LUCILLE BALL

The 44th annual Sundance Film Festival is back, and entirely online once more.

The "I Love Lucy" star ultimately wound up being played by Nicole Kidman, who faced criticism over her casting.

This week’s new entertainment releases include fresh music from U2 as part of the soundtrack for the animated “Sing 2,” a marathon of holiday films on TCM and the end-of-the-world comedy “Don’t Look Up.”.

The Sundance Film Festival is returning to the Utah mountains in January armed with documentaries about Bill Cosby, Princess Diana, Kanye West and Lucille Ball as well as the directorial debuts of Eva Longoria, Tig Notaro and Jesse Eisenberg.

Dozens of Bills’ fans from all over began gathering in an Abbott Road camper lot on Sunday evening ahead of Monday night’s big game against the New England Patriots. And they all said camping in the lot has given them lasting memories.

The stars felt intense pressure playing Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, two of the most famous people in television history, in Aaron Sorkin's latest film that goes behind the scenes of a comedy icon – and a trailblazing career couple.

"Sunday Morning" looks back at the creation of a TV classic, and the powerful hold that Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz still have on the popular imagination 70 years later.

The sitcom "I Love Lucy," starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, was a ratings powerhouse in the 1950s, and a perpetual hit in reruns ever since. To mark the series' 70th anniversary, correspondent Jim Axelrod looks back at the making of a TV classic. He talks with granddaughter Kate Luckinbill, head of creative direction at the production company Desilu; visits the Lucy-Desi Museum and the National Comedy Center, both in Ball's hometown of Jamestown, N.Y.; and sits down with Darin Strauss, author of "The Queen of Tuesday," a novel inspired by Ball.

The "Being the Ricardos" director told THR that Lucie Arnaz gave him the go-ahead over lunch to "go for it" in telling Lucille Ball's story.

In 1972, Big Bird lined up on `Sesame Street' to receive a measles vaccine as part of a campaign to get more youngsters inoculated against the disease.

“Jeopardy!”.

The 53-year-old actress was photographed on the Los Angeles set alongside her co-star Javier Bardem, who portrays Desi Arnaz and many fans took to social media to share their displeasure with Kidman’s casting as the “I Love Lucy” star.

In this video grab issued Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021, by NBC, Jane Fonda accepts the Cecil B. deMille Award at the Golden Globe Awards. (NBC via AP)LOS ANGELES – Just like in her career, Jane Fonda used the Golden Globes’ platform to speak on deeper issues calling for greater diversity in Hollywood while praising the “community of storytellers” as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award. While wearing an all-white suit, Fonda raised the Globes’ highest honor above her head Sunday before commending storytellers for their vital role in troubled times. She is the daughter of Oscar winner Henry Fonda, who died in 1982, and sister of Peter Fonda, who died in 2019. She launched IndieCollect’s Jane Fonda Fund for Women Directors, an organization aimed to support the restoration of films helmed by women from around the world.

FILE - Actress Jane Fonda appears at the 71st international film festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 12, 2018. The Golden Globes will bestow the Cecil B. DeMille Award to Fonda during the 78th annual awards show next month. (Photo by Arthur Mola/Invision/AP, File)LOS ANGELES – Jane Fonda cemented herself into Hollywood allure as a chameleonlike actor and social activist, and now the Golden Globes will honor her illustrious career with its highest honor. Fonda will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award during the 78th annual awards ceremony on Feb. 28, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced Tuesday. She launched IndieCollect’s Jane Fonda Fund for Women Directors, an organization aimed to support the restoration of films helmed by women from around the world.

LOS ANGELES The annual Lucille Ball Comedy Festival is going virtual with help from Tiffany Haddish, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Margaret Cho, Weird Al Yankovic and more than two-dozen others working in the realm of humor. The festival, presented by the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York, will stream conversations with the artists over three weekends, starting Friday and running through Aug. 30. Other pairings include Cho with host and fellow comedian Judy Gold (10 p.m. EDT Friday); Haddish with comedian Flame Monroe (8 p.m. EDT Aug. 22); political satirist Mark Russell with Lewis Black (8 p.m. EDT Aug. 28). The 29th annual festival will pay tribute to Carl Reiner, the filmmaker and creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show who died in June. A rare Reiner interview from the center's archives will be shown at 8 p.m. EDT Aug. 30, with humorist Paula Poundstone hosting.

Irons was nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a limited series or movie on Tuesday, July 28, 2020. (Colin Hutton/HBO via AP)LOS ANGELES Notable facts and figures from Tuesdays nominations for the 72nd Emmy Awards:___WATCHMEN SOARS BUT ROOTS RUNS DEEPHBO's Watchmen led all shows with a whopping 26 nominations, but that doesn't come close to the record for a limited series. Another HBO limited series, 2008's John Adams, holds the record for limited series Emmy wins with 13, from 23 nominations. The work earned Aldrin and Collins 2020 Emmy nominations for best cinematography for a nonfiction program. The nominees for best supporting actress in a limited series also include 69-year-old Margo Martindale and 60-year-old Tracey Ullman for Mrs.

Paul Williams was a trailblazing architect whose long career helped shape Los Angeles and Southern California. The Los Angeles County Courthouse, Los Angeles International Airport and First African Methodist Church were among the projects he led or worked on. He was the first African American member of the American Institute of Architects, its first African American Fellow and the first African American recipient of the institute's Gold Medal, its highest honor. Born in Los Angeles in 1894, Williams was orphaned following the death of his father at age 2 and his mother at age 4. The archives will be a central feature of the USC Center for Architecture + City Design and the African American Art History Initiative at Getty.

TOP STORIESTrump and the Mass ShootingsAs the death toll rose to 31 from the weekends mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, President Trump condemned the gunmen who carried out the attacks and the racism that motivated one of them. Trump is expected to visit El Paso and Dayton later this week, though many in the Texas border town said he should stay away. The Trump administrations response: It formally labeled China a currency manipulator a major escalation of the economic battle. NATION-WORLD-- The Trump administration has frozen all Venezuelan government assets in a dramatic ratcheting up of tensions with President Nicolas Maduro. OPINION-- Trumps cynical response to mass shootings falls far short of the gun reform needed, The Times Editorial Board writes.

A statue of Lucille Ball in her hometown of Celeron, New York caused many to gasp when it was first unveiled in 2009. After an online outcry, Celereon's mayor launched a nationwide search to build a new likeness of Lucy. The new statue by artist Carolyn Palmer will be revealed Saturday afternoon on what would have been Lucille Ball's 105th birthday. Vinita Nair reports.