Caroline Framke Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticImmediately upon opening “Stranger Things” Season 4, Volume I, you might notice that the shortest episode runs 62 minutes, the longest a solid 98(!), and the average around 72. Your reaction to this (not to mention the fact that the final Volume II chapter premiering in July will feature an astonishing run time of two and a half hours) will likely dictate how much you’ll enjoy this fourth season in general.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticWhatever you think of the continuing relevance of the upfronts and/or broadcast television, it’s always interesting to see how networks will frame their wares in order to sell themselves to the highest bidders. In between all the advertising jargon, corporate synergy and lofty promises of blockbuster programming to come, the upfronts presentations can be extremely informative as to what those in charge are betting on in the months to come.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticStay in Los Angeles long enough, and you’ll have an Angelyne story. Decades after plastering the city in mysterious billboards bearing her name and Barbie-esque silhouette, the self-made urban legend can still be found zipping through the streets in her signature Corvette, a flash of bubblegum pink on the desert horizon.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticOn the most basic level, it makes sense that Hulu’s “Conversations With Friends” would try to echo what made its “Normal People” adaptation so successful. Once again enlisting director Lenny Abrahamson and writer Alice Birch, and once again starring a female actor (Alison Oliver) who resembles author Sally Rooney and a male one specifically poised to become a breakout thirst object (Joe Alwyn), “Conversations With Friends” follows the “Normal People” pattern so closely that it often feels more like a faded impression rather than its own series.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThe barest bones of “The Essex Serpent” make up a familiar enough story, whether taking place today or, as this new limited series does, in the late nineteenth century. An ambitious and attractive woman, seeking answers about what she should do next with her life, leaves the big city for a small town, where she meets an equally attractive man and finds that everything is more complicated than it seems.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticHardly a minute goes by on “Girls5Eva” without at least three jokes sharper than some comedies manage in an entire episode. And yet, the funniest moment of the Season 2 premiere (“Album Mode”) is a series of nonsensical words sung over a single close-up on a person struggling to remain on this earthly plane.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticIf you’re already a fan of “Hacks,” chances are you’re one of two kinds of viewers. Either you’re in it for the prickly dynamic between Gen Z writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) and legendary stand-up comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), or you try to ignore Ava and instead focus on TV veteran Smart, playing the woman writing Ava’s checks with perfectly acidic disdain.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticHalfway through the final episode of “Candy,” I had to pause to answer the door. I was four and a half hours deep into Hulu’s newest “based on true events” limited series, this time about a suburban friendship that ended in horrifically fatal consequences in 1980.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticWatching “The Pentaverate” with the purpose of reviewing it gave me enormous sympathy for Wile E. Coyote trying to trap the Roadrunner while knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it would end in him getting flattened.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “Saved by the Bell” revival at Peacock has been canceled.The show aired two seasons at the streamer, with the most recent one debuting in November 2021. The first season premiered in November 2020.“We are so proud to have been the home of the next iteration of ‘Saved by the Bell’ for both new and OG fans,” Peacock said in a statement.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSteve Carell’s “Space Force” has been canceled after two seasons at Netflix.The second season of the comedy, which re-teamed Carell and “The Office” creator Greg Daniels, debuted on Feb. 18.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentHBO Max has announced that local versions of its original reality dating competition show FBoy Island have been greenlit for production in Denmark, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands.The hit series will be produced by Warner Bros. International Television Production in each of these territoriesThe “FBoy Island” series concept was created by Elan Gale (“The Bachelor” franchise) and follows three women who move to a tropical island where they’re joined by 24 men – 12 self-proclaimed “Nice Guys” looking for love, and 12 self-proclaimed “FBoys,” there to compete for cold, hard cash.As Variety TV critic Caroline Framke put it in her review “‘FBoy Island’” tries to flip the “Bachelorette” conceit on its head with a self-consciously cheeky twist.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticIt’s all too easy to imagine a version of “Under the Banner of Heaven” that fails. In adapting Jon Krakauer’s 2003 book for the screen, Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”) had to delve into the horrific murder of a mother and child and untangle the clash between mainstream and fundamentalist Mormonism at its core.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticSPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers from the Restaurant Wars episode of “Top Chef” Season 19, which aired April 21 on Bravo.The most stressful storyline on TV this year, bar none, has been the exquisite tension of waiting for everyone on the 19th season of “Top Chef” to find out that contestant Jackson Kalb was competing without a sense of taste, thanks to a nasty bout of COVID before production began. Incredibly, Kalb had kept it a secret for weeks as he cooked spectacular dishes lauded for their bold flavors — none of which he could taste at all.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticMore than 45 years after “The Man Who Fell to Earth” opened with a melancholy David Bowie crash-landing in a Kentucky lake, Showtime’s new sequel series sends Chiwetel Ejiofor spiraling into the New Mexican desert to finish what he started. The connection between the 1976 film and this 2022 show is clear from the beginning, even before Bill Nighy shows up as the older version of Bowie’s character, Thomas Newton.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticIt took me about 1.5 new episodes of “The Flight Attendant” to remember exactly how stressful it is to watch “The Flight Attendant.” It had been long enough since its November 2020 premiere that my memory of the show had almost become a facsimile of its slick Saul Bass-ian credits, in which a tiny blonde flight attendant runs away from shady spies and enormous bunnies. I knew I loved Kaley Cuoco’s screwball energy, Michiel Huisman’s arched eyebrow, Michelle Gomez’s exasperated sigh, and the dueling pleasures of a skittish Rosie Perez and a ruthless Zosia Mamet.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticFor some TV viewers, the phrase “Josh Brolin in a sci-fi western” will be enough to lure them into “Outer Range,” Brian Watkins’ new drama built around that exact premise. For others who may need a bit more context and/or incentive, “Outer Range” will provide — up to a point.Premiering with two episodes on April 15 on (Amazon) Prime Video, the series does indeed center on an especially broody Brolin as Royal Abbott, the gruff patriarch of a family ranch on a plot of Wyoming land with a gaping secret.

Wilson Chapman editorAmy Schumer and Michael Cera are entering the next chapter of their love story. “Life & Beth” has been renewed for a second season on Hulu, Schumer announced on Wednesday.Schumer made the announcement during an interview on “The Howard Stern Show.” In addition to starring as the title character, Schumer created and executive produces the show, and directed and wrote several episodes of the first season.The first season of the show followed Beth, a successful wine distributer living in Manhattan, who moves back to her childhood home on Long Island following the unexpected death of her mother (Laura Benanti).

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticIn its first incarnation, “Russian Doll” felt as close to complete as any TV show ever gets. With those first eight episodes, delving deep into the minds of jaded New Yorkers Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) and Alan (Charlie Barnett) and back out again, creators Lyonne, Amy Poehler, and Leslye Headland had achieved something truly heady, unnerving, and spectacular.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticAs Chicago lawyer Michelle Obama becomes First Lady Michelle Obama in Showtime’s newest drama, her predecessor Laura Bush offers some words of advice and comfort. “You may think you have nothing in common with the First Ladies before you,” Laura tells her, “[but] trust me when I say we all felt that way.” Here, Laura Bush acts as both some benign voice of reason (an odd choice) and also as a mouthpiece for “The First Lady” writ large (odder), which tackles the stories of three First Ladies who share little beyond the fact of living in the White House (oddest, by a mile).There’s Michelle, played by Viola Davis with Obama’s familiar cadence (if also some very exaggerated stenciled half-moon eyebrows).

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThe worst part of “Roar” is also its most consistent. While every episode of Apple’s new anthology show tackles an entirely different story with a different cast to match, they each open with a neon graphic of a woman’s mouth screaming out of a blooming flower.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you haven’t seen the series finale of “Killing Eve” (“Hello, Losers”), which aired Sunday, April 10 on BBC America and AMC Plus. In their last confrontation, Eve (Sandra Oh) and Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) sit perfectly still in an unassuming pub, eyeing the other with wary disdain as Villanelle (Jodie Comer) plays darts in the other room. “One of the great unspoken truths about life, Eve, is that people behave exactly as you expect them to,” Carolyn finally says.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThe first episode of “61st Street” lays the foundation for a story that’s become all too familiar on television and in reality alike. Over eight episodes, AMC’s new drama (executive produced by Michael B.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThe moment Jerrod Carmichael tells an audience that he’s gay for the first time in his life stretches into an impossibly long silence, until someone finally lets out a tentative “whoo!” from a corner of the room. As director Bo Burnham stays close on Carmichael’s face, the comedian doesn’t exactly smile, nor heave some obvious sigh of relief.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticAs anyone who’s even fleetingly dipped into the vast, storied genre of the British spy thriller can attest, there are a few different games afoot in “Slow Horses.” What looks at first like a story of restless, demoted spies finding their purpose gets quickly twisted up in MI5 politics. Then, a couple of hours into the six-episode season, the show tries to turn everything we thought we knew inside out.

Variety Staff Follow Us on TwitterMichael Schneider has been elevated to Television Editor of Variety, overseeing TV industry coverage as well as TV awards-related news and features.Variety is also expanding its TV presence with editor-at-large Kate Aurthur taking on new responsibilities for leading fan-focused coverage of TV content. Variety is increasing its investment in coverage of current series, from series previews and first-looks to episodic recaps, cast and showrunner Q&As, critical commentary, post-mortems, scene breakdowns and other content that fuels word-of-mouth and social conversation around TV.Schneider and Aurthur will work closely together in steering the industry’s largest team of TV-focused reporters.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThe first thing you need to do whilst watching HBO Max’s “Julia” is to get all other versions of Julia Child out of your head. That proves easier than might be expected, given such enduring depictions as Meryl Streep’s lauded turn in Nora Ephron’s “Julie and Julia” (2009) or, most cartoonishly, Dan Aykroyd’s “Saturday Night Live” performance of Child as a careening agent of chaos who constantly bleeds out like a geyser.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticIt says everything that not even Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in the face could keep the Oscars ceremony from stubbornly chugging along its predetermined track, until Smith’s speech for winning best actor forced it to stop. In that jaw-dropping moment, what had been a self-consciously smooth night — the Academy Awards, as seen through some poreless filter — immediately and irrevocably shattered.

Ethan Shanfeld The Arconia’s favorite podcasters Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez are back for Season 2 of “Only Murders in the Building,” premiering on Hulu on June 28.This season, the comedic murder mystery follows Charles, Oliver and Mabel as they rush to identify the killer of Bunny Folger, the Arconia board president. Of course, the trio is now publicly implicated in the murder, as well as the subjects of a competing podcast.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticSPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the entirety of “Starstruck” Season 2, which is now available to stream on HBO Max.The first season of “Starstruck” was one of 2021’s most purely delightful TV surprises. Somehow, over six episodes running just 20 minutes each, creator and star Rose Matafeo managed to both embrace and upend the romantic comedy genre with the story of how normal girl Jessie (Matafeo) accidentally slept — and then fell in love — with movie star Tom Kapoor (Nikesh Patel).