The ‘80s sitcom Night Court is beloved that 30 Rock dedicated an entire episode to stage an episode that never aired because it had been cancelled. Somehow it’s taken another 12 years for this to happen: According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show is being revived. It’s not being remade, mind you. It’s getting a sequel, following the next generation (or is it the one after that?) of employees at, well, a night court, located in eccentric-heavy Manhattan.
The third season 30 Rock episode in question only brought back three cast members: Harry Anderson, Markie Post, and Charlie Robinson, who played judge, public defender, and court clerk over the show’s nine seasons. Anderson passed away in 2018, but the revival will — so far, anyway — only bring back John Larroquette, whose turn as pompous prosecutor Dan Fielding made him a star. Larroquette wouldn’t be the lead, mind you. The revival’s plot, as per THR:
The sequel would center on Abby Stone, daughter of the original’s central character, Judge Harry Stone (played by the late Harry Anderson). She has followed in her father’s footsteps and presides over the night shift of an arraignment court in Manhattan and the assorted characters who populate it, including former prosecutor Dan Fielding.
Night Court ran from 1984 to 1992, and its creator, Reinhold Weege, had previously been a writer on the classic ’70s police precinct comedy Barney Miller, which too focused on the day-to-day of New York City law enforcement. (Barney Miller has been cited as the most realistic police show ever made, depicting the job as unsexy and often dull. Same with Night Court, though it was far more willing to go full-tilt wacky.) As of this writing, the show isn’t available on any of the major streamers — not even Peacock, the one for NBC, where it aired. But trust us, it was funny.
Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin’sHanukkah Sessions reached the one-week mark on Wednesday and for the seventh installment in the series, the duo decided to take on The Knack’s song “Frustrated.” The track comes from the Los Angeles-based band’s 1979 debut album, Get The Knack, which was one of that year’s best-selling releases and even held down the No. 1 spot on the albums chart for five straight weeks.
The duo spoke wrote the song in the YouTube description. “Tonight we’re featuring 4 nice Jewish boys whose biggest hit was a song about a nice Jewish girl… “My Shalom-a” or something like that,” the description read, referencing the band’s lone No. 1 single. “We’re huge fans of New Wave (as well as the “old wave” that came after Moses parted the Red Sea)…so we were psyched to get to cover one of our favorites…The Knack!”
Grohl and Kurstin’s cover of “Frustrated” comes the day after they took on Elastica’s “Connection.” Past covers have included The Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage,” Drake’s “Hotline Bling,” Mountain’s “Mississippi Queen,” Peaches’ “F*ck The Pain Away,” and Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.” Thursday’s cover will also be the duo’s last Hanukkah session as it is the final day of the Jewish holiday.
In addition to The Knack cover, Grohl also reconnected with his Foo Fighters band to cover Chuck Berry’s classic Christmas record, “Run Rudolph Run.”
When it comes to the most iconic duos in recent NBA history, a lot of names come to mind. There’s Jordan and Pippen, Stockton and Malone, Shaq and Kobe, Steph and Klay. But one pairing that arguably doesn’t get enough attention these days is the Sonics’ one-two punch of Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp.
Long before there was Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, Payton and Kemp were connecting for highlight-reel jams on a nightly basis up in the original Lob City of the Pacific Northwest during the mid-90s. Though their championship hopes were dashed by the Bulls juggernaut of that era, like so many other greats, they left an indelible mark on the league.
They connected once again on Wednesday night for a sit-down special on NBA TV, “Reign Man & the Glove,” during which they took a trip down memory lane, but also spent some quality time looking at some of today’s rising stars, particularly the stark similarities between Kemp’s game and sophomore sensation Zion Williamson.
It turns out to be a pretty apt comparison, given their explosiveness around the room and a quick first step to blow by defenders when operating out of the high post. Zion, of course, is just starting to scratch the surface of his abilities, and his second season is going to be fascinating to watch with all the changes around the Pelicans organization in the offseason.
For nearly two decades Tom Rinaldi has handled some of ESPN’s biggest interviews and feature stories, having joined the network in 2002 from CNN/SI. However, he will reportedly be departing ESPN for Fox Sports in the near future, according to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post.
Tom Rinaldi, one of ESPN’s top on-air reporters, is leaving for Fox, where he is expected to be featured across all of its major events from the Super Bowl to the World Series to the World Cup and college football, according to sources.
Rinaldi’s probably best known for his feature stories on College Gameday, as well as his golf coverage — Marchand notes he got the first sitdown interview with Tiger Woods following his infamous car crash in 2010 — and will apparently spread his wings at Fox to their biggest events, adding the NFL, MLB, and soccer to his repertoire.
The legendary reporter is maybe best known for his incredible ability to get interview subjects emotional, as tears are a regular reaction to watching a Rinaldi interview, but he is just generally a spectacular reporter and interviewer. Per Marchand, Rinaldi’s departure is not part of ESPN’s recent layoffs but a move he’s making on his own, and Fox Sports is certainly getting one of the biggest names in the reporting business to add to their big event coverage.
As we barrel towards the holidays, you’re probably planning on stocking up on bourbon, Scotch, rye, and other styles of whiskey. And while we’d never tell you not to do that (we love whiskey!), we would urge you not to forget about rum. Especially dark rum.
Dark rums — with all of their caramelized sugar, sweet tropical, and vanilla-spice-inflected flavor notes — are actually perfect for this time of year. And like whiskey, the well-aged stuff is ideal for sipping over a single ice cube. Jeremy Duffy, bar manager at Arvada Tavern in Arvada, Colorado has simple parameters when looking for a winter rum.
“When I’m looking for a rum to sip on this time of year,” he says, “I just look for something unique and flavorful. Same as any time of year, really.”
That seems straightforward enough. But which “unique and flavorful” rums are worth your money right now? We asked 10 of our favorite bartenders to shout out their picks for the best dark rums to drink neat as winter settles in.
Foursquare 12-Year-Old
Brandon “Habi” Habenstein, beverage director at The Kitchen & Bar at Bardstown Bourbon Company in Bardstown, Kentucky
The world of rums is akin to the wild west, with little to no oversight or regulation. One brand changing that and bringing the best rums available to the market is Foursquare Rum Distillery. With no additives, this is how rum was meant to be produced. No color, no sugar, no filtration, these rums are outstanding.
If you see Foursquare on the label you can feel safe buying any expression, but their dated single blends are a good place to start. One of the best bottlings is Foursquare 12, finished in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd use bourbon barrels.
Santa Teresa 1796
Chelsea Napper, bar manager at Yūgen in Chicago, Illinois
I love Santa Teresa 1796 for sipping. It feels like a warm hug on a chilly Chicago morning. Santa Teresa uses the Solera method, blending rums aging four to 35 years. On the palate, there are always notes of warm vanilla and fudge: the perfect combo for winter in my opinion.
Zacapa 23
Felipe Muñoz, head bartender at Sweetleaf Cocktails in Long Island City, New York
Zacapa 23 is a dark rum that we have in an amazing cocktail right now at Sweetleaf. I like this neat as well, since it is sweet and heavy on the fruit notes, but also quite dry with hints of leather and baking spice.
Goslings Family Reserve Old Rum is crafted from the same blend as the original Goslings Black Seal Rum, a staple in Bermudian culture and diet. Aged longer in oak barrels, the flavor is perfect for fall, reminiscent of a fine cognac. Being a millennial and a bartender for the best part of a decade, I undoubtedly recommend enjoying this Family Reserve Old Rum neat.
Who says you can’t teach a new dog old tricks?
Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Black
Andy Printy, beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis
Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still by Ministry of Rum is the most complex dark rum I’ve ever had. Tons of dark molasses and light baking spice combine with the open fermentation’s wild yeast for all the funk you can handle. It startles your palate with rich molasses and cocoa nib, then graduates into light allspice and masterful funkiness.
It’s best neat, as when you drop the temperature on this one, you lose a lot of what makes it so magical.
Bayou Select
Seth Falvo, bartender at The Hotel Zamora in St. Pete Beach, Florida
Bayou Select is an ideal rum for fall. This rum has plenty of apple and oak on the nose, with a flavor profile that practically screams “winter desserts” — cinnamon, maple, vanilla, and blackberry are all prevalent. The mouthfeel is full yet surprisingly dry, thanks to the bourbon barrels that this rum has been aged in.
Havana Club 7 is a simple, well-done rum and it will never disappoint. Tastes like sweet inebriation just one pour away. It doesn’t hurt that it’s also aged for seven years and has hints of tobacco, brown sugar, and vanilla.
Almost anything from Hamilton is going to be worth drinking, but I’ve been enjoying the Hamilton Saint Lucia Pot Still Rum — 10 years. It’s got a good amount of age on it and offers the complexity that you need if you’re drinking it straight. It has the deep caramel notes, and a bit of spice, as well as a healthy touch of the funk that some of the best rums out there have.
It’s delicious, and perfect for drinking neat.
Denizen Merchant’s Reserve
Jeremy Duffy, bar manager at Arvada Tavern in Arvada, Colorado
Denizen Merchant’s Reserve is just that rum. When we have two different styles of rum blended together, it truly stands out from the crowd. You get the funkiness from the Jamaican pot style rum, yet still get that punch of earthy grass notes from the Martinique Rhum Grande Arome.
Up until last week, Dr. Garrett Felber was on track to become a tenured history professor at the University of Mississippi. Dr. Felber studies race and incarceration in the U.S. and is a dedicated advocate for people who are imprisoned. He’s also a published author, having written “Those Who Know Don’t Say: The Nation of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement and the Carceral State” and co-written “The Portable Malcolm X Reader” with Pulitzer Prize-winning Malcolm X biographer Manning Marable.
In August, Felber was awarded a one-year fellowship at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research and is working there during the 2020-2021 school year. Dr. Noell Wilson, University of Mississippi’s history department chair, praised Felber for the award at the time.
“Garrett is an indefatigable researcher and community builder whose knowledge of the carceral state stems not merely from archival digging, but also from his volunteer engagement with prisons as a teacher,” Wilson said. “We are thrilled with this award because it both recognizes his national profile in the field of African American history and provides critical space for him to advance two pioneering interpretive projects.”
Four months later, Wilson notified Felber of his termination.
In a letter dated December 10, the department chair informed him that his employment with the university would be terminated as of December 31, 2021. Though she cited communication issues between her and Felber in her letter, some believe his termination has more to do with his speaking out about the university kowtowing to racist donors.
Felber has been involved with a project called “Study and Struggle,” which he describes as a political education project on mass incarceration and immigrant detention. Wilson rejected a grant for the project in October, saying it was a political instead of historical project and might jeopardize department funding.
“The real issue is that (UM) prioritizes racist donors over all else,” Felber tweeted. “So it’s not some mythic politics v. history binary, but that this antiracist program threatens racist donor money. And racism is the brand. It’s in the name.”
This came just two days after the University publicized our $57,000 grant from @FWDus for the exact same project. S… https://t.co/JYq7Cafux9
A statement from the university’s communications office said that the grant refusal “was made after several considerations and in consultation with the relevant campus offices. Dr. Felber did not follow the appropriate process for seeking external funding, a process for which he has been briefed individually by representatives of several administrative offices across campus. Dr. Felber submitted his proposal to a private charitable foundation without the knowledge of his department chair or other officials.”
“If he had followed UM’s process of engaging with external funders,” the statement continued, “his department chair would have had the opportunity to advise him on how best to align his proposal with the Department of History’s research, teaching and service mission as articulated in its mission statement. As a public research institution, the university is committed to supporting the work of all faculty, being good stewards of both public and private grants and ensuring that all work on behalf of UM aligns with the mission of our collective schools and units.”
However, at a time when anti-racism research, education, and academic projects are under attack—not just by society but by the federal government—it’s hard to separate what might be legitimate personnel issues and what might be pressure from funding soruces.
Another UM professor told the Mississippi Free Press: “Feel free to note the increasing levels of paranoia on campus.” Professors from around the country have come to Felber’s defense, with some even having predicted that his anti-racist academic work would lead to Felber being ousted.
I recall vividly at the MUMI conference when Mariame Kaba said that we needed to stand in solidarity with… https://t.co/oRXWTqZXP9
While some scold academia for being intolerant of views that don’t align with “liberal” thought, the opposite can be just as true, especially where money is involved. While the University of Mississippi has made some strides in coming to terms with its racist history, the roots of racism run deep.
“I’m just so deeply dismayed by the willingness of faculty and administrators at all levels of the university who acquiesce to the will of these powerful racist, donors,” Felber told the Mississippi Free Press in October. “Individually, these people will continue to tell me they respect the work, and appreciate it, and support it, and will until the push from above comes, and then they willfully misrepresent and do things like what my chair did.”
“It’s all very calculated and it feels—it’s not just structurally racist, it’s also personally betraying to say that you support these things, then when it actually matters they always acquiesce. It just has a profound effect on all of us doing the work to actually continue to do the stuff that matters and not get mired in calling the university out for its lies continually. The people that that harms the most are the people who benefit from these projects. People who are already excluded from the university through structural racism.”
When asked what people can do to support him, Felber has encouraged people to donate to a campaign to buy toiletries for people who are incarcerated in Mississippi.
Want to support? Please donate or share our campaign to buy toiletries for people incarcerated in Mississippi: https://t.co/AF6GEjLye8
24kGoldn quickly rose to fame thanks to the success of his 2019 single, “Valentino,” which gave him his first Billboard singles chart entry and was later certified Platinum in April 2020. The San Francisco native quickly topped the success of the 2019 track with his following effort, “Mood,” which reached No. 1 on the singles chart in mid-October. Now, the 2020 XXL Freshman looks to keep his streak of success alive with a brand new video for his most recent track, “Coco.”
The Cole Bennett-directed video finds 24kGoldn and DaBaby, who appears on the song for a guest rap verse, at an ice-cold resort. There, 24kGoldn enjoys some time with a young woman as they go out for a jet ski ride and take a dip in a hot tub. They’re soon interrupted by DaBaby, dressed as Santa Claus. Rather than bring the couple a gift, he does the complete opposite and takes something away from them: a dog that rested in the arms of the young woman.
24kGoldn’s latest release comes as he continues work on his upcoming album El Dorado. He recently spoke about it in an interview with Variety. “I’m excited to put out the album, but I’m definitely not in a rush,” he said. “I’m trying to create a cohesive visual and auditory world for my audience to live in and that takes time.”
Outgoing president Donald J. Trump may not be on Twitter for much longer. The social media giant has said that as soon as he’s no longer commander-in-chief, he’ll be subject to the same rules as everyone else — and the only reason Trump, who’s violated just about all of them, hasn’t been booted is because he’s the President of the United States. But not only is he infamously bad with keeping state secrets, he’s apparently also terrible with keeping his social media accounts on lockdown. As per Vox, Dutch prosecutors confirmed that his Twitter account was hacked, in part because his password was comically easy to guess.
Word of the hack first cropped up back in October, when hacker Victor Gevers claimed he’d gained accessed the world’s most notorious Twitter account, not through some byzantine hacker method. He simply guessed the right password. And that password was — drum roll — “maga2020!”
At the time, the White House denied Trump’s account had ever been accessed. But on Wednesday, prosecutors in the Netherlands confirmed Gevers’ claim was accurate. What’s more they argued Gevers had acted in an “ethical” manner, immediately turning himself into authorities after gaining access. He even had a good reason:
Gevers said he was looking for vulnerabilities in high-profile social media accounts ahead of the US presidential election, just in case they got hacked by someone with malicious intent. That’s a good thing, especially since Trump apparently didn’t have two-factor authentication activated on his phone, which would have added an extra security step besides a password. Luckily, Gevers found a problem before someone else did. “The hacker released the login himself,” Dutch police said about Gevers’s actions two month ago.
So there you go: The President of the United States has never bothered to take the simple step of activating two-factor notification on his phone, despite being the President of the United States. Meanwhile, Gevers won’t face any charges. Hopefully the incident caused Trump to try a more secure password. But he probably just went with something about rigged elections.
When the NBA announced the results from its first round of COVID-19 testing after having players come back into their home markets, there were 48 positive tests out of 546 administered tests, making the positivity rate 8.8 percent, which, while high, was somewhat expected. The true test of the NBA’s plan was going to be how they progressed as training camp and the preseason began, to see if their protocols were working.
Thus far, that appears to be the case as they’ve seen just one positive test out of 549 tests administered since December 10, a precipitous drop-off and an indication that things are at least going as planned early on.
The NBA returns only one positive coronavirus test out of 549 players tested since Dec. 10: pic.twitter.com/xYStnZvYGg
Of course it should be noted that this is not reason for a victory lap but instead simply a very good first step of many to getting this season going and, hopefully, completed without too many postponements. NFL teams had similar success early on in their testing, but as the season wore on and there was more travel and players were being asked to remain vigilant for longer, more and more positives have emerged. The NBA has to anticipate positive tests happening once the season starts, and it’s why they’ve released only the first half of their schedule to allow for them to reschedule postponements into the second half slate.
So far, though, this is a good start and hopefully players and staffers will be able to continue to produce negative tests and allow this season to progress without too many hiccups.
You didn’t see a lot of D.L. Hawkins, who had the power to move through solid objects, on Heroes, the hit mid-aughts superhero show: He was killed off early in the second season, struck by a bullet (which apparently aren’t solid enough to move through him). But according to a new testimonial by Leonard Roberts the actor who played him, published by Variety, his role was originally supposed to be much larger. He was told that he didn’t have much chemistry with Ali Larter, who played Niki Sanders. But the actor alleges that the real reason was much more troubling.
Roberts’ account, which was corroborated by 10 people who either worked on the show or were familiar with the events in question, claims that the problems began even before he was cast. An early draft of the pilot described Hawkins, who starts of as a prison inmate, as “a white man’s nightmare.” But Roberts soldiered on. “Through the entire audition process, I found a connection to the character that didn’t traffic in stereotypes,” he writes.
But by the time the show had been picked up to series, things changed. His character was suddenly removed from the pilot. He was told he’d be introduced in Episode 2. He didn’t debut until Episode 6. Roberts also discovered he wasn’t being treated the same way as the other main actors.
“As production began, I looked forward to sharing my thoughts on my character with the writing staff, as I heard other cast members had done the same with theirs,” Roberts alleges. “Unfortunately, no such meeting ever materialized. Then I learned that despite the show’s three Black series regulars, there were no Black writers on staff.”
But the real problems, Roberts claims, didn’t begin until he finally started shooting. He alleges Larter was always cold, even hostile, towards him, especially during rehearsal of an intimate scene during what was his first episode that she abruptly ended over her refusal to play the scene with the straps of her top lowered. He later mentioned it to co-star Adrian Pasdar, who also had intimate scenes with her:
“After watching the episode, I asked Pasdar if there had been any concerns similar to what I witnessed during my episode. He replied to the contrary, and mentioned her openness to collaboration and even improvisation. I pondered why my co-star had exuberantly played a different scene with the Petrelli character involving overt sexuality while wearing lingerie, but found aspects of one involving love and intimacy expressed through dialogue with my character, her husband, disrespectful to her core. I couldn’t help wondering whether race was a factor.”
Soon rumors of tension between two co-stars on Heroes spread into TV Guide, which was assumed to be Roberts and Larter. Things got worse after the two posed for an Entertainment Weekly cover, which eventually led her to confront him:
“I’m hearing our cover is selling the least of all of them,” she told me. It was the first and only thing she said to me that night and I believed the subtext was clear: I was tarnishing her brand.”
The next day he learned his character was going to be killed off, due, he says, to “the Ali Larter situation.” He also says he was reassured by executive producer Dennis Hammer to not “think of this as a situation where the Black man loses and the white woman wins.” Roberts says “that was the first time my race was ever acknowledged while I was a part of the show: not for any creative contribution I could make, but for what I believed was the fear of me becoming litigious.”
Roberts eventually negotiated to film a death scene for Season 2, for which, he says, he was paid as a guest star, though he wound up getting the full amount he would have received had he been kept on as a regular. Since then he’s kept his mouth shut, only deciding to go public with his allegations this past August, in the wake of the summer’s Black Lives Matters protests, when questions about race in America, and in Hollywood, were being asked more forcefully than ever before.
Larter, Variety says, “did not provide any on-the-record response.” Heroes creator Tim Kring did, saying he “set out to cast the most diverse show on television,” though he acknowledges that “a lack of diversity at the upper levels of the staff may have contributed to Leonard experiencing the lack of sensitivity that he describes.”
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