Latest news with #TheSexLivesofCollegeGirls'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Inside the star-studded push to save the public arts from Trump's cuts
Publicly funded art programs are on the Trump administration's chopping block, particularly the National Endowment for the Arts. And organizations like the Creative Coalition and the many arts programs that rely on NEA funding are hoping that some private politicking, in addition to public pressure, can save the arts programs the Trump administration seems intent on destroying. Much like the many other programs Donald Trump and Republicans are trying to kill, the NEA is a congressionally established organization that funds art-related projects and programming nationwide, from summer concerts to school art programs. Trump's budget proposal calls for eliminating the NEA entirely, and hundreds of grants have already reportedly been pulled from projects across the country. As conservatives in Congress determine which federal programs to slash as they look to offset massive tax cuts largely designed to favor the wealthy, several celebrities with the Creative Coalition, an entertainment industry-focused advocacy group, trekked to Washington, D.C., to attempt to convince lawmakers not to slash the funds. In late April, the organization hosted what it called a 'Right to Bear Arts' gala in the capital, attended by actors like 'The Sex Lives of College Girls' star Pauline Chalamet, comedian Tig Notaro, and 'White Lotus' star Jason Isaacs. Since then, the group has been largely focused on meeting with Republicans, given the party's present control in Congress. The NEA is exactly the kind of organization that Congress should support, because it's 'the perfect example of a public-private program,' Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk told me. 'Investing in our communities through the arts makes for better and more productive citizens,' she said. Bronk points out that cuts to the NEA are also hurting programs' ability to raise private funds, since the NEA acts as a sort of 'Good Housekeeping seal of approval' that lets philanthropists know which programs they can reliably invest in. That idea that private funding can easily step in to support the arts when federal funds are cut is one of the many misconceptions that Chalamet told me she works to dispel when she speaks with members of Congress and their staffs. She said: A lot of staff of Republican Congress — men and women that we spoke to — looked at this very economically. And rightfully so. They don't want frivolous spending, sure. So they say, 'Why can't it be privately funded?' But the thing is that there are parts of rural America where people won't know who to turn to for privately funded choirs or jazz festivals. We need institutions to exist so that they can get a certain seal of approval from some semblance of authority that validates their project. Other myths the group is trying to dispel are the notion that the NEA is bankrolling coastal propaganda or that it's part of some liberal indoctrination conspiracy. 'There's rhetoric around the arts being, like, part of some kind of liberal elite agenda and, you know, access to it is much higher in cities that tend to vote blue,' Chalamet said, 'But the thing is, that's just rhetoric. That's basically looking at works of art that exist in cities and saying, 'This is what's going on across the country.' What the NEA does is fund American projects.' Funding arts nationwide, Chalamet said, allows 'many different types of people with different opinions to be able to express their opinion.' Both Bronk and Chalamet said the conservatives they spoke with frequently bring up their own experiences with the public arts growing up. So it doesn't sound like the issue here is that Republicans are wholly unfamiliar with what the NEA does. The question seems more about whether Republican lawmakers see American art — arguably our nation's greatest export — as worthy of federal investment. This article was originally published on
Chicago Tribune
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
‘Overcompensating' review: A campus comedy about being in the closet
College is a time of reinvention. But the pressure to immediately fit in and find your place as a freshman can be intense. Who are you when you're away from home for the first time? Are you seen as 'cool' enough to make equally cool new friends and attract the 'right' sort of romantic attention? These issues come to the fore, amid boozy parties, sloppy hookups and bad judgment, in the lightly raunchy Amazon comedy 'Overcompensating.' Benny (charmingly played by show creator Benito Skinner) is the one-time homecoming king and former jock who is deathly afraid people will clock that he likes guys. Carmen (Wally Baram, who is funny, but maybe more importantly a grounding presence in the series) is the girl he meets and becomes fast friends with. Together, they navigate the choppy waters of their first semester of college. Are you a virgin or are you blasé about going all the way? The stakes are blatantly stupid — who ? — but pressing nevertheless for both Benny and Carmen. They feel like outcasts but are desperate to fake it until they make it, and they do a halfway decent job of it at first. Being attractive goes a long way in life. Upon their arrival at the dorms, they're greeted with the realization that newcomers are deemed either sexually confident players or hopeless virgins and therefore social pariahs banished to the campus improv troupe. (Listen, sitting through bad improv can be excruciating, but some of those kids are going to be working in Hollywood one day. Just saying.) Benny's roommate tends to be missing in action (only to pop in an inopportune moments, but he's otherwise a neutral presence) whereas Carmen's roommate is an over-the-top, very funny creature played by the comedian known as Holmes, and she's a caricature of a vapid girl with a wonderfully studied sense of style; her manicure includes tiny little pompoms glued to the nail of each ring finger. Holmes throws herself into the role so enthusiastically, it's hard not to see the humor in it. Like 'The Sex Lives of College Girls' on HBO Max, 'Overcompensating' features an assemblage of actors far removed from their college years who are playing college-age characters. It's fine. I just wish the show was a smidge funnier. It includes many cameos by famous faces: James Van Der Beek, Connie Britton, Kyle MacLachlan and Bowen Yang. Benny spends the first few weeks of school fighting back flop sweat, as he does everything in his power to remain in the closet. He inevitably fumbles in his attempts to say and do the 'right' things. That doesn't fully track. He spent his entire high school career pretending to be straight, why would he suddenly forget how to play that role in college? It makes sense that he wouldn't to. Or is exhausted by the charade. But the skill set would be there. He ends up pledging an elite secret society on campus — filled with future finance bros and status-obsessed socialites — and it's a process that involves a certain amount of homoerotic hazing, which is both ironic but also underscores that toxic masculinity is bad for everyone, including straight guys! Carmen is approached to join as well, but has the self-confidence to see it for what it is: A club for losers. You'd think, with a bestie who can see through the bull, that this would give Benny a certain amount of self-confidence himself. But he's so used to living a lie that he ends up lying to her just out of habit. That's not a great way to build a real friendship. Meanwhile, his older sister goes to the same college (the wonderfully snooty Mary Beth Barone) and her trials and tribulations with her jerk of a boyfriend — who is, of course, a key member of the secret society (played by Adam DiMarco) — offer a worthwhile counterpoint to Benny's angst: You don't necessarily have to be struggling to accept your sexuality to be living a lie. The finale ends not so much on a cliffhanger but an uncertain note that all but telegraphs 'to be continued …' That's a shame, because it undermines the season as a whole, which (even if the show does get renewed) should feel like a complete story. This is terrible trend in serialized television and I don't know if it is dictated by streaming executives or just something show creators think is a compelling way to keep audiences coming back. But it's a cheap and frankly pathetic tactic. And it's done terrible things to the storytelling on many shows. It takes real skill to give audiences a sense of resolution while leaving room for more to come. That's missing all too often right now. At 18, Benny doesn't know who he wants to be just yet, or if people will even accept him for who he is. At some point, though, his nervousness about being outed becomes repetitive. he would feel this constantly. But narratively, the story needs to progress more (and faster) than it does early in the eight-episode season. Still, Benny's struggles are emotionally poignant, and once Carmen figures out his secret, the show is able to go to some interesting places. 'Overcompensating' — 2.5 stars (out of 4) Where to watch: Amazon
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Big Bang Theory' Co-Creator Chuck Lorre Calls Kaley Cuoco's Penny ‘Sadly One-Dimensional' Early In Sitcom: 'Took A While To Figure Out'
The Big Bang Theory may be defying the laws of TV mechanics with its storied success, but there's one thing co-creator Chuck Lorre said the series 'missed' early on with regard to Kaley Cuoco's character Penny. In the first episode of The Official Big Bang Theory Podcast opposite former Warner Bros. Television Group chairman and CEO Peter Roth, Lorre — who also co-created Two and a Half Men — discussed the failed unaired pilot of the sitcom and being given a 'do-over' following penning a 'sh—-y' script alongside collaborator Bill Prady. More from Deadline 'The Sex Lives of College Girls' Done At Max After 3 Seasons, Exploring New Home For Season 4 2025 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming Harry Potter Continues To Cast Spell Over Global Audiences As First Movie Enters British Streaming Exports List 2024 The original inaugural episode featured two female main characters, Katie (Amanda Walsh) and Gilda (Iris Bahr), before Kaley Cuoco eventually stepped in as the lead following a rewrite and retaping of what would become the second and aired pilot a year later. 'The magic of Kaley was, Kaley's character — as we figured this thing out on the fly — was amused by [Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki's characters], was not critical. If she got angry, it wasn't harsh. The audience really responded to that,' Lorre explained. He added, 'She was never judgmental about these characters. She was bemused by them, in fact. They brought more judgement to her than she did ever of them. And I thought that was also an important difference between the character of what Penny brought versus the character of what Katie brought in the original unaired pilot.' Despite the dynamic element and heart Penny brought to socially inept brainiacs Sheldon Cooper (Parsons) and Leonard (Galecki), Lorre admitted that he didn't fully grasp Penny's complexity from the get-go. 'Even after the second pilot, we had so many episodes to go before we started to understand that there was a brilliance to Penny's character that we had not explored,' he said, adding that early episodes depicted her as a 'goofy blonde who says foolish things.' The prolific TV writer/producer continued, 'It's a cliched character: the dumb blonde, and we missed it. We didn't have that right away that what she brought to this story, this series, to these other characters was an intelligence that they didn't have. A kind of intelligence that was alien to them, an intelligence about people and relationships and family.' In concluding, he said, 'She brought a humanity to them that they were lacking. And that took a while to figure out. Certainly, in the beginning she was sadly one-dimensional in many ways, but the gift of a TV series that starts working is you get time to learn.' Lorre's comments seem to allude to discussions around the show's misogynistic tone in certain moments, which have percolated for years. However, for her part, Cuoco said last year that she would 'absolutely reprise' the character. She stated, 'I spent 12 years playing that role, and it really set off my career. I owe a lot to that character, to that show, to Chuck Lorre. It was some of the best years of my life, and some of the most fun I've ever had.' With 10 Emmys in tow, the popular CBS sitcom — which ran for 12 seasons from 2007 through 2019 to become the longest-running multi-cam series in television history — has spawned equally beloved offshoot Young Sheldon, focusing on Sheldon Cooper's youth with Iain Armitage in the role, which ended in early 2024 after seven seasons. Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage, featuring Montana Jordan and Emily Osment in the title roles, premiered on CBS in October, from Chuck Lorre Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, where Lorre is under an overall deal. A Max spinoff — with Lorre at the helm — is also beginning to take shape as original series alumni Kevin Sussman, Brian Posehn, Lauren Lapkus and, most recently John Ross Bowie, signed talent-holding deals with WBTV with the intention to star in the forthcoming show. However, the project remains in early development and is still without a greenlight as the script is still being completed. Best of Deadline James Mangold's 'A Complete Unknown': Everything We Know About The Bob Dylan Biopic So Far 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery Epic Universe: The Latest Images Of The New Universal Orlando Theme Park
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘The Sex Lives of College Girls' Canceled at Max After 3 Seasons
'The Sex Lives of College Girls' is not moving forward for a fourth season at Max. The college-set series, which was co-created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, has been canceled at Max after three seasons. The news comes less than two months after 'The Sex Lives of College Girls' debuted its Season 3 finale in late January, which saw an unexpected coming out story for Amrit Kaur's Bela, as well as an emotional moment for transfer student Kacey (Gracie Lawrence). Despite the cancellation at Max, Noble is hoping to find a new home for the Warner Bros. TV series, and shared on social media the show is 'in discussions with some potential new homes for the show.' 'Unfortunately, Max has decided not to order a fourth season,' Noble wrote n a Tuesday social media post. 'We are currently in discussions with some new potential homes for the show, and it's nice that there is so much interest — but regardless of what happens, I'm proud of this show and the work that so many incredibly talented people put into it.' Noble added that 'after seeing our show listed as the most watched or second most watched scripted show on the entire platform, for about 70 straight days, this is not the outcome that [he] saw coming.' 'No matter what happens, 'The Sex Lives of College Girls' has three seasons that showcased incredible performances and told so many important stories while also managing to fill those stories with laughs,' he continued. 'In a world of 'content,' it's a show that strived to make sure it entertained — and I feel that we did that.' The co-creator also pointed out the dwindling number of comedy series, saying 'We are living in an era where we need that comedy badly, so I really hope that turns around. 'But I will always be proud of this show for being the thing that we weren't seeing enough of: a hard comedy ensemble where ladies get the jokes,' Noble wrote. 'And most of all, thank you to the fans. We really did do it all for you.' Season 3 saw several shakeups for the series as Reneé Rapp exited as a series regular in a two-episode arc that said goodbye to Leighton Murray. Meanwhile, the show added two new characters: Lawrence's Kacey and Mia Rodgers' Taylor. The Season 3 finale also left off on a cliffhanger that saw Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) come face-to-face with school officials after a peaceful protest turned not-so-peaceful. With that cliffhanger and new love interests introduced in the final episodes of Season 3, Noble said the team has 'lots of momentum' heading into a potential fourth season. 'We have multiple new love interests that appear in these two episodes at the end of Season 3, we have the closing of some doors and different extracurriculars and school things, so there's a lot of momentum heading into a Season 4, and lots of ways we can go,' Noble said in an interview with TheWrap. 'So, pending a phone call, Mindy and I and the writers will be at the ready to decide which way to go.' Seasons 1-3 of 'The Sex Lives of College Girls' are now streaming on Max. The post 'The Sex Lives of College Girls' Canceled at Max After 3 Seasons appeared first on TheWrap.
