Brian Jordan Alvarez on his new high school comedy ‘English Teacher’

August 30, 2024

Pari Dukovic/FX

For Brian Jordan Alvarez, creator and star of FX’s latest comedy series, English Teacher, it all goes back to high school. Specifically, it can all be traced back to a certain English teacher who changed his life.

“I went to a very English-forward high school called St. Andrew’s-Sewanee in Tennessee for three years of my high school experience,” Alvarez told ABC Audio at the Disney Upfront event in May. “I had [a teacher] named Claire Reishman in high school, and she really taught me to write in a really meaningful way. I always think back on that.”

In the new sitcom Alvarez plays Evan, a teacher at the center of many different competing energies.

“The parents, the students, the administration. Everybody wants something different,” Alvarez said. “Everybody has a different definition of what’s right.”

Alvarez said he owes “it all to my high school English teacher.”

“Now I’m out here playing a high school English teacher,” Alvarez said. “I always think when I’m writing, I go, ‘Maybe that’s where I learned how to write,’ because I didn’t formally study screenwriting or anything.”

While Alvarez couldn’t disclose if his viral character TJ Mack will make an appearance on English Teacher, he did tease it happening in the future. “We can only hope. Well, maybe the energy of TJ Mack will infuse English Teacher. Maybe we can get a TJ Mack cameo in season 2, season 3,” Alvarez said.

And he couldn’t let the interview go without sneaking in a Lady Gaga reference.

“There could be a hundred people in a room and all of them would be watching English Teacher,” Alvarez said.

English Teacher premieres Sept. 2, on FX. You can also stream it on Hulu and Disney+.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News and FX.

Kathy Bates calls ‘Matlock’ reboot her “last dance” before retirement

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Kathy Bates is set to play the titular character in CBS’ upcoming Matlock reboot, and that may be the last we see of her.

The 76-year-old actress told The New York Times in a recent interview that she’s looking to retire after the series ends, saying, “This is my last dance.”

Adds Bates, “It becomes my life. Sometimes I get jealous of having this talent, because I can’t hold it back, and I just want my life.”

However, Matlock, a reworking of the legal drama that ran from 1986 to 1995 and starred the late Andy Griffith, was too tempting for her to turn down.

“Everything I’ve prayed for, worked for, clawed my way up for, I am suddenly able to be asked to use all of it,” Bates noted. “It’s exhausting.”

Matlock, also starring Beau Bridges, Jason Ritter, Skye P. Marshall, David Del Rio and Leah Lewis, premieres Sept. 22 on CBS.

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor on friendships with the cast of ‘The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat’

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Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor stars in The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, the new film streaming on Hulu on Friday.

The Oscar nominee caught up with ABC Audio at the Disney Upfront event in May, where she said the film is about lifelong friendships between women.

“It’s about [this] group of women who save themselves through their relationships,” Ellis-Taylor said. “They have this life when they’re younger, and then when they grow up, they have to save each other. It’s a great story about sisterhood and women friendships, which are the best.”

Ellis-Taylor said that not only is the film about wonderful women, it stars “some really wonderful women,” too.

“The iconic Sanaa Lathan and the Emmy Award winner Uzo Aduba and a bunch of other young women who are – I think this is some of their first movies,” Ellis-Taylor said.

The sisterhood and strong connections extended outside of the characters they played. Ellis-Taylor said she holds all of her co-stars in high regard, but that she’s always “had a tremendous amount of respect for” Lathan in particular.

“Sanaa and I graduated from graduate school at the same time,” Ellis-Taylor said. “Even if we weren’t friends, I felt a connection to her because we kind of had similar journeys in that way. But I just have such respect for them because they’re just all so brilliant.”

Punkie Johnson announces she’s not returning to ‘Saturday Night Live’

NBCUniversal

Comedian and Saturday Night Live cast member Punkie Johnson says she won’t be returning to the show for its 50th season this fall.

Johnson broke the news following a stand-up date at Brooklyn’s Union Hall on Wednesday evening, when an audience member asked her what she’s looking forward to in what would have been her fifth season on the sketch show.

Johnson replied, “Oh, I’m not coming back.”

Because her comment was abrupt, Johnson said she woke up on Thursday to texts and messages about it — so many that later Thursday evening she took to social media to clarify. “There’s no bad blood, there’s no bridges burned,” she insisted.

“Bro, I love my people. I didn’t think this was gonna be a big deal. This is why Dave Chappelle make people lock up their phones,” she joked, referencing how the comedian doesn’t allow people to shoot his stand-up shows.

“SNL was a dream that I didn’t even know that I could achieve,” she continued. “Man, I was part of one of the most elite institutions in comedy, and I’m so grateful. That’s still my people.”

Her video post got support from former cast members like Cecily Strong, and current ones including Chloe Fineman and Ego Nwodim, the latter of whom wrote, “Love you til the death of me Punkie!! Now get off instagram and whatever tf editing app you used and call me back please!”

Incidentally, it was recently announced that former SNL star Maya Rudolph will return to play Vice President Kamala Harris in the run-up to the 2024 election; Punkie had played Harris in a few sketches since joining SNL in 2020.

Meanwhile, Molly Kearney, who joined Saturday Night Live in 2022, just announced on Instagram “a wrap on my time on SNL,” calling it “an honor.”