The first episode of zombie-drama spin-off Fear the Walking Dead made television history on Sunday, with 10.1 million viewers. The show – a spin-off from The Walking Dead telling the story of the early days of the zombie apocalypse – was the most-watched series debut ever in the United States, in terms of total viewers and all key demographics, the AMC network said on Monday. The episode delivered 6.3 million viewers in the 18-to-49 demographic that many advertisers target. The show was also broadcast simultaneously in the UAE and around the world. The first season of Fear the Walking Dead will run for six episodes, followed by the debut of season six of the original show, and has already been renewed for a second season of 15 episodes that will be broadcast next year. – AP
Factory-collapse film banned in Bangladesh
The high court in Bangladesh has imposed a six-month ban on the screening of a movie about a garment worker who was rescued from the rubble 17 days after a five-storey factory complex collapsed two years ago, killing more than 1,000 people. A panel of two judges ordered the ban on the film, Rana Plaza, after a writ petition was submitted alleging that it has scenes of horror, cruelty and violence that could negatively affect workers in the country's vital garment industry. The director, Nazrul Islam Khan, had argued that the true story of Reshma Begum depicted courage amid the tragedy. The disaster, on April 24, 2013, left 1,135 people dead. Thousands more were rescued from the ruins of the illegally built complex, which contained five factories that made clothes for international companies. Sirajul Islam Rony, the writ petitioner and a trade union leader, said he had appealed to the court because the filmmakers had not removed some scenes from the movie as instructed by the court in March. – AP
Johansson and Schumer set for Colbert’s Late Show
Stephen Colbert will have a big opening week when he begins his run as host of CBS' The Late Show on September 8. It had already been announced that his opening-night guests will be Hollywood star George Clooney and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush. Now the guest list for the rest of the week has also been announced. On September 9, he will welcome actress Scarlett Johansson and SpaceX and Tesla Motors chief executive Elon Musk will appear. Singer Kendrick Lamar will perform. On September 10, the guests will be Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick and country singer Toby Keith, followed by comedian Amy Schumer and horror author Stephen King on September 11, with musical guests Troubled Waters. – AP
Thurber judges reveal all-women finalists
Nearly 20 years after it was founded, the all-male winners' circle for the Thurber Prize for American Humor is finally changing. New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast, actress and writer Annabelle Gurwitch and novelist Julie Schumacher are the finalists for this year's $5,000 (Dh18,365) prize. Chast was honoured for her graphic memoir about her parents, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Gurwitch was included for her essay collection, I See You Made an Effort. Schumacher was nominated for the academic satire, told in letters, called Dear Committee Members. "The finalists share more than their gender in common – they are also all above the age of 50," said judge Sloane Crosley. "Can we therefore extract from this shortlist, the idea that not only are women funny, but that they get funnier as time passes?" The award was established in 1996 and was named for late humorist James Thurber. – AP
The Judds reunite for first gigs in five years
Mother-and-daughter country-singing duo The Judds are reuniting after nearly five years for a series of shows in Las Vegas. Naomi and daughter Wynonna Judd will perform nine shows between October 7 and 24 at The Venetian Theatre. Naomi, 69, retired in the 1990s after finding out she was suffering from hepatitis, but Wynonna, 51, continued as a solo artist and they have reunited occasionally to perform together. They have won five Grammy Awards and sold more than 20 million albums between them. – AP
30 Rock star Morgan gets married
Tracy Morgan has married his fiancée of four years. The 46-year-old actor and comedian wed Megan Wollover on Sunday, with their two-year-old daughter in attendance. It is Morgan’s second marriage. The ceremony took place 14 months after Morgan was seriously injured and a fellow comedian was killed when the limousine they were travelling in was hit by a Wal-Mart lorry on the New Jersey Turnpike. – AP
Bacon to star in Rear Window play
Kevin Bacon will star in a stage adaptation of Rear Window, the story that inspired Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1954 film of the same name. Hartford Stage in Connecticut said Tuesday that the star will headline the haunting tale of a wheelchair-bound man who thinks he might have witnessed a murder from the window of his home. It has been adapted for the stage by Keith Reddin and will run from October 22 until November 15, directed by Hartford Stage artistic director Darko Tresnjak, who won a Tony award for the Broadway hit A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. Bacon has appeared on Broadway in plays including Slab Boys and An Almost Holy Picture. – AP
Empire star’s divorce settlement overturned
A judge has overturned Terrence Howard’s divorce settlement with his second wife, ruling that the actor had been coerced into signing the agreement by her threats to leak private information about him.
Superior Court Judge Thomas Trent Lewis' decision means Howard and his ex-wife, Michelle Ghent, will have to renegotiate the financial terms of their divorce. It also ends, for now, any claims Ghent has to Howard's earnings from the hit TV show Empire.
“The evidence of extortion or duress was unrebutted,” Lewis said.
Howard contended he signed a 2012 settlement to end his marriage to Ghent out of fear she would leak private details about him, including recordings of intimate telephone calls with other women and a video of him dancing naked in a bathroom.
The agreement entitled Ghent to a share of Howard's earnings, which would include a portion of his salary from the smash-hit Fox TV series Empire, which begins its second season soon.
Ghent’s lawyers have said she denied extorting the actor in a deposition and argued he didn’t prove threats she made in 2011 forced him to sign the agreement a year later. She was not allowed to testify at a recent hearing because her attorneys did not file a sworn declaration from her before the proceedings began.
Lewis presided over a four-day hearing that revealed numerous private details about the Oscar-nominated actor, including that he had cheated on Ghent during their engagement, he was physically violent with his first wife, and has already divorced his third wife.
Lewis also heard a 2011 call in which Ghent berated Howard and threatened to sell private information about him if he didn’t pay her money by the end of the day. Howard’s accountant sent Ghent $40,000 after the call, which he called “hush money.”
The actor called it “blood money.” He told Lewis that leaking the information at the time would have ended his acting career.
Ghent has accused Howard of multiple instances of domestic violence and has an active restraining order against the actor. Howard, 46, has denied he abused Ghent.
Lewis cited the ugly details of the case and said it was clear Howard had mistreated Ghent.
“There’s no question in my mind Terrence Howard is a bully,” Lewis said. But the judge also said: “Just because you’re a bully doesn’t mean you can’t be bullied.”
Howard’s lawyer, Brian Kramer, said: “Today’s ruling represents not only a watershed event in the life of Mr Terrence Howard whose financial livelihood was hanging in the balance, but it’s a precedent setting ruling that will have implications for the entire family law bench and bar in California,” Kramer wrote in a statement. – AP
