What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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T22 WHATS UP! November 27 - December 3, 2022 The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Over the weekend, [Elon] Musk fired half of Twitter's staff, around 3,700 people. Now that may sound drastic, but come on, it's Elon Musk, the guy clearly knows what he's doing. Some- one had to make the decision — and now Twitter is asking some fired workers to please come back. Since Musk took over [Twitter], advertisers have fled the plat- form, but he has a plan to replace all that lost revenue: start charg- ing users $8 a month for a blue checkmark. ... Musk defended the change, tweeting "Wide- spread verification will democ- ratize journalism." Yes, soon you'll be able to get your news from a wide variety of sources — everyone from The New York Times to the equally qualified @ patriotfootlover420. The midterm elections are, what, five days away. That means there are only four days left to early vote, one day left to regular vote then two whole years to just kick back and freak out about the presidential elec- tion. Biden loves Florida because it's the only place he's considered middle-aged. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Here in New York City [Nov. 7], the temperature was up in the high 70s. ... Usually when you hear "November" and "mid- 70s," it's about every candidate running for president. On Saturday [Nov. 5], President Biden, former president Obama and former president Trump were all campaigning in Penn- sylvania at the same time — be- cause there's no better way to win over voters than by shutting down every highway in the en- tire state. Everyone's talking about Elon Musk taking over Twitter, and now a bunch of people have been tweeting under the name "Elon Musk." ... Now Elon is threatening to ban imperson- ation accounts that don't label themselves as parody. Of course, nobody knows whether Elon Musk said that or if it was a paro- dy account. Students in Texas may have to retake their SATs after the test sheets flew out of a UPS truck. The students should have known this was going to happen because one of the questions on the test was, "If a UPS truck is driving at 50 miles per hour with the trunk open ..." A JC Penney in Pennsylvania had to be closed temporarily af- ter a deer entered the store and got into a dressing room. That story again: JC Penney is so empty, it's actually being re- claimed by nature. Jimmy Kimmel Live! Even Oprah, who made Dr. Oz, endorsed his opponent, John Fetterman. ... Poor Dr. Oz. If he wins, he's gonna actually have to move to Pennsylvania. I don't know if he knows this. I have a big announcement to make, and that is I am hosting the Oscars in March. ... This will be my third time hosting the show. I've already started making a list of whose names I should keep out of my effing mouth. You know, you can't be too careful. Late Night With Seth Meyers Former president Trump is re- portedly planning to formally announce his presidential cam- paign on Nov. 14. No word yet on his choice for VP or first lady. The New York City marathon was held yesterday, and Kenyan runner Evans Chebet was the men's champion with a time of two hours, eight minutes and 41 seconds. Two hours, eight min- utes and 41 seconds: the fastest anyone has ever gotten from Staten Island to Central Park. [At a Pennsylvania rally], former president Trump referred to Ron DeSantis as "Ron DeSancti- monious," which is a risky move for Trump because that's six syl- lables! The makers of Miller Lite this week will offer a Christmas tree keg stand. And if you're wonder- ing what Santa is bringing you: AA pamphlets! LATE LAUGHS BY MICHELLE ROSE TV Media Innies and outies: Given that the first season of "Severance" ended with a few big reveals and twists, fans are hoping the Apple TV+ series, directed by Ben Stiller ("Zoolander," 2001), will return soon so they can continue to unravel the mystery (via the show's characters) of what, ex- actly, is going on at Lumon In- dustries. Filming began last month on Season 2, though production will reportedly continue for several more months. Additionally, the streamer added eight more members to the second-season cast, and many of the names are recognizable. New cast members include Gwendoline Christie, aka Bri- enne of Tarth from "Game of Thrones"; actor Bob Balaban ("The Chair"); Alia Shawkat of "Arrested Development" fame; '70s teen idol Robby Benson, the voice of Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast franchise; Merritt Wever of "Nurse Jackie" fame; "Fringe" actor John Noble; and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson ("Trapped"), who worked with Stiller in the 2013 film "The Se- cret Life of Walter Mitty." Nominated for 14 Emmys (it won two), "Severance" centers on Mark Scout (Adam Scott, "Parks and Recreation"), a team leader at Lumon Industries. A secretive company with a cult-like corporate culture, Lu- mon's solution to the problem of work-life balance is to offer a severance procedure that di- vides a person's consciousness and memories between work and personal lives. For employ- ees like Mark, their "innie," or in- office selves, don't know what's going on in their personal lives or in the outside world, where their "outies" live. "We are thrilled and delight- ed to be back on set for the ex- citing second chapter of 'Sever- ance,'" Stiller said in a state- ment. "Though we don't know how long we've been gone or who we are outside, we are told people enjoy the show and we couldn't be happier. Praise Kier!" Jedi casting: Over at Disney+, production is underway on an- other live-action series. Billed as mystery/thriller, "The Acolyte" is set a century before the events of 1999's "Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace." It promises to "take viewers into a galaxy of shad- owy secrets and emerging dark- side powers" in the final days of the High Republic era, "when the Jedi were at their strongest and the Sith were believed to have been eradicated from the galaxy." The official series description goes on to describe how "a for- mer Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a se- ries of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated." Back in July, Disney+ an- nounced that Amandla Stenberg ("The Hunger Games," 2012) had been tapped to lead the series. The rest of the cast has now been revealed to include Carrie- Anne Moss ("The Matrix Resur- rections," 2021), Lee Jung-jae ("Squid Game"), Manny Jacinto ("The Good Place"), Dafne Keen ("His Dark Materials"), Jodie Turner-Smith ("Queen & Slim," 2019), Rebecca Henderson ("Single Drunk Female"), Dean- Charles Chapman ("1917," 2019) and Charlie Barnett ("Russian Doll"). Another "Russian Doll" alum, co-creator Leslye Headland, is on board as creator, showrunner and executive. Her involvement was first announced in April 2020, and in a more recent inter- view with Vanity Fair, Headland explained her vision for "The Acolyte." "We're taking a look at the po- litical and personal and spiritual things that came up in a time pe- riod that we don't know much about," Headland said. "My question when watching 'The Phantom Menace' was always like, 'Well, how did things get to this point? How did we get to a point where a Sith lord can infil- trate the Senate and none of the Jedi pick up on it? Like, what went wrong? What are the sce- narios that led us to this mo- ment?'" School's out: Blame it on cut- backs — HBO Max is no longer moving forward with its planned revival of "Degrassi." The project had landed a se- ries order at the start of the year, but that was before the Discov- ery-WarnerMedia merger had been finalized (and before War- ner Bros. Discovery embarked on a series of post-merger cuts). Like its predecessors, the new installment in the Degrassi fran- chise would have centered on the titular school's students and teachers who live "in the shadow of events that both bind them to- gether and tear them apart." Lara Azzopardi ("The Bold Type") and Julia Cohen ("Riverdale") were on board as showrunners/ executive producers, and pro- duction had begun this summer before it was paused. It's the latest in a number of cuts to live-action family pro- gramming, including that of "Gordita Chronicles" and "Little Ellen." It also removed older epi- sodes of long-running favorites, such as "Sesame Street," from HBO Max's library. It's worth noting that the streamer had acquired the U.S. rights to all 14 seasons of "De- grassi: The Next Generation" (2001-15) as part of its deal with production company Wild- Brain, which owns the fran- chise. Bob Balaban to star in Season 2 of "Severance" STARS ON SCREEN