Jon Stewart will return to hosting The Daily Show on Mondays, and a revolving door of comedians will host Tuesday-Thursday. Stewart is also stepping back in as executive producer of TDS (after his AppleTV show was canceled). [Hollywood Life]
Photos from the latest All of Us Strangers premiere. [GFY]
Glenn Close is enjoying Paris Fashion Week! [LaineyGossip]
Review of Return to Seoul. [Pajiba]
This AITA story – I don’t think this woman is wrong. [Buzzfeed]
Sofia Vergara is “limited by her accent” in Hollywood. [JustJared]
Spotlight on male model James Yates. [Socialite Life]
New Khloe Kardashian face just dropped! [Seriously OMG]
More photos from the Argylle premiere. [RCFA]
“Corporate Erin” did a skit for WGN News. [OMG Blog]

Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney actually made a sleeper-hit movie with Anyone But You. It ended up serving as a reminder that studios used to make these kinds of low-budget or mid-budget romantic comedies all the time – they were always rated PG or PG-13, they never needed greenscreens or CGI, and everything was dependent on two actors’ on-screen chemistry and a half-decent script. If the studio had made Anyone But You in 2001, it would have still cost the same ($25 million) and it would have starred Kate Hudson and Josh Lucas. Well, because half-decent rom-coms are a rarity these days, Anyone But You has now crossed $100 million at the box office. When Glen Powell was at Sundance, he took a little bit of a victory lap.

Glen Powell and his “Hit Man” co-writer and director Richard Linklater stopped by the Variety Studio presented by Audible at the Sundance Film Festival, where Powell celebrated his role in reviving the romantic-comedy genre. “Anyone But You,” his Sony-backed rom-com with Sydney Sweeney, has earned $64 million at the domestic box office and crossed the $100 million mark worldwide. It’s a huge win for the $25 million movie at a time when many people were writing off the genre as dead.

“At least for me, I’ve always been a fan of movies in general and I always find it silly when certain actors diminish certain genres,” Powell said. “At its best execution, it gives an audience such joy and such fun, and as an actor you do get to play a lot of gears. To kind of scoff at a genre and look down on it is kind of silly.”

“For me, ‘Anyone But You’ was such a treat to see audiences dance out of the theater and feel so happy after watching a movie,” he continued. “To see the box office not just stick but grow has been such a cool lesson that sometimes the genres that have been forgotten are the ones audiences are craving the most.”

[From Variety]

“Sometimes the genres that have been forgotten are the ones audiences are craving the most.” He’s right, but I fear that this is the first time studios will realize it, now that a white man has said it. Actresses and producers have been saying this for years, that studios don’t have to endlessly sink $200 million into some action/comic-book production, you can actually invest in mid-budget rom-coms with an eye towards the female audience. Barbie also showed the power of the female audience, and that if you explicitly make an enjoyable, fun movie for women, they will come to the theaters. Also, here’s a sad little fact: Anyone But You is now the highest-grossing R-rated rom-com since Bridget Jones’s Baby in 2016!!

Also: props to my Virgo sis Sydney Sweeney. Anyone But You was her first outing as an executive producer. Her production company put this together and (much like Margot Robbie and Barbie) she deserves a lot of credit for simply wanting to make a low-budget genre movie.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Justice for Danny Masterson’s victims was delayed for years, but now that Masterson is officially a convicted rapist, it pleases me to see that Masterson isn’t getting “celebrity treatment” by the justice system. Last May, Masterson was convicted of two out of three rape charges. In September, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Just days after his sentencing, Bijou Phillips filed for divorce, and she seems very concerned about their joint assets. His conviction is currently being appealed, but Masterson will not be allowed out on bail while the appeal works its way through the system. The judge even cited his divorce as a reason why Masterson should not be allowed out on bail.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge today denied bail pending appeal to convicted rapist Danny Masterson with worries the That 70s Show actor could make a run for it.

“If defendant’s conviction and sentence are upheld on appeal, he will likely remain in custody for decades and perhaps the rest of his life,” wrote Judge Charlaine Olmedo in an order Wednesday. “In light of the fact that defendant has no wife to go home to, defendant now has every incentive to flee and little reason to return to state prison to serve out the remainder of his lengthy sentence should his appeal be unsuccessful,” the judge added in reference to the ongoing divorce proceedings between Masterson and Bijou Phillips.

Transferred to North Kern State Prison in late December, the 47-year-old Masterson is currently serving a 30-year to life sentence on dual rape convictions. Under present Golden State statutes, he will be eligible for parole in 20 years. Not long after Masterson was sentenced in September and taken into custody, Phillips, who had been in court every day for her husband and was a strong advocate for him, filed for divorce. The couple have a young daughter, who has been placed entirely in Phillips’ custody, a well-placed source tells Deadline.

Masterson was first arrested in 2020 over the then alleged assaults that occurred between 2001 and 2003. After his arrest, and during his first and second trials, The Ranch actor was out on bail of $3 million. When the damning guilty verdict was delivered om May 31, the potential “flight risk,” as the judge said at the time, was led out of court and into the nearby Twin Towers LA County jail by sheriff’s deputies.

Supported by prosecutors in the LA County District Attorney’s office, the decision by Judge Olmedo to deny the actor his freedom while he appeals came after a hearing this morning in DTLA’s Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.

[From Deadline]

Is Danny Masterson a flight risk? I don’t know. He stuck around long enough for two full trials (one of which ended in mistrial), but yeah, I can understand the argument of “he has no reason to stick around.” I’m glad he was denied bail and I really just hope that he rots in prison for the rest of his life.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

Today’s edition of “Celebrities, They’re Just Like Us,” features none other than Rick and Kathy Hilton! Kathy is currently doing promotion for a Smirnoff Ice Smash Tea campaign. So, from far atop her fancy Bel Air mansion, Paris Hilton’s mama gave an interview to Page Six. They asked the usual questions, which included what Kathy and Rick like to do for date night. Kathy responded with a surprising answer: The Cheesecake Factory. I wonder if they ever have to wait in that 90-minute line for a table…

Fettuccine! “We go [to the Cheesecake Factory] once a week,” the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum, 64. “[Rick] really likes the chicken [fettuccine Alfredo]. And then also the one that you dip with the sauce,” she said of her spouse’s go-to dishes, noting that “all their food is good.”

Ma, the meatloaf! As for Kathy, she prefers to order the meatloaf while dining at the popular chain restaurant, which has multiple locations in Los Angeles where the Hiltons reside. “Where [else] can you get meatloaf?” asked the mother of four, who shares children Paris, 42, Nicky, 40, Barron, 34, and Conrad, 29, with real estate tycoon Rick, 68.

They love the atmosphere: “It’s local, it’s right there and fresh and busy all the time,” the “Paris in Love” matriarch raved. “Actually, you walk in there and there are people. We love that! We don’t want to sit in a restaurant with nobody in the room.”

Things just aren’t like they used to be: Kathy said the Cheesecake Factory is the one LA establishment where patrons are plentiful and spirits are high, as she feels a drowsy ambiance has loomed over Hollywood and its bordering neighborhoods at the start of 2024. “The energy’s not the same. [Last week], Rick and I, we went to the Cheesecake Factory. We left at 8:30 and the streets are dead,” she said. “I just kind of want to get back into the groove.”

[From Page Six]

I will give Kathy this: I also genuinely enjoy establishments that have a vivacious atmosphere. I’m a hard extrovert, so I get my energy from interaction and really just love a good restaurant scene. I’m pretty skeptical that they actually go to the Cheesecake Factory on a regular basis, but hey, stranger things have happened and I’m totally willing to give the benefit of the doubt here. I actually like the Cheesecake Factory, but haven’t been to one in years simply because it’s impossible to get a seat at our local mall-based one unless you put your name in at 1:00pm for a chance at a 5:00pm table. But I do appreciate that the menu does have something for everyone, including Travis Kelce fans. (For the record, I loved Travis’ outfit and appreciate men who are secure enough to GET IT fashion-wise.)

I also find this whole thing so funny because my parents, who are in the same age brackets that Rich and Kathy, have also recently discovered the Cheesecake Factory. They’re Italian and for all of my almost-40 years here, they’ve dined at either Italian restaurants or a local brew-pubs. I had no idea they knew CF existed until they raved about it over Christmas. (“Have you had the Reeses Cheesecake?!” “Yes, Dad, my friends bought me one for my 25th birthday.”) To be honest, it’s so adorable on all accounts. Using my two-couple-sample of data, I’ve come to the fun conclusion that while us Millennials have been accused of killing the chain restaurant (pay us more so we can spend more at your big corporate businesses), our Boomer parents are apparently participating in a sudden movement to bring them back. Ah, the circle of life.

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Taylor Swift stepped out in New York on Tuesday night, sorry I didn’t post these photos on Wednesday! She was out with Brittany Mahomes and Cara Delevigne, what an odd friend-threesome. While I didn’t see it at the time, apparently Cara joined Taylor at the Chiefs-Bills game on Sunday night, along with Jerrod Carmichael. Is Cara becoming a football fan too or is she just supporting Taylor? In any case, these three ladies had dinner at Nobu. Taylor mixes it up with her New York hotspots – it feels like she doesn’t have one particular favorite dinner place.

Taylor looked pretty good for the most part, although I’ll never understand why a tall woman like Taylor wears chunky/platform heels. Those things are ankle-breakers and my feet hurt just looking at them. Her dress is Alaïa and I like the gold belt and the gold jewelry. It’s a solid look overall. People think she’s making another sartorial reference to Reputation (Taylor’s Version), with all of its dark, serpentine energy. Or maybe she’s just dressing like a New Yorker.

Meanwhile, this clip from Howard Stern’s show went viral this week. Stern was chatting with Stephen A. Smith, the ESPN commentator, and the conversation turned to Taylor and Travis Kelce. Stern says, “First of all, Travis Kelce has to marry Taylor Swift, right? He will then get a movie career. He’ll be bigger than The Rock. I mean, this is it. This is his chance.” Smith disagrees that Travis “has” to marry Taylor for all of that to happen, because Travis was already on that path pre-Taylor. Smith is basically like: Travis is a handsome and wholesome white boy, he can have any career he wants. Which is true. Smith then went off about how much he loves Taylor.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

There seems to be some indication that King Charles has already been in the hospital for his “procedure” for an enlarged prostate. I thought it was supposed to happen early this week, then they said it would be happening on Wednesday? I don’t know, but perhaps the palace will issue a statement in due time. For now, royal sources are still pushing back on any talk of Charles “slowing down.” Someone told the Telegraph that he will be “back up and running” after a temporary period of “enforced rest” and he will be “raring to go once he’s had a short period of recuperation.” Still, other royal sources told the Daily Beast that the mood in Buckingham Palace is “subdued.” Perhaps even grim.

The mood at Buckingham Palace has been “subdued” ahead of King Charles’ admission to hospital this week, according to one insider, with a friend of the king’s adding that his treatment for an enlarged prostate has come as an “unwelcome reminder” of the king’s advanced age, and the inevitably short duration of his reign compared to that of his mother.

A former courtier who remains in contact with old colleagues told The Daily Beast: “The mood at the palace is, unsurprisingly, subdued. The enlargement of the prostate may be benign, but treatment isn’t a small thing. The king could be off games [out of action] for a month or so.”

The palace, of course, have sought to play down the impact of the hospitalization on the king, with sources telling the Daily Telegraph and the Sun that the king will be “raring to go” after the procedure and working from home while recuperating. However, the reality is that the longer Charles is absent from public-facing duties, the more calls he will face to accept a wholesale change in pace.

One longstanding friend of the family told The Daily Beast: “Charles is an older man. He was 73 when his mother died, so even if he lives to 100 he is not even close to half of his mother’s reign [70 years]. I’m afraid the prostate problems are an unwelcome reminder of those simple facts.”

The new king has spent the 16 months since Queen Elizabeth’s death in a frenzied blur of activity. Charles, often described as a workaholic by his family, undertook 516 public engagements last year, including 94 abroad.

Charles will have no choice but to take his foot off the pedal in the short term, of course. The fact that the king is going in for a procedure, rather than using medication such as inhibitor drugs, which can shrink the prostate within a few weeks, suggests that he might be opting for a treatment such as transurethral needle ablation (which was recently approved by the NHS in the U.K.) or laser therapy. While the bulk of recovery in such cases can often take just a few days to a week, it can take several weeks to fully recover and notice improvement in symptoms.

[From The Daily Beast]

Once we learned more about how common these prostate procedures are, I kind of understood why the palace was downplaying it. I believe Charles will be fine, although I believe they’re overestimating how soon Charles will be back at work and “raring to go.” He is still a 75 year old man. The larger problem for the palace is that with William and Kate hitting pause on their schedule, it really is just Queen Camilla out there as the face of the monarchy.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

The photo above ^ is from January 18th, when Prince William was seen leaving The London Clinic after visiting his wife. This is the only time he’s been photographed around the London Clinic, leaving some of us (myself included) wondering if William has only visited his wife in the hospital once in the past week. I was under the belief that the media had set up camp outside the London Clinic and that they would get photos of all of William’s visits and visits from Kate’s family. But now Hello Magazine says that the media was only allowed outside the hospital on that one day (the 18th) and they haven’t been allowed back.

The Princess of Wales has been quietly recovering in hospital since she underwent successful abdominal surgery on Tuesday last week. And while members of the press were allowed to report from outside The London Clinic on the day that Kensington Palace announced Kate’s health news, media have not been allowed to station themselves outside the Marylebone hospital since.

So much secrecy has surrounded the Princess’ hospital stay and lengthy recovery. This is unlike when Kate was expecting Prince George in 2013, and reporters and photographers spent weeks camping outside The Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, waiting for news of the royal baby’s birth. The media frenzy was even dubbed the ‘Great Kate Wait’.

The then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge learnt from this experience and for the following two births of their children, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, media were only invited down to the hospital once Kate was in labour.

“When the royal children were born it was a moment for celebration and there was a controlled arrangement in place for the media to be outside the Lindo Wing to report on it,” Emily Nash, HELLO!’s royal editor, explained of the press presence. Explaining the lack of media presence outside the hospital, Emily added: “This is a different situation to the royal children’s births, and you have to consider the privacy of other patients coming in and out for treatment as well as that of the Princess.”

[From Hello]

This actually answered some big questions I had about the lack of photos around the London Clinic and the lack of reporting on who is visiting and when. It feels like Kensington Palace authorized the media scrum set up last week, with the promise that they would get photos of William in his Audi. It actually makes perfect sense that this is the compromise worked out: KP would stage the photos with William last week with the understanding that the media give William and Kate space and time beyond that. Now, I’m surprised that media outlets haven’t put up a fight about it, but I’m sure deals are being made behind the scenes for how this is being managed at a comms level. Still, I’m glad Kate is being given the space and privacy to recover in peace. I always hated that she had to do those post-birth photocalls so quickly.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

As we’ve discussed, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig’s Oscar nomination snubs in Best Actress and Best Director respectively have become the story of the week. The backlash to the snubs was immediate and loud, and we’re now in a “backlash to the backlash” cycle. One explanation for why these particular snubs have gotten so much attention is because the film was so popular and ubiquitous – Barbie made over $1.4 billion at the domestic and international box office. Which means more people have seen Barbie than any other Best Picture nominee. The second most-watched Best Picture nominee is Oppenheimer, and that film got a Best Director nomination and a nom for its lead actor. My take is still: sure, the conversation is kind of white-feminist-y, but this is also blatant sexism and a bunch of dude Oscar voters underestimating and undervaluing just what Robbie and Gerwig did. Anyway, People Mag did an exclusive piece with an unnamed “Oscar voter.”

According to one member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, this year’s exclusion of Margot Robbie in the Best Actress category and Greta Gerwig in Best Director are an example of “the ultimate in patriarchy.”

Robbie was nominated for Best Picture as a producer of the film while Gerwig was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay with her husband Noah Baumbach. For his role as Ken, Ryan Gosling received a Best Supporting Actor nomination, along with America Ferrera, who scored a Best Supporting Actress nod for her work in Barbie. But for some, the absences were glaring in Best Actress and Best Director. “I feel sad that that recognition, which is so deserving, was snubbed because it’s wrong on every level,” the source tells PEOPLE.

The source notes that largely, “each category, each branch nominates from their branch,” except for best picture, which is voted on by all members.

“That’s how the nominations work,” adds the source. “Every branch nominates for their branch and everybody votes for final voting.”

Academy members use preferential ballots weighted towards voters’ No. 1 and No. 2 favorites, but still, the source says given how well the movie did across the ballot, it’s unclear “how the algorithm worked that she [Gerwig] didn’t get enough votes for a directing nod.”

The film’s comedic nature may have also affected the outcome. “Comedies traditionally don’t do well at the Academy,” the source says. “And this is a film that, yes, was a comedy and it grossed over $1 billion. How do you not give credit to the director? How many female directors had films that gross that? This was a phenomenon.”

Although the source notes the headline-making snubs are “a terrible miss,” the nominations did showcase historic diversity, including Killers of the Flower Moon Best Actress hopeful Lily Gladstone, who is the the first Native American actress to be nominated for an Oscar. Emily Blunt, Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown, America Ferrera and Cillian Murphy earned the first nominations of their career.

[From People]

Yeah, I think a lot of Oscar voters realize how sh-tty they look for these two snubs. I also think the fact that these were two very prominent snubs together was particularly telling – if it had just been Robbie left off of Best Actress while Gerwig got a nom in director, people could have made the “fluke” argument and talked about how it was just a weird quirk of the voting system. But the two snubs together… the message is sexism, the message is “we don’t value what Robbie and Gerwig did.”

One of my favorite “backlash to the backlash” arguments is “well who would you have taken off??” Please, Martin Scorsese didn’t deserve a directing nom for four hours of “let’s focus on the white murderers.” KOTFM was poorly paced, poorly told and the script (which Scorsese co-authored) was so bad that it was also “snubbed” for a screenplay nom. While Annette Benning is always a sentimental favorite, she got nominated in Best Actress for a highbrow Lifetime movie.

Hillary Clinton chimed in too.

Greta & Margot,

While it can sting to win the box office but not take home the gold, your millions of fans love you.

You’re both so much more than Kenough.#HillaryBarbie

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 24, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

From CB: The last time I ordered Revlon eyeshadow primer was May of 2023 and my tube still has plenty of product left in it! It helps my eyeshadow last longer without creasing and it’s so affordable at under $9. This listing has over 7,300 ratings, 4.3 stars and a B on Fakespot. People say it’s just as good as more expensive primers, that it makes their eyeshadow go on smoother and last all day and the tube lasts forever. I also included my favorite eyeshadow palette of all time in the header image. I just reordered that and I still love it. Here are some more things Rosie and I are looking at on Amazon.

The British media is still drowning in salt over the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s surprise appearance in Jamaica on Tuesday night, for the Bob Marley: One Love premiere. The Mail’s editors and commentators seem especially aggrieved and especially dedicated to crying about every single part of this trip. They’re really mad that Harry and Meghan were apparently invited by Paramount’s CEO Brian Robbins. That fact alone blows up their constant efforts to make Meghan and Harry sound “unpopular in Hollywood.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s trip to Jamaica for the Bob Marley film premiere came after the family of Paramount boss Brian Robbins invited them, it has emerged. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are friends with the family of Mr Robbins, a source told MailOnline. The father-of-three is the chief executive of both Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, and lives with his stylist wife Tracy James in Los Angeles.

The source said Harry and Meghan ‘have long been fans of Bob Marley’s music and message’ and ‘have a personal friendship with the Robbins family, who invited them’.

The couple were ‘delighted to attend’ the screening of One Love – which celebrates the late reggae singer’s life – in Kingston on Tuesday night, the source added.

The Sussexes’ friendship with the Robbins family is notable given Harry and Meghan are searching for new forms of income, with their £80million Netflix deal expiring next year and their £15million Spotify contract having ended early last June. It is also intriguing that Paramount owns Comedy Central which airs South Park. An episode of the show last February entitled ‘The Worldwide Privacy Tour’ mockingly depicted Harry and Meghan on a publicity blitz to promote Harry’s book, ‘Waaagh’.

[From The Daily Mail]

Can you believe we got another South Park reference? My God. It’s almost as if Harry and Meghan don’t give a f–k about South Park and they consistently roll deep with industry executives and powerbrokers? It’s almost as if they’re doing fine in California and they have enough connections to land on their feet no matter what? THE AUDACITY! Speaking of which, after yesterday’s hissy fit over the Sussexes’ “insensitivity,” another royal commentator has chimed in:

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told MailOnline: ‘They (Harry and Meghan) are well aware that the Caribbean tour William and Catherine went on which included Jamaica in March 2022 was considered highly problematic. This is a difficult period for the monarchy with Catherine in hospital and King Charles about to undergo an operation for an enlarged prostate. The Sussexes have sent good wishes privately. However their appearance in Jamaica clearly sends a message.’

He also said that when Harry and Meghan were senior working members of the Royal Family, they had a ‘very special appeal to the Commonwealth’ and were president and vice-president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust. Harry was also appointed Commonwealth youth ambassador in 2018. But Mr Fitzwilliams added: ‘In their documentary Harry and Meghan included talking heads who criticised the Commonwealth, which was disgraceful. They have clearly chosen this difficult time to remind the Royal Family of what they have lost. It appears to be a tactic and the Palace will take note that once again, it is not wise to trust the Sussexes.’

[From The Daily Mail]

“They have clearly chosen this difficult time to remind the Royal Family of what they have lost. It appears to be a tactic and the Palace will take note that once again, it is not wise to trust the Sussexes.” LMAO. How dare they remind the left-behind Windsors that they can’t manage their way out of a wet paper bag! And why is this about trust? Harry and Meghan: *attend a premiere* The Windsors: THE TRUST IS BROKEN!

PS… Meghan’s ensemble was finally ID’d – it’s Carolina Herrera.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.