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During Disney’s massive number of announcements during its Investor Day event, Marvel studio head Kevin Feige took a moment to honor the late Chadwick Boseman and confirm to fans that the studio will not be recast the actor’s iconic Black Panther role. While a sequel to the Oscar-winning blockbuster is in the works, Feige made it clear that Marvel will honor Boseman by not trying to fill the role with another actor or a CGI double. Via Deadline:

“Chadwick Boseman was an immensely talented actor and an inspirational individual who affected all of our lives professionally and personally. His portrayal of T’Challa the Black Panther is iconic and transcends iteration of the character in any other medium from Marvel’s past.”

Feige continued, “To honor the legacy that Chad helped us build through his portrayal of the king of Wakanda, we want to continue to explore the world of Wakanda and all of the rich and varied characters introduced in the first film.”

Like all things Marvel, the details of Black Panther 2 are currently under wraps, but we do know that writer and director Ryan Coogler will be returning. Following the news of Boseman’s passing, Marvel fans expect Letitia Wright’s Shuri to take on the mantle of the Black Panther, which would mirror the events of the comics. However, Wright recently found herself in the middle of a social media conspiracy after tweeting a conspiracy theory video that discouraged people from taking the COVID-19 vaccine and also contained transphobic remarks. She has since deleted her Twitter and Instagram accounts.

(Via Deadline)

It’s the holiday season right now, but for the past couple days, visions of sugarplums have been de-prioritized in favor of Taylor Swift season. She unexpectedly released a new album, Evermore, today, and people online, to use a modern expression, can’t even. Right when the album dropped, Swift decided to share a note with fans, in which she revealed the meanings of some of the album’s songs.

After the release of Evermore, Swift shared a statement about the album, a lot of which echoes the one she previously shared, sometimes word for word. There’s one new paragraph, though, in which she discusses the meaning behind Evermore songs like “Marjorie” and “Dorothea,” writing:

“Before I knew it there were 17 tales, some of which are mirrored or intersecting with one another. The one about two young con artists who fall in love while hanging out at fancy resorts trying to score rich romantic beneficiaries. The one where longtime college sweethearts had very different plans for the same night, one to end it and one who brought a ring. Dorothea, the girl who left her small town to chase down Hollywood dreams — and what happens when she comes back for the holidays and rediscovers an old flame. The ‘unhappily ever after’ anthology of marriages gone bad that includes infidelity, ambivalent toleration, and even murder. The most righteous motive, to avenge the fallen. The realization that maybe the only path to healing is to wish happiness on the one who took it away from you. One starring my grandmother, Marjorie, who still visits me sometimes… if only in my dreams.”

Find Swift’s full statement below.

“To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs. To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in and my collaborators and I are proud to announce that my 9th studio album and folklore’s sister record is here. It’s called evermore.

I’ve never done this before. In the past I’ve always treated albums as one-off eras and moved onto planning the next one as soon as an album was released. There was something different with folklore. In making it, I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning. I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/not imaginary tales. I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found. So I just kept writing them. And I loved creating these songs with Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, WB, and Justin Vernon. We’ve also welcomed some new (and longtime) friends to our musical kitchen table this time around…

Before I knew it there were 17 tales, some of which are mirrored or intersecting with one another. The one about two young con artists who fall in love while hanging out at fancy resorts trying to score rich romantic beneficiaries. The one where longtime college sweethearts had very different plans for the same night, one to end it and one who brought a ring. Dorothea, the girl who left her small town to chase down Hollywood dreams — and what happens when she comes back for the holidays and rediscovers an old flame. The ‘unhappily ever after’ anthology of marriages gone bad that includes infidelity, ambivalent toleration, and even murder. The most righteous motive, to avenge the fallen. The realization that maybe the only path to healing is to wish happiness on the one who took it away from you. One starring my grandmother, Marjorie, who still visits me sometimes… if only in my dreams.

I wanted to surprise you with this the week of my 31st birthday. You’ve all been so caring, supportive and thoughtful on my birthdays and so this time I wanted to give you something! I also know this holiday season will be a lonely one for most of us and if there are any of you out there who turn to music to cope with missing loved ones the way I do, this is for you.

I have no idea what will come next. I have no idea about a lot of things these days and so I’ve clung to the one thing that keeps me connected to you all. That thing always has and always will be music.

And may it continue, evermore.”

Evermore is out now via Republic. Get it here.

Let’s get nerdy. Like a TIE Bomber full of Star Wars goodness, Disney used its investor call on Thursday to announce a massive wave of new movies and series set in the galaxy far, far away. Some were expected, while others contained huge surprises like the return of Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader and Patty Jenkins becoming the first woman to direct a Star Wars film. To keep it all straight, here’s a quick rundown of the eight Disney+ series and three films that will be arriving over the next few years.

DISNEY+ SERIES

Ahsoka: While a live-action series starring Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano has been rumored for a while, especially after her well-received debut on The Mandalorian, Disney has officially confirmed that the fan-favorite character will be starring in her own adventure.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: After a brief production delay stemming from concerns over the script, Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series is not only happening, but Hayden Christensen will be reprising the role of Darth Vader as the two classic characters collide for an epic rematch following the events of Revenge of the Sith.

Andor: A Rogue One prequel series focusing on Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor has been steadily chugging along, and now, it has a teaser along with a release date of 2022.

Star Wars: Acolyte:Russian Doll creator Leslyle Headland has been teasing a female-centric Star Wars series for a while, and here’s its official title, along with the surprising news that it will be set during the High Republic, 100 years before the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Lando: A solo series starring Lando was definitely one of the huge surprises, and something fans have been hoping for after Donald Glover‘s performance in Solo. However, it should be noted the actor isn’t officially attached to the project. Yet.

Rangers of the New Republic: Much like Ahsoka, this new spinoff will be set during the timeline of The Mandalorian and produced by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. This was another surprise announcement and there’s not much in the way of details. For now, there are just theories that this is the rumored spinoff series starring Gina Carano‘s Cara Dune. Although, she’s currently in hot water for Star Wars fans over a series of controversial tweets.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Based on characters introduced in the final season of The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch will focus on a team of “enhanced” clone troopers as they navigate the fall of the Republic and a world where their brothers murdered the Jedi to bring about the rise of the Galactic Empire.

Star Wars: Visions: Clearly, this fusion of Star Wars and anime has been secretly in the works for a while because it will be debuting sometime in 2021. Again, not a whole of details, but the concept sounds like it should go over well with fans.

FILMS

Rogue Squadron: Easily one of the biggest surprises, if not the biggest, is the news that Wonder Woman director will helm the new Star Wars movies Rogue Squadron. The elite pilot squadron has been featured in several novels and games since the ’90s, so fans are definitely pumped for this one.

A Droid Story: Think Pixar meets R2-D2 and C-3PO, and you’ll have a pretty good idea what to expect from this interesting new announcement.

Untitled Taika Waititi Movie: And, finally, Disney wants you to know that Taika Waititi is still making his Star Wars movie. In case you were worried.

(Via Star Wars on Twitter)

Megan Thee Stallion has been knocking her late-night performances out of the park since blowing up with “Big Ole Freak” last year and last night was no exception. The Houston Hottie remains undefeated when it comes to late-night television performances, bringing a medley of her hits “Body” and “Savage Remix” to the stage of The Late Late Show with James Corden.

Dressed in a sexy majorette uniform and flanked by a massive team of dancers, Megan takes over a sports arena for a flashy and elaborate performance that displays not only her gift for showmanship, but also her physical fitness. Beginning in the bleachers and finishing on the field, Megan and her dancers run through some high-speed complex choreography that should honestly put all these male rappers to shame. If y’all don’t come with some choreo in 2021, just give the game to the girls entirely because nobody wants to see y’all huffing and puffing in one spot standing still barely rapping when the women in hip-hop are pulling entire cheer routines while spittin every bar unassisted. And that’s on period.

Watch Megan’s Late Late Show performance of “Savage Remix” and “Body” above.

Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lily Cornell Silver hadn’t been in lockdown long when she realized her mental health was starting to deteriorate. It came upon her as a spike in her anxiety and depression brought on by the same thing everyone was experiencing: isolation and the novel coronavirus threat. It didn’t take long for Cornell Silver to realize she wasn’t alone. It is a shared traumatic event through which nearly everyone is struggling.

After the first wave of COVID-19 died down, the CDC released data on how Americans were coping, and all was not well. Adults reported elevated adverse mental health conditions, including increased substance abuse and suicidal ideation, disproportionately affecting young adults, racial and ethnic minorities, essential workers, and unpaid adult caregivers.

While this disease traveled invisibly in the air, it was clear to Cornell Silver that many people needed a space to grapple with having their lives turned upside down and their fraying mental states. So, she decided to make that space.

“I wanted to talk about it in an interview setting and not just in a podcast,” she tells UPROXX over the phone. “I wanted to talk about it where you could see people’s faces. Especially in a time when people need human contact.” That’s how Cornell Silver came to create and host Mind Wide Open, an IGTV interview series focused on mental health in which she talks to musicians, artists, and mental health experts about everything. It touches on what we’re going through now, how to create art in a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, and demystifies more significant questions about mental health through matter-of-fact conversations that detail lived experiences.

When Cornell Silver started feeling out of whack, she was dealing with more than just the pandemic. The third anniversary of the death of her father, Chris Cornell, was in May. Mind Wide Open launched in July, on what would have been his birthday. Cornell Silver is diagnosed with depression and PTSD and struggles with grief. She has spoken out publicly about sharing some of the same struggles as him/ Being the facilitator of this conversation has cost her something most take for granted: privacy.

“My situation is unique in the sense that my grief and a lot of my mental health struggles are public without me intending them to be public,” she explains. “I’ll enter spaces where I don’t know people, and they will know about my biggest trauma before they’ve met me.”

Talking about it became something Cornell Silver is used to, thanks in part to her mom and Alice in Chains’ longtime manager, Susan Silver. Cornell Silver notes that her mom put her in therapy starting at age seven, and she credits her ongoing treatment by giving her the vocabulary to talk about her experiences and make sense of them. Her connections via her parents into the world of music have helped her land guests who are longtime family friends, including Eddie Vedder and Duff McKagan. A lifetime of hearing from her father’s fans about how his music saved their lives has impressed upon her that there is a close relationship between music and mental health. She sees the intergenerational conversation happen through her viewers, who frequently tell her that her show episodes have opened a dialog with their parents.

“There is a benefit in seeing people you admire talk about how they struggle with depression, how they struggle to get out of bed in the morning. I feel that way when Billie Eilish talks about mental health,” she says. “I wanted to have people like Eddie and Duff come on the show so that people could see a rock god they grew up with struggling with the same thing.”

According to Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, Founder and Director of the Trauma Stewardship Institute and a guest on Mind Wide Open, having this conversation at all is an essential step in our current climate. And having it with someone working through their trauma is a helpful tool for destigmatizing mental health conversation.

“One of the things that is precarious about trauma is when we get isolated,” van Dernoot Lipsky explains. “Part of what’s powerful when talking about [trauma], particularly when it’s not theoretical but from someone who has the lived experience, is that it can interrupt the isolation, so many people feel. Any time we have folks who are willing to be courageous, find the wherewithal to talk about it, and make themselves vulnerable while still being self-respecting, it can mean so much to others.”

For Cornell Silver, having access to therapy has helped her understand and manage her symptoms, but articulating them has been the most impactful result. One of the biggest misconceptions she would warn people about in therapy is that there will be an immediate impact. For her, it took until she was about 16 to find a therapist with whom she resonated. “If you go to therapy and it isn’t immediately helpful, don’t be discouraged at all,” she cautions.

The trauma of oppression and racial inequity came to the forefront of discourse just before Mind Wide Open launched, with the death of George Floyd and the nationwide protests that followed. For Cornell Silver, the intention was always to make conversations around mental health intersectional and to discuss getting access to resources, like therapy, that can be game-changers for those struggling — but also challenging and expensive to access. After the protests, Mind Wide Open wove in conversations about the trauma of being a minority community in America.

Whatever stage of grief individual protesters were in, it showed that collectively many Americans are not at a place of acceptance of the mistreatment and dehumanization of BIPOC, and the Black community in particular, and marginalized communities. It was a second national trauma, making itself felt through mass action. In conversation with David Kessler, author of Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage Of Grief, came a discussion of the protests’ meaning. Kessler, who co-authored mentee Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s groundbreaking book on the five stages of grief, posited that what we were witnessing was mass grieving. For some, it was an expression of justified anger while others were demonstrating in Kessler’s proposed sixth stage, attempting to find meaning in the wake of their grief.

Cornell Silver says that conversation was among the most memorable for her. “The last stage of grief in the five stages is acceptance. I don’t feel like I’ve come to that place [with my father’s death], and I think a lot of people when they lose their loved ones don’t come to a place where they accept it,” she explains. “You still feel the need to do something, and you’re still actively grieving.”

In Cornell Silver’s opinion, the best thing to come out of the series is the stories from people who have facilitated conversations. “I’ve had quite a few people write and say, I watched this with my dad, with my kids, my friend, my significant other, and it opened up a conversation for us to talk about things we’ve never talked about before. That’s all I could hope for.”

Talking about it and destigmatizing it is an expression of kindness, agrees Marc Brackett, Ph.D. He is the Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and another of Lily’s expert guests. He notes that expressing inner vulnerability is a crucial component of what makes Cornell Silver’s conversations impactful. The audience is watching her talk about her traumas and struggles in a relaxed setting, making it okay for them to have those same conversations.

The thing Brackett hopes her audience takes away from the series is the sense that they can define their reality. “You’re too fat, you’re too skinny, you’re too tall, you’re too short, you’re too dark, you’re too light. Unfortunately, when you’re told these things without any helpful intervention, you start believing them,” he says.

The key to kindly talking to others about mental health, he suggests, may lie in educating people, especially children, about the messages they’re getting.

“To me, that’s one of the number one strategies: monitoring your negative self news, monitoring your self-criticism, and finding a way to be empathic to yourself and more self-compassionate.”

Kid Cudi’s Man On The Moon III arrived overnight as promised, bringing with it his intriguing collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers and the music video for “She Knows This.” Presented as a short film, the video finds Cudi overlooking magnificent view from the balcony of a Hollywood Hills house before going inside to watch Pursuit Of Happyness (a clever call back to the first Man On The Moon). Suddenly, Will Smith’s voice switches from the movies’ dialogue to a personal address; Smith tells Cudi to “get off that couch and go pursue your destiny.”

Agreeing with the rap veteran, Cudi launches into the song as he stumbles around the living room, drinking, smoking, and yes, humming his way through the performance with a red full moon hanging in the background. Cudi then gets behind the wheel of a sports car to tear down the mountainside — not recommended under ANY circumstances, kids — before being chased by a cop cruiser and careening off a cliff. See? Don’t drink and drive. The video ends on a smash to black with a “To Be Continued” title card, which any millennial can tell you is a red herring. Rappers never actually get around to continuing their videos.

Watch the “She Knows This” mini-movie above.

Man On The Moon III: The Chosen is out now on Republic Records. Get it here.

A couple decades ago, Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys were two of the biggest acts not just in music, but in entertainment overall. In 1999, Backstreet Boys had their first No. 1 album with Millennium, and Spears’ debut, …Baby One More Time, also topped the charts that year. Now, the two acts have brought a dose of the late ’90s/early ’00s to a year when people want to be in any time but now, as they have collaborated on a new song, “Matches.”

The track arrives on a new deluxe edition of Spears’ 2016 album Glory and it’s a rock-solid bit of thumping pop. Lyrically, the song is about an exciting romance, with the Boys singing, “Oh, if they dusted me for prints / They’d find you all over me / All you all over me / Nothing ever quite felt like this / Our fire is killing me / The good kind of killing me.” Dua Lipa collaborator Ian Kirkpatrick is one of the song’s producers, and he’s also a co-writer on it alongside frequent pop star collaborator Justin Tranter.

Listen to “Matches” above.

Glory (Deluxe) is out now via RCA. Get it here.

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

A few episodes ago, I jokingly wondered about the discussions between the Disney Bobs, Iger and Chapek, and showrunner Jon Favreau over how long The Mandalorian is allowed to go without a Baby Yoda reaction shot. Give the people (and GIF-makers) what they want. I haven’t done the adorable research yet, but I can’t imagine any episode this season went more than five minutes without the camera cutting to Baby Yoda cooing, or eating an egg, or wrecking some dopey Stormtroopers using the Force.

Until “Chapter 15: The Believer.”

The show’s 15th episode, written and directed by Rick Famuyiwa, is the first to not feature a single appearance from Baby Yoda. Or Grogu, whatever. You see his finger in the pilot, and every installment between then and now. The lack of Baby Yoda is a good storytelling decision — he’s still all tuckered out from using the Force and looking like a handcuffed burrito aboard Moff Gideon’s ship — but his absence was noted.

“The Believer” didn’t have any Baby Yoda, but it did have the return of Migs Mayfeld, played by Bill Burr. He and Mando break into an Imperial base, with help from Cara Dune, Fennec Shand, and Boba Fett, where Migs runs into an old commanding officer of his. Valin Hess (played by that classic That Guy actor Richard Brake, who was also the Night King on Game of Thrones) has a drink with Migs and Mando, both in disguise as Imperial soldiers, and brings up Operation Cinder. This triggers something in Migs — in that, he pushes his blaster’s trigger and kills Valin — but what is Operation Cinder?

Basically, and as anyone who played Star Wars Battlefront II already knows, Emperor Palpatine didn’t want the Galactic Empire (his fellow bad guys) to outlive him. So he came up with a diabolical contingency plan: target planets with allegiance to the Empire, and blow them up. The Emperor ordered his loyalists to commit mass genocide if/when he died, which he did (sort of) after being thrown down a reactor shaft by Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi. It was a test, of sorts: “If you really love me, you will rebuild, minus the weak.” One of those planets, Burnin Konn, is where Migs was stationed, hence his violent — and understandable — reaction. If only he had a Baby Yoda to cuddle.

Just like everyone, as the year winds down, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen are getting reflective. But rather than just creating another regular old list compiling the best of 2020, Hyden and Cohen are launching the official Indiecast awards show, The Indiecasties. Across two episodes, the duo will be awarding the highly sought-after Indiecasties to the best, worst, and downright strangest releases of the year.

This week brings the first of two installments of the award show, and Hyden and Cohen are waiting and ready to bestow some trophies. assigning the most “Indiecast-as-a-genre” album or artist of 2020, Hyden’s favorite “Ian Cohen-core” album and Cohen’s favorite “Steven Hyden-core” album, as well as the year’s most annoying album cycle, and most memory-holed album.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Hyden has been enjoying The Hold Steady catalogue, prompted by the announcement of their forthcoming new album Open Door Policy. Cohen has been listening to a lot of Ogbert The Nerd.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 19 on Apple Podcasts and Spotify below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. Stay up to date and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

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

No one can argue about 2020 being a beast of a year, in which we truly have needed entertainment to distract us. Part of that desire also includes escaping into other people’s realities, so to speak. We still very much want to see bad guys with a long game get put away for their crimes. Wanderlust is still very much a thing, as is the desire to gather and enjoy amazing food and celebrate culture. Fortunately, we can still experiencing these things vicariously through docuseries, and if this year has done anything right, it’s given us a plentiful supply of TV series, including the below docuseries, to binge while waiting until it’s safe to enjoy humanity (in person) again.

While putting this list together, I expected the true crime genre to loom large, and that’s happened, but also! Zac Efron graced us with his presence in one of the most enjoyable entries of the year, and even a sports-dummy like myself can enjoy Michael Jordan throwing drama. In no particular order — because the subject matter is so wide-ranging, and they’re all worth your time — here are the best 10 TV docuseries of the year.

I’ll Be Gone In The Dark (HBO)

Director Liz Garbus did an incredible job with this portrait of true crime blogger Michelle McNamara’s obsession as an armchair sleuth who eventually aided law enforcement (and inspired them to push harder with new DNA innovations) to nab the Golden State Killer. This series isn’t really about Joseph James DeAngelo, though, in the sense that he’s not given the spotlight after he’s apprehended. Instead, the show strips away the final shreds of power held by a predator; and although this is not light viewing by any stretch, it is ultimately a tribute to and a celebration of McNamara’s prowess. Further, the series is dramatic and suspenseful, but in no way does it sensationalize the violent crimes that sparked McNamara’s search for justice. She deftly wrote about terrifying subject matter in an empathetic way, and never in her mind did she forget that the victims weren’t mere numbers. Instead, she was interested in people. Garbus pieces together excerpts of Michelle’s 2018 book — which was completed by investigative journalist Billy Jensen and crime writer Paul Haynes with a greenlight from her husband, Patton Oswalt, who penned the afterword — with interviews from survivors (who react to the arrest), investigators, and Oswalt. Ultimately, this is an expansive docuseries that more than adequately does service to the epic source material.

Down To Earth With Zac Efron (Netflix)

Now for something completely different. Oh, I loved this series. Zac Efron’s team-up with wellness guru Darin Olien is simply delightful. I can’t stress enough how life-affirming it is to watch this duo get so excited about witnessing how Paris provides an insanely clean water supply while Efron’s (half-jokingly) searching for a merman. When Efron’s not shirtless, he’s raving about “sick” and “rad” geothermal power and learning how to bake bread inside of volcano-heated soil. He and Olien shout at other from two different continents, and they tangle with urban beekeepers. It’s all very casually regarded, and yes, what they witness is often truly mind-blowing stuff. It’s a mostly relaxing voyage too, but the episode that solidified my fandom most was actually a serious one, in which Efron and Olien visit Puerto Rico over a year after Hurricane Maria. At first, Efron hesitates to sign a wall of heroes that have come to help provide relief for the still-devastated U.S. territory. He doesn’t feel that he’s done anything to deserve being recognized, but later in the episode, he does a seemingly small thing that changes a woman’s life. She’d been living in the ruins of her home, unable to remove all of the debris, and Efron just stands up and does it for her with a few hands from the crew. That’s the essence of this whole series: the smallest of gestures can make a world of difference in healing our world, and it’s very “whoa” when that happens.

Murder On Middle Beach (HBO)

Director Madison Hamburg (who, incidentally, happens to be sort of a Zac Efron lookalike) brings us the culmination of a decade-long project following the murder of his mother, Barbara, in 2010. It’s a crime that remains unsolved, due to something procedurally sketchy on the part of law enforcement, and Madison placed himself into startlingly risky situations during his quest for the truth. It’s mind-boggling to fathom how Madison kept it together for the entirety of this project, as he interviewed various family friends and members, some of whom he was able to exonerate. Did the crime have something to do with her estranged husband, whose financial dealings were highly suspect, or can the murder be tied to “Gifting Tables,” for which multiple fellow participants were convicted in a Ponzi scheme after Barbara’s death? This series goes places that even Madison did not expect, and it’s a heck of a mystery that will keep you guessing after the end.

Taste The Nation With Padma Lakshmi (Hulu)

Clearly, this series unfurls as a deeply personal journey for Padma Lakshmi in her latest show that presents her twist on the American dream. Lakshmi revels in shining a light on marginalized people’s experiences, and as a formerly poor immigrant kid-turned-household-name emcee of sorts, she comes by her host role honestly. And Lakshmi’s compassion for her subjects knows no bounds, for she shines a light on the pain that results from American appropriation of dishes crafted by immigrants. It’s a gutsy, confident, and airtight approach, and in the end, Lakshmi exposes how Americans have essentially colonized everything, even the culinary accomplishments of immigrants. Somehow, none of it feels like a lecture, and that’s down to Lakshmi’s charismatic ways. At times lighthearted and others dead serious, she takes viewers on a whirlwind tour that manages to enthrall while also leaving an indelibly educational mark. It feels like a substantive game-changer for food-obsessed travel shows to up the ante on what they (pun intended) bring to the table.

Love Fraud (Showtime)

Online dating has never been for the faint of heart. Sometimes, even, a sociopath is afoot, and that person is really good at mirroring what their date wants to find in a mate. In this series, the warning factor is cranked up to eleven while showcasing the wild feats of one man, who managed to swindle dozens of women and leave them in financial and emotional shambles. Richard Scott Smith grifted his way through dozens of relationships, leaving a trail of devastation in his wake. The level of deceit he pulls off — time and time again, the rushed sense of connection and commitment and the emptied bank accounts — are the work of a master con-man. In this series, Smith’s victims finally get to tell their stories, and their collective experiences are awe-inspiring, as is the baffling appearance of Smith himself from prison. He seems so utterly unremarkable, and part of the mystery here is how, exactly, he managed to so smoothly prey upon the affections of countless women who appear to have their heads on (mostly) straight. There are also strange things afoot at a seafood restaurant (yes, there are weird, Tiger King-esque vibes), but overall, it’s a compelling glimpse into a bizarre long game from a predator and a heroic swing from a lady bounty hunter.

The Last Dance (ESPN Films/Netflix)

Michael Jordan’s miniseries does not even come close to landing in my usual wheelhouse. Yet even I was aware of the overwhelming reception to this (controversial) project from the NBA superstar, who led the Chicago Bulls to six championships. Obviously, I was not part of the initial ESPN audience for this one, but knowing how greatly this project affected those who did tune in led me to realize that, yes, I needed to watch and see what the buzz was about in order to not ignore it while writing this list. After broaching the subject with my sports-literate best friend over Thanksgiving, the binging began. No doubt, Jordan is painting his own picture of events here, and since I’m not aware of what the truth is — and cannot accurately judge whether Jerry Krause deserved to be drawn as a villain — all I can really do is comment on the entertainment factor. And reader, I was highly entertained by all the saltiness (“Don’t ever talk trash to Black Jesus”) and this extraordinary cast of characters, including wild, wild Dennis Rodman and that Scottie Pippin fellow (who ended up not being happy about this). Oh my god, the level of high drama here could rival the entire Kardashian empire.

McMillion$ (HBO)

Back in the day whilst dipping McDonald’s french fries into milkshakes, I never imagined that so much intrigue would spawn from this fast-food restaurant’s Monopoly game. Nor did anyone really grasp that the game could be rigged to the point where the FBI was on the case (McDonald’s itself had nothing to do with the rigging) and figured out that big-scale winners were suspiciously connected, and so on. The complexity and twists of the whole story all feel surreal, and of course the mob is part of the story, which yeah, no wonder I didn’t win millions of dollars. Then there’s Agent Doug, who had more fun on the show (while talking about how he’s taking down the fraudulent ring) than everyone this year combined. I’m happy for Agent Doug, and I’m amazed to remember that this show aired in the early part of 2020. Really? Yes, and it feels like five years have passed since then, so it might already be time to revisit this limited series again.

Unsolved Mysteries (Netflix)

This revival turned out to be as addictive as the original series even though some key changes — like declining to replace Robert Stack as host and face of the franchise, along with making each episode a deep dive of one case — updated the show for the streaming audience. Two batches of cases thus far prove that people’s appetites for crowdsourcing knowledge of cold cases won’t die anytime soon, and hopefully, the power of the Internet will lead to a lot more credible tips coming together to provide closure to families. Really though, Netflix has hit this project out of the ballparks so far. From stories about a dumbfounding rooftop disappearance and a French house of horrors to tsunami ghosts and a death row inmate allowed to go shopping for Christmas, some of these scenarios read like horror movies. The show’s still a bounty of compelling cases that supply no shortage of chills.

Deaf U (Netflix)

This reality series is more engaging than one could ever imagine. In short, Deaf U shines a groundbreaking spotlight upon the Deaf community at Washington, D.C.’s esteemed Gallaudet University. As the title indicates, the show follows deaf and hard of hearing college students, who are indulging in every type of antic that one comes to expect from, well, college students. Things get soap-opera-y on many occasions, but one never loses sight of the fact that these students are fiercely protective of themselves, and they’re very aware of how their conversations (in ASL and sometimes mouthed/verbalized as well) are presented to the camera. Dating and romantic rivalries and bar hopping and hookups and friendships and gym-going all go down, so it’s voyeuristic in that way, but the show also spreads an illuminating amount of insight about Deaf culture and identity, along with their experiences both as individuals and a full-on community.

Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich (Netflix)

Those audience members who have already gobbled up all of the wide-ranging accusations surrounding the international sex-trafficking ring of Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, won’t find too many surprises in this docuseries, but it’s nonetheless worth watching to reinforce exactly how twisted of a trail the tycoon left behind following his August 2019 death in jail. Epstein (along with Ghislaine) was accused of abusing women and underage girls for decades, and their connections with Bill Clinton, Alan Dershowitz, and Britain’s Prince Andrew continue to spark questions of accountability. Over the course of four episodes, director Lisa Bryant doesn’t interview Ghislaine, but she does untangle Epstein’s complex web, which is aptly described as a “molestation pyramid scheme” that haunts dozens of survivors to this very day. That’s where this docuseries comes in and refuses to let Epstein’s death affect these women’s fight for justice. They all agreed to appear for reasons that define the very purpose of a true-crime docuseries: to shine a light on horrors that were committed with the hope that a scheme like this won’t ever be allowed to happen again.