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Ronnie Schell, a prolific TV character actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of the amiable Pvt. Duke Slater, pal of Jim Nabors’ hayseed Gomer Pyle on the ’60s sitcom of that name, died of natural causes today at UCLA Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 94. His death was announced by family. Born Ronald Ralph Schell on December 23, 1931, in Richmond, California, Schell began his show business career while a senior at San Francisco State University when he auditioned at the city’s famed Purple Onion nightclub as a stand-up comedian. Signed for a five month stint, Schell, after...

Joe Negri, the actor and musician who delighted children for more than three decades on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, has died at 99. Negri died Saturday, just days before he would have turned 100 on June 10, according to TribLive. His oldest daughter, Lisa Negri, confirmed to the publication that he died of natural causes, though his exact cause of death has not yet been revealed. Negri, who appeared on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as Handyman Negri, is credited with appearing on 331 episodes of the show from the year of its debut, 1968, to the end of its run in 2001....

Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA study finds Gen Z and Gen Alpha want to see caring, affectionate dads and men showing vulnerability in movies and TV, rejecting outdated masculine stereotypes. Joyful fatherhood was the single most requested portrayal of masculinity by adolescents surveyed by the researchers, with nearly 60% of young people asking to see more fathers openly showing love and enjoying parenting. 46% of respondents are seeking content that shows men asking for help, including with their mental health. "For today’s young audiences, the most compelling hero isn’t the one standing alone, but the one who has...

Conventional wisdom in the entertainment industry has held that religion is a risky subject—polarizing, niche, and best avoided in mainstream storytelling. New research however, suggests the opposite...even among viewers with no religious affiliation... A national survey conducted by HarrisX in partnership with the Faith & Media Initiative, released in late January 2026, examined how American audiences respond to religious themes embedded in mainstream films and television... 77 percent of entertainment consumers agreed that the presence of faith in television and movies is broadly appealing. This sentiment was remarkably consistent across generational lines...Political affiliation made little difference... A telling example came...

'What I’m doing with Comics Unleashed, we don’t talk about politics. We don’t talk about anything that’s topical,' Allen told CNN's Michael Smerconish. 'We don’t do anything that’s racist or sexist or antisemitic or homophobic. Just be funny and don’t offend.'

Spectrum: A new proposal asked the FCC to clear out a large block of UHF broadcast spectrum -- a move that could force more than 40% of U.S. TV stations to relocate. In an April 15 petition, a group called Landover Saturn 5 LLC urged the FCC to open a rulemaking that would repurpose Channels 28 -- 36, or 554 -- 608 MHz, for flexible wireless use aimed at future 6G services. The plan dropped just three days before the start of the National Association of Broadcasters' annual convention in Las Vegas. The company -- which said "it has the...

The parent company behind well-known shopping channels QVC and HSN has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. QVC Group, which filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, announced the filing in a press release Thursday, saying the company will undergo a restructuring support agreement (RSA) to reduce its debt from $6.6 billion to $1.3 billion. The goal of the RSA is to emerge from bankruptcy within 90 days. "The company has ample liquidity to support the business and, importantly, the terms of the RSA provide for vendors, suppliers and all other general unsecured creditors of the...

A local television news anchor in Alabama sparked outrage online for signing off a recent newscast by quoting the founder of an Islamic fundamentalist group blamed for inspiring some of the world’s most lethal terrorist organizations. Ashonti Ford, 38, was wrapping up her 6 p.m. broadcast this past Thursday on Birmingham’s ABC 33/40 WBMA-LD when she cited a quote attributed to the late Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. “Before we go, a quote from the founder of the Islamic Brotherhood: ‘The quieter you become, the more you’re able to hear,’” she said as she closed the March...

The star of a popular show about King David is opening up about his personal conversion and the decision that led him to come into full communion with the Catholic Church ahead of the second season’s global premiere. “When I was younger, I went to the Coptic Orthodox Church — and I love the Coptic Orthodox Church,” said the 24-year-old actor, who moved from Egypt to the United States as a boy. “But I found myself for a while, especially here in the States, I just didn’t go to church at all.” Iskander said that his faith journey and his...

Charity Pierce, who appeared on the TLC show My 600-lb Life, has died at age 50 after reportedly suffering from various health ailments. Pierce passed away with loved ones by her side at 1:20AM on Tuesday, a family source told TMZ. The source said various medical conditions had resulted in Pierce being placed in hospice care for the past month or two. symbol 00:55 02:24 Read More The health issues included lymphedema and fluid buildup in her lungs, with the source saying the fluid was a possible factor in her death. A cause of death is not yet known. Pierce,...

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Just in case you thought Hollywood was running out of stories to adapt for TV and movies, Fox is going back further than you might expect. The upcoming series, The Faithful, aims to adapt multiple stories from the Bible that focus on women for a limited series in 2026. The Faithful release date comes in time for Easter 2026, with Minnie Driver in one of the starring roles. The Faithful is a three-part limited series based on five Old Testament women – Sarah, Hagar, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel. Their stories are intertwined and, more importantly, they are some of the...

Fractured Fairy Tales 4+ hour Marathon

The nominations for the 2026 Golden Globes are out, and One Battle After Another led the pack for what’s widely considered the kickoff to Hollywood’s awards season. The Paul Thomas Anderson film got nine nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor, followed by Sentimental Value with eight, Sinners with seven, Hamnet with six, and Frankenstein and Wicked: For Good with five each. On the television side, The White Lotus led with six nominations — including first-time nominees Carrie Coon, Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins — followed by Adolescence with five, and Only Murders in the Building and...

Like autumn leaves falling from Hollywood’s once-evergreen trees, a familiar cycle is returning to American entertainment. For years, the industry insisted its experimental season would last forever, that audiences would adapt to whatever programming executives deemed necessary for our moral improvement. But nature, like the marketplace, has its own immutable laws. The entertainment industry has been quietly recalibrating its priorities lately, though you wouldn’t know it from the panicked press releases flooding out of activist organizations. Television networks and streaming services, those great barometers of American cultural preferences, are making decisions based on an almost forgotten metric: what viewers actually...

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Love him or hate him, that adage did bear true when ABC semi-funnyman Jimmy Kimmel was yanked off airwaves for lying about the Charlie Kirk assassin in mid-September. Kimmel came back from his five-day suspension to an undeniably massive audience: 6.48 million viewers, according to Mediaite. But if absence makes the heart grow fonder, does presence make the heart grow weary? Love him or hate him, that appears to be true about Kimmel, as well. Despite that monstrous viewership for his return, few of them appeared to have stuck around, if...

I used to wince when publicists sent me faith-based films or TV to preview. Almost always, the genre’s reputation—cheaply made, cheesy, preachy—proved well deserved. But in recent years, the genre’s quality has vastly improved. I’m increasingly delighted to praise quality offerings—not because they’re not awful but because they’re genuinely praiseworthy. Jon Erwin (I Can Only Imagine) has been part of an emerging renaissance of faith-based film and TV. It’s a welcome trend that also includes his brother Andrew, Jon Gunn (Jesus Revolution), and Dallas Jenkins (The Chosen). Still, when I heard that Erwin’s new Wonder Project studio was kicking off...

A major Jewish group is gathering signatures for a petition against ABC to cancel the series Quantico, amid allegations of anti-Israel and antisemitic content. The Zionist Organization of America has been protesting what it considers the “blatant, vicious defamation of Jews, Israel and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), promoting ugly lies against the Jewish people and the Jewish state” on the TV thriller about a group of FBI recruits training to become special agents. In a statement released on Friday, ZOA President Morton A. Klein and Director of Special Projects Liz Berney referred to a previous complaint they had lodged...

PBS informed 34 staffers Thursday they were being laid off as part of a broader downsizing effort that's resulted in 100 jobs being cut in recent months. The cuts were triggered in part by the Trump administration’s rescission package, which slashed over $1 billion in federal funding for public broadcasting. "Due to the loss of federal funding, PBS eliminated close to 100 positions over the last several months, including 34 valued PBS staff members notified yesterday their employment is ending. In this unprecedented moment, we remain focused on what matters most: ensuring our member stations can deliver quality content and...

Diego Borella passed away from a "sudden heart attack" on set in VeniceAn assistant director has died on set in Venice during the filming of the fifth season of Emily In Paris. Diego Borella, who was working as the third assistant director and was hired locally, collapsed and died from a “sudden heart attack”, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica. He was 47. “We are deeply saddened to confirm the sudden passing of a member of the Emily In Paris production family,” a Paramount Television Studios spokesperson said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Our hearts go out to...