August 25, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Netflix(LOS ANGELES) — Like millions of other working parents, Love Is Blind host Vanessa Lachey and her Netflix show co-host and 98 Degrees recording artist husband Nick, have been trying to keep it together and keep their kids entertained during this summer of COVID-19. 

ABC Audio caught up with Vanessa to ask how they’ve been coping. “It’s been really great and it’s been really tough,” she admits. “…I think like most people, we’ve had some high highs where you have your campout in the living room and you have like a late-night movie popcorn night where everyone piles in mom and dad’s bed….And then it’s been low lows where you’re crying and you don’t know why, and you’re yelling at each other and the kids are uncertain.”

Vanessa says that as parents, “We can’t control a lot, but we can tell them we love them. We can give them a happy environment. We can create moments that hopefully spark their interests and keep them busy and give them the security of knowing that we’re all in this together as a family.”

As for her relationship with her Love Is Blind co-host, Nick, Vanessa admits, “You know, he used to go on tour or I’d go on set and we’d have time away, and they say distance makes the heart grow fonder, but not when you’re together 24/7 for X amount of months.”

Lachey has found a silver lining to the crisis, however. “For Nick and I, it’s been really great because we’ve been more challenged this time in our relationship. We’ve been together for 14 years and we’ve had to redefine ourselves, but also keep true to what it was that made us attracted to each other. And what I mean by that is we know why we love each other. We wanted to be parents. We wanted to be spouses. We wanted to put our family first. But that’s evolving. And what does that look like nowadays? How does our couple of time fit into the day and how does our personal time fit into the day?”

Vanessa adds of the time together, “You know, it makes you have to redefine how you communicate. And it’s been really great in that sense. It’s kind of held the microscope up to our relationship and elevated it…[I]t’s made us look at it in a way that’s been productive because now we know how to handle things together better.” 

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 25, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Rob Lowe, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, Janel Moloney, Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford and Martin Sheen will reprise their West Wing roles for a special event benefiting former first lady Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote organization. 

The former co-stars of the multiple Emmy-winning political drama will reunite for the first time in 17 years at Los Angeles’ Orpheum Theatre in early October for a filmed, staged reading of the episode “Hartsfield’s Landing,” which centers in part on 42 votes being counted in a key New Hampshire town’s election.

The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin will also write new material for the event, dubbed A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote.

The special will air later this year on HBO Max. 

Sorkin said in a statement: “[fellow executive producer Thomas Schlamme] and I are incredibly excited to be getting The West Wing cast back together for this staged reading and to support When We All Vote in their efforts to get all of us involved in this election.”

Sarah Aubrey, HBO Max head of original content, noted, “…[W]e are excited to revisit this legendary series and offer our passionate fans something that is substantial, meaningful and unforgettable, while also promoting an important message for our time.”

She adds, “Combined with WarnerMedia’s donation to When We All Vote, this special not only entertains, but also help ensure the organization can carry forth its mission to increase voter participation in every election.”

Mrs. Obama will reportedly record a special message as part of the event, which also promises to feature special guests from the worlds of entertainment and public service.

The non-profit When We All Vote is dedicated to “bringing together citizens, institutions, brands, and organizations to increase participation in every election.”

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 25, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC/Eric McCandless(LOS ANGELES) — ABC’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire reboot, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, returned to production on its second season, following the COVID-19 production shutdown in March, according to Deadline.

As with all shows returning to production, Millionaire is shooting in Los Angeles with a minimal crew and without an audience, while following rigorous health and safety protocols that adhere to all state and local requirements as well as union and industry guidelines for production.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire was one of the last non-scripted shows to finish production, before the COVID-19 pause, according to to the entertainment website, shooting eight episodes the weekend of March 14 without an audience.

The show’s first season featured celebrity guests — including Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet, The Last Man on Earth’s Will Forte, Flipped‘s Kaitlin Olson and CNN’s Anderson Cooper — playing for charity.  They were handed a new “Ask the Host” lifeline to make up for the lack of an audience.

Season two will reportedly feature frontline workers and others severely affected by COVID-19.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire joins other non-scripted ABC series — including Ultimate Surfer, Card Sharks, Supermarket Sweep and The Bachelorette — that have resumed production.

 By George Costantino  
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 25, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Steve Dietl/Netflix(LOS ANGELES) — Following the announcement back in June that Netflix would be the new home to Cobra Kai, the streamer revealed on Monday that season three of the Karate Kid sequel will debut in 2021. 

Meanwhile, you can catch every episode from the show’s first two seasons beginning August 28. 

Cobra Kai, featuring original Karate Kid stars Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, picks up decades after the original film. Courtney Henggeler, Xolo Maridueña, Tanner Buchanan, Mary Mouser, Jacob Bertrand, Gianni Decenzo, Vanessa Rubio, Peyton List and Martin Kove co-star. 

A video announcement promoting the third season recapped the prior installments of the series, but also contained a key bit of new footage: apparerently Mr. Miyagi, the long-dead former sensei of Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso, had kept a secret from him that will be revealed.

By George Costantino and Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 25, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — After Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli were handed two and five month sentences respectively for their role in the so-called Varsity Blues college admission scandal, sources tell E! Online the couple is “terrified” to go to prison.

“They are terrified about going to jail,” according to the insider, citing the couple’s fear of the ongoing spread of COVID-19 within prison systems.

Where the couple will spend their incarceration is still unknown, according to another source who tells the entertainment website, “Nothing has been decided about where they are serving.  That’s up to the government to determine.”

Regardless of where they serve out their time, Loughlin and Giannulli have asked to serve their sentences at different times, out of concern for their daughters, adds a source.  “They don’t want to have any overlap and leave the girls on their own.”

“They are trying to work out a way that one of them can be in L.A. with the girls while the other is serving their sentence,” explains the insider, adding that Bella Giannulli, 21, and Olivia Giannulli, 20, are “worried” about their parents and “hate to see them so upset.”

Loughlin, 56, and Giannulli, 57, pleaded guilty for their roles in the massive college admissions scam. They had both been accused of paying Rick Singer $500,000 to get their daughters into USC as crew recruits — even though neither girl had ever rowed competitively.  Singer also pleaded guilty to his role in facilitating the fraud.

Prosecutors have charged over 50 suspects, including parents and coaches, in the investigation.  Former Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty to related charges in May of last year and was sentenced to two weeks in prison, 250 hours of community service and a $30,000 fine.