What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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T22 WHATS UP! July 24 - 30, 2022 The Late Show with Stephen Colbert America is changing so fast. Ev- ery day seems to bring shocking news that radically unsettles what we believe this country should be, and it's happened again — because Taco Bell's lat- est tostada features a giant Cheez-It. ... [It's] 16 times larger than a normal Cheez-It, with the same taste and texture ... so you won't lose any of that flavor that can only be described as "It." Last week they [the Supreme Court] ruled that "Maine cannot exclude religious schools from a public tuition reimbursement program." OK, that's not good. Also, what kind of religious schools do they have in Maine? "Welcome to the Church of Lob- ster Day Saints. Put a piece of salt water taffy in the passed waffle cone and open your fish fry menus to the Book of Chow- der." The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Nissan is recalling more than 300,000 Pathfinders over risk of the hoods flying open while peo- ple are driving. Turns out they were using the term "pathfind- er" ironically. NBC is coming out with an eight-part series on dinosaurs called "Surviving Earth." Spoiler alert: they don't. Air New Zealand has announced that they're adding the world's first lie-flat pods to economy class. Now the guy who hogs the armrest will be spooning you. The Late Late Show With James Corden If you don't know, Wimbledon started this week. It's tradition- ally the two weeks of the year where everyone in Britain pre- tends to care about tennis. A corporate team-building ex- ercise in Switzerland didn't go quite as planned. You know those exercises where you think positive thoughts and you walk across hot coals? Well, this time it resulted in 25 injuries and 13 co-workers rushed to the hospi- tal with burns. Now, don't wor- ry, they're fine. They just changed it from a team-building exercise to a company barbe- cue. In just a few hours [on June 23], you'll have the rare opportunity to see five aligned planets with the naked eye. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be aligned and most visible in the pre-dawn hours. Five planets at one time, six if you happen to be standing next to a Planet Holly- wood. Scientists are now working on noise-canceling wallpaper. Test- ing shows the special wallpaper could absorb up to 87% of all sound waves. ... I imagine [it's] expensive, but worth every pen- ny if it spares just one kid from having to listen to their parents have sex. Jimmy Kimmel Live! with Chelsea Handler Today R. Kelly got hit with a 30- year prison term for racketeer- ing and sex trafficking. When he heard he was sentenced to 30 years, R. Kelly asked if the judge would consider a younger sen- tence. Late Night With Seth Meyers President Biden signed into law the first major federal gun safe- ty legislation in nearly three de- cades. Three decades! In the time it took you guys to pass one gun law, there's been six Bat- men. After the Supreme Court over- turned Roe vs. Wade last week, Dick's Sporting Goods an- nounced that it will provide fi- nancial support for employees who need to travel out of state for abortion access. Ahh, Dicks: the problem and the solution. According to New York's MTA, in the first five months of this year, over 400 incidents were reported of people riding on top of or outside subway trains. In their defense, though, have you seen the inside of those trains? A Chihuahua mix named Mr. Happy Face was recently crowned the world's ugliest dog. They knew it was a winner when the other dogs started sniffing its face. LATE LAUGHS BY DANA SIMPSON TV Media TV down under: Movie fans are likely to know Australian di- rector Baz Luhrmann for his thrillingly bohemian 2001 film, "Moulin Rouge!," his decadent 2013 roaring '20s revival in "The Great Gatsby" or, most recently, his three-act musical biopic "El- vis" (2022). Die-hard fans of the Academy Award nominee may also remember his 2008 epic "Australia" — a piece which is now getting a unique television expansion. The film, which starred fellow Aussies Nicole Kidman ("Big Little Lies") and Hugh Jackman ("The Wolverine," 2013) in the leading roles, was Luhrmann's take on a "sweeping, 'Gone With the Wind'-style epic," but one that was "turned on its head" (per Luhrmann). The film centers on Lady Sar- ah Ashley (Kidman), a Brit who travels to Australia on the cusp of World War II to inspect a cat- tle ranch she recently inherited. Upon discovering some major flaws in the property, she reluc- tantly joins forces with the Drover (Jackman), who helps her drive her cattle across the country to Darwin. When they arrive, they have a new threat waiting for them in the Japanese forces who just bombed Pearl Harbor. Those concerned about the 14 years between the film and the upcoming series, due to be titled "Faraway Downs," need not worry. Luhrmann's TV produc- tion is particularly unique in that he plans to use only pre-existing footage gathered while shot dur- ing the making of the film. This means the series will be less of an adaptation and more of an ex- pansion. Noting that while the film used "romance and epic drama to shine a light on the roles of First Nations people and the painful scar in Australian history of the 'Stolen Generations,'" the director said he has a slightly dif- ferent plan for "Faraway Downs." "While 'Australia' the film has its own life, there was another telling of this story; one with dif- ferent layers, nuances and even alternative plot twists that an episodic format has allowed us to explore," Luhrmann said in a statement. "Drawn from the same material, 'Faraway Downs' is a new variation on 'Australia' for audiences to discover." The theatrical version of the film runs two hours and 45 minutes — and originally had three possible endings — so there is no telling yet which di- rection the six-episode series will take. Unmasking Spacey: Less than two weeks after actor Kev- in Spacey ("House of Cards") appeared in a London court to face multiple accusations of sexual assault, a new docuseries is in the works. "Spacey Un- masked" (working title) is a two-part series from the U.K.'s Roast Beef Productions. Per The Hollywood Report- er, "Spacey Unmasked" "prom- ises to take a forensic look at one of the most powerful and respected actors in the world, from his childhood to his emergen[t] success on Broad- way and his meteoric rise to stardom, to his spectacular fall from grace as he now faces ac- cusations from multiple men of grooming, sexual harassment and abuse." Spacey, known to many for his roles in "The Usual Suspects" (1995), "American Beauty" (1999), "L.A. Confidential" (1997) and as U.S. President Francis Underwood in the American adaptation of "House of Cards," was first publicly ac- cused of sexual assault on a mi- nor in October 2017. That first declaration of abuse, made by actor Anthony Rapp ("Rent," 2005), traces Spacey's alleged behavior back to a party in 1986 when Rapp was 14 years old and Spacey was 27. Since Rapp's accusation, sev- eral other men have come for- ward with accusations of their own. While there is no official re- lease date as of yet, prospective viewers can expect the docuse- ries to air shortly after Spacey's court cases have been resolved, given that executive producer Dorothy Byrne noted the show will "follow the unfolding story of the allegations of abuse against him and the resulting court cases." "Spacey Unmasked" will pre- miere on Channel 4 in the U.K. Stay tuned for news regarding a North American release. Dangerous planet: Move over, Jurassic film franchises! NBC is getting into the dino game now. The major television network recently announced its new di- nosaur-related docuseries, "Sur- viving Earth," an informative, eight-episode series that will ex- plore mass extinctions from Earth's various stages of history, delving into the creatures that managed to survive against all odds (and, of course, those that did not). The aim of the production, said Toby Gorman, Universal Television Alternative Studio president, is to bring "to life the rich history of our planet to shed light on its future," ultimately digging deep within our planet's past to find lessons we can learn from going forward. Tim Haines, creative director of Loud Minds production com- pany added: "In an age when there is so much concern about our changing climate, if we want to know our future we have to understand our past. We're de- lighted to bring to NBC this spectacular story that celebrates the power of life on our ever- changing Earth." Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman in "Australia" STARS ON SCREEN