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This week, Vince is on vacation and I’m taking over his Top Chef Power Rankings. Having edited these articles for five seasons now, I’m very keyed up to pinch hit and promise to be the cool sub.

**Turns chair backwards and straddles it with all the confidence of Matthew McConaughey chewing a toothpick.**

“Today, class, we’re doing things a little bit different. If that freaks you out, don’t worry — Mr. Mancini will be back next week.”

Actually, I won’t be doing stuff too much differently. But I’m definitely not calculating how many spots each competitor rose or fell. Also, we may see some competitors’ rankings change drastically, since this is the first episode of the season I’ve had the chance to actually watch. Vince will reset the odds upon his triumphant return.

***

Before we get into the food, the first half of this episode had me reflecting on the concept of coolness among chefs. Mostly because Kwame showed up wearing haute couture inspired by the Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic” video.

Having spoken to Kwame recently, witnessed and kept up-to-date on his success, and being in possession of working eyeballs that allow me to see his well-defined features, I can say with much certainty that the chef manages to pull this look off. But his contemplative staring into the middle distance found its natural counterpoint when Jamie returned to the show and started making squelches, squeaks, and a variety of other weird sounds — which spun me out wondering what the “cool chef” to “dorky chef” ratio is.

Or, in Top Chef terms, for every Michael Voltaggio how many Bryan Voltaggios are out there?

This thread seemed like it might be a theme for the episode when the whole opening segment of the show was peppered with jokes by the cheftestants that absolutely didn’t land. So many charity chuckles and courtesy laughs. See, most of the chefs on the show are still in their awkward-conversation-and-joke-making dork phase when the cameras are on. But this show will bake their quirks in a fame oven and push them towards previously unfathomed levels of cool. When they reach a tipping point, they’ll get invited back as judges and hang with Kwame, Melissa King, Padma, Gail, and the rest of the varisty squad.

Top Chef success has that effect. Just look at Tom, who definitely couldn’t pull off the leather jacket in the header photo before his own fame took hold. Or take Amar Santana, who I knew in his pre-Top Chef days. Sure, he was already in the vicinity of cool, but it took the show’s coolness incubation effect for him to make these flowered pants work:

Okay, Steve’s “coolness is just dorkiness flambéed by fame” TED Talk is over now. Thanks for letting me shoehorn that theory into your weekly Top Chef programming.

***

Anyyyyyyyway, Jamie is back. She’s dorky. She knows it. Her gesticulating and sound effects aren’t really even tied to a particular moment, they just seem to get yanked out of a grab bag. But taken all together, it’s kind of awesome and all the other chefs love her for it. They also seem to think of her as the most manageable threat to their own hopes of winning, so you’d better believe they clapped like hell when she returned to the fold.

The real story here is that Womp-Womp seems to have come back from Last Chance Kitchen with a clear focus on the food she wants to cook. Both her dishes inspired me to take a screenshot — which is saying something.

The quickfire was based on ugly food, overripe produce, and “scrap proteins.” This included beloved ingredients like fish collars, cheeks, and heads (which chefs have been embracing on Beard-award winning menus for years now), ugly carrots (which any chef worth their salt knows how to utilize), and bread crusts (which, again, are pretty easy to find a place for). Then there was some actually close-to-going-bad foods, like dried out ginger and mushy cucumbers, which… looked pretty damn mushy.

Maybe just use your cucumbers on time, Top Chef. Produce management is part of running a restaurant, too.

Still, it was a fun quickfire. The chefs pieced together their various scraps to make a dish they’d failed at before — whether on the show or in a different setting. And instead of being a concept that brought out a whole lot of mental gymnastics, every chef had a story about a dish they’d screwed up. No one had to reach at all. In fact, many of them remixed dishes from earlier this season.

In the elimination challenge, things got very EDITING PACKAGE EMOTIONAL — which I emphasize because the emotions were heavy, not because they were phony or forced. See, there’s been this thing called a pandemic going on and it has sucked horribly for everyone, very much including chefs, but most of all front-line workers at hospitals. So when globally beloved Chef José Andrés videoconferenced in, the tears started to flow (both on-screen and by those of us at home, who are all traumatized to some degree or another and will leap at any opportunity for emotional catharsis).

The food was delivered in batches to three different hospitals by Top Chef alums who were clearly told, “Don’t wear your flowered pants and keep bangles to a minimum. Try to look like the normies.” This gave us a Guggenheim-worthy image of Richard Blais’s gravity defying hair fighting to lift a baseball cap off his head. I like to imagine it popping off between takes.

Each chef made 65 meals that were pre-packed and microwave-ready. They mostly all went for comfort food and food that wasn’t too heavy — which seemed like a great call and not one that was totally intuitive. If Vince, Zach, and I had this as one of our cooking challenges, I’m sure I would have made some pasta loaded with so much cheese that the whole hospital had to shut down for a 45 minute nap.

The main result of all the emotional resonance was that there wasn’t much burning or snark until the very end of the show. Then, as if the hosts were aware that everything had been sweet and flowery for too long, Padma led scathing takedowns of the bottom three, including the absolutely devastating blow: “What surprised me was the utter lack of flavor” while making this terribly anguished face:

CAN YOU CHEFS JUST SEASON YOUR FOOD AND KEEP PADMA HAPPY, PLEASE??? IT’S BEEN A ROUGH YEAR AND SHE DOESN’T NEED THIS.

RESULTS

Quickfire Top: Dawn, Shota*, Good Gabe (*Winner)
Quickfire Bottom: Avashar, Byron, Maria.

Elimination Top: Dawn, Jamie*, Sara
Eliminated: Avashar**, Maria, Chris (**Eliminated)

—

THE RANKINGS:

9. (ELIMINATED) Avishar Barua

AKA: Milhouse. Chillhouse. Thrillhouse. American Pie. The Carbonator. Portmanteau. OH.

Literally, nothing Avishar did in this episode seemed to work. In the Quickfire, Melissa King didn’t like his Jing Du-style turkey chop with mashed cucumber salad at all. She gave it the 1-2 punch of “it came off dry” and “it didn’t need so many sauces.” Which is sort of like when an editor tells you your essay is both long and needs to be more thought out. At some point, thoughtful critique is just code for “this isn’t working. Like, at all.”

Then, in the elimination round, it was Avishar’s Benghali-style beef curry that drew the “utter lack of flavor” comment plus a explanation by Kwame to the young chef that you need to sear meat to keep the seasoning and flavors in. Everyone at the judges’ table clearly felt weird that this had to be explained, but Chillhouse’s food also obviously pained them.

Notable Critique: Tom’s face, below:

8. Chris Viaud

AKA: Stretch. Butter. Kelso.

In the Quickfire, Chris gets some credit for drawing this facetiously shocked expression out of Padma when he told her the tale of a failed vichyssoise.

His dish was otherwise unnotable.

In the Elimination, Stretch’s food was universally loathed by the judges to an Avishar-ian degree. For the same reasons, too — a lack of seasoning. He made a grilled chicken breast, finished in the oven, which looked lovely and was perfectly cooked but devoid of flavor. It sounds like this is a little bit his MO, but some blame has to be on his choice of protein. God, you’re on a chef show. They’re paying the food costs! You can do pork belly or venison or halibut cheeks, and you picked chicken breast?

I will never and have never ordered chicken breast off a menu — it’s ceiling is so low. At its very best, it still makes you wish you had a thigh. Chicken breast is only really good when shredded. That’s my take and I’ll stick to it.

Anyway, it seemed like a toss-up to the judges at the end about which flavor-lacking chef to send packing, so I’m dropping Kelso to the second to last spot.

Notable Critique:

Gail: “It completely lacked soul.”

Padma: “It completely lacked salt.”

7. Maria Mazon

AKA: Gas Can. Backdraft. James Brown. Holy Mole. Mole Maria.

It seemed pretty clear with bottom finishes in both challenges that Maria didn’t cook well this episode. But she did have the most personal story, because her wife is a firefighter, so her mistakes all seemed to be sort of re-contextualized within that framework.

That said, her final dish — a puerco verde with cabbage and avocado slaw — looked damn good to me, so she clearly wasn’t going to be booted when the two dishes with her in the bottom three seemed to have no redeeming qualities. The problem was that her handmade flour tortilla was half done because she cooked them in the pizza oven, so their undersides stayed moist and mushy (phrasing!).

With the door wide open to pin her failure on the fact that people were hogging the grill when she needed it, Maria just took her lumps stoically. And just like that, Backdraft became the underdog that I’m rooting for this season.

Notable Critique:

Padma: “I appreciate that she made her tortilla herself.”

Tom: “Unfortunately, it’s raw. Turn it over.”

Gail: “It’s quite raw.”

6. Byron Gomez

AKA: Manolo. Burger King. Goldblum.

Byron biffed the Quickfire by serving a mutton tartare that looked amazing but Melissa King called “gamey.” I am absolutely one of those “I’ll try anything” food people, the sort who even takes an obnoxious pride in it, but raw lamb? It’s not exactly mouthwatering. I’m sure there’s a way to make it amazing and our own Zach Johnston will regale me with stories of raw chopped mutton that changed his whole perspective on shit.

Still… can we agree that maybe a “scrap food” challenge isn’t the best time to try out a raw meat dish?

Then, in the Elimination Challenge, Manolo made Peruvian grilled chicken that looked amazing and was amazing by every account. If the food on the show had been a potluck, I would have clearly gone for that chicken among the top three dishes. In fact, I think he was only bumped from the top three by Sara’s homemade pita.

Notable Critique:

Padma: “Now here’s a way to do chicken legs.”

5. Shota Nakajima

AKA: Beavis. Big Gulps.

Shota was woefully lacking in nicknames and now I’m giving him one. Will Vince allow it? Will it carry over to week eight? Only time will tell — TUNE IN NEXT WEEK.

I’m calling Shota “big gulps” because he tried asking Avishar about which rice strains were common in Bangladeshi cuisine. But Avashar was coming straight off of having Kwame ask him about his intended meat texture, which was clearly a bad sign, and he seemed to sense that his time was up. So instead of doing his Chillhouse thing, Avishar said: “There’s a lot of different rices.”

And Shota threw him this look:

Which all felt like a close relative to this scene from Dumb and Dumber:

Anyway, as a big fan of miso glazes and marinades, I was hyped when Shota’s dish in the Quickfire was a fish collar, head, and lips with miso marinade. He won immunity with that dish.

Then, in the elimination challenge, he went back to the miso well with chicken legs that had wet, flabby skin and generally looked gray and dissapointing. He’s obviously a hell of a chef, because literally every judge buffered their comments with the fact that it was clearly a rare miss, but still… he put out a dish that looked god awful.

Sorry, Big Gulps — you’re taking a tumble.

Notable Critiques:

Tom: “Shota, I just want to say, it’s a good thing you have immunity. The dish was just not there.”

4. Gabe Erales

AKA: Good Gabe. Canelo. Fozzy. The Foz. Masa Father. Jamón.

This might be really low for good Gabe (I guess the other Gabe is just gone? Was this something explained in Last Chance Kitchen?). Clearly, he can cook and his food looked great. His carrot mole in the Quickfire was the sort of dish you feel like you can smell through a TV screen. But also, he didn’t make a ton of noise this episode and it’s my ranking, dammit, so here we are.

For the Elimination Challenge, Fozzy did a tamale and more chicken. God, looking back there was a ton of chicken this episode. Maybe the Top Chef producers had their perceptions of Portland overly influenced by this sketch?

Anyway, Tom said his chicken was a little dry and Gail said she wanted more focus. Plus the best complement was: “It actually carries very well” — as in, “it fits in its packaging”??? Not much of an endorsement.

3. Sara Hauman

AKA: Tails. Yogurt. Portlandia. Trapper Keeper. Manic Pixie Cream Sauce. Fiddlesticks. The Queen Of Comedy.

Vince influenced my own feelings about Sara so much these past six weeks, that I was surprised when I found myself liking my fellow Portlander. Like Jamie, she’s on the dorky end of the cool-dork chef spectrum, but it’s endearing. She’s also clearly a skilled chef, because she made falafel in the Elimination Challenge that Kwame adored. She also made a pita in the pizza oven that Padma raved about, so this feels like a good place for her.

Better still — Sara seems in on the joke about overusing yogurt, and yet she DID use yogurt. I have a sweet spot for that sort of self-referential cooking. I also got a kick out of imagining how far Vince’s eyes would roll back in his head if he heard her constant stream of positive self talk: “Everything’s great. You’re okay. It’s all gonna be so good.”

Defnitely dorky, but it worked for her.

2. Jamie Tran

Aka: Splat. Police Academy. Womp Womp.

As opposed to Sara, who wasn’t nearly as insufferable as Vince made her out to be, Jamie’s love for sound effects has not been exaggerated. It was a barrage. Also, there were multiple air guns. I’m not sure the situation air guns are really for, but none of the situations they were used in seemed to fit. Calm down, Charleton Heston, and put your six shooters back in their holsters.

That said, Jamie’s dish in the Elimination challenge was so wildly beloved that I’m putting her waaaaaay up here, so that Vince can have her ranking fall like a stone next week.

Seriously? If you were a frontline worker, isn’t that the dish you’d want? Kimchi tofu soup and bulgogi braised pork and eggplant? God, yes. Everyone raved about it and it won the Elimination Challenge, which led to finger guns and multiple bleeps, bops, and boops. I was obviously quite charmed by it all.

1. Dawn Burrell

AKA: Hothead. ‘Sheed. Legs. Breaking Dawn. Milk Carton.

Dawn’s Tamarind-Braised top sirloin in the Elimination Challenge was just as beloved as Jamie’s soup and got a half-smile out of the often straight faced Kwame:

“She’s not lacking in the flavor.”

Dawn also had a top three finish in the Quickfire and both of her top three picks seemed like a no brainer for the judges. So yeah, I get one chance to control these rankings and I’m picking Dawn as the winner. She seemed so confident and comfortable in the food she made. Her whole persona was more like one of the super confident judges than her fellow competitors.

Also, I felt myself very moved by the editing package where she talked to her mom on the phone. It made me think of my own mom, up there in Portland, all alone during the pandemic and… yeah, Dawn’s winning this thing. That’s my call.

Scoot down, Blais, we’re gonna need another spot at the cool kids’ table next year.

Fans everywhere are rejoicing over J. Cole’s new project The Off-Season, which arrived more than three years after his last solo effort. While some believed the project would drop without features, it turns out its guests — 21 Savage, Cam’ron, Lil Baby, and more — were just unlisted on the tracklist. As listeners continue to take in the new album, one of its tracks is causing many to take a trip down memory lane, one that brings them back to the summer of 2013.

On “Let Go Of My Hand,” J. Cole raps, “My last scrap was with Puff Daddy, who would’ve thought it? / I bought that n**** album in seventh grade and played it so much / You would’ve thought my favorite rapper was Puff.” This, of course, confirms a rumored fight that Cole had with Diddy at an after-party event for the MTV VMAs. Diddy himself appears on the outro of the song to deliver one of his signature prayers, “Lord, please guide our steps / Watch us, cover us / So that every move we make is in alignment with your will.”

While the cause of the fight was never confirmed, rumor has it that it started when Diddy, who was heavily intoxicated, began an argument with Kendrick Lamar at the party about his infamous “Control” verse and the TDE rapper’s claim that he was the “King of New York.” Diddy eventually tried to pour a drink on Kendrick, an action that upset Cole, a close friend of Kendrick. As a result, Cole allegedly took it upon himself to fight Diddy for trying to douse Kendrick, which led to their respective crews going at it. Nearly eight years later, it’s good to see that they’ve patched things up.

Press play on “Let Go Of My Hand” above to hear the line yourself.

The Off-Season is out now via Dreamville/Roc Nation. Get it here.

Almost six months into the new year and more than a year removed from her last single, Nicki Minaj made her grand return tonight with a re-upload of her beloved Beam Me Up Scotty mixtape. The project’s appearance on DSPs arrived with three new songs, one of them being “Seeing Green” with Drake and Lil Wayne, the trio’s first track together in almost three years. Another track that’s housed on the mixtape is “Fractions,” a solo effort that finds Nicki showing off the lyricism her fans fell in love with. However, the track did not arrive without controversy as a certain line on the song is causing some to believe it references her husband’s accuser.

After a brief intro on the song, Nicki raps, “Ayo, I’m the one who run the city where they armed and vicious / Accusations on them blogs and they all fictitious.” In the short time that’s passed since the song was released, listeners have already taken to Twitter to share their thoughts about the line. One Twitter user pointed out the controversial aspect of the song in a pair of tweets. “On*k* is smart,” they wrote. “She did a nostalgia release to push past the fact that she literally has a bar in a new track implying that her husbands survivor is lying on her and folks will eat it up.” They added, “Y’all can’t even say she didn’t say it either. She literally said ‘accusations on them blogs and they all fictitious.’”

The tweet sparked a number of replies with many replying in agreement to the line’s poor taste. One person replied, “Damn Nick sick for that” while another said, “i just can’t imagine ruining ma legacy/empire for an abusive man. prayers to the victim fr.”

You can listen to “Fractions” above and read more reactions to the line below.

Beam Me Up Scotty can be found on all DSPs here.

The Phoenix Suns gutted out a one-point win over the Blazers on Thursday night to stay alive in the hunt for the 1-seed in the West, a game behind Utah, and move two clear of the Clippers with two to play for the 2-seed. It was an important game for Portland as well, who could’ve locked in a playoff spot with a win but instead now run the risk of falling behind the Lakers for the 7-spot and into the play-in depending on how the last weekend of the season goes.

With so much in flux and the Lakers and Warriors currently in the play-in spots, plenty has been made of how there may not be an advantage to being one of the West’s top two seeds this season with LeBron James and Stephen Curry possibly being in the 7 and 8 seeds after the play-in. There have even been some who suggested Phoenix try to play their way down to the 3-seed to avoid the Lakers in the first round, as that is currently the most likely matchup, but that insinuation quickly got shut down on Thursday by Chris Paul.

Charles Barkley started to ask about the possible matchup with the Lakers or Warriors and whether that’s a disadvantage this year before Paul cut him off and delivered quite the statement on the Western Conference.

“Man, Chuck, I hate to cut you off, but I’ve been in the west my whole career,” Paul said. “West ain’t never been easy. I don’t care who you’re playing, what game it is, what series it is. I played in New Orleans, when I was in that division with Memphis, Houston with Yao and T-Mac, and Dallas when they was nice with Dirk and Stackhouse and all them. The West always been a beast, so if you try to matchup with someone else you can still get it handed to you. You just know that. You can’t duck nobody if you wanna win it all. You gotta go through it.”

It’s the right mindset to have if you’re the Suns, as there’s a danger in seeking out certain matchups. As the Suns got to see firsthand on Thursday, the Blazers are playing tremendous basketball right now and would be far from a lock to beat in a series. For Phoenix, it’s about staying healthy but carrying some confidence and quality play into the postseason, as they look to make a deep run in their first postseason appearance in a decade. Chris Paul has run into juggernauts in the West in the past and knows that there isn’t any hiding from the best teams, as you’ll eventually run into them. You could even make the argument, if you want to be optimistic, that if you have to face the Lakers maybe the first round as they’re still finding their footing is better than in a later round.

Whatever the case, Paul and the Suns don’t want to hear about chasing matchups and are taking the mindset that they’re a championship team and no one wins a title without taking down the best teams.

With two top-ten Billboard singles to her name already, Olivia Rodrigo is looking for a third. Just a week out from the release of her debut album, Sour, the “Drivers License” songwriter is sitting pretty. Along with the unprecedented success of her first single, the love triangle drama it spawned, a Taylor Swift co-sign, and a solid second single in “Deja Vu,” tonight she’s shifting gears sonically. “Good 4 U” is much different in tone than the first two, which leaned into the sadness. This one will please any listeners who are fans of Paramore and “Misery Business” as it’s very reminiscent of the furiously sweet pop-punk style that Hayley Williams perfected.

Even if the tone and sound of the song are quite a departure, the theme and lyrics are still well within the same realm as her previous songs. “Good 4 U” is essentially about watching someone change and grow in a positive way after a break up, and the resentment that can come along with helping someone better themselves… only for them to move on to someone else. With Sour only a week away, this is the first indication we’ve gotten that the record might still have some surprises for us. Is there a metal song on there somewhere? Latent hip-hop? We’ll find out in a week! For now, check out “Good 4 U” above.

The streaming services do battle every single week, and as always, the viewers can only benefit from this rivalry. However, there’s a real first-world problem here in that, quite possibly, there’s too much content to sort out without a lot of effort. That’s where we come in, to help you decide which service will give you the most delight for your dollars on each given weekend. This week, the top prize goes to HBO Max, which is bringing us two highly gifted actresses — Angelina Jolie and Jean Smart — in fresh projects. Not only that, but HBO Max has a relevant new documentary from famed director Alex Gibney. And the currently running HBO Sunday night series are still cranking away each week, too, so there’s a lot of quality to appreciate here. Netflix comes in as a close second several new digs, including Ewan McGregor in a starring TV role before we see him pop over to Disney+ for his return to Star Wars.

Speaking of Disney+ and Star Wars, that service isn’t doing too shabbily this week, either, with a returning show and more of The Bad Batch. Likewise, Amazon Prime’s got Oscar winner Barry Jenkins new limited series that you must check out. Meanwhile, four other services — Apple TV+, Paramount+, Hulu, and Peacock — are taking a little breather from offering brand-spanking-new series, but you might want to catch up on what they released last week. Also, Paramount+ does have a new episode from Dave Grohl’s lovable series that launched last week. We’re getting closer to those summer vibes every day, and we hope you enjoy (at least some of) this streaming content.

HBO Max

Hacks (HBO Max series premiere) — Jean Smart’s not-so-quiet domination of recent prestige TV shows (Fargo, Watchmen, Mare of Easttown, Legion) and other popular shows of late (Big Mouth, Dirty John) has finally culminated with this leading-lady turn in a role she was arguably meant to play. Hacks hails from executive producer Michael Schur and has three Broad City alums (Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky) in the writers’ room, so get ready for a (Las Vegas) buffet of complex female characters. Smart portrays a legendary Vegas-rooted comedian who forges a “dark mentorship” to a 20-something newcomer in town. Among other highlights of this trailer, we see Smart shouting, “Eat your heart out Celine!” Don’t even think about missing this one.

Those Who Wish Me Dead (Warner Bros. movie on HBO Max) — Angelina Jolie’s in a straight-to-streaming movie, y’all, which does not mean that hell has frozen over, especially since the heat is on in this tense movie. She portrays a smoke jumper in Montana who is used to a life full of danger, but soon, she’s dealing with riskier situations than she ever signed up to handle. Part of this has to do with attempting to save the life of a skittish boy, who’s being chased by killers for some reason, and then an inferno goes completely haywire. This is an intense one, and Jon Bernthal and Nicholas Hoult co-star.

The Crime of the Century (HBO series on HBO Max) — Famed documentary director Alex Gibney takes aim at Big Pharma for a two-parter. This week, Part 1 deep-dives into how Purdue Pharma aggressively marketed OxyContin to get the highly profitable pill pushed through the FDA approvals for wide use without sufficient studies and evidence. The project also argues that this OxyContin-paved crisis made it much easier for even more dangerous prescription drugs to achieve the same results.

That Damn Michael Che (HBO Max series) — This show’s title kindly tells us which SNL star will be front and center. However, several other SNL stars from today and yesteryear shall be right beside him, and that includes Colin Quinn, who previously admitted that he wasn’t the best fit for Weekend Update, but he seems to be a good fit for a priest who’s gearing himself up to hear all of Michael Che’s sins. This season also won’t shy away from tackling the all-too-timely issue of policing. Yes, the series promises appearances from Cecily Strong, Heidi Gardner, Ellen Cleghorne, and Colin Jost. Also expect to see Billy Porter, Method Man, Omari Hardwick, and Geoffrey Owens.

Mare Of Easttown (HBO series streaming on HBO Max) — Kate Winslet returns not only to TV but to HBO (a decade after her award-winning Mildred Pierce turn) to star as a hard-vaping detective in a small town where she both portrays and elevates the “complicated” cop trope. She’s captivating while digging into a murder mystery that has rocked her small town and caused the community to feel utterly claustrophobic. This show will suck you in, and you won’t mind one bit.

The Nevers (HBO series streaming on HBO Max) — This Joss Whedon-created show offers an intriguing setup about a group of “orphans” (almost exclusively women) who find themselves “gifted” with supernaturally-powered abilities. Although there’s far too many plot lines (and some plot holes), there’s also a fair amount of butt-kicking, and the atmosphere is killer. The embattled Buffy and Firefly creator officially exited the series last year, but you won’t be able to forget his presence.

Netflix

Halston (Netflix limited series) — The newest Ryan Murphy production stars Ewan McGregor as legendary fashion designer Roy Halston Frowick, a.k.a., “Halston,” who volleyed his solo operation into a global fashion empire. In doing so, Halston embodied and defined 1970s and ’80s Manhattan with all of its glitz, sex, and fame accoutrements, along with the trappings and the Andy Warhol-drenched atmosphere. A hostile takeover eventually threatens his control for the Halston name, and expect McGregor to be even flashier and scenery-chewing here than in Birds of Prey. Krysta Rodriguez stars as Liza Minnelli, and she’s a dead ringer, so sit back and enjoy how Halson caused a seismic shift in the fashion industry before his iconic brand lost all of its luster.

The Woman in the Window (Netflix film) — After HBO’s Sharp Objects, no one needs convincing to believe that Amy Adams is quite adept at playing a woman on the verge. Here’s she’s portraying a woman (who is, yes, in the window) who either saw something terrible happen across the street or at least believes as much. She’s agoraphobic, and her neighbor does indeed disappear, so there’s that. Yet since this is a psychological thriller from director Joe Wright, so one can guess that the resolution (which is based upon the best selling novel of the same name) will be anything but straightforward.

Love, Death & Robots: Volume 2 (Netflix series) — Two years ago, Netflix previewed this adult-animated series from co-executive producers David Fincher and Tim Miller, with the “messed up audiences only” label. Comfortingly, it sure looks like not a whole lot has changed for the show’s vibe. As with the Emmy-winning first season of this show, this trailer tells us to expect more existential “robots-gone-wild” but fewer of them (along with “naked giants” and “Christmas demons”), as the series included eighteen short films in the initial round but will crank out eight more for this second batch. All will keep the seemingly infinite number of animation styles going, including a very simple-looking installment that, uh, involves a poop-scooping robot.

Oxygen (Netflix film) — Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, Piranha 3D, Horns) brings this survival thriller to Netflix. Mélanie Laurent (6 Underground, Inglourious Basterds) stars as a woman who has no idea why she’s waking up in a cryogenic pod. She’s running out of oxygen fast, all while attempting to find her way out of this awful situation.

The Upshaws (Netflix series) — Mike Epps and Kim Fields star in this sitcom about a Black working class family, but of course, family life is wayyy messier than it initially seems. Wanda Sykes not only co-created this show but stars as a sardonic sister-in-law, and hopefully, they’ll get through this together.

The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness (Netflix limited series) — Netflix continues to delve deeper into the true crime realm with new selections every month. Now, the streamer is taking on the case of serial killer David Berkowitz, a.k.a. “Son of Sam,” who was arrested and convicted after a stream of murders in the late 1970s. Upon Berkowitz’s capture, New Yorkers felt a sense of relief after Berkowitz could no longer stalk the streets, but journalist Maury Terry didn’t rest easy. He felt convinced that Berkowitz had a partner (or more than one), and this documentary series will dive down that rabbit hole.

Amazon Prime

The Underground Railroad (Amazon Prime limited series) — Awe-inspiring cinematography aside in this trailer, one of the biggest attractions to this project, of course, is Oscar winner Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk, Moonlight) in the director’s seat while helming a 10-part adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. Also, Brad Pitt’s executive producing here through his Plan B production company. The story chronicles the desperate bid for freedom by slave Cora Randall (newcomer Thuso Mbedu), and she’s pursued by a bounty hunter, Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton), who not only wishes to complete his straight-up mission by returning Cora to a Georgia plantation but to settle a personal score. The ensemble cast includes William Jackson Harper (as Royal, who was born free and helps guide Cora along part of her journey), Lily Rabe, and Damon “Dewey Crowe” Herriman.

Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse (Amazon Prime film) — Michael B. Jordon stars as an elite Navy SEAL who’s seeking justice after the murder of his pregnant wife. In the process, he (naturally) stumbles upon an international conspiracy. It’s the origin story of one of the most beloved Clancy characters in his entire Jack Ryan universe.

Disney+

Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Episode 3 (Disney+ series) — You might prefer to think of this show as the Star Wars franchise’s version of D.C.’s Suicide Squad, but fear no Leto-Joker intrusion. Instead, this The Clone Wars spinoff follows the conclusion of its flagship series that recently wound down on Disney+. Dave Filoni is executive producing, and the show focuses on a mercenary squad of sorts that’s made up of (as the title indicates) “the Bad Batch” or Clone Force 99. These elite soldiers stand apart from standard clones due to their unique physical capabilities like super strength, super eyesight, and so on.

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: Season 2 premiere (Disney+ series) — Expect a lot of references to the High School Musical 2 film starring Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. Also anticipate the return of an old rivalry and a programming switch that puts the students into a whole new set of routines to master. Derek Hough joins the cast as an antagonist, and there’s a long-distance relationship shift in the cards for Nini and Ricky. That’s rarely good news for characters, but at least the audience can enjoy all the musical numbers along the emotional way.

Big Shot (Disney+ series) — David E. Kelley co-created and executive produces this series starring John Stamos as a down-on-his luck, ousted NCAA coach who’s attempting to get back on his (angry) feet with a ritzy private high-school gig. While reluctantly seeking redemption, Coach learns that his new team benefits from him showing some actual emotion beyond rage and stoicism, so he must — gasp — learn how to be vulnerable and empathetic. He might actually become a better person, too.

Apple TV+

Mythic Quest: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series) — Two pandemic specials sustained viewers between seasons of Rob McElhenney’s workplace comedy, which shall see plenty of awkward maneuvering while the crew comes back to the office after you-know-what forced the work-at-home situation. They’re hoping to build upon the Raven’s Banquet success with a new expansion, but nothing’s going smoothly. In short, sometimes the bigger battle than the work itself is learning (and in this case, relearning) how to achieve harmony with one’s coworkers, but here’s great news: Snoop Dogg stops by this season to spread his feel-good… vibes.

Paramount+

From Cradle To Stage (Paramount+ series) — This Dave Grohl-directed series follows Dave and his mom, Virginia, meeting up with Pharrell Williams and his mom. In the process, we learn that both artists are terrified of disappointing their maternal figures and also both started rocking out in their small Virginia hometowns.

Hulu

Shrill: Season 3 (Hulu series) — The Lorne Michaels and Elizabeth Banks-produced series picks up with Aidy Bryant’s Annie feeling good about breaking up with her awful boyfriend and crushing everything at work. However, now that she can have everything that she wants, she must decide, you know, what she really wants. A blind date, an embarrassing doctor’s visit, and a wild girl’s night are all on tap this season, so get ready to be vicariously awkward.

Peacock

Girls5Eva (Peacock series) — Tina Fey and Robert Carlock haven’t swung and missed yet while executive producing together, and here’s their latest joint project about a one-and-done, Spice Girls-esque 1990s girl group who get one more shot at stardom. Unfortunately, they’re all balancing real-life stressors like family, day jobs, and aches and pains that one doesn’t exactly deal with during early-20s life when abusing one’s body simply comes with the territory. Busy Phillips stars alongside Sarah Bareilles, Paula Pell, and Renée Elise Goldsberry.

The concept of Guys Being Dudes means many things, starting with the inherent truth that when a guy is in need of some assistance with a hamstring cramp on national television you help a dude out.

That truth was honored in hilarious fashion on Thursday night when Charles Barkley cramped up on Inside The NBA. Enter Shaq, who during a commercial break gave him a few whacks in a very compromising position we fortunately were able to enjoy because TNT kept the cameras rolling.

The video is classic Inside The NBA, with Ernie Johnson narrating Chuck getting so tense watching Suns/Trail Blazers that he started cramping up. Shaq, laughing as he leans over the desk in an effort to stretch out a bit, is more than willing to come over and use his extremely large pro athlete hands to help give him some relief. Both Shaq and Chuck are laughing through the video, with the former asking them to “strike that from the tape” despite the obvious gold the crew has captured here.

It’s honestly a bit surprising that Shaq has not endorsed a product that explicitly fixes this issue of hamstring cramps, but as someone who has had a physical therapist laugh at the condition of my hamstrings I can safely say that both Chuck and I are interested if an entrepreneur is willing to give Shaq another bag. Safe to say, it made for great TV on a big night in basketball.

Truly giving the people what they want.

For the past couple of years, Leon Bridges was steadily working on his upcoming third album. It’s an effort that follows his 2018 release, Good Thing, and in the months and years leading up to the forthcoming project, Bridges shared singles like “All About You” with Lucky Daye and “Sweeter.” Now, the Fort Worth-bred act returns with his newest track, “Motorbike.” The breezy song finds him dreaming of riding in the wind with his partner in love seated behind him with their arms wrapped around the singer. This exact desire is display in the singer’s warm video for the song, which is directed by Anderson .Paak.

The new song comes less than two days after an official announcement from Bridges about his third album. He revealed in an Instagram post that the project will be titled Gold-Diggers Sound, named after the recording studio the album was created in. “I created this world with @rickyreed and @natemercereau at Gold Diggers Studio in East Hollywood over the course of two very long years,” Bridges wrote under the post. “With immense joy, greater purpose, and sometimes doubt, I labored over these eleven songs, but the record truly came together when I immersed myself in everything @golddiggersla making it my home, my escape, and the center of my creative world.”

He added, “The record features some remarkably talented friends, longtime collaborators and I believe it’s my most personal album yet.”

Press play on the video above to hear “Motorbike.”

Gold-Diggers Sound is out 7/23 via Columbia. Pre-order it here.

If you’re a fan of Russ, I have some great news for you. The Atlanta-bred rapper is back to releasing a new song every week for his supporters, something he did early in his career to help him reach the breakout moment he arrived at in 2015. Russ shared that the weekly releases would be returning last week in a tweet writing, “DROPPIN A SONG A WEEK AND IGNORING EVERYBODY.” Now, for its second installment, he shares his latest single, “Status.” The new effort sees Russ cruising through bars about women, friends who doubted him, and his growing popularity all while keeping his emotions in a nonchalant state.

Russ’ latest drop comes after he kicked off his return last week with “Small Talk.” That track brought plenty of energy from Russ as he declared no interest in small talk when there’s business to be taken care of. While the two tracks signal a consistent return to music, they aren’t the first piece of music Russ has delivered in 2021. Prior to that, he dropped a number of singles which include “Ugly” with Lil Baby, “Bankrupt,” “Misunderstood,” and “Hard For Me.”

As for fans who might be interested in a new project from Russ, they may have to wait a bit as he delivered two of them in 2020 with Shake The Snow Globe and Chomp, which should be enough to keep listeners satisfied when paired with the new singles.

Press play on the new track in the video above.

Real Time With Bill Maher is taking a week off after its host reportedly contracted COVID-19. The breakthrough case, as Maher was reportedly vaccinated, has shut down production on the HBO news program and means the network will have to

As The Hollywood Reporter detailed, Maher tested positive while gearing up for the Friday show’s weekly schedule, but so far isn’t showing any severe symptoms, in part because he’s fully vaccinated according to the network.

Maher tested positive during weekly checks of the show’s staff. Per HBO, the host is fully vaccinated, is not showing any symptoms and “feels fine.”

“Real Time production has taken every precaution following COVID CDC guidelines,” HBO said in a statement. “No other staff or crew members have tested positive at this time. The show will be rescheduled at a later date.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson, Max Brooks and Dan Carlin were the scheduled guests for Real Time on Friday.

As THR pointed out, Maher was the first show of its kind to bring back an audience in September, albeit limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Maher’s positive test makes him one of the rare breakthrough cases of coronavirus, as he was reportedly fully vaccinated at the time. But that he’s apparently feeling fine means, at least in theory, that vaccine is doing its job to make it a milder case of infection thus far. Hopefully he continues to feel fine and the news is a mere blip — and his inclusion in a very small statistical oddity — in the show’s production schedule and no one else on the show tests positive.