Is J.J. on ‘Sex and the City’ played by Lin-Manuel Miranda?
You have questions. I have some answers.
Q: The character of J.J. on “Sex and the City” appears to be Lin-Manuel Miranda. Could it be?
A: No, although Miranda (“Hamilton,” “Mary Poppins Returns”) does have a “Sex and the City” connection. The character of J.J. Mitchell was played in two “SATC” episodes by Mark Grapey. You may also have seen him in other productions, for example playing Peter Kalmick on “Chicago Med.” Miranda, meanwhile, can be spotted in the first “Sex and the City” movie, along with his directing partner Thomas Kail. They played, as Slate.com summed it up, “two guys who move a couch” when “SATC”’s Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is apartment hunting.
Q: Is “Better Call Saul” all over?
A: Shooting for the fifth season began in Albuquerque in April. But don’t start planning a new season watch party quite yet. It looks as if the latest episodes won’t get on the air until 2020.
Q: Do you know if “A Million Little Things” has been renewed for a second season? There didn’t seem to be a lot of loose ends in the final episode of the first season, which leads me to believe it's gone.
A: As ABC announced earlier in May, a new round of “A Million Little Things” will air this fall, on Thursday nights between “Grey’s Anatomy” and “How To Get Away With Murder.” If you’re looking for hints about what’s coming, you could check out series creator DJ Nash on Twitter. He’s @heydjnash.
Q: Can you tell me what happened to CBS News’ Jeff Glor and John Dickerson? Where are they?
A: Since Susan Zirinsky became president of CBS News in March, the network has been shaking up its talent lineups — part of what Zirinsky called “the start of a new era” in early May.
That included bumping “CBS Evening News” anchor Glor from his post in favor of Norah O’Donnell, who will take the anchor chair sometime this summer. Glor was said to be discussing other opportunities with the network. O’Donnell will continue to contribute to “60 Minutes” (where, by the way, Steve Kroft has retired) and will be lead anchor of CBS’ primaries and election coverage. The evening news will also move its base from New York City to Washington, D.C., this fall.
“CBS This Morning” has set its hosts as Gayle King, Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil. John Dickerson, who had been on the morning show, is joining “60 Minutes” and, says CBS, will have “a key role as a contributing anchor to ... political coverage of primary and election nights.”
Q: The one-season run of Stephen Merchant’s “Hello Ladies,” merely eight episodes on HBO, made no sense. The show was great, acting and story splendid and different, with so much more that could have been created. Why was it so short lived?
A: Merchant is a funny guy, as is evident in everything from his collaborations with Ricky Gervais to his guest appearances on “The Big Bang Theory.” But, according to reports when “Hello Ladies” was canceled in 2014, the audience for it was small to begin with and shrank over its run. (Yes, even for a premium service like HBO, audience numbers can matter.) The network did at least follow the eight episodes with a farewell movie late in 2014. You can find that on DVD, streaming and HBO On Demand.