What to know

• Reese Witherspoon sells production company for $900 million… Media mergers are all the rage in Hollywood right now, so can you blame Witherspoon for cashing in? Even though she sold a private equity firm, she’ll still get to oversee day-to-day operations. That’s a win, win. 💰

• Lorne Michaels is trying to get SNL vets to stay through 2024… At the end of last season it seemed like Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, Pete Davidson, and Aidy Bryant were heading out the door. Now Variety reports that Lorne wants them on till the show’s 50th year and is willing to let them be part-time. In my opinion, this would be a mistake. As good as they all are, part of the joy of SNL is watching new funny people bloom. How can Chloe Fineman, Ego Nwodim, and Bowen Yang truly step into the spotlight when all the oxygen is still being sucked up by the show’s veterans? 🍎

• Cobra Kai’s Xolo Maridueña in talks to lead HBO Max’s Blue Beetle film… Great pick for Hollywood’s first live-aciton Latino superhero 🐞

• Barry season 3 is finally back in production after a year and a half shut down… let the countdown commence 🔫

• LEGO Star Wars announces Halloween special… Last year’s holiday special was a gem, so this is great news ✨

• Kerry Bishé joins Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Kyle Chandler in Showtime’s Uber series… that’s worthy of 5 stars 🚗

• New Gene Hackman phot shows the 91-year-old actor alive and well 17 years after retiring… he’s living his best life 📸

• Brendan Fraser joins Martin Scorsese’s next movie… the Fraserssaince lives 👏

Dropping this week:

• The Suicide Squad — Aug 6 HBO Max and theaters DC comic movie | RT 96%

• Val — Aug 6 Amazon and limited theaters Val Kilmer doc | RT 93%

• Vivo —Aug 6 Netflix Lin-Manuel Miranda animated movie | RT 92%

• Mr. Corman Aug 6 Apple Joseph Gordon-Levitt dramedy series | RT

What to watch

From Ugly Delicious to Taste the Nation, foodie television has become more inclusive than ever. Gone are the days of mostly white chefs cooking in well-lit studio kitchens. Thanks in large part to Netflix, the food television landscape is finally starting to look like the diverse real-world food landscape of the United States. No show more perfectly symbolizes this transformation than Netflix’s High on the Hog which tells the overlooked stories of Black food culture. Chef and writer Stephen Satterfield guides us through this serious and reverent exploration of Black history, starting in Africa and then taking us on a journey across the transatlantic slave trade into the Carolinas, up the East Coast, and down into Texas. Satterfield highlights sumptuous-looking food the entire way, but also gives us the complicated history behind all of it to better inform and educate the viewer. In the end, this beautifully composed series does a phenomenal job showing how foundational Black culture and Black food are in the American experience.

For all past ‘what to watch’ recommendations, see the full list here!