AP Entertainment

February 19, 2025

TV procedurals up their game, with doctors on cruises and quirky single moms solving crimes

NEW YORK (AP) — “Watson” is an unusual TV medical procedural. The CBS series stars Morris Chestnut as the titular character who leads a team of medical detectives set in a present-day Pittsburgh populated with characters from the Sherlock Holmes universe. “Watson” is not alone among the networks jazzing up the tried-and-true procedural. ABC’s “Doctor Odyssey” puts a medical procedural aboard a luxury cruise ship. CBS has Kathy Bates in “Matlock” playing an underestimated retirement-age lawyer with a twist. CBS’ “Elsbeth” and ABC’s “High Potential” are heavy on the quirky but competent crime-solvers. Supercharging network procedurals comes as streaming increasingly offers subscribers a highly curated selection of unconventional series with big names and high production values.

A look at jury deliberations at A$AP Rocky’s felony assault trial

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jurors found hip-hop star A$AP Rocky not guilty after deliberating for only about three hours. The Los Angeles jury of seven women and five men deliberated briefly Tuesday after a three-day weekend and a three-week trial whose closing arguments ended Friday. Rocky, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, was charged with two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. He could have gotten up to 24 years in prison if he was convicted on both counts. The 36-year-old hip-hop star, fashion maven is the partner of singing star Rihanna, with whom he has two toddler sons.

A$AP Rocky returns to a life of music, fashion, film and Rihanna with his acquittal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A$AP Rocky gets to return to life at the peak of his fame instead of the long prison sentence that might have come from a conviction at his felony trial. He thanked Los Angeles jurors for saving his life when they found him not guilty of felony assault with a semiautomatic handgun Tuesday. He’ll now be headlining a major music festival, he’ll be a celebrity co-chair of fashion’s Met Gala in May and will co-star with Denzel Washington in a film this summer. And he’ll get to spend the coming years with his toddler sons and partner Rihanna. He jumped into the singing star’s arms when the verdict was read.

Oscar presenters will include Selena Gomez and Oprah Winfrey. Here’s what to know about the show

After devastating wildfires tore through Los Angeles, the 97th Academy Awards are going forward. More stars were added to the presenter lineup Wednesday, including Selena Gomez, Oprah Winfrey, Goldie Hawn, Ben Stiller, Ana de Armas, Sterling K. Brown, Willem Dafoe, Lily-Rose Depp and Connie Nielsen. A previous announcement said last year’s acting winners will return to the Oscar stage. Those include Emma Stone, Robert Downey Jr., Cillian Murphy and Da’Vine Joy Randolph Joy. The 97th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 2, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Also for the first time, the Oscars will be streamed live on Hulu.

True crime cruise will star John Walsh and hosts of ‘RedHanded,’ ‘Scamfluencers’ and ‘Kill List’

NEW YORK (AP) — Hosts of many popular true crime podcasts will headline a true crime-themed cruise next year that’s being billed as a first-of-its kind immersive mystery experience at sea. The cruise will feature “America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh, Hannah Maguire and Suruthi Bala from “RedHanded,” Scaachi Koul and Sarah Hagi from “Scamfluencers,” Aaron Habel and Justin Evans from “Generation Why,” Carl Miller of “Kill List,” “Hollywood & Crime” host Tracy Pattin and Chris Stewart from “Law & Crime.” Wondery’s Exhibit C Presents: A True Crime Cruise will take place on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Joy ship Jan. 26-30. The four-night cruise sails from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas.

Met Opera to double cast Verdi and Puccini, as well as shift contemporary works from Saturdays

The Metropolitan Opera will double cast a portion of Verdi and Puccini revivals and shift some contemporary compositions away from Saturdays at the recommendation of a consultant trying to boost the company’s finances. The 2025-26 season will be the third straight with 18 productions, down from 28 in 2007-08. There will be six new-to-the Met stagings for the third consecutive season, including three company premieres. Revivals comprise 79% of the 196 staged performances, up from 71% in the current season.

Really, who were those masked men? New series of books probes backstories of Marvel superheroes

NEW YORK (AP) — If you love movies or comics, you’ve likely followed the adventures of Spider-Man, Iron Man and other superheroes. A new line of books will let you explore the backstories of their creation. On Wednesday, Bloomsbury and Marve lannounced a multi-year, multi-volume licensing agreement for “Marvel Age of Comics.” The books will combine history and personal narrative. They start this fall with Stuart Moore’s “Doctor Strange,” Paul Cornell’s “The Mighty Avengers of the 1970s” and Chris Ryall’s “Daredevil.” The illustrations will feature original work from Marvel’s digital archive.

Renée Fleming to make directing debut at Aspen Festival this July in Mozart’s ‘Cosi fan tutte’

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Soprano Renée Fleming will make her directing debut in Mozart’s “Così fan tutte” at the Aspen Festival with three performances from July 21-26. While Mozart and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte set their opera about fiancee-swapping in 18th century Naples, Italy, Fleming is shifting the work to a contemporary setting. Fleming is setting the work in a high school in 1980 in Yarmouth, Massachusetts. The Aspen Festival runs from July 2 to Aug. 24 and includes the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis’ “Siddhartha, She” on Aug. 2.

Finalists announced for Lukas book prizes, which champion ‘serious research and social concern.’

NEW YORK (AP) — Books on slavery, the justice system, poverty and gender identity are among this year’s finalists for J. Anthony Lukas prizes, named for the late investigative journalist. Presented by the Columbia Journalism School and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, the prizes honor “excellence in nonfiction that exemplifies the literary grace and commitment to serious research and social concern” that helped define Lukas, a Pulitzer Prize winner who died in 1998. Winners in previous years include Robert Caro, Isabel Wilkerson and future U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.

Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma and model Winnie Harlow are engaged

Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma and Canadian model Winnie Harlow are engaged. The couple revealed the news in an Instagram post Tuesday that showed Harlow displaying her engagement ring as they kissed. Harlow appeared on “America’s Next Top Model” in 2014. A mainstay of fashion week runway shows and magazine covers, she founded the sunscreen brand Cay Skin. She has the skin condition vitiligo, which causes loss of pigmentation. She has described the condition as “a treasured part of my identity as a woman, activist and model.” Kuzma was recently traded to the Bucks from the Washington Wizards.