Afton Williamson has quit her role on the TV show The Rookie with claims of racism and sexual misconduct on the set from a staff member in the hair department and from a recurring guest star. Williamson had taken her complaints to the series showrunner who, it appears, did not take the complaints any further.
The story reminds me of the TV series Bull, which had a sexual misconduct accusation leveled at the series star - when asked about it at a TCA event last week, a rep for CBS more or less excused the show because viewership hadn’t diminished. This has had me thinking about the culpability of the viewer in this.
I do wonder how many viewers are aware of these sorts of stories and how much they care - most viewers watch a TV show as escapist fare and not as a production they are watching on their screens. Also, I wonder how bothered older audiences are by the behind the scenes issues on a show - for years the bad behaviour of stars has been part of the mythology that has built up around shows. Are everyday viewers just numb to stories about behind-the-scenes discord?
Read more about Afton Williamson: Deadline
Netflix series The OA has been cancelled. With one buzzed about season and its second which kind of came and went without anyone noticing, it doesn’t surprise me that it is the end of the road for the show.
I will be outside performing the five movements in memory of this wacko show.
Source: Variety
Nick Frost and Simon Pegg are returning together on screen for a new series at Amazon. Given the dull, unimaginative title Truth Seekers, the scripted show sounds a bit like the duo going a bit X-Files-y.
They stake out haunted churches, underground bunkers, and abandoned hospitals using an array of homemade ghost-detecting gizmos and share their adventures on an online channel. Their supernatural experiences grow more frequent, terrifying, and even deadly as the pair begin to uncover a conspiracy that could threaten the entire human race.
Source: Variety
And speaking of Amazon, the streamer has just greenlit a series based on the film Event Horizon from You’re Next director Adam Wingard.
Weird that Paul WS Anderson wasn’t available to film the pilot…
Source: Variety
The US ABC network has announced two more Live In Front of a Studio Audience specials to be produced by Jimmy Kimmel. The first will air in December. There is no announcement on which classic sitcoms will be recreated, but I’d be surprised if there isn’t some strong Bea Arthur representation - Surely Maude will be one of the shows and I wouldn’t be surprised if they double-billed it with a recreation of The Golden Girls.
Would they be willing to bring to TV a recreation of Maude’s most well-known episode Maude’s Dilemma in which the titular character had an abortion…
Source: Hollywood Reporter
And finally…
Off the back of the 90210 revival (which debuts later this week in the US), Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling are taking their stage show on the road.
The two actresses, who played Kelly Taylor and Donna Martin on the show, will visit cities across the U.S. for an interactive show “filled with memories and laughs, and of course a ton of fun,” according to a press release.
“Tori and I have been dreaming up this tour for a long time,” said Garth. “We’ve wanted to have that one-on-one experience with our fans who have supported us throughout the years. Each night on stage, we’re going to have a brand new show, sharing laughs, playing games, drinking a cocktail, answering your questions and, of course, telling you all of our 90210 stories. What could be better than hitting the road with my best friend?”
Source: Rolling Stone
