That’s Entertainment
By Pete Thompson
I normally don’t like to begin a column with sad news, but we have to say goodbye to actress Angela Lansbury, who passed away just five days shy of her 97th birthday. Perhaps you knew her best from her role as Jessica Fletcher in the CBS television hit Murder She Wrote from 1984 to 1996. Or you might remember her from her animated role as Mrs. Potts in the Disney classic Beauty & The Beast. No matter what you remember Lansbury for, she was, in fact, a rarity in show business: a star character actress. That’s because Lansbury had a long, versatile career in films and on Broadway as well. Lansbury was hired by MGM at 17 to play the saucy maid in Gaslight opposite Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. She wound up with an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, as she did the next year, for The Picture of Dorian Gray. How many of you remember Lansbury as the mother in 1962’s The Manchurian Candidate? Her impact as Laurence Harvey’s heinous mother made the role indelibly hers and it brought her a third Oscar nomination. She never won an Oscar, and was given an honorary Emmy after 18 nominations but no wins during the Murder She Wrote days. She did, however, win five Tony Awards for her work on Broadway and was given a sixth Tony for Lifetime Achievement. R.I.P. to one of the greats, Angela Lansbury.
In happier celebrity news, Kaley Cuoco is getting ready to become a mom. The Flight Attendant and Big Bang Theory star, 36, announced on Instagram that she is expecting her first child, a daughter, with fellow actor Tom Pelphrey, 40. Pelphrey was most recently seen in Ozark on Netflix.
With regard to the streaming services, apparently I’ve been missing a popular series called Derry Girls on Netflix. Season 3 just dropped last Friday, as the series about a group of teens living in Northern Ireland in the ’90s as they go through peak puberty is both beloved and reportedly hilarious. Season 3 also is the final season. Here’s a brief description of the show from Decider as they write, “Set against backdrop of the Troubles in 1990s Northern Ireland, the show is the story of five friends at a strict Catholic high school, Erin (Saiorse-Monica Jackson), her cousin Orla (Louisa Harland), Clare (Nicola Coughlan), Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) and Michelle’s English cousin, James (Dylan Llewellyn), as they come of age. It’s bittersweet to let go of the hilarious, nostalgia-filled series as we’ve watched the cast grow up, but as the new season focuses on Orla and Erin turning 18, it’s time for them – and us – to move on.”
Amazon Prime has Lena Dunham’s latest film, Catherine Called Birdy. It’s based on the 1994 novel by Karen Cushman. Again, according to Decider “At the heart of the story is Catherine (also known as Birdy), played by Bella Ramsey, who you know and love from her role as Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones. Ramsey’s Birdy is an equally feisty young woman, who will stop at nothing to avoid having to marry one of the suitors her father (Andrew Scott) wants her to wed so he can advance their family’s social status. The film belongs to that “modernized history” genre that can be hit or miss, but in this case, Ramsey is stellar and the modernization of this story set in the Middle Ages is clever and fun.”
Finally, there’s a new series on Showtime called Let The Right One In. This one is inspired by the Swedish film and novel of the same name (and later, a 2010 American version of the film which co-starred Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloë Grace Moretz). The ten-episode series will air weekly on Showtime and stars Demian Bechir as Mark, a father whose 12-year-old daughter, Eleanor (Madison Taylor Baez), was turned into a vampire when she was a baby. Unable to leave the house until dark, Eleanor is trapped inside, while her father has to find a way to not only feed her the blood she craves but try to find a cure for her.
Speaking of vampires or scary movies, actress Jamie Lee Curtis is insisting that this is the LAST time we will see her as Laurie Strode when Halloween Ends comes out in the theaters on October 14th. “I need to now cut her loose and let her live in the minds and hearts of the fans that have supported her,” Curtis recently told Entertainment Weekly. Halloween Ends is set four years after the events of Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills. In addition to Curtis, the film stars Andi Matichak, James Jude Courtney, Will Patton, Kyle Richards, and franchise newcomer Rohan Campbell. Halloween Ends premieres in theaters and on Peacock Oct. 14.
From “regular” TV, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Ocean City’s Cris Pannullo who has been on a win streak lately on my favorite game show Jeopardy. As I write this, Pannullo has already racked up seven straight wins, and locked down a spot in the show’s Tournament of Champions later in the season. Jeopardy is now in its 39th season, and just as good as ever if you ask me!
Finally, my girlfriend and I are going to give a chance to Alaska Daily starring Hillary Swank on ABC. The pilot description reads, “after a fall from grace, fiercely talented and award winning investigative journalist Eileen Fitzgerald leaves her high profile New York life behind to join a daily metro newspaper in Anchorage.” With Swank a two-time Academy Award winner, and a supporting cast with great actors like Jeff Perry (Grey’s Anatomy & Scandal) & James McDaniel (NYPD Blue), I feel like this one is worth DVR’ing and checking out.
As always, if there’s something out there I’m not covering or discussing in this column, please feel free to email me at PBrooksT@aol.com
I’m very thankful for your readership and hope you will patronize the businesses you see in the pages here. The LOCAL in Shore Local comes from the support of those businesses, so please support them!
Pete has been the local “sports guy” at the Jersey Shore since 2004. After a decade with TV 40, he joined 97.3 ESPN radio to talk Eagles, Phillies, Sixers & Flyers with Mike Gill on “The SportsBash” from 2-6 p.m.
Pete is proud to be a “voice” for the annual ShopRite LPGA Classic each June, and does emcee work for groups like the National Football Foundation, The Old Grad Awards, and The 200 Club of Atlantic County. You can hear Pete each Tuesday and Friday on 97.3 ESPN at 5:00pm, and if you see him out & about in the community, he requests that you please say “Hi”. Send comments to PBrooksT@aol.com
