Month: June 2020
Tekashi 69 is set to return with new music this week, the Nicki Minaj reunion “Trollz.” The pair previously linked up on “Fefe,” which went multi-Platinum and reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 chart. Since the new song was announced, though, Minaj has faced backlash (and support) for decided to collaborate with the controversial rapper again. Now, Minaj has offered a response.
Taking to Twitter, Minaj wrote, “You don’t have to defend me. I’m not afraid of internet trolls, blogs, artists. I don’t jump on band wagons. Many will never know what it feels like to have a mind of their own.” The tweet has since been deleted.
Regardless of how fans feel about Minaj working with Tekashi, at least some good will come out of the collab. Minaj previously noted that a portion of proceeds from the song, including merch, will go to The Bail Project, saying, “We want to protect and support the thousands of brave people working on the front lines of social justice, using their voices to demand AN END to the targeting and killing of Black Americans by the police.”
Tekashi has been charitable in recent days, but it hasn’t always gone well: He tried donating to a non-profit, but they wouldn’t accept his money.
Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant, who tragically died in January in a helicopter crash, won many awards in his lifetime: five NBA Finals trophies, an MVP, two Olympic gold medals, and an Academy Award for Dear Basketball. And now he’s being honored with a posthumous Emmy award. Bryant will receive the Los Angeles Area Emmy Governors Award at the Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards for his “philanthropy, community building, and inspiration that extended beyond the basketball court”:
According to the org, the award “is presented to an individual, company or organization that has made an outstanding, innovative and visionary achievement in the arts, sciences or management of television as well as a substantial contribution to the greater Los Angeles area.” Spectrum SportsNet, which holds the TV rights to the Los Angeles Lakers, nominated Bryant for the award.
According to Variety, Bryant — who, with this Emmy, is halfway to an EGOT, but I think we can all agree being an 18-time All-Star is way more impressive than winning a single Grammy — was selected at this year’s recipient for championing “a number of worthy causes and critical issues, becoming an ambassador for women’s basketball, a mentor and youth advocate, and raised awareness of homelessness in Los Angeles.”
The 72nd Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards air on July 18 (watch here).
(Via Variety)
Sometimes you know you’re watching something special as it’s happening.
It happened with the “Dinner Party” episode of The Office, and the “Remedial Chaos Theory” episode of Community, and, mostly recently, the “On the Run” episode of FX’s vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows, henceforth known as the Jackie Daytona episode. Written by Stefani Robinson (who’s also credited with the Atlanta episodes “Juneteenth” and “Woods” — someone give her a ton of money to make whatever she wants NOW), the Jackie Daytona episode was an instantly great episode of television, with an Emmy-worthy performance from Matt Berry, and it also solidified something I was feeling around the time the Nadja doll was introduced: What We Do in the Shadows might be the funniest show on television. I’m tempted to say it “is” the funniest show, full stop, but there’s strong competition out there. Let’s go through some of the competitors.
Shows That Aren’t Technically On TV; They’re On A Streaming Service
This leaves out I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Russian Doll, Solar Opposites, Never Have I Ever, Ramy, Big Mouth, and Pen15. I love them all, but for the purposes of this important thought exercise, only non-streaming shows are eligible.
Barry
Extremely funny! But also extremely dark and depressing.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
It’s Always Sunny is still wildly funny after 14 seasons and has shown an admirable willingness to adapt to a different era, but I’m not sure you could make the case that it’s at its peak. “The Gang Texts” was great, but was it better than season four’s “The Nightman Cometh”? Shadows is either at its peak, or it’s going to continue to get better.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Not sure now’s the time to make the case for B99 being the “best” anything.
Bob’s Burgers
The most consistent show on TV, and I watch it the way Netflix subscribers do The Office, but it doesn’t provide the same level of belly-laughs as Shadows.
Rick and Morty
The funniest animated show, I’d argue, but not the funniest show overall.
The Other Two and Los Espookys
Too good to be one-season wonders, but I’d like to see more before declaring them the best. Although, I will say, both shows had better debut seasons than Shadows…
Insecure
A little too real for anyone in their 30s (me).
Documentary Now!
Inconsistent. Some episodes are among the funniest things I’ve ever seen on TV (“Original Cast Album: Co-Op”), others are tough to get through (“Batsh*t Valley”).
Joe Pera Talks With You
I love Joe Pera Talks With You, but until Adult Swim announces whether it’s coming back for a third season, it’s not qualified. I’m never not thinking of the bean arch, though.
The Righteous Gemstones and Succession
I originally considered excluding these shows, as they’re both an hour long and, rightly or wrongly, I rarely consider anything over 30 minutes to be a “comedy.” But both are uproariously funny, and the stiffest competition to What We Do in the Shadows. That said, I’m crossing The Righteous Gemstones off the list for the same reason as The Other Two and Los Espookys above: it’s only been on for one season. There’ll be plenty of misbehavin’ to come, though. Maybe after season two! So it’s down to What We Do in the Shadows vs. Succession (at least until someone yells at me for forgetting Last Man Standing or a 4 a.m. Adult Swim special with 47 views on YouTube, or something).
Now, I love Succession and miss it dearly and often think about “my boy Squiggle” and “slime puppy” and the various ways Brian Cox says “f*ck off,” all of them perfect… but I’m not always in the mood to watch a show about a bunch of toxic billionaires. It can be A Lot and, especially lately, I’m not in the mood to watch A Lot. That’s one of the reasons why I look forward to What We Do in the Shadows every week. It’s a silly show about a group of vampires living together in Staten Island; it’s the epitome of “hilarity ensues.”
As my colleague Brian Grubb accurately put it, “It is so good and so, so funny. Legitimate belly laughs at least once an episode, and more than that, by a lot, in the last handful.” I’m still laughing thinking about Colin Robinson trying to get people to fall for an “updog” joke, and Colin Robinson quoting “Dilly Dilly” two years after everyone else stopped using it, and Colin Robinson saying, “Door on the floor, we ain’t here no more.” I’d call Colin Robinson the MVP of season two, but, really, it’s five-way tie between Robinson (Mark Proksch), Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), Nandor (Kayvan Novak), and Laszlo (Matt “BAT” Berry). Six-way, if you include the Nadja doll.
“But,” you’re probably not wondering, “why would you ding Barry for being too dark when Shadows has a casualty count in the hundreds?” It’s the same reason Looney Tunes is hilarious: it’s cartoonish violence, and cartoonish violence is very funny. No one is running into a painted hole in the wall, but there are teen girl vampires murdering Sweet Birthday Baby from Russian Doll and sperm-extracting witches and a literal troll and Guillermo (last name… Buillermo?) channeling his inner Van Helsing. Gizmo, as Nadja calls him, might not be the funniest character on Shadows, but he’s the emotional core, the one who keeps the plot from drifting too far into empty slapstick. He’s increasingly turned to the dark side (shout out to Mark Hamill), while the vampires have gotten wackier. The “mailer-daemon” stuff, for instance, only works because it’s Guillermo who usually takes care of the chores, and without him, the vampires, Nandor especially, are clueless. It’s a beautiful balance that keeps Shadows from being empty calories.
Also, and I cannot stress this enough, Jackie Daytona.
Let’s raise our glass of human alcohol beer served by a regular human bartender and toast to What We Do in the Shadows, the funniest show on TV.
Coachella was one of the first major music festivals to announce a delay as the coronavirus pandemic started to sweep the globe. Now, festivals are realizing that pushing things back by a few months isn’t a big enough step: After months of rumors, Coachella has officially been canceled for 2020 (as has its country music counterpart, Stagecoach).
Festival organizers Goldenvoice have yet to share a public announcement about the cancelation, but this news comes via Riverside County public health officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser, who announced yesterday that Coachella and Stagecoach will not be able to take place on their delayed fall dates. He said (via the Los Angeles Times):
“I am concerned as indications grow that COVID-19 could worsen in the fall. In addition, events like Coachella and Stagecoach would fall under Governor Newsom’s Stage 4, which he has previously stated would require treatments or a vaccine to enter. Given the projected circumstances and potential, I would not be comfortable moving forward. These decisions are not taken lightly with the knowledge that many people will be impacted. My first priority is the health of the community.”
Recent reports indicated that the next edition of Coachella could take place next spring in a reduced capacity, or could happen next fall.
Late last week, ongoing Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality led Paramount Network and A&E to pull new episodes of two enormously popular law-enforcement/reality-crime documentary series, Paramount Network’s Cops and A&E’s Live PD. Fast forward a few days, and Cops was permanently canceled following thirty-two seasons. Now, Live PD‘s going the same route after four highly-rated seasons.
The writing appeared to be on the wall for Cops, given that Variety noted that Paramount had removed all mentions of the series from its website over a week ago. That surreptitious clue followed the first weekend of protests surrounding the fate of George Floyd, who endured a fatal apprehension as Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin pushed his knee into his neck for over eight minutes. On the Live PD front, this also isn’t a complete surprise, since some local governments (including that of Tulsa, Oklahoma), decided not to renew their contracts with the show after Floyd’s death. Deadline first reported the latest cancellation news, which happened despite Live PD‘s high ratings. Deadline also posted a statement from A&E:
“This is a critical time in our nation’s history and we have made the decision to cease production on Live PD. Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them. And with that, we will be meeting with community and civil rights leaders as well as police departments.”
A&E’s call on Live PD occurred after a recent renewal for 160 more episodes and the show’s #1 status on Friday and Saturday night ad-supported cable. The series drew an estimated 3 million viewers each weekend since live sports went off the air due to the pandemic.
On a related note, NBC News reports that the 2019 death of Javier Ambler, who was Black, remains under investigation, and that the beginning of that law enforcement pursuit (because he didn’t dim his headlights in the face of oncoming traffic) was filmed by Live PD. Ambler also reportedly told sheriff’s deputies that he couldn’t breathe after they tased him multiple times, although there’s no word on whether Live PD has been pulled into the ongoing investigation.
