Entertainment Weekly

'Two and a Half Men' still has decent ratings

The longest-running live-action sitcom currently on television is finally coming to a close. CBS has announced a series finale date for Two and a Half Men.

After 12 seasons, Men will conclude with a one-hour closer on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 9 p.m. Upon its completion, 262 episodes of Men will have aired. The series earned 47 Emmy Award nominations, with co-star Jon Cryer winning twice. For five years straight, the Chuck Lorre-produced comedy was the most-watched sitcom on TV (2005-2009). The enormously raunchy show survived multiple time slots and endless critical derision.

Moreover, the show soldiered on after even losing its top star, Charlie Sheen, in one of the most spectacular firings in the history of the medium when he left the series in 2011. Then Men lost saw the exit of longtime co-star Angus T. Jones last year after the actor trashed the show.

All the while, Men has occupied a unique spot in the landscape — a guilty pleasure seen by so many, yet a title that so few publicly admit to watching (if you judged TV series popularity by reading EW’s comment boards, you would think Men was a massive flop that keeps inexplicably getting renewed). You don’t find many long-running shows on a major broadcast network with episode titles like “I Scream When I Pee” and “Hookers, Hookers, Hookers.”

Men still has decent ratings — the season is currently averaging 10.1 million viewers and a 2.5 among adults 18-49. Yet series talent deals tend to get more expensive with each passing year, and Men has managed to stay alive since 2003.

Its finale date will mark the debut of a new comedy, CBS’ Odd Couple reboot starring Matthew Perry. The show potentially could be a successor of sorts to Men— it’s another male roommate sitcom. But it’s probably fair to say whether you openly hatedTwo and a Half Men, or secretly loved it, there probably won’t be another comedy quite like this one for a long time.

This article originally appeared on Entertainment Weekly

The plan is to split 'It' into two films

It looks like Pennywise the Clown will soon be back to make audiences fear clowns for years to come.

Speaking to Vulture on Dec. 4, producer Dan Lin confirmed that True Detective director Cary Fukunaga is on board for a new adaptation of Stephen King’s It.

“The idea is to start official prep in March for a summer shoot,” Lin, a producer on The Lego Movie, told Vulture.

However, Lin said It was too big to keep to one movie, and so the plan is to split It into two films (which, if Lin takes inspiration from Peter Jackson, will turn into a trilogy culminating in It: A Pennywise for Your Thoughts).

Lin only confirmed Fukunaga’s involvement for the first film, but did say he is working to sign on the director for the second one as well.

The two-part film does have some precedent in the case of It, however. The original 1986 novel has only seen one other major adaptation, a two-part miniseries on ABC that aired in 1990. That version is particularly memorable for Tim Curry’s horrifying portrayal of Pennywise the Clown, and should serve as a standard-bearer for clown-based scares as Fukunaga and Lin prep their version.

More so than signing on Fukunaga for both parts, Lin has been most concerned with earning the approval of one man: Stephen King.

“The most important thing is that Stephen King gave us his blessing,” Lin said. “We didn’t want to make this unless he felt it was the right way to go, and when we sent him the script, the response that Cary got back was, ‘Go with God, please! This is the version the studio should make.’ So that was really gratifying.”

This article originally appeared on Entertainment Weekly

Vince Gilligan's Battle Creek will air in March

CBS has locked down midseason premiere dates for two key crime dramas: Battle Creek and CSI: Cyber.

Battle Creek is from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan and House creator David Shore and stars Josh Duhamel and Dean Winters as two mismatched law enforcement officers in rural Michigan. The show will air at 10 p.m. on Sunday nights starting March 1.

CSI: Cyber stars Patricia Arquette as the head of the Cyber Crime Division of the FBI. The CSI spin-off is going into Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. starting March 4.

The shows will replace two others cop dramas: The ultra-veteran CSI on Sundays and the freshman thriller Stalker on Wednesdays. CSI will have aired 18 episodes and have wrapped its season at that point. Stalker will eventually have 17 episodes this season and will return to CBS’ schedule at some point to air its remaining hours. Both are to be considered complete seasons by the network, even though they are shy of CBS’ usual 22-episode orders for dramas. Here’s the schedule:

CBS Wednesday, Effective March 1

7:00-8:00 PM 60 MINUTES

8:00-9:00 PM MADAM SECRETARY

9:00-10:00 PM THE GOOD WIFE

10:00-11:00 PM BATTLE CREEK (P)

CBS Wednesday, Effective March 4

8:00-9:00 PM SURVIVOR

9:00-10:00 PM CRIMINAL MINDS

10:00-11:00 PM CSI: CYBER (P)

This article originally appeared on Entertainment Weekly

Well, stranger things have certainly happened. No matter how much she might really, really hate it, a lot of people are listening to Jennifer Lawrence’s Mockingjay track, “The Hanging Tree” — so many that it debuted at a sturdy No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week.

Granted, it isn’t technically Lawrence’s song, as it’s credited to the film’s composer James Newton Howard and features the actress on vocals, but still, it counts. It sold 200,000 downloads in its first week, putting it at No. 2 the Digital Songs chart.

According to Billboard, Lawrence is the 13th actor to win an Oscar in an acting category and appear on the Hot 100, joining the likes of Julie Andrews, Cher, Meryl Streep, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand.

The Lumineers’ Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz wrote “The Hanging Tree,” based on the lyrics from Mockingjay author Suzanne Collins.

This article originally appeared on EW.com

That’s a surefire way to get people into theaters

More Frozen is coming to theaters soon. No, not a sequel (yet), but the Frozen Fever short, which Disney announced today will play in front of the upcoming live action Cinderella. (As predicted.) That’s a surefire way to get people into theaters March 13, 2015. The official synopsis for the short? “In Frozen Fever, it’s Anna’s birthday and Elsa and Kristoff are determined to give her the best celebration ever, but Elsa’s icy powers may put more than just the party at risk.” Hopefully this means there will be a “Let It Go” reprise. Frozen Fever is a product of the original Frozen team including directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee and songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

The Kenneth Branagh–directed Cinderella stars Downton Abbey’s Lily James as the titular character and Cate Blanchett as her wicked stepmother.

This article originally appeared on Entertainment Weekly

Cosby thanked The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg and singer Jill Scott

Bill Cosby issued a rare public statement related to the mounting sexual-assault allegations against him. The veteran actor tweeted his thanks to two celebrities who have repeatedly defended him (and who have received considerable backlash in the process).

Cosby thanked The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg and singer Jill Scott:

Goldberg said on The View last month: “Perhaps the police might have believed [the allegation], or the hospital. Don’t you do a kit when you say someone has raped you? … I hope somebody gets to the bottom of this, but I’m going to reserve my judgment because I have a lot of questions, as I said. It’s crazy, but I have a lot of questions, because I know we all have friends who have gone through this.”

Scott tweeted:

About 20 women have accused the former Cosby Show star of sexual assault. Cosby has denied the allegations.

This article originally appeared on Entertainment Weekly

A few more of the show’s most beloved characters and their actors have been revealed as upcoming additions

Telltale Games has already enlisted a number of the big players from HBO’s Game of Thrones, like Peter Dinklage and Natalie Dormer, to join the voice cast of the video game set in the world of the TV series.

Thanks to the game’s newly released first episode, a few more of the show’s most beloved characters and their actors have been revealed as upcoming additions to the virtual version of Westeros.

(Spoilers for the first episode of Telltale’s Game of Thrones follow.)

On the menu screens of Game of Thrones, players may have noticed the faces of Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen popping up among new characters like Gared Tuttle and Mira Forrester.

EW has confirmed that Kit Harrington and Emilia Clarke will be joining the ranks of their fellow cast members and appearing as Jon and Dany in future episodes of the video game series. Telltale hasn’t revealed exactly when these characters will show up, but expect Harington and Clarke to lend their voices sometime during the game’s next five episodes.

Telltale’s Game of Thrones is doing plenty to cement itself in the world of HBO’s adaptation. Opening up adjacent to the Red Wedding, the first season of Telltale’s game will span season four of HBO’s show and lead right up to the beginning of season five. To find out if the first episode lives up to its television counterpart, be sure to read EW‘s review of the first episode.

This article originally appeared on Entertainment Weekly

Bobby Keys, the saxophone player who performed with the Rolling Stones on many of their biggest hits, along with other acts like The Who, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and John Lennon, died on Dec. 2 at age 70.

Franklin passed away in his home in Franklin, Tenn., according to The Associated Press, who spoke to keyboardist and Keys collaborator Michael Webb.

Keys is perhaps most famous for his saxophone solo on the Stones’ “Brown Sugar,” but also contributed to other famous songs from the band, including “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’” and “Sweet Virginia.” Keys had been out on tour with the Stones earlier this year but his health eventually prohibited him from performing.

“I have lost the largest pal in the world, and I can’t express the sense of sadness I feel, although Bobby would tell me to cheer up,” Keith Richards said in a statement to the AP.

Keys began performing with the band in the 1960s, and would go on to play for another of other major acts, including Barbara Streisand and Eric Clapton.

“Bobby made a unique musical contribution to the band since the 1960s. He will be greatly missed,” the Stones said in a joint statement.

This article originally appeared on EW.com

“We heard your feedback to last night’s post, and we’re sorry”

AMC says it’s sorry for spoiling its own hit show’s midseason finale. The cable network posted a message on The Walking Dead‘s Facebook page last night apologizing for prematurely revealing which major character died during the zombie drama’s winter closer.

“We heard your feedback to last night’s post, and we’re sorry,” the statement reads. “With zero negative intent, we jumped the gun and put up a spoiler. Please know we’re going to work to ensure that, in the future, possible spoilers by official AMC social feeds are killed before they can infect, certainly before the West Coast (U.S.) broadcast of The Walking Dead. As always, thank you for watching, and keep the comments coming. We appreciate all of your support. #RIPSpoiler.”

Spoiler alert: At 10 p.m. Eastern time Sunday night—before the show had aired on the West Coast—The Walking Dead Facebook page ran photo of Daryl (Norman Reedus) carrying deceased Beth (Emily Kinney) with the rather unambiguous headline “RIP Beth.”

It wasn’t the first time AMC had spoiled The Walking Dead. Two years ago, a DVD ad on AMC’s website prematurely revealed the death of Shane (Jon Bernthal).

The spoiler sure didn’t hurt the show’s ratings, with the “Coda” episode delivering 14.8 million viewers and a 9.6 rating among adults 18-49. That’s TWD‘s best-ever performance for a midseason finale.

This article originally appeared on Entertainment Weekly