Chris Hardwick makes tearful ‘Talking’ return
Netflix unveils photos of ‘Sabrina’
LOS ANGELES, Aug 14, (RTRS): A clearly emotional Chris Hardwick returned as the host of the AMC series “Talking Dead” on Sunday night.
“I really just want to take a minute and I want to say that I’m so appreciative to be standing here right now, and I want to thank you, ‘The Walking Dead’ community, for all your support over these past couple months,” Hardwick said at the opening of the show. “This show is not just a job to me, this is a vital part of my life, this has been a sanctuary these last seven years we’ve been here.”
“It’s been with me through good times and bad and I’m so grateful to the fans, producers and the amazing casts of both of these shows for allowing me to come here and be a part of this community every week,” he continued. “This is what this is, a community, and we’re on the precipice of a lot of changes on both ‘Walking Dead’ shows in the coming weeks and months, and I am so looking forward to going on that journey with you. And I’ve said the following words a million times, countless times, and I’ve never been more thankful than I am in this moment to say to you: I am Chris Hardwick and this is ‘Talking Dead.’”
Hardwick was suspended from hosting the aftershow back in June after his ex-girlfriend, Chloe Dykstra, posted an essay accusing Hardwick of being emotionally and sexually abusive during their relationship. Following an internal investigation, AMC reinstated Hardwick in the end of July.
“We take these matters very seriously and given the information available to us after a very careful review, including interviews with numerous individuals, we believe returning Chris to work is the appropriate step,” AMC said in a statement at the time.
The network tapped Yvette Nicole Brown to sub for Hardwick as the interim host of “Talking Dead” amid the initial uproar over Dykstra’s claims. Brown, a frequent and popular guest on “Talking Dead,” hosted the Aug 5 “Walking Dead” Season 9 preview special. Brown also served as the moderator for the San Diego Comic-Con panels for both “The Walking Dead” and “Fear the Walking Dead,” a role Hardwick has held for years.
AMC has still not set a date for the return of “Talking with Chris Hardwick,” the season premiere of which was pulled from the network’s schedule following Dykstra’s accusations.
The third season of “Last Chance U” was highlighted by the brash and profanity-spewing Independence Community College football coach Jason Brown and his highly talented, mercurial quarterback, Malik Henry. At times, the two bonded, but viewers usually watched the coach chew out, bench and threaten to kick the five star transfer from Florida State off the team.
So was the depiction of their relationship accurate, or was it beefed up to intensify the drama for the Netflix docuseries?
“They kind of failed to show the other side of me and Coach Brown’s relationship,” Henry told Variety at Sunday’s Athletes vs Cancer celebrity flag football game. “But TV is TV and they have to sell.
“I think Greg Whiteley, the director, did a great job,” he added. “I just wish we they would have shown the other side of me and Coach Brown’s relationship just a little more, because I feel like more people would have realized that he is more like an older brother, father figure type.”
In the first episode, Henry called his own plays in a game, going against Brown’s strategy. He was repeatedly vocal about a lack of organization in Brown’s system.
“We just had that kind of relationship where we can express our feelings in that way,” Henry said.
Henry says for the most part, the feedback he has received has been positive, but believes there was perception that he and Brown failed to get along. Both coach and quarterback share similar backgrounds, coming from equally tough parts of Los Angeles, playing the same position — something that Brown drew from as a bond in his recruitment pitch to Henry.
“They just didn’t show both sides and they could have shown both sides,” he said. “They had a lot of opportunities to but they didn’t.”
For the Independence players, the junior college program offers a shot at salvaging their football futures in the wake of off the field or personal differences at other, more high profile universities. For players like Henry, the series offers next level national exposure, while, at times, providing up too much personal information that could potentially scare recruiters away.
“They put in a lot of my trash talking,” Henry points out. “That’s stuff that fans and people watching the game wouldn’t hear unless I was mic’d up.”
During games, Henry was warned by officials for mouthing off and penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. Coaches Brown and Frank Diaz were shown urging maturity and discipline to their quarterback.
“If they didn’t hear that, I believe the series wouldn’t have looked as bad. So it hurts me in ways like that.”
Even so, the quarterback is grateful for the “Last Chance U” experience and the reach of the Netflix series.
“Some people get to see the other side of Malik, the background story of me,” he says. “It was a great experience overall, so I have no regrets about it.”
Gearing up for release on Oct 26, Netflix has unveiled initial photos of upcoming series “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.” The first photo previews Kiernan Shipka as the titular teenage witch, while the second features a scene from the dark Baptism of Sabrina with Shipka, Richard Coyle as “Father Blackwood,” Lucy Davis as “Hilda Spellman,” Miranda Otto as “Zelda Spellman,” and Abigail Cowan, Adeline Rudolph, and Tati Gabrielle as “The Weird Sisters.” The series hails from “Riverdale” showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.
Meanwhile, IFC has announced that the upcoming seven-episode season of “Documentary Now!” will feature a musical-inspired episode, “Original Cast Album: Co-Op,” as an homage to the 1970 D.A. Pennebaker documentary, “Original Cast Album: Company.” John Mulaney, Taran Killam, Richard Kind, Paula Pell, Alex Brightman, James Urbaniak, and Renee Elise Goldsberry have signed on to guest star in the episode.The new season of the series co-created by Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, and Rhys Thomas and executive produced by Lorne Michaels will premiere on Wednesday, Feb 20, 2019 at 10 pm.
Hit documentary “RBG” will make its TV debut via CNN Films on Monday, Sept 3 at 9 pm/12 am ET on CNN/US. Directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen, the film explores the legacy and life of US Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. An original podcast series, “Beyond Notorious,” hosted by CNN’s Poppy Harlow and Jeffrey Toobin, will accompany the broadcast premiere and be released beginning Monday, Aug 20. The podcast will include interviews with Ginsburg’s granddaughter, Clara Spera, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s son, Eugene Scalia, and former Ginsburg clients Stephen Wiesenfeld and Sharron Frontiero Cohen.
CBS All Access has dropped the official trailer for mystery series, “One Dollar,” which is set to premiere on Thursday, Aug 30. New episodes will be released weekly on Thursdays. The story charts the path of a one-dollar bill in a small rust belt town, connecting a group of characters to a shocking multiple murder. The cast features John Carroll Lynch, Nathaniel Martello-White, Chris Denham, and Philip Ettinger.