Category: Worldwide

The 2023 XXL Freshman Class was revealed today, and many fans who checked it out found themselves with one major question: Where is Ice Spice?

It’s hard to deny that the “Princess Diana” rapper had earned the spot; after her song “Munch” went viral on TikTok last year, she skyrocketed to nationwide ubiquity, such that any woman who had curly orange hair was subjected to calls of “Ice Spice!” from passing teens in public.

She was paired up with Drake via AI, collaborated with Nicki Minaj on the remix of the aforementioned “Princess Diana,” pitted against the 2022 it-girl Latto in a made-up beef by fans of Nicki Minaj, and admitted that even she was shell-shocked by her sudden fame. She even collaborated with Taylor Swift, arguably the biggest pop star on the planet. So…

Why Is Ice Spice Not In The XXL Freshman Class For 2023?

It’s hard to say because Ice Spice herself has yet to address the list herself. But prior lists also had fans up in arms, such as in 2020, when Don Toliver did not appear on the list or even in 2009, the list that coined the “Freshman” terminology, when Drake was overlooked. The next year, Nicki Minaj was also left off. In those cases, there were a variety of reasons given by XXL‘s editorial staff. While they just straight-up whiffed on Drake — sorry, Datwon, you know what you did — Nicki deemed herself too big to be established to be considered a “freshman” in hip-hop in 2010.

Likewise, Don Toliver flat-out declined appearing on the 2020 list because he didn’t want to participate in any of the peripheral content, according to XXL Editor-In-Chief Vanessa Satten. He and Nicki are not the only artists to turn down the honor, either. ASAP Rocky, Juice WRLD, Post Malone, and Young Thug all opted out and all wound up being huge stars anyway. Ice Spice may have turned down the cover because she’s already achieved greater publicity than she believes in can bring or to give that opportunity to artists who may “need” it more, or perhaps she’s just too busy to carve out the time needed for the photo shoot, freestyle, cypher, and tour that accompany it these days.

Either way, she seems to be doing alright without it, and will likely continue to be a star as long as she keeps dropping inescapably catchy songs and getting opportunities like the Barbie soundtrack.

Past Lives is one of the best movies of the year. But you knew that already. And if you didn’t: the A24 film has a 97 percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and even though we’re months away from so-called “awards season,” it’s already being considered for Oscars. But that’s not what this blog is about. It’s about social media. Before you boo me off the stage, please let me explain.

Growing up in South Korea, Nora (played by Greta Lee — who is having 2023 to remember with Past Lives and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — as an adult and Seung Ah Moon as a child) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo and Seung Min Yim) are childhood friends and burgeoning sweethearts until Nora’s family moves to Canada. Twelve years later, seemingly sometime in the mid-2000s, she’s living in New York City and he’s still in South Korea, and they haven’t spoken since their nearly wordless goodbye when they were kids. But they still occasionally think about each other, especially Hae Sung, who tries to get in touch with Nora on her dad’s Facebook page. It works: Nora messages him on Facebook, they reconnect on Skype, and the movie takes off from there.

Two things kept going through my mind while I was watching Past Lives. The first: when am I going to cry? (The final 10 minutes, it turns out.) The second: remember when social media wasn’t a necessary evil? Facebook is a safe space (but don’t use those words) these days for racist memes, pivoting to video, and election interference, but around the time this section of the movie takes place, it was a wholesome way to chat with friends, poke your crushes, and post AIM-ass song lyrics. I’m trying to not be nostalgic for a social media platform that began as a way to choose which of two girls was hotter, but watching Past Lives, I did fondly recall signing up for Facebook.

It was the summer of 2005, after I graduated high school and before I started college. I was visiting SUNY Purchase for a freshman orientation, and someone in the dorm that I would eventually live in told me about this website called Face-something? -nook, maybe? The moment I got home from the orientation, I fired up my mom’s desktop computer (shout out to the hours I spent playing Snood on that thing) and signed up. Before long, I was befriending the people I just met, and anyone with the same last name as me.

Past Lives took me back there like a cinematic Facebook Memory, before one of the world’s richest people bought Twitter and made “cis” a slur to own the libs, or something. Through Nora and Hae Sung, the movie shows the promise of what social media could be — a way for people to connect — and mercifully leaves out what it’s become. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to publish this, put it on Facebook, and stare dead-eyed at the screen until someone likes it.

‘Past Lives,’ which was written and directed by Celine Song, is in theaters now

Earlier in the day on Wednesday, a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic indicated that the Boston Celtics were trying to figure out a way to get Kristaps Porzingis from the Washington Wizards via him opting into the final year of his contract. Not long after that report hit the internet, Charania brought word that a trade was close to being completed, one which involved a third team getting pulled into the mix.

According to Charania, the Celtics and Wizards were in discussions with the Los Angeles Clippers about a deal that would center around Porzingis opting in and going to Boston, while Malcolm Brogdon would go to L.A. and Marcus Morris Sr. would head to Washington — along with Danilo Gallinari to make the financials work.

Not long after, Charania and Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe reported that the deal was in the final stages of getting done, with those three players involved and draft compensation heading to D.C., including the 30th overall pick from the Clippers. Adrian Wojnarowski added that Amir Coffey was also headed to the Wizards.

Porzingis has one year left on his contract that will pay him approximately $36 million before he’s able to hit unrestricted free agency next summer. While the Wizards would need to figure out how Morris fits into their plans after the Bradley Beal trade, he could presumably be either a veteran who helps the franchise’s next era or gets moved to a team that wants to compete right now. Brogdon joined Boston last year from the Indiana Pacers, and while he became the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, reports indicated that the team was looking to take players from its bloated guard rotation and bolster the roster elsewhere.

With the first episode of Secret Invasion now streaming on Disney+, Emilia Clarke has officially entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and man, does she love how much easier it is to keep secrets than it was during her Game of Thrones days. The actress plays G’iah, the daughter of Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos and a Skrull freedom fighter who finds herself caught up in a vast global conspiracy that brings Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury out of hiding.

“I’ll tell you what, it’s so much easier now because whenever it comes up or people want to ask, you just get to be like, ‘Dude, Marvel. I can’t say anything,’” Clarke recently revealed on EW’s Around The Table series.

According to Clarke, secrecy wasn’t a major issue on Game of Thrones until the later seasons when some “massive security changes happened.” Unfortunately, those changes were a little too tight, which often left Clarke and the other actors scrambling to figure out what their characters are supposed to be doing.

Via Entertainment Weekly:

“I was chatting with [showrunners] David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] and they were like, ‘Marvel. We’re just learning from Marvel. Whatever Marvel’s doing, we just want to do that.’ So that became, you don’t print anything — and then there was like me and Peter Dinklage being like, ‘I need it on paper! I can’t learn my lines without it being on paper!’”

It’s easy to see why Thrones tried to emulate Marvel. The studio is a master at secrecy. It has the process down to such a science that Clarke can just say the word “Marvel” and people get it. Plus, she actually gets to read her lines ahead of time, which we understand is pretty great for actors. They seem to like that.

New episodes of Secret Invasion stream Wednesday on Disney+.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

Tom Cruise is an intense guy on the set of his movies, with advice ranging from “stop being such a p*ssy, OK?” to “lean into the douchebaggery of it all.” But even he has his limits.

Pom Klementieff told Entertainment Weekly that while filming a scene together for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, she gave Cruise permission to kick her in the stomach. “I kept telling him to just kick me here,” the Guardians of the Galaxy star said, pointing at her midsection. “I was squeezing abs. [I said], ‘You can just go for it.’ He was like ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ I was like, ‘But it’s going to help me!’ But he wouldn’t do it.” What a gentleman.

Maybe Cruise refused because he was afraid of what Dave Bautista would do to him if he kicked his Guardians buddy? Let’s go with that (let’s also get Big Dave in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, thank you very much).

Klementieff was added to the Mission: Impossible cast after director and writer Christopher McQuarrie saw her in Guardians. Her character is “very, very, very much a chaotic element in the story,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how deep in the background she is, you’re going to be watching her at all times and wondering what she’s going to do.”

And we’ll finally be able to watch Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One on July 12th.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

The world is consumed right now with the tragedy unfolding off the Canadian coast. We’re all anxiously waiting for updates on the missing submersible that was carrying five tourists on an expedition to see the Titanic wreckage some 435 miles from shore.

Well, most of us are anyway. But if you’re the stepson of one of the in-peril passengers, you’re using the tragedy to shoot your shot — at Blink 182 concerts and Onlyfans babes.

Brian Szasz — whose stepdad Hamish Harding is a British billionaire currently trapped miles beneath the ocean’s surface, slowly suffocating to death — is handling the stressful situation in a way that feels very f*cked up, even for the kid of a man who has more money than some small countries. First, Szasz cut short his vigil to attend a Blink 182 concert, claiming his family wanted him to go to the concert as the band’s music has always “helped him cope.” Szasz even used the crisis to tag the band in the hopes he could score some one-on-one time with them.

Szasz’s next method of coping involved flirting with an OnlyFans model on Twitter. He retweeted a post from @breamack in which the model showed off her scantily clad figure with the caption, “can i sit on u.” Szasz commented simply, “Yes, please!”

Naturally, Szasz’s response to the disaster has folks on social media confused and a bit amazed at how callous his behavior seems given the dire circumstances.

Young Nudy‘s album Gumbo has been out for three months, and his promotion for it is still going strong. He shared the first video since its release today, tapping his cousin 21 Savage to throw their own mini-Freaknik in the park in the visual accompaniment for “Peaches & Eggplants.” The title, an obvious reference to the two most sexually-charged emojis, gives listeners a hint of what the video’s going to contain: A lot of booty.

The video features a crowd of women shaking, wining, popping, and twerking all over the park — including on the playground equipment, which… I hope they wiped that down — as 21 and Nudy recount their tales of romantic liaisons (lol), smoke, drink, and enjoy the show.

Gumbo arrived in March after nearly 200 of Nudy’s songs leaked. Although he was rightly pretty annoyed about the violation, he seems to have taken everything in stride. “I’m 100 percent finna take my time out to find out 100 percent who exactly is leaking my music,” he threatened. “I’m 100 percent gonna pull up at whatever studio it is and I’m 100 percent gon’ beat your ass, on my mama.”

Although we don’t know if he followed through, it’s nice to see that he’s also remaining focused on supporting the music he did officially drop.

Watch Young Nudy and 21 Savage’s “Peaches & Eggplants” video above.

Gumbo is out now via RCA Records. Get it here.

Recently, Brian Szasz attended a Blink-182 concert. Without context, that sounds like a fun and innocuous night out. However, Szasz is the stepson of British billionaire Hamish Harding, who is one of the passengers on the submersible vehicle from OceanGate Expeditions, which is currently missing after embarking on a journey to see the sunken Titanic. So, Szasz enjoying a rock show amid this serious situation raised some eyebrows, including those of Cardi B. It turns out Szasz didn’t care for what Cardi had to say.

In a video shared on her Instagram Story yesterday (June 20), Cardi said in part, “People was like, ‘Well, what is he supposed to do? Be sad at the house? Is he supposed to go look for him?’ Yes. You’re supposed to be at the house, sad. You’re supposed to be crying for me. You’re supposed to be right next to the phone, waiting to hear any updates about me.”

Szasz clapped back on Twitter today, writing, “@iamcardib What a pos trashy celeb. Cardi B trying to get clout off me and my families suffering. I went to a Blink 182 concert for coping rather than sitting at home and watching the news. Shame on you Cardi get some class!” He added in another tweet, “Cardi B We know all your latest releases are trash but is your career this desperate for attention now??”

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Happy Summer Solstice, sun seekers, and welcome back to the only way to set your seasonal clocks, a way that the ancient druids would surely prefer if they were here to see it: NBA Summer Vacation Watch!

If you are new here, welcome! This hallowed observance of the summer vacations and offseason activities of your favorite NBA athletes has been taking place, at some outlet or another, since 2017 (to catch up, you can browse the sunscreen slicked halls of antiquity here at Dime via the only good hashtag, NBA Summer Vacation Watch), because the people demand and deserve it, and because it’s the only reason we sit through the regular NBA season.

If you’re a returning holiday head, it’s so nice to have you back. I trust you’ve got your sunglasses on and the preferred refreshing bev of your choice in hand, because you know this first dispatch is a scorcher.

Serge Ibaka

The Ma Fuzzy Man is the consummate summer pro because he understands and values the sacred balance between time on and time, the hell, off. It’s to the point where dressing, embracing, and sometimes physically preparing for summer vacation is a given, and we’re all luckier for it.

First, he hit up Mexico for some R&R under a palapa with a green smoothie, because you gotta fuel up properly for this kind of dedicated decompression.

https://www.instagram.com/sergeibaka/?hl=en

Then, he was off to Italy to walk the red carpet of Florence fashion, but not before he enjoyed a topless espresso. I’ve heard you get a richer crema that way.

Rating: This man is just warming up, but he’s put the amateur beachgoers on blast.

Jimmy Butler

Much like Ibaka, Butler knows a thing or two about how to take a good vacation — namely, fitting in a little bit of everything. Some culture, some fits, some searching looks toward the ocean, and some footy. There’s this thing where when pro athletes try another sport in their downtime, with their other pro athlete friends, no matter how good they may be at it, it counts as leisure. I don’t make the rules (I do).

Rating: FKW (Full King Winter-denier)

Klay Thompson

Look, we have to start with the heavy summer hitters! And Klay Thompson’s been one, long before he got a boat. That boat has certainly upped the ante, though, and Thompson piloted it down to Mexico with some friends, stopping to fish and chill with humpback whales along the way.

Rating: Bonus for Thompson’s humpback impression, cetologists get at me but I think it was spot on.

Jayson Tatum

Tatum took a very cute vacation loaded with Daddy-Duece time, including Daddy-Duece jet ski, Daddy-Duece poolside, Daddy-Duece ocean inflatable ride, and Daddy-Duece matching swim trunks on the sandy boardwalk.

Rating: I know reading Daddy-Duece one more time is going to make you uncomfortable.

Rudy Gobert

Rudy Gobert is many things, to many people, but he’s now also a man who takes his cat on vacation. Gobert took a trip to Marie-Galante, in Guadeloupe, a location I can confidently say we’ve never seen featured in NBA SVW before. He did some of his fav things, which include wearing and/or holding big gemstones and working out on vacation.

Rating: The only person who can work out on vacation and not have it cancel out their vacation is Buddy Hield.

Devin Booker

A little behind the scenes for first timers, Devin Booker loves rustic ass vacation. Such trips have included stand-up paddle boarding in Colorado, horseback riding in Montana, and swimming in wild and remote lakes deep in the woods. Here he is trekking around the Grand Canyon to celebrate his dog’s birthday, which looks, from afar, like a bear.

Rating: Happy birthday, Haven, long may you reign over the wonders of this world.

JaVale McGee

The only thing better than seeing JaVale McGee clad in fluorescent swim trunks on the bow of an Italian leisure craft, is seeing JaVale McGee snuggled up to some stellar gowns on display in Venice and having a chuckle as if the mannequin was caressing his head.

Rating: Here at SVW, you really can have it all.

Myles Turner

Another guy who is having a ball in the Bel Paese is Myles Turner. Turner went to Milan for his first fashion week dressed like the most tender seafoam cowboy you’ve ever seen, got into Vogue, and I’m pretty sure is still over there, catching trains and living la dolce vita.

Rating: Would love to see some gelato but understand there are some things better left to the imagination.

Kyle Kuzma

Kuz is in ole Pari, declining his player option and solemnly leaning on the historic walls in one arrondissement after another about it, perfecting his Parisian pout.

Rating: Should Albert Camus have hooped?

Scottie Barnes

Barnes took a nice little rip down to the Dominican with his boys to recline on a catamaran and spelunk into some cenotes. A few of them seem to have gotten matching shell necklaces and if the league determines these unfit for the in-game dress code, so help me.

Rating: Overlooking that one friend’s Bitcoin shirt because vacation clothes, to the newly inducted, can be a mess.

Jusuf Nurkic

Move over, NBA champion Nikola Jokic, because there’s a new horse guy in town! The Bosnian Beast was tamed in the woods by another gentle giant, this one standing, on average, about 19 hands high, but this is not a horse combine.

Rating: This horse is 16.5’ at its shoulders and looks miniature under the caress of Nurk, why can’t Meta put its millions toward recreating this experience as therapeutic ASMR instead of making your aunt a floating cartoon avatar in negative space?

Bogdan Bogdanovic

Do the Euro dudes of the league know how to take a nonplussed boat ride or what?

Rating: So cold, it’s hot.

Josh Richardson

Our bloke Josh Richardson went on not one, but two soccer (“footy”) vacations. The first to London, to mix it up with other “proper gooners” (Arsenal fans), and the second to Madrid to take in a Real Madrid match.

Rating: It’s okay if you love so much, but can’t communicate why, Josh Richardson bopping along to a singer, a guy on a tiny keyboard, and a goateed DJ in an Aperol Spritz lounge. Me too.

Josh Okogie

Guess who else was in Milan for fashion week, carrying around a perfect green apple as a snack and photo prop, chowing down on pasta, wearing I want to say an angora vest and beautiful tan brocade suit? That’s right, Josh Okogie.

Rating: Anchor of new Suns superteam, Josh Okogie, hits different in Italy.

Anthony Tolliver

This is a still from a story but without even knowing that you have a feeling that NBA legend, Anthony Tolliver, selfie video’d his phone all over Buen Retiro Park in Madrid, taking in the historic arboretum, the placid ducks, the well-tended grounds, looking first very straight faced and then gradually getting into it, smiling like a real dad on vacation, before panning the camera to his eye-rolling child. Which he did.

Rating: If not relatable to all of us, then certainly some of us. I almost wrote “summer of us” — which it is!

Kevin Knox

Speaking of relatable, there is something so understandable about half of the pictures in Kevin Knox’s dump of his family’s Jamaican vacation being blurry because the lens is smudged with sweat, sunscreen, food, or just the ubiquitous haze of summer.

Rating: You know what else fits into the ubiquitous haze of summer? Safety. Wear your helmets and life vests.

Terrence Ross

T-Ross has chronicled the wild flora and fauna he sees on vacation a couple of times before under the banner, “Nature w TRoss,” and I don’t want to say watch your ass Sir David Attenborough, but…

Rating: Watch your ass, Sir David Attenborough.

Ish Wainright

Dude, this is all there is. There is nothing better. You know deep in your heart, or your gut, or the most selfish and primal part of you that if you were in that raft, in a pool, and someone offered you a million bucks if you just got out for a sec, you wouldn’t do it.

Rating: We’re only human, after all.

Dennis Rodman

We always love to check in and see what the retirees and old timers are doing when we can, so a hearty thank you to five-time NBA champ Dennis Rodman for saving us the sleuthing and showing up at Home Depot in a customized apron (only in a customized apron) to help out in small appliances.

Rating: No one has ever been happier to be in a Home Depot, not even your dad.

Where in the world is Boris Diaw?

Welcome back to the very special section of NBA SVW dedicated to world traveler, explorer, and international man of mystery Boris Diaw. Diaw tends to get up to whatever he wants, wherever he wants, and some past activities have included snorkeling with whales off the coast of Tonga, showing up under a rocket set to launch at Cape Canaveral, and piloting his own sailboat around the world.

Lately, Diaw has climbed a mountain with some people he may or may not know in French Polynesia (he could’ve just been up there already, tbh), and underwent basic firefighter training for his captain license renewal (of course!) in Florida. Thank you Boris, and I’m sure we’ll see you soon.

Well, it’s the end of June, which means we’re fully halfway through another year. This feels like a good time to stop and look at how things are shaking out. That’s what we’re doing here, taking a moment to run through the best things we’ve seen on television so far in 2023. The Uproxx staff submitted lists of their Top 10s and used math — 10 points for each top pick, 9 for each number two, and so on — to compile a collective list. You might disagree. That’s fine. Variety makes things fun. Just do not shout at us. That’s really all we ask.

10. (tie) The Other Two

Television’s sharpest and funniest Hollywood satire somehow found another gear to shift into in its third season. Creators — and former SNL head writers — Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider continue to find ways to skewer the silliest and dumbest things in the entertainment industry without crossing the line from comedy into bleak cynicism. That’s no easy task. It helps to have a murderer’s row of talent on hand, from stars like Drew Tarver and Helene Yorke to a stable of other assassins like Molly Shannon and Ken Marino and Wanda Sykes. This one is a gem and a great summer binge if you’re not all caught up.

10. (tie) Queen Charlotte

There was a high degree of difficulty here, to be sure. A spinoff of a massively popular show that tracks through two separate timelines and delves into everything from monarchy rule to mental illness has a lot of trap doors built into it, and a lot of places where a rabid fanbase can poke holes. It’s a testament to the creative team — led by super producer Shonda Rhimes — and the cast that this all worked at all, let alone as well as it did. And it featured Julie Andrews as the voice of a 19th-century gossip columnist named Lady Whistledown, which is one of those things every show could use, really. Yes, even a network procedural like NCIS. Especially a network procedural like NCIS, now that we think about it. Something to consider.

10. (tie) Jury Duty

Well, we did not see this one coming. Not many people did, really. Not even Amazon, probably, which spent many millions of dollars on many big-name projects starring many big-name stars, only to have a little fake documentary starring an unsuspecting juror and an unhinged James Marsden lap all of the other projects in cultural relevance on the streamer’s free, ad-supported service. It was a weird situation. But good. And, Lord Almighty, was it ever fun and funny, especially once things got rolling and the action on-screen built upon its own insanity. Marsden as an amplified version of himself is on the shortlist of best performances of the year. There’s probably a lesson here about the economics of streaming, but let’s not focus on that right now. We’re having too good a time to bring any more numbers into this.

9. Beef

Hey, here’s a good idea for a television show…

Ali Wong and Steven Yeun have a minor traffic-related incident and then proceed to spend the entire season attempting to ruin each other’s lives through a series of escalating attempts at destruction and subterfuge, some of which involve the desert and the musical stylings of bands like Incubus and Hoobastank.

Could work.

(It did.)

8. Yellowjackets

Yellowjackets returned for a second season in the early part of this year and, while it didn’t quite capture the cultural imagination like the first go-round (going up against the final season of Succession on Sunday nights probably didn’t help), it still mostly delivered on what fans of the show have come to expect and enjoy. If nothing else, it almost definitely remains television’s best show about a soccer team stranded in the Canadian wilderness and dealing with the aftermath of tragedy and mild cannibalism. That had to count for something.

7. Shrinking

The first season of Shrinking had:

• Jason Segel as a therapist going through a load of his own stuff
• Freaking Harrison Ford doing goofball comedy as his mentor
• Jessica Williams stealing every scene she was in
• A creative team led by Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein, who also found time to star as Roy Kent on Ted Lasso
• A lot of heart and profanity

It was a good time. We’re looking forward to season two.

6. I Think You Should Leave

It is kind of crazy that this show is still as good and inventive as it is a full three seasons into its run. You would not be outlandish to assume that something like this — a sketch series featuring characters who take things way too far in otherwise normal situations — would suffer from diminishing returns. And yet, nope, still just a hoot and a blast. Also, one of our most screencappable shows, which is maybe not a definitive statement on its quality but is still useful here in 2023. Tim Robinson and his collection of weirdos continue to deliver for us, the people. We should all write him nice thank you notes.

5. Poker Face

This is one of those shows that looked good on paper and then went right ahead and delivered on both its premise and its expectations. Which is not nothing, especially when the expectations were this high. That will happen when you start throwing around sentences like “Natasha Lyonne stars as a woman who can tell when people are lying and ends up solving crimes across the country while on the run from a murderous casino boss played by Adrien Brody and a fixer played by Benjamin Bratt in a series from the guy who makes Knives Out.” There’s a lot going on there, all of it good, and all of it dealt with in a refreshing little crime-of-the-week style. It’s as close as we’ll ever get to Natasha Lyonne as Columbo, one assumes, which is the kind of thing one should not take for granted.

4. Barry

Barry wrapped up its four-season run with a collection of bleak episodes that featured murder and assumed names and Stephen Root emerging from proton covered in tattoos. It was maybe not as goofy as some of its earlier seasons, and some characters we grew to love faced some bummer consequences for the things they all did, but three things are important to remember in all of this:

• None of the characters were particularly great people from the start
• Bill Hader, who directed every episode of the final season, is an absurdly talented man
• The finale might have been divisive among the diehards, but the ride there was kind of incredible, regardless of how you felt about the last few minutes

It’s already time to start getting excited about whatever Bill Hader has up his sleeve next.

3. The Last Of Us

Taking a massively popular video game and adapting it into a live-action television series that airs in the prestigious Sunday night slot on HBO is no easy task. It’s one of those situations that can result in people yelling. A lot. But The Last of Us somehow pulled it off. Although, in hindsight, it did kind of tilt the scales in its own favor from the jump. Almost any series where Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay battle a collection of hellbeasts has a pretty good chance of working out, as we saw when they did a similar thing years ago on Game of Thrones. But still. Good show. Let’s not overlook that just because they stacked the deck a little.

2. Mrs. Davis

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before…

Betty Gilpin plays a nun who goes to war with an all-knowing artificial intelligence algorithm named Mrs. Davis in a season of television that touches on everything from religion to the potential pitfalls and unexpected outcomes of technology to cowboys to chicken wings to sneakers. It was a lot, a mix of heavy and light with a series of bonkers twists throughout. Which makes sense, considering the show was created by Damon Lindelof, the mad scientist between The Leftovers and Watchmen. We have no clue where any of this goes from here, or if it even can go anywhere from here, but we do know we’ll be along for the assuredly weird and entertaining ride.

1. Succession

Succession gave us so much over its run. Drama and comedy and memes and moments we’re still talking about today, weeks after it dropped its series finale and showed us the fates of its collection of tormented billionaire children and hangers-on. And it delivered, too, which is not always easy for a show that captures the culture’s fractured attention span. We are certainly going to miss seeing these little monsters on our screens every Sunday night, but it sure was a blast while we had them around. That’s really all we can ask for. That and Cousin Greg flailing around a little bit. Those two things. Succession was a good show. Maybe one of our best. Definitely our number one of 2023 so far. It’s going to be tough to top it by the end of December, but it’s going to be thrilling to see a bunch of challengers try.