POP CULTURE NEWS EDITION 25: CASTING SCOOP + STREAMERS WANT IT ALL

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Hey, all! It’s Friday again and the end of a new week. Here to share a little bit of pop culture news edition twenty-five. This time around, there’s one story that does make me more than just a little bit annoyed.

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POP CULTURE NEWS EDITION 25: CASTING SCOOP + STREAMERS WANT IT ALL #CULTURE #NEWS #POPCULTURENEWS #EARLYEDITION #ALICEEVE #NETFLIX #FILTERS #CARRIEUNDERWOOD Share on X

Diving in, there’s some casting news we’ll follow up on given we already shared these new projects in prior installments and one giant corporation is saying, “dude, you aren’t giving us enough money.” Let’s get this thing started – because short and sweet is all I have to open.

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POP CULTURE NEWS EDITION TWENTY-FIVE

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1: EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

We talked a while back about the gender swapped re-boot of Early Edition. Set to debut on CBS, the series has cast its female lead (previously played by Kyle Chandler) in Alice Eve as Beth, a Seattle reporter getting tomorrow’s new today. The show will be coming from, in part Hawaii Five-o “scribe,” Melissa Glenn and will also feature this cast and character line up.

Magnum P.I.’s Jay Ali will be Anthony, a news director where Beth works; Charles Michael Davis is a former cop who now acts as a bodyguard; and finally Fiona Rene will play the loyal best friend and fellow reporter at Beth’s station. Are you curious about this one?

In more casting news, and other shows we shared about, Arrow alum Katherine McNamara will play Abby Walker in the origin series for Walker. Her co-stars so far include Katie Findlay and Matt Barr, who did also play in Walker and has been in Hatfields and McCoys so maybe he has the western thing down.

2: NETFLIX LOOKS FOR (AKA WANTS) MORE

After price hikes for the past, what, 3 years? I don’t know. I think I’ve had two back to back, at least, Netflix is making plans to test a feature that would require payment from an account holder who allows anyone to use their Netflix password and account outside of the account orgins. This, according to one article is a rule in their Terms and Conditions, and while I don’t doubt it likely is, it’s also something the streamer has according to the same piece, “turned a blind eye” to for many years. Looking at it this way, they are well within their rights to do this, but also, dude, how many times are they going to charge you and tell us to be happy about it?

Like, literally, one email that came from them was talking all about this price hike is good because it means more content and all that. In reality, it’s just more ways for them to take the hard-earned money from people who enjoy a fun movie on the weekend, but do work hard to enjoy that.

3: SHIFTING THE FAKE TOWARDS BEING AUTHENTIC?

As we speak (meaning I was desperate to find a last story!), I stumbled on a story about influencer Josephine Livin (who I had not heard of) who is challenging the perception of being “real” vs. “fake.” She’s Danish according to the story, and her feed is more recently a kind of challenge of what filters, apps or even just “angles” can do in changing your appearance. What are your thoughts on filters?

LAST THINGS…

• Tom Hiddleston is engaged (reportedly) to his girlfriend, Zawe Ashton, of three years. Rumors were flying (because of a shiny thing on that finger) after an appearance they made together at an awards show.

• Meghan Markle, the former actress who married Prince Harry, is set to launch her podcast this summer. I know MANY will listen though I won’t be one of them. I’m just not into their lives or the lives of the royals. I also just don’t really like many of the things they’ve said or statements they put out. Instead I’ll stay with having enjoyed her Hallmark films.

• Did you know The Hunger Games turns TEN next week? We have a little movie quiz game for you from earlier in the week!

• Carrie underwood put out a new single today called ‘Ghost Story’ (which I think is pretty). Have you heard the song – and do you think this signals a new album from her?

• During promo for her new movie, Sandra Bullock announced she’s stepping back from acting to spend time with her kids. Really sweet and lovely, but I’m just curious is this will stick. I feel like I’ve seen this before and next thing I hear is the actor is cast in a new role. We’ll see, and I do hope she does and that she enjoys the time.

• While I don’t care about him as a celebrity, one of the big stories this week is that Kayne West was suspended from Instagram for 24 hours for making “controversial comments” which another article says is “racial” against Trevor Noah. I’m not for all the name calling, but I’m also NOT for the world or Instagram being an overlord to “protect” anyone’s feelings. Guess Instagram is still on their throne.

• J.K. Rowling is again in the news for standing up for the rights of not erasing women. Funny how she went from being adored until she started to use her feminist voice to applaud – gasp – women!

• Selena Gomez is developing a TV series called Fifteen Candles that would reportedly remake the iconic classic Sixteen Candles. Thoughts?

• Rumor has it The Batman will head to HBO Max in late April; am I the only one who doesn’t care about this movie?

Have you read any of these? What did you think about this week’s pop culture goofiness? Did you see any other stories that made you curious? What do you think of our collection of stories this week? Comment all the comments – you know the drill!

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