Ever since the halcyon days of Johnny Carson and Dick Cavett—back when cigarette smoke wafted on stage and through the camera lens, when greats like Orson Welles and Jack Lemmon sat down to speak—late-night television has been a battleground for hosts. Through the long decades, the late-night war has seen hosts like David Letterman and Jay Leno square off against one another, with Conan O’Brien joining the fray against Jay after the “NBC incident....
Most of us only barely recognized it at the time, but we now look at the PlayStation 2 as one of the best gaming consoles of all time. This fondness has little to do with the power of the system, as it was on the weaker side when compared to the original Xbox and even the Nintendo GameCube. Instead, it’s about the games. And while the PlayStation 2 is best known for its awesome RPGs, there are plenty of other PS2 games worth noting—such as its racing games....
Before Andy Serkis brought Gollum to life in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, the concept of motion capture for CGI in films wasn’t one that was taken seriously by the industry. At the time, the technology was pretty limited—so most actors weren’t willing to wear skin-tight suits with tiny balls on them, then earnestly play their parts so that their performances could be crafted and rendered in post-production....
An anthology TV series is a television show that focuses on the telling of separate, distinct, self-contained narratives. Most of the time, each episode is its own individual story with its own characters, settings, beginning, middle, and end. Less commonly, the story could span an entire season, with each season being a sort of reboot with a new story, new characters, and new settings. What about the actors? Well, sometimes the actors are brand new in every episode, with little to no repeats across stories....
The Expanse may not be the most well-known sci-fi TV series right now—that’d have to be The Mandalorian , right?—but it’s certainly the one that feels the most real. The most human. The most… expansive. While describing The Expanse’s endless twists and turns would be a near-impossible task for anybody, it’s those exact twists and turns that make the show utterly addictive and unique. Bluntly put: The Expanse is like no other sci-fi TV series ever made, and its total originality and “hard sci-fi” approach combine to make it the best sci-fi TV series in the world....
While some TV shows are made for kids, it doesn’t mean that adults can’t enjoy them too thanks to their great art, voice work, stories, and jokes. In fact, sometimes shows sneak in jokes that will fly over younger folk’s heads. We’ve rounded up some of the best kids TV shows, old and current, that are worth watching as an adult. 10. Looney Tunes Cartoons (2019–Present) Trailer for Looney Tunes Cartoons...
Though Scott’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s original story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? wasn’t even close to faithful, Scott produced a movie that became starkly iconic on its own merits. But that recognition took time to build up. A LOT of time. At first, Ridley Scott had to fight hard with Warner Brothers for final cut privilege—a battle that he initially lost, which led to the much-maligned theatrical cut of Blade Runner ....
Kenny Rogers once sang: “You have to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em.” Meaning, it’s important to know when it’s time to end something—or else you plow ahead into ruins. This is true of TV shows, with so many examples of series that started off well but went on for far too long, eventually becoming husks of what they once were and losing audiences to fatigue and dissatisfaction....
Are you feeling burned out on TV? Maybe you’ve watched Breaking Bad all the way through again or you’re on yet another rewatch of Game of Thrones . No matter what, remember that there is more to TV than just fiction! Documentaries are great, and if you think they’re all about history or nature you couldn’t be more wrong. These documentaries will help you learn a little something while keeping in touch with your geeky side at the same time....
Sad to say, the horror genre of cinema was in a sorry state in the 2000s. In those nine years, we got four Final Destination movies, six Saw movies, and lots of notoriously lazy entries like Freddy vs. Jason . On top of that, studios were hanging onto franchises that were commodities of the past that had managed to outstay their welcome. All in all, horror movies were feeling quite samey....
Retro gaming is more popular now than ever before, and there have never been more ways to play those old games of yore. The retro game collections released by publishers are great if you only care about the popular mainstream titles, but they’re lacking if you want to dig into the obscure games that few remember. Projects like MiSTer FPGA provide accurate emulation, but they can be tricky to set up....
Black characters are rare in anime, and it’s even rarer for them to be main characters. Oftentimes, black characters are only used to depict diversity of a certain group or location in a series. Fortunately, we’re starting to see more black characters in both anime series and anime movies—and not just as supporting characters but also as main protagonists leading large rosters. Black characters in anime offer all kinds of potential storylines and character developments that are often overlooked or brushed aside, resulting in stories that feel fresh and insightful....
To this day, The Wire (2002–2008) remains a top contender for one of the greatest TV shows ever made. It’s been off the air for long past a decade, but it’s still hot with universal acclaim. What made this TV show so good? Well, The Wire did so many things right, but there’s really only one answer here: the characters . Featuring some of the best writing ever put to the small screen, The Wire gifted us with characters who were dynamic, engaging, intriguing, with rich backstories and complex relationships that filled out the world of Baltimore and made every corner feel lived-in....
The world of fans and fandom is an elaborate one. It’s impossible for someone to not be a fan of even a single piece of pop culture or artistic endeavor—whether in the past or the present. People have gathered into fandoms for as long as creators and creative works have been around, and that’s because creative works speak to us. They’re often more than mere entertainment, able to resonate with us on deeper levels and tell us that we are understood....
Are you the kind of gamer who loves exploring new areas, uncovering the secrets that lay hidden around every corner, piecing together environmental details that come together to tell subtle stories? Then you probably already know all about open-world games! But what you may not know is that open-world games come in different flavors, each offering up its own unique kind of experience. Whether you’re heading out to fight dangerous creatures and loot powerful equipment or just sneaking around to see what’s out there in the world, open-world games have limitless potential....
Matt Groening’s iconic cartoon TV sitcom The Simpsons has been alive and running since 1989, with each episode following the lives of a dysfunctional yellow family in the animated town of Springfield. Despite the fact these characters never age or suffer permanent damage from their (mis)adventures, The Simpsons still sticks to a loose overarching narrative across its episodes. The only exception is their annual Halloween special “Treehouse of Horror” episodes....
Board gaming is a social activity (except for the occasional solo game), which means it’s most fun when everyone is engaged, participating, and behaving in a way that doesn’t hamper anyone else’s fun. We’ve all had board game nights ruined by people who lacked manners and common courtesy—but maybe you’ve also ruined game nights without realizing it. Just because no one has said anything to you doesn’t mean you’re in the clear!...
There aren’t many other words in the Bleach universe that drum up as much anticipation as when a character utters: “Ban… kai!” It’s what Soul Reapers say when they activate their Zanpakuto’s most powerful form (excluding the mythical Shukai, which transcends even the Bankai), which grants the Soul Reaper a new set of unique abilities. Bankai abilities range from destructive sword-based attacks to unique techniques that can put targets in an illusory trance, and some Bankai abilities are so powerful that they can alter reality itself....
Black Mirror is one of the most unsettling TV shows of our time. It isn’t full-blown horror, but its intriguing—often depraved—scenarios are close enough to real-life that they’re borderline horrifying. The sci-fi anthology series, created by Charlie Brooker, is made up of individual episodes that each tell their own standalone, dystopian stories with their own unique casts. Black Mirror ’s main target of critique is technology—the various ways that digital displays, social media, and artificial intelligence can rule modern life and pose threats....
Watching only the most popular movies on Netflix leaves out a number of amazing, lesser-known flicks. The following movies are some of the best hidden gems you can watch on Netflix. Related: The best romantic comedy movies on Netflix 1. The Endless (2018) The Endless follows two brothers who escaped a UFO death cult 10 years ago. When they unexpectedly receive a mysterious video in the mail, the brothers decide to return to the cult’s campsite....
