SWAT fans refused to give up hope and apparently their continued support has paid off. CBS confirmed the surprising good news that S.W.A.T. has been renewed for season eight. Viewers can expect the drama to stick around at least through the 2024-2025 primetime season.
“Here at CBS, we always ‘stay liquid’ and love a good dramatic twist, especially when it leads to an eighth season of S.W.A.T.!” said Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment. “The show continues to resonate with viewers thanks to our talented cast led by Shemar Moore and our amazing writers and producers who keep the show relevant and action-packed. We’re very pleased to renew it again and incredibly grateful to our partners at SONY, CBS Studios, and Shemar for working so closely with us to bring it back for next season.”
In addition to Moore as Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson, season seven stars Jay Harrington as David “Deacon” Kay, David Lim as Victor Tan, Rochelle Aytes as Nichelle Carmichael, Anna Enger Ritch as Zoe Powell, and Patrick St. Esprit plays Robert ‘Bob’ Hicks. Kenny Johnson recurs as Dominique Luca and Alex Russell recurs as Jim Street.
“S.W.A.T. IS BACK! BELIEVE IN MIRACLES! I am so proud of this show and the people and variables it has taken to make this show what it is and has become,” said Moore. “I am so grateful to the fans around the world who have supported, watched, enjoyed and rooted for S.W.A.T.! It is entirely because of this support that S.W.A.T. will continue to shine! This is still a dream job for me … I love my S.W.A.T. crew, cast and writers and producers – we have made an incredible, fun, exciting, provocative, and heartwarming show for the world to enjoy. Thank you to CBS and SONY for believing in S.W.A.T. and giving us this opportunity to shine!”
Season seven, airing on Fridays at 8pm ET/PT, ranks 17th on the top 20 primetime broadcast drama list. The current season has been averaging 6.1 million viewers.
“It’s a privilege to get to deliver more S.W.A.T. stories to our incredible fans. This season eight pickup is a testament to our showrunner Andy Dettmann, Shemar Moore, the rest of our talented cast and our dedicated crew who continue to produce television that resonates with so many people,” said executive producer and co-showrunner Shawn Ryan. “We’re grateful to CBS, Sony Pictures Television and CBS Studios for the opportunity.”
“All of us at S.W.A.T. are thrilled by the news of a season eight. Shemar and I had many conversations throughout the production of season seven, confident that if we continued to tell great stories punctuated by SWAT’s signature action, our amazing fans would stay with us, giving us a good shot at another season,” said Andrew Dettmann, co-showrunner and executive producer. “At the end of the day, this is the well-deserved payoff for all the time, energy and effort put in by an incredible cast and crew working with the constant support of our partners at Sony Pictures Television and everyone at CBS. We look forward to an exciting season eight.”
Joel Edgerton stars as a man who isn’t sure if he’s going crazy or if there are in fact alternate realities in Apple TV+’s Dark Matter. The official trailer introduces Edgerton as a family man whose life is turned upside down when he’s kidnapped by a masked man while heading home from a bar.
Joel Edgerton stars as Jason Dessen and Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly plays his artist wife, Daniela. The cast of the sci-fi thriller also includes Alice Braga, Jimmi Simpson, Dayo Okeniyi, and Oakes Fegley.
Blake Crouch guides the series, based on his bestselling novel, as writer, executive producer, and showrunner. Additional executive producers include Joel Edgerton and Matt Tolmach and David Manpearl for Matt Tolmach Productions.
Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly in ‘Dark Matter’ (Photo Credit: Apple TV+)
“Hailed as one of the best sci-fi novels of the decade, Dark Matter is a story about the road not taken. The series will follow Jason Dessen, a physicist, professor, and family man who — one night while walking home on the streets of Chicago — is abducted into an alternate version of his life,” reads Apple TV+’s synopsis. “Wonder quickly turns to nightmare when he tries to return to his reality amid the mind-bending landscape of lives he could have lived. In this labyrinth of realities, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true family and save them from the most terrifying, unbeatable foe imaginable: himself.”
The first two episodes of the nine-episode season will premiere on May 8, 2024. New episodes stream on Wednesdays leading up to the season finale on June 26, 2024.
Poster for ‘Jim Henson Idea Man’ (Photo Credit: Disney+)
Disney+ has set a May 31, 2024 premiere date for Jim Henson Idea Man, a documentary directed by two-time Oscar winner Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind). “If there was going to be a definitive documentary about Jim Henson, we had hoped it would be in the hands of an accomplished filmmaker. Ron Howard is both a creative and personality match for my father, unlike anyone else we could have contemplated,” stated Lisa Henson in an email to Vanity Fair.
“It was sort of anarchy on the outside, but underneath it, there was always a smart idea—a witty point to make, an observation about the world,” said Howard while discussing his impression of Jim Henson’s life with Vanity Fair. “To see that evolve through the medium of puppetry and television, and then on into movies, was so interesting to me. I felt like you could actually observe a lot about entertainment, what entertains us and why, through his journey.”
The documentary is produced by Imagine Documentaries, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Sara Bernstein, Margaret Bodde, Justin Wilkes, Mark Monroe, and Christopher St. John. Executive producers include Paul Crowder, Meredith Kaulfers, and Michael Rosenberg.
“Jim Henson Idea Man takes us into the mind of this singular creative visionary, from his early years puppeteering on local television to the worldwide success of Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and beyond,” reads Disney+’s synopsis. “Featuring unprecedented access to Jim’s personal archives, Howard brings us a fascinating and insightful look at a complex man whose boundless imagination inspired the world.”
A scene from ‘Sting’ (Photo Courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment)
From Arachnophobia to Itsy Bitsy, from Tarantula to Abyssal Spider, killer spider movies have always been in style. But there’s something special about the newest eight-legged offering, Sting. Sting is everything that’s amazing about creature features.
Sting is about a young girl named Charlotte (Alyla Browne from the unfortunate Children of the Corn remake) who spends her time drawing comics and creeping into her neighbors’ apartments by crawling through the apartment building’s air ducts. One day while doing the latter, she comes across a cute little spider which she takes home and names Sting – not after the rock star or the wrestler, but after the short sword in The Hobbit. Yes, Charlotte is a dork.
But Sting isn’t a normal, run-of-the-mill spider. It’s an alien spider that crashed on Earth in a meteorite. First, Charlotte starts feeding Sting small things like cockroaches. But Sting starts growing (and growing and growing), and cockroaches don’t satisfy his voracious appetite for long.
Written and directed by Kiah Roche-Turner (who also did Wyrmwood: Apocalypse and Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead), Sting is a B-movie with A+ execution. It’s got the Roger Corman spirit with the Blumhouse slickness. Everything about it is laugh-out-loud fun. The little girl lead, the monstrous arachnid, the supporting cast of oddball characters, even the heavy-handedly foreshadowed final battle. It’s all a blast.
To his credit, Roche-Turner does throw some familial drama into the mix, with Charlotte’s mother and stepfather (played by Penelope Mitchell from Hemlock Grove and Ryan Corr from House of the Dragon, respectively) juggling the emotional needs of their pre-teen daughter with the priorities of their newborn son. This stepfamily dynamic gets a little awkward at times, but the situation itself is strained, so the awkwardness feels natural. And it does help build character so that when Sting starts wreaking havoc, the audience has something to care about.
The rest of the characters serve both as cannon fodder and comic relief. From the mean old aunt (Relic’s Robyn Nevin) whom viewers can’t wait to see die to the exterminator (Jermaine Fowler from The Blackening) who is as hilarious as he is heroic, from the upstairs neighbor biology student (Danny Kim from Born to Spy) who provides necessary technical exposition to Charlotte’s dementia-riddled grandmother (Candy’s Noni Hazlehurst) who has very little idea of what is happening, there’s no shortage of meat for the titular monster in Sting.
So now, let’s talk about Sting. This spider is a menace in the best possible way. Everything about Charlotte’s “adoption” of the creature has the viewer shaking their head. And that headshaking only gets more and more pronounced as the girl’s relationship with her new pet grows. It’s horror movie 101 – there has to be a bad decision somewhere. In Sting, that bad decision sets the whole movie in motion. So, we all have Charlotte to thank for our good time.
And it all leads up to a final battle that is part Alien and part It. But it’s all awesome. Sting is a bittersweet family drama in the clothing of a terrific monster movie. It’s heavy subject matter that’s given a hysterical treatment. More funny than scary, but Sting has still got all the chills that one can expect from a movie about a gigantic creepy-crawly.
There’s not much new in Sting, but that’s not the point of it. It does what it does well, and we’ve already established that killer spider movies will never go out of style. With a little luck, we’ll get a Sting sequel.
GRADE: A
MPAA Rating: R for bloody images, violent content, and language
Release Date: April 12, 2024
Running Time: 1 hour 31 minutes
Distributor: Well Go USA Entertainment
Netflix’s official trailer for Bridgerton season three delivers more sizzling scenes with Penelope and Luke (#Polin), and shows off our first good look at Penelope’s possible suitor Lord Debling.
The nearly three-minute trailer arrived along with a new poster and more gorgeous photos from the upcoming season.
Season three stars Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington, Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton, Claudia Jessie as Eloise Bridgerton, Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton, Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte, and Adjoa Andoh as Lady Danbury. Ruth Gemmell stars as Violet Bridgerton, Lorraine Ashbourne is Mrs. Varley, Hannah Dodd is Francesca Bridgerton, Simone Ashley is Kate Sharma, and Jonathan Bailey is Anthony Bridgerton.
Harriet Cains stars as Philipa Featherington, Bessie Carter is Prudence Featherington, Jessica Madsen is Cressida Cowper, Florence Hunt is Hyacinth Bridgerton, Martins Imhangbe is Will Mondrich, and Will Tilston plays Gregory Bridgerton.
The ensemble also includes Polly Walker as Portia Featherington, Hugh Sachs as Brimsley, Emma Naomi as Alice Mondrich, Kathryn Drysdale as Genevieve Delacroix, and Sam Phillips as Lord Debling. Julie Andrews returns as the voice of Lady Whistledown.
The season three four-episode part one premieres on May 16, 2024. The eight-episode season concludes with part two debuting on June 13, 2024.
From Shondaland and new showrunner, Jess Brownell, Bridgerton is back for its third season and finds Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) has finally given up on her long-held crush on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) after hearing his disparaging words about her last season. She has, however, decided it’s time to take a husband, preferably one who will provide her with enough independence to continue her double life as Lady Whistledown, far away from her mother and sisters. But lacking in confidence, Penelope’s attempts on the marriage mart fail spectacularly.
Meanwhile, Colin has returned from his summer travels with a new look and a serious sense of swagger. But he’s disheartened to realize that Penelope, the one person who always appreciated him as he was, is giving him the cold shoulder. Eager to win back her friendship, Colin offers to mentor Penelope in the ways of confidence to help her find a husband this season. But when his lessons start working a little too well, Colin must grapple with whether his feelings for Penelope are truly just friendly.
Complicating matters for Penelope is her rift with Eloise (Claudia Jessie), who has found a new friend in a very unlikely place, while Penelope’s growing presence in the ton makes it all the more difficult to keep her Lady Whistledown alter ego a secret.
Filming’s underway on ‘Dark Winds’ season 3 (Photo Credit: Michael Moriatis/AMC)
Jenna Elfman (Fear the Walking Dead) and Bruce Greenwood (The Fall of the House of Usher) will be guest starring on season three of AMC’s Dark Winds, currently filming in New Mexico. Zahn McClarnon (Fargo), Kiowa Gordon (Roswell, New Mexico), and Jessica Matten (Burden of Truth) return in starring roles for the new season of the critically acclaimed drama based on Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn & Chee book series.
Elfman is playing FBI Special Agent Sylvia Washington and Greenwood will play Tom Spenser. Additional season three guest stars include Raoul Max Trujillo (Mayans M.C.) as Budge, Tonantzin Carmelo (La Brea) as Border Patrol Agent Eleanda Garza, Alex Meraz (The Twilight Saga franchise) as Border Patrol Agent Ivan Muños, Terry Serpico (Yellowstone) as Border Patrol Senior Chief Ed Henry, and Derek Hinkey (American Primeval) as Shorty Bowlegs.
Phil Burke (Hell on Wheels) guests as Michael Halsey and Christopher Heyerdahl (Under the Banner of Heaven) is Dr Reynolds. Series regular Deanna Allison (Accused) returns as Emma Leaphorn and A. Martinez returns in the guest-starring role of Scarborough Police Department Acting Chief Gordo Sena.
“Season three picks up six months after the events of season two and follows Joe Leaphorn (McClarnon) and Jim Chee (Gordon) as they investigate the disappearance of two boys, with only an abandoned bicycle and blood-stained patch of ground left in their wake,” reads AMC and AMC+’s synopsis. “Meanwhile, Bernadette Manuelito (Matten) attempts to settle into her new life 500 miles from home with the Border Patrol, but stumbles across a conspiracy involving human and drug smuggling with far-reaching implications.”
Graham Roland (The Returned) created the noir thriller and executive produces. Showrunner John Wirth also executive produces along with McClarnon, Robert Redford, George R.R. Martin, Chris Eyre, Tina Elmo, Jim Chory, Vince Gerardis, and Anne Hillerman.
The History Channel’s How Disney Built America dives into the history of the Disney brand and its impact on generations of fans. The six-episode nonfiction series is set to premiere on April 28, 2024 at 10pm ET/PT, with new episodes arriving on Sundays.
Produced by A+E Factual Studios group, the new addition to the network’s That Built franchise is executive produced by Sharon Scott, Steve Ascher, Matthew Pearl, Kristy Sabat, and Andy Seestedt. The History Channel’s Mary E. Donahue, Jim Pasquarella, and Alex Hicks also serve as executive producers.
The network released this lengthy description of the six-part series:
“How Disney Built America is a nostalgia-filled ride that paints a vivid picture of the world of Walt Disney and the history-making empire he and his brother Roy Disney built. Each hour-long episode focuses on a different example of game-changing brilliance in Disney’s history including creating the world’s most recognizable characters, establishing the animated features industry, revolutionizing the concept of merchandising, and using groundbreaking design and engineering to construct Disneyland, Walt Disney World® Resort, and beyond.
Viewers will hear from legendary Disney Imagineer Bob Gurr, a direct hire from Walt who developed over 100 designs for Disney theme park attractions, to gain surprising insights into the unique innovations and struggles involved in realizing the dreams of a visionary. The series utilizes rarely-seen historical material, original dramatic recreations, and key interviews from Don Wildman, Margaret Kerrison, Douglas Brinkley, Mindy Johnson, and others to expand on how the brand is forever woven into the fabric of American life.
The April 28th series premiere recounts the creation of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse – how he began as a pencil sketch and rocketed to lasting fame. The story starts with Walt in his early days in Hollywood when he loses creative control over his first successful cartoon character to a powerful middleman. What happens next is a series of pivotal decisions that spurs Walt, animator Ub Iwerks, and the staff at the Disney studio to create one of the most lucrative cartoon characters in history, along with the first synchronized sound animated short.
In the years to come, Mickey Mouse has many imitators who look to compete with his genuine appeal, but it’s difficult to surpass him as a true American symbol, and the foundation of an iconic media empire.”
Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney working on a character (recreation) from The HISTORY Channel’s ‘How Disney Built America’ (Photo Copyright: The HISTORY Channel)
Max has set an April 25, 2024 premiere date for season two of Velma. Six-time Emmy nominee Mindy Kaling returns to voice the titular character in the 10-episode second season from Warner Bros. Animation.
“When an even spookier mystery grips Crystal Cove, Velma (Kaling) must find a way to balance her detective work with the demands of her newfound popularity before it’s too late,” reads Max’s synopsis. “Meanwhile, her faithful friends Daphne, Norville, and Fred are powerless to help thanks to their own personal battles and worse… Detention.”
Constance Wu voices Daphne, Sam Richardson is Norville, and Glenn Howerton voices Fred. The voice cast also includes Russell Peters, Melissa Fumero, Sarayu Blue, Jane Lynch, and Wanda Sykes. Cherry Jones, Frank Welker, Nicole Byer, Gary Cole, Andia Winslow, and Sara Ramirez also lend their voices to the animated comic book-inspired series.
Charlie Grandy created the series and serves as an executive producer along with Mindy Kaling, Howard Klein, and Elijah Aron. Kandace Reuter and Rick Williams are producers. Jessica Kumai Scott is a co-executive producer, and Amy Winfrey is a supervising producer.
Cailee Spaeny and Kirsten Dunst in ‘Civil War’ (Photo Credit: Courtesy of A24)
Alex Garland’s Civil War is a cautionary tale that’s frighteningly relevant and unsettling. It would be wonderful to live in a social and political climate in which the world shown in the film seems outlandish and impossible. But we don’t, and likely never will.
Garland’s brutal, in-your-face wake-up call is terrifying in both its visual depictions of combat and in its message. Civil War is also one of the best representations of the importance of journalism depicted in a fictional story.
The war is in its last weeks as the story picks up, with California’s and Texas’ Western Front alliance on the verge of entering Washington, DC. As a Californian, this alliance was jarring when introduced in the film’s first trailers, given the states’ political leanings. However, Garland doesn’t address why the two most populated states have found common ground; it’s simply not an issue when taking in the bigger picture.
The Western Front (WF) isn’t the only group attempting to take down the three-term president. Florida leads another alliance, which operates separately from the WF. Other states have either chosen sides or are basically sitting out the war, and individual cities and towns are protecting their citizens with armed border guards and rooftop snipers. Major cities are still recognizable, for the most part, but the streets are empty and businesses are shuttered, eerily echoing the early days of the Covid-19 quarantine.
Reports out of the White House are sporadic and filled with lies, so it’s up to the few remaining journalists to act as impartial observers and provide the facts. Lee (Kirsten Dunst), a jaded war photographer who’s seen more than her fair share of battlefields, and reporter Joel Cullen (Wagner Moura) are determined to travel from New York to Washington, DC, taking a circuitous route through areas that aren’t completely shut down or off-limits. Their objective: secure a final interview with the President (Nick Offerman) before Washington DC falls. It’s an incredibly dangerous mission, given that journalists are considered the enemy and shot on sight in DC.
Lee and Joel are joined by veteran New York Times reporter Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), who’s anxious to get to the front line of the war, which is currently 100 miles outside of DC in Charlottesville, Virginia. The fourth member of their ragtag group is Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), a bright-eyed young photographer who idolizes Lee and talks her way onto the team. Lee only reluctantly accepts Jessie’s presence. Lee sees herself in this fledgling photographer and doesn’t want the responsibility of keeping her safe. She also doesn’t have the energy or desire to serve as a mentor.
The 800-mile road trip to DC is incredibly perilous. Safe zones are few and far between, and there’s not much opportunity to let their guard down. Even simple pitstops for gas could lead to life-and-death situations, and idyllic-looking small towns may be home to militias that shoot on sight.
A burned-out helicopter rests in a boarded-up JCPenney’s parking lot. Bodies have been left hanging from overpasses. Smoldering buildings litter the landscape. The world’s gone completely, unimaginably mad. And still, these journalists forge on, knowing that what’s happening must be recorded. “Every time I survived a war zone, I thought I was sending a warning home: don’t do this. But here we are,” says Lee. They need to document the brutality and senselessness of this war as a warning. That the country has fallen into another civil war proves no one stops and listens.
Garland’s anti-war film is visually striking, with gritty, realistic combat scenes intermixed with more intimate scenes of the foursome traveling through empty towns and past forests transformed into fiery infernos. Shaky handheld camera work puts us directly into the line of fire. The thunderous sounds of gunfire seem to be ever present in the background, a constant reminder of lives being lost as a nation is ripped apart.
Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson are phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal. Dunst portrays Lee as a world-weary war photographer who has lived through untold horrors and in response has built a wall between herself and the world. Spaeny’s young, aspiring photographer Jessie manages to put cracks in that wall by reminding Lee of her own wide-eyed younger years when she still believed her work could have a positive effect on the world. Lee shoots on film in black and white. Lee shoots digitally in color. But both aim for that perfect shot that tells a complete story and sparks conversations.
Unlike Lee, Moura’s Joel allows himself to enjoy the downtime between covering skirmishes. He’s a serious reporter focused on securing what could be the single most important (and historical) interview of his career. Joel’s desire to get to DC and interview the man who’s ordered air strikes against his US citizens and refuses to leave office is spurred on by a higher purpose. The president’s final words must be recorded for posterity’s sake.
Henderson’s Sammy is the grizzled reporter on the verge of retirement who aches for one last big get before getting out. Sammy’s the voice of reason in the group, and Henderson does a terrific job of playing him as a wise elderly mentor to all three of his traveling companions.
Civil War doesn’t spell out what caused the US to be ripped apart. Hints are dropped but Garland, like his heroic lead characters, attempts to tell the story from an unbiased observer’s point of view. In one particularly startling scene, a small-town soldier (Jesse Plemons) has taken it upon himself to decide who lives. His decision is based on the answer to one terrifying question: “What kind of American are you?” What’s the right answer when the entire nation has been turned on its head? It’s us versus them taken to the nth degree, with no agreed-upon definition of either “us” or “them.”
Seeing landmarks destroyed, towns wiped out, and Americans killing other Americans elicited a visceral reaction from me. And Garland’s R-rated drama is heartbreaking and infuriating. Heartbreaking in that some would love to see a version of what happens in the film happen in real life. Infuriating in that its depiction of journalists echoes the treatment they receive while performing crucial work.
Civil War is set in the near future. We can only hope it’s not proven to be prescient.
GRADE: A
Rating: R
Release Date: April 12, 2024
Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes
Studio: A24
Fox’s The Cleaning Lady season three episode six finally revealed Arman’s tragic fate. Episode seven will find Thony dealing with the aftermath of his death. “Velorio” airs on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 at 8pm ET/PT.
Elodie Yung leads the cast as Thony, Martha Millan plays Fiona, Kate del Castillo is Ramona Sanchez, and Eva De Dominici is Nadia. Santiago Cabrera plays Jorge, Faith Bryant is Jaz, and Sean Lew plays Chris. Mayans MC‘s Clayton Cardenas guest stars as Dante.
“Velorio” Plot: Ramona grows increasingly more apprehensive of Thony’s involvement in Arman’s life and suspects Thony and Nadia of jeopardizing her and Jorge’s plans. Meanwhile, Jeremy volunteers to install security equipment at Fiona’s house.
The stakes in season three are higher and more intense than ever. This season, Thony turns her efforts to bringing Fiona back to the US after she was deported to the Philippines, devising an extraction plan with Arman (Adan Canto) using Nadia’s plane. When he mysteriously disappears, Thony and Nadia begrudgingly team together to look for him.
Meanwhile, Fiona tries to manage the aftermath of her deportation to the Philippines while Thony explores drastic measures to get her back home as well as search for answers regarding Arman. While Thony is relieved that Luca’s medical issues have improved, he and Thony face a new threat that may keep them apart, while Chris makes a careless decision to help his mother Fiona but may jeopardize their futures as well as that of Jaz’s.
As Thony’s journey continues to unfold, she is completely alone. Her world is turned upside down as she fights to protect her family, forcing her to take steps that deepen a new association with a dangerous Cartel.
