Category: Viral

Peacock is host to a wealth of hit TV shows, both classic and new (with Love Island USA recently tying up its sixth season), and NBCUniversal’s streaming service is also beefing up their original film slate. This includes another dive into the true crime realm with Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist.

Kevin Hart executive produces and stars in this movie created by showrunner and writer Shaye Ogbonna (The Chi), and further executive producers include Will Packer, Sabrina Wind, Jason Horwitch, and Hartbeat. What can we expect from the star-studded film?

Plot

This heist movie is based upon the iHeartRadio Fight Night podcast, which details the fateful night of October 26, 1970. That date, of course, refers to Muhammad Ali’s return to boxing in Atlanta, where a historical heist was pulled off on the same evening by “Chicken Man.” Portrayed by Kevin Hart, this hustler invited enormously wealthy boxing fans to a post-fight party where each of them was held at gunpoint. By the end of the evening, the titular million-dollar heist went down, and this shockingly brazen crime spree became the subject of an investigation led by detective J.D. Hudson, who had also helped Ali enter the boxing ring. (It was a busy weekend for Hudson.)

The investigation carried on for years, ending only “when everybody was dead,” according to Hudson, who was one of Atlanta’s first Black detectives that navigated the city’s desegregated police department. The Peacock film will explore the story in light of Ali’s historic fight that led to Atlanta earning the “Black Mecca” title, and here’s more from the Peacock synopsis:

When a hustler named Chicken Man (Kevin Hart) hosts an afterparty to celebrate the fight with a guest list of the country’s wealthiest, the night ends with the most brazen criminal underworld heist in Atlanta’s history. Suspected of masterminding the crime, Chicken Man is hellbent on clearing his name but must convince his old adversary, J.D. Hudson (Don Cheadle), one of the first Black detectives in the city’s desegregated police force, who is tasked with bringing those responsible to justice.

Peacock shared the following stills ahead of release:

Cast

The main cast includes Kevin Hart (as Chicken Man), Don Cheadle (as JD Hudson), Samuel L. Jackson (as Frank Moten), Taraji P. Henson (as Vivian Thomas), and Terrence Howard (Cadillac Richie). Guest stars include Dexter Darden (as Muhammad Ali), Chloe Bailey (Lena Mosley), Lori Harvey (Lola Falana), Marsha Stephanie Blake (Delores Hudson), and Sinqua Walls (McKinley Rogers).

Release Date

Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist will stream on September 5 on Peacock.

Trailer

Peacock did the thing with this trailer:

The second anniversary of PnB Rock’s tragic death is quickly approaching. Unfortunately, the “Forever Never” rapper’s death has not yet received justice in the court of law. As family, fans, and the hip-hop community continue to mourned him, a new courtroom update has inflicted further heartbreak.

According to Rolling Stone, the alleged shooter of PnB Rock was deemed incompetent to stand trial and this isn’t the first time.

On July 26, Sharonda P. Bradford, the California Superior Court Commissioner, revealed to the outlet that the charged individual had received “a range of services” during his detainment. However, despite those measures, an expert argued that he wasn’t fit to stand trial.

“The recommendation is that the previous orders remain,” he wrote. “The proceedings remain suspended, remediation continues.”

An update in the matter is expected to be announced next month.

So far, the other persons charged in connection with PnB Rock’s murder have formerly entered their pleas. Freddie Trone, the father of the accused teenage shooter (discussed above), reportedly plead not guilty to all the charges filed against him (one count of murder, two counts of robbery, and one count of conspiracy to commit a felony).

The third co-defendant, Tremont Jones, also entered a pled of not guilty on his charges (two counts of robbery, one count of conspiracy, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm).

Jones is accused of providing information to Trone and his supposed son as to PnB Rock’s location the day of the shooting.

In early June, USA Basketball made its selections for the 2024 women’s Olympics roster, with 12 of the biggest stars of the sport earning a spot on the most competitive roster in the world. There were a number of snubs, from Arike Ogunbowale (who apparently removed herself from the pool earlier in the process) to Caitlin Clark, the latter’s omission sparking weeks of debate.

The truth was, at the time, Clark was not playing her best basketball in the first month of her WNBA career, going through the adjustment period most every rookie goes through making the leap from the college level to the pros. Clark brushed aside the snub talk, noting how hard it is to make the roster and took some positives from it, as she gets a month off after a grueling year that saw her go straight from a Final Four run with Iowa into her rookie season.

She also said she’d use it as some additional fuel, making sure that there’s no doubt she belongs in future years. Clark spoke about her exclusion from the roster on June 9, and had a pair of rough outings immediately after, but since that point, she’s seemingly taken a leap. Clark is averaging 18.8 points, 10.8 assists, and 6.9 rebounds per game on 44.5/33.3/88.5 shooting splits in her last 12 games, with the Fever going 7-5 in that stretch to move into seventh place in the WNBA standings. In the first 14 games of her WNBA career, she averaged just 15.6 points, 6.0 assists, and 4.9 rebounds on 36.7/32.2/89.7 splits, with the Fever going 4-10.

On Sunday, Dawn Staley joined Mike Tirico as part of NBC’s studio team for their USA Basketball coverage, discussing the men’s blowout win over Serbia, but they eventually shifted towards a discussion of the USA women, who will begin their quest for a ninth straight gold on Monday. Tirico asked Staley, who is part of USA Basketball’s selection committee, about Clark not making the roster, and the South Carolina coach noted that things might be different if the team was being put together today.

It’s interesting that Staley would make this statement on air, but it’s a reminder of how thin the margins are at this level with how great the USA pool of talent is. Had Clark come out of the gates firing on all cylinders to start her WNBA career, she probably would’ve made the roster. Instead, she had the kinds of struggles most rookies go through, it just happened to come right when selections were being made. Clark almost assuredly has a future as part of Team USA, and if her recent run is an indicator of what she’ll be doing in the WNBA going forward, there likely won’t be a lot of drama for future selection processes.

Those who watched Suits during its original USA Network run (and those who are also somehow not Netflix devotees) might wonder why NBCUniversal is resurrecting the franchise for a new spin off. After all, the Pearson spin off (starring Gina Torres) only lasted for a single season. Yet the original series did sustain interest for nine seasons, and last year was the Summer of Suits on Netflix, perhaps due in part to Meghan Markle fascination. Clearly, there’s also overall interest and a new audience for this world.

NBCUniversal must believe that the record-breaking streaming numbers bode well for Suits to be invigorated enough to sustain a new entry. As such, NBC filmed a pilot and recently greenlit a full season for Suits: LA in the fine tradition of prime time legal/procedural spin offs that have found great success moving the action to a new city. Let’s talk about what could come from this addition to the primetime roster:

Plot

Once upon a time, showrunner Aaron Korsch hoped that Suits would become “something in the tone of Entourage that took place on Wall Street.” Little did he know that, over a decade later, Suits would eclipse that show to a level that a spin off (Pearson, based in Chicago rather than New York) would be ordered after another had (unsuccessfully) came and went.

As mentioned above, that show missed the mark with the original audience, but perhaps a more dramatic change of venue can help keep this franchise going for a longer haul. Fortunately, Suits: LA will not only take the legal-soap-operatic action to the West Coast but will also branch into a location-appropriate area(s) of law. The spin off’s leading men will also take on very different roles than their former series that made them famous.

As shown above, Stephen Amell (Heels, Arrow) will portray Ted Black, a New York transplant in LA (let’s hope that he knows Harvey Specter, originally portrayed by Gabriel Macht). He will launch a sure-to-be-in-demand firm for entertainment and criminal law clientele with the help of Josh McDermitt’s (The Walking Dead) Stewart Lane. The synopsis reveals how they will enter the story in “crisis” mode:

Ted Black, a former federal prosecutor from New York, has reinvented himself representing the most powerful clients in Los Angeles. His firm is at a crisis point, and in order to survive he must embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career. Ted is surrounded by a stellar group of characters who test their loyalties to both Ted and each other while they can’t help but mix their personal and professional lives. All of this is going on while events from years ago slowly unravel that led Ted to leave behind everything and everyone he loved.

Of this new turn in his career, Ameell declared to People, “It’s something very new and different for me – talky-talky, not punchy-punchy.” He subsequently added, according to Deadline, that he had “a pilot script with more words per page than I have said in my entire career, by a factor of five.” He did clarify that this spin off is definitely “going to have that Suits feel.” Of course, Amell also admitted to never watching Suits until he secured the LA role, so hopefully, his sizing up of the spin off is on point, given that he now calls himself a “big fan and just glad I get to be a part of the world.”

Will there be any cameos from the original cast in at least minor roles? These secrets will likely remain under wraps until promotion time, but here’s to hoping that somebody familiar to this universe — Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. Adams, Sarah Rafferty, Gina Torres? — will make an appearance. For his part, Adams insisted that he is “ready to suit up again,” if that’s the way that Aaron Korsh wants to go. Surely, NBC won’t want to completely ignore that opportunity for extra ratings juice.

Cast

Amell remains in leading-man mode with his law partner, Stuart Lane, portrayed by Josh McDermitt. The supporting cast includes Victoria Justice, Lex Scott Davis, Rachelle Goulding, John Amos, Troy Winbush, Bryan Greenberg, Kevin Weistman, and Alice Lee.

Release Date

Although Suits: LA has shot a pilot and been confirmed for a series order, NBCUniversal hasn’t clarified whether this spin off will surface in 2024 or (more likely) 2025.

Trailer

No trailer yet. However, the original cast is now beginning to rival the Community cast with the number of times they have been asked about reviving their magic.

For all the questions and concerns about Team USA coming out of their last two pre-Olympic exhibition games, they offered an emphatic performance on Sunday in Lille as they absolutely dominated a tough Serbia squad. It wasn’t the best start for the Americans, as Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and the Serbian squad came out flying around on both ends of the floor to take an early advantage.

Team USA would get back on track quickly though, as their first sub of the game got Anthony Davis and Anthony Edwards onto the court, injecting a bit of needed pace into the game and they quickly moved back on level terms. Then, Kevin Durant, who missed all five of Team USA’s exhibition games, made his summer debut and caught fire. Durant hit all eight of his shot attempts in the first half, including five threes, as he scored 21 points in under nine minutes to give Team USA a nine-point lead going into halftime.

In the third quarter, Team USA started to really open things up behind a big push from LeBron James, as it was the veteran stars that put on a show in the opener, flexing their muscles on both ends in an absolute rout of Serbia.

Durant (23 points) and James (21 points) combined for 44 points on the evening, with LeBron adding nine assists and seven boards, controlling absolutely everything in his time on the floor. It was a remarkable performance from the two, with Durant doing almost all of his damage in that first half flurry, but that was more than enough as James took care of the second half.

The avalanche continued until the final whistle, as Team USA poured it on late to bump up their point differential on the way to a 110-84 win. The two top stars did get plenty of help, as Jrue Holiday scored 15 points, Devin Booker added 12, and Stephen Curry and Edwards each had 11 points, including one of the highlights of the game when Ant put a Serbian defender in a blender.

It was about as impressive a showing as anyone could’ve asked for from Team USA against a team like Serbia. Nikola Jokic had a solid first half with 14 points and five assists, but finished with just 20 points and eight assists, as he was kept mostly in check — in part due to his teammates struggles shooting the ball. Serbia hit just 9-of-37 attempts from three, with only Bogdan Bogdanovic (14 points), Ognjen Dobric (12 points), and Vasilije Micic (11 points) joining Jokic in double figures.

The Americans, meanwhile, rained in 18 threes (on 32 attempts), in a pretty stark contrast to their exhibition performances when they were not only not hitting a lot of threes, they weren’t attempting many. That changed in a big way as KD, Booker, Curry, and Holiday all hit 3 or more from deep against Serbia, and the full might of the Team USA roster was on display. Now they’ll shift their attention to South Sudan, who nearly beat them a week ago in London, and should have the Americans full attention for the second game of the group stage. That could spell trouble for South Sudan if Team USA is as locked in as they were after the first few minutes on Sunday.

The Netflix Effect strikes again. Showtime’s Your Honor starring Bryan Cranston aired for two relatively anonymous seasons (although season 1 did very well for the network) before wrapping up in 2023. That seemed like that would be it for the legal drama, but then Your Honor was added to Netflix in May, and suddenly all the Breaking Bad fans started tuning in.

According to The New York Times, Your Honor “racked up some of the biggest viewership figures of any television series in the United States since it began streaming on Netflix in late May.” We’re talking more than a billion minutes viewed week after week (I cannot comprehend “billions” as a measurement of time, but it sounds impressive). Like Suits before it, Your Honor is one of the shows of the summer — could a third season be in the works? (Probably no Los Angeles-based spin-off, however.)

Here’s everything we know about a potential third season of Your Honor.

Plot

If you log into Netflix and look up Your Honor, here’s the synopsis you’re greeted with: “In this dramatic crime series, a judge starts blurring the lines of justice after his son is involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident.”

Would you say the judge, played by Cranston, is breaking bad?

“I believe that a person’s character is determined by the decisions they make under pressure,” the actor told Tudum. “My role as Michael Desiato is a person who starts out as a protagonist and maintains his hope to remain one. Unlike Walter White, Michael doesn’t give in to the dark side. He’s just trying to make the best of a bad situation. I really think that anyone who likes a great mystery thriller is going to love Your Honor.”

Now that Your Honor has found its audience, are there hopes for a third season? “We love the show, and we’re hoping that it can continue, but it’s a little too soon to know or to tell,” CBS Studios President David Stapf told Deadline. “We would like there to be a season 3 but we’re ways away.”

Previously, Cranston expressed interest in a third season, but only as a producer. “If it happens, fantastic, but it’d have to be some great reason to keep expanding in this world and to find out where the allegiances are. I’d be very interested in producing that,” he said in 2023. “I don’t know about being in it because [REDACTED SPOILER].”

Your Honor without Cranston is tough to imagine, but I thought the same thing about another show set in the Breaking Bad universe, and that worked out pretty good.

Cast

Outside of Bryan Cranston, the cast for Your Honor also includes Hunter Doohan, Hope Davis, Sofia Black-D’Elia, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Michael Stuhlbarg, Carmen Ejogo, Andrene Ward-Hammond, Benjamin Flores Jr., Keith Machekanyanga, Amy Landecker, and Chet Hanks, as well as guest stars “Character Actress” Margo Martindale, Maura Tierney, and Rosie Perez.

Release Date

Your Honor season 3 hasn’t even been officially announced, so needless to say (but I’ll still say it!), there’s no release date.

Trailer

If you want to check out what Your Honor is all about and you don’t have Netflix, the first episode of the series is on YouTube. The top comment: “Looks like Cranston needs to make room in his awards shelf.”

Records have already been set at the 2024 Paris Olympics. With the world’s greatest athletes are looking to bring home a metal for their home countries. Well, celebrities from those nations want to witness live.

Over the course of the games, Team USA have already amassed a huge cheering corner. So far, Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga are just two of the musicians spotted in the crowd. Despite her hiatus from all things not involved with the forthcoming musical film, Wicked, Ariana could help but watch Simone Biles’ beam routine alongside her Wicked co-star Cynthia Erivo, Lena Waithe, and her brother Frankie.

Although Lady Gaga was seen on screen, she confirmed her attendance over on Instagram. On the platform, she penned a message to Biles and about Team USA’s gymnasts.

“She nailed it. What an honor to be so close,” she wrote. “Unimaginable strength and talent will never forget today, I’m so grateful to be so close and witness these incredible women.”

Other musicians that have thrown their support behind with fun videos Team USA include Dolly Parton, Beyoncé, and Megan Thee Stallion.

NBC even incorporated a viral clip of Megan to have fun while promoting the globe event.

While others, like Charlie Puth and Kelly Clarkson, focused more so on Celine Dion’s tear-jerking performance during the opening ceremony.

There are still several days left, so expect many more celebrity cameos.

Last year, M. Night Shyamalan asked himself a very important question: “What if The Silence Of The Lambs happened at a Taylor Swift concert?” which, to most people, sounds like a one-off Tweet never to be fleshed out or revisited. But to the director, it became the premise for his upcoming thriller, Trap. Sometimes those 3 a.m. thoughts turn into something beautiful.

In Trap, Josh Hartnett plays a father bringing his daughter to an arena pop concert not dissimilar to The Eras Tour, only it turns out that the concert is just a trap to catch a serial killer. In reality, The Eras Tour was much harder to get tickets to, so let’s just get that out of the way right now. Nobody was just walking right into that concert.

The movie is actually inspired by Operation Flagship, a real-life sting operation in which a team of U.S. Marshals sent invitations to thousands of fugitives offering them a chance to win Super Bowl tickets, which many of them fell for. In the end, over 100 arrests were made to unsuspecting criminals who were hoping to see the big game. They didn’t.

“It was hilarious,” Shyamalan told Empire. “The cops were literally cheerleaders and mascots. These guys were dancing as they came in. And they were all caught. It was so twisted and funny.” Those are two of the best words to describe Shyamalan’s greatest hits, so we are in for a treat here. Here’s everything you need to know about Trap before it premieres next month.

Plot

Hartnett portrays Cooper, a dad who is making his daughter’s life by taking her to see pop star Lady Raven in concert. As the concert gets underway and Cooper notices an increased police presence, and he soon learns that the entire concert is a set-up to catch The Butcher, a loose serial killer. And that killer just so happens to be him. Whoops!

Keep in mind, this is a Shyamalan feature, so there might be more twists and turns beyond what we see in the trailer. At this time, there are also no press screenings for the movie, which could mean nothing, or that they are trying to keep the plot even more secretive. This is the first time Shyamalan has released a movie with Warner Bros. since 2006’s Lady in the Water.

The movie is supposed to feel like a concert, too, with original songs written by Saleka Shyamalan, the director’s daughter. The premise of a movie taking place entirely during a concert might seem bizarre, but Shyamalan is no stranger to trying new things. “I want the industry to move towards more original storytelling. I think audiences would really like it,” he told Empire. “Look, I know there’s safety in IP. But it’s really important that we come to the movies and see something we’ve never seen before. I’ll keep fighting for that.”

Cast

Aside from Hartnett, the cast includes Ariel Donoghue, Hayley Mills, Alison Pill, Marnie McPhail, and Kid Cudi. Shyamalan’s daughter Saleka makes her film debut as Lady Raven, the pop star in question. Saleka wrote 14 original songs to be featured in the film.

Release Date

The Trap concert experience hits theaters on August 2nd.

Trailer

If you’ve been to a movie at all in the last three months, you’ve probably seen this trailer. Here it is again, because it’s just that good:

Coming into Sunday’s opener against Serbia, there was a little bit of concern around Team USA. They’d looked a touch shaky in their tune-up games, albeit winning all five of them, and one of the major concerns was with their offense, as they had not really gotten into a great rhythm in the halfcourt through five games.

A contributing factor in their offense not firing on all cylinders was the absence of Kevin Durant, who sat out the entire showcase slate with a calf strain. While the other 11 players are some of the world’s best, none of them are Durant, who can get his shot off against anyone at any time in a way few ever have been able to. On Sunday, Durant was back active despite earlier concerns he could still sit out, and (after spending his morning trying to figure out how Robert Downey Jr. could return to the MCU as Dr. Doom), he made his 2024 Team USA debut late in the first quarter.

Durant hit his first shot, announcing he was fully back, and then hit his second, and third, and fourth, and…well, he just never missed in the first half. KD finished the half with a ridiculous 21 points on 8-of-8 shooting (5-of-5 from three) in under nine minutes of play, helping Team USA erase an early deficit to Nikola Jokic’s Serbian squad and take a lead into the half.

His last bucket was maybe his most ridiculous, as he beat the first half buzzer on a spinning, falling midrange bucket off the catch on an ATO from Steve Kerr.

It was a truly remarkable half of basketball from Durant, who hadn’t played an actual game in months, having missed all five of the USA’s exhibition games with his calf issue. Him playing this game was a bit in doubt, but after 20 minutes of action he left no doubt that he is still one of the most dominant scorers on the planet and when he’s rolling, there’s just nothing you can do to stop him.

Everyone seems to have a theory on the best time to purchase airfare to save the most money. Some say it’s right before take-off. Others will swear that prices are lowest six months before the flight. Well, now we have the truth. A scientific study was conducted by Expedia and the Airlines Reporting Commission that found the best times to buy flight tickets to get the best deal possible.

When we actually buy…

DOMESTIC: 32 DAYS IN ADVANCE

INTERNATIONAL: 59 DAYS IN ADVANCE

When we should buy…

DOMESTIC: 57 DAYS IN ADVANCE

The ideal advance-purchase time for domestic flight to snag the lowest average airfare is 57 with prices climbing most rapidly in the 20 days leading up to the flight. On a flight that averages $496, it will cost $401 57 days before the flight and around $650 the day of departure.

INTERNATIONAL: 171 DAYS IN ADVANCE
For a ticket that averages $1,368, the lowest average of $1,004 happens around 171 days before take-off. On the day of, the price will be around $1875. Ticket prices begin to dramatically escalate 75 days leading up to departure.

(H/T Conde Nast Traveler)

This article originally appeared on 10.14.15