Category: PBS
Gwen Ifill Has Died
Earlier today, PBS released a sad statement saying that PBS NewsHour co-anchor, political analyst, debate moderator, author, and groundbreaking journalist Gwen Ifill has died at 61. Gwen was battling cancer for several months.
Gwen Ifill started out in journalism as an intern at the Boston Herald-American, an experience in which some asshole racist employee left a note with the n-word on her desk telling her to go home. That didn’t stop Gwen Ifill from working in journalism, which led to her checking off a couple of career “firsts.” She was the first black woman to work at the Herald. She was also the first black woman to moderate a vice presidential debate in 2004. Gwen Ifill also moderated that 2008 vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, which probably made her want to swear off moderating vice presidential debates the second Sarah cited her pal Joe Six-pack.
Ben Affleck Wants You To Know He’s Sorry For Trying To Hide His Family’s Slave-Owning Ancestry
One of the Shhhh…It’s a Hollywood secrets that was revealed during the most recent Sony email leak was that Ben Affleck, the humanized version of freshly-AXE’d balls jangling around in a pair of gym shorts, had not-so-sneakily tried to get Henry Louis Gates Jr. of the PBS program Finding Your Roots to take a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to his family tree and scrub off the branch containing a slave owner.
Of course, his plan backfired, and now we all know. But rather than send out a mass email to the whole world asking everyone to “do Batman a solid, bro” and mentally delete everything they know about his shady ancestor, Ben Affleck decided to address the messy situation yesterday on Facebook. Batman still wants you to forget about his slave-owning great-great-great-great whatever, bro, but he also wants you to know he’s sorry for how he handled the whole thing with Finding Your Roots.
Ben Affleck Tried To Shush A PBS Show From Talking About His Family’s Shady Past
Thanks to the final round of leaked Sony emails that hit the internet on Thursday, we now know that one of the branches on Ben Affleck’s family tree contains slave owners. Something that, in a weird ironic twist, Ben Affleck tried desperately to hide during the filming of an episode of the PBS genealogy program Finding Your Roots. Wait – is that irony, or just shitty luck? Either way, Fred O’Bannion didn’t want anyone to know about his slave-owning relatives, and now we know. So whatever the word for that is, it’s that.
According to an email thread from July 2014 between Sony’s Michael Lynton and host Henry Louis Gates Jr., Ben Affleck had agreed to appear on Finding Your Roots, but he didn’t want them to find all his roots, so he asked producers to exclude the part about his family’s slave-owning ancestry. Unfortunately, Henry Louis Gates Jr. wasn’t so keen on the idea of hitting ctrl+alt+delete on his past, because in his words, “once we open the door to censorship, we lose control of the brand.” He also never refers to Ben Affleck by name, but by “Batman.” Somewhere in Gotham City, Bruce Wayne just started nervously scrolling through the Ancestry.com profile Alfred set up for him.
Downton Abbey’s Closing
I know a certain closet case former state rep who just did a for real death drop on his floor (which is an exact recreation of the one at Highclere Castle, natch) over this. All of those screaming and suicidal One Direction tweens can now welcome newly screaming and suicidal women and gays to their candlelight vigil. Downton Abbey is officially done with Season 6. I know, you cannot find the words to say how you feel.
Executive producer Gareth Neame released a statement about the Dowager Countess Maggie Smith, sexy silver fox the Earl of Grantham (don’t judge), and the rest of those uptight and extremely pale types closing the doors after the upcoming season. Can I have that Branson dude now that they don’t need him anymore? Rraow.
(via TV Line)
Millions of people around the world have followed the journey of the Crawley family and those who serve them for the last five years. Inevitably there comes a time when all shows should end and Downton is no exception. We wanted to close the doors of Downton Abbey when it felt right and natural for the storylines to come together and when the show was still being enjoyed so much by its fans. We can promise a final season full of all the usual drama and intrigue, but with the added excitement of discovering how and where they all end up…
I’ve only watched the show a couple of times. But I know of the Dowager Countess. She better end up annoyedly flapping her fan as the Queen’s new Official Thrower of Shade. That bitch is so shady. She’s like an awning mixed with an umbrella accompanied by a leafy tree. Love her. And I hope she takes out Elizabeth McGovern’s character’s sing-songy, annoying ass in the end. You were so good wearing clogs and comforting a young Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People, Elizabeth. What happened?