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Since the start of the pandemic, the rise of Zoom has led to many on-camera mishaps, some much more egregious than others. There was Jeffrey Toobin’s notorious incident, which he later described as “deeply moronic,” and on the lighter side of things, there was the lawyer who apparently got attacked by a feline filter found himself insisting that he was not actually a cat. After both of those hot messes, one would think that double-and-triple checking would be the name of the Zoom-bound game, but a GOP state lawmaker felt differently, it seems.

As Aaron Rupar first revealed on Twitter, Minnesota’s Cal Bahr attended an Office of the Legislative Auditor voting session via Zoom. When it was his time to appear on camera, there he was, lounging in bed while shirtless. Somehow, he also appeared before a Schoolhouse Rock “I’m Just a Bill” background, which only added to the oddness on display.

What on earth happened here? The local Minneapolis-St. Paul Fox affiliate noted (whole pointing out how quickly Bahr’s camera turned off to show only his name) that they have “reached out” to the lawmaker, but as of now, he has yet to publicly comment on the situation. As his state lawmaker profile reveals, he’s been serving the Minnesota public for six years, first in the House of Representatives and then the Minnesota Senate as of 2022. And as far as anyone knows, this is his first shirtless voting session (and probably his last one, too).

(Via Aaron Rupar on Twitter & Fox 9 News)

A big year for video game adaptations (The Last of Us, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, etc.) continues with Twisted Metal.

Based on the PlayStation series that began in 1995, the Peacock show stars Anthony Mackie as a “motor-mouthed outsider offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland,” according to the official plot synopsis. “With the help of a badass axe-wielding car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road.”

One of those dangers is an ice cream truck-driving killer clown named Sweet Tooth played by wrestler Samoa Joe and voiced by Will Arnett. The cast also includes Stephanie Beatriz, Thomas Haden Church, Neve Campbell, Richard Cabral, and Mike Mitchell (of Doughboys podcast fame).

Here’s more from showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith:

“This is a bonkers show about insiders and outsiders, and how our own special apocalypse has divided and isolated us more than ever. But there’s hope. You can find your people and your community. You may just have to get past a terrifying clown driving a well-armed ice cream truck to find them.”

Twisted Metal premieres on Peacock on July 27th. Watch the teaser above.

It’s not easy to be a preteen in any capacity, but when you are a preteen living in New Jersey, it’s a whole other ballgame. Luckily, Judy Blume mastered the art of getting into an 11-year-old’s brain when she wrote Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, and it finally made its way onto the big screen over 50 years after the book was written.

The coming-of-age classic has been adapted into a heartwarming live-action flick starring Rachel McAdams and Benny Safdie, with newcomer Abby Ryder Forston taking the lead as Margaret, a young girl who is forced to leave her friends behind in NYC for the Jersey suburbs. As if that wasn’t enough to sell the film, Kathy Bates also stars.

For now, Are You There God? can only be seen in theaters, since it was released on April 28th. The film is distributed by Lionsgate, which does not have its own streamer, but does have a forthcoming deal with Peacock, meaning that Are You There God will likely end up on NBC’s streaming service sometime soon. Lionsgate movies typically end up on Starz first after being released, so Are You There God will likely follow the same release model.

The good news is that Plane, another recent Lionsgate movie, landed on Peacock three weeks after its initial theatrical run, which means we can probably check in with God and Margaret from the comfort of our own screens sometime in early June. Maybe this time God will actually talk back!

The 2023 Met Gala is nearly here and while famous attendees have likely spent the day perfecting their red carpet looks, for those of us watching at home, our prep is much less intensive. In fact, other than donning a pair of comfy sweats and booting up your laptop, the only real legwork that needs to be done is finding out when and where to watch this gorgeously-draped procession of Hollywood royalty.

And even there, we’ve got you covered.

The Met Gala takes place on May 1st, 2023 with a start time of 6:30 p.m. ET. The red carpet is likely to start getting busy a bit before then, as less-recognizable attendees arrive early but because Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour schedules everything down to the millisecond, most of the bigger stars should start showing up right at curtain time.

The event will be live-streamed on Vogue’s website and its various social media channels with the red carpet show being hosted by the likes of Saturday Night Live star Chloe Fineman, La La Anthony, Derek Blasberg, and special correspondent Emma Chamberlain. The show’s theme is in honor of famed designer Karl Lagerfeld, the problematic son of Nazi parents who passed away in 2019. Attendees are expected to arrive dressed in one of his vintage or modern designs unless they pay homage to the creator himself by copying his trademark personal style of fingerless gloves and dark sunglasses. Expect bigger names like the Kardashians, Zendaya, and first-timer Florence Pugh to arrive later in the evening.

Quick — imagine a delicious, juicy, savory, flavor bomb of a decadent cheeseburger. You know, the sort of cheeseburger that kicks the salivary glands into overdrive and causes you to close your eyes and revel in perfect layer upon perfect layer of umami. Was there bacon on this imaginary burger? We’re willing to bet there was bacon. Few single ingredients can as easily elevate a cheeseburger as a few strips of bacon.

And you know what? This might sound crazy but I think the best bacon cheeseburgers are found in the big, ubiquitous national chains, not the higher-end, trendier spots like Shake Shack and In-n-Out. Have you had Shake Shack’s Bacon Shake Burger? The bacon is so thin and flimsy, it’s an embarrassment to the menu. In-N-Out doesn’t even have a bacon burger! Meanwhile, Wendy’s is out here basing whole meal deals around their excess of bacon.

So the next time you’re feeling a craving for a satisfying bacon burger where is your money best spent? We’re going to find out by putting our favorite fast food bacon cheeseburgers to the blind taste test.

Methodology

For this blind taste test, we had to make sure we hit up all the biggest burger chains — Burger King, Carl’s Jr. Jack in the Box, McDonald’s, and Wendy’s. A couple of months back I did a blind double cheeseburger taste test, so I already had a driving route worked out that would allow me to scoop up five different cheeseburgers relatively quickly.

Only one of these burger chains, Wendy’s, was totally out of the way. That stacked the cards against Wendy’s as, unfortunately, it would be the coldest burger of the five. Would that make it not taste as good? Was it unfair? We thought about leaving out Wendy’s as a result, but it felt wrong to have a blind bacon cheeseburger taste test without the mighty Baconator.

Here is our lineup:

• Burger King — Bacon King
• Carl’s Jr. — Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger
• Jack in the Box — Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger
• McDonald’s — Double Quarter Pounder With Bacon
• Wendy’s — Baconator

For the tasting portion, I had my girlfriend bring me each burger one at a time, took a big bite out of each under cover of a blindfold, and recorded my initial impressions and tasting notes via voice memo. For the best photo, I had her cut each burger in half so we could photograph the uneaten half and you wouldn’t have to see my gruesome chew marks.

Here are the results.

Part 1: The Tasting:

Taste 1:

Dry and a chore to chew through. This burger packs evolving layers of flavors, but the meat tastes overcooked to the point that the only moisture in this burger comes from the mix of mayo and ketchup.

Charred beef dominates, transitioning to smokey bacon notes. The sauce is a mix of tangy and bright sweetened notes, which pair nicely with the sweet bacon flavor that lingers on the aftertaste.

Taste 2:

Significantly beefier than Taste 1 and incredibly juicy. I’m getting a huge emphasis on the bacon with this burger, every bite is equal parts smokey and beefy. The bacon is cooked perfectly, it’s oily and crispy, but not to the point that it lacks that savory and slightly sweet pork flavor. The beef is rich and satisfying and cooked to a perfect medium-well state — most fast food burgers are dry but this has an almost homemade quality.

The sauce tastes to me like another mix of mayo and ketchup, there is a hint of tang and a nice rich umami finish. This burger is near perfect, but it feels too early to say that. If I had one complaint, I’d say it’s a bit too salty.

Taste 3:

There are a lot of different flavors going on with this burger, but unlike Taste 1, it’s a strength, not a weakness. It tastes masterfully put together — beefy, salty, and sweet, with some crisp, biting notes courtesy of the raw white onions. The onion is counterbalanced with earthy pickles that help the flavor from spinning out of control and becoming too overwhelming.

The sauce is tangy but with a bitter finish, unlike the sauce used in Tastes 1 and 2. The beef here is really tasty — it melts in the mouth. Unfortunately, it tastes like the bacon takes a major backseat here. It’s a delicious burger, but as a bacon burger, it leaves me feeling some level of disappointment.

Taste 4:

This burger is a soggy mess. The bacon is thin and struggles to make itself known under the layers of beef we’re dealing with here. However, despite the lack of bacon, there is a very audible crunch to this burger with a flavor dominated by tangy barbecue sauce and savory fried onions.

Again, the bacon tastes like an afterthought here — this burger is all about the barbecue and beef. The beef is charred like Taste 1 but much juicier, or maybe it’s the insane amount of barbecue sauce used, giving the illusion of juiciness. This one lands somewhere in the middle for me for sure.

Taste 5:

This burger tastes unlike any other in the lineup, and that’s saying something considering Taste 4 threw fried onion rings into the mix.

This burger has a tangy, earthy, and sweet flavor, with a strong emphasis on cheesy notes, decent bacon, and forgettable beef. I love the way the burger is dressed, but the quality of the meat in both the beef and bacon just isn’t doing enough to win me over. The beef tastes unseasoned and the bacon has a microwaved, soggy texture.

Part 2: The Ranking

5. Burger King — Bacon King (Taste 1)

We’ll give Burger King this — the “Bacon King” is a great name for a giant double cheeseburger with bacon on it. But great marketing aside, this burger just came across as way too dry to be enjoyable.

A burger that is smothered in ketchup and mayo shouldn’t come across as dry, so that should put into perspective just how dry it actually was. It’s like eating sand. I think BK’s big problem is that they grill their burgers a bit too long to eradicate the fear of foodborne illness. On the one hand, you get some charred notes, but that’s at the expense of juiciness, and call me crazy but I’d rather have a juicy burger than a burnt one.

The Bottom Line:

Thick, filling, but dry and ultimately a chore to chew through.

Find your nearest Burger King here.

4. Jack in the Box — Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger (Taste 5)

JiB’s Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger has a very unique flavor, it’s one of the few bacon burgers that goes heavy on the mustard and gives you two different types of cheese — Swiss and American. If that sounds good to you, this burger is definitely worth it.

Unfortunately, its weak points are the beef and bacon — which seem like two very important components to us.

The Bottom Line:

Interesting and uniquely tangy, creamy, and earthy, but the beef is almost flavorless and the bacon is too thin and floppy to enjoy.

Find your nearest Jack in the Box here.

3. Carl’s Jr. — Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger (Taste 4)

We love a decadent burger, and the Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger is definitely one of the most decadent in the fast food universe, thanks to its combination of beef, bacon, fried onion rings, and a whole lot of barbecue sauce.

But all of those ingredients lead to a very soggy and messy burger. That makes sense as Carl’s Jr’s slogan used to be “If it doesn’t get all over the place, it doesn’t belong in your face.” If that’s the sort of burger you’re into, Carl’s Jr has got your back.

Ultimately we have to give it the third place spot though, because as good as it is, the bacon feels like an afterthought here. Maybe if this were a ranking of barbecue burgers I’d rank this much higher.

The Bottom Line:

Messy and flavorful, but too soggy for its own good. The double dose of barbecue sauce completely drowns out the bacon flavor.

Find your nearest Carl’s Jr. here.

2. McDonald’s — Double Quarter Pounder with Bacon (Taste 3)

McDonald’s Double Bacon Quarter Pounder suffers from the same issue as Carl’s Jr’s Double Bacon Cheeseburger — there isn’t nearly enough bacon here. Like the latter burger, there are too many other ingredients distracting from the bacon, but it’s hard to complain when a beef patty tastes this good.

Back when we did our double cheeseburger blind taste test, several friends and colleagues told me I had to get the value menu double cheeseburger because it was McDonald’s “best burger.” I suspected they were wrong and judging from that ranking, they were. People get nostalgic for that burger because for many it was the very first burger they ever ate, which is probably why it’s a best seller. I think that’s unfortunate because the beef patties used in the Quarter Pounder are significantly better.

Is the McDonald’s double cheeseburger a great value? Sure, but the Quarter Pounder is a great burger, and I’ll gladly pay more for that any day.

The Bottom Line:

A delicious burger that packs a lot of flavors, you can’t go wrong picking up one of these. But is it the best bacon burger in fast food? Not quite.

Find your nearest McDonald’s here.

1. Wendy’s — Baconator (Taste 2)

Wendy’s fans probably saw this one coming — the Baconator is just too good to be beaten. Wendy’s isn’t messing around with this thing, they pile on two layers of crispy bacon on top of each patty. That layer that sits between the bottom patty and is encrusted in melted cheese? It’s perfection. The sort of thing that makes all the sodium in fast food worth consuming in a single sitting.

It’s beefy, juicy, savory, smokey, and above all else decadent as f*ck. It’s hard to get through this burger in a single sitting, the waves of savory flavors wage a relentless war on your tastebuds. The real draw here is just how simple it is: beef, layers of American cheese, bacon, mayo, and ketchup. That’s it. No distracting secondary ingredients, just a super juicy salty flavorful meat bomb with the best beef and bacon in the whole fast food game.

The Bottom Line:

A burger that is dominated by beef and bacon flavors the way a good bacon cheeseburger should be! It is far and above the beefiest, baconiest (not a word but this burger makes the case that it should be), and most delicious bacon double cheeseburger in the fast food landscape.

Find your nearest Wendy’s here.

Streaming is a hopscotch game of services where the show you love will probably jump off the platform you pay for before you get a chance to finish it. Such is the horror of modernity. On the bright side, it also means that combining the right streaming services can act like a cheat code for gaining access to a bunch of cool, diverse series.

One of those cheat codes is getting Paramount+ with the Showtime add-on, ensuring you get prestige programming alongside network TV shows. Here are the 25 best Paramount Plus shows and the best show on Showtime you can watch.

Last updated on May 1, 2023

30. Mayor Of Kingstown

Year: 2021-present
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest, Hugh Dillon, Tobi Bamtefa, Taylor Handley, Emma Laird, Derek Webster, Hamish Allan-Headley, Aidan Gillen, and Kyle Chandler
Genre: Crime Thriller
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1-2: 20 episodes
Created By: Taylor Sheridan, Hugh Dillon
Trailer: Watch here

What’s more important: rules or peace? You can’t have both in Kingstown. Luckily, the “Mayor” Mike McLusky knows this, but that doesn’t mean that bending the rules or keeping the peace is simple in a town where the most popular occupation is prison guard. McLusky and his family stand in the middle of the street gangs, prisoners, guards, and the cops, attempting to keep all hell from breaking loose. The series from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan starts in the pressure cooker and refuses to leave, featuring some of Renner’s finest work as the unflappably tough figure with the dubious honor of running the town.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

29. Penny Dreadful

Year: 2014-2016
Cast: Eva Green, Reeve Carney, Timothy Dalton, Rory Kinnear, Billie Piper, Harry Treadway, Helen McCrory, and Josh Hartnett
Genre: Gothic Horror, Drama, Dark Fantasy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1-3: 27 episodes
Created By: John Logan
Trailer: Watch here

On the one hand, one more outing for Dr. Jekyll and Frankenstein (the doctor and the monster!) seems a little stale, but Logan found the sweet spot for bringing them to modern life. A dark warning masquerading as an invitation, the series was exquisite in both its look and its storytelling, leaning a bit into horror but mostly growling with a smile on its face. Set in 1891 London, it features an American showman gunslinger who is hired by an enigmatic woman and a wealthy adventurer to rescue his daughter from a dark creature. It makes the most of familiar Gothic favorites, and Eva Green might be having the most fun of her career.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

28. Who Is America?

Year: 2018
Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen
Genre: Political Satire
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1: 7 episodes
Created By: Sacha Baron Cohen
Trailer: Watch here

Arriving in 2018 for only one season, it’s easy to see Who Is America? as Sacha Baron Cohen‘s hyper-specific response to the United States electing Donald Trump as president. Returning after a long hiatus to the ambush comedy that launched his career, the characters he crafted for this series seem almost designed to be disbelieved, trying to get caught in the lie by his targets and being disappointed every time that they don’t see through his mask. From a far right conspiracy theorist to an ex-Mossad anti-terrorism expert, you could understand why he probably wanted interview subjects to push back on his wild character’s plan to arm children for “safety” but they didn’t, so we’re left to laugh while weeping.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

27. Rabbit/Hole

Year: 2023
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Meta Golding, Enid Graham, Rob Yang, Charles Dance, Walt Klink, and Wendy Makkena
Genre: Spy Thriller
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1: 8 episodes
Created By: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Trailer: Watch here

For fans of spy thrillers or those simply trying to reconnect with their dads, Kiefer Sutherland has got the show for you. In Rabbit/Hole, he plays a corporate spy who’s framed for murder and tumbles into a dizzyingly twist conspiracy. It’s a bit like 24 if Jack Bauer were having a good time instead of grousing about still being at work. Sutherland is magic in the role, pulling together the competing tones of Very Serious Action and Super Silly Plot Complications with veteran skill. With all the other self-serious spy thrillers out there, it’s refreshing to see one that knows how to have fun.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

26. The Stand

Year: 2020
Cast: James Marsden, Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgard, Greg Kinnear, Amber Heard, Jovan Adepo, Odessa Young, Owen Teague, Henrique Zaga, Brad William Henke, Nat Wolff, and Irene Bedard
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic, Horror, Disaster, Fantasy Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1: 9 episodes
Created By: Josh Boone, Benjamin Cavell
Trailer: Watch here

It’s just bad luck that this new adaptation of Stephen King‘s magnum opus doomsday novel landed in 2020. After almost a year of Covid, it hit a little too close to home, and maybe it does still, but for those brave enough, it’s an excellent version of the story. As with the seminal ’90s mini-series starring Gary Sinise, this version follows a group of survivors of a humanmade plague as they’re drawn either to a Godlike figure or the Devil himself, setting up the dominoes for an epic battle of good against evil for the soul of humanity. M-O-O-N: that spells pandemic horror.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

25. Evil

Year: 2019 –
Cast: Katja Herbers, Mike Colter, Aasif Mandvi, Michael Emerson, Maddy Crocco, Skylar Gray
Genre: Crime Drama/Horror
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 3 (30 episodes)
Created By: Michelle King, Robert King
Trailer: Watch here

A dynamic that’s not unlike the central pair in the The X-Files surfaces in this series that questions where evil originates, and if that’s more from science or from religion. A priest-in-training dives into unexplained mysteries in the Catholic Church with the help of a skeptical female mental health professional. In the process, the show glides through exorcisms, hauntings, and miracles. Can logic or the supernatural prevail more? Therein lies the issue.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

24. Homeland

Year: 2011-2020
Cast: Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Morena Baccarin, David Harewood, Diego Klattenhoff, Jamey Sheridan, and Mandy Patinkin
Genre: Spy Thriller, Political Thriller
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1-8: 96 episodes
Created By: Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa
Trailer: Watch here

More than any other espionage thriller, Homeland captured the zeitgeist of the Iraq War era, showcasing both the bravery of individual agents as well as recklessness and questionable moral allegiances. As far as single seasons go, the first is one of the best in television history, pitting the potentially paranoid CIA agent Carrie Mathison against the war hero Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody who may or may not be part of a terrorist plot that threatens the highest levels of government. It was a weekly dose of sweaty palms that is now bingeable in case you need to keep your heart rate elevated for hours on end.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

23. Æon Flux

Year: 1991-1995
Cast: Denise Poirier, John Rafter Lee, and Julia Fletcher
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Avant-Garde, Experimental Sci-Fi
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1-3: 21 episodes
Created By: Peter Chung
Trailer: Watch here

Part of the Liquid Television lineup back in the day, Aeon Flux was the show you watched before you knew what the F in WTF stood for. Æon Flux is a Barbarella-like secret agent who wears a black bikini and heavy weapons, hailing from a city of nihilism and anarchy in perpetual war with a rigid totalitarian city. Flux’s eternal mission is to bring the city down by targeting its ruler. A glorious cyberpunk ballet, the cartoon series was unique in its German Expressionistic look and its gutsy experimentalism. All of that was sanded down for a questionable live-action film starring Charlize Theron, which never stood a chance of bringing the gonzo world of this weirdo show to full fruition.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

22. 1923

Year: 2022-present
Cast: Helen Mirren, Harrison Ford, Brandon Sklenar, Julia Schlaepfer, Jerome Flynn, Darren Mann, Isabel May, Brian Geraghty, Aminah Nieves, Michelle Randolph, and Timothy Dalton
Genre: Western
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1: 8 episodes
Created By: Taylor Sheridan
Trailer: Watch here

It’s impossible to turn on Paramount+ while escaping Taylor Sheridan. He’s the Shonda Rhimes of the streaming channel, spinning off massive successes off his massive successes. 1923 is just one of them — a branch from the Yellowstone tree taking us back to bust decade Montana where the Dutton family weathers economic downturns, prohibition, conflicts at the local Catholic boarding school, and men who want to do them harm. If you want to understand how good this show is, just take a look at the cast list. Ford and Mirren are fantastic, and while it was meant to be a one-off, a second season was ordered because fan response was so strong.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

21. 1883

Year: 2021-2022
Cast: Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Isabel May, LaMonica Garrett, Marc Rissmann, Audie Rick, Eric Nelsen, James Landry Hebert, and Noah Le Gros
Genre: Western, Period Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1: 10 episodes
Created By: Taylor Sheridan
Trailer: Watch here

Seriously. You can’t escape Taylor Sheridan. In the other spin-off from Yellowstone, we go back even further in time to the Dutton ancestor James Dillard Dutton as he puts the Civil War behind him in order to help a wagon train out of Texas heading for Oregon. The journey is as dangerous as the computer game promised. McGraw and Hill both more than hold their own against seasoned actors, including Sam Elliott who, of course, is contractually obligated to star in every western ever made. For good reason. It’s a harrowing series about sacrificing in order to make a better life, wallpapered with gorgeous vistas and fantastic cinematography.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

20. Californication

Year: 2007-2014
Cast: David Duchovny, Natascha McElhone, Madeleine Martin, Evan Handler, Pamela Adlon, and Madeline Zima
Genre: Comedy Drama, Sex Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1-7: 84 episodes
Created By: Tom Kapinos
Trailer: Watch here

Hank Moody is an alcoholic writer who is super sad that his trenchant niche novel has been converted into a wildly popular (and soulless) movie. He’s also having a rough time with his ex-girlfriend/love of his life marrying a fancy Los Angeles publisher and his teenage daughter pulling away from him because of his terminal inability to make good choices. Aided by his deplorable agent, Hank tries to clean up his life, but it’s not exactly a linear process. Sophisticated and filled to the brim with sex and excess, David Duchovny rocked the role with a constant stream of devil may care vibes and the wink of a possibility that this slime ball was somehow redeemable.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

19. Tulsa King

Year: 2022-present
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Andrea Savage, Martin Starr, Jay Will, Max Casella, Domenick Lombardozzi, Vincent Piazza, Garrett Hedlund, and Dana Delaney
Genre: Crime Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1: 9 episodes
Created By: Taylor Sheridan
Trailer: Watch here

Another barn burner from Taylor Sheridan, he’s hit upon a novel crime idea by sending a mafioso into Oklahoma not in the witness protection program, but as the lead in fresh territory for his criminal bosses to exploit. Stallone is pitch perfect here playing the gray haired mobster Manfredi who refused to rat and is rewarded by being sent to the middle of nowhere. Unlike other tough guy figures, he’s given full license to be funny, quipping constantly and dispensing old school crime boss wisdom alongside murderous one-liners. That attitude, alongside the absurd clash between Manfredi’s fish-out-of-water NYC sensibilities and the legal weed world of Tulsa, sets it apart from other crime dramas.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

18. Your Honor

Year: 2020-2023
Cast: Bryan Cranston, Hunter Doohan, Hope Davis, Sofia Black-D’Elia, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Michael Stuhlbarg, and Carmen Ejogo
Genre: Legal Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1-2: 20 episodes
Created By: Peter Moffat
Trailer: Watch here

Told over two white knuckle seasons, Cranston stars as a respected judge in New Orleans whose son kills another boy in a hit and run accident. Courageously, the judge wants his son to turn himself in and face the music, but he changes his tune when he learns that the boy his son killed is the child of a mafia kingpin. It’s the kind of situation where a rock and a hard place would be a sincere upgrade, and once again, Cranston proves he’s unstoppable as the upright figure driven to immoral measures when the going gets tough. Gorgeously shot, the Showtime series is a riveting drama from start to shocking finish.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

17. Criminal Minds

Year: 2005 –
Cast: Matthew Gray Gubler, Kirsten Vangsness, A.J. Cook, Shemar Moore, Paget Brewster, Aisha Tyler
Genre: Procedural/Crime Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 16 (324 episodes)
Created By: Jeff Davis
Trailer: Watch here

Matthew Gray Gubler hasn’t surfaced yet in the Evolution leg of this series (exclusively available on Paramount+), but the good news is that there are already sixteen other seasons of the principle series for fans to feast upon in repeated fashion. This show, of course, is one of several procedurals that continue to capture the hearts and minds of viewers. These elite FBI profilers, known as the Behavioral Analysis Unit, never rest, it seems, while they attempt to understand predatorily motivations and stop future potential crimes through the art of so-called “mind hunting.” In the Evolution series, serial killers of the pandemic take central stage. Yikes.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

16. Murder In Big Horn

Year: 2023
Cast: Documentary Figures
Genre: Documentary, True Crime
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1: 3 episodes
Created By: Razelle Benally, Matthew Galkin
Trailer: Watch here

This vital docuseries from Galkin and Benally is a different kind of true crime story. Instead of inventing unnecessary twists and turns, it seeks to tell the frustratingly straightforward story of an epidemic of murdered and missing indigenous women laced with the maddening official responses that doubt there’s any real problem. It’s the kind of necessary narrative that will have you alternative between clenching your fists and crying, but it’s miles away from “homework viewing.” The stories they’ve unearthed through conversations with locals, including family members of missing young women, are fascinating, often tragic, and invaluable to hear.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

15. Halo

Year: 2022-present
Cast: Pablo Schreiber, Shabana Azmi, Natasha Culzac, Olive Gray, Yerin Ha, Charlie Murphy, Jen Taylor, Bokeem Woodbine, and Natascha McElhone
Genre: Military Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1: 9 episodes
Created By: Kyle Killen, Steven Kane
Trailer: Watch here

Finally a serious version of Red vs Blue! Based on the wildly popular video game series, Halo brings Master Chief to live action reality, pushing the superhuman soldier through the paces of fighting the aliens of The Covenant and questioning whether maybe his superiors are, you know, not totally great either. The show ignores some of the elements of the game and its subsequent novels, but it offers clear cut sci-fi action that has set the stage for future seasons to bust out of the tropes and shine. Schreiber is clearly in his element voicing the grizzled living weapon and the inclusion of Jen Taylor voicing Cortana brings some legit connective tissue to the video games.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

14. Avatar: The Last Airbender

Year: 2005 – 2008
Cast: Dee Bradley Baker, Zach Tyler Eisen, Mae Whitman
Genre: Animation/Adventure
Rating: TV-Y7-FV
Seasons: 3 (62 episodes)
Created By: Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
Trailer: Watch here

This Nickelodeon series will appeal to many generations and revolves around the four nations that represent the four natural elements: water, earth, fire, and air. Special beings known as the Benders can control their own particular element, but all four elements can be mastered by the Avatar. In this series, a tribe discovers that the missing Avatar is among them, and now, Aang must use his abilities to truly become the master that he was intended to be.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

13. Daria

Year: 1997-2002
Cast: Tracy Grandstaff, Wendy Hoopes, Julian Rebolledo, Marc Thompson, and Alvaro J. Gonzalez
Genre: Adult Animation, Teen Drama, Comedy, Satire
Rating: TV-PG
Runtime: Season 1-5: 65 episodes
Created By: Glenn Eichler, Susie Lewis Lynn
Trailer: Watch here

Thankfully escaping the orbit of Beavis and Butt-head, Daria Morgendorffer got her own show to be as sarcastic and cynical as she wanted to be. No offence to B&B — they’re just wildly different shows, and Daria deserved room to breathe. Fortunately, we got 5 seasons of this exaggerated suburban landscape where Daria skewered all things bright, sunny, and popular in the ’90s. Amid the sea of sparkly lip gloss and football pads, Daria is still a counterculture icon. Jaded and hilarious, she’s earned pop cultural immortality that she would probably despise.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

12. Yellowjackets

Year: 2021-present
Cast: Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Sophie Nelisse, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Christina Ricci, Sammi Hanratty, Juliette Lewis, and Sophie Thatcher
Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Psychological Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1: 10 episodes
Created By: Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson
Trailer: Watch here

In 1972, the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 plane crashed in the remote Andes, and the survivors were forced to resort to cannibalism as a means to survive the inhospitable climes until they could be rescued. Yellowjackets asks what would happen if the plane had been filled with teenage soccer players. Jumping back and forth between the wilderness and the present day, the series is a taut thriller tinged with the unfolding mystery of what really happened out there when the girls’ plane went down. Is it as simple as they made it sound in the press, or does it get a lot stranger? (Hint: you already know the answer.) Anchored by rock-star performances by Lynskey and Lewis and Ricci and the young crew, it’s earned its spot as a TV phenomenon for good reason.

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11. Nathan For You

Year: 2013 – 2017 Unchanged: Year: 2013 – 2017
Cast: Nathan Fielder
Genre: Reality/Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 4 (25 episodes)
Created By: Nathan Fielder
Trailer: Watch here

Before Nathan Fielder truly unsettled the world with The Rehearsal‘s higher (and even more awkward) stakes full of manipulation, he warmed up with this assortment of satirical pranks. At times, this series is so cringeworthy to watch that, well, it is hard not to look away from the small-business scenarios. Yet Fielder keeps viewers hooked despite any discomfort, and it’s worth doubling back for a refresh of this deranged yet innovative series.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

10. Frasier

Year: 1993-2004
Cast: Kelsey Grammer, Jane Leeves, David Hyde Pierce, Peri Gilpin, John Mahoney, and Moose The Dog and Enzo The Dog
Genre: Sitcom
Rating: TV-PG
Runtime: Season 1-11: 264 episodes
Created By: David Angell, Peter Casey, David Lee
Trailer: Watch here

Yes, you hear the blues a’callin’. It’s inevitable. The pull of one of the most successful sitcoms of all time was, inexplicably, about a posh psychiatrist doling out radio advice in Seattle. The Cheers spin-off found a winning formula in affably pompous Frasier butting heads Odd Couple style with his domestic beer-swilling, retired cop father. Naturally, his effete brother Niles and dad’s daffy line-in physio Daphne are key to the mix, as well as his deadpan genius producer Roz. It’s difficult to see the show working without any of them because they made up a bizarre family that squabbled, had each other’s backs, and occasionally got into vaudeville-esque hijinks. A welcome antidote after watching so much TV-MA.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

9. I Love Lucy

Year: 1951-1957
Cast: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley, and Richard Keith
Genre: Sitcom
Rating: TV-G
Runtime: Season 1-6: 180 episodes
Created By: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz
Trailer: Watch here

Speaking of comic antidotes, there’s nothing like going back to the classics. It’s a true gift that every episode of I Love Lucy is available on Paramount+ because it rings that nostalgia bell whether you watched its original run or stayed up slightly late to catch it on Nick At Nite. The show features wife and husband comedy team Ball and Arnaz with Lucy trying her best to get into trouble in every episode, usually by ignoring completely practical advice. After more than a half-century, its proven both its staying power and timelessness — the jokes as fresh today as they were in the black and white era.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

8. The Good Wife

Year: 2009-2016
Cast: Julianna Margulies, Matt Czuchry, Archie Panjabi, Graham Phillips, Makenzie Vega, Josh Charles, and Christine Baranski
Genre: Legal Drama, Political Drama
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: Season 1-7: 156 episodes
Created By: Robert King, Michelle King
Trailer: Watch here

The Kings’ series is an institution ripe for a rewatch (or long overdue for you to see). Jumping off the cliched image of the humbling politician admitting to an affair to a packed press conference with his trapped doting wife holding his hand as a measure of public support, the show featured a woman who refused to play nice. After her husband is jailed for a sex scandal-tinged corruption charge, Alicia Florrick emerges from being a stay-at-home mother to rejoin the ranks of litigation to provide for her two children. The Good Wife deftly jumped between Florrick’s personal woes and the weekly courtroom challenges she faced with courage and smarts, all while touting an impressive list of guest stars and recurring actors.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

7. Shameless

Year: 2011 – 2021
Cast: Emmy Rossum, William H. Macy, Jeremy Allen White
Genre: Dramedy
Rating: TV-MA
Seasons: 12 (134 episodes)
Created By: Paul Abbott, John Wells
Trailer: Watch here

The U.S. version of the Gallagher family lasted one season longer than its U.K. predecessor, and we received laughter and tears and more laughter before all was said and done. Fiona left the building one season before her siblings, and the show never recovered. Yet viewers will always enjoy revisiting how Fiona held the group together even when they drove her nuts. Tragic Lip and chaotic Carl were only a few of the character highlights, and incredible guest stars like Dermot Mulroney and Katey Sagal were icing on the Chicago South Side cake.

6. Reno 911!

Year: 2003-2009
Cast: Cedric Yarbrough, Niecy Nash, Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon, Carlos Alazraqui, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Mary Birdsong, Ian Roberts, and Joe Lo Truglio
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1-8: 124 episodes
Created By: Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon, Kerri Kenney-Silver
Trailer: Watch here

It’s a comedy miracle that this weird, wonderful parody of Cops exists. Throughout seasons of the most taboo jokes possible, the underlying philosophy of the series is that these Reno cops are profoundly inept. It’s the comic well from which all the funny stuff flows, and the cast nails it straight to the ground every time. It’s outrageous and singular, and fans of Party Down and I Think You Should Leave who, somehow, haven’t checked this out should spare some binge time to connect with their comedy ancestors. Beyond its peerless humor, this Comedy Central show pulls off the impossible of having every cast member be the MVP of every episode.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

5. The Chi

Year: 2017-present
Cast: Jason Mitchell, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Jacob Latimore, Alex Hibbert, Tiffany Boone, Yolonda Ross, and Armando Riesco
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1-5: 50 episodes
Created By: Lena Waithe
Trailer: Watch here

It’s easy to accidentally binge shows these days, but it’s genuinely difficult to stop watching The Chi. The series from Waithe and Common is a web of daily lives on the South Side of Chicago all affected in different ways by a dramatic series of events. It doesn’t feel quite right to call it a drama because it encompasses the totality of human experience through the eyes of its ensemble — from risky first loves to challenging jobs to the struggles of poverty and a lack of good choices. With fantastic performances throughout, the show is deeply humane and finds incredible joy in each of its vibrant, compelling characters.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

4. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Year: 1993-1999
Cast: Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, Cirroc Lofton, Colm Meaney, Armin Shimerman, Alexander Siddig, Nana Visitor, Michael Dorn, and Nicole de Boer
Genre: Adventure, Sci-Fi
Rating: TV-PG
Runtime: Season 1-7: 176 episodes
Created By: Rick Berman, Michael Piller
Trailer: Watch here

There’s no doubt that Star Trek is having another fantastic Renaissance with a handful of shows spanning styles and tones, and while you’re enjoying the haunting Picard and hilarious Lower Decks, you should make time to return to the greatest Star Trek series of all time. Set on a space station jointly administered by Starfleet and Bajorans — who were previously brutally occupied by Kardassians — the show took the typical Trek formula and cast of characters but had room to let their stories breathe because they weren’t constantly rocketing off to a new planet to meet new aliens. As such, it had a lot to say about Colonizing, freedom fighters and terrorists, religious faith, and duty, yet still found some time to play baseball, too.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

3. Dexter/Dexter: New Blood

Year: 2006-2013/2021-present
Cast: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, Julie Benz, Erik King, Lauren Velez, David Zayas, James Remar, C.S. Lee, John Lithgow, Julia Stiles, and Jimmy Smits
Genre: Crime Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Dark Comedy, Police Procedural
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1-8: 96 episodes/Season 1: 10 episodes
Created By: James Manos Jr./Clyde Phillips
Trailer: Watch here

Dexter Morgan is a blood splatter technician/serial killer in Miami who loves his sister, excels at work, and kills people with decent regularity. The good news is that he was brought up with a moral code, so he sticks with murdering murderers. The police don’t seem too enthusiastic about that as an excuse, so he’s under constant threat of being discovered by the very people he shares a breakroom with. This series hit hard when it premiered, and it continues to shock, particularly because of its aggressive performances and ability to place Dexter in impossible situations that he juuuuuuuust manages to squeak out of. Most of the time. It eventually went delightfully off the rails, and the revival series New Blood clearly decided that staying grounded was overrated. It remains a guilty beach read in TV form.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

2. Chappelle’s Show

Year: 2003-2006
Cast: Dave Chappelle, Charlie Murphy, Donnell Rawlings, and Paul Mooney
Genre: Sketch Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1-3: 28 episodes
Created By: Dave Chappelle, Neal Brennan
Trailer: Watch here

The GOAT that was too good to last. At first glance, there’s nothing groundbreaking about the structure of the sketch series. Dave Chappelle would do some standup and introduced some pre-recorded sketches to a clapping audience — but that standup, and those sketches, changed television. From Charlie Murphy‘s hilarious tales of Hollywood life to the Racial Draft to a very different look for Wayne Brady, Chappelle’s Show dared to push boundaries and go where other shows simply weren’t even thinking about going.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

1. Billions

Year: 2016-present
Cast: Paul Giamatti, Damian Lewis, Maggie Siff, David Costabile, Condola Rashad, Asia Kate Dillon, Kelly AuCoin, and Corey Stoll
Genre: Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: Season 1-6: 72 episodes
Created By: Brian Koppelman, David Levien, Andrew Ross Sorkin
Trailer: Watch here

What whip-smart series about prosecuting the super-rich for fraud just got a new injection of relevance? This one! Koppelman, Levien, and Sorkin’s original series offered a hip jab against the uber-wealthy, treading that balance beam that allows us to salivate in envy at the lifestyle while deeply, deeply wishing they would get taken down. Based on several real-world fraud cases, the inciting storyline focuses on U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades’ attempt to nail charming hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod for doing a bunch of illegal stuff in order to make and secure his billions. Unsurprisingly, the minds behind Ocean’s 13 and Rounders inject an incredible sense of cool alongside the twisting back stabs and reversals of massive fortune. Watch it for the clever drama, but be sure to take notes on some hot restaurants to check out for your next NYC visit.

Watch it on Paramount Plus

It is pretty wild to consider that Millennials are now entering their 40s and no longer hold the mantle of the young and up-and-coming generation. According to Pew Research, Millennials were born between 1981 and 1996, so these days they range between the ages of 29 and 42.

These are the years when people begin to settle down, start families and experience the first uncomfortable signs of aging.

The Holderness Family is headed by a Gen X couple, Kim and Penn Holderness, who are best known for their viral comedy songs. Their latest video is about welcoming Millennials to their next phase in life, one that’s less about spending all night in the club and more about embracing a quieter, more practical life.

In this case, “the club” isn’t a loud place to get a Long Island iced tea but a state of mind where you’re more likely to appreciate a good walk for your mental health.

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Holderness Family Music has over 797,000 subscribers on YouTube and over 230 million views since they started their page in 2011. They “create original music, song parodies, and skits to poke fun of ourselves, the world we live in, and (hopefully) make you laugh.”

The “Welcome to the Club, Millennials” video is a bit of a departure from the usual intergenerational bickering we’re accustomed to seeing on social media. Instead, Gen Xers open their doors to the Millennials entering the next phase in their lives. “Well, Gen X is here to say ‘don’t be bummed, come on in, welcome to the club,’” Penn raps.

According to the song, if you’re a Millennial and have done any of the following, you’re officially in “the club,” whether you know it or not:

​Hung a calendar on your fridge

Have strong opinions on who’s the best “Jeopardy!” host

Play Wordle

Wore reader glasses

Drink seltzers

Had Gen Z call your clothes “vintage”

Gone Christmas shopping in October

Had a three-day hangover

Gone to a movie theater because it serves food

Took a mental health walks

Bought a chair for your back

Grooved to supermarket music

Own plastic houseplants

Taken supplements

Saved money for a Disney vacation

Have zero f**cks to give

Still love Blink-182

Millennials who are a little leery of aging should be happy to learn that they may be in the happiest times of their lives. According to developmental psychologists, the period of life between ages 30 to 45 is known as “established adulthood” and is a time of life when people are happiest.

Even though people in this age group are stuck in the “career and care crunch,” where they are likely to juggle a job while caring for children or older relatives, this developmental stage is also very fulfilling.

“Yes, people were feeling overwhelmed and talked about having too much to do in too little time,” Clare Mehta, Professor of Psychology at Emmanuel College, wrote in The Conversation. “But they also talked about feeling profoundly satisfied. All of these things that were bringing them stress were also bringing them joy.”

As Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. gets ready to drop into theaters this week, and punch you right in the feels, according to early reviews, director James Gunn has reportedly prepared an unprecedented amount (for Marvel) of theatrical versions to maximize the viewing experience for audiences.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Disney’s Vice President of Finishing and Stereo revealed that Gunn created just over 600 unique versions of the new Guardians movie, which is a record for Marvel Studios. Each version is specifically tailored, so the movie can best be seen on wide variety of screen and sound systems:

Gunn “designed it and he shot and framed for it [with this in mind]. That was his creative intention,” Jacobs explains, noting that sometimes these moments where the screen “opens up” were selected based on the visuals but there were no real rules. “Sometimes it’s the music, sometimes it’s what’s happening, sometimes it’s whatever.” Jacobs adds that the “really cool” 3D version also takes particular advantage of the variable framing options.

“Aspect ratio is something that James has really enjoyed being part of the storytelling process,” Jacobs relates.

Gunn reportedly took a page from James Cameron who delivered a record-breaking 1,065 versions for Avatar: The Way of Water. As for how Gunn had time to create all these alternate versions given Marvel’s notorious crunch-time for completing visual effects, the answer is easy: Gunn is just that good. He knew exactly what he wanted for his final Guardians film and executed it.

“It was the movie he was gonna make at the beginning. … We didn’t have to chase a lot of crazy, and the visual effects landed in a rational, sane way. We’ve all been just like pinching ourselves,” Jacobs said.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens in theaters on May 5.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

Ed Sheeran is currently on trial over claims that he plagiarized from Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud.” The process is surely frustrating for the pop star, and he seems especially peeved by Alexander Stewart, a musicologist who serves as an expert witness for the plaintiffs.

As The New York Times notes, Sheeran took the stand again today (May 1) and criticized Stewart’s previous testimony, “saying that the musicologist had inaccurately rendered his melodies, and demonstrated the difference to the jury.” Sheeran said, “I think what he is doing is criminal. I don’t know why he’s allowed to be an expert.”

Today, Sheeran also “demonstrated his ‘mash-up’ technique, showing how he can segue smoothly between parts of his own songs and others by Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, Blackstreet and Van Morrison.”

As for his words about Stewart, Sheeran was referring to his previous testimony when he “argued that in the opening of ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ one of the four chords that Mr. Sheeran plays is similar to the minor one that appears in the same position of the progression throughout ‘Let’s Get It On.’” Sheeran offered a rebuttal to that testimony: “Strumming his guitar, Mr. Sheeran struck the major chord he said he has played at ‘every single gig,’ and then, with a slight grimace, the minor one that Mr. Stewart suggested.”

Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

It isn’t only digital musical formats that are being updated with new technology lately. While AI is getting all the attention, there have been some pretty zany advancements to one of the original music formats, vinyl records, in recent years. While they’ve been released in all kinds of colors and designs, the latest shows just how much blood, sweat, and tears the band Fall Out Boy put into their new album — literally.

Specifically, the band’s new album, So Much (For) Stardust, will be released on “Crynyl,” a limited edition vinyl infused with Pete Wentz’s tears. It’s a pretty cheeky reference to the band’s emo-rock stylings, which have prompted plenty of tears over the past 20 years.

Fall Out Boy teased the unusual release earlier this year on Instagram with a video of Pete making himself produce the necessary lacrimal secretions by any means necessary. Methods involved included chopping onions and Pete reminiscing about his life before meeting bandmate Patrick Stump, as well as watching sad videos online. “Working on something super top secret,” they wrote. “More on it very soon.”

Now that the secret’s out, here comes the (mildly) disappointing news: They only made 50 copies of the Crynyl (curse Pete’s baseline happiness!), and it seems that the first pressing of So Much (For) Stardust is already sold out. But it doesn’t seem that the band is quite finished with the rollout shenanigans because as Pete pointed out to Apple Music Radio, they see the release as an “event,” not a fly-by-night moment.