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Moana may have taken on the ocean virtually alone in “Moana” — at least, until she dragged Maui along — but that isn’t the case in Disney’s latest sequel.

In “Moana 2,” our wayfinding hero sets out on another voyage. This time, she’s called upon by the ancestors to locate an island hidden by a god, specifically with the intent to cut off other island peoples from each other. The mission is decidedly more dangerous than in the first film, and that means she needs a crew.

Here’s who’s on that crew, and where you might recognize everyone’s voices from in our complete “Moana 2” cast and character guide now that the film is streaming on Disney+.

Disney Moana (Auli’i Cravalho)

Moana remains the center of the story in the sequel, as she sets out to quite literally save humankind. She’s once again voiced by Auli’i Cravalho,...

Prime Video’s latest romantic comedy, Picture This, offers a fresh take on modern love, cultural expectations, and self-discovery. Directed by Prarthana Mohan, the film blends humor and heartfelt moments, making it a standout in the rom-com genre. This article delves into Picture This cast, characters, themes, and soundtrack, providing all the details you need.

What is Prime Video’s Latest Rom-Com ‘Picture This’ about?

Set in contemporary London, Picture This follows Pia, a 29-year-old photographer struggling to keep her business afloat. During her sister Sonal’s engagement party, a spiritual guru predicts that Pia will meet the love of her life within her next five dates. Encouraged by her family, she embarks on a series of blind dates, leading to humorous and emotional encounters that challenge her perception of love and destiny.

‘Picture This’ Cast and Characters Explained:

Here’s a detailed look at the Picture This cast and the characters they portray.

Exclusive: Banijay Entertainment’s adventure reality format Shaolin Heroes has kung fu-kicked its way on to networks in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Banijay Benelux has struck a deal with broadcaster Vtm for a version of the Danish show in Belgium, and Rtl Nederlands has handed SimpelZodiak, another Banijay production house, a greenlight in the Netherlands.

The deals mark the first international adaptations for the format, which was originally created by Banijay’s Danish label Metronome for local broadcaster TV2 last year.

We also hear Banijay-owned Truly Original is developing a U.S. version of the show, and will be taking it out to market this year.

The format sees celebrities embark on a transformational journey to master the ancient martial art of the Shaolin warrior monks. Under the guidance of two Shaolin masters, they face intense trials that test their mental and physical boundaries.

In Denmark, where Season 1 surpassed its...

With the arrival of February, Valentine's Day is quickly approaching. Now is the time to fill your glass with your favorite drink, have snacks on hand, and have a Disney Channel marathon this Valentine's Day.

Whether you're embracing the romance, enjoying some solo self-care, or immersing yourself into an anti-Valentine's Day mood, I've got the perfect Disney Channel watchlist for you.

For the Cozy Date Night:

These two episodes and this particular movie explore the idea of falling in love and the many sacrifices made throughout.

The Suite Life on Deck, "Party On"

When Zack plans a surprise party to help out Sean Kingston win over London, his secret intention is to have this party be about his crush named Maya since it is her birthday. With a surprise performance from Sean Kingston, this episode explores how far someone will go for their crush.

High School Musical

In High School Musical,...

Chicago – Despite the weather, January was red hot for Chicago meteorologist Cheryl Scott. She not only reported live on the 11th Annual “ABC 7 Great Chicago Blood Drive” … tirelessly encouraging viewers to roll up their sleeves … but she actually made news herself, donating blood live on the air during her station’s 6pm Eyewitness News Broadcast.

Meteorologist Cheryl Scott at ABC 7’s ‘Great Chicago Blood Drive’

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

The result was the largest and most successful Red Cross blood drive in the country, collecting 2804 units of blood, which broke the previous record. Scott’s live on-camera donation also racked up legions of YouTube and social media likes … prompting her fellow Chicago Red Cross Board members and future blood recipients to dance with joy.

And speaking of which, what has now become a bonafide Chicago holiday tradition – as the clock approaches midnight on...

Ask the average pop culture fan about Mindy Kaling and they’ll likely respond about her career as a writer, actor, and general celebrity. They’ll probably credit her, to varying degrees, for a range of projects she’s been on or behind the scenes of since “The Office,” but maybe not the specifics of her work as producer.

Kaling became a producer on “The Office,” but in 2012 founded Kaling International at the same time that she launched her own sitcom, “The Mindy Project.” Since then, the company has produced original titles across film and television, from the aforementioned single-cam sitcom to recent hits like “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” which concluded its third season on Max. To celebrate another season, we decided to revisit every Kaling International title as a primer or refresher for those interested in her work.

As a producer, Kaling has also championed projects that...

Harlan Coben's next series on Netflix will be Run Away. The eight-episode series will be based on Coben's book from 2019. And just like with everything else Coben, you know you are going to want to see it. The recently announced cast will certainly make that a possibility.

The plot involves a father, Simon, whose eldest daughter, Paige, runs away. Simon searches for her (of course!) but finds her high on drugs in a city park. The story does not end there, though. Simon thinks Paige is alone, but she isn't, and violence ensues. He loses his daughter all over again, and his new search for her sends him into an underworld that could tear their family apart.

But who is playing Simon and who is playing Paige? That is what you really want to know, right? Good news! We now know all that information.

New Harlan Coben series, Run Away,...

Thriller author Harlan Coben signed a multi-million-dollar deal with streaming service Netflix in August 2018, which would grant the giant the rights to 14 of its novels over the course of five years. Since then, the deal has been extended as the adaptations, which were turned into limited series, have proven to be major successes.

Following the recent success of the latest addition, Missing You, Netflix has announced the cast for the latest adaptation. Run Away was announced in January 2024 alongside Missing You, and it will feature a cast filled with famous names. Per Tudum, Good Will Hunting's Minnie Driver will be joined by 15 other familiar names.

Related “I’m the Emptiest of Vessels”: Missing You's Harlan Coben Fears He’ll Never Have Another Idea After Netflix Success

Harlan Coben has admitted he worries he’ll never have another idea for a novel.

Aside from Driver, who will play Ingrid Greene,...

Netflix‘s next Harlan Coben adaptation has set its cast with James Nesbitt, Ruth Jones, Minnie Driver and Alfred Enoch leading the ensemble.

The eight-episode series Run Away follows Simon (Nesbitt), who seemingly had the perfect life. But then, his eldest daughter Paige ran away and everything fell apart. When he finds her, vulnerable and strung out on drugs in a city park, he finally has the chance to bring his little girl home.

“But it turns out she’s not alone, and an argument escalates into shocking violence,” a plot synopsis reads. “In the aftermath, Simon loses his daughter all over again, and his search to find her will take him into a dangerous underworld, revealing deep secrets that could tear his family apart forever.”

In keeping with previous Coben adaptations Fool Me Once and Missing You, Run Away will relocate the story from the U.S. to the U.

Chicago – Take a picture it will last longer/Cause Two Thousand and Twenty Four/ Was a year in which democracy/Now has one foot out the door. Will my business still thrive/In TwentyTwentyFive?/I guess it all depends/Cause who can afford a 50 percent tariff/On a brand new Canon lens?

Politics aside, I present with pride My annual Top 25 list,

That poetically embraces some of the celebrity faces,

That hopefully my camera kissed.

Editor’S Note: Presenting the Top 25 Celebrity Portraits and prose poetry by Photographer Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com. He’s the best in the biz. Now back to the article …

Self Portrait: Photographer Joe Arce

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

25. Lead Actor of Dandelion, KiKi Layne

KiKi Layne

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Sometimes you need a collaboration

In order to find your voice.

As part of its Limelight series of audio dramas, BBC will be debuting on December 27th the audio thriller “Don’t Listen to This” on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. Created by Pulitzer Prize-winning Canadian writer Anthony Del Col, the story centers on the death of a top esports athlete and his former team psychologist’s journey to uncover the truth behind it. Her journey through the world of esports – its fans, owners and players - leads her towards the abandoned development of an online arena battle game, its deceased creator and an audio clip from a cut scene… that may have the power to kill people.

“The world of esports is the perfect place to set a story – full of drama, intrigue, friendship, ego, money and more,” Del Col says. “I’m so excited to have teamed up with BBC Studios and a fantastic cast to create this...

Rose Matafeo: On and On and On is out now!

The Max Original comedy special from the 32-year-old New Zealand comedian, actress and TV presenter is available to watch today on the streamer.

Here’s the official logline: “Starstruck creator/star Rose Matafeo returns to Max for her second stand-up special. Building her hourlong set around a 16,000-word note kept over time on her phone, Matafeo leans into her insightful and self-deprecating humor to share candid takes on relationships – from dating in her 20s vs. 30s to supporting friends through breakups and the stark differences between herself and her parents at the same age. The comedian also explores whether she wants children, how aging has impacted her comedy, and her strong feelings about online relationship coaching. Filmed live at London’s Britten Theatre, Rose Matafeo: On and On and On reflects on the difficulties of endings as well as...

Star Trek has had 12 series across its nearly 60 years. Just about every series, save for maybe The Animated Series, has produced at least one great episode to add to the Star Trek back catalog of quality episodes. They've also all produced one of the worst episodes that the franchise has ever had to deal with as well.

Yet, the worst of one series may not be the worst of another. So we decided to look at every major series "worst" episode (according to IMDb) and rank them accordingly. That way we know truly, what's the worst the franchise has ever produced and who's responsible.

12. Prodigy- "Starstruck" (7.1)

It's a strong sign that Starstruck is the best of the worst. Easily the most consistent series of the Nu Trek Era, Prodiy's "worst" is its third-ever episode and first outside of the confines of Tars Lamora prison colony. So an adjustment period isn't surprising.

Exclusive: Rose Matafeo, the creator, writer, director and star of Max and BBC Three’s romantic comedy series Starstruck, is set to unveil her new comedy special, the Max Original Rose Matafeo: On and On and On, on Thursday, December 19.

An hour built around a 16,000-word note kept over time on the New Zealander’s phone, the special is the second for Matafeo on the heels of 2020’s Horndog, which was also for Max. In it, she offers her candid takes on relationships — from dating in her 20s vs. 30s, to supporting friends through breakups, and the stark differences between herself and her parents at the same age. The comedian also explores whether she wants children, how aging has impacted her comedy, and her strong feelings about online relationship coaching.

Filmed at London’s Britten Theatre, the special was directed by Barbara Wiltshire. In addition to writing and performing it,...

Prime Video has unveiled the official trailer for the second season of the psychological thriller, ‘The Devil’s Hour.’

Season Two sees Lucy (Jessica Raine) and Gideon (Peter Capaldi) forming an uneasy alliance in order to prevent a recurring tragedy and hunt down an elusive monster. Lucy’s double life sees her torn between family and duty as she finds herself in the crosshairs of her past-life husband, Di Ravi Dhillon (Nikesh Patel).

Assisting Dhillon in his investigation is DS Sam Boyd (Saffron Hocking) who was mentored by Di Lucy Chambers in a previous life. Meanwhile, Isaac (Benjamin Chivers) is discovering new emotions every day and struggling to keep his balance in a reality that rejects his existence. Fresh mysteries unfold as our stories converge on one explosive moment that will change the fate of our characters for the rest of their ever-recurring lives.

Prime Video has unveiled the official trailer...

If there’s anything TV is built for, it’s creating a satisfying romance. The prospect of watching the same characters for several episodes, several years potentially, and see them evolve means that fans can watch as a pairing meet, bicker, fall in love, get together (and maybe do those last two steps over and over again for some on-and-off-again tension), and reach relationship milestones that film can’t really cover with the same breadth. One of TV’s very first hits, “I Love Lucy,” didn’t have the word “love” in it for nothing — at its core, it was a story of a loving (if hectic) marriage.

As the medium has evolved, TV has been littered with absolutely iconic couples. Sitcoms like “Cheers,” “The Office,” or “New Girl” mined gold from the will-they-won’t-they between pairings like Sam and Diane, Pam and Jim, Jess and Nick. Soap operas such...

Love is back! Not that it ever went anywhere, but with all the things the world has gone through over the past five or so years, it’s no surprise that people are here for two people falling headfirst into that warm feeling we call love. A romantic comedy TV series is a great way to explore all the stages of courtship in a way a movie just can’t. From the meet-cute to the first date, to the big “I love you,” all the way to “I do” – rom-com TV shows have it all! That’s the expectation, at least, for Netflix’s newest addition to the genre: “Nobody Wants This,” debuting on Thursday, Sept. 26. The series follows an agnostic sex podcaster (Kristin Bell) and a newly single rabbi (Adam Brody) who fall in love despite all of the obvious personal and culture differences. So to celebrate a resurgence of rom-coms,...

There’s nothing sweet about Ella Purnell in Sweetpea.

Starz released a trailer on Thursday for the UK dark comedy which will premiere in the U.S. on Thursday, Oct. 10 at 8/7c. (Subsequent episodes will be released weekly on Fridays at 8 pm.)

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Purnell stars as Rhiannon, “a quiet wallflower who develops a vengeful and intoxicatingly liberating taste for murder,” per the official description. Rhiannon is overlooked at work,...

Penélope Cruz is a critically acclaimed actress with a well-embellished career spanning over two decades. The Spanish actress received numerous award nominations, including four Golden Globe mentions, three BAFTA nominations, and her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona | Credits: Warner Bros Pictures

But just like her fans who worship her, Cruz also has a celebrity crush, and it’s none other than Meryl Streep. The iconic Hollywood legend has inspired many, including the Vicky Cristina Barcelona star. The talented actress confessed she often made requests to visit Streep’s sets, just to deliver her coffee. It’s her ultimate dream to collaborate with her idol and fans are rooting for her.

The ultimate fangirl: Penélope Cruz’s dream collab

Penélope Crush has received numerous accolades for her work in Spanish and English-language films. The actress even gained a nickname: fans refer to her...

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Dimension 20: Never Stop Blowing Up follows a rag-tag group of nobodies from Dave's Video Store who are sucked into the world's greatest action movie. As each of them try to figure out how to embody their character and survive the dangers of this world they must work together to find a way home. As they learn more it becomes clear a bigger threat may be at play and the team will need to ban together to fight off the most terrifying villain they've ever faced.

Brennan Lee Mulligan leads Never Stop Blowing Up as the Game Master with a cast that includes intrepid hero Ally Beardsley, Dimension 20 veterans Ify Nwadiwe, Isabella Roland, Rekha Shanka, Alex Song-Xia, and newcomer to the dome Jacob Wysocki. Each player balances two characters as their Dave Video World character and their Never Stop Blowing Up counter part,...

“I think it’s a really fun era,” Minnie Driver told IndieWire of her career. “This is my chaos era. This is great!”

Driver has been popping up in delectable supporting roles for the last few years, from the hard-as-nails agent on “Starstruck” to the CIA director in Jason Statham action flick “The Beekeeper” and the Penguin on this summer’s animated “Batman: Caped Crusader.” But nowhere does she sow more chaos than as Elizabeth I on Season 2 od Starz’ “The Serpent Queen,” where she offers a dazzling new spin on film’s favorite Tudor.

Equal parts Alexis Carrington and Patsy Stone, Driver’s Elizabeth is flirty, flinty, and all-together formidable — even as those she encounters underestimate her at face value. Always a fatal mistake, and for many in the second season of the Samantha Morton-starring show about Catherine de Medici, literally so.

“Everything about Elizabeth was about the presentation,...

Curious how far Disney will go to expand on the popularity of a relatively new character in their arsenal? Consider the fact that this sequel was initially set to be a musical series on Disney+, but Bob Iger had so much faith in it, he decided to shift it into a theatrical sequel at the same time as they were prepping a live action remake of the first film. While the original “Moana” was helmed by Disney mainstays Ron Clements and John Musker, the sequel will be guided by first-time director David Derrick Jr., who was a storyboard artist on the first film as well as “The Lion King” (2019), “Raya and the Last Dragon,” and “Encanto.”

In addition to Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson reprising their roles as Moana and Maui, respectively, new cast members include Rose Matafeo of “Starstruck” fame and David Fain of “Our Flag Means Death,” both...

Abraham Popoola (Atlas) is set to play the role opposite Nicolas Cage in Spider-Noir, the upcoming MGM+ and Prime Video live-action series based on the Marvel comic Spider-Man Noir. This Sony Pictures TV-produced series, at one time titled simply Noir, has been rebranded with a new title that more clearly signifies its place under the Spider-Man umbrella. Popoola's character is a World War I veteran who seeks out chances for betterment in life.

In addition to Cage, Popoola joins the previously announced cast, including Lamorne Morris and Li Jun Li. Spider-Noir comes from executive producers and co-showrunners Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot. The series follows an aging and down-on-his-luck private investigator working in 1930s New York, played by Cage, who must confront his past life as the city's lone superhero. It has been confirmed that, unlike Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man Noir has the ability to talk in this upcoming series.

The live-action Spider-Man Noir series at Amazon has cast Abraham Popoola as a series regular, Variety has learned.

Popoola joins previously announced lead Nicolas Cage in the series as well as cast members Lamorne Morris, Brendan Gleeson, and Li Jun Li. The show, currently titled “Spider-Noir,” was formally ordered to series in May with Cage in the lead role. As previously reported, the show will debut domestically on MGM+’s linear channel and then globally on Amazon Prime Video.

Per the official logline, the show “tells the story of an aging and down on his luck private investigator (Cage) in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life as the city’s one and only superhero.”

The name of Popoola’s character is being kept under wraps, but the official character description states he is “a World War I veteran who is looking for an opportunity to get ahead.

We spoke with veteran TV actor Patrick Fabian leading up to the release of The Way We Speak, which is being released to the masses this week. Fabian plays a smooth-talking intellectual named Simon, who might remind Better Call Saul fans of Fabian's acclaimed turn as Howard Hamlin from the award-winning series. Now that Better Call Saul is finally in the can, there have been postmortem debates about whether Howard was, in fact, a decent human being at the end of the day.

"I think you can make a quick case, over the six seasons of that show, that Howard's the only one who is actually constant in his character and what he's trying to do, which is basically just maintain a law firm," Fabian tells MovieWeb. "It's those crazy McGill brothers and other characters that sort of, you know, send [Howard] in a spiral, which is unfortunate."

Fabian continues, drawing...

Ella Purnell has lined up a killer new role: The Fallout and Yellowjackets star will play a woman driven to murder in the UK dark comedy Sweetpea, which will air in the U.S. on Starz later this year, TVLine has learned. (Starz has also released a first-look photo from the series, which you can see above.)

Purnell stars as Rhiannon, “a quiet wallflower who develops a vengeful and intoxicatingly liberating taste for murder,” per the official description. Rhiannon is overlooked at work, her boyfriend won’t commit and her dad is sick, and eventually, she’s “pushed over the edge and loses control.

Adam Lambert is one of the most successful singers to come out of American Idol. He also achieved it without winning his season. Now, Lambert is looking at the show that made him a star, and he has an idea for its future. With Katy Perry leaving her judge’s chair, Adam has an idea for who could replace her.

Here is who Adam Lambert thinks could replace Katy Perry as a judge on American Idol.

Adam Lambert On Katy Perry’s American Idol Replacement

With Katy Perry leaving American Idol to release a new album and go on tour, the show needs a replacement as a judge. Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan will be back in their chairs, and they need to find a third, which will almost assuredly be a woman. However, who does Adam Lambert think should replace Perry?

Adam Lambert [Source: YouTube]“I think LeAnn Rimes would be great,...

Exclusive: Starstruck co-writer Alice Snedden is directing a Channel 4 comedy about love in the cost-of-living crisis.

Snedden is helming a one-off for Channel’s 4 Blap strand titled Break Clause, which is written and created by Jess Bray (The Outlaws) and will star BAFTA-nominee Samuel Bottomley, Lara Ricote (Live at the Apollo), Jamali Maddix (Never Mind the Buzzcocks), Lauryn Ajufo (Everything Now) and Leo Reich (Leo Reich: Literally Who Cares?!).

In Break Clause, Lil and Ben get together but swiftly break up on the first night of moving in together, quickly finding themselves in a legally binding contract they can only end after a fixed term period of six months. The show was described as “the true cost of loving in a cost-of-living crisis” by Channel 4.

Break Clause has shades of Starstruck, the BBC-HBO comedy that Snedden co-wrote with its creator Rose Matafeo.

One was born with partial facial paralysis. The other grew up speaking Austrian-accented German, eventually transitioning to German-accented English.

If you were trying to concoct the archetypal Hollywood star in a lab, it wouldn’t be Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yet for more than 20 years they dominated the box office, their wattage rivaled only by the klieg lights of a movie premiere.

The improbable origins and unlikely rise of these two action icons are told in a couple of documentaries in Emmy contention: the feature Sly, directed by Thom Zimny, and the docuseries Arnold, directed by Lesley Chilcott.

“[EP] Allen Hughes brought the Arnold project to me,” Chilcott explains. “At first I said, ‘What don’t we already know?’ And he said, ‘I said the same thing myself.’ But then I started thinking about how weird and unusual it is that Arnold’s been successful in so many completely different areas.

Where does the time go? It feels like only yesterday that Taskmaster’s series 17 contestants first appeared in the studio, shakily establishing their pecking order, testing out their rudeness vs sucking-up strategy when it came to Lord Greg Davies, and shifting nervously in their seats as they wondered which of their psychological breakdowns had made the edit. Now, they’ve all grown-up and left home, leaving five empty chairs waiting for the next set of bums to warm them.

Those bums, and the comedians attached to them, have now been officially announced. Competing for the head of the Taskmaster in series 18 will be: Andy Zaltzman, Babatunde Aléshé, Emma Sidi, Jack Dee and Rosie Jones.

Here’s a little bit of info about each of them.

Andy Zaltzman

BBC Radio 4 satirist, stand-up and co-host of The Bugle podcast, Andy Zaltzman is a political comedian and cricket obsessive whose interest in...

Quick Links Starstruck Season 4 Is Not Confirmed Starstruck Season 4 Cast Starstruck Season 4 Story Starstruck season 3 received positive reviews, with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, and if viewers continue to enjoy the show, there is a chance for a season 4 renewal. The networks have not announced a season 4 renewal yet, but it is expected that a decision will be made based on fan reaction and viewing numbers for season 3. The cast for Starstruck season 4 is likely to include the same actors from the previous seasons, with Rose Matafeo and Nikesh Patel as the leads, and there may also be new cast members introduced.

Starstruck season 3 aired on BBC and Max in 2023, and viewers are already eager for Starstruck season 4 news concerning a renewal. Created by New Zealand comedian Rose Matafeo, Starstruck follows Matafeo's character, Jessie, a New Zealander living in London who has a one-night stand with a stranger who she later learns is a movie star.

From the masterful minds of Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay comes Somna, "an intoxicating blend of history, eroticism, and the supernatural in Somna [that] will transport readers to a world where passion and spirits intertwine, captivating your senses and leaving you craving more." The series concludes today with issue #3 and we have an exclusive look at a brand-new cover by Michael Kaluta, as well as undressed versions of both Kaluta's cover, a stunning variant by celebrated mangaka Shūzō Oshimi, and a Dtc variant by the legendary Jenny Frison, all 4 of which will be available exclusively through Dstlry's website at dstlry.co.

"Dstlry’s hit erotic folk-horror series Somna concludes today with issue #3, available now from co-writer/artists Tula Lotay (Barnstormers) and Becky Cloonan (By Chance or Providence) following the complete sellout of both previous issues!

The gripping climax of this jaw-dropping series is graced with two dstlry.co-exclusive Dtc variant covers,...

Around the time Slash parted ways with Guns N’ Roses, he got deep into the blues and soul music. With a group called Slash’s Blues Ball, he reinterpreted the music of Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon, and Stevie Wonder, among others, at gigs between 1996 and 1998. Now — nearly three decades later — the guitarist, who returned to Gn’R in 2016, is recommitting himself to that group’s repertoire on Orgy of the Damned, a new solo album due out May 17, which finds him trading licks with many of his famous friends.

The album,...

Taylor Swift was left speechless by the largest crowd she’s fronted on her record-breaking tour when she took to the stage in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday evening.

Almost 100,000 fans were in the crowd at the city’s famous cricket ground (the McG) for her biggest concert so far – and they did not go unnoticed by Swift.

She told them: “If I seem a little bit like I’m losing my mind over the fact that there are 96,000 people here tonight … it’s because it’s true. This is the biggest show that we’ve ever done. I’m fully starstruck by the fact so many people wanted to hang out with us on a Friday night in Melbourne!”

Fun fact: The Cricket Club’s CEO Stuart Fox said in an interview last week replacing the turf after Swift’s three concerts will cost $1.5 Aus million.

One concert-goer described...

Diana Kerew, an Emmy-winner television producer, died at her home in Glendale on Nov. 25 following a battle with cancer. She was 81.

Kerew executive produced more than 60 movies and miniseries for television, achieving success in the male-dominated entertainment industry and paving the way for other female producers as a mentor.

Kerew started off as a reader for David Susskind’s Talent Associates; she then became the first female producer at the company. Working for Talent Associates and later Time-Life Television as an executive producer, she worked on 16 films and miniseries. Some of these projects included the Emmy-nominated “Blind Ambition,” starring Martin Sheen, the Emmy-nominated and Peabody winner “The Wall,” and “The Bunker” which earned Anthony Hopkins an Emmy for acting.

Kerew briefly served as executive producer and vice president of television for Highgate Pictures before starting her own production company. Transitioning to focus on children’s programming, Kerew worked on several ABC “Afterschool Specials.

Chicago – Maria Bamford has been a top comic force since her breakthrough in the first decade of the millennium. She will be appearing on the Super Bowl Sunday edition of CBS-tv’s @Fter Midnight, the new show hosted by Taylor Tomlinson after “Late Night with Stephen Colbert.” Appearing alongside her will be A-listers Wayne Brady and Kevin Smith.

Maria Bamford at the 2023 Chicago Humanities Festival

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Maria Bamford grew up in Minnesota, and attended college there and at the Scottish University of Edinburgh. She began her stand up career while at the University of Minnesota at age 19. She broke into professional comedy as a cartoon VoiceOver artist in the early aughts, and used the next decade raising her profile with a number of comedy albums, a Nickelodeon cartoon, YouTube web series and a stint on the reboot of “Arrested Development.” Her...

Death In Paradise returns to our screens in February, and the BBC have released plot and cast details.

Death In Paradise has been one of the BBC’s most successful dramas in recent years. Created by Robert Thorogood in 2011, the show’s thirteenth series is about to hit our screens. It has seen Ben Miller, Kris Marshall, Ardal O’Hanlon and current detective Ralf Little solve a remarkably high number of murders for such a small Caribbean island.

Last year, Marshall’s character Humphrey Goodman starred in spin-off Beyond Paradise, which paired him with Not Going Out star Sally Bretton and relocated the action to Cornwall. Proving popular with viewers, it recently returned for a Christmas special and a second series will be broadcast this year.

A further spin off, entitled Return to Paradise was announced last year, with action taking place in Australia.

Death In Paradise itself is back for a new series,...

Hmm, who at Mid-Wilshire Division will need their head looked at…?

TVLine has learned exclusively that Danielle Campbell (of The Originals and Tell Me a Story) will appear on ABC’s The Rookie in the recurring guest star role of Blair, a psychiatrist for the LAPD.

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Campbell — who recently alluded to her Rookie gig as a guest on Vampire Diaries vet...

Hollywood’s historic season of strikes decimated filming in Los Angeles, with the region recording close to the lowest production levels on record.

The decline marks the fourth consecutive quarterly shooting drop, capping off a year in which filming was blocked for over four months. Filming for TV shows, long a mainstay in Los Angeles, saw the steepest dip.

The report from FilmLA reflects the last quarter that accounts for the strikes. The agency said that the three-month period from October to December saw 5,520 shoot days, which represents a roughly 36 percent decline from the same quarter last year. The work stoppages from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA concluded on Sept. 27 and Nov. 9 respectively.

FilmLA noted that the resolution of the strikes “came too late for production to pick up by year’s end,” though runaway production is also a factor. On-location filming in Los Angeles has been continuously declining since 2021 as...

FilmLA said Tuesday that on-location production in the city and county of Los Angeles and other local jurisdictions was down more than 32% in 2023, and Q4 even more, as the Hollywood industry continues to recover from two industry labor strikes and a persistent post-Covid production decline in the region.

The film-permit office said Q4 2023 saw 5,220 shoot days, down 36.4% year over year, marking four consecutive quarters of double-digit declines. Overall, there were 24,873 shooting days in 2023, according to FilmLA data, compared with 36,792 shoot days in 2022, 37,709 in 2021 and 36,540 in 2019. See the report here.

The Writers Guild went out on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on May 2, with SAG-AFTRA following beginning July 14. The WGA struck for 148 days before reaching a deal September 27; SAG-AFTRA was out for 118 days and reached a deal November 9.

It was the first dual Hollywood strike in 60 years and came less than three years after on-location production...

Consider this Thelma & Louise meets Jack Ryan.

Amazon, following an intensive bidding war, has landed the action-adventure show starring Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer with an eight-episode, straight-to-series order.

The untitled show is based on an original idea from Tessa Coates (Feel Good) that was taken out to six of the major streamers, four of which bought the show while in the room and with the others also making offers before Amazon emerged the victor, prompting the pitch to the seventh streamer to be canceled. The series was one of few new original scripted ideas that generated multiple offers in what many Hollywood insiders say has been an unusually quiet marketplace after the writers strike.

Ted Lasso Emmy winner Waddingham and The Help Oscar winner Octavia Spencer will star as best friends Judith and Debbie, respectively, who work to repair their friendship after Debbie learns Judith is a highly trained assassin.

"Star Trek: Prodigy" is a beautifully rendered animation that follows six alien kids as they escape forced labor and find freedom on the USS Protostar. The show introduces new viewers to Starfleet and its ideals while offering familiar elements for longtime Star Trek fans. Each episode of "Star Trek: Prodigy" explores important character arcs and moral dilemmas that highlight the transformative power of Starfleet's values.

After a long wait, Star Trek: Prodigy makes its Netflix debut on Christmas Day, 2023. As Star Trek's first foray into fully computer-generated animation, Prodigy is a gorgeously-rendered action-adventure series following the exploits of six alien kids from the Delta Quadrant on the USS Protostar, an unearthed Starfleet ship that offers them freedom. Dal R'El (Brett Gray) leads the untested crew to escape forced labor on the Tars Lamora mining colony, with guidance from a training hologram modeled after Star Trek: Voyager's Captain Kathryn...

Exclusive: Amazon MGM Studios has ordered a pilot based on the Charlie Bone children’s/YA fantasy novels.

The eight fantasy novels in the popular series were written by British author Jenny Nimmo and published between 2002-2010. The franchise also includes a prequel trilogy and two follow up books.

Filming is underway on location in the UK on the pilot, which stars Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale), Carmen Ejogo (The Penguin), Emma Sidi (Starstruck), Orlando Norman (Wreck), Beth Alsbury (Blindspot), Lewis Brophy (The Virtues), Brazilian singer and actress Giulia Be (Beyond The Universe), Olivia-Mai Barrett (Invasion), Fisayo Akinade (Hearstopper), and newcomer Cory McClane in the Charlie Bone role.

Currently untitled, the ensemble pilot heralds from UK-us production and management firm 42.

The adaptation follows Charlie Bone, a kid who has always been labeled a ‘problem’. He’s been expelled from every school in London. But he can’t help it – his...

With the new series Colin From Accounts — streaming on Paramount+ following a Foxtel/Binge debut in its native Australia — creator/stars Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer have set themselves possibly one of the most difficult challenges in the history of romantic comedies.

How do you make a show in which, within the first five minutes, the main characters are responsible for running over an adorable dog and, by the end of eight episodes, have the audience liking those characters, if not necessarily rooting for their coupling?

The answer comes down to clever writing and the chemistry between Brammall and Dyer, who are married in addition to their collaborations here. Colin From Accounts never wholly shakes its “They ran over a dog!” bleakness — the dog, it should be emphasized clearly, is mostly Ok — nor does it wholly break out from the rom-com conventions it’s so keenly aware of. But it...

Warning: This article contains spoilers for series five of Ghosts

Somehow, the final series of Ghosts has neatly tied up all the show’s loose ends while still leaving us wanting more – which is a jolly good thing considering they’ve confirmed we’re getting one more Christmas special in December 2023.

They really packed a lot into those last six episodes, revealing the heartbreaking truth behind the deaths of Kitty and the Captain, showing Alison and Mike’s next step in life, and giving the whole gang the opportunity to say all the lovely, touching things fans wanted to hear (as well as adding a poignant reference to Mary in the opening credits).

Taking the characters on these final journeys involved lots of flashbacks and new faces, so let’s recap all the most important guest stars from series five:

Anna Crilly as Joy Kielty

Joy is an unexpected visitor in episode one,...

Warning: major (or should that be captain?) series 5 spoilers. Avoid unless you’ve already streamed “Pineapple Day” And “Carpe Diem”.

Bespoke portraits, fake teeth, Mike’s monocle and the Button House sign… all treasures taken home from set by the creators of Ghosts after finishing the final series. Of the souvenirs chosen to commemorate five happy years spent making one of the UK’s best-loved comedies, one in particular has taken on extra poignancy.

Ben Willbond plays Ghosts’ WWII officer, a character (until now) known only as The Captain. Speaking at the BFI Southbank launch of the final series in September, Willbond told the crowd that his chosen filming souvenirs were taken from The Captain’s costume: a medal ribbon band and military stick, items for which Willbond plans to have a presentation box made.

In series five, The Captain’s military baton was given a backstory that merits the special treatment.

This article contains spoilers for Our Flag Means Death season 1.

The sitcom Our Flag Means Death has behaved in a very piratey way, quite frankly. When it burst onto the scene last year, it unexpectedly plundered fans’ hearts, leaving their new favorite ship – between Rhys Darby as Stede Bonnet and Taika Waititi as Blackbeard – wrecked, and left us stranded on a cliffhanger of a finale desperate for a second series.

Thankfully, the treasure that is season two of Our Flag Means Death is released on Max on Oct. 5, and it’s as adorable as ever, with a whole crew of new characters to fall in love with:

Let’s meet the new characters, and discover which returning cast members are back:

New Cast Ruibo Qian as Susan

Susan runs a soup stand in the Republic of Pirates, which she acquired by savage means, but she seems to have more depth...

Most people have the dream that they’ll meet their favorite movie star, and it will all work out. The person will be receptive, they’ll have everything in common, and somehow, they will find a way to make it work. It is a deceptive dream because it elevates people to an unattainable height.

In Starstruck, we get a bit of that initial idea but then watch it play out in a way that feels genuine. Creator and star Rose Matafeo is largely the reason for this, and the popularity of her series has proven her appeal. But what is it about the show that keeps people coming back?

Who Is Rose Matafeo?

Rose Matafeo is, first and foremost, a comedian. She is a New Zealand native whose comedy started in her mid-teens. As her standing in the comedy world grew, she wound up at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where...

[Editor’s note: This story contains spoilers for the ending of “Starstruck” Season 3.]

Time was that in a romantic comedy, the leads always ended up together.

That’s changed over time as audience and narrative priorities shift, and as television dove deeper into the rom-com game along with film, finding ways to unite, separate, and permute every pairing while filling out hours and hours of story. A lot of sitcoms spin that into classic TV romance; Ross and Rachel, Cory and Topanga, Jess and Nick. In recent years, the trend has skewed toward getting a couple together and keeping them together; Jake and Amy, David and Patrick, Janine and Gregory.

And then there is the Secret Third Thing, the rare and difficult move where a show pairs its lead character or characters off with someone who wasn’t the original plan. Sometimes there are outside factors (“Cheers” comes to mind), while other times it’s simply a more desirable story development.

If someone has to say it, I will: There are not enough genuine romantic comedies on television. That’s why the charming British import “Starstruck,” about a 20-something woman who works in a movie theater embarking on a relationship with a famous actor, is a breath of much-needed fresh air.

Created by New Zealand comedian Rose Matafeo and written by Matafeo, Nic Sampson and Alice Snedden, the series is exceptionally funny and surprisingly heartfelt, balancing elements of screwball comedy with nuanced observations about love, friendship and growing up. The six-episode third season, which is now streaming on Max, picks up two years after Season 2 and finds Jessie (Matafeo) and Tom (Nikesh Patel) have gone their separate ways only to regularly be thrust back into each other’s lives by their now-overlapping friend circles. The result is a season that underscores healthy relationships and maturity without ever losing the sense of...