynskey (“Yellowjackets”)  
  • Sandra Oh (“Killing Eve”)  
  • Reese Witherspoon (“The Morning Show”)   
  • Zendaya (“Euphoria”)*

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

  • Donald Glover (“Atlanta”)   
  • Bill Hader (“Barry”)  
  • Nicholas Hoult (“The Great”)
  • Steve Martin (“Only Murders in the Building”)   
  • Martin Short (“Only Murders in the Building”)  
  • Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”)*

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

  • Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)  
  • Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”)  
  • Kaley Cuoco (“The Flight Attendant”)  
  • Elle Fanning (“The Great”)  
  • Issa Rae (“Insecure”)  
  • Jean Smart (“Hacks”)*  

Oustanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

  • Colin Firth (“The Staircase”)  
  • Andrew Garfield (“Under the Banner of Heaven”)  
  • Oscar Isaac (“Scenes From a Marriage”)  
  • Michael Keaton (“Dopesick”)*
  • Himesh Patel (“Station Eleven”)  
  • Sebastian Stan (“Pam and Tommy”)   

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

  • Toni Collette (“The Staircase”)  
  • Julia Garner (“Inventing Anna”)  
  • Lily James (“Pam and Tommy”)  
  • Sarah Paulson (“Impeachment: American Crime Story”)
  • Margaret Qualley (“Maid”)  
  • Amanda Seyfried (“The Dropout”)*

Outstanding Variety Talk Series

  • “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” (Comedy Central)  
  • “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (ABC)  
  • “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (HBO)* 
  • “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (NBC)  
  • “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (CBS)  

Outstanding Competition Program

  • “The Amazing Race” (CBS)  
  • “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls” (Prime Video)*  
  • “Nailed It!” (Netflix)  
  • “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (VH1)  
  • “Top Chef” (Bravo)  
  • “The Voice” (NBC)  

Oustanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

  • Patricia Arquette (“Severance”)
  • Julia Garner (“Ozark”)*
  • Jung Ho-yeon (“Squid Game”)
  • Christina Ricci (“Yellowjackets”)
  • Rhea Seehorn (“Better Call Saul”)
  • J. Smith-Cameron (“Succession”)
  • Sarah Snook (“Succession”)
  • Sydney Sweeney (“Euphoria”)

Oustanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

  • Nicholas Braun (“Succession”)
  • Billy Crudup (“The Morning Show”)
  • Kieran Culkin (“Succession”)
  • Park Hae-soo (“Squid Game”)
  • Matthew Macfadyen (“Succession”)*
  • John Turturro (“Severance”)
  • Christopher Walken (“Severance”)
  • Oh Yeong-su (“Squid Game”)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

  • Alex Borstein (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
  • Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”)
  • Janelle James (“Abbott Elementary”)
  • Kate McKinnon (“Saturday Night Live”)
  • Sarah Niles (“Ted Lasso”)
  • Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”)*
  • Juno Temple (“Ted Lasso”)
  • Hannah Waddingham (“Ted Lasso”)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

  • Anthony Carrigan (“Barry”)
  • Brett Goldstein (“Ted Lasso”)*
  • Toheeb Jimoh (“Ted Lasso”)
  • Nick Mohammed (“Ted Lasso”)
  • Tony Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
  • Tyler James Williams (“Abbott Elementary”)
  • Henry Winkler (“Barry”)
  • Bowen Yang (“Saturday Night Live”)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

  • Connie Britton (“The White Lotus”)
  • Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”)*
  • Alexandra Daddario (“The White Lotus”)
  • Kaitlyn Dever (“Dopesick”)
  • Natasha Rothwell (“The White Lotus”)
  • Sydney Sweeney (“The White Lotus”)
  • Mare Winningham (“Dopesick”)

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Movie

  • Murray Bartlett (“The White Lotus”)*
  • Jake Lacy (“The White Lotus”)
  • Will Poulter (“Dopesick”)
  • Seth Rogen (“Pam & Tommy”)
  • Peter Sarsgaard (“Dopesick”)
  • Michael Stuhlbarg (“Dopesick”)
  • Steve Zahn (“The White Lotus”)

Outstanding Variety Sketch Series

  • “A Black Lady Sketch Show” (HBO)
  • “Saturday Night Live” (NBC)*

Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series

  • “Atlanta” (FX), directed by Hiro Murai
  • “Barry” (HBO) directed by Bill Hader
  • “Hacks” (HBO Max), directed by Lucia Aniello
  • “The Ms. Pat Show” (BET+), directed by Mary Lou Belli
  • “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu), directed by Cherien Dabis
  • “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu), directed by Jamie Babbit
  • “Ted Lasso” (Apple TV+), directed by MJ Delaney*

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

  • “Ozark” (Netflix), directed by Jason Bateman
  • “Severance” (Apple TV+), directed by Ben Stiller
  • “Squid Game” (Netflix), directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk*
  • “Succession” (HBO), directed by Mark Mylod
  • “Succession” (HBO), directed by Cathy Yan
  • “Succession” (HBO), directed by Lorene Scafaria
  • “Yellowjackets” (Showtime), directed by Karyn Kusama

Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

  • “Dopesick” (Hulu), directed by Danny Strong
  • “The Dropout” (Hulu), directed by Michael Showalter
  • “The Dropout” (Hulu), directed by Francesca Gregorini
  • “Maid” (Netflix), directed by John Wells
  • “Station Eleven” (HBO Max), directed by Hiro Murai
  • “The White Lotus” (HBO Max), directed by Mike White*

Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series

  • “Abbott Elementary” (ABC), written by Quinta Brunson*
  • “Barry (HBO), written by Duffy Boudreau
  • “Barry (HBO), written by Alec Berg and Bill Hader
  • “Hacks” (HBO Max), written by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky
  • “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu) written by Steve Martin and John Hoffman
  • “Ted Lasso” (Apple TV+), written by Jane Becker
  • “What We Do in the Shadows” (FX), written by Sarah Naftalis
  • “What We Do in the Shadows” (FX), written by Stefani Robinson

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series

  • “Better Call Saul” (AMC), written by Thomas Schnauz
  • “Ozark” (Netflix), written by Chris Mundy
  • “Severance” (Apple TV+), written by Dan Erickson
  • “Squid Game” (Netflix), written by Hwang Dong-hyuk
  • “Succession” (HBO), written by Jesse Armstrong*
  • “Yellowjackets” (Showtime) written by Jonathan Lisco, Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson
  • “Yellowjackets” (Showtime) written by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson

Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series or Anthology Series or Movie

  • “Dopesick” (Hulu), written by Danny Strong
  • “The Dropout” (Hulu), written by Elizabeth Meriwether
  • “Impeachment: American Crime Story” (FX), written byb Sarah Burgess
  • “Maid” (Netflix), written by Molly Smith Metzler
  • “Station Eleven” (HBO Max), written by Patrick Somerville
  • “The White Lotus” (HBO), written by Mike White*

Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special

  • “Ali Wong: Don Wong” (Netflix), written by Ali Wong
  • “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Globe – Hungary for Democracy” (Comedy Central), written by Ian Berger, Devin Delliquanti, Jennifer Flanz, Jordan Klepper, Zhubin Parang and Scott Sherman
  • “Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel” (HBO), written by Jerrod Carmichael*
  • “Nicole Byer: BBW (Big Beautiful Weirdo)” (Netflix ), written by Nicole Byer
  • “Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special” (Netflix), written by Norm Macdonald

Review: ‘The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,’ starring Rosa Parks, LisaGay Hamilton, Carolyn Williamson Green, Lonnie McCauley, Jeanne Theoharis, Georgette Norman and Keisha Nicole Blain

June 20, 2022

by Carla Hay

Rosa Parks at the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March in “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” (Photo courtesy of Getty Images/Peacock)

“The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks”

Directed by Yoruba Richen and Johanna Hamilton

Culture Representation: The documentary film “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” features a nearly all-African American group (with one white person) of historians, activists, family members and associates discussing the life and legacy of civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

Culture Clash: Even though she was world-famous, Parks refused to profit from her fame, as she was sometimes disrespected within the civil rights movement because of her gender and her age. 

Culture Audience: “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” will appeal primarily to people who want to see a comprehensive documentary about an important public figure in the U.S. civil rights movement.

Rosa Parks at the 1968 Poor People’s March on Washington in “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” (Photo courtesy of Getty Images/Peacock)

“The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” follows a conventional documentary format, but it’s still a well-made biography that should be informative for people who know very little about civil rights icon Rosa Parks. Directed by Yoruba Richen and Johanna Hamilton, “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” is based on author Jeanne Theoharis’ 2013 biography of the same title. Thoharis is one of the people interviewed in the movie. In the documentary, portions of Parks’ letters and memoir are read as narration by actress LisaGay Hamilton. “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” had its world premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

Unless someone is a Rosa Parks expert, people who watch “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” will find out something new about Parks that they didn’t already know. Parks is most famous for an act that is widely credited with sparking the racial civil rights movement in the United States: On December 1, 1955, when she was 42 years old, Parks refused to give up her bus seat for a white man on a bus in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, and she was arrested for it.

This arrest happened during a shameful time in U.S. history when white supremacist racial segregation was legal. If white people and non-white people were gathered in the same space, such as on a bus, a white person could legally demand to make the non-white person move. During this Jim Crow racial segregation era, anyone who wasn’t white had to sit in designated seats in the back of the bus and could sometimes sit in the middle section of a bus, as long as white people allowed them to sit there. Parks’ act of standing up for herself and refusing to give in to a racist law inspired the U.S. civil rights movement to grow and move forward.

“The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” tells Parks’ life story in mostly chronological order. However, the movie (which announces a pivotal year in big and bold letters that take up the entire screen) occasionally jumps around the timeline when it goes more in-depth about a certain landmark event in the civil rights movement, to put an emphasis on how this event related to Parks’ life. (Parks died in 2005, at the age of 92.) “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” has the expected mix of archival footage and new interviews that were done exclusively for the documentary.

Parks had a soft-spoken and unassuming way about her that endeared her to a lot of people. However, one of the myths that this documentary aims to dispel is that Parks’ humble image should not be mistaken for Parks being a passive people-pleaser. “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” makes it clear that she was all about disrupting anything to do with white supremacist racism. And far from being a pacifist, she believed that people of color needed to physically defend themselves and fight back if necessary.

The movie also explains how Parks had to come to terms with and overcome her own racism. Because of violent bullying that she experienced by white people in her youth, she spent much of her youth fearing and hating white people. It wasn’t until she got involved in the civil rights movement, when she saw how many white allies were willing to fight for the same causes, that Parks changed her views and came to understand that not all white people were “the enemy.”

Parks was born as Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913. Her early views on race relations were influenced by racism she experienced and hearing about the horrible treatment that her biracial maternal grandfather received throughout his life, when he wasn’t completely accepted by white people or black people. Her maternal grandfather Sylvester, who could pass for white, was the son of a white plantation owner named John Edwards and an enslaved African American woman who worked in the plantation owner’s house.

Both of Sylvester’s parents died when he was very young, so he was sent to live with African American relatives. Carolyn Williamson Green, a cousin of Parks, comments in the documentary on Sylvester: “He looked white, but he wasn’t afraid of white people.” Williamson Green adds that because Sylvester was often harassed for being biracial, he passed on to his family a strong sense of not putting up with bad treatment from anyone. He kept a gun with him at all times and taught his family how to defend themselves.

Sylvester married a woman named Rose, and they both helped raise their grandchildren Rosa (the future Rosa Parks) and Sylvester (Rosa’s younger brother, named after his grandfather) when the kids’ parents split up. The elder Sylvester was the father of the children’s mother Leona (a teacher), who was married to a carpenter named James McCauley. By all accounts, Rosa was very protective of her younger brother Sylvester, although their relationship at times became strained later when they were adults.

In an era when African American kids weren’t expected to complete an education past sixth grade, Rosa’s mother Leona insisted that Rosa continue her education at a private school called Ms. White’s, which was an all-girls school for African Americans. The documentary mentions that this school had a tremendous impact on Rosa, because it further taught her not to think of herself as inferior or set limits for herself because of her race. She graduated from high school during a time when most African Americans could not.

Georgette Norman, former director of the Rosa Parks Museum, says that Rosa knew from an early age that the racist Jim Crow laws (which were especially prevalent in the South) could only be changed when the oppressed fought back: “Rosa got the idea [of] ‘I want to change that what makes me have to need to be protected.’ White supremacy was the threat.”

Rosa met her future husband Raymond in 1931. By all accounts, he was the first political activist she ever met. And she wasn’t very attracted to him at first because he was a light-skinned black man who could pass for white. Rosa thought that the man she would marry would have much darker skin.

However, Raymond won over Rosa with his intelligence, compassion and willingness to treat her like an equal. The couple married in 1932 and had no children. After she became world-famous, people in the documentary say that Raymond didn’t mind being overshadowed by Rosa whenever they would go out in public together. It was through Raymond that Rosa got involved with the Montgomery chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), one of the earliest national groups to spur the U.S. civil rights movement.

Rosa became a secretary for the NAACP’s Montgomery chapter by accident, when the regular secretary didn’t show up for the chapter’s election day, so Rosa was voted into the position instead. The documentary mentions that this secretary position was a catalyst that inspired Rosa to become a more outspoken activist. Along with other members of the NAACP, including NAACP Montgomery chapter chairman E.D. Nixon (one of Rosa’s early civil rights mentors), she helped fight for justice in many cases where African Americans were unjustly treated.

These cases included the Scottsboro Boys case where nine African American teenagers and young men were falsely accused of raping by two white women in 1931 in Scottsboro, Alabama; Recy Taylor, a sharecropper’s wife who was gang raped by white men in 1944 in Abbeville, Alabama; and the brutal murder a Emmett Till, a 15-year-old boy who was viciously tortured, lynched and slaughtered after being accused of whistling at a white woman in Drew, Mississippi. One of the NAACP’s victories was helping in the defense of Joan Little, who was found not guilty of murder in the 1974 death of a white prison guard whom Little said she killed in self-defense when he tried to rape her.

In the case of rape survivor Taylor, whom Rosa had to interview for NAACP evidence testimony, Rosa was personally invested, because Rosa was also a victim of a sex crime. In a letter that Rosa wrote and is read in the documentary, she describes how she was nearly raped by a white man, who only stopped after Rosa told him that he would have to kill her if he was going to rape her. In other words, she warned him that she was prepared to fight to her death if he was going to try to violate her.

As historian Robin D.G. Kelley tells it: “One of the biggest myths in the Black Freedom movement is that non-violence is a default position. That’s not true. It’s the other way around. And Rosa Parks grew up in a movement culture where armed self-defense was simply taken for granted.”

Rev. James Watson, a former Detroit city council member, adds this comment: “Mother Parks supported self-defense. She couldn’t have been a supporter of the Republic of New Afrika had she not been. To her, there was no conflict in supporting Imari Obadele [Republic of New Africa president], Robert F. Williams and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whom she loved. She saw that as the same line of freedom fighting. She was holistic in her approach to the right of all people to be free.”

Rosa was also heavily involved in the movement of getting more black citizens registered to vote and acting on their right to vote. It wasn’t easy, when voter suppression based on race was not only blatant but also legal. Many people believe that legal voter suppression that targets mostly people of color still exists today. Rosa also led several NAACP Youth Council groups. Doris Crenshaw, Elaine Huffman and Rosalyn O. King—three interviewees in the documentary who were part of these youth groups—have nothing but praise for Rosa.

What many people might not know is that Rosa was not the first person the NAACP considered backing after being arrested for not giving up a bus seat for a white person. As has been reported elsewhere and repeated in the documentary, a 15-year-old girl named Claudette Colvin, who was a member of a Rosa Parks-led NAACP youth group, was arrested for not sitting at the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 5, 1955.

At first, the NAACP seemed to be willing to give major public support in Colvin’s defense. Ultimately, the NAACP declined to put its clout behind Colvin’s case. African American historian Keisha Nicole Blaine explains in the documentary: “At the age of 15, they did not think she would make a good witness, that she would not be reliable. Some people described her as being a bit rebellious and feisty. And Claudette Colvin was a dark-skinned black girl. There was colorism.”

Rosa fit the profile of what the NAACP needed as a symbol for the civil rights movement: She was a middle-aged, married woman who was well-respected in her community and looked non-threatening. It made her arrest look even more like racist bullying. She was already well-informed about peaceful ways to protest and to be an activist. And she was also an insider at the NAACP. Williamson Green adds, “Her quietness was her strength.”

Rosa was arrested during other civil rights protests, but her 1955 arrest for not giving up her bus seat was what catapulted her into the international spotlight. The arrest inspired the widespread bus boycotts in Alabama and other parts of the U.S. where racial segregation was still legal and enforced. The NAACP helped with planning and scheduling carpools that African Americans could take instead of public transportation that had racist segregation.

The boycotts spread to other racially segregated businesses and were instrumental in the progress on legislation that resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal law that made it illegal to discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. These successful boycotts are an example of how oppressors often don’t change their ways until they get hurt financially. Rosa and Raymond eventually settled in the Detroit area in the mid-1960s.

The documentary rightfully points out that even with all of Rosa’s accomplishments in the civil rights movement, Rosa and other women experienced prejudice within the movement. At civil rights protests and rallies in the 1950s and 1960s, women were rarely allowed to give speeches. And if they did get to say anything resembling a speech, their speech time was very limited, while the men were allowed to give long speeches.

Over the years, Rosa received many accolades, awards and honorary university degrees for her civil rights activism. For example, the U.S. Congress named her as “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement.” She became a close ally of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, who were both murdered at 39 years old. (King died in 1968, while Malcolm X died in 1965.) However, the documentary mentions multiple times that Rosa (whose day jobs were mostly being a housecleaner or a secretary/administrative assistant) never tried to get rich from her fame. She turned down many lucrative offers and gifts.

In fact, Rosa and her husband Raymond sometimes lived in poverty. Theoharis says in the documentary that in 1959, the couple’s tax return reported a combined income of only $700. In addition, Rosa often lived for years in obscurity after becoming a civil rights activist. For example, after a “where are they now” type of article was published about Rosa and reported that she was living in poverty, donations poured in from around the world to help her and Raymond with their financial problems.

Rosa’s niece Rhea McCauley says that Rosa had the type of personality where Rosa wouldn’t complain about personal problems, and she would to be too proud to ask for financial help: “Auntie Rosa never discussed financial hardships. You would not know she was hungry, for instance. You wouldn’t know that she couldn’t pay this bill.”

Raymond was a barber as his main money-making profession. Vonzie Whitlow, who used to be Raymond’s barber apprentice, is one of the people interviewed in the documentary. It’s an example of how the documentary goes a little bit off-topic, but this off-topic subject takes up such a small amount of time that it’s not a major flaw.

As mentioned in the documentary, Rosa didn’t get her first paying full-time job in politics until 1965, when she became a secretary for John Conyers Jr., a U.S. Representative from Michigan. She held the job until 1988. Conyers died in 2019. The documentary has an archival TV news interview of Conyers that was conducted when Rosa and Conyers worked together. In the interview, Conyers says he was in awe of Rosa and looked up to her, even though he was her boss. And it wasn’t until 1992 that she published a memoir: “Rosa Parks: My Story,” which she wrote with Jim Haskins.

But even the great Rosa Parks was not immune to ageism. Years after Rosa and Raymond settled in the Detroit area, civil rights activist Joe Madison worked with Rosa in the NAACP’s Detroit chapter. He tells a story in the documentary about how he and Rosa wanted to be running mates for the chapter’s open leadership positions, but several members thought that Rosa was too old for the job. Madison and Rosa didn’t win in their campaign, but Madison says it was a huge honor for Rosa to be his running mate.

Other people interviewed in the documentary include Rosa’s great-nephew Lonnie McCauley; activists Bree Newsome, Dan Aldridge, Ericka Huggins, Barbara Smith, Bryan Stevenson, Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, Dorothy Aldridge and Patrisse Cullors; historians Francis Gourrier and Mary Frances Berry; journalists Herb Boyd and Tiffany Cross; and Ed Vaughn, founder of Vaughn’s Bookstore, an African American-oriented bookstore in Detroit where Rosa and Raymond Parks were frequent customers.

Rosa had a life of triumphs and tragedies. The documentary mentions how cancer claimed the lives of her husband Raymond, her brother Sylvester and her mother Leona—all within a two-year period. Raymond died in August 1977, Sylvester passed away in November 1977, and Leona died in December 1979. Rosa also survived a brutal home invasion assault and robbery in 1994. The attacker was convicted of the crime.

An example of how Rosa had periods of obscurity is shown in the documentary’s opening scene, which features Rosa in a 1980 episode of “To Tell the Truth,” a game show where three people claim to be the same person, and celebrity contestants have to guess which one out of the three is telling the truth about their identity. In this episode, the contestants were entertainers Nipsey Russell, Tiiu Leek, Kitty Carlisle and Gordon Jump. Three women, including the real Rosa Parks, claimed to be Rosa Parks.

Leek and Carlisle incorrectly guessed someone else was Rosa, while Jump made the correct guess. Russell abstained from voting because he says he already knew who Rosa was since they were both involved in the civil rights movement. The fact that half of the contestants didn’t know who Rosa was is an example of how many people didn’t really recognize her.

Unfortunately, they’re not unusual, since there are probably millions of people in America who have never heard of Rosa Parks—or if they’ve heard of her, they’re not quite sure what her claim to fame is. Keep in mind that most people in America can’t even name the politicians who represent their state in the U.S. Senate. However ignorant or knowledgeable people are about the civil rights movement in the U.S., the documentary “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” is a worthy history lesson for anyone who wants to learn more about this impassioned activist who made a positive impact on the lives of countless people.

UPDATE: Peacock will premiere “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” on October 19, 2022.

Review: ‘Firestarter’ (2022), starring Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, Kurtwood Smith, John Beasley, Michael Greyeyes and Gloria Reuben

May 12, 2022

by Carla Hay

Zac Efron and Ryan Kiera Armstrong in “Firestarter” (Photo by Ken Woroner/Universal Pictures)

“Firestarter” (2022)

Directed by Keith Thomas

Culture Representation: Taking place mostly in Lewiston, New York, the horror film “Firestarter” features a cast of predominantly white characters (with some African Americans, Latinos and one Native American) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A psychic father goes on the run with his 11-year-daughter, who has the deadly ability to start fires through her mind power, and they are fugitives of the U.S. government and law enforcement. 

Culture Audience: “Firestarter” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Zac Efron and the Stephen King novel on which the movie is based, but the movie is another failed attempt to do justice to the book.

Michael Greyeyes in “Firestarter” (Photo by Ken Woroner/Universal Pictures)

The 1984 and 2022 versions of “Firestarter” are both awful horror movies for different reasons. The 2022 version has better acting than the 1984 version, but the screenplay is worse. It’s a dull, incoherent mess with the last 15 minutes as the most heinous. The 2022 edition of “Firestarter” is from the horror-oriented Blumhouse Productions, which has a “hit and miss” track record, when it comes to putting out quality films. The same can be said of any movie adapted from a Stephen King novel or short story. “Firestarter” is based on King’s 1980 novel of the same name.

Directed by Keith Thomas and written by Scott Teems, the 2022 version of “Firestarter” should get a little credit for not being a copycat of the 1984 version. But that’s not saying much when the 2022 version is a tedious remake that takes too long to get to the “fugitives on the run” aspect of the story that was shown right away in the 1984 version of “Firestarter.” The first two-thirds of the 2002 movie are bogged down with a lot of repetitive scenes that don’t effectively further the story and in fact stall it on very monotonous levels. And the ending of the 2022 “Firestarter” movie is drastically different than the ending of both the book and the 1984 movie.

And even worse: The title character in the 2022 version of “Firestarter” goes from being a compassionate child to being a ruthless killer during a certain part of the movie. It’s a huge change in personality that looks very phony and hard to believe. People watching “Firestarter” already know that this girl has the ability to kill people with her fire-starting powers. But when she starts killing for reasons that aren’t really justified (and one of her murders is particularly shocking and despicable), it’s going to be a problem for a lot of audience members to see an 11-year-old child depicted in a way that doesn’t stay true to the book or the 1984 movie.

In both movies, a father named Andy McGee and his pre-teen daughter Charlene “Charlie” McGee are being hunted by the U.S. government because they both have unusual abilities as the result of a top-secret experiments that the father underwent when he was a college student. The research was being conducted in a lab by a mysterious government agency called The Shop, which administered a psychedelic drug called Lot 6 to the research participants, who were usually young people desperate for money. Andy met his future wife Vicky (the mother of Charlie) during these experiments.

As a result of these experiments, Andy developed psychic abilities where he could exert control over other people’s minds. Vicky also developed psychic abilities too, but not to the extent that she had mind control powers. Meanwhile, Charlie’s psychic powers came with the ability to start fires with her mind. She’s most likely to start fires when she’s angry or afraid.

Both movies also have a scene where Charlie gets angry at her mother and accidentally sets her mother’s hands on fire. And both movies show that when Charlie starts to get worked up, the temperature rises considerably wherever she’s at, and people start to sweat as a result. Charlie has to be trained to control her fire-starting abilities, but any training she gets isn’t enough. Meanwhile, Andy’s psychic abilities put a strain on his mind, which has internal hemorrhaging every time he uses his abilities, resulting in blood coming out of his eyes.

Back when Syfy was called the Sci-Fi Channel, it had a 2002 miniseries called “Firestarter 2: Rekindled,” which was about Charlie as an adult. This low-quality sequel series is not essential viewing along with any “Firestarter” movie. In fact, it’s not essential viewing for anyone who likes good entertainment.

In the 1984 “Firestarter” movie, Vicky is already dead, but she is seen in flashbacks. In the 1984 version of “Firestarter” (directed by Mark L. Lester and written by Stanley Mann), the McGee family was played by Drew Barrymore as Charlie, David Keith as Andy, and Heather Locklear as Vicky. It’s a very sloppily edited film with terrible dialogue and campy theatrics, including over-acting by Keith and co-stars such as Martin Sheen and George C. Scott.

In the 2022 “Firestarter” movie, a lot of screen time (about half of the movie) is taken up showing Andy (played by Zac Efron) and Vicky (played by Sydney Lemmon) raising 11-year-old Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) in Lewiston, New York. (The movie was actually filmed in the Canadian city of Hamilton, Ontario.) Both parents have very different opinions on how to handle Charlie’s fire-starting abilities. Vicky strongly believes that they should train Charlie to control these abilities. Andy disagrees.

“We have to protect her,” Andy tells Vicky, who replies: “Training is protecting.” There’s cause for concern, because Charlie has told them that, after a three-year hiatus, her “bad thing” has started to come back. “Something feels weird. My body.” And she says it’s not puberty.

The experiments that Andy and Vicky underwent in collage are breezed through in an opening-credits montage that shows quick flashbacks and voiceovers. These experiments were led by Dr. Joseph Wanless (played by Kurtwood Smith), who is seen later in the movie in a scene that doesn’t have very good placement in the story. The U.S. government has been looking for people who underwent these experiments to possibly use their superpowers as weapons of mass destruction.

The first half of the 2022 version of “Firestarter” has a lot of monotonous scenes of Andy, Vicky and Charlie at home, work or school. Andy’s backstory is briefly explained in the experiments montage, where he tells Dr. Wanless in an interview that he was orphaned at the age of 7 years old because his parents died in a car accident. When Andy is asked if he’s ever had an authentic psychic experience, he reveals that he had a premonition about this fatal car accident a week before it happened. The movie doesn’t bother to reveal anything about Vicky’s family background.

Andy works as a life coach/therapist, where he puts people through hypnosis/mind control to solve whatever personal problem they want to be solved There’s an unnecessary scene that shows Andy doing just that in a session with a client named Darla Gurney (played by Hannan Younis), who wants to quit smoking. Apparently, Andy and Vicky never thought about Andy controlling Charlie’s mind to brainwash her into not starting fires. Maybe Charlie is immune to this kind of mind control, but the movie never says so either way.

The 2022 version of “Firestarter” also spends considerable time showing Charlie in school, which is something that the 1984 “Firestarter” movie didn’t waste time showing. Charlie (who is a quiet and introverted student) is harassed in school by a bully named Gavin (played by Gavin Maciver-Wright), who picks on Charlie because he thinks she and her family are weird. For example, Gavin taunts Charlie because her parents won’t let her use the Internet.

Charlie’s teacher Ms. Gardner (played by Tina Jung) gently suggests to Charlie that Charlie can use the Internet at school to help her with her homework, but Charlie says that her mother has told her that using computers for extended periods of time can cause health problems. Later at home, Charlie pleads with her mother to get Internet access in their home.

Vicky is firm with her response: “That stuff rots your brains. We can’t afford it right now.” Charlie later finds out the real reason why her parents don’t want to have Internet access or computers: They think it will make the U.S. government easier to track them and spy on them.

In a scene that takes place in a school gym, the kids are playing dodgeball, and Gavin cruelly throws the ball at the back of Charlie’s head. The throw is hard enough to definitely hurt Charlie, who runs away and hides in a school restroom. Gavin calls Charlie a “loser” and sneers, “Yeah, run away, you freak!”

Ms. Gardner is the teacher on duty, so she follows Charlie in the restroom and is shocked to see the restroom filled with smoke. And as soon as she walks in, Ms. Gardner sees a closed restroom stall have its door blown wide open, as if an explosion was set off in the stall. The teacher sees Charlie come out of the stall, so Charlie gets in trouble for the damage.

The police are called to investigate. Charlie’s parents try to smooth things over and insist that Charlie did not set off an explosive device, but they can’t say the real reason why the restroom stall exploded. When the parents are at home, Andy has this to say about this explosive incident: “Our cover’s been blown.” Andy knows it’s only a matter of time before The Shop finds out about Charlie.

And he’s right. The McGee family gets on the radar of an official from The Shop named Captain June Hollister (played by Gloria Reuben), who sets a plan in motion to capture Andy and Charlie. She contacts an embittered war veteran named Rainbird (played by Michael Greyeyes) to enlist him as a hired mercenary. His mission is to find Andy and Charlie and bring them in for research. Captain Hollister insists that unlike previous mercenary jobs that Rainbird has done for the U.S. government, this quarry (Charlie and Andy) must be brought back alive.

The movie hints that Rainbird has been mistreated by the government, so Captain Hollister tries to appeal to him, by saying that his mistreatment came from “the old guard … I’m the new [guard].” Rainbird also drops a big hint about his own personal experiences with government experiments: “Before they tested their poison on pretty young co-eds, they had to use the lab rats.”

The Rainbird character was also in the “Firestarter” book, but he was not the main pursuer in the 1984 “Firestarter” movie. Instead, 1984’s “Firestarter” had a bunch of nameless government agents (all men, usually in business suits) in physical pursuit of Andy and Charlie, while Rainbird (played by Scott) makes his move much later in the story. In the 2022 “Firestarter” movie, it looks completely unrealistic that Rainbird is the lone person (without any real backup) looking for Andy and Charlie. If Andy and Charlie are so important to The Shop, there should be teams of trained professionals who go out looking for these two people with dangerous psychic abilities.

At any rate, Rainbird breaks into the McGee home, which results in Andy and Charlie escaping and going on the run without Vicky, whose fate is shown in this home invasion scene. Both “Firestarter” movies have a scene of Andy and Charlie temporarily hiding at a rural farm home. In the 2022 version of “Firestarter,” this hideout scenario happens when fugitives Andy and Charlie get a truck ride from a stranger named Irv Manders (played by John Beasley), who ends up inviting Andy and Charlie into his farm home for a temporary place to stay.

Not all of Charlie’s victims are human. After Charlie and Andy go on the run, there’s a scene where Charlie sees a stray cat and tries to pet it, but the cat scratches her out of fear. This unlucky feline then gets scorched to death.

When Charlie and Andy bury the cat and pray over this makeshift grave, Andy seems more concerned about the cat than the fact that Vicky is no longer with them. Vicky seems almost like an afterthought in this prayer scene, when Charlie says offhandedly toward the end of the prayer: “And bless mommy too,” as a reminder to Andy that they shouldn’t just be praying about the dead cat.

One of the most unrealistic aspects of the 2022 version of “Firestarter” is that when people get burned by Charlie’s fire, they almost never scream out in pain. It’s an odd choice to not have this type of screaming in a horror movie. There are also unrealistic scenes where Charlie should be burned by all the flames or overcome by all the smoke in a blazing room, but she’s not.

Most of Charlie’s freakout fire blazes don’t happen until the last third of the movie, but hardly anything in this boring sludge of a story is scary. The acting in the 1984 “Firestarter” movie was very over-the-top, and it was bad in a “train wreck” type of way. In comparison, the acting in the 2022 “Firestarter” movie is a little more professional and polished, but much of it is too restrained and often downright lackluster, especially from Efron, who is never convincing as a grieving husband.

Charlie goes from being a meek child who’s scared of her fire-starting powers for most of the movie to a sudden transformation into a rampaging, cold-blooded serial killer. It’s a jarring and extreme change that makes Charlie look like she’s got a personality disorder too. The ending of the 2022 version of “Firestarter” is what really makes it irredeemable, because it’s just mindless mayhem that tries to overcompensate for the lack of scares in most of this disjointed, bland and misguided movie.

Universal Pictures will release “Firestarter” in U.S. cinemas and on Peacock on May 13, 2022.

Review: ‘Halloween Kills,’ starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Thomas Mann and Anthony Michael Hall

October 16, 2021

by Carla Hay

Judy Greer, Jamie Lee Curtis and Andi Matichak in in “Halloween Kills” (Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures)

“Halloween Kills”

Directed by David Gordon Green

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2018, in the fictional Haddonfield, Illinois, the horror flick “Halloween Kills” has a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Serial killer Michael Myers is on the loose again and will murder anyone who gets in his way.

Culture Audience: “Halloween Kills” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching horror movies that care more about creating bloody murder scenes than creating any suspense or an interesting story.

Michael Myers (also known as The Shape, pictured at left) in “Halloween Kills” (Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures)

“Halloween Kills” is an apt description for what this boring slog of a horror movie does to further destroy the already damaged “Halloween” franchise. It also commits the unforgivable sin of confining “Halloween” icon Laurie Strode to a hospital for most of the movie. Horror movie aficionados will find nothing scary about this cynical cesspool of lazy filmmaking, because “Halloween Kills” is just a series of gory murders thrown into an incoherent and flimsy plot.

The 2018 “Halloween” movie indicated that Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode character (the most famous survivor of mask-wearing serial killer Michael Myers) would return to the franchise as an active hero doing battle against Michael Myers, who is also known as The Shape. The movie also introduced Laurie’s estranged daughter Karen (played by Judy Greer) and Karen’s daughter Allyson (played by Andi Matichak) into the mix, to make this hunt for Michael Myers a multi-generational family mission. At the end of the movie, Laurie and Karen had begun to mend their relationship, with Allyson being somewhat of a bridge between the two.

In “Halloween Kills,” which picks up right after the 2018 “Halloween” movie ended, any expectation that Laurie, Karen and Allyson would join forces is shattered. The three women spend most of the movie apart from each other. And when they are together, they often bicker with each other about who should or shouldn’t go after Michael Myers, who has returned to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, to wreak more havoc on Halloween night. (“Halloween Kills” was actually filmed in North Carolina.) Meanwhile, men dominate in the planning of vigilante mob actions that play out in “Halloween Kills” in the most ludicrous ways.

David Gordon Green directed 2018’s “Halloween” and “Halloween Kills,” and he co-wrote both movies with Danny McBride. Jeff Fradley was the third co-writer of 2018’s “Halloween,” while Scott Teems was the third co-writer of “Halloween Kills.” It’s difficult to know if replacing Fradley with Teems is the reason why the quality of the “Halloween Kills” screenplay took a noticeable descent into moronic hell. The 2018 “Halloween” movie is by no means a classic horror flick, but it’s an exceedingly better film than the dreck of “Halloween Kills.” The director is chiefly responsible for how a movie turns out, so it’s disappointing that Green chose to coast off of the success of his “Halloween” movie and churn out such a formulaic and unimaginative dud with “Halloween Kills.”

Simply put: “Halloween Kills” wallows in the worst stereotypes of awful horror flicks. Characters go into a house alone to try and confront the extremely dangerous killer on the loose. When opportunities come to capture or kill the murderer once and for all, characters stand around talking to (or screaming at) the mute psycho killer Michael Myers, as if they think striking up a one-way conversation with him will suddenly turn him to a reasonable, law-abiding citizen. (In “Halloween Kills,” Michael Myers is portrayed by three actors: James Jude Courtney and Nick Castle in the 2018 scenes and Airon Armstrong in the 1978 scenes.)

And even though this serial killer is murdering people all over town, police officers and ambulances are mysteriously absent for most of the mayhem because almost all the imbecile characters in this movie usually don’t call 911. The nonsensical explanation in the movie is that the vigilante citizens think they can take Michael Myers on their own. Many of them think the Haddonfield police are incompetent. But that still doesn’t explain why the police aren’t showing up in force anyway.

And worst of all for a horror movie: There’s almost no suspense and nothing is truly terrifying. Gruesome? Yes. Scary? No. It’s very easy to predict who will die and who will survive in this movie. There’s also the predictable ending scene of someone who might or might not be dead. (It’s the most obvious way for a horror movie to set up a sequel.) The murders are done in such a monotonously routine way, it would be understandable for viewers to think that Michael Myers is sleepwalking. There is absolutely nothing creatively done in this movie when it comes to the plot, dialogue or action sequences.

“Halloween Kills” also squanders a compelling idea of reuniting many of the characters who survived the Michael Myers massacre that took place in the original 1978 “Halloween” movie. Several characters are introduced as having a meaningful connection to “Halloween” lore, but “Halloween Kills” won’t let viewers get to know these characters in a meaningful way. There are flashbacks in “Halloween Kills” that are ultimately a waste of time.

In one such flashback, which takes place in 1978 during Michael Myers’ first massacre in Haddonfield, viewers see a rookie cop in his 20s named Hawkins (played by Thomas Mann) and his older, more experienced partner Pete McCabe (played by Jim Cummings) on the scene. They are among the first cops to respond to this emergency. It’s enough to say that McCabe doesn’t make it out alive, but Hawkins does. In 2018, Hawkins (played by Will Patton) is still a Haddonfield cop, and he’s been wounded in this latest Michael Myers massacre.

Laurie is also wounded, because Michael stabbed her in the abdomen, as shown in 2018’s “Halloween.” She’s first seen in “Halloween Kills” bleeding profusely and in agony in the back of a truck with Karen and Allyson, as the truck speeds to the nearest hospital. It’s at this hospital that Laurie will stay for most of her screen time in “Halloween Kills.” She’s sidelined into being either being unconscious or, when she wakes up, being a cranky grandmother who thinks she knows best when it comes to who should go after Michael Myers.

And what a coincidence: A wounded Hawkins ends up being in the same hospital room as Laurie. There’s an almost laughable backstory put in “Halloween Kills” that Laurie and Hawkins had a flirtation with each other back in 1978. And so, in the midst of all the madness and mayhem with this latest Michael Myers killing spree, Laurie and Hawkins make goo-goo eyes at each other in their hospital beds, as they reminisce about their “could’ve been” near-miss romance. It’s an example of how off-the-rails this movie is in keeping Laurie mostly out of the action.

Besides Laurie and Hawkins, these are the other Haddonfield survivors from the original 1978 massacre who become targets of Michael Myers in the 2018 massacre:

  • Tommy Doyle (played by Anthony Michael Hall): In 1978, Laurie was babysitting Tommy and his sister on the Halloween night when Michael Myers went on his deadly rampage. Tommy’s sister became one of Michael Myers’ murder victims.
  • Lindsey Wallace (played by Kyle Richards): She was also a kid in 1978, and her babysitter was murdered by Michael Myers that night.
  • Marion Chambers (played by Nancy Stephens): She was the nurse of the late Dr. Loomis (played by Donald Pleasance), the psychiatrist who was treating Michael Myers when Michael escaped from the psychiatric institution on that fateful Halloween in 1978. (Stephens reprises her role that she had in 1978’s “Halloween” movie.)
  • Lonnie Elam (played by Robert Longstreet): When he was 9 or 10 years old, he had a near-miss encounter with Michael Myers on a sidewalk on Halloween night 1978. (Tristian Eggerling portrays Lonnie as a child in a flashback scene.)

“Halloween Kills” also has some other characters who encounter Michael Myers on Halloween night in 2018. Lonnie’s son Cameron Elam (played by Dylan Arnold) happens to be Allyson’s boyfriend. Cameron is also the person who finds a wounded Hawkins on the street. It’s one of the few times that someone in this movie has the common sense to call 911 for help. But that’s not what happens later in the movie when Lonnie, Cameron and Allyson foolishly decide to hunt down Michael Myers on their own.

Married couple Marcus (played by Michael Smallwood) and Vanessa (played by Carmela McNeal), who are dressed in Halloween costumes as a doctor and a nurse, meet Tommy at a local bar and quickly befriend him after he gets up on stage and talks about being a Michael Myers survivor. And there’s a gay couple named Big John (played by Scott MacArthur) and Little John (played by Michael McDonald), who work together in real estate. Big John and Little John happen to live in the house that Michael Myers used to live in before Michael was sent to a psychiatric institution in 1963 for killing his 17-year-old sister Judith when he was 6 years old. What are the odds that Michael will go back to his childhood home when Big John and Little John are there?

Michael Myers was supposed to be in his 20s in 1978, which means that he’s getting too old to have the type of superhuman strength that he has in these “Halloween” movies. He’s also been “killed” in several ways in various “Halloween” movies, but he still keeps coming back. All of that is explained in “Halloween Kills” when Laurie gives an absurdly bad monologue about how she’s come to the conclusion that Michael Myers is not human and he feeds off of people’s fear of him.

The “mob justice” aspect of “Halloween Kills” is idiotic and badly mishandled. Expect to see Tommy shout, “Evil dies tonight!” multiple times, as it becomes a rallying cry for the vigilante crowd. Just by coincidence, two psychiatric patients have escaped that night from a psychiatric institution that held Michael Myers. It’s a plot contrivance that’s set up for a silly “mistaken identity” subplot.

Even though the people of Haddonfield should know by now what Michael Myers’ height and general physical build should be (his body type hasn’t changed since 1978), the crazed vigilantes go after one of these escapees who’s considerably shorter and stockier than Michael Myers. Apparently, for this mob, any old psychiatric hospital escapee will do.

Karen is the only one with an iota of common sense to notice that this escapee doesn’t have Michael Myers’ physical characteristics. As the practical-minded Karen, Greer gives the best performance of this movie’s cast members. However, that’s not saying much because everyone’s acting in “Halloween Kills” is mediocre overall.

Oddly, there’s a lone elderly cop in uniform who gets swept up in the vigilante mob. His allegiances are never really clear. One minute, he seems to want to try to stop the mob madness. The next minute, he seems to be going along with the crowd. He doesn’t ask for backup from his fellow police officers. The only thing that’s clear is that he’s a terrible cop who should be fired and can kiss that pension goodbye.

There are many plot holes in “Halloween” that the filmmakers want to cover up with some cringeworthy dialogue and bloody action sequences. “Halloween Kills” has so much arguing and melodrama in a hospital, viewers will be wondering: “Is this a horror movie or a soap opera?” At one point, Laurie rips out her medical tubes and injects herself in the rear end with a painkiller. If you waited your whole life to see Laurie Strode give herself a butt injection, then “Halloween Kills” is the movie for you.

During one of her hospital rants, Laurie says to Karen about why Michael Myers is still on the loose and what Laurie wants to do about it: “The system failed … Let him come for me! Let him take my head as I take his! … You and Allyson shouldn’t have to keep running because of the darkness I created.”

But wait a minute, Laurie. “Halloween Kills” doesn’t want you to take all the credit for Michael Myers going on a rampage. Hawkins thinks Michael Myers is on this killing spree because of Hawkins. He makes a guilt-ridden confession that doesn’t make any sense at all for why Hawkins would be the reason for Michael Myers’ serial killings. There’s a badly written flashback scene involving a cover-up that wouldn’t be plausible in the real world because of autopsy reports and how bullet trajectories would be investigated.

It’s not as if viewers should expect a terrible horror movie like “Halloween Kills” to be realistic. But the movie just doesn’t offer a horrifying mystery, engaging new characters, or even twist-filled “hunt for the killer” chase scenes. It’s all so predictable, hollow and generic. “Halloween Kills” puts too much emphasis on a mindless and forgettable mob of people while sidelining Laurie Strode, the most memorable and iconic hero of the “Halloween” franchise. That’s the real injustice in “Halloween Kills.”

Universal Pictures released “Halloween Kills” in U.S. cinemas and on Peacock on October 15, 2021.

Review: ‘Anthony,’ starring Toheeb Jimoh, Rakie Ayola, Julia Brown and Bobby Schofield

September 4, 2020

by Carla Hay

Toheeb Jimoh in “Anthony” (Photo by Ben Blackall/LA Productions/Peacock)

“Anthony”

Directed by Terry McDonough

Culture Representation: Taking place in England from 2005 to 2012, the dramatic film “Anthony” has a cast of white and black characters representing the middle-class and the working-class.

Culture Clash: This semi-biographical movie speculates what could have happened if real-life murder victim Anthony Walker, who was killed in a racist hate crime at the age of 18, had lived for the next seven years.

Culture Audience: “Anthony” will appeal primarily to people who can tolerate the concept of this movie, knowing that it was made to get people to feel sad or upset over this tragic murder.

Rakie Ayola in “Anthony” (Photo by Ben Blackall/LA Productions/Peacock)

On July 30, 2005, 18-year-old Anthony Walker was murdered in Huyton, Merseyside, England, by two white men in a racist hate crime that was an unprovoked attack. The two killers targeted Anthony, Anthony’s girlfriend Louise Thompson and Anthony’s cousin Marcus Binns, after seeing them waiting at a bus stop. After yelling racist insults at the trio, the killers chased them down in a car. Anthony had the misfortune of not being able to escape when the killers caught him and viciously murdered him.

These sordid details are necessary to know what’s in store when people watch the emotionally touching dramatic movie “Anthony,” which is a mostly speculative story about what Anthony’s life would have been like if the attack never happened and he had lived for the next seven years. The story is told in reverse chronological order, so that the end of the movie depicts what happened in real life: Anthony’s last year alive and what happened in the days leading up to his murder. 

Directed by Terry McDonough and written by Jimmy McGovern, the “what if” concept of “Anthony” could be considered tacky or offensive if this movie hadn’t been given the approval of Anthony’s mother Gee Walker, who appears briefly as herself at the end of the movie. Gee is convincingly portrayed by Rakie Ayola in the film. The movie’s overall tone is respectful of how it portrays Anthony Walker and his family. And for that reason, “Anthony” might be compelling enough to watch for some people.

The movie begins showing what Anthony could have been like at the age of 25. He’s at a black-tie award ceremony where someone is about to be announced as the winner of the Phoenix Turnaround Award, which is given to someone with a troubled past who turned their life around for the better. (This award is fictional and created for the movie.)

The winner is announced as Mick Whitfield (played by Bobby Schofield), a man in his 20s, who begins stuttering badly when he goes on stage to accept the award. It’s shown later in the movie in the flashback scenes that Mick has struggled with being a stutterer for years. His shame over this condition eventually led him into a life of alcoholism and then  homelessness after his wife Helen (Stephanie Hyam) kicked him out of the house because of his drinking problem.

But as viewers see from this award ceremony, Mick has gotten his life back on track. And while he’s nervously accepting his award on stage, he tells the audience that he wants to give his prize to Anthony Walker, because Anthony “deserves it more than I do.” Anthony (played by Taheeb Jimoh), who has been seated in the audience and cheering Mick on, goes up on stage to hug his friend Mick.

The rest of the movie shows Anthony’s life, year by year, in reverse chronological order, from ages 25 to age 18. At age 25, he is happily married with a baby daughter. The movie’s flashbacks show how Anthony met his wife Katherine (played by Julia Brown), their courtship, his marriage proposal, their wedding and the birth of their daughter. The story also shows how Anthony met Mick and how Mick’s alcoholism affected their up-and-down friendship.

Anthony comes from a working-class family that includes his parents Gee and Steven (played by Leo Wringer), who have a rocky marriage. Steven is frequently absent from the home, and by the time that Anthony has his wedding, Gee and Steven are barely tolerating each other. (During a family photo at the wedding, the photographer asks if someone should get Steven to be in the photo, and Gee says not to bother.)

Even though Gee and Steven have a frequently troubled relationship, their love for their children is indisputable. Anthony has four siblings: sister Steph (played by Dominique Moore), sister Dominque (played by Shaniqua Okwok), sister Angella (played by Ade Ajibade) and brother Daniel (played by Wesley Bozonga), who all look up to Anthony. Because Steven is often not present in the household, Anthony is closer to his mother than his father.

Anthony is a bright student and a caring human being who has goals to become a civil-rights attorney in the United States. As he explains to Katherine when they first begin dating each other, black people in America are in desperate need for social justice when it comes to police brutality: “In England. we’re stopped and searched. In America, we’re shot.” The movie also shows how Anthony spends time volunteering as an assistant coach for a high-school basketball team (it’s how he met Katherine, a coach for the girls’ soccer team at the school) and what happens when he applies for an internship at a law firm.

Jimoh admirably portrays Anthony as someone with a great deal of compassion and patience but also a strong sense of right and wrong, with no tolerance for people who break the law. He remains calm when he experiences blatant racism. And he tells people that the best way to deal with racists who want to pick a fight is to walk away or try to talk them out of it. Unfortunately, Anthony could not escape from the racists who were intent on murdering him.

If Anthony is the soul of the story, then his mother Gee is the heart. The way that Ayola depicts Gee’s beautiful relationship with Anthony is heartwarming. And the way that she expresses Gee’s pain after finding out what happened to Anthony after the attack is heartbreaking.

“Anthony” took some risks in how it created a “what if” movie about Anthony’s life, but it’s not a conventional story about a murder victim. It makes the point of how much of a terrible waste it was for Anthony to die so horribly and the void he has left behind. And although it will never be known what Anthony’s life would have been like if he were still alive, the movie capably shows how much of a positive impact he made in his short life. Just brace yourself for the movie’s inevitable tragic ending.

Peacock premiered “Anthony” on September 4, 2020. BBC One televised the movie in the United Kingdom in July 2020.

Peacock announces original shows available on national launch date: July 15, 2020

May 14, 2020

The following is a press release from NBCUniversal’s Peacock:

Peacock, NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, today announced its original content that will be available to stream on July 15, 2020, when the service launches nationally. Peacock Premium customers can stream all first season episodes of “Brave New World,” “The Capture,” “Intelligence” and “Lost Speedways;” sports documentary “In Deep with Ryan Lochte;” and the entire full-length film “Psych 2: Lassie Come Home“ on July 15. Additionally, Peacock Kids is home to new episodes of “Curious George” and two original series from DreamWorks Animation: “Cleopatra in Space” and “Where’s Waldo?.” Premiere dates for future Peacock Originals and exclusive content will be announced later this year.

“Our variety of Peacock Originals at launch demonstrates how we deliver timely and timeless content – no matter the genre or format,” said Bill McGoldrick, President of Original Content, Peacock. “We’re proud to establish our voice and are excited to build on our strategy to attract a wide audience to Peacock.”

DRAMA

“BRAVE NEW WORLD”

Alden Ehrenreich and Lara Peake in “Brave New World” (Photo by Steve Schofield/Peacock)

Based on Aldous Huxley’s groundbreaking novel, “Brave New World” imagines a utopian society that has achieved peace and stability through the prohibition of monogamy, privacy, money, family, and history itself. As citizens of New London, Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd, “Game of Thrones,” “The Theory of Everything”) and Lenina Crowne (Jessica Brown Findlay, “Winter’s Tale,” “Downton Abbey”) embark on a vacation to the Savage Lands, where they become embroiled in a harrowing and violent rebellion. Bernard and Lenina are rescued by John the Savage (Alden Ehrenreich, “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” “Hail, Caesar!”), who escapes with them back to New London. John’s arrival in the New World soon threatens to disrupt its utopian harmony, leaving Bernard and Lenina to grapple with the repercussions.

From UCP, in association with Amblin Television, the series is executive produced by David Wiener (“Homecoming,” “The Killing”) and Grant Morrison (“Batman,” “Justice League”), along with Darryl Frank (“The Americans”) and Justin Falvey (“The Americans”), co-presidents of Amblin Television. Wiener also serves as series showrunner. Owen Harris (“Black Mirror: San Junipero,” “Black Mirror: Striking Vipers”) will direct the first two episodes and executive produce the series.

“THE CAPTURE”

Callum Turner in “The Capture” (Photo by Nick Wall/BBC/Heyday Films)

“The Capture” is a conspiracy thriller that looks at a troubling world of fake news and the extraordinary capabilities of the intelligence services. When soldier Shaun Emery’s (Callum Turner, “War & Peace,” “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”) conviction for a murder in Afghanistan is overturned due to flawed video evidence, he returns to life as a free man with his young daughter. But when damning CCTV footage from a night out in London comes to light, Shaun’s life takes a shocking turn and he must soon fight for his freedom once again. Detective Inspector Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger, “Strike,” “Patrick Melrose”) is drafted to investigate Shaun’s case, but she quickly learns that the truth can sometimes be a matter of perspective. “The Capture” also stars Ron Perlman (“Hellboy,” “Hand of God”), Famke Janssen (“X-Men,” “Taken”), Ben Miles (“The Crown,” “Coupling”), Laura Haddock (“Transformers: The Last Knight,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”), Lia Williams (“The Crown,” “Kiri”), Sophia Brown (“Clique,” “Marcella”) and Paul Ritter (“Chernobyl,” “Friday Night Dinner”).

From Heyday Television and NBCUniversal International Studios, a division of NBCUniversal Content Studios, “The Capture” is created, written and directed by Ben Chanan (“The Missing,” “The People Next Door”). Executive Producers are David Heyman (“Marriage Story,” “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood”), Rosie Alison (“Paddington 2,” “The Light Between Oceans”) and Tom Winchester (“Endeavor,” “Bouquet of Barbed Wire”) for Heyday Television, Tom Coan (“Hanna, The Long Song”) for NBCUniversal International Studios, Ben Irving (“Gentleman Jack,” “Silent Witness”) for BBC One and Ben Chanan. Derek Ritchie serves as Producer.

COMEDY

“INTELLIGENCE”

Nick Mohammed and David Schwimmer in “Intelligence” (Photo courtesy of Sky UK)

“Intelligence” is a workplace comedy set in the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters – a kind of weedier, geekier, more bureaucratic version of MI5 and MI6, where they tackle international and domestic Cyber Crime from a desktop. When a pompous maverick NSA agent Jerry Bernstein (David Schwimmer, “American Crime Story,” “Friends,” “Band of Brothers”) comes over from the U.S. to join the team, he enlists an inept and tactless computer analyst Joseph (Nick Mohammed, “The Martian,” “Ted Lasso,” “Christopher Robin”) in a power grab that threatens to disrupt the team’s ability to combat cyber terrorism.

Produced by Expectation, Intelligence is created and written by Nick Mohammed. Mohammed also serves as Executive Producer with Nerys Evans (“Catastrophe,” “In My Skin”) for Expectation, David Schwimmer, and Morwenna Gordon (“Urban Myths,” “Code 404”) for Sky. Tom Hodges (“Homecoming,” “Trust”) serves as Co-Executive Producer. Charlie Leech (“Lovesick,” “The Wrong Mans”) is Producer and Matt Lipsey (“Little Britain,” “Sick Note”) is Director. NBC Universal Global Distribution handle international rights on behalf of Sky Studios.

“PSYCH 2: LASSIE COME HOME”

James Roday and Dulé Hill in “Psych 2: Lassie Come Home” (Photo by James Dittinger/Peacock)

Santa Barbara Police Chief Carlton Lassiter (Timothy Omundson, “This Is Us,” “American Housewife”) is ambushed on the job and left for dead. In a vintage Psych-style Hitchcockian nod, he begins to see impossible happenings around his recovery clinic. Shawn (James Roday, “A Million Little Things,” “Psych”) and Gus (Dulé Hill, “Suits,” “Psych”) return to Lassie’s side in Santa Barbara and are forced to navigate the personal, the professional, and possibly the supernatural. Separated from their new lives in San Francisco, our heroes find themselves unwelcome in their old stomping grounds as they secretly untangle a twisted case without the benefit of the police, their loved ones, or the quality sourdough bakeries of the Bay Area. What they uncover will change the course of their relationships forever. “Psych 2” is a full-length film.

“Psych 2” is written by Steve Franks (“Psych,” “Big Daddy”), who also directed, Andy Berman (“Rosewood,” “Psych”) and James Roday. Executive Producers are Steve Franks, Dulé Hill, James Roday, and Chris Henze (“DeTour,” “Psych”).

SPORTS

“IN DEEP WITH RYAN LOCHTE”

Caiden Lochte, Ryan Lochte, Kayla Rae Reid, Liv Rae Lochte in “In Deep With Ryan Lochte” (Photo courtesy of NBCUniversal)

At the 2016 Rio Olympics Ryan Lochte (“Celebrity Big Brother,” “Dancing with the Stars”) was at the center of a scandal that has since overshadowed a decorated swimming career that includes 12 Olympic medals. Now a 35-year-old husband and father of two young children, Lochte is hoping for one more chance to make Team USA and prove he’s not the same man he was four years ago.

“In Deep with Ryan Lochte” is produced by Peacock and NBC Sports Films.

“LOST SPEEDWAYS”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matthew Dillner in “Lost Speedways” (Photo courtesy of Dirty Mo Media/Peacock)

Created and hosted by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (“Dale Jr. Download”), this series is an exploratory look at great racing cathedrals of the past. Dale Jr. and co-host Matthew Dillner (“Dale Jr. Download”) tell the stories of speedways that have been forgotten, abandoned, and overtaken by nature. Racing legends join as guests throughout the series.

“Lost Speedways” is produced by Peacock and Dirty Mo Media, with support from NBC Sports.

KIDS

“CURIOUS GEORGE”

“Curious George” (Photo courtesy of Universal 1440 Entertainment/Peacock)

First introduced to the world of children’s literacy over 75 years ago, “Curious George®“ was created by Margret and H.A. Rey in 1941 and remains one of the most beloved children’s classics of all-time. The animated series targets preschool viewers and follows the adventures of everyone’s favorite monkey and his insatiable curiosity to bring delightful antics, gentle humor and heartfelt emotion to each fun-filled episode. With a focus on education, the Emmy® award-winning program incorporates early concepts in math, science, technology and engineering and encourages children to use their imagination and expand their own investigations of the world.

“The Curious George” voice cast includes Emmy® award winner Frank Welker (“Scooby Doo and Guess Who?”), Jeff Bennett (“The Loud House”) and Rino Romano (“Spaceballs: The Animated Series”).

Universal 1440 Entertainment, the original content production arm of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, continues to develop and produce “Curious George” ensuring the timeless character continues to be easily accessible today and for many future generations to come.

“CLEOPATRA IN SPACE”

“Cleopatra in Space” (Photo courtesy of DreamWorks Animation/Peacock)

“Cleopatra in Space​” is a comedic adventure focusing on the untold story of Cleopatra’s teenage years. Viewers can follow Cleo (Lilimar Hernandez, “Bella and the Bulldogs,” “Knight Squad”) as she is transported 30,000 years into the future, to an Egyptian-themed planet that is ruled by talking cats and where she discovers she is the prophesied savior of the future world. In order to prepare for her role and mission, Cleo is sent to an elite academy where she has to train to take on the bad guys, figure out how to eventually get herself back home to Egypt, as well as tackling the highs and lows of being a teenager in high school.

Based on the award-winning graphic novel series by Mike Maihack, “Cleopatra in Space” is executive produced by Doug Langdale (“The Adventures of Puss in Boots”) and Scott Kreamer (“Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness”).

“WHERE’S WALDO?”

“Where’s Waldo?” (Photo courtesy of DreamWorks Animation/Peacock)

Twelve-year-old Waldo (“Joshua Rush,” “The Lion Guard,” “Andi Mack”) and his best friend Wenda (Haley Tju, “Bella and the Bulldogs”) are members of the Worldwide Wanderer Society—the international order of curious travelers who circle the globe celebrating cultures and solving problems through observation. Their mentor—Wizard Whitebeard (Thomas Lennon, “The State,” “Reno 911,” “The Odd Couple”), a seasoned wanderer—sends these inquisitive young adventurers on international travel missions so they can earn their stripes and someday become wizard-level wanderers too. But standing in Waldo and Wenda’s way is their rival Odlulu (Eva Carlton, “Little”), who can’t help but cause trouble wherever she goes.

F.M. De Marco (“Spy Kids: Mission Critical”) and John Tellegen (“Spy Kids: Mission Critical”) executive produced the series.

These Peacock Originals are the newest additions to the Peacock library, which will continue to grow. In addition to current season programming from NBC and Telemundo, Peacock customers will enjoy access to hundreds of blockbuster movies like the “Jurassic Park”franchise,“E.T.,” “Meet the Parents,” and “Shrek;”and iconic shows including comedies “Parks and Recreation,”“30 Rock,” “Saturday Night Live,” “King of Queens,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Frasier,” “George Lopez,”and “Cheers;”dramas “Law & Order: SVU,” “Downton Abbey,” Yellowstone,” “Friday Night Lights,” “House,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Psych,” “Parenthood,” ‘Monk,” “Heroes.”

The Peacock app will also feature daily programming highlights from “TODAY,” “NBC Nightly News,” “Meet the Press,” “Noticias Telemundo,” “MSNBC,” “CNBC,” NBC Sports, “E! News” and “Access Hollywood,” and 75 streaming channels, including clip-based channels like the best Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers comedy sketches, the best sketches from the SNL Vault, plus news channels from NBC News Now and Sky News, and genre channels like True Crime, Reality Check-In and 80s Mix Tape.

In July, viewers can watch at peacocktv.com or across mobile and connected TV platforms with the Peacock app. Visit peacocktv.com to learn more about the service.

ABOUT PEACOCK

Peacock is NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, launching in 2020. Peacock will deliver a world-class slate of exclusive originals, on-demand libraries of hit TV shows, including two of the most-watched streaming series, The Office and Parks and Recreation, plus critically-acclaimed films from the vaults of Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, Illumination and Hollywood’s biggest studios. In addition, Peacock will tap into NBCUniversal’s unmatched ability to deliver a broad range of compelling topical content across news, sports, late-night and reality. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

Peacock announces more programming details for 2020 debut

January 16, 2020

NBCUniversal Content Studios chairman Bonnie Hammer at “Peacock Investor Day” at 30 Rockefeller Center in New York City on January 16, 2020. (Photo by Peter Kramer/Peacock)

The following is a press release from NBCUniversal:

At a Comcast investor presentation held in the iconic Studio 8H of 30 Rock, NBCUniversal unveiled Peacock, a free premium ad-supported streaming service with subscription tiers offering more than 600 movies and 400 series, as well as compelling live and on-demand content across news, sports, late night, and reality. From world-class originals and treasured hits, to blockbuster films and streaming channels, Peacock will offer consumers everything fans love to watch, all in one place.

Taking a different strategic approach, the company announced a tiered offering that gives consumers broad access to Peacock across web, mobile and connected-TV devices:

•    Peacock Free: This free, ad-supported option will provide fans everywhere with more than 7,500 hours of programming. Peacock Free includes next day access to current seasons of freshman broadcast series, complete classic series, popular movies, curated daily news and sports programming including the Olympics, Spanish-language content, select episodes of marquee Peacock originals and tent-pole series, as well as curated Peacock streaming genre channels such as “SNL Vault,” “Family Movie Night” and “Olympic Profiles.”
•    Peacock Premium: Bundled at no additional cost to 24 million Comcast and Cox subscribers, this ad-supported option will additionally include full season Peacock originals and tent-pole series, next day access to current seasons of returning broadcast series, early access to late night talk shows, and additional sports – such as the Premier League – totaling more than 15,000 hours of content. Also available for $4.99 per month on all popular connected mobile and web devices for non-bundled customers.

The company expects to bundle Peacock Premium with additional partners in the coming months.

Premium customers can upgrade to an ad-free experience for an additional $5.00 per month, or any customer can purchase the ad-free experience directly for $9.99 per month.

“This is a very exciting time for our company, as we chart the future of entertainment,” said Steve Burke, Chairman of NBCUniversal. “We have one of the most enviable collections of media brands and the strongest ad sales track record in the business. Capitalizing on these key strengths, we are taking a unique approach to streaming that brings value to customers, advertisers and shareholders.”

“Peacock will provide consumers with a destination that goes beyond movies and television, aggregating a variety of content that fans want on one service,” said Matt Strauss, Chairman of Peacock and NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises. “By delivering timely and topical content like breaking news, live sports, and watercooler moments from late night, Peacock is uniquely bringing a pulse to the world of streaming that does not exist in today’s marketplace.”

LAUNCH DATES & SUBSCRIBER TARGET:
Xfinity X1 and Flex customers will have early bird access to Peacock Premium starting April 15. And beginning July 15, taking full advantage of the massive promotional opportunity of the Tokyo Olympics, Peacock Free and Peacock Premium will be available nationally on popular web, mobile and connected-TV devices. The company expects to reach 30-35 million active accounts by 2024.

BRAND SPONSORS:
Peacock will launch with a select group of top brand sponsors, bringing in hundreds of millions of initial advertising revenue. Peacock’s launch sponsors include State Farm, Target and Unilever. Each launch sponsor will have the exclusive opportunity to define Peacock’s new advertising experience to give consumers the best content at the best price: free.

NEW CONTENT ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Peacock announced a broad slate of new, high-profile TV and film acquisitions, as well as a robust programming strategy around late night, sports, kids, news, and more, including:

TV ACQUISITIONS:
Peacock will stream the ratings juggernaut brands from Dick Wolf’s Wolf Entertainment, including “Law and Order,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “Law and Order: Criminal Intent,” “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago P.D.,” and “Chicago Med.” These dramas are consistently among the top-rated shows on television and among the most-streamed shows across platforms.

Peacock will also stream Paramount Network hit series “Yellowstone,” the record-breaking drama, licensed from ViacomCBS. “Yellowstone” is co-created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, and is co-produced by David Glasser’s 101 Studios. Additionally, “Two and a Half Men,” and “The George Lopez Show” from Warner Brothers were announced.

As previously announced, Peacock will offer some of the most popular NBC and classic TV series of all time, including “30 Rock,” “Bates Motel,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Cheers,” “Chrisley Knows Best,” “Covert Affairs,” “Downton Abbey,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Frasier,” “Friday Night Lights,” “House,” “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” “King of Queens,” “Married…With Children,” “Monk,” “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Parenthood,” “Psych,” “Royal Pains,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Superstore,” and “Will & Grace.”

PEACOCK ORIGINALS:
Peacock has signed a multi-year partnership with Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud network, which includes an equity investment in the company, a first look deal with LOL, and the distribution of LOL’s catalog on the service. As part of the agreement, Laugh Out Loud will produce a Kevin Hart stand-up comedy special and an original interview series called “Hart to Heart,” and a series of short-form content exclusively for Peacock.

Additional newly announced Peacock originals include Tina Fey-produced original series “Girls5Eva,” about a one-hit-wonder girl group from the 90’s that reunites to give their pop star dreams one more shot; international series from NBCUniversal International Studios, including drama thriller “The Capture,” fresh off its rating success on the BBC in the UK, and comedy “Lady Parts,” launching on Channel 4 in the U.K., as well as three highly anticipated new comedies from Sky Studios: “Intelligence” starring David Schwimmer, “Code 404,” and “Hitmen”; a racing series from Dale Earnhardt Jr.; and a behind-the-scenes documentary series that follows USA Basketball superstars on their journey to Tokyo, produced in partnership with the NBA.

Previously announced Peacock scripted originals include comedies such as “Rutherford Falls,” “Saved by the Bell,” “A.P. Bio,” “Punky Brewster,” and the movie spinoff “Psych 2: Lassie Come Home,” as well as dramas “Dr. Death,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Brave New World,” “Angelyne,” and “Armas de Mujer.”

LATE NIGHT EARLY:
For the first time ever, fans will get exclusive early access to NBC’s acclaimed late night shows. Starting in July on Peacock Premium, NBC’s late night talk shows will be streaming on Peacock beginning at 8 p.m. ET with “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” followed by “Late Night with Seth Meyers” at 9 p.m. ET.

SPORTS:

OLYMPICS:
Peacock will give viewers a front-row seat for the most-watched event of 2020, the Tokyo Olympics. Peacock will feature live coverage of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies before they air on NBC in primetime, and three daily Olympic shows including, “Tokyo Live,” with live coverage of one of the day’s most exciting events; “Tokyo Daily Digest,” with mid-day highlights of the Games; and “Tokyo Tonight,” a complement to the primetime show that will help audiences catch up on the day’s events. Peacock will also live stream more than 1,000 hours of exclusive coverage from the Tokyo Paralympics. And following Tokyo, in partnership with the US Paralympic Committee, Peacock will add the Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, 24/7, 365, featuring live coverage and can’t-miss content as America’s best athletes prepare for the 2022 Winter Olympics and beyond.

PREMIER LEAGUE & RYDER CUP:
Beginning in August 2020, soccer fans will be treated to 2,000 hours of Premier League coverage, including more than 140 matches that aren’t available on television, as well as clips and replays of the most exciting moments from the pitch.

The Ryder Cup golf tournament will be coming to the service in September 2020 with featured groups of Europe’s and America’s best pairings.

FILM:
Peacock will have the exclusive streaming rights for the 2020 Universal film slate and beyond in the network window. Films will include some of the biggest live action feature films of all time, including “Fast & Furious 9” and “Jurassic World 3.”

This is in addition to the previously announced premium original films and animated series in development for Peacock from Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation, and hundreds of critically-acclaimed films and box-office hits including “American Pie,” “Bridesmaids,” “Knocked Up,” “Meet the Parents,” “Meet the Fockers,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “Back to the Future,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Casino,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Do the Right Thing,” “Erin Brockovich,” “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial,” “Field of Dreams,” “Jaws,” “Mamma Mia!,” “Shrek,” “The Breakfast Club,” and franchises including “Bourne,” “Despicable Me,” and “Fast & Furious.”

KIDS:
Peacock will have access to the first pay window for DreamWorks Animation films “Trolls World Tour,” “The Boss Baby 2,” and “The Croods 2.”

Peacock will also be the exclusive streaming home to new episodes of “Curious George,” one of the most beloved children’s titles in the history of animation.

New original series from DreamWorks Animation will also stream on Peacock, including “TrollsTopia,” “Madagascar: A Little Wild,” “The Mighty Ones,” “Cleopatra in Space” and “Where’s Waldo?”

Additionally, popular family film titles from DreamWorks, Illumination Entertainment and Universal Kids will be available on Peacock including “Shrek,” “Shark Tale,” and “Despicable Me.”

NEWS:
Unique among the major streaming services, Peacock will be home to live breaking news coverage – just as all eyes turn to the highly anticipated 2020 presidential election. NBC News NOW, the newly launched streaming network, will bring Peacock viewers “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” as well as original video from “TODAY” and across the NBC News portfolio. The longest running show in television history will also be part of the newest streaming platform – with an original offering from “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” on Peacock each weekday. In addition, NBC News will create signature, original documentaries for Peacock – delving deep into politics, biographies and history. Peacock will also be home to full episodes of “Dateline” – the true crime original. And America’s most-watched news brand will go global, with coverage of the biggest stories shaping the planet as NBC News unveils a brand new international news network in collaboration with Sky.

ABOUT PEACOCK:
Peacock (www.peacocktv.com) is NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, launching in 2020. Peacock will deliver a world-class slate of exclusive originals, on-demand libraries of hit TV shows, including two of the most-watched streaming series “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation,” plus critically-acclaimed films from the vaults Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, Illumination and Hollywood’s biggest studios. In addition, Peacock will tap into NBCUniversal’s unmatched ability to deliver a broad range of compelling topical content across news, sports, late-night and reality. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

PEACOCK CONTENT ADDENDUM

Peacock Content Highlights

With 15,000+ hours of content, Peacock has something for everyone – from sports and news, classic films, exciting new originals, next-day episodes of broadcast favorites, to some of the most popular shows in television history. Simply stated, Peacock is the ultimate content destination. Below is a summary of the programming that is expected to be available on Peacock Premium through 2021.

Current Season Broadcast

NBC and Telemundo are home to some of the most acclaimed shows on television today. Peacock users can stream shows like This Is Us, Superstore, Law and Order: SVU, Operación Pacífico, and World of Dance the day after they air, with access to most previously aired current season episodes as well. For fans of late-night, episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers will be available to stream early on Peacock each day.

News & Sports

There has never been a more important time to stay informed. Drawing from trusted and iconic brands like NBC News, Sky News, MSNBC, and CNBC, Peacock users will have access to live news, same-day rebroadcasts, curated shorts, and exclusive 2020 Election coverage.

With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics beginning this summer, Peacock will be the ultimate hub for sports-lovers. Users will have access to live coverage of marquee Olympic events, in addition to analyst commentary, athlete profiles, and more. For fans of the Premier League, Peacock will stream 2,000 hours of programming including over 140 live matches. And for golf enthusiasts, Peacock will cover the Ryder Cup, with live coverage of featured holes and groups. All this – in addition to thousands of hours of original documentaries, curated clips, and more.

Original Series & Films

Peacock originals will feature the industry’s very best directors, producers, writers, and actors, with an impressive collection of shows that are completely unique to the service. Bold dramas like the new adaptation of the classic novel Brave New World will complement innovative comedies like Tina Fey’s Girls5Eva, and an exciting portfolio of unscripted shows, including an original interview series from Kevin Hart, Hart to Heart and a behind the scenes look at the making of Saturday Night Live. Revivals of classic favorites like Saved by the Bell and Battlestar Galactica make Peacock originals impossible to miss.

Television Series Library

10,000+ Hours

Peacock will be home to a collection of iconic library television series, including marquee scripted hits like The Office, Yellowstone, and the Dick Wolf library (over 1,000 hours of the Law and Order and Chicago brands), unscripted tent-poles such as Top Chef and The Kardashians, kids favorites like Curious George, and an expansive library of Spanish-language hits including Betty En NY.

Film Library

1,200+ Hours

Drawing from Universal, DreamWorks, Illumination, and Focus Features’ vast libraries of premier movies and franchises, Peacock will offer over 600 films in its first year after launch. Peacock films will appeal to the entire household and include celebrated titles like Jurassic Park, The Fast and the Furious, E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, Trolls World Tour, The Croods, and Shrek.

Current Season Broadcast

NBC is home to some of the most beloved TV shows. For most of our broadcast primetime slate, Peacock will offer viewers next-day access to new current season episodes, as well as previously aired current season episodes. 

Select Next-Day-Airing Titles

America’s Got Talent: Champions
Blindspot
Bluff City Law
Bring the Funny
Chicago Fire
Chicago Med
Chicago P.D.
Council of Dads*
Ellen’s Game of Games
Hollywood Game Night
Indebted*
Law and Order: SVU
Lincoln Rhyme*
Making It
Manifest
New Amsterdam
Perfect Harmony
Songland
Sunnyside
Superstore
The Blacklist
The Inbetween
The Kenan Show*
The Wall
This Is Us
Titan Games
World of Dance
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist*

Daytime Broadcasts

Access Hollywood
The Kelly Clarkson Show
Days of Our Lives

Late-Night “Early” Broadcasts

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (available at 8pm ET)
Late Night with Seth Meyers (available at 9pm ET)

Telemundo will also offer several current-season titles next-day, including “Caso Cerrado” and “Operación Pacífico.”

News

Peacock users will have access to full episodes, curated clips, and original shorts covering politics, current events, pop culture, finance, and more.

Same-Day-Airing Broadcasts
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Meet the Press with Chuck Todd

Live Channels
NBC News Now, Sky News, NBC/Sky Global News (new channel)

Short-form Content
Timely and curated clips from TODAY, CNBC, MSNBC, E! News, NBC Nightly News, and Meet the Press

Originals & Documentaries
Original content from the Meet the Press franchise, investigative documentaries including full seasons of “Dateline” and “Lock Up,” and dozens of library documentaries from NBC News and CNBC

Sports
Peacock will be a destination for premium sports content, including live coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and dedicated streaming channels.

Olympics Coverage (July – August 2020)

Live coverage of Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and three daily shows:

“Tokyo Live,” a five-hour live morning studio show during Tokyo primetime with live coverage of major events, plus medal ceremonies, engaging segments with athlete profiles, and real-time analysis

“Tokyo Daily Digest,” an hour-long highlight show with the best and buzziest moments, athlete interviews, features, and more

“Tokyo Tonight,” a nightly live studio show with quick turn-around highlights, in addition to medal ceremonies, features, interviews, and primetime previews

Paralympics Coverage (August 2020) 
1,000+ hours of exclusive live streaming coverage of the 2020 Paralympic Games

Premier League Games (August 2020 – May 2021)
2,000 hours of Premier League coverage, including over 140 live matches across all teams and a dedicated streaming channel

Ryder Cup Coverage (September 2020)
Live coverage from Whistling Straits of featured holes and groups at the 2020 Ryder Cup

And, Curated Highlights from NBC Sports

Peacock Originals

Peacock will offer an unparalleled slate of original shows, with content for the entire household, and genres spanning drama, comedy, unscripted, and kids.

Scripted Drama Originals

Peacock’s original dramas reach every corner of the drama-loving universe. From Gen-Z (“One of Us is Lying”) to adults (“Angelyne”) to sci-fi (“Battlestar Galactica”) to crime (“Dr. Death”) – anyone can get hooked on a Peacock drama.

SERIES ORDERS

Angelyne
Limited series based on The Hollywood Reporter feature that explored the identity of L.A.’s mysterious billboard bombshell.
Executive Producer/Star: Emmy Rossum
Executive Producers: Sam Esmail, Chad Hamilton, Allison Miller
Director/Executive Producer: Lucy Tcherniak
Consultant: Gary Baum
Studio: UCP

Armas De Mujer
From the team behind Telemundo’s hit La Reina del Sur comes a new dramedy series led by Mexican superstar Kate del Castillo. Four women suffer their worst nightmare: the police arrest their husbands for being linked to the same criminal organization. Accustomed to a life of abundance, they will be forced to join forces in the most unusual manner.
Writer: Jose Luis Acosta
Executive Producer: Marcos Santana

Battlestar Galactica
From the mind of Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail comes a series that explores a new story within the Battlestar Galactica mythology, the eponymous TV show that saw humanity at war with Cylons, machines of their own creation.
Executive Producers: Sam Esmail, Chad Hamilton
Studio: UCP

Brave New World
Based on Aldous Huxley’s groundbreaking 1932 novel, Brave New World imagines a utopian society that has achieved peace and stability through the prohibition of monogamy, privacy, money, family, and history itself.
Writer/Executive Producer: David Wiener
Director/Executive Producer: Owen Harris
Executive Producers: Grant Morrison, Darryl Frank (Amblin), Justin Falvey (Amblin), Brian Taylor
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Jessica Brown Findlay, Harry Lloyd, Kylie Bunbury, Hannah John-Kamen, Sen Mitsuji, Joseph Morgan, Nina Sosanya, Demi Moore
Studio: UCP

The Capture
A timely conspiracy thriller exploring pressing questions about surveillance and misinformation. Set in London, the modern-day spy show begins with the arrest of a former soldier, which spirals into a complex conspiracy involving manipulated video evidence. Produced by Heyday Television.
Director/Writer: Ben Chanan
Executive Producers: David Heyman, Rosie Alison, Ben Irving, Tom Coan, Tom Winchester
Producer: Derek Ritchie
Starring: Callum Turner, Holliday Grainger, Ron Perlman, Famke Janssen, Ben Miles, Ralph Ineson, Paul Ritter, Lia Williams, Laura Haddock

Dr. Death
Based on Wondery’s hit podcast of the same name, Dr. Death tells the terrifying true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch (Jamie Dornan), a rising star in the Dallas medical community. Young, charismatic and ostensibly brilliant, Dr. Duntsch was building a flourishing neurosurgery practice when everything suddenly changed. Patients entered his operating room for complex but routine spinal surgeries and left permanently maimed or dead. As victims piled up, two fellow physicians, neurosurgeon Robert Henderson (Alec Baldwin) and vascular surgeon Randall Kirby (Christian Slater), set out to stop him. Dr. Death explores the twisted mind of a sociopath and the gross negligence of the system designed to protect the most defenseless among us.
Writer/Executive Producer: Patrick Macmanus
Executive Producers: Todd Black (Escape Artists), Jason Blumenthal (Escape Artists), Steve Tisch (Escape Artists), Hernan Lopez (Wondery), Marshall Lewy (Wondery)
Starring: Jamie Dornan, Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater
Studio: UCP

PILOT ORDERS

One of Us is Lying
Based on Karen M. McManus’s New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, One of Us is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.
Writer/Executive Producer: Erica Saleh
Director/Executive Producer: Jennifer Morrison
Author: Karen M. McManus
Executive Producers: John Sacchi (5 More Minutes), Matt Groesch (5 More Minutes)
Starring: Marianly Tejada, Cooper van Grootel, Annalisa Cochrane, Chibuikem Uche, Jessica McLeod, Barrett Carnahan, Melissa Collazo, Mark McKenna
Studio: UCP

Comedy Originals
Nobody knows comedy like Peacock and NBCUniversal, with a dream-team including Tina Fey, Lorne Michaels, Michael Schur, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Fallon. Peacock will boast an impressive collection of comedies, including a revival of the classic sitcom “Saved by the Bell.”

SERIES ORDERS

The Amber Ruffin Show
Each week The Amber Ruffin Show will showcase Amber’s signature smart-and-silly take on the week.  A late-night show with just the good parts – the comedy.
Executive Producer/Star: Amber Ruffin
Executive Producers: Jenny Hagel, Seth Meyers & Mike Shoemaker (Sethmaker Shoemeyers)

A.P. Bio
When disgraced Harvard philosophy professor Jack Griffin loses out on his dream job, he is forced to return to Toledo, Ohio, and work as a high school Advanced Placement biology teacher. As he comes crashing in to Whitlock High School, Jack makes it absolutely clear he will not be teaching any biology. Realizing he has a room full of honor roll students at his disposal, Jack decides instead to use the kids for his own benefit. Eager to prove that he is still king of the castle, Principal Durbin struggles to control the force of nature that is Jack Griffin.
Writer/Executive Producer: Mike O’Brien
Executive Producers: Lorne Michaels, Seth Meyers & Mike Shoemaker (Sethmaker Shoemeyers), Andrew Singer (Broadway Video)
Starring: Glenn Howerton, Patton Oswalt, Lyric Lewis, Mary Sohn, Jean Villepique, Paula Pell
Studio: Universal Television

Code 404
Detective Inspectors Major and Carver are the top crime-fighting duo at the Met Police’s Special Investigation Unit, until Major gets gunned down on the job. But in an experimental artificial intelligence project, he’s brought back from the dead.

Director: Al Campbell

Writer: Daniel Peak (co-creator)

Executive Producers: Tom Miller (co-creator), Sam Mayer (co-creator), Phil Temple, Diederick Santer, Morwenna Gordon

Producer: Charlotte Surtees

Starring: Daniel Mays, Stephen Graham, Anna Maxwell Martin

Studio: Sky Studios

Five Bedrooms 
This is a story of five unlikely allies in life who throw caution to the wind and hit upon a unique solution to a common problem. Ignoring the nay-saying of families and friends, they’re teaming up, signing contracts and buying a house together. Yes, it’s a grand social experiment. It might be genius, or it might be a total disaster…but they’re not putting their lives on hold for love any longer. There’s just one glaring problem: they’ll have to live with each other.

Directors: Peter Templeman, Corrie Chen, Fiona Banks

Writers: Michael Lucas, Christine Bartlett

Executive Producers: Pino Amenta, Tracey Robertson, Nathan Mayfield

Starring: Kat Stewart, Stephem Peacocke, Doris Younane, Katie Robertson, Roy Joseph

Girls5Eva
When a one-hit-wonder girl group from the 90’s gets sampled by a young rapper, its members reunite to give their pop star dreams one more shot. They may be grown women balancing spouses, kids, jobs, debt, aging parents, and shoulder pain, but can‘t they also be Girls5Eva?

Writer/Executive Producer: Meredith Scardino

Executive Producers: Tina Fey (Little Stranger, Inc.), Robert Carlock (Bevel Gears), Jeff Richmond, David Miner (3 Arts Entertainment), Eric Gurian (Little Stanger)

Studio: Universal Television

Hitmen
The hits and (more often than not) misses of two hapless, dead broke best friends trying to make their way in the world with only each other to rely on. They also just happen to kill people for a living. Having stumbled into a career in contract killing, misfits Fran and Jamie are not your typical killers for hire. Working out of their scruffy van, each episode follows the hapless duo as they try to carry out their latest hit, inevitably derailed by incompetence, bickering, and inane antics.

Director: Ollie Parsons

Executive Producers: Myfanwy Moore, Siobhan Bachman, Morwenna Gordon
Producer: Arnold Widdowson

Starring: Sue Perkins, Mel Giedroyc, Jason Watkins, Sian Clifford, Asim Chaundry

Studio: Sky Studios

Intelligence
A workplace sitcom set in the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters, which is a kind of weedier, geekier, more bureaucratic version of MI5 and MI6. When an arrogant, maverick NSA agent Jerry comes over from the US to join the team, he enlists an inept and tactless computer analyst Joseph in a power grab that threatens to disrupt the team’s ability to combat cyber terrorism.

Director: Matt Lipsey

Writer/Executive Producer: Nick Mohammed

Executive Producers: David Schwimmer, Nerys Evans, Morwenna Gordon

Co-Executive Producer: Tom Hodges

Producer: Charlie Leech

Starring: David Schwimmer, Nick Mohammed

Studio: Sky Studios

Lady Parts
Lady Parts is an anarchic, laugh-out-loud music comedy following a Muslim female punk band called Lady Parts. It tracks the highs and lows of the band members as seen through the eyes of Amina Hussein – a geeky PhD student who is recruited to be their unlikely lead guitarist. Produced by Working Title TV.

Director/Writer: Nida Manzoor

Executive Producers: Mark Freeland (Working Title TV), Surian Fletcher-Jones (Working Title TV)

Studio: NBCUniversal International Studios

Psych 2: Lassie Come Home (Film)
Santa Barbara Police Chief Carlton Lassiter is ambushed on the job and left for dead. In a vintage Psych-style Hitchcockian nod, he begins to see impossible happenings around his recovery clinic. Shawn and Gus return to Lassie’s side in Santa Barbara and are forced to navigate the personal, the professional, and possibly the supernatural. Separated from their new lives in San Francisco, our heroes find themselves unwelcome in their old stomping grounds as they secretly untangle a twisted case without the benefit of the police, their loved ones, or the quality sourdough bakeries of the Bay Area. What they uncover will change the course of their relationships forever.

Writer/Director/Executive Producer: Steve Frank

Writer/Executive Producer/Star: James Roday

Writer: Andy Berman

Executive Producers: Chris Henzie, Dulé Hill

Starring: James Roday, Dulé Hill, Maggie Lawson, Kirsten Nelson, Corbin Bernsen, Tim Omundson

Studio: UCP

Punky Brewster 
In this continuation of the iconic 80s sitcom about a bright young girl raised by a foster dad, Punky is now a single mother of three trying to get her life back on track when she meets Izzy (Copeland), a young girl in the foster system who reminds Punky a lot of her younger self.

Executive Producer/Star: Soleil Moon Frye

Writers/Executive Producers: Steve Armogida, Jim Armogida

Director/Executive Producer: Jonathan Judge

Executive Producers: Jimmy Fox (All3Media), Tim Pastore (All3Media), David Duclon

Starring: Soleil Moon Frye, Cherie Johnson, Quinn Copeland, Lauren Donzis, Oliver De Los Santos, and Noah Cottrell. Freddie Prinze Jr. guest stars in the pilot.

Studio: UCP/Universal Television

Rutherford Falls 
A small town in upstate New York is turned upside down when local legend and town namesake, Nathan Rutherford (Ed Helms) fights the moving of a historical statue.

Writer/Executive Producer/Star: Ed Helms

Writers/Executive Producers: Michael Schur (Fremulon), Sierra Teller Ornelas

Executive Producers: David Miner (3 Arts Entertainment), Mike Falbo (Pacific Electric), Morgan Sackett

Studio: Universal Television

Saved by the Bell
When California governor Zack Morris gets into hot water for closing too many low-income high schools, he proposes they send the affected students to the highest performing schools in the state – including Bayside High. The influx of new students gives the over privileged Bayside kids a much needed and hilarious dose of reality.

Writer/Executive Producer: Tracey Wigfield

Director/Executive Producer: Trent O’Donnell

Executive Producers: Peter Engel, Franco Bario

Starring: Mario Lopez (Producer), Elizabeth Berkley (Producer), John Michael Higgins, Josie Totah

Studio: Universal Television

The Kids Tonight Show
The Kids Tonight Show is the only late-night talk show for kids, by kids. Kids doing a monologue, kids playing games, and kids interviewing the biggest stars in the world. It’s everything you love about Jimmy Fallon, but the kids are in charge.

Produced by Universal Television Alternative Studio in association with Matador Content LLC and Electric Hot Dog, Inc.

Executive Producers: Jimmy Fallon (Electric Hot Dog, Inc.), Jay Peterson (Matador Content), Todd Lubin (Matador Content), Mark Efman (BoomTown Content), Paul Ricci (BoomTown Content)

Who Wrote That
A docuseries that gives a behind the scenes look at Saturday Night Live’s most important writers.

Executive Producers: Lorne Michaels, Andy Breckman, Susan Morrison, Andrew Singer & Erin Doyle (Broadway Video), Derik Murray & Brian Gersh (Network Entertainment), Erik Kenward, Howard Klein (3 Arts Entertainment)

Director: Brent Hodge

Studio: Universal Television Alternative Studio

Kids Originals
Peacock’s original kids shows will feature top IP from DreamWorks as well as the first new “Curious George” episode in 6 years.

SERIES ORDERS

Archibald’s Next Big Thing
From the creative mind of Tony Hale (Veep), Archibald’s Next Big Thing is the story of Archibald Strutter, a chicken who ‘yes-ands’ his way through life. Archibald and his siblings live in Crackridge, a close-knit community filled with an ensemble of quirky characters. Archibald’s adventurous spirit often gets him in over his head, but he always manages to leave his world better than when he found it. Through Archibald’s unique perspective, we discover that things are seldom perfect and instead learn to focus on the humor and beauty of life’s imperfections.

Dragon Rescue Riders 
Executive produced by Jack Thomas (Dragons: Race to the Edge), Dragons: Rescue Riders takes our young heroes to new highs when Dak, Leyla and their dragon friends find strange crystals that change their powers in fantastic and unexpected ways.  And to new lows when they discover the sunken city of Valantis – a place filled with much dragon knowledge and danger.

DreamWorks Where’s Waldo?
DreamWorks Where’s Waldo? brings the iconic character to life in a new animated series from executive producer FM De Marco (Spy Kids: Mission Critical) and co-executive producer John Tellegen (Spy Kids: Mission Critical). Twelve-year- old Waldo and his best friend Wenda are members of the Worldwide Wanderer Society—the international order of curious travelers who circle the globe celebrating cultures and solving problems through observation. Their mentor—Wizard Whitebeard, a seasoned wanderer—sends these inquisitive young adventurers on international travel missions so they can earn their stripes and someday become wizard-level wanderers too. But standing in Waldo and Wenda’s way is their rival Odlulu, who can’t help but cause trouble wherever she goes.

Curious George 
For more than 60 years the world has followed the adventures of a curious little monkey named George and his friend the Man with the Yellow Hat.  Created by Margret and H.A. Rey, Curious George was first published in 1941 and has remained consistently beloved by children ever since.  This animated series continues with that tradition as it introduces George to a whole new adoring generation. With a focus on education, the series incorporates early science and math content and draws upon George’s curiosity-driven adventures to target pre-school age viewers.  George’s entertaining and ultimately informative experiences have proven to parents and children worldwide that there is nothing wrong with wanting to learn about the world around you!

Sports Originals

Peacock will be home to fascinating sports documentaries that capture the excitement, passion, and intrigue of sports’ most compelling stories.

SERIES ORDERS

Dream Team 2020
Follow USA Basketball’s top superstars on their journey to Tokyo in this exclusive, behind the scenes documentary series produced in partnership with NBA Entertainment. We’ll take you inside the 2020 Dream Team’s training camp, exhibition games and preparation for the 2020 Olympics, where Team USA is expected to make another gold medal run.

Hot Water: In Deep with Ryan Lochte
At the 2016 Rio Olympics Ryan Lochte was at the center of a scandal that has since overshadowed his long and decorated swimming career. Now a 35-year-old husband and father of two young children, Lochte is hoping for one more chance to make Team USA, and prove he’s not the same man he was four years ago.

United States of Speed
From Jesse Owens to Carl Lewis to Maurice Greene, there is a proud tradition of sprinting success in the United States.  However in recent years, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt has been unbeatable at the Olympics. Now that the fastest man of all time has retired, meet the Americans who aim to put Team USA back on top in the sprints.

Run Through the Line
Nike founder Phil Knight and his friends take viewers through the creation of his world-renowned company and the ambitions he still chases at 81 years young. Based loosely on Knight’s best-selling memoir, Shoe Dog.

The Greatest Race
You probably remember where you were when you saw it. Michael Phelps and his teammates had fallen hopelessly behind race favorite France in the 4×100 relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  In the final leg, 32-year-old American Jason Lezak was losing ground to Alain Bernard, the 100m world record holder and anchor of the seemingly unbeatable French team. Then the impossible happened.  Hear from the swimmers on both sides of the epic relay as we revisit The Greatest Race.

Untitled Dale Earnhardt Jr. Series
Created and hosted by Dale Earnhardt Jr., this series is an exploratory look at great racing cathedrals of the past. Dale Jr. tells the stories of speedways that have been forgotten, abandoned, and overtaken by nature.

Scripted Series Library
Peacock will be home to the best scripted series library, including favorites like “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” and the Dick Wolf library (“Law and Order” & “Chicago” brands).

Select Titles Coming in 2020/21 Include:

30 Rock
A-Team
Bates Motel
Battlestar Galactica
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Chicago Fire
Chicago Med
Chicago P.D.
Cheers
Covert Affairs
Crossing Jordan
Downton Abbey
Everybody Loves Raymond
Frasier
Friday Night Lights
Heroes
House
Jeff Foxworthy Show
King of Queens
Knight Rider
Law and Order
Law and Order: Criminal Intent
Law and Order: SVU
Leave it to Beaver
Magnum P.I. (1980)
Married… With Children
Miami Vice (1984)
Monk
Murder She Wrote
New Amsterdam
Parenthood
Parks & Recreation
Psych
Roseanne
Royal Pains
Saturday Night Live
Saved by the Bell
Suits
Superstore
The George Lopez Show
The Mindy Project
The Office
The Purge
Two and a Half Men
Will & Grace
Yellowstone

Unscripted Series Library
Peacock will be a destination for premier unscripted content, with drama, food, crime, and more, including the most popular franchises on TV today.

Select Titles Coming in 2020/21 Include:

American Greed
American Ninja Warrior
Bad Girls Club
Below Deck
Botched
Chrisley Knows Best
Dateline
Don’t Be Tardy
Face Off
Flipping Out
Hollywood Game Night
Hollywood Medium
Keeping Up with the Kardashians
Killer Couples
Lock-Up
Married to Medicine
Million Dollar Listing
Paranormal Witness
Snapped
Southern Charm franchise
Summer House
The Profit
The Real Housewives franchise
Top Chef

Kids Library
Peacock will feature a library of top kids films and shows that range from new friends to characters beloved for generations.

Select Titles Coming in 2020/21 Include:

3-2-1 Penguins
Beethoven
Care Bears
Cleopatra in Space
Curious George library
Father of the Pride
Fievel’s American Tail
He-Man & Masters of the Universe
Kody Kapow
Madagascar: A Little Wild
Maisy
New Adventures of He-Man
New Adventures of Zorro
Postman Pat
Punky Brewster (Animated)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
She-Ra
Shelley Duvall’s Bedtime Stories
The Chica Show
The Mighty Ones
TrollsTopia
Voltron Force
Voltron Defender of the Universe
Woody Woodpecker
Zafari

Hispanic Library
Peacock will offer the large and growing U.S. Latino audience premium programming from the #1 Spanish-language network, Telemundo. The platform will feature popular library titles like “100 Días Para Enamorarnos,” “Betty in NY,” and “Preso No. 1.”

Select Titles Coming in 2020/21 Include:

100 Días para Enamorarnos
Al Otro Lado Del Muro
Betty En NY
Chiquis N’ Control
Corazón Valiente
¿Dónde está Elisa?
El Barón
El Chema
El Rostro De La Venganza
Guerra de Ídolos
Historias De La Virgen Morena
José José
La Querida Del Centauro
Larrymania
Más Sabe El Diablo
Mi Familia Perfecta
Perro Amor
Preso No. 1
¿Quién es Quién?
Reina De Corazones
Relaciones Peligrosas
Santa Diabla
The Riveras
Un Poquito Tuyo
Victoria

Film Library
Drawing from Universal, DreamWorks, Illumination, and Focus Features’ extensive libraries, Peacock will offer over 600 titles.

Select Titles Coming in 2020/21 Include:

A Beautiful Mind
American Gangster
American Pie
American Psycho
Big Fat Liar
Big Lebowski
Boss Baby
Bridesmaids
Brokeback Mountain
Bruno
Casino
Changeling
Chicken Run
Children of Men
Cinderella Man
Dallas Buyers Club
Definitely Maybe
Despicable Me
Devil
Do the Right Thing
Dune
E.T. the Extra Terrestrial
Erin Brockovich
Evan Almighty
Field of Dreams
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Get Him to the Greek
Heat (1986)
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
How to Train Your Dragon
It’s Complicated
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park III
Jurassic Park: The Lost World
Kicking & Screaming
King Kong
Knocked Up
Liar, Liar
Little Fockers
Little Rascals
Love Happens
Mamma Mia!
Meet Joe Black
Meet the Fockers
Meet the Parents
Moonrise Kingdom
Parenthood
Prince of Egypt
Psycho
Ray
Scent of a Woman
Schindler’s List
Shark Tale
Shrek
Sinbad
Something New
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Tale of Despereaux
The Blair Witch Project
The Blues Brothers
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
The Break-Up
The Breakfast Club
The Croods
The Fast and The Furious
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
The Good Shepherd
The Graduate
The Kids Are Alright
The Mummy
The Mummy Returns
The Road to El Dorado
The Scorpion King
Trolls World Tour
Waiting…
Wanted
What Dreams May Come
You, Me and Dupree
Peacock Virtual Channels
Virtual Channels provide users a unique lean-back experience, with 24/7 feeds of curated content. By the end of 2020, users will have access to dozens of virtual channels.

Select Virtual Channels Include:

Art House: Indie films with small budgets and big acclaim
Family Movie Night: Films for the whole family
Get Spooked: Scary movies to keep you up all night
L&O DUN DUN: Law & Order all the time
Latino Now by Telemundo: Películas y series en Español
Laugh it Out: All comedy, all the time
Nail Biters: Intense thrillers
Olympics Docs: The stories behind the biggest Olympic athletes
Olympics Profiles: Compelling stories about the athletes of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Out of This World: Sci-fi & fantasy that will blow your mind
Peachicks: Keeping toddlers entertained and educated
Peacock Kids: Shows every 6-11 year-old will love
Peacock Poker: Like the best seat at a casino, 24/7
Peacock Sports: Live, replays, and highlights from your favorite sports
Rotten Tomatoes: Fresh film and TV recommendations, hot trailers, breaking news, and top moments
SNL Vault: Every SNL season from Chevy to Che
Tear Jerkers: Movies with a side of tissues
The Ones You Love: The can’t-go-wrong classic TV and movies
True Crime: Real crimes. Real people.

NBCUniversal announces Peacock streaming service, set to debut in 2020

September 17, 2019

Peacock

The following is a press release from NBCUniversal:

NBCUniversal today announced “Peacock” (www.peacocktv.com) as the name for its new streaming service. Peacock is a nod to NBC’s iconic logo and NBCUniversal’s rich legacy of creating beloved films, TV series, characters and franchises that have been at the epicenter of pop culture and will continue to define the future of entertainment.

Peacock will deliver a world-class slate of originals while also offering treasured hits from the vaults of NBC, including “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation,” two of the most-watched streaming series. The service will also feature blockbusters and critically-acclaimed films from Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, Illumination and Hollywood’s biggest studios. In addition, Peacock will tap into NBCUniversal’s unmatched ability to deliver a broad range of compelling topical content across news, sports, late-night and reality.

Peacock rolls out in April of 2020 with over 15,000 hours of content and takes center stage at the end of July during the 2020 Summer Olympics. As previously announced, Peacock will be both advertising and subscription supported. Details on pricing and distribution will be announced closer to launch.

“The name Peacock pays homage to the quality content that audiences have come to expect from NBCUniversal – whether it’s culture-defining dramas from innovative creators like Sam Esmail, laugh-out-loud comedies from legends like Lorne Michaels and Mike Schur, blockbusters from Universal Pictures, or buzzy unscripted programming from the people who do it best at Bravo and E!,” said Bonnie Hammer, Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer and Digital Enterprises. “Peacock will be the go-to place for both the timely and timeless – from can’t-miss Olympic moments and the 2020 election, to classic fan favorites like ‘The Office’.”

 

DRAMA

Peacock will offer a broad slate of original dramas, including “Dr. Death,” based on the true-crime podcast starring Jamie Dornan, Emmy and Golden Globe® winner Alec Baldwin and Golden Globe winner Christian Slater; a reboot of the critically acclaimed and award-winning “Battlestar Galactica,” from Golden Globe® winner and Emmy-nominated “Mr. Robot” and “Homecoming” EP Sam Esmail; “Brave New World,” based on the dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley and starring Alden Ehrenreich (“Solo: A Star Wars Story”) and Golden Globe® Award nominee Demi Moore; “Angelyne,” a limited series from Golden Globe® Award nominee Emmy Rossum; and “One of Us Is Lying,” based on the New York Times best-selling young adult mystery-thriller.

 

COMEDY

The platform’s new original comedies include “Rutherford Falls,” co-created by Emmy and Peabody Award-winner Mike Schur, Ed Helms, and Sierra Teller Ornelas, and starring Ed Helms; “Straight Talk,” from Emmy® Award nominee Rashida Jones and NAACP Image Award® winner Jada Pinkett Smith; reboots of two beloved series – “Saved By the Bell,” from Emmy® Award winner Tracey Wigfield (“30 Rock”), featuring original cast members including Elizabeth Berkley and Mario Lopez, and “Punky Brewster,” starring Soleil Moon Frye as a grown-up version of her former character; an all-new season of “A.P. Bio,” starring Glenn Howerton and Patton Oswalt; and the second movie spinoff from the long-running series “Psych.”

 

UNSCRIPTED

Peacock will feature a broad array of the most-talked-about unscripted programming, including a new “Saturday Night Live” docuseries, “Who Wrote That,” from creator Lorne Michaels, exploring the famous personalities in front of and behind the camera; an original talk show series from Jimmy Fallon, in collaboration with Matador Content and Universal Television Alternative Studio; a weekly late night show starring Amber Ruffin and executive produced by Seth Meyers; and a spinoff of Bravo’s successful “The Real Housewives” franchise.

 

TIMELESS TITLES

In addition to the exclusive streaming rights to the beloved NBC sitcoms “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation,” some of the most popular NBC and classic TV series of all time will be available on Peacock, including “30 Rock,” “Bates Motel,” “Battlestar Gallactica,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Cheers,” “Chrisley Knows Best,” “Covert Affairs,” “Downton Abbey,” “Everyone Loves Raymond,” “Frasier,” “Friday Night Lights,” “House,” “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” “King Of Queens,” “Married…With Children,”“Monk,” “Parenthood,” “Psych,” “Royal Pains,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Superstore,” “The Real Housewives,” “Top Chef,” and “Will & Grace.”

 

FILM

Universal Pictures is developing premium original films and animated series to debut on Peacock with prominent talent and filmmakers. Additionally, DreamWorks Animation, the beloved kids and family brand and the studio behind animated hits “Shrek,” “Kung Fu Panda” and “How to Train Your Dragon,” will create original animated content for Peacock, making the platform a must-have offering for the entire family.

Peacock will also offer a robust slate of critically-acclaimed films and box-office hits from Universal Pictures and Focus Features. These titles range from laugh-out-loud comedies like “American Pie,” “Bridesmaids,” “Knocked Up,” “Meet the Parents,” and “Meet the Fockers,” to award-winning classics such as “A Beautiful Mind,” “Back to the Future,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Casino,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Do the Right Thing,” “Erin Brockovich,” “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial,” “Field of Dreams,” “Jaws,” “Mamma Mia!,” “Shrek,” and “The Breakfast Club.” Peacock will also feature films from the franchises: “Bourne,” “Despicable Me,” and “Fast & Furious.”

 

SPANISH LANGUAGE

Peacock is uniquely positioned to offer the U.S. Hispanic audience premium programming from the #1 Spanish-language network, Telemundo. The platform will feature more than 3,000 hours of Telemundo’s content, including an original dramedy “Armas de Mujer,” a new hit series from the makers of “La Reina del Sur,” and popular library titles “100 Dias Para Volver,” “Betty in NY,” “El Barón” and “Preso No. 1.”

About NBCUniversal:

NBCUniversal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience.

NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses. NBCUniversal is a division of Comcast Corporation.

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