Category: News

Ted Lasso, the show that proved you can use the words “wholesome” and “sports” in the same sentence, will likely end its run after the upcoming third season. The Jason Sudeikis-led series was a surprise hit when it premiered in 2020, snagging numerous nominations and awards, including an Emmy for Best Actor for Sudeikis.

When asked if season three would be the end for the acclaimed series, writer and star Brett Goldstein seemed to lean towards yes. “We are writing it like that,” the actor told Sunday Times. “It was planned as three. Spoiler alert — everyone dies.” Obviously, that’s a joke..unless it…isn’t?

This isn’t very surprising, as creator Bill Lawrence mentioned last year that the story might come to a close after season three. However, just because the initial plan was three seasons, doesn’t mean they can’t make more stories of Lasso and the gang. “The initial story Jason had in his head is a three-season arc, [but] I’m hopeful there’s more Ted Lasso stories to tell after three season.”

Brendan Hunt, who plays Coach Beard, believes that only time will tell. “I know there’s been lots of speculation. You do feel it has a lifespan but it still feels as if it is growing,” Hunt told the very British-sounding Teddington Nub News. “Originally, it was always intended to be a three series show. There are lots of stories to unravel and settle one way or another in Series Three.” That’s a very British way of saying: there may be a fourth season, there may not be. Besides, Sudeikis is busy with…other stuff.

Sometimes when people try to cover John Lennon, they fall flat on their faces. Look no further than a group of well-meaning celebrities led by Gal Gadot who… well, fell very flat on their faces when tackling “Imagine” during the early onset of the pandemic. But let’s take this conversation as far from that aberration as possible, because the point I’m getting at here is that Florence And The Machine is very worthy of covering John Lennon. Florence Welch has the range, the depth, the intention, and the context of the British mindset that makes her able to pull it off.

This was the case on Florence And The Machine’s recent acoustic cover version of Lennon’s “Jealous Guy,” where Welch and company did justice to the solo classic by The Beatles great. As part of a SiriusXM in-studio appearance, Welch’s breathy delivery was commanding to say the least, as she was backed by a piano, acoustic guitar, and a gorgeous harp. With her eyes closed, Welch was locked in for the entirety of the performance.

“Jealous Guy,” first appeared on Lennon’s 1971 album, Imagine, which was his second solo album away from The Beatles. The track has, in fact, been covered in the past by Roxy Music, Donny Hathaway, and Belinda Carlile. Now we can add this stunner of a rendition from Florence And The Machine to the list.

Watch Florence And The Machine cover John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” above.

People seem to have a lot of time on their hands these days, and they are spending every waking moment of said time streaming Stranger Things on Netflix. The fourth season of Netflix’s favorite child debuted on May 27th, with a whopping 5.1 billion (!) minutes of streaming within the first three days. It’s almost as if everybody canceled their Memorial Day parties and just stayed inside to watch TV? Unheard of.

Trailing right behind the Hawkins Scooby gang is Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, which still snagged an impressive one billion minutes of viewing. Considering the show is shorter and only had two episodes at the time, maybe we should cut the Jedis some slack? They’ve been through a lot. Obi-Wan’s debut was the biggest ever for the service, according to Deadline.

Even though it seems like Stranger Things won this round, the first seven episodes average out to about 78 minutes long, which means watching the whole season is roughly 560 minutes. Considering how many fans will binge-watch an entire season in one weekend, it makes sense that they racked up those bonkers numbers. Obi-Wan, on the other hand, is still releasing episodes weekly, which means yes, there is still hope for a Jar Jar Binks cameo some point down the line.

The final two episodes of Stranger Things season four will drop in July, with the finale stretching over two and a half hours, so they will likely break another record by then. By the time the fifth and final season rolls around, the episodes will be Irishman-length.

Celebrity-endorsed fast food combos have been a thing since 1992 when McDonald’s first dropped the McJordan Special. But something changed in 2020 with the unveiling of the Travis Scott Meal. The Le Flame branded combo consisted entirely of food McDonald’s already had on the menu just slightly remixed. In spite of the lack of ingenuity, it was a giant success — inspiring around-the-block drive-thru lines and McDonald’s running out of Quarter Pounder ingredients.

Just like the great Popeyes Chicken Sandwich rollout, seeing the success of the Travis Scott Meal inspired all the other big brands to follow suit. Soon, we had the Megan Thee Stallion Hottie Sauce Chicken Sandwich, Charli D’Amelio’s Dunkin’ Collaboration, Nelly’s BK Keeping It Real Meal, and a BTS-inspired meal, among scores of others. Bringing us to our latest entry in the celebrity fast food pantheon — Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Jack Harlow Meal.

“When KFC asked me to create my own meal, I knew it couldn’t be just any meal,” says Harlow in a press release. “My meal brings together my childhood favorites from growing up in Louisville, the KFC Mac & Cheese, with my new go-to Spicy Chicken Sandwich (with plenty of ranch,) Secret Recipe Fries, and Lemonade — it doesn’t get much better.”

We have to say, we’re a little bummed that KFC didn’t take this opportunity to do Jack Harlow and the widely-beloved Come Home The Kids Miss You justice by actually creating dishes with him. Or at the least sauces. “First Class Chicken Sandwich” or the “Nail Tech Chicken Sandwich” — those would have been fly! Okay, maybe not that last one, but seriously, elevate your game, KFC!

The Jack Harlow Meal

The Jack Harlow Meal features a Spicy Chicken Sandwich, Original Recipe fries, Mac & Cheese, and Colonel’s Lemonade with a side of ranch. If that sounds like nothing special, it’s because it’s essentially KFC’s Chicken Sandwich Combo with an added side order of Mac & Cheese, and at $9.99, costs the same too. But we can’t hold that against KFC or Jack Harlow, they didn’t promise that this meal was a deal.

As part of the campaign, KFC has designed special packaging that combines the brand’s iconography with Jack Harlow’s image, a portrait of Harlow is used in place of the Colonel’s — complete with a chain in the shape of the state of Kentucky, which happens to also look like a piece of fried chicken.

I like this packaging a lot. It’s true to KFC’s weird marketing, these are the people who brought us a dating app, and a yassafied Colonel, after all. The presentation is on point. Now onto the food — let’s break the tasting notes down piece by piece from worst to best.

4. Colonel’s Lemonade

Sorry to begin this review on a negative note but this lemonade is terrible. The Colonel’s Lemonade, which as far as I can tell is a fairly new lemonade recipe from KFC, doesn’t taste fresh squeezed or tangy like what you’d find at Chick-fil-A or Raising Canes. Instead, it tastes like it was made using lemon juice concentrate and a whole lot of added sugar.

It tastes almost like soda, but without the fizz. You could choose any drink with your Jack Harlow meal and we strongly suggest you pick something else.

3. Mac & Cheese

In the hierarchy of fast food mac and cheeses, which admittedly are all pretty bad, KFC, sadly, has one of the worst. The noodles are over-boiled, giving them this mushy quality that makes for an awful mouthfeel. The cheese is also not very cheesy. Instead, the whole thing just tastes like salt. It doesn’t have the distinct sharpness and subtle floral quality of quality cheddar or the intensity of something like Velveeta. It’s just wet salt.

2. The Sandwich

After two major misses, things finally kick up with the main course of the meal, the Spicy Chicken Sandwich. The fast food landscape is littered with chicken sandwiches right now, just about every chain has relaunched a new sandwich in the wake of Popeyes’ success, including KFC. While this year-old sandwich is a step up from the snack wrap, it still needs a bit more work.

First the batter, it’s completely flavorless — it uses KFC’s Extra Crispy batter recipe which delivers on the crunch but is seriously lacking in spices compared to the Original Recipe. It’s just crunchy and salty, you don’t even get a hint of garlic or onion powder and the thick chicken filet is strangely flavorless too. The meat has this weird texture to it that looks highly manufactured… even by fast food standards.

The sauce does a lot to remedy what’s missing in the chicken. KFC’s spicy sauce provides a nice cayenne-backed heat and brings a savory quality to the sandwich when paired with the tangy pickles. I tried dipping this a bit in the ranch, but it’s not easy to dip a chicken sandwich, which is why I really feel like KFC should’ve worked the ranch into the actual recipe.

It’s not a bad sandwich, it’s fine, but Jack Harlow deserved better.

1. Original Recipe Fries

Since they were first released in 2020 I’ve been hating on KFC’s Original Recipe Fries for the sole reason that they replaced the delicious potato wedges. I don’t know if it’s just the power of Jack Harlow but, I’ve come around on them — these are f*cking good! These fries are encased in a light batter seasoned with garlic, black pepper, and onion powder flavor providing a crispy crunch and a whole lot of flavor.

This additional single-handedly saved the meal for me, once I placed a few fries in my sandwich it made each bite come alive, turning the sandwich from a dud to an absolute flavor bomb. My only regret is that I didn’t try working the mac and cheese into the sandwich as well.

The Bottom Line:

The Jack Harlow meal unfortunately cobbles together some of KFC’s weakest menu items. If you want to celebrate your love for Jack Harlow, just listen to “Nail Tech,” it’s a much better time. That said, Jake helped me awaken to how good these fries are — so shouts to him for that.

If the delightful 2015 movie The Intern starring Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro taught us anything, it’s that there’s no wrong age to be an intern. Companies would extend internships to 97-year-old retirees if it meant they didn’t have to pay them. That being said, it’s very funny that Christian nationalism-preacher Marjorie Taylor Greene’s new intern is Milo Yiannopoulos, the right-wing provocateur who’s pushing 40 and once promised to make everyone’s lives a “living hell.” Speaking of living hell…

The Hill reports that Yiannopoulos “announced the job on his Telegram account Monday with a photo of his official intern congressional badge.” He wrote, “I’ve finally been persuaded out of retirement. But my skills are a bit rusty, so the best role I could land was an unpaid internship with a friend. Pray for me!”

Yiannopoulos has been “retired” from Breitbart, where he worked as an editor, since he advocated for pedophilia and praised priests who molest underage boys. He also sued publisher Simon & Schuster for doing “irreparable harm” against his brand (he later dropped the lawsuit); whined about the piss-poor sales of his book; and made a cameo in an anti-abortion movie with Tomi “Nazi Barbie” Lahren. In 2021, he announced that he was “ex-gay,” making him a perfect addition to Taylor Greene’s office.

(Via The Hill)

Inflo, the reigning BRIT Awards Producer Of The Year, has been absolutely on fire as of late with his work as the creative force behind Sault, producing tracks for Adele’s latest album, 30, and for British R&B singer Cleo Sol. But as the London producer (whose real name is Dean Josiah Cover) sees his success skyrocketing, he has his mind on protecting the interests of aspiring creatives who are looking to follow in his footsteps.

In a recent Instagram post, Inflo indicated that he and Nathan Burke, his partner on the Forever Living Originals label (that releases Sault and Cleo Sol’s music), are trying to establish a base rate and royalty structure for up and coming producers in the UK. Inflo said that they’ve been engaged in talks with music industry leaders in hopes of changing the paradigm.

“This will ensure young producers are protected on any major label releases and have a code of conduct to go by,” he said.

He acknowledged the significance of being the first Black person since 1977 to win the Producer Of The Year award at the BRITs and notes, “Most young producers, especially young black producers, come into the business really pure, with friends as management and no real guidance, protection or understanding.”

You can read the entire statement from Inflo below and power to him and this effort.

“Nathan & I have been on a mission to introduce a base rate and royalty for young producers in the UK.

This will ensure young producers are protected on any major label releases and have a code of conduct to go by.

We’ve been having conversations with producers, artists, labels and lawyers to see what that rate can be. Everyone agrees no young or upcoming producers should be exploited, and the artist shouldn’t have to give up any further royalty share than they already have been.

Most young producers, especially young black producers, come into the business really pure, with friends as management and no real guidance, protection or understanding. They’re often eager for placements and would sign without fully understanding contracts, in desperation of life-changing opportunities.

I honestly feel most of us have come into the music business to make it a better place creatively and economically, for the opportunity to leave a legacy that our children and children’s children can be proud of.

I didn’t want to speak on my award without any real progress being made, but we are now at the halfway point and I wanted to acknowledge the moment.

Thanks to the Brits for acknowledging me as Producer of the Year. I feel very humbled and grateful to be the first black producer to win in this category since 1977. Big up all the Black British producers before I & I and killing it right now everywhere, so inspiring!!

Love to Nathan & my Forever Living Originals team for supporting me in every way.

Love to Mummy, DD Cleo & Little Man

Love to God.”

[WARNING: spoilers for The Boys season 3 premiere to follow]

It’s pretty rare to have a high-profile cameo in on a season premiere without rumors swirling, but The Boys managed to pull it off exquisitely. The season three premiere of the Amazon Prime series debuted last week, and within the first minute, viewers were treated to an A-list cameo that nobody saw coming.

Episode one opened with footage from the movie-within-a-show, Dawn Of The Seven, which the Supes began filming in season two. Stormfront (played by Aya Cash) was infamously burnt to a crisp in the season two finale, which would put her out of commission for the movie standoff with Homelander. Enter: Charlize Theron. So how did that cameo come to be?

“The Charlize cameo came about by following our usual pattern of cameos, which is it’s the rigorous screening process of whoever returns Seth Rogan’s calls,” showrunner Eric Kripke explained to Entertainment Weekly. “I think she talked to Seth and [producing partner] Evan [Goldberg]. They had just made Long Shot together,” Kripke added, referencing the 2019 comedy starring Rogen and Theron.

Despite all of the negative connotations with the character (who was a literal Nazi) Theron was on board. “She was so great. I mean, talk about the definition of an incredible sport,” Kripke explained. “She’s like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do a favor for you,’ and it’s like, ‘Great, ’cause it’s gonna involve a superhero costume fitting, coming out to see me in the Valley for a full day’s shoot, and reading the most ridiculous Nazi dialogue ever with a straight face and totally nailing it. And she was game for all of it.”

Theron was so game, that where is an extended version of the episode with even more ridiculous dialogue now streaming on Amazon. She must have really owed Seth Rogen. This isn’t the first time Theron has shown up unannounced, she also had a cameo in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.

“Any time we can inadvertently duplicate what’s happening in Marvel, I’m happy,” Kripke says. “It’s meta on top of meta on top of meta.” Theron must love surprises! Maybe next she can show up in the Furiosa prequel.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Ever since the Billboard Hot 100 chart changed its methodology to include streaming music figures in its song placements, hits have started to emerge from all sorts of places. Since the chart now more accurately reflects what people are listening to on Spotify and the like, older songs that find renewed life in the public consciousness have a greater chance at chart success; Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” was a hit in 2021 and returned to the Hot 100, for example.

Now, Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” is experiencing a similar revival thanks to its inclusion in the new season of Stranger Things. In fact, it’s currently one of the biggest songs in the country: On the new Hot 100 chart dated June 11, the 1985 single has risen all the way up to No. 8. “Running Up That Hill” was previously Bush’s biggest single in the US with a peak at No. 30, but now it is her first song to land inside the top 10 spots. This is the song’s first time on the chart since January 1986.

The song is also doing well on the Digital Song Sales chart, where it’s No. 1. It’s also No. 6 on the Streaming Songs chart. Furthermore, “Running Up That Hill” has now completed one of the longest journeys from a song’s Hot 100 debut to its first week in the top 10, a journey that took 36 years, nine months, and one week. This is the longest such run since Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” completed a significantly longer journey of the same type in 2020, after a wait of 62 years and two weeks.

Bush previously offered a statement on the song’s newfound success, writing on her website, “You might’ve heard that the first part of the fantastic, gripping new series of ‘Stranger Things’ has recently been released on Netflix. It features the song, ‘Running Up That Hill’ which is being given a whole new lease of life by the young fans who love the show – I love it too! Because of this, Running Up That Hill is charting around the world and has entered the UK chart at No. 8. It’s all really exciting! Thanks very much to everyone who has supported the song.”

Revisit “Running Up That Hill” below.

The Woodsist Festival has seen a considerable amount of growth in the past two years. What began as a modest music festival on California’s Big Sur coastline has now laid down its roots in New York’s Hudson Valley at Arrowood Farms in Accord, NY. The spectacularly curated affair is an artist-led effort by the New York indie folk band Woods and their namesake label.

Now the lineup for the 2022 edition of the Woodsist Festival has been announced and it features Waxahatchee headlining the Sunday, September 25th slate, while long-standing indie rock stalwarts Guided By Voices lead the way for Saturday, September 24th’s programming. Joining them on the bill are a range of noted left-of-center acts, like the spiritual jazz of Sun Ra Arkestra, jazz fusionists Medeski & Martin, zithra master Laraaji, harpist Mary Lattimore, guitar-centric Tuareg band Les Filles de Illighadad, the reggae/dub multi-instrumentalist Pacyhman, and as always, the bucolic folk of Woods.

The Arrowood Farms site itself has an on-site brewery, which makes for an intriguing wrinkle into the experience that features two stages of music. Woodsist Festival is a two-hour drive from New York City, making it a refuge of sorts for city-dwellers.

Tickets for Woodsist Festival 2022 are now on sale here.

Does NBC yet regret cancelling Manifest? We may never receive a definitive answer to that question, but it’s enough (for fans) to know that the fourth season is coming, and it will be a supersized one that promises to wrap up all the mysteries of why Flight 828 went off the grid, only to surface five years later, after everyone on Earth had gone back to their business, leaving plenty of drama and fractured relationships to clean up when the unexpected happened.

This, of course, is happening after the show barreled up Netflix’s charts, which left the streamer with no logical choice but to pick up the show and continue. The precise details on release have been slow to arrive, but creator Jeff Rake previously revealed that the wrap-up had a target month of November, and it was understood that the final season would arrive in at least two parts. Now, we’ve received a cryptic teaser ^^, which doesn’t tell us too much in the definitive sense, other than how Michaela choses to wear inappropriate footwear to sneak around a shipyard.

One actual clue? A bloody arm with maybe “Stone 828” (?) scratched into the skin. Given that Michaela’s last name is Stone, and that also goes for Ben and his fam, it sure sounds like the teaser’s trying to tell us something. Predestination? There’s no telling with this show. Meanwhile, Variety has the total number of episodes coming:

“Manifest” Season 4 will consist of 20 episodes, and will be split into two volumes. The premiere date for the volumes has yet to be announced. Watch the first-look clip below.

All well and good, but honestly, I just want Olive to be happy. Can we get that in the finale? Obviously, the characters will receive a billion callings, but we need something better for Olive than feeling like the un-chosen one and getting sucked into cults.

In summation, the fourth season of Manifest is coming!

(Via Variety)