Category: Viral

The Minnesota Timberwolves were in New York on Sunday night for a preseason game with the Knicks, and in any other year that would not be a big deal. This year, however, that meant a lot of reunions as the two teams were playing each other two weeks after the stunning trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to New York and Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle to Minnesota.

While all of the players involved have talked about the emotions of the trade and how they’ve worked through them and are now focused on moving forward with their new teams, it was pretty clear that the wounds are still a bit open in their first meeting with their old teams. It’s not an issue between players and their former teammates, but there’s still some sore feelings when it comes to the front offices and coaches that gave the green light to trade some key contributors.

Donte DiVincenzo showed exactly what I’m talking about when he went to the line for some early free throws, and seemed to have some words for Tom Thibodeau that ESPN’s court mics picked up.

Thibodeau was standing off by the scorer’s table while DiVincenzo was taking his free throws, and DiVincenzo certainly seems to believe that Thibs was among those pushing for the trade to happen, thanking him for the trade and then saying “this is what happens when you run the show.” This is a little more spice than you usually see in a preseason game, but that’ll happen when you have two teams playing each other for the first time after a big trade.

DiVincenzo was a critical player for the Knicks in their run to the conference semis a year ago, and as Cassidy Hubbarth was noting in her report while Donte was talking to Thibs and the Knicks bench, he was pretty hurt by the trade. New York is taking a gamble by breaking up their Nova crew to bring in Towns, stripping away a bit of their depth in hopes that, when at full strength, their ceiling will be higher with the All-Star big man.

UPDATE: After the game Brunson had another exchange with Knicks assistant Rick Brunson (also the father of Jalen Brunson) and the two had to be separated as clearly emotions were high in DiVincenzo’s return to the Garden.

Several streaming services, including Netflix, Apple TV+, and Prime Video/Amazon are pulling out the Dad TV stops these days. For the latter, Reacher has been representing on the Big Guy front and will soon go “undercover” (as if that’s truly possible on a physical note), which brings to mind the constant suspension of belief required from that show’s viewers. Of course, his ridiculous sense of deduction is part of that show’s appeal, but watch out. Amazon will soon present a straight-up detective whose arm muscles aren’t too shabby either and whose abilities to suss out the bad dudes is more believable on the investigative front. In fact, he can climb inside of defendants’ heads while solving murder cases.

Alex Cross, who was previously embodied by Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry on the big screen, will now be portrayed by Aldis Hodge (Showtime’s City On A Hill) to bring James Patterson’s whip-smart forensic psychologist to the small screen. Amazon has already renewed Cross for a second season, so let’s unfurl what we can expect from his debut outing.

Plot

Patterson devotees will likely want to know which of the 30+ Alex Cross books will be tackled for Cross, and that answer might be unexpected because Amazon’s Reacher is adapting specific Lee Child books. However and after Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider received adaptations, Cross is taking a different route in fashioning a plot for the Washington, D.C.-based detective who owns a wide variety of criminals from serial killers to bank robbers.

Cross (for at least the first season) will not be based upon a specific Patterson novel. Rather, as Hodge has revealed to TV Insider, the story “is based on the foundation of Alex Cross” with creator Ben Watkins “tak[ing] the bone structure of that world and fill[ing] it up with… something completely unique,” which Hodge believes amounts to “a beautiful story.”

Do expect the first season to follow the violent death of Cross’ wife and his subsequent desire to take a work hiatus, but he ends up being the department’s only option of nailing particularly troubling serial killer (who is “a formidable opponent for Cross” with “a very specific and unique ambition that drives what he does and why he does it”), as Hodge details:

“He is absolutely looking for his wife’s killer and we explore that through the season. The greatest failure of his life is the fact that he was not able to protect his wife. It affects every facet of his life, it’s what motivates him. You get to see what love means to him after his loss … He wanted to take some time away, but instead, he gets pulled into a very serious and sinister case with a new serial killer moving narcotics and they need him to handle it.”

James Patterson spoke with LA Mag about how he “really like[s]” the ways that the show departs from his books, and he believes that readers will find the series “a little edgier,” and it’s synopsis time:

Cross is a crime thriller that follows the investigations of brilliant forensic psychologist and DC Metro Detective Alex Cross. Together with his best friend and partner Detective John Sampson, Cross delves into the psyches of America’s most insidious killers while fighting to protect his family from the dangers of the criminal world.

Cast

Aldis Hodge is the new Alex Cross, full stop. Additional cast members include Isaiah Mustafa (as Cross’ best friend, John Sampson), Juanita Jennings (as Cross’ grandmother), and Caleb Elijah and Melody Hurd (as Cross’ children), as well as Eloise Mumford, Ryan Eggold, Johnny Ray Gill, Samantha Walkes, Jennifer Wigmore, and Alona Tal. The already ordered second season will add Matthew Lillard, Jeanine Mason, and Wes Chatham.

Release Date

The eight-episode first season will drop in full on November 14. A second season premiere window to be revealed.

Trailer

Aldis Hodge’s presence hits like a fright train, so let it rip:

And a previous teaser: “living rent free,” baby:

Ariana Grande’s plate is full of promotional obligations ahead of Wicked’s (the musical movie) theatrical release. But what is she actually eating? For weeks, users online absurdly alleged that “The Boy Is Mine” singer’s diet included human remains.

So, yesterday (October 12) Ariana Grande decided to address the cannibalism rumors during her appearance on Saturday Night Live. In the hilarious sketch, “My Best Friend’s House,” Ariana grilled the whispers with a song.

As Ariana played aloof about her murderous friend, she finds herself tempted by remaining body part discovered by investigators. “I guess I may have missed some pretty big red flags / When I was over at my best friend’s house / Yes, you did / But now I know what the deodorant and the candles / And that bucket of lye were all about / Powder and a sauce / And, sure, I never took a close look at the tapes / Or wondered why her dad was burnin’ wallets in the fireplace / And, yeah, the fridge was stuffed with food just like I said / But I think the snacks distracted me from the frozen human head / I swear I never really noticed anything weird about my best friend’s house,” sings Ariana.

Back in July, Ariana’s brother Frankie Grande took to X (formerly Twitter) to slam the rumor. “This might be the most creative and lowest y’all have ever gone,” he wrote. “Reaching new depths daily! Listen, I know my sister’s been eating the girls up for years, but this is a bit extreme! Besides, she’s vegan. See you on tour! ”

In Ariana Grande’s case it looks like revenge is a dish best served on late night television.

Watch Saturday Night Live‘s sketch My Best Friend’s House starring Ariana Grande above.

Entering Sunday, Aidan Hutchinson was the NFL’s leader in sacks with 6.5, as the Detroit Lions edge rusher has been the leader of their defense. On Sunday afternoon in Dallas, Hutchinson and the Lions dominated the Cowboys, taking a 34-6 lead early in the third quarter, and it looked like it’d be a day of celebration for Lions fans.

Unfortunately, that excitement came to a sudden halt when Hutchinson suffered a gruesome looking leg injury, as his foot appeared to get caught in the turf as he brought down Dak Prescott on a sack. FOX showed a couple replays of the incident and it looks extremely bad for Hutchinson, as his leg appears to break on the play. It is not a video I suggest watching, but if you feel the need out of morbid curiosity, the NFL on FOX posted it to their Twitter.

The injury cart came out quickly for Hutchinson, who left with an air cast on his lower left leg with players from both teams coming out to offer their thoughts and well-wishes for the star defensive end. Hopefully Hutchinson can make a full recovery and get back to his dominant ways to have a long and productive career, but it certainly seems like the Lions will have to make their push for a championship this year without their star pass rusher.

Do birds of a feather flock together in every scenario? Well, that’s what fans of Finneas are asking themselves. Yesterday (October 12), the “Cleats” musician played a solo show in that is now gaining traction online but not for the set itself.

As Finneas performed to a sold out crowd at Warsaw in Brooklyn, New York, his excitement led him to kiss his guitarist and fellow recording artist Ricky Gourmet. In a clip captured by a concertgoer (viewable here courtesy of Pop Crave), Finneas and Ricky passionately embraced each with their mouths. Shortly after the video picked up steam, fans began to accuse Finneas of queer-baiting something he defended his sister and collaborator Billie Eilish from in the past.

“The queer baiting is insane,” wrote one user.

“Aw… siblings that gay bait together, stay together,” penned another.

“It’s frustrating when people play with expectations. Authenticity matters, and it’s exhausting when it feels like a game,” chimed another.

“Doesn’t he have a girlfriend,” asked on user referring to his longtime partner Claudia Sulewski.

Well, Claudia was also present for the show and also came on stage to support Finneas. The couple exchanged exchanged a kiss in front of the adoring audience, which she posted to her Instagram stories. Although users online expressed their anger over Finneas’ lip lock with Ricky Gourmet, Claudia didn’t seem to have a problem with it.

After the Minnesota Lynx stole Game 1 in an overtime thriller, the New York Liberty came into Game 2 of the WNBA Finals desperate for a win to even the series before it shifted west to Minneapolis. Like in the opener, New York jumped out to a big early lead behind a hot start, as Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Breanna Stewart led the Liberty out to a 17-point first half lead.

However, much like in Game 1, the Lynx would not go away. Minnesota whittled down the New York lead, trailing by just 10 at halftime and after playing the third mostly even, the fourth quarter saw Napheesa Collier come alive with three straight buckets to trim the Liberty’s lead down to two.

It felt an awful lot like the Liberty were headed for another late-game collapse offensively, but unlike in Game 1 when they just could not get anything to fall as the Lynx charged back, this time Laney-Hamilton had the answer with a huge three from the corner.

That three seemed to allow the Liberty to all take a collective breath, and they would go on a 7-0 run to re-establish a nine-point advantage, with Leonie Fiebich hitting the early dagger on a pull-up three in transition after Game 1 hero Courtney Williams dribbled the ball off of her foot.

Unlike in Game 1, Minnesota just could not get shots to drop from distance, as they shot just 6-of-19 from three. That made it extremely difficult to complete another comeback, especially with the Liberty figuring out how to stabilize their offense and make some key shots of their own in the closing minutes.

Breanna Stewart led the Liberty with 21 points, eight rebounds, and seven steals, as New York turned up their defensive pressure and was able to force Minnesota into 20 turnovers. Typically Stewart’s co-star in the scoring department is Sabrina Ionescu, but the Lynx seemed determined to take her scoring away, as she had a modest 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting. However, her restraint in not forcing shots as she did in Game 1 and leaning on the depth of talent for the Liberty paid off. Ionescu led the Liberty as a +18 despite a light night shooting the ball, largely because her teammates picked up that slack, headlined by a 20-point outing from Laney-Hamilton, who knocked down four threes.

For the Lynx, they got 16 points from Collier, 15 points from Williams, and 14 points from Alanna Smith, but those three also combined for 15 turnovers as New York ratcheted up their aggression on the defensive end to bother the Lynx much more for all four quarters. Still, Minnesota played far from their best game and still had it down to a one-possession game late, and they’ll head home feeling quite confident that they can go toe-to-toe with the Liberty, while understanding they have plenty to clean up if they’re going to win a championship.

Oasis’ upcoming 2025 concert reunion and supposed comeback album is all rock lovers can talk about. So, it was only a matter of time before the band’s brother duo Liam and Noel Gallagher’s previously rocky relationship was pushed back into the spotlight.

Yesterday (October 12), Saturday Night Live attempted to bring a level of lightheartedness to the heavy topic. However, in the yes of many viewers and Liam Gallagher it fell flat.

During the Weekend Update segment James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman took on the British rock stars persona to answer questions about their upcoming reunion shows presented by Colin Jost. After the show posted a snippet of the sketch on X (formerly Twitter), Liam brushed out the segment when for his response to it from fans.

“Are they meant to be comedians,” he wrote.

Throughout the sketch, Johnson and Sherman played up on the sibling’s past friction. The duo also jokingly suggested that Oasis’ reunion might fall through because of the years of bickering.

Similar to Liam, supporters of the group didn’t find the sketch funny, and they didn’t hold back online.

“Possibly the worst sketch in SNL’s history,” wrote one user.

“This is the worst attempt in history to be funny and mimic the Mancunian accent. Any Brits in the crowd last night would have been dying of CRINGE,” penned another.

“I remember when I actually used to laugh while watching SNL,” chimed another.

Days ago Liam Gallagher revealed that he nor Noel would sit down for any new interviews out of fear of “intrusive questions.” For Liam, this sketch seemed to validate their feelings.

Watch Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update segment featuring Colin Jost, James Austin Johnson, and Sarah Sherman above.

Sports sketches on Saturday Night Live are always very hit or miss, but Saturday night’s episode hosted by Ariana Grande featured a good one. Sports sketches tend to be best when they have an athlete hosting, but when they don’t have a sports star on stage, their best work is often poking fun at sports television, rather than the games themselves.

That was what they did with Grande on Saturday, as throughout the night they took advantage of having an incredible singer hosting the show with a number of musical bits. In a pre-taped sketch, they had Grande do an impression of Celine Dion, imagining if the iconic artist turned her hit “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” into a promo song for the UFC. For one, Grande is one of a very few people that could possibly do a sketch as Celine Dion and have it sound right, but beyond that, the writing staff did a tremendous job with the lyrics.

“When you punch me like this, when you choke me like that,” is some truly inspired work, and Grande not only nails doing a Celine Dion remix, but her generally passionate energy and earnestness when doing anything — even if that were to be a UFC promo song.

The intrigue-and-legal-focused thriller vibes are strong at Netflix these days with a new season of The Lincoln Lawyer afoot this month and promises of much more The Night Agent on the horizon. Then there’s The Diplomat, which is not only a thriller but a dramedy with emphasis on the comedy. Keri Russell’s Kate Wyler, a career diplomat who never wanted to travel to the U.K. in the first place, is so chronically exasperated by her professional and personal circumstances that it’s a joy to watch her go off the rails while her handlers aim to put forth a polished image.

Kate is not here for wearing a suit that isn’t colored to hide stains, and forget about her having the time to fix that hair every day, especially while she’s hungover. Surely, this is a sardonic and downright funny nod towards the ex-Mickey Mouse Club star’s controversial Felicity haircut in a way that pairs Russell’s handling of political firestorms in The Americans in an end product that is both unique and makes sense as Russell’s new long-term career rung.

Did we say long-term? Hell yeah. Netflix has revealed an on-set photo (while adding, “More Keri Russell is always a good thing”) to prove that cameras are already rolling on The Diplomat Season 3.

The one-year turnaround between the first two seasons is impressive enough, so let’s talk about the second season and what clues have been dropped on what to expect next.

Cast

This is where Netflix and Showrunner Debora Cahn are taking an unusual approach to the cliffhanger. Viewers will acutely recall that the life of Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) and other characters were left in the balance by an explosion in the final moments of the first season. Does Hal live? For sure, and Netflix wants you to know that going into the second season.

Hal is a cockroach, ain’t he? Right now, he is ^^^ probably making a backdoor deal with a random nation before Kate finds out and throttles him again.

The Diplomat‘s second season trailer dispensed with the cliffhanger by revealing that not only does Hal live, but Stewart Hayford (Ato Essandoh) is also alive and well with a forehead bandage. Likewise, the CIA Eidra Graham (Ali Ahn) and Kate Wyler are shown waiting at the hospital, all while Kate is certain that Prime Minister Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) did this terrorist deed.

Meanwhile, but we haven’t seen followup to how the brewing romance between Kate and Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison (David Gyasi) would have gone if that semi-romantic evening hadn’t been interrupted by Hal almost-dying, so expect this to be awkward:

Meanwhile, Kate and Hal will be shuttled over to receive death stares from Allison Janney as the in-the-flesh version of Vice President Grace Penn.

Plot

Clearly, the aforementioned trailer (along with the above stills) was meant to let us know that this season will hit the ground running without wasting too much time wrapping up the explosion’s aftereffects. Cahn did reveal to Entertainment Weekly that Hal is “shaken,” and “[a]lmost dying like that can shake a lot on every level,” but we have seen that Hal always looks out for Hal, first and foremost. He’s shown himself to be determined to keep his marriage together with Kate, even if they only remain married in name. Expect them to remain an outward couple (and an ex-CIA official consulting on the series has discussed how common it is for married diplomats to stay married for the sake of their careers).

I know, poor Dennison. We might also want to worry about Kate on the professional front, since I’m not so sure that Vice President Grace Penn will be resigning (in scandal) as forecast in the first season. She could be extraordinarily disgusted that replacements are being floated for her at all. That discomfort will add to the tension experienced by Kate while trying to prove that Trowbridge is behind the explosion, and to what end, as Cahn declared to to Entertainment Weekly: “So how do you prove it? And then if you prove it, what the hell do you do about it?”

What is far more addictive than this show’s political happenings, however, are the messy personal lives on display, especially as Keri Russell notes, the Hal-Kate dynamic:

“I think the people around them in the story don’t know what’s happening. They don’t know what to make of them. It’s unnerving because they’re fighting cats and dogs or they’re completely backing each other up in this fierce way. And it’s unnerving because people don’t know where they stand.”

So are Kate and Hal stuck together forever? Maybe not. I know, we just pointed out that Hal won’t leave his marriage unless he is physically dragged away from Kate and presented with divorce papers, but there is a late-breaking development.

Following the official third season renewal, Cahn has further suggested that current and future filming will take place in both London and New York City, and what happens “flips the chessboard.” Then “Kate lives the particular nightmare that is getting what you want.” And what would that be? She didn’t really want to become vice president, so she will be relieved if that doesn’t happen. Yet she did want to leave Hal, and she apparently wanted to be with Dennison. So is that how this season will end? None of this makes sense, yet. Thank goodness.

Release Date

On October 31, Hal will go full Halloween villain and rise from the dead. Well, maybe not, but that’s the show’s official premiere date.

Trailer

The season’s full trailer makes no secret of the explosion not turning out as terribly as possible while turning attention to the next threat: Allison Janney.

The pressure is on, Kate Wyler. Get ready.

NBC and Peacock have the Law & Order franchise, but CBS and Paramount+ have been pulling the “hold my police-procedural beer” for quite some time. They’re cranking up their prowess with multiple NCIS spin offs, and of course, CBS’ Criminal Minds ran for fifteen seasons before evolving into (the aptly named) Criminal Minds: Evolution, a revival that streams on Paramount+.

In fans’ minds, however, a giant void exists on that revival, which has been sorely missing the presence of Dr. Spencer Reid, portrayed by Matthew Gray Gubler. He took a bit of a breather from procedurals to work on other projects, but do not fear. You can take the actor out of procedurals, but you can’t take the procedural, well, you catch my drift. Gubler is gearing up to lead his own procedural, Einstein, which has been ordered in pilot form by CBS.

Plot

Gubler is accustomed to portraying a walking encyclopedia as Spencer Reid, and he will portray another genius but with a twist. His character will be the great grandson of Albert Einstein, Lew Einstein (no relation to late U.S. diplomat Lewis Einstein), also impossibly brilliant but who coasts on his intellect. According to CBS, he is “[i]rreverent and misguided,” but his “genius and famous name weighs heavily on him, but using his gift to help solve homicides may – finally – offer his life some direction and purpose.”

Don’t expect Lew to have come by this side gig and new purpose by his own initiative, however. By day, Lew has been making a living as a “comfortably [Princeton] tenured professor until his bad-boy antics land him in trouble with the law and he is pressed into service helping a local police detective solve her most puzzling cases.”

The series will arrive with the same humorous slant as USA Network’s former Monk, starring Tony Shaloub, who continue his role for a Peacock-streaming movie, Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie. And of course, Einstein will have a built-in audience of Criminal Mind viewers that will hopefully push Einstein from pilot status to full-on series status.

Cast

Gubler is the only confirmed cast member as of now.

Release Date

If this pilot leads to a full season order, then CBS will surely want to get the show out for Fall 2025, although no release date is official yet.

Trailer

In lieu of a teaser or full trailer yet, here is Matthew Gray Gubler info dumping as Dr. Spencer Reid for fourteen consecutive minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaJxVPHzQIo