August 18, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC(LOS ANGELES) — As television shows resume production following shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, ABC’s Dancing with the Stars delighted fans on Tuesday with big news — it’s coming back in less than a month.

In a big reveal on ABC’s Good Morning America, it was announced that DWTS will be “waltzing its way into the ballroom” and onto televisions everywhere starting Monday, September 14.  

The show, which is entering its 29th season, will launch with a two-hour premiere party starting at 8 p.m. ET.

In addition, this season’s roster of pro dancers was also announced, containing a mixture of familiar and brand new faces.

Of course, fan favorites such as Val Chmerkovskiy and recent Mirror Ball Trophy winner Alan Bersten are returning for another exciting season.  In addition, newbies Britt Stewart and Daniella Karagach will be making their debut by dancing with celebrity partners for the first time.

The pro dancers joining season 29 are, in alphabetical order, Brandon Armstrong, Alan Bersten, Sharna Burgess, Cheryl Burke, Val Chmerkovskiy, Sasha Farber, Jenna Johnson, Daniella Karagach, Keo Motsepe, Peta Murgatroyd, Pasha Pashkov, Gleb Savchenko, Emma Slater and Britt Stewart. 

Along with the new blood joining this season’s pro dancers, fans will also be entertained by a new host on DWTS.  

It was previously announced that Tyra Banks will be replacing outgoing hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews and will usher in “a fresh take on the competition,” according to the official press release.

As for those dying to know which celebrities will be joining the roster this season, you’ll have to wait just a little bit longer “to find out with whom their favorite professional dancers are paired.”

Dancing with the Stars returns Tuesday, September 14 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.  Episodes will be made available the following day on demand and on Hulu.

By Megan Stone
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 18, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

FOX via Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Three senior producers accused of creating a toxic work environment behind the scenes of Ellen Degeneres’ long-running daytime talk show, were fired on Monday, according to Variety.

During an emotional videoconference with the show’s staff, Degeneres announced that executive producers Ed Glavin and Kevin Leman, and co-executive producer Jonathan Norman, were ousted from the show in the wake of a damning Buzzfeed article alleging racial insensitivity, sexual misconduct and other problems at the show.

Leman and Glavin have also reportedly been removed as EPs on other DeGeneres-produced shows, including NBC’s Ellen’s Game of Games.

Ellen veterans Mary Connelly, Andy Lassner and Derek Westervelt, who have been with the show since its inception in 2003, will remain as executive producers alongside DeGeneres.

Sources tell industry trade that DeGeneres apologized to the staff, saying she was “not perfect” and realized that in the effort for the show to run as a “well-oiled machine,” sometimes leaders were not as sensitive to “human beings” as they should have been.  She added that reading disturbing allegations about the atmosphere on the show was “heartbreaking.”

At the same meeting, Connelly and Lassner revealed that an internal investigation launched by WarnerMedia, in which more than 100 people connected with the show were interviewed, found no evidence of “systemic” racism on the show, although they admitted that more needed to be done in terms of diversity and inclusion, according to Variety.

Additionally, DeGeneres and others vowed that the entire staff — including DeGeneres herself — will participate in diversity and inclusion workshops.

Degeneres also announced that the show’s resident DJ, Stephen “tWitch” Boss, was promoted to co-executive producer.

August 17, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

ABC/Matthias Clamer(NEW YORK) — Last week’s farewell to ABC’s seven-season run of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. proved to be a ratings-grabber for the network.

The series’ 2-hour swan song Wednesday closed out its final season as the number one-rated program in the time slot among Adults 18-49.  The finale also saw its ratings jump 100% in that demographic when factoring in DVR playback.

Show lead Clark Gregg, who played Agent Phil Coulson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe spin-off, told ABC Audio he thinks the cast and crew really stuck the landing. 

“I found it very moving to see where everybody had come from and gone to and the relationships that developed — some for a while now, some toward the end,” Gregg explained. “…I thought they really paid off a lot of those journeys in a very satisfying way that wasn’t too sentimental. But at the same time, let you really, I don’t know, I guess celebrate the ride we all went on together.”

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

August 17, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Ackles in “Supernatural” – Colin Bentley/The CW — © 2020 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved(LOS ANGELES) — Days after it was announced that Amazon’s skewed-view superhero show The Boys would be back for a third season comes an announcement from Supernatural‘s Jensen Ackles that he’ll be playing a lead role in that season.

Ackles made the word-less announcement via Instagram, in which he claimed to be looking for a new gig after Supernatural ends with its 15th season, which kicks off this fall. Just then, a copy of The Boys graphic novel flies into his hands, and the Elvis Presley song “Soldier Boy” kicks off. 

The song is a reference to his character of the same name, Soldier Boy, who according to the comic and series’ canon was one of the first superheroes. The Captain America-like figure got his start on the battlefields of World War II, having been given a special serum later known as Compound V. 

The second season of The Boys premieres September 4 on Amazon Prime. This time around, Karl Urban’s Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid’s Hughie, Laz Alonszo’s Mother’s Milk, and Tomer Kapon’s Frenchie are on the run from Anthony Starr’s Homelander and the rest of Vought Industries’ anti-heroic superheroes The Seven.  They’ll also tangle with the mystery of the team’s newest addition: Aya Cash’s Stormfront.

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

August 17, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Marilla Sicilia/Archivio Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Angelina Jolie was very familiar with the source material for her new Disney+ movie The One and Only Ivan, and she has her 14-year-old daughter, Shiloh, to thank for it. 

In a video chat with Entertainment Tonight, the Oscar-winning actress explains she was eager to provide a voice in the film and to produce it, because it’s based on one of Shiloh’s favorite books.

“Well, Shiloh years ago told me that she had read a book that she loved and she wanted me to read it,” Jolie explained. “I read it on my own and then we looked at some of it together and we talked about why she loved it,” Jolie recalled.

As the book by K. A. Applegate was being adapted, Jolie took a role in shepherding it as a producer, to “push it to stay as true to the book as possible,” she says.

Inspired by a true story, The One and Only Ivan centers on a captive gorilla named Ivan — voiced by another Oscar winner, Sam Rockwell — who learned to express himself via watercolor painting.

Jolie voices an aging elephant named Stella, and Helen Mirren and Danny DeVito lend their voices to some of Ivan’s circus pals. Emmy-winner Bryan Cranston plays the ringmaster/owner of the animals.

The One and Only Ivan debuts exclusively on Disney+ on Aug. 21.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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