Sunset Beach- Daytime Soap Operas- News, polls, Susan Ward

“It gives me a little head’s up before I get to the office,” says Jenkins, who notes that it’s not a new practice. A few years ago, as EP of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” the tabloids were his first stop to see what his then-lead Kim Kardashian was up to. Now, it’s “Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul who’s creating the headlines.

The legal troubles surrounding Paul — which has led to the temporary production stoppage on Season 5 of “Mormon Wives” in March — has been weighing heavily on Jenkins, even as he celebrates a big expansion of his company, Jeff Jenkins Prods. (which marks its eighth anniversary this fall).

Among those new projects, Variety has exclusively learned that Jenkins has partnered with Bell-Phillip Television Productions to develop “The Bold and the Unscripted,” a new reality competition series in which contestants compete to appear on “The Bold and the Beautiful” (with the ultimate winner receiving a recurring role on the soap). And he’s working with Tori Spelling and her brother, Randy, to create the series “Reunited: Tori & Randy Spelling,” in which the estranged siblings go on a cross-country road trip in an attempt to reconnect.

Also in the pipeline is a new unscripted series starring and produced by Cedric the Entertainer, which comes as part of a first-look deal Jenkins has with producer Shondrella Avery and her Glass Slipper Pictures. (Cedric’s deal is also with his and Eric Rhone’s A Bird and A Bear Entertainment.) Jeff Jenkins Prods. previously worked with Glass Slipper on Peacock’s “Tiffany Haddish Goes Off,” which premiered last November.

Jenkins also has the new Hulu dating format “Love Overboard” (hosted by Gabby Windey), which he’s producing with Alex Cooper’s Unwell. And now, besides the smash “Mormon Wives” mothership, Jenkins is producing the spinoff “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County.” And he says he has three more “Mormon Wives” spinoffs in the works.

Variety recently spoke with Jenkins about the Orange County spinoff of “Mormon Wives” — including some of the online chatter about whether the cast really practices the Mormon faith. (Jenkins says the O.C. cast is actually more devout than the stars of the Utah-based mother ship.) He also addressed when production will resume on the original “Mormon Wives,” whether Paul and ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen will appear — and what the show’s other stars think about that.

There’s also the issue of “Vanderpump Villa” star Marciano Brunette and his lawsuit against Jeff Jenkins Productions and “Mormon Wives” star Demi Engemann. (Brunette’s complaint, filed in Utah federal court, alleged that Engemann and the production company destroyed his reputation by branding him a “sexual predator” and accusing him of sexual assault.) The last time Jenkins checked on TMZ, “Mormon Wives” star Jessi Draper was dating Brunette — and if that’s the case, Jenkins says he’d still consider including Brunette on the show. His lawyers might not be so keen on that idea, however.

The question for the longest time was what the “Secret Wives of Mormon Wives” spinoff might be, and when were you going to expand the franchise. How did you settle on going to the O.C.?

Hulu and the creative team over there, led by Rob Mills, enabled us to search all across America for different groups of the Mormon faith. There are a handful of pockets in America that are really the home base for LDS, and one of them was Orange County. I think one of the little exciting threads is that Mayci from the mothership, her sister is right here in Orange County, and she’s a dedicated member of the LDS faith. We all wanted to present a world of LDS that was kind of at least a 90 degree pivot away from the mothership. When you’re in Utah, that’s a very specific type of culture. LDS in Southern California is a little more relaxed, a little less intense, a little more forgiving. So, I think when subscribers see this, they’re gonna have some familiarity with some of the themes, but it’s also going to be radically different. I would say three more potential spin-offs in the pipeline right behind this one. It’s a really rich community when you have the luxury of looking all across the country.

So, would all the spin-offs also be LDS? Or could there be a “Secret Lives of Catholic Wives”?

Right now we’re sticking with the Mormon faith. I suspect that every producer in town is out there pitching “Lives of Catholic Wives,” “Lives of Jewish Wives,” “Lives of Islamic Wives.” But I go back to storytelling. I came up in the story department, and I guess I’m tooting our own horn, but I think we’ve collected the best storytellers in the business of unscripted, from our showrunners to our lead editors to our lead story people. We pride ourselves on creating an emotional response in the audience and telling an actual story with a hero and a beginning, middle, end, and a turn. We’re not just throwing plot at you.

This is a different kind of cast, though, right? Aren’t there a number of “O.C.” cast members who aren’t Mormon or no longer Mormon? How are you balancing that?

It’s funny because social media has really run with that, like “there’s a bunch of people who aren’t Mormon.” The irony is that on the mothership in Utah, we’ve only got one or two Mormons left. Most of them have kind of shed their association with LDS. In this group, we actually have more devoted LDS members than in the mothership. Everyone on that show is connected to Mormonism in some way. Either “I was raised Mormon, and now that I’m adult, I’ve just left,” or in the case of Bobbi [Althoff], her brother is a Mormon, and he loves it, and he’s been nudging his sister to try it. So she’s open to converting, but doesn’t want to be pressured. Imagine if you had seven or eight women who are all LDS hardcore. Well, that’s one perspective. I like having multiple perspectives… We get distracted by all the noise of all the salacious stuff, but really to me they’re heroes and warriors, because they really are trying to have a positive impact and help nudge this faith forward into the next century. Even if it’s just a micro change. I think they’re succeeding.

When you say salacious, I think about your new “O.C.” cast member Aspyn Ovard, who is in a throuple. But she’s also a social media star. How important is it to cast influencers, who have a built-in fan base?

For better or worse, absolutely, I think the better. If you have a cast member who’s got 2, 3, 4 million followers, some healthy percentage of those followers is going to come and at least check out your new show. The flip side of that is, they are watching, and because they love that person that they follow on social media, there better not be any fakery or trickery or bullshit with this show. So it challenges us to be very transparent with everything. These influencers who are making the jump from short form to long form, the show continues on their social media after every episode. It continues when we’re on break between shooting seasons. There’s almost no distinction between the show and the immediacy of the social media. So it’s forced us to be even more pristine and transparent about the way that we’re documenting these lives.

I went through on Season 1 of “The Simple Life,” when a sex tape was released very much against Paris Hilton’s wishes, and that was a certain kind of nightmare. I went through Kim Kardashian being robbed in her apartment, tied up and held at gunpoint, and thrown into a bathtub. We paused after that. But this is new and different. I haven’t really been through something like this before, and it has been a challenging couple months. But I’m very happy to say, as [Disney unscripted boss] Rob Mills recently shared, we got the green light to start moving towards shooting the mothership again. We’re very close. The cast members I’ve talked to are excited to get back in there and get back at it. We’ve been on pause for almost two months, so I’m excited to get back at it.

Is there any chance that Taylor and Dakota will be seen in “Mormon Wives” Season 5? Where do they fit as production resumes?

I’ve talked to Taylor, and she wants to come back, and I want her to come back. So I’m really hopeful that that’s going to happen. She’s amazing. I mentioned Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. Taylor Frankie Paul has that thing, like her two predecessors do, where she’s just made for this. To share her life on camera, she does it like breathing air. She doesn’t edit herself. She’s really built for this type of lane. So I’m very hopeful that she’ll be back very soon, and I’m hopeful we can do all sorts of other projects with her as well. If you watched the live feed from the judge’s courtroom, both Dakota and Taylor have stay away orders now that are official, so fortunately or unfortunately, whatever your perspective, we won’t be able to shoot with them together, ever again, or at least for a very long time. But I’m very hopeful that we’ll be shooting with both of them or either of them very soon.

I think everyone in the existing cast has strong opinions about the last two months, and those opinions are every perspective you can imagine. So it’s going to be very interesting when we start back up any day now. How does that sort out? We’ve got to shoot together to sort it out. But once that all sorts out, how is that going to impact the friendships, the relationships, and MomTok as a whole? I don’t have the answer. I’m excited to see. I don’t have a lot of detail on where each woman’s head is at. I’ve just heard through the grapevine. We all know Jessi’s really supportive. Some of her comments were actually used in the courtroom that you saw on the live feed.

Speaking of Jessi, we know she’s spending time with Marciano, and that’s another issue. Despite his lawsuit against the “Mormon Wives” producers, can you still shoot him? And if so, would you film him? How does that work?

That’s a really good question. Sometimes our attorney at JJP does not have the same opinion — and sometimes the legal department at Hulu/Disney does not have the same opinion — so I can only speak from my perspective. If Jessi is spending time with Marciano, then I would like to have the ability to cover it, despite what I think or what my company might be going through with Marciano. It’s part of the story. Will Marciano’s team and reps allow him to shoot with “Mormon Wives?” I don’t know. Will my attorney and Disney’s attorney allow the mothership to shoot with Marciano? I don’t know. But the first thing is when we got cameras up again, if she is hanging out with him, I hope we get those blessings. If you wrote it as a screenplay, no one would believe it. That’s how I feel with these “Mormon” ladies. I just can’t believe the zigs and sags of their lives. If you wrote this as a screenplay, the studio would say, “Come on, that’s preposterous.” But it’s true!

What has the success of “Mormon Wives” meant for you and Jeff Jenkins Prods.?

I feel very lucky, because every time I experience one of these lightning in a bottle moments, you’re like, ‘that’s never going to happen again.’ When I worked on “The Simple Life” 20 years ago, I remember Mary-Ellis Bunim telling me, “Enjoy this success, because it’ll never happen again.” And then we had “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” and it was, “Enjoy this, because it’ll never happen again.” Then we had “Bling Empire,” which at the time was the highest-rated, most-viewed docuseries on Netflix. So we got lucky with “Mormon Wives.” I think I have to start accepting that we really do know how to tell a story in a satisfying way, because we keep finding that we are blessed with these lightning-in-a-bottle situations.

My goal right now in this tough market is keeping our doors open and keeping growth happening at the company. I wanted to keep all of these fantastic, talented folks working — the showrunners, the camera ops, the audio mixers, the folks I’ve worked with for 25 years. I really feel like I’ve been able at my own company to cherry-pick the best of the best and pay them what’s appropriate.

I’ve been friendly with Tori for a few years, and I look to her as an absolute GOAT in unscripted. She’s had half a dozen unscripted series, and she always delivers. All I knew of her brother was that he grew up as the prince of Hollywood. If America has a royal family, the Spellings were certainly in the aristocracy, and he had a run-in with drugs and alcohol as a very young man. He moved away, got himself healthy and is now a life coach with a family. But in that reordering of his life, he and Tori fell out of contact for almost 20 years. They just last fall came back together, and so it is relatable to anybody who has an estrangement from a sibling. How do we bring it back together, support each other and be a family again? That’s the relatable part. The part that is fantastical is that they grew up in the biggest private home ever built in America. It’s just an extraordinary backstory, and to see them reflect on that… my producing partner watched the sales tape for this project and reflected on the fact that he was not speaking to his brother. I really do think the viewer is going to see this fascinating look into this family then and now, and be able to take away tools and inspiration for how to make things better in their own life.

And then you’re going the competition route with “The Bold and the Unscripted.”

“The Bold and the Beautiful” has been doing what they do for 40 years, they just launched their app, with 3,900 episodes available to watch. So we’ve partnered with Brad Bell on this format that we’re taking out. I think it’s going to be such a fun show, very unexpected. I’ve never seen anything like it. And frankly, that’s also what gets me out of bed, taking buyers’ opportunities that they haven’t heard before. I don’t want to bring you the 300th version of “Real Housewives.”

I feel like the perennial question in the unscripted world is, how do you survive this day and age? The business keeps changing. A few years ago, the streamers were really aggressive and buying so much, it seemed like boom times. Then things got tough again.

I think it all goes back to very basic tent poles that we all know. It comes back to storytelling and characters you want to spend time with. The challenge now is, how do we find them? Because the pond has been very fished. How do we find new subculture or character types, and how do we match that with the kind of zeitgeist interest that the public has? An example might be “Bling Empire,” which came after “Crazy Rich Asians.” Same with “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” all those ladies are kind of at the intersection of faith and feminism. What does it mean to be a woman in America who’s a breadwinner and a wife and a mother, and how are those roles changing? Sure, there’s been other unscripted series having to do with Mormonism, but not in this way, not through this lens.

There’s always that celebrity family follow. If there’s a famous family that hasn’t done it before, I think a lot of buyers are looking for that. I’ve had the same dream project for a decade, which is to follow Madonna and her six children. They’re also looking for zeitgeist subcultures, some topic or group has captured the imagination across the country. The other thing that is really interesting right now, a few years ago a lot of producers were rushing to do put a bunch of influencers in a house — and none of them worked. I think everybody realized that influencers may be able to successfully curate 30 seconds of content, but to carry even a half hour of content, that equation just didn’t work. But now it does seem if you find the right influencers, some of them, especially in an ensemble, can carry an hour of content. Our “Mormon Wives,” many of them were like baby influencers, and I was like, oh boy, are they going to be able to make the jump to light speed here and give me more than 30 seconds? And they’re doing it.

I’m so grateful, and I feel lucky that we have had such a positive response from buyers over the last eight years. We’ve done three series for Netflix, I think we’re on our third series for Hulu, we’ve got some work now with Paramount and Fox, we’ve got our great series running on Bravo. We had a series with Peacock this year with Tiffany Haddish, and we’ve got all sorts of really exciting opportunities for buyers coming up the rest of this year. COVID threw everybody off, but putting that aside, our growth has been really steady.

Here’s the logline for “The Bold and the Unscripted” (working title): “Jeff Jenkins Productions has partnered with Bell-Phillip Television Productions, producer of legendary soap opera ‘The Bold and the Beautiful,’ to develop a new reality-competition format, anchored to the long-running series. ‘The Bold and the Unscripted’ (wt) will bring together a group of reality TV stars, all with thespian aspirations, on the iconic soap opera’s actual studio lot and soundstages to compete for weekly opportunities to secure speaking roles and guest spots on ‘The Bold and the Beautiful.'”

And the logline for “Reunited: Tori & Randy Spelling”: “Jeff Jenkins Productions has partnered with actress Tori Spelling and her brother, actor-turned-life coach Randy Spelling, for a new series that will reunite the siblings. “Reunited: Tori & Randy Spelling” (wt) brings Tori and Randy back together to mend their fractured relationship via an epic cross-country road trip. Throughout their trek, they’ll participate in various once-in-a-lifetime experiences that will test their self-imposed boundaries, all in an effort to accelerate personal growth and reestablish their sibling bond.”

Soapy S3 EP11: The Making of Soap Legend Sean Kanan

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Renewed For Season 23

As Deadline reported last week, Grey’s Anatomy will return next season without two of its longtime cast members, Kevin McKidd and Kim Raver, who will be leaving as series regulars after the Season 22 finale.

Producing studio 20th Television has until end of June to pick up the cast for next season. No extensive dealmaking would be needed as fellow Grey’s veterans Chandra Wilson who plays Bailey, James Pickens Jr. (Richard), Camilla Luddington (Jo), Caterina Scorsone (Amelia) and Chris Carmack (Link) are all believed to have another year on their current contracts. While that is never a guarantee — Raver and McKidd had one more year too — Grey’s historically has not parted ways with more than two high-profile cast members at a time, so the rest should come back.

The size of Grey’s Anatomy’s order for next season is TBD. As Deadline reported last month, a renewal was expected to be accompanied by a budget cut, with a slightly reduced order than the 18 episodes the show has produced the last two seasons a possibility.

While no longer the linear juggernaut it once was, 22 seasons in, Grey’s Anatomy continues to defy its age with string streaming following that has crossed multiple generations. The show finished last year as the #1 most streamed series globally across Disney+ and Hulu, per Disney estimates, and as the #2 most streamed show in the US across Hulu and Netflix, per Nielsen.

Grey’s titular star, Ellen Pompeo, continues to serve as narrator while reprising her role on a recurring basis. The series’ executive producing team includes Rhimes and Betsy Beers of Shondaland as well as current showrunner Meg Marinis, director and recurring cast member Debbie Allen and Pompeo.

With the renewal, Grey’s Anatomy joins fellow Thursday ABC dramas 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Nashville, which also have been picked up for next season, as have High Potential and Abbott Elementary.

Kelly Hu Joins Eric Bana-Led Netflix Series ‘Untamed’

Written by Mark L. Smith and Elle Smith, Untamed is a character-driven mystery-thriller that follows Kyle Turner (Eric Bana), a special agent for the National Parks Service who works to enforce human law in nature’s vast wilderness. The investigation of a brutal death sends Turner on a collision course with the dark secrets within the park and in his own past.

In its second season, the series follows Turner as he’s called to investigate a mysterious death in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, where local tensions and the volatile, living landscape become an unpredictable force.

Hu will play Awapuhi, born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii who has spent the last few years in Oahu fighting her own inner battles. After the death of her son, she returns to The Big Island to face the demons she left behind.

Season 2 will also welcome Shea Whigham as a series regular in the role of Ray Burkart, who moved from California to the Big Island of Hawaii 30 years ago and has a hand in various businesses, some more legal than others. After suffering the tragic loss of his son, Burkart clashes with Turner in their search for his son’s killer.

As we recently reported, Unlike Season 1, which was filmed in British Columbia, standing in for Yosemite, Season 2 will be shot in Hawaii. Like Season 1, it will consist of six episodes. Production is slated to begin in the spring.

Untamed‘s executive producers include Mark L. Smith, Elle Smith, Bana, Wells and Erin Jontow via John Wells Productions, which is under an overall deal with Warner Bros. Television; Todd Black and Tony Shaw for Escape Artists Entertainment; Steve Lee Jones for Bee Holder Productions; and Cliff Roberts for Syndicate Entertainment.

Hu is best known for her roles as Lady Deathstrike in the X-Men franchise and The Sorceress in The Scorpion King franchise. She most recently starred as Detective Veronica Jin in seasons 2 and 3 of the hit Starz series Black Mafia Family. She also recurred opposite Jimmy Smits in the CBS series East New York.

Hu starred in the Netflix feature Finding ‘Ohana, directed by Jude Weng; Lifetime’s centerpiece movie during their annual Stop Breast Cancer for Life Initiative, List of a Lifetime; and Fallen Angels Book Club opposite Toni Braxton and Eddie Cibrian. Additional TV credits include recurring roles in LA’s Finest, Arrow, The Orville, Warehouse 13 and Dietland. Hu is repped by represented by Artium Talent and managed by Mainstay Entertainment.

Margaret DePriest Dies: Actress & Writer On ‘General Hospital’, ‘Days Of Our Lives’, ‘All My Children’ & More Was 94

Born in Bristow, OK on April 19, 1931, DePriest rose from Depression-era farm life to win a drama scholarship at the University of Oklahoma.

She began her career as an actress both onstage and television. One of her first credits was a contract role as Abby Cameron #1 on The Edge of Night from 1965-1966. She also portrayed social worker Mrs. Berger on The Doctors.

She segued to co-writer (with Lou Scofield) on The Edge of Night in the mid-1960s. In 1969, she co-created and was co-head writer of CBS Daytime’s Where the Heart Is, and went on to become head writer for daytime dramas General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, All My Children, Another World, One Life to Live, and most recently Sunset Beach.

She also appeared as an actress in guest-starring roles on The Catholic Hour, True Story and N.Y.P.D. in the late ’50s and 1960s.

DePriest earned five Daytime Emmy noms for Best Writing, first in 1985 for General Hospital, two for Days of Our Lives in 1984 and 1985, and for All My Children in 1990 and One Life to Live in 1992. She also was nominated for a WGA Award for Best Writing for Another World in 1998. In 1965, she won an Obie Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Place for Chance.

Talk Show Appearance

‘Celebrity Weakest Link’: See Star-Studded Lineup, Trailer & More

Weakest Link first made its debut in 2001. Anne Robinson hosted the original version, which was canceled in 2003. The game show was revived in 2020 with Jane Lynch as the host. Weakest Link has a team of contestants who try to reach and complete a chain of correct answers from general knowledge questions within a certain time limit.

At the end of each round, one person is considered the “weakest link” by either answering questions wrong or not banking money. The contestants vote on who the weakest link is, and Lynch will tell them, “You are the weakest link. Goodbye!”

However much money is banked at the end of the round goes into the contestant’s total pot, and one person wins at the end. This time, celebrities will try to win money for charity.

Celebrity Weakest Link will begin on Monday, September 15, at 9/8c on Fox, and air every Monday after that. The regular version of the game show used to air on NBC. Name That Tune will precede the new game show. Lynch is no stranger to Fox, as she starred in Glee, which aired on the network for six seasons.

The new season will air on Fox. Old seasons of the game show currently stream on Peacock.

Yes! Watch above. In the trailer, Jane Lynch is seen calling the celebrities “terrible people who suck at this game.” She also teased that this season will be “bigger, badder, better.”

The new season will have 11 episodes with themed eight guest stars. They include:

Glee Homecoming: Max Adler, Dot Marie Jones, Heather Morris, Alex Newell, Chord Overstreet, Amber Riley, Becca Tobin, Jenna Ushkowitz

Roasters: Cedric the Entertainer, Margaret Cho, Kathy Griffin, Lil Rel Howery, Lisa Lampanelli, Natasha Leggero, Chris Redd, Iliza Schlesinger

TV Moms: Melinda Clarke, Jackée Harry, Mary-Margaret Humes, Constance Marie, Monica Potter, Caroline Rhea, Sherri Saum, Bellamy Young

8 Degrees of Jane: Joel Kim Booster, Laverne Cox, Ron Funches, Carson Kressley, Jon Lovitz, Cheri Oteri, Adam Pally, Andy Richter

High School Reunion: Tatyana Ali, Shenae Grimes, Matt Lanter, Beverly Mitchell, Scott Porter, Daphne Reid, Aimeé Teegarden, Barry Watson

Ex-Wives Club: Cynthia Bailey, Tamar Braxton, Kate Gosselin, Vicki Gunvalson, Dorinda Medley, Shanna Moakler, Kendra Wilkinson, Jill Zarin

Reality Couples: Kelsey Anderson, Melissa Gorga, Joe Gorga, Joe Graziadei, Lauren Speed-Hamilton, Cameron Hamilton, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt

Special Forces: Tyler Cameron, Gus Kenworthy, Kenya Moore, Jack Osbourne, Kyla Pratt, Jovon Quarles, Rudy Reyes, Christy Carlson Romano

TV Doctors: Torrey Devitto, Dr. Dubrow, Ryan Eggold, Jason George, Hill Harper, Dr. Will Kirby, Dr. Sandra Lee (Dr. Pimple Popper), Kal Penn

Holiday Heroes: Jonathan Bennett, Rachel Leigh Cook, Taye Diggs, Vivica A. Fox, Melissa Joan Hart, Eric Lloyd, Luke Macfarlane, Reginald VelJohnson

Football Legends: Emmanuel Acho, Vernon Davis, Keyshawn Johnson, James Jones, Cam Jordan, LeSean McCoy, Sony Michel, Andrew Whitworth

ICON AWARD, PRESENTERS, ATTENDEES AND MUSICAL PERFORMANCES ANNOUNCED FOR ‘THE 2025 ESPYS PRESENTED BY CAPITAL ONE,’ AIRING LIVE WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, AT 8 P.M. EDT/7 P.M. CDT ON ABC AND STREAMING ON ESPN+

The star-studded ceremony will relive the best moments of the year, honor leading athletes, and bring together the sports industry’s fan favorites and biggest stars. The night will also feature special musical performances from GRAMMY® Award-nominated rapper Busta Rhymes, acclaimed hip-hop duo Clipse, and basketball player-turned-rapper Gelo, along with a powerful In Memoriam tribute led by GRAMMY-nominated artist and multihyphenate Tobe Nwigwe featuring David Michael Wyatt.

During “The 2025 ESPYS,” ESPN will honor former WNBA player Diana Taurasi and former USWNT player Alex Morgan with the Icon Award in recognition of their incredible careers and significant impact on the world of sports.

Stars and athletes scheduled to present this year include Angela Bassett (actress), Alison Brie (actress), Rob Mac (actor), Busta Rhymes (rapper and singer), Billie Jean King (tennis legend), Leslie Jones (comedian and actress), Russell Wilson (quarterback, New York Giants), Pat McAfee (ESPN personality), Brooks Nader (model), Russell Westbrook (NBA player), Flau’jae Johnson (rapper and NCAA College basketball player, Louisiana State University), JuJu Watkins (NCAA College basketball player, University of Southern California), Lindsey Vonn (Olympic gold medalist, Alpine Ski Racing), Matthew Stafford (quarterback, Los Angeles Rams), Trinity Rodman (soccer player, Washington Spirit), Druski (comedian and actor), Anthony Ramos (actor and singer), Chris Berman (ESPN personality), Elle Duncan (ESPN personality), Desmond Howard (ESPN College Football analyst), Kirk Herbstreit (ESPN College Football analyst), Jon Jones (mixed martial artist), Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (Olympic gold medalist, Track & Field), Gabby Thomas (Olympic gold medalist, Track & Field), and more.

In addition, top athletes and celebrities scheduled to attend include Simone Biles (Olympic gold medalist, gymnast), Damar Hamlin (safety, Buffalo Bills), Ilona Maher (Team USA Rugby player), CJ McCollum (guard, Washington Wizards), Sean Evans (host, “Hot Ones”), Terrell Owens (former NFL player), Suni Lee (Olympic gold medalist, gymnast), Jordan Chiles (Olympic Team gold medalist, gymnast), Lamar Jackson (quarterback, Baltimore Ravens), John Owen Lowe (actor, “Unstable”), Sugar Ray Leonard (former professional boxer and Olympic gold medalist), Sloane Stephens (tennis player), Jason George (actor, “Grey’s Anatomy”), Metta World Peace (former NBA player), Nate Diaz (mixed martial artist), Chloe Kim (Olympic gold medalist, Snowboarding), Alex Morgan (former USWNT player), Diana Taurasi (former WNBA player), Nick Sirianni (Philadelphia Eagles head coach), Jonathan Owens (safety, Chicago Bears), Maksim Chmerkovskiy (professional dancer, “Dancing with the Stars”), Whitney Cummings (actress and comedian), Robin Arzón (Peloton instructor), Kyle Juszczyk (fullback, San Francisco 49ers), Kristin Juszczyk (fashion designer), Ari Chambers (ESPN personality), Mina Kimes (ESPN personality), Andraya Carter (ESPN personality), Chiney Ogwumike (WNBA player), Tim Legler (ESPN personality), University of Connecticut women’s basketball team, University of North Carolina women’s lacrosse team, and more.

As previously announced by ESPN, former NBA player Oscar Robertson will be honored with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage; Penn State University women’s volleyball head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley, will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance; and Greater Los Angeles first responders and former athletes David Walters and Erin Regan will receive the Pat Tillman Award for Service. Additionally, the Sports Humanitarian Awards will feature honorees as part of this year’s show including the recipient of the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award and the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award.

Shane Gillis will appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” with guest host Chris Distefano to discuss his upcoming “ESPYS” host role, airing Monday, July 14, at 11:35 p.m. EDT.

“SportsCenter: 50 States in 50 Days” will also be airing from “The 2025 ESPYS” red carpet with anchors Kevin Negandhi and Elle Duncan. The cross-country summer tour, which kicked off June 27, was designed to bring ESPN’s flagship program and its anchors directly to fans across America. Inspired by 2005’s SportsCenter Across America, this reimagined version marks the first time in 20 years that SportsCenter has undertaken a cross-country tour of this scale. Coverage continues through Aug. 16 across all editions of SportsCenter and ESPN platforms.

Lynn Hamilton Dies: ‘The Waltons’ & ‘Sanford And Son’ Actress Was 95

Carson added that she “transitioned peacefully” on Thursday, surrounded by her “grandchildren, loved ones and caregivers.”

“With profound gratitude and admiration, we celebrate the extraordinary life of iconic actress Alzenia ‘Lynn’ Hamilton-Jenkins, whose remarkable legacy continues to uplift and inspire. Her illustrious career, spanning over five decades, has left an indelible mark on the world of entertainment, motivating audiences across the globe through her work as a model, stage, film, and television actress,” he wrote, in part.

Born on April 25, 1930 in Yazoo City, MS and raised in Chicago, Hamilton graduated from the Goodman School of Drama, being the sole Black actor among her peers. She soon gained experience performing with a South Side theater company, per The Hollywood Reporter, and translated that burgeoning skillset to Broadway for four plays from the late ’50s to early ’60s. Her experience on stage included productions of Shakespeare’s works and a world tour of adaptations of The Miracle Worker and The Skin of Our Teeth as a member of President John F. Kennedy’s cultural exchange program. In 1966, she joined the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

Among her TV credits are episodes of Gunsmoke, The Bill Cosby Show, Hawaii Five-O, Ironside, The Young and the Restless, Starsky and Hutch, The Rockford Files, Roots: The Next Generations, Days of Our Lives, The Jesse Owens Story (TV movie), The Golden Girls, 227, Sunset Beach, Moesha, Port Charles, NYPD Blue, The Practice and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Her most significant arcs in television include her role as practical Nurse Donna Harris, Redd Foxx’s onscreen fiancée on NBC’s sitcom Sanford and Sun; Verdie Foster on CBS’ historical drama The Waltons and Vivian Potter on NBC sudser Generations. She also starred as ex-con Cissie Johnson on the early ’90s syndicated nighttime soap Dangerous Women. Hamilton also reprised her character from The Waltons for holiday-themed TV movies released in 1993 and 1997.

Hamilton was married to poet and playwright Frank S. Jenkins (Driving While Black in Beverly Hills) from 1964 until his death in 2014, and the two frequently collaborated together on various theater productions, including Nobody: The Bert Williams Story.

Denise Alexander, ‘General Hospital’ and ‘Days of Our Lives’ Actress, Dies at 85

“I am so very sorry to hear of Denise Alexander’s passing. She broke barriers on-screen and off, portraying Dr. Lesley Webber – one of the first female doctors on Daytime Television – for nearly five decades,” “GH” executive producer Frank Valentini said on social media. “It meant so much to have her reprise her role in recent years and I am honored to have had the opportunity to work with her. On behalf of the entire General Hospital family, I extend my heartfelt sympathies to her family, friends, and longtime fans. May she rest in peace.”

Alexander’s acting career dates back to the early 1950s when she made her Broadway debut in “The Children’s Hour” and guest starred in such television classics as “Father Knows Best,” “The Twilight Zone” and “The Danny Kaye Show,” 1960 was the year that changed her career trajectory when she made joined the cast of the CBS soap, “The Clear Horizon.”

Two years later, she was a dayplayer in an ABC soap pilot called “Emergency Hospital,” which later became known as “General Hospital” — but not as Lesley Webber. Instead, she was cast as Susan Martin on “Days of Our Lives” in 1966, where she planted her roots for the next seven years. When she chose to leave the enormously popular soap in 1973, fans were not happy.

That is when Alexander joined “GH.” Ratings were not the best during that time, and ABC was looking to add exciting new characters and stories. Alexander’s Lesley became one corner of one of daytime’s hottest triangle — Lesley, Rick Webber (played by Chris Robinson) and Monica Bard (played by the late Leslie Charleson, who died earlier this year). Lesley was also up to her ears in trouble because she confessed to the murder of David Hamilton, a crime her daughter Laura (Genie Francis) committed. Her acting earned Alexander a Emmy nomination for outstanding actress in a Daytime drama series.

When storyline called for Lesley to be killed off in a car accident, fans once again were outraged. It wasn’t until 12 years later in 1996 that it was revealed that — in true soap fashion — Lesley was actually alive. In between the two soaps, Alexander appeared on NBC’s “Another World,” working opposite her former “GH” husband, Robinson.

Denise Alexander Dies at 85: ‘General Hospital’ Star Remembered by TV Daughter Genie Francis

Born in New York City on November 11, 1939, and raised on Long Island, Alexander began acting as a child, appearing as Perry Como‘s daughter in Perry Como’s Chesterfield Supper Club in 1949 and other primetime series in the 1950s and ’60s, including Father Knows Best, The Danny Thomas Show, and The Twilight Zone.

She made her first feature film, Crime in the Streets, starring John Cassavetes, at 14, and did her fair share of radio work from the age of 6, telling We Love Soaps TV in 2010, “My dad, at one point, counted up the number I had done, and it was 2,500 radio shows. You would get out of school and go from one show to the next. They were 15-minute or half-hour shows, and you would sit around the table, read the script, rehearse a couple of times, and do it. Then you were out of there and onto the next one. And sometimes it was in the next studio. I did way more than people know I did.”

Alexander made her soap opera debut as Lois Adams on The Clear Horizon in 1960, but her big break came in 1966 when she was cast as Susan Hunter Martin on Days of Our Lives while still attending college at UCLA. As Susan, Alexander played a host of dramatic tales, including murdering her husband David Martin (played by Clive Clerk) in May 1967 after the death of their son.

“She started out as the bad girl and was thrown out of boarding school for smoking and drinking,” recalled Alexander to We Love Soaps TV. “The character caught on and sparked something with the audience, and that is how Susan became an important part of the show. I was there for almost seven years…. I had such a wonderful time on Days. It was like going to camp every day for me. I loved the people, loved the show, and loved what I got to do. They loved the character and liked me as an actor and gave me lots of neat stuff to do. I didn’t even ask for a vacation for five years because if I worked 365 days a year, I thought I was great. It was a very good time in my life.”

In 1973, Alexander was in contract negotiations with Days when ABC offered significant perks to the actress to join General Hospital to play Dr. Lesley Williams. Though Alexander loved her time in Salem, she decided to leave. “It was [Days’ Executive Producer] Betty Corday who sent me to General Hospital,” Alexander told welovesoaps.net. “She said, ‘You must do this.’ So when I went to General Hospital, they didn’t have a character for me. They had a character that was coming in, a woman doctor who was going to have a romance with John Beradino [Steve Hardy]. And that was obviously wrong for me or for John, but they took the character and a couple of scripts of her arrival they had written and had to scramble to create a storyline.”

Alexander found great success in the role, earning a Daytime Emmy Award in 1975, famously becoming the mother of Laura Vining (Genie Francis) and foster mom to Blackie Parrish (John Stamos), and was a star player in the show’s rise to number one, thanks, in part, to the torrid Lesley, Rick Webber (Chris Robinson), and Monica Quartermaine (Leslie Charleson) triangle. In a 2010 interview with Soap Opera Digest, Alexander noted, I always say this, and I hope Leslie Charleson does, too: The first time that General Hospital ever went to number one in our era, it was on the Lesley/Rick/Monica storyline. It wasn’t Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura. They went farther than anyone dreamed possible, of course, but that was a big triangle back then.” Lesley was killed off the soap in 1984, only to be resurrected in 1996, when she recurred until 2009. She appeared again in 2013, 2017, 2019, and 2021.

In an exclusive interview with TV Insider, Francis looks back on her relationship with Alexander. “I loved her. She loved me,” she says. “I stole her good stuff. When I look at myself sometimes on television, which I don’t do often because I don’t really like to watch myself, but I have seen myself do stuff and been kind of taken aback because I realized I just did Denise. So when I say I stole her good stuff, I’m saying I was so young, she imprinted on me. And some of my acting, some of my style of acting, was directly imprinted on me by Denise Alexander. And she was very, very good to me as I was growing up.”

Alexander gave Francis a cherished keepsake that holds special meaning. “She actually gave me this lovely necklace,” Francis relays. “It’s like a little angel that’s standing on a cloud, and it’s on a pearl. It was a charm, and I wore it all the time. And then when my daughter wanted to become an actress when she was young, I said, ‘You’ve got to have your good luck charm.’ So I said, ‘I’m going to give you this little angel that’s been worn by two actresses, and now it’s yours.’ And so [daughter] Eliza [Frakes] has that, and it’s important to her too. And when I told Denise that, she cried. She was so excited to hear that what she had given me, I gave to my daughter.”

Alexander is survived by a stepdaughter, Elizabeth Colla, from her marriage to the late Richard A. Colla.

Rome Flynn, Ana Ortiz & Sherri Saum Join Apple Limited Series ‘Imperfect Women’

Based on Araminta Hall’s novel of the same name, Imperfect Women is an unconventional, psychological thriller examining a crime that shatters the decades-long friendship of three women. The series is a mystery complicated by perspective that explores guilt and retribution, love and betrayal, and the compromises we make that alter our lives irrevocably. As the investigation unravels, so does the truth about how even the closest relationships can change over time.

The core trio will be played by Moss, Washington, and Kate Mara. Joel Kinnaman and Corey Stoll recently also joined the series regular cast.

Ortiz will play Detective Ganz, and Saum will play Zoe. Rome will play Jordan, who, Deadline hears, will be Washington’s character’s love interest.

The new series will be adapted for TV, written, and executive produced by Annie Weisman, in her latest collaboration with Apple TV+ following the dramedy Physical. Imperfect Women will be produced for Apple TV+ by 20th Television and Apple Studios.

Imperfect Women is executive produced by Moss and Lindsey McManus via their production company Love & Squalor Pictures, who initially optioned the book. Washington will executive produce for Simpson Street alongside Pilar Savone. Lesli Linka Glatter will direct the pilot and executive produce. Kay Oyegun will also write and executive produce under her overall deal with 20th Television. Author Araminta Hall will also serve as an executive producer.

Knots Landing's Donna Mills, Joan Van Ark and Kathleen Noone Reunite — and Announce Exciting News About the Soap

At the recent Hollywood Show in Burbank, Calif., stars of beloved past series including Deadwood and Head of the Class reunited to swap stories about their time on set and share what's next.

Among the big names were Knots Landing stars Donna Mills, Joan Van Ark and Kathleen Noone, who greeted fans together and shared the news that a rewatch podcast on the beloved primetime soap opera is in the works from Mills, Van Ark and costar Michelle Lee.

According to Remind magazine, the show — a Dallas spinoff that ran on CBS from 1979 to 1993 — is seeing a resurgence now that it's streaming on Prime Video and Plex.

“I think it’s late to the party in a way because I think we deserve attention and [it should have been] sooner than this,” Van Ark, 81, said. “But we’ll take it at any point.”

Knots Landing followed Ted Shackelford's Gary Ewing and Van Ark's Valene Clements as they moved to Los Angeles for a fresh start, settling into a suburb alongside characters played by Lee, Don Murray, John Pleshette, William Devane, Constance McCashin, James Houghton, Kim Lankford and later, Mills, Noone, Nicollette Sheridan and Alec Baldwin.

"They had a very good cast. They had a very talented cast," Baldwin told PEOPLE in 2020. "That changes everything when you go to work. You don’t care if it’s a soap, if you’re working with somebody who’s great, everything goes up. I loved it."

"It's that kind of investment in characters that make television special," he continued. "Daytime TV and TV in general, you have a different relationship with the audience because they see you all the time. You have to go somewhere and buy a ticket and watch a movie. With television, we’re people that are in your living room."

Noone echoed that sentiment at the Hollywood Show, per Remind, calling the cast "supportive."

“The fact that they welcomed me and helped me get my feet, I’m forever so appreciative," Noone, 80, shared.

Van Ark added, “We were a family both on and off the screen, and that has ties that are deep and special and treasured. There’s love underneath all of it — true family — and taking care of one another."

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