TV
Amazing Medical Advancements for Superhuman Future
The technological and methodical advances in medicine enable physicians and surgeons to correct many common problems. Often times, the patient enjoys a better quality of life. While medical teams do not create superheroes from comic book legend, they do see some amazing results.
Exoskeletons
While some may envision exoskeletons as bodies of armor that enable soldiers to have greater ability in battle, actual exoskeleton technology is more often designed to restore mobility. One company designed the Ekso, which consists of a 50-pound suit made from aluminum and titanium.
When fitted with the device, patients paralyzed from spinal cord injuries are able to stand and walk. Robotic devices for amputees enable patients to accomplish a myriad of tasks beyond the capability of a human limb.
Neural Implants
As the name implies, the devices are surgically inserted into the brain to create specific results. Patients suffering from the physiological spasm and tremors associated with Parkinson’s may opt to have neural implants that reduce the symptoms with a mere push of a button on an external controller. Deep brain stimulation has been available since 1997.
Other types of implants enable the deaf to hear or the blind to see. Discover Superhuman show series by Freethink to learn more about amazing innovations in the medical field.
Genetic Engineering
Gene therapy has the ability to eliminate various medical conditions. Injecting stem cells into injured regions of the body has shown promise in stimulating and enhancing the healing process. Laboratory animals have demonstrated improved endurance and strength using gene therapy.
However, scientists are also researching the means to eradicate disease processes. The development of CRISPR enables researchers to cut out gene sequences that may lead to the development of disorders.
Nanomedicine
Hollywood movies introduced the viewing audience to the concept that scientists might shrink a mobile device and inject the device into the bloodstream in an effort to correct problems. Nanotechnology is the next best option.
Researchers have developed ways for medications and treatments to target specific regions of the body to treat cancer or other disease processes. One such treatment involves inhaling an aerosol spray containing nanoparticles. By using an external magnet, the particles are directed to the target, heated and eliminating diseased tissue.
Microchip Implants
RFID microchip implant technology experiments were initially developed by British researcher Kevin Warwick in 1998. After inserting the chip, he had the ability to turn appliances and lights in his home on and off in addition to accessing entry into this office. Today, the chips are being used around the world by various companies to log onto computers, open doors, use company machines, or make purchases.
Sonar Installation
Grindhouse Wetware makes an implanted sonar device known as Bottlenose. The tiny device is inserted into a finger and enables the user to distinguish the distance and size of objects via electromagnetic impulses transmitted to the implanted magnet. The device is able to detect infrared heat or detect Bluetooth signals.
Add-on sensors provide other capabilities. The technology may prove useful for blind patients who would be able to navigate their surroundings more effectively.
Night Vision
Deep-sea creatures are able to see via infrared capabilities or be seen via bioluminescence. A couple of biohacker researchers in California wanted to attempt to recreate the ability in humans. They developed a solution consisting of Chlorin e6, insulin saline, and dimethyl sulfoxide.
When dripped into the eyes of one of the researchers, the individual was able to identify people who stood 50 feet away in total darkness. The solution demonstrated a 100 percent success rate. The group notes that there was also no immediate adverse effects from their discovery.
G.H. Harding
I COME TO SKYDANCE — Much chatter about David Ellison this week, after buying Paramount and Warner Brothers, and formerly changing the corporate name to Skydance; which was originally just his production company. For the 103-year old Warner’s and the 114-year old Paramount, it was quite a shock. The Warner’s logo remains on the full menu card, along with Paramount (albeit in a smaller format), but still, quite a shock.
SHORT TAKES — The opening of Tom Cruise’s Digger was his lowest opening in 19 years. Sure, it’s di rigueur to dislike it now, but I still want to see it. I mean, it can’t be that bad, can it? Deadline’s Pete Hammond said the film: “is unlike any film coming from a major Hollywood studio in years” and that Inarritu “takes things much further and thus could be one of the more divisive movies for the masses in a very long time.” Early reporting says the movie could lose around 150 million …
Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend: Behind Blue Eyes held its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival. It’s directed by Frank Marshall (The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart) and Nigel Sinclair (producer, Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It). The Preston doc was superb, but almost no one saw it and currently the Townshend doc doesn’t have a distributor yet, but should. Townshend remains one of the pillars of rock ‘n roll in my book …
Lizzo
Excellent Willie Geist interview with Lizzo yesterday on Sunday Today, on her new kids book. Towards the end of the interview, Geist delved into the scandals that enveloped her and the fact that they were summarily dismissed. Her career was severely derailed and the powers that be are trying to resurrect it with minimum success thus far. Good dialogue for sure …
We saw a great movie called Tuner. Yes, about a piano tuner, with Dustin Hoffman and a great performance from Leo Woodall (White Lotus), Havana Rose Liu and Alisen Richmond-Peck. It starts out great and ends a little roughly, but rolls on with tremendous heart. Epic for sure. Sharply directed and written by Daniel Roher, it’s quite a tale. There’s even a cameo from our old friend Herbie Hancock! A must-see for certain … Rolling Stone’s Andy Greene at Micky Dolenz’s weekend show at AC’s Borgata … Happy BDay Lindsey Buckingham and Brent Blanchard.
Broadway
Theatre News: Broadway Gets Wonderful, Stella Cole Gets Happy and My Favorite Year Gets Another Year
Broadway is heading into the holidays with a little nostalgia, a lot of star power and several intriguing returns to the past.
Speaking of Broadway voices, apparently even The Gilded Age cannot resist Christmas.
Audra McDonald, Christine Baranski, Carrie Coon, Kelli O’Hara, Donna Murphy and other members of HBO’s lavish period drama have joined songwriter and producer Desmond Child for Voices of The Gilded Age: The Christmas Album, arriving November 6 through Concord Theatricals Recordings.
Among the more intriguing tracks is Stephen Sondheim’s exquisite “I Remember” from Evening Primrose, performed by McDonald, Murphy and O’Hara—a combination of voices that alone makes the album worth noticing. Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector narrate Clement Clarke Moore’s “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” throughout the recording. Child has also contributed two original songs: “The World Needs Some Christmas,” sung by Ben Ahlers, and “It’s Been Real,” performed by Murphy.
Lisa Rinna, Harry Hamlin, Megan Hilty, Andrew Rannells and Tituss Burgess are all Broadway-bound in It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, making its Broadway debut at the Broadhurst Theatre. Performances begin November 4, with opening night set for November 18, and the limited engagement running through January 3.
Directed by Jerry Zaks, Joe Landry’s 1996 play takes Frank Capra’s beloved Christmas story and returns it to the era in which George Bailey first captured America’s imagination. Rather than recreating Bedford Falls literally, the production unfolds inside a 1940s radio studio, where five actors, a Foley artist, holiday music and the mechanics of old-fashioned broadcasting bring the story to life.
Rannells takes on George Bailey, with Hilty as Mary Bailey, Burgess as Clarence, Hamlin as the formidable Mr. Potter and Rinna as Violet. It is an unusually delicious collection of personalities for material that has become nearly sacred Christmas territory, and Zaks certainly knows his way around both comedy and Broadway stars.
The play was inspired by Philip Van Doren Stern’s short story The Greatest Gift, which became the basis for Capra’s 1946 film. The Broadway production features sets and costumes by Santo Loquasto, lighting by Kenneth Posner and sound by Palmer Hefferan, with Andy Einhorn serving as musical director.
Stella Cole
Meanwhile, Maybe Happy Ending is getting a temporary new resident at the Belasco. Jazz vocalist Stella Cole will make her Broadway debut as Gil Brentley from October 20 through November 15, stepping in during original cast member Dez Duron’s month-long absence. Duron returns November 17.
Cole is an interesting choice precisely because Gil is not simply another musical-theatre role. The character belongs to the romantic world of classic jazz, and Cole has built her career interpreting exactly that repertoire. Her recordings and online performances have introduced standards to a younger audience, while her live appearances have taken her from Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden to TODAY, Live with Kelly and Mark and Tamron Hall. Her third album, Imagination, arrives October 30, right in the middle of her Broadway run.
The Tony-winning musical currently stars Zachary Noah Piser as Oliver and Hannah Kevitt as Claire, with Marcus Choi as James. For one month, however, audiences will get the rather charming collision of a young singer devoted to an earlier musical era appearing inside one of Broadway’s most technologically imaginative contemporary musicals.
Finally, a musical that has always seemed to deserve another look is getting one.
Ben Levi Ross
Asolo Repertory Theatre is developing a newly revised My Favorite Year, the Stephen Flaherty-Lynn Ahrens-Joseph Dougherty musical based on the wonderful 1982 film. Josh Rhodes is directing a New York workshop featuring Chris Hoch as Alan Swann, Ben Levi Ross as Benjy Stone, Julie Benko as Alice Miller, Marina Kondo as K.C. Downing, Brad Oscar as King Kaiser and Beth Leavel as Belle Carroca Steinberg.
The company also includes Orville Mendoza, Briana Carlson-Goodman, Robert Anthony Jones, Lyrica Woodruff, Stuart Zagnit and Rob Tucker.
Set in 1954, My Favorite Year follows young television comedy writer Benjy Stone, who receives the assignment from hell disguised as the opportunity of a lifetime: keep drunken, swashbuckling movie idol Alan Swann sober, functioning and out of trouble long enough to appear on a live television broadcast.
The musical originally opened at Lincoln Center Theater in 1992 and, despite a score by Ahrens and Flaherty and a Tony-winning performance by Andrea Martin, had a brief Broadway life. More than three decades later, Ahrens, Flaherty and Dougherty have returned to the material with new work developed in collaboration with Asolo Rep, which previously premiered the team’s Knoxville, later retitled All the Way Home.
There is something rather appealing about My Favorite Year getting another year. Broadway history is filled with musicals that weren’t quite finished with us when Broadway decided it was finished with them. Sometimes the most interesting second act happens decades after the first one closed.
G.H. Harding
KIMMEL IN BROOKLYN — After a wildly, odd interview with Howard Stern this week, where he put down both ABC and Disney, he looked terribly fatigued.
I’ve been a fierce advocate for Stern for years, but I did detect just a touch of wanting to take-a-step-back.
He conquered radio and now I expect him to do the same with HBO/MAX.
Interesting for sure.
Ray Caviano
CAVIANO PASSES — You might not recognize the name Ray Caviano, but he passed this week. Ray had the distinction of being one of the youngest-ever record company presidents in the music business and really unparalleled success back in the 80s. He was the one constant voice behind the disco-explosion back then. The Village People; Br. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band; Voyage; and Peter Brown … all his.
Ray negotiated this success into a tremendous deal with Warner Brothers commanding a staggering $6 million dollars a year and his own label and staff. His PR-team at the time, which included veteran-PR-meister Howard Bloom, termed him the six-million-dollar man, and it was a great rags-to-riches story. From Madeline Kahn, to George Benson, the B52s, Grace Jones, The Doobie Brothers, Prince to Chaka Kahn, Rod Stewart and Ashford and Simpson, Caviano just scored a staggering degree of success.
From what I remember, all the other-labels modeled what they did after Ray and his christened label, RFC Records; which introduced Venus Dodson; Gino Soccio; The Mighty Pope; and Change, which featured Luther Vandross. He hit the top, no question, but then personal problems got in the way and he was essentially blacklisted.
I never met him, but constantly hear some of his successes and they were indeed cataclysmic as his music lives today. RIP.
SHORT TAKES — Edna Gudnersen, from USA Today fame, wrote a terrific article for AARP on who should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. No big surprises, but once again she’s hit the nail right on the head. One interesting post simply said: the voters can change it. Take a read: https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/music/rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-snubs/?fbclid=IwY2xjawUrIH1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mBWJyaWQRMU9mVTJENHlUU21yQm8wbHdzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeCMUfSZdob2E0b7OqMN0tqZbMXfnFz1ib0PrxztT-BeCdBi54rZKmIAL-s50_aem_-r3LegoVNsCszZW3QsX1hQ …
Slow Horses
Wednesday night meant a new Slow Horses and Ted Lasso on Apple+. Surprise. Both shows have been staggeringly lackluster this season so far. U.K.’s The Guardian even termed Horses whiny! The fellow who created Horses, Will Smith, left and it’s become still good, but terribly ordinary and a lot less of Gary Oldman. Sad …
This week the long-expected merger between Paramount and Warner Brothers took place and guess who was installed as boss? The CEO of Mattel. People in Hollywood are sending are their resumes right now …
Ringo Starr
Still more buzz on that Far Out/Todd Rundgren interview. In a further missive, after dissing Taylor Swift, Rundgren now claims that Ringo best-survived The Beatles. Fascinating. Take a read: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/todd-rundgren-ringo-starr-only-one-survived-beatles/?fbclid=IwY2xjawUqT4hleHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mBWJyaWQRMWlGYWlyRW14Z24wNHIwUEJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeH9wqOi0plYRGr801XxzuKtasXnT8D_3b9Dfn_FPCaUOrH88qlWOw_CkfdCA_aem_Hap2wxG63VvIwa5wC0KzGw … And, Chuck Darrow had a great piece on Micky Dolenz for his weekend show at The Borgata in AC. Take a read: https://shorelocalnews.com/when-being-an-architect-was-micky-dolenzs-career-blueprint/
NAMES IN THE NEWS — Anthony Pomes; Fred Goodman; Allen Klein; Paul Bartels; JIm Yukich; Tracy Lords; Bryce Grakal; Ken Sharp; Chuck Darrow; Melissa Davis; Magda Katz; Cori Gardner; Donnie Kehr; Bill McCuddy; Deb Caponetta; Jeff Vogel; Steve Leeds; Ed Steinberg; John Sykes; Tom & Lisa Cuddy; and SADIE!
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Art Direction and Set Art by Jana Frost for TIME @janafrost.art and Photography by Stefano Giuliano for TIME @stefanogiovannigiuliano
Power used to arrive with age, position and a very impressive office. Not anymore.
TIME has unveiled its 2026 TIME100 Next, its annual look at 100 rising figures already altering the worlds of entertainment, music, sports, technology, business, science, politics and culture. The list was created in 2019 around a deceptively simple idea: influence itself was changing. Increasingly, people weren’t waiting for traditional institutions to hand them authority. They were building audiences, companies, movements, careers and entirely new avenues of influence for themselves. TIME
This year’s three worldwide covers make the point rather beautifully. Raye, Ashley Padilla and Druski occupy wildly different corners of contemporary culture, yet each represents the kind of career that doesn’t necessarily follow the old map. Raye has become an international musical force, Padilla has emerged as one of Saturday Night Live’s breakout talents, and Druski has transformed digital comedy into an expanding entertainment empire. TIME
The fascination of TIME100 Next has always been less about celebrity than trajectory. These are not lifetime-achievement awards. The question is not simply, What have you done? It is: Where might what you’re doing take the rest of us?
That makes some of the pairings between honorees and the people writing about them almost as interesting as the list itself. LeBron James writes about Tyrese Maxey; Matthew McConaughey takes on Arch Manning; Natalie Portman writes about Charles Melton; Rafael Nadal considers Alexandra Eala; Anya Taylor-Joy writes about Raye; Trevor Noah celebrates Wawira Njiru; Kylie Minogue writes about Troye Sivan; Charli xcx takes on Alex Consani; Bill Nye writes about Gretchen Goldman; Lin-Manuel Miranda on Joshua Henry: Sarah Michelle Gellar on Sarah Pidgeon and chef Eric Ripert weighs in on E.J. Lagasse.
Joshua Henry
Taken together, the names reveal just how broadly TIME now defines influence. Entertainment is represented by Ashley Padilla, Druski, Charles Melton, Eiza González, Joey King, Molly Gordon, Cooper Hoffman, Himesh Patel, Sarah Pidgeon, Paapa Essiedu, Dominic Sessa and Joshua Henry, among others. Music brings Raye, Troye Sivan, PinkPantheress, Megan Moroney, Conan Gray, Alex Warren and Sombr, while the sports world includes Arch Manning, Tyrese Maxey, Naomi Girma, Alexandra Eala, Folarin Balogun and Olivia Miles.
Perhaps the most striking name in that last group is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the 15-year-old cricket player and youngest person on the 2026 list. There is no age requirement for TIME100 Next, which seems entirely appropriate for a project built around the proposition that influence no longer waits politely for seniority.
Elsewhere, the list stretches from fashion designers Robert Wun and Daniella Kallmeyer to chef E.J. Lagasse, model Alex Consani, artist Claire Tabouret and an expanding class of entrepreneurs, scientists and AI innovators. The result is less a traditional power list than a snapshot of where power appears to be migrating.
There is an interesting distinction there. Fame and influence are not necessarily the same thing. One attracts attention; the other changes behavior, industries, conversations or possibilities. The strongest choices on TIME100 Next are the people beginning to do both.
As TIME Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs explains, the publication launched the franchise because influence increasingly arrives earlier and through channels operating outside traditional establishments. The editors spent months looking internationally for people connected to the stories reshaping the moment, including artificial intelligence, education, immigration and emerging forms of political leadership. TIME
The list will move from the page to New York on October 29, when TIME gathers its 2026 honorees for the sixth annual TIME100 Next event. Raye will perform, with appearances scheduled from Druski, Conan Gray and Eiza González, among others.
Perhaps that is the most interesting thing about a list devoted to the future. Inevitably, some names will become enormous, some will surprise us, and others will eventually make us wonder what we saw in them in the first place. That’s part of the fun.
Identifying established power is easy. The far more interesting question is recognizing it while it is still becoming.
G.H. Harding
MADONNA AT THE VMAs — 42 years ago Lady M first appeared on the VMAs and her opening appearance Sunday night was definitely something to see, but I have to admit, it felt to me very, very dated. Almost like I had seen it before. Also, the song they performed, “Bring Your Love,” sounded liked a bastard version of maybe her biggest hit “Vogue.” The segment which seemed to morph into a washroom seem out of place too. Was it a winner?
Then with Charlie XCX and Sabrina Carpenter joining her, the song tuned to “Dancetreia Afterhours.” Again, somewhat dated.
Fox News called that opening number a showstopper. Really?
Per Deadline: The MTV Video Music Awards may not have the same meaning as it did in the 1990s but it’s clear that this year’s event had more juice than in a number of years. Per Nielsen’s fast nationals, the ceremony hit an 11-year high and was up over 50% over the numbers from last year.
For a spirited take on the show, check out this from Hollywood Reporter andVariety
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/music-news/2026-mtv-vmas-best-moments-1236713378/
BEAT STREET RETURNS — Beat Street was a film from 1984; Harry Belafonte was involved an mega-producer Arthur Baker did the music. Poised to return to Broadway, the original film was produced by Belafonte and David V. Picker, with music by Belafonte and Baker, story by Steven Hager, screenplay by Andrew Davis, David Gilbert & Paul Golding, and directed by Stan Lathan,
Beat Street starred Rae Dawn Chong, Gus Davis, and Jon Chardiet.
The film was a culmination of early-rap music, from Afrika Bambaataa to The Soul Sonic Force. Indie labels such as Tommy Boy; Prelude; Profile; Next Plateau; West End; Emergency; and Buddah had broken through like never before.
The film was a so-so hit; more historical than anything else. A fresh take may be the answer. Read via Deadline:
https://deadline.com/2026/09/beat-street-broadway-nas-creative-team-1237116101/
SHORT TAKES — Micky Dolenz, whose new EP Timeless is a critical hit, speaks to Ken Sharp for Rock Cellar Magazine this week …
Tiffany and Bobby Shaw (Facebook)
SIGHTING: NY-promo man Bobby Shaw at Tiffany’s last Spandex performance in NYC …
As expected, Tom Cruise’s Digger -opening this week- has scored reviews from positive to negative. I loved Birdman,but director Alejandro G. Inarritu, is one not to ever second guess. Right now, it’s a dead even 50% split. The always-scintillating Pete Hammond from Deadline had one great review, check it out here: https://deadline.com/2026/09/digger-review-tom-cruise-movie-1237115519/…
Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen and his father Martin Sheen are back playing father and son for the first time in over a decade. The duo is headlining Happy Jack, a comedy series for AMC. The half-hour family comedy has been greenlit for six episodes and will start production at Warner Bros. Studios, in the studio where Friends was filmed, for a 2027 launch. The pair have portrayed on screen father and son in a number of movies and series, most recently on Anger Management, the sitcom that premiered on FX in 2012, and most famously in Wall Street … In the new trailer for Netflix, The One About Matthew Perry, the late Friends star reflects on his TV success and the toll it took. In a voiceover early in the clip, Perry says, “I said God, you can do anything you want to me just please make me famous.” When fame arrived, Perry reflected, “God did not forget the other part.” take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iM1AOFxoDI … Happy Bday Elizabeth Neff and Chuck Taylor!
NAMES IN THE NEWS — Rusty Cutchin; Phil DiMauro; Mike Sigman; Tom & Lisa Cuddy; Race Taylor; Ross Zappin; David Adelson; Lee Jeske; Pete Townshend; Vince Aletti; Bob Siegal; Michael Musto; Don Wardell; Arthur Bell; Roger Friedman; Denny O’Connor; Phil Goldstein; Marty Ostrow; Lorylace; Kevin Mazur; Chuck Pulin; Bob Gruen; Ebet Roberts; Andy Greene; Abby Rose; and ZIGGY!
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Soon: When the End of the World Is Easier Than Opening the Door
A Magical Night with Catherine Russell and Cyndi Lauper
Timeless: A Tribute to Bernadette Peters
Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe & T2cONLINE.com celebrate German Friendship Day Today on RTVI TV with Tania Rubis!
OpenAI’s Rogue Agent Disclosures Put AI Agent Governance on the Business Agenda
My View: Times Square Entertainment At It’s Finest Where Brian J. Nash Offers Sublime Muscianship
What Makes MLB Spreads Different From Other Major Sports
Beyond Savings: Financial Resources Available to Delivery Workers
Soon: When the End of the World Is Easier Than Opening the Door
A Magical Night with Catherine Russell and Cyndi Lauper
Timeless: A Tribute to Bernadette Peters
Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe & T2cONLINE.com celebrate German Friendship Day Today on RTVI TV with Tania Rubis!
OpenAI’s Rogue Agent Disclosures Put AI Agent Governance on the Business Agenda
My View: Times Square Entertainment At It’s Finest Where Brian J. Nash Offers Sublime Muscianship
What Makes MLB Spreads Different From Other Major Sports
Beyond Savings: Financial Resources Available to Delivery Workers
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