S P E C I A L

T R I B U T E

I S S U E

GEORGE MICHAEL
JAN. 13, 2017 #1448

19632016

Plus
THE
PEOPLES
PRINCESS

CARRIE
FISHER
19562016
THE AMAZING LIFE
OF A STAR WARS ICON
REMEMBERING HER
LEGENDARY MOM,
DEBBIE REYNOLDS
19322016

WINTER

TV
PREVIEW
P. 34

STARRING

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

GIOVANNI RIBISI

GRAHAM YOST

BRYAN CRANSTON

STREAMJAN

THE
TOP 10 THINGS
W E LOV E
THIS WEEK

 Nick Viall

2 3 4 5

TV

M OV I E S

B O O KS

P O D C A ST S

THE BACHELOR

PATERSON

TWICE REMOVED

PORTLANDIA

Former Bachelor in

Jim Jarmuschs sweet

THE SPY WHO

COULDNT SPELL,
by Yudhijit
Bhattacharjee

Host A.J. Jacobs seeks

Fred starts his own

Paradise and two-time

Bachelorette contestant
Nick Viall is back for more
roses, champagne, and
tears. In the 21st season,
the 36-year-old romantic
will date 30 women in
the hopes of finding true
love. Heres hoping the
fourth times the charm!
(Mondays, 8 p.m., ABC)

2 E W.C O M

indie celebrates the

mundanities of everyday
existence, following
a New Jersey bus driver
and amateur poet
(Star Wars Adam Driver)
through seven days in
his lifefrom the 6 a.m.
wake-up call to the nights
last beer. (R)

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

In this remarkable true

story about the hunt
for a brilliant American
traitor who claimed to be
a CIA analyst, the FBI
must decode encrypted
messages that are even
more complex because
of the mans dyslexia.

TV

to prove we are family

by tracing the ancestry
of a notable guest each
week. As he discovers
ties to historical figures
and the common man,
Jacobs mixes humor,
emotion, and an element
of surprise in this ambitious project thats well
worth a listen. (iTunes)

phone company, Carrie

dates a hunk, and
Candace and Toni
explore life as feministbookstore retirees.
The seventh season of
Fred Armisen and
Carrie Brownsteins
quirky sketch comedy
is as strong as ever.
(Thursdays, 10 p.m., IFC)

I L L U ST R AT I O N BY J O H N R I T T E R

THE BACHELOR: MITCH HA ASETH/ABC; ILLUSTR ATION BACKGROUND: CR AIG SJODIN/ABC; PATERSON: MARY CYBULSK Y; PORTL ANDIA: AUGUSTA QUIRK /IFC

The Must List

7

10

M OV I E S

MUSIC

TV

B O O KS

MUSIC

HIDDEN FIGURES

SAY SOMETHING LOVING,

the xx

BRIGHT LIGHTS

BURNING
BRIGHT,
by Nick Petrie

DRINKIN
TOO MUCH,
Sam Hunt

Petries hero Peter

Ash gets a second
adventure in this thriller
that finds the former
war hero tangled up
with a journalist hiding
out in the redwoods
of Northern California
after her mothers
suspicious death.

The country singer

A feel-good movie
that lives up to the
hype, Hidden Figures
centers on three AfricanAmerican women
(Taraji P. Henson, Octavia
Spencer, and a scenestealing Janelle Mone)
and their essential
contributions to the
space program in
1960s America. (PG)
4 J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

What do you get

when you mix Jamies

twinkling production
and vocalists Romy
Croft and Oliver Sims
newly energized belting
with one holy, combative
relationship tale? The
boldest xx release yet.

E W.C O M

Following the

unexpected deaths
of Carrie Fisher and
Debbie Reynolds, HBO
moved up its 90-minute
documentary about the
daughter and mothers
relationship. The result
is a heartbreaking look at
their incomparable love
for each other. (Jan. 7,
8 p.m., HBO)

broke out with a breakup

album, Montevallo, in
2014. Now hes back with
no warning and a moving
apology to the woman
who inspired that batch
of tunes on this stark and
stunning piano ballad.

HIDDEN FIGURES: HOPPER STONE/FOX; BRIGHT LIGHTS: FISHER FAMILY ARCHIVE/HBO; HUNT: MARK HORTON/GET T Y IMAGES

6 7 8 9 10

THE WEEKS
BEST

You know, honestly,

Id rather get hit by a bus
than get one more
text from you, Charles.
Gina (Chelsea Peretti) to Charles
(Joe Lo Truglio), before actually being hit by
a bus later, on Brooklyn Nine-Nine

TWEET
OF THE
WEEK
My 2017
Resolutions:
1) do less,
enjoy more.
2) stand tall.
3) take time for
reflection, find
contentment.
4) fly private
more often.
@Actually
NPH
(Neil Patrick
Harris)

Lauren

Youre terminated.
Hasta la vista, baby!
Whats yours?
Hussey, Hussey.
So basically,
together, you
and I are a
disgusting slut.

Arnold Schwarzenegger,
debuting one of his firing lines to Carnie Wilson,
on The New Celebrity Apprentice

Nick

Lauren on
The Bachelor

How could you be

ogling these white men?
Katherine Johnson
(Taraji P. Henson)

If we were going to,

like, a vodka vineyard, that
would be awesome.
Jax, on wine tasting,
on Vanderpump Rules

Its equal rights.

I have the
right to see fine in
every color.
Mary Jackson (Janelle Mone)
in Hidden Figures

6 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

HARRIS: PHOTO IMAGE PRESS/SPL ASH NEWS; PERET TI: TOMMY GARCIA /FOX; THE BACHELOR: MITCH HA ASETH/ABC (2); SCHWAR ZENEGGER: ART STREIBER /NBCUNIVERSAL; JA X: TOMMY GARCIA/BR AVO; HIDDEN FIGURES: HOPPER STONE

You and I were blessed

with some pretty terrible
last names: Viall.

FEARLESS

EW
01

13
2017

SPECIAL
TRIBUTE ISSUE

NEWS AND
COLUMNS

18

Carrie Fisher
19562016

The Must List

BY ANTHONY
BREZNICAN

Sound Bites

24

10

Debbie Reynolds
19322016

News & Notes

BY CHRIS
NASHAWATY

64
The Bullseye

28
George Michael
19632016

REVIEWS

BY NOLAN FEENEY

48
Movies
FEATURES

52
34

TV

2017 Winter
TV Preview

60

Highly anticipated
returning shows plus
exciting new projects
from Hollywoods
A list equals plenty of
TV to cozy up with
this season.

Music

62
Books

ON THE COVERS
The Grim Reaper went on a vicious rampage at the end of 2016,
unexpectedly claiming some of pop cultures most beloved
stars, including Carrie Fisher, her mother Debbie Reynolds,
and George Michael. We have celebrated their memorable lives
and profound contributions to pop culture in the issue youre
reading. We have also published tribute covers for both Fisher
and Michael; if you didnt receive the cover you were hoping
for, youll find instructions on how to purchase the other at
right. Our sincere condolences go out to these stars families
and friends, as well as to the loved ones of General Hospital
star Barbara Tarbuck and William Christopher (who notably
played Father Mulcahy on M*A*S*H)both of whom also passed
away during the final week of the year.
Carrie Fisher as Star Wars Princess Leia. Photograph courtesy Lucasfilm
LFL 2016. George Michael photograph by Herb Ritts/Trunk Archive.

8 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

The cover
our subscribers
are receiving

The Carrie Fisher cover

and George Michael cover
(above) are available
on newsstands everywhereor for purchase at
backissues.ew.com

The cover that we

didnt publish, but best
sums up our feelings

FISHER AND STORMTROOPER: TERRY RICHARDS/NEWS SYNDICATION/REDUX, REYNOLDS: BET TMANN ARCHIVE/GET T Y IMAGES

We remember Carrie Fisher

(seen here in 1980)

The future belongs to

those who change it.

EW
01

13
2017

Mariah
Carey
Sounds
Off

Following a disastrous live New

Years Eve performance, questions
abound about the divas future.
Here, she sets the record straight.
By James Hibberd

MARIAHS WORLD HAS SUDDENLY

become a lot more interesting.

Eleven million people watched as
the Grammy-winning pop star endured a performance meltdown on Dick Clarks New
Years Rockin Eve With Ryan Seacrest, not so
much singing her three planned songs as killing time vamping around the Times Square
stage as the music played. The mishap
instantly went viral, followed by accusations
of lip-synching and plenty of public ngerpointing over who was to blame.
It was an incredible holiday season that
turned into a horrible New Years Eve, the
46-year-old singer tells EW in her first
interview on the subject. Dick Clark was
an incredible person. Im of the opinion
that he would not have let an artist go
through that, and he would have been as
mortied as I was.
Careys team insists the fault lies with
Dick Clark Productions, which produced
the program, and claims the companys

10 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

staff repeatedly ignored the singers preshow pleas to x her in-ear audio, resulting
in Carey being unable to hear her backing
tracks as she tried to perform in front of the
roaring live crowd, estimated at more than
a million people. The production company,
however, says its absurd that they would
try to sabotage their shows starbut
clearly something was amiss. Viewers wondered why some patches of the recordings
featured snippets of vocals. Every artist
sings to a track, especially in circumstances

( From top ) Mariah

Carey on Dick Clarks
New Years Rockin
Eve; on Mariahs World

17 Things That
Will Definitely
Maybe Happen in
2017, According
to Real Science
BY MARC SNETIKER

11

like that when its really loud, says Careys

manager Stella Bulochnikov, shooting
down rumors of lip-synching.
Needless to say, emotions ran high
behind the scenes immediately after the
performance, with Careys team trying to
persuade producers to remove the embarrassing segment from the tape-delayed
West Coast telecast and asking for a public
apology, neither of which happened. After
the dust and glitter settled, the question
soon became: How will this incident impact
Careys career moving forward?
According to the industry experts EW
spoke with, fans wont be deterred. Its not
like Ashlee Simpson on SNL, who was just
starting out, says one music-industry publicist. They know Mariah can sing. Her fans
absolutely love her, and she can do no
wrong. I dont think itll have any eect.
If these New Years Eve reworks seemed
like something out of a reality TV show, thats
rather appropriate given Carey stars on one:
E!s Mariahs World, which the singers camp
likes to call a documentary of her Sweet
Sweet Fantasy tour throughout Europe in
2016. Ratings started strong, with 2.2 million
viewers for the Dec. 4 premiere, but softened
to less than a million as the show continued
into the holidays. Were having a good time
watching it and hope fans love itwe held
nothing back, Carey says. Sources suggest
its likely up to the star whether the show will
have a second season, and theres an obvious
story peg coming up: In March, shell launch
her rst North American trek in six years.
The All the Hits tour partners Carey with
Lionel Richie (expect at least one duet) for
35 dates, and then its back to Las Vegas
for another string of solo appearances.
Still, there is one upshot to Careys misfortune: She seems to have landed on a New
Years resolution. Its not going to stop me
from doing a live event in the future, she
says, but it will make me less trusting of
using anyone outside of my own team.
CAREY: TAYLOR HILL /FILMMAGIC; MARIAHS WORLD: ROGER DO MINH/E! ENTERTAINMENT; FOY: MIKE MARSL AND/WIREIMAGE;
GR ANDE: JOHN R ASIMUS/BARCROF T IMAGES/BARCROF T MEDIA/GET T Y IMAGES; CHER: TAYLOR HILL /FILMMAGIC; DERN: R ACHEL
MURR AY/GET T Y IMAGES FOR BULGARI; POEHLER: DAN MACMEDAN/WIREIMAGE.COM; HAMM: DAVID CROT T Y/PATRICK MCMULL AN
VIA GET T Y IMAGES; PRINCE GEORGE: SAMIR HUSSEIN/WIREIMAGE; CAT: ISTOCKPHOTO/GET T Y IMAGES

The year of Claire Foy

Ariana Grande/Cher feud

Devon Sawa wins Dancing

With the Stars

Girls series finale = Shoshs

dream all along!?!?

Laura Dern tell-all

Step by Step reboot

(Step by Step by Step)

Announcement of, like, a

live-action checkers movie
or something

Priyanka Chopra: See the

Shocking Haircut

Amy Poehler dates Jon Hamm

10

Meme watch: Scooby-Doo

and Goodnight Moon

11

Ambiguous Calvin and

Hobbes legal scandal

12

J.K. Rowling reveals someone

at Hogwarts was a lesbian

13

Prince George speaks out!!

14

Wonder Woman + Aquaman

fanfic boom

15

Melania falls on stage, rips

out Michelles veggie garden

16

Rachel McAdams cat attack

17

Kevin, Man, CanWith a Plan

Wait (CBS crossover event)

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

E W.C O M

11

N E W

E P I S O D E S

S U N

&

M O N

JAN
15 9PM
O R STR E A M IT O N

Cruz Ramirez
(voiced by
Cristela Alonzo)

CA
RS

FIRST
LOOK

3 ADD

S TO

Lightning McQueen gains a new allyand a new nemesiswhen Pixars animated

franchise returns to the starting line this summer. B Y M A R C S N E T I K E R

Its souped-up millennials vs. midsize cars with midlife crises in

Pixars Cars 3, the next installment
(due June 16) of the billion-dollar
franchise about pro racer Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson). In
round 3, Lightnings brush with
mortality spurs the once-great
athlete to reexamine his tenure
on the track. McQueen is not the
young hotshot anymore, says
director Brian Fee. Hes looking

in the mirror and realizing, Im

40 years old, and dealing with
the fact that he might not be able
to do the thing he loves forever.
It doesnt help that a new,
faster generation of racersled
by Armie Hammers villainous
Jackson Storm (above left)wants
to leave Lightning in the dust.
Everything about Jackson says
hes faster, and weve designed
him so that even when hes just

ITS FLEET

standing next to McQueen,

McQueen looks old, says Fee.
Jackson thinks theyre taking
the sport to a new level and that
the older guys have no place.
In contrast is Cruz Ramirez
(Cristela Alonzo), a young trainer
who helps her idol get back on
his feet. Whereas Jackson would
look at McQueen and dump
him, Cruz is the most optimistic
person in the world, says Fee.

Friendly faces from the

earlier movies (including Larry
the Cable Guys Mater) will
also return, but Fee is coy as to
whether this more mature tale
marks the end of Lightnings
story: I have no idea whats down
the road for this franchise,
but for Lightning McQueen, by
the end of this movie, its safe
to say that this is only the beginning for him. Vroom, vroom.

CARS 3: 2016 DISNEY/PIX AR (2); SHERLOCK: ROBERT VIGL ASK Y/PBS

SPOILER ALERT

Sherlock Shocker:
Her Last Bow
Showrunner Steven Mofat clues us in
on the PBS series future after that jawdropping departure. B Y J A M E S H I B B E R D

Sherlock producers may have promised season 4 would be darker, but nobody expected
this pitch-black premiere twist. Mary (Amanda
Abbington), former superagent and beloved
wife to Dr. Watson (Martin Freeman), takes a
fatal bullet for Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch), driving a massive wedge between the
mystery-solving partners and sending the
season into whats promised to be an unprecedented exploration of grief. The rift between
them will be real and will never completely go
away, says showrunner Steven Mofat. The
emotionally grueling tone is unusual for a
series thats often a rather upbeat proceduraland could even lead to an end for the
drama. Sherlock might be the only show on

TV that is produced around its stars schedules (rather than the other way around), and
Cumberbatch and Freeman have both
recently been abducted by a mastermind
even more powerful than Moriarty: Marvel.
(Cumberbatch will appear as Doctor Strange
in two upcoming films, while Freeman will
reprise his role as antiterrorism commander
Everett Ross in Black Panther.) Plus, the actors
have expressed some doubt in recent interviews as to whether theyll be hanging out
again at 221B anytime soon. I dont know
whether [season 4] has a finality to itbut it
certainly had a feeling of a pause, Freeman
said. And I am never afraid of ending things.
Neither are Sherlocks writers, apparently.

 Amanda Abbington, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Martin Freeman

E W.C O M

13

For more talk of Hollywoods biggest movies,

tune in to EW Radios BEHIND THE
SCENES WITH ANTHONY BREZNICAN every
Wednesday at 6 p.m. (SiriusXM 105).

Pledging
Allegiance
Dedicated duo Mark Wahlberg
and Peter Berg continue
their focus on heroic American
tales with Patriots Day,
a tense thriller about the Boston
Marathon bombing (opening
wide Jan. 13). B Y D A R R E N F R A N I C H

Since collaborating on
the 2013 war film Lone
Survivor, Mark Wahlberg,
45, and director Peter
Berg, 54, have forged a personal
and professional bond that is almost
a brand. In the past five months,
theyve released two films back-toback about brave Everyguys
struggling through true-life disasters.
Septembers Deepwater Horizon cast
Wahlberg as an oil-rig technician
weathering the 2010 BP explosion.
And now theyve reteamed for
Patriots Day, which stars Bostonbred Wahlberg as a policeman who
witnesses the terrorist bombing at
the 2013 Boston Marathon and joins
the hunt for the perpetrators. EW
talked to the pair about the film and
their fruitful relationship.

Mark Wahlberg
on the set of
Patriots Day

WAHLBERG AND BERG: BRIGIT TE L ACOMBE; PATRIOTS DAY: K AREN BALL ARD/CBS FILMS

Mark, you started working on Patriots Day as a producer just a couple of

years after the bombing. Were there
people who felt it was too soon?
M A R K W A H L B E R G If youd just went
by what the media was saying,
yes, absolutely, nobody wanted it.
But in having an opportunity to
go into the community, seeing how
people responded, how excited
they wereeverybody felt the same
way. They wanted to make sure that
we were going to do the right thing.

Given all the research that went

into the film, what led to the
creation of Marks character, Sgt.
Tommy Saunders, as a composite?
P E T E R B E R G There was no one cop
that did it all. I felt like we needed
someone to anchor the film,
and that someone would be Mark.
W A H L B E R G We heard 20 diferent
people, literally, say to our face

that they were the ones who put

the handcufs on the kid at the
boat, they were the ones who
made the final arrest.
B E R G Its Rashomon. Theres your
truth, my truth, and the truth.
We had to filter through a lot of
diferent stories.
By nature, the film touches
on politically charged topics.
How do you anticipate audiences
will receive it, considering that
its arriving after a bitter election?
W A H L B E R G We werent thinking
about what the election was
going to look like. Nobody could
have predicted that, right? This is
a movie for everybody to find hope

and inspiration. Will it inspire conversation and debate about certain

things? Absolutely. What was most
timely was that these horrific acts
of terror happen all over the world.
B E R G I was in New York, 9/11. Marks
from Boston, flew there immediately
after. I was in Nice, Bastille Day, when
the truck drove through and killed
all these people. Its the new reality,
unfortunately. The idea of trying to
explore how we process this kind of
event, how we survive emotionally,
what we tell our kids: That was the
movie we wanted to make. Theres no
hidden agenda, no political agenda.
Patriots Day is your third
collaboration. What spurs you

guys to keep working together?

W A H L B E R G I love the man that
he is, the father that he is, and the
leader. We push each other.
B E R G Hes come through hell.
He showed me where he lived in
BostonDorchester, a rough
f---ing neighborhoodand the fact
that he survived that [is] deeply
inspirational. He makes me want to
work harder. Were both capable
of being sarcastic, vicious, violent
lunatics, but we hold each
other in check, appeal to the
best aspects of each other.
W A H L B E R G I havent had this relationship before with another guy.
Its still really hard to put into words.
But the love, and the respect, is real.

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

E W.C O M

17

S p e c i a l Tr i b u t e I s s u e

1956 2016

CARRIE
FISHER
HER SUDDEN DEATH ON DEC. 27 AT THE AGE OF 60 STUNNED

S TA R WA R S FANS ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. EW LOOKS BACK AT

A

DEFIANT

PRINCESS

S C R E E N A N D O F F.

BY

WHO

PLAYED

A N T H O N Y

BY

HER

OWN

B R E Z N I C A N

P.

19

2 4

ON

@Breznican

Remembering Debbie Reynolds

PA G E

RULES,

 I N S TA N T G R A T I F I C A T I O N
TA K E S T O O L O N G

(PREVIOUS SPRE AD AND THIS PAGE) LUCASFILM LFL 2016 (6)

This was the lament of actress and recovering addict Suzanne Vale, the lead
character of Carrie Fishers 1987 novel Postcards From the Edge. Its a funny
line, but in the book Fisher followed it with a quick dismissal, describing
the character who was loosely based on herself as the glib martyr. On
the page, as in life, Fisher was the master of calling out nonsenseeven her
own. When she died on Dec. 27, several days after suffering a heart attack
at the end of a trans-Atlantic flight, the 60-year-old actress, author, and
raconteur left a pop culture void in the form of her perpetually arched eyebrow. As Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, she was a faithful and fearless
revolutionary, facing down Darth Vader, Jabba the Hutt, and every other
intergalactic rogue, with the kind of moxie Jedis only dream about. In real
life, Fisher endlessly mocked her characters cinnamon-bun hairdo, golden
slave bikini, and fluctuating faux-British accent. By the time of 2015s The
Force Awakens, released 38 years after the original, the wiseass actress and

( Clockwise from far left ) A kiss from The Empire Strikes Back; aboard the
Millennium Falcon; Carrie Fisher with Blues Brothers John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd;
with Bruno Kirby in When Harry Met Sally; chatting with George Lucas;
on the Star Wars set; with her daughter, Billie Lourd, in The Force Awakens

R OYA L
WIT
CARRIE FISHER LIKED TO
TA L K . F O R T U NAT E LY,
S H E WA S B R I L L I A N T AT I T.

THE BLUES BROTHERS: UNIVERSAL /EVERET T COLLECTION; WHEN HARRY MET SALLY: CASTLE ROCK /NELSON/COLUMBIA/REX/SHUT TERSTOCK ; WITH RE YNOLDS: L AWRENCE SCHILLER /
COPYRIGHT POL ARIS COMMUNICATIONS INC.; WITH REYNOLDS AND EDDIE FISHER: PETER BASCH/CAMER A PRESS/RETNA LTD.; RETURN OF THE JEDI: LUCASFILM LFL 2016

Hi, Im Mrs. Han Solo, and

Im an alcoholic. Im an
alcoholic because George
Lucas ruined my life.

the earnest princess had merged into one:

General Organa, the leader whose solemn
fight against fascist tyranny remained
undaunted but was now spiked with even
more cynical wit. Fishers most famous character was a Rebel who would never know
peace, a princess who would never know a
happily-ever-after, but still, always, she was
the woman who would never give up.
I like Princess Leia. I like how she handles things. I like how she treats people,
Fisher told Terry Gross on NPRs Fresh Air
in November. She tells the truth. She, you
know, gets what she wants done. I dont
have a real problem with Princess Leia. Ive
sort of melded with her over time.
Fisher described herself as the custodian
of Leia, vetoing dialogue and plot points
she deemed unfit for the character, while
still poking fun at her fancy gas-station
attendant military attire and baboons ass
hairstyle. The actress delighted in tormenting her big-screen alter ego, even though she
relished the adoration it brought. Fisher
became a hero to generations of little girls as
the lone standard-bearer for women in the

Star Wars universe, at least until the prequels

Padm, The Force Awakens Rey, and Rogue
Ones Jyn Erso came along.
Actually, where would any of the Star
Wars characters be without Leia? It was she
who reached out to Obi-Wan Kenobi, beckoning him from exile to the front lines of
conflict. Leia impressed upon Luke that the
fight against the Empire was more than riproaring adventure; it had meaning for
countless lives beyond his own. Leias high
expectations, idealism, and crossed arms
and furrowed brow shaped the scoundrel
Han Solo into a halfway decent guy, against
his own selfish impulses. Shes the one who
never shied away from bearing her heart,
wielding it as valiantly as she did a blaster,
even if her affection was sometimes met
with a boastful I know. Leia was the lifeblood of the Rebellion, and Fisher was the
characters brave, beating heart.
Many of Fishers most daring acts took
place off screen as she confronted her battles with drug addiction and mental illness
with inspiring frankness. As a novelist and
later a memoirist, she provided hope and
( From left ) Performing in Las Vegas with her
mother, Debbie Reynolds, in 1963; with Reynolds
and her father, Eddie Fisher, in 1958

TWO OF THE SADDEST WORDS

IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
ARE WHAT PARTY? AND L.A.
IS THE WHAT PARTY? CAPITAL
OF THE WORLD.

Even in space
theres a double
standard
for women.
At a certain point in my early
20s, my mother started to become
worried about my obviously
ever-increasing drug ingestion.
So she ended up doing what any
concerned parent would do:
She called Cary Grant.

EVERYONE DRIVES
SOMEBODY CRAZY. I JUST
HAVE A BIGGER CAR.
I am hoping to get the
centerfold in Psychology Today.
What do I remember from making the movies? I remember that
iron bikini I wore in Episode VI:
what supermodels will eventually
wear in the seventh ring of hell.

S p e c i a l Tr i b u t e I s s u e
vital humor to countless others facing similar struggles. Her scars werent visible, but
talking and writing about them was her way
of refusing to hideand encouraging
others to do the same.
Fisher was also unabashed about her
family and love life. As the child of the late
crooner Eddie Fisher and singer-actress
Debbie Reynolds, who died at age 84 one
day after her daughter, Fisher was born into
turmoil, with a father who abandoned them
when she was a toddler for a romance with
Elizabeth Taylor. The insecurities and
upheaval of those early years provided
fodder for endless anecdotes but also
haunted her throughout a life that was anything but steadyexcept for the bond with
her daughter, actress Billie Lourd, and
maybe her French bulldog, Gary, a stoic
constant companion in her later years.
Her own traumas and dramas were never
off-limits. In her 2016 memoir, The Princess
Diarist, she explored a brief fling with thenmarried costar Harrison Ford during the
making of the original Star Wars. In her stage
show Wishful Drinking, Fisher simultaneously sneered at heartfelt breakup songs

CARRIE
I KNEW
THE

REFLECTS ON THE SPECIAL

FRIENDSHIP HE FORGED WITH CARRIE FISHER A LONG
TIME AGO IN A GAL AXY FAR , FAR AWAY

( From top )
Fisher with Paul
Simon in 1980;
with Harrison
Ford in 1979

22 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

Before Star Wars, the world was

preprogrammed to accept a
storybook damsel in distress who
cowers as the men save her, but
Carrie Fisher shattered that mold.
She was so take-charge that she
made Harrison Ford and me look
like a couple of chumps. Not only
was Princess Leia demandingas
royalty ought to bebut she was
even judgmental about the kind
of aircraft that Han Solo and Luke
Skywalker picked her up in: You
came in that thing? There was
great humor in that, and a relatability that was efortlessly empowering: I dont need a guy to be
fulfilled in this world or any other.
Carrie was an inspiration for young
girls and women everywhere.

When I met Carrie, I was amazed

at how within 20 minutes we felt
like we had known each other for
years. Some of the things she told
me that first night were brutal
assessments of her father and stepfather. You think, Should she be
telling me this? Carrie didnt just
take you into her confidence, she
bulldozed you into her confidence.
Thats funny because if you confided in Carrie, you were guaranteed it was going to be everywhere.
In fact, if you wanted to get something out, you could say, Hey, Carrie,
let me tell you this, but you cant
tell anybody Then everybody
would know. She had no vault.
She was only 19 when I met her.
On one level, she was still such a

WITH SIMON: AL AMY STOCK PHOTO; WITH FORD: LYNN GOLDSMITH/ZUMA PRESS; WITH HAMILL: LUCASFILM LFL 2016

MARK HAMILL

FORD, HAMILL, AND FISHER: LYNN GOLDSMITH/ZUMA PRESS; THE FORCE AWAKENS: DAVID JAMES/ LUCASFILM LFL 2015

little girlI was a worldly 24, of

courseand yet she had this old
soul. It seemed like shed lived
many, many lives. Because she
was a teenager, and was the
daughter of Debbie Reynolds and
Eddie Fisherthese big Hollywood
starsyou had this anticipation
that she was going to be a certain
type of person. To an extent she
was, but she was so much more
than that. Hilarious, and dark, and
sardonic. You got a kind of contact
high with her. She was like a latterday Auntie Mame or Dorothy
Parker, and so witty that you really
had to be on your game. It was
an accomplishment to be able to
make her laugh.
We were the closestHarrison,
Carrie, and Ion the first film.
By the time of The Empire Strikes
Back, the story lines had split us
up, so the relationship on set
wasnt as intense. But she still had
that ability to make you feel like
you were the most important
thing in her life at that moment.
The only predictability about
Carrie was her unpredictability.
She could be infuriating. As caring as she wasId go to New York
and shed find out I was in a hotel
and demand I stay at her apartmentshe could be equally
thoughtless. But that was just her.
You accepted the whole package.
Over the years, wed talk on the
phone or see each other at a convention, but we had lost that closeness we once had. So coming
back for The Force Awakens was
a real gift. We could reconnect in
a meaningful way. She was very
open about how scary it was. But
I thought she looked fantastic, and
so dignified. We couldnt be what

Carrie didnt just take you into

her confidence, she bulldozed
you into her confidence.
we were beforerunning around
the Death Star, bumping heads
and swapping one-linersbut
thats life. And thats what these
stories deal with: life and death,
renewal and hope. Once we
expressed our fear, we were able
to embrace the experience, and
it was easy to fall back into that
energy we had before. I loved her
guts, and she drove me crazy. We
really were like a brother and sister.
Im still trying to process this.
I cant think of her in the past
tense. I feel so devastated that
I cant imagine what Carries
daughter, Billie, or her brother,
Todd, are going through. It was
too soon. Im sure there is a long
list of people who knew her better
than I did, but our relationship
was special. We were in the
garage band that hit it big, and
then we split up and went on our
merry ways. She was something
else. I met only one Carrie Fisher.
I dont expect to meet another.

penned about her by ex-husband Paul Simon

while luxuriating in their beauty. Her long
relationship with Hollywood agent Bryan
Lourd ended when he left her for a man,
becoming another tale of rejection and pain
that she alchemized into a sardonic life
lesson. My ability to write helps me get
through, Fisher told the Daily Mail in 2011.
But being able to make light of situations
doesnt mean theyre light.
She may have been glib, but she was no
martyr. She was a survivor, and an inspiration
to those who loved her from both near and
afar. As Steven Spielberg said after her death:
She didnt need the Force. She was a force.
Carrie Fisher wouldve had a good comeback for that.

S TA R WA R S
AFTER LEIA
Leia will live onif only for one more
film. Before her unexpected death,
Carrie Fisher had already completed
her work as General Organa for
director Rian Johnsons follow-up to
The Force Awakens, the still-untitled
Episode VIII, due Dec. 15.
Lucasfilm hasnt commented on
what Fishers death means for the franchise, and obviously any involvement
she may have had in 2019s Episode IX
will be reevaluated in the weeks and
months to come. Rogue One digitally
re-created Fishers 1977 look for a
cameo, and the technique also gave
a supporting role to Peter Cushings
Grand Mof Tarkin, even though
the actor died in 1994. But the films
visual-efects supervisors have said
this expensive and time-consuming
method should be used sparingly.
For now, Fishers Star Wars family
has focused on saying goodbye to the
actress who brought Leia to life. Eventually, theyll have to figure out how
to say goodbye to the character, too.

As told to Anthony Breznican

Ford, Mark Hamill, and

Fisher share a London cab in
1980 during promotion
for The Empire Strikes Back

General
Organa
(Fisher) and
Han Solo
(Ford) in
The Force
Awakens

PEN remembers Fisher and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, with an inside look at the lives,
legacy, and loss of these Hollywood icons. Watch at people.com/CarrieFisherPEN
or download the PEN app on mobile and connected devices to stream it.

Debbie Reynolds
on the set of It Started
E W.C
With a Kiss (1959)

S p e c i a l Tr i b u t e I s s u e

1932 2016

DEBBIE
REYNOLDS
A DAY AFTER THE
DEATH OF HER DAUGHTER, CARRIE FISHER,
A HOLLYWOOD LEGEND WHO
SANG AND DANCED HER
WAY INTO AMERICAS HEART
DIED AT 84.

B Y C H R I S N A S H A WA T Y
@ChrisNashawaty

T H E N E WS F E LT L I K E M OR E T R AG E DY

in the Rain, arguably the greatest movie

musical ever made. As Kathy Selden, an
anonymous ghost singer to the stars, Reynolds, who was just 19 at the time of filming,
more than held her own (with both her
tonsils and her toes) opposite quicksilver
song-and-dance magicians Gene Kelly and
Donald OConnor. To watch her performing
the indelibly chipper Good Morning is to
be transported to a place of pure, unfiltered
joydespite the knowledge that her feet
were bloodied by the number of takes directors Kelly and Stanley Donen required.
While filming 1955s The Tender Trap, her
costar Frank Sinatra cautioned her against
marrying crooner Eddie Fisher. He said,
Oh, dont marry Eddie, Reynolds told
People in 2015. He said I shouldnt get
married to a singer. Were not faithful. Its
ridiculous for you to take this on. Sinatras
words would prove prophetic. Reynolds and
Fisher did marry in 1955 and had two children together (Carrie and Todd Fisher). The
husband and wife even appeared on screen

together in 1956s Bundle of Joy, which, like

Reynolds other films from the era (The
Catered Affair, Tammy and the Bachelor),
presented an idealized image of sunny
Eisenhower-era simplicity. But the Fishers
storybook romance wouldnt last. Eddie fell
in love with their friend Elizabeth Taylor
while consoling her after the 1958 death of
her husband Mike Todd. The affair became a
scandalous tabloid drama in which Reynolds
was cast in the role of victima role she
neither invited nor exploited. She was the
Jennifer Aniston of her day, the wronged
victor in the court of public opinion. Fisher
and Reynolds were divorced the following
year, freeing him up to become the fourth
Mr. Elizabeth Taylor, while Reynolds would
wed (and later divorce) shoe magnate
Harry Karl in 1960 and real estate developer
Richard Hamlett in 1984.
Reynolds emerged from the real-life soap
opera more beloved than ever. In 1964, she
starred in The Unsinkable Molly Browna
musical drama about the celebrated country

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than any single familyfamous or not

should have to bear. On Dec. 28, just one
day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher,
passed away, Oscar-nominated actress and
Singin in the Rain star Debbie Reynolds
died from a stroke in Los Angeles at age 84.
The unofficial cause of death might as well
have been a broken heart.
Born Mary Frances Reynolds in 1932, the
El Paso native moved to California with
her working-class parents when she was 7.
A wholesome girl-next-door type with the
kind of wide, thousand-watt smile that could
light up any room, Reynolds was discovered
by Hollywood talent agents while competing
in a Miss Burbank pageant in 1948. She was
immediately signed to a contract at Warner
Bros., which changed her first name.
Even early on, Reynolds was always more
complex than the bubbly virginal ingenue
she appeared to be in her first big-screen
vehicle, 1950s The Daughter of Rosie OGrady.
Her innocent facade and sweet, angelic singing voice belied a young woman who could
be brassy, sarcastic, and sharp as a box of
tacks. That same year, she appeared opposite Fred Astaire in the musical Three Little
Words, which would earn her a Golden
Globe nomination for New Star of the Year.
Two years later, she would graduate to
bona fide Tinseltown icon with 1952s Singin

ESSENTIAL REYNOLDS

26 E W.C O M

SINGIN IN
T H E R A I N 1952

TA M M Y A N D T H E
B A C H E L O R 1957

THE UNSINKABLE
M O L LY B R O W N 1964

The glorious pinnacle of

the MGM musical era:
Gene Kelly and Donald
OConnor provide the
hoofing pyrotechnics and
Reynolds supplies the
films emotional core as
an unsung singer.

As sweet as apple pie,

Reynolds Southern gal
charms Leslie Nielsen
and spreads her sunshine
wherever she goes. The
film feels almost quaint in
its square decency, but
Reynolds is radiant.

Reynolds sassy Titanic

survivor is a rags-to-riches
sensation. Her songand-dance numbers are
electric, especially when
urging saloon patrons to
belly up to the bar. Theres
even a pie fight!

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

THE UNSINK ABLE MOLLY BROWN: MGM/PHOTOFEST; TAYLOR, FISHER, AND REYNOLDS: HULTON ARCHIVE/GET T Y IMAGES;
REYNOLDS AND FISHER: JASON L AVERIS/FILMMAGIC; CHARLOT TES WEB: PAR AMOUNT PICTURES/PHOTOFEST; MOTHER:
PAR AMOUNT/EVERET T COLLECTION; WILL & GR ACE: PAUL DRINK WATER /NBCU PHOTO BANK /GET T Y IMAGES

girlturnedhigh-society grande dame who

survived the sinking of the Titanic. Brash and
hilarious, Reynolds force-of-nature performance earned her her only Oscar nomination, and though she lost Best Actress to Julie
Andrews for Mary Poppins, Reynolds always
cited Molly as her favorite role.
In 1973, Reynolds enchanted a new generation of fans by voicing the wise and
maternal spider Charlotte in the animated
adaptation of E.B. Whites classic childrens story Charlottes Web, following it
with a Broadway revival of Irene that
nabbed her a Tony nod. She and her career
truly were unsinkable. In 1990, Reynolds
life was once again placed under the public
spotlight (albeit this time more comically),
thanks to Postcards From the Edge, a bittersweet film based on Carrie Fishers 1987
semiautobiographical novel of growing up
in a famous mothers shadow, starring
Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine.
By then, Reynolds was accustomed to
playing mothers and embraced it. But

CHARLOTTES
W E B 1973
As the voice of the titular
spider in the animated
adaptation of E.B. Whites
childrens classic, Reynolds manages to sneak
a heartfelt lesson about
loss into a candy-colored
cartoon wrapper.

rarely has an actress portrayed the doting,

suffocating, and infuriating side of the
matriarch as she did in Albert Brooks 1996
comedy, Mother. She imbues what could
have easily been a sitcom stereotype with
genuine pain, pathos, and playful passive
aggression. She was nominated for a
Golden Globeand was not nearly finished,
as her Emmy-nominated turn as Debra
Messings mother, Bobbi, during Will &
Graces eight-season run still lay ahead.
Reynolds final project was the HBO documentary Bright Lights (debuting Jan. 7), in
which she and her daughter, Carrie, discuss
their relationship through the years. As
ever, Reynolds own lifeits exhilarating
highs and tragic lowsprovided her with
the best material. After Carrie died on
Dec. 27, the shock and toll of planning the
funeral of her own daughter simply seemed
to be too much. Said her son, Todd, She
wanted to be with Carrie. Now, poignantly,
she is. They are two stars, once again,
shining together side by side. X

( Clockwise from top left ) Singin in the Rain;

The Unsinkable Molly Brown; Elizabeth Taylor,
Eddie Fisher, and his then wife Reynolds in 1958;
Reynolds with Carrie Fisher in 2015

M O T H E R 1996

W I L L & G R AC E

Playing the kind of mother

who kills you with kindness
(among other emotional
stealth weapons), Reynolds
shows why you can never
go home again, especially
if your name is Albert
Brooks. Easily Reynolds
best comedy performance.

19992006

Portraying Graces mom,

Bobbi, Reynolds is as
fiery as her hairand
her taunting Told ya so
(complete with jazz
hands) is the anthem
for overbearing parents
everywhere.

S p e c i a l Tr i b u t e I s s u e

1963

2016

G EORGE
MICHAEL

TEEN IDOL, SEX SYMBOL, FREEDOM FIGHTER: HOW THE SINGULAR STAR CHANGED CULTURE, CHALLENGED NORMS, AND MADE
SOME OF THE MOST FEARLESS MUSIC OF THE 80S AND 90S.
BY NOLAN FEENEY @NOLANFEENEY

28 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

TWO MINUTES INTO GEORGE

MICHAELSMUSICVIDEOFOR
FREEDOM! 90, DIRECTOR
DAVID FINCHER ZOOMS IN ON
A LEATHER JACKET HANGING
IN A CLOSET. ITS A REPLICA

30 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

( Clockwise from top ) George Michael performing at Wham!s 1986 farewell concert in
London; with Wham!s Andrew Ridgeley at
Chinas Great Wall in 1985 (the duo were
the first Western group to perform in the
communist country); his 1998 coming-out
interview with CNN; Wham! performing in
the U.K. in 1983; Michael, born Georgios
Kyriacos Panayiotou, at 8 years old

musicians to top Billboards Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart back when

it was known as the Hot Black Singles chart between 1982 and 1990.)
And like Bowie and Prince, he played with masculinity and femininity
in his looks, lyrics, and performances, helping redene the worlds
understanding of sexuality. (And that was before Michael ocially
came out in 1998.) He was also a singular artist: a gifted songwriter
who believed in the power and integrity of pop music despite his disillusionment with the industry machine and the heat of the spotlight.
Sure, Michael didnt have a huge creative outputhe released only
four studio albums of original solo materialbut he was undoubtedly
a superstar, selling more than 100 million records in his lifetime.
Michaels ambitions developed at an early age. He was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963, in East Finchley, England,
to a Greek-Cypriot restaurateur father and English mother, who juggled multiple jobs. To support Michael and his two sisters, they worked

(PREVIOUS SPRE AD) ROB VERHORST/REDFERNS/GET T Y IMAGES; (THIS SPRE AD) 8-YE AR- OLD MICHAEL: LFI
ARCHIVE/ZUMAPRESS.COM; MICHAEL IN 1986: STAFF/MIRRORPIX/NEWSCOM VIA ZUMA PRESS; IN CHINA: PETER
CHARLESWORTH/GET T Y IMAGES; ON CNN: CNN; WHAM!: PETER STILL /REDFERNS/GET T Y IMAGES

of the one Michael wore three years earlier in

the video for his 1987 hit Faith, which
helped transform him from the amboyant
teen idol of pop duo Wham! into a libidinous,
defiant star. But with Freedom! 90,
Michael, who pointedly did not appear in the
video, was changing course once againand
as the camera gets close, the jacket bursts
into ames. Years later, Michael said his label
was horried by the destruction of his own
iconography: Why would you burn something that made Sony $150 million? he
mused to MTV in 2004. I thought that was a
wonderful way to get rid of an image, really.
Over his nearly four decades in the spotlight, Michael was never afraid to take risks,
even if it meant potentially torching his
career. And though his personal struggles
and a handful of drug-related arrests made
more headlines than his art in his later
years, it was still a surprise when, on Dec.
25, Michaels rep announced that the singer
had died peacefully at home over the
Christmas period. He was 53. Michaels
boyfriend, Fadi Fawaz, discovered his body
at the stars house in Goring-on-Thames,
England; Michaels manager said the cause
of death was apparent heart failure, though
police said on Dec. 30 that the results of an
initial autopsy were inconclusive.
Michaels passing closed out a year that
was already full of devastating losses in the
music world. (Another Great Artist leaves
us, Madonna tweeted. Can 2016 F--- O
NOW?) Like two other departed greats,
Prince and David Bowie, Michael and his
music deed easy categorizations of genre
and race. (He was one of only four white

10

F R E E D O M 1984

Yes, its the lesser of the two

Freedoms in his catalog, but this
early Wham! smash is still a tiny masterpiece of radical optimism, pure
pop sugar, and 1,001 doot-doo-doos.
11

SONGS OF A LIF ETIME

A RANKING OF THE 20 FINEST MOMENTS
F R O M H I S D E C A D E S - S PA N N I N G C A R E E R .

WAITING FOR THAT DAY 1990

A gorgeous ache of a ballad and an

indelible requiem for lost love, interwoven with ghostly fragments of the
Rolling Stones You Cant Always
Get What You Want.

BY LEAH GREENBLATT @LEAHBATS

12

FREEDOM! 90 1990

A sublime soul-pop anthem, righteous

battle cry, and raw career mea culpa
sent skyward by a cliff-scaling chorus
and one of the funkiest bass
breakdowns this side of Sly Stone.
2

FA I T H 1 9 87

His triumphant farewell to Wham!s

prefab pop and peach-fuzzed image
introduced the world to a reborn
George: stripped-down, stubbled,
and newly baptized in sex and God
and acoustic guitars.
3

Scandal? Handled. With this

choogling roller-disco ode to sex
alfresco, Michael threw a sly wink at
his 98 arrest for public indecency.
13

14

FAT H E R F I G U R E 1 9 87

Madonna was hardly the only star to

tangle sexuality with religious imagery
and daddy issues and elevate it to
high art; Michaels preacher-teacher
fantasy is a synth-walloped wonder.
5

I W A N T Y O U R S E X 1 9 87

That title, and the lyrics frank celebration of consummation and desire,
stole the headlines. The bigger surprise was his subtext: a canny boost
for monogamy in the age of AIDS.
6

C A R E L E S S W H I S P E R 1 9 8 4

Beneath the patty melt of all that 80s

Velveeta lies a near-flawless ballad, a
quiet storm of swirling melody, falsetto
longing, and grief-stricken sax.
7

T O O F U N K Y 1992

Au contraire, monsieur; you were

exactly, fantastically funky enough.
8

DONT LET THE SUN

G O D OW N O N M E 1991

By adding his silky vocals to an already

iconic song, the singer turned old
friend Elton Johns 1974 ballad into a
dazzling stadium-size spiritual.
9

K I S S I N G A F O O L 1 9 8 8

A lovely, jazzy champagne cocktail of

a song, as debonair as a Cole Porter
number and as intimate as a whisper.
15

L A S T C H R I S T M A S 1984

Wham!s enduring contribution to the

holiday canon, and the agony of
offering up the one gift that never
promises a return receipt.

O N E M O R E T RY 1998

Who could refuse a second chance to

a man so gorgeously wrecked by love?

O U T S I D E 1998

E V E R Y T H I N G S H E WA N T S
198 5

He loves her; she loves money. It will

all end in misery, but oh, what a
perfect muse his material girl was.
16

S O M E B O DY T O L O V E 1992

An epic, electrifying salute to the

heart-smashing Queen classic.
17

I K N E W YO U W E R E WA I T I N G
( F O R M E ) 1 9 87

Most artists would probably rather

backstroke with sharks than subject
themselves to a sing-off with the
Queen of Soul, but Michael stepped
to Aretha with swagger and finesse
and she adored him right back.
18

FA S T LOV E 1996

An airily fluorescent tribute to less

talk (I wont bore you with the
details, baby), more action, and sex
as strings-free as a drive-through.
19

M O N K E Y 1988

Addiction, a toxic ex...the monkeys

source was a mystery. But unleashed
on the dance floor, it was magic.
20

L E T H E R D O W N E A S Y 2 0 14

A delicate late-career lullaby, as

tender as anything hes ever done.

J E S U S T O A C H I L D 1 9 9 6

An intoxicating, atmospheric swoon,

skirting blasphemy for pure bliss.

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

E W.C O M

31

S p e c i a l Tr i b u t e I s s u e

32 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

Michael performing on his

Faith World Tour in 1988

engaging in a lewd act in the presence of an undercover police officer in a Beverly Hills park restroom, which prompted him to come out publicly in a CNN
interview. Even then, Michael refused to be victimized or downplay his sexuality,
making light of the incident in the video for his song Outside that year.
Michaels career wasnt the same afterwardhis last three releases, including
2014s live album Symphonica, were chart-toppers in the U.K. but relative commercial disappointments in the U.S.yet the singer seemed to enjoy having a lower
profile. I want to divorce myself from pretty much everything public after the [25thanniversary arena] tour, he told EW in 2008. But in his final years, the artist who
once shunned the accomplishments that made him famous seemed to embrace
them again. He was working on a documentary, tentatively titled
Freedom: George Michael, about the making of Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1, which is
expected to premiere on Showtime this year. And he told EW in 2008 that he was
interested in writing a memoir. Up until the end of his life, Michael was determined
to have the last wordor the last laughabout his legacy: Ive done too many stupid things for there not to be movies made about me when Im dead, he said
matter-of-factly, before cheekily concluding, So I might as well write the script. X
PEN looks back on the life and career of the pop superstar and sex symbol who
rocketed to fame in the 80s. Watch at people.com/georgemichaelcoverstory or
download the PEN app on mobile and connected devices to stream.

MICHAEL PUTL AND/GET T Y IMAGES

tirelessly, and Michael spoke frankly about

his parents being cold and unaffectionate as
a result. His father was particularly unsupportive when Michael announced his plans
to pursue music in his teens. I subconsciously fought him to the degree that I
drove [myself ] to be one of the most successful musicians in the world, he told the
Huffington Post in 2009. That success
ignited in 1981, when he started Wham!
with his schoolmate Andrew Ridgeley. The
groups early tunes deftly mixed bubblegum melodies with elements of hip-hop,
disco, and old-school Motownmost
notably on Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You
Do) and their No. 1 smash Wake Me Up
Before You Go-Go.
He and Ridgeley called it quits in 1986 in
what Michael called the most amicable split
in pop history, and it didnt take long for
Michael to radically transform his image
and challenge norms. Radio stations banned
his 1987 hit I Want Your Sex, released at
the height of the AIDS epidemic, for its perceived message of sexual promiscuity. (He
insisted he was promoting monogamy.)
Such controversies only boosted his fame.
His debut album, Faith, was a pop juggernaut: It would go on to sell more than 25
million copies worldwide and earn him a
Grammy in 1989 for Album of the Year.
The 90s, however, marked a period of
intense professional and emotional turmoil. He released Listen Without Prejudice,
Vol. 1 in 1990, then sued his label, Sony,
two years later, alleging he had no input
into how his music was marketed. (He lost
the suit.) In 1993, his partner, Anselmo
Feleppa, died of AIDS-related causes; his
mother succumbed to cancer four years
later. I couldnt believe how much God
was piling on at once, he told The Guardian in 2005. I had this overwhelming
feeling that the best was behind me.
A subsequent scandal didnt lift his spirits. In April 1998, Michael was arrested for

CR AWFORD: AMANDA EDWARDS/WIREIMAGE; ETHERIDGE: JA Z ZARCHIVHAMBURG/ULLSTEIN BILD/GET T Y IMAGES; FR ANKLIN: PAUL MORIGI/WIREIMAGE; WITH MICHAEL: ROB KOZLOFF/AP IMAGES

AN IC ON REMEMBERED
CINDY CRAWFORD

MELISSA ETHERIDGE

ARETHA FRANKLIN

The supermodel remembers her role

in his Freedom! 90 video.

The songwriter recalls how Michael,

who struggled with his sexuality, was
ultimately a beacon for the LGBT world.

The Queen of Soul looks back on

collaborating with Michael on the
Grammy-winning 1987 single
I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me).

I heard from director David Fincher

that George wanted the group of
women who had done a 1990 cover of
British Vogue together exactly, no substitutions. It seemed like it was Georges
idea to do this video, where it wasnt
about him even though the song was
obviously about him. Everyone shot
[scenes] separately, so it wasnt like a
big party atmosphere. We each had our
own personalities within the video. But
I remember being bummed, like,
Really? I have to be in the bathtub with
a towel on my head? Everyone else gets
to look so cool! Then when I saw it
after, I was like, Okay, this is pretty cool.
When it started playing on MTV 24/7,
you realized it struck a chord. All of the
women in that video were [famous]
before, but by putting us all together,
our fame grew exponentially. That video
was when supermodels were born.
For so many of us, [Georges songs
were] the soundtrack of our coming-ofage. But more than the music, it was
the message that was just as important.
MTV changed the face of music. It
wasnt enough to have a great voice
anymore. You had to be the whole
package. George deciding at that
moment that he didnt want to play the
game was a great message. I think
people loved him more because
of that. AS TOLD TO JESSICA GOODMAN

In 2000, we performed at the Millennium March on Washingtons Equality

Rocks concert. This was after he had
come out, so he was really into it.
Theres a wild freedom when you come
out and George was in that space. But
I felt he was a bit uncomfortable with
it. He was working with an organization
to stop conversion therapy, and at the
concert he showed this documentary
that was about conversion therapy. It
was super dark. When you live so much
of your life denying [your sexuality],
it creates a lot of darkness.
I think his beautiful voice and his
beautiful face and his beautiful moves
and his beautiful music were such a
gift. It was a beautiful androgyny and
a diferent type of masculinity that
became popular in the 80s and 90s.
It really opened up a lot of doors for
LGBT people to feel confident about
themselves. So when he did finally
come out, it was like, This is you!
AS TOLD TO KEVIN ODONNELL

( Below ) Cindy Crawford in

the Freedom! 90 video;
( right ) Michael and Aretha
Franklin performing in 1988

The first time I heard George was with

Wham! and I liked it then. He had a
very unique sound, very diferent from
anything that was out there. When
Clive [Davis, Franklins producer and
label boss] suggested we get together
for I Knew You Were Waiting, I was
all ready. It reminded me of [working
with producer] Jerry Wexler. Wed go
in the studio and cut songs. If we were
happy with what we recorded, Jerry
would say, Lets wait until tomorrow.
If we feel the same way [then] that we
do now, maybe we have a hit. I Knew
You Were Waiting had that. Musically,
it does not grow old.
[When we made the music video],
we had a super time. He was calling
most of the shots: how he wanted this,
how he wanted that. My older sister,
Erma, just fell for him right away. He
was very friendly and personable, easy
to talk to.
There was one moment [in his life]
that was one of the greatest for him:
Live Aid, at Wembley [Stadium in London in 1985]. The way he took the stage
that night, he was magical. He looked
great: He had a very nice haircut, which
he always did. And those tinted glasses!
The way that he followed the artists that
preceded him was on the money.
George was just a super guy and a dedicated artist. It was all about the music
for George. AS TOLD TO KEVIN ODONNELL

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The

MUST-SEE
Highly anticipated returning shows plus excit

SHOWS OF WINTER
ing new projects from Hollywoods A list equals plenty of TV to cozy up with this season

Shailene
Woodley,
Reese
Witherspoon,
and Nicole
Kidman

20

17

Big
Little
Lies
What could bring Nicole Kidman and Reese
Witherspoon to TV? Liane Moriartys best-selling novel
about suburban angst, unrest, and murder.
HBO

Feb. 19 9 p.m.
Drama

HIL ARY BRONW YN GAYLE/HBO

IT BEGA N WITH A MANUSCRIPT. IN 2014, A FRIEND SLIPPED

Reese Witherspoon an early galley of Liane Moriartys Big

Little Lies. The Australian author has a knack for spinning a
compelling taleher previous book, The Husbands Secret,
had hit No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list a year
earlierand this one was no exception. Lianes writing is so
enthralling, I was hanging on every word. I read it in one
night, says Witherspoon of the story of a wealthy seaside
enclave where not everything is as perfect as it seems and the
combined community secrets lead to a mysterious murder.
Her producing partner, Bruna Papandrea, called Nicole
Kidmana longtime friend since the women were teenagersand said simply: Ive found the thing for us all to do
together. Kidman (who also read the book in a single sitting)

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35

Witherspoon,
Woodley,
and Laura
Dern

Alexander
Skarsgrd
and
Kidman

trailers and talk through what was hard for us that day.
Theyd rally and support me through both work and personal experiences. I feel like I made real friends. These
women are my sisters now, Witherspoon says.
Shes not the only one to use the S-word: I always say to
Reese that shes like my little sister, says Kidman. (Lest you
think this is standard Hollywood hyperbole, the two stars
now have vacation homes next door to each other.) And
shes so amazing in thisshes able to re o this dialogue
with so much comedic skill and still be so deeply human.
Theres only a few actresses in the world that can do that
kind of thing. Id text her after each episode and wrote, Oh
my God, you are so so good, Kidman says.
While lming the scenes themselves could be physically
and emotionally toughone leading lady left the set with
actual bruisesthe experience itself was so overwhelmingly
positive that last August, Kidman and Witherspoon acquired
the rights for Moriartys latest novel, Truly Madly Guilty. But
for now theyre mostly looking forward to the rest of the
world seeing Big Little Lies. I just nished the nal episode
and I was sobbing, says Kidman. Just wait till you see the
whole thing. SA R A V ILKOMERSON

HIL ARY BRONW YN GAYLE/HBO (2)

happened to be leaving the next day for Australia,

and while there she met Moriarty for coee. I
said to her, If you give us the rights to the book,
we can get it made, says Kidman.
Within 18 months, a staggering number of
A-listers were heading into production. Witherspoon and Kidman were joined by Shailene
Woodley in the lead roles, with Laura Dern, Zo
Kravitz, Alexander Skarsgrd, and Adam Scott
also in the cast. David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal)
signed on as an executive producer and wrote all
seven episodes. Jean-Marc Vallefresh o his
Oscar-nominated lm Wildagreed to direct
every installment, too. (Hed been planning to
direct only the pilot but had a hard time saying
no to his Wild leading lady. This is all Reeses
fault, he says with a laugh. I was about to take
a vacation, and I was so tired. But then I read it,
and I couldnt abandon it after I started.)
All that talent shows: The series has its fair
share of humor and dark dramaand then even
darker dramayet the actresses never miss a
step. (I sometimes felt like I was watching a
class in acting, says Witherspoon of her
costars.) Big Little Lies focuses on three mothers
who have young children in the same class in a
privileged private school in Monterey, Calif. Kidman plays Celeste, a beautiful, rich woman with
a seemingly perfect adoring younger husband
(Skarsgrd) who is hiding a very dierent reality.
Woodley is young single mother Jane, who has
moved to the town to give her son a better life. And Witherspoon is Madeline, the feisty ringleader who, in addition to
the young child she has with her current husband (Scott), has
a teenage daughter with her ex, who still lives in town.
The trio are drawn together after a minor playground
incident escalates, and as the drama compounds, the explosive secrets each woman is keeping lead to a member of their
clan ending up dead. The who and why of the murder is what
drives the plot, but its the individual mysteries at the heart
of these womens lives that will have viewers hooked. Its
why its called Big Little Lies, says Kidman. Its whats going
on behind whats presented. Its always whats fascinating
you just dont normally get to witness it.
On screen and o, the actresses formed a powerful alliance. You never get to see ve women in one show! And it
was just so amazing to get to work with all these women,
says Witherspoon. During casting, a kind of cinematic DNA
daisy chain formed as Witherspoon sought to reunite with
her Wild mother, Laura DernWeve basically decided we
dont want to work without each other, she saysand
Dern, in turn, reached out to Woodley, who played her
daughter in The Fault in Our Stars. Wed go to each others

20

17

Being
Mary Jane
Gabrielle Union lets us in
on the BET series future,
starting with its relocation
to New York this season
BET

Jan. 10 9 p.m.
Drama
Being Mary Jane has always
been set in Atlanta, but this
season Mary Jane moves
to New York to be a morningshow correspondent.
Its her first time in a long time
of being away from her family.
She really wants to use this
as an opportunity to reset her
life. Mary Jane has not been
lowest on the totem pole [at
work] in a long time, and its a
very humbling experience.

UNION: MARIA K AR AS; BEING MARY JANE: BET NET WORKS

Speaking of changes, MJ gets a

British love interest named Lee,
played by your Birth of a
Nation costar Chik Okonkwo.
She quickly has him star in a
sexual fantasy, very Eyes Wide
Shut. But you will see more
of Lee and more of their cultural diferences come into
play. The idea of black masculinitycan you define it? We
take the show in a lot of interesting directions because
its [now] set in the world of
morning news, which isnt just
newsyou have to cover the
Kardashians as you cover Putin.
How many more years do you
imagine doing the show?
We definitely have enough
material to carry on for a few
more seasons. The move to
New York has opened up so
many worlds to Mary Jane.
[Union recently settled a lawsuit shed filed last fall against
BET claiming it was combining seasons 4 and 5 to reduce
her pay. The network says it
has reached an amicable
agreement with Gabrielle Union
and looks forward to sharing
the new season of Being Mary
Jane with its loyal fans.]

You were very open during

the Birth of a Nation press
tour regarding director Nate
Parkers sexual assault charge
(he was acquitted). Do you
feel a responsibility to be outspoken as a public figure?
I was definitely raised to
be the person who stands up
for the kids who were bullied
and to stand up for myself.
Being raped at 19 and then
getting into the business fresh
of the heels of that put me
into a position to speak out for
sexual assault survivors. Its
just an extension of how I was
raised and being not afraid
to speak my mind. TIM STACK
Lisa Vidal and Gabrielle Union on Being Mary Jane

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20

17

A Series of
Unfortunate Events
The cherished childrens book series comes to life in Netflixs adaptation, which stars
Neil Patrick Harris as an evil master of disguises. Wordplay-loving author Lemony Snicket (real name:
Daniel Handler) and production designer Bo Welch offer a series of fortunate insights.
A RARE BRIGHT LIGHT IN DREARY 2017 SHINE S

NETFLIX

Jan. 13 12:01 a.m.

Dark Comedy

through Netflixs eight-episode adaptation of

Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events,
Daniel Handlers gloomy adventure series
about three orphans who continually escape
the schemes of a greedy relative (Neil Patrick
Harris) hunting for their familys fortune. If
the misery-laden TV series (which covers the
first four of 13 books) seems to burst with

more Technicolor than Brett Helquists

original print illustrations, thank executive
producer Barry Sonnenfeld (Pushing Daisies)
and his frequent collaborator, production
designer Bo Welch. I look back at Beetlejuice,
Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, all these
expressionistic design jobs where I got to do
and learn a lot, and here I get to apply it in
gigantic quantity, says Welch, who calls the

Homeland
For the sixth season, Carrie and Saul
have left Berlin for New York City, where we find a
character we thought wed lost forever
SHOWTIME

Jan. 15 9 p.m.
Drama

A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS: JOE LEDERER /NETFLIX (3);

HOMEL AND: JOJO WHILDEN/SHOW TIME

YOU THOUGHT PETER QUINN

Snicket series the mother lode of opportunity, from a design standpoint.

Thats because as the orphans (Malina
Weissman, Louis Hynes, and Presley Smith)
flee Harris chameleonic Count Olaf, they land
in a series of eccentric homes of their various
guardians. Two of the standouts: Uncle Montys
Reptile Room (The ratio of reptile furniture
to normal living-room furniture is about five
to one, Welch chuckles) and their Aunt
Josephines seasick seaside village Lake
Lachrymose (Its got a whiff of Coney Island
thats really hit the skids, he explains).
The one consistency in every episode is
Harris, whose hunt for the Baudelaire children
involves a dozen false identities and disguises
dreamed up by Handler and executed by
Welchs team. [Casting] Neil was kind of my
idea, to be honest, says Handler. I saw him do
that big song on the [2011] Tonys and I immediately saw someone who could pull off a million
things at once. To watch him work is like visiting
an amazing factory. M A RC SNETIK ER

( Clockwise
from
far left )
John
DeSantis
and Neil
Patrick
Harris;
Lake Lachrymose;
the Reptile Room

was a goner. And initially

while shooting Homeland last
season, actor Rupert Friend
thought he was too. [Showrunner] Alex Gansa actually
called me and said, Listen,
thanks for all your hard work
and thats the end of Quinn,
he says. Gansa doesnt recall
being quite so definitive,
but at one point he was at
least leaning toward saying
goodbye to the steely CIA
operative in that sarin gas
chamber. But as these things
go, his writing team came up
with a better idea: Quinn survives, yet is changed forever.
Peter has been to hell and
come back, and not necessarily
come back in one piece, says
Friend, opening up about the
new season for the first time
after months of silence. Hes
not really even sure if his life is
one thats worth living. Exactly
how damaged we find Quinn
in season 6 is a secret, but lets
just say the changes are not

subtle. In the premiere, Quinn

is in a veterans hospital in New
York (where the action has
shifted after a detour to Germany last year) and struggling
to adapt to his new circumstances. Homeland is doing
something I dont think any TV
show has done before, where
you have a character in season
6 and hes basically unrecognizable from the previous
seasons, Friend notes. Some
will say, Wheres my old friend?
But thats not the way the
world works. Other big stories
include former agent Carrie
Mathison (Claire Danes) trying
to atone for past sins by helping innocent Muslims battle
law enforcement persecution,
and Saul Berenson (Mandy
Patinkin) wrangling with a new
president-elect (Elizabeth
Marvel). The latter is an experienced, capable woman who
really enjoys her CIA intelligence briefings. (Homeland is
often prescient with its politics,
but they sure got this one
wrong.) This season is counterfactual, admits Gansa, but
that might wind up being a
virtue. There will be an element
of wish fulfillment for some
people. JA MES HIBBER D

Claire Danes

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

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20

17

Olivia Pope is back! And

the action on fictional Capitol
Hill is as nuts as anything
happening on the real one.

ABC

Jan. 19 9 p.m.
Drama
THE DAY BEFORE DONALD

Trump takes ofice,

Scandal will announce the
winner of its own hotly
contested presidential
race between Mellie Grant
(Bellamy Young) and
Frankie Vargas (Ricardo
Chavira)and creator
Shonda Rhimes is worried
that her fake narrative may
be just as divisive as the
real one. I think there are
things that hit close to
home that I never anticipated, says Rhimes. I just
didnt think the country
would be in this mood
right now. How dark do
you want to be at a time
when people arent feeling
so happy? Ironically,
Rhimes shot the first five
episodes three months
before the real election to
accommodate star Kerry
Washingtons pregnancy
(she gave birth on Oct. 5).
But then reality began
to extrapolate itself to the
most crazy degree,
admits Rhimes. We literally had a story line where
the Russian government
was trying to destabilize
the government by messing with the election.
LY NETTE R ICE

Legion
Downton Abbeys Dan Stevens steps out of the manor and into the Marvel
Universe in this X-Men extension from Fargos Noah Hawley
L E G I O N M AY B E T H E L AT E ST C O M I C B AS E D S E R I E S F R O M

FX

Feb. 8 10 p.m.
Drama
Kerry Washington

40 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

Marvelan X-Men spin-off starring Downton Abbey hunk

Dan Stevens playing the powerful omega-mutant son of
Professor Xbut you wont be reminded of Wolverine or
Daredevil watching this show. As envisioned by Fargo writerproducer Noah Hawley, Legion is something completely new
in the Marvel Universe: a brain-bending story of a mental

Bob Morley and Eliza Taylor

The 100
The end is nigh once more, but nuclear
disaster wont be the only threat on the horizon
in the sci-fi thrillers fourth season
THE CW

Feb. 1 9 p.m.
Drama

ITS THE END OF THE WORLD

SCANDAL: TONY RIVET TI/ABC; LEGION: CHRIS L ARGE/FX; THE 100: DIYAH PER A/ THE CW (2)

Rachel Keller and Dan Stevens

patient (Stevens) who falls in love with a girl (Rachel Keller)

who refuses to be touched and struggles to determine whats
real. The story takes place during an unspecified 1970sseeming era when mutants are being hunted by a shadowy
government outfit. Its a fablelike tale that feels more Sundance than summer blockbuster, fueled by Hawley listening
to Pink Floyd and watching British 70s cinema like A Clockwork Orange and Quadrophenia. Its about trying to create a
state of mind while youre watching it that pulls you out of
your world and into ours, where you cant just half-watch,
Hawley says. The show is not an information-delivery
device, its an experience-delivery device. Expect Legion to
avoid well-worn superhero clichs, such as resolving conflict
with exhaustive fight scenes. I wanted to find a story that
was just as exciting and interesting but doesnt send the
message that might makes right, he says. But what about,
like, capes? Will there still be capes? There may be capes,
Hawley concedes. Not flying capes, but like a count or
Visigoth cape. Well take it! JA MES HIBBER D

as they know itagain. Clarke

(Eliza Taylor) may have
defeated the murderous artificial intelligence Alie (Erica
Cerra), but shell have a much
tougher time facing the villain
of season 4: Earths second,
impending doomsday, one
caused by power plants melting down around the world.
The news naturally sends
everyone into a tailspin. If
you cant stop the end of the
world, how can you find hope?
showrunner Jason Rothenberg
says. Some people will cling
to their loved ones, some
people will fight to their last
Chai
Romruen

breath, and some people are

just done fighting.
Others will try to find someone to blame. Not only will
Clarke clash with City of Light
followers who preferred
brainwashing to dying of radiation, shell also encounter
Grounders like Ilian (new
recurring cast member Chai
Romruen), who faults the Sky
People for bringing down
the latest wave of technology
and destruction in the first
place. He was forced to do
some horrible things while
being driven by Alie, Rothenberg explains. Hes dedicated
to making sure that never
happens again. But even if
Ilians right, how will any of
them survive? The key may
be to look past tribal politics
once and for allsomething
Bellamy (Bob Morley) begins
to understand after sister
Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos)
leaves him behind. Its human
nature to save our families,
our friends first, says Rothenberg, adding, Can you take a
little bit less for yourself in
order to let somebody else
have something? Either way,
theyre going to need a bigger
bomb shelter. SHIR LEY LI

Riverdale
Are you a Betty or a Veronica? That question will take on a whole new meaning with The CWs moody adaptation
of the beloved Archie comics. Riverdales never looked quite as darkor sexyas this.
IN THE ORIGINAL ARCHIE

THE CW

Jan. 26 9 p.m.
Drama

comics, the redheaded high

schoolers biggest drama was
whether he should buy Betty or
Veronica a milk shake. Oh, how
times have changed. Now, in
this Gossip GirlmeetsTwin Peaks
reboot, Archie (KJ Apa) must
juggle feelings for the blonde
(Lili Reinhart) and the brunette

(Camila Mendes) plus an afair

with one of his adult teachers,
all played out against the backdrop of the murder investigation
of a classmate. But dont worry
there will still be milk shakes.
Conceived by Roberto AguirreSacasa (Broadways Spider-Man:
Turn Off the Dark) and executiveproduced by Greg Berlanti (The

Flash, Arrow), Riverdale aims to

remain faithful to the comics
while also amping up the drama
with a healthy dose of sexual
awakeningthe series could be
subtitled Archie Hits Puberty.
Weve been doing the one thing
Archie comics had never done,
which is sexualizing the characters, says Aguirre-Sacasa, who

20

17

Clive Standen

MEET
THE KIDS
You may know their names, but these
Riverdale High students are full of secrets
you never read in the comics

ARCHIE ANDREWS
K J A PA

Riverdales star quarterback

is also a budding singersongwriter whos carrying
on a secret afair with his
music teacher.

BETTY CO OPER
L I L I R E I N H A RT

Archies best friend, Betty

struggles with feelings
for her ginger-haired pal
and with her own emerging
dark side.

The blockbuster franchise gets a

prequel with less Neeson but just as many
thrills (and kidnappings, of course)

VERONICA LODGE
CA M I L A M E N D E S

The snarky new girl, who

never met a strand of pearls
she didnt like, arrives in
town and instantly bonds
with Archie and Betty.

NBC

Feb. 27 10 p.m.
Drama
C L I V E S TA N D E N ( V I K I N G S ) G R O A N E D

RIVERDALE: DIYAH PER A/ THE CW; RIVERDALE (SIDEBAR): ART STREIBER / THE CW (7);
TAKEN: CRISTOS K ALOHORIDIS/NBC

Camila
Mendes,
KJ Apa,
and Lili
Reinhart

is also the chief creative oficer

for the Archie Comics publishing company. Thats always
been the final frontier for Archie.
Speaking of Riverdales
resident heartthrob, producers
searched far and wide for
an actor to play the role before
anointing 19-year-old New
Zealand actor Apa, despite his
gasp!brown hair. Quips the
star, Ive had to dye it every two
weeks, which has been something to get used to.
Berlanti says he was actually
shocked by how many people in
Hollywood had a passion for this
project. We were getting emails
from everybody in town saying
this person should be Betty and
this person should be Veronica,
says the producer. Youd be
surprised how many closet Archie
fans there are. Archie lovers, its
time to come out. TIM STACK

J U G H E A D J ON E S
C O L E S P RO US E

The narrator of the series

is also a burgeoning reporter
for Riverdale Highs
paper, investigating the
death of a classmate.

C H E RY L BLO S S OM
M A D E L A I N E P E TS C H

Mean girl Cheryls twin

brother, Jason, is found
dead in the opening
moments of Riverdales
premiere.

JOSIE M C COY
AS H L E I G H M U R R AY

The lead singer of Josie and

the Pussycats is the daughter of Riverdales mayor
(Robin Givens) and collaborates with Archie on music.

K EV I N K E LLE R
CAS E Y C OT T

The openly gay son of Sherif

Keller (Martin Cummins) is
one of Betty and Veronicas
closest confidants.

when he heard someone was making a prequel to 2009s Taken, which starred Liam
Neeson as an exCIA agent who used his
very particular set of skills to rescue his
kidnapped daughter. However, he changed
his tune once hed read the script, written
by former Homeland EP Alexander Cary,
and discovered it captured the relentless
essence of the original movie.
This propulsive action series follows
Bryan Mills (Standen), who joins a blackops team after losing someone close to
him. This was the opportunity to create a
character where there was already sort of
a brand behind it, says Cary. But the
character had to be created, because in the
films you were joining him pretty late on.
The first season will track Mills as he
develops that aforementioned skill set
while taking on everything from a kidnapping to an international bank heist.
Hes learning what its like to be a covert
action spy, to be someone in this world
when your moral compass is correct and
trying to survive in a world thats not,
says Standen. CH A NCELLOR AG A R D

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20

17

24: Legacy
The thrill ride is back with a brand-new hero, intensified terror, and the same punishing timeline. Heres how
producers are keeping the anxiety equally high more than a decade after the clock first started ticking.
F OX

TRY TO DO SOMETHING
ELSE FIRST

Feb. 5 10 p.m.
Drama
GOODBYE , JACK BAUER. HELLO,

Eric Carter, the new hero

of the 24 universe. Executive
producers Manny Coto
and Evan Katz explain how
they resurrected the 15-yearold serialized thriller for yet
another tough day at the ofice.

No one was actually asking us

to bring 24 back, says Coto,
noting that the original idea for
the series had been to do
a thriller inspired by the Navy
SEALs who took out Osama
bin Laden. Coto and Katz
wanted to tell the story of a
former soldier who returns
home after killing a major

terrorist and is forced into witness protection because hes

being targeted. The more we
talked about it, the more
we realized this would be really
energetic and alive if it were
in real time, says Coto.

MAKE THE HERO AN

ANTIJACK BAUER
For the showrunners, this
premise meant Eric Carter
Corey Hawkins

(Corey Hawkins) would have to

be a completely diferent character from Jack Bauer: Hes a
young exArmy Ranger who
has no field experience at
home, unlike Jack. This season suggests itself as the
education of a CTU agent,
says Coto. Instead of pairing
their protagonist with a president, as was the case on 24,
the producers centered the
series on Eric and the outgoing
director of the Counter Terrorist
Unit, Rebecca Ingram (Homelands Miranda Otto), because
they thought it would make for
a new and interesting matchup.

LOCALIZE THE FOCUS

Recognizing that our fears
about terrorism have shifted
since the original series, Legacy
focuses less on large-scale
attacks and weapons of mass
destruction (a nuclear bomb
was detonated in season 6)
and more on sleeper cells. We
looked around and felt that
homegrown terrorismpeople
being radicalized through
nonconventional meansis
very much whats on peoples
minds, says Katz.

DONT DWELL ON
THE PAST

M E E T C O R E Y H AW K I N S

44 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

says Hawkins, 28, who broke out in 2015s

Straight Outta Compton. All I can hope
is just to keep doing different characters and
keep surprising people. The D.C. native,
who also recurs on The Walking Dead,
doesnt mind that fans know his characters
names but not his. The actors I respect,
I might not know their names, but I know the
roles I saw them in that affected me.

GUY DALEMA/FOX

Eric Carter has a big day ahead of him in 24:

Legacy, and the actor who plays him has
an equally busy year ahead. Corey Hawkins
next movie, Kong: Skull Island, hits theaters
five weeks after the Fox dramas postSuper
Bowl premiere. Then in the spring the
Juilliard grad will star on Broadway in Six
Degrees of Separation. Its what an actor
dreams of: TV, film, and stage all in one,

The EPs wanted viewers to

be able to enjoy Legacy without
having seen all eight seasons
(plus a TV movie and limited
series) of 24. Yes, there are
some Easter eggs, but they
arent essential to comprehending the plot. We want the
audience to feel that these
are their people and not be
thinking about the past, says
Katz. When Carlos Bernard
reprises his role as Tony
Almeida later in the season, all
viewers need to know is this
is just a character who has
a certain dark past we need to
explicate, says Coto. And
Tonys dark past comes back
to haunt Rebecca in some
way. CH A NCELLOR AG A R D

20

17

What to

The Good
Fights
Christine
Baranski

Watch
WINTER TV EDITION
GIRLFRIENDS GUIDE
TO DIVORCE

10 p.m. Bravo
Treat yoself to season 3
because Retta is now a
series regular.
NEW
EMERALD CITY

THE MAGICIANS

9 p.m. Syfy
N E W SIX

10 p.m. History
A drama about Navy
SEALs trying to rescue
Walton Goggins from
Boko Haram.

9 p.m. NBC
Not even the Wizard of
Oz is safe from the wave
of dark takes on classics.

10 p.m. USA
Surprise! Near-future L.A.
is still occupied by aliens
in season 2.

N E W A SERIES OF
UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

Netflix

Five words: Tom Hardy

gritty period drama.

9 p.m. The CW

NEW
DOUBT

9 p.m. ABC

10 p.m. CBS

N E W BEACHES

8 p.m. Lifetime
Idina Menzel and Nia
Long are here to
make you ugly-cry with
their remake of the
beloved 1988 movie.

NEW
Z: THE BEGINNING
OF EVERYTHING
A booze-soaked series
about Zelda and F. Scott
Fitzgeralds marriage
and all that jazz.

9 p.m. Showtime
ARE YOU THE ONE?
Horny and drunk
twentysomethings try
to solve the puzzle
that is love. Good luck!

N E W MASTERPIECE:
VICTORIA

THE PATH

9 p.m. PBS*

Hulu

Liked The Crown? Check

out Jenna Coleman in
this prequel of sorts.

Aaron Paul struggles

with post-cult life in
season 2.

SWITCHED
AT BIRTH

9 p.m. Freeform
The family drama kicks
of its final season.

NEW
THE GOOD FIGHT

8 p.m. CBS and

CBS All Access
Allow Christine Baranskis
brooch collection to
introduce you to CBS
All Access.
NEW
BIG LITTLE LIES

9 p.m. HBO
BILLIONS

10 p.m. Showtime
Watch Maggie Sif
steal the show from
Paul Giamatti and
Damian Lewis.

Damian Lewis on Billions

THE GOOD FIGHT: JOE PUGLIESE/CBS; BILLIONS: JEFF NEUMANN/SHOW TIME

Katherine Heigl attempts

another TV comeback.

Amazon

HOMELAND

9 p.m. MTV

The final season starts.

And so does the deluge
of think pieces.

SCANDAL

BEING MARY JANE

10 p.m. FX

GIRLS

10 p.m. HBO

NEW
RIVERDALE

COLONY

9 p.m. BET
NEW
TABOO

Five grad students juggle

homework and saving all
the magic in the world.

THE 100

9 p.m. The CW

NEW
24: LEGACY

THE DETOUR

10 p.m. TBS
Starring Jason Jones, this
is the best, most twisted
family comedy you arent
watchingyet.

10 p.m. Fox
N E W TAKEN
N E W LEGION

10 p.m. FX

10 p.m. NBC
*Check local listings

From now until the end of the month, EW is bringing you 25 SCOOPS IN 25 DAYS. Follow the hashtag #25Scoops25Days
on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with the latest, and check EW.com/25-scoops for all the news and surprises.

Movies
EDITED BY

KEVIN P. SULLIVAN @KPSull

 Glen Powell, Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, and Janelle Mone

Hidden Figures
S TA R R I N G

DIRECTED BY

Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer,

Janelle Mone, Kevin Costner

Theodore Melfi

R AT I N G

LENGTH

REVIEW BY

PG

2 hrs., 6 mins.

Leah Greenblatt @Leahbats

T H E S KY WA S N O L I M I T F O R T H E A M E R I CA N D R E A M

48 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

HOPPER STONE/FOX

of the 1960s, that heady era of transformation, inspiration, and suddenly possible impossiblesof shooting,
literally, for the moon. But the dream wasnt distributed
equally, of course: As black women in the still-segregated
South, ladies like Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson),
Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson

(Janelle Mone) couldnt sit in the front of

a bus, take a seat at a soda fountain, or even
check out a book not approved for the scant
colored section of the local library. One
thing they could do, in their own heavily circumscribed way, was work at NASAif not
in the lead guard of launch metrics or mission
control, at least in the bowels of the sprawling Langley, Va., campus where humans still
handled the daily computing work that
hadnt yet been preempted by machines.
Hidden Figures is dedicated to celebrating
those overlooked heroines, particularly
Katherine: A young widow with three daughters at home, she has analytical gifts exceptional enough to bring her all the way to the
room where it happensthe exclusive (and

REEL NEWS
A Grool Idea? Lindsay Lohan says shes written a treatment for a possible Mean Girls sequel.

One Small

Step for Gos Ryan Gosling will star in a Neil Armstrong

MAPPING
THE MOVIE
GALAXY

 Lewis MacDougall

Space is a big
place, with room
for many genres

biopic from La La Land director Damien Chazelle.

H I S TO R I C A L

APOLLO 13: RON BATZDORFF; ALIEN: ROBERT PENN; STAR WARS: & TM LUCASFILM, LTD.; 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY: MGM/PHOTOFEST; CONTACT: WARNER BROS./PHOTOFEST; A MONSTER CALLS: QUIM VIVES/FOCUS FE ATURES

 Apollo 13,
Hidden Figures,
The Right Stuff

blindingly white) boys club responsible for

the actual rocket science of the Mercury and
Apollo missions. At the same time, Spencers
Dorothy struggles to earn the title and salary
she knows her work merits, and Mones
Mary fights for the right to take the engineering courses in a state whose Jim Crow
laws forbid her mere presence on campus.
Both actresses bring compelling humanity to
underwritten roles, especially Mone; in
only her second major screen role after
Moonlight, she fairly glows with life force.
It falls on Henson, though, to carry the
narrative: Demure in cats-eye glasses and
knee-hobbling pencil skirts, her Katherine is
miles away from the wild, chinchilla-clad id
of Empires Cookie; instead, shes a stealth
warrior, facing down every fresh trial and
slight with steely, speak-softly-and-carry-abig-protractor resolve. (Among her peers,
though few would deign to call themselves
that, are the expected enemiesJim Parsons persnickety fellow mathematician,
Kirsten Dunsts snide supervisorand a few
less expected allies, including Kevin Costner
as the programs gru but kind director and
Glen Powells sweet, courtly John Glenn.)
Charged with streamlining Figures knotty
real-life histories, director Theodore Mel
(St. Vincent) tends to paint too much in the
broad, amiable strokes of a triumph-of-theweek TV movie. But even his earthbound
execution cant dim the sheer magnetic pull
of an extraordinary story. B+

Inspiration
HORROR

SS

PARABOLAS

SWEATER SETS

SA
F

SEXY ASTRONAUTS

FIREBALLS

S TA R R I N G

KEY INGREDIENT

Abandoned ships

FA N TA SY

 Star Wars,
Serenity, The
Fifth Element
KEY INGREDIENT

Production design

TRIPPY

 2001: A Space
Odyssey,
Solaris, Moon
KEY INGREDIENT

Existentialism

SCIENCE-Y FICTION

 Contact,
Interstellar,
Gravity
KEY INGREDIENT

Physics

J.A. Bayona |

R AT I N G

PG-13

1 hr., 48 mins.

REVIEW BY

 Alien,
Sunshine,
Event Horizon

Lewis MacDougall, Felicity Jones, Liam Neeson

DIRECTED BY
LENGTH

THIS FILM CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING:

A Monster Calls

KEY INGREDIENT

Devan Coggan @devancoggan

AFTER DECADES OF ANIMATED PRINCESSES

and animal sidekicks, the words fairy tale

tend to evoke thoughts of lessons learned
and happy endings, but there is nothing Disney about
this gothic tale from director J.A. Bayona (The Impossible). Lewis MacDougall stars as the young Conor, an
artistic misfit caring for his single mother (Felicity
Jones) as she succumbs to cancer, and Liam Neeson
voices the titular tree creature who visits him every
night at 12:07 a.m. The arboreal giant snatches him out
of his bedroom to tell Conor a story, adding that once
hes told three, it will be Conors turn to look inside
himself and reveal a true story of his own. Stories are
wild creatures, Neeson growls. When you let them
loose, who knows what havoc they may wreak? And
indeed, the Monsters tales are wild: He tells Conor of
vindictive sorcerers and conflicted princes, all gorgeously animated in a jaw-dropping ink-and-watercolor
style. To Conors frustration, the Monsters stories
never wrap up neatly, instead revealing a moral ambiguity where revenge isnt necessarily righteous, love is
always messy, and the endings arent always happy.
The Monsters lavish fantasy world serves as a stark
contrast to Conors real life, and when hes not by his
mothers side, he faces o against schoolyard bullies,
retreats into his art, and struggles to connect with his
cold, distant grandmother (Sigourney Weaver, who
breathes life into an otherwise stock character). The
lessons he learns about how to go on in the face of grief
are a little simplistic, and the lm never really makes up
its mind about whether its for children or adults. But
Bayona packs his tale with spellbinding visuals and
honest emotion, and if the ending doesnt reduce you
to tears, you may be the real monster. B

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

E W.C O M

49

Movies

NOW PL AY ING

I, Daniel Blake
S TA R R I N G

Dave Johns, Hayley Squires

DIRECTED BY
R AT I N G

R |

REVIEW BY

Ken Loach

LENGTH

YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO FILMS IN THEATERS THIS WEEK

1 hr., 40 mins.

MORE ON
EW.COM
For Critical Mass
and to read full
reviews, head to
ew.com/movies

Chris Nashawaty @ChrisNashawaty

EW

BRITISH DIRECTOR KEN LOACHS

LA LA LAND
Starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend 2 Directed by Damien Chazelle

sympathies have always been with

working people. Hes spent the
past 50 years training his camera on the sort
of folks who dont get close-ups in a medium
as glamour-obsessed as cinema. His latest,
the winner of the Palme dOr, is no dierent.
It also couldnt be more timely as a truth-topower statement, since millions of Americans
are probably about to lose their health care.
As the film opens, the title character
(stand-up comic Dave Johns, wonderful) is
being asked maddening questions by a
National Health worker. Daniel is a widower
with a heart condition. Hes too sick to go
back to work as a carpenter and too well to
receive benefitsthe victim of a system
more interested in protocol than people. But
hes not about to give up. Im like a dog with
a bone, he says in his pudding-thick Newcastle accent. Daniel befriends a single
mother in a similar spot (Hayley Squires)
who relies on the food bank while her
daughter is teased at school because her
sneakers are falling apart. Her shame is
devastating. When Daniel tells her, We all
need the wind at our back now and again,
its hard not to get a little outraged and a lot
choked up. Loachs lm isnt as stridently
political as it probably sounds. These are just
proud people who want to be treated with
respect. Theres one slightly melodramatic
turn near the end that felt o, but by then
I was already three tissues deep. A

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

Starring Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Kyle Chandler 2 Directed by Kenneth Lonergan

A R R I VA L
Starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker 2 Directed by Denis Villeneuve
FENCES
Starring Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Jovan Adepo 2 Directed by Denzel Washington

20TH CENTURY WOMEN

Starring Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig

Plotwise, Women is a wisp; as a mood piece, though,

its almost irresistibly rich. Director Mike Mills
captures the shaggy, sun-dappled essence of 70s
California in nearly every framea wry, tender
tribute not just to a beloved parent, but a lost era.
B+

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
Starring Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon 2 Directed by Tom Ford

B+

R O G U E O N E : A S TA R WA R S S TO RY
Starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn 2 Directed by Gareth Edwards

B+

SING
Starring Matthew McConaughey 2 Directed by Garth Jennings, Christophe Lourdelet

LION

PROCEED WITH CAUTION

Starring Sunny Pawar, Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman 2 Directed by Garth Davis

OFFICE CHRISTMAS PART Y

Starring T.J. Miller, Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman 2 Directed by Josh Gordon, Will Speck

SILENCE
Starring Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson 2 Directed by Martin Scorsese

LIVE BY NIGHT
Starring Ben Affleck, Zoe Saldana, Chris Cooper

Live by Night plays the hard-boiled game so faithfully

that the genres tropes barely get dusted. Instead,
Affleck just films them real pretty, and gives us a story
as comfortably worn and shady as an old fedora.
B

PAT R I O T S D AY
Starring Mark Wahlberg, J.K. Simmons, John Goodman 2 Directed by Peter Berg

WHY HIM ?

Hayley
Squires
and Dave
Johns

50 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

SKIP IT

Starring Bryan Cranston, James Franco, Megan Mullally 2 Directed by John Hamburg

D+

PASSENGERS
Starring Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Sheen

The studio is positioning this new sci-fi flick as a

sort of Adam-and-Eve riff on The Martian. And Ill be
honest, thats a movie Id kind of want to see. But
thats not what we get. Not even close. Passengers
is way stupider than that.

KEY

= LIMITED RELEASE

= WIDE RELEASE

I, DANIEL BL AKE: JOSS BARR AT T/SUNDANCE SELECTS; 20TH CENTURY WOMEN: GUNTHER GAMPINE/A 24; LIVE BY NIGHT: CL AIRE FOLGER /WARNER BROS.; PASSENGERS: SONY PICTURES

WATCH IT NOW

WERE THE ONLY LEADING BRAND WHO USES

Select products contain real butter. See package for ingredient details.
Conagra Brands, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

TV
EDITED BY

CAITLIN BRODY @cbroday

 Jude Law

The Young Pope

D AT E

TIME

NETWORK

REVIEW BY

Debuts Jan. 15

9 p.m.

HBO

Jef Jensen @EWDocJensen

O N H B O S T H E Y O U N G P O P E , J U D E L AW I S L E N N Y

52 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

GIANNI FIORITO/HBO

Belardo, the rst American to rock the snowy zucchetto,

and those with red, white, and blue eyes might see something familiar in him: Hes an uncouth outsider on a
mission to make the Church great again. Repudiating the
progressivism of his predecessor, the newly elected
conservative aspires to drain the Vatican swamp of
establishment players and anyone else who doesnt
conform to his image of Christlikeness; hes bent on
defrocking all gay priests, ASAP. The name hes chosen,
Pope Pius XIII, scares those who know history: The

previous Pius was too comfy with fascism,

too soft on the Holocaust. Lenny declines
interviews, refuses to have his image merchandized. He believes the Church should
be a cool, hard mysteryjust like his
conception of God, although hed tell you
his inspirations are J.D. Salinger, Banksy,
and Daft Punk. (I doubt the latter will be
playing his inauguration.)
You can take The Young Pope many ways
except literally. This is a surreal dark
comedy that presents a pop-psych deconstruction of faith; an irreverent complaint
about the silence of God, Christian witness, and idolatry of all kinds; a subversive
allegory for the rise of alt-right orthodoxy;
and a metaphor for inchoate Americanism
as world religion. I think.

LOGLINES
From Backlash to Action After changing its name
from Generation KKK to Escaping the KKK, A&E canceled
the docuseries before its premiere.

Much to Our

20TH CENTURY FOX FILM CORP/EVERET T COLLECTION (2)

Chagrin Fuller House will return for a third season.

What I know for sure is that Im transfixed by the

sumptuous visual storytelling of creator and director
Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty, Youth) and mesmerized by Law. He plays Lenny with an implicit devilish
wink, an explicit embrace of his golden-boy physical
beauty, and a palpable, seething complexity. Using a
polished yet suspect American accent emphasizes his
whitewashed phoniness. Hes a Great Gatsby pope, a Don
Draper pope; hes everything the Second Commandment
warns us against, a graven image that cant be trusted.
Sorrentino makes astonishing use of locations and sets to
create a credible simulacrum of the Vatican that also
speaks to Lennys rigorously constructed persona, an
oppressive, meticulously kept fortress of locked-up
riches, a bulwark to shield him from humanity.
There are other characters, too, but through ve
episodes of the 10-part limited series, Sorrentino uses
them mostly to comment on Lenny, suffer him, or
produce modest intrigues. Silvio Orlando is a standout creeping delight as Cardinal Voiello, a cunning
administrator trying to protect the Vatican from his
new boss, and his large mole steals every scene. Im
waiting on two high-prole players to blossom more
fully: Diane Keaton as Sister Mary, the nun who raised
Lenny and now serves as his personal secretary, and
James Cromwell as Cardinal Spencer, Lennys bitter
mentor, passed over for pope.
Still, The Young Pope weakens when it looks beyond
Lenny, and when it tries to explain his faithless faith,
too. The psychology that emerges is boilerplate antihero
TV: abandonment issues. Law salvages this, though, by
suggesting that Lenny is keenly aware of his pathology
and doesnt give a damn. The show is best when
Sorrentino and Law produce arresting moments that
play like ironic religious art. One extraordinary passage
starts comicallyLenny dressing in papal nery for a
state-of-the-union speech, set to LMFAOs Im Sexy
and I Know Itand turns chilling as he spells out a
graceless, narrow vision while wearing a towering tiara
that looks like an ornate tinfoil hat. Its an inspired
picture of high-strange crazy, and it captures a no-joke
moment for a world at a spiritual crossroads. B

19322016

William Christopher
The 84-year-old actor, who died of cancer Dec. 31 at his home in
Pasadena, is remembered by colleagues as a graceful man
whose portrayal of Father Mulcahy turned many M*A*S*H fans into
true believers. B Y LY N E T T E R I C E

Playing a perennially genial priest

on CBS long-running hit M*A*S*H
wasnt a stretch for William Christopher. The veteran TV actor, who
died Dec. 31 from a non-small
cell lung carcinoma at the age of
84, was known by former costars
as one of the good guys both
on and of camera. His pals from
#MASH miss Bill powerfully,
tweeted his former costar Alan
Alda. His kind strength, his grace
and gentle humor werent acted.
They were Bill. The Illinois-born
Wesleyan grad began his long
career on Broadway before
making the sojourn to Hollywood,
where he found regular TV work
on series including The Andy

Christopher ( bottom left )

with his M*A*S*H costars

Griffith Show, Hogans Heroes, and

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., and in comedic films like The Shakiest Gun
in the West and With Six You Get
Eggroll. But he was best known
for playing Father Francis John
Patrick Mulcahy from 1972 to 83,
with a two-year follow-up on
AfterMASHan afable man of the
cloth who blessed costars and
viewers alike with his celestial
disposition and soft-spoken,
soothing tone. Our Dear Bill and
his goodness are a great argument for there being a heaven,
said M*A*S*H costar Loretta Swit
in a statement. I never heard
him complain or lose his temper.
Everyone adored him. He became
TVs quintessential padre. It was
the most perfect casting ever
known. He was probably responsible for more people coming
back to the church. If God
is nigh, then surely he or she will
welcome Bill with open arms.
Christophers most recent work
was an 11-episode stint as Father
Tobias (naturally) on NBCs Days of
Our Lives, before he was diagnosed with cancer in 2014. He is
survived by his wife, Barbara, and
their two sons, John and Ned.

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

E W.C O M

53

Taboo
D AT E

Debuts Jan. 10 |

REVIEW BY

TIME

10 p.m. |

NETWORK

FX

Darren Franich @DarrenFranich

TOM HARDY MAKES A PARTICULAR NOISE

that I love. You know it if youve seen him in

Mad Max: Fury Road or The Revenant. Its a
breathy hypermasculine incoherence, a mumble thats
a barbaric roar-sigh. In the new miniseries Taboo
(co-created by Hardy, his father Chips, and Steven
Knight, and EPed by Ridley Scott), the actor hus and
groans through 1814 London as James Keziah Delaney,
who disappeared to Africa 10 years ago and returns
home after his fathers mysterious death, heart full
of darkness, body covered in gym-rat tattoos.
Hardys no stranger to televisionthis marks his
second collaboration with Knight, after Peaky
Blindersbut much of Taboos fun derives from
watching Hardys charisma explode onto a smallscreen costume drama. His Delaney is infused with
bull-in-a-china-shop paranoia; he looks trapped, and
the only way out is to chew all the gorgeous scenery.
After three episodes of Taboo, I couldnt tell you
what its all about. Delaney inherits some land on
the U.S./Canada border and runs afoul of the American government, the royal family, and the East
India Company. Jonathan Pryce has a ball as the
Companys chieftain, dropping F-bombs with gusto.
(You get the message: This aint f---ing Downton.)
Delaney hangs out with hookers and lusts for his
sister (Oona Chaplin). Hes haunted by memories
of the slave trade, and he may have gotten supernatural powers from Africa. So theres post-woke
political anti-imperialism and otherizing whitedude-gone-wild cultural imperialismfun for the
whole family! The shows gru and tough and silly,
and Im hooked. Truly, I could watch Hardy read the
phone book. I assume he would eat it. B+

 Tom Hardy

54 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

FIRST
LOOK

VIKINGS NEW ERA

The History channels first scripted series became a top-rated cable

show with its addicting blend of family drama, epic conquest, and
a willingness to leap years between episodes. But with the death of
lead Travis Fimmels Ragnar Lothbrok and the introduction of Jonathan
Rhys Meyers, the show begins a new chapter. B Y D A R R E N F R A N I C H

When History launched

Vikings in 2013, it
focused on Ragnar
Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel), a
farmer in ninth-century Denmark
with dreams of conquering.
Over four breakneck seasons,
Ragnar became a king, a world
travelerand a fallen hero. On
Dec. 28, Ragnar was executed
by his longtime enemies the
Saxons. Ragnar is dead, says
Vikings creator Michael Hirst,
but Ragnar lives on.
Hirst, who writes every episode of the show, always imagined Vikings as a generational
tale, drawing from the historical
material in the Norse sagas. And

with four episodes left this season, there is still so much to

unfold. The last two episodes
focus on the big battle between
the Great Heathen Army and
Wessex, Hirst says, with Ragnars youngest son, Ivar the
Boneless (Alex Hgh Andersen),
fulfilling his destiny as a great
military leader. The reaction of
Ragnars sons to the death of
their father is to declare war on
the whole worldto punish
and kill all the kings who contributed to the death.
Hirst, who visited the excavated sites of the Great
Heathen Army, promises epic
mayhem. These battle scenes

TV

TABOO: ROBERT VIGL ASK Y/FX; VIKINGS: JONATHAN HESSION/HISTORY (2); FIMMEL: BERNARD WALSH/HISTORY

 Jonathan Rhys Meyers

are so astonishing, he promises.

I watched hundreds of horsemen and warriors clashing on
a field in Ireland.
But the battle is just the
beginning. Hirst is already deep
into production on the shows
20-episode fifth season, which
features a new antagonist for
the Northmen. I was looking in
the history books, and I came
across these warrior bishops,
the antecedents of the Knights
Templar, Hirst explains. These

are people who were absolutely

religious, yet they put on armor
and they fought. One historical
personality jumped out at him:
a medieval bishop named
Heahmund. His craziness is of
the scale, fueled by religious
fervor, teases Hirst. Hes a wild
card who happens to be [played
by] Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who
is himself kind of a wild card!
Rhys Meyers first appears in
the Feb. 1 season 4 finale. Hirst
worked with the actor on
Showtimes The Tudors and is
thrilled about the energy he
brings to the series. Johnny is
just perfect for this crazed, religiously obsessed guy who is
also a sinner. Hes a passionate
guy, drawn towards women.
He sins, and then when he sins,
he punishes himself.
Hirst is quick to note that
Vikings stalwarts like Katheryn
Winnicks Lagertha and Alexander Ludwigs Bjorn Ironside will
remain on the show, which promises to continue its expansion
across the globe. In the fifth season we go to Morocco and Iceland, following the Vikings trail.
With the show moving into a
new generation of adventurers,
Hirst is in no hurry to wrap up
this saga. The real events just
keep coming, he says, excitably
talking about the research that
indicates the Vikings traveled to
China and the North American
continent. Theres never any
shortage of new story lines,
new adventures, new characters. Seventy hours is nothing!

Travis Fimmel
Paraded in front of his enemies, hung high in a cage, dropped into
a snake pit: Characters have died on Vikings, but no one has
died harder than legendary warrior Ragnar Lothbrok. The shows
Australian star, 37, reflects on his bitter end. B Y D A R R E N F R A N I C H

What was it like to dangle in that

cage during your final scene?

They hoisted me up, and it

took too long to go back up and
down, so I just sat up there.
Everybody was freezing that day.
It was December [in Ireland]
and it just gets so cold.
When did you know youd be
killed off the show?

I was meant to die at the end of

the first year. I ended up staying
around for three more! Early
on, Ragnar was too much of a
herotoo nice. Its very hard to
play a man without any flaws.
I begged all the time in the first
couple years, Make me horrible
and then let me overcome it.
In his final speech to his enemies,
Ragnar talks about going to Valhalla. After his final crisis of faith,
what did he believe in the end?

 The Great Heathen Army

He gave that speech because

he wanted his kids to believe
in something and avenge him.
He doesnt believe it. Hes
a definite atheist by the end.
Im a big atheist, so I always
pushed for that.

With the shows accelerated

timeline, you played Ragnar as
a young warrior and an old man.
What was it like tracking this
characters whole life?

Its amazing. Four years in, some

shows get boring. Here, you see
the change in relationships over
20 or 30 years. It lets the kids
grow upRagnars sons go on
to do better things. A great
energy is injected into the show.
What are you working on next?

I did a couple little films [scheduled for release in 2017], Lean

on Pete with Andrew Haigh
[Looking] and a bank-heist thing,
Finding Steve McQueen. I dont
just want to be the action hero.
Was it hard getting Ragnar out
of your head?

Im not one of those actors,

mate. Soon as the cuts done,
Im not one to stay in character.
So you never went off to live
alone in the woods?

I did, but it had nothing to do

with my character.

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

E W.C O M

55

What to

MONDAY JANUARY 9

Watch

A DAY-TO-DAY GUIDE TO NOTABLE PROGRAMS* BY RAY RAHMAN @RayRahman

Series Debut
Big Fan
1011PM

This is one of the most unnecessary shows

ever, but it does have its moments. The premise is stupidly simple: Host Andy Richter
quizzes three people who are obsessed with
the same celebrity to see whos the biggest
fan, all while the actual celebrity plays along
in the studio. The premiere features Matthew
McConaughey; one of the contestants has
seen Interstellar 15 times. The questions are
mostly easy (Is Alright, alright, alright a
McConaughey or Maya Angelou quote?),
and the finalist goes head-to-head against
the actual celeb. Big Fan isnt amusing
enough to watch all the way through, but
it should produce decent next-day viral
content worth clicking on. C+

Series Debut
TUESDAY JANUARY 10

A SERIES OF
UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
FRIDAY, JAN. 13

STREAMING

NETFLIX

Hollywoods rst stab at Daniel Handlers (pen name: Lemony

Snicket) darkly comic fantasy series was 2004s cinematic misre,
a Harry Potter wannabe and Jim Carrey vehicle that didnt satisfy
as either. Now its a Netix binge event, and the result is far from
unfortunate. Adapted by Handler with great care for detail and
tone, episodes 14 turn the rst two books into massive entertainment. Director Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black) produces inspired
visuals and nails the mix of whimsy and danger. Patrick Warburtons wry, grave narrator Lemony Snicket and Neil Patrick Harris
dastardly Count Olaf are magnificent. The always imperiled,
always plucky Baudelaire children (Malina Weissman, Louis
Hynes, and Presley Smith) are well cast, and everything works to
create a resonant saga about heroism in a world made mad and
near-meaningless by adult mismanagement. A Jeff Jensen
Go to ew.com/what-to-watch for our daily picks of What to Watch

56

E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

Midseason Premiere
Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
1011PM

ABC

Life Model Decoys have come to the MCU!

Now that android Aida (Mallory Jansen) has
killed an agent in order to protect LMD May
(Ming-Na Wen), S.H.I.E.L.D. will explore the
psychological and moral repercussions of
creating life. The premiere delves into how
freethinking these things are and how much
of their mistakes are tied to our own, says EP
Jed Whedon. Which means its wise to question everyone you see on screen. Were
taking the issues of trust to the next level,
hints EP Maurissa Tancharoen. Natalie Abrams

*TIMES ARE E ASTERN STANDARD AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE

A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS: JOE LEDERER /NETFLIX; BIG FAN: NICOLE WILDER /ABC; MARVELS AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.: ERIC MCCANDLESS/ABC

Louis
Hynes
and Neil
Patrick
Harris

ST
MU CH
WAT H E
F
O TE K
WE

ABC

TUESDAY JANUARY 10 (cont.)

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 11
Series Debut
Jeff & Some Aliens

SNL: ROGUE
ONE
SEASON
PREMIERE
Being Mary Jane
910PM

Midseason Premiere
This Is Us

THIS IS US: RON BATZDORFF/NBC; JEFF & SOME ALIENS: COMEDY CENTR AL; COLONY: JUSTIN STEPHENS/USA NET WORK ; CAR AOKE SHOWDOWN: SPIKE

910PM

10:3011PM

COMEDY CENTRAL

There was once a great animated series called Aqua Teen

Hunger Force. This newbie isnt
quite there, but its close
enough. Brett Gelman voices
Jeff, a regular dude who happens to live with three chill
aliens. The potential for misadventure is boundless; in the pilot
he angers the ruler (Malcolm
McDowell) of a distant planet
and sacrifices a human life as a
gesture. Along the way Jeff
reconnects with his father (Richard Kind) and remembers what
humanity is all about in the first
place. Also, there are some
really funny butt jokes. B

BET

This season, Mary

Jane heads to New
York City, starts her
new morning-show
job, and falls for a
charming British
comedian. I guess
charming rules out
Ricky Gervais...

NBC

The family dramedy returns after its hiatus

with some unfinished and potentially tragic
business, as we last saw Toby (Chris Sullivan)
fighting for his life after a Christmas Eve collapse. Were not going to drag out Tobys
fate, assures creator Dan Fogelman. You
find out if he made it in the first five minutes
of the episode. And while present-day Pearsons will be either relieved or mourning, well
journey into the past to see Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore)along
with a familiar facebefore the chaos of parenthood commenced. We go back to their
preBig Three periodwe start early in the
pregnancy, hints Fogelman, before they
even knew they were having triplets. In sum:
More medical surprises await. Dan Snierson

Season Premiere
Lethal Weapon
89PM

FOX

Featuring guest star

Malcolm-Jamal
Warner, whom you
know from his roles
on American Crime
Story, Malcolm &
Eddie, Suits, and
The Sitcom That
Shall Not Be Named.
Chicago P.D.
1011PM

NBC

Oficers discover
a secret police
force unafiliated
with the CPD.
Basically, Chicago
is 95 percent cops.
Full Frontal With
Samantha Bee
10:3011PM

TBS

The political satire

returns just nine
days before Trump
is sworn in. Should
be an eventful
season!

THURSDAY JANUARY 12
Series Debut
Revenge Body
With Khlo
Kardashian
89PM

Season Premiere
Colony
1011PM

USA

As Colony leans heavily into its sci-fi roots, the premiere

provides a reset by flashing back to the terrifying arrival
of the hosts. But season 2 promises to show more of
what the global and worldwide occupation looks like,
says EP Ryan Condal of the series expansion outside
the L.A. colony. While Will (Josh Holloway) scours the
lawless Santa Monica bloc for his son Charlie (Jacob
Buster), an emotionally isolated Katie (Sarah Wayne Callies) atones for her sins of working with the Resistance
made more dificult as said Resistance goes to darker and
deadlier places in its fight for freedom. Natalie Abrams

I L L U ST R AT I O N S BY L AU R A L A N N E S

E!

Have you ever

turned on your television and thought
to yourself, Why
arent there more
shows about the
Kardashian family?
No? Well, too
bad, this is happening anyway.
Portlandia
1010:30PM

IFC

The title of tonights

episode is Carrie
Dates a Hunk. I
guess hunk rules
out Ricky Gervais...
thats right, double
Ricky Gervais burn!
Im a madman!!!

Series Debut
Caraoke Showdown
10:3011PM

SPIKE

Like Cash Cab meets Dont Forget the Lyrics!, this

competition program takes place in and out of a van
driven by host Craig Robinson (The Ofice) and features
myriad karaoke-style challenges in which unsuspecting contestants play for cash by completing lyrics,
acting out hits, and more. For our show, bad is great;
bad is even better than good, says executive producer
Howie Mandel of the singing. Robinson adds that his
personal favorite song to croon is the somber Johnny
Cash hit Hurt. I can bring a crowd down, he says.
There should be a contest for that. C. Molly Smith

CANT GET ENOUGH TV? Then youll love EWs What to Watch podcast!
Subscribe now on iTunes for a new episode every week.

FRIDAY JANUARY 13
The Grand Tour
STREAMING

AMAZON

Three Top Gear

alums drive fancy
cars around the
world. The perfect
show for men having a midlife crisis.
Series Debut
The Investigator:
A British Crime
Story
Midseason Premiere
The Vampire Diaries
89PM

STREAMING

THE CW

The Salvatore brothers are back together! Damon (Ian

Somerhalder) and Stefan (Paul Wesley), whose humanity is off, are on the road, playing pranks and collecting
evil souls for Cade (Wol Parks). However, the fun
doesnt last long, because Stefan grows increasingly
violent, much to Damons dismay. Stefan is taking the
role that you wouldve typically seen Damon in, says
Somerhalder, who directed the playful hour. Damon is
finding his compassion, and hes trying hard to battle
the darkness inside of him. Although Damon isnt having too much fun, the same cant be said of Somerhalder,
who loved the episodes focus on relationships. I really
had a blast getting to see sides of the boys in a very
season 1-like way, he says. Chancellor Agard

Simon Cowell has a

Making a Murdererstyle series of his
own, because every
country deserves
to cash in on the
true-crime trend.

810PM

Saturday Night Live

11:30PM1AM

NBC

Hosted by Star
Wars star Felicity
Jones. Does that
mean tonights
episode is canon?

LIFETIME

Clearly the Lifetime

channel is continuing its tradition of
producing top-shelf
prestige films aimed
at high-minded
Oscar voters.
School of Rock
910PM

NICK

Starring a bunch
of people not
named Jack Black!
Welcome to
Sweetie Pies
910PM

OWN

Tims branding company gets its first

client: his girlfriend.
Even Don Draper is
like, Whoa, man,
too far.

58 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

AMAZON

Sneaky Pete isnt really named Pete: Hes Marius

(Giovanni Ribisi), a clever con man recently released
from prison. Naturally, he quickly falls back into trouble as he tries to escape a vengeful crime boss (played
deliciously by Bryan Cranston) while also trying to
trick a small-town family into thinking hes their longlost relative Pete. The show comes from Cranston,
David Shore (House), and Graham Yost (Justified), and
while it doesnt live up to those guys best work, it is
funa pleasing balance of slick, Oceans Eleven-style
con jobs and tense, close-call escapes. Its all propped
up by an above-average cast, including the great
Margo Martindale as a grandmother whos intimidating
enough to give even Cranston a run for his money. B

1011PM

DISCOVERY

A show about people surviving rough

environments, a.k.a.
America until 2020.

SUNDAY JANUARY 15
Series Debut
Victoria
911PM*

PBS

If The Crown is the British thrones version of The

West Wing, Victoria is its Downton Abbey: a soapy
melodrama about rich people in beautiful costumes.
The story begins in 1837 as a teen Queen Victoria
(Jenna Coleman) launches her 63-year reign. She
must learn to rule on the fly, all while finding a worthy
suitor. The performances are solid and the production
is aptly luxe, but thats about it. The villains are comically one-dimensional (all that scowling!), the dialogue
is uneven, and theres entirely too much boring
upstairs-downstairs dramaa blatant play to appeal
to Downton devotees. A royal disappointment. B
*check local listings

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: BOB MAHONEY/ THE CW; SNE AK Y PETE: ERIC LIEBOWITZ/AMA ZON STUDIOS; VICTORIA: IT V/PBS

Open Marriage

STREAMING

Series Debut
The Wheel

SATURDAY JANUARY 14

SNL: ROGUE ONE

NETFLIX

Series Debut
Sneaky Pete

QGODUJHVW
auto insurer

FXVWRPHU
satisfaction

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Helping people
since 1936
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Music
EDITED BY

KEVIN ODONNELL @ODtron

NEW TUNES
FOR THE
NEW YEAR
From J. Coles funky-smooth rap to Zayn
and Taylor Swifts sexy-cool duet, add these
jams to make the freshest playlist of 2017

1 | Z AY N A N D TAY LO R SW I F T
I DONT WANNA LIVE
FOREVER (FIFTY
SHADES DARKER)

The best thing yet about the

second film installment of E L
James mom-porn juggernaut:
Taylor Swifts sultry sidethat
girl can coo!entangles perfectly
with Zayns brooding style on this
lead song from the soundtrack.
2 | N O A H C Y R U S F E A T. L A B R I N T H
MAKE ME (CRY)

With a family full of musicians

theres pop-hippie Miley, country
king Billy Ray, and Metro Station
vocalist Traceit was only a
matter of time before the youngest Cyrus picked up the mic too.
Yet judging by this experimental,
minimalist ballad, its clear the
teen has a vision all her own.

60 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

3 | THE XX ON HOLD

No wallflowers here: The first

single from the introspective
British trios forthcoming album
suggests a brighter, cheerier
sound, thanks to Jamie xxs
stutter-step beats and one killer
sample of Hall & Oates I Cant
Go for That (No Can Do).
4 | MUNA I KNOW A PLACE

Fans of Haim and Tegan and

Sara will dig this SoCal group,
who deliver a powerful and
ultra-catchy pep talk for the
LGBT community.

NOTEWORTHY
The Black Keys Dan Auerbach has enlisted Duane Eddy
and Mark Knopfler to play on a new solo album, due this
spring.

U2 are planning special shows this year to honor

the 30th anniversary of their 1987 album The Joshua Tree.

5 | ERIK HASSLE
MISSING YOU

The Swedish crooner, who studied at the same music school that
groomed Robyn and Tove Lo,
mixes nostalgic R&B melodies
with modern electro-pop production on an emotional tribute
to a loved one who passed away.
6 | FLETCHER PRINCESS

8| ZARA LARSSON
I WOULD LIKE (GORGON CITY
REMIX)

13 | T H E F L A M I N G L I P S

The feisty track from the Swedish

starlet was already a treat for
subwoofers, but a subtle remix
from electronic duo Gorgon City
puts extra oomph behind the
originals house groove.

The Floyd Song (Sunrise),

a highlight o Miley Cyrus 2015
collaboration with the Flaming
Lips, gets a second life as
Sunrise (Eyes of the Young)
on their new album. The Lips
version jettisons Miss Mileys
twee vibes for dub-y psychedelia.

9 | DUA LIPA ROOM FOR 2

What do you get when you mix

a skittering electro beat, a raw
soulful vocal, and lyrics warning
someone that karmas a bitch?
The fth(!) single from the
English art-pop stars upcoming
debut albumand her most
seductive jam yet.

File this uplifting empowerment

anthem between inspirational
hits from Katy Perry and Sia
its a rework for sure. The pop
upstart FLETCHER tackles such
tough issues as body image, abuse,
and homophobia, yet she never
comes o as preachy or trite like
an after-school special.

10 | A L L I S O N C R U T C H F I E L D
DEANS ROOM

7 | SAGE THE GEMINI

11 | T H A N K S F E A T . S A M S P A R R O

NOW AND LATER

YOUR MAN

If the bouncy ute loop sounds

familiar, thats because the
Bay Area rappers candy-themed
new single has been soundtracking a popular Snapchat lter.
(You know, the one with the
tinted sunglasses.) Good news:
Theres a full version that lasts
more than 30 seconds.

Start lacing up your skates: This

funky, disco-tinged collaboration
between the Danish duo
THANKS and Australian singer
Sam Sparro is t for a roller rink.

( From left )
Zayn, Taylor
Swift, and
J. Cole

One half of indie rocks coolest

sibling pairher twin sister is
Waxahatchee mastermind Katie
Crutcheldpreviews her debut
solo LP with a synth-kissed,
dance-around-in-your-underwear
slice of giddy guitar pop.

SUNRISE (EYES OF
THE YOUNG)

14 | K I D C U D I B Y D E S I G N

Steel drums, an Auto-Tuned

Andr 3000, multiple lyrical
references to feng shuilike
much of Kid Cudis latest album,
Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin,
By Design is a hodgepodge
of things that shouldnt work
together but totally do.
15 | C L E A N B A N D I T
F E A T. S E A N P A U L & A N N E - M A R I E
ROCKABYE

The EDM crews latest U.K. hit

is the best Ace of Base song that
Ace of Base never recorded.
16 | N A D I A R O S E P U D D Y C A T

Over a beat straight out of the

Missy/Timbaland playbook, the
British rapper quotes Tweety
Bird while confronting the imitators jacking her steez.

12 | J . C O L E
FOLDIN CLOTHES

On the best cut o 4 Your

Eyez Only, the rapper revels in
domestic bliss as he rhymes
about cohabiting with a very
pregnant lover. Clean laundry?
Yep. Netix? Def. Bonus points
for big-upping the California
almond lobby: I never thought
Id see the day Im drinking
almond milk!

MORE ON EW.COM
ZAYN: KEVIN MA ZUR /GET T Y IMAGES; SWIF T: JOHN SHE ARER /
GET T Y IMAGES; COLE: JEFF KR AVITZ/GET T Y IMAGES

Hear these songs online at ew.com/2017playlist

Books
EDITED BY

TINA JORDAN @EWTinaJordan

AYELET
WALDMAN
Shes a novelist, Harvard-trained
lawyer and former public
defender, mommy-blog lightning
rod, and one half of a major
literary It coupleand now
Waldman, 52, has written about
a last-ditch hope to treat her
depression: microdoses of LSD.
B Y L E A H G R E E N B L AT T

Your book is called A Really Good

Day: How Microdosing Made a
Mega Difference in My Mood, My
Marriage, and My Life. But you
went into it pretty freaked out by
the whole idea.

Thats what I think is important

to understand. I went to Wesleyan
University, and mostly I was
just sitting with my arms crossed,
shaking my head while people
were tripping all the time. Im anxious by nature and I have a mood
disorder, so losing control is terrifying. I dont even drink, really.
But, like many people with mental
health issues, Ive tried so many
things that I thought were going
to work and didnt. I had [a regimen] that worked for years, and it
was great. But when that went to
hell and I started back down the
rabbit hole of new medications,
I got really hopeless. So I studied
this [microdosing idea] so neurotically and so carefully and so thoroughly. I read all these research

62 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

BETWEEN THE LINES

Despite social-media backlash and boycott threats,
Simon & Schuster refused to scuttle plans to publish
alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. His book
about free speech, Dangerous, will be out March 14.

REQUIRED
READING
Want to learn more about American drug culture? Heres Ayelet
Waldmans list of the best books.

The Psychedelic
Explorers Guide:
Safe, Therapeutic and
Sacred Journeys
BY JA M E S FA D I M A N , P H . D.

This is a very straightforward guide to

experimenting with
psychedelics.

What about the legal aspects?

Technically you broke the law.

Waldman with her husband,

Michael Chabon

studies and talked to everybody

I could. But finally doing it was
kind of like jumping of a bridge.
Were you waiting for the pink
elephants to come twirling in?

Exactly. Or worselike, a sea of

black rats to come and open up.
But your experience was not some
wild Fear and Loathing trip at all.

If I slipped a microdose to someone, they would never know

it. They might just have a really
good day. Thats it. Theres no
hallucinations at all. None. But
it does have neuropsychiatric
efects. Very mild ones. Really, its
the diference between medicine
and, I dont know, Burning Man?
I am not a Burning Man kind of girl.

WALDMAN: CL AIRE LEWIS; WITH CHABON: ANDY FREEBERG

This definitely isnt a book about

how much fun it is to drop acid.

Its about reaching an emotional

breaking point and desperately
looking for a solution. Trying something that seems crazy that turns
out to be not so crazy after all.
Your husband, Michael Chabon,
never did the LSD with you. Still,
he seemed very supportive of
your choices.

I came very, very close to destroying my marriage. I decided I was

a horrible person, that nobody
should be married to me. So in the
scheme of whats worse for
my childrenhaving their parents
divorce and have their mother
maybe kill herselfthis was better.

Well, Im absolutely up-front

about it: The only reason I could
do this is because Im a privileged
white lady. If I were a young black
man, this experiment could put
me in jail. But one of the responsibilities of privilege is to be out in
front. I dont want to overstate it
Im not on the barricades here.
I did it because I was in pain, and
because I could.

LSD: My Problem Child

BY A L B E RT H O F M A N N

An account by
the chemist who first
synthesized LSD.

How to Have Fun

and Not Die

And theres also a disclaimer.

BY E D D I E E I N B I N D E R

This book will terrify

parents, but we all must
suck it up and give it
to our teens so they dont,
you know, die.

Yes. I am not telling anybody to

do this, God forbid. But if Im open
about it, then I could stake out a
position that calls for decriminalization and calls for more research,
because Im less at risk.

What the Dormouse

Said: How the Sixties
Counterculture
Shaped the Personal
Computer Industry

Microdosing has gained some

traction in Silicon Valley among
the tech elite. But that seems
much more performance-oriented.

J O H N M A R KO F F

Totally. Like wearing a Fitbit. [Microdosing] has what I call the Adderall
efect, and the Prozac efect. I dont
mean literally, obviously. But its
stimulating, and it does make it easier to focus. It enhances neuroplasticity, so you find yourself making
these connections that are really
exhilarating as a creative person.

This book is why we

all know that Steve
Jobs used acid.
Drug Crazy:
How We Got Into
This Mess and
How We Can Get Out
BY M I K E G R AY

This book is 16 years old

and thus a bit dated,
but its a terrific introduction to the devastation of the drug war.

You write about clinical studies on

the benefits of psychedelic mushrooms for terminal cancer patients,
and MDMA for veterans with PTSD,
which feels much more crucial.

Yes! MDMA has shown remarkable

results. Not just for vets but anybody with PTSD: first responders,
rape survivors. The research is just
preliminary, but it seems to allow
people to reexperience the traumatic memory devoid of the pain.
Will your kids read the book?

My oldest daughter wants to be

a writer, and she hasnt even read
[Chabons Pulitzer Prize-winning
novel] The Adventures of Kavalier
& Klay! They wont read anything
I write, its so aggravating. [Laughs]

THE ONLY REASON

I COULD DO THIS
IS BECAUSE
IM A PRIVILEGED
WHITE LADY.
IF I WERE A YOUNG
BLACK MAN,
THIS EXPERIMENT
COULD PUT ME
IN JAIL.

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CALL OR WRITE US. PRINTED IN THE USA.

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

E W.C O M

63

The Bullseye
B Y MARC SNETIKER @MarcSnetiker

Lindsay Lohan keeps trying to make Mean Girls 2

happen. Its not going to happen.
Azealia Banks scolded for
allegedly sacrificing chickens in
her closet, which is just an
awful way to treat fans.
Lauren Conrad is
pregnantbut will
the baby take a
summer internship
in Paris or stay in
utero in California?!

Emerald City: where Totos

a police dog, Munchkins
are barbarians, and theres
no place like literally
any other channel
Ariana Grande will be a character
in Final Fantasy. (Um, whose?)

Maid in Manhattan
and chill?
Tennis legend engaged
to Reddit cofounder.
He proposed. She upvoted.

Ryan Gosling to play

Neil Armstrong,
put the la la back
in moon landing.

Hollywood
and galactic
royalty

You might recognize Nick Viall from

The Bachelorette seasons 10 and 11,
Bachelor in Paradise season 3,
or that one Adele video in 2015.

Local eccentric emerges

every three years
to rudely solve crime.

Devastated to see
you go-go.

Get out your zit cream and

retainersDegrassis back.

Sorry, aspiring
dolphin trainer Alexis,
but that is a shark.

Mariah Carey is such a good singer,

sometimes it seems she doesnt even
have to open her mouth!

64 E W.C O M

J A N UA R Y 1 3 , 2 0 1 7

After the first episode of the new Celebrity Apprentice,

wed like to be Terminated as well.

BANKS: CASSANDR A HANNAGAN/GET T Y IMAGES; ME AN GIRLS: PAR AMOUNT; DEBBIE REYNOLDS AND CARRIE FISHER, CONR AD: STEVE GR ANITZ/WIREIMAGE (2); DR AKE AND JENNIFER LOPE Z: @JLO; GOSLING: MICHAEL KOVAC/GET T Y IMAGES FOR PALM
SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL; MOON: OSCAR R AFAEL MONTALVAN MARTINE Z/GET T Y IMAGES/EYEEM; DEGR ASSI: STEVE WILKIE/EPITOME PICTURES; THE BACHELOR: RICK ROWELL /ABC (2); THE NEW CELEBRIT Y APPRENTICE: LUIS TRINH/NBC;
GEORGE MICHAEL: MICHAEL PUTL AND/GET T Y IMAGES; CARE Y: NOAM GAL AI/FILMMAGIC; SHERLOCK: ROBERT VIGL ASK Y/HARTSWOOD FILMS; SERENA WILLIAMS: ANTHONY AU-YEUNG/GET T Y IMAGES; ALEXIS OHANIAN: BRYAN BEDDER /GET T Y IMAGES FOR
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Deadpool named most

pirated movie of 2016another
brutal blow to The BFG.

When it comes to great butter taste,

the only choice is Pop Secret.*

W
e

Why is there less popcorn on the left side?

Because it tastes so awesome.

do

r better.
tte
u
b

*Consumers preferred POP SECRET Butter Popcorn and Movie Theater Butter Popcorn to ORVILLE REDENBACHERS Butter Popcorn and Movie Theater
Butter Popcorn in an April 2016 blind taste test. ORVILLE REDENBACHERS is a registered trademark of ConAgra Foods RDM, Inc.