TV Quick Hits: ‘Sharknado 5’ scoop; ‘South Park’ shifting focus; Lady Gaga previews Super Bowl Halftime Show
For this latest edition of TV Quick Hits, let’s start by swimming with some sharks … or actually, watching them swirl around inside a wind tunnel. It’s “Sharknado” time! Well, actually it’s not “Sharknado” time for a while, but we can bring you a little more news on the fifth edition of the Syfy movie franchise.
Today, the network confirmed that Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, and director Anthony Ferrante are officially returning for another chapter, and filming is taking place starting in Bulgaria before heading to England, Australia, and some other countries. Clearly, this is the most global version of “Sharknado” to date, which means that we’ll get a chance to see how people panic at the site of swirling sharks all over the globe. What’s not to like about that?
Knowing these movies, we expect plenty of cameos and probably one of the craziest shark kills you’ve ever seen. Hopefully, we’ll come bearing more news soon! (For the record, “Sharknado 5” is not the official title — we’re just using that for reference.)
“South Park” diminishing Donald Trump parodies – Consider this may be the first sign in many people realizing that there are many other great venues of comedy these days beyond the President. Speaking in a new interview with ABC News, co-creator Trey Parker notes that one of the reasons for this decision is a matter of them wanting to move on to other things that don’t require bridging the gap as much between comedy and what’s actually happening:
“It’s tricky and it’s really tricky now as satire has become reality … We were really trying to make fun of what was going on [last season] but we couldn’t keep up. What was actually happening was way funnier than anything we could come up with. So we decided to just back off and let [politicians] do their comedy and we’ll do ours.”
It’s a politically-charged statement that Parker makes, but we do think that there is a certain sentiment of many people out there looking for a comedy escape from Trump. “South Park” and many other television shows could be the place for some fun escapism.
Lady Gaga’s Halftime Show, previewed – The pop superstar had a press conference today promoting her upcoming event at Sunday’s Super Bowl, and while she of course didn’t give too much away, she made it clear that the messages of love and inclusion that are in her music would be present during the show. Tony Bennett will also help introduce her via a video package, and there will be no meat dress (for those who actually thought there could be).
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We welcome your thoughts on any of these stories below! Stay tuned for more news. (Photo: Comedy Central.)