Month: December 2021

Fans began to grow impatient earlier this year while waiting months to hear Ye’s long-delayed album Donda. That’s why the rapper’s Donda listening parties were such a big deal. Ye took over stadiums, sleeping at one and building a replica of his child home in another, and played the entirety of his LP to eager fans. The events were so iconic that one of the bulletproof vests he wore to a listening party is being auctioned off for a lot of money — alongside an NFT that’s an exact digital replica of the vest.

After his Donda listening party in Atlanta was over, Ye apparently gifted his ballistic vest to one of the security guards working there that night. The security guard sold the clothing item back in August for $20,000, but now, it’s sold for even more than that. Auction company Christie’s come into possession of the vest. But rather than selling the vest by itself, Christie’s had an NFT made of it. According to NME, the vest and the NFT just sold for a whopping $75,000.

Sharing a video of the NFT on Instagram, Christie’s wrote:

“We are proud to offer a unique piece of music history: the bullet proof vest worn by Kanye during the August 5th debut of his DONDA album, complete with ballistics panels, hand painted DONDA and Kanye signed MBD, ‘my body different’, and the first 1-of-1 NFT of its kind sold at Christie’s, allowing this moment in music history to live on both physically and digitally.”

Check out the NFT vest above.

Of all the movies released during the pandemic, Venom: Let There Be Carnage had the biggest opening weekend. The best comic book movie of the year and stealth romantic-comedy made $90.1 million at the domestic box office, topping the previous record set by Black Widow ($80 million). That’s the closest any film has come to crossing the $100 million mark during its first weekend of release — or at least it was, until this weekend.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is expected to break every COVID-era record:

Spider-Man: No Way Home hits theaters on Friday and is poised to generate $150 million in its box office debut — a heroic feat even by pre-COVID standards. Sony Pictures modestly predicts a three-day tally closer to $130 million, which would still rank as a huge win. But given pent-up demand and record pre-sales, some box office prognosticators are more bullish. They believe an opening weekend near $175 million could be within reach.

That $150-$175 million estimate would be the biggest debut since Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker opened to $177 million in December 2019, and easily top the opening weekends for the previous two Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, Homecoming ($117 million) and Far From Home ($92 million).

No wonder Holland isn’t leaving the MCU any time soon. (And if the Marvel stans want to check out The Power of the Dog, the fantastic Jane Campion movie with No Way Home co-star Benedict Cumberbatch in an Oscar-worthy performance, that would be swell, too.)

(Via Variety)

Bill O’Reilly’s post-Fox News tenure has included, uh, a low-key podcast and occasionally reminding everyone that he’s alive. He did, however, recently set off on a “History Tour” with ex-President Donald Trump, and that’s been one ill-received whirlwind. Poor ticket sales show that few people want to vote with dollars for a “loser” ex-present or a former star Fox News talking head, who reportedly grunted like a wild boar and referred to a Fox News employee as “hot chocolate,” a revelation that surfaced before his ousting at the conservative cable news network.

O’Reilly must not hold much value in keeping Trump happy amid their bombing tour. He went on NewsNation and spoke with Dan Abrams about how he actually told Trump (to his face) that his 2020 bid “was a loser.” Surely, that went over well! Via Mediaite:

“He asked me my opinion and I told him that was a loser. And I told him he should run on his record if he wants to go for another term. That’s exactly what I told him. He asked me, and that’s exactly what I told him.”

O’Reilly was feeling even spicier when he decided to trash Fox News, which he believes now “play[s] to the choir.” He’s tying what he sees as a downfall to his own departure:

“Well sure, because I brought in millions and millions of viewers and billions of dollars to that corporation for more than 20 years. Look, there’ll never be another cable news anchor who’s number one for 16 consecutive years. It’s a different world now. It’s–everything is fractured now.”

O’Reilly went on to argue that he invited guests “from all sides” and “presented evidence as best we could backed up by facts,” but these days, Fox News will only “play to the choir and that’s what they’re all doing now. That’s easy.” Whereas he feels that he did the more difficult thing because “it’s hard to debate and especially when you bring bright people in.” (You can watch the clip at Mediaite.)

However, O’Reilly’s cable news domination ended in 2017 when he was ousted following revelations that he paid out over $30 million for sexual harassment settlements. Media analyst Howard Kurtz once described him as “the biggest star in the 20 year history at Fox News,” which speaks to O’Reilly’s enormous fall. Yet he’s not entirely wrong, given that currently popular hosts like Tucker Carlson spreads his propaganda through faux-rhetorical arguments. Tucker also doesn’t provide opportunity for potentially hostile guests to challenge him on-air, and so, the MAGA cycle continues.

In the end, O’Reilly does seem very bitter about his firing and over his failed “History Tour” with Trump, but the former Fox News celebrity host also made his own bed.

(Via Mediaite)

The rollout for 2022’s run of long-awaited tours continues. Today, the trio of Action Bronson, The Alchemist, and Earl Sweatshirt announced their entry into the increasingly crowded arena with their NBA Leather World Tour kicking off in San Diego, CA on January 29. They’ll run through March 3 at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, AZ, with more dates to be announced. The tour will see the trio of frequent collaborators reunite after sharing a similar bill at The Warfield Theater in San Francisco in 2015 — one of the venues on this tour.

All three will have plenty of new music for the tour as well; The Alchemist has been more prolific than ever, even despite a pandemic, dropping two EPs this year and producing albums for Armand Hammer and Boldy James, as well as the Rapper’s Best Friend instrumental album. Meanwhile, he and Earl have apparently completed a new album, Sick, to be released in early 2022. And Action Bronson, despite not releasing new music in 2021, has his 2020 album Only For Dolphins to perform, as he was never able to play it live.

You can check out the tour dates below.

1/29 — San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
1/30 — Hollywood, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
2/1 — San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
2/5 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
2/6 — Vancouver, BC @ Harbour Event Centre
2/9 — Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
2/11 — Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
2/12 — Minneapolis, MN @ Fillmore
2/14 — Toronto, ON @ History
2/16 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
2/19 — Washington, DC @ The Anthem
2/22 — Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
2/23 — New Orleans, LA @ Fillmore
2/25 — Houston, TX @ House of Blues
2/27 — Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum
3/3 — Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre

Well, another year of television is in the books. Things got pretty wild out there. It was impossible to keep up with every show, once again, so it became a matter of picking and choosing. It was tough to go wrong, fully, with so much quality on so many different channels and streaming services. Look around long enough and you can find something neatly tailored to your interests. That can be kind of cool.

It can also be a trap. You can fall into a rut of watching just the things you already like. You can forget to branch out a bit. That’s important, both for your personal growth and because, like, there’s so much cool stuff out there if you look for it with an open mind.

And so, with that said, allow us to present our top shows of the year. We can at this list mathematically. Everyone submitting their list Ranked from 10 to 1, with the first-place show receiving 10 points, the second-place show receiving 9, all the way down until the last show on the list getting 1 point. The results proved interesting:

• Shows like Ted Lasso and Dave and The Other Two and The Great, all objectively pretty good, missed the cut
• Someone popping a show in first-place could rocket into the top ten even if no one else had it above, like, seventh
• THERE IS A TIE AT NUMBER ONE

The point here is that it was chaos. As it should be. Anything easier or more straightforward would have felt… wrong.

Away we go.

10. WandaVision

Our apologies to Sparky, but WandaVision not only gave us a beautifully wrought, serialized meditation on grief, it also delivered one of the year’s most entertaining villains in Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness. Trippy and weird and completely unlike anything Marvel’s done thus far, Jac Schaeffer’s memorable decades-spanning series did more than just pay homage to the Golden Era of sitcoms, it reimagined them, using everything from live audiences to practical effects, black-and-white cinematography, and camera confessionals to expand the story of Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch and explore this new world of superheroes and multiverses and magic in fresh, exciting fashion. Olsen delivers her best MCU performance here, playing Wanda as a grief-stricken young woman who can’t seem to control her universe-altering abilities while Paul Bettany returns as Vision, deftly switching between comedic brilliance and emotional monologues that stop Twitter in its tracks. The show brought back familiar favorites, set up new storylines, and introduced the next-gen of superheroes without losing its emotional focus, and Hahn, bless her, turned the sitcom trope of a nosy neighbor into a dog-murdering, spell-binding, power-hungry antagonist with one hell of a theme song. Really, what’s not to love? – Jessica Toomer

9. Mythic Quest

Rob McElhenney’s other show is quickly staking its claim as TV’s best workplace comedy, increasing the reps it gives to its ensemble while stepping out of the show’s narrative comfort zone to create stand-out one-off episodes that go deeper on specific characters and their backstory. This while playing around with the audience’s comfort level and showing a willingness to blow up the familiar, especially heading into season three. – Jason Tabrys

7. (tie) I Think You Should Leave

Tim Robinson’s chaotic sketch show returned for a second season with quite a crew of maniacs. There were dudes with questionable hats, dudes who loved loud shirts, dudes who wanted to tell you about coffin flops, ladies who loved wine and hated bald boys, ladies who just wanted to transport their tables, and so many more. The best part of the show is that, if you’ve seen it, all those descriptions probably brought vivid images to your head and/or made you shout lines from the show out loud in public (“TABLES”), but if you haven’t seen the show, they look like complete nonsense.

And, to be clear, they are all. They are the best kind of nonsense. It’s a good show. If you can’t see that by now, well… see the image above. — Brian Grubb

7. (tie) Only Murders in the Building

Hoo boy, was this show fun. As it should have been. The talent on display here was remarkable. Steve Martin as a former television detective investigating a real murder in his building. Martin Short assisting and giving it the full Martin Short. Selena Gomez cussing up a storm. Nathan Lane playing devious as all hell. Jane Lynch popping up as a character named Sazz Pataki. And again, really fun, with twists and turns and silly jokes and Steve Martin doing high-level physical comedy well into his 70s. And each episode was only 30 minutes long, which is not by itself a selling point, but kept things nice and breezy throughout.

There are too many shows on too many different outlets. It’s impossible to keep up. But it also means there’s room for a group of comedy legends to make a goofy little murder mystery that ends up being sweet and heartfelt and really just a blast straight through. There is very little to complain about here. — Brian Grubb

6. Mare of Easttown

Kate Winslet’s return to HBO even captivated Stephen King as the twists and turns kept coming. More than pulling off all of those story threads around a central murder, however, the show gave us an entertaining cast of characters and authentic Delco accents and food. Seeing Kate Winslet tuck into cheesesteak (even though that was a vegan replica) and spray-can cheese was more than worth the price of admission. Not only did we receive Winslet’s world-weary detective, but we also received a dogged Evan Peters and a painfully complex Julianne Nicholson, both of whom brought the emotional gravitas to pull at the heart strings here. And because we needed some levity for balance, an irresistibly cranky Jean Smart put a bow on this page-turner of a show. – Kimberly Ricci

5. What We Do in the Shadows

In certain ways, What We Do in the Shadows is a throwback. It’s a 22-minute sitcom with a central setting, a workplace romance, a wacky neighbor, and a will they/won’t they relationship. But in other ways, What We Do in the Shadows is a thoroughly modern comedy, because the central setting is a creepy old mansion in Staten Island; the workplace romance is a horny vampire married to another vampire with an enchanted Mini Me doll; the wacky neighbor has the world’s largest collection of Ocean’s Twelve memorabilia; and the will they/won’t they relationship is between another blood-sucker and a human familiar who desperately wants to be turned into a vampire — even though he’s a descendent of famous vampire hunter Van Helsing. I don’t remember that episode of According to Jim.

It’s that careful balance of the new and the old that makes What We Do in the Shadows arguably the funniest show on TV. Well, that, and Colin Robinson’s updog jokes. – Josh Kurp

4. Reservation Dogs

Reservation Dogs was the most pleasant surprise of the year, for me at least. The other shows on this list have big names in front of and/or behind the camera, or they have a few seasons of momentum behind them to invest you in the characters. Reservation Dogs kind of came out of nowhere, a half-hour comedy, with serious undertones, about rascal indigenous teens stealing stuff and screwing around and making big plans. It was so good. It was so, so good. It’s the show I’ve recommended most often this year, in part because I enjoyed it so much and in part because it flew under the radar more than some of the other shows on this list. This is me attempting to fix that. We are righting wrongs here.

Watch Reservation Dogs. It’s great. You will like it. We need more shows about rascal teens getting into trouble and learning about life while Wu-Tang songs play in the background. I have always said this. — Brian Grubb

3. The White Lotus

Our collective affinity for watching rich folks behaving badly in dramas knows no end with the sixth season of Billions and third season of Succession drawing praise and the 245th season of America chugging along. White Lotus could be considered another part of the collection, landing right on time to satirize upper-middle-class dysfunction and privilege by showing us an island of Karens. But look deeper and you’ll see far more direct, human consequences for the non-elites than we typically get to see when the Gods tussle on Succession, making White Lotus biting in an entirely different way that begs for self-examination. – Jason Tabrys

1. (tie) Hacks

Jean Smart might seem like she’s everywhere at the moment, but she never left the scene since her Designing Women days. She’s stolen focus (and justifiably so) in recent roles all over prestige-and-guilty-TV land, including Fargo, Legion, and Dirty John. In every context, she’s a total pro, and Watchmen truly reminded viewers that she can pull off those jaded, smartass characters who are hiding that soft underbelly from the world. Dare I say that no one else could pull off growing sentimental about a big blue dildo in such a believable manner? Yep, that’s what I’m saying, and in Hacks, Jean Smart is a force of desert-tornado nature. She’s several generations of women in one legendary character, raging against those ridiculous two-dimensional boxes where the world (still) wants to place women, no matter how much money they’re making for other people.

As a Vegas stand-up queen (which, let’s face it, far exceeds the Joan Rivers-esque template that many would like to slap onto this character) acknowledges Smart’s gift for the sitcom and peppers in very real punchlines about the bullsh*t in life. She’s hilarious and captivating and frightening and, at times, reluctantly warm and fuzzy, but rest assured that Smart knows how to milk those moments to give them appropriate heft. The show’s a quick-and-dirty master class in the difficulty of crafting comedy, and somehow, relative newcomer Hannah Einbinder holds her own with Jean giving as good as her character takes. The Summer of Jean Smart was real, and it was spectacular. — Kimberly Ricci

1. (tie) Succession

You know about this one by now, in all likelihood. This one was everywhere over the last few months, and was probably HBO’s biggest and most ubiquitous hit since Game of Thrones. As it should be. Succession is basically a perfect show, funnier than most comedies and more devastating than most dramas, well-written and well-acted and directed in ways that highlight all of it, with about a dozen awful characters who you somehow end up both hating and rooting for at various moments throughout a season. This third clump of episodes might have been the best yet, with delicious little morsels dropping throughout and leading to that jaw-dropping finale. And the jaw-dropping episode before the finale. (Roman, what are you doing, buddy? You need to be more careful while texting, my guy.)

All of it added up to a hell of a ride from beginning to end. So many quotable lines (“I’m losing juice!”) scattered throughout a legitimately compelling story, one that looks to be getting even more twisted and delicious whenever it comes back for a fourth season, which cannot possibly be soon enough. It’s almost wizardry, really, this show. Nothing else on television compares. — Brian Grubb

Charli XCX did quite the experiment in early 2020 when she made How I’m Feeling Now, a quarantine album that she created in real-time with help from her fans. The project was a critical hit, and all the while, the process was being filmed for a documentary, Alone Together. The film premiered at this year’s virtual SXSW festival, and it will soon see a wider release in theaters and on digital platforms on January 28, 2022. So, in light of that, a new trailer for the film has been shared today.

Back in July 2020, Charli said of the film (which had a working title of 6ft Apart at the time), “It felt only natural to document myself making this album. I don’t think I’ve ever made music in such a unique situation: being so logistically far apart from my collaborators, but going through exactly the same thing, writing songs about my relationship with my boyfriend sitting in the next room, and being so connected to my fans in such an intense and creative way, it felt quite overwhelming and heartwarming all at the same time. So I wanted to film it all. Why not add to the pressure of making an extremely personal album within a five-week timeline by putting a load of cameras in my face and zooming in on my personality and insecurities too??! You know???”

Watch the Alone Together trailer above.

Charli XCX is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

On the day after Thanksgiving, the Atlanta Hawks thrashed the Memphis Grizzlies by a 32-point margin at FedEx Forum. That loss dropped Memphis below the .500 mark at 9-10 but, more importantly, star point guard Ja Morant suffered a leg injury during the contest that likely sent shivers down the spine of every individual affiliated with the Grizzlies organization. The shell-shock was almost visible for the Grizzlies when the injury occurred in the first half and, from that point forward, the game became secondary to Morant’s health status. Shortly thereafter, the Grizzlies received good news in that Morant’s knee issue was not season-ending, and something weird then happened with Memphis, as the team went on a run.

In the nine games following Morant’s injury, the Grizzlies are 8-1. That is impressive on its own, with the Grizzlies now maintaining the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference, but Memphis is dominating the competition with a +19.6 (!) net rating in that nine-game sample. The Grizzlies own the No. 1 defensive rating (96.0) in the NBA since late November, and that lifted what was a dismal full-season mark into the top-20 overall. While the No. 20 defense isn’t going to be enough to thrust Memphis into title contention, the Grizzlies certainly found something with this stretch with wins over Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia, and the Los Angeles Lakers.

It remains to be seen as to how Morant will be reintegrated, as he remains the unquestioned centerpiece of the roster in Memphis. Bizarrely, the Grizzlies have dominated without Morant on the court for the full season, outscoring opponents by 8.5 points per 100 possessions, and Memphis has an ugly -7.3 net rating when Morant plays. There is certainly some small sample size noise in those numbers, but Tyus Jones is playing excellent basketball and, perhaps more importantly, Taylor Jenkins and his staff have “fixed” the defense, at least for now.

Part of the ascent can be attributed to the play of Jaren Jackson Jr., who is averaging 21.1 points and 1.9 blocked shots per game during this nine-game push. His development, along with stellar play from Jones, Desmond Bane, Dillon Brooks, and others, has catapulted the Grizzlies to the place where they want to be. Memphis may not be the fourth-best team in the West at this juncture, but this has been an encouraging stretch, and if the Grizzlies can pair this defensive uptick with an already impressive offense, they become quite dangerous.

Where do the Grizzlies fall in this week’s DIME power rankings? Let’s take a glance.

1. Golden State Warriors (23-5, Last week — 1st)

The big news of Tuesday evening was Steph Curry breaking Ray Allen’s career three-point record, but the Warriors also won another basketball game. Golden State swept a road back-to-back in Indy and New York, holding on to the top spot as a result.

2. Phoenix Suns (22-5, Last week — 2nd)

The Suns aren’t quite the same without Devin Booker, but they are holding on. Deandre Ayton was brilliant in an overtime win over Portland on Tuesday, and that victory keeps Phoenix in the top two.

3. Utah Jazz (19-7, Last week — 4th)

Utah is absolutely rolling right now. The Jazz are on a seven-game winning streak and, while their net rating (+11.3) doesn’t fully match the win-loss record, it would be difficult to find a team playing better than Utah. Now, the Jazz come home for the next six games, and they have a chance to run it up.

4. Brooklyn Nets (20-8, Last week — 6th)

With only eight available players due to injuries and COVID protocols, the Nets managed to win an overtime game on Tuesday. Kevin Durant led the way with 34 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists in 48 (!) minutes, and Brooklyn just continues to get things done amid less than optimal circumstances.

5. Milwaukee Bucks (18-11, Last week — 3rd)

The Bucks, like many other teams, are running into COVID-related issues, and that context is key. Milwaukee is still 12-3 in the last 15 games, though, and they take a small hit only after a 2-2 mark in the last four games.

6. Memphis Grizzlies (17-11, Last week — 7th)

As discussed earlier, the Grizzlies are on fire, and the next four games are quite manageable. Memphis plays Portland with a rest advantage on Wednesday before taking on Sacramento, Portland (again), and Oklahoma City. That’s not a bad setup to keep the momentum rolling.

7. Cleveland Cavaliers (17-12, Last week — 16th)

The Cavs are 17-8 when Evan Mobley suits up this season. That is flat-out remarkable for a team missing Collin Sexton and relying heavily on newcomers, but Cleveland is playing extremely well and it’s not fake.

8. L.A. Clippers (16-12, Last week — 13rd)

Ty Lue’s team has a heck of a test coming with a road trip to Utah on Wednesday. That’ll provide more information to the basketball viewing public, but the Clippers are on a four-game winning streak that included a nice win over Phoenix this week.

9. Chicago Bulls (17-10, Last week — 5th)

We’re splitting the difference with Chicago this week. The Bulls had two games postponed due to overwhelming roster challenges and, while they were blitzed in the two previous contests, lack of player availability had a part in those results as well.

10. Miami Heat (16-12, Last week — 9th)

Things could be much worse in Miami if you remember that both Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo are currently sidelined. The Heat aren’t playing overly well, but a lot of teams would be mauled without the top two players, and Miami is hanging around. At least for now.

11. Philadelphia 76ers (15-13, Last week — 10th)

Chatter around Ben Simmons is heating up again but, on the court, it is a familiar situation for the Sixers. Philadelphia is very good (12-5) when Joel Embiid plays and bad (3-8) when Embiid doesn’t. It’s really as simple as that right now, even in the midst of a complex situation.

12. Los Angeles Lakers (15-13, Last week — 11th)

Offensive fit and execution is usually at the forefront of discussions about the Lakers. However, Los Angeles won the 2020 title based on defense and, quietly, the Lakers are playing better on that end. Opponents are scoring only 1.06 points per possession in the last 11 games against Los Angeles, and the Lakers are 7-4 as a result.

13. Boston Celtics (14-14, Last week — 12th)

After a 1-4 road trip to the west coast, the Celtics bounced back with a nice home win over Milwaukee. Boston will now have three days off before a nationally televised matchup against Steph Curry and company, and that will be a keen measuring stick.

14. Houston Rockets (9-18, Last week — 25th)

Okay, this is kind of a gimmick, but Houston is playing great. The Rockets are 8-2 in the last ten games, scoring 118.7 points per 100 possessions, and Houston had an incredible comeback win in Atlanta on Monday. Adding to it, Houston’s losses came to Memphis and Milwaukee, and both came by single digits. No, the Rockets aren’t the No. 14 team in the NBA, but the middle is a mess right now, and they are rewarded for this extremely improbable run of success.

15. Denver Nuggets (14-13, Last week — 19th)

Nikola Jokic just won’t let Denver fade. He is averaging 26.5 points, 13.8 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game and, on a per-minute basis, Jokic is a real MVP candidate, even in a world that includes Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. That’s how good he’s been, and the Nuggets are hanging around.

16. Dallas Mavericks (14-13, Last week — 23rd)

It hasn’t been pretty, at all, but the Mavericks are 3-1 in the last four. Luka Doncic won’t play against the Lakers on Wednesday, taking some of the luster away from that contest, but Dallas is at least displaying signs of life in his absence.

17. Charlotte Hornets (15-14, Last week — 15th)

We’re grading on a curve for Charlotte due to extensive issues with the health and safety protocols. Of course, the Hornets are no longer alone in that, but Charlotte’s profile has taken a hit as a result. We’ll learn more about the Hornets in the coming days, but Charlotte is 2-6 in the last eight games.

18. San Antonio Spurs (10-16, Last week — 24th)

San Antonio is red-hot, winning six of the last nine games. It hasn’t been cheap either, with the Spurs posting a +6.6 net rating in that run. The full-season numbers are not ideal, but the Spurs deserve some credit for the recent surge.

19. Toronto Raptors (13-15, Last week — 23rd)

Toronto came very close to picking up a fifth win in six games on Tuesday before narrowly falling to the Nets in overtime. The Raptors will now have until Saturday before returning to action as a result of a Thursday postponement, and Nick Nurse’s goal will be to keep the positive mojo flowing. The Raptors have been pretty fun lately.

20. Atlanta Hawks (13-14, Last week — 8th)

The 2021-22 season has been a roller coaster for the Hawks. They started slow, got hot, and now have cratered again. Atlanta is on a five-game home losing streak, and the Hawks held second-half leads in each of those five defeats. Things crested with a brutal loss to the Rockets on Monday in which the Hawks blew a 17-point lead after halftime. Atlanta’s metrics look fine, but they are in the wilderness as mid-December arrives.

21. Indiana Pacers (12-17, Last week — 22nd)

Indiana’s three-game winning streak ended on Monday, but the loss came by only two points to the Warriors. The Pacers are vastly underperforming their point differential, with Indiana out-scoring its opponents for the full season, but it remains tough to figure out this team. That will only get tougher as the Pacers weigh trade options.

22. Washington Wizards (15-13, Last week — 17th)

Washington’s 10-3 start seems like a lifetime ago. The Wizards are 5-10 with a bottom-five net rating since then, and No. 21 is too high for Washington if you simply view them through the lens of the past 15 games.

23. Minnesota Timberwolves (12-15, Last week — 18th)

The Wolves recently dropped five in a row, including three straight at home. That quells some of the upward momentum Minnesota had going, but they did bounce back with a good road win over Portland on Monday. That avoided a further drop.

24. New York Knicks (12-16, Last week — 14th)

It’s getting gross for the Knicks. New York has dropped seven of eight and the Knicks are giving up more than 1.17 points per possession during that time. That largely coincides with the removal of Kemba Walker from the rotation, which was designed in part to help the defense, and the buttons being smashed by Tom Thibodeau aren’t working.

25. Sacramento Kings (11-17, Last week — 21st)

The Kings started 5-4. They are not 5-4 anymore. Since Nov. 6, Sacramento is 6-13 with a bottom-four net rating (-5.9) in the NBA. As usual, the defense is the main issue, with Sacramento giving up more than 114 points per 100 possessions in those 19 games.

26. New Orleans Pelicans (8-21, Last week — 27th)

Since reaching a hideous low point at 3-16, the Pelicans have been respectable at 5-5. Most of that is the offense finding itself, and Brandon Ingram is averaging 27 points, six assists and six rebounds per game in the last seven.

27. Portland Trail Blazers (11-17, Last week — 26th)

The Blazers are 1-9 in the last 10 games. You can’t really spin that, especially after six straight losses. To put it plainly, Portland has to be elite on offense to carry what is a bad defense, and it isn’t happening at the moment.

28. Oklahoma City Thunder (8-18, Last week — 28th)

Oklahoma City has been much better than many expected, and the Thunder are 2-2 in the last four games. Still, there isn’t that much to be excited about in terms of metrics, and OKC is only 3-12 in the last 15 games. It’s a wonder they aren’t in the bottom two.

29. Orlando Magic (5-23, Last week — 29th)

The team in the basement has the worst record, but Orlando continues to have the worst statistical profile. Not only do the Magic have the worst net rating, but Orlando is in the bottom three in both offense and defense. Injuries can only explain so much of how brutal Orlando has been.

30. Detroit Pistons (4-22, Last week — 30th)

The Pistons haven’t won a basketball game since Nov. 17. After a postponement on Tuesday, Detroit has only one more chance, on the road against Indiana on Thursday, to avoid an entire month of losing. It’s ugly, and Jerami Grant is going to miss several weeks with a thumb issue.

[WARNING: spoilers for the season three finale of Succession]

After writing the Succession season two finale, creator Jesse Armstrong thought to himself, “I hope I can write another as good as that. And I don’t know if I can. That might be as good as I’ve got.” It wasn’t: the season three finale was even better. The high point of the episode — if not the season, if not the entire series (with the exception of “L to the OG” — was Kendall, Shiv, and Roman walking in on “Mom and Dad f*cking us,” as Shiv put it. They essentially have no power in their own’s family company after Tom tipped off Logan about their attempted coup. It was a shocking twist, but the pieces were there.

The episode ends with Tom consoling Shiv, even though she saw his friendly embrace with Logan seconds prior. She knows, everyone knows. But in an interview with Vulture, Sarah Snook, who plays Shiv, revealed how that wasn’t always the case:

When I watched them film the episode’s final scene, they tried the last moment a few different ways: one where Shiv doesn’t catch that Tom-Logan moment and another where only Kendall clocks it. In the one that aired, Shiv sees it. When we talked in the summer, Snook wasn’t sure what the ultimate selection would be, but she had hopes for a cliffhanger. “Part of me, as an actor, is always wondering what is more interesting to the audience to see, not just what we’re going through in the character,” she told me. “At the end of an episode, having something that narratively projects into the next season sets it up quite nicely. If Shiv knows, but her brothers don’t, and Tom doesn’t know that Shiv knows — there’s a lot of potential there.”

Snook also discussed the multiple endings with Entertainment Weekly. “we did versions where she didn’t see him. The hand thing had to come outside the building rather than in the room with them. And so, we did versions where she didn’t see through the door, didn’t clock it. And we did a version where there was more soliciting of Roman to Gerri and the rest of the top tier,” she said. They settled on the take that made it to the final cut because “it felt natural, because Tom had closed in with physical proximity.”

If only she paid attention to the opening credits!

This is why you should never “skip intro.”

(Via Vulture and EW)

Latto, who had a big breakout in 2020 with the release of her debut album, Queen Of Da Souf, maintained her momentum in 2021 with songs like “Fast Lane” from the latest installment of the Fast & Furious film franchise, “Big Energy,” which marked a pop-leaning lane change for the normally hard-punching Atlanta artist, and “Soufside,” a rugged ode to her hometown. It looks like that trend’ll continue in 2022, as she preps the release of her sophomore album and announces a headlining spot on the upcoming Monster Energy Outbreak Tour.

The tour will begin in March in Santa Cruz, California, and continue through to April, when it will conclude right back in Latto’s hometown, Atlanta. Tickets will go on sale this Friday at 10 am local time, with pre-sale events today and tomorrow. You can get more information at outbreakpresents.com. In a press release, Latto said, “Monster Energy Outbreak Tour has backed a lot of big artists in the beginning stages of their careers so I’m super excited to work together. It’s been a tough year for a lot of people so I’m looking forward to letting loose and having some fun.”

Latto was recently profiled by Uproxx as our Winter 2022 Digital Cover artist. You can read our cover story here.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is getting a gritty reboot next year on the Peacock, but before that one-hour drama starts streaming, former The Root writer Michael Harriot has beat the new show to the punch by reimagining the original series as a crime drama. In an epic Twitter thread, Harriot claims that the ’90s sitcom classic that launched Will Smith‘s career is actually the story of “a police informant working undercover to expose a drug-trafficking cartel.”

Harriot breaks it down by exposing the ridiculous premise of The Fresh Prince‘s iconic opening theme:

I don’t know how y’all bought that story about Will moving across the country because he got in “one little fight.” When the Fresh Prince started in 1990, the crack game was too lucrative for Philly dope boys to risk all that drug money by killing a high school kid over a b-ball.

As Harriot tells it, Will was a “dope boy who was making too much money,” so the cartel had to take him out. Faced with no options, Will decides to take down the whole operation, but he’d need to get closer to the situation to gain some assistance. Specifically in the form of an international drug kingpin who also happened to be a lawyer: Phillip “Big Bank” Banks.

From there, Harriot weaves a dark tale of Will and Uncle Phil taking on the cartel and righting past wrongs like “Big Bank” NARCing on civil rights leaders back home. Jazz and Carlton are even in the mix, but we won’t spoil their roles for you. It’s a wild ride that just set the bar pretty high for when Bel-Air starts streaming next year.

You can read Harriot’s entire epic thread here.

(Via Michael Harriot on Twitter)