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Happy Friday, everyone!

If you’re here for the tea on Taylor Frankie Paul, well, I’m sorry to disappoint — I’ve got nothing. But what a wild turn of events for Disney/ABC! The network knew about TFP’s past and still cast her anyway, but once TMZ published that ugly video this week, it had no choice but to scrap the entire season of The Bachelorette. Live by crazy, die by crazy, folks! Bob Iger dodged a bullet here. Welcome to the Big Show, Josh D’Amaro!

I don’t have any thoughts on the new Ryan Gosling movie Project Hail Mary yet, as I won’t catch it until Saturday night, but I can’t wait to see if it lives up to the hype.

However, last night, I did see Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, which is the latest loser from Searchlight Pictures and Radio Silence. I caught this sequel with a buddy who agreed that it sucked.

I wasn’t a big fan of the first Ready or Not, but I thought it was okay. I suppose it was a fun movie, I just thought the ending was a giant shoulder shrug — as in, “We have no idea how to end this movie, so let’s just make everyone spontaneously combust!”

Personally, I thought it was ridiculous.

So, I’m not entirely sure why I had a modicum of hope for this sequel, which arrives seven years later (way too late) and should’ve been retitled One Spontaneous Combustion After Another. This entire movie is the same joke on repeat. I gave it a half-star on my blog for its clever washing machine kill, but not even Samara Weaving’s tongue-in-cheek performance can save this mess.

Meanwhile, what is there to say about Radio Silence? These guys showed real promise with their V/H/S short 10/31/98. But since then… woof.

To be fair, their movies make money, for the most part. They have decent commercial instincts. But I couldn’t stand their Scream movies, nor was I a fan of Devil’s Due or Abigail, and I can’t say I’m looking forward to their new Mummy movie, either. Let’s just say, if I were a development executive, you wouldn’t find them on any of my director lists…

Speaking of Searchlight, much has been written about its new Buffy the Vampire Slayer pilot, which was rejected by Hulu. There has been a lot of misinformation put out there, and if you want my thoughts, you should really check out the spicy Hot Mic segment that John Rocha and I did about the situation, as we didn’t quite see eye to eye.

In short, this was about having the wrong talent involved, I’m told by reliable sources close to the situation. I’m told that Lilla and Nora Zuckerman were not the right fit for the project, that Chloe Zhao was certainly not the right fit, and that it didn’t help matters that Disney exec Craig Erwich (who oversees Hulu) wasn’t a fan of the original series, which was, of course, Joss Whedon’s baby.

No Whedon, no problem, right? Not quite…

The Buffy pilot didn’t turn out very well, according to, well, just about everybody, and rather than be villainized by the talent in the pages of People Magazine, Erwich should be commended for doing his job — being the “bad guy” who has to make tough decisions sometimes.

This decision was about defending the brand. If Hulu had put out a shitty Buffy series, it could’ve hurt the IP long-term. Erwich, wisely, wasn’t willing to take that chance, no matter how badly star Sarah Michelle Gellar wanted the show to be picked up so she could earn millions and be “back” as the star of a major streaming series.

After all, Hulu plans to go back to the drawing board and redevelop the IP, and there’s no guarantee that Gellar’s Buffy Summers will be involved in the next incarnation. After suffering this public humiliation, she may not even want to be involved. We’ll see…

Having said that, I’m told that there’s no bad blood between Gellar and Zhao and that they’re open to working together in the future on the right project. Hamnet 2, anyone?

And now, before I let the premium readers dive into today’s issue, a couple of mini-updates for everyone, as I hear that Judd Apatow’s upcoming Universal comedy starring Glen Powell may be titled The Comeback King, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s AI-themed Netflix movie starring Rachel McAdams may be titled, simply, 2034.

Tonight’s top story is a doozy, as I’ve got interesting news about newly-crowned Oscar winners Paul Thomas Anderson and Michael B. Jordan, and a little scoop about beloved character actor P.J. Byrne, too.

There are also items about Glen Powell’s producing prowess, the newest member of the Fast & Furious family, Paul Greengrass’ new action thriller, the subject of Netflix’s new comedy roast, and the latest addition to the cast of WB’s Minecraft sequel.

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