Just like you, our heads have been spinning with the constant flow of news about the effects and disruptions of the Covid-19 virus on daily life here in America. If the rest of the world’s experience serves as a guide, it will be quite some time before we’re watching live sports again. It will be quite some time before we go to amusement parks again. And — this is where it hits home for us — it will be quite some time before we go back into movie theaters.
With new releases being pushed back, most theaters are closing their doors. And, let’s face it … most moviegoers are feeling a little bit antsy about being in a room with a lot of strangers right now.
But hey, here at Hollywood Outbreak, we’re all about alternatives, So while the film release schedule is in a state of indefinite flux, we’ll shift a lot of our focus over to the options you’ve got at home, whether it’s broadcast or cable TV, or the content available on streaming services. Some new stuff, some old binge-worthy stuff, but plenty of things to help you pass the time as we wait out the effects of the virus together. Stay home, stay healthy, stay sane, and stay entertained!
LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT — “Dance, Lies, & Videotape” Episode 21017 — Pictured: Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)
Unless you’ve been stranded on a desert island for the past two decades, you’re aware that Law & Order: SVU delves into the dark world of sexual assault victims. It is, unfortunately, a world with a large population, and many of those victims appreciate the light that SVU shines on the subject. Kelli Giddish told us she’s always running into fans of the show who show their appreciation for her and SVU. (Click on the media bar below to hear Kelli Giddish)
Glen Howerton attends as Universal Pictures presents a special screening of THE HUNT at the ArcLight in Hollywood, CA on Monday, March 9, 2020. (photo: Benjamin Shmikler/ABImages)
Glenn Howerton is, of course, best known for the show he helped create, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, now up to 14 seasons and counting. But with that show’s shorter seasons, it’s given him the opportunity to branch out into other TV and movie projects, including The Hunt. The action/horror film is definitely a change of pace for Howerton, who’s used to playing for laughs. But he does think “The Hunt,” even though it has a lot of gore, doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it asks a lot of interesting questions about today’s society and the partisan divide. (Click on the media bar below to hear Glenn Howerton)
The Hunt is currently available for streaming rentals.
BETTER THINGS “High man. Bye man.” Episode 6 (Airs Thursday, April 9) — Pictured: (l-r) Pamela Adlon as Sam Fox, Olivia Edward as Duke. CR: Suzanne Tenner/FX
If you’ve watched Pamela Adlon’s FX comedy Better Things, you know she’s a big fan of making things look as real, natural, and true-to-life as possible. Like The Office, the show has kind of a documentary feel. Adlon, who also co-created the show, told us it’s an homage to a director she loves, the late John Cassavetes. (Click on the media bar below to hear Pamela Adlon)
HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER – ABC’s “How To Get Away With Murder” stars Viola Davis as Professor Annalise Keating. (ABC/Brian Bowen Smith)
For the past six years, Viola Davis has been getting away with murder, and people have loved it. More accurately, she’s starred in Shonda Rhimes’s legal drama How to Get Away with Murder. That’s about to come to an end, though, as the show heads for its series finale. (Fortunately for the show and its fans, it wrapped before the coronavirus halted production on so many shows.) Davis says that while, she’s sad to see the show go, her emotions are a little more complicated than that. (Click on the media bar below to hear Viola Davis)
How to Get Away with Murder airs Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC.
It’s been nine years since Christopher Meloni said goodbye to Law & Order: SVU. He left the show after 12 seasons in a heated contract dispute, but apparently those bridges weren’t totally burnt, because it’s been announced that Meloni will bring back the character of Elliot Stabler in a new Law & Order show that’s already been picked up as an NBC series. Since he’ll be bringing back his old character, the new series will be set in the same world as SVU. It’s a world Meloni knows all too well, because he’s talked a lot with the men and women who do the job in real life. (Click on the media bar below to hear Christopher Meloni)
So far, no start date or official title has been given for Meloni’s new show. Stay tuned!
June will mark the 45th anniversary of the movie that became Hollywood’s first true blockbuster and put a young director named Steven Spielberg on the map. That film, of course, is Jaws. Adjusted for inflation, it still ranks in America’s Top 10 grossing films of all time, and new generations keep discovering it. Worldwide, Jaws made more than $470 million — not bad for a film that cost just $7 million to make! But while he was working on it, Richard Dreyfuss had no idea they were creating something that would soon become massively huge. (Click on the media bar below to hear Richard Dreyfuss)
Jaws is currently playing on Cinemax and streaming on the Cinemax app.
One of the running themes throughout the first three seasons of The Good Fight has been the show’s disdain for the Donald Trump presidency. It definitely wasn’t planned that way. In fact, star Christine Baranski told us the original premise was much different, but Trump’s surprise election win in 2016 changed the show drastically and, Baranski thinks, for the better. (Click on the media bar below to hear Christine Baranski)
Season 4 of The Good Fight will begin streaming next week on CBS All Access, with new episodes every Thursday. The first three seasons are all available for streaming (and bingeing) now.
MODERN FAMILY – ABC’s “Modern Family” stars Nolan Gould as Luke Dunphy, Ariel Winter as Alex Dunphy, Ty Burrell as Phil Dunphy, Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy and Sarah Hyland as Haley Dunphy. (ABC/Robert Ashcroft)
As its title would suggest, Modern Family is a show about a family. And families, of course, have children. Some of the Modern Family actors started out on the show when they were just kids, and now they’ve grown up. As the family expanded, we saw new youngsters added to the cast. Now that the show is coming to an end after 11 seasons, Ty Burrell gets to reflect on watching all of these kids grow up on the set. (Click on the media bar below to hear Ty Burrell)
Mike (WILL SMITH), Marcus (MARTIN LAWRENCE) on the streets of Miami in Columbia Pictures’ BAD BOYS FOR LIFE. Photo Credit Ben Rothstein
The term “chemistry” is thrown around pretty indiscriminately in the movie business. It’s that elusive quality that helps co-stars bond and makes their performances better than they might have been otherwise. Martin Lawrence and Will Smith have definitely had chemistry as the stars of the Bad Boys franchise, and they were able to pinpoint the precise reason why that chemistry was so good: balance. (Click on the media bar below to hear Martin Lawrence & Will Smith)
Bad Boys for Life is now available for streaming rentals.
While British actor Hugh Laurie has moved on from House — he’s now starring in HBO’s Avenue 5 — he will never lose the love he’s got for the long-running medical drama, which propelled him to stardom on this side of the pond after he’d been a staple of British comedies for years. Playing the role of the cantankerous, damaged doctor (without his British accent, no less) still stands out to him as the highlight of career thus far, and he told us why he still loves the character so much. (Click on the media bar below to hear Hugh Laurie)
Just like you, our heads have been spinning with the constant flow of news about the effects and disruptions of the Covid-19 virus on daily life here in America. If the rest of the world’s experience serves as a guide, it will be quite some time before we’re watching live sports again. It will be quite some time before we go to amusement parks again. And — this is where it hits home for us — it will be quite some time before we go back into movie theaters.
