Ann Curry is leaving NBC News behind her, a senior NBC executive confirmed to EW. NBC is expected to announce the departure soon.
Curry was ousted as a co-anchor of the Today show in 2012, and revealed her departure in an tearful announcement on air. After she left Today, Curry became the NBC News national and international correspondent and a Today anchor at large.
James Hibberd contributed to this report.
The final season of Parks and Recreation, which premieres on NBC on Jan. 13, will pick up three years after the previous season, wrapping up the stories of Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) and all our favorite government employees from Pawnee, Indiana.
TIME caught up with Retta, who plays Donna, about what we can expect from the show’s finale, her three favorite episodes from the show’s seven seasons and how she hopes to take on Alisha on The Good Wife next.
TIME: What was your reaction when you first found out there was going to be a three-year time jump before this final season of Parks and Recreation?
Retta: Surprised. I don’t know that I realized it was a time jump in the script. I remember watching the finale last season being like, “Oh, sh–, we jumped time,” and didn’t know we were going to stay. For some reason I thought we’d go back?
Will we get to see any crazy inventions that are coming in the next three years?
It’s surprisingly technologically advanced for three years into the future. But it’s fun because they get to do a lot of CGI stuff this season, which probably made this season much more expensive than they expected. They kind of took things that were already in the news that we know are coming and just put them in the show.
So what has happened to Donna since we last saw her?
Well, she started dating an ex-fling [played by Keegan-Michael Key]. So you get to see how that plays out. Does she stay monogamous? Or is that too hard for her?
What was it like getting to work with Keegan-Michael Key this season?
I love Keegan. I met Keegan years ago through a friend. I went to an improv show that he did at the ACME Comedy Theatre. Afterwards everyone went and had dinner, and we went to his house and played this card game called euchre, which I had never played before. And I won, and he could not have been angrier. So now he always brings that up when he sees me, which I’m, like, “Why are you causing yourself so much pain?”
But Keegan is the best. He’s very sweet. Like a lot of our guests on the show — Nick Kroll is like this too — they make you feel completely comfortable because they’re really good at characters and improv.
So how much improv goes on on the show?
We do a thing called “the fun run,” which is usually the last take that I do, where it’s balls out. You do whatever. You have to get across whatever you need to in that scene, but the route you take is your choice. Sometimes we get a page called “the candy bag,” which is different jokes to try. And once we’ve tried all the jokes that the writers want, we’re allowed to try our own jokes.
Both you and Donna are big live tweeters. Was that aspect of her character inspired by you?
Yes. Mike Schur did it for me. When that episode was coming up, he was like, “I have a surprise for you in the next episode.” He knows I live for Twitter.
Donna says her favorite show to live-tweet is Scandal. Do you have a favorite show to tweet about right now?
My favorite shows are Scandal, The Good Wife. I really like Vampire Diaries.
The last couple of episodes of The Good Wife have blown my mind.
Yeah, it’s been stressing me out lately. But it’s really well-done. I’m dying to do an episode of that show.
Who would you want to play?
Everybody keeps saying I should be a judge, but I would love to be a lawyer sparring Alicia. I mean, of course she would probably kick my ass. But I would love that. The guest stars on that show get such great parts.
If you could guest on Scandal what would you do?
I would love to spar with Olivia Pope as well. All those women are the sh–, and I want to share screen time with them. Or I would be Jake’s new love interest. Either one works. [Laughs]
It’s been years since “treat yo self” first came up on the show, and I still see it on Twitter all the time. Why do you think it’s still so popular?
I know. It’s insane. Sometimes that’s all people know to say to me because they can’t remember my character’s name and don’t know my real name.
It’s really funny. My friend was on set that day when we were filming, and I remember we did the scene. And my friend said after we shot it, “That’s going to be huge.” And I was like, “Really?” And she was like, “That was hilarious. It’s going to be huge.” And I didn’t think anything of it until the episode aired, and I looked at my Twitter account, and it was f—ing bananas. I’ve never had so many @-mentions in my life.
Will you ever get sick of it?
Oh, I’m already sick of it. [laughs] I’m not sick of it, I just think it’s hilarious that people think they’re being original when they say it to me. I’m like, “Do you realize how many times people say that to me all day every day?” People are like, “I have to do it.” It’s my “Dy-no-mite.” It’ll be on my headstone.
Any plans for watching the final episode?
There was talk of us all watching it together. So I’m sure we’ll find out in the next couple of weeks, since it’s going to be over in, like, six weeks. Another night to cry.
Did it get super emotional filming the last season?
No. It didn’t until the end. Then the last two days, you start to get a little bit of an ache. And then when we started to do series wraps on everyone when they finished their last scenes, it was a little teary. And it was worse for me in the wrap party.
Was there something that triggered it?
Alcohol. [laughs] Wine is crying juice. And vodka’s worse.
Do you have favorite episodes from the show?
Well, my favorite episode of all time is “Halloween Surprise” for three reasons. That’s where I got to live tweet, so I got to do a lot of ad libbing to the footage that was showing during the scene. Jerry [Jim O’Heir] had his fart attack, and that was one of the funniest things I’ve seen. Aziz [Ansari] in that scene had me dying. My favorite line of his was, “Jesus, Jerry. Did you have farts for lunch?” And then that was the proposal, which made me cry. And I read the script beforehand. I don’t know why I was so surprised and so affected. But it was my favorite thing ever.
Another one of my favorites is the possum episode. When Chris Pratt goes to tackle that possum on that golf course, and it jumps on him, and he’s just going, “He’s on my neck! He’s on my neck!” I saved that episode on my Tivo for the longest time because it made me laugh so hard.
Another favorite is when Leslie is on the hunting trip. Two things: One, I used to be so intimidated by Greg Daniels, and he was directing that episode. When we started to do the scene where I start crying because my car was shot, he was dying laughing during the rehearsal — it made me so much more comfortable around him. That was also the episode when Leslie got to talk to that ranger, and pretend that women don’t know how to be in the woods. That whole run of lines she has, like, “It’s so hard to think when you have to wear a bra,” or something. It’s just the greatest.
It’s been a long journey, but Community’s sixth season is finally set to premiere on Yahoo March 17, the streaming service announced Tuesday via a video promo. Yahoo will premiere two episodes on March 17, followed by one episode each week after that, for a total of 13.
Community premiered on NBC in 2009, but could not muster the ratings it needed to survive. NBC execs fired creator Dan Harmon after season three, but then brought him back for the fifth season last year in hopes of reviving interest in the show. Ultimately, the network decided to cancel the comedy last May.
Luckily for Community fans, Yahoo and Harmon are reviving the show yet again, bringing back cast members like Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash, Ken Jeong and Danny Pudi and even adding Paget Brewster. (Donald Glover, Chevy Chase, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jonathan Banks and John Oliver will not appear on season six.)
The cast and crew have suggested that they ultimately hope to create six seasons and a movie. Harmon even said last year that the group banning together to search for Donald Glover’s character is “what movies are made of.” But as of yet, no pans for a film have been confirmed.
If you were wondering what Amazon was going to do to follow up its Golden Globes success with Transparent, wonder no more: Tuesday morning, Amazon Studios announced that Woody Allen will create his first TV series ever for it.
We know very little about the series itself, except that Allen will both write and direct it, and episodes will be a half hour. There’s no title–it’s going by Untitled Woody Allen Project–no date, and Allen himself says in the release: “I don’t know how I got into this. I have no ideas and I’m not sure where to begin. My guess is that Roy Price [VP of Amazon Studios] will regret this.” Maybe it will be a drama, maybe it will be, to paraphrase Stardust Memories, like his earlier, funnier films.
But a few things we can say:
The stigma of “slumming” in TV is pretty much gone. Maybe it didn’t need to be said at this point, with directors from Steven Soderbergh to Lena Dunham to David Fincher making TV—and making it hands-on, not just slapping their names on a project as producers. (And some of today’s TV auteurs, like Dunham and Louis C.K., have Allen among their influences.) If Allen is eager to work in the medium too, what directors are left who wouldn’t? Has anyone signed up Terrence Malick?
Streaming TV continues to build cachet. About as noteworthy as Allen’s role in this deal is that of Amazon. It, like Netflix, has been pouring money into its programming, chasing not only money but prestige. It may be that signing a streaming deal may be the new signing a premium-cable deal–now that Orange Is the New Black, Transparent, et al. have brought the medium recognition, it’s seen as a place where you can have creative freedom and be on the cutting edge of something. (Not to mention get generous financial support.)
There will be controversy. Allen agreeing to make a TV series for anyone would have been big news in itself a few years ago. But now, after last year’s renewal of charges that the director sexually abused his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow when she was a child—charges Allen has long denied—it’s going to be a lightning rod. The re-emergence of rape accusations by many women against Bill Cosby was evidently enough last year to scuttle preliminary plans for him to return with a sitcom for NBC, even though he continues to deny them. Maybe Amazon feels that Allen’s circumstances are different, or that the blowback will be worth taking. But it’s hard to imagine there won’t be blowback; as many fans as Allen may still have, we saw around last year’s Oscars that there are legions who will view this deal as rewarding a predator.
Interestingly, after the furor around the Oscars, there was less public uproar around the release of Allen’s next film, Magic in the Moonlight. Whatever it says about Allen and Amazon, it definitely says something about the cultural profile of TV today that making a series for an online-retail site may generate more controversy than if Allen had simply kept making movies.
Clarification: A section of the paragraph that mentions allegations against Bill Cosby, which was added during the editing process, has been altered to clarify the status of claims against him
Jimmy Kimmel is back with another installment of his show’s popular “Mean Tweets” segment. Usually he goes for celebrities like Lena Dunham and Matthew McConaughey, but this time Kimmel goes after a different demographic.
In honor of Ohio State and Oregon’s national title game, Kimmel decided to make college football stars and ESPN personalities read the horrible things people have to say about them online. Victims range from University of Oregon coach Mark Helfrich to Tim Tebow.
You would think that this bit would get old. It literally never does.
Kristin Chenoweth admitted to buying her dad a plane for Christmas, but she doesn’t share his affinity for flying– and it’s his fault.
When Chenoweth’s father took her flying once in a Cessna she bought him as a gift, he pulled a prank that made her less than comfortable in the air. The actress, promoting her return to Broadway next month in musical On the Twentieth Century, related the trick to Seth Meyers last night on NBC’s Late Night With Seth Meyers.
Watch above to find out more.
Monday at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, CBS announced the premiere date of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Sept. 8. It did not announce the content or format of the show, because Colbert is still figuring that out.
Speaking to reporters, CBS president Nina Tassler said that the network is, essentially, waiting for Colbert to work all of that out. “I have nine months to make a show, just like a baby,” Colbert said in a release. “So first, I should find out how you make a baby.”
He’s said he’ll have guests and that he won’t host in character. He has not said whether or not he’ll have a monologue. Beyond that, it’s a blank. “Part of the opportunity of being in business with brilliant talent like Stephen Colbert,” Alan Sepinwall reported Tassler saying, “is really letting him do what he wants to do.”
So it sounds like Colbert has fairly free rein. He could tear up the whole blueprint if he wants. He could invent a new format much as he did with his nine-year performance piece on Comedy Central. He could bust up the desk for firewood, tear the whole thing down and rebuild from the ground up.
Maybe he shouldn’t.
Before you say it, I know: I’m a hypocrite. I have written, over and over, about how tired the monologue-desk-and-interviews late-night format is. About how the real late-night energy is in shows doing anything but that. About how the desk is, creatively, the world’s most expensive (albeit also well-paying) pair of cement shoes. I am, to an extent, playing devil’s advocate with myself here.
Colbert is creative and ambitious. I don’t doubt he’ll bring tons of ideas. But I also bet you agree to host an 11:35 late night talk show because you want to host an 11:35 late night talk show. Within that format, there’s still plenty of room to distinguish yourself.
Letterman gave the format possibly its biggest remake ever–but what he did, at NBC then CBS, was still a talk show. Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show was still a talk show, a very traditional one in many ways, yet it was still a significant, and short-lived, departure for NBC simply because of his sensibility. Conversely, Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight is really more different from Jay Leno’s in format than Conan’s was–but it’s closer in terms of upbeat attitude.
And look: it’s only fair to expect someone to build a network late-night show for those people who will actually, regularly watch a late-night show. I’m not one of them. I love Colbert, and however great a show he creates, it will go into the same DVR queue of recordings that The Colbert Report did, to be watched now and then when I have spare time, if I don’t just catch the highlights in online video form. He would be forgiven for not creating a show specifically with me in mind.
Of course, I’d love it if he did! I believe Colbert may be the biggest talent in late night since the guy he’s replacing, and if he comes up with some scheme to rethink the post-evening-news hour, I will be eager to see what it is. If Colbert wants to blow up the desk, give the man as much dynamite as he needs. But I wouldn’t underestimate the difference Colbert could make just by being himself.
The new season of The Bachelor sallies forth despite the fact that love is a lie. Bachelor farmer Chris Soules is on his journey to find a farm frau, and he will kiss every milk maid, plow every field and leave a string of farmer analogies in his wake to do it. One editorial note: because the only two men on the show are both named Chris, it’s necessary to take a page out of the Bachelor playbook (which is also a preschool playbook) and use initials to differentiate between the multiplicity of Chrises.
Here’s what happened on The Bachelor:
Best Recycling: When we last saw The Bachelor, one of the contestants was so eco-friendly she wanted to recycle herself. Kimberly, the yoga instructor, has done too many up-dogs to leave without even talking to the man of her dreams. She can’t understand why things didn’t work out the way she had them mapped out on her vision board, so she goes to beg for a second chance. As she cries, Chris crumbles and goes to ask his eternal wingman for advice. Chris Harrison, noted anarchist, blithely tells him, “There are no rules!” So Chris S. shrugs and starts recycling contestants. The women are not thrilled. Ashley I., the freelance journalist, makes a lot of air quotes, while Kaitlyn fires off a few bon mots, and Jordan appears on screen long enough for people to read her name.
First-Date Card: As Chris Soules once again uses his outdoor shower (does he not know that they have indoor plumbing in Los Angeles?), Chris Harrison goes to alert the women that a lonely young farmer is shacked up just over yonder and gently points out that if they want to lend him some sugar, he is their neighbor. Then he hands them a group-date card, which includes Kimberly the repeat offender.
Worst Look: Chris Soules appears on camera in a hoody unzipped just enough to reveal he is wearing nothing underneath it but bronzer and a smile. Oh, honey: no, that’s not an outfit. That’s what you throw on when the UPS man shows up with the iPhone holder socks you ordered from Amazon Prime while you’re in the (indoor) shower.
Meanwhile: Back at the old homestead, one of the blondes whose name is still TBD (Megan, maybe?) and Jillian, a news producer, took Chris H. up on his dare and broke into Chris S.’s house while he was out, because nothing says love like light breaking and entering. The most notable moment of the break-in is that Jillian wore a bikini bottom that was so small, the network standards and practices required a black bar follow her around on the front and the back. The other girl did her best Juggernaut impersonation, strapping on Chris’ motorcycle helmet and ramming her head into the wall, a refrigerator and another wall.
Best Reason to Back Up Traffic in LA: Chris S. invites the lovely ladies to a pool party. However, that turns out to be a feeble excuse to get the women in bikinis, because five minutes after they arrive at the pool, he ushers them out the door, parades them through the streets of L.A. in their bikinis (which should make for a dazzling thinkpiece for one of the great feminist minds of our age), and reveals the real activity — a tractor race. In bikinis. Can’t wait for the calendar to hang in the garage! Ashley I. the freelance reporter won the race, because Jersey girls don’t mess around when it comes to driving, and all the girls give her the stink eye because that means quality time with Prince Farming. But when Chris S. returns he asks MacKenzie out on a one-on-one date. Luckily, the producers let her go put on clothes first.
First One-on-One Date: Newly clothed MacKenzie is taken to a bar and immediately announces that she likes his big nose, asks him if he believes in aliens, admits she hasn’t been on a date in a year and admits that she has a son named Kale. Swipe left! Swipe left! Wait, Chris is super into produce. He hands her a rose. Then she kisses and tells, which none of the women appreciate.
Second Date: Megan, a buxom blonde make-up artist from Nashville got the second date card, but she did not quite understand that a date card was actually an invitation to a date and some of the other women had to explain it to her. (There is a strong likelihood that Megan was the woman ramming her head into a wall at Chris’ house.) Chris whisked her from a town car to a private jet, where they sipped champagne. Just your typical day for an Iowa farmer! But that’s not all he had in store for her.
Bachelor Milestone: First helicopter ride! The blushing Bachelor sweeps his date into a helicopter for a ride over the Grand Canyon. After a tour of the landmark, they have a picnic on the banks of the river, and Megan tells Chris her tragic backstory i.e., she applied for The Bachelor and then her father died, but she followed her heart and is now here.
Bachelor Milestone: Megan made a two-fer by saying all the magic words, including assuring Chris that she is “not here for the wrong reasons” and adding that “being on this journey” is amazing. Chris (and the producers) declare her “perfect,” and he hands her the rose. They make out. For a woman who didn’t know what a date card was, Megan is just a wealth of Bachelor-isms, as she declares that she is “head over heels” for Chris.
Second Group Date: Best. Group. Date. Ever. The date card promises death, which some of the women claim is like, so not funny, but totally is. Then producers pile a bunch of women into a limo, send them to a dark corner of The Walking Dead lot, and surround the car with zombies. The women scream in terror, but most women would agree this isn’t nearly as terrifying as walking the streets of L.A. in a bikini. Chris finally swoops in to save them all, sadly not wearing a white-knight costume. Turns out his idea of a dream date is zombie paint ball. The women divide into teams and start taking out walkers. Ashley S., the Brooklyn hairstylist with the love of onions, either does not get the game at all or is doing some serious Andy Kaufman level of humor that will make a great final project for her Tisch performance-art degree. Obviously Chris’ team won.
Post-Date: As the women gossip around a fire pit, Ashley stares into a candle until she sees angels. Kaitlyn suggests that if Chris handed Ashley a rose, she would eat it, and she’s probably right. The rest of the time is spent watching Ashley wig everyone out, as she stares without blinking, crawls around on the ground, answers even the most innocuous questions aggressively, and everyone just sits and stares at her until they get alone time with Chris. Chris gives Britt a coupon for a free kiss, but gives the date rose to Kaitlyn.
The Cocktail Party: Whitney, the fertility nurse who asked Chris about hog insemination during their first encounter, makes a big move by hijacking Chris and wooing him with her baby voice and a bottle of bourbon. Then Ashley I., the tractor-riding freelance journalist, has a surprise: she’s a virgin. As a mom, MacKenzie is super jealous that she can’t use that line, but Ashley is not sure that she wants to tell him, even though, MacKenzie swears men “love” to take women’s virginity, a comment that does not merit commentary other than: ew. Instead she invites him to rub her bellybutton ring and make a wish. He wishes to make out with her, so they do while all the women judge her technique (lots of lip). Then Chris makes out with several more women until drunk Jordan kills the vibe for all.
The Rose Ceremony: Britt gets the first rose, followed by Ashley I., then it’s a blonde named Trina, Kelsey, and a brunette named Samantha. Then Chris S. calls Juelia, but Jillian barges forward, realizes her mistake, backtracks, trips, and then bursts into an insane laugh that echoes through the hallways. Then there’s a parade of Ambers, Tracys, Jades, a Carly, a Becky and a Becca, and finally Jillian, for real. Whitney gets a rose and then Chris S. hands the final rose to Ashley S., because he likes the free entertainment? He wants to help her find counseling? The producers made him? Who knows. Sorry, Kimberly, it turns out you can’t recycle yourself.
Best Reason to Tune in Next Week: Jimmy Kimmel makes an unlikely appearance.
Macklemore — excuse me, Mucklemore — stopped by Sesame Street to join the Grouches for a “Thrift Shop” parody that, at times, is near indistinguishable from his actual hit song.
While famous musicians have stopped by the children’s program before to teach them valuable lessons and impart important advice, the take-away from the Seattle rapper’s guest appearance is not so clear. Consider a future career as a garbageman or garbagewoman? Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty? Always keep an eye out for a bargain, even if it’s actual trash?
Either way, he deserves props for the reworked hook — “This is gross and awesome” — which manages to both sanitize the original not-so-child-friendly lyrics and embrace what some viewers are probably already thinking.
Despite losing legendary host Joan Rivers, known for her hilariously biting critiques of award season fashions, E!’s Fashion Police hasn’t lost its edge, co-host Kelly Osbourne promises.
With new co-host Kathy Griffin, this season of the show will be “utter madness,” Osbourne told PEOPLE at The Art of Elysium Heaven Gala in Santa Monica on Saturday. Fashion Police returns to assess the Golden Globes red carpet Monday night.
“We haven’t been able to do a full run through of anything, because Kathy got sick, so Monday is going to be our very first day,” Osbourne told PEOPLE. “We’re equally as excited as we are sh–ting ourselves!”
So will they take it easy on fashion offenders this awards season? Don’t plan on it.
“They’ve told us ‘no holds barred’, so we finally get to say and do whatever we want,” Osbourne said.
And she’s relishing that carte blanche.
“That’s what is so fun about this job, you never know what to expect, you never know what is going to happen,” she explained, “and at this point I don’t even know what is going to come out of my mouth anymore.”
As for what she’ll be wearing to this year’s big events? “Whatever the f— I want!” the candid star said.
Fashion Police airs Monday at 9 p.m. on E!
