The famed Downton Abbey dining room featured at “Downton Abbey: The Exhibition.” (Marc Vitali / WTTW News)

In the old Bloomingdale’s store, there’s plenty of elbow room to tour this museum-quality show filled with sets, memorabilia and props. 

Director William Friedkin poses for portraits after interviews for his film “Killer Joe” in Venice, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011. (AP Photo / Joel Ryan, File)

Before his Hollywood career, Friedkin worked for WTTW and WGN

Born in Chicago on Aug. 29, 1939, he began working in local TV productions as a teenager. By age 16 he was directing live shows.

Paul Reubens stars in “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” (Credit: Warner Bros.)

Paul Reubens, who found fame as the quirky man-child character Pee-wee Herman, has died, according to an announcement on his verified social media.

Actors Sheryl Lee Ralph, left, and Lisa Ann Walter, members of the cast of “Abbott Elementary,” participate in a rally in support of the actors and writers strikes at Love Park in Philadelphia on Thursday, July 20, 2023. (AP Photo / Tassanee Vejpongsa)

In Chicago, hundreds of strikers — many wearing black SAG T-shirts — marched and chanted at Millennium Park and Grant Park, “We’re union/United/Never be divided.” A small brass band played “This Land Is Your Land.”

Actors and comedians Tina Fey, center, and Fred Armisen, right, join striking members of the Writers Guild of America on the picket line during a rally outside Silvercup Studios, Tuesday May 9, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo / Bebeto Matthews, File)

Leaders of a Hollywood’s actors union voted Thursday to join screenwriters in the first joint strike in more than six decades, shutting down production across the entertainment industry.

The toes of a baby are seen DHR Health, July 29, 2020, in McAllen, Texas. Dutton and Wrenlee are on the rise but they’re no match for champs Liam and Olivia as the top baby names in the U.S. last year. (AP Photo / Eric Gay, File)

The Social Security Administration released the annual list Friday. The agency tracks baby names in each state based on applications for Social Security cards, with names dating to 1880.

Jeremy Allen White (left) and Liza Colón-Zayas in “The Bear.” (Matt Dinerstein / FX Networks)

The raw chaos inside of the restaurant’s kitchen captivated viewers when “The Bear” debuted in June of 2022 and followed an elite chef coming home to Chicago to help run his family’s local sandwich shop after his brother died.

Talk show host Jerry Springer speaks in New York on April 15, 2010. (AP Photo / Richard Drew, File)

At its peak, ”The Jerry Springer Show” was a ratings powerhouse and a U.S. cultural pariah, synonymous with lurid drama. Springer died peacefully at home in suburban Chicago after a brief illness. 

WBEZ hosted a screening of “South Side” season three at the DuSable Museum on Dec. 6, 2022. (Credit: Joe Nolasco for WBEZ Chicago, Instagram @nolasco_giovanni)

The “South Side” is back on the grind. Season three of HBO Max’s hit comedy set in Chicago debuted this week — and the jokes are as fast and furious as ever.

In this combo of file photos, Chris Rock, left, appears at the FX portion of the Television Critics Association Winter press tour in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 9, 2020; and Will Smith appears at the 94th Academy Awards nominees luncheon in Los Angeles on March 7, 2022. (AP Photo / File)

Will Smith has again apologized to Chris Rock for slapping him during the Oscar telecast in a new video, saying that his behavior was “unacceptable” and that he had reached out to the comedian to discuss the incident but was told Rock wasn’t ready.

“61st Street” is set in Woodlawn and explores the relationship between community, police and the courts. (Courtesy of AMC)

A new television series shot on Chicago’s South Side is airing now on AMC. “61st Street” is set in Woodlawn and explores the relationship between community, police and the courts.

The cast and crew of “CODA” accept the award for best picture at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo / Chris Pizzello)

The Academy Awards named an unabashed crowd-pleaser, the deaf family drama “CODA,” best picture Sunday, handing Hollywood’s top award to a streaming service for the first time in a ceremony that saw the greatest drama when Will Smith strode onstage and slapped Chris Rock.

(StockSnap / Pixabay)

Cinespace Studios, which helped spark a boom in movie and television production in Chicago, has been sold to a private equity firm that tapped a former Netflix executive to lead the operation on Chicago’s West Side.

“Chicago Party Aunt,” which starts streaming on Sept. 17, follows the adventures of Diane Dunbrowski, the boisterous namesake of the series, and her nephew Rory O’Malley, who’s taking a gap year before attending Stanford. (Courtesy Netflix)

She’s our local bad influence: the Chicago Party Aunt debuts this week on Netflix. We check in with writer and actor Chris Witaske, the creator of the notorious Twitter account-turned-animated series.

Comedian Dave Chappelle arrives at Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to receive the 22nd Annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in Washington on Oct. 27, 2019, left, and comedian Jon Stewart performs at the 9th Annual Stand Up For Heroes event in New York on Nov. 10, 2015. (AP Photo)

A star-studded group of comedians will perform for one night only at Madison Square Garden to mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

In this March 7, 2010, file photo, actor Ed Asner arrives during the 82nd Academy Awards in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo / Matt Sayles, File)

Ed Asner, the burly and prolific character actor who became a star in middle age as the gruff but lovable newsman Lou Grant, first in the hit comedy “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and later in the drama “Lou Grant,” died Sunday. He was 91.