March 01, 2020

Here's the Scoop...

Do you like firefighters, coppers, lawyers, and medical personnel? Well, tune into NBC - they got it all covered.

NBC has renewed Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for additional seasons.

Each of the shows -- which were created by Dick Wolf -- have been picked up for three more seasons.

The renewals were part of a five-year deal that will keep Wolf and his production company Wolf Entertainment at Universal Television.

"I'm gratified and excited that Universal will remain our home for five more years," Wolf said in a press release on Thursday.

"This new term deal complements our recently concluded agreement to make Peacock one of the primary destinations for both the L&O and Chicago brands, as well as our extraordinary three-year NBC broadcast pickups on all four current series. We are now supercharged to expand our business on new platforms, both domestically and internationally, while continuing to produce our current and future series for broadcasting and streaming networks."

Be Well,
Steve

Comments? Questions? Nooz? Email Steve

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Reports: Spielberg won't direct 'Indiana Jones 5'; Mangold in talks

Steven Spielberg stepped down as the director of the fifth Indiana Jones film, sources with knowledge of the matter said Wednesday.

Variety first reported the news, which Deadline confirmed.

James Mangold is in talks to take over as director of Indiana Jones 5, the outlets reported.

Mangold just finished the Oscar-winning Ford v Ferrari and had hits with Logan, The Wolverine and Walk the Line. He produced The Call of the Wild starring Indiana Jones actor Harrison Ford.

Vanity Fair spoke to a source who confirmed it was Spielberg's decision to step down.

"The decision to hand over directing duties was entirely Steven's," the source said. "He felt now was the perfect time to let a new director and a new generation give their perspective to the overall story and this film."

Spielberg and producer George Lucas introduced Indiana Jones in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark. Jones is an archeology professor who went on adventures looking for mystical artifacts such as The Ark of the Covenant, the Sankara Stones, The Holy Grail and the Crystal Skull.

Spielberg directed the four previous films including Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Lucas produced the previous four too.

Lucas sold his company Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 for more than $4 billion. Disney began releasing Star Wars films in 2015 but has struggled to develop a new Indiana Jones.

Ford remains attached to reprise his role. Spielberg will produce and Variety sources expect him to remain hands on. Disney has set a July 9, 2021, release date for the film.

'Candyman' returns in first trailer for upcoming horror revival

An urban legend is back killing those who speak his name five times into a mirror in the first trailer for upcoming horror revival, Candyman.

The clip, released Thursday, features Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as visual artist Anthony who moves into a luxury condo in a gentrified area of Chicago with his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna (Teyonah Parris).

Anthony discovers that the area, known as Cabrini Green, was home to the Candyman. Anthony, wanting to further his art career, begins to investigate the urban legend and sets off a wave of violence that consumes his life.

The trailer also features a group of high schoolers speaking Candyman's name into a mirror five times before they are all brutally murdered.

Candyman will act as a spiritual sequel to the 1992 Candyman film which starred Tony Todd in the title role.

Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us), is producing and co-wrote the script with Win Rosenfeld. Nia DaCosta (Little Woods) is directing.

LOOSE LIPS:

"What's hard is people changing their vocabulary; that's very, very difficult. It takes time. Everyone messes up. I'm going to be misgendered to the day I die. This is going to take a long, long time for people to not use gender in their vocabulary."
--Sam Smith, on shifting away from gendered pronouns and knowing it may take time for people to adjust to using Smith's preferred pronouns of "they/them," to Zane Lowe on New Music Daily

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Which famous video game designer will be honored with BAFTA Fellowship?

Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett top ACM Award nominations

The nominees for the 55th annual Academy of Country Music Awards were announced Thursday with Maren Morris and Thomas Rhett leading the field with five nominations each.

Morris' Girl and Rhett's Center Point Road are nominated for Album of the Year along with Miranda Lambert's Wildcard, Luke Combs' What You See Is What You Get and Jon Pardi's Heartache Medication.

Morris is also up for Female Artist of the Year alongside Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Kacey Musgraves and Kelsea Ballerini while Rhett is up for Male Artist of the Year alongside Combs, Dierks Bentley, Chris Stapleton and Keith Urban.

Entertainer of the Year will be decided between Rhett, Underwood, Combs, Eric Church and Luke Bryan.

Dan + Shay, Brooks & Dunn, Brothers Osborne, Florida Georgia Line and Maddie & Tae are nominated for Duo of the Year while Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Midland, Old Dominion and The Highwomen are nominated for Group of the Year.

Blake Shelton's "God's Country," Old Dominion's "One Man Band," Musgraves' "Rainbow," Lee Brice's "Rumor" and Lady Antebellum's "What If I Never Get Over You" is nominated for Single of the Year.

Dan + Shay's "10,000 Hours" featuring Justin Bieber, Ashley McBryde's "Girl Goin' Nowhere," Shelton's "God's Country," Old Dominion's "One Man Band" and Church's "Some Of It" are nominated for Song of the Year.

Visit the official ACM Awards website for a complete list of nominees.

The ACM Awards will be broadcast live on CBS on April 5 at 8 p.m. EDT from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Urban, the reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year, will serve as host.

Clive Cussler, author and underwater explorer, dead at 88

Clive Cussler, a best-selling author and adventurer who led underwater expeditions to find sunken ships, has died at age 88.

Cussler died at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Monday, a spokeswoman for his publisher Penguin Random House confirmed. The cause of death was not announced.

Cussler was best known for writing a number of adventure novels starring hero Dirk Pitt, a cross between James Bond and Indiana Jones.

Dirk Pitt, who works for the National Underwater and Marine Agency, would often save the world from terrorists and enjoyed the company of beautiful women.

The writer penned 85 books such as Cyclops, Inca Gold, Raise the Titanic! and Sahara. He sold over 100 million copies with his books reaching the New York Times' best-seller list more than 20 times.

Cussler founded the real-life National Underwater and Marine Agency or NUMA in 1979 as a private nonprofit group that discovered and preserved shipwrecked artifacts.

NUMA discovered in 1983 Cornelius Vanderbilt's steamship Lexington which caught fire and sank beneath the waters of Long Island Sound in 1840.

The author and organization also found in 1984 the U-20 German submarine that sank the liner Lusitania in World War I and the Leopoldville troopship that sank with more than 800 soldiers onboard off of France in 1944.

Cussler wrote about his real-world adventures in a number of nonfiction books. His last book, Journey of the Pharaohs: A Novel From the NUMA Files, co-written by Graham Brown, will be released in March.

Cussler is survived by his second wife Janet, son Dirk, daughters Teri and Dayna, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

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Which famous video game designer will be honored with BAFTA Fellowship?

Renowned video game designer Hideo Kojima is set to receive BAFTA's highest honor, the Fellowship, at the 2020 BAFTA Games Awards on April 2.

Kojima is best known for the best-selling and critically acclaimed Metal Gear series of games and for Death Stranding which was released for the PlayStation 4 in November.

He is considered a pioneer of the stealth-action genre and an innovator when it comes to story-telling and cinematic presentation in video games.

The Fellowship is BAFTA's highest accolade given to those who have made an outstanding contribution to film, video games or television.

Kathleen Kennedy, Thelma Shoonmaker, Tim Schafer, Joanna Lumley, John Carmack, Helen Mirren, Rockstar Games, Julie Walters, Gabe Newell, Peter Molyneux, Vanessa Redgrave, Shigeru Miyamoto and Will Wright have previously received the honor.

"Thank you very much for this precious BAFTA Fellowship award. I am very honored and would like to take this moment to reflect on the many predecessors that came before me, as I deeply respect their contributions to entertainment, whether in movies, television, or games," Kojima said in a statement.

"I would also like to thank those who have supported me over the years and I will continue my commitment to creating new and innovative ways that will push the world of 'play' entertainment forward," he continued.

The 2020 BAFTA Games Awards will take place at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Nominees will be announced on Tuesday.