Reality Roundup: Jenn Tran dances to ‘DWTS’, ‘Survivor’ season 47 cast and more

September 6, 2024

Have no fear, your reality roundup is here! Here’s a look at what happened in the world of reality television this week:

The Bachelorette (ABC)
Even though Jenn Tran was left heartbroken by her former fiancé Devin Strader on Tuesday’s finale of The Bachelorette, she asked her fans not to cyberbully him. “I am so overwhelmed by the love you have all given me. With every message of love I want to say loud and clear I do NOT condone hate messages to anyone,” Tran wrote on her Instagram Story. “People can be held accountable for their own actions in their lives without cyberbullying. The universe will work it all out.”

Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Speaking of Tran, she is set to compete on season 33 of Dancing with the Stars. It turns out producers offered her the spot moments after she appeared on the live finale of The Bachelorette. “I got off stage, was crying in my dressing room and then they’re like, ‘Alright, 45 minutes, you gotta get on a flight. We’re doing it,’” Tran told US Weekly. As for whether she’s open to a showmance, Tran told People she’s still healing. “Right now, I hate men, so,” Tran said.

Survivor (CBS)
Happy Survivor season to all who celebrate. The cast of season 47 of Survivor was announced on Wednesday, and it includes Pod Save America co-host and former Barack Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett. The podcast host “finds himself thrust into a world filled with a different kind of cutthroat politics” this season, according to a press release.

DirecTV rebuffs Disney’s offer to allow blacked-out customers to catch Tuesday’s presidential debate

Getty Images

An ongoing dispute between ABC News’ parent company, Disney, and DirecTV will apparently leave millions of customers in the dark for Tuesday night’s presidential debate on ABC.

Disney had announced it would allow viewers to watch the face-off between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris via “a three-hour feed of ABC News coverage to all impacted DirecTV customers at no cost,” adding, “[W]e want all Americans to be able to view tonight’s debate at this important moment in our history.”

Disney-owned networks, including ABC, Freeform and ESPN, have been dark for more than 11 million DirecTV customers since Sept. 1.

However, The Hollywood Reporter said Tuesday afternoon that DirecTV rejected Disney’s offer, after countering the provider wanted all channels returned through Sept. 16.

Disney reportedly refused.

“Unfortunately, returning only Disney’s ABC stations from the entire portfolio of channels for a limited 3-hour window will cause customer confusion among those who would briefly see the debate only to lose the channel again shortly after,” DirecTV’s statement said, according to the trade.

At issue is a dispute over the two companies’ so-called “carriage agreement” — the fee the satellite TV service pays Disney for access to its programming. Disney is seeking a higher fee, but DirecTV claims in a complaint to the FCC filed recently that Disney is negotiating in “bad faith.”

The presidential debate airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

‘I Love Lucy’ to make its Blu-ray debut Nov. 5

Paramount Home Entertainment

One of the most groundbreaking television comedies in history is finally coming to Blu-ray. Paramount Home Entertainment announced on Friday that I Love Lucy: The Complete Series will be available for sale on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

That happens to be Election Day, and by the look of things, chances are you might need the laughs.

The set comes packed with supplemental goodies, including a colorized and never-before-released episode called “Lucy and the Loving Cup”; the remastered I Love Lucy pilot; and remastered versions of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, which ran from 1957 to 1960, including original commercials that ran for it back in the day.

Also included will be remastered versions of the original opening and closing credits; three long-lost “flashback” scenes; and a portion of the 1959 CBS fall preview special, Eye on CBS, featuring Lucille Ball and the show’s producer Vivian Vance, which hasn’t been seen since it aired.

‘Avengers: Endgame’ co-star Ross Marquand’s pitch to bring Chris Evans’ Captain America back to Marvel

Marvel Studios

After Thanos is defeated at the end of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, Chris Evans‘ Captain America takes a trip through time to return the six Infinity Stones back to the timelines from whence they came.

And although the movie explains the trip seems instantaneous, to Cap it would be anything but — and returning the Soul Stone would bring him face to face with its keeper, The Red Skull, who happens to be Cap’s archenemy.

Since the end of that film, fans have been wondering exactly what Cap would have encountered on that important mission.

One of those fans is apparently Ross Marquand, The Walking Dead veteran and gifted celebrity voice impersonator who played Red Skull in the last two Avengers movies.

According to Graham Mosimann, who moderated a panel with Marquand at the fan convention the Edmonton Expo, the actor reiterated he “keeps pitching” to Marvel a Disney+ show that would follow Cap on this final mission. He’s mentioned it at cons before.

Evans already returned to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Endgame — but as his Fantastic Four character Johnny Storm, not Cap, in Deadpool & Wolverine.

In the past, he’s said he didn’t want to mess with Cap’s Endgame endgame: His trip through time ends with him finally in the arms of his love, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell).

In 2023, Evans told GQ about a return as Steve Rogers, “I’ll never say never. … But I’m also very precious with it.”

He added, “I wouldn’t want the black eye if it felt like a cash grab or if it didn’t live up to expectations or if it just felt like it wasn’t connected to that original thing.”

Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.