by admin | May 3, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles
Wayne rose to fame in the 1930s, and throughout the 1940s and 1950s, built up his reputation as Hollywood’s ultimate bastion of masculinity. Wayne didn’t possess a lot of range as an actor, typically playing “John Wayne,” but his character type proved to be pliable in certain kinds of ultra-popular genre films. He was a Western star and a War Movie star, and his no-nonsense, rah-rah-America personality was eagerly eaten up by audiences. As Wayne rounded the 1960s, however, a lot of his image had begun to tarnish. This was mostly because times were changing, and the kinds of Westerns and war movies that he once headlined became gauche with a new generation. Antiwar sentiment was more popular than the pro-war propaganda that was released in the wake of World War II.
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One can see Wayne struggling in his notorious stinker “The Green Berets,” a film that attempted to apply old-fashioned WWII sentiments to the Vietnam War. It was insensitive, and critics slammed it. John Wayne was no longer needed as a national symbol.
Indeed, as early as 1964, when Wayne was making films like “The Sons of Katie Elder” and “In Harm’s Way,” some filmmakers were already looking to exploit Wayne’s image for satirical purposes. Wayne’s ultra-masculinity wasn’t fashionable any longer, and some of the filmmakers of the 1960s were eager to lampoon it. Case in point: Stanley Kubrick once offered Wayne a role in his political satire “Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” The story goes that Kubrick wanted his star, Peter Sellers, to play four different roles in the film, but an injury forced him to keep it down to three. Kubrick asked if Wayne would take the fourth role, a B-52 bomber pilot named Major Kong.
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Wayne never responded, so Kubrick cast Slim Pickens instead.
Stanley Kubrick asked John Wayne to play Major Kong in Dr. Strangelove
Columbia Pictures
For those unfamiliar, “Dr. Strangelove” is a bleak spoof about nuclear proliferation. A mad American army general named Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) has become obsessed with the evils of Communism and leaned into kooky conspiracy theories about how Commies are plotting to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids (!). As such, he circumvents the usual security protocols and launches a nuclear strike against Russia. The film takes place in the span between when Ripper gives the order and the time when the bombs are set to be released.
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There are three locations throughout. In Ripper’s office, the general tells his paranoid conspiracies to a visiting British officer named Lionel Mandrake (Sellers). In the United States War Room, the President (Sellers) discusses possibilities with dozens of baffled suits, including the blustery Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott). A former Nazi doctor, Doctor Strangelove (Sellers) is also there woth the president, and he has a very strange doomsday contingent of his own.
The third location is on board a B-52 bomber that has received the order to drop its nuclear payload on Russia. Slim Pickens played the bomber’s pilot, Major Kong, the role that Sellers was supposed to play. As confirmed by co-screenwriter Terry Southern, in a 2008 interview with Medium, Kubrick actually wrote the role of Major Kong to resemble John Wayne, and wanted Sellers to do something of a John Wayne impersonation. When Sellers dropped out, Kubrick felt he should merely swing for the fences and try to hire the real deal. Southern said that Wayne was approached, but that he “dismissed it immediately.” An article in Mental Floss, however, said that Wayne merely never responded.
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Evidently, “Bonanza” star Dan Blocker was also asked to play Major Kong, but he turned the script down for being “too pinko,” a pejorative slang term for being left-wing. Luckily, Slim Pickens was game, and he played the part well. Famously, Pickens didn’t know “Dr. Strangelove” was meant to be a satire, so he played his role completely straight.
by admin | May 3, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles
comic book history’s most terrifying villains that we’ve actually been introduced to in live-action just last year. However, the real shame is that he ended up becoming one of the worst villains in comic book movie history and one that we’ll likely never see again, given the franchise he appeared in had such a disappointing swansong.
The King in Black, aka Knull, appeared in “Venom: The Last Dance” as this off-world adversary that never really took on Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) like he did in the comics. Debuting in the Marvel universe in 2013, Knull took over the Earth in the “King in Black” event that saw him perform unspeakable acts, including taking on The Sentry which ended in a murderous mic drop moment that saw Bob really torn up during the battle.
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The Sentry was literally ripped apart in a battle we’ll probably never see that on screen
Marvel
During the “King in Black” event, it was revealed just how unforgiving Knull, god of the symbiotes, was when he took on The Sentry and managed to rip the Superman-like hero in half. Tearing him up like a sheet of paper, the gruesome sight was an homage to a previous battle The Sentry had with Ares, the god of war, who suffered the same fate from the golden guardian. Both were harrowing displays of strength but the demise of Bob meant Marvel’s biggest gun was out for the count, showing just what kind of threat they were dealing with. It’s a shame, then, that we’ll never see this brought to life because of who owns which Marvel characters.
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Given that Knull and every other Spider-Man-related character is owned by Sony, there’s no way that the King in Black can make an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He is unfortunately bound up by the same issues as Venom, Kraven the Hunter, and Morbius, who all got shocking treatment and no web-slinger to vent their frustrations to. Perhaps in The Sentry’s case, though, that is for the best. We’re only just getting to know Bob Reynolds, so we’d hate to see him suffer such a fate. Of course, following the “Avengers: Doomsday” casting call, we’ll just have to potentially settle for The Sentry vs. Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) which we feel will be a much better battle.
by admin | May 3, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles
evoking aspects of the “Grand Theft Auto” series), where quick, on-your-feet thinking molds what kind of fighter Wei Shen will become.
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However, what truly sets the game apart is its story. Things kick off after Wei is arrested in Hong Kong, but we quickly learn that this is a part of an undercover operation that hinges on a tricky infiltration job. What starts as a string of missions to prove Wei’s credibility post-infiltration devolves into a true test of his motives and allegiances. The game constantly puts your moral proclivities to the test as well, as you are rewarded based on either how sensitive you are to legal codes/civilian safety or how willing you are to lean into brash, vindictive violence while terrorizing your enemies. By the end of the 20-odd hours of gameplay, you will have experienced the extreme ends of the legal spectrum, with nuanced ethical complexity thrown in for good measure.
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Of course, the impact of a video game narrative is often as good as its voice work, which is also the case with the game’s talented voice acting cast. Will Yun Lee (“Witchblade,” “The Good Doctor”) brings Wei to vivid life, while the likes of Lucy Liu and Tom Wilkinson are a part of the ensemble supporting cast. Among them, we also have Academy Award-winner Emma Stone voicing a character featured in two missions in “Sleeping Dogs,” a role that followed right after her mainstream popularity as Gwen Stacy in 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man.” Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at Stone’s “Sleeping Dogs” character.
Emma Stone voiced Amanda Cartwright in Sleeping Dogs
Square Enix
In “Sleeping Dogs,” Stone voiced aspiring writer/photographer Amanda Cartwright, who is presented as a potential love interest for Wei. Both missions — titled “Amanda” and “Photograph Amanda” — revolve around developing her and Wei’s dynamic (and nudge it towards a romantic one if you want to). In “Amanda,” she runs into Wei and asks him for directions, prompting him to drive Amanda around town while introducing key landmarks. By the end of this tour, Amanda gives Wei her number with the silent promise that they should meet again. An optional mission named “Photograph Amanda” features a romantic date at the Magistrate Park, where the two spend some time and part ways after a sexual encounter.
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Although Stone’s in-game character plays a small part in the evolving story, even her brief association with Wei leads her into trouble, as surveillance teams tail her for weeks after the first meet-up. The follow-up police reports about Amanda reveal her journalistic pursuits after she finished college, along with some personal details about her dating history. Moreover, completing the optional mission allows you to see the locations of all health shrines (which give the player health bonuses) on both the primary map and mini-map.
It is also pretty cool that Stone’s supporting performance as Amanda earned her a nomination at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards, where “Sleeping Dogs” was also nominated in the Best Action Adventure Game category (where “Dishonored” emerged as the winner). Although Stone hasn’t worked in a video game project since then, it is not outlandish to hope that she might voice a character within the medium in the near future.
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Until then, be sure to check out “Sleeping Dogs” for its outstanding story and intuitive gameplay, as spending time in this bonkers, crime-riddled world brimming with dramatic absurdity is more than worth it.
by admin | May 3, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles
including classics like “ER” and “M*A*S*H,” but there’s one TV trope that the team behind the series want to try to avoid. In an interview with TVLine, series creator R. Scott Gemmill shared a few details about the upcoming second season and revealed that despite there being a bit of a time jump between season 1 and season 2, they really want to avoid using any flashbacks to show what’s happened between the seasons. Considering that there’s going to be about nine months that pass between the seasons, with season 2 covering 15 consecutive hours on the Fourth of July, a whole lot could have changed. Not only that, but senior attending Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch was dealing with very real PTSD flashbacks from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in season 1, so “no flashbacks” has fairly major meaning for the direction of season 2.
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Season 2 is coming soon, thanks to the success of the first season and Max realizing they had a hit on their hands, but since it can’t really come soon enough to those of us who have become obsessed with the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center and its incredible medical professionals, let’s dig into Gemmill’s comments.
Being in the moment is a big part of The Pitt
Warrick Page/Max
When asked if there would be any flashbacks to help fill in the gap between the seasons, Gemmill said it wasn’t in the cards:
“I don’t believe so. That’s not the show. We start at 7 am and end at 10 pm, and I think that’s what worked for us. It comes with its challenges, but that’s also what makes it fun, because you’re playing in this tight little box.”
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Gemmill has also said that a big part of season 2 is Dr. Robby getting himself “mentally healthy,” so it’s likely that he’s not going to be having (as many) trauma flashbacks either. There will be some changes to other characters as well, as Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball) is a big reason for the time jump, as it allows him plenty of time to have gone through a rehab program before coming back to work at the hospital. In fact, season 2 takes place on his first day back, which means the audience will get to catch up with everyone at the Pitt right along with him, removing a need for flashbacks. After all, one of the best things about “The Pitt” is that it forces you to be in the moment, dropped into the chaos along with the team.
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Whether many of the show’s other beloved characters will be returning or not is still up in the air, though it sounds like Gemmill is keen to keep around as much of the same team as possible. It’s hard to blame him, as they’ve worked as a truly cohesive unit with both the crew and the medical professionals hired on as extras to help steer the ship. There’s sure to be a steady drip feed of info before season 2 hits Max, so stay tuned.
by admin | May 3, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles
brief period between seasons 12 and 13 where Dennis Reynolds’ future on the show wasn’t clear. At the end of “Dennis’ Double Life,” Dennis decides to leave the gang so he can be closer to his recently-discovered kid in North Dakota. In real life, Glenn Howerton announced he would be leading a new sitcom, “A.P. Bio.” Dennis thankfully returned to the show part-time the next season, and has stuck around full-time from season 14 on.
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But before Howerton officially pulled away from the show for a bit, he was thinking about leaving as early as season 6. In a recent podcast interview with Rick Glassman, Howerton explained how he had felt confined by the show and it was making him a little miserable. “When we were shooting season 6 of ‘Always Sunny,’ I was in a bad place,” Howerton said. “I was feeling burnt out, and frankly I was feeling boxed in by the show.” He explained further:
“At that point, we were doing 13 episodes a season. […] I didn’t want to do it anymore — at all. Because I had other career goals, and it was getting in the way. Because I’m spending, at that point, probably eight, nine months were spent writing, acting, and then in post on ‘Always Sunny.’ Nine months. And I didn’t set out to be a comedic actor, I had other things that I wanted to do. […] I’m not someone with endless amounts of energy. Some people can juggle multiple things at once, I’m not good at that.”
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The good news is that co-star Rob McElhenney, who plays Mac and also co-writes/produces the show, was able to get Howerton out of his funk. As Howerton put it, “[McElhenney], in the most loving way, he pulled me aside and he was like, ‘Hey man, I just wanted to talk to you for a minute.’ I was like, ‘Yeah?’ and he was like, ‘Are you okay? Are you doing okay?'”
The two were able to talk through Howerton’s frustrations, and Howerton came out of the conversation a little more content with his situation, and more capable of enjoying the production without bumming out the rest of the crew. It also may have also helped that “Always Sunny” started making changes to its production soon after.
The later seasons of Always Sunny are shorter and less demanding
FX
As early as season 8, “Always Sunny” switched from 13-episode seasons to 10-episode seasons, and in season 15, the show lowered its output to 8-episode seasons. Not only have the seasons grown shorter, but the gaps between them have grown longer; it might be frustrating to “Always Sunny” fans who just want more episodes, but the less demanding schedule is part of what’s helped the show stay fresh for so long. It doesn’t feel like “Always Sunny” is going through the motions because the people involved seem to be giving themselves time to try new things and take time off when needed. It’s rare for a live-action TV show to make it as long as this one has, and the gaps in production might be the key to pulling the feat off.
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The other thing that’s helped is the show’s tonal shift. It’s still raunchy and silly, sure, but the show has grown increasingly comfortable with letting its actors show off their dramatic acting chops. Mac was given a surprisingly emotional coming-out scene to his neglectful father, and poor Charlie was given a sad, heartfelt monologue in the rain. The later seasons of “Always Sunny” are filled with moments seemingly designed to give its actors an occasional dramatic showcase amid all of the zany comedic beats fans have come to expect.
Howerton has sadly not yet been given any big, flashy emotional moment on the show like the ones McElhenney and Day received — I guess it’s harder to write that kind of moment for an established sociopath like Dennis — but he’s been given plenty of little scenes that hint at his range. Take that season 14 moment where Dee jokes about Dennis being old, only for a flustered Dennis to respond, “We’re the same age!” This could’ve been a forgettable throwaway joke, but the sad rage Howerton imbues into the line elevates it into something so much more:
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“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” season 17 premieres on July 9, 2025.
by admin | May 3, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles
ending of “How I Met Your Mother,” there’s no questioning the show had a successful nine-season run, and that most of it is infinitely rewatchable even more than a decade after it aired its final episode. The same, however, cannot be said about “How I Met Your Father,” the sequel series that abruptly ended after just two seasons and 30 episodes on Hulu. Despite sharing a lot of similarities with the original series, it just didn’t connect with audiences in the same way. But when it came to the official reason why “How I Met Your Father” was canceled, it all came down to the usual corporate jargon from streaming companies.
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A report from Deadline confirmed in September 2023 that “How I Met Your Father” got the axe on account of “companywide streaming content cuts” at Hulu’s parent company, Disney. The story didn’t delve further into the specifics, but noted that two other comedy shows were canceled at the same time — the historical (but heavily fictionalized) “The Great” and another gender-flipped take on a popular series, “Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.”
On the surface, this doesn’t really tell us much about why “How I Met Your Father” met its end before it could even reveal who the father was. But in the lead-up to its cancellation, there were some signs pointing to the show having a short and unsatisfying run.
How I Met Your Father suffered from middling reviews and unrelatable supporting characters
Hulu
On paper, it isn’t too surprising that “How I Met Your Father,” despite some positive initial reviews, lasted just two seasons on Hulu. A look at Rotten Tomatoes shows that the series got a 34% critic score and a 64% audience score. Meanwhile, over on IMDb, the show received a middling average score of 5.7 out of 10. A closer look at those ratings also shows a lot of praise for Hilary Duff and Kim Cattrall, who respectively played the present-day and future versions of lead character Sophie. Unfortunately, the supporting players on “How I Met Your Father” were another story — multiple reviewers pointed out how the members of Sophie’s friend group weren’t as interesting or relatable as the mainstays on “How I Met Your Mother.”
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Indeed, there’s a good reason why I never get tired of binge-watching “How I Met Your Mother” — from the get-go, you can see how believable the characters are as a friend group, and in most situations, it’s easy to identify the Barney (Neil Patrick Harris), Robin (Cobie Smulders), or Ted (Josh Radnor) in your own circle of friends. On “How I Met Your Father,” however, Sophie’s friends feel a lot like millennial stereotypes with little depth, nuance, or relatability. Good luck finding someone you know who reminds you of Jesse (Christopher Lowell), who juggles work as a music teacher and Uber driver while also dealing with life as an internet lolcow.
Then again, “How I Met Your Father” can take solace in knowing it isn’t the only 2020s sequel sitcom revolving around trope-y, stereotypical characters that ended after two seasons, as Netflix’s “That ’90s Show” was similarly canceled in 2024.
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