“Sinners” director Ryan Coogler’s “The X-Files” series reboot has been picked up by Hulu.
Described as a “reimagining” of the original series, the new title stars “Station Eleven” alums Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel as “two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents who form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena.”
Coogler wrote, directed and executive produced the pilot and will serve as executive producer along with showrunner and executive producer Jennifer Yale. Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian (Proximity Media) and “The X-Files” original series creator Chris Carter also serve as executive producers.
“What Chris Carter created is special,” Coogler said in a statement, “and we wanted to honor everything that made the original series connect with so many people while also finding our own way into that world. Danielle and Himesh, along with the rest of our cast, have brought such original perspectives and performances to these characters, and watching that come together has been one of the most rewarding parts of the experience.”
“The X-Files” original series starred David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, seen in the Season 5 episode “Patient X.”
(Fox)
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson starred in the original series as paranormal-phenomenon believer Fox Mulder and skeptic Dana Scully, respectively, two FBI agents in an odd-couple pairing who investigate reports of alien lifeforms and monster-of-the-week tales.
The series won 16 Primetime Emmy Awards, including the 1997 award for lead actress in a drama series for Anderson, with 62 total nominations.
“The X-Files” premiered in 1993 and ran through 2001, returned in 2016 for two more seasons (for a total of 11), and resulted in two feature films, “The X-Files” and “The X-Files: I Want to Believe,” as well as video games, toys, books and comics.
Speaking on Match of the Day, Wayne Rooney and Toby Alderweireld discuss whether Ryan Gravenberch should have been sent off, after he received two yellow cards in Liverpool 3-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Premier League.
Ryan Poehling broke a tie with a short-handed goal at 5:35 of the third period, but was injured on the play in the Ducks’ 4-2 victory over the winless Calgary Flames on Saturday night to start a home-and-home series.
The teams will meet against Tuesday night in Anaheim.
Poehling was injured when he slid into the post and Flames goalie Dustin Wolf. Poehling, who also had an assist, didn’t return to the game.
Jackson LaCombe, Frank Vatrano and Nikita Nesterenko also scored for the Ducks (4-1-0), who won a second road game in two nights after a 5-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets. The Ducks have won their first three road games to start a season for the first time.
Ville Husso stopped 27 shots in his first start of the season.
Morgan Frost and Aydar Suniev scored for Calgary (0-5-0), which started a season with five straight losses for the first time.
Matt Coronato had two assists and Wolf stopped 24 shots.
KATHERINE Ryan couldn’t resist taking a cheeky pop at David Beckham as she joked about being “cancelled” by the BBC after her rude slur about his wife Victoria.
Katherine Ryan made a cheeky joke about David Beckham just weeks after complaints over her slur about Victoria was upheld by the BeebCredit: GettyShe couldn’t resist a joke at David’s expense but declared her love for VictoriaCredit: instagram/victoriabeckham
Two weeks ago, Katherine issued an online apology to Victoria, 52, after the ruling by the BBC‘s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU).
Raising the controversy during a stand-up gig in Chelsea, London, last night, the 43-year-old declared her love for Victoria Beckham while making a sly joke about her famous footballer hubby.
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“I have been cancelled by the BBC for allegedly calling Victoria Beckham the C word,” she said.
“Or as David Beckham knows it – the K word, because bless him the alphabet is hard,” prompting laughter from the audience.
“But I actually did not do that, I actually love Victoria Beckham.”
Katherine make a joke about David Beckham in a London comedy gig last nightCredit: @alwaysbecomedy/InstagramThe comedian came under fire for her rude remark about Posh on an episode of Have I Got News for YouCredit: BBCThe BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit said ‘there was no such justification’ for the comment about Victoria which two viewers had complained was ‘gratuitously offensive’Credit: PAKatherine later apologised to Victoria online and showed the message she had sent her privatelyCredit: Instagram/kathbum
Speaking in an episode that aired on November 7 in 2025, Katherine made reference to a 2013 private email sent by David Beckham, where he allegedly used the word ‘c***’.
She said on the show: “I don’t know that we are allowed to broadcast the C-word, but you did reference Victoria Beckham earlier and we’ll allow that.”
The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit said “there was no such justification” for the comment which two viewers had complained was “gratuitously offensive”.
They added that the word was justified in relation to David’s alleged use of it, but not in reference to his wife.
Now an edited version of the episode has replaced the original on the BBC’s streaming service.
Katherine Ryan publicly apologised to Victoria in an Instagram reel where she shared a screenshot of her message to the fashion designer.
“Hi I’m comedian Katherine Ryan and today the BBC announced their decision to uphold a complaint made by two very influential viewers about a joke that I tried to make on an episode of Have I Got News For You eleven months ago,” she began.
“At that time, though there is no defence, I was suffering from a condition called matrescence.
“I was in that building with a 10-day old baby. Should I have left the house?
“This is gonna be a tough one for the feminists because I was a woman going to work but I did call another woman a c***.
“Sometimes I forget that celebrities are not my friends. If I had called Jimmy Carr a c***, he wouldn’t have minded.
“Joanne McNally, c***, she wouldn’t have minded but this was described by the BBC as a slur.
“As though c**** are part of a protected group,” Katherine said in her trademark sarcastic way.
“The trouble is now that section’s been taken off iPlayer so the incident only exists in printed media, online media and then you lost the context because on the day, if you watched it, it was clearly a joke and the whole audience went ‘huhhhh’ and I said ‘whoaaaa’.”
She then plugged her new book before adding: “I love Victoria Beckham so much that I actually included her in one of my celebrity firstborn daughter chapters.
“I’d like to read you that now whilst remaining very sorry.”
In her apologise message to Victoria shown on screen, Katherine told her it was a “throwaway” comment and that she immediately expressed her love for her after, making it clear it was a “stupid joke”.
LUCY Mecklenburgh & Ryan Thomas have put their Cheshire mansion on the market for £1.25million.
But former Towie star and Coronation Street actor may not see a penny after his money woes were revealed.
Ryan Thomas and Lucy Mecklenburgh’s Cheshire mansion is on the market for £1.25millionCredit: GettyJust five years on and the sprawling mansion has nearly doubled in valueCredit: Splash
Ryan, 42, has previously spoke about his financial difficulties after he was declared bankrupt in 2013 over an unpaid £40,000 tax bill.
The soap star first purchased the Edwardian property near Stockport for just £675,000 in 2021.
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But just five years on and the sprawling mansion has nearly doubled in value.
They have spent thousands of pounds renovating the property and have modernised the kitchen, living room, bedrooms.
The property also boasts a walk-in wardrobe, Pilates room and a stunning outdoor patio.
The Sun have reached out to reps for comment.
Last October, The Sun revealed that Ryan was down to his last £1 in his company’s bank account.
The actor runs a media firm called R James Thomas Ltd which takes in cash from his TV and endorsement work.
Annual accounts filed to Companies House showed just a solitary pound in the company account for the 12 months to the end of January last year.
His cash balance was £41,361 in the previous 12 months.
With assets taken into account, the firm had a bottom line of £28,275 when the books were filed to Companies House.
A Corporation Tax bill of £55,062 reveals he still enjoyed a profitable year.
Meanwhile, the books also revealed at the time that he had more than £30,000 of a Covid Bounce Back Loan still to pay.
Ryab teamed up withWaterloo Roadstar younger brother Adam forITVgame show 99 To Beat.
The show launched last March but by August, it was axed after just one series.
Despite his TV successes, the star previously confessed he has struggled managing his finances.
He found fame at just 16, earning £100,000 – but he said he lacked a financial role model growing up.
Ryan said: “I had money from a very young age – and for a 16-year-old I had a hell of a lot of money.
“So, I did have a credit card growing up and it caused me a few problems.
“It’s so long ago I can’t remember how much I took my eye off the ball, but I know that I was always late paying it back and it became a debt that I never knew existed.”
Young Ryan would also foot the bill for nights out with his friends which meant he would spend more than he should.
In addition, Ryan revealed he filed for bankruptcy in 2013 due to an unpaid tax bill, which he said was down to him being careless.
The dad – who is engaged to former TOWIE star Lucy – said: “But I don’t regret any of the things that happened to me because I actually feel like they’ve been a real blessing.
“I’ve learnt so much and I don’t think to myself ‘oh, I did this, I did that’ because I’m the sort of guy who takes a day at a time anyway.
“I don’t really think about too much into the future and during that time I was earning anyway, so it wasn’t like I was jobless.
“I just lost everything and started again.”
After leaving the cobbles, he won Celebrity Big Brother in 2018 and made a guest appearance in Neighbours.
Blue’s Lee Ryan has announced his wife Verity is pregnant with his SEVENTH babyCredit: Instagram/leeryanofficialThe All Rise hitmaker uploaded a sweet clip to social mediaCredit: Instagram/leeryanofficial
Lee’s new social media video showed him donning a black hat as he danced around with his family.
Verity, sporting her own nude headgear and a brightly-patterned dress, was seen proudly holding a sonogram scan of their unborn tot.
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The happy couple shared a kiss before the rest of their family joined them to celebrate.
In his caption, penned alongside a family day out, he wrote: “I am blessed by God for the family I have”.
He said at the time: “I met someone finally who loves and supports me in everything I do.
“Verity is a beautiful, strong and loving woman who I treasure.
“And I’m a lucky man to have such a wonderful mother for my child, and now wife, in her.
“I’ve never been more calm and grounded and I have Verity to thank for that.
“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life because of the wonderful family life I now have.”
Stunning Verity is a talented singer who appeared on X Factor in 2009 – and even turned her talent into a career when she worked as an Ariana lookalike and impersonator.
KATHERINE Ryan has been spotted out and about for the first time since issuing an apology to Victoria Beckham.
The star used the C-word when talking about Posh Spice last year during an episode of Have I Got News For You, and recently apologised for it online after facing backlash.
Katherine Ryan has been spotted for the first time since apologising to Victoria BeckhamCredit: GettyShe dazzled in a green dress for a Wicked eventCredit: Getty
Katherine got dolled up in a stunning green sparkly dress to embrace her inner Elphaba on the green carpet for Wicked’s West End 20th Anniversary Gala Performance.
The dress featured sequins all over as well as dangling tassels across the shoulders.
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The comedian held her hands in front of her and smiled for the camera while a buzzing crowd was forming behind her for the event.
Speaking in an episode that aired on November 7, Katherine made reference to a 2013 private email sent byDavid Beckham, where he allegedly used the word ‘c****’.
Katherine apologised for using the C-word when talking about Victoria last yearCredit: Instagram/kathbumKatherine also claimed she has always loved the starCredit: Getty
She said on the show: “I don’t know that we are allowed to broadcast the C-word, but you did referenceVictoria Beckhamearlier and we’ll allow that.”
TheBBC‘s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) have issued it’s ruling on the matter and have revealed there was no justification for Victoria being labelled with the offensive word.
In a reel chatting to the camera, she began: “Hi I’m comedian Katherine Ryan and today the BBC announced their decision to uphold a complaint made by two very influential viewers about a joke that I tried to make on an episode of Have I Got News For You eleven months ago.
“At that time, though there is no defence, I was suffering from a condition called matrescence.
“I was in that building with a 10-day old baby. Should I have left the house?
“This is gonna be a tough one for the feminists because I was a woman going to work but I did call another woman a c***.
“[…] “The trouble is now that section’s been taken off iPlayer so the incident only exists in printed media, online media and then you lost the context because on the day, if you watched it, it was clearly a joke and the whole audience went ‘huhhhh’ and I said ‘whoaaaa’.”
An edited version of the episode has replaced the original on the BBC’s streaming service.
KATHERINE Ryan has issued a public apology to Victoria Beckham after the BBC upheld complaints over a rude slur that was taken off of iPlayer.
The comedian, 43, made the offensive joke about Posh Spice while hosting an episode of Have I Got News For You last year.
Katherine Ryan has apologised to Victoria BeckhamCredit: GettyViewers complained about an offensive remark made about Victoria by Katherine on an episode of Have I Got News For You last yearCredit: Getty
Speaking in an episode that aired on November 7, Katherine made reference to a 2013 private email sent by David Beckham, where he allegedly used the word ‘c****’.
She said on the show: “I don’t know that we are allowed to broadcast the c-word, but you did reference Victoria Beckham earlier and we’ll allow that.”
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Thank you!
The BBC‘s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) have issued it’s ruling on the matter and have revealed there was no justification for Victoria being labelled with the offensive word.
Now Katherine has taken to Instagram in a new reel to apologise for the comment.
She began: “Hi I’m comedian Katherine Ryan and today the BBC announced their decision to uphold a complaint made by two very influential viewers about a joke that I tried to make on an episode of Have I Got News For You eleven months ago.
“At that time, though there is no defence, I was suffering from a condition called matrescence.
“I was in that building with a 10-day old baby. Should I have left the house?
“This is gonna be a tough one for the feminists because I was a woman going to work but I did call another woman a c***.
Katherine shared a video after the BBC’s ruling was revealedCredit: Instagram/kathbumShe posted a screengrab of an apology she sent to VictoriaCredit: Instagram/kathbum
“Sometimes I forget that celebrities are not my friends. If I had called Jimmy Carr a c***, he wouldn’t have minded.
“Joanne McNally, c***, she wouldn’t have minded but this was described by the BBC as a slur.
“As though c**** are part of a protected group,” Katherine said in her trademark sarcastic way.
“The trouble is now that section’s been taken off iPlayer so the incident only exists in printed media, online media and then you lost the context because on the day, if you watched it, it was clearly a joke and the whole audience went ‘huhhhh’ and I said ‘whoaaaa’.”
She then plugged her new book before adding: “I love Victoria Beckham so much that I actually included her in one of my celebrity firstborn daughter chapters.
“I’d like to read you that now whilst remaining very sorry.”
Katherine went on to read the specific chapter about Victoria as she praised her for her work over the years.
She continued: “Yes, I sort of jokingly called her a c*** in the BBC and she messaged me afterwards.
“I apologised unreservedly because though she is a c***, Victoria Beckham couldn’t be further from a c***.”
Katherine shared a screengrab of the apology she sent to Victoria via an Instagram DM.
The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit said today: “There was no such justification for a comment which presented Victoria Beckham as equivalent to a particularly offensive word.”
They stated that the word was justified in relation to David’s alleged use of it, but not in reference to his wife.
It added: “The relevant BBC editorial guidelines do not require programmes to avoid giving offence but do require that any offence should be editorially justified.”
According to the ruling, two viewers had complained about the remark, which was “gratuitously offensive”.
Now an edited version of the episode has replaced the original on the BBC’s streaming service.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Thirteen division titles in 14 seasons, and in the year they didn’t win, they had 106 victories. We don’t have a lot to complain about.
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Division titles and Ryan Ward
—The Dodgers won the division title again, clinching it Thursday with their win over the Reds. Remember the olden days of yesteryear when winning the division was a huge deal? Now it is blasé. Dodgers fans live in a time where they have an embarrassment of riches,
Let’s look at how many NL West titles each team has won since divisional play began in 1969:
Dodgers, 24 San Francisco, 9 Cincinnati, 7 Arizona, 5 Atlanta, 5 San Diego, 5 Houston, 2
There was no official winner in 1994, which was ended by a labor dispute.
I guess I’m feeling extra nostalgic today, but I remember growing up the Dodgers’ biggest divisional rival was the Cincinnati Reds, who moved to the Central division in 1994 and have since won a grand total of zero division titles.
If we narrow NL West titles since 2000, we get:
Dodgers, 16 San Francisco, 5 Arizona, 4 San Diego, 2
Poor Colorado.
—The Dodgers made room for pitcher Kris Bubic on the 40-man roster by designating outfielder Ryan Ward for assignment. Ward has been a favorite of newsletter readers for a couple of seasons now, but he really had no place on the team anymore. He’s too old (28) to really be a prospect and his best triple-A season came in his third season at that level. His numbers declined in triple-A this season (you can see his numbers here).
He’s not great defensively, and the team already has corner outfielders who aren’t great defensively. They passed him over for Josue De Paula when they needed someone to fill in for Shohei Ohtani, and there are several outfielders in the system who are considered better than Ward.
In all likelihood, another team will pick him up and give him more playing time in the majors, something he wasn’t going to get with the Dodgers. Hopefully we see him next season in the “There names seem familiar” section of this newsletter.
Evidence of Dave Roberts’ growth
One of the knocks on Dave Roberts has always been his poor postseason managing. But his postseason managing has dramatically improved the last few seasons, and I’m not just saying that because they won the last two World Series. His decisions appear to not always be guided by analytics, like they are during the regular season. And it appears Roberts has indeed learned some things during his tenure. He recently appeared on the 6-1-1 podcast, hosted by former major leaguers Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins, and had this to say:
“When you’re talking about winning 11 games in October, I couldn’t believe more that it’s about people, and players you can bet on,” Roberts said. “The heartbeat that the analytics doesn’t line up with. I think that early on, my mistake was I continued to use that same method of the regular season in the postseason….
He also had high praise for two of his players.
“Mookie has said to me, ‘Doc, we wouldn’t have won the World Series if it wasn’t for Shohei and Yamamoto. And his point was, the discipline that they had every single day, how they worked with intention every single day … it raised the level even higher for our guys.”
Forgotten Dodger: Pete Reiser
Pete Reiser in 1941.
(Associated Press)
Pete Reiser never met an outfield fence he didn’t like crashing into and it may have cost him a Hall of Fame career.
Harold Patrick Reiser was born on March 17, 1919, in St. Louis. He loved westerns and as a child often walked around wearing a cowboy hat and carrying toy guns, so people started calling him Pistol Pete, which stuck with him throughout his baseball career.
After playing in 58 games with the Dodgers in 1940, Reiser came into his own in 1941 when he hit a league-leading .343 to go with 117 runs, 39 doubles, 17 triples, 14 homers and 76 RBIs. He also played great defense in center. That got him second place in NL MVP voting behind teammate Dolph Camilli (Reiser should have won). Reiser led the league in nine categories.
He followed that by hitting .310 with 33 doubles and 10 homers in 1942, leading the league with 20 steals and making his second straight All-Star team. However, on July 18 of that year, he crashed full speed into the center-field fence, which was made of concrete, while chasing a fly ball. He ended up with a separated shoulder and fractured skull. In those days though, you didn’t let little things like a fractured skull slow you down. He returned to the lineup a week later, but he wasn’t the same. He hit .244 the rest of the season.
He then enlisted in the Army and spent three years there. In 1944, after a long march in below-zero weather, Reiser was diagnosed with pneumonia. The Army decided to put him in Fort Riley, Kan., so he could play for the camp’s baseball team. With Reiser on the team, they were virtually unbeatable and Reiser was given his own room and excused from all other duties.
Reiser returned to the majors in 1946 and broke his leg while stealing second. He crashed into the fence in St. Louis and missed some time. But he still led the league with 34 steals, though his batting average dropped to .277.
In 1947, he was chasing another fly ball when he crashed into the wall face first. This caused another fractured skull. He was given the Last Rites by a priest in the hospital before making a miraculous recovery. He ended up playing 110 games that season.
He was a bench player the following season, as he had put on a little weight and had been slowed tremendously by his numerous injuries. The Dodgers traded him to the Boston Braves after the season for Nanny Fernandez and Mike McCormick.
By unofficial count, Reiser’s injuries over the years included four fracture skulls, multiple dislocated shoulders, two broken ankles, torn ligaments in both knees and and two beanings. He was carried off the field on a stretcher eleven times—five times when he was unconscious.
He retired after the 1952 season and came back to the Dodger organization as a roving minor-league hitting instructor. He joined Walter Alston’s coaching staff in L.A. in 1960 and helped tutor Maury Wills on how to steal bases. In an interview with this newsletter a few years ago, Wills made sure to give praise to Reiser as being a big part of his 104-steal season.
Reiser had a heart attack in 1965, went on to coach for other teams. He smoked a pack of cigarettes a day throughout his adult life and died of emphysema in Palm Springs in 1981. He was only 62.
The postseason race
Here are the postseason seedings as of Thursday’s games. The three division winners get the top three seeds, followed by the three teams with the best records. The top two division winners get a first-round bye. Milwaukee and the Dodgers have clinched division titles.
Remember, there are no extra games to break ties anymore. It all comes down to tiebreakers. Atlanta and Milwaukee have the tiebreaker over the Dodgers. For the wild card, the Cubs have the advantage over the Phillies, having won six of seven games against each other. The Diamondbacks and Padres have split 10 games, but their final three games this season are against each other, so that very well could determine the final wild-card spot.
These names seem familiar
How notable players who were with the Dodgers the last couple of seasons are doing with their new teams (through Wednesday). Click on the player’s name to be taken to their full stats page:
Anthony Banda, Twins: 2-0, 4.46 ERA, 2 saves, 34.1 IP, 31 hits, 15 walks, 33 K’s, 95 ERA+, out for the season
Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
A solitary man believes he’s been wronged by a vast, overarching system. Feeling helpless to take it on directly, he picks up a gun and violently confronts the most powerful person he can think of who embodies his grievance.
It is a chilling dynamic that keeps repeating itself in American culture, and one at the heart of “American Hostage,” a dramatic miniseries making its debut Sunday on MGM+.
The eight-episode series re-creates the true story of Tony Kiritsis, an Indianapolis man who, in 1977, kidnapped Richard O. Hall, a mortgage broker whose family Kiritsis blamed for his own financial hardships.
The standoff lasted 63 hours, during which Kiritsis kept a shotgun attached by wire to Hall’s neck, and it became a national media spectacle. Throughout the crisis, Kiritsis made live calls to Fred Heckman, a local AM radio news broadcaster, pleading to listeners for the justice he believed he was due.
A half-century after this incident, not even the creators and stars of “American Hostage” can say for certain why we find stories like this so compelling — or why they keep happening in real life.
“We haven’t quite figured this situation out,” said Jon Hamm, who plays Heckman in “American Hostage” and is one of its executive producers.
Jon Hamm plays Fred Heckman, a radio news broadcaster, in “American Hostage” and is an executive producer.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
The “Mad Men” star — no stranger to period pieces — said that beneath its retro production values and wide lapels, “American Hostage” is fundamentally about how people who feel voiceless in our society fight to be heard, even if the means is violence.
“There’s a lot that really resonates in the current media landscape and culture 50 years down the road, that people can still really connect with,” Hamm said.
Hamm and his colleagues hardly need to argue that point when the nation has been fixated on the case of Luigi Mangione, who in August pleaded guilty to federal charges in the December 2024 killing of Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare.
Though work on “American Hostage” had begun before Mangione’s crimes and the show was not inspired or motivated by them, series co-creator Shawn Ryan said that audiences have a boundless fascination with these types of stories — with or without any counterparts in current events.
“Dramatically, it’s always very interesting to see somebody do the wrong thing for the right reason,” Ryan said.
The TV series originated with a 2022 scripted podcast, produced by Criminal Content and also called “American Hostage,” on which Hamm also played the role of Heckman. It told of how Kiritsis, an Army veteran, enacted the kidnapping on his belief that the Hall family had swindled him on his mortgage — a loan for land where he had hoped to build a shopping center.
While Kiritsis sought to use Hall’s life as a bargaining chip for prosecutorial immunity, he also portrayed himself as an underdog taking on powerful financial interests. On the other end, Heckman wrestled with the moral predicament of giving airtime to a potential murderer while hoping to keep Hall alive. (Hall survived the ordeal and Kiritsis, acquitted of his crimes by reason of insanity, was later institutionalized.)
In the spring of 2022, Hamm approached Ryan, the creator of TV thrillers like “The Shield” and “The Night Agent,” with the idea of adapting the “American Hostage” podcast into a miniseries.
Ryan created the TV adaptation with Eileen Myers, a collaborator of his on shows like “Last Resort” and “Mad Dogs.” They both saw in the source material a story that was a combination of classic 1970s films like “Network” and “Dog Day Afternoon.”
(In a parallel development, Kiritsis’ story was also adapted into the Gus Van Sant film “Dead Man’s Wire,” which was a box-office disappointment earlier this year.)
Ryan and Myers said they were fascinated with how the American news media covered the kidnapping in instantaneous fashion and in an era long before the internet. In the 1970s, Ryan said, “There were fewer journalists and they were better and more trusted, and if Walter Cronkite said something, you believed it.”
Shawn Ryan, Jon Hamm and Eileen Myers executive produce the TV adaptation of “American Hostage.” Hamm approached Ryan, who brought in Myers to co-create and co-showrun the series.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
The question that journalists like Heckman were confronted with, Myers said, was, “Do you allow a man who’s got a shotgun to somebody’s head dictate the terms of whether you’re going to put them on the air or not?”
Hamm, who has played alluring if ultimately disreputable characters on “Mad Men” and now Apple TV’s “Your Friends & Neighbors,” said he appreciated that “American Hostage” gave him a character who an audience can feel good about rooting for.
“I thought, I’m 55 years old,” Hamm said. “I was close to Fred’s age when this all went down. It was fun to play somebody morally conflicted that is actually on the good side.”
With some hesitation, Hamm pointed to the career trajectory of Bryan Cranston, who followed his celebrated heel turn on “Breaking Bad” with projects like “All the Way,” the play and TV film about President Lyndon B. Johnson.
“I don’t want to draw a comparison that’s stretching the bounds of reality,” Hamm said, “but Bryan went from Walter White to LBJ. You go, ‘All right — he’s still morally conflicted, but at least he’s on the right side of things.’”
“American Hostage” also benefited from the casting of Giovanni Ribisi (“Saving Private Ryan,” “Avatar,” “Sneaky Pete”), who brings a blend of volatility and humanity to the role of Tony Kiritsis.
Hamm recalled how Ribisi was in the midst of shooting another project — the upcoming Prime Video miniseries “The Greatest,” about Muhammad Ali — when he agreed to do a reading for “American Hostage” over Zoom.
“He brings value to every project he does, and he’s picky, as he should be,” Hamm said. “He’s a phenomenal DP — he might just go be a camera person or something if he wants to do it. So we were lucky to get him.”
Giovanni Ribisi plays Tony Kiritsis, the man who kidnapped Richard O. Hall. “So we were lucky to get him,” Hamm said.
(Steven Ackerman / MGM+/Sony Pictures Television)
There are of course unavoidable parallels between the stories of Kiritsis and Mangione, including the fact that both men were celebrated as folk heroes by some people who identified with their broader resentments.
But Hamm drew a crucial distinction between the two cases: Mangione “killed a guy,” he said. “He shot a man in cold blood. Like, I don’t care how good your point is. That’s not how we do it.”
Going back to the Boston Tea Party, Hamm said, every era of American history has had its dissidents who feel “wronged and done over by a system that is stacked against you” and are willing to take aggressive actions against it.
Hamm said that feeling persists and thrives today. “I think this is a big part of the rise of Trumpism,” he said. “I think this is a big part of the rise of the MAGA mentality, of ‘I have been done wrong and no one is hearing my complaints.’”
When those feelings go unaddressed for long enough, Hamm said, people will come to accept a certain amount of lawlessness from the figures they feel can solve their problems.
“We have a guy in the Oval Office right now who thinks that the laws don’t apply to him and a Supreme Court that said, ‘Yeah, they don’t — you can do whatever you want,’” he said.
For supporters of President Trump, Hamm said, “I think it’s fun for them to be able to flout the law and say, ‘Who cares?’ and all the things that they’re currently saying, but it’s not the principles that we were founded on.”
Hamm and Ryan make no secret of the fact that they’d like to keep “American Hostage” going as an anthology series and explore more of what Hamm called “these watershed moments of American life, to see how they rippled and how we got here from there.”
One could certainly imagine other events that would fit the show’s interest in real-life hostage crises that became media spectacles — the 1974 abduction of Patty Hearst; the 1963 kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. — though Hamm kept any specific plans for the series close to the vest.
Perhaps the upper limits they face are the hours in a day to make and to broadcast the show.
“We’re living in great times right now for television,” Hamm said. “There’s so many opportunities to tell stories. Almost too many.”
Wrexham co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac have taken a light-hearted jab at this weekend’s opponents Southampton by referencing the Spygate saga in a cheeky social media post.
The Saints visit their Championship rivals at the Racecourse Ground on Saturday (15:00 BST) and the Hollywood duo did not miss their chance to make light of last season’s play-off drama.
Southampton were kicked out of the play-off final and docked four points after an intern was found observing semi-final opponents Middlesbrough in training, with similar incidents later found to have taken place at Oxford United and Ipswich Town earlier in the campaign.
Wrexham’s A-list duo appeared in a video on Wrexham’s X account, which started with Reynolds emerging from behind a tree.
In a skit nominally aimed at promoting shirt sponsor Firefox, Deadpool star Reynolds says: “Today, for no particular reason, we want to talk about the importance of privacy.”
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator Mac adds: “Specifically, how to prevent spies from seeing what you’re doing.”
While the English Football League has declined to comment on the video, BBC Sport has been told that senior EFL figures feel the video is in poor taste.
Discussing internet safety, Reynolds jokes about searching for “how to run a football club” before the pair declare privacy is “important to people everywhere”, specifically name-checking Middlesbrough, Oxford and Ipswich.
Reynolds concludes by saying: “Refreshing, huh? An organisation that actually respects your privacy.”
The 59-second clip ends with the pair looking at a mobile phone, purportedly showing a Southampton pickleball team in practice.
