Tag: Entertainment-Variety

The wait is over: The world premiere of “The Testaments” took place at French festival Series Mania. 

The new show, produced by MGM Television and based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, is set to premiere on Disney+ in April. It tells the dramatic story of a young woman’s coming of age in Gilead. 

It follows the privileged Agnes (“One Battle After Another” breakout Chase Infiniti) and Daisy (Lucy Halliday), a new arrival and convert from beyond Gilead’s borders, as they navigate the halls of Aunt Lydia’s (Ann Dowd) elite preparatory school for future wives.

Dowd, famous for her portrayal of everyone’s favorite villain, said of Aunt Lydia: “I love her. That’s our job as actors. The first rule is: do not judge. I don’t judge her, and she has become a very dear friend of mine. I came to know her, she came to know me, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

She described reprising her role as “the great pleasure and the great joy, a privilege, all of it.” “Imagine knowing the character for these many years. How lucky can one be?”

Lucy Halliday, also present at the fest, was happy to have both the novel and the legendary series – which ended after six seasons – to turn to. 

“We had such strong source material ready, and [with Chase Infiniti] we’ve both been fans of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ We’ve seen the show and read the books. Then we had Ann, Warren Littlefield, Bruce Miller and Elisabeth Moss [who exec produces], all involved in the creation of the show. We had so much to lean on.” 

She recalled: “Bruce is so open and willing to have a conversation. He would really sit down with you and [talk about] what the character should be, the ideas you had or just trying to know that his thoughts were your thoughts. That really created a wonderful environment where you felt: ‘Ok, there’s a responsibility stepping into this world that’s so beloved, but I feel reassured these people have trusted me and given me the space to step into it.’ I felt: ‘We can do a good job. I really hope the audience thinks so too’.”

Chase Infiniti discussed the show’s iconic costumes. 

“For all of us, since we are wearing a variety of costumes in the show, it’s your first piece of armor. All of our costumes were made to fit us perfectly, but they can be restrictive at times. It helped to get into the physicality of our roles.”

Creator Bruce Miller and producer Warren Littlefield were also in Lille.. 

“‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ covered people who are at the bottom of Gilead, and this shows women who are at the top of Gilead. But it also shows how for women, the top and the bottom are very similar,” Miller told the audience. 

“This is a story about awakening and rebellion among younger women in Gilead and those who have grown up there. That’s the expansion of the world.”

Despite the show’s darkness, it’s “critical to have humanity,” added Littlefield.

“We live in a world that’s a dark place, and hope comes from their strength and their resilience. Ann crosses over from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ as Aunt Lydia – she knows that world. These young women have an awakening in our season one, and they will come to fight it. Let’s hope they take it down.”

During the opening ceremony, Managing Director Laurence Herszberg also welcomed the jury of the International Competition, led by Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson who presented “The Danish Woman” only last year.

“When I came here, ‘The Danish Woman’ didn’t get any prizes. It was a scandal! Now, I’m here to take revenge. And by ‘revenge,’ I mean that I will make sure the best series wins,” he joked, joined by Alice Braga, Hatik and Cécile de France.

But there was a somber note too, as one of the jurors, Ida Panahandeh, couldn’t attend Series Mania because of the ongoing war. She did send a message to the audience. 

“I’m deeply happy to know that somewhere in the world, there are people like you, people who strive to make this world a better place to live. You know, if I come out of this war alive, perhaps I will make a series that tells the story of the bitter days and nights my people are dealing. People who have been crushed for decades under the weight of social or political discrimination, economic sanctions, and who are now also living under fallen missiles, emancipated,” she said. 

“Whenever soldiers begin crossing their country’s borders, artists suddenly find themselves forbidden to leave theirs. It’s a bitter irony, isn’t it? I wish all the soldiers to stay within their own borders and take a rest. While, you know, all the artists could cross borders freely, without a doubt, we would have a far better world.”

She added: “My dear friends, let us condemn war, any war, whether it’s in Ukraine, Iran, or Gaza. Let us condemn the brutal killing of children and civilians, regardless of the color of their skin or their eyes. And let us not below the promise of peace and democracy to become an excuse for the re-emergence of fascism.”

Herszberg noted: “In a world rife with violence coming from all sides and deepening divisions, it is essential to remember the role of culture – as a source of guidance and enlightenment – and the role of festivals as a place where we can come together when everything else is in flux.” 

She called Series Mania an event that “gives a voice to artists and their work.” 

“It is a week that fosters the exchange of perspectives and opinions, and allows artists to express themselves freely, regardless of their nationality. Here, we do not judge by passport; we look at the works of the mind. We would like to remind everyone of a truth that is often forgotten. Creative freedom is fragile, and wherever that freedom is threatened, artists are among the first victims.”

“To all these artists, we want to say one simple thing. Their works will always find a place at Series Mania. Because we know that culture is not a luxury reserved for peaceful times. It allows societies to weather storms without losing their soul. It is the thread that connects human beings, transcending borders, languages, and fears.”

Anson Lo is one of Hong Kong’s most recognizable entertainment figures, but he still describes himself as feeling small.

The singer and actor – best known as a member of boy group Mirror and as a solo force with four consecutive Chill Club Male Singer of the Year gold awards to his name – spoke to Variety on the sidelines of Hong Kong FilMart, and the portrait that emerges is of a performer defined less by his accolades than by the pressure he places on himself.

“It’s wonderful to be me, but also a little bit challenging as well,” he says, “because I think people expect a lot from me.” That expectation is something he has learned to channel rather than resist. “I tend to put a lot of pressure onto myself. It makes me push more boundaries and feel braver to try more new things as well.”

That pressure extends to his acting work. Lo recently appeared as himself in “The Season,” the upcoming PCCW Media and SK Global six-part series set for a global premiere in June 2026. The English-language drama – which stars Jessie Mei Li, Chris Pang, Karena Lam, Justin Chien, Yvonne Chapman, Celina Jade, Toby Stephens and Lee Jae-yoon – was one of the marquee titles at this year’s FilMart. Lo describes the experience of working alongside such a seasoned ensemble as a lot of fun, but also nerve-racking. “I had never met the cast members prior to the shooting. Everyone was very experienced, so it made me feel even smaller as an actor and also as a singer,” he says. “But everyone was very nice to me, and everything went well.”

That self-critical instinct has been a constant across his career. Since making his solo debut in 2020, Lo has accumulated chart-topping songs, a 2021 Best New Asian Artist Award (Mandarin) at the Mnet Asia Music Awards, and sold-out concert runs – most notably four nights in 2023 that drew close to 40,000 attendees. But he is quick to redirect attention away from the numbers. “I don’t think about breaking records all the time,” he says. “I tend to focus on my flaws all the time, and I tend to just become a better artist in a very disciplined way.”

Lo credits his years inside Mirror as foundational to who he is on stage. “Being part of Mirror has definitely helped me as a performer, because it allows me to have more experience on stage, and I have got to observe my members’ strengths and weaknesses,” he says. “It has shaped me into a better and more experienced performer.”

The distinction between his work in the group and his solo output is one he takes seriously. As a singer, he says, “I would just be myself, sing however I want, dance however I want – it’s about being my true self.” Acting, by contrast, demands the opposite. “I would just let go of my own identity and fully commit to the role I’m in,” he explains. “It’s about fully becoming another person when I act. So it’s very different.”

When asked what kinds of acting parts he hopes to pursue, Lo’s answer is pointed. “Roles with traumas and mental illness would be very challenging and interesting for me,” he says, “because I tend to study a lot of the mental illnesses. I feel very interested in those kinds of things, and I think it’s important to raise awareness to mental development, and also the mental illness that we’re in.” He situates the impulse in something local and immediate: “As a Hong Kong person myself, Hong Kong people feel very stressed every single day.”

His screen credits already span a breadth of tones and genres – from the romantic comedy “Business Proposal” (2023) to the horror feature “It Remains” (2023) and the heist film “We 12” (2024) – and the desire to push further into psychologically demanding territory suggests a deliberate career trajectory rather than opportunistic casting.

Lo is thoughtful when asked about the broader revival of interest in Hong Kong pop culture. Rather than pointing to any single catalyst, he attributes it to diversification within the industry. “More and more options have been played out,” he says. “Much more different variations of different genres of singers have debuted throughout these years, and I think it is easier for Hong Kong people to have their pick.” He acknowledges the competitive landscape directly – noting that Hong Kong audiences have long gravitated toward K-pop and American pop – and frames the local scene’s growth as a question of offering comparable variety. “With the various choices of Hong Kong pop culture now, I think it’s easier for us to pick our favorites in Hong Kong as well.”

Lo’s regional footprint has expanded steadily, with appearances at the One Love Asia Festival in Malaysia in 2023, the SBS Supersound Festival in 2024 and Waterbomb Singapore in 2025. But performing outside Hong Kong still produces the same nerves that have accompanied him throughout his career. “I’ve always felt very small as a singer, because I don’t think I’m super great at performing compared to all the singers around the world,” he says. “I usually feel very nervous going to different countries or different places.”

What he takes from those experiences, however, is concrete. Observing other artists’ preparations – their professionalism, their focus, their offstage discipline – has pushed him to expand his own creative choices. “The way they do music and do performances has made me just go wild for my music choices as well,” he says.

Locally a superstar, Lo is clear-eyed about where Hong Kong sits in his sense of self as his ambitions grow. “Hong Kong will always be my hometown and will always be something that I cherish the most, because I grew up here,” he says. But he is equally clear that the boundaries are meant to be pushed. “I would love to explore more different stages around the world with my fans. I think me and my fans are more than ready to be brave and go to more different countries to learn more from the others.”

The through-line across all of it – the music, the acting, the international stages – is a pair of principles Lo articulates with plainness. “There are two things that I will not let go,” he says. “One is to be humble, and two is to be ambitious.”

The “Marty Supreme” question that got old in about five minutes — was the title character likable enough? —shouldn’t even be allowed in the same room with Rose Byrne. From the annoyingly upscale “perfect” boss’s wife in “Bridesmaids” to the miserable mother who becomes cosmically unglued in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” she has made a career of playing characters who are haughty and testy, glamorously difficult and hard to cozy up to. But that’s part of her pizazz as an actor. Who would want Rose Byrne to give you the warm fuzzies? (Though I’m betting that if you cast her in a Colleen Hoover soaper, she’d nail it.) “Tow” is a minor indie that doesn’t always make the right moves, but Byrne seizes her character and turns the question of whether you like her or not into the film’s dramatic motor.

At first, we don’t like her at all. After a while, we still don’t (much), but we find ourselves connecting to something in her that transcends likability — her humanity. That’s acting alchemy.

“Tow” is an elongated anecdote based on a true story, and when you see the film you may think: Why couldn’t they have just made this up? Byrne plays Amanda Ogle (pronounced Oh-gle), who is living out of her car in Seattle. It’s a beat-up 1991 slate-blue Toyota Camry, but the vehicle isn’t just her home; it’s her only friend. She talks on the phone to her teenage daughter in Utah (played by Elsie Fisher, who was so terrific in “Eighth Grade”), but that’s her one connection, and it’s hanging by a thread. We never hear the full story of how she got to where she is.

But Amanda’s presence tells us all we need to know. The blonde hair with bangs, put up in a paisley pink kerchief with a plastic flower tucked in, the leather jacket and big dark-pink sunglasses, the snarling scowl of defiance that’s almost part of the look — it’s all a bit thrift-shop punk, and so is her attitude. (She has the aura of someone who was a punk and is still trying to figure out how to age into adulthood.) Amanda snaps at everyone, but Byrne has such a quick mind that we’re alive to her insults and doomsday quips. Her invective perks us right up.

The movie is this simple: Amanda’s car gets stolen, then recovered the next day, but it’s being kept at a commercial lot — Kaplan Towing — that’s charging her $273 before she can drive it away. To Amanda, that might as well be $273,000. She’s a vet tech who has finally landed employment at a veterinarian’s office, where she’s supposed to do pick-ups. But she can’t do the job without the car, and she can’t pick up the car without the job. The movie is about how she spends an entire year living as a homeless person trying to get her cruddy Toyota back.

She crashes at a church homeless shelter, with adjacent 12-step meetings, the whole place overseen by Barbara, played by Octavia Spencer with a pitch-perfect compassionate ruthlessness. Amanda then takes her case against Kaplan Towing to court, serving as her own lawyer, and she wins the case! — but when she arrives back at the lot in triumph, it’s only to find that they’ve already sold the car at auction. She meets a nonprofit lawyer, Kevin (Dominic Sessa), who’s a saintly geek, and they spend months working on the case. She gets roughed up by the homeless shelter’s resident sociopath (Lea Delaria, who is riveting) and meets comrades like the sweet Nova (Demi Lovato) and the combative Denise (Ariana DeBose), who’s as difficult as Amanda is.

We learn that Amanda is a recovering alcoholic (seven months sober) who had her first drink at 11 (in reaction, the film implies, to her being abused by her father when she was 10). But instead of filling in her slow slide into parking-lot vagrancy, what the film leaves unspoken is that whatever problems she had were pushed over the edge by an impossible economy — which combined, in some way, with her impossible personality. The (minor) strength of “Tow” is that it makes no apologies for Amanda, never pretending that she’s a functional person. Yet it shows us her flawed heart. If the film has a message, it’s that assholes who have lost everything are people too. Especially when they fight the system.

I just wish that the storyline built to something. I like anecdotal movies, but the fact that Amanda spends a year working to get her car back and, from what we can tell, doing little else starts to make this ragtag “Candide” of city bureaucracy feels like it’s running in place. Amanda’s car is more than her car; it’s her dignity. But the film never takes the leap into seeing that thinking that way might be part of the problem.

It’s no question that “The Bachelorette” needed a big change. After Jenn Tran’s season ended in 2024 with yet another failed engagement and the show went on hiatus the next year, whoever ABC picked as the lead for Season 22 was going to have to be someone who could recapture America’s attention. Well, as evidenced by ABC pulling the show indefinitely — it was meant to premiere on Sunday — after a video was leaked of a 2023 domestic violence incident between Taylor Frankie Paul and her on again-off again boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, the network and producer Warner Bros. Studio have done just that. But this is surely the companies’ nightmare scenario.

They should have seen it coming, though — the clues were all on screen on the hit Hulu series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” In September, the announcement that the 31-year-old “Mormon Wives” star had been chosen as the Bachelorette sent shockwaves through Bachelor Nation. It marked the first time in “Bachelorette” history that the star of a season had not previously appeared on “The Bachelor” or been linked to the franchise in any way. But a splashy reveal on Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast and the rabid fanbase for Paul’s own Hulu reality show promised to deliver exactly what “The Bachelorette” needed: viewers.

But casting Paul on “The Bachelorette” was always going to be a risk, because the writing has always been on the wall with her public persona. Though it’s fueled the success of “Mormon Wives,” Paul’s brand is chaos — and as the de facto leader of #MomTok, chaos follows her wherever she goes. And she’s not hiding it; it’s the opposite, in fact. Season 4 of “Mormon Wives,” which Hulu dropped in a binge on March 12, almost seemed to be a negative advertisement for “The Bachelorette,” which was supposed to premiere 10 days later. Throughout the season, Paul can’t quit hooking up with Mortensen, despite everything. No matter how much her friends and her family warn her — and even though she’s risking her own mental health, as well as the well-being of their child and the children she has with her ex-husband — Paul wouldn’t listen to reason. Her future opportunities because of the success of “Mormon Wives,” #MomTok and her being the lead on “The Bachelorette” — none of those things seem to matter to her. She’s clearly addicted to Mortensen, everything else be damned.

The Season 4 finale ends with Paul jetting from Utah to Los Angeles to begin filming “The Bachelorette.” But there’s a problem: She had yet again spent the night with Mortensen, so when her friends go to the airport to send her off with fanfare, they see only Paul’s mom and sister, who are going ahead without her. When the friends go to Paul’s house, literally breaking in to try to talk sense to her, Paul claims to be sick. She does eventually head to L.A. that night, but there’s never been more of an ominous start of a journey to find love — which is the alleged purpose of “The Bachelor” franchise.

Paul certainly does know how to create a spectacle, that’s for sure. A single mom from Utah, Paul first blew up on TikTok for revealing that she and her (now ex) husband had been hooking up with other Mormon couples, also known as “soft-swinging.” Paul’s honest, slightly unhinged admission — which was delivered on TikTok Live and ignited a war of words on the platform between those involved — became part of her appeal. Here was a young woman who would unabashedly speak her mind, no matter who she pissed off. Needless to say, the internet loved it — and then Hulu came knocking to document how the fallout affected Paul and her fellow young, Mormon influencer friends (aka #MomTok). “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” which premiered in September 2024 and is already airing its fourth season, was an immediate hit, delivering Hulu’s most-watched unscripted premiere of that year. Its second season, which premiered last spring, was even nominated for a primetime Emmy. Why wouldn’t ABC and “The Bachelorette” want a piece of that?

But there was something darker looming in the background. The pilot episode of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” ends with Paul’s February 2023 arrest after an altercation with her and Mortensen, whom she had just started dating at the time. She allegedly hit, choked and threw metal chairs at him, with one of the chairs allegedly hitting one of her children from her previous relationship. Paul pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault, while charges of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse and criminal mischief were dismissed. She’s still serving three years of probation and therefore couldn’t leave the country for “The Bachelorette’s” typical globe-trotting, meaning production had to adjust travel.

The 2023 incident was just the start of a toxic cycle. Episode 2 picks up one year later, when Paul is pregnant with Mortensen’s child. Through the next three seasons, viewers see Paul and Mortensen break up, make up, sleep together and do it all over again. It’s a classic case of an abusive relationship, with bad behavior seemingly coming from both sides.

In the days leading up to “The Bachelorette” premiere, the news cycle around Paul exploded. Earlier this week, production on Season 5 of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” was put on hold due to a new domestic violence incident between Paul and Mortensen, with both currently under investigation by the Draper City Police Department in Utah.

Even then, though, Paul’s “Bachelorette” publicity schedule continued unabated. ABC continued to put Paul at events and press appearances — and she didn’t shy away from talking to reporters. At a “Bachelorette” event in New York City on Tuesday, Paul told People that she’s “struggling for sure.” The next morning, during a live spot on “Good Morning America,” she was questioned about the “Mormon Wives” production pause and said she “doesn’t call the shots with production,” even though “GMA” anchor Lara Spencer aptly pointed out that she’s an executive producer.

“I think just because we share our lives and we produce like, our own lives… but I don’t know necessarily what that means,” Paul said about her role. Regarding the allegations against her, she said: “I’m a person that will always speak my truth, you know, that’s what I’m known for. And so when the time is right, I will be.”

But on Thursday, TMZ obtained and released a video of the 2023 incident. As Paul and Mortensen yell at each other, she throws three metal bar stools at him, one of which lands near her child, who starts to cry. Though it’s impossible to know the exact events leading up to that moment — a rep for Paul said that it “omits context” and is a “reprehensible attempt to distract from his own behavior” — the video doesn’t paint Paul in a good light. Though the details of the arrest were all in the public record, several of the charges had been dropped against Paul, and sources at Disney say they hadn’t seen the video of the 2023 incident until TMZ posted it.

In a statement released after ABC pulled the show, Paul’s publicist claimed Mortensen has been abusive, saying, “There are too many women who are suffering in silence as they survive aggressive, jealous ex-partners who refuse to let them move on with their lives.”

Clearly, airing Paul’s season would not only be irresponsible, but outright dangerous — both for the credibility of “The Bachelorette,” ABC and parent company Disney, producer Warner Bros. and, most of all, for Paul’s well-being.

The thing is that Paul should never have been cast on “The Bachelorette” in the first place. It’s clear to any casual viewer of “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” that she has been struggling with her mental health, and all too often in the reality TV world, the most vulnerable people are exploited for entertainment and viewers. Of course, Paul is more than deserving of love — but until she truly heals and breaks the cycle of abuse with Mortensen, what’s the point of having her date 30 men in front of the world? As the incident this week sadly proves, starring on another reality show didn’t solve Paul’s problems.

Prime Video’s breakout reality hoax sitcom, “Jury Duty,” is back with an even more hilarious concept and a thoroughly endearing straight man. Created by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, “Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat” follows a fictional family-owned hot sauce brand (“Rockin’ Grandma’s”) and its temporary assistant, Anthony Norman, who is brought in to help with the annual company retreat.

Here’s where things get spicy: Anthony has agreed to be a part of a documentary about Rockin’ Grandma’s — but he has no idea that everything about his experience is staged. Hilarious, preposterous and absolutely joyous, “Company Retreat” takes the “Jury Duty” concept (which focused on a mark unknowingly cast among comedians posing as jurors inside a fake courtroom in Season 1) to the next level.
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“Company Retreat” opens in Los Angeles, where 25-year-old Anthony, a transplant from Nashville, introduces himself to the documentary crew. He thinks he’s been hired by Rockin Grandma’s Head of HR, Kevin (Ryan Perez), to assist at the upcoming retreat. Kevin explains that this year’s retreat is extra-special because the founder/CEO, Doug (Jerry Hauck), is retiring, and his son Dougie (Alex Bonifer) will be taking over the role. When Anthony is introduced to the young successor, it’s immediately clear that Dougie doesn’t have the chops to lead himself, let alone a business. Still, wanting to be a team player, Anthony is warm, friendly, and offers an encouraging word to the future CEO — despite Dougie’s obvious nerves and his random outbursts in Jamaican Patois. (As part of the made-up character’s made-up backstory, Dougie lived on the island for several years and was in the rock band called “The JA Prophets.”)
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In addition to Dougie, Rockin’ Grandma’s employees all have their eccentricities. Amy (Emily Pendergast) is a customer relations specialist and die-hard Swiftie who is celebrating her 40th birthday on Anthony’s first day. Receptionist PJ (Marc-Sully Saint-Fleur) has dreams of becoming a snack influencer. Kate (Erica Hernandez), the type-A sales and marketing rep, wears a posture-monitoring device that zaps her with an electric shock if she slouches. Warehouse manager Jimmy (Jim Woods) is basically Creed from “The Office” after addiction recovery. Jackie (LaNisa Frederick), who works in distribution and logistics, is just happy to be away from her kids. Accountant Helen (Stephanie Hodge) is known to say exactly what’s on her mind while slipping a shot or two into her Stanley Cup. Other Anthony (Rob Lathan) is the sourcing manager who’s sleeping on Helen’s love seat because his condo is covered in mold. Finally, there is salesman Steve (Warren Burke), who’s the most even-keeled of the bunch.
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The opening episode, “Onboarding,” hits the ground running with the first day of the retreat. Enthusiastic and boasting a can-do attitude, Anthony is happy to assist Kevin, who has labeled himself “Captain Fun.” Viewers are also introduced to Marjorie (Blair Beeken), the activities lead at Oak Canyon Ranch, as well as Rockin’ Grandma’s sole remote worker, web designer Claire (Rachel Kaly), who appears to be terrified by the sun and wholly unnerved by other human beings.

Though the first day at Oak Canyon starts off promisingly, it ends with a bit of a curffluffle. After a cringeworthy but amusing incident forces Kevin to return home, Anthony is left in charge of the retreat’s logistics and must take on the role (and hat) of “Captain Fun.”
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“Company Retreat’s” ultra-talented cast, along with writer Anthony King and director Jake Szymanski provide the structure, hijinks and fun of the show. However, as the one person on set who truly has no idea that this is completely a lark, Anthony is truly the heart of the season. A hard-working young father, he is optimistic and warm, allowing all his new co-workers to be themselves.

Over the course of the eight-episode season, Anthony is seen offering tidbits of advice to Dougie and Claire, doing TikTok snack videos with PJ, and as a genuine, amazing team player and friend. Though he’s only contracted to be at Rockin’ Grandma’s for a week, Anthony quickly endears himself to his newfound colleagues and the audience. This is heightened after he learns that Doug is considering selling the business to the high-powered, quarter-zip-wearing private equity investors Triukas and its sinister director Elizabeth (Wendy Braun).
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From the case of the stolen Doritos to the revelation of a secret romantic relationship, as well as countless nonsensical seminars, the “Dougathalon,” and some chaotic dinner theater, “Company Retreat” is absolutely hysterical. Though Anthony is completely oblivious about this being a farce, he’s never the butt of the joke. Instead, he goes out of his way to ensure that each person he encounters (except Elizabeth) feels welcome and seen. His intelligence, care and curiosity are something rarely seen on unscripted television, and it’s the reason why this truly distinct franchise continues to flourish even in Season 2.
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Like its predecessor, 2023’s “Jury Duty” (which originally streamed on the now-defunct Amazon Freevee), “Company Retreat” soars because of its wholesome depiction of humanity. Despite his co-workers’ quirks, Anthony is kind and accepting, even when he has to chuckle about the insanity around him. Despite any of the hijinks of the retreat, it’s clear that he and everyone around him are having a fantastic time. Like Season 1’s Ronald Gladden, Anthony Norman proves there really are a few lovely gems still sprinkled among our ever-eroding society.

The first three episodes of “Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat” debut March 20 on Prime Video, with the remaining episodes airing weekly on Fridays.

“Grey’s Anatomy” creator Shonda Rhimes is not angry over the exclusion of Eric Dane from the Oscars’ televised In Memoriam section. Dane, who died in February at 53 years old after a battle with ALS, was one of several prominent actors who were not included in the In Memoriam segment. James Van Der Beek, Brigitte Bardot, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Robert Carradine, and “Harold and Maude” star Bud Cort were also excluded.

“Well, he’s not a movie star,” Rhimes told Entertainment Tonight after the Oscars amid instant backlash over Dane and other actors’ omissions. “I feel like when the Emmys come around, he will be immortalized the way he should be. I don’t think… we can’t fault the Oscars for the fact they’re looking at movies, and there were so many people who were lost… Eric was unique to television.”

The Oscars’ In Memoriam section was expanded this year during the live ceremony to include larger tributes to Robert Redford, Diane Keaton and Rob Reiner. Barbra Streisand sang parts of “The Way We Were” to honor co-star Redford, while Keaton’s “The Family Stone” co-star Rachel McAdams gave a heartfelt speech honoring the “Annie Hall” Oscar winner. Reiner’s tribute was one of the emotional highs of the Oscars, Billy Crystal paying tribute to his dear friend and then being joined on stage by dozens of actors from Reiner’s movies, from Kathy Bates to Meg Ryan, Jerry O’Connell, Annette Bening and more.

“Eric is—was an incredible human being,” Rhimes told ET. “And I still say ‘is’ because it’s very hard for me to believe he’s gone. He was a huge loss for us. He was a huge loss for the Shondaland family, for the ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ family, and honestly the people that he knew. He was just a wonderful, wonderful giving guy. And I don’t think everybody understands how amazing he was.”

Dane appeared as Dr. Mark Sloan, memorabaly dubbed McSteamy, for 145 episodes of the ABC medical drama. On behalf of her company, Shondaland, Rhimes wrote in the hours after Dane’s death that he “was a beloved member of the Shondaland and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ families. He was truly a gifted actor whose portrayal of Dr. Mark Sloan left an indelible mark on the series and on audiences around the world.”

“We are grateful for the artistry, spirit, friendship and humanity he shared with us for so many years. Our hearts are with his family, loved ones, and all who were touched by his work,” Rhimes concluded at the time.