The Parting Shot with H. Alan Scott

Bridget Everett never thought she’d be the lead of a TV show. “I come from the downtown world in New York, a cabaret singer, and these things just don’t happen, you don’t find yourself with three seasons of HBO. It just doesn’t happen.” But it happened. On Somebody Somewhere (October 27), Everett plays Sam, a woman struggling through a midlife crisis with the help of her family and colorful friend...

George Lopez has done a lot in his long career. But now, with NBC’s Lopez vs Lopez, George knows what’s most important “is the people you get to be around and get to talk to.” One of those people includes his daughter, Mayan Lopez, who he created the show with. The two play fictionalized versions of themselves as they rekindle their estranged relationship both in the show and in real life. “Everyt...

This week saw Kamala Harris entering enemy territory with her Fox News interview. Will it help or hurt her? As that was going on, everyone was still reacting to former President Donald Trump jamming out to a playlist that seemingly hasn’t been updated since 1993. Oh, and are we close to Erik and Lyle Menendez being released from prison? H. Alan Scott breaks down all of this and more with Newsweek’...

Asher Grodman is perfectly fine playing a ghost on CBS’ Ghosts who walks through the afterlife without any pants. “I don’t really want to die in the state that Trevor died. It would be nice to have pants on.” But for now, Grodman is OK with it if it means he gets to continue to play Trevor, a former stockbroker who died of a drug-induced heart attack and is destined to haunt a mansion with other g...

Jenny Slate is ready to be herself. “I think what is [evident] in my work is that through my own journey, not just through motherhood, but my own connection with myself as a developing artist, is that I just don’t feel myself flailing anymore.” She’s writing about this confidence in her new book of essays Lifeform (Little, Brown and Company, October 22), which depicts her unique journey into mothe...

Mikey Madison has been dreaming of a film like Anora since she started acting as a teenager on Better Things . “It’s been a dream of mine to have that kind of collaboration with a filmmaker like Sean [Baker].” That dream has come true in a big way, with the film and her performance picking up a lot of awards buzz. “I’m so happy that people are excited about the film because I’m so proud of it.” Ma...

Is Donald Trump weaponizing tragedy by stirring up anger with his response to the various hurricane this week? And will Kamala Harris’ media blitz on shows like the podcast Call Her Daddy, The View and Howard Stern help or hurt her? And finally, is Elon Musk’s endorsement of Trump ethical? Newsweek’s Alex Backus joins H. Alan Scott to break down the week’s biggest news stories. See Privacy Policy...

There’s already a lot of pressure playing one character based on a real person, but two? And in the same movie? That’s exactly what Nicholas Braun does in Saturday Night (October 11), playing both Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman as they, and the rest of the cast, prepare for the first live taping of Saturday Night Live. But Braun wasn’t really intimidated. “I felt really privileged to get to be both o...

Jack Smith’s federal case against former President Donald Trump revs up yet again, but what impact will it have on the election? (Do we still care about January 6th? And why can’t Smith quit Trump?) Also, could a small yet significant change to Apple’s iOS 18 mean the end of social media? (We could only be so lucky, right?) And finally, Ryan Murphy basically tells Erik and Lyle Menendez to be grat...

We just experienced something we haven’t seen in years in this country, a civil debate between two politicians. Senator J.D. Vance and Govenor Tim Walz faced off in what is likely to be the last debate of this presidential election year. How did Walz respond to those fabrication allegations? And why doesn’t Vance want to be fact checked? (OK, I guess we know why.) Newsweek’s Carlo Versano joins H....

We’ve reached the end of September and it’s officially Fall. While the rest of us settle in for those cozy autumn vibes, the two campaigns are making it a fight to the finish heading into October. Will there be an October surprise and what can we expect from the Vice-Presidential debate between Governor Tim Walz and Senator JD Vance next week? Also, President Joe Biden just did The View, so the qu...

Netflix knows exactly what millennials want, and it's to see Adam Brody and Kristen Bell fall in love. "We're a generationally approved couple. There is something nice to the familiarity there," Brody says. In Nobody Wants This (September 26), Brody plays Noah, a "modern" rabbi who falls for Joanne (Bell), an irreverent, non-Jewish woman who is hopelessly bad at love. "He's so modern—not that rabb...

"Can you imagine if the air was just filled with dust particles and you literally could not breathe?" That's what Sarah Paulson is tackling in her new film Hold Your Breath (October 3). Paulson plays Margaret, a Dust Bowl-era mother who's slowly descending into madness after being plagued by a perceived spirit. "The moment you're confronted with a larger problem, like Margaret is, that very tightl...

Leslie Grossman thought she knew everything about Lyle and Erik Menendez, brothers convicted of the 1989 murder of their parents, because she grew up in the same community. “I came to learn that the reality is so much more insane than you could ever imagine.” In Ryan Murphy’s latest season of Monster (Netflix, September 19), Grossman plays Judalon Smyth, the mistress of Dr. Jerome Oziel, “the ther...

Zachary Quinto has played doctors before, but he’s “never played a doctor like” the one he plays on NBC’s Brilliant Minds (September 23). Quinto plays Dr. Oliver Wolf, “based on a real-life person called Oliver Sacks, who was a world renowned, iconic neurologist and prolific author, complex, interesting, dynamic, beautiful person.” One of the things that stood out to Quinto was how unique the show...

After another Trump assassination attempt is thwarted, the two campaigns point blame at each other for the heightened rhetoric... using heightened rhetoric. Speaking of unnecessary rhetoric, the Where’s Waldo of former White House press secretaries, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the current governor of Arkansas, took a jab at Vice President Kamala Harris for not having kids. And while America is riveted...

It’s never fun to be the first one voted off a reality show, but that’s exactly what just happened to Pod Save America’s Jon Lovett on ‘Survivor.’ Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott recaps this wild week in reality TV (Anna Delvey on Dancing with the Stars was interesting) and chats with Jon about being the first one voted off. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at...

Bestselling author Rumaan Alam is happy to come out of hiding to promote his new novel Entitlement (September 17). “I spend all of my time here in this room hunched over this very computer, it's nice to have an opportunity to exist outside of that.” After the massive success of his last book, Leave the World Behind , Alam is once again focusing on class, but this time honing in on money. “We valor...

Fresh off his Tony nomination for Mother Play , Jim Parsons is back on Broadway in Our Town . So, does he not like taking a break? "Until [Big Bang Theory] wrapped in 2019, I did not really know what it was to take a break that was not only extended, but also uncertain." The reason for back-to-back shows—besides theater being "more alive for me now as it...ever has been"—is that "within days of ag...

Taylor Swift has officially declared herself THE childless cat lady after endorsing Kamala Harris. What impact will it have on the election? Also, we now have a trailer and release date for the Donald Trump biopic ‘The Apprentice,’ and we also know why he doesn’t want you to see it. Finally, who will win at the Emmys this year? To help make sense of it all and predict the big winners, Newsweek’s H...

When you think of Mormons, you don’t usually think of soft-swinging. But for a group of social media influencers, it was not only a fact, but also the perfect opportunity for a reality show. (Because it’s 2024 and that’s what we do now.) Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives follows Taylor Frankie Paul, the leader of a group of women known as MomTok online, after she caused a storm revealing the...

For Terry Crews, there are no rules. “There used to be so many rules. They used to say, ‘you can’t do TV, you must only do movies, you can’t do commercials.’” But Crews has proven you can do all of those things and more. He just joined pal Dave Bautista in The Killer’s Game (September 13). Crews loves that it’s funny, saying “to make people laugh is probably the hardest job in entertainment, becau...

We just experienced what is likely to be the only debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, and it was raining cats and dogs. (More on that in a bit.) The big question is, who won? Did Kamala Harris define herself?  And was Donald Trump able to stay on message? H. Alan Scott was joined by Newsweek’s Jesse Edwards to break it all down.   Visit New...

Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney is just as much of a ‘Sopranos’ fan as you and I are. That’s why he’s turning his attention to ‘Sopranos’ creator David Chase in his new two-part HBO documentary ‘Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos.’ The doc looks at the origins of what inspired the Emmy-winning series and how it pulls from Chase’s own life. Gibney joins Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott to talk...

As Kamala Harris bunkers down in debate prep, Donald Trump is preparing by doing a lot of nothing. “Not a lot to do,” he told a New Hampshire radio station. Meanwhile, Republicans like John McCain’s son Jimmy and former Rep. Liz Cheney have said they’re voting for Harris. As all this is going on, RNC co-chair, Lara Trump, has decided to dabble in music. (Yes, music.) To help make sense of it all,...