Today in Entertainment: America Ferrera is pregnant with first child; New Justin Timberlake album coming Feb. 2

Sead “Diddy” Combs knows the struggle. Yet another new singing competition show means there’s yet another new format and set of twists to figure out. Knowing how much brain power should be reserved for more pressing matters (hello, nuclear buttons!), Combs has found a way to distill the essence of Fox’s “American Idol” successor, “The Four: The Battle for Stardom.”

“It’s like ‘Game of Thrones,’” Combs told reporters Thursday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena. Combs, who was joined onstage by fellow show judges DJ Khaled, Meghan Trainor, music executive Charlie Walk and host Fergie, kept his metaphor going: “You get to challenge and if you want to chop somebody’s head off to get the seat. It has that vibe.

Got it?

For what it’s worth, he isn’t the first to try the “Game of Thrones” comparison. Rob Wade, Fox’s head of alternative programming, also drew that same connection last summer, though he suggested there was “better singing and less nudity.” Tomato, tomahto.

For those who like synopsis straight up: The show starts with finalists. Each week, the top four singers will sing against challengers, which could include viewers, to keep their spot on the show. The panel of experts select the original finalists from auditions, and, as things progress, help to shape the winner’s career.

But do fans of the music competition genre have any more room for another show of this ilk? The judges say yes.

“Because there’s always a dream,” Combs said. “This show is different. In the drop of a second, you could just lose your seat.”

Added DJ Khaled: “You can’t put a cap on success in talent. There’s new talent that’s coming out every day. This is music we’re talking about. Music’s forever. It’s forever.”

“The Four: Battle for Stardom” begins its six-week rollout Thursday at 8 p.m. on Fox.

The lineup for the 2018 Coachella Music and Arts Festival has been announced, and headlining the festival will be a trio of superstars: Canadian R&B singer the Weeknd, pop diva Beyoncé and Detroit rapper Eminem.

Now in its 19th year as a festival, the Goldenvoice–promoted event marks the symbolic opening of the annual festival season. This year‘s installment, which will take place over two weekends from April 13-22, marks the first time a rock act hasn’t headlined.

Also featured will be rapper Tyler, the Creator, experimental pop guitarist St. Vincent, the breakout R&B singer SZA, sibling trio Haim and the wildly popular New York rapper Cardi B.

Veterans taking the stage will include former Talking Heads singer David Byrne, British beat band Jamiroquai, prog-metal band A Perfect Circle and disco-funk producer Nile Rodgers and Chic.

The shift away from rock and booming EDM has most benefited rap, which will be represented through artists including “Rock Star” rapper Post Malone, respected Long Beach artist Vince Staples, the Atlanta trio Migos, ascendent collective Brockhampton and upstart Princess Nokia.

Still, there will be guitars, and they’ll be carried in by members of bands including the War on Drugs, Alt-J, Priests, Fidlar, Fleet Foxes, Cherry Glazerr and the Regrettes.

Remaining tickets go on sale Jan. 5 at noon PST on the Coachella site. General admission passes are $429, while VIP wristbands cost $999. Prices include all taxes and shipping fees.

America Ferrera is puckering up in anticipation of her first child’s arrival.

The pregnant “Superstore” star and her husband, Ryan Piers Williams, confirmed they’re expecting with a holiday post on Instagram over the weekend.

“We’re welcoming one more face to kiss in 2018! Wishing you #MásBesos in the New Year! #babybesos #HappyNewYear,” the 33-year-old “Ugly Betty” actress wrote, captioning a picture of herself holding up a baby’s bodysuit that solicited kisses in Spanish.

Williams posted the same festive New Year’s Eve photo, writing, “Making room for new and beautiful things to come in 2018! #happynewyear”

He and the Emmy-winning star have been together for 12 years and wed in 2011. They first met as students at USC when Williams cast Ferrera in a student film.

No word yet on the little one’s due date.

Ferrera’s pregnancy announcement came just before she and more than 300 other prominent women working in Hollywood launched the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, an anti-harassment initiative meant to combat sexual harassment in the industry.

“We wrote and issued this letter of solidarity to stand with women across every industry in saying: #TIMESUP. Time’s up on silence. Time’s up on waiting. Time’s up on tolerating discrimination, harassment and abuse,” Ferrera wrote.

Rose McGwoan

(Richard Shotwell / Invision)

E! is enlisting in the #RoseArmy.

On Tuesday, the network ordered “Citizen Rose,” a documentary series that will follow actress and filmmaker Rose McGowan, who in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal has also become one of Hollywood’s most outspoken activists.

The five-part limited series is “a project that reflects a dramatically changing world,” according to E!, and will take viewers behind the scenes of McGowan’s “tumultuous and fascinating life” as she prepares to release her memoir, “Brave,” and rallies her supporters on social media.

The series, executive produced by McGowan and Bunim-Murray Productions, the company behind unscripted staples such as “The Real World” and “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” will debut in the spring with a two-hour documentary followed by four additional episodes.

“I am thrilled to partner with E! to amplify my message of bravery, art, joy and survival,” McGowan said in a statement.

Previously best known for her role in the the TV series “Charmed,” McGowan has more recently become a vocal advocate for survivors of rape, assault and harassment and for systemic change within the entertainment industry. She was one of the first women in the industry to speak out against film producer Weinstein, whom she has accused of rape, and was among the “Silence Breakers” honored by Time magazine as 2017’s person of the year. Her outspoken nature has also provoked controversy: In October, her Twitter account was briefly suspended, prompting a fierce backlash online, and police in Virginia issued an arrest warrant for drug charges in what McGowan has characterized as an effort to keep her silent.

“Rose McGowan’s courage in addressing sexual abuse and harassment in Hollywood ignited a conversation and inspired other women to speak out against their abusers,” said Amy Introcaso-Davis, executive vice president of development and production at E!, in a press statement. “We look forward to taking viewers inside this talented, dynamic woman’s world as the first allegations unfold and she becomes a leading voice in a critical cultural change.”

(Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: To greater heights

Justin Timberlake is getting back to nature — with a little help from Pharrell Williams, among others.

Timberlake tweeted Monday that his new album, “Man of the Woods,” is coming on Feb. 2 and said, “It’s personal.”

“This album is really inspired by my son, my wife, my family, but more so than any other album I’ve ever written, where I’m from,” he says in an outdoorsy video clip with the announcement that shows him walking in fields of snow, through rows of cornstalks and waist-deep in a lake.

It also shows him working in a recording studio and gives viewers a glimpse of Williams alongside him.

It’s been nearly five years since Timberlake’s previous album, “The 20/20 Experience,” was released in early 2013.

“Man of the Woods” is scheduled to land just three days before Timberlake gets the global spotlight with his performance at Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5, coming 14 years after his Super Bowl duet with Janet Jackson that included her notorious “wardrobe malfunction.”

(Emma McIntyre / AFP/Getty Images)

There’s a new man in Jessica Alba’s life: It’s her brand new baby boy.

The “Sin City” actress and her husband, Cash Warren, welcomed their third child — their first son — on New Year’s Eve and shared a sweet photo of the snoozing newborn on Instagram that publicly inducted him into the family of five.

“Hayes Alba Warren 12/31/17 Best gift to ring in the New Year!!” the 36-year-old Honest Co. co-founder wrote. “Cash and I feel so blessed. Haven and Honor are already obsessed with their new baby bro.”

Alba and Warren, who have been married for nine years, are also parents to daughters Honor Marie Warren, 9, and Haven Garner Warren, 6.

In an homage to the “Dark Angel” alum’s heritage, the couple opted to use Alba’s maiden name as Hayes’ middle name.

As for Warren, he shared an Instagram image of himself gazing at his son and proudly gushed over the swaddled little guy.

“Hayes Alba Warren: You sure know how to ring in the new year!” Warren wrote. “You showed up a few days early but we couldn’t be any happier. Your Mamma is the strongest woman I know ... you’re so lucky to have her by your side. You have two amazing sisters who already adore you and I know you’ll be thankful to have them guide the way.”

The film producer vowed to love and cherish his son and provide him with “a sandbox full of dreams to explore.”

Gretchen Carlson

(Charles Sykes / Associated Press)

And the winner is … Miss America.

The Miss America Organization has chosen Gretchen Carlson, the 1989 titleholder and former “Fox & Friends” cohost, as its new chair and added three other former title holders to its board of directors in the wake of an email scandal that saw the head of the contest and other executives resigning.

Significantly, the decision comes after Carlson and fellow former Miss Americas Mallory Hagan and Kate Shindle banded together behind a petition last week demanding that the entire Miss America Organization board step down.

“Everyone has been stunned by the events of the last several days, and this has not been easy for anyone who loves this program,” Carlson said Monday in a statement from the organization. “In the end, we all want a strong, relevant Miss America and we appreciate the existing board taking the steps necessary to quickly begin stabilizing the organization for the future.”

The group’s announcement was a big change from plans it had last week for members of the existing board to put together a search committee to fill positions vacated by former Chairman Sam Haskell and three other executives.

“We did it. So proud to #StandUP and #befierce with these amazing people: @brent338 @GretchenCarlson @kateshindle,” tweeted Hagan, whose appearance and sexual history were among the targets of the demeaning emails.

In addition to Carlson, Hagan was acknowledging Brent Adams, who presented the emails to Dick Clark Productions in August, resulting in the broadcast production company severing ties with the pageant, and Kate Shindle, Miss America 1998, who was just named to the board.

Those emails eventually went public on Dec. 21 via the Huffington Post.

Heather French Henry and Laura Kaeppeler Fleiss, pageant winners from 2000 and 2012, will also serve on the board. At the same time, most previous directors have resigned.

Carlson, 51, notably settled a sexual-harassment claim against former Fox News President Roger Ailes in 2016 for $20 million, leading 21st Century Fox to say in a statement, “We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve.”

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Paris Hilton, the hotel heiress who became a reality star and DJ, is going from the simple life to the married life.

Hilton confirmed on Tuesday that actor beau Chris Zylka had popped the question and she said “yas.”

“I said Yas! So happy & excited to be engaged to the love of my life. My best friend & soulmate,” she tweeted, captioning a snowbound photo of “The Leftovers” actor down on one knee, proposing. “Perfect for me in every way. So dedicated, loyal, loving & kindhearted. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world! You are my dream come true!”

Zylka, 32, proposed while the couple was vacationing in Aspen over New Year’s weekend, according to People, which first reported the engagement.

“I have never felt so happy, safe and loved. He is perfect for me in every way and showed me that fairytales really do exist!” tweeted Hilton, 36.

The socialite-DJ also told the mag that she was surprised by the proposal and immediately said yes.

“The ring was so gorgeous and sparkling. I was shaking as I put it on. It is the most beautiful ring that I have ever seen!” she said. She gave followers a peek at the massive pear-shaped sparkler by showcasing it in a photo of her kissing the “Amazing Spider-Man” actor.

Gushing over his fiancée, whose name he tattooed on his arm in July, Zylka told People, “Paris is the most beautiful and incredible woman both inside and out.

“I feel like the luckiest man in the world to be marrying my dream girl. I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together.”

The two have been linked since February 2017, when they took their relationship public on social media.

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

The fallout from Carrie Underwood’s freak accident in November was far worse than she initially indicated and included an injury to her face that left her “not quite looking the same.”

The country crooner revealed Sunday in a note to her fan club that the tumble she took outside her Nashville home a few months ago not only broke her wrist but also resulted in a severe facial cut that required “40 to 50 stitches.”

The 34-year-old Grammy winner, who is the face of Olay and Almay, said that for some time she wasn’t ready to talk about it. That seems to be why she’s recently kept her mug off social media, save for a selfie showing her bundled up in a scarf last week.

“I have still been living it and there has been much uncertainty as to how things will end up,” she wrote in the letter, obtained by People. “It’s crazy how a freak random accident can change your life.”

The “Before He Cheats” singer spared her fans “the gruesome details,” but added, “when I came out of surgery the night of my fall, the doctor told [my husband] Mike that he had put between 40 and 50 stitches in.”

The “American Idol” alum had to back out of performances after the surgery and is still on the mend. She doesn’t know her prognosis, but said she’s grateful.

“I am grateful that it wasn’t much, much worse. And I am grateful for the people in my life that have been there every step of the way,” she said.

“I am determined to make 2018 amazing and I want to share things with you along the way,” Underwood continued. “And when I am ready to get in front of a camera, I want you all to understand why I might look a bit different.”

The Force remains strong with “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” as the latest installment of the “Star Wars” saga is projected to become the highest-grossing film of 2017 on the final day of the year.

Disney’s space odyssey grossed $52.4 million Friday through Sunday, bringing its projected 2017 gross to $517.1 million, edging out fellow Disney property “Beauty and the Beast,” which grossed $504 million earlier in the year.

Although “The Last Jedi” is projected to win the weekend proper, Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” may prove to carry the holiday.

Read More

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: DJ Flash brings his ‘Mash’ mix to radio

The Force remains strong with “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” as the latest installment of the “Star Wars” saga is projected to become the highest-grossing film of 2017 on the final day of the year.

Disney’s space odyssey grossed $52.4 million Friday through Sunday, bringing its projected 2017 gross to $517.1 million, edging out fellow Disney property “Beauty and the Beast,” which grossed $504 million earlier in the year.

Although “The Last Jedi” is projected to win the weekend proper, Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” may prove to carry the holiday.

Read More

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Speaking Freely of ‘Amistad’

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Patti Smith: Rock Dropout Tunes Back In

Just as a tumultuous 2017 approaches its end, Jay-Z and filmmaker Ava DuVernay have teamed up to put a hopeful spin on the future in the music video for “Family Feud” — and to help they have a powerhouse lineup of cameos by Michael B. Jordan, Thandie Newton, “Moonlight” actor Trevante Rhodes, Jessica Chastain, Omari Hardwick and more — including Queen B herself, Beyoncé.

“Family Feud,” a track from Jay-Z’s introspective “4:44,” would generate plenty of buzz without the extra dash of star power thanks to the raw accusations of infidelity Beyoncé sang about on “Lemonade.” And indeed, in one “Family Feud” sequence, the rapper performs his verses walking hand in hand into church with daughter Blue Ivy before confessing his marital sins to Beyoncé herself.

But the refrain “Nobody wins when the family feuds” doesn’t apply only to the Carters. What precedes Jay-Z’s own meta-family moment gives “Family Feud” breathtakingly expansive new life, delivered in a time-hopping cinematic prelude with pointedness and purpose by “Selma” and “The 13th” director DuVernay (whose Disney sci-fi fantasy epic “A Wrinkle in Time” opens March 9).

DuVernay, who wrote the video with Jay-Z, offered additional insights into the making of the “Family Feud” film on Twitter. “In this future, due to harm currently being done, America demands that the position of POTUS be filled by two people,” she said, explaining why Hardwick’s president is joined by a Madam President played by Native American actress Irene Bedard.

Newton, Jordan and Rhodes play out Shakespearean familial dysfunction in the year 2444. Fifty years later, Hardwick plays a descendant who governs alongside Bedard; his family skeletons are called into question by a journalist figure played by Chastain. The family is Jay-Z’s; it is ours; it’s America; it’s the future.

Between eras we see flashes of war (featuring America Ferrera and “Wrinkle in Time” actress Storm Reid), peace (kept by Emayatzy Corinealdi and David Oyelowo, both of whom starred in DuVernay’s second feature, “Middle of Nowhere”), and one particularly striking scenario: eight “Founding Mothers” played by Mindy Kaling, Janet Mock, Brie Larson, Niecy Nash, Susan Kelechi Watson, Constance Wu, Rosario Dawson and Rashida Jones, assembled to fix the Constitution.

With an opening salvo from James Baldwin, lines of dialogue from the 8-minute film ring with history and intention: “America is a family, and the whole family should be free.” Just the sort of cinematic surprise to inspire the coming year’s resolutions.

Tidal has the video debut of “Family Feud.” (Warning: contains profanity.)

“Real Housewives of New York” star Luann de Lesseps says she’s checking herself into rehab for treatment after a drunken arrest Christmas weekend in Palm Beach, Fla.

“After the events of last Saturday night in Palm Beach, I am truly embarrassed,” she wrote Friday in a statement on Instagram, apologizing for her behavior. “I have decided to seek professional guidance and will be voluntarily checking into an alcohol treatment center. I intend to turn this unfortunate incident into a positive life changing event.”

Police were called to the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach on Saturday night and told an intoxicated woman was trespassing in another person’s room and refused to leave, WPTV reported Sunday.

Before calling police, hotel security tried to get a man and woman out of a room that wasn’t theirs, WPTV said, citing an arrest report. They had entered while housekeeping was doing turn-down service, were in bed together when security showed up and refused to leave, the report said.

The man, who was gone before police arrived, was someone De Lesseps had “previously dated,” her friend Julie Olson told Page Six. The arrest document reportedly said Olson was in the room with De Lesseps when police arrived, but Olson said she had only made it to the hallway after the man came to her in the hotel bar and asked her to help De Lesseps understand she was in the wrong room.

After police arrived, the “RHONY” star allegedly locked herself in a bathroom, according to WPTV; when an officer tried to get her out, De Lesseps allegedly pushed him in the chest and hit him in the forehead with the door.

She allegedly resisted being handcuffed and later slipped out of her cuffs and tried to exit a police car, kicking the door to keep it from closing when she was put back in, WPTV reported.

De Lesseps was arrested on felony charges of battery on a police officer, resisting arrest with violence and crimes against a person, and a misdemeanor charge of disorderly intoxication, according to the Palm Beach Post.

An assistant state’s attorney said De Lesseps slammed a door, kicked at least one officer and said, “I’m going to … kill you all,” the Post reported. She was released from jail on her own recognizance around noon on Sunday and allowed to return home to New York.

Apparently her first trip to Palm Beach since her wedding late last year had “brought up long-buried emotions,” she told CNN in a statement Sunday. De Lesseps and second husband Tom D’Agostino were married in grand style on Dec. 31, 2016, and divorced by October, with drama along the way.

De Lesseps’ arrest, which wasn’t filmed, will definitely be a storyline on the upcoming “RHONY” season, an insider told People.

She’s due back in a Florida court on Jan. 25.

Star of stage and screen Rose Marie, best known for her work as comedy writer Sally Rogers on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” died Thursday at age 94.

Throughout her career, which spanned nine decades, beginning as a child performer in vaudeville, Marie garnered many high-profile fans, several of whom mourned her passing on Twitter.

“I was so sad to learn of the passing of Rosemarie,” wrote Marie’s “Dick Van Dyke” costar Carl Reiner. “There’s never been a more engaging & multi-talented performer.”

Read More

Rock and roll may not appear to be so relevant on the pop charts these days, but it’s still a dominant force on live stages.

The concert-industry trade publication Pollstar released its list of the top-grossing tours of 2017, and rock-leaning acts took many of the top slots.

U2 claimed the peak spot with its leviathan Joshua Tree Tour, which sold 2.71 million tickets for a gross of $316 million. Right on the act’s heels was a reunited Guns N’ Roses, which grossed $292.5 million on 2.68 million tickets. (U2, on average, charged $40 more per ticket than Guns N’ Roses).

Coldplay and Bruno Mars (the highest-ranking solo act on the list) came in at third and fourth, respectively, with grosses of $238 million and $200.1 million.

Garth Brooks was the highest-charting country artist on the list, at No. 10, wrapping up the last of his three-year return tour. At No. 11, Celine Dion was the top-grossing female act this year. Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd and Ariana Grande all made the top 20.

One question remains: How to count Bruce Springsteen?

His two tours — one for his Broadway show, the other for his E Street band show — are very different formats. Pollstar said it is crunching numbers and will soon release a revised list that reflects Springsteen’s two rankings.

(Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: She’s just trying a halo on for size

Mallory Hagan, Miss America 2013.

(Isaac Brekken / Associated Press)

Former Miss Americas Mallory Hagan, Gretchen Carlson and Kate Shindle are standing together and demanding that the entire board of the Miss America Organization step down in the wake of insulting internal emails that were recently made public.

The board announced a plan Wednesday night to form a committee that would seek “a new leadership structure and respective names” after the resignations of three top executives on Saturday.

The committee will include two current board members and five people chosen from nominations made by select former Miss Americas and state-level pageant executives, the board said in a statement.

After that announcement, Hagan, Carlson and Shindle rallied publicly behind a petition calling for all current members of the board to resign.

“Implying that the complicit members of the current board will now choose the new leadership for the forward movement of the Miss America Organization is laughable,” Hagan told the Associated Press.

In a Facebook video, she criticized the board’s actions — or lack thereof — after the emails were leaked to the media.

“They thought they could weather the storm,” said Hagan, who was ridiculed in the emails. “I am the storm. You’re not weathering it.”

The emails were leaked to the Huffington Post, which published them last Thursday. According to Hagan, the board had previously reviewed the emails and opted against taking action.

And yes, that quote is as sassy as you thought it was, especially as a GIF.

(Evan Agostini / Invision)

Jay-Z and Beyoncé are taking us to church in a new teaser for Jay’s track “Family Feud.”

The Brooklyn-bred rapper shared the clip via Tidal’s Twitter account on Thursday, announcing the visual’s full drop on Friday.

In the clip, Jay-Z walks his 5-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, down a church aisle while a fiercely pontiff-like Bey supervises from the altar. The couple also appears to sit down in a confessional booth. Those visuals are spliced together with a hot and heavy love-making session that ends with a woman stabbing her lover in the back.

“Nobody wins when the family feuds,” he raps. “We all lose when the family feuds.”

The rap mogul — whose supposed infidelity was put on blast in his wife’s 2016 visual album, “Lemonade,” and whose 2014 elevator brawl with sister-in-law Solange Knowles brought the couple’s tumultuous union under scrutiny — recently confirmed that the couple has been working on new music together.

“We were using our art almost like a therapy session. And we started making music together,” the rapper told the New York Times last month. “And then the music she was making at that time was further along. So her album came out as opposed to the joint album that we were working on.”

Jay-Z and his introspective “4:44” album, which has boasted several visual tracks, lead the 2018 Grammy Award nominations with eight nods.

Halle Berry.

(Evan Agostini / Associated Press)

The stars are coming out for the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards next month.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., which recognizes achievements in film and television at the boozy awards show, announced the first batch of presenters on Thursday.

Among them are past winners and nominees. Naturally, several hail from this year’s crop of contenders.

FULL COVERAGE: The 2018 Golden Globe Awards

Doling out the awards will be Halle Berry, Carol Burnett, Kelly Clarkson, Darren Criss, Penélope Cruz, Gal Gadot, Greta Gerwig, Hugh Grant, Neil Patrick Harris, Chris Hemsworth, Christina Hendricks, Isabelle Huppert, Shirley MacLaine, Ricky Martin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Amy Poehler, Edgar Ramírez, Seth Rogen, J.K. Simmons, Sharon Stone, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Alicia Vikander, Kerry Washington and Emma Watson.

The HFPA previously announced that former daytime TV queen Oprah Winfrey will be the recipient of the association’s honorary Cecil B. DeMille prize.

“Late Night’s” Seth Meyers will host the ceremony, which airs live on NBC on Jan. 7.

FX is adding a new Ryan Murphy show to its roster, announcing Wednesday a series order for “Pose,” a dance musical drama centered around ball culture in 1980s New York.

“Pose” will serve as a snapshot into the changing tides of the city, juxtaposing the rise of Trump-era luxury with the downtown social scene.

“Along with being a dance musical and an affirming look at American life in the 1980s, I’m so proud that ‘Pose’ and FX has made history right from the beginning by featuring the most trans series regular actors ever in an American television production,” Murphy said in a statement.

“Additionally, the first season ‘Pose’ will feature 50-plus LGBTQ characters – a record in American television history. I can’t wait for people to see this incredibly talented, passionate cast.”

Co-created with frequent collaborator Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals, Murphy will direct the first two episodes of the series’ first season.

In addition to prominently featuring transgender actors as series regulars, transgender writers Janet Mock and Our Lady J will both serve as producers on the series.

“In the 15 years we’ve worked with Ryan, he has demonstrated time and again that every person’s story is joyful, illuminating, and must… be told,” said John Landgraf, CEO of FX Networks and FX Productions, in Wednesday’s statement.

A six-month nationwide casting search has led to a wide batch of new talent for the series, joining more established actors such as Evan Peters, Kate Mara, James Van Der Beek and Charlayne Woodard.

“Pose” is scheduled to begin production in New York in February for a summer 2018 premiere on FX.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: He Learned the Ropes

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Solange Knowles revealed Wednesday that she’s been struggling with an autonomic disorder that prompted her to pull out of an upcoming New Year’s Eve performance.

“The past five months I have been quietly treating, and working through an Autonomic Disorder. It been a journey that hasn’t been easy on me…,” she wrote on Instagram.

The artist did not share what type of autonomic disorder she was diagnosed with, but the term refers to a breakdown of the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary bodily functions.

“Sometimes I feel cool, and other times not so cool at all. It’s a complicated diagnoses, and I’m still learning so much myself, but right now, my doctors are not clearing me for such an extended lengthy flight, and doing a rigorous show right after.”

Because her doctors concerns, she said, she had to cancel her performance at the Afropunk Festival on New Year’s Eve in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“I give you my ABSOLUTE WORD I will come back with AfroPunk and deliver this performance.....as it is so extremely important to me to connect with the people who have so closely inspired me in so many ways,” Solange said.

The festival, which celebrates the influence of African American culture through music, film, skate and art, this year added Johannesburg to its multiple-city, multiple-country roster.

In a message shared on its official Facebook page, the festival’s organizers that they were saddened that Solange would be unable to perform this weekend, but underlined that her health was of the utmost importance.

“Her music and spirit has been a place of great comfort and inspiration to us as a community,” the statement read.

Seven women who have accused actor Dustin Hoffman of sexual misconduct published an open letter Wednesday thanking John Oliver for his attempt to question the actor about the matter during an early-December film panel.

Addressed to Oliver, the letter was first published on the Twitter feed of Anna Graham Hunter, who wrote a guest column for the Hollywood Reporter alleging that Hoffman sexually harassed her while she was working as a production assistant on “Death of a Salesman” in 1985. Hunter was 17 at the time.

“While the questions you asked may not have led to the constructive conversation you hoped for, the fact that you asked them at all is what matters most,” the letter read, adding that while many men listen to and believe women’s stories about sexual harassment, fewer men are willing to call out bad behavior.

Shortly before Christmas, Oliver appeared on Britain’s “The Russell Howard Hour,” where the host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” expressed disappointment that his attempt to question Hoffman did not lead to something more illuminating.

“I just wanted it to become something more constructive, and [it] was clear pretty early on that was not going to happen,” Oliver told Howard. “I tried. I tried and failed.”

In response to Hunter’s original accusations in November, Hoffman issued a statement asserting, “I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation. I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am.”

The actor has not responded to the additional allegations that have surfaced in following weeks, though he did address the issue when confronted by Oliver.

“From a few things you’ve read you’ve made an incredible assumption about me,” Hoffman said to Oliver when questioned about Hunter’s allegations. “You’ve made the case better than anyone else can. I’m guilty. Because someone has alleged something, I’m guilty. You push a button. It’s all over the world. I’m a predator. I’m this and that and it’s not true.”

Read the full open letter here:

“No one’s ever really gone…”

That’s what Mark Hamill tweeted Wednesday on the first anniversary of Carrie Fisher’s death, echoing a line Luke Skywalker says to Leia Organa in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”

An illustration of Fisher as Saint Carrie, holding her dog Gary with one hand and flipping the bird with the other, anchored a trio of pictures he included in the tweet, including pics of himself and Fisher at the beginning of their “Star Wars” careers together and at the end.

“#AlwaysWithUs #CarrieOnForever,” he added.

The “Wishful Drinking” author died on Dec. 27, 2016, followed by her mother, Debbie Reynolds, the next day. Fisher’s official cause of death was sleep apnea, with contributing factors, including drug use.

Missing Ms. Fisher? Then spend a few minutes with the video above, which memorialized her during the 2017 Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Fla. The fan event, held in April, went all in on the 40th anniversary of the first film.

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Another classic sitcom might be returning just a week after rumors surfaced that NBC is eyeing a return to “The Office.”

TVLine reported Tuesday that Sony is in talks to reboot the 1990s comedy stylings of former NBC “Must-See-TV” fare “Mad About You.”

The sitcom, which centered around the marriage of Paul Buchman (Paul Reiser) and Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt), originally debuted in 1992 and wrapped in 1999.

TVLine reports that the revival would focus on the post-empty-nest life of the Buchmans, after daughter Mabel departs for college.

Reiser, who created the series with Danny Jacobsen, suggested as much when talking to People magazine earlier this year.

“To me, it’s interesting when I see my kids are growing and leaving the house. It’s like, ‘Oh.’ It’s like that moment when you get married. It’s like we’re in a new world that we don’t know the rules of,” Reiser said.

Though talks are reportedly in the works for the return of the series, it has yet to land at a network. According to TVLine, despite their recent success with “Will & Grace,” NBC is not currently involved in discussions surrounding “Mad About You.”

Representatives for Sony did not immediately respond to the Los Angeles Times’ request for comment Wednesday morning.

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FOR THE RECORD

Dec. 27, 10:17 a.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said NBC was pursuing a reboot of “Mad About You.”

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(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Masi Oka of ‘Heroes Reborn’ on the fate of Hiro

John Oliver, left, and Dustin Hoffman.

(Charles Sykes / Associated Press, left; Evan Agostini / InVision / Associated Press, right)

John Oliver wanted his sexual-misconduct conversation with Dustin Hoffman to be something constructive. Alas, it wound up being something that simply made him “feel sad.”

“I knew the stories were out there. I knew that there were a few more coming,” the “Last Week Tonight” host said on Britain’s “The Russell Howard Hour” just before the holiday. “So it felt unavoidable that we had to have a discussion about it.”

Hoffman and Oliver clashed in early December at an anniversary screening of Hoffman’s film “Wag the Dog.” Hoffman was defensive during a panel discussion Oliver moderated, denying he had done anything wrong and saying he had been found guilty simply because he’d been accused.

Oliver said his questions “were not particularly remarkable,” but that Hoffman’s answers “were kind of not great.”

Oliver said that when he found out Hoffman might be there, he gave event organizers a chance to find someone else to conduct the panel. The former “Daily Show” correspondent said he felt he had to ask about stories from women who had accused “The Graduate” actor of bad behavior.

He said the folks in charge said they still wanted him, even knowing uncomfortable questions would be asked. And those questions and answers sparked the big story he predicted would come of them.

“But it didn’t really go anywhere constructive,” Oliver told Howard, “so the whole thing just made me feel sad. I just wanted it to become something more constructive, and [it] was clear pretty early on that was not going to happen. ... I tried.

“I tried and failed.”

(Theo Wargo / Getty Images)

Mariah Carey is returning to the scene of her musical crime last year, when her disastrous live performance on New Year’s Eve seemed to perfectly sum up 2016.

ABC and Dick Clark Productions announced Friday that the multiplatinum superstar will perform again on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest” for a second consecutive year.

Carey joins the list of previously announced performers, including Camila Cabello, Nick Jonas and Sugarland.

Perhaps you still shudder at the memory of Carey’s ignominious performance last year, which featured classic hits such as “Well, Happy New Year. We can’t hear, but...” and “All right, we didn’t have a [sound] check for this song.”

To quote Carey herself, “It just don’t get any better.”

Carey and Dick Clark Productions both admitted that technical difficulties derailed Carey’s performance, but neither party was eager to shoulder the blame.

But that was then, and this is now.

“We can all agree that last year didn’t go exactly as planned,” Carey and Dick Clark Productions said in a joint statement. “And we are thrilled to move forward together to provide America with an incredible night of music and celebration on ‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2018.’ See you in Times Square!”

There’s every reason to think that this year’s performance will end differently for Carey. The singer is riding high on a very merry holiday season that saw her Christmas classic, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” crack the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10 for the first time in the 23 years since its 1994 release.

After skipping their annual Christmas card last year in the wake of Kim Kardashian being robbed at gunpoint, the Kardashian-Jenner family came back Advent-calendar style for 2017: They dropped 25 cards one at a time on the way to the big day.

What started out as simply a picture of a pile of presents next to a Christmas tree ended with an image of nearly the whole family next to the same tree, with lots of little kids mixed in. Aww.

Each family member treated the one-per-day game differently on social media.

Khloe Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and Kanye West posted none on their Instagram pages, and Kris Jenner mixed the cards in with other posts, for example. But Kim Kardashian went all cards all the time, posting nothing but pictures from the photo shoot — shoots? — for 25 days in a row.

The Kardashian-Jenners explained a few years back that because of their busy schedules, not everyone can make it for a Christmas photo shoot on the same day. The solution? “We pretend that we’re always together,” Kim told Ellen DeGeneres in 2012. “The power of cameras and Photoshop.”

Missing for 2017 were Kylie Jenner, which sparked fans’ questions about her reported pregnancy, and Rob Kardashian, whose absence was pretty much par for the course. In recent years he’s not a fan of photos in general, but Khloe helped out Christmas Eve by tweeting a throwback card with him in it:

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: ‘Game of Thrones’ actor Kit Harington matures with Jon Snow