As Hollywood cautiously prepares to resume more film productions, the groundbreaking LED set created for The Mandalorian might be Disney’s magic bullet for getting its Marvel movies back on track.
Despite the pandemic, the hit bounty hunting series never wavered from its course and will premiere its second season in October. Showrunner Jon Favreau is also confident that the third season will have a smooth ride, thanks to the StageCraft technology that Industrial Light and Magic built for the show. That success has prompted Disney to aggressively expand StageCraft to its other productions starting with Thor: Love and Thunder. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that director Taika Waititi worked on the first season of The Mandalorian and has experience with the filmmaking tech.
Like its predecessor, Love and Thunder will film in Australia where ILM is hard at work installing a new StageCraft set at Fox Studios Australia. Installations are also being built in Manhattan Beach in California, where The Mandalorian currently films, and Pinewood Studios in London. However, ILM is significantly upping the game when it comes to the new sets. Via The Hollywood Reporter:
According to the company, the newest stages are larger, use more LED panels than ILM’s original stage and offer higher resolution. “When combined with Industrial Light & Magic’s expert visual effects talent, motion capture experience, facial capture via Medusa, Anyma, and Flux, and the innovative production technology developed by ILM’s newly integrated Technoprops team, we believe we have a unique offering for the industry,” said Rob Bredow, head of ILM.
In essence, StageCraft is a massive room with wall-to-wall LED screens, which allowed The Mandalorian production to swap out photorealistic locations on the fly. Often referred to as “The Volume,” this new technology, which relies heavily on the same engine that powers Fortnite, was featured heavily in Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, and its results were impressive. Numerous sequences from The Mandalorian that appeared to be shot outdoors or on location were actually created in The Volume, and it’s almost impossible to notice even after seeing the backgrounds change before your eyes.
Needless to say, the ability to effortlessly switch locations and set designs will be a major asset as film productions seek to minimize travel and take necessary precautions in this new pandemic age.
The return of the NBA inside the Disney World Bubble has offered a brief semblance of normalcy for basketball fans. The players are the same. The postseason format has not changed. The referees are still frustrating a different fanbase every night. And yet, this has been an entirely new viewing experience. Like everything else, normal isn’t exactly how things were before the global pandemic, but a version of it that tries its best to emulate what we once had.
As I watched the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics open their second round matchup last week, I started to track everything I missed from a normal basketball viewing experience while watching the game. This idea only served to prove my point almost too well.
I missed Kyle Lowry’s player intro, where he forces all of his teammates into exercise routines. I missed the obligatory “ref you suck” chant that would break out at Scotiabank Arena after consecutive foul calls against the home team in the first half of a playoff game. After a key basket, I expected the television broadcast to cut to thousands of fans cheering outside the arena at Jurassic Park. I even yearned to hear this very specific Flintstones “yabba dabba doo” sound effect the game operations team plays after every Fred VanVleet basket. Don’t tell Raptors fans this last one, but when they lost the first two games to start the series, I found myself missing the nervous energy inside the arena that would permeate whenever the playoffs got a bit too stressful.
This year has been many things, and we all have our own set of circumstances which have dictated just how much we’ve had to rearrange out day-to-day lives. We’re settling into this new reality while making sure to not get too comfortable, because we’re all holding on to hope that things will trend towards normalcy soon. Watching Bubble basketball on my television and counting all of the things that I missed, it’s hard not to think about the people essential to the gameday experience and how they’re adapting to things that have changed about their lives.
Back in late February, Jonathan Joubran — a business account executive who is part of the Raptors gameday interactive crew — was in a hurry to finish cleaning up at the arena after a Friday night loss to the Charlotte Hornets, since he had made plans with friends to hang out after the game. It would be the last time he stepped foot inside Scotiabank Arena before the season was suspended in early March.
“If I knew that would be our last game,” Joubran says, “I would have savored the moment as long as possible.”
Joubran’s main goal on gameday is to amp up the home crowd. He’s become known as “Flag Guy,” since he’s the one who will follow the players on the court when they come out of the tunnel at the start of warmups, waving a flag with a different slogan, whether it be “We The North” or “Let’s Go Raptors.”
Getty Image
Joubran is also responsible for running a Lowry flag across the length of the court every time the Raptors point guard scores in a game, and remembers when Lowry scored 20 points in a fourth quarter comeback against the Dallas Mavericks earlier this season. “It was pretty great cardio,” he says, laughing.
Like everyone else, Joubran has been forced to watch this year’s Raptors playoff run from home. The league is playing in empty arenas without fans inside the Walt Disney campus. There are no fans to keep entertained and occupied. Joubran, like many others, was expecting the new experience of watching basketball to be extremely different. So far, he has been pleasantly surprised by how rarely he realizes the players are in an empty gym. “It’s not noticeable at all,” Joubran says. “The broadcasters have done a great job.”
While there are television analysts currently situated inside the Bubble, the majority of broadcasters are making it work from a remote location. This includes Jack Armstrong, who has been part of Raptors broadcasts for over 20 seasons.
Armstrong now works out of a remote studio in Oakville, Ontario, where he does have some experience setting up shop. A number of years ago, Armstrong did a series of remote broadcasts while Canada’s men’s national basketball team played in a qualifying tournament in Brazil.
“We did the game in the morning,” Armstrong says. “I was in the studio, and then I had a golf tournament in the afternoon. I drive my car up to the course, and a kid says to me, ‘How did you get here from Brazil?’ I said, ‘I’ll let you in on a little secret. I have a private jet.’”
Armstrong says his job remains very much the same, even if everything else is different. He still follows his routine of spending the hours leading up to tip-off pouring over his notes, reading and researching in order to provide fans with the most useful information during a broadcast. “My job is to inform and entertain,” Armstrong says.
What has been taken away, and the part Armstrong misses the most about his job, is the face-to-face interactions at the arena. Conversations with players and coaches before games are great, while scouts, referees, and media members can provide a tidbit that would be useful for the broadcast. As much a storyteller as he is an analyst, Armstrong admits it is an adjustment trying to call a game remotely, rather than seeing all the details unfold in front of you.
“I think people will have a greater appreciation of each other and the value of human relationships when we’re able to gradually come out of this,” Armstrong says. “As much as technology has helped our society grow, in other ways, it has put up walls and barriers. The only way it can be broken down is with person-to-person interactions, that human connection that sparks so many things.”
The announcers play a crucial role in putting familiar voices over the action for those sitting at home. But to give those playing some semblance of home court advantage (outside of having your own virtual fans and your team logo digitally imposed on the court), the league brought four DJs to the Bubble to assist with creating a familiar arena environment for each team.
A former Wisconsin Player of the Year and overseas pro basketball player, Shawna Nicols — a.k.a. DJ Shawna — has been DJing for 17 years. This season, Nicols became the official in-arena DJ for the Milwaukee Bucks. While players and coaches weighed the pros and cons of joining the Bubble, Nicols had no reservations about coming to the campus. She got the call from the NBA while quarantining at home in Milwaukee and not working.
“This is the best that I’ve felt [during the pandemic] in terms of having a purpose,” she says.
Nicols has worked at large sporting events and concerts, including at the Women’s Final Four and as an opener for Lizzo. The Bubble presented an entirely different challenge. Nicols would not only be providing a soundtrack at the arena without fans, but she also had to learn the musical preferences of players on 22 different teams at the Bubble. To prepare, she spoke with game directors from different teams. The helpful ones would pass along tips on what specific players liked to hear on game days. Nicols supplemented those tips with her own research, paying attention to songs and artists players were sharing to their social media feeds.
Words cannot express how much love and gratitude I am feeling. So much love for @realchriswebber and @bandersonpxp for the shout out and kind words in last night’s Playoff game on TNT. (Thought Thread) pic.twitter.com/Awj6VaTBDA
In the Bubble, Nicols’ job is about servicing the players. “You’re just looking to add value to their experience,” Nicols says. “I look for moments when players are dancing, vibing or just singing along. It’s cool just knowing you’re impacting them in a positive way.” Feedback can be difficult to come by — Nicols can sometimes see positive cues during warmups from where she is DJing, but the best feedback she received came after the Los Angeles Lakers eliminated the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round.
As LeBron James walked off the court, he heard “Smooth Operator” and broke into a full dance which quickly went viral. The song choice wasn’t a coincidence — Nicols had been studying James’ music taste on Instagram and knew he was a fan of Sade. When Chadwick Boseman passed away after a years-long battle with cancer, Nicols incorporated songs from the Black Panther soundtrack into her setlist. After the Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic returned to the court following the players’ strike to play their rescheduled Game 5 of the first round, Nicols went with Childish Gambino’s “This is America” as the clock hit zero during warmups. A few days earlier, Nicols was going through her pregame playlist in the arena when she found out the Bucks weren’t going to take the floor. It’s a moment that has stayed with her.
“When they did not show up for warm ups,” Nicols says. “I had never been more proud to be part of the Bucks [organization].”
As Nichols works to add a familiar touch to the proceedings, vacancies on both baselines are decidedly unfamiliar. While watching The Last Dance, I couldn’t help but think about the photographers who helped capture all of Michael Jordan’s most iconic playoff moments. While highlight videos that flood our social media feeds during a game are nice, these lasting images help define the most important moments of every season. One of the people who followed Jordan’s career and is still shooting for the NBA is Nathaniel Butler, who arrived inside the Bubble near the end of the first round.
When the season was suspended in March, Butler had no idea if there would even be a postseason, let alone whether he should be shooting them. When we spoke, Butler was on his third day quarantining in his hotel room at Disney. Despite leaving just once a day to walk down to hall for a COVID-19 test, Butler focused on the positives, including an exercise bike in his room which was gifted by the recently-departed Brooklyn Nets.
Like Nicols, Butler didn’t mind having to deal with being cooped up in a hotel for a week. “I was jonesing to do it,” Butler says. “For better or worse, and mostly better, we’re all basketball junkies.”
For everyone who has been forced to change their day-to-day routine, and are now making adjustments to how they approach covering a basketball game, being able to be part of this new gameday experience makes them appreciate things even more, even if it’s in a limited capacity.
“It reinforces once again how much I love the game and how much I miss the game,” Armstrong says. “Hopefully, they find a vaccine, and little by little, we’re able to gradually come out of this.”
Seeing Butler’s playoff photos from inside the Bubble on my Instagram feed this past week has been a welcoming slice of normalcy. For now, that will have to do. Butler, like everyone else, wonders when things will return to as they were before, or if they will at all. For photographers, the lack of live sporting events and concerts means a significant decrease in potential work. That isn’t likely to change in the immediate future.
While the people involved in the NBA gameday experience are making it work for now, no one is really trying to think too far ahead.
“I genuinely don’t know what the new normal will be,” Butler says. “I don’t know what the future is going to hold. It’s a little unnerving for sure.”
Mulatto is the Queen Of Da Souf on her debut album, but in her Cole Bennett-directed video for “On God” from the freshly released project, she is master of a colorful universe. The video casts men as her accessories, playing everything from coat racks to (ahem) bathroom fixtures. Bennett’s usual surrealism is fully present as Mulatto hits the shops with her girls (fellow rapper Coi Leray makes a cameo in some wild-printed pants), uses a men’s restroom as the guys look on, and twerks in a lemon-colored bedroom bedecked in matching retro furniture.
The former teen reality star has made good on her early promise after turning down the deal offered by Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def Records upon winning the first season of The Rap Game. First, she was hand-picked by Cardi B to make a cameo in the exceedingly viral “WAP” video, then she secured a feature from her hero Gucci Mane on her lead single “Muwop.” The same week she released her hotly-anticipated debut full-length, she was announced as a 2020 XXL Freshman, and she has yet to push the brakes, dropping the video for her single “Youngest N Richest,” and featuring on G-Eazy’s rap comeback single “Down” and Chloe X Halle’s girl power-fueled remix to their hit song, “Do It” with City Girls and Doja Cat. It’s Mulatto’s world now; we’re all just living in it (hopefully she remembers to flush).
There was period, thankfully brief, when it seemed like the opening credits sequence was becoming a dying art in television. It doesn’t help that you can just click “skip intro” during a Netflix binge and get straight to the money shot. But for every show with absent or irrelevant opening titles, there are an equal number of notably great contemporary opening title sequences — Succession, Game Of Thrones, The Americans. Most shows on HBO or FX have solid intros.
When Phil Rosenthal, creator of Everybody Loves Raymond and current host of Somebody Feed Phil, took his food show to Netflix, a memorable theme song was one of his first requirements. As he told us a few years back, “[A theme song] adds a lot. Suddenly, you think of the show, you think of the song and that’s something that is in your head. It brands the show with a feeling.”
Which raises the obvious question: what were the best opening themes in television? It’s a fun thing to think about, because as soon as you start naming favorites, you realize just how many incredible opening themes there have been. Some of the golden ages for opening theme songs have been 70s-80s detective shows, late 80s family comedies, and a brief period in the early aughts where the punky indie bands I loved got to write theme songs for mainstream television songs for some reason (weird, but weird-cool). Sometimes the music itself is so good that it gets you pumped for the show. Sometimes the show is so good that it creates a Pavlovian response to the music, even if the music itself is kind of bad. The best are a little of both. I tend to favor the major key, openly cheesy bangers that make you want to run through a wall.
The Worst
Amazing America With Sarah Palin
I’m only including this because I came across it during my research and I needed to spread it around to keep it from poisoning my brain. Remember Madison Rising, “America’s Most Patriotic Band?” For Sarah Palin’s short-lived travel show for the Sportsman Channel, they wrote this theme song, which includes the brain-melting couplet from the snowy passes to the desert sun/the dogs and the horses and the trucks and the guns...
The crazy thing is, I’m not even sure that’s the worst lyric. Whenever you think politics is too stupid these days just remember Sarah Palin. This song is so bad I need Scott Stapp’s Florida Marlins pump up song as a palate cleanser.
Now, moving on…
The Best
25. The Sopranos
Almost every person who helped me brainstorm this list mentioned The Sopranos. I get it! It’s one of the best shows of all time. I even do a podcast about it. The theme song definitely has that Pavlovian quality of setting the tone and putting you in the mood for a great show. However, and I’m sorry if I start offending people right out the gate here, but separated from the show this is an objectively terrible song. It comes from that thankfully brief, strange era where quasi-techno, hipster whisper songs were all the rage (some of the Dust Brothers songs from the Private Parts soundtrack come to mind). The most interesting thing about the Alabama 3 is reading the descriptions of the band members on Wikipedia:
CURRENT
Rob Spragg a.k.a. Larry Love: vocals
Orlando Harrison a.k.a. The Spirit: keyboards, keyboard bass, vocals
Mark Sams a.k.a. Rock Freebase: guitar, bass guitar
Steve Finnerty a.k.a. LOVEPIPE: production, guitar and vocals
Jonny Delafons a.k.a. L. B. Dope: drums, percussion
Greg Fleming a.k.a. Wizard: sequencer and effects
Aurora Dawn: vocals
Be Atwell The Reverend Be Atwell: vocals
Nick Reynolds a.k.a. Harpo Strangelove: harmonica, percussion, vocals
FORMER
Jake Black a.k.a. The Very Reverend D.Wayne Love: vocals (d. 2019)
Brian O’Horain, “Paddy Love”: vocals
John Jennings a.k.a. Segs: backing vocals, bass guitar
Zoe Devlin a.k.a. Devlin Love: vocals
Simon (The Dude) Edwards a.k.a. Sir Eddie Real: percussion, vocals
Piers Marsh a.k.a. The Mountain of Love: Synths, programming, harmonica
Marianna Little Eye Ty: dancer
Laura Lady Love dancer: dancer
Robert “Hacker” Jessett : a.k.a El Comandante: harmonica, guitar, backing vocals
Rob Bailey : guitar
This band has NINE MEMBERS (and one LOVEPIPE). That was a shocker. I would’ve bet the house that it was one guy in a leather fedora. Hey, didn’t LOVEPIPE write “The Freshman?”
24. Friends
Another song I don’t really love (“I’ll Be There For You,” by The Rembrandts) but feel compelled to include for reasons of ubiquity. I remember my high school band playing the Friends theme song during half time shows. It was that iconic. Divorced from the show it was introducing… I don’t know how well it holds up. It falls into the category of “guess you had to be there,” but it’s inextricably bound up in television history.
23. The Simpsons
Another song I’m putting on here because it has to be on here. No shade, Danny Elfman is probably my favorite of the famous-ish film composers, but I think any song tends to lose its novelty after 32 straight years. Overuse aside, you can’t deny the tone-setting quality of this entire sequence, which, like language, is just mutable enough to adapt to new situations and circumstances.
Of the shows that have run for 32 straight years, The Simpsons is the only one with the same theme song. I mean, I’m assuming. Do not make me look this up.
22. The Deuce
The Deuce, in my mind, is almost a perfect show, and it bugs me that it didn’t seem like many people were watching it. I loved Game Of Thrones and Succession too, but it felt wrong somehow that they drowned out what was otherwise one of the best shows ever made. Oh, you wouldn’t watch a show with two James Francos? Philistine. Give me the show where James Franco plays triplets. Make him a quintuplet. Every season add a new James Franco.
Anyway, The Deuce had a different theme song each season, and I can’t decide whether I prefer the Elvis Costello version or the Blondie. They’re kind of cheating because both were reasonably well-known songs before the show, but the mix of music and archival footage make them both more than the sum of their parts.
21. (Tie) Family Matters and Blossom
Both these shows were pretty terrible but you have to admit, they really went for it in the theme songs. They come from basically the same “stop being sad, we have TV!” genre of early 90s TGIF schmaltz. (Whoa)
20. Green Acres
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this show. I don’t even really know what it was about. Some rich people moving to the sticks? I want to say it was a proto-Schitt’s Creek on a farm, starring one of the Gabors. Anyway, as soon as someone mentions it I automatically think of this catchy ass riff. Deer nert na-neer nert NERT NERT!
19. Beverly Hillbillies
Speaking of sixties shows, the Beverly Hillbillies theme isn’t a great song per se, but it does an incredible job of catchily explaining the entire premise of the show in a bite-sized rhyme. Think of the work this song is doing. It’s essentially the Fresh Prince Of Bel Air for Boomers.
18. Laverne and Shirley
Laverne and Shirley is another show I’m fairly sure I’ve never seen an episode of, yet for some reason, I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the rejoinder to “schlamiel” is “…schlimazel, hosenfeffer incorporated.”
I don’t have any idea what those words mean and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter. This theme song is imprinted in my brain, and it seems to have happened almost entirely by osmosis. It’s an incredible achievement. Mostly I just want to live in a world where a show about two young ladies working blue-collar jobs at a Milwaukee brewery with a theme song full of random Yiddish could still exist. And this was back when there were four channels! The Laverne & Shirley theme isn’t a great song so much as a wonder of the world.
17. Growing Pains
Growing Pains is very much in the same vein as Blossom and Family Matters, but slightly elevated, in my opinion, with Michael Bolton-esque chest belting and a sweet duet. “Don’t waste another miiiinute on your cryin…”
I enjoy that the premise of all these songs is that people are very sad about the world and just need to see a nice family on TV as a break from it all.
16. Simon And Simon
The sheer number of gutbuster theme sequences to 70s-80s detective shows is truly incredible. For like 15 years I think these were the only types of shows that were made. Whereas these days, we have a bunch of science nerds talking about stool samples in a crime lab somewhere, in the ’70s and ’80s, it was all fluffy-haired men in Pendleton sweaters driving muscle cars and smirking wryly while hot witnesses sauntered by. Anyway, in terms of funk-rock opening themes to shows about similarly-named men, I think Simon and Simon is clearly superior to Hart to Hart.
15. Golden Girls
The Golden Girls theme song slaps. I make no apologies for it. It’s the same basic theme as “I’ll Be There For You” only it wholeheartedly embraces its own earnestness. It’s hard to find a more apt tone-setter than this one. Isn’t friendship great? Now here are yours, the people from the TV!
14. Rockford Files
You could make a case that Rockford Files is the single greatest private detective show opening theme song ever written. Is that… a moog synthesizer fading into a harmonica? God damn that rips. According to Wikipedia: “For more than forty years, the British soccer team Tranmere Rovers have used the Rockford theme as walk-out music for most games. Occasionally it has been dropped, and then restored by popular demand.”
That song is so good it makes me want to go to Liverpool to watch football. Also: I never watched The Rockford Files. Is he just a handsome Colombo? Discuss.
13. Frasier
I don’t know whether I actually like the Frasier theme song or if I just appreciate that it’s one of the weirdest things that’s ever existed. Kelsey Grammer doing a lounge lizard version of himself, scat singing “scrambled eggs all OVAH mah face, ha-ha HA-ha!” God, what an absolute weirdo. It’s like he came out of the womb rich and eccentric.
I like to think that for all his roles, “Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs” is the most telling glimpse into Kelsey Grammer’s actual personality.
12. Ducktales
There are probably a ton of great cartoon opening theme songs that could go in here but I’m too lazy to look them all up. “Ducktales,” though, is a certified banger upon which all can agree. I’ve heard that bassline was actually banned in three states on account of inciting obscene gyrations. It’s true, look it up, dude.
11. Get A Life
Get A Life, starring Chris Elliott as a 30-year-old paperboy, ran for only two seasons in the early ’90s, but I remember it fondly despite almost certainly not being old enough to understand it. It had Charlie Kaufman and Bob Odenkirk on the writing staff, and I think this is my favorite bit from the Wikipedia excerpt:
The show was unconventional for a prime time sitcom, and many times the storylines of the episodes were surreal. For example, Elliott’s character actually dies in twelve episodes. The causes of death included being crushed by a giant boulder, old age, tonsillitis, stab wounds, gunshot wounds, falling from an airplane, strangulation, getting run over by cars, choking on cereal, and simply exploding.
Incredible. Long overdue for a rewatch.
Anyway, the theme music is a catchy REM song to begin with, but it also works perfectly with the credits, which start with the little bike bell and then build the entire time, changing keys, and then ending with that percussive little thump when Chris Elliott crumples on top of the car hood. It’s sneaky brilliant. Every Vine and TikTok with a sound fx match as the punchline owes a debt to Get A Life.
10. Malcolm In The Middle
The overly distressed, grunge-style titles are such an anachronism that it’s hard to believe Malcolm in the Middle is only 20 years old. But I think Malcolm in the Middle‘s obviously anachronistic elements tend to disguise the fact that it was actually pretty good show. It had Bryan Cranston playing a sitcom dad, for God’s sake. It was a kind of smarter, weirder, single-cam version of Married With Children, with all due respect to Married With Children, whose existence helped make Malcolm possible. And you know they had to have pretty good taste because they used a They Might Be Giants song for the opening credits.
9. Drew Carey
As long as I’m just putting opening theme songs on here because I like the bands, I couldn’t leave off “Cleveland Rocks,” by The Presidents of the United States of America for the Drew Carey Show. Sure, they had “Lump” and “Peaches,” but I feel like POTUSA never quite got their due. But considering it was a band made up of one guy playing a three-string guitar, another playing a two-string bass, a drummer with a tiny drum kit that looked like a toy, and lyrics that sounded like a weird fart dad singing mild gross-out humor to his kid on a porch, maybe it’s a wonder that they ever had any hits to begin with. There’s something very “rural hijinks” about them that probably doesn’t play well in cities. Anyway, they’re great.
8. The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Probably the greatest evidence that the art of the opening theme song isn’t dead is The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, from 2015, which manages to explain its entire premise in an autotune-the-news style using a fake news clip from a show-within-a-show. I’m glad I’m not high as I write this because it’s pretty out there when you think about it.
7. The Jeffersons
Movin’ on up/tooo the eeeast side…
Are there more soul/gospel-style opening theme songs that I don’t know about? There must be. I suppose there’s Good Times, but it feels less iconic.
6. Magnum PI
Of all the 70-80s cop and detective shows with theme songs that are unsubtle homages to Shaft (and there are MANY), Magnum PI‘s is probably the best. Like the theme song for The Rockford Files, this one was written by Mike Post and Pete Carpenter, who could clearly write the hell out of a cheesy pump-up song. I also appreciate that this era of opening credits basically covered every possible iteration of the plot of the show that you were about to watch. The intro sequence to Magnum PI is so thorough that it actually jumps the shark mid-credits (a rodeo clown? what the hell?). Just an incredible television time capsule.
5. The Muppet Show
I wasn’t really alive for it, but from watching old clips, it’s clear that The Muppet Show was genius on so many levels and it sort of makes me wish I was around for the heyday of far-out, drug-fueled children’s television. I watch this and try to imagine what all the hippies looked like sneaking around under the stage with their hands over their heads. I bet puppeteers get super weird. I bet they party.
Music was always a big part of the Muppet experience and the theme song, written by Jim Henson and Sam Pottle is fairly representative. Even with all the technology we have now, it’s wild how much more visually inviting puppets are than animation ever could be, computer or otherwise.
4. The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air
Now, I would never sit here and tell you that the Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air theme song is the hottest jam I’ve ever heard. As a stand-alone song, it’s just okay. But it’s also a song that basically every American aged 25-50 years old knows the words to by heart, an achievement virtually unmatched by any other single piece of music, theme song or otherwise. In terms of songs Americans know the lyrics to, “The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air” theme song is probably second only to “Happy Birthday” (third is “All Star,” by Smash Mouth).
Picking up where the Beverly Hillbillies left off (and not entirely dissimilar in plot) it also maps out the entire premise of the show in meticulous detail without ever feeling like it’s trying to convey too much. Why even bother with a pilot episode when you’ve got this song? It’s all right there.
I don’t think they even make cultural touchstones like this anymore.
3. Baywatch
Speaking of towering cultural achievements, the Baywatch theme song and opening sequence is one of America’s greatest cultural exports, up there with blue jeans and strategic bombing. It’s… perfect, really. It’s somehow cheesy, dramatic, and entirely earnest at the same time, perfect for a show that imagined lifeguarding as a sexy, dangerous, glamour-filled profession (I was a lifeguard at the city pool, where I had to keep people in the surrounding houses from shooting people on the diving boards with a BB gun. It was only semi-glamorous).
For a show about a lifeguard who named his son after a catamaran (lotta people forget that), you might expect a theme song that was more laidback, some country-fried Jimmy Buffet tune about living the sweet life in the sun. Instead, we got this Bruce Hornsby-meets-Phil Collins arena banger about the noble calling of constant vigilance, courtesy of Jimi Jamison from Survivor (who was also in the bands Target and Cobra). Fun fact I learned while researching this: Jamison has the lyrics from “I’ll Be Ready” on his tombstone. And why wouldn’t he?
I don’t think Baywatch would’ve become a thing without the opening credits sequence. In fact, it was canceled after one season in its initial run, when the theme song was “Save Me,” by Peter Cetera (which honestly isn’t bad).
Then Hasselhoff and his partners bought it, put it into syndication with the new theme song, and it ended up being broadcast in 142 different countries. Such is the power of “I’ll Be There For You.”
In America, it’s easy to explain Baywatch‘s popularity: we just wanted to watch hot people wearing red underpants run around in slow motion. But in Europe? They have exposed nipples in ads for children’s cigarettes over there, what did a land of topless beaches care about a bunch of dorks in one-pieces? It’s incomprehensible until you remember that Europeans can’t get enough goofy pop-rock. With “I’ll Be Ready” introducing it, Baywatch was basically a Eurovision Song Contest skit. It was glorious. I’ll never forget the episode where the lifeguards had to fight a crocodile.
2. Wonder Years
As much as I enjoy bagging on Boomers for making us relive the ’60s for the duration of our natural born lives, even I’m not enough of a monster not to enjoy Wonder Years. Its pitch-perfect opening credits, home movies set to Joe Cocker’s white boy soul cover of the Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends” set the tone perfectly for an unabashedly melodramatic sixties coming-of-age tale. How iconic is it? There’s even a Simpsons parody version.
1. Cheers
Yes, my number one is Cheers. It kind of just sweeps you away, doesn’t it? The root of every story is people and place, and the Cheers theme (written by Gary Portnoy and Julie Hart Angelo) is somehow hyperspecific without ever showing a real image of an actual cast member. The actors’ names juxtaposed with historical photographs is a unique touch that as far as I know has never been replicated, especially the way they found historical analogues for all the characters. I can’t read the name Les Charles without thinking of a smug guy in a bowler hat.
FontsinUse did an interesting breakdown of how this was all created some years back:
For the Emmy award-winning title sequence, Castle/Bryant/Johnsen departed from the standard sitcom formula of introducing the cast by showing them in corny poses or scenes from the series. Instead, they collected archival illustrations and photographs of bar life, culled from books, private collections, and historical societies. They hand-tinted the images and paired them with typography inspired by a turn-of-the-century aesthetic. The look is old tavern — but think Tiffany lamps and Chesterfield sofas, not spurs and six-shooters. The vintage imagery is a tribute to the long history of the fictional bar where the series is set. The sign outside Cheers says the bar was established in 1895 (though at least two episodes indicate that this date was made up by the bar’s ownership).
Additionally, yes, there is possibly transphobic (?) lost verse that got edited out:
Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee’s dead
The morning’s looking bright
And your shrink ran off to Europe
And didn’t even write
And your husband wants to be a girl
Anyway, it was the 80s. Content-wise, the Cheers theme basically combines the themes of Friends (your life is going shitty!) and the TGIF schmaltz (the world is terrible, but you’re with family now!) but applies them to a gang of lovable drunks at your local bar. How could you not love it? Also, the show still holds up.
Vince Mancini is onTwitter. You can access his archive of reviewshere.
Among his many accomplishments, including that time he and co-star Frank Gorshin got kicked out of an orgy while in character as Batman and Riddler, Adam West voiced a fictionalized version of himself on Family Guy until his death in 2017. His character, the mayor of Quahog, remained a presence on the show as multiple episodes were recorded before he passed away; but in the season 17 finale, James Woods High School was renamed to Adam West High in tribute (and because James Woods is a right-wing tool). Family Guy producers were initially hesitant on whether they would find a new mayor before settling on another actor with an iconic voice: Sam Elliott.
The Oscar nominee will take over as Quahog’s mayor next season. “Who could be as original and unexpected and comedically fun and fresh as Adam? Sam has a voice that — obviously he’s a movie star but he also has a voice made for radio, and Sam Elliot quickly became our first choice,” executive producer Richard Appel told EW. Elliott first turned down the role, where he would have played himself, but “we kicked around a bunch of ideas and then said, ‘What if we refashion this as Wild West for Sam Elliott and create this new character?’ And he responded very well to that idea,” Appel said:
Elliott’s character is actually Mayor West’s cousin, whose first and middle names are Wild. That’s right — meet Wild Wild West. Wild West comes East to Quahog when Peter becomes unhappy with the candidates in consideration for the job and decides that the town needs a celebrity figure who is fun, so Peter persuades him to run for office.
What a wicki-wicki-Wild idea. Feel free to use that “joke,” Family Guy.
Phoebe Bridgers debuted her highly-anticipated sophomore record Punisher during the pandemic lockdown. Since the singer wasn’t able to tour behind the album, she was forced to get creative about sharing her music via livestreams, like when the singer sang from her bathtub on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and hosted a “world tour” with stops in her kitchen, bathroom, and bed. So when Bridgers was asked to bring her music to an at-home NPR Tiny Desk concert, the singer found the perfect location to accompany her wistful ballads — the White House’s Oval Office (a decent replica, anyway).
Poised infront of a green screen, Bridgers and her band projected themselves behind the Oval Office’s iconic desk for their performance. Bridgers dressed up in her best power suit while her backup band sported secret service-like attire, complete with black suits and ear pieces. After giving a rendition of her Punisher single “Kyoto,” Bridgers introduced herself with: “I hope everybody’s enjoying their apocalypse.”
Along with singing “Kyoto,” Bridgers and her band performed the lovelorn track “Moon Song” and closed the set with her doomsday-ready song “I Know The End.” For the closing track, Bridgers and her band crowdsourced videos of fans dancing along to the track in their cars, homes, and even a graveyard.
Watch Phoebe Bridgers perform from the “Oval Office” in her NPR Tiny Desk Concert above.
September is National Bourbon Heritage Month. This means that there’s no better time to finally purchase that bottle of bourbon whiskey you’ve been wanting to try and get to know the corn-based American-born spirit. But before you go out and grab a bottle of the first bourbon you see, you should learn a little about the spirit.
Like just about anything that causes you to have fuzzy memory, the origins of bourbon are hotly debated. Most stories of its genesis begin with Elijah Crag back in 1789. The Baptist minister opened a distillery in Georgetown, Kentucky. While he might not have technically invented bourbon, he’s the first on record to age corn whiskey.
Besides the origins of bourbon, you should also know the technical guidelines. To be called a bourbon, the spirit must be made up of at least 51 percent corn, it must be distilled to no more 160 proof, it must be aged in new, charred American oak casks for a minimum of two years, and it can’t be added to the barrel at higher than 125 proof.
Whew. Now it’s time to have a drink (or two). Since you’re new to the bourbon game, I decided to list my personal favorite gateway bourbons. Get acquainted with these classic bottles and you’ll be well on your way to embracing this truly American spirit.
There’s likely no better bourbon to get yourself acquainted with the style than Maker’s Mark. The iconic red wax-dipped bottle is easy to find at your local liquor store and for good reason. Made with corn and red winter wheat (instead of the usual rye), this consistently great bourbon is mellow and supremely easy to drink whether you’re new to whiskey or a seasoned veteran of the style.
Tasting Notes:
From the first nose, Maker’s Mark is exactly what you hope your bourbon is going to be. Your nostrils will be filled with the aromas of rich, toasted oak, sweet vanilla, and caramel. The first sip brings forth epic corn sweetness, sticky toffee, and subtle dried fruit flavors. The finish is long and warming, with subtle wheat and honey flavors.
Bottom Line:
If you’re only going to pick up one bottle to get started on your journey, make it Maker’s Mark. You won’t be disappointed with your selection.
One of Maker’s Mark’s biggest rivals is Wild Turkey. Once you’ve sipped on the aforementioned Maker’s Mark, it’s time to graduate to Wild Turkey 101. That’s because, while the latter was full of winter wheat, this whiskey starts with corn, but ends with a solid hit of spicy rye. It’s aged in charred American white oak barrels and bottled at 101 proof for a bold, rich flavor perfect for cocktails or slow sipping.
Tasting Notes:
This is a high-proof whiskey and its quite noticeable of the first nose. On top of the spicy ethanol scent, you’ll find vanilla and rich, toasted oak. The first sip yields toffee, caramel, and gentle cinnamon. From there, you’ll find hints of butterscotch and subtle rye spice. The finish is long, dry, and full of more peppery spice that’s extra pleasing a cool fall day.
Bottom Line:
This is a great slow sipper for a cool, fall evening. The higher alcohol content should warm you up, even if you forgot your jacket at home.
The flagship bourbon from Buffalo Trace Distillery, this iconic bourbon has been made the same way for more than 200 years. While there’s no age statement, it’s believed that this juice is at least eight years old. It’s low in rye grains, made up of no more than 40 barrels at a time, and aged in the middle of rickhouses in order to benefit from the most moderate temperatures. These reasons and its low-price tag should guarantee that this bourbon permanently finds a spot in your liquor cabinet.
Tasting Notes:
This whiskey deserves a nosing before you taste it. You’ll be met with toasted oak, dried leather, and sweet vanilla. The first sip brings forth hints of butterscotch, more vanilla, sweet corn, caramel, and just a hint of cinnamon. The finish is mellow, long, and dry, with flavors of oak and dried fruits.
Bottom Line:
Great for sipping or mixing into your favorite cocktails, you’ll go back to this well-rounded bottle year after year.
Often times, Evan Williams doesn’t get the respect it deserves and that’s likely because it’s so cheap. Even if we don’t try to, we sometimes equate quality with price. True bourbon fans know that even though this is a bargain bottle, it’s a perfect gateway bourbon. Named for Evan Williams — the man who opened the first-ever distillery in Kentucky — the brand’s single barrel offering has won numerous awards and is made from casks hand-selected by the master distiller.
Tasting Notes:
From the first nose, you’ll be met with toasted oak, sweet vanilla, and subtle baking spices. The first sip brings you hints of sweet corn, rich caramel, sticky toffee, candied orange peels, and cinnamon apples. The finish is long, smooth, and ends with just a wisp of peppery spice.
Bottom Line:
Sure, you could grab a bottle of Evan Williams Black Label for under $20, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a better single barrel offering with this level of quality at this price point.
Another offering with no age statement, Four Roses says that its small-batch is aged between 6 and 7 years. It’s made from four original bourbon recipes that were picked by master distiller Brent Elliot for their mellow, easy to drink flavors. It’s super high in corn content (75%) and is made from two different mash bills and five yeast strains.
Tasting Notes:
From the first sniff, you’re met with vanilla, toasted oak, and cinnamon. The first sip brings forth the high corn content with sweet corn flavor followed by dried fruits, cooking spices, and toffee. The finish is very long, warming, and full of sweet vanilla, butterscotch, and just a hint of spice at the very end.
Bottom Line:
When it comes to small-batch bourbons, it’s hard to top Four Roses. It’s perfect for your favorite whiskey-based cocktail or on the rocks while you sit by an end of season campfire.
This high corn bourbon is the original small-batch whiskey. It’s been made longer than the term has even existed. It carries no age statement, but it’s so mellow, sweet, and sippable that you shouldn’t even care. It’s made up of barrels selected from the middle of Heaven Hill’s barrelhouses, it’s always high-quality, and has earned its stripes as one of the best bargains in the bourbon world.
Tasting Notes:
The first nose yields Christmas spices, toasted vanilla, and pecans. The first sip brings forward cinnamon, sweet caramel, honey, and charred oak. The finish is long, dry, sweet, with hints of nutmeg final flourish of peppery spice.
Bottom Line:
Don’t waste this bottle on cocktails. Its high corn content and expertly selected casks makes it one of the best beginner sipping bourbons on the market.
Christopher Osburn has spent the last fifteen years in search of “the best” — or at least his very favorite — sips of whisk(e)y on earth. In the process, he’s enjoyed more whisk(e)y drams than his doctor would dare feel comfortable with, traveled to over 20 countries testing local spirits, and visited more than fifty distilleries.
Chika may not love playing the Industry Games she lamented of on her debut EP, but the XXL Freshman continues to make all the right moves as all eyes watch to see what she does next. Just weeks after making her film debut in Project Power — where she also contributed to the soundtrack and to the lead character’s vocabulary-twisting rhymes — Chika hits the small screen for a stirring performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
The stripped-down performance features nothing more than Chika standing center stage in a darkened performance space surrounded by her usual band, rapping and singing her way through a medley of “High Rises” and “Crown.” “High Rises” was Chika’s first commercially available single after going viral with a freestyle video criticizing Kanye West for his support of Donald Trump while “Crown” is taken from Industry Games, where it provides an inspirational closer and sets the table for her upcoming full-length debut.
The Alabama star has come a long way since being shouted out by Cardi B, going from bedroom freestyles to collaborations with Charlie Wilson and planning country songs with Snoop. Her superpower seems to be the ability to manifest success and unlike the film where she made her acting debut, it looks like her powers will last a lot longer than five minutes.
Chika is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Okay, that is a lie. As I write this I am sitting on a couch in my apartment in Manhattan, a couch I’ve sat on a depressingly large amount of time over the last, oh, six months or so. But, yes, for the last nine years this would be the first day of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Which, professionally, is my favorite day of the year – knowing I have a week ahead of me of watching some of the best movies of the year in a climate that feels a lot like the first day back at college, seeing a lot of familiar faces pass by in the halls on the way to whatever theaters we are all headed to at any given moment.
My first TIFF was in 2011, just a couple weeks after I was hired at Huffington Post. It was my first film festival I ever covered and, being there, really gave me my first feeling of, oh, wow, I’m really doing this job for real. What’s weird is, over the next nine years, that feeling never went away on that first day. I never take this job for granted and knew, each year, it could be my last and that’s why I always soaked up each and every moment of being there. And as it turns out, in 2019 I was right to do so because, now, I’m not there, for reasons that are pretty obvious.
Anyway, yes, this year’s Toronto Film Festival is a hybrid of drive-in outdoor screenings (for people already in Canada, us Americans aren’t really allowed in the country) and virtual online screenings. So, yes, I have to admit, it was a little depressing realizing I had to watch my first big festival movie of the year, Regina King’s excellent One Night in Miami…, at my apartment instead of at the Princess of Wales or Scotiabank (okay, I just made myself sad again thinking about that), but this movie is so good, those forlorn feelings went away rather quickly.
Based on Kemp Powers’ play (he also wrote the screenplay), One Night In Miami… is about the night in 1964 when young Muhammad Ali (who, then, and in the film, was still going by Cassius Clay) beat Sonny Liston to become boxing’s heavyweight champion. What the film depicts is what happened after the fight, as Ali (Eli Goree) went back to his hotel and hung out with Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir, who is also fantastic as President Obama in The Comey Rule) and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.). This evening, with these four historical figures, really happened (and here’s Jim Brown talking about that night recently).
It probably doesn’t come as a huge surprise that, since it’s based on a play, there’s a lot of talking in this “imagined” account of what transpired that night. Often in one setting. But the conversations are pretty fascinating as the four men grapple with their own fame and how that translates what they can and should be doing for Black people in America. Most of the tension and drama surrounds Malcolm X, as the other three men all have their own ideas of what they should be doing.
Jim Brown just kind of wants to retire and become a movie star and doesn’t always quite understand why they (all gifted athletes and/or performers) are listening to Malcolm X in the first place. And he certainly thinks Ali changing his name is a bad idea. (Brown retired from football at age 29, which is probably a big reason he’s still alive today. This is not lost on the film, as Ali says he wants to box until he’s way past his prime, which in reality had devastating effects.) Sam Cooke is berated at times for his perceived tendency to want to impress white people (also, at least in this film, Cooke is not a fan of Jackie Wilson). Ali is the most impressed with what Malcolm X has to say, at least until Malcolm reveals he’s leaving the Nation of Islam to start a new organization, which makes Ali feel used and even more tension breaks out.
This is Regina King’s directorial debut. She has an eclectic filmography as an actor that spans from Boyz n the Hood to Jerry Maguire to Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous to her Oscar-winning performance in If Beale Street Could Talk. Look, I’ve never directed a movie, but taking on something like this as a first film at least seems pretty difficult because so much rides on getting performances out of the actors. Without that, the story itself doesn’t hit because the story is from what everyone is saying. Oh, yeah, and add in that the four people being portrayed are four of the most important figures from the 20th century.
But what a debut film it is. She gets just the right amount of tension and angst out of these four actors in a way that still makes it believable they might all still be friends or want to hang out together in the first place. It’s a movie about agendas. Of course, Malcolm X has an agenda for these three famous performers – a particularly tense scene is when one of Malcolm’s security guards tries to tell Jim Brown what to do – but they, too, all have their own agendas. And over the course of the film, they all find out of any of their own personal agendas overlap in any way for a greater purpose.
Here’s the upside of the state of film festivals during the 2020 pandemic. I have no doubt One Night in Miami… would be getting a considerable amount of buzz, even in a normal awards and festival season. But it’s a movie that hasn’t sold yet. And at a normal Toronto Film Festival, it would be competing for that buzz against all the money from the big studios. Don’t forget, even something like Joker played at festivals last year. But now, with both a lot of the studio movies either eschewing the festival circuit (like all of Netflix’s movies) or just not being ready yet since productions had to stop back in March, a movie like One Night in Miami… actually, and rightfully, gets center stage.
There’s a scene midway through Unpregnant that sums up the new HBO Max teen road trip movie’s peculiar, pitch-perfect blend of political commentary and wildly riotous comedy. Barbie Ferreira and Haley Lu Richardson, the film’s leads, are racing across a dusty desert, being chased by a Bible-thumping pro-lifer in a souped-up RV camper. It’s Travis from Clueless, a grown-up Breckin Meyer trying to shame Richardson’s Veronica out of her decision to get an abortion with pancakes and some light kidnapping. If that doesn’t work, he’ll just drive them off a cliff.
It seems surreal, extreme, improbable, as does most of the action in this movie which follows Richardson’s Veronica and Ferreira’s Bailey — two former best friends on a cross-country trek to deal with their own respective personal issues – as they outrun the cops, make pit-stops at fairground drag races, and recruit the services of Giancarlo Esposito’s paranoid libertarian limo driver on their journey to freedom (from an unplanned fetus). But despite the chaotic, dangerous, darkly comedic odyssey for these two — a Thelma & Louise / Mad Max: Fury Road crossover adventure that taps into the social discourse in a way few teen movies have done before — there’s a lot of truth rooted in their absurd mishaps.
It’s that truth that persuaded Ferreira, last seen on HBO’s breakout teen drama Euphoria, to chose it as her feature film debut, despite not having a driver’s license and generally disliking real-life road trips. We chatted with Ferreira about making smart content for Gen Z, the timely message behind the film, and yes, that Euphoria-inspired One Direction fanfiction debacle.
This is a really unique teen road trip comedy. Was there something in particular that you hadn’t seen before in a movie like this?
I was drawn to how it tied in something that we’re all familiar with — a teen movie or a road trip movie — with this uncharted territory of reproductive rights and healthcare access. It was beautifully blended and balanced. It shows the perspective of these two girls who go on a crazy adventure with lots of obstacles, just for a simple procedure that should be accessible for everybody. It makes it so light and also, at times, heavy and at times really funny — the whole spectrum of emotion that is to be a teenager on an adventure of any sort.
You play a rebellious teenager on Euphoria. What makes Bailey different?
I love to use humor to deflect a lot of emotions and I think I brought that to Bailey. [She’s] someone who’s quick-witted and inappropriately joking all the time. [She] has her own opinions that are very, very strong, and [there’s] also the vulnerability of a teenager who is lost and doesn’t know how to process anything.
Were you aware of how stigmatized abortion and women’s reproductive health are before taking this thing on?
I’ve been privileged enough to live in New York and LA, which I think has more facilities and more medical care for reproductive things, for birth control, for testing, for all these things. I didn’t take it for granted, but I really thought that it wasn’t as hard as it was. You have to go across state lines in a lot of states. A lot of people don’t have that option, they don’t have enough money to do that, they don’t have enough time, they can’t tell their parents. Really, we should all have access to safe and legal abortions, and we should all have access to reproductive care at any time.
I think it’s really important to say because these things are incredibly difficult already to access and it’s only getting worse, there are so many laws coming out that are like the “six-week rule.” It’s really putting Planned Parenthood and a lot of these facilities out of practice and they’re painting these facilities as these evil organizations. I’m like, “That’s where most people can afford to get tested, to get ultrasounds, to get so many things.” We’re so ashamed about sex that we can’t even talk about healthcare for it. You know what I mean? It’s just like, “Don’t ask and don’t talk about it.” All these things.
There are some wild moments in the girls’ abortion journey. There’s a kind of Get Out scene with Breckin Meyer, the dude who played Travis in Clueless. It’s all so surreal, but there’s some truth rooted in it, no? These crazies really do exist.
Yeah, I think that whole situation with the family was a horror movie. Those crisis centers absolutely exist. It’s when people pretend to be abortion clinics, but they’re just basically harassing people to not get abortions and telling them straight-up lies. It’s a big problem because they’re spreading misinformation and they’re shaming people and there’s already a lot of guilt with sex and pregnancy and abortion. We don’t need any more of that. So that was unfortunately a little bit realistic. I don’t know about the car chase though.
I’m sure it’s happened, but even so, I appreciate the humor. I also think it’s interesting that this isn’t a movie about a girl crying because she has to get an abortion.
Right? It doesn’t always have to be highly traumatizing. I think it’s pretty common for people to feel relief or to feel like they have a weight off their shoulders. Those stories are also as valid as these really emotional stories. I think it paints abortion in a weird way if the only thing you see is women crying on the floor for three hours about these decisions and being on the fence and not knowing what they want. A lot of people find out they’re pregnant and they’re like, “I don’t want this right now. I’m going to make this decision. I’m unwavering in that decision and that’s my choice. And I’m not feeling all these emotions towards it, if anything, it’s more anxiety.”
Speaking of car chases, were you behind the wheel for any of those Fast and Furious moments?
[Laughs] Well, I don’t have a driver’s license. I don’t drive. I’m from New York. I had a permit. I tried desperately to get my license before. I got to drive a little bit. I pulled into a lot of parking lots, but the crazy driving is by no means me.
There’s also a pivotal scene on a fairground ride. I won’t spoil it, but how the hell did you guys film that?
That was one of the toughest days. God, we went on it eight times. It’s one thing if it’s just us screaming but when you’re saying things… it was extremely hard. It was a lot of Dramamine. Lots of breaks.
With Booksmart, Euphoria, and now Unpregnant, it feels like maybe teen movies and TV shows are finally catching on to how smart their audience is. Do you think the genre’s changing?
I think a lot of times people dumb things down or water things down for teens and young adults. In this day and age, if you’re still doing that, it’s really tired and old. Kids are well-informed, they know a lot. I think this movie shows two characters that are very strong-willed and opinionated, and it does not revolve around their love life, it does not revolve around talking about boys or whatever these stereotypes are. And I think they’re incredibly lovable and also deeply flawed. And I think that’s what people are.
I’ve heard of it. I don’t know any information on it though, honestly.
We can’t talk about teen fandom without mentioning that One Direction fanfiction scandal from season one. Do you still get messages from fans about that?
[Laughs] Yeah, I do. The fans are really protective of the band. I personally saw nothing wrong with it. Literally millions of people write fan fiction about these two people and all we did was animate it, similar to South Park or to an SNL skit. It’s a parody of real things, it’s not like we made it up. It’s something that I don’t see a big problem with, but I do respect people’s opinions. These kids are young, and they really love One Direction. And I respect that because I was young and loved One Direction at one point as well.
HBO Max’s ‘Unpregnant’ streams on September 10.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
