Tonight on the WWE Friday Night Smackdown open discussion thread:
Daniel Bryan’s WrestleMania destiny is now in the hands of Drew Gulak.
Bryan is eyeing an Intercontinental Title opportunity against Sami Zayn at WrestleMania, but The Great Liberator is evading at every turn. Zayn backed Bryan into a corner by proposing that if The “Yes!” Man is so confident in his new partner of sorts, then Bryan should put his fate in Gulak’s hands. Hence, Gulak will take on Shinsuke Nakamura this Friday on the blue brand, and if Gulak is victorious, Bryan will challenge Zayn for the Intercontinental Championship at The Show of Shows.
Will Gulak come through in the clutch? Or will Zayn craft yet another brilliant scheme? (via WWE.com)
As always, give a thumbs up to any comments from tonight’s open thread you enjoy and we’ll include 10 of the best in tomorrow’s Best and Worst of Friday Night Smackdown on Fox report. Make sure to flip your comments to “newest” in the drop down menu under “discussion,” and enjoy the show!
Rye whiskey is the spicy cousin of bourbon whiskey. Where bourbon needs at least 51 percent corn or maize in its mash bill, rye needs at least 51 percent of rye in its mash bill. Bourbon often has a lot of rye making up that other 49 percent of its recipe. Rye, on the other hand, often leans more purely into rye grains (you don’t get a lot of corn-heavy ryes, though they exist).
Many of the U.S.’s rye expressions come from MGP in Indiana which uses a 95 percent rye and 5 percent malted barley mash bill. Most of the rest of the U.S.’s rye comes from Alberta Distillers in Calgary, which produces a massive range of mash bills but most commonly a 100 percent rye. Of course, there are small-time distillers mixing up the game with every iteration of rye mash bill you can image. And sometimes, you’ll have bottlers like WhistlePig mixing and matching from both Alberta and MGP on some expressions. And, just to be clear, a lot of the ryes in this price range (and even extending much higher) are distilled and aged in Indiana or Alberta and then blended, finished, and bottled in Kentucky or Vermont or wherever. As with all of the whiskey world, there’s a lot of variation is what we’re saying.
The ten bottles below are all ryes that clock in at under $30 per bottle. Each of these bottles has that rye-spice kick, is very accessible, and can be delivered straight to your door during the quarantine.
ABV: 45% Distillery: MGP Indiana, Lawrenceburg, IN (Luxco) Average Price:$16.99
The Whiskey:
Where Ezra Brook’s bourbon is distilled by Luxco at the Heaven Hill Distillery in Kentucky, their rye is sourced from the rickhouses of MGP. Don’t let that hold you back, MGP knows what it’s doing. The juice is aged for 24 months in charred new American oak and charcoal filtered.
Tasting Notes:
Big whiffs of caramel and vanilla are cut by a lemon zest brightness. That caramel and vanilla create a foundation that lets the rye pepperiness build on the palate with a hint of grassiness. The warm spice builds to a peak as the sweetness from the caramel fades out entirely on the end.
Old Overholt Straight Rye Whiskey
ABV: 40% Distillery: Jim Beam Distillery, Clermont, KY Average Price:$18.41
The Whiskey:
Old Overholt is an interesting rye whiskey. It takes the high-rye idea of bourbon and flips it on its head by adding a high-corn edge to its mash bill. Hailing from Jim Beam’s “The Olds” line, this whiskey is a three-year-old expression that works wonders in a Manhattan or old fashioned.
Tasting Notes:
Mild notes of apples stewed in cinnamon mingle with a hint of corn-fueled caramel. Vanilla kicks in with a rush of sharp and almost dusty brown spices as the apple starts to feel more like a spring orchard in full bloom. But in the end, it’s the sharp rye spice that carries through to the warming finish.
Jim Beam Rye Pre-Prohibition Style
ABV: 40% Distillery: Jim Beam Distillery, Clermont, KY Average Price:$21.99
The Whiskey:
Whisky Bible author Jim Murray named this his favorite rye aged under ten years back in 2010. The juice is a throwback to a “Pre-Prohibition” recipe that’s very rye forward with little muss nor fuss. That makes this expression a bit like a time machine.
Tasting Notes:
Red berries mix with big notes of black and red pepper rye spice with a clear sense of candied cherries. Nutmeg, cloves, and allspice join the pepper as subtle caramel and vanilla help deliver those sweet red berries to the palate. There’s a light sense of dried flowers, fresh mint, and a hint of licorice as the spice climaxes on the hot finish of this sip.
Canadian Club 100% Rye Whisky
ABV: 40% Distillery: Alberta Distillers, Calgary, AB (Bottled in Walkerville, ON by Beam Suntory) Average Price:$21.99
The Whiskey:
This Alberta Distillers juice is worth tracking down. The 100 percent rye mash bill offers a chance to taste what a pure rye whiskey really is. That makes this a great whiskey to use as a baseline by which all other ryes at this price point can be measured against.
Tasting Notes:
Clear notes of rye spice mingle with wisps of wildflowers, fruit orchards, chocolate, and vanilla. That vanilla mingles with sweet grain bread, rich caramel, a slight fruit tartness, and a clear sense of Christmas spices cut with orange zest. The oak makes a late appearance as the spices, fruit, and florals drive this one home to a warm embrace of a finish.
Wild Turkey Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
ABV: 40.5% Distillery: Wild Turkey Distillery, Lawrenceburg, KY (Campari) Average Price:$24.99
The Whiskey:
This rye from Wild Turkey’s rickhouses is a blending of four and five-year-old barrels. The mash bill leans heavily into the rye and lets that aspect shine, similarly to their high-rye bourbons. Overall, this is another great gateway rye that’s very affordable for the quality.
Tasting Notes:
Sourdough rye toast dripping with honey meets sharp rye spice with a note of Granny Smith apples. That crack of tart apple provides a nice counterpoint to the peppery nature of the rye spice with a wisp of mint, more honey, and a touch of spring fruit. The end edges the spice into cinnamon territory as the oak helps bring about a big rye spice finish.
Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Straight Rye Whiskey
ABV: 45% Distillery: Jack Daniel Distillery, Lynchburg, TN (Brown–Forman) Average Price:$25.32
The Whiskey:
This was a big step for the classic Tennessee whiskey distillery. In 2017, Jack Daniel’s released their first new expression since Prohibition with this rye. The juice has a mash bill of 70 percent rye, 18 percent corn, and 12 percent malted barley. After distillation, the hot juice goes through the Lincoln County Process of sugar maple charcoal filtration, giving this rye an extra edge of smoothness compared to other ryes on the list.
Tasting Notes:
Bananas Foster, dark chocolate with a note of cream, toasted rye grains, oak, vanilla, and a whisper of smoke greet you. Cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg arrive as more dark and creamy chocolate drives towards a splash of spicy stewed apples. Finally, the rye takes over with peppery sharpness that leads towards the warm embrace of charred oak.
George Dickel Rye Whisky
ABV: 45% Distillery: MGP Indiana, Lawrenceburg, IN (Diageo) Average Price:$26.99
The Whiskey:
This is another Tennessee whiskey version of rye. The juice is 95 percent rye and five percent malted barley and is aged for five years in Lawrenceburg before heading to Tennessee where George Dickel filters the juice through their sugar maple charcoal and bottles it, making it a Tennessee rye.
Tasting Notes:
This is a spicy and herbal matrix with hints of clove sitting next to a hint of mint with a sense of wildflowers, hazelnuts, and plenty of rye spice. The herbal notes carry on as the rye spice peaks with a nice sense of sharp pepper before a slight savory herbal nature kicks in that will remind you of oily rosemary. The pepper, fruit, herbs, and oak all carry on towards a warming finish with a wisp of smoke.
Old Forester Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
ABV: 50% Distillery: Brown-Forman Distillery, Shively, KY Average Price:$25.99
The Whiskey:
This expression is a bit of a throwback to the WWII era. The spirit’s mash bill is 65 percent rye, 20 percent malted barley, and 15 percent corn. The higher-than-usual malted barley adds an interesting ripple compared to other ryes and brings a nice edge to this dram.
Tasting Notes:
This expression leans heavily into the dark spices with clove leading the way alongside hints of vanilla, oak, and caramel. There’s a sense of maple syrup next to fruitwoods like cherry and apple which lead to a tiny thought of smoke. A herbaceous flourish comes in late as the rye spiciness marries the oak on the warming end.
Rittenhouse Straight Rye Whisky Bottled-In-Bond
ABV: 50% Distillery: Heaven Hill Distillery, Louisville, KY Average Price:$27.99
The Whiskey:
This American rye relishes in a high-rye mash bill that honors the old-school whiskey distillers of Pennsylvania. The juice is aged for four years under strict bottled-in-bond guidelines and bottled at a higher proof, giving you more bang for your buck.
Tasting Notes:
Sweet and crisp peppers mix with dried grapes, cherries, and apples with a nice hit of rich and buttery toffee. The spice leans into nutmeg and cinnamon as a clear dose of vanilla arrives with dark chocolate before a slash of citrus cuts through the whole sip. The velvet mouthfeel lends to a peppery finish with a sweetness akin to maple syrup.
Alberta Premium Canadian Rye Whisky
ABV: 40% Distillery: Alberta Distillers, Calgary, AB (Beam Suntory) Average Price:$21.91 ($33.36 for a 1.14l bottle)
The Whiskey:
This is the 100 percent rye whiskey from Canada that’s mostly shipped to the U.S. to places like WhistlePig. So, if you’ve had rye in the U.S., you’ve likely already tasted this classic rye. The bonus with this bottle is that you’re not paying for WhistlePig-levels of branding with every bottle (while getting the exact same thing). The actual whiskey in the bottle is a blend of two different ryes, one aged in new oak and one aged in used bourbon oak for at least four years that’s then aged together for another year.
Tasting Notes:
Crisp and tart apples dance with a sense of dark chocolate, dark rye spices, and charred oak. Slight notes of fresh herbs sit next to vanilla, caramel, more fruit, and a note of bright florals. The dram carries the sharp spiciness with a hint of caramel sweetness towards a big and warm end with an echo of smoke in the background.
Until the last few years, Hulu was only known as the best place to find current shows from elsewhere on television. But now, with more and more acclaimed series under its belt, Hulu has proved it can compete with the other streaming services’ original programming. If you’re trying to figure out exactly which original show to watch next on Hulu, here’s a great place to start with a look at the 20 best Hulu original series right now.
Based on the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name, Handmaid’s Tale is set in a dystopian future run by a fundamentalist government renamed Gilead. The fertility rate has bottomed out, women have been deprived of their rights, and the men have turned them into reproductive vessels. This future, however, is so recently removed from the present that the misery of the women — forced to be submissive through electroshock and other forms of torture — is compounded by haunting memories of their most recent past. Top-lined by the exceptional performance of Elizabeth Moss, the series also boasts strong supporting turns from Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, Joseph Fiennes, and Alexis Bledel, whose character attempts to rebel against the autocratic government and suffers excruciating consequences. It’s a harrowing series, often so bleak that it’s difficult to watch, but in our current political climate, the themes of The Handmaid’s Tale resonate loudly, and the second season is even darker and more powerful.
Stephen King experienced a bit of a renaissance this year, at least on TV, but out of all of the adaptations from different streaming platforms, Hulu’s Castle Rock felt like the most realized, and most terrifying, of the lot. The show, which stars Sissy Spacek, Andre Holland, and Bill Skarsgard, follows the story of Henry (Holland) a death row attorney summoned home after a young man is found imprisoned beneath Shawshank prison. Henry’s got a murky past too, one that involves the unsolved murder of his father –- an event he has no memory of — and the strange happenings around town intensify as The Kid (Skarsgard) is set free and must figure out how he’s connected to Henry, his family, and the history of the town. It’s equal parts brilliant and terrifying, all you could ask for in a King adaptation. The show’s second run feels just as compelling, with Lizzy Caplan stepping into the orthopedic shoes of nurse Annie Wilkes, before her Misery days. She still troubled and causing trouble for the town of Castle Rock while trying to keep to the shadows with her daughter played by Eighth Grade’s Elsie Fisher.
Michaela Watkins stars as Valerie, a forty-something Mom whose husband just left her for a grad student in one of his classes (it’s a cliche for a reason). She and her daughter move in with her layabout brother, Alex (Tommy Dewey), an independently wealthy co-creator of a dating website. Alex is caddish but intensely likable, especially once viewers realize that his womanizing is a pretense, that he’s simply too afraid to reveal his true self for fear of rejection. Like Transparent, with which Casual shares some DNA, there’s an organic, improvised feel to the series, which alternates between funny and heartbreaking as it seeks to find the humor in the devastation of loss and the awkward challenges of finding someone new. It’s a tremendously good show that only gets better in its later seasons.
Patricia Arquette and Joey King star in this painfully measured series that follows the true story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Gypsy Rose was a young woman living with her mother, Dee Dee, in a small town in Missouri when police found her mother murdered in their home, and Gypsy nowhere to be found. The mystery surrounding the case soon spiraled into a story about the complicated bonds between mother and daughter, chronicling one woman’s descent into madness. Dee Dee suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a condition that caused her to fake many of Gypsy’s “illnesses” — from cancer to brain damage. When Gypsy finally realized the truth, she concocted a plan so outrageous and heinous, it had to be given the TV treatment.
Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle write, direct, and star in this cringe-worthy coming-of-age comedy about two preteens entering the 7th grade. The twist here is that both Erskine and Konkle, actresses in their 30s, play their middle-school-aged characters alongside actual 13-year-olds, elevating their comedy about awkward firsts and embarrassing pubescent mishaps to new heights. The show is full of humor while also covering some relatable, real-life issues that normally don’t make it to the small screen.
Comedian Ramy Youssef stars in this semi-autobiographical dramedy, playing a version of himself, a character named Ramy Hassan. Ramy navigates life growing up in New Jersey while straddling the line between the millennial generation he’s a part of and the Muslim community he belongs to. He wrestles with the constraints of his religion and his upbringing, while searching for meaning in more modern pursuits — drinking, partying, and hooking up. It’s heartwarming, eye-opening, and never takes itself too seriously.
You’ve probably found yourself asking, “What the hell is Letterkenny?” That question has probably come after yet another friend/co-worker/stranger on the street has stopped you to demand you watch the Hulu original. Well, here’s the answer: Letterkenny is a snappy comedy about a group of small-town folk just trying to get by. It mainly centers on two bros, Wayne and Darryl, and the schemes they come up with to make a buck, have a good time, and stir up their boring old town.
George Clooney, Kyle Chandler, and Christopher Abbott star in this re-telling of Joseph Heller’s classic novel. Abbot plays young recruit, Yossarian, a U.S. Air Force bombardier in World War II. Yossarian hopes to dodge having to serve in combat after the military ups the number of missions required before one’s service can be considered complete. He’s forced to face off against a truly sadistic colonel while fighting for his life on the front line. It’s ridiculous that Abbott isn’t a bigger name than he is, but he leads this farcical troupe with A-list swagger, and Chandler is surprisingly wonderful playing against his normal, lovable-dad typecasting.
The cult teen drama returns after a years-long hiatus and a successful Kickstarter-funded film to re-open the case. This time, Veronica (Kristen Bell) is investigating a catastrophic bombing of a popular spring break destination for college kids: Neptune, her hometown. She’s also struggling to balance her career and her tumultuous relationship with Logan (Jason Dohring) while pushing her ailing father to come clean about his health issues. This season, which is intended to be a continuance — so you should definitely check out Rob Thomas’ original work, also available on Hulu — marks a return to the show’s noir crime roots, and it’s so much better for it.
This historical drama starring Jeff Daniels and Peter Sarsgaard charts the build-up to 9/11 as seen through the eyes of agents in both the FBI and CIA. Daniels plays John O’Neill, the chief of the New York FBI’s Counterterrorism Center in the 1990s, who is convinced that a terrorist attack on the U.S. is imminent. He butts heads with Martin Schmidt (Sarsgaard), the CIA head of counterterrorism, who believes his agency is better equipped to deal with the threat of Al Qaeda and keeps valuable intel from the FBI. The action in this comes from watching Daniels and Sarsgaard, two incredibly talented actors, go head-to-head, chewing up every scene they’re in and obviously having fun doing it.
SNL breakout Aidy Bryant headlines this comedy series based on the best-selling book by Lindy West. Bryant plays Annie, a young writer living on the West Coast who struggles with body image issues, a floundering career as a journalist, and a family health crisis. Over the course of six episodes, she manages a toxic relationship with her sometimes-hookup, confronts an abusive boss, and takes on internet trolls, all while learning how to love her size. Bryant shines here and though there’s not as much in-your-face comedy from her as SNL fans might be used to, her quiet, reserved style better serves the story, which is a refreshing one.
Adapted by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage from Adrian Alphona and Brian K. Vaughan’s Marvel comic, Runaways is a slick, briskly paced teen soap featuring high school students discovering and coming to terms with their burgeoning superpowers. Runaways finds that happy space between the heaviness of Marvel’s Netflix dramas and the more lightweight nature of their network series (Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter). It’s a potent combination of compelling mystery and coming of age tale. The teen characters here are fantastic as they grapple with their own powers while investigating the dark history of their parents. Runaways takes a lot of cues from Schwartz and Savage’s The O.C. and Gossip Girl, respectively, although the series is not half as interesting when it’s exploring the conspiracy surrounding the parent characters, who are essentially the series’ supervillains. That storytelling deficit, however, is more than made up for by the existence of a dinosaur!
From creators Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir and executive producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (the team behind Sausage Party), Future Man is basically a mash-up of The Last Starfighter, Back to the Future, and The Terminator. Josh Hutcherson stars as Josh Futterman, a loser-ish janitor at a science lab who becomes the first person ever to finish a nearly impossible-to-beat video game. The game, it turns out, is a training application sent back from the future to find humanity’s savior. Characters from the video game recruit Josh to travel back into the past to kill the head of the science lab (Keith David) where Josh works in the present to prevent his boss from developing a cure for herpes that somehow ends up wiping out humanity in the future. There’s a lot to unpack in its premise, but once Future Man gets to its feet and finds its heart, the character evolves into more than mouthpieces for quick-fire pop-culture riffs. Eliza Coupe (Happy Endings) is fantastic as a fast-talking badass with an arsenic-laced “rathole” and a fondness for hand-to-hand combat. It’s Preacher’s Derek Wilson, however, who proves to be the scene stealer. He’s basically Firefly’s Jayne Cobb plus an obsession with ’80s pop culture, cooking, and two-hit wonder Corey Hart, who also makes a cameo appearance. It’s a fast-paced, filthy, and hilarious homage to time-travel movies that boasts a hysterical hatred for James Cameron, who is the target of a lot of the series’ best jokes. What Future Man lacks in substance, it more than makes up for in laughs and season two of the series doubles down on that philosophy, thrusting characters in even more bizarre situations and tighter spandex costumes.
Co-produced by Hulu and the BBC, The Wrong Mans stars the current host of The Late Show, James Corden, as well as his fellow Gavin & Stacey co-star Mathew Baynton. It’s an exuberantly zippy series that combines office-comedy with action movie tropes as it sees two co-workers involve themselves in a complicated criminal conspiracy in an effort to enliven their humdrum lives and, more importantly, make heroes out of themselves. It’s a quick binge (the two seasons are only 8 half-hour episodes in all) and immensely entertaining. It’s light, unpredictable, surprisingly suspenseful and funny — often times hysterically so — as it mashes up and pokes fun of a number of different tropes, doing for the office comedy what Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz did for the buddy-cop film.
Written and directed by women (Moira Buffini and Coky Giedroyc, respectively), Harlots is set in 1763 England where one in every five women is a prostitute. The story concerns two competing brothels operated by Lydia Quigley (Lesley Manville) and Margaret Wells (Samantha Morton), the latter of whom reluctantly pimps out her two daughters, one of whom is a popular courtesan (Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay) and another whose maidenhead is being auctioned off at a hefty price. There’s plenty of sex in Harlots, as one might expect from a series about competing brothels, but it’s not a sexy show. It’s more of a serious family drama about hardscrabble women using the only card they have in their 18th-century deck in an effort to maintain some sense of control over their lives. There’s power in sex, but as Harlots reveals, it only gets them so far. The series is a thoughtful costume drama that can be bleak at times (the corpse of a prostitute is used as a gruesome prop in the ongoing war between the brothels), but there are moments of crackling wit and a few stand-out performances, particularly that of Samantha Morton. Unfortunately, as the series’ first season progresses, it loses some of its momentum as it gets bogged down in its more soapy elements.
Produced by J.J. Abrams and created by Bridget Carpenter (a writer on Parenthood, Friday Night Lights), 11.22.63 is adapted from a Stephen King novel and stars James Franco as newly divorced high school teacher, Jake Epping, who finds a portal that takes him back to October 1960. There, Jake decides to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, though doing so will upend the life he has made for himself. It’s an exhilarating premise, and it’s nearly impossible not to get hooked by the pilot. Unfortunately, once Epping finds himself in the 1960s, the series drops many of the time-travel elements and settles into a more conventional — and often tiresome — conspiracy thriller. Franco is solid in the lead role, but the series is derailed by its devotion to the source material. It’s not one of King’s best books, and while it does provide viewers with a satisfying, heartfelt pay-off, the slow pace makes the journey more of a chore than the destination ultimately warrants.
Based on the Kem Nunn novel of the same name, Chance stars Hugh Laurie as a forensic neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Eldon Chance. Chance — who is going through a divorce — becomes romantically involved with a patient named Lucy (Greta Lee). Pulled into her troubled life, Chance finds himself embroiled in a dispute between the femme fatale and her abusive husband, a violently jealous police officer who has his sights set on Chance. It’s a moody, psychological noir with heavy doses of intrigue and mystery, but the pacing here suggest that it would have been better told in half the number of episodes. The series too often drifts and seems more preoccupied with mood setting than telling a story. Hugh Laurie’s compelling performance keeps it afloat, while Ethan Suplee — who plays a street-smart assistant in an antique shop — steals every scene he’s in, delivering occasional bursts of violence to stir viewers awake.
Set in upstate New York, The Path concerns members of a fictional spiritual moment (or cult) called Meyerism. The series primarily revolves around Eddie Lane (Aaron Paul), who has a revelation while on a retreat that leads him to question his faith. Eddie, however, won’t confess his doubts to his devout wife, Sarah (Michelle Monaghan), who believes her husband is hiding an affair from her. Things are further complicated by Cal (Hugh Dancy), the charismatic and corrupt leader of the Meyerist Movement, whose ambitions are often at odds with the more altruistic motives of the movement. While featuring strong performances from its leads, The Path is an achingly slow burn that doesn’t catch fire until near the end of the first season only to fizzle out again when the second season kicks off. There’s a fascinating story being told on The Path, but it’s not currently one that warrants 10 episodes a season, and the series often labors to spread its thin story across a canvass that is too large. The magical realist elements of the series only exacerbate its problems. It’s not a bad show thanks to the strong efforts of its leads, but it is one that struggles to figure out what it wants to say. Unfortunately, it got the ax after three seasons.
Zoe Kravitz produces and stars in this departure from Nick Hornby’s beloved 1995 novel, playing a young record store owner who fights against the gentrification of her Brooklyn neighborhood while replaying a string of failed relationships to the tune of indie hits. The story feels like a more mellow version of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag, and the soundtrack is fire.
The brains behind sci-fi thrillers like Ex Machina and Annihilation gives us another mind-bending drama, this time for the small screen. Devs focuses on a young software engineer named Lily Chan who begins digging into a secret division of the cutting-edge tech company she works for in Silicon Valley because, get this, they probably murdered her boyfriend.
Social distancing measures in the United States have shuttered most breweries as places to gather and socialize, but Netflix’s Brews Brothers appears ready to serve as a comedic substitute while we all stay at home.
The show, which saw its first trailer hit on Friday, is set to stream on April 10 and centers around two estranged brothers forced to run a brewery together and settle their many, many differences. The show is set at Rodman’s, a Van Nuys brewery run by Mike Castle’s Adam and Alan Aisenberg’s Wilhelm.
“Beer is about bringing people together,”Aisenberg, as Wilhelm, says. “And Rodman’s is the perfect hang.”
But that’s quickly undone by the rest of the trailer, which includes some unsanitary conditions to say the least. There’s a monk fight, some gross-out humor and a lot of questionable business practices. The League co-creator Jeff Schaffer teamed up his brother, Greg (That ’70s Show), on the show, the latter of which will serve as showrunner.
One set piece revealed in the trailer is an IPA brewed with a hallucinogen in it, which should make for a pretty trippy episode to say the least. There’s some sex toy humor and other bits of grossness, but the interpersonal drama seems to drive the show forward. The brother-owned brewery will certainly have some tension, as the show makes it clear the siblings are very different characters.
“Usually two opposites complete each other,” a character played by Silicon Valley alum Carmen Flood. “You two don’t even make a normal person.”
The League star Steve Rannazzisi also makes an appearance in the trailer, though it seems to be in a guest staring role. We’ll see what else the show has in store in early April, but maybe check the health and safety records of the brewery you get your beverages from when you sit down to watch this one.
It’s hard for anything to feel normal right now. People are stuck inside as a precaution while hospitals in every corner of the globe are working to identify and treat those who are suffering from COVID-19. It’s a necessary precaution for the time being, but it can certainly still be really difficult.
There are plenty of ways that folks have stayed entertained amid this period of self-isolation. Watching old sporting events, playing video games, reading books, and getting work done from home are the sorts of things that people have turned to, but there are still ways to have virtual gatherings with others. One extremely popular example of this is DJ D-Nice’s Club Quarantine, a live-streamed set that has attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers and has featured cameos — in some form or fashion — from some of the biggest names in music and culture.
The NBA has decided to get in on the fun. The league announced that DJ D-Nice will bring Club Quarantine to its official Instagram account on Friday evening, with a set that is scheduled to go from 7-9 p.m. EST.
It’s hardly the first thing the league has done on IG to keep fans engaged while it’s on hiatus — earlier in the day on Friday, Indiana Pacers star Victor Oladipo held a concert on the account. Even beyond these sorts of musical performances, the NBA has handed the keys to its Instagram over to a number of basketball players, like Elena Delle Donne, P.J. Tucker, and Damian Lillard.
Last time in the Best and Worst of NXT UK: Trent Seven helped out Flash Morgan Webster and Bomber Dave Mastiff against Gallus, but it wasn’t enough to secure a victory. If you’d like to read previous installments of the Best and Worst of NXT UK, click right here. Follow With Spandex on Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow me on Twitter if you want.
And now, the Best and Worst of NXT UK from March 26, 2020.
Best: Tag Team Storytelling
WWE
Okay yes, on one level this was Oliver Carter and Ashton Smith — the only two black guys on the roster — losing a match to the two whitest guys around, Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner. Importantly, however, this wasn’t a squash match. Carter and Smith are learning to work together as a cohesive tag team, and it took some effort for the often-dominant Aichner and Barthel to get the win.
Even though they lost here, Carter and Smith are starting to seem like a tag team that could matter. In fact, after this match there’s a backstage segment where they set up a match with Pretty Deadly. That’s one Carter and Smith ought to actually win, and hopefully more victories follow. Eventually they’ll make there way back around to Imperium, and after Barthel gets to be like “Vat? Ve already beat you!” they can have an even more competitive match than this one, where we won’t know who wins going in.
Best: Battle Royal Promos
WWE
Remember on those early Royal Rumble PPVs, when basically every guy on the roster got to cut a promo about how he was going to win the Royal Rumble? Even if it was some also-ran like Brutus Beefcake being like “I’m gonna CUT THROUGH the competition!” and you were like “yeah, that’s not happening,” it was still a fun opportunity to see the entire roster talk for a minute, just to remind you what a full collection of characters they had. And they would each relate whatever feud or story they had going on to the match, so it back part of like 15 different angles at once.
Anyway, NXT UK brings some of that energy to this episode, with a whole bunch of promos about next week’s 20-man Battle Royal. We get Flash Morgan Webster talking about winning the Battle Royal for his partner Mark Andrews, who’s still out of commission from last week’s backstage beating. Bomber Dave Mastiff talks about how he’ll win it because he’s the toughest guy around. Noam Dar takes a moment after his match to exclaim that he’ll win because the other 19 guys are all dafties. Gallus even discusses their Battle Royal plans over a card game in a scene that’s halfway between Reservoir Dogs and That ’70s Show. It’s all a lot of fun, is what I’m getting at.
WWE
Best: Don’t F With The Valkyrie
WWE
Nina Samuels went looking for this fight, and she gets what she deserves. As we saw last week, Nina called out Aoife Valkyrie specifically because Aoife’s the most hyped new female star, and Nina thinks she can get the attention she feels she deserves by beating the new girl. Which would be a fine plan if Nina was as good as she thinks she is, but she was never really going to beat the Valkyrie.
Of course, like a lot of things in wrestling, this story is a little bit muddled by the inevitable blurring of kayfabe and real life. Because the truth is, Nina Samuels is a veteran who probably could do more than she’s being given in NXT UK. And Aoife Valkyrie is full of potential, but she still has a lot to learn. At the end of the day, this is kind of what developmental wrestling (or maybe just wrestling) is all about: People with experience putting over the stars of tomorrow until they’re ready to become the stars of today.
And that’s fine. Nina Samuels is great at playing her “grown up theatre kid” character, and she’s probably more fun haunting the women’s undercard than she would be in the main event. And I like that they’re taking their time with Valkyrie. Keep away from Piper Niven and Kay Lee Ray until she’s really ready for a big push. It all makes sense in the long run, and this was a fun match along the way.
Worst: Everybody’s Talented
WWE
I’ll be honest, I’m still trying to see the appeal in A-Kid. I don’t have anything against him, but so far he’s just a guy who looks like eight other guys in this company (more on that in a minute), despite being from a different country than any of them. He can go in the ring, sure, but so can almost everybody on this show! WWE cherry-picked the indies in the UK and across half of Europe, so there’s no shortage of talent, despite the occasional rando in a horned mask or whatever.
Noam Dar is always great, of course, and he narrowly avoids looking like nine either guys just by growing his hair a little shaggier and shaving his face. And overall this match was good. I just don’t care about A-Kid yet, and I’m hoping that changes soon.
Best/Worst: The Kip Sabian Division
WWE
On the subject of similar-looking guys in NXT UK, the other night during Impact a friend of mine was saying (on chat of course, because we’re Social Distancing) that Kip Sabian is a little bit generic, and I said “It’s true, there’s at least five or six of him in NXT UK.” And here we are, the very next day in the main event, with an NXT Cruiserweight Championship match between the Champion, a slim dark-haired athletic guy in his early thirties, and the challenger, a slim dark-haired athletic guy in his early thirties.
I like Jordan Devlin, and I’d like to defend him against myself and say he’s not that generic, but honestly when you place him alongside the more cartoonish assholery of Noam Dar and the militaristic aggressiveness of Imperium, Devlin’s heel gimmick pretty much comes down to “full of himself and meaner than he needs to be” which isn’t exactly setting the brand on fire with originality.
Still, this is a solid match once again between two talented guys, and this is a brand where the best wrestlers are often in the main event, so you can’t really complain. Also, unless there are more episodes in the can than my research has found, next week is the last of what’s already been recorded, so it’s probably best to enjoy everything we can before we leap into the dark abyss that is the future of wrestling in the time of Coronavirus.
NXT UK Takeover: Dublin has already been postponed, which wasn’t addressed in this episode, so much as they just didn’t mention it. There was talk about what happens next week, but nothing about what comes after that. Watching NXT UK right now feels a bit like one of those Doctor Who episodes where the Doctor knows somebody’s about to be killed but he can’t tell them or stop it, for fear of messing up the timeline.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure NXT UK will be back before too awfully long. Maybe there will even be an episode in two weeks, but I have doubts. For now, let’s just look forward to next week, when twenty men meet in a Battle Royal, and Piper Niven teams up with Dani Luna to face Jinny and Kay Lee Ray. After that, well, we’ll see where we are.
Nav, Gunna, and Travis Scott put together an unforgettable three-man weave on Astroworld’s “Yosemite,” and now the trio is back for more. Nav released “Turks” today, a long-awaited reunion where the three men reel off a dizzying array of melodic flows over a Wheezy production.
Jeezy — Twenty/20 Pyrex Vision
Out of nowhere, Jeezy released Twenty/20 Pyrex Vision, a seven-track mixtape which shows the Snowman back in the kitchen and cookin’ up the brand of trap that made him a legend.
Mick Jenkins Songs
Mick Jenkins released a pair of tracks this week. He trades bars with Kojey Radical over gloomy piano play on “Snakes,” while “Front Street” is another strong collaboration with Kaytranda, where he celebrates that, “I done stamped up two whole passports.”
Channel Tres — “Weedman”
Channel Tres offered up his first 2020 track with “Weedman,” an ode to “going to the weed man’s spot” that’s too timely while most of the world is quarantined with cabin fever, lighting up or wishing they could.
Fivio Foreign — “Wetty”
Rising drill rapper Fivio Foreign released a video for “Wetty,” a song that had been buzzing for months in his native Brooklyn based off of a snippet he posted. He properly fed the anticipation for the single with a video that tells a sordid crime story.
Kari Faux — “While God Was Sleepin’”
Kari Faux shows off her MC chops on “While God Was Sleepin,” slithering through a sultry verse about her siren-like aura over a bouncy production.
Marlon Craft — “Mom’s Whiskey” Feat. Kota The Friend
Marlon Craft’s “Mom’s Whiskey” is as literal as it sounds. Over email, he divulged that, “I literally found a stashed bottle of my mom’s whiskey that she had hidden when I was looking for a pen. I found that beat on YouTube and it all just spilled out.” Brooklyn’s Kota The Friend matched Marlon’s reflection with his own personal verse, rhyming about the “rooftop of my hometown, where the sweet chick is my soul food.”
Sada Baby — “Outside” Feat. Trap Manny
Sada Baby probably has every viewer of his “Outside” video longing for the mundanity of simply being outside of their home. But luckily, his fans can listen to his energetic collaboration with Trap Manny as well as the rest of his Skuba Sada 2 project.
King Von — “Trust Issues” Feat. Yungeen Ace
Chicago’s King Von is known for his storytelling prowess, and he’s back at it again on “Trust Issues,” a melancholy chronicle about the hardships of love where Yungeen Ace exclaims, “I thought you was real, don’t know now.”
Blacc Zacc — “Carolina Narco The Movie”
South Carolina rapper offered up a gripping short film entitled “Carolina Narco The Movie” to pair with his album of the same name, noting over email that he “wanted to create this film because nobody’s been dropping movies with their projects lately.” The film chronicles a drug crew’s rocky navigation of the unforgiving drug game.
Alfred. — “Prndl/Dr. Call”
Alfred.’s One Trick Pony EP is out today. Earlier this week, the ambitious artist released a double feature for his singles directed by Connor Barret. “Prndl” is a searing stream of consciousness, while “Dr. Call” shows off producer Clwdwlkr’s dreamy production.
Rockie Fresh feat. Casey Veggies and 24Hrs — “Feelings Hurt”
It’s been a while since Casey Veggies and Rockie Fresh’s Fresh Veggies joint project, but you wouldn’t know it to hear their new song. The chemistry they show remains intact, even with the addition of 24Hrs.
Pretty Ricky — “Body”
Pretty Ricky hasn’t released a music video in years. Their video for the sultry “Body” shows that they’re still as freaky as they wanna be, romantically crooning about “sucking on that body like an infant” on the single.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Much like legendary VH1 show Name That Video and Name That Tune before it, the contestants on Wheel of Fortune have really upped the ante these days in their impressive solves. In the past few months alone we’ve seen a puzzle get solved with just three letters, which was then bested by a two-letter solve that netted a trip to Peru.
Thursday’s episode, however, was an even more remarkable feat: a toss-up puzzle that took a single letter to solve by a man named Mark.
The puzzle read “_ ‘ _ – _ _ _ _ _ G – _ – _ _ _ _” shortly after the timing ding sounded and Mark, ever ready to pounce, rang in right away.
“I’m having a ball,” he said, before apologizing for actually getting the answer right so fast. Mark got $2,000 for the effort and won a trip to London on the day as well, but despite his impressive guessing he didn’t actually make it to the prize round. It still makes for an impressive solve video that kind of freaked a lot of people out online as sports fans search for something to watch in the wake of social distancing and a lack live sporting events.
And not to discredit Mark here, but he was getting some helpful hints from the other puzzles just before them, all which contained the word “ball.” If you assume the last word is “ball” and the first letter narrows down what you think your options are, you can jump to this conclusion fairly quickly. Below is the lead-up to the solve, which explains at least a bit why he was able to narrow it down.
Still this is, of course, the opposite of 2017’s infamous “A Streetcar Naked Desire” solve fail, which you can watch below in case you forget that incredible moment of Wheel history.
As the coronavirus continues to spread and cities across the country have issued shelter-in-place ordinances, many find themselves isolated indoors. Musicians have responded by offering channels of entertainment to beat the boredom of quarantine. Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard is hosting daily livestreams from the comfort of his living room. Charli XCX hosted a series of livestreams with musical guests. Now, Anderson .Paak is offering entertainment specifically for children.
Anderson .Paak announced his inaugural weekly creative series titled Paint With .Paak, in partnership with his foundation .Paak House. All ages are urged to participate in the coloring contest and .Paak will be sharing his favorite final products every day on his social media accounts. A brand new sketch goes live each Friday in the Paak House Instagram bio. Here’s the first one:
12 Tone Music
The .Paak House foundation, according to a statement, “seeks to create a ‘safe-haven; for the next generation, while cultivating alliances with like-minded non-profit organizations to generate a greater impact – TOGETHER.” The .Paak House creates a safe-haven is through community outreach, sponsored events, summer programs, and after-school programs, all leading to establishing an actual .Paak House building in an impacted community.
Read more of Uproxx’s coverage on the coronavirus here.
Some of the artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Social distancing continues this weekend amid the global pandemic, and Netflix has new series ready to fill that time. If nothing here suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.
Ozark (Netflix series) — The third season of this Jason Bateman-starring-and-directed series sets itself on fire and rises from the ashes. Yes, there will still be some Breaking Badcomparisons, whether folks agree or not, but this season is a fresh spin on the existing Ozark formula-gimmick, and it satisfyingly rises to the challenge. Marty can’t cope, and as a result, the show evolves into a more complex creature.
Uncorked (Netflix film) — A wine enthusiast Elijah (Mamoudou Athie), attempts to achieve the elite designation of “a master sommelier,” and it’s the kind of dream that greatly upsets his father, Louis (Courtney B. Vance), who would prefer that he take over the family business, a Memphis barbeque joint. The film digs into the politics of race and wine as Prentice Penny’s feature debut.
Westworld (Sunday, HBO 9:00 p.m.) — The confusion continues as the third season of this series causes folks to lash out at what they see “in the mirror.” Theories abound already, so get dive into the futuristic dystopia.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (Netflix series) — This true crime series is truly stranger than fiction and serves as a welcome distraction during a weekend of self-isolation. Watch as Joe Exotic, a mulleted, gun-toting polygamist and country vocalist, uses his charismatic ways to share his passion for big cats. He’s joined, while running an Oklahoma roadside zoo, by a bizarre crew, and there’s a murder-for-hire plot afoot.
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (Netflix documentary) — Barack and Michelle Obama executive produced this documentary about a landmark movement (including a transformative but ramshackle summer camp for disabled teenagers) that happened down the street from Woodstock.
Agatha Christie’s The Pale Horse: Season 1 (Amazon series) — This is technically a week-old release but still fresh. Starring Rufus Sewell as the heroic Mark Easterbook, the story follows a dying woman whose last Catholic confession includes a terrible secret, and she names names. Following the priest’s mysterious death, sh*t gets realer.
Blow the Man Down (Amazon film) — This film follows two sisters (Morgan Saylor and Sophie Lowe) who are grieving their mother’s death in a Maine fishing village. They encounter a dangerous man and cover up the gruesome results while diving into the darkest secrets of Easter Cove.
Here’s the rest of this weekend’s notable programming:
Charmed (Friday, CW 8:00 p.m.) — The sisters must confront their worst fears — this probably has to do with more demons — in order to preserve the power of three.
Dynasty (Friday, CW 9:00 p.m.) — Dominique and Vanessa want to be reality stars, and Culhane signs on while Liam’s digging around for information on his baby mama.
Batwoman (Sunday, CW 8:00 p.m.) — Batwoman must confront an old villain while Alice finds herself challenged by overcoming her own limits.
Supergirl (Sunday, CW 9:00 p.m.) — Supergirl must take down Leviathan, all while Lex embarks upon a plan to grow close to Lea, and the origins of his power are revealed.
The Walking Dead (Sunday, AMC 9:00 p.m.) — Eugene’s on a journey with the group, who’s looking forward to making friends with a different civilization in the aftermath of the Hilltop fire. Good luck?
Zoe’s Extraordinary Playlist (Sunday, NBC 9:00 p.m.) — A mysterious glitch with Zoey’s mojo follows bad news, but let’s hope that she can get her powers back.
Homeland (Sunday, Showtime 9:00 p.m.) — Carrie’s probably still freaking out here during the show’s final season, but here’s something significant: Wellington has made a discovery.
Black Monday (Sunday, Showtime 10:00 p.m.) — There’s a mystery afoot in Yassir and Wayne’s office, and Dawn has found herself in (another) compromising situation. Yikes.
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