Latest news with #TheOtherTwo
The Age
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
This overlooked sitcom skewered Hollywood better than The Studio
Hollywood loves little more than making stories about itself and this year, there have been two standouts in the genre: The Studio focused on the existential-financial crises of making movies, while the fourth season of comedy Hacks turned its crosshairs to the sorry state of late-night television. Both shows are sharp satires about whether success and creative integrity are oil and water in Hollywood, with plenty of bite aimed at a scared industry reluctant to take leaps as it faces a chasm. Loading In Hacks, veteran stand-up Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) lands her lifelong dream gig as a late-night host, but she and head writer/whiny millennial protégée Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) immediately face cancellation, as the genre itself faces extinction in the age of streaming. Meanwhile, Seth Rogen pulled in every favour he could for The Studio, a sleek and star-studded satire for Apple TV+, with everyone from Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard to TikTok star Charli D'Amelio and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos playing themselves. Co-created by Rogen with long-time collaborator Evan Goldberg, the comedy focuses on a Hollywood studio head (Rogen) trying to produce genuine art in a corporate industry focused on maximal profits and bankable IP. Both series are also love letters to Hollywood – their characters may be power-hungry and occasionally amoral, but they are talented and guided by a true love of art. But isn't that a generous depiction? What about the true hacks of Hollywood, the grifters who seemingly care about little but their own fame? Enter the namesakes of The Other Two – one of the past decade's most criminally under-seen satires, and a quick three-season watch on Max. Created by former SNL co-head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, the show focuses on these two aimless 30-something siblings, former dancer Brooke (Heléne Yorke) and struggling gay actor Cary (Drew Tarver). When their 13-year-old brother Chase (Case Walker) becomes overnight pop sensation ChaseDreams after his (completely asinine, Friday -esque) song Marry U At Recess goes viral, the two ride his coattails. Brooke decides to girlboss without direction, eventually becoming his co-manager; Cary rides the success of ChaseDream's second single My Brother's Gay and That's Okay! to land more roles. Neither Brooke nor Cary are particularly talented or, necessarily, smart – The Other Two isn't the story of the compromised artist as in Hacks or The Studio. Instead, it's one of jaded people thrown an opportunity, trying to make a mark (and money) however they can. The show is particularly biting on self-branding masquerading as activism. Brooke dabbles in slacktivism to feel as though she's making a difference, while Cary equally positions his acting career as a battleground for LGBTQ representation. There are plenty of other nefarious sharks circling Chase, too, as manager Streeter (Ken Marino) and label exec Shuli (Wanda Sykes) work him to the bone. They sell his armpit pictures to Rolling Stone for $8 million, set up fake relationships for cross-promotion and wring out countless brand partnerships, including a mobile phone company (much like Ryan Reynolds), nail polish line (much like Harry Styles) and an oil pipeline (kinda like RuPaul, who has been criticised for allowing fracking on his land). And Chase's mum Pat – Molly Shannon, in a career best – may seem like a mid-western sweetheart, but she's just as shrewd, soon becoming a celebrity in her own right as an Ellen-like daytime talk show host with a not-so nice private side. But ChaseDreams isn't the Bieber brat you might expect. For the most part, he's relatively level-headed, even as his surroundings should distort him into an absolute nightmare. Instead, he's the straight guy in a surreal famescape, with the show more about clawing towards celebrity from the sidelines. Loading It's a position that Kelly and Schneider presumably know well from SNL, where each week they'd work with – or tiptoe around – a host's ego and persona. (Perhaps not incidentally, SNL castmate Bill Hader once called Bieber, who hosted under Schneider and Kelly's tenure, the worst-behaved host.) With rapid-fire dialogue reminiscent of 30 Rock – a writing style forged from SNL, where Tina Fey also came up – there's a real frantic, occasionally over the top energy to the show, mirroring Cary and Brooke's desperate reaches for power. And plots are delightfully ludicrous with the second and third seasons matching the general hysteria of the 2020s. While a critical darling, the show struggled to find an audience while airing. Some of its Simpsons -style predictions have given it a second life online, however, with several of its more ridiculous plot lines coming true in the past year. Back in May, supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid's announcement that their father had a secret daughter was oddly reminiscent of a season two plot around the ultra-secret reveal party of the 'third Hadid sister' hosted by Vogue, where she stood in the corner underneath a white sheet. And while The Other Two didn't take Katy Perry to space (that was Jeff Bezos), Brooke went twice in one episode, when two consecutive men she's dating become billionaires, and their immense wealth suddenly renders Earth boring. Sound familiar? Naturally, the show's most prescient element was more meta: The Other Two, a satire of ego and resentment curdling people's values and behaviour, was marred by allegations that its creators Kelly and Schneider had created a toxic workplace environment, with the former accused of verbally abusing writers and overworking staff and the latter accused of enabling that behaviour. One insider told The Hollywood Reporter, 'There's a lot of Chris and Sarah in the show … I think a lot of their frustration comes from not being on camera… These are two people who started off as improvisers. This is a show about people who are hungering for fame.' The allegations were made public before the show's surprisingly sweet finale in 2023, but a statement from the creators said the show's end was already planned. Neither have publicly commented on the allegations, but sources told The Hollywood Reporter that a formal investigation cleared the two of wrongdoing during production. Max, Kelly and Schneider were all contacted for comment in this story. For better or worse, acidity corroded The Other Two into the dark, cynical and deeply funny show it is. While Cary and Brooke have redemptions written in, Kelly and Schneider haven't yet announced any follow-up projects. Meanwhile, several of the writers have gone on to great success, including recent Tony Award winner Cole Escola and Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello who form two thirds of the team behind Hacks… who also cameoed as themselves in The Studio. Like I said, Hollywood really loves going meta.
Sydney Morning Herald
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
This overlooked sitcom skewered Hollywood better than The Studio
Hollywood loves little more than making stories about itself and this year, there have been two standouts in the genre: The Studio focused on the existential-financial crises of making movies, while the fourth season of comedy Hacks turned its crosshairs to the sorry state of late-night television. Both shows are sharp satires about whether success and creative integrity are oil and water in Hollywood, with plenty of bite aimed at a scared industry reluctant to take leaps as it faces a chasm. Loading In Hacks, veteran stand-up Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) lands her lifelong dream gig as a late-night host, but she and head writer/whiny millennial protégée Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) immediately face cancellation, as the genre itself faces extinction in the age of streaming. Meanwhile, Seth Rogen pulled in every favour he could for The Studio, a sleek and star-studded satire for Apple TV+, with everyone from Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard to TikTok star Charli D'Amelio and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos playing themselves. Co-created by Rogen with long-time collaborator Evan Goldberg, the comedy focuses on a Hollywood studio head (Rogen) trying to produce genuine art in a corporate industry focused on maximal profits and bankable IP. Both series are also love letters to Hollywood – their characters may be power-hungry and occasionally amoral, but they are talented and guided by a true love of art. But isn't that a generous depiction? What about the true hacks of Hollywood, the grifters who seemingly care about little but their own fame? Enter the namesakes of The Other Two – one of the past decade's most criminally under-seen satires, and a quick three-season watch on Max. Created by former SNL co-head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, the show focuses on these two aimless 30-something siblings, former dancer Brooke (Heléne Yorke) and struggling gay actor Cary (Drew Tarver). When their 13-year-old brother Chase (Case Walker) becomes overnight pop sensation ChaseDreams after his (completely asinine, Friday -esque) song Marry U At Recess goes viral, the two ride his coattails. Brooke decides to girlboss without direction, eventually becoming his co-manager; Cary rides the success of ChaseDream's second single My Brother's Gay and That's Okay! to land more roles. Neither Brooke nor Cary are particularly talented or, necessarily, smart – The Other Two isn't the story of the compromised artist as in Hacks or The Studio. Instead, it's one of jaded people thrown an opportunity, trying to make a mark (and money) however they can. The show is particularly biting on self-branding masquerading as activism. Brooke dabbles in slacktivism to feel as though she's making a difference, while Cary equally positions his acting career as a battleground for LGBTQ representation. There are plenty of other nefarious sharks circling Chase, too, as manager Streeter (Ken Marino) and label exec Shuli (Wanda Sykes) work him to the bone. They sell his armpit pictures to Rolling Stone for $8 million, set up fake relationships for cross-promotion and wring out countless brand partnerships, including a mobile phone company (much like Ryan Reynolds), nail polish line (much like Harry Styles) and an oil pipeline (kinda like RuPaul, who has been criticised for allowing fracking on his land). And Chase's mum Pat – Molly Shannon, in a career best – may seem like a mid-western sweetheart, but she's just as shrewd, soon becoming a celebrity in her own right as an Ellen-like daytime talk show host with a not-so nice private side. But ChaseDreams isn't the Bieber brat you might expect. For the most part, he's relatively level-headed, even as his surroundings should distort him into an absolute nightmare. Instead, he's the straight guy in a surreal famescape, with the show more about clawing towards celebrity from the sidelines. Loading It's a position that Kelly and Schneider presumably know well from SNL, where each week they'd work with – or tiptoe around – a host's ego and persona. (Perhaps not incidentally, SNL castmate Bill Hader once called Bieber, who hosted under Schneider and Kelly's tenure, the worst-behaved host.) With rapid-fire dialogue reminiscent of 30 Rock – a writing style forged from SNL, where Tina Fey also came up – there's a real frantic, occasionally over the top energy to the show, mirroring Cary and Brooke's desperate reaches for power. And plots are delightfully ludicrous with the second and third seasons matching the general hysteria of the 2020s. While a critical darling, the show struggled to find an audience while airing. Some of its Simpsons -style predictions have given it a second life online, however, with several of its more ridiculous plot lines coming true in the past year. Back in May, supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid's announcement that their father had a secret daughter was oddly reminiscent of a season two plot around the ultra-secret reveal party of the 'third Hadid sister' hosted by Vogue, where she stood in the corner underneath a white sheet. And while The Other Two didn't take Katy Perry to space (that was Jeff Bezos), Brooke went twice in one episode, when two consecutive men she's dating become billionaires, and their immense wealth suddenly renders Earth boring. Sound familiar? Naturally, the show's most prescient element was more meta: The Other Two, a satire of ego and resentment curdling people's values and behaviour, was marred by allegations that its creators Kelly and Schneider had created a toxic workplace environment, with the former accused of verbally abusing writers and overworking staff and the latter accused of enabling that behaviour. One insider told The Hollywood Reporter, 'There's a lot of Chris and Sarah in the show … I think a lot of their frustration comes from not being on camera… These are two people who started off as improvisers. This is a show about people who are hungering for fame.' The allegations were made public before the show's surprisingly sweet finale in 2023, but a statement from the creators said the show's end was already planned. Neither have publicly commented on the allegations, but sources told The Hollywood Reporter that a formal investigation cleared the two of wrongdoing during production. Max, Kelly and Schneider were all contacted for comment in this story. For better or worse, acidity corroded The Other Two into the dark, cynical and deeply funny show it is. While Cary and Brooke have redemptions written in, Kelly and Schneider haven't yet announced any follow-up projects. Meanwhile, several of the writers have gone on to great success, including recent Tony Award winner Cole Escola and Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello who form two thirds of the team behind Hacks… who also cameoed as themselves in The Studio. Like I said, Hollywood really loves going meta.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lexi Underwood, Case Walker & Kat Cunning Starring In Horror-Comedy ‘Bad Karaoke'
EXCLUSIVE: Lexi Underwood (Cruel Summer), Case Walker (The Other Two) and Kat Cunning (Purple Hearts) have signed on to star in the feature film Bad Karaoke, a horror comedy from District 78 Films and Father Greg Productions. Shooting begins this month in LA. The film follows a group of friends in a cover band making their way from Portland, Oregon, to perform at a wedding in Napa. When they discover an abandoned karaoke machine in the back of a dive bar, songwriter Emily (Underwood), bassist Noah (Walker), and their motley band crew must find a way to defeat the cursed machine before it finishes them all off. More from Deadline Alden Ehrenreich, Catherine Hardwicke, Tom Skerritt, Lexi Underwood To Be Honored At 20th HollyShorts Film Festival 'Cruel Summer': Lexi Underwood & Sadie Stanley Discuss How Season 2 Premiere Episodes Set The Stage For A Small Town Scandal 'Cruel Summer' Season 2 Trailer Earns Record-Breaking Viewership For Freeform Ahead Of June Premiere Cunning plays the band's lead singer Hannah, who has come to terms with their career as a cover band musician only to learn it might become the death of them. Chris Lightbody and Robert J. Steinmiller Jr. are directing from a script by Lightbody and Spencer Yaras. Producing are Yaras, Adam Bradshaw and Brendan Petrizzo. Emma Fleming cast the film. District 78 is made up of Lightbody, Steinmiller and Yaras, who produced 2023 mockumentary Bootyology (Gravitas Ventures) and are best known for their work as music producers and music directors for TV's Dancing With The Stars, The Masked Singer, and So You Think You Can Dance, amongst others. Underwood broke out on the Hulu limited series Little Fires Everywhere. She went on to play Malia Obama in Showtime's limited series The First Lady before joining the cast of Freeform's Cruel Summer. Actor and singer Walker starred in the Emmy-nominated series The Other Two and Nickelodeon's Monster High franchise. Cunning is known for HBO Max's Rap Sh!t, Netflix movie Purple Hearts and series Trinkets and HBO's The Deuce. Fleming recently cast the film I Really Love My Husband, which premiered at SXSW this past weekend. Yaras said: 'We knew we wanted to do something that paid tribute to our love of horror comedies as well as music, so we thought 'what if karaoke killed you?'' Lightbody added: 'Which happens a lot, actually.' Underwood is repped by CAA, Untitled, and Jackoway Austen. Walker is repped by Innovative Artists, Elysian Heights, and Skrzyniarz & Mallean. Cunning is repped by Innovative Artists and Untitled. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery All The Songs In 'Severance' Season 2: From The Who To Ella Fitzgerald 10 Brand New Emmy-Eligible Shows Coming This Spring
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Disney Scales Back ‘Snow White' Hollywood Premiere Amid Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot Controversies
Disney is hosting a Hollywood premiere of 'Snow White' on March 15, but the studio won't be rolling out a robust red carpet like it usually does. The afternoon festivities will include a pre-party and screening at the El Capitan Theatre with titular star Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen, expected to attend. However, the red carpet will not include the dozens of media outlets usually invited by Disney to interview the cast and creatives at its premieres. More from Variety Cedric the Entertainer and Paramount Pictures' Michael Ireland and Wife Jay to Be Honored at Lupus LA's Cuisine for a Cause Tim Baltz Mastered Pole Dancing for 'The Righteous Gemstones' Season 4: 'I Did Most of My Own Stunts' Drew Tarver on Working With Kate Hudson in 'Running Point,' Why He's 'Happy' How 'The Other Two' Ended and Being Openly Queer in Hollywood Instead, coverage will be limited to photographers and a house crew. The studio did not comment for this story, but the scaled back plans come amid controversies surrounding the Marc Webb-directed film, which hits theaters March 21. Some toxic Disney fans questioned Snow White being played by Zegler when her casting was announced because she is a Latina actor The 'West Side Story' star also faced backlash when she called the 1937 original 'dated' because the prince 'literally stalks Snow White.' In an interview with Variety at D23 two years ago, Zegler said, 'She's not going to be saved by the prince. She's not going to be dreaming about true love. She's dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be.' Peter Dinklage spoke out about the movie's portrayal of little people for perpetuating negative stereotypes. 'Literally no offense to anything, but I was sort of taken aback,' he said on the 'WTF With Mark Maron' podcast in January 2024. 'They were very proud to cast a Latino actress as Snow White, but you're still telling the story of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.' Take a step back and look at what you're doing there.' Shortly following Dinklage's remarks, Disney said in a statement to 'Good Morning America,' 'To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community.' Zegler reasons that the backlash to the film is due to the 'passion' for the original film. 'I interpret people's sentiments towards this film as passion,' she said in an interview in the March issue of Vogue Mexico. 'What an honor to be a part of something that people feel so passionately about. We're not always going to agree with everyone who surrounds us and all we can do is our best.' (Quotes were independently translated from Spanish to English by Variety). World politics have also come into play. Zegler has promoted 'free Palestine' on social media. At the same time. Gadot, who is Israeli, has become an outspoken supporter of Israel on social media as well as in a passionate speech she delivered on March 4 when she was honored at the Anti-Defamation League's annual summit in New York City. 'Never did I imagine that on the streets of the United States, and different cities around the world, we would see people not condemning Hamas, but celebrating, justifying and cheering on a massacre of Jews,' she said, in part. Gadot has stayed away from politics in the past, but has said she felt she needed to speak up after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. In February, several dozen pro-Palestine protesters gathered outside the Hollywood premiere of 'Captain America: Brave New World' and called for a boycott of the film over its inclusion of the Israeli superhero Ruth Bat-Seraph, aka Sabra, played by Israeli actress Shira Haas. MAGA supporters also blasted Zegler for her reaction to Donald Trump's reelection when she posted on Instagram, in part, 'May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace.' She apologized for her remarks two days later. 'Snow White' publicity plans have already included Gadot and Zegler presenting together at the Oscars followed by Zegler making a promotional appearance in Tokyo. Zegler and Webb will also visit Spain for the movie followed by Zegler hosting a screening in New York City for the Broadway community. Gadot was on 'Good Morning America' on Monday in support of the movie. The official trailer for the film has garnered 11.8 million views on YouTube since its debut three months ago. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Oscars 2026: First Blind Predictions Including Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone, 'Wicked: For Good' and More What's Coming to Disney+ in March 2025
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Running Point' Star Drew Tarver Talks Building Sibling-Like Chemistry With Kate Hudson: ‘We Immediately Found a Rapport'
In Netflix's 'Running Point,' Kate Hudson's Isla Gordon finds her biggest critics in her two brothers — played by Drew Tarver and Scott MacArthur — in a dynamic Tarver said the on-screen siblings found with ease. 'We immediately found a rapport as siblings,' Tarver told TheWrap, pointing to the first time he, Hudson and MacArthur hung out after work and grabbed drinks, He said that outing led into the sibling dynamic on the show as Tarver began 'playing mediator pretty quickly.' 'Scotty was telling a story, and Kate was like, 'Scotty, this story is too long' — she was just immediately older-sistering him,' Tarver recalled. 'I was in between the two of them, [saying] 'yeah, it was a slightly long story … but Kate, let him get this out.'' In 'Running Point,' Tarver plays Sandy Gordon, the fourth Gordon sibling and the chief financial officer of the Waves who, despite more often than not being the smartest person in the room, wasn't blessed with the same natural athleticism as his siblings. 'He's hopelessly bad at sports, which, you know, I wasn't good at them, so I was like, 'Oh, I can relate to this character,'' Tarver joked. While his siblings have all had certain worrying indiscretions — from Cam's drug addiction to Isla's party girl past — Sandy hopes to rise to the top by avoiding the same downfalls as his siblings, which Tarver noted Sandy doesn't feel he's afforded to make as the youngest sibling. That's why when Cam selects Isla as the new president of the Waves during his stint in rehab, Sandy works with Ness to campaign against her. 'Because he put in so much hard work, and [thought], 'I'm going to do it this way, the right way, the business way, I'm not going to make any mistakes … I think I deserve the team,'' Tarver said, noting the layers of family dysfunction and infighting within the decision. 'I think [their campaign] is overall for the betterment of the family, not necessarily against Isla.' As he tries to keep a steady grip on the future of the Waves and be taken seriously, however, Tarver explains that 'throughout the season, him trying to control the team and his business … got away from him, and it became comedic,' which Tarver relished. 'Running Point' isn't the only series where Tarver plays a disgruntled sibling living in another's shadow. He starred as Cary Dubek in Max's 'The Other Two' alongside Heléne Yorke and Molly Shannon. Tarver applauded the writing of both 'The Other Two' and 'Running Point,' saying it gave him a rich storyline and plenty of comedy to work with. 'It makes my job so easy when there's such funny, great, emotionally present stuff on the page, and I felt like Ike [Barinholtz], Dave [Stassen] and Mindy [Kaling] did such a good job of writing good, funny, hard, punchy jokes, while having an emotional arc that you could carry through the entire season,' Tarver said. After working with Barinholtz and Stassen on 'History of the World: Part II,' Tarver said it was a 'dream' to re-team with them and Kaling for 'Running Point,' which he noted required little improvisation with such strong writing, but was still encouraged on set. 'It's really fun to be present with other actors … I feel like everybody's right there ready for any direction that anybody's going in.' The emotional core of 'Running Point' was also carried by Hudson, Tarver said. 'The way she's doing the comedy is leading from an emotional place … [She's] really coming from the character in ways that makes it so funny and land so hard.' While the actor admitted entering a set with a stacked cast can be 'intimidating' or 'scary,' he applauded Hudson at putting everyone at ease. 'She really set an amazing tone,' Tarver said. 'We [were] hanging out for people's scenes after hours and we're doing jokes offset and bringing that energy into the scene.' 'Running Point' is now streaming on Netflix. The post 'Running Point' Star Drew Tarver Talks Building Sibling-Like Chemistry With Kate Hudson: 'We Immediately Found a Rapport' appeared first on TheWrap.
