Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Apr 21, 2017

Too Cool for school:

If your child's teacher sends a note home from school, you'd better make sure it's real.
The mom of a seven-year-old boy shared photos online of a note her kid brought home from school. The "totally legit" letter instructed the mom to let her son play more video games at home. According to the note, teachers were concerned about the boy's grades in "Video Game Class." The letter went on to say: "If he does not stay up all night playing video games, he will get kicked out of school!" The note was signed: "The School." The mom called the school, spoke with the teacher, and they shared a laugh about the obviously less-than-authentic note. (Still)

Broadcast, cable and video news:

This didn't take long --there's already a TV series in the works about former NFL star AARON HERNANDEZ, who was found hanged in his prison cell early Wednesday morning.
Deadline reports the series had actually been in the works for the last several months, put together by writer DAN WETZEL, a bestselling author, investigative reporter and national columnist for Yahoo.com and Yahoo Sports, who'd been working on the story for the past four years. Hernandez's death will obviously make a conclusion to the series, which is reportedly in the same vein as Netflix's "Making a Murderer."

On, off and way-off-Broadway:

BETTE MIDLER opened last night in the Broadway revival of the classic musical, "Hello Dolly!" DAVID HYDE PIERCE co-stars as Horace Vandergelder. And, the reviews are in:
--The New York Post: "That Bette Midler is Broadway's biggest draw is no fluke. It's 50 years in the making."
--Variety: "'Hello, Dolly!' is back on Broadway, and it looks so fresh, you want to pinch its cheek."
--the Wall Street Journal: "Ms. Midler's singing voice is in a desperate, sometimes shocking state of disrepair...As for the rest of the performance, Ms. Midler doesn't even bother to act: She simply comes on stage and plays her familiar self, albeit at a disturbingly low level of energy."
FYI: New York City Mayor BILL DeBLASIO has proclaimed today is "Dolly Day" in the Big Apple. (Marino)

Models:

Gucci went in a verydifferent direction for its latest fashion campaign --all of the models are aliens. No, not undocumented aliens. We're talking extra terrestrial, UFO-riding, Area 51-hiding aliens. The video teasers Gucci posted yesterday were hashtagged #gucciandbeyond, with all of their alien species sporting the latest Gucci garb. Gotta give them points for complete commitment to the gimmick. New Yorkmagazine's The Cut says each featured model had his (her? its?) own bio to go along with the picture.
That includes a teal green metallic-looking alien named Kerelanda Encanta. Age: Unknown. From: the planet Xoph. Her/His/Its quote: "If I'm correct, this is a Kivordian time portal, a gateway to other times and dimensions. It could take us to any place in history!" Alllll righty then. (Bartha)