Basketball HOFer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar appeared on NBC’s “Last Call” to promote his new graphic novel, “Mycroft Holmes and The Apocalypse Handbook.” Abdul-Jabbar: “There was always more than just sports. I’ve been interested in a lot of things my whole life, and I was able to pursue more than one thing as a passion.” The “format is a comic book and you have to tell the whole story in a few boxes, a few panels, so you have to do it in a different way and steampunk style suits itself to that genre.” Abdul-Jabbar said throughout his basketball career, reading "relaxed me and you know it allowed me to shut everything else out before we had to get ready to focus on the game.” Abdul Jabbar said of the ongoing social protests in pro sports, “You can’t ask someone just to be what their professional life is and not have anything to say or comment on with regards to what they see going on in the world” (“Last Call,” NBC, 11/14).
Last night’s edition of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” marked host Jimmy Kimmel’s 50th birthday, with film director J.J. Abrams surprising Kimmel by appearing on set with a comic book Kimmel had written and illustrated when he was 9 years old. Abrams said he “got my hands on” the comic book “through various sources, and the characters really spoke to me and they demanded to be brought to life." Abrams joked they “spent” $250M on the filming of “The Terrific Ten,” much to Kimmel’s surprise. Shaquille O’Neal portrayed one of the superheroes from Kimmel's comic (“Jimmy Kimmel Live,” ABC, 11/13).
ESPN personality and former Paralympian Victoria Arlen was eliminated from ABC’s “DWTS” last night, but co-host Tom Bergeron told her, “You are one of the most inspiring people I've met in 25 seasons. And more than a ‘Mirror Ball,’ think about what you’ve given to thousands of people who might have given up hope. That's a greater gift than we could have ever given you” (“DWTS,” ABC, 11/13).
