Month: January 2024

A 2015 HBO docuseries, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, happens to be one of the most fascinating true crime entries of the past decade. The culmination of this series actually ended up being the real estate heir’s arrest and his off-camera declaration of “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.” Durst subsequently went to prison and died behind bars in 2022, but while the six episodes of The Jinx filmed, no one knew whether he’d ever pay for his fatal crimes.

Fast forward to late 2023, and HBO revealed that a second season of The Jinx (with the first one available to stream on Max) was actually on the way. What’s left to uncover in more episodes? Let’s talk it out.

Plot

When the initial series debuted, Durst had long since (and repeatedly) been accused of murder, although he always skated from these accusations due to insufficient evidence. The initial crime in question involved the 1982 disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst. The scion also killed two other people, Morris Black and Susan Berman, with the latter murder being the crime that he ultimately served time for committing after being arrested on the day before the first season finale aired. This was admittedly an unexpected development, given that Durst was repeatedly connected with the gruesome circumstances of the latter two murders, seemingly to no avail. Definitive prosecution always eluded his case until The Jinx put the final nail into his coffin, so to speak.

The first season of The Jinx included an extensive dive into archival footage and police files as whittled down by director Andrew Jarecki, and Durst’s late-breaking confession (as recorded in a New Orleans hotel lobby) shocked the HBO audience, since the show prompted a reinvestigation — based upon evidence gathered and brought to light by the project’s filmmakers — that finally led to his conviction.

However, the filmmakers, including Jarecki, did not consider their jobs done. They persisted in digging up more archival footage and gathering Durst’s phone calls from prison while also interviewing experts and relevant subjects who didn’t appear in the first season of The Jinx. Given that the show earned an Emmy (for Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series and Outstanding Picture Editing For Nonfiction Programming) and was nominated for five others, HBO saw fit to greenlight another six episodes for a second season.

Little else is known about where The Jinx will go next, other than picking up with how citizen investigators led to a murderer finally being punished.

Cast

Obviously, there will be plenty of Robert Durst footage and audio in this batch of episodes. We can also expect to hear from law enforcement and those who worked behind the scenes on researching Durst’s chilling acts before, during, and after the airing of The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.

Release Date

HBO hasn’t revealed a release date yet, but we can probably expect this project to debut sometime in 2024.

Trailer

No full trailer has surfaced. However, at around the 0:55 mark below, HBO gives a slight peek at footage showing Durst taking a phone call in prison.

During NBC’s broadcast of Sunday night’s Bills-Dolphins game, many NFL fans were made aware of the news that the Saturday night game on NFL Wild Card weekend would be a Peacock exclusive. NBC ran promo after promo encouraging fans to download their streaming service, excitedly detailing how it was the first playoff game ever to be a streaming exclusive, as if that’s a thing that any fan would see as a positive.

The truth is, it’s a massive move by the NFL to put a playoff game behind a paywall — the game will at least be shown on NBC affiliates in the local Kansas City and Miami markets — but it’s not a popular one. It’s understandable why NBC would want this, as it will surely drive some subs to Peacock, and the NFL will get a nine-figure payday, but there will also be plenty of fans who just won’t tune in — or will just find a stream elsewhere.

Among those who are not happy about the Peacock game is Mike Francesa, who spent two minutes on his podcast ripping the NFL for “the biggest slap in the face to the national fan base” and being incredibly greedy asking fans to pay for a playoff game with how much they already put into the sport.

He’s right. It’s an aggressive cash grab from the NFL which, for years, has prioritized making the NFL accessible and viewable for everyone — there’s a reason it took a long time for them to give ESPN games instead of ABC. However, there has been a clear shift lately away from that, starting with ESPN getting Monday Night Football and a Wild Card game, and then really continuing with the latest TV deal that gave Amazon Thursday nights and now Peacock a playoff game.

What will be interesting is how the league responds to the inevitable backlash, and if Peacock decides it was worth shelling out nine figures for one game. In the meantime, fans will have to decide if it’s worth getting a Peacock sub for this month or if they’re going to just pass on Dolphins-Chiefs.

During NBC’s broadcast of Sunday night’s Bills-Dolphins game, many NFL fans were made aware of the news that the Saturday night game on NFL Wild Card weekend would be a Peacock exclusive. NBC ran promo after promo encouraging fans to download their streaming service, excitedly detailing how it was the first playoff game ever to be a streaming exclusive, as if that’s a thing that any fan would see as a positive.

The truth is, it’s a massive move by the NFL to put a playoff game behind a paywall — the game will at least be shown on NBC affiliates in the local Kansas City and Miami markets — but it’s not a popular one. It’s understandable why NBC would want this, as it will surely drive some subs to Peacock, and the NFL will get a nine-figure payday, but there will also be plenty of fans who just won’t tune in — or will just find a stream elsewhere.

Among those who are not happy about the Peacock game is Mike Francesa, who spent two minutes on his podcast ripping the NFL for “the biggest slap in the face to the national fan base” and being incredibly greedy asking fans to pay for a playoff game with how much they already put into the sport.

He’s right. It’s an aggressive cash grab from the NFL which, for years, has prioritized making the NFL accessible and viewable for everyone — there’s a reason it took a long time for them to give ESPN games instead of ABC. However, there has been a clear shift lately away from that, starting with ESPN getting Monday Night Football and a Wild Card game, and then really continuing with the latest TV deal that gave Amazon Thursday nights and now Peacock a playoff game.

What will be interesting is how the league responds to the inevitable backlash, and if Peacock decides it was worth shelling out nine figures for one game. In the meantime, fans will have to decide if it’s worth getting a Peacock sub for this month or if they’re going to just pass on Dolphins-Chiefs.

Lil Nas X is nothing if not provocative. The two-time Grammy winner is nearly three years removed from his controversial “Satan Shoes” and Satan-adjacent video for “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” and now, he is entering his self-proclaimed “Christian-era.” Lil Nas X has been teasing new music for months — most recently, promising a “new song and visual next week” on January 3.

As promised, this morning (January 8), he confirmed “J Christ” will arrive this Friday, January 12.

“MY NEW SINGLE IS DEDICATED TO THE MAN WHO HAD THE GREATEST COMEBACK OF ALL TIME!” Lil Nas X wrote on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) alongside the single’s cover art, which more or less finds him cosplaying Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. “J CHRIST JANUARY 12, 2024 00:00 EST BE THERE!”

Lil Nas X subsequently posted a nine-second promotional video, in which the golden cross he is nailed upon transforms into something of a haloed Transformers robot.

It seems notable that the presave link is “BeginningisNear.com.” Could that be the album title? Additionally, Lil Nas X closed the loop on speculation that Kesha might be featured on his next song. Last Friday, January 5, Lil Nas X posted the song’s release date alongside photos of Kesha holding up a cardboard sign, reading, “NEW MUSIC COMING SOON.” The post also features a photo of Lil Nas X holding a corresponding cardboard sign: “WHAT SHE SAID!”

Of course, it’s still possible that Kesha is featured — either on “J Christ” or any song on his forthcoming album — but Lil Nas X just quote-tweeted himself and made that less of a certainty. On January 3, he posted, “my new song features a very beloved popstar who ive been a fan of for a long time.” His new quote-tweet reads, “It was god.”

We are officially in the thick of the first full-fledged Lil Nas X rollout since his 2021 debut album, Montero, and I am here for it.

“J Christ” is out 1/12 via Columbia Records. Find more information here.

Thanks to the massive events of Stranger Things 4, anticipation for the final season, Stranger Things 5 has consistently stayed through the roof. Unfortunately, there’s going to be a bit of a wait for the new season, which fortunately, fans are prepared for after COVID derailed filming for Stranger Things 4, causing a three-year gap between seasons three and four. Thanks to the writers strike, Stranger Things 5 is looking at a very similar gap.

However, there has been a significant development for the Season 5 production, and we got all the details below:

Plot

The game-changing conclusion to Stranger Things 4 saw Vecna shatter the barrier between the real world and the Upside Down, causing cataclysmic destruction to Hawkins. As fiery rifts formed across the town, our heroes stood and watched at the fight that’s literally coming to their doorsteps. Stranger Things 4 also revealed Eleven’s role in creating the Upside Down and banishing Vecna to the supernatural realm where he only became more powerful.

While plot details for Stranger Things 5 are obviously being locked tighter than a secret lab, David Harbour has teased that the final season will “wrap it up in a bold, amazing way” and promised emotional sendoff for all of the “OG characters.”

Cast

All of the original cast members have been confirmed for Season 5. That includes Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Finn Wolfhard as Mike, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin, Noah Schnapp as Will, Natalia Dyer as Nancy, Joe Keery as Steve, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan, Sadie Sink as Max, Maya Hawke as Robin, Winona Ryder as Joyce, and David Harbour as Hopper.

As you can see below in the cast photo announcing the start of production on Season 5, the gang is all here including Jamie Campbell Bower, who will be back as the wildly powerful villain Vecna:

Release Date

While there’s no official word on a release date, Stranger Things fans just got a dose of good news. The show’s official Twitter account posted a cast photo on January 8, 2024 announcing that production has started on the fifth and final season.

However, fans should strap in for a significant wait. As the epic scope of the show continues to expand, production on Stranger Things seasons require significant time for filming, editing, and CGI effects. It will most likely take at least a year for Season 5 to be completed and some reports have listed Summer 2025 as a potential release window. Could Season 5 come out sooner than that? Possibly, but the safe bet is to be prepared to wait a while.

Trailer

With Stranger Things 5 only just now starting production, fans are going to be waiting a while for a trailer. However, even if the final season isn’t arriving until 2025, there is a chance that Netflix could release a trailer some time in mid-to-late 2024 to build up hype for the epic conclusion. We’ll keep you posted on any updates.

The first four seasons of Stranger Things are available for streaming exclusively on Netflix.

Jonathan Majors sat down with Good Morning America for his first post-conviction interview following a messy domestic violence trial and, of course, he had to name-drop Coretta Scott King.

The actor, who was convicted of misdemeanor assault and harassment charges, faces up to a year in jail for his involvement in a domestic dispute with ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari. Their very public trial unearthed some damning evidence against Majors, who was painted as abusive and controlling by the prosecution. Texts and voice recordings Jabbari shared seemed to suggest the former Marvel actor envisioned himself as the next Martin Luther King Jr. In one audio clip, Majors can be heard shouting at Jabbari, likening himself to MLK, Jr. and former president Barack Obama saying, “Coretta Scott King, do you know who that is? That’s Martin Luther King’s wife. Michelle Obama, Barack Obama’s wife. The woman that supports me needs to be a great woman and make sacrifices. I’m a great man. A great man. I am doing great things, not just for me, but for my, for my culture and the world.”

In his recent GMA interview, Majors doubled down on those sentiments, saying, “It was me trying to give an analogy of what it is I’m aspiring to be, you know, these great men — Martin, President Obama — and trying to give a reference point to that. I was attempting, and I did a terrible job at it apparently, I was attempting to motivate, to enlighten, to give perspective as to what it is I was hoping to get out of the relationship.”

And the star’s new relationship with actress Meagan Good seems to be more in line with those aspirations. After calling her an “angel” and admitting he’s “truly blessed” to have her support, Majors invoked the name of King once more, saying, “She’s held me down … like a Coretta.”

Aaron Rodgers played four snaps of football this season for the New York Jets before tearing his Achilles, but the former 4-time MVP managed to remain in headlines throughout the season thanks to his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.

It was there that Rodgers pushed his plans to return from a torn Achilles in record time, insisting he was going to give it a go again this season all the way until it was time for that to be the case and he cited the combination of the Jets not being good enough and his Achilles not being healthy enough to play NFL football again just yet. Beyond that, he continued to float various conspiracies and blast ESPN (the network he was being paid to be a guest on), but it was all his typical ramblings and wasn’t until recently that he really got himself into hot water.

That was when he decided to say on live television that Jimmy Kimmel (who, like McAfee, is a very highly paid Disney employee) would show up on the Jeffery Epstein list when court documents were unsealed. Kimmel quickly responded by threatening legal action against Rodgers, which prompted a half-assed apology from McAfee on the grounds that Rodgers was “just talking shit,” a full-assed apology from ESPN, and the ball now being in Kimmel’s court as to whether he wants to really escalate things further by taking this to court.

With that as the backdrop for what Rodgers has been up to this season, let’s check out his latest quote to the media about the Jets going into next season.

I’ll give him this, he is absolutely correct. The Jets should come into next season with the explicit goal of eliminating distractions and focusing on the work needed to be done on the field to win, because they’re beyond the point of anyone respecting any talk from them until they do that. However, many were quick to point out that Rodgers will probably need to heed his own advice and maybe not do a weekly national TV appearance in which he maybe sets himself up for lawsuits if he is serious about the whole “cut the BS that has nothing to do with winning.”

We’ll find out if he and the team manage to do that in 8 months when the Jets return to the field.

It happened. This morning, January 8, Kid Cudi finally revealed the tracklist for Insano. In September, Cudi announced that he had “to push Insano back til January,” and now, it is one of Uproxx’s “Most Anticipated Albums Of 2024” list. It will also be one of the first significant drops of the year, as Insano is due out this Friday, January 12.

The 21-song tracklist boasts features from A$AP Rocky, DJ Drama, Lil Wayne, Lil Yachty, Pharrell, Travis Scott, Young Thug, and the late XXXTentacion. “At The Party” featuring Pharrell and Scott arrived in November, a worthy consolation prize to fans still crushed from December 2022, when Cudi put to bed any hope of a collaborative album from Cudi and Scott.

“INSANO is to be enjoyed from the beginning to the end,” Cudi wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Please if u can, refrain from jumpin around just to hear the features. Experience it like a film, put it on and let it ride. Trust me. I designed it that way for the best experience possible [smiley emoji, peace-sign emoji, praying-hands emoji, stars emoji] thanx.”

See the full Insano tracklist below.

1. “Often I Have These Dreamz” Feat. DJ Drama
2. “Keep Bouncin’”
3. “Get Off Me” Feat. Travis Scott
4. “Most Ain’t Dennis”
5. “Wow” Feat. A$AP Rocky
6. “ElectroWaveBaby”
7. “A Tale Of A Knight”
8. “Cud Life”
9. “Too Damn High” Feat. Lil Yachty
10. “Getcha Gone”
11. “At The Party” Feat. Travis Scott & Pharrell
12. “Mr. Coola”
13. “Freshie”
14. “Tortured”
15. “X & Cud” Feat. XXXTentacion
16. “Seven” Feat. Lil Wayne
17. “Funky Wizard Smoke”
18. “Rager Boyz” Feat. Young Thug
19. “Porsche Topless”
20. “Blue Sky”
21. “Hit The Streetz In My Nikes”

Insano is out 1/12 via Republic Records. Find more information here.

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

Since entering the public domain, Mickey Mouse, er, the “Steamboat Willie” version of Mickey Mouse has already appeared in one cheaply-made horror movie trailer (with more to come). There’s also a video game called Infestation: Origins in the works and memes showing Mickey steering the OceanGate submersible, among other catastrophes.

Now it’s Adult Swim‘s turn to get in on the fun.

This 15-second loop, which shows black and white “Mickey” getting intimate with the words “public domain bitch,” aired on Adult Swim sometime late on Sunday night, January 7th. It’s honestly more entertaining than 80 percent of the Golden Globes that were happening at the same time.

Jennifer Jenkins, director of the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain, explained what you can’t do with public domain Mickey. Namely: “Do not confuse consumers into thinking that your creation is produced or sponsored by Disney as a matter of trademark law. One way to help ensure that your audience is not confused is to make the actual source of the work – you or your company – clear on the title screen or cover, along with a prominent disclaimer indicating that your work was not produced, endorsed, licensed, or approved by Disney.”

But having the mouse hump the word “bitch”? That’s fair game.

(Via Reddit)

21 Savage has one of the more interesting backstories in hip-hop, so much so that it’s being made into a movie.

The rapper teased the project, a biopic called American Dream: The 21 Savage Story, on Instagram yesterday, January 7. He did so with a promotional image featuring himself, Donald Glover, and Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin, the latter two of whom will be playing Savage at different points in his life, it appears. The post was also co-authored by Glover’s Instagram account.

The image notes the movie is “coming soon.” The Epic Records and Slaughter Gang logos are on the poster, so they’re presumably involved in the production.

For now, that’s pretty much all there is to know about the movie. The poster includes a link to a website for the film, 21savage.americandream.com, but it does not appear to be active yet as of this post.

Meanwhile, aside from the movie, 21 Savage fans can also expect a new album in the near future. In December, Savage billboards started popping up in Atlanta, presumably in promotion of a new project. This came after a performance in the UK, during which he said, “London, I love y’all. I hope this ain’t my last time seeing y’all. And my album finna drop, so y’all get ready.”