Star Trek plans packed lineup for the franchise’s 60th anniversary, with Lego sets and YouTube show
By The Associated Press Updated: September 09, 2025 at 7:51PM EDTPublished: September 08, 2025 at 1:06PM EDT
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Jimmy Kimmel says he’s not defending democracy. But he’s standing up for fellow Emmy nominee Colbert
By The Associated PressPublished: September 10, 2025 at 11:22AM EDT
LOS ANGELES — Not many franchises have fueled society’s timeless fascination with the boundless possibilities of a utopian future like “Star Trek.”Next year the sprawling franchise will add more shows, Lego sets and even a Rose Parade Float in a yearlong celebration of its 60th anniversary.The hefty lineup of “fan-centric” celebrations was announced by the franchise on its 59th anniversary Monday, known as Star Trek Day. The projects are the first wave, Paramount said in its announcement.“The 60th anniversary celebrates “Space for Everybody,” extending an open invitation to celebrate the future that “Star Trek” aspires to — a future of HOPE, a future of EXPLORATION and a future where we rise to the challenge to BE BOLD,” the announcement read. The sci-fi franchise began with the TV series created by Gene Roddenberry that debuted in 1966 and has since sprawled into a multi-billion dollar cultural phenomenon.Today, fans, known as Trekkies, have enjoyed countless movies, spinoff shows and video games based on the original series.Set in the Milky Way a couple hundred years in the future, the series followed the crew behind the starship USS Enterprise. Their journey led them to, “Boldy go where no man has gone before,” as William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk, famously said at the top of every episode.Celebration kicks off at the Rose ParadeThe yearlong celebration will kick off on New Year’s Day, with a float in the Rose Parade in California. The float “will reflect values of hope, inclusivity, exploration and unity,” the franchise representatives wrote in a statement.The float will also feature the upcoming new series “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” set to launch in early 2026 on Paramount+. The show will center on a group of young cadets who navigate the responsibilities of becoming Starfleet officers all the while juggling new friendships, love interests and enemies.Paramount gave a first look of the show, which starts actors Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti, during a Comic-Con event in late July.The franchise also announced “Star Trek: Scouts” a new original, animated YouTube-first series. Created by Nickelodeon Digital Studio in association with CBS Studio, the show is the first preschool extension of the franchise. It follows three 8-year-old friends as they train to become future Starfleet Explorers.The first two episodes of the 20-episode run were released Monday, and the rest will roll out into the next year.A new scripted podcast, “Star Trek: Khan” also released its first episode Monday. New episodes will air weekly and chronicle Khan’s descent into the iconic villain introduced in a 1967 “Star Trek” episode and the Enterprise crew’s nemesis in the 1982 film “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”New partnerships Following the longstanding success of Lego partnerships with similar franchises like “Star Wars,” the company will partner with Paramount for the first time to bring “Star Trek” to life.The franchise and the Lego company “have strong shared values of imagination, exploration and building a better tomorrow, making this an ideal partnership for fans of all ages,” the statement read. A “Star Trek” cruise will set sail in late February “filled with once-in-a-lifetime experiences in celebration of the franchise’s 60th anniversary,” according to the statement. Various “Star Trek” actors, including Shatner and Walter Koenig, will join the voyage.
LOS ANGELES — Jimmy Kimmel is no defender of democracy.At least he turned down the title when a reporter suggested he might be.“Those are heavy thoughts and I have a tendency to to reject them,” he said backstage this weekend at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. ”I don’t really feel like I’m defending democracy.”He said he’s doing something much smaller when he lays into U.S. President Donald Trump.“I’m giving this guy a little poke, and he deserves it, and I enjoy it, and I hope that people enjoy it too,” Kimmel said.As the 57-year-old TV personality spoke he was holding his fourth Primetime Emmy Award, this one for best game show host for his helming of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” He’s up for another Sunday for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”Kimmel is, undoubtedly though, a defender of Stephen Colbert — and voted for him too.When his friend and fellow late-night host Colbert had his “Late Show” cancelled in July, three days after criticizing a settlement between Trump and CBS parent company Paramount Global as it was seeking administration approval for a merger, Kimmel cursed CBS and shared his love for Colbert. Executives insisted the decision was financial.Later he erected a billboard in Los Angeles declaring “I’m voting for Stephen,” throwing his endorsement to his opponent in their Emmy race in the talk series category.Kimmel was on a long vacation from ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” when Colbert’s cancellation happened, but weighed in when he returned last week.“CBS, all of a sudden out of the blue, claimed ‘The Late Show’ was losing $40 million a year and then miraculously got FCC approval to sell their company, which is what they wanted,” he said.He also responded to Trump, who posted on Truth Social, “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next,” Trump wrote. “Has even less talent than Colbert.”“Oh, you delicate, chubby little teacup, did we hurt your feelings?” Kimmel said on his show. “You want us to be cancelled because we make jokes about you. I thought you were against cancel culture.”Somehow none of Kimmel’s Emmys are for the late-night show he’s hosted for 22 years — though most of his 27 nominations are.One is for hosting the Oscars. Two are for the special all-star recreations of old sitcoms he produced between 2019 and 2021, “Live in Front of a Studio Audience.” Asked if he’s given any thought to reviving those, he said not without his partner in the project, Norman Lear, who died at age 101 in 2023.“It would be too emotional to do it without Norman,” Kimmel said. “I don’t know if my heart could take it.”He’s also a three-time Emmys host — a job that this year will go to Nate Bargatze when the show airs on CBS.And he won a daytime Emmy as best game show host for his work on Comedy Central’s “Win Ben Stein’s Money” way back in 1999, before the award got promoted to primetime.“When we won that Emmy, we went on the air the same week ‘South Park’ went on the air, and Comedy Central was not a channel that many people watched,” Kimmel said at the Creative Arts Emmys. “And we were up against these titans, the same shows we’re up against now, ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and ‘Jeopardy.’ We didn’t know anyone was watching the show. I think it was the first Emmy Comedy Central ever won.”Asked how long he plans to keep his current show going, he kept it vague.“I’m not prepared to answer that question, but it is something I think about a lot,” he said with a smile. “Each day is a new adventure, and I kind of take them as they come, is that a good way of dodging the question?”
Dick Van Dyke turns 100 in December. Fans can celebrate at the movies
By The Associated PressPublished: September 10, 2025 at 11:16AM EDT
Movie theatres across the country are pulling out the stops for Dick Van Dyke’s 100th birthday in December. A new documentary about the song and dance man’s life, “Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration,” will be in theatres over his birthday weekend on Dec. 13 and 14, Fathom Entertainment said Wednesday.“It’s wonderful; a total surprise for me,” Van Dyke said in an email to The Associated Press. “If you don’t think luck has a lot to do with it, then you’re mistaken.”The feature length film has been in the works for over three decades. In telling the story of Van Dyke’s 80-plus years in entertainment, the film weaves together clips from classic films, like “Mary Poppins,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and “Bye Bye Birdie,” and television shows, including “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Diagnosis: Murder,” as well as new interviews with Van Dyke in which he shares never-before-heard stories from his time in Hollywood. The portrait is bookended with a visit to his hometown of Danville, Illinois, where he visits his childhood home, the radio station where he started his career as a DJ at age 16 and his old high school where he took the stage once more to join in with the students performing songs from some of his most beloved films.“He couldn’t help himself,” filmmaker Steve Boettcher said. “He got out of the seat and went up on stage and sang and danced with them. It’s really a sweet coming home. Danville built him in so many ways.”Over the past 30 years, Boettcher also spoke many of his closest Hollywood friends and collaborators including Mary Tyler Moore,Carl Reiner,Rose Marie,Morey Amsterdam,Betty White,Tim Conway and Chita Rivera, all of whom have since died.“We just wanted people who were there at the scene, on set with him and working with him,” Boettcher said.The filmmakers didn’t plan on waiting for Van Dyke’s 100th birthday to release the film, but when the landmark moment started coming into focus it seemed fitting for a rollout.“Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration” will have its premiere in early December at Danville’s Fischer Theatre, where Van Dyke fell in love with the movies and the idea of being an entertainer watching Laurel and Hardy on the big screen on Saturdays.“We’re really excited about the film,” Boettcher said. “It’s very much in the style of Dick Van Dyke. It’s got laughter and music and touching moments. It’s pure entertainment, much like Mr. Van Dyke.”Tickets for “Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration” go on sale Oct. 31.