What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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T22 WHATS UP! May 29 - June 4, 2022 The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Over in Covidland, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising again in the United States. How many comebacks does CO- VID get? It's the Mel Gibson of viruses! One major subvariant [of COV- ID-19] making the rounds is a spinoff of Omicron's BA.2 vari- ant called BA.2.12.1. Evidently, the WHO ran out of Greek let- ters so now they're just using the password that comes with your router. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Over in Italy, there's a $700-mil- lion superyacht that experts think belongs to Vladimir Putin, and right now it's trying to set sail before it's seized. Turns out escaping on a yacht is the last square Putin needs in the super- villain bingo. ... Yeah, you can tell it's Putin's yacht because all the life-jackets have weights in them. Today [May 4] at the White House, President Biden hosted Team USA athletes from both the Summer and Winter Olym- pics. And why not? Because after a few more years of climate change, they're going to be com- bined anyway. I read a new report that said last year ... the FBI searched over three million Americans' elec- tronic communications without a warrant. People were like, "You can't invade my privacy like that! ... But wasn't Becky's text to me, like, super weird?" The Late Late Show With James Corden You can now request that Google remove your personal information from Google search results. This includes in- formation like your phone number, email address or even your physical address. Mean- while, if you search anything on Yahoo!, within two hours you will be the victim of identity theft. In an attempt to keep trash off the beaches, New Jersey has is- sued a new ban on single-use plastic, single-use foam and sin- gle men named Joey G. Researchers in Japan have creat- ed electric chopsticks that trick your brain into thinking you're tasting salt — it's true. The elec- tric chopsticks transmit sodium ions from food to your mouth to recreate the sensation of salti- ness. It's amazing technology. People are shocked at how it works — I mean, literally shocked. Officials in a Canadian town say they are looking into options to protect the world's largest hock- ey stick because it's slowly be- ing destroyed by woodpeckers. ... I like how the stick is labeled "Canada," as if any other coun- try would invest in a 60,000-pound hockey stick. Jimmy Kimmel Live! with Mike Birbiglia I don't know if you've noticed on your way into the theater to- night, but there [are] more Darth Vaders than usual on Hollywood Boulevard because it's May 4, also known as Star Wars Day. ... Star Wars is one of the only movie franchises with its own holiday. You don't see anybody dressing up as Vin Diesel and wishing you a "Happy Fast Fifth!" Late Night With Seth Meyers After it was announced that Elon Musk purchased Twitter this week, Tesla stock fell by 11%. Well, he wouldn't be the first person to get distracted from his job by Twitter. In a new interview, actress Me- gan Fox said that she and her fi- ancé, Machine Gun Kelly, occa- sionally drink a few drops of each other's blood for "ritual purposes only." You know what? These guys are a perfect couple because I look at them and I cannot guess whose idea that was. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates spoke out yesterday [May 4] against the potential reversal of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, and warned that it would "set us back 50 years." He said the next time America makes that much progress, we should remember to hit "Save." LATE LAUGHS BY MICHELLE ROSE TV Media Jump to the '90s: Get ready to head back to Point Place, Wis- consin, because Netflix is mov- ing forward with its planned "That '70s Show" spinoff. They say you need to look back to move forward, and that seems to be Netflix's approach to "That '90s Show." As the title suggests, this new iteration is still set in the past, but in the de- cade of cropped shirts, wide-leg pants, babydoll dresses and "The Rachel" haircut. It's just enough of a time jump to push storylines forward, while also tapping into the '90s nostalgia that is driving current fashion and entertainment trends once more. Five of the six main stars of the original series have closed deals to reprise their roles: To- pher Grace ("Home Econom- ics") as Eric Forman, Laura Pre- pon ("Orange is the New Black") as Donna Pinciotti, Ashton Kutcher ("The Ranch") as Mi- chael Kelso, Mila Kunis ("Bad Moms," 2016) as Jackie Burkhart, and Wilmer Valderrama ("NCIS") as Fez. Danny Master- son, who played Steven Hyde in the original series, will not be in- volved due to his ongoing legal issues. While the original cast's re- turn is exciting news for fans, they should know that "That '90s Show" doesn't offer a con- tinuation of their story. The original cast will be limited to guest appearances. Instead, the story will focus on Eric and Donna's daughter, Leia Forman, played by Callie Haver- da ("The Lost Husband"). While spending the summer with her grandparents, Red and Kitty ("That '70s Show's" Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp), Leia befriends a new generation of Point Place kids, who are played by Ashley Aufderheide ("Emer- gence"), Mace Coronel ("Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn"), Max- well Acee Donovan ("Gabby Duran & The Unsittables"), Reyn Doi ("Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar," 2021) and rela- tive newcomer Sam Morelos. ''That 70's Show'' had a highly successful run from 1998 to 2006, and it even spawned a British remake, "Days Like These," which was decidedly less successful — it was can- celed after just 10 episodes. Percy casting: Actors Leah Sava Jeffries ("Empire") and Aryan Simhadri ("Cheaper by the Dozen," 2022) will soon star alongside Walker Scobell ("The Adam Project," 2022) in Disney+'s TV adaptation of the Percy Jackson book series. In the adaptation, Jeffries and Simhadri will play Percy's (Sco- bell) close friends and compan- ions, who must help the 12-year- old demigod in his quest to find Zeus' stolen master lightning bold and ultimately restore or- der to Olympus. Filming begins this month in Vancouver. Simhadri stars as Grover Un- derwood, a satyr (half boy, half goat) disguised as a 12-year-old boy. Cautious by nature, he cares deeply about others and will throw himself into a fight to pro- tect his friends. Jeffries will play Annabeth Chase, the daughter of Greek goddess Athena. Fierce, loyal and curious, Annabeth trains Percy to survive the mythologi- cal world, and in turn, he helps her connect with her humanity. But soon after the casting an- nouncement, Jeffries became the target of online harassment, as many took issue with the de- cision to have a Black actress play a character who is de- scribed as white in the books. Series author Rick Riordan, whose wife is an executive pro- ducer of the series, was among those who quickly condemned the online attacks. "The core message of Percy Jackson has always been that dif- ference is strength," Riordan wrote in a blog post. "There is power in plurality. The things that distinguish us from one an- other are often our marks of in- dividual greatness. You should never judge someone by how well they fit your preconceived notions. That neurodivergent kid who has failed out of six schools, for instance, may well be the son of Poseidon." 'Queens' no more: While the '90s revival is still going strong, it wasn't enough to save "Queens" from the chopping block: ABC has officially can- celed the rookie drama. The network also cancelled "Promised Land" after just one season, though the move isn't surprising. The series, which chronicled a Latinx family's quest for wealth and power in California's Sonoma Valley, struggled to find an audience despite high praise from critics. It was ABC's least-watched and lowest-rated scripted series, and after just five episodes, the se- ries was relegated to Hulu, where the remainder of its 10-episode season was released. That said, big things were ex- pected of the music drama "Queens," which premiered last October. The series told the sto- ry of four 40-something women who reunite to recapture the fame and glory they once en- joyed as an all-female rap group in the '90s. Despite a cast led by Brandy ("Cinderella," 1997), Naturi Naughton ("Power"), Nadine Velazquez ("Flight," 2012) and Eve ("Barbershop," 2002), the series was repeatedly bested in the ratings. And alas, viewership further declined after Eve went on maternity leave. Laura Prepon, Ashton Kutcher, Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, Danny Masterson and Wilmer Valderrama from "That '70s Show" STARS ON SCREEN