West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review – 11/10/17

A new post on a holiday weekend? What madness is this?! Yeah, I typically skip out on holiday weekends ’cause folks aren’t at work, meaning they’re not bored enough to read this post. Still, too much happened this week for me to ignore, so I HAD to write something. The hits just kept coming this week, so let’s take a closer look at the week that was in popular culture!

It was a big week in HarassmentWatch, as we got a whole slew of new allegations. One of the bigger accusations is that Charlie Sheen sexually assaulted a 12 year old Corey Haim on the set of Lucas, back in 1986. This jibes with what Other Corey, Corey Feldman, has been saying for years: Hollywood is full of pedophiles who prey on the young. This accusation, however, comes from a friend of Haim’s, while Sheen and Haim’s own mother deny anything happened. Never one to miss an opportunity, Dr. Oz appears to have beaten Dr. Phil to the punch, as Haim’s mom will be on the show today to talk about this.

Meanwhile, personal assistants had their moment in the spotlight, as two came forward with allegations of sexual harassment from their bosses. First up, Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner was accused of asking a former assistant/writer to let him see her naked. After winning an Emmy together, he told her that she “owed” it to him. She was then fired the next season, and given a list of ways she had “fallen short” of expectations. Then, Transparent/Arrested Development/The Ropers star Jeffrey Tambor was accused of making lewd comments to, and groping, his former transgender assistant. Amazon is currently investigating the matter – Ya know, ’cause the police are busy or some shit… Worry not, ’cause Amazon is on the case!

Finally, the hits keep coming for Kevin Spacey, as Netflix has severed ties with the actor, leading to reports that his character will be killed off House of Cards for its final season. While Spacey is “suspended” from House of Cards, Netflix released as statement that they would not be involved with the show if Spacey continued to be involved with it. So, bye bye, Spacey. They also don’t plan to move forward with Gore, a film produced by and starring Spacey, which is currently in post-production. But it didn’t stop there! Spacey’s publicist and his talent agency have cut ties with him. The final nail in the coffin, however, came when Ridley Scott announced that he would reshoot Spacey’s scenes from All The Money In The World with actor Christopher Plummer in Spacey’s former role as J. Paul Getty. Oh, and did I mention that the film is scheduled to be released NEXT MONTH, and they intend to keep the release date?! That’s some SERIOUS damage control.

The biggest harassment bombshell of the week, though, came yesterday when rumors about comedian Louis C.K. were finally confirmed by 5 female comedians in a story by The New York Times. According to the women, Louis C.K.’s sexual quirk was a familiar one amongst the harasser crowd: he liked to masturbate in front of them. Later on Twitter, Sarah Silverman’s sister, Laura, said that had masturbated in front of her “about 20 times”. Well, the empire began to crumble immediately, as the premiere of his movie I Love You, Daddy was cancelled mere hours before it was scheduled to happen. Plus, his appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert was also cancelled. Later, HBO released a statement that they would be removing Louis C.K.’s content from their On Demand services, while he would also be removed from their upcoming Night of Too Many Stars: America Unites for Autism Programs special. Meanwhile, FX is currently investigating the allegations, as he is an executive producer on their shows Better Things, Baskets, and Louie. After refusing to comment, a representative later said that Louis C.K. would release a statement “in the coming days”. Let’s all say it together: Keep it in your pants, Hollywood!

In movie news, there was about an hour of joy on Monday when reports surfaced that Disney was interested in buying 21st Century Fox. Of course comic fans rejoiced because this meant that the X-Men and Fantastic Four film rights would be back “at home” with Marvel under the Disney umbrella. Fan art started to fly across timelines, depicting the supposed “future” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Everywhere you turned, you were poked in the eye by another speculation boner. While a lot of folks think the sole reason for the acquisition was to acquire those remaining Marvel film rights, Disney had other ideas. You see, they need more content for their upcoming streaming service, and they realize a film library like Fox’s would sweeten the pot. Meanwhile, Fox was looking to scale down its business model, so it seemed mutually beneficial. Fox would’ve kept Fox News and Fox Sports, but Disney would’ve wound up with Fox’s cable networks, like NatGeo, and would’ve acquired any Fox-produced shows, like The Simpsons, regardless of if they aired on Fox or not (Disney couldn’t get the Fox TV network, as they already own ABC, and can’t legally own two networks). Plus, Disney would be able to distribute the first 2 Star Wars trilogies, which currently live at Fox. Oh, and Disney would get Avatar, if anyone cares. Anyway, after about an hour, reports surfaced that talks between the networks have reportedly stalled, but don’t count it out yet. As the entertainment distribution model continues to become more complex, look for the old guard to look for new ways to survive.

In comic news, DC Comics pulled off a MAJOR coup by poaching writer Brian Michael Bendis from Marvel. Yes, the same Bendis who helped create the Ultimate Universe, Miles Morales, and Jessica Jones. The same Bendis who filled the Avengers with marquee characters instead of B-listers, and put a spotlight on street-level characters like Luke Cage and Daredevil. The same Bendis who was part of the Marvel Brain Trust that guided the early phases of the MCU. The man was so “Marvel” that if you cut him open, his blood cells would scream out in unison “Excelsior!” So, is this indicative of problems over at Marvel? Or was he just ready for a change? Or a little of column A and a little of column B? In a way, it’s not a big deal, as creators jump back and forth between Marvel and DC all the time. When there are only 2 games in town, it’s basically like wrestlers going from WWE to TNA (don’t come to me with that high school gymnasium Ring of Honor shit!) So, I unless he dies tomorrow, Bendis will one day return to Marvel. But for now, he’s DC’s and the possibilities are endless. Sadly, they’ll probably waste him by putting him on a Justice League book instead of letting him work his magic on a character like Renee Montoya. I just can’t imagine his “children” without him. Does this mean we’ll get a writer of color on Miles’s or Riri’s book now? Or a woman writer on Jessica Jones? It’s so strange to see him walk away from the company he’s been associated with for the past 17 years. Sure, I’ve had my issues with the man in the past, but I’m very eager to see what comes from this DC deal.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

• Juno herself, Ellen Page, has been cast to star in Amazon’s adaptation of Gerard Way’s comic The Umbrella Academy
• ABC’s edition of American Idol will premiere Sunday, March 11th, 2018
• Funko, maker of those little Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Pop! figures, had the worst initial public offering in 17 years. Shares started at $12 and dropped to $7 by the end of the day.
• After the box office failure of The Mummy, Universal is seemingly giving up on it’s connected Dark Universe, as architects Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan have left the project
• Asher Angel, from Disney Channel’s Andi Mack, has been cast as Billy Batson in the Shazam movie

• We got our first look at Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor, which looks like a modern take on Mork & Mindy
• Smallville star Allison Mack has reportedly left acting, and is now second in command of a secret sex slave cult. I am not making this up. That’s hot.
• Following their recent acquisition of the Millarworld comic imprint, Netflix announced their first comic will be called Magic Order. The series will focus on five magical families who must Zzzzz… Pass.
• It was JCVD vs JDF last weekend, as Jean-Claude Van Damme tried to start some shit with former Power Ranger Jason David Frank at a comic convention in Mexico. Apparently, JCVD was still pissed at JDF for an exchange of words between them that happened TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO!
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson will craft an entirely new, Skywalker-less Star Wars trilogy. Ya know, until they fire him.
• Disney announced their streaming service, launching in 2019, will include a series based on Monsters, Inc., a live action Star Wars series, and a High School Musical series. Oh, and a new Marvel series, so let your speculation boners fly!

So, have ya seen Thor: Ragnarok yet? Can we finally talk about it? Actually, I don’t really have anything to say that I didn’t say last week. No spoilers, no nitpicks, nothing. I LOVED it! Such a fun movie. It’s a shame it took them 3 movies (and some group appearances) to finally figure out what tone they want to take with the character. I will say it borrowed from the Guardians of the Galaxy comedic formula, but it totally works here. I didn’t really take to Thor as a dour god, but I like him as a smartass hero who sometimes gets his ass handed to him. Valkyrie was awesome, The Grandmaster was Goldblum at his Goldblumest, and who doesn’t love Korg? The film has already passed $500 million in the worldwide box office, so I think it’s a success. Anyway, I’m saying that Thor: Ragnarok had the West Week Ever.