What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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T22 WHATS UP! March 19 - 25, 2023 The Late Show With Stephen Colbert After his surprise visit to Kyiv yesterday, today [Feb. 21] Joe Biden was in Poland, where he gave a fiery speech defending democracy to mark the one-year anniversary of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Of course, the tradi- tional gift for the first anniversa- ry is paper, so Biden gave Ukraine 460 million $1 bills. Today [Feb. 21], Putin hit back at the West in Russia's state of the union speech. Now, Russia's state of the union speech is a lot like our state of the union speech, except the special guests in the balcony plunge to their deaths. ... Putin clapped back at the West by announcing that Russia will suspend its partici- pation in the New START nucle- ar arms control treaty. However, the U.S. State Department had already determined that Russia was not complying with that treaty. So, now they're going to officially begin to stop doing what they've previously only been pretending not to do. Big dairy has been lobbying the FDA to prevent makers of non- dairy milks from calling it milk. Well, now [Feb. 22] the FDA has issued guidance that says plant- based beverages that bill them- selves as milk can officially keep using the name. That is a huge win for non-dairy milks, espe- cially all those almonds they keep artificially pregnant. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon In Washington, the Conserva- tive Political Action Conference or CPAC kicked off — it's basi- cally Coachella for people who post on Facebook in all caps. I heard that this year, top Repub- licans like Ron DeSantis and Mitch McConnell aren't attend- ing CPAC. It's being held in D.C. at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center — and now we know Mike Pence won't be there, either. ... After each speech, there will be a QAnon... uh, sorry, a Q & A. Jimmy Kimmel Live! We have a new existential threat, which is Canadian Super Pigs. Have you heard about this? What they now call the Su- per Pig was born in the '80s when pig farmers bred a do- mestic pig with a wild boar. ... These pigs can weigh close to 700 pounds. Of course, they've escaped from captivity and they're now wreaking havoc on everything in their path and they're headed towards the United States, and the only way they can be stopped is by Guy Fieri with a tanker full of Don- key Sauce. [Donald Trump] Junior was on the road with Daddy in East Pal- estine, Ohio, today [Feb. 22]. He thought they were going to ne- gotiate peace with Israel, but I guess that's Jared's job. The Dons were where the train car- rying the toxic chemicals de- railed a few weeks ago. The right-wingers have been attack- ing Biden for going to Ukraine instead of going to Ohio, and while on the scene, MAGA Te- resa bragged about a number of things, including a shipment of water he brought for them. Late Night With Seth Meyers The State Department said that the downed Chinese spy bal- loons were carrying surveillance equipment capable of intercept- ing communications — they needed some way of spying on people who still hadn't down- loaded Tik Tok. An owl was recently removed from a college library in Geor- gia. And this is annoying: now it's saying "Whom." Buckingham Palace yesterday [Feb. 13] announced that Queen Camilla tested positive for the coronavirus. Luckily, as a royal, she was already planning on do- ing nothing for the next two weeks. The maker of the robot vacuum cleaner Roomba announced yes- terday [ Feb. 13] that the compa- ny would lay off roughly 7% of its workforce. And since it was Roomba, it took everyone 45 minutes to find the door. Senator Ted Cruz told reporters yesterday [Feb. 15] that he plans to run for a third time. Cruz said he discussed it with his family and they insisted. LATE LAUGHS BY MICHELLE ROSE TV Media Stonestreet's Santa: View- ers are used to seeing Eric Ston- estreet as bubbly Cameron Tucker in "Modern Family," but for his next TV project, the Em- my-winning actor will be decid- edly more "mad." Stonestreet has joined the Season 2 cast of the Disney+ original series "The Santa Claus- es." He's been tapped to play the role of Magnus Antas, a.k.a. the Mad Santa, who reigned during the 14th century. And Mad Santa (Stonestreet) is an important part of Season 2, as he tries to take down Scott Calvin (Tim Al- len) and reclaim the North Pole. A series followup to the "San- ta Clause" films (1994, 2002 and 2006), the Disney+ comedy brought back the two film leads, Tim Allen ("Last Man Stand- ing") and Elizabeth Mitchell ("Lost"), and was one of the streamer's most-watched origi- nal series last year following its Nov. 16 debut. The first season centered on Tim Allen's charac- ter, former businessman Scott Calvin. Years after assuming the role of Santa Claus, Scott was struggling to balance his work and his family, and he was even contemplating giving up the job. He's still Santa in the second season, since he had to put his retirement plans on hold due to his inability to find a replace- ment. Maybe Scott's son, Cal (Austin Kane, "Bizaardvark"), can be counted on to take over the family business as Santa? We'll see how that idea plays out in Season 2. Stonestreet isn't the only new- comer to "The Santa Clauses." Marta Kessler ("The Mysterious Benedict Society") will appear as Olga, Mad Santa's surly gnome sidekick who doesn't un- derstand feelings or even empa- thy. Other guest stars include Liam Kyle ("Pinocchio," 2022) and Laura San Giacomo ("Just Shoot Me!") in the role of La Befana, the Christmas Witch. 'Umbrella' add-ons: Real- life couple Nick Offerman ("Parks and Recreation") and Megan Mullally ("Will & Grace") have enrolled in "The Umbrella Academy." The pair have joined the cast for the fourth — and final — sea- son of the Netflix superhero se- ries. They'll be playing the roles of Gene (Offerman) and Jean (Mullally) Thibedeau, a married pair of mild-mannered commu- nity college professors, and Net- flix made a point of mentioning that the two will be rocking sen- sible footwear. More important- ly, they "suffer from the most ex- treme case of deja vu this time- line has ever seen." Another famous comedic ac- tor will also be popping up in Season 4: "Arrested Develop- ment" and "Mr. Show" alum Da- vid Cross. Cross will play the role of Sly Grossman, "an up- standing, shy business owner and family man desperate to re- connect with his estranged daughter, who will stop at noth- ing to get her back" (according to Netflix). Based on the graphic novels written by Gerard Way and illus- trated by Gabriel Bá, "The Um- brella Academy" follows a fami- ly of adopted siblings with su- perpowers who try to stop the end of the world. Production is currently un- derway in Toronto, with series regulars Elliot Page ("Tales of the City"), Tom Hopper ("Black Sails"), David Castaneda ("Si- cario: Day of the Soldado," 2018), Emmy Raver-Lampman ("Cen- tral Park"), Robert Sheehan ("Misfits"), Aidan Gallagher ("Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn"), Justin H. Min ("After Yang," 2021), Ritu Arya ("Feel Good") and Colm Feore ("Chicago," 2002) all reprising their roles for the final season. Also returning is series cre- ator/executive producer and showrunner Steve Blackman ("Fargo"), who had this to say last summer when Netflix offi- cially renewed the show for one more season: "I'm so excited that the incredibly loyal fans of 'The Umbrella Academy' will be able to experience the fitting end to the Hargreeves siblings' journey we began five years ago. But before we get to that conclu- sion, we've got an amazing story ahead for Season 4, one that will have fans on the edge of their seats until the final minutes." No word yet (at least, not at the time of writing) on the offi- cial episode count for Season 4, but according to Variety, "multi- ple sources" have suggested the season will be shorter than the 10-episode count of previous seasons. Managing expectations: "The Night Manager" has been off duty, so to speak, since 2016, but it will reportedly return. An adaptation of John le Car- ré's 1993 novel of the same name, "The Night Manager" was co-produced by BBC and AMC, which aired the series in North America. It starred Tom Hiddleston ("Loki") as protago- nist/hotel manager Jonathan Pine, a former British soldier recruited by a Foreign Office task force to infiltrate an arms dealer's inner circle. His battle of wills with season villain Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie, "House") ended with (spoiler alert) Roper's arrest at the end of Season 1. It seems Amazon Prime Video is reviving the series and is bringing back Hiddleston's Jona- than Pine, according to Dead- line, which first broke the news. Keep in mind the series hasn't formally been greenlit yet, but reports suggested filming would begin later this year in London and South America, and there is talk of a two-season run. Eric Stonestreet is set to join "The Santa Clauses" STARS ON SCREEN