Month: December 2023

Television legend Norman Lear, the writer-producer who revolutionized American comedy in the early-‘70s, has died at the age of 101.

A spokesperson for the family confirmed to The New York Times that Lear died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles, with his publicist telling Variety that Lear died of natural causes. The family’s statement read in part: “Thank you for the moving outpouring of love and support in honor of our wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. Norman lived a life of creativity, tenacity, and empathy. He deeply loved our country and spent a lifetime helping to preserve its founding ideals of justice and equality for all. Knowing and loving him has been the greatest of gifts. We ask for your understanding as we mourn privately in celebration of this remarkable human being.”

Lear started his career in film and television in the 1950s, with his earlier work including the TV series The Deputy and the 1967 film Divorce American Style.  It was Lear’s revolutionary series of the 1970s, “All in the Family” that became a breakout, immediate hit. The show – about a conservative, outspokenly bigoted working-class man and his Queens, NY family — addressed the serious political, cultural and social issues of the ’70s – racism, abortion, homosexuality, and the Vietnam war — with no subject off limits.  Lear also created and produced such groundbreaking series such as Maude, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons and Good Times, which all premiered in the 1970s. In recent years, Lear produced Netflix reboots of his series One Day at a Time and Good Times.

Lear is survived by his third wife Lyn Davis, six children and four grandchildren. Lear’s publicists said that a private service for his immediate family will be held in the coming days.

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TIME Magazine announced that they have named Taylor Swift their ‘2023 Person of the Year,’ beating out a host of finalists (including Barbie and King Charles III) who over the last 12 months dominated in politics and entertainment

TIME called Swit a person with “singular influence” who has found a way to “transcend borders” and be “a source of light” in the world. TIME said in its profile on Swift: “While her popularity has grown across the decades, this is the year that Swift, 33, achieved a kind of nuclear fusion: shooting art and commerce together to release an energy of historic force.”  The publication added that Swift was selected because she found a way to give people around the world hope in such dark times:  “No one else on the planet today can move so many people so well. Achieving this feat is something we often chalk up to the alignments of planets and fates, but giving too much credit to the stars ignores her skill and her power.”

Swift revealed to TIME: “This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been. Ultimately, we can convolute it all we want, or try to overcomplicate it, but there’s only one question … Are you not entertained?”

Part of Swift’s incredible achievements across 2023 was her “Eras Tour,” which grossed about $2.2 billion in North American ticket sales alone. She has dominated not only arenas, but local movie theaters as well with her concert film “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” which raked in about $96 million in the box office in the United States and Canada, making it the highest-grossing concert film domestically for an opening weekend. The singer/songwriter also has more No. 1 albums than any other woman in history, including three this year; and she broke her own Spotify record by becoming the most-streamed artist in a single day in the streamer’s history, with “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” becoming Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day this year.

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The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, starring ‘TWD’ fan-favorite characters Rick and Michonne (Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira), shared a sneak peek of the upcoming spin-off series.

A series synopsis reads: “Kept apart by distance. By an unstoppable power. By the ghosts of who they were. Rick and Michonne are thrown into another world, built on a war against the dead… And ultimately, a war against the living. Can they find each other and who they were in a place and situation unlike any they’ve ever known before? Are they enemies? Lovers? Victims? Victors? Without each other, are they even alive — or will they find that they, too, are the ‘walking dead?’”

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live follows the recent spinoffs ‘Daryl Dixon’, starring Norman Reedus, and ‘Dead City’, featuring Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan reprising their roles as frenemies Maggie and Negan.  ‘Fear the Walking Dead’, another companion series, also just wrapped up its eight-season run.

‘The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live’ is set to premiere Feb. 25 on AMC; take a look at the trailer  – here.

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Jennifer Lopez shared the release date for her new album, This Is Me… Now, along with its lead single and a companion film co-written with her husband, Ben Affleck. The 54-year-old’s new single, “Can’t Get Enough,” the first single from the album will be released on Jan. 10, 2024; to pre-save, head here.

This Is Me… Now (the album and the film) will be released on Feb. 16, 2024. Lopez also shared the trailer for the short film, directed by Dave Meyers and co-written by Lopez, Matt Walton, and Affleck, which will stream on Prime Video. The trailer shows JLO tossing a letter into the fire as she says, “When I was a little girl, when someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always… in love.” The handwritten letter is dated Dec. 24, 2002, seemingly from Affleck back in the early days of their relationship.

According to a press release, This Is Me… Now: The Film offers “the truth behind the headlines surrounding Lopez’s personal life as told through the star’s personal creative vision … Unlike anything you’ve ever seen from Jennifer Lopez, This Is Me…Now: The Film is a narrative-driven, intimate, reflective, sexy, funny, fantastical and highly visual musical reimagining of her publicly scrutinized love life.”

The album This Is Me… Now celebrates the anniversary of its 2002 sister album, This Is Me…Then, completing a 20-year journey. The new LP, Lopez’s ninth studio album and her first in nearly a decade, was written and executive produced by Lopez and Rogét Chayed, along with Angel Lopez, Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman, HitBoy, Tay Keith and INK among others.

Take a look at the teaser trailers for ‘This Is Me… Now’: Teaser 1 and Teaser 2.

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PEOPLE has confirmed that Vanessa Hudgens and Cole Tucker were married in Tulum, Mexico on Saturday, December 2. The High School Musical alum and professional baseball player have been together since 2020.

Rumors spread over the weekend that the couple had wed after photos were shared across social media.  Monique Coleman, Hudgens’ ‘High School Musical’ costar, appeared to be one of the guests in attendance at the beach wedding, sharing pics from Tulum via Instagram Stories over the weekend.

Hudgens and Tucker began dating in November 2020, and went social media official after Hudgens celebrated Valentine’s Day with a photo of the couple sharing a kiss and the caption: “It’s you, it’s me, it’s us.”  Nearly three years into their relationship, Tucker popped the question in Paris in front of the Eiffel Tower. The couple announced the news in a joint Instagram post, showing off a photo of Vanessa’s engagement ring and the caption: “YES. We couldn’t be happier.”

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