Frazer Harrison/MTV1617/Getty Images(ALTOONA, IOWA) — While some fans are eagerly awaiting the showdown between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs next week, others have another major sporting event on their radar — Puppy Bowl XVII.
This year, besides featuring an adorable array of adoptable puppies for the 16th annual sporting event, domestic goddess Martha Stewart and “Drop It Like It’s Hot” rapper Snoop Dogg will take their famous friendship to the artificial turf to host Animal Planet’s big game.
In a press release, the network said Stewart will don the orange jersey in honor of Team Ruff while Snoop will rep in blue for Team Fluff.
The dynamic duo will host a special tailgate party before the festivities begin, where they’ll teach the audience how to serve up some fan favorite party drinks and snacks.
Other famous faces lending a hand will be Frozen 2 star Kristen Bell, who will report live from LA’s Annenberg PetSpace “to spend time with Java, a Labrador mix puppy looking for a fur-ever home to snuggle in.”
ESPN’s Monday Night Football announcer Steve Levy alongside Sage Steele, host of SportsCenter, will be breaking down the adorable play-by-play this year.
Also, returning for his 10th year will be “Rufferee” Dan Schachner, who will ensure this year’s team of rescue pups play by the rules.
This year’s Puppy Bowl will feature 70 adoptable pooches from 22 different shelters as, once again, Teams Ruff and Fluff hope to bag this year’s “Lombarky” trophy.
Puppy Bowl XVII kick off at 2 p.m. ET on February 7 on Animal Planet and stream live on the service Discovery+. The pre game show starts an hour earlier, at 1 p.m. ET.
Harpo, Inc. (LOS ANGELES) — Hollywood legend Cicely Tyson, a multi-Emmy Award winner and honorary Academy Award winner, has died, ABC News has confirmed. She was 96. A cause of death has not been revealed.
Tyson’s manager, Larry Thompson, said in a statement, “I have managed Miss Tyson’s career for over 40 years, and each year was a privilege and blessing. Cicely thought of her new memoir as a Christmas tree decorated with all the ornaments of her personal and professional life. Today she placed the last ornament, a Star, on top of the tree.”
Tyson’s last work, her memoir Just As I Am, was released Tuesday.
Born in Harlem, New York, on December 19, 1924, Tyson was first discovered by an Ebony magazine photographer, which launched her modeling career before she made her first television appearance NBC’s Frontiers of Faith in 1951.
One of her top defining moments in her career was when she was announced as the lead character of East Side/West Side, which premiered in 1963, becoming the first Black person to star in a television drama.
Tyson made her film debut in 1956’s Carib Gold and went on to appear in the 1959 Sidney Poitier film Odds Against Tomorrow, The Comedians, The Last Angry Man, A Man Called Adam and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.
Tyson famously took an acting hiatus in the late 1960s in protest of the rise in “blaxploitation” movies that featured racist stereotypes. She revived her career in 1972, starring as Rebecca Morgan in the movie Sounder, which earned her an Academy Award and Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.
Tyson also earned critical acclaim in 1974 for playing the title role in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, a television film that earned her two Emmy Awards and a BAFTA nomination. And in 1977 she co-starred in the miniseries Roots.
Other notable movies Cicely appeared in were 2005’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman, 2006’s Madea’s Family Reunion and 2011’s The Help. She also had a recurring role on ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder, portraying the mother of Viola Davis’ character. The role earned her five Emmy nominations for a guest starring role.
Tyson also starred in a number of off-Broadway productions and, in 2013, won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for starring as Carrie Watts in The Trip to Bountiful revival. In 2014, Lifetime turned the play into a television adaption, of which Tyson reprised her role as Carrie.
Tyson was also a prolific philanthropist who continually supported her old neighborhood, beginning with co-founding the Dance Theater of Harlem in 1969.
Besides three Emmy Awards, an honorary Academy Award and a SAG Award, Tyson also won the 2020 Peabody Award for Career achievement, was named Kennedy Center honoree in 2015 and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame last year — among many other accolades and achievements from numerous organizations and charitable outlets.
Her highest honor was awarded in 2016 by former President Barack Obama, who honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Cicely’s career spans seven decades, ending with the 2020 series Cherish the Day, which she played series regular Miss Luma Lee Langston. Her final movie role was in 2020, where she played Alice in Tyler Perry’s A Fall from Grace.
She is survived by her niece, actress Cathy Tyson.
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The chief of police in Columbus, Ohio, is “stepping back” following the death of Andre Hill, an unarmed Black man who was shot and killed by a police officer last month.
The city is now conducting a national search to replace Chief Thomas Quinlan, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther announced Thursday, who pointed to frustrations around reform efforts as the reason behind the change of command.
“It became clear to me that Chief Quinlan could not successfully implement the reform and change I expect and that the community demands,” Ginther said in a statement. “Columbus residents have lost faith in him and in the Division’s ability to change on its own. Chief Quinlan understood.”
Ginther continued that Quinlan “agreed to step back, so the city can move forward.”
Columbus Public Safety Director Ned Pettus also said that he and Ginther “decided to go in a new direction.”
“I look forward to continuing the critical work of reforming and strengthening the Division of Police,” he said in a statement. “The community we serve deserves nothing less.”
Quinlan will be staying on as deputy chief, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office confirmed with ABC News.
Quinlan, a 30-plus-year veteran of the Columbus Division of Police, was named chief of police in December 2019. The position is a five-year appointment. His probationary period was set to end Feb. 7, according to Columbus ABC affiliate WSYX.
“While I very much hoped to continue in that role, I respect the safety director’s decision, and the community’s need to go in a different direction,” Quinlan said in a statement. “We accomplished a lot in my time as chief. We implemented dozens of reforms geared toward accountability, transparency, and strengthening public trust. Someone else will now carry those priorities forward, and I will help and support them in any way I can.”
The police division has been scrutinized following the fatal shooting of Hill on Dec. 22 by an officer dispatched to a “non-emergency” disturbance call.
Adam Coy, the officer who shot Hill, did not turn on his body camera until after firing, authorities said. Body camera footage released earlier this month also appeared to show responding officers handcuff Hill before rendering any first aid.
Coy was fired by the city earlier this month after an investigation determined that his use of deadly force was not reasonable. Quinlan had called for his termination.
Deputy Chief Mike Woods will serve as interim chief while the city begins its national search for a permanent chief on an “expedited timeframe,” the mayor said. The search firm Ralph Andersen & Associates will help in identifying a permanent police chief.
In the coming weeks, the city will also be appointing members of a new Civilian Review Board that voters approved in November. The city has also set aside $4.5 million to fund new body-worn cameras.
“I want to assure Columbus residents that our commitment to change and reform will not wane as we seek the next leader of the Division of Police,” Ginther said. “I remain committed to meaningful, lasting police reform and confronting racism where it exists, advancing social justice so everyone in every neighborhood feels safe.”
ABC News’ Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
Disney+(LOS ANGELES) — Disney+ released a first look at The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, a new series premiering on the streaming platform Friday, March 26.
The 10-episode season is set in present-day Minnesota and, as seen in the one-minute trailer, follows a 12-year-old boy named Evan Morrow (Brady Noon) who is cut from the Mighty Ducks hockey team, which has evolved from a home for underdogs to solely focused on winning. Evan and his mom, Alex (Lauren Graham), set out to start a team of their own to have fun with the sport, turning to Emilio Estevez’ Coach Gordon Bombay for help.
“I want you to think about all the other kids who’ve been told they’re too small or too slow,” Alex says in the video to Evan, after the Ducks kick him off the team. “They just want to get out there and play. Let’s start our own team!”
“Tell me the underdogs are gonna come through in the end,” Evan tells Coach Bombay, to which he replies, “You gotta make this happen for yourself.”
The series comes nearly 30 years after the franchise kicked off with 1992’s The Mighty Ducks, directed by Stephen Herek and starring Estevez alongside a cast of young actors.
It spawned two sequels, 1994’s D2: The Mighty Ducks and 1996’s D3: The Mighty Ducks, as well as an animated series — featuring anthropomorphic duck characters — that ran for one season from 1996 to 1997.
Snap Originals(CANADA) — Ryan Reynolds has already dominated the big screen, as the producer and star of the Deadpool series, and the small screen, with the Netfix hit 6 Underground and the streaming service’s upcoming Red Notice opposite Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but he’s now aiming for a smaller screen: that is, the one on your cellphone, with a new series on the social media platform Snapchat.
“You can fill a gymnasium with the things I don’t know,” the actor introduces a teaser for the show, in which he tackles various new skills, “in hopes of becoming a less boring husband and father.”
In a format tailor-made not just for the quarantine times, but honestly, also Mint Mobile customers to which he recently offered free 5G access, Reynolds learns various skills with experts instructing him remotely.
The teaser shows Ryan undertaking everything from cooking to chain saw ice sculpting, with the experts’ watchful — and often incredulous — faces looking on via video.
Frazer Harrison/MTV1617/Getty Images(ALTOONA, IOWA) — While some fans are eagerly awaiting the showdown between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs next week, others have another major sporting event on their radar — Puppy Bowl XVII.
