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From Angelina Jolie to Nicolas Cage, Beverly Hills High School has educated a who’s who of A-list celebrities for generations.

The high school, which turns 90 this year, is even a bit famous in its own right. The memorable pool sequence from It’s a Wonderful Life was filmed in the gym, and it was also the inspiration for the high school in Beverly Hills, 90210.

In celebration of its 90th anniversary, The Hollywood Reporter spoke with a handful of notable past graduates, like Will & Grace co-creator Max Mutchnick and actress Joely Fiser, who dished on what their famous classmates were like before they became stars.

Four Teamster union members have been found not guilty in an extortion case involving Top Chef.  On Monday, Boston-based Local 25 union members John Fidler, Daniel Redmond, Robert Cafarelli and Michael Ross were acquitted on counts of conspiracy to extort and attempted extortion, as reported by Boston Globe reporter Maria Cramer inside the court room. The four men were initially accused of disrupting the filming of Top Chef, threatening the crew and demanding the non-union production company agree to hire Local 25 members, Boston station Wcvb previously reported. The case stemmed from a June 2014 confrontation between the Teamsters and the show's non-union production...

Four Teamsters — of the truck driver’s union — have been found not guilty in the U.S. District Court of all federal charges of attempting to extort jobs from the show “Top Chef” when it filmed in Boston in 2014. The four men (Daniel Redmond, 49; John Fidler, 53; Robert Cafarelli, 47; and Michael Ross, 63), who belong to the Charlestown-based Teamsters Local 25, were accused of conspiring to extort “Top Chef” producers into giving them jobs and driving equipment in and around the Boston area. “Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi had previously testified that she was “terrified” when approached by the men. Prosecutors...

The awards season game is one that typically involves a lot of subtlety and false humility. But in its second year as an Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy nominee, the team behind “Black-ish” is stepping up their game.

“We want an Emmy,” executive producer Kenya Barris told a room of reporters during a recent press event. “I always take the backseat, because I think that’s the higher road to take, but I’m going to say it this time. I want it for my crew, for myself and because I grew up watching network television.”

Read More:‘Black-ish,’ ‘Insecure,’ and Others Aren’t Just ‘Black Shows,’ As Nielsen Study Proves

“Black-ish,” the deeply personal series about an affluent black family living in Los Angeles, is one of two broadcast comedies nominated for an Emmy this year (the other being longstanding veteran “Modern Family,” which is not considered a favorite to...

Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi testified in a federal trial today and detailed her frightening encounter with angry Teamster union members. Boston-based Local 25 union members John Fidler, Daniel Redmond, Robert Cafarelli and Michael Ross are accused of threatening to disrupt the filming of Top Chef if the non-union production company did not agree to hire union laborers, Boston station Wcvb reported. The men have pleaded not guilty to federal charges of conspiracy and attempted extortion.  The accusation stems from a confrontation between Teamsters and the show's non-union production company's crew at a Boston-area restaurant where they were filming scenes for the...

A Top Chef producer testified in Boston federal court that she was the subject of racist taunts and host Padma Lakshmi was physically threatened when four members of the Teamsters Union were picketing outside a restaurant where the show was filming in 2014.

Supervising producer Ellie Carbajal told the jury Wednesday that the teamsters, who Deadline reports are accused of trying to extort the show for driving jobs, “swarmed vehicle and surrounded it.”

According to Deadline, one of the men said to the others with his face just inches from the host’s car window, “That’s the pretty one. We...

Four Teamsters members in Boston are being charged with attempting to extort jobs from Top Chef producers. Top Chef Extorton Trial Begins<h2? The trial began this week in Boston, in which Robert Cafarelli, John Fidler, Daniel Remond, and Michael Ross are being accused of spitting threats and homophobic and racist remarks at crew members of the Bravo show. Prosecutors are […]

Source: uInterview

The post ‘Top Chef’ Extortion Trial Begins In Boston, Host Padma Lakshmi To Testify appeared first on uInterview.

Tracee Ellis Ross was not calm Thursday morning as she waited for the 2017 Emmy Awards nominations to be announced.

“I’d been up since, like, 4:40 a.m. because I’m on European time. I hopped in the shower at 8, but that did not change my attention,” the black-ish star tells People of the nerves and anticipation she felt in the minutes leading up to the reveal.

“I decided to put on a moisture mask and go down to my meditation room and meditate. So I was listening to the birds when 8:30 struck, and when I opened my eyes...

George Carlin had a famously controversial stand-up routine, in which he attempted to prove rape can be funny. Taken at face value, and especially if you aren’t familiar with Carlin, this sounds like it could be a shock-value gag. In delivery, it is not, and by the end of the act – which is a thinly veiled rant against political correctness — his point resonates.

But are some topics truly off limits? This is the compelling question of Ferne Pearlstein’s The Last Laugh, a documentary that questions whether the Holocaust is something that can ever be a source of humor.

Pearlstein interviews many noteworthy figures from the comedy world — Mel Brooks, Gilbert Gottfried, Sarah Silverman, David Cross, Rob Reiner and Carl Reiner, to name but a few – and what’s surprising is the disparity in their opinions on the subject. For example, one might be surprised to hear Brooks opine...

Four Boston Teamsters who allegedly terrorized the cast and crew of Top Chef back in 2014 will go on trial this summer on charges that they tried to extort jobs on Bravo’s hit TV show. U.S. District Court Judge Douglas Woodlock today set July 31 as the start date for the trial of Local 25 members Michael Ross, John Fidler, Robert Calarelli and Daniel Redmond. Mark Harrington, the local's former secretary-treasurer, pleaded guilty to the same charges in December and is…...

Tony Sokol Nov 27, 2016

Such sad news: Ron Glass, Firefly’s guru, has died at the age of 71.

Such sad news for you. The brilliant Ron Glass died on November 25th 2016 at the age of 71, it was announced by his representative through Variety.

Glass was initially best known for playing Detective Ron Harris, who moonlit as the author of such true crime books as Blood On The Badge, in the classic 70s Us sitcom Barney Miller. But for those of us of the nerdy persuasion, he was Shepherd Derrial Book, the spiritual centre of Joss Whedon’s Firefly. Glass, of course, reprised the role in the 2005 movie Serenity.

Video of Barney Miller - The Harris Incident - Season 5 - Ep 9

“Ron Glass was one of the greatest actors to work with. His laugh was beyond infectious and his generosity was ever present. #ripronglass,” actor Alan Tudyk wrote on Twitter.

"I've had...

David Mamet has written a devastating portrait of a David Koch/Sheldon Adelson-style tycoon whose deep pockets fund at least one prominent governor. In essence, that portrait is Mamet’s new play, “China Doll,” which stars Al Pacino as Mickey Ross and opens Friday at Broadway’s Schoenfeld Theatre. There’s only one other character in the play, Ross’ assistant (Christopher Denham), who is merely a prop for most of the play’s two hours — until he becomes something much more. Shades of Karen, the on-the-make secretary, from “Speed-the-Plow”? Not quite. What’s most fascinating about “China Doll” is Mamet’s leisurely drawn-out exposition.

If the expiration date on Donald Trump's turn in the political arena should arrive any time soon, and he wants to try his hand at another kind of acting, there's a vehicle tailor-made for his blustery shtick in David Mamet's new play, China Doll. In fact, during the boring parts — and yes, there's no shortage of them in this windy anecdote about the clash between one-percent arrogance and political opportunism — it's mildly entertaining to imagine Trump vomiting indignation as besieged moneybags Mickey Ross. In the meantime, Al Pacino, for whom the role was written, huffs and puffs

read more...

Al Pacino is not an actor of much breadth but he stakes a narrow territory deeply, and that can be brilliant to watch onstage. China Doll, his shaky new Broadway vehicle, by David Mamet, offers flashes of that brilliance between long mucky passages in which he appears to be hunting for the narrative, if not the next line. (He’s 76, and Mamet has given him what amounts to a 10,000-word speech; you try it.) The familiar Pacino mannerisms are all in place — the constant pa-pow! choreography of the hands, the hangdog moues, the sudden mid-phrase changes in volume. But this is no Serpico or Sonny Wortzik, fighting the man; Mickey Ross is more at that Roy Cohn end of Pacino’s spectrum. He is the man. In fact, he’s a billionaire who lacks nothing, not even a beautiful young quasi-fiancée, bought and paid for: “I saved the receipt,” he...

David Mamet‘s “China Doll” has delayed its Broadway press opening two weeks, a move which will buy the creative team “additional time to work on the play before its world premiere,” reps for the show said on Monday. The play, starring Tony winner Al Pacino, was originally slated to open on Thursday, Nov. 19, but will now raise its curtain on Friday, Dec. 4. The 10th presentation of a David Mamet work is currently in previews at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. “China Doll” tells the story of Mickey Ross (Al Pacino), a man of means who is ready to walk away from it.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Massachusetts this week indicted the wrong man for harassing and threatening the cast and crew of Top Chef last year. Richard Jeffrey, one of the five members of Teamsters Local 25 indicted by the office Wednesday, had his charges quietly dropped. Another member of the Boston local, Michael Ross, was indicted in his stead. It turns out that the two men look alike, and when prosecutors viewed crew members' cell phone footage of the Top Chef…...

Indie producer-distributor Entertainment Studios has reached an agreement with Verizon FiOS to carry its Justice Central.TV, which is billed as the only 24/7 dedicated legal and news cable network. The deal takes effect immediately. This is the first major new carriage deal for he upstart network, which launched in 2012 on At&T U-Verse. Justice Central.TV’s lineup includes Justice With Judge Mablean, America’s Court With Judge Ross, Justice For All With Judge Cristina Pere…...

According to the New York Times, Al Pacino will head back to Broadway next Fall in a new David Mamet play- China Doll, directed by Tony winner Pam MacKinnon. According to Nyt, the play is 'a two-character play about a billionaire, Mickey Ross, who has just bought a new airplane for his young fiancee as he prepares to go into semiretirement the other character is Carson, Ross's assistant.'...

How do you have a meaningful conversation about race and culture in a network television comedy? Calling your show "Black-ish" is one way to start. The ABC comedy starring Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross and Laurence Fishburne follows "Modern Family" this fall and provides a rare (for network TV) look at an affluent black family -- complete with four kids and a live-in grandpa played by Fishburne. And while race is right there in the title, both creator Kenya Barris ("The Game") and executive producer Larry Wilmore ("The Bernie Mac Show," "The Daily Show") promise the "family" element is even more important, as they explained during the show's presentation at the 2014 TCA summer press tour. "I know race is a big part of it and we're not running from it, but this is a show about culture," Barris said. "It's a show about what it's like to raise a family during a different time.

Lil Snupe was shot and killed on June 20. One week before his passing, Lil Snupe sent out a number of positive tweets, making his death that much more upsetting. So sad.

On week after tweeting, “Alotta People Thought i Wouldn’t Make it 2 See This Day,” on his 18th birthday, Lil Snupe — real name Adarren Ross — was reportedly shot twice and killed on June 20.

Lil Snupe Died: Shot & Killed After Positive Twitter Messages

Emerging rapper Lil Snupe, a recent signee to Meek Mill‘s Dream Chaser’s label, was proud to have made it to his 18th birthday. While that may seem like a strange thought to some, Lil Snupe felt “blessed 2 see 18,” he tweeted on June 13.

Lil Snupe Dies At A Young Age

Sadly, Lil Snupe only lived for seven more days before he was reportedly shot and killed.

Winnfield Police say that Snupe was killed just after 4:00 a.

One week after turning 18-years-old, aspiring rapper Lil Snupe was killed in an shooting in his hometown of Winnfield, La. A suspect is in custody.

This is so sad. One week after tweeting “Blessed 2 See 18,” emerging rapper Lil Snupe, a recent signee to Meek Mill‘s Dream Chaser’s label, was killed in a shooting. In the early hours of June 20, Lil Snupe — real name Adarren Ross — was reportedly shot twice and has since died.

Lil Snupe Dies At 18 Years Old

Lil Snupe celebrated his 18th birthday on June 13, and posted a series of pictures of his birthday cake on Instagram, and wrote “Blessed 2 See 18.”

Winnfield Police say that Snupe was killed just after 4:00 a.m. at an apartment where he was visiting in Winnfield, Louisiana, reports Knoe 8 News. Officials say the shooting happened at Maplewood Apartments at S. Jones Streets.

There is a suspect, but no one has been arrested.

Ross and Rachel. Clair and Cliff. Ricky and Lucy. These are just a few of the iconic pairings competing for the chance to be EW’s “Greatest TV Couple of All Time.” Check out our full bracket here and vote in the polls below to determine who will move on to the next round. Now, the 8 couples who won their first match-ups in our “I Thought Our Story Was Epic” conference.

Also: EW.com’s Greatest TV Romances package

George and Weezy, The Jeffersons vs. Darrin and Samantha, Bewitched

Howard and Marion, Happy Days vs. Rob and Laura, The Dick Van Dyke Show...

Ross and Rachel. Carrie and Big. Clair and Cliff. Ricky and Lucy. These are just a few of the iconic pairings competing for the chance to be EW’s “Greatest TV Couple of All Time.” Check out our full bracket here and vote in the polls below to determine who will move on to the next round. Now for the 16 couples in our “I Thought Our Story Was Epic” conference.

George and Weezy, The Jeffersons vs. June and Ward, Leave It To Beaver

Bobby and Pamela, Dallas vs. Darrin and Samantha, Bewitched

Bob and Emily, The Bob Newhart Show (*We...

Byron Allen‘s Entertainment Studios has launched its eighth first-run syndication network with Justice Central.TV, a legal and news cable channel that will feature court proceedings, news, talk, and entertainment. The 24/7 HD network kicks off today on At&T U-verse. Its original programming include America’s Court With Judge Ross, We The People With Gloria Allred, Justice For All With Judge Christina Perez and Supreme Justice With Judge Karen. Entertainment Studios’ networks include Cars.TV, Comedy.TV, Es.TV, MyDestination.TV, Pets.TV, Recipe.TV and Legacy.TV.

By Rachel Bennett

Television Editor & Columnist

***

You know the saying: Don’t arrive to a party too early, and don’t stay too late.

The latter part applies to any good TV series. When a show is great, you want it to stick around — but you don’t want it to overstay its welcome.

Usually, as the seasons stack up, a series declines in quality and has to scrape the bottom of the barrel for new ideas. It may try to shake things up, as many reality competition programs have done this season, but it rarely captures that magic that once made the show so fantastic.

One such series, CBS’s Survivor, is on its 25th season. Though the show helped to introduce U.S. viewers to reality TV when it premiered in 2000, it’s now one among several reality programs that have gone through numerous attempts to rebrand, airing...

Some more talented individuals left us this month. It's amazing how so many people have contributed so much to the medium of television.

Some of the losses this month include Dom DeLuise (The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The New Candid Camera), Linda Dangcil (Dynasty, Quincy M.E., 3rd Rock From The Sun, and The Flying Nun), Frank Aletter (M*A*S*H, All In The Family, Dallas, Kojak, and Murder, She Wrote), Wayne Allwine (movies Splash, Three Men And A Baby, and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and as the voice of Mickey Mouse), Michael Ross (All In The Family, The Jeffersons, and Three's Company), and veteran news producer Jack Reilly (The Mike Douglas Show, David Frost Show, Good Morning America, and Entertainment Tonight).

Here are the details...

Comedic actor Dom DeLuise passed away in his sleep on May 4th in Southern California. He was 75 years old. DeLuise was...

Hollywood is mourning the death of comedy scribe Mickey Ross, who wrote for hit sitcoms All In The Family, The Jeffersons and Three's Company.

The 89 year old passed away on Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after complications from a stroke and heart attack.

Ross, a bomber pilot during World War II, was largely involved with the creation of All In The Family, serving as a writer, story editor and executive producer for 81 episodes of the 1970s TV comedy.

He also wrote and produced the series' spin-off The Jeffersons, before writing and directing episodes of the U.S. sitcom Three's Company.

His accomplishments were recognised in 1973 when he won an Emmy for outstanding achievement in comedy for an All In The Family episode, an honour he shared with writing partners Bernie West and Lee Kalcheim.

Ross' wife Irene died in 2000. The couple had no children.

A memorial service is scheduled for Ross on 30 May at Mount Sinai Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles.

Comedy writer and producer Mickey Ross, an Emmy winner who worked on "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons" and "Three's Company," died Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications from a stroke and heart attack. He was 89.

In the 1950s, Ross formed a comedy partnership with fellow City College of New York alumnus Bernie West (Class of '39). They worked on "The Martha Raye Show" and there developed a relationship with Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin, the creators of the landmark "All in the Family" sitcom for CBS.

Ross was a writer, story editor and executive producer for 81 episodes of the show. He shared with West and Lee Kalcheim the 1973 Emmy for outstanding writing achievement in comedy for the episode "The Bunkers and the Swingers," where Edith answers a magazine personal ad from a couple seeking new friends.

Ross and West also wrote for and executive produced "The Jeffersons,...