Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor are back together, spurred by him moving in with her and their kids during the pandemic so they could bubble together (via PEOPLE, so it’s official). I’ll be honest in that I thought these two got back together a while back.
What’s unique here is that we heard a lot about couples breaking up over COVID, but I think this is the first one I’ve heard of ex spouses getting back together. I mean we have Bennifer, but they haven’t married each other… yet.
There are a lot of toxic fandoms online but right now, the funniest fandom is the Euphoria watchers (I look forward to Anastasia’s breakdown every Monday). As I work my way through the actual episodes (and not just the tweets), I notice that besides the adult casting of teens, Euphoria also plays into another trope: neighbourhoods that defy classicism. Like why isn’t Nate in private school if his dad owns half the town? It doesn’t make sense on the surface mixing rich and not-rich kids is a cornerstone of teen movies (like Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club). Oh and I had another thought: Euphoria is set in southern California, right? I think it is, and so is Never Have I Ever, another fantastic teen show with a completely different tone but a central character who is dealing with grief and trauma, a rich boy with too much bravado (Nate has more problems than that, we know), a brooding life interest, and ride-or-die friends. Technically, all of these kids exist in the same universe. With very different results.
After I hit send on yesterday’s column, another update to the Sam Hunt divorce: his wife Hannah has refiled in another county (so the withdrawal was probably a legality). As of now, the divorce is still on.
Abbot Elementary is pulling in Modern Family numbers, as it should. The show is so sharp and the chemistry is so amazing, especially considering it’s in its first season. One of the reasons I think it works so well is that the hero, Janine (played by superstar Quinta Brunson, who created the show) is incredibly warm and passionate about her job, but her antagonist (Ava, played brilliantly by comedian Janelle James) endlessly roasts her in a way that feels OK to laugh at. Like we are cheering for Janine, but we are also cackling with Ava. The writers balance those two characters so well.
This morning Lainey wrote about Gigi Hadid as a working mom at fashion week and Derek Blasberg looks like he’s in Milan as well. He’s also working (being there is his job) and it’s notable because he has young twins with his partner, Nick. Traveling with infants is hard, traveling with two infants is even harder, leaving them behind is also hard, even when they are with another parent or caregiver. In her interview with British Vogue, Naomi Campbell said she brings her daughter everywhere with her and will do so as long as she can (ie: kindergarten). But these are three pretty powerful people in the industry who have children now and I wonder if collectively, that will change the space for others who come after. Like will hair and makeup rooms have nurseries?