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Saturday Night Live just announced the first batch of hosts for its 50th season, which includes some pretty huge names like Jean Smart, Nate Bargatze, John Mulaney and Ariana Grande. Although the news probably came as a huge disappointment to those SNL fans who were pulling for Glen Powell and/or the ghost of Robert Blake.

Also hosting one of the first five shows of the season is the great Michael Keaton, who will appear at the end of October, just in case you needed reminding to dress up as Beetlejuice this Halloween — or, depending on your budget, “Juice Demon.”

This show will mark the fourth time that the Multiplicity star has hosted SNL. Which is amazing considering how absolutely terribly the first outing went – not because of Keaton’s performance, but because of how he was treated by the show’s producer at the time.

Back in 1982, Keaton, fresh...

Ava Ostern Fries, a producer who used her own experience as a Girl Scout troop leader to create the hit 1989 Shelley Long comedy Troop Beverly Hills, died Oct. 2, her family has announced. She was 87.

Showbiz & Media Figures We’ve Lost In 2021 – Photo Gallery

Her passing comes less than six months after the death of her husband of 33 years, longtime TV and film producer Charles “Chuck” Fries.

Born in Dexter, Mo, Ava Fries earned a degree in Theatre Arts and English at the University of Tulsa before moving with her young family to Los Angeles, where she taught English and theater at schools while beginning her career in show business, first as a television actress and off camera.

After serving as a development executive with Danny Thomas Productions, she formed her own production company, Avanti Enterprises, which in 1987 produced the documentary series Born Famous, about the children of the rich and famous.

Sony’s TriStar Pictures is making a sequel to the 1989 comedy “Troop Beverly Hills” that starred Shelley Long, and the studio has set Oran Zegman to make her feature directorial debut on the project.

Aeysha Carr, who is the showrunner on “Woke” and is currently writing Paramount’s “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” remake starring Will Smith and Kevin Hart, wrote the script, and it’s now undergoing a remake by Tamara Chestna (“Moxie”), who will also have a producing role. It’s unclear if any of the original cast will return.

“Troop Beverly Hills” is the story of a pampered Beverly Hills housewife who tried to prove to her daughter that she could rough it as a Wilderness Girls leader and care for a group of girls. The film provided early roles for Carla Gugino and musician Jenny Lewis, among others, and has become a cult classic thanks to its feminist themes and warm heart.

Tri-Star has set a sequel to the 1989 Shelley Long feature Troop Beverly Hills with AFI Conservatory grad Oran Zegman making her feature directorial debut.

Oscar nominated Laurence Mark will produce the film off a screenplay by Aeysha Carr with a rewrite by Tamara Chestna, who will also have a producerial role.

The original movie was based on the life events of Ava Fries. Long played a pampered Beverly Hills housewife trying to prove to her daughter that she can rough it as a Wilderness Girls leader. Fries produced the original movie and wrote the story which had a screenplay by Pamela Norris and Margaret Oberman and was directed by Jeff Kanew, produced by Weintraub Entertainment. Fries is returning with Charles W. Fries to executive produce. Nicole Brown and Shary Shirazi will oversee for the studio.

Zegman is an Israeli filmmaker based in Los Angeles.

Veteran star of stage and screen, Jenifer Lewis (most recently seen as the over-protective mother in Think Like A Man), is starring in a new comedy web series, along with Shangela (the breakout star from the TV series RuPaul’s Drag Race), titled Jenifer Lewis and Shangela. The scripted series is directed by Emmy-winning producer, writer and director Mary Lou Belli (she's helmed episodes of Girlfriends, The Game and Reed Between The Lines), from scripts by the writing team of Mark Alton Brown & Dee Laduke (Girlfriends, Designing Women), as well as Deborah Dean Davis (It Takes Two) and Margaret Oberman (Saturday Night Live). ...

Grease 2 isn't the only '80s flick with a contingent of hard-core underground fans. Troop Beverly Hills -- the kiddie scout comedy starring Shelley Long -- apparently has such a devout following that a "sing-a-long, dance-a-long, quote-a-long" called Troop Beverly Hills: The Experience is in the works. The plan is to premiere the event in Los Angeles, and then ship it to New York if all goes well.

This isn't quite some fan-created free-for-all. Rather than creating an environment for fans to come up with their own Rocky Horror-esque lines, there will be pre-set fan reactions organized and screened to tell attendees what to say and what to do. It's not the most organic way to go about things, but on the bright side, the event is also slated to help bring awareness to an organization called WriteGirl -- which mentors teen girls on their writing skills.

Director...

Luke Goss has been cast as the villain in the Samuel L. Jackson-Eugene Levy starrer The Man for New Line Cinema. Les Mayfield is directing, and Rob Fried and Bill Strauss are producing. The comedy sees bumbling salesman Levy stumble into an ATF sting. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agent (Jackson) realizes he needs to take on the mild-mannered milquetoast as his ersatz partner in order to bring down the drug lord (Goss). Penned by Jim Piddick and Margaret Oberman and rewritten by Steve Carpenter, the project is budgeted in the mid-$20 million range and starts production April 17. Kent Alterman, Michele Weiss and Keith Goldberg are overseeing for the studio. The British actor is best known to American audiences for playing Nomak, the villain in New Line's Blade 2. He also appeared in David Goyer's indie feature ZigZag. He stars in indie film Charlie and recently wrapped the Michelle Yeoh actioner Silver Hawk. He next appears in the TNT miniseries Frankenstein as the title character. Goss is repped by Tom Chasin and DW Management's David Wood and Shirley Lewis.

After starring in various ensemble comedies, Eugene Levy will finally topline his own feature. The actor is in negotiations to star in the title role of New Line Cinema's buddy action-comedy The Man. The project is out to directors and scheduled to go into production after Levy wraps Universal Pictures' January start date of American Pie 3. Man is about two undercover Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents with opposite personalities who team up to bust an illegal firearm ring in San Francisco. Levy will play one of the agents, Andy McShane. His partner has yet to be cast. Jim Piddock and Margaret Oberman wrote the script for the project, which will be overseen by New Line executive Ken Alterman. Levy, repped by UTA, David Goldman at Power Entertainment and Jared Levine, will next star opposite Steve Martin in the Walt Disney Co.'s Bringing Down the Houze and Castle Rock Entertainment's A Mighty Wind, which he co-wrote with Christopher Guest.