Steve Pond's Blog, page 164

Kirk Medas, Reality TV Star Known for ‘Floribama Shore,’ Dies at 33

Kirk Medas, a reality TV star best known for his 4-year stint on MTV’s “Floribama Shore,” died Friday from liver failure, his father confirmed to TMZ. He was 33.

Medas had been hospitalized for around two weeks at the time of his death. The news comes just hours after his family announced he had been hospitalized for nearly two weeks battling a severe case of necrotizing pancreatitus — an inflammation of the pancreas severe enough to cause tissue death. It’s not known how he developed the illness.

Medas’ “Floribama Shore” costar Aimee Hall paid tribute to him in a social media post, writing in part, “today we lost a brother, a best friend, and heaven gained the most beautiful angel. We are all trying to process this unimaginable loss. Kirk was the glue that held us all together. He loved each and every one of us so deeply, with a heart bigger than this world.”

“Me and Kirk started this journey together when we were just 24 years old, and from that moment on, we were family. We talked almost every single day. We worked together, we traveled together, we vacationed together—we did life together. He was there through every chapter, through every change, always ready to hold our hands and lift our spirits,” she said also.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of the tragic passing of Kirk Medas, a beloved member of the Floribama Shore family. Our hearts go out to his family, friends and fans during this difficult time,” a spokesperson for MTV said in a statement.

“Floribama Shore,” a successor to “Jersey Shore” that followed a group of 20-somethings living together in the Florida panhandle, debuted on MTV in 2017 and ran for 4 seasons. The 4th season aired in 2020 and the show was effectively on indefinite hiatus as of 2022.

The post Kirk Medas, Reality TV Star Known for ‘Floribama Shore,’ Dies at 33 appeared first on TheWrap.

Bill Maher Can’t Believe Trump Is Running on ‘Let’s Make Christmas Worse for Children’ Video

Bill Maher might have recently decided Trump is a nice guy after being wined and dined in the White House, but he managed to pay attention to reality during his monologue on Friday’s “Real Time,” and marveled in disbelief at how Trump is dismissing concerns about what his policies are doing to America’s economy.

Specifically, Maher joked that Trump seems to be running on “let’s make Christmas worse for children.”

At the start of the monologue, Maher noted that this is “Cinco de Mayo weekend, Yes, Cinco de Mayo, or as the Trump administration calls it, May 5.”

But even though Trump doesn’t drink tequila, “he wanted to spend the day with something that had a worm, so he asked in RFK.”

This was a way in for Maher to talk about the latest shockingly false, unscientific, conspiracy theory-driven ideas promoted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services — that “chemtrails” are real. No, really.

After trying to mock and debunk this dangerous stuff, Maher became exasperated and throwing his hands up exclaimed “Oh, f— it. I don’t give a s— anyway. If that makes you happy. I mean…”

Then the “Real Time” host touched on Donald Trump’s dismal polling numbers, joking that the situation is “like America remarried their ex and remembered why they got divorced in the first place. I’m just giving you the facts. The S&P 500, down 7% since Trump took office. The value of the dollar is off 10%. The economy has shrunk for the first time in three years. Consumer confidence is down for the first time in five years. Kind of a high price for getting back plastic straws.”

Maher then noted this is all due to Trump’s tariffs, which he added is likely to crater retail in the U.S. “They say, soon the shelves at Walmart could be 90% bare, just like the people who shop there.”

“You know, Trump, he only doubles down. I mean, this guy, I gotta say, the balls on him. They asked him about what’s going to happen Christmas because, you know, 80% of the toys come from China, and this is the time they’re starting to plan for that. Trump said, ‘well, maybe the children this year will get two dolls instead of 30, and maybe they’ll cost more,’ right? So there’s less on the shelf and it costs more. What’s your problem? People just, just imagine you live at the airport,” Maher said.

Imagine running on “let’s make Christmas worse for children,” he continued. “He is also opening a new Trump-branded store called ‘Toys ‘R Sus.”

There’s more, and you can watch the full monologue below:

The post Bill Maher Can’t Believe Trump Is Running on ‘Let’s Make Christmas Worse for Children’  Video appeared first on TheWrap.

‘Grosse Pointe Garden Society’ Bosses Break Down That Tragic Episode 11 Victim Reveal

Note: This story contains spoilers from “Grosse Pointe Garden Society” Episode 11.

“Grosse Pointe Garden Society” finally revealed the murder victim from the night of the gala that has driven Catherine (Aja Naomi King), Birdie (Melissa Fumero), Alice (AnnaSophia Robb) and Brett (Ben Rappaport) into a frenzy since the NBC drama’s premiere.

Episode 11, titled “Monaco Under the Stars,” caught up to the night of the gala, leaving off with the main four hungry for revenge on Patty (Nancy Travis), whom they learned was, in fact, responsible for Molly’s death. They decide to destroy Patty’s precious quilt — which was auctioned off at the gala for a hefty sum — but are interrupted when Patty’s husband and Alice’s father-in-law, Keith (Ron Yuan) arrive after seeing the texts Alice sent to Patty.

Keith ends up being the accidental victim, as desperately tried to salvage the quilt from the wood chipper. He succeeded in saving his wife’s piece, ended up pinning himself against the tool wall, which puncture into his back and killed him.

Nancy Travis and Ronald Winston Yuan in “Grosse Pointe Garden Society.” (Mark Hill/NBC)

While showrunners Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs noted the pilot introduced a handful of “uber villians” — from serial cheater Gary to Connor, whom Bans calls “the worst new husband your ex could have,” to grandbaby-crazy Patty and Misty — they noted the people who “deserve” it most “never get their comeuppance.”

“That’s just not how life works,” Bans told TheWrap. “We thought it’d be fun to pivot at the last second and have it just be almost a tragic sort of happenstance.”

“It was almost too easy to pick one of them, because then it lets everyone off the hook,” Krebs added. “We wanted something that would carry forward and weigh on them and their consciences — the moral quandary of it — and have it be just a giant burden they had to carry.”

The burden will weigh especially heavy on Alice, who will have to deal with Patty’s crisis moving forward as Keith seemingly goes missing. “She still has to be reminded of what she did every day when she looks at Doug and when she’s around Doug, so that’s going to be the tragedy that she has to live with forever,” Krebs said.

While the identity of the dead body, whom the gang had been calling “quiche” since the incident, will come as a shock to most viewers, the showrunners said they dropped some hints about it being Keith, like mentioning the country club in the pilot and having a “throwaway” line in Episode 6 where he said, “by then, I’ll be dead.”

“In the beginning, we circled lots and lots of people. But then you really have to commit to this path, because we wanted in the rearview mirror for it to feel earned,” Krebs said. “We really wanted it to be from the pilot forward someone that you saw in the pilot, and then had all the breadcrumb trails lead back to that person.”

Ben Rappaport as Brett, Aja Naomi King as Catherine, AnnaSophia Robb as Alice, Melissa Fumero as Birdie in “Grosse Pointe Garden Society” (Mark Hill/NBC)

Below, Bans and Krebs talk hinting at the murder victim, tease an honest conversation between Alice and Brett and share their hopes for a Season 2 greenlight.

TheWrap: How did you want to portray Alice in the aftermath of this tragedy, especially because it’s more close to home than the others?

Bans: When you get to Episode 12, you really see her emotional reaction — she’s shattered. We’re catching up to these moments that we’ve shown in the early episodes, where we couldn’t portray her too shattered, because then it would give away that it was someone close to her. In Episodes 12 and 13 we’re caught up into real time, but 12 [is] the rest of that night — it’s almost a two-parter.

Krebs: It was tough, because when we were showing all the flash forwards throughout the season, we couldn’t really reveal too much emotion from anyone in character, one way or the other, any type of opinion. We were always jumping time in a way where they would already have collected themselves before they actually were in this particular moment that we were showing in Episode 6 or 4.

Bans: I hope what’s satisfying for fans is that even the red herring, for example, Catherine saying in Episode 5, “I should drive the body, because it’s all my fault.” She feels that way because she’s the one that revealed to Alice in 11 that it was Patty who killed the dog, so she feels like that was a domino effect they set off. All of those misleads, if you will, should make sense in the rearview mirror as well.

Krebs: Even everything going up through Patty, having the gun … it was really Keith who bought the gun because of the break in and gave it to Doug.

Alice already had this frought relationship with Patty. How does Keith’s death impact that dynamic?

Bans: Clearly not in a good way. That’s something, if we’re lucky enough to get a Season 2, we really want to explore. We do a little bit in the final two episodes —there’s some really fun stuff between her and Patty in Episode 12, once she has the knowledge that Keith is gone but Patty doesn’t yet. We’re hoping it’ll be a really great source of tension and conflict and drama going forward.

Krebs: You never know if Keith may or may not make another appearance
in a different way.

Alice is also right now in this interesting dynamic with Doug and Brett. At this point does she think she has feelings for Brett?

Bans: It’s a really crazy night, there’s also some interesting things between her and Brett that happens, sort of related to the murder, but not directly related to the murder, in that they have a conversation because of the murder.

Krebs: We peel it back, and they finally somewhat reveal how they feel about one another, and then they explore how complicated that could be, even if they want it to be true, especially now that this murder has happened.

Brett’s also in another love triangle with his ex-wife.

Krebs: Even though he may have had stronger feelings at one time, those are now complicated further, now that he’s kind of revisiting his past relationship with Melissa.

Bans: The timing is not great for Alice and Brett.

We also find out Birdie is pregnant. At this point does she intend to keep the baby?

Bans: She doesn’t intend to keep the baby, pre-murder, when she’s with Misty in the car, and then you’ll see what leads to those scenes we saw in Episode 2 where she gets Joel to cover up the murder for her. Obviously, the baby now plays into that, and that is information we didn’t have in 2.

Krebs: It’s not so much she’s using it to get her way, as much as she never felt that she was ever going to have the proper relationship that would be able to nurture a baby and to have a family. She actually says, “I feel like I’m 16 all over again. I’m back in high school all over again.” That’s what’s always been on her mind, because she just doesn’t want to keep repeating her bad mistakes and bad decisions until she is presented with an opportunity to maybe kind of grow with it and do it right and do it right this time.

Melissa Fumero and Aja Naomi King in “Grosse Pointe Garden Society.” (Photo by: Steve Swisher/NBC)

Catherine had some upheaval in her marriage earlier in the season, but she and Tucker seem to be in a good place by now. What are her next hurdles?

Bans: Catherine is someone who’s a perfectionist and really thrives on her reputation and appearances, especially in Grosse Pointe, and I think it’s really hard for her, morally speaking, to sort of just move on after this horrible thing has happened, and she was a big part of it, So I think she’ll really struggle to sort of be the perfect wife and mother and everything she thought she was.

Krebs: she really believed her perfectionist ways and that what she was doing was the right way to do everything, and now she actually has evidence that she is not that person inside. How does she become, then, a proper role model?

There’s two episodes left in the season. Where does the mystery go from here? 

Krebs: We always wanted to tell this story like a thriller, where, at the end of the second act, you think it’s all over, and then by the third act, they’re like “the calls are coming from inside the house.” We still have a few twists and turns that are up our sleeves to make the finale just as satisfying as Episode 11.

What have you heard about a potential Season 2? How confident are you feeling about it?

Bans: We’re very hopeful. We know it’s doing well on streaming.

Krebs: Confident is a hard word to use in the landscape of TV.

Bans: We know we have a lot of support at the network, and people love it creatively, so we’re just hopeful they’ll find a way to bring us back. It might not be a traditional way, but we’ll see. We have nothing concrete though.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

“Grosse Pointe Garden Society” premieres Fridays at 8 p.m. on NBC.

The post ‘Grosse Pointe Garden Society’ Bosses Break Down That Tragic Episode 11 Victim Reveal appeared first on TheWrap.

‘The Equalizer’ Canceled After 5 Seasons at CBS

It’s the end of the road for Queen Latifah’s “The Equalizer.”

CBS opted not to renew the drama series for a sixth season, TheWrap has learned, leaving to end with its fifth season. The Season 5 finale, airing May 4, will now serve as the show’s series finale.

In the reimagining of the classic “Equalizer” series, which originally ran from 1985-1989, Queen Latifah stars as Robyn McCall, who is described as “an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills as a former CIA operative to help those with nowhere else to turn.”

She stars in “The Equalizer” alongside Lorraine Toussaint, Tory Kittles, Adam Goldberg, Liza Lapira and Laya DeLeon Hayes.

In a Friday Instagram post, Queen Latifah said “The Equalizer” “blew past every dream we had for it, and having the opportunity to do this for five seasons honestly feels surreal.” She also teased she’ll be “back kicking ass in something new real soon.”

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A post shared by Queen Latifah (@queenlatifah)

Queen Latifah also served as an executive producer for the series alongside Andrew Marlowe, Terri Edda Miller, John Davis, John Fox, Debra Martin Chase, Richard Lindheim, who cocreated the original “Equalizer” series, Shakim Compere, Loretha Jones, Joseph C. Wilson and Adam Glass.

Wilson and Glass also serve as coshowrunners for the series, which is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with CBS Studios.

The news comes CBS gears up to unveil its full lineup for the 2025-26 broadcast season on May 7. Most recently, CBS canceled drama series “FBI: Most Wanted,” “FBI: International” and “S.W.A.T.” and the network also pushed Matthew Gray Gubler-led drama series “Einstein” to the 2026-27 TV season due to limited space on the schedule.

CBS has already renewed drama series “Tracker,” “Matlock,” “Elsbeth,” “Fire Country,” “NCIS,” “NCIS: Sydney” and “NCIS: Origins.” Additionally the network handed out renewals to comedies “Ghosts” and “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” as well as “Hollywood Squares,” while canceling “Poppa’s House.”

The post ‘The Equalizer’ Canceled After 5 Seasons at CBS appeared first on TheWrap.

Jen Psaki Says It’s ‘Dangerous’ to Describe Media Coverage Through Biden’s Decline as a ‘Cover-Up’: ‘We All Knew His Age’

In a new interview about her time as Joe Biden’s White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki said it’s “dangerous” to describe media coverage leading up to his disastrous debate with Donald Trump as a “cover-up.”

In a discussion with Semafor staffers and Max Tani and Ben Smith about some of the new books coming about Biden’s presidency, Psaki said she has “complicated feelings” about saying that the White House or the media “covered-up” Biden’s readiness for office.

“I obviously have complicated feelings about that. ‘Cover up’ is such a loaded phrase,” she told Smith. She said that she thought “this is a disaster” seeing Biden choke up live on air during the debate, but that she never saw him have those kinds of issues beforehand.

“I never saw the person on that debate stage. I was in the Oval Office every day. I’m not a doctor. Aging happens quickly,” she said.

When asked to clarify whether her colleagues were “were actively covering it up” or “in denial” or whether Biden simply and off-night, Psaki responded, “This is what I mean — “cover up” is a very loaded term. It suggests a crime, like Watergate or misleading the public about a war. I’m not accusing anybody of a crime.”

She added she didn’t think anyone involved was “part of an active effort to hide what was happening,” but added, “Maybe the media missed a lot. In retrospect, there were probably major stories missed. But if you don’t know what’s happening privately…”

Psaki continued, “Joe Biden was in his early 80s during that period of time. We all knew his age,” but denied that GOP reports of him falling asleep in the Oval Office were true, at least up through May 2022 when she resigned her position.

You can listen to the whole discussion in the embedded video above.

The post Jen Psaki Says It’s ‘Dangerous’ to Describe Media Coverage Through Biden’s Decline as a ‘Cover-Up’: ‘We All Knew His Age’ appeared first on TheWrap.

DA Nathan Hochman Says Menendez Brothers’ Recusal Effort Is ‘Devoid of Merit’ in Opposition Filing

Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a opposition filing Friday that the Menendez family’s April 25 motion for him to recuse his office from the imprisoned brothers’ resentencing process is “devoid of merit” and “desperate.”

“In the opposition, the District Attorney’s Office has argued that in a ‘drastic and desperate step,’ the defense has decided to ‘sidestep the central issue of resentencing’ and present an argument ‘devoid of merit’ to recuse the entire District Attorney’s Office,” Hochman said. “The entire defense argument over recusal boils down to the defense not being happy with the current District Attorney’s position on resentencing. While this desperate argument may work in a press interview, it fails in a court of law based on an adversarial system of justice.”

Erik and Lyle Menendez’s family filed a motion last week to recuse Hochman from their case. In the court documents, obtained by TheWrap, the brothers insist, “The record shows a conflict that renders it unlikely Erik and Lyle can receive a fair resentencing hearing, recusal is proper,” citing the L.A. politicians continued efforts to block their resentencing.

“No-one from the District Attorney’s victim services department has contacted even a single one of the family members whose views conflicted with the views of Ms. Cady’s former client,” the filing reads. (Kathleen Cady in this case is “the only family member to oppose resentencing.”)

The motion continued: “These family members shared their consistent view that nearly 35 years in prison was enough and Erik and Lyle should indeed be resentenced.”

Hochman argued in Friday’s opposition that the D.A. office’s “position on resentencing is not yet, rather than never, as it depends on the Menendez brothers finally coming clean after 30 years with all the crimes, lies, deceits, and cover-up they engaged in and refuse to renounce.”

“From lying about their claims of self-defense to trying to get friends to lie about their father being a violent rapist of one of the brother’s girlfriends or the mother trying to poison the family, these continuous lies demonstrate that the Menendez brothers have not shown full insight into their crimes, have not been rehabilitated, and continue to constitute a risk of danger to society,” Hochman stated, echoing previously made arguments he has made against the brothers’ resentencing, which was supported by former D.A. George Gascón.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic has scheduled a hearing on May 9 to consider the resentencing motion after delays due to the Los Angeles wildfires and an effort from Hochman to allow more time to review a state risk assessment report on the brothers.

Hochman is separately facing a $5.25 million discrimination lawsuit from prosecutors from Gascón’s office who claim they were demoted in retaliation for supporting the Menendez brothers’ resentencing after Hochman was elected as D.A.

Lyle and Erik Menendez, now 57 and 54 years old, respectively, have been imprisoned since being found guilty of the 1989 double murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. Both were initially given life sentences without the possibility of parole in 1996 and have since become major aspects of pop culture.

The post DA Nathan Hochman Says Menendez Brothers’ Recusal Effort Is ‘Devoid of Merit’ in Opposition Filing appeared first on TheWrap.

Robert Downey Jr. and ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Cast Shout Out the ‘New Avengers’ After ‘Thunderbolts’ Screening

The “Old Avengers” — Robert Downey Jr., Paul Rudd, Anthony Mackie and more stars from “Avengers: Doomsday” saluted the cast of “Thunderbolts” as the “New Avengers.”

Downey, who played Tony Stark up through 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” shared photos to Instagram of himself with several Phase Three MCU regulars after a screening of the new movie, which stars Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen and Sebastian Stan as a ragtag team of antiheroes who (mostly) don’t have the same superpowers as the original Avengers.

“Dinner and a show with the Old Avengers. So cool, fresh, and deep. Big congrats,” wrote Downey, who is returning to the MCU to play a different character, Doctor Doom, in “Avengers: Doomsday.”

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A post shared by Robert Downey Jr. (@robertdowneyjr)

Other actors in the photos include Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Thing in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”), Channing Tatum (Gambit), Anthony Mackie (formerly the Falcon and now Captain America), and Winston Duke (M’Baku in the “Black Panther” films).

“Thunderbolts” also sees the return of Sebastian Stan, who is, technically, not a “new” Avenger as he’s played Bucky Barnes in the MCU since 2011.

Jeremy Renner, who is not in the picture — and isn’t among the announced cast of “Doomsday” — commented with four “clapping hands” emojis. Fans responded by offering to pay the “other half’ of his salary to return to his role as Hawkeye.

(That of course being a reference to the actor’s explanation on Thursday that he turned down a second season of the Disney+ series of the same name over a disagreement in pay.

The post Robert Downey Jr. and ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Cast Shout Out the ‘New Avengers’ After ‘Thunderbolts’ Screening appeared first on TheWrap.

‘Rust’ Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ Family Toasts the ‘Stunning’ Film’s Theatrical Release: ‘Want Everybody to Watch It’

The mother and sister of Halyna Hutchins – the late cinematographer who was fatally shot on-set during filming – have seen “Rust” and found it “stunning.” They encouraged audiences to go see film in Hutchins’ memory.

Olga Solovey, Hutchins’s mom, and Svetlana Zemko, her sister, toasted her final movie’s theatrical release. Solovey urged as many people to see it as possible to “remember her for as long as they can.”

“I watched my daughter’s stunning film twice. I was so happy for the success of my daughter because it was filmed so beautifully,” Solovey said. “I would want everybody to watch it because it was the dream of my daughter and she would want people to see it. I would want people to see the talent, the beauty, the success, and I’m just so immensely proud of her. She had a very specific style of cinematography and she saw the world differently. She could see and capture how the sun sets and how animals behaved. She saw the beauty of it all. She could capture it. She could capture nature. I like the film. I want many people to watch it, and I would want more people to remember her for as long as they can.”

Hutchins’s sister Zemko added: “The film is amazing, very beautiful and colorful, the shots are just amazing, the composition, the light, even the weather in the frame transfers through the screen. The film is  brilliant. Everyone should see Gala’s work; this is high professionalism and high-level artistry. The film is strong. I would want Gala to be remembered not for the tragedy but for her talent and hard work.”

The release comes three and a half years after star Alec Baldwin – who plays an aging gunslinger in the western – was rehearsing a shot before a take and the gun went off, killing Hutchins. Baldwin was found not responsible for manslaughter when a trial dismissed in July 2024 once the court determined that New Mexico police and prosecutors deliberately withheld evidence — live bullets relevant to the case — from the defense team.

TheWrap reviewer William Bibbiani explained that it was impossible to separate the tragedy that occurred on-set from the movie itself.

“‘Rust’s’ sadness, guilt and grief are amplified by the unfortunate fact of the film’s own existence, the tragedy that took place mid-production,” he wrote. “Let’s be clear: that cannot make it better. The very implication is ghoulish. But it does have an impact, and it leaves the film with an aura that’s inexorably grim. ‘Rust’ is about death, it’s about grief, it’s about collateral damage.

“That’s what the plot is about too.”

The post ‘Rust’ Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ Family Toasts the ‘Stunning’ Film’s Theatrical Release: ‘Want Everybody to Watch It’ appeared first on TheWrap.

Muzzling Big Bird: Trump Tries to Silence the ‘Liberal Media’ of PBS and NPR

The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and efforts to defund public broadcasting might not appear linked at first blush, but they both reflect the same attitude:

So what if we accidentally deport the wrong guy to get “the bad people” out, or kill Big Bird because we don’t like what they say about us on “PBS NewsHour?”

Donald Trump has always retreated to culture-war issues when under duress, so it’s hardly a surprise he would renew the assault on PBS and NPR as he watches his poll numbers fall amid tariff concerns. The move immediately drew cheers from his conservative base, who have long railed against the government paying one penny to support what they see as another tentacle of the “liberal media.”

The reality of PBS and NPR, though, has always been more complex than Trump and his most vocal GOP allies have painted it. For starters, it’s unclear that Trump has the authority to strip the $500 million in Congressional funding that goes to NPR and PBS annually. More to the point, like many of Trump’s policies in this second term, it will inflict at least as much damage on those who live in states he carried in the last election as bright-blue bastions of liberal elites.

The most logical case against PBS and NPR is that in this age of streaming plenty, public funding for programming is simply unnecessary. The prestige British dramas and hours of children’s programming that were once the near-exclusive province of PBS have found platforms elsewhere, provided, in many cases, that viewers are willing to dig into their pockets for them.

The counter argument is that PBS and NPR cater to underserved communities, especially in rural and remote areas that don’t have the same abundance of commercial TV options, as well as those who can’t afford to ante up for multiple streaming subscriptions in order to replicate what PBS provides.

Notably, polling has shown that more than half of PBS viewers live in lower-income homes, which buttresses that position.

To be fair, this debate has persisted across the decades, particularly when Republicans are in power. Yet the truth is the recent push to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting hides behind economics to press a partisan agenda, one rooted in the grievance-driven feeling that public broadcasting’s news and public-affairs programming exhibits a bias against conservatives.

Trump has labeled programs like “PBS NewsHour,” anchored by Geoff Bennett and Amna Nawaz, “woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’” (Photo Credit: PBS)

The same mentality has fueled Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center and efforts to gut the Voice of America and the Department of Education.

Through the years, that impulse has produced some comical results, including Ted Cruz lashing out on Twitter against Big Bird in 2021 for saying that he’d been vaccinated, which the Texas senator derided as “Government propaganda … for your 5 year old!”

“We’re talking about a Muppet. Ted Cruz today has picked a fight with a Muppet,” Jezebel’s editor-in-chief Laura Bassett said on MSNBC at the time.

Still, beating up on “Sesame Street” isn’t the necessarily flex the GOP thinks it is, given the fond memories many people have about that and other public-TV children’s fare, which has the advantage not only of educating kids but isn’t as clearly awash in the toy-driven values that have characterized that genre through the years.

In addition, polling has shown that viewing of PBS is hardly confined to wheat-germ-eating Democrats (about a third of its viewers identify as such), which makes sense given the vast swath of programming available on a wide assortment of topics, as well as popular prestige entries like “Downton Abbey” and Ken Burns’ historical documentaries.

None of that, of course, will penetrate the bubble of those railing against public broadcasting, eagerly finding examples of what they characterize, to quote Cruz, as government-supported “propaganda” intended to discredit and undermine Republicans.

Trump’s executive order overtly, if somewhat vaguely, stated as much, accusing public broadcasting of bias and serving as a platform for “radical woke propaganda disguised as ‘news,’” which naturally played well in to the hate-the-mainstream-press quadrant of social media.

In its response, NPR said eliminating public funding — which only accounts for about a sixth of the overall budget — would have a “devastating impact” on communities across the nation. Beyond calling the order “blatantly unlawful,” PBS president Paula Kerger cited potential disruption to “the essential service PBS and local member stations provide to the American people.”

The bottom line is that like many policies Trump has pursued in this second term, he’s serving red meat to his ideological base under the guise of cost cutting. Those who object to the government playing any role in funding PBS and NPR because those services are easily replaced by commercial options can press that point, even if, given current media economics, it’s still a rather shaky one.

Thanks to Trump’s transparent desire to hurt perceived havens of liberal media, though, that argument seems particularly flimsy — so much so that if Big Bird were thinking of a word to describe it starting with the letter “B,” let’s just say it wouldn’t be “Bunny.”

The post Muzzling Big Bird: Trump Tries to Silence the ‘Liberal Media’ of PBS and NPR appeared first on TheWrap.

The 7 Best New Movies Streaming on Max Right Now

Max‘s May film acquisitions include gems that came out both 80 years ago and as recently as just a few months ago. Indeed, the streaming service’s new movies range from 2024’s longest Best Picture contender to a classic Hollywood musical and an Oscar-winning, genre-bending 2004 drama. In case that was not enough, a pair of iconic horror movies and one fantasy masterpiece have also made their way to the platform this month.

Here are seven of the best movies that are now streaming on Max in May.

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (Focus Features)“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004)

When he was promoting “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” Jim Carrey equated getting Charlie Kaufman’s script for the film with watching Moses come down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments and winning the lottery. They are apt metaphors for a film that feels, quite simply, miraculous. Written by Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry, the film stars Carrey as Joel, a heartbroken man who decides to undergo a procedure that will erase his ex-girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet), from his memories after discovering she did the same thing to him. However, as Joel goes on a psychic journey back through their relationship, he gradually finds himself longing to save it.

Boasting one of Kaufman’s signature, nesting-doll-like narrative structures and his usual, keen eye for human awkwardness and insecurity, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is goofy, heartbreaking and deeply, deeply human. Amplified by Gondry’s penchant for visual whimsy, the film is a stirring examination of love that refuses to sugarcoat its story and characters. “Eternal Sunshine” captures all of the messy, self-destructive and sometimes ill-advised qualities of love, and yet it still manages to make a compelling case for why you should always embrace it when you find it. If that’s not a miracle, what is?

“The Brutalist” (A24)“The Brutalist” (2024)

2024’s award contenders continue their slow march to streaming. This month, one of last year’s biggest critical darlings, director Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” arrives on Max on May 16. The 3 ½ hour epic follows László Tóth (Oscar winner Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor and architect who immigrates to America. Once there, he meets Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), a wealthy American industrialist who commissions László to create a building in rural Pennsylvania. What begins as a seemingly reciprocal relationship quickly turns parasitic and toxic as László is forced to endure Harrison’s increasing attempts to corrupt his vision and break his artistic spirit.

A searing, scathing condemnation of the relationship between art and commerce and the indignities that artists face while trying to create meaningful work in a capitalist world, “The Brutalist” is a towering achievement. It purposefully places itself aesthetically, narratively and tonally in the shadow of past American epics like “The Godfather,” “There Will Be Blood” and “The Master,” and it makes a convincing case, whether its gutsy second half works for you or not, for why it deserves to stand near those films.

“The Mortal Storm” (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)“The Mortal Storm” (1940)

An oft-forgotten film from Hollywood’s early World War II era, “The Mortal Storm” was released just one year after the international conflict broke out in Europe and nearly two years before the United States joined the fray. Despite that, it explores both the rise of fascism in Germany and the free-thinking culture that was lost when Hitler came to power with chilling, unwavering power. Starring Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullivan and Frank Morgan, the film was an obvious influence on Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” which similarly explores how fascism has the power to erase both an entire culture and basic ideas of human decency and compassion.

“The Mortal Storm” is, in other words, a film made for then, now and forever. Few movies more beautifully and memorably capture what can be lost culturally and personally when we give into our most hateful ideas and impulses. The film is both an act of mourning for what was lost when the Nazis came to power and a warning of what happens when similarly fascistic, totalitarian movements are allowed to take root and grow unchallenged.

“The Shining” (Warner Bros.)“The Shining” (1980)

Stephen King may famously dislike director Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of his seminal horror novel, “The Shining,” but that does not mean it is not a note-perfect film. Set almost entirely in one location, the film follows Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a recovering alcoholic and aspiring novelist who takes a job as the winter caretaker of a resort hotel. After he, his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and their clairvoyant son Danny (Danny Lloyd) arrive, they gradually come to realize the hotel is haunted — and that its ghosts are hellbent on convincing Jack to kill himself and his family. An indisputable masterpiece, “The Shining” works on both a literal and metaphorical level.

It is, on the one hand, a terrifying, unshakably scary story about a group of ghosts trying to add an innocent family to their hive. It is also an unnerving examination of what happens when people — especially men — decide to believe the voices in their heads that tell them all of their mistakes, flaws and failures are the faults of others. What makes “The Shining” so scary is not just how seamlessly it blends the real and unreal, but also how eager its protagonist is to punish his family for his own shortcomings. “The Shining” perfectly combines supernatural and human horror, and that is why it is often rightly regarded as one of the greatest horror films ever made.

“The Silence of the Lambs” (Orion Pictures)“The Silence of the Lambs” (1991)

Speaking of perfect horror movies: 1991’s “The Silence of the Lamb.” Based on Thomas Harris’ 1988 novel of the same name, this Best Picture-winning, Jonathan Demme-directed thriller stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, an inexperienced FBI trainee who is assigned by her boss (Scott Glenn) to track down a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine). As part of her mission, Clarice is assigned to interview Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), an imprisoned serial killer, cannibal and career psychiatrist.

Featuring career-best, Oscar-winning performances from both Hopkins and Foster, “The Silence of the Lambs” effortlessly alternates between being a chilling cat-and-mouse game and a psychological battle of wills between Foster’s Clarice and Hopkins’ Hannibal. Both uncomfortably gripping and simply entertaining, the film is elevated by Demme’s unique ability to fully immerse viewers in his characters’ minds and realities, as he skillfully does with Foster’s outmatched yet determined young heroine. It is no wonder why it won five Oscars.

“The Princess Bride” (20th Century Fox)“The Princess Bride” (1987)

If you want a lighter alternative to some of the darker films on this list, look no further than “The Princess Bride.” Director Rob Reiner’s beloved, oft-quoted 1987 fantasy film is a clever, thrilling and romantic crowdpleaser. Based on screenwriter William Goldman’s novel of the same name, the film follows Westley (Cary Elwes), a farmhand who sets out on a quest to save the love of his life, Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright), from her arranged marriage to the cruel, cowardly Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon).

Along the way, Westley crosses paths with an array of memorable, eccentric supporting characters, including Fezzik (André the Giant) and Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), a swordsman obsessed with avenging his father’s murder. Overflowing with memorable lines and tongue-in-cheek gags, “The Princess Bride” is a beautifully made, tonally impeccable comedy. Of all of the film’s accomplishments, perhaps none are more impressive than how well it rides the line between parodying the fantasy genre and delivering all of the thrills that fans of the genre want to experience. It is a rare thing: a spoof that manages to poke fun and get it right at the same time.

“The Band Wagon” (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)“The Band Wagon” (1953)

Movies do not get much frothier or more joy-inducing than “The Band Wagon.” Directed by “An American in Paris” maestro Vincente Minnelli, this early ’50s musical stars Fred Astaire as an aging star whose last-ditch Broadway show puts him on competing paths with a pretentious actor-director (Jack Buchanan) and a ballerina (Cyd Charisse) whose talent both intimidates him and makes him fall in love with her. The film’s plot is little more than a loosely hung framework designed to support musical numbers for Astaire and Charisse, two of cinema’s greatest dancers, that shimmer with life, color, romantic tension and awe-inspiring technical precision.

The thrown-together nature of its story is evidenced by the fact that “The Band Wagon” basically abandons reality and logic altogether in its final third in order to deliver a climactic series of musical numbers that are so immaculately blocked, edited and performed you will not even care how little they make sense. Apart from one surreal, misjudged musical sequence, “The Band Wagon” is an Old Hollywood production with rarely a mistimed beat or misstep. It will lift you up and make your heart flutter — and if not because of its own love story, then because of the forgotten Vaudevillian spirit that made it and many other ’50s musicals so inimitably powerful and special.

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