Bergeron, Andrews exit ‘DWTS’
NEW YORK — The dance has ended for “Dancing With the Stars” hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews.
ABC said in a statement that the show is looking to “embark on a new creative direction” and host Bergeron “departs the show with our sincerest thanks and gratitude for his trademark wit and charm that helped make this show a success.” No replacements were named.
Bergeron has hosted “Dancing With the Stars” since its premiere in 2005.
He took to Twitter to announce his departure. “It’s been an incredible 15-year run and the most unexpected gift of my career,” he wrote. “I’m grateful for that and for the lifelong friendships made.”
Last year, Bergeron made waves when he expressed his unhappiness that former White House press secretary Sean Spicer was among the contestants for the fall season.
Bergeron tweeted that he earlier told producers he hoped the new season would be a “joyful respite from our exhausting political climate” and urged them not have any “divisive bookings.” Producers apparently disagreed. “We can agree to disagree, as we do now, but ultimately it’s their call,” Bergeron wrote.
Former contestants tweeted their goodbyes, with Bindi Irwin saying that spending time with Bergeron “was one of my favorite parts” of the show and Lea Thompson saying there’s no show without Bergeron. “They might as well cancel it.”
The network on Monday said farewell to Andrews, who originally competed as a contestant back in 2010 and returned as co-host in 2014. “Her signature sense of humor has become a hallmark of the show,” the statement read.
Fallon, ‘Tonight’ show return to studio:
The studio is largely empty, but Jimmy Fallon is out of his home and back to the “Tonight” show stage.
The NBC late-night host returned to NBC’s Rockefeller Center headquarters Monday, saying he hoped he could provide his audience with a little more “normal” during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m here to show you that there is a light at the end of the tunnel if we keep each other safe,” Fallon said.
Fallon, along with other late-night hosts, have been working remotely the past few months. The pandemic shut down TV and film production in March for safety reasons. New York has slowly been reopening as other parts of the country are now feeling the full effects of the pandemic.
His backup band, the Roots, were in place.
McCarthy writing ‘Brat Pack’ book:
Actor-writerdirector Andrew McCarthy, a 57-year-old father of three, keeps getting asked about his “Brat Pack” years in the 1980s. He is now ready to answer.
Grand Central Publishing announced Tuesday that McCarthy’s “Brat: An ’80s Story” will come out next spring. Grand Central is calling the book “a revealing look at coming of age in a maelstrom, reckoning with conflicted ambition, innocence, addiction and masculinity.” McCarthy is calling it a long-delayed reckoning.
McCarthy was widely known in the ’80s for such films as “Pretty In Pink,” “Less Than Zero” and “St. Elmo’s Fire,” and for his association, at least as seen by the media, with such contemporaries as Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald and Emilio Estevez.
July 15 birthdays: Singer Linda Ronstadt is 74. Actor Terry O’Quinn is 68. Actor Forest Whitaker is 59. Actress Shari Headley is 57. Actor Eddie Griffin is 52. Actor Jim Rash is 49. Actor Scott Foley is 48. Actor Brian Austin Green is 47. Rapper Jim Jones is 44. Actor Taylor Kinney is 39. Actor Iain Armitage is 12.