Entertainment NOW

December 4 - 10, 2022 | Entertainment Now 11 By Michelle Rose TV Media 'Hamilton' as an Olympian: Award-winning actor, director, producer and Broadway show cre- ator Lin-Manuel Miranda ("Hamil- ton," 2020) recently booked a guest-starring role in Disney+'s upcoming "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series. The series, which is based on the book series of the same name, tells the story of 12-year-old mod- ern demigod Percy Jackson (Walter Scobell, "The Adam Project," 2022), who is just coming to terms with his divine powers when Zeus accuses him of stealing his light- ning bolt. With the help of his friends Grover (Aryan Simhadri, "Cheaper By the Dozen," 2022) and Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries, "Beast," 2022), Percy embarks on a quest to find the missing light- ning bolt and ultimately restore or- der to Olympus, home of the gods. The show's Twitter account (@PercySeries) announced Miran- da will play Hermes, the messen- ger god who looks out for travelers and thieves. Known to be the life of the party and a bit of a trickster, all of Hermes' high energy and charm doesn't help his strained re- lationship with his son, Luke (Charlie Bushnell, "Diary of a Fu- ture President"). Miranda's Hermes is also hesi- tant to help Percy in his quest, because he fears getting in- volved might be more trouble than it's worth. If you've read the books, you'll know Hermes doesn't appear un- til the second instalment, "The Sea of Monsters." In a blog entry posted on author Rick Riordan's website (RickRiordan.com), the Percy Jackson creator discussed Miranda joining the Disney+ se- ries. "Remember when I told you we are adding new glimpses of backstory, Easter eggs and other nuances to enhance the narrative while remaining true to the origi- nal storyline?" Riordan teased. "This is a prime example. When you see the episode in question, it will make sense why we intro- duced Hermes early." "Percy Jackson and the Olym- pians" is currently in production in Vancouver and should hope- fully premiere in 2024. Pompeo's exit: It's hard to imagine "Grey's Anatomy" with- out its titular Grey character, but the ABC drama and series lead El- len Pompeo have been laying the groundwork for her exit for quite some time. Pompeo's role as Meredith Grey has already been scaled back this season as the long-running series introduced a new group of interns to fill the void pending Meredith's eventual move to Boston. Pom- peo's on-screen farewell, and Mer- edith's departure from Grey Sloan, is now set for Thursday, Feb. 23, when the show returns from its winter hiatus. Despite the on-screen goodbye, Pompeo will remain with "Grey's Anatomy" as an executive produc- er and the narrator for all episodes this season (at least). And don't rule out occasional appearances: former cast members, such as Jes- se Williams ("The Cabin in the Woods," 2012), still return to the series in guest spots — Pompeo may even be back for the season finale. Pompeo's next TV project is an eight-episode limited series for Hulu. Based on real events, it's the story of a Midwestern couple that adopts a girl (played by Imogen Reid, "Willow") with a rare form of dwarfism. As they raise her alongside their other children, the couple begins to suspect she may not be who she says she is. According to the official de- scription, the parents are "con- fronted with hard questions of their own about the lengths they're willing to go to defend themselves and protect their own narrative, falling into a battle that's fought in the tabloids, the courtroom and ultimately their marriage." Pompeo will star as the mother and serve as executive producer. Live Rock show: Always look- ing to push the boundaries and change the way we consume TV, Netflix has revealed it plans to in- troduce live streaming in 2023 with a Chris Rock ("Spiral," 2021) standup special. The live, global streaming event would mark Rock's second Netflix standup special after 2018's "Tam- borine" — although he also ap- peared in the Netflix Is a Joke festi- val earlier this spring. "Chris Rock is one of the most iconic and important comedic voices of our generation," said Robbie Praw, vice-president of standup and comedy formats at Netflix. "We're thrilled the entire world will be able to experience a live Chris Rock comedy event and be a part of Netflix history. This will be an unforgettable moment. and we're so honored that Chris is car- rying this torch." It seems the technology is still in the development stage, but once it is rolled out successfully, live streaming could further blur the line between streamers and linear networks. It would certainly enable live voting for competition shows, similar to the live specials for ABC's "American Idol," allow- ing for interactive elements to be incorporated into Netflix's un- scripted shows. As for Rock, he is currently out on his Ego Death world tour, and, of course, everyone wants to know his thoughts on the infamous Os- cars slap. During a performance in London, U.K., he acknowledged the incident, saying, "I'm not go- ing to talk about it right now. I'll get to it eventually, on Netflix." That alone should make his next standup special a much-talked- about TV event, live or not. Stars on Screen Lin-Manuel Miranda to star in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" BOXING DAY CELEBRATE DAY OF THE DEAD DECORATE DIWALI DRINKS EARTH DAY EASTER ELECTION DAY FAMILY FEAST FLAG DAY FOOD HALLOWEEN HANUKKAH HAPPY HOLI KWANZAA LABOR DAY MAY DAY MEMORIAL DAY MERRY MIDSUMMER PASSOVER PI DAY PURIM RELAXATION VALENTINE'S DAY VE DAY Happy Holidays From the list, find each word and circle its letters in the puzzle to reveal a message relating to this week's theme.

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