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According to Deadline, we’re inches away from a green light for a Naked Gun reboot where Liam Neeson fulfills his destiny and becomes this generation’s Leslie Nielsen. He’s the last piece of the puzzle which already has Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer directing, and Dan Gregor and Doug Mand (Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers) set to co-write the script.

Reports Deadline:

Plot details are being kept under wraps except that Neeson might be playing the son of Detective Frank Drebin instead of stepping into the role made famous by Leslie Nielsen

…

Neeson might not seem like an obvious choice for the role but has shown his comedic chops over the years especially in MacFarlane comedies. The Family Guy creator and Ted director and Neeson still have strong ties, and when MacFarlane came to him with the idea, Neeson committed to star.

This is the second major attempt at rebooting the classic spoof franchise after Ed Helms was set to take on starring duty back in 2013. It’s also a year and a half since Neeson revealed that Paramount and new Naked Gun producers Erica Huggins and Seth MacFarlane had approached him for the project. In other words, Neeson taking the mantle as Detective Frank Drebin, Jr. has been a long time coming. Maybe they’ll make fun of how he and Nielsen look nothing alike. Enrico Pallazzo’s son, I’d buy, but Drebin’s?

Weirdly, Chip ‘n Dale is the closest inroad we have to a vision for the project, because Schaffer directed it from Gregor and Mand’s script. Beyond all the cartoon-based, kid-angled comedy, it featured the new brand of parody that’s largely self-referential and tongue-in-cheek, as opposed to the straight-arrow version that Nielsen excelled at. Fortunately, Neeson has the bonafides to be self-serious as a bumbling cop. So, prepare yourself accordingly. As with any reboots, this will either tarnish the great name of Naked Gun forever or be the best of all time with no in-between.

(via Deadline)

Fresh off the news that Stephen Colbert will be hosting a celebrity pickleball tournament, The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop on a documentary film about the new … fast-growing sport? In partnership with Peter Berg’s Film 45 production house, director Mary Pilon and Seth Porges will make the as-yet-untitled documentary examining pickleball’s meteoric rise and its incipient monetization.

It’s possible that this will be the bougiest documentary in the history of the form. It’s also possible that it will take advantage of a rare opportunity where a new sport has jumped from the suburban landscape into the professional sphere in a terrifyingly short amount of time, checking how much longevity a faddish, pandemic-born pastime might actually achieve. At the very least, it should be lighthearted and weird.

This will be the first time Porges and Pilon will direct together. Pilon — known for writing an explosive book on the game Monopoly — appeared in Porges’ film Class Action Park, about the notoriously dangerous Action Park. Their team-up seems apt for the subject matter, where a throughline of serious inquiry can invade a profoundly absurd subject. Hopefully, they’ll be able to mint the documentary as an NFT stuffed inside a Beanie Baby. Like, print out the NFT, then stuff it inside.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

Hot off the release of his DJ Drama-produced project, Results Take Time, Symba has dropped the video for “Can’t Win For Nothing.”

In the video, directed by Keoni Mars, Symba struggles to pay his rent on time, and finds an eviction notice affixed to his door. He runs late to work at his restaurant job, where he sees a young woman, who is also struggling to pay her rent. Earlier in the video, the woman pulls money from her rent fund to pay to get her hair done, take Uber rides when her car has issues, and pay for a date in the restaurant, where she and Symba first cross paths.

“And this for all the nights that we spent / tryna come up with the rent /I’m tryna stay legit / but this sh*t ain’t makin’ me rich / Can’t win for nothin’, can’t win for nothin’ / When you at your lowest points, some nights you feel alone / Even when you right, sometimes you feel wrong / I can’t win for nothin’, can’t win for nothin’,” Symba raps on the song’s chorus.

Check out the video above.

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

“Affordable” bourbon whiskey is often equated with trash whiskey these days. People are more than happy to pay $50, $80, and more for a bottle of bourbon that’s maybe only four years old and has a fancy label (and some good marketing). That’s sort of wild, considering there are tons of great bottles of classic straight bourbon on the shelf ranging from $15 to $30 per bottle that are generally just as refined, and often older.

No on wants to help pay off the marketing budget for a whiskey that isn’t very good, so I thought we’d focus on the latter group in our latest blind taste test. Sound good? Great!

These days you do hear a lot of, “How can it be good if it’s so cheap?” Well, your standard straight bourbon whiskey has to adhere to pretty strict rules about how it’s made, including having no additives. It’s also generally four to six years old when bottled by the big distillers out there, and the people doing the distilling and bottling tend to know what they’re doing since they can put a bottle on the shelf for around $20 and still turn a profit. Of course, not all of it is good. There’s plenty of trash on those lower shelves even amongst something as refined as straight bourbon whiskey. That’s where the blind taste test comes in, folks.

Below, I’m blind taste-testing 10 of the most recognizable and revered affordable bourbons on the shelf. These are cheap straight bourbons that actually win awards and make those subjective “underrated” lists all the time. These are all bottles that are also still gettable and affordable (depending on where you live). Once I taste these bottles, I’m going to rank them according to which ones taste the best, carry the most depth, and actually feel like something… well… more.

Our lineup today is:

• Maker’s Mark
• Old Tub
• Elijah Craig Small Batch
• Wild Turkey 101
• Benchmark Small Batch
• Heaven Hill Old Style Bourbon 6 Years Old
• Jim Beam Single Barrel
• George Dickel Bourbon Whisky Aged 8 Years
• Weller Special Reserve
• 1792 Small Batch

Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months

• We Blind Tasted A Whole Bunch Of $30-60 Bourbons To See If Any Could Beat Weller
• We Put A Whole Bunch Of Bourbons To A Giant Blind Test And Discovered Some Absolute Gems
• We Blind Tasted Classic Bourbons And Were Shocked By The Winner
• The Best-Known Basic Bottles Of Bourbon, Blind Tasted And Ranked
• All The Double Gold-Winning Straight Bourbons From This Year’s San Francisco World Spirits Competition

Part 1: The Tasting

Taste 1

Tasting Notes:

There’s a soft and grassy nose with a sour cherry vine next to sweetgrass, vanilla, and a touch of caramel apple — pretty classic bourbon. The palate leans into the caramel apple vibe while adding layers of dark winter spices, plums, black cherry soda pop, and apple pie with a hint of thinness. The end has a black cherry tobacco twinge next to wet granite and apple-cider-soaked cinnamon sticks.

This was a nice pour that’s a little sweet and wet (as in, a little over-proofed with water in my opinion).

Taste 2

Tasting Notes:

There’s a whisper of cumin and chili pepper on the nose with a sweet yellow corn meal, a hint of butterscotch, and a mix of creamy honey and creamy eggnog with plenty of nutmeg and allspice next to a very distant dry woody note. The palate has a touch of candy corn next o Almond Joys, sweet cinnamon Hot Tamales, and black cherry tobacco leaves rolled up with dried sweetgrass. The end is lightly dry with a sawdust vibe next to apple stems and burnt orange.

This is pretty good overall and fully formed.

Taste 3

Tasting Notes:

The nose opens with a hint of taco seasoning mix next to vanilla malts, caramel apple, and a touch of fresh mint. The taste opens with smooth vanilla and spicy winter spice mix that’s cinnamon and allspice heavy with a touch of anise next to oaky tobacco. The end has a nice woodiness that leans more toward pine tar and broom bristles with a soft and sweet vanilla cream cut with toffee and vanilla lattes.

This is really nice.

Taste 4

Tasting Notes:

Sweet and buttery toffee is countered by burnt orange, old oak, and a hint of cumin and red chili pepper flakes. The palate leans into soft vanilla pudding cups with a touch of butterscotch swirled in next to orange oils, nougat, and a hint of menthol tobacco. The midpalate tobacco warmth gives way to a finish that’s full of woody winter spices and a whisper of Cherry Coke next to orange/clove by way of a dark chocolate bar flaked with salt.

This really works well. It’s deep and kind of playful with citrus and spice notes.

Taste 5

Tasting Notes:

Soft leather and old vanilla pods mix with old lawn furniture sitting in green grass with a hint of floral honey and apple pie on the nose. The palate has a rich toffee vibe next to sweet cinnamon and plenty of eggnog creamy/spicy vibes that leads to a nutmeg-heavy mocha latte. There’s a sense of dried corn husks on the finish with a mix of rum-raisin, vanilla pound cake, and cherry bark-infused tobacco layered into an old cedar box.

This really popped on the nose and the palate. It’s fun and tasty.

Taste 6

Tasting Notes:

There’s a sweet sense of oak on the nose next to mint chocolate chip ice cream, brown sugar, and dried cinnamon sticks. The palate has a light smooth vanilla base with a pecan waffle vibe next to maple syrup and cinnamon butter. The end adds a layer of warm but mild chili pepper spice next to cherry/vanilla tobacco with a whisper of sweet oak.

This is fine. It’s nice and easy.

Taste 7

Tasting Notes:

You’re greeted with vanilla pound cake drizzled with salted caramel, mulled wine spices, and a cherry hand pie with powdered sugar icing that’s just touched with dark chocolate and maybe some broom bristles and corn husks. The taste leans into floral honey cut with orange oils next to sticky toffee pudding and cherry tobacco packed into an old leather pouch. There’s a hint of coconut cream pie next to woody winter spices on the finish with a touch more of that cherry tobacco married to salted dark chocolate all layered with dry sweetgrass and cedar bark.

This is a winner right here. It’d deep yet playful and accessible. It’s also just freakin’ classic from top to bottom.

Taste 8

Tasting Notes:

Speaking of classic, the nose opens with creamy vanilla next to spiced tobacco with plenty of apple pie vibe and winter spices with a butter underbelly. The palate has a light bran muffin with a molasses vibe next to vanilla/nougat wafers (hello, Tennessee) that then leads to peach skins and gingerbread. The end leans into the nutty chocolate and vanilla wafer with a touch of orange zest, marzipan, and mint tobacco with a dry wicker end.

This is subtle and nice, though it’s very clearly an outlier.

Taste 9

Tasting Notes:

Nougat and old oak staves mingle with sour cherries, old vanilla pods, and sourdough apple fritters all wrapped up in new leather. The palate adds in stewed apples with plenty of allspice and nutmeg next to rum-raisin, pecans, and ginger tobacco. The end brings about dark cherry sour/sweetness with a touch of brown sugar, cinnamon-spiked apple cider, and fresh pipe tobacco with a twinge of dry wicker and old cedar.

This is another winning bourbon. It’s just good, full stop.

Taste 10

Tasting Notes:

The nose opens with a woody cherry bark next to sour apple pies, distiller’s beer, and caramel candies next to vanilla cream with a counterpoint of cumin and dry chili lurking in the deeper reaches of the nose. The palate opens with a Cherry Coke feel next to rich and buttery toffee, vanilla malts, and sharp Hot Tamales cinnamon candy with a nod toward allspice and root beer. The end is soft and lush with vanilla smoothness leading to black cherry tobacco braided with cedar bark and wicker.

This, again, is really freakin’ tasty, meaning this ranking is going to be brutal.

Part 2: The Ranking

10. Maker’s Mark — Taste 1

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $24

The Whisky:

This is Maker’s signature expression. It’s made from red winter wheat with corn and malted barley and then aged in seasoned Ozark oak for six to seven years. This expression’s juice is then built from only 150 barrels (making this a small batch, if you want to call it that). Those barrels are blended, proofed, bottled, and dipped in red wax.

Bottom Line:

This felt like a great cocktail bourbon from the jump. Mixed into a Manhattan or an old fashioned and this will shine, covering up that lower ABV wateriness on the finish.

9. Old Tub — Taste 2

ABV: 50%

Average Price: $20

The Whiskey:

Back in 2020, Beam decided to release this “distillery-only” expression nationwide. The classic Jim Beam juice is a tribute to what the brand was before Prohibition. “Jim Beam” used to be “Old Tub” as a brand back then. Anyway, the juice in this bottle is Beam’s low-rye bourbon that’s batched to comply with Bonded laws, meaning the barrels are from one distilling season, from one distillery and distiller, and bottled at 100 proof.

Bottom Line:

This is another bourbon that felt like a great cocktail base from the nose to the finish. The higher ABV here means it’ll cocktail nicely with a little extra oompf while providing a solid flavor profile to build off.

8. Heaven Hill Old Style Bourbon 6 Years Old — Taste 6

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $13

The Whiskey:

Heaven Hill’s Old Style Bourbon is always affordable and very palatable. The whiskey is Heaven Hill’s classic bourbon mash that goes into this, Evan Williams, Elijah Craig, and so forth. This expression adds an extra two years (or so) of aging to Heaven Hill’s entry-level “Old Style” juice (their White Label version).

Bottom Line:

This was very much in the “fine” category. I can see it working wonders in a cocktail but wouldn’t really bother with it as a sipper. Well, maybe over a lot of rocks and a dash of bitters.

7. Elijah Craig Small Batch — Taste 3

ABV: 47%

Average Price: $26

The Whiskey:

This is Elijah Craig’s entry-point bottle. The mash is corn-focused, with more malted barley than rye. The whiskey is then rendered from “small batches” of barrels to create this proofed-down version of the iconic brand.

Bottom Line:

This is where we get into the workhorse whiskeys. This feels as viable as a cocktail bourbon as it does as an on-the-rocks sipper. It didn’t jump out at me like the next entries, but there was exactly zero wrong with this one.

6. George Dickel Bourbon Whisky Aged 8 Years — Taste 8

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $34

The Whiskey:

The whisky in the bottle is the same Dickel Tennessee whiskey but pulled from barrels that leaned more into classic bourbon flavor notes instead of Dickel’s iconic Tennessee whiskey notes. The barrels are a minimum of eight years old before they’re vatted. The juice is then cut down to a manageable 90-proof and bottled.

Bottom Line:

This is just good bourbon with a unique flavor profile. There are a lot more grain and wafer vibes in the mix. I like that, but this still feels like a workhorse that works in cocktails or on the rocks. I wouldn’t really reach for this as a neat sipper.

5. Wild Turkey 101 — Taste 4

ABV: 50.5%

Average Price: $20

The Whiskey:

Classic Wild Turkey 101 starts with their classic 75/13/12 mash bill that inches the malted barley just above the rye in the mix. That whiskey then spends at least six years in the cask before it’s batched and just kissed with Kentucky limestone water before bottling.

Bottom Line:

This is the last of the workhorses but the closest to a whiskey I wanted to reach for neat but wasn’t quite there. That said, this on the rocks with a dash of bitters rules.

4. Weller Special Reserve — Taste 9

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $30

The Whiskey:

This is classic wheated bourbon that’s blended, proofed, and bottled as a just-north-of-budget whiskey expression. We don’t know the age or mash bill though since Buffalo Trace keeps all that information very close to its chest.

Bottom Line:

This was very distinct on the nose and palate and felt like an easy sipper. The only reason it’s a little lower on this ranking is that it was just classic and nothing popped out.

3. 1792 Small Batch — Taste 10

ABV: 46.85%

Average Price: $28

The Whiskey:

This whiskey from Barton 1792 Distillery is a no-age-statement release made in “small batches.” The mash is unknown but Sazerac does mention that it’s a “high rye” mash bill, which could really mean anything. The juice is batched from select barrels and then proofed down and bottled as-is.

Bottom Line:

This popped a little bit more than the sip above. It’s easy to drink and feels like a fun ride when sipped neat or on the rocks.

2. Benchmark Small Batch — Taste 5

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $19

The Whiskey:

This is a one-step-up “small batch” from Buffalo Trace’s budget brand, Benchmark. There’s not a whole lot of information on what this is exactly when it comes to the mash bill or aging. The “batch” could be 20 barrels or 200. We do know that the bourbon is cut down to 90-proof before bottling.

Bottom Line:

This really lights up the palate. The nose is deep and inviting and the taste is fresh while still feeling classic. It’s also really approachable while offering balance and nuance. It just wasn’t quite as deep and fun as the next entry.

1. Jim Beam Single Barrel — Taste 7

ABV: 54%

Average Price: $24

The Whiskey:

Jim Beam’s single-barrel bottlings are pulled from single barrels that hit just the right spot of taste, texture, and drinkability, according to the master distillers at Beam. That means this juice is pulled from less than 1% of all barrels in Beam’s warehouses, making this an exceptional bottle at a bafflingly affordable price.

Bottom Line:

This is just delicious. It’s a super easy sipper neat with real depth (and you will find new nuances every time you go back in for more). This tasted the best and it kind of wasn’t close.

Part 3: Final Thoughts

The fact that Jim Beam can put a single barrel expression on the shelf — worldwide — for around $25 is f*cking wild. There are single barrel expressions that cost 10 times that that aren’t that much better. Trust me on this.

Look, all of these bourbons tasted good. Some were a little thinner than others. But let me reiterate — they all tasted good. You’d be fine getting any of these. And, shit, you can buy a case of any of these for the price of a single bottle of something that tastes 10, maybe 20% better? And if you’re mixing cocktails, all of these bottles are the way you want to go. They all work fine and will make a perfectly decent cocktail.

I guess the lesson here is this: The next time you’re in the liquor store, maybe look a little bit lower on the shelf instead of higher.

Ahead of his upcoming third album, It’s Only Me, Lil Baby paid a visit to the Hot 97 studios in New York City to deliver a freestyle on Funk Flex’s show.

Baby delivered flashy bars over a glimmery Wheezy beat, warming us up before the album arrives at midnight tonight.

“Cool lil sh*t / I’m digging her skin complexion, little do she know I’m next / Everybody around me ran up an M or better I don’t really never have to flex / Too much going on to be on my phone, for real / I don’t ever really have to text, when I call she gonna come through/ I’m the wall they gonna run to/ If I’m honest I’ll stun you,” he raps.

While Baby has contributed a hot string of features over the course of the past two years, he’s been hard at work this year on It’s Only Me, which is one of the year’s most anticipated albums. Once it’s out, he’s ready to return to making features, but inquiring collaborators should know, his price has gone up.

In a recent interview on Big Loon’s The Experience podcast, he explained that he now charges between $300,000 to $350,000 for a guest verse.

“I don’t even be doing features no more,” he said. “[I charge] like, $300,000, $350,000. But I ain’t been doing features lately. But if I know I ain’t putting out no album, or I ain’t got nothing going on, like, why not?”

Check out Lil Baby’s Funk Flex freestyle above.

It’s Only Me is out 10/14 via Quality Control and Motown. Pre-save it here.

There may be no team in the NBA where fans are watching closely for signs of discontent on the floor more than the Los Angeles Lakers, particularly when it comes to Russell Westbrook.

The Lakers have been trying to trade him for the better part of a year now to no avail, and while he’s said the right things about going about his business as usual, few would fault him for being a bit less engaged with his continued position on the trade block. On Wednesday night, ESPN’s cameras seemed to capture such a moment when Patrick Beverley tried to pull his Lakers teammates in for a huddle after a foul, only for Russ to be standing off to the side, not joining in.

That clip went viral and sparked plenty of conversation about Russ and his relationship with Beverley (and the Lakers as a whole). However, on Thursday, Westbrook addressed that video — and another of him seemingly ignoring the pregame huddle after intros — saying that in the in-game clip he was talking to the coaches, while it’s been his pregame ritual to run to the corner of the court and take off his warmups for his entire career.

The full videos of both show what Westbrook is talking about, as he darts to the corner in pregame and, on the Spectrum feed, you can see him turning to have a conversation with his coaches, unaware of the huddle happening a few feet away with his teammates.

You can tell Russ is a bit amused by this becoming a genuine talking point — and that he’s fairly used to it at this point — but for now Lakers fans (and other fans looking to rubberneck at another Lakers trainwreck) can calm down a bit about things unraveling already with Westbrook.

If you aren’t watching Abbott Elementary at this point, it’s a little embarrassing. The Emmy-winning comedy just began its sophomore season with special guest star Gritty, who will likely win an Emmy next year. The gang is back with more public school shenanigans and trendy pop culture Halloween costumes (a very public school thing to do!) for season two, though if you don’t have cable it’s a little harder to tune in.

Even though the Quinta Brunson sitcom airs on ABC on Wednesdays at 9 pm, episodes are not readily available until Thursday at 3 a.m. ET. Under a new agreement between Hulu and HBO Max, new and past episodes will remain on Hulu, while complete future seasons will be available to stream on HBO Max before the next season premieres on ABC. So if you are looking to wait until the end of the season to catch up, you have many options!

This strategy is relatively new for cable shows as they get their bearings on their respective streaming services (the first season of Ghosts had a similar strategy on Paramount+ last year). Thankfully, networks and streamers have been working to make sure things are available by the next morning so that you will have something to talk about with all your friends at the proverbial water cooler. Congrats! You’re up to speed on the times.

Abbott Elementary airs Wednesdays on ABC.

In the days immediately following PnB Rock’s murder earlier this year, his girlfriend Stephanie Sibounheuang, who was with him when he was shot to death at a Roscoe’s House Of Chicken N Waffles restaurant in Los Angeles, became the focal point of a fierce debate about whether or not her social media played a role in his death. The Philadelphia rapper’s supporters wondered whether her post showing their location gave his killers the chance to carry out the attempted robbery that led to the shooting — a theory that was seemingly corroborated by police reports.

Now, a month later, Sibounheuang has made her first public statement since his death, writing on Instagram that she believed PnB Rock’s actions “saved my life” while recounting both the chaotic events of that day and the emotional aftermath. “I am 100% not ok,” she wrote.

The truly heartbreaking part of all this is that, after multiple arrests were made, police revised their working theory, determining that the crime was merely one of opportunity. A passerby had informed the suspected killers that PnB Rock was dining at the restaurant wearing a lot of jewelry and they simply decided that they could get rich quick.

You can read the full statement below.

As part of Peacock‘s larger foray into the world of documentaries, the streamer unveiled a new two-part docu-series on Barney this week: I Love You, You Hate Me. Despite the cheery, children’s show nature of the subject, the unusual project attempts to chronicle “the rise and fall of Barney the Dinosaur’s furious backlash — and what it says about the human need to hate.” Turns out, Barney was subject to an insane amount of hate back in the day, and not just from parents who had to watch the hit series on an endless loop.

As for why anyone would dredge up something as awful as the Barnie backlash, director Tommy Avallone offered a dark yet fascinating reason for why he was inspired to make the limited series after seeing a messed up video on social media. Via Variety:

“These college kids were beating up Barney,” says Avallone. “Ripping him apart, hitting him with a mallet, and at the end, the newscaster says, ‘That’s the future of our country, right there.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ We are in that future right now.’ There is a higher level of hate going on right now. Then I wondered if I could tell a story about love and hate but told through the story of Barney the Dinosaur.”

With the docuseries now out in the wild, it’s already revealed one wild fact about the beloved children’s series. The guy in the Barney costume? He’s now a tantric sex guru, but as Avallone told Fox News (whose heads somehow didn’t explode), “it’s not as weird as you would think” because, and this is important, “he’s never doing any of this tantric stuff in the Barney suit.” Oh, good.

I Love You, You Hate Me is available for streaming on Peacock.

(Via Variety)

Each week our staff of film and TV experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.

Get more streaming recommendations with our weekly What To Watch newsletter.

10. (tie) She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (Disney Plus)

Alison Brie didn’t get to portray this “Alison Brie type” role, but hey, we’re getting Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany, who has so much fun relishing this role. She’s smart and silly and she Hulks out like a pro while also being the MCU’s very green attorney for superheroes. Expect a lot of cameos, and Mark Ruffalo is on hand as Bruce Banner. There’s no word on whether we’ll eventually see the Hulk Butt like we received in Thor: Ragnarok. Admit it, that’s on your wishlist, too. Watch it on Disney Plus.

10. (tie) Hasan Minhaj: The King’s Jester (Netflix)

According to Hasan Minhaj, the soul of his howlingly funny and revelatory new Netflix comedy special, The King’s Jester, came from a prompt from his director (and Patriot Act co-creator) Prashanth Venkataramanujam: “I just need you to bleed on the page. Anything that you’re too humiliated or scared to talk about, you should talk about it.” And he did. Packed with self-aware observations about his teen years, fertility struggle, time on Patriot Act, and how the show’s success and his “clout-chasing” collided with his family life, Minhaj showcases a level of vulnerability that many comics promise but never deliver on. It’s bold, visually compelling, and funny as hell. Watch it on Netflix.

10. Reboot (Hulu)

A comedy all-star team of Judy Greer, Keegan Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville, Rachel Bloom, and Paul Reiser come together to gently mock the reboot gold rush and the entertainment industry, providing a Larry Sanders-y kind of inside baseball show that benefits from the presence of Modern Family co-creator Steven Levitan and Party Down mastermind John Enbom. Did we mention Judy Greer? The legend that is Judy Greer grows as she totally steals these early episodes as an actress turned duchess turned actress trying to stave off Hollywood irrelevancy, which is something that could never happen to the real Judy Greer because she is an American treasure. But acting! Watch it on Hulu.

9. Atlanta (FX/Hulu)

Atlanta is back — and back in Atlanta — for one last ride after a season-long jaunt to Europe. It’s kind of remarkable that this show has even existed. In a good way. It’s strange and silly, thoughtful and artistic, and not really like anything else out there. Donald Glover was a star before any of this got underway, but it’s made the rest of the main cast stars, too. That’s kind of cool. Get in there and appreciate this show while we still have it. You could be waiting a long time for anything even remotely similar. Watch it on FX/Hulu.

8. Shantaram (Apple TV+)

Charlie Hunnam and Shubham Saraf told us how chaos fueled this odyssey, and they aren’t messing around. Hunnam, as well, is a world away from Sons of Anarchy’s Charming, California setting here. He’s semi-similarly an outlaw, though, in this adaptation of Gregory David Roberts’ same-named book, which details the life of an Australian convict who flees from prison for a new life in India. This may or may not be a semi-autobiographical turn from Roberts himself, whose life experiences are incredibly similar. Hunnam’s character finds himself both enthralled and struggling to avoid the trouble that got him into prison in the first place. Then he meets an enigmatic woman, and life grows even more complicated. It happens! Watch it on Apple TV Plus.

7. The Watcher (Netflix)

Fresh off his Dahmer success, Ryan Murphy is here to freak people out again with this true-crime miniseries about the Broaddus family, who thought they found the greatest home ever, but it’s haunted. Not literally, but it’s being stalked by somehow who actually calls himself “The Watcher” and claims a deep attachment to the home, and god, this sounds horrific. Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale portray the terrorized leads, but rest assured, some light moments will exist because Jennifer Coolidge portrays the house’s realtor. Sold!

Watch it on Netflix.

6. Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Amazon Prime)

Jeff Bezos is finally getting his version of Game of Thrones, and this even more enormously expensive franchise looks to be worth the price tag to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s fabled Second Age to the screen. A young Galadriel will be one of the bigger highlights of this series’ exploration of relative peace that’s shattered when evil reemerges. Expect stunning visuals that leap from the Misty Mountains to an island setting to majestic forests. Between this and House of the Dragon, we’re sure getting our fill of epic fantasy shows these days. Watch it on Amazon Prime.

5. Andor (Disney Plus)

George Lucas has frequently insisted that, like Wu-Tang Clan, Star Wars is for the children. But Andor sure looks like it’s geared more towards adults. The Rogue One prequel starring Diego Luna, reprising his role as Cassian Andor, is gritty, mature, and other words you use to describe movies and TV shows that aren’t messing around. And with this being the first Disney-era Star Wars show to be filmed in real-life locations, Andor isn’t messing around. Watch it on Disney Plus.

4. Interview With the Vampire (AMC Plus)

You’ve surely seen the 1990s movie starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Kirsten Dunst, and now, Anne Rice’s most popular gothic novel gets the small-screen adaptation. Great news: this version is better than the film for several reasons. Jacob Anderson of Game of Thrones gives us a very different Louis while Sam Reid swaggers about as Lestat de Lioncourt, and Claudia’s story gets expanded with Bailey Bass giving us a brazen and tragic performance and a secondary narrative framing device. The leading duo takes their sexual tension out of the closet, too, which adds a lot of layers (and fun) to this update. Watch it on AMC Plus.

3. The Midnight Club (Netflix)

Mike Flanagan might be the king of Halloween-streaming programming, given his success with The Haunting Of Hill House (and its followup), along with the more recent Midnight Mass. This series gears itself toward a younger crowd as it adapts Christopher Pike’s novel about a hospice for terminal teens. They form an organization devoted to telling scary stories at night, and there’s a twist: they all take a pact to send messages from the grave, if they go before the rest. Sadly, there will be no vampirish Hamish Linklater here, but hopefully, the show can do penance for this venial sin. Watch it on Netflix.

2. Abbott Elementary (Hulu)

The first season of Abbott Elementary was a feel-good network sitcom that caught a massive wave of popularity and won a bunch of Emmys in a time when feel-good network sitcoms are kind of not supposed to do that. Credit for this goes to creator and star Quinta Brunson, who realized that an underfunded inner-city public school was exactly the right place to show us people with good hearts working inside a system that can be cold. Kind of like Parks and Recreation but in Philadelphia. The second season is underway and does not appear to be missing a beat. This is basically a miracle, all around. Watch it on Hulu.

1. House of the Dragon (HBO Max)

Game Of Thrones seems like the easiest greenlight in the world. How could a sister project miss even with the mixed reception to the original’s finale? But House Of The Dragon is the second attempt (with one pilot failing to generate a series order) and it starts with one particular question hanging over its head: was it the world or the characters that inhabited it that made the original so widely adored? We’re about to find out as a new creative team tries to walk a line between old and new, creating fresh stories with a ring of familiarity. On their side: dragons, face-smashing combat, and Matt Smith’s good kinda bad energy. Watch it on HBO Max.