Britney Ever After
She’s sold millions of records, won a Grammy award, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was named as the top-earning woman in music by Forbes in 2012. Tonight marks another seminal moment for Britney Spears: It’s the debut of her Lifetime biopic, Britney Ever After.
The two-hour broadcast covers the pop singer’s rise to fame, fall from grace and eventual comeback. Natasha Bassett plays Spears, with Nathan Keyes as her one-time boyfriend Justin Timberlake, Vancouver actor Clayton Chitty as her ex-husband Kevin Federline, Peter Benson as her manager Larry Rudolph and Nicole Oliver as her mom, Lynn Spears.
Bassett told Us Weekly she went to a tanning salon once a week and bleached her naturally brunette hair for the part, as well as learned to speak with Spears’s Southern drawl.
“I have so much respect and admiration for Britney and what attracted me to doing this movie is that it’s truly a feminist story at its core,” said Bassett, who appeared in the 2016 Coen brothers film Hail, Caesar!
“And as a feminist myself, I was inspired to tell the story of a woman’s journey. She was faced with so many challenges, but she comes out at the end so strong and on top.”
In honour, a few of Spears’s memorable quotes over the years.
“I’ve never really wanted to go to Japan, simply because I don’t like eating fish and I know that’s very popular out there in Africa.”
“My prerogative right now is to just chill and let all the other overexposed blondes on the cover of Us Weekly be your entertainment.”
“It’s weird like, you can see the cruelest part of the world. The cruelest part. But then on the other side you see the most beautiful part, do you know? And it’s like you go from one extreme to the next and they’re both worth it, because you wouldn’t see one without the other. But that cruel part, is damn cruel and you’ll never forget it. But that heaven … is heaven.”
“I always listen to *NSYNC’s Tearin’ Up My Heart. It reminds me to wear a bra.”
“People shave their heads all the time.”
“Sundance is weird. The movies are weird — you actually have to think about them when you watch them.”
“Just because I look sexy on the cover of Rolling Stone doesn’t mean I’m naughty.”
“The cool thing about being famous is travelling. I have always wanted to travel across seas, like to Canada and stuff.”
“For me, success is a state of mind. Success isn’t about conquering something, it’s being happy with who you are.”
“I don’t like defining myself. I just am.”
GUY’S GROCERY GAMES
Father’s Day comes early on Guy’s Grocery Games, as the food competition airs the new episode Dueling Dads. In one challenge, the contestants must decipher a grocery list made up of emoji symbols. In another, they have to make a family favourite using only foods with a price that begins with a two. The final challenge sees them play a game of Grocery Golf. (Food Network)
The homegrown newsmagazine show airs a new episode featuring Creep Catchers, a controversial anti-pedophile activism group. Founded in Toronto by Dawson Raymond, the organization now has branches in 23 other cities across the country. The episode also spotlights a music group that blends electronic music with First Nations music.
Kevin Newman took over hosting duties at W5 for its 51st season, which debuted in October. He replaced Lloyd Robertson, who joined the show in 2011. (CTV Two)