Category: Television Page 1 of 21

Steve Carell Is “Rooster” for HBO Max: SXSW 2026 Panel

On March 19, 2026

In Interviews, Pop Culture, Television, Texas

Steve Carell and the cast of “Rooster,” as well a producers Bill Lawrence and Matt Tarses, spoke at SXSW in Austin on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17 at the J.W. Mariott in downtown Austin. With the producers and their star were castmates Danielle Deadwyler and Charly Clive, who play Dylan Shepherd and Katie, respectively.

The series revolves around Carell’s character of author Greg Russo, who has been summoned to his daughter’s college to help solve a crisis in her life, when her philandering husband, a University professor at the fictional Ludlow College (actually the University of the Pacific in exterior shots) creates a scandal by impregnating a student. That doesn’t do much for his marriage to Carell’s daughter Katie and soon Dad is summoned to help pour oil on troubled waters.

GREG RUSSO

Steve Carell onstage at SXSW on March 17, 2026.

Carell’s character Greg Russo is a successful genre author. Think of someone like Lee Child, the pen name for former television writer Jim Grant who wrote the Jack Reacher series alone until 2020 when he began writing them with his brother Andrew Child. In this fictionalized version of things, the character in the books is Rooster and Steve Carell’s arrival on his daughter Katie’s campus begins to cause some confusion, as his fans among the faculty and students begin to ascribe characteristics of the author’s main character to the author himself, Carell’s character is going to be pressed into service as a university lecturer and other adventures will occur. Written as ten 30-minute episodes, the series had the strongest opening for a comedy series n ten years for HBO and with the recent announcement of $21 million in tax credits for the series and its warm audience reception, chances are very good that it will make the cut and go beyond one season.

CHARLY CLIVE

Steve Carell with daughter Katie (Charly Clive) in “Rooster” on HBO Max.

British actress Charly Clive plays Katie, Carell’s daughter, and her British accent was a bit of a shock to those of us who have seen the first episodes, which she plays with an American accent. Charly starred in a British television series called “Pure” and is a 2014 graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York City. This is her first big American role.

MOTIVATION

When asked about why he took the role, Carell joked, “It was mostly money, really.” He then went on to say, “It felt true. I have been experiencing a lot of these life moments with my own daughter. I like parts representative of all parts of life, just experiencing life as it comes.”

APPROACH TO THE CHARACTER

Danielle Deadwyler of “Rooster” cast onstage on March 17, 2026 at SXSW.

Carell said, “I didn’t want Greg to be a Walter Mitty type. He isn’t completely comfortable in that role. Greg didn’t strive to be famous. He just wanted to be a writer.. I think he is shy, but not an introvert. He is married to an impressive woman…I read the pilot and thought it was terrific. A lot of times, you don’t know if something feels authentic until you’re in the moment, but this was an instant feeling of ensemble.: He went on to say “It was very reminiscent of my experience on the office (for 7 years). That’s the sense I get with this.”

DANIELLE DEADWYLER

Steve Carell as Greg Russo and Danielle Deadwyler as Dylan Shepherd in HBO’s “Rooster.”

Danielle Deadwyler, who plays Dylan Shepherd in the piece said of her comic chops, “I don’t have a comedy background. I’m winging it, Baby.” While acknowledging that Carell and Deadwyler come from very different places, Carell added, “The fun is finding the common ground. We had the freedom to start looking for it. There’s so many different directions you cam tale thiss.” Credit for the expert casting was given to Allison Jones, (“Scrubs”) who selected the cast members.

BILL LAWRENCE

Steve Carell onstage at SXSW with the cast of HBO’s “Rooster.”

Producer Bill Lawrence, who has an impressive list of hit shows including “Ted Lasso,” “Scrubs,” “Bad Monkey” and “Shrinking,” referenced some advice he was given by Michael J. Fox on “Spin City,” having to do with timing. The anecdote had to do with NOT changing a scripted “People who need people” line, but milking it with expert comic timing. He and Carell described “Rooster” as “a little push of kindness is needed right now.”

EPISODES

The team replicated a New England college in Los Angeles and Production designer Cabot McMullen, who has worked with Lawrence and Tarses for 30 years, was given credit for the authenticity of the college setting. The students, largely recruited from Stockton, California, were also credited with bringing energy to the piece. (“All the students brought a fantastic energy,” said Deadwyler.)

CONCLUSION

Those who watched the first episode will remember that old pro John McGinley as College Employee Walter Manes is often shirtless and Carell said that, in episode six, “I do some nudity.”

Scott MacArthur from “Breaking Bad,” playing a hockey coach with substance abuse issues opening a beer bottle on part of a helmet worn by one of his players was singled out for his creativity. “If you can create that kind of work environment, it shows up onscreen.”

“Birth Is for P*ussies” Screens at SXSW 2026

By Connie Wilson

On March 17, 2026

In Pop Culture, Reviews, Science and Medicine, Television

“Birth Is for Pussies” is TV pilot at SXSW 2026.

Hannah Healy—actress, filmmaker, and doula—brought a TV pilot “Birth Is For P*ssies” to SXSW. The series focuses on giving birth and is based on Hannah’s ten years of experience as a doula in New York City. Hannah is an actor, writer and director based in NYC and London. As an actor she most recently appeared as Charlotte Astor in season 3 of HBO’s “The Gilded Age”.

Producing the TV pilot with Hannah is Celine Sutter, a writer, director, and producer born and raised in New York City. Celine recently earned her MFA in Writing/Directing from Columbia University. The original score was provided by King Princess.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

The synopsis of the first episode shows a rookie doula (Hannah Shealy) thrust into her first birth with a mother she’s never met. After a rocky start, she quickly learns that supporting women through labor is messier, funnier, and more profound than any doula training could have prepared her for.

I found Hannah Shealy very sympathetic in the role. I also loved the Tribeca penthouse where Hannah visits a pregnant couple (Danny Defararri and Madeline Wise), an apartment which had a jaw-dropping view. I’m not a New Yorker, but I was in town when JFK, Jr., tragically died on July 16, 1999. Residents of New York City were leaving flowers in front of his Tribeca building. I wondered if this location might have been near where young John F. Kennedy, Jr. lived. The view and decor were opulent.

CONfLICT

For me, Madeline Wise had already distinguished herself in the SXSW film “Chili Finger.” She was equally good in this as the pregnant wife who doesn’t want her spouse to know about her herpes diagnosis. That might set up some conflict to come (during delivery) but conflict has to be there. If I learned anything at all from the University of Iowa’s Writing program it is that. Conflict is not as prevalent as I think it needs to be in a series about giving birth.

While Hannah was lovely and the mother-to-be in a less-ritzy part of NYC was as stressed as you would expect anyone would be if they were in labor, the conflict quotient for the brief episode I saw was slim. I’m no expert on giving birth ( as the line goes, “I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout birthin’ no babies”) but this series needs a serious elevation in the conflict levels or I fear it will be DOA.

TREND

Hannah Shealy.

On the plus side, I do think that Hannah and her producing partner Celine Sutter are on to something in the zeitgeist. For decades the United States was one of the civilized nations whose birth rate was holding relatively steady. Then Donald J. Trump began his anti-immigrant ICE raids. His daily quotas of picking up citizens and non-citizens on the streets of cities nationwide and ejecting them from the country has certainly contributed to statistics that show the nation’s birthrate — that is, the number of live births per 1,000 people in a given year — is down by more than 25 percent since 2007, when the decline began.

“We spent decades shaming women for having kids under the wrong circumstances, for not having their ducks in a row,” said one expert. “Now they are holding up their end of the bargain.” Almost half of the country’s 30-year-old women are childless.

“SIXTY MINUTES” DID A PROGRAM ON THE IDEA OF WAITING TO GIVE BIRTH

Putting off having children in order to finish school or establish one’s self or simply to live life a little before “settling down” has become the norm. As one expert said, “It used to be that the only people who put off having kids were college girls from more privileged backgrounds. But now it’s everybody, with teenagers and less educated women leading the charge. “

Women in their early 30s now have the highest birthrate of any group. A woman in her early 40s is more likely to give birth than a teenager. It’s too early to say whether those pregnancies will be enough to help the U.S. reverse the ill effects of a falling birthrate. The number of children born to women by the time they turn 44 hasn’t dropped at all.

BIO

Celine Sutter

In my own case, my mother gave birth to me at 38, which was considered quite old for the times. Mom was a working woman who supported herself until she married at age 30 in 1937. Given the fact she was born in 1907, that means she was way ahead of the working woman trend. Also ahead of “have children later in life” current trend.

We can assume that the birth control gains of the sixties and seventies (now being reversed by the GOP) which gave women control over their own bodies has contributed to women deciding not to give birth as soon. Maybe they were too young. Maybe they were unemployed or alone. Maybe their own mothers were struggling to give their daughters the future they never got to have, because they got pregnant in their teens. “Biology was destiny” for years—until the 1960s and the advent of the birth control pill.

CONCLUSION

I gave birth to two children, a son and a daughter born 19 years apart. I was pregnant at 22 and 42. My youngest, a daughter in her thirties, is now hoping to give birth in the immediate future. She and her partner actually lost a baby to a rare anomaly very recently. The odds of a re-occurrence of that are astronomically high.

She has had the opportunity I did not have to travel the world, find herself, and figure out what she wants from life, thanks to the birth control pill and the hard-fought Roe v. Wade right to a legal abortion, (which I fought for in the seventies.) Now legal abortion is state by state. The blue states are often being selected by the more educated citizenry (doctors, lawyers and other professionals) since those individuals want, for their wives and daughters, the rights that women enjoyed for fifty years, until the conservative stacking of the Supreme Court.

MOTHERHOOD ON FILM

I’ve noticed that recent films and TV shows—like “Night Bitch” or the upcoming “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” on television—are depicting a more realistic side of motherhood—one might say “warts and all.” There was also the Charlize Theron 2018 film “Tully.” “Birth Is for P*ussies” might fit right into that trend.

I’m all for informing women about the process of giving birth in a way that is more realistic than the one depicted in films like 2007’s “Knocked Up.” Perhaps “Birth Is For P*ussies” will educate us all. I’m all for informing women about all aspects of their sexuality.

Vince Gilligan & Crew Interviewed at SXSW on March 14th, 2026

By Connie Wilson

On March 15, 2026

In Interviews, Pop Culture, Television, Texas

Vince Gilligan and crew at SXSW panel onAlbuquerque Aftermath: From Breaking Bad to Pluribus with Rhea Seehorn, Vince Gilligan, and Key Creatives.(Photo by Paul Thanasack).

Gilligan, creator of “Breaking Bad,””Better Call Saul” and, now, “Pluribus” came to SXSW on Saturday, March 14^th,with Rhea Seehorn (Pluribus’ Carol and Better Call Saul’s Kim) as well as composer Dave Porter, costume designer Jennifer Bryan, and producer Trina Siopy. The conversation explored the collaborative process, Albequerque’s role as the anchor city, and the close creative partnerships nurtured over more than a decade.

MEANING OF PLURIBUS

A lot of the questions seemed to revolve around, “What is Pluribus about?” It seems to be about an alien virus that threatens to take over the world as we knew it. Everyone is happy, but the inhabitants seem to almost have become as alike as drones in a bee hive…worker bees all. Happy little fellows. Everything is wonderful. Or is it? Carol seems to want to “save” the human race with all of its imperfections. Gilligan mentioned he had helped write that story when he writing for “The X-Files” (“The second best jjob I ever had.”)

GILLIGAN’S EXPLANATION of “PLURIBUS”

Vince Gilligan and Rhea Seehorn at SXSW 2026.

Or is Pluribus about something else? One questioner threw out the idea that the entire series is a metaphor for grief and depression. The answer we got on Saturday, March 14^thfrom Gilligan, himself, referenced a conversation he had many years prior with Director Michael Mann.

Michael Mann asked Gilligan (who was then writing for “The X-Files”): ‘What are we really trying to say here? What’s the message? What’s the theme? What’s the this? What’s that? And he looked at me and I will never forget, he said, ‘We have to tell that story. We have to tell a story about characters and the things they do. They face interesting obstacles, unique obstacles, and the way they surmount them or don’t. That’s what we’re doing here. There’s nothing much more to it than that…It is for other people to tell us sometimes what our shows and movies are about.’”

RHEA’S RESPONSE

The Question: “How long did it take for you to understand what Pluribus was all about, Rhea?” brought this answer, “I’m still trying to figure it out. Here’s the thing. It’s really wonderful that I’m playing a character that doesn’t understand what’s going on. Therefore, I don’t have to. I don’t know.” Seehorn went on to say, “It’s about human nature, but it’s also about what it means to be human and redefining what the pursuit of happiness is. That’s the end-all and be-all. How do you define success and how do you define love and relationships?” After some praise of co-star Carolina Weaver’s acting as character (Zosia) Rhea added, “I don’t know. The answer is, I don’t know. I don’t know what the show is about, and I love it.”

She reminisced about all the press she did for “Breaking Bad’ and added, laughing, “What if it means, for God’s sake, just be more Sphinx-like and that I have to shut up! There’s a lot of other people figuring out what it means.”

TRUST

Vince Gilligan at SXSW. (Photo by Paul Thanasack.)

Seehorn added, “But there’s this thing that Vince does where he trusts the audience. I have to say, it also involves the key trust of the performers. And it isn’t that I don’t take direction. We try it a million different ways and I very much enjoy that process, but I trust his ideas. And one of the great gifts he’s given me is that he trusts mine. But when we trust the audience, he alleviates or rids me of the onus to make sure the audience knows exactly what I’m thinking. I just have to think the thoughts and make sure that I’m being true to the character. But I don’t have to telegraph these things, and it really frees me up to do a much more complex and nuanced performance, which a performer is not always allowed to do.”

RHEA ON “PLURIBUS’” POPULARITY:

“Of course we were all trying to make the best show we could, and it was a show that I would be a fan of and it was so awesomely weird. I have not been able to guess where I was going to go…It’s like, hopefully, obviously, we find an audience that gets it, but is it this very niche thing? Is this going to be a very unique sort of cultish thing? The broad conversation and broad audience reception blew me away. It isn’t that I didn’t expect this, but I am blown away by it really touching some kind of nerve in people to want to really talk about it… the popularity of it and its critical reception. For critics and fans to like the same show. You don’t always win that lottery and that’s been amazing.”’

ONE WOMAN SHOW?

Interviewer, Vince Gilligan, Rhea Seehorn at SXSW. (Photo by Paul Thanasack.)

Much of the show centers on Seehorn, sometimes solely on her, by herself. Rhea answered, “I only got just one at a time, which is always the way we do it, so it wasn’t like I saw the breadth of the whole thing and understood, ‘Oh, I’ll be doing an episode with almost no dialogue. Oh, I’ll be doing episodes almost by myself.” She added, “I’m not as excited about that, because, for me, it’s the same work as if there was dialogue. I’m still feeling out what is happening in the story. What’s the character thinking?..And there are days where I would read something that’s tomorrow’s and think, ‘Oh, today’s the day they find out that I am not very good or that I was not very good.”

SOUND & MUSIC

(From composer Dave Porter)

“All those years that we’ve been together, this was a mandate to be different and to make this show distinct from the others that we’ve done. So, to break all those rules, to take our creative process and really re-analyze al the lessons we learned, the ways that we use music. Coming out the other side gave us a freedom to do exactly that and to take all of our favorite lessons and really explore new territory…I think the most important role for the score is to be an assistant in storytelling. Whatever I can do, I’ll do, which includes making things more powerful and more emotional, but, at the same time, open to interpretation as much as possible to lead. To open those doors for everyone to have their own viewpoints is a gift that you don’t get to work on for so many shows.”

Dave Porter on the music: “You can feel the human touch. You can feel that. There’s no comparison between something that a computer can do or something sound-wise or performance wise…The orchestra is another thing we had never done before. So it was a learning experience for us to work on that. And part of that is mentioned is that before you go and spend large sums of money on recording, you do demo versions, which is a new experience for Vince…Everybody took a leap of faith with me to know that the power of orchestra, especially on a show like this, is going to be value added many times over and be progress. And for anyone who hasn’t had the experience going to the symphony or standing in front of an orchestra as composer and people playing the music you wrote. It is inspiring and a blessing that we get to do that.”

Downtown Austin during SXSW 2026.

Costume designer Jennifer Bryan went on at great lengths about how she came up with the clothes for the show (brown was the color) and talked at great length about the yellow jacket and ordering the yellow leather pelts from France and having the jacket made. I watch the show. I never noticed the yellow jacket, so make what you will of her remarks. For me, the rather lengthy analysis of “the Albuquerque jacket look” versus whatever look the show currently has was much like a novelist who inserts massive amounts of description when what you really want is dialogue and action. Essentially, the message seemed to be that the clothing is essentially for protection from the elements and the costume designer also had to give some thought to the specific action in a scene, such as when Carol has to lift Helen’s corpse into the car.

WHY ALBUQUERQUE AGAIN?

The answer to this question essentially came down to the clouds, the collaborative crew, and the expense.

CAROL’S LIKABILITY

The question was asked, “What’s the secret to have an audience root for an unlikable character?” Seehorn answered this with a feminist slant: “The term likable I think has gotten misused or overused concerning female characters, because how people have been defining what’s likable in a woman is very, very restrictive. I think it’s more important that a character be accessible in some way, especially if I am the conduit to take the audience’s hand and take them down this rabbit hole. And for me, behaving truthfully and honestly in a moment when people would say, ‘Wow! She’s really not polite when they (the aliens) bring her things.’ They killed my wife. My career is gone. I might die alone watching Golden Girls. I’m sorry I wasn’t chirpy…Also, I’m going to suppress my anger until eczema comes out all over my body? I very much enjoyed exploring that Carol’s anger over her wife was her entire way of even behaving halfway normal out in the world…She’s allowed to display the full spectrum of human behavior and now she’s being asked to suppress that? It was really fun trying to figure out what are her other tools. She’s just grasping at straws. I find her complex and difficult and challenging, but I find her honest and truthful and real..”

CAROL AND GRIEF

Downtown Austin during SXSW 2026.

Seehorn further commented on Carol’s loss of her wife and the grief and depression she felt. “No, I’ve never had an alien virus take over the planet. But as you do, as actors, what is something I can draw from? What kind of tool do you lose in those moments.? And, for any of us and most of us this happens through grief. Terrible grief. Getting up off the floor the next morning is heroic by itself. And so I just felt like, really, all bets are off. She’s allowed to be as upset and angry as anybody would be. I hope that ultimately that makes her accessible and watchable instead of likable….She’s holding nothing back.”

“Margo’s Got Money Troubles” Opens SXSW 2026 on March 12th, 2026

By Connie Wilson

On March 13, 2026

In Pop Culture, Reviews, Television, Texas

“Margo’s Got Money Troubles” opened the SXSW Film Festival at the Paramount Theater on Thursday, March 12th. We were treated to three episodes of the new series and the remarks of most of the principal cast members after they screened. Showrunner David E. Kelley, husband of Michelle Pfeiffer and originator of so many hit television series, came onstage and insisted that the woman who wrote the book on which the characters were based, Rufi Thorpe, stand up in the audience and take a bow. Writers are often treated as prophets without honor in their own land, so that was refreshing. Of course, Kelley is a writer, so he knows the often seen lack-of-attribution-for-the-creator issue firsthand.

SYNOPSIS

The synopsis for the series, which starts on Apple on April 15^th says: “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” is a bold, heart-warming and comedic family drama following recent college dropout and aspiring writer, Margo (Elle Fanning), the daughter of an ex-Hooter’s waitress Shayanne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and an ex-pro wrestler, Jinx, with drug abuse issues, played by Nick Offerman. Margo is forced to make her way forward with a new baby, a mounting pile of bills, and a dwindling amount of ways to pay them.”

The opening set-up features Margo being groomed by her Literature instructor at Fullerton College. According to Professor Gable, who impregnates the young Margo and then retreats to his wife and two children, Margo is practically the next Shakespeare. That works. Margo is soon with child.

First, Professor Gable seems to suggest that Margo get rid of the child and that she could well be the next Rufi Thorpe (the author who wrote the 2024 best selling novel on which the characters are based.) He mentions Harvard for Margo rather than Fullerton. The young, impressionable Margo falls victim to one of the oldest plays in the book.

PREGNANCY

Showrunner David E. Kelly after the Opening Night showing of “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” at SXSW 2026 on March 12, 2026.

There is no mention of why Margo isn’t on the pill or why condoms don’t enter the picture. That would definitely have stopped this plot at inception. Or conception.

Margo, for reasons that she can’t fully articulate, decides that she wants to keep this child, repeating the pattern of single motherhood that her own mother lived. Mom is not happy about it. At one point, following a neat film segue from Margo screaming in a parking lot (while Mom Michelle Pfeiffer screams inside the car) we move directly to screaming in labor and Bodhi Millet is born. [Cinematographers Carl Herse and Tari Segal get props for the neat juxtaposition.]

As the mother of two, I appreciated the reality of motherhood being depicted with all of the less-than-glamorous spit-up, feces, breast milk and paraphernalia. This version of motherhood reminded me of Marielle Heller’s film “Nightbitch” starring Amy Adams, which also told it like it is—(except for the part about turning into a dog.)

CAST & DIRECTOR

Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer (Margo & Shayanne) after the showing of “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” at SXSW on Opening Night (March 12, 2026.)

Present this night was Director Dearbhla Walsh, who has won an IFTA award for ‘Fargo” and directed episodes of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Kate Herron also directs and was onstage. The writing and directing take an excellent script by Kelley and, from there, the cast is an All Star ensemble, with Elle Fanning (a producer along with her sister Dakota) giving a terrific performance in the first three episodes we were shown. The others in the cast include Greg Kinnear as Kenny, Marcia Gay Harden, Nicole Kidman (who did not appear in episodes one through three) and those already mentioned.

CONCLUSION

This one is going on my ‘must see” list. It appears that Dad (Nick Offerman–who we were told did his own wrestling stunts) is going to stay on as Margo’s roommate. Margo is going to start making some quick money on OnlyFans, since she is unemployed. Mom Shayanne (Michelle Pfeiffer)–who is really not cut out to be the Grandmother who babysits— is engaged to uber Christian Kenny (Greg Kinnear) and the cosplaying roommate has not jumped ship, but is going to continue to be a shoulder for Margo to cry on.

Irish director Dearbhla Walsh addresses the crowd from the stage of the Paramount Theater after the showing of “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” on Opening Night of SXSW 2026 March12, 2026.

I look forward to the mother/daughter dynamic, which promises to be a big part of the story.As Director Dearbhla Walsh (in the brightly colored coat) said in her Irish accent, “If it’s not one thing, it’s your mother.”

The series is billed as being about bravery, courage, optimism, the lengths we will go to for our loved ones and controlling your own destiny in life. As someone with two children (born 19 years apart) who has lived parts of this story, I heartily recommend checking this one out when it premieres April 15th.

The Experts Weigh In On Stephen Colbert’s Firing

By Connie Wilson

On July 20, 2025

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Interviews, Local, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Pop Culture, Television

Stephen Colbert.

The Washington Post (Emily Davies) asked some prominent authorities in the field of television about the likelihood that the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show was just based on financial considerations, as Paramount maintains. The experts aren’t buying it; neither should we. Forty-eight hours after Colbert called the $16 million payment to Trump by Paramount a bribe on his show, one designed to help facilitate the sale of CBS to Skydance, Colbert was fired, despite being #1.

“How often does the No. 1 guy get canceled? You can analyze this 100 different ways, but Colbert has the No. 1 show in late night and they’ve canceled him. If it walks like a duck, it’s a duck,” Rob Burnett said. “I don’t know the ins and outs of what’s going on up there, but I just don’t think if Stephen Colbert isn’t saying the things he’s saying that this happens.” Rob Burnett ran things at the Tonight Show for 19 years as David Letterman’s producer.

Burnett conceded that revenue is down in late night: At its peak, during Johnny Carson’s long stint as host, NBC’s time-slot champion “Tonight Show” drew 17 million viewers, according to Adweek, whereas Colbert’s top-rated “Late Show” has averaged about 2.5 million viewers this year. All the late-night shows now share digital excerpts online. That allows fans to consume an episode in pieces whenever they choose, and younger viewers choose to do that. But YouTube doesn’t offer nearly the same ad revenue as television. Still, the lock on late night viewers is no longer the pull it was for older generations. Viewers under 35 might not watch any of the late night hosts.

Merrill Markoe

Merrill Markoe, who was the head writer on Letterman’s show during its early-1980s incarnation on NBC before he went on to launch “The Late Show” and moved to CBS in the 1990s, said she “had nightmares” after she heard the news about Colbert.

“CBS, Paramount, the merger, the buyout with Trump, all of it came tumbling down like dice and added up to me in a second,” she said. “It hit me in a very hard way. He was No. 1 in his time slot. And a talk show is one of the cheapest forms of entertainment there is.”

As far as what’s next, Colbert still has many shows to produce at CBS before May. Daniel Kellison, another former Letterman producer, doubts he’ll make it. “I just hope he’s going to go all scorched-earth now. There’s no way he’s going to be on the air for nine months,” Kellison said. “He’s such a smart guy, and it would be really cool if he did a slow burn.”

It’s classic authoritarian behavior to forbid criticism, especially if the target is someone as thin-skinned as DJT. Our First Amendment freedoms are under attack and the Jimmys (Fallon and Kimmel) and other hosts (Jon Stewart, Seth Meyer, Bill Maher, Conan O’Brien, John Oliver) are being bullied into submission, just as our universities, our judges, our elected representatives in Congress and anyone whom DJT has a beef with is being bullied into submission.

How long before our First Amendment Freedom of Speech and of the Press and of the right to assembly are eroded? Our leaders of conscience of any party must stand up for the Constitution and the right of habeas corpus and all of our cherished American freedoms, before DJT and Steve Bannon and the boys completely destroy the freedoms our citizens have exercised and prized for 250 years.

Some suggest that Colbert ought to run against Lindsey Graham, since they are both from South Carolina. It would be a waste of a top-notch talent we sorely need at these moments of crisis.

Thank you for speaking truth to power, Stephen Colbert, and let’s hope that the venality of the nation’s biggest bully—out there for all to see—gives pause to some of the worst excesses of MAGA land.

Stephen Colbert Is Canceled By CBS

By Connie Wilson

On July 17, 2025

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Local, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Television

Stephen Colbert.

At 7 p.m. (CDT) on Thursday (7/17) comes the news that Stephen Colbert’s Late Night Show has been canceled. He has until May before we will have to do without Colbert’s brand of intelligent humor and his insightful interviews of informed celebrities.

Lately, Colbert himself had made jokes about the possibility that his show, which was top-rated, might be yanked from the air waves. The connection that everyone is making is the current attempt by Paramount (Shari Redstone) to sell CBS to Sky Dance and Larry Ellison. Recently, “Sixty Minutes” forked over $16 million for a non-offense, which had to do with airing an interview with Kamala Harris that DJT did not like.

Trump had accused the network of editing in an improper way, which nearly all experts say was not the case. It caused the long-time Director of “Sixty Minutes” to resign and the network—which needs approval from the FCC to sell to Sky Dance—paid $16 million to Trump’s future presidential library.

It was reported by PBS this way: “In a case seen as a challenge to American free-speech principles, Paramount has agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump over the editing of CBS’ ” 60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in October.

Paramount, which owns CBS, said the money will go to Trump’s future presidential library, not to the Republican president himself. It said the settlement did not involve an apology.

Trump’s lawyer said Trump had suffered “mental anguish” over the editing of the interview by CBS News, while Paramount and CBS rejected his contention that it was edited to enhance how Harris, the Democratic nominee for president in 2024, sounded. They had called Trump’s case “completely without merit.”

NBC explained the news this way: “CBS’ parent company, Paramount, is in the midst of an $8 billion merger with Hollywood studio Skydance. But the deal has been delayed for months as talks with lawyers for President Donald Trump dragged on after he filed a lawsuit over an interview the CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” aired with Vice President Kamala Harris last year.

Paramount agreed in principle on July 2 to settle the suit by paying $16 million to Trump’s future presidential library. However, Paramount Global said at the time, “this lawsuit is completely separate from and unrelated to the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process.” Trump’s FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, is investigating the deal.

Colbert recently criticized the settlement on “The Late Show,” calling it “a big fat bribe.”

And now Stephen Colbert—arguably the best at skewering Donald J. Trump—has been let go for “financial reasons” at a time when his show was #1 in the late-night ratings.

This is what can happen in the United States of America when a dictator takes over the levers of power. Free speech is under attack and Colbert is the highest-profile victim, but almost certainly not the last. This is a move right out of Putin’s playbook.

Flash Flooding: Iowa Quad Cities, July 11th, 2025

By Connie Wilson

On July 11, 2025

In Local, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Television

Davenport, Iowa on July 11th: flash flooding

Davenport, Iowa, Friday, July 11th, 35th St. area and near Duck Creek area were hardest hit. The Illinois side of the river did not get hit as bad as the Iowa side.

Flash flooding in Davenport, Iowa According to the Scott County Emergency Management team, over 100 houses are affected and there are numerous 9-1-1 calls. I was on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River until about 5 p.m., but the downpour came later. I noticed that the atmosphere seemed to be getting hotter close to 5 p.m. and, for want of a better term, the air became sultry.

Girl in flood waters in Davenport, Iowa

My biggest concern for what remains of my life on the planet is the worsening condition of the weather. It doesn’t seem to bother the current Republican administration at all. “Drill, Baby, Drill!” is the chief buzz word from MAGA nation. I am well aware that the current weather crisis cannot be put back “the way it was” but there were steps, including the promotion of electric cars over those that run on fossil fuel, that might have helped, over time. I’ve read that China has made some progress in its polluting of the atmosphere.

Flooded car in Davenport, Iowa on July 11th, 2025.

Have we? Will we?

“2024:” Trump Threatens to ‘Bomb the S***’ Out of Moscow/Beijing

By Connie Wilson

On July 8, 2025

In Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Television

“2024” book jacket

There’s a new book out entitled “2024,” It is written by 3 co-authors who appeared on CNN to shill for this new book. The book is subtitled: “How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.” The authors are Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of the New York Times, and Isaac Arnsdorf, Senior Washington Post Reporter.

On CNN the trio played an exclusive audio recording of Trump reciting the details of a conversation he had with Vladimir Putin. Knowing DJT, you can not believe what he says. It is also true that I can only type so fast, so my transcription of the audio piece, while substantially correct, is slightly truncated. I’m sure you’ll hear this amazing piece of audio soon elsewhere, but let me synopsize it for you.

Trump: “I had a very strong conversation with President Putin and he understood. And I won’t go into the great details of the conversation because nobody has to hear it, but did they fear me? I suspect they did. I told him, ‘If you go into Ukraine I’m gonna’ bomb the shit out of Moscow. I’m telling you: I have no choice.’ So he goes like, ‘I don’t believe you. He said ‘No way.’ I said ‘Way.’ And then he goes like, ‘I don’t believe you.’ I said the same thing to Xi Jinping. If you go into Taiwan I’m gonna’ bomb the shit out of Beijing.’ And he didn’t believe me either. I think they believed me 10% and that’s all you need. They thought I was just crazy enough that I might do it.”

Another part of the tape dealt with Trump’s solicitation of huge political contributions to his campaign. Trump mentioned a donor who gave him $25 million. The audio tape went this way: “He was worth 4 or 5 billion. Most of its—half of it in cash. And he wants to have lunch and hand over a million. I said, ‘You’re much richer than that. You’re worth 5 or 6 billion. I’m not having lunch. You’ve got to make it 25 million.’ And he said ‘Oh, that sounds like a lot.” The tape continued, “He gave me 25 million. It’s crazy.”

True or false? Bragging or embarrassing himself (and our country?)

A snippet of the televised Cabinet meeting of July 8, Tuesday was played. A female reporter asked Trump who had okayed the pausing of the delivery of munitions to Ukraine, (which occurred recently.)The President did not like the question. He said, very sarcastically, “Why don’t you tell me.”

Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense.

Trump did not hand off the military question to his Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who was seated to his immediate left.

The discussion of the experts onscreen went on to say that Hegseth may have “okayed” the stopping of aid to Ukraine without properly notifying Trump that he was doing so. Pretty easy to believe of a guy who included the Editor of the “Atlantic” on a highly classified military discussion of bombing Yemen and faced no further repercussions. But, then, being a talking head on Fox News is not the best preparation for heading up the military of the United States. Incompetent people may do incompetent or poorly thought out things.

This audio tape was played on CNN on Tuesday, January 8th, about 6 p.m. I would anticipate that Trump’s people will deny it was authentic audio and then attack the reporters (as is their custom). Some further discussion of Putin and Trump occurred involving Rahm Emanuel, former Mayor of Chicago, former Ambassador to Japan, and current CNN Global and Foreign Affairs Commentator.

Rahm Emanuel, former Obama advisor, Chicago Mayor, and Ambassador to Japan.

Emanuel offered the opinion that Putin has “bet the farm” on his invasion of Ukraine. The experts agreed that Trump has misjudged Putin, who does not, as Trump previously thought, desire closer relations with the West. Putin’s true aim is to return Russia to its previous Glory Days, not to ally it with the wicked West. The talking heads felt that DJT might be changing his opinion on a future chummy relationship with Russia, saying, “We got a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin.” (So much for bringing the Ukrainian War to a halt in 24 hours.)

Emanuel’s take on our current relationship with China is that the most dangerous threat is not an invasion of Taiwan, but a take-over of the Philippines, saying, “The real challenge is the South China Seas and the Philippines.”

The three authors of the book said that Trump spoke to them for the book. In March, they approached Joe Biden, who agreed to speak with them, but did not follow through. The story, as related by Tyler Pager, was that he had asked Biden’s aides for months to speak to him. Finally, Pager got Biden’s direct cell phone number and phoned him directly. Biden answered and, said Pager, “He seemed open to talking to us.”

However, when the trio called back to set up a time to speak, the number had been disconnected. Pager also related some fairly critical phone conversations with Biden aides, who admonished him about contacting their boss.

It will be interesting to see if there is any coverage of the clip that reveals our current leader as a loose cannon, threatening WWIII, strong-arming rich donors for bigger contributions, and generally behaving in the boorish manner we have seen on the national and international stage. (Makes you proud to be an American—right?)

The very last bit of business that the CNN report addressed was Jimmy Carter’s funeral, where the film clip showed Obama speaking with Trump as they sat with the other living presidents and with Vice President Harris (who seemed annoyed that Obama was being civil to DJT in the row behind her.) The trio says the conversation was of Trump inviting Obama to play golf at one of his clubs.

The Presidency

By Connie Wilson

On June 10, 2025

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Local, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Television

Armed troops sent in by Mayor Daley during the Chicago riots of 1968, following the assassination of Martin Luther King.

In a March 29th, 1968 editorial entitled “The Presidency,” in LIFE magazine, Hugh Sidey wrote, “There remain people who are wistful over what is happening, who feel that the United States Presidency is a marble relic to be placed high on a pedestal above the daily political clamor, to be revered and protected, never buffeted or soiled. But the Presidency is refined only in the process that chooses the man for the office. The Presidency is only as strong as the men who contend for it. It is visionary and responsive to the country’s needs only when natural political forces collide freely.

In politics, as in life, struggle often breeds character—to invoke a Lyndon Johnson maxim which he got from his mother…A lot of silly things have been said about not making this fight a personal one. But it has to be. The Presidency is a personal matter. The arguments in the end come down to how that single person will think and act….What is the most important task of the President: to pass legislation, as Lyndon Johnson has done, or to lift the hearts of the people as he has not. Or to do both.”

RFK assassination (1968)

Robert F. Kennedy lies mortally wounded on the floor immediately after the shooting. Kneeling beside him is 17-year-old busboy Juan Romero, who was shaking Kennedy’s hand when Sirhan Sirhan fired the shots

Those Hugh Sidey words were written against the backdrop of a looming 1968 fight amongst the Democratic faithful, with Bobby Kennedy seeking to take the torch from the hands of the incumbent President. Johson would not announce that he would not seek nor would he accept his party’s nomination until March 31, 1968, two days after this editorial appeared.

Although Johnson confided to aides on several occasions that he might be forced to accept Kennedy in order to secure a victory over a moderate Republican ticket such as Nelson Rockefeller and George Romney,^[215] Kennedy supporters attempted to force the issue by running a draft movement during the New Hampshire primary.^[209] This movement gained momentum after Governor John W. King‘s endorsement and infuriated Johnson. Kennedy received 25,094 write in votes for vice president in New Hampshire, far surpassing Senator Hubert Humphrey, the eventual vice-presidential nominee.^[216] The potential need for a Johnson–Kennedy ticket was ultimately eliminated by the Republican nomination of conservative Barry Goldwater. With Goldwater as his opponent, Johnson’s choice of vice president was all but irrelevant; opinion polls had revealed that, while Kennedy was an overwhelming first choice among Democrats, any choice made less than a 2% difference in a general election that already promised to be a landslide.^[217

Surprisingly, one of Sidey’s observations in the “LIFE” piece was this: “There can be longer-range results of the upheaval. Some urban specialists predict that, because of the big political fight, the coming summer will be considerably cooler in the streets than it would have been without this legitimate outlet for dissent.” When I think back to the summer of ’68 and the condition of the streets that summer, I shake my head at the idea of “cooler in the streets.” It can be argued that the summer of ’68 was the worst summer in the streets that we have ever seen, illustrated by the Democratic convention in Chicago, which may have set the bar as low as any national event in history. Mayor Daley, too, used a heavy ham-handed approach to the protesters in Chicago’s streets. In Chicago itself, more than 48 hours of rioting left 11 Chicago citizens dead, 48 wounded by police gunfire, 90 policemen injured, and 2,150 people arrested.^[3] Three miles of East Garfield Park and West Garfield Park on West Madison Street were left in a state of rubble [Perhaps only the insurrection of January 6, 2021, ranks higher in terms of political gatherings that went horribly awry.]

March 29, 1968 “LIFE” magazine.

Civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST, not even a week after this Hugh Sidey opinion piece appeared. Robert F. Kennedy lived until June 6, 1968, just 39 more days after this “LIFE”editorial appeared. He was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan after a triumphant victory winning the California and South Dakota primaries on June 4th, 1968. He would be shot at the Ambassador Hotel on June 5th at 12:15 a.m. and pronounced dead 25 hours later at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.

In Indianapolis, the day MLK (April 4, 1968) was shot, candidate RFK would give this impromptu speech:

“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black. … let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.“^[30]

I could not agree more with the sentiments in that RFK Indianapolis speech. Indianapolis did not have riots in its streets after this impromptu speech from RFK; many attribute that to Kennedy’s words.

Riots of ’68.

I would point out that intentionally inflaming conditions in the streets of Los Angeles—something that is happening now because the current President of the United States is, as Governor Gavin Newsom of California dubbed him in a CNN interview, “The King of Chaos,” is unbecoming to the office and the opposite of what a President has historically attempted to do in times of unrest. Rather than try to calm the crowd, DJT has attempted to rile it up, using chaos and threatened violence and fully armed active Marines and National Guard soldiers. To make matters even worse, he is shown grinning gleefully while trying on a championship belt of a violent fighting exhibition he attended the very night he was sending troops in that were not requested by the Governor of California and were not necessary. One hopes that we are not about to experience another Kent State incident, since the training of some of those who were sent in, fully armed, was questionable.

There is no insurrection in the streets of L.A., except the one that DJT is trying to create. As another said, it’s like an arsonist rushing in to quell the fire he started. While it is not in the nature of this particular malignant narcissist to read or to listen to what his elders and betters may say, since he tapped RFK, Jr., to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services, (despite RFK, Jr.’s complete lack of credentials for the job), I hope he re-reads Robert F. Kennedy Sr.’s words and takes heed, “Let us dedicated ourselves to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.”

“The Studio” Screens at SXSW 2025 on Opening Night

By Connie Wilson

On March 9, 2025

In Local, Movies, Reviews, Television

Seth Rogen and friends came to downtown Austin in golf carts for the Premiere of their new television series “The Studio.” Accompanied by Evan Goldberg, Catherine O’Hara, Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn and Executive Producer Peter Huyck, the first two episodes of the new series gave me the most laughs since Bob Odenkirk in “Lucky Hank” in 2023 (or last year’s first look at the season of “Hacks” with Jean Smart in attendance.) This one is a winner. There are even appearances within the first episode by Paul Dano (“Wildfire”), Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”),Charlize Theron (“Monster”), Steve Buscemi (“The Sopranos”), Directors Peter Berg and Nick Stoller and a hilarious bit featuring Director Martin Scorsese. It begins streaming on Apple Plus on March 26, 2025.

Writer/Director Seth Rogen on the Red Carpet at SXSW on March 7, 2025. (Photo by Connie Wilson).

The Apple TV Plus offering would have had me signing up for the service if I didn’t already have it. The first two episodes are to be released March 26, 2025.

As the synopsis describes the series about making movies: “Seth Rogen stars as Matt Remick, the newly appointed head of embattled Continental Studios. As movies struggle to stay alive and relevant, Matt and his core team of infighting executives battle their own insecurities as they wrangle narcissistic artists and craven corporate overlords in the ever-elusive pursuit of making great films. With their power suits masking their never-ending sense of panic, every party, set visit, casting decision, marketing meeting, and award show presents them with an opportunity for glittering success or career-ending catastrophe. As someone who eats, sleeps, and breathes movies, it’s the job Matt’s been pursuing his whole life, and it may very well destroy him.”

EPISODE ONE

In Episode One—which opens with Paul Dano (“Let There Be Blood”) acting in a gory scene—we meet Matt, played by the schlubbish Everyman whom Rogen personifies. You get the feeling that Matt would like to make really fine cinematic masterpieces, but then there are “the suits” at the studio. They want movies that make money. And, as Bryan Cranston’s studio uber boss makes clear, the mext big thing after Greta Gerwig’s fantastic success with “Barbie” are more films focusing on the next Barbie, which, he says, is going to be (drum roll here) Kool Ade.(Cranston: “Two billion off the plastic tits of a fucking doll!”)

Kathryn Hahn of “The Studio” on the Red Carpet at SXSW on March 7, 2025. (Photo by Connie Wilson,)

The female studio head (Patty, played by Catherine O’Hara) has put in 22 years at the studio (think Sherry Lansing). But Patty is being forced out and Matt is in, disappointing best buddy Ike Barinholtz, who thought he had a shot. Patty isn’t taking Matt’s calls, at first, but when they finally meet, she presents as a formidable adversary who knows the business inside-out and sweet-talks and bullies Matt into giving her work as a producer. Matt owes her.

Matt tries to stand firm on some of Patty’s outrageous financial demands, but she counters, “I killed one of Warren’s movies in 1988 and he never slept with me again.” Part of the plot of the first episode is right out of the playbook that Sondra Locke experienced during her tumultuous break-up with Clint Eastwood. (She sued and won; look it up). “We’ll own the project, but nobody will ever be able to make it.”

The writing is truly spot-on. As the credits rolled, in addition to Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck is listed as Writer, not just Executive Producer, which he is along with James Weaver, Alex Gregory, Alex McAtee, Josh Fagen and Frida Perez, all of whom are also credited with helping write the truly hilarious dialogue. Editor for the series was Eric Kissack and Production Designer is Julie Berghoff. (I want to know whose Hollywood homes are featured as sets? Are they still standing? Did any of them burn down? They were gorgeous.)

EPISODE TWO

Ike Barinholtz on the Red Carpet for "The Studio" on March 7 at SXSW

Ike Barinholtz, co-star of “The Studio” on the Red Carpet at SXSW on March 7, 2025. (Photo by Connie Wilson).

In Episode #2, Matt decides to make a visit to a project that Patty is producing. It’s not a good idea, but he can’t be dissuaded.

There are many funny lines that center on the idea that “We have to keep Baby Huey (Matt) in his playpen.
“The days of Robert Evans stopping by with a Magnum of champagne and an 8-ball are gone,” goes one line and, ultimately, after a series of comedic clashes, the Director of the film shouts, “I want Mr. Magoo gone!”

CONCLUSION

If you love the movies and you have a sense of humor, don’t miss this one. Fans of “Hacks” will love this series, too. It’s my favorite SXSW viewing experience of 2025, so far.