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The millennial women-led series is dead. Long live the millennials. It wasn’t exactly surprising when Freeform’s beloved critically acclaimed “Single Drunk Female” was canceled this month after just two seasons and immediately pulled from Hulu. Sure, Freeform touted the sitcom as the highest-rated original comedy during the New York City Season 2 premiere before the series returned with all new episodes on Hulu in April. But its cancellation is just one of the many reminders that networks don’t invest long-term in women-fronted shows that focus on “messy” millennial women. While we pour one out for “Single Drunk Female,” it’s best to trace the series back to its roots with Lena Dunham and executive producer Jenni Konner’s explosively...

The politics of Barbie Land just became a lot more real. After the Greta Gerwig-directed film was banned in Vietnam and the Philippines prior to its July 21 release date, a spokesperson for Warner Bros. responded to claims that a map featured in the trailer features the “nine-dash line,” which indicates China’s territorial claims over the South China Sea in areas Vietnam say deny its own sovereignty. “The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing,” the spokesperson told Variety. “The doodles depict Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the ‘real world.’ It was not intended to make any type of statement.” Vi Kien Thanh, director general of the Vietnam Cinema Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and...

The editor-in-chief at GQ who was involved in the decision to pull an article critical about Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is also producing a movie at Warner Bros. Pictures, according to a new report by Variety. On Monday, GQ ran a story by freelance film critic Jason Bailey titled “How Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav Became Public Enemy Number One in Hollywood.” As The Washington Post detailed earlier today, the article was edited from its original version and later pulled after Bailey asked for his byline to be removed from it. The Post reported that the decision to edit the piece came after individuals at Warner Bros. Discovery complained to the magazine about the story, which in its original version compared...

The Duffer Brothers are leaving Easter eggs for the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” in suitably strange places, like the upcoming stage play “The First Shadow.” The teaser for the upcoming West End production hints that “the beginning of the ‘Stranger Things’ story might hold the key to what comes next.” A series of clips from the first season of the hit Netflix series, including Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) being experimented on, are also part of the teaser footage. The official synopsis reads for the stage play reads: “Hawkins, 1959, a regular town with regular worries. Young Jim Hopper’s car won’t start, Bob Newby’s sister won’t take his radio show seriously and Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and get the hell out...

Just how twisted is the new “Sausage Party” sequel series? Even star Kristen Wiig is shocked by it. The upcoming “Sausage Party: Foodtopia” series is set to premiere on Prime Video in 2024, with original voice actors Wiig, Seth Rogen, Michael Cera, David Krumholtz, and Edward Norton all returning for more tasty fun. The cast is rounded out by franchise newcomers Will Forte, Sam Richardson, Natasha Rothwell, and Yassir Lester. Creator Rogen recently revealed to Empire magazine that “Foodtopia” is even crazier than the 2016 adult animated film. “We had Kristen Wiig in picking up a few lines the other day, and I think we’ve all become desentised to it, because we’ll just be like, ‘Roll the scene!’, and then she was like, ‘Oh my God...

Since its release in 2004, Edgar Wright’s “Shaun of the Dead” has grown to become one of the century’s most beloved comedy films. But as popular a touchstone as the film remains, co-writer and star Simon Pegg has made it clear that a sequel to the zombie rom-com isn’t on his to-do list in the future. “If I ever do an Instagram Live or whatever, people are always like, ‘I need ‘Shaun of the Dead 2’ in my life,’” Pegg said in a recent interview with The Guardian. “And I’m like, ‘No, you don’t fucking need ‘Shaun of the Dead 2!’ The last thing you need is ‘Shaun of the Dead 2!’ It’s done. Move on!’” The original “Shaun of the Dead” starred Pegg as the titular Shaun, a slacker salesman who gets dumped by his girlfriend right before the...

Television archaeologists take note: you don’t need to dig deep into the medium’s origins to uncover a diamond in the rough. Treasures can be found in the recent past. And one of those treasures involves the greatest fictional archaeologist of them all, Indiana Jones. On March 4, 1992, ABC premiered the two-hour movie pilot of “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” in its 8 p.m. slot to much fanfare. The show’s titular hero was a younger (and older) version of Harrison Ford’s blockbuster icon, who at 10, 17, and yes, 93, had his own set of primetime adventures. Since the series was the brainchild of filmmaker and franchise-builder George Lucas, outlets like USA Today, The Washington Post and The New York Times covered it extensively...

Once again. “John Wick: Chapter 4” (Lionsgate) ($5.99) is #1 at iTunes and Google Play, while “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” at $19.99 (Universal) is #1 at Vudu (which calculates by revenue, not transactions). Like most weeks, Netflix’s top 10 movie list is topsy-turvy. New at #1 is “Run Rabbit Run,” an Australian horror film the streamer acquired out of the Sundance Film Festival’s Midnight section. It stars “Succession” actress Sarah Snook as a fertility doctor who notices her daughter’s strange behavior. Beyond that, “Mario” is in two second-place spots while “Fast X” is #2 at Vudu, helped by its $19.99 price. “The Covenant” (MGM) is #3 at iTunes, “The Machine” (Sony) at $19.99 #3 at Vudu, with “Fast X” taking third at Google Play...

Daniel Radcliffe isn’t eager to step back into the Wizarding World. In a recent interview, the actor said he isn’t “seeking” a cameo appearance in the upcoming TV show reboot of the “Harry Potter” franchise. First announced in April, the upcoming “Harry Potter” series for Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max streamer will adapt all seven books in J.K. Rowling’s popular series of children’s fantasy novels. The series will be the second screen adaptation of the popular books, following the Warner Bros.’ original “Harry Potter” film series, which shot Radcliffe to international fame when he was only 11 years old. In an interview with Comic Book.com published Monday, Radcliffe said he understands the new adaptation will be their own...

[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “The Idol” Episode 5, “Jocelyn Forever,” including the ending.] Tucked within a dull, dumbfounding finale, there’s one line that, I think, speaks to the general point “The Idol” has been trying to make. Thankfully, it’s shared by the loudest person in the room. Andrew Finkelstein hasn’t been around much. The Live Nation rep played with demented backroom-Hollywood energy by Eli Roth popped up in the premiere, as part of the executive class concerned that Jocelyn’s (Lily-Rose Depp) personal crisis might impact her professional ambitions/their bottom lines. Later, he would either be heard on the phone, threatening to cancel the tour, or seen at his office, threatening to cancel...

For most people, the placement of a garbage can is an aesthetic decision, but for the producers of “Crime Scene Kitchen,” it’s a crucial piece of strategy. That’s because this competition series, hosted by Joel McHale and now in its second season on Fox, is equal parts mystery and bake-off. In each episode, teams of bakers decide what to cook by exploring a recently used kitchen, looking for clues about whatever dish was made before they arrived. With nothing but those (frequently literal) bread crumbs to guide them, they head into their own kitchens and try to recreate the mystery item. The team that’s furthest from the original dish goes home. The drama frequently springs from the bakers’ detective skills: It can be deliciously...

Barbie Land just got a little smaller. The highly-anticipated “Barbie” has been banned in Vietnam over the inclusion of the “nine dash line map” depicting islands in the South China Sea as being controlled by Beijing. Vietnamese politicians claim the map violates its sovereignty. Vi Kien Thanh, director general of the Vietnam Cinema Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, announced that “Barbie” will not be allowed to commercially screen in the nation, as decided by the National Film Evaluation Council. “We do not grant license for the American movie ‘Barbie’ to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line,” the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper stated, citing Thanh (via Variety)...

In news that’s roughly as surprising as the SAG-AFTRA vs. AMPTP extension (which is to say, not at all) Nexstar stations have gone dark across DirecTV’s satellite, cable, and streaming systems after failing to reach a new carriage agreement. Even less of a shock: Nexstar and DirecTV will come to a deal in time for football — or even, for fútbol. Where DirecTV vs. Nexstar 2023 is atypical is in its scope. With 159 local-TV stations in its portfolio (over 200, when you count its partner stations), Nexstar has the biggest broadcast footprint in the country. (The FCC says a company cannot have more than 39 percent of the market, but there are workarounds.) That makes this local-TV blackout the largest in the nation’s history. As of...