#but I only had access to the first episode and the 2 abc trailers to edit so this is what I have

[drummer-from-down-under]

Someone got emotional over dead fictional kids again

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West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 7/28/17

One of the best discoveries I’ve made has been the digital subchannel Heroes & Icons. If you’re a cord cutter, then get yourself an antenna and check this thing out. My favorite aspect of it, however, is the fact that it runs a 5-hour Star Trek block six nights a week. Star Trek at 8, Star Trek: The Next Generation at 9, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at 10, Star Trek: Voyager at 11, and Enterprise at 12. Sunday through Friday. And on Sundays they actually kick things off with Star Trek: The Animated Series at 7. I’ve pretty much watched nothing but Star Trek for the past 2 weeks. I’ve been reacquainted with favorite episodes, like TNG‘s “Chain of Command” and DS9‘s “Far Beyond the Stars”. I’ve discovered some hidden gems, like TOS‘s ” The Cloud Minders”. I’ve even discovered that I don’t hate Voyager or Enterprise as much as I thought I did.

I don’t talk about this too much, but the first 12 years or so of my life were comprised of pretty much NOTHING but Star Trek. From 1987-94, my favorite show on television was The Next Generation. When DS9 debuted, I expected it to continue my love affair, but it felt too preachy with its Space Holocaust allegory. It was in the later seasons, once the Dominion War began, that it actually ensconced itself as my favorite iteration of the franchise. By the time Voyager debuted, I had discovered comics, and they became my new mistress. While I watched about 4 hours of TNG a day in high school (Channel 20 REALLY loved playing TNG), my heart didn’t have room in it for a new Trek, so I “No time for love, Dr. Jones”‘ed Captain Janeway and her crew. Enterprise debuted when I was in college, and  I was simply too busy worried about other shit to watch Captain Quantum Leap and his crew. Plus, due to some kind of contractual fallout, Ithaca didn’t get UPN. So, since the finale of DS9, my Trekkerdom lay dormant.

But when I say “I’ve forgotten more than you’ll ever know”, that’s primarily about Star Trek. I had several editions of the Star Trek Encyclopedia, I had the Technical Manual, the Technical Journal, the Star Trek Chronology. All of it. I’ve got the figures, and the role play toys. I even created my own uniform for Halloween back in the 90s. I was all Trek, 24/7, and you couldn’t tell me shit. Over time, though, that trivia got overwritten by X-Men 1st appearance notations and the names of TNBC actresses. What I’m saying, though, is that Heroes & Icons brought it all rushing back. It’s like I’m 15 again, blowing the evening watching Star Trek episodes I’ve already seen hundreds of times already. It’s also given me new perspectives on things that completely went over my head when I was younger. For example, Sisko is the Bajorans’ Space Jesus, and that’s pretty heavy. Even he doesn’t believe it, but in the end, yup it turns out he’s Space Jesus. I’ve also got thoughts on the current state of the franchise, too.

At SDCC, we got the above trailer for Star Trek: Discovery, which will air in North America on CBS All Access (yes, Dean, I know you’ll say All Anal Access because it sucks that we have to subscribe to another service just to watch this thing). I had no interest in this show because everything I heard about it didn’t sound like Star Trek. Now, though, the more they try to sell it as a bunch of new ideas, the more it just sounds like DS9. It’s gonna be Trek with interpersonal conflict. Great. I can get down with that. Its aesthetic seems more like late-era Stargate than Trek, though – especially those Klingon designs. There are certain things, though, that still feel like they miss the mark.

Take for example the fact that the show will feature the first same-sex couple on a Star Trek series, played by Rent‘s Anthony Rapp and My So Called Life‘s Wilson Cruz. Yeah, I get that representation is important, but it bothers me that this is being done in a prequel series, set before the events of the original Star Trek. With the exception of Enterprise, this is the series that takes place the closest to our timeline, so it’s really not much of a leap to think that same-sex couples exist. Ya know what would’ve meant more to me (as a straight, cis male who really doesn’t have a dog in the race but is still opinionated)? If the show had actually been a post-Dominion War, sequel series to TNG/DS9/Voyager, and it featured a same-sex couple. Science fiction tends to go 2 ways: it’s either dystopian or it’s about HOPE. As it stands, from what we’ve seen, same-sex couples are pretty much nonexistent in the 24th century. Yeah, I’m sure they exist, but we never saw them. It seems like it would be a testament to how enduring they are to see them that far in the future as opposed to just a couple of hundred years from now, when Discovery is set.

I could also be politicizing this for my own agenda, as I really want to know what happened after the war ended. Sure, there are books and stuff, but those things aren’t canon. I feel there are so many stories to tell from that era, and I’d love to see the franchise move forward instead of dance between the raindrops of continuity in the past. It feels like they’re stalling, which is how it felt with Enterprise and even the Kelvin movies. Someone, somewhere out there has got to have a great idea as to how to move the franchise forward and I hope CBS/Paramount finds them sooner rather than later.

SDCC Bullet Points

The bulk of San Diego Comic Con took place over the weekend, and here’s some stuff that debuted:

Michelle Pfeiffer is Hank Pym’s lost wife, Janet Van Dyne, in Ant-Man and The Wasp

The Captain Marvel film will be set in the 90s, and introduce the Skrulls to the MCU. Oh, and Nick Fury will have 2 eyes

We got this trailer for Ready Player One, which was hella polarizing. It seems a lot of folks hated the book on which it’s based. If you ask me, it just looks like a cinematic version of this commercial:

Comic creator Frank Miller, of 300 and Sin City fame, is writing a Superman: Year One story with art from John Romita Jr. Nothing about that sentence makes me want to open my wallet.

We got a new trailer for X-Men spinoff, The Gifted. I’m actually surprised they used established mutants like Polaris and Thunderbird. And is that actually Fenris?! I want to like this, but it just looks so…Fox.

We got a new trailer for The Defenders on Netflix. I get that this is the culmination of all the Marvel Netflix shows, but it didn’t do much for me since I’ve only seen 2 out of 5 seasons so far. There’s no way I’ll get caught up by this premiere date, but I’m sure it’ll mean more to me once I’m up to date. Kinda tired of the hallway fight trope, though.

Legends of Tomorrow is such a fun show. It started kinda dry, but got so much better last year. It reminds me of a syndicated Saturday afternoon show, but in a good way.

This Justice League trailer did very little for me. It’s like, sure, Wonder Woman’s cool, but we JUST saw her. Aquaman seems cool, but he’s not really “Aquaman”. I’ll see it, but I ain’t looking forward to it. No, for me, November belongs to:

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

We’ll have to wait a bit longer for our annual dose of Abbi and Ilana, as Comedy Central has moved the Broad City season 4 premiere from August 23rd to September 13th

A few months ago, it was reported that Amy Schumer would be starring in a Barbie movie. Well, I made fun of that, she blocked me on Twitter, and then eventually dropped out of the role. Now they’re reporting that Anne Hathaway is up for the role, which is somehow more bewildering than the Schumer choice…

Justin Bieber cancelled the rest of his Purpose world tour because he was “committing his life to Christ”. This pissed off his crew, as they were left without jobs. He, then, proceeded to run over a paparazzo with his truck while leaving church. I swear, you can’t make this shit up!

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has replaced Bill Gates as the richest man in the world.

Beginning September 29th, Hulu will begin streaming the Warner Bros shows that comprised ABC’s TGIF lineup, including Perfect Strangers, Family Matters, Full House, Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper, and Step By Step. Meanwhile, Netflix is feverishly developing Perfecter Strangers, Family Still Matters, Chillin’ With Mr. Cooper, and Step By Step By Step.

I haven’t seen a non-country music video in years, but apparently they still make them, as Katy Perry will host the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards

Speaking of the VMAs, following the lead of the MTV Movie Awards, they’re doing away with the gendered categories Best Male/Best Female Artist, to be replaced by Artist of the Year. Also, in a bit of pandering,  they’ve created the Best Fight Against the System, for those artists who have called for folks to #RESIST and all that.

Though I felt its farcical nature wore a bit thin during its first season, TBS’s Angie Tribeca has been renewed for season 4.

Smallville‘s Tom Welling is joining Fox’s Lucifer and *yawn* that’s really all there is to say about that.

Netflix has ordered 20 episodes of the animated series Disenchantment from The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. It will features the voices of Nat Faxon, Eric Andre, and Abbi Jacobson. Apparently it’s about elves and trolls and shit. Not really my bag, baby.

Person of Interest‘s Michael Emerson has been cast in a mysterious role for Arrow‘s 6th season. So, he’s probably Deathstroke’s accountant or something.

Because SyFy just doesn’t care anymore, and because they need something to air between Sharknados, Wynonna Earp has been renewed for a 3rd season.

The Wonder Woman sequel has a release date of December 13th, 2019

Apple discontinued the iPod Nano and Shuffle models, as they are the last remaining models that cannot run iOS apps.

Current Superman Henry Cavill grew a mustache for his role in Mission Impossible 37: Mission Harder, which will have to be digitally removed for Justice League reshoots. Ya know, the movie where he’s supposed to be dead, but is actually the worst kept secret in Hollywood.

Lionel Richie and Charlie Puth are in talks to join ABC’s American Idol reboot as judges. Yeah, that’s funny. Unless they’re coaching the contestants on how to get caught cheating while dancing on the ceiling, I’m not sure what Richie’s old ass brings to the table. And Puth is simply too new to be judging anybody.

New James Bond film in 2019. Nobody knows who’s playing him or directing the thing, but it’s coming. Yesiree, Bob!

Since they’re handing out cinematic universes like chicken samples at a food court, the John Wick universe will be expanded by the female-focused film, Ballerina.

Michael Phelps raced a CGI shark and people felt betrayed. He’s the friggin’ son of Poseidon! He can’t race ACTUAL sharks! There would be civil unrest beneath the surface!

With DC being the political capital of the country, it’s hard for a news person to stand out because the place is crawling with them. That wasn’t true, however, for Jim Vance. Everyone knew him and the man was an institution. Coming to NBC4 in 1969, he was one of the first Black anchors in a major news market. He anchored for over 4 decades, ingraining himself into the families of those who watched him.

When I was a toddler, I was really into the local news (I’ve always said I’m regressing as I get older), and I could name every anchor on every local newscast. And this was a golden age of DC news. You had the great Glenn Brenner, you had Maury Povich before he became a talk show host, and you had Vance. There was something about him that made him seem like your aunt’s cool boyfriend. He was an old man with a hoop earring. We used to laugh about it, but secretly I was hating because I knew I’d never be able to pull that off at his age. He rode motorcycles and laughed inappropriately at news stories he found funny. He was a guy who made you glad to watch the news, especially as the cries of Fake News! grew louder.

Back in May, Vance announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer, and it advanced rather quickly. He passed away last Saturday morning, and the announcement touched all corners of the DC area (no, I’m not calling it the DMV!). It was touching to see all of the tributes to him on the local stations, from those who were colleagues and competitors. Last Saturday night, News4 spent the entire 11 PM news talking about Vance and what he meant to DC. This might sound crazy, but it was so refreshing to watch the news without a single drop of actual news being reported. No Trump b.s., no local murders, not even a weather report. Just 30 minutes about a man who we basically grew up with in our homes. I always kinda took him for granted because you just expected he would be there every evening, but I’ve certainly missed him since he’s gone. I know he won’t mean much to those of you outside the DC viewing area, but believe me when I say that everybody here knew who Jim Vance was, and we’re all going to miss him in one way or another. For that reason, Jim Vance had the West Life Ever.

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A writers' strike may delay the final season of 'Game of Thrones'

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A writers' strike may delay the final season of 'Game of Thrones'

Save our shows!

Image: hbo/amc

Game of Thrones is safe. Netflix might even benefit. And Saturday Night Live well, they’ll be screwed.

If you’re a TV fan, you’ve probably heard rumblings about a looming writers’ strike, which if it goes ahead (and that’s not a done deal yet) could cause significant disruption to some of your favorite shows.

Movies, on the other hand, are a little better off; writers might be barred from doing polishes on scripts during a strike, but a finished feature is still likely to get to the screen on time.

On Monday, members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) which represents television and film scribes voted to authorize a strike if the guild is unable to reach a new agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the organization that represents the TV networks and movie studios that produce all that sweet, sweet TV and movie content.

The current contracts between the WGA and AMPTP expire on May 1, which means a strike could begin as early as May 2. Negotiations between the two organizations resumed on Tuesday, but the signs are not great.

What do the writers want?

There are many issues up for negotiation in the contract talks with the AMPTP including boosting employer contributions to the guild’s health plan but the main source of contention is how much writers are earning.

Since many writers are paid per episode, the guild is pushing to get scribes on cable and streaming shows closer to the compensation that writers on broadcast shows receive, as well as increasing income for writers on short-order or limited series.

SEE ALSO: Netflix remains the streaming giant, but they’ve got competition

As The Hollywood Reporter notes, there are more scripted TV shows than ever before production has skyrocketed thanks to the increased popularity of cable and digital networks like Netflix and Amazon but those newer platforms often order fewer episodes per season, anywhere from six to 13, compared to the traditional 22 episode season favored by broadcasters (although they, too, have been experimenting with limited series in recent years).

This means writers have fewer episodes on which to earn money, and the breaks between seasons are longer, making it harder for low- and mid-level writers stay afloat. Compounding matters, Newsweek says, is the fact that “most AMPTP agreements prohibit writers from working on other shows for the duration of their contract, so even if a series is on hiatus theyre unable to work anywhere else during the downtime, which they also are disputing.”

The WGA has laid out many of the guild’s concerns here, if you want to dig deeper.

What does it mean for our favorite shows?

The last writers’ strike, which began on Nov. 5, 2007 and lasted until Feb. 12, 2008, had a massive effect on the TV industry, as production on all scripted shows immediately stopped. This resulted in the layoffs of thousands of crew members, assistants and support staff, while several shows that were forced to stop production mid-season were outright cancelled, including ABC’s Men in Trees, Fox’s K-Ville andNBC’s Bionic Woman remake.

More than 50 broadcast shows had shortened or delayed seasons since production could not be completed on the full run of episodes ordered by the networks, while many late night shows entered reruns immediately. According to a report from the Milken Institute, the 2007 work stoppage cost California 37,700 jobs and $2.1 billion in lost output from the fourth quarter of 2007 through the end of 2008.

Another strike would undoubtedly have similar effects but don’t panic yet: the WGA and AMPTP are still in talks, and everyone is well aware of the consequences of a major work halt, so it’s not a decision either side would take lightly.

In danger:

The first series to go dark, if the writers put down their pens on May 2, would be late-night talk shows whose writers churn out daily or weekly commentary on current events, like Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

Given our political climate and the fact that Saturday Night Live is currently airing live across the country for the first time in its history we’d certainly miss out on some searing satire, with Chris Pine scheduled to host SNL on May 6, Melissa McCarthy (no doubt bringing her Sean Spicer A-game) on May 13, and Dwayne Johnson on May 20.

You wouldn’t like Spicey when he’s angry.

Image: Chris Haston/NBC

Also in the danger zone: Scripted series that are just about to begin filming or are still early in their production schedules including The Walking Dead Season 8, American Horror Story Season 7, Jessica Jones Season 2 and the first seasons of ABC’s Inhumans and CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery.

The second and third seasons of Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story are also in the process of being written, along with the Prince Charles and Princess Diana-themed second season of Feud. Likewise, the final season of The Mindy Project is expected to begin production in May, unless a strike delays it.

While a number of scripts on these shows have likely been completed ahead of shooting, a strike could certainly derail the back half of their seasons, and prevent any of the standard rewrites that occur as an episode moves through the production pipeline.

Safe for now:

The one benefit if one can call it that of a strike taking place in May, is that the majority of broadcast shows will have completed production on their seasons and closed their writers’ rooms, with writing on a new season or freshman series usually beginning in June.

That means fans of most broadcast shows which traditionally air from September through May will be able to see the conclusion of current seasons of favorites like The Flash, Empire, The Big Bang Theory, Grey’s Anatomy and Law and Order: SVU with no interruption.

If a potential strike were to drag on for several months, as it did a decade ago, it would likely delay the premiere dates for the 2017-18 season (new shows generally debut in September or October), or result in more reruns during the summer months, if networks decided to hold some of their planned summer premieres for fall to make up for any holes in next season’s schedules.

I guess if there’s no TV, we could… read?

Image: hbo

Either way, Game of Thrones fans can rest easy; the Season 7 premiere date may have been delayed until July, but the the show has completed filming on its penultimate season and is now in post-production winter is coming on July 16, no matter what.

Although a lengthier strike could slow down the writing of Season 8, the show isn’t expected to begin filming its final season until September, giving showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss a little breathing room. The duo revealed at SXSW back in March that they already had an outline for the last six episodes and have begun dividing up the installments, so work might currently be underway on Season 8 to give them a head start.

SEE ALSO: An obsessive deep dive into the ‘Outlander’ Season 3 trailer

Shows that will have completed their scripts or finished filming by May 2, and therefore be unaffected by the strike, include Showtime’s Twin Peaks revival; Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black and The Defenders; Starz’s American Gods and Outlander; BBC America’s final season of Orphan Black; and, according to EW, Season 2 of Netflix’s Stranger Things.

Any other exceptions?

The shows that would profit most from a strike are unscripted series: reality competitions like The Voice, The Bachelor and Big Brother; docuseries that are the bread and butter of networks like Discovery and HGTV; sporting events; and shows with non-union writers, like series produced and written in Canada, World Wrestling Entertainment’s events (which have in-house, non-unionized writers) and some animated series like South Park, since creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are reportedly not members of the WGA and kept writing the show during the last strike.

And even though Netflix boss Ted Sarandos insisted that the streaming giant “will be impacted” in the event of a strike, with some of its series currently being written and filmed, streaming services will definitely get a boost if traditional networks go into reruns.

With a deep bench of original and acquired programming ready to watch, more viewers could be tempted to cut the cord and throw their dollars towards Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and the backlog of classic shows offered by HBO Go and CBS All Access.

In fact, one of the only benefits of a strike, at least for viewers, would be the breathing room to finally start making your way through everything in your Netflix queue.

WATCH: Netflix’s new murder mystery could be next on your binge-watch list

Read more: http://mashable.com/

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West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 1/27/17

In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, Star Trek Discovery is delayed, and will not make the previously-announced May premiere date. Keep in mind that this is actually the second postponement of the show, as it was originally slated to premiere this month. The fact that they were dragging their feet on casting convinced me that it wouldn’t make the May date, mainly because I didn’t think they could get the effects done in that amount of time. After all, they first announced they’d cast their lead exactly a month ago. Plus, it still seems like they’re trying to figure out how lead Sonequa Martin-Green is going to juggle roles on both Discovery and The Walking Dead. All I know is that the CBS All Access streaming service is basically dead on arrival, as it’s going to need more programming than just The Good Wife‘s spinoff, The Good Fight. The only way to really gain some sort of foothold would be if they took back the Trek shows from Netflix and made All Access the exclusive North American home of Star Trek (Discovery will already be exclusive to Netflix outside the US), but I don’t know if that’s something all parties would go for. Meanwhile, James Frain has been cast as Spock’s father, Sarek, for the series. I don’t know – the longer the show is delayed, the less I find I care about it.

Speaking of Netflix, they have ordered a reboot of early ’00s makeover show Queer Eye For The Straight Guy. Now, I used to love this show, but I also didn’t know any better. If you never saw the show, 5 gay guys would take some straight schlub and give him a lifestyle makeover to make him a better guy all around. Carson was the fashion guy, and he’d teach you to “zhuzh” your sleeves. Kyan was the hair guy, and he’d teach you how to manage your ‘do. Thom was the decorator, who’d make over your living space. Ted, currently the host of Chopped, was the food and wine guy. And Jai…cute, clueless Jai was the “culture” guy. He’d teach you clever ways to open a CD. No, I’m serious. They never really did find a way to use Jai to his fullest potential. Anyway, the whole show is predicated on the assumption that gays are better than straights in every way. They’re better dressers, eaters, groomers, decorators, and…CD openers. And that’s just a raging ball of stereotypes there. It was an interesting time, as the show kind of helped get gays into households that probably wouldn’t have otherwise accepted them, but there was something minstrelsy about the whole thing. I’d like to think we’ve come a long way since 2003, so the idea of this show being rebooted just sounds like a bad idea to me. Plus, they didn’t contact any of the original guys to come back, so it won’t even have a nostalgia factor to it. So far, everything I’ve read about the reboot seems to agree with me that it’s not a good idea, but what do I know? What do y’all think?

Fox has ordered an X-Men TV pilot, with Burn Notice‘s Matt Nix attached as showrunner. Apparently, it will focus on a family on the run and, based on Nix’s past experience, they’ll probably be assisted by a hot chick who could use a sandwich or three.  My biggest problem with the news, however, is that Bryan Singer will reportedly direct the pilot. Yes, he has experience with the X-Men film franchise, but it’s time for new voices. Plus, he shat the bed so badly with X-Men: Apocalypse that I feel like his mutant card should be revoked for a while. He’s been attached to the X-Men franchise for 17 years, but all of his contributions haven’t been great. I’d be fine with him as a consultant or even a producer, but I don’t think he needs to direct this thing. Then again, it’s just a pilot, so maybe it won’t even make it to series. Right now, critics are raving over FX’s Legion, which is loosely tied to the X-Men franchise, so maybe it’ll take center stage and the Nix show will be passed on.

Speaking of Singer’s X-Men franchise, with its wonky continuity, Hugh Jackman has been saying that Logan won’t be set in the common X-Men film timeline that we’re used to. Now, it’s not quite clear how we should take that, seeing as how the films don’t really adhere to a clear timeline, especially after the events of Days of Future Past. At this point, I hardly care. I just want a good movie. I mean, it’s set in the future, and for it to be “in continuity” would effectively be painting themselves into a corner. That’s why futures in comics are always “possible futures” because A) the future (hopefully) isn’t set in stone and B) it’d be bad for storytelling if they set out to say it was THE future. Anyway, we got the final trailer last week, which gave us a much better look at Laura/X-23. I’m really getting excited for March!

And while we’re talking about March movies, we FINALLY got the full trailer for Power Rangers, and it looked pretty good. To a lot of my friends, I’m “The Power Rangers Guy”, so they’re kinda curious to know what I thought about it. Let’s just say I’m cautiously optimistic. There’s a lot to hate in what we’ve seen, and I hated how most of the reveals we got came from the lackluster toyline than from actual footage. Now that we’ve seen footage, however, I think this could be something good. I still don’t think it’s going to beat Beauty and the Beast or anything, but it could turn out to be a pretty good popcorn movie. I like the design of Cranston as Zordon, I liked Bill Hader as Alpha, and the action looked pretty good. Still not sure about Goldar, and I’m actually kinda worried about Elizabeth Banks as Rita. Every time we’ve seen her, she seems to be chewing the shit out of the scenery, in an almost Divatox kind of way. But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how it all shakes out.

It’s like they’re trying to completely throw away the West Year Ever honor I gave them, as DC Entertainment made some questionable moves. First up, it’s reported that they’re going back to square one on their Flash adaptation, so look for a delay to be announced any day now. Since losing director Rick Famuyiwa, Warner Bros has decided to take the film in a new direction while star Ezra Miller gets ready to film the sequel to Fantastic Beasts. Meanwhile, they announced that The Rock will star in a Black Adam movie, separate from the planned SHAZAM film, in which he’ll portray the villain. From day one, I’ve said that Johnson was a terrible choice for Black Adam because he’s the villain of the story, and there’s no one in Hollywood at the moment who’s charismatic enough to go toe to toe with him and have the audience root for him. Everyone LOVES The Rock, so who’s going to want to see him lose? If anything, he should’ve been cast as Captain Marvel himself, and then some lesser star could bulk up to play Black Adam. Right now, I feel like this movie is going to sit on a shelf until the fates align and Hollywood’s next It Guy reveals himself. Zac Efron? Could he be Captain Marvel? Could he successfully share the screen with Johnson? We’ll soon find out in Baywatch, but I worry that the film is never going to come together due to imbalanced casting.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

Scarlett Johansson split from husband of two years, Romain Dauriac. I still haven’t forgiven her for hurting Ryan Reynolds. Then again, I haven’t forgiven him for hurting Alanis Morissette. They all mean so much to me.

Speaking of Alanis, her former manager admitted to stealing close to $5 million from the singer

Former star of Disney Channel’s Jessie, Debby Ryan, is rumored to have been cast as Dagger in Freeform’s Cloak & Dagger series based on the Marvel characters of the same name. Meanwhile, relative unknown Noah Gray-Cabey is rumored to have been cast as Cloak

Miles Morales, and not Peter Parker, will be the focus of the upcoming animated Spider-Man film. Know what would’ve made this news more awesome? If it was live action instead of animated. Oh well…

In a move that I’m sure was surprising even to its cast, ABC renewed The Middle for a 9th season. This is a bold move for a show that really seemed like it was packing up about 3 years ago.

Speculation abounds, as it was revealed that the next installment in the Star Wars film series is subtitled The Last Jedi

Now that SuperMansion is on Adult Swim, nobody is ever watching Crackle again since Jerry Seinfeld just inked a $100 million deal to move his Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee series to Netflix

Breakout new series of the season, This Is Us, scored a 2-season renewal from NBC

Speaking of NBC, after much back and forth, it was finally confirmed that Will & Grace will be returning with a 10-episode order.

This is going to be something of a “drive-by” West Week Ever. You see, I don’t really want to get political on here, as there’s enough of that online. That said, I think it’s going to be pretty hard not to be political in the near future. All I’m going to say is that I think the biggest pop culture “news” story of the week was the Women’s March on Washington. America Ferrera, ScarJo, and others spoke, while Madonna made a few controversial statements of her own. A lot of folks feel like performers should just perform and not have political views, but I think those people are going to be sorely disappointed for the foreseeable future. Personally, the march was good to me as it brought a lot of cool folks to town – many of whom I haven’t seen in quite some time. I’m not going to get into the particulars of it, as there are other places you can go for the full story. What I do know is that it set a record for Metro ridership, and the crowd dwarfed that of the inauguration that took place just a day prior. So, with that in mind, the Women’s March on Washington, as well as the various “sister marches”, had the West Week Ever.