TV News Roundup: ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ Unveils Premiere Week Lineup

Ellise Shafer
·5 min read

In today’s TV news roundup, “The Drew Barrymore Show” has announced the lineup for its first week, and AMC released a new trailer for “Soulmates.”

PROGRAMMING

Oprah Winfrey and Apple Books announced the “Oprah’s Book Club” podcast. During the eight-episode series, Winfrey and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson will explore the eight pillars of caste outlined in Wilkerson’s best-selling book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.” New episodes will be released twice weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting today.

“The Drew Barrymore Show“has announced its premiere week lineup. On Sept. 14, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu will join Barrymore for a “Charlie’s Angels” reunion, and Adam Sandler will also make an appearance on the show. On Sept. 15, Reese Witherspoon and Billy Eichner will be the guests and play a round of Eichner’s game, “Would Drew Barrymore Like That?” Jane Fonda and Gabrielle Union will stop by on Sept. 16, and fashion designer Christian Siriano will help Barrymore put on a quarantine fashion show. Sept. 17 will bring Charlize Theron and Tyra Banks on the show, and Barrymore will participate in the Share the Mic Now campaign. Lastly, the week will wrap up on Sept. 18 with a performance by Billy Porter. “The Drew Barrymore Show” is produced and distributed by CBS Television Distribution and is executive produced by Barrymore, Chris Miller, Ember Truesdell and Jason Kurtz.

FIRST LOOKS

Netflix unveiled the final trailer and key art for “Ratched,” which premieres Sept. 18. “Ratched” follows asylum nurse Mildred Ratched (Sarah Paulson) who begins to infiltrate the mental health care system after discovering that unsettling experiments are being conducted on the patients. The show was inspired by “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and was created by Ryan Murphy and Evan Romansky. “Ratched” also stars Cynthia Nixon, Judy Davis, Sharon Stone, Jon Jon Briones, Finn Wittrock, Charlie Carver, Alice Englert, Amanda Plummer, Sophie Okonedo, Corey Stoll, Brandon Flynn, Annie Starke and Vincent D’Onofrio. Watch the trailer below.

AMC unveiled a new trailer for its anthology series, “Soulmates,” which is set to premiere on Oct. 5. The episodes follow six different stories in a world where a scientific test is offered that can accurately determine a person’s soulmate, exploring the consequences of such an invention. The series stars Bill Skarsgård, Sarah Snook, Charlie Heaton, Kingsley Ben-Adir, David Costabile, Sonya Cassidy, JJ Feild, Laia Costa, Malin Akerman, Betsy Brandt, Shamier Anderson, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Georgina Campbell. The show is written, co-created and executive produced by Will Bridges and Brett Goldstein. Watch the trailer below.

PODCASTS

WWE announced that its new podcast series, “Uncool with Alexa Bliss,” will premiere on Sept. 22. WWE Superstar and host Alexa Bliss will discuss with her guests their most nostalgic and cringeworthy moments before they made it big. The premiere episode will feature WWE Superstar The Miz and other guests will include Lance Bass, The Bella Twins, Ryan Cabrera, Nikki Glaser and more. “Uncool with Alexa Bliss” will be available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Pandora, and full length videos of each episode will be uploaded the following week on WWE’s YouTube channel.

INITIATIVES

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has revealed a PSA partnership with Sesame Workshop, facilitated by Participant and The Skoll Foundation, on back-to-school safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first PSA has been released today, and the rest will follow over the course of this week. The three PSAs are offered in English and Spanish and feature beloved Sesame Street characters sharing best practices for safety, including wearing a mask, washing your hands and navigating the hybrid school environment. “As parents, we tell our kids all the time about the importance of washing hands, staying six feet apart and wearing masks, but it just might register differently if those messages come from Elmo,” Gov. Newsom said in a press release. “We appreciate Sesame Street’s partnership during this critical time when parents and kids are preparing to return to school — many through distance learning.” Watch the first PSA below.

Freeform’s multi-platform voting initiative “Kick 2020 in the Ballots. FF’ing Vote” will launch today, and the network’s election-themed comedy series “Kal Penn Approves This Message” is set to premiere Sept. 22. The nonpartisan voting campaign will feature a series of on-air and social PSAs reminding audiences to vote this November. The six-episode series, hosted by Kal Penn, consists of sit-down interviews with a featured guest on a range of topics from voter empowerment to climate change. “Kal Penn Approves This Message” is created by Penn and Romen Borsellino.

LATE NIGHT

Tonight, Joel McHale and Big Sean will appear on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” while Daisy Ridley is tonight’s guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” with guest host Josh Gad; Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl will join “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” and Jane Fonda, Jorma Taccone and BONES UK will be on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”

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