15 Golden Globes Takeaways: ‘Emilia Perez’ Proves It’s a Major Awards Player, ‘The Substance’ Flexes and ‘Wicked’ Flies (But Not Too High)William Blair downgrades Ulta on concerns over beauty category recoveryAdmn starts MC poll prep on EC’s cue
NonePackers' improving run defense ready for challenge against NFC North-leading Lions
Wolves manager Gary O'Neil says he understands the anger from his own fanbase towards him - but defended his record at Molineux after the pressure ramped up following defeat at West Ham. Wolves suffered their third straight loss at the London Stadium to remain in the relegation zone on nine points - and a further four from safety. Sky Sports News reported last week that Wolves have been doing due diligence on a number of candidates in recent weeks, as pressure grew on O'Neil - who still believes he has the backing of the hierarchy despite the poor run of form. "The people above me are supportive," O'Neil, who joined the club in August 2023, told Sky Sports after the game. "But of course the supporters want their football club to be successful. "I understand them pointing the finger at me and it's my team and I have to take responsibility, but when I arrived at this football club they had picked up just [41] points in the Premier League (the previous season). Trending "Since that moment, we have managed to make £200m in player sales. We have sold an awful lot of players if you go back to Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, Daniel Podence, Adama Traore, Raul Jimenez, Diego Costa, Pedro Neto and Max Kilman. "And then we're not now shopping in that market, we're looking for the other ones who are for the future that can help us in the now. Also See: Stream the Premier League on Sky with NOW Wolves fixtures Premier League table Watch Premier League highlights "As we're finding in the Premier League, it's a ruthless league. The group are doing everything we can to get up to speed. But I'm really proud of them. "I know we have only nine points and we're in a tough spot in the league but they're giving everything. So I hope the supporters are still proud from the players even though they hate the position we're in. They won't hate it more than me. I'm right there with them, whether they know it or not. "We won't give up and we'll keep pushing. A big game against Ipswich is coming. And hopefully a few of the little bits, our bits, the bits from the officials go our way." Carragher: O'Neil isn't holding them back - I don't see a better manager Sky Sports' Jamie Carragher believes O'Neil is not the root of the problem at Wolves - and that a new manager will not rejuvenate matters at Molineux for the rest of the season. Carragher also sympathised with O'Neil's argument that he is dealing with a less experienced squad having sold many key players to big clubs. "It's a group of players we felt would be in and around these positions right now," Carragher said. "The worry for Wolves is not so much being in the bottom three, as the fact it looks like there's a three or four-point gap between themselves and Leicester. "You look at the three promoted teams - and the three promoted teams struggled last season - and you think it might be tough for Southampton this season, maybe even Ipswich, but Leicester have made the change, with Ruud van Nistelrooy getting four points from the last two games. That will be in the Wolves hierarchy's minds, there's no doubt about that. "I don't see a manager change that is going to rejuvenate this whole squad or that Gary O'Neil is holding this squad back and they should be achieving more - I don't really see that. "There are definitely areas where O'Neil will think they've got to be better. I think what he did last season and what he's doing now, if you look at that as a body of work over the last 18 months, I think he's done a good job for Wolves. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player "Where they are now, I think most people feared last season. I don't think it's a manager holding a group back who should be doing more than what they are doing." O'Neil: We should have had two penalties - and 'crazy' that West Ham's winner stood O'Neil took another swipe at VAR - claiming West Ham's winner through Jarrod Bowen should not have stood due to a "blatant" foul on Santi Bueno in the build-up. As Wolves defended a free-kick, Dinos Mavropanos challenged Bueno in the air with the on-field referee not giving a foul. Eleven seconds later, Mohammed Kudus set up Bowen to coolly slot home the winner. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player VAR claimed it could not go back and penalise Bueno as it was a new phase of play - even though there were just 11 seconds between the alleged foul and Bowen's strike crossing the line. "It's crazy that," said O'Neil. "Santi Bueno is going to head the ball away, so it's irrelevant [that the VAR said it's a new phase of play] as we'd have cleared the ball. "It's a blatant foul on Santi Bueno and there's no way it's a different phase. The ball is still in the same area. "They will find reasons, and of course they will, and I get there will be grey areas and the wording of the rule can be interpreted in many different ways. But that's a blatant foul on Bueno in the seconds before the goal. That's a blatant foul." Later in his press conference, O'Neil claimed Wolves should have been given two second-half penalties. VAR checked fouls by Emerson on Goncalo Guedes and Mavropanos on Jean-Ricner Bellegarde in the second half - but stuck with the on-field decision of 'no penalty' on both occasions. "I understand how difficult the job is for the officials but you need some of that to go your way," added the Wolves boss. "Some really big calls there we didn't get to go our way. "I don't think Guedes is outside the box. The contact definitely continues into the box. Definitely. I'll review it and have an honest conversation with them [PGMOL]. "It's probably not clear and obvious, [Bellegarde]'s, but he is tripped up twice, I think the on-field ref should give it, the same as the first one. "I think the Guedes one... Emerson is also on a yellow card so that would have been a big turning point in the game." Wolves were further aggrieved as the corner for West Ham's first goal clearly came off Hammers defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka - so should not have counted as well. "A lot of things went against us," said O'Neil.
The AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . BALTIMORE (AP) — Miles Brewster had 18 points in Boston University’s 75-71 victory over UMBC on Saturday. Brewster also had six rebounds for the Terriers (2-4). Matai Baptiste added 13 points while shooting 4 for 5, including 3 for 3 from beyond the arc while they also had nine rebounds. Michael McNair went 3 of 6 from the field (2 for 5 from 3-point range) to finish with 10 points. Josh Odunowo led the Retrievers (3-4) in scoring, finishing with 23 points and six rebounds. UMBC also got 18 points from Bryce Johnson. Marlon Short had 10 points and three steals. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .
Chris "The Bear" Fallica and Geoff Schwartz are joined Brett Ciancia of Pick Six Previews to discuss their College Football Playoff dark horse candidates. Geoff explained why he believes the Miami Hurricanes are a dark horse candidate for the play... It was a tough weekend for Miami fans, and apparently an even tougher one for their mascot. CNY Central anchor and reporter Ashley Wenskoski was at "The Dome" on Saturday covering Syracuse’s game against Miami when she called out the Hurricanes’ mascot, Sebastian, for hitting on her on the sidelines. "Sebastian the Ibis (Miami’s mascot) just kneeled down and asked for my number mid-drive," she wrote in a post on X. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM "Feels like he has bigger things to worry about with his team on the ropes in the 4th quarter at the Dome...but who am I to say." Syracuse knocked Miami out of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game with a 42-38 win on Saturday for the program’s first top-10 win since 2017. Quarterback Kyle McCord completed 26 of 36 passes for 380 yards and three touchdowns to help the Orange rally from a 21-point deficit. Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord (6) throws during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Miami on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024 in Syracuse, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus) MIAMI’S CFP HOPES TAKE BIG HIT AFTER IT SQUANDERS 21-0 LEAD TO SYRACUSE; CLEMSON WILL PLAY IN ACC TITLE GAME With their playoff hopes in the hands of the CFP selection committee, it’s no wonder Sebastian couldn’t focus on the game. Wenskoski seemingly agreed. "And more importantly, Syracuse football won its biggest game in years & my team and I worked tirelessly to provide the best possible sports coverage," she wrote in a post on X in response to an article about the incident. "[Head coach] Fran Brown has re-energized a program in a fantastic sports town. I guess Miami's mascot simply couldn't watch that 4th quarter. Can't blame him." Head Coach Fran Brown of the Syracuse Orange looks on during the fourth quarter against the Stanford Cardinal at JMA Wireless Dome on September 20, 2024 in Syracuse, New York. (Bryan Bennett/Getty Images) CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP But the mascot did respond to being called out on social media. "They do anything for clout," a comment from Sebastian the Ibis’ Instagram read on a post about the incident. Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X , and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter . Paulina Dedaj is a Sports Reporter for Fox News Digital.Andy Cohen praised Kenya Moore for taking accountability after she released an explicit photo of her former “Real Housewives of Atlanta” co-star Brittany Eady and got suspended from the series as a result. “I thought it was great,” the “Watch What Happens Live” host, 56, exclusively told Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast at Bravo’s Fan Fest in Miami on Saturday. “I’ve talked to her a lot over the last few months and I was happy to see that.” In June, Page Six learned that Moore, 53, shocked partygoers when she featured a poster of Eady, 36, allegedly performing oral sex at her Kenya Moore Hair Spa grand opening with Bravo cameras rolling. The network launched an investigation and despite Moore initially denying that she engaged in any “revenge porn” against her former co-star, Bravo did not permit her to return for the rest of Season 16. Then, on Nov. 14, the former Miss USA winner finally admitted on “The Tamron Hall Show,” “I believe the photos were very distasteful, and I elevated the situation.” “I’ve elevated situations before, and I’ve taken full accountability for the things that I’ve done. I am sorry for what I’ve done. I didn’t have to take it that far.” Although Eady has not yet directly responded to Moore’s remarks, the “RHOA” newcomer appeared to react to her former co-star’s interview with a cryptic post on social media. “Best part of being authentic, there is no image to maintain,” she captioned photos of herself from a glamorous shoot on Nov. 15. “We are all the villain in someone’s story. ✨💫” Despite Moore’s exit from “RHOA,” Cohen also teased that the upcoming season is “really good.” He said production on the show “took so long” because they “wanted to get it exactly right.” “We were really serious about casting ,” Cohen added, “And this season is a very pivotal season for that show. It’s a major crossroads for the show.” Season 16 of “RHOA” does not yet have an exact premiere date. However, it is set to air in early 2025. Bravo brought back former “Housewives” who had previously left the series to revamp the show. Earlier this year, Porsha Williams announced she is part of Season 16 . Phaedra Parks is also returning . The attorney-turned-reality star, 51, told Page Six in September, “They shook up the cast, but it’s definitely ... it’s a good thing, it’s a good thing! I think people are really going to enjoy it.”
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today announced that Tim Keating has joined the company as senior vice president, Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs, effective today. "Tim is a strong addition to lead our government relations team,” said Ava Hahn, AMD senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. "As high-performance and AI chips play an increasingly larger role in our daily lives over the coming years, Tim's extensive public policy expertise and deep understanding of regulatory landscapes will play a critical role expanding our engagements with key stakeholders.” Keating has decades of experience, including more than 14 years at Boeing as executive vice president, Government Relations. Before Boeing, he was the senior vice president of Global Government Operations at Honeywell International and served as special assistant to the President of the United States and as staff director for White House Legislative Affairs. He also held several positions with the U.S. House of Representatives. Keating received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Scranton and an honorary doctorate of business administration from the University of South Carolina. About AMD For more than 50 years AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics and visualization technologies. Billions of people, leading Fortune 500 businesses and cutting-edge scientific research institutions around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work and play. AMD employees are focused on building leadership high-performance and adaptive products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website , blog , LinkedIn and X pages. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Contact: Brandi Martina AMD Communications (512) 705-1720 [email protected] Mitch Haws AMD Investor Relations 512-944-0790 [email protected]None
NEW YORK (AP) — Juan Soto appears on a timetable to decide on where to sign either before or during baseball's winter meetings in Dallas, which run from Dec. 8-12. Soto met with the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays, a person familiar with the negotiations said last week, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because details were not announced. Soto's agent, Scott Boras, asked teams to submit initial offers by Thanksgiving, a second person familiar with the talks said, also on condition of anonymity because it was not announced. Soto is the top player available among this year's free agents . A four-time All-Star, Soto finished third in AL MVP voting after hitting .288 with 41 homers, 109 RBIs and 129 walks. He has a .285 career average with 201 homers, 592 RBIs and 769 walks over seven major league seasons. Soto turned down a $440 million, 15-year offer from Washington in 2022, prompting the Nationals to trade him to San Diego, which then dealt him to the Yankees last December. Soto then combined with Aaron Judge to lead New York to the World Series, where the Yankees lost to the Dodgers . In his pitch to teams, Boras highlighted that Soto joined Mickey Mantle as the only players with seven RBIs in a World Series at age 21 or younger when he was with Washington, and at 20 became the youngest player with five postseason homers. Soto's .906 postseason OPS through age 25 topped Mantle (.900) and Derek Jeter (.852). Soto is likely to seek a record contract, topping Shohei Ohtani's $700 million, 10-year agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers last December. That might not mean Soto gets more than $700 million, though. Because Ohtani's deal included $680 million in deferred money payable through 2043, it can be valued by different methods. For instance, Ohtani's contract is valued at $46.1 million per season ($461 million total) under MLB's luxury tax system, which used a 4.43% discount rate. The players' association uses a 5% rate, which puts Ohtani's contract at $43.8 million per year. For MLB's regular payroll calculations, a 10% discount rates values Ohtani's deal at just $28.2 million. Which means if Soto gets even $462 million without deferred payments, there's an argument that his deal is the most valuable in MLB history. By average annual value, pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander are tied for second in baseball history at $43.33 million as part of contracts they signed with the New York Mets, deals that expired at the end of the 2024 season. In terms of total value, Ohtani surpassed outfielder Mike Trout’s $426.5 million, 12-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels through 2030. MLB’s longest contract is outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr.’s 14-year deal with the San Diego Padres through 2034. The Mets, Yankees, Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies all are likely to enter 2025 having paid luxury tax for three straight years, putting them at the highest rate: a 50% surcharge on payroll between $241 million and $261 million, 62% from $261 million to $281 million, 95% from $281 million to $301 million and 110% for each dollar above $301 million. Toronto may have dropped below the initial tax threshold this year, pending final figures next month. If the Blue Jays did fall under, their rates next year would reset to 20%, 32%, 62.5% and 80% for the four thresholds. If Soto reaches or announces an agreement at the winter meetings in Dallas' Hilton Anatole, it would be a familiar location for a big Boras deal. Alex Rodriguez's record $252 million, 10-year contract with the Texas Rangers was announced in December 2000 at what then was called the Wyndham Anatole Hotel. A-Rod's deal more than doubled MLB's previous high, a $121 million, eight-year contract between pitcher Mike Hampton and Colorado that was announced just two days earlier. “In two days, we’ve doubled a new highest salary,′′ said Sandy Alderson, then an executive vice president in the commissioner’s office. ”I don’t like the exponentiality of that." Rodriguez was 25 at the time of the agreement with Texas, a free agent before entering his likely prime, like Soto. Third baseman Alex Bregman, first basemen Pete Alonso and Christian Walker, and outfielders Anthony Santander and Teoscar Hernández are among the significant bats available to pursue and likely would interest some of the teams who fail to sign Soto. Bregman and Alonso, like Soto, are represented by Boras. AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLBGuest Opinion: The fights over culturally divisive issues in schools? They cost billions that could be spent helping kids
The US believes journalist Austin Tice is alive after disappearing in Syria in 2012, Biden says
Every Black Friday, there’s a number of viral products that everyone has on their Christmas wish list, and we don’t expect this year to be any different. However, not all of these popular items are going to stay in stock, and we have some insight on the ones that won’t. Black Friday is big business, and last year shoppers spent $222.1 billion during the entire holiday shopping season, according to Queue-it. Sales on Black Friday reached $16.4 billion (online and in stores), and this was a 9% increase from the year before. While it comes as no surprise that electronics are the most sought-after products of the holiday season, Queue-it said this accounts for the majority of holiday sales, jumping to $50.8 billion in 2023. Apparel, furniture, groceries and toys are the other hot sellers of Black Friday. Together, these five categories accounted for 65% of sales during the holidays last year and is only expected to grow in 2024. While many items that sell out over Black Friday are driven by a good deal, we also know that a hot product is just that — a gift that most people want to open on Christmas Day. So, here are our picks for the top 10 hot-ticket items that could sell out over Black Friday. Samsung 98-inch QLED TV The holidays are ripe for TV deals, and we expect shoppers to buy a ton of them in 2024, especially at Walmart. Consumers are trending toward bigger TVs and the super low-price deals over Black Friday force many models to sell out. This is especially true of popular models from Samsung, Hisense, LG and more favorites. Apple Watch Series 9 Apple's smartwatches are a top pick among Apple fans. We’ve seen prices on the Apple Watch continue to trend downward, which was only spurred by the release of the new Apple Watch 10 in September. This pushed down prices on earlier models, with the best deals coming on the Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch 9. For Black Friday, we think the prices will drop even lower and sell out due to high demand. Beats Solo3 Wireless headphones are one of the most popular products of 2024, and Beats are one of the top brands. We’re already seeing big markdowns on Beats Wireless Headphones, and we expect these price drops to continue into Black Friday. The Beats Solo3 is likely to be on sale for even cheaper than we’ve already seen, and we think they will sell out for Black Friday, with the possibility of other popular Beats headphones joining them. Apple AirPods (3rd gen) If you haven’t picked up a pair of Apple AirPods yet, this could be your year to do it. With Apple launching a fourth generation of AirPods earlier this year, the price on prevvious models are creeping lower. We think over Black Friday they’ll be at their cheapest price ever, with the AirPods (3rd Gen) likely to sell out. JBL Flip 6 Bluetooth speakers are a must-have for many this year, and with the big sound that comes from JBL’s speakers, it’s easy to see why they might sell out for Black Friday. These popular speakers come in a variety of portable sizes and waterproof designs. We expect big deals on JBL’s top-rated Clip 5 and Flip 6 Bluetooth speaker models. Apple iPad (10th Gen) One of Apple’s most sought-after products of the year was the iPad, and we saw the 9th Gen and 10th Gen models drop to their lowest prices ever. We think this year will bring some iPad bliss with even better discounts, but these deals will disappear just as fast as they arrive. We think that mega discounts on the iPad (9th Gen) and iPad (10th Gen) could cause sell outs, especially on Amazon. Dyson Airwrap The Dyson Airwrap just might be the top product of Black Friday, as this is one of the rare times there’s a discount on the beloved hair styling tool. At $600, the Airwrap carries a hefty price tag, so any discount presented is a welcome surprise. But as we’ve seen in the past, any Black Friday deal on the Dyson Airwrap causes a crush of interest that’s followed by a sell out. Ugg Tasman slippers If you’ve tried to scoop up the UGG Tasman Slippers in previous years, you already know they never stay in stock for long. As the “it” slipper of the holiday season, UGG’s Tasman sells out multiple times over the holidays, even without a discount offered. We think that this year will be similar, with popular sizes and colors of the Tasman Slipper snatched up fast over Black Friday. Bissell Little Green The Bissell Little Green carpet cleaner is a popular home product that just can’t seem to stay in stock. With prices falling under $90, this mighty machine can be a blessing for pet owners and parents, as its compact size makes it easy to store and use when needed. We’ve seen the Little Green Machine sell out before, and we’d be surprised if it didn’t do it again over Black Friday. Furby Galaxy Edition We’d be remiss if we didn’t include a top toy that we think will be hard to find and gift this year. Our pick is the Furby Galaxy Edition. This glow-in-the-dark Furby is based on the original Furby from the late ’90s with even more features, interactive modes and more fun. Making a comeback in 2023, we saw the revival of this popular toy sell out last year, and we expect the new Furby Galaxy Edition to do the same. For the holidays: Get inspiring home and gift ideas – sign up now!
The bar is too high for Nvidia, turn to value stocks: ExpertSLT-Mobitel showcases technological innovations at Techno 2024One of my top shows of 2024 actually premiered in 2021. That’s because it took a couple of years for the Australian series “The Newsreader” to make its way Stateside. Alas, it was only legal to stream in the U.S. for a handful of weeks in September and then — pffft! — it was gone before most people had even heard of it. Well, I have great news. The show will be available once again, this time via Sundance Now (accessible through the AMC+ streaming platform), which has licensed the first season. Premiering Dec. 19, it stars Anna Torv (“Fringe”) and Sam Reid (“Interview with the Vampire”) as TV reporters in Melbourne, circa 1986. At the outset, Reid’s character exudes big loser energy, which is such an amusing contrast to his work as Lestat. The show is unexpectedly funny and terrifically Machiavellian in its portrayal of small-time office politics, and I’m thrilled audiences in the U.S. will get another shot at watching it. Overall, 2024 offered a modestly better lineup than usual, but I’m not sure it felt that way. Too often the good stuff got drowned out by Hollywood’s pointless and endless pursuit of rebooting intellectual property (no thank you, Apple’s “Presumed Innocent” ) and tendency to stretch a perfectly fine two-hour movie premise into a saggy multi-part series (“Presumed Innocent” again!). There were plenty of shows I liked that didn’t make this year’s list, including ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and CBS’ “Ghosts” (it’s heartening to see the network sitcom format still thriving in the streaming era), as well as Netflix’s “A Man on the Inside” (Ted Danson’s charisma selling an unlikely premise) and Hulu’s “Interior Chinatown” (a high-concept parody of racial stereotypes and cop show tropes, even if it couldn’t sustain the idea over 10 episodes). Maybe it just felt like we were having more fun this year, with Netflix’s “The Perfect Couple” (Nicole Kidman leading a traditional manor house mystery reinterpreted with an American sensibility) and Hulu’s “Rivals” (the horniest show of 2024, delivered with a wink in the English countryside). I liked what I saw of Showtime’s espionage thriller “The Agency” (although the bulk of episodes were unavailable as of this writing). The deluge of remakes tends to make me cringe, but this year also saw a redo of Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley” on Netflix that was far classier than most of what’s available on the streamer. Starring Andrew Scott, I found it cool to the touch, but the imagery stayed with me. Shot in black and white, it has an indelible visual language courtesy of director of photography Robert Elswit, whether capturing a crisp white business card against the worn grain wood of a bar top, or winding stairways that alternately suggest a yawning void or a trap. As always, if you missed any of these shows when they originally premiered — the aforementioned titles or the Top 10 listed below — they are all available to stream. Top 10 streaming and TV shows of 2024, in alphabetical order: The least cynical reality show on television remains as absorbing as ever in Season 4, thanks to the probing questions and insights from the show’s resident therapist, Dr. Orna Guralnik. Everything is so charged. And yet the show has a soothing effect, predicated on the idea that human behavior (and misery) isn’t mysterious or unchangeable. There’s something so optimistic in that outlook. Whether or not you relate to the people featured on “Couples Therapy” — or even like them as individuals — doesn’t matter as much as Guralnik’s reassuring presence. Created by and starring Diarra Kilpatrick, the eight-episode series defies categorization in all the right ways. Part missing-person mystery, part comedy about a school teacher coming to grips with her impending divorce, and part drama about long-buried secrets, it has tremendous style right from the start — sardonic, knowing and self-deprecating. The answers to the central mystery may not pack a satisfying punch by the end, but the road there is as entertaining and absorbing as they come. We need more shows like this. A comedy created by and starring Brian Jordan Alvarez (of the antic YouTube series “The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo”), the show has a sensibility all its own, despite a handful of misinformed people on social media calling it a ripoff of “Abbott Elementary.” There’s room enough in the TV landscape for more than one sitcom with a school setting and “English Teacher” has a wonderfully gimlet-eyed point of view of modern high school life. I’m amused that so much of its musical score is Gen-X coded, because that neither applies to Alvarez (a millennial) nor the fictional students he teaches. So why does the show feature everything from Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” to Exposé’s “Point of No Return”? The ’80s were awash in teen stories and maybe the show is using music from that era to invoke all those tropes in order to better subvert them. It’s a compelling idea! It’s streaming on Hulu and worth checking out if you haven’t already. A one-time tennis phenom accuses her former coach of coercing her into a sexual relationship in this British thriller. The intimacy between a coach and athlete often goes unexplored, in real-life or fictional contexts and that’s what the show interrogates: When does it go over the line? It’s smart, endlessly watchable and the kind of series that would likely find a larger audience were it available on a more popular streamer. There’s real tenderness in this show. Real cruelty, too. It’s a potent combination and the show’s third and strongest season won it an Emmy for best comedy. Jean Smart’s aging comic still looking for industry validation and Hannah Einbinder’s needy Gen-Z writer are trapped in an endless cycle of building trust that inevitably gives way to betrayal. Hollywood in a nutshell! “Hacks” is doing variations on this theme every season, but doing it in interesting ways. Nobody self-sabotages their way to success like these two. I was skeptical about the show when it premiered in 2022 . Vampire stories don’t interest me. And the 1994 movie adaptation starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt wasn’t a persuasive argument to the contrary. But great television is great television and nothing at the moment is better than this show. It was ignored by Emmy voters in its initial outing but let’s hope Season 2 gets the recognition it deserves. Under showrunner Rolin Jones, the adaptation of Anne Rice’s novels is richly written, thrillingly inhabited by its cast and so effortlessly funny with a framing device — the interview of the title — that is thick with intrigue and sly comedy. I wouldn’t categorize the series as horror. It’s not scary. But it is tonally self-assured and richly made, rarely focused on the hunt for dinner but on something far more interesting: The melodrama of vampire existence, with its combination of boredom and lust and tragedy and zingers. Already renewed for Season 3, it has an incredible cast (a thrilling late-career boost for Eric Bogosian) and is well worth catching up with if you haven’t already. It’s been too long since the pleasures of banter fueled a romantic comedy in the spirit of “When Harry Met Sally.” But it’s all over the place in “Nobody Wants This,” one of the best shows on Netflix in recent memory. Renewed for a second season, it stars Kristen Bell as a humorously caustic podcaster and Adam Brody as the cute and emotionally intelligent rabbi she falls for. On the downside, the show has some terrible notions about Jewish women that play into controlling and emasculating stereotypes. You hate to see it in such an otherwise sparkling comedy, because overall Bell and Brody have an easy touch that gives the comedy real buoyancy. I suspect few people saw this three-part series on PBS Masterpiece, but it features a terrific performance by Helena Bonham Carter playing the real-life, longtime British soap star Noele “Nolly” Gordon, who was unceremoniously sacked in 1981. She’s the kind of larger-than-life showbiz figure who is a bit ridiculous, a bit imperious, but also so much fun. The final stretch of her career is brought to life by Carter and this homage — to both the soap she starred in and the way she carried it on her back — is from Russell T. Davies (best known for the “Doctor Who” revival). For U.S. viewers unfamiliar with the show or Gordon, Carter’s performance has the benefit of not competing with a memory as it reanimates a slice of British pop culture history from the analog era. The year is 1600 and a stubborn British seaman piloting a Dutch ship washes ashore in Japan. That’s our entry point to this gorgeously shot story of power games and political maneuvering among feudal enemies. Adapted from James Clavell’s 1975 novel by the married team of Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, it is filled with Emmy-winning performances (for Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada; the series itself also won best drama) and unlike something like HBO’s far clunkier “House of the Dragon,” which tackles similar themes, this feels like the rare show created by, and for, adults. The misfits and losers of Britain’s MI5 counterintelligence agency — collectively known as the slow horses, a sneering nickname that speaks to their perceived uselessness — remain as restless as ever in this adaptation of Mick Herron’s Slough House spy novels. As a series, “Slow Horses” doesn’t offer tightly plotted clockwork spy stories; think too deeply about any of the details and the whole thing threatens to fall apart. But on a scene-by-scene basis, the writing is a winning combination of wry and tension-filled, and the cumulative effect is wonderfully entertaining. Spies have to deal with petty office politics like everyone else! It’s also one of the few shows that has avoided the dreaded one- or two-year delay between seasons, which has become standard on streaming. Instead, it provides the kind of reliability — of its characters but also its storytelling intent — that has become increasingly rare. Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.
10 hot-ticket gifts we predict will sell out on Black Friday 2024Franco Colapinto Cleared for Las Vegas Grand Prix After CrashingMessi's son debuts at Argentina youth tournament as grandparents watch
The other evening a good friend and I were sitting around, enjoying each other’s company as seniors will do, when the topic of what hunting will be like 30 years in the future came up. We have both been around enough years to witness many changes in hunting in Pennsylvania. We remember when safety orange wasn’t mandatory. A hunter could only tag one deer per year. Antlerless permits were hard to come by. Crossbows were illegal. Small game was abundant, and fur prices were high. In some ways, it was the good old days. In other ways, today is better. Our biggest concern was the ever-increasing age of the average hunter here in Pennsylvania, now over 50 years of age and getting higher. As these older hunters drop out, and fewer young hunters taking up the pastime, what changes will be necessary? Let’s start with funding. While it’s true the Pa. Game Commission makes money from timber sales and mineral rights, both of which are a product of the state gamelands system, with fewer and fewer hunters buying licenses how long will it be before the taxpayer, not the hunter, will be saddled with the expense incurred by the commission? The only answer will be extra and increased taxes, just like most other states, so get ready to open your wallet. As trapper numbers go down, who is going to control muskrat and beaver populations? My guess is the government will need to somehow pay either to manage these species or at least to repair the damage to roadways caused by an over-abundance of rodent erosion. Will the remaining hunters be asked to control the deer population, or will paid sharpshooters be needed? Pennsylvania already holds top honors for most deer/auto collisions in the nation. Who will farmers go to for help if crop damage is out of control? Will the loss of license money cause the state to sell off state game lands? These properties are now paid for by the hunter, but are open to all to enjoy. It would be a shame for them to disappear. Will there be an overpopulation of bears, leading to more bear/human conflicts? Will diseases such as rabies, distemper, and mange run rampant as nature replaces the hunter? Will fewer people be interested in protecting our woods and waterways if they no longer have a personal interest in protecting them? Or will we simply turn them into more shopping centers? Will organizations such as the National Wild Turkey Federation and Ducks Unlimited, which spend thousands on land improvement and preservation, cease to exist? Then again, maybe life will be like a Disney movie and somehow suddenly everything will be great and mankind and nature will go skipping away hand in hand. What will the next 30, 50 or 100 years bring? Only time will tell, my friend, but until then we can only guess.
Trump's Republican Party is increasingly winning union voters. It's a shift seen in his labor pick
Football photos: No. 6 St. Joseph (Mont.) at No. 1 Bergen Catholic, Non-Public A semis, Nov. 23, 2024