What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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T22 WHATS UP! January 29 - February 4, 2023 The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Today [Jan. 3] is the first day of the 118th Congress. Fun fact: be- fore anything can happen in the House, they have to select a speaker — that's the rules. Kev- in McCarthy's long dreamed of having the job, and when Re- publicans won control in No- vember, he seemed like a shoo- in. But Kevin McCarthy has one major weakness: his weakness. There's more news about the War on Drugs: once again, the drugs are winning. On Thurs- day [Dec. 29], New York opened its first legal recreational mari- juana dispensary. Before this, the only place to get weed in this city was anywhere, from anyone, at any time. [Kevin] McCarthy was feeling pretty hopeful that progress was being made incrementally toward his victory as he told re- porters, "I crawl before I walk, I walk before I run..." Oh, that re- minds me of the ancient riddle, "What walks on four legs in the mornings, two legs in the after- noon and is never going to be speaker of the House?" Riddle me this, Oedipus. Anyways, Kevin shook off those first two days of losing three times, came into the chamber today [Jan. 5] with a pep in his step, and lost four more times ... so far. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Today [Jan. 4], President Biden traveled to Kentucky, where he made a rare joint appearance with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. It was actu- ally a very sweet moment when they fell asleep during each oth- er's speeches. Today [Jan. 5], Elon Musk tweeted, "Kevin McCarthy should be Speaker." It makes sense because Kevin McCarthy is a lot like a Tesla. He was on the road to his destination and then suddenly veered off course. Jimmy Kimmel Live! Southwest [Airlines] got hit with another outage yesterday [Jan. 3]; grounded about 140 flights. Passengers already on board were told their planes were unable to fly, which is bad because, as an airline, your planes being able to fly is one of the main things. So, the CEO of Southwest apologized again, but he explained that as a dis- count airline, one of the ways they keep prices low is by not flying passengers to their desti- nations. Prince Harry has a book coming out and he details a story in it about a fight he had with his brother, Prince William. They got in a fight after William in- sulted Harry's wife, Meghan Markle. Harry claims William called Meghan "difficult," "rude" and "abrasive," which he probably could have saved time and just said "she's American." But, he claims William then "grabbed me by the collar, rip- ping my necklace, and ... knocked me to the floor," which is crazy. Two brothers who are the result of generations of in- breeding got in a fight? The only surprise to me is that it didn't happen in Florida. They're voting late into the night as Kevin McCarthy tries to get enough right wings to flap in his direction, but not be- fore he lost for a 12th and 13th time today [Jan. 6]. I don't know why they don't just settle this with penalty kicks. Late Night With Seth Meyers According to newly released testimony, former first lady Me- lania Trump was upset that Rudy Giuliani was allowed in- side the White House residence and was worried about him see- ing her wearing a bathrobe. Or, 1,000 times more likely, her see- ing him in one. Disgraced cryptocurrency ex- change founder Sam Bankman- Fried pleaded not guilty yester- day [Jan. 3] in federal court on a series of charges including money laundering, which, from the looks of him, may be the only thing he's ever laundered. House Republican Leader Kev- in McCarthy failed to secure enough votes to ascend to the speakership today [Jan. 4] after a fifth ballot. Incidentally, a fifth is also what he drank during the vote. LATE LAUGHS BY MICHELLE ROSE TV Media NBC's 'Irrational': He's played a police detective in both "Law & Order" and "The Flash," and you can expect ac- tor Jesse L. Martin to be mixing with more law enforcement types in his next TV project. After eight seasons in "The Flash," Martin stepped down as a series regular last spring to take on a starring role in an NBC pilot titled "The Irratio- nal." The new drama, which hails from writer-producer Ari- ka Lisanne Mittman ("La Brea") and is inspired by author Dan Ariely's novel "Predictably Ir- rational," centers on the char- acter of Alec Baker (played by Martin). Baker is a world-re- nowned professor of behavior- al science who lends his exper- tise — along with his unexpect- ed approach to understanding human behavior, as is often the case (pardon the pun) with psychology-meets-law enforce- ment stories — to high-stakes criminal cases involving gov- ernments, law enforcement and corporations. It seems he will meet his match in a female domestic terror suspect who turns his whole world upside down. The pilot episode was shot in Vancouver, Canada, where "The Flash" also filmed, and ac- cording to Deadline, it was well received by network executives. Still, NBC and producing studio Universal Television held off on formally ordering it to series last fall; instead, they extended the options on the cast, which also includes Maahra Hill ("Delilah") and Travina Spring- er ("Ms. Marvel"), and commis- sioned additional scripts. NBC and Universal must be happy now with what came out of that decision, because the network has now formally or- dered "The Irrational" to series. It remains to be seen when "The Irrational" will pop up in NBC's prime-time lineup. As for its series lead and producer, Martin is set to appear in "mul- tiple episodes" (per Deadline) of "The Flash" in its upcoming season. He also replaced singer Lenny Kravitz as late Motown icon Marvin Gaye in the forth- coming (but still in production) biopic "Sexual Healing." Buffy-less 'Vampire Slay- er': Versatile actress Sarah Mi- chelle Gellar has gone back to battling supernatural forces on TV and on Paramount+ in the new series "Wolf Pack," which debuted last week (Jan. 26). Still, in the minds of many — especially fans of The WB's 1997-2003 series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" — she'll forev- er be Buffy Summers, the vam- pire-slaying high schooler. With so many other '80s and '90s TV series getting the revival treat- ment right now, the question of whether Gellar might reprise her iconic role came up while the actress was promoting her new project. And the answer is ... no. "I am very proud of the show that we created and it [a revival] doesn't need to be done," Gellar said in an interview with SFX Magazine (via MovieWeb). "We wrapped that up. I am all for them continuing the story, be- cause there's the story of female empowerment. I love the way the show was left: 'Every girl who has the power can have the power.' It's set up perfectly for someone else to have the pow- er. But like I said, the metaphors of 'Buffy' were the horrors of adolescence. I think I look young, but I am not an adoles- cent." (For the record, Gellar is 45.) So, there you have it. Gellar isn't opposed to the idea of a "Buffy" reboot or revival — which would most likely be spearheaded by Disney, who owns the rights to the series and who, according to The Holly- wood Reporter, toyed with the idea of bringing it back at one point, with "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." star Monica Owu- su-Breen as the lead. Exit and entering: Follow- ing his abrupt exit from ABC's "The Goldbergs," Jeff Garlin ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") has joined the cast of Netflix's "Never Have I Ever." Created by "The Mindy Proj- ect" producing/writing duo Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, "Never Have I Ever" is the com- ing-of-age story of an Indian- American teen (played by Mai- treyi Ramakrishnan, "Turning Red," 2022) who struggles to make social gains after a trau- matic year and the sudden death of her father. It is said to be (very) loosely based on Ka- ling's childhood experiences growing up in the Boston area, though the show itself is set in the San Fernando Valley. Garlin, who left "The Gold- bergs" after allegations of mis- conduct on set, has been tapped to play a man who catches the interest of Devi's (Ramakrish- nan) grandmother, Nirmala (Ranjita Chakravarty, "The Room With a View," 2020). Len (Garlin) is described as "a sweet man who fixes a mean sandwich and who makes Nir- mala reconsider if she really is done with relationships forev- er" (per Deadline, which first broke the news). Jesse L. Martin to star in new NBC series STARS ON SCREEN