Month: November 2021

Over the weekend, Megan Thee Stallion released her new mixtape, Something For Thee Hotties, rejuvenating her musical image somewhat among longtime fans who were disappointed by the stylistic departures on her debut album Good News. Rapping over bass-heavy, club-friendly beats produced by the likes of Buddah Bless, Juicy J, Murda Beatz, and OG Parker, Megan got back to basics, reviving her Tina Snow persona with a selection of freestyles and unreleased tracks hearkening back to her early days on the come-up.

One unexpected fan, though, turned out to be Weird Al Yankovic, who jumped into the Twitter discussion about the tape this morning with a funny, tongue-in-cheek critique about one of the project’s 20 songs, “Eat It.” You may remember that Weird Al has a song with the same title, a parody of Michael Jackson’s 1982 hard rock hit “Beat It” from Al’s 1984 album “Weird Al” Yankovic In 3-D. Apparently, upon listening to Megan’s song, Al was surprised to learn that it was not, in fact a homage to his own parody work, responding with a winking assessment that it was “Not a very faithful cover version, if you ask me.”

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

You know what would make getting a snap from your bestie even better? Being greeted by the soothing voice of Mike Myer’s Shrek upon opening it — and soon you’ll be able to!

Snapchat has officially announced they are partnering with NBCUniversal to bring sound clips from several hit films and shows, such as Shrek, to the social media platform (via The Hollywood Reporter). In addition to everyone’s favorite fairytale farce, Snapchat users will also be able to enjoy audio from comedy classics like Bridesmaids, The Office, Parks and Recreation, Back to the Future, and Saturday Night Live, giving the platform’s 306 million daily users a new variety of colorful ways to communicate.

While users could previously add music samples to their snaps, this is the first time Snapchat has introduced a partnership that included film and tv audio clips and is seemingly a direct response to their popularity on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. However, the feature won’t solely bolster Snapchat’s online presence. To help navigate users to their favorite films and shows — as well as encourage them to sign up for streaming services such as NBC’s Peacock — all snaps using NBCU audio will feature an option that allows viewers to swipe up to learn more about the sound clip’s origin, as well as a link to view what platforms the title is streaming on. Now your friend who still hasn’t seen The Office has no excuse not to give it a shot.

Ben Schwerin, Snapchat’s senior vice president of content and partnerships, says the platform is “thrilled” to host NBCUniversal’s iconic catalog on the site, stating users will love adding quotes to help “perfectly express the moment.”

“NBCUniversal has an iconic catalog and we know Snapchatters will love adding quotes from their favorite movies and series to their Snaps to help perfectly express the moment. NBC has been a tremendous and long-standing partner to Snap and we’re thrilled to continue to innovate together on new experiences for our community.”

This deal marks the second major acquisition for Snapchat this year following the platform entering a multiyear licensing deal with Universal Music Group back in June. That merger ultimately brought the entirety of Universal’s massive music catalog to Snapchat, and has contributed significantly to the creation of more than 521 million videos on Snapchat that utilize the “add audio” feature.

The Los Angeles Rams are all-in on trying to win a championship this season after swapping Jared Goff for Matthew Stafford in the offseason. In recent years, the Rams have been very aggressive in adding veteran talent via trade, most notably on the defensive side of the ball with acquisitions like Jalen Ramsey.

This year will be no different, as word broke on Monday that the Rams were sending a pair of 2022 draft picks to Denver in exchange for star edge rusher Von Miller to further bolster their defensive front and add a little more juice to the pass rush on the outside of Aaron Donald.

Miller’s agent confirmed the deal shortly after the reports from Schefter emerged.

Miller has long been the face of the Broncos defense and, in the post-Peyton Manning era, the face of the team as a whole. To move him is significant, but getting a pair of solid draft picks in exchange was worthwhile for a team currently stuck in something of a limbo situation — not a contender but also not among those vying for the very top picks in the draft. This will allow them to continue retooling the roster without, they hope, having to bottom out, even if it sends out one of the franchise legends in the process.

For the Rams, the message is clear that they want to win a Super Bowl this season. They’ve never been shy about shipping out draft picks for players they think can help them do that, and pairing Miller with Donald will give opposing offensive lines plenty to think about with regards to where they send help and doubles. On the season, Miller has 19 tackles and 4.5 sacks, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see an uptick in sack production in L.A. where he’ll see far more favorable matchups and one-on-one situations. His job will be to put pressure on the likes of Kyler Murray in the Rams chase of a divisional crown as well as an NFC title, and if nothing else the Rams roster is full of household names at this point.

October was a huge month for video games and November is going to be no different. Now that the holidays are here, we’re seeing lots of publishers put out their heavy hitters. This is when games like Call of Duty release, but we also have some other major titles and a major DLC update to get excited about.

With so much to talk about, let’s not waste any more time and dive into why these are the games everyone should be playing in November.

PlayStation Plus Games – PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5

The PlayStation Plus games for this month are interesting. Among them is a must-play, a curiosity, and a multiplayer game called First Class Trouble. First Class is a survival game similar to Among Us where a team of players is trying to survive performing tasks while there are imposters among them. As always, a good group of friends is going to really decide how good that game is. The other two games in this collection are more interesting by far.

Kingdoms of Amalur Re-Reckoning is the infamous game that Curt Schilling’s video game company, 38 Cent, published shortly before it went bankrupt. The game was seen as a moderate success at the time and likely would have gotten a sequel had they had a more reliable publisher behind them. It’s a piece of video game history so it should get some interest as a free downloadable for PS Plus members.

The big winner in this trio of games though is Knockout City. A team-based dodgeball game, Knockout City is a really fun time and with a good group of friends can become intensely competitive. It didn’t really blow up though and that’s a shame because it’s a gem of a game that deserves more attention. Hopefully being part of this PS Plus package will get it some more attention.

Games With Gold – Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

The Games With Gold and GamePass Ultimate Package this month is great for anyone that has siblings or a significant other that they want to play something casual with. Moving Out is an incredibly silly game where you work for as a Furniture Arrangement and Relocation Technician (yes, FART) but for anyone that wants a classic co-op experience then we strongly suggest Lego Batman 2 DC Super Heroes. The Lego games are frequently very solid and fun without too much barrier to entry. Anyone can sit down and have a good time with them.

Also among this package is Rocket Knight, a 2.5D platformer/side-scrolling shooter. Rocket Knight reminds us of the days when every character had to have mascot potential. The game got favorable reviews at the time and might be a good point of nostalgia for anyone that played it back on the Xbox 360.

Kingdom Two Crowns has a pixel art style that likens back to the days of the NES and is just fun to look at. The story involves a Monarch trying to protect their kingdom and features side-scrolling gameplay, but it’s been described as a strategy game. It has an interesting premise and for free it can’t hurt to give it a try.

Call of Duty: Vanguard – PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC

It’s the latest Call of Duty game and this one is going all the way back to World War II. We pretty much know what’s in the box with this one considering a lot of the base engine is the same as Modern Warfare, Warzone, and Black Ops Cold War. All of that said, the opportunity to get some new maps and settings is always an intriguing one even if it does feel a lot like the previous games.

We got a chance to play through the beta and for the most part enjoyed ourselves. The thing about the Call of Duty games is that, on a technical level, they are some of the most consistent games out there on a year-to-year basis. This is great for those that like to buy every entry, but it also means each game needs to do a lot to stand out from the sea of games. We’ll be interested to see how the developers plan to make this one special and unique.

Forza Horizon 5 – Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC

A cynical way to look at car games is that they’re really just glorified tech demos. We all know what a car is supposed to look like so when a company wants to show off how powerful their box is they release a new car game to show how nice and realistic it looks. While Forza Horizon 5 does fall into this category, it at least has the added benefit of giving players some cool locales to look at. The environments that players will be racing through are cool and yes they do look really pretty.

Of course, with a long-running series like this, it needs to show off something unique and special about the game itself. Forza Horizon 5, based on some of the trailers we saw beforehand, seems very committed to its multiplayer mode. There are a plethora of options from typical racing to sillier games like target practice. They can only push a box so far to make cars prettier, but they can do a lot to make these games fun and we’re seeing a lot of that with this iteration.

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition – PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, PC

The return of what many consider to be the Grand Theft Auto golden years. Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas were iconic for a variety of reasons. They helped revolutionize video games but also created a whole lot of controversy along the way. Now they’re back in remastered form with a new coat of paint and updated controls.

The big winner of this game coming out is going to be Nintendo Switch owners because this is the first time these games will all be coming to a Nintendo console. It’s also just going to be fun to have the option to go back to our old haunts and experience what those games were like again. The updates as far as we can tell have all been very minor which is going to be a plus for some and a minus for others. They really are just a nostalgia trip, but they also have the GTA name on them so they’re going to be immensely popular.

Shin Megami Tensei V – Switch

Surpassed by the Persona series in mainstream popularity, Shin Megami Tensei V is the fifth mainline installment in the franchise. Many games and series have spun off SMT and for good reason. They’re really fun, fairly challenging, and full of classic JRPG nonsense with all of its good and bad.

The real fun in these games comes in the addicting combat system. Most enemies have a weakness and when that weakness is exploited it allows players to get a second chance at an attack. To get new powers, players typically have to collect an army of monsters which in turn makes them stronger. This may sound like Pokemon, and there are certainly a lot of similarities, but the scale of SMT is far larger and will guarantee that most players put 60 to 80 hours into the main story alone. Any fan of JRPG’s is going to be excited for this one.

Battlefield 2042 – PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC

While Call of Duty has a fairly continuous release schedule, its main competitor Battlefield is a little more selective with its releases. There hasn’t been a new game in the series since Battlefield V in 2018 so fans are eagerly anticipating Battlefield 2042. This was originally supposed to come out in October, but a late delay pushed it into November right into the same window as Call of Duty. The two military shooters will be going head to head this year and that means fans will get to pick which one they like more.

Battlefield has always been more about having gigantic battles that span across huge maps instead of the more close-quarters combat Call of Duty has perfected. What Battlefield does has over Call of Duty however are wacky highlights. With vehicles and huge maps, the chaos that takes place can not be understated and players really like to get creative with trick shots. Some of this can be seen on display in the reveal trailer when it recreated the famous RendeZook where a player in Battlefield 3 jumped out of their plane, shot another plane down with a rocket launcher, and then got back into their plane. More of this in 2042, please.

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker – PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC

Fans of Final Fantasy XIV really love that game and for good reason. It’s one of the best MMOs made in over a decade and the amount players can playthrough before they have to actually start paying for it is really incredible. So much so that players of the game have begun memeing a specific copypasta about it.

Have you heard of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV? With an expanded free trial which you can play through the entirety of A Realm Reborn and the award winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 for free with no restrictions on playtime.

While it’s a meme, all of that statement is true. If you’re not careful you can put a disgusting amount of time into Final Fantasy XIV and it’s about to take away even more time. The next expansion, Endwalker, is releasing this month and it’s set to be a one of the most exciting MMO experiences in recent memory.

Pokémon Shining Pearl/Brilliant Diamond – Switch

Few series are as popular as the Pokémon series. It might not ever reach the same level of mania that was the 90s, but it has a very loyal following that plays every new game. The upcoming Pokémon Shining Pearl/Brilliant Diamond is a remake of the fourth generation and fans are excited to see what it can do to improve on the series.

What’s different about this game is they’re going with a completely different art style. While the recently released Pokémon Sword/Shield went to a completely 3D world, Gamefreak has decided to give this remake a chibi cutesy look and shift back to an overhead view. It’s a completely new style and one that is really divisive among fans so far. We’re excited to see it in action once we’re able to get our hands on it later this month.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise DLC – Switch

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a great game that got a lot of people through the tougher parts of 2020. That said, for longtime Animal Crossing players, it felt very shallow in terms of content. Longtime features were missing, characters weren’t there, and aspects of the game felt tedious.

Thankfully we’re getting a huge DLC update on November 5, along with some paid DLC called Happy Home Paradise, to alleviate some of these issues. The free DLC update is going to add back some desperately missing features like Brewster’s coffee shop and a central shopping location. Happy Home Paradise meanwhile is basically a sequel to Happy Home Designer on the Wii U, but it directly connects to our current islands so we all get new content in the current base game as well. This is a huge and much-desired update and one that is going to send a lot of people back to their islands.

If there was any doubt that Aaron Rodgers is a hardcore John Wick fan, the Green Bay Packers quarterback went all-out this Halloween with a pretty accurate costume of Keanu Reeves’ master assassin. Not only did Rodgers nail the look, but he posed for a series of photos to match scenes from the movies and posters. Also, for some reason, he posed next to Bane, who we don’t remember being in the movies, but we wouldn’t be mad if he pops up in John Wick 4.

You can see Rodgers’ John Wick photoshoots below, and while his dog does make an appearance, don’t worry, no harm befouls any pups in this universe:

Rodgers is coming off a fan-favorite stint on Jeopardy! where he filled in as one of the rotating cast of guest hosts following Alek Trebek’s death. In fact, Rodgers loved it so much, that he would’ve absolutely said “yes” to being the full-time host if asked. Instead, he’s back on the gridiron throwing touchdowns to ice out the Bears.

As for the John Wick franchise, the fourth installment is currently in production, and the assassin series is getting ready to expand even further. A prequel series starring Mel Gibson (yeah…) is coming to Starz, and Ana de Armas is reportedly in talks to star in the spinoff project Ballerina.

(Via Aaron Rodgers on Instagram)

Director Roland Emmerich is one of the best at making supremely stupid movies that are also entertaining as hell. I’m talking Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and White House Down. Moonfall looks like a nice addition to the dumb fun canon.

The official plot summary for the science-fiction disaster film begins, “In Moonfall, a mysterious force knocks the Moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it.” That’s the good stuff. It continues:

With mere weeks before impact and the world on the brink of annihilation, NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler (Halle Berry) is convinced she has the key to saving us all – but only one astronaut from her past, Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) and a conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman (John Bradley) believes her. These unlikely heroes will mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space, leaving behind everyone they love, only to find out that our Moon is not what we think it is.

I always knew Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, and Sam from Game of Thrones would save us all from the moon (and moon monsters???) from killing everyone on Earth. Moonfall, which also stars Michael Peña, Charlie Plummer, Kelly Yu, Eme Ikwuakor, Carolina Bartczak, and Donald Sutherland, opens on February 4, 2022.

Afro Nation, the biggest afrobeats festival in the world, is returning in 2022 after a two-year hiatus with a star-studded lineup including Burna Boy, Megan Thee Stallion, and Wizkid. Taking place in Portugal on July 1-3, the festival took two years off as a result of the global COVID-19 population but is returning next year with what the organizers call a “landmark” iteration.

In addition to the above headliners, the festival is bringing more big names from multiple genres across the diaspora, including Beenie Man, Ckay, Diamond Platnumz, Koffee, Naira Marley, Rema, Tekno, Tems, Wande Coal, and more. While most of the names are obviously big in the afrobeats world, Megan Thee Stallion’s presence expands the purview of the festival to include an even broader perspective of the diaspora.

These are just the first wave, though, with more names to be announced in the future, so expect to see some more surprises down the line. With the festival taking place on the sand at Praia De Rocha Beach, there will certainly be more artists excited to join the fun. Pre-sale tickets will go on sale starting at 9 am on Friday, November 5, with general release tickets going on sale starting at noon.

You can find out more at the official website.

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

A beloved serial killer, an MCU series, hormone monsters, warring drug lords, and many magical moments. November is filled with with must-see TV shows, both of the brand new and returning varieties. On a more hybrid note, a highly anticipated revival comes to mind with Dexter: New Blood, in which Michael C. Hall slides right back into his Dark Passenger-taunted ways to erase sins of the lumberjack past. Elsewhere, there’s the newest MCU Phase Four show arriving with a holiday theme while Big Mouth brings back one of the best adult-animated sets of characters known to the streaming realm. In other words, Showtime, Disney+, and Netflix are all representing well here, and Hulu has some (offbeat) Marvel magic coming your way, too.

Speaking of magic, Amazon Prime will bring you Rosamund Pike in fantasy-adaptation land, and wait, Netflix isn’t done yet: they’re adapting cult-favorite anime series in live-action form with John Cho and an adorable corgi, and Scoot McNairy’s mustache takes on all the bad guys for the final Narcos: Mexico season. There’s a lot more, and it’s more than enough to distract you from bickering relatives through Thanksgiving weekend.

Here are the biggest shows worth noticing in November:

Narcos: Mexico: Season 3 (Netflix series streaming 11/5)

Drug lord extraordinaire Félix Gallardo warned Agent Walt Breslin that he’d freed a circus of animals within the drug war, and he wasn’t joking. The cartels are poppin’ in what will be the final season of the spinoff to the Pablo Escobar-centered beginnings of Narcos. Fortunately, the spirit of Pablo is still around, sort-of, given that actor Wagner Moura has returned to direct, and Breslin and the fledgling DEA sure have their work cut out for them with hydra heads springing up everywhere. That includes El Chapo, who’s all up in the Sinaloa business, and the tagline for this season is absolutely magnificent: “THE FINAL BLOW.” No subtlety there.

Big Mouth: Season 5 (Netflix series streaming 11/5)

The hormone monsters are back for another round with an all-star voice cast that includes Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas, Maya Rudolph, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Rannells, Jordan Peele, and Richard Kind. Oh, and Kumail Nanjiani will be starring as himself, somehow, while shirtless. Settle in as hate spirals and a hate worm and all kinds of other amorphous creatures take over eighth grade. Man, middle school was the worst, right? One might as well vent some angst by seeing how these bizarro creatures (including a love bug) navigate the hurdles.

Dickinson: Season 3 (Apple TV+ series streaming 11/5)

Hailee Stanfield’s playing the rebellious poet for a final batch of episodes (right as she makes picks up the arrow in Hawkeye, too) while the Civil War lurks on the horizon. This actually turns out to be the most prolific period of Emily Dickinson’s writing career, all while chaos swirls in a historical sense as well as a familial one. Can art make a real difference, not only for the future but for the present as well? It’s a question that this show still hopes to answer, all while making love-of-literature a badass affair.

Dexter: New Blood: Season 1 (Showtime series premiering 11/7)

Dexter Morgan, who’s arguably TV’s most beloved serial killer of all time (sorry, Hannibal fans), is back, baby. The new season is a bloody good time for all and works hard to erase the sins of the lumberjack past. As Showtime already revealed, not only is Harrison back but Debra as well. So, there’s a lot of outside forces at work, and it’s going to be a trip to see how Dexter can survive having to tend to something else beyond his inner war. That’s the real hurricane, and it’s a much more compelling storm this time around. Dexter’s out of his element, and it’s so much fun to watch.

Gentefied: Season 2 (Netflix series streaming 11/10)

If you haven’t had the pleasure of binging this heartwarming dramedy yet, it’s time to get caught up. Glorious character actor Joaquín Cosío (Narcos: Mexico) is up for deportation, and the siblings must work to save his ass while continuing to explore their own Mexican-American identity, save their taco shop, and generally be the coolest while wrapping their arms around the American Dream. That dream, of course, might be a double-edged sword because success also threatens the communities and values that the family’s hoping to help preserve. It’s a charming series full of authentic characters, and they must rescue Pops.

Ragdoll: Season 1 (AMC+ series streaming 11/11)

The Killing Eve producers are on the case in this psychological thriller series that follows a disgraced London Police detective, who’s making a sort-of comeback in a particularly grim case. That would be the discovery of a literal “ragdoll” of body parts (from six murder victims), and it’s the work of a serial killer who’s already got a hit list for six more people, including Mr. Detective Himself. He joins the team to race against time, and the series also captures the fractured personal lives of several people on and connected with the case. It’s a killer premise and waiting to be discovered by you.

The Shrink Next Door: Season 1 (Apple TV+ series streaming 11/12)

Paul Rudd stars as the therapist from hell, who simply does not believe in boundaries, as the title of this show suggests. Will Ferrell plays his unfortunate patient, and the dark comedy series builds an unnerving tension while also charting decades of a relationship between these two men. Both Rudd and Ferrell can’t help but be funny, but their dramatic sides will shine through here, too. Fortunately, they’ve also got Kathryn Hahn and her serious wig game on board for extra clout, but the big question is this: when and where will Paul Rudd end up dancing in this story? You gotta watch to find out.

The World According to Jeff Goldblum: Season 2 (Disney+ series streaming 11/12)

Jazzy Jeff Goldblum (no really, he’s a best-selling jazz artist these days, although not a DJ) catapulted to fame while unbuttoning his shirt during the first Jurassic Park film. These days, however, Jeff’s pursuing more intellectually curious endeavors, and that’s going down on his delightfully quirky National Geographic show that streams on Disney+. There’s really good news, too. After exploring the origins of ice cream (you must watch that episode), denim, recreational vehicles and more, he’s about to leap into your heart for another round of episodes, this time while exploring magic, fireworks, monsters, dogs, and dance.

Mayor of Kingstown: Season 1 (Paramount+ series streaming 11/14)

Jeremy Renner wasn’t content to have one high-profile series come out this month (that’d be Hawkeye on Disney+), and he’s definitely not in the MCU here. He stars alongside Kyle Chandler and Dianne Wiest as a member of the power-brokering McLusky family, who are running their Michigan town with no hope for anyone else to prevail. In this show, the incarceration business is the name of the game, so expect explosive drama and a gritty outlook, all while exploring the themes of justice and corruption and inequality. Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone, Sons of Anarchy) co-created here, and he did not come to play.

Kamikaze: Season 1 (HBO Max series streaming 11/14)

This Polish show might not be on your radar yet, but it arrives with a riveting premise: what happens to one’s identity when everything that matters in your life disappears in one panicked heartbeat? Marie Reuther portrays a young woman who gets a terrible text message — her entire family is about to go down in a plane crash — that changes everything. She’s alone and picking up the pieces, and this feels very much like Morvern Callar but with a contemporary spin. Yes, expect a lot of tragedy here, but you also won’t be able to look away from where this protagonist goes.

Yellowjackets: Season 1 (Showtime series streaming 11/14)

This show looks as intense as one can expect. It’s a survival epic and a psychological horror story with plenty of coming-of-age touches, too, all revolving around plane crash survivors in the wilderness. They’re initially a thriving team that divides without conquering and the show also visits their future, decades later, while they’re reliving trauma and realizing that you can never leave a past like that one behind for good. As if you needed another reason not to hop on an airplane these days, right?

Marvel’s Hit Monkey: Season 1 (Hulu series streaming 11/17)

Hulu is crushing the game when it comes to adapting offbeat Marvel titles these days, as evidenced by the thoroughly enjoyable M.O.D.O.K., which gave us a better villain than we’ve ever seen in the MCU. Here, Jason Sudeikis, George Takei, and Olivia Munn voice the lead roles in a story about a Japanese snow monkey who somehow joins forces with an American assassin’s ghost, and they end up tearing up the Yakuza’s little underworld. This ain’t Ted Lasso, but since Sudeikis is onboard, it’ll be hard to escape that winning charm.

The Great: Season 2 (Hulu series streaming 11/17)

There ain’t no royal drama like this show does royal drama. Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult return to hate the hell out of each other again. Hoult’s depraved Peter III is a pain-in-the-ass as always, and kind-of how you’d imagine Kim Jong-un as a sexy, hard-partying Russian. The comedy stays bitingly dark, too, with Fanning’s Catherine the Great wondering about her likelihood of staying alive, and of course, there’s the reality that this character overthrew her husband six months into their marriage. The great (get it?) Gillian Anderson joins this season, and the beheading joke in the trailer fits right in with the show’s usual vibe.

Cowboy Bebop: Season 1 (Netflix series streaming 11/19)

Bounty hunting never looked so stylish, and from the looks of this teaser, Netflix is not messing around with their adaptation of a cult-classic anime property. John Cho stars as Spike Spiegel, who’s in stunt mode alongside Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) while dodging death and making money. The spirit of the source material appears to be honored with an action-focused, aesthetic punch, and even non-anime fans who adore ultra-stylization (as with Scott Pilgrim and Sin City) should be intrigued. Heck, even the most casual Quentin Tarantino fan should toss this selection into the queue.

The Wheel of Time: Season 1 (Amazon Prime series streaming 11/19)

Rosamund Pike finally goes not play a sociopath while starring in this sprawling adaptation of one of the most popular fantasy book series (by Robert Jordan) ever. Here, she portrays Moiraine, who’s a member of an exclusive, magical, all-ladies organization known as Aes Sedai. The story follows Moiraine’s dangerous quest with a group that contains the prophesied Dragon Reborn, who shall be the key to humanity’s fate. Whether that fate is to be destroyed or saved, who really knows? Sit back and surrender to the epic journey.

Hawkeye: Season 1 (Disney+ series streaming 11/24)

The MCU is in holiday mood for this series, which begins to pass the arrow from Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton to Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop, who’s learning the ropes as the two battle through some sort of Christmas hellscape that feels awfully surreal, including a Captain America-themed musical and the entry of Vera Farmiga into the MCU. And don’t forget, Black Widow ended with a relevant post-credits scene, in which Countess Valentina Allegra De Fontaine (Julia Louis Dreyfus) planted a hit on Hawkeye by telling Yelena (Florence Pugh) that Hawkeye was “the man responsible for your sister’s death.” Yep, Hawkeye is in some deep sh*t.

Saved By the Bell: Season 2 (Peacock series streaming 11/24)

Occasionally, a rebooted series really resonates with its audience, and as with Cobra Kai, this one worked out to harness a new generation of viewers, along with those who watched the O.G. effort during their own youth. The ultimate Zack Attack last season meant that Mark-Paul Gosselaar was on hand to portray a bad California governor, but fortunately, Tiffani Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley, and Mario Lopez all arrived to help make things right. The revival was surprisingly socially relevant, too, and expect more of the same to come with a student leader who finds herself with more of a mess to clean up than she expected.

How To with John Wilson: Season 2 (HBO series premiering 11/26)

The “anxious New Yorker” (as he refers to himself) and documentary filmmaker returns for more slice-of-life and refreshingly funny accounts of existing in the Big Apple. Whether or not this season will be able to circumvent heavy pandemic coverage remains to be seen. Yet no matter what, one should expect a heartfelt exploration of all issues, no matter how simple they might seem. This season promises some unexpected moments with unyielding honesty at every turn. Don’t worry, you’re in good hands.

The Succession Report Card is a weekly recap feature where we attempt to assign grades to the important people, things, and themes from each episode of Succession. The grades are entirely subjective and the criteria for scoring will change from week to week and occasionally mid-week. Someone might get detention. It’ll probably be Roman.

Logan

This week, Logan:

• Continued to use his children as pawns and/or shields to try to wriggle out of the trouble he’s in for running a corrupt boys’ club of a company for decades now
• Dropped an F-slur while talking to Roman
• Tried to strongarm the investigation so hard that the government got mad and came to raid the offices with a search warrant and a whole team of FBI agents

The walls are closing in a bit here and his support system is wavering. Too soon to count the old dog out yet for a bunch of reasons, but things are not going great.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: Growing or otherwise acquiring a working heart to fill the empty black hole in his chest

Gerri

Gerri is the CEO the same way a kid who gets a paper crown with a Whopper Junior rules the entire Burger King, which is to say, not so much. Logan is overruling and undermining her to her face and behind her back, she’s getting nothing accomplished anywhere, and people are saying the quiet part out loud about her being “optics.” She’s not blood, which makes her an outsider even though she’s devoted her life to the company. She just kind of looks sad a lot.

I’ve got to believe Gerri lays awake at night wondering about a Sliding Doors situation where she takes a different path at a younger age. She could have been anything, probably. A founder of a non-profit, a senator, a helicopter pilot to the stars. This can’t be what she wanted, even if she’ll probably tell you it is.

GRADE: F

MUST IMPROVE: Life choices

Shiv

Hoo boy.

• Her big town hall got blown up by Kendall orchestrating a guerrilla speaker operation that ended with the song “Rape Me” by Nirvana blasting throughout the building as she tried to lower the temperature on the huge cruise ship sexual assault scandal
• She is apparently signing off on her husband being the sacrificial lamb who takes the prison time in all of this
• She released an ice-cold letter about Kendall and all of his issues with addiction and mania, referencing his “teets” blow-up from last week in a section about his misogyny, and while none of it was really incorrect, the fact that she couldn’t bully Roman and Connor — the two most submissive boys in the world — into signing it says a lot about how below-the-belt it was

Shiv is a wounded animal right now, just scratching and gnashing with teeth and claws.

GRADE: D+

MUST IMPROVE: Situational awareness, tendency to lash out

Various Franks, Karls, and Karolinas

Poor Karolina. She’s doing the best she can.

GRADE: D

MUST IMPROVE: Backbone strength and/or sniveling depending on the situation

Mondale the Dog

On one hand, eating and pooping out pantyhose does not sound like a fun time for anyone. On the other hand, he’s a good boy and I love him very much.

GRADE: D+

MUST IMPROVE: Recognizing food

Tom

Tom should be getting a much worse grade by any objective standard, between playing doggie proctologist and facing a prison sentence and bullying my sweet gangly boy Cousin Greg. He had a terrible week. It could not have gone much worse, to be honest, short of Shiv having a torrid fling with Nate after bumping into him at the journalism gala, which I was pretty sure we were heading toward.

And yet. And yet! There was the thing where he was talking to Kendall and Kendall said he had no beef with him and actually said the hilariously perfect Kendall sentence, “Another life is possible, brother.” We are teetering toward a world where Kendall, Greg, and Tom try to take down Waystar together like the lion, tin man, and scarecrow going after the Wizard of Oz. I’m not sure who is who in the scenario, except that Logan is the wizard and Greg is definitely the scarecrow. Lisa Arthur might be Dorothy. Unless… is… is Kendall Dorothy?

I will think about this and get back to you.

GRADE: C-

MUST IMPROVE: Playing better with others

Kendall

Favorite Kendall moments this week, in no particular order:

• The pathetic little “boooo” while playing Good Tweet, Bad Tweet
• Screaming about the patriarchy on the way into the gala in the cringiest display of allyship anyone has ever seen
• Claiming the AC in his office was hacked to make it “65, maybe 62” degrees
• Barging into the writer’s room of the show to pitch ideas and talk about guys he knows at the Lampoon
• Insisting he could secure Jay Z as a backup guest on 15 minutes notice
• Sitting with a journalist for a profile and doing the whole “is this gonna be in there?” thing over a salad

All of which culminated in him hiding out in a back room of a television studio kind of having a panic attack when what he thought was a game became very real as Sophie Iwobi read Shiv’s letter on-air and mocked him for ghosting her and the show. Once again: Kendall is a little boy. That’s the way to look at him that makes the most sense. A little boy who got $100 for his birthday and thinks he’s rich because he doesn’t understand the concept of monthly bills yet. Just banging toy trucks together and thinking he understands the world.

He did end on a small win, though. The FBI raid gets him what he wants and will bump Shiv’s letter out of the news cycle. He’s on a high-wire still, but it’s not a total loss.

GRADE: C

MUST IMPROVE: Just, like, understanding anything

Connor

Connor is an idiot and a pompous buffoon and no one respects him even a little, but I like that he refused to sign the letter and I’ve kind of started becoming curious about what he actually does all day, to the degree that I wouldn’t be all that mad if the show tossed a massive curveball next week and just gave us an entire episode that followed him around for 24 hours.

I don’t know why, but I feel like it would involve him trying to return a sweater without a receipt and having it ruin his entire day when they only offer him a store credit.

GRADE: B

MUST IMPROVE: I mean, everything, a little bit

Roman

It’s weird. I should hate Roman. He’s a little rich snotty shit. He has almost zero redeeming qualities. He could get hit by a bus in the cold open next week and it would have absolutely no effect on the world at large.

But between the fishing story and his refusal to sign the letter — which he did while doubled over, like standing up for himself caused him physical pain — and the thing where he mimicked puking during his pre-interview meeting with the ATN guy, I… I’m starting to love the little doofus?

I don’t know. I don’t know. I have much to consider.

GRADE: B

MUST IMPROVE: It’s not really relevant but I worry about his upper body strength, like, to the degree I wonder if he can lift a gallon of milk, so let’s go with that

Sophie Iwobi

I bet clips of her show go viral every week. Blogs all over the internet probably post them with words like “destroys” and “eviscerates” in the headline. Good for her.

GRADE: B+

MUST IMPROVE: Wrangling guests before the show starts

This security guy

Love him.

GRADE: A-

MUST IMPROVE: Growing a mustache to be a little scarier

Jess Jordan

Please do me a favor: Watch Jess Jordan. Every time she’s on the screen. Watch the faces she makes whenever Kendall says or does some extremely Kendall stuff. It’s honestly becoming my favorite part of the show.

GRADE: A

MUST IMPROVE: Career planning

Cousin Greg

Sometimes it astounds me how well the writers on this show know their characters and “Cousin Greg being kind of bullied into paying $40k for a watch he thought would be a gift and doesn’t even work” is absolutely one of those times.

GRADE: A+

MUST IMPROVE: Nothing, leave him alone

Musicians are creative folks who have costume budgets that let them go beyond Spirit Halloween’s offerings, so they tend to really show up with killer looks during spooky season. This year was more of the same on that front, as a lot of the world’s favorite artists delivered some Halloween costume excellence in 2021.

The Weeknd is no stranger to prosthetic make-up, as he proved in his “Save Your Tears” video, and he was at it again this weekend with an impressive Don Corleone from The Godfather look.

Meanwhile, Rihanna absolutely nailed her Gunna outfit by emulating a classic fit.

The newly engaged Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian also came through with a couple of couples looks. Over the weekend, they paid tribute to the movie True Romance and a few days ago, they dressed up as Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen.

Anderson .Paak went hard, too, sharing photos of himself as Silk Sonic cohort Bruno Mars, Prince, and Stevie Wonder.

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift has puts Cats behind her and has moved on to being a squirrel.

Charli XCX and Cardi B were on the same page, as they both embodied Morticia Addams from The Addams Family.

Finally, this one doesn’t really count, but Phoebe Bridgers has been dressing as a skeleton for well over a year.

Check out some other costumes from across the music world below.

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