What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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T22 WHATS UP! May 14 - 20, 2023 The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Fox News settled their defama- tion suit with Dominion Voting Systems, averting a trial. ... I want my trial! You were sup- posed to provide me with six weeks of delicious content. I wanted to see Rupert Murdoch put his hand on the bible and burst into flames. According to Dominion, the settlement was for a gargantuan $797.5 million. That's a lot of dough-minion. Recently, things have not been great for Florida governor and threatened cat, Ron DeSantis. His poll numbers are sinking and donors are panicking, so yesterday [April 18], he did the only thing a man can do: he bul- lied a cartoon mouse [Disney]. There's some news about New York Congressman George Santos. Ever since he lied his way into office on a cloud of fanciful volleyball/Holocaust make-'em-ups, Santos has faced calls to quit from fellow New York Republicans and voters in his district, 78% of whom want him to resign. Of course, the other 22% are comedians who play him on TV. Now, not only is Santos not resigning from his current term, he just an- nounced he'll run for re-elec- tion in 2024. Very brave of him to push through at a time like this: I heard last week his mom died in 9/11 for the fourth time. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon This weekend [April 22], Presi- dent Biden returned to the White House after a four-day trip to Ireland. Yeah, you can tell Biden really enjoyed his time in Ireland 'cause today [April 17], instead of falling down the steps of Air Force One, he river-danced down them. During his trip, Biden quoted his favorite Irish poet, which is different from Trump's favorite Irish quote: "They'll never get me Lucky Charms." I saw that Tupperware has warned that they are facing bankruptcy. It's really gotten sad over there. When asked for a comment, the CEO of Tupperware just burped. Ap- parently, someone borrowed all their inventory and never gave it back. That's right, the company said that they were never the same after that one time they used it for marinara sauce. Amazon Prime is rolling out a feature that will allow you to boost the dialogue in movies and TV shows so that you can hear it over the background music and effects. Yeah, in oth- er news, apparently my dad got a job at Amazon. Nearly half a billion dollars worth of cocaine was just [April 16] found floating off the coast of Italy. It's Italian co- caine, so you just sprinkle it over your pasta. Of course, ev- eryone's talking about how it doesn't compare to the cocaine their grandma used to make. Jimmy Kimmel Live! Hundreds of Southwest flights were grounded due to what the FAA described as "equipment issues." ... I tell you, they spend so much time on the ground, they're basically a railroad now. In a social media post, the com- pany said, "We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but that's what you get for flying Southwest." No company in America had a worse day than Fox News today [April 18]. That big, $1.6-billion defamation trial was supposed to get going today, but it ended when Fox settled for $787.5 mil- lion. It's gonna take a lot of re- verse-mortgage ads to pay that one off. The Late Late Show With James Corden After a record-breaking 35-year run, "Phantom of the Opera" was performed for the final time on Broadway last night [April 16]. So, now, if you want to go to New York City and see a creepy figure with boundary issues, you're gonna have to ride the subway. It is the end of an era. After 25 years, Netflix will end their DVD-by-mail service in Sep- tember. I know, I'm sorry to break this news to both of the people still using it. LATE LAUGHS BY MICHELLE ROSE TV Media 'King Charles': The reign of "King Charles" is upon us — in this case, not the British mon- arch but the former NBA player- turned-TNT and CBS Sports an- alyst, Charles Barkley, and his upcoming show. Barkley is set to become a key player at CNN, where he'll soon co-anchor the new weekly prime-time program "King Charles." But Barkley won't be working alone: he will jointly lead the show with CBS News correspondent Gayle King ("CBS Mornings"), who publicly commented that the one-hour, live discussion program will simply offer "a good conversa- tion without tearing other peo- ple down." CNN's negotiations with the two personalities had been something of an open secret in the past few months. The War- ner Bros. Discovery-owned news outlet has been overhaul- ing its programming of late, ex- perimenting with different for- mats and rotating anchors in an effort to reverse a marked down- turn in viewership. In a town hall meeting with CNN staffers in November, CEO Chris Licht indicated the big plan for prime time was to focus on "perspective programming" and "informed opinion" (as re- ported by Variety) and to intro- duce a host that could counter talking points without advocat- ing an ideology. They seem to have found their person in Barkley, who an- nounced his new CNN project during an airing of TNT's "NBA Tip-off." According to Sir Charles himself, the show aims to avoid accusations of clickbait journalism and hints of bias: "We don't want to say, 'We're a liberal, conservative, Republi- can, Democrat' — that's one of the things that's already ruined television in general." Look for "King Charles" to launch this fall and air on Wednesdays. Playing 'Games': Last year was a productive one for Josh Duhamel ("Transformers," 2007), who counted roles in the mini-series "The Thing About Pam," the (now-cancelled) Dis- ney+ series "The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers," the films "Bandit" and "Blackout" (both released in 2022), and more re- cently, opposite Jennifer Lopez in "Shotgun Wedding" (2022). Oh, and he lent his voice to a vid- eo game, "The Callisto Proto- col," too. Will he be taking it easy in 2023? Hardly. CBS has ordered a new reality competition series executive- produced by Duhamel, who gets to add yet another project (and a third producer credit) to his ev- er-growing Hollywood resume. Set to premiere later this year, the new series is titled "Buddy Games," and it is said to be in- spired by the actor's annual tra- dition with friends. As CBS ex- plains it: "For the past 20 years, one weekend a summer, Du- hamel reunites with his child- hood friends to compete in a va- riety of competition-style games. 'Buddy Games,' based on Duhamel's own experience, will bring together best friends from different backgrounds and offer them the same opportunity to live together, compete in wild challenges and prove their bonds run deep." If the title sounds familiar, it's because the show shares the same title and basic premise as the 2019 film "Buddy Games," starring, written and directed by Duhamel. The TV competition will fea- ture six teams of four friends who reunite at a stunning lake- side location that has been trans- formed into an adventure- themed summer camp for grown-ups. After a series of challenges designed to test their bonds, the last buddies standing will win a cash prize and the Buddy Games trophy. Duhamel is involved as both host and executive producer. "Being able to bring 'Buddy Games' to CBS is truly a dream come true for me," Duhamel said in a statement. "This is some- thing my buddies and I have wanted to share with the world for a long time as we knew there was a relatability to it with other people doing similar things to strengthen their friendships. For me, getting to executive produce and host 'Buddy Games' while observing these groups of friends let loose and become part of this big family has been an honor and will be a lot of fun for viewers to watch." Union with Amazon: Fresh off her role opposite Octavia Spencer in the third/final season of Apple TV+'s "Truth Be Told," Gabrielle Union ("Being Mary Jane") has lined up her next TV project, and it seems she's stick- ing with streaming for now. The actress is reportedly at- tached to star in Amazon's up- coming series adaptation of "Pretty Little Wife," the 2020 novel by Darby Kane. The proj- ect hails from screenwriter Mer- edith Lavender and producer/ writer Marcie Ulin, who previ- ously worked together on "The Flight Attendant" and "Nash- ville," and who are sharing writ- ing and executive producing re- sponsibilities alongside Kristen SaBerre ("4400"). Union is also on board as an executive pro- ducer. The official description touts the TV version of "Pretty Little Wife" as "a cat-and-mouse thrill- er with a pulpy edge and some sexy soap that centers around two brilliant — and very differ- ent — Black women." Charles Barkley to launch "King Charles" on CNN STARS ON SCREEN