Smithsonian to Hang a Massive Portrait of ‘House of Cards’’ Frank Underwood

Norman Weiss February 22, 2016, 8:56 pm

Smithsonian to hang a massive portrait of House of Cards’ Frank Underwood

Kevin Spacey’s fictional Netflix president will be part of the National Portrait Gallery from this Wednesday through October, but it’ll probably never appear on the show. Says Spacey: “I think that when it’s hung at the right height, you may wonder if I’m about to kick you in the face — which seems appropriate for this particular character.”

Russell Simmons’ All Def Movie Awards to face off against the Oscars

Chris Rock’s brother, Tony Rock, will host a highlights special of the awards show, taping Wednesday to air on Fusion on Sunday. The All Def Movie Awards was put together in reaction to the Oscars’ diversity controversy.

TCM will showcase the films once condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency

Every Thursday night in March, the Condemned series will feature films such as Billy Wilder’s Kiss Me, Stupid and Love in the Afternoon to Michelangelo Antonioni Blow-Up.

The Bachelor has become more adept at creating comedy than sparking romance

The 14-year-old reality franchise has found that it’s better off openly winking at its audience, especially the hate-watchers, with increasingly ludicrous imagery and comedians like Nick Kroll, Amy Schumer and Jimmy Kimmel. PLUS: Chris Harrison tells ESPN what happens after the show.

Vanessa Hudgens to star on Fox’s Powerless, the DC Comics workplace comedy pilot

She’ll work in an insurance office for the comedy set in the DC Comics universe.

Why is Chris Rock dressed like a NASA astronaut?

The Oscar host tweeted: “Getting my outfit together.”

Mekhi Phifer to star on CW’s Frequency reboot

He’ll play a cop, co-starring with Dennis Quaid in the TV series based on the 2000 film. PLUS: Mad Men’s Jessica Paré joins The Interestings on Amazon, Looking’s Raúl Castillo joins The Death Of Eva Sofia Valdez, Cougar Town’s Dan Byrd joins ABC’s Model Woman, and Swoosie Kurtz and John Carroll Lynch will co-star on a CBS comedy pilot.

How Mom found a way to work around its 19 minutes of weekly airtime

Each episode of the Chuck Lorre sitcom runs just over 19 minutes, so producers decided to deal with the limited airtime by creating storylines that don’t end when the episode’s time is up.

The View will be the subject of a behind-the-scenes book

Variety’s chronicler of The View, Ramin Setoodeh, has signed a deal to release next year a book timed for the daytime talk show’s 20th anniversary.

Jeopardy! bans Canadian contestants for the foreseeable future

Producers cited a new Canadian online privacy law in enacting its ban, but they are trying to find a way to work around it.

BBC reviving The Twilight Zone as radio plays

Stacy Keach will take over the Rod Serling role as part of the reinvention of 10 classic episodes airing on BBC Radio, using the original TV scripts. Other big names who will be involved include Malcolm McDowell, Don Johnson, Jane Seymour, Jim Caviezel and Michael York.

NBC’s Taken TV series casts Vikings’ Clive Standen in the Liam Neeson role

Standen is expected to stay on the History channel series through the end of Season 4.

Netflix’s Love shows what happens when making TV for binge-watchers goes wrong

“The problem,” says Caroline Framke, “is that Love just takes way too long to get to a place that makes you realize” why its central characters merit their own TV series. “It moves so slowly that it almost feels like watching their emotional horror show in real time,” she adds, “which sounds audacious until you consider that its first four episodes span a combined 142 minutes of screen time. If I weren’t committed to watching all 10 episodes of Love for this review, I would have tapped out after the second episode — and that’s a shame, because the back half of the series is so much stronger than the early episodes that it’s actually shocking.” PLUS: How big is the “attractiveness gap” of Love compared to other shows?, and why the myth of the cool girl is changing on TV.

Christopher Darden’s daughter approves of Sterling K. Brown’s The People v. O.J. Simpson performance

Jenee Darden wrote a blog post about her experience watching the FX miniseries (she was 15 when her dad prosecuted O.J.) and tweeted Brown: “You look a lot like my dad. Kudos to the makeup department.” PLUS: O.J. and Nicole’s kids attended a Laguna Beach star’s wedding.

20 years ago, Dave Grohl was an X-Files extra

The Foo Fighters frontman got to make a brief cameo on his favorite show as a guy in a hallway in an episode airing Feb. 23, 1996.

Married at First Sight star explains his arrest for a domestic dispute involving an ex-girlfriend

David Norton says he got into a loud fight in 2007 when he caught his brother with his then-girlfriend. “While I was angry,” he adds, “I never hit anyone. I was cited for disorderly conduct, and I ended up attending one two-hour class.”

In defense of Girls‘ Season 5

This season seems to be the most quietly assured, says Matt Zoller Seitz. “This show is the sitcom as hedgehog; love it or hate it, it will never be cuddly,” he adds. “I’ve never seen an episode that wasn’t on some level infuriating. I understand why so many people hate the show, and even though I love it, there are times when I also kind of hate it. This premiere, more so than any single episode since the exuberantly berserk season-two finale, seems okay with all that…” PLUS: Girls has an incredibly cynical view of human nature.

Superstore creator: “I’m feeling very optimistic” about a Season 2 renewal

“I hear nothing but positive thoughts from the network and studio,” Justin Spitzer says with the Season 1 finale airing tonight, “and I think our numbers are pretty good, at least for a comedy on NBC. But no one’s told me anything.”