Category: Worldwide

Because of when this season of Fear the Walking Dead was interrupted by the pandemic, tonight’s seventh episode will be the midseason finale (the midpoint is usually episode 8). Without spoiling anything, the end of this week’s episode works well as a midseason finale, even if it was unintentional. I find myself incredibly excited for the back half of the season in 2021, the seventh season, and beyond.

It’s a strange thing to say given how well The Walking Dead has rebounded under new showrunner Angela Kang, even after the loss of Andrew Lincoln, but this season of Fear is every bit as good as any seven-episode stretch of The Walking Dead. That is not hyperbole. Check any of the fan forums, where viewers of Fear the Walking Dead were absolutely brutal to the series last year, and you’ll see how truly excited fans are about this series again.

Lennie James has been with The Walking Dead universe since the very first episode, and he’s never been as good as he is now, and there are a few characters on Fear that now rival Carol, Daryl, and Maggie as the best of the TWD: Colman Domingo’s Strand, Garrett Dillahunt’s John Dorie, and Alycia Debnam-Carey’s Alicia. That’s not to mention Rubén Blades’ fan-favorite character Daniel Salazar, and a strong supporting cast that includes Austin Amelio’s Dwight (over from the parent series), Maggie Grace’s Althea, and even Jenna Elfman’s character, June, who — until this sixth season — had become one of the most disliked characters since Lori Grimes.

What’s so interesting about the drastic shift in the quality of the show from Season 5 to Season 6 is that there has not been a creative shakeup either behind the camera or in front of it. There have been a couple of new writers, but five of the seven episodes (so far) were written by the same people who wrote last year’s episodes, and the only additional director this season has been Lennie James himself, who directed the season’s third episode. It’s virtually the same cast, the same writers, and the same directors, and yet this season is dramatically better than last.

Why?

Entertainment Weekly interviewed showrunners Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg about that very question, and the two were very careful not to trash last season. They insist they are “proud” of all the episodes they have done, but they are glad that fans seem so much more receptive to season six. Ultimately, however, Andrew Chambliss attributes it to the fact that they are telling the kinds of stories they like to tell now:

I think the storytelling that we’re doing season 6 is kind of our favorite kind of storytelling to do, which is focusing on characters and taking them in a complete journey within each episode. And I think we’ve said this before, but our favorite episodes of The Walking Dead are the ones that do that.

And I think because we are telling these kinds of stories that we love to tell as we were looking at season 6, as it was all kind of coming together and we were getting cuts and we were getting scripts that we felt really good about it.

Meanwhile, they don’t quite come out and say it as such, but they do suggest that Season 6 wouldn’t have been as good as it has been if Season 5 hadn’t sucked, although they don’t say “sucked.” They say “a place of hope and triumph”:

Season 5 was an unusually bright and optimistic and kind of benevolent vibe… By the end of the [fifth] season, the goal was to sort of rip the rug out from under everybody. And that started to happen when we introduced Virginia and her group, and really kind of had a finer point on it in the finale when Morgan was shot and everyone was separated from each other.

So we kind of feel like we couldn’t have had the character shifts in season 6 and that reinvention and new tone and new journeys that people are grappling with, unless we brought them to a place of complete hope and triumph.

I believe that Chambliss, Goldberg, and the writers cracked the code on this kind of storytelling, which — as they say in the interview — is the opposite of what we hear so many other showrunners say about their shows these days. It’s very common for showrunners to say that their seasons are like very long, 8, 10, 13-hour movies. “I think we’re kind of doing the opposite,” Goldberg says, “where yes, that’s the case, but each episode is its own movie”:

The Walking Dead universe has been operating in 8-episode arcs for so long now that it may have forgotten the importance of a good, self-contained episode. Goldberg and Chambliss have managed to revive Fear the Walking Dead by going back to the basics of network television. It’s never been better, and if it can somehow keep this up, Fear may have a few seasons left in it after all.

Source: EW

It’s said one should never meet one’s heroes for they’ll always disappoint you. Thanks to Twitter, the great social leveler, you can meet them — or at least read what they really think. On Sunday, one of comedy’s most towering legends (and greatest eulogists), John Cleese, decided the world needed to know that he was one of those people who took a skeptical eye towards the trans community. And it didn’t go well.

It began when someone dug up a screenshot from less than two months ago, in which he signed a letter in support of J.K. Rowling, who over the summer also went on social media to out herself with transphobic comments. He responded with a joke that, too, was seen as transphobic.

“Deep down, I want to be a Cambodian police woman,” Cleese wrote. “Is that allowed, or am I being unrealistic ?” It’s a depressingly standard anti-trans comment, and it was met with an all-too-familiar combination of disappointment and disgust.

Others reminded Cleese of all the rights he’d lose were he to transition into a Cambodian police woman.

And some pointed out that he’s crossed over to the side he and his fellow Python-ers used to lampoon.

But this being 2020, when pushed, Cleese responded by doubling down. He tried a little clarification, saying, “I’m afraid I’m not that interested in trans folks,” adding that “I just hope they’re happy and that people treat them kindly.” He then said he was “more focused” on other threats, such as threats to American democracy, police brutality, COVID-19, etc. (Which is all well and good, but surely it’s not hard to add yet another pressing issue to add to the pile.)

Cleese then went on to mock progressive culture, accusing them of a “complete lack of perspective,” as well as a “complete lack of a sense of humor,” adding, “Heard a woke joke yet?”

He then attempted a “woke joke”:

Well, some jokes take some refining before they’re ready.

As with Rowling, Cleese’s tweets may find him some new friends on the far right, but they may take umbrage with many of his other beliefs. As he said, he cares about issues to which they’re hostile if not outright against. Still, every time Cleese tweets something progressive and smart, he may have this instance hanging over his head.

(Via Newsweek)

After big looks like an appearance in the oh-so-viral “WAP” music video, and her own debut album, Queen Of Da Souf, rising rapper Mulatto has been having a breakout year in 2020.

So much so, that she seems to have decided to continue performing live shows during the pandemic, a decision that some fans are dismayed by. The show don’t seem to include any social distancing measures, and flaunt guidelines like avoiding crowds, indoor spaces, and even mask guidelines are all being completely ignored in these settings. In social media clips and videos of last night’s performance at D’Truth Nightclub in Valdosta, Georgia, none of the attendees seem to be wearing masks, and there is definitely not a lot of space between them.

One clip seems to be showing the fire marshall coming in to shut the show down, with mixed results:

On their Facebook page, the club promoted the event as “Baddies Night Out” and also posted video of the performance from a different perspective, showing just how close crowd members are to each other:

People are sharing thoughts on Twitter about how these events could be risking the spread of COVID-19 and putting lives in danger:

The risk of the pandemic is exactly why the rest of the music industry has shut down live shows for now. Hopefully, these shows won’t continue and Mulatto will begin to understand the risks — she wasn’t wearing a mask, either.

Fans hoped that Drake would deliver his sixth album, Certified Lover Boy by the end of the year, but last month the Toronto native revealed in a promo video that they would have to wait until January 2021. But he won’t end the year without any new content. On Saturday, the rapper shared a brief promo video to Twitter on Saturday that teased his upcoming collaboration with Nike. It also confirmed that the collab will arrive on December 18.

Back in August, Drake shared a preview of to expect from the Nike collaboration. In a post to his Instagram story, the rapper shared an image of a white Nike baseball hat with a lipstick stain on the brim, plus Nike Air socks with a red heart around the brand’s iconic swoosh logo. Before that, he tried to secure a trademark for Certified Lover Boy, but he ran into some issues, one being the 1980s band Loverboy, best known for their hit “Working For The Weekend.”

In other news, Drake also said he believes Certified Lover Boy will receive some hate when it arrives. He made the comment after a fan told him “views be hittin different” in the comment section of an Instagram Live session Drake held with his dad. The rapper responded, saying, “they hated on views just like they will CLB but it’s music to evolve to.”

A lot of shows have been cancelled during the pandemic, and GLOW, improbably, was one of them. Luckily there’s been a trend for beloved shows that were unceremoniously axed: a movie to wrap things up. Deadwood — one of the all-time great short-sightedly killed programs — got one. Community may get one (though that one’s really taking its time). And now GLOW — Netflix’s beloved female wrestler show — may get one, too. It just may take a bit.

Alison Brie, one of its stars, recently appeared on The Playlist’s podcast The Fourth Wall, where was inevitably asked about doing just a bit more GLOW. Having been on this rodeo before — see: the perpetually stalled Community movie — she was a little resistant to optimism.

“I certainly think a movie could tie everything up,” Brie said. “I’m a little pessimistic about it actually happening just in light of everything that’s gone on this year and how difficult it is to get anything back into production with COVID. And I’m also part of the Community cast, who’s been trying to get a movie going for six years, so what I’m saying is don’t hold your breath because if it does happen, it might take a minute.”

Last month, another of its stars, Marc Maron, was a bit more cocksure than Brie. “I think what they should do is… let us make a movie,” he said. “I mean, let us wrap it up in a two-hour Netflix movie. They had the whole season laid out. We know where it’s gonna go. Why don’t you give the showrunners and the writers and the cast the opportunity to finish the story in a movie?”

Still, even if the GLOW movie never gets off the ground, they still got to do three seasons. “It’s definitely a bummer,” Brie said. “I’m going to miss playing with those incredible women and Marc Maron and Chris Lowell. But you know, we’re so lucky. We’re lucky that we got to make three, to me, perfect seasons of a show. I love it so much and it will live on Netflix forever. So people can still check it out.”

(Via Deadline)

Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1) submitted Alex Perez (24-6) to successfully defend the flyweight title at UFC 255 from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Perez and Figueiredo traded devastating kicks to open the bout. Figueiredo dropped down for the leg, Perez briefly took his back, but the champ turned right into the guillotine and earned the submission at 1:57 in the first round.

After missing weight in his initial bout with Joseph Benavidez, Figueiredo submitted Benavidez to win the division crown in July. At 19-1, Figueiredo’s lone loss came at the hands of Jussier Formiga by decision in March of last year. Cody Garbrandt is waiting in the wings, after missing out on the title fight against Figueiredo because he suffered a torn bicep in training during the lead up to UFC 255.

Brandon Moreno steps into the No. 1 contender spot with a first-round knockout over Brandon Royal earlier in the night. Figueiredo added during his post-fight press conference that’s the next title defense he wants next.

Perez earned his shot at the flyweight belt with a first-round knockout of Formiga in June, and was riding a three-win streak ahead of his bout.

Coming into the fight, Figueiredo was ranked No. 14 in the pound-for-pound rankings, and could very well be jumping into the top 10 after such an impressive showing.

Valentina Shevchenko (20-3) successfully defended the flyweight title against Jennifer Maia (18-7-1), earning a unanimous decision victory at UFC 255 from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Shevchenko opened the first round strong, attacking Maia out of the gate before taking her to the ground. Maia maintained guard from the bottom, holding Shevchenko close, but really not making any progress from underneath for the final four minutes or so of the first.

About 15 seconds into the second and Shevchenko yet again took Maia to the ground, but the challenger was able to explode back to her feet and maintain control in the clinch against the cage. Maia reversed the takedown attempt from Shevchenko, landing on top on the ground and controlling her position flush against the cage with a body lock. Shevchenko nearly escaped with a triangle choke, but Maia slipped her head out in the last moment before closing out the round.

https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1330381575742218240

Shevchenko landed a few more heavy shots early in the third, but Maia was again able to control the champ against the Octagon wall. Back in the center of the mat, Shevchenko started to let her shots fly, landing a head kick and unloading a few combinations. She stunned Maia with a huge left hand, caught her around the waist and took her to the ground, where she held side control. Maia utilized the underhook and made her way to her feet, again pushing the champ back against the cage. Shevchenko succeeded into yet another key takedown as the round expired.

In the fourth, Shevchenko connected on another huge straight left, but Maia stayed in to exchange. Shevchenko followed her left hand into the body lock, and again, scored points with a big takedown.

Maia opened the final round needing a finish to overcome Shevchenko’s likely two-round lead and immediately went for a takedown. Shevechenko fought her off and continued to work with her back against the cage. The champ and challenger traded shots for the final minutes of the round, sending the bout to the judges and keeping the belt with Shevchenko.

https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1330383639633403904

Since earning a unanimous decision victory over Joanna Jedrejczyk back in 2018, Shevchenko has been dominant in the flyweight division, knocking out Jessica Eye before earning a unanimous decision win over Liz Carmouche in August 2019 and running through Katlyn Chookagian in February.

Who knows what’s next for Shevchenko, but it shouldn’t be ruled out for a potential return bout with the bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes.

Maia earned a title shot after submitting Joanne Calderwood in August. She came into Saturday night’s bout with Shevchenko a +2000 underdog.

While the Lakers have steadily been adding to their roster that won the NBA championship a month ago, the Clippers have watched as their free agency plans have not yet gone according to plan. They re-signed Marcus Morris to a big deal, but saw Montrezl Harrell join the Lakers and JaMychal Green depart for the Nuggets, meaning they had a significant hole to fill in the frontcourt.

On Saturday night, they were able to do so in a major way when they beat out the Lakers and others for the services of Serge Ibaka, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, as the veteran big man is coming off of one of his best seasons in some time with the Raptors.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports it is a two-year, $19 million deal, which indicates it’s for the mid-level exception.

Ibaka averaged 15.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season for the Raptors, most importantly putting up those numbers on tremendous efficiency, shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from three-point range. He figures to slot into a major role with the Clippers, likely taking on the gap left behind by Harrell, who is the reigning Sixth Man of the Year.

It’s the first big win of free agency for the Clippers, who pair Ibaka back up with Kawhi Leonard — which likely played a part in landing the big man — as the two won a title in Toronto in 2018-19.

As if we don’t have enough grief with the rock legends we’ve already lost this year, MSNBC has to go and kill Bob Dylan while he’s still alive? In a recent newscast, which has been captured for eternity via Twitter, the network incorrectly reported that Dylan died last year, in 2019, at the age of 79. Watch the clip below:

In fact, Dylan is alive and well, as the tweet notes, and even released a brand new album this year. Rough And Rowdy Ways has drawn lots of praise from critics, as has most of his works — except that pesky ’80s Christian era (which is lowkey great too don’t let them fool you) — and illustrates that even though he’s certainly getting up there, he’s just as productive as ever.

The news story seems to be focused on a trove of lost Dylan lyrics and memorabilia that was recently purchased, noting that the lot of papers was sold for $495,000! Half a million just for lyrics that weren’t ever finalized, that’s a pretty impressive legacy to leave behind. Except, as noted above, he’s still here living the legacy for now. Thankfully.

For the real classic rock heads who want to debate, here’s the remaining question: Who is better — Dylan or Neil Young? And let me clarify, one last time, both of them are, currently, still alive.

Jeezy and Gucci Mane made the internet roil on Thursday night when they faced off for a heated Verzuz battle. After years of bad blood and diss tracks, the two rappers and Atlanta cultural icons managed to achieve some semblance of peace by closing out the night performing their joint track, “So Icy.” Of course, that doesn’t mean all the tension is de-escalated forever, but a lot of the reason why things stayed calm during the face off was due to the demeanor of Jeezy.

In a lengthy interview with Boy Boy TV, he spoke to just that — citing one person who really helped him keep things composed that night. ” “I just felt like I wasn’t gonna lose my cool — I wasn’t going to let anyone, including myself, drag me back 20 years,” he said, commenting on Verzuz around 22 minutes. “I worked so hard to get in a place where things are good for me. I got multiple things going on, I employ a lot of people, and everybody depend on me. Matter of fact, I got a daughter that I love very much. I gotta make it back home to her.”

Continuing on: “I’m not putting myself in no position to prove no point to nobody that I’m real. I been real. … It’s solid, ain’t nothin’ ever going to change that. I don’t have anything to prove. The only thing that I gotta prove to myself is I wanna be better than I was yesterday. That would have been an L for me to walk out of there and be like, ‘Yo, I just really lost my composure out in the world because somebody was playing with me like we in the sixth grade.’”

His priorities have clearly shifted over the years, and it’s definitely for the better. Watch the whole interview above.

Gucci Mane is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.