Two Showtime shows, including one of their top shows of all-time, are set to be expanded with spinoffs using the model that made tv&#8217;s top-rated drama, &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/yellowstone" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yellowstone</a>,&#8221; a major franchise for Paramount.
The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/paramount-showtime-dexter-billions-yellowstone-11675659107?mod=style_arts_major_2_pos7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Showtime plans to implement the &#8220;Yellowstone&#8221; model on &#8220;Billions&#8221; and one of their top shows of all-time, &#8220;Dexter.&#8221;
Showtime is planning up to four expansion series for &#8220;Billions,&#8221; the report said. One spinoff will reportedly take place in Miami while two other spinoffs will be named &#8220;Millions&#8221; and &#8220;Trillions.&#8221;
The network has also ordered a prequel series for &#8220;Dexter&#8221; that lays the groundwork for the original show, the report said, adding that Showtime is also exploring spinoff shows based on some of the serial killers in the show.
The news comes after Deadline <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yellowstone-to-end-show-with-kevin-costner-creators-in-talks-with-major-actor-for-franchise-extension-report-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-reader-unique-id="3">reported</a> this week that &#8220;Yellowstone&#8221; is set to end in its current form with star actor Kevin Costner while the show’s creators are eyeing extending the franchise with actor Matthew McConaughey.
Taylor Sheridan, co-creator and showrunner, along with Paramount Global and Paramount Network, are already in talks with McConaughey, and several of the show’s main characters are expected to be in the new version of the series, the report said.
“We have no news to report. Kevin Costner is a big part of Yellowstone and we hope that’s the case for a long time to come,” a Paramount Network spokesperson said. “Thanks to the brilliant mind of Taylor Sheridan, we are always working on franchise expansions of this incredible world he has built. Matthew McConaughey is a phenomenal talent with whom we’d love to partner.”
Sheridan is also behind the set of extremely popular prequel series to “Yellowstone,” “1883” and “1923.” The success of those two shows has afforded Sheridan the ability to be less dependent on “Yellowstone,” the report said.
The new show will reportedly start on Paramount Network and then will be moved to Paramount+.
The decision to move on from Costner comes after he reportedly wanted to do less filming than what producers wanted, the report said. Paramount Network rejected a proposal from Costner and decided to move on.
Deadline added that Sheridan may make two additional prequel series to “Yellowstone” that would detail struggles in the 1940s and 1960s to hang onto the ranch.

SkyShowtime Photo Illustrations

Two Major Showtime Series To Be Expanded Using The ‘Yellowstone’ Model: Report

Two Major Showtime Series To Be Expanded Using The 'Yellowstone' Model: Report

Kevin Costner

Showtime

U.S.

Yellowstone

&#8220;The First Lady&#8221; Showtime series, a portion of which was about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/michelle-obama">Michelle Obama</a>, has been canceled after one season and will not be renewed for a second one amid awful reviews and more.
The 10-part anthology series debuted on the network a little more than six weeks ago, and Showtime announced this week it wouldn&#8217;t be &#8220;moving forward&#8221; with a second season.
&#8220;Showtime can confirm that the anthology series &#8216;The First Lady&#8217; will not be moving forward with another season,&#8221; a spokesperson told <a href="https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/the-first-lady-canceled-showtime-season-2-1235331198/">Variety</a> in a piece published Monday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
‘The First Lady’ Canceled at Showtime After One Season <a href="https://t.co/UjxtL6s7Ky">https://t.co/UjxtL6s7Ky</a>
&mdash; Variety (@Variety) <a href="https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1554267086314246145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;We would like to applaud the artistry and commitment of our showrunner Cathy Schulman, director Susanne Bier, their fellow executive producers, our amazing cast, led by executive producer Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Gillian Anderson, and our studio partner Lionsgate for their dedicated work in telling the unique stories of three remarkable leaders.&#8221;
The show was about the story of three former first ladies — Eleanor Roosevelt, played by Gillian Anderson, Betty Ford, played by actress Michelle Pfeiffer, and Michelle Obama, played by Viola Davis.
The series told the first ladies’ stories with cuts between their different eras in the White House. Variety&#8217;s chief television critic Caroline Framke noted this format of squeezing their stories &#8220;together doesn&#8217;t just make for confusing television, but does them all a disservice in the process.”
Critics on <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_first_lady">Rotten Tomatoes</a> gave show a score of 41%, with several accusing the series of failing to have &#8220;compelling narratives&#8221; for the leads. One critic for <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/04/the-first-lady-tv-show-review/629670/">The Atlantic</a>, Shirly Li, wrote that &#8220;The First Lady is a barely thematically connected and carelessly staged summary of three fascinating figures. All of them deserved better.&#8221;
The <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/05/09/the-first-lady-is-a-bad-wig-costume-drama">New Yorker</a> wrote that, &#8220;The Showtime miniseries, starring Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Gillian Anderson, manages to make life as a White House wife seem both cosmic and forgettable.&#8221;
Audiences appeared to struggle with the story-telling structure, too, but more so with the way Obama was portrayed, giving the series a 58%.
Several wrote about how upsetting they found Obama&#8217;s character. &#8220;Really upset with Michelle Obama character played by Viola Davis I&#8217;ve never seen Michelle look so strange with the awful eyebrows and wiggly mounts?&#8221; one person wrote.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Viola Davis on playing Michelle Obama in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheFirstLady?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheFirstLady</a>:
“There’s a lot of fear that I messed up my portrayal. I’m mostly terrified about what she will think. I don’t want to insult her &amp; have her calling me. I gotta make the sister look good. I just hope that it lands with her.” <a href="https://t.co/wVaZJx7lQL">pic.twitter.com/wVaZJx7lQL</a>
&mdash; Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) <a href="https://twitter.com/FilmUpdates/status/1515836817303502850?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Another wrote that they had a problem with the &#8220;switching back and forth&#8221; in the timeline and wrote that &#8220;I would have preferred watching more of a single timeline. In fact, 3 separate series, starting with Eleanor, then Betty, and lastly Michelle would have been better. Viola Davis always pursing her lips was extremely distracting.&#8221;
&#8220;I really enjoy this series,&#8221; a third shared. &#8220;My favorites are Gillian Anderson and Michelle Pfeiffer&#8217;s portrayals. Viola Davis&#8217;s portrayal annoys me because she purses her lips constantly along with odd facial expressions that I don&#8217;t ever recall Michelle Obama ever doing.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/critics-absolutely-serve-no-purpose-viola-davis-slams-reviewers-criticizing-her-portrayal-of-michelle-obama">&#8216;Critics Absolutely Serve No Purpose&#8217;: Viola Davis Slams Reviewers Criticizing Her Portrayal Of Michelle Obama</a>

The First Lady Show-2

‘The First Lady’ Canceled After 1 Season Amid Awful Reviews And More

Celebrities

Entertainment

Film Reviews

Michelle Obama

Television fans have barely recovered from the death-by-Peloton that befell Mr. Big on the “Sex and the City” spinoff, “And Just Like That.” Now without warning, there’s been another heart incident involving a Peloton, but this time it comes courtesy of the Showtime series “Billions.”
The latest cardiac trouble involves Mike &#8220;Wags&#8221; Wagner (David Costabile) having a heart attack while riding his Peloton spin bike, just like Big did in “AJLT.” However, Wags doesn’t die from it like Big, and even used the moment to reference the other show by saying he’s “not going out” like the other character, Yahoo <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/billions-peloton-scene-171753484.html">reported</a>.
Executive producers claim the “Billions” scene was filmed in spring 2021, which is long before Big caused Peloton to trend with his shocking scene. Then after the “AJLT” episode aired, the production team edited the scene to include &#8220;what Wags would say.&#8221;
A Peloton spokesperson addressed any possible negative connotations viewers might have about the workout equipment in a <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/entertainment/peloton-billions-character-heart-attack">statement</a> to Fox Business. They stressed that cardiovascular exercise is good for someone at risk of a heart attack. 
&#8220;We get why these fictional TV shows would want to include a brand that people love to talk about, but Showtime&#8217;s use of Peloton&#8217;s Bike+ and reference to a Peloton Instructor was not a brand, product, or instructor placement, and we did not agree for our brand and IP to be used on this show or provide any equipment,&#8221; the statement reads. 
&#8220;As referenced by the show itself, there are strong benefits of cardio-vascular exercise to help people lead long, happy lives.&#8221;
This is not the first Peloton controversy in Hollywood. After the death of Mr. Big, the fitness company worked with Ryan Reynolds’ company Maximum Impact to create an ad featuring Chris Noth extolling the virtues of cardiovascular fitness while claiming to be “alive.” Shortly after the ad debuted in December, Noth was accused of sexual assault, and the company had to distance themselves from him and cancel the whole campaign.
It’s unclear whether the TV spots have anything to do with Peloton’s growing financial issues. Peloton shares fell 24% on January 20 following a report from CNBC that the company was pulling back on production, The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/peloton-bucks-market-trend-after-activist-letter-billions-appearance-11643039068">reported</a>. This came after they had ramped up production to meet demand and stock shortages from 2020, only to find the demand for their products was no longer there.
Peloton CEO John Foley said in a letter to employees that layoffs were a possibility, plus said the company is “resetting our production levels for sustainable growth.” This has led to employees and shareholders demanding that Foley be fired or voluntarily resign.
Peloton stock has fallen more than 80% over the past 12 months after emerging as a leading investment at the beginning of the pandemic. PR issues like seeing characters suffer heart attacks after using their workout equipment probably hasn’t affected the brand image too much, but it hasn’t helped matters either. 
“Thanks to Billions I can afford to buy more Peloton stocks,” one Twitter user quipped after the episode.

Peloton Stock Goes Up As Home Workouts Increase

Flailing Peloton Issues Statement After ‘Billions’ Character Suffers A Heart Attack Following a Ride

Heart Attack

Peloton

SHOWTIME has announced it will be releasing a docu-series about President Ronald Reagan and his family titled, “THE REAGANS,” and if the press release is any indication, it will be yet another predictable hit piece on a Republican president from Hollywood.
SHOWTIME writes in the press release that the series “contextualizes the legacy of Ronald and Nancy a generation later while exploring the palace intrigue of the Reagan White House years. … By shining a light on the truths behind the Reagan myth and critically analyzing Ronald Reagan’s quest for power, his mode of governing, the ripple effects of his economic policies and the unprecedented role Nancy Reagan played in the White House, the series redefines the Reagans a generation after they stood at the center of the national and global stage.”
Wait: it gets worse: “Covering Reagan’s rise from movie star to politician and tackling his questionable record on race, the administration’s near collapse amid the Iran-Contra scandal, and inaction in the face of the HIV pandemic, THE REAGANS offers an epochal look at a recent past that has much to do with our turbulent present.”
In 2013, The Butler, produced by The Weinstein Co. and starring Forest Whitaker as a White House butler who served presidents from 1952 to 1986, was slammed as critics said the film insinuated Reagan was a racist.
Paul Kengor, author of two books about Reagan, The Crusader and God and Ronald Reagan, stated, “I’ve talked to many White House staff, cooks, housekeepers, doctors, and Secret Service over the years. They are universal in their love of Ronald Reagan.”  Kiron Skinner, the author of several books about Reagan and the Cold War, pointed out that when he was challenged on his record on race in 1975, Reagan responded, “In my eight years [as governor] more negroes were appointed to executive and policymaking positions in state government than had been appointed by all the previous California governors put together. You are absolutely right that our job is getting our story across,” as <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/lee-daniels-butler-reagan-biographers-608233">The Hollywood Reporter</a> stated.
Reagan’s son Michael <a href="https://www.newsmax.com/Reagan/Butler-Reagan-Oprah-Allen/2013/08/22/id/521814/">asserted</a>, “There you go again, Hollywood. You’ve taken a great story about a real person and real events and twisted it into a bunch of lies. … If you knew my father, you’d know he was the last person on Earth you would call a racist. If (screenwriter Danny) Strong had gotten his &#8216;facts&#8217; from the Reagan biographies, he’d have learned that when my father was playing football at Eureka College one of his best friends was a black teammate. Strong also would have learned that my father invited black players home for dinner and once, when two players were not allowed to stay in the local hotel, he invited them to stay overnight at his house.”
Michael Reagan concluded, “Despite what Hollywood’s liberal hacks believe, my father didn’t see people in colors. He saw them as individual Americans. If the liberals in Hollywood — and Washington — ever start looking at people the way he did, the country will be a lot better off.”

Ronald Reagan

Showtime Touts Reagan Film. Press Release Suggests It’s A Hit Job.

“The Comey Rule’s” release date is both unfortunate and hardly accidental. Showtime’s two-part miniseries, starring Jeff Daniels as former FBI Director James Comey, follows his attempts to tie President Donald Trump’s electoral victory to Mother Russia. The miniseries hits the pay channel Sept. 27-28. Creator Billy Ray all but demanded it drop prior to Election Day. Anyone interested in the truth, though, would argue production wrapped long before all the facts emerged. Maybe that was the plan all along. Here’s everything we know about the production, the timing and its intended impact.
Meet Your New POTUS
Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, a screen veteran for three decades, transformed himself to play President Trump. Gleeson won an Emmy in 2009 for portraying Winston Churchill in the TV project “Into the Storm.” Other notable films include “In Bruges,” the “Harry Potter” series and “Calvary.”
Gleeson initially turned down the Trump role for fear of potential blowback, but he later relented.
Billy Ray – Writer, Director and Partisan Cheerleader?
“The Comey Rule” comes courtesy of Billy Ray, who brings an impressive resume to Showtime. Ray wrote and directed the excellent spy thriller “Breach” as well as the journalistic expose “Shattered Glass.” Since then, he’s penned Tom Hanks’ “Captain Phillips” and, most recently, last year’s little-seen “Richard Jewell.”
Ray’s previous work suggests an apolitical mien with a dash of anger at the Fourth Estate. Both “Glass” and “Richard Jewell” excoriated reporters who failed to do their jobs. The latter proved so effective that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the newspaper at the heart of the story, demanded the film studio (Warner Bros.) add a disclaimer to the film. The outlet claimed the portrayal of late AJC journalist Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde) didn’t reflect her reportage.
<a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2019/12/richard-jewell-ajc-controversy-1202197083/">Ray wouldn’t budge</a>.
“The AJC hung Richard Jewell, in public. They editorialized wildly and printed assumptions as facts. They compared him to noted mass murderer Wayne Williams. And this was after he had saved hundreds of lives … I will stand by every word and assertion in the script.”
Ray proved equally outraged when Showtime flirted with a post-Election Day debut for “The Comey Rule.” He <a href="https://deadline.com/2020/06/the-comey-rule-billy-ray-cast-apology-note-post-election-airdate-president-trump-james-comey-jeff-daniels-1202967723/">all but demanded the pay channel</a> change course and release the miniseries prior to the Election. Someone leaked a letter written by Ray to his cast and crew on the subject.
“[W]hile I’ve made movies about my country before, this was the first time I ever made a movie for my country. We all were hoping to get this story in front of the American people months before the coming election.”
Deadline reported that the cast signed on for “Rule,” in part, believing it would hit small screens prior to Election Day.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="RICHARD JEWELL - Official Trailer [HD]" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gSMxBLlA8qY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Ka-Ching!
The miniseries price tag? $40 million.
That’s a Wrap
We don’t know the exact date of the film’s final shooting days, but press reports indicate cameras began rolling in November.
Ben-Adir says he shot his Obama footage around Christmas time.
We all know that in late March everything, from coast to coast, essentially shut down due to the pandemic. So we can safely assume the shooting part of the production ended at that time (more likely a month or two earlier).
Of course we’ve learned quite a bit since that time about the Russian collusion narrative, little of it flattering to Comey or the media narrative on the subject.
Meet the Cast
Showtime had little trouble assembling a crackerjack cast for the project. In addition to Daniels and Gleeson you’ll see Holly Hunter as former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, Michael Kelly playing former FBI Director Andrew McCabe, “Breaking Bad” favorite Jonathan Banks as James Clapper and Scoot McNairy as former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Co-star Kingsley Ben-Adir gets his closeup as President Barack Obama, whose role in the Russian collusion saga is continually downplayed by the press.
We’ll have to see if Peter Coyote, cast as former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, will create the real figure’s disastrous July 24, 2019 appearance on Capitol Hill.
<div id="attachment_143348" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-143348" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-143348" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Jeff-Daniels-864x576.jpg" alt="US actor Jeff Daniels attends the 73rd Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 9, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)" width="800" height="534" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Jeff-Daniels-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Jeff-Daniels-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Jeff-Daniels-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/08/Jeff-Daniels.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images</div>
What the Pretend Obama Knows
Actor Ben-Adir is tasked with recreating one of the most famous people on the planet – former President Obama. He recently spoke to The LA Times about the gig and the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2020-08-27/kingsley-ben-adir-barack-obama-malcolm-x-comey-rule-one-night-miami">bigger picture.</a>
“I think the function of Obama in the piece is to provide contrast to Trump, as an example of a president who operates from decency and kindness, someone who just wanted to leave the country in a better place than when he found it.”
&#8220;A Higher Loyalty&#8221; – Fact or Fiction?
Ray based his miniseries partly on Comey’s best-selling memoir, “A Higher Loyalty.” He also leaned on, according to Showtime, “more than a year of additional interviews” to flesh out the narrative with “key principles” involved with the case.
What About the &#8220;FBI Lovebirds&#8221;?
“The Comey Rule” casts “Game of Thrones” co-star Oona Chaplin and Steven Pasquale as FBI agents Lisa Page and Peter Strzok,” respectively. The pair famously worked on the Russia collusion case and, more famously, had an affair they revealed via flirty phone texts.
That’s not all the pair revealed.
Their messages included a reference to an <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/devin-nunes-peter-strzoks-insurance-policy-was-about-carter-page-fisa-warrant">“insurance policy,”</a> something Page and fellow Democrats tsk-tsked as something inconsequential. Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. disagreed. He describes the verbiage as plans to attack Trump via the now-discredited Steele Dossier. The latter was used by the FBI to spy on Page.
Phelim McAleer created “FBI Lovebirds: Undercover,” a stage play starring Dean Cain and Kristy Swanson, based on the couple’s text exchanges.
<div id="attachment_47417" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-47417" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-47417" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/peter_strzok_gi.jpg" alt="Deputy Assistant FBI Director Peter Strzok prepares to testify before a joint hearing of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill July 12, 2018 in Washington, DC." width="800" height="480" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2019/09/peter_strzok_gi.jpg 974w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2019/09/peter_strzok_gi-300x180.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2019/09/peter_strzok_gi-768x460.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</div>
Will TV Comey &#8220;Go Rogue,&#8221; Too?
We recently heard <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sally-yates-comey-went-rogue-michael-flynn-senate-judiciary-committee/">Yates throw Comey under the Beltway bus</a> during testimony about the FBI’s farcical handling of the Russia investigation.
The former Deputy Attorney General testified that Comey went “rogue,” a term she approved of, by “unilaterally” directing fellow agents to interview Michael Flynn, the president’s former National Security Advisor.
Another key fact that won’t do Team Comey any favors? The 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” lurking in the FISA applications the FBI used to surveil Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
Yes, &#8220;Comey Rule&#8221; Will Take Sides
The writer/director opened up about the <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/07/the-comey-rule-trump-brendan-gleeson-jeff-daniels-tv">creative process behind “The Comey Rule</a>” recently to Vanity Fair. Here’s how he described capturing the title figure for posterity.
“As a dramatic character, basic story structure, you want to put your hero between a rock and a hard place, write the hero into a corner, and then he has to overcome the obstacles to come out of it, one way or another. And Comey, what he went through was a rock and hard place.”
Ray also adores Mueller, whose titular Report proved a massive dud second only to his bumbling Congressional testimony which even the biased press said was disastrous to the Democrats. The writer/director dubbed <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jeff-daniels-stars-james-comey-miniseries-meet-cast-1245884">Mueller “iconic” and a “hero.”</a>
<div id="attachment_114119" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-114119" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-114119" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Robert-Mueller-958x576.jpg" alt="WASHINGTON - JULY 26: FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee July 26, 2007 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The hearing was held to examine whether the FBI have misused their power. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)" width="800" height="481" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/Robert-Mueller-958x576.jpg 958w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/Robert-Mueller-300x180.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/Robert-Mueller-768x462.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2020/05/Robert-Mueller.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />Alex Wong/Getty Images</div>
Jeff Daniels, TDS Victim
The veteran actor’s career couldn’t be more diverse. He’s played a blithering idiot in two “Dumb and Dumber” films, a philandering father in “Terms of Endearment” and now an FBI director at the heart of a massive scandal.
In recent years Daniel has sounded as unhinged as Rob Reiner, John Cusack and other actors suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.
In fact, on a 2019 MSNBC interview he said Trump’s re-election would mean “<a href="https://deadline.com/2019/05/jeff-daniels-donald-trump-republican-party-msnbc-the-end-of-democracy-1202619265/">the end of democracy</a>” in America.
More from Christian Toto: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-ellen-degeneress-public-image-collapsed">How Ellen DeGeneres’s Public Image Collapsed</a>

James Comey

James Comey Mini-Series Drops Right In Time For Election. Here’s Everything We Know About It.

2020 Election

Donald Trump

Hollywood

Robert Mueller

Showtime rolled out a trailer for its upcoming 4-hour dramatization of former FBI Director James Comey&#8217;s memoir on Monday, offering a preview of Jeff Daniels as Comey and Brendan Gleeson as a menacing President Donald Trump.
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Brendan Gleeson as Donald Trump.<a href="https://twitter.com/Jeff_Daniels?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Jeff_Daniels</a> as James Comey.
In a special two-night event, an all-star cast brings James Comey’s book to life in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheComeyRule?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheComeyRule</a>. <a href="https://t.co/YEMt0L40P2">pic.twitter.com/YEMt0L40P2</a>
&mdash; SHOWTIME (@Showtime) <a href="https://twitter.com/Showtime/status/1297881344899338240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The trailer is the most footage revealed yet from the miniseries that premieres Sept. 27, which is based on Comey&#8217;s 2018 book &#8220;A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership.&#8221;
Journalist Mollie Hemingway excoriated the trailer, tweeting, &#8220;The proof that Democrats/media/NeverTrump don&#8217;t *genuinely* care about conspiracy theories getting adopted by small or fringe portions of the general population is that they continue to actively push the &#8216;Russia collusion&#8217; conspiracy theory that causes such damage to the country.&#8221;
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The proof that Democrats/media/NeverTrump don&#39;t *genuinely* care about conspiracy theories getting adopted by small or fringe portions of the general population is that they continue to actively push the &quot;Russia collusion&quot; conspiracy theory that causes such damage to the country. <a href="https://t.co/68sZ1iGlQo">https://t.co/68sZ1iGlQo</a>
&mdash; Mollie (@MZHemingway) <a href="https://twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/1297905912456400897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The casting of Daniels as the former FBI director was announced last October, according to <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jeff-daniels-play-james-comey-cbs-studios-miniseries-1245838" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Hollywood Reporter</a>. Director Billy Ray reportedly cast the &#8220;Dumb &amp; Dumber&#8221; actor following a meeting with him backstage after his performance as Atticus Finch in the Broadway play &#8220;To Kill A Mockingbird.&#8221;
Ray described Daniels as a perfect fit for the role, saying, &#8220;Jeff is so perfect for this part: great actor, instant integrity, loads of warmth, intelligence, complexity and gravitas. We talked backstage after I saw him in &#8216;To Kill a Mockingbird&#8217; on Broadway, and I knew I was looking at the only person who could play Jim Comey. Lucky for me, he said yes.&#8221;
Daniels has been an outspoken critic of both Trump and his supporters, some of whom he has accused of being racist. During a May 2019 <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/20/jeff-daniels-atticus-finch-donald-trump-msnbc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">interview</a> with MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, Daniels said:
<blockquote>I think there are people in the Midwest, between the coasts, who don’t care about this, don’t have time for this, who have to make a decision now. You have to decide whether, like Atticus, you believe there is still compassion, decency, civility, respect for others, do unto others, remember that? Do unto others. All that stuff you guys believe in and you still voted not for Hillary, for Trump, where are you now? Your kids are looking up at you going, but he lies. I think there are a lot of people in the midwest who are going — it might be enough for them. We’ll find out if the big gamble is to go all the way to November 2020, which I agree, and lose, it’s the end of democracy.</blockquote>
According to texts he sent to Wallace, <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/20/jeff-daniels-atticus-finch-donald-trump-msnbc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Comey and his wife saw Daniels</a> on Broadway in a performance she wanted so badly to see that she sat through it while holding a broken clavicle in place.
&#8220;Yes, the whole family went in early January,&#8221; Comey texted Wallace. &#8220;We were so excited to see it that Patrice fell on the sidewalk, broke her clavicle, and refused to go to the hospital. She held her arm in place all during the show.&#8221;
&#8220;It is the perfect play for our time,&#8221; Comey continued. &#8220;It reminds us that people can be deeply biased and flawed but the truth is a real thing and our heroes in the long run are always those who stood up for it.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jeff-daniels-america-needs-someone-who-can-punch-paul-bois" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Jeff Daniels: America Needs Someone Who Can Punch Trump ‘In The Face’</a>
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Jeff Daniels

Showtime Debuts Trailer For James Comey Drama Starring Jeff Daniels

Broadway

In early July, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin accused Showtime host Sacha Baron Cohen of using &#8220;sick&#8221; tricks &#8212; including posing as a wounded war veteran, &#8220;fake wheelchair and all&#8221; &#8212; to dupe her into doing an &#8220;exploitative&#8221; interview for his show. After the network denied Palin&#8217;s claims, Showtime programming president Gary Levine suggested this week in a snarky exchange that the interview she walked out of in disgust may never be aired.
&#8220;All I can say about that is that there are several people who have thrown themselves in front of buses that may not be heading their way,&#8221; Levine told reporters at TCA, in response to questions about Baron Cohen&#8217;s controversial fake Palin interview, <a href="https://pagesix.com/2018/08/07/why-sacha-baron-cohens-interview-with-sarah-palin-may-not-air/">Page Six</a> reports.
As for why Palin&#8217;s aborted interview may not make the cut, Levine said Baron Cohen has a &#8220;very high bar&#8221; for his satirical show, which so far has targeted Republicans and conservatives far more viciously than anyone on the left and managed to get one idiot lawmaker to resign after Baron Cohen convinced him to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/33549/republican-lawmaker-resigns-after-sacha-baron-james-barrett">pull down his pants and yell racial slurs</a>. A &#8220;very high bar&#8221; indeed.
In a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/24718773587/posts/10156554923728588/">Facebook post</a> published July 10, Palin slammed the &#8220;Borat&#8221; star for his &#8220;evil, exploitative, sick &#8216;humor'&#8221; and told the story about how he &#8220;duped&#8221; her, at least for a while.
<blockquote>
Yup &#8211; we were duped. Ya&#8217; got me, Sacha. Feel better now?
I join a long list of American public personalities who have fallen victim to the evil, exploitive, sick &#8220;humor&#8221; of the British &#8220;comedian&#8221; Sacha Baron Cohen, enabled and sponsored by CBS/Showtime.
This &#8220;legit opportunity&#8221; to honor American Vets and contribute to a &#8220;legit Showtime historical documentary&#8221; was requested of me via a speakers bureau.
For my interview, my daughter and I were asked to travel across the country where Cohen (I presume) had heavily disguised himself as a disabled US Veteran, fake wheelchair and all. Out of respect for what I was led to believe would be a thoughtful discussion with someone who had served in uniform, I sat through a long &#8220;interview&#8221; full of Hollywoodism&#8217;s disrespect and sarcasm &#8211; but finally had enough and literally, physically removed my mic and walked out, much to Cohen&#8217;s chagrin. The disrespect of our US military and middle-class Americans via Cohen&#8217;s foreign commentaries under the guise of interview questions was perverse.
</blockquote>
Showtime responded by denying that Baron Cohen posed as a veteran: &#8220;Baron Cohen never presented himself as a veteran of the U.S. military to former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin during the booking process or during the filming of her interview, and contrary to her claims he did not appear in a wheelchair. In both the interview with Governor Palin and the interview with Senator Sanders, he did not wear military apparel of any kind.&#8221;
Palin also accused Baron Cohen and his team of deliberately dropping her and her teenage daughter off at the wrong airport so they&#8217;d miss their flight back to Alaska:
<blockquote>
And as an aside, for further insight into the wealthy corporate enablers of this kind of &#8220;joke&#8221;, I&#8217;ll add that after great costs on our part in time and resources to contribute to their &#8220;documentary&#8221; the Cohen/CBS/Showtime production team purposefully dropped my daughter and me off at the wrong Washington, DC airport after the fake interview, knowing we&#8217;d miss all flights back home to Alaska. After refusing to take our calls to help get us out of the bind they&#8217;d put us in for three days, I wrote this off as yet another example of the sick nature that is media-slash-entertainment today.
</blockquote>
So is Showtime worried about more bad publicity or perhaps even a lawsuit? Or does the fake interview really not meet Baron Cohen&#8217;s &#8220;very high bar&#8221; (which presumably means that Palin didn&#8217;t come off badly enough)? Stay tuned.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/33549/republican-lawmaker-resigns-after-sacha-baron-james-barrett">Republican Lawmaker Resigns After Sacha Baron Cohen Skit</a>

After Denying Sarah Palin’s Accusations About ‘Sick’ Show, Showtime Says Her Segment May Not Air

Republican Party

Sacha Baron Cohen

Sarah Palin

327,000.
That&#8217;s how many people watched Sacha Baron Cohen&#8217;s new Showtime show &#8220;Who Is America?&#8221;
&#8220;Among the key demographic of adults 18-49, Who Is America? pulled in a low 0.1 rating. That put the secretive and controversial Who Is America? in the hinterland of the 70th highest-rated original show on cable on July 15,&#8221; <a href="https://deadline.com/2018/07/sacha-baron-cohen-who-is-america-ratings-low-debut-showtime-1202427802/">Deadline</a> reported.
What shows beat him? Nearly everyone.
<blockquote>
In comparison and airing in the same 10 PM ET slot as Who Is America?, Fox Sports 1 had UFC Fight Night with a 0.3 rating and 754,000 viewers. Over on Home, House Hunters Renovation snagged a 0.3 in the key demo too. However, the politics free HHR also pulled in an audience of 1.4 million.
</blockquote>
Cohen was pummeled at in the 10 p.m. slot, <a href="http://www.showbiz411.com/2018/07/17/sacha-baron-cohens-scathing-satire-who-is-america-scores-just-327000-viewers">Showbiz411</a> reported.
<blockquote>
&#8220;Mexico Life&#8221; was among the shows on cable that did five or six times the business. (1.9 million viewers). Something called &#8220;On the Case with PZ&#8221; on Discovery had 1.5 million. &#8220;History of Comedy&#8221; on CNN had 764K. That&#8217;s twice as many as Cohen&#8217;s show.
</blockquote>
But Showbiz411 said Showtime claimed the numbers were much higher. &#8220;Showtime says &#8216;Who is America?&#8217; actually was seen by over 1 million people when [you] include all platforms including several showings that were streamed and beamed and telegraphed.&#8221;
But the showbiz website also said, &#8220;Basically, &#8216;Who is America?&#8217; didn&#8217;t make the top 25 cable shows on Sunday night. It was a bust.&#8221;
Cohen, the infantile actor who made it big playing &#8220;Ali G&#8221; and &#8220;Borat,&#8221; didn&#8217;t receive much good press before the show debuted. Dominic Patten of Deadline completely destroyed the show with one word &#8212; boring.
&#8220;Full of mild shock, zero awe and a lot of recycled scenarios, the flabby, seven-episode dupe-the-dimwits endeavor from the once blighting satirist certainly provokes a great inducement to change the cable channel,&#8221; Patten wrote.
While the author called Cohen &#8220;the premier provocateur of our time,&#8221; he said this latest show is dreadful. &#8220;Or to paraphrase a true great provocateur, Johnny Rotten: Boring, Sasha, boring.&#8221;
<blockquote>
Though Ali G was genius and Borat was brilliant, the subsequent offerings leading to Who Is America? intimate that the decline and fall of the comedy of Sasha Baron Cohen is almost complete with this pointless and tub-thumping exercise in ritual humiliation.
About as &#8220;dangerous&#8221; and &#8220;cold-blooded,&#8221; to quote WiA&#8217;s promos, as a multi-colored inflatable pool unicorn, this series is murky on who is being more humiliated, Cohen or his patsies. It is, however, definitive on giving 2016 flick The Brothers Grimsby a worthy rival for the stupidest thing Cohen has ever conceived.
</blockquote>

Sacha Baron Cohen’s New Show Tanks In The Ratings

Showtime&#8217;s new Sacha Baron Cohen-starring prank show series kicked off with a marital rape joke that has many already condemning the series as tasteless and, worse, unfunny.
Cohen teased his new series with a politically-charged promo featuring a slightly amused former Vice President Dick Cheney signing his &#8220;waterboad kit.&#8221; Soon after the promo dropped, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin revealed online that Cohen posed as an injured U.S. war veteran to &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/32879/sarah-palin-sacha-baron-cohen-used-sick-trick-get-james-barrett">dupe</a>&#8221; her into a fake interview (which she ultimately walked out of), then dropped her and her teenage daughter off at the wrong airport so they&#8217;d miss their flight. Amid <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/32924/surprise-showtimes-new-series-anti-republican-hit-james-barrett">reports</a> that the whole show was &#8220;nothing more than a Hollywood hit job on Trump supporters and the Republican Party,&#8221; Cohen&#8217;s &#8220;Who Is America?&#8221; finally premiered Sunday night &#8212; and promptly disappointed viewers.
The worst moment of episode one comes when Cohen is posing as an Israeli terrorism expert named Erran Morad. Speaking with lobbyist and executive director emeritus of Gun Owners of America Larry Pratt, &#8220;Morad&#8221; cites an incident that supposedly happened with his wife.
&#8220;Women need a gun, you know. My wife, she have [sic] a gun, and she shot me once,&#8221; says Cohen. &#8220;You know, what can I do? I get horny in the middle of the night. But it&#8217;s not rape if it&#8217;s your wife.&#8221;
Cohen says the final line laughing, drawing a laugh out of Pratt, who was clearly in a jovial mood having just laughed at the interviewer&#8217;s tasteless anti-Muslim joke.
In its coverage of the much-maligned rape skit, the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/who-is-america-sacha-baron-cohen-rape-joke-larry-pratt-a8449701.html">Independent</a> notes that &#8220;marital rape in America was first criminalised in the 1970s, and has been illegal in all 50 states since 1993, but some exemptions have been made in individual states since then.&#8221;
In another sketch, Cohen successfully <a href="https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/virginia-gun-rights-activist-pranked-by-sacha-baron-cohen-in/article_04fd248a-d1a4-5be0-b9a2-dddc75b05ebe.html">dupes</a> Virginia gun rights activist Phillip Van Cleave into appearing on a fake video series supposedly designed for kindergartners, &#8220;Kinderguardians,&#8221; convincing him to sing gun-themed songs and shoot a stuffed-animal gun.
As Esquire puts it, Cohen&#8217;s goal for the show appears to be not simply to &#8220;humiliate Republicans&#8221; but to &#8220;<a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a22130408/sacha-baron-cohen-who-is-america-review/">end careers</a>.&#8221; In a recent Facebook post, Van Cleave described his experience with Cohen back in February as a &#8220;well-choreographed psychological manipulation.&#8221;
In its coverage of the new series, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2018/07/15/628757352/sacha-baron-cohen-is-hit-and-miss-in-who-is-america">NPR</a> has mostly bad things to say. The only one of the four skits that NPR&#8217;s Linda Holmes spends some time praising is the one that most shamelessly targets pro-gun activists and conservatives. Here&#8217;s Holmes&#8217; coverage of the Israeli-mocking, anti-gun segment starring Pratt and others which she found particularly &#8220;effective&#8221;:
<blockquote>
In his tough-guy drag that features a walk so unlikely you&#8217;d only see it in a Monty Python sketch, Cohen meets up with gun enthusiasts Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, and Larry Pratt, the Executive Director Emeritus of Gun Owners of America. Both swallow the bait and then suck up a couple more feet of line. Pratt eventually laughs heartily at Cohen&#8217;s stories of marital rape, an innocent Muslim shot while praying, and plenty more. Van Cleave, meanwhile, participates in a children&#8217;s instructional video showcasing guns that are disguised as stuffed animals. He even sings a little song. &#8230;.
It&#8217;s worth noting that what Cohen is doing doesn&#8217;t always work. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, for instance, looks to be onto Cohen&#8217;s &#8220;terrorism expert&#8221; from the jump, asking whether the guy really thinks he&#8217;s going to say on camera that he favors giving guns to three- and four-year-olds. But not all are so skeptical. Former Senator Trent Lott and others at least appear &#8212; and the role of editing and story control is always important to keep in mind &#8212; to sign on enthusiastically to at least a consideration of giving guns to, in Lott&#8217;s words as he seemingly reads from a script, &#8220;highly trained preschoolers.&#8221; It&#8217;s Pratt who gets the most conventionally pranked, though, persuaded to recite a script that says Blink-182 is a pheromone and the rita ora is part of the liver.
That part&#8217;s pretty funny.
</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/33020/sacha-baron-cohen-responds-sarah-palin-slamming-james-barrett">Sacha Baron Cohen Responds To Sarah Palin Slamming His &#8216;Sick&#8217; Trick</a>

Showtime’s New ‘Anti-Republican Hit-Job’ Show Kicks Off With Rape Joke

Gun Control

Guns

Second Amendment

Sacha Baron Cohen, the infantile actor who made it big playing &#8220;Ali G&#8221; and &#8220;Borat,&#8221; has gotten a lot of coverage for his new Showtime show, &#8220;Who Is America?&#8221; The critics have gushed over his embarrassing &#8220;interviews&#8221; with former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin and failed congressional candidate Roy Moore, often disguised as a disabled military veteran.
That&#8217;d be the predictable take for Hollywood, which clearly despises President Trump and all Republicans.
But one critic &#8212; looking at the show without the normal liberal bias, just trying to inform potential viewers whether they should bother to tune in &#8212; took a completely different tack, and it wasn&#8217;t pretty.
Dominic Patten of Deadline completely destroyed the show. With one word, he shredded the new Cohen effort, calling it &#8220;boring.&#8221;
&#8220;Full of mild shock, zero awe and a lot of recycled scenarios, the flabby, seven-episode dupe-the-dimwits endeavor from the once blighting satirist certainly provokes a great inducement to change the cable channel,&#8221; Patten wrote.
While the author called Cohen &#8220;the premier provocateur of our time,&#8221; he said this latest show is dreadful. &#8220;Or to paraphrase a true great provocateur, Johnny Rotten: Boring, Sasha, boring.&#8221;
<blockquote>
Though Ali G was genius and Borat was brilliant, the subsequent offerings leading to Who Is America? intimate that the decline and fall of the comedy of Sasha Baron Cohen is almost complete with this pointless and tub-thumping exercise in ritual humiliation.
About as &#8220;dangerous&#8221; and &#8220;cold-blooded,&#8221; to quote WiA&#8217;s promos, as a multi-colored inflatable pool unicorn, this series is murky on who is being more humiliated, Cohen or his patsies. It is, however, definitive on giving 2016 flick The Brothers Grimsby a worthy rival for the stupidest thing Cohen has ever conceived.
</blockquote>
Patten said Cohen does target some heavy hitters, &#8220;However, for the most part, Cohen targets an easily pummeled straw dogs selection of well-heeled, Donald Trump- supporting and drink-sipping South Carolinians, gun rights activists like the well-named Larry Pratt, and pliable SoCal art gallery owners. There&#8217;s also the expected washed-up politicians, talking heads, and reality show contestants with defecation gags galore, a &#8220;Kinder-Guardians&#8221; gun-arming child program, sex with a porpoise and a flag menstruation anecdote, the latter which the Clinton Foundation are falsely said to be supporting financially.&#8221;
Then Patten lowers the boom.
The &#8220;shtick&#8221; of &#8220;Who Is America?&#8221; &#8220;is simply to watch stuffed shirts fall over on the banana peels placed in their self-satisfied way, again and again. Nothing more, and often less.&#8221;
<blockquote>
Funny once? Totally. Funny over and over and over? Maybe, if the executions are worthy and the subjects slippery enough, as was often the case during Cohen&#8217;s Ali Gand Borat era.
However, funny in 2018? When trolled by the Cohen-played characters of a right-wing conspiracy theorist, Mossad officer, a self-loathing, gender-bending, NPR-listening snowflake? Or what about a British convict just out of the joint wanting to share his bodily fluids-created art and apparent impersonation of Tom Hardy as Bronson from the 2008 pic, plus an oil-slick slimy West Coast Euro-millionaire celeb photographer with charitable desires?
No, that&#8217;s not funny or shrewd. That&#8217;s just a short play at the track, as con-men used to say. And, once you get past the sleight-of-hand and the hype, there&#8217;s not much there in Who Is America?, new or otherwise, that isn&#8217;t a con job.
</blockquote>

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