All articles tagged with #television
Peter Van Norden, the character actor known for Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment and The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, died at 75 in a Southern California hospice with his wife Wendy by his side. Born in 1950, his career spanned film and TV, including Squeeze Play!, Waitress!, Headin’ for Broadway!, Hard to Hold, Roadhouse 66, The Accused and Gigli, with TV appearances from Cheers to ER. He is survived by wife Wendy and son Robert.
Original Little House on the Prairie star Alison Arngrim made a surprise cameo in Netflix's reboot, triggering fan excitement as all eight episodes dropped July 9; the new series features an all-new cast and aims to stay closer to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, with Arngrim sharing behind-the-scenes moments on Instagram.
Portland opens the 2026 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas with Yang Hansen and two-way players Chris Youngblood and Jayson Kent, highlighting four scheduled games (with a potential fifth depending on the Las Vegas Tournament) over the coming week. Games are in Pacific time on KUNP/BlazerVision and ESPN networks: Suns on 7/10 at 8 p.m., Magic on 7/12 at 4 p.m., Timberwolves on 7/13 at 8 p.m., Nuggets on 7/16 at 7 p.m. (Nuggets game also on Amazon Prime).
Randolph Mantooth, best known for playing firefighter-paramedic Johnny Gage on the 1970s series Emergency!, died at 80 in a Ventura hospice after a cancer diagnosis in 2015. The California-born actor remained close to his Emergency! co-stars, helped honor frontline responders, and worked on a documentary about their experiences; his career also spanned soaps and guest roles on classic TV. He is survived by his wife Kristen and his siblings, Donald and Tonya.
Ariana Grande has exited American Horror Story Season 13 due to scheduling conflicts with her Eternal Sunshine tour, with FX and 20th Television not commenting on the departure. The season remains set to debut Sept. 24, reuniting former stars, though Grande’s debut will no longer be part of the lineup.
Randolph Mantooth, best known as paramedic John Gage on Emergency!, died July 9 at 80. Born in 1945 in Sacramento, he built a decades-long career in TV, film and theater, with Emergency! launching his fame and fueling his advocacy for first responders; he later starred in Loving and other soaps and remained active in the industry. He is survived by his wife, Kristen Connors, and siblings.
Levi Banks pulled out of Big Brother Season 28 just before filming, saying the show wasn’t the right fit for him. He’s grateful to CBS and plans to watch from home as his apparent replacement, Yash Patel, competes for the $750,000 prize in a 90-minute season premiere.
Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie adaptation by Rebecca Sonnenshine centers Indigenous stories (the Osage) and expands beyond the Ingalls, with a second season already ordered, as cast details emerge. The project has sparked woke criticism from Megyn Kelly but received defense from Melissa Gilbert, while Sonnenshine argues the changes reflect social-justice awareness and are designed to broaden the beloved tale for a wider audience.
The Hollywood Reporter argues that the long-feared 'pivot to video' finally lands in 2026: video is no longer confined to TV screens, as publishers invest in in-app vertical video and longer-form reporting to reach broader audiences. With YouTube evolving into a primary video hub and legacy outlets racing to capture attention beyond traditional TV, the industry signals a shift away from text-first models toward TV-like video experiences across devices.
Emmy winner Julianne Nicholson will reprise her Mare of Easttown role Lori Ross in HBO’s Task Season 2, signaling a shared universe between the Brad Ingelsby–created series set in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Ingelsby has previously floated the idea of their worlds intersecting, though no crossover plot is revealed. Season 2 follows Mark Ruffalo’s Tom Brandis leading a new FBI task force, with Mahershala Ali, Harry Melling, Adam Nagaitis, Aminah Nieves and Edgar Ramirez also starring.
Julianne Nicholson will reprise her Emmy-winning Mare of Easttown role as Lori Ross in HBO's Task Season 2, joining a cast led by Tom Brandis (Mark Ruffalo) as a new task force unravels, with hints of a Mare of Easttown crossover.
Netflix’s eight-episode Little House on the Prairie remake updates the Laura Ingalls Wilder story with a diverse cast and modern themes—Osage friends, Black doctors and storekeepers, and a freer-spirited Laura—while keeping a feel-good core about family and friendship. Critics, including Megyn Kelly, call it woke, but the show also foregrounds historical complexities and economic pressures that the books hint at, culminating in the Ingallses’ departure from Independence.
MobLand Season 2 will launch globally on Paramount+ on Sept. 18, 2026, with a teaser showing the Harrigan crime family fracturing as rival gangs threaten their north London empire. Tom Hardy returns as Harry De Souza, joined by Pierce Brosnan (Conrad Harrigan) and Helen Mirren, in a season produced by Guy Ritchie and Jez Butterworth that picks up after a 2025 renewal and centers on internal civil war within the family.
THR's Scott Feinberg previews the 2026 Primetime Emmys after the finalists were announced, laying out a 63-category forecast that ranks contenders in drama, comedy, limited series and more. Highlights include The Pitt as the expected Best Drama winner, Hacks leading Best Comedy, and Beef topping the Limited/Anthology race, with final voting Aug. 17–26 and campaigns already heating up. Feinberg emphasizes these are projections of how voters will likely act, not his personal picks, and many outcomes could shift before ballots close.
NBCUniversal is launching Summer House Canada, the Bravo reality series' first international adaptation. The 10-episode production from Vancouver's Lark Productions will be set in Muskoka, Ontario, with filming underway in southern Ontario, and will stream exclusively on Hayu in 2027.