Caroline Framke Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Marvel is back with another comic book adapted series, this time based off of the beloved lawyer-turned-superhero Jennifer Walters played by Tatiana Maslany.The series, whose first episode arrived on Disney+ this morning, follows Walters as she transforms into the 6-foot-7-inch She-Hulk after getting cross-contaminated with the blood of her cousin (The Hulk) played by Mark Ruffalo.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticNo one is more annoyed by the derivative moniker of “She-Hulk” than Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk herself. In a stark departure from her brooding cousin Bruce (“Avengers” veteran Mark Ruffalo), the lawyer turned reluctant superhero (played by “Orphan Black” star Tatiana Maslany) approaches her life with a winsome grin and “let’s get this over with!” sigh.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThe basics of “This Fool” are straightforward and familiar enough. Hulu’s new comedy stars stand-up comedian Chris Estrada as Julio, a 30 year-old who lives with his strict mother (Laura Patalano) and not-so-secretly badass grandmother (Julia Vera).

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticAs a newcomer to Neil Gaiman’s seminal comic book series “The Sandman” (cue diehard fans immediately clicking out of this review, and fair enough!), I came to Netflix’s adaptation with an open mind and curious eye. Knowing this 1989 title had spawned onscreen spinoffs of “Sandman” characters — “Lucifer,” “Constantine,” etcetera — but never one of its own, it was hard not to wonder what about it might have made a live-action version so hard that it never happened until now.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticGet ready to check back into “The White Lotus.”HBO’s anthology series about life among the wealthy and dissatisfied at a chain of upscale resorts will premiere its second installment in October, Variety can exclusively reveal.The Mike White-created series is shifting the action to Sicily, where new hotel staffers and new guests will face off; Jennifer Coolidge, this week’s Variety cover star, is the only series regular to be returning, as she reprises her role as spiritually seeking socialite Tanya McQuoid. Above, check out Coolidge in Euro-glam mode in the exclusive first image released of the new season.In its initial, Hawaii-set season, which aired in the summer of 2021, “The White Lotus” was a sensation, immediately pulling in 1.9 million viewers across linear and digital platforms for its finale, a number that only grew from there.

J. Kim Murphy Showtime has elected against moving forward with a second season of its anthology series “The First Lady.” The decision comes a little over six weeks after the series aired its Season 1 finale on the network.“Showtime can confirm that the anthology series ‘The First Lady’will not be moving forward with another season,” a Showtime spokesperson told Variety.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThere’s a desperate restlessness at the heart of the first, fantastic season of “Reservation Dogs.” Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi’s FX series, which premiered last August, kept a watchful eye out for the strange, and strangely beautiful, moments woven into each hazy day for four best friends reeling from the sudden death of their fifth. It took no time at all to understand Bear (D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai), Elora (Devery Jacobs), Cheese (Lane Factor) and Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), nor to slip into the show’s world where the banal could meet the surreal at any given moment.The same holds true in Season 2, which opens just hours after Elora’s not only skipped town with laconic bully Jackie (Elva Guerra) and all their money, but has also left a furious, confused Bear behind.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticLet’s get this out of the way now: The comparisons “Paper Girls” will get to “Stranger Things” are inevitable, but not especially fair.Yes, “Paper Girls” also opens in the 1980s with four 12-year-olds on bikes who end up tackling otherworldly forces way bigger than themselves. But by the middle of the first episode, “Paper Girls” — which was a comic book series before “Stranger Things” was a TV show, anyway — turns itself inside out to become something else entirely.

Zack Sharf “Harley Quinn” Season 3 just launched on HBO Max, and it appears fans won’t have to worry too much about the longevity of Harley and Ivy’s relationship. The two villains romantically linked up in the Season 2 finale of the animated comic book series, much to the delight of fans. Showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker recently confirmed to the AV Club that Harley and Ivy are in for the long haul.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticFor a certain generation of TV watchers, the theme song for “Pretty Little Liars” scratches an itch like no other. The original series, which ran for seven seasons on ABC Family before the channel became Freeform, began each episode with the lilting melodies of the Pierces’ “Secret” over pristine images of the main quartet in their funereal finest, making winking eye contact with the camera in order to shush it.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic“Rap Sh!t” may be grounded in reality, but there’s something lightly surreal about the experience of watching it. Issa Rae’s new comedy, showrun by “Insecure” writer Syreeta Singleton and premiering July 21 on HBO Max, bobs and weaves between its stories and the ones its characters are constantly posting on Instagram.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The first episode of the new series about the iconic New York Yankee Derek Jeter is now available to stream online.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticDeep into the fifth episode of “The Captain,” ESPN’s new docuseries acknowledges the difficulty of cracking its chosen subject. Derek Jeter might’ve been a stellar shortstop, and an iconic Yankees player whose meteoric rise and waning career mirrored his team’s own trajectory as a New York sports dynasty.

J. Kim Murphy Order up: FX is moving forward with a second season of “The Bear.”The renewal comes almost one month after the premiere of the series, which debuted all eight episodes of its first season on June 23.

Variety’s chief TV critics Daniel D’Addario and Caroline Framke include some new entries into the awards conversation, including ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and Hulu’s “The Dropout,” and some returning series that made the case for their greatness in novel ways, like HBO’s “Barry” and Netflix’s “Russian Doll.” They also include shows that deserve a second look — both from awards voters and from TV fans who may have missed them amid the ongoing glut of content.It’s those shows — ones that haven’t, yet, gotten their moment in the sun, but that sit on streaming services waiting for their ideal viewer to stumble in — that may well provide critics with the most to say. The documentary series “The Andy Warhol Diaries,” for instance, may well be the single most accomplished piece of art to emerge from Ryan Murphy’s deal with Netflix, while HBO’s “Irma Vep” is a sharp, crisp appraisal of the film world by a master director with a keen eye for absurdity.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticOne of the greatest delights television has brought me over the years is any show that knows how to lovingly film a plate of beautiful food, turn the sound up to 11 to hear it sizzle, and trace its origins to the family dinner table from whence it came. Few things can bring people together like food, and few pleasures in this world like taking a bite of something so delicious it makes your eyes water just to know it exists.“The Bear,” FX’s new series about talented young chef Carmen (Jeremy Allen White of “Shameless”) going home to run his dead brother’s sandwich shop in Chicago, is highly attuned to what makes a gorgeous dish.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic“Menudo: Forever Young” won’t mark the first time that members of Latin America’s iconic supergroup have tried to reveal the truth of what it took to be a part of it. As the new docuseries from directors Angel Manuel Soto (“Charm City Kings”) and Kristofer Rios (“Havana Skate Days”) details again and again, each time more revealing than the last, Menudo alums have been speaking plainly for years about the exhaustion, neglect and sexual abuse they allegedly suffered under the thumb of Edgardo Diaz, the man who masterminded the boy band.Over four episodes — two of which premiered at the Tribeca Festival, and all of which will be available to stream June 23 on HBO Max — “Forever Young” does its best to balance tributes to Menudo’s undeniable legacy with disturbing testimonies about the working conditions the group endured.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticIn one of the only times anyone’s told Molly (Maya Rudolph) the hard truth in the decades since her husband (Adam Scott) became a billionaire, she’s stuck in a private jet hangar somewhere in the middle of Oklahoma. Having just tried essentially to airlift the staff of her foundation, which she only realized existed after very messy public divorce, to Miami for the weekend, Molly’s forced to face the fact that she’s been living in a completely different reality from 99.9% of the rest of the world.“Your life is different from everyone else’s here.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticChances are you’re either deeply familiar with the wide world of gamers and streamers, or you’re so completely unaware of how far it reaches that the very idea of “esports” is enough to make your head spin. As part of the latter camp, but with a sister very much entrenched in the former, I approached “Players” — the new Paramount+ comedy about a professional gaming team wrestling for relevance — with equal parts caution and curiosity.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticAs the final minutes of “Hacks” Season 2 ticked by, it was hard to shake the feeling that they just might mark the final minutes of “Hacks,” period. With Deborah (the incomparable Jean Smart) finally tapping in to a more personal and rewarding vein of her comedy to huge success, before pushing Ava (the underrated Hannah Einbinder) out of the nest to forge her own path in Hollywood, the series easily could’ve ended there. Even Deborah’s CEO Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) and agent Jimmy (Paul W.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticFew British dynasties have inspired as much material in recent years as that of the Tudors. From Showtime’s aptly named “The Tudors,” to Hilary Mantel’s book/play/series “Wolf Hall,” to the current Broadway musical “Six,” the turbulent reign of Henry VIII and his six equally turbulent marriages have clearly had no shortage of retellings.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticWatching the trailer for “First Kill,” it was tempting to assume that Netflix’s new teen show got lost on its way to The CW. After watching the actual episodes, however, it’s necessary to apologize to The CW for the insult to a genre it’s done well for years, and which “First Kill” spends an inordinate amount of energy trying to duplicate without much success.Based on the short story by V.E. Schwab, who also wrote the first episode and produces the series, “First Kill” dutifully sets up its YA supernatural show bingo board.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Marvel’s first Muslim-American teenage superhero is here.The first two episodes of “Ms.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticIt’s wild to realize while watching “Ms. Marvel” that the studio’s newest heroine would have been about 2 years old in 2008, the year “Iron Man” kick-started Marvel’s sprawling cinematic universe as we know it. Like the comic books that inspired it, the on-screen MCU has officially become old enough to spawn a literal new generation of superheroes who grew up watching the Avengers shoot through time and space and back again to stop the bad guys.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThe mixed verdict in the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard defamation case seems, at the very least, reflective of the complex tumult that seemed to define the actors’ relationship, the details of which unfolded over six seemingly endless weeks in an unassuming Virginia courthouse.

Wilson Chapman editorThe crew of the Revenge are setting sail once again. Comedy series “Our Flag Means Death” has been renewed for Season 2, HBO Max has announced.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticYou don’t have to have watched The CW’s “Nancy Drew” to watch “Tom Swift,” the network’s new series that is, in the most technical terms, a spinoff. Though Tom (played by Tian Richards) first appeared on the second season of “Nancy Drew,” the show bearing his name has little to do with it, which is for the best. There’s no real need to complicate things even further for Tom, who goes through so much in the pilot episode that there’s barely room for nuance beyond the basics.The series’ rush to establish every moving piece begins immediately, with a voiceover that wastes no time illustrating the Swifts’ place in this world.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticSPOILER ALERT: This review contains some minor spoilers for the first two episodes of “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” which premiered May 27 on Disney+.The extensive recap of the “Star Wars” prequels that opens the new “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series is as utilitarian as it is canny. On the one hand, it serves as a reminder of the plot basics that led to this moment in the franchise, with Ewan McGregor’s jaded Jedi reluctantly digging up his old lightsaber 10 years after Anakin Skywalker went to the Dark Side.