Bob’s Burgers is finally joining fellow 20th Television Animation comedies for Fox The Simpsons and Family Guy in releasing an original installment exclusively on its Disney streaming home.

At the Bob’s Burgers San Diego Comic-Con panel Saturday, creator and executive producer Loren Bouchard announced “On the Fort Day of Christmas“, a holiday short premiering during this year’s holiday season exclusively on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally in most markets.

In “On the Fort Day of Christmas”, a record-breaking Christmas snowstorm means one thing to the Belcher kids — a record-breaking Christmas snow fort.

The Simpsons and Family Guy started making exclusive episodes for Disney+ and Hulu, where their libraries are housed, respectively, when the series’ longtime broadcast network Fox a couple of years ago started ordering shorter seasons. The shows’ studio, 20th TV Animation, kept the annual output relatively steady, diverting the surplus episodes to its streaming platforms.

Bob’s Burgers, the third of the long-running Fox series from 20th TV Animation, had not done original streamlining specials until now.

The Simpsons in May revealed the latest episodes to stream exclusively on Disney+: double-episode “Extreme Makeover: Homer Edition,” released June 17, followed by full-length episodes “Simpsley” on July 3 and “Yellow Mirror,” a take on Black Mirror, on Aug. 26. Family Guy has been doing a Halloween and Christmas specials the last two years.

Bob’s Burgers centers on the working-class Belcher family — parents Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) and Linda (John Roberts) and their three children, Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman), and Louise (Kristen Schaal) — who run a seaside New Jersey hamburger restaurant and their adventures interacting with the eccentric members of their community.

Bouchard was joined on the Comic-Con panel by stars Benjamin, Roberts, Schaal, Mirman as well as Supervising Director Bernard Derriman.

Season 17 of Bob’s Burgers debuts on Fox in midseason 2027, and will stream on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers in the U.S.

Bouchard executive produces alongside Nora Smith, Dan Fybel, Rich Rinaldi, Jon Schroeder, Steven Davis, Scott Jacobson, Holly Schlesinger, Wendy Molyneux, Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin and Janelle Momary-Neely. The series was co-developed by Jim Dauterive.

Ticket holders for the UK stage production Game of Thrones: The Mad King are furious over the last-minute cancellation of a week’s worth of preview performances at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

“Having booked hotels and paid for travel this is absolutely unacceptable,” writes a Reddit user on the subreddit “Absolutely Fuming at the RSC” devoted to the latest development. “They are now offering us the chance to rebook, with 0 availability for the remaining run. What a fucking joke.”

The new play, officially titled George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones: The Mad King, was to have begun preview performances July 20, with an opening date of August 8 and a closing on September 5. Stratford-upon-Avon is a two-hour drive from London.

But after the Royal Shakespeare Company canceled the first week of previews with no specific explanation given as to the cause, RSC sources told Variety Friday that the performance for tonight, July 25, remained on track.

But that was yesterday.

This morning, the RSC posted an Instagram announcement stating that tonight’s performance has been canceled as well.

The announcement reads:

“We have made the difficult decision to cancel the preview performance of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones: The Mad King this evening (Saturday 25 July at 7:15 pm).

“The decision to cancel performances is always challenging and is only taken after careful consideration of all the options available. We recognise how disappointing this will be for audiences and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.

“All audience members affected will be provided with a full and automatic refund including any fees paid.”

Ticket buyers holding tickets for the canceled performances and hoping to re-book are apparently out of luck: The show’s ticket page indicates that all performances through the September 5 closing date are sold out.

On the subreddit, commenters saying they have preview tickets were furious. “When we booked the tickets originally, they did not say Preview Performances!,” writes Reddit user MikeyButch17 today. “That’s the most egregious thing. Also, they allowed us to rebook for tonight, after the person on the phone promised us the performance would go ahead regardless. What a joke!”

“In exactly the same position!,” responded el_palmo42. “Just checked into our hotel in Stratford and then received the email.”

No official word yet on whether other performances will be canceled.

The Mad King is a stage prequel that, according to its official synopsis, is set in Harrenhal as a long winter begins to thaw. “At a lavish banquet on the eve of a jousting tournament,” the synopsis reads, “lovers meet and revelers speculate about who will contend. But in the shadows, amid growing unease at the bloodthirsty actions of the realm’s merciless Mad King, dissenters from his inner circle anxiously advance a treasonous plot. Far away, the drums of battle sound. Family bonds, ancient prophecies, and the sacred line of succession will be tested in a dangerous campaign for power. Who will survive? Who will rise?”

The play is inspired by the “Robert’s Rebellion” lore of Martin’s sprawling book series, in which the married Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, son of the Mad King Aerys, falls in love with, and runs off with, Lyanna Stark. This leads to a rebellion led by Robert Baratheon, who is engaged to Lyanna. Successfully deposing the Mad King, The Rebellion leads to the downfall of House Targaryen.

When the production was announced, RSC Co-Artistic Directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey described the staging as “a theatrical spectacle” that is “an ambitious and exhilarating collaboration.” The creative team members are puppetry and movement designers Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell (of Lume), set designer Chloe Lamford, costume designer Georgia McGuinness, lighting designer Jon Clark, composer Will Stuart and sound designer Tom Gibbons. Duncan Macmillan (Every Brilliant Thing) is the writer, and Dominic Cooke is directing.

Inside the Waldorf Astoria on Friday evening, President Donald Trump took to the stage at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and tried out some Don Rickles-like schtick, interspersed it with some of his greatest rally hits and fixated on some of his obsessions, including his plans for a White House ballroom.

What stood out during his one-hour-and-two minute marks, though, was the silence in the crowd: many jokes didn’t land, he meandered into asides and veered into insider-ish attacks that likely went well over the heads of the TV audience. Much of what he said wasn’t humor, in contrast to the tightly scripted routines of his predecessors, but akin to a fever dream from someone who has spent a bit too much time watching right-wing TV.

At about 45 minutes in, guests were looking at their phones and fidgeting in their seats. I looked around and locked eyes with a man who gave a brief yawn. It was Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary.

The length of Trump’s remarks were a reminder of one of Johnny Carson’s quips from the Oscars decades ago: “Welcome to two hours of sparkling entertainment spread over a four-hour show.” It should be noted that Trump’s weaving from topic to topic included a riff on the Academy Awards and how they have gotten too anti-Trump, but even that didn’t get much of a response.

The president did deliver some funny lines, including quips about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “I hope that everyone finally got to enjoy their entire, very delicious beef tenderloin, very special beef. And I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy, who’s right here, personally ran over the cow in his car.”

Trump also revealed that he still counts how many front-page stories he gets in The New York Times, and gave some practical guidance for reporters who have his phone number and want to call him directly, and why he answers some of them. “I always find that when you don’t speak to the press, you always get a bad story. When you do speak to the press, you have a shot at a good story.”

Yet in a room full of journalists, Trump’s attacks, like on figures like Kaitlan Collins, were met with stone-faces for those who were well aware their reactions may be caught on C-SPAN cameras. His personal insults, ranging from Adam Schiff having a pencil neck to Chris Christie’s weight to Bruce Springsteen’s aged face, also were repeats of various Truth Social posts.

The event, in the Waldorf Astoria ballroom, was in a much smaller venue than the Washington Hilton, making it more intimate and putting many attendees face-to-face with Trump’s top advisers and members of his cabinet, also including Stephen Miller, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. With a much smaller crowd, and no pre-event receptions, the enhanced security generally moved briskly.

There were standout moments during other parts of the evening. This was the rescheduled dinner after April’s event was stopped by an apparent assassination attempt on the president, as a gunman breached security and the sounds of gunfire sent the thousands of attendees at the Washington Hilton to the floor. The WHCA paid tribute to the Secret Service officer, Victor Gonzales, who helped stop the gunman, as well as the Washington Hilton staff.

WHCA President Weijia Jiang, White House correspondent for CBS News, gave a very personal and heartfelt speech about her journey, having been born in China, raised in Appalachian coal country and, inspired by Connie Chung, landing in the “Oval Office to ask questions of the president of the United States.”

There was pressure on the WHCA to directly confront Trump for his attacks on the press. Jiang talked about the purpose of the First Amendment and the intent of the founders, while commenting more generally on the state of the situation. She said, “Criticism of the media can be unfair. It can also be legitimate. We get a lot right, but sometimes we get things wrong. We mistake proximity to power for understanding it, and at times we get trapped in our own bubbles. There is a difference, though, an existential difference, between criticizing the press and trying to undermine it.”

When it came to the defense of the press at a difficult moment, the approach of the WHCA appeared to be that of what is taught in J-school: Show, don’t tell. A video segment featured an AI-generated James Madison explaining the importance of the First Amendment, with clips of Trump’s predecessors, including Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama, acknowledging the essential role of the press corps. Comments from Dan Rather and Sam Donaldson reinforced how the adversarial nature of the relationship is nothing new.

The most direct face-to-face with Trump’s press attacks came when Wolf Blitzer presented an award to The Wall Street Journal for its reporting on an alleged bawdy letter that Trump wrote to Jeffrey Epstein. As Blitzer noted that Trump sued the Journal for $20 billion, the president gave a smirk, to some laughter, then he shook hands with the reporters to received the prize. After it was over, he threw his hands up in the air, as if to say, whatever.

Toward the end of his winding remarks, Trump did say that he respected those in the room, but also that he planned to be back at the event next year.

What seemed to really wow the room came at the end, when mentalist Oz Pearlman performed a series of feats, made all the more notable when they involved UN Ambassador Mike Waltz and Blanche. The latter figure, awaiting Senate confirmation to take the DOJ post permanently, gamely played along as Pearlman asked him to lie about how much money he had in his wallet. Blanche said $130; Pearlman wrote down the correct figure, $85.

Later, Pearlman had Blanche sign one of his $20 bills.

“Hold it up and let everyone see the federal offense you have just committed,” Pearlman quipped. “He just clearly lost the Senate confirmation hearings on camera.” The interplay made sense a little while later when Pearlman performed another feat, writing a figure on a whiteboard that matched the serial number to Blanche’s bill.

The moment was a bit incongruous to what is going on in D.C. and with Blanche himself, what with the DOJ recently issuing subpoenas to reporters from The New York Times, and then withdrawing them in the face of a judge’s criticisms. But for the WHCA dinner, a tradition that has traditionally mixed the serious with showbiz, Pearlman’s routine at least proved to be a bit of sparkling entertainment.