Warner Bros. Pictures just released a new trailer for the animated comedy movie Storks from directors Nicholas Stoller (Neighbors, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Doug Sweetland. The LEGO Movie‘s Phil Lord and Christopher Miller executive produce along with Glenn Ficarra, John Requa, Jared Stern, and the voice cast includes Andy Samberg, Kelsey Grammer, Katie Crown, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Danny Trejo, Ty Burrell, and Jennifer Aniston. Storks will open in theaters on September 23, 2016.
The Plot: Storks deliver babies…or at least they used to. Now they deliver packages for a global internet retail giant. Junior, the company’s top delivery stork, is about to be promoted when he accidentally activates the Baby Making Machine, producing an adorable and wholly unauthorized baby girl. Desperate to deliver this bundle of trouble before the boss gets wise, Junior and his friend Tulip, the only human on Stork Mountain, race to make their first-ever baby drop – in a wild and revealing journey that could make more than one family whole and restore the storks’ true mission in the world.
Based on a true story, the baseball comedy Undrafted marks the feature film directorial debut of Joe Mazzello (The Pacific, Justified, and the kid in 1993’s Jurassic Park). Undrafted, which just released a new trailer, was inspired by Joe Mazzello’s brother’s baseball career and stars Grease Live!‘s Aaron Tveit, Teen Wolf‘s Tyler Hoechlin, and Gossip Girl‘s Chace Crawford. The cast also includes Mazzello, Philip Winchester, Jay Hayden, Michael Fishman, Matt Barr, Duke Davis Roberts, Manny Montana, Matt Bush, Toby Hemingway, Ryan Pinkston, David del Rio, Billy Gardell, and Jim Belushi. Undrafted opens in theaters and on VOD on July 15, 2016.
The Plot: When twelve ragtag teammates set out to play what should be a meaningless summer intramural baseball game, it ends up becoming the most important game of their lives. This collection of characters – the reliever turned starting pitcher (Tyler Hoechlin), a hot dog power hitter (Chace Crawford), an outfielder with anger management issues (Joe Mazzello), a player coach with clipboard envy (Duke Davis Roberts), an over-eager catcher (Ryan Pinkston), the old guy who shouldn’t be playing anymore (Philip Winchester), and the guy everyone forgot was on the team (Matt Bush) – truly gives new meaning to the phrase “amateur status”.
As they struggle to transition away from baseball and towards an uncertain future, the best player among them (Aaron Tveit) – who they all felt should have gotten drafted – has to deal with the news that his big league dreams were dashed, leaving him grappling with why he should still play. One game can be just another box score, but when it’s played by a team galvanized around the love of the game, and for the pride they have in each other, it can define a lifetime.
The CW’s revival of MADtv will feature a new group of eight performers in addition to members of the show’s original cast showing up as special guest stars. The one-hour comedy series will premiere on July 26, 2016 at 9pm ET/PT and is executive produced by David E. Salzman, Mark Teitelbaum, and John Montgomery. Salzman also serves as the showrunner.
“MADtv is all about the cast and their characters. We have double-barreled strength — an amazing new cast of eight, plus fan favorites from our original 14 seasons who will also appear on our new series for The CW,” stated Salzman.
MADtv New Cast Members:
Carlie Craig is an actress, comic, singer, improviser and impressionist whose impressive credits include producer/performer on “Todrick,” the MTV docu-series from YouTube star Todrick Hall, as well as USA Network’s “First Impressions with Dana Carvey,” where she went viral with her video “Celebrity Impressions by Carlie Craig.”
Chelsea Davison is a sketch comedy writer and performer based in Los Angeles, known for her work on MTV, UCB and YouTube. She is currently a writer on the hit Comedy Central show @Midnight and was named a “New Face” at the prestigious Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. She also co-starred with Amy Poehler in “These Girls.”
Jeremy D. Howard is known for his larger-than-life characters and impeccable comedic timing. A master of improvisation, he has been in several independent films and played the lead in the movie “Hollywood Street.” In 2016, he participated in the CBS Diversity Showcase. This athlete and former choir director has a 3-octave range and has been a principal actor in numerous commercials.
Amir K is well known for his stand-up comedy appearances around the world. Born Amir Kamyab, he is an Iranian-American performer whose work is a combination of storytelling, character work and improvisation shaped by an uncanny range of accents and dialects. He has appeared on “Last Comic Standing” and “Jerks with Cameras.” He has also had roles in the Academy Award-winning film “Argo” and recently starred in the film “The Pyramid.”
Lyric Lewis is a member of The Groundlings Main Company and was featured in the 2015 New Faces: Characters showcase at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival. She was a cast member in the 2015 CBS Diversity Showcase. Her past acting credits include “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Drunk History.” She will be lending her voice in the upcoming animated series “SuperMansion” with Bryan Cranston.
Piotr Michael is a versatile impressionist, improviser and actor. He’s a regular contributor to “The Howard Stern Show,” known for his impersonations of celebrities such as Simon Cowell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charlie Sheen and Donald Trump. He’s a popular voiceover artist whose credits include Disney’s “Wander Over Yonder,” “Conan” and “Real Time with Bill Maher,” as well as video games “Final Fantasy,” “Call of Duty” and “Warcraft.” His podcast, “The Mixed Nut Show,” features his impressions and characters.
Michelle Ortiz is known for her brazen and bold humor. She studied at the prestigious Moscow Art Theatre School in Russia and trained as a classical opera singer in Germany. Ortiz participated in the 2014 ABC Diversity Showcase and the 2016 CBS Diversity Showcase. Her television credits include “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,” “Life in Pieces,” and “Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn.”
Adam Ray is a comedian/actor best known for his roles in “The Heat” and “Spy,” both starring Melissa McCarthy and directed by Paul Feig. He is also featured in the upcoming reboot of “Ghostbusters” as the voice of the iconic character “Slimer.” He currently co-hosts the new TBS comedy game show “Separation Anxiety,” as well as the popular podcast “About Last Night,” which has featured guests including Melissa McCarthy, Bob Saget and Whitney Cummings. His comedy sketches have garnered over 30 million views on YouTube and Funny or Die.
NBC has released details on their 2016-2017 fall schedule, highlighted by The Voice, Sunday Night Football, and the Chicago TV franchise (Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago P.D.). The network’s upcoming primetime lineup also includes the debuts of This Is Us, Timeless, and The Good Place. And speaking of The Good Place, the Mike Schur comedy starring Kristen Bell will premiere in the prime spot immediately following The Voice‘s season 11 debut before moving to its Thursday night timeslot.
Sunday Night Football arrives on Thursday, September 8, 2016 with a game between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers at 5:30pm PT. On September 11, Sunday Night Football will feature the Arizona Cardinals taking on the New England Patriots.
NBC’s Fall Premiere Schedule:
Wednesday Sept. 14
10-11: BLINDSPOT
Monday, Sept. 19
8-10: THE VOICE
10-11: THE GOOD PLACE (preview)
Tuesday, Sept. 20
8-10: THE VOICE
10-11: THIS IS US
Wednesday, Sept. 21
8-9: BLINDSPOT (time period premiere)
9-10: LAW & ORDER: SVU
10-11: CHICAGO P.D.
Thursday, Sept. 22
8-8:30: SUPERSTORE
8:30-9: THE GOOD PLACE (time period premiere)
9-10: CHICAGO MED
10-11: THE BLACKLIST
Friday, Sept. 23
8-9: CAUGHT ON CAMERA WITH NICK CANNON
9-11: DATELINE NBC
Monday, Oct. 3
10-11: TIMELESS
Tuesday Oct. 11
9-10: THIS IS US (time period premiere)
10-11: CHICAGO FIRE
Starz announced Orlando Jones (Sleepy Hollow) has been added to the cast of American Gods, based on Neil Gaiman’s popular fantasy novel. Demore Barnes (12 Monkeys) has also joined the much-anticipated series which stars Ricky Whittle as Shadow Moon, Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday, Emily Browning as Laura Moon, Pablo Schreiber as Mad Sweeney, Yetide Badaki as Bilquis, Bruce Langley as Technical Boy, Crispin Glover as Mr. World, Jonathan Tucker as Low Key Lyesmith, Gillian Anderson as Media, Peter Stormare as Czernobog, and Cloris Leachman as Zorya Vechernyaya.
According to Starz, Jones will be playing Mr. Nancy, “the old African trickster god more commonly known as Anansi, and one of Mr. Wednesday’s (Ian McShane) oldest confidantes. Like Wednesday, Nancy is ready to bring this new America (and its new gods) to its knees, desperate to light a fire and watch the whole world burn.” Barnes has been cast as Mr. Ibis, “the keeper of stories, past and present, and he recounts them with great relish. His old fashioned sensibilities do not preclude a wry wit.”
American Gods has Hannibal‘s Bryan Fuller and Heroes‘ Michael Green on board as writers and showrunners. Fuller and Green are also executive producing along with author Gaiman and director David Slade. Slade will direct the pilot and additional episodes.
The Plot:American Gods posits a war brewing between old and new gods: the traditional gods of mythological roots from around the world steadily losing believers to an upstart pantheon of gods reflecting society’s modern love of money, technology, media, celebrity and drugs. Its protagonist, Shadow Moon, is an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to Mr. Wednesday, a conman but in reality one of the older gods, on a cross-country mission to gather his forces in preparation to battle the new deities.
“I think Finch is going to kill Greer or die trying,” says Reese (Jim Caviezel) to Shaw (Sarah Shahi) about their employer and friend Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) who’s been able to stay off the grid and out of reach from Samaritan’s watchful eye in season five episode 12 of CBS’ crime thriller, Person of Interest.
While Finch makes his way to the NSA to unleash the Ice-9 deadly computer virus to take out Samaritan, his Machine uses their travel time together to show him some simulations of what his life – and the lives of his friends – would have been like had he never built the Machine. The first simulation focuses on Finch’s best friend, Nathan, who up with the idea for the Machine after the 9/11 attacks. He’d still be alive and their business would be very successful, but Finch would never have met the love of his life and would always feel he missed the opportunity to do something “meaningful” by not creating an AI for the DoD.
At the same time Finch is traveling to Washington D.C., back in New York Fusco (Kevin Chapman) is dealing with the news that the NYPD has discovered the missing bodies in Queens. Special Agent Martin LeRoux is back at the precinct and questions Fusco about what he knows about the discovery since he had an evidence board hidden in the conference room. The Machine shows Finch in a simulation that Fusco would have turned out a drunk and dishonorable ex-cop who informed on HR to save his own skin. The only positive is that Detective Carter would still be alive and now a lieutenant.
Reese and Shaw get a number from the Machine and realize it’s the number to Greer’s alias. Reese is positive Finch is going to try to kill Greer and the Machine is giving them the number to find Finch. Their search leads them to a deserted building used as a cover by Greer. But thanks to a few other numbers, which are coordinates and a room number given to them by the Machine, Reese and Shaw figure out that Harold is at the NSA.
At the NSA’s headquarters Finch has been able to get past the first line of defense by posing as the driver of the French NATO representative. Once past the main lobby security, Finch will lose contact with the Machine due to the building’s security measures and not allowing electronic devices inside. Before Finch goes past security, the Machine shows him a simulation of what would have happened to Shaw without its existence. Turns out Shaw would have stayed an assassin for the government and most likely be the one to eliminate NSA analyst and whistleblower Jacobs Pitts (Henry Peck), a number Reese and Finch helped back in season one who discovered the existence of the surveillance machine.
Finch can’t help but focus on the fact that at least Shaw would have been spared the pain of having lost Root. Seems Harold is determined to blame himself and his Machine for everything bad that’s happened to his friends. After getting past the retinal scan, Finch is able to get to the server room and upload the virus. Just as he is about to activate it with the voice-activation command, he’s stopped and captured by some Samaritan operatives.
Just outside Reese and Shaw find a way to sneak past security by hiding in delivery trucks. They slip into the building taking out two military personnel to borrow their uniforms as cover. Reese and Shaw are able to make their way to the NSA’s evidence room and find a wireless modem that was used by Edward Snowden, which they will need later.
Meanwhile, back in New York Fusco gets knocked out by Agent LeRoux and wakes up in the backseat of a car, handcuffed. LeRoux is an operative of Samaritan and he’s the one responsible for all the dead bodies in the underground tunnels. LeRoux tells Fusco not to worry, that he will kill him with the same gun and bullets as the others making it look like he got too close to the killer and died a hero.
Finch is taken to Greer (John Nolan) who’s inside Samaritan’s command center and once again Greer is all about trying to convince Finch to join the dark side and together they will create a new and controlled world. Samaritan wants to link up with Finch’s Machine and work together to create more ASI’s. Greer tells Finch it’s useless to fight and that he’s only stalling the inevitable which is ASI’s dominion over mankind. Finch refuses, saying his Machine was created to serve and help humanity and that Samaritan’s world is one where humanity has lost its free will. During this chess match of the minds, Finch accidentally reveals that his Machine can’t activate the Ice-9 virus without his okay. So Greer – being the true AI fanatic that he is – locks himself and Finch in a room and tells Samaritan to remove the air from it, something that will kill them both.
Fortunately, Reese and Shaw – who are being hunted by Samaritan agents after being discovered in the evidence room – have already activated the wireless modem in time for the Machine to connect to Finch’s phone. She sends him the code that will unlock the door and let him out. Finch asks the Machine how it was able to connect to him and she reveals, using Root’s voice, that Reese and Shaw are in the building and asks, “Aren’t reunions nice?” The Machine tells Finch that he has a choice to make to save his friends or activate the virus. To help him she shows him another simulation, this time showing what would have become of Reese without the Machine’s creation.
Turns out Reese would have saved his true love Jessica from her abusive husband but she would have pushed him away after witnessing his dark side. Reese’s dead body would have been recovered from the East River. Finch tells the Machine to take him to his friends.
Reese and Shaw are at a dead end with Samaritan agents closing in when Finch tells them via their earpieces to take them out and get ready to shoot. Finch has the Machine send a painful sound through the communications, causing the Samaritan agents to fall to their knees so Reese and Shaw can shoot them. Finch tells his two friends to get out of there and the door opens showing Finch on the other side of it. Reese, Shaw, and Finch head to the exit and Harold turns telling them to go on ahead. Reese and Shaw let him know they are not leaving him behind just as more of Samaritan’s operatives show up.
During the firefight Reese saves Shaw’s life and Finch uses the chaos to go back to the server room to activate the virus. Harold tells his Machine the world she showed him of her never existing wasn’t necessarily worse or better – just different. The Machine shows Finch one more simulation which reveals that Greer and Samaritan would still have come into existence and worse become even more powerful and controlling over mankind because Finch and his Machine weren’t around to fight it. To make matters even worse, Root would have become a loyal follower of Greer’s.
Back in New York by the river, Leroux has walked Fusco to an abandoned area where he plans to kill him. Fusco turns to face LeRoux and the corrupt agent shoots Fusco in the chest. LeRoux walks over to Fusco’s body lying on the ground and goes to shoot him again when he’s kicked by Fusco and overpowered by the seasoned cop who takes away the agent’s gun and tells him what an idiot he is for not checking Fusco for a bullet-proof vest. Fusco holds LeRoux at gunpoint, deciding if he should kill him to stop him from coming after his friends and family or let him live.
Finch gets to the control center and Samaritan tries to tell him not to go through with his plan of stopping it. “My Machine, her purpose has been constant, to protect and save humanity. It’s what she’s doing now,” says Finch just as he puts in the password and says thank you to his Machine which will also be destroyed by the virus. It’s an emotional moment as Harold is forced to sacrifice his Machine, his child, to save mankind as well as demonstrating how the Machine, which knew activating the virus meant its own destruction was willing and fought to protect humanity over its own survival. As Finch activates the virus, Samaritan’s screen begins to cut in and out.
Person of Interest Review of Season 5 Episode 12
Suspenseful and emotional, season five episode 12 of Person of Interest titled “.EXE” sees the end of one of the major villains of the series as well as begins the end of the show. The stand-out performance once again goes to Michael Emerson as Finch who, even though he has become more determined and calculating than ever to stop Samaritan, has not lost the love and admiration he feels for his friends and his Machine. The scenes where he sees the simulations of what would have become of the people he cares about if the Machine had never been created are both surprising and powerful. Most disturbing is the revelation of how Root would have become a loyal disciple of Samaritan and would never have grown to care for Harold, John, Fusco, and Shaw.
With both AIs appearing to be erased by the virus and Greer dead, here’s hoping the rest of Team Machine will be able to escape what’s left of Samaritan’s loyal agents and find a way to get out of this alive.
Netflix’s animated family-friendly series Trollhunters will have a first-rate voice cast. Series creator Guillermo del Toro announced his friend and frequent collaborator Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Pacific Rim) is part of the voice cast as are Kelsey Grammer and Anton Yelchin. The series is produced by DreamWorks Animation, with del Toro, Marc Guggenheim (Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow), and Christina Steinberg (Rise of the Guardians, National Treasure) are executive producing. Del Toro announced the first wave of voice cast members during a career retrospective at the Annecy Animation Festival.
Netflix will premiere Trollhunters this December.
The Plot and Character Descriptions:Trollhunters features a tale of two fantastical worlds set to collide in an epic saga. Set in the fictional suburb of Arcadia, our unlikely hero, Jim, and his two best friends make a startling discovery that beneath their hometown lies a hidden battle between good trolls and bad, the outcome of which will impact their lives forever.
The cast includes Anton Yelchin as “Jim,” an ordinary teenage boy whose discovery of a mystical amulet sets his life on a course filled with high-stakes adventure; Kelsey Grammer as “Blinky,” a kind-hearted troll who befriends Jim; and Ron Perlman provides the voice of “Bular,” a sinister troll who targets Jim and his friends for battle.
Justin Hires has been hired on to star in the new action-drama series MacGyver. The CBS series, based on the classic television show starring Richard Dean Anderson in the title role, will air this fall on Fridays at 8pm ET/PT. Hires joins a cast that include Lucas Till (‘Havok’ in X-Men: Apocalypse) as MacGyver and George Eads (CSI, ER) as Lincoln. Hires will be playing “Wilt Bozer, MacGyver’s ambitious roommate.”
“Casting Justin was a no-brainer… comedy, action, adventure… the guy can do it all,” stated executive producer Peter Lenkov. “We are beyond excited to have him join us on MacGyver.” The series is also executive produced by Craig O’Neill, James Wan, Henry Winkler, Lee Zlotoff, and Michael Clear.
Hires co-starred on the cancelled CBS series, Rush Hour. His credits also include TripTank, Key and Peele, 21 Jump Street, and Stomp the Yard.
The Plot: A reimagining of the classic series, MacGyver is an action-adventure drama about 20-something Angus “Mac” MacGyver (Lucas Till) who creates a clandestine organization within the U.S. government where he uses his extraordinary talent for unconventional problem solving and vast scientific knowledge to save lives. Joining his team on high-risk missions around the globe is maverick former CIA agent Lincoln (George Eads). Under the aegis of the Department of External Affairs, MacGyver takes on the responsibility of saving the world, armed to the teeth with resourcefulness and little more than bubble gum and a paper clip.
Kelsey (Hilary Duff) and Liza (Sutton Foster) in ‘Younger’ (Photo courtesy of TV Land)
Season three of TV Land’s popular comedy series Younger has just begun shooting in New York and today the network announced they’ve given the show a 12 episode season four order. Season two increased the show’s viewership by more than 67% among adults and the comedy’s social media presence nearly doubled.
Darren Star created, executive produces, and is a writer on the series, with Dottie Zicklin and Eric Zicklin also writing and on board as executive producers. The cast of Younger includes Sutton Foster, Hilary Duff, Debi Mazar, Miriam Shor, Nico Tortorella, Peter Hermann and Molly Bernard. Season three is set to premiere on September 28, 2016 at 10pm ET/PT.
“The show is a force in and of itself, so it’s a no-brainer to renew it again,” said Keith Cox, Executive Vice President of Development and Original Programming. “Critics and fans love it, and I know Darren and the entire cast and crew behind Younger will continue to deliver at the top of their game.”
The Plot:Younger follows Liza (Foster), a 40-year old woman who pretends to be 26 in order to get a job in the highly competitive world of publishing – and succeeds. Now working under the prickly Diana (Shor), Liza has to figure out how to balance her real life with best friend Maggie (Mazar), and her “pretend” life with her new crew – friend/coworker Kelsey (Duff) and fashion publicist Lauren (Bernard). At the end of season two, Liza’s secret took a tragic turn when Kelsey’s fiancé Thad (Dan Amboyer) was killed in an accident right after he discovered her lie, and Liza’s love life is in disarray as she tries to choose between on-again/off-again boyfriend Josh (Nico Tortorella) and her boss Charles (Peter Hermann), with whom she has an undeniable connection.
Paramount Pictures released a new behind-the-scenes video from Ben-Hur spotlighting the chariot race in the 2016 version of the classic story. Director Timur Bekmambetov (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) compares the chariot race to NASCAR and reveals the action scene was done without the use of CG. The clip also features Jack Huston and Toby Kebbell discussing the scene. Heading to theaters on August 19, 2016, Ben-Hur also stars Nazanin Boniadi, Morgan Freeman, and Rodrigo Santoro.
The Plot:Ben-Hur is the epic story of Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston), a prince falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell), an officer in the Roman army. Stripped of his title, separated from his family and the woman he loves (Nazanin Boniadi), Judah is forced into slavery. After years at sea, Judah returns to his homeland to seek revenge, but finds redemption.
