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Prior to "Gilligan's Island" in 1964, Tina Louise was already a long-working actress. Indeed, Louise worked her first modeling gig at the age of two, appearing in an ad campaign for her father's candy store. In high school, she started studying acting, and landed her first professional gig in 1956, appearing in an episode of the TV series "Studio One." She made her feature film debut in Anthony Mann's celebrated drama "God's Little Acre," in which Louise played Griselda, the wife of a character played by Jack Lord. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance. 

Louise went on to star in other high-profile film projects, including Michael Curtiz's "The Hangman," and the 1960 Italian historical epic "The Siege of Syracuse," in which she played three different roles. Louise also played the poet Sappho in a film called "The Warrior Empress." In 1964, she appeared in a film called "For Those Who Think Young,...

Ask any fan of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and they'll likely agree on the five or six best episodes of the series. Few, for instance, will impugn the power of "The Best of Both Worlds", the famed episode wherein Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) is kidnapped and assimilated by the Borg, a species of unthinking machine people. Indeed, that episode became so popular, that it forced the makers of "Star Trek" back into the arms of the Borg again and again; Borg stories were being told as recently as 2023. 

Also beloved is "Tapestry", an episode where Picard dies and finds that the afterlife is overseen by the playful trickster god Q (John de Lancie). Q offers to send Picard back in time to his youth, specifically to the day before he got in a bar brawl that damaged his heart. If Picard can avoid the brawl and keep his heart from being stabbed,...

In 2009, "Star Trek" did something it had never done before: it selected an actor other than William Shatner to play the role of James T. Kirk. Luckily, Trekkies didn't cry foul and seemed intrigued at the idea that the younger, hotter Chris Pine would be stepping in. J.J. Abrams' 2009 feature film, to remind readers, rebooted the franchise's timeline, taking place when Kirk and his compatriots were younger and more impulsive. Every part was recast and the actors selected were all exemplary choices. Abrams' film was also more violent and action-packed than "Star Trek" had been before, leading to debates among hardcore fans as to whether or not it represented "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry's peaceful vision of the future. (It doesn't.)

What the 2009 "Star Trek" proved, though, was that fans and audiences alike are perfectly willing to accept a new actor in a classic role. Of all the...

Carole King showed off her rendition of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” during the inaugural Swifties for Kamala call. The coalition’s kick-off event feature an appearance from King, who addressed the 34,000 attendees and offered a snipped of Swift’s 2014 single.

“I am a Swiftie, and Taylor and I are actually friends,” King said during the call. “We have had conversations backstage and I see her as sort of my musical and songwriting granddaughter. We have a lovely relationship, and I’m so proud of her.”

Kinda never getting...

The Taylor Swift juggernaut continued on the Billboard 200 albums chart for the tracking week that ended August 15. Her “Tortured Poets Department” logged a 15th week at number-one with 85,000 equivalent album units based on its accumulated traditional album sales, individual track sales and online streams. But she wasn’t the only one who had a good week on the chart. Chappell Roan had her best week ever. Read more about this week’s chart here at Billboard.com.

“Tortured Poets” is now tied with Carole King‘s “Tapestry” as the third longest-running number-one album by a woman, behind only Adele‘s “21” (24 weeks at number-one) and the “Bodyguard” soundtrack (20 weeks at number-one). To achieve this, Swift only had to release one album variant including ““The Prophecy (Long Story Short — Live From Lyon)” as a bonus track.

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Meanwhile, Roan’s “The Rise and...

There are all other songwriters, and then there is Carole King. Nobody’s ever had an epic career quite like the Brooklyn girl who spent the Sixties writing classic hits for other artists—then spent the Seventies writing her own. With her 1971 solo classic Tapestry, she set the standards that all young singer-songwriters still aspire to reach. She’s always gone her own way as a performer, a composer, an environmental activist. When Taylor Swift inducted King into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023, she simply called her...

In the 1992 "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Chain of Command, Part I," Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden), and Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn) are called away by Starfleet to undertake a dangerous, very secret mission to seek out and apprehend a dangerous biological weapon being developed by the untrustworthy Cardassians. Picard needs to resign as captain of the USS Enterprise in order to undergo this mission, and he is replaced by one Captain Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox), a commanding officer with a dramatically different managerial style. 

As a captain, Picard was open to suggestions, careful to keep a rapport open with his crew. Jellico, meanwhile, was stern, cold, and loved to micromanage. He hated casualness and jocularity, and expected everyone to be tightly wound. He wasn't a bad captain -- indeed, he was quite good -- but he was a terrible boss. The appearance of Jellico set many Trekkies' hearts aflame,...

Ariana Grande has a whole new era—or should we say, it has her? Her excellent new Eternal Sunshine is a bold personal statement, with her most inventive, pained, reflective songs. “It’s kind of a concept album,” the pop queen said in February. “‘Cause it’s all different heightened pieces of the same story, of the same experience.” So no wonder she’s taking inspiration from the crazy boys who invented the concept album: The Beatles. In a NYC playback session for Eternal Sunshine, the pop queen revealed that...

Sherwood Schwartz's 1963 sitcom "Gilligan's Island" was a high-concept series that, thanks to the gods of syndication, remained in the public consciousness for decades after it went off the air. The show's impeccable theme song, written by Schwartz and George Wyle, may be the best theme in television history, as it handily explains the premise using a hummable sea shanty: five tourists boarded the S.S. Minnow -- manned by Captain Jonas Grumby (Alan Hale) and his first mate Gilligan (Bob Denver) -- for a three-hour tour off the coast of Honolulu. When the tiny ship hit some bad weather, the seven characters landed on a desert island, stranded. The series followed their merry attempts to survive. 

"Gilligan's Island" ran for 98 episodes, ending its initial run in 1967, but reruns continued to air well into the 1990s. Yes, there was a time when "Gilligan's Island" was a reliable TV staple, occupying...

Throughout "Star Trek," Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) has engaged in precious few romances. Early in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," he reunited with an old flame (Michelle Phillips) in the episode "We'll Always Have Paris," and it was implied that he had a fling years earlier with a lawyer (Amanda McBroom) in "The Measure of a Man," but those relationships concluded before "Next Generation" began. Of course, Picard had a wild dalliance with Vash (Jennifer Hetrick) in "Captain's Holiday," lived out a life with his imagined wife (Margot Rose) in "The Inner Light," had a time-travel fling with a classmate (J.C. Brandy) in "Tapestry," and had a very palpable romance with Lieutenant Commander Nella Darren (Wendy Hughes) in "Lessons." 

Oh yes, and Picard was very clearly attracted to Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett), and throughout "Next Generation," Picard and Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) shared a professional regard through a definite romantic undercurrent.

Director Denny Tedesco previously scored a hit among music fans with his 2008 film “The Wrecking Crew,” a documentary about the battalion of 1960s studio musicians whose names were little known even among the cognoscenti, until these unknown soldiers started to quietly get their due decades later. Although it took another 15 years after that film to come to fruition, Tedesco had an easy go-to for an unofficial sequel. “Immediate Family” focuses on a smaller cadre of players that soon came to dominate the L.A. recording scene and who were, for a time, known collectively as the Section. One thing the earlier movie had that this one doesn’t was a sense of injustice corrected, because let’s face it — in the 1970s, everybody knew their names.

Well, let’s not exaggerate — maybe not quite everyone was devoted to fondling LP packaging and devouring it for information, even in the physical media era.

Jerry Moss, co-founder of A&m Records, has died. He was 88.

According to Variety, the record exec — who along with his business partner, Herb Alpert, turned A&m into one of America’s leading independent record labels — died Wednesday at his home in Bel Air.

“They truly don’t make them like him anymore and we will miss conversations with him about everything under the sun. The twinkle in his eyes as he approached every moment ready for the next adventure,” his family said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Dionne Warwick, who wasn’t an A&m artist, but had been close to Moss ever since he helped promote her music in the early 1960s also released a statement, calling him one of the “kindest gentlemen” and her “dear friend.”

“Another of my dear friends has made his transition. Jerry Moss was and will always be remembered as one that...

Jerry Moss, who co-founded A&m Records with Herb Alpert, died at his home in Bel Air, California, according to a statement from his family via Associated Press. He was 88. No cause of death was given.

“They truly don’t make them like him anymore and we will miss conversations with him about everything under the sun,” the statement reads in part, “the twinkle in his eyes as he approached every moment ready for the next adventure.”

Formed in 1962, Alpert and Moss’ A&m (named after their initials) label’s quarter-plus...

In "Those Old Scientists," the latest episode of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," a magical time portal is discovered in the late 24th century by the characters from "Star Trek: Lower Decks." Ensigns Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Mariner (Tawney Newsome) accidentally activate the portal and are thrown back in time 120 years to where Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and his crew discover them. For the sake of retaining timeline purity, everyone agrees that Boimler and Mariner need to be sent back to the future. The issue is that no one knows how to activate the portal in the 23rd century, as it requires a rare element that is near-impossible to manufacture, and it is emblazoned with symbols that even the talented Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) cannot translate. 

Mariner seeks to help Uhura by offering a break and a drink to cool off her brain. They retire to the mess hall where...

Mike Nesmith was a songwriter ahead of his success with The Monkees. Therefore, he felt a kinship with other like-minded people who also found creative release in this job. He was lucky enough to work alongside some of the greatest writers in the industry for The Monkees. Carole King was one of these songwriters. However, for as much as he “loved” King, Nesmith claimed, “I just can’t stand her records.”

Mike Nesmith and Carole King collaborated on Monkees hits | Fox Photos/Jim McCrary/Redferns/Getty Images How many songs did Carole King write for The Monkees?

Carole King was one of the dozen or more songwriters enlisted to write music for The Monkees’ television series. King was among the many songwriters associated with Don Kirshner of New York’s The Brill Building.

King and her husband Gerry Goffin wrote for The Monkees. So did Tommy Boyce, Neil Diamond, Bobby Hart,...

Carole King is woven into the Gilmore Girls universe so much that it’s difficult to note her involvement. The singer not only cameoed, but she also was the voice behind the show’s iconic theme song. King also appeared in A Year in the Life and had a private concert with cast members.

Biff Yeager and Carole King | Saeed Adyani/Netflix Carole King asked ‘Ayitl’ cast not to film their private concert

Gilmore Girls ran from 2000 until it ended in 2007. Gg returned nine years after its ending for a special miniseries called Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life and brought back almost every cast member. Although King wasn’t a core cast member, she is still technically a huge part of it, and her appearance in an episode of the miniseries Ayitl proves that.

Lauren Graham, who played Lorelai Gilmore in the series, sat down with Sam Pancake to discuss her career.

Just in time for the holidays, Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Episode 9 takes a swing at spinning the classic It's a Wonderful Life concept for our beloved Emperor Georgiou.

Well, to be fair, it's probably more akin to Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6 Episode 15, "Tapestry," wherein Picard gets a chance (courtesy of Q) to go back and choose a different path. (Spoilers: it doesn't work out the way he thinks it will.)\

That being said, a trip to the Mirror Universe is always a hoot and such a great way to bring back faces like Landry and Airiam. And so much fascist-goth styling. So much.

However, if we approach Georgiou's return as an immersive psychological exercise, a lot of questions about its purpose, her choices, and "Carl" present themselves in obvious and imperative ways.

Let's talk about Carl first.

Is he a Q? Is he an A.I. holo? Is...

"If you want peace, prepare for war."

On Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 Episode 8, Burnham, Tyler, and Saru form the mission away team tasked to modify a planetary transmitter into a Klingon detector.

The episode title, "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum," is a classical Latin adage that translates to "If you want peace, prepare for war." Here, the adage applies to a multitude of situations presented.

First, and most obviously, Saru's total abandoning of his training and ethics to trap the away team on Pahvo.

His natural cowardice and perpetual prey-instinct drive him to want to stay in this seeming utopia to both escape his constant fear as well as to protect the Pahvons.

We've known this was coming for a while. While Saru's caution as First Officer could be viewed as a balance to Lorca's more headlong approach to conflict, it has always been questionable if Starfleet training could...

Every corpse tells a story. Clancy Brown plays the creepy host in Ryan Spindell‘s upcoming horror anthology film The Mortuary Collection (review), which is coming to Shudder on the road to Halloween. Sam Raimi calls The Mortuary Collection “A twisted tapestry of grisly fun and endlessly inventive terror” in a new trailer unleashed by Shudder today, which you’ll […]...

This Star Trek: Lower Decks review contains spoilers.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode 7

Unlike the most recent Star Trek shows, one of the appealing things about Star Trek: Lower Decks is that nearly all of its episodes are self-contained. There hasn’t been a season-long mystery to solve, and for the most part, you can watch the episodes totally out of order. That said, there is one nagging mystery that was quietly mentioned in the very first episode, that finally, appears to have been solved.

Basically, is Ensign Mariner good at her job on accident or occasionally bad at her job on purpose? In this Lower Decks we find the real answer.

While the vast majority of this episode deals with Boimler being “out of phase” and sent to a Federation recovery colony euphemistically called “the Farm,” it’s arguably the B-story that is slightly more interesting.

Boimler’s adventures...

This Star Trek: Lower Decks review contains spoilers.

Trying to catch all the references and Easter eggs in any given episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks is a little like trying to count all the times Spock does anything with his eyebrows in The Original Series. It’s possible, but even when you think you’ve spotted everything, the second you blink, he raises his eyebrow again.

In the sixth episode of Lower Decks, there aren’t any references to Spock raising his eyebrow, but there are plenty of eyebrow-raising Easter eggs. Here’s everything we spotted, from holodeck characters to retro-23rd century designs, and one shout-out to the greatest helmsman in Starfleet history.

Ambient Warp Drive Noises Are the Best White Noise

For years, Trekkie superfans have pointed out that the soothing, ambient noise of the Enterprise-d is a sonic genre of white noise in it of itself.

In times of turmoil, many of us turn to music for comfort, uplift, and escape, and that’s certainly been true since the coronavirus swept through the U.S. and kept most Americans at home. While music streams were down in the first few weeks of social distancing, they’re slowly returning back to normal, according to numbers from Alpha Data, the data analytics provider that powers the Rolling Stone Charts.

Which songs, in particular, have spoken to us? While classics like Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me” and...

Like many musical artists, Carole King has been providing songs of comfort to her fans over social media while everyone is stuck in quarantine.

She previously performed two of her classics — Tapestry track “So Far Away” and the A League of Their Own theme, “Now and Forever” — while at home, and now has posted a third video, singing the chorus to “Sweet Seasons,” co-written by King and Toni Stern for King’s 1971 album, Music.

“The original lyric was written by Toni Stern, and I’ve adapted it for 2020,” she says,...

Carole King joined the cast of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical in a quarantine rendition of “You’ve Got a Friend.” The clip premiered on CBS This Morning on Tuesday.

King, who wrote the track in 1971 as a response to James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain,” makes a cameo in the clip at the 4:15 mark, singing the final refrain of “You’ve got a friend” while wrapped in a blue scarf.

Donations from viewers will go directly to the Actors Fund, an organization that supports and acts as a safety net for those in arts and entertainment. “Please continue to help us care for others and donate,” chairman Brian Stokes Mitchell says in the clip.

King recently sang a version of the Tapestry classic “So Far Away” on Facebook, altering the lyrics to fit in the quarantine era. “Everybody has to stay in one place anymore/It would be so fine to see your face at my door,” she sang. “Doesn’t help to know /You’re just time away.”...

Harry Styles twirls in the center of the floor of the L.A. Forum, dancing wildly to his new song “Golden.” The venue is deserted. It’s Thursday afternoon, just a few hours before the release of his hotly awaited second album, Fine Line. He’s rehearsing for Friday night’s big album-release celebration show. (Outside the arena, the parking lot is full of tents — fans from around the world have been camping out all week, awaiting a spot on this floor.) After a few hours of rehearsing with his band,...

Why is Lover so much more than just another great Taylor Swift album? Because it’s the one where she’s trying to make all the great Taylor Swift albums, at the same time. She’s closing down her twenties, which she spent making five of the decade’s best albums — Speak Now, Red, 1989, Reputation and now this one — all released before she reached the age when Leonard Cohen made his debut. (Here’s betting Taylor keeps writing great songs into her 80s, just as L.C. did.) So overdramatic.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, one of the most popular Broadway shows in recent seasons and the rare jukebox musical as beloved by critics as by audiences, will end its nearly six-year Broadway run on October 27, producers announced tonight.

Based on the songs of its titular pop legend and her inner circle, Beautiful earned seven Tony nominations in 2014 and won a pair, including one for lead actress Jessie Mueller. The musical will close having played 2,418 regular performances and 60 previews. It’s Broadway’s second-longest-running bio-musical and the longest-running and highest-grossing show in the Stephen Sondheim Theatre’s history.

The production recouped its $13 million capitalization within nine months, but even it wasn’t immune to a generally tough summer for Broadway. In recent weeks, Beautiful has been grossing at about half, or just above half, of its $994,804 weekly potential. Although the summer has been hard on newer shows — with recent or...

Ryan Britt Jun 13, 2019

Pundits worry Trek is taking a cue from Star Wars by turning a hero into a grump, but adult rumination is what Trek has always been about.

Even though very little is known about the new Star Trek: Picard series, what we do know is enough for pundits and fans to already start making thematic assumptions. If you’re wrapped-up in the geek internet, you’ve probably already heard this one: Having a grumpy, retired Captain Picard in the new Star Trek series is similar to having a grumpy, exhilted Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

However, pundits forget: unlike Star Wars, The Next Generation was always been about olds, and Star Trek often draws its narratives not from coming-of-age tropes, but, instead, has always been about adults dealing with adult problems. If Picard is old and grumpy in the new show, it’s not...

Carole King will release a never-before-seen concert film and live album, Live at Montreux, June 14th via Eagle Vision. Recorded at the Montreux Pavillon in Switzerland during the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival, the show notably marked King’s first concert outside the United States. The set list features selections from King’s solo albums Tapestry and Writer, as well as nearly every song off her then-just-released LP, Fantasy.

King previewed Live at Montreux with clips of her performing Tapestry’s “It’s Too Late” and Fantasy’s “You’ve Been Around Too Long.

Jenny Lewis’ stellar songwriting chops were visible back in 2001 on Takeoffs and Landings, the first LP by Rilo Kiley, the band she co-fronted with Blake Sennett. They’ve only grown stronger since — and as her take on the Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle With Care” proved, she’s got a way with covers, too. To give some context to On The Line, her fourth solo LP, here are some highlights, past to present.

“Pictures of Success” (Rilo Kiley, Take Offs and Landings, 2001) A sweetly chilling evocation of broke-ass despair cloaked in shaky optimism,...

As of this writing “Jesus Christ Superstar” is predicted to win this year’s Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album with 82/25 odds. It’s a live recording of NBC’s Emmy-winning telecast, unlike the other nominees, which are studio recordings of traditional stage productions. Could that help or hurt “Superstar”?

This isn’t the show’s first time at the Grammys. The original concept album was nominated for Album of the Year back in 1972, but lost to Carole King for her second studio album, “Tapestry.” The very next year the Broadway cast recording was nominated for Album of the Year, but it lost too; Grammy voters picked “The Concert for Bangladesh” by George Harrison and Friends instead. So the iconic rock opera has a major Grammy Iou, especially considering how its creators — composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice — went on to win multiple Grammys themselves.

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(from Macklemore‘s Instagram)

It’s hard to believe in the sanctity of the Grammys when it’s possible to have, like, 17 of them. (Ahoy, Beyonce.) Katharine Hepburn didn’t have 17 Oscars. Hell, we’re on the fence about giving Meryl a fourth. But if you stick around long enough and maintain a baseline level of radio palatability, you’re likely to pick up a trophy every couple of years. Sheryl Crow has nine, you know what I mean?

But even if you’re a major skeptic, you couldn’t have hated too many of the chosen winners from the 56th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night. I, for one, relished in Kathy Griffin‘s first win for Best Comedy Album. The woman is an unstoppable force of neurotic, popcult nerd flavor, and she remains as audacious now as she was when she outlasted Stephen Baldwin on Celebrity Mole: Hawaii.