Will Forte arrives at the premiere of "Good Boys" in Los Angeles on Aug. 14, 2019. “MacGruber,” a parody skit on “Saturday Night Live” that became a movie, is coming back to the small screen. The NBCUniversal streaming platform Peacock said Monday that Forte will once again play the mullet-haired hero for a new half-hour series. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
By Mark Kennedy, Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --
"MacGruber," a parody skit on "Saturday Night Live" that became a movie, is coming back to the small screen.
The NBCUniversal streaming platform Peacock said Monday that Will Forte will once again play the mullet-haired hero for a new half-hour series.
Peacock said the series will follow MacGruber after rotting in prison for a decade as he hunts down a mysterious villain from his past.
The "MacGyver" parody series will use the 2010 film adaptation as a jumping off point. That portrayed MacGruber as a soldier of fortune who is supposedly a whiz at defusing bombs. The film also starred Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe and Val Kilmer.
The film "MacGruber" helped Forte transition from "Saturday Night Live." While a box-office disappointment, earning just $8.5 million, the absurdist comedy has its cult adherents.
Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)
Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.
Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.
"We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.
Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.
His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.
Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.
"Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More
