Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.(NEW YORK) — The long-awaited Friends reunion special for HBO Max was delayed once again due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Jennifer Aniston has found a silver lining in this latest snag.
Aniston, who starred in the series, alongside Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry, tells Deadline, “This has also given us more time to make it even more exciting and more fun than it would have been. So I choose to see it as the glass is half-full that it got postponed.”
“Look, we’re not going anywhere,” she insists. “You’re never going to get rid of Friends, sorry. You’re stuck with us for life, guys.”
The special was initially supposed to shoot back in March with a live audience, with the plan it would be a main attraction for the new streaming service that launched in May. However, the pandemic shut down production, which was just starting to ramp up in Los Angeles and elsewhere. That in turn nixed plans the Friends special’s completion by the summer’s end.
As of now, there’s no date set to start production.
“Unfortunately it’s very sad that we had to move it again,” says Aniston, but insists safety is their major concern. “It was, ‘How do we do this with live audiences?’ This is not a safe time. Period. That’s the bottom line. It’s not a safe time to do it.”
As for 2020, Aniston says it can’t end soon enough. “I’m supposed to renew my drivers license and I don’t want it to say 2020 on it,” she jokes. “I just want to get 2020 out and behind us.”
(NEW YORK) — A Southern California church that was sued and issued a restraining order over hosting indoor services defied state and local mandates when it opened its doors on Sunday.
Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Ventura County hosted three indoor services, marking its latest run-in with orders that the church’s pastor said are an attack on “religious liberty.”
The county, meanwhile, has referred to the church’s actions as a “callous disregard of public health orders during a global pandemic,” according to court records.
As alleged in a lawsuit filed by Ventura County, Godspeak has hosted several indoor services in recent weeks, despite a July 13 statewide order prohibiting several businesses and activities — including places of worship — from holding indoor operations in the county amid a rise in cases of COVID-19.
In its complaint, filed Wednesday, the county also alleged that the church “allowed and encouraged” its attendees to violate mandates to wear face coverings and practice physical distancing.
The suit stated that the church’s actions will cause “great and irreparable injury” to the public “by creating a significant risk of further community spread of COVID-19, including hospitalizations and deaths, which in turn is likely to result in continued and further restrictions on businesses and other operations and activities within Ventura County, detrimentally affecting the quality of life of the entire community.”
On Friday, a judge issued a two-week restraining order banning the church from holding indoor services.
Immediately following the hearing, the church’s pastor, Rob McCoy, said in an update posted to YouTube that they would be “violating the judge’s order” and opening Sunday.
“We want to worship. And we’re going to worship,” McCoy said in the video.
Sunday’s 9 a.m. service drew several hundred attendees, according to Los Angeles ABC station KABC-TV. There was also a mix of protesters — those against and those in support of the church reopening — who briefly clashed outside.
The local sheriff’s office didn’t plan to cite people attending the services, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Godspeak is allowed to host services outdoors, such as in a park — a notion McCoy has rejected as “impossible” due to the size of the congregation.
“Fifteen-hundred people — what park?” he said in Friday’s video.
He also said that the church has received threats, “so our people would be in danger” at the park.
In a second update, posted Saturday to the church’s YouTube page, McCoy called the measures “unprecedented” and “draconian.”
“This is a religious liberty issue,” said McCoy, a former City Council member who resigned in April, after Gov. Gavin Newsom declared churches a nonessential service.
Throughout the pandemic, churches have often been the source of outbreaks. McCoy said his church hasn’t had any cases of COVID-19 since it reopened on May 31.
On Friday, Ventura County reported 111 new cases of COVID-19, pushing the total number of cases the area has seen to 8,146. There were also seven new deaths, totaling 89.
A hearing in the county’s lawsuit is scheduled for Aug. 31.
ABC News(NEW YORK) — Celebrity chef Rachael Ray and local authorities are assessing the damage done to her home after a fire broke out Sunday evening.
A representative of Ray, Charlie Dougiello, confirms to ABC News that firefighters were combatting a blaze that tore through her home on Chuckwagon Trail in Lake Luzerne, New York, around 8 p.m. ET.
Dougiell said in a statement, “Hi and thanks for the concern. Rachael, her husband and their dog Bella are safe. The house is unfortunately damaged and we don’t yet know to what extent.”
No further information, such as the origin of the blaze or the extent of the damage, has been made public. Ray’s representative says he will “provide updates as I know.”
(NEW YORK) — The three-game series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates, scheduled for Monday through Wednesday in St. Louis, has been postponed due to the coronavirus, Major League Baseball officials announced Sunday.
The announcement follows the league’s decision on Friday to postpone games over the weekend between the Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, after the Cardinals reported additional positive coronavirus tests in their clubhouse.
“In light of the most recent positive test results, MLB and the [St. Louis] Club believe it is prudent to conduct additional testing while players and staff are quarantined before the team returns to play,” MLB officials said in a statement Sunday evening.
The Cardinals have not played since July 29 due to positive coronavirus tests.
(NEW YORK) — Another heat wave is developing across the eastern United States Monday all the way from Texas to Massachusetts.
There are 12 states from Oklahoma to Massachusetts under Heat Advisory and some areas will feel like its near 110 degrees.
For the Northeast, there could be another heat wave from Washington, D.C. to Boston but in order for this to be officially considered a heat wave, temperatures have to be 90 degrees or higher for three consecutive days or more.
Meanwhile in the West, more than 80 wildfires are burning from Texas to Washington state.
One of the bigger fires is the Pine Gulch Fire in western Colorado where it is 25,026 acres and only 7% contained.
It is not the best news for firefighters in the West Monday either as the forecast looks windy with gusts near 50 mph in some areas.
There are also numerous fire weather watches and Red Flag Warnings issued from Washington down to California and east to Wyoming with erratic winds from thunderstorms.
A heat wave is also developing in the Southwest with Heat Watches and Warnings posted for Phoenix where the city could see temperatures near record highs by the end of the week.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.(NEW YORK) — The long-awaited Friends reunion special for HBO Max was delayed once again due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Jennifer Aniston has found a silver lining in this latest snag.
