The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
STARS ON SCREEN
BACK TO ‘BRIDGERTON’» The Gossip Girl of the Regency period will be returning to Netflix, though perhaps not as soon as fans had hoped.
After its shocking premiere season took the world by storm last year, “Bridgerton” has seen its fair share of drama — rather fitting for one of Netflix’s most dramatic original series. From the departure of leading man Regé-Jean Page (“Sylvie’s Love,” 2020) at the end of the first season to the twice-suspended filming schedule (changes that were largely thanks to the coronavirus), the series’ second season has already had it rough.
But showrunner Chris Van Dusen (“Grey’s Anatomy”) recently announced the good news to fans around the world: “Bridgerton” is back on the set once more. And while he admits the stakes are high for Season 2, Van Dusen welcomes the challenge.
“There’s always been a pressure with this show from the beginning,” Van Dusen said in a statement. “I welcome it and I say keep the pressure on. It worked for the first season, and I hope people love this season and beyond as much as they did the first.”
The show’s next season (it has already been renewed for a third and fourth season as well) will focus on the events of author Julia Quinn’s second book of the series, “The Viscount Who Loved Me,” as Anthony (Jonathan Bailey, “Broadchurch”) undergoes his journey to find his perfect match.
As of writing, there is no information regarding a set release date for Season 2, but Van Dusen assures fans, “We are back under way. Right now I’m in post, editing our first couple episodes, which are looking great.”
FUTURE IN ‘JEOPARDY!’» If “Who is Mike Richards?” is the question, then “The successor to TV’s longrunning game show, ‘Jeopardy!’” is the answer. The show’s executive producer was appointed as late host Alex Trebek’s successor in recent days, but entertainment news has it that fans are or the fence about the decision.
While some fans of the show, which first began airing in 1984 and has since broadcast more than 8,000 episodes, are delighted to be seeing an end to the recent string of guest hosts, many believe Richards, who joined “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” as executive producer last year, is an unexpected choice to take the helm of the syndicated ship.
Popular vote indicated recent guest host and former “Reading Rainbow” star LeVar Burton as a favorite to succeed Trebek, and despite Sony Pictures’ choice to back Richards, Burton took to social media and already declared himself a winner.
“I have said many times over these past weeks that no matter the outcome, I’ve won,” Burton wrote on Twitter on Aug. 5. “The outpouring of love and support from family, friends and fans alike has been incredible! If love is the ultimate blessing, and I believe that it is, I am truly blessed beyond measure.”
Since Trebek’s death in November 2020, “Jeopardy!” has seen several guest hosts, from news correspondents Robin Roberts (“Good Morning America”), Katie Couric (“Today”) and Anderson Cooper (“Anderson Cooper 360”) to public figures Dr. Mehmet Oz (“The Doctor Oz Show”), Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and “Jeopardy!” GOAT Ken Jennings.
Despite the controversy surrounding Sony Pictures’ selection, there is no doubt that Richards is qualified for the job. While he has only worked on “Jeopardy!” for a short while, the producer has racked up more than 4,000 hours of game show programming in his career, including stints with “Let’s Make a Deal,” “Beauty and the Geek,” the 2012 revival of “The Pyramid” and, perhaps more controversially due to allegations of discrimination, “The Price Is Right.”
Ahead of Sony confirming Richards as its choice (which the company officially did on Aug. 11), the new host said one thing that “Jeopardy!” fans the world over have all been thinking since Trebek’s passing: “He was everything you could hope for and more,” Richards said of the late host, adding, “He was an idol of mine, and I will work every day to try to live up to the example he set.”
COBIE IS COULTER» A familiar sitcom face will be gracing televisions screens once again this season, this time in a more dramatic role. Canadian sweetheart Cobie Smulders, who played the equally Canadian Robin Scherbatsky throughout all nine seasons of CBS’s hit show “How I Met Your Mother,” has been tapped to play media pundit Ann Coulter in the long-awaited “Impeachment: American Crime Story.”
The role, which originally belonged to “The Hunt’s” (2020) Betty Gilpin, was recently made available to Smulders when pandemic-related scheduling conflicts prevented Gilpin from seeing the project through to filming.
“This is another COVID disappointment,” Gilpin admitted on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” before adding, “I had spent a year listening to Ann Coulter audio books in the car to get her voice down.”
This installment of the “American Crime Story” saga hinges upon the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinksy affair of the 1990s as recounted in the source material, Jeffrey Toobin’s book “A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President.” It stars Beanie Feldstein (“Booksmart,” 2019) as Lewinksy, Clive Owen (“Lisey’s Story”) as Clinton, Annaleigh Ashford (“B Positive”) as Paula Jones and Billy Eichner (“Parks and Recreation”) as the journalist Matt Drudge.