Late-night talk show legend David Letterman is joining the Netflix brigade.
The streaming video giant announced Tuesday that the former CBS “Late Show” host has signed on to do a six-episode talk show that will premiere in 2018.
It will be Letterman’s first series since retiring from late-night TV in May 2015 after a 33-year run across two networks. The 69-year-old comic’s only TV job since has been as host of an episode of National Geographic Channel’s “Years of Living Dangerously.”
“I feel excited and lucky to be working on this project for Netflix,” Letterman said in a statement. “Here’s what I have learned, if you retire to spend more time with your family, check with your family first. Thanks for watching, drive safely.”
In the new series, which does not yet have a name, Letterman will conduct one in-depth interview with a guest per hourlong episode and will appear in segments produced outside a studio setting.
The show is being produced by RadicalMedia, which made the Netflix documentary “What Happened, Miss Simone?” and special “Oh, Hello on Broadway,” and by Letterman’s company Worldwide Pants.
It’s the second significant deal for Netflix announced this week. On Monday, Netflix announced its acquisition of comic book publisher Millarworld, giving the company access to the characters and franchises for future programming.
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Sinead O’Connor’s mental health drama continues, with an unidentified person assuring fans late Monday that the “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer was being taken care of after posting a troubling video begging her exes and children to come get her and take care of her.
“I am posting at Sinead’s request, to let everyone who loves her know she is safe, and she is not suicidal,” an unnamed person wrote Monday night on the same Facebook page where O’Connor posted the startling video Thursday. The singer is “surrounded by love and receiving the best of care,” the person said, and she “asked for this to be posted knowing you are concerned for her.”
O’Connor, 50, has a history of going public with her personal struggles.
In the profanity-laden video, which she said she was making on the chance it would help someone who doesn’t have her resources, a tearful O’Connor said she was living alone in a motel “in the arse end of New Jersey” with nobody to lean on except her psychiatrist.
Stating that she was suffering from three mental illnesses, she accused her children and a couple of her exes of not caring about her well-being. In past interviews, she has said she was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2011, attempted suicide in 2012 and suffers from depression and PTSD.
O’Connor has been married four times and has two children with two ex-husbands, plus two more with ex-boyfriends. Her musical contributions along the way have gotten somewhat lost under the weight of her struggles.
“I gave so much love in my life, and I just can’t understand how a person can be left alone ... ,” she said in the newest video. “Mental illness, it’s a bit like drugs, it doesn’t ... (care) who you are, and what’s worse, the stigma doesn’t ... (care) who you are, and suddenly all of the people who are supposed to be loving you and taking care of you are treating you ... (badly).
“Then when you’re angry or you’re hurt because they’re doing it, it’s like a witch hunt,” she went on.
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Can Journey survive Donald Trump?
That’s the question some fans are asking. And things definitely look iffy for the multiplatinum-selling San Francisco area band right now, in the wake of guitarist and co-founder Neal Schon taking to Twitter to blast certain bandmates for a recent trip to the White House.
Schon was referencing a visit to Washington in late July, when three members — singer Arnel Pineda, keyboardist Jonathan Cain and bassist Ross Valory, says Billboard — posed for pictures with the president and staffers as well as reportedly met press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
To many — including NBC News, which reported on the event — it may have come across like an official band visit to the White House. Yet, Schon took to social media to let his nearly 30,000 followers know that he was shocked and disappointed by his band mates’ actions. The result has generated plenty of headlines and concern among fans.
Yet, only part of this appears to be about Trump’s politics. The big portion, it seems, is about band politics — and control over Journey’s future. One of Schon’s tweets even seems to address the possibility of Journey wanting to tour without Schon. The guitarist says band morale has been bad for at least two years, says Billboard, but said that as of Monday, he was still with Journey.
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Actress Cynthia Nixon is playing coy about her possible political ambitions, which have New Yorkers whispering about her making a run for governor. During a Tuesday morning appearance on NBC’s “Today” show, the woman who is most famous for playing Type-A attorney Miranda on “Sex and the City” declined to make a big announcement. “I cannot,” she said, after host Al Roker pressed her to announce her political intentions on the morning show.
But she sounded like she’s giving it some hard thought. “I think there are a lot of people who would like me to run for a variety of reasons,” Nixon said.
Nixon has used her celebrity to advocate on a variety of causes, including marriage equality and opposing President Donald Trump’s immigration plans. But it looked like education policy might be her biggest platform if she decides to seek office. During her “Today” appearance, Nixon criticized her potential Democratic primary rival, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for doing little to end disparity in education spending.
“The gap in our richest schools and our poorest schools under Gov. Cuomo is wider than it’s been before,” said the mother of three children who have attended New York public schools. “And that’s got to stop.”
Manolos-and-cosmos fans aren’t the only ones hoping she’s more than flirting with public office: The Wall Street Journal reported last week that liberal groups have urged her to get into the race.