By Susan Hornik

ALL IN THE FAMILY
The Primetime Emmy Awards will be here in a few short months. One New Jersey’s most talented homegrown actors, This Is Us co-star Ron Cephas Jones, was thrilled to announce the nominations with his daughter/ fellow talented actor, Jasmine Cephas Jones.

“It has been an extraordinary year in which television brought multigenerational families together in a shared love of their favorite programs,” said Television Academy Chairman and CEO Frank Scherma. “So it seems fitting that these two accomplished performers announce this year’s Emmy nominees as we acknowledge and celebrate the exceptional programs and talent that are elevating and redefining television.”

Cephas Jones won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2018 and last year for This Is Us, and Jasmine won Outstanding Actress In A Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for the then Quibi series #Freerayshawn. Like father, like daughter.

SHARK IN THE WATER
Now that summer is in full swing, you know what that means – Discovery Channel’s Shark Week and National Geographic’s Shark fest are officially upon us! Each year, the two cable networks air a variety of wildly popular shark themed programming. In honor of our favorite aquatic predator, here are some tasty facts:

Nicole Spread

• Discovery’s Shark Week is now in its 33rd year with 45 hours of shark programming, the most hours of programming in Shark Week history.

• Shark Week highlights include a shark movie festival, including the Sharknado series, Mega Shark vs. Octopus, Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark, 2 Headed Shark Attack, and 3 Headed Shark Attack, which will all be available on Discovery+

• NatGeo’s Sharkfest features more than 21 hours of new content and 60 hours of enhanced and archival footage.

COMIC CON AT HOME
While Comic Con will return in person to San Diego in late November, the main summer extravaganza in the SoCal hotspot which usually attracts over 90,000 attendees each year is once again taking place online for the second year in a row, slated for July 23 25.

“While we are buoyed by the rollout of the vaccine and the growing number of individuals being inoculated, it appears that July will still be too early to safely hold an in person event of the magnitude of Comic Con,” the organization said in a statement.

Nevertheless, there will still be a myriad of exciting panels for Comic Con@ Home, including a celebration for 20 seasons of Family Guy, discussions about independent comics and graphic novels, and of course, a bevy of upcoming blockbuster movie trailers. Put on your best DC or Marvel costume and tune in.

A GRAVEYARD SMASH
Fans of the popular FX vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows have much to celebrate as the CW spin off series Wellington Paranormal finally premiered in the U.S. on July 11 (it originally launched in New Zealand in 2018).

“I’ve always liked this [supernatural] subject,” enthused creator/executive producer Jemaine Clement of the comedy rock band Flight of the Conchords. “I think the first time I got interested, I was about four or five and my parents were watching TV… it was the scene with this bat, flying into this castle and drops blood onto a skeleton, which forms into Christopher Lee. I found it so weird and amazing.”

Wellington Paranormal concentrates more on monsters rather than their undead counterparts, but according to Clement, it’s equally enticing and hilariously terrifying.

DARK ‘80S
Executive producer/showrunner Annie Weisman has a bonafide hit on her hands with new dark comedy Physical. The Apple TV+ series follows Sheila Rubin (brilliantly portrayed by Rose Byrne), a self-tortured, bulimic housewife in 1980s San Diego who develops a love of aerobics, greatly enhancing her outlook on life – so much so that she becomes a professional instructor. When viewers are first introduced to Sheila, the character is at an emotional low point in her battle with body dysmorphia.

“She has been in the shadows of a really dynamic and charismatic husband, and there’s this seed inside her that wants more than that,” Weisman said in a behind the scenes segment.


The veteran producer, revered for shows like Almost Family, Suburgatory, and About a Boy, wrote and created the series, and revealed she also struggled with eating disorders throughout much of her life. “I wanted to explore how divided women feel, projecting a certain look and personality on the outside but having something much darker and secretive on the inside,” she said.