TV/STREAMING . . .

It Doesn't Matter How The Good Place Series Finale Ends. The Good Place experiment is over. Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, Tahani and their former demon torturer Michael, as well as the all-knowing Janet, have proved humans can get better as long as they try. Trying is what counts, and the cockroaches have saved themselves -- and humanity. They're in the Good Place and now The Good Place is ending after four seasons of laughs and philosophy. How it all ends is being kept under serious wraps. NBC's official description of "Whenever You're Ready" is even less descriptive than Game of Thrones episode releases. "Various conversations occur, between various groups of people." That's it. That's the episode description. And... it's perfect. Because it doesn't matter how The Good Place ends. It matters what you take away from The Good Place. The Good Place leaves behind a legacy of thoughtful comedy. Yes, it made us laugh, but it also made viewers think. What does it mean to be a good person? The show started out asking that question, and as it went on, the focus evolved. "At the end of the day, I think that objective kind of shifted a little bit, because what we found, as we discussed it and wrote it and executed it, is that some very, very smart people over the last, say, 3,000 years have had a lot of very different opinions about that question... At the beginning I pitched it as 'what it means to be a good person,' and at the end, I think I would describe this as a show that makes the argument that we all ought to try harder than we are. And as long as you're trying, you're on the right path," series creator Michael Schur said on stage at TCA. Whether the show depicts Eleanor (Kristen Bell) living happily ever after with Chidi (William Jackson Harper), or viewers see Tahani (Jameela Jamil) and Jason (Manny Jacinto) walk through the door to find eternal rest, it's all good. TV endings are notoriously hard to land. The ending of The Good Place won't please everyone. And it shouldn't. Ahead of the final season's premiere, Bell said the end of the show is "a little bit of tough love" and "it's absolutely poignant and beautiful and will make you think." The Golden Globe nominee told E! News she was "more satisfied than I thought I would be" with how things wrapped up. "[Mike Schur] didn't just end our story, he completed an idea and that is so rare... I don't think... anyone will not like this because it's true. He wrote down some real truths," she said. If, at the end of the day and the end of The Good Place, you have been impacted by the show and its message, that's all that really matters. Whether it was something that made you laugh, whether the show was a comfort in fraught times, or the message at the heart of the series left its mark. "I think that you'll leave this final season, hopefully having learned something, but also feeling as if you are less alone, assuming you're a good person, like I think we are, who made the show. And just knowing that no one really knows what they're doing, but there are ways to steer yourself more in the right direction," writer and co-executive producer Megan Amram told E! News. "And also, if there's anyone watching the show who is maybe like, 'I'm not that smart,' then they can watch Jason and be like, 'Oh, this person is way dumber than me,' so they can feel better." The Good Place series finale airs Thursday, Jan. 30 at 8:30 p.m. on NBC. (Eonline)

Love Is Blind? That's What Netflix Is Testing With a New Reality Show Experiment. Netflix is putting the old saying Love Is Blind to the test with a new reality series. Love Is Blind, a three-week event series for the streamer, hails from the makers of Married at First Sight and follows a group of singles who want to be initially loved for who they are, rather than what they look like. These men and women are tasked with getting to know one another in a secluded location with no distractions from the outside world... and without ever seeing one another. "I've met the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I've never seen her before," a cast member says in the trailer. Can these people really fall in love without ever laying eyes on one another? The singles speak to each other through pods, rotating partners while getting to know one another. After the love interests feel like they've found the one, they propose and see each other for the first time. Cameras then follow the couple engaged and in the real world as they plan for their big wedding day. "Ethnicity, race, physical appearance -- none of that matters," the same participants says in the trailer. Was the connection made through verbal communication strong enough? The couples have to quickly discover whether they can turn the emotional connection into a physical one before the big day. "The physical attraction is on par with the emotional connection," a female cast member says. Good for her. And another is seen running in a wedding dress saying, "I cannot do this!" So, not everybody is lucky. It's reality TV after all. Nick Lachey and Vanessa Lachey host the 10-part series. Love Is Blind premieres on February 13 with five episodes, four new episodes follow on February 20 and a two-hour finale drops on February 27. (Eonline)

NCIS Alumna Pauley Perrette's New Comedy Series Sets April Premiere Date on CBS. The comedy series will be Pauley Perrette's first starring role since she departed NCIS in 2018. Pauley Perrette's new series finally has a premiere date. The 50-year-old actress announced on Twitter that her upcoming comedy series Broke will premiere April 2 at 9:30 p.m. ET on CBS, replacing freshman comedy Carol's Second Act after it wraps up its current season. Perrette stars in Broke as Jackie, a single mother and bartender whose simple life with her son Sammy (Antonio Corbo) is flipped upside down when her estranged sister Elizabeth (Natasha Leggero), Elizabeth's rich husband Javier (Jaime Camil) and his assistant Luis (Izzy Diaz) arrive at her doorstep. The comedy will be Perrette's first starring role since her departure from NCIS nearly two years ago. Perrette left the CBS drama in May 2018 after 15 seasons forensic scientist Abby Sciuto. She has claimed there were "multiple physical assaults" on set before her departure. In June, Perrette posted a now-deleted photo of a crew member with a black eye and stitches. She claimed her decision to speak out and "protect" the crew led to her exit. Though she did not reveal how or when the alleged assault took place, Perrette and costar Mark Harmon's working relationship took a turn after the actor brought his rescue dog on set. In 2016, multiple reports claimed that an unidentified crew member was bitten by the dog, resulting in 15 stitches. Reps for Harmon and CBS did not respond PEOPLE's requests for comment at the time. In a statement to PEOPLE in May 2018, CBS Television Studios confirmed that the actress came forward with a "workplace concern" more than a year prior, and that the network "took the matter seriously." "Pauley Perrette had a terrific run on NCIS and we are all going to miss her," CBS Television Studios said. The actress has had a string of incidents in which she says she was injured, most notably claiming to have been attacked by homeless men twice in the space of three months in 2015 and 2016. In May 2019, she posted a photo of herself in a hospital gown with a bloodied bandage on her arm, but did not elaborate on the nature of the injury. Since her exit, NCIS fans have clamored for Perrette to return to the show. But in June 2019, she made it clear that she would never return to the series and claimed she is "terrified" of Harmon.Broke premieres on April 2 at 9:30 p.m. ET on CBS. (People)

Behind the scenes of Caroline Manzo and Teresa Giudice's Super Bowl commercial. No table flips here. Former frenemies Caroline Manzo and Teresa Giudice came together to film a Super Bowl commercial to the surprise of everyone -- even Caroline's son Albie. Albie, 33, told Page Six on his podcast, "Dear Albie," that he booked his plane ticket to Los Angeles to be on set with Caroline, 58, and Teresa, 47, just days before they shot the spot. "We get to LA. Everybody goes to the studio, I show up maybe about 45 minutes after Mom did and they went through hair and makeup and we're waiting for the actual shoot to take place and I haven't seen Teresa in years," Albie recalled. "Last time I saw Teresa had to be -- that is a really good question because I do not know," he continued, noting that he did see Joe Giudice a few months before he went to prison, and estimates that it may have been while they were shooting "The Real Housewives of New Jersey." Caroline and Teresa last appeared on the show together in Season 5, which aired in 2013. They started out as friends when "RHONJ" premiered in 2009 but their relationship quickly deteriorated. In October, Caroline said that Teresa was "delusional" after the mom-of-four suggested that Caroline partook in the government investigation surrounding the Giudices' finances that resulted in both Teresa and husband Joe's incarceration. The women saw each other for the first time since then when they "were getting mic'd up basically next to each other" for the spot. "Teresa walks in, I wasted zero time personally. I went right up, said 'Hi,' gave her a hug," Albie said, later adding of his mom and Teresa, "They said 'Hi' and it was totally fine." "To be honest with you, it was exactly what I thought it was going to be," Albie said of them seeing each other for the first time. "Teresa and I were actually really cool when she was on the show. We used to text often. She was always trying to set me up with people. Very friendly relationship, especially when she was cool with Jac [Laurita, Albie's aunt], and obviously when she was cool with Mom ... the issues that Teresa and Mom have in my opinion, I do believe, are on Teresa's end manufactured but I think are -- I don't think she necessarily even realizes it." "I will tell you the God's honest truth, my read on the entire situation, while they were filming the commercial and everything else was that they were having fun," he continued. "I actually got almost -- I almost felt bad because i think it was the type of thing where Mom was 100 percent herself Mom, and I think I watched Teresa have kind of like, the hair up on her neck when she walked in and was looking for something to go on and then was like, 'Wait a minute.' Because when they were together, these bullshit aspect of things are just not present ... I think you saw Teresa get a taste of actually what used to be a little bit. And I think honestly it was almost a little sad. They were in a room together and I think they were having a good time." (PageSix)

'Dear White People' Showrunner's Starz Comedy Scores Series Order. 'Run the World,' from Yvette Lee Bowser and Leigh Davenport, follows a group of women friends in Harlem. Starz has given a series order to Run the World, a comedy from Dear White People showrunner Yvette Lee Bowser and writer Leigh Davenport. The series, from Lionsgate TV, stars Amber Stevens West, Andrea Bordeaux, Bresha Webb and Corbin Reid as four vibrant, fiercely loyal best friends who work, live and play in Harlem as they strive for world domination. Stephen Bishop also stars. "Run the World is exactly the kind of bold, authentic, inclusive storytelling that Starz is committed to delivering to our global audience," said Starz president and CEO Jeffrey Hirsch. "We feel as though we have captured lightning in a bottle with the energy and chemistry of this cast and their portrayal of these distinct characters in this modern-day view of four female friends in New York City and we look forward to bringing the series to the platform." Starz and parent company Lionsgate, where Bowser has an overall deal, put Run the World into development in June 2019. (Hollywood Reporter)

Rose Byrne to Star in 1980s Aerobics Dramedy at Apple. The project, which is near a series order at the tech giant's TV+, comes from Annie Weisman ('Almost Family') and Alexandra Cunningham ('Dirty John'). Apple is going back to the 1980s with Rose Byrne. The tech behemoth's TV+ platform is nearing a series order for Physical, a dramedy set against the backdrop of the '80s aerobics craze. Byrne (Bridesmaids, Neighbors) will star as a Southern California woman struggling in her life as a quietly tortured housewife who finds an unconventional path to power through the world of aerobics. The project comes from Annie Weisman (Almost Family, Desperate Housewives), who is writing and will serve as showrunner. She will executive-produce with Alexandra Cunningham (Dirty John) and Tomorrow Studios' Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements. Tomorrow Studios, a partnership between Adelstein and ITV Studios, is producing. Byrne is a two-time Emmy and Golden Globe nominee for her work on FX's Damages. She is set to play Gloria Steinem on FX on Hulu's Mrs. America opposite Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly. The Bridesmaids star's recent movie work includes Jon Stewart's Irresistible, due for release in May; the Insidious horror franchise; and Like a Boss. Byrne is repped by CAA and RGM Artist Group. Tomorrow Studios also has live-action adaptations of the best-selling manga One Piece and anime series Cowboy Bebop at Netflix and is behind TNT's Snowpiercer. Weisman developed Fox's Almost Family, based on the Australian series Sisters, and exec produces with Jason Katims. Her credits also include ABC's Suburgatory and Hulu's The Path. Cunningham also worked on Desperate Housewives and ran the U.S. version of Prime Suspect at NBC before creating and serving as showrunner on Dirty John, which is moving to USA after a first season on Bravo. Physical is set to join a lineup of more than two dozen scripted series on Apple TV+, which launched in November. The streamer has renewed every scripted show that has debuted thus far, save for the limited series Truth Be Told, and handed out early pickups to Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet and Home Before Dark. (Hollywood Reporter)

Savannah Guthrie Accidentally Wore Her Dress Backwards for Today Show Broadcast. Savannah Guthrie joked with her co-hosts about the fashion accident on the air. Savannah Guthrie made the best of a fashion accident on Thursday morning's Today broadcast. In a hilarious Instagram post on Thursday, the Today co-anchor revealed that she had mistakenly put her dress on backward and that it was "too late to change it" before she went on the air. Guthrie, 48, also joked about the dress during the show. The co-anchor explained that she was "distracted" and had been awake since 3:30 a.m. -- and even flipped her collar open to show her co-hosts that the tag was in the front of her dress. "So that happened," Guthrie joked. "Well, there's always next year." Earlier this month, the journalist returned to the Today show after undergoing extensive eye surgery in December to fix a tear in her retina. After a difficult recovery process, Guthrie recently opened up about her fears that her temporary vision loss would become permanent. "Over time, I started to wonder, well, what's going on here? Is this really going to get better? And, the very last day before I had the surgery, was probably my darkest moment," Guthrie said on The Dr. Oz Show. "I'd been living with it, three weeks doing the show, not be able to see out of one eye. I could feel that my vision just started to close in and it started to get black." Guthrie suffered the eye injury after her 3-year-old son Charley accidentally hit her in the eye with a toy train. Her eye doctors initially tried to fix the tear with less-invasive laser surgery but determined that retinal surgery -- which requires a grueling recovery period -- was the only way. "I'm so happy that I was able to do it," the Today co-anchor said of the surgery. "If my eyesight doesn't get any better than this, I'm so lucky I can see out of both eyes. I know I'm really lucky." When Guthrie returned to the Today show alongside co-host Hoda Kotb earlier this month, she expressed her gratitude for the successful surgery. "When I say 'Good to see you,' I really mean it," Guthrie said while addressing viewers. "I gotta tell you, it feels so good to have you sitting right here," responded Kotb. (People)

ABC News' Matt Gutman Suspended Over False Kobe Bryant Crash Report. One journalist is being forced to take a time-out after covering Kobe Bryant's death. ABC News has suspended chief national correspondent Matt Gutman after he speculated on-air that all four of the basketball player's daughters were on board the helicopter that crashed and resulted in nine deaths. "Reporting the facts accurately is the cornerstone of our journalism," an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement to E! News that confirmed the suspension. "As he acknowledged on Sunday, Matt Gutman's initial reporting was not accurate and failed to meet our editorial standards." While Matt corrected the error in a later report on Sunday and apologized for the misinformation, the journalist issued another apology Wednesday afternoon. "We are in the business of holding people accountable," Matt shared in a new statement to E! News. "And I hold myself accountable for a terrible mistake, which I deeply regret. I want to personally apologize to the Bryant family for this wrenching loss and any additional anguish my report caused." Matt has been an ABC News correspondent since 2008 and has covered breaking news events before including the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. His work is often seen on multiple ABC News shows including ABC World News Tonight with David Muir and 20/20. As the investigation continues into what led to the helicopter crash, tributes continue to be planned and executed in honor of the Los Angeles Lakers player and all those who died in the fatal crash. Both the 2020 Super Bowl and 2020 Oscars plan to pay tribute to the superstar athlete. And while the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team isn't scheduled to play again until Friday night at the Staples Center, past and present players continue to mourn their former teammate's death. "The Los Angeles Lakers would like to thank all of you for the tremendous outpouring of support and condolences. This is a very difficult time for all of us," the team added in a later statement. "We continue to support the Bryant family and will share more information as it is available." The Los Angeles Times were first to report about the suspension. (Eonline)

TV Ratings: 'Criminal Minds' Jumps, Harry and Meghan Specials Finish in a Tie. Hour-long shows about the British royal family on ABC and Fox draw virtually identical audiences. Criminal Minds delivered season-high ratings for CBS Wednesday, helped by a stronger than usual lead-in and also likely by NBC giving its Chicago shows the night off. Dueling specials about the British royal family on Fox and ABC drew nearly identical audiences. Nearing the midpoint of its final season, Criminal Minds averaged 5.88 million viewers and a 0.9 rating among adults 18-49, up from same-day season averages of 4.6 million and 0.7. CBS' annual Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials special led off the night with 7.15 million viewers and a 1.0 in the 18-49 demo, leading the broadcast networks in both measures. At 10 p.m., SWAT had its third-largest total audience of the season with 4.41 million viewers and tied its season high in the demo at 0.7. Fox's TMZ-produced Harry and Meghan: Royals in Crisis, airing at 8 p.m., and ABC News' 10 p.m. special Royal Divide: Harry, Meghan and the Crown each earned a 0.5 among adults 18-49. ABC's special had a slightly larger overall audience, drawing 3.44 million people to 3.31 million for the Fox hour. ABC's The Goldbergs ticked up in adults 18-49 for the second week in a row, posting a 0.9 in the demo. Schooled held steady at 0.7, and Single Parents came down a little to 0.5 following a Modern Family rerun. Fox aired comedy repeats following its special. The CW's Riverdale (0.2 in adults 18-49) and Nancy Drew (0.1) were both even with last week. CBS topped the night in adults 18-49 with a 0.8 rating. ABC and NBC tied for second at 0.6. Fox averaged 0.4, while The CW drew a 0.2. Bookmark THR.com/Ratings for more ratings news and numbers. (Hollywood Reporter)

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