#that airs weekly on like cbs

[liebgirl]

we need to get colin morgan and bradley james back on the television in a big way. no pair of actors have served odd couple realness on such a scale since them we need it back the world is so bleak!!

[dearmash1975project]

It is March 18th, 1975: the Vietnam War is a month away from officially ending, Towering Inferno is top of the Box Office Charts, and like every Tuesday night you tune into CBS to watch your favorite evening TV shows. Only tonight is the season finale of the 3rd season of M*A*S*H, and it is an episode that will drastically change the course of the series; an episode that will touch its viewers so deeply that it will stay with them for decades after. Or, as my mom puts it, one that “impacted a generation.” Needless to say, heavy spoilers ahead for the episode and the show.

Season 3, episode 24, “Abyssinia Henry” aired at 8:30pm on Tuesday March 18th, 1975. The episode followed the M*A*S*H crew bidding a fond farewell to lovable Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, who had finally received his long-awaited discharge. Over the course of 3 critically acclaimed seasons, M*A*S*H carved a place for itself in the weekly rituals of millions of Americans. Many of these viewers were children, who watched such shows as M*A*S*H, Happy Days, and All in the Family, alongside their parents and older siblings. The characters they saw weekly on the TV became not only a part of their routine, but members of the family. Grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles– most children see such relatives a few times a year at holidays and family gatherings; but Hawkeye, Trapper, Margaret, Radar, Klinger, Frank, Father Mulcahy, and of course Colonel Blake–they were in your home, laughing along with you and your loved ones, weekly.

But again, tonight’s episode is different.

A tearfully fond farewell to Henry at the chopper pad is followed by the episode’s final scene. It is set in the operating room where, as always, the laugh track is silenced. Even writing this, I can feel my heart sink into my stomach as I picture Radar O’Reilly pushing through the doors of the O.R.

The camera holds on Radar as he delivers the news that Henry Blake’s plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. And like millions of other Americans, the final words of the episode ring in my ears: “There were no survivors.”

Radar exhales to the silent room, the camera pans around to the shocked faces of the other characters; the sound of sniffles and their shining eyes the only expressions of grief visible over their masked faces. During the post-fade tag a montage of Henry plays; not that many people remember this part– I certainly didn’t until I forced myself to rewatch the episode on a full rewatch of the series. And like those shocked viewers in 1975, the sweet montage of our beloved Colonel does little to soothe the brutality of the preceding scene.

I was aware that letters were sent into CBS addressed to the M*A*S*H producers after the airing. In his 1998 interview for the Television Academy, creator Larry Gelbart discussed the reception of the episode and the letters that followed. He also mentioned his reasoning behind the choice, and why it was done. Actor McLean Stevenson (Henry Blake) wanted to move on to other things, and Gelbart, along with producer Gene Reynolds, felt that the death of a beloved character would be a poignant reminder that the show takes place during a war; and in war, people who are loved die.

In his interview, Gelbart explained that he and Reynolds responded, by hand, to the letters with this reasoning. He also said that to some he mentioned the recent news story of a plane of Vietnamese refugee children that crashed after leaving Saigon [the first flight of Operation Babylift, as it was known, crashed in early April, not that week in March. But memory is elusive, and the point still stands]. Gelbart and Reynolds invoked this association to have people consider the mechanisms that made them care so deeply for a fictional character, but not for real victims of war.

I remember sitting in the quiet archives center reading room in the basement of the National Museum of American History, opening up the manila folder and beginning to read through the letters. I set up my appointment to see the M*A*S*H Collection over a month earlier, as the collection is housed off site and had to be delivered to the archives center. The archives team was more than gracious to me, and I would not be doing this project without their help.

Now early July, I began to flip through the letters, hand-written on various stationary, until the unmistakable sight of a child’s handwriting came into view. I think Brian’s letter was the 4th or 5th in the first folder (folder 22), and reading it stopped me in my tracks. I know I’m not the only one who would react that way after reading “I am really sad” and “age 11” in such short succession. It had never occurred to me that these letters, of course, would also have been written by children.

I was 17 when I watched the episode, and even going into it with Henry’s fate pre-known to me (the follies of the digital age where spoilers are readily available, as well, I suppose, as the nearly half a century of cultural consciousness on the topic) it was still devastating to the point of heavy tears. How then, must a child of 11 have felt? Not only in watching a beloved (if fictional) friend die so suddenly, but then having to wait until the next season (which would not air until September, perish the thought!) These were questions I found myself asking, and though the idea of tracking down these children (now adults) would not occur to me until a few letters later, I figured this letter’s author would be a perfect narrative start for this project...

Credits: Screenshots from The New York Times Timesmachine, 03/18/1975, page 1 & 75. Script photo by @mashhistorian, whose article is very good: https://themashhistorian.com/2025/03/03/script-spotlight-42/ Larry Gelbart’s interview with the Television Academy: https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/larry-gelbart?clip=21088#about NPR Article: “Remembering the Doomed First Flight of Operation Babylift.” https://www.npr.org/2015/04/26/402208267/remembering-the-doomed-first-flight-of-operation-babylift Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives (SOVA): “M*A*S*H Television Show Collection, 1950-1984, undated, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.” https://sova.si.edu/record/nmah.ac.0117?s=0&n=10&t=C&q=NMAH.AC.0117&i=0#summary

[mariacallous]

Julia is a 22-year-old model, student, and self-proclaimed “princess” from Malibu, California, with one nonnegotiable: She refuses to shovel cow shit. But she’s down to play the part, she tells Farmer Jay, handing him a framed black-and-white photo of her in a bikini and cowboy hat. Grace, 23, dreams of being a stay-at-home mom with four kids. Jordyn, a 29-year-old country singer who lives in Nashville, Tennessee, says she would relocate across the country for her partner.

The three women are among 32 contestants on the most recent season of Farmer Wants a Wife, Fox’s rustic spin on The Bachelor. They come from different backgrounds and have all sorts of interests, but their goals are ultimately the same: to settle down, get married, and have kids.

While the women don’t explicitly talk politics, their focus on traditional values fits into a genre of entertainment that is rapidly reshaping the industry: Welcome to Hollywood’s MAGA reboot.

Hollywood is in the midst of another evolution. Studios are releasing fewer movies every year. Broadcast and news ratings are in decline. Screenwriters are struggling to sell scripts as salaries for studio heads have skyrocketed. Television and feature film production in Los Angeles shrunk by 30 percent in the first quarter of 2025, compared with the previous year, according to a report by FilmLA.

At the same time, Hollywood is also undergoing a resurgence in anti-woke conservative content thanks to the Trump administration’s anti-DEI agenda.

“More conservative projects are getting greenlit,” says Colin Whelan, a former studio executive at TLC and founder of Conveyer Media, which has produced reality shows for Netflix, HGTV, and Investigation Discovery. “People are pitching more shows like that because they realize that’s what’s selling.”

Maybe you’ve also noticed the subtle changes on your TV screen—content that favors Christian values, heartland themes, or law-and-order style programming.

Yellowstone, the Paramount drama about cattle ranchers in Montana, gained a massive audience during Trump’s first presidency, routinely breaking ratings records, and has since spawned successful spinoffs. Tim Allen’s Shifting Gears, about a grumpy widower with manosphere viewpoints, is a ratings hit for Disney’s linear broadcast audience, with “more live viewers on average than The Conners season 7 and Abbott Elementary season 4,” according to ScreenRant. It pulled in 3.7 million viewers for its season one finale. Farmer Wants a Wife has held steady ratings, averaging 1.5 million viewers weekly, and works as easy counterprogramming to more raunchy dating fodder like Temptation Island and Too Hot to Handle (both on Netflix).

In 2024, Trump Media and Technology Group launched a streaming service called Truth+, and the company made clear that it would prioritize “news, Christian content, and family-friendly programming that is uncancelable by Big Tech,” a mandate that now seems to be shaping the look of Hollywood more and more. (The streaming service also features at least one documentary—included among its most watched programs on the platform in May—peddling conspiracy theories about “serpent or lizard-like aliens who are secretly wielding influence over the human race,” according to an investigation by Talking Points Memo.)

In Trump’s version of Hollywood, old-fashioned values are in vogue again. The Christian drama 7th Heaven, about a Protestant minister and his seven children that aired for 11 seasons on The WB (later The CW), is in early development at CBS Studios and will “focus on a diverse family,” though it’s not clear what that means. Jessica Biel, who was in the original cast, is executive producing the reboot alongside Devon Franklin, a producer of faith-based films. Roseanne Barr, whose namesake show was canceled in 2018 after she posted a racist tweet about former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, is shopping a series that “saves America with guns, the Bible, petty crime, and alcoholism,” she told Variety.

Duck Dynasty, a duck-hunting reality show that ended in 2017, is also returning to television screens this summer on A+E, which experienced its first big hit of the year with Ozark Law, a show that followed multiple police departments in the Missouri region. Duck Dynasty producer Rob Worsoff is in talks with the Department of Homeland Security about a reality show where “immigrants compete to prove they are the most American,” according to The Wall Street Journal. Potential challenges include mining for gold or working on a Model T assembly line in Detroit.

What’s happening is a “cultural recalibration,” says Carri Twigg, a founding partner and head of development at Culture House, the production company that created Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip-Hop and Hair Tales. The recalibration has led to a “generalized chill” in the industry that has caused more diverse projects to suffer.

“I’ve heard from multiple executives that there’s a noticeable hesitancy around content perceived as too progressive, especially if it centers non-white leads or tackles social issues explicitly. Even projects with mild inclusivity are getting flagged in internal discussions,” Twigg says. “Colleagues have expressed frustration that kinds stories they were encouraged to pitch just a couple years ago are now getting passed on as like ‘too niche’ or ‘not resonant right now’ by the same execs who once called them ‘visionary’ and ‘universal.’”

Twigg says there are two key reasons for the hesitancy.

“The political climate has emboldened executives who were always uncomfortable with the industry's post-2020 shifts. The power that DEI-era storytelling offered to historically excluded creators was unfamiliar, and in some corners, unwelcome.” The second, she says, is fear of reprisals from the administration.

In February, Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr, who previously said he would end the agency’s DEI initiatives if appointed, opened a probe into NBC parent company Comcast, and later Disney, promising to take action if the investigation uncovered “any programs that promote invidious forms of DEI discrimination.” Carr has since said that the FCC plans to look into broadcast network affiliation agreements to help “constrain some of the power of national programmers.” According to Variety, Disney, Amazon, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery have all rolled back programs aimed at increasing diversity.

Talk shows are also being encouraged to shift their programming. In a recent meeting with the cohosts of The View, the popular morning gabfest with Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar, ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic urged the women to soften their criticisms of Trump, saying “the panel needed to broaden its conversations beyond its predominant focus on politics,” the Daily Beast reported. Disney CEO Bob Iger also suggested that the show “tone down” its political rhetoric.

One former executive at Amazon MGM Studios tells WIRED that Trump’s anti-DEI agenda, whose impact on film and TV only seems to be growing more pronounced, is a part of the administration’s Trojan-horse playbook to roll back civil rights. “It’s just the rhetoric they’re using to articulate what they really believe and who they really are.”

The White House did not respond to WIRED's request for comment.

The anti-DEI backlash threatens to make Hollywood even more out of touch than it already is to younger audiences, who increasingly prefer TikTok and YouTube to traditional viewing formats. An estimated 50 percent of Gen Z identifies as non-white, and nearly 30 percent identify as LGBTQ+. “These audiences aren’t just asking for representation—they expect it,” Twigg says. “If the industry starts backing away from inclusive storytelling, it won’t just be regressive—it’ll be a bad business decision.”

Original, inclusive storytelling is trending right now, as Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s vampire drama, proved by becoming the biggest box office success story of the year so far, earning $316 million globally. Hulu’s Paradise, about residents of a postapocalyptic town, and HBO Max’s The Pitt, a medical drama that follows an emergency-room crew over a 15-hour shift, have also felt like watercooler moments at a time when the industry is starved for them.

Beyond the cultural and commercial risks of a less diverse Hollywood, Twigg says there is a strategic one: Film and TV take years to develop and produce.

“Hitching your content strategy to a political moment that may not last through the next election—or the next news cycle—is short-sighted,” she says. “The stories being greenlit today will premiere in a future that may have swung back toward the very audiences currently being sidelined. If anything, the smartest strategy right now would be to build with resilience and relevance in mind—not reactionary politics.”

Whelan says that in over 20 years as a television producer, he has taken the same approach, regardless of the political and social climates of the time: to create shows that “entertain and inspire and maybe teach.”

In 2014, following stints at Syfy and TLC as a network executive, he applied that mindset to New Girls on the Block. It was the first follow-doc reality show with an all-trans cast. The series focused on a group of women in Kansas City, Missouri, who faced changing relationship dynamics in a society struggling to make space for trans women. The reality project he just wrapped probably sounds like a complete 180. It focuses on a Christian family who runs a ranch and takes in at-risk youth. But there’s more to it, he says.

“What’s interesting to me, having done it for so long, is I don’t see a huge difference between a show about a group of all transgender women and a group of ranchers trying to help at-risk youth,” he says. “It’s two groups of really amazing people trying to change their lives for the better, and change the world around them for the better as well.”

Tonality aside, fewer projects overall are moving forward this year, Whelan says, but that hasn’t stopped genuinely good ideas from finding an audience—no matter who sits in the Oval Office.

“Ozark Law would have sold regardless of the administration. The Netflix scripted series is all about breaking the law, so you know someone’s gonna come up with the idea of enforcing it. That’s how we pitch reality shows,” he says, before admitting, “I wish I had thought of that.”

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Marc Elias, May 2, 2025

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For the last 100 days (and counting), the Democracy Docket team has worked tirelessly to report the facts on Trump’s attack on democracy. We are powered by our readers, so please consider upgrading to premium today to help ensure we’re here to report on the next 100 days and beyond. 

The greatest risk of the Trump era is the resetting of what we expect from our leaders. Most dangerous, of course, is the redefinition of the presidency — from a position of honor and trust to one of retribution and corruption.

I have repeatedly warned against normalizing Trump. Just yesterday, for example, I wrote about the risks to our democracy if the judicial system grants a presumption of regularity to Trump’s highly irregular administration.

As reviews of the first 100 days poured in, several themes emerged. Chief among them is the moral collapse of those we expect to stand strong and lead.

We’ve watched Republicans in Congress cede their constitutional authority to Trump. Not a single member of Trump’s cabinet has shown any backbone. A Republican judicial candidate — a sitting judge — continues his effort to steal an election in North Carolina.

Several major law firms capitulated to Trump, arming him with nearly a billion dollars in pro bono legal services for his pet causes, while others remained disgracefully silent as Trump targeted opposing firms for retribution.

The legacy media began Trump’s second term weakened and has grown weaker still. The White House dominates the press pool, while corporate media, often fearful of angering the administration, too often pulls its punches.

The complexity of this situation is illustrated by what’s happening at CBS News. As I write this, CBS’s parent company is considering paying Trump millions to settle a lawsuit it would certainly win. At the same time, 60 Minutes is preparing to air a story about the risks to democracy posed by law firm capitulation that Trump will surely try to discredit.

On the positive side, the protest movement has grown and scored some successes. Several Democratic leaders have emerged as prominent voices of opposition. New legal groups and lawyers have proven effective in court. Encouragingly, signs point to the emergence of a strong, independent, pro-democracy media ecosystem.

There’s no magic to 100 days. The challenges Trump poses to our country will remain at day 1,000, and day 1,100. All we can do is continue to use every tool available to fight back and protect our democracy no matter what day it is.

You’re reading a full sample of what's included in our premium membership. Every Friday, Marc revisits the week’s top stories with his personal analysis and insights. Upgrade to premium for $10/month or $120/year and don’t miss next week’s edition!

The Weekly Top Line

Donald Trump’s second term will span 1,461 days. Though it may feel like an eternity, fewer than 7% of those days have passed. Even assuming his final days in office are spent golfing, pilfering government property and exfiltrating classified documents, there’s still a long road ahead.

Media coverage of Trump’s first 100 days showcased the damage he can inflict in a short time. But it also — sometimes begrudgingly — highlighted how effective opposition can stymie key parts of his authoritarian agenda.

Rather than dwell on the failures and setbacks of these early days, we must learn from them and grow more effective. Likewise, we must understand that any successes achieved can easily be undone in the weeks and months to come.

The fight for democracy won’t be judged in days or weeks. It will take years — perhaps even decades — to defeat the authoritarian wave that has overtaken American politics.

Heroes of the Week

These days, I rarely have a kind word for corporate America. But this week, I’ll make an exception. It appears that Microsoft replaced a New York firm collaborating with Trump with one of the firms he targeted. This is the first reported instance of such a reversal. If more follow, it may show that capitulation to Trump hurts the bottom line. For initiating that shift, Microsoft’s legal department is a hero.

Fools and Cowards of the Week

During his interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran, Donald Trump repeatedly insisted that Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the man illegally deported to a Salvadoran gulag — had “MS13” tattooed on his knuckles. When Moran politely tried to correct him, noting the image was photoshopped, Trump acted incredulous.

Yet days later, the White House has not corrected the record, and the legacy media has largely let the matter drop. Trump is a fool for believing an obvious fake. Those who work for him are cowards for not admitting the mistake. And the media’s silence? Well… you decide.

The Week’s Siren 🚨

After the GOP-dominated North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled to strip the Democratic governor of power, the Republican state auditor — yes, auditor — appointed a GOP majority to the State Board of Elections. These new members will immediately aid in the party’s effort to steal a state Supreme Court seat. Only the federal courts now stand in the way.

Overlooked This Week 👀

When I interview Democratic members of Congress on my podcast, I often ask what motivates Republican members to so thoroughly supplicate themselves to Trump. Most answers center on fear — fear of losing primaries or of violence from Trump supporters.

This week, Senator Chris Murphy offered a darker explanation: that many GOP members share Trump’s authoritarian worldview. If you haven’t watched it already, it’s worth your time.

Watching Next Week

As Republican legislatures continue churning out new voter suppression laws, expect a wave of litigation to begin as early as next week. As always, Democracy Docket will be your best source for following what’s happening in the courts. UPGRADE TO PREMIUM TODAY

We also understand that not everyone is able to make this commitment, which is why our free daily and weekly newsletters aren’t going anywhere!

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[justinspoliticalcorner]

Gideon Taaffe and Jack Winstanley at MMFA:

President Donald Trump has been openly courting MAGA media figures — giving them significant access to his new administration and even appointing former Fox News hosts to prominent positions in the government. The Trump administration has simultaneously welcomed MAGA influencers into the White House, Cabinet departments, and other federal agencies while restricting access of mainstream media that have long covered those institutions. Many of these right-wing media figures have previously spread outright misinformation and hateful conspiracy theories — and now some of them appear to be giving policy cues to the new administration.

The Trump White House has become increasingly hostile to mainstream media as it favors right-wing influencers

Trump terminated The Associated Press’ access “in the Oval Office, on Air Force One and at other White House events” because the outlet refused to update its style guidelines after he changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” Politico reported, “President Donald Trump personally decided to bar The Associated Press from some White House events and spaces, the White House said in court documents Monday.” Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on February 25 that the White House will now directly control which outlets are in the press pool, a task historically managed by the White House Correspondents’ Association. [Politico, 2/24/25; The Hill, 2/25/25]

The Pentagon announced that NBC, The New York Times, NPR, and Politico will “rotate out of the building” to make space for the New York Post, One America News Network, Breitbart, and others. The switch is the first iteration of the Pentagon’s new “Annual Media Rotation Program,” which The Washington Post reports “will swap news outlets from print, TV, radio and online news for other organizations that have not had the opportunity to report from the office space, according to the memo.” [The Washington Post, 2/1/25; The Daily Beast, 1/31/25]

The White House began using the “new media” seat at the White House press briefings to let in far right-wing voices. The “new media” seat was established to “welcome independent journalists, podcasters, social media influencers, and content creators” to the White House. [White House, 1/29/25; Columbia Journalism Review, 2/19/25]

Trump’s first administration fostered a feedback loop between the White House and Fox News. The first Trump administration regularly relied on Fox News talking points and hired at least 20 former Fox employees. This feedback loop seems primed to continue in his second term, with Fox News recently hiring the president’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to host a weekly show. [Media Matters, 11/19/24; MSNBC, 2/6/25]

Trump has already appointed many members of right-wing media to high-level positions in his second administration. These appointments include former Fox News personalities Pete Hegseth, Sean Duffy, and Tulsi Gabbard as Cabinet secretaries. Other Fox News personalities like Leo Terrell and Dan Bongino have similarly been appointed to high-level positions. Trump has also included more fringe members of right-wing media like Darren Beattie and Kash Patel. [Media Matters, 11/14/24, 1/17/25, 2/24/25, 1/28/25; CNN, 2/12/25; CBS News, 1/28/25; Reuters, 2/4/25]

Real America’s Voice correspondent Ben Bergquam, Fox News’ Bill Melugin, and conservative personality Dr. Phil (real name Phil McGraw) have all participated in ride-alongs for ICE raids or Border Patrol activities. In one video posted by Dr. Phil, he can be seen standing alongside Trump “border czar” Tom Homan and questioning a detained individual about his background and immigration status. [YouTube, 2/14/25; Fox News, 1/23/25; People magazine, 1/31/25]

White House press briefings have welcomed various MAGA media figures and influencers — some of whom have occupied the “new media” seat. According to Media Matters’ internal data, Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski, Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle, Real America's Voice’s Brian Glenn, The Gateway Pundit’s Jordan Conradson, and conservative podcasters Sage Steele and the hosts of the Ruthless Podcast have all appeared at the White House briefings. Other attendees have included OAN’s Daniel Baldwin, Newsmax’s James Rosen, Turning Point USA’s Monica Paige Luisi, and The Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese. [Instagram, 2/12/25; WhiteHouse.gov, 1/29/25]

Pavlovski also visited the Federal Communications Commission and met with Chairman Brendan Carr, who said, “His commitment to free speech and diversity of viewpoints serves as a terrific model for all business.” [Twitter/X, 2/12/25] 

Former ESPN reporter Sage Steele, who now has a right-leaning podcast, was also invited to the White House for the Black History Month reception. Steele was pulled “off the air at ESPN after she called vaccine mandates ‘sick’ and ‘scary’ and questioned why former President Barack Obama identifies as Black even though he was raised by his white mother.” Failed Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker also reportedly attended the February 20 White House event. [The Associated Press, 2/21/25; NPR, 10/6/21]

During the 2nd term of the Trump Misadministration, the MAGA media influencer circuit has gotten increased access and prominence, while crowding out non-MAGA outlets as part of Trump's war on press freedom.

See Also:

CNN: Trump White House’s new press policy: Threats, revenge and MAGA media favoritism

[chrisodonline]

I have been thinking about the show and you guys a lot more, not just because we're approaching the anniversary of the end but because...it seems like LA ties keep popping up everywhere!

I know I haven't been active, but I do like coming back to see you guys on my dash even if I have no idea what you're posting about because I'm not part of those fandoms. I've been debating on coming back more -- or going back to that LOL, Z blog I started just to make sure I keep writing and staying in touch. So, we'll see.

Work has been crazy, and I just took the first actual day(s) off in a good while. I had some rough losses near the end of last year, and then huge project after huge project has meant not just working without days off but also working on my days off. Finally actually took a couple days off and did nothing. And I actually got a good amount of writing done, so now I don't want to go back. (I find I actually do get going a lot quicker if I start by hand, but my joints cramp up soooo quickly. It's always been annoying. ANYWAY.)

What finally prompted this was I was watching last night's SNL, and NCIS:LA got a mention, despite being off the air. (There was a joke about character actors and appearing on arcs on shows with titles that are only letters. There were four spots, and LA was the fourth. IT IS STILL REMEMBERED! But holy crap, how about that Hawai'i turn? Wow. Anyway.)

In the past year, small things have made me think about LA:

-Waking up to an old episode from a syndicated outdoors show (I sleep with the TV on, don't judge me) that featured Gerald McRaney talking about his acting career -- filmed years ago -- and doing outdoors stuff -Spotting Medalion in a small spot on New Girl -Being addicted to Disney Dreamlight Valley when I was redirecting my impulse shopping addiction into cozy gaming (that was basically ADHD-crack because of all the tasks you just have to complete!). How is this relevant? Because the only fish I could seem to catch most of the time? COD! -Todd popping up in new commercials all the time -Getting into Elsbeth and watching CBS shows on Paramount and hearing the little logo music after or before a show and remembering watching LA on the platform a lot towards the end

And I know there are many more, but age + too may back-to-back storms and natural disasters have made my memory even wonkier. (We currently have a joke about our "weekly tornadoes" here. It's funny because it's not completely a joke. Lololol.)

Anyway, I won't lie to say there wasn't some freedom and relief that came with the show's ending. But there are definitely parts of it I miss like you guys.

[ncisfranchise-source]

NCIS: Sydney’s Mackey and JD will be pushed to the limit when season 2 returns — and their dynamic is very different from season 1.

“We left off with JD’s son being kidnapped by some pretty shady characters,” Olivia Swann, who plays NCIS special agent in charge Michelle Mackey, exclusively told Us Weekly, recalling the season 1 finale, which aired in January 2024.

She reminded Us that her team — which is made up of fellow NCIS agent DeShawn Jackson (Sean Sagar) and Australian Federal Police (AFP) members Jim “JD” Dempsey (Todd Lasance) and Evie Cooper (Tuuli Narkle) — was also dealing with a “rogue agent” who was helping them but also playing them.

“It ended with a really intense interaction with JD and his son and an assassin with a gun,” Swann, 32, explained. “And Mackey staring down Colonel Richard Rankin (Lewis Fitz-Gerald) in NCIS HQ, hand over her gun.”

The actress teased that when the show resumes on Friday, February 7, viewers will see a “switch” in the team’s relationships and a better rapport between JD and Mackey.

Swann explained that during season 1 there were “two big dogs trying to compete for who’s boss” and a “rivalry” between the NCIS and the AFP leaders. That changes after Mackey successfully helps JD get his son, Jack, back during the season 1 finale.

“In [season 2] episode 1, we kind of see them having to really rely on each other and trust each other pretty instantly,” Swann said, noting that the episode will pick up after Jack is home safely, but his captors are in the wind.

She noted, “There’s a bit of vulnerability and there’s a bit of, ‘Oh, we’re kind of screwed here.’ It’s us two against the world” for Mackey and JD, who are both in hot water with their respective bosses for how they handled Jack’s kidnapping.

“We get to see them really work together, really trust each other, really become pretty solid partners, which is great,” Swann said of the agents. “But then there’s also the wonderful elements that add conflict to that and test that.”

Swann told Us that one of the things Mackey and JD bond over in the season 2 premiere is their seek “forgiveness” and ask for “permission” later approach to their ongoing case.

“He’s got a vendetta and if anyone knows about a vendetta, I feel like it’s Mackey,” the British actress said. “There’s something that she sees in JD in this episode that is very much her. He’s being a maverick. He’s kind of going against the rules. He’s doing what she would do. There’s an element of like, ‘OK, I see what you are made of.’ There’s an element of respect there.”

During the premiere, Mackey and JD will do “whatever it takes to crack the case of a rogue assassin on the run,” according to the log line. That will include skirting a few rules and a brief change in leadership.

When it comes to the remainder of season 2, Swann teased that the show is “taking everything up a notch in such a cool way.”

“We definitely see more from the characters and how they interact, but also their own individual backstories,” she shared.

Viewers will discover “how” they work as a team and what “makes them tick” as well as “what pushes them” in “really insane situations,” Swann continued.

She promised a “next level” season where the writers and actors “swing for the fences.” Swann added, “We don’t hold back and there’s a lot of risks being taken, which is just so exciting to play with and so exciting to film.”

[firephoenix2305]

✨PEOPLE I'D LIKE TO KNOW BETTER ✨

Thanks for the tag, @beerok23 !! I love these chain games :))

Last song: Hmm. It's either "Turning Point", from Mortius' Rediscovery EP (awesome songs btw, 100% would recommend, with a trigger warning for allusions to SA in the first one) or Voiceplay's "Dream On" cover!! (Only slightly in love with Geoff's vocals). One of those two is definitely the last one I listened to, but I'm genuinely not sure which!

Favorite color: Teal blue!

Last book: I'm currently reading all the Agatha Christie books I can get my hands on, so the last one I finished is "Ten Little Niggers" and now I'm about halfway through "Murder on the Orient Express"

Last movie: Shall we dance? I'd already watched it before, but if I catch it on TV I simply must finish it. I mean...THAT scene of Richard Gere coming up the escalator in THAT tuxedo holding a rose...*fans myself*

Last TV show: Ghosts (CBS). Alright don't hit me, yes, I have watched the British one, and yes, I like the American version better. IT'S A PERSONAL PREFERENCE DO NOT HUNT ME DOWN PLEASE AND THAN YOU 😂

Anyway, I'm having so much fun with it! Although it is another comedy featuring a tragic gay couple who are head over heels for each other and whose main problem is miscommunication...(Anyone else sensing a pattern here, or is it just me?)

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: I adore sweet, but savory is my favorite!!

Last thing I searched online: Butanediolic fermentation (I hope I've written that correctly, I've studied it in Spanish). Microbiology stuffs! (I was revising for an exam)

Current obsession(s): Exhibit A, the two idots on the left. Exhibit B, the two idiots on the right.

Siiiiiiigh. Why do I do this to myself?

Looking forward to: I think we all know what I'm going to answer...THE HAIR PICTURES. PLEASE. STOP TORTURING US WITH THE WAIT!!! Haven't we suffered enough?! (/Epic ref)

Oh, and also for Ghosts to start airing weekly again! (there was a hiatus in the middle of season 4 production).

Oh, and for my exams to finally be over!

Aaand, I think that's all the questions! That was fun!!

No pressure tags (feel free to ignore)

@adriankyte-writes @holycatsandrabbits @handyowlet @iris-echos

-Nix🧡

[denimbex1986]

'Sixty years is but the blink of an eye for a time-traveller like The Doctor. But for a television series, a Diamond Anniversary is an extremely rare and impressive occurrence.

BBC’s Doctor Who recently celebrated such a milestone with three one-hour specials which, for the first time, streamed globally on Disney+.

Russell T Davies, fresh from his success on ’80s AIDS miniseries It’s A Sin, returned to the show he brought back so successfully in 2005 to the BBC. Bolstering his team are returning producers Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson, and Jane Tranter, the woman who was instrumental in bringing back Doctor Who in 2005. Bad Wolf, the company founded by Tranter and Gardner in 2015, currently produces the show with BBC Studios.

Another big returning name return was David Tennant, who played the 10th Doctor from 2005-2010 and who also returned for the show’s 50th Anniversary in 2013. Beloved by fans and audiences alike, Tennant’s Doctor was a big ratings draw.

Though, it’s not all returning past glories for Doctor Who. There is a new actor portraying the Time Lord, Ncuti Gatwa, who is taking over the titular role with the the forthcoming season 14, and who made his debut with the specials. The Rwandan-Scottish actor made a name for himself as gay teenager Eric Effiong in the Netflix comedy series Sex Education and recently starred as “Artist Ken” in Barbie. His first full season debut in the TARDIS will come in spring 2024, with a premiere date yet to be set.

Not only that, powerhouse streamer Disney+ is now on board to broadcast these new episodes across the world (with the exception of the U.K. and Ireland, where it still airs on BBC)...

What Happened in the 60th Anniversary Specials?

Showrunner Davies brought Tennant back with a cosmic bang and a galactic-sized nod to fan service with an adaptation of a Doctor Who Weekly comic strip first published in 1980.

The first of the three specials, “The Star Beast,” was a 60-minute romp that wonderfully evoked the Tenth Doctor-era, complete with cutesy alien The Meep (think The Mandalorian’s Baby Yoda, but bigger and hairier) and the return of much-loved companion, Donna Noble (played by Catherine Tate, The Office).

Last seen in the Tenth Doctor’s finale in 2010, Donna’s return posed a fatal conundrum for the Doctor: If she remembered her past with the Doctor, she would die. Thankfully, writer Davies had a workaround, meaning that the 60th anniversary celebrations did not result in the death of a companion but, in fact, allowed Donna to live unharmed and enjoy some further adventures in time and space with her best friend.

The main question, though, was just why the Fourteenth Doctor, played by Tennant, had the same face and body of the Tenth Doctor, also played by Tennant. This was an unprecedented move in the history, or Whostory, of the show. Special number two, “Wild Blue Yonder,” traveled to the end of the universe and delved into the uncanny, but still posed the query as to why that particular face returned. (It’s a good face, we weren’t complaining).

Fans would have to wait until the third and final special, “The Giggle,” before the mystery was finally revealed. And it was all down to Donna. She surmised that he changed his face and then found her to “come home.” The Doctor commented, “I’ve never been so happy in my life,” as he sat with the Noble family, not fighting aliens and enjoying a spot of lunch.

The Final Special Had More Up Its Intergalactic Sleeve

Aside from the return of fan favorite Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) and ’80s-era companion Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford), there was an even bigger returnee waiting in the wings.

Making an all-singing, all-dancing return to Doctor Who was the formidable villain, The Toymaker. Played by Neil Patrick Harris (best known for portraying Barney Stinson on the CBS series, How I Met Your Mother), the Toymaker made his debut opposite the First Doctor (William Hartnell) in the 1966 four-part serial, “The Celestial Toymaker.”

The character was originally played by English actor Michael Gough, who would go on to play Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred in the four Batman films directed by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher. Though, it’s hard to picture Gough pulling off NPH’s manic routine to The Spice Girls’ 1997 hit, “Spice Up Your Life”.

And then there was the first appearance of the new Doctor, Gatwa. But this was no simple regeneration, as seen in Doctor Who so many times previously. Just as the return of a previous actor to play a new regeneration of the Doctor was unprecedented, Davies debuted another new element in the show’s mythology: “bigeneration.” This left fans shocked as the Fourteenth Doctor, seemingly regenerating as per usual, actually split into two, revealing Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor and Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor standing, looking at one another just as surprised as the millions of Whovians watching across the globe.

What is Bigeneration and What Does it Mean for the Future?

As is explained in the behind-the-scenes show Doctor Who Unleashed, “instead of a new body taking over from the old body, the new body separates from the old body, and both are left alive.”

This means that there are two distinct Doctors roaming the universe at the same time. While it might take some time for Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor to pick up the keys to his TARDIS and start planet-hopping, as he seems quite happy to kick back in England for a while, it’s possible — nay, highly likely — that the Gatwa and Tennant Doctors will meet again.

For the time being, though, Davies has stated that there are “no plans” for a Fourteenth Doctor return, adding that he’s “parked” on Earth with Donna Noble for a “happy life.”

Interestingly, Davies has also suggested that this has even bigger implications for Doctor Who. This bigeneration has created a new timeline where all previous incarnations have been affected, with every Doctor continuing to exist after their own regeneration. Davies may be joking when he refers to this as a “Doctorverse,” but he has established “The Whoniverse” (bringing in previous spinoffs such as Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures) so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that audiences could witness various team-ups featuring Gatwa with previous Doctors at any moment. Or, perhaps more spinoff series could be on the way featuring the past Doctors on their own...'

[blizzardfluffykpop]

You sent me an ask so I shall return the favor! What is the most recent Kpop group you’ve gotten into and how did you find out about them? I always love hearing fan “origin stories” lol

Thank you for returning the favor~ That would be The Boyz 🥰💖 I love hearing fan "origin stories" too hehe (This is gonna get long I love them sm)

Anyways I've known about them since debut? I loved Bloom Bloom Pow with my whole heart when it came out and tried to fall for them then- It didn't work. The next time was when The Stealer (TS) came out~ I had watched them perform for Road to Kingdom- because ptg was on the show too- But I really loved TS cb- sm so that I bought the album about 6 mos later with my favorite members as inclusions at the time (Eric, Kevin and Hyunjae). But nothing came about of it even after watching the weekly idol episodes... Then came Whisper era and I ended up biasing Changmin (Q) and loving that song but again nothing came out of it.

(A little backstory is that Changkyun (I.M) got me into Dominic Fike's music-) Thus, when tiktok showed me Juyeon, Changmin, and Sunwoo dancing to Babydoll earlier this year as a dance cover: I fell. And then I finally checked out Watch It~ But Hui had his solo and it distracted me completely from falling further. Then I had gotten sick and decided 'well, what if I watch their content?' And I did... I watched their hello82 interview and their reaction to fanart of them, and lastly their mafia dance. And I loved each sm that I decided to check out more.

It was the first time I had watched their content and wanted to see more. And now, I watch their content almost daily. It's kind of like they revived the joy of kpop for me? My (old) ult of ults has been on hiatus due to the military so it's been stagnant content lately for me. But then they came in like a breath of fresh air- and I simply can't get enough. This month will be 3 mos and I honestly hope I'll follow them for a long time. (I think they're my new ult of ults tbh)

And lastly now here I am as a Younghoon and Juyeon bias (with bias wrecker: Changmin... he's doing everything to be bias again). And with them having a comeback I loved with my whole heart this past month, I think it really solidified them with me. Honestly, I'm so happy with them.

[ncisladaily]

Jason Antoon has been part of NCIS: Hawai’i since its debut and he was just as surprised by the addition of LL Cool J in season 3 as viewers were.

“You’ve got to adjust to him. I say this in the most loving way, it’s like a wrench being thrown into the whole show for us,” Antoon, 52, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting NCIS’ 1,000th franchise episode, which airs on Monday, April 15. “And I mean that in the best way possible.”

Antoon has played tech genius Ernie Malik since 2021. LL Cool J, meanwhile, starred on NCIS: Los Angeles as Sam Hanna from 2009 to 2023. He made a cameo as the special agent on NCIS: Hawai’i in season 2 in 2023 before becoming a recurring character during 2024’s season 3.

“It sort of shakes things up to our sort of, ‘everybody’s cool ohana,’” Antoon said of the actor’s demeanor on set. “LL plays music between takes and he’s got his little Bluetooth [speaker] and he is blasting music.”

Antoon described season 3 as the “season of LL Cool J,” noting that the musician, 56, is the “most professional guy” and “knows everything” about his lines right out the gate.

“It’s like your cousin visiting for the summer and he just shakes everything up and your whole summer [is] so different. And that’s what this season has been,” Antoon explained. “I mean besides it being so weird with the [SAG-AFTRA and WGA] strikes and only doing half a season … that’s what it’s like. LL season 3.”

The Hawai’i star noted that he doesn’t know what will happen with LL Cool J’s role in the future, adding that the series has not been picked up yet for season 4.

“He’s definitely been a fun addition for sure. CBS loves him and we love him and he’s great,” Antoon said, telling Us that the writers have done a great job of getting both the cast and the viewers invested in LL Cool J’s story line.

Antoon continued: “[The writers] get to know you so they can infuse that into your character and infuse that into the dynamic. And breaking up the dynamic, I think is really cool and important for all the characters, so it doesn’t feel so safe and easy all the time.”

When it comes to his own character’s future, Antoon is hopeful that should the show get renewed, Ernie will find a new love.

“I say to my wife, it’s my only chance to kiss other ladies, even though it’s fake,” Antoon teased. “This season it’s such a strange season for everybody because after the strike there wasn’t room for so much to do to dabble in the character stuff that we normally like to do.”

He shared that season 4 would most likely feature Ernie in a different relationship phase. “There [is] definitely going to be some dating stuff. I think they’re definitely going to go back into the ladies’ man Ernie,” Antoon told Us. “Not in a cheesy lady [man] — not a bad ladies’ man. Ernie’s still a little sweet about it.”

If it was up to Antoon, Ernie would also get help from Lucy Tara (Yasmine Al-Bustami) when looking for the right partner. “She’s so into it and she loves to see Ernie experience that stuff. So she should be the wingman,” he said of Ernie’s office BFF.

[caspianxth]

Hi Em, how are you? This is more of a letter but I hope it’s fun! Sorry for the delay but I’m so excited to give you your gift, I have an idea I hope you’ll find fun! Nice Percy Jackson icon by the way, I love the first few episodes. And thank you for adding the trailer ❤️ It sounds so interesting and that one scene where Maia is in the white gown and Thomas is behind her and she looks over her shoulder did something to me lol. I’ll have to check it out! For my own show rec I just started watching Elementary and it is excellent (it also features a super well used Lucy Liu!) I just went back to the fancam and that’s crazy! They’re in love! “I can’t imagine life without you in it” my god!

Also no need to apologize for the messages getting long because this is getting long too! First pick is Selfie, it’s this romantic (towards the end :( ) comedy that’s a remake of My Fair Ladg starring John Cho and Karen Gillan and it’s adorable and funny and the only significant age gap romance I’ve ever truly adored (bc it’s not weird, they’re just bringing new insights to the table but they compliment each other so well!) and then it got canceled on a cliffhanger after one season and it pains me. Here’s a fancam so you get what I mean!

https://x.com/selfieignite/status/1511780782498480130?s=46

I would also bring back The Get Down, which was canceled after one season and was an early Netflix original that genuinely seemed so cool. Lastly, I would bring back We Are Lady Parts, which is this British show about a group of Muslim women in a punk rock band that’s absolutely hilarious. I am hoping that it’s suffering from British tv scheduling and just taking its sweet time to return. I think I’m just leaning towards shows gone too soon but if I had to pick a show that ended perfectly but that I just want more of if I would go Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (but then cut out half of season three because ugh. Do you have a character who joined a show and you just couldn’t stand him? Mine is named Nathaniel.)

Since we’re gearing up towards bitch pack holiday swap I wanted to ask if you had any happy memories with bitch pack this last year that you’re grateful for? I always love our guessing games, they get so silly (and hello to anyone from bitch pack reading this!! <3) — your secret santa, ☃️

bestie do Not apologize for the delay I am glad that u are sending these at all!! I mean ik the server asks for everyone who participates to send them but I still like them <3. so I actually made this icon when entertainment weekly got some hq stills for a preview article, but I held onto it for this exact moment sdghdhg. also the eps were SO GOOD AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I am not nearly as talented as others in the server but if u want an icon hit me up w who u want! they don't take me too long now since I make them decently often <3. also re artful dodger of course also that scene where maia looks back at thomas Should make u feel some typa way!!! they're *chef's kiss* from ep one (where that scene is lol). also I actually love elementary we used to watch it in my house when it aired on cbs!!! when sherlock and watson finally slept together I was Hollering!!!!!! also tho TOOK U LONG ENOUGH UR SUPPOSED TO BE A GENIUS SHERLOCK!!!!!!!! LIKE SHE'S SO HOT HOW DID U NOT MAKE SHACKING UP W HER PRIORITY #1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! elementary>>>>>> bbc sherlock!!!

I think I watched some of selfie (?) but I will check this fancam situation out to familiarize!! I saw my fair lady w audrey hepburn and I do like that movie and I do love some adaptations!! also I feel u w cliffhanger endings they're the Worst like the oa has such a cliffhanger ending bc it was supposed to be 5 seasons not 2 :(. netflix are snakes for doing us both dirty w cancelling originals of theirs that we loved </3. also will be checking out we are lady parts that sounds incredible and I do love british tv! I have never seen crazy ex girlfriend but I do prefer that shows end when they are good instead of keeping themselves going and becoming bad and I certainly would drop parts of shows (cough cough titans cough cough) if I had been a screenwriter in some shows. also in this house we hate nathaniel (idk him but if u hate him, I hate him)!!!

ooh bpack memories is a good one hmm.....I loved seeing what in the m*tt channel got starboarded without context (if ur a mod don't add me I don't need context jsdgdkjfgkfdhg), the jokes we were making when sc**ter was losing all his clients and the jokes the night that karlie kloss was in the 300s level at eras, kasia's plane drawing after the fact (still absolutely sent me), the bees/honey things, battling the mee6! bot that we did not know could in fact talk to us as a knight in search of the perfect nachos, the tmnt classical art lecture slide, winning the hunger games simulator on the first round despite never hunger gamesing once in my life, when everyone had the same taylor then destiel names/icons, and sending ppl to the brig!! what were urs bestie???

[nickgerlich]

Up In The Air

A decade has passed since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos rocked the universe with yet another disruption to the way we do things. He announced that Amazon Prime Air would one day deliver packages to shoppers. It was a jaw-dropping moment that evening for those watching CBS’ 60 Minutes, and quickly spread across all media.

For fans of The Jetsons, it was confirmation that all those hours spent watching a futuristic cartoon were worth it, because one more thing was coming true.

Unfortunately for Bezos, there would be many hurdles, not the least of which was the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). Even with Bezos’ promise that his drones would only fly at altitudes less than 400 feet, there was still the possibility that mishaps with airlines could occur, not to mention flying into very tall buildings, power lines, wind turbines, and anything else jutting out of the earth.

Amazon completed its first drone delivery in December 2016, although that is not to say that his unmanned aerial vehicles have taken to the skies in large numbers. There are still a lot of things to work out, as well as limitations on the size and weight of parcels. Oh, and never mind rednecks who took it upon themselves to declare open season on an entirely new species of bird.

But that has not stopped Amazon as well as Walmart and courier companies like UPS and FedEx from working toward solving those matters. In fact, Walmart, in partnership with Alphabet’s Wing division, just announced it would start a new drone delivery program in north Dallas suburbs by the end of the year. Residences within a six-mile radius of two stores—60,000 of them—will be able to receive drone delivery within 30 minutes.

In fact, Walmart has been quietly amassing a solid history of drone delivery, with more than 10,000 deliveries from 36 stores in seven states. In contrast, CNBC reported last May that Amazon had only made 100 drone deliveries thus far, in spite of having forecast 10,000 for this year.

If it is beginning to look like Bezos was merely in the inspiration business, you might just be right. His wild dream has failed to take off, while his biggest competitor in the retail space is doing amazingly well with it.

Yes, there are still many concerns, such as whether the recipient needs to be present to take delivery. Porch pirates could steal anything dropped from the sky. Pets might have a little too much fun opening the box. And, of course, you would not do your weekly shopping online and hope to have it all delivered by a drone. The limit is 10 pounds.

I rather like this idea, though. I can imagine a day when residences will have a small helipad in their front yard, a target for the drone to hit. With precise GPS coordinates, hitting the target would be straightforward. Better yet, beyond all the convenience of receiving purchases about as fast as one could possibly imagine while never leaving home, drones fall into the “One Less Car” category. Your car. Their delivery truck. Whatever. These could help alleviate traffic snarls, and since drones fly on a straight line path not bound by where the roads are, this is about as good as it gets.

Well, as long as operators at home base can keep them from flying into one another. And I do have to wonder how Walmart will be able to track UPS or Amazon drones in the sky. Details, details.

Now think of the new jobs that will arise from a nationwide deployment of drones. Highly-trained operators will be needed to program and oversee deliveries. This is far more sophisticated than flying radio-control toys or using a drone to photograph for fun or to help sell real estate. This is one more net benefit.

If I could just get the local Thai place to use these. I dream of the day when I could exit the Classroom Center at the designated moment, and my lunch slowly drops from the sky into my ever-loving hands. DoorDash, you better take note. How about that? A disrupter being disrupted by more technology.

It’s just too bad the guy who envisioned it all hasn’t yet been able to actually do it.

Dr “I’ll Be Out Front” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[reddanceragain]

DEMOCRACY DOCKET - Marc Elias.

DEMOCRACY DOCKET - Marc Elias.

The greatest risk of the Trump era is the resetting of what we expect from our leaders. Most dangerous, of course, is the redefinition of the presidency — from a position of honor and trust to one of retribution and corruption.

I have repeatedly warned against normalizing Trump. Just yesterday, for example, I wrote about the risks to our democracy if the judicial system grants a presumption of regularity to Trump’s highly irregular administration.

As reviews of the first 100 days poured in, several themes emerged. Chief among them is the moral collapse of those we expect to stand strong and lead.

We’ve watched Republicans in Congress cede their constitutional authority to Trump. Not a single member of Trump’s cabinet has shown any backbone. A Republican judicial candidate — a sitting judge — continues his effort to steal an election in North Carolina.

Several major law firms capitulated to Trump, arming him with nearly a billion dollars in pro bono legal services for his pet causes, while others remained disgracefully silent as Trump targeted opposing firms for retribution.

The legacy media began Trump’s second term weakened and has grown weaker still. The White House dominates the press pool, while corporate media, often fearful of angering the administration, too often pulls its punches.

The complexity of this situation is illustrated by what’s happening at CBS News. As I write this, CBS’s parent company is considering paying Trump millions to settle a lawsuit it would certainly win. At the same time, 60 Minutes is preparing to air a story about the risks to democracy posed by law firm capitulation that Trump will surely try to discredit.

On the positive side, the protest movement has grown and scored some successes. Several Democratic leaders have emerged as prominent voices of opposition. New legal groups and lawyers have proven effective in court. Encouragingly, signs point to the emergence of a strong, independent, pro-democracy media ecosystem.

There’s no magic to 100 days. The challenges Trump poses to our country will remain at day 1,000, and day 1,100. All we can do is continue to use every tool available to fight back and protect our democracy no matter what day it is.

The Weekly Top Line

Donald Trump’s second term will span 1,461 days. Though it may feel like an eternity, fewer than 7% of those days have passed. Even assuming his final days in office are spent golfing, pilfering government property and exfiltrating classified documents, there’s still a long road ahead.

Media coverage of Trump’s first 100 days showcased the damage he can inflict in a short time. But it also — sometimes begrudgingly — highlighted how effective opposition can stymie key parts of his authoritarian agenda.

Rather than dwell on the failures and setbacks of these early days, we must learn from them and grow more effective. Likewise, we must understand that any successes achieved can easily be undone in the weeks and months to come.

The fight for democracy won’t be judged in days or weeks. It will take years — perhaps even decades — to defeat the authoritarian wave that has overtaken American politics.

Heroes of the Week

These days, I rarely have a kind word for corporate America. But this week, I’ll make an exception. It appears that Microsoft replaced a New York firm collaborating with Trump with one of the firms he targeted. This is the first reported instance of such a reversal. If more follow, it may show that capitulation to Trump hurts the bottom line. For initiating that shift, Microsoft’s legal department is a hero.

Fools and Cowards of the Week

During his interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran, Donald Trump repeatedly insisted that Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the man illegally deported to a Salvadoran gulag — had “MS13” tattooed on his knuckles. When Moran politely tried to correct him, noting the image was photoshopped, Trump acted incredulous.

Yet days later, the White House has not corrected the record, and the legacy media has largely let the matter drop. Trump is a fool for believing an obvious fake. Those who work for him are cowards for not admitting the mistake. And the media’s silence? Well… you decide.

The Week’s Siren 🚨

After the GOP-dominated North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled to strip the Democratic governor of power, the Republican state auditor — yes, auditor — appointed a GOP majority to the State Board of Elections. These new members will immediately aid in the party’s effort to steal a state Supreme Court seat. Only the federal courts now stand in the way.

Overlooked This Week 👀

When I interview Democratic members of Congress on my podcast, I often ask what motivates Republican members to so thoroughly supplicate themselves to Trump. Most answers center on fear — fear of losing primaries or of violence from Trump supporters. This week, Senator Chris Murphy offered a darker explanation: that many GOP members share Trump’s authoritarian worldview. If you haven’t watched it already, it’s worth your time.

Watching Next Week

As Republican legislatures continue churning out new voter suppression laws, expect a wave of litigation to begin as early as next week. As always, Democracy Docket will be your best source for following what’s happening in the courts.

[dankusner]

Dallas author gives us a look into the darkness at ‘48 Hours’

BOOKS AUTHOR The secrets of true-crime TV

The true-crime wave that’s swept through culture didn’t start with podcasts.

Long before young women popped in their earbuds to stream My Favorite Murder or Morbid , American viewers gathered on the couch to watch network staples like Dateline, 20/20 and 48 Hours , which could turn shocking crimes into one tidy hour of television.

Dallas journalist Claire St. Amant knows all about true-crime TV, whose secrets she spills in her compulsively readable memoir Killer Story: The Truth Behind True Crime Television .

As a former field producer for 48 Hours — 48, as insiders call it — St. Amant logged time with serial killers and femmes fatales and cold-blooded husbands.

“You have real talent for making friends with murderers,” a colleague tells her at one point.

In person, St. Amant is petite and naturally pretty and younger-looking than her 39 years.

“I get mistaken for the intern a lot,” she says with a laugh.

The advantage of being small and Texas polite is that people will underestimate you.

(Joan Didion once claimed her short stature was a secret weapon.)

St. Amant is cold-blooded when it comes to tracking down a lead, though.

48 Hours was in constant competition with Dateline and 20/20 to get the scoop, and the book lets us watch as St. Amant schemes her way past security and tries to sweet-talk legendary Dallas attorney Toby Shook into an exclusive.

18293250

That last one didn’t work, but others did.

“No one expects the little girl to get the big story,” she tells me, smiling. “I just want to prove people wrong.”

Journalism hustle

St. Amant grew up in Katy, Texas, land of football games and outlet malls.

In elementary school, she started a paper called Kids’ News , which she peddled around the neighborhood, enjoying the feeling of being the one with the information.

At Baylor University, she studied English and journalism and graduated in 2008, just in time for the bleak post-crash job market.

She joined the Peace Corps, taught English in Ukraine, but when she returned a year later, the media landscape was still dire.

She applied for one job only to learn it was a Ponzi scheme.

One lesson of Killer Story is how much hustle is required for a job in 21st-century journalism, but St. Amant is dogged.

She turned an assignment with People Newspapers, the chain of suburban weeklies, into a splashy exclusive for D Magazine , “The ESD Sex Scandal.”

20545235

She landed a gig in 2012 at Culture Map, the lifestyle site with hubs in major Texas cities, and wrote a barnburner called, “The making of the Keller black widow: Did Michele Williams get away with murder?,” about a woman accused of shooting her husband and making it look like a home invasion.

Not your typical fare for a website known for “fun things to do this weekend.”

The Williams story caught the attention of 48 Hours , and a New York producer flew to Dallas to take St. Amant to dinner at Mi Cocina, her favorite spot.

He offered her a consultant position for a segment on “the black widow,” and she eventually became a field producer for the series.

At first, she leaned hard into fake-it-till-you-make-it, but she evolves into a seasoned reporter with a knack for bending the rules without breaking them.

She’s also a young mother during these years, taking a jailhouse call while bathing her son and pumping breast milk in an empty courthouse room.

Part of the thrill of Killer Story is watching this underdog from Dallas scrap her way into a full-time gig at 48 Hours and beyond, with segments that aired on the CBS morning show and 60 Minutes .

The other thrill is learning what a viper’s nest true-crime TV can be.

I won’t spoil the discovery, but let me say I’ll never look at 60 Minutes the same way again.

The pressure to win, the infighting, the calloused nature of some producers. St. Amant doesn’t pull punches in her depiction.

“As journalists, we speak truth to power,” she tells me, “and sometimes that power is a major news organization.”

‘Trafficking in tragedy’

Although the memoir is about the thrill of true crime — puzzling out a mystery, the study of human behavior — it’s also about its dangers.

Ruminating daily on the evils of the world can do a number on the brain.

“Parkland broke me,” she says.

“That was the beginning of the end.” Covering the Florida school

shooting was one of her worst TV experiences, not merely because the story was so tragic, but also because she felt she didn’t belong there.

She was a voyeur, an intruder.

“All the things I didn’t want to be as a journalist,” she says.

Four more years passed before she left 48 Hours .

She had a mortgage, a child and a coveted gig in a tough profession.

But how many spousal murders can one woman cover?

At one exhausted point, she blurted to her husband, “I feel like we’re trafficking in tragedy, and there’s no redeemable quality to the story.”

She’s softened her stance since then.

She feels good about a lot of her work, including her episode on the attempted assassination of Austin judge Julie Kocurek, who used her near-death experience to push for legal changes.

“I recognize a lot of journalism can sensationalize these crimes, but that’s never been my goal,” St. Amant says.

“I want to examine these complicated, messy stories and find the humanity.”

A few years ago, she started — what else? — a podcast.

Final Days on Earth with Claire St. Amant lets her focus on stories she’s passionate about, like Season 1’s subject, Dammion Heard, a former wrestling champion at Fossil Ridge High School in Keller whose mysterious death was ruled a suicide.

She’s also developing a true-crime television series with a cable network, and she hosts a second podcast about cold cases and missing persons, called Justice Pending , with a woman she calls her “true-crime bestie.”

The waves of true-crime drama keep crashing to the shore.

Serial becomes Dirty John , the Murdaugh murders become Ruby Franke’s child abuse.

St. Amant understands why women, in particular, gravitate toward it.

“I think it’s a safe way to take in all the awful things that could happen to us and kind of desensitize ourselves,” she says, though she does offer a word of caution.

“The hardest part about murder is that in the end, it never makes sense. There’s this misconception that we can ‘understand’ violent crime and put the pieces together in a logical sequence. But in my experience, it’s always chaos.”

That doesn’t keep her from listening, or growing obsessed with this or that case.

There’s one place she won’t be getting her true crime, however.

When I ask if she ever watches 48 Hours , she smiles and says, “I just can’t.”

A conversation with Sarah Hepola will take place May 20, 6 p.m., at Arlington Hall at Turtle Creek Park, hosted by the park’s conservancy.

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The series has not necessarily aged well, but The Big Bang Theory is still wildly popular. The sitcom wrapped up in 2019 with a well-received series finale that saw Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Amy (Mayim Bialik) receive their Nobel Prize and ended with everyone being sent off with a promising, happy future (although even the elevator got an arguably better ending than Kunal Nayyar's Raj). But what if the series went off in a different direction with an earlier storyline, specifically Season 10's "The Military Miniaturization"? 

That's the episode where Leonard (Johnny Galecki), Howard (Simon Helberg), and Sheldon begin working with the Air Force on their gyroscope. If the series had used that narrative through to the finale, it's possible their work would have led to them working with other government agencies, perhaps even situations that threaten the world as we know it. It's a "what if" scenario that is actually played out, albeit in a more dramatic fashion, on another CBS series: Scorpion.

Four Nerds Save the World Weekly in 'Scorpion'

Scorpion sees a team of eccentric geniuses working together to solve complex, high-technology global threats at the behest of the Department of Homeland Security. The series is loosely based on the exploits of its executive producer, computer expert and businessman Walter O'Brien, an Irishman who first drew the attention of the U.S. as a 13-year-old who hacked into NASA and was given an Extraordinary Abilities visa to work with Homeland Security in the States. As noted in the cited Irish Times, those exploits "can't be talked about" and, as a result, can't be substantiated (but still makes for pretty damn good TV).

Elyes Gabel plays the fictionalized O'Brien on Scorpion, a computer genius with an IQ of 197. The superteam of geniuses he gathers together consists of Harvard-trained psychiatrist Tobias (Eddie Kaye Thomas), mechanical engineer Happy Quinn (Jadyn Wong), "human calculator" Sylvester "Sly" Dodd (Ari Stidham), a mathematician and statistician. Their Homeland Security liaison is Agent Cabe Gallo (Robert Patrick), a former Marine and FBI agent who had first contacted the team to help with a problem that was impacting air traffic control before leaning on them for missions that the government has neither the personnel nor technical know-how to handle on their own. Rounding out the team is American Idol alum Katharine McPhee, who serves as the team's office manager/mother figure and is helped, in turn, by the team in learning to understand her genius son, Ralph (Riley B. Smith).

The Parallels Between 'Scorpion' and 'The Big Bang Theory' are Stronger Than You Think

Scorpion sees the team tackle situations in episodes that range from humorous, like going undercover on the set of a superhero movie, dressed in garish superhero costumes, to dismantle a nuclear missile in "Super Fun Guys," to much more serious fare, like Season 1's second episode "Single Point of Failure," where the team is called on to help the governor's daughter, a victim of biohacking with only 24 hours to live. That episode also reveals some deeply personal trials for two of its characters: Walter learns his sister's multiple sclerosis is worsening, making their current case hit that much harder. Meanwhile, the case also forces Cabe to revisit the tragedy of losing his daughter. That balance of episodes, skewed between light and dark, is a winning formula that kept the series on for four seasons before being canceled.

It may not sound like Scorpion has all that much in common with The Big Bang Theory, but the parallels are much stronger than suggested above. The characters on each show, for instance, are eerily similar. Like Sheldon, Walter is incredibly book smart but lacks emotional intelligence, leading to being perceived as selfish, arrogant, and devoid of feelings. Sly is also much like Sheldon, an obsessive-compulsive with phobias (unknown if birds are one, but most likely). Psychiatrist Toby serves as a behaviorist, "reading" people like Amy and Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) have been known to do, while Happy and Howard are both engineers... enough said. Paige is akin to Kaley Cuoco's Penny, the friend who may not be an intellectual genius but has the social skills and emotional know-how to help "translate" the real world for her socially awkward teammates (another parallel: Paige enrolls in college and takes night classes to earn a degree). Plus, Walter and Paige have that same "will they/won't they" dynamic shared by Leonard and Penny.

One final thought. In "True Colors," the Scorpion team is forced to take (and pass) a psychological evaluation, or else they will be banned from all Homeland assignments. By passing the evaluation, the team, amusingly, can safely say they're not crazy. They were tested.