Latest news with #MollyGriggs
USA Today
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
When does 'Pop the Balloon LIVE' come out? Premiere date, cast, how to watch dating show
When does 'Pop the Balloon LIVE' come out? Premiere date, cast, how to watch dating show Show Caption Hide Caption 'The Residence': Molly Griggs on playing a 'snobby, rich person' Molly Griggs, one of the stars of Netflix's "The Residence," chats with USA TODAY's Ralphie Aversa about her role and more. What if a red balloon stood between you and the potential love of your life? A new iteration of the viral online series "Pop The Balloon Or Find Love" will air live on Netflix this week. In the show, executive produced by original creators Arlette Amuli and Bolia Matundu, a red balloon stands between the hopeful daters and true love. "Pop The Balloon LIVE" will be hosted by actress and comedian Yvonne Orji. "After playing the 'unlucky in love' Molly Carter for five seasons on 'Insecure,' I know a thing or two about looking for love in a hopeless place," Orji told Netflix. "Hopefully, the singles on 'Pop the Balloon LIVE' will have much more success." Here's what we know about "Pop the Ballon LIVE." Netflix's 'Bad Influence': Where are YouTuber Piper Rockelle, momager Tiffany Smith now? When does 'Pop the Balloon LIVE' come out? "Pop the Balloon LIVE" will debut on Netflix on April 10 at 8 p.m. ET and air live on Thursdays weekly. How does the 'Pop the Balloon' speed dating experiment work? "Pop the Balloon LIVE" is a new take on the popular YouTube series while keeping the familiar format. If a contestant's balloon is popped, so is the chance for a romantic connection. "Participants line up, and others 'pop the balloon' of those they're not interested in, essentially eliminating them from the dating pool," the streaming service said. "The live version will bring eliminations, unpredictable dilemmas, and unfiltered romance straight to viewers." Original creators say the 'Pop the Balloon' YouTube version 'will stay the same' Creators Arlette Amuli and Bolia Matundu(BM) reassure fans that the YouTube version, "Pop The Balloon or Find Love," will continue. "Everything will stay the same. The way I produce the show. The way my wife hosts the show will stay exactly the same," Matundu said. Amuli added, " We just ask for you guys to support both of our ventures. 'Pop The Balloon' on YouTube and 'Pop The Balloon LIVE' on Netflix. We honestly can't wait to see where this is going to go." Who's in the 'Pop the Balloon LIVE' cast? According to Netflix, fans can expect to see familiar faces on the show from other popular reality shows, including "Too Hot To Handle" and "The Challenge." The guests include: Zaina Sesay Chase DeMoor Farrah Abraham Johnny Bananas Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at tardrey@
USA Today
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'The Residence' star Uzo Aduba remembers Andre Braugher: 'A class act'
'The Residence' star Uzo Aduba remembers Andre Braugher: 'A class act' Show Caption Hide Caption 'The Residence': Molly Griggs on playing a 'snobby, rich person' Molly Griggs, one of the stars of Netflix's "The Residence," chats with USA TODAY's Ralphie Aversa about her role and more. NEW YORK – Andre Braugher was a giant. The two-time Emmy winner, who died of lung cancer in 2023 at age 61, was a beloved stage and screen fixture for nearly four decades. He appeared in almost a dozen Shakespeare productions in New York and starred in popular crime procedurals including CBS' 'Hack' and NBC's 'Homicide: Life on the Street.' To younger generations, he was perhaps best known as the wry yet tender Captain Raymond Holt on police sitcom 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine,' which ended its eight-season run on Fox and NBC in 2021. In Netflix's knotty new mystery series 'The Residence' (now streaming), Braugher was originally cast in the key role of White House chief usher A.B. Wynter, whose murder prompts a sweeping investigation by the eccentric Detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba). The actor shot four episodes of the whodunit before production was shut down in summer 2023 amid the Hollywood actors' and writers' strikes. Braugher died in December of that year, and was recast in early 2024 with Giancarlo Esposito (AMC's 'Breaking Bad'). The series ends with a title card dedicated to the Golden Globe nominee, who made his film debut in 1989's "Glory." Given that A.B. is dead for nearly all of Detective Cupp's scenes, 'my time with him filming was mostly just him laying on the floor – and being wonderful doing it,' Aduba recalls with a grin. But they sat near each other many days during read-throughs, and in the hair and makeup chairs, where they'd have long conversations about 'anything and everything." 'My favorite memory is that he'd always say 'Hey, queen!' when he came in,' Aduba says. 'I asked, 'Why do you say that?' And Andre was like, 'Because you're the queen.' He was a class act, and an actor I'd admired since I was a kid. One time I told him I used to watch 'Homicide' at a wildly inappropriate age. So anything I would say after that, he would say, 'Were you doing that at a wildly inappropriate age?'' Molly Griggs, who butts heads with A.B. as social secretary Lilly Schumacher, recalls getting the opportunity to improvise with Braugher and feeling like she was 'going to pass out.' 'I genuinely made him laugh a couple times, and that is something I will treasure for the rest of my life,' Griggs says. 'I never really got the courage to tell him this, and I really wish I had, but his performance in 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' truly got me through the pandemic in particular. He was such a funny, smart, brilliant actor and a warm human being.' On set, she remembers Braugher would constantly talk about his wife of more than 30 years, actress Ami Brabson, as well as their three sons Michael, Isaiah, and John Wesley. 'He would refer to his wife as 'my bride,'' Griggs recalls. He got the chance to see his son, Michael, play Hamlet onstage in Minneapolis the spring before he died, and 'he came back to work so proud. What really got me was that he talked about his son as a colleague. He really respected his work as an actor, but there was that underlying warmth of a father. His family was so lucky to have him.' Paul William Davies, who created 'The Residence,' remembers the first day he met Braugher, when they spent an hour and a half just discussing A.B. 'He was so thoughtful," Davies says. "He had read everything so carefully, and had all these insightful questions about who A.B. was and what his relationships were with the other characters." Before that discussion, 'I really felt like I knew A.B., yet he was asking me these things where I was like, 'Oh, I hadn't really thought about that before.' He was a genius.'
