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November 21, 2019
‘The Good Place’ Star William Jackson Harper Explains Why Chidi Wrote Himself That Note
(Warning: This post contains spoilers for Thursday’s episode of “The Good Place.”)
Depending on how you look at it, Thursday’s midseason finale of “The Good Place” spans either 300 years or however long it takes a glass of Duval ditch water to hit the floor. In either case, Chidi has been through enough that the version of himself who wakes up from his afterlife-induced coma at the end of the episode is unlike any version of the character we’ve seen before.
Having regained all of his memories from every one of the show’s many timelines, Chidi comes out of his deep sleep having relived each and every time his trademark neuroses and indecisiveness have failed him — from losing his seat in class to derailing his romantic relationships — in, essentially, the blink of an eye. But the new Chidi isn’t going to make those same mistakes. He’s not going to let an obsessive need to find the best, most perfect solution to every problem derail his (after)life anymore.
“Sometimes you have to get a birds eye view of things in order to really see them clearly,” William Jackson Harper said in an interview with TheWrap from the set of his next project, Barry Jenkins’ adaptation of “The Underground Railroad” for Amazon.
Also Read: 'The Good Place' Star William Jackson Harper Portraits (Exclusive Photos)
“Getting that huge download does sort of throw everything into relief. And there’s the benefit of having seen all these different lives and the running themes,” Harper said. “That gives him a lot of clarity, having this magical thing happen where suddenly you get to see where your habits are, what your paradigm is and ways it needs to shift in order to move forward.”
For Chidi, the takeaway is simple and comes in the form of a note, written to himself before his memory was wiped and stashed with Janet: “There is no ‘answer’… but Eleanor is the answer.”
Colleen Hayes/NBC
“Whether it’s romantic or friendly or, sometimes antagonistic, there’s something about the energies of these two people that they’re drawn together,” Harper said. “They need each other so, so deeply.”
“I think that for Chidi, Eleanor is the reason, she’s the point, she’s the person that he exists for. It’s a sort of clarity. It’s just this clear moment: Here’s this other person who encapsulates everything I need or want, whether I know it or not.”
That newfound clarity is a long way from the Chidi who was so paralyzed by the trolley problem that he ended up with a faceful of guts.
Also Read: Mike Schur Explains How the 'Objective' of 'The Good Place' Changed Midway Through Its Run
And it comes not a moment too soon given that the events of last week’s episode left the Soul Squad with less than an hour to prevent the entirety of life on Earth from being wiped out.
“Chidi is still Chidi, but he has the benefit of seeing all of his afterlives and all of his terrestrial lives, and remembering them for the first time. There’s no way you come away from that unchanged,” Harper said. “But the stakes are really high right now. We have a task in front of us, and that’s really what’s driving the action. That’s what Chidi’s focused on going forward.”
Read TheWrap’s full interview with William Jackson Harper below.
TheWrap: What was your first reaction when you found out that you were going go from being unconscious the whole episode to being in just about every scene this week?
It’s part of the job, you know? I’ve been playing the character for so long that you kind of just go scene by scene. It’s never daunting in a way of, Oh my god how am I going to do it? At this point it’s more, how am I going to stay truthful day-to-day and not mail it in.
It seemed like a lot of those individual flashbacks came from different timelines or resets. How did you approach keeping everything straight?
Well, the way TV works, we shoot a lot of it out of order. Like, one of the last scenes we shot early in the week. So really it’s just keeping a loose timeline in your head, but keeping the focus on the moment — and the moment just before, what just happened that triggers this conversation or this moment — and living in that. It’s easy to get bogged down, but there’s only so much you can play in a couple minutes. And the most important thing is my scene partner, and trying to stay connected with them. Knowing what came before, it’s useful, but I don’t want to do anything that takes me out of the scene and takes me out of the moment with the people that I’m working with.
Also Read: 'The Good Place' Final Season: Here's What You Need to Know
When Chidi does wake up at the end, his outlook or his reaction to everything is pretty different than what we probably would’ve expected. What is it about getting this download of everything’s that’s happened that helps bring him to this new point of view?
Sometimes you have to get a birds eye view of things in order to really see them clearly. It’s like when you ask advice from people who aren’t in the situation that you’re in. You usually can rely on that person for something in whatever they say that’s worth considering. When you look at the whole thing, when you look at all these various lives that he’s been through, there is this sort of running thread of not being able to make a decision, looking for the answer. He’s looking for the concrete thing that is always right, which I think is one of Chidi’s biggest flaws. His rigidity, the idea that there’s this one thing that is always right in every situation. I, personally, don’t think the world works that way. So, you know, getting that huge download does sort of throw everything into relief. And there’s the benefit of having seen all these different lives and the running themes. That gives him a lot of clarity, having this magical thing happen where suddenly you get to see where your habits are, what your paradigm is and ways it needs to shift in order to move forward.
That note he writes for himself — “There is no answer, but Eleanor is the answer” — what does that mean?
I think it points to something larger, something I can really get behind, this idea that the point of life is other people. There are people who are extremely important to you, who do things for you that no one else does — and who you do things for that you wouldn’t do for anyone else. This recurring theme that no matter what reality we’re in, we’re always drawn to each other. Whether it’s romantic or friendly or, sometimes antagonistic, there’s something about the energies of these two people that they’re drawn together. They need each other so, so deeply. I think that for Chidi, Eleanor is the reason, she’s the point, she’s the person that he exists fo, and it’s a sort of clarity. It’s just this clear moment: Here’s this other person who encapsulates everything I need or want, whether I know it or not.
Colleen Hayes/NBC
It’s interesting that to hear you describe it that way, because he writes that note for himself after he and Michael have that conversation about how soulmates don’t really exist. How do those two ideas square together in your mind?
Personally, this idea that there’s a person out there who just magically, without any work, fulfills all your needs, and you without doing any work fulfill all of theirs, I don’t know if I buy that. There are people out there who make you want to be a better person, who you want to put the work in for, but there’s something in the term soulmates that makes it feel really passive. There’s no effort, there’s no work to be done, it’s just magic and perfect all the time. I don’t think that’s really how it works. I think you meet someone who you want to be better for. Someone who makes you want to act on their behalf, to be the person that they need you to be, because they give you something intangible and ineffable too. There’s something about them not being soulmates that makes it an active choice. At some point Chidi, whether he knows it or not, did make a choice. Every time he chose to connect with Eleanor, no matter what. Because there’s just something between them. So I guess in a way there is a natural sort of component, and a soulmate kind of mystical element to it, but in the end, it’s really more about the work that you’re willing to put in for a person who does something for you that you can’t name.
Also Read: How Mike Schur Avoids 'Trump Bulls-' in 'The Good Place' Writers Room
And this comes after that moment with Simone a couple of episodes ago where they come to that sort of impasse and literally go their separate ways. What is it about their relationship that makes it different from the relationship he has with Eleanor?
I think that’s honestly one of those things. It’s just like this pearly mist. Sometimes it’s not necessarily a linear or an expressible thing. It’s just a feeling, it’s a reaction. It’s almost like it’s chemical or something. I don’t think there’s fault in Simone’s argument when they break up … but it doesn’t really mesh with Chidi’s paradigm. No matter what, he has to help people. that is why he’s here. I think that sometimes we can discount our outlook on life being something that can make or break a relationship, but it really can. The way people were raised sometimes can rear its head deep into a relationship, and then you realize that there’s this odd impasse in the way that you view the world. And that can make it tough to feel like you’ll ever really connect at the depth that maybe you once thought you had or that you had hoped to reach. So that’s sort of the central difference, but it in the end it’s sort of a fine mist. Like, had it not been such a pressure cooker, maybe it wouldn’t have been the break that it was.
Colleen Hayes/NBC
The episode ends on Chidi realizing that his indecisiveness may have been super annoying to other people without him ever realizing it. Moving forward, how does his behavior change?
Well that’s something that you’re going to have to wait and see. Chidi is still Chidi, but he has the benefit of seeing all of his afterlives and all of his terrestrial lives, and remembering them for the first time. There’s no way you come away from that unchanged. So going forward, yeah, Chidi is different in a few ways, but at the same time, old habits die hard. He’s still a neurotic guy. His brain doesn’t turn off. If anything, there’s moments where knowing this much just adds the possibility for him to be even more paralyzed. But the stakes are really high right now. We have a task in front of us, and that’s really what’s driving the action. That’s what Chidi’s focused on going forward.
I’m not going to ask you to spoil anything, but what was your reaction to finding out how the show wraps up?
I think that this show is never overtly simple. And I feel like our conclusion continues in that sort of aesthetic, things being not quite what they seem and the rug being pulled out from under you. So, yeah, I feel good about it. I feel that this is the right way to end it. I’m more curious than anything to see how people will feel when they see it.
Also Read: How 'Breaking Bad' Made Mike Schur Realize He Wanted a Smaller Episode Order for 'The Good Place'
Is it anywhere close to anything you could’ve predicted when you first joined the show?
No, absolutely not. There’s never been– No finale on this show has ever been anything that I’ve expected. We go on the same journey that the audience goes on when we’re doing the table reads. We really can’t predict anything. We have things we hope to get to do, and things we hope our characters will get to do, but we never know anything, honestly.
Colleen Hayes/NBC
Related stories from TheWrap:
'Good Place' to Get Extended Series Finale and a Seth Meyers-Hosted Aftershow
'The Good Place' Star D'Arcy Carden Joins Amazon's 'A League of Their Own' Series
A 'Treat' for NBC: 'Superstore,' 'The Good Place' and 'Will & Grace' Grow Ratings on Halloween
‘The Underlying Chris’ Theater Review: Will Eno Goes Full Hallmark
In his 2014 comedy “The Open House,” Will Eno offered up a real coup de theatre when he had a bickering family slowly replaced on stage by characters interested in buying their house. As one family member after another left the house to go on an errand, the actor playing that role would soon reappear as a potential house buyer, real estate agent or contractor.
Eno’s new play, “The Underlying Chris,” opened Thursday at Second Stage, and the playwright is back in an inventive mode. Chris is a character we follow for 80-plus years, from the crib to his or her grave. Yes, the many actors playing Chris at various stages of life alternate between being male or female; black, white or brown. The character (sometimes named Kit, Krista, Christine, etc.) does not change sexual orientation. Chris is a hard-wired heterosexual, and in one short vignette after another (the play runs 85 minutes), the character undergoes the typical life experiences of physical injuries, parental deaths, marriage, child birth, divorce and decrepitude.
In his 2017 play “Wakey, Wakey,” Eno revealed that it’s the little things that make life endurable. He also explores that Hallmark greeting-card thesis in “The Underlying Chris,” and adds to it with many speeches about the miracle of life. Did you know that the blood vessels in one human body can wrap around the world two and a half times? One of Eno’s characters advises us not to attempt this feat.
Also Read: 'The Half-Life of Marie Curie' Theater Review: Kate Mulgrew Is Radioactively Great
Eno’s ability to subvert our expectations through language is on full display in one early scene: It’s a meet-cute at a café where the medical student Chris (Luis Vega) and a young veterinarian (Hannah Cabell, bringing a quirky grace to several characters) keep misinterpreting each other’s remarks until finally they go off on a date. The wordplay continually refreshes a scene we’ve seen in dozens of movies and other plays.
There are glimmers of this wit throughout the play, but the underlying Chris — that emotional and physical core that links this individual to every other human being — keeps getting in the way of any dramatic payoff. Chris is a generic character, one who is everybody and therefore nobody.
All the big moments in Chris’s life happen offstage: the accidents, the deaths, the break-ups, the reconciliations. Eno leaves us instead with the coping and the survival, and after a few scenes, we jump ahead of the story. Unfortunately, we are never surprised.
Also Read: 'History of Violence' Theater Review: Edouard Louis' Best-Seller Makes a Transatlantic Crossing
It’s the core problem with this “La Ronde” format, and Kenny Leon’s direction never solves it. Instead, he emphasizes the rigid structure rather than loosening it up. Arnulfo Maldonado’s set design delivers several distinctive locales, each one divided by a blackout (lighting by Dede Ayite) and/or a lowered curtain. It’s as if Leon and his designers have set up a metronome on stage to give each scene the same rhythm, the same dramatic weight. Playing the older Chris, the actors Denise Burse, Lizbeth MacKay and Charles Turner all manage to bring real gravitas to their respective portrayals.
Life is a miracle. It’s worth living. But sometimes it’s not worth watching.
Related stories from TheWrap:
'The Half-Life of Marie Curie' Theater Review: Kate Mulgrew Is Radioactively Great
'History of Violence' Theater Review: Edouard Louis' Best-Seller Makes a Transatlantic Crossing
Pharrell Williams Wrote a Song About a Music Legend He’d Never Even Met for ‘The Black Godfather’
A version of this story about Pharrell Williams and “The Black Godfather” first appeared in The Race Begins issue of TheWrap’s Oscar magazine.
Music-business executive Clarence Avant may have helped launch or sustain the careers of a long list of luminaries, including Quincy Jones, Bill Withers and athletes like Muhammad Ali and Hank Aaron, but his reach only extended to Pharrell Williams secondhand.
“I know a lot of people that he was responsible for bringing into the industry, people who have directly affected my life and given me entrée into the industry,” said Williams, who co-wrote and performed the song “Letter to My Godfather” for the documentary about Avant, “The Black Godfather.”
“But I didn’t meet him until later. I had always just heard his name — all these people that he opened doors for talked about his immense power, his business acumen and the energy he brought to a room.”
Also Read: Pharrell Williams Sends Trump Cease-and-Desist Letter Over 'Happy' Use
Williams came to do the song, he said, when director Reginald Hudlin reached out to him. “He asked me to take a look at the documentary, and I just thought, ‘OK, cool,'” he said. “I thought it would be a typical music doc and give you the history. But when you realize all the backstory — where he came from, how he became the person he became, why he made the decisions he made — it painted a completely different picture for me.”
And that picture, he said, went straight into the song, an unapologetic tribute to Avant. “When I started working on the music,” he said, “I tried to pretty much paint what I experienced for the first time in the movie.”
“It came right out,” Pharrell said of writing the song. “I just knew it needed to have a choir in it, and I felt like the choir needed to do something staccato, which is the ooos. It needed open space so I could say what I really wanted to say, who he was and why he needs this now. And the song pretty much flowed.”
This is one in a series of interviews with songwriters in this year’s Oscar race. To read more from The Race Begins, click here.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Clint Eastwood's 'Richard Jewell' Auditions for the Oscars at AFI Fest Premiere
Are Women Directors on the Verge of an Oscar Breakthrough?
Ava DuVernay Calls Out Academy for Disqualifying Nigeria's First Oscar Submission
Republican National Committee Spent $94,800 for Copies of Donald Trump Jr’s Book ‘Triggered’
The Republican National Committee spent $94,800 on copies of Donald Trump Jr.’s book, “Triggered,” according to new filings with the Federal Elections Commission.
On Oct. 29, a week before the release of Trump Jr.’s book, the RNC paid that amount to the bookseller website Books A Million. The expenditure was listed as being for “donor mementos,” according to the FEC filing. Representatives for the RNC did not respond to a request for comment from The Wrap, but a spokesperson confirmed to the New York Times’ Nick Confessore that the $94,800 was spent to promote Trump Jr.’s book.
Screenshot from the RNC’s FEC filing
Since its publication, “Triggered” has topped the New York Times’ nonfiction best-seller list for two weeks. The caveat, however, is that a significant portion of the book’s sales were driven by “institutional, special interest, group or bulk purchases.”
Also Read: Donald Trump Jr's Book Tops NY Times Best-Seller List, but There's a Catch
Earlier this month, on the day of the book’s release, the RNC launched a fundraising campaign to give out signed copies of Trump Jr.’s book to anyone who donated $50 or more to the committee.
In a statement to Page Six last week, an RNC spokesperson denied that it made “a large bulk purchase” and was instead “ordering copies to keep up with demand.” The RNC also announced on Tuesday that it had raised more than $500,000 from the campaign.
As of Thursday, “Triggered” is on sale via Books A Million for $23.09. At that price, the RNC would’ve been able to purchase about 4,105 copies of Trump Jr.’s book. To get on the NYT best-seller list, a book must sell at least 5,000 copies in a week, according to the book marketing and consulting company Scribe.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Donald Trump Jr's Book Tops NY Times Best-Seller List, but There's a Catch
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Midseason TV 2020: Complete List of Premiere Dates for New and Returning Broadcast Shows
The new year is fast approaching and so is midseason TV.
While fall brought with it the returns of your favorite broadcast shows — and the debuts of several new ones — the colder months mark the time when many of those shows go into hibernation and fresh programming wakes up.
Because the broadcast networks are now gearing up to launch several new shows — and to bring back a lot of your faves — TheWrap has rounded up the list of broadcast’s Winter 2020 premiere dates.
Also Read: NBC's Midseason Schedule: 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Sets Hour-Long Premiere, 'Manifest' Reclaims Mondays
We’ve got launch days for new shows like NBC’s “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” and “Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector,” Fox’s “9-1-1: Lone Star” and “Deputy,” CBS’s “Tommy” and “FBI: Most Wanted,” ABC’s “For Life,” and The CW’s “Riverdale” spinoff series “Katy Keene.”
And we know when oldies but goodies will come back with new seasons, including NBC’s “America’s Got Talent: The Champions,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Manifest,” Fox’s “Last Man Standing” and “The Masked Singer,” CBS’s “Undercover Boss” and “Criminal Minds,” ABC’s “American Idol,” and The CW’s “Roswell, New Mexico” and “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.”
See the full list of broadcast’s midseason premiere dates below, which TheWrap will continue to update as more become available.
Also Read: CBS' Midseason Schedule: Edie Falco's 'Tommy' Takes 'Evil' Time Slot, 'NCIS: NOLA' to Sunday
Sunday, Dec. 29
8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT – “Flirty Dancing” (Fox, series premiere)
Wednesday, Jan. 1
8 p.m. – “Flirty Dancing” (Fox, time slot premiere)
9 p.m. – “Almost Family” (Fox, winter premiere)
Thursday, Jan. 2
8 p.m. – “Last Man Standing” (Fox, season premiere)
9 p.m. – “Deputy” (Fox, series premiere)
Also Read: Fox Sets Winter Premiere Dates: 'Last Man Standing' Shifts to Thursdays, 6 New Series Debut
Sunday, Jan. 4
7 p.m. – “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (ABC, winter premiere)
Monday, Jan. 6
8 p.m. – “America’s Got Talent: The Champions” (NBC, season premiere)
8 p.m. – “The Bachelor” (ABC, two-hour season premiere)
10 p.m. – “Manifest” (NBC, season premiere)
Tuesday, Jan. 7
8 p.m. – “The Resident” (Fox, winter premiere)
8 p.m. – “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” (ABC, series premiere)
8 p.m. – “Ellen’s Game of Games” (NBC, 2-hour season premiere)
9 p.m. – “Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back” (Fox, season premiere)
9 p.m. – “mixed-ish” (ABC, winter premiere)
9:30 p.m. – “black-ish” (ABC, winter premiere)
10 p.m. – “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” (NBC, “special preview” series premiere)
10 p.m. – “Emergence”
10 p.m. “FBI: Most Wanted” (CBS, series premiere)
Wednesday, Jan. 8
8 p.m. – “Undercover Boss” (CBS, season premiere)
9 p.m. – “Modern Family” (ABC, winter premiere)
9:31 p.m. – “Single Parents” (ABC, winter premiere)
10 p.m. – “Stumptown” (ABC, winter premiere)
Friday, Jan. 10
8 p.m. – “Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector” (NBC, series premiere)
Monday, Jan. 13
10 p.m. – “The Good Doctor” (ABC, winter premiere)
Wednesday, Jan. 15
8 p.m. – “The Goldbergs” (ABC, winter premiere)
8:30 p.m. – “Schooled” (ABC, winter premiere)
9 p.m. – “Criminal Minds” (CBS, season premiere)
Friday, Jan. 17
8 p.m. – “American Housewife” (ABC, winter premiere)
8:30 p.m. – “Fresh Off the Boat” (ABC, winter premiere)
Sunday, Jan. 19
10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT – “9-1-1: Lone Star” (Fox, series premiere Part 1)
Monday, Jan. 20
8 p.m. – “9-1-1: Lone Star” (Fox, series premiere Part 2)
9 p.m. – “Prodigal Son” (Fox, winter premiere)
Also Read: 'Good Place' to Get Extended Series Finale and a Seth Meyers-Hosted Aftershow
Tuesday, Jan. 21
8 p.m. – “The Conners” (ABC, winter premiere)
8:30 p.m. – “Bless This Mess” (ABC, winter premiere)
9 p.m. – “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” (The CW, season premiere)
Thursday, Jan. 23
8 p.m. – “Station 19” (ABC, winter premiere)
8:30 p.m. – “Outmatched” (Fox, series premiere)
9 p.m. – “Grey’s Anatomy” (ABC, winter premiere)
10 p.m. – “A Million Little Things” (ABC, winter premiere)
Sunday, Feb. 2
10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT – “The Masked Singer” (Fox, season premiere)
Wednesday, Feb. 5
8 p.m. – “The Masked Singer” (Fox, time slot premiere)
9 p.m. – “Lego Masters” (Fox, series premiere)
Also Read: 2019 Holiday TV Specials: 25 Programs Sure to Make Your Days Merry and Bright (Photos)
Thursday, Feb. 6
8 p.m. – “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (NBC, hour-long season premiere)
8 p.m. – “Katy Keene” (The CW, series premiere)
9 p.m. – “Will & Grace” (NBC, winter premiere)
9:30 p.m. – “Indebted” (NBC, series premiere)
10 p.m. – “Evil” (CBS, series premiere)
Friday, Feb. 7
8 p.m. – “MacGyver” (CBS, season premiere)
Tuesday, Feb. 11
10 p.m. – “For Life” (ABC, series premiere)
Wednesday, Feb. 12
8 p.m. – “Survivor” (CBS, season premiere)
Thursday, Feb. 13
8 p.m. – “Superstore” (NBC, winter premiere)
8:30 p.m. – “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (NBC, time slot premiere)
Sunday, Feb. 16
8 p.m. “American Idol” (ABC, season premiere)
8:30 p.m. – “Duncanville” (Fox, series premiere)
9 p.m. – “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” (NBC, time slot premiere)
10 p.m. – “Good Girls” (NBC, season premiere)
10 p.m. “NCIS: New Orleans” (CBS, winter premiere)
Sunday, Feb. 23
10 p.m. “The Rookie” (ABC, winter premiere)
Monday, Feb. 24
8 p.m. – “The Voice” (NBC, season premiere)
Monday, March 16
9 p.m. – “Roswell, New Mexico” (The CW, season premiere)
Thursday, April 2
10:01 p.m. – “How to Get Away With Murder” (ABC, midseason premiere)
Related stories from TheWrap:
Fox Sets Winter Premiere Dates: 'Last Man Standing' Shifts to Thursdays, 6 New Series Debut
NBC's Midseason Schedule: 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Sets Hour-Long Premiere, 'Manifest' Reclaims Mondays
The CW Sets 'Katy Keene' Premiere Date, Series Finales For 'Supernatural' and 'Arrow'
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Isn’t Happening This Year, CFO of Parent Company Says
There will be no Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show this year. The chief financial officer for L Brands, which owns the lingerie company, announced the news in a conference call with analysts on Thursday.
“We think it’s important to evolve the messaging of Victoria’s Secret,” said L Brands CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer, according to New York Magazine. “We will be communicating to customers but nothing similar in magnitude to the fashion show. We will communicate to customers through lots of vehicles including social media and other channels.”
L Brands did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment Thursday.
Also Read: Late-Night Hosts Rip Trump Over Sondland's 'Quid Pro Quo' Reveal: 'Caught Orange-Handed' (Videos)
The cancellation comes after months of rumors and declining sales, and one year after the brand came under fire when the company’s chief marketing officer Ed Razek said that he didn’t think transgender people should be in the fashion show.
Razek later quit, and the brand walked back on his statements, and hired its first transgender model in August, 2019. But Victoria’s Secret sales have declined for the lingerie brand in the past few years, with more modern and inclusive brands like Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty taking its place as the brand of choice for socially conscious youth.
But it wasn’t enough to save the fashion show, which began in the mid 1990s and started airing on television with ABC in 2001. It moved to CBS from 2002 to 2017, but went back to ABC for its final year in 2018. ABC did not respond to request for comment.
Women’s Wear Daily first reported the news.
Related stories from TheWrap:
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James Holzhauer Will Finally Face Ken Jennings in ABC's 'Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time'
GOP Rep Kevin McCarthy Calls on ABC News to Explain Amy Robach's Spiked Jeffrey Epstein Story
Watch Fiona Hill and David Holmes Testify in Day 5 of Trump Impeachment Hearings Via Livestream (Video)
The fifth day of public hearings in the House of Representative’s impeachment inquiry into President Trump begins on Thursday morning at 6 a.m. PT/9 a.m. ET. Former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill and David Holmes, political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, will be testifying in front of the House Intelligence Committee at that time.
In addition to broadcasts from the major television networks, you can tune into the hearing via the above livestream on C-SPAN. The network will offer “full, uninterrupted, and unfiltered coverage of the hearing,” according to an announcement from a C-SPAN spokesperson.
In September, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives would be pursuing a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump.
The decision came in light of a whistleblower complaint that the president sought to use foreign power for his own political gain during a phone call with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, by asking that Ukraine investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden. The president later confirmed that his administration withheld nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine but denied that it was done for leverage.
Also Read: 8 Key Moments From Trump Impeachment Hearing Day 3
Last month, the House of Representatives approved a resolution that formalized the inquiry and outlined the public-facing portion of the impeachment inquiry, which includes Wednesday’s hearing.
Last Wednesday was the first day of televised hearings in the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. Though Fox News was the early ratings winner among cable news channels, ABC actually topped the key adults 25-54 demographic when looking across all of TV.
Fox News beat the other broadcast and cable news networks in viewership during both days of the impeachment inquiry hearing coverage last week to deliver its highest-rated week of the year in total day viewership.
The week of Nov. 11 brought in Fox News’ highest viewership since the 2018 midterm election, according to Nielsen ratings.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Fox News Maintains Ratings Lead Over CNN, MSNBC for Third Day of Trump Impeachment Hearings
Clint Eastwood’s ‘Richard Jewell’ Auditions for the Oscars at AFI Fest Premiere
The 2019 AFI Fest may have lost its closing-night attraction on Wednesday when Amazon Studios pulled “The Banker” from its planned Thursday premiere, but one of the biggest attractions of this year’s lineup still took place on Wednesday, its penultimate night, with the world premiere of Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell.”
And as with all big, previously unseen films that premiere this time of year — particularly if they premiere at an industry-heavy showcase like the AFI Fest — the question that hung in the air immediately after the credits rolled at the packed TCL Chinese Theatre was, “Is it an awards movie?”
The answer, I suppose, depends on whom you ask. As soon as the film ended, a handful of pundits and fans hit Twitter to declare that “Richard Jewell” had stormed into the Oscar race, particularly with supporting performances by Sam Rockwell and Kathy Bates and the title role by lesser-known actor Paul Walter Hauser.
But when 11:00 rolled around an hour later and the review embargo lifted, the critics were respectful but not as enthusiastic. TheWrap’s Robert Abele, for one, called it “regrettably uneven, a nightmare made ordinary, sometimes ham-fistedly so, and occasionally even eccentric.”
Also Read: 'Richard Jewell' Film Review: Clint Eastwood's Wrong-Man Docudrama Muddles Harrowing True Story
Certainly, “Richard Jewell” is solid mainstream filmmaking from a veteran who refuses to slow down. At the age of 89, Eastwood somehow remains one of our most reliably prolific directors. In this decade alone, he’s made eight movies, skipping 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017 but making up for it by releasing two films in 2014 and two in 2018.
Those films include one undeniable blockbuster in “American Sniper,” which made more than $500 million worldwide; the sizeable hits “Sully” and “The Mule,” which earned $240 million and $175 million, respectively; and a string of films that didn’t do as well, including “J. Edgar,” “Jersey Boys” and “The 15:17 to Paris.”
And of his output in the decade, “American Sniper” was the only real awards movie, earning six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Otherwise, awards voters have tended not to be swayed by the recent work from one of the few directors to win Best Picture twice, for 1992’s “Unforgiven” and 2004’s “Million Dollar Baby.”
At the beginning of the AFI Fest premiere, Paul Walter Hauser referenced both those movies when he took the microphone and chided the audience for not being enthusiastic enough when Eastwood was introduced. “It was not near loud enough,” he said, “when the dude who made ‘Unforgiven’ and ‘Million Dollar Baby’ walked out!”
Also Read: Clint Eastwood Takes Aim at the FBI and the Media in 'Richard Jewell' Trailer (Video)
The audience dutifully cheered louder for Eastwood, but it’s far from assured that awards voters will be as welcoming. While Hauser is wonderful as Jewell, a hapless wannabe who even the movie seems to regard as comic fodder until suddenly he isn’t, the actor will be competing in a category in which he’ll have to supplant at least three people from this list: Joaquin Phoenix in “Joker,” Adam Driver in “Marriage Story,” Robert De Niro in “The Irishman,” Antonio Banderas in “Pain and Glory,” Leonardo DiCaprio in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Eddie Murphy in “Dolemite” and Jonathan Pryce in “The Two Popes.” That’s a tall order.
Bates might have a slightly easier task to slip into the Best Supporting Actress race, though her presence there is hardly assured. And Rockwell’s chances in Best Supporting Actor will be hurt by the fact that he’s up against a bevy of performances that could be considered co-leads: Brad Pitt in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Al Pacino in “The Irishman,” Tom Hanks in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” Anthony Hopkins in “The Two Popes,” Willem Dafoe in “The Lighthouse” …
As for the movie itself, its awards chances may be tied to how well it does at the box office and whether it captures any of the enthusiasm that views and voters had for “American Sniper.” “Richard Jewell” is the story of a man falsely accused of the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta, but it’s a measured, often quiet study of harassment and injustice that purposely moves slowly and doesn’t have a big ending. To some, that’ll be a strength; to others, a reason not to feel very passionate about the film.
Another tricky factor is how closely the film’s villains align with the current right-wing punching bags in Donald Trump’s America. Jon Hamm plays an FBI agent who routinely flouts the law in his investigation of Jewell, and Olivia Wilde plays a brash and vampy newspaper reporter who is such a caricature of the evil media that she’d be twirling a mustache if she had one.
It won’t help that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has already denounced the film’s depiction of its now-deceased reporter trading sex for information as “offensive and deeply troubling,” not to mention untrue, and it won’t help that the film’s portrayal of the FBI and the press as enemies of the truth may remind (largely liberal) Oscar voters of the director’s Republican-leaning politics.
Now, those concerns can easily be dismissed if “Richard Jewell” picks up an audience that finds its story engrossing. The crowd at the AFI Fest did, and by all reports so did a guild and press audience at the Harmony Gold theater at the same time on Wednesday.
But just as in the early days of the real Richard Jewell’s investigation, it’s hard to tell where this one will end up — though it’s safe to say that even if it doesn’t catch on with awards voters, Eastwood will be back before long to try again.
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November 20, 2019
‘Richard Jewell’ Film Review: Clint Eastwood’s Wrong-Man Docudrama Muddles Harrowing True Story
The abiding darkness in heroism — what it sometimes takes, what it can lead to — has been a longstanding interest of Clint Eastwood’s, from his onscreen vigilante icons to his behind-the-camera explorations of real figures (“Flags of our Fathers,” “American Sniper,” “Sully”).
And with “Richard Jewell,” his 38th film as director, his portal into the subject is a harrowing case study indeed: the brave do-gooder-turned-suspect, vilified through the very spotlight originally intended to praise him.
In 1996, Jewell was an Atlanta Olympics security guard when he discovered a suspicious backpack that eventually exploded, killing two and wounding many. Initial publicity made this unassuming figure a life-saving star, since the death toll could have been higher. But when word got out that the FBI considered him their prime suspect, the aspects of his life that weren’t so media-friendly — overweight, wannabe cop, lived with his mother — were suddenly turned against him by authorities and the media into evidence of someone craving attention.
Watch Video: Clint Eastwood Takes Aim at the FBI and the Media in 'Richard Jewell' Trailer
However, the movie Eastwood has made of this peculiar ordeal — from a screenplay by Billy Ray, based on Marie Brenner’s 1997 Vanity Fair article and a new book on the case — is regrettably uneven, a nightmare made ordinary, sometimes ham-fistedly so, and occasionally even eccentric. Outside of its major assets, which include “I, Tonya” scene-stealer Paul Walter Hauser’s unapologetically showy performance as Jewell and Sam Rockwell’s sardonic turn as his underdog lawyer, there’s a mystifying lack of clarity to the dramatic impact this retelling is seeking.
Not that anyone would expect Eastwood to turn a wrongful accusation story into a button-pushing triumph of sentimentalism, but it’s surprising how little emotional resonance Jewell’s upended life receives here, even with Kathy Bates in fine form as his adoring, stricken mother Bobi, and Jon Hamm working his square-jawed-jerk superpowers as the undeterred FBI agent who, along with his partner (Ian Gomez), tries to dupe Jewell into confessing. (The agents’ galling tactics, including asking him to read the bomber’s threatening 911 message into a telephone, seem like bad screenplay inventions, but they really happened.)
As backstory, “Richard Jewell” starts with a few scenes that set up the Forrest Gump-like aspects of Jewell’s personality that would in turn both help and harm him. As an observant if hovering office clerk in the 1980s — which Hauser makes brilliantly awkward — Jewell’s idealism about law enforcement earned him a friendship with low-level attorney Watson Bryant (Rockwell), years later the only lawyer Jewell knew to call.
But prior to the Olympics, his aggressive policing during short-lived stint as an officious, rules-minded campus cop at Piedmont College earned him the ire of the school’s president (Charles Green, “Lodge 49”). And that president’s phone call to the FBI after Jewell’s first burst of hero fame would change the narrative as to what Jewell’s behavior implied.
Early on, Eastwood has loose fun depicting Jewell’s bumbling yet sincere vibe patrolling Atlanta’s Centennial Park, even if a little of his off-putting eagerness goes a long way. The bombing sequence — from the backpack’s placement to its detonation — is plenty suspenseful. And in the aftermath we see Jewell — Hauser’s roly-poly physicality is always marked by a certain pride of purpose — react with dutiful modesty to the media attention, making sure to spread credit to the various law enforcement agencies who helped.
Up until then, it feels like a lo-fi character study of a well-meaning misfit whose cop instincts held him in good stead. But when the story turns toward Hamm’s corrupt fed, in cahoots with a scoop-deranged Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter played with sultry greediness by Olivia Wilde, and the mess they ultimately make of Jewell’s simple existence, the tones get jumbled.
Also Read: Clint Eastwood to Shoot 'Richard Jewell' in Georgia Despite Boycott Over Anti-Abortion Law
The gentle-rube comedy seems out of place, the portrait of a venal press becomes hokey (not to mention questionable, if early responses to Wilde’s portrayal of the real-life reporter, who is now deceased, are to be believed), and the stunned response by Jewell and his mom never quite sparks the necessary outrage. Despite the tense interview scene in which it dawns on Jewell that he’s the investigators’ focus (naturally his recognition has to do with his encyclopedic knowledge of crime-solving methods), the movie is content to settle into a ho-hum bunker drama inside the Jewells’ apartment with the media camped outside, and the FBI as unwanted guests.
What works best is the dynamic between Hauser’s Jewell and Rockwell’s Bryant, the former torn between his blind respect for authority and the confusion he feels at being targeted, and the latter facing the uphill battle of convincing his deflated client not to work inadvertently against his own interests by being so cooperative. Their unlikely friendship is a compelling slice of compassion and offbeat humor, even if it sometimes feels deserving of deeper exploration considering the circumstances.
How “Richard Jewell” ends is even more head-scratching; it sputters to a conclusion by way of a mild interrogation, a letter, some tears, and a few where-are-they-now facts. The sense of a terrible injustice finally righted feels strangely tossed off, rendering this particular examination in Eastwood’s canon of the Kafkaesque side of a courageous deed — especially after how good “Sully” was — more like an idiosyncratic movie-of-the-week than the trenchant big-screen drama we’ve come to expect from him.
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Axios Reporter Subjected to Charles Barkley’s ‘Inappropriate’ Comment Apologizes for Her ‘Past Insensitive Tweets’
Axios reporter Alexi McCammond, who on Wednesday made public inappropriate comments said to her by former NBA star Charles Barkley, has apologized for inappropriate tweets she wrote nearly a decade ago.
“Today I was reminded of some past insensitive tweets, and I am deeply sorry to anyone I offended. I have since deleted those tweets as they do not reflect my views or who I am today,” McCammond tweeted Wednesday afternoon.
In the tweets, written in late 2011 and early 2012 when McCammond was a freshman in college, McCammond made disparaging jokes about Asians. They have been deleted, but .
Earlier, Barkley apologized for telling McCammond, “I don’t hit women but if I did, I would hit you.”
“My comment was inappropriate and unacceptable,” the NBA player-turned-commentator said in a statement released through his employer, Turner Sports. “It was an attempted joke that wasn’t funny at all. There’s no excuse for it and I apologize.”
Also Read: Charles Barkley Dunks on LeBron James' Planned 'Space Jam' Reboot: 'We Don't Need 2'
On Tuesday, McCammond tweeted, “Just FYI Charles Barkley told me tonight ‘I don’t hit women but if I did I would hit you,’ and then when I objected to that he told me I ‘couldn’t take a joke.'”
She followed that up by explaining why she broke an off-the-record “agreement” to share the story, then posted statistics about physical abuse by intimate partners in America.
Also Read: Charles Barkley, Rest Your Voice: Here's the Other Terrible Thing He Said Tonight
McCammond responded to the statement from Turner Sports’ public relations team Wednesday, writing, “The comments Charles Barkley made to me are not acceptable. Threats of violence are not a joke, & no person deserves to be hit or threatened like that. Silence only allows the culture of misogyny to fester. And those kinds of comments don’t merit off-the-record protections.”
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