“This pandemic isn’t an excuse for polluters to ignore the law and for EPA to let them get away with it,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said.
Quibi, the upcoming service from Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, will launch on April 6 with dozens of chapter-based movies and TV series. This streamer’s name might sound bizarre but serves as a shortened version of “quick bites,” which is admittedly kind-of clever. Each title consists of episodes/chapters that run 10 minutes or less, all geared towards smartphone bingewatching. Following a 90-day free trial, monthly subscription charges will run $4.99 (with ads) or $7.99 (no ads), and the considerable amount of content available at launch includes a not-insignificant helping of nostalgia.
Yep, along with truckloads of original programming, Quibi’s digging into the revival game, which means that on top of the ridiculous-looking stuff that’s new to everyone, they’re adding fresh spins on tried-and-true titles. So, in addition to original content that includes comedies, thrillers, and action-oriented projects (along with food-and-sports focused titles), these revivals hold promise. Each of them hold varying potential to pull in their previous audiences, and ideally for Quibi, they’ll also draw a new generation of eyeballs.
Quibi has yet to screen these revivals for critics, but from least-to-most likely to succeed, we’ve ranked their excitement-potential anyway.
5. Singled Out
Quibi’s rebooting the 1990s MTV dating game show that launched Chris Hardwick’s career (who ever thought he’d parlay the resulting fame into super-nerd status?) with a new male co-host, Joel Kim Booster. Stepping into the shows of former lady co-hosts Jenny McCarthy and Carmen Electra will be Keke Palmer, and it remains to be seen how well the show will update itself, though it promises to reflect the modern dating landscape. There will still be one dater, 30 singles, and 3 rounds, but supposedly, the main dater will somehow be linked to the singles pool through social media. It sounds complicated, but so is dating, although I don’t see how this show will be any more of a bingeable train wreck than, say, scrolling through Tinder. Still, Love Is Blind is doing well for Netflix, so maybe folks will dig this revival after all.
4. How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days
Romcoms largely disappeared in theaters years ago due to mid-budget films (most of that money going to big names) becoming too much of a risk for studios. However, Netflix and Hulu have seen recent success with the genre, so it makes sense that Quibi would want to dabble there as well, and the streamer hopes to pounce upon any residual goodwill for the 2013 movie starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. This time, the story will take TV series form with scripts from Guy Branum (The Mindy Project, Chelsea Lately) and will follow an online columnist and a ladies-man/ad-executive through the same basic set-up as the film. Will the series transcend any of the gender-role assumptions made by the movie? That remains to be seen, although a fresh spin on the formula will be welcome, as will any casting news and a trailer.
3. Punk’d
Back in the aughts, Ashton Kutcher pulled off some downright cruel pranks on celebrities for MTV (with the vital assistance of then-unknown Dax Shepard). Notable victims included Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and Kim Kardashian, but no one can forget the sight of poor Justin Timberlake crying over a fake federal raid on his home. Now, a new generation of punk-ees will find themselves suffering at the hands of Chance The Rapper. Will Chance throw out the same magnetic energy of his predecessor? He sure as hell looks excited in this trailer, which shows off a gorilla-themed trick that scares the pants off Megan Thee Stallion and friends. I’m guessing that this series might ebb and flow, depending on how’s being pranked in each episode, but considering that the original series lasted ten seasons, this revival should have potential longevity as well.
2. Reno 911!
Over a decade after Comedy Central’s six-season run concluded, the mockumentary-style, Cops-esque show about the incompetent deputies of the Reno Sheriff’s Department will return. Co-creators Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant, and Keri Kenney-Silver reprise their roles (thank God), and they’re joined by Wendi McLendon-Covey, Niecy Nash, Cedric Yarbrough, and Carlos Alazraqui. In addition, Ian Roberts, Joe LoTruglio, and Mary Birdsong (who joined the original series late in the game) will also be around for more law-enforcement shenanigans. Formally, the bite-sized Quibi installments will form a seventh season of the series, which will hopefully see as much heavily improvised dialogue as the earlier years. Let’s hope that, along the way, there are very drunk and extremely disorderly antics, plenty of chase scenes, and maybe a few faux-rabid dogs in the mix. From the looks of the trailer, the original feel of the show is still alive and well, and my gut feeling is that nostalgia should run high from the cult hit’s audience, even if the next series has a slight edge.
1. The Fugitive
Jack Bauer vs. Steve Murphy? That feels like a perfect casting recipe for success, so it’s no wonder that the trailer’s scored over 1.1 million views and counting. Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones starred in the successful 1993 remake of the 1960s TV series from Roy Huggins, so there’s little reason to question why Quibi got pumped to revamp the story again for 2020. That’s especially the case since folks will definitely tune in to see 24‘s Kiefer Sutherland pluck up a firearm once more, which is a testament to his longevity, decades after he played 1980s bad boys like no other. Obviously, the trailer shows us that Sutherland plays the lawman in this update, and Boyd Holbrook is back in action mode (after turns in Narcos and Run All Night) as the “fugitive.” Yet to add even more urgency, the title character’s now a bombing suspect. The mainstream appeal of the stars, the updated nature of the crime, and the adrenaline-fueled ingredients of this reboot should make it one of Quibi’s most successful entries of all.
Quibi launches on April 6 with dozens of titles, and more to come.
It wasn’t the most surprising result on this year’s double bill of WrestleMania cards, but it was the right one: Drew McIntyre realized his destiny in the main event of WrestleMania night two and defeated The Beast Incarnate, Brock Lesnar, to win his first WWE Championship.
In a match that played out almost exactly like Saturday’s Universal Championship match, McIntyre was able to withstand multiple F-5s and come back with four Claymore Kicks to put Brock away.
You can see a clip of that below.
McIntyre’s quest to become WWE Champion began way back in 2009, when Vince McMahon introduced him as a “future World Heavyweight Champion” on an episode of Smackdown. This was the young, clean cut, and now completely weird looking Drew McIntyre — the “Chosen One” — and not the Scottish Psychopath.
As shown in WWE’s video packages hyping the match, McIntyre wanted to win the championship not only to prove McMahon’s declaration correct, but to make up for what he considered years of squandered potential. McIntyre completely reinvented himself physically and professionally between WWE stints to make this happen, as you might be able to tell from this clip of him doing strongman training in the Scottish Highlands and winning tug of war contests against entire teams by himself.
Congratulations to Drew on his victory, as odd as it must’ve been to have happen in an empty Performance Center, and for finally and officially validating all that promise and potential. You were the chosen one after all!
Here are your quick and dirty, editorial-free WWE WrestleMania 36 results for night two, originally aired on April 5, 2020. The second night of the show “Too Big For Just One Night” featured the NXT and Smackdown Women’s Championship matches, John Cena versus Bray Wyatt in a Funhouse Match, Drew McIntyre challenging for the WWE Championship, and more. Make sure you’re here tomorrow for the second of two Best and Worst of WrestleMania 36 columns.
WrestleMania 36 Night Two Results:
1. Kickoff Match: Liv Morgan defeated Natalya. Morgan got the better of a series of pin counters to win the match.
2. NXT Women’s Championship Match: Charlotte Flair defeated Rhea Ripley (c) by submission with the Figure-Eight to become a two-time NXT Women’s Champion. You can watch that here.
– Highlights from Braun Strowman’s Universal Championship win and the Boneyard Match were shown. You can catch up on night one results here.
3. Aleister Black defeated Bobby Lashley. Lashley was setting up to hit the Dominator, but Lana got onto the apron and demanded he hit a spear instead. Black countered that spear with Black Mass to pin Lashley and win the match.
4. Otis defeated Dolph Ziggler. Sonya Deville accompanied Ziggler to the ring and got onto the apron to distract the referee, allowing Ziggler to hit a low blow. Mandy Rose showed up to attack Deville and rolled her into the ring, which distracted the referee and allowed Rose to hit a low blow on Ziggler. Otis then hit the Caterpillar and pinned Ziggler. After the match, Otis kissed Mandy and carried her away in his arms.
BEST. #WRESTLEMANIA MOMENT. EVER.
@otiswwe @WWE_MandyRose pic.twitter.com/zqxQpwi22a
— WWE (@WWE) April 6, 2020
5. Last Man Standing Match: Edge defeated Randy Orton. Edge and Orton fought around the entire Performance Center for almost 40 minutes. Edge won the match after a Conchairto on the top of a WWE production truck, and Orton couldn’t answer the 10 count. After the match, Edge cried.
– Rob Gronkowski won the 24/7 Championship by jumping off his host perch onto a group of people trying to win the title. Gronk pinned Mojo to win and then ran away with the championship. Titus O’Neil took over hosting duties from there. You can watch that here.
6. Smackdown Women’s Championship Elimination Match: Bayley (c) defeated Tamina, Naomi, Lacey Evans, and Sasha Banks. Everyone hit top rope moves on Tamina, culminating in Naomi hitting a split-legged moonsault to pin and eliminate her. Banks eliminated Naomi by submission with the Banks Statement. Bayley accidentally kneed Banks and the two argued about it, allowing Evans to hit Banks with the Women’s Right and eliminate her. Banks returned to hit a Backstabber on Evans, setting up Bayley to win with the Rose Plant DDT. After the match, Banks handed the championship belt to Bayley.
7. Firefly Funhouse Match: The Fiend defeated John Cena, we guess? In a match that took the form of a fever dream incorporating rookie John Cena’s “ruthless aggression” debut, the Doctor of Thuganomics, WrestleMania 30, and even an imaginary episode of WCW Monday Nitro, The Fiend choked out Cena while non-Fiend Bray Wyatt counted the pin. Afterward, Cena disappeared. Please visit this link for an attempt at a better explanation.
8. WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre defeated Brock Lesnar (c). McIntyre kicked out of multiple F-5s and hit four Claymore Kicks to win the match and the championship.
For John Cena‘s first pro wrestling match in more than a year, it had to be something unique. Up until now, there was virtually no type of match the 16-time WWE Champion hadn’t competed in before. Steel cage? Hell In A Cell? Elimination Chamber? TLC? Last Man Standing? You name it, the guy’s done it. (Probably multiple times — and he probably beat your favorite wrestler in the process.)
But for WrestleMania 36, Cena was thrown into a match he had never before experienced: a Firefly Funhouse match against his old nemesis Bray Wyatt. Cena had previously vanquished Wyatt at WrestleMania 30, but he had never encountered Wyatt since the creation of his “the Fiend” persona. Would Wyatt be able to avenge his loss six years ago? Or would Cena win (LOL)?
The match began with Wyatt magically teleporting Cena from the WWE Performance Center into the Firefly Funhouse set. Cena exited the set only to be plunged into darkness, where he ran into a Vince McMahon puppet who told him he had to win or he would be fired. Wyatt and Cena then re-created his legendary “ruthless aggression” promo with Kurt Angle.
The two were then transported onto the set of Saturday Night’s Main Event, where they cut a promo as a tag team before Cena tried attack Wyatt again. Wyatt then sent him back to the old-school Smackdown set as the Doctor Of Thuganomics, where he cut a rapping promo on Wyatt. Wyatt then attacked him with Cena’s chain necklace, before he turned into the swamp-cult-hillbilly version of himself, sitting in a rocking chair, saying that his WrestleMania 30 match against Cena was his biggest failure. The pair then teleported back to a wrestling ring, where the match (presumably) begun. Wyatt went for Sister Abigail but Cena escaped. Wyatt then handed him a chair, calling back to their previous match, but when Cena took the chair and swung it, Wyatt disappeared.
Then the match turned into WCW Monday Nitro, with Wyatt cosplaying Eric Bischoff and John Cena playing Hollywood Hogan, air-guitaring the WCW championship and everything. Cena then snapped and attacked Wyatt, who morphed into Huskus The Pig, as The Fiend appeared behind him.
The Fiend locked in the Mandible Claw before hitting him with a Sister Abigail and locking the Mandible Claw in again. Cena then disappeared and the match apparently ended, although no referee was present and no bell ever rang.
I guess this is what happens when you let him in.