Month: April 2021

There has been a lot of despair in the Bay Area the past few weeks, with the Warriors struggling to win consistently and rookie James Wiseman going down with a meniscus tear, and head coach Steve Kerr added fuel to the fire this week when he claimed the Warriors “don’t know the answer” to if Wiseman can develop quickly enough to win alongside the Warriors’ Big Three.

“We just didn’t have a sense of how raw he would be because we only had 3 college games of his,” Kerr said on Damon, Ratto & Kolsky. “Can we get James up to speed to match the timeline of our 3 core guys? That’s a great question and we don’t know the answer.”

Prior to the injury, Wiseman averaged 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in 21.4 minutes, and clearly struggled to pick up on Kerr’s motion offense. Though to be fair, Kerr has also been widely criticized for refusing for the most part to put Wiseman in simple pick-and-roll situations where he could be more successful as a rookie.

With Klay Thompson expected to begin his return to play next season and Steph Curry still clearly in his prime, the Warriors are aiming for a competitive 2021-22 season. While it’s puzzling to see Kerr claim they didn’t realize Wiseman would be a project, it’s a realistic question whether Wiseman can be a positive winning player any time soon.

When longtime Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek died in November, it opened the biggest vacancy in game shows since Bob Barker decided to retire from The Price Is Right. That daytime show found its replacement in Drew Carey and, perhaps improbably, Jeopardy! just may have found its man in one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history.

Aaron Rodgers’s announcement as a Jeopardy! guest host drew some skepticism from some fans of the show and basically any midwestern football enthusiasts outside of Wisconsin. What did Rodgers, after all, know about hosting a game show? Celebrity Jeopardy! champion or not, giving the answers to three serious contestants day in and day out is a different task, one that some sideline interviews and State Farm commercials don’t exactly prepare you for.

But with his final of 10 tapings airing on Friday, it’s clear by now that Rodgers would actually be a great pick for the job. That alone seems worthy of praise given the level of difficulty the role entails, and the fact that he’s extremely interested in the gig full-time means he needs to be considered for the role. If we’ve learned anything about him in the last fortnight, it’s that the initial concerns about putting the Green Bay Packers quarterback behind the podium have been almost universally unfounded.

We know by now that hosting Jeopardy! is a lot of work. There are pronunciations to master, category themes to grasp, and banter with contestants to deal with while putting on a highly-competitive game in the process. The host of Jeopardy! matters more than possibly any other game show ever made when you consider they quite literally decide how long contestants get to answer a clue before moving on. The pace of the show is theirs to set, and it took Trebek decades to master the gameflow we grew accustomed to watching at home. More than that, the show’s contestants obsess over the cadence a host speaks with, as the signaling device only operates after the host delivers the clue’s final word.

It’s likely made the two-week guest hosting pattern a nightmare for contestants who have waited years and endured multiple attempts to get on the show, only to stumble into hearing Dr. Oz and not Trebek or the more familiar Ken Jennings set the tone. And Rodgers, like all guest hosts, was thrown into the wringer here with just three days on a COVID-19 safety-restricted set to get prepared and film two weeks’ worth of episodes. But we know he studied the role like he prepared for football, and executive producer Mike Richards (who had his own guest hosting stint) said he really got into a groove in the abbreviated period of time he was on set.

“Aaron Rodgers came in so prepared it was unbelievable,” Richards told The Ringer’s Claire McNear. “He approached this like he was breaking down game footage. He watched a ton of episodes and he came in with questions like, ‘Now if this happens, how do I deal with it?’ And I was like, ‘Well, that doesn’t really happen.’ And he said, ‘I saw one! I want to know because I want to be prepared.’ He came in prepared like an MVP quarterback would for a huge game.”

Football analogies aside, all that prep work has clearly paid off on camera. Rodgers has looked poised, controlled the flow of the game, and had some truly fun moments in his two weeks hosting. Unless you count hundreds of former contestants furious that a “grifter” like Dr. Oz hosted a show that celebrates facts and science, Rodgers has far and away made the most headlines of the guest hosts. And all for positive reasons.

Like it or not, viral moments are part of the modern Jeopardy! appeal, and Rodgers has handled a number of them well in his short two-week stint hosting. Right away he endured ribbing from a contestant about a bewildering decision in the most recent Packers playoff game, earnestly bonded with a contestant stretching his connection to him through Vince Lombardi, and just genuinely looked (and sounded) the part with very little professional television training. He even got to have a fun moment with contestants who didn’t know a Packers question earlier this week.

The reactions here are all improv, starting with the expectant, hands out exasperation when everyone came up empty, then despondently telling a content to “go again, I guess.” He then gently chided another contestant for getting the next question right with an “Oh, so you know that one, huh.” It’s funny, but most importantly the riffing doesn’t upstage the game: the quips were quick, the laughter subsided, and play continued on.

The most important moment for me, though, came Thursday when he joined the long tradition of Trebek gently roasting contestants for their Cool Jeopardy! fact. Rodgers calling a contestant Ashley after telling a story about how she’s constantly called the wrong name was a harmless, essentially staged moment, sure. But it’s one that makes it clear that Rodgers understands the give and take that comes with a very nerdy trivia game show. It was reminiscent of one of the great gifts Trebek gave us over the years: His Jeopardy! was much more than just its host, but with Trebek in control it could be fun while also extremely serious stuff.

Jeopardy! doesn’t need a host creating talked-about moments because they’re a wildly popular celebrity or athlete, but it must have someone willing to put in the work and express the level of care that Trebek did hosting Jeopardy! for decades. That deft touch is what made the show so beloved in the first place, and made Trebek such an integral part of what it’s become today. It’s a bit unexpected that an NFL All-Pro is the person who seems to best understand that out of all the guest hosts we’ve seen, but it seems like the only real benchmark worth discussing when searching for Trebek’s eventual successor.

There are still a slew of new guest hosts lined up for the spring and summer, and about seven weeks’ worth of unassigned episodes left in the current Jeopardy! season still to come. Other candidates, like LeVar Burton, have also shown interest and gotten plenty of support from fans regarding their chances at the full-time gig. Burton and others absolutely deserve a shot to prove themselves worthy of following up Trebek’s legendary stint on the show.

But Rodgers has to be in that conversation, too, and the math works on him pulling double duty if he really wanted to make it happen. The inevitable Take Cycle it may bring if he has a few bad games under center while juggling flights to Los Angeles to tape Jeopardy! would be absolutely exhausting, sure. But if the NFL superstar truly wants Jeopardy! to be his second act, it would be very hard to argue he’s not ready for the gig after what we’ve seen.

The next Spider-Man movie seems slated to be like all the ones that came before it. That is, it may actually include all of the Spiderverses we’ve seen on screen before. That means a bit of movie magic is in order for some actors reembodying some roles from the past, including Alfred Molina as Dr. Octopus.

The legendary actor played Dr. Otto Octavius in Spider-Man 2 back in 2004, and rumors that he would return in this year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home have now become official. In an interview with Variety, he detailed just how the film plans to bridge the gap between a 16-years younger Molina and the modern version we’ll see on screen in No Way Home. And as you might expect, the interview is both charming and also very insightful about the de-aging process.

Though his involvement was supposed to be under wraps for a long while, Molina is now detailing just how he got back in the Spider-Man fold and what he had to do to get a few extra mechanical arms back on his body. With some minor decades-old spoilers ahead, mind you.

“It was wonderful,” he said. “It was very interesting going back after 17 years to play the same role, given that in the intervening years, I now have two chins, a wattle, crow’s feet and a slightly a slightly dodgy lower back.”

When the actor asked Jon Watts, the director of “No Way Home,” how the movie would bring Doc Ock back — since, as he pointed out, “I died” — Molina said the director told him, “In this universe, no one really dies.”

Molina’s main concern with reprising the role was continuity, not in the script or the canon but in how he’d look as a younger version of his current self. He even was critical of The Irishman‘s attempt at de-aging Robert De Niro, which drew some notably mixed reviews from the Scorsese flick.

“He just looked at me, and said, ‘Did you see what we did to Bob Downey Jr. and Sam Jackson?’” Molina said with a laugh. In 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War,” Marvel Studios used CGI to de-age Robert Downey Jr. to look as he did in 1991; and in 2019’s “Captain Marvel,” also set in the 1990s, a de-aged Samuel L. Jackson played a younger version of his character, Nick Fury.

…

“They made Robert De Niro’s face younger, but when he was fighting, he looked like an older guy,” Molina said. “He looked like an old guy! That’s what that’s what worried me about doing it again.”

Joking about it means he must be happy with the result, which is a good sign for a movie loaded with anticipation but could obviously unfurl pretty quickly if multiverses were poorly executed. As Molina reminded during what was a very charming interview, he had an easier job than a lot of others who may pop up later this summer.

Molina realized, though, that the nature of the role would save him. “I then remembered that it’s the tentacles that do all the work!”

He sat up straight in his seat. “My basic physical move as Doc Ock, as the actor, is just this,” he said as he glared intensely at the Zoom camera and made a menacing noise. “I just do that a lot, and the arms are doing all the killing and smashing and breaking. I’m just going —” he glared again — “with a kind of mean look on my face.”

We’ll get to see just what that mean look does on camera when No Way Home hits theaters on December 17.

[via Variety]

When “bobcat” trended on Twitter this week, no one anticipated the unreal series of events they were about to witness. The bizarre bobcat encounter was captured on a security cam video and…well…you just have to see it. (Read the following description if you want to be prepared, or skip down to the video if you want to be surprised. I promise, it’s a wild ride either way.)

In a North Carolina neighborhood that looks like a present-day Pleasantville, a man carries a cup of coffee and a plate of brownies out to his car. “Good mornin!” he calls cheerfully to a neighbor jogging by. As he sets his coffee cup on the hood of the car, he says, “I need to wash my car.” Well, shucks. His wife enters the camera frame on the other side of the car.

So far, it’s just about the most classic modern Americana scene imaginable. And then…

A horrifying “rrrrawwwww!” Blood-curdling screaming. Running. Panic. The man abandons the brownies, races to his wife’s side of the car, then emerges with an animal in his hands. He holds the creature up like Rafiki holding up Simba, then yells in its face, “Oh my god! It’s a bobcat! Oh my god!”

Then he hucks the bobcat across the yard with all his might.

But that’s not all. After he hurls the wild animal away from him, he pulls a handgun—that’s right, a handgun—from his hip and yells, “I’m gonna shoot the f*cker!” as he chases it around the yard. The last thing we see is the bobcat running under the car and the man running around it, gun in hand, yelling “A bobcat just attacked my wife!“

Still modern Americana, honestly, but on a whole other level.

The video has been viewed more than 10 million times on Twitter. Undoubtedly, many of those views are looped viewings because there’s nothing funnier than seeing this bobcat-throwing, handgun-wielding, f-bomb-dropping man go from an adrenaline-fueled, “A bobcat just attacked my wife!” straight back to a chipper “Good mornin!” without missing a beat.

It’s just the kind of real-life drama we’ve come to expect these days—too wild and too unbelievable to even pass muster in a TV drama writing room. That would never really happen. It’s too over the top. The guy is packing heat while sing-songing “Good mornin!” in his suburban driveway? Come on. Let’s tone it down a little.

In reality, though, the whole encounter begs for an explanation. Thankfully, a bobcat expert chimed in on Twitter to offer just that.

Imogene Cancellare is a conservation biologist who spent years studying wild bobcats, and she was happy to have the opportunity to talk about her area of expertise.

“I feel like I’ve been training for this my whole life,” she wrote.

She wrote:

“Bobcats are medium-sized felids that range from southern Canada thru most of the contiguous US down to Oaxaca, Mexico. They thrive in a variety of habitats, from swamps to deserts to mountains, and can survive alongside urban environments.

As habitat generalists, they also have a generalist diet and will eat all manner of small rodents, rabbits and hares, birds, squirrels, and even deer (brave adults only). They are solitary-ish, but collar data suggests, like many carnivores, they tolerate others fairly well.

Bobcats are primarily crepuscular, which means they are most active at dusk and dawn. They spend a lot of time resting during the middle of the day, but it’s not out of the ordinary for them to be out and about, nor indicative of illness if you see one.”

Let’s just pause for a moment to appreciate the word “crepuscular.” Brilliant.

Continuing on:

“Bobcats are opportunistic hunters and will kill small pets, but I’m not sure how common it is for them to actually eat a pet dog or cat vs killing it to eliminate a threat. Carnivores do that sometimes, sorry.

“Bobcats are listed as a species of least concern by the IUCN, tho some research suggests populations are declining in much of the US. They are often hunted without limits, both as non-game animals and furbearers. One issue that’s becoming concerning: anticoagulant rodenticides.

Long-term research on California bobcats found that 90% of the cats tested positive for anticoagulant rodenticide post-mortem. The cause: eating rodents in urban areas that have ingested rat poison. This doesn’t always kill the cats, but it does make them sick.

Bobcats can contract feline distemper from unvaccinated domestic and feral cats. They can also contract rabies. The CDC doesn’t list them a main vector in the US, and many biologists think these animals rarely survive rabies to the point of attacking people.”

Stopping to add here that the bobcat in the video was later caught and killed by authorities, and did, in fact, have rabies. So obviously a super rare occurrence, but not impossible. Also not the only reason to avoid an encounter with a bobcat, as Cancellare explained:

“That said, a bobcat doesn’t have to be sick to totally ruin your day. When I was live-trapping bobcats, as with any animal, we took extreme care to ensure the safety of both human and animal. The reality is if a bobcat bit down on my hand, I’d be unlikely to use it again.

“But, bobcats don’t normally seek out humans. Most interactions we hear about are with cornered animals found in buildings, or when pets are attacked. Bobcats are intense, loud, and obnoxious, but they are defensive animals, not offensive animals.

In the video that’s currently trending, it looks to be a juvenile cat. I initially thought it was underneath their car and got spooked, but some have pointed out that the cat first crosses the street and runs into the woman, then grabbing onto her legs.

I’m not here to say what the man should or shouldn’t have done—having been screamed at by bobcats myself, I totally understand their panic. Tossing the cat as he did isn’t great, but what are you supposed to do when you grab onto an apex carnivore like that?”

So glad she said that, because more than a few people have chastised the man for chucking the cat. It had just attacked his wife. The instinct to throw it was totally understandable.

As for rabies and what to do if you find yourself face-to-face with a wild bobcat, Cancellare went on:

Rabies is not common in bobcats, but we have seen a rise in cases in the last few years. Unfortunately when these interactions occur, few options exist.

The only way to test for rabies is to examine the brain tissue, which means killing the animal.

Both people in the video will likely get a rabies vaccination series. If the cat can be trapped, it will likely be euthanized.

It’s also possible the cat was running from something across the street and got surprised by the woman and attacked her.

Some people are also saying she was holding a pet carrier with a cat in it. I haven’t verified that but it seems like a reach behaviorally for a bobcat to cross the street to attack a cat with humans around.

Sidenote: bobcats don’t hybridize with domestic cats. A bobcat is very unlikely to charge you. If it does, it may feel cornered, be protecting young, or, in rare cases, have rabies.

With 1 inch claws and 1 inch canines, a bobcat attack risks deep lacerations. You’d need stitches, but it’s unlikely a bobcat could kill a human. If you are approached by an aggressive bobcat, make loud noises, wave your arms, and throw things at it.

I would also stomp loudly a few ft in its direction as a bluff charge. The goal is to appear bigger and madder so the animal decides you aren’t worth it.

If you are attacked by a bobcat, keep it off your face and neck. Not because the animal is going to suffocate you by biting you, but because you could lose an eye. The claws are just as effective as the teeth.

I feel bad for the bobcat in the video because he got THROWN, but we’re not going to vilify the guy for protecting his wife. If I was holding a bobcat that was trying to bite me, I would absolutely throw it away from me!”

“The best way to reduce the spread of rabies in your area, for any species and for any rabies variant, is to

1. vaccinate your pets and

2. not feed wildlife, or feral domestic pets.

When animals congregate, they are more likely to contract disease. I don’t have tips on identifying rabid animals as there is a lot of variation between species and among individuals. An aggressive animal (comes to you) is more likely to be rabid than a defensive animal (trying to get away from you), but not always.”

Well, you learn something new every day. It’s just not usually because a guy dropped his brownies and pulled a handgun on a rabid bobcat after throwing it across his front yard. It’s just too much. Thank goodness for security camera footage, because no one would believe this tale without it.

Ben Simmons, by nature of being a prominent basketball player ever since he’s been in high school, is one of the players who has a pretty good understanding of how the sport’s punditry ecosystem works. As a result, he’s learned that the best possible way to deal with general take artistry is to ignore that altogether, to the point that he doesn’t allow people in his home to turn on the Worldwide Leader in Sports.

In a new interview with Tyler R. Tynes over at GQ, Simmons was asked about the tension that exists between basketball players and those who opine on the game, whether they be fans on the internet or talking heads. After saying that he tries to ignore people and he doesn’t go on Twitter anymore, Simmons went on to say that “if someone puts ESPN in my house it’s going straight off.”

Simmons then opined on his issue with sports television altogether, which is a pretty common one among people who have gotten more and more disenchanted by it recently.

There’s no SportsCenter, unless it’s a game going on or something like that. There’s no Stephen A., there’s none of that.

[An Australian man in the background begins yelling: “That’s confirmed! This is confirmation!”]

Yeah, turn that off. Turn that sh*t off [laughs]. That’s just how I am. It’s gone from people watching and enjoying sports and a couple of people talking, to you’re in Vegas and you see the tickers on the bottom of the screen explaining all these comments and what this guy or that guy did. Less is more, sometimes.

As someone who would also strongly prefer less takes in their sports television consumption, Simmons is coming from an extremely understandable place here, especially considering how much of the early portion of his NBA career was defined by stuff like “can he and Joel Embiid co-exist?” or “can he ever reach his potential without a jumper?” and stuff like that. He also “genuinely” believes Philly can win a championship this year, which would certainly make listening to punditry a bit more palatable for him.

New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a growing number of Democratic politicians are calling out President Joe Biden’s administration’s controversial decision to not raise the limit of refugees into the country despite promising to do so during his campaign. On Friday, The New York Times reported that the cap would remain at the historically low number of 15,000 refugees set by the Trump administration. Biden had campaigned on raising the cap to 65,000, but conditions at the border and issues with rebuilding the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the midst of a pandemic have caused the new president to blink:

Even though the migrants at the border go through a separate vetting process than those fleeing persecution overseas, Friday’s directive comes amid growing concerns that the surge of border crossings had already overwhelmed the refugee branch of the Department of Health and Human Services, according to two senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the decision-making.

While the administration plans to raise the refugee limit to 125,000 in October, the recent decision is under fire from human rights organizations and even members of Biden’s own party. Never one to shy away from holding Biden accountable, AOC blasted the president for going back on his campaign promise.

“Completely and utterly unacceptable,” AOC tweeted. “Biden promised to welcome immigrants, and people voted for him based on that promise. Upholding the xenophobic and racist policies of the Trump admin, incl the historically low + plummeted refugee cap, is flat out wrong. Keep your promise.”

Biden’s refusal to raise the refugee cap quickly became a hot topic on Twitter as others criticized the administration for not allowing more refugees into the country:

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki attempted to put a positive spin on the situation by reiterating the administration’s commitment to lifting the refugee restrictions. “This is just the beginning,” Psaki tweeted. “This step lifts the restrictions put in place by prior Administration on where refugees can come from. We need to rebuild the resettlement program and we are committed to continuing to increase refugee numbers.”

The Utah Jazz saw one of their most prominent players suffer a pretty nasty looking injury on Friday afternoon. During the third quarter of the team’s game against the Indiana Pacers, Donovan Mitchell jumped up in the air to try and contest a pass thrown by Pacers guard Edmond Sumner.

Mitchell was unable to deflect the pass, but upon landing, the All-Star came down awkwardly on his right leg, rolling his ankle and going down in some serious pain.

Mitchell spent some time on the deck before he was helped into the locker room while very obviously favoring his right ankle. Prior to the injury, Mitchell was the game’s leading scorer, dropping 22 points on 7-for-15 shooting against the Pacers. The team announced that the injury is an ankle sprain, and although an MRI is still outstanding, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported that x-rays on the ankle were negative.

It would very obviously be a gigantic loss for the Jazz, which boast the best record in the league and sit one game ahead of the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference, if Mitchell were to miss any sort of extended period of time. While the team can certainly stay afloat with him on the sideline due to Jordan Clarkson’s nuclear scoring ability and Mike Conley’s resurgence this season, Mitchell has been the team’s top scorer this year, averaging a career-best 26.5 points per game.

Mare Of Easttown (Sunday, HBO 10:00 p.m.) — Kate Winslet returns not only to TV but to HBO (a decade after her award-winning Mildred Pierce turn) to star as a hard-vaping detective in a small town where she both portrays and elevates the “complicated” cop trope. She’s captivating while digging into a murder mystery that rocks her small town and causes the community to feel claustrophobic. Evan Peters portrays her young, whippersnapper partner on the case, and he’s electric, as is the wonderfully sarcastic Jean Smart (as Mare’s mom). This show will suck you in, so be ready.

Couple’s Therapy (Sunday, Showtime 10:00 & 10:30 p.m.) — Season 2 of this series begins, and I’d encourage you to get caught up on the first round, too, because this series is pretty darn addictive. This new batch of episodes sees Dr. Orna Guralnik guiding a new trio of couples through all of their conflict and resentments and otherwise unhealthy behavior, all with the hope of keeping them together. One woman is furious that her husband isn’t delivering on her desired life circumstances, and one man can’t seem to get inside of his wife’s head. Surprisingly, this is a rare show where the pandemic details don’t fatigue the show’s flow at all.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+ series) — Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes are still doing their buddy action-comedy thing, but things accelerated quickly last week with John Walker basically turning Captain America into a villain. So, there’s a damn fine mess to be cleaned up, and this week, there’s a hell of a surprise cameo. Soon, there needs to be some sort of are-they-good-or-bad conclusion with the Flag Smashers, and Bucky should go to Aruba at the end of all this.

Mythic Quest: Everlight (Apple TV+ series) — Ahead of official Season 2 launch, this second pandemic special drops on Rob McElhenney and crew upon their return to the office. Yep, it is Everlight party time, and it’s sure to be plenty awkward as they navigate amid you-know-what that’s still happening. There’s a LARP (Live Action Role-Play) tournament happening, and Sir Anthony Hopkins is sort-of on hand for voice work.

Frank of Ireland (Amazon Prime series) — Two of the world-famous Gleeson brothers (Domhnall and Brian) join forces about a man who’s fruitlessly hoping to get some respect after he finally decides to grow up. Brian portrays Frank, and Domhnall portrays a character that’s named, uh, Doofus. Their brand of comedy is rather absurd and juvenile at times, but there’s a heart to this show if you can hang through sophomoric jokes. This is certain: this show will make you forget about the serious things in life.

Spy City (AMC+ original series) — Preacher‘s Dominic Cooper stars as an English spy in 1960s Berlin, right before the Berlin Wall goes up. He’s tasked with locating a traitor among the Allies or in the UK embassy, and he’s possibly surrounded by spies and double agents. He’s also dancing around the threat of nuclear war while American, British, and French troops are barely separated from their East German and Soviet counterparts. Good luck?

Chadwick Boseman: Portrait Of An Artist (Netflix documentary) — Following the Black Panther and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom star’s too-soon death last August, the streamer fathered an all-star team for this documentary that aims to explore “Boseman’s extraordinary commitment to his craft [and] an intimate look at the Oscar-nominated actor’s artistry and the acting process which informed his transformative performances.” Settle in for a long list of participants, including Viola Davis, Danai Gurira, Spike Lee, Phylicia Rashad, and Glynn Turman. This one will be available for a limited 30-day window, so don’t let it languish in your queue for too long.

Fear the Walking Dead (Sunday, AMC 9:00 p.m.) — After one of most devastating episodes in the show’s history, Virginia and her rangers go into stand-off mode with Morgan’s group, and Ginny’s enemy-making habit is coming back to her.

The Nevers (Sunday, HBO 9:00 p.m.) — This Joss Whedon-created show (with a steampunk elephant in the corner) sees the city reeling from Maladie’s, uh, opera performance while Amalia’s in investigation mode.

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (Sunday, NBC 9:00 p.m.) — Zoey attempts to help Emily with a problem, which turns out to be more trouble than it’s worth. Meanwhile, Maggie touches base with an old friend while Max, Simon, and Mo bond.

Confronting A Serial Killer (Sunday, Starz 9:00 p.m.) — Author Jillian Lauren is digging into a serial killer while researching a true crime novel and finds that there might be a hidden connection that no one realized existed.

City On A Hill (Sunday, Showtime 9:00 p.m.) — Jackie’s attempting to deal with the fallout from his actions with Holly in the ICU and Rickey Townsend gearing up to testify against Decourcy.

Gangs Of London (Sunday, AMC 10:15 p.m.) — Fans of the beloved Peaky Blinders should pay attention because this new series makes Peaky seem like a pleasant walk in London’s Hyde Park. These warring gangs will prove to be entertaining for anyone who loves The Sopranos or any of Marty Scorsese’s mob pictures. This week, Alexander bumps into a familiar face while Elliot struggles to be loyal, and Sean’s throwing a dinner party, which should be plenty chaotic.

Last Week Tonight (Sunday, HBO 10:00 p.m.) — Everyone’s favorite sarcastic and satiric late-night host is here to throw down, and not a moment too soon. Can’t wait to see who he skewers this week.

Here are some more fresh streaming picks:

Big Shot (Disney+ series) — David E. Kelley co-created and executive produces this series starring John Stamos as a down-on-his luck, ousted NCAA coach who’s attempting to get back on his (angry) feet with a ritzy private high-school gig. While reluctantly seeking redemption, Coach learns that his new team benefits from him showing some actual emotion beyond rage and stoicism, so he must — gasp — learn how to be vulnerable and empathetic. He might actually become a better person, too. The show co-stars Yvette Nicole Brown, who I hope gives Coach a really hard time (dude seems like he deserves it).

Younger: Season 7 (Paramount+/Hulu series) — Final season time has arrived for this Darren Star show as it follows up on Liza mulling over whether to marry Charles while Kelsey made strides professionally. Things will be wrapped up soon with Liza struggling in her personal life while struggling not to lose herself, all while Maggie gets canceled, and Kelsey looking for a new creative outlet.

Earth Moods (Nat Geo series on Disney+) — This five-part series launches this weekend to show us various “moods” from the corners of the globe to soothe us with the natural world. Each one (from glaciers to deserts to rain forests to cities) will take us on voyage to help our minds reset. Sounds fantastic.

Wahl Street (HBO Max series) — Take a peek behind the Wahlcurtain of Mark Wahlberg’s empire — and settle in for some business and life lessons — including a rigorous film schedule, of course, and several successful businesses (a clothing line, a gym studio, Wahlburgers, and his production company). The season was filmed amid the global pandemic and includes appearances of his real-life entourage.

The Year Earth Changed (Apple TV+ film) — This is undoubtedly a timely documentary special that covers the year of lockdown in a way that you’ve never seen before. Nature has its way in deserted cities and suburbs, and before all is said and done, viewers will be able to observe how changes in human behavior (beach closings, less cruise ship traffic, etc.) can make planet Earth unbelievably happy. The project’s narrated by Sir David Attenborough as a love letter of sorts, all to show how nature can bounce back, and hopefully, so can humanity.

Georgia’s restrictive new voting laws have been the talk of the political spectrum in recent weeks, as the state has lost plenty of business in the wake of passing of SB 202 in March. Ryan Coogler, who’s no stranger to the state, made it clear in a letter that he is vehemently against the bill, but also shared that he would not move Black Panther II‘s filming out of the state as a result.

Coogler shared a letter about the situation to a variety of sites, including Shadow and Act, in which the director laid out in detail the harmful impact the bill has on limiting voter access and the reinstitution of a modern-day poll tax. It’s a worthwhile read to see in granular detail the naked attempt to limit the democratic process after what occurred in Georgia in November and January, largely due to the efforts of minority voters.

“The fight for full enfranchisement is fundamental to the African-American struggle in this country and to this country’s claim to functioning democracy,” Coogler wrote. “As an African-American, and as a citizen, I oppose all attempts, explicit and otherwise, to shrink the electorate and reduce access to the ballot.”

The letter also contained some important, specific details about production on the sequel to Black Panther. Many institutions have protested the law’s passing by moving events out of Georgia, such as Major League Baseball’s annual All-Star Game. But Coogler said he and Marvel will not move Black Panther II‘s filming out of the state and will instead vow to fight the law’s passing through a variety of methods and advocacy while working in the state.

Our film [Black Panther II] is staying in Georgia. Additionally, I have made a personal commitment to raise awareness about ways to help overturn this harmful bill, and continue to get educated on this matter from people on the ground. I will encourage everyone working with me to tap in with the local community directly affected by Senate Bill 202 and to leverage their influence and resources to aid in the fight for this particular and essential pillar of democracy.

I will also be donating to Fair Fight Action. You can do the same at www.stopjimcrow2.com.

Moving the film out of Georgia would have sent a huge shockwave through the entertainment industry and made Marvel and Disney the target of another round of cancel culture discourse from conservatives and right-wing media. So while that may have been a strong message to the state that its laws are extremely unwelcome, the message may have ultimately been muddled by the mediums it went out on. Still, Coogler makes it clear he and others working on the film are opposed to the legislation and its passing will not go unnoticed.

[via IndieWire, Shadow and Act]

Sometimes good R&B can be hard to find, but there are plenty of great rhythm and blues tunes to get into if you have the time to sift through the hundreds of newly released songs every week. So that R&B heads can focus on listening to what they really love in its true form, we’ll be offering a digest of the hottest R&B jams that fans of the genre should hear every Friday.

Queen Naija returns with an updated take of her debut album with Missunderstood… Still while Emotional Oranges give fans another reason to be excited for their upcoming Juicebox project thanks to their new single with Becky G.

Queen Naija — Missunderstood…Still

Towards the end of last year, Queen Naija slipped in one of the more impressive R&B projects of the year with her official debut, Missunderstood. Almost six months later, the 18-track effort gets extended with seven additional songs for Missunderstood…Still. Features from Ari Lennox and J.I. The Prince Of NY look to breathe new life into the singer’s project. Naija and Lennox also delivered visuals for their “Set Him Up” collaboration.

Emotional Oranges — “Down To Miami” Feat. Becky G

After making their mark in 2019 with The Juice, Vol. I and The Juice, Vol. II, Los Angeles-based R&B duo Emotional Oranges laid low for most of 2020, but now they’re back in action with plenty on new music on the way. Their newest release, “Down To Miami” with Becky G, takes advantage of the impending summer thanks to its warm production. The song is also expected to land on the duo’s upcoming Juicebox project.

Chris Brown & Young Thug — “Go Crazy Remix” Feat. Mulatto, Future and Lil Durk

Chris Brown and Young Thug joined forces for their Slime & B album nearly a year ago and to this day it’s an effort that is still being pushed thanks to the success of their “Go Crazy” single. Following a remix with Lil Durk, Mulatto, and Future, the five artists come together for a video that features sky diving, polar temperatures, a therapy session, and much more.

Phabo — “Slippery” Feat. Destin Conrad

Residing in St. Petersburg by way of San Diego, Soulection singer Phabo is slowly making a new for himself in the R&B world. He gained attention at the end of 2020 for his “LNF” track and things have only improved with his latest effort, “Slippery.” Laced with a guest appearance from Destin Conrad, the two singers debut the visual for the sultry track.

Sinead Harnett — “Hard 4 Me 2 Love You”

Sinead Harnett readies her upcoming album, Ready Is Always Too Late, which her brand new single, “Hard 4 Me 2 Love You.” The piano-driven ballad sees the British singer expressing the difficulties in love with her partner. The somber track arrives after three previous she released with help from Earthgang, Masego, and VanJess, which will all appear on Ready Is Always Too Late, out May 21.

Jacquees — Quemix 4

Jacquees is back and seemingly ready to take back the R&B crown he once claimed a few years ago. This campaign begins with the release of his Quemix 4 mixtape. The 13-track DJ Drama-hosted project finds the Atlanta remixing a number of popular tracks from today and yesterday including Usher’s “Can U Handle It,” Trey Songz’s “I Need A Girl,” and Coi Leray’s “No More Parties.”

Andra Day — “Phone Dies”

Andra Day began her year with a Golden Globe win for Best Actress In A Motion Picture — Drama thanks to her role in the The United States Vs. Billie Holiday film. She created the soundtrack for the film, a project that stood as her first full-length effort since her 2015 Grammy-nominated Cheers To The Fall. Now she’s back with “Phones Dies” produced by Anderson .Paak, a release that will hopefully lead to more music.

The Shindellas — “Money”

Nashville trio The Shindellas arrived with an thrilling video to their late 2020 video, “Money.” The all-female group flaunts their dance moves in sparkling outfits as they let their voices roar for the soaring track. On it, they share their hope for a world driven by love rather than money. While that might not be the case yet, they promise their own lovers that a good heart will always precede any dollar amount when it comes to them.

Tay Iwar — Love & Isolation

Two years removed from his Gemini project, Nigerian singer-songwriter Tay Iwar returns with his latest body of work in Love & Isolation. The seven-track project is a deeply personal ode to self-healing that also marks a transition from era to era for Iwar. “The intention is for people to feel and tap into themselves,” he said in a press release about the EP. “It’s a perfect self-healing EP post-pandemic.”

Marzz — “Cleopatra”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa8TUCFbGPE

Marzz signed on as the newest act to the Keep Cool imprint, joining a roster that boasts names like Lucky Daye, VanJess, Normani, and more. After dropping her first single under the label a couple of months ago, the Louisville native returns with her second effort, “Cleopatra.” On the track, which is carried by production from Timbaland, Marzz delivers her outlook on life as a woman while impressing with her songwriting skills.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.