Month: February 2021

Olivia Rodrigo’s “Divers License” has taken the pop world by storm this year. For the past five weeks, the song has lived at the top of the singles chart and it could see a sixth week at No. 1 when Billboard releases the updated chart later this week. Now, the track which represents heartbreak for teenagers all over the world has received the stamp of approval from the Saturday Night Live cast as it was the foundation of a sketch in its latest episode.

The sketch took place at a bar and featured a game of pool with Pete Davidson, Kenan Thompson, Beck Bennett, Alex Moffat, Mikey Day, and Bowen Yang. Bridgerton actor Regé-Jean Page, who accompanied the group and hosted the SNL episode, looked to provide some music for the game and turns on Rodrigo’s “Drivers License.” The other members are confused by the choice as it’s not your typical selection for a game night, but they eventually show some love to the song — some more than others — and break down its meaning.

They even touched on the bit of drama that occurred between Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter as a result of the song. The group also made comparisons of Rodrigo to Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift, but not without a fight nearly breaking out.

Bringing the sketch to a close, the cast members passionately perform the bridge on “Drivers License,” proving that there’s something for all of us to love on the chart-topping single. Rodrigo celebrated the song’s appearance on SNL in a tweet that read, “DRIVERS LICENSE SNL SKETCH IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER IM SHAKING.”

You can watch the sketch in the video above.

(Spoilers for this season of Shameless will be found below.)

It’s been a strange final season of Shameless, not only because they have worked the pandemic into the storyline, but because of how the pandemic seems to be affecting the shooting schedule. The eleventh season kicked off in early December, but the final twelve episodes of the series have been alternating with six “Hall of Shame” episodes, which are essentially clip shows looking back on specific characters and relationships throughout the series’ run.

It’s also a strange season because it is winding down without its longtime star Emmy Rossum, who played Fiona on the series for nine seasons. There has been speculation that she could return for “a brief something” this season, but the cast held its final table read on Friday, and there’s been no word on Rossum’s return yet.

However, Steve Howey — who plays Kevin Ball on Shameless — did leave this very cryptic tweet yesterday, presumably as shooting began on the final episode.

It’s obviously unclear what Steve might mean by this tweet. Is he trolling fans because he knows something we do not, namely that Emmy Rossum is set to return for the final episode? Or is he being earnest and sincere because Fiona’s absence is being felt in the final stretch as they begin shooting the finale?

It would seem odd for Fiona not to return at least briefly in the final season, and the storyline seems to be leading us toward the perfect opportunity.

We have learned over the course of the last few episodes that Frank (William H. Macy) is suffering from the early stages of dementia. This could be a warning that the final season will end in Frank’s death, and if so, a funeral would obviously provide a suitable opportunity for Fiona’s return. In fact, if Frank died and Fiona didn’t return, it would be odd.

Presumably, we’ll find out for sure whether Fiona returns when the season finale airs on Showtime in mid-April. Emmy Rossum is also set to star as the lead in Angelyne, based on L.A.’s mysterious billboard icon. However, production on that mini-series, set to air on Peacock, was delayed last year by the pandemic.

Shameless, in the meantime, returns with a new episode next week.

Saturday Night Live addressed the streaming public’s insatiable lust for Regé-Jean Page right off the top of the show on Saturday, with Bridgerton playing a central role in the sketch comedy show’s 90 minutes. That started with Page’s opening monologue, where he couldn’t help but seduce a good portion of the SNL cast while an adoring crowd screamed with excitement.

“You probably recognize me from Bridgerton, the show that made everyone turn to their moms and say ‘You know what, never mind, I don’t think we should watch this together,” Page joked. “It’s a bit of a racy show, and because of that people might associate me with being this smoldering, sexy, smokeshow of a man.”

Page has to stop because the crowd quite literally can’t stop screaming in agreement with him. But the concept of the monologue takes focus here: Page is just a regular guy, even if he can’t stop seducing the camera while “Careless Whisper” plays in the background.

Chloe Fineman, who tried out a Daphne Bridgerton impression on Instagram during the show’s holiday break, brought that to the SNL stage twice on Saturday. First, she interrupted Page and two other members of the cast, Aidy Bryant and Ego Nwodim, who volunteered as liaisons to help Page out while he was host. Or, mostly, lust after him. Fineman at first played Daphne, upset that other women were interested in her “husband.” But she soon got caught up in Page’s seductive words and close-up cuts to him swirling a stiff drink and singing “Unchained Melody,” which he described as “nerdy.”

The back and forth is funny, and when Page asked what their favorite parts of the show were, they mentioned specific timestamps where the Duke and Daphne… got busy. And the in-studio crowd was certainly on the same page as the women on stage, which made it that much better. As much as Page wanted to make it clear he’s different from his character on the show, and that he contains multitudes, he certainly seemed to enjoy the reaction he got when he leaned into his status as a streaming sex symbol.

Later on, Fineman and Page reunited for an actual Bridgerton sketch, this time having to deal with two very strange intimacy coordinators.

Pulling off that kind of intimacy safely, especially in a pandemic, is actually something that will make the second season of Bridgerton such a challenge to film. Just not in the ways the sketch laid out, that’s for sure.

As if there weren’t plenty of highlights on his resume already, Bad Bunny adds another one to the list with a dazzling performance on Saturday Night Live. Bringing his talents, to the late-night set, he kicked off the night by performing “La Noche De Anoche” with Rosalia. Thanks to the warm red, pink, and purple lighting that appeared around the stage, the rendition of the El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo song proved to be a passionate one and even ended with an intimate moment between the singers.

Next, Bad Bunny returned to the stage by himself to perform “Te Deseo Lo Mejor,” another song from his El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo album. This performance was a bit more upbeat than the previous and one of the best parts about it was it featured Bad Bunny singing the track with his WWE 24/7 championship belt draped over his leg.

https://twitter.com/LPSindrome/status/1363366964312293376/photo/1

The SNL appearance comes after Bad Bunny shared a passionate video for “La Noche De Anoche” with Rosalía on Valentine’s Day. The two appeared as an inseparable couple for the visual for the El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo highlight. As for what’s next? Bad Bunny may have a Grammy award in his future thanks to Best Latin Pop Album and Best Pop/Duo Group Performance nominations for YHLQMDLG and “Un Día.”

You can watch both SNL performances above.

The Walking Dead returns next Sunday (or today, for those who have AMC+), but after the six bonus season 10 episodes air, the back half of season six of Fear the Walking Dead airs (which might but probably won’t feature the return of Madison). Fear is coming off its best run of episodes since at least the first half of season four, although it’s arguably better than it ever has been, thanks to a different style of storytelling.

In the opening half of the season, showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg broke it down into a series of fantastic stand-alone episodes, each focusing on a smaller number of characters. Expect that trend to continue in the latter half, as the Fear characters continue to find each other and/or break apart (last we saw, John had split from June, while several other characters were headed toward Morgan’s new outpost).

The trailer promotes “death, decay, and destruction” in the back half of the season, several characters have guns pointed at their heads (including Daniel, by Ginny, who will apparently find out that he’s been Morgan’s mole all along), a shot of Sherry’s Outcasts, and a very strange zombie growing from a tree. Most intriguing, however, is that the trailer is being narrated by a new character, the so-called “King of the Crazies,” who is played by John Glover, the longtime character actor probably best known as Lionel Luthor in Smallville. From the looks of things, his pandemic beard worked out very well for his character. Presumably, he has something to do with the mysterious key on Morgan’s person.

The sixth season of Fear the Walking Dead returns on April 11th. It’s also due to start shooting the seven season imminently.

SNL’s cold open already tackled Ted Cruz’s international escape, but there was no way Weekend Update was going to hold off on roasting the Texas senator for fleeing his state in the middle of a crisis to go to Cancun.

“Well if you hate Ted Cruz, this was a pretty fun week,” Colin Jost said to lead off the show. “And if you like Ted Cruz, then you’re Ted Cruz.”

Cruz’s facial hair was described as “slowly being reclaimed by nature” and both Jost and Michael Che certainly enjoyed poking fun of Cruz for his very public screwup during a very dangerous crisis in his home state.

Jost roasted Cruz for throwing his daughters “under the bus” by blaming them for his trip, as well as the imagery that his Texas flag mask gave us on his reentry into the United States.

“I just love that after he abandoned Texas he came back in a Texas flag mask like nothing happened,” Jost said. “That’s like Jared and Ivanka walking down fifth avenue in I Love NY t-shirts.”

“Cruz would have returned from Mexico even sooner but it took him like 40 minutes to get out of a hammock,” Che said later.

Later in the segment, the show covered Kanye West’s divorce, the Mars rover landing and two women dressing up like elderly women to get a second COVID-19 vaccine. But it was Cruz, for better or worse, who was the star of the show on Saturday.

Ted Cruz’s Mexican escape from Texas amid a climate disaster was certainly a surreal moment as it happened, but one that would inevitably be covered by Saturday Night Live. And sure enough, the episode led Saturday’s show in a sketch where he finally apologized to Britney Spears for what he’s done.

The sketch managed to fit in four stories currently in the media: Spears’ conservatorship and potentially coded messages she’s sending fans through social media amid the Framing Britney Spears documentary, Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home death coverup during the COVID-19 pandemic and, of course, Cruz fleeing Texas for Cancun and getting caught. Oh, and Gina Carano’s non-apology and cries of cancel culture in the wake of her firing on The Mandalorian.

Cruz, his hair braided and holding what appears to be a frozen mixed drink, brought his black carry-on bag with him on stage, and Spears (Chloe Fineman) commented that he looked tan.

“Oh, no. I’m not tan,” Cruz said. “I just cried myself red over my fellow Texans.”

We did get a few apologies from Cruz in the sketch, but mostly it seemed he was mad that he got caught.

“I deeply regret my actions over the last couple of days,” Cruz, played by Aidy Bryant, said. “Mostly, flying United.”

Cruz noted that “I’m pretty bad at human stuff” at one point, and detailed some of the nasty things he’s been called by furious Texans who have felt abandoned by government leadership.

“Coward is actually the nicest word I’ve heard,” Cruz said. “But let me ask you this, would a coward have the cajones to blame his actions on his young daughters?”

That rankled Spears, for obvious reasons, and the show moved on for Pete Davidson to play Cuomo and apologize for “the nursing home stuff.” He struggled to actually say the apology, but made sure to call New York mayor Bill de Blasio a “bird bitch” a few times when he got angry.

Carano’s appearance marked the second straight week she was mentioned on SNL, but the first time we’ve seen Cecily Strong’s gruff impression of the unapologetic former Disney star. Strong and Aidy Bryant struggled not to break at one point, as Carano tried to fend off bonding attempts from Cruz about how they’re in the same boat.

“I am strong and you are a pile of soup,” Strong said as Carano at one point, giggling.

Scary Terry is the man in Charlotte. During Saturday night’s tilt between the Charlotte Hornets and the Golden State Warriors, Terry Rozier exploded in the fourth quarter, scoring 20 of his game-high 36 points in the frame and lofting up a game-winning jumper as time expired to give his side a 102-100 win.

Rozier scored Charlotte’s final 10 points of the game, exploding over the final 78 seconds to put the Hornets over the hump. The most dramatic of those buckets came on the heels of a pair of technical free throws that came via Draymond Green, who was tossed following an argument with the officials about whether he tied up Gordon Hayward off of a jump ball — the referees gave a timeout on the play, which incensed the Dubs’ emotional leader.

The sequence sent Rozier to the line and gave him the chance to both tie things up and play the hero. He did the former, and then on the game’s final possession, Rozier got the ball near halfcourt, bolted to the corner, let fly a long two, and gave Charlotte its 14th win of the season.

The bucket capped off the latest in what has been a career-year for Rozier, who has established himself as Charlotte’s No. 2 scorer alongside Gordon Hayward. In addition to the 36 points, which came on 12-for-19 shooting and an 8-for-11 mark from three, Rozier dished out four assists on the night.

NBA Top Shot is the collectable of the moment in the basketball world, and many think it has a bright future as an asset as much as a piece of sports memorabilia. But the company’s next move appears to be rooted in its past. The company has two current base sets and can’t keep packs of its video highlights in stock amid an explosion of attention in recent weeks.

You can read more about it here if you’re still catching up, but Top Shot essentially offers fans encrypted video highlights they can buy, sell, and trade with people on an open market for real money. It’s basically a digital trading card of NBA highlights, and people are really excited about them.

Top Shot routinely asks fans what moments from this season they want added to the pool of collectables, and the of-the-moment feel is definitely part of the appeal — and the hype — that’s seen interest in the collectables skyrocket in recent weeks.

That includes in Josh Hart, who tweeted about Top Shot and opened some packs on his Twitch channel on Saturday. Hart was joined by Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou and community lead Jacob Eisenberg to chat about Top Shot and what the future holds for the company. The stream also had a pretty funny moment: Hart got a Deandre Ayton moment where he blew past Hart himself for a dunk.

Interestingly, the company said the immediate future of Top Shot is trying to get the platform out of beta and handle the huge influx of users they’ve seen in recent weeks. But they also said the next step as far as moments is highlights from the 2005-2010 NBA seasons, specifically some retired Hall of Fame inductees like Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki.

“That will feature some Hall of Famers who are making their Top Shot debut,” Eisenberg said during Hart’s Twitch stream, noting that those packs should arrive in the next few weeks. They will likely be in the Run It Back series, which has already highlighted the 2013-14 season. And it’s something that the company has been rumored to be expanding into in the past.

An ESPN report from earlier in the week from Brian Windhorst mentioned something similar. In an extensive piece about Top Shot collecting and the boom Dapper Labs has seen for its product since its 2019 launch, there are also some details about where the company may be headed next.

There are plans for growth, as Dapper Labs is preparing a rollout of games to be played with the Top Shot Moments. The first is called “Hardcourt” where fans can pit teams they create against one another.

The company has also already started talks with retired NBA players to secure rights to historic highlights. There has already been one series of these created, called Run It Back, released. The idea of classic Michael Jordan Moments, like “The Shot,” for example, being released in limited supply could set records.

“We have a vast archive of content we can tap and a lot of our history that people will want to own,” O’Keeffe said.

Eisenberg mentioned that licensing issues for former players are a bit more complicated: retired players have to opt in to be part of the NBAPA licensing deals. Michael Jordan, for instance, was described as “a different conversation.” But that kind of growth seems to certainly be in the cards for Top Shot, even if it’s not a card company at all.

Something unusual occurred right before the Golden State Warriors’ Saturday night tilt against the Charlotte Hornets. Steph Curry, who was preparing to play in the city he used to call home, was pulled from the game and made his way to the locker room while the team was huddled up before tip. Curry was escorted by Rick Celebrini, the team’s director of sports medicine and performance.

Curry looked a little down, but it was unclear exactly what was going on. Shortly after this happened, the Warriors announced that the two-time league MVP wasn’t feeling well, and as such, he would not participate in the game.

The good news, relatively speaking, is that Anthony Slater of The Athletic reports that Curry’s absence is not tied to the league’s health and safety protocols put in place amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hopefully this is nothing more than a minor nuisance and Curry is able to return to action sooner rather than later. He will get an opportunity to rest up and get back to 100 percent due to the fact that the Warriors have a few days off before they take the floor again, as their next game will take place on Tuesday in New York against the Knicks.