Sherri sticks with ABC
`The View' alumna stars in new comedy pilot
Sherri sticks with ABC: Former “The View” and “Dish Nation” co-host Sherri Shepherd is set to star in a new ABC comedy pilot that counts Viola Davis (“How to Get Away With Murder”) as one of its executive producers.
Shepherd will play one of the lead roles in “Black Don't Crack,” a sorority comedy that was formerly known as “The Untitled Regina Hicks Project” (working title). Hicks previously served as writer and co-executive producer of HBO's “Insecure” and NBC's “Marlon”; she was also nominated for an NAACP Image Award for her work on the long-running series “Girlfriends.” With “Black Don't Crack,” Hicks will be pulling double duty once more as both its writer and executive producer, alongside Davis, Larry Wilmore, Julius Tennon (Davis's husband and producing partner) and Andrew Wang. Kelly Park (“Country Comfort”) will direct the pilot.
Along with a producer credit, Shepherd is adding another acting role to her resume with this story of three sorority sisters who lost touch after college but who reunite at a pivotal moment in their lives. The actor-comedian will play the role of Angela Wright, a single mom who is “somewhere between 45 and death” (per Variety) and who was forced to put aside her musical dreams in order to raise her son alone after her husband's death. When confronted with a personal crisis, Angela reaches out to her sorority sisters in hopes of recapturing “all the passion, ambition and sisterhood of their glory days” (according to the official description).
Shepherd's recent TV gigs include a recurring appearance in “Call Your Mother” and a series regular role opposite Gabriel Iglesias in the Netflix series “Mr. Iglesias.” The streamer hasn't moved quickly to renew (or officially cancel) the latter comedy; as a result, Shepherd has been reportedly approached about several other projects, though Deadline suggested she could still return to “Mr. Iglesias” as a guest star, should there be a fourth season.
“Bonjour, mon capitaine”: A teaser for Season 2 of “Star Trek: Picard” has hinted at the return of the ever-enigmatic and seemingly omnipotent Q, played by actor John de Lancie. And if you're a fan of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” this is the best news we've had since Picard himself, actor Patrick Stewart, formally invited Whoopi Goldberg to reprise her role as Guinan.
Q was first introduced in the “Next Generation” pilot, “Encounter at Farpoint,” which (brace yourself) premiered 34 years ago. He has since popped up in episodes of “Deep Space Nine,” “Voyager” and “Lower Decks,” the latter of which was recently renewed for a third season. Happily, we'll be treated to perhaps more antagonistic behavior from the reality-warping entity who famously put all of humanity on trial.
For his part, de Lancie has been hinting at a possible return to the Star Trek universe, though Q's appearance in “Picard” was only officially confirmed in the teaser when the Queen of Hearts playing card disintegrated until only the letter Q remained; this was also accompanied by the sound of Q saying, “The trial never ends.”
During a virtual panel in honor of First Contact Day, Stewart and host Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher to “TNG” fans) were joined by de Lancie, who said he was “totally delighted and really looking forward to” his onscreen return and added, “It's been a long time coming and I'm more than ready.” He also joked that it wasn't hard to get back into character, since Q is “deliciously naughty, marvellously annoying, terribly self-involved … I dare say, as my wife does, it's not much of a stretch.”
Stewart teased some possible context to Q's return, but he didn't divulge many details beyond explaining that “Q's arrival is, as it often was, utterly unexpected. But [it] also comes at a shattering moment in the episode — and I do mean a shattering moment.” Stewart continued: “Whether it's directly connected to Q or not, I am still actually not quite sure, but there is significant trauma. And, in fact, at the moment, I am working on how the trauma of this moment hangs around Picard for quite a substantial part of the episode, and then, there he is.”
Leigh on “Hunters”: Jennifer Jason Leigh (“Atypical”) picked up an Oscar nomination for her performance as a captured fugitive in Quentin Tarantino's 2016 film “The Hateful Eight.” And now, she's set to be the hunter — well, one of them, anyway.
Leigh will star as a lead in Season 2 of Amazon Prime Video's Tarantino-esque drama, “Hunters.” She'll play the role of Chava, who will work alongside Jonah Heidelbaum (Logan Lerman, “Fury,” 2014) and FBI agent Millie Morris (Jerrika Hinton, “Grey's Anatomy”) as part of a vigilante group dedicated to rooting out Nazis in 1970s America.
As reported by Deadline, there is no official word on whether Al Pacino (“The Godfather,” 1972) will reprise his Season 1 role as the group's mysterious leader, Meyer Offerman. Amazon has also done a pretty good job of keeping Season 2 plot details under wraps.
As for Leigh, the actor has a string of projects set for release in the near future. Her aforementioned Netflix series, “Atypical,” will return for a fourth and final season, presumably later this year. Another Netflix project, the movie “The Woman in the Window,” will premiere May 14 and finds Leigh starring opposite Amy Adams (“Arrival,” 2016) and Julianne Moore (“Still Alice,” 2014). Moore and Leigh will also reunite in AppleTV+'s “Lisey's Story,” a limited series based on the identically titled Stephen King novel and scheduled to debut this summer.