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While it might seem like all the good television shows have come and gone (besides Better Call Saul…for now), we actually might not even have reached the full potential of “peak TV” yet.

While The Golden Era has had some ups and downs, the number of scripted series from this year is very high, leading FX’s John Landgraf to believe that TV hasn’t fully peaked yet. “My original prediction that we would see maximum in 2018 or 2019 was obviously way, way off,” Landgraf said this week during a virtual TCA press event. The exec attributes COVID delays as a reason for a lull in TV from 2020 to early 2022, but says that the drought is finally coming to an end.

“I’m going to foolishly make another prediction, which is that 2022 will be the high watermark [of scripted TV],” he boldly claimed via Variety. “In other words, it will mark the peak of the peak TV era. It will take a year and a half to find out if I’m right this time, or we’ll have to eat crow yet again.” Hear that, HBO? You only have 18 months to fill the Soprano-less void that has been sitting there since 2007.

Landgraf predicts that the influx of scripts from earlier this year will bring TV to its peak. “This year, we’ve seen a tidal wave of scripted programming thanks to the bottleneck of COVID delay production finally clearing up from January 1 through the end of June,” Landgraf continued. “The number of scripted series has set a record for the first half of the year.”

Between January and June of this year, there were 357 scripted originals across broadcast, cable, and streaming, which is up 16% from 2021. 2021’s final count of 559 scripted shows brought TV to an all-time high, and Landgraf thinks that things will only go up from here! He added, “I think it’s obvious that this year will bring a new record.”

Only time (and the subsequent Lord Of The Rings and Game Of Thrones spinoffs) will tell.

(Via Variety)

Working through a pandemic is just something we’re all expected to do despite, well, that whole pandemic thing still happening two-plus years and counting. Inflation, supply chain issues, the Great Resignation and all kinds of things have become commonplace in recent months.

Some employers have responded with better incentives for workers, higher wages and even begrudgingly accepting unionization efforts from their staff. And some, like a North Carolina Chick-fil-A, just asked people to work for free.

According to reports, the fast food franchise found itself in hot water when a social media post offering “volunteers” free food in exchange for working their “drive thru express” at a location in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

Mary Meisenzahl of Business Insider reported last week that the program lasted about a day following extreme backlash from people who know that labor is usually compensated by legal tender, not chicken tenders.

“We are looking for volunteers for our new Drive Thru Express! Earn 5 free entrees per shift (1 hr) worked,” the post read. “Message us for details.”

By the afternoon of July 27, the post was apparently deleted.

Chick-fil-A, of course, is not exactly known for its track record of positive human rights. And as the Washington Post pointed out, there’s a whole slew of things wrong with asking people to work for food. Such as, well, federal labor laws.

The store has been met with backlash for appearing to ignore the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the long-standing federal law that states how employers must pay their employees for all of the hours they work. The Hendersonville location, which is run by a franchisee, responded to the online blowback by saying the “volunteer-based opportunity” was intended for people who “think it’s a good fit for them,” and argued it was different from full- or part-time employment.

If you put aside the not making any money for labor thing, the deal — five entrees for one hour worked — doesn’t really make any sense on several other levels. First of all, that’s a lot of food for an hour worked. Does it multiply if you work two hours? Do you have to eat all the meals at once or do you get coupons like a child entered in a McDonalds summer bowling league, to be redeemed later?

Anyway, the program is dead now and Chick-fil-A is distancing it from its franchisee because it was probably extremely against the law, as Business Insider notes.

A Chick-Fil-A spokesperson told Insider the company did not endorse the program and that the restaurant has decided to end it.

“Most restaurants are individually owned and operated, and it was a program at an individually owned restaurant,” the spokesperson said.

Until fried chicken NFTs become legal currency in America, the rest of us will just have to go back to making money for their labor and using it to buy food instead.

[via Business Insider]

Despite logging an insane amount of hours for Netflix, Stranger Things 4 still couldn’t beat Squid Game as the most popular series on the streaming platform. According to new data that examines the first 28 days of a show’s availability (in this case, Stranger Things 4: Volume 2, which capped off the latest season), the supernatural series fell just shy of the viewing time that Squid Game racked up as it became a global phenomenon.

It’s an impressive victory for the South Korean series, especially when you factor in Stranger Things 4‘s massive episode lengths, which if you haven’t heard, were crazy long. The fourth season had almost double the runtime of Squid Games, but that wasn’t enough to take out the competition. Via Variety:

Ultimately, “Stranger Things” Season 4 ended its run with 1.4 billion hours viewed, compared to “Squid Game’s” 1.7 billion. Important to note is the running time of both seasons: “Squid Game” is approximately 8 hours long in total, while “Stranger Things” Season 4 is approximately 13 hours long, but the 5-hour advantage of the Duffer brothers’ sci-fi hit was still not enough to match Hwang Dong-hyuk’s South Korean drama.

While Stranger Things might not be the reigning champ of Netflix this time around, the fan anticipation for Stranger Things 5 is through the freaking roof. Thanks to the fourth season’s epic story, killer soundtrack via Kate Bush and Metallica, and something called a… Vecnussy (?), the show is more popular than ever. If it brings that momentum into the final season, it could be enough to take out Squid Game, provided that show’s second season doesn’t shatter even more records, which is definitely in the cards.

(Via Variety)

Following the release of his excellent sophomore record last month, Gemini Rights, Steve Lacy has announced the Give You The World Tour. The 27 headlining dates will see Lacy — who Kanye West called “one of the most inspiring people on the planet” — performing at a slew of mid-sized venues across North America. The tour begins on October 2nd at Denver’s Gothic Theatre, before the “Dark Red” singer moves across the midwest onto the East Coast. He’ll then swing back across the country to end the tour with a run of West Coast dates that conclude on November 11th with a hometown show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

Check out the full list of Steve Lacy’s tour dates below. Tickets go on sale Friday, 08/05 at 10 am local time here.

10/02 — Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
10/04 — Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
10/05 — Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theatre
10/06 — Detroit, MI @ Saint Andrew’s Hall
10/09 — Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
10/10 — Boston, MA @ Royale
10/11 — Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
10/13 — Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage
10/15 — Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore
10/17 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
10/19 — Richmond, VA @ The National
10/20 — Charlotte, NC @ The Underground
10/21 — Nashville, TN @ Eastside Bowl
10/23 — Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage Theater
10/24 — New Orleans, LA @ Republic
10/25 — Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
10/27 — Austin, TX @ Emo’s
10/28 — Dallas, TX @ The Studio at the Factory
10/30 — Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre
10/31 — Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues
11/02 — San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
11/04 — Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
11/06 — Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
11/07 — Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
11/08 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
11/10 — Anaheim, CA @ House of Blue
11/11 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theatre

The long-awaited trial over the cover art for Cardi B’s debut mixtape has been postponed again, according to Billboard.

The trial, which was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, was to begin on August 3. However, on Friday, Judge Cormac J. Carney moved the trial to October as Cardi’s original attorney will be unavailable due to a “serious illness.” She’ll now have a week to find a new attorney and begin preparing for the trial.

The case revolves around a 2017 lawsuit filed by California resident Kevin Brophy, who claims Cardi used his likeness without permission on the cover of Gangsta B*tch Music, Vol. 1; he claims that this violated his privacy and “humiliated” him among family and friends. The cover depicts Cardi sitting with her legs spread as a tattooed man kneeling in front of her appears to be engaged in oral sex.

While the original model consented to use his image on the cover, the tattoos on his back were photoshopped in by the graphic designer hired to create the cover. Brophy’s tattoos appeared on a Google search and were superimposed on the model. Brophy’s lawyer said that he “has had to face uncomfortable comments, questions, and ridicule, from community members and family” and that “his work and professional life have been unalterably damaged by his having to explain this unconsented-to, offensive, and malicious use of his image.”

Cardi’s lawyers, however, contended that there’s no real way Brophy’s tattoos would be recognizable, that the digital manipulation on the cover makes it protected by the First Amendment, and that Brophy is just trying to cash in. Meanwhile, Cardi herself has been putting the finishing touches on a new album featuring the single “Hot Sh*t.”

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

In May 2021, Demi Lovato revealed she identified as non-binary and had started using they/them pronouns. Now, though, things have changed again: Lovato has returned to using she/her pronouns.

In a recent interview on the Spout podcast, host Tamara Dhia noted she didn’t fully understand the idea of they/them pronouns and asked Lovato for an explanation. While answering the question, Lovato revealed her new pronoun switch, saying (via ET):

“Yeah, so, they/them is, um… I’ve actually adopted the pronouns of she/her again. So, for me, I’m such a fluid person that I don’t really… I don’t find that I am… I felt like, especially last year, my energy was balanced in my masculine and feminine energy so that when I was faced with the choice of walking into a bathroom and it said ‘women’ and ‘men,’ I didn’t feel like there was a bathroom for me because I didn’t feel necessarily like a woman. I didn’t feel like a man. I just felt like a human.

And that’s what they/them is about for me. It’s just about, like, feeling human at your core. Recently, I’ve been feeling more feminine, and so I’ve adopted she/her again. But I think what’s important is, like, nobody’s perfect. Everyone messes up pronouns at some point, and especially when people are learning. It’s just all about respect.”

The pronouns on Lovato’s Instagram account are currently “they/them/she/her,” although Out notes that change was actually made in late April. The Spout interview is the first time Lovato has spoken publicly about the shift.

Life comes at you fast. And Kelis might be getting what she wanted.

Last week, when Beyoncé’s Renaissance came out and immediately became the most talked-about album in the world, Kelis made it abundantly clear that she did not grant permission for samples — albeit very brief ones — from her songs to be used in Beyoncé’s “Energy.” Kelis’s anger was directed mostly at Pharrell and Chad Hugo, who as The Neptunes, wrote and produced the two Kelis songs in question, “Milkshake,” and “Get Along With You,” and hence, owned the publishing rights holders who could clear the use of those samples for “Energy” (which they also co-wrote.)

“My mind is blown too because the level of disrespect and utter ignorance of all 3 parties involved is astounding,” Kelis said on Instagram, later adding in a video that, “Chad really is like an amoeba, he’s spineless. It’s a miracle he can keep his neck up, but Pharrell knows better. This is a direct hit at me, he does this stuff all the time. It’s very petty — very, very, very — and the reality is that it’s frustrating.”

Well, the issue looks to be coming to a head, as the Kelis samples seem to be getting slowly removed from “Energy” across streaming platforms from “Energy.” At press time, the end of “Energy” on Tidal was playing just Kelis’ isolated sample. Spotify was having intermittent loading issues both Beyoncé’s Renaissance tracks, as well as Kelis’ discography. Users online are claiming that Kelis’ writing credits are missing, although only Pharrell and Hugo would have had their included to begin with.

This story is being updated

With Beyonce’s new album out, everybody wants in on that sweet, sweet content — including Fox News, which has reverted to its faithful standby of criticizing a female performer for projecting sexiness (while ignoring the obvious and ongoing sexual misconduct of politicians the network cheerleads for on any other day). Usually, they pick on Cardi B, but since she’s been laying low finishing her own album, of course, the next big name Black star for them to go after is Beyonce — even if they probably pulled a muscle with the reach they had to make to get there.

This time, it’s Brian Kilmeade, host of Fox & Friends and his own self-titled show, who deemed Beyonce “more vile than ever” over some “X-rated lyrics” on the song “Heated.” First choosing to note that Beyonce is a mother, he says, “We haven’t seen her in a while, barely dressed, dancing around… and now she comes back, more vile than ever with X-rated lyrics.” He also snipes at Beyonce’s decision to remove the ableist term “spaz” from the lyrics of “Heated” (because what good is Fox News if they can’t double down on anti-Blackness and sexism with a little good, old-fashioned bullying?).

“What about the dimpled ass community?” he sneers. His guest, Fox contributor Raymond Arroyo, joined in, “Or what about those with stretch marks on their breasts? Why would you sing [those lyrics] as a renowned woman who young people look to? I don’t know.”

Of course, leaving aside the fact that nobody really says “X-rated” anymore, it’s pretty clear to anyone with two brain cells to rub together to make a synapse that Beyonce’s lyrics celebrate women’s bodies — including those that have changed due to pregnancy, with stretch marks and butt dimples being among the results of those changes. In a world that demeans and denigrates women for not presenting a (photoshopped) picture-perfect facade in public, Beyonce is singing to let the many, many people with those things that they are normal, beautiful, and loved — although, maybe that’s the problem the Fox hosts have in the first place.

In the trailer for the fourth and final season of FX’s Atlanta, a stuffy white guy in a suit asks Paper Boi, “How did you do that?” Do what, Paper Boi wonders. The stuffy white guy in a suit proceeds to lean back and do an awkward shuffle… dance?

It’s an Atlanta trademark: white folks trying to act “cool” around Black people, leading to what the Atlantic dubbed the “spectacle of white ignorance.” But the show has also been criticized for being “for” white people, a claim that creator Donald Glover refutes.

“To be real, if you’re online, everybody’s gonna have an agenda on some level,” he said at the TCA Press Tour on Tuesday, via Deadline. “It would be silly to say that sometimes what people say doesn’t affect you because — especially being Black — I feel like a lot of the Black criticism bothers me only because it sounds like [it’s from] Black people who don’t really know what we’ve been through.” Glover continued:

“I don’t think they give a lot of credit to what we’ve gone through. So to be like, ‘Oh, these Black people hate Black people or these Black people hate Black women.’ I’m like, It’s such my it’s such a small view of who we are. I feel like it might even be because of what we’ve been through that you look at us the way you look at us.”

To claim that Atlanta is “only for white people,” Glover continued, “it’s like we’re cutting ourselves down, which is kind of wack to me. I’ve seen on TikTok where people say Atlanta‘s transphobic. Man, I’m neighbors with a trans man and he told me Atlanta is his favorite show. I love how you guys talked about the trans thing because a lot of this shit is just takes for the internet, you know?” He believes that the backlash can be traced back to “internet people trying to get hot” (and not in a ripped and/or jacked way).

Atlanta returns on September 15.

(Via Deadline)

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis probably won’t be appearing on The View anytime soon. After receiving an invitation to appear on the daytime talk show when it starts its new season in September, DeSantis’ deputy press secretary Bryan Griffin decided to blast the show on Twitter instead of accepting the offer. Despite climbing in the polls as the GOP’s potential presidential candidate for 2024, DeSantis doesn’t think it would be worth it to visit The View after the co-hosts have been so mean to him in recent years.

In Griffin’s response to The View, which he shared on Twitter, the deputy press secretary rolled out a detailed list of criticisms from the show’s co-hosts, which was nice of him to share:

Joy Behar, August 2021: “You’re just short of calling [Governor DeSantis] a negligent, homicidal sociopath, because that’s what he is.” She added: “What is he doing? He’s risking the lives of children, children’s parents, their grandparents, anyone they may come into contact with, so he can appeal to his white supremacist base, so he can continue in his career and get reelected.

Sunny Hostin, June 2022: “Death-Santis… I think he’s a fascist and a bigot.”

Ana Navarro, April 2022: (on Governor DeSantis’s policies): “It’s anti-Black, it’s anti-gay, it’s anti-LGBTQ+ community. And for some reason, the Republican base responds to it.” And “It’s anti-American.” It’s what happens in Venezuela. It’s what happens in Nicaragua.”

Sunny Hostin, February 2022 (on Governor DeSantis’s policies): “It started with CRT. Let’s rememeber that — and those are anti-history laws, anti-Black history laws, really,” she said. “If you start coming after Black people, what comes next, right? Of course the LGBTQ+ community, and then women, and then other marginalized groups.”

Griffin then wrote, “We will pass on this offer,” which was pretty clear after he took the time to write out a whole list of grievances. It also served as a preview for a DeSantis presidency, which would apparently see a return to an adversarial relationship with the free press. How very Trumpian.

(Via Mediaite)