February 17, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Peter Kramer/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Sara Bareilles is gearing up for her first starring role in a TV series in the Tina Fey Peacock comedy, Girls5Eva.

Entertainment Weekly reports that at a TCA panel on Wednesday, the singer/songwriter said her stage experience in the Broadway musical Waitress helped prepare her for the grueling schedule the show would entail.

“Waitress has oddly prepared me in ways I never imagined,” said Bareilles, who composed the music and starred in the musical. “The rigor of a TV schedule, which is not ideal — I have to say getting up at four in the morning on a regular basis is not my favorite thing — but the discipline and the structure of that I think people who are a part of the theater understand that and certainly the stamina of that.”

Sara also revealed she wrote an original song for the series, which co-stars Busy Philipps, Renee Elise Goldsberry and Paula Pell as members of a one-hit wonder ‘90s girl group who decide to reunite.

“This series, it’s like a dream fantasy,” Bareilles said. “It’s comedy and music and female empowerment and stories about women that are slightly heightened but based in reality. All my favorite people are a part of this. It’s been something out of a fantasy. “

Girls5Eva does not yet have a premiere date. Bareilles previously served as executive producer on the Apple TV+ series Little Voice.

By Andrea Tuccillo
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

February 17, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC/Rick Rowell(LOS ANGELES) — Regina King is fulfilling her wish to portray America’s first Black congresswoman.

February 17, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC/Lorenzo Bevilaqua(LOS ANGELES) — Ben Higgins, who starred in the 20th season of The Bachelor, opened up about his extreme weight loss on the show — which he previously credited to stress.

In a candid new interview with Fubo TV’s Drinks With Binks, the 31-year-old reality star admitted that something else was going on deep down inside.

“I had a massive parasite the whole time I was on the show,” he quipped. “I was in Honduras, which is a country I love, for a wedding. I get a parasite in my gut. It hits me the week that filming starts.”

He declined to identify what it was but likened it to “an incredible stomach flu.”  His condition resulted in him shedding 30 pounds in the three months it took to film the season.

Higgins said show execs tried to keep his diagnosis under wraps, recalling, “It was blamed on being stressed and anxious.”  He understood why the call was made, acknowledging it wouldn’t have been a good look at the time.

Higgins, who famously competed for Kaitlyn Bristowe’s heart during her season of The Bachelorette before being selected to hand out roses of his own, also spoke out regarding the controversy about show host Chris Harrison.

“I think that the show is going to have to confront it,” noted Higgins, adding that the current season of The Bachelor was pre-taped, so even with Harrison stepping away from the project — he will still appear every week.

“I think it’s going to be weird for the fan. I think it’s going to be confusing,” he added. “It’s going to have to be talked about… it’s going to get sparked back again every week.”

Harrison temporarily stepped away from the show after calling for “compassion” for contestant Rachael Kirkconnell, who is accused of racist actions.

By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

February 17, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Courtesy of Hulu (L-R: Jemima Kirke, Joe Alwyn)(LOS ANGELES) — Conversations with Friends has found its cast.

The latest Hulu series based off a Sally Rooney novel, following last year’s hit Normal People, will star newcomer Alison Oliver, as well as American Honey‘s Sasha Lane, The Favourite’s Joe Alwyn and Girls star Jemima Kirke.

Oliver stars as Frances, a 21-year-old college student who becomes entangled with an older married couple, played by Alwyn and Kirke. Lane plays Frances’ ex-girlfriend, now best friend, Bobbi.

“I feel so excited to be collaborating with four such superb actors to bring Sally’s brilliant novel to the screen,” director and executive producer Lenny Abrahamson says in a statement. “Over the last few months it has been a privilege to work alongside Element Pictures and our extraordinary team of writers to get the scripts to a point where we all feel so excited to start shooting.”

Abrahamson, who also directed Normal People, adds that Conversation with Friends will employ much of the same crew from that series.

Production will begin this year in Dublin, Belfast and other locations, with the show scheduled to debut in 2022.

By Andrea Tuccillo
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.