Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Amazon Starts Production on Being the Ricardos, An I Love Lucy Movie; NBC Schedules Lil Rel Game Show

Amazon Studios started principal photography on writer-director Aaron Sorkin's drama Being the Ricardos this week in Los Angeles. Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem star as real-life couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the stars behind the groundbreaking and classic 1950s television sitcom I Love Lucy, that focused on a happily married though seemingly mismatched couple - a flame-haired, accident-prone American housewife, and her sensible Cuban-American bandleader husband - that became the top-rated and most beloved show of the era. The film is set during one production week of I Love Lucy - Monday table read through Friday audience filming - when Lucy and Desi face a crisis that could end their careers and another that could end their marriage.
Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman (The Undoing) is the eponymous redheaded star of I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball, and fellow Oscar winner Javier Bardem (Before Night Falls, No Country for Old Men) is her husband, Desi Arnaz, the Cuban-American actor, musician, and president of their television production company, Desilu Productions. On I Love Lucy, Ball and Arnaz portrayed America's most famous TV couple, Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. But in real life their relationship was infamously more complex and tumultuous than the hilarious fictional characters they portray. The film co-stars Oscar winner J.K. Simmons (Whiplash, Palm Springs) and Nina Arianda (Stan & Ollie, Florence Foster Jenkins) as Lucy and Desi's I Love Lucy co-stars William Frawley and Vivian Vance. Frawley played the Ricardo's neighbor Fred Mertz on the iconic sitcom and Vance was Fred's wife and Lucy's best friend, Ethel Mertz.
Joining the ensemble in co-starring roles are two-time Emmy winner Tony Hale (Veep, Arrested Development) as I Love Lucy executive producer and head writer Jess Oppenheimer, along with Alia Shawkat (Search Party, Arrested Development) and Jake Lacy (Fosse/Verdon, The Office) as the show's longtime writing partners, Madelyn Pugh & Bob Carroll Jr. Rounding out the cast are Clark Gregg (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Nelson Franklin (Veep), John Rubinstein (Family), Linda Lavin (Alice, The Good Wife), Robert Pine (CHiPs) and Christopher Denham (Billions).
Small Fortune, NBC's newest team competition game show hosted by Lil Rel Howery, premieres on Monday, May 31 at 10 p.m. ET/PT and will air thru July 19, right before the Olympics. The series is a British import based on Youngest Media's popular U.K. format and is unlike any team competition ever seen on U.S. television. In each heart-pounding episode, teams of three from various backgrounds, including first responders and Olympians from around the country, work together to earn a shot at competing for the $250,000 cash prize in the "Big Little Heist" finale game. To get there, each team must prove their skills on miniature playing fields from a shrunken sushi conveyor belt with tiny chopsticks ("Teeny Sashimi") to a mini Ellis Island ("Statue of Liberteeny"). Challenges will require considerable dexterity and intense focus because with games this small, there's no room for error as the slightest miscalculation or tremble may result in losing tens of thousands of dollars. In the eight-episode series, Howery raises the stakes by mixing encouragement with his brand of laughs to keep the players on their toes and audiences equally as anxious and entertained.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Thursday, February 6
Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "A Tire Convention and the Moral High Ground" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Georgie discovers that Jim’s annual tire convention trip isn’t what he says it is. Meanwhile, Mandy has doubts about the strength of her and Georgie’s marriage.
Ghosts - "Thorapy 2: Abandonment Issues" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Thor returns to therapy to work through his angst over being abandoned by his Viking shipmates. Also, Jay’s sister, Bela (Punam Patel), attempts to help him with the restaurant.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of February 3)
Thursday, February 6
- Rob Lowe (Unstable/The Grinder/Parks and Recreation/A New Kind of Family) - Catch Rob on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Kieran Culkin (Go Fish) - Kieran appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Kenan Thompson (Kenan/Kenan & Kel) - Kenan is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Melanie Lynskey (Two and a Half Men/Togetherness) - Melanie stops by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS. She will also be on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Pete Davidson (Bupkis) - Pete appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Ramona Young (Santa Clarita Diet/Man Seeking Woman/The Real O'Neals) - Ramona is a guest on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Ke Huy Quan (Head of the Class/Together We Stand) - Ke appears on Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm. He will also be on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Ariana DeBose (Schmigadoon!) - Ariana chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Patricia Field (Sex and the City costume designer) - Emmy® Award-winning and Academy Award®-nominated costume designer Patricia Field chats about her documentary Happy Clothes, which takes us behind the scenes on iconic shows such as Sex and the City, Emily in Paris and more on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
- Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Café Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Drew and Valerie are joined by Carla Hall in the kitchen to whip up some delicious cozy food on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Amy Schumer (Life & Beth), Jillian Bell (Bless the Harts/Idiotsitter/Eastbound & Down/Workaholics) and Brianne Howey (Dollface) - The cast of the new movie Kinda Pregnant join Drew to dish on their new film on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Sebastian Maniscalco (Bookie) - Sebastian talks about Max's Bookie on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
10/08 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Twelfth Season / The Complete Series
10/22 - Veep - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/05 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/12 - The King of Queens - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (2024 Release)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
11/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 4 (Blu-ray)
12/03 - Angel (1960-1961) - The Complete Series, Volume 1
12/17 - Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (4K UHD)
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive
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