TV

Ashley Benson brought holiday cheer early this year for a group of people who need it the most -- calling sick kids across the country ... and then popping into a hospital for some one-on-one time as well.

The "Pretty Little Liars" star recently partnered up with this new app called SuperCall, which gives people the opportunity to talk to their favorite celeb via FaceTime. On Thursday and Friday, Ash and SuperCall decided to ring up 50 hospitalized children with varying illnesses.

The result, as you can see, was nothing short of a tug of war at the heartstrings.

Ashley spoke to each kid via SuperCall for 90 seconds, and it sounds like the topic of the day was Thanksgiving and favorite holiday meals. AB's is mashed potatoes, classic. On top of the call, Ashley and SuperCall also sent these young folks brand new iPhones.

As part of the initiative -- which was aimed at raising money that was donated to charity -- Ashley went ahead and visited the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn and talked to a bunch of the patients, including some of the kids selected. Of course, everyone got a pic too.

While there, it looks like Ashley took time to check in on the neonatal intensive care unit ... where premature babies are cared for. She's been open about the fact she herself was born prematurely, so clearly that hits home for her.

Gabrielle Union's claims of a toxic workplace at 'AGT' has Ellen Pompeo sounding off in support of Gabby -- but now someone's also defending Jay Leno, saying his Korean joke wasn't racist at all.

You'll recall, Gabrielle reportedly feels she was canned because she complained to producers and NBC about racially insensitive situations on the 'AGT' set -- among them a joke Leno made, while guest judging, about Koreans eating dogs.

We got comedian Alonzo Bodden -- himself a "Last Comic Standing" champ -- at the Laugh Factory and he stood up for Jay, explaining why he feels it was NOT a racist joke. In a nutshell, he says there's a big difference between playing off a "common stereotype" and attacking a specific person over race.

The Leno joke was edited out and never made air, but Alonzo still laughed off any thoughts of a 'Cancel Leno' movement. He also added Leno was the least of Gabrielle's issues on the show.

She reportedly also had issues with producers' "excessive notes" about her physical appearance, wardrobe and hair -- and Pompeo weighed in Thursday, calling Gabby courageous for taking a stand.

The "Grey's Anatomy" star also called out NBC for not changing "practices or culture" after Matt Lauer's sexual misconduct scandal.

Chris Tavarez, from the Disney Channel hit "K.C. Undercover," isn't getting off easy in his domestic violence case with his girlfriend ... and his past is a big reason why.

The L.A. County D.A. has charged the 27-year-old actor with one count of felony domestic violence with a prior conviction. That prior is from a plea deal Tavarez took in 2018.

According to the City Attorney's Office, Tavarez was charged with 2 counts of spousal battery for an incident that occurred in June 2017. He pled no contest to one count, and had to serve 180 days in jail, complete a 52-week Domestic Violence Treatment Program, pay a fine and was ordered to stay away from the victim. The second count was dismissed.

He was also placed on 36 months summary probation, which means his latest arrest could mean a probation violation.

We broke the story ... Tavarez was busted after he allegedly flew into a rage during an argument with his GF and pushed her, which caused her to hit her head and suffer a concussion.

"The Orville" might come back with less tension on set, because 2 of its lead actors who were headed toward a vortex of divorce just steered back into orbit ... or so it seems.

Adrianne Palicki -- who plays Commander Kelly Grayson on the show -- recently requested to have her divorce petition against costar and real-life hubby Scott Grimes dismissed. She made the ask last week and on the same day ... a judge granted it.

That's a complete 180 from where things seemed to be heading just a short while ago -- when Adrianne filed for divorce after a measly 2 months of marriage. She and Scott tied the knot this past May, and in July ... she was already asking a court to let her out.

We don't know why Adrianne did a U-turn here but based on what these two were wearing at a Comic-Con event in October ... something tells us they probably reconciled.

Adrianne and Scott sat right next to each other during a panel discussion, and both appeared to be wearing wedding rings. Scott especially ... ya can't miss that thing.

It should be noted ... they weren't wearing their rings at the Comic-Con event in San Diego this past summer. They even had another actor sitting between them during that panel.

The show's on a hiatus right now, and it's even gonna air on a different platform than its original home at FOX. Hulu picked it up, and season 3 is supposed to come back in 2020.

Bill Cosby says he's got no issue rotting in prison, even if that's for the rest of his life, because he's never going to show a bit of remorse for his crime.

The 82-year-old comedian -- who was found guilty of aggravated indecent assault and sentenced to 3 to 10 years -- gave his first prison interview to Black Press USA, and said, "I have 8 years and 9 months left. When I come up for parole, they're not going to hear me say that I have remorse. I was there. I don't care what group of people come along and talk about this when they weren't there."

In other words, he's doubling down on maintaining his innocence and throwing away any possibility of an early release. Parole boards typically want inmates to show some remorse. Cosby also claimed his trial was a complete sham.

There were some other nuggets that came of the interview -- notably, the fact Cosby seems to be somewhat enjoying himself at SCI-Phoenix ... a max security penitentiary. He says he helps teach and mentor inmates through a program called Mann Up.

Cosby also says he's a "privileged man" behind bars, going on to refer his cell as "my penthouse." He didn't get into the deets on how his cell is any different, though.

Cosby added, he's very much concerned for black America ... arguing drugs were a big cause for the community's issues. He also tried to make a connection between women and how folks buying drugs should consider the pain of mothers.

He says he recently dedicated one of his prison speeches to women, in honor of his wife, Camille.

A man who scored a $100,000 investment on "Shark Tank" might want to invest in a good lawyer, because he was just charged in a massive ecstasy bust.

Joseph Parisi was charged with 9 drug-related offenses after federal agents say he was caught getting ecstasy shipped to his Illinois home from the Netherlands. In total, officials say they seized over 600 grams of ecstasy, 7 grams of mushrooms, cocaine and 65 grams of weed.

The total estimated street value of the drugs is $80,000.

Parisi and a partner secured a $100,000 investment from Barbara Corcoran for Guard Llama ... a security remote system for people who might be in life-threatening situations. Kevin O'Leary and Barbara battled with dueling offers before the deal was struck.

Tyler Perry just rescued a couple who were essentially trapped in a Mexican hospital, which wouldn't let them leave until their bill was paid -- and the story is WILD!!!

Here's the deal ... Atlanta couple Tori Austin and her fiance, Stephen Johnson, were recently enjoying themselves on a cruise ... but had to get to a hospital onshore ASAP after Stephen suddenly fell ill and was diagnosed with pancreatitis, diabetes and a kidney infection.

They ended up in a Mexican hospital called Centro Medico Americano in Progreso, where he was treated with dialysis and other procedures to alleviate his near-fatal ailments.

Fast-forward to this past week, when Tori and Stephen were told they couldn't leave the hospital until their bill was paid in full -- which, at that point, had totaled up to a whopping $14,000. Their families started a GoFundMe page, but it had hardly racked up enough donations to cover them. Enter Tyler ... who heard about this and offered to pay it himself.

We've learned that Tyler tried calling up the hospital and giving them his credit card info to cover the tab entirely -- but he was rebuffed, and instead ...  we're told he ended up having to wire the money, which should hopefully arrive by Monday.

Once that's taken care of, sources tell us Stephen is scheduled to be discharged by Tuesday. While there were concerns Stephen would have to be flown back in a medevac plane -- which we're told Tyler was prepared to cover too -- it turns out he's expected to be well enough to fly back commercially.

Hilary Duff seems to have a few tricks up her sleeve about her new "Lizzie McGuire" reboot on Disney+ -- and by that, we mean Miranda MIGHT be coming back. Maybe ...

Of course, we could be totally wrong -- 'cause the answer really isn't all that clear based on what HD told us Saturday in L.A. That said, you better believe we asked -- in our own roundabout way -- about Lalaine Vergara-Paras possibly being brought back.

ICYMI ... Disney+ announced it's doing a 'Lizzie' reboot as part of its upcoming content, and just last week ... Adam Lamberg -- who played Gordo -- was confirmed to be onboard.

The only remaining question -- as far as die-hard fans are concerned -- is whether Lalaine would be reprising her role as Miranda Sanchez. After all, the 3 of them were an inseparable trio during the original series' 2-season run. So, you'd think it's a no-brainer, right?!?

Check out the clip ... Hilary doesn't let anything slip about any future characters making a comeback. But, based on her tone here, something tells us there certainly may be.

Considering Miranda's character was mysteriously written out of the movie in 2003 -- Lalaine supposedly went on to pursue a music career in real life at the time -- we're pretty certain viewers would like nothing more than to see her back together with her old TV gang.

It looks like the feeling might be mutual on Lalaine's part as well -- she recently posted a throwback photo of her, Hilary and Adam together on set. So, she's definitely got 'Lizzie' on the brain.

Tommen Baratheon is backing up what Tormund Giantsbane has said about an alternate ending to their hit show, "Game of Thrones" ... and goes further by demanding its release.

We got Dean-Charles Chapman Saturday in NYC and asked him about what costar Kristofer Hivju recently said to a British outlet about a different version of events for the 'GoT' finale -- which he said was mostly for fun, and something he probably couldn't talk about.

Dean plays it close to the vest here, not revealing the content of any such ending. But, he certainly seems to be confirming there was actually a second ending that was shot.

Granted, Dean's character -- who was prematurely crowned King of Westeros -- was killed off in season 6. Still though, he appears to know about the secret ending -- and is down to see it out there. Check it out ... he says the fans deserve at least that after being let down.

Of course, tons of people were pissed over the actual ending to the series -- including AOC and Senator Elizabeth Warren -- because they felt it was rushed and poorly written.

Justin Hartley has filed for divorce after only 2 years of marriage.

Hartley filed legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- in which he claims irreconcilable differences as the reason for the divorce from Chrishell Stause, who has been on "Days of Our Lives" and is a star of the Netflix show, "Selling Sunset."

It's almost like this came out of the blue. Justin and Chrishell were together just last week, so something seems to have happened.

The couple has no children together, so custody won't be an issue. It's unclear if they have a prenup. BTW, Justin has one child from a previous marriage.

Justin and Chrishell dated for 3 years before he proposed. They met when their mutual friend encouraged them to go on a date since they were both starring in soaps at the time and were single. He was on "Young and the Restless," and the soap community is small.

Brett Dalton's marriage could no longer be shielded ... from the ultimate blow of divorce.

The "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" star filed for divorce Friday in L.A. from his wife Melissa Trn ... TMZ has learned. The couple wed in December 2015 but dated for several years before he popped the question.

Brett and Melissa have a 7-year-old daughter together, so they'll have custody and child support issues to work out ... among other things of course.

The 2 met while they were attending the Yale School of Drama together. Melissa is a costume designer, currently working in NYC.

Jerod Sechrist -- known for his brief and turbulent stint on "Deadliest Catch" -- is in even more hot water now ... he's been arrested for allegedly shoplifting from IKEA.

The 33-year-old was picked up on a warrant for grand theft this week in Tampa and has been booked on a felony charge. According to police docs ... Sechrist loaded up a shopping cart with $1,034 worth of electronics in early October and left the store without paying, then tried to flee on his bicycle while pulling the cart full of goods behind him.

Cops say Sechrist was stopped by security and photographed before he bailed on the stolen items and took off on his bike. The incident was allegedly his fifth time stealing from the IKEA.

According to the docs ... cops worked with security staff at the store to review surveillance footage and match the suspect on camera with Sechrist, then obtained the warrant for his arrest on November 20. He was taken in without incident.

What's more interesting -- according to police -- is Sechrist's alleged theft occurred around the same time he was busted for drugs. We broke that story ... Sechrist was arrested for drug possession -- specifically felony possession of heroin and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

We're told he was released from jail earlier this month, but alas ... he's back again.

Courteney Cox is filled with gratitude and can't stop thanking the photographer who ran out onto treacherous Pacific Coast Highway and saved her 2 pooches.

Courteney was leaving Giorgio Baldi restaurant Thursday night in Santa Monica and ran into the photog who scooped up her 2 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels after they bolted from her Malibu mansion onto the PCH.

Mind you ... Courteney profusely thanked the photog Wednesday after he handed off the dogs to her, but the appreciation was in full bloom at Giorgio Baldi. Matter of fact -- watch the video closely -- she definitely hands him something that seems to be a cash reward.

The photog is really gracious ... making it clear he didn't want anything in return for saving her dogs -- not even a photo.

One of the brothers who admitted to carrying out an elaborate hoax to make it look like Jussie Smollett was the victim of a hate crime is back to acting -- before the ex-"Empire" star.

Abel Osundairo will be making his acting debut in the upcoming low-budget film, "Friends Family & Lovers," and not only that ... he's playing the main character, Dushon.

The movie's directed and co-written by Michael Ballard, who also co-wrote the Master P produced comedy "I Got the Hook Up 2," and is set to screen this weekend at the University of Chicago.

Judging by the trailer, 'FF&L' isn't going to be in the mix for a Best Picture nom, but still ... a gig's a gig, and it's more onscreen work than Smollett's gotten since his fiasco in Chicago.

As we reported ... Jussie's "Empire" character was written out of the show after his alleged hoax and got renewed in April without him.

His acting career's been on hiatus ever since, and it seems he's much more busy battling the City of Chicago. In fact, he just filed a countersuit against the city claiming malicious prosecution.

Jussie also included the Osundairo brother in his suit, which their lawyer called a sad attempt to falsely smear them.

At least Abel's not letting it stop him from launching his acting career.

Nick Cannon is siding with Terrell Owens -- saying the NFL legend was RIGHT when he said ESPN's Max Kellerman is blacker than Stephen A. Smith.

He was laughing when he said it ... but it's clear Nick agrees with Owens when it comes to the larger topic, Colin Kaepernick.

FYI, Cannon is close friends with Kap -- which was the topic of discussion that set things off on ESPN's "First Take" between T.O. and Stephen A. on Thursday.

Owens has been unhappy with Stephen A's negative criticism of Kap for the way the QB handled the NFL workout -- so he went on the show to hash things out and told SAS his white cohost Max Kellerman "almost seems blacker than you."

Stephen A. was PISSED and told Owens that he "done crossed the line.":

So, when we saw Cannon out in L.A. on Thursday night, he made it clear he's on Team T.O.

"At the end of the day, you always have to stand for your culture. We always gotta have a united front as a people."

Cannon added, "I support Kaepernick 100%. I've always been with him 'cause that's one of my close friends."

Oprah paid tribute to Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison by reading some of her literature and sharing a great anecdote about their first meeting.

Toni's celebration of life was held Thursday at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in Manhattan. Angela Davis, Fran Lebowitz, Jesmyn Ward -- along with Oprah -- stepped up to the pulpit to honor their friend.

Oprah talked about the first time she met Toni -- during a gathering in Maya Angelou's backyard, of all places -- and called it "One of the great thrills of my life." That's despite the fact Oprah admitted saying something a little embarrassing to the celebrated author -- watch the clip, the story got big laughs.

To close out her time, Oprah recited a passage from Toni's 1977 work "Song of Solomon" ... and, again, the audience burst into applause.

Toni died in August of complications from pneumonia while surrounded by her loved ones.

Toni was perhaps best known for her 1987 best-seller, "Beloved." She was a renowned figure in literature for her novels that spoke to the African-American experience. "Beloved," "Jazz" and "Paradise" made up a loose trilogy -- with the first book being adapted into the 1998 film starring Oprah and Danny Glover.