‘Running Point’ gets swift season 2 renewal at Netflix
Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix 2024
Running Point’s season 2 is a slam dunk.
Netflix has renewed the basketball comedy just a week after season 1 premiered. The show, starring Kate Hudson, had ranked third on the streaming service’s chart of top 10 English-language series.
“We are so thrilled to be able to deliver a season two of Running Point to the fans of the show,” co-creator and executive producer Mindy Kaling said in a statement to Tudum.
She added, “We still cannot believe the response from audiences — thank you to everyone who has watched! Thank you to our partners at Netflix, Warner Brothers, our star who brought this show to life, Kate Hudson, and executive producers Jeanie Buss and Linda Rambis, without whom there would be no Running Point.”
Hudson stars as a woman appointed president of a pro basketball team after a scandal forces her brother to resign.
Blake Lively filed an amended version of her lawsuit against her It Ends with Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni on Feb. 18.
The actress’s lawyers said in a statement that the new version “provides significant additional evidence and corroboration of her original claims” and “includes previously undisclosed communications” as well as “numerous other witnesses.”
The amended complaint alleges that Lively was not the only woman to voice concern over sexual harassment on the set of It Ends with Us.
Lively’s complaint notes that in May 2023 “another female cast member reported her own concerns regarding Mr. Baldoni’s unwelcome behavior” and that the cast member came forward despite “considerable reservations” because she felt “the work on the Film was suffering as a result of Mr. Baldoni’s behavior.” She claims Baldoni then “responded to that cast member in writing, acknowledging that he was aware of her concerns and that adjustments would be made” but that conditions didn’t approve.
“Later, another female cast member confided to Ms. Lively that she too felt uncomfortable on set,” the amended complaint reads. “All of this occurred, and was documented in writing, almost one year before the editing of the Film began.”
Lively’s amended complaint alleges that Baldoni’s “false narrative crumbles under the indisputable truth that Ms. Lively was not alone in complaining about Mr. Baldoni and raised her concerns contemporaneously as they arose in 2023, not in connection with some imagined power play for control of the Film in 2024.” Additionally, it alleges Baldoni “acknowledged the complaints in writing at the time” and “knew that women other than Ms. Lively also were uncomfortable and had complained about his behavior.”
Lively argues in her amended complaint that Baldoni’s public persona of having “portrayed himself as a leader of the male feminist movement” is a “stark contrast” to his private behavior, which she alleges “is replete with hypocrisy, misogyny, and retaliation.”
The actress’s attorneys said in a statement of the amended complaint, “Over the next several weeks, we will move to dismiss the utterly meritless lawsuits brought against Ms. Lively and Mr. [Ryan] Reynolds, and we will move full speed ahead with discovery that we expect will reveal shocking details about the depth to which the Defendants have sunk in their unending efforts to ‘bury,’ ‘ruin,’ and ‘destroy’ Ms. Lively and her family.”
The amended complaint has also added a new claim for defamation, which, according to Lively’s attorneys, is “based on the repeated false statements the defendants have made about Ms. Lively since she filed her original complaint.”
Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, issued a statement in response to Lively’s amended complaint, claiming in part that it “is filled with unsubstantial hearsay of unnamed persons who are clearly no longer willing to come forward or publicly support her claims.”
“Since documents do not lie and people do, the upcoming depositions of those who initially supported Ms. Lively’s false claims and those who are witnesses to her own behavior will be enlightening,” he continued. “What is truly remarkable here is Ms. Lively’s lack of actual evidence.”
When Kendrick Lamar takes the stage for the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, he’ll become the first solo hip-hop artist to headline the show, proving that the event has come a long way since its humble beginnings.
The idea of having current big-name pop, rock or country stars perform during halftime only dates back to 1991, when New Kids on the Block did it. Before that, it was marching bands, older stars like Chubby Checker or the G-rated vocal troupe Up with People.
But what seemingly solidified the halftime show as a showcase for superstars was Michael Jackson‘s 1993 performance, featuring a huge inflatable globe and a choir of over 3,000 local children. Thanks to Michael, for the first time ever ratings increased between halves during the game. From then on, stars and spectacle were the rule.
Over the years, the show has been plagued by controversy, starting with 2004’s infamous “Nipplegate” incident with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson. That led the NFL to hire “safer” classic rock artists such as Bruce Springsteen as halftime performers. Pop stars returned in 2011 with the Black Eyed Peas‘ performance.
Controversies persist, though. During Madonna‘s 2012 performance, one of her guests, rapper M.I.A., flipped off the crowd. And in 2016, Beyoncé was criticized for having backup dancers dressed in outfits reminiscent of the Black Panther political party.
In 2019, many fans felt that Maroon 5, Big Boi and Travis Scott should have declined to perform, due to the NFL’s alleged treatment of Colin Kaepernick. In fact, Rihanna declined to do the show that year for that very reason, but returned as the halftime headliner in 2023.
Here’s a look back at who’s done the halftime show since 1991:
1991 — New Kids on the Block 1992 — Gloria Estefan 1993 — Michael Jackson, performing with 3,500 children 1994 — Country stars Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, Wynonna Judd and Naomi Judd 1995 — Patti LaBelle, Miami Sound Machine and Tony Bennett 1996 — Diana Ross 1997 — ZZ Top, James Brown, the Blues Brothers featuring Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman and James Belushi 1998 — Boyz II Men, Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves, The Temptations, Queen Latifah 1999 — Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy 2000 — Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, Toni Braxton 2001 — Aerosmith, *NSYNC, Britney Spears, Nelly, Mary J. Blige 2002 — U2 2003 — Shania Twain, No Doubt, Sting 2004 — Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Nelly, Kid Rock, P. Diddy 2005 — Paul McCartney 2006 — The Rolling Stones 2007 — Prince 2008 — Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 2009 — Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band 2010 — The Who 2011 — Black Eyed Peas 2012 — Madonna 2013 — Beyoncé (and Destiny’s Child, briefly) 2014 — Bruno Mars feat. Red Hot Chili Peppers 2015 — Katy Perry, Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott 2016 — Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars 2017 — Lady Gaga 2018 — Justin Timberlake 2019 — Maroon 5, Travis Scott, Big Boi 2020 — Jennifer Lopez and Shakira 2021 — The Weeknd 2022 — Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige and Snoop Dogg with 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak 2023 — Rihanna 2024 — Usher 2025 — Kendrick Lamar
Actor Jeremy Strong plays Bruce Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau in the upcoming movie Deliver Me From Nowhere, and he tells Variety working on the film was “utterly life affirming.”
“It’s a mentor story, like The Apprentice,” he says, referring to the Donald Trump film that earned Strong a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for playing Roy Cohn. “But if Roy is Mephistopheles, Jon is a force of light.”
“Spending time with Bruce and Jon and communing with Bruce’s music, which is a gospel of hope and faith and love, as opposed to a gospel of hatred and mendacity and nihilism, which is what Roy was, it was a tonic,” he adds. “It lifted me out of the darkness.”
As for his co-star Jeremy Allen White, who plays The Boss in the film, Strong says he “transformed brilliantly into Bruce. He sang brilliantly.”
Deliver Me From Nowhere, directed by Scott Cooper, follows Springsteen’s efforts to make his 1982 solo album Nebraska. The film is based on Warren Zanes‘ book Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.
