Latest news with #Fey
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tina Fey Explains That ‘Four Seasons' Death and Teases 'Starting From Scratch' for Season 2
[This story contains spoilers for episodes seven and eight of ] 'It's been so fun. I don't know that I've ever been a part of something that had this much of an immediate positive reaction,' Tina Fey says of the last few weeks as The Four Seasons, which she co-created and stars in, debuted on Netflix. More from The Hollywood Reporter John Krasinski Didn't Know Brother-in-Law Stanley Tucci Was His 'Fountain of Youth' Co-Star Until Midway Through Filming Meg Ryan, Rashida Jones Join Natalie Portman for 'Good Sex' (Exclusive) Netflix Is Making a 'Clash of Clans' Animated Series The series is inspired by the 1981 rom-com of the same name directed by Alan Alda, and follows three couples as they go on vacations in spring, summer, fall and winter, with marital and friendship troubles along the way. In a surprise twist, Steve Carell's character Nick — who had divorced his wife Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver) and was dating the much younger Ginny (Erika Henningsen) — died in a car crash in the second-to-last episode, which Fey addressed at an Emmy FYC event on Monday. Fey and her co-creators, Tracey Wigfield and Lang Fisher, had the death in mind from the beginning of the show, and told Carell of his fate when first pitching him on the project, she told The Hollywood Reporter. 'He was like, 'Why does this keep happening to me?'' Fey joked, after Carell's character suffered a somewhat similar ending in The Morning Show, which she admitted, 'I didn't know that when we pitched it, so that's on me. But I dug my heels in.' Of the decision to veer from the film and add in a death, Fey also explained, 'We felt like at the time that everything was sort of grounded and human scale in terms of story, and we were like we do want something to happen, and that is a thing that happens to humans.' Fisher added, 'We wanted this show to really reflect the time in the lives of these people. And when you're in your 50s, it's not like a crazy thing to imagine losing a friend. We wanted this show to have big human stakes, and so someone dying and the group having to come together to deal with that felt right.' The series was renewed for a second season shortly after its premiere, and Fey revealed they started the writer's room last week. 'It's been really nice, we have the same exact writing staff and it's already been really interesting for us to come together and share experiences, not just talk about the previous season but also our own lives,' she continued. 'The writers have been very generous — a lot of what you saw in season one, a lot is obviously from the movie but a lot also came from all of our lives.' She also added that without the movie to provide a template as in the first season, 'we are kind of starting from scratch.' Wigfield noted, 'In some ways it is hard that you're starting from scratch and don't have the movie to guide you, but in a lot of ways the second season of anything is so much easier because you've made so many choices already. We know who these characters are,' adding, 'We set up fun dynamics in the finale. Ginny is pregnant, and this friend group is kind of moving on in the wake of their friend's death. There is going to be really interesting stuff to play and already we're starting to talk about it and it's really exciting.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
San Francisco Chronicle
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Review: Netflix's ‘The Four Seasons' is overprivileged and out of touch
'The Four Seasons' was a 1981 film about growing old together, not only with one's spouse but also alongside one's dearest friends. Yet, while the new Netflix adaptation brings together a new cast of aging stars, it's not the bodies onscreen that feel dated. Featuring Gen X-ers Tina Fey, Colman Domingo and East Bay's own Will Forte, plus at least on-the-cusp boomer Steve Carell, the series-long expansion of the movie by the same name — written and directed by its original star Alan Alda of 'M*A*S*H' fame — actually regresses the older narrative. Updating the story for 2025 requires a heavy lift, and an acclaimed trio of showrunners — Fey, Lang Fisher (' Never Have I Ever,' ' Brooklyn Nine-Nine ') and Tracey Wigfield ('30 Rock,' ' The Mindy Project ') — certainly make an effort. Unfortunately, it turns out that these three very successful TV writers don't exactly live on the cutting edge of storytelling for the streaming era. The original film's premise is that three middle-class couples of mostly white people navigate love's changing nature through middle age over the course of four seasonal vacations within one year, all to the tune of Vivaldi's famous violin concerto. Here, over the course of eight episodes, we see some beat-for-beat repeats: On the first vacation in spring, everyone jumps impishly from their leisure boat into the water, fully clothed! On a later vacation in summer, one of the wives is replaced awkwardly by a younger blond who sports a fetching white bikini! Yes, there is, once again, so. Much. Vivaldi! The remake gets a small diversity update by casting one of the couples as San Francisco theater veteran Domingo and Marco Calvani, a pair of gay men — although the former is forced unfairly into a 'two-fer' role as the sole person of color. (In the original, that place went to the great Rita Moreno, the East Bay's beloved EGOT.) Gone is a critical confrontation when the younger blond would have stood up for herself against the withering disdain of her partner's older friends. Such a scene would have added much-needed dimension to the role of Ginny (Erika Henningsen), but there's not much to her here beyond the pejorative label 'Yoga Barbie' that another character assigns to her. And rather than keeping the couples middle class, they're rewritten as much wealthier. Carell's Nick is referred to as 'king of the hedge fund,' while Domingo's Danny appears to be a jet-setting interior designer. The other characters are so thinly written in this update, that unlike the original, work rarely enters their banal conversations that drip with privilege and not much else. Particularly grating is when the two — beautiful — middle-aged actors, Fey and Kerri Kenney ('Reno 911!') crack fatphobic jokes, especially at their own expense. It's not funny, and it's not believable in the least, especially when, in one scene, Kenney is a vision clad in a sleeveless, backless gown. Love and the dilemmas of aging are both meaty subjects, as audiences have seen recently in far edgier, envelope-pushing narratives like ' Babygirl ' and ' The Substance.' I'm not at their protagonists' age bracket yet, but those stories dared to stir up dreams of what my menopause era could look like, even if they were fantasies that starred impossibly well-toned, rich white women. Despite all the undeniable talent involved in 'The Four Seasons,' its real failure is one of untapped imagination.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Four Seasons' star Erika Henningsen on the ‘biggest opportunity' she's ever been given and what might happen in Season 2
WARNING: This story contains spoilers for The Four Seasons. When Erika Henningsen found out she had booked a key role on the breakout Netflix comedy series The Four Seasons, it wasn't through her representatives or the show's casting director. Instead, cocreator and star Tina Fey reached out directly. More from GoldDerby TV makeup and hair panel: 'Bridgerton,' 'RuPaul's Drag Race,' and 'The Wheel of Time' 'The Wheel of Time' makeup, hair, and prosthetics head Davina Lamont breaks down Rand's multiple looks in Rhuidean 'RuPaul's Drag Race' makeup head Natasha Marcelina has to be 'prepared for anything' 'It was such a Tina touch that she would take the time to call me personally,' Henningsen tells Gold Derby. 'And I just started crying immediately, because this is the biggest opportunity I've ever been given.' Henningsen and Fey already had a solid professional relationship. The Emmy Award winner had previously cast Henningsen as the lead of the Broadway adaptation of Mean Girls, and Henningsen also appeared on episodes of Girls 5eva, which Fey executive-produced. However, The Four Seasons was different: Not only did Fey become Henningsen's onscreen co-star, but the younger actress was also required to share scenes with acclaimed actors like Steve Carell and Colman Domingo. 'I felt a lot of nerves because I was working with all these incredible people, but I never felt not taken care of,' Henningsen explains. 'I was very aware that these are incredible writers and executive producers – not just Tina, but co-creators Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield – and they would literally not let this fail. It may not be for everybody, but they will not let this project and our work fail because they're just not those people.' Based on the 1981 Alan Alda movie of the same name, and co-created by Fey, Fisher, and Wigfield (all of whom previously collaborated on Fey's 30 Rock), The Four Seasons focuses on three couples and longtime friends – Kate and Jack (Fey and Will Forte), Anne and Nick (Kerri Kenney-Silver and Carell), and Claude and Danny (Marco Calvani and Domingo) – who take quarterly vacations together. However, when Nick splits from Anne after years of marriage, his choice upends the group dynamic and raises questions about the other relationships. Things are further complicated when Nick starts dating a younger woman, Ginny (Henningsen), who becomes the group's unofficial seventh member. In another show, with another creative team and performer, it's likely the Ginny character might have been more stereotypical. Watching The Four Seasons, it's easy to imagine a version where Ginny is played as the fool and her relationship with the older Nick is a punchline. However, The Four Seasons defies those expectations at every turn. Ginny is often a source of awkward comedy, but the jokes never punch down on the character, and her relationship with Nick is one of the strongest on the show. 'It's been really interesting for people who watch it to be like, 'Oh my God, you totally didn't do the stereotype,'' Henningsen says. 'We love that because that was definitely a goal. I knew that in order for the characters to all be interesting, Ginny couldn't be the silly, young, flippant, and unaware girlfriend. It was also really important to me to make sure that people liked Nick, and that they could feel conflicted about the other characters not liking Ginny and Nick together.' Henningsen says she often pushed to ensure Ginny never appeared as a victim. During the fall episodes, Ginny and Nick travel to Nick's daughter's college campus. Rather than embrace her father's new relationship, Nick's daughter lashes out with a play about their relationship, a pointed public rebuke of Nick and Ginny, where Ginny is portrayed as a ditz. 'In the script, it initially said Ginny ran out of the theater crying after she saw the play,' Henningsen says. 'I was like, 'I just don't think she would do that. She's 32 years old. This is an 18-year-old girl.'' Henningsen says Fey, Fisher, and Wigfield were open to collaboration and strived to find 'the least victim way to play' the scene. 'Ginny can be hurt, but she can't let it bring the night down, and she can't let it ruin the friends' experience,' she says. 'That episode was always really important to me because she needs to watch this play that really takes swings at her, but she has to have the EQ to walk away and go, 'This is an 18-year-old kid whose dad just got divorced from her mom. Of course, she hates me.'' The Four Seasons ends with a bit of a twist. After a fight with Ginny on New Year's Eve, Nick has an epiphany about their relationship and seems content with his new life (while mourning the old one). Then, abruptly, he's killed in a car accident. The finale focuses on Nick's funeral, as the old friends try to box out Ginny, and Anne refuses to acknowledge Ginny's relationship with her ex-husband was significant. However, even Anne's perspective eventually changes, especially as it is revealed Ginny is pregnant with Nick's child. 'What they did so beautifully was they ended episode eight with Anne saying Ginny's pregnant. It was such a smart choice that they didn't cut to Ginny after that because the story is not about that,' Henningsen says. 'It's about this woman, Anne, extending an olive branch in this moment. Life happens that way, where tragedy strikes, people leave, and then people come into the world. It just felt so correct that Anne would be the person to deliver that news because it sort of creates a vibe with the whole friend group that she's accepted it. She's not upset about it. She's She's letting her sit at the table with that knowledge.' The Four Seasons will get to make good on the cliffhanger. Netflix renewed the show for Season 2 during its Upfront presentation this month. Asked about what she wants to see in future episodes, Henningsen says she wants to see what Ginny can learn from Anne, particularly now that she will be a mother. 'I think they both can provide something for the other. Anne is about to enter the dating pool, maybe, and Ginny is doing something that she's definitely not equipped for, and Anne has gone through it already,' Henningsen says. 'So that would be my hope, that their relationship is explored. But I have no idea what will happen.' 'I just love Kerri so much,' she adds, 'so I'm just trying to manifest scenes with her.' The Four Seasons is streaming on Netflix. Best of GoldDerby TV makeup and hair panel: 'Bridgerton,' 'RuPaul's Drag Race,' and 'The Wheel of Time' 'The Wheel of Time' makeup, hair, and prosthetics head Davina Lamont breaks down Rand's multiple looks in Rhuidean 'RuPaul's Drag Race' makeup head Natasha Marcelina has to be 'prepared for anything' Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bids to build new plug-in Washington state ferries come in high
Washington State Ferries said it would deploy its new electric ferries first on the Mukilteo-Clinton run. The short route is currently served by diesel ferries like the Tokitae, seen here approaching Whidbey Island. (Photo by Tom Banse) Ferry system managers and state budget writers in Washington took a cold wave over the bow Monday upon opening the bids to construct up to five new hybrid electric ferries. 'I don't see how you get to five. There's money for three on a good day,' said state House Transportation Committee Chair Jake Fey, D-Tacoma. The Washington Legislature previously set aside about $1.3 billion to build new ferries and charging infrastructure over the next six to eight years. New vessels are overdue to stabilize the state's aging and sometimes unreliable ferry fleet. Simultaneously, the ferry system and the state's Democratic leadership want to reduce the ferries' air pollution footprint by switching to battery propulsion as much as possible. Eastern Shipbuilding Group of Panama City, Florida, submitted the low bid for the state's desired plug-in hybrid, 160-car vessels, according to a summary of the bids posted by WSF late on Monday. The $251 million price tag for the first ferry in the series was roughly in line with the state engineer's in-house estimate. Nichols Brothers Boat Builders on Whidbey Island submitted a competing bid that was considerably higher, even after including a 13% bid credit authorized by the Legislature to incentivize home state construction. Neither bid includes the expensive hybrid electric powertrains for the new ferries, which the state plans to acquire separately. A third shipbuilder, Philly Shipyard, was expected to submit a bid, but didn't in the end. The Nichols Brothers and Eastern Shipbuilding Group bids both include escalator clauses that Fey predicted 'will invariably make it (the price) go up.' The escalators allow the shipyards to charge more in case of unpredictable cost increases, such as on steel or from tariffs. Washington State Ferries said in a mass email to interested parties that it will evaluate the bid documents in greater detail for the next few weeks before awarding a contract. The agency will undoubtedly also consult further with the governor's office and key legislators about what is affordable. The most recent date given for delivery of the first new ferry was 2029. 'First things first, I need to understand exactly what we've got with the bids,' Gov. Bob Ferguson said Monday after an initial, high-level briefing. Ferguson declined to speculate more before getting additional information. Fey said he expects to discuss where more money could potentially be found. The veteran legislator said multiple currents in the bid environment drove up costs, including rising raw material prices, tariffs and limited shipyard competition – even though the ferry system's request for bids was opened to shipyards nationwide. A Democratic legislator from ferry-served Bainbridge Island, Rep. Greg Nance, said he was struck by how Washington's procurement was affected by the hollowing out of the nation's shipbuilding industry. He was pleased there was more than one bidder. 'Given the state of shipbuilding writ large, we knew that we were swimming upstream,' Nance said in an interview Monday. 'We need to do more to support shipbuilding. We've lost our shipbuilding edge over the past 50 years.' The 144-car Suquamish was the most recent of the workhorse Olympic-class ferries upon which the new plug-in ferry design is based. The diesel-powered Suquamish was delivered to WSF in 2018 at a cost of about $122 million. Debate about how to proceed with further vessel acquisitions in that size class has stretched from then until now. During this dickering, the state pivoted to electrification, costs shot up and the reliability of the existing aging fleet went down. The bid request published by WSF included the high-level design for a plug-in ferry capable of carrying up to 160 cars and 1,500 passengers. Drawings show boats that resemble a slightly elongated version of the diesel-powered Olympic class ferries delivered between 2014 and 2018. However, the new design has just one passenger deck stacked on top of the two auto decks. The center of the ship's hold will be packed with racks of water-cooled rechargeable batteries so the ferry can sail fully on electric power most of the time. The engine room will also feature twin diesel generators as a backup source of propulsion power. Assuming they use green electricity to charge, the new ferries should achieve a large reduction in fuel consumption and an associated reduction in global warming emissions. WSF tentatively plans to deploy the new ferries to the Mukilteo-Clinton run first, probably followed by the Seattle-Bremerton route. Republicans, who are in the minority in the Legislature, have pushed for a cheaper diesel ferry option to be put back on the table. WSF leaders have been consistent in warning against reverting to conventional diesel power because that would necessitate a lengthy redesign and re-bid. 'If we were to switch now to go to diesel, we would have to stop what we're doing with the hybrid, design a new diesel boat and lose the funding from the Climate Commitment Act,' deputy WSF boss John Vezina said under questioning from state Sen. Phil Fortunato, R-Pierce County, at a Senate hearing in March. 'It would probably add two years to the acquisition of those new vessels.' BC Ferries has also been in the market for new car ferries and has been able to acquire new vessels at far lower cost than its Seattle-based neighbors. Unlike Washington State Ferries, BC Ferries can solicit bids from shipyards worldwide. The newest additions to the province's fleet were built in Romania. Building ferries to serve domestic U.S. routes at a foreign shipyard is prohibited under a century-old federal law known as the Jones Act. Of late, the Trump administration and a bipartisan contingent of lawmakers in Congress have highlighted the need to make the American shipbuilding industry more competitive. But President Donald Trump's recent statements on the matter make no mention of jettisoning the longstanding made-in-America requirements. Washington State Ferries currently has 21 vessels of various sizes and ages in its fleet, making it the largest public ferry system in the nation. The WSF long-range plan contains a goal to grow to 26 ferries to provide reliable service on every route, with allowances for maintenance tie-ups and a vessel in reserve. The hefty bids come just as it seemed the agency was sailing into smoother waters. This summer, the ferry system will get nearly back to operating its full pre-pandemic schedule, missing only a second boat on the Port Townsend-Coupeville run during midweeks and the long-suspended international crossing to Sidney, B.C. Last week's generally celebratory blog post about the summer schedule cautioned that peak-season crewing will be stretched close to the limit. Blog author Bryn Hunter said it will be challenging to find a short-term replacement whenever an aging vessel breaks down. 'I wouldn't let this be a Debbie Downer,' Rep. Fey concluded at the end of his initial construction bid analysis. 'There's been great progress made by the ferry system over the past four years.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘One of the best creative teams in the business': NBC orders Tracy Morgan, Daniel Radcliffe comedy from '30 Rock' producers
A reunion of 30 Rock alums is officially a go at NBC. The network has given a series order to The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, created by Tina Fey and starring Tracy Morgan and Daniel Radcliffe. The comedy, which was first announced in March, follows Reggie Dinkins (Morgan), a disgraced football player trying to rehabilitate his image and make it into the Hall of Fame. Radcliffe plays Arthur Tobin, a filmmaker who moves in with Reggie to make an immersive documentary about the former superstar running back. More from GoldDerby 'The Office' spinoff 'The Paper' first look and premiere month revealed during NBC Upfront 'Wicked' live musical event with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande coming to NBC 'I didn't think he was a jerk': Paul Giamatti on finding the humanity in his standout 'Black Mirror' episode The series reunites Fey and Morgan, who starred together on seven seasons of 30 Rock, along with fellow 30 Rock alums Robert Carlock and Sam Means, who will serve as executive producers alongside Fey and Morgan. Carlock and Means co-wrote the pilot. During NBCU's Upfront presentation on Monday, Morgan said The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins has "one of the best creative teams in the business. Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, or as I like to call him Coca-Cola, and me." Radcliffe, who worked with Fey, Carlock, and Means on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, added that he is "very excited to be making my broadcast debut." The duo then introduced the trailer, which has not been publicly released. The cast also includes Erika Alexander, Bobby Moynihan, Precious Way, and Jalyn Hall. The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins will air sometime next season, but a premiere date has not been set. It could air as early as the fall on Mondays at 8:30 p.m., following St. Denis Medical, or Fridays at 8:30 p.m., following Happy's Place. The show and two pilots that have not been filmed yet — Stumble, from Jeff and Liz Astrof, and an untitled series from Sierra Teller Ornelas — are all contenders for those two slots. NBC will make a decision later on. Should The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins air in the fall, that'll make it eligible for the winter awards, where it could build momentum toward the 2026 Emmys. But if it's a midseason premiere, it'll start its awards campaign with the Emmys. 30 Rock won 16 Emmys over the course of its seven-season run, including three straight Best Comedy Series prizes. Fey, a nine-time Emmy winner who is in contention this year for The Four Seasons, won for her turn as Liz Lemon in 2008, and Morgan received a Best Comedy Supporting Actor bid for his performance as Tracy Jordan in 2009. See photos from The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins below. Scott Gries/NBC Scott Gries/NBC Scott Gries/NBC Best of GoldDerby 'I didn't think he was a jerk': Paul Giamatti on finding the humanity in his standout 'Black Mirror' episode 'Grotesquerie' star Niecy Nash-Betts on that shocking coma twist, and Travis Kelce's 'greedy' appetite TV Cinematography panel: 'Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire,' 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,' 'Étoile' Click here to read the full article.
