Actress may be having a Tina Fey moment
Tony Award-winning actress Laura Benanti ( Gypsy) is having her breakout Tina Fey moment with a delicious imitation of Melania Trump defending her “plagiarized” speech at the Republican National Convention.
Benanti (perhaps better known to TV fans as Astra in CBS’s Supergirl and a country singer on Nashville) hit all the right notes imitating the wife of would-be American president Donald Trump. Melania Trump came to the rescue of comics everywhere after borrowing phrases from first lady Michelle Obama’s 2008 convention speech.
Benanti as Melania launched a spirited defence during The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, using sampled phrases from theatre, TV shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and even a Kit Kat commercial. And she didn’t forget to strike a seriously pouty pose throughout her monologue.
The surprise is that no Donald imitator has captured the zeitgeist as Benanti has done with Melania. After all, how do you caricature someone who is already a caricature? Tony Wong
NBC, Lopez team on dance show
NBC is hitting the competitive dance floor with a very famous partner: Jennifer Lopez.
Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions, with NBC and Universal Television Alternative Studios, will present World of Dance, a 10-episode dance competition series open to all genres, ages and group sizes that features a tantalizing $1-million (U.S.) prize. No premiere date has been announced.
“This will be a fierce, talent-heavy, dance competition that embraces the raw emotion and excitement that dance represents,” Lopez said in a statement. “I am excited to work with World of Dance, an organization that has had an immeasurable impact on the dance community.”
World of Dance, which began in 2008, is an entertainment brand that combines a digital platform with more than 8 million subscribers with an international urban dance competition. It holds events in more than 25 countries across North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
According to the description of the series, “solo artists will compete against duos and crews in an unlimited range of dance, including hip hop, krumping, popping, locking, tap, ballet, break dancing, ballroom, clogging, stomping and more.”
Competitors will be chosen from qualifying events and online submissions in three divisions: Junior (any size act that features dancers under 16 years old); Upper (groups of one to four dancers over 16); and Team (groups of five or more dancers over 16). Those interested in competing can register at World of Dance (worldofdancecasting.com).
The creative team working on the series includes choreographers Napoleon and Tabitha D’umo, known as Nappytabs, who won an Emmy for their work on Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance. They choreographed Lopez’s Las Vegas show, All I Have. It remains to be determined whether Lopez, who stars in NBC cop drama Shades of Blue and served as a judge on Fox’s American Idol, will have an onscreen role in Dance. USA Today
New episodes for Making a Murderer
Making a Murderer will make a return to Netflix.
The streaming service announced Tuesday that the filmmakers behind the hit Emmy-nominated docu-series are producing new episodes.
The latest instalments promise to delve back into the stories of Steven Avery and his co-defendant Bren
dan Dasseyas they seek to challenge their convictions in the 2005 death of photographer Teresa Halbach.
Helmed by directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, the new episodes will look into the post-conviction process and emotional toll for all involved.
Avery’s new lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, and Dassey’s legal team, led by Laura Nirider and Steve Drizin, will be featured in the new episodes. Filmmakers will also offer a closer glimpse at the families and other individuals close to the case.
Making a Murderer has generated significant buzz since its release late last year and recently received six Emmy nominations, including a nod for Outstanding Documentary or Non-Fiction Series.