Behind the Scenes Buzz with Jerry O’Connell and Jennifer Carpenter

Jul 15, 2021 | 6:09 AM

JERRY O’CONNELL JOINS ‘THE TALK’: Jerry O’Connell has officially joined The Talk as its first male co-host.  The announcement was made on Wednesday’s (July 14th) episode of the daytime show. O’Connell will fill the slot vacated by Sharon Osbourne after serving as a frequent guest host for the last couple of months.  The rest of the hosting team includes Sheryl Underwood, Carrie Ann Inaba, Amanda Klots, Eve and Elaine Weleroth.

‘LOKI’ RENEWED FOR SEASON 2: Disney+ has renewed Loki for a second season.  Marvel revealed the news in a post-credits scene in the final episode of season one, which dropped Wednesday (July 14th).  The announcement simply said, “Loki will return in season 2.”

HBO REPORTEDLY PAID JAMES GANDOLFINI TO TURN DOWN ‘THE OFFICE’: HBO reportedly paid James Gandolfini $3 million to turn down Steve Carell’s role in The Office.  During the latest episode of Talking Sopranos, hosts Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa revealed to guest Ricky Gervais that the late Sopranos star had been in talks to join the office after Carell left and before James Spader joined the cast.  According to Schirripa, Gandolfini was offered $4 million to join the NBC sitcom, but HBO paid him $3million not to do it.  Gervais joked, “So they paid him that to keep the legacy of The Sopranos pure?”

AMAZON PULLS PLUG ON ‘JOE EXOTIC’: Amazon has pulled the plug on their series about Tiger King’s Joe Exotic.  According to Nicolas Cage, who was set to star in the show, the scripts were “excellent” but it took too long for the project to come together.  Cage told Variety, “They felt at one point that it was lightning in a bottle, but that point has since faded into the distance and it’s no longer relevant.”