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In video game history, not many franchises have made as much impact as Halo. Released in 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved not only redefined the First-Person Shooter (Fps) genre but also helped establish the Xbox as a major player in the gaming market. The game introduced players to a rich narrative filled with deep lore, memorable characters like Master Chief, and groundbreaking multiplayer experiences.

The game revolutionized the entire gaming industry and made Xbox a leading console. | Image Credit: 343 Industries

The game’s legacy is very deep and has influenced countless games and franchises including novels, animated series, and a live-action television adaptation. Yet, not many players know that before the Master Chief donned his iconic green armor, the vision for the game was very different: originally it was intended to be a real-time strategy (Rts) and real-time tactics game.

The History and Development of Halo

The origins of Halo can...

Previous | Image 1 of 23 | NextHeadliner Lil Uzi Vert

Chicago – The iconic Milwaukee Summerfest for 2024 wrapped up last month, and photographer and Music Editor Jeff “Doc” Doles was on hand to provide an on-stage view with the following “Best-of” Exclusive Photo Slideshow. From headliner Lil Uzi Vert to classic acts like Living Colour and the BoDeans, the event drew music fans from all over the world.

Click “Next” and “Previous” to scan through the Milwaukee Summerfest 2024 slideshow or jump directly to individual photos with the captioned links below. All photos © 2024 Jeff Doles for HollywoodChicago.com.

SUMMERFEST1: Headliner Lil Uzi Vert SUMMERFEST2: Abby Anderson SUMMERFEST3: Kurt Neumann of the BoDeans SUMMERFEST4: Charlotte Cardin SUMMERFEST5: Chase Lawrence of Coin SUMMERFEST6: Nathan Willett of Cold War Kids SUMMERFEST7: Dave Lowery of Cracker SUMMERFEST8: Delilah SUMMERFEST9: Jason Jones of Drowning Pool SUMMERFEST10: Jerry DePizzo of O.

From the creators of the cosmic horror movie Daniel Isn’t Real, Brian DeLeeuw and Adam Egypt Mortimer, comes Invader, an upcoming sci-fi novel with a very unique twist.

Described as “a horrifying and thought-provoking vision of what it feels like to invade the Earth,” Invader is a deluxe, full-color, illustrated novel about an alien invasion — told from the alien’s point of view! “In a style that’s one part Stephen King, one part David Cronenberg, and one part shattering family drama, Invader‘s gripping text is magnified by twenty full-color illustrations by acclaimed comic book artist Jock.”

The team explains, “DeLeeuw and Mortimer worked together for several years developing the story of an alien invasion using this unique point of view.”

“I love Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” said Mortimer. “All the versions. But what’s always interested me, and what I think has focused most of the work that I’ve done,...

For many viewers, the scenes hardest to take in viral streaming cringefest “Baby Reindeer” weren’t the ones of overt stalking or abuse, but those depicting the Doa stand-up comedy of Richard Gadd’s alter ego — moments whose flop-sweating public failure seemed to stretch into tortuous infinity. Canadian feature “I Used to Be Funny” likewise hinges on a paralyzing intersection between stand-up, anxiety and depression. Mercifully, however, here it’s not the protagonist’s stage act that is the cause of massive self-doubt. Instead, it’s a host of external problems that conspire to make her incapable of performing …as well as eating, sleeping and leaving her apartment.

Ally Pankiw’s big-screen debut recalls such prior indie features as “The Big Sick,” “Sleepwalk With Me” and “Obvious Child” in successfully using a comedy milieu to place a leavening frame around some very serious issues. In this case, an aspiring comedian...

Rachel Sennott is funny, and her character in I Used to be Funny, a stand-up comedian named Sam, is too—or at least she used to be. Writer-director Ally Pankiw’s debut feature weaves two eras of Sam’s life together, with Sennott fully embodying both the bubbly, brassy person Sam once was and the shut-in she became in the wake of a traumatizing event. The nimble way that she hops between these two versions of the character easily makes up for the odd narrative misstep that I Used to Be Funny makes along the way.

The film begins with Sam cooped up in a house she shares with her two besties, fellow comedians Paige (Sabrina Jalees) and Philip (Caleb Hearon). They’re both worried about how reclusive Sam has become, as well as her refusal to get back on stage, though it’s some kind of progress when they...

While her performance in Bottoms may have gotten the most buzz out of South by Southwest Film Festival last year, Rachel Sennott also brought a dramedy to the festival. Ally Pankiw’s debut I Used to Be Funny follows that actor as an aspiring stand-up who struggles with attempting to search for a missing teenager she used to nanny. Also starring Olga Pesta, Jason Jones, Sabrina Jalees, Caleb Hearon, and Ennis Esmer, the first trailer has now arrived ahead of a June 7 release from Utopia.

Here’s the synopsis: “I Used To Be Funny is a dark dramedy that follows Sam Cowell (Rachel Sennott), an aspiring stand-up comedian and au pair struggling with Ptsd, as she decides whether or not to join the search for Brooke (Olga Petsa), a missing teenage girl she used to nanny. The story exists between the present, where Sam tries to recover from her trauma and get back on stage,...

"I'm worried that you're still not leaving the house." "I showered today..." Utopia has revealed the official trailer for an indie dark comedy titled I Used to be Funny, the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Ally Pankiw. This premiered at last year's SXSW Film Festival and played at the Woodstock, Nashville, Calgary, and Stockholm Film Festivals as well. The film is about Sam, a stand-up comedian struggling with Ptsd, who weighs whether or not to join the search for a missing teenage girl she used to nanny. "Writer / director Ally Pankiw's debut feature is both funny and heartbreaking in its honest and refreshing look at trauma and recovery, and how they affect the relationships and communities that shape us." Starring Rachel Sennott as Sam, with Olga Pesta, Jason Jones, Sabrina Jalees, Caleb Hearon, and Ennis Esmer. This seems a bit odd and off-beat, due to the weight of all these...

Rachel Sennott always has her finger on the pulse of indie films, and her latest feature “I Used to Be Funny” is no exception.

The “Shiva Baby,” “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” and “Bottoms” star leads highly anticipated dark dramedy “I Used To Be Funny,” directed by rising talent Ally Pankiw who has helmed episodes of “Black Mirror” and “The Great,” plus a recent short film titled “Decades of Confusion” for fashion brand Loewe.

Sennott stars as aspiring stand-up comedian Sam Cowell who works as an au pair by day. Yet after the disappearance of Brooke (Olga Petsa), a teen girl she used to nanny, Sam begins to struggle with Ptsd and grapples with whether or not to join the search. The film is split between two timelines as Sam tries to recover from her past trauma and get back on stage while also reliving memories of Brooke.

Writer/director Pankiw marks...

Just how big a deal is Jon Stewart’s return to The Daily Show desk? John Oliver, the former Daily Show correspondent turned HBO Last Week Tonight host, compared it to NBA legend Michael Jordan’s return to the Chicago Bulls in 1995 after retiring from the game.

“Jordan’s back!” Oliver quipped in an interview with NBC’s Willie Geist.

Oliver was caught as off guard as everyone else with the news, which broke in the middle of the interview with Geist.

“I mean, that’s, that is a surprise,” Oliver said. “That’s a show that needs a host. He certainly is a very, very good one. So yeah, it’ll be exciting to see what he does.”

But he also added that the show “should appoint a permanent host” after Stewart’s run, naming former Peacock host Amber Ruffin and former Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr. as strong contenders.

After distributing Rachel Sennot’s breakout movie Shiva Baby, Utopia has landed the U.S. rights to the SXSW feature I Used to Be Funny starring The Idol actress.

The comedy-drama follows Sam (Sennott), an aspiring stand-up comedian struggling with Ptsd, as she decides whether or not to join the search for a missing teenage girl she used to nanny. Jason Jones, Sabrina Jalees, Caleb Hearon, Olga Petsa, and Ennis Esmer round out the cast

Ally Pankiw, whose credits include The Great and Black Mirror, made her feature directorial debut on the film, which was produced by James Weyman, Jason Aita and Breann Smordin of Barn 12. Li-Wei Chu of Partizan, Judy Holm of Markham Street Films and Alcina Pictures’ Paul Barkin executive produced, along with Pankiw.

“It was so fulfilling to see how I Used to Be Funny and its honest portrayal of recovery from trauma resonated with audiences at...

Exclusive: Hulu is joining the latest round of programming purges.

The streamer is pulling off a number of additional series from its service as part of Disney’s wider plan to cut streaming costs.

The company revealed last month in an SEC filing that it would take $1.5B-$1.8B in write-downs associated with removing streaming programming from its platforms and expects to remove from more its direct-to-consumer platforms in the third quarter with another $400M in impairment charges.

Deadline now can reveal some of those titles.

They include Alaska Daily and The Company You Keep, which were both canceled at ABC after one season. Both shows would normally have stayed on the service until September, or later if Hulu had struck a longer deal, but are to be removed earlier next month.

Deadline understands that, going forward, ABC series canceled after one season, as well as specials, likely will fall under a similar strategy.

Last summer in Eastern Texas, a horrific tragedy struck. Three young siblings were pulled out of a neighbor’s pond dead, and believed to have drowned. Then, in March, the incident made national headlines when authorities announced autopsy results showing the sisters had not died by accident — they’d been strangled to death before someone threw their bodies in the pond.

This week, the district attorney of Cass County, Courtney Shelton, told Rolling Stone that her office actually had the autopsy results since last August, days after the girls’ bodies...

Titles join Cannes Un Certain Regard selection The Delinquents, others.

Magnolia Pictures International has bulked up its Cannes sales slate by adding international sales rights to SXSW selections I Used To Be Funny and Cora Bora.

Ally Pankiw wrote and directed the dramedy I Used To Be Funny which follows an aspiring stand-up comedian and au pair grappling with Ptsd from an experience that is revealed gradually.

Rachel Sennott from Shiva Baby stars with newcomer Olga Petsa, Jason Jones, Sabrina Jalees, Caleb Hearon, Ennis Esmer, and Dani Kind.

Pankiw makes her feature directorial debut. She previously directed and served as...

On Friday, April 14, the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television celebrated the final presentation of the 2023 edition Canadian Screen Week, wrapping up four days of in-person events honouring the year’s best Canadian film, TV and digital media.

Friday featured the Comedic and Dramatic Arts Awards, which recognized the best of television performance and craft categories.

CBC drama “The Porter” took the lead, winning a record-setting 12 Canadian Screen Awards, including wins for: Best Drama Series; Best Direction, Drama Series; Best Writing, Drama Series; and Best Guest Performance, Drama Series for Alfre Woodward.

Read More: Et Canada Wins 3 Canadian Screen Awards For 2023

Hamza Haq of CTV medical drama “Transplant” won this year’s award for Best Lead Performer, Drama Series, making his third third consecutive win in that category.

The second season of CBC’s “Sort Of” commanded the comedy categories with seven wins, including: Best Comedy Series; Best Lead Performer,...

Rachel Sennott continued her impressive run as a quick-witted, creatively vulgar comic in Bottoms, which premiered during South By Southwest’s second night. But she does something more impressive in Ally Pankiw’s I Used to Be Funny, her second starring turn in this festival that highlights her full dimensionality. Though she still gets to show off her standup skills here––Sennott garners laughs in a series of scenes performing in comedy clubs, something movies and television are rarely able to achieve––this character study about trauma’s unpredictable ripple effects doesn’t foreground too many jokes. As the title implies, this is a movie about losing (and attempting to regain) a defining characteristic due to circumstances out of one’s control.

When the movie opens, Sam (Sennott) has just discovered and become distressed over a 14-year-old (Olga Petsa) who’s gone missing. The significance of their relationship is unclear...

Festival runs March 10-19 in Austin, Texas.

SXSW opens on Friday with the world premiere of all-star fantasy romp Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, kicking off what is expected to be a rambunctious 10 days of screenings of films both spoken for and available for worldwide distribution.

Over the years the festival has proved itself to be a valuable launchpad for studio titles and the most recent evidence of that was last year’s edition, where A24 premiered Oscar frontrunner Everything Everywhere All At Once in 2022 as well as Ti West’s horror X, Lionsgate brought The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent...

SXSW has announced the first wave of movie and television programming for its 2023 film festival, including its narrative, documentary, and television competition lineups.

While several sections of the complete film lineup, including this year’s Global and 24 Beats Per Minute programming, have yet to be announced, the lineup already features new work from many of the industry’s most exciting names. The festival will open with the world premiere of “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” John Francis Dailey and Jonathan Goldstein’s comedic adaptation of the beloved role-playing game. Other notable premieres include “Evil Dead Rise,” the latest entry in Sam Raimi’s camp horror franchise that hails from director Lee Cronin; Eva Longoria’s Frito-Lay origin story “Flamin’ Hot”; and the Season 2 premiere of “Blindspotting.”

“We are thrilled to announce the first wave of our incredible lineup for SXSW 2023,” SXSW VP of Film & TV Claudette Godfrey said in a statement.

SXSW has announced the first batch of titles in its 2023 film festival line-up, including opening night movie, Paramount’s big-budget adventure film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

“We are thrilled to announce the first wave of our incredible lineup for SXSW 2023,” said Claudette Godfrey, vp film & tv. “It’s an amazing collection of films, TV series and Xr experiences that promise to inspire, entertain and challenge our audiences. We’re also proud to open with Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, a raucous and engaging fantasy adventure, and look forward to welcoming everyone to Austin in March for what promises to be an unforgettable event.”

The other 2023 headliners are the Julio Torres A24 movie Problemista, the latest film in the Evil Dead franchise, Evil Dead Rise, and Eva Longoria’s directorial debut Flamin’ Hot. Last year’s headliners included box office break out The Lost City and awards contender Everything Everywhere All At Once.

When Trevor Noah announced to his studio audience on September 28 that he would step down from Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” it was a shock — to the audience; to the staffers and Paramount Global executives; and even to MTV Entertainment CEO Chris McCarthy, who oversees Comedy Central and had lunch with Noah the day before the announcement. And let’s not forget the publicists; Noah’s to-camera announcement meant news broke on social media before the episode aired.

A person close to production confirmed the lunch meeting, that Noah gave no indication of his impending exit, and virtually everyone on and around the show was “blindsided.” Comedy Central is currently building out a timeline for his departure, with Noah and his team aiding in the transition. Despite speculation that the new “Daily Show” would go to streaming, the source close to production told IndieWire that the new program will remain on Comedy Central.

Bob Saget will be making a posthumous appearance in his final film role.

Prior to the beloved comedian’s death in January, he filmed “Daniel’s Gotta Die”, which will be making its official premiere at the upcoming Austin Film Festival, held in the Texas capital from Oct. 27 until Nov. 3.

In addition to Moore and Saget, the film also stars Jason Jones, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Carly Chaikin, Chantel Riley and Iggy Pop.

Read More: John Stamos And The Beach Boys Pay Tribute To Bob Saget With Emotional Performance

“Bob’s passing came as a shock to the entire ‘Daniel’s Gotta Die’ team. He was a collaborator through and through and he really loved this film,” the film’s director, Jeremy Lalonde, told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s with great sadness that he never got to see it finished. I can’t wait to see how audiences react to his...

Click here to read the full article.

The Austin Film Festival has unveiled its 2022 lineup, which includes Bob Saget’s final movie, the Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek-starrer Sam & Kate, and a filmmaking honor for Darren Aronofsky, the director of the festival’s opening night film The Whale.

This year’s slate features over 33 world, North American, U.S. and Texas premieres including Saget’s last film appearance, the Jeremy Lalonde-directed Daniel’s Gotta Die. The film also stars Jason Jones, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Carly Chaikin and Iggy Pop.

“Bob’s passing came as a shock to the entire Daniel’s Gotta Die team. He was a collaborator through and through and he really loved this film,” Lalonde said. “It’s with great sadness that he never got to see it finished. I can’t wait to see how audiences react to his final performance at Austin Film...

Exclusive: Tony Award winner and five-time nominee Laura Benanti will star opposite Jennifer Lawrence in Sony’s R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings from director Gene Stupnitsky.

Benanti joins Broadway and Disney+ star Andrew Barth Feldman (High School Musical: The Musical: The Series) in the pic, which hit theaters on June 16. Production is underway.

In the movie, Lawrence plays a ne’er-do-well who is hired by a wealthy couple to socialize with their introverted son. Feldman plays the kid, and Benanti plays his wealthy mom.

The screenplay is written by Stupnitsky & John Phillips. Alex Saks, Marc Provissiero, Naomi Odenkirk, Lawrence and Justine Ciarrochi are producing. John Phillips is executive producing.

Benanti recently starred in Amy Schumer’s Life & Beth, and She is set to recur in the second season of HBO’s period drama The Gilded Age. Benanti previously starred in Netflix’s Worth, opposite Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci and...

Feature is one of three to shoot in Cayman Islands through Productivity Media, Darius Films.

Mimi Steinbauer’s sales, finance, and production outfit Radiant Films International has closed major deals on TIFF sales title and upcoming action-comedy The Retirement Plan starring Nicolas Cage, Ashley Greene and Ron Perlman.

Writer-director Tim Brown’s film follows a woman who appeals to her estranged, retired beach bum father in the Cayman Islands for help when she and her daughter get caught up with criminals.

When the reunited family are tracked down on the island by a crime boss and his lieutenant, it emerges...

Mikhail Gorbachev, one of the 20th century’s most consequential world leaders, who ushered in an era of reform in the Soviet Union and played a role in ending the Cold War with the West, has died, Russian state media and other outlets reported on Tuesday. He was 91.

Russian state TV said that Gorbachev died after a “long and grave illness.”

Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery

The subject of one of President Ronald Reagan’s most famous quotes – “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” from Berlin in 1987 – he led the Ussr from March 1985 until its collapse in late 1991, first as General Secretary of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party and later as its president starting in March 1990.

Being the last leader of the Soviet Union colored his legacy for many of the country’s citizens, but his tenure saw the fall of the Berlin Wall and the lifting of the Iron Curtain.

Click here to read the full article.

When Full Frontal launched on TBS in 2016, host Samantha Bee’s publicity tour was dogged by questions about her show signifying a shift in the late night comedy space — a space dominated by white men named Jimmy.

It was a media obsession that she tweaked in the premiere, which began with faux reporters peppering her with queries like: “Is it hard breaking into the boys’ club?” and “What’s it like as a female woman?”

Full Frontal With Samantha Bee — an opportunity long overdue for a host who watched as a string of fellow Daily Show correspondents got their own platforms ahead of her — truly was a breakout. It won awards and prompted conversation and controversy.

Though white men named Jimmy still dominate, the late night landscape that Bee leaves now isn’t the same as the one she arrived in; it’s more inclusive.

Another series has been cancelled at TBS. The cable channel has dropped the Full Frontal with Samantha Bee talk show after seven seasons. The last episode aired on June 23rd and the show aired for 218 episodes.

Debuting on TBS in 2016, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee is hosted by Bee, a correspondent on The Daily Show on Comedy Central for 12 years. Bee and her husband, Jason Jones, pitched comedy shows to several outlets and made a deal with TBS for The Detour, a scripted series that ran for four years. That relationship led to the development of Full Frontal which was paired with Conan O'Brien's Conan talk show. Read More…...

“Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” has been canceled at TBS after seven seasons.

“After 7 seasons, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee will not be returning to TBS this fall,” the show’s official Twitter account wrote. “We’re so thankful for our loyal audience, our amazing team, and that we got to annoy the right people every week—that there wasn’t wrestling or baseball or a very special episode of Big Bang.”

The weekly late-night series is the latest to be cut from the Warner Bros. Discovery slate, after shows “Chad” and “The Big D,” the latter of which was axed ahead of its premiere. News of these cancellations comes after WarnerMedia and Discovery completed their merger in April, which resulted in sweeping changes at the companies, including numerous executive staff exits.

Bee’s Emmy-winning satirical series first aired in 2016, following her tenure on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show...

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee is over at TBS.

The cable network has canceled the weekly late-night series after seven seasons.

It is the latest major cancellation at the Warner Bros. Discovery network following the merger. Other shows canceled on the network include the second season of Chad and reality series The Big D, which was axed ahead of its premiere.

TV Cancellations Photo Gallery: Shows Ending In 2022 & Beyond

It is a blow for diversity in the late-night space, Bee was the most high-profile female talk show host and her departure comes just days after Desus & Mero split and exited their Showtime late-night series. Bee was one of the few late-night talk show hosts that would dive deep into subjects such as abortion.

Bee’s departure follows that of Brett Weitz, general manager of TNT, TBS and truTV, who was her big supporter at the network.

A TBS spokeswoman told Deadline,...

Click here to read the full article.

Production and It workers at The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad! who have been attempting to unionize have won voluntary recognition from management, according to The Animation Guild.

Tag business representative Steve Kaplan signed three voluntary recognition agreements on Friday, and a card check performed by an independent arbitrator will be happening soon, according to a union spokesperson. Ultimately, production assistants, production coordinators, production managers, It technicians, office managers and supervisors were included in the union’s bargaining units at the three shows, but not associate producers, which Tag initially sought to fold into the group. The organizing drive at the 20th Television Animation shows marked the first time that Tag sought to unionize It workers in collective bargaining.

Prior to this particular organizing drive, Tag already represented workers in other roles at all three shows. The Hollywood Reporter reached out to...

Exclusive: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee has had to return to its pandemic roots after its host contracted Covid.

Bee tested positive for the virus, meaning that the TBS show has had to leave the studio and return to Bee’s backyard woods in upstate New York to finish its final episode before heading off for a summer break.

The former Daily Show correspondent told Deadline that she’s feeling fine and only has a mild case but she wanted to plunder through in order to finish an episode centered around abortion rights ahead of the expected Supreme Court ruling.

The Court is expected to rule on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – a Mississippi case that could ostensibly overturn Roe v. Wade – any day now. Such a ruling would mean that the legal status of abortion would be left for individual states to decide and it could become...

Click here to read the full article.

In January, The Animation Guild announced a twofold breakthrough: By unionizing Harriet the Spy studio Titmouse New York, the IATSE local had not only initiated an expansion outside of Los Angeles County, it had also organized production staff for the first time in recent history. Since then, Tag has unveiled new organizing campaigns of production workers at a rate of practically one a month — at the shows Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites, at studios Titmouse L.A. and ShadowMachine and, on June 2, at The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad! (Before organizing production staff, Tag represented a number of animation workers at these latter employers.)

This campaign — targeting production managers, production supervisors, production coordinators, production assistants and writers assistants, among others, all of whom help move artwork and scenes and facilitate communications between departments — has so far paid off for the union.

Production workers at The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad! have filed to join the Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839, and begin collective bargaining for their first union contract. “Together, they boast more than 750 years of industry experience in animation,” the guild said. “It’s time they receive the benefits and improved work conditions they deserve.”

The move to unionize comes after a May 26 request by a super majority of the workers to be voluntarily recognized. Workers in the bargaining units include the shows’ production managers, production supervisors, production coordinators, writers’ assistants, production assistants, associate producers, office assistants and It supervisors. The shows’ animators are already covered by the guild’s contract.

According to the guild, attorneys representing the three production companies responded to its request by stating that the productions’ parent studio, 20th Television Animation, was not yet prepared to voluntarily recognize the entire unit as proposed by guild and...

Samantha Bee is celebrating 200 episodes of her late-night political comedy series Full Frontal.

“Conan did 7,000 episodes of his show, but I feel like I’m gaining on him,” she jokes. “I really can’t believe it. I am really impressed with myself. It is a really great feeling. I would not have thought we would have got to 200 [episodes] so it feels like a really huge accomplishment. I was trying to impress my kids with it, saying ‘Check out your mom’, and they could not have been less interested.”

The weekly TBS show is heading to Washington, DC this week to celebrate and Bee has roped in celebrity guests including Busy Philipps to highlight the issue of reproductive rights. This comes as the Supreme Court is hearing a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade, the precedent on abortion rights.

“The show has been so vocal on the subject of reproductive...

Ally Pankiw will make her feature directing debut with “Brooke & Sam,” an upcoming comedic drama featuring “Shiva Baby” breakout Rachel Sennott.

The film, which quietly wrapped production, follows Sam, a young stand-up comedian and au pair struggling with Ptsd, who is weighing whether or not to join the search for Brooke, a missing girl she used to nanny. The story exists between the present, where Sam tries to recover from her trauma with the help of her friends in the comedy community, and the past, where memories of Brooke make it harder and harder to ignore the teen’s disappearance; and harder and harder to get back on stage.

Pankiw, who wrote the script along with directing the film, has established herself in the television and streaming world. Her directing and executive producing credits include the entire first season of Netflix’s series, “Feel Good,” which was created by and stars comedian Mae Martin.

TNT and TBS have set winter premiere dates for three of their top series.

The third-season bow of TNT’s Snowpiercer is set for Monday, January 24. TNT’s late-nighter Full Frontal with Samantha Bee returns for Season 7 on Thursday, January 20, with Season 17 of its Seth McFarlane toon American Dad! set for Thursday, January 24.

Snowpiercer‘s second season ended with Layton (Daveed Diggs) and Ruth (Alison Wright), who were banished to Big Alice’s compost car, plotting to take back Snowpiercer. With the help of Javier (Roberto Urbina) and Alexandra (Rowan Blanchard), Layton and Ruth made it back to the train and rallied with their supporters. Josie (Katie McGuiness) destroyed the Aquarium car, separating Snowpiercer’s head from the remaining 1,023 cars. Season 3 picks up with Layton and his inner circle commanding a small 10-car “pirate train” in search of Melanie (Jennifer Connelly) and a possible warm location to restart civilization. Meanwhile,...

TBS announced that “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” has been renewed for a seventh season. The network also renewed its first look deal with Bee’s production company Swimsuit Competition, which aims to develop original content while discovering new talent.

Bee’s late night talk show will move from its current Wednesday slot to Thursday nights in Jan. 2022, and production for Season 7 will also begin early next year. “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” spotlights Bee as a political satirist who discusses issues such as sexual assault in the media, climate change and child marriage in the U.S. The show also implements charitable initiatives such as last year’s #MailedIt campaign to support the United States Postal Service, and has reported segments from all over the world, including Rwanda, Jordan, Germany and other countries.

“Shining a spotlight on important issues and people, Sam provides needed commentary and asks questions of...

Samantha Bea’s TBS late night show “Full Frontal” is getting a seventh season and new time slot. Starting in January, “Full Frontal” will air on Thursday nights.

“Full Frontal” is moving to a new night to make way for All Elite Wrestling’s ““Aew: Dynamite,” which is moving over from TNT to TBS next year and also airs on Wednesdays. Next month, TNT begins airing NHL hockey on Wednesday nights at 7 pm and 10 pm Et.

TBS also re-upped its first-look deal with Bee’s production company, Swimsuit Competition.

“I’m beyond excited to be returning to TBS for a seventh season,” said Bee. “Now we have enough seasons for you to binge one every day of the week. I warned you I was tenacious.”

“Shining a spotlight on important issues and people, Sam provides needed commentary and asks questions of authority and ourselves that need to be asked,” added Brett Weitz,...

Exclusive: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee will be back on TBS in 2022 after the network renewed the late-night series for a seventh season.

Bee’s show is moving from Wednesday nights to Thursdays when its seventh season launches in January. Bee is one of the most high-profile women in late-night alongside the likes of Amber Ruffin, Sam Jay and Ziwe.

The weekly series, which has regularly been nominated in the main late-night Emmy category, sees Bee cover a range of subjects from stories inside the Beltway to sexual harassment with regular international stories from Rwanda, Jordan, Germany, Russia, Scotland, Mexico and Iraq.

It is exec produced by Bee, Jason Jones, Tony Hernandez of Jax Media, Miles Kahn, Alison Camillo, Kristen Bartlett and Mike Drucker.

Cancellations/Renewals Scorecard: TV Shows Ended Or Continuing In 2020-21 Season

Additionally, TBS has renewed its first-look deal with Bee’s production company, Swimsuit Competition, for the development of new shows,...

Exclusive: Oscar winner Nicolas Cage (Con Air), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Ashley Greene (Twilight), Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley (Lincoln), Joel David Moore (Avatar) and Grace Byers (Empire) are among cast set to star in action movie The Retirement Plan, which gets underway on Friday in the Cayman Islands.

Also starring are Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters), NBA star turned actor Rick Fox (Shameless), Emmy winner Lynn Whitfield (Madea’s Family Reunion) and 11-year-old newcomer Thalia Campbell.

The film is written and will be directed by Tim J. Brown, whose credits include Productivity Media’s upcoming Buckley’s Chance starring Bill Nighy and the horror-thriller The Cradle starring Lukas Haas.

In The Retirement Plan, when Ashley (Ashley Greene) and her young daughter Sarah (Thalia Campbell) get caught up in a criminal enterprise that puts their lives at risk, she turns to the only person who can help – her estranged father Matt (Nicolas Cage), currently...

Exclusive: The century-old story of Bruce’s Beach, which has been garnering national attention amid an effort to return the land to the owners’ descendants, will be subject of a scripted TV series. The project, from Brad Pitt’s Plan B and Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions, is in development at Amazon Studios.

Bruce’s Beach was a beach resort in the city of Manhattan Beach, near Los Angeles, in the early 1900s. Owned by and operated for African Americans, Bruce’s Beach provided opportunities for the Black community that were not available at other beach areas because of racial segregation. The series plans to explore the dynamic life of the Bruce’s Beach community in the spirit of Black livelihood and leisure, as envisioned by the Bruce family in its creation.

Amazon Studios has acquired Alison Rose Jefferson’s book Bruce’s Beach, Living The California...

TBS announced that “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” will be releasing a comedy special about gun reform called “Full Frontal Wants To Take Your Guns,” which will air on May 12 at 10:30 p.m.

The special will “explore how appalling and frankly stupid it is that we as Americans are told there’s simply nothing we can do about gun violence. Don’t even get us started on the whole “good guy with a gun” thing. It’s high time to figure out how America’s gun problem got this bad, and what we as citizens of this glorious mess can do to help fix it.”

The series is executive produced by Bee, Jason Jones, Tony Hernandez of Jax Media, Miles Kahn and Alison Camillo.

Also in today’s TV news roundup:

Dates

Netflix and Riot Games are bringing the “League of Legends” franchise to television with the new animated series “Arcane,...

Producers William G. Santor, CEO of Productivity Media, and Nicholas Tabarrok, President of Darius Films have lined up a stellar cast featuring Ron Perlman (Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy), Academy-Award nominee Harvey Keitel, Elias Koteas, Joel David Moore (James Cameron’s Avatar) and new discovery 10 year old Emma Ho, for their new action drama The Baker.

Directed by Jonathan Sobol who’s credits include The Padre starring Nick Nolte and Tim Roth, The Art of the Steal starring Kurt Russell and Matt Dillon and A Beginners Guide to Endings starring Scott Caan, J.K. Simmons and Harvey Keitel, The Baker is written by Paolo Mancini & Thomas Michael, the duo who wrote and starred in the festival favorite Hank and Mike featuring Joe Mantegna. Production is set to commence in the Cayman Islands as part of a sweeping multi-film production deal with the Islands’ Film Commission, the Cayman’s Ministry of International Trade,...

Exclusive: Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Oscar nominee Harvey Keitel (Pulp Fiction), Elias Koteas (The Thin Red Line), Joel David Moore (Avatar) and newcomer Emma Ho (Code 8) are set to star in action-drama The Baker.

The movie will chart the story of a quiet, stoic man (played by Perlman) living a monk-like existence in self-imposed exile. When his estranged son (Moore) is killed in a drug deal gone bad and he is left to look after a granddaughter (Ho) he never knew existed, he is forced back into a life he tried to put behind him. Keitel plays his decades-long nemesis and Koteas a henchman stuck between the two.

Production has begun in the Cayman Islands on the film, which is the second in a multi-picture deal between producers William G. Santor, CEO of Productivity Media, and Nicholas Tabarrok, President of Darius Films, and the Cayman Islands Film Commission, the Cayman’s...

Exclusive: In a fitting piece of nominative determinism, punk-rock icon Iggy Pop has joined the cast of dark comedy Blue Iguana, currently filming in the Cayman Islands.

The Stooges frontman, whose first band was called The Iguanas, which led to his nickname Iggy, is taking on the supporting role of Edward, the wealthy patriarch whose death kicks off a chain of unfortunate events for son Daniel whose plan to reconnect with his siblings hits a snag when he discovers they all want to kill him for his inheritance.

As we revealed last month, starring are Joel David Moore (Avatar), Bob Saget (Fuller House), Jason Jones (The Flight Attendant), Carly Chaikin (Mr. Robot) and Mary Lynn Rajskub (24).

Blue Iguana is directed by Canadian filmmaker Jeremy Lalonde (James vs. His Future Self) from a script by Matthew Dressel (The Pilot is Dead).

The movie will be the first under a multi-picture production...

With only a single season under its belt, the HBO Max original series “The Flight Attendant” managed to score two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, which includes one for Best TV Comedy Ensemble. The show’s star, Kaley Cuoco, is also nominated for Best TV Comedy Actress. In addition to Cuoco, the bid for Best Ensemble also recognizes 13 other performers in the cast: T.R. Knight, Michiel Huisman, Rosie Perez, Zosia Mamet, Jason Jones, Michelle Gomez, Merle Dandridge, Nolan Gerard Funk, Yasha Jackson, Audrey Grace Marshall, Griffin Matthews, Terry Serpico and Colin Woodell.

Seesag Awards nominee profile: Kaley Cuoco lands first solo nomination for ‘The Flight Attendant’

The show centers around Cassie Bowden (Cuoco), a brash airline employee who’s much too comfortable drinking while working and hooking up with strangers that include the passengers she’s supposed to be assisting. Her world gets turned upside down when she hooks up...

Radiant Films International selling first film, comedy Blue Iguana.

Producers William G. Santor, CEO of Productivity Media, and Nicholas Tabarrok, president of Darius Films, have announced a three-film production pact.

All three features will shoot in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean under a broad agreement with the Cayman Islands Film Commission, the Cayman’s ministry of international trade, investment, aviation and maritime affairs, and strrategic partner Dart Enterprises to shoot four films in the country.

This is the first time the Cayman Islands has entered into a multi-production deal as it seeks to grow its film industry. The territory adopts strict Covid-19 protocols.

Exclusive: Joel David Moore (Avatar), Bob Saget (Fuller House), Jason Jones (The Flight Attendant), Carly Chaikin (Mr. Robot) and Mary Lynn Rajskub (24) are set to star in comedy feature Blue Iguana, which Radiant Films has launched world sales on this week during the virtual EFM.

The movie will be the first film under a new three-picture production deal between Canadian firm Productivity Media and U.S. outfit Darius Films.

All three feature films will shoot in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean as part of an agreement with the Cayman Islands Film Commission, the Cayman’s Ministry of International Trade, Investment, Aviation and Maritime Affairs and Dart Enterprises.

This is the first time the Cayman Islands – which remains relatively Covid-free – has entered into a multi-film production deal.

Blue Iguana will shoot on the island of Grand Cayman starting March 8. Directed by Canadian filmmaker Jeremy Lalonde (James vs. His Future Self...

TBS has renewed Full Frontal with Samantha Bee for a sixth season and renewed its first-look deal with host Bee.

The weekly show will return at 10:30 p.m. January 13 at 10:30pm on the WarnerMedia network.

Separately, TBS has renewed its first-look deal with Bee’s production company, Swimsuit Competition.

The series is executive produced by Bee, Jason Jones, Tony Hernandez of Jax Media, Miles Kahn, Alison Camillo and Pat King

“It’s a huge honor to get to keep doing this crazy smart and silly show for a sixth season,” Bee said. “Is it official though? Are we still waiting for Pennsylvania to certify the sixth season?”

2019-20 TV Renewals And Cancellations...

Samantha Bee will have another year to vent to her heart’s delight on her TBS program, “Full Frontal.”

The WarnerMedia-backed network will renew Bee’s satire-and-talk show for a sixth season, which will debut on Wednesday, January 13 at 10:30 p.m. eastern.

“It’s a huge honor to get to keep doing this crazy smart and silly show for a sixth season,” said Bee, in a prepared statement. “Is it official though? Are we still waiting for Pennsylvania to certify the sixth season?”

TBS has also renewed its first -ook deal with Bee’s production company, Swimsuit Competition, that focuses on developing comedy-focused original content. Swimsuit Competition focuses on ideas “from people who are flying under the radar, or whose work has been underestimated. ”

I’m so proud to have Sam part of the TBS family. After creating award-winning episodes from the dire elements of her backyard, I...

As Brad Pitt once asked about a mysterious receptacle in “Seven,” “What’s in the box?!” That’s what the Emmy nominees for Best Variety Talk Series might have been thinking about the packages they received on Sunday night in their remote locations during the virtual broadcast. For John Oliver, who won for “Last Week Tonight” for the fifth year in a row, it contained an Emmy, naturally. But what about the others? “Full Frontal” host Samantha Bee was determined to get to the bottom of it. Scroll down to watch the video she shared on social media below.

SEE2020 Emmy winners: Full list in all 23 categories at the 72nd annual Primetime Emmy Awards [Updating Live]

“Oh it’s like a little coffin for alcohol!” said Bee after she pried open the outer case. And when she finally got to the champagne bottle inside the little coffin, her cameraman (and husband) Jason Jones immediately said,...