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Last Friday, it was reported Johnny Depp was being suddenly yanked from the third Fantastic Beasts entry. The reason? The failure of the libel suit he had filed against the British tabloid The Sun, which has been deemed not guilty for referring to him as a “wife-beater” in relation to his divorce from actress Amber Heard. Warner Bros. reportedly wished to distance themselves from Depp. Problem is, the movie had already re-launched production, with pandemic precautionary measures, of course. But it looks like they have quickly found a replacement for Depp’s character, fearsome villain Gellert Grindelwald, and it’s a thespian with a longer history at playing baddies.

According to Deadline, talks are under way with Mads Mikkelsen, the Danish actor who’s played the villains of Casino Royale, Doctor Strange as well as the cannibalistic anti-hero of NBC’s TV version of Hannibal. (For the record, he also played the kindly father of Felicity Jones’ hero in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, because the man has range.) Should he get the role, Mikkelsen will be the third person to play the role in the series in only three films. The first Fantastic Beasts concludes with Colin Farrell’s character revealing himself to be Depp’s Grindelwald, setting the stage for the 2018 sequel.

Depp may have only got to film one of his scenes before getting his walking papers, but he can’t be that sad: Monday it was revealed that he’ll still be receiving his full six-figures payment.

(Via Deadline)

When Warner Bros. dropped a first look at Matt Reeves’ The Batman during DC Fandome, audiences were absolutely blown away by the darker, intense approach that Robert Pattinson was bringing to the iconic role. But hardcore Batman fans were even more stoked to see a nod to the classic Batman: The Animated Series, which some considered to be one of the best interpretations of the Dark Knight, surpassing even the films. During the badass trailer set to Nirvana‘s “Something in the Way,” Pattinson’s Batman is asked who he is by a group of frightened thugs who just watched one of their own take a brutal beating. Pattinson’s response? “I’m vengeance,” a line that was epically growled by Kevin Conroy during his time voicing the Caped Crusader on the animated series.

As for how Conroy feels about seeing Pattinson use his classic line, he’s very cool with it. In an interview with Geek House Show, Conroy opened up about how he loves that there are different takes on Batman and The Joker, and he appreciates what each actor brings to the role even though he was against the idea when Val Kilmer first replaced Michael Keaton in Batman Forever.

“I think it was kind of brilliant of Warner Brothers to not give the role to one person,” Conroy said, via Comic Book. “I thought it was crazy at first because usually they give a role to one actor and that actor becomes the face of the franchise. So when Michael Keaton started and I thought well he’s going to be Batman. Then you got, George Clooney, Val Kilmer, all these different actors, Ben Affleck, who all did it slightly different. They all had a different strength in playing the role.”

(Via Geek House Show)

Nobody should call a woman a “bitch” – especially the dictionary. Oxford University Press has finally updated their definition of “woman” to fit in with the 21^st century. “We have expanded the dictionary coverage of ‘woman’ with more examples and idiomatic phrases which depict women in a positive and active manner,” OUP said in a statement, per CNN. “We have ensured that offensive synonyms or senses are clearly labelled as such and only included where we have evidence of real world usage.” The Oxford Dictionary’s definitions show up on search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, And Lexico.

The change is the result of a 2019 Change.org petition to update the definition, because it was pretty sexist. The petition was started by London-based communications strategist Maria Beatrice Giovanardi, and received over 30,000 signatures. According to the petition, the Oxford Dictionary contained words that were “sexist” and “show women as sex objects, subordinate, and/or an irritation to men” when talking about women. Giovanardi told The Guardian she feels the campaign achieved 90% of its goals – like getting rid of phrases and definitions that “discriminate and patronize” or “connote men’s ownership.”

The petition caused the dictionary compliers to undertake an “extensive review” of the entries “for ‘woman’ and many other related terms.” References to gender and words “typically associated with women” (like high-maintenance or housework) were removed. Any references to “sexual attractiveness or activity” were revised. It’s like the pressure for women to look good even extended to the dictionary.

There are so many arenas in which women have yet to reach gender parity, but now the dictionary is not one of them. OUP added “equivalent” phrases, such as adding “woman of the moment” to match “man of the moment.”

While women shouldn’t be defined by their relationship status, OUP also added that a woman can be “a person’s wife, girlfriend, or female lover,” in addition to a man’s. Speaking of man, they also updated their definition for “man,” adding the same-gender neutral terminology as used in the updated “woman” def.

One of the major complaints with the old version was that derogatory synonyms for “woman,” such as “bitch” and “bint” and “wench” weren’t labeled as such. The inclusion of these synonyms without the note that there’s anything wrong with them could open the door for harassment. Now, these synonyms are labeled as “derogatory” or “offensive” or “dated.”

It’s important to think about the words we use, because words have meaning. “The hard truth is that language does matter and does influence society,” Giovanardi told Mashable. “We want sexism to be taken as something that not acceptable, [and] not okay.”

Ultimately, the change is a reminder that if you stand up and say, “Hey, I don’t like it when you think it’s okay to call me a bitch,” people will eventually listen – even the people in charge of the dictionary.

The time has come to talk about one of the most snackable sweets on earth: mochi ice cream.

If you’re unfamiliar, mochi is a traditional Japanese rice cake made of mochigome — a mix of glutinous short-grain rice, water, sugar, and cornstarch — pounded into a paste and then molded into all variety of different shapes. Sometimes that shape is round and it holds ice cream inside. As you might imagine, these little ice cream dumplings are quite often delicious.

After seeing a huge boom over the past decade, mochi ice cream has fully hit the mainstream. It can be found in most markets, alongside all your other favorite frozen desserts. If you seek it out, chances are the first brand you’ll see is Los Angeles-based My/Mo Mochi. Kroger carries it. So does Target. Whether you’re in Anchorage, Alaska, or Zzyzx, California (an actual city!) you’ll be able to find the stuff.

Currently, My/Mo makes fifteen different flavors. Since that’s way too many for a person to pick from blindly, we’ve tested and ranked all fifteen of them below.

15. Apple Pie à la Mode

A hallmark of My/Mo Mochi is how far the brand strays from more traditional Japanese flavors (not having Red Bean is a crime) and it doesn’t get less traditionally Japanese than Apple Pie. That doesn’t make the flavor bad by any means, Apple Pie à la Mode is one of My/Mo’s seasonal flavors and, if you love spiced apple and vanilla ice cream, you’re going to want to stock up on these to enjoy during the off-season.

For me? It tastes a little too much like apple sauce and I’m just not into that.

The bottom line: If you don’t love the taste of artificial apple, almost any flavor will provide a better experience.

14. Cookies & Cream

My/Mo has two distinct styles of making mochi ice cream. Flavors either come in an all ice-cream form and a filled-form. Cookies & Cream would’ve been a great candidate for the filled variety, but sadly it’s not that. The cookie crisps in this flavor are just a bit too small, and the ice cream is a little more watery than it is creamy. It’s not bad at all, but it promises so much.

What should it have been? Creamy ice cream with a chunky Oreo cookie-like center!

The bottom line: Doesn’t live up to its promise, but a fine flavor overall.

13. Double Chocolate

A chocolate-flavored mochi exterior with rich and creamy chocolate ice cream and crisped brownie bites? Count us in!

The chocolate ice cream here is pretty solid, offering a nice balance of deep chocolate-y notes with brownie bites that provide a nice crunch and texture. Our only gripe here is the brownie bites are a bit flavorless, and, honestly, calling them brownie bites is being generous. They recall chocolate chips more than brownies.

The bottom line: Lovers of chocolate look no further, this is a great way to double up.

12. Pumpkin Spice

Pumpkin Spice is My/Mo’s other seasonal flavor and while I fully expected to dislike this flavor as much as the apple, I kind of love it. A delicious mix of clove, cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg, a dusting of gramham cracker… it’s pretty much Pumpkin Pie in a mochi ice cream form.

The bottom line: Not just for pumpkin spice die-hards, this is a solid flavor worthy of your freezer space.

11. Sweet Mango

I know this is going to weird people out, but believe me — what you’re about to read is not a knock on My/Mo’s Sweet Mango mochi:

The Sweet Mango mochi does not taste anything like actual mango. At all. It tastes like Nerds. From Wonka.

Lucky for me, I love Nerds. If you love Nerds there’s a high chance you’re going to love Sweet Mango mochi. That simple.

The bottom line: Don’t pick up this flavor expecting mango flavor. But if you want a balance of sweet and tangy, this is the one for you.

10. Ripe Strawberry

Strawberry ice cream is both one of the most divisive flavors of ice cream and one of the most basic. It belongs in the same class as vanilla and chocolate but it isn’t nearly as beloved. Which means if you love strawberry ice cream, you’re going to love My/Mo’s Ripe Strawberry. If you don’t, this flavor will do nothing to win you over.

In terms of strawberry ice cream, Ripe Strawberry is decent to good, the small bits of frozen strawberry are a nice touch and if they were a bit bigger it might push this ice cream firmly into the “good” camp.

The bottom line: For commited lovers of strawberry ice cream and strawberry milkshakes. Probably not for anyone else.

9. Mint Chocolate Chip

This flavor would’ve ranked much higher had My/Mo opted to make it strictly mint ice cream, rather than adding the flakey bits of chocolate. My/Mo’s chocolate bits just leave a lot to be desired. Again, these taste more watery than they do chocolatey and that’s really a shame as the mint ice cream is delicious.

Paired with the gooey mochi exterior, this flavor is as refreshing as ice cream can get.

The bottom line: A mid-tier flavor that manages to suffer from the inclusion of chocolate.

8. Orange Vanilla

My/Mo Orange Vanilla is essentially a 50/50 Creamsicle. And given this easy-to-eat form factor, we’re going to go ahead and say it’s superior to eating a popsicle. Better still, the orange ice is replaced with pillowy orange-flavored mochi with vanilla bean ice cream encased inside and a tangy burst of orange flavor in the center.

The bottom line: The evolution of the creamsicle. Eating this will never make you look at a 50/50 bar as fondly again.

7. Vanilla Bean

Vanilla is a classic flavor in the world of ice cream and the world of mochi and My/Mo’s Vanilla Bean exceeds expectations. It’s smooth — with a rich and creamy ice cream texture and a soft powedered exterior. It will be someone’s favorite, but we like our top picks to be a little more experimental.

The bottom line: A solid entry of a classic mochi flavor.

6. Dulce de Leche

If you’re looking for a mochi flavor to eat in the morning, Dulce de Leche is your jam. A rich decadent creamed coffee-flavored ice cream wrapped in a slightly bitter chewy exterior with a burst of creamy caramel in the center, Dulce de Leche is definitely My/Mo’s messiest flavor and also its richest.

This truly feels like an indulgent dessert, but at just 110 calories a pop, it never feels too heavy.

The bottom line: Perfect for wake-and-bake stoners or anyone else who feels like eating ice cream in the morning.

5. S’mores

My/Mo’s S’mores is dangerously delicious. Like, be-careful-or-you-might-end-up-killing-the-whole-box delicious. S’mores features a chocolate mochi exterior with graham cracker ice cream and a chewy marshmallow center. The graham cracker ice cream is one of My/Mo’s best and an obvious precursor to their similarly delicious Pumpkin Spice flavor and the chewy marshmallow center is easily My/Mo’s best filing in the entire line.

Our only gripe, and it’s a small one, is that the chocolatey exterior leaves something to be desired.

The bottome line: Delicious, thanks to My/Mo’s graham cracker ice cream and the chewy marshmallow center. Eat this with a side of hot chocolate and you’re in for a tasty winter treat.

4. Vanilla Blueberry

This was the first flavor of My/Mo I tried and the one I was most skeptical of. As I stared into a freezer packed with every flavor of My/Mo, I made some quick and shallow judgements that led me to believe the filled varieties would be the worst. I was wrong and the second I bit into Vanilla Blueberry I knew to throw all previous expectations out the window.

Vanilla Blueberry is so damn delicious. The creamy vanilla bean pairs perfectly with the jelly-like blueberry filling while rendering the plain Vanilla Bean flavor a little redundant.

The bottom line: If you’re a vanilla-lover and on the fence over this and the plain Vanilla Bean choose Vanilla Blueberry. It won’t disappoint and will quickly convince you that jelly-filled mochi is a good thing.

3. Green Tea

Green Tea was always going to rank highly for me. It’s the first flavor that comes to mind when anyone offers me mochi and it’s probably the first flavor of mochi I ever tried. My/Mo’s Green Tea features matcha ice cream encased in a pillowy soft mochi exterior that results in a nice blend of sweet and bitter flavors.

It’s refreshing, it’s markedly different than any other ice cream flavor you’d find at your favorite ice cream parlor, and it doesn’t disappoint for fans of mochi who are unfamiliar with the My/Mo brand.

The bottom line: A delicious iteration of one of the most popular mochi flavors ever.

2. Chocolate Sundae

Everything just comes together beautifully here. Chocolate Sundae, like the S’mores, combines three pillars of flavor. But this time My/Mo knocks it out of the park. Rich and creamy vanilla bean ice cream, semi-bitter chocolate flavored mochi outer, and a bright maraschino cherry center interact in perfect harmony.

The bottom line: Get the experience of eating an entire chocolate sundae in a single bite.

1. Banana Chocolate Cream

Here we are at the top. If My/Mo’s Chocolate Sundae offered the experience of a sundae in a small bite-sized form, Banana Chocolate Cream matches the experience of a banana split. A delicious, perfectly-ripened banana ice cream and mochi outer tossed in fluffy powdered sugar makes way for a decadent and rich chocolate filling.

This isn’t just My/Mo’s best flavor, it’s one of the best mochi ice cream flavors I’ve ever had. As someone who frequented Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo district for the sole purpose of scoring some delicious authentic mochi prior to the pandemic, that’s really saying something.

The bottom line: A banana split in bite-sized form. Banana Chocolate Cream will enhance any dessert you’re planning and will linger in your mind long after you’ve killed the box.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is not the president (yet?). But many of her Republican colleagues, including Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota), bizarrely seem to think she’s more “all-commandingly powerful” than the entire presidential line of succession, combined.

“There was note a blue wave. There wasn’t even a blue ripple,” Thune, who was recently re-elected to Senate Republican Whip, said during a press conference about last week’s election on Tuesday. “I think the election results made it clear that a lot of what the Democrats, pollsters, folks in the media were suggesting was going to happen did not happen at all. Secondly, it was a rejection of the far-left Schumer, Pelosi, AOC agenda.”

First off, as Ocasio-Cortez has made abundantly clear, her constituents and supporters can call her AOC, but “government colleagues referring to each other in a public or professional context (aka who don’t know me like that) should refer to their peers as ‘Congresswoman,’ ‘Representative,’ etc. Basic respect 101.” Also, even one-fourth of the Squad thinks Thune is overstating her power. “If I were actually as all-commandingly powerful as Republicans say I am, everybody in this country would have guaranteed healthcare by now,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. She then paraphrased Julia Roberts’ famous line from the 1999 romantic comedy Notting Hill: “Alas, I’m just a first term Congresswoman, standing in front of a government, asking it to love working people.”

It was a brief stop to Notting Hill on the way to Capitol Hill.

In 2019, Smino embarked on his national Hoopti Tour, bringing songs from his albums Blkswn and Noir to audiences from his adopted hometown Chicago to Albuquerque, New Mexico alongside guest artists Dreezy, Ravyn Lenae, and Valee, as well as Earthgang, who joined him when Uproxx caught his Los Angeles tour stop. In 2020, however, Smino’s touring was curtailed just like everyone else as a global pandemic shut down the live entertainment industry just when Smino had finished his third album.

In the absence of a viable venue to capitalize on the buzz from his recent appearances on Ari Lennox’s Shea Butter Baby Remix EP, Thundercat’s “Dragonball Durag” remix (also featuring Guapdad 4000), and MadeInTYO’s “BET Uncut” with Chance The Rapper, Smino instead shared a throwback with fans, inviting those who missed out on the Hoopti Tour to catch his performance in full via a tour video shot during his New York stop.

Shot at Brooklyn Steel, the hour-long performance features Smino’s full Zero Fatigue crew, behind-the-scenes footage, and of course, performances of all his fan-favorite songs, including “Anita,” “Wild Irish Roses,” “Netflix & Dusse,” and “Klink.” It’s a fire way for the supremely creative St. Louisan talent to keep his fans sated as they await the release of his third album. They can also check out his surprise, quarantine-recorded mixtape, She Already Decided.

Watch the hour-long performance above.

A Teacher (FX on Hulu limited series) — This series stars Kate Mara as a suburban Texas teacher who engages within a predatory relationship with her student, played by Nick Robinson. A teacher-student grooming story will be uncomfortable by nature, but the series hopes to thread a fine needle, courtesy of showrunner Hannah Fidell, who further explores the subject matter of her 2013 movie of the same name.

Dash And Lily (Netflix series) — Need a little carefree Holiday romance? Sure, why not, so climb above this whirlwind journey for cynical Dash and optimistic Lily across New York City. There’s a mysterious notebook that pushes the plot, and yep, these seemingly different young adults will probably find that they get along very well, after all.

Swamp Thing (CW, 8:00pm EST) — The Phantom Stranger is afoot, and a possessed Susie beckons Maria into the swamp lands while Abby’s on their trail.

This Is Us (NBC, 8:00pm EST) — An engagement for Kevin and Madison and an adoption for Kate and Toby lead to very different struggles while puberty-problems plague Jack and Rebecca.

Tell Me a Story (CW, 9:00pm EST) — Ashley picks up the music again, and she might be in a new relationship as well. Meanwhile, Olivia’s sniffing around Tucker for clues, and Jackson’s helping Simone with her dad’s trust and plotting from Veronica.

Trash Truck (Netflix series) — Sure, this is a family-oriented animated series, but you might be in the market for that sort of thing, eight months into the pandemic. A dirt-loving, 6-year-old boy (imaginarily) befriends a giant truck, and the two soon find that no adventure is too big or small to conquer.

Jimmy Kimmel Live — Gillian Anderson, Emmanuel Acho, Ty Dolla $ign

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon — Vince Vaughn, Lorraine Bracco, Gus Dapperton

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Demi Lovato, Edgar Ramirez, Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Late Late Show With James Corden — Thomas Middleditch, Black Pumas

“It doesn’t seem right to be doing trivia in a world without Alex Trebek,” Ken Jennings said in his weekly Kennections newsletter on Tuesday. “And yet here we are.”

Two days after Trebek died of pancreatic cancer at age 80, tributes to the late Jeopardy! host continue to pour in. The show he hosted for decades aired a cold open in his honor, and the man who many feel should replace him as the show’s host offered his own brief but powerful tribute to the man who gave him a million dollars in prize money in the show’s Greatest Of All Time Tournament back in January.

“I’m guessing he was a formative force for knowledge and good in a lot of your lives, as he was in mine,” Jennings said in his newsletter. “I miss him already.”

I talked to the Jeopardy! GOAT earlier in the month, well before the news of Trebek’s death would turn the speculation about his replacement into the most important unanswered question in television. And so this interview won’t contain another quote about whether he wants to be the next host of Jeopardy! He’s been asked that question several times over, and always politely demurred about the possibility of stepping into Trebek’s shoes.

What we did talk about by phone, though, was making the best of a terrible year and what makes Jeopardy! stand out among game shows and pop culture at large. Since the last time I interviewed Jennings, he has started working on Jeopardy! as an advisor and spoke about the love and dedication to the show he’s gotten to see behind the scenes while deftly slipping in an ad read along the way. There were no real secrets to uncover, but his answers gave me confidence that the show, no matter who hosts it next, is in good hands in the years to come.

Uproxx: You’ve had a very busy year. I know the GOAT Tournament taped in December, but in 2020 you released Half Truth, now you’re working for Jeopardy! and doing some other endorsement projects with Tracfone. Is is just kind of nice to stay busy with things during all of this?

It really is. Candidly, after the Jeopardy! GOAT Tournament, I had booked a bunch of public speaking gigs at universities and corporate events and I thought, “Well I’ll have a busy year doing that, that should pay the bills.” And then that all went away in one week, and I didn’t know what I was going to be doing in 2020. Trying to make sure my kids do their virtual homework, I guess.

But then Jeopardy! called, it was actually the same day the tournament aired. And asked me if I wanted to come aboard for a front office job, which was very flattering. I would have missed Jeopardy! And then Tracfone called a couple of months ago and since they’re the plain smart choice in wireless and smartphone providers, they had an ad idea where I get to be a professional Tracfone smarty pants. And I thought it was pretty funny because I get to wear a smoking jacket and tweed. That’s what I’m into.

You’ve been through the media cycles with Jeopardy! before when you won 74 straight games, but the GOAT Tournament seemed to be a bit different. What are some ways it was different this time around celebrating your win in the public eye?

Well, I don’t know. You can definitely see kind of the niche-ization of media where to promote, for example, a trivia board game like Half Truth it’s no problem to find a dozen outlets. YouTubers, bloggers, and specialized websites that just traffic in this specific kind of thing. And that’s pretty cool.

I remember being a kid and definitely feeling kind of lonely if I was obsessed with game shows and none of my friends seemed to want to talk about Super Password as much as I did. Or being obsessed with road atlases and thinking that was a weird, shameful thing to like maps that much. Now that’s all gone. No matter what kind of weirdo you are you can find hundreds of thousands of people who love your weird hobby and also have the same kind of collections as you. That is very cool.

Yeah, there’s a bit of a connectedness to it all. Maybe in a year like this it’s rough to find in real life, but people have been able to play your game over Zoom, or really get into something and find a community online. It’s a comforting thing.

It’s an option that we never would have had in any other epidemic time in human history. And so, even if it’s not safe to see your grandma, you can check in with her every single night on video. And it’s not the same thing — my kids are remote learning and I don’t know if they’re actually learning or not. But it does feel like you’re not in this thing alone and just staring at the walls of your apartment.

You maybe have it a bit better off because you won a million dollars to kick off your 2020. But do you have any advice for the rest of us to get through this without maybe a nice payday and endorsements and that kind of thing?

Oh, absolutely. I have the ultimate kind of pandemic privilege because I arranged to win a big check on a game show right before the pandemic. And I feel like it’s a little too late to recommend that to others. But yeah, my family has been pretty lucky, honestly.

But I think the general principles, what’s really kept us going and the thing that’s surprised me the most, even tough I have two teenagers they were kind of very sweet about the whole thing. Especially when we got them away from their goony friends, it was kind of fun to have some family time and do some old-timey stuff like do a jigsaw puzzle or pop some popcorn and play a board game. It’s like we turned into some Little House On The Prairie family almost overnight, and I see a lot of people doing that kind of throwback thing. Taking up crocheting or whatever.

And it is kinda a chance, like, for the last four years, modernity has been pretty awful. And this is a chance to say, well, let’s just turn our backs on modernity and have weird old timey hobbies and relationships again. I’m a big fan.

We talked about board games the last time we spoke. And obviously you can’t play Half Truth with your family because you wrote all the questions, but are there others that have become favorites in recent months? Any you’d recommend to others with a long winter ahead?

I did referee a game of Half Truth the other night. My wife’s parents visited us, we quarantined for like two weeks so my wife’s parents could stay with us and we had a really good time.

What else have we been playing a lot of? I can’t remember what I told you last time we spoke. I really like Codenames, everyone likes that, that’s a great family party game. My collaborator on Half Truth, Richard Garfield, has a great party game called Hive Mind, where it’s a beehive-themed game where your collective thinking keeps you in the beehive and your independent thinking moves you out. And we’ve been playing that a lot.

Trying to think of a new game we have that we’re super into right now. It might come to me.

I wanted to ask about Jeopardy! and maybe game shows in particular. You obviously have watched Jeopardy! your whole life and have noticed how shows change with culture. I was watching the new Supermarket Sweep with my girlfriend the other day and I remember watching the original. It’s different in some ways that shows are different these days, and it made me think about how Jeopardy! hasn’t really changed much. It looks the same, it feels very similar. What is it about Jeopardy! that is so timeless but also makes it still feel relevant and recent and, arguably, it’s more popular than ever?

I think you put your finger on it: The smart thing Jeopardy! did is it never changed a thing. And it was always a pretty good format: Jeopardy! is just a well-designed engine to do what it does well. But there’s nothing particularly innovative or ingenious about the Jeopardy! format, it’s just a really well-made quiz show. And the smart thing they did was arrange to just keep it in the public eye off and on for 50 years and never tinker. And the result of that is you can turn on Jeopardy! tonight and almost down to the second it will be like a game of Jeopardy! you watched in college in 1994. Or you watched with your nana in 1984, or that your parents watched in 1964.

There’s this continuity where it doesn’t feel like a TV property anymore. It’s just a part of America, almost like the national parks or something. It’s really an institution, and now that I work on Jeopardy! and can see behind the scenes I can say they know that. They take it very seriously. Like, the legacy of the show is something that they do not goof around with. And it’s just a fabric of all of our lives. It’s Biography now, we feel like it’s part of us.

I wonder if your perspective on the show has changed now that you’re behind the scenes. I know for me, I’ve watched most of my life and I work for a website where I’ve made covering Jeopardy! part of my job. I’ve approached the show the same way I do writing about sports, and it’s changed the show for me in some ways. I wonder if something has changed for you now that you kind of know how the sausage is made?

Maybe I said this when we talked before, but I always appreciated the way sportswriters talked about Jeopardy! because they understand the competition is central to the show, not the trappings, not the entertainment property. But really, the match between the three brains is really what’s central to the format.

I would say that now that I’m behind the scenes, the thing about seeing how the sausage is made is that Jeopardy! doesn’t really have anything scandalous or disappointing going on behind the scenes. So there’s nothing disillusioning about working for Jeopardy! One thing you do see is that it’s not a show on autopilot. You’d think that in its 37th season, and even as a contestant you get the impression that this is a well-oiled machine, and they just have to do exactly what they did five times last week, they just have to do it five times this week and everything is going to go great.

But when you actually watch the people and watch the production team make the show behind the scenes, you realize that it’s an incredible marathon to make 200 Jeopardies every year. We’re going to have to criss-cross the country on Zoom during a pandemic and find hundreds of people who can play this game. And we want them to look like America. We want equal numbers of men and women, we want people of color trying it out and making it on the show. We want the clues to not alienate older viewers who expect to see the bible and romantic poetry and opera, but we also want to kinda go viral if Alex read rap lyrics or if there’s a funny moment where a contestant doesn’t know which city the Dallas Cowboys play in, you know? We want to make sure there’s a Cardi B question so the teens don’t feel like it’s just grandma’s show.

There’s a whole lot of juggling that goes on the writing side, the casting side. It takes a lot of work to put Jeopardy! on the air and these people aren to on autopilot at all, they take it very seriously. And I liked finding that out. To find out that your favorite show is taken so seriously by 100 very dedicated people, it’s cool.

It’s funny you mention contestants struggling with sports questions. You are not one of them, I think, and obviously James Holzhauer was well-known for nailing sports categories during his run. Is there a particular category you always dreaded?

I’m not a great sports player, but Jeopardy! knows that they’re not for great sports players. The Jeopardy! clue is designed to be answered correctly, so even if it’s not your favorite category you should be able to follow your intuition to the correct response.

I’d say my biggest bugbear, and honestly it’s the thing I’ve lost on the mostly the first time: H&R Block. Business and industry. I was not super business savvy, finance world-savvy. I don’t know the stock ticker abbreviations for companies, I don’t have motivational books from CEOs on my bookshelf. So I could have thought about that H&R Block question all day and never realized that it was going to be a tax prep company, I think. And to this day it’s very easy to get me to go out on a corporate question where I don’t remember a merger or I don’t remember a car model or whatever it is. I’m a bad consumer, I guess. I’m a little too Marxist for some of these Jeopardy! categories.

Well thankfully in late-stage capitalism our only culture will be business, so maybe in a couple of years we’ll all have it down.

Yeah, [puts on announcer voice] here’s our sponsored category on Orange Julius. Thanks, Orange Julius. A delicious, green-flavored drink. [laughs]

My last question is mostly for me: Is there a clue writer that’s from Buffalo or Western New York? My friends and I have noticed questions about places like Kleinhans Music Hall and some suspect there’s someone familiar with the area working on the show. Any ideas or is this confirmation bias?

That’s a good question. There may be, I can’t think of a Buffalo-ite? Buffalovian? What’s the demonym?

Buffalonian.

Buffalonian? With an extra N? That’s terrible!

I don’t know if there’s a Buffalonian on staff. I know that in the past, like when I was a kid there was always a lot of Nebraska material on the show and it was because the head writer was from Nebraska. But I think it’s a common thing to think that someone from Jeopardy! must be from your hometown. Like, yesterday my dad emailed me and said, “Hey, I noticed a bunch of Seattle stuff on Jeopardy! Was that you?” And I was like, “No, no, I didn’t suggest any of that.” So it may be that it’s just a very nationally aware, smart group of writers and researchers who know stuff about Buffalo that you thought was Buffalonians only. I’m not sure.

Welp. Here we are, America. Exactly where millions of us expected we would be if President Donald J. Trump didn’t the win an election that he wanted, expected, and thought he was entitled to win. His refusal to concede, alleging fraud and cheating without any solid evidence, is not the least bit surprising. Heck, he told us himself that it was coming. If he lost, this was the plan all along—deny the results, claim fraud, and don’t back down.

That doesn’t change the fact that it’s effing insane, of course, and the fact that we’re sitting here watching a sitting president undermine a free election in America should be deeply concerning to every American.

Instead, we have arguments like this:

“But what about all the fraud and the stealing and the…” NO. No thank you to all of that. These are the deluded musings of a malignant narcissist who is literally incapable of admitting defeat and should not be entertained or enabled.

“But don’t you care about having a fair election, with legal votes counted and illegal votes not counted?” Yes, of course. The idea that we should only count legal votes and throw out illegal votes is not some great epiphany that needs to be stated—that’s literally just an election. Our states’ voting systems are set up with checks and safeguards and fail-safes to make sure that that’s what happens, and those system generally work as they should.

That being said, there are always some irregularities and tallying issues that pop up in every election, which is why we have processes in place to check for them. We just don’t usually put a microscope-of-doubt on the process as it chugs along. That microscope has resulted in people seeing only bits and pieces of the process, which leads to erroneous assumptions at best and baseless accusations at worst. And when those assumptions and accusations are broadcast from the supposed leader of the free world, it leads to chaos, confusion, and crisis of democracy.

This is where we are. Good times.

The one thing we should all agree on is that a candidate does have the right to legal challenges if they truly do see issues that aren’t being caught by the normal process. If Trump wants to throw his or his supporters’ money at lawsuits, more power to him. But those lawsuits have to have actual evidence to back them, as attorney Joanne Molinaro pointed out in a viral TikTok video this weekend.

Most of us who aren’t lawyers yawn at legalese, but Molinaro’s entertaining and informative explanation of how this actually works is fabulous.

“Let’s talk about the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure!” Molinaro begins. “First, Rule 8 and the Supreme Court requires that all complaints include FACTS, not legal conclusions. Next, let’s talk about Rule 9(b), which says that fraud complaints are SPECIAL! In order to survive dismissal, a fraud complaint needs to allege who did the fraud, the date and time they did the fraud, where they did the fraud, and how they did the fraud. So general allegations like ‘how could he get that many votes when no one came to his rallies?’ is just not gonna cut it, honey. It also has to allege damages, i.e., enough votes were affected that it would actually change the results.”

“And finally I bring to you my favorite rule!” she continued. “Under Rule 11, when you file a complaint you are making a representation to the court that the facts contained in your complaint actually have evidentiary support. If a complaint doesn’t have evidentiary support or if it’s unlikely to lead to evidentiary support, it will not only be thrown out, you’ll be subject to sanctions!”

While holding a piece of her hair, which might just be the best part of the video, Molinaro explained, “While it’s true that Rule 11 rarely gets enforced, when a lawyer starts talking ‘But Rule 11??’ what they’re actually trying to say is that the complaint is full of sh*t.”

A lack of evidentiary support is why Trump’s lawsuits so far haven’t gone anywhere. Many have been dismissed outright, in fact. And today The Wall Street Journal reported that the 28-member delegation of international observers invited by the Trump administration has given high marks to the way last week’s elections were conducted and is criticizing President Trump for his baseless allegations of systematic fraud.

Again, the notion that the outcome of the election is illegitimate is nothing but the rantings of a man who can’t handle losing and the sycophantic enablers who enjoy the power they receive in his orbit. Unfortunately, that man is the president of the United States and his words and behavior matter.

Thankfully, that won’t be the case for much longer.

As the college football season presses forward, the number of games that have been postponed or outright canceled due to COVID-19 outbreaks among teams around the country grows larger and larger. This week, the virus has hit SEC teams particularly hard, as the post-Halloween bump on campuses nationwide that was both predictable and unfortunate seems to be hitting.

Arkansas coach Sam Pittman will not coach this weekend after his positive test was confirmed, and Texas A&M, Auburn, Mississippi State, and LSU have all reported having to halt practices due to the virus spreading through the locker room. Mississippi State’s game with Auburn has already been postponed to December 12. The biggest game of the weekend in the SEC was set to be a primetime showdown between LSU and Alabama, but on Tuesday, we learned that game too will be postponed due to LSU having a shortage of players, along with A&M-Tennessee.

There were also reports on Tuesday that Missouri was dealing with a number of positives as well, with a matchup with Georgia looming Saturday, as the SEC could conceivable have to postpone more than half of the league’s games this week. It is a firm reminder of the dangers the virus still presents to our day-to-day lives and how vigilant people have to continue being as new cases spike over 100,000 a day around the country.

Hopefully the players and staffers that contract the virus will be able to remain asymptomatic or experience only mild symptoms and make a full recovery without longterm impacts, but it’s clear that it is getting harder and harder for programs to mitigate the spread as the year wears on.