The New York Giants went into Philadelphia at 1-5 but still, somehow, Thursday night’s tilt with the Eagles was crucial for the NFC East playoff race. In the division that no one seems to want to win, getting a second win and doing so against a division foe would tie the Cowboys in the win column — who now are without their starting quarterback for the season.
On Thursday night both teams had their problems, but the Giants offense came alive to the tune of 21 points — the second-most points they’ve scored in a game this season — thanks in part to Daniel Jones finding some rhythm through the air and with his legs. His biggest play of the night was an 80-yard run that saw him pull it on a read option and take off into acres of space, but as he got into the Eagles red zone he began to run out of gas resulting in a rather hilarious moment as Joe Buck went from “he’s gone!” at the 50 to “he tripped!” in a matter of seconds.
Buck wasn’t alone in producing spectacular calls of the hilarious moment, as Ian Eagle on NFL radio and the Fox Deportes calls were both also delightful.
The good news for Jones and the Giants was that they managed to find the end zone on the drive anyways as they played arguably their best game of the season — with some help from some truly horrific decision-making and play-calling from the Eagles offense in the red zone. Still, they’ll have some fun with that one in the film room — although a win would make it much easier to take the laughs.
UPDATE: The Giants did not win as the Eagles pulled off a rather incredible comeback, so it will not be as much fun to watch that one in the film room.
The first 2020 presidential debate between President Trump and Vice President Joe Biden has been a lot more civilized than the crosstalk-filled first one. The debate commission managed to avoid a repeat by muting mics when a candidate went too long or attempted to interrupt. Trump ended up overstaying his welcome on a question and got his mic cut, which a lot of people found cathartic after the past four or so years. Things got a little more contentious, though, when Trump mentioned the word “coyotes” while discussing immigration. Soon after, Joe Biden whipped out the sarcasm.
Biden sarcastically refers to Trump as “Abraham Lincoln,” and Trump gets confused by it pic.twitter.com/Ogdt1QXf3g
While speaking about U.S. race relations and the criminal justice system, Biden waved his hand at Trump and referred to him as the sixteenth U.S. president. “Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history,” Biden said. “He pours fuel on every single racist fire — every single one.” Clearly, Biden was mocking Trump, who had already referred to himself (three times) as “the least racist person in this room,” and Trump was visibly confused by Biden’s remark.
Here’s a brief transcript replay:
Trump: “He made a reference to Abraham Lincoln, where did that come in?”
Biden: “You said ‘Abraham Lincoln.’”
Trump: “No, no. I said, ‘Not since Abraham Lincoln has anyone done what I’ve done for the Black community.’ I didn’t say I was Abraham Lincoln!”
Biden: [Smiles]
Naturally, people were amused by Biden dragging Trump, who was not only confused but may have felt insulted as well? Who really knows, but yep, he did not get the joke.
Trump interpreting Joe’s drag “Abraham Lincoln here” as literal is the funniest thing this year. He’s never heard a joke.
“Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history. He pours fuel on every single racist fire–every single one,” Biden says mocking Trump. pic.twitter.com/BtQ5tyhftZ
It appears that Biden called Trump “Abraham Lincoln” in mock jest (or maybe a verbal slip), but regardless, Trump took it as Biden calling him “Abraham Lincoln” and found that insulting. So, that’s fun.#Debates2020
The Daily Show was quick to fact check here and verify that Trump was, in fact, correct when he stated that he’s not Abe Lincoln. Hopefully, we’re all clear on that point now.
Fact Check: Donald Trump is correct when he says he’s not Abraham Lincoln
To appreciate fully what the world of film has to offer, it’s best to watch a wide variety of what’s out there rather than just focus on one genre. That said, there are times when nothing but a great horror film will do. Like, say, during Halloween season. The horror selection on Amazon Prime runs deep, but a few pages in it starts to be dominated by low-budget obscurities. There’s a lot of cream near the top, however, which offers a generous sampling of what horror has to offer. So here are the 15 best horror movies on Amazon Prime Video right now.
Bradley Cooper stars in this grisly thriller about a subway killer committing massacres and the photographer in charge of catching him. Cooper plays Leon, a photographer hoping for his big break who discovers a man has been killing subway riders of the midnight train. As Leon tries to stop the murderer, he pulls his friend, girlfriend, and the police into the hunt. There’s a ton of violence, gore, and a bizarre ending but Cooper sells the hell out of this thing.
Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg star in this horror thriller that breaks up its bleak plot with bright moments of dark comedy. Poots plays Gemma, Eisenberg her boyfriend, Tom, as the couple prep to take the next step in their relationship: house hunting. But their search for the perfect starter home ends with them trapped in some sort of hell where they must raise a strange child before they can earn their freedom. It’s a total millennial nightmare.
Nauseating. Disturbing. A total mindf*ck. Those are all fitting descriptions of Ari Aster’s Hereditary follow-up, a sophomore outing that gleefully embraces the very worst of humanity and shines an unforgiving light on those universal flaws. It’s a horror story, sure, but it’s a relationship drama at its core, flavored with pagan rituals, brutal killings, unsettling imagery, and all-consuming grief. Florence Pugh gives a career-defining performance as Dani, a young woman reeling from a terrible familial tragedy who accompanies her distant, disinterested boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor) and his college bros to a small Swedish village to celebrate the summer solstice.
Is there ever a time where a mysterious stranger shows up in a small town, and everyone is better off from it? Well, The Wailing is no exception to the familiar inciting incident, as it focuses on a village in South Korea that sees the spread of a terrifying illness once a shady character moves into its surrounding forest. As people start dying, a police officer starts investigating and is sucked into a brutal puzzle. While it’s about 30 minutes too long and the tone isn’t always consistent, The Wailing keeps its audience guessing as much as its protagonist. Its unique religious realism turns this dream-like story into a memorable nightmare.
This thriller from M. Night Shyamalan got some hate when it first premiered, mostly because fans of the Signs creator expected more nightmare fuel than what the film ultimately delivers. That’s not to say this thing isn’t scary. It revolves around an isolated community trapped deep in the woods by mysterious creatures who kill indiscriminately. When one village member (Joaquin Phoenix) falls ill, it’s up to the woman who loves him (Bryce Dallas Howard) to brave the monster’s territory in search for help. What really sets up the jumps here is that Howard plays a blind woman, and Shyamalan leans hard into that disability to elicit even more thrills.
Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe star in this truly bonkers period drama from Robert Eggers. It’s a beautifully shot portrait of two men slowly driven to the brink of insanity by their choice in career — they’re stuck alone on a slab of rock, looking after a crumbling lighthouse. It’s not your typical “horror” flick — Pattinson masturbates to visions of mermaids, and Dafoe gets drunk and does a jig — but it hails from Eggers who also gave us The Witch, so there are some ominous moments littered throughout. To say anything more would be spoiling the fun.
Toni Collette stars in this terrifying nightmare by first-time director Ari Aster. The film charts the grief and shared trauma of the Graham family. Annie (Collette) is mourning the loss of her secretive mother, worrying over her inherited mental health issues and her children. When her son Peter accidentally kills his sister, hauntings begin happenings. Malevolent spirits, possessions, a seance gone wrong — this is pure nightmare fuel, people.
Chris Hemsworth stars in this Whedon creation directed by Drew Goddard that’ll make you wary of ever going on a mountain retreat again. Hemsworth plays one of a group of five friends who head to the woods for some R&R. The remote cabin they stay at quickly becomes a hellish prison they struggle to escape from.
Mark Duplass and Olivia Wilde star in this truly chilling sci-fi thriller about a group of medical pioneers looking for ways to bring people back from the dead. Spoiler: They succeed, but quickly wish they hadn’t. Their first test subject is a dog who returns demonic, a clear indicator they should just give this whole thing up. But when Wilde’s character is fatally electrocuted, the team decides to test out their miracle serum on a human being, and what returns from the grave is clearly not the same person they knew. The film didn’t get enough attention when it launched, and though it’s pretty predictable, the cast, including Donald Glover, Evan Peters, and Sarah Bolger, do a superb job of acting completely terrified for nearly two hours.
The unlikely origin of the modern horror film: a farmhouse in the rural area surrounding Pittsburgh where director George Romero shot most of Night of the Living Dead. Working on a tiny budget, he not only created the modern movie zombie but made horror safe for grimy, uncomfortable visions taken from everyday life, helping to pull the genre out of gothic castles and away from theatrical monsters. Night of the Living Dead remains essential viewing, and not just because of its place in history. It’s still incredibly scary, in large part because Romero had such humble resources. It doesn’t play like a nightmare from long ago and far away. It has the immediacy of a news bulletin.
A cornerstone of the horror genre and German Expressionism — and film history as a whole — F.W. Murnau’s unauthorized 1922 adaptation of Dracula helped establish the basic vocabulary of the horror movie, using long shadows and unnerving photographic effects to create a disturbing atmosphere. It also features one of the ugliest monsters ever put to film, Count Orlock, as played by Max Schreck under heavy makeup. The years have done nothing to reduce its power to disturb.
It’s not entirely accurate to call The Neon Demon a horror movie, even if necrophilia and cannibalism both factor in pretty heavily. Nicholas Winding Refn’s dark show business fairy tale doesn’t fit easily into any genre, following a just-off-the-bus aspiring model named Jesse (Elle Fanning) as she tries to make it in a Los Angeles where danger awaits around every corner. Beautifully filmed, even when focusing on ugly images, and set to a pulsing synth score, it’s an unsubtle, blackly comic look at the underside of show business with little regard for the divide between good taste and bad.
This zombie dystopia from Paul W.S. Anderson has spawned a multi-million dollar franchise but you really can’t enjoy any of the dozen or so sequels and spin-offs without catching the original entry. Mila Jovovich kicks serious ass as Alice, a woman with amnesia tasked with figuring out how a deadly virus that turns its victims into flesh-eating animals was unleashed on the population in an underground experimental facility known as The Hive. While Alice tries to piece together her memories and figure out who to trust within her group of commandos, the facility’s A.I. begins targeting the group, killing them off one by one.
Luca Guadagnino’s buzzed-about horror remake is a mind-bending exercise in the cinematic. Dakota Johnson plays Susie, a young dancer who arrives at a prestigious academy where disturbing happenings begin to take place. After one dancer goes missing, another dies, and a third is severely injured, the students begin investigating their instructors to discover they belong to a coven of witches with troubling rituals that rest upon the dancers playing their parts.
More spooky than downright terrifying, this Halloween favorite has a theme-song that always slaps and a cast of colorful characters that people almost always borrow costume ideas from come October. The first installment in the franchise introduces us to Morticia (Anjelica Huston) and Gomez (Raul Julia) Adams, a feverishly-in-love couple who live in a gothic mansion with their two children, Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman), and a handful of other bizarre family members. When Gomez’s long-lost brother shows up, it’s up to Morticia and the children to uncover whether he’s really blood, or just a con-artist hoping to swindle them out of their fortune.
The third presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was a bit less shouty than the first, but it did have a muted moment that got people on social media talking. Trump, who peppered his debate with a lot of his favorite buzzwords, brought out a considerable number of things you’d find on conservative Facebook in sparring with Joe Biden. But one thing he mentioned during a talk about immigration got people upset, and a little bewildered, was when Trump mentioned “coyotes” carrying immigrants across the U.S./Mexican border.
Q: The US can’t locate the parents of more than 500 children who were separated from them. How will they be reunited?
TRUMP: “These children are brought here by coyotes and lots of bad people, cartels, and they used to use them to get into our country.” pic.twitter.com/kDvTCwEOXR
“These children are brought here by coyotes and lots of bad people, cartels, and they used to use them to get into our country,” Trump said.
Some were confused by the remark. But as many people fact-checked online, “coyote” is a term used for someone who smuggles others across the border, often for pay. Several people were quick to fact check the statement online, though it didn’t make people feel any better about the remark.
Fact check: Migrant children separated by the Trump administration during Zero Tolerance came with their families, not coyotes. We know. We worked with the children who were sent to shelters after being separated. Facts matter.
— Not pregnant just eating good.. (@OfficialKuromi) October 23, 2020
The line came in a narrative that Trump enforced, similar to what he said about Mexican immigrants when he first announced he ran for president four years ago, that “rapists” and “murderers” were coming through the border to harm Americans. Trump’s “coyotes” comment also came when talking about the more than 500 children that were reportedly separated from their parents and have not been reunited. That got Avengers star Mark Ruffalo upset online as well.
TRUMP and the GOP have torn 520 Children from their parents! They came with their parents. It’s not Coyotes, it was their parents. This is an atrocity that TRUMP and GOP committed.
The first 2020 presidential debate between President Trump and Vice President Joe Biden was so filled with crosstalk that it was absolute pandemonium. That was such a stressful TV watch, in fact, that when a fly camped out on Mike Pence’s head during the VP debate, people appreciated the stress-relief factor. Speaking of cathartic, the debate commission decided to shut down the crosstalk factor during the final POTUS debate by cutting mics when a candidate went too long or attempted to interrupt.
Well, who got their mic cut first? Trump, of course. Here’s the moment.
There’s a lot of people who have been waiting over four years for this to happen, given that not a day goes by without a zillion tweets and a bombastic speech (or four) from the president. In other words, a lot of people found this moment — seeing Trump’s mouth move without hearing his voice come out — to be therapeutic.
Did his mic just get cut?
OMG. I’ve been dreaming of that moment for the last four years.
Never fear, the moment’s out there on the Internet, so it shall live on for all of posterity. And Trump will probably tweet about it, thereby ending the silence, but still… it actually happened.
Just days before the 2019-20 NBA season came to a screeching halt in March, Kenny Atkinson parted ways with the Brooklyn Nets. More than seven months later, Atkinson is still on the coaching market but, on Thursday evening, a report emerged from Marc Stein of the New York Times tying the 53-year-old coach to a new home. Stein reports that Atkinson is a “strong contender” to join the staff of the L.A. Clippers under newly-hired head coach Tyronn Lue.
Former Nets coach Kenny Atkinson has emerged as a strong contender to join new head coach Ty Lue’s staff with the Clippers, league sources say
Prior to his arrival in Brooklyn, Atkinson was the lead assistant under Mike Budenholzer with the Atlanta Hawks and, given his pedigree, he may even be overqualified for this particular role. However, the Clippers seem to be putting together quite a staff under Lue, with Stein also reporting that former Hawks and Bucks head coach Larry Drew will be involved (and prior reporting putting Chauncey Billups on staff), as well as the potential for Heat assistant Dan Craig.
Heat assistant coach Dan Craig, who interviewed for Indiana’s head-coaching vacancy, is said to be another top target for Lue’s staff with the Clippers, which is also expected to include another former NBA coach head coach in Larry Drew
Though Lue has experience as a title-winning head coach in Cleveland, it is never a bad thing to bring top-flight minds aboard when attempting to compete for a championship. As such, Atkinson is a great hire for the Clippers, especially when accounting for his strong background as an offensive coach that excels in player development. It remains to be seen as to what Lue’s full staff will look like, but owner Steve Ballmer will likely spare no expense, and Atkinson immediately becomes one of the best assistants in the NBA.
It’s officially dark beer weather. Which dark beer — stout or porter — is up to you. Of course, you might not know the difference. Most beer drinkers don’t.
At the end of the day, it all revolves around the malts. Stouts are usually made using un-malted, roasted barley. This gives them their toasty, coffee-like flavor notes. Porters are typically made with malted barley that isn’t roasted. This leaves porters feeling much milder on the palate — more chocolatey and caramel-like.
We’ve talked stouts a fair bit recently, so today we’re giving porters some shine. To find the best options for fall sipping, we asked some bartenders for their input. Check their answers below!
Three Floyd’s Alpha Klaus
Dante Wheat, bartender and founder of Raw Pineapples in Louisville, Kentucky
Three Floyd’s Alpha Klaus. The GOAT of Christmas beer (Christmas starts in fall IDC) is a beautifully strange cross between a porter and a pale ale.
This beer is dope, point blank period.
Resurgence Peter B. Porter
Andy Printy, beverage director at Chao Baan in St. Louis
If you can locate it, Peter B. Porter from Resurgence Brewery in Buffalo, New York is a decadent treat for spooky season. Chocolate, peanut butter, and all the best parts of childhood trick or treating are what awaits your palate. A standard ABV and touches of vanilla make it a sustainable choice while greeting the costumed kiddos with full-size candy bars.
I’ve been interested in the Almanac Bourbon Sour Porter recently because it’s not overwhelmingly heavy. With the sour component, it has a nice sweetness that isn’t ever too much. With the tart sour notes, it’s got a really fun complexity.
Tyranena Brewing Chief Blackhawk Porter. This is a spot-on porter with plenty of coffee and chocolate flavors. The head is a nice mocha and the viscosity is enticing.
The best porter to drink this fall would have to be Founders. The Founders Porter is perfect for fall/Halloween time. It has a sweet chocolate nose to it, with a strong, yet balanced malt.
Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald
Roberto Berdecia, bartender at La Factoria in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Most of us have more time now, if so, I will recommend a proper porter tasting. If not, my favorite one is Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald. It’s probably because it was the first porter I tried, but the combination of the flavors is perfect for my palate.
Funky Buddha Wide Awake It’s Morning
Nestor Marchand, director of food and beverage at Plunge Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Wide Awake It’s Morning, from Funky Buddha Brewery. It is a south Florida local brewery making very good, genuinely interesting brews. It’s pretty much breakfast in a pint glass with maple, coffee, and chocolate flavors.
Anchor Porter
Eli Gay, taproom manager for NOLA Brewing in New Orleans
Anchor Porter. This criminally overlooked porter has stood in the shadows of its older sibling, Anchor Steam, for far too long. It’s the perfect blend of roast and chocolate while finishing clean. At 5.6% ABV, you can enjoy multiple in one session without palate fatigue.
Writer’s Picks:
Stone Smoked Porter Vanilla Bean
The only thing that can make a porter better is if it’s smoked. This version is full of coffee, chocolate, and vanilla sweetness paired with robust roasted malts. It will warm you up on a cold, fall night.
Creature Comforts Koko Buni
This 8-percent milk porter is so flavorful you’ll have to drink it a few times to catch all the notes. It starts with hints of coconut and espresso and moves into milk chocolate and eventually sweet cream. All in all, the epitome of “dessert in a glass.”
Lately, Twitter has been a rough place for famous Chrises. First Evans had his day on the trending side bar, and now it’s Pratt’s turn. With the way things are going, we cringe for what’s in store for Hemsworth.
Earlier this week, Warrior Nun writer Amy Berg posted a photo on Twitter of four famous Chrises – Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine, and Chris Pratt. “One has to go,” Berg captioned the photo.
Pratt started trending as he was quickly dubbed the “worst Chris.” And things just got worse from there. Until some real-life heroes stepped in and tried to address the situation, defending their co-star and friend.
@bergopolis Pratt. This wasn’t difficult at all. Pratt isn’t even in the same universe as the other three
@bergopolis Pratt’s going even if they could all stay.
— girl in the corner (@girl in the corner)1602972385.0
No, it’s not because that many people all strongly hated Passengers. Pratt’s political and religious beliefs were the issue Pratt is a practicing Christian, and allegedly attends a church with ties to Hillsong, a megachurch Ellen Paige called “infamously anti-LGBTQ.” Pratt has denied he attends an anti-LGBTQ church, saying, “It has recently been suggested that I belong to a church which ‘hates a certain group of people’ and is ‘infamously anti-LGBTQ.’ Nothing could be further from the truth. I go to a church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone.”
Additionally, Pratt is suspected of being a secret Trump supporter. Pratt follows some conservatives on Twitter, and he didn’t attend a virtual fundraiser for Joe Biden which many of his Avengers co-stars attended. (Robert Downey Jr. and Brie Larson also skipped out on the fundraiser without controversy.) But to be fair, Pratt has never spoken out about his political beliefs one way or the other, and has donated to both Republicans and Democrats in the past.
All the speculation about who he’s secretly voting for is just that – something which his Marvel co-stars pointed out. Pratt’s fellow Avengers came to his defense on social media, saying that those who were quick to criticize don’t really know what he stands for.
No matter how hard it gets, stick your chest out, keep your head up and handle it.
-Tupac
You got this… https://t.co/h2k4bOHkB8
Mark Ruffalo called the poll a “distraction.” Because it’s not like we don’t have more important things to worry about right now than which Chris we hate.
You all, @prattprattpratt is as solid a man there is. I know him personally, and instead of casting aspersions, loo… https://t.co/30E9gZUaWF
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn pointed out that it’s unfair to make assumptions about Pratt’s political beliefs based off of his religious beliefs.
Sorry. Just finding out about this nonsense. @prattprattpratt is the best dude in the world. I’ve spent hours & hou… https://t.co/bCWqwxb4hj
We might not know how Pratt is voting, but his wife, Katherine Schwarzeneggar, has said she’s supporting Biden in this year’s election. Pratt, himself, hasn’t weighed in on the matter. Sadly, we’ll never actually know Pratt’s opinion on which Chris needs to go.
There are a lot of good TV shows on Amazon Prime, and not just the licensed content. By now, we all know that Amazon’s original programming can stand (and earn awards) on its own. It doesn’t have quite the breadth of Netflix, but there’s hardly a miss among its original series. If you’re trying to figure out exactly which original show to watch next on Amazon, here’s a great place to start with a look at the 15 best Amazon Prime original series right now.
Amy Sherman-Palladino’s follow-up to Gilmore Girls and Bunheads has helped put Amazon series on the map, and it’s got the Emmys to prove it. It’s a brilliant, quick-witted, crowd-pleaser, an exuberant fast-talking comedy with some heft. Set in 1950s New York City, Rachel Brosnahan (House of Cards, Manhattan) plays Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel, the perfect, upper Westside wife who — after her husband leaves her — goes on a bender and finds herself on stage delivering a hilarious, profanity-fueled set in a rundown dump of a club. The club’s booker, Susie Meyerson (Alex Borstein), takes an immediate interest in her, so while her home life is falling apart, Miriam finds herself trying to build a career as a stand-up comic in an era when females weren’t exactly welcome on that scene. It’s a tremendous series that mixes comedy, feminism, and a little bit of stand-up history into a delightful concoction of laughs, heart and an incredible lead performance from Brosnahan, who will ultimately be remembered for this role the same way Lauren Graham will always be remembered for Lorelai Gilmore.
Patriot is a difficult show to describe because it’s so much more than the sum of its parts. It’s about a man named John Tavner (Michael Dorman), an N.O.C. (Non-official cover) for the CIA. His cover is as an engineer for a pipe company, a job for which he has little education or experience, and yet, it’s also a job he must maintain in order to complete his mission: To get a bag of money from point A to point B, which just happens to be what his job in pipe entails: To build a pipe to get a thing from Point A to Point B. But if it were that easy, neither an engineer (in the piping context) or a CIA agent (in the context of the bag of money) would be required.
Patriot is about the complications that arise along the way. There are mishaps; a murder investigation; and human nature and Tavner’s relationships with his brother, with co-workers, and with his father get in the way. After every episode, the intensity of this mission increases. The burden gets heavier. By the end, viewers will be left desperate to find a safety valve to unleash some pressure because Patriot does a number on its audience. It’s a pitch-black comedy, and it’s not for everyone, seeing as how it was canceled after Season 2.
Set in London, Fleabag stars the magnificent Phoebe Waller-Bridge (who also created the show) as “a young woman attempting to navigate modern life in London.” That description hardly does the series justice, however. It’s a hysterical, dirty, sexually devious and surprisingly thoughtful meditation on grief and loneliness that goes by so quickly (there are only six half-hour episodes in each season) that viewers will wish they savored it more before it ends. There’s a gut punch around every corner, but Fleabag always manages to lift itself out of its depths to make us laugh again. It’s truly one of the most distinctive, original comedies of the last several years.
David Tennant and Michael Sheen star in this hellishly fun adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s beloved work of fantasy. Tennant plays Crowley, a demon who’s spent the past 6,000 years living life as a kind of rockstar on Earth. Sheen plays his angelic counterpart, Aziraphale, a bumbling seraph who also calls Earth home and as a reluctant friendship with his immortal enemy. The two must band together to prevent the Anti-Christ – a kid in Oxford shire – from rising to power, destroying the world, and, most importantly, Crowley’s best of Queen mixtape.
Sneaky Pete comes from creators David Shore (House) and Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), who also stars as the series’ bad guy. However, it is the influence of showrunner Graham Yost (Justified) that is most felt: It has the same crackling energy, wit, and fast-paced storylines, combining a series-long arc with a few stand-alone episodes. In its first season, recently released convict Marius (Giovani Ribisi) is in debt to a nefarious gangster for $100,000, so he hides out in a small Connecticut town by posing as his prison cellmate, Pete (Ethan Embry). Armed with three years of prison stories from Pete, Marius — a career con man — has little trouble fitting into Pete’s family, who have not seen the real Pete since he was 11. Pete’s family enrolls Marius into the family bail bond business as an investigator, and Marius uses his in with Pete’s family to try and steal $100,000 from their safe and pay it back to Vick before Vick cuts off the fingers of Marius’ brother. It’s an out-there high-concept premise, but it plays well, primarily because of the terrific character work.
Titus Welliver stars in this police procedural from Amazon about a renegade detective charged with solving some hauntingly grisly murders. Harry Bosch is a former military man with a healthy respect for the rules and an unquenchable thirst for the truth. Each season, he’s presented with a case that threatens his carefully molded view of the world, often leading him to uncover conspiracies, corrupt cops, and even his own mother’s murderer. The subject matter might be dark, but Welliver is clearly having fun playing the brash, give-no-f*cks badass, which is why you should give this crime series a watch.
Catastrophe is a romantic-comedy in reverse: There’s a pregnancy, then they get married, and then they get to know one another to see if they can fall in love. However, it’s the constant bickering and sexual disagreements between Rob (Rob Delaney) and Sharon (Sharon Horgan) that makes the series so exhilarating. A more apt name for the series would be Amazon’s other series, Transparent, because the relationship between Sharon and Rob — warts and all — is the most open and honest in television, and maybe the funniest. The only downside to Catastrophe is that there’s just not enough time to spend with these characters.
Loosely based on Phillip K. Dick’s 1962 novel of the same name (it also bears some resemblance to Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America), The Man in the High Castle is set in an alternative, dystopian world where Germany won World War II. Basically, the East Coast is occupied by the Germans, and the West Coast is occupied by the Japanese, and there’s a no-man’s land in between. Exec-produced by Ridley Scott and Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files), the series sees various characters working to form a resistance against their occupation by collecting “forbidden newsreels” that show the alternate history in which the Allies won the war in an effort to reveal a larger truth about how the world should be. A dark exploration of what it means to be American, TheMan in the High Castle is a well-acted, tense, and often violent dystopian thriller with plenty of twists and turns to keep viewers guessing.
Tig Notaro’s semi-autobiographical One Mississippi — about a Los Angeles DJ recovering from breast cancer who has to return home to Mississippi after her mother dies unexpectedly — is so quiet and restrained in its approach that viewers may not realize until they are halfway through the first season just how much of the comedy has seeped in.
One Mississippi can be best described as a guided tour through the grieving process, but Notaro has had enough separation from the events in her own life that inspired the story to infuse the show with plenty of levity. The death of her mother is heartbreaking — and the periodic flashback sequences give her mom dimension — but Notaro finds clever ways to find humor in the familiar. Notaro manages to find the humanity in every character via their flaws, and while the show occasionally makes light of death (and of cancer), Mississippi never treats its characters with anything less than reverence. Less a comedy than it is a healing drama, it’s essential viewing for anyone who has ever suffered a loss.
In Transparent, Jeffrey Tambor plays a character who decides, late in life, to transition into a woman, and we see how that decision affects her family in the most hilarious and poignant ways imaginable, including the pain of an older woman realizing she’s wasted so much of her life living as a man.
It’s a sprawling family drama that tells its story in a way that dignifies and humanizes even its most deeply flawed characters. No one is cast in a great light, but all of the characters transcend their foibles. It’s sad and tragic at times, and triumphant at others, and it’s a beautifully painful and painfully beautiful series.
Goliath is an old-school legal thriller from an old-school television writer, David E. Kelley (The Practice, Boston Legal), who’s still the reigning king of legal dramas. It’s a meat-and-potatoes show, one driven by an entertaining storyline and compelling, flawed characters led by Billy McBride (Billy Bob Thornton, who won a Golden Globe for the role).
McBride is an alcoholic has-been lawyer who, in typical John Grisham fashion, has a case against a big tech firm fall into his lap. On the other side of the case is McBride’s former firm, his ex-wife (Maria Bello) and his old legal partner turned nemesis (William Hurt).
There’s nothing new or novel about Goliath except the fact that it doesn’t try to be new and novel: It’s an old-fashioned, well-made, well-acted and gripping television show with bad guys, morally questionable good guys and a strong supporting cast that also includes Olivia Thirlby, Kevin Weisman (Alias), Dwight Yoakam, and Harold Perrineau. Of all the shows on this list aside from Sneaky Pete, it’s also the most bingeable.
Karl Urban headlines this wild, gory, vulgar ride through superhero-dom from Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and showrunner Eric Kripke. Based on a Garth Ennis comic series, the show takes a darker look at those supernaturally gifted heroes we all love to fawn over. Urban’s gruff vigilante pairs up with a nobody (Jack Quaid), who has his life ruined by a group of corrupt supes. The humor is raunchy and sharp, the action is bananas, and the cast is an eclectic mix of talent who all find time to shine on on-screen. And now that season two is here, everyone gets the chance to ramp up the crazy and get in touch with their inner Spice Girl.
John Cusack and Rainn Wilson star in this bonkers sci-fi thriller based on a UK show of the same name. Cusack plays a nefarious tech guy who’s meatless invention to solve world hunger might have brought about the next plague. Wilson is the scientist fighting for a vaccine, but all this come secondary to a group of comic book nerds played by Desmin Borges, Ashleigh LaThorp, Dan Byrd, and Sasha Lane who believe the key to stopping this impending apocalypse might be hidden in a graphic novel about an evil rabbit. It’s bleak (but not UK-Utopia bleak) and relishes in its hyper violence with a darkly hilarious tone.
BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg and writer Kate Purdy reunite for this adult-animated series starring Rosa Salazar and Bob Odenkirk. The show follows the journey of Alma, a young woman involved in a car accident who slowly begins to lose her mind. She’s forced to question her perception of reality when her father (Odenkirk) reappears years after his death, pushing her to discover how he died and why she seems to have a newfound ability to travel through time. It’s a bit of a mindf*ck, in the best possible way, with Purdy and Waksberg employing rotoscoping, a realistic animation technique never before used on TV, to take viewers on a surreal trek through space and time, along with dark humor and musings on grief, trauma, and mental health.
This sci-fi space epic based off a series of beloved books found new life on Amazon for its fourth season after being canceled by Syfy in 2018, good news for fans who wanted more adventures for the show’s rag-tag band of anti-heroes. Set in the future when humanity has colonized the Solar System, The Expanse follows a trio of leads: United Nations Security Council member Chrisjen Avasarala, police detective Josephus Miller, and ship’s officer James Holden as they unravel a conspiracy that could break the uneasy peace. It’s full of action and thriller-like twists, but it’s the memorable, well-rounded character work that makes this a must-see.
John Krasinski’s return to television marks a dramatic departure from his The Office days. He plays famed CIA analyst Jack Ryan in this series that explores the character’s beginnings as an up-and-coming agent whose confidence in his abilities often lead to him clashing with higher-ups like his boss, James Greer (a fantastic Wendell Pierce). In its first season, Ryan infiltrates a terrorist cell with nefarious plans after uncovering how the criminal communicate with each other, but when he’s thrust into the field, things get dangerous.
Greg Daniels — the genius behind shows like The Office and Parks and Rec — serves up a darker bit of comedy with this sci-fi series about death. Well, it’s about what happens after. Robbie Amell plays a man who dies and chooses to have his consciousness upload into a digital afterlife, a serene “living facility” called Lake View. But things aren’t as idyllic has he’d hoped, and his existence becomes more complicated when he ends up falling for his living customer service rep.
This mind-bending sci-fi offering from Amazon Prime Video was created by Nathaniel Halpert — one of the minds behind FX’s Legion and Netflix’s The Killing. So yeah, it’s weird. It’s also dramatically rich in ways few sci-fi series are these days. The basic premise revolves around a group of people who live in a small town built on top of “The Loop,” a machine built to unlock the mysteries of the universe. When they start experiencing strange phenomena, they’re forced to dig into the real reason the machine was created and what their role in the grander scheme of things might really be.
Julia Roberts lands on TV for the first time with this slick thriller from Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail. Like his previous show, Esmail keeps fans in the dark, so expect plenty of twists, turns, and cliffhangers with this limited series about a misguided counselor hoping to help veterans returning from war even as the corporation she works for has sinister plans. In its second season, Janelle Monae stars as a woman who’s lost her memory and goes in search of her past, one that has ties to the same corporation Roberts worked for in season one.
SNL alums Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen star in this fantasy comedy about a married couple living an all-too-predictable life. Armisen plays his usual type, the kind of passive, bumbling husband-type he made popular on Portlandia, but this is Rudolph’s show and her chance to prove she’s suited to any and every comedy vehicle. There are twists galore in this thing, some that work, others that fall flat, but Rudolph’s subtle comedy and leading-lady turn keep you interested despite the cliffhangers.
Welcome to Wednesday Night’s Alright, my Uproxx Sports column where we compare AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT, the two shows that air on the best night of the week for wrestling. This week was a pretty strong one for both shows, with AEW running the first round of their #1 Contenders’ Tournament, and NXT preparing for Halloween Havoc.
Most Worthwhile Squash Match: Ember Moon vs. Jessi Kamea
Ember Moon needed to dominate a solo match to establish herself upon returning from injury and, before that, the main roster. Jessi Kamea gives her that, while looking strong enough (and certainly tall enough) to seem like a formidable contender. Most importantly, it led somewhere. Specifically, it led to Dakota Kai coming out and attacking Ember afterwards, setting them up for a feud going forward. I was sort of hoping they’d go ahead and make that match for Halloween Havoc, but I can wait if we have to.
Runners Up
Kenny Omega mega-squashed Sonny Kiss in the first round of AEW’s tournament. It was kind of a shame to see Sonny done that way, but it did establish this new heel Kenny as a force to be reckoned with. I think the real point, though, was Kenny’s new entrance, in which the announcer lists all his achievements (including having wrestled in North Carolina) while two bikini girls dance with brooms. It’s the heelest thing ever.
Britt Baker also made short work of KiLynn King, because nobody loves a jobber squash more than the AEW Women’s division.
Meanwhile, on the show where women get stories besides just chasing the title, Kacy Catanzaro volunteered to have a match with her friend Xia Li, who’s been on a losing streak and starting to flip out about it. Of course, when Kacy won, Xia fully flipped out and attacked her and Kayden Carter. Just when we were getting our first real look at the villainous Xia to come, Raquel Gonzales showed up to make it all about her and Rhea Ripley. And that’s probably fine, in the long run. I’m just interested to see Xia as a heel. She’s got a lot of promise, and I feel like this evolution of her character could be where she really comes into her own. I’m also hoping she follows the Usos’ lead, and switches from her culturally stereotyped gear to badass street clothes, something like the look she posted on Instagram today.
I’m not sure that Drake Maverick and Killian Dain vs Ever-Rise counts as a squash match, but it was super short and I don’t want to invent a new category for it. Maverick and Dain only lost because Drake lost his cool, beat Ever-Rise with a chair, and got himself and Dain DQed. Naturally this is the first thing he’s done that really impressed Dain, winning the big man over a bit. He’s still not into the music, but you can see he’s accepting the team-up. I really enjoy the Martin Prince and Nelson Muntz energy that Drake and Killian give off, and I’m looking forward o more of it.
Best Completely Unexpected Moment: Song & Dance
It’s not like this is the first musical number ever to happen on a wrestling show, but it’s certainly not something we’re used to seeing. Especially growing out of Jericho and MJF’s previously announced “steak dinner” which I think we expected to be all dialogue and maybe some jabs at “Table for 3.” This was way better.
It helps a lot, of course, that Jericho and MJF can both sing for real. Jericho’s rock star voice isn’t made for his sort of thing, but he’s not painfully out of his element. MJF, on the other hand, is fully in his element, and out-sings Jericho by a wide margin.
It was also smart that they chose a Rat Pack song, specifically “Me and My Shadow,” made famous by Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. That boozy, jocular, Vegas style is a good match for Jericho and MJF, and I wouldn’t mind seeing them do something like this again someday (but not too soon).
Runners Up
Aside from a couple of unmaskings that I’ll get to shortly, the only complete surprise I can think of is an appearance by Steve-O of Jackass. He’s helping Darby Allin train by getting him to do dangerous Jackass stunts that have nothing to do with wrestling. This is completely believable as far as how Allin would train, to be honest.
Best Feud About The Entire History of Wrestling in the 21st Century: Jon Moxley vs Eddie Kingston
Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston are going to have an “I Quit” match at Full Gear, and it’s all about how Eddie stayed in the indies while Jon went to WWE, and the different paths their lives took from there. It’s good stuff, in large part because it seems really rooted in truth. Kingston and Moxley represent two routes that wrestlers (and most artists, really) can take. One stayed independent, one went corporate, and now that both those paths have led them to the same place their mutual resentment is spilling over. I can’t even imagine how brutal that “I Quit” match is going to be, especially since it’s almost impossible to imagine either of these guys ever saying those words.
Runner Up
I don’t know that there’s anything else that fits this extremely specific category, although I guess you could say that Kushida and Tommaso Ciampa going after Velveteen Dream counts, because it’s two veterans who’ve spent the last fifteen years toiling away at wrestling versus a young cocky guy who got discovered on a TV show and might well be a sexual predator. Maybe that’s a bit heavy, but it’s there.
Best Masked Man Reveal: Pat McAfee
In the main event of NXT, Oney Lorcan and Danny Birch won the Tag Team Championship from Breezango with a little help from a masked man. After the match, he celebrated with Oney and Danny in the ring, and finally took off his mask to reveal Pat McAfee, who impressed everybody in his match with Adam Cole a while ago, and now seems to be back to build a faction to take out the Undisputed Era.
Lorcan and Birch are a great start to that faction. They’ve had problems with the UE for a long time, plus turning them heel right when they win the belts should definitely bring out new aspects of their characters.
Runner Up
Tully Blanchard also showed up in a mask to help his boys FTR attack the Young Bucks. It’s not like we didn’t know he was working with FTR, but I sure didn’t know he could still move like that. The question is, why are FTR viciously trying to end the Bucks’ career, when the Bucks have been acting like jerks and superkicking everyone in sight for a month or two now? I don’t mind not having strict, old-fashioned alignments all the time, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to sympathize with somebody who’s been attacking other people and then gets attacked himself. Hopefully they’ll clear all this up in the next couple of weeks, because the match itself should be awesome.
Best Promo: Cameron Grimes
Putting aside Kingston and Moxley, since I gave them their own space, I really enjoyed listening to Cameron Grimes do his mountain-heel thing that I’m so fond of. The best part, though, was his sudden trepidation upon finding out his Halloween Havoc match against Dexter Lumis is a Haunted House of Terror match, which should be fun even if I don’t know exactly what it means.
Actually, no, the best part of this promo was Dexter Lumis staring at Grimes through a window the entire time, without Grimes even noticing. Lumis is going to fit right in in a haunted house. It seems like a safe bet that Cameron will be doing most of the screaming.
Runners Up
Orange Cassidy’s only appearance this week was a weird, short promo that established that even though he’s having big matches now, he’s still Orange Cassidy. He can wrestle when you need him to, but that doesn’t mean he suddenly knows where he is all the time, let alone where he’s going.
Members of the Dark Order and Team Taz also got to talk on AEW this week. Ricky Starks seems like he could be a huge deal some day, and John Silver seems like he could be a bigger deal than anyone saw coming.
Best Match: Pentagon Jr vs Rey Fenix
We all knew this match was going to rule, and it did. A tournament like this is a great excuse to do stuff like brother vs brother, because we can all pretend it’s just the luck of the draw. Of course Penta and Fenix are fine with this. They’ve fought before, and even spent time as enemies. They obviously love each other, but if the job is to destroy each other, they’ll get it done. And they’ll fly through the air and look amazing the entire time they’re doing it.
Runners Up
The other two first-round tournament matches were Jungle Boy versus Wardlow, and Colt Cabana versus Hangman Adam Page. Jungle Boy looked great in a loss, and Hangman looked great in a win. Plus Jim Ross really wants us to know that Wardlow is the kind of athletic big man that a certain former boss of his would love. Personally I’m still looking for more personality from Wardlow, but I imagine that might happen when he breaks away from MJF.
Both shows had strong tag team showings in the main event. AEW had their No. 1 Contenders’ fourway between The Butcher and Blade, Dark Order/Beaver Boys, Private Party, and the Young Bucks. The Bunny is back accompanying Butcher and Blade, which I guess pays off Eddie Kingston yelling “Where’s your wife?” and “Get your house in order!” at the Blade.
Breezango losing to Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan was also a fun watch, with only a little bit of involvement from the Masked McAfee. Wherever this feud goes, I’m excited for the Burch/Lorcan title defenses. I wouldn’t even say no to a Breezango rematch, if they want to do one. Beyond that, I hope Breezango sticks around NXT. It’s not like they’d get any more to do on any other WWE show.
That’s all for this week. Join me next time for more Wednesday Night action!
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