The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

Posted: 06 Jan 2014 08:10 PM PST

The popular sketch show adds a black female comedian to its list of performers.

Saturday Night Live has hired comedian Sasheer Zamata as a new cast member for the late-night comedy sketch show, a spokeswoman for network NBC said on Monday, months after the programme was criticised for a lack of diversity among its female cast.

Zamata, who stars in her own internet comedy series Pursuit Of Sexiness, will be the first African-American female cast member since Maya Rudolph left Saturday Night Live in 2007. SNL came under criticism in October for its lack of female diversity after cast member Kenan Thompson said he would no longer play black women such as Whoopi Goldberg and Maya Angelou.

The show later spoofed that criticism with a sketch in which guest host Kerry Washington played several African-American figures, including first lady Michelle Obama, whose character has been left out of much of the show's political satire because of casting. Zamata, who has performed with the Upright Citizens Brigade improv comedy troupe, will make her debut on Jan 18.

Saturday Night Live, which has launched the Hollywood careers of Chevy Chase, Mike Myers, Tina Fey and others, added six new members to its cast in September before the beginning of its current 39th season. NBC is owned by Comcast Corp. — Reuters

5 'Downton Abbey' problems Americans can't relate to

Posted: 05 Jan 2014 06:10 PM PST

US fans just can't figure out the popular British show's household quirky issues.

We understand why more than 11 million Americans tuned into Downton Abbey last season – they can't resist the show's upstairs-downstairs look at helpless aristocrats and the plucky servants who feed, clothe and wash them. But another 300 million or so Americans don't watch Downton – perhaps because we have a hard time relating to adult babies who need a vast cast of basement-dwellers to care for them.

Sure, some of the problems on Downton are universal (someone ... is ... dead). But others are so silly that they make our First World Problems (my ... iPhone screen ... is ... cracked) seem like Third World Problems by comparison. Did you pour your own cereal this morning? By Downton standards, that makes you a survivalist.

Here are five of the most unrelatable problems on the Season 4 US premiere of Downton Abbey (with some minor spoilers):

1. A maid has quit, without notice.

The season premiere finds the entire manor touched by a universal tragedy: One of the household staff has decided to go do something else. The very nerve. The decision sets in motion lots of finger-pointing and a dilemma: Who will dress one of the ladies of the house? Here in the modern age, we've got 99 problems, but "Who will dress me" ain't one.

2. A good carpenter is hard to find. It isn't just the upper-class twits who have to worry. So does the help.

One of our favourite members of the assistant class explains that he needs to talk to a visiting carpenter before said carpenter is allowed to work: "He needs to grasp the quality of the tapestry on the chairs before he starts slamming nails into them."

Yes! Exactly what we've been saying.

3. And can no one bring us a suitable pig man?

In order to diversify, the Crawleys decide to bring in pigs to farm. But things get messy, as they do with pigs, so they end up asking a tenant farmer to manage their pig affairs, because of course they do.

4. Mrs Pattimore's apron rips.

Okay, maybe this doesn't sound like a big deal, but understand: It rips right before the older Lady Grantham is about to come downstairs. That's right, THE Lady Grantham, the one who never comes down to the servant's quarters and will melt, Nazis-looking-at-the-Arc style, if she ever sees one of her employees in a ripped apron.

Luckily, the newfangled maid has a newfangled sewing machine and a massive poostorm is averted.

5. Where to hide the band?

Finally, a problem we can all relate to, right? No? Never mind. Rose decides to surprise someone with a band on his birthday, and conspires with Mrs Hughes to hide them downstairs. The servants are surprised to find out the bandleader is not Caucasian, as are the Crawleys.

But a count is so so taken with the bandleader's wit, pinchable cheeks and diminutive size that he immediately decides to adopt him, as well as his brother Willis (ha-ha), to live at his new dig on Park Avenue. Whatchootalkinbout, Lady Grantham? Nothing. This last part only happens in our dreams. — Reuters

>> Watch the trailer of Downton Abbey Season 4 here.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Isnin, 6 Januari 2014