Samantha Stephens’ daughter is definitely all grown up!
The classic late-’60s sitcom “Bewitched” starred Elizabeth Montgomery as the beautiful and magically gifted Samantha, but a pint-sized co-star often stole the scene: Erin Murphy, who played little Tabitha during the show’s 1966 – 1972 run. (Fans with sharp memories will recall that Erin shared the role with her twin sister, Diane, before eventually taking over the whole role as they grew up and started to look less alike.)
If you need a quick refresher, this clip will do the trick:
After “Bewitched” came to an end, Murphy remained close with Elizabeth Montgomery, who played her on-screen mother. Montgomery passed away in 1995.
As she grew older, Murphy found success as a TV host and correspondent as well as an in-demand infomercial personality. In more recent years, she’s appeared on a number of reality shows, and she’s also a motivational speaker who works with charity organizations.
Today, Murphy is 55 and the mother of six children. Here’s what she looks like these days!
The season finale of America’s Got Talent is here!
As judges Gabrielle Union and Julianne Hough wrap up their inaugural seasons on the NBC competition series, the ladies reflect on season 14 before one contestant is crowned champion.
“What I’ve learned about being a part of this show is the fact that talent is ageless, genderless and it’s for everyone,” says Hough, 31, adding that the show is “so inclusive and allows people to be fully expressed.”
Hough, who rose to fame on Dancing with the Stars as a winner and judge, continues, “I’m very grateful.”
Union, 46, and Hough replaced longtime AGT judges Mel B and Heidi Klum this season. Host Terry Crews took over for Tyra Banks.
Calling this past season “so incredible,” Hough gives a special shout-out to the child contestants.
“There’s a lot of amazing young kids that are not just talented, but they have this mission and message behind what they are trying to say with their talent,” she says.
Meanwhile, Union describes her first-time as an AGT judge as “emotional.”
“It’s emotional for me to watch people come so close to their dreams coming true and being so close. Seeing their faces contort and anguish in pain, I don’t like it. I don’t find that entertaining,” she says.
Union, who welcomed daughter Kaavia in November 2018, is especially inspired by her Golden Buzzer choice, singer Kodi Lee, who is blind and was diagnosed with autism.
“Hopefully, it’s going to be a little easier for parents with special needs children to get the resources that they need,” the L.A.’s Finest actress says of Kodi being an example to others. “All of them can get the chance for their dreams to come true and for them to reach their fullest potential.”
As for the two-part finale, Hough explains what is “going to separate people” in the last round of the competition.
“There’s one thing if you come out and you have a great voice or you do a great trick. But if you have a purpose and reason behind what you are doing, that is ultimate success with fulfillment,” she says. “If you don’t, it’s not sustainable.”
America’s Got Talent airs Tuesdays and Wednesdays (8 p.m. ET) on NBC.
“We regret that Ms. Williamson’s time on the series was not a positive one for her,” eOne says in a statement
ABC/Tony Rivetti
eOne has released the results of the independent investigation into the allegations of misconduct made by former star Afton Williamson on the set of the ABC drama “The Rookie.”
In a statement on Tuesday, the company said the investigation turned up no evidence that individuals connected to the show had conducted themselves in an “unlawful manner” or demonstrated “behavior inappropriate for the workplace.”
“We recognize and respect that as individuals, the lens through which we view situations, interactions and comments, can differ based on our experiences and perspectives,” the company’s statement read. “As such, we regret that Ms. Williamson’s time on the series was not a positive one for her, and we respect her decision to move on to other projects.”
Williamson announced her departure from the Nathan Fillion-led cop drama last month, accusing the show’s hair department of racial discrimination and making inappropriate comments. She also said a recurring guest star on the show had sexually harassed her and showrunner Alexi Hawley refused to pass on her complaints to human resources.
The third-party investigation was commissioned by eOne, the production company behind the show, shortly after Williamson’s post. According to the company, Williamson, the individuals she identified and “several other relevant production and staff members” were all interviewed.
“We continue to focus on fostering a safe and respectful work environment for all our corporate and production employees and further reinforce our policies and procedures,” the company said.
Read the full statement below.
We are today addressing the findings of the investigation initiated as a result of the claims made by actor Afton Williamson regarding our series The Rookie. The investigation was commissioned via law firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP who engaged third-party firm EXTTI, recognized for their extensive expertise in investigating allegations of harassment, discrimination and retaliation in the workplace.
We take all allegations of inappropriate conduct very seriously, particularly when the allegations involve discrimination or sexual harassment of any nature. We appreciate the cooperation of all those who were interviewed, including Ms. Williamson, the individuals she identified by name, and several other relevant production and staff members.
The investigation encompassed nearly 400 hours of interviews and review of evidence, involving a significant amount of material, including video, that was provided to and examined by the investigator. As a result of the independent investigation, we have concluded that those identified in Ms. Williamson’s allegations did not conduct themselves in an unlawful manner or demonstrate behavior inappropriate for the workplace. It was also concluded that the executive producers, including showrunner Alexi Hawley, addressed matters of which they were made aware promptly and in a fair and reasonable manner.
We recognize and respect that as individuals, the lens through which we view situations, interactions and comments, can differ based on our experiences and perspectives. As such, we regret that Ms. Williamson’s time on the series was not a positive one for her, and we respect her decision to move on to other projects.
We continue to focus on fostering a safe and respectful work environment for all our corporate and production employees and further reinforce our policies and procedures.To protect the privacy of all those interviewed, the investigator’s report will not be available publicly.
In seasons one and two of Big Bang it’s fair to say main character Leonard Hofstadter (played by Johnny Galecki) was rather unlucky in love. However, he did manage to strike a casual on/off romance with fellow scientist and violin player Leslie Winkle (Sara Gilbert). Leslie quickly became a favourite among CBS and Channel 4 viewers for their relationship, her dry wit and continual putdowns of Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) but the character seemed to disappear beyond the second season. Here’s all we know about Gilbert’s exit.
Why did Leslie Winkle leave The Big Bang Theory?
All seemed to be going swimmingly for Gilbert in the early seasons of Big Bang.
Her character Leslie played a prominent part in the sitcom behind the main cast striking up a relationship with series lead Leonard.
Reports emerged CBS had even offered the actress a new contract bumping her status up to series regular as well.
However, in a dramatic turn of events after the first two series, she only appeared in the season three finale before returning for a cameo in season nine.
Gilbert’s exit was put down to producers not being able to create content for her character.
According to Entertainment Weekly, an inside source said bosses “couldn’t write for her.”
By this point in the Big Bang storyline, Leonard and Leslie had split as well.
His romance with Penny (Kaley Cuoco) became the primary plot point of the series and by the season three premiere, it was confirmed.
This left very little room for Leonard/Lesley romance to continue.
The fact Leslie would take much more of a back seat didn’t appear to create any bad blood between Gilbert and the show or its writers.
After all, she returned to the series six years later in season nine’s The Celebration Experimentation to celebrate a rare Sheldon birthday party.
Gilbert also made a return to ABC series Roseanne, the show in which her bond with Big Bang writer Chuck Lorre first began back in the ‘90s.
The move to take a step back from the drama on Big Bang also paved way for the actress to become a regular host on CBS talk show The Talk.
Gilbert went on to appear in over 1,500 episodes of The Talk opposite former X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne and several other co-hosts.
She decided to step down from the talk show this year, however, as she wanted to focus on other upcoming production jobs and her family life.
Gilbert isn’t the only star whose Big Bang exit left viewers scratching their heads.
Many were left perplexed as to why Anu (Rati Gupta) departed the series in its final season.
The Big Bang Theory is available to stream on Netflix now.
EXCLUSIVE: HBO is nearing the big deal of the Toronto Film Festival, acquiring for in a sum nearing $20 million world rights to Bad Education, the Cory Finley-directed fact-based dark comedy that stars Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney as supervisors in the Roslyn, Long Island school district who masterminded the largest public school embezzlement scandal in American history, to the tune of $11.2 million. The WarnerMedia-owned company will air the feature globally where it has networks and streaming services. I’m told the deal is in the rareified range of the $17.5 M at Sundance for The Birth of a Nation, which was the fest record.
Heading into Toronto, the film came in with the best chance of being an 8-figure festival acquisition. This one quickly came down to the producers and financiers faced with making a choice that will be more commonplace as fests go forward. Did they want a streaming deal, gamble for less money for a theatrical release with companies like 101 Studios, which seemed favored by Jackman and Janney, the latter of whom came out of the Toronto Festival two years ago when NEON bought the black fact-based comedy I, Tonya, and rode it all the way to a Best Supporting Actress win, with Margot Robbie also getting a nom for Best Actress. Or choose an alternative, which they did with HBO, which has a star studded original that it can play on the network and its other platforms in 2020 and which will be Emmy, SAG and Golden Globes contenders for next year for HBO as it moves forward from the Game of Thrones era.
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Scripted by Mike Makowsky — who attended school at Roslyn as the scandal unfolded in the early 2000s — the film also stars Ray Romano as the school board president who becomes an unwitting participant as he and board members give in to the prodding of superintendent Dr. Frank Tassone (Jackman) to fire the assistant superintendent Pam Gluckin when it is unmasked she dipped into taxpayer school funds to renovate her homes, but not report it to anyone outside the circle. The school board and student parents are obsessed with an upcoming school budget vote they hope will lead to the appropriation of $7.5 million for a “skywalk,” and the report that as Roslyn climbs to the top of nearby schools the property values of homes in the district are soaring. The plan begins to crumble because of the dogged work by a student newspaper reporter –Geraldine Viswanthan — who is initially deemed harmless and given carte blanche access to eyeball school purchase orders. She questions the obsession with a “skywalk” and boasts of school excellence when it is so clear that the school roof is practically falling in, with drop ceilings stained and mottled from water that drips into strategically placed trash baskets each time it rains. She discovers a scandal that goes far beyond the fired administrator. The smokescreen allows for a tour de force for Jackman to do a slow peel of a man who starts out the ultimate administrator, a meticulously coiffed and dressed symbol of positivity and authority, who remembers the name of every student he meets and is the one who tells the student journalist that her assessment of her assignment as a puff piece can be much more.
The slow reveal is that Jackman’s administrator has appropriated millions of dollars to finance a double life. While he leaves in plain view a desk photo of a woman in a wedding dress he says is his late wife who died of cancer, Tassone has a secret identity as a closeted gay man who is not at all monogamous and not shy about having taxpayers foot his bills, including for plastic surgery to keep his face tight. He has a lot to lose, in a fascinating depiction of entitlement and corruption of the American dream that seems to have connective tissue to the elite college admissions scandal that continues to play out.
The film made its debut Sunday September 8 at the Princess of Wales Theatre in the Special Presentations section. Some buyers felt it wasn’t flashy enough, but it was very clear that the film would emerge with the festival’s largest deal, not counting the one that Fox Searchlight made on the eve of Toronto for The Personal History Of David Copperfield, a film that will come out next year. The rest of the festival produced on average a solid deal each day, as buyers were clearly wary after the 8-figure sums paid for Sundance movies that didn’t pan out at the box office. While most of the Toronto films were in the low-seven figures, there are good movies that found distribution homes, from the Bleecker Street-bought Military Wives to the Amazon-bought Sound of Metal to the likes of Greed, Lyrebird and The Burnt Orange Heresy. Film financiers didn’t get the numbers they hoped for, but there is less pressure on these and other films to perform, and backend upside if they do excel in their box office runs.
Pic is a co-production between Automatik and Sight Unseen, produced by Fred Berger, Eddie Vaisman, Julia Lebedev, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Oren Moverman, and Mike Makowsky, with Leonid Lebedev and Caroline Jaczko the exec producers.
CAA Media Finance and Endeavor Content brokered the Bad Education deal.
EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has learned that Lee Daniels is set to go into production next month in Montreal on The United States vs. Billy Holiday, a project he will direct and produce about the legendary jazz singer.
The pic follows Holiday (played by multi Grammy and NAACP nominee singer-songwriter Andra Day) during her career as she is targeted by the Federal Department of Narcotics with an undercover sting operation led by black Federal Agent Jimmy Fletcher, with whom she had a tumultuous affair. The pic will intimately examine Holiday’s struggles with addiction, fame and heartbreaking love.
Joining Day are Bird Box and Moonlight actor Trevante Rhodes, Mudbound and Tron actor Garrett Hedlund, and Russian Doll and Orange Is the New Black actress Natasha Lyonne.
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“It is an extraordinary responsibility to tell the story of the iconic Billie Holiday. Her story is very personal to me and I hope to do justice when bringing to light this profound and complicated soul — a great artist and an unsung civil rights warrior,” said Daniels.
Suzan-Lori Parks wrote the script. Parks was the first African-American woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize for her play Topdog/Underdog and later went on to script Native Son this year.
The United States Vs. Billie Holiday is inspired by the 2015 New York Time’s Bestseller Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs written by Johann Hari, a non-fiction examination of the history and impact of drug criminalization, otherwise known as “The War on ”
The film is being produced by New Slate Ventures, Lee Daniels Entertainment, Roth Kirschenbaum Films with Jordan Fudge, Daniels, Pamela Oas Williams and Tucker Tooley. Executive Producers include Hilary Shor, George Parra, Mark Bomback and Dennis Stratton. BAFTA nominated composer Christopher Gunning (La Vie en Rose) will come out of retirement to pen the original score, while Grammy Nominated Salaam Remi (Amy Winehouse) is on board as Executive Music.
Daniels is a two-time Oscar nominee in the Best Director and Best Picture category for Precious. He was also the first African American to receive a Director’s Guild of America Nomination for Best Director for Precious. His 2013 feature The Butler grossed over $176M worldwide. Daniels is the co-creator of the Fox series Empire and Star.
New Slate Ventures is a creative and financing production entity run by Jordan Fudge. The company currently has projects in production and development, including Kevin Willmott’s The 24th and Radha Blank’s The 40-Year-Old Version.
FURIOUS Olivia Attwood branded Courtney Green a "pig" in an explosive fight before she was dragged off the Towie set by security.
The 28-year-old Love Island star hit the roof after Courtney called her "trashy" at the cast's welcome drinks, and she has since had a warning from producers over her behaviour.
The drama unfolded just hours after the ITVBe cast touched down in Marbella to film the series special of the reality show, with "tipsy" Olivia "losing her s***" at her co-star, according to show sources.
She even started throwing olives at stunned Courtney in front of the cast and crew after picking up a bowl of nibbles in her rage.
Speaking to The Sun Online, an insider explained: "The cameras haven’t even started rolling yet and half the cast have fallen out.
"One minute everyone had been enjoying welcome drinks on the first night and the next all hell had broken lose."
Revealing how it all kicked off, the source continued: "Liv and Chloe Meadows started arguing, a few seconds later Courtney got involved and called Liv 'trashy'.
"She retaliated by trying to throw olives in her direction. A screaming Liv was then dragged away by security as she shouted insults at Courtney.
"She was then given a warning by production to calm down."
The dramatic scenes unfolded after 8pm on Monday, with Olivia said to have started drinking on their flight over to Spain before continuing the boozing at the hotel swimming pool.
Olivia made her debut as a full-time cast member on Towie earlier this month, and she is said to have rubbed many of her castmates up the wrong way with her fiery attitude.
Earlier this series, she clashed with Chloe over her fall out with Shelby Tribble, and has also been vocal in support Chloe Sims and Clelia Theodorou in their respective dramas.
Our insider continued: "Olivia joined Towie with such force she had already made some enemies.
"She has already sided with Clelia over her fall out with Shelby and has also sided with Celebs Go Dating pal Chloe Sims over her love triangle with Dan Edgar and Amber Davies.
"While lots of viewers have taken to social media to praise Liv’s no nonsense approach, she has put a lot of noses out in such a short period of time.
"There is now a huge divide in the cast with more drama expected to kick off today."
Twenty-five years after he slouched onto TV screens with a comically despondent, “Hi…,” it’s hard to imagine anyone other than David Schwimmer as Friends‘ brainy sad-sack Ross Geller.
But according to Saul Austerlitz’s new book, Generation Friends: An Inside Look at the Show That Defined a Television Era, Schwimmer was reluctant to sign onto Warner Brother’s sit-com pilot back in 1994.
Friends creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane had actually wanted him for a pilot called Couples earlier, but the network insisted they pick someone else at the time. While writing Friends, though, they kept Schwimmer in mind as their ideal Ross.
“They were ready to offer him the role without even having to audition — a rare privilege for a young, untested actor,” Austerlitz writes. “There was only one problem: Schwimmer did not want to do the show. More than that, he did not want to do any more television at all.”
According to Generation Friends, Schwimmer had hated working on Fox’s failed Henry Winkler comedy Monty and was sick of shooting pilots they never made it to air. He preferred to focus on his Chicago theater company, Lookingglass, and refused to read any TV scripts.
So, Kauffman and David Crane auditioned Noah Wyle, whom they liked, but he landed ER instead. If ER fell through, he’d become available for Friends. Of course, ER became a TV sensation and ran for 15 seasons, though Wyle did guest-star on Friends in season 1 as a doctor romancing Rachel and Monica alongside George Clooney.
Mitchell Whitfield (who was eventually cast as Rachel’s jilted fiancé, Barry) and Will & Grace‘s Eric McCormack also auditioned for Ross. Finally, Schwimmer read the Friends script at the behest of his agent; he “was pleased to learn that their new show was to be an ensemble series, with no designated star,” Austerlitz writes. “This could be a television series that worked a bit more like a theatrical troupe.”
He also took a call from legendary director James Burrows, who pointed out the role had been written with him in mind. He agreed to read for the role and blew the room away. “The role of Ross was like an off-the-rack suit that did not require any tailoring for Schwimmer to wear,” Austerlitz writes. “He could simply put it on. It already fit perfectly.”
Schwimmer seemed to speak to his anxiety about working in television in a 1995 cast interview with Oprah Winfrey. The talk-show host asked how the actors — who famously remained close friends in real life as they sky-rocketed to stardom — first bonded on set.
“The taping of the pilot was probably the first thing [we bonded over],” Schwimmer said. “The reality of the business is that we don’t know if the pilot’s going to be picked up, so everyone was kind of keeping their distance and not really investing too much emotionally in the other people, I think. … There’s also the reality that any one of us could be removed after the pilot. It’s happened a lot in the business.”
He had nothing to fear: Friends lasted 10 seasons and remains one of the most beloved TV shows of all time. However, he’s been open about how the fame affected him and influenced his subsequent career choices.
“It was pretty jarring and it messed with my relationship to other people in a way that took years, I think, for me to adjust to and become comfortable with,” he told The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast in 2016. “As an actor, the way I was trained, my job was to observe life and to observe other people, so I used to walk around with my head up, really engaged and watching people. The effect of celebrity was the absolute opposite: It made me want to hide under a baseball cap and not be seen.”
He added: “And I realized after a while that I was no longer watching people; I was trying to hide,” he continued. “So I was trying to figure out: How do I be an actor in this new world, in this new situation? How do I do my job? That was tricky.”
Once Friends wrapped in 2004, Schwimmer turned to directing and acting on stage. He made a splashy return to the small screen in 2016 as Robert Kardashian in American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson, earning an Emmy nomination.
Generation Friends: An Inside Look at the Show That Defined a Television Era is on shelves now.
RAINIE Cross is in a bad way in EastEnders next week as she and Stuart Highway try to kick her prescription drug addiction, which ends with her attacking Sonia Fowler.
The week gets off to a good start as Stuart surprises Rainie with a romantic meal to celebrate their six-week anniversary in the, er, funeral parlour.
Despite suffering from withdrawal symptoms for the painkillers Kathy Beale got her, Rainie is touched by Stuart’s gesture.
But things take a terrible turn when, fuelled by a comment from Ian Beale, Rainie loses control and storms over to Sonia’s demanding drugs.
With Rainie – who’s played by Tanya Franks in the BBC soap – completely out of control, Sonia calls for Stuart who arrives just as Rainie violently attacks Sonia.
A desperate Stuart takes Rainie home and tries to get through to her, but she blames him for everything, leaving him gutted.
Later, Stuart – Ricky Champ – goes to desperate lengths to help Rainie who continues to struggle with withdrawal symptoms.
But when the situation disturbs customers in the funeral parlour, Callum rushes to find Stuart and insists he comes up with another idea.
As Stuart explains what he’s doing, Callum is rocked by the revelation that Stuart is also a recovering drug addict, leaving Callum to compromise with Jay.
When Stuart later goes to check on how Rainie’s doing, she crumbles in his arms.
Soon Rainie does her best to convince Stuart that she’s recovered, but is she telling him the truth?
Rainie began taking painkillers obtained by Kathy after she was brutally beaten while trying to pull a prostitution scam on the streets.
Despite insisting she could control her use, it soon became clear that the recovering crack addict was hooked.
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