The year’s biggest band of superheroes is back. Bruce Jenner’s long-awaited TV interview sparks reactions. And fans are salivating over Saturday’s action-packed sports lineup.
Here are the week’s top trending stories.
‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ hits theaters
Iron Man! The Hulk! Scarlet in that black suit!
It’s arguably 2015’s biggest blockbuster (at least until “Star Wars” arrives in December), and it’s finally here. Fans are lining up for screenings, debating the movie’s merits on social media and generally hyperventilating over the wonder of it all.
Super sports Saturday
The NFL Draft. The NBA and NHL playoffs. The Kentucky Derby. Mayweather-Pacquiao. All in one day! You’ll need dynamite to get sports fans off the couch on Saturday.
Bruce Jenner’s bold transition
Jenner’s big TV interview was last Friday, but discussion about his evolving gender identity spilled over into this week. Some speculated about his upcoming reality-TV series, while Diane von Furstenberg took heat for a controversial Instagram post.
You get an F, and you get an F, and you get an F …
A Texas A&M Galveston professor failed all the students in his strategic management class, saying he had hit “the breaking point” over their unruly and disrespectful behavior. An administrator said the university may not let the failing grades stand, but a message was most definitely sent.
Swan songs
They were very different singers, but they each recorded a song in the early ’60s that would become a classic, be featured in movies and define their careers. And they both died this week.
RIP Jack Ely of the Kingsmen (“Louie Louie”) and soul crooner Ben E. King (“Stand By Me.”)
Fixing Baltimore
Judy Smith, the crisis consultant who inspired the character Olivia Pope on the hit TV drama “Scandal,” has apparently been hired to help the city of Baltimore with its image problem in the wake of this week’s racial unrest.
Let’s hope her new job is not as messy as Pope’s can be.
Goodbye ‘Revenge’
Maybe viewers grew weary of its soapy, “House of Cards”-like machinations. Or maybe producers were running out of characters to kill off. But ABC canceled “Revenge” after four seasons, prompting a Twitter outcry.
‘Roots’ redux
No successful movie or TV property lasts forever in Hollywood without being retooled for new audiences. Get ready for a remake of “Roots,” the 1977 epic miniseries, coming next year.
Hootie on Letterman
Hootie and the Blowfish reunited to play their first hit, “Hold My Hand,” Thursday night on David Letterman’s “Late Show.” And suddenly, it was 1994 again.
A bridge too far
Kirstie Alley. Christie ally. It’s a tongue twister.
No, the actress did not plead guilty this week to charges stemming from “Bridgegate,” the George Washington Bridge lane-closings scandal that engulfed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in 2013. That would be former “Christie ally” David Wildstein.
But the Internet was confused, and amused.