52 | JANUARY 27 • 2022 

MYSTERY IN 8 ACTS; 
BETTY CELEBRATED; 
GAME-CHANGING 
VACCINE? AT&T STAR 
UPDATE
The Afterparty is an Apple+ 
series that premieres on 
Friday, Jan. 28. It centers on 
a murder mystery at a high 
school reunion. Each one of 
the series’ eight episodes 
features a retelling of the 
same night from a different 
character’s perspective. 
Each episode has its own 
unique visual style and film 
genre to match the teller’s 
personality. Ike Barinholtz, 
44, Ilana Glazer, 34, and Ben 
Schwartz, 40, play members 
of the high school reunion 
class. They each have “their 
own” episode. 
Dave Franco, 36, plays 
Xavier, the murder victim, and 
Tiffany Haddish, 42, plays a 
police detective investigating 
Xavier’s death. Advance 
reviews are quite good. 
Celebrating Betty White: 
America’s Golden Girl is a 
one-hour special that will air 
on NBC on Monday, Jan. 31, 
at 10 p.m.. The special will 
feature friends and co-stars 
of White. It will also include a 
lot of great Betty White clips. 
I was a bit surprised that 
the special is on NBC, since 
White’s most famous roles 
were in two CBS shows: 
The Mary Tyler Moore Show 
(MTM) and The Golden Girls. 
But, during her long career, 
she appeared many times 
on NBC and even starred in 
a short-lived NBC sit-com in 
the ’50s. 
No guest list has been 
announced as I write this. No 
doubt, many Jewish folks will 
appear. Sadly, none of the 

stars of MTM or The Golden 
Girls will appear. White 
was the last surviving main 
cast member of both these 
shows.
I am virtually certain that 
James L. Brooks, 81, will 
appear. He praised White 
right after her death. Brooks, 
a three-time Oscar winner, 
co-created MTM and even 
once had a cameo role on 
the show, playing a rabbi. 
He co-wrote the show’s first 
episode and seven others. 
It would be great if Ed. 
Weinberger, 80, and Susan 
Harris, 81, appeared on the 
special. Weinberger wrote 
the episode in which Betty 
White first appeared on MTM 
(as Sue Ann Nivens, The 
Happy Homemaker). He 
wrote or co-wrote another 
19 MTM episodes. Harris 
created The Golden Girls, 
and she wrote the first 
episode. 
Back in March 2020, I 
wrote a column item that 
included Dr. Peter Hotez, 
now 63. Here’s what I said: 
“[Hotez] is the director of the 
Texas Center for Vaccine 
Development. He frequently 
appears on MSNBC and 
CNN. He’s been working 
with India on a COVID-
19 vaccine. In 2017, he 
received the Distinguished 
Achievement Award from 
B’nai B’rith International.”
Hotez has remained a 
frequent news show guest. 
He’s always remotely 
interviewed in his office and, 
most of the time, you can 
see a biography of Israeli 
diplomat Abba Eban behind 
him on a bookshelf. The front 
of this big book is facing out. 
This “Eban/Israel plug” is 
clearly intentional. 
In late December, it 

was announced that a 
COVID-19 vaccine that 
Hotez co-developed with 
one American colleague 
had been authorized for 
emergency use in India and 
Bangladesh. The vaccine 
is not being patented (so 
cost will be very low). India, 
and other lesser-developed 
countries, have existing 
factories that can massively 
and cheaply produce this 
“low-tech” vaccine. It could 
be a global “game-changer.” 
You might be curious 
about the AT&T fictional 
salesperson, “Lily”, in TV ads. 
Long ago, I reported that 
Lily was/is played by Milana 
Vayntrub, now 34. She was 
born in the former Soviet 
Union. Her Jewish parents 
were tired of antisemitism 
and came to the States in 
1989. Milana was then 2 
years old. The family settled 
in Los Angeles. 
Milana was a modestly 
successful child actor who 
didn’t have much career 
success as an adult actor. 
Then she got the Lily role in 
2013. The Lily ads ended in 

2017, only to be revived in 
2020. Milana has been an 
ace salesperson for AT&T. 
Sales soared when she 
appeared (as Lily) in 2013 
and went down until she 
returned.
After seeing a recent AT&T 
Lily ad, I was curious if there 
was anything new to say 
about Milana. Well, there is. 
First of all, she now directs 
the ads she is in. Second, 
the Lily character is now 
always filmed so she appears 
friendly, but business-like, 
with little attention to her 
body. 
Why? Because, like a lot 
of female celebs, Vayntrub 
has been photographed 
on Hollywood red-carpets, 
etc., in a low-cut dress and 
she has a voluptuous figure. 
These photos attracted 
the attention of idiots who 
bombarded her personal 
and corporate social 
media (Instagram, etc.) with 
inappropriate and sexually 
harassing messages. Steps 
have now been taken 
to quickly delete such 
messages. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE
Ed. Weinberger

GOODREADS

