Quick Hits: September 27-28

HBO has released the first trailer for The Last of Us, the long-awaited adaptation of the beloved video game (the third-best-selling PlayStation 3 game of all time). The Last of Us stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, a smuggler escorting 14-year-old Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a post-apocalyptic America, and will premiere sometime in 2023.

True crime documentary Into the Deep will finally be available for streaming on Netflix this Friday. The film wowed audiences at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020, but the release was delayed when a handful of participants declined to give consent to appear in the film. The version that screened at Sundance currently holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes; here’s hoping the edited version is just as good.

Louise Fletcher has died at the age of 88. Fletcher is best known for her portrayal of the tyrannical Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, for which she won an Oscar, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe. Fletcher, who had just two credited film appearances to that point, only won the part after several other actors – including Anne Bancroft, Colleen Dewhurst, Angela Lansbury, Geraldine Page, and Ellen Burstyn – turned it down.

Fun fact: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is one of only three films to sweep the top five Oscar categories

Shaun Cassidy, my first major celebrity crush, was born on September 27, 1958. In the late 1970s, Cassidy was both a television star – on ABC’s The Hardy Boys Mysteries – and a teen idol. Since the 1990s, Cassidy has worked as a writer and producer of television series like American Gothic and Invasion; he currently executive produces and writes for New Amsterdam.

Cassidy performed one of his biggest hits – a cover of Eric Carmen’s “That’s Rock ‘n’ Roll” – on The Hardy Boys

Metallica bassist Cliff Burton died on September 27, 1986, from injuries sustained when the band’s tour bus crashed near Dörarp, Sweden. Just twenty-four years old at the time of his death, Burton is widely considered one of the greatest bass players of all time (he placed ninth in a 2011 Rolling Stone readers poll.)

Lorde’s debut album, Pure Heroine, was released on September 27, 2013. Pure Heroine featured the smash hit “Royals”, which went to #1 in twelve countries, including the US, the UK, and Lorde’s native New Zealand. Lorde (born Ella Yelich-O’Connor), who was just seventeen years old at the time, received four Grammy nominations for Pure Heroine and won Song of the Year for “Royals” (though she inexplicably wasn’t nominated for Best New Artist).

“Royals” got most of the attention, but “Team” is my favorite track from Pure Heroine

Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted on September 28, 1987. The series ran for seven seasons and 177 episodes.

Ed Sullivan, the host of the longest-running variety series of all time, was born on September 28, 1901. For almost twenty-five years, Sullivan’s eponymous show aired live every Sunday night and featured entertainment acts of all kinds. The theater at CBS Studio 50, which housed the show from 1953 until its finale in 1971, was renamed The Ed Sullivan Theater in 1967. Since 1993, the theater – located at Broadway and 53rd in Midtown Manhattan – has been home to The Late Show, currently hosted by Stephen Colbert.

On September 28, 1968, The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 – and stayed there for a then-record-tying nine weeks. Originally titled “Hey Jules”, the song was written for John Lennon’s son Julian; Lennon had left Julian’s mom Cynthia for Yoko Ono, and five-year-old Julian was taking it pretty hard. Songwriter Paul McCartney eventually changed the name from Jules to Jude, believing it sounded better (he was right). “Hey Jude” was the best-selling single of 1968 in the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada; it has sold more than eight million copies.