Entertainment

‘The Whoopi Monologues’ Off Broadway Review With Kerry Washington

Published

14 hours ago

July 14, 2026

Whoopi Goldberg did it alone not once but twice on Broadway. Her solo show “The Whoopi Monologues” opened in 1984 at the Lyceum Theatre, and she starred again 20 years later in its revival, again at the Lyceum. She played five female characters, and much of the show’s power and charm came from her quick metamorphoses in presenting each of these very different women.

Now there’s an Off Broadway revival of “The Whoopi Monologues,” which opened Monday at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi Newhouse Theater. Kerry Washington leads a cast of five female actors, and sorely missing are all those quick-change transformations.

Director Whitney White gussies up the show by providing flashy interludes between each of the skits that give the five actors the chance to interact against a backdrop of raucous pop music, Cha See’s disco lighting and Studio Bent’s scenic design of five backstage dressing rooms. The doors to those rooms sometimes serve as projection screens for Hana S. Kim’s video designs that project images of the actors. It’s quite a show, but not quite as impressive as watching one talented actor perform all five roles.

“The Whoopi Monologues” begins and ends with its two best skits: Fontaine (Kara Young) is a PhD junkie who visits the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam. Lurleen (Kecia Lewis) is a woman going through menopause. I’d like to have seen “The Whoopi Monologues” performed solo by either of these very talented actors.

Young and Lewis have the advantage of being given the show’s most vivid characters. The three others are a Black girl who fantasizes about being blonde (Dominique Fishback), a clueless Jamaican woman who doesn’t realize she’s being flown to the States to prostitute herself (Danielle Pinnock), and a Surfer Girl who embodies every Valley Girl cliche (Kerry Washington).

Goldberg shows her writer’s wit in each of the profiles, but she also overreaches by providing super-big conclusions. The women endure everything from being committed to a mental institution to being willed $20 million dollars. Surfer Girl suffers enough injustices from a priest, a nun and her own mother to fuel not one but two full-length plays. And nothing dates “The Whoopi Monologues” more than Washington’s Valley Girl-speak.

"The Potluck" Off Broadway (Julieta Cervantes)

movies

‘Big Brother’ Season 28 Debuts To Best Premiere Audience In 5 Years

Published

1 second ago

July 14, 2026

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EXCLUSIVE: Big Brother is back with a bang.

Season 28 debuted 3.88 million live + same-day viewers, according to Nielsen Big Data + Panel, making it the series’ most-watched premiere episode in five years (since the July 7, 2021 premiere’s 4.27M total viewers).

The episode was also up 22% from last year’s premiere audience of 3.18M and 21% over Big Brother‘s Season 27 Thursday night average. Speaking of Thursdays, the Season 28 premiere also lays claim to the most-watched Thursday night Big Brother premiere in six years, since August 2020.

On social media, the premiere episode also put up a franchise-best performance as the most-engaged and most-viewed premiere since 2020. The episode generated 8.1M social media views and 866,000 interactions.

Big Brother kicked off Season 28 with the introduction of the “Big Brother: Time Trip” twist, introducing 14 new Houseguests alongside surprise appearances from reality-TV veterans Angela Murray (Big Brother 26), Rick Devens (Survivor) and Rachel Reilly (Big Brother winner and franchise icon).

Rachel’s shocking “demise” and exit from the game became the premiere’s biggest moment, paving the way for the arrival of Survivor 45 winner Dee Valladares, whose entry into the House was officially revealed during Friday’s Big Brother: Unlocked episode.

Big Brother Season 28 returned for its biggest season ever with a special 90-minute premiere on Thursday, July 9 at 8 p.m. ET. The companion series Big Brother: Unlocked premiered on Friday, July 10 at 8 p.m. ET. Additionally, a special 90-minute episode debuted on Sunday, July 12 at 8 p.m. ET.

Season 28 will see the most original hours of programming in 25 years since Big Brother’s 2000 debut through extended 90-minute Wednesday episodes and the return of Big Brother: Unlocked on Friday nights throughout the season. And, Big Brother will make television history this season as the first primetime series to hit 1,000 original episodes later this summer.

movies

Rosario Dawson, Lamorne Morris, Joshua Jackson Join ‘The Girlfriend’

Published

14 minutes ago

July 14, 2026

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EXCLUSIVE: Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka), Lamorne Morris (Fargo), Joshua Jackson (The Affair), Stephen Root (Barry) and Edi Patterson (The Righteous Gemstones) are joining Meghann Fahy and Glenn Howerton in movie The Girlfriend.

As we told you last week, Natalie Morales is directing for XYZ Films from a Glenn Howerton and Rich Appel (Family Guy) script. Production is currently underway with Dawson joining as a co-lead.

The logline reads: “Eve (Dawson) gives up her perfect New York City life and moves to Alabama for her husband Elliot’s (Howerton) dream job. Seeing her isolated, friendless, and unhappy, Elliot does what any loving husband would do: he secretly hires an escort (Fahy) to be her new best friend.”

XYZ Films is financing and producing in association with BuzzFeed Studios with backing from IPR.VC and Vixens with support from the European Union under the InvestEU Fund.

Shawn Levy and Dan Levine are producing for 21 Laps, along with Jill Howerton and Glenn Howerton from Zoe Knife Productions, Rich Appel from Persons Unknown, Guy Danella and Nick Spicer from XYZ Films, Richard Alan Reid from Buzzfeed Studios and Lee Kim.

XYZ is handling global sales, with WME co-repping domestic

Executiveproducers include Josh Kunau, Maxime Cottray, Aram Tertzakian, Andrea Scarso, Timo Argillander, John Straley, R. Wesley Sierk, Gary Farkas, Clement Lepoutre, Olivier Muller and Bertrand Perrodo. Emily Feher from 21 Laps will also have a producing role.

Dawson is repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment. Morris is repped by CAA and Entertainment 360. Jackson is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content and Hansen, Jacobson. Root is repped by Gersh Agency and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Patterson is repped by CAA and Range Media Partners.

movies

Rosario Dawson, Lamorne Morris, Joshua Jackson Join ‘The Girlfriend’

Published

14 minutes ago

July 14, 2026

qasimgillani

As we told you last week, Natalie Morales is directing for XYZ Films from a Glenn Howerton and Rich Appel (Family Guy) script. Production is currently underway with Dawson joining as a co-lead.

XYZ Films is financing and producing in association with BuzzFeed Studios with backing from IPR.VC and Vixens with support from the European Union under the InvestEU Fund.

XYZ is handling global sales, with WME co-repping domestic