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Shazam Star Michael Gray Dies at 75

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Variety reports that Michael Gray, star of the 1970s “Shazam!” TV series, died Friday in Palm Desert from natural causes at age 75.

Variety reports CBS's fall 2026 premiere week averaged 8.63 million viewers, up 14% from 2025, according to Nielsen live+7 data.

Variety reports Chaka Khan will receive the Classic Soul Honor at the 2026 Soul Train Awards.

Variety reports NBC has given “Line of Fire” a full 18-episode season order after it became a breakout hit.

Fact-check

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Variety reports that Michael Gray, star of the 1970s “Shazam!” TV series, died Friday in Palm Desert from natural causes at age 75.

Michael Gray, Star of ‘Shazam!’ TV Series, Dies at 75 - Michael Gray, the star of the 1970s “Shazam!” television series, died on Friday in Palm Desert from natural causes. He was 75. Gray first got his break in television in 1972 when he was cast in NBC’s “The Little People” alon

Original post · Variety

Variety NAMES: Michael Gray = actor known for the 1970s “Shazam!” TV series; Shazam! = DC Comics superhero and TV series

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Variety reports CBS's fall 2026 premiere week averaged 8.63 million viewers, up 14% from 2025, according to Nielsen live+7 data.

CBS Premiere Week Multiplatform Ratings See Big Year-Over-Year Increases (EXCLUSIVE) - CBS kicked off its fall 2026 TV season the week of Oct. 4 with a strong performance for its new and returning series, according to Nielsen live+7 multiplatform data. Per that data, CBS’ premier

Original post · Variety

Variety NAMES: CBS = U.S. broadcast network

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Variety reports Chaka Khan will receive the Classic Soul Honor at the 2026 Soul Train Awards.

Chaka Khan to Be Honored at Soul Train Awards (TV News Roundup) - Chaka Khan will receive the Classic Soul Honor at the 2026 Soul Train Awards, celebrating the singer-songwriter’s influence on R&B. Across her career, which spans more than five decades, Khan helped shape the sound

Original post · Variety

Variety NAMES: Chaka Khan = singer-songwriter; Soul Train Awards = annual music awards show

VERIFIED TRUE

Variety reports NBC has given “Line of Fire” a full 18-episode season order after it became a breakout hit.

‘Line of Fire’ Gets Full 18-Episode Season Order at NBC - “Line of Fire” has been given a full 18-episode season order at NBC. The freshman action thriller series is one of the fall season’s breakout hits, with NBC’s best delayed-viewing lift in more than three years. Initially s

Original post · Variety

Variety NAMES: Line of Fire = NBC action thriller series; NBC = U.S. broadcast network

Sources

What the hosts said

EMichael Gray died. The guy who played Billy Batson's older self on the seventies Shazam show.
SSeventy-five. Variety says natural causes, Friday in Palm Desert.
EThat show was pure Saturday morning. A kid says a magic word, lightning hits, and suddenly he's a grown man in a red suit.
SThe premise is still funny. A teenager turns into a middle-aged man to fight crime.
EThe ultimate fantasy: instant adulthood, no homework, and a cape.
SGray was the face of that for a whole generation. Before the movie, before the memes, he was Shazam.
EAnd he kept working for decades. Guest spots, conventions, the whole circuit. Fans loved him.
SSeventy-five is too young. But he had a good run, and he left a mark.
EDifferent world entirely: CBS is crowing about premiere week. Eight point six million viewers, up fourteen percent from last year.
SBroadcast TV is up? In 2026? I need to see the fine print.
ENielsen live-plus-seven. So they're counting a full week of delayed viewing, not just the night it aired.
SRight. So people watched it on their own time. That's not a comeback, that's just... television.
EBut it's still real. Advertisers pay for those eyeballs whether they show up Thursday or Sunday.
SFair. And CBS has the procedurals, the comfort food. People still want that.
ESpeaking of comfort food, NBC just gave 'Line of Fire' a full eighteen-episode order.
SThe action thriller? I heard it was doing well, but a full season pickup this fast?
EVariety says it's NBC's best delayed-viewing lift in more than three years. That's the metric now.
SSo the show nobody watches live is the breakout hit. That's the business now.
EIt's the 'I'll get to it' economy. Networks have finally learned to count it.
SAnd Chaka Khan is getting the Classic Soul Honor at the Soul Train Awards.
EAbout time. Five decades of hits. 'Ain't Nobody,' 'Tell Me Something Good,' 'I'm Every Woman.'
SShe shaped the sound of R&B. That's not hype, that's just a fact.
EThe woman has been sampled, covered, and imitated more than almost anyone. The honor is overdue.
SAnd it's a good reminder that the awards show still matters for the legends, even if the ratings are what they are.
EAlright, one more from the feed. A bunch of people are posting 'I can't stop laughing' with no context.
SThe internet's favorite genre: a joke you had to be there for.
EOne account, Love of Silom, posted it with a link. Thirty-five likes. The replies are just more laughing.
SSo it's either the funniest thing ever posted, or it's a video of a cat falling off a couch.
EMy money's on the cat. It's always the cat.
SWe're not going to describe a video we can't see. But the fact that three separate accounts posted the same reaction...
EThat's the algorithm doing its thing. One viral clip, a thousand 'I can't stop laughing' posts.
SAnd none of them tell you what it is. It's the internet equivalent of a friend saying 'you had to be there.'
EWhich is the most annoying thing a friend can say, by the way.
SAnd yet we all do it.

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