A Superbowl, a Levy, a Queen, and Another Rising Levinson

The 55th Super Bowl will be played on Sunday, Feb. 7 (CBS, starts at 6:30PM). The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will face the Kansas City Chiefs. The "Bucs" are owned by GLAZER family and the Bucs' roster includes left guard ALEXANDER "Ali" MARPET, 27, one of the best, ever, Jewish NFL players. He earns almost 11M per season, was team captain in 2018 and 2019, and he played in 83 consecutive games until being sidelined with injuries for two games in November. He came back strong. A Birthright trip alumnus, Marpet told an Israeli paper in 2015 that: "It would be a huge honor to represent Jewish athletes. I'm happy to wave that flag."

DAN LEVY, 37, with be the guest host of Saturday Night Live on Feb. 6. Levy won four 2020 Emmys: for his acting in the series “Schitts’ Creek”, for writing a Creek episode, for directing an episode, and as a co-producer of the series, which won the best comedy series Emmy. The last award he shared with his father, “Creek” star and co-producer EUGENE LEVY, 74.

A new version of the ‘80s TV series “The Equalizer” starts on CBS on Feb. 7 (8:30PM). Queen Latifah stars as Robyn McCall, an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn. ADAM GOLDBERG, 50, is a main cast member. He’s best known as the star of the “Hebrew Hammer” movies and as the Jewish army soldier who tragically dies in a one-on-one fight with a Nazi soldier near the end of “Saving Private Ryan”.

The original Netflix film, “Malcolm & Maria”, begins streaming on Feb. 5. It’s a two-character movie, made during the pandemic, with a very small crew. Here is the brief official description: “When filmmaker Malcolm (John David Washington) and his girlfriend Marie (Zendaya) return home from a movie premiere and await his film's critical response, the evening takes a turn as revelations about their relationships begin to surface, testing the couple's love.”

For more details, see the long “Variety” review on-line. “Variety” gave it an “all-rave” review, as did other many outlets. (Oscar noms seem a certainty). All this praise included SAM LEVINSON, 36, the film’s director and writer. He is best known as the creator and “showrunner” of the American version of” Euphoria” on HBO (which stars Zendaya and was based on an Israeli series). Sam is the son of Oscar-winning (“Rain Man”) director BARRY LEVINSON, 77.

I thought that there might be some “concern” that a white Jewish guy had written a very intimate movie about two African-American characters. But, “Variety” didn’t say a word and co-star/co-producer Washington just said he loved the script. I sense that great writing and directing has trumped “concerns”.