Free Republic

Betsy Palmer, the veteran character actress who achieved lasting, though not necessarily sought-after, fame as the murderous camp cook in the cheesy horror film "Friday the 13th," has died at age 88.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Fox News contributor Bernard Goldberg told Bill O’Reilly last week that Republicans live in fear of “the organized Christian right.” Goldberg and O’Reilly were discussing presidential candidate Ted Cruz, who recently asked a local reporter in Texas if the left — including the media — is obsessed with sex, after reporters repeatedly badgered him with questions about gay marriage and homosexuality. Both said that Cruz handled the question well, even though Goldberg admitted, “I’m not a fan of Ted Cruz.” But Goldberg had more to say. “Ted Cruz could have said, of course, I have no animosity against gay Americans....

The head honcho of the Las Vegas-based TV show “Pawn Stars” will host a birthday party fundraiser for GOP presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio. Rick Harrison and his wife, Deanna, will host the bash May 28 at their home, along with Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison, who is Rubio’s Nevada campaign chairman. Harrison has been a vocal critic of President Barack Obama and has appeared on conservative TV shows. The Marco Rubio for President campaign paid for the invitations. The Florida senator is a frontrunner in the GOP primary hunt that has five other mainstream candidates: U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and...

The final episode of AMC’s “Mad Men” this Sunday heralds the end of a TV era. The show’s seven seasons covered the turbulent decade from 1960 until 1970, dramatizing changing styles and social mores in the lives of “Mad Men” and women, or professionals in the Madison Avenue advertising industry. For those who aren’t regular watchers: A lot of the show’s male characters spent their time chasing young women around the office and a lot of the female characters spent their time trying to land or keep a husband. Critics have consistently lauded the series, not just for its entertainment...

“Infrastructure-wise, we’re becoming a Third World country,” guest host Joy Behar says.The women of “The View” tackled a pressing issue of the week along with a decade-long argument on Thursday’s episode: the deadly Amtrak train crash in Philadelphia and America’s decision to go to war in Iraq. With Whoopi Goldberg absent from the show, Nicolle Wallace, Rosie Perez and Raven-Symone were joined by “View” veteran Joy Behar and model/actress Molly Sims. Given the diverse ideologies on Thursday’s panel, the conversation grew heated at times. The discussion about the train derailment in Philadelphia quickly turned to Republican efforts to cut funding...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A woman smashed seven flat-screen TVs at a store in Alaska with a hatchet and later told police that people on the televisions were watching her, according to police and court documents obtained Monday. Miranda Davison, 33, was arrested on a felony charge of criminal mischief following the vandalism Sunday at a Walmart in Juneau.

Cecily Strong introduced each of the GOP presidential "hopefuls" with a series of all-too-accurate puns.The Southern Republican Leadership Conference looks way more fun when it happens on “Saturday Night Live.”“SNL” mocked the event in its cold open this week, playing up the gathering of GOP presidential hopefuls as “the hottest event of the year,” complete with dance numbers and a very punny DJ (Cecily Strong). Strong introduced each of the “candidates” with zingers that ranged from a little painful (did Mike Huckabee really turn Arkansas “from a red state to a shred state”?) to, well, funny — and rather accurate....

It's house-cleaning time for the major networks as the cancellation ax falls in order to make for new additions in the fall. Some shows, such as NBC's "State of Affairs" and "Constantine," have been off the air so long that it feels they'd already been cancelled. But the formal notice falls just as hard even when if it is long expected.

Wolf Hall, the BBC adaptation of Hillary Mantel’s novel about early Tudor England, began airing on PBS’s “Masterpiece Theater” Easter Sunday night. It’s brilliant television. It’s also a serious distortion of history. And it proves, yet again, that anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable bigotry in elite circles in the Anglosphere. The distortions and bias are not surprising, considering the source. Hillary Mantel is a very talented, very bitter ex-Catholic who’s said that the Church today is “not an institution for respectable people” (so much for the English hierarchy’s decades-long wheedling for social acceptance). As she freely concedes, Mantel’s aim in...

Comedian and radio personality Adam Carolla is apparently a big fan of Sen. Ted Cruz. During a Friday morning interview with the Texas Republican, Carolla approved of the presidential candidate and personally thanked him for wanting to outright abolish the Internal Revenue Service. “Thank you so much for wanting to eliminate the IRS,” Carolla began the conversation. “It’s driving me nuts.” “I think that is a powerful populist issue and today is the day when its on people’s minds,” Cruz said, reminding listeners that Wednesday was Tax Day. Carolla argued that taxes are an important issue that gets overshadowed by...

As we mark the 40th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Fox is prepping a remake of the cult classic. The two-hour taped event special, which is in development with a cast-contingent order, is executive produced by Gail Berman of The Jackal Group; the 1975 movie's producer Lou Adler; and Kenny Ortega, who is set to direct and choreograph. Fox 21 TV Studios is producing.

Conservatives know what to expect when the networks create shows about lawyers. From "L.A. Law" to "Ally McBeal," we've observed countless crusading liberal protagonists confront and defeat conniving corporate executives and other corrupt establishment villains. This seemed to describe "The Good Wife" on CBS over the past five years. But something interesting has happened over the past few weeks. Producers have introduced a wealthy conservative character named Reese Dipple, who engages seasoned liberal lawyer Diane Lockhart on the hot-button social issues of the day. As they say on cable TV, you won't believe what happens next. This debate began because...

Richard Dysart, the Emmy-winning actor who portrayed the cranky senior partner Leland McKenzie in the slick, long-running NBC drama L.A. Law, has died. He was 86.Dysart, who also played Coach in the original 1972 Broadway production of Jason Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning That Championship Season, died Sunday at home in Santa Monica after a long illness, his wife, artist Kathryn Jacobi, told The Hollywood Reporter ...He ... was the bad guy who battled Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider ...

Geoffrey Lewis, the father of actress Juliette Lewis, has died. He was 79 ... Lewis was well known for his appearances in western films and his roles in multiple Clint Eastwood movies ... He also had various television credits on popular series ...

Each December since I-don’t-know-when, I enjoy speculating over what the best Super Bowl matchup would be from an entertainment perspective. Oftentimes that doesn’t mean both top seeds from the AFC and NFC making it to February (as was the case last month), but what game will create the biggest buzz, controversy and hype. This year, I saw that matchup not as Seahawks-Patriots (Richard Sherman is so 2014), but Cowboys-Patriots instead. Just the presence of Tony Romo and all the buildup around his legacy (which has taken a very unfair rap as a choker in big spots despite stats to the...

Peter, an FBI agent stationed in Jerusalem who, while investigating a murder of a young female archaeologist, uncovers a conspiracy 2000 years in the making.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, winds up his exploratory presidential campaign weekend in New York tonight - on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers. The appearance, which was not announced by his political staff, concludes a whirlwind trip to South Carolina and New Hampshire. On Saturday afternoon, Cruz started with a speech at the South Carolina National Security Action Summit, followed by a hop to the Granite State Sunday for the “Strafford County Republican Committee Chili and Chat with Sen. Cruz.” Then it was the Grafton County Lincoln Day Dinner and this morning’s "Politics and Eggs" breakfast at the New Hampshire...

A theme that dramas and soap operas have dwelled on is the spats people can have over what their ancestors may leave for them. Life imitates art has been my experience seeing relatives squabble over the dead carcasses, but some have taken the issue to heart in a new television series on the Fox Business Network (FBN) called Strange Inheritance. The episodes I watched did not involve fisticuffs, but they incorporate many of the same decisions that one has to confront upon the death of a loved one. First, there are the wishes of the dear departed. What did the...

The British actor will reportedly star as a conservative Italian-American pontiff in The Young Pope Jude Law is in negotiations to play a fictional pope in a TV series about the first Italian-American pontiff in history, according to unconfirmed reports.According to reports in the Italian media, Law is in talks to play the lead in The Young Pope, the new series by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, whose film, The Great Beauty, won an Oscar in 2014 for best film in a foreign language.Tony Grisoni, one of the co-writers on the series, told Variety that The Young Pope will be...

Leonard Nimoy—the famed actor synonymous with Star Trek’s iconic Mr. Spock—died on Feb. 27. He leaves behind two children, a storied career and one of the most recognizable characters in pop culture. He’s also a reminder of a different era in America—the years after World War II when the military was more connected to the public, and when it wasn’t so strange for an actor to be a soldier at the same time. In the early ’50s, Nimoy was just another hungry actor with parents who worried he’d never have a real job. So he did what a lot of...