<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22The%20Associated%20Press%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By The Associated Press</a>

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.

— Less than a year after the death of Sidney Poitier, who died in January at the age of 94,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-toronto-race-and-ethnicity-canada-e8272b06818caa977217eb58627ffbc4">arrives the Oprah Winfrey-produced documentary “Sidney.”</a>&nbsp;Premiering Friday on Apple TV+, it’s a poignant portrait of the groundbreaking actor who paved the way for countless Black actors in Hollywood and revolutionized how they were portrayed on screen. Shot largely before Poitier’s death by director Reginald Hudlin,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIt0bGwe1rY">“Sidney”</a>&nbsp;was made with the cooperation of the Poitier estate (several of Poitier’s daughters appear in the film) and a number of luminaries. Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Morgan Freeman, George Nelson, Robert Redford and Halle Berry are all interviewed in “Sidney,” as is Winfrey.

— In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRunUkdkK8s">“Athena,”</a>&nbsp;director Romain Gavras brings spectacular flare and long, sinewy shots to a panoramic thriller about a police siege in a fictitious housing projecting in a Paris suburb. The film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and debuts Friday on Netflix, is a violent but balletically filmed urban Greek tragedy by the youngest son of the Oscar-winning Greek director, Costa-Gavras. It’s the French filmmaker’s third feature (he’s also made music videos for Kanye West, Jamie xx and others); he wrote with Elias Belkeddar and Ladj Ly, whose 2019 film “Les Miserables” covered some similar territory.

— Based on the best-selling 2019 young-adult novel by Angie Thomas (“The Hate U Give”),&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B7AXY4xXyQ">“On the Come Up”</a>&nbsp;is about a 16-year-old girl (Jamila Gray) whose rap ambitions have both urgency (her family is in need of money) and poignancy (her late father was a hip-hop legend killed by gang violence). The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, streams Friday on Peacock while also playing in some theaters.

— Kelsea Ballerini may sound pretty good on her new album but it’s the title of the 15-track set that seems pretty perfect: “Subject to Change.” On the poppy first single,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_ep_lYEoKs">“Heartfirst,”</a>&nbsp;she decides to jump into a relationship not knowing if it will last. “Who knows what’ll happen/Ain’t that always kinda magic?” she sings. On the ballad&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIipGxCrG6c">“Love Is a Cowboy,”</a>&nbsp;Ballerini sings: “All the bad ones say they’re the good and all the good ones ride way.” The new music comes after she and her husband Morgan Evans decided to divorce after nearly five years of marriage. The album comes out Friday.

— We’ve already had the album “Denim &amp; Rhinestones” from Carrie Underwood so get ready for “Denim &amp; Diamonds” from Nashville singer and songwriter Nikki Lane. For Lane’s first album in five years, she enlisted Queens of the Stone Age’s frontman Joshua Home for production and mixing, with further contributions from Arctic Monkeys’ Matt Helders. Singles include&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9I1rfbpevY">“Black Widow”</a>&nbsp;and “First High,” with the splendid lyric: “Take me back to the first dream/501 blue jeans/Tighter than goddamn Springsteen.”

— Coming just as fall approaches is a new 5 Seconds of Summer album. “5SOS5” — their fifth album — has already spawned the tracks “Blender”, “Take My Hand”, “Me, Myself &amp; I” and the pop-rock anthem&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQM_zeZPkQE">“COMPLETE MESS.”</a>&nbsp;Another early single is the ballad&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ELTaMB41OQ">“Older,”</a>&nbsp;which features vocals and a co-writing credit from lead singer Luke Hemmings’ fiancée, Sierra Deaton, and the lyrics: “On the day that you leave me/I’ll forever be bleeding love.” The majority of the new album was written by the band with Michael Clifford leading on production.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3I0SpwjVK8">— “Quantum Leap” i</a>&nbsp;s jumping back to TV with a sequel to the 1989-93 sci-fi series about a scientist trapped in the past by an experiment gone awry. Three decades later, physicist Ben Song (Raymond Lee) is part of a team attempting to decipher the nature of the quantum-leap accelerator when he suffers a similar fate. But his colleagues (including co-stars Ernie Hudson and Caitlin Bassett) are determined to rescue him. Scott Bakula, star of the original series, affirmed online he’s not connected with NBC’s newcomer but wishes it “good luck and happy leaping!” It debuts Monday.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC0tosYozso">— Hulu’s “Reboot”</a>&nbsp;is a clever take on the resurrection of an early 2000s cheesy family sitcom and its former stars whose careers haven’t exactly flourished. The ensemble cast is appealing — Keegan-Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville, Judy Greer, Paul Reiser, Rachel Bloom, Calum Worthy and Krista Marie Yu — but the marquee name is creator-executive producer Steven Levitan. “Reboot” marks a return to TV for the award-winning “Modern Family” co-creator, and he takes delight poking fun at network TV’s fondness for repeating itself. The series debuts with three episodes on Tuesday.

— Norman Lear turned 100 last July, but it be nitpicking to begrudge the legendary TV producer and activist a belated party, especially one that’s pulling out all the stops. “Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music and Laughter,” airing Thursday on ABC, will celebrate Lear’s life and achievements, among them the groundbreaking sitcoms “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons.” George Clooney, Rita Moreno, Anthony Anderson, Jennifer Aniston, Jimmy Kimmel and Octavia Spencer are among those set to appear in the two-hour special that promises comedy, performances and surprise reunions.

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22The%20Associated%20Press%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By The Associated Press</a>Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.MOVIES— Less than a year after the death of Sidney Poitier, who died in January at the age of 94,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-toronto-race-and-ethnicity-canada-e8272b06818caa977217eb58627ffbc4">arrives the Oprah Winfrey-produced documentary “Sidney.”</a>&nbsp;Premiering Friday on Apple TV+, it’s a poignant portrait of the groundbreaking actor who paved the way for countless Black actors in Hollywood and revolutionized how they were portrayed on screen. Shot largely before Poitier’s death by director Reginald Hudlin,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIt0bGwe1rY">“Sidney”</a>&nbsp;was made with the cooperation of the Poitier estate (several of Poitier’s daughters appear in the film) and a number of luminaries. Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Morgan Freeman, George Nelson, Robert Redford and Halle Berry are all interviewed in “Sidney,” as is Winfrey.— In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRunUkdkK8s">“Athena,”</a>&nbsp;director Romain Gavras brings spectacular flare and long, sinewy shots to a panoramic thriller about a police siege in a fictitious housing projecting in a Paris suburb. The film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and debuts Friday on Netflix, is a violent but balletically filmed urban Greek tragedy by the youngest son of the Oscar-winning Greek director, Costa-Gavras. It’s the French filmmaker’s third feature (he’s also made music videos for Kanye West, Jamie xx and others); he wrote with Elias Belkeddar and Ladj Ly, whose 2019 film “Les Miserables” covered some similar territory.— Based on the best-selling 2019 young-adult novel by Angie Thomas (“The Hate U Give”),&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B7AXY4xXyQ">“On the Come Up”</a>&nbsp;is about a 16-year-old girl (Jamila Gray) whose rap ambitions have both urgency (her family is in need of money) and poignancy (her late father was a hip-hop legend killed by gang violence). The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, streams Friday on Peacock while also playing in some theaters.— AP Film Writer Jake CoyleMUSIC— Kelsea Ballerini may sound pretty good on her new album but it’s the title of the 15-track set that seems pretty perfect: “Subject to Change.” On the poppy first single,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_ep_lYEoKs">“Heartfirst,”</a>&nbsp;she decides to jump into a relationship not knowing if it will last. “Who knows what’ll happen/Ain’t that always kinda magic?” she sings. On the ballad&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIipGxCrG6c">“Love Is a Cowboy,”</a>&nbsp;Ballerini sings: “All the bad ones say they’re the good and all the good ones ride way.” The new music comes after she and her husband Morgan Evans decided to divorce after nearly five years of marriage. The album comes out Friday.— We’ve already had the album “Denim &amp; Rhinestones” from Carrie Underwood so get ready for “Denim &amp; Diamonds” from Nashville singer and songwriter Nikki Lane. For Lane’s first album in five years, she enlisted Queens of the Stone Age’s frontman Joshua Home for production and mixing, with further contributions from Arctic Monkeys’ Matt Helders. Singles include&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9I1rfbpevY">“Black Widow”</a>&nbsp;and “First High,” with the splendid lyric: “Take me back to the first dream/501 blue jeans/Tighter than goddamn Springsteen.”— Coming just as fall approaches is a new 5 Seconds of Summer album. “5SOS5” — their fifth album — has already spawned the tracks “Blender”, “Take My Hand”, “Me, Myself &amp; I” and the pop-rock anthem&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQM_zeZPkQE">“COMPLETE MESS.”</a>&nbsp;Another early single is the ballad&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ELTaMB41OQ">“Older,”</a>&nbsp;which features vocals and a co-writing credit from lead singer Luke Hemmings’ fiancée, Sierra Deaton, and the lyrics: “On the day that you leave me/I’ll forever be bleeding love.” The majority of the new album was written by the band with Michael Clifford leading on production.— AP Entertainment Writer Mark KennedyTELEVISION<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3I0SpwjVK8">— “Quantum Leap” i</a>&nbsp;s jumping back to TV with a sequel to the 1989-93 sci-fi series about a scientist trapped in the past by an experiment gone awry. Three decades later, physicist Ben Song (Raymond Lee) is part of a team attempting to decipher the nature of the quantum-leap accelerator when he suffers a similar fate. But his colleagues (including co-stars Ernie Hudson and Caitlin Bassett) are determined to rescue him. Scott Bakula, star of the original series, affirmed online he’s not connected with NBC’s newcomer but wishes it “good luck and happy leaping!” It debuts Monday.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC0tosYozso">— Hulu’s “Reboot”</a>&nbsp;is a clever take on the resurrection of an early 2000s cheesy family sitcom and its former stars whose careers haven’t exactly flourished. The ensemble cast is appealing — Keegan-Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville, Judy Greer, Paul Reiser, Rachel Bloom, Calum Worthy and Krista Marie Yu — but the marquee name is creator-executive producer Steven Levitan. “Reboot” marks a return to TV for the award-winning “Modern Family” co-creator, and he takes delight poking fun at network TV’s fondness for repeating itself. The series debuts with three episodes on Tuesday.— Norman Lear turned 100 last July, but it be nitpicking to begrudge the legendary TV producer and activist a belated party, especially one that’s pulling out all the stops. “Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music and Laughter,” airing Thursday on ABC, will celebrate Lear’s life and achievements, among them the groundbreaking sitcoms “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons.” George Clooney, Rita Moreno, Anthony Anderson, Jennifer Aniston, Jimmy Kimmel and Octavia Spencer are among those set to appear in the two-hour special that promises comedy, performances and surprise reunions.— AP Television Writer Lynn Elber

New this week: 'Athena,' 'Sidney' and 'Quantum Leap' returns

The annual Thunder on the Plains car, truck and cycle show filled the Nations Auctions and Elite Realty grounds Saturday as people from across northwest Kansas came out to enjoy unique vehicles, camaraderie, food and activities.

Take a look at some of the day's events below.

By JAMES BELL Hays PostThe annual Thunder on the Plains car, truck and cycle show filled the Nations Auctions and Elite Realty grounds Saturday as people from across northwest Kansas came out to enjoy unique vehicles, camaraderie, food and activities.Take a look at some of the day's events below.<figure>
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Cars and camaraderie on display during Thunder on the Plains

'The Wallace Project' set to premiere at Kansas City Film Festival


The Provenance Co., Lawrence, on Sept. 24 will premiere a short
documentary about their grassland regeneration project at the Kansas City
Underground Film Festival.


The film, titled "The Wallace Project," is short-listed for audience and jury awards. The
film documents the first year of regenerative agriculture implementation on 2,740
acres of cropland near Wallace in western Kansas.


The Wallace Project was created as part of The Provenance Co.’s mission to share the
effects of land degradation, and the potential for large-scale grassland restoration
through Holistic Management of livestock. The film was produced by Bull Skull
Productions of Lawrence.


To reserve free tickets in our screening block, titled “Melancholy in America,” click <a href="https://kcuff2022.eventive.org/schedule/62eda04c1df9d600784378e8">HERE</a>.

For more information about The Provenance Co., click <a href="https://www.theprovenanceco.com/">HERE</a>.&nbsp;

Cover image courtesy The&nbsp;Provenance Co.

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 </figure><h2>'The Wallace Project' set to premiere at Kansas City Film Festival
</h2>News releaseThe Provenance Co., Lawrence, on Sept. 24 will premiere a short
documentary about their grassland regeneration project at the Kansas City
Underground Film Festival.
The film, titled "The Wallace Project," is short-listed for audience and jury awards. The
film documents the first year of regenerative agriculture implementation on 2,740
acres of cropland near Wallace in western Kansas.
The Wallace Project was created as part of The Provenance Co.’s mission to share the
effects of land degradation, and the potential for large-scale grassland restoration
through Holistic Management of livestock. The film was produced by Bull Skull
Productions of Lawrence.
Run time for the film is 07:49.&nbsp;To reserve free tickets in our screening block, titled “Melancholy in America,” click <a href="https://kcuff2022.eventive.org/schedule/62eda04c1df9d600784378e8">HERE</a>.For more information about The Provenance Co., click <a href="https://www.theprovenanceco.com/">HERE</a>.&nbsp;Cover image courtesy The&nbsp;Provenance Co.<figure>
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Grassland restoration in NW Kansas the focus of new documentary

SALINA -- After a two-year pandemic hiatus, The Land Institute will host its 42nd&nbsp;perennial&nbsp;<a href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=ppm-2Bg9Z8i-2Fnfymvub8HvF15ybeGPNmYWyASyAYYwL2Y3dKBq4AJkv0B0Gu5rTJQJXQtv8mVQoHDUTbEV-2BRLiJ8gKOx23HlD-2FIkSvCwqeYKI-3Dl3YT_6kyJuRoUnmvCB1a16096Mn2eJZOhmBwdl6u-2F3e7vncM2LrUJDwK9KSu1RUc8GFly3pMOhpINivEvyInDGU7k8lhI896hkl7jSNGMmFP-2Blgaj5zXT59DUKIaTKwS6uHSioXw5egW49VL0-2BuZlH1j4NlrnA5TgSLhKa92E0PjxvLj0Zk4kMfUKA9m3HI4Gv-2Bb8dS6VH7Vl9NpyiXRavDLOJUGm8ee1m-2FwFARO0-2FAfO9F-2FXr04FjNlER5df9g-2F9EZjM-2Bgwa0HbQtqRi7uALqo-2FvCaiqWBfrtk1x2xI2NrpbdiHNXHg7pzPWs4a-2FMjzOPYOepJF-2BmiKToN-2FrplrhTFyTNqP7phVEYLoofUwWjtq4Qwacv9nHXpq-2FruE5kh4Qonel450qEmlnKJrKESxjIeeeSA-3D-3D" target="_blank">Prairie Festival</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;New Roots: Growing a movement from the ground down.,&nbsp;at its headquarters south of Salina Sept. 23-25.

The event will feature new voices and perspectives,&nbsp;including Huascar Medina, Poet Laureate of Kansas; Dr. JohnElla Holmes of the Kansas Black Farmers Association; Linda Black Elk, Food Sovereignty Coordinator at United Tribes Technical College; Eric Schlosser, author of&nbsp;Fast Food Nation;&nbsp;an exhibition by land artist Erin Wiersma; and a concert by world-renowned musicians Paul Winter and Henrique Eisenmann.&nbsp;Along with great food, art, and music, highlights include the Friday night barn dance, Saturday morning Kernza®&nbsp;pancake breakfast, and Sunday sunrise walk through the ancient Wauhob Prairie.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Land Institute is located at 2440 E. Water Well Road.

Prairie Festival returns in a time of tremendous social and ecological upheaval. The event offers guests a unique opportunity to find respite, reconnection, and inspiration. Situated in the rolling hills on the east bank of the Smoky Hill River, curious new visitors and long-time supporters alike can immerse themselves in nature, ideas, and culture on the prairie. Compelling thinkers, artists, scientists, and advocates focused on the problems of agriculture and social and climate justice will engage with festival-goers to help regenerate people and the land.

"This brilliant group of speakers brings many new and unique histories, stories, and experiences to the Prairie Festival stage," said Rachel Stroer, president of The Land Institute. "We can grow a movement to face our rapidly changing future by harnessing our collective wisdom and differences."

The anchor address of the festival, the Strachan and Vivian Donnelley Family Keynote, will feature the groundbreaking Poet Laureate of Kansas, Huascar Medina, with his presentation&nbsp;Un Mango Grows in Kansas. Historically, the tentpole address centered on conservation and restoration topics, with talks from the likes of Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben, Liz Carlisle, and environmental scientists. This year, the spot will feature a Latino poet laureate for the first time. It will explore Medina's broader themes of what it means to put down roots in Kansas as a Latino, separation and inclusion, and writing poetry for ordinary people.

"How we spread change matters. If an idea is not rooted in emotion, it will not be nurtured. We must first establish the want to care," said Medina. "Poetry does this. It is emotion personified. An entry point to empathy. It can be felt before it is understood. It allows the heart to inform the mind."

Unheard stories and new shared experiences are the cornerstones of this year's program. The Kansas Black Farmers Association (KBFA) will hold a panel discussion titled&nbsp;We Have Always Been at the Roots: The Black Farm Experience. Hosted by Dr. JohnElla Holmes with KBFA members Web Davis, Donna McClish, and&nbsp;Ryan Tenney, they will discuss the often-overlooked past and living history of black farming.

"It's important that people know and appreciate that black farmers have been at the roots of agriculture since before the founding of this country," said Holmes, executive director and president of the Kansas Black Farmers Association. "We aim to build a tree of stories, from intergenerational century farms to urban cooperative farms caring for their communities to new farmers teaching the next generation of black agriculturalists. This tree will show that our roots in the past are deep, our trunk is tall, and we continue to spread our branches into the future."

Ethnobotanist and food sovereignty activist Linda Black Elk will speak on&nbsp;Radical Appreciation: Standing in Right Relationship with Prairie Ecosystems.&nbsp;

Dr. Omar Tesdell of Birzeit University will present&nbsp;Remnant Agro-ecology: Notes from the Fertile Crescent, discussing efforts to document wild plants and their cultural significance in Palestine.

Journalist, writer, and filmmaker&nbsp;Eric Schlosser,&nbsp;author of&nbsp;Fast Food Nation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Command and Control, will present&nbsp;Back to the Land: How to Live in the World without Destroying It.&nbsp;Schlosser will also converse with The Land Institute co-founder and celebrated author Wes Jackson in a dialog titled,&nbsp;The Old Future is Gone.

The Land Institute will also showcase its work to develop perennial grain agriculture with in-depth talks, field tours, and demonstrations.&nbsp;Updates on Progress Toward a Perennial Future&nbsp;by The Land Institute Chief Scientist Tim Crews and Aubrey Streit-Krug, director of ecosphere studies, will discuss the latest science and programs. In addition, the team will hold tours of institute research fields and talk with people about work on perennial grain crops, cropping systems, pollinators, soil ecology, civic science, and building new perennial grain supply chains from field to fork.

A big draw at Prairie Festival is the chance to eat and drink foods made with perennial grains developed by The Land Institute. The Friday night Hedge Fire Circle welcome reception will feature drinks made with perennial grains. In addition, Lawrence Beer Company is donating a special batch of Kernza®&nbsp;beer called Perennial Pub Ale. On Saturday morning, the festival will host a breakfast with pancakes made from Kernza®&nbsp;perennial grain flour and sausage made with bison raised on the institute's fields. Saturday afternoon, the Crop Stewardship program will sample Kernza bread from Artisan Naan Bakery and a perennial grain dish by award-winning cookbook author Beth Dooley. In addition, the Prairie Festival bookstore and concessions booth will have a variety of perennial grain foods and products for purchase, including those from innovative producers AJ Honey Farms, Perennial Pantry, and Sustain-a-Grain.

The Red Barn Gallery will mount the exhibition&nbsp;evolve | become: works on paper from the Konza Prairie&nbsp;by internationally acclaimed Kansas artist Erin Wiersma, this year's Prairie Festival featured artist. Wiersma's art focuses on the body's capacity to absorb and respond to anenvironment, incorporating elements from the Konza Prairie Biological Station in Kansas's Flint Hills and Tallgrass Prairie region. The gallery will also host a series of works titled&nbsp;The Flattening Future: Beauty, Utility and Discomfort&nbsp;by The Land Institute co-founder Wes Jackson and local artist Priti Gulati Cox.

Music has played a pivotal role since the first Prairie Festival in 1979; this year is no exception. The Saturday evening performance,&nbsp;A Concert in Celebration of the Earth, will be a journey through award-winning artist Paul Winter's world of "living music," featuring his soprano sax, accompanied by dynamic Brazilian pianist Henrique Eisenmann. The Land Institute's Wes Jackson will also narrate from his writings, along with the voices of Wolf, Whale, Wood Thrush, and other members of what Winter calls "the greater symphony of the Earth." In addition, the Kansas-based Land Band will play the traditional Friday night Prairie Festival barn dance. The Land Band's members include keyboardist Ann Zimmerman, guitarist Annie Wilson, bassist Lisa Grossman, fiddler Alice Boyle, hammered dulcimer player Matt Kirby, accordionist Christine Martin, flutist and banjo player Frank Martin, and contra dance caller Lisa Harris.

The festival welcomes all ages, in person or remotely. College students will receive reduced ticket prices, and admission is free for kids 18 years of age and under and those wishing to volunteer. A youth program will be available for kids 5-15 with signup at registration. An ADA-accessible viewing area will be open onsite. Additionally, the festival will host a live stream on YouTube for guests who cannot travel to experience it remotely. For more details and to register, visit the&nbsp;<a href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=ppm-2Bg9Z8i-2Fnfymvub8HvF15ybeGPNmYWyASyAYYwL2Y3dKBq4AJkv0B0Gu5rTJQJXQtv8mVQoHDUTbEV-2BRLiJ8gKOx23HlD-2FIkSvCwqeYKI-3D6uTJ_6kyJuRoUnmvCB1a16096Mn2eJZOhmBwdl6u-2F3e7vncM2LrUJDwK9KSu1RUc8GFly3pMOhpINivEvyInDGU7k8lhI896hkl7jSNGMmFP-2Blgaj5zXT59DUKIaTKwS6uHSioXw5egW49VL0-2BuZlH1j4NlrnA5TgSLhKa92E0PjxvLj0Zk4kMfUKA9m3HI4Gv-2Bb8dS6VH7Vl9NpyiXRavDLOJUGm8ee1m-2FwFARO0-2FAfO9F-2FWtthr7u1G0exNH5M6G3MSUTA4CQGIntVRLq2lmRVdcc9xof24DXl58N2O011BQ9xD-2B-2FB-2FFe3HR9nOKJ334cNLt-2FyoG2bwTpwqmuaVFU3m4XdKoOoAk9nbqCxKJXEFaUWMZYop-2BqUOoqd1gHKsGmx5hdImd7D18RakbNdyAw83XA-3D-3D" target="_blank">Prairie Festival information page on The Land Institute website</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1663203188138.png" alt="Some of the faces of this year's Prairie Festival.&nbsp;Photos courtesy The Land Institute&nbsp;&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Some of the faces of this year's Prairie Festival.&nbsp;Photos courtesy The Land Institute&nbsp;&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>The Land InstituteSALINA -- After a two-year pandemic hiatus, The Land Institute will host its 42nd&nbsp;perennial&nbsp;<a href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=ppm-2Bg9Z8i-2Fnfymvub8HvF15ybeGPNmYWyASyAYYwL2Y3dKBq4AJkv0B0Gu5rTJQJXQtv8mVQoHDUTbEV-2BRLiJ8gKOx23HlD-2FIkSvCwqeYKI-3Dl3YT_6kyJuRoUnmvCB1a16096Mn2eJZOhmBwdl6u-2F3e7vncM2LrUJDwK9KSu1RUc8GFly3pMOhpINivEvyInDGU7k8lhI896hkl7jSNGMmFP-2Blgaj5zXT59DUKIaTKwS6uHSioXw5egW49VL0-2BuZlH1j4NlrnA5TgSLhKa92E0PjxvLj0Zk4kMfUKA9m3HI4Gv-2Bb8dS6VH7Vl9NpyiXRavDLOJUGm8ee1m-2FwFARO0-2FAfO9F-2FXr04FjNlER5df9g-2F9EZjM-2Bgwa0HbQtqRi7uALqo-2FvCaiqWBfrtk1x2xI2NrpbdiHNXHg7pzPWs4a-2FMjzOPYOepJF-2BmiKToN-2FrplrhTFyTNqP7phVEYLoofUwWjtq4Qwacv9nHXpq-2FruE5kh4Qonel450qEmlnKJrKESxjIeeeSA-3D-3D" target="_blank">Prairie Festival</a>&nbsp;-&nbsp;New Roots: Growing a movement from the ground down.,&nbsp;at its headquarters south of Salina Sept. 23-25.The event will feature new voices and perspectives,&nbsp;including Huascar Medina, Poet Laureate of Kansas; Dr. JohnElla Holmes of the Kansas Black Farmers Association; Linda Black Elk, Food Sovereignty Coordinator at United Tribes Technical College; Eric Schlosser, author of&nbsp;Fast Food Nation;&nbsp;an exhibition by land artist Erin Wiersma; and a concert by world-renowned musicians Paul Winter and Henrique Eisenmann.&nbsp;Along with great food, art, and music, highlights include the Friday night barn dance, Saturday morning Kernza®&nbsp;pancake breakfast, and Sunday sunrise walk through the ancient Wauhob Prairie.&nbsp;&nbsp;The Land Institute is located at 2440 E. Water Well Road.Prairie Festival returns in a time of tremendous social and ecological upheaval. The event offers guests a unique opportunity to find respite, reconnection, and inspiration. Situated in the rolling hills on the east bank of the Smoky Hill River, curious new visitors and long-time supporters alike can immerse themselves in nature, ideas, and culture on the prairie. Compelling thinkers, artists, scientists, and advocates focused on the problems of agriculture and social and climate justice will engage with festival-goers to help regenerate people and the land."This brilliant group of speakers brings many new and unique histories, stories, and experiences to the Prairie Festival stage," said Rachel Stroer, president of The Land Institute. "We can grow a movement to face our rapidly changing future by harnessing our collective wisdom and differences."The anchor address of the festival, the Strachan and Vivian Donnelley Family Keynote, will feature the groundbreaking Poet Laureate of Kansas, Huascar Medina, with his presentation&nbsp;Un Mango Grows in Kansas. Historically, the tentpole address centered on conservation and restoration topics, with talks from the likes of Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben, Liz Carlisle, and environmental scientists. This year, the spot will feature a Latino poet laureate for the first time. It will explore Medina's broader themes of what it means to put down roots in Kansas as a Latino, separation and inclusion, and writing poetry for ordinary people."How we spread change matters. If an idea is not rooted in emotion, it will not be nurtured. We must first establish the want to care," said Medina. "Poetry does this. It is emotion personified. An entry point to empathy. It can be felt before it is understood. It allows the heart to inform the mind."Unheard stories and new shared experiences are the cornerstones of this year's program. The Kansas Black Farmers Association (KBFA) will hold a panel discussion titled&nbsp;We Have Always Been at the Roots: The Black Farm Experience. Hosted by Dr. JohnElla Holmes with KBFA members Web Davis, Donna McClish, and&nbsp;Ryan Tenney, they will discuss the often-overlooked past and living history of black farming."It's important that people know and appreciate that black farmers have been at the roots of agriculture since before the founding of this country," said Holmes, executive director and president of the Kansas Black Farmers Association. "We aim to build a tree of stories, from intergenerational century farms to urban cooperative farms caring for their communities to new farmers teaching the next generation of black agriculturalists. This tree will show that our roots in the past are deep, our trunk is tall, and we continue to spread our branches into the future."Ethnobotanist and food sovereignty activist Linda Black Elk will speak on&nbsp;Radical Appreciation: Standing in Right Relationship with Prairie Ecosystems.&nbsp;Dr. Omar Tesdell of Birzeit University will present&nbsp;Remnant Agro-ecology: Notes from the Fertile Crescent, discussing efforts to document wild plants and their cultural significance in Palestine.Journalist, writer, and filmmaker&nbsp;Eric Schlosser,&nbsp;author of&nbsp;Fast Food Nation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Command and Control, will present&nbsp;Back to the Land: How to Live in the World without Destroying It.&nbsp;Schlosser will also converse with The Land Institute co-founder and celebrated author Wes Jackson in a dialog titled,&nbsp;The Old Future is Gone.The Land Institute will also showcase its work to develop perennial grain agriculture with in-depth talks, field tours, and demonstrations.&nbsp;Updates on Progress Toward a Perennial Future&nbsp;by The Land Institute Chief Scientist Tim Crews and Aubrey Streit-Krug, director of ecosphere studies, will discuss the latest science and programs. In addition, the team will hold tours of institute research fields and talk with people about work on perennial grain crops, cropping systems, pollinators, soil ecology, civic science, and building new perennial grain supply chains from field to fork.A big draw at Prairie Festival is the chance to eat and drink foods made with perennial grains developed by The Land Institute. The Friday night Hedge Fire Circle welcome reception will feature drinks made with perennial grains. In addition, Lawrence Beer Company is donating a special batch of Kernza®&nbsp;beer called Perennial Pub Ale. On Saturday morning, the festival will host a breakfast with pancakes made from Kernza®&nbsp;perennial grain flour and sausage made with bison raised on the institute's fields. Saturday afternoon, the Crop Stewardship program will sample Kernza bread from Artisan Naan Bakery and a perennial grain dish by award-winning cookbook author Beth Dooley. In addition, the Prairie Festival bookstore and concessions booth will have a variety of perennial grain foods and products for purchase, including those from innovative producers AJ Honey Farms, Perennial Pantry, and Sustain-a-Grain.The Red Barn Gallery will mount the exhibition&nbsp;evolve | become: works on paper from the Konza Prairie&nbsp;by internationally acclaimed Kansas artist Erin Wiersma, this year's Prairie Festival featured artist. Wiersma's art focuses on the body's capacity to absorb and respond to anenvironment, incorporating elements from the Konza Prairie Biological Station in Kansas's Flint Hills and Tallgrass Prairie region. The gallery will also host a series of works titled&nbsp;The Flattening Future: Beauty, Utility and Discomfort&nbsp;by The Land Institute co-founder Wes Jackson and local artist Priti Gulati Cox.Music has played a pivotal role since the first Prairie Festival in 1979; this year is no exception. The Saturday evening performance,&nbsp;A Concert in Celebration of the Earth, will be a journey through award-winning artist Paul Winter's world of "living music," featuring his soprano sax, accompanied by dynamic Brazilian pianist Henrique Eisenmann. The Land Institute's Wes Jackson will also narrate from his writings, along with the voices of Wolf, Whale, Wood Thrush, and other members of what Winter calls "the greater symphony of the Earth." In addition, the Kansas-based Land Band will play the traditional Friday night Prairie Festival barn dance. The Land Band's members include keyboardist Ann Zimmerman, guitarist Annie Wilson, bassist Lisa Grossman, fiddler Alice Boyle, hammered dulcimer player Matt Kirby, accordionist Christine Martin, flutist and banjo player Frank Martin, and contra dance caller Lisa Harris.The festival welcomes all ages, in person or remotely. College students will receive reduced ticket prices, and admission is free for kids 18 years of age and under and those wishing to volunteer. A youth program will be available for kids 5-15 with signup at registration. An ADA-accessible viewing area will be open onsite. Additionally, the festival will host a live stream on YouTube for guests who cannot travel to experience it remotely. For more details and to register, visit the&nbsp;<a href="https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=ppm-2Bg9Z8i-2Fnfymvub8HvF15ybeGPNmYWyASyAYYwL2Y3dKBq4AJkv0B0Gu5rTJQJXQtv8mVQoHDUTbEV-2BRLiJ8gKOx23HlD-2FIkSvCwqeYKI-3D6uTJ_6kyJuRoUnmvCB1a16096Mn2eJZOhmBwdl6u-2F3e7vncM2LrUJDwK9KSu1RUc8GFly3pMOhpINivEvyInDGU7k8lhI896hkl7jSNGMmFP-2Blgaj5zXT59DUKIaTKwS6uHSioXw5egW49VL0-2BuZlH1j4NlrnA5TgSLhKa92E0PjxvLj0Zk4kMfUKA9m3HI4Gv-2Bb8dS6VH7Vl9NpyiXRavDLOJUGm8ee1m-2FwFARO0-2FAfO9F-2FWtthr7u1G0exNH5M6G3MSUTA4CQGIntVRLq2lmRVdcc9xof24DXl58N2O011BQ9xD-2B-2FB-2FFe3HR9nOKJ334cNLt-2FyoG2bwTpwqmuaVFU3m4XdKoOoAk9nbqCxKJXEFaUWMZYop-2BqUOoqd1gHKsGmx5hdImd7D18RakbNdyAw83XA-3D-3D" target="_blank">Prairie Festival information page on The Land Institute website</a>.

42nd Prairie Festival set for Sept. 23-25

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22BOBBY%20ROSS%20Jr.%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By BOBBY ROSS Jr. Associated Press</a>

The Rev. Matt Curry’s parents were children of the Great Depression, just like “The Waltons” — the beloved TV family whose prime-time series premiered 50 years ago.

When Curry was growing up on a farm in northern Texas, his carpenter father and teacher mother often argued playfully over who had a poorer childhood.

“The Depression was the seminal time of their lives — the time that was about family and survival and making it through,” said Curry, now a 59-year-old Presbyterian pastor in Owensboro, Kentucky. “My dad used to talk about how his dad would go work out of town and send $5 a week to feed and clothe the family.”

So when “The Waltons,” set in 1932 and running through World War II, debuted on CBS on Sept. 14, 1972, the Currys identified closely with the storylines. Millions of others felt the same, and the Thursday night drama about a Depression-era family in rural Virginia became&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/television">one of TV’s most popular and enduring programs</a>.

At a time when the networks generally avoided “dangerous” content, “The Waltons” was notable for taking on difficult topics — religion, in particular — said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture.

“I think it was an important show, and I think it actually doesn’t get the attention that it deserves,” Thompson said.

“‘The Waltons’ really did get down and roll around in some very, very serious spiritual themes,” he added. “For example, an atheist comes to town, and we get this whole discussion between atheism and spirituality.”

“The Waltons” ran for nine seasons and 221 episodes, ranking as high as No. 2 in the Nielsen ratings. A half-century later it still stirs nostalgia among loyal fans who can’t resist taking in cable TV reruns, binging episodes via streaming apps and keeping up with former stars through social media.

Based on the life of its creator, the late Earl Hamner Jr., the show followed a large extended family living in a white, two-story farmhouse and running a sawmill in the fictional Blue Ridge foothills town of Walton’s Mountain. The parents, grandparents and seven children — John Jr., Jason, Mary Ellen, Erin, Ben, Jim-Bob and Elizabeth — were depicted wearing overalls and dresses, praying at meals and overcoming adversity through hard work and grace.

“The Waltons” focused on John Jr., known as John-Boy, played by Richard Thomas and modeled on Hamner. The oldest sibling, he aspired to be a writer and experience the world beyond his humble upbringing.

Now 71 and starring as lawyer Atticus Finch in a touring production of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Thomas said he still hears fans call “Good night, John-Boy!” after each performance. The familiar catchphrase pays homage to the Emmy-winning role that made him famous.

“It’s kind of astonishing that we’re still talking about a show 50 years later,” said Thomas, who narrates “A Waltons Thanksgiving,” a made-for-TV movie airing this fall on the CW network.

“To have that kind of longevity and then have it mean enough for people to want to do a new version of it — I’m not sure exactly why,” he added. “I know it affected a lot of people’s lives. But I think primarily Earl Hamner’s writing was just so great and the cast loved each other so much and we were so committed.”

John-Boy had a lot to do with the show’s popularity — and inspired many a crush back then among fans like Jerri Harrington, now 67, of Centreville, Virginia.

Harrington still watches an episode every night with her husband of 47 years. During the frightening early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, its characters — particularly grandma Esther, played by the late Ellen Corby — brought a sense of comfort and return to childhood.

“It just feels familiar,” said Harrington, a grandmother herself.

Another lifelong fan, Carol Jackson, like Curry the daughter of Depression-era parents, sees her own family’s story reflected.

She became a fan as a kindergartner and as an adult placed “Waltons” DVDs in the resort cabins that her family operated in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas. The homespun stories still connect with the 55-year-old mother of three.

“I just told my kids, ‘One day when I’m old and in my wheelchair … just wheel me in front of ‘The Waltons’ on a continual loop, and I’ll be happy,’” Jackson said.

Kami Cotler, who was 6 years old when she first starred as youngest sibling Elizabeth in a 1971 holiday TV movie that launched the series, still&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044073624038">interacts regularly with such fans via her Facebook page</a>, which has nearly 150,000 followers.

Cotler said “The Waltons” shared “universal truths” that help explain its lasting popularity.

“The show frequently told really simple human stories that resonate with people because that’s what life is like,” said Cotler, now an educator in Southern California. “People will joke that it was very saccharine sweet, but I don’t think that it actually was.”

On the show, parents John Walton Sr. and Olivia Walton — played, respectively, by the late Ralph Waite, an ordained minister in real life, and Michael Learned — frequently clashed over their differing approaches to God. Olivia was a devout Baptist, but John Sr. was not a churchgoer.

“I’ve always looked for God in my own way,” he said in one episode.

An ongoing theme was the appearance in Walton’s Mountain of an outsider — a Jewish family fleeing Nazi persecution, a Black boxer and preacher raising money for a new church, a Hollywood actress who smoked and drank — who met a mixed reception.

In 1972’s “The Sinner” episode, a young pastor played by the late John Ritter arrived preaching fire-and-brimstone Bible verses. But he inadvertently became intoxicated after drinking too much of the “secret recipe” served by the Baldwin sisters, two prim and proper recurring characters who didn’t seem to realize they were bootleggers.

After the mishap touched off something of a scandal, John Sr. made a rare appearance at church and pointed to Jesus’ words from John 8:7: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”

“The religious aspect of the show had to do with the fact that Earl Hamner was talking about a time and a place ... where those issues were very much in play,” said Thomas, now a grandfather of four. “I mean, in a small community in the mountains of Virginia in the Depression, if you don’t deal with the church aspect of things, then you don’t deal with things as they were.”

Over the show’s long run, the Waltons and their neighbors learned valuable lessons about overcoming differences and treating everyone with love and respect. Those lessons, Cotler said, “are perhaps even more relevant today.”

On a personal note, Cotler, a secular Jew, credits grandpa Zeb, played by the late Will Geer, with teaching her how to sing church songs on the show.

Curry, the Kentucky pastor, said “The Waltons” reflected how Jesus often rebukes religious people for hypocrisy in the Bible, while commending an unexpected person — such as a Samaritan who helped a stranger — for showing love and grace.

The show “talked about religion and faith … in a way that does not demean people,” Curry said. “There’s something in there that we are missing today, and it’s the sense of community, of unity, of battling through hard times.”

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22BOBBY%20ROSS%20Jr.%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By BOBBY ROSS Jr. Associated Press</a>The Rev. Matt Curry’s parents were children of the Great Depression, just like “The Waltons” — the beloved TV family whose prime-time series premiered 50 years ago.When Curry was growing up on a farm in northern Texas, his carpenter father and teacher mother often argued playfully over who had a poorer childhood.“The Depression was the seminal time of their lives — the time that was about family and survival and making it through,” said Curry, now a 59-year-old Presbyterian pastor in Owensboro, Kentucky. “My dad used to talk about how his dad would go work out of town and send $5 a week to feed and clothe the family.”So when “The Waltons,” set in 1932 and running through World War II, debuted on CBS on Sept. 14, 1972, the Currys identified closely with the storylines. Millions of others felt the same, and the Thursday night drama about a Depression-era family in rural Virginia became&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/television">one of TV’s most popular and enduring programs</a>.At a time when the networks generally avoided “dangerous” content, “The Waltons” was notable for taking on difficult topics — religion, in particular — said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture.“I think it was an important show, and I think it actually doesn’t get the attention that it deserves,” Thompson said.“‘The Waltons’ really did get down and roll around in some very, very serious spiritual themes,” he added. “For example, an atheist comes to town, and we get this whole discussion between atheism and spirituality.”“The Waltons” ran for nine seasons and 221 episodes, ranking as high as No. 2 in the Nielsen ratings. A half-century later it still stirs nostalgia among loyal fans who can’t resist taking in cable TV reruns, binging episodes via streaming apps and keeping up with former stars through social media.Based on the life of its creator, the late Earl Hamner Jr., the show followed a large extended family living in a white, two-story farmhouse and running a sawmill in the fictional Blue Ridge foothills town of Walton’s Mountain. The parents, grandparents and seven children — John Jr., Jason, Mary Ellen, Erin, Ben, Jim-Bob and Elizabeth — were depicted wearing overalls and dresses, praying at meals and overcoming adversity through hard work and grace.“The Waltons” focused on John Jr., known as John-Boy, played by Richard Thomas and modeled on Hamner. The oldest sibling, he aspired to be a writer and experience the world beyond his humble upbringing.Now 71 and starring as lawyer Atticus Finch in a touring production of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Thomas said he still hears fans call “Good night, John-Boy!” after each performance. The familiar catchphrase pays homage to the Emmy-winning role that made him famous.“It’s kind of astonishing that we’re still talking about a show 50 years later,” said Thomas, who narrates “A Waltons Thanksgiving,” a made-for-TV movie airing this fall on the CW network.“To have that kind of longevity and then have it mean enough for people to want to do a new version of it — I’m not sure exactly why,” he added. “I know it affected a lot of people’s lives. But I think primarily Earl Hamner’s writing was just so great and the cast loved each other so much and we were so committed.”John-Boy had a lot to do with the show’s popularity — and inspired many a crush back then among fans like Jerri Harrington, now 67, of Centreville, Virginia.Harrington still watches an episode every night with her husband of 47 years. During the frightening early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, its characters — particularly grandma Esther, played by the late Ellen Corby — brought a sense of comfort and return to childhood.“It just feels familiar,” said Harrington, a grandmother herself.Another lifelong fan, Carol Jackson, like Curry the daughter of Depression-era parents, sees her own family’s story reflected.She became a fan as a kindergartner and as an adult placed “Waltons” DVDs in the resort cabins that her family operated in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas. The homespun stories still connect with the 55-year-old mother of three.“I just told my kids, ‘One day when I’m old and in my wheelchair … just wheel me in front of ‘The Waltons’ on a continual loop, and I’ll be happy,’” Jackson said.Kami Cotler, who was 6 years old when she first starred as youngest sibling Elizabeth in a 1971 holiday TV movie that launched the series, still&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044073624038">interacts regularly with such fans via her Facebook page</a>, which has nearly 150,000 followers.Cotler said “The Waltons” shared “universal truths” that help explain its lasting popularity.“The show frequently told really simple human stories that resonate with people because that’s what life is like,” said Cotler, now an educator in Southern California. “People will joke that it was very saccharine sweet, but I don’t think that it actually was.”On the show, parents John Walton Sr. and Olivia Walton — played, respectively, by the late Ralph Waite, an ordained minister in real life, and Michael Learned — frequently clashed over their differing approaches to God. Olivia was a devout Baptist, but John Sr. was not a churchgoer.“I’ve always looked for God in my own way,” he said in one episode.An ongoing theme was the appearance in Walton’s Mountain of an outsider — a Jewish family fleeing Nazi persecution, a Black boxer and preacher raising money for a new church, a Hollywood actress who smoked and drank — who met a mixed reception.In 1972’s “The Sinner” episode, a young pastor played by the late John Ritter arrived preaching fire-and-brimstone Bible verses. But he inadvertently became intoxicated after drinking too much of the “secret recipe” served by the Baldwin sisters, two prim and proper recurring characters who didn’t seem to realize they were bootleggers.After the mishap touched off something of a scandal, John Sr. made a rare appearance at church and pointed to Jesus’ words from John 8:7: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”“The religious aspect of the show had to do with the fact that Earl Hamner was talking about a time and a place ... where those issues were very much in play,” said Thomas, now a grandfather of four. “I mean, in a small community in the mountains of Virginia in the Depression, if you don’t deal with the church aspect of things, then you don’t deal with things as they were.”Over the show’s long run, the Waltons and their neighbors learned valuable lessons about overcoming differences and treating everyone with love and respect. Those lessons, Cotler said, “are perhaps even more relevant today.”On a personal note, Cotler, a secular Jew, credits grandpa Zeb, played by the late Will Geer, with teaching her how to sing church songs on the show.Curry, the Kentucky pastor, said “The Waltons” reflected how Jesus often rebukes religious people for hypocrisy in the Bible, while commending an unexpected person — such as a Samaritan who helped a stranger — for showing love and grace.The show “talked about religion and faith … in a way that does not demean people,” Curry said. “There’s something in there that we are missing today, and it’s the sense of community, of unity, of battling through hard times.”

At 50, TV's ‘The Waltons’ still stirs fans’ love, nostalgia

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22HILLEL%20ITALIE%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer</a>

NEW YORK (AP) — Oprah Winfrey has selected a prison memoir by Jarvis Jay Masters, currently on death row in San Quentin State Prison in California, for her latest book club pick. Masters' “That Bird Has My Wings: The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row” was first published in 2009.

Activists for years have called for the release of Masters, sentenced to death in 1990 for taking part in the murder of a San Quentin prison guard. Masters, first imprisoned in 1981 for armed robbery, has filed numerous appeals in efforts to have his murder conviction overturned. A hearing is scheduled for next month in federal court.

“A little more than 10 years ago, I was given a memoir by Jarvis Jay Masters, a man serving a death row sentence in San Quentin,” Winfrey said in a statement Tuesday. “His story, of a young boy victimized by addiction, poverty, violence, the foster care system, and later the justice system, profoundly touched me then, and still does today, which is why I’m naming ‘That Bird Has My Wings’ as my latest Oprah’s Book Club selection.”

Masters said in a statement that he would be “forever grateful” to Winfrey for choosing his book.

“I turned 60 this year, having entered San Quentin at the age 19. I wrote ‘That Bird Has My Wings’ while in solitary confinement, isolated and alone,” he said. “My greatest hope at that time was that a few young people would read my story and learn from my mistakes. Thanks to Ms. Winfrey and her book club, my story will be introduced to a national audience. It is my greatest hope that their lives will be the better for it."

Supporters of Masters have backed his claims of innocence and cited him as a model of how people can transform themselves. In “Don’t Stop Believing That People Can Change,” a New York Times essay published in April, author Rebecca Solnit wrote that “he has often defused potential violence and offered solace and a trustworthy ear to the sorrows of those around him.”

Masters has also written “Finding Freedom: How Death Row Broke and Opened My Heart,” published in 1997.

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22HILLEL%20ITALIE%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer</a>NEW YORK (AP) — Oprah Winfrey has selected a prison memoir by Jarvis Jay Masters, currently on death row in San Quentin State Prison in California, for her latest book club pick. Masters' “That Bird Has My Wings: The Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row” was first published in 2009.Activists for years have called for the release of Masters, sentenced to death in 1990 for taking part in the murder of a San Quentin prison guard. Masters, first imprisoned in 1981 for armed robbery, has filed numerous appeals in efforts to have his murder conviction overturned. A hearing is scheduled for next month in federal court.“A little more than 10 years ago, I was given a memoir by Jarvis Jay Masters, a man serving a death row sentence in San Quentin,” Winfrey said in a statement Tuesday. “His story, of a young boy victimized by addiction, poverty, violence, the foster care system, and later the justice system, profoundly touched me then, and still does today, which is why I’m naming ‘That Bird Has My Wings’ as my latest Oprah’s Book Club selection.”Masters said in a statement that he would be “forever grateful” to Winfrey for choosing his book.“I turned 60 this year, having entered San Quentin at the age 19. I wrote ‘That Bird Has My Wings’ while in solitary confinement, isolated and alone,” he said. “My greatest hope at that time was that a few young people would read my story and learn from my mistakes. Thanks to Ms. Winfrey and her book club, my story will be introduced to a national audience. It is my greatest hope that their lives will be the better for it."Supporters of Masters have backed his claims of innocence and cited him as a model of how people can transform themselves. In “Don’t Stop Believing That People Can Change,” a New York Times essay published in April, author Rebecca Solnit wrote that “he has often defused potential violence and offered solace and a trustworthy ear to the sorrows of those around him.”Masters has also written “Finding Freedom: How Death Row Broke and Opened My Heart,” published in 1997.

Winfrey selects prison memoir 'That Bird Has My Wings'

<div><iframe title="Mix 103.3’s Friday Night Finds: Sept. 9, 2022" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=mviy8-12c21f3-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=auto&logo_link=podcast_page&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>&nbsp; Play the song below:<figure>
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Friday Night Finds: Sept. 9, 2022

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22LYNN%20ELBER%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer</a>

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Succession” and “Ted Lasso” topped the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/emmy-awards">Emmy Awards</a>&nbsp;on Monday, in a ceremony that touted the influence of TV and extended honors to global sensation “Squid Game” and winners who delivered messages of empowerment.

The evening's uplifting tone, as voiced especially by Zendaya, Lizzo and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/emmy-awards-entertainment-sitcoms-tv-172154473a7c2f3278287368780be476">Sheryl Lee Ralph</a>, was in contrast to the darkness that pervaded the storytelling of best drama series winner “Succession” and even comedy series victor “Ted Lasso."

“Thanks for making such a safe space to make this very difficult show,” said Zendaya, claiming her second best drama actress award for “Euphoria,” about a group of teens' tough coming-of-age.

“My greatest wish for “Euphoria’ was that it could help heal people. Thank you for everyone who has shared your story with me. I carry them with me, and I carry them with” Rue, her character, Zendaya said.

“Succession,” about a media empire run by a grasping and cutthroat family, split drama series honors with “Squid Game,” the bold South Korean-set drama about the idle rich turning the poor into entertainment fodder.

Lee Jung-jae of “Squid Game,” who played the show's moral center, became the first Asian to win the Emmy for best drama series actor.

“Thank you for making realistic problems we all face come to life so creatively on the screen,” Lee said to “Squid Game” creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, who earned the Emmy for best drama series directing. In Korean, Lee thanked the audience in his native country for watching.

Backstage, Hwang said this was "a major moment for us,” and Lee said he expected the awards to open doors for other Asian actors.

Jason Sudeikis and Jean Smart collected back-to-back acting trophies, but several new Emmy winners were minted, with Lizzo and Quinta Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph of “Abbott Elementary" collecting trophies.

Brunson, who created and stars in the freshman series, won the Emmy for comedy series writing. ABC's “Abbott Elementary,” also nominated for best comedy, is a rare bright spot for network broadcasting in the age of streaming and cable dominance.

Sudeikis won his second consecutive trophy for playing the unlikely U.S. coach of a British soccer team in the comedy “Ted Lasso,” with Smart matching that haul for her role as a veteran comedian in “Hacks."

Sudeikis gave a rare awards show shoutout to TV consumers: “Thanks to the people who watch this show and dig it as much as we dig making it."

There was a ripple of reaction in the theater when “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong mentioned&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/king-charles-III-british-throne-ab21181c92dbb154a29bad12075662e9">Britain’s new king, Charles III</a>, in accepting the show’s trophy, the cast standing alongside him.

“Big week for successions, new king in the U.K., this for us. Evidently a little bit more voting involved in our winning than Prince Charles,” Armstrong said. “I’m not saying we’re more legitimate in our position than he is. We’ll leave that up to other people.”

Ralph stopped the Emmy Awards show by accepting the best supporting actress comedy award for “Abbott Elementary" with a brief but rousing song of affirmation.

“I am an endangered species, but I sing no victim song. I am a woman, I am an artist and I know where my voice belongs,” she belted out. She then encouraged anyone doubting their dream “I am here to tell you this is what believing looks like.”

The audience, including Lizzo and many of television's biggest stars, leapt to their feet to cheer on Ralph.

When Lizzo herself accepted the award for best-competition series trophy for “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,” she offered another emotional pep talk.

“When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see was me in the media. Someone fat like me, Black like me, beautiful like me,” the music artist said.

There were also cheers for presenter Selma Blair, who has discussed her multiple sclerosis diagnosis publicly and who used a cane on stage.

“Ted Lasso” co-star Brett Goldstein, won comedy supporting actors, while Matthew Macfadyen of “Succession” and Julia Garner of “Ozark” earned drama series supporting actor honors.

“It's such a a pleasure and privilege for me to play this bonkers gift of a role in this wonderful show,” Macfadyen said in accepting the trophy for his role as a scheming member of a media empire family.

Garner was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/emmy-awards-entertainment-movies-tv-644ef4de2886ce7d4395765fb34b44fa">among the winners</a>&nbsp;who took advantage of covering all bases by thanking her husband and others in an on-screen message.

“The White Lotus” collected several honors, including best limited or anthology series.

The achievements of “Squid Game,” “Abbott Elementary” and a few other shows didn’t change the relative lack of diversity in this year’s nominations, which included significantly fewer people of color than in 2021.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/emmy-awards-jada-pinkett-smith-chris-rock-entertainment-los-angeles-be3d652d638497a85dbd61a9fd24aadd">Host Kenan Thompson</a>&nbsp;kicked off the Emmys with a tribute to TV, dismissing Tik-Tok as “tiny vertical television,” and a musical number saluting series’ theme songs from “Friends” to “The Brady Bunch” to “Game of Thrones.”

Once the music stopped, Thompson provided a mic drop moment — announcing Oprah Winfrey as the first presenter. Winfrey strutted onto the stage holding an Emmy statuette, declaring the night “a party!” The night’s first award went to Michael Keaton for his role in “Dopesick.” Winfrey and Keaton hugged before she handed him his trophy.

“It means something,” Keaton said of the award for playing a caring doctor ensnared with his patients by addiction. He went on to recall the “magic” of being introduced to TV when his dad won a set at a raffle and thanked his parents for not mocking his youthful attempts at acting.

Amanda Seyfried earned the limited-series lead actress trophy for “The Dropout,” in which she played ill-fated Silicon Valley whiz kid Elizabeth Holmes. She thanked a list of family and colleagues and even her dog, Finn.

Murray Bartlett won the best supporting actor award for “The White Lotus,” a tragicomedy set in a Hawaii resort. Jennifer Coolidge, who won best supporting actress honors for the show, delighted the audience by shimmying to the music intended to cut off her acceptance speech.

The award for best variety talk show went to “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” with stand-up special “Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel” winning for best writing for a comedy special.

"Good night, everybody. I’ma go home. I’m not like a sore winner, but I’m going to go home because I can’t top this right now,” an overcome Carmichael told the audience.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-los-angeles-elle-fanning-d8624fd7435099009be675646fd426d5">Glamour was back with some metallic sparkle and lots of bright color</a>&nbsp;as an otherworldly Britt Lower, Old Hollywood Elle Fanning and their fellow stars posed for photographers.

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22LYNN%20ELBER%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer</a>LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Succession” and “Ted Lasso” topped the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/emmy-awards">Emmy Awards</a>&nbsp;on Monday, in a ceremony that touted the influence of TV and extended honors to global sensation “Squid Game” and winners who delivered messages of empowerment.The evening's uplifting tone, as voiced especially by Zendaya, Lizzo and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/emmy-awards-entertainment-sitcoms-tv-172154473a7c2f3278287368780be476">Sheryl Lee Ralph</a>, was in contrast to the darkness that pervaded the storytelling of best drama series winner “Succession” and even comedy series victor “Ted Lasso."“Thanks for making such a safe space to make this very difficult show,” said Zendaya, claiming her second best drama actress award for “Euphoria,” about a group of teens' tough coming-of-age.“My greatest wish for “Euphoria’ was that it could help heal people. Thank you for everyone who has shared your story with me. I carry them with me, and I carry them with” Rue, her character, Zendaya said.“Succession,” about a media empire run by a grasping and cutthroat family, split drama series honors with “Squid Game,” the bold South Korean-set drama about the idle rich turning the poor into entertainment fodder.Lee Jung-jae of “Squid Game,” who played the show's moral center, became the first Asian to win the Emmy for best drama series actor.“Thank you for making realistic problems we all face come to life so creatively on the screen,” Lee said to “Squid Game” creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, who earned the Emmy for best drama series directing. In Korean, Lee thanked the audience in his native country for watching.Backstage, Hwang said this was "a major moment for us,” and Lee said he expected the awards to open doors for other Asian actors.Jason Sudeikis and Jean Smart collected back-to-back acting trophies, but several new Emmy winners were minted, with Lizzo and Quinta Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph of “Abbott Elementary" collecting trophies.Brunson, who created and stars in the freshman series, won the Emmy for comedy series writing. ABC's “Abbott Elementary,” also nominated for best comedy, is a rare bright spot for network broadcasting in the age of streaming and cable dominance.Sudeikis won his second consecutive trophy for playing the unlikely U.S. coach of a British soccer team in the comedy “Ted Lasso,” with Smart matching that haul for her role as a veteran comedian in “Hacks."Sudeikis gave a rare awards show shoutout to TV consumers: “Thanks to the people who watch this show and dig it as much as we dig making it."There was a ripple of reaction in the theater when “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong mentioned&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/king-charles-III-british-throne-ab21181c92dbb154a29bad12075662e9">Britain’s new king, Charles III</a>, in accepting the show’s trophy, the cast standing alongside him.“Big week for successions, new king in the U.K., this for us. Evidently a little bit more voting involved in our winning than Prince Charles,” Armstrong said. “I’m not saying we’re more legitimate in our position than he is. We’ll leave that up to other people.”Ralph stopped the Emmy Awards show by accepting the best supporting actress comedy award for “Abbott Elementary" with a brief but rousing song of affirmation.“I am an endangered species, but I sing no victim song. I am a woman, I am an artist and I know where my voice belongs,” she belted out. She then encouraged anyone doubting their dream “I am here to tell you this is what believing looks like.”The audience, including Lizzo and many of television's biggest stars, leapt to their feet to cheer on Ralph.When Lizzo herself accepted the award for best-competition series trophy for “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,” she offered another emotional pep talk.“When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see was me in the media. Someone fat like me, Black like me, beautiful like me,” the music artist said.There were also cheers for presenter Selma Blair, who has discussed her multiple sclerosis diagnosis publicly and who used a cane on stage.“Ted Lasso” co-star Brett Goldstein, won comedy supporting actors, while Matthew Macfadyen of “Succession” and Julia Garner of “Ozark” earned drama series supporting actor honors.“It's such a a pleasure and privilege for me to play this bonkers gift of a role in this wonderful show,” Macfadyen said in accepting the trophy for his role as a scheming member of a media empire family.Garner was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/emmy-awards-entertainment-movies-tv-644ef4de2886ce7d4395765fb34b44fa">among the winners</a>&nbsp;who took advantage of covering all bases by thanking her husband and others in an on-screen message.“The White Lotus” collected several honors, including best limited or anthology series.The achievements of “Squid Game,” “Abbott Elementary” and a few other shows didn’t change the relative lack of diversity in this year’s nominations, which included significantly fewer people of color than in 2021.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/emmy-awards-jada-pinkett-smith-chris-rock-entertainment-los-angeles-be3d652d638497a85dbd61a9fd24aadd">Host Kenan Thompson</a>&nbsp;kicked off the Emmys with a tribute to TV, dismissing Tik-Tok as “tiny vertical television,” and a musical number saluting series’ theme songs from “Friends” to “The Brady Bunch” to “Game of Thrones.”Once the music stopped, Thompson provided a mic drop moment — announcing Oprah Winfrey as the first presenter. Winfrey strutted onto the stage holding an Emmy statuette, declaring the night “a party!” The night’s first award went to Michael Keaton for his role in “Dopesick.” Winfrey and Keaton hugged before she handed him his trophy.“It means something,” Keaton said of the award for playing a caring doctor ensnared with his patients by addiction. He went on to recall the “magic” of being introduced to TV when his dad won a set at a raffle and thanked his parents for not mocking his youthful attempts at acting.Amanda Seyfried earned the limited-series lead actress trophy for “The Dropout,” in which she played ill-fated Silicon Valley whiz kid Elizabeth Holmes. She thanked a list of family and colleagues and even her dog, Finn.Murray Bartlett won the best supporting actor award for “The White Lotus,” a tragicomedy set in a Hawaii resort. Jennifer Coolidge, who won best supporting actress honors for the show, delighted the audience by shimmying to the music intended to cut off her acceptance speech.The award for best variety talk show went to “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” with stand-up special “Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel” winning for best writing for a comedy special."Good night, everybody. I’ma go home. I’m not like a sore winner, but I’m going to go home because I can’t top this right now,” an overcome Carmichael told the audience.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-los-angeles-elle-fanning-d8624fd7435099009be675646fd426d5">Glamour was back with some metallic sparkle and lots of bright color</a>&nbsp;as an otherworldly Britt Lower, Old Hollywood Elle Fanning and their fellow stars posed for photographers.

'Succession,' 'Ted Lasso' top Emmys; 1st time winners shine

— Twin brothers go to their mother’s house for a stay but find something is off about her in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lKm2Vct3x4">“Goodnight Mommy,”</a>&nbsp;an English language remake of a cult Austrian horror from 2014. Naomi Watts plays the mother, an actress whose face is wrapped in bandages — presumably recovering from plastic surgery. She’s also quite on edge and suspiciously cruel and the boys, Elias (Cameron Crovetti) and Lucas (Nicholas Crovetti) start worrying that it is not, in fact, their mother, but an imposter. Directed by Matt Sobel, “Goodnight Mommy” arrives on Prime Video on Friday.

— A year after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b0ZYBmST-U">“Official Competition”</a>&nbsp;premiered to raves at the 78th Venice Film Festival, it’s finally coming to a streaming service, AMC+, on Friday. The sharp satire skewering the movie business (and the art world in general) stars Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas as two egomaniacs who a billionaire hires to make a film together. By all accounts the Spanish language film, directed by Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat, is deliriously fun and funny and a great showcase for its leads Cruz and Banderas.

— Over on Disney+, the original documentary&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtxeORZkatk">“Mija”</a>&nbsp;tells the story of Doris Muñoz and Jacks Haupt, the daughters of Mexican immigrants who are trying to make their way in the music business in the U.S. It’s the directorial debut of Isabel Castro, also a Mexican American, and will be available to watch on Friday. In the Variety review out of the Sundance Film Festival, critic Lisa Kennedy wrote that, “Castro’s debut feature deals with heartache and vulnerability but also shimmers with joy and genuine insight.”

— After night must come light, right? Little Big Town’s album “Mr. Sun” drops Friday, the follow-up to the band’s last offering, “Nightfall.” Band member Karen Fairchild says: “‘Mr. Sun’ is focused on better days ahead, the value of friendships and family; it touches on heartbreak and letting go, but it’s full of sunshine and joy.” The 16-song album — with a member of the band writing or co-writing 13 of them — includes “Rich Man,” the hazy, addictive&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDHq-2HAs1o">“All Summer”</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk_2Ri1tbk8">“Hell Yeah.”</a>

— Singer-songwriter Michelle Branch will release her new album “The Trouble with Fever” despite facing her own personal troubles. The album, out Friday, was co-produced with her husband, Patrick Carney, drummer for The Black Keys. Branch was arrested last month for allegedly slapping Carney, but prosecutors decided not to press charges. The album’s first single,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu6AfnmlSQY">“I’m A Man,”</a>&nbsp;is a bluesy protest song that tackles such topics as women’s rights, toxic masculinity, reproductive rights and sexual harassment.

— Marcus Mumford releases his first solo album on Friday, but he’s tapped plenty of friends for help: Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Clairo, Monica Martin and Julia Michaels. The album, “(self-titled),” has produced the quiet yet powerful&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOcfW0zv7cY">“Cannibal”</a>&nbsp;(with a Steven Spielberg-directed video) and the superb&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJkGZx8i-h0">“Grace,”</a>&nbsp;a strummy cathartic tune with the lyrics: “I hear there’s healing just around this corner.” Blake Mills produced the album.

— Jessie Reyez had some bad luck when she released her debut album, “Before Love Came To Kill Us.” It came out in late March 2020, along with the pandemic, which wiped out her buzz. This week, she’s hoping for better luck with “YESSIE,” led by the spiteful kiss-off single&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG1m3b9j_qY">“Mutual Friend,”</a>&nbsp;with the line: “This heartbreak morphed into hate.” The Colombian-Canadian artist has had an exciting year, touring with Billie Eilish and performing at the 2022 Coachella music festival.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K2ZbWQCVpQ">— “The Handmaid’s Tale”</a>&nbsp;returns with high stakes for June (Elisabeth Moss) and the future of Gilead, the totalitarian society that she and others have risked their lives to fight. The Emmy-winning series, adapted from Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, has become a touchstone for women’s rights advocates. In the fifth season that begins Wednesday with two episodes, June is dealing with the consequences of a killing, while Serena (Yvonne Strahovski), the woman she widowed, seeks her own path to power. Hulu announced the drama will end with season six.

<a href="https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/us-and-the-holocaust/">— “The U.S. and the Holocaust”</a>&nbsp;examines Nazi Germany’s Jewish genocide in the context of American society and the nation’s response. The three-part documentary looks at the 20th-century rise of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party amid racism and antisemitism elsewhere in the world, including in the United States. Directed and produced by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein and written by Geoffrey Ward, the six-hour docuseries airs Sunday through Tuesday, on PBS and will be available on PBS.org. Peter Coyote narrates.

— Looking for a break in your day?&nbsp;<a href="https://jenniferhudsonshow.com/">“The Jennifer Hudson Show"</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/sherrishowtv">“Sherri,”</a>&nbsp;with comedian-actor&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-music-tv-oprah-winfrey-baebaebd7b91898b9a51390cfcb27155">Sherri Shepherd,</a>&nbsp;are here to oblige, with both shows debuting Monday. Actor-singer and “American Idol" alum&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-music-tv-jennifer-hudson-d52409597f880cbc58eac97925634f4a">Hudson</a>&nbsp;will welcome first-week guests including Simon Cowell, Magic Johnson and Hannah Waddingham. Among Shepherd's debut week guests: Ricki Lake, Robin Thicke and Derek Hough. The hosts are looking to fill the void left by Ellen DeGeneres' and Wendy Williams' now-ended shows, with Kelly Clarkson and Drew Barrymore among the returning competition.

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22The%20Associated%20Press%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By The Associated Press</a>Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.MOVIES— Twin brothers go to their mother’s house for a stay but find something is off about her in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lKm2Vct3x4">“Goodnight Mommy,”</a>&nbsp;an English language remake of a cult Austrian horror from 2014. Naomi Watts plays the mother, an actress whose face is wrapped in bandages — presumably recovering from plastic surgery. She’s also quite on edge and suspiciously cruel and the boys, Elias (Cameron Crovetti) and Lucas (Nicholas Crovetti) start worrying that it is not, in fact, their mother, but an imposter. Directed by Matt Sobel, “Goodnight Mommy” arrives on Prime Video on Friday.— A year after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b0ZYBmST-U">“Official Competition”</a>&nbsp;premiered to raves at the 78th Venice Film Festival, it’s finally coming to a streaming service, AMC+, on Friday. The sharp satire skewering the movie business (and the art world in general) stars Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas as two egomaniacs who a billionaire hires to make a film together. By all accounts the Spanish language film, directed by Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat, is deliriously fun and funny and a great showcase for its leads Cruz and Banderas.— Over on Disney+, the original documentary&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtxeORZkatk">“Mija”</a>&nbsp;tells the story of Doris Muñoz and Jacks Haupt, the daughters of Mexican immigrants who are trying to make their way in the music business in the U.S. It’s the directorial debut of Isabel Castro, also a Mexican American, and will be available to watch on Friday. In the Variety review out of the Sundance Film Festival, critic Lisa Kennedy wrote that, “Castro’s debut feature deals with heartache and vulnerability but also shimmers with joy and genuine insight.”— AP Film Writer Lindsey BahrMUSIC— After night must come light, right? Little Big Town’s album “Mr. Sun” drops Friday, the follow-up to the band’s last offering, “Nightfall.” Band member Karen Fairchild says: “‘Mr. Sun’ is focused on better days ahead, the value of friendships and family; it touches on heartbreak and letting go, but it’s full of sunshine and joy.” The 16-song album — with a member of the band writing or co-writing 13 of them — includes “Rich Man,” the hazy, addictive&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDHq-2HAs1o">“All Summer”</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk_2Ri1tbk8">“Hell Yeah.”</a>— Singer-songwriter Michelle Branch will release her new album “The Trouble with Fever” despite facing her own personal troubles. The album, out Friday, was co-produced with her husband, Patrick Carney, drummer for The Black Keys. Branch was arrested last month for allegedly slapping Carney, but prosecutors decided not to press charges. The album’s first single,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu6AfnmlSQY">“I’m A Man,”</a>&nbsp;is a bluesy protest song that tackles such topics as women’s rights, toxic masculinity, reproductive rights and sexual harassment.— Marcus Mumford releases his first solo album on Friday, but he’s tapped plenty of friends for help: Brandi Carlile, Phoebe Bridgers, Clairo, Monica Martin and Julia Michaels. The album, “(self-titled),” has produced the quiet yet powerful&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOcfW0zv7cY">“Cannibal”</a>&nbsp;(with a Steven Spielberg-directed video) and the superb&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJkGZx8i-h0">“Grace,”</a>&nbsp;a strummy cathartic tune with the lyrics: “I hear there’s healing just around this corner.” Blake Mills produced the album.— Jessie Reyez had some bad luck when she released her debut album, “Before Love Came To Kill Us.” It came out in late March 2020, along with the pandemic, which wiped out her buzz. This week, she’s hoping for better luck with “YESSIE,” led by the spiteful kiss-off single&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG1m3b9j_qY">“Mutual Friend,”</a>&nbsp;with the line: “This heartbreak morphed into hate.” The Colombian-Canadian artist has had an exciting year, touring with Billie Eilish and performing at the 2022 Coachella music festival.— AP Entertainment Writer Mark KennedyTELEVISION<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K2ZbWQCVpQ">— “The Handmaid’s Tale”</a>&nbsp;returns with high stakes for June (Elisabeth Moss) and the future of Gilead, the totalitarian society that she and others have risked their lives to fight. The Emmy-winning series, adapted from Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, has become a touchstone for women’s rights advocates. In the fifth season that begins Wednesday with two episodes, June is dealing with the consequences of a killing, while Serena (Yvonne Strahovski), the woman she widowed, seeks her own path to power. Hulu announced the drama will end with season six.<a href="https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/us-and-the-holocaust/">— “The U.S. and the Holocaust”</a>&nbsp;examines Nazi Germany’s Jewish genocide in the context of American society and the nation’s response. The three-part documentary looks at the 20th-century rise of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party amid racism and antisemitism elsewhere in the world, including in the United States. Directed and produced by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein and written by Geoffrey Ward, the six-hour docuseries airs Sunday through Tuesday, on PBS and will be available on PBS.org. Peter Coyote narrates.— Looking for a break in your day?&nbsp;<a href="https://jenniferhudsonshow.com/">“The Jennifer Hudson Show"</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/sherrishowtv">“Sherri,”</a>&nbsp;with comedian-actor&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-music-tv-oprah-winfrey-baebaebd7b91898b9a51390cfcb27155">Sherri Shepherd,</a>&nbsp;are here to oblige, with both shows debuting Monday. Actor-singer and “American Idol" alum&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-music-tv-jennifer-hudson-d52409597f880cbc58eac97925634f4a">Hudson</a>&nbsp;will welcome first-week guests including Simon Cowell, Magic Johnson and Hannah Waddingham. Among Shepherd's debut week guests: Ricki Lake, Robin Thicke and Derek Hough. The hosts are looking to fill the void left by Ellen DeGeneres' and Wendy Williams' now-ended shows, with Kelly Clarkson and Drew Barrymore among the returning competition.— AP Television Writer Lynn Elber

New this week: 'The Handmaid’s Tale' and 'Goodnight Mommy'

Hays Community Theatre's "Rats: The Story of the Pied Piper" has shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday. All shows for the annual children's theater are sold out. 

See the end of this story for a complete cast list.

Narrator 1: Ryan Giebler Narrator 2: Annalise Adams Narrator 3: Aspen Brull Narrator 4: Savannah Wittkorn (Narrators double as townspeople) Pied Piper: Jacob Ridgway Mayor: Josiah Hill Quigley: Jack Stoecklein Miss Pennywinkle: Kelsey Robben Rats Ratmarie: Janessa Miller Rhonda Rat: Evie Dietz Ratson: Matthias Miller Ratly: Jensen Miller Ratilla: Gracelyn Inlow Rosie Rat: Reagan Becker Candy Rat: Nora Stoecklein Debbie Rat: Hattie Sander Brandy Rat: Avalea Hill Benjamin "Ben" Rat: Brayden Hept Ramona (Baby) Rat: Olivia Legleiter Townspeople of Hamelin Constable Blarney: Micah Hill Mr. Rye/Mr. Ram: Caden Pinkney Miss Lilyspoon: Nevaeh Duncan Miss Finney: Alicia Windholz Mrs Krinkle: Elizabeth Bergman Mrs. Nob: Evelyn Schmidt Mr. Ripple: Malachi Miller Mrs. Pickle: Riley Becker Mr. Teal: Jadon Conner Children of Hamelin Susan Ripple: Khloe Bartling Billie Ram: Katie Ziegler Jimmy Pickle: Josiah Conner Lisa Teal: Melody Gauger Tammy Nob: Hannah Lohrmeyer Wendy Krinkle: Scarlett Wittkorn Pentopolis "Pennyman" Pickle: Skyler Schmidt Nancy Nob: Claire Lonnon Krystal Krinkle: Willa Hill Rita Rye: Lyla Oller Becky Blarney: Brylie Grove

Hays Community Theatre's "Rats: The Story of the Pied Piper" has shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday. All shows for the annual children's theater are sold out. See the end of this story for a complete cast list.<figure>
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 </figure><h2>Cast list</h2>Narrator 1: Ryan Giebler Narrator 2: Annalise Adams Narrator 3: Aspen Brull Narrator 4: Savannah Wittkorn (Narrators double as townspeople) Pied Piper: Jacob Ridgway Mayor: Josiah Hill Quigley: Jack Stoecklein Miss Pennywinkle: Kelsey Robben Rats Ratmarie: Janessa Miller Rhonda Rat: Evie Dietz Ratson: Matthias Miller Ratly: Jensen Miller Ratilla: Gracelyn Inlow Rosie Rat: Reagan Becker Candy Rat: Nora Stoecklein Debbie Rat: Hattie Sander Brandy Rat: Avalea Hill Benjamin "Ben" Rat: Brayden Hept Ramona (Baby) Rat: Olivia Legleiter Townspeople of Hamelin Constable Blarney: Micah Hill Mr. Rye/Mr. Ram: Caden Pinkney Miss Lilyspoon: Nevaeh Duncan Miss Finney: Alicia Windholz Mrs Krinkle: Elizabeth Bergman Mrs. Nob: Evelyn Schmidt Mr. Ripple: Malachi Miller Mrs. Pickle: Riley Becker Mr. Teal: Jadon Conner Children of Hamelin Susan Ripple: Khloe Bartling Billie Ram: Katie Ziegler Jimmy Pickle: Josiah Conner Lisa Teal: Melody Gauger Tammy Nob: Hannah Lohrmeyer Wendy Krinkle: Scarlett Wittkorn Pentopolis "Pennyman" Pickle: Skyler Schmidt Nancy Nob: Claire Lonnon Krystal Krinkle: Willa Hill Rita Rye: Lyla Oller Becky Blarney: Brylie Grove

📸 Hays Community Theatre's 'Rats: The Story of the Pied Piper' 

The latest Friday Night Finds from Mix 103.3 FM.

<div><iframe title="Mix 103.3’s Friday Night Finds: Sept. 2, 2022" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=pu54v-12b5a91-pb&from=pb6admin&square=1&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=auto&logo_link=podcast_page&btn-skin=3267a3&size=300" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>The latest Friday Night Finds from Mix 103.3 FM.Play the song below:<figure>
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Friday Night Finds: Sept. 2, 2022

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MATT%20O%27BRIEN%20and%20KELVIN%20CHAN%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By MATT O'BRIEN and KELVIN CHAN AP Technology Writers</a>

Microsoft’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-activision-blizzard-acquisition-call-of-duty-7a9e2bcc8f0b7b9049e4f93fe3e0a4dd">plan to buy video game giant Activision Blizzard</a>&nbsp;for $68.7 billion could have major effects on the gaming industry, transforming the Xbox maker into something like a Netflix for video games by giving it control of many more popular titles.

But to get to the next level, Microsoft must first survive a barrage of government inquiries from New Zealand to Brazil, and from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-data-privacy-federal-trade-commission-congress-7da655c7793d5fe26493a0fa8f10e297">U.S. regulators emboldened</a>&nbsp;by President Joe Biden to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-mark-zuckerberg-federal-trade-commission-government-and-politics-341c0200d9d2921072c1ac6afde428fe">strengthen their enforcement</a>&nbsp;of antitrust laws.

In the United Kingdom, regulators on Thursday&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-united-kingdom-187332bc07d6930b18e54010c38b6353">threatened to escalate their investigation</a>&nbsp;unless both companies come up with proposals within five days to ease competition concerns. More than seven months after Microsoft announced the deal, only&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Saudigac_en/status/1561586394182651909/photo/1">Saudi Arabia has approved it.</a>

“A growing number of countries are subjecting major global transactions to deeper scrutiny,” said William Kovacic, a former chairman of the five-member U.S. Federal Trade Commission. “Many of the jurisdictions that are exercising that scrutiny are significant economies and can’t be brushed off.”

Microsoft&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/google-antitrust-microsoft-doj-6a800b51cc9b6b1c4d1b23bad4510040">has faced antitrust scrutiny</a>&nbsp;before, mostly notably more than two decades ago when a federal judge ordered its breakup following the company’s anticompetitive actions related to its dominant Windows software. That verdict was overturned on appeal, although the court imposed other, less drastic, penalties on the company.

In recent years, however, Microsoft has largely escaped the more intense regulatory backlash its Big Tech rivals such as Amazon, Google and Facebook’s parent company Meta have endured. But the sheer size of the Activision Blizzard merger has drawn global attention.

The all-cash deal is set to be the largest in the history of the tech industry. It would give Microsoft, maker of the Xbox console and gaming system, control of popular game franchises such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush. There's also a growing sense that past review of Big Tech mergers was too lax — such as when Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.

“Collectively, that means that the kinds of concessions you’re going to have to make become more difficult,” Kovacic said.

The possibility of Microsoft gaining control of Call of Duty has been particularly worrisome to Sony, maker of the PlayStation console that competes with Microsoft's Xbox. In a letter to Brazilian regulators, Sony emphasized Call of Duty as an “essential” game — a blockbuster so popular and ingrained that it would be impossible for a competitor to develop a rival product even if they had the budget to do so.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-united-kingdom-0e19c4494d1754dc12e23bbf9e68d090">U.K. watchdog's preliminary inquiry</a>&nbsp;raised similar worries. It said Microsoft’s control of popular Activision Blizzard games raised concerns that the deal would hurt rivals in multi-game subscription services and the cloud gaming market.

One solution could be a settlement in which Microsoft agrees to ensure that console-making rivals such as Sony or Nintendo won’t be cut off from popular Activision Blizzard games. Microsoft has already publicly signaled its openness to that concept.

Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, has said the company committed to Sony to make Activision games like Call of Duty “available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future” -- although many are skeptical about how long those promises would last if not set into regulatory consent decrees.

On the other hand, Microsoft also has a much better reputation in Washington than it did in 2000. It is "seen as more reasonable and sensible” on issues such as data privacy, Kovacic said.

Microsoft has also been working to win over skeptics in the U.S., starting with a labor union that's been trying to organize Activision Blizzard employees. Democratic lawmakers have also expressed concern about allegations of Activision's toxic workplace culture for women, which led to employee walkouts last year as well as discrimination lawsuits brought by California and federal civil rights enforcers.

In March, the Communications Workers of America had issued a call seeking tougher oversight of the deal from the U.S. Department of Justice, the FTC and state attorneys general. But a June 30 letter from the union to the FTC said it had switched to supporting the deal after Microsoft agreed “to ensure the workers of Activision Blizzard have a clear path to collective bargaining.”

Gaming represents a growing portion of Microsoft’s business, despite the company’s efforts to portray itself and Activision Blizzard as “small players in a highly fragmented publishing space,” per a document&nbsp;<a href="https://comcom.govt.nz/case-register/case-register-entries/microsoft-corporation-activision-blizzard-inc">filed with New Zealand's Commerce Commission</a>.

In 2021, Microsoft spent $7.5 billion to acquire ZeniMax Media, the parent company of video game publisher Bethesda Softworks, which is behind popular video games The Elder Scrolls, Doom and Fallout. Microsoft’s properties also include the hit game Minecraft after it bought Swedish game studio Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014.

The Redmond, Washington, tech giant has said the gaming acquisitions will help beef up its Xbox Game Pass game subscription service and its mobile offerings, particularly from Activision Blizzard's King division, which makes Candy Crush.

Dutch game developer Rami Ismail said Microsoft’s subscription-based service has thus far been a positive for smaller game studios trying to get their content to users. But he’s unsure about the long-term impact of the merger.

“Xbox Game Pass as a product has been really good in getting interesting, creative games funded that might not have the normal market reach to be successful,” Ismail said. “On the flip side, as power consolidates, there is less of an incentive to do anything like that.”

Microsoft rivals are also consolidating. Sony in July closed on a $3.6 billion deal to buy Bungie Inc., maker of the popular game franchise Destiny and the original developer of Xbox-owned Halo. Take-Two Interactive, maker of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, in May completed a $12.7 billion deal to acquire mobile gaming company Zynga, maker of FarmVille and Words With Friends.

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MATT%20O%27BRIEN%20and%20KELVIN%20CHAN%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By MATT O'BRIEN and KELVIN CHAN AP Technology Writers</a>Microsoft’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-activision-blizzard-acquisition-call-of-duty-7a9e2bcc8f0b7b9049e4f93fe3e0a4dd">plan to buy video game giant Activision Blizzard</a>&nbsp;for $68.7 billion could have major effects on the gaming industry, transforming the Xbox maker into something like a Netflix for video games by giving it control of many more popular titles.But to get to the next level, Microsoft must first survive a barrage of government inquiries from New Zealand to Brazil, and from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-data-privacy-federal-trade-commission-congress-7da655c7793d5fe26493a0fa8f10e297">U.S. regulators emboldened</a>&nbsp;by President Joe Biden to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-mark-zuckerberg-federal-trade-commission-government-and-politics-341c0200d9d2921072c1ac6afde428fe">strengthen their enforcement</a>&nbsp;of antitrust laws.In the United Kingdom, regulators on Thursday&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-united-kingdom-187332bc07d6930b18e54010c38b6353">threatened to escalate their investigation</a>&nbsp;unless both companies come up with proposals within five days to ease competition concerns. More than seven months after Microsoft announced the deal, only&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Saudigac_en/status/1561586394182651909/photo/1">Saudi Arabia has approved it.</a>“A growing number of countries are subjecting major global transactions to deeper scrutiny,” said William Kovacic, a former chairman of the five-member U.S. Federal Trade Commission. “Many of the jurisdictions that are exercising that scrutiny are significant economies and can’t be brushed off.”Microsoft&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/google-antitrust-microsoft-doj-6a800b51cc9b6b1c4d1b23bad4510040">has faced antitrust scrutiny</a>&nbsp;before, mostly notably more than two decades ago when a federal judge ordered its breakup following the company’s anticompetitive actions related to its dominant Windows software. That verdict was overturned on appeal, although the court imposed other, less drastic, penalties on the company.In recent years, however, Microsoft has largely escaped the more intense regulatory backlash its Big Tech rivals such as Amazon, Google and Facebook’s parent company Meta have endured. But the sheer size of the Activision Blizzard merger has drawn global attention.The all-cash deal is set to be the largest in the history of the tech industry. It would give Microsoft, maker of the Xbox console and gaming system, control of popular game franchises such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush. There's also a growing sense that past review of Big Tech mergers was too lax — such as when Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.“Collectively, that means that the kinds of concessions you’re going to have to make become more difficult,” Kovacic said.The possibility of Microsoft gaining control of Call of Duty has been particularly worrisome to Sony, maker of the PlayStation console that competes with Microsoft's Xbox. In a letter to Brazilian regulators, Sony emphasized Call of Duty as an “essential” game — a blockbuster so popular and ingrained that it would be impossible for a competitor to develop a rival product even if they had the budget to do so.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-united-kingdom-0e19c4494d1754dc12e23bbf9e68d090">U.K. watchdog's preliminary inquiry</a>&nbsp;raised similar worries. It said Microsoft’s control of popular Activision Blizzard games raised concerns that the deal would hurt rivals in multi-game subscription services and the cloud gaming market.One solution could be a settlement in which Microsoft agrees to ensure that console-making rivals such as Sony or Nintendo won’t be cut off from popular Activision Blizzard games. Microsoft has already publicly signaled its openness to that concept.Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, has said the company committed to Sony to make Activision games like Call of Duty “available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future” -- although many are skeptical about how long those promises would last if not set into regulatory consent decrees.On the other hand, Microsoft also has a much better reputation in Washington than it did in 2000. It is "seen as more reasonable and sensible” on issues such as data privacy, Kovacic said.Microsoft has also been working to win over skeptics in the U.S., starting with a labor union that's been trying to organize Activision Blizzard employees. Democratic lawmakers have also expressed concern about allegations of Activision's toxic workplace culture for women, which led to employee walkouts last year as well as discrimination lawsuits brought by California and federal civil rights enforcers.In March, the Communications Workers of America had issued a call seeking tougher oversight of the deal from the U.S. Department of Justice, the FTC and state attorneys general. But a June 30 letter from the union to the FTC said it had switched to supporting the deal after Microsoft agreed “to ensure the workers of Activision Blizzard have a clear path to collective bargaining.”Gaming represents a growing portion of Microsoft’s business, despite the company’s efforts to portray itself and Activision Blizzard as “small players in a highly fragmented publishing space,” per a document&nbsp;<a href="https://comcom.govt.nz/case-register/case-register-entries/microsoft-corporation-activision-blizzard-inc">filed with New Zealand's Commerce Commission</a>.In 2021, Microsoft spent $7.5 billion to acquire ZeniMax Media, the parent company of video game publisher Bethesda Softworks, which is behind popular video games The Elder Scrolls, Doom and Fallout. Microsoft’s properties also include the hit game Minecraft after it bought Swedish game studio Mojang for $2.5 billion in 2014.The Redmond, Washington, tech giant has said the gaming acquisitions will help beef up its Xbox Game Pass game subscription service and its mobile offerings, particularly from Activision Blizzard's King division, which makes Candy Crush.Dutch game developer Rami Ismail said Microsoft’s subscription-based service has thus far been a positive for smaller game studios trying to get their content to users. But he’s unsure about the long-term impact of the merger.“Xbox Game Pass as a product has been really good in getting interesting, creative games funded that might not have the normal market reach to be successful,” Ismail said. “On the flip side, as power consolidates, there is less of an incentive to do anything like that.”Microsoft rivals are also consolidating. Sony in July closed on a $3.6 billion deal to buy Bungie Inc., maker of the popular game franchise Destiny and the original developer of Xbox-owned Halo. Take-Two Interactive, maker of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, in May completed a $12.7 billion deal to acquire mobile gaming company Zynga, maker of FarmVille and Words With Friends.

Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal gets global scrutiny

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MARK%20KENNEDY%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer</a>

NEW YORK (AP) — The return of dragons on the small screen has been a huge hit. Now it's time for the return of the elves and dwarves.

Amazon Studios is launching&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Power-Season/dp/B09QH98YG1">“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,”</a>&nbsp;an ambitious, years-in-the-making and very expensive salvo that will go head-to-head with another costly streaming fantasy epic: HBO’s “Game of Thrones” spinoff “House of the Dragon,” which recently became the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-tv-fe58880b726699e4f7683db80f579f14">most-watched series premiere</a>&nbsp;in HBO history.

The series is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings and asides about Middle-earth’s Second Age, which preceded the Third Age’s “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” films and books. Tolkien’s grandson, Simon Tolkien, was a creative consultant.

“We say Tolkien sort of left a series of stars in the sky. Our job was to connect the dots and form the constellation and then sort of draw in between the constellations to give a little more specificity to it,” said J.D. Payne, a showrunner and executive producer.

Amazon Prime Video will debut both the first two “The Rings of Power” episodes on Friday. After that, the remaining six episodes arrive weekly on Friday.

The hour-long episodes are stuffed with action and humor but buckle up: Payne and his co-showrunner Patrick McKay plan to use a 50-hour canvas to explore their nuanced characters and complex histories. These first eight episodes are like an appetizer.

Early ones shift across the various regions of Middle-earth, our planet's imagined mythological past. Here, some 4,000 years before “The Hobbit,” are elves involved with royal intrigue, dwarves who mine inside mountains, hobbitlike harfoots who are pastoral, humans who seem unusually prone to violence, and evil orcs.

Despite being set centuries before the books and films that make up the Tolkien's canon, fans of “The Lord of the Rings” will notice some familiar characters, based on the long lifespan of some of the creatures, including Galadriel, Elrond and Isildur. Sauron, the evil force, is unseen in the first two episodes but a malevolent presence throughout.

Morfydd Clark grew up in Wales to parents who adored Tolkien’s epic book series and her dad read her “The Hobbit” when she was 9. The films came out when she was 11, accelerating the obsession. Now she finds herself playing a young Galadriel, a powerful elf played later in the films by Cate Blanchett.

“I think there’s a lot of hope in Tolkien’s world, and with hope comes bravery to stand up and have courage for what you think is valuable,” she said. “The world needs to be safe enough for the smallest and most vulnerable. And I think that’s something that’s important to remind yourself — just because something suits you, it doesn’t suit everybody.”

That sense of hope is something that distinguishes the series from “House of the Dragon,” which revels in a cynical, bloody view of mankind. McKay notes that Tolkien emerged from World War I with a complex fairy story, unlike many of his literary peers who were writing about wastelands and darkness.

“Middle-earth is a fundamentally optimistic and hopeful place. He was writing about positive values and friendship and brotherhood and underdogs,” McKay said. “He was telling you that in the darkest, deep of Mordor — in his wasteland — friendship could win the day and good could triumph over evil.”

The show’s tone shifts depending on which place is being visited. Harfoots, who have Irish accents, are whimsical, communal and clever, while dwarves have Scottish accents, are fond of a drink and are a little rough. Elves are elegant and elite, with upper English class accents and a fondness for billowing cloaks and long, elaborate ceremonies.

The cast — a massive ensemble of 22 actors — is multiethnic and composed of actors of different ages and fame, from Tony-nominated Benjamin Walker to up-and-coming Charlie Vickers, who graduated from drama school in 2017.

“It’s a very heterogenous world and if it wasn’t, we’d be dealing with dystopia,” said Trystan Gravelle, who plays a royal advisor in an Atlantis-like kingdom. “I think it’s very fitting as well in 2022 that we reflect that as well. And I think it enriches everything. The world’s a richer place for it.”

The cast filmed in New Zealand during the pandemic and were away from loved ones for almost two years. The actors rarely visited the sets of rival fictional races, but all gathered for potluck lunches and holidays, often at Walker's house where a mean fried chicken was served. “I got a bunch of babysitters out of it,” he joked.

“What that did is it sort of forced us to to lean on each other and that is a bonding experience like no other,” said Nazanin Boniadi, who plays a human healer and single mother. “That fellowship that you see on screen was forged very much behind the scenes.”

The production — rated TV-14 for violence versus the “Game of Thrones” prequel which is TV-MA for violence, language, and nudity — is one of the most expensive in history, with Amazon spending at least $465 million on the first season in New Zealand, where the series employed 1,200 people directly and another 700 indirectly. In total, the season has reportedly cost $1 billion.

Choir music swells during breathtaking panoramas and the dialogue is thunderous and portentous. “There can be no friendship between hammer and rock. One will surely break,” one dwarf leader says. In another scene, an elf counsels another who is confused: “Sometimes we cannot know unless we touch the darkness.”

The new series debuts in the long shadow left by Peter Jackson, whose film trilogy adaptation of Tolkien's books won critical and commercial praise in the early 2000s and claimed the best picture Oscar for “Return of the King.” For the series, there was more freedom to create as long as it was true to the author.

“We really tried to just go back to Tolkien. That was our mantra from the beginning: ‘Just go back to the books, go back to the books, go back to the books,’” said Payne. “We always have Tolkien at the base of what we’re doing.”

The new series has lots of big themes to chew on, including overcoming racial differences, environmentalism, the power of friendship, women's strength and how even the smallest person can change the world.

“A show like this that has definitely dark themes — darkness within oneself, the fight to do what’s right, battling great forces greater than you — but it also just has themes of friendship and loyalty and love and hope,” said Sara Zwangobani, who plays the new character Marigold Brandyfoot.

The series will have to thread a careful needle by enchanting hard-core fans of Tolkien who will be searching for connections to the universe, attracting those who have hazy memories of the books and don't want to be burdened with tons of new material, and young people whose perhaps last epic adventure series was “Harry Potter.”

“It’s kind of the gateway for new fans in that it's kind of the first chapter, the adolescence of Middle-earth, where the films you could imagine are the adulthood of Middle-earth,” said Walker. “So we’re seeing all these characters we know and love — and some that we’re being introduced to — take the first steps on their journey in becoming their destined selves.”

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22MARK%20KENNEDY%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer</a>NEW YORK (AP) — The return of dragons on the small screen has been a huge hit. Now it's time for the return of the elves and dwarves.Amazon Studios is launching&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Power-Season/dp/B09QH98YG1">“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,”</a>&nbsp;an ambitious, years-in-the-making and very expensive salvo that will go head-to-head with another costly streaming fantasy epic: HBO’s “Game of Thrones” spinoff “House of the Dragon,” which recently became the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-tv-fe58880b726699e4f7683db80f579f14">most-watched series premiere</a>&nbsp;in HBO history.The series is based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings and asides about Middle-earth’s Second Age, which preceded the Third Age’s “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” films and books. Tolkien’s grandson, Simon Tolkien, was a creative consultant.“We say Tolkien sort of left a series of stars in the sky. Our job was to connect the dots and form the constellation and then sort of draw in between the constellations to give a little more specificity to it,” said J.D. Payne, a showrunner and executive producer.Amazon Prime Video will debut both the first two “The Rings of Power” episodes on Friday. After that, the remaining six episodes arrive weekly on Friday.The hour-long episodes are stuffed with action and humor but buckle up: Payne and his co-showrunner Patrick McKay plan to use a 50-hour canvas to explore their nuanced characters and complex histories. These first eight episodes are like an appetizer.Early ones shift across the various regions of Middle-earth, our planet's imagined mythological past. Here, some 4,000 years before “The Hobbit,” are elves involved with royal intrigue, dwarves who mine inside mountains, hobbitlike harfoots who are pastoral, humans who seem unusually prone to violence, and evil orcs.Despite being set centuries before the books and films that make up the Tolkien's canon, fans of “The Lord of the Rings” will notice some familiar characters, based on the long lifespan of some of the creatures, including Galadriel, Elrond and Isildur. Sauron, the evil force, is unseen in the first two episodes but a malevolent presence throughout.Morfydd Clark grew up in Wales to parents who adored Tolkien’s epic book series and her dad read her “The Hobbit” when she was 9. The films came out when she was 11, accelerating the obsession. Now she finds herself playing a young Galadriel, a powerful elf played later in the films by Cate Blanchett.“I think there’s a lot of hope in Tolkien’s world, and with hope comes bravery to stand up and have courage for what you think is valuable,” she said. “The world needs to be safe enough for the smallest and most vulnerable. And I think that’s something that’s important to remind yourself — just because something suits you, it doesn’t suit everybody.”That sense of hope is something that distinguishes the series from “House of the Dragon,” which revels in a cynical, bloody view of mankind. McKay notes that Tolkien emerged from World War I with a complex fairy story, unlike many of his literary peers who were writing about wastelands and darkness.“Middle-earth is a fundamentally optimistic and hopeful place. He was writing about positive values and friendship and brotherhood and underdogs,” McKay said. “He was telling you that in the darkest, deep of Mordor — in his wasteland — friendship could win the day and good could triumph over evil.”The show’s tone shifts depending on which place is being visited. Harfoots, who have Irish accents, are whimsical, communal and clever, while dwarves have Scottish accents, are fond of a drink and are a little rough. Elves are elegant and elite, with upper English class accents and a fondness for billowing cloaks and long, elaborate ceremonies.The cast — a massive ensemble of 22 actors — is multiethnic and composed of actors of different ages and fame, from Tony-nominated Benjamin Walker to up-and-coming Charlie Vickers, who graduated from drama school in 2017.“It’s a very heterogenous world and if it wasn’t, we’d be dealing with dystopia,” said Trystan Gravelle, who plays a royal advisor in an Atlantis-like kingdom. “I think it’s very fitting as well in 2022 that we reflect that as well. And I think it enriches everything. The world’s a richer place for it.”The cast filmed in New Zealand during the pandemic and were away from loved ones for almost two years. The actors rarely visited the sets of rival fictional races, but all gathered for potluck lunches and holidays, often at Walker's house where a mean fried chicken was served. “I got a bunch of babysitters out of it,” he joked.“What that did is it sort of forced us to to lean on each other and that is a bonding experience like no other,” said Nazanin Boniadi, who plays a human healer and single mother. “That fellowship that you see on screen was forged very much behind the scenes.”The production — rated TV-14 for violence versus the “Game of Thrones” prequel which is TV-MA for violence, language, and nudity — is one of the most expensive in history, with Amazon spending at least $465 million on the first season in New Zealand, where the series employed 1,200 people directly and another 700 indirectly. In total, the season has reportedly cost $1 billion.Choir music swells during breathtaking panoramas and the dialogue is thunderous and portentous. “There can be no friendship between hammer and rock. One will surely break,” one dwarf leader says. In another scene, an elf counsels another who is confused: “Sometimes we cannot know unless we touch the darkness.”The new series debuts in the long shadow left by Peter Jackson, whose film trilogy adaptation of Tolkien's books won critical and commercial praise in the early 2000s and claimed the best picture Oscar for “Return of the King.” For the series, there was more freedom to create as long as it was true to the author.“We really tried to just go back to Tolkien. That was our mantra from the beginning: ‘Just go back to the books, go back to the books, go back to the books,’” said Payne. “We always have Tolkien at the base of what we’re doing.”The new series has lots of big themes to chew on, including overcoming racial differences, environmentalism, the power of friendship, women's strength and how even the smallest person can change the world.“A show like this that has definitely dark themes — darkness within oneself, the fight to do what’s right, battling great forces greater than you — but it also just has themes of friendship and loyalty and love and hope,” said Sara Zwangobani, who plays the new character Marigold Brandyfoot.The series will have to thread a careful needle by enchanting hard-core fans of Tolkien who will be searching for connections to the universe, attracting those who have hazy memories of the books and don't want to be burdened with tons of new material, and young people whose perhaps last epic adventure series was “Harry Potter.”“It’s kind of the gateway for new fans in that it's kind of the first chapter, the adolescence of Middle-earth, where the films you could imagine are the adulthood of Middle-earth,” said Walker. “So we’re seeing all these characters we know and love — and some that we’re being introduced to — take the first steps on their journey in becoming their destined selves.”

Ambitious 'Lord of the Rings' prequel hopes to slay dragons

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22LINDSEY%20BAHR%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer</a>

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22LINDSEY%20BAHR%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer</a><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgmnKsED-jU">“Don’t Worry Darling”</a>&nbsp;has been in the spotlight since the beginning. And this was long before Harry Styles got involved.It was a film everyone wanted to make — some 18 studios and streaming services were courting Wilde for the chance to partner with her on her sophomore feature as a director: A mid-century psychological thriller about a housewife, Alice (Florence Pugh), who starts to question her picture-perfect life and the mysterious company that her husband Jack (Styles) works for.But it hasn't stopped making headlines in two years, from Shia LaBeouf’s abrupt departure (he was replaced by Styles) to the paparazzi-stoked intrigue around Wilde and Styles’ off-camera relationship. Then there was the bizarre moment earlier this year when Wilde was served custody papers, from ex Jason Sudeikis with whom she shares two children, in the middle of a presentation to thousands of exhibitors in Las Vegas.Even this past week, LaBeouf, who is heading to court next year on abuse allegations from hi ex, FKA twigs, decided to contest the two-year-old narrative that he’d been fired. He gave the entertainment trade&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/shia-labeouf-denies-fired-olivia-wilde-dont-worry-darling-1235350529/">Variety emails and texts to prove his case</a>&nbsp;that he quit. It’s resulted in buzz you can’t buy, but also incessant tabloid and TikTok gossip — all for a film that isn’t even out yet.But soon the conversation will go back to the film itself: “Don’t Worry Darling” will have a glamorous debut at the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/venice-film-festival">Venice International Film Festival</a>&nbsp;on Sept. 5 before opening in theaters nationwide on Sept. 23. Besides, Wilde doesn’t care what gets people into the theater — as long as they go.Wilde spoke to The Associated Press recently about her vision, her disagreement with the ratings board and why Alice is the heroine we need right now. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.AP: What were some of the big ideas you wanted to explore?WILDE: I wanted to make what (screenwriter) Katie (Silberman) and I always describe as a Trojan Horse movie: Something that on the outside is beautiful and entertaining but once you crawl inside, it is actually much more complex and potentially really interesting and challenging. I also just really understood that this would be an opportunity for an actress to really flex. It was a heroine I wanted to see on screen. I wanted to create a character with an actress that would represent the kind of woman that I feel like our society needs.AP: You had originally intended to play the part of Alice. Were you glad about that decision to step back and take a supporting role?WILDE: Oh yeah. There’s no part of me that would want it any other way. I think what Florence did with this role is singularly brilliant. This character is a heroine for the ages. And she, as an actress, is this rare combination of dramatically skillful, comedically brilliant and an action hero who can run like Tom Cruise. Like what actress can do stunts and pull off these incredible emotional acrobatics and do it so effortlessly in an accent that’s not even theirs? Like, come on. It’s like juggling upside down on the wing of an airplane.AP: You’ve spoken about some of your stylistic influences, from the photography of Slim Aarons to the erotic thrillers of Adrian Lyne. What were some other touchstones?WILDE: I am a big fan of the iconography of the 1950s and a lot of the art, architecture, cars, music. This was an opportunity to just really play in that world. The architectural influence of (Richard) Neutra is all over the film.(Cinematographer) Matty Libatique and I were really inspired by Alex Prager and her photography and the idea of creating anxiety through framing and this artificial world that would be incredibly alluring until you look very closely.And I always make endless playlists and watch lists and reading lists. It was a really funny assortment of material. People were like, what is this movie? You want me to watch “Requiem for a Dream” and “The Truman Show” and “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” and you want me to read “The Feminine Mystique,” but also Jordan Peterson?AP: “Booksmart” dealt with female sexuality in a very frank way and “Don’t Worry Darling” is already provoking conversations around some of the sex acts shown in the trailer. Was that a fight to even include that?WILDE: Oh, yeah. There’s a lot that had to be taken out of the trailer. The MPA came down hard on me and the trailer at the last second and I had to cut some shots, which I was upset about because I thought they it took it up another notch. But of course we still live in a really puritanical society. I do think the lack of eroticism in American film is kind of new. Then when it comes to female pleasure, it's something that we just don’t see very often unless you’re talking about queer cinema. You know, it’s interesting because in a lot of queer films, the female characters are allowed to have more pleasure. Audiences aren’t as puritanical as corporations think they are. And yet people get upset. I mean, people are upset with me already over this. I think it’s a testament to the film. We want to be provocative. The idea is not to make you feel safe.AP: This is also a film that has had a spotlight on it from the beginning, resulting in both buzz and gossip. What has that been like for you as a filmmaker?WILDE: Every filmmaker longs for people to see their film. That’s all you want is for people to see it. If people are excited about a film, for whatever reason, what you hope is that it gets them in the door. Whether you are a 1950s car fanatic and that’s what’s going to get you into this movie, or if you are simply going because you’re a fan of our incredible cast, all I care about is that you have the chance to see it, and I hope that people then have the instinct to share it. What I really hope is that people see it again. I think that it’s a real second watch film. There’s a lot of Easter eggs in there.