Late Laughs for the week of July 12- 18, 2020
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
If God submitted the year 2020 to "Black Mirror," they would have rejected the script. Come on, a plague? Racial unrest? A racist demagogue with a base coat of global warming? Pick a lane!
In New York, roughly 600 plainclothes officers have been reassigned to new roles, effective immediately. The reassigned officers were part of a special unit in the NYPD known as the anti-crime unit … aren't all police officers the anti-crime unit? If there's a pro-crime unit, they really ought to reassign those guys, too.
Minions, on NBC
Depressed with no one to serve, a fearless minion named Kevin sets out on a worldwide adventure to find his people a new master in this origin story. This animated spinoff's all-star cast includes the voices of Jon Hamm, Sandra Bullock and Michael Keaton.
Q: Is "Doc Martin" coming back for another season?
You'll have to wait a little longer still, but your patience will eventually be repaid -- Season 10 of "Doc Martin" is in the works.
Fans have been pretty tense since the end of the most recent season, and that's not a familiar feeling for them. Most fans and critics argue that the appeal of "Doc Martin" is that it's basically televised comfort food.
Jane Eyre, on HBO
Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska star in this Academy-Award nominated adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's literary classic, telling the story of a young woman's trouble life and love as she works as a governess at Thornfield Hall. Jamie Bell also stars.
Train to nowhere: Sci-fi thriller series 'Snowpiercer' journeys through an artificially frozen wasteland
Jennifer Connelly stars in "Snowpiercer"
It can be hard to imagine a completely frozen-over Earth in the middle of a sweltering July, but that is the catapult of the story behind the new sci-fi series, "Snowpiercer." A new episode airs Sunday, July 12, on TNT.
Better Call Saul, on AMC
Marathon the entire fifth season of this "Breaking Bad" spinoff starting with this rebroadcast. Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) has officially begun practicing law under the name Saul Goodman, but Kim (Rhea Seehorn) doesn't have much tolerance for his new persona.
Q: Did "Shaun of the Dead" have to get any special permission to use the title, since it is very clearly a play on "Dawn of the Dead"?
It looks like the producers of the modern-classic, groundbreaking zombie comedy did not run it past anyone first.
It's likely they figured the movie fell under the fair-use exemption in U.K. copyright law. Fair use is a concept that exists in many countries -- it's basically a list of reasons that copyrighted material can be used without permission. One of those uses is parody, which is what "Shaun of the Dead" certainly is.
American Housewife, on ABC
Katie (Katy Mixon) and Greg (Diedrich Bader) are worried about how their schedules might be detrimental to Anna-Kat’s (Julia Butters) mental health when they notice her past OCD behaviors returning in this rebroadcast of the popular family comedy.
Dances With Wolves, on AMC
After being wounded and becoming a hero, a civil war soldier heads to the western frontier, where he encounters a tribe of Sioux people, a wolf and a new way of life in this Academy Award winning film. Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell and Graham Greene star.
Q: Did Joely Richardson take the role in "Return to Me" because of her sister?
In a dark and eerie coincidence, no, the film actually came first.
In the 2000 romance "Return to Me," Joely Richardson plays a young woman who dies of head trauma after a car accident. Her heart is donated to another young woman in need of a transplant, which kicks off the film's story -- Richardson's character's husband unknowingly falls in love with the recipient.