NYDP Communication Enrichment Class

December 9: Three’s Company

Three’s Company is an American sitcom television series that aired for eight seasons on ABC from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984. It is based on the British sitcom Man About the House.

Based on the British sitcom Man About the House, Three’s Company starred physical comedy champion John Ritter in his breakout role as Jack Tripper, a culinary student who crashes a party and wakes up in Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt) and Chrissy Snow’s (Suzanne Somers) bathtub.

Janet who is a florist and Chrissy, a secretary has a roommate named Eleanor, who decided to move out, so they now needed someone to cover her share of the rent. The party that Jack crashed actually happened to be Eleanor’s going away party. After finding Jack in the bathtub, Janet and Chrissy extend an offer for jack to move in.

However, at the time they had an overbearing landlord named Stanley Roper, who refused to allow mixed-gender groups of unmarried people to live together. He only ends up agreeing that Jack can move in, after Janet tells him that Jack is gay.

Although Stanley’s wife Helen quickly figures out that Jack is straight, she trusts him with the girls and keeps the secret from Stanley, who tolerates Jack but mocks him.

Jack continues the charade when new building manager Ralph Furley (Don Knotts) takes over the apartment complex because Mr. Furley insists that his hard-nosed brother Bart (the building’s new owner) would also never tolerate such living situations.

The show goes on for a full 8 seasons, following the trials and tribulations of the trio, receiving outstanding reviews.

The lead up to the beginning of the show….

Famed Broadway writer Peter Stone tried to Americanize the British sitcom Man About the House. He originally set the series in New York, and he envisioned the male roommate as a successful, yet underpaid, chef in a fancy French restaurant, while the two female roommates were an executive secretary and a high-fashion model. When ABC’s Fred Silverman read the script, he felt that middle America would not like the concept, and he decided to pass on the script. Silverman asked Larry Gelbart, creator and producer of M*A*S*H, for help with the series. At first, Gelbart wanted nothing to do with the show, feeling that its relatively simple premise made it substandard in comparison to M*A*S*H.

Ultimately, as a favor to Silverman, Gelbart developed a pilot episode with the help of his son-in-law, who named the series Three’s Company. Gelbart’s adaptation closely followed the British series.

Silverman liked Gelbart’s version, and ABC ended up ordering a pilot, which was taped in early 1976.

The pilot was worked on a few times, until they ended up with an ideal casting. At the last minute before the final pilot taped, the producers considered whether to recast Ritter who was used for one of the previous pilots. Although test audiences liked Ritter, the producers felt Ritter’s foolish and clumsy portrayal of Jack made his character seem somewhat unmanly. Earlier in the casting process, actors such as Barry Van Dyke and future television director Michael Lembeck were considered for the role. Silverman was confident in Ritter, and he advocated for him to remain on the show.

With Somers, Ritter, and DeWitt set in their roles, the third version of the pilot hastily went into production in January 1977. ABC accepted this version, and five additional episodes were filmed for the show’s spring debut.

In 1984 after a successful 8 seasons, the show ended with the departure of all cast members except Ritter, who moved on to the spin-off Three’s a Crowd

Three’s a Crowed ended after just one season, and Ritter continued to act in numerous shows and movies throughout the years until his death in 2003

Most notably for myself, when I was growing up, I loved watching him in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as an evil robot, Scrubs as J.D.’s dad, and 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter (which coincidently Gabriel was watching yesterday!).

and now for a couple fun Ellen clips!

December 7: Carolyn

To start class off today, we wanted to do something for Michelle, a resident at North Yorkers who unfortunately passed away this past weekend. She was a shining star, and had the most amazing and bubbly personality. She will be greatly missed. Gabriel told Nicole that one of her favourite bands is the Backstreet Boys, so to start class off, let’s listen to a song in her honour.

Now, lets start the class in honour of Carolyn! Carolyn’s full name is Carolyn Denise Henry

She likes to be called Carolyn. Her sister gave her the nickname Carrie because it made her giggle.

Her birthday is May 28 which makes her a Gemini. Let’s see how many of these Gemini traits remind us of Carolyn.

Carolyn’s favourite food is pizza and Chinese food. Just for fun I decided to try to find out if you could have Chinese pizza. Look what I found.

Now we’ve covered both Carolyn’s favourite foods in one dish.

Her favourite TV shows are Flashpoint and Three’s Company. Does anybody remember those shows?

Carolyn’s favourite movie is the classic called the Sound of music.

Carolyn loves to go for walks outside, but she also enjoys volunteering. I would like to take this time to congratulate her on all the awards she’s received for sharing her time with others in volunteering.

Most recently, she will be awarded for her 25 years of volunteering at Bloorview! She is scheduled to receive her award this Friday, December 10th, so what better time than to celebrate Carolyn!

Carolyn’s favourite sports are bocce ball and hockey.

She loves to go on trips and her dream vacation would be to visit Vancouver.

Her favourite animal is a dog. She used to have a dog she loved very much name was Brutus.

Carolyn’s favourite places to go in Toronto are Blue Jay games and going to concerts.

Carolyn’s favourite musician is Adele.

Thank you Carolyn for letting us celebrate you today, and on Thursday we will be focusing a bit more on one of your favourite tv shows!

December 2: Ethiopia

Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea (ear-ih-tree-a) and Djibouti (juh·boo·tee) to the north, Somaliland to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west and Sudan to the northwest.

Ethiopia’s history dates back to the first millennium BCE.The country’s curent capital city, Addis Ababa, was founded by Emperor Menelik II in 1887. In 1955, Ethiopia, under Emperor Haile Selassie, got its first constitution and an elected parliament.

The Monarchy was overthrown in 1974 and Ethiopia became a socialist state. This regime was in turn overthrown in 1991 and the current constitution was developed. In 1995 a Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, comprising nine states and two chartered cities was proclaimed.

Ethiopia is a founding member of the United Nations and the African Union, with the latter’s headquarters based in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia has a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometers and over 117 million inhabitants. Ethiopia is the 12th-most populous country in the world and the 2nd-most populous in Africa. The national capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, lies several kilometers west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African and Somali tectonic plates.

Ethiopia is a multiethnic state with 80 different ethnic groups. Christianity is the largest religion followed by Islam. Having differential biomes and climate throughout its regions, Ethiopia is considered as a megadiverse country in Africa. Having differential biomes and climate throughout its regions, Ethiopia is considered as a megadiverse country in Africa.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Ethiopian Civil War and communist purges hindered its economy but it has sustained a high annual growth since 2004 and the country is among the fastest growing non-oil producing economies in Africa. The agricultural sector accounts for 80% of employment and remains the major source and focus of the country’s growth but other sectors, such as service and industry, are increasingly gaining importance. The economy has since recovered and, as of 2010, has the largest economy by GDP (Gross domestic product) in East Africa. However, it remains one of the world’s poorest countries, facing poverty, hunger, corruption, weak infrastructure, poor respect for human rights, and limited access to health and education.

With such rich culture, and more becoming knowledgeable of the history, more Ethiopian restaurants opening around the globe, as well as products becoming more readily available, young individuals from the country making stands for their people, we will see what the future holds for this beautiful place many call home.

*Traditional Ethiopian artisanal baskets.*

Ethiopia is a living kaleidoscope of peoples drawn from many different ethnic backgrounds and speaking over 80 different languages, united in mutual respect for each other and a genuine warmth towards guests in the land of which they are so proud.

Traditional Clothing

The varied climate of Ethiopia influences the dressing styles of its people. In the highland regions, cooler temperatures necessitate heavier clothing like wraparound blankets. In the lowlands, light cotton outfits are worn by the people to combat the summer heat. Some similarities are, however, observed in the clothing style of Ethiopians. Their clothes are almost entirely made of woven cotton. Men wear cotton pants and a white-collared, knee-length shirt. The women usually wear long white dresses of ankle-length with some colors above the lower hem. The dresses are called habesha kemis. Jewelry is worn to complete the look. Women, both Muslim and Christian, usually cover their head with a piece of cloth called sash. It is tied to the neck. A shawl called netela is worn by both men and women. It is draped in different styles depending on the occasion. While these traditional dresses are worn in everyday lives by the Ethiopians in rural areas, those in the cities wear Western-style clothing on a day-to-day basis. Traditional clothing is adorned by them on special occasions.

Not so long ago, Oromos in Ethiopia, despite making up the country’s largest ethnic group, were reluctant to openly express their cultural and ethnic identity.

This could go as far as avoiding speaking their language, Afaan Oromo, in public for fear of being criticised for not adhering to a national identity. But an increasing political assertiveness over the last decade has combined with a growing cultural pride among young Oromos that is now being expressed in fashion.

In some cases, designers, like Antiko Designs, are taking familiar elements and modernising them. The red, black and white are immediately recognisable as Oromo colours and while the men in the picture above are dressed in traditional pyjama-like clothes and head ties, the women’s long jackets are an adaptation of traditional costume.

Upcoming designer Senakebeki Girma, 27, describes the change in attitude towards Oromo fashion as “unbelievable” explaining that “people are becoming more proud of their identity”.

She now wants to see elements of Oromo traditional clothes in everyday wear instead of only on special occasions.

Ethiopian cuisine

The cuisine in this culture characteristically consists of vegetables and often very spicy meat dishes. This is often in the form of wat, a thick stew, served on top of injera, a large sourdough flatbread, which is about 20 inches in diameter and made out of fermented teff flour. Pieces of the flatbread are used to pick up bites of entrees and side dishes.

The Doro wat is another variant of the wat made with chicken and served with hard-boiled eggs. Pork and seafood (with the exception of fish) are usually left out of Ethiopian cuisine due to the religious beliefs prevalent in the country. Several days of fasting are observed by the Orthodox Ethiopians Christians. During such days, meat and dairy are left out of food. The berbere, a spicy mix of powdered chili pepper and other spices, is often added to the Ethiopian dishes. The niter kibbeh, a type of clarified butter, is also commonly used. A popular Ethiopian breakfast dish is the Kinche which is made from cracked wheat, barley, oats, or a mixture of these ingredients that are boiled in water or milk. Spiced butter is added to the dish for flavoring. Atmet, an oat and barley-flour based drink with sugar, water, and clarified butter is a popular non-alcoholic beverage consumed in Ethiopia. Coffee and tea are also consumed widely. Some of the alcoholic drinks include tella (a homebrewed beer) and tej (a honey wine).

Some examples of popular Ethiopian music

The music and dance heritage of Ethiopia reflects the diversity of cultures residing in the country. The music is generally less rhythmic and more reed and string-based than that in other parts of Africa. Some of the common traditional musical instruments used to produce Ethiopian music are the krar (a six-stringed lyre), negarit (a kettle drum), washint (a simple flute), etc. In the urban areas, hip-hop, jazz, pop, and other forms of contemporary music are more popular, especially among the urban youth of the country.

November 30: Miley Cyrus

Who is Miley Cyrus?

Miley Cyrus is a singer and actress
She had early fame when she started in the TV series Hannah Montana and now, she has gone on to become a successful pop artist.
She is the goddaughter of country music icon Dolly Parton.

She is the daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus

In 2004 she got the starring role in Hannah Montana.

She released several very successful albums that included Breakout in 2008 and Can’t Be Tamed in 2010.
She became very well known for her wild behaviour.
In 2013 her single called Wrecking Ball along with the controversial video became her first US number 1 hit.

She was the coach on The Voice for 2 seasons.

Early Life and Career

She was born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992, in Franklin Tennessee.
She is the daughter of the 1990s country star Billy Ray Cyrus.
She decided to change her name to Miley which was the nickname that she was given as a baby for often smiling.

She grew up on the family farm that was near Nashville Tennessee.
She had two siblings and 3 half siblings.
She appeared in her father’s television series called Doc and, in the movie, Big Fish by Tim Burton in 2003.

Hannah Montana

in 2004 she was able to beat out 1000 hopeful fellow actors to land the starring role of Miley Stewart on the hit Disney show Hannah Montana.
This series featured a young pop superstar Montana, and she hides her celebrity identity to be an everyday 18 in real life. Her name was Stewart.
The whole family moved to Los Angeles California because of that series being filmed there.
Billy Ray Cyrus was on the show playing her dad and her manager.
She released the very successful Hannah Montana soundtrack album in 2006.

In 2007 she released a double album called Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus.
She went on the Best of Both Worlds tour because of this album.
The concert sold out in record time and the show was extended by 14 dates to avoid disappointing her trance.
She made a 3D concert film and it made $31.3 million during its opening weekend in February 2008.
Hannah Montana: the Movie made more than $79 million following its April 2009 release.
Miley decided to end the role of Hannah Montana in early 2011.

Albums and Hit Songs

Miley recorded her 2nd album called Breakout in 2008 and it reached the top of the pop album charts.
In night step in 2009 she released an EP called The Time of Our Life’s. It featured hit singles called Party in the USA and When I Look at You.
When I Look at You is known as Miley’s most successful song to date.
It sold more than 5.38 million copies and earned a spot among the best-selling singles of all time.

Miley began to want to distance herself from Hannah Montana and she decided to cut her hair short and begin to wear edgy fashions.
In August 2013 at the MTV video music awards Miley shocked the audience with her performance of We Can’t Stop.

In 2014 she won video of the year at the MTV Video Awards for her song Wrecking Ball.
In 2015 Miley was named the host of the MTV video music awards and she released a new album called Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz.
This album was more psychedelic and had 23 tracks. It had mixed reviews.
Her next album was called Younger Now and was released in 2017. The hit single called Malibu was on this album.

while working on her seventh album she released the songs She Is Coming and Mother’s Daughter in 2019.
In August 2019 she worked with Ariana Grande and Lana Del Rey for the song called Don’t Call Me Angel from the Charlie’s Angels Soundtrack.

Film and TV

in 2010 she started in a romantic drama called The Last Song.
In 2012 she starred in a coming-of-age drama called LOL and she starred as a private investigator in So Undercover.
In 2015 she played herself into holiday comedies. They were called The Night before and the Bill Murray variety special called A Very Murray Christmas.
In 2016 she works with Woody Allen star in the Amazon series Crisis in Six Scenes.
Miley was on The Voice as a coach for season 11 and 13.

Personal Life and Book

Miley changed her legal name to Miley Ray Cyrus in 2008.
That same year she caused controversy when she posed for revealing shots taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz.
She later apologized to her fans because she was embarrassed but years later, she tweeted that she wasn’t sorry at all.
In 2009 Miley released an autobiography called Miles to go which featured unseen photos, family stories and it looked at her inner circle of loved ones.
She said “I am so excited to let fans and on how important my relationship with my family is to me. I hope to motivate mothers and daughters to build lifetimes of memories together and inspire kids around the world to live their dreams”

Here is a song and a couple funny videos with Miley to end class.

November 25: American Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States of America. Thanksgiving this year marks the 400^th anniversary of the “first” American Thanksgiving. We too celebrate a similar event, but it lands on a different day! So, for class today, I wanted to discuss the differences between the two holidays.

Canadian Thanksgiving falls on the second Monday in October, where as the American version is on the last Thursday of November. Unlike Canadians who get one day off of work, in the US, they receive the Friday and Monday off.

According to documented history, Canadian Thanksgiving began first. The earliest recorded event of this holiday dates back to 1578, after explorer Martin Frobisher’s third voyage to Canada. After losing one of his ships on the way, he wanted to celebrate to give thanks for his safe passage when he landed in Nunavut.

Throughout history, Canadian Thanksgiving seems to have always been centered around the harvest season, which starts earlier in Canada than It does in the US.

In 1859 Canada’s Protestant ministers petitioned the colonial government for an official day to thank God, “pointing to the bountiful harvest as proof that God exists”. Around this time, Canada was about to separate from Great Britain, so the idea of a national holiday would help us create our own national identity.

The religious aspect of the holiday tapered out throughout the years because people wanted mainly wanted a reason to celebrate it as more of a party.

Americans go all out for their celebrations, there’s a Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York City (which was this morning around 10am… it featured 15 giant character balloons, 28 floats, 36 novelty and heritage inflatables, more than 800 clowns, 10 marching bands, a host of musical stars, and of course, Santa Claus! Last year’s parade was only a block long due to COVID-19 restrictions, so this year’s parade should look more like the traditional event from previous years.), football games, feasts that are more abundant than ours, and just an overall greater feeling of celebration. Since its inception in 1920, the National Football League has played games on Thanksgiving Day, patterned upon the historic playing of college football games on and around the Thanksgiving holiday.

Now, both of our countries eat turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy, however in America, you would see more casserole dishes such as green bean casserole, candied yams, sweet potato casserole with marshmallows and cornbread dressing to name a few. In French speaking areas of Canada, you may also see many families having tourtiere, a pie filled with either pork, beef, or a mixture of both, with potatoes in a flakey pie crust. Some regions still may use the very traditional moose meat for this pie.

Many people in America say that Thanksgiving is a bigger deal in their family and circle of friends than Christmas, but it’s the opposite for most Canadians.

Canadian Thanksgiving is simply about being thankful for a bountiful harvest. We don’t entertain any misguided notions about how supposedly nice our ancestors were to North America’s Indigenous communities way back in the day.

Canadians aren’t perfect when it comes to acknowledging our role as a colonial power, but our Thanksgiving isn’t a celebration of this, unlike in the US.

**Schoolchildren acting in a “First Thanksgiving” skit in 1963**

The first recorded US event was between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans at Plymouth in 1621. But, in reality, Thanksgiving feasts predate Plymouth, and the peace celebrated that day was questionable at best.

The real story behind the holiday is so dark, in fact, that some people are rethinking how they celebrate the holiday, or whether they should at all.

Aside from the stark reality of the holiday, most people who do celebrate it today don’t even realize what the history is really about. It’s great that more and more people are doing research now, and are becoming more aware of these past events.

But even with the enlightenment that this history has brought, a lot of people do still celebrate it to give thanks for family and friends. It’s still a time to be thankful for our loved ones. This is the way I have always celebrated the holiday myself, to get together with my distant relatives who you only see a couple of times a year, to have laughter and fun. But personally our family is very aware of the people who aren’t so lucky, those who don’t have family or those who’s land has been taken from them. If you still celebrate, it’s good to always still be mindful and respectful of this, and to educate yourself as much as possible.

November 23: Friends

This is an American television sitcom that was created by David Crane and Marla Kaufman. Friends aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting a full 10 season.
The show starred Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer.
The show centred around six friends that were in their early 20s and 30s who lived in Manhattan New York City.
Kaufman and Crane started working on Friends under a different title called Insomnia Café between November and December 1993.
They presented the idea to Kevin Bright, and they all worked together to create a pitch with a seven-page description of the show to NBC.
After writing several script rewrites and changes and a few title changes such as Six of One and Friends Like Us the series was finally named Friends.

Friends was filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank California.
All 10 seasons of the sitcom ranked within the top 10 of the final television season ratings. It reached the number 1 spot in its eighth season.
The series finale was on May 6, 2004, and 52.5 million American viewers watched. It was the 5th most-watched series finale in history and the most-watched television episode in the 2000’s.

Friends became the most popular television shows of all time.
The series was nominated for 62 primetime Emmy awards, winning the Outstanding Comedy Series Award in 2002 for its 8th season.
The show was ranked number 21 on TV Guide’s the Greatest TV Shows of All Time and number 7 on Empire Magazines the 50 Greatest TV Show of All Time.
In 1997 the episode called The One with the Prom Video was ranked number 100 on TV Guide’s 100 greatest episodes of all time.

in 2013, Friends ranked number 24 on the Writers Guild of Americas top 101 best written TV series of all time, and number 28 on TV Guide’s best TV series of all time.
On May 27, 2021, the cast members returned for a reunion special airing on HBO Max.

Premise

Rachel Green played by Jennifer Aniston lives a sheltered life. She is a friendly woman and runs away from her wedding to wealthy man. She feels like that life will be unfulfilling and needs to find her childhood friend Monica Geller played by Courteney Cox.
Monica is a chef and Rachel becomes a waitress at a coffeehouse called West Village Coffeehouse Central Perk.
Rachel decides to move in with Monica in her apartment above Central Perk. She meets Monica’s roommate Phoebe played by Lisa Kudrow. Slowly she begins to meet all of Monica’s friends like her neighbour Joey Tribbiani played by Matt LeBlanc, Joey’s roommate Jan Mebane played by Matthew Perry and Monica’s older brother who is Chandler’s college roommate Ross Geller played by David Schwimmer.
Each episode follows all the Friends’ life in a comedic way. We see their romantic adventures and career issues.
Ross and Rachel’s relationship is shown throughout the series. They date and break up repeatedly. Ross briefly marries someone else and then Ross and Rachel have a child together after they have a one-night stand. Chandler and Monica date and marry each other.

This is a picture of their apartment block.

Casting

Auditions for the lead roles took place in New York and Los Angeles. The casting director shortlisted 1000 actors who applied for each role down to 75.
Those who received a call back read in front of some of the producers.
In the end the number of potential actors was reduced to three or four for each part and those actors were asked to read for the President of Warner Bros. television Les Moonves.
David Schwimmer was cast as Ross first because the series creators worked with him in the past.
Courteney Cox wanted to play the role of Monica because she liked her strong character, but the producers were thinking that she would play the role of Rachel because of her cheery, upbeat energy. After she finished her audition, the producers agreed with her, and she was cast as Monica.
When Matt LeBlanc auditioned for Joey, he portrayed the character differently than was originally thought. He played Joey as more of a simpleminded person than was intended which gave the character more heart. The producers did not want LeBlanc for the role at the time, but they were told by Warner Bros. television to cast him.
Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow got their roles because of their auditions.

Series Finale

The series creators completed the first draft of the hour-long finale in January 2004. This was four months before its original airing was supposed to be.
They watched the finales of other sitcoms to prepare an outline of how the show was to be. They paid attention to what worked and what didn’t work.
The series finale of the Mary Tyler Moore show was considered the gold standard of sitcom finales.
They had difficulty writing the series finale because they didn’t want to take the show out of the show. The most important parts of the finale were filmed without an audience and with a minimum of crew members.
The cast really enjoyed how the finale turned out and they believed their fans would enjoy the ending as well.
After the finale aired The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was filmed on the set of the Friends’ Central Perk Coffeehouse. It featured all the cast members as guests.

Reunion Special

On November 12, 2019, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Warner Bros. TV was developing a Friends Reunion for HBO Max that would feature the whole cast.
On February 21, 2020, HBO confirmed that the reunion special was tentatively called “The One Where They Got Back Together” was going to written be released in May of the same year along with the 236 original episodes of the series.
On March 18, 2020, it was announced that the special that was going to be filmed on the Friends stage on March 23 and 24^th was postponed because of the pandemic.
In November 2020 Matthew Perry tweeted that the reunion is going to start filming in March 2021.
On May 13, 2021, a trailer was released officially announcing Friends: The Reunion.
Finally, the reunion special was released on HBO Max on May 27, 2021.

Some funny videos to end hope you enjoy!

End of the Year Journal Prompts

30 end of year journal prompts to close out this chapter and move into the new year with a fresh mindset

Click to access End-of-Year-Journal-Prompts-2020-The-Blissful-Mind.pdf

Mini Meditation

November 18: BRITNEY SPEARS

Life until 2008

Britney Spears was born December 2nd, 1981 in McComb Mississippi, the second child of Jamie Spears and Lynne Bridges, and the sister to Bryan James and Jamie Lynn.

She started her road to fame from a young age, as she began attending dance lessons at the age of 3 in her hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana. At the age of 5, she made her local stage debut, singing “What Child is This?” at her kindergarten graduation.

Her parents were the type to get her into a lot of extracurricular activities, and by 6 she had already began taking gymnastics, voice lessons and was in talent shows.

When Britney was 8, she and her mother traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to audition for The Mickey Mouse Club, and she was first rejected due to being too young. Through this, she had been introduced to Nancy Carson, a New York City talent agent, and she recommended Spears to enroll for the Professional Performing Arts School in NYC. Once accepted, Lynne and both of her daughters moved to the big city.

Britney began preforming on off-Broadway productions, such as Ruthless, as a contestant on a popular television show Star Search and was cast in a number of commercials. In December 1992, she was officially cast in The Mickey Mouse Club alongside Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling and Keri Russell. After the show was cancelled in 1994, she returned back to Mississippi and enrolled into a school.

THE ALL NEW MICKEY MOUSE CLUB (clockwise from upper center): Nikki DeLoach, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Ryan Gosling, T.J. Fantini, Tate Lynche

In 1997, at the age of 15, Spears was signed to Jive Records, and was partnered with producer Eric Foster White for a month to shape her voice into the distinctively, unmistakable voice that we all know. She then flew to Stockholm, Sweden, where she began to create her debut album “Baby One More Time”.

In 1999 at the age of 16, the album was officially released. The album has worldwide success, topping the charts in fifteen countries and sold over 10 million copies in a year. It became the biggest selling album ever by a teenage artist.

Jive Records wanted the music video to be animated, however Spears rejected it, and suggested the final concept of a Catholic schoolgirl. The single sold 500,000 copies on its first day, and peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. Overall the album sold 25 million copies worldwide.

Over the next two years, she toured with this album, grossing $40.5 million, and she released her first book. This was the time where we started to see Britney portrayed more provocatively, and people seemed to forget just how young she still was.

Between 1999 (after the album release and tour) – 2006

Late 1999 – Appears on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, playing herself
May 2000 – Hosts and performs on Saturday Night Live
September 2000 – announces that she has been dating Justin Timberlake
February 2001, she signed a $7-8 million deal with Pepsi
September 2001 – Performs Slave 4 U at the MTV Video Music Awards with a large python

November 2001 – Releases another album called Britney
February 2002 – Hosts and performs on Saturday Night Live for a second time
February 2002 at 20 years old, she starred in her first film, Crossroads

July 2002 – Ends four year relationship with Justin Timberlake (which Justin Timberlake’s Cry Me a River came out, and then in 2003 the music video was released, in which he used an actor to play Britney)
August 2003 – Kisses Madonna during their performance of Like a Virgin at the MTV Video Awards
January 2004 – Marries childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. The marriage was annulled 55 hours later.
March 2004 – Starts her Onyx Hotel Tour
September 2004 – Releases her first fragrance, Curious
September 2004 – Marries her dancer Kevin Federline
February 2005 – Banned from the Oscars – alongside Paris Hilton and Pamela Anderson – because the committee didn’t want the awards ceremony to become a sideshow
May 2005 – Her reality show Chaotic airs on the UPN network
September 2005 – Gives birth to son Sean Preston Federline

2006 – When we start to see a decline

February 2006 – Photos surface of Spears driving with her son on her lap

April 2006 – Her son falls out of his high chair at home. Spears is questioned by the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services
September 2006 – Gives birth to second son, Jayden James Federline
November 2006 – Files for divorce from Kevin

February 2007 – Checks into a rehab facility, only to check out the next day
Two days later, shaves off all her hair at an LA salon

“It was, you know, ‘I just don’t want anybody, anybody touching my head. I don’t want anyone touching my hair. I’m sick of people touching my hair.'”

Many have linked this to the idea that Britney wanted control of her life and image, after reports claimed that music executives had been in control of every detail of her appearance since she first became famous at the age of 16.

This is the first time where people really started to see what can happen when someone is in the stoplight their whole life… around this time we saw more and more child stars declining due to the pressures that fame can bring (example, Lindsay Lohan)

October 2007 – Released her fifth album Blackout

In January 2008, Spears refused to hand over custody of her sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James, to ex-husband Kevin Federline’s representatives. She was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after police reported that she appeared to be under the influence. Spears’ visitation rights with her kids were suspended, and Federline was given sole custody. She was committed to the psychiatric ward and put on 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold under California state law. The court then placed her under a conservatorship led by her father, Jamie Spears, and attorney Andrew Wallet, giving them complete control of her assets. The conservatorship was due to end in December of that year….. but didn’t end until November 2021, thirteen years later.

November 16: James Corden

James Corden is an actor that created the popular British show called Gavin and Stacey.
He also appeared in the musical Into the Woods and he hosts The Late Late Show.

Early Life and Career

James was born on August 22, 1978, in England.
He discovered that he wanted to be performing at a very early age.
In 2011 he wrote his autobiography called Can I Have Your Attention Please? He said, “I wanted to entertain people, to act, sing, dance; everything and anything that would mean people would look at me and smile.”
James spent most of his childhood in a place called Hazelmere near High Wycombe.
His mother was a social worker and his father was a musician in the Royal Air Force.
His family was very active in the Salvation Army.

He started studying at the Jackie Palmer Stage School, which was an afterschool program that gave children acting and dancing lessons.
When he was 17 he got his first professional part in a production of the musical called Martin Guerre.
Later on he obtained more roles on television such as Boyz Unlimited, Fat Friends, and Teachers.

Who is James Corden?

James started his acting career when he got a role on the London stage when he was 17 years old.
Audiences enjoyed his work on the Allan Bennett play called The History Boys.

After that he created the British sitcom called Gavin and Stacey.

He won Oliver and Tony Awards for His Performances in One Man, Two Guvnors in 2012.
In 2015 he began hosting The Late Late Show.

James also had voice roles in animated films like Peter Rabbit and Cats.

In 2013 James appealed to audiences in another project that was seen on Hulu network called The Wrong Mans.
In 2014 he received a starring role in the musical film Into the Woods. This movie also starred Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Anna Kendrick.

in 2015 James appeared in Kill Your Friends and he provided the voice of the lead characters in animated films such as Trolls in 2016, The Emoji Movie in 2017, and Peter Rabbit in 2018.

The Late Late Show

In September 2014 James Corden would replace Craig Ferguson as the host of the Late Late Show.
He was very surprised At this decision and said to Variety Magazine, “When I got the job, I’d never even been on an American talk show.” He considered this decision to hire him to be “a really bold choice”.
The first show was in March 2005 and Tom Hanks was one of the guests.
Since then, he has had a lot of very famous people on the show including Mariah Carey, Katie Couric, David Beckham, Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande.
Although James did not talk a lot about political issues on his show like Jimmy Kimmel, James made his popularity grow by creating humorous segments called Carpool Karaoke. He received an Emmy award when in 2016 for this segment.
In 2017 another segment on the show called Drop the Mic became a separate TV competition series.

in August 2019 CBS announced that Corden’s contract to host the Late Late Show will go through until 2022.

Tony and Grammy Awards Host

Because of his great sense of humour and performing skills Corden was a very popular choice to host some of television’s major award ceremonies.
Some of them are the 70^th Tony awards in June 2016, 59^th annual Grammy awards in February 2017 as well as in 2018 and the Tony awards for the second time in June 2019.

Wife and kids

James Corden's Kids: Star Jokes It's Not Worth Taking His Family out to Eat

Corden moved from England to Los Angeles his wife Julia and their three children Max, Carey and Charlotte.