The Parting Shot with H. Alan Scott

As she gets ready to drop her first rock album at age 77, Dolly Parton, the country music icon, speaks exclusively with Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott about her career, her love of rhinestones, culture wars, a certain penchant for plastic surgery—and more. Look for Dolly Parton on the cover of Newsweek (November 10th) and pick her album ‘Rockstar’ (November 17th).  Visit Newsweek.com to learn more...

Leslie Jones, best known for her star-making turn on Saturday Night Live , is ready to share her story, on her terms and in her own way. She came up with the book’s title “because a whole bunch of people [would] come up to me and go, ‘Thats Leslie-f******-Jones!,’” Jones to Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. In her book, Leslie F****** Jones (Grand Central Publishing), the comedian shares the abuse she suf...

For Josh Gad, the path to returning to Broadway following his star-making performance in ‘Book of Mormon’ wasn’t easy. “Book of Mormon is a once in a generation thing...you’re not going to replicate that. So why are you trying,” Gad told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. But one part Gad is willing to replicate from his ‘Mormon’ days in his new musical, ‘Gutenberg! The Musical!’ (currently on Broadway) is...

If there’s one thing Danny Pellegrino, host of the hugely popular ‘Everything Iconic’ podcast, is ready for, it’s the holidays. “I’m a festive person. I love decorating for whatever holiday it is. I’m a huge fan of table scaping,” Pellegrino recently told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. And after the success of his bestselling first book, ‘How Do I Un-Remember This?’ Pellegrino decided to lean into his...

Jake Cohen’s first cookbook, ‘ Jew-Ish’ (Harvest, 2021) , was a perfect intro to the Instagram-famous cook. How to top it? It “was this mashup of everything I’ve done up to that point. The second book was starting from scratch,” Cohen told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. And that’s exactly what Cohen did with his new cookbook, ‘ I Could Nosh’ (Harvest, September), turning to family recipes for ideas. It...

For Ashley Flowers, host of the podcast ‘ Crime Junkie,’ success was unforeseen. “I wasn’t expecting it to be what it is,” Flowers told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. And what it is, is the number one true crime podcast in the country. But if she had to pinpoint a reason, Flowers says it’s like “sitting down with their two best friends” (Flowers’ friend Brit Prawat co-hosts). Flowers views her work as...

For the past 23 years, ‘ Survivor’ host and producer Jeff Probst has been a mainstay on our televisions, and year after year he continues to be amazed by the game. “I am constantly inspired—and then five minutes later deliciously entertained—by some incredible blind side,” Probst told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. Now entering its 45th season (September 27), Probst says “what makes this job so fun is...

For Reba McEntire, joining NBC’s ‘ The Voice’ as a judge after Blake Shelton’s departure adds a layer of “pressure” to the gig. “Nobody can replace Blake Shelton. He’s a huge personality and a wonderful person.... I’m just getting in there trying to have fun and represent country music as best I can,” she told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. But if anybody can do that, it’s Reba McEntire, who hasn’...

When ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ opened in 2002, it made its star and writer, Nia Vardalos, a celebrity overnight. “I’m somebody ordinary that something extraordinary happened to,” she told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. Now, after the 2016 sequel, Vardalos is bringing the Portokalos family back with ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’ (September 8). Part of what has kept us coming back to the family is that “...

There’s just something about ‘Law & Order: SVU,’ right? It’s the mix of drama and true crime (and maybe just a little romance). Considering it’s been on for more than 20 years, people can’t seem to get enough ‘SVU.’ Which is why Liza Treyger and Kara Klenk started ‘That’s Messed Up: An SVU Podcast’ on the Exactly Right podcast network. They join Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott to discuss what it is a...

I was raised Mormon, got some cancer, and then converted to Judaism. Why? Well, it’s complicated and it’s the basis for the documentary film ‘Latter Day Jew,’ available soon on video on demand on a number of platforms. Today I’m sharing my story, because it’s a weird one, but it’s also how I became H. Alan Scott. I’ll be joined by writer, comedian and my best friend, Eliot Glazer (‘Broad City...

Cobra Kai ’s Xolo Maridueña is going from kicking butt on Earth to doing so in the multiverse in the latest DC Comics film ‘ Blue Beetle’ (August 18). “I'm so excited about people meeting this character for the first time,” Maridueña told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. This is not only the young actor’s big screen debut and, the film is also the first DC Comics movie to focus solely on a Latin superher...

When Casey McQuiston’s novel ‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ was published in 2019, it was an instant bestseller. Now the story of a romance between the U.S. president’s son Alex (Taylor Zakhar Perez) and British Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) is a new Amazon Prime movie (August 11). “I really didn’t know the magnitude of it,” Perez told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott about the popularity of the book....

Christian entertainment has been on the rise in recent years. With the popularity of the new film ‘Sound of Freedom’ and the show ‘The Chosen,’ it does feel like Christian stories are gaining more and more mainstream prominence. Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott spoke with Paul Pond, the author of the Newsweek cover story ‘Jesus Takes Hollywood,’ about what he found in his reporting. We’ll also chat with J...

Last December, fans of the series ‘ Minx’ were dismayed when streaming service Max announced it was canceling the show about a ’70s erotic magazine for women. “We had heard ramblings,” says the show’s star, Ophelia Lovibond told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. But Starz stepped in and saved the series. (The second season premiered July 21.) “People are tweeting and sending messages, expressing their out...

If anyone in Hollywood has experienced every aspect of the business, it’s Jamie Lee Curtis. “I’ve been doing this for a long time with very little expectations. I’ve just had a really good time doing what I get to do, when [and] with who I get to do it with. You just never know when someone’s going to really love something,” Curtis told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. Fresh off her Oscar win for ‘...

If you ask Tiffany Haddish if she's a fan of a good crime story, the immediate response you'll get is, "Baby! I'll be watching. I love a good mystery." Which makes her the perfect person to play the detective in the Apple TV+ comedy-mystery series ‘The Afterparty’ (July 12). The second season of the series focuses on a murder at a wedding, with each episode told from the perspective of a different...

Andrew Rannells, best known for his roles in ‘Girls’ and ‘The Book of Mormon,’ asks a very important question in his new book: when will we ever feel like an adult? In ‘Uncle of the Year,’ Rannells writes about acting, aging, mental health, bad jobs, and much more. Are we all just pretending to be adults? And why are so many of us skipping out on things like marriage and children? Rannells chatted...

On today’s episode, we’re talking Hollywood health fads. If there’s one thing the west coast lives, it’s a hot new alternative medicine, treatment, or spiritual experience. We’re talking things like Ozempic—the weight loss drug taking Hollywood by storm—naked retreats and hallucinogens. Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott talks with Thomas Fairman, director of WYLD, a naked retreat for men in nature that hel...

A new season of ‘And Just Like That’ is here and Evan Ross Katz joins Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott to talk all about it—and spill some insider knowledge. There’s just something about ‘Sex and the City’ that has captured our attention ever since the HBO series started in 1998. (Can you believe it’s been around since 1998?!) Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha have gone on to represent little bits o...

One of the most compelling villains to come out of ‘ The Walking Dead’ was Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Negan, and now he’s back in ‘ The Walking Dead: Dead City’ (June 18 on AMC). “Since we’ve last seen him, he’s not doing great,” Morgan told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. The story picks up two years after the original series, where Negan and Maggie (played by Lauren Cohan) came to a truce after Negan...

Everything has a story, including Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. In fact, the story behind the person who claims to have invented the flavor, Richard Montañez, was so good it warranted a film. “We worked very hard to make sure that it was entertaining as well as telling Richard’s story,” Jesse Garcia, who plays Montañez in the new Eva Longoria-directed film ‘ Flamin’ Hot’ (June 9), told Newsweek’s H. Alan S...

Asian food is one of the fastest growing dishes in popularity, and that’s almost exclusively because of its popularity on social media, particularly TikTok and Instagram. On today’s episode, Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott will chat with three experts on Asian cuisine: Kim Chi (RuPaul’s Drag Race) and Jon Kung from the podcast ‘1 For the Table,’ and Jimmy Guo, who came in second on Sweden’s Master Chef....

Do you have what it takes to win Survivor? It’s a question millions of people ask themselves every season. Over the course of season 44 of the long-running CBS reality series, three players won the hearts of viewers: Carolyn, Yam Yam, and Carson. They started in the same tribe, and over the course of the season formed an alliance that took all of them to the end.   Today Carson Garrett j...

For Melissa McCarthy, playing Ursula in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid (May 26) started with terror. “That song [“Poor Unfortunate Souls”] looms so large for me that if I can't do it, I shouldn't be doing it,” McCarthy told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott. Fortunately for us, she did it—and did it well. That’s partly because she saw Ursula as more than just a villain. “She’s not just ostrac...