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Roku Might Be The One That Gives A Home To Quibi’s Orphaned Content

Remember Quibi? It’s been just over a month since the short-form streamer ended its too short life, having been felled in part by arriving during a pandemic, when few were in need nor in the mood for 10-minute “bites.” But there’s been one burning question: Where do the shows that did go live go next? Shows like Dummy, their reboot of The Fugitive, and their acclaimed continuation of Reno 911! currently live in limbo, in a kind of streaming oblivion. But they may have a home soon enough.

As per The Wall Street Journal, talks are happening with Roku, the much-loved smart TV app that allows easy access to the likes of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Disney+, the Criterion Channel, and — now, finally — HBO Max. That said, the deal could still fall through. But if it doesn’t a bunch of orphans will have shelter, although presumably without the option to toggle between horizontal and vertical displays, being that Quibi content was supposed to be watched on a phone.

Quibi bowed in April of 2020, about a month into the widespread quarantine that became necessary after COVID-19 began its still out-of-control rampage across the globe. The service underperformed right out of the gate, and it didn’t get much better in the ensuing months, when people were often parked on their couch, staring at their giant TVs, afraid to go outside, much less wait in long lines. That’s where Quibi could have flourished, and maybe it would have in a different, better timeline. But at least the many who never downloaded the app will be to see if any of those shows, divvied into 10-minute “bites,” were any good.

(Via WSJ)

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The NFL Released The Full Wild Card Weekend TV Schedule

The NFL Playoffs are all set with the exception of the NFC East, which is being decided on Sunday Night Football as a Washington Football Team win would secure them the division, while an Eagles win gives it to the Giants who won earlier in the day over Dallas.

The league was not waiting for the winner of the NFC East to be decided before they published the now 6-game Wild Card Weekend schedule — which they’re calling Super Wild Card Weekend — releasing the full slate in the second quarter of the Sunday Night game.

Saturday, Jan. 9
Indianapolis Colts at Buffalo Bills, 1:05 pm (CBS)
Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks, 4:40 pm (FOX)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Giants/Football Team 8:15 p.m. (NBC)

Sunday, Jan. 10
Baltimore Ravens at Tennessee Titans, 1:05 p.m. (ESPN)
Chicago Bears at New Orleans Saints, 4:40 p.m. (CBS)
Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers, 8:15 p.m. (NBC)

There aren’t a ton of surprises, as the Colts-Bills game leads things off in the Saturday early afternoon game, with Ravens-Titans earning the Sunday early game. Also no surprise are the NBC selections for their primetime games, as they’ll tap into the Tom Brady/NFC East money train on Saturday and also pick up the Steelers-Browns game that features the first Browns playoff game in 18 years.

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‘The Mandalorian’ Was The Most Pirated Show Of 2020, Replacing Longtime Winner ‘Game of Thrones’

Sorry, Game of Thrones, but there’s one dubious championship you no longer rule. When its run ended, so did its long reign as the most pirated show on television. According to Torrentfreak (as caught by Entertainment Weekly), that honor now goes to The Mandalorian, Disney+’s first Star Wars show and so far the crown jewel in its streaming empire.

But people weren’t only about illegally obtaining the adventures of Pedro Pascal’s good-ish bounty hunter and his adorable Baby Yoda (er, Grogu). Silver goes to The Boys, Amazon’s renegade superhero show, while bronze goes to Westworld, HBO’s increasingly convoluted take on Michael Crichton’s 1973 movie, which got it all done in one hit and a less successful sequel, both featuring Yul Brynner. Rounding out the top were Amazon’s Vikings, CBS’ Star Trek: Picard, Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty, AMC’s The Walking Dead, HBO’s The Outsider, CW’s Arrow, and CW’s The Flash.

There are a couple interesting takeaways here. One is that all of the top three shows only featured eight episodes this season, and the others didn’t have much more. Also worth noting is the plethora of different streamers, with only HBO, Amazon, and CW claiming more than one show in the top ten. That suggests some Streaming Wars exhaustion, as though a number of people aren’t even attempting to collecting them all. And there’s still more streamers en route. In the meantime, congrats?

(Via TorrentFreak and EW)

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The New York Jets Have Fired Adam Gase

The New York Jets finished the season at 2-14, picking up the 2nd overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft in the process, and that closing record is actually a major improvement after starting the season 0-13.

Still, after such a dismal season in which the New York offense once again failed to ever get off the ground consistently, the writing was on the wall for head coach Adam Gase. The rumblings out of the Meadowlands began earlier this week that Gase’s tenure as coach was done after their game against the Patriots, and sure enough, late Sunday night the Jets made his firing official.

Gase went 9-23 over two seasons in New York, as the Jets regressed from a 7-9 team his first year to the 2-14 disaster that was this season. Sam Darnold never took the step forward expected or at least hoped for in Gase’s offense and for a coach whose calling card was supposed to be a creative, imaginative, and, most importantly, explosive offensive attack, what the Jets produced over two years simply didn’t match up. With the 2nd pick, the Jets seem likely to make a new quarterback the face of their franchise to pair with a new coach, as they’ll have their pick of Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, or Trey Lance come April.

As for Gase, he’ll almost assuredly find himself back as an offensive coordinator somewhere in the near future, but one would think this will be his last head coaching job for at least a little while. The Jets, meanwhile, will join the Falcons, Lions, and Texans on the coaching market, with others possible to join the fray, and one would expect New York to be like so many others and add Chiefs OC Eric Bienemy and Niners DC Robert Saleh to the top of their wishlist, but they’ll have to expand their choices beyond those two as they are the hottest commodities on the market.

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Playboi Carti’s ‘Whole Lotta Red’ Became The Rapper’s First No. 1 Album

Playboi Carti made quite the splash the week before Christmas when he revealed that his long-awaited sophomore album, Whole Lotta Red, would come out on Christmas Day. The follow up to his 2018 debut album Die Lit has been anticipated by fans for all years, and when a social media conversation with Travis Scott about what seemed like an album collab stirred the pot, fans were thrilled to get new music from the young rapper. So much so, that they’ve pushed his record to a No. 1 debut on the Billboard chart, a first for Carti.

Though Playboi might not be getting as hot of a reception from critics, and the mother of his child and ex-girlfriend Iggy Azalea flamed him up over a canceled Christmas trip to see his son, the album streams and sales are there. And that’s not too shabby a way to kick off the new year. Whole Lotta Red features collaborations with Kid Cudi on “M3tamorphosis” — which was also accompanied by a video on the night of the album release — and Kanye West on “Go2DaMoon.”

Luckily for Carti, Taylor Swift’s Evermore dropped down to the No. 2 slot for this week after spending two weeks at No. 1, giving him the distinction of topping the chart.

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Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, And More Did Not Mince Words When They Demanded Trump Finally Admit He Lost The Election

It’s been nearly two long months since the 2020 presidential race was called for Joe Biden, and to no one’s surprise his predecessor, Donald J. Trump, has not allowed a peaceful transition of power. Instead he’s filled the courts with dozens of failed lawsuits and insisted, baselessly, on voter fraud. The majority of Republicans have gone along with it thus far but, on Sunday, some of that support belatedly started eroding away. As per The Washington Post, a forceful letter demanded Trump concede was made public, one signed by such GOP heavy-hitters as Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.

Those who signed the joint missive happened to all be former U.S. defense secretaries; the others were James Mattis, Mark Esper, Leon Panetta, William Cohen, Chuck Hagel, Robert Gates, William Perry and Ashton Carter. It was released mere days before Congress is scheduled to formally confirm Electoral College votes — a process that is being challenged by a number of Republican lawmakers, many of them steadfast supporters of the outgoing president. But though that effort is almost certainly doomed to fail, the letter from former vice president Cheney et al. did not mince words:

“Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.”

One alarming part of the letter concerns fears that Trump would coax the military to help him overturn the election results. The signees stressed that doing so — which is also unlikely — “would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.”

Sunday was a big day for big-time Republican names to come down hard against Trump’s continued attempts to unlawfully serve a second administration. Lindsey Graham, a onetime Trump critic who become one of his minions, tweeted Sunday that while he looks forward to hearing any real objections to the Electoral College votes that will be submitted on Tuesday, he stated sharply that they “will need to provide proof of the charges they are making.

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who ran as a vice presidential candidate opposite Mitt Romney in 2012, losing the position to incoming president Joe Biden, also denounced Republican attempts to spread unproven discord about November’s election.

Will this soften Trump’s increasingly desperate and convoluted attempts to overturn an election he lost by over seven million votes? Probably not. After all, the news comes the same day The Washington Post also dropped audio of him asking Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to falsify election results in his favor — a smoking gun, essentially, proving illegality. So his post-presidential life is not exactly looking rosy.

(Via The Washington Post)

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Prince’s Estate Reportedly Undervalued Its Worth And Now Owes The IRS $32 Million In Taxes

Prince’s estate has a new issue on its hands, as the IRS reportedly said it undervalued its value by 50% — which amounts to about $80 million. As a result, the government agency says they are now owed more than $32 million by the late musician’s camp. According to the Star Tribune, the estate’s administrator, Comerica Bank & Trust, submitted documents that said they were only valued at $82.3 million, rather than the $163.2 million amount the IRS later determined the number to be. As a result of the gap, the IRS is seeking an additional $32.4 million. The IRS has also placed a $6.4 million “accuracy-related penalty.”

However, Comerica and its lawyers at Fredrikson & Byron in Minneapolis deny the IRS’ claims and say the documents were accurate. They have also asked a tax court to hold a trial in St. Paul, kicking off a process that would prolong the settlement of the estate and possibly create more legal fees at the expense of Prince’s heirs.

There have been many issues since Prince’s 2016 death. Estimates of his net worth have gone as low as $100 million to as high as $300 million. Prior to the IRS ruling, Comerica sued the IRS this past summer according to the Associated Press and claimed their calculations were filled with errors.

(via Star Tribune)

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No One Enjoyed The Cowboys Loss On Sunday More Than Stephen A. Smith

Sunday was a meaningful day for a number of NFL franchises, as the playoff hopes of 11 teams were to be decided. Among those were three squads in the NFC East, as the Cowboys, Giants, and Football Team all entered the day with, somehow, the division still up for grabs despite all having losing records.

The first game of the day in the division was Cowboys-Giants, with the winner keeping hope alive, needing an Eagles win to make the playoffs, and the loser seeing themselves fall to the top 10 of the NFL Draft order — which, to be honest, wasn’t the worst outcome in the world. The way that game ended was an abject disaster that was fitting of the way the division has played this season. Andy Dalton threw a horrific interception in the end zone to end a Cowboys comeback bid, but the Giants almost handed the ball back to them with an untouched fumble from Wayne Gallman that, somehow, was ruled to be retained by New York after the back sat on the ball and was deemed to have possession.

Once the game ended there were some celebrations from Giants fans — and some Cowboys fans who recognized it was much more important to add talent to this team than make the playoffs and likely lose — but no one reveled in the misery of the portion of the Dallas faithful still holding out hope for their playoff dreams more than Stephen A. Smith. ESPN’s top provocateur has always loved prodding Cowboys fans and took to Twitter donning his cowboy hat with cigar in hand to take a victory lap.

Smith is the finest performance artist in the sports media for a reason, and his commitment to the bit is tremendous — although, gotta clean it up with Washington’s nickname here, Stephen A. For those Dallas fans who are happier getting a top pick so they can hopefully bounce back next year with some more talent around Dak Prescott (or on the defensive end), this won’t get to them, but there will be plenty who get riled up over Smith’s latest prodding at America’s Team, something that truly seems to bring him immense joy.

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The Rubik’s Cube Is About To Actually Be Turned Into A Big Movie (And A Game Show, Too)

Every now and then Hollywood greenlights a movie based not on a novel or a comic book or, indeed, any IP that has been adapted into anything else before. Films based on board games have been a thing since Clue, back in 1985. Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! was based on a series of trading cards. He’s Just Not That Into You, a self-help book, was turned into a star-studded rom-com. And maybe one day we’ll final get that Kevin Hart Monopoly movie announced about a year ago.

But this one is next level: As per Deadline, a movie is being made based on…the Rubik’s Cube. The three-dimensional puzzle toy that has been frustrating all but the brainiest since 1974. How will a box-shaped gizmo with nine colored blocks per side be turned into a narrative? Well, they made a movie about emojis — surely some screenwriting geniuses can crack it.

But that’s not all. This is an era when the best (or at least most profitable) IPs are the ones that cross mediums. And so the modest Cube is also becoming fodder for the latest game show craze. It’s not clear how this one will work either. Presumably it would be pretty boring watching some rando try and solve the puzzle in real time.

In the meantime, enjoy this brief video from 2009 of film and music video director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, this classic White Stripes video, among others), solving a Rubik’s Cube with his feet. See if you can catch how he did it! And, of course, you could also just buy one and try and solve it. Maybe it’ll take you longer than it does for Hollywood to make a Rubik’s Cube movie.

(Via Deadline)

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Jayson Tatum Beat The Pistons With A Pull-Up Jumper Followed By A Game-Sealing Block

After dropping a game in Detroit on Friday, the Celtics entered Sunday afternoon’s matchup with the Pistons looking to split the two-game series in Detroit but found themselves once again in a precarious position late.

This time, however, they had the answers on both ends of the floor to emerge with a 122-120 victory and improve to 4-3 on the season, thanks to the tremendous efforts of their star wing duo of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Brown finished the game with 31 points to lead Boston, with his most notable effort coming with the Celtics trailing by one late when Tatum found him on the wing for an open three to give them a two-point lead.

Detroit would tie the game on the next possession, and once again the Celtics had Tatum initiate the action. This time, when he got the switch he wanted he went to work on Blake Griffin, shaking the big man for an open pull-up jumper on the elbow. On the Pistons next possession, it was Tatum’s turn to play hero on the defensive end as well, as he got a hand on Griffin’s late heave to secure a Boston win.

It has been hard work for the Celtics in just about every game this season, as now three of their four wins have come by five points or fewer, but with Kemba Walker out they have to be pleased with every win they get as they continue to try and figure out exactly what rotations look like. In a season in which it feels like the majority of teams are struggling to find consistency, Boston’s start is far from a disaster. The good news is that Tatum and Brown have been excellent, the big question going forward is how long it will take for them to get everyone else going — and get the defense back to where it was a year ago.