Green Bay Packers (4-6) vs Philadelphia Eagles (5-5) 8:30pm ET on ESPN
Man, times are tough in Green Bay, where the Packers have gone from 4-2 to 4-6 in the blink of a month. Last week the Pack got worked by the Redskins 42-24. Washington QB Kirk Cousins had his way with the Green Bay secondary, connecting on 21 of 30 for 375 yards and 3 touchdowns, and teammate Robert Kelley ran for 137 yards and 3 TDs on 24 carries.
While everyone has been blasting Aaron Rodgers, saying he’s tough to get along with, even for his family, all of which may be true, nobody seemed to mind much when he was leading the Pack to a Super Bowl title. Has he lost a step?... Read More
#1 Kentucky (6-0) vs Arizona State 7pm ET on ESPN2
The Kentucky Wildcats continued to roll last week with two more victories, 101-70 over Cleveland State, and 111-76 over Tennessee-Martin, as they have yet to win a game by fewer than 21 points thus far. Freshman Malik Monk is leading the team in scoring with 18.7 ppg, along with 2.8 rpg and 2.5 apg, while fellow frosh De’Aaron Fox leads the team in assists with 7.2 apg, while scoring 15.5 ppg, and pulling down 4.8 rpg. Catch these ‘Cats while you can, ‘cuz they won’t be around long.
Second-year head coach Bobby Hurley has the Arizona State Sun Devils off to a 4-2 start following Wednesday’s 127-110 win over Citadel, in which ASU... Read More
Kansas City Chiefs (7-3) vs Denver Broncos (7-3) 8:30pm ET on NBC
Down by 2 with 3 seconds on the clock and 66 yards from victory, Kansas City Chiefs’ QB Alex Smith went short over the middle to Albert Wilson, who lateraled to Tyreek Hill, who in turn lateraled to Eric Fisher, who then fumbled the ball only to have it recovered by Tampa Bay defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, thereby securing the Buccaneers’ 19-17 win. It was the type of moment that leaves middle-aged men clutching their chests. But the play that really killed the Chiefs’ chances came on 2nd-and-goal from Tampa’s 6 yard line, when Smith’s pass for Chris Conley got picked off by Tampa DB Chris Conte, who ran it back 53 yards to set up the Bucs’... Read More
MLB on ESPN: The Subway Series returns with the New York Yankees heading across town to take on the New York Mets. (7pm ET Monday, ESPN)
Tuesday August 2
MLB on FS1: Matt Carpenter leads the St. Louis Cardinals against Zack Cosart and the Cincinnati Reds. (7:10pm ET Tuesday, FS1)
Soccer on ESPN: Premier League champs Leicester City face Barcelona in International Champions Cup action. (2pm ET Tuesday, ESPN)
Soccer on ESPN2: It’s an International Champions Cup doubleheader starting with Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich, followed by Chelsea vs. AC Milan. (7:30pm & 9pm ET Tuesday, ESPN2)
Wednesday August 3
MLB on ESPN The New York Mets meet the New York Yankees in the final game of... Read More
New York Yankees (Sabathia 6-8, 3.95) at New York Mets (Verrett 3-6, 4.12) 7:10pm ET on ESPN
It’s the dawn of a new era for the New York Yankees, one in which the Bronx Bombers were sellers instead of buyers at the trade deadline. The Yankees over the past week traded away two-thirds of their vaunted bullpen Cerberus, sending Aroldis Chapman to the NL Central-leading Cubs and Andrew Miller to the AL Central-leading Indians. Having raised the white flag on 2016, the Yankees appear to be on their way to missing the postseason for the fourth time in five years, and could be headed for their first sub-.500 season since the days of Melido Perez, Danny Tartabull, and Mel Hall. Hats off... Read More
St. Louis Cardinals (Martinez 10-6, 2.87) vs. Miami Marlins (Koehler 8-8, 4.18) 1:10pm ET on TBS Despite Adam Wainwright’s claim, based on seniority and body of work, to the mantle of staff ace, Carlos Martinez has emerged as the Cardinals’ best starter. He leads the rotation in ERA, wins, and WHIP, has twice as many WAR (3.6) as any other member of the staff, and he’s on a hot streak, with a 1.76 ERA over his last 10 starts. His most recent start was a bit of dud, as he lasted just 5 innings, and gave up 5 hits and 4 walks, but managed to hold the Mets to a pair runs on the way to a 3-2 win.
Kevin Kisner and Padraig Harrington had the best rounds of the day, with each shooting a 5-under 65. Kisner was just -2 on the day after 14, but got hot, making birdie on the next three holes, allowing himself to climb all the way from 48th to a tie for 6th at -5. Harrington climbed even further, coming from 61st to a tie for 10th at... Read More
Washington Nationals (Ross 7-4, 3.49) vs. San Francisco Giants (Peavy 5-9, 5.42) 4:05pm ET on FS1 Joe Ross went on the DL on July 3 with shoulder inflammation, after suffering through a pair of rough outings that saw his ERA balloon from 3.11 to 3.49, as he gave up 8 runs on 20 hits and a walk over 11 ⅓ innings. In his final start before going on the DL, the velocity on his sinker had fallen from a season high of 93.4 to 91.8, reported MASN. In a single-A rehab stint on the 24th, he pitched 3 scoreless innings, striking out 3. The Yankees were reportedly interested in picking him in a trade for Aroldis Chapman, but that ain’t happening, as... Read More
The rains fell, the clouds parted and the grounds crew squeegeed, leaving soft fairways and forgiving greens in their wake, setting the stage for a high-scoring day of golf. When it was over, Robert Streb had shot a 7-under 63 to pull into a tie atop the leaderboard with Round 1 leader Jimmie Walker at -9.
Streb, who has just one tour victory on his resume, shot four birdies on both the front and back nine, stumbling only on the 16th hole with a bogey. Walker, who had come into the day with a 1-stroke lead over Emiliano Grillo, kept his cool with a solid -4 on the day to keep a share of the lead. Grillo,... Read More
Jimmie “Dyn-o-mite!” Walker finished strong with birdies on four of the last six holes to wind up at a 5-under 65 on the day and put himself atop the leaderboard following the opening round of the 2016 PGA Championship. It’s obviously very early in the proceedings, but if Walker to eventually close the deal on Sunday, it would mean that all four majors this year were by guys who’d never before won a major.
Henrik Stenson, fresh off his victory at The Open, recovered from an up-and-down start to shoot 3-under on the back 9 and finish at 67, 2 strokes off the lead and tied for 5th. Among other notables, defending champ Jason Day hit... Read More
Thursday in Major League Baseball, John Lackey pitched 6 innings of 1-run ball, and Dexter Fowler doubled and scored twice to lead the Cubs over the White Sox 3-1; the Red Sox’ first baseman Hanley Ramirez’s throwing error in the bottom of the 9th allowed two runners to scamper home with a 2-1 walk-off win for the Angels; Trevor Roark went 7, giving up just 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks to give the Nationals a 4-2 victory over the Giants; after going nearly a year without blowing a save, Jeurys Familia imploded for the second night in a row, surrendering the winning run on a wild pitch in the 9th as the Rockies beat the Mets 2-1; Hernan Perez’s 2-run... Read More
This year’s PGA Championship is being played at Baltusrol, in beautiful Springfield, NJ. It’s among America’s oldest courses, and probably the only one named after the victim of a sensational murder that was later immortalized in fiction.
Baltusrol is notorious for its brutal finish, as it’s the only major golf course to end with two par 5’s, the monstrous 647-yard 17th hole, followed by the comparatively demure 18th hole, which weighs in at 553 yards. Those two holes bring the course to an impressive 7,400 yards, but is still just a par 70.
Phil Mickelson was the last to win a major here, going wire-to-wire at the PGA Championship in 2005. After rains caused a... Read More
Yesterday in Major League Baseball, Stephen Strasburg spun a gem, holding the Indians scoreless for 7 innings, en route to a 4-1 Nationals win; a total of 9 Fish scored at least 1 run, including starter Adam Conley, as the Marlins bested the Phillies 11-1; Brett Wallace, homered, scored twice, and drove in a pair to power the Padres’ 8-4 victory over the Blue Jays; Miguel Cabrera’s towering shot in the 9th came down on top of the short right field wall in Fenway and bounced into the bullpen for a tie-breaking homer to give the Tigers a 4-3 win against the Red Sox; Evan Longoria did the heavy lifting in the Rays’ 3-1 defeat of the Dodgers, going 3-for-4 with a... Read More
If Nasir’s case wasn’t already plummeting towards the Earth for a messy landing, it certainly is now.
In my breakdown of episode one, I mentioned how bad it looked for Nasir that a police officer was gagging and puking after seeing the very bloody crime scene but Naz seemed unfazed. As it turns out, the cop is fresh out of the police academy and had never seen a dead body before, but that doesn’t do much to help Naz.
Last week I noted Stone’s observation that Box plays “just inside the lines,” and we got more evidence of that this week: Box asks the two cops who arrested Nasir for the traffic violation to rewrite their reports (and not remove the throwing up part despite the... Read More
White Sox (Ranaudo 1-0, 17.18) at Chicago Cubs (Hammel 9-5, 3.35) 8pm ET on ESPN
In his last game, while still with the Rangers, on May 10, Anthony Ranaudo joined an exclusive group of pitchers – including Sandy Koufax, Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, Mitch Williams and Dontrelle Willis – by becoming just the 9th man in MLB history to give up 5 earned runs on 5+ walks and 0 hits. The appearance started well enough, as he came in to face the White Sox with men on second and third, just 1 out and 4 runs already across the dish, as he promptly retired the next two batters to stop the bleeding. In the 4th, however, he went flyout, walk, walk, flyout,... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Criminal - Kevin Costner stars as Jerico Stewart, a death row inmate who becomes a test subject for an experimental procedure to transfer memories from CIA agent Bill Pope’s (Ryan Reynolds) brain after he dies in the line of duty in the hopes of stopping an international conspiracy. Gal Gadot, Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman also star.
Barbershop: The Next Cut - Ice Cub stars as Calvin Palmer, a barbershop owner who has to merge with a beauty shop to stay in business, but the man’s world feeling and bonding of the barbershop is long gone after the guys must learn to hold their... Read More
Detroit Tigers (Verlander 9-6, 3.74) at Boston Red Sox (Pomeranz 8-7, 2.83) 7pm ET on ESPN
At 33, it’s unlikely Justin Verlander will ever contend for a Cy Young Award or win 20 games, again, but he is, once again, one of the better pitchers in the game, engaged to Kate Upton, and making $28 million this season. He’s been brilliant over his last four starts, going 27 2/3 with a 1.63 ERA, but the Tigers could only parlay that into two wins. The Tigers lost a tough one on Sunday, scoring 3 in the top of the 9th to tie it, only to lose on a Melky Cabrera walkoff single in the bottom half of the inning to fall to 51-48,... Read More
Love & Hip Hop Atlanta: With the season almost over, Scrappy asks Bambi a potentially life-changing question. (8pm ET Monday, VH1)
So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation: The top nine young dancers perform live, but one unlucky contestant will be eliminated. We’ve got all the details on this season in an exclusive interview with judge Nigel Lythgoe. (8pm ET Monday, Fox)
UnREAL: Rachel and Quinn struggle to maintain their composure as things on set turn increasingly hectic. (10pm ET Monday, Lifetime)
Tuesday July 26
Animal Kingdom: The police close in on J while the rest... Read More
Chicago Cubs (Hendricks 9-6, 2.27) at Chicago White Sox (Shields 4-12, 4.99) 7pm ET on ESPN
Kyle Hendricks' Cinderella season just keeps on rolling. In his last four appearances (3 starts and once in relief), Hendricks has allowed just 1 run, and it was unearned despite 13 strikeouts. Hendricks has benefited from a .254 batting average on balls in play this season, part of a larger trend that most Cubs pitchers are enjoying, as the team as a whole is at .259, which would be the lowest such figure in more than 40 years.
James Shields appears to be pulling out of his nosedive. A so-so tenure in San Diego ended with a bang as he... Read More
San Francisco Giants (Cueto 13-2, 2.64) vs. New York Yankees (Eovaldi 8-6, 4.93) 1:05pm ET on TBS and YES Johnny Cueto’s 3-month sojourn to the American League netted him a World Series ring, but little else, as he spent most of his time with the Royals trying to find the strike zone, while simultaneously jeopardizing his value on the free agency market. But now, safely back in the NL, Cueto is pitching as well as ever, leading the league in wins, complete games, innings pitched, and in the top 10 in WAR, WHIP, strikeouts and shutouts, as his K rate has returned to his pre-KC levels and his homers are at a career low. Cueto took the loss as the starting... Read More
San Francisco Giants (Samardzija 9-5, 4.05) vs. New York Yankees (Nova 7-5, 4.92) 4:15pm ET on FS1 & YES Following a complete game 5-1 victory over the Rays on June 17, Jeff Samardzija was looking like the steal of the 2015-16 free agent season. But since running his record to 8-4 with a 3.14 ERA, the Shark has lost his bite, throwing 27 ⅓ innings over 5 starts with a 7.16 ERA, a stretch during which he’s struck out just 19 while walking 11, and given up 7 homers. What happened? His four-seamer has been steadily drifting down into the heart of the strike zone, according to the McCovey Chronicles. If the diagnosis is correct, the young man may need some rest,... Read More
Since breaking onto the scene on the CW’s Jane The Virgin, Disney Channel star Jenna Ortega has been paving the way for young Latina actresses, with a role on Disney’s Stuck In The Middle and lending her voice to the new animated Disney series Elena of Avalor.
With the success of Stuck in the Middle and your upcoming show Elena of Avalor, which is about a Latina princess, what’s it like knowing you’re paving the way for other young Latina actress?
When I first started acting there weren’t a lot of roles for Latinas, but now our opportunities are growing, and just knowing that my fellow Latinas are getting more and more opportunities makes me proud. I’m proud to be a part of such a big movement for... Read More
Stuck In The Middle star Nicolas Bechtel has a hit show on Disney Channel and earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for his role on General Hospital – two things not very many 11-year-olds can say. With the first season finale around the corner, Bechtel shed some light on what it’s like playing Lewie Diaz.
Congratulations on your Daytime Emmy nomination! How does it feel to be an Emmy-nominated actor?
Thank you! It was so awesome to be nominated. The executive producer at General Hospital and my mom went around and around about whether or not to submit me. My mom just wants me to focus on what I love to do and not worry about awards and things like that, but Frank Valentini brought up the fact that I... Read More
Monday, July 25: Soccer on ESPN2: Manchester United travels halfway around the world to Beijing to play Manchester City as part of the International Champions Cup. (8am ET Monday, ESPN2) MLB on ESPN: Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers head to Fenway Park to face David Ortiz and the Boston Red Sox. (7pm ET Monday, ESPN)
Tuesday, July 26: MLB on ESPN: Kris Bryant and the Chicago Cubs head across town to meet Adam Eaton and the Chicago White Sox. (7pm ET Tuesday, ESPN)
Wednesday, July 27: Soccer on ESPN2: Paris SG plays Real Madrid, followed by AC Milan vs. Bayern Munich in the International Champions Cup. (7:30pm & 9:30pm ET Wednesday, ESPN2)
While the GOP was wrapping up its convention, Justin Turner had a pair of homers and 5 RBI in the Dodgers’ 6-3 win over the Nationals; the Orioles defeated the Yankees 4-1 behind Chris Tillman’s 7 innings of 1-run ball, during which he fanned 7; Ichiro Suzuki is now just four hits shy of 3,000 after hitting a pair of singles in the Marlins’ 9-3 victory over the Phillies; Matt Joyce homered and had 4 RBI to power the Pirates past the Brewers 5-3; Dustin “Laser Show” Pedroia had 5 of Boston’s 17 hits in their 13-2 beatdown of the Twins; the Cardinals scored 4 in the 8th to tie the Padres, and then Aledmys Diaz gave St. Louis a 6-5 walk-off win... Read More
Yesterday in Major League Baseball, Anthony DeSclafani held the Braves to 2 runs on 8 hits over 8 innings as the Red won 6-3; Max Kepler’s solo shot in the 9th broke a 1-1 tie, and Eddie Rosario’s 2-run homer put the game out of reach in the Twins 4-1 victory over the Tigers, who wasted a great start by Justin Verlander; The Cubs' Anthony Rizzo hit 2 home runs, and Kyle Hendricks pitched 6 ⅓ shutout innings to lead the Cubs past the Mets 6-2; the Indians erupted for 3 homers and 7 runs in the 5th en route to an 11-4 beatdown of the Royals; the Cardinals swept the Padres in a day-night doubleheader, winning 4-2 behind Carlos Martinez’s 7-inning, 2-run... Read More
After an explosive first episode littered with clues, it only made sense The Night Of’s whodunit narrative would take a backseat as the background stories began to unfold. The second episode, “Subtle Beast,” peeled back the curtain on Andrea, Detective Box and John Stone just enough for us to get more questions rolling around in our heads, especially: who is the “subtle beast”?
We were given some important background on Andrea, the murder victim, starting with the biggest mystery of all: how a 20-something girl has a brownstone to herself. As it turns out, her father died when she was about 10 and her mother died sometime within the last year from cancer, leaving her with only one next-of-kin: her stepfather, Don Taylor.
New York Mets (Syndergaard 9-4, 2.56) at Chicago Cubs (Arrieta 12-4, 2.68) 7pm ET on ESPN
The increased workload finally caught up with All Star sophomore Noah Syndergaard, as the Norse God of Strikeouts pulled himself, citing fatigue, from his last start after going just 4 2/3 innings, having given up 3 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks. His fastball that day was more than 3 MPH off his season high from May 31. Even worse than that start was his showing against the Nats two weeks earlier when he got tagged for 5 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks in just 3 innings. He used the All Star break to get some rest, finally throwing long toss on... Read More
After eight and a half months of the weirdest, wildest presidential primary possibly ever, the 2016 party conventions begin this week with Donald Trump descending into Cleveland for four nights of speeches culminating in his official nomination as the Republican candidate, followed next week by Hillary Clinton and the Democrats doing the same thing in Philadelphia. Sling will of course have straightfaced live news coverage available on CNN and MSNBC, but is 2016 really the right year for straightfaced news coverage?
The bad news is, Jon Stewart will not be covering these conventions on The Daily Show. The good news is, the spitballs he shot from the back of the classroom once upon a time have become a full-on deluge, as his heirs and imitators converge on both Cleveland... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Our Brand Is Crisis - Sandra Bullock stars as Jane Bodine, a political strategist who returns from retirement to beat her professional enemy Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton), causing a political campaign to becomes a dirty battle between the two.
Elvis & Nixon - Kevin Spacey plays President Nixon opposite Michael Shannon as Elvis, who requests a meeting with the president on December 21, 1970. Colin Hanks, Johnny Knoxville, Alex Pettyfer, Evan Peters and Ashley Benson also star.
July 19 Streit’s: Matzo and The American Dream The Perfect Match 911 Nightmare Vintage Tomorrows Elvis & Nixon Miles Ahead
Tour de France on NBCSN: Stage 16 takes riders from Moirans-en-Montagne to Bern. (7:30am ET Monday, NBCSN)
MLB on ESPN: Steven Matz and the New York Mets take on Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs. (7pm ET Wednesday, ESPN)
Love & Hip Hop Atlanta: With the season almost over, Scrappy is running out of time to win back Bambi. (8pm ET Monday, VH1)
So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation: The top ten dancers perform live, but one unlucky dancer will be eliminated. We’ve got all the details on this season in an exclusive interview with... Read More
New York Mets (Matz 7-5, 3.38) at Chicago Cubs (Lester 9-4, 3.01) 7pm ET on ESPN
Steven Matz has fallen on mediocre times since winning seven consecutive starts earlier in the year, going 0-4 with a 4.47 ERA over 8 starts since May 31. In the first part of the season, he allowed just 3 home runs, issued 9 walks and a had a BABIP of .291 in 49 ⅔ innings, but then served up 7 home runs, 14 walks and a .343 BABIP in 46 ⅓ – it’s been a total system failure. Since hitting bottom on June 24 against Atlanta (4 ⅓ IP, 9 H, 6 R, 0 BB, 0 SO), he’s been leaning more heavily on his curve... Read More
There is a quote widely attributed to former Secretary of State and Nobel laureate Henry Kissinger: “Academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.”
Vice Principals, Danny McBride’s new half-hour comedy for HBO, carries that idea to some pretty hilarious extremes. Reteaming with Eastbound & Down co-creator, co-writer, and director Jody Hill, McBride returns once again to Kenny Powers’ old stomping grounds: a North Carolina public school.
Fans of Eastbound, at once one of the darkest and funniest comedies ever to hit television – in one memorable episode, Kenny’s coke jag with a teammate ends when the teammate ODs and has a heart attack; Kenny wipes his fingerprints off of everything in the apartment and beats a hasty retreat, but not before snorting the... Read More
Henrik Stenson followed up an opening round 68 with an even better performance, finishing Round 2 with a blistering 65, the best score of the day, carding 7 birdies to just 1 bogey. But as good as he was, he wasn’t good enough to catch leader Phil Mickelson, as Old Lefty finished the day with a 2-under 69, putting him at -10 through two rounds, just a stroke ahead of Stenson. Mickelson, who won the Open in 2013, came within a fews short inches of acing “The Postage Stamp,” the 123-yard 8th hole, as his tee shot bit the green, and rolled slowly back, before coming to rest just short of the pin.
South African Charl Schwartzel was the big mover of... Read More
If you’ve yet to watch the first episode of HBO’s newest murder-mystery limited series The Night Of, stop reading now and go watch it!
I said it before the premiere and I’ll say it again, The Night Of will leave you a mess in the best way possible. I’m a little ashamed to say I’ve seen the first episode about four times, and each time I’ve noticed something new. Like many instantly passionate fans of the gripping new HBO drama, I have my own theories and explanations of who the killer is – if you thought you weren’t so into the first episode, allow me to enlighten you (or confuse you with more questions):
NASIR Ready for a hot sports opinion? Here goes: There’s no way Nasir killed... Read More
On Monday, Giancarlo Stanton laid waste to the competition at the Home Run Derby, needing just 13 ½ minutes to launch 61 bombs that traveled approximately 27,187 feet. Before this year, only twice had someone hit 20 or more home runs in a single round of the Derby, Stanton did twice in a night, hitting 24 in the first, 17 in the second, and 20 in the third – nobody else hit more than 16 in any round. Stanton hit more home runs on Monday than Yoenis Cespedes hit in winning back-to-back derbies in 2014 and 2015. All of this is to say that Stanton hit a lot of home runs.
USA Network’s beautifully shot, richly acted surprise hit Mr. Robot quietly yet quickly built up a massive devoted, energized fan base when it premiered last summer with an ultra-compelling mix of storylines that echoed and amplified real world tropes and movements almost in real-time: Occupy, doxxing, data breaches, hacks, Anonymous, late capitalism, etc. More importantly, Mr. Robot tapped into that feeling many people have that things are not right, that the deck is stacked, that the whole system has to come down for us to truly be free. It is The Matrix for a new generation, a much more literal exploration of “the real world.”
At the center of season one is Elliot (Rami Malek) a most unreliable narrator. He is dealing with paranoia, schizophrenia, anxiety and a host of... Read More
Zach Johnson will be back at the Open to defend his title, a year after winning a 3-way, 4-hole playoff to win the famed Claret Jug with a 15-under 273. This will be the ninth Open set at Royal Troon, the legendary course set on Scotland’s west coast, whose mix of winds, rugged terrain and golf-ball swallowing flora have vexed aspiring champions for decades.
Royal Troon, which is hosting its first Open since 2004, has undergone mostly minor changes, though there was an effort to return 9, 10 and 15 to their original configurations. The course this year plays at 7190 yards and is a par 71.
Let’s break down the top five contenders according... Read More
American League (Sale 14-3, 3.38) vs. National League (Cueto 13-1, 2.47) 8M ET on FOX
If there’s a theme to the 2016 All Star Game, it’s Theo Epstein, the Chicago Cubs general manager who acquired 9 of the 17 players named as starters, including the entire Cubs infield, two-thirds of the Red Sox outfield, and guys ranging in age from 22 to 40. In all, seven Cubbies made the NL team, and 6 from Boston will represent the AL, the most in each league.
Another theme, one all too common in baseball, is pitchers who are injured or in need of rest. Clayton Kershaw, Madison Bumgarner, Stephen Strasburg, Danny Salazar, Noah Syndergaard, Marco Estrada, Wade Davis and Craig Kimbrel are all... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
The Divergent Series: Allegiant - In the third and final installment, Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) go beyond the wall that encloses Chicago only to discover shocking truths as the war at home continues to threaten mankind. Tris is, again, forced to make tough decisions about courage, allegiance and love.
Miracles From Heaven - Jennifer Garner stars as Christy, a devoted mom to a young girl who has been diagnosed with a rare, incurable disorder that makes her unable to digest food. Christy goes to the ends of the world to find a cure, but her daughter takes a tumble out of a... Read More
Over the years, So You Think You Can Dance (aka SYTYCD) has changed its format several times – crowning two winners, pitting stage dancers vs street dancers, the All-Stars season, etc – but this season brings the biggest shakeup yet: changing the age limit from 18-30 to 8-13, giving us So You Think You Can Dance: Next Generation.
Those who have been passionate fans of the show the past 12 seasons may have been skeptical about the drastic change – after all, how could a 9-year-old compare to Twitch or Alex Wong or Katherine or Cyrus or Insert-Your-Favorite-Contestant-Here? The truth is, some of the kids we’ve seen in just the first handful of episodes are just as good – maybe even better than – the adults who have competed on... Read More
Last year, Todd Frazier, then of the Cincinnati Reds, became just the second player to win the Home Run Derby in his home park, besting Joc Pederson in the final round 15-14. This year Frazier is with the White Sox, but he’s eager to defend his title, against a field seeded by their number of home runs (all stats through June 7):
Trumbo has 9 more homers than Seager in the 4 fewer at bats – No sane person would trade Seager for two Trumbos if they were trying to win a World Series, but a Home Run Derby, Trumbo has to be the favorite.
With Game of Thrones’ stellar sixth season now over, the pressure was on HBO to keep up its standard for quality Sunday-night dramatic programming. With the success of season one – and disappointment of season two – of True Detective, it only made sense the premium network took another stab (pun definitely intended) at a murder-mystery series.
The Night Of had a bumpy ride getting to the small screen: the project has been in the works since fall of 2012, when HBO first ordered a pilot based on the British television series Criminal Justice. The network flip-flopped on the project two more times before deciding it would continue on in honor of the late, great James Gandolfini, who suddenly passed away in 2013 after a long struggle to get this... Read More
Washington Nationals (Gonzalez 4-8, 4.79) New York Mets (Matz 7-4, 3.34) 1:10PM ET on TBS
Gio Gonzalez was about as good as anyone at the start of the year, posting a 1.42 ERA over four starts in April, with a WHIP below 1 and a SO/BB north of 3. In May, however, he had an ERA of 5.23, and June was even worse, 6.95. The steep climb in ERA has been driven largely by a steep climb in his BABIP, which has gone from .254 in April to .327 in May to .419 in June. His last start, Tuesday against the Brewers was marginally better, as he went 6, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks, while K’ing 4.
New York Yankees (Sabathia 5-6, 3.48) at Cleveland Indians (Salazar 10-3, 2.36) 4:10pm ET on FS1 & SportsTime Ohio
CC Sabathia took a long road back from ineffective pitching, weight loss, bad knees and alcohol abuse to work his way back into the Yankees’ rotation, and for more than two months, he was the CC of old. After pitching 6 innings of 1-run ball against the Twins on June 16, Sabathia was 5-4 with a 2.20 ERA, thanks largely to having allowed just 2 home runs in 65 ⅓ innings. Since then, however, in three starts against the Rockies, Rangers, and White Sox, he’s gone 17 and a third, given up 23 hits – including 4 home runs – and posted an... Read More
(Coverage starts at 8am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
Day 10 at Wimbledon saw Venus Williams’ fairy tale run come to an end, as she finally fell to Angelique Kerber 4-6 4-6. “You just step up to do the best you can. I ran up against a better player,” Williams said, with the philosiphical calm that can only come with years of experince and five Wimbledon titles. Her sister Serena, however, will continue on in her quest to tie Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles, after beating Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-0 in just 48 minutes, her shortest match of the tournament thus far. “I’m very happy,” Serena said. “I was really focused because we’ve had a lot of tough matches before. I knew... Read More
Yesterday in baseball, Hector Santiago fanned 9 over 7 scoreless innings as the Angels topped the Rays 5-1; Adam Wainwright pitched 7 innings of 1-run ball, fanning 9, and Stephen Piscotty launched a 3-run shot to lead the Cardinals past the Pirates 5-1; Troy Tulowitzki’s 2-run single in the 8th were the final blow in the Blue Jays 5-4 win over the Tigers; Didi Gregorius and Chase Headley went a combined 4-for-7 and drove in or scored all the Yankees’ runs in their 5-4 defeat of the Indians; the Mets outslugged the Nationals 9-7 in a game that saw 8 balls leave the yard; the Twins took their frustrations out on the Rangers 10-1, behind Tyler Duffey’s 6 scoreless innings with 9 strikeouts,... Read More
(Coverage starts at 8am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
Marin Cilic pushed Roger Federer to the brink of elimination, going up 2 sets to nil, only to drop three straight, losing before falling 7-6 6-4 3-6 6-7 3-6. “This is huge for me. Epic,” Federer said later. “Sometimes when you’re two sets to love down, the mountain to climb is so huge it’s monstrous. I remember just being in trouble the whole time.” But the match of the day was the 3 hour and 53 minute slugfest between Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Murray went up 7-6 6-1, but lost the next two sets 3-6 4-6, only to dig deep and dismiss Tsonga 6-1 in the fifth and final set.
Yesterday in baseball, Nick Castellanos was a triple short of the cycle, drove in 5 runs and scored a pair to lead the Tigers to an 11-2 pounding of the Indians; Freddie Galvis’ 2-run homer in the 8th was the decisive blow in the Phillies 4-3 victory over the Braves; Ervin Santana pitched a 2-hit shutout, striking out 8 and walking none as the Twins beat the A’s 4-0; Wilmer Flores hit a pair of solo homers in the Mets’ 4-2 win over the Marlins; Tucker Barnhart’s 3-run homer put the Reds up for good in their 5-3 defeat of the Cubs; Jonathan Schoop hit a 2-run double in the 12th to give the Orioles a 6-4 win over the Dodgers; Bryce Harper’s... Read More
Texas Rangers (Perez 7-4, 3.39) at Boston Red Sox (Wright 9-5, 2.42) 7pm ET on ESPN
Martin Perez has been extremely lucky thus far in 2016, managing to post an ERA of just 3.39, despite walking 3.8/9 IP versus just 4.4 SO/9 IP. Perez’s Fielding-Independent Pitching (FIP), a calculation of how many runs you should be giving up based on your home runs, walks, HBP, and strikeouts, is 4.76. What’s his secret? Well it starts with inducing a Major League-leading 21 double plays, which will go a long way toward killing rallies and preventing runs. His previous high for DPs was just 13, and that was in 20 2/3 more innings. Case in point, in his last start, Friday against the Twins, he... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
I Saw The Light - Tom Hiddleston stars as Hank Williams, who rose to fame in the 1940s but along with fame came alcohol abuse and infidelity, which ultimately took a toll on his career and marriage to Audrey Mae Williams (Elizabeth Olsen).
Black Mass - Johnny Depp stars as James “Whitey” Bulger, a career criminal, who is asked by an FBI agent (Joel Edgerton) to help them fight the Italian mob. As things begin to spiral out of control, Whitey evades arrest and quickly becomes the most dangerous gangster in the U.S.
Pittsburgh Pirates (Brault NA) at St. Louis Cardinals (Leake 5-6, 4.13) 8pm ET on ESPN
An already tough Pirates season took another big blow when promising starter Jameson Taillon was scratched from this game and put on the DL with a sore shoulder. In his place will be Steven Brault, a 24-year-old lefty who’ll be making his Major League debut. In 35 innings Brault has giving up 13 runs on 35 hits and 15 walks, while striking out 44, with a 2.57 ERA.
Mike Leake’s first six starts no doubt had Cardinals fans wondering why on Earth John Lackey was allowed to leave town. Through May 4, Leake was 0-3 with a 6.03 ERA. Mercifully he’s been much better since then, pitching... Read More
(Coverage starts at 8am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
Centre Court 8am ET Simona Halep (ROU) [5] v Angelique Kerber (GER) [4], QF The #5 ranked women’s player in the world, Simona Halep overcame a tough first-set loss to Madison Keys to win 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-3 in just under 2 hours to reach the quarterfinals, as Keys struggled with a bum achilles, and 48 unforced errors. This is Halep’s fifth Wimbledon, and the first time she’s made it past the first round, as well as the first time she’s made it past the second round in any of her 15 Grand Slam appearances.
Angelique Kerber, ranked 4th in the world, had a much easier go of it, dispensing with Misaki Doi in straight sets 6-3 6-1,... Read More
Colorado Rockies (Anderson 0-2, 2.66) at San Francisco Giants (Peavy 4-7, 5.33) 4pm ET on ESPN
Tyler Anderson made his big league debut on June 12 against the Padres, and in each of his four starts he has pitched at least 5 ⅔ innings (23 ⅔ total), surrendered a total of one homer, and struck out 24 while walking only 5. But in his first two starts, the offense failed him, scoring just 2 runs total, and in the other two games, the bullpen coughed up 10 runs. In his last start, Wednesday against the Blue Jays, he gave up 3 runs on 8 hits and 2 walk in 6 innings, while striking out 6, en route to a 5-3 loss.
(Coverage starts at 8am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
The weather gods took their foot off the gas long enough for plenty of play at Wimbledon, allowing Coco Vandeweghe a chance to upset 6-seed Roberta Vinci, Serena Williams to sweep Annika Beck.
Centre Court 8am ET Roger Federer (SUI) [3] vs. Steve Johnson (USA) Roger Federer dispatched another Briton over the weekend, this time defeating Daniel Evans 6-4 6-2 6-2 in an hour and 26 minutes. The victory was built on Federer’s 11-0 advantage on aces, as well as his 0-8 advantage on double faults.
Steve Johnson, a 26-year-old American ranked 29th in the world and playing in his fourth Wimbledon, defeated Grigor Dimitrov 6-7 7-6 6-4 6-2. Johnson’s 4th-round appearance is the furthest he’s made it... Read More
LEGO Star Wars: The Freemake Adventure Series: A galaxy-wide search begins to find the lost crystals of the legendary Kyber Saber, the most powerful (and most dangerous) lightsaber ever built. (10am Monday, Disney XD)
MLB on ESPN: It’s an America Day doubleheader, starting with the Rockies vs. the Giants, and then the Tigers vs. Indians. (4pm & 7pm ET Monday, ESPN)
UnREAL: Last summer’s most binge-worthy hit, a dark comedy set behind-the-scenes of a fictional reality show loosely inspired by The Bachelor, is back for a second season focused on the cutthroat producers who will stop at nothing in order to make great TV. If you... Read More
Miami Marlins (Conley 4-5, 3.90) at Atlanta Braves (Wisler 3-7, 4.14) 8pm ET on ESPN
Adam Conley scuffled a bit coming out of the gate in 2016, compiling a 5.16 ERA over 19 ⅓ innings in his first 4 starts, his first start being cut short at 1 inning due to a rain delay. But on April 29, he had a no hitter through 7 and two-thirds, before giving way to the bullpen in a 6-3 win over the Brewers. That day kicked off an 11-start run in which he pitched 64 innings with 3.09 ERA, though his last start was a hot mess as he gave up 5 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks despite striking out 9 in 4 and a third against Detroit.
Freeform has given the go-ahead for a sixth season of Baby Daddy. Variety
History has decided to part ways with Top Gear USA, the American spin-off of the BBC/BBC America flagship show. Though it’s welcome on History has run out, the show is seeking a new home with another network. Deadline
SundanceTV’s new comedy Hap and Leonard has been picked up for a second season. The sophomore season will run just six episodes set to debut sometime in 2017. Variety
TV Land has completed the main casting for their remake of the iconic film First Wives Club, which originally starred Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton. Vanessa Lachey, Alyson Hannigan and Megan Hilty have been cast as the three leads. Deadline
Yesterday in baseball, the Yankees walked off on the Rangers for the second game in a row, this time with Chase Headley scampering home on a passed ball for a 2-1 victory; Avisail Garcia scored twice and drove in a run in the White Sox’ 6-5 win over the Twins; Kenta Maeda pitched 6 innings of 1-run ball, giving up just 3 hits and 2 walks, while fanning 6 to lead the Dodgers past the Brewers 8-1; Danny Espinosa hit a grand slam and a 3-run homer as the Nationals pounded the Reds 13-4; Carlos Carrasco led the Indians to their 13th win a row by striking 14 in 7 and a third, while surrendering just 1 run on 3 hits; the Mets rallied for 3 in the 7th, scoring... Read More
Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll premieres tonight for it’s second season, starring (and written by) Denis Leary along with John Corbett, Bobby Kelly, John Ales, Elizabeth Gillies, and Elaine Hendrix.
At the end of season one, The Assassins were going through a rough patch with Gigi (Gillies) breaking up with Flash (Corbett) and Bam Bam and Rehab turning their talents to create music’s newest sensation, BeastCore. While it seems BeastCore was – for better or for worse – a short lived phenomenon, season two has promise of other interesting musical adventures and explorations brought to light by the electric duo.
“This year, I’m with Rehab most of the time,” Kelly said. “We’re in a lot of controversy this year. Campbell Scott is in this season, who is... Read More
Last night in baseball, Matt Moore of the Rays handcuffed the Red Sox for 7 shutout innings, as he surrendered just 3 hits and 2 walks en route to a 4-0 win; Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell and Albert Almora Jr. all homered to power the Cubs past the Reds 9-2; Miguel Cabrera went 3-for-5 with 2 runs and 3 RBI to lead the Tigers past the Marlins 10-3; Aaron Sanchez allowed just 1 run on 6 hits and 2 walks over 8 innings in the Blue Jays 5-3 defeat of the Rockies; Jose Altuve went 4-for-5 with a double, triple, 4 runs, and an RBI as the Astros overcame the Angels 10-4; the Orioles doubled up the Padres 12-6 as Manny Machado singled and doubled, scored twice and drove in... Read More
New York Mets (Verrett 3-4, 4.14) at Washington Nationals (Scherzer 8-5, 3.52) 7pm ET on ESPN2 Pity the poor spot starter for one of the very best rotations in baseball… Logan Verrett made a pair of starts in April, filling in for Jacob deGrom, and did great, pitching 12 innings of shutout ball while giving up just 9 hits and 3 walks, and striking out 10. It would be two weeks before he got another start, and it was a disaster, as the Rockies got to him for 7 runs on 10 hits and 3 walks in just 2 ⅔ innings, and his next start, on June 11 against the Brewers was only marginally better, as he posted 4 IP, 4 H, 5... Read More
On Tuesday, fans at Wimbledon’s Centre Court looked on as Serena Williams defeated Amra Sadikovic, Andy Murray defeated fellow Brit Liam Brody, Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Caroline Wozniacki, and Coco Vandeweghe beat Kateryna Bondarenko. For a complete list of results, you can go to Wimbledon’s website.
Center Court Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) [3] vs. Kateryna Kozlova (UKR) - Round 1, 8am Twenty-seven-year-old Agnieszka Radwanska has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the world. She’s making her 11th appearance at Wimbledon, where she lost to Serena Williams in the finals in 2012, and fell in the semis in 2013 and 2015. She made it to the semis at the Australian this year, losing to Serena, and lost to Tsvetana Pironkova in the 4th round at Roland Garros.
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Suffragette – Carey Mulligan stars as Maud Watts, a young working wife and mother in early 20th century London, whose life is forever changed after joining a diverse group of women fighting for equality and the right to vote behind leader Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep). The women play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, risking their jobs, homes and families to be seen as equal counterparts to the men in their lives. Helena Bonham Carter also stars.
June 28 A Candle Lights The Heart RAMS Francofonia We Were Rebels Work Hard Play Hard Five Golden Dragons Don’t Wake Mommy Donald Trump: The Apprentice President? Brand... Read More
Last night in baseball, the Cubs’ Kris Bryant became the first player in in at least a century to hit 3 homers and 2 doubles in a game, as he went 5-for-5 with 4 runs and 6 RBI – and he played 3B, RF and LF – to beat the Reds 11-8; the Dodgers climbed out of a 4-0 hole to defeat the Pirates 5-4, as Yasiel Puig drove in a pair and scored the go-ahead run in the 5th; Ben Revere went 4-for-5 with 3 runs and an RBI to lead the Nationals past the Mets and Noah Syndergaard by a score of 11-4; the 3-4-5 hitters for the Indians – Francisco Lindor, Mike Napoli and Lonnie Chisenhall – went a combined 7-for-16 with 5 runs and 4 RBI... Read More
(Coverage starts at 7am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
Yesterday saw Novak Djokovic take James Ward in straight sets, 6-0 7-6 6-4; Garbine Muguruza best Camila Giorgi, 6-2 5-7 6-4; and Roger Federer struggle to get past Guido Pella in straight sets, 7-6 7-6 6-3 – you can find the complete results here. Today we get the greatest female tennis player in the universe, as well as a hometown hero taking Centre Court.
Serena Williams (USA) [1] v Amra Sadikovic (SUI) 8:00am And so it begins: Serena Williams’ latest attempt to tie Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles. Williams’ 2016 started by bailing midway through the Hopman Cup in deference to inflammation in her knees; then she fell in the finals of the Australian... Read More
LEGO Star Wars: The Freemake Adventure Series: A galaxy-wide search begins to find the lost crystals of the legendary Kyber Saber, the most powerful (and most dangerous) lightsaber ever built. (10am Monday, Disney XD)
UnREAL: Last summer’s most binge-worthy hit, a dark comedy set behind-the-scenes of a fictional reality show loosely inspired by The Bachelor, is back for a second season focused on the cutthroat producers who will stop at nothing in order to make great TV. If you missed the first three episodes, then catch up with Sling On-Demand. (10pm Monday, Lifetime)
Wimbledon: Tennis’ heavyweights Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams battle it out to... Read More
Houston Astros (McHugh 5-5, 4.70) at Los Angeles Angels (Shoemaker 3-8, 4.43) 10pm ET on ESPN & FOX Sports West
Collin McHugh has made a fairly nice recovery from his disastrous Opening Day start, when he faced seven Yankees, retiring just one of them, while giving up 6 runs on 3 hits, 2 walks and a catcher’s interference, culminating in a 135.00 ERA. Since then, he’s pitched 84 innings over 14 starts with a 4.18 ERA, and 4.16 SO/BB, and though his record is just 5-5, the Astros have been 9-6 in his starts. Considering that his BABIP is up 46 points over his career norm, he has in reality been about as good as in years past, when he finished 4th in... Read More
(Coverage starts at 7am ET on ESPN, all times Eastern)
Wimbledon will be played for the first time in a long time without two of the sport’s brightest stars, Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal. Sharapova is awaiting an appeal of her 2-year ban from tennis for doping, and has decided to spend her newfound free time by enrolling in Harvard Business School, while Nadal is nursing the wrist injury that forced him to drop out of the French Open. But enough about who’s not playing, here’s a look at today’s Center Court action.
Novak Djokovic (SRB) [#1] v James Ward (GBR), 8:00am Rarely has men’s tennis been so dominated by a single figure as it is now by Novak Djokovic, winner of the won last five Grand Slam titles,... Read More
San Diego Padres (Pomeranz 6-7, 3.00) at Cincinnati Reds (Finnegan 3-5, 3.81) 4:10pm ET on FS1
After three seasons as a long reliever/spot starter, Drew Pomeranz is back to starting full time and making the most of it. His strikeout rate has jumped from 8.6/9IP last year to 10.7, and his hits have fallen from 7.4 to 6.3, enough to offset the spike in walks from 3.2 to 4.2. Stir in a 23-point drop in his BABIP, and you’ve got a man who’s enjoying himself, despite run support .7 below the league average. The party may be wrapping up, however, as over his last three starts, Pomeranza has posted 16 IP, 20 H, 11 R, 7 BB, 19 SO, 4 HR.
Despite massive star power and name recognition (and money spent), HBO’s Vinyl has cancelled even though the network gave the go-ahead for a revamped season two earlier this year. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Sarah Jessica Parker has returned home to HBO for her new comedy Divorce, co-starring Thomas Haden Church and his mustache. Could this be the thing to fill our Sex and The City void? Perhaps, as the first trailer promises dry humor mixed with juicy drama for a cocktail SATC fans will find hard to resist. (Bustle)
Former Bachelor Ben Higgins and his new fiancee Lauren Bushnell are taking their love story across the Disney street to Freeform for a spin off circling their preparations for marriage and what life is like after The Bachelor. (Deadline)
Last night in baseball, Marcus Semien’s 3-run homer in the 2nd inning off Tim Lincecum was the big blow in the A’s 5-4 win over the Angels; Joe Panik hit a bases-loaded triple, and Mac Williamson had an RBI single and a solo homer to power the Giants past the Pirates 5-3; Cameron Maybin motored home on Steve Cishek’s wild pitch in the bottom of the 10th to give the Tigers a 5-4 walkoff win against the Mariners; the Phillies’ Cesar Hernandez went 4-for-4 with 3 runs, and Freddy Galvis tripled and homered for a total of 5 RBI to vanquish the Twins 7-3; Xander Bogaerts drove in Mookie Betts to give the Red Sox an 8-7 walkoff win in 10 innings over the White Sox; Adonis Garcia’s 2-run blast... Read More
Last night in baseball, the Marlins’ Adam Conley pitched 8 shutout innings, giving up just 4 hits and a walk, while K’ing 4 en route to a 3-0 blanking of the Braves; Starlin Castro launched a solo shot in the 9th to give the Yankees a 9-8 walkoff win over the Rockies; Mets starter Noah Syndergaard had to leave the game with discomfort in his right elbow, but not before pitching 6 innings and getting the win in a 4-3 triumph over the Royals; Lance McCullers gave up 1 run in 5 ⅔ innings, and Jose Altuve homered to lead the Astros past the Angels 3-2; the Cardinals did the impossible, handing Jake Arrieta the loss and sweeping the Cubs with a 7-2 victory; Scooter Gennett went 3-for-5 with a... Read More
Mention the name Serena Williams in casual conversation and you’ll most likely hear some of the same adjectives again and again: fierce, tough, strong, competitive, aggressive, dominating, unbeatable. That last one is perhaps the most accurate. She’s the number one female tennis player in the world with 21 Grand Slam titles and counting, has won four Olympic gold medals, and holds more WTA titles than are possible to mention here. And she was the first woman to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year issue.
But the new, original EPIX documentary SERENA: The Other Side of Greatness, directed by Ryan White, offers a rare and revealing glimpse into the private life of an elite athlete like nothing we’ve seen before.
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
The Brothers Grimsby - Sacha Baron Cohen stars as Nobby, a not-so-bright man living in an English fishing town with his girlfriend (Rebel Wilson) and nine children. For 28 years, he’s been search for his long lost brother Sebastian (Mark Strong). When they are finally reunited, Nobby finds out his brother is a top MI6 agent on the run, who needs Nobby’s help to save the world and prove he’s innocent.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 - Parenting and marriage is becoming increasingly more difficult for Toula (Nia Vardalos) and Ian (John Corbett). While dealing with a rebellious teenage daughter who isn’t totally... Read More
Last night in Major League Baseball Jake Lamb’s 2-run homer in the first inning proved to be the difference in the Diamondbacks’ 3-1 win over the Phillies; Jeff Locke and the Pirates bullpen outdueled Giants starter Madison Bumgarner for a 1-0 victory; the Red Sox failed to plate a run in the 9th after loading the bases with nobody out, and then fell in the 10th by a score of 3-1 as the White Sox scored a pair on a Jose Abreu double; Carlos Santana, Francisco Lindor and Juan Uribe all homered as the Indians beat the Rays 7-4; Justin Upton’s walkoff homer in the 12th gave the Tigers an 8-7 win over the Mariners; Mark Reynolds hit a pair of solo homers... Read More
Washington Nationals (Strasburg 10-0, 2.90) at Chicago Cubs (Kershaw 10-1, 1.58) 10pm ET on ESPN
This is about as good a pitching matchup as one can ask for.
Stephen Strasburg, once one of the most ballyhooed pitching prospects of his generation, looks to finally be living up to the promise after six seasons of tantalizing talent interrupted by injuries and innings limits. In addition to being the last undefeated starter in the Majors, he’s 3rd in strikeouts (118), 2nd in SO/9IP (11.4), 4th in SO/BB 4.92, 7th in innings pitched (93), and in no start has he allowed more than 4 runs. On Wednesday, he had one of the better starts of the year against the vaunted Cubbies, holding them to just... Read More
The 2016 US Open at Oakmont (Saturday at 10am ET on FS1, 11am ET on FOX) After multiple rain delays kept him from the first tee on Thursday at the US Open, Dustin Johnson had a ton of work to do on Friday. When he was finished, after 36 holes, he found himself tied atop the leaderboard.
On his first round Friday, Johnson became the only player at this year’s Oen to play a bogey-free opening round, shooting a 3-under par 67, with birdies on 6, 11 and 14. He would finally stumble on the first hole of his second round, taking a bogey 5, before playing playing 2-under the rest of the way, to finish at 69 for the round. After two rounds, Johnson sits at -4, tied with... Read More
LeBron James delivered a statement game for the ages Thursday night, scoring 41 points, dishing out a seemingly endless stream of alley-oops, grabbing 8 rebounds, making 4 steals, blocking 3 shots, and turning the ball over just once as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors 115-101.
Cleveland dominated the Warriors in the first quarter in a fashion to which the defending champs were not accustomed. The Cavs scored the first 8 points of the game, and when a Klay Thompson jumper pulled the Warriors within 6 at 13-7, it occurred to no one that was as close as Golden State would get for the rest of the night. When the first quarter was over, Golden State had scored just 11 points (22.6% shooting), Steph Curry leading the way... Read More
The 2016 US Open at Oakmont (Friday at 8am ET on FS1, 5pm ET on FOX)
It was a soggy day at Oakmont, as play at the 2016 US Open was delayed twice in deference to rain, leaving players wet and cranky, and making an already tough course all the more challenging.
When officials called it a day, with much of the field never even taking so much as a stroke, Andrew Landry, a 28-year-old Texan navigating his rookie year on the tour, was atop the leaderboard at -3 through 17 holes. And Landry will resume play today looking at a very makeable putt for birdie on 18 that could leave him at 66 for the round. Not too shabby. Apparently, this is all as Landry predicted.
Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, GSW leads series 3-2 (9pm ET Thursday, ABC)
Monday was LeBron James’ turn to find another gear, and with his back to the wall, he responded, leading the all players in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks, as Cleveland took a must-win a game on the road, 112-97.
James was scoreless for the first five and a half minutes of the game, as the Warriors built a 12-5 lead, but then he caught fire, hitting 4 of his next 5 shots and grabbing 3 rebounds to finish the first quarter with the Cavs only down 32-29.
The second quarter found James in a shootout with Klay Thompson, as James scored 13 on 6-of-11 shooting, while Thompson hit 5 of 5 from the floor,... Read More
Having topped Group A to advance to the next round of the Copa America Centenario, the United States Men’s National Team is set to face Ecuador in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
The U.S. made progress thanks to having bounced back from its tournament-opening 2-0 loss to Colombia with back-to-back wins against Costa Rica (4-0) and Paraguay (1-0). USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann has weathered criticism over his team selection, tactics and substitutions. But nonetheless, managed to navigate his team through a tricky group to within 90 minutes of a place in the semis.
Klinsmann’s team – veteran players Clint Dempsey, Jermaine Jones and Michael Bradley in particular – have repaid the German tactician’s faith in them by putting in gritty, combative performances. After winning a penalty... Read More
A plane crashes on a remote island with no inhabitants, no buildings, no means of contact with the outside world. The survivors, mostly strangers, struggle to assemble the basics – food, water, shelter – and to answer the island’s important mysteries. Like: Who brought the suitcase full of sex toys?
TBS’ new ensemble comedy Wrecked takes the premise that made Lost such a colossal hit and infuses a healthy dose of misanthropy, entitled behavior, and unearned bravado to make the strongest new comedy series we’ve seen this year.
Because who says that just because a group of people survive a plane crash that they will just magically forget their petty, selfish little issues? If a man values his new golf club more... Read More
A diverse group of strangers crash-lands on a remote desert island. It could be the premise for a top-rated, dead-serious supernatural mystery drama, as Lost proved not too long ago, or it could spin in a totally different, much funnier direction, as TBS’ new half-hour Wrecked, premiering Tuesday at 9pm ET on TBS, emphatically proves.
The story begins with Owen (Zach Cregger), a flight attendant so leery of other people that he hides in the bathroom to sneak a cigarette rather than deal with the passengers. When the plane goes down, Owen soon finds himself in the unlikely position of leading this rough assembly of people as they create a small society.
Imagine if you were on a plane headed to an international destination with your long-term boyfriend, hoping he’s finally going to propose after nine years (seven officially), but the plane goes down and you’re trapped on a deserted island with a handful of strangers who survived the crash too.
That’s the life of Jess Kato, a sweet-natured romantic (played by the equally sweet Ally Maki), who just wants her douche of a boyfriend, Todd (Will Greenberg) to commit.
We caught up with Ally Maki to learn more about TBS’ new comedy Wrecked and her character, Jess:
I have to say, I’ve seen the first three or four episodes of Wrecked and I think it’s hilarious.
Yay! That’s awesome!
How would you describe Wrecked in your own... Read More
Earlier this year there was a remake of Point Break, the 1991 Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze classic about an FBI agent infiltrating a gang of bank robbers who also happen to be extreme athletes (or perhaps they’re extreme athletes who happen to be bank robbers). The original was an inventive (if slightly cheesy) splice of an old-fashioned bank-caper flick and the national obsession with the Southern California lifestyle of sun and surfing and reckless boys-will-be-boys behavior.
Alas, the 2015 remake tanked, presumably because of its awful reviews, but TNT’s new series Animal Kingdom, premiering June 14 with back-to-back episodes, serves as both a kind of mulligan on the basic idea (SoCal surfers who rob banks) and an announcement of TNT’s entry into the premium-drama business so long dominated by the... Read More
Jake Weary is no stranger to the TV world with recurring roles on Pretty Little Liars and Chicago Fire in the past. But now, he’s taking on a whole new animal as one of the stars of TNT’s big summer show, Animal Kingdom.
Weary plays Deran, the youngest son in a criminal family with a bad attitude and a lot to prove. He struggles with being the youngest, his older brothers taking him seriously, and hiding an important secret from his entire family.
In short, Animal Kingdom isn’t what you’re used to seeing on TNT – it’s daring, edgy and, to be frank, raises TNT’s dramatic bar quite a bit higher than, say, Rizzoli & Isles.
If you hadn’t heard, Sling TV just added 12 Viacom channels and 3 additional channels from Fox. New channels include Comedy Central, BET, Nick Jr., NickToons, TeenNick, MTV, Spike, MTV2, LOGO, CMT, TV Land and VH1, as well as FXX, FS2, and Nat Geo Wild.
If you’re not already a Sling TV subscriber, you can add the Best of Live TV beta multi-stream service during the sign up process to get FS2, FXX, Nat Geo WILD and the rest of the beta multi-stream lineup. New customers can sign up for Sling TV at www.sling.com.
Monday June 13
Euro on ESPN: The Czech Republic faces Spain, Sweden meets Ireland, and Italy takes on Belgium in Euro 2016. (9am, Noon, and... Read More
If you ask me, there’s nothing better than a good ole fashioned barn-burner horror story, and demonic possession is the horror tradition that just keeps on giving. The unstoppable and insidious nature of that which cannot be killed has a double-edged power: the futility of pure evil not easily vanquished without help from the clergy, and that nagging feeling deep in our subconscious whether what we’re viewing is actually fiction. In other words, if angels exist, why can’t demons?
Season one of The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman’s new show, Outcast, explores a small, barely-hanging-on small American town called Rome, the type of town where the chief of police plays poker with the town’s reverend in back rooms, people sleep with their doors unlocked, and everyone knows everyone else’s... Read More
In baseball last night, the Pirates took both games of their doubleheader with the Mets by a score of 3-1, with Jonathon Niese pitching 7 shutout innings in the first game, and Juan Nicasio striking out 7 over 5 innings of 1-run ball in the nightcap; KC’s Yordano Ventura drilled Baltimore’s Manny Machado with a fastball, sparking a bench-clearing brawl in the midst of the Orioles 9-1 pounding of the Royals; Carlos Beltran and Starlin Castro each homered in the Yankees’ 6-3 win over the Angels; Jerad Eickhoff held the Cubs in check for 7 innings, allowing just 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks, while fanning 8, in a 3-2 Phillies win; Ian Kinsler scored the tying run in the 9th and then had a walkoff single in... Read More
Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, GSW leads series 2-0 (9pm ET Wednesday, ABC)
Just a week ago, a Cavs-Warriors finals promised to join “The Godfather II” and “Empire Strikes Back” among the great sequels of all time. But after the Warriors totally dominated Cleveland Sunday night by a score of 110-77, these Finals feel more like the finishing touches on the greatest season in NBA history.
LeBron James would find Tristan Thompson for a bucket that would put the Cavs up 21-19 to close out the first quarter, despite James (0-5), Kevin Love (1-4) and Kyrie Irving (2-6), combining to hit on just 3 of 15 from the floor. And the Cavs would go up 28-22 early in the second quarter on an emphatic driving dunk by James,... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Zootopia - In the city of Zootopia, Judy Hopp (Ginnifer Goodwin) becomes the first rabbit to join the police force and she quickly learns how hard it is to enforce the law. She springs into her first mysterious case but is forced to team up with the canny Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). Shakira, Idris Elba, J.K. Simmons, Jenny Slate, Alan Tudyk, and Octavia Spencer also lend their voices.
Hail, Caesar! - The incomparable Coen brothers' 2015 Hollywood satire stars Josh Brolin as Eddie Mannix, a problem solver for the actors and filmmakers at Capitol Pictures. When beloved actor Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is kidnapped... Read More
New York Mets (deGrom 3-1, 2.62) at Pittsburgh Pirates (Nicasio 4-4, 4.75) 7:40pm ET on ESPN2
Over his last five starts, Jacob deGrom has pitched 32 ⅓ innings, striking out 31 and walking 11, while giving up 25 hits and posting a 3.06 ERA, and for his efforts, he’s taken a no-decision each time, with the Mets going 2-3 in those games. The losses were by scores of 4-3, 3-2, and most recently, 2-1, in a game against the White Sox in which deGrom whiffed 10 over 7 innings, and allowed just 1 run, on a solo homer. Man, that has got to be frustrating…
Juan Nicasio’s return to the starting rotation is offering diminishing returns following a promising beginning. In his first five start, Nicasio threw 27 innings... Read More
I’ve been a dancer all my life – I even have a rather useless degree in it (useless for me, not useless in general)! I’ve experienced coaches putting bottle caps in the heels of my shoes point-end up to ensure I would stay on my toes; I knew girls who had rulers or Popsicle sticks taped to the back of their legs so they stayed straight, and suffered their ballet teacher marking the knees of their (expensive!) tights with a giant red ‘X’ in Sharpie when they didn’t have enough turnout. Being a child dancer is hard, but most kids have no issue putting up with the borderline abusive coaches if it means they not only get to dance but constantly be pushed to reach their potential… and then some.... Read More
Copa America on FS1: Bolivia takes on Panama, followed by Chile vs. Argentina in Round 1 action of Copa América Centenario. (7pm & 10pm Monday, FS1)
Angie Tribeca: Steve and Nancy Carell’s stridently silly buddy cop spoof starring Rashida Jones returns for season two. (9pm Monday, TBS)
Barbarians Rising: This fascinating new docuseries features top-notch reenactments and expert commentary on the barbarians who challenged the authority of ancient Rome. (9pm Monday, History)
UnREAL: Last summer’s most binge-worthy hit, a dark comedy set behind-the-scenes of a fictional reality show loosely inspired by The Bachelor, returns for a second... Read More
I admit it and I make no apologies: I love The Bachelor. I love The Bachelorette too, and I love Bachelor in Paradise most of all. I can’t pretend to be a huge fan of “reality TV” in general, but there is something seductive about putting 25 women in a house and having them fight over the same guy (or 25 men fighting over the same woman). The pettiness, the catfighting, the scheming, the unself-aware narcissism, the raging hubris – I find it all enormously entertaining and by far the best kind of television to make fun of with my wife.
It’s long been obvious that “reality” is little more than a euphemism for what goes on on these shows – online commenters are always quick to point out... Read More
Chicago Cubs (Lester 6-3, 2.29) at Philadelphia Phillies (Morgan 1-4, 7.07) 7pm ET on ESPN2
Jon Lester pitched his best game as a Cub in his last outing, going the distance (after giving up a homer on his second pitch of the game), allowing just 1 run on 4 hits, while striking out 10 and walking none against the Dodgers. Was it a weak Dodgers lineup that saw Adrian Gonzalez and Chase Utley taking the day off? One that featured just three guys with an OPS north of .665? Yeah, but it’s an offense still good enough to power a second-place team.
Adam Morgan is in the midst of a brutal four-game losing streak, during which he’s pitched 19 ⅔ innings, given up 21... Read More
#Cleveland Cavaliers vs. #Golden State Warriors, GSW leads series 1-0 (8pm ET Sunday, ABC)
If the Cleveland Cavaliers can’t win on a night when Steph Curry and Klay Thompson combine to make 8 of 27 for just 20 points, this series is gonna be over real quick. On Thursday, the Warriors bench picked up the Slack Brothers, outscoring Cleveland’s bench 45-10, and doing all the heavy lifting in a 104-89 victory.
The Warriors finished the first quarter up 28-24, and the second quarter opened inauspiciously for the Cavs, as LeBron James missed a layup and then missed twice more on putbacks. Minutes later, a Kevin Love jumper would get the Cavs back to within 4, but a Draymond Green 2-pointer, followed by a Leandro Barbosa bunny and 3-pointer would... Read More
San Francisco Giants (Peavy 2-5, 6.34) at St. Louis Cardinals (Martinez 5-5, 3.69) 8pm ET on ESPN
Just days after his 35th birthday, Jake Peavy finds himself slogging through what is shaping up to be the worst season of his 15-year career: He’s got an ERA 1.4 runs higher than ever before, his second-worst strikeout and home run rates, a career-high WHIP, and he’s on pace for a career high in losses, dovetailing nicely with his career-low winning percentage. All that said, he’s pitched well in 3 of his last four starts, most recently pitching 7 shutout innings, giving up just a hit, against the Braves en route to a 4-0 win. Yeah, the Braves have the worst offense in the bigs, but... Read More
Tampa Bay Rays (Andriese 3-0, 2.36) at Minnesota Twins (Santana 1-4, 4.12) 4pm ET on FS1 & FOX Sports North
Matt Andriese is enjoying a fine season thus far, thanks largely to a BABIP of .228 and a home run rate of just .26 per 9 innings, despite his K rate being a paltry 5.2 per 9. On Monday he allowed 2 runs over 7 innings, while striking out just 3, but settling for a no decision in a game the Rays lost 6-2 to the Royals. If he doesn’t start missing more bats, the law of averages is gonna catch up with him real fast.
As an average pitcher on a bad team, Ervin Santana is... Read More
If the Cleveland Cavaliers can’t win on a night when Steph Curry and Klay Thompson combine to make 8 of 27 for just 20 points, this series is gonna be over real quick. On Thursday, the Warriors' bench picked up the slack for the Splash Brothers, outscoring Cleveland’s bench 45-10, and doing all the heavy lifting in a 104-89 victory.
The Warriors finished the first quarter up 28-24, and the second quarter opened inauspiciously for the Cavs, as LeBron James missed a layup and then missed twice more on putbacks. Minutes later, a Kevin Love jumper would get the Cavs back to within 4, but a Draymond Green 2-pointer, followed by a Leandro Barbosa bunny and 3-pointer would give the Warriors some breathing room as they went up 39-28. A... Read More
On Thursday, Madison Bumgarner struck out 11 batters across 7 ⅔ innings and hit a 2-run homer to lead the Giants past the Braves 6-0; Zack Greinke struck out 11 over 7 innings of shutout ball (but hit no homers), as the Diamondbacks bested the Astros 3-0; the Cubs’ Javier Baez went 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBI in a 7-2 win over the Dodgers; Mark Trumbo and Adam Jones each hit a pair of home runs, and the Orioles hit 7 total, as they pounded the Red Sox 12-7; Brewers starter Chase Anderson struck out 6, giving up just 1 run on 3 hits and a walk to beat the Phillies 4-1; the Indians rallied from down a run in the... Read More
Just a day after Cleverman premiered in U.S., SundanceTV has picked it up for a second season.Deadline
A new Marvel show is finding a home outside of the Disney/ABC wheel: FX has picked up Legion, an X-Men-themed series starring Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens. This is the first Marvel live-action series on cable. Deadline
HBO announced several of their highly-anticipated shows are set to hit the small screen in the fall: Westworld, starring Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, and James Marsden; Divorce, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church and Molly Shannon; Insecure, which centers on two black women and their friendship as they navigate life; and High Maintenance, starring Ben Sinclair, which follows a Brooklyn weed dealer that delivers to clients with neuroses as diverse... Read More
The baseball universe bore all manner of fruits last night – reliever Matt Albers threw 2 scoreless innings, hit a double and scored the winning run in the 13th as the White Sox beat the Mets 2-1; the Brewers beat the Cardinals 3-1 thanks largely to Zach Davies’ 8 shutout innings, during which he struck out 9; Sean Manaea pitched 6 innings, giving up just 1 run on 5 hits and 3 walks while fanning 8 in the A’s 5-1 defeat of the Twins; Yan Gomes drove home Lonnie Chisenhall with a walkoff single in the 11th to lead the Indians past the Rangers 5-4; Mookie Betts followed up his 3-homer game with a 2-homer game, but the Red Sox fell the Orioles... Read More
For the 11th time in NBA history, we have a rematch of the previous year’s finals, and this one is loaded with intrigue, drama, and side stories. It’s the Cleveland Cavaliers, perhaps the most disappointing 57-win team ever, versus the Golden State Warriors, who in their quest to be the GOAT won a league-record 73 regular season games. ESPN gives the Cavs a 25% chance of winning title, Basketball Reference has them 23.6%, Vegas has them at +180 – LeBron James is unmoved by these things.
“I don’t get involved in all of that – underdog, overdog, whatever the case may be. It’s stupidity,” James told the media on Tuesday.
The Cavs and Warriors met twice this past season, with Golden State winning 89-83 on Christmas Day,... Read More
The summer X Games are upon us, showcasing the talents of the greatest extreme athletes their sports have to offer. Expect mindblowing feats of aerial prowess in skateboarding, motocross, BMX and more starting Thursday June 2 and continuing through the weekend.
Here’s a handy schedule of televised events for your planning pleasure (all times Eastern):
Thursday June 2
MotoX Step Up Final – Can Ronnie Renner win an eighth consecutive title? This high-flying event is a perennial favorite.
Harley-Davidson Flat-Track Racing – Jared Mees looks to exorcise last year’s last-minute loss, when his bike malfunctioned in the second-to-last lap. (8:30-11pm, ESPN) Thursday Recap – Highlights and winners from Thursday’s action across all events. (1:30am, ESPN2)
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
The Martian - Matt Damon won a Golden Globe for his role as astronaut Mark Watney, who is presumed dead and left behind by his crew after a massive storm on Mars. With a limited amount of supplies, Watney must fight for survival on an alien planet until NASA and his other crew members find a way to save him. Jeff Daniels, Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kristen Wiig also star. (HBO)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Author Seth Grahame-Smith puts a terrifying twist on Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice by including the descent of the zombie plague on England... Read More
Los Angeles Dodgers (Bolsinger 1-1, 4.50) at Chicago Cubs (Lester 5-3, 2.48) 8pm ET on ESPN
Mike Bolsinger was a solid presence in the back of LA’s rotation last year, pitching 109 ⅓ innings with a 3.91 ERA, and subsequently was slated to be the Dodgers’ fifth starter this year, but instead opened the season in the minors, rehabbing from a strained oblique. He’s made just two starts this year, the first one a spot start that earned him a quick trip back to the minors, as he gave up 3 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks, striking out just 2, in 4 ⅓ innings in an 8-1 loss to the Angels. Undaunted, he returned on May 24, faring much better: 5 ⅔ IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1... Read More
Los Angeles Dodgers (Kazmir 4-3, 4.84) at Chicago Cubs (Arrieta 9-0, 1.72), 8pm ET on ESPN Scott Kazmir’s strikeout rate of 9.4 is the highest it’s been since 2008 (though SO rates have risen all across baseball in that time), but his walk rate has climbed this year, as have his home runs. But he spun a gem in his last outing, against the Reds, striking out 12 over 6 innings, giving up just 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks.
Jake Arrieta is tied for the Major League lead in wins and winning percentage, as he’s one of the last three starters to be undefeated. Dating back to July 30, 2015, the Cubs are 22-0 when Arrieta takes the ball, with Arrieta himself going 19-0, and an... Read More
Steph Curry scored 31 points as the Golden State Warriors staved off elimination on Thursday, defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder 120-111, as OKC’s Dynamic Duo of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant combined for 71 points, but were off the mark for most of the night. The Warriors’ win has forced a Game 6 tonight in Oklahoma City.
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant came out shooting, but laid a ton of bricks, hitting on just 4 of 17 for the opening quarter as the Warriors started to slowly pull away, going up 19-10 on a Draymond Green field goal with 3:44 to play. But Durant would score 6 points in the waning minutes, including the final bucket of the frame to close the gap to 25-21 Golden State.
MLB on ESPN: Joe Mauer and the Minnesota Twins face off against the Oakland Athletics. (4pm Monday, ESPN)
So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation: After 12 seasons of adults taking the SYTYCD stage, the future of the dance world are being given a shot to show what they’re made of for season 13. With judges Paula Abdul, Jason Derulo and exectuive producer Nigel Lithgoe returning and Maddie Ziegler of Dance Moms fame joining as a judge and mentor, kids all over the country, ages 8-13 will compete for the chance to be named America’s Favorite Dancer.(8pm Monday, Fox)
As time passes, it gets easier and easier to forget what a colossal legacy of suffering the practice of slavery inflicted on millions and millions of Africans and African Americans. It has become an abstraction, a concept that we can’t – or don’t care to – fully grasp. When we have people waving Confederate flags and claiming that it has nothing to do with slavery, or that African-Americans need to “get over it,” it’s clear that there are some people out there who could use a little history lesson.
More than 12 million Africans were dragged from their homes and families and loaded onto ships like luggage from the 16th century until slavery was abolished; two million of them died en route. These numbers don’t begin to count the... Read More
After being resuscitated for a six-episode revival on FOX, the X-Files may find its way back to the small screen for more episodes: at last week’s FOX upfront presentation, creator Chris Carter and stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson all indicated a that they’re on board to keep at it. (Deadline)
HISTORY has announced a slew of new shows coming to their line up, including The Rise and Fall of El Chapo, an in-depth look at drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman; Alexander Hamilton, centering on American political and financial institutions created by the founding father; DB Cooper, the story of the man who hijacked a commercial flight headed for Seattle in 1971 carrying a bomb and demanding $200,000 in cash along with four parachutes before he jumping into... Read More
St. Louis Cardinals (Wainwright 4-3, 5.77) at Washington Nationals (Gonzalez 3-2, 2.87) Adam Wainwright’s ERA has been trending downward over his last 7 starts after cresting at 8.27. Since then, he’s posted a 4.79 ERA over 41 ⅓ innings – still not great, but serviceable. In his last start he gave up 3 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks in 6 innings, helping the Cards to a 4-3 win over the Cubs.
Gio Gonzalez saw his ERA jump a full run after his last start, during which the Mets pounded him for 7 runs on 10 hits, 3 of them home runs, though he had 7 strikeouts and 0 walks. It’s likely to be an aberration, as he’d only given 3 homers in his previous 48 ⅓ innings.
On Thursday, baseball fans bore witness as the Pirates’ Gerrit Cole gave up just 1 run over 5 innings, struck out 5, and went 2-for-3 with a 3-run homer to defeat the Diamondbacks 8-3; Jose Fernandez of the Marlins K’ed 12 in 7 innings, giving up 1 run on 6 hits and a walk for a 9-1 win over the Rays; the Blue Jays’ JA Happ went 7, allowing just 1 run on 3 hits and 3 walks as the Yankees wasted a good start by CC Sabathia, falling 3-1; the Nationals bested the Cardinals 2-1, thanks to 7 strong innings from Joe Ross and a solo shot from Bryce Harper; Rockies starter Jon Gray ended Jackie Bradley Jr’s hitting streak at 29 games, and held the Red Sox to... Read More
The Cleveland Cavaliers shot the lights out Wednesday, hitting 57% from the floor, including 48% from downtown, as they stuffed the Raptors in their locker, 116-78, to take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Kevin Love awoke from his two-game slumber to throw a smackdown on the Raptors in the first quarter, scoring 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting, drawing 4 fouls and blocking 2 shots, as the Cavs rode an 11-point run to jump out 37-19 by the end of the first quarter. It would only get worse for the Raptors.
Toronto would score just 15 points in the second quarter, getting off just 12 shots, and making 4, while hitting on just 7 of 13 from the line, as Cleveland’s defense forced 5 turnovers and pulled... Read More
There is a point in every TV season, especially a first season, where you have that conversation with yourself about whether or not to continue. With the huge glut of great shows out there thanks to the rise in fantastic storytelling, open-minded execs trying to launch the “next big thing,” and the free spending habits of new platforms in hopes of attracting new talent, there is simply more great TV out there than a (gainfully employed) person can reasonably watch. Right about the third or maybe fourth episode of a new show, it’s time to fish or cut bait, and our experience with last summer’s surprise ratings smash Wayward Pines was no different: Do we push forward and see what happens... Read More
Hometown hero Steven Matz threw 8 shutout innings, allowing just 4 hits and a walk while striking out 7 Nationals in a 2-0 win; Odubel Herrera struck the big blow with a 3-run homer to power the Phillies past the Tigers 8-5; MIguel Sano’s 2-run bomb was the difference in the Twins’ 7-5 win over the Royals; the Cubs outslugged the Cardinals 9-8 with Kris Bryant hitting a homer, scoring 2 runs and driving in 3 more; every Ranger drove in at least one run as Texas pounded the Angels 15-9; Corey Kluber went 7 ⅓, scattering 7 hits a walk for just 1 run, while whiffing 9 White Sox for a 4-3 Indians win; Brandon Crawford hit a walkoff single in the 10 for a 4-3 Giants win over... Read More
#3 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #1 Golden State Warriors, OKC leads series 3-1, (9pm ET Thursday, TNT) A week ago the Golden State Warriors were patiently awaiting their coronation as The Greatest Team in NBA History. Today, following a 118-94 drubbing Tuesday at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder, they find themselves teetering on the brink of infamy, in danger of being instead known as The Winningest Team in NBA History Not to Reach the Finals, Much Less Win a Title. Doesn’t quite have the same ring, does it? The Thunder, meanwhile, are just a win away from having knocked two of the twelve winningest teams in NBA history out of the playoffs.
On Tuesday, the Warriors took an early 8-6 lead on a Harrison Barnes jumper, but the... Read More
In baseball last night, Jake Odorizzi pitched 5 innings of shutout ball, giving up just 2 hits and 3 walks, while K’ing 7 as the Rays beat the Marlins 4-3; Jorge Soler went 2-for-3 with a homer, 2 runs, 3 RBI and a pair of walks as the Cubs pounded the Cardinals 12-3; the Yankees blanked the Blue Jays behind Nathan Eovaldi’s 6-inning, 5-strikeout performance, and Carlos Beltran’s upper decker; Matt Harvey’s woes continued, as the Mets’ one-time ace got touched for 5 runs on 8 hits in 5 innings, while the Nationals Stephen Strasburg K’ed 11 over 6 ⅔ for a 7-4 win; the Pirates beat up on the Diamondbacks 12-1, as Gregory Polanco went 3-for-5 with a homer and 5 RBI; the Red Sox beat the Rockies 8-3,... Read More
What a game: after blowing an 18-point lead, the Toronto Raptors fought back from a 3-point hole with 6 minutes to play to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-99 and even the Eastern Conference Finals at two games apiece.
The Raptors took control in the second quarter as Kyle Lowry went off, hitting on 6 of 7 for 15 points, almost single-handedly keeping pace with the Cavs, who collectively scored just 17 in the quarter, and sending his team into the locker room with 57-41 lead at the half.
A 10-point run early in the third quarter pulled the Cavs within 7, but DeMar DeRozan answered by scoring the next 6 points to make it 65-52. The Cavs kept coming, however, as three-pointers from LeBron James, Kevin Love and J.R.... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
The Finest Hours - Casey Affleck stars as Ray Sybert, an engineer aboard the SS Pendleton, and when the ship is hit by a massive storm, splitting it in half, Sybert takes charge to rescue the sailors aboard. When news reaches the Coast Guard, Bernie Webber (Chris Pine) leads a team of three men on a lifeboat to rescue the survivors of the SS Pendleton, despite the high seas and raging storm. Eric Bana, Ben Foster, and Holliday Grainger co-star.
The Intern - Academy Award winner Robert De Niro stars as a Ben, a 70-year-old widower who takes the opportunity to become a senior... Read More
Chicago Cubs (Hammel 5-1, 2.31) at St. Louis Cardinals (Wacha 2-4, 4.03) 7pm ET on ESPN
Jason Hammel continues to do a pretty decent imitation of teammate Jake Arrieta, right down to their beards, but in his last start, Hammer got slapped around a bit, as he fell victim to the longball. In 6 innings against the Brewers he surrendered 4 runs on 5 hits, including 2 homers, while walking 4 and striking out 7 in 5-3 loss.
Michael Wacha has been suffering mightily from a batting average on ball in play of .340, 60 points above his career average coming into the season. Couple that with a slightly elevated walk rate and some bad defense, and suddenly a 2015 All Star finds his stat line looking very average.... Read More
#1 Golden State Warriors vs. #3 Oklahoma City Thunder, OKC leads series 2-1 (9pm ET Tuesday, TNT) The Oklahoma City Thunder took it to the World Champs on Sunday, delivering a 133-105 drubbing that put them up 2-1 in the Western Conference finals and proved that Game 1 had been no fluke.
A Klay Thompson drive to the basket midway through the first quarter pulled the Warriors to within a point, at 14-13, but the Thunder promptly went on an 11-0 run to make it 25-13. Golden State would chip away at the lead, however, and by the end of the quarter they were as close as 34-28. They opened the second quarter with an Andre Iguodala 3-pointer and an Ian Clark layup to get back within one, 34-33, eventually... Read More
NBA Eastern Conference Finals on ESPN: LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers ride into Toronto for Game 4 against DeMar DeRozan and the Raptors. (8:30pm Monday, ESPN)
Gotham: In the season 2 finale, young Bruce Wayne’s efforts to find his parents’ killer have landed him in the custody of Edward Nygma, while Detective Gordon suffers the undead experiments of Hugo Strange. If only there were a caped crusader who might come to the rescue… (8pm Monday, Fox)
Roots: A New Vision:Get a peek behind the scenes of A&E’s ambitious four-night reimagining of the most successful miniseries of all time, with creator and actor interviews... Read More
Los Angeles Angels (Tropeano 2-2, 3.30) *at Texas Rangers *(Holland 3-3, 5.63), 8pm ET on FS1
Nick Tropeano’s last start was likely his best of 2016, as he went 7 innings, scattering 7 hits and 2 walks, while giving up just 1 run and striking out 4 in an 8-1 win over the Dodgers. It was the first time this season that Tropeano’s gotten into the 7th, to say nothing of finishing it. With Garrett Richards on the DL, and the Angels’ bullpen having worked the second-most innings in the AL, L.A. is gonna need Tropeano to continue pitching deeper into games. The Angels had been on pace to be the worst team in franchise history until a recent hot streak during which they won 6 of 7, thanks largely... Read More
The Cavs are not going to win a lot of games with Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving combining to shoot 4 of 28 for 16 points, but you gotta tip your cap to Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan, who scored 32 points, and to Bismack Biyombo, who pulled down a franchise record 26 rebounds, and blocked 4 shots, as the Raptors took Game 3 by a score of 99-84.
DeRozan came screaming out of the gate, scoring 12 points, while Biyombo grabbed 10 boards, as Toronto took a 27-24 lead in the first quarter. The Raptors then rode a flurry of 3’s to a 7-point lead, before going on a 10-point run late in the second quarter that brought the score to 54-37, and at the half, it would be 60-47. As... Read More
Chicago Cubs (Hendricks 2-3, 3.51) at San Francisco Giants (Bumgarner 5-2, 2.45) 8pm ET on ESPN
The Cubs have been so good this year that Kyle Hendricks is their starter with the worst record and the highest ERA, and yet he’s having an OK year. He’s yet to give up more than 4 runs in any one start, he’s a got a 4.1 SO/BB ratio, a 1.05 WHIP, he’s only given up 2 homers in 41 innings… he’s given the Cbs at least a chance in every game he’s started. Not surprisingly, the three games in which he’s given up 4 runs have all been Cubs losses, and in each of those he’s given up hits in bunches or been bitten by shaky defense or a wild pitch… His last... Read More
Arizona Diamondbacks (Ray 2-2, 4.46) at St. Louis Cardinals (Leake 2-3, 4.66) 4:05pm ET on FS1
Robbie Ray was the most promising 5-12 starter of 2016, as he posted a 3.52 ERA with a 1.33 WHIP and a 2.43 SO/BB ratio. This season, his performance has been maddeningly hot-and-cold. In his good starts, he’s averaged 6+ innings with a 2.35 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and 0 home runs, in his other 3 starts he lasted a total of 11 ⅔, with a 10.00 ERA, 2.66 WHIP, and 5 home runs. Weirdly, his SO/BB rate has been better in the bad starts, 2.7 vs. 2.2. His last start was among his best of the year, as he held the Yankees to 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk while whiffing 6... Read More
On Wednesday, the Warriors got back to the business of winning basketball games, outscoring the Thunder in every quarter on their way to a 118-91 victory that evened up the Western Conference Finals.
Golden State struck first, taking a quick 6-0 lead on 3-pointers by Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. With the Warriors up 13-12, Steph Curry went on the first of two tears, scoring 9 consecutive Warrior points to put them up 22-16. OKC’s Kevin Durant would answer in the 2nd, scoring 12 points in just 3 minutes and 10 seconds to again close the gap to 1 point. Late in the 2nd quarter a Durant field goal would tie it at 49-49. Unfortunately for OKC, the Warriors would close out the half with an 8-0 run to make... Read More
LeBron James’ 15th career triple-double powered the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday to a 108-89 win over the Toronto Raptors, and staked them to a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Two days after getting torched by 31 points, the Raptors came out much stronger to open Game 2, and with 4 minutes to play in the first half, a Patrick Patterson 3-pointer tied the score at 46-46. But that was as close as they would get, as the Cavs closed out the half with a 16-2 run as James and Kevin Love each scored 6 points, and the Raptors shot 0-for-9 from the floor, scoring only on a pair of DeMar DeRozan free throws.
The Raptors would get back within 10 points midway... Read More
On Thursday, Americans bore witness as the Mariners topped the Orioles 7-2 behind Nathan Karns’ 5-inning, 1-run performance, and Adam Lind’s 3-run homer in the 6th; Junior Guerra held the Cubs to 3 runs over 7 innings, and struck out 11, as the Brewers won 5-3; Gregory Polanco’s 2-run homer in the 2nd gave Pirates’ starter Jeff Locke a 5-0 lead that was more than enough, as he went 7 and gave up just 2 runs for a 8-2 win over the Braves; the Nationals beat up on the Mets 9-1, as Washington’s Stephen Strasburg K’ed 10 in 6 innings, while New York’s Matt Harvey imploded, surrendering 9 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks in 2 ⅔ innings; Carlos Santana went 2-for-4... Read More
Jeremy Hellickson pitched 6 innings of 2-run ball on just 5 hits and a walks, as the Phillies beat the Marlins 4-2; the Tigers defeated the Twins 6-3, behind Justin Verlander, who K’ed 10 over 7 ⅓ innings, notching career strikeout 2,000; the Red Sox and Royals split a doubleheader, with Eric Hosmer’s 2-run bomb powering a 3-2 Royals win, and solo shots from Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts kickstarting a 5-2 win for Boston; Gio Gonzalez held the Mets to 1 run on 5 hits and a walk over 6 ⅓, and Bryce Harper walked 4 times as the Nationals won 7-1; the A’s defeated the Rangers 8-1, with 3B Danny Valencia going 3-for-4 with 2 runs and 2 RBI; Matt Wieters went 3-for-4, with a homer, a... Read More
#2 Toronto Raptors vs. #1 Cleveland Cavaliers, CLE leads series 1-0 (8:30pm ET Thursday, ESPN)
The Cleveland Cavaliers buried the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday, 115-84, the largest margin of victory in the team’s playoff history. They’ve now won all nine of their games this postseason, transitioning from a team hounded by doubts all throughout the regular season into an apparent juggernaut.
Toronto jumped out to a 7-0 lead thanks in large part to a pair of steals by DeMarre Carroll, one each off of LeBron James and Tristan Thompson, and they kept the lead for almost 7 minutes, before a pair of Kevin Love free throws tipped the first of 9 lead changes in the quarter, before Cleveland closed out the frame with a 6-point run to make it... Read More
#2 Toronto Raptors vs. #1 Cleveland Cavaliers, Series tied 0-0 (8:30pm ET Tuesday, ESPN)
The Raptors earned their first trip to the conference finals by defeating the Miami Heat in a grueling series that included three overtimes, with only the last game decided by more than 12 points, as they breezed past Miami 116-89. Toronto went into the fourth quarter with an 8-point lead, and promptly went on an 11-2 run that made it 97-80 with 9 minutes to play. At that point it was over.
Toronto’s Kyle Lowry and DeMar Derozan came up big in the finale, scoring 35 and 28 respectively, combining for 50+ for the third straight game. Lowry added 7 boards, 9 dimes and 4 blocks, and Bismack Boyimbo had a big game posting 16-17.
NBA Western Conference Finals on TNT: Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder take on Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 of the most anticipated playoff series of the season. (9pm Monday, TNT)
Bates Motel: It might be too late for Norma in the season four finale of Bates Motel, but we have a feeling that she is going to live on in one form or another. (9pm Monday, A&E)
Almost Genius: The latest compilation of comic fails features a naked rock climber, a kid with an impressively offensive vocabulary, and a dance that is likely to end... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Dirty Grandpa - Zac Efron stars alongside Robert De Niro as an uptight lawyer who is about to marry his boss' daughter and secure a partner position in his legal firm. His grandpa, Dick (De Niro), tricks him into driving to Daytona for a wild spring break filled with parties, bar fights, and karaoke.
Manhattan Night - Academy Award winner Adrien Brody stars as a NYC tabloid writer who finds himself tangled in the unsolved murder of a filmmaker. The deeper he digs into the case, the more he uncovers of sexual obsession and blackmail.
#3 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #1 Golden State Warriors, Game 1 (9pm ET Monday, TNT) While the Warriors made short work of the scrappy but clearly overmatched Trail Blazers, the Thunder went to war with the San Antonio Spurs, the team with the seventh-most wins in NBA history, leading to the strongest conference finals matchup in at least 20 years, according to fivethirtyeight.com. If the Thunder can keep playing they way they did in the last three games of their series with the Spurs, OKC vs. GSW is gonna be a classic.
Both Western Conference Finalists overcame very different, but equally daunting obstacles in their previous series: The Thunder were humiliated in Game 1 of their series against the Spurs, falling 124-92 before coming back to win 4... Read More
Boston Red Sox (Porcello 6-1, 3.11) at Kansas City Royals (Ventura 3-2, 4.62) 7pm ET on ESPN
Rick Porcello has been dealing, pitching so consistently well that in his worst start he gave up 4 runs in 7 innings, and still got the win. Porcello’s success has been the result of outstanding control of the strike zone coupled with a little bit of luck. His strike-to-walk ratio of 4.60 is a career high, and among the league leaders, while his batting average on balls in play is just .254, which isn’t crazy-pants low, but far from his career norm of .314. In his last start against the A’s he went 6 ⅔ IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 SO, which isn’t great, but will get the W more... Read More
St. Louis Cardinals (Leake 1-3, 5.10) at Los Angeles Dodgers (Wood 1-3, 4.58) 8pm ET on ESPN
John Lackey had a very good 215 for the Cardinals, and then signed with the Cubs for $32 million over two years. The Cardinals tried to replace him with Mike Leake, signing him to a 5-year deal worth about $80 million. Whoops. Over his first 6 starts, Leake gave up more than a hit an inning, including 6 homers, leading to a 6.03 ERA and an 0-3 record. But on Tuesday, against the Angels, proud owners of the third-worst record in baseball, Leake got his mojo back: 8 IP, 6 IP, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 SO. Overall, Leake’s peripherals – strikeouts, WHIP, homers… are about in line with his career norms, there’s... Read More
Houston Astros (McHugh 4-3, 5.50) Boston Red Sox (Buchholz 2-3, 5.90) 1:05pm ET on FS1
Colin McHugh is just one of many guys on the Houston Astros who’ve been a disappointment in 2016. After finishing 4th in 2014’s AL Rookie of the Year voting, and then 8th in 2015’s Cy Young balloting, McHugh is giving up 12.6 hits per 9 innings pitched, and seen his ERA jump a run and a half, while his strikeouts continue to fall ever so slightly. But who cares? He’s 4-3! His last start was perhaps his best of the year, as he went 7, allowing just 1 run on 5 hits and a walk, while striking out 5. Also, if you throw out his first start of 2016, against the Yankees, his numbers would... Read More
David Schwimmer’s new show Feed The Beast will premiere a little later than previously announced; the restaurant drama will now launch on June 5 following the second episode of AMC’s other new series, Preacher.Deadline
National Geographic Channel is giving Bill O’Reilly’s book Killing Reagan a small-screen adaptation. It will star Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon as Nancy Reagan and Animal House’s Tim Matheson as the Gipper himself. Deadline
FOX has released the first teaser for the thirteenth season of its hit dance competition show So You Think You Can Dance, however, this season will focus only on children ages 8 to 13. SYTYCD: Next Generation will have the same judges as the previous regular season which includes Paula Abdul, Jason Derulo and Executive Producer Nigel Lithgoe with... Read More
David Price of the Red Sox went 6 ⅔, striking out 12 while giving up just 1 run on 6 hits and a walk, and Boston scored in double digits for the fourth game in a row, beating the Astros 11-1; Clayton Kershaw shutout the Mets, giving up just 3 hits and a walk, while striking out 13, as the Dodgers won 5-0; Matt Holliday went 3-for-4 with 3 runs, 3 RBI and a homer to lead the Cardinals to a 12-10 victory over the Angels; Chase Headley got his first extra-base hit of 2016, a 2-run homer, to help the Yankees beat the Royals 7-3; the Orioles overcame a 5-run deficit to beat the Tigers 7-5 for their 5th straight win; Cameron Rupp ripped a 3-run double in the... Read More
#2 Toronto Raptors vs. #3 Miami Heat, Raptors lead series 3-2 (8pm ET Friday, ESPN) The Raptors scored the first 9 points of Wednesday’s Game 5 and never surrendered the lead, though they did have to hold off a late charge by the Heat to secure a 95-91 win and take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Up by as much as 20 in the first half, Toronto suddenly went ice cold, not scoring a single point for more than 5 minutes, a drought that extended into the second half and allowed the Heat to get back within 7 before a DeMar DeRozan jumper stopped the bleeding. But the Heat kept chipping away until Dwyane Wade’s layup with 9 seconds to go got the Heat to within 4. But... Read More
EPIX is free to all Sling TV users from May 12 thru 15. That’s 96 hours. So what can you watch on EPIX in 96 hours?
Warm up with a little something for the kids: the latest stop-motion animated feature from Aardman Studios, Shaun the Sheep, in which the barnyard has to save their farmer after a plan to get a day off goes wrong. (Thursday May 12, 8pm ET)
Then move into the weekend with the television premiere of Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg in American Ultra, an irreverent action comedy from the writer of Chronicle. (Friday May 13, 8pm ET)
Keep it rolling with the world premiere of an all-new stand-up comedy special from... Read More
Last night, in this crazy little thing called Major League Baseball, Max Scherzer struck out 20 Tigers to tie the record for a 9-inning game, as the Nats beat Detroit 3-2; Noah “Thor” Syndergaard hit 2 homers, driving in all 4 of the Mets runs, and he pitched 8 innings, giving up just 2 runs, and striking out 6, as the Mets beat the Dodgers 4-2; the Padres twice smote the mighty Cubs 7-4 and then 1-0; Mark Trumbo twice went yard, as the Orioles pounded the Twins 9-2; future Hall-of-Famer Adrian Beltre drove in what proved to be the winning run,5 as the Rangers bested the White Sox 6-5; Marwin Gonzalez hit a 2-run homer in the 16th to give the Astros a 6-5 walk-off win over the Indians;... Read More
#2 San Antonio Spurs vs. #3 Oklahoma City Thunder, OKC leads series 3-2 (8:30pm ET Thursday, ESPN) It wasn’t pretty, but Russell Westbrook threw the Thunder over his back and willed them to a 95-91 victory over the Spurs on Tuesday, to bring them within one more win from a trip to the Western Conference finals.
The San Antonio Spurs were up by 6 with 3:55 to play after Kawhi Leonard stole a pass and ran it back the other way for a monster dunk. But the Thunder answered with an 8-point run over the next 2 minutes to take back the lead. Then, up 92-91 with 9 seconds to go, the Thunder came out of a time out and got the ball to Westbrook, who turned the corner along... Read More
So says the Korean Mary Kay saleslady as she describes living with all of her ESL in-laws under one roof to her latest recruit, a bright-eyed and pretty (if a little awkward) woman she does not know is really the one doing the recruiting.
It is not yet clear what KGB spy Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell) wants with the Mary Kay lady, but it is amazing to consider what she has gotten used to: she has gotten used to an arranged marriage with a fellow deep-undercover KGB agent, posing as a happy couple with a travel agency and two all-American teenage kids. She has gotten used to sneaking out at all hours to cultivate, seduce, and/or murder intelligence sources, to wearing... Read More
#3 Miami Heat vs. #2 Toronto Raptors, Series tied 2-2 (8pm ET Wednesday, TNT)
For the third time in four games, the Heat and Raptors had to go to OT to decide the winner, with Miami again coming out on top, this time by a score of 94-87. The Heat had to climb their way out of a 9-point hole midway through the fourth quarter, as Dwayne Wade scored 9 down the stretch, including the layup with 12 seconds to play that sent the game into overtime.
Wade led all scorers with 30, but was so tired by the end of regulation that he would afterward confess to mainly being a decoy in OT, though he did throw down a dunk for the final 2 points of the game.... Read More
Kansas City Royals (Ventura 2-2, 4.65) New York Yankees (Pineda 1-3, 5.73) 7pm ET on ESPN (out-of-market only)
To put it simply, Yordano Ventura has had a devil of a time finding the plate this season. In just 31 innings pitched, covering 6 starts, Ventura has already walked 25 batters, more than any other pitcher in all of Major League baseball. After walking 3.3 per 9 innings over the first two full seasons of his career, Ventura’s walk rate has jumped to 7.3 – to put that number into historical context, only one pitcher in more than a century of baseball has done worse over the course of a full season, Tommy Byrne of the 1949 Yankees, who walked 8.22 per 9, on his way to going 15-7 for the... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Shaun The Sheep - From the creators of Chicken Run, the animals of Mossy Bottom Farm devise a plan to put their master to sleep in order to get out of work. Their plan backfires when the farmer finds himself being transported to the city with memory loss. It’s now up to the animals to journey to the big city to get the farmer back without getting themselves in even more trouble. (EPIX)
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - Tom Cruise reprises his role as secret agent Ethan Hunt, who must gather his team to take down a new terrorist group called the Syndicate. They team... Read More
#3 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #2 San Antonio Spurs, Series tied 2-2 (8pm ET Tuesday, TNT)
With his team trailing the San Antonio Spurs by 2 with 9:53 to play in the game, Kevin Durant went on an 8-point run that covered 78 seconds, and put the Oklahoma City Thunder ahead for good, as Durant would go on the score 9 more in the final frame to lead his team to a 111-97 victory.
Durant, not surprisingly, led all scorers with 41 points on 14-of-25 shooting, but Russell Westbrook’s shooting woes continued, as he hit on just 5 of 18 for 14 points, though he did managed to dish out 15 assists and pull down 7 rebounds. Steven Adams had another big night for OKC, posting 16-11.
Peanuts: Snoopy, Woodstock, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, Pig-Pen, Peppermint Patty, and, of course, Charlie Brown return in this new animated series based on Charles Schulz’s beloved comic strip. (11:30am Monday, Boomerang)
NBA Playoffs, Round 2, on TNT: The Toronto Raptors pay a visit to the Miami Heat as the two teams square off in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semis, then the Golden State Warriors drop in on the Portland Trail Blazers for Game 4 of the Western Conference semis. (8pm & 10:30pm Monday, TNT)
Damien: In the heart-pounding season finale, Damien – aka the son of Lucifer, struggling to make peace with his checkered... Read More
#2 Toronto Raptors vs. #3 Miami Heat, TOR leads series 2-1 (8pm ET Monday, TNT)
The Raptors’ Kyle Lowry finally found his mojo on Saturday, hitting on 11 of 19, including 5 of 8 for 3, en route to a team-leading 33 points, as Toronto narrowly avoided wasting a 13-point lead to beat the Miami Heat 95-91.
Lowry had been averaging during these playoffs just 14 ppg with a 31% field goal percentage heading to Game 3 against Miami, and in the first quarter, it looked like he would be delivering more of the same, as he went 0 for 2 with a turnover. He went 2 for 4 for 4 points in the second, but then he caught fire in the third, opening the quarter with a 3... Read More
Detroit Tigers (Sanchez 3-3, 5.87) at Washington Nationals (Strasburg 5-0, 2.36) 7pm ET on ESPN
Anibal Sanchez had his best start of 2016 on Wednesday, going 7 innings against the Indians, striking out 7 and giving up all the runs in a game the Tigers lost 4-0. That was his best game, thus far. Sanchez is striking out 9.7 per 9 innings, but he’s also walking 5.6 per 9, and giving up 9.4 hits per 9, which, not surprisingly, leads to a lot of runs. And while the “Quality Start” – 6 or more innings, 3 or fewer earned runs – is kind of a garbage stat, the fact that Sanchez doesn’t have a single one is pretty damning.
The Tigers last night lost their sixth game in a row,... Read More
In Game 3 on Friday, the Spurs stole back home court advantage with a 100-96 victory powered by some lethal shooting from downtown, as San Antonio hit on 10 of 19 from three-point land. Down by as much as 15 in the second quarter, the Thunder fought back, briefly taking the lead midway through the fourth, but ran out of gas. Oklahoma City started fouling every Spur in sight, leading to San Antonio hitting 10 of 11 free throws in the final 4:48, as San Antonio slowly pulled away, one point at a time.
The Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard and the Thunder’s Russell Westbrook led all scorers with 31, but where Westbrook needed to hoist 31 shots to get there, Leonard fired off just 17. With Leonard focused on scoring, he... Read More
Boston Red Sox (Wright 2-3, 1.67) at New York Yankees (Severino 0-4, 6.31), 8pm ET on ESPN At 31 years of age, Steve Wright is enjoying what may prove to be a breakout season. The knuckleballer’s made five starts, going at least 6 innings every time, and finds himself with a 1.67 ERA. While the movement on his pitch has led to a lot of walks (15) and hit batsmen (3), it’s also made it tough to tee off on him, as he’s kept batters to just .278 home runs and 6.124 hits per 9 innings. Yeah, knuckleballers can be frustratingly streaky, but right now he’s got the hot hand, and even if his ERA jumped a full 2 runs – entirely possible, he’ll still be a valuable front-of-the-rotation guy... Read More
Texas Rangers (Griffin 3-0, 2.32) at Detroit Tigers (Pelfrey 0-4, 5.68), 1pm ET on FS1 AJ Griffin enjoyed a solid first full season in the big league in 2013, going 14-10 with a 3.83 ERA. Yeah, he gave up a league-leading 36 homers, but he’d pitched 200 innings with a pretty good SO/BB ratio of 3.17. And then he needed Tommy John surgery, and ended up needing two years to recover, during which time he got cut by the A’s, the only organization he’d ever known. As luck would have it, the Rangers found themselves in desperate need of pitching after the injury to Yu Darvish, and signed Griffin to be their fifth starter. Now he’s undefeated, his home run rate is way down, and with it his ERA… it’s... Read More
#2 Toronto Raptors vs. #3 Miami Heat, Series tied 1-1 (5pm ET Saturday, ESPN) The Raptors jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter, as they scored 7 off Miami turnovers. But the Heat’s Joe Johnson would catch fire for 2 minutes and 25 seconds in the 3rd quarter, scoring 9 points on 4-of-4 shooting to pull Miami within 2, and by the end of the frame, they were up 2. This was Miami’s game for the taking, as the 4th quarter saw them up 6 with just 4:15 to play, but Jonas Valanciunas took control, scoring 6 points and grabbing 4 rebounds down the stretch, as Toronto tied it up in regulation.
In overtime, the Raptors jumped out to the lead on a DeMar DeRozan 10-footer,... Read More
The Cards blanked the Phillies behind 7 brilliant innings from Jaime Garcia, who surrendered 0 runs on just 2 hits and 0 walks while striking out 5, needing just 82 pitches to do it; Michael Brantley and Mike Napoli each drove in 3 runs to lead the Indians past the Tigers 9-4; the Yankees wasted 8 shutout innings from Masahiro Tanaka, losing 1-0 to the Orioles on a 10th-inning walk-off sac fly; Edwin Encarnacion went 3-for-4 with a homer and 6 RBI as the Blue Jays pounded the Rangers 12-2; Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce each had a homer and 3 RBI for the Reds, who beat the Brewers 9-5; Christian Yelich hit a 2-run homer and starter Adam Conley went 5 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB,... Read More
Oprah Winfrey is set to star in an HBO film adaptation of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, which tells the true story of an African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line, through the eyes of her daughter, Deborah (Winfrey). The film will chronicle Deborah’s search to learn about the mother she never knew and understand how the unauthorized harvesting of her mother’s cancerous cells in 1951 led to medical breakthroughs. (Deadline)
Stephen Root (King of The Hill,Office Space)has been added to the cast of Bill Hader’s new HBO comedyBarry, which Hader created, directs, stars in. The new series centers on an ex-Marine (Hader) who now works as a low-rent hitman in the Midwest. Lonely and tired of... Read More
#1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. #4 Atlanta Hawks, CLE leads series 2-0 (7pm ET Friday, ESPN)
On April 20, the Cavaliers tied the NBA playoff record with 20 3-pointers in a game. Four days later the Golden State Warriors broke that record, despite losing Steph Curry to injury in the first half, by making 21. On May the Fourth (Be With You), the Cavaliers took back the record, hitting on 25 from downtown, a new NBA mark for regular or postseason, as they took down the Hawks 123-98.
The Cavs had 10 different guys hit at least one 3, as the team hit on 25 of 45, with JR Smith again leading the missile brigade by making 7 of 13 on hs way to scoring 23 points. Kyrie Irving hit... Read More
#3 Miami Heat vs. #2 Toronto Raptors, Miami leads series 1-0 (8pm ET Thursday, ESPN)
Down 90-87 with time winding down on Tuesday night, Toronto Raptor Kyle Lowry heaved a desperation 3 from halfcourt. The clock was at zero by the time the ball clanged off the right side of the rim and through the net, sending the game into overtime. But the rollercoaster night –there were 8 ties and 15 lead changes – ended with a plunge into despair for the hometown crowd, as the Heat scored the first 8 points of OT, as the Raptors picked an awful time to have their longest scoring drought of the game. When it was over, Miami had won Game 1 by a score of 102-96, and stolen home court advantage... Read More
America celebrated Star Wars Day on Wednesday by watching as the Reds launched 4 homers off Jake Peavy to best the Giants 7-4; Jon Lester miraculously remained unscathed through 5 ⅔ innings despite giving up 8 hits and 2 walks, as the Cubbies beat the Pirates 6-2; the Mets hit 4 homers and hometown hero Steven Matz pitched 7 ⅔ innings of 2-hit shutout ball with 8 K’s for an 8-0 win over the Braves; Mike Trout homered and had 2 hits and 2 RBI as the Angels beat the Brewers 7-3; the Nationals pounded the Royals 13-2, behind a 4-for-5 night from Daniel Murphy, who also scored 4 runs and had 3 RBI; the Mariners survived a bad outing from King Felix (4 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 1... Read More
Boston Red Sox (Buchholz 0-3, 6.51) Chicago White Sox (Rodon 1-3, 4.33) 8pm ET on ESPN
Clay Buchholz has made 5 starts for the Boston Red Sox in 2016 and won none of them. Among the 105 pitchers who’ve qualified for the ERA title, Buchholz ranks 102 with a 6.51 ERA. His 1.59 WHIP ranks 95th. His 1.46 SO/BB ratio is 100th. He has made just one start that could be considered “good,” as he went 6 ⅔ scoreless innings against the Blue Jays, but even in that game his peripherals left something to be desired, as he surrendered 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out just 2, and he didn’t have a single 1-2-3- inning, surviving unscathed thanks to 4 double plays, the most in a single game... Read More
#4 Atlanta Hawks vs. #1 Cleveland Cavaliers, CLE leads series 1-0 (8pm ET Wednesday, TNT)
The Cavs opened their second-round series against the Hawks with a 104-93 victory Monday, in which LeBron James once again went 25-7-9, leading his team in both scoring and assists. Cleveland benefited from some long range sharpshooting, hitting on 15 of 31 3-pointers, with JR Smith leading the way by going 4-of-7.
Atlanta went into the fourth quarter down 74-70, but were up just 4 minutes later, 80-79. Over the next 4 minutes there were three ties and three lead changes, the last one in favor of the Cavs, 90-88. Down the stretch Atlanta hit on just 1 of 7 from the field and committed 3 turnovers as the Cavs pulled away.
The 5th Wave - Mankind faces extinction as a series of alien attacks cause earthquakes, tsunamis and disease.... Read More
#3 Miami Heat vs. #2 Toronto Raptors, Series tied 0-0 (8pm ET Tuesday, TNT)
On April 22, the esteemed fivethirtyeight.com declared The Miami Heat Are The Most Impressive Playoff Team So Far, based on the fact that they’d beaten the Hornets by an average of 22 points in the first two games. Five days after that story ran, the Heat found themselves on the brink of elimination, down 3 games to 2. Game 6 saw the Heat tie it up with a 97-90 victory powered by some sharpshooting from Luol Deng and Dwyane Wade, before taking the series Sunday night, with a 106-73 beatdown, as Goran Dragic awoke from his slumber to score 25 points, grab 6 rebounds, and dish out 4 assists.
On Tuesday in America, the Cubbies roughed up Pirates starter Gerrit Cole for 6 runs in 4 ⅔ innings, on their way to a 7-2 win; Nomar Mazara’s 8th-inning homer was the difference in the Rangers 2-1 win over the Blue Jays; The Giants’ Johnny Cueto got touched for 6 in the 3rd, but Brandon Crawford bailed him out with a homer and 4 RBI, en route to a 9-6 win over the Reds; Bartolo Colon continued to defy Father Time with a 7 K’s in 8 shutout innings against the Braves, as the Mets won 2-1; Mike Trout went 4-for-5 with a homer and 3 RBI, but it was all for nought, as the Brewers beat the Angels 8-5; heralded Twins rookie Jose Berrios notched his first big league... Read More
NBA Playoffs, Round 2, on TNT: The Atlanta Hawks go to Cleveland to face LeBron James and the Cavaliers, and then Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder square off against Tim Duncan and the Spurs in Game 2 of their playoff series (7pm & 9:30pm Monday, TNT)
Houdini & Doyle: Inspired by the real-life friendship between author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and magician Harry Houdini, fictionalized versions of these figures team up in turn-of-the-century London to solve supernatural crimes. It’s a steampunk version of The X-Files, and we mean that in the best way possible. (9pm Monday, Fox)
Chicago Cubs (Hammel 3-0, 0.75) at Pittsburgh Pirates (Cole 2-2, 2.78) 7pm ET on ESPN
Jason Hammel is having himself quite a 2016. In each of his 4 starts, he’s gone 6 innings, allowing only 2 runs total, for a National League low 0.75 ERA. His last start, against Cincinnati, was his best, as he gave up just 3 hits and 2 walks in 6 scoreless innings, while striking out 7. Hammel has given up a beefy 3.4 walks per 9, but has minimized the damage by giving up just 6 hits per 9, while not surrendering a single home run. Historically, Hammel has been far better in the first half of the season than in the second, and since 2011, April has been by far his best month, so... Read More
#4 Atlanta Hawks vs. #1 Cleveland Cavaliers, Series tied 0-0 (7pm ET Monday, TNT)
After breaking the Celtics’ hearts in the first game of their series and then humiliating them in the second game, the Hawks appeared poised for a cakewalk. But the Celtics came roaring back to even the series in Boston. Game 5 saw the Hawks shut down Isaiah Thomas, the Celtics’ best scorer, and in Game 6 the Hawks went back to Boston to close it out, with a 104-92 win that wasn’t all that close, given that Boston outscored them by 9 in the fourth quarter. Paul Millsap scored 16.3 ppg with 8.8 rpg, while Jeff Teague contributed 16.5 ppg, 1.8 rpg, and 6 apg. Atlanta now faces a whole other level of foe in... Read More
New York Yankees (Eovaldi 1-2, 4.38) at Boston Red Sox (Price 3-0, 5.76) 8pm ET on ESPN
Nathan Eovaldi had a rough 2016 debut, but has been getting progressively better. In his last start he managed to throw 7 shutout innings of 2-hit ball while striking out 6 Rangers en route to a 3-1 win. Though his strikeouts have gone down slightly since his first two starts, Eovaldi has been issuing far fewer walks, while also keeping the ball in the park – in each of his first two starts he coughed up a pair of gopher balls, but none since. If he can maintain a 5.6 KO/BB ratio (he can’t) while keeping his homers in check and averaging 6 IP, he’ll be very valuable to the pitching poor Bombers.... Read More
What’s cheaper than hiring a plumber, hiring an electrician, hiring a carpenter to install a toilet, add a light fixture, or build a bookshelf? Getting in there and doing it yourself! And all through the month of May, it’s even cheaper to get the tips and tricks you need to dive into the most daunting home improvement projects because DIY is free to all Sling TV subscribers.
That’s right, the most informative and entertaining content for people who aren’t scared to get their hands dirty is absolutely free through the end of the month! Here’s a sample:
The Vanilla Ice Project Rapper-turned-handyman and house flipper Rob Van Winkle brings humor and occasionally a hot temper to the home improvement game, seeking out mansions that have seen better days in... Read More
NBA Playoffs on Sling TV: Raptors at Pacers – Game 7
Who doesn’t love a Game 7?
With the Pacers holding onto a 1-point lead late in the third quarter, a pair of Paul George free throws sparked an 18-point Indiana run, as the Toronto Raptors went more than 6-and-a-half minutes without scoring. When the Raptors came to, they found themselves in a 83-64 ditch and with just 7 minutes and 22 seconds to climb out. By the time buzzer sounded, the score had changed, but not the deficit, as the Pacers prevailed 101-83.
Paul George led the Pacers in scoring, rebounding and assists, with 21 points (despite hitting just 5 of 14 from the field), 11 boards and 6 dimes, and is... Read More
#3 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #2 San Antonio Spurs, Series tied 0-0 (8:30pm ET Saturday, TNT)
The Thunder came within a replay-reversed buzzer beater of sweeping their opening round series against the Mavericks, instead having to settle for a 4-1 victory in which they outscored Dallas by an average of 18 points. Russell Westbrook was the man for OKC, averaging 26 points with 7 rebounds and 11 assists, while Kevin Durant chipped in with 26 points (on 37% shooting), 6 rebounds and 3 assists. But it was Enes Kanter who did big damage off the bench, averaging 15 points and 7 boards in just 20 minutes a game. Durant is playing with a chip on his shoulder, showing a mean streak he’d given a few peeks of throughout the... Read More
#2 Toronto Raptors vs. #7 Indiana Pacers, Toronto leads series 3-2 (7:30pm ET Friday, ESPNews)
The Indiana Pacers’ Paul George and the Toronto Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan had an old fashioned shootout Tuesday, and though George won the battle, it was the Raptors who won the war. George scored 39 points on 11-of-19 shooting, adding 8 boards and 8 dimes, while DeRozan scored “just” 34, but the Raptors came out on top, winning 102-99, after a DeRozan 3 put them up for good with 4:15 to play.
The Pacers roared out to a 17-point lead late in the first quarter, but an 11-point run got the Raptors back within shouting distance, only for the Pacers to go up by 13, which was the difference... Read More
After a semester abroad on French TV, Boomerang is bringing Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang back to U.S. TV. Peanuts is set to air May 9 and will include new episodes daily. Deadline
Donald Trump’s archnemesis, FOX News anchor Megyn Kelly had added Michael Douglas and Robert Shapiro to her interview lineup for her May 17th special Megyn Kelly Presents, which will also include a one-on-one with Mr. Trump for her first primetime special, set to air on FOX. Deadline
AMC has given the final boarding call for Hell on Wheels: the fifth and final season will premiere on June 11. Deadline
FX has optioned Don DeLillo’s yet-to-be-released book Zero K, which will hit shelves in May. The futuristic novel follows billionaire Ross... Read More
On Wednesday, Brandon Belt had 5 RBIs as the Giants out-slugged the Padres 13-9 to complete a 3-game sweep; Jeremy Hellickson threw 7 innings of shutout ball to lead the Phillies past the Nats 3-0; Jose Quintana struck out 10 over 6 innings as the White Sox blanked the Blue Jays 4-0; Dustin Pedroia put on a Laser Show in Boston, hitting a solo homer and a grand slam as the Red Sox beat the Braves 9-4; JD and Victor Martinez (no relation) each hit a 3-run bomb to power the Tigers past the A’s 9-4; Neil Walker hit his 9th homer of 2016 and Matt Harvey had his best start of the year, giving up 2 runs in 6 innings as the Mets bested the Reds 5-2; Joey Rickard’s... Read More
#4 Atlanta Hawks vs. #5 Boston Celtics, ATL leads series 3-2 (8pm ET Thursday, TNT) With 3:27 remaining in the first half of Tuesday’s game, the Celtics’ Jonas Jerebko sank a pair of free throws to put Boston up 33-32, but in the waning minutes before the break, the Hawks caught fire, hitting on 6 of 7, including three 3-pointers by Kent Bazemore, to head into the locker room up 47-39. And the hot hand that put Atlanta on top continued to burn the Celtics (mix metaphors much?) in the third quarter, as the Hawks outscored the Celtics 42-23. The Celtics made 7 turnovers in the quarter, while the Hawks hit on 13 of 18 shots, including 5 of 9 from downtown. The fourth quarter was a mere formality.
#6 Charlotte Hornets vs. #3 Miami Heat, Series tied 2-2 (8pm ET Wednesday, TNT)
The Hornets dropped the first two games of the series in Miami, but managed to tie things up at two games apiece with a pair of wins over the weekend in Charlotte. On Monday the Hornets essentially won the game at the charity stripe, as they hit on 25 of 30 free throws, while the Heat made just 14 of 21, an imbalance compounded by Charlotte’s 17-9 turnover advantage. The Hornets’ Kemba Walker led all scorers with a career playoff high 34 points, and Jeremy Lin came off the bench to score 21 on a night when he finally got some foul calls his way, making good on 8 of 9 free throws. The... Read More
New York Yankees (Sabathia 1-1, 5.28) at Texas Rangers (Perez 0-2, 4.50) 8pm ET on ESPN
At the end of the 2012 season CC Sabathia seemed like a good bet for the Hall of Fame. Just 31, he was 191-102, with a 125 ERA+, and a career WAR of 54, but the next three seasons saw him go 23-27 with an ERA+ of 83 and just 1 WAR, as he lost and gained back 40 pounds, had surgery on his elbow and knee, and left the team a day before the 2015 Wild Card game to get much needed treatment for alcohol abuse. Unfortunately, 2016 has not been much kinder the big lefty, as he’s failed to get out of the 5th inning in each of his last two starts,... Read More
#5 Boston Celtics vs. #4 Atlanta Hawks, Series tied 2-2 (8pm ET Tuesday, TNT)
Just a few days ago, it appeared the 2016 Boston Celtics were circling the drain. After losing Game 1 to the Hawks 102-101 after trailing by 19, they lost Game 2 in historic fashion by scoring just 7 points in the first quarter. But after a weekend of home cooking, the Celtics suddenly find themselves back in this thing, tied with the Hawks at 2 games apiece.
On Sunday, the Hawks’ Paul Millsap had himself a game for the ages, putting up 45 points on 19-of-31 shooting, while grabbing 13 boards and blocking 4 shots. But it was all for naught, as the Celtics suffocating defense held the rest of the Hawks to 26%... Read More
St. Louis Cardinals (Martinez 3-0, 2.70) at Arizona Diamondbacks (Miller 0-1, 8.59) 9:40pm ET on ESPN
Carlos Martinez will take to the hill tonight for the Cardinals, coming off his best start of the season: a 7-inning, 1-run effort against the vaunted Cubbies in a 5-3 St. Louis win. Martinez was brilliant in 2015, going 14-7 with a 3.01 ERA in 179 ⅔ innings while striking out 9.2 per 9IP, but had his season cut short by a shoulder strain in late September, putting a slight kink in the Cards’ playoff rotation. The injury wasn’t deemed serious enough to require surgery, so it’s good that rest appears to have been enough. Still, there may be slight cause for concern, as Martinez’s strikeouts are way down – a career low... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Ride Along 2 - Kevin Hart and Ice Cube reprise their roles as Ben Barber, a wannabe police officer, and James Payton, a cop who also happens to be Ben’s future brother-in-law. Despite his better judgement, James takes Ben to Miami to follow a lead connected to a drug ring. The two meet up with a homicide detective/computer hacker, played by Olivia Munn, who finds evidence pointing to a respected businessman. The new trio must work together to expose Antonio Pope (Benjamin Bratt) as a violent criminal.
Krampus - Based off old Austrian folklore about a half-goat, half-demon creature of the titular name that... Read More
NBA Playoffs, Round 1, on TNT: The Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder face off in Game 5, followed by the Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers in Game 4. (8pm & 10:30pm Monday, TNT)
Bates Motel: Norman is ready to leave the Pineview Institute, but his murderous impulses are far from cured. (9pm Monday, A&E)
Tuesday April 26
NBA Playoffs, Round 1: The Pacers are back in Toronto to play the Raptors in Game 5 of their series. (4pm Tuesday, TNT)
2016 Presidential Primary Results: Cruz and Kasich’s last-minute alliance might make little difference; Clinton and... Read More
#6 Dallas Mavericks vs. #3 Oklahoma City Thunder, OKC leads series 3-1 (8pm ET Monday, TNT) An already chippy series went next-level Saturday night, as Kevin Durant got whistled for a flagrant 2, Serge Ibaka got a T for throwing an elbow, and Russell Westbrook got a T for getting into a shouting match with the Mavs’ Salah Mejri. Nonetheless, OKC went on to win Game 4 against Dallas 119-108. Up 3-1 in their opening round series, the Thunder have a chance to close it out tonight.
Westbrook would finish the game with 25 points and 15 assists, and Kevin Durant dropped 19 points while grabbing 4 boards, but it was Enes Kanter who led all scorers with 28 points on a blistering 12-of-13... Read More
New York Yankees (Eovaldi 0-2, 6.11) at Texas Rangers (Hamels 3-0, 2.52), 8pm ET on ESPN Nathan Eovaldi enjoyed a breakout season of sorts in 2015, his first in the American League, going 14-3 despite an ERA of 4.20. This year he has, by some measures, been far better, with his K/9 rate up from 7.1 per 9 to 11.2, and his walk rate nearly cut in half, down to 1.5 per 9 – however, he’s already given 4 homers in just 17 ⅔ innings, triple his rate from last year. The homers have been painful, leading to 7 of the 9 runs he surrendered in his first two starts. In his most recent start he kept the ball in the yard, striking out 7 over 6... Read More
Boston Red Sox (Buchholz 0-1, 5.74) at Houston Astros (Fiers 1-1, 6.48), 4:05pm ET Saturday on FS1
In his second start in the bigs, Clay Buchholz threw a no-hitter. He then had a couple of seasons pitching kinda meh… Then, in 2010, he made the All-Star team and finished 6th in the CY Young balloting. This was followed by an injury-plagued season in 2011; another meh… season in 2012; another All-Star selection in 2013, a season that was tainted with rumors of ball doctoring before it was cut short by injury; 2014 saw him pitch more than 110 innings for just the third time, but it also saw him post a 5.34 ERA, worst in the American League among qualifiers. And 2015 was another not bad, but injury-shortened year... Read More
Louis CK and his Louie costar Pamela Adlon are developing a show for Adlon in a similar autobiographical vein to Louie entitled better things, in which Adlon plays an single mom and actress trying to get by. Titled Better Things, the series has added Patricia Scanlon to the cast, most recently seen in HBO’s comedy Getting On. (Deadline)
The long-gestating Tales from the Crypt revival from producer M. Night Shyamalan has recieved a 10-episode series order from TNT, and is set to be paired with another horror-anthology series titled Time of Death, which looks to be a cross between 24 and American Horror Story, taking a full season to tell a single horror story in real time. Deadline)
John C. McGinley (Scrubs) is set to star in a... Read More
#2 Toronto Raptors vs. #7 Indiana Pacers, TOR leads series 2-1 (3pm ET Saturday, TNT)
The Pacers’ Paul George led all scorers with 25 points as he led his team with 10 boards and 6 dimes, but it was a tough night for the All-Star guard as he shot just 6-of-19 and made 4 turnovers, as Indiana fell 101-85 to the Toronto Raptors. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan each scored 21 while shooting a combined 15-of-40, but they got a lot more help than George. Jonas Valanciunas had 9 points and 14 rebounds, and DeMarre Carroll scored 17 points to go along with 5 boards.
Valanciunas hit a jumper with 8:21 to go in the first quarter to give the Raptors a... Read More
Thursday night saw the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta throw his second no-hitter in as many seasons, and his teammates pounded out 18 hits in a 16-0 drubbing of the Reds; Clayton Kershaw unveiled a new pitch, a 46-mph Eephus, as he scattered 10 hits over 8 innings in a 2-1 win over the Braves; Robinson Cano capped a 3-for-5 night with a 10th-inning 3-run homer for a 10-7 Mariners defeat of the Indians; Bryce Harper’s solo shot was the Nats' lone run in a 5-1 loss to the Marlins; the Red Sox’ high-priced free agent David Price got lit up again, surrendering 8 runs in 3 2/3, setting the stage for a 12-8 loss to the Rays; Ricky Nolasco pitched 6 ⅓ innings of 1-run ball with 7 K’s, and the... Read More
#1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. #8 Detroit Pistons, CLE leads series 2-0 (7pm ET Friday, ESPN) On Wednesday, the Cavs tied an NBA record by hitting 20 three-pointers on their way to a convincing 107-90 win over the Detroit Pistons. JR Smith led the bombing raid by hitting on 7 of 11 three-point attempts en route to a 21 point night while LeBron James led all scorers with 27 points on 12-of-18 shooting. Just a couple of days after taking their best shot at the Cavs and coming up short, the Pistons regressed to their mean, shooting 44% from the floor, 24% from downtown and 56% from the free throw line. It was not nearly enough.
James seems to be a man on a mission,... Read More
#3 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #6 Dallas Mavericks, Series tied 1-1 (7pm ET Thursday, TNT)
After getting buried in Game 1 by a score of 108-70, the Dallas Mavericks won an 85-84 stunner that went in the books only after a replay review waved off a Steven Adams putback that would’ve won the game for the Thunder. OKC’s Russell Westbrook had a tough night, making just 8 of 22 shots for 19 points to go along with 14 rebounds and 6 assists. But Westbrook was a veritable sharpshooter next to his running mate, Kevin Durant, who made just 7 of 33 for 21 points, his 26 misses matching Michael Jordan for the most in the last… forever? “Bad shooting night for me,” Durant said in a bid for understatement... Read More
Detroit Tigers (Pelfrey 0-2, 2.79) at Kansas City Royals (Volquez 2-0, 2.04) 7:15pm on FS1
Mike Pelfrey is having one weird start to his season: his 2.79 ERA suggest that his 0-2 record is a matter of tough luck, but the truth is that his low ERA is the result of exceptionally good luck. Pelfrey has allowed 12 hits and 7 walks in just 9 ⅔ innings, and has struck out just 6 – his WHIP is 1.10 higher than his SO/BB ratio. Even in his last start, which the Tigers lost 1-0, he was the beneficiary of unusual luck, allowing just 1 run, despite giving up 5 hits and 6 walks in 6 innings. Only by the grace of three double plays did he survive as long as... Read More
Only a couple more days until Game of Thrones’ sixth season premiere, and while that’s not enough time to marathon all fifty episodes of the series to-date (unless you’re unemployed or really dedicated), we here at Sling decided to help you prepare by selecting the very best episode to watch from each of the five previous seasons.
1. “Baelor” –This was the episode that made it explicitly clear to fans who had not read the books that, top billing or not, anyone can die on Game of Thrones. After nearly five years, it’s easy to forget how shocking Ned’s... Read More
The true-crime favorite Forensic Files, which premiered on TLC on April 21, 1996 under the name Medical Detectives, turns 20 today, but it hasn’t lost its status as a secret guilty pleasure for night owls and couch potatoes everywhere. Poke around a little bit online and you’ll read tales of people who love to fall asleep to the show. Ask around your own social circle and we’d be surprised if you didn’t unearth at least one closeted hardcore Forensic Files fan.
I can’t fall asleep without Forensic Files playing in the background anymore, these are my confessions
#8 Detroit Pistons vs. #1 Cleveland Cavaliers, CLE leads series 1-0 (8pm ET Wednesday, TNT)
The Cavs spent much of the off-season muttering “If only…” as they looked back on a title run that was derailed by injuries to Kevin Love in the first round and Kyrie Irving in the finals (and, of course, the Golden State Warriors). On Sunday, LeBron James played his first postseason game with Love and Irving since April of last year, and came away with a 106-101 victory over the upstart Detroit Pistons. LeBron scored 22 points and had 11 assists, and needed all the help he could get to hold off a young hungry Pistons team. As it turns out, he got a lot of help, as Love poured in 28 with 13... Read More
Detroit Tigers (Zimmerman 2-0, 0.00) at Kansas City Royals (Kennedy 2-0, 0.66) 7pm ET on ESPN
Zimmerman is coming off his worst start of 2016, 6 innings of shutout ball during which he gave up 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4, leading the Tigers to a 7-4 win over the Pirates. At 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA, Zimmerman is having himself quite a time, but it goes without saying that this level of success is unsustainable. He’s striking out fewer than 5 per 9 innings pitched, and his BABIP is a freakishly low .205 – pitchers cannot consistently convert batted balls into outs at that rate.
Ian Kennedy was signed by the Royals in the off-season to help replace 2015’s late-season rental Johnny Cueto, who departed... Read More
I remember it well: it was a Friday night and I was a 21-year-old college student working as a barback. The Knicks were playing the Rockets in the NBA Finals, so we had a good crowd in the bar when they interrupted the game to show a white Bronco moving slowly down a sunny highway, pursued by the LAPD and, incredibly, being cheered on by people on the shoulders and the overpasses.
As the total media insanity of the O.J. Simpson murder trial continued into my senior year, I became obsessed with watching the case on television; it was on all day every day. Sometimes it was fascinating, mostly it was excruciatingly dull, but I was hooked enough that I spent my final Spring Break at home in my... Read More
Brothers fight. It’s what they do. They fight over what to watch on TV, over the last cookie, over respecting the sacred boundaries of each others’ bedrooms. Sometimes those fights are just yelling, but sometimes they turn physical. At least, that’s how it was at my house, between my brother and me. We fought all the time, and we scrapped all the time. But no matter how angry we got at each other, no matter how sincerely we wanted to kill each other, in the course of roughly 1,500 fights we both observed an unspoken agreement that we never once violated: No punching in the face. Even when we wanted to hurt each other, we didn’t want to, you know, hurt each other.
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
The Lady In The Van - Maggie Smith was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role as Miss Shepherd, a homeless woman who lives in a van in the driveway of playwright Alan Bennett (Alex Jennings), causing an unusual friendship to bloom between the two over the next 15 years.
Fifty Shades of Black - In this spoof of Fifty Shades of Grey, Marlon Wayans stars as Christian Black, an extremely successful businessman with a dark sexual side.
Precious Cargo - Bruce Willis stars alongside Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Claire Forlani as Karen, recruits her ex-lover Jack... Read More
#5 Boston Celtics vs. #4 Atlanta Hawks, ATL leads series 1-0 (7pm ET Tuesday, TNT)
The Celtics lost a heartbreaker in Game 1 on Saturday, falling to the Hawks 102-101, a loss that was compounded by guard Avery Bradley’s pulled hamstring. Boston was shooting with markedly more abandon than accuracy, heaving 102 shots, but sinking just 37 of them, with starters Jae Crowder and Jared Sullinger making just 10 of 30. The Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas led all scorers with 27, but Hawks Al Horford, Jeff Teague and Kent Bazemore scored 24, 23 and 23 respectively, proving to be too much for the C’s. The Hawks had led at one point by as much as 19, but let the Celtics fight back to a tie at 88-88 with 3:51 to... Read More
“Whatever happens tonight, I remain as confused as ever.”
You said it, Julie. This first season of Vinyl was by turns exhilarating, virtuosic, hilarious, tedious, carefully observed, and totally disorganized – kind of like ‘70s rock itself. This show has started down so many blind alleys, only to double back to where it started, it would be difficult to describe any real plot arc, other than “coke-addled label owner alienates everyone and signs proto-punk band.” What has it all been about? What are we meant to take away? The more I think about it the more I believe it is, at its core, a love story. A love story complicated by betrayals, but a love story just the same. Stay with me.
Richie’s betrayal of his Sicilian business partners... Read More
NBA Playoffs, Round 1, on TNT: It’s a pair of Game 2’s as the Dallas Mavericks play the Oklahoma City Thunder while the Houston Rockets square off against the Golden State Warriors. (8pm & 10:30pm Monday, TNT)
Better Call Saul: After a stellar second season that did what Vince Gilligan and company do best – totally subvert audience expectations – at every turn, there are really two big questions heading into Monday’s finale: 1) will we see the proper introduction of Saul Goodman, Esq? And 2) will we see Mike join forces with a certain unassuming fried-chicken magnate? The answer to number two may or may not be “Yes,” but we... Read More
Chicago Cubs (Lackey 2-0, 5.68) at St. Louis Cardinals (Leake 0-1, 6.97) 8pm ET on ESPN & FOX Sports Midwest
It’s a Battle of the Exes, as former Cubs starter John Lackey faces his old teammates, the St. Louis Cardinals. Lackey has a beefy 5.68 ERA thus far, but thanks to the kind of run support one can only hope for from the Cubbies, he’s 2-0. In his first outing, he allowed 6 runs on 8 hits – including 2 homers – but got the win in a 14-9 fireworks display with the Arizona Diamondbacks. More recently, on Wednesday, he pitched 6 ⅔ strong innings against the Cincinnati Reds, allowing just 2 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks, with 7 strikeouts, while keeping the ball in the yard.... Read More
#6 Dallas Mavericks vs. #3 Oklahoma City Thunder, OKC leads series 1-0 (8pm ET Monday, TNT)
On Saturday, the Thunder beat the Mavs like a rented mule 108-70, in a game so lopsided OKC’s starting five averaged just under 26 minutes apiece with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant not even stepping on the floor in the fourth quarter. The Mavs managed just 11 points in the first quarter on their way to being the first team since the 2013 Bulls to shoot under 30% in a playoff game (not surprisingly, NBA teams are 0-24 in playoff games in which they’ve shot that poorly since 1964). Dirk Nowitzki was the lone Mav to reach double figures, scoring 18 points as Zach Pachulia and Dwight Powell led Dallas with just six... Read More
Detroit Pistons at Cleveland Cavaliers, Game 1 (3pm Sunday, ABC) A month ago the Pistons were a .500 team battling the Bulls for the final playoff spot, but they put the hammer down to win 10 of 14, leaving Chicago comfortably in their rearview. Detroit is led by 6-11 rebounding machine Andre Drummond, who led the league with 14.8 rpg, and scored 16 ppg. Drummond is so consistent that he led the NBA in 15-15 games with 30, while DeAndre Jordan was second with 13. The Pistons offense isn’t high-powered, but it is balanced, as all five starters averaged at least 14 ppg, with Reggie Jackson leading with 18 ppg, as well as leading the team with 6.2 apg.
What to make of the Cavs? Two head coaches, two love... Read More
San Francisco Giants (Samardzija 1-0, 3.38) at Los Angeles Dodgers (Maeda 1-0, 0.00) 8pm ET Sunday on ESPN (Available to Best of Live TV subscribers)
Despite having led American League pitchers in hits, home runs and earned runs allowed, Jeff Samardzija was signed in the offseason to help the Giants make their even-year march to the World Series, and so far he’s been pretty OK – far better than last year, anyway. On Monday, he led the Giants to a 7-2 win over the Rockies, pitching eight innings, and giving up just two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out five – he even hit a double. His walk rate has ballooned a touch so far, but his K’s are up and homers are down and his... Read More
Atlanta Braves (Norris 0-2, 6.00) at Miami Marlins (Koehler 0-1, 2.84) 7:10pm ET on FS1
Now with his fourth team in four seasons, Bud Norris officially qualifies as a journeyman starter and, thus far in 2016, he’s pitched like one. Norris got lit up on Monday as the Nationals pounded out nine hits in just five innings and scored five times, setting the stage for a 6-4 Nats win. Norris had one solid season in 2014: in a year when he plunked a league-high 14 guys – a third of his career total – and had a BABIP about 30 points below his career norm. Whether that 15-8 season was a product of pitching aggressively inside, dumb luck, or a combination of both, we may never know.
The Lady In The Van - Maggie Smith was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role as Miss Shepherd, a homeless woman who lives in a van in the driveway of playwright Alan Bennett (Alex Jennings), causing an unusual friendship to... Read More
Wednesday night was rich with the bounty of America’s favorite pastime:
The Orioles earned their first loss of the season, falling 4-2 to the Red Sox; The Mets and Marlins had another 2-1 pitchers' duel, this time with the New Yorkers coming out on top; Dae-Ho Lee hit a 10th-inning walk-off pinch-hit home run to lift the Mariners over the Rangers 4-2; The Phillies' Jerad Eickhoff pitched 7 innings of scoreless 4-hit ball to beat the Padres 2-1; Carlos Carrasco shut down the Rays, allowing 1 run on 4 hits and a walk over 8 innings while striking out 8; Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s grand slam was the decisive blow in a 7-3 Tigers win over the Pirates; JA Happ threw 6 innings of 1-run ball as the Jays beat the... Read More
Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics (8pm ET Wednesday, ESPN) The Miami Heat overcame Dwyane Wade’s 19-minute scoring drought at the start of the game to defeat the Detroit Pistons Tuesday, thereby putting themselves in position to lock up the 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. Miami’s Joe Johnson was the man on Tuesday, scoring 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting, most crucially hitting a pair of long 3’s in a 22-second span midway through the fourth quarter to put the Heat ahead by 7, sending them on their way to a 99-93 win. At 48-33, the Heat are tied with Atlanta, and a win tonight would secure the Southeast and the 3 seed, as the Heat have the tiebreaker advantage over the Hawks, having bested them in 3 of 4 games... Read More
The launch of our new multistream service is exciting for a lot of reasons, but one in particular for baseball fans: along with FOX and FX, subscribers to the Sling TV Beta Multi-Stream service will have access to more sports than you can swing a Louisville Slugger at with FOX Sports 1, and applicable FOX-owned Regional Sports Networks (RSNs).
YES! When you sign up for the Sling TV Beta Multi-Stream service, your billing zip code will determine which FOX RSNs you’ll have access to. Baseball season just got a whole lot better!
Here are the teams featured on the various FOX Sports Local channels:
FOX Sports Arizona – Diamondbacks FOX Sports Detroit – Tigers FOX Sports Florida/Sun – Marlins, Devil Rays FOX Sports Midwest – Cardinals, Royals ... Read More
“Stick around long enough, you’ll have something to shovel.”
This line, spoken to Mike by a slightly flirty (age-appropriate) waitress in reply to his question about snow in Albuquerque, could easily double as a warning to all the characters on this series (and on Breaking Bad): nobody gets out of this town clean.
And so it is that we finally have Kim definitively throwing in her lot with Jimmy on the wrong side of the law.
After insisting to Jimmy and to Kim that his poaching Mesa Verde from Kim was not personal, Chuck insists on attending a routine hearing before the New Mexico Banking Board on Mesa Verde’s behalf, crowing, “I find victory laps very comforting.”
But that victory lap is interrupted by the biggest... Read More
Since becoming the first female and youngest contestant to win Last Comic Standing in 2008, Iliza Shlesinger has been one busy lady, starring in a comedy special, narrating documentaries, releasing comedy albums, hosting a dating show, and launching her own podcast. If all that weren’t enough, Iliza is also the co-host of the new TBS game show, Separation Anxiety.
Tell me about your new show on TBS Separation Anxiety.
Separation Anxiety is the number one new show on TBS, so people love it. It’s a show where we take two people who know each other really well and split them up. We tell one person they’re playing for $2,500 but the truth is they are playing for $250,000 and we watch how they each play the game separately. It... Read More
Oklahoma City Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs (8pm ET Tuesday, TNT)
The Thunder have been scuffling along as of late, recently dropping four of six while trying to rest Westbrook and Durant, but last night, the Dynamic Duo laced them up to bid adieu to Kobe Bryant with a 112-79 dismantling the Los Angeles Lakers. In fact, Westbrook and Durant said goodbye in historic fashion with the former notching his record-tying 18th triple-double of the season, the latter scoring 20 or more for the 64th game in a row – the longest such streak since Jordan in ‘91. The win brought the Thunder’s record to 55-26 heading into the final game of the season. The Thunder will be the third seed in the West, but their opponent in the... Read More
The Detour: Former Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones and Justified’s Natalie Zea play a husband and wife with two children, who embark on the worst (i.e., most outrageously funny) road trip imaginable. But theirs is NOT the Griswold family, and this is not a show for impressionable young minds. It’s a premium-cable comedy on a basic-cable channel. (9pm & 9:30pm Monday, TBS)
MLB on ESPN - Miami Marlins at New York Mets: Wei-Yin Chen makes his second start of the season, coming of a disastrous debut with the Marlins in which he went five innings against the Tigers and gave up five runs on nine hits, but managed not... Read More
“Why am I here?” Shoshanna yells after an obese man slams into her on the people mover at the airport upon her return to the United States.
I feel like every one of our Girls has said or thought this, or some variation of this, at point or another this season: Marnie questions why she’s married to Desi; Hannah questions why she’s with Fran; Shoshanna questioned why she was in Japan, and now she’s questioning why she came back to the U.S.; Jessa questions why she doesn’t follow her heart and be with Adam. “Why” is not the question they should be asking, but “How?” Maybe if they answered the “how,” the “why” would follow and maybe, just maybe, they’d learn from their mistakes.
Marlins Miami vs. New York Mets (7pm ET Monday, ESPN)
On Sunday, the Miami Marlins fell to 1-3 following a 4-2 loss at the hands of the Washington Nationals. Marlins' starter Tom Koehler had been cruising, giving up just one run through the first six innings, but in the bottom of the seventh, he was chased by a Anthony Rendon single and gave way to reliever Chris Narveson, who promptly loaded the bases before turning the ball over to Edwin Jackson. Moments later Jayson Werth hit a run-scoring single and soon thereafter Clint Robinson followed suit, staking the Nats to a 3-1 lead. The Marlins tried valiantly to mount a comeback against Washington closer Jonathan Papelbon as Yelich hit a solo shot and Martin Prado singled, but the rally... Read More
Alliances are shifting at American Century Records, with characters either becoming disillusioned, left behind, finding common cause, or just following their instincts, with major plot implications for the show going forward.
Richie Finestra finally gets to see his lawyer in jail, and is promptly offered a deal: the Buck Rogers matter can be settled amicably if Richie will cooperate with a Federal investigation of his sometime financier of the Sicilian persuasion, Carlo Gallozzo. Richie of course denies knowing anything about Gallozzo’s business, and is obviously smart enough to know that squealing on a Mob boss is a one-way ticket to the morgue. Also, there’s the small matter of the $100,000 loan he just took from the man, and the fact that he just installed Richie’s old boss Maury Gold... Read More
New York Yankees (Masahiro Tanaka 0-0, vs. Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander (8pm ET Sunday, ESPN)
Masahiro Tanaka pitched well enough to get a no-decision in his 2016 debut against the Astros on opening day, going five-and-two-thirds innings, giving up just two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out four. Tanaka headed into the fifth nursing a 2-1 lead and quickly got past Jose Altuve and George Springer before giving up a long home run to right center by reigning Rookie of the Year Carlos Correa. A walk to the next batter, Colby Rasmus, was enough for Yankee manager Joe Girardi, who pulled Tanaka and turned it over to the pen. Three innings later, Correa and Rasmus were again making trouble for the Bombers as the... Read More
Golden State Warriors vs. Memphis Grizzlies (8pm ET Saturday, ESPN)
On Thursday, the Warriors beat the Spurs 112-101, clinching home field advantage in the playoffs and becoming the second team in league history to win 70 games. Both teams shot well, particularly from three-point range, but the Warriors controlled the glass, outrebounding the Spurs 43-32 on a night when San Antonio’s LaMarcus Aldridge had one of his worst games of the year. Over 29 minutes, Aldridge scored just 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting and grabbed just three rebounds. Meanwhile, the Warriors’ Steph Curry hit 11 of 19 for 27 points with nine assists and five rebounds as Golden State took an 18-15 lead late in the first quarter and never looked back. At 70-9, the Warriors need to win... Read More
So far, 2016 seems to be the year of our new favorite power couple, Samantha Bee and Jason Jones. TBS announced an order for a lot more Full Frontal with Samantha Beewith plans for it to run at least through the end of the calendar year. Not to be completely outdone, Jason’s new TBS show The Detour, which premieres Monday, April 11, has already been renewed for a second season. (Deadline)
HBO is taking a page out of AMC’s book by starting up a post-show talk show to discuss the events of their hottest show Game of Thrones. After the Thrones will be hosted by Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan, where they will recap the just-aired episode and diving deep into any and every theory as season... Read More
I never gave much thought to just how exhausting it must’ve been to be a Viking. You’re always angry, always scheming, always fighting, and always having to do incredibly difficult things without the luxury of the machines and technology we have today. It’s a spoiled life we lead.
After their first raid on Paris went south, a lot of Ragnar’s followers were pretty upset about the outcome. Even brothers King Harald Finehair and Halfdan the Black were skeptical of the stories they heard about Ragnar and began to question following him into battle in the first place.
But as is his wont, Ragnar comes up with a last-minute plan that’s just crazy enough to work: he asks Floki to build a contraption that can raise the boats out... Read More
It’s been a very good 2016 over at the Jones-Bee residence: back in January, defending champion Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee followed Jon Stewart out the door to launch her own show on TBS, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, and quickly proved that she should have been the one to inherit Stewart’s desk. And this Monday, her husband and fellow Daily Show alumnus Jason Jones launches a new show of his own on TBS, co-created with Bee: a family comedy called The Detour.
When I say “family comedy,” I mean it is a comedy about a family. It is most emphatically not a comedy to watch with your family, unless your kids are grown. But if they have kids of their own, they shouldn’t let those kids watch The Detour... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Terminator Genisys - Arnold Schwarzenegger reprises his role as The Terminator. John Connor (Jason Clarke), who is the leader against Skynet, sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect his mother, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke), from a Terminator assassin. But, instead of a scared waitress, Sarah is a skilled fighter and has a Terminator guardian (Schwarzenegger). Facing unexpected allies and new enemies, Kyle must figure out a way to reset the future. (Epix)
Lucy - Lucy, played by Scarlett Johansson, unwittingly becomes a drug mule for an experimental drug. After accidentally ingesting the drug, Lucy gains access to 100% of her brain, giving... Read More
Chicago Bulls vs. Miami Heat (8pm ET Thursday, TNT)
The Bulls find themselves in a 3-6 slide at the most inopportune time, the latest indignity being a 108-92 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. Chicago’s big guns, Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler, had little to offer, combining to make just seven of 23 shots for 17 points and seven of the team’s 20 turnovers. The loss dropped the Bulls to 39-39 as they find themselves trailing the Detroit Pistons by 2.5 games in the hunt for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East.
The Heat got a huge win Tuesday, defeating the Pistons 107-89 as they continue to fight on without Chris Bosh. Goran Dragic made nine of 15, including four-of-four from... Read More
Natalie Zea is known mostly for her role on the soap opera Passions and her residency on FX’s Justified, both of which are heavy in the drama department. Though she’s no stranger to comedy roles, – you can see her alongside Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in The Other Guys – you can now find her in the very funny and very inappropriate (in the best way, I promise) new TBS comedy The Detour.
We’re a few days away from the official April 11 premiere, but TBS has kindly released the first episode on YouTube just in time for the announcement the show has been renewed for a second season already.
Philadelphia Phillies (0-1) vs. Cincinnati Reds (1-0) (7pm ET Wednesday, ESPN2) The Reds rallied in the 8th on Monday to defeat the Phillies 6-2, behind 6 strong innings from Raisel Iglesias, a 3-hit day for Zack Cozart and a tie-breaking bases-loaded single from Joey Votto. Iglesias left the game trailing 2-1, despite striking 7 and surrendering 6 hits and zero walks, but Cozar made it 2-2 in the 8th with a sac fly, and two batters later Votto singled to center off James Russell to make it 4-2. Hector Neris came on in relief and promptly hit Brandon Phillips with a pitch, which was followed by a Jay Bruce single that plated 2 more runs.
Aaron Nola gets the start for the Phillies, coming... Read More
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Indiana Pacers (7pm ET Wednesday, ESPN)
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ starting five was on point Tuesday night, hitting 27 of 45 (60%) from the floor as the team rolled over the Bucks 109-80. J.R. Smith had a team-high of 21 from seven-of-12 shooting – all his hits from three-point land – for the Cavs and Kyrie Irving overcame a cranky ankle that had him listed as questionable to score 15 points with three rebounds and six assists as the Cavs jumped out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter before stretching it to 24 at the half and never letting the Bucks get close. Cleveland has now won four in a row and has LeBron saying things like, “We’re in a good place right now.” We’ll... Read More
In the ever-colorful exclamatory words of Abraham, “B!tchnuts.” The moment that fans of the comic book series have long dreaded – the “Red Wedding” of The Walking Dead – finally happened: Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his barbed wire-wrapped slugger named Lucille made their debut in the last fifteen minutes of the season finale. But the real moment fans were afraid of – the moment when a favorite character dies, and dies ugly – kinda didn’t happen. To be certain, someone got killed, but the camera angle left the victim’s identity a mystery.
Before we dive into that mystery, here’s a quick rundown of virtually everything else in the episode leading up to that moment: Morgan found Carol; Eugene found courage and vainly attempted to... Read More
This week’s virtually Mike-free episode began with a technically breathtaking long shot – I didn’t time it but it was at least four or five minutes – of a popsicle truck getting inspected at the US-Mexico border. It took up a lot of screen time and it didn’t explain much, though we eventually saw that this was some kind of delivery (presumably from Don Eladio and his poolside cartel) to Hector Salamanca, but it was the kind of formally daring filmmaking that made Breaking Bad stand out, and it got this episode off to a strong start.
Cool as it was, it was a small part of Mike’s plotline, which was itself the smallest part of an episode otherwise dominated by Kim’s effort to lure her hard-won client – a... Read More
This is not Hannah’s week for acting mature but it is her week for growing pains; Showing your lady parts a la Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct to your boss to get out of trouble is not exactly something a strong, mature “feminist” would do. Since Lena Dunham wrote the script, I can only assume/hope that moment will play a heavy hand in how Hannah gets it together – sometimes you have to fall so far down the only way out is to go up.
Love her or hate her, it’s easy to sympathize with Hannah when she realizes Adam and Jessa have been seeing each other behind her back. Regardless of her love for Fran or how much she’s over Adam, it’s still painful to know one of... Read More
Detroit Pistons vs. Miami Heat (8pm ET Tuesday, TNT)
The Pistons have gotten hot when it matters, winning seven of their last nine games and building a two-game lead over the Bulls in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. On Saturday, the Pistons went a long way toward finishing off the Bulls, beating them 94-90 on a night when each of their starting five reached double digits. The Pistons' balanced attack was just enough to overcome a triple-double from Jimmy Butler, who went 25-15-12 with three steals, leading the Bulls in all four categories. With five games left on the schedule, the Pistons are tied with the Pacers for the final two playoff spots in the East, with the Bulls two games back... Read More
#2 Villanova (34-5) vs. #1 North Carolina (33-6) (9pm ET Monday, TBS) On Saturday, the Villanova Wildcats unleashed a tenacious D and a white-hot shooting hand that culminated in the biggest blowout in NCAA Final Four history. The ‘Cats defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 95-51, hitting 71% from the floor, including 61% from three-point land, while junior guard Josh Hart led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting. As a team, Villanova was so hot of the eight guys who hoisted a shot, only one of them, Darryl Reynolds, hit on less than 60%, and to be fair, he only missed on his lone attempt.
Villanova’s defensive effort was equally suffocating as they held the Sooners to a season-low 55 points (their previous low had been 63) and a... Read More
NCAA Basketball Tournament Final on TBS: America’s wildest ride, March Madness, comes to its thrilling conclusion as a field of 68 teams is finally winnowed down to a single champion, after a two-week tourney that was riddled with amazing finishes and unprecedented upsets. (9pm Monday, TBS)
The Powerpuff Girls: Buttercup, Blossom, and Bubbles make their highly anticipated return in this newly relaunched series. Their first mission? To rescue the Mayor from Monster Island. (6pm Monday, Cartoon Network)
Better Call Saul: Now free of his stifling Davis & Main job and having successfully persuaded Kim to leave HHM and share office space – if not actually... Read More
Astros vs. Yankees (1pm ET Monday, ESPN) It’s a rematch of the 2015 AL Wild Card game where the upstart Houston Astros beat the mighty New York Yankees 3-0, behind six shutout innings from Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel. An offense that was fifth in runs scored in the AL should be even better with full seasons from Rookie of The Year super-stud Carlos Correa, a return to form from mid-season acquisition Carlow Gomez, and the demotion to the bench of John Marisinick, who had a .665 OPS in 372 plate appearances. The bad news for the Bombers is Houston’s Opening Day starter is Keuchel, who shut the Yankees down three times last year, including the playoffs, spinning 22 scoreless innings during which he allowed just 12 hits and two... Read More
The 2016 Major League Baseball season kicks off with a showdown between a pair of division rivals, who were also the two winningest teams in all of baseball last year: the 100-62 St. Louis Cardinals and the 98-win Pittsburgh Pirates.
After an unfortunate defeat at the hands of the upstart Cubbies in the NLDS, the Cards had a frustrating off-season, losing free agent outfielder Jason Heyward and pitcher John Lackey to the very same Cubbies. The Cards look to replace Lackey with Mike Leake, who’s nine years younger and a little bit cheaper, but still likely a downgrade, and Heyward with Stephen Piscotty, who hopes to build on an impressive rookie year in which he posted a 129... Read More
Finally, Skip says what we’ve all been thinking (if I may presume to speak for all of us) about Richie’s erratic behavior, which this week includes not just the resumption of his cocaine habit, but a full-throated rationalization of its benefits – Sigmund Freud, Thomas Edison, and Sherlock Holmes all thrived on it, after all. So what if one of those examples is fictional? Richie built this company on coke, he reasons, and things only went bad when he sobered up. Pretty airtight logic there. As fed up as Skip and Zak may be at this point, they don’t even know the half of it: the reason American Century has zero cash is because Richie lost their last $90,000 at the... Read More
Jason Derulo has come a long way since touring with Lady Gaga as her opening act for The Monster Ball Tour in 2009. Now, he’s headlining his own world tours, is behind some of the biggest songs in recent memory, and is a judge on the Fox show So You Think You Can Dance; he’s a singer, dancer, performer and, after Sunday, can add host to his long and impressive resume.
Derulo found time to chat with us in between preparation for Sunday’s iHeartRadio Music Awards and juggling his million other jobs.
We’re days away from the show, how are you feeling?
Jason Derulo: It’s a combination of things; I don’t think I can put it in a nutshell, really, but there are [some] nerves. It’s my first... Read More
#2 Villanova (33-5) vs. #2 Oklahoma (29-7) (6:09pm ET Saturday, TBS)
The Villanova Wildcats didn’t have anyone score more than 13 points, no one grabbed more than eight rebounds, or dished out more than three assists, but they still managed to defeat the number-one-seed Kansas Jayhawks 64-59. Kansas pulled within one with just 17 seconds to play, but ‘Nova made four free throws down the stretch for an 18-of-19 finish, to send the Wildcats to their first Final Four since 2009, their fourth overall. They won it all back in 1985, defeating Georgetown in one of college basketball’s great upsets – something they seem to specialize in.
The Sooners upended the top-seeded Ducks 80-68 after they built themselves an 18-point halftime lead... Read More
You know Matt Servitto if you’ve seen The Sopranos (he played FBI agent Dwight Harris), various films including the 2005 blockbuster Hitch, and of course as Brock Lotus on Banshee. Servitto began the show a pale, rather doughy career cop and by the time season four rolls around, you can see the dedication of the character on Servitto’s shape: he is cut, bearded, tanned and ready for action.
Servitto joined us to chat about the final season of the show, the evolution of his character, and shined some light on what he calls the greatest acting exercise of his 25-year career.
Steven Schott: I got to tell you, I love the character of Brock. His journey is absolutely incredible. We first meet him as a buttoned-up lawman... Read More
What will happen when iHeartRadio, a titan on the digital music scene, takes some of music’s biggest stars and puts them face-to-face with their biggest fans?
Literally, anything.
This year’s show promises to be one of music’s most memorable nights for fans and artists alike. With music superstar and dancing phenom Jason Derulo hosting and iconic artists like U2, Justin Timberlake and Taylor swift in attendance, you can bet the third iHeartRadio Music Awards is going to be one hell of a show.
We sat down with the executive producers of the iHeartRadio Music Awards, John Sykes and Tom Poleman – presidents of Clear Channels entertainment enterprises and national programming platforms, respectively. Fun fact: Sykes was also a co-founder of MTV and VH1 , so it’s safe... Read More
“This is how you repay my love?!” Ragnar screams as he watches his warriors being sniped one by one and his boats swallowed by flames around him. The irony is not lost – the vikings willingly came to their own viking funeral.
We’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for Ragnar to invade Paris, and this week it finally happened: Ragnar finally came face-to-face with his traitorous brother, Rollo. In what was sort of promised to be an epic battle scene, the long-awaited battle of the viking brothers was a little lackluster after the seemingly never-ending build up this season.
To outthink Rollo, who easily predicts what Ragnar will do in his attack, Ragnar instructs his warriors to continue their attack by sea but Lagartha volunteers to lead... Read More
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Atlanta Hawks (8pm ET Friday, ESPN)
The Cleveland Cavaliers have suffered through all sorts of drama this season, and this month it’s gone next-level. Rather than fretting about losing 4 of 9, or getting healthy for a title run, the Cavs are instead dealing with things like whom LeBron is following on Twitter, and the awful/tragic reports about Kyrie Irving’s lovelife. There have probably been teams that have risen above this kind of stuff to win it all, but none come to mind right away. Still, the Cavs have clinched the Central Division, and a just-comfortable-enough lead in the hunt for the top seed in the East.
The Atlanta Hawks led the Chicago Bulls Monday night by 9 after three... Read More
In the first 10 minutes of the pilot for Banshee, a man (Anthony Starr) walks out of prison, boosts a car, beds a random hot bartender, smashes up the basement of a transgender hair salon, crashes said stolen car during a chase through Midtown, jacks a motorcycle, dodges bullets fired from tattooed baddies, and roars into the sleepy town of Banshee, PA looking for his lost love and former partner in crime, who happens to be the same person. By the end of the episode, the former con assumes the identity of the man destined to be the town’s sheriff, Lucas Hood.
In the 30 episodes that comprise Seasons 1-3 of Banshee (returning for its fourth and final season at 10pm ET Friday on Cinemax), the intensity and mayhem... Read More
Another week, another Game of Thrones teaser. Though it’s clear enough by now that the Commander of the Night’s Watch will be ambulatory in some form, he does not appear here, but his nemesis the Night’s King appears headed for a date with young Bran Stark, who apparently spent season 5 at Man Camp.
TNT’s ratings powerhouse The Last Ship, about a Navy vessel fighting the virus that wiped out most of humanity, will be returning for its third season on TNT Sunday June 12, and they released a trailer to prove it:
Speaking of TNT, stalwart cop shows Major Crimes and Rizzoli & Isles – the latter heading into its final season – will be... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Stealing Cars - Inspired by true events, Emory Cohen (Brooklyn) stars as Billy Wyatt, a young man with a ton of potential, but a troubled past is holding him back and he finds himself in the Burnsville Camp for Boys. Billy must learn how to navigate dangerous inmates, cruel staff members only to discover himself in the process. William H. Macy (Shameless), Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), John Leguizamo (Ice Age) and Mike Epps (Fifty Shades of Black) also star.
April 1 Natural Born Pranksters A Haunting at Foster Cabin Frank and Cindy The Girl In The Photographs
In 1999, four high school friends formed a live comedy troupe called The Tenderloins. Now, 17 years later, those same guys star in their own show that’s close to wrapping up its fifth season on truTV called Impractical Jokers. It’s easy to argue Brian ‘Q’ Quinn, Joseph Gatto, Sal Vulcano and James ‘Murr’ Murray are living the dream; getting paid to humiliate your best friends of 26 years and travel the world doing what you love ain’t so bad a gig.
Joker James Murray, who is better known as Murr, took time to chat with Sling and answer some fan questions.
How would you describe, in your own words, Impractical Jokers?
Hmm. Impractical Jokers is an upside-down prank show, where the four us – the guys and I,... Read More
Chicago Bulls vs. Houston Rockets (7pm ET Thursday, TNT) The Bulls got a much needed 98-96 win Tuesday over the Indiana Pacers, thanks to a Jimmy Butler go-ahead jumper with 3.7 seconds to play. Butler had an unremarkable night, making six of 10 for 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals, but he came up big when it mattered most. Pau Gasol contributed 10 points, 11 boards, seven assists, and four blocks, but he did commit seven turnovers. It was Nikola Mirotic who led the way for the Bulls with 28 points and 10 boards. The Bulls are now 37-37, two games behind the Pistons in the quest for the eighth and final playoff berth in the East.
We broke our streak of episodes featuring cameos by Breaking Bad characters this week – that is unless you count the inflatable stick figure that will one day stand sentry at the Law Offices of Saul Goodman, Esq., in which case it was the most satisfying and delightful cameo to date.
Realizing that, under the terms of his contract, he would have to return his sizable signing bonus if he resigned from Davis & Main after less than a year, Jimmy sets about getting himself fired by running a juicer in the break room, by leaving unflushed Deuces in the executive washroom, taking up the bagpipes, and by donning a familiar assortment of loud suits – the salmon was my favorite – around... Read More
James Harden scored 34 in another fruitless effort Sunday against the Pacers as the Rockets went down 104-101 in a game Houston led 95-94 with five minutes to play. It marked the league-leading 14th time this season Harden has scored 30 or more in a loss, well short of the record of 31 by Wilt Chamberlain in the ‘64-65 season. The Rockets are 36-38 and are tied with the Mavericks in eighth place with just eight games left on the schedule – whoever comes out on top gets the final playoff berth in the West. Unless, of course, the 37-37 Jazz go into a death spiral and wind up beneath them both.
Normally, an entire episode dedicated to Marnie would have me rolling my eyes at her incessant need to brag, pick, whine and complain, and the fact that Marnie (if she were a real person) would be psyched to know she had a whole episode dedicated to her. But, this week’s Girls was not like that, not at all. This week’s episode was so well written and so artfully constructed, it made me remember why I started watching this show in the first place: beyond all the dreadful, immature drama and insanity is a show about four twenty-something women finding their own way through life, driven by extremely skillful talents, like Lena Dunham.
I knew from the first episode of this season Desi and Marnie’s marriage was not going to last... Read More
It was a huge relief to see a sober Richie Finestra taking care of business this week. After devolving into a sentient puddle of coke sweat in the last episode, driving his long-suffering wife out the door and alienating his closest business partner. His behavior was so repellent that it was hard to see a way to keep watching the show without seeing him as a villain. I even speculated that that might be the direction the show was planning: to position Richie as a villain, and Zak and Andi as his good-hearted, competent foils.
So starting this week’s episode with Richie reading a self-help book (The Farther Reaches of Human Nature), disposing of the liquor in his office, and engaging honestly with the business was a welcome development,... Read More
#10 Syracuse Orangemen (22-13) vs. #1 Virginia Cavaliers (29-7) (6:09pm ET, TBS)
Trailing by one with 23 seconds to play, the Syracuse Orangemen’s Michael Gbinije retrieved the block of his own layup, making good on his second chance to give Syracuse its first lead in nearly 10 minutes on their way to a 63-60 victory over Gonzaga. Gbinije led the Orangemen in scoring 20 (albeit on eight-of-23 shooting), adding four rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals.
Virginia went into halftime against the Iowa State Cyclones with a 14 point lead and never looked back, despite a 30-point night from ISU’s Georges Niang by dominating the boards (33-24) and shooting 56% from the floor. The Cavs’ Anthony Gill led the team in scoring with 23 points on... Read More
With season six of Game of Thrones just around the corner, showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are giving more and more non-spoiler hints about the highly anticipated new season. The two confirmed what we all suspected: No, not that Jon Snow is still alive, but season six is the best season of Thrones yet. They also reassured fans this week that this season will in no way spoil the next book, which leaves us asking more questions about what the heck this season is going to center on. (Entertainment Weekly)
Thanks to the kind heart of Ellen DeGeneres and the higher-ups at HBO, the premium network has agreed to air unknown comedian Quincy Jones’ comedy standup special – something he decided he wanted to accomplish before he... Read More
This week was all about the raids on Paris – the moment when Ragnar and Rollo saw each other for the first time since Rollo abandoned his Viking life for that of a Christian.
But, before we get to the first sighting, let’s backtrack to the beginning of the journey.
After killing Kalf, Lagartha has kept her promise of fighting with Ragnar in the raids against Paris. She and her merry band of badass women have packed up shop and headed out along with Erlander, who claims he wants to fight in the raids, but we know better. We know Erlander is still butthurt after having Bjorn takes his wife away – something he makes apparent when he sees Tolvi for the first time since she chose to leave... Read More
: #7 Wisconsin vs. #6 Notre Dame The two lowest seeds left in the tournament square off. Wisconsin upset 2-seed Xavier thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Bronson Koenig in the final 13 seconds to win 63-60, while Notre Dame barely survived a scare from 14-seed Stephen F. Austin, needing a last-second layup by Rex Pflueger to win 76-75. (7:27 pm ET, TBS)
#5 Indiana vs. #1 North Carolina: The Indiana Hoosiers beat Kentucky 73-67, behind Thomas Bryant’s 19 points and 5 rebounds, and Yogi Ferrell’s 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. The North Carolina Tar Heels scored 51 points in the second half to pull away for an 85-66 victory over Providence, as Brice Johnson led the ‘Heels with 21... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Get A Job - Miles Teller and Anna Kendrick star as two recent college graduates struggling to find a job in the real world. Bryan Cranston, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Alison Brie also star.
Concussion - Will Smith stars as the highly controversial Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist who discovers a deterioration in the brain of NFL players similar to that of Alzheimer’s. After publishing his findings in a medical journals, more and more players are diagnosed, and Dr. Omalu sets out to increase public awareness about the dangers of football-ralted head trauma.
We’re getting down to the wire – it’s just a little over a week left until the 2016 NCAA champion is crowned. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves; we still have the sweet, sweet, Sweet 16 the indulge in this weekend before we know who will be facing off next weekend for the Final Four.
3 Texas A&M vs. #2 Oklahoma
Texas A&M clawed their way into the Sweet 16 after being down 12 with 44 seconds to play, they came storming back to tie Northern Iowa before going on to win 92-88 in double overtime. The Sooners managed to hold VCU at bay thanks to the hot hand of leading scorer Buddy Hield, who hit 11 of 20 for 36 points, while grabbing seven rebounds. (7:37 pm ET,... Read More
After starting the season at 22-22 and brimming with hope, the New York Knicks have fallen back to Earth, losing 21 of 27. On Sunday, the Sacramento Kings delivered an 88-80 loss to the Knickerbockers in a game that saw Boogie Cousins post a 24-20, barely outperforming his Knicks counterpart Robin Lopez’s 23-20. The Kings won despite being outrebounded 55-49 and shooting just 40% from the floor as the Knicks shot an anemic 35% – that ain’t gonna cut, especially when you’re without the services of your big dog, Carmelo Anthony, who was out with migraine-like symptoms, but is expected to play tonight. The Knicks are 28-43 and in 13th place in the East.
All this time, we’ve been assuming that the only thing keeping Jimmy McGill from totally embracing a life of situational ethics, a spinning moral compass, and a drawer full of burner phones is his dream girl, Kim Wexler, and that he would eventually, inevitably push her too far, lose her, and go visit Craig Sager’s tailor. But with this week’s episode, “Bali Ha’i,” Better Call Saul presents a much more interesting possibility: what if the Jimmy-to-Saul metamorphosis is actually Kim’s idea?
For the second episode in a row, Kim is elevated to main-character status, as her struggles at HHM – and Howard Hamlin, in particular – continue to chip away at her loyalty and her resolve to do things the right way. Howard has let her out of... Read More
The Houston Rockets trailed the Hawks by 10 with just 1:33 left in the game on Saturday, suffering their first of two losses as James Harden was forced to leave the game with a sprained left ankle. Not long after, the Rockets lost the game 109-97 on a night when Atlanta had six guys in double figures. The Rockets wasted a big night from newly acquired Michael Beasley, who came off the bench to score a game-high 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting to go along with nine rebounds as the rest of the team made just 21 of 66 or 32%. Even more embarrassing was center Dwight Howard getting caught putting Stickum spray on his hands.
NBA on TNT - Rockets at Thunder: The Rockets are 35-35 and fighting for their playoff lives. They are barely holding on to eighth place in the West and are heading to OKC with James Harden nursing a sprained ankle that has him questionable for Tuesday. The Thunder is coming off their fourth straight win, one of which Russell Westbrook posted his league-leading 14th triple-double and Kevin Durant had 33 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. (8pm Monday, TNT)
Better Call Saul: Last week’s arrival of both Krazy-8 and Tio Hector Salamanca marked the biggest and most exciting Breaking Bad cameos of the series so far, and it seemed to be... Read More
This week was probably the most honest episode of Girls I’ve seen in a long time – maybe ever. It seems impossible to rank the main characters' crazy, because amidst their craziness they found incredible moments of honesty with themselves that may actually evolve these characters we’ve grown to love, for better or worse.
Hannah
This was a big episode for Hannah and her mother; they both realized things about themselves and their current love-life situation while away on a yoga and spiritual retreat. Hannah reassures her mother that her and her father did not, in fact, ruin her growing up, but she comes to realize after exploring her sexuality with a female instructor, who cries at the end of it, that maybe she is... Read More
Not worry about his welfare – although he really ought to take it easy with the Peruvian Marching Powder and the drunk driving – but about what he’s doing to the show around him.
Because Vinyl is a great show around the edges: the music is great, the supporting characters are engaging (Ray Romano’s Zak, Max Casella’s Julie, and recent arrival Annie Parisse’s Andi Z. in particular), the period detail is convincing, and the general feeling of excitement that comes with being in the record business in 1973 New York feels as close as we’re going to get without a time machine.
But the guy at the center of it all is not very easy to root for. His steadily... Read More
March Madness got Madder still on Friday. A day after two #11 seeds and two #12 seeds advanced, we saw a #15-, #13-, #11- and #10-seed advance. According to ESPN, after Friday’s action, there were just 6 perfect brackets, out of some 13 million. By the time you read this, that number could well have fallen to zero.
#15 Middle Tennessee (25-9, 13-5 CUSA) @ #10 Syracuse (20-13, 9-9 ACC) (6:10pm ET Sunday, TNT) The Blue Raiders shocked the world Friday, beating Michigan State 90-81, becoming just the eighth 15-seed to advance to the second round. “We didn’t guard them good, but man, they made some shots,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said afterward. Middle Tennessee hit 55.9% of their shots, in fact, including 11 of 19 from three-point land,... Read More
Thursday was one of those days that wreaks havoc on a person’s tournament bracket – the rumor is only .1% of all brackets have yet to be busted. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the rest of the Big Dance. Besides, when else will your boss be sort of fine with you watching TV at work?
Midwest Regional
#12 Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans (30-4, 17-3 Sun Belt) @ #4 Iowa State Cyclones (22-11, 10-8 Big 12) (6:10pm ET Saturday, TNT)
The Trojans joined a long line of 12-seeds who’ve risen up to strike down Goliath, beating Purdue in double-overtime. The Boilermakers led by 13 with 7:14 left to play following a Ralph Davis three-pointer. The Trojans’ Josh Hagins went off, scoring 15 points on five-of-seven shooting, two... Read More
This week’s episode starts and ends with Lagartha being a badass. While Kalf is busy doing who knows what, she’s training an elite group of other badass women to be boss fighters like her. She casually tells Kalf she’s pregnant, which they both seem to be pretty pumped about. Heck, he proposes to her on the spot. It’s pretty sweet how much he seems to love her, but things aren’t always what they seem, are they? We don’t see much of these two the entire episodes, just flashes of her preparing for her (third) wedding day. Here I am thinking, maybe this’ll be the one... Read More
Another day, another 12 hours of wall-to-wall coverage of the Big Dance. While every game could arguably be called a “big game,” there are a few we’ve got our eye.
Just a heads up, Cal’s leading scorer, Tyrone Wallace (15.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.4 apg), broke his non-shooting hand during practice Wednesday, the same hand he broke in January, causing him to miss five games, during which the Bears went 3-2.
#10 VCU (24-10, 14-4 A-10) @ #7 Oregon State (19-12, 9-9 Pac-12) (1:30pm ET Friday, TNT)
The Virginia Commonwealth Rams finished tied atop the A-10, but lost to Saint Joseph’s in the conference final 87-74 as they ran afoul the hot hands of DeAndre Bembry and Isaiah Miles, who scored 56 points on 24-of-32 shooting along with... Read More
Despite the less-than-stellar performances and mixed reviews of Freeform’s take on adapting the Mortal Instruments book series, Shadowhunters has been renewed for a second season. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Freeform has announced their decision to end one of the staple shows, Switched At Birth, after season five. The show ended it’s fourth season in October. (Deadline)
A little-known show called The Walking Dead is getting a permanent theme park residence at Universal Studios Hollywood. A smaller-scale version of the attraction has graced the Universal Studios lot for Halloween before, but the full-time installation is said to be bigger and better with a mix of special effects, animatronics and live performers to provide the “most intense, realistic Walking Dead experience ever.” (The Hollywood Reporter)
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 - In the final chapter of this blockbuster saga, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) battle it out with President Snow (Donald Sutherland) once and for all in hopes of releasing his deathly grip on their post-apocalyptic society.
March 18
The Program
The Confirmation
March 22
Twinkle Toes Lights Up New York
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
Monster High: Great Scarrier Reef
The Star Maker
Roboshark
Consumed
James White
The Sparrows
Slender
Not sure how to rent movies with Sling TV? No problem!
There is more college hoops going on this month than any sane person could watch – but that’s no reason not to try.
TBS, truTV and TNT are each showing four games on Thursday, we wanted to make navigating each session much easier by highlighting one from each “day part” (as the folks in ad sales like to call it) along with the full slate of today’s action.
#9 Butler Bulldogs (21-10, 10-8 Big East) @ #8 Texas Tech Red Raiders (19-12, 9-9 Big 12) (12:40pm ET Thursday, TruTV)
Over the previous nine seasons, the Butler Bulldogs had four different coaches, played in three different conferences, made eight NCAA tournaments, went to two conference finals, and compiled a tournament record of 15-7,... Read More
At last, the second part of season six of Pretty Little Liars and, man, was it jampacked with lies, betrayals and didn’t-see-it-coming-but-maybe-you-sort-of-did surprises: someone’s sort of back from the dead; someone is not who we thought they were; and everyone is feeling nostalgic for love. If you missed our recap of last week’s episode, ‘Did You Miss Me?,’ read it before proceeding!
Sarah: The final episode of this season’s Pretty Little Liars; it’s kind of exciting. Kelly: It was pretty good. S: Do you want to start? K: Yeah! Ali is coming home from the hospital, but Elliot is going to conference in Chicago, so she has to be alone. S: Mmmhmmmmm. K: Yeah. Hannah gets a text saying, “If you’re lying, I’ll shoot you.” S: Right,... Read More
Crusaders @ Jaguars (6:40pm ET Wednesday, truTV) The Holy Cross Crusaders had a miserable season, going 14-19 overall and just 5-13 in Patriot Conference play. But when the chips were down, the Crusaders stepped up, sweeping four conference tourney games, including wins over the number one, two and four-seeded teams. In the final against Lehigh, the Crusaders were outrebounded 34-23, but Lehigh hit just 38% from the floor. This is Holy Cross’ first NCAA appearance since 2007 and their 13th overall. They’ve gone 7-12 in tournament play and won it all in 1947.
Southern’s season had turned into something of a dumpster fire as they lost four of their last five regular season games, dragging their record down to 19-12. But they got their... Read More
On Monday, the Thunder took a month’s worth of frustration out on the Portland Trail Blazers, delivering a 128-94 beating. Russell Westbrook posted 17-10-16 for his league-leading 12th triple-double of the season as the Thunder dominated the game on both ends of the floor, outshooting Portland 59% to 34%, outrebounding them 52-to-39, and out-stealing them 10-to-4. It was a badly needed victory for OKC, who had lost eight of 12 heading into the night. They’re now 45-22 and maintain their hold on third place in the West.
The Celtics last night fell to the Indiana Pacers 103-98 as they continue to struggle with the absence of Jae Crowder... Read More
There has been an ongoing discussion among critics as the second season of Better Call Saul goes on about the incongruity of its two main stories: the misadventures in the frustratingly buttoned-down Arizona legal world of James McGill, Esq. and the slow entry of brokenhearted ex-cop Mike Ehrmentraut into the Arizona underworld. Absent Mike’s high-stakes dealings with Nacho and the Salamancas, Jimmy’s exploits would make a top-notch legal drama, but it can be hard to focus on the ins and outs of document review when you’re expecting another scene about Mike, The Badass to goose the excitement level a hundred notches.
This week’s episode, “Rebecca,” almost directly addresses that complaint by putting the exciting stuff on ice and focusing almost entirely on Kim Wexler, who is determined to build... Read More
The Eagles went into the Atlantic Sun tourney with the second-best record in the conference at just 8-6, but got hot at the right time and won three in a row, including the final, an 80-78 overtime stunner against Stetson. The 20-13 Eagles are led by junior forward Marc Eddy Norelia, who averaged 17.2 ppg and 9.2 rpg. In FGC’s only other tournament appearance in 2013, they upset second-seed Georgetown on their way to the Sweet 16, where they lost to the Florida Gators.
The Knights finished the regular season just 15-14, tied for second in the Northeast Conference, but beat number one-seed Wagner 87-79 to earn a ticket to the... Read More
This month Sling TV is thrilled to present the majority of the games in the 2016 NCAA tournament, airing on TBS, TNT, and truTV. Though TBS and TNT are available to all Best of Live TV subscribers, TruTV is part of the $5 Lifestyle Extra add-on pack – but thru April 12, truTV is offering a free preview, so you can catch all the tournament games, including one of the two “home-announcer” feeds for the NCAA Championship game on April 4.
But there’s a lot of great non-basketball programming on truTV to explore while the channel is free. Here’s a small sample:
Impractical Jokers
truTV launched as a reality-documentary channel, focused on true-crime stuff, but the network has gradually rebranded to a reality-comedy footing, largely on the strength... Read More
With three episodes remaining in a big-and-promising-to-get-even-bigger season, it makes sense to offer a bottle episode aptly titled “The Same Boat,” which focuses mainly on Carol and Maggie. Carol was MIA for a couple of episodes while Maggie’s deal with Gregory at Hilltop set in motion the entire attack on the Saviors’ compound. Both of them have lost time to make up for and feelings of guilt to explore (and no doubt the production savings will go toward an explosive finale in just a few weeks).
Eighty percent of this episode takes place in a single room in a safe house where Maggie and Carol are held captive by four Saviors: Paula (aka the kid from Dune), Michelle, Molly and Donnie. Bleeding from a gunshot wound, Donnie loses consciousness... Read More
Forty-eight teams, 24 games, three networks… more than enough tournament action to get you fired – and it’s all on Sling! As you prepare to fill out your bracket, just remember 16 seeds have never won; 15 seeds are 7-117; 14 seeds are 20-104; 13 seeds are 25-99; 12 seeds are 44-80; 11 seeds are 42-82. Or you can just let election prognosticator, former pro poker player, and erstwhile baseball sage pick your winners for you.
All times Eastern.
Thursday, March 17
Texas Tech vs. Butler (12:40pm, truTV) Colorado vs. Connecticut (1:30pm, TNT) Iowa State vs. Iona (2pm, TBS) Virginia vs. Hampton (after Texas Tech/ Butler, truTV) Kansas vs. Austin Peay (after Colorado/UConn, TNT) Purdue vs. Little Rock (after Iowa State/Iona, TBS) Miami vs. Buffalo (6:50pm, TNT) North... Read More
NBA on ESPN - Cavs at Jazz: The Cleveland Cavaliers continue to hold the top spot in the Eastern conference, despite LeBron James’ recent declaration that the team is not yet playoff ready. Meanwhile, the Jazz are fighting for their lives, trailing the Rockets in the battle for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. (8pm Monday, ESPN)
Better Call Saul: Kim works to dig herself out of a hole at HHM while Jimmy’s frustration with his restrictive work environment increases. (10pm Monday, AMC)
And Then There Were None: If you missed the Sunday night airing of the first half of this two-part... Read More
After winning seven of their last 10 games, the Detroit Pistons have moved past the beleaguered Bulls to take possession of eighth place in the East. On Saturday, they beat up on the Sixers for the second time in three weeks, this time winning 125-111. Andre Drummond had himself another monster night, scoring 19 points and grabbing 15 rebounds while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 23 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals, and Reggie Jackson scored 24 to go along with 10 assists. Over the Pistons’ last 10 games, Drummond has averaged 15-15 and over the season has gone 15-15 a total of 28 times – the next highest total in the NBA this season is 10 each for both Boogie Cousins... Read More
Four episodes into this freshman season of Vinyl, it would have been hard to argue that the show was missing anything. It had drama, it had comedy, it had music, rock stars both real and fictional, it had drugs, it had sex – it even had a murder plot.
But with this fifth episode, “He in Racist Fire,” the show both reveals and provides what the show has been missing all along: a strong foil for Richie Finestra. Zak, Skip, and Julie are all great characters, but they are clearly junior partners at best. If their votes counted, the PolyGram deal would have gone through. They might complain, they might not like what Richie’s doing, but as we saw last week as they commiserated about the deal falling through, mostly... Read More
Who is the craziest person on Girls this week? We’re ranking them each week, through the lens of early-aughts pop-culture references.
Elijah
Crazy Level: Kelly Clarkson wins two Grammys, despite “legitimacy” in the music business Elijah and Dill are the cutest couple currently on the show. Elijah has been exactly 0% crazy this whole season, which makes me want to be happy for him while I simultaneously fear for his future with Dill.
Jessa/Adam
Crazy Level: Miley Cryus Pole Dancing at Teen Choice Awards I applaud Jessa and Adam’s (mostly Jessa’s) effort to stay away from each other, but as I’ve said every week: it was only a matter of time. While I think it was sort of shady for Jessa to be so mean to Hannah and... Read More
With Selection Sunday looming this weekend, conferences all across the land are wrapping up their own tournaments. The Big 12, ACC, Big 10, SEC, and the American, to name just a few, will be crowning champions and awarding bids to the Big Dance, and once the dust has settled, the bracket for this year’s NCAA Tournament will be unveiled.
Big 12
The NCAA’s best conference finished the regular season with the highest winning percentage (.631), three Wooden Award finalists, and six teams in the top 25, including the #1 team in the country, Kansas. While the Jayhawks, led by 6-8 senior forward Perry Ellis, are the favorites, having posted the best overall and conference record, #9 West Virginia, Oklahoma State and #21 Iowa State, featuring Georges Niang, have each beaten... Read More
Lena Headey, the actress blessed to play Cersei in Game of Thrones, teased fans on Twitter Sunday, saying season six is “worth the agonizing wait,” which we all got a taste of a couple of days later when the full season six trailer was released. Our heads are still spinning. (Entertainment Weekly)
Huey, Louie and Dewey are back at it with Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge for the reboot of the beloved DuckTales series on Disney XD. No exact release date has been set, but first-look art has been released as well as plans for the series to air in 2017. (Entertainment Weekly)
Disney Jr. has ordered two new series: Vampirina and Puppy Dog Tails. Vampirina is based off the book series Vampirina Ballerina about... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Sisters – Comedy queens Tina Fey and Amy Poehler star as sisters, who learn their parents are putting their childhood home on the market. Upset by the news, they have one weekend to clear out all their old stuff, but decide to throw a rager, instead, to recapture their high school glory with their old classmates.
Backtrack – Academy Award-winner Adrien Brody stars as a psychologist, who discovers his patients all have something very unusual in common before returning to his hometown to find out why he’s having strange visions.
March 8 American Descent Out of The Inferno ... Read More
This week gave us several pivotal moments for pretty much every character we’re truly invested in. From Floki to Rollo to Bjorn, we’re starting to see the winds change and the season four ship turn for its intended destination.
Ragnar is still playing the “poor, pitiful me, I survived and I’m king and I never asked for either of those things” card. I admit, I had grown tired of his moping about getting to keep his lavish (by those time’s standards) life, but now I’m really interested in his weird mindset that he now has a partner in Yidu to share it with. “I’m torn between the compulsion to either kill myself or everyone around me” is a strange way to begin a new romance, but I’m sort of... Read More
The Bulls forgot about their troubles on Monday just long enough to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 100-90. Pau Gasol dropped a triple-double, scored 12 points on a meager four-for-14 shooting, grabbed 17 rebounds, dished out 13 assists, and had five blocked shots. Derrick Rose continued to shoot well, making nine of 18 and bringing his shooting percentage over his last seven games to 55%. Jimmy Butler returned Saturday from a month-long layoff with a sore left knee to score 24 points with 11 rebounds and six assists in the Bulls’ win over Houston. But awoke the next day with swelling in the same knee, causing him to miss the Bucks game and tonight’s game, too, instead opting for a visit to the... Read More
At approximately 3:30pm ET Tuesday, HBO released the first full-length trailer teasing season six of Game of Thrones, and – as with many of you who share our enthusiasm for all things Westerosi – our office exploded with excitement.
After watching, re-watching, and then re-re-watching before finally coming back to general coherence, we were able to string together real thoughts, sort of, about what our precious eyes had just witnessed.
Not sure what you saw? You’re not alone, but hopefully Sarah Moffatt, Oliver Ward, Phil Borden and Joe Puccio can help shed some light or, perhaps, make things even more confusing, because WHAT THE HODOR JUST HAPPENED.
In this week’s episode, Sarah Harvey basically confirms what we already knew while the girls – Hanna and Caleb, really – devise a plan to get the mystery torturer to leave them alone. Per usual, everyone is still a big, fat liar hiding something from someone. If you missed our recap of last week’s episode, ‘Burn This,’ read it before proceeding!
Sarah: Interestingly enough, this episode was called, “Did You Miss Me?” So, that’s weird. Kelly: Who was it? S: I don’t know. I think somebody is back that we thought was gone, but we don’t know they’re back yet. K: Really? S: Yeah, based on the preview for next week, but we’ll get to that. Emily and Mona are still talking in that alley and Mona says... Read More
I’ll take “Teams That Most Recently Played Cleveland” for $400, Alex.
The Grizzlies on Monday night jumped out to an eight-point lead in the first quarter, fell behind 100-99 with 45 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, but then managed to ice the game away with four Vince Carter free throws in the final 13 seconds to seal a 106-103 victory. Carter had 15 points coming off the bench, but it was Tony Allen who led the charge, scoring 26, to along with four assists and five steals, including one off LeBron with 17 seconds to go while nursing a one-point lead. The Grizzlies are now 38-25 after starting the season 16-16, and find themselves in fifth place in the West.... Read More
The Saint Mary’s Gaels jumped out to a 15-4 lead in the first six minutes of play against the Pepperdine Waves in their WCC semifinal showdown and never looked back. A Calvin Henderson three-pointer made it 44-22 with a minute to play in the half. From there, it was smooth sailing as the Waves never got closer than 10 before finally falling 81-66. Saint Mary’s sophomore guard Emmett Naar played 39 minutes, scoring 14 points and dropping nine dimes. The Gaels are 27-4 overall and 17-3 in WCC play.
The ‘Zags got more trouble from the BYU Cougars than they’d anticipated as they trailed 50-49 early in the second half before an Eric McClellan... Read More
The old saying, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” has never seemed so real until after watching the first two episodes of the fourth season of Bates Motel. The truth of the matter is, Norma and Norman are one and the same – they’re both off their rockers – which has begun to ring alarmingly true as the show progresses.
At the end of season three, we saw Norman (Freddie Highmore) suffer a complete mental break after he took on the full persona of Mother and killed Bradley. But, the transformation into Mother – who is played by Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga – has skewed his mental state even more, which leads to a lot of tension and instability from Norman and the real Norma (Farmiga).
If you want to watch the rise of the Antichrist but don’t have the patience to keep up with the debates, then A&E has just the show for you. Enter Damien, a continuation of the 1976 horror classic The Omen, premiering tonight at 10pm after the season premiere of Bates Motel. It’s a little – well, a lot – schlocky, but that generally goes hand-in-hand with the genre (e.g., Sleepy Hollow and Supernatural). Though the pilot lingers too long on unnecessary build-up and skimps on plot advancement, it’s nonetheless a promising start for the series.
Without revealing too much, here’s a brief synopsis of “The Beast Rises,” the series premiere:
Damien Thorn is a globetrotting photojournalist covering the war in Syria (we’re later told his photos might win him... Read More
NCAA on ESPN - MAAC Tournament Final: The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference – Monmouth, Iona, Siena, Fairfield, St. Peter’s, Manhattan, Canisius, Rider, Quinnipiac, Niagara and Marist – finish their tournament with the winner getting a shiny... Read More
Monmouth, the number one seed in the MAAC tourney, fell behind Fairfield by nine with 5:54 to play in the first half of their MAAC semifinal showdown before awaking from their slumber to go on a 21-6 run and take the lead once and for all on their way to a 76-63 victory. Freshman Micah Seaborn led all scorers with 17, but it was 5’-8” guard Justin Robinson who filled up the box score with 15 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and two steals. The win was the Hawks fifth in a row and 13th in their last 14 games.
The Iona Gaels, the number two seed in the conference tournament, find themselves in their fourth... Read More
“Christmas, you go so fast. Christmas, come back!”
Sure, the Christmas song Bob Goulet cuts for American Century in “The Racket” – a canny play for the underserved post-Christmas market – is kind of terrible, and if it’s a real song that Goulet really recorded, Google has done a great job of scrubbing the evidence. But it reflects the way the characters on Vinyl are feeling: like Christmas is over, and it’s time to grudgingly go back to real life and adjust to their changed circumstances.
Four weeks in, it finally feels like Vinyl is settling into (ahem) a groove: Plotlines are coalescing, the world is expanding, and new characters are coming to the fore. More than any of the previous three episodes, including the Scorsese-directed pilot, this... Read More
And, we’re back into the drama with both feet. I knew Hannah’s overly dramatic personality couldn’t take a backseat to Marnie’s for much longer, and now that she is on her honeymoon, pronouncing “Ecuador” like a local, Marnie is once again only the second craziest person ever to draw breath. The crazy in this episode was pretty level across the board, apart from Hannah’s psycho explosion – much the way Marnie took the crazy cake in episode one. Perhaps that’s the trend: only one girl is allowed to be over-the-top nuts per episode.
Marnie
Level: Britney, Madonna and Christina triple kiss at the VMAs I can’t believe I’m putting Marnie at the bottom of the crazy totem pole. When Hannah loses her mind over Fran having naked pictures of... Read More
Jay and Mark Duplass, the sibling duo that helped bring “mumblecore” to the masses, have found a new home on television, where their sitcom Togetherness recently made its Season 2 debut on HBO. The Season One finale, aptly titled “Not So Together,” found Brett (Mark Duplass), Michelle (Melanie Lynskey), Alex (Steve Zissis) and Tina (Amanda Peet) scattered to the four winds: Michelle had gone off to Sacramento with her colleague David to seek funding for their charter school project; Alex had made a last-ditch plea to Tina to be with him, one that was pointedly and tearfully rejected; Brett then drove Alex to the airport so he could catch a flight to New Orleans to begin filming on a new movie… there was a lot of apartness.
#8 Tar Heels @ #17 Blue Devils (6:30pm ET Saturday, ESPN)
It’s the final regular season game of the year for two of the most storied teams in college basketball: the Tar Heels roll down Tobacco Road to confront the Cameron Crazies and the Blue Devils.
The Heels have struggled of late, losing four of their last nine games, but, on Monday, they defeated Syracuse 75-70 as coach Roy Williams started an all-senior lineup for the team’s final home game. The senior bench players soon gave way to the younger starters, however, creating an upside-down box score that showed the UNC subs scoring 53 points. But it was still senior starter Brice Johnson, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, who was tops in both categories with 14 points... Read More
We’re down to just a handful of characters who have managed to make it past George R. R. Martin’s (crossbow) trigger happy fingers. We’ve lost a lot in the last five seasons and it feels as though we can’t take losing any more of our beloved Game of Thrones characters – what is a world like where Cersei isn’t drinking wine and belittling everyone?
Alas, we are left with seven reasonable characters to consider for the Iron Throne, and with season six just seven weeks away, it begs the question: Who is fit to rule the Seven Kingdoms? Well, Sarah Moffatt, Joe Puccio, Oliver Ward and Sophie Vinograd do their best to make a case for each main character left standing.
Bless Sophie Turner and her accidental word vomit on the Oscars Red Carpet. Thanks to Sophie, – aka Sansa Stark – we can now breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Sansa is safe at least through the end of season six. (Vanity Fair)
Nicole Scherzinger and Sarah Hyland have joined the cast of ABC’s Dirty Dancing remake. Scherzinger is set to play Penny while Hyland will take on the role of Lisa Houseman, and is joining Abigail Breslin, who is playing the lead female role of Baby. (Deadline)
Following in her Full House big sister’s footsteps, who placed third on season 18, Jodie Sweetin has announced she will be competing in the 22nd cycle of Dancing With The Stars on ABC. (EW)
Just three weeks ago, one might have reasonably left the Wizards for dead on the side of I-95 as they were five games under .500 and in 10th place in the East. But they’ve gone 7-2 since then, most recently defeating the Timberwolves on Wednesday, 104-98. It was a huge night for the Wizards’ bench, as they outscored the starters 64-40, led by Bradley Beal’s 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting. The Wizards are 30-30, and tied for ninth in the East, just a half-game out of the playoff picture.
Cleveland is officially drifting into hot mess territory. They’ve lost three of their last five, including a 113-99 loss to the Wizards on Sunday, their lead over... Read More
Maria Thayer used to be one of those girls you see on TV or in movies and think, “Hey! She looks familiar! Where do I know her from?!” You’ve seen her, whether you realized it or not, in huge hits on the big and small screen, like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, 30 Rock, Cougar Town, Kroll Show, Maron, Portlandia, Arrested Development, Louie, Strangers With Candy, Will and Grace, New Girl and Accepted just to name a few.
But in a profession she describes as “unstable,” she’s found some stability, at least for now, starring in Those Who Can’t, the first scripted comedy show from truTV. Maria plays Abby Logan, a spunky and “passionate” high school librarian – passionate about things in general, not so much being a librarian – who spends... Read More
Poor Floki. Just when things couldn’t get any worse for the guy – his best friend (aka the king) turned on him and now he’s being tortured for doing what he thought was the right thing – it gets much, much worse.
I have to hand it to Helga. She is a very loving and loyal wife in a time where the idea loyalty in a marriage seems to be open to interpretation. You can’t help but feel bad for her as she holds the bowl over Floki’s head to collect the water constantly dripping on his head and slowly driving him crazy. It’s hard to imagine a water drip really being torture; couldn’t he just ignore it? But, then I think about how annoyed I get when someone starts... Read More
On Wednesday, the Spurs beat the Pistons 97-81, for their 29th consecutive home win while clinching a playoff berth for the 19th consecutive season. After leading by just one at the half, the Spurs pulled away in the third quarter and coasted through a fourth quarter that saw the two teams score just 34 points combined. Kawhi Leonard led all scorers with 27 while LaMarcus Aldridge went 23-10. The Spurs are now 51-9, good for second in the West, and at +12.6 points per game, remain on-pace to set the NBA record for point differential.
Meanwhile, the Pelicans saw head coach Alvin Gentry lose his cool last night after watching his team commit 22 turnovers in... Read More
The Detroit Pistons are riding high, having won their last four, including victories over the top two teams in the East: Cleveland and Toronto. The Piston’s victory Sunday over the Raptors was a team effort as all five starters scored at least 14 with Andre Drummond posting 15-18. The recent winning streak has lifted Detroit to 31-29, and nudged them from ninth place to a tie for seventh in the East.
Since opening the second half of the season with a loss to the Clippers, the Spurs have regained their footing by winning five in a row. Saturday’s victim was the Houston Rockets, who lost 104-94. In a game that saw the Spurs’ LaMarcus Aldridge go... Read More
In this week’s episode, we learned Mona is a bigger player than we thought, the girls are probably going to end up with their exes, and everyone is still a big, fat liar. It’s still a wonder the Pretty Little Liars can function in daily life. If you missed our spoilerific recap of last week’s episode, ‘We’ve All Got Baggage,’ read it before proceeding!
Kelly: I forget exactly how the episode started, but the first thing I have down is Ali is married. I guess they actually went through with it. It’s so bizarre to me. Sarah: Yeah, it’s weird. I think it started with the girls at the loft, I guess, and they were talking about Ali getting married before Aria noticed the camera and decides they... Read More
Sling TV’s On Demand library is packed full of great movies, specials, TV episodes, and even full seasons of great shows. But it’s not static; as new titles come in, older ones go out. Here’s a full listing of what’s going out this week – get ‘em while you can!
Featured:
All Is Lost (EPIX) - Nominated for a slew of awards in 2013, including a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award for best Sound Editing, All Is Lost centers around a veteran mariner (Robert Redford), who takes on the Indian Ocean alone. Redford delivers a great solo performance as a sailor, who finds himself in over his head – almost literally – when he wakes to his vessel taking on water after colliding with a... Read More
With most works of fiction, the narrative tension comes from not knowing what’s going to happen. The unique tension of Better Call Saul comes from knowing exactly what’s going to happen, just not when or how. If there had never been a Breaking Bad, if we did not know Jimmy McGill will, only a few years hence, be knowingly representing murderers and drug dealers, and Mike Ehrmentraut will be the ruthless hit man/fixer for the Southwest’s biggest meth kingpin, an episode like this one, where really very little happens, might be enough to turn viewers off for good.
But there was a Breaking Bad, and we do know those things, and so every little thing these characters do is freighted with the... Read More
The Baylor Bears maintained their place in the polls last week despite losing to then-number two Kansas 66-60, but they recovered to defeat Texas Christian 86-71. Baylor jumped out to an early lead over TCU, opening the game with 11 unanswered points and never looked back. Taurean Prince and Jonathan Motley led Baylor with 22 points apiece on a combined 17-of-27 shooting as the Bears dominated the board 43-18. The Bears are 21-8 overall, 10-6 in the Big 12.
Oklahoma took it on the chin Saturday, losing 76-63 to the Texas Longhorns on a night when the Sooners’ star guard Buddy Hield scored 33 points on 12-of-24 shooting. Unfortunately for Hield, his teammates made just 11 of 37 (29.7 percent) from the field and... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Creed – Sylvester Stallone gives an Academy Award-nominated performance reprising his role as Rocky Balboa alongside Michael B. Jordan, who plays Adonis Johnson, the son of Rocky’s former opponent-turned-manager, Apollo Creed. Adonis, who wants desperately to follow in his father’s footsteps, seeks out Rocky and asks the retired champion to train him for his shot at a boxing title.
The Night Before – Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are reunited and joined by Anthony Mackie (Captain America) as three best friends who have a long-standing tradition of gathering on Christmas Eve to celebrate the holidays. As Isaac (Rogen) is about to become a first-time father, the gang realizes their tradition is... Read More
New Channel - VICELAND: H2 is now Viceland. Check out full episodes of brand new shows like Noisey, Gaycation, Balls Deep, F*ck, That’s Delicious, Weediquette, and Flophouse! ahead of their premiere dates. (Full episode sneak peeks begin at 5pm, VICELAND)
Mavis: Get to know soul music legend and civil rights icon Mavis Staples and her family group, The Staple Singers, featuring interviews with Bob Dylan, Prince and Bonnie Raitt. (9pm Monday, HBO)
Better Call Saul: Last week’s episode tied up the Wormald storyline in a rather amusing fashion, but it also had Kim declaring in no uncertain terms she has no interest in... Read More
Get ready for a very different type of lifestyle programming: VICELAND, the new channel launching today from the people who created the wildly popular VICE magazine and the critically acclaimed news show on HBO, is 24 hours a day of pure, uncut curiosity about food, music, sex, drugs, people, places – all the things that make life interesting.
VICELAND’s programming will obviously expand over time, but it’s launching with a compelling slate of shows, a few of which we got a look at before the channel went live. Here are a few highlights to look for:
BALLS DEEP (premiering 9pm ET Monday)
Intrepid 95-pound weakling Thomas Morton embeds himself into various subcultures to get to the bottom of what they’re really all... Read More
Warning: this post contains spoilers from the most recent episode of The Walking Dead. Watch the episode on Sling On-Demand before you read.
Maybe because it was also Oscars night AMC offered up a slightly superfluous episode of The Walking Dead.
Daryl summarized 75 percent of the latest episode when he said, “We want food, medicine, and one of them cows.” It basically played out like a game of Catan: Cities and Knights: in exchange for vowing to protect the walled Hilltop Colony from Negan and his band of robbers, Rick and his fellow defenders from the Alexandria Safe-Zone received a Year of Plenty (i.e., Catan-speak for commodities like grain – presumably sorghum).
Carol was nowhere to be seen for the second episode in a row. If you watch this... Read More
The Jayhawks on Saturday clinched a share of their twelfth straight Big 12 title with a 67-58 win over Texas Tech. Kansas’ star senior forward Perry Ellis had an off day, scoring just eight points on four-of-13 shooting, but sixth man Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and guard Frank Mason picked up the slack, scoring 17 and 16 respectively. The win makes Kansas 25-4 overall, 13-3 in the Big 12, and keeps them firmly in the hunt for a number one seed come the tournament.
Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield dropped 33 points on Texas on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough as the Longhorns dominated the game, outshooting the Sooners 45 percent to 38 percent and outrebounding them 38 to 29 on their way to... Read More
“People change themselves, or they don’t. Willingness is the key.” – Lester Grimes
There is nothing more frustrating than when you follow the rules and check all the boxes and do exactly what you’re supposed to do, and it turns out it’s still not enough. It’s a problem that multiple characters in “Whispered Secrets,” Vinyl’s third episode, confront and react to with varying results.
With American Century hemorrhaging cash in the wake of the scuttled PolyGram deal, Richie instructs the staff to cut 70% of the roster, sign some exciting new acts, and put out a quick-buck Christmas album in the interim. At a dinner honoring his old mentor Maury Gold, Richie learns – through a few broadsides by Ken Marino’s super-smarmy emcee – that the word is out... Read More
To my surprise, this week’s episode of Girls was the most sensible and non-distracting episode I’ve seen in awhile: we actually had a chance to focus on and relate to the drama unfolding without being distracted by this or that character’s overreaction.
Elijah
Level: Jessica Simpson’s entire stint on Newlyweds.
Elijah is hands-down my favorite character on the show. He’s just the right cocktail of outrageous, down-to-earth and hilarious to bring what seems to be a breather to a show that’s so easy to drown in. His charming and slightly delusional ways are subtle enough to make me love him, but how long can that last? How long will it last now that he’s being potentially pursued by famous news anchor Dill Harcourt (Corey Stoll)? Only time will... Read More
#7 North Carolina vs. #3 Virginia (6:30pm ET Saturday, ESPN)
Led by six-foot-nine senior forward Brice Johnson, the North Carolina Tar Heels beat the Miami Hurricanes Saturday 96-71 as Johnson scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead all players in both categories. It was a big win for UNC, who desperately wanted to put behind them their heartbreaking loss to Duke just three days earlier. They followed up with an 80-68 win over NC State as Johnson went 22-11. The ‘Heels are 23-5 overall and sit atop the ACC at 12-3.
The Virginia Cavaliers hope to rebound from a dispiriting loss to Miami on a night when the ‘Canes were deadly from downtown, hitting 10 of 19, while the Cavs hit on... Read More
Bulls vs. Hawks (8pm ET Friday, ESPN) It’s a battle for 6th place!
Already limping from the loss of Jimmy Butler, the Bulls on Wednesday were without the services of Derrick Rose, who’s struggling with a balky hamstring, but they found a way to get it done, beating the Wizards 109-104. Pau Gasol was an assist shy of a triple-double, posting 10-15-9, while five teammates scored at least 14. The win was Chicago’s third in a row, making them 30-26.
The Atlanta Hawks’ third loss in a row came Monday as they fell 102-92 to the Golden State Warriors, putting their record at 31-27. Steph Curry tied the Hawks’ Kyle Korver’s record of making a three-pointer in 127 consecutive games. Korver played a feckless... Read More
IFC has greenlit two new comedy series: a new horror comedy from Dana Gould (The Simpsons) called Stan Against Evil and a Funny or Die adaptation of Brockmire starring Hank Azaria (The Simpsons, Night at The Museum. Set to premiere in the fall, Stan Against Evil centers on a disgruntled former sheriff in a small New England town forced to team up with his replacement when demons are unleashed on the town. Brockmire follows a famous MLB announcer (Azaria), who suffers a public meltdown on air after learning of his wife’s straying ways. Brockmire is expected to premiere early next year. (Deadline)
Ken Jeong has been cast to the play twin brother of Randall Park’s character on the ABC show Fresh Off The Boat. While this team-up might seem... Read More
The much-anticipated 88th Academy Awards are finally here! Well, almost. This weekend we will finally know who is, in fact, the best actor and actress, who directed the best film, and which film is actually the best of the best. The fun of the Oscars, apart from snarking about the bad dresses on the red carpet, is actually knowing what the heck you’re talking about when you fill out your office ballots and make your way to your black-tie Oscar party. That’s where we come in.
Listen, we love movies just as much as we love TV, especially Oscar-worthy movies, so we’re excited to point you toward a number of this year’s nominated films.
The 88th Annual Academy Awards will be broadcast live from the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles with host Chris Rock and a strong slate of Best Picture nominees that includes BRIDGE OF SPIES, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, THE MARTIAN, SPOTLIGHT, and THE REVENANT.
Certain Sling TV subscribers will be able to watch the show with the $5 Broadcast Extra add-on package, which includes local ABC, Univision, and UniMás affiliates. Thanks to the complex web of contracts and agreements that is the TV universe, we’re only able to offer Broadcast Extra to Sling subscribers whose local affiliates are owner-operated. You may be eligible to get Broadcast Extra if you live in these metro areas:
Chicago Fresno-Visalia Houston Los Angeles New York Philadelphia Raleigh-Durham San Francisco
Thunder vs. Pelicans (8pm ET Thursday, TNT) After a torrid 29-6 stretch heading into the All Star break, the Oklahoma City Thunder sputtered into the second half of the season, falling first to Indiana 101-98 on Friday, and then taking a 115-92 beating by the Cavs. But they bounced back with a 116-103 win over the Mavericks on Wednesday, as Russell Westbrook led the way with 24 points, 7 rebounds and 13 assists. At 41-16, the OKC Thunder have the third-best record in the West, and fourth-best record in the league.
Already ravaged by the loss of starters Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon, the Pelicans’ rotation was further depleted over the weekend by backup center Omer Asik’s sprained ankle, which is expected to keep... Read More
If Ragnar is going to spend all of season four pouting over Floki saving his life, it’s going to be a long season.
Since Ragnar woke up, he’s been nothing but pissy to pretty much everyone he encounters, particularly Floki. Oddly enough, one of those rare exceptions is Floki’s wife, Helga, even though she freed Floki from his towncenter shackles to make a run for it. Ragnar can’t be bothered to hunt Floki down, however, so he sends his second eldest son, Ubbe – who is, like, ten – to lead a search party. Despite his flaring temper these days, Ragnar is gentle with Helga and tells her he doesn’t blame her for setting Floki free. But when Aslaug, his wife and mother of most of his children, mentions that... Read More
John Wall had trouble getting shots to fall Tuesday against the Pelicans, making just five of 17, but still managed a triple-double, posting 16-12-11 to help Washington best New Orleans 109-89. The win brought the Wizards’ record to 26-29 and within three games of the Bulls and Hornets in the hunt for the final playoff spot in the East. But, before that can happen, the Wiz need to leapfrog past the Pistons, who are one game ahead.
Following a huge upset victory over the Raptors, the Bulls won again Sunday, defeating the lowly Lakers 126-115 as Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol and E’Twaun Moore each scored at least 20 while three more Bulls broke 15 points. Collectively,... Read More
This was a momentous week in the world of the Pretty Little Liars: murder weapons were found, texts were sent, and information was leaked. It’s a wonder the Liars can function in daily life. If you missed our recap of last week’s episode, ‘Where Somebody Waits For Me,’ read it before proceeding!
Sarah: Once again, we see the girls committing petty crimes instead of just reporting everything they know to the police. Kelly: Ali, Hanna and Emily breaking into Sarah Harvey’s hotel room – S: Which, the last we saw it was spotless and filled with weird glove hands. K: Right, and they go to the closet to find the hole, but when they get there the hole is gone. Like, there was no trace of it anywhere. ... Read More
The symbolism of Kim’s gift to Jimmy in the week’s Better Call Saul – a “World’s Best Lawyer” travel cup, cheekily modified by Kim to read “World’s 2nd Best Lawyer” – was pretty hard to miss. Though it fit snugly in the cup holder of his trusty Suzuki Esteem, it does not quite fit in the cup holder of his company car, a brand new Mercedes.
Obviously, this is a metaphor for the idea that Jimmy will never really fit in at his new firm. But if you were patting yourself on the back for that little bit of ENG 210 close-reading, it’s fair to say that Jimmy probably missed it, shrugging it off by saying “Must be metric.”
While Kim likely meant Jimmy to take “World’s 2nd... Read More
Sling TV’s On Demand library is packed full of great movies, specials, TV episodes, and even full seasons of great shows. But it’s not static; as new titles come in, older ones go out. Here’s a full listing of what’s going out this week – get ‘em while you can!
Featured:
Titanic - Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star in James Cameron’s film centered on the 1912 sinking of the “unsinkable ship.” Rose (Winslet), a high class teenager, boards the ship with her mother and fiance but her voyage from the U.K. to New York City, and ultimately her life, is changed forever when she meets Jack (DiCaprio), a penniless artist with a free spirit. The two fall in love during their time on the Titanic before tragedy strikes... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
The Good Dinosaur – In an alternate universe where the dinosaurs were not wiped out 65 millions years ago, Arlo, a young dinosaur, and his family work the land day in and day out for survival. But when he goes on a walk with his father, a severe rainstorm brings tragedy and chaos and Arlo is left to his own devices to find his way back home. Fortunately, he teams up with Spot, a Neanderthal boy who protects Arlo and helps him on his journey.
Secret In Their Eyes – Academy Award winner Chiwetel Ejiofor and Academy Award Winner Julia Roberts star as Ray... Read More
#2 Jayhawks vs. #19 Bears (8pm ET Tuesday, ESPN 2)
The Kansas Jayhawks shot 50 percent from the floor and controlled the boards 34-29 on their way to a 72-63 victory Saturday over Kansas State. The win lifted Kansas’ record to 23-4 overall, which helped them maintain their #2 ranking, bring their conference record to 11-3, and secure their position atop the Big 12. But, it was a tough night for Perry Ellis, the Jayhawks’ best player, as he suffered a cut behind his ear that required 12 stitches, and Kansas State used his absence to close within four points. Upon Ellis’ return, he helped right the ship, but then caught a finger from teammate Wayne Seldon in the eye, sending him back to the sidelines with his eye... Read More
Warning: this post contains spoilers from the most recent episode of The Walking Dead. Watch the episode on Sling on-demand before you read.
Well, that was probably bound to happen. In a show where shocking deaths have become commonplace, the biggest shock of all comes when two characters hook up.
After the inevitable tragedy of the mid-season premiere, the following episode offered a lighter (clearly much lighter) leap forward to a time when Carl is mostly healed, the streets of Alexandria are zombie-free, the wall is once again fully operational, and Rick and Michonne spend their mornings discussing toothpaste and their nights… Well, Jesus (newcomer Tom Payne) certainly got an eyeful, to say the least.
Perhaps because Andrea – who is still alive and in... Read More
Turner Classic Movies is counting down to the Academy Awards with 31 Days of Oscar, a marathon of hundreds of Oscar-nominated films. With ten or more movies running every day and none of them repeating during February, the schedule is a little overwhelming to even the most seasoned cineaste.
So contributors Sarah Moffatt, Oliver Ward, and Alex Castle are going to take it a week at a time, with a full schedule for the week with comments on some of our favorites. Note that most of the movies are going to show up in TCM’s on-demand section soon after they air, so you can catch them even if you miss the live broadcast.
The Virginia Cavaliers took a well-deserved week off following a 73-53 defeat of North Carolina State last Monday with Malcolm Brogdon pouring in 22 points along with five assists. The win brought the Cavs’ record to 21-5 overall, 10-4 in the ACC, and helped rinse out the bad taste of a 63-62 loss to Duke two days earlier. The Cavaliers made the Sweet 16 the last two seasons and hope to go even further this year.
The Hurricanes took it on the chin Saturday as the #5 North Carolina Tar Heels trounced them 96-71 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicates. The ‘Canes trailed by as much as 38 midway through the second half before slowly chipping away at the difference during garbage time. Sheldon McClellan,... Read More
If you’ve ever watched a minute of Girls, you know how insane the entire character list is, especially the four girls we focus on: Hannah (Lena Dunham), Marnie (Allison Williams), Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet), and Jessa (Jemima Kirke). At any given time, one girl seems clearly crazier than the others, though, the reality is they are all equal parts narcissistic and neurotic.
In the spirit of their chaotic personalities colliding for another 10 episodes for our enjoyment, I’m going to spend the next several weeks ranking the main cast – the guys are just as crazy, friends – from least crazy to most crazy on a scale of early 2000s pop culture references.
Shoshanna
Level: Britney Spears marries Jason Alexander (no, not the guy from Seinfeld) in Las Vegas
The biggest surprise in “Yesterday Once More,” Vinyl’s second episode, is that the collapse of the Mercer Arts Building that ended the pilot turns out not to have been a product of Richie Finestra’s cocaine-induced (and PTSD-from-just-murdering-a-guy-induced) psychosis – it really happened, and Richie stumbles back to the American Century offices covered in dust and rubble and covered in bumps and bruises – though not before riding out the rest of his bender at a Bruce Lee movie.
If you want to get technical about it, the building that housed the Mercer Arts Center really did cave in in 1973. But it happened at 5pm: the New York Dolls were not on stage, 300 people were evacuated before it fell, and the four people who did not get out... Read More
The Lakers on Friday lost their fourth game in a row, this time falling 119-113 to the San Antonio Spurs, despite having three players score 20 or more points. Kobe Bryant led the way, as is his custom, with 25 points on 10-of-25 shooting. Meanwhile, youngsters Lou Williams and Jordan Clark combined needed fewer shots (23) to score 21 and 20, respectively. Bryant dislocated his finger late in the fourth quarter but had it popped back in (watch below), and x-rays showed no fracture. The Lakers are now 11-45 and in second place in the Ben Simmons Sweepstakes.
On Friday, a badly depleted Bulls team managed to knock off the mighty Raptors, owners of the sixth-best... Read More
The Girls are back and little has changed. The gang is slightly older but still overly dramatic and extremely crazy – the qualities you either love or really, really hate about this show.
After going their separate ways – Shoshanna to Japan, Jessa to rehab, Hannah to Iowa and back, and Marnie getting married – the gang has found their way back together for Marnie’s big day, tying the knot with her loathsome boyfriend/bandmate Desi. But it wouldn’t be Girls without fighting, yelling, tears, confessions and boobs.
Every season, I half-expect everyone – the guys and girls alike – to be a little smarter, a little less self-involved, and a little less off their rockers. But, every season, I’m quickly reminded these people are outrageously narcissistic and it just... Read More
It was made extremely clear in this first episode that season four will be the season of the women. With Ragnar incapacitated from the Paris raids and Rollo staying behind, Bjorn and Queen Aslaug are left in charge. Aslaug pays a visit to the seer to ask if she’ll rule the kingdom someday, but the seer does not give her a definitive answer. Then, after Ragnar comes back from the brink of death – something most wives would be pumped about – Aslaug seems rather disappointed her husband has survived.
Ragnar’s son Bjorn was made acting king in Ragnar’s absence, and his first order of business is to... Read More
The first Game of Thrones season six trailer was released this week, and it was more confusing than enlightening, but if it doesn’t get you pumped for what’s coming this season, nothing will. (Vanity Fair)
Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup are back for the reboot of everyone’s favorite animated crime-fighting trio: the Powerpuff Girls. The series is set to return in the spring, so until then, we’ll have to settle for listening to the new theme song on repeat. (Deadline)
Kerry Washington is already getting Emmy buzz for her role in the new HBO film Confirmation, which tells the story of Anita Hill’s (Washington) testimony during Supremere Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ sexual assault confirmation hearings. This first trailer was released this week, featuring a cast that also includes... Read More
#20 Duke vs. #18 Louisville (12 noon ET Saturday, ESPN)
The Duke Blue Devils are back.
On Wednesday, Duke defeated their most hated rival: the #9 North Carolina Tar Heels. The Devils came out on top 74-73, thanks in large part to a last-second block of a Joel Berry jumper by Derryck Thornton. The Blue Devils got it done with almost zero help from their depleted bench as five guys played all but 14 minutes and scored all 74 points, while the ‘Heels torpedoed their own cause by making just 1 of 13 3-point attempts. Duke is now 20-6 and have won five in a row, and if they win today, they could rocket themselves into the top 10.
Paul George and the Pacers peaked in mid-December at 16-9 and have since gone 12-16 to bring their record to 28-25 – not bad for sixth place in the East. Indiana closed out the first half of the season with a 117-95 loss to the Charlotte Hornets as they found themselves down 17 at the half. Paul George had a ho-hum performance of 22-8-6, leading the team in all three categories, but the Hornets .517 shooting percentage and 45-39 rebounding advantage were just too much on a night when the Pacers made only four of 18 from three-point land.
Winners of 12 of their last 14, the Oklahoma City Thunder moved past the Cavs for the... Read More
The Chicago Bulls enter the fray without the services of their best player Jimmy Butler (knee), their starting power forward Nikola Mirotic (appendectomy), their heart and soul and rebounding specialist Joakim Noah (shoulder), and their other starting power forward Taj Gibson as he nurses a strained foot. The Bulls have lost all four games since Butler went down against the Nuggets on February 5th and find themselves 27-25, barely hanging on to the seventh spot in the East.
The Cavs won their last three games before the All Star break, beating up on weaklings like New Orleans, Sacramento and the Lakers, lifting their record to 38-14, good enough to stay atop the East and keep the... Read More
A great perk of my job is getting exposure to shows not only before they are released, but to shows I may not normally watch on my own. History Channel’s Vikings is one of those shows. I was in the same boat as a lot of people I’ve talked to since watching the first four episodes of season four: I heard it was good and I wanted to watch it, but needed a final push to sit down and do it. And now that I have, I have to say I’m hooked.
Vikings is often compared to Game of Thrones, and even though both shows take place in vastly different times, a lot of the rules and themes are the same: do whatever it takes for power, land and wealth.... Read More
Since an 80-69 loss to Miami, Duke has been won four in a row, including victories last week over #13 Louisville and #7 Virginia. Brandon Ingram led the scoring against Virginia, dropping 25 on the Cavaliers, but it was Grayson Allen who was the hero, scoring the final two of his 15 points on a last-second jumper for a 63-62 win. The Blue Devils are 19-6, 8-4 in the ACC.
The North Carolina Tar Heels jumped four spots this week, from number nine to number five, but it’s unclear what they did to deserve it. Yes, they went 2-0 last week to run their record to 21-4 overall and at 10-2 atop the ACC, but it was against a terrible Boston College team, and a just okay Providence team –... Read More
Sling TV’s On Demand library is packed full of great movies, specials, TV episodes, and even full seasons of great shows. But it’s not static; as new titles come in, older ones go out. Here’s a full listing of what’s going out this week – get ‘em while you can!
Featured:
Annie Hall - Starring, directed and written by Woody Allen, Annie Hall tells the story of comedian Alvy singer (Allen) and his rocky relationship with nightclub singer Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). Singer reflects on his childhood and early adult years before launching into the story of his love for Annie. In 1978, this film won four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.
We learned more about what’s really going on this week: names were cleared, others were questions, and everyone is still a big, fat liar. It’s still a wonder the Pretty Little Liars can function in daily life. If you missed our recap of last week’s episode, ‘Do Not Disturb,’ read it before proceeding!
Kelly: The last episode ended with Hanna saying, “Let’s keep driving,” which brought them to the hotel room with the heart-shaped bed. Sarah: Which was the ugliest hotel room I’ve ever seen. But, at least they acknowledge it was tacky. We can’t complain, though, because Jordan was shirtless. Oh, and we had some mounting! She mounted him, which is sort of risque for Freeform. K: Yeah! Jordan comes in with breakfast – S: He didn’t... Read More
Before I saw last night’s second-season premiere of Better Call Saul, I previewed the new season by asking five questions that I figured would be answered over the course of the season. Imagine my surprise when four of them were answered over the course of this first episode: Jimmy and Kim did get together, he did take the cushy partner-track gig at the bigger firm, Mr. Price did return (and is clearly going to need a lawyer), and there was a Breaking Bad cameo: Ken, the Bluetoothing investment d-bag that Jimmy and Kim fleeced out of a bottle’s worth of high-end tequila was the same dude Walt took revenge on by squeegeeing his car battery way back in season 1. To top it off, the $50-a-shot tequila, Zafiro Añejo,... Read More
Critics called the mid-season return the best episode of the entire series and in many respects, it was. The season-long process of splitting the narrative into isolated perspectives finally paid off with a courageous battle for Alexandria that brought together all of the primary and secondary characters, united in their fight against a massive herd of walkers. Even if the episode fell slightly short of such high praise, fans were treated to a finely crafted exploration of the series’ primary themes of loss, redemption and unification.
The spectacle and emotional elements did not disappoint, either. Daryl upgraded from a crossbow to an RPG launcher in the first five minutes – and immediately used his new weapon to undiplomatically solve the confrontation with Negan’s men; Glenn and Maggie reunited once... Read More
In January, the Iowa State Cyclones looked like they were gonna be a major factor when March Madness rolled around, defeating then-number one Oklahoma and then-number four Kansas within eight days of each other. But since then, they’ve lost three of five. On Saturday, however, they defeated #24 Texas, 85-75, as Wooden Award contender Georges Niang and teammate Monte Morris led all scorers with 24 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists apiece. The Cyclones are 18-7, 7-5 in the Big 12.
The Baylor Bears have lost three of their last four, most recently falling to Texas Tech 84-66 on Saturday. Though Baylor controlled the boards 31-22, Texas Tech was shooting the lights out, making 26 of 45, including nine of... Read More
Oklahoma State on Saturday barely squeaked by the Kansas State Wildcats for a 58-55 overtime win, as the Cowboys’ Leyton Hammond led the team in scoring with 13 points, and Jeff Newberry chipped in with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Since starting the season 9-4, the Cowboys are now 12-13, victims of the thresher that is the Big 12, and five of the Cowboys’ final six games are against nationally ranked Big 12 teams, starting with…
The Kansas Jayhawks this week leapfrogged from #6 to #2 in the nation thanks to a 75-65 win against #10 West Virginia, followed by a 76-72 victory over #3 Oklahoma. The latter game was billed as a showdown of Wooden Award Late-Season Top 20 finalist Perry Ellis, (16.6 points, 6.5 rebounds) and the Sooners’... Read More
Turner Classic Movies is counting down to the Academy Awards with 31 Days of Oscar, a marathon of hundreds of Oscar-nominated films. With ten or more movies running every day and none of them repeating during February, the schedule is a little overwhelming to even the most seasoned cineaste.
So contributors Sarah Moffatt, Evan Wilder, Oliver Ward, and Alex Castle are going to take it a week at a time, with a full schedule for the week with comments on some of our favorites. Note that most of the movies are going to show up in TCM’s on-demand section soon after they air, so you can catch them even if you miss the live broadcast.
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Trumbo – Based on true events, Academy Award nominee Bryan Cranston stars as Dalton Trumbo, an extremely successful screenwriter who finds himself blacklisted in Hollywood as the war on the Communist Party shifts into full swing in the late 1940s and early ‘50s.
Steve Jobs – Both Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet received Academy Award nominations for their roles as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Apple marketing executive Joanna Hoffman, respectively. Based on the biography written by Walter Isaacson along with interviews conducted by writer Aaron Sorkin, this film chronicles 14 years (1984 - 1998) of Steve Jobs’ life and the large releases of... Read More
“Happy Monday” is seldom said unironically, but I for one am looking forward to tonight’s season 2 premiere of my favorite new show of last season, Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould’s Breaking Bad prequel/spinoff Better Call Saul.
What’s interesting about this show, which follows luckless attorney Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) on a journey that Breaking Bad fans know will eventually bring him into an office with a giant U.S. Constitution on the wall, a “Saul Goodman, Esq.” nameplate on the desk, and casual suggestions of murdering witnesses bandied about in the air, is that it somehow manages to be surprising even as we all know where it’s headed.
The revelation at the end of season 1 (spoilers follow – catch up on Netflix!) that Jimmy’s brother Chuck was the... Read More
Six seasons in, an unmistakable pattern has emerged: whenever there’s a surplus of characters on The Walking Dead who have enjoyed some semblance of stability for too long, something horrible happens and at least 20 percent of them die. It happened at the CDC, Hershel’s farm, the prison, Woodbury, and it’s clearly about to happen at Alexandria.
To help you prepare for Sunday’s massacre midseason premiere (AMC, 9pm), here’s a list of everyone still standing at the end of the last episode, as well as each character’s likelihood of making it out of or back to Alexandria alive:
(While this post contains no explicit spoilers from upcoming episodes, it does contain speculation based on as-yet untelevised events that occur in the comics.)
Better Call Saul: The prequel to Breaking Bad is back, and there are many questions the series will (hopefully) answer in its second season. (10pm Monday, AMC)
NCAA on ESPN: Five of Oklahoma State’s final six games are against nationally ranked opponents, all of them from the mercilessly brutal Big 12 conference. First up for the Cowboys is a trip Kansas to face the Jayhawks, who’ve been ranked no lower than seventh all year long and feature Wooden Award Late-Season Top 20 finalist Perry Ellis, a 6-foot-8 senior forward averaging 16.8 points and 6.5 rebounds.(9pm Monday, ESPN)
Major Crimes: The final part of season four premieres... Read More
Colm Meaney (Hell of Wheels) has joined the cast for Will, a scripted show from TNT about William Shakespeare in his 20s. The show centers around young Shakespeare and his arrival into the world of 16th century theatre in London, where he faces rioting audiences and religious fanatics. Meany will play James Burbage, a carpenter with a vision to build the first theatre in London since the Roman era that becomes so famous it’s only referred to as The Theatre. (Deadline)
Joining A&E’s already extensive reality prison shows is a new docuseries called 60 Days In. The series is meant to expose the wrongdoings and corrupt behavior happening inside of Clark County Jail in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Seven innocent people go undercover at Clark County Jail, which houses 500... Read More
When Eric Clapton formed a band with Steve Winwood, or when Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young got together, or when half of Soundgarden and half of Pearl Jam teamed up to form Temple of the Dog, or when Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones and the guy from Queens of the Stone Age formed Them Crooked Vultures, they call that a “supergroup” – successful guys in their own right getting together to see if the whole can be even greater than the sum of their considerable parts.
The combination of director Martin Scorsese (GoodFellas, Taxi Driver, The Last Waltz among many other classics), showrunner Terence Winter (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire) and Mick Jagger (if you don’t know who he is you shouldn’t be reading this) is like a supergroup... Read More
It’s a fake holiday designed by big corporations to trick you into spending money on fancy meals and ridiculously expensive flowers that’ll be dead in two days (not to mention you can buy them for a fraction of the price the next day). But you don’t have to fall victim to the Valentine’s Day nonsense. Who’s to say a quiet night at home with take-out and movies isn’t the best way to spend time with your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, puppy, cat, gallon of ice cream, or Ryan Gosling-shaped pillow – we’re not judging, friend. In fact, we’re encouraging. Sling TV is there for you and whoever you’re spending Valentine’s Day with this year.
With the help of our most romantic Sling staffers – Alex Castle,... Read More
It’s two former #1 teams, currently tied atop the Big 12 Conference, in a rematch of one of the most thrilling games of the year, as the 20-3 Oklahoma Sooners play host to the 20-4 Kansas Jayhawks. When these teams met in January, the Jayhawks came out on top, winning 109-106 in triple overtime. It was a game that saw Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield score 46 points, but fall short to the Jayhawks trio of Perry Ellis, Devonte’ Graham and Wayne Selden Jr, each of whom scored more than 20 points.
Kansas is riding a four-game winning streak during which they’ve beaten #20 Kentucky and #10 West Virginia. The Sooners recovered from their loss last Saturday to Kansas State by beating the #24 Texas Longhorns,... Read More
There have been a lot of hospital shows on television over the years. It is arguably the most durable format on television, and it has provided some of the biggest hits in the history of the medium (ER, Grey’s Anatomy, St. Elsewhere, House, MAS*H, the list goes on). There have been hospital dramas, hospital comedies, hospital romances. I think there was even a hospital musical on UPN at one point.
But there has never been a hospital show like Cinemax’s The Knick.
Set at Knickerbocker Hospital in New York City at the turn of the 20th century, when medicine in general and surgery in particular was largely experimental, The Knick follows the exploits of Dr. John Thackery (Clive Owen), acknowledged surgical pioneer and resident genius. Thackery performs his... Read More
Pelicans big man Anthony Davis hit a free throw with 2:14 to play against the Jazz, tying the score at 90-90, and then scored his team’s next 7 points to secure a 100-96 victory. The win came against a red-hot Utah team that had won its previous seven games, and lifted the Pelicans to 20-32, who find themselves in 12th place in the West, six games back in the hunt for the final playoff spot.
Since losing back-to-back games to the Hawks and Heat, the Thunder have gone 28-6, outscoring the opposition 110.9 to 101.6, and winning the battle of the boards 47.8 to 40.3. Like the Pelicans, OKC’s latest win came at the expense of the Utah Jazz, in a 122-106 contest that... Read More
You may have noticed that truTV is in the process of rebranding from a true-crime network to a comedy network with the likes of Billy On The Street, Adam Ruins Everything, and 10 Things. Now the network is venturing into scripted comedy programming with Those Who Can’t, a riff on the old saying, “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.”
The show is run by Dean Lorey of Arrested Development and The Crazy Ones and was created by Adam Cayton-Holland, Andrew Orvedahl, and Ben Roy, the members of a Denver-based comedy troupe called The Grawlix. Cayton-Holland, Orvedahl and Roy also star as three high-school teachers along with Maria Thayer (Accepted, Strangers With Candy,Forgetting Sarah Marshall) as the school librarian.
Sling TV’s On Demand library is packed full of great movies, specials, TV episodes, and even full seasons of great shows. But it’s not static; as new titles come in, older ones go out. Here’s a full listing of what’s going out this week – get ‘em while you can!
Featured:
Beyonce: Life Is But A Dream - Step inside the world of the biggest pop star on the planet. In 2013, Queen B allowed cameras into both her professional and personal life with appearances by her husband Jay-Z and their daughter Blue Ivy and home footage from when she was young through the present.
February 10 You’re Next, Epix
February 13 Real Time with Bill Maher - “February 13, 2015”... Read More
This week’s episode was a little boring, but set up the drama that is sure to come on Pretty Little Liars. After all, we’re already halfway through this season! If you missed our recap of the last episode, ‘New Guys, New Lies,’read it before proceeding!
Kelly: Aria’s dad is waiting in the living room in the dark. Sarah: Like a creep. K: Is that normal? S: No. My husband decided he was going to watch this episode with me to see what it was about and he was so frustrated watching it, he was out within the first 7 minutes. Anyway, we thought we were going to get a confession from Aria’s dad, but, instead, he shares that he and Aria’s mom are getting back together and that’s... Read More
Lakers vs. Cavaliers (8pm ET Wednesday, ESPN) Kobe Bryant dug deep again on Monday, hitting three straight 3-pointers in the span of 72 seconds to put the Lakers up 82-79 over the Pacers with 2:30 to play, but Paul George wasn’t havin’ it: George scored 7 points on 5 free throws and a layup in the final 1:10 to topple the Lakers 89-87. The Lakers are now a miserable 11-43 and trail the 76ers by just 2 games for first place in the Ben Simmons sweepstakes. This will be Kobe’s last stop in Cleveland, which has to come as a huge relief.
The jury’s still out on the Tyronn Lue Era in Cleveland, as the Cavs have gone 7-3 since the firing of David Blatt, who had led the team... Read More
Spurs vs. Heat (8pm ET Tuesday, TNT) The Spurs are back on track after ending January with tough losses to both Golden State and Cleveland in the span of six days, having won their last four in a row, most recently surviving a scare against the cellar-dwelling Lakers. The Spurs headed into the fourth quarter trailing by 2, and the game was tied at 99 with just 2:25 to play before a 17-foot Tony Parker jumper put them up for good on the way to a 106-102 final. The victory was the Spurs’ 28th home win in a row to start the season, as their record improved to 43-8, still the second-best record in the West and the league. Tim Duncan continues to sit, but over the weekend coach Gregg... Read More
It was a great week for Mountaineers, as they first defeated #13 Iowa State, 81-76, and then #15 Baylor, 80-69. Senior guard Jaysean Paige led the way in scoring with a combined 40 points, and junior forward Devin Williams chipped in with 33 points and 25 boards over the two games. The wins lifted West Virginia to 19-4, and to 8-2 and first place in the Big 12.
The Jayhawks have won three in a row, most recently defeating Texas Christian on Saturday, 75-56, behind senior forward Perry Ellis’ third double-double of the season. Ellis scored 23 points and pulled down 10 boards, and a tough Mountaineer D held the Horned Frogs to 14-of-49 shooting.
The last time these two teams met was... Read More
Turner Classic Movies is counting down to the Academy Awards with 31 Days of Oscar, a marathon of hundreds of Oscar-nominated films. With ten or more movies running every day and none of them repeating during February, the schedule is a little overwhelming to even the most seasoned cineaste.
So contributors Sarah Moffatt, Evan Wilder, Oliver Ward, and Alex Castle are going to take it a week at a time, with a full schedule for the week with comments on some of our favorites. Note that most of the movies are going to show up in TCM’s on-demand section soon after they air, so you can catch them even if you miss the live broadcast.
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
SPECTRE - Daniel Craig stars as the smooth talking, martini-drinking assassin James Bond, who receives a cryptic messages leading him to Mexico City and Rome, where he meets the widow of an infamous criminal. After discovering the dangrous organization SPECTRE, Bond must dismantle the group, but finds he has an unsettling connection to the enemy, played by Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained, Inglorious Bastards).
Crimson Peak - In Guillermo del Toro’s latest thriller, Edith (Mia Wasikowska) marries Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) and is swept away to his dark and remote gothic mansion in the English hills. There, she meets Sir Thomas’ sister, Lady Lucille (Jessica... Read More
Javan Felix, the 5-11 junior guard out of New Orleans, led the Longhorns with 20 points to a 69-59 victory over Texas Tech on Saturday. The Longhorns have won 6 of their last 7 to bring their overall record to 16-7, and are 7-3 in Big 12 play, good enough for second place in the conference. Texas has not yet cracked the top 25 this season, however, despite a 4-2 record against ranked opponents, including wins over Iowa State and North Carolina.
Oklahoma lost Saturday for the second time since taking over the top spot on the AP rankings, losing to 80-69 to unranked Kansas State, despite 23 points from Player of the Year candidate Buddy Hield. The Sooners fell victim to a cold shooting touch from beyond the 3-point... Read More
Wrestling sensation Lucha Underground was picked up for a third season by El Rey Network. Deadline
This month, ESPN is launching a morning version of SportsCenter cleverly named SportsCenter: AM to compete with the likes of Good Morning America and The Today Show. The news program will run from 7am - 10pm ET daily and will cover highlights and sports updates from the previous night’s games. Deadline
Disney XD orders a new sci-fi adventure comedy to series called MECH-X4. The live-action adventure show will center on Ryan, a high school freshman who has technopathy – the unique ability to control technology with his mind. A genius-in-hiding has built MECH-X4, a 120-foot robot, to defend their town against monsters descending on the city. It’s up to Ryan, his... Read More
The Boilermakers, 19-4 overall and 7-3 in the Big Ten, are playing for the first time since Saturday’s 89-74 win over Nebraska, in which senior center A.J. Hammons scored 32 on 14-of-17 shooting, adding 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks – the points and assists representing career highs. Purdue is 0-2 against ranked opponents, as they head into a stretch of four games out of six against top 25 teams.
The Terps are 20-3, 9-2 in the Big Ten, and currently riding a three-game winning streak, most recently getting past Nebraska 70-65, on a night when 6'11" freshman Diamond Stone scored 16 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked 8 shots. Maryland’s leading scorer and dime-dropper this year has been sophomore guard Melo Trimble with 14.8 points and 5.3... Read More
Pacers vs. Hawks (7pm ET Friday, ESPN) The Indiana Pacers ran away from Brooklyn in the second quarter of Wednesday’s game, outscoring the Nets 36-20 on their way to a 114-100 victory. C.J. Miles came off the bench to score 27 for the Pacers, while All-Star forward Paul George added 17 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals and 1 block. The Pacers are now 26-23 and in 7th place in the East. Rookie Myles Turner has been playing quality minutes of late, averaging 16.6 points, 7 rebounds and 2.9 blocks a game over the Pacers’ last 9 games.
The Hawks put a hurt on Philly Wednesday, defeating the Sixers 124-86, as all 13 Hawks scored, 8 of them in double digits, with Tim... Read More
Knicks vs. Pistons (7pm ET Thursday, TNT) Carmelo Anthony scored 16 points to go along with 14 rebounds Tuesday night, but the Knicks still fell to the Boston Celtics 97-89, as Boston’s deeper bench and fresher legs were too much for New York. The loss was the Knicks’ sixth in their last seven games, and brought their record to 23-28, 11th-best in the East. Carmelo’s scored just 16.8 with 8.8 rebounds during the current skid, and Kristaps Porzingis has been even less effective, scoring 12 a game with 5.8 rebounds, with both men making just 35% of their shots. The Knicks looked like they had a playoff run in them, but the 8th seed is going to keep drifting out of sight if those two can’t find their shots.
In this week’s episode, the girls spend most of their time spinning a super sticky and tangled web. It’s still a wonder the Pretty Little Liars can function in daily life. If you missed our recap of last week’s episode, ‘The Gloves Are On,’ read it before proceeding!
Sarah: Well, my first note is “Caleb and Spencer definitely bumped uglies” and my second is: “Whoever is in charge of picking the soundtrack for this season is on their game. The Alabama Shakes are dope.” So, I guess you should start. Kelly: Okay, my first note is Aria thinks her dad killed Charlotte. This happens a little later on, but she checks his golf clubs – Wait, was Charlotte killed with a golf club or something? S: They said... Read More
Warriors vs. Wizards (8pm ET Wednesday, ESPN) The Warriors had a good scare on Saturday, defeating the feckless 76ers 108-105 on a Harrison Barnes 3-pointer with 1 second on the clock – and this after being up 13 with 3:26 left to play. The Warriors got their mojo back the following night, beating the Knicks 116-95 as big man Draymond Green had a triple-double, going 20-10-10, and Klay Thompson scored 34 on 14-of-18 shooting, including 5-of-6 from 3. The Warriors have won 7 in a row to lift their record to a league-best 44-4, and they’re on pace to win 75 games.
Washington on Monday fell victim to a Russell Westbrook triple-double, as the Thunder rolled over the Wizards 114-98. Westbrook’s 17-31-11 was too... Read More
The Texas Christian Horned Frogs have the misfortune of playing in the Big 12, easily the strongest conference in the land, and so they are just 1-7 in conference play and a middling 10-11 overall. But five of their losses have come against ranked opponents, they’ve outscored their opposition in the aggregate, and they’ve played one of the tougher schedules in the country…. all of which is to say TCU is not your average sub-.500 team. On Saturday they snapped a 5-game losing streak, beating Tennessee 75-63, as Malique Trent led TCU with 15 points and 5 assists.
Oklahoma and senior Buddy Hield barely survived a showdown with LSU and superfreshman Ben Simmons, 77-75. Oklahoma won on a Isaiah Cousins jumper with 6 seconds on the clock, but it was... Read More
Sling TV’s On Demand library is packed full of great movies, specials, TV episodes, and even full seasons of great shows. But it’s not static; as new titles come in, older ones go out. Here’s a full listing of what’s going out this week – get ‘em while you can!
Featured:
The Waterboy - Adam Sandler stars at Bobby Boucher, Jr., a waterboy for a college football team, who was raised by a very over-protective mother (Kathy Bates). After Bobby is fired by the coach, he finds a position with an opposing, losing team as a waterboy, but when the head coach (Henry Winkler) sees Bobby beat up a player who was teasing him, Bobby finds himself playing linebacker on a championship contending team.
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Bridge of Spies - A Best Picture nominee at the 2016 Academy Awards, Bridge of Spies recounts the true story of New York lawyer James Donovan’s (Tom Hanks) mission to negotiate the release of a U.S. pilot with Soviet Union in exchange for Rudolf Abel, an accused Russian spy Donovan defended in court. But, with tension thick and tempers flaring, Donovan finds it much harder to make a deal, especially when another American prisoner is involved.
The Last Witch Hunter - Vin Diesel stars as Kaulder, a witch hunter who managed to slay the Witch Queen centuries ago and demolished her followers in the process.... Read More
The Tar Heels enjoyed a quiet week, playing just one game in which they decimated the Boston College Eagles 89-62 for their 12th straight win. BC managed to keep it close for about 5 minutes, trailing 24-23, before UNC scored 15 unanswered points to make the score 39-23. At that point it was just a matter of time. Brice Johnson led the way for Carolina, scoring 17 points, to go along with 11 rebounds and 3 steals. UNC is now 19-2 overall, and 8-0 in ACC play.
The Louisville Cardinals fell from #16 to #19 as a result of their worst game of the season, a thorough 63-47 dismantling at the hands of #11 Virginia on Saturday. The Cards shot a reasonable 4-of-11 from 3, but made just 12... Read More
The finals are upon us this weekend, and there are crystal clear favorites for the men and the women. Who will be lifting up the trophies for the first slam of the year, you ask? As the saying goes, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
Serena Williams v Angelique Kerber: What else can be written that hasn’t already about Serena? She’s chasing her 22nd grand slam title, which would tie her with Steffi Graf; she’s never lost an Australian Open final; and she hasn’t lost a set the entire tournament putting her on track to continue her streak. The only questionable thing about her these past two weeks is her bright yellow kit. Meanwhile, Kerber’s never even gotten to a slam final before, so it’s hard to... Read More
David Schwimmer (Friends) and Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) are set to star in a new AMC original drama called ‘Feed The Beast.’ The new show is based off the Danish TV series Bankerot, which centers around two friends (Schwimmer and Sturgess), but one has a hard time staying out of trouble. With nothing to lose and no other options, the two friends have no choice but to jump head-first into their dream of opening an upscale restaurant in the Bronx. While opening a business is hard enough, the entrepreneurs must navigate the industry’s dark corners filled with petty criminals, corrupt officials, and violent mobsters. (AMC)
“Weird” Al Yankovic is heading to IFC as the new co-host and bandleader of Comedy Bang Bang. Weird Al will be taking the... Read More
Knicks vs. Raptors (8pm ET Thursday, TNT) The Knicks have lost five of their last seven games and their only victories were against the Jazz and the 76ers, dropping them to 20-22 in a tie for 10th in the East. Their most recent loss came Tuesday at the hands of the Thunder 128-122, as the lethal tandem of Durant and Westbrook combined for 74 points, 22 rebounds and 15 assists. It was all too much for a Carmelo-less Knicks team. Even if the Knicks miss the playoffs, this season has to be considered a huge success as they’ve already bested last season’s win total. Plus, first-round draft pick Kristaps Porzingis has silenced the boos by displaying a skillset that inspired Durant to call him a “unicorn,” and finds him... Read More
#1 Oklahoma Sooners vs. LSU Tigers (5pm ET Saturday, ESPN) A tough conference loss to #14 Iowa State last week wasn’t enough to knock the Sooners from atop the rankings. Since then, they’ve restored poll-voters’ faith by beating #13 Baylor by 10 and then burying Texas Tech 91-67, as Buddy Hield scored 30. Hield is now averaging 25.9 points per game, second-best in the country. The Sooners are now 17-2 overall and 6-2 in the Big 12, where they’re tied for first with West Virginia and Baylor.
LSU is a more humble 13-7, but features freshman Ben Simmons – perhaps Hield’s biggest competition to win the Wooden Award and be the top pick in the NBA’s June draft. The 6’-10’ Aussie is third in... Read More
I don’t necessarily want to date myself, but it’s been a long time since I watched pro wrestling. Long enough that I remember Hulk Hogan taking on Rowdy Roddy Piper (before he went Hollywood), I remember when “WWF” did not stand for “World Wildlife Fund,” and I still think of The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin as “new.” And, to be honest, I was never much of a fan. For all the “controversy” at the time whether or not wrestling was “real” (quaint in hindsight, but it was a raging argument among the 12-year-old set) seemed silly – it was obviously totally (and stiffly) choreographed to the point that no one was ever in any real danger.
So it was a bit of a shock to see how... Read More
It’s a big day down under at the Australian Open, where they are packing in both women’s semi-final matches, plus one of the men’s at night. And let’s be honest, it’s that one men’s match that everyone is talking about – Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in their (gasp) 44th meeting. I’m already nervous.
First, though, let’s talk about who will likely meet in the women’s final on Saturday.
Serena Williams v Agnieszka Radwanska: I’d like to say Radwanska has a chance, but she’s only ever taken one set from Serena. She might be able to repeat it but she’s not winning this match. Sorry Aga!
Johanna Konta v Angelique Kerber: Few picked these two women to emerge from the bottom half of the draw, especially Konta, who had to... Read More
In this week’s episode, a lot of lies were set straight while even more were told. It’s a wonder the Pretty Little Liars can function in daily life. If you missed our recap of last week’s episode, ‘Charlotte’s Web,‘ read it before proceeding!
Kelly: The episode starts in the spa, where Hanna admits she erased the footage from the hotel and the girls are shocked she actually did it. Sarah: I had two thoughts during this whole scene: First, I wonder how many times it took for them to shoot the scene without those cucumbers falling off their face. Second, that room was tiny! How did they not notice Sarah Harvey was in there? K: I don’t know, but they didn’t notice until they were walking out and... Read More
Sling TV’s on-demand library is packed full of top movies, specials, TV episodes, and even full seasons of great shows. But it’s not static; as new titles come in, older ones go out. Here’s a full listing of what’s going out this week – get ‘em while you can!
Featured:
The Lego Movie - Chris Pratt (Jurassic World, Parks and Recreation) lends his voice to this animated film about Emmet (Pratt), a happy-go-lucky LEGO minifigure who finds himself mistakenly identified as the key to saving the world and pulled into a mission to stop evil tyrant President Business (Will Ferrell), but finds he is extremely unequipped to take on the villain. Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Charlie Day, Nick Offerman, and Channing Tatum also star.
The Houston Rockets held off the New Orleans Pelicans for a 112-111 victory on Tuesday, lifting their record to 25-22, good for 7th in the West. Trevor Ariza was en fuego for the first 42 minutes of the game, making 8 of 12 from 3-point land on his way to a 31-point night, but it was James Harden (go figure) who scored 10 of his 35 points in the final 5:39 to seal the win. The Rockets were without Dwight Howard, who’s missed the last three games since spraining an ankle last week and is questionable for tonight.
The Spurs' 13-game winning streak snapped on Monday, as they fell 120-90 to the Golden State Warriors, who took a 2-0 lead on a Klay Thompson... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Goosebumps - After Zach Cooper is forced to move from a big city to a small town, he meets Hannah, his pretty neighbor, and her father, Goosebumps author R. L. Stine (Jack Black). When Zach accidentally brings to life the monsters from Stine’s tales, it is up to the author, his daughter and Zach to put the beasts back into the novels.
Featured:
Chi-Raq - With a star-studded cast, Spike Lee tells his own version of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, a classic Greek comedy in which women withhold physical affection from their husbands for fighting in the Peloponnesian War. In Lee’s musical version, the war is the very... Read More
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: when snowmobiles do backflips and skiers and snowboarders spin around in the air like the Tasmanian Devil. Yes, The X Games are back for more feats of cold-weather derring-do, and we’re making it easy to watch every bit of it on Sling TV with a full schedule of events.
While several events are set for broadcast on ESPN3 – which will soon be part of Sling TV but isn’t yet – and ABC, Sling TV subscribers can use their login to watch with the WatchESPN app. Better yet, WatchESPN archives its events for a day or two, so you don’t need to miss a single 1080-degree quintuple corkscrew somersault or whatever insanity these athletes come up with.
The second week of the Australian Open has begun, and all the men’s and women’s quarterfinalists are set. On both sides, you’ll see the usual suspects, plus a few surprises, but it’s still difficult to imagine anyone but Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic holding the trophies on Sunday. Until then, there are some great matches to play – and see. Here’s your quick guide tonight’s schedule.
Agnieszka Radwanska v. Carla Suarez Navarro: The Polish ninja takes on the scrappy Spaniard with the one-handed backhand. This is a tough one to call – the only sure thing is that whomever wins gets the unlucky reward of meeting Serena Williams in the semi-finals. Okay, we’re not totally sure that Serena’s going to win her match, but…
Serena Williams v. Maria Sharapova: Like... Read More
#4 Kansas Jayhawks vs. #14 Iowa State Cyclones (9pm ET Monday, ESPN) Despite losing two of their last four games, the Kansas Jayhawks find themselves in a four-way tie for first place in the rough and tumble Big 12 at 5-2 in conference play. They’re 16-3 overall, and currently ranked fourth in the country. Kansas beat Texas 76-67 on Saturday despite getting just 4 points from their bench, as senior forward Perry Ellis (no relation) scored 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting.
Iowa State is coming off a big week in which they beat lowly Texas Christian 73-60 after beating #1 Oklahoma 82-77 as Georges Niang, Monte Morris and Abdel Nader all scored at least 20. Now 15-4 overall, the Cyclones have jumped in... Read More
Freeform has taken on hot topics before, like same-sex parents (The Fosters), class (Switched at Birth), and teen pregnancy (The Secret Life of the American Teenager – which launched Shailene Woodley to worldwide stardom via the Divergent series), and now they are taking on teen drug abuse and addiction with Recovery Road.
Our main point of focus is Maddie (Jessica Sula), a pretty, sassy 17-year-old who loves to party, if by “party” you mean get-blacked-out-and-forget-where-she-put-her-car. After Maddie’s guidance counselor (Alexis Carra) checks her locker, she finds a water bottle filled with vodka, and Maddie soon has to choose between expulsion or 90 days in an addiction treatment facility.
Maddie reluctantly picks the treatment facility, which she can leave only to go to school, where she is watched like a... Read More
As the fearsome Winter Storm Jonas marches up the Eastern seaboard, dropping six inches on Virginia and the Carolinas, thundersnow on Nashville and a foot or more on D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City, the stores have been looted and the essentials – toilet paper, ice cream, bourbon – have been acquired. But what to do when you’re stuck at home with your family all weekend? Look at each other?
Ha! Just teasing. Why look at your family when you could look at a screen?
We asked the editorial staff what they plan to watch this long, cold, thundersnowy weekend, in case you’re looking for ideas. Stay warm!
Alex Castle: When I’ve got 8-12 hours to kill and nowhere to go, nothing beats a good... Read More
TruTV continues to revamp their programming by greenlighting a new comedy battle series, ‘Comedy Knockout.’Guy Code’s Damien Lemon hosts the roast-style joke competition a la Yo Momma. Three comics will be sent into battle where they will receive points based on the audience’s applause to their jokes; one comic will be crowned a winner while the others are either eliminated or forced to apologize to the crowd for their performance. (The Wrap)
The first trailer for season four of Bates Motel was released this week, with glimpses of Norma growing fearful of Norman and her effort to get him professional help. (IGN)
Maisie Williams, who plays Arya on Game of Thrones, dropped an interesting hint about Jon Snow’s fate in season six. She couldn’t confirm or deny... Read More
#1 Oklahoma Sooners vs. #13 Baylor Bears (Noon ET Saturday, ESPN) On Monday Oklahoma became the fifth #1 team to lose this season, falling 82-77 to #19 Iowa State. The teams were tied at 75 with 46 seconds to play following a 3 by Oklahoma’s Isaiah Cousins, but Iowa State pulled away, thanks to 5-for-5 shooting from the free throw line. The Sooners (15-2, 4-2 in Big 12 conference play) are led by senior guard Buddy Hield, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year, who’s averaging 26.1 points per game and is among the leading candidates for this year’s Wooden Award.
Heat vs. Raptors (8pm ET Friday, ESPN) The Heat have lost six of seven, including a 106-87 defeat at the hands of the Washington Wizards, dropping their record to 23-20 and their standing in the East down to 7th. To be fair, the Heat went into the game minus their starting backcourt, as Goran Dragic battles a calf strain and Dwyane Wade is contending with a sore shoulder. Oh, and center Hassan Whiteside logged only 11 minutes before falling to the floor with a strained oblique.
“I can find something on iTunes or something, a nice little medley going right now in A minor. That’s sad right?” Chris Bosh joked after the game. For tonight’s game Wade, Whiteside and Luol Deng (eye injury) are all questionable, and Dragic... Read More
Clippers vs. Cavaliers (8pm ET Thursday, TNT) The Clippers got back to their winning ways Monday, just two days after having their 10-game winning streak snapped, beating the Rockets 140-132 in a good old-fashioned overtime shootout. The Clips led by 12 with 3 minutes to play, but the Rockets came charging back to tie it on a Matt Thornton 3-pointer with 7 seconds left on the clock. Los Angeles opened the extra frame with a Jamal Crawford 3 and never looked back. The Rockets’ loss wasted a monster night by Dwight Howard, who scored 36 points on 11-of-16 shooting and pulled down 26 rebounds. But it wasn’t enough to overcome a ridiculous performance by sharpshoter JJ Reddick, who made 9 of 12 3-pointers on his way to scoring 40, Chris... Read More
This week’s episode was as drama-filled as one would expect from Pretty Little Liars with the promise of stuff really hitting the fan next week. If you missed our recap of the first episode, ‘Of Late I Think of Rosewood,’ read it before proceeding!
Sarah: Obviously the big mystery of this week was “Whodunit?” What did you think of this week’s episode? Kelly: First, obviously, they framed Aria because she left the hotel room. S: But who framed her? She wasn’t really framed, was she? K: Well, not framed, but they think she did it. But, when she’s talking to Fitz, she asks him where he was after they met up, so I think she just left to meet up with him but doesn’t know where he went... Read More
Warriors vs. Bulls (8pm ET Wednesday, ESPN) The Golden State Warriors gave notice on Monday that they have zero intention of surrendering their title without a fight, dropping a 132-98 beatdown on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Chef Curry put up 35 points on 12-of-18 shooting, including 7 of 12 from downtown, center Draymond Green scored 16 and added 10 assists, and Andre Iguodala scored 20 in just 24 minutes by making 7 of 8 shots. It was a team effort that left LeBron James calling it what it was: “a good old-fashioned A-kicking.” The Warriors are now 38-4 and lead the Spurs by 2 games for the top spot in the West.
The Bulls have had a tough go of late, losing four of... Read More
Sling TV’s On Demand library is packed full of great movies, specials, TV episodes, and even full seasons of great shows. But it’s not static; as new titles come in, older ones go out. Here’s a full listing of what’s going out this week – get ‘em while you can!
Featured:
Firewall - Harrison Ford plays Jack Stanfield, a bank security professional who has built a career on designing anti-theft computer systems for financial companies. His designs are put to the test when a criminal mastermind (Paul Bettany) kidnaps his family and orders a $100 million ransom – a sum Jack must try to break through his own system to steal.
January 20 Pretty Little Liars - “FrAmed” (season 6, episode 8),... Read More
Portlandia is my favorite kind of comedy show: it’s 30 minutes long and it’s funny whether you’re taking it at face value or thinking deeper into each joke (though, the latter is definitely the right way to watch it).
Whether you live in Portland or have never visited, I would wager you know, have known, or have seen in the mirror people similar to each character portrayed by the show’s genius creators and stars, Fred Armisen (formerly of Saturday Night Live) and Carrie Brownstein (of the indie rock band Sleater-Kinney) – from the adventurous types who are outspokenly ready for anything to the types that try to one-up each other on the latest article they read.
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Straight Outta Compton - This Oscar-nominated biographical drama tells the story of pioneering hip-hop group N.W.A.’s rocky ride to stardom and how the group’s members – Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, DJ Yella and Eazy-E – became rap icons.
Freeheld - Academy Award winner Julianne Moore stars alongside Ellen Page, Steve Carell and Michael Shannon in the moving true story of police officer Laurel Hester (Moore), who was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2005. As she fought for her life, Hester was also fighting for her right to have her pension benefits passed onto her domestic partner, Stacie Andree (Page).
Syracuse vs. #20 Duke (7pm ET Monday, ESPN) Syracuse started the season 6-1 before Jim Boeheim excused himself from head coaching duties to serve a 32-day suspension for a number of violations. In his absence, the Orangemen went 4-5; since his return on January 6, they’ve gone 2-1 to bring their record to 12-7, with Michael Gnibije leading the team with 17.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists. Tonight is a homecoming of sorts for Gnibije, who started his college career at Duke as a freshman in 2011, before transferring to Syracuse.
The reigning NCAA champion Duke Blue Devils are coming off of back-to-back losses to Clemson and Notre Dame that have dropped them to 14-4, 3-2 in the ACC, and 11 spots in the AP poll. Coach... Read More
If you’re a lover of drama, great acting, and fabulous costuming, you’re going to love this screen adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
Brought to the small screen by the Weinstein Company and BBC, War & Peace stars Paul Dano (Love and Mercy, Prisoners), Lily James (Cinderella), and James Norton (Rush) alongside an excellent supporting cast of new and familiar faces, like Gillian Anderson (X-Files) and Jim Broadbent (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Moulin Rouge).
If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, War & Peace hits similar notes: a lot of characters to keep up with whose webs become increasingly more tangled with one another; incestuous siblings who strive for money and power; and the constant manipulation and deceit that comes with either having or wanting... Read More
Pelicans vs. Grizzlies (2:30pm ET Monday, ESPN) The New Orleans Pelicans have won their last two games, most recently defeating the Charlotte Hornets 109-107, as Anthony Davis threw down a thunderous alley-oop with 2 seconds to play in a game that saw reserve power forward Ryan Anderson go off with 32 points on 12-of-19 shooting, including 6-of-8 from 3. The win lifted the Pelicans to 13-26, as they’ve leapfrogged the Suns into 12th place in the West. Anthony Davis scored 22 and 24 in the two games since returning from a minor back issue, and continues to average 20-10 on the season.
The Memphis Grizzlies are 23-19 and tied for 5th in the West after winning four of five. On Saturday the Grizz beat... Read More
Coretta Scott King fought for a national holiday honoring her late husband’s courage and resilience against hate and inequality. Now, 30 years later, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day honors not only the late reverend’s fight for African-American rights, but also the sacrifices made by men and women across the country for those rights.
There are certain beloved historical figures a lesser actor cannot take on. It was only right an established, high-caliber actor like Daniel Day Lewis took on President Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, so I was skeptical when relatively unknown (at least in America) British actor David Oyelowo was cast in such an iconic role as Martin Luther King, Jr in Selma.
Oyelowo turns out to be not just a good casting choice, but the only choice. He... Read More
A few months ago, I watched the 1980 comedy classic Airplane! with my 8-year-old. I figured he was ready for it – who better than an 8-year-old to appreciate a movie so silly and committed to packing in as many gags as possible that it borders on narrative incoherence?
As it turned out, he was ready for Airplane!, but Airplane! wasn’t quite ready for him; though he got enough laughs out of it to be worthwhile, the movie has aged quite a bit, with more than a few extended gags that depend on being familiar with the zeitgeist of 1980 (try explaining the 8-minute Saturday Night Fever dance sequence), and lots of details that just don’t make sense in 2015. (Sample question from the boy: “Why is everyone on... Read More
The passing of David Bowie has prompted a considerable outpouring of grief above and beyond what we normally see for a public figure, with many people – myself included – revisiting and celebrating the musician’s immense body of work, from the early-’70s Ziggy Stardust era, through the more commercial ‘80s Let’s Dance period, to his incredibly moving farewell album Blackstar.
Bowie had such a singular charisma onstage – he was arguably the greatest rock performer of all time – that it was only natural that he’d be drafted into the movies, where he turned in great performances in films like 1986’s Labyrinth (as the Goblin King), 1988’s The Last Temptation of Christ (as Pontius Pilate) and 2006’s The Prestige (as Nikola Tesla). But Bowie’s best-known screen role was his... Read More
Timberwolves vs. Thunder (7pm ET Friday, ESPN) It’s been quite a month for Rookie of the Year candidate Karl-Anthony Townes, as he’s averaged a double-double over the last 16 games, traveled the world with his cat and been anointed a future “Hall-of-Famer” by no less an authority than Kevin Durant. Unfortunately, over that span, his Timberwolves have gone 3-13 and lost their last 8. There’s a team-wide shooting problem, especially from 3-point range, where the ‘Wolves rank last in attempts and makes, and 25th in percentage. Guard Ricky Rubio, who’s 5th in the league in assists, ranks dead last in 2-point shooting percentage among guys who’ve played 1,000 minutes, making just 35.9% of his shots.
Durant’s praise for Townes came in the wake... Read More
HBO hopes to continue the comedy hot streak that’s produced Veep and Silicon Valley with Barry, a new half-hour starring, co-written and directed by SNL alum Bill Hader about a low-rent Midwestern hitman who travels to L.A. for a hit job and finds himself comfortably immersed in the L.A. theater scene. (Deadline)
Disney Jr. will double down on the success of their current hit Sofia The First with a spin-off called Elena of Avalor. While we still don’t have a premiere date, we do know Chris Parnell (SNL, Anchorman, 21 Jump Street), Jenna Ortega (Jane the Virgin) have been cast as two of the main voices for the animated show. Elena will be introduced in a special episode of Sofia The First, which has featured her kingdom of Avalor... Read More
Cavaliers vs. Spurs (8pm ET Wednesday, TNT) This may be the NBA Finals preview you’ve been waiting for, and Kawhi vs. LeBron is always worth the price of admission.
Cleveland is riding an 8-game winning streak that begs the question: Are the Cleveland Cavaliers the best third-best team in league history? At 27-9, the Cavs are on pace (along with the Spurs and Warriors) to win 62 games – only once since the advent of the 82-game schedule have three teams won that many games: in 2008, when Cleveland, L.A. and Boston each did it. Since Kyrie Irving’s return from a knee injury that derailed the Cavs’ title hopes last June, Cleveland has gone 10-2. Yes, it’s been against a soft spot in the schedule, but 10-2 is 10-2, and... Read More
Kelly and I are back to raise questions and inspire confusion for the premiere of season 6B of Pretty Little Liars. I think I speak for both of us when I say this season – for better or worse – promises a dramatic and bumpy ride we’ll dive into weekly as the season goes on.
Sarah: Okay, tell me your thoughts about last night’s premiere. Kelly: When I tried to tell someone what happened, I couldn’t remember the beginning because nothing really happened. S: Yeah, it was like 45 minutes of backstory. K: So, basically nothing and then… what was I shocked about at first? I have the worst memory. Oh, obviously CeCe’s death.... Read More
Pacers vs. Celtics (8pm ET Wednesday, ESPN) The Pacers are 22-16 and the 5th seed in the East following a 116-97 victory last night over the lowly Suns. Guard Monta Ellis has been nursing a sore knee since earlier in the week, but played 34 minutes last night, contributing 14 points and 7 assists. Paul George is showing no ill effects from the gruesome broken leg that cost him virtually all of last season, as he is again playing lockdown defense to go along with his 24.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists. The Pacers have already set an NBA record this season for most guys on the roster named Hill, as George, Jordan and Solomon have collectively played more than 2000 minutes. If they can get Grant to come... Read More
Sling TV’s On Demand library is packed full of great movies, specials, TV episodes, and even full seasons of great shows. But it’s not static; as new titles come in, older ones go out. Here’s a full listing of what’s going out this week – get ‘em while you can!
Featured:
Lone Survivor - Mark Wahlberg stars as Marcus Luttrell, one of four Navy SEALs deployed in Afghanistan in 2005, assigned to survey and take out Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. After being spotted by goat herders, the soldiers find themselves in a battle where they are outnumbered and outgunned.
January 13 Pretty Little Liars - “O Brother, Where Art Thou” (season 6, episode 7), Freeform
First of all, I want to give full disclosure that I am not a huge fan of Pretty Little Liars. Actually, season 6A is the first time I’ve ever watched the show and I gotta say, I’m not overly impressed. I do acknowledge, however, the draw superfans have to the show, and how addictive it is if you started from day one and/or read the books. That’s where my counterpart Kelly comes in.
Kelly has not only watched Pretty Little Liars since the day the pilot aired, she got into the show because she was a fan of the books, so she knows a lot more about the backstory of the Liars and ‘A’ than I do.
Having said that, neither of us really remember much of last season... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Hotel Transylvania 2 - Since Dracula (Adam Sandler) opened the Hotel Transylvania’s doors to humans, things are looking up for the business, but Dracula becomes increasingly worried his half-human grandson, Dennis, is only connecting with his human side. To help Dennis get in touch with his inner vampire, Dracula enlists him in a “monsters-in-training” bootcamp.
Sinister 2 - A mother is hiding out from her estranged husband with her 9 year-old twin boys when demonic children begin to visit one of the boys at night. The evil spirits show him photos of slaughtered families in an effort to recruit the twins for Bughuul, an evil... Read More
Alabama has made it to the Championship game for the fourth time in eight years, where they will face top-ranked Clemson. So what sets this time apart?
For starters, the Tigers are arguably the most talented opponent the Crimson Tide has faced in a title game to date. Secondly, despite their strong showing this season, the last time Clemson was in a National Championship game was in 1981. Lastly, this is the first time since 2008 the Tide and the Tigers will battle it out on the football field.
At their last meeting, Alabama handed Clemson a humbling 34-10 loss, but that was a different time and Clemson was under a different coach. It wasn’t until midway through the 2008 season that current Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney took... Read More
Chiefs at Texans (4:20pm ET Saturday, ESPN) Show of hands – who thought after Week 7, when the Chiefs and Texans were both 2-5, that they’d then go a combined 16-2 and be meeting in the playoffs? Not one of you. Nice work, people.
The 2015 Kansas City Chiefs are a tale of two seasons: They started the year 1-5, scoring 21.2 points per game, while giving up 26.5. The following week they began their current 10-game winning streak, during which they’ve outscored the opposition 27.8-12.8. What kind of change precipitates a 20.3-point swing? Head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Doug Pederson retooled the offense following the loss of running back Jamaal Charles in a Week 5 defeat at the hands of the Bears; Charcandrick West and Spencer began... Read More
Cancel your plans this Saturday night, because the best movie of 2015 – the best directed, the best photographed, the most exciting, Oscars be damned – is coming to HBO.
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, director George Miller’s return to the post-apocalyptic wasteland that he created in in three films with Mel Gibson back in the 1980s, is totally compelling from the first frame to the last: gorgeously shot, chock full of breathtaking, mostly practical stunts, packed with fascinating characters – Charlize Theron’s one-armed badass Imperator Furiosa, the skull-masked villain Immortan, the chrome-obsessed Doof Warrior, and whatever they call that dude on the bungee cords with the fire-spewing guitar in particular – and telling a mercifully simple and yet thematically resonant story.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year – awards season! There are a lot of great shows nominated for Sunday’s Golden Globes, but we are partial to the ones you can watch on Sling TV. Here’s a rundown of what’s nominated, what it’s up against, and how you can enjoy the content:
Best Television Series - Drama
Empire, Fox Game of Thrones, HBO Mr. Robot, USA Narcos, Netflix Outlander, Starz
If you’re not yet on the Game of Thrones band-dragon (see what I did there?), it’s not too late! With the much-anticipated season six set to premiere sometime in the spring, you have plenty of time to catch up on all five previously aired seasons on-demand.
Best Performance By An Actor In A Television Series - Drama
Cavaliers vs. Timberwolves (8pm ET Friday, ESPN) The Cleveland Cavaliers have won five in a row, and at 24-9 lead the East with the third-best record in the league, behind only the Warriors and Spurs. Kyrie Irving finally returned on December 20, and since then the Cavs are 8-2, including 6-1 in games in which Irving has played, during which he’s averaging 17.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4 assists a game, in just 24 minutes. On Wednesday, Irving and LeBron James each dropped 30 on the Wiz in a 121-115 victory.
After 33 games last season, the Cavs had only won 19, at which point they dropped 6 straight, falling to 19-20. This year’s edition is way ahead, and they’ve managed to do it largely without Irving, and with... Read More
Nearly ten years after its third season left us hanging, Deadwood will finally wrap up with a movie, HBO president Michael Lombardo told TVLine. “David has our commitment that we are going to do it,” says Lombardo. “He pitched what he thought generally the storyline would be — and knowing David, that could change. But it’s going to happen.” (TVLine)
John Oliver returned to his Last Week Tonight desk to not only give tips on how to manage disappointment, failure, and broken resolutions the New Year brings but also to announce that new episodes will resume on February 14th. (Deadline)
Bad news for Game of Thrones fans: George R. R. Martin has announced the much-anticipated ‘Winds of Winter’ novel will not be finished before the sixth season of... Read More
Celtics vs. Bulls (8pm ET Thursday, TNT) Since losing three of their last four, the Celtics are now 19-16, barely hanging on to the 8th seed in the East, despite sporting the conference’s 3rd-best point differential. Last night’s loss to the Pistons was a heartbreaker, as the C’s led by 13 midway through the 3rd quarter and were still up 1 with 2:47 to play, before falling 99-94. Boston had 8 fewer turnovers and 5 more assists, but lost the battle of the boards 47-39, and made a paltry 6 of 28 from 3-point land. The game marked big man David Lee’s second consecutive DNP, as coach Brad Stevens is trying out a new small ball lineup. Point guard Isaiah “No Relation” Thomas is nursing a sprained thumb, but managed... Read More
The 2015-16 college basketball season has reached cruising altitude, and we are excited to bring you the roughly 12,000 men’s and women’s games that ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, and ESPNEWS are carrying.
To make things easy, we’ve compiled an easy reference for all the games this month so you don’t need to miss a moment of the action, so grab a cold one and enjoy:
All times Eastern.
MEN’S
January 7 Cincinnati at SMU, 7pm ET, ESPN Michigan at Purdue, 7pm ET, ESPNU Louisville at NC State, 7pm ET, ESPN2 Alabama at Ole Miss, 9pm ET, ESPNU Illinois at Michigan State, 9pm ET, ESPN Arizona at UCLA, 9pm ET, ESPN2 Santa Clara at BYU, 11pm ET, ESPNU
January 8 Valparaiso at Oakland, 7pm ET, ESPN2 Western Michigan... Read More
Don’t miss your chance to catch up on the hottest movies and shows on Sling TV before they’re gone this week!
Featured:
Best of 2015: Serena Wins Wimbledon (ESPN) - During Serena Williams' quest to beat Steffi Graf’s calendar Grand Slam record set in 1988, she found herself in the finals of the U.S. Open against Italian Roberta Vinci; the outcome was not what Williams, America or Vinci expected. Despite the upsetting loss, Williams had an amazing year, which included her sixth win at Wimbledon.
January 6 Liv and Maddie - “Joy-To-A-Rooney” (season 3, episode 9), Disney SEC Basketball - “Kansas State vs Georgia”, SEC Network Building Alaska - “No Quit” (season 4, episode 10), DIY Building Off The Grid: Yurts So Good,... Read More
Knicks vs. Heat (7pm ET Wednesday, ESPN) The Knicks defeated the Atlanta Hawks 107-101 last night, as Carmelo Anthony posted a 23-11-7 and Kristaps Porzingis added 17 points and 11 rebounds, bringing their record to 17-19 and matching their win total for all of last season. Nearly halfway through the season, Porzingis remains the Knicks’ big story, having gone from mercilessly booed to legitimate Rookie of the Year candidate. But if you’re a Knicks fan, your biggest concern right now has to be how to protect the team from women of the night and gangbangers: Cleanthony Early is out indefinitely after being shot in the knee last week after a swarm of dudes descended on the Uber he and his girlfriend were taking home from a strip club in... Read More
BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl: #8 Notre Dame at#7 Ohio State
The #8 Fighting Irish were just six points short of a perfect season, suffering two-point losses to both #1 Clemson and #6 Stanford only to finish the season 10-2 – that’s what happens when you play the 8th-toughest schedule in the land. The #7 Ohio State Buckeyes came even closer to perfection, losing only in November to #3 Michigan State 17-14.
The biggest mistake #9 Florida State could make is to underestimate their opponent, #14 Houston, in this year’s Chik-Fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia. This marks the Seminoles 4th time to appear in the Peach Bowl, where they hold a record of 2-3. Houston has never played in this Bowl, in fact, they’ve never made a bowl game of this magnitude. Perhaps this means the Cougars will get stage fright and choke or, on the flip side, they are ready to prove they belong in post-season chatter.
The Seminoles and the Cougars have played each other 16 times in the past with Houston leading the overall series 12-2-2. The Cougars are led this season by first-year head coach Tom Herman, who served as... Read More
Don’t miss a second of this year’s college football bowl games with the help of our complete listings of the 2015 bowl games on Sling TV!
December 30 Holiday Bowl: #25 USC vs Wisconsin, 10:30pm, ESPN Birmingham Bowl: Auburn vs Memphis, 12pm, ESPN Belk Bowl: Mississippi State vs NC State, 3:30pm, ESPN Music City Bowl: Louisville vs Texas A&M, 7pm, ESPN
December 31 Peach Bowl: #9 Florida State vs #18 Houston, 12pm, ESPN Orange Bowl (semifinal): #1 Clemson vs #4 Oklahoma, 4pm, ESPN Cotton Bowl (semifinal): #2 Alabama vs #3 Michigan State, 8pm, ESPN
January 1 Fiesta Bowl: #8 Notre Dame vs #7 Ohio State, 1pm, ESPN Outback Bowl: #13 Northwestern vs #23 Tennessee, 12pm, ESPN2 Rose Bowl: #5 Iowa vs #6 Stanford, 5pm, ESPN Sugar Bowl: #16... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Pawn Sacrifice - Tobey Mcguire (Spiderman,The Great Gatsby) stars as a Bobby Fischer, an American chess legend, who finds himself in an intense battle against Grandmaster Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan) at the 1972 World Chess Championship.
Other New Releases:
December 22
War Room
Pawn Sacrifice
The Giant King
December 29
The Perfect Guy
Not sure how to rent movies with Sling TV? No problem!
Lookee here – we got a matchup between two division leaders going through quarterback turmoil. And did we mention that a Cincy win clinches a first-round bye, while a Denver win leap frogs them, at least temporarily, over the Bengals for a first-round bye? Pass the popcorn!
Earlier this year, when the Bengals were 8-0, a friend born and raised in the Cincinnati area posted on Facebook “The Bengals are 9-0. I’m nervous that something really bad is about to happen.” Yeah, ‘bout that: The Bengals promptly lost three of their next five games and QB Andy Dalton broke his thumb, relegating him to the sidelines for the remainder of the regular season. Way to jinx your team, buddy.
Dalton broke his thumb two weeks ago while tackling Pittsburgh DE... Read More
Pelicans at Heat (12 noon ET Friday, ESPN) The New Orleans Pelicans head into Christmas with a little extra bounce in their step, having played only two games in the previous six days and winning both, most recently trouncing the Trail Blazers, 115-89. Anthony Davis had another monster night, putting up 28-12, along with 3 blocks, for his 10th double-double in his last 12 games. Not to be overlooked was Tyreke Evans, who contributed 24 points, 8 boards and 9 dimes. The Pelicans have now won 5 of their last 9 since beating the Cavs on December 4.
The Heat got two desperately needed days off following a 93-92 loss to the Pistons, their fifth in their last 9 games, dropping to 16-11 and a tie for the 4th seed... Read More
Robot Chicken “Dear Consumer” - The animated series spoofs the holidays when a robot saves Christmas after an atheist mayor bans the celebration; Loki wants revenge on Thor; and Santa and his reindeer save a boy trapped in a well. (12am, Adult Swim) Robot Chicken “Robot Chicken’s DP Christmas Special” - Spoofs include the first Christmas and a race between Superman and Santa. (12:15am, Adult Swim) The Little Drummer Boy - An angry orphan boy has his life changed forever after crossing paths with 3 wise men headed to Bethlehem. (9am, ABC Family) Home Alone: The Holiday Heist - A family moves cross-country to a house the son, Finn, believes is haunted. After he sets up traps to get the ghost, his parents are stranded across... Read More
When I get invested in reality competition shows, it’s very rare my favorite contestant makes it to the finale let alone 3 of my favorites! This was the first time in my personal TV history I would have been sincerely happy for whomever won.
On the season finale of season 2 of Holiday Baking Championshion, the final three bakers – Maeve, Steve and Adalberto – were put to the test to create their most delicious and beautiful work yet.
In the pre-heat, the bakers were asked to create two dozen cookies to hang like ornaments from a tree.
Steve created orange-vanilla bean sugar cookie stars decorated with white and gold icing. Up close, the stars were beautiful and incredibly detailed, but from a distance –aka where the judges judge... Read More
Lions at Saints (8:30pm ET Monday, ESPN) The Detroit Lions started the season in a complete free-fall, going 1-7 before winning 3 straight. But, the good times are over as they’ve returned to their losing ways for the past two weeks to bring their record to 4-9, consigning them to the cellar of the NFC North.
How does a team go from 11-5 and a Wild Card berth to the fourth-worst record in the league just a year later? The blame can essentially be laid at the feet of the defense. Last year, the Lions D was 2nd in yards allowed and 3rd in points. This year? 16th and 28th. What happened? The biggest difference is clearly the departure of free agent DT Ndamukong Suh. Yes, Suh’s replacement, Haloti Ngata,... Read More
Thunder at Cavaliers (8pm ET Thursday, TNT) Having won their last 6 games, and 10 of their last 12, the Oklahoma City Thunder are riding high. The most recent victory came Wednesday at the expense of the Portland Trailblazers, as Kevin Durant led the way with 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Their current winning streak – the longest in the league – has seen the Thunder turn up the intensity on D, as they’ve held their opponents to less than 100 points in each game.
Coming off Tuesday’s 89-77 victory over the Boston Celtics (who simply couldn’t find their shot), the Cleveland Cavaliers are right where they should be, 16-7 and atop the Eastern Conference. LeBron continues to be LeBron, posting 26-8-6, and Kevin Love has returned from injury better... Read More
Grizzlies at Bulls (8pm ET Wednesday, ESPN) The Grizzlies snapped a two-game slide on Monday by defeating the Washington Wizards 112-95, in a game that saw their starting five all score in double digits, with Marc Gasol going 24-12-6 and Mike Conley contributing 18-4-11. And the game wasn’t as close as the score suggests, as the Griz were up 22 after 3 and were never threatened. The Grizzlies are now 14-12, sitting in the 6th seed in the West.
The Unpredict-a-Bulls continue to drive fans nuts, losing three in a row, then winning three in a row, most recently against the hapless Sixers. But even Monday’s win over Philly was harder than it should’ve been, as the Bulls trailed by 5 at the half... Read More
Check out the hottest new movies we have coming to Sling TV Movies On Demand this week!
Featured:
Minions - Everyone’s favorite yellow servants have been serving the most evil bosses since the dawn of time, including the T. Rex and Napoleon. Now, they are lost and unhappy as they search for a new evil villain to follow. One minion, Kevin, decided enough is enough and sets out with this friends to find a new leader to follow: Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), the world’s first super villainess.
Ted 2 - John (Mark Wahlberg) and his newly married teddy bear, Ted (Seth MacFarlane), fight against the courts to recognize Ted as a real person and not property in order for him and... Read More
Even at 5-7 and riding a 3-game losing streak, the New York Football Giants find themselves in the thick of the playoff hunt, in a 3-way tie for first place in the NFC East – OK, technically they’re in 3rd place due to their division record, but, still… Five of their losses have come by a total of 11 points, so it’s not so much that they’re simply terrible as they are snakebitten. Not like “Dallas Cowboys” snakebitten; more like “leading pass rusher blows his fingers off with fireworks” snakebitten. Jason Pierre-Paul did make it back for Week 9, but hasn’t been his old self, and without the services of Victor Cruz this year, Eli Manning has been left with Odell Beckham... Read More
Normally, the practice of re-gifting – taking a gift one has received but doesn’t like and gifting it to someone else – is generally frowned upon in polite circles. But when it comes to the Holiday Baking Championship, it’s an inventive way to challenge our final four bakers, who this week were given the task of re-purposing ingredients for both challenges, starting with a candied apple.
Adalberto picked an apple covered in white chocolate and dried cherries, and made a beautiful apple frangipane tart accompanied by a cherry and a glaze. It was a really pretty plate – not the prettiest in this round, but apparently the tastiest, as he won the advantage heading into the main heat challenge.
As college football begins its final descent into the postseason, college basketball is just taking off, and we are excited to bring you the roughly 12,000 games that ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, and ESPNEWS are carrying.
We’ve compiled an easy reference for all the games this month so you don’t need to miss a moment of the action, so grab a cold one and enjoy:
All times Eastern.
MEN’S
Tuesday, December 15 Georgia Southern at #6 Duke, 7pm, ESPN2 Norfolk State at #24 Cincinnati, 7pm, ESPNU Louisiana Tech at Ole Miss, 7pm, SEC Network Drexel at South Carolina, 7pm, SEC Network Mercer at Auburn, 9pm, SEC Network Longwood at Oklahoma State, 9pm, ESPNU VCU at Georgia Tech, 9pm, ESPN2
Wednesday, December 16 Gardner-Webb at #22 LSU, 7pm,... Read More
Heat at Pacers (7pm ET Friday, ESPN) The Miami Heat head into tonight’s contest riding a two-game losing streak, most recently taking a 99-81 beatdown at the hands of the Hornets in which guard Goran Dragic shot 2-of-7 from the floor for 5 points to go along with 2 turnovers, 2 assists and 2 rebounds. It’s been an up-and-down year for the Heat, and most of the Eastern Conference, as there are 10 teams within 3 games of first place, with Miami smack in the middle, tied for fifth. But Hassan Whiteside is enjoying a monster year, ranking among the top 10 in rebounds, blocks and field goal percentage, as well as a number of other rather esoteric stats.
Following an unsurprisingly well-rated first season, AMC announced that the second season of Fear the Walking Dead has begun shooting. Where are they going on that yacht? (Moviepilot)
Damon Lindelof’s The Leftovers, which rebounded from a puzzling first season with a rapturously (see what I did there?) received second, has been renewed by HBO for a third and final season. (Entertainment Weekly)
HBO’s year-end sizzle reel includes (vanishingly brief) first looks at the new seasons of Game of Thrones, Veep, Girls, Togetherness, and new series Vinyl, Westworld, Vice Principals, High Maintenance, and more. (USA Today)
Promotion is very important for small independent movies, so Conan will give a much-needed publicity boost to a little-known, low-budget sci-fi picture called The Force Awakens by having the cast and... Read More
Clippers at Bulls (8pm ET Thursday, TNT) The Clippers won their third straight on Wednesday, a 109-95 victory over the Bucks, bringing their record to 13-9, just 9 ½ games behind the Warriors in the Pacific division. The Clips’ Big 3 was firing on all cylinders, as Chris Paul dropped 18 dimes, Blake Griffin put up 23-14, and DeAndre Jordan grabbed 19 boards and absolutely posterized Greg Monroe. But it was J.J. Reddick who led the way, shooting 6-of-9 from downtown, en route to 31 points. Could it be the Clippers are finding their way out of the wilderness after a 3-8 slide that had them below .500?
The Chicago Bulls lost Wednesday, 105-100, to the Boston Celtics. The teams were tied at 75 at the end of the... Read More
There is funny, there is stupid, there is stupid funny, and then there is Neon Joe: Werewolf Hunter.
The five-episode limited series airing at midnight ET all week was cooked up for Adult Swim by Jon Glaser, the creator and star of Delocated as well as the man behind Late Night with Conan O’Brien characters Dave “Tiny Hands” Gordon, Pubes, and the Wrist Hulk, and it’s definitely on brand for both Adult Swim and its star: really weird, really funny, and really, really dumb.
Glaser, whose comic style has always tended toward presenting totally silly ideas in as understated a manner as possible, is clearly having a blast going completely the other way in the title role, with an exaggerated Louisiana drawl, a ridiculous all-neon yellow wardrobe – sleeveless,... Read More
Bulls at Celtics (7pm ET Wednesday, ESPN) Isaiah “No Relation” Thomas shot the lights out Monday night, making 9-of-13 from the floor, including four 3-pointers, for 22 points to go along with 5 assists, as the Boston Celtics beat the New Orleans Pelicans 111-93. The upstart Celtics are now 12-9, and find themselves proud owners of the 9th-best record in the Eastern Conference, and the best – yes, the best – point differential in the conference, at 5.4. The Celtics continue to play without Marcus Smart, who’s nursing a knee injury.
The C’s head into Chicago to play the 11-7 Bulls, who’ve lost their last two games in a row, including Monday’s 103-101 heartbreaker to the Phoenix Suns, which they somehow gave away after... Read More
The season 2 finale –and perhaps the entire second season – of The Leftovers can be summed up in one quote from Meg: “Family is everything.”
Since the first episode, we’ve been centered around this new family, The Murphys, who have secrets and issues, but seem to be a family that loves each other regardless. As their story unspools, we learn this family is not as wholesome and put-together as it seemed: Erika wanted to leave John; John’s been in prison for attempted murder (and is sort of a whack job anyway); Michael goes behind his parents back to visit his grandfather, Virgil; Virgil molested John; and Evie staged her disappearance in an elaborate plot to break down the walls (so to speak) of Miracle, so the Guilty Remnant... Read More
Cowboys at Redskins (8:30pm ET Monday, ESPN) You gotta hand it to the Dallas Cowboys: For all the bad luck that befell them this season, they still had a puncher’s chance as late as Week 11 of making the playoffs. But, that dream died when quarterback Tony Romo went down for the season having re-broken his collarbone in a 33-14 Thanksgiving Day loss to Carolina. Romo’s taken a lot of heat over the years, but the fact is the ‘Boys are 3-0 in the games he started (and finished) this year, and 0-8 in those he didn’t. Throw in the 6-week absence of All-Pro wide receiver Dez Bryant and you’ve got the ingredients for the 27th most passing yards, 28th most passing TDs, the 2nd most interceptions.
I really appreciate that the Holiday Baking Championship hasn’t just limited itself to Christmas holiday traditions; we’ve also seen Thanksgiving and now Hanukkah classics, too.
This week, the bakers were given 75 minutes to put their own modern spin on Jewish traditions like coconut macaroons and rugelach. Rugelach usually has a combination of cinnamon, walnut, apricot, or chocolate, so naturally the bakers were not allowed to use any of those in their new creations.
Sweet, sweet Haley put a southern twist on the traditional cookie by making a honey, pecan and brown sugar rugelach, similar to a baklava. For her macaroon, she made these beautiful chocolate and pistachio coconut macaroons with the bottoms dipped in chocolate and chopped pistachio. Her desserts were clearly the most beautiful, and the judges seemed... Read More
Nets at Knicks (7pm ET Friday, ESPN) Break up the Nets! After starting the season 0-7, the Brooklyn Nets have since gone 5-6, and came within a 3-pointer of two more victories. Most recently, the Nets beat Phoenix 94-91 for their fourth straight home win. Brook Lopez continues to be the Nets' go-to guy, averaging 20 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks a game. On the defensive end, rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has been making a big contribution in limited minutes, ranking in the top 5 in steals per opponent possession and defensive plus/minus. Despite starting 12 of the Nets’ 17 games, he’s averaging just 22 minutes, and not doing much offensively, with just 5.1 points and 1.5 assists.
With the center of pop culture revolving around Star Wars: The Force Awakens , it’s no surprise Disney struck while the iron was hot and renewed Star Wars Rebels for a third season. The second season is set to wrap up on December 12 at 9:30pm ET on DisneyXD. (Collider)
Jennifer Lopez’s ABC Family (soon-to-be Freeform) show, The Fosters, has been renewed for a 4th season while it’s taking a winter hiatus, which is set to return January 25 at 9pm on ABC Family (Freeform). (TheWrap)
The Girls are back for season 5 and they’re growing up. In the season 5 trailer, we see Shoshanna has taken a job in Japan; Hannah is still with Fran; and Marnie is maybe getting married. While this isn’t the last season... Read More
As the regular college football season winds down and the playoffs gear up, #7 Stanford at #24 USC will battle it out for the second time this season to claim the Pac-12 title.
In their first meeting this season, the then-ranked #6 Trojans fell to the then-unranked Cardinal in an upsetting 41-31 loss. Stanford carried the momentum of that upset forward, as they went on to beat every team they played until a surprising 38-36 loss to the Oregon Ducks – their second surprise this season after losing their opener to Northwestern 16-6.
The Trojans, on the other hand, went the other way after Stanford handed them their first loss of the season, losing to Washington (17-12), Notre Dame (31-41), and... Read More
Thunder at Heat (7pm ET Thursday, TNT) Despite Monday’s 106-100 loss to the Hawks, the Oklahoma City Thunder appear to have gotten it together after suffering through a 1-3 slog while Kevin Durant nursed his latest injury. They’ve gone 3-1 since Durant’s return, with the star shooting guard contributing 29 points a game, and still finding time to whine about the media. Their 11-7 record is good enough for 1st in the Northwest Division, and 3rd in the Western Conference.
Dwyane Wade’s 30 points on Monday weren’t enough to lift the Heat over the Boston Celtics, as Miami fell 105-95. Still, the Miami Heat are 10-6, though that is partially the product of a weak schedule, as their opponents have a combined winning... Read More
For this week’s pre-heat challenge, the remaining six contestants were asked to integrate the tricky, tricky flavor of candied ginger into mini-desserts. Though it sounds simple enough, candied ginger is a fickle ingredient; it can be too strong or not strong enough very easily, so it’s important and difficult to find the perfect balance.
Every single person struggled to make the ginger stand out in their dessert, except for Steve.
Steve made a rather boring and plain-looking gingersnap ice cream sandwich with an otherwise forgettable ginger-vanilla ice cream filling. But unlike all the other desserts, the judges could taste the ginger in Steve’s, so he won a 10-minute head start going into the main heat challenge.
For the main heat, the contestants were given 90 minutes... Read More
The best part about a season of television coming to an end is things start to come full circle. I’ve been wondering all season what Meg was up to and now we finally have some answers.
We know Meg is planning something big for the October 14th anniversary, much like the end of last season when she and Laurie set out the body replicas of the departed in the leftovers' homes. We also find out she has Evie and her two friends locked up in a barn on the Guilty Remnant base in Texas. What’s curious – and alarming, frankly – is Tommy broke open the trailer and could’ve set them free but they weren’t interested. They were dressed in all white and scribbling on paper. This is both good... Read More
I came into this season of The Walking Dead more interested than I had been since those heady days back in 2010, when the postapocalyptic zombie hellscape was mostly unmapped, Rick Grimes had no idea what was going on, and the endless circular debates about whether to stay on the farm were but an index card on Frank Darabont’s white board. I’m ending this half-season with the dashed hopes of what might have been.
Season 5 ended in a fascinating place, with Rick and company arriving at the Alexandria Safe Zone, whose citizens had managed to stay safe enough to retain their humanity and the structure of their small Mayberry-esque society. Rick, on the other hand, having been through the farm, the Governor, the prison, and Terminus, had become... Read More
It’s the Who’ll Get the First Pick in the Draft? Bowl!
The Baltimore Ravens are 3-7, tied for the fourth-worst record in the NFL. But as you look at the numbers, they don’t appear all that bad. They’ve only been outscored by 2.3 points a game – less than a field goal. All but one of their losses was by 6 points or less, and the one that was over was by 8 (still technically one possession). The Ravens' kicker, former Pro Bowler Justin Tucker, has twice missed field goals that would’ve made the difference between winning and losing. Tucker came into the season with the best field goal percentage of all time, but now has the fifth-worst field goal percentage in the NFL, largely because he’s made only... Read More
Celtics at Hawks (8pm ET Tuesday, TNT) Though just 7-6 and a half-game out of the 8th spot in the East, the Boston Celtics have to be pleased with their start. Yes, they’re coming off a 111-101 road loss to the lowly Nets, but that’s their only loss to a sub-.500 team, and their 5.9 point differential is the 4th-best in the NBA. Unfortunately, the Celtics will be without guard Marcus Smart for the next 2-to-6 weeks, after he suffered a “subluxation of the proximal tibfib joint” Sunday in Brooklyn.
Tuesday’s tilt against the Celtics offers the 9-6 Atlanta Hawks an opportunity to avenge a humiliating 106-93 loss in Boston on Friday the 13th. But really, that game was just a small part of the 1-4 freefall the Hawks... Read More
The problem with the reveal that Glenn survived his stagedive into a mass of hungry walkers wasn’t disappointing because we wanted Glenn to be dead. It was because almost everyone on the Internet guessed exactly how the plot was going to play out weeks before the show confirmed it.
Fans guessing about what’s going to happen on their favorite shows is nothing new, but the best shows manage to keep us guessing even as they confound our expectations. Breaking Bad zigged when we thought it would zag roughly 10,000 times; so did Mad Men, Deadwood, The Sopranos, and The Wire. Just this morning, Game of Thrones cannily deflected this kind of disappointment by confirming with its teaser poster what everyone has been predicting: that... Read More
For the pre-heat challenge, the remaining 7 bakers were given an hour to transform canned cranberry into a delicious dessert. I think canned cranberry is super tart and just not very good to begin with, so I was interested yet skeptical of how this round of baking would go.
The cranberry dessert that stood out most to me was Maeve’s bacon, cranberry and rosemary bread pudding. I don’t need to try it to know it’s probably amazing. I mean, it has bacon! Aesthetically, it was beautifully composed and I really loved the touch of green with the natural rosemary on the plate.
The worst-looking was by far Briana’s walnut, maple, cranberry “deconstructed” tart. The tart crust crumbled when she tried to pop them out of the... Read More
Bills at Patriots (8:30pm ET Monday, ESPN) If the season ended today, the 5-4 Buffalo Bills would be in the playoffs for the first time since Doug Flutie lined up under center and Bill Clinton was president. While first-year head coach Rex Ryan jibber-jabbers to any journalist bored enough to listen, the story of the Bills’ season has been the play of quarterback Tyrod (just change it to Tie Rod and be done with it, man) Taylor. After four years riding the pine in Baltimore, where he got into just 14 games, not even throwing a single pass in 5 of them, Taylor finally got his shot this season, and has made the most of it.
In 7 starts this season, Taylor has led the Bills to a 5-2 record,... Read More
The discussion about race relations in America that began last summer with the horrifying murders in a Charleston, North Carolina church is ongoing, but A&E and an impressive roster of musicians aims to bring it back to the national consciousness with this Saturday’s three-hour special airing simultaneously across all of A&E’s sister channels – A&E, Lifetime, HISTORY, H2, LMN and FYI, Shining A Light.
The first part of the evening, Shining a Light: A Concert for Progress on Race in America, is a two-hour special featuring performances by John Legend, Pharrell, Bruce Springsteen, Sia, Ed Sheeran, Smokey Robinson, Sting, Tom Morello, the Zac Brown Band, Eric Church, Jamie Foxx, Tori Kelly, Miguel, Pink, Jill Scott, Aloe Blacc and Big Sean, with appearances by Morgan Freeman, Nicki Minaj, George Lopez, LL... Read More
Spurs at Pelicans (8pm ET Friday, ESPN) The San Antonio Spurs’ 109-98 defeat Wednesday of the Denver Nuggets was their sixth win in a row, bringing their record to 9-2. Kawhi Leonard continues to lead the way with 21.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, and the Spurs continue to get it done on the defensive end, holding opponents to a league-best 91.3 points a game.
The 1-11 Pelicans, on the other hand, continue to limp along, having lost their last five in a row, and have surrendered a league-high 109.9 points a game, more than 11 points above last season’s average. Things could be worse for the Pelicans – oh, wait, they are! Anthony Davis remains day-to-day with a sore shoulder, and... Read More
Bucks at Cavaliers (8pm ET Thursday, TNT) The Milwaukee Bucks have lost three of their last four, most recently suffering a 29-point pistol whipping at the hands of the Wizards, to bring their record to 5-6. The Bucks have been spreading the ball around, and are currently the only team in the league which has all five starters averaging 12 points and at least 1 steal per game. What they’re not doing is winning. A big part of the problem is that the Bucks are getting outrebounded 44.5 to 38.6, the second-worst differential in the league. The Bucks continue to play without Jabari Parker, who’s nursing a sprained foot, but hope to have guard OJ Mayo (hamstring) suit up for the first time this season. But, hey, they did beat... Read More
It’s no surprise USC and Oregon – both of whom are used to being the among the best – have managed to claw their way into the last few ranking spots in the last half of the season. Both teams are heading into Saturday’s game with matching 7-3 records, and both are coming off of a four-game winning streak.
These teams are pretty equal in a lot of ways: Not only are both teams looking for their 8th win, but the loser will likely fall out of the Top 25, making #22 USC at #23 Oregon a pretty important game for the Trojans and Ducks.
Both teams have gone through their fair share of turmoil this season: Oregon QB Vernon Adams Jr. was out earlier in the year with... Read More
I will never, ever look at the whoopie pie the same way again.
In this week’s pre-heat challenge, the remaining 8 bakers were asked to put their spin on a traditional whoopie pie using Thanksgiving themes they drew at random.
Now, when I’m given a theme I must follow to put my own spin on a traditional dessert, I immediately think, “I should transform this to represent my theme!” According to the judges, that was not what was intended. I mean, how do you make a whoopie pie represent fall foliage without making it look different from a normal whoopie pie! I don’t get it and the judges literally complained about this to every single person. Yes, there were some pies that looked like two muffins stuck together – ahem,... Read More
Pelicans at Thunder (8pm ET Wednesday, ESPN) Alvin Gentry was brought into New Orleans to give the Pelicans the kind of offensive scheme he helped build for the Warriors’ championship run. Eleven games in, it ain’t working: the team finds itself at 1-10 following a 115-98 loss against Denver on Tuesday, with a point differential of -9.9. Worse than the loss of the game was the loss of Anthony Davis, who left the game midway through the first quarter with a shoulder injury. He joined the team for the flight to Oklahoma City, but his status for tonight remains up in the air. Davis has already hoisted as many threes this season as he had in his previous 105 regular season games. He’s hitting them at a respectable clip of... Read More
It seems Thanksgiving has gone from being a holiday centered around the pilgrims and the Indians breaking bread together to being an annual competition to see how much you can eat without exploding. (My personal best: four full plates, 2012.)
Because food is pretty much the best part of Thanksgiving (and every day in general, if you ask us), we’ve giving you a schedule of the best Thanksgiving or holiday-themed shows leading up to the big feast. May these shows serve as inspiration to cook, create, and consume.
Happy eating!
Monday, November 23
Cake Wars: “Christmas: Santa’s New Ride” - The 5 remaining teams are given the task of creating toys the elves would only make unsupervised. Plus, the teams reimagine Santa’s method of transportation.(9pm)
I have to constantly remind myself that this show (any show, really) is not Game of Thrones; not everyone you like dies and those that do die don’t really have the chance to come back. But surely Kevin, the main character and biggest driving force – though, an argument could be made for Patti – is not dead?! But then again, this is HBO and they are the honey badgers of television. They didn’t just kill Ned Stark, they beheaded him. So, is Kevin actually dead?
I say yes, he’s dead. He has to be. There’s no obvious way they can bring him back to life and not ruin the integrity of the show. But I’m getting ahead of myself.... Read More
The bad news is the Houston Texans are 3-5. The good news is they play in the AFC South, are just a half-game behind the Colts for first place, and Colts QB Andrew Luck is gonna miss 2 to 6 weeks with a lacerated kidney and an abdominal strain. Though middle-of-the-pack in total offensive yardage, the Texans are working harder for than anyone except the lowly Niners, gaining a meager 5.0 yards per play, including a tragic 5.9 yards per pass play and a just plain embarrassing 3.3 yards per rushing play.
QB Brian Hoyer seems to have won the battle with fellow Patriots cast-off Ryan Mallett for the starting job. Hoyer’s led the team to two wins in their last three games since taking the reins full time,... Read More
At this point, it’s becoming clear that we are not going to find out for sure what happened to Glenn until the other characters do. It’s also becoming clear that this season – or half-season, since AMC splits them into eight-episode halves – has been structured to take place entirely in the space of a single day, the day of Rick’s harebrained plan to move thousands of walkers 20 miles up the road, with each episode following a different part of that plan. This week, we followed Daryl, Sasha and Abraham on their two-pronged mission to lead the walkers along the highway.
It didn’t go so well: coming under an ambush of automatic gunfire, the team split up, with Daryl heading into the woods on his motorcycle while Sasha... Read More
In April of 1945, with the Allied powers closing in on his Berlin bunker, German Führer Adolf Hitler, the greatest war criminal in human history, took his own life, presumably rather than face the music on the whole exterminating six million people thing. Or maybe that’s just what they want you to think.
It is well known that thousands of Nazis fled Germany and sought refuge around the world in the aftermath of the war. Less well known is that there is uncertainty as to whether Hitler actually died in his bunker, or if he was among the Nazi diaspora.
The notion that Hitler left body doubles for himself and his wife in that bunker while they escaped is not uncommon in certain conspiracy circles, but newly... Read More
When your weird little genre show turns out to be the biggest thing on TV, how do you follow it up? If you’re AMC, you come up with another genre show.
You might imagine that hosting two of the most iconic, critically acclaimed shows of the last decade – Mad Men and Breaking Bad – would have been enough to vault AMC to a commanding position among TV networks, but nope: it was zombies. While Walter White and Don Draper languished in the ratings, The Walking Dead has been the biggest show on television for five-plus seasons now, and the network is doubling down on its genre winnings with this summer’s launch of the prequel series Fear the Walking Dead and this Sunday’s premiere of the post-apocalyptic kung fu series... Read More
As college football begins its final descent into the postseason, college basketball is just taking off, and we are excited to bring you the roughly 12,000 games that ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, and ESPNEWS are carrying.
We’ve compiled an easy reference for all the games this month so you don’t need to miss a moment of the action, so grab a cold one and enjoy:
MEN’S
Friday, November 13 Colorado vs #7 Iowa, 5pm, ESPN2 Northwestern State at Ole Miss, 5pm, SEC Network Pittsburgh vs #9 Gonzaga, 7pm, ESPN Albany at #2 Kentucky, 7pm, SEC Network Siena at #5 Duke, 7pm, ESPNU Chattanooga at Georgia, 7pm, SEC Network Austin Peay at #18 Vanderbilt, 8pm, SEC Network Southern at Arkansas, 8pm, SEC Network Kennesaw State at Alabama, 8:30pm,... Read More
As great as the marquee matchups in the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12, and ACC have been this season, this week’s most intriguing matchup comes from one of the smaller divisions: the American West Conference.
Houston is the last remaining undefeated team outside the powerhouse conferences. Memphis was in the same boat until the Navy pulled off a surprising upset, breaking then-#13 Memphis’ 15-game win-streak 45-20.
Before last week, the Memphis Tigers were averaging 48 points per game and out-rushed 7 out of 9 opponents this season. The Navy and the Tigers were tied up 17-all halfway through the 3rd quarter before the Midshipmen ran away with the game, scoring 28 points to the Tigers' 3. As I mentioned, this is Memphis’ first... Read More
Warriors at Timberwolves (8pm ET Thursday, TNT) The Golden State Warriors left another victim by the side of the road last night, beating the Memphis Grizzlies 100-84, and are now off to a franchise-best 9-0 start. This result actually showed huge progress for the Griz, who lost to the Warriors by 50 (!) just 10 days ago. In addition to being undefeated, the Warriors are second in the league in scoring and first in point differential, 3-point shooting percentage and opponent’s 3-point shooting percentage. They are, in short, a nightmare. And this despite the fact that head coach Steve Kerr is still out, recovering from back surgery, and former top assistant Alvin Gentry set sail for New Orleans, leaving the team under the guidance of 35-year-old Luke Walton. Steph Curry’s... Read More
Clippers at Mavericks (8pm ET Thursday, ESPN) The Los Angeles Clippers are coming off a 94-92 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday, on the strength of 7 free throws in the final 13 seconds. The win put their record at 5-2, good enough for second place in the West. Their only two losses this season have come against their archnemesis, the Rockets, who bounced them from the semis in last season’s playoffs, and the Warriors, who won the title the Clippers know they should’ve competed for.
The loss against Houston came thanks in large part to a blown goaltending call and Chris Paul having been sidelined with a groin pull. (When Blake Griffin leads your squad in assists with 5, your offense probably isn’t performing at peak... Read More
As much as I love this show, I found this week’s episode incredibly frustrating to watch. Want to know why? Maybe I’ll just let you ponder on that for a couple of weeks and then give you an answer but then make you second-guess that answer by raising new questions for you to puzzle over.
That’s how they do it on The Leftovers. Don’t get me wrong, I love this show and all the questions it invites you to ask yourself, your friends, and the Internet. But I need just, like, one answer I can hold firm to and not have it be completely debunked in the following episode.
Ok, rant over. On to this episode, which did give us some answers. I think.
After Joe was sent home last week for searching an under-baked apple pie, the remaining bakers were on edge as they listened to the details of the next obstacle between them and $50,000.
In the pre-heat, the bakers were asked to create a delicious dessert featuring one main ingredient: Candy canes. Sounds easy enough, right? Apparently not.
Poor Melody struggled through this challenge. Lucky for her it was not an elimination round. She changed her dessert from a creme brulée to a chocolate lava cupcake with just 20 minutes left, and it ended up looking like a melted mess.
Susan the bed & breakfast owner knocked it out of the park once again with a cute Santa hat peppermint scone dipped in white chocolate... Read More
Though last week’s Morgan-centric episode was one of the best The Walking Dead has ever done, it did interrupt a ripping yarn in progress: Rick’s plan to lead a massive herd of walkers that had escaped from a nearby quarry away from Alexandria’s walls. The plan was not going well: an attack by the Wolves caused a tractor-trailer to crash into the city wall, leaving its horn blowing for several minutes, thus attracting the herd back to Alexandria; Glenn’s effort to divert a pack of them into a burning building ended with the erstwhile pizza guy in a dead end at the bottom of a zombie feeding frenzy; and Rick was trapped in a broken-down RV surrounded on all sides by walkers, looking genuinely concerned that he’d reached the end... Read More
The Chicago Bears are 2-5, with both their wins coming on scoring plays in the final 20 seconds of the game, which is another way of saying this is a team potentially just two plays away from being winless. However, they’ve also lost their last two games on a field goal in OT and another with 4 seconds on the clock, which is another way of saying they’re just two plays away from potentially being 4-3. But the fact remains they’ve scored the fifth-fewest points, and gained fourth-fewest in yards-per-play, they do all sorts of things poorly, but none terribly well, except, maybe, take care of the ball, as they’ve only committed 8 turnovers.
Heat at Pacers (8pm ET Friday, ESPN) The Miami Heat are 3-2 coming off a 96-84 defeat of the ‘Wolves, in which their starters outscored Minnesota’s 81-29. The game also featured a buzzer beater from beyond half-court at the half by Dwyane Wade, whose 25 points made him one of only six players to have scored at least 20 in every game this season.
The Heat head into Indiana a bit shorthanded as Amar’e Stoudemire’s creaky old knees have limited him to 12 minutes total this season, sixth man Gerald Green remains MIA after being rushed to the hospital Tuesday under mysterious circumstances (head coach Eric Spoelstra would only say he’s “safe and healthy”), and Mario Chalmers has lately been plagued by a sore... Read More
We’ll be the first to admit Michigan State at Nebraska is an unconventional Game of The Week, with one team ranked 6th in the nation with a perfect 8-0 record and the other sunk to the bottom of the Big Ten division at a pitiful 3-6.
But Nebraska is grasping tightly to a 16-game winning streak at home against Michigan State. Though Nebraska may not seem like much of a threat, it’s safe to say the Cornhuskers have been looking forward to this game all season.
Last year, Michigan State beat Nebraska 27-22 at home in a game that came down to the final possession, though Nebraska finished last season 9-4 (5-3), which is leaps and bounds better than where they are currently sitting. They were also off a 5... Read More
The month of November means different things to different types of people. To some, it means the end of baseball season and the beginning of basketball season. To others, it means Thanksgiving and the start of the Holidays. And to a certain kind of restless mind, it means the anniversary of the most notorious crime in the history of humanity: the November 22, 1963 of President John F. Kennedy.
Get your tinfoil hat ready, because though the assassination was almost 52 years ago, fascination with the case has not abated, and recent polling suggests that only 20% of Americans believe the Warren Commission’s finding that Lee Harvey Oswald committed the murder unassisted. If you’re eager to re-litigate the facts of the case, there are three different documentaries about it... Read More
It is almost time to slam the lid on Project Runway season 14. Before I get into the Power Rankings, I want to address Tim Gunn’s comments on this season; the beloved mentor told Entertainment Weekly:
I hated season 14. I hated it. I felt that other than a couple of designers, they weren’t working up to their potential. The whole thing was lackluster. I have a theory about it, which is that they just weren’t hungry. Their audition videos from home, you know, they’re sitting by a pool, they’re taking us into their closet with all their designer clothes, and I just thought, they’re not hungry! Most of them. And I think that was largely the issue. I wasn’t at the auditions [this] season for the first... Read More
Thunder at Bulls (8pm ET Thursday, TNT) If this is their last go-round together, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant better get it together. After winning their first three games, the Oklahoma City Thunder have dropped two in a row, to the Rockets and the Raptors. The most recent loss was particularly galling, as Toronto won on a 12-1 run in the final 2:17, with Durant only getting off two shots in the final quarter. “I like that we’re not as predictable, but we’ve still got to stick to what makes us the money, you know what I’m saying?” Durant said afterward.
Don’t look now, Derrick Rose, but the Chicago Bulls may officially be Jimmy Butler’s team, as Butler is outshining Rose in virtually... Read More
Knicks at Cavaliers (8pm ET Wednesday, ESPN) The New York Knicks’ latest rebuilding is off to a promising start, as their two losses have come against the Hawks and Spurs, while they’ve taken care of business against lesser lights Wizards and Bucks. Carmelo Anthony’s knee seems to be in fine form eight months after surgery, and his ego is definitely in fighting trim, as he responded to an accusation from the Wizards’ Jared Dudley of being overrated by dropping 37 points on the Wiz in a 117-110 victory. ‘Melo’s averaging 23 points, and 7 rebounds, and continues to dispense invaluable lifestyle advice, there’s no reason to think that’ll soon change.
Meanwhile, the Knicks’ Latvian beanpole, Kristaps Porzingis, is leading the team in rebounds (8.3) and steals (1.8) despite... Read More
‘Tis the season for family, presents, cookies, cakes, and Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship. In the second season premiere, we met nine self-taught, professional, and classically trained bakers on the quest to be named the Holiday Baking Champion and a prize of $50,000.
As in the recently concluded Halloween Baking Championship, bakers are given two chances to prove themselves: the pre-heat and the main-heat challenges. During the pre-heat the bakers are given simple requests to create a dessert within the allotted time. The winner of these challenges earns an advantage during the main heat challenge. During main heats, the bakers are given a more complex task and more time to keep themselves from elimination.
In this first pre-heat challenge, the bakers were asked to create any dessert they’d like as... Read More
I watched every episode of Project Greenlight and was really rooting for the chosen director, Jason Mann, to pull his movie off, despite the drama and heartache. Unfortunately, this film was not the success I hoped it would be.
The Leisure Class, in theory, is an interesting concept: an English con man is all set to marry into a wealthy, politically connected American family, but his loose-canon brother shows up and ruins everything. To me, this is a pretty decent outline for comedic gold – even for a dark comedy like this film aimed to be.
Overall, I found this film to be a 90-minute song made up of one, singular note. A flat note, at that.
I never felt a connection with William (Ed Weeks) or his fiance,... Read More
In last week’s episode, Matt told Nora what he was presumably trying to tell the congregation back in episode 1 of this season: that his wife Mary briefly woke from her comatose state the night they arrived in Miracle and they laughed and cried and made love. Again, we find ourselves playing “real or fake?” We know at least part of it was real, since Mary is – Ruh-roh! – pregnant.
The Indianapolis Colts are 3-4. They have been outscored by 27 points; are 1-3 at home; QB Andrew Luck’s 9 interceptions are the lion’s share of their 15 turnovers this season, the second-most in the NFL; they’ve gone into halftime without having scored a point three times; in Week 5 head coach Chuck Pagano called what has been called the worst play in NFL history; and rookie wide receiver Phillip Dorsett has broken his ankle and will be out 4 to 6 weeks. Despite all this, the Colts sit atop the AFC South.
Just seven weeks into the season, Luck has gone from The Next Great Quarterback to The Great Question Mark. No one seems to know what’s wrong with Read More
After ending last week’s episode on a huge cliffhanger – Glenn at the bottom of a pile of hundreds of walkers with no apparent means of escape, whether or not the entrails being pulled out were his, and Rick in a non-functional RV surrounded on all sides – showrunner Scott Gimple continued with this season’s experiments in storytelling structure by cutting away to an extended flashback detailing how Morgan came to be the bo staff-wielding pacifist that found his way to Alexandria in the season 5 finale.
How you felt about this narrative detour, I suspect, will depend largely on how you feel about Morgan as a character. I happen to be fascinated by him, and as eager as I am to find out what happens to Rick, and... Read More
The fourth season of HBO’s Project Greenlight, a revival of the series after two seasons on HBO and a third on Bravo back in the early aughts, has been arguably the best of the four, in part thanks to the fact that the digital filmmaking revolution has exponentially grown the talent pool of aspiring directors, and thanks in bigger part to the huge personality conflict between the season’s chosen director, a blond stick figure named Jason Mann, and his assigned Line Producer, a seasoned professional in the indie world named Effie Brown.
Things got off on the wrong foot almost immediately when Jason buttonholed Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the show’s creators, mentors, and producers of the movie Jason was chosen to direct, roughly 30 seconds after winning the... Read More
Heat at Cavaliers (8pm ET Friday, ESPN) The Miami Heat (1-0) saw their win total drop from 54 to 37 in Year One of the post-LeBron era. In an effort to help fill the hole left by James, GM Pat Riley brought in ex-Knick fixer-upper Amar’e Stoudemire, fresh off his scene-stealing turn in Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck.
As good as Stoudemire was in the movie, the Heat are still hanging their hats on three guys – Stoudemire, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade – who as a unit have missed 74 games a year over the past four seasons and are going to reach a collective age of 98 this season. Stoudemire has gotten off to an inauspicious start, having started the season on the inactive list with a cranky knee, causing... Read More
Who says you need people screaming at each other to make good reality TV? Season 14 of Project Runway has been one of the most enjoyable on record, thanks to the strength of this year’s crop of designers, less emphasis on the product placement challenges, and the unusually harmonious workroom, where the designers not only aren’t trash-talking each other, they’re actively helping each other and giving each other real advice. Last week’s challenge brought the four remaining designers to Los Angeles, to create looks suitable for the Red Carpet, and to be inspired by the view from a Hollywood hills mansion, and by their lavishly appointed rooms at Best Western. (I didn’t say they got rid of the product placement, I said they toned it down.)
Hawks at Knicks (8pm ET Thursday, TNT) The Atlanta Hawks finished the 2015 regular season as the #1 seed in the East, having won a franchise record 60 games. The recipe for their success included some lights-out shooting, a career year or two, solid defense and the weakest schedule in the NBA. They should again be a playoff team, thanks largely to being in the East, and the fact that they bring back the same team as last year, with the exception of swingman DeMarre Carroll. The Hawks are coming off an Opening Night 106-94 loss to the Detroit Pistons, in which they were out-rebounded 59-40 and only got to the free throw line 15 times.
Year One of the Phil Jackson Era at Madison Square Garden saw the... Read More
Spurs at Thunder (8pm ET, ESPN) After getting bounced in the first round of last year’s playoffs by a younger, more athletic Clippers team, the San Antonio Spurs went out and had the best offseason of any team in the NBA. Not only did they re-up reigning Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard to a team-friendly 5-year deal, they also brought in David West, and lured LaMarcus Aldridge away from Portland and the invaluable mentorship of Toni and Candace.
West and Aldridge will come in handy as coach Gregg Popovich looks to continue limiting Tim Duncan’s minutes, and Leonard, at just 24, has yet to hit his ceiling. The Spurs look like they’re poised to make a push for a sixth (!) Duncan-era... Read More
There are worse ways to kick off an NBA season than showcasing four of the league’s eight most watchable teams, but fortunately, we needn’t worry about them.
Cavaliers at Bulls (8pm ET Tuesday, TNT) The evening begins with LeBron James & LeBron-naires beginning their Eastern Conference title defense in the Windy City, where they’ll face Derrick Rose, one of the league’s most snake-bitten and tone-deaf superstars, and the Bulls.
The Cavaliers’ title quest last season was derailed when Kevin Love suffered a dislocated shoulder in the first round of the playoffs, and then point guard Kyrie Irving went down with a fractured kneecap in Game 1 of the Finals. Love has spent the summer paddle boarding and hiking in Park City, Utah, and has been playing... Read More
The first Halloween Baking Championship has come to an end and we have our dark horse champion.
Going into the finale, Ashlee, Scott, Rudy, and Jason were the last bakers standing. Per usual, they were given a pre-heat challenge, which was to create a dessert that looks like a haunted house character they drew out of a jar, however, this challenge was turned into an elimination round.
Ashlee created a mummy-themed crepe cake with bloody buttermilk syrup. She struggled to get the crepes perfect, but the judges loved their crispiness in the end. The cake didn’t look much like a mummy, however, which was a big hit to her chances of making it to the final round.
Scott made a super gross-looking zombie head pastry deconstructed with a brain Bavarian... Read More
I was sort of bummed to return back to Miracle after such a course-altering episode last week in Laurie and Tommy’s world, but the search for Evie proved to be almost as interesting.
After being jolted awake by an earthquake, Nora runs outside to see what’s going on, just in time to see John and Michael getting in the car and driving away. Erika is standing on the porch looking concerned, and tells Nora their daughter and her friends are “gone.” Nora loses it and faints just as a dog runs by that looks an awfully lot like their dog that’s still supposed to be in quarantine. Are we seeing animals mimicking their owners again?
When Nora wakes up and can’t get a hold of Kevin on his... Read More
This week is a week of seemingly uneven matchups, especially our Game of the Week, the SEC pairing of #19 Ole Miss at Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. While only one of the teams is ranked, the latest chapter in this storied rivalry has big implications.
Ole Miss is coming off of a big 23-3 win against Texas A&M last week; the Rebels are currently sitting at 6-2 and are 3rd in the West division behind LSU and Alabama. They have yet to play the former, and they beat the latter earlier this season 43-37.
While Ole Miss appears to be the better team, they are going on the road to face a team in a desperate do-or-die situation: Auburn needs a win in order to even be... Read More
The 4-2 Arizona Cardinals appear to have a high-powered offense led by a talented (if aging) quarterback in Carson Palmer, a Hall-of-Fame receiver in Larry Fitzgerald, a rising star in John Brown, and one of the most innovative coaches in the game in Bruce Arians. Look closer and you see a team that has beaten up on a string of weaklings: the Saints, Bears, Niners and Lions are a combined 7-17, and lost to the Cards by a combined score of 168-66.
It’s been a season of frustration, meanwhile, for the 1-5 Baltimore Ravens, who are arguably the best 1-5 team in the NFL. Hooray? They’ve only been outscored by 19 points over the course of the season, never losing by more than 6 points. But, as the great... Read More
The extended mission to divert the massive herd of escaped walkers away from Alexandria moves into its third week in the latest episode, “Thank You,” one of the most tense, terrifying episodes the show has ever done – and that’s before the most wrenching character death in the series' entire run. (Stop now if you haven’t watched the episode.)
As the horn blares and the walkers head for Alexandria, Rick quickly forms a plan: Glenn and Michonne are to escort all the noobs back home, while Rick makes a run for the RV to do… something? (This part of the plan is not quite clear.) The Alexandrians are horrified by how cold-bloodedly Rick and Michonne dispatch a clutch of intruding walkers, and then put a fallen Alexandrian out of... Read More
It’s a debate as old as your dad’s record collection: who is the best James Bond? For some, there’s no topping Sean Connery, who originated the role and made a total of seven films; others like Roger Moore’s campier take on the character, and younger audiences are partial to the current 007, Daniel Craig, who’s brought a hard-nosed realism to the series.
With the upcoming November 6 release of Craig’s fourth film as Bond, (and the 25th overall), SPECTRE, the debate is likely to rise again to create generational discord at Thanksgiving dinners across the country.
And starting today, you can prepare your argument with solid research, as all 24 Bond films, from Dr. No through Skyfall will be available for rent in Sling TV’s Movies On Demand... Read More
It’s do-or-die for the hard-luck Cubbies, who find themselves down 0-3 to Daniel Murphy in the NLCS. Murphy last night homered for the fifth consecutive playoff game, and thus far in the series against the Cubs, has scored 4 runs, driven in 4 RBI and hit 3 homers. The Cubs – all of them – have scored 5 runs.
Cubs starter Jason Hammel was great at Wrigley in 2014, after coming over in a midseason trade, going 4-1 with a 2.35 ERA, but 2015 has been a very different story, as he’s 3-3 with a 3.99 ERA. Manager Joe Maddon had Hammel on a short leash in his previous start, Game 4 of the NLDS, pulling him following a leadoff walk in the fourth,... Read More
Most of the time it’s safe to assume when two ranked teams go head-to-head, the higher ranked team is going to win, but not this week: With #15 Texas A&M coming off their first loss of the season (to Alabama, 41-23) and Ole Miss coming off their second loss of the season (they lost to Florida in week 5) to unranked Memphis, there was no way we couldn’t choose #15 Texas A&M at #24 Ole Miss as our College Game of The Week. Plus, this is the only matchup in all of college football this week that includes two ranked teams, so… it was a no-brainer.
Texas A&M and Ole Miss have played seven times, and history is decidedly in A&M’s favor: the Rebels beat the Aggies in College... Read More
Not that it makes me any kind of expert, but I am pretty good at predicting what’s going to happen on Project Runway. Usually that’s just the result of what my preschool teacher called “paying attention,” because it’s usually pretty obvious when one of these things is not like the others, and someone is out of their depth relative to the other designers.
This has been pretty obvious with Merline since the first or second week of the season. Her constant insistence that her work is somehow “architectural” has not deterred her from making poorly constructed, head-scratching designs for the entire season. Her winning the lingerie competition with an asymmetrical, unflattering “architectural” negligée was one of the most puzzling moments in the history of this show.
Mets second basemen Daniel Murphy homered for the fourth game in a row this postseason, leading his team to a 4-1 victory and 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven National League Championship Series against the Cubbies.
And so the Cubs find themselves in an 0-2 hole despite having sent their two best pitchers, Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta, to the hill in the first two games of the series, and now must turn the ball over to the perfectly cromulent Kyle Hendricks. In his previous playoff start, against St. Louis, Hendricks gave up just 4 hits and no walks while striking out 7—trouble was, it was over 4 2/3 innings, and three of the hits were homers. That said, the Cubs hung on to win,... Read More
This week’s Halloween Baking Championship started with five bakers and ended with four heading into next week’s finale.
In the pre-heat challenge, the bakers were asked to create creepy donuts in 75 minutes.
Having attempted donuts last week, Ashlee was wary of this challenge, and I can’t blame her – those donuts were a disaster. She did better this week, with an apple pie-filled yeast donut, which has to have time to rise a couple of times and then bake, but it still wasn’t great. She knew it was risky and probably wouldn’t work, but she charged ahead anyway.
Audrey went outside of the box and created an intestine cruller filled with cream. I personally loved her innovation, but it sort of looked muddled... Read More
This week’s episode of The Leftovers took a quick left turn, am I right?
When we last saw Tommy and Laurie, they had met up in Mapleton after the riots last season. Now, Laurie has left the Guilty Remnant, is speaking, wearing non-white clothes, and chomping nicotine gum like nobody’s business. At this point, we can assume she left the GR because of the fire that almost killed Jill in the season 1 finale. Because of said fire, she has done a total 180 on the GR: she hates them.
Laurie has recruited Tommy to help her get people out who want out, which, apparently, is no easy feat. Tommy goes undercover as a lost soul looking to join the GR to find those who seem... Read More
Bradley Cooper has come a long way from the days of a struggling actor working as a doorman at Morgans Hotel to sort of make ends meet. He has been nominated for an Academy Award four times in the last three years: two for Best Actor (American Sniper, Silver Linings Playbook), one for Best Supporting Actor (American Hustle), and one for Best Picture as a producer (American Hustle). He has also taken the Great White Way by storm, too, receiving a Best Actor in a Play Tony nomination for his role in Elephant Man.
To promote his newest film, Burnt, which hits theaters Friday, October 23, Cooper will appear in the new Food Network special, Burnt: In The Kitchen with Bradley Cooper, where he takes us behind-the-scenes of his new... Read More
As different as The Walking Dead is from just about any other TV show either before or after it, it has always been very straightforward and conventional in its storytelling. It is just about always a straight line from point A to point B. The most formally daring move it ever made was in the pilot, when Rick woke up from a coma to the zombie apocalypse.
These first two season 6 episodes suggest that the show is going to be experimenting a little more. Last week’s premiere was split between black-and-white flashbacks to the immediate aftermath of Morgan’s arrival at Alexandria and Rick’s killing of Doctor Pete, and plan to lead thousands of walkers out of a quarry and away from Alexandria, a plan that was going great... Read More
The first-place New York Football Giants roll down I-95 this week for a primetime matchup against hated divisional rival the Philadelphia Eagles, who are tied for second with Dallas at 2-3. Both teams are coming into the game hoping to build on big Week 5 victories.
Eli Manning last week led the Giants on an 82-yard game-winning drive that culminated with a 12-yard touchdown pass with 21 seconds left on the clock, for a 30-27 win over the 49ers. Along the way, Manning set career highs for attempts and completions, going 41-54, for 441 yards, and became the winningest QB in Giants history, supplanting Phil Simms.
Eagles QB Sam Bradford, who was part of Coach Chip Kelly’s massive offseason overhaul, threw 2 end zone interceptions in the first half... Read More
Game 2 of the NLCS finds the Cubbies in a 1-0 hole, after the Mets won 4-2 behind a brilliant outing by Matt Harvey and more heroics from Daniel Murphy, who hit a home run in his third consecutive postseason game.
Sunday’s game features a rematch between Cubs ace Jake Arrieta and Mets rookie Noah Syndergaard, who faced each other on May 12, with Chicago coming out on top 6-1.
After spinning a 21-start run for the ages, Arrieta came crashing back to Earth in Game 3 of the NLDS against the Cardinals, giving up 4 runs in 5 ⅔ innings, but St. Louis couldn’t capitalize, as the Cubs went on to win, 8-6. Despite his humanity being confirmed, Arrieta is still the best... Read More
To say #8 Florida at #6 LSU is an interesting matchup is like saying “Bear” Bryant was a decent football coach: it’s a bit of an understatement.
This game is likely to set the tone for the rest of Florida’s season, which isn’t looking as bright as it was just last week. The Gators' starting quarterback, Will Grier, has been suspended for a calendar year – yeah, not just the rest of the season – for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. The Gators are currently riding an undefeated wave, as are the Tigers.
With Grier out, the Gators will look to sophomore Treon Harris to lead them to victory. Harris, who was suspended earlier this year for an unspecified violation of team rules, started the last 6 games... Read More
Amy Schumer is everywhere. She’s hosting award shows, presenting Emmys, winning Emmys, covering magazines, signing book deals, hosting SNL, playing Madison Square Garden, writing movies, starring in movies, and this week, releasing her biggest comedy special to date, Amy Schumer: Live at The Apollo on HBO. So does this mean she’s peaked and on her way out? The answer is a big resounding ‘No.’
Amy Schumer is only new to the general public; comedy fans have known her for years. She didn’t find success overnight, she’s actually been working her tail off for several years. Here’s a quick timeline of the ladder she’s been climbing to the top:
Schumer performed her first stand-up gig in June of 2004 at the Gotham Comedy Club. She later... Read More
Looking for scary movies and TV shows on Sling TV this month? Look no further. We’ve got you covered beyond ABC Family’s 13 Nights of Halloween. Some of these programs are scarier than others, some are gentle family fun, and some are just good ideas for costumes!
Happy Halloween!
October 30
The Addams Family (2:30pm ET, ABC Family) The notoriously dark family takes in a stranger claiming to be a long lost uncle, who is actually a lawyer trying to steal the family fortune. Addams Family Values (4:30pm ET, ABC Family) In this sequel, Gomez (Raul Julia) and Morticia (Anjelica Houston) welcome a new baby boy to the family while Fester (Christopher Lloyd) plans to get married. Poltergeist (8:30pm ET, ABC Family) A family is stalked by ghosts... Read More
We are down to five designers, and with last week’s show we have reached a point where there is only top and bottom; no one is just dismissed as “safe” right after the runway show. Last week we saw something we’ve never seen on this show, and never thought we’d see, except in the fevered writings of Project Runway fan fiction: we saw Tim Gunn completely lose it on a designer, calling unabbreviated BS on his excuses at consultation. Admittedly, most of my Project Runway fantasies revolve around locking eyes with Heidi Klum across a discotheque at closing time – a scenario I may or may not have written about and posted online under a clever pseudonym – but as Project Runway wish-fulfillment goes, Tim’s tantrum will do in a... Read More
It’s winner-take-all for the Mets and Dodgers tonight, with the victor going on to face the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series.
Zack Greinke gets the start for the Dodgers, thanks to the heroic, season-saving, Game 4 efforts of Clayton Kershaw, who pitched 7 innings of 1-run ball with 8 strikeouts in 3-1 victory, in a performance that should at least temporarily quell the talk of him being a choke artist.
Greinke overcame a pair of second-inning solo homers in Game 2 to go 7 innings with 8 Ks, 0 walks and only 5 hits, leading the Dodgers to a 5-2 win. For all of Greinke’s greatness, though, game 2 will be best remembered for Chase Utley’s vicious takeout slide that broke Ruben Tejada’s leg and helped spark... Read More
This week’s Halloween Baking Championship was sort of a take it or leave it episode. The challenges were average compared to last week and all the bakers seemed to be struggling through each challenge.
In the pre-heat challenge, the bakers were asked to make a mash up of two storebought items like pie crust, biscuit dough, and cookie dough. Where’s the pickles or some crazy fruit we’ve never heard of? I have to remind myself this isn’t Chopped sometimes.
All of the bakers made desserts I’d describe as “blah.” Some of the finished products looked like an accident, like Ashlee’s denture mishap (yikes), and some looked ready for a kid’s lunch, like Erin’s Frankenstein’s monster cookie sandwich, which was the only one I thought, “Oh, that’s cute.” Audrey’s witch... Read More
Do-or-Die time has come to the National League Division Series, as both the Cubs and Mets are on the brink of heading to the LCS, while the Cardinals and Dodgers teeter on the brink of 9 AM tee times.
Cardinals at Cubs (4:37pm ET Tuesday, TBS) Cubs ace Jake Arrieta’s reign of terror finally came to end on Monday, as he gave up 4 runs in 5 ⅔ innings, but the Cards failed to take advantage, surrendering 6 home runs in an 8-6 loss to go down 2 games to 1 in this best-of-five series.
And so, with their season on the line, the Cardinals send John Lackey to the hill on three days' rest. Lackey was brilliant in his Game 1 start,... Read More
This week finally supplied some answers about what happened between last season’s finale and this season’s premiere. Kevin, Jill, Nora and baby Lily’s move to Miracle seemed to come right after the season 1 finale, but we now learn it was actually several months.
After Nora finds the baby, there is a visible shift (sudden onset hope, perhaps?) in Kevin, Nora and Jill. Jill asks if they are keeping the baby and Nora sort of looks to Kevin with puppy dog eyes for the answer. Kevin uncomfortably reminds her they really don’t know each other, and tells her about his sleepwalking and kidnapping Patti, how she killed herself and how Rev. Jamison helped him bury her body. He pointedly does not mention the whole hearing and seeing Ghost Patti... Read More
Dodgers at Mets (8:37pm ET, TBS) The Dodgers on Saturday rode Chase Utley’s dirty slide right through second base, Ruben Tejada’s right fibula and onto a 5-2 victory to even their series against the Mets at one game apiece.
Brett Anderson, who takes the ball for the Dodgers on Monday, was the very model of average in 2015, with a 10-9 record, 3.68 ERA, 1.3 WHiP and 2.52 SO/W ratio. Anderson has never in his career faced the Mets, but Curtis Granderson has a 1.128 in 13 plate appearances against him, and he’s held Michael Cuddyer to 1 hit in 12 at bats.
Celebrity pitcher Matt Harvey will get the start for the Mets, and will no doubt be tasked with avenging Tejada’s... Read More
“I don’t take chances anymore,” Rick tells his long-lost neighbor Morgan, who after being the one to fill Rick in on the zombie apocalypse and then declining to join Rick’s travel party, has been found by Daryl and brought back to Alexandria with a spiffy new set of staff-fighting skills.
Rick means that in the five years (or however long it’s been in in-show time) since he saw Morgan, he’s learned that some people can’t be saved, some people can’t help, and some arguments are best settled permanently. We don’t know what Morgan’s been doing for all this time, other than practicing staff-fighting, but it appears that he still retains a little bit of the optimism and faith in humanity that made Rick such a conflicted, at times unsteady leader... Read More
After serving as Tom Brady’s sacrificial lamb in the season opener, the Pittsburgh Steelers rebounded to win their next two games, but the second victory was a costly one: QB Ben Roethlisberger suffered a torn MCL midway through the third quarter, knocking him out of commission for 4-6 weeks.
Michael Vick (surely there’s a better candidate available, no?) filled in last week for Big Ben, and while he completed 19 of 26 passes, he averaged a paltry 4.8 yards per attempt, to go along with 33 yards rushing on 9 carries. What really killed the Steelers was Vick’s inability to convert on two fourth downs in overtime, and kicker Josh Scobee’s missing field goal attempts from 41 and 49 yards in the fourth... Read More
Cubs at Cardinals (5:35pm ET Saturday, TBS) The Cardinals took control of their divisional series with a 4-0 win Friday over the Cubs in Game 1, behind a dominant performance from starter John Lackey. Tonight they’ll hand the ball over to Jaime Garcia.
Garcia finally appears to be healthy for the first time since 2011, though his 2015 debut was delayed by off-season shoulder surgery, and he missed 4-5 weeks in June/July. But overall he’s been solid, going 10-6 with a 2.43 ERA, thanks largely to an unsustainably low .270 BABIP and a career low .4 homers per 9. Garcia was lights-out at home this season, with a 1.70 ERA, with a 5.18 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Kyle Hendricks will be pitching for the Cubbies, coming... Read More
In a season riddled with upsets, it’s only logical to focus on #23 Cal at #5 Utah as our game of the week.
We’re so used to hearing about elite teams like Alabama, who’ve won three of the last five BCS Championships, but it seems it’s finally time for another team to shine, and these two teams are as likely contenders as any.
Last season, the Utah Utes broke into the Top 25 AP poll and ended the season 9-4, considerably better than the previous two years' 5-7 records. But they lost another offensive coordinator, a defensive coordinator, and a recruiter, which left most people bracing for another 5-7 finish, or worse. However, the Utes have bulldozed through every opponent they’ve faced in 2015 and landed in the... Read More
Cubs at Cardinals (6:30pm ET Friday, TBS) Fresh off defeating the Pirates with another masterpiece from Jake Arrieta in the Wild Card game, the Cubs now have to quickly pivot and face the St. Louis Cardinals in a best-of-five series.
The Cards made the race for the NL Central more interesting than it should’ve been, losing 8 of their last 11 games. Much of that downturn has been attributed to the loss of catcher and team leader Yadier Molina, who hasn’t played since tearing a ligament in his thumb on September 20. Molina has decided to try to return wearing a splint, which should give the Cards a huge emotional boost; whether he’ll be able to hit and catch remains to be seen.
After the disastrous, soul-flaying debacles of The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith, fans of the galaxy far, far away felt abused, betrayed, and worst of all, bored. Somehow, the very same man who conceived the Star Wars universe, who wrote and directed the first movie back in 1977 and produced two rapturously received sequels, seemed to forget what made his little space opera such an enduring, iconic cinematic landmark. George Lucas answered millions of fanboys’ prayers when he announced he was making a second film trilogy to fill in the backstory only hinted at in the original movies, and then he let us all down by delivering a plodding, clumsily plotted, humorless set of 150-minute commercials for toys no one wanted (except Darth Maul).... Read More
I was in a great mood for last week’s episode of Project Runway, and so was Heidi Klum, who very unusually liked almost everything that came down the runway, even the stuff the other judges hated. The one piece she didn’t like was the same one I didn’t like. This means that in addition to all our other obvious compatibilities, our tastes and our moods are aligned. Call me, Heidi, our story is written in the stars!
For last week’s challenge, JustFab – they of the omnipresent accessory wall, always to be used very thoughtfully – stepped up to center stage and asked the designers to create a marketable look that JustFab could sell, based on one of five “fashion personas”: Bombshell, Trendsetter, Girl Next Door, Modern Classic, and... Read More
I was just as excited about The Walking Dead as everyone else when the show premiered in 2010, and played my part in making it the biggest hit in the history of basic cable. But I must confess that somewhere between Herschel’s farm and the Governor, I got bored. Bored with the thinly drawn characters, bored with the endless debates about whether to stay or go, to kill or spare. It seemed this show couldn’t have someone go to the bathroom without a 7-minute scene of grim deliberation. I quit watching, and I totally missed the prison season and the Terminus season. When I stuck my head back in midway through season 5, I was delighted to see that all the... Read More
Some will look at tonight’s Cubs vs. Pirates game and grumble, with some justification, that the Wild Card system needs a tweak. The teams with the second- and third-best records in baseball are meeting in a one-game playoff, while lesser teams like the Mets and Rangers get a few extra days to rest and line up their rotations. Maybe it is time to do away with divisions and just seed the teams in each league.
But in the meantime, would you look at this pitching match-up?
At the age of 24, Gerrit Cole has established himself as the Pirates’ ace, and one of the best pitchers in the NL, finishing in the top ten in wins, ERA, WHiP, innings and strikeouts. And Cole was lights-out against the Cubs this year,... Read More
It went down to the wire for the Houston Astros, but they made it. In the midst of losing their final game of the season, the Astros got word that the Angels had lost to the Rangers, thereby sending Houston on to the Wild Card game in the Bronx.
The Astros will have presumptive AL Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel on the hill. Keuchel came into his own this year, leading the league in wins, shutouts, ERA+, and innings pitched, making him exactly the horse you want taking the ball in a must-win game.
Keuchel’s been lights out in two starts – one home, one away – against the Yankees, pitching 16 innings of scoreless ball, with 21 strikeouts and only 1... Read More
With the rising popularity of Food Network’s various baking championship shows, from Kids Baking Championship to Holiday Baking Championship, it was only a matter of time before they introduced the Halloween Baking Championship.
Here’s how it works:
Seven of the best bakers across the nation compete to become the Halloween Baking Champion and take home $25,000. Each week the contestants are given two different tasks – the “pre-heat” and the “main heat” – to impress the panel of judges, including pastry chef Sherry Yard, dessert expert Ron Ben-Israel, and chef and TV host Carla Hall.
This week, the contestants were asked to present their best take on Halloween-inspired cupcakes as well as utilize a classic Halloween candy in their cakes for the pre-heat challenge.
“You can’t save everyone,” Alicia tells her stepbrother Chris with a chilling matter-of-factness, echoing her mother and his father’s difference in approach to the zombie apocalypse. Each episode has carried the characters a little closer to understanding that Things Are Never Going to Be the Same, but this was the one where they really started acting like it, with often fascinating results.
As the Clark-Manawa-Salazar clan plots to bust into the impromptu military base where junkie Nick, Nurse Liza, and deceased Griselda are being held, Andy the captured soldier offers to draw them a map in exchange for his life, an idea Daniel rejects because as we learned last week, Daniel is a ruthless bastard. Sensing Travis' weakness, Andy persuades him to let him go, and Travis does.
Before season two started, we already knew a few important things: We knew that apart from the return of Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux), Jill Garvey (Margaret Qualley), Nora (Carrie Coon), baby Lily, and Rev. Jamison (Christopher Eccleston) and his wife, Mary (Janel Moloney), season two would feature a new cast. We also knew the Garveys and Rev. Jamison were moving to a new town in Texas called Jarden, which is part of Miracle National Park, a place that claims they had no departures.
Throughout this episode, I couldn’t help but notice the several references to water. If... Read More
Last year the Lions and Seahawks went a combined 23-9. Three weeks into the 2015 season, they collectively sit at 1-5. However, while the Seahawks appear to be getting their act together, the Lions continue to circle the drain.
The 0-3 Lions have been outscored by an average of 9 points a game, with each loss worse than the previous one. QB Matthew Stafford is second in the league with 5 interceptions, while the team is averaging a league-worst 2.6 yards per rushing attempt, having gained a grand total of 135 yards. A staggering 24.2% of their drives have ended in a turnover; in fact, the offense has more turnovers than touchdowns.
Things got so bad after Week 3’s loss to Denver – when the Lions averaged 1.43 yards per... Read More
The Angels clawed their way back from the brink of extinction Saturday night, scoring 5 runs in the ninth inning against the Rangers to secure an improbable 11-10 victory and keep their playoff hopes alive. But for all of yesterday’s magic, the Angels find themselves back on the brink, and there’s plenty still at stake for the Rangers.
If the Angels lose, they go home. If the Astros beat the Diamondbacks, the Angels go home. If the Angels win, and the Astros lose, the two teams would meet Monday in Houston for a one-game tiebreaker to determine who wins the second Wild Card spot, and the right to play yet another do-or-die game, this one against the Yankees.
The Rangers, who have already secured... Read More
The Rangers clinched at least a Wild Card berth with their victory Thursday over the Angels, while the Angels are still fighting for their playoff lives. But don’t think for a moment that the Rangers lack any motivation, as they are one more win – or an Astros loss away – from clinching the AL West, and thereby sparing themselves the crapshoot that is the Wild Card.
The Angels and Twins both trail the Astros by one game in the fight for the final spot in the postseason and a date with the Yankees on Tuesday. The Angels play three more against Texas; the Twins face the AL Central champs, the Royals; and the Astros square off with the Diamondbacks.
The Boston Red Sox were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention seemingly months ago, but have rolled into the Bronx determined to play spoiler, doing their best to stave off the Yankees’ all-but-inevitable clinching of a Wild Card berth. The Yankees have dropped three straight to the Sox and are eager to see them leave, but there’s one more game to be played.
It’s been another tough year for Yankee starter CC Sabathia, who has missed a handful of starts, conjured only occasional flashes of his former greatness and now finds himself needing a brace for his right knee, which is cranky after a couple decades of heavy-duty use.
On September 20 he managed to find that old magic, pitching 6 innings of 5-hit, 1-run ball in leading the Bombers... Read More
A lot of viewers, myself included, didn’t give The Leftovers much of a chance as the first season aired. To be honest, it was filled to the brim with darkness, despair and too many unanswered questions for me to feel connected. But, after I heard they were picked up for season 2 (premiering this Sunday at 9pm ET on HBO) I decided to give it another chance. There are too many unknowns and yet-to-be-determined things to say anything definite, so it would be an injustice for me to give you a blow-by-blow rundown of season one (plus this article would never end), so I won’t. Instead, I’ll share what kept me coming back after each episode.
Here’s a little background:
The first season of The Leftovers is based on... Read More
Before I begin taking notes on each episode, I make a list of the remaining designers so as each one says or does something noteworthy, I can note it by their name. Keeps things organized. This is the first week I remembered all the designers without having to look up their names and before the show starts, which means that only the most memorable designers are still in the game. We’re getting into the good stuff now.
A couple of weeks ago I gratefully mentioned that this season has mostly eschewed Project Runway’s old habit of shoehorning product placements into the challenges. Well, speak of the devil and he appears. Last week Heidi took the designers to meet Matthew Morrison, star of Broadway’s FINDING NEVERLAND, explaining that she took... Read More
Cardinals at Pirates (7pm ET Wednesday, ESPN) The Cards and the Pirates, owners of the two best records in baseball, were rained out on Tuesday, forcing them to play a Wednesday doubleheader with the NL Central title on the line. A Cardinals win in either game would clinch the division, and relegate the Pirates to the Wild Card.
The Redbirds are sending spot starter Tyler Lyons to face the Pirates’ Charlie Morton in the nightcap. Lyons, who’s made only 7 starts this year, was pressed into service on Friday, when St. Louis fireballer Carlos Martinez was pulled after only 6 pitches with a right shoulder strain prematurely ending his season. Lyons proved to be a savior, pitching 3 2/3 innings of 1-run ball, at one point striking out 5... Read More
As we make our way into the third week of conference matchups, we’re starting to get a better look at the playoff picture. Some teams have faltered and others have risen to the occasion. This week, we are looking at two of the latter: #3 Ole Miss Rebels vs. #25 Florida Gators.
The Rebels and the Gators are both undefeated and are coming off of big wins against rival teams last week. The Rebels dominated Vanderbilt 27-16, while the Gators barely topped Tennessee 28-27 for the 11th consecutive time. The Gators have crept into the AP Top 25 poll for the first time since 2013, and Ole Miss has been sitting in the top five since their huge win over Alabama – by far their toughest opponent –... Read More
Red Sox at Yankees (7pm ET Tuesday, ESPN) The passion still burns hot in the Boston-New York rivalry, but with the Sox headed toward a third last-place finish in four years, the stakes are decidedly lower. While Boston circles the drain, the Yankees appear destined for a one-game Wild Card playoff.
More important than a W for the Yankees are signs that starter Michael Pineda is ready to contribute in October. Over his last two starts, he’s only given up one run in 11 and 1/3 innings, while striking out 10 and walking just one. But his previous two starts he also lasted 11 and 1/3, yet saw him give up eight earned runs. Which Pineda will show up?
The Yankees as a team have been scuffling along for... Read More
Chris and Alicia, the teenaged characters whose main plot function to this point has been to give their parents something to worry about, had an interesting little scene in this week’s episode. After finding the home of a particularly affluent neighborhood family abandoned, they looked around for a while, then started playing house, then eventually got all dressed up, she in evening gown and he in tuxedo. Then they trashed the entire house.
It was a nice little kabuki version of the story this season appears to be telling: though the spreading virus that’s got the recently deceased up on their feet certainly started the process, society’s reaction to it, more than the zombies themselves, are bringing society down. Like last week’s excellent “Not Fade Away,” this episode was... Read More
More than just divisional rivals, the Cards and Bucs have the two best records in baseball, and, as such, the first two teams two clinch playoff berths. Monday’s showdown is the first of a three-game series that represents the Pirates' last best chance to wrest control of the NL Central, and relegate the Cards to the one-game Wild Card playoff round. It would be sweet revenge for their 2013 loss to St. Louis in the NLDS.
Cardinals starter Lance Lynn has faded down the stretch, going 4-5 in his last 10 starts, while averaging less than 5 innings a game. In 49 innings he’s surrendered 56 hits and 27 walks, while striking out only 35. In three starts against Pittsburgh this year, he’s gone... Read More
In a season that’s devoted to celebrating the 50th anniversary of the modern NFL, this week’s Monday night game throws back to the very first Super Bowl, before it was even called a Super Bowl, with the Green Bay Packers facing the Kansas City Chiefs.
It’s never easy to go into Lambeau Field, as there is no city that loves its team more than Green Bay, where the team is famously owned by the city itself, and the Packers are riding a ten-game home winning streak. But even absent the cold weather and the 12th man, the Packers arguably have the best quarterback in football in Aaron Rodgers. Green Bay (2-0) struggled early in last week’s 27-17 win over the Seahawks, as RB Eddie Lacy and WR Devante Adams both... Read More
Of Project Runway’s 14 seasons, I have probably watched five or six, and this one has been one of my favorites. Partly because the talent level is so high – there are at least four designers with a real shot to win – partly because the challenges have been interesting, and most of all because they have ratcheted the distracting product placement and shoehorned sponsorships way back.
The shoehorned sponsorships are usually most evident on the Unconventional Materials challenges, when the designers are tasked to make a dress out of the contents of the M&M’s store (actually happened), and the episode ends up amounting to a 90-minute M&M’s commercial. Our first Unconventional Materials challenge this season forced the designers to make dresses out of Hallmark cards – still product... Read More
We are four weeks deep into college football season and it’s safe to say this season has been anything but ordinary so far. From devastating injuries, like #3 TCU losing six of its starters, to major upsets, like Ole Miss topping Alabama, every week has been a tossup. The one thing that seems unnervingly consistent is: no matter the ranking or what happened last week, anything is possible. A seemingly slow fourth week is chock-full of upset potential, like #19 USC vs. Arizona State University.
On the surface, it would appear that the Trojans would destroy the Sun Devils without breaking much of a sweat, but it would be silly – nay, idiotic – to rule Arizona State out just yet. Yes, they are unranked, but so was Stanford last... Read More
With just over two weeks left in the 2015 Major League Baseball season, the playoff picture is largely settled, except where it’s not, and where it’s not, OH MAN is it not.
The intrigue begins in the AL East, where the Toronto Blue Jays hold a slim 3.5 game lead over the New York Yankees. A series sweep for the Yankees, whose recent surge includes taking two of three from the first-place Mets in last weekend’s interleague series, would put them back at the top of the division, and a sweep for the Jays would likely put the division out of reach for the Bombers.
If you love the 1960s, gangsters, and quick-talking New York City cop dramas, TNT’s new series Public Morals is everything you need in your life. Creator Edward Burns focuses on the blurred line between gangsters and cops and their moral choices – or lack thereof.
Not only did Burns (The Brothers McMullen, Saving Private Ryan) create the show, he also stars in, directs, executive produces and writes for it, too. After Saving Private Ryan, Burns was urged by movie titan Steven Spielberg (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws) to work on movie scripts modeled after Burns’ father’s life as a NYPD officer in the 60’s. While he says he didn’t pull from those scripts for Public Morals, he definitely used his research to shape the new series.
Where each of the previous episodes of Fear The Walking Dead has begun almost at the exact moment the last one left off, this was the first to let a little time elapse, to let a few things develop offscreen, to let the characters change and adapt so that when we rejoin the action things are a little different than when we left.
Nine entire days have passed since the Manawas’ neighborhood was secured by the U.S. military (calling forward to the Alexandria storyline on the original series), and things have settled into a New Normal, with Travis positioning himself as a liason between the community and the military, his ex-wife Liza providing nursing services to everyone inside the fence in need, their son Chris making video journals, Ofelia... Read More
Coming off the best season of his career, Andrew Luck was supposed to lead the Colts to a cakewalk over the Bills last week as a mere formality on the march to Super Bowl 50. It didn’t quite work out that way.
Luck went 26 for 46 in pass attempts, with two interceptions and no touchdowns until the end of the third quarter, while his backfield managed only 64 yards. The Colts' defense didn’t fare much better, allowing the Bills to score on four consecutive possessions to run up a 24-0 lead.
Meanwhile in New York (actually New Jersey), the traditionally hapless Jets, who lost QB Geno Smith in the preseason to a broken jaw – because a teammate punched him, no less – surprised everyone by lighting... Read More
It has been 10 years since season 3 aired, but season 4 of HBO’s documentary series Project Greenlight picked up where it left off with intrigue, drama and excitement – fitting for a documentary about how Hollywood films are made.
Executive producers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon set out once again to find the most talented undiscovered director in the nation to take the reins of a new HBO film. This competition/documentary show is nothing to scoff at; it has been a Hollywood career launchpad for both writers and directors alike. In the early 2000’s, Stolen Summer, The Battle of Shaker Heights, and Feast were all productions of Project Greenlight and starred name-brand actors like Amy Smart, Shia LaBeouf, and Eric Dane.
Every week, a tough decision has to be made: Which college game do we feature for our Game of The Week? Well, this week we are throwing the rulebook out the window and choosing TWO games to chat about – GASP! Can we do that?! Yes, yes we can.
Ole Miss at Alabama (9:15pm ET Saturday, ESPN)
We’ll start with the obvious choice: Ole Miss Rebels vs. Alabama Crimson Tide. It’s a #15 team going against a #2 team and both are currently undefeated. Besides fighting to keep their record pristine, this game is important for both teams due to their rocky history.
Last year, #11 Ole Miss upset #3 Alabama at home, 23-17. Ole Miss was trailing 17-10 halfway through the 4th quarter before they tied it with... Read More
Last week the designers were given a deceptively simple challenge: to create a lingerie look that will fit with Heidi Klum’s Intimates line, with the winning entry actually going into production. A bra and panties sounds simple, but when the client is the deceptively sweet supermodel who is also lead judge in the competition, there was a lot of pressure in the workroom.
The designers came into this challenge feeling like this would be one of the easier ones, but nearly all of them ended up struggling with it. Unlike past challenges, where people started turning on each other, everyone seemed to be mostly trying to beat the toughest foe of all. (Themselves. The toughest foe of all is yourself, you guys.)
Picking up exactly where the last episode left off, “The Dog” begins with Travis and Madison separated and both under siege: Madison and her children trying to maintain some sense of normalcy with a game of Monopoly – its flimsy paper play money now seemingly just as valuable as the kind that comes from the U.S. Mint – while undead neighbors scratch at the door and eventually eat the dog; and Travis and his ex-wife and son, still holed up with the Salazar family in their barber shop, forced to make a break for it when the storefront next door catches fire. Griselda, the barber’s wife, gets her foot crushed in the escape, prompting a trip to the nearest hospital that fills in a blank or two about how Rick... Read More
Will Ferrell is known for pushing the limits. For him, nothing is out of reach and nothing is too ridiculous. His will-do attitude and his perfect mix between outrageous and sincere is what draws fans into each project he attaches his name to. Taking in account his work on SNL and movies like Blades of Glory and Anchorman (we’ll forget Anchorman 2 ever happened), it’s clear Ferrell is not afraid to make the journey from far past left field to home plate.
When I first heard Will Ferrell was going to play at the Major League Baseball Spring Training in Mesa, Arizona this year, I was sure it was a joke. That beautiful soft, doughy body going up against professional athletes? No way. But, as I found out it... Read More
There are four MLB games on Sling TV this weekm and all four of them have playoff implications.
There’s no tighter divisional race in baseball right now than the AL West, where the Houston Astros hold a slim 1.5 game lead over their intrastate rival Texas Rangers. With less than a month to go in the regular season, that’s close enough to make the Astros nervous even if the two teams weren’t scheduled to meet seven more times in 2015, but they are, including Tuesday’s game at 8pm ET on ESPN.
The Rangers are surging, coming off a 12-4 spanking of the Oakland A’s Sunday, where offensive leader... Read More
Monday Night Football is finally back this week, with not one but two NFL games to help quell your withdrawal symptoms from the long and difficult offseason. We go back to the usual format of one Monday night game a week next Monday, so you don’t need to worry about overdosing and/or getting divorced as the season goes on.
We’re starting off with a couple of great matchups: Philadelphia at Atlanta and Minnesota at San Francisco.
Eagles at Falcons (6:55pm ET, ESPN)
With new quarterback Sam Bradford coming off of an unusually strong preseason performance after missing the 2014 season because of an ACL injury, the Eagles are poised to make some real noise in the NFC East, particularly with newly minted teammate DeMarco Murray, who led the... Read More
Heavily favored to win the women’s final at the U.S. Open and with it, the first calendar-year Grand Slam since Steffi Graf did it in 1988, the world’s top-ranked player, Serena Williams, did something no one expected in the semifinal against unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci: she lost.
Williams played the first set with calculated power, taking it 6-2. Williams faltered in the second set, losing it to Vinci 4-6, forcing a third set. This was the first time Vinci has taken a single set in the four times they’ve met before. The third set started out in Williams’ favor but she couldn’t put it together, losing the set and the match 6-4.
Vinci, who has never made it to a major final, will... Read More
In the South, three things happen in the months between September and January: Eat, Sleep, Football. Football is how weeks are marked; everything that happens between Saturdays (or the occasional off-putting Thursday) is just filler, especially when you’re preparing to play a rival. Such is the case for this week’s College Game Of The Week: LSU Tigers at Mississippi State Bulldogs.
What makes this matchup special is the win-loss record. LSU beat Mississippi State every meeting they had – until last year. LSU (8) lost at home 34-29, which means they are looking to return the favor this year.
Another factor in this match to consider is LSU’s lack of play this season. The Tigers' season opener against McNeese State was cancelled last... Read More
After a relatively harmonious first four challenges, the designers are starting to turn on each other, thanks to the greatest device for creating interpersonal drama at Project Runway’s disposal: The team challenge.
The designers divide into two teams, first by Heidi choosing the first member of each team, and then having them choose the next person, that next person choosing the next, and so on. Oddly, this results in an all-girls team and an all-boys team, plus Merline. The teams are then suited up in white canvas jumpsuits, armed with paintball guns, and taken to a remote location where they are to battle each other for yards of loud, solid-colored fabric; they’re then told that in addition to that fabric, they can use their paintball outfits for the next... Read More
Now that Beyond Scared Straight and Beyond Scared Straight: Extreme Teens are done for forever (or at least the foreseeable future), A&E is keeping audiences on lock-down with a new reality prison show on Thursday nights called Behind Bars: Rookie Year.
Behind Bars: The Rookie Years follows ten brand-new correctional officers at the Penitentiary of New Mexico through their day-to-day routines, highlighting the struggles each rookie goes through when first interacting with inmates. This is a recipe for yelling and fighting between inmates and officers, neither of whom seem to be scared of the other.
It’s hard to tell if what is happening is real or not on this show. The rookies are given an awful lot of responsibility their first day, to a... Read More
Serena and Venus Williams fought a bittersweet battle against each other to progress to the semifinals. A normally vocal Serena was quiet and reserved when it came to celebrating important and difficult points, careful not to rub it into her older sister’s face. But Venus did not go quietly: The first set belonged to Serena at 6-2, but the second set overwhelmingly went to Venus 6-1, forcing a third set, which Serena clawed her way to win 6-3.
Serena continues her quest to make history in the semifinals against Roberta Vinci (Italy), who she’s beaten all four times they’ve played, tonight at 7pm ET on ESPN.
Novak Djokovic defeated Feliciano Lopez (Spain) in a quick but aggressive match that stacked up 6-1, 3-6,... Read More
The Williams sisters couldn’t avoid the inevitable.
After Serena Williams easily defeated fellow American Madison Keys in the fourth round 6-3, 6-3, she is now set to face her older sister, Venus, in the quarterfinals. Venus is ranked #23 behind her sister’s #1 slot, but in this match rankings mean nothing. Serena has already expressed concern about Venus knowing her game so well, including weak spots. But, it’s important to remember the road goes both ways.
Besides the championship round (and maybe even then), this is definitely the game to watch.
Novak Djokovic faced #23 Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain) to seal his advancement to the quarterfinals. Bautista Agut put up a fight – causing Djokovic to smash his racket at one point... Read More
Serena Williams swatted down fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the third round with little trouble – a common thread between anyone Williams has played against this tournament. Williams walked away with the first set 6-3, but had a tougher time during the second set 7-5. Williams schooled Mattek-Sands in the final set 6-0, scoring the winning point as she slid into the splits.
Williams will face #19 Madison Keys (U.S.), in the fourth round Sunday.
Novak Djokovic clawed his way to the win over #25, Andreas Seppi (Italy). Djokovic struggled with drop shots the majority of the match and Seppi took full advantage. In their history together, Djokovic has beat Seppi all 10 times he’s faced him, and this time was no... Read More
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: football season. The 2015 NCAA football season kicks off September 3, just in time for the long Labor Day weekend, giving us time to recover from the madness, and the season’s first Game of the Week is Texas A&M University vs. Arizona State University in Houston, Texas.
While these two teams will be meeting for the first time on Saturday, head coaches Kevin Sumlin of A&M and Todd Graham of ASU have coached against each other before. From 2008 to 2010, Sumlin and Graham met as head coaches for the University of Houston and the University of Tulsa, respectively, in the USA Conference. More is at stake than just bragging rights, though, as both coaches hold similar winning records: Graham with 28-12... Read More
Another one bites the dust as Serena Williams tallies up another victory against Kiki Bertens (Netherlands). During her round 2 meetup, Williams stumbled upon occasion, but ended the match 7-6, 6-3.
She will go head-to-head with Bethanie Mattek-Sands (U.S.) at 7pm ET Friday.
In round two, Novak Djokovic faced a slightly tougher opponent than in round one, but still walked – or danced – away with the win over Andreas Haider-Maurer (Austria). With a close first set of 6-4, Haider-Maurer fell to the wayside with 6-1, 6-2 losses in the next two sets.
Djokovic will face number 25 ranked Andreas Seppi (Italy) in round three Friday morning.
Simona Halep defeats Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko who... Read More
What does Mary Kay cosmetics have to do with reimagining iconic designs and being inspired by the New York City skyline? What does Mary Kay cosmetics have to do with clothes at all? They’re paying for this episode, that’s what, now shut up and go with it!
The heavy workload and fatigue that comes with it is starting to affect the designers in week 4, which is week 4 for us, the audience, but is probably only day 4 or 5 for the designers, who have probably never worked as hard in their lives. Some of the designers are starting to crack under the pressure, some of them are starting to get catty, and some of them may or may not be relying on performance enhancing drugs.
With the explosive power of executive producer Michael Bay (Transformers, Armageddon) and the star power of lead actor Eric Dane (Grey’s Anatomy), The Last Ship has been an exciting, suspenseful hit for TNT. In case you’ve been spending your Sunday nights in Vinci, CA this summer, don’t worry: you can still catch up in time for the September 6 season finale. All of season 2 is available On Demand, but if you don’t have time to cram in all 11 episodes, here’s a quick recap.
After spending all of season 1 developing a vaccine for the virus that wiped out 80% of humanity, season 2 found the crew of the USS Nathan James, which had avoided exposure to the virus by being in the Arctic at the... Read More
The 2015 U.S. Open tennis tournament is proving to be all about the women. Or, rather, one woman: Serena Williams. While her chances of completing a calendar Grand Slam sweep seem likely, especially with fierce competitor Maria Sharapova out due to an injury, there are several other contenders that could give her a run for the title.
Williams breezed through round one with a swift victory over Vitalia Diatchenko (Russia). After two sets, both of which scored 6-0, Diatchenko retired from the match due to an injury. Williams is set to play Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) in the second round on Tuesday.
Like Williams, Simona Halep’s (Romania) match against Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) ended quickly after two sets – 6-3 and 2-0 – when Erakovic forfeited due to injury. Halep... Read More
September is a big month on Universal Sports. Here’s a rundown of the highlights.
UCI Road Cycling World Championships (all month)
“The Road World Championships (Worlds) is cycling’s pinnacle event, held annually in an international city as chosen by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) through a competitive bidding process similar to the Olympic Games.” Click here for more from the official website.
ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Final (Sept. 18-19)
“The ITU World Triathlon Series is the pinnacle of the sport and the world’s leading platform to promote a more active lifestyle.” Click here for more from the official website and... Read More
“When society ends,” pimply-faced high school student Tobias, who seems to be the only person who fully grasps what’s happening, tells his guidance counselor Madison just before she saves him from their shambling, undead principal, “it ends fast.”
This second episode may be disappointing the more bloodthirsty segment of Fear the Walking Dead’s audience, who are eager to get to the free-for-all zombie killing sprees of its parent show, but I found it fascinating in the ways it imagines the beginning of the end in Los Angeles.
In a lot of ways, society is still holding together, as police are still out on the street trying to control the chaos – and in a very clever inversion, incur the wrath of street protesters who don’t understand the nature... Read More
The Pirates and the Yankees haven’t had this much in common since 1960.
Here they are staring into September, and the view from the Bronx is very much like the view from Pittsburgh: Both teams are in second place in their divisions and both teams are clinging to a Wild Card spot.
This week’s games – like all the games that follow them (and all the ones that came before) – matter. It’s a long season. But the narratives that surround those games change with the standings.
Normally, the matchup between the Yankees and the Red Sox has its own meaning, and maybe it still... Read More
I’ll be the first to admit I’ve had my fair share of Pinterest and DIY fails, but that never stops me from trying anyway. And, each fail keeps this renovation know-nothing in awe of the talents and creativity husband-and-wife host team Tarek and Christina El Moussa bring to tackling the extreme renovation projects together on HGTV’s Flip or Flop. There is a certain Cinderella aspect to watching the transformation of a disastrous dumps into high-end homes that lines up with the fascination people have for Pinterest: the idea of creating or recreating a beautiful home.
When the housing market tumbled in 2008, Orange County-based Tarek and Christina decided to get into flipping houses, which led them to scoring their own show. Flip or Flop focuses on the pair buying... Read More
Season 14’s designers have been turning in strong work and generally getting along, and that simply won’t do when you’ve got a reality show to fill with drama. So last week Project Runway reached for the most dependable tool in its drama-creating shed: the team challenge!
For some reason (coughproductplacementcough) the designers were dragged aboard a luxury cruise ship to choose their partners and one of seven destination-labeled suitcases, in which they would find the locale-specific fabrics with which they would construct a day-to-night look suitable for a luxury cruise ship. As product-placement challenges go this one is about as well-presented as they get, but it is a little odd to have the designers saddled with pre-chosen textiles – and even weirder to have the judges praising or dinging... Read More
When MLB instituted the Wild Card, many baseball purists gasped and wagged fingers. It will diminish the excitement that’s earned from teams trying to win the pennant during six months of baseball and 162 games, they said.
In some ways – and in some cities – they might have a point. But don’t try to make that argument in Chicago or San Francisco right about now.
The Wild Card is presenting the Cubs and the Giants with both sides of what proponents of the expanded playoff system argue makes the system so great.
The Cubs are third in the extremely tough N.L. Central but, barring a... Read More
Ah, the unconventional materials challenge. So pointless, so unrelated to fashion design or dress construction or anything else that humans do on planet Earth, other than awkwardly jam some non-fashion-related sponsor’s name and product onto the airwaves. The designers last week were herded into the Hallmark store, and instructed to create dresses out of greeting cards. While this may seem ridiculous, consider that it’s better than being herded into the Times Square M&M’s store with similar instructions (as actually happened on a past season). But yeah, still pretty silly.
The personalities we’re dealing with here in season 14 are beginning to come into focus, and I already have all my money on one designer to win this thing, so let’s get to the Power Rankings!
AMC’s zombie-apocalypse drama The Walking Dead began with a fascinating hook when it premiered in 2010: Georgia cop Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma to find that society has completely crumbled and most of humanity has either died or been infected with a virus that turns them into undead drones with a taste for living flesh. It was a brilliant in media res opening that thrust the viewer directly into the action, while at the same time putting us into Rick’s shoes, trying to make sense of what happened. The show quickly became the biggest hit on TV and has shown no sign of slowing down – indeed, it’s only gotten better as it’s gone along.
While the coma was a very effective way to kick off the series,... Read More
I have always been a sucker for a good documentary. Documentary feature (like Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room or Tim’s Vermeer, documentary TV series (VICE), newsmagazine show (60 Minutes), music documentary (Gimme Shelter) documentary short (everything on Facebook) – doesn’t matter. Even if the topic is something I don’t think I’m interested in, it’s only a few seconds before I’m hooked.
Fake documentary is not exactly a new idea: two of the greatest film comedies of all time (Albert Brooks’ Real Life and Rob Reiner’s This Is Spinal Tap) were “mockumentaries,” and they not only spawned whole subgenre, including all of Spinal Tap star Christopher Guest’s films; many of the conventions of documentary – handheld camera style, direct-to-camera “confessionals” by key subjects – have even seeped into... Read More
The Giants won their third World Series in five years in 2014 but entered this season with some serious questions as to whether they could do it again.
Who would replace Pablo Sandoval at third base? Who’s going to turn double plays with shortstop Brandon Crawford? Will former ace Tim Lincecum ever be the same? Will Matt Cain, for that matter? They even lost outfielder Hunter Pence at the start of the season.
The answers to some of these questions came in the form of third baseman Matt Duffy, second baseman Joe Panik, both of whom were unheralded prospects but have more than made up for the... Read More
Good day and welcome to season 14 of Project Runway, by far my favorite reality competition show. This week we met all sixteen of our starry-eyed hopefuls, ready and raring to make their mark!
The episode began with the designers at center court of Madison Square Garden, and instructed to run around the arena gathering the fabric scattered around on the seats to use for their first task: a blue-sky, “show us who you are as a designer,” anything goes challenge. Some of our designers stood out for great work in a very short timeframe, and others stood out for exactly the opposite reason. So let’s go to the Power Rankings!
Note: Power Rankings are totally unscientific, coming as they are from a straight man, but I have... Read More
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this, to be honest,” NFL Films director Matt Dissinger said of filming Watt. “Every team has its stars, but I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like the J.J. phenomenon. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a superstar who is as engaged with his fans as he is. He’s a special guy, that’s for... Read More
Well, that happened. The season finale of True Detective did not manage to make sense of the seven episodes that preceded it. The story wrapped up rather tidily, but somehow didn’t manage to connect to any deeper meaning for either the main characters, the audience, or anything else.
Burris and Caspere and the the police chief stole some diamonds a long time ago, and they would have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for those meddling kids! The two young children who were orphaned when Burris et al looted those blue diamonds back during the 1992 riots somehow grew up, coincidentally met Caspere, somehow figured out who he was, got a job working for him, and killed him. What does this have to do with Frank Semyon’s... Read More
Footage of the last championships for Kansas City and Pittsburgh is grainy enough to make anyone who remembers it feel very old.
The Pirates last won the World Series in 1979, led by Willie Stargell, and the Royals won in 1985, led by George Brett. Both players are in the Hall of Fame now, and the game has changed a great deal.
Since those last championships, many observers began to worry that large-market teams such as the Yankees, with their ever-thick wallet, had an unfair advantage in free agency. However, baseball’s leadership has made some adjustments to address the issue and, perhaps more importantly, small-market teams have... Read More
I have never been the least bit interested in fashion. I like jeans and t-shirts and the occasional solid-colored button down. I own one suit, and I bought it in 2004. I don’t wear anything with any kind of brand name or logo on it, I have never spent more than $60 on any one piece of clothing (other than winter coats, boots, and the suit), and I have been wearing the same kind of plain black and white sneakers since high school.
And yet I am a huge fan of Lifetime’s Project Runway, the reality competition wherein aspiring fashion designers engage in themed challenges, only to be mercilessly critiqued by industry luminaries and the flawlessly preserved Heidi Klum. Most any straight man would blame their wife or girlfriend for... Read More
Last week, when consoling a young boy whose father had died, Frank Semyon told him, “Sometimes a thing happens that splits your life. There’s a before and an after.” As this sprawling, complicated mess of a season rounds third base, True Detective is finally easing up on the question-asking and getting into some question-answering, as the mystery starts to get a little less mysterious and the characters begin to settle into what the “after” is going to look like.
Unfortunately for Taylor Kitsch’s closeted commando Paul Woodrugh, the after is going to have to be the afterlife, as he’s mercilessly gunned down by Lt. Burris (Velcoro’s former superior) in the tunnels under the city after connecting Chief Holloway to the 1992 diamond heist that set so much of this... Read More
Part of the reason for the Yankees lack of movement before the deadline was their unwillingness to part with phenom Luis Severino, who is expected to make his major league debut Wednesday in the Bronx against the Red Sox. The Yankees are betting that he’s as much an answer to their starting pitching woes as Cole Hamels, David Price or... Read More
A drunk, misanthropic scientific genius who’s invented a portal through time, space, and dimensions takes his naive, trusting, loyal grandson all over the universe on missions to preserve the fabric of reality while insulting his intelligence, competence, and common sense at every turn. Does that sound like a funny show or what?
Maybe it doesn’t, but after a solid year of hearing that Rick and Morty is the best animated comedy on television, I finally checked out the first season – about half of the eleven episodes are available to watch for free at the Adult Swim website – and I was immediately won over.
It’s hard to remember a comic character as immediately indelible as Rick Sanchez, the Einstein-haired, hygienically-challenged, usually-inebriated tower of condescension that forces... Read More
It’s the city that doesn’t sleep, according to Frank Sinatra. Do you want to be a part of it? Let’s make a brand new start of it. Because if you can make it here you … aw, you know the rest.
Three of the four games this week on Sling TV involve teams from ol' New York, and the Mets and Yankees are both are gunning to be king of the hill, top of the heap.
If your vagabond shoes never long to stray to New York, the only chance to avoid the Mets and Yankees is Wednesday when the Angels play the Astros, in what should be... Read More
Things are finally clicking into place in this second season of True Detective. The five preceding episodes of character development and table-setting have revealed their purpose: to set up and inform this episode, by far the most engaging of the season. If the last two episodes can stay as focused as this one, season two still has a chance to go down as a worthy complement to season one.
Nearly all the best scenes in this season were packed into this one episode: Ray confronting Frank about the mistaken tip that set him on the path to corruption and self-loathing; Frank bonding with his murdered employee’s son; Ray trying to bond with his son, finally recognizing he’s damaged the relationship irretrievably, and walking away for good; Frank tracking down... Read More
For the second straight year, women will cycle down the Champs-Élysées in a race of their own.
Last year marked the inaugural La Course by La Tour, a one-day race for women prior to the end of the Tour de France. Marianne Vos, who won last year’s race, is injured and won’t be able to defend her title but the field is still filled with world-class cyclists, including current world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.
American Coryn Rivera recently won the Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen and should contend at La Course. She finished sixth in Paris last year.
“With La Course just around the corner,... Read More
A normal family with an overwhelmed working mother and a father who can’t keep up with the chores gets one to help around the house. An aging doctor is so attached to his malfunctioning old model he can’t bring himself to upgrade to a new one. One unit, specifically designed for sex, rebels and goes on a killing spree. And it seems that a few of them are more than they appear to be, with independent thoughts and feelings and memories.
In a world where we are increasingly relying on our little pocket computers to communicate, to amuse ourselves, to direct us to the supermarket, to conduct business, etcetera etcetera, the leap that AMC’s new sci-fi drama series Humans presents – that fully functional humanoid robots called Synths are... Read More
For the Mets to win the N.L. East, they’ll have to go through the Nationals. For the Yankees to win the A.L. East, they’ll have to fend off the Orioles (and also the Rays, Blue Jays and—yes—maybe even the Red Sox).
The Mets enter Monday’s contest with Washington two games behind, which sets up a series that could alter the division race. The Mets send ace Matt Harvey against Gio Gonzalez and the rest of the series, pitching-wise, will also be difficult for the Nationals to handle. It would be difficult for anyone to handle.
Hall of Famer John Smoltz recently said that the Mets' rotation is more talented... Read More
We pick up this week in the aftermath of the giant firefight that ended last week’s episode – “The Vinci Massacre,” the press has apparently dubbed it – and two months after the carnage, our heroes have adjusted to a new status quo: Ani is in uniform and exiled to the evidence locker and attending sexual harassment therapy; Woodrugh, the hero of the gunfight, has been “promoted” to detective; and Velcoro has shaved his moustache, traded his mullet for a slightly less unflattering version, and taken up Frank’s offer to work for him full-time doing collections and security.
Frank’s adjusting to a new status quo, too, though it’s not related to the shootout. He and his wife have moved out of their big Scarface House and into a modest... Read More
I don’t want to say that Halt and Catch Fire was a bad show in its first season. It had engaging, well-drawn characters, the setting (early ‘80s Texas) was specific and convincing, and the overall story (trying to create the first portable computer) was compelling.
But the show made a few odd missteps in that first season, starting with keeping its most compelling character (Kerry Bishe’s hardware whiz Donna) mostly peripheral to the main plot and ending with its protagonist, Lee Pace’s Steve Jobsian tech visionary Joe MacMillan, setting fire to a truck containing the first shipment of the Giant, the aformentioned portable computer.
It’s unclear if the show’s huge pivot in this second season toward its more interesting characters – Donna and Mackenzie Davis’ temperamental code prodigy... Read More
Karl Pilkington has done for the dumb(-or-is-it-brilliant?) quote what few people other than Yogi Berra and Homer Simpson have done.
And much of Pilkington’s wisdom is currently on display in An Idiot Abroad on Travel Channel. Pilkington doesn’t seem to care about exploring new lands or cultures, and this is exactly why Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant sent him around the world.
Here’s a pearl from Pilkington’s visit to China:
“Being honest with you, it’s not the ‘great’ wall of China. It’s an all right wall. It’s the ‘All Right Wall of China.’”
And here are a few more from his travels:
“You can be into traveling but the world’s only so big, innit? So, eventually, you’re... Read More
If your complaint about this second season of True Detective was that there aren’t enough fireworks, this fourth episode pretty conclusively answered that criticism with a massive, Heat-style shootout that left everyone but our three heroes bleeding out in the street. But there was a lot that came before that shootout that raised the stakes for all the players, and it feels like the season is coming into focus.
Strapped for cash and increasingly resigned to the fact that the life savings he gave Caspere is not going to be recovered, Frank continued drumming up cash from old criminal associates, restarting his drug trade and inserting himself back into an old protection racket, while increasingly pushing his loyal wife out of the picture.
The home run holds a special place in baseball. Nothing else really comes close.
And the men who are the best at hitting them also hold a special place in the hearts of fans: Ruth, Mantle, Mays, Aaron and-—depending on how you feel about modern chemistry-—Bonds.
While nobody in this year’s contest is likely to threaten 714, 755 or 762, there is a great mix of rookies and veteran sluggers on display tonight during the Home Run Derby, which has a new format.
Albert Pujols, who seems to be a lock for Cooperstown, is climbing the all-time home run ladder, sandwiched... Read More
Can anyone stop Serena now? She’s one match away from securing not only the most coveted trophy in tennis, but also another “Serena Slam,” as well as keeping the Calendar Slam dream alive (no pressure!). It’s an amazing prospect for her and her fans. Just don’t mention it to Serena before she steps on the court. Tennis players are notoriously superstitious. While Serena historically has been vulnerable in the first week of slams in the past few years, once she gets to this stage, it’s usually all over but the shouting — or grunting in this case.
The woman who will try to stop her, Garbine Muguruza, has, surprisingly, beaten Serena before at a slam. In 2014, Muguruza outhit Serena in the second round of the French Open, winning decisively... Read More
The final four men face off tomorrow in the Wimbledon semi-finals and a quick look at the line-up brings to mind the old saying: “one of these things is not like the others.”
That would be France’s Richard Gasquet, ranked #21, who beat Stan Wawrinka in a five set thriller in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Gasquet is the lone man in the group who has never won a Slam or even made to a final. He has his work cut out for him when he steps on Centre Court tomorrow for the first scheduled match against Novak Djokovic. Djokovic leads their H2H a whopping 12-1, but there’s some newfound fight in the Frenchman that could make this more of a battle than a blowout.
7 Days in Hell premieres on HBO at 11pm on Saturday, July 11, and is available now to watch on demand.
As the real Wimbledon draws to a close, it’s a good time to look back at the greatest match ever played there. The greatest match in the history of tennis, for that matter: the 2001 Charles Poole/Aaron Williams match that stayed stuck in Deuce for seven excruciating days.
Of course, that match never happened, but the new HBO mockumentary Seven Days In Hell goes to great pains to make it look like it did, by using official HBO Sports iconography and personalities like Soledad O’Brien and Jim Lampley, commentary by real tennis stars Serena Williams, John McEnroe, and Chris Evert, and grave-sounding narration... Read More
The final eight men are all in action at Wimbledon on Thursday. Here’s a preview of who’s playing who and what to watch for:
First up on Centre Court, hometown hero and 2013 Wimbledon winner Andy Murray faces unseeded Canadian Vasek Pospisil. Murray leads the H2H 3-0 but Pospisil is also a Wimbledon champion (he and American Jack Sock won the doubles trophy versus the top-ranked Bryan brothers in 2014), so he’s no stranger to handling the pressure awaiting him. Still, the entire stadium – heck, the entire United Kingdom – will be rooting for Murray. Pospisil isn’t just playing one guy; he’s playing a nation. Watch for how many times Murray sarcastically shouts at his player’s box during the match, even when he’s winning.
If the name of legendary author/screenwriter/director/producer/fabulist Eric Jonrosh isn’t immediately familiar, it may be because he’s not actually a real person.
Will Ferrell plays the role of Jonrosh, the “author” of The Spoils Before Dying, a six-part comedy miniseries starring Michael K. Williams (Omar from The Wire), Kristen Wiig, and Maya Rudolph premiering Wednesday night on IFC. Those are all trusted names, but it still doesn’t answer the obvious question about The Spoils Before Dying: what the hell is it?
We haven’t seen much of it other than the trailer, so we went back to the previous project by the same creative team, The Spoils of Babylon, for a little more insight, and immediately fell in love.
Ferrell’s Eric Jonrosh introduces each episode in heavy makeup pretty... Read More
Like the grass it’s played on, the Wimbledon tournament moves fast. The fortnight feels as if it just started, yet we’re down to just eight men and eight women in the draw. Tomorrow, all four Ladies' Quarterfinal matches are scheduled and there’s an intriguing mix of veterans and newcomers on the docket – and a potential for drama and delays with the rainy weather forecast (Centre Court has a roof; Court 1 does not).
First up on Centre Court is 2004 winner Maria Sharapova versus American underdog Coco Vandeweghe. Sharapova’s got the experience and the drive, but Coco’s serve is dangerous on this surface and could put just enough pressure on her opponent to pull off an upset. Plus, they’ve never played each other before and it’s easy to swing... Read More
It was fun, for a moment, to imagine that True Detective was going to do the truly unexpected in its second season by killing its most interesting character in the second episode. It wouldn’t be unprecedented – Hitchcock did it to Janet Leigh in Psycho 55 years ago – but it would be highly unusual.
It didn’t take a genius to guess that Colin Farrell’s Ray Velcoro was going to survive that pair of shotgun blasts to the torso, but even the most skeptical TV fan wouldn’t have imagined that he would wake up not even bleeding, get up and call himself an ambulance, and be back out there trying to solve his own attempted murder – chasing dudes over fences and across highways – in the very next episode.... Read More
This team has been hit hard by injuries to ace Adam Wainwright and sluggers Matt Adams and Matt Holliday, among many others, and yet here they are nearing the All-Star break with the best record in baseball, 53-28, which is also good for the best record after 81 games since 1944.
The Cardinals play three times this week on Sling TV, twice against the division rival Chicago Cubs. Entering Monday’s games, St. Louis has an 8.5-game lead over Chicago in the N.L. Central.
The Cardinals lost Wainwright after just four starts but the pitching staff is talented... Read More
Any fan of Flip or Flop, Flip It to Win It, Flipping the Heartland, or Flipping Moms (to name just a few of the network’s flip shows), should pull up a beach chair to the TV, slather on some sunscreen and watch Beach Flip, which premieres at 9pm ET Sunday, July 5.
This summer, four couples will compete for eight weeks flipping waterfront homes in Gulf Shores Alabama for a grand prize of $50,000.
David Bromstad (My Lottery Dream Home), Nicole Curtis (Rehab Addict), Josh Temple (House Crashers) will mentor the couples was the complete the renovations.
“These competitors are skilled home renovators and they know how to get the most bang for their buck,” Josh... Read More
Cousins John Colaneri and Anthony Carrino have a new mission: surprise overhauls of the worst kitchens in the country. To do that, they solicited hundreds of videos from families all over the country—some of whom who still don’t know to shoot video horizontally on their phone. (But that’s another show.)
“We design (kitchens) in 90 percent of the renovations that we do,” Colaneri told Atlanta Magazine. “The kitchen is the most complicated and functional room in the house.”
If the cousins' names sound familiar, that might be because they also starred in HGTV’s and DIY Network’s Cousins Undercover, Cousins on Call,... Read More
The slow burn that began last week continues into episode two, with the cops from three jurisdictions looking into the death of Ben Caspere, and crime lord Frank Semyon conducting his own investigation in hopes of recovering the $5 million that Caspere apparently took with him. As they each nibble at the edges of the mystery in their own ways, the show continues its emphasis on character (as opposed to plot) development – that is, until the character we’ve seen the most of to this point, corrupt detective Ray Velcoro, takes a couple of shotgun blasts to the chest.
Colin Farrell has been the most interesting presence in this second season up to now, but it’s hard to imagine True Detective pulling the old “he only got me in... Read More
Fans of the Giants, Nationals, Mets and Cubs rejoice: you can watch your team twice this week on Sling TV. And with seven games on ESPN, here’s your guide for what to look for.
Best Pitching Matchup
On Friday, Mets rookie Noah Syndergaard faces the Dodgers’ two-time Cy Young-winner Clayton Kershaw.
Kershaw has established himself as the one of the best pitchers of his generation—and some would argue the 27-year-old lefty is already an all-time great.
Syndergaard, 22, came over to the Mets from Toronto in the deal for R.A. Dickey. He has earned the nickname “Thor” in part because he’s 6-foot-6, 242 pounds. But also because of his 97-mph fastball that tops out in triple digits,... Read More
There isn’t much dispute among the talking heads and scribblers about who the top three picks will be in the NBA draft on Thursday: Karl-Anthony Towns, Jahlil Okafor and D’Angelo Russell. There’s also very little debate about the order in which they’ll go. Here’s the nearly universal mock-draft guess: that order.
That leaves the New York Knicks, who pick fourth, in a tough position—so tough there are rumors they might try to trade the pick. It could be safer to let someone else guess whether Latvian 19-year-old Kristaps Porzingis is a Nowitzki-Kirilenko-Durant hybrid or just the next Darko Milicic; or whether Congolese 19-year-old Emmanuel Mudiay is the next... Read More
Entering the season, both the south and north sides of Chicago had reasons to be excited.
The White Sox spent a lot of money on free agent arms in starter Jeff Samardzija, closer David Robertson and setup man Zach Duke. They also bolstered the lineup with the bats of Melky Cabrera and Adam LaRoche. They even drafted a major-league ready arm in N.C. State’s Carlos Rodon.
The Cubs also spent big, reuniting Jon Lester and G.M. Theo Epstein to give them a World Series-tested ace. They added Miguel Montero behind the plate, and brought back free agent starter Jason Hammel after having packaged him with Samardzija in a deal... Read More
It’s hard to imagine higher expectations for what is essentially a new show, but after the first season of HBO’s True Detective seemingly captured the imagination of the entire country last year, it feels like season two will be judged as a failure if it’s anything less than mindblowing right out of the gate.
Since it’s an anthology series, this season begins anew with different characters, a different setting, a different crime to investigate. No more Rust Cohle and his fascinating existential monologues; no more Marty Hart and his improbably gorgeous young girlfriends.
By the looks of the premiere, season two is also stepping away from the supernatural and occult elements that set season one apart from most crime procedurals, as well as the time-jumping flashback narrative... Read More
One could be forgiven for thinking HBO’s new geopolitical satire The Brink bears a strong resemblance to Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 classic Dr. Strangelove. The similarities are many, from the subject matter (trying to prevent World War III) to the structure (three separate but connected stories: one in the halls of power, one on the ground, and one in a war plane).
It’s a tough bar to clear, as Dr. Strangelove is the rare comedy that’s still funny 50 years on, so dead-on was its take on the fragile state of war and peace. But Tim Robbins, who costars with Jack Black, Aasif Mandvi, Esai Morales, John Larroquette, Carla Gugino, and Pablo Schrieber, doesn’t shrink from the comparison: “That was pretty much the model we were working from,” Robbins Read More
After a very promising early career, with well-recieved appearances in Dazed and Confused and A Time To Kill and Contact, poor Matthew McConaughey somehow gradually turned into a shirtless, bongo-playing punchline, best known for bad rom-coms (most likely with Kate Hudson).
But when the first season of True Detective aired on HBO, only a few weeks after his cameo in The Wolf of Wall Street and his Oscar-winning performance in Dallas Buyers Club, and people got a look at McConaughey’s haunted, driven performance as Rust Cohle, everyone remembered, Oh yeah, this guy is super-talented! Pretty soon people were going back to his most recent run of movies – The Lincoln Lawyer, Bernie, Killer Joe, Mud, Magic Mike – and his career was reborn, complete with a cute name: The... Read More
Playing the wife in A Deadly Adoption might not be the role of a lifetime for Kristen Wiig, but it’s a role she’s prepared for.
Wiig helped parody the Lifetime network in 2011 with an SNL sketch about gameshow called “What’s Wrong with Tanya?” which featured three mothers from Lifetime Original Movies. Wiig played contestant Jo Beth Anderson, who was introduced as the wife of a man who had a locked drawer in his office that she isn’t allowed to open.
“None of my business!” Wiig said, smiling.
Perfect training for A Deadly Adoption, in which she and Will Ferrell play a successful couple who invite a beautiful pregnant... Read More
With the recent World Series success of the Giants and Cardinals, it would be easy to go with the National League. Those teams account for four of the past five World Series titles.
Then there’s the All-Star Game. Baseball nerds will point out that since the ill-fated tie in 2002, the A.L. has dominated, winning nine of 12.
But this week offers a good look at which league might be stronger. From Monday through Thursday, every team will play a two-game home-and-away interleague series (that’s four total games for those scoring at home) against the same opponent.
Dwayne Johnson offers this warning in the new HBO show Ballers, which premieres June 21: “Football has a way of making a man feel invincible.”
But when it comes to money, even the game’s biggest stars are anything but invincible. To name just a few: Warren Sapp, Terrell Owens, Dan Marino, Jamal Lewis, and Vince Young all lost fortunes.
That’s where Johnson comes in. He plays former pro football player Spencer Strassmore, who is trying to reinvent himself as a financial adviser who just can’t shake the game—or commoditizing friendships with players who need his help.
According to a recent report in the Washington Post, one in every six NFL players files for bankruptcy within 12 years of retirement, and the rates of failure for the stars... Read More
The new HBO comedy The Brink follows three seperate but intertwined story threads, as the Secretary of State (Tim Robbins), a low-level diplomat (Jack Black) and a fighter pilot (Pablo Schrieber) all try to prevent World War III in the wake of a military coup in Pakistan.
This is not the first time the show’s two biggest names, Jack Black and Tim Robbins (who also carry producer credits on the show, while Robbins directed the second episode) have worked together: both are members of the Actors’ Gang, an experimental theater troupe founded in 1981 by Robbins that has included Jack Black, John Cusack, Helen Hunt, Jeremy Piven, Jon Favreau, and many others, with a charter to “produce plays that contribute to the ongoing dialogue about our society and culture,... Read More
Few television shows are able to come out and capture the national imagination as thoroughly as the first season of HBO’s True Detective. Captivating lead performances by Woody Harrelson and (particularly) Matthew McConaughey, a clever time-jumping narrative structure, and a menacing, vaguely supernatural murder combined to totally dominate the pop culture conversation.
That first season had one other unique feature: it was a self-contained story, and when Harrelson and McConaughey gave in to their decades-simmering bromance and the credits rolled, it was clear that they would not be returning – but the monster ratings they had posted guaranteed that there would be a second season. So what is that second season going to be?
Initially, series creator and writer Nic Pizzolatto said the season would be about “the... Read More
The A.L. East has worn the de facto label of the toughest division in baseball for many years and, from the top to the bottom, it is tough once again this year.
But is it the best? Some would eagerly say no but ask anyone in Boston or the Bronx and you could get a different answer.
For example, Wednesday’s game on ESPN between the Red Sox and Orioles. As of this writing, both teams are under .500, and in the cellar of the division. Yet they are still very much in the race, just 5.5 games off the lead.
This week’s other game on ESPN is Sunday’s contest... Read More
It only took 49 episodes for Game of Thrones to finally give us what we really wanted, and it was glorious: as the Sons of the Harpy tried to assassinate her just as she finally gave them what they wanted – reopening the fighting pits – Daenerys was saved, and then airlifted out, by the wayward Drogon, who returned either in reply to her telepathic message or just because he sensed she was in danger. Either way, the sight of the Mother of Dragons leaving the quagmire in Meereen astride her fire-breathing firstborn was deeply satisfying, particularly as it really had a helicopters-off-the-Saigon-embassy-roof feel to it – she may not have actually left Meereen yet, but it’s clear enough that she can win neither hearts nor minds in this backward... Read More
The X Games have even found a way to make the old new again in the form of a revitalized NASCAR legend: Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace will compete in off-road truck racing.
After a really disappointing run of episodes that was starting to make people worry that this show was floundering as it began to run out of track – track in this case being material from George R.R. Martin’s books to adapt – Game of Thrones came roaring back this week with the best episode of the season and one of the best of its entire run.
“Hardhome,” named for the Wildling’s seaside enclave that becomes the site of a massacre at the hands of the White Walkers, serves as a brutal reminder that these characters haven’t been reminding each other that WINTER IS COMING for 47 episodes just so they’ll remember to bring a sweater; Winter represents an existential threat to humanity, as we see through the best action... Read More
The Dodgers might have been worried in the offseason about trading away fan-favorite Matt Kemp but Joc Pederson has already ushered in an exciting new era in the outfield.
And the 23-year-old rookie center fielder has done it both with his bat and his glove.
“The sky’s the limit for him. It’s ridiculous the talent he has,” Dodgers hitting coach Mark McGwire said. “You’re just seeing glimpses now. It’s going to be ridiculous for the next 15 to 20 years.”
Entering Monday’s games, Pederson is fifth in the N.L. in home runs with 13, third in the league in walks (33), eighth in the league in slugging (.546),... Read More
Just when it was starting to feel like this whole season has been stuck on Herschel’s farm, this week delivered a number of plot developments, including the inevitable blowback from Cersei’s Operation Faith Militant landing her in a cell adjacent to her hated daughter-in-law, Sansa’s discovery that her brother, Jon Snow, is not just alive but Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, and the meeting we’ve all been waiting for: Tyrion Lannister finally locked eyes with Daenerys Stormborn Targaryen, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons.
The people who are finding this season distastefully sadistic still got a bit of ammunition for their thinkpieces, as yet another rape scene was barely averted at Castle Black, and Ramsay showed Sansa just how much worse he could make things for... Read More
Still, the Cleveland Cavaliers have emerged as favorites versus the higher-seeded Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals, which begin tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
This despite the Hawks’ amazing 19-game winning streak in the regular season, and despite being the only team in the regular season to beat the Cavs three times.
However, two of those wins came before the trade that landed J.R. Smith, Timofey Mozgov, and Iman Shumpert in Cleveland. After that trade, the Cavs went 34-10.
Also: LeBron.
Doesn’t it always seem to come down to that? Here’s a headline... Read More
The Warriors swept the Rockets 4-0 in the regular season but both Golden State and Houston recognize that the postseason is a different animal.
“It seems like in the playoffs, things kind of take a different shape,” said MVP Stephen Curry, who will lead the Warriors against MVP runner-up James Harden and the Rockets tonight at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
Harden agrees: “Yesterday is over with. We play … against the Golden State Warriors. That’s a really good team. We have to turn the page. We have to be ready to go … We’ll be ready.”
Last night’s was a particularly eventful episode of Game of Thrones, particularly compared with last week’s outing. So much happened that it was hard to keep it all straight:
The Slave Formerly Known As Theon was forced to watch as Sansa, a girl he was raised with as ward to her father, is brutally raped by her new husband, Ramsay Bolton. We can only hope that the trauma of this event will wake Theon from his Reek reverie and move him to help Sansa take down the Boltons, maybe by undermining them from within when Stannis arrives.
As the Sparrows continue their inquisition into Loras' sexual proclivities, Queen Margaery is asked to testify about whether she’s ever known her brother to lie with another man. Her denial is... Read More
Having worked as David Chase’s right-hand man on the last couple of seasons of The Sopranos, it makes sense that Matthew Weiner would end Mad Men with an echo of that series' famous cut to black. Cutting to the famous “I’d Like To Buy The World A Coke” ad, strongly suggesting (but not stating outright) that Don Draper returns to New York with a fresh idea, a new outlook on himself, and a new commitment to his children made for a slightly elliptical, mostly satisfying end to the show.
For a minute there it seemed like Don was going to reject advertising once and for all and go back to his roots tinkering with cars, and absent the fact that he has children, I would have been happy with... Read More
Some thought the slugger would never be the same after undergoing neck surgery last season. Those doubts, however, should have subsided during spring training when he used teammate Rougned Odor to do squats.
“I can feel both my arms. It feels good,” Fielder said. “That helps. That definitely helps when you’re hitting.”
Yes, feeling your arms indeed helps, and his numbers back up that crazy theory. Fielder is hitting .344, good for fourth in the American League, and also has five home runs and 23 RBI through the Texas Rangers first 38 games of the season.
It is not very often that Game of Thrones just comes right out and tells you what the themes for an episode are going to be. In fact, it’s only recently that these shows have seemed to have themes at all; the showrunners have been quoted as disdainfully stating that “themes are for book reports.” But last night Jon Snow, Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, was instructed by the Maester to “kill the boy so that the man may live,” and that sentiment echoed across the episode.
First, as Jon Snow enlisted the default leader of the Wildlings to look past his distrust for the crows and save his people by bringing them south of the wall before winter comes, and with it, a white walker invasion.
Out of all the predictions and guesses about how Matthew Weiner would end Mad Men, I don’t think anyone imagined that a happy ending for Pete Campbell would be a part of it. I certainly didn’t. But with the amusing return of Duck Phillips, now a corporate headhunter and still an unrepentant drunk, Pete is swept off his feet into a new job as head of marketing for Learjet, where he’ll have access to his own plane to go anywhere he wants anytime he wants, in addition to a generous signing bonus and his full negotiated settlement with McCann. Best of all, he takes the opportunity to put his family back together and bring them with him to Learjet’s hometown, Wichita, Kansas, showing that he may actually have learned something... Read More
There are several amazing pitchers taking the mound this week on Sling TV, but seeing the Metropolitans’ Matt Harvey smoke an inside fastball past hitters might not surprise you quite as much as a pitch the Tigers’ Alfredo Simon has hidden up his sleeve.
The Eephus pitch might sound like baseball’s equivalent of the Yeti or Big Foot because not many fans have ever actually seen it live in a game. But every few years a video will surface of the pitch freezing a batter for a strikeout on a toss that usually doesn’t register more than 60 m.p.h. or so.
LeBron James couldn’t let Derrick Rose and Paul Pierce have his spotlight for long. The King nailed a shot at the buzzer Sunday night to lift the Cavaliers over the Bulls, 86-84, and tie the series at 2.
Consider it returning a favor. Rose banked in a 3-pointer for the win Friday night – and, no, he did not call glass.
“I was supposed to take the ball out,” James said. “I told Coach there was no way I’m taking the ball out unless I could shoot it over the backboard and go in. So I told him, ‘Have somebody else take the ball out.’ The play that was drawn up,... Read More
Each MLB game this week features a division leader, the most surprising of which might be the New York Mets.
Don’t get mad, Queens! That’s not hate. That’s just the fact that the Mets play in the same division as the Nationals, who many pegged as the favorite to win the World Series this year.
New York faces the Orioles on Wednesday and the Orioles have their own hopes and dreams. Certainly one of those dreams would to not be in the A.L. East, which is always brutal.
The Cardinals also lead their division and face many fresh faces on the Cubs on Monday night. Wunderkinds all: Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Jorge Solar, Anthony Rizzo and many... Read More
After learning last week that Sterling Cooper & Partners was to be dissolved and the key employees absorbed into the massive, fully corporatized culture at McCann Erickson, this week was about the actual transition into that new world, and the different ways Our Heroes adjusted—some smoothly, some less so, some not at all.
Don is greeted the most warmly, and McCann honcho Jim Hobart’s remark that he’s been chasing Don for ten years, and the shabby way the rest of the SC&P team is being greeted, suggests that the whole acquisition was just an elaborate way of acquiring Don. If that’s the case, they’re in for a rude awakening, as it looks like Don may have attended his last market research meeting.
There are few things more dangerous than a militarized religion, as we have been seeing in our world for generations, so Cersei’s move to arm the Sparrows might seem like a good strategic move—she was able to immediately imprison Ser Loras, to whom she is betrothed and has no intention of actually marrying—but it seems very likely to backfire in the near future. She’s already getting some blowback from her daughter-in-law, the Queen, whose outrage over her brother’s arrest is likely to blow up in Cersei’s face. How long until Tommen sends her away to Casterley Rock—or somewhere even more distant? She’s sent most of the small council away, there is no proper Hand to the King. What happens if Tommen tries to get rid of her and she refuses... Read More
Golden State made it look easy against New Orleans and there is no reason to think it will be any different against the Grizzlies , even though Memphis dispatched Portland like it... Read More
WATCH THE NFL DRAFT AT 8pm THURSDAY ON ESPN WITH SLING TV
It is a bad time of year to be JaMarcus Russell and Ryan Leaf. It’s become a spring ritual for them to be made fun of on lists of NFL Draft busts and this year, especially, the focus will be on quarterbacks.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will likely select either Florida State’s Jameis Winston or Oregon’s Marcus Mariota to be their TD tosser of the future with the No. 1 pick.
But don’t buy fully into all those lists of draft busts. Of course there are busts. There always will be. Just remember that for every Tim Couch (No. 1 pick, 1999), there’s a Peyton Manning (No. 1 pick, 1998). For every... Read More
A distinct feeling of déjà vu pervaded a big chunk of this week’s episode, as the five principals of Sterling Cooper & Partners, once again faced with an existential threat to the firm, scrambled to fight for its survival.
What at first looks like a clerical lapse—SC&P has not paid its rent, and receives notice of its eviction from their office space in the Time & Life building—turns out to be an intentional move by the firm’s new corporate parent to dissolve and absorb it into McCann Erickson.
Mad Men has rarely been better than in the moments when the characters are trying to keep themselves afloat professionally; there is an Ocean’s Eleven, putting the team together, sneaky scam kind of vibe to the episodes where the old... Read More
This week the characters of Westeros slipped into new identities: Jon Snow took the helm as the new Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch; Margaery became the Queen; Cersei became the Queen Mother (or is it Dowager Queen? I’m as confused by these designations as Margaery); Sansa was betrothed to Ramsay Bolton; Brienne decided to become a mentor to Podrick; and Arya tried to shed her identity entirely.
There’s more: Theon may be able to reclaim his identity (if not his manhood), so brutally stripped from him by a full season’s worth of torture at the hands of the Boltons, when he’s reunited with Sansa, his childhood friend. Tyrion declines the services of a whore, negating half of his entire identity (the other half being drinking) for reasons that... Read More
Don Draper, as well as his fellow partners, continue last week’s theme so aptly summed up with the Peggy Lee song “Is That All There Is?” in this week’s episode. Not many Mad Men episodes have as explicit a framing device as Roger’s assignment to Don to give their corporate masters at McCann a “Gettysburg Address” about the future of the firm, but as the show winds down it certainly seems appropriate to have Don asking the big questions, of himself and the people around him.
It’s striking how steadfastly Don has clung to his look even as everyone around him gives in to the spirit of the times; not only does he still keep his hair short and Brylcreemed, he just refuses to give up on that fedora;... Read More
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, as Daenerys continues to learn in her effort to turn Meereen from a slave state to a benevolent dictatorship. Her effort to install a little due process along with law and order badly backfires, as she orders a fair trial for the (clearly guilty) representative of the Sons of the Harpy who slit an Unsullied throat in the brothel last week; the prisoner is killed by another former slave while in custody, and this time the Mother of Dragons skips the trial and orders the former slave publicly executed, setting off a riot. Even the return of the wayward Drogon is fleeting, as the largest dragon barely says hello before taking off again.
Arya arrives at the House of Black and... Read More
It’s tempting to say that there are four teams playing this week on Sling TV who could win the World Series but there might really only be three.
There are certainly four cities that have that expectation but —- sorry, New York —- things don’t look so good in the Bronx despite what seems to be a renaissance for Alex Rodriguez.
The Yankees travel to Detroit on Monday to face a Tigers team that is managing to find its way in what is increasingly seeming like the post-Justin Verlander era–and Detroit is doing it in part thanks to an off-season trade with New York. The Yankees sent starting pitcher Shane Greene to them as part of a three-team trade that landed Didi Gregorious in pinstripes.
It’s one thing to go see a place and read how things used to be there off of a brass plaque; it’s something else to see it all as it was, which Time Traveling with Brian Unger does with the help of a little CGI. The show premieres with back-to-back episodes on the building of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the dawn of the skyscraper age in New York, the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, and the circa-1940s “divorce ranches” of Las Vegas, Nevada. (10pm and 10:30pm Monday, Travel Channel)
An olde-tyme pharmacy-slash-lunch counter presents a unique challenge for Restaurant: Impossible, as the deceased proprietor’s daughter faces the daunting task of restoring it to its former glory despite badly understocked store shelves, rotting floors,... Read More
Atlanta took the NBA by surprise this year and had a playoff spot secured so soon that it made the end of their regular season anti-climatic.
Most people refuse to pick a team to win the Eastern Conference that doesn’t have a player named LeBron James, but the Hawks went 3-1 against Cleveland in the regular season and have home court advantage.
But that’s getting too far ahead. Atlanta has to get through Brooklyn first (which, let’s be honest, shouldn’t be hard) and the Cavs have to put down a Boston team that surprised many by slipping into the playoffs despite a sub-.500 record.
The East, however, isn’t a two-horse race. Chicago is easing Derrick Rose back just in time for the playoffs. It’s not easy recovering... Read More
Golden State and the Splash Brothers have been one of the best storylines of the NBA regular season. Carrying the league’s best record into the postseason, it’s impossible not to see them as serious title contenders.
However, the West is also home to the defending champions and while San Antonio had what might be considered a “down year” by their standards, nobody is looking past the Spurs.
Tim Duncan & Co. finished the season on a tear winning 16 of their last 20 games. The Clippers, who face the Spurs in the first-round, sported the same record over their last 20 games, too, including seven in a row to finish the season.
San Antonio-L.A. is the series to watch in the first round, and whichever team makes... Read More
Watch the Boston Marathon live on Universal Sports at 8:30 a.m. Monday.
It had always been Meb Keflezighi’s dream to win the Boston Marathon but, when he finally did, he said he was unprepared for what it meant beyond the finish line.
“It’s been an amazing experience—it’s not just any marathon and it wasn’t just any Boston Marathon, it was 2014, after the bombing,” he said. “My friend had the front pages of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today framed for me. How often do athletes get to be on the front pages of all three?”
Keflezighi won the 2014 men’s race in 2:08:37, becoming the first American to win since 1985. It will not be easy for him to defend... Read More
Subscribers to the Hollywood Extra package, which includes three EPIX channels, don’t just get to watch whatever those channels are showing at any given time—they get access to a deep, rotating library of movies, documentaries, concert and comedy specials, and more available anytime on demand!
Here’s a small sampling:
The Expendables 3: Barney (Sylvester Stallone), Christmas (Jason Statham) and the rest of the team come face-to-face with Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), who years ago co-founded The Expendables with Barney. Stonebanks subsequently became a ruthless arms trader and someone who Barney was forced to kill… or so he thought. Stonebanks, who eluded death once before, now is making it his mission to end The Expendables – but Barney has other plans. Barney decides that he has to fight old... Read More
We may not have flying cars or be taking our meals in pill form, but the world has changed pretty dramatically since I was a kid. For instance, the biggest industry in the world, and by far the best field for young people to go into, didn’t even exist 40 years ago, and wasn’t on the radar of most people 20 years ago. But computers and software have so completely taken over American life, and so distorted conventional ideas of capitalism, that it was only a matter of time until someone turned the whole crazy mess into a top-notch comedy.
It’s a target tailor-made for Mike Judge, who could easily have rested on his laurels after creating four separate legitimate cult classics: on television, the animated Beavis and Butt-Head... Read More
Something didn’t sit right with me for the duration of this episode; I felt disoriented throughout all of it, as the storyline with Don and Diana the waitress from last week surprisingly continued, with Don spending some shoe leather on how to find her at her new job and then striking up a courtship.
They didn’t seem to have anything in common at first other than a tendency to skip right to dessert (so to speak) without a lot of chit-chat, so I was puzzled by this relationship that they both seemed to be treating as important right away. But then it hit me, when Diana spoke of her lost daughter and abandoned home in Wisconsin, that Diana is like a female Don: she cut and run when things... Read More
It feels great to be back in the Seven Kingdoms, even when the realm is as splintered and unstable as it appears in the wake of Tywin Lannister’s death. “The Wars To Come” shows the calm before the storm, before the mad scramble to fill the power vacuum begins.
Stannis Baratheon intends to recruit the Wildling army to march under his banner to retake Winterfell, but Wildling king Mance Rayder refuses with his life, against the advice of Jon Snow; Tyrion and Varys arrive in Essos, having fled the scene of Tywin’s murder, where Varys reveals he’s been hoping all along for a Targaryen restoration, which means we’ll soon have scenes between Daenerys and Tyrion (I vote they give that meeting a full, uninterrupted episode); Margaery plans to solidify... Read More
Bates Motel, A&E’s prequel series to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1960 horror film Psycho, has turned out much more compelling than anyone expected, thanks to a magnetic lead performance by Vera Farmiga as Norman Bates’ mother Norma. The show is in the middle of a critically acclaimed third season. (9pm Monday, A&E)
The Revolutionary War is the setting for AMC’s TURN: Washington’s Spies, depicting the espionage of the men who turned America from an English colony into the United States. The second season begins with back-to-back episodes. (9pm Monday, AMC)
Because of its increasingly silly sequels, it’s easy to forget that First Blood, the movie that introduced Sylvester Stallone’s haunted Vietnam veteran John Rambo, is really, really great, with... Read More
There has never been anything on television as cinematic, as expansive, as compelling, and as flat-out entertaining as Game Of Thrones, HBO’s adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels, which begins its fifth season on April 12. This show is so dense with story threads, it’s hard to keep them all straight, and after ten months off it’s hard to remember where things left off. So by way of a refresher, here are seven questions we have going into season five:
1. Where in the world is Tyrion Lannister? After losing his trial by combat when Prince Oberyn’s end-zone celebration led to a graphic kneecapping and head-crushing at the hands of The Mountain, Tyrion was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit: poisoning his... Read More
We have come to expect a certain level of fireworks from season finales: shocking revelations, reversals of fortune, betrayals, hookups, breakups. The first season finale of Better Call Saul had none of these, instead serving as a kind of quiet postscript to last week’s wrenching episode in which Jimmy was so thoroughly betrayed and rejected by his big brother and role model Chuck.
Still stinging from finding out that it was Chuck, not Howard Hamlin, who had been blocking his professional progress, Jimmy headed home to Chicago and reconnected with his old running buddy Marco for a week of cons and scams, ending with Marco dropping dead of a heart attack in the middle of a reprise of the old Rolex routine.
It is always great to rejoin the characters at Sterling Cooper at the beginning of a new season of Mad Men; they’re all such sharply drawn, specific characters that more than most shows, they feel like real people, and it’s exciting to see what they’ve been up to since we left them. Last season (or half-season) ended on the moon landing and Sterling Cooper & Partners selling out to McCann Erickson, making the partners rich and saving Don’s job, and as the story picks up nine months later, in April 1970, Don and Roger are catting around, Don is visited by a vision of Rachel Katz (from season 1), who he soon learns has just died of leukemia, Peggy and Joan are dealing with a rather startling level of chauvinism... Read More
The first nine episodes of Better Call Saul have been far better than they had any right to be. Where fans once feared the show might tarnish the legacy of the near-perfect run of Breaking Bad, it’s turned out to be every bit as compelling, thanks to stellar writing, inventive direction of a piece with the Breaking Bad house style, and a lead performance by Bob Odenkirk that his past work has never even hinted at. Last week’s episode was probably the best of the series so far – something I think we’ve said three separate times so far – and the stage is set for a great season finale. (10pm Monday, AMC)
The war between North and South can be seen through... Read More
So many questions: What year will it be? Will Don figure out how to love himself enough to love someone else? Will Pete come back from California? Will Peggy find a life outside the office? Will Betty’s marriage to Henry last? Will Henry become Mayor of New York? Will Sally get kicked out of boarding school? Will Bobby get recast again?
If you are as excited about the final season premiere of Mad Men as we are, you’ve been gobbling up the many, many previews and remembrances and thinkpieces that have been flooding the Internet for the last couple of weeks.
Everyone is talking about it. But the Wildcats say that belongs only to them, 38 games into the season.
Check out the legal battle that’s brewing over “40-0”: last week, the University of Kentucky “sent a cease-and-desist letter to Louisville lawyer David Son, whose company is selling blue-and-white ‘40-0’ T-shirts on his website, 40and0.com.”
None of that will matter if Wildcats don’t win two more games. But how could they possibly lose?Here’s one answer.
It’s a good question, indeed, but maybe people should be a little more concerned about Duke, which faces a 7 seed in its game. (No disrespect, Michigan State.) Duke seems to be peaking and that peak extends all the way to the NIT. Stanford beat Miami in OT, 66-64, to win... Read More
The beauty of Better Call Saul is in the way it manages to surprise even when you know where it’s headed. We know that Jimmy McGill is going to change his name to Saul Goodman. We know that he’s going to establish a law practice with considerable, shall we say, ethical compromises. And after last week’s episode, we had a pretty good idea that the class action suit against Sandpiper was going to be, if not the last straw, a very big one, as the show telegraphed that Howard Hamlin would somehow steal the case away from Jimmy and Chuck and leave Jimmy in the cold.
And that is more or less what happened. But I for one did not expect Chuck to be the bad guy. I thought... Read More
Just when it looked like The Walking Dead was about to do something unconventional and interesting – namely, have its protagonist go crazy and force the ensemble around him to deal with it – the show blinked. Rather than show Rick as an increasingly hostile, uncompromising, paranoid megalomaniac deciding to get the girl the same way he’s learned to get everything in the zombie apocalypse (by taking it), instead his group rallied around him and the people of Alexandria decided they didn’t really have a problem with his erratic behavior.
With just a little sweet talk – “I was thinking, How many of you do I have to kill to save your life? But I’m not going to do that. You’re going to change.” – Rick is back in... Read More
There are only two more episodes in a first season of Better Call Saul that has shattered all the modest expectations of a prequel series swimming in the wake of an all-time great. Last week’s episode brought the season into focus, and our expectations for this week’s episode and next week’s season finale are now properly recalibrated. (10pm Monday, AMC)
It’s been a lot of laughs, a lot of love, and a lot (a lot) of wine, but the time has come for Courteney Cox and the rest of the Cul-de-Sac Crew to say goodbye in the series finale of Cougar Town, a show that diverged even farther from its original premise than VH1. (10:30pm Tuesday, TBS)
Kentucky’s record-setting destruction of West Virginia makes it easy to forget there are other teams in the Sweet 16.
Oh, but there are other teams. Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Arizona made that clear last night, and tonight Duke—hey, remember them?—will have a chance against Utah to put its stamp on things. As will a few other talents squads.
But does even mentioning teams other than Kentucky feel like whistling past a graveyard? Here’s a warning from the Wildcats’ latest victim:
“They were what I thought they were,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said after the 78-39 blowout. “That’s the best defensive team I think that I’ve ever coached against. And when they’re making shots, there’s nobody going to beat them.”
Reality television thrives on conflict. A reality show about people getting along swimmingly would be pretty boring, which is why as far as I know there’s never been one.
Which is why A&E’s new show Neighbors With Benefits is so promising: it follows a suburban community in Ohio where more than a few of the couples are into what they constantly refer to as The Lifestyle. What is The Lifestyle? It means that though most of these couples are married, all are in committed relationships, and some even have kids, they are all swingers, wife-swappers, in open marriages, whatever you want to call it. What could possibly go wrong?
In the opening moments of last Sunday’s series premiere, everything seems rosy. Tony and Diana are the unofficial leaders of... Read More
Kentucky’s quest to go undefeated continues tonight against West Virginia, which also knocked out the Wildcats five years ago, almost to the day. Bob Huggins remembers it well.
Still, with so many people certain that Kentucky will steamroll everyone in their way, there is a lot of focus on Coach John Calipari’s future in the NBA. One report even calls him “desperate” to try again at the professional level.
There’s always a lot of talk about a lot of things and here’s a little more smack from West Virginia freshman guard Daxter Miles, Jr.: “I give them their props, salute them for getting to 36-0. But tomorrow, they’re going to be 36-1.”
To do that, the Mountaineers will rely, as usual, on the press. That’s... Read More
If only we could predict the future. That’s what creates the madness in March: we can’t. Not even a little bit, and it reminds us that we don’t really know anything for certain. (That goes for you, too, Kentucky fans – and you, too, IRS!)
Because of this, it emboldens people to make even wilder predictions. Since there’s no prediciting this stuff, anything we say could be correct.
But here are some pretty solid preditions. At least more solid than Jell-o:
• This year’s tournament isn’t over but this story makes predicitions about which eliminated teams will make the tournament again next year.
• Kentucky Coach John Calipari failed in his first gig in the NBA. Here’s a prediction about how he’d do if he tried... Read More
The Sweet 16 is set and everyone’s bracket is looking pretty darn good. Well, 14 brackets out of 11.57 million are looking good. That’s how many people correctly predicted the Sweet 16 correctly.
If you didn’t get them all right (and you didn’t!) there’s no reason to cry about it. Roxanne Chalifoux has cried enough for all of us, and she cried while playing the piccolo for the Villanova band as she watched her team fall to N.C. State. Those tears earned her a gig with The Roots.
As the shockingly great first season of Better Call Saul moves into its homestretch, it’s becoming clear how the show plans to change its protagonist from put-upon do-gooder to scheming criminal lawyer (emphasis on ‘criminal’): by demonstrating the old saw that underneath every cynic is a disappointed optimist.
I can’t say I expected Jimmy’s foray into elder law to yield anything more important than a few Matlock jokes, but this show is surprising me yet again by turning it into a potential bonanza: his keen eye for scams (as a scammer himself) notices a pattern of overbilling at Sandpiper, the assisted-living facility he’s been trolling for clients, and next thing you know he’s looking at a potential multimillion-dollar class action suit for fraud.
Though it’s been foreshadowed ever since Alexandria came in to the picture, it was still a little shocking when Rick finally snapped this week, attacking Pete the surgeon in an effort to have Pete’s wife/punching bag Jessie for himself and ending the episode bloody and ranting about how he and only he knew how to survive. Tellingly, no one had his back, unless you count Michonne, who ended his tirade by bashing him on the head from behind.
After spending season after season lurching from one Big Bad villain to the next, the idea that Rick himself has broken bad and will have to either be brought back to sanity or taken down – by Michonne or someone else – is the most interesting story turn this show has... Read More
Everyone knew there would be upsets, but not as many knew which teams would be upset. Who picked UAB over Iowa St., raise your hands?
Well, maybe you picked Georgia St. too. Maybe you’re a genius! Maybe you thought about picking Wofford over Arkansas because of The No. 5 Jinx but changed your mind at the last second.
Excellent.
You also never doubted that the NCAA made the right choice with UCLA and you are all in favor of NOT reviewing goal tending calls. Sorry, SMU.
There were a record five 1-point games yesterday—madness!—but that’s all history. We have to live in the now and now you need to know this:
There has been so much talk about Kentucky it might get a little tiresome but there is just so much to talk about. But … let’s remember that today’s games tip off with another team worth paying attention to: Notre Dame.
The ACC newcomer is having a moment.
“It is different to say Notre Dame won the ACC championship,” North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said after his Tar Heels fell to the Irish, 90-82, in Saturday night’s title game.
And it’s different to think of Notre Dame as a school that is better at basketball than football.
While not many people think Kentucky can be beaten, the few who do target the Fightin’ Irish as one that could—but first they have to beat Northeastern in today’s first... Read More
Hampton dispatched Manhattan and had fun doing it, even though they now have to face Kentucky. Check out Hampton’s bench celebrate this free throw. That’s a team that seems unconcerned with the carnage that awaits them against the Wildcats. But wait a minute … let’s not forget what happened to BYU and, for that matter, what happened to Duke last year against Mercer.
Maybe the Pirates—that’s Hampton, btw—will pull off the greatest upset in tournament history. That sounds crazy, but it’s not impossible. It’s just nearly impossible. Plus, Hampton coach Edward Joyner has Jesus’s phone number on speed-dial.
It will be hard not to feel a little sorry for the winner of the tournament’s first game tonight. Yes, the winner.
Manhattan and Hampton are playing for the right to go up against unbeaten No. 1 seed Kentucky.
But don’t feel too sorry for the Jaspers' RaShawn Stores, no matter what the outcome. Stores, a senior point guard and team captain, has had a storybook career, and this profile in the New York Times is worth reading.
Stores walked on at Manhattan and won over Coach Steve Masiello, who understood very well what Stores was trying to accomplish. Masiello had walked on at Kentucky when he was a player.
“He means everything,” Masiello told the Times. “He’s an extension of me on the court.... Read More
After filling in the heartbreaking details of Mike’s back story last week with “Five-O,” widely called the best episode yet of Better Call Saul, the show quickly wraps up the Mike-vs.-the-Philly-Cops storyline in the cold open before turning back to everyone’s favorite delusional embezzlers, the Kettlemans, and along with them, the breezy but inventive tone that has characterized the bulk of this first season.
I couldn’t help imagining how much worse Walter White’s adventures would have gotten if he had married Betsy Kettleman instead of Skyler; he probably would have gone down in a hail of machine-gun fire in Season 1.
The episode’s real delight was Mike’s method of finding the money the Kettlemans had stashed, which led to Jimmy doing “the right thing” (air quotes his), which... Read More
The basketball gods giveth, the basketball gods taketh away—and dunk one right in your face.
Right, UCLA? Right, Temple? Right.
Temple wasn’t the only snub Sunday but the Bruins were the most shocking inclusion. Here’s a rundown of some other teams that might be more than a little upset that UCLA is in and they are out.
But, hey, let’s look at one of the positives of UCLA’s gift from the committee: it sets up a great storyline with second-round opponent SMU. Former Bruins coach Larry Brown, who led them to a national title in 1980, now helms the Mustangs. This contest is Brown’s first NCAA tournament game since 1988 when he led Kansas to a title, the same year that SMU last won a tournament game.... Read More
This week continued to explore the interesting notion that Rick, Daryl, Carol and the rest are too damaged by what they’ve been through in the post-zombie hellscape to ever assimilate into a “normal” society again; last week Carol graphically threatened a child who caught her stealing back some of the group’s firearms, and this week Rick seemed to be considering killing a dude so he could steal his wife even before the guy was suspected of being an abuser.
But is Alexandria a society this group would even want to really assimilate with? They are not exactly bursting at the seams with valor, as we see them leaving each other to the wolves (the wolves in this case being zombies) throughout this episode. “I’m not combat ready,” Eugene insisted; “I’m... Read More
The field will be set Sunday and the mayhem—dare we call it “madness”?— will begin Tuesday. But a lot of the wagering has already begun, surely only where it’s legal.
This might be the only question that matters. We should have saved it for last.
3) Is North Carolina State, despite coming of a loss to Duke on Thursday, the team most likely to shock the nation by upsetting a one or two seed in the second round?
The answer is no because if you know anything at all about... Read More
Last night’s episode of Better Call Saul shifted things into another gear by putting Jimmy’s parking-garage nemesis Mike, who Breaking Bad fans know will eventually become Saul’s fixer and private investigator, at center stage and filling in the back story only hinted at previously: how Mike went from being a cop to a ruthless, unflappable assassin.
It seems that a couple of Philadelphia detectives have taken Mike in for questioning, but they can’t get any more out of him than a stonefaced, one-word reply: “Lawyer.” Jimmy owes Mike one for helping him find the embezzling Kettlemans a couple episodes back, so Jimmy’s card is the one Mike gives the detectives. When Jimmy arrives and Mike won’t tell him anything other than how he wants Jimmy to help him lift the... Read More
I don’t know if I’ve ever come back from a vacation without having indulged in extensive fantasizing about packing it all up and opening my own bar/restaurant/hotel in paradise. But then I start to think about the practical realities of such a thing and my grand plans don’t make it past the airport Cinnabon. The premiere of Hotel Amazon follows a pair of New Yorkers as they set up a luxury resort in Peru, so I don’t have to drain my savings in pursuit of an impossible dream; I can just watch them do it! (10pm Monday, Travel Channel)
Word on the street is that the identity of the mysterious ‘A,’ the secret string-pulling antagonist of ABC Family’s delightfully trashy teen soap Pretty Little... Read More
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