Names and faces

Lee Daniels attends the Time 100 Gala, celebrating the 100 most influential people in the world, at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in New York. 
(Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Lee Daniels attends the Time 100 Gala, celebrating the 100 most influential people in the world, at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

ABC is rebooting “The Wonder Years,” a beloved coming-of-age sitcom about the U.S. middle class, only this time it will tell the story of a Black family in Alabama. “Empire” co-creator Lee Daniels is executive producing the project, alongside Fred Savage, the star of the original series, which debuted in 1988. Neal Marlens, who co-created “The Wonder Years,” will serve as a consultant. “The Wonder Years,” which ran until 1993, originally depicted Kevin Arnold, a young boy in what was presented as a typical American family dealing with the tribulations of the late 1960s and early 1970s. ABC has only committed to produce a pilot of the show, which means it may never get on the air. But ABC and its owner Walt Disney Co. have made telling more Black stories a priority since the killing of George Floyd, which created a wave of protests about racial injustice. Hollywood has long struggled to produce shows that represent the diversity of America. ABC was once the home to both Kenya Barris and Shonda Rhimes, two of the most prominent Black writers in TV, but both have since signed deals with Netflix Inc.

Fred Savage attends the FOX 2019 Upfront party at Wollman Rink in Central Park on Monday, May 13, 2019, in New York. 
(Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Fred Savage attends the FOX 2019 Upfront party at Wollman Rink in Central Park on Monday, May 13, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

Johnny Depp said in a London court Friday that he was left embittered by ex-wife Amber Heard’s claims that he abused her, which turned him from “Cinderella to Quasimodo” in the public eye. He also said the couple’s tempestuous marriage broke down for good after an incident in which he accused Heard or one of her friends of defecating in the couple’s bed — which she blamed on one of the couple’s Yorkshire terriers. “I thought that was an oddly fitting end to the relationship,” he said. Depp gave a fourth day of testimony in his libel case against a British tabloid newspaper that accused him of physically abusing Heard. The Hollywood star is suing News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and the paper’s executive editor, Dan Wootton, over an April 2018 article that called him a “wife-beater.” Depp, 57, and Heard, 34, met on the set of the 2011 comedy “The Rum Diary” and married in Los Angeles in February 2015. Heard, a model and actress, filed for divorce the following year. In the High Court witness box, Depp has described a volatile relationship with Heard that descended into screaming matches that sometimes turned physical, but he has denied hitting Heard and accused her of compiling a dossier of fake claims against him as an “insurance policy.” In 2016, Heard obtained a restraining order against Depp, claiming that he’d hit her and thrown a cellphone at her during an argument, bruising her cheek, which Depp denied. A police officer who went to the penthouse after a 911 call that evening said she saw no sign of injury on Heard’s face. Heard is scheduled to testify next week.

Johnny Depp, center, leaves the High Court, in London, Friday, July 10, 2020. 
(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
Johnny Depp, center, leaves the High Court, in London, Friday, July 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

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