Everybody, go home. Dan Hurley has won the internet.
Dan Hurley knows that UConn’s loss to Creighton is not good. But he’s taking it all in stride because he shared an epic Game of Thrones meme from his social media account that reflects he’s heard the criticism surrounding his team.
The UConn men’s basketball team did not have a good Tuesday evening. They lost to the Creighton Bluejays horrendously. Creighton shot over 50 percent from deep and was already up 14 at halftime. UConn had no answer for anything the Bluejays threw at them, and their 14-game winning streak went out the window. Before the team could even truly make it back to the locker room, Uconn head coach Dan Hurley was seen possibly threatening to knock out a student.
However, Hurley appears to understand that sometimes a bit of self-deprecation is necessary to get better. He shared a glorious Game of Thrones meme to his social media that referenced Cersei Lannister’s walk of shame after she was found guilty of a crime.
Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. borrowed from one of the most popular television shows of all time for his Saturday home football game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
While doing the NBC intros for the Steelers defense, Porter introduced himself as “the king of the North,” a fun nod to Game of Thrones.
You might also take this as a way for Porter to say that the Steelers run the AFC North, even if Pittsburgh was technically last in the division as of Saturday afternoon.
In any case, it was a very neat twist on the player introduction, and Porter certainly acclimated himself quite well for this chilly Steelers game.
Porter is one of the better young cornerbacks in the NFL, following in the footsteps of his dad, former Steelers linebacker Joey Porter, in Pittsburgh.
Maybe one day he and the Steelers will retake the AFC North as its fiercest challengers, but the Bengals, Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns all will have a say in that pursuit.
One of the most popular Crusader Kings mods is getting a re-release for Crusader Kings 3 on PC, bringing Game of Thrones to the history game
One of the most popular Crusader Kings mods is making its way to the latest version of the strategy game, adding some Westeros flair to the history game (thanks, Kotaku). You can get your hands on the mod starting April 14, 2023.
Fans originally created the Crusader Kings mod “A Game of Thrones” years ago for the original CK game and then recreated it for Crusader Kings 2. The CK3 version will launch with just one chapter, Robert’s Rebellion, some substantial improvements and expansions in features such as Mega War, and the promise of much more – including Essos – to come.
Mega War is one of the mod’s cornerstones, and the team is promising a bigger version of it this time. It builds on the idea of family ties influencing politics across the continent and makes it possible for regional conflicts to turn into national wars. You could win big if you ditch your liege and pick the right side – or your family could be ruined forever.
A new council system gives you more control over your lands, and the lord of the Iron Throne even gets a special set of bodyguards to (theoretically) keep their family members safe. If all of that sounds too tame, you can play as the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch and oversee the battles with Wilding clans from beyond the wall.
That’s barely scratching the surface of this behemoth mod. It features support for custom characters, delves into Westeros’ culture and religions, and will eventually expand even further to include a larger map, more Game of Thrones events, and iconic creatures from George R.R. Martin’s series, including White Walkers and, of course, dragons.
Martin penned the backstory and world, but the characters and plot belong to Hidetaka Miyazaki.
Hype for From Software’s Elden Ring is damn near palpable, mainly because of George R.R. Martin’s involvement, but the legendary Game Of Thrones author may not be as involved with the game as everyone thought.
During Elden Ring‘s reveal at E3 2019, half of the excitement surrounding it was the announcement that Martin was helping with the story. After all, it’s not every day that an author of Martin’s stature works on a video game.
However, it sounds like he only helped pen the game’s backstory early on and isn’t writing characters or dialogue like many hoped he would. A recent Entertainment Weekly interview with Yasuhiro Kitao, a producer at From Software, explains how game director Hidetaka Miyazaki had Martin’s blessing to take the story wherever.
“George R.R. Martin wrote the original mythos for this game,” Kitao said through a translator, via Entertainment Weekly. “He created a backstory or a history that takes place many, many years before the events of the game itself, and he wrote this in collaboration with Miyazaki.”
Kitao continued: “Once that original mythos was complete, George R.R. Martin was kind enough to leave that in our hands, so to speak, and to do with that what we will.”
Earlier this week @fromsoftware_pr kindly showed me and a few others over 16 minutes of raw gameplay footage on PC. Game is on track for January 21, 2022 release.
Given how infamous Martin is for not finishing Winds Of Winter, maybe it’s for the best that he wasn’t too busy working on Elden Ring. After all, everyone wants this game actually to come out, right?
Look, I don’t think we’re getting a complete Season 8 do-over of Game of Thrones, even after all the criticism of the series finale and other episodes.
It seems more likely to me that a cryptic tweet from the official GoT Twitter account — “Winter is coming” — might have been the beginning of a marketing blitz surrounding one or more of the series’ spinoffs or the prequel.
Think of it this way: if the angle is that winter is coming (which hung over the characters for most of the series), then isn’t that a jump to the past?
Fans didn’t necessarily see it that way. They thought some kind of Season 8 re-do was a possibility (and some said, leave it alone, which I agree with):
Strongman Hafthor Bjornsson, who appeared Game of Thrones, apparently is destined to fight the man whose dead lift record he just broke.
First it was YouTube “personalities.” Now strongmen, one of whom is a part-time actor. Well, at least they’re athletes.
Hafthor Bjornsson, who played “The Mountain” in HBO’s Game of Thrones, apparently is destined to fight the man whose dead lift record he just broke in his native Iceland. The 6-foot-9, 425-pound behemoth lifted 1104.5 pounds (501 kg), breaking the mark of Englishman Eddie Hall.
After the momentous lift, he was asked what comes next.
“Something new and big,” Bjornsson said. “Core Sports [Nutrition] just offered me a seven-figure contract, the biggest contract of my life. I’ve signed it already. Hall has been running his mouth for some weeks, and I know he got the same deal, same contract.
“So Eddie, I just knocked out your record, and now I’m ready to knock you out in the ring. … Time to put your fists where your big mouth is and sign the Core Sports contract. I’m ready.”
Bjornsson, a 31-year-old former basketball player who has won a number of strongman competitions, demonstrated in a friendly sparring session with none other than Conor McGregor that he can move well for such a big man. (See video below.)
He won’t be as cordial to Hall, with whom he appears to have bad blood. Hall, also a strongman champion, quickly accepted Bjornsson’s challenge. No time or place was discussed.
“1,000 per cent I’m going to sign those papers,” Hall said in a Facebook video. “And you know why I’m going to sign those papers. … It’s not the money, it’s not the dead lift feud we’ve got going on, nothing to do with that. It’s because you called me a cheat at World’s Strongest Man 2017. I can’t put that to bed, I can’t forget it. People may forget it, but you’ve never apologized.
“You think you should’ve won that year, regardless of the trophies or not, and you let people know that.”
Hall is a mere 6-foot-3, 410 pounds, making their combined weight 835 pounds. The fans probably won’t see an artful display of the sweet science if they actually meet in the ring but it will be hard to look away.
Looking back at the most memorable episodes from the best TV shows this decade.
The 2010s gave viewers some fantastic television and iconic characters, as the way we consume it rapidly changed with streaming sites practically taking over the world. TV in the last decade has been intense with anti-heroes practically being a given, hilarious thanks to scripted sitcoms that are a little rough around the edges and, most importantly, particularly memorable.
So while it’s one thing to remember the greatest shows of the last 10 years — and there were a lot — For The Win wanted to take it a step further. Instead of listing or ranking what we TV experts think were the top series, we wrote about the specific decade-defining episodes as a way to celebrate the best shows out there.
Warning: There is some NSFW language in some episode clips.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Chardee MacDennis: The Game of Games, Season 7, Episode 7, October 27, 2011
On a particularly boring day at Paddy’s Pub, the gang decides to play an old drinking game they devised years ago, “Chardee MacDennis.” The brilliance of the episode is that it takes place entirely inside a single room and features only the five main characters, but manages to be one of the wildest, off-the-wall episodes in the series, with plenty of classic, quotable moments. Shut up, dog! – Nick Schwartz
Breaking Bad: Ozymandias, Season 5, Episode 14, September 15, 2013
You could pick most episodes of Breaking Bad — yes, even Fly — to fit this list. But most BB fans would say this was the show at its most devastating, the series at its most unforgiving. One character — and I’m going to avoid names in case you haven’t watched the series, although if you haven’t already, please do so NOW — dies while another learns a fact from Walter that was previously unknown. Then, there’s a shocking family confrontation and an ending you probably didn’t see coming. You’re so emotionally invested in the characters by now that having the rug pulled out from under you like this will leave you stunned. This is arguably the best episode of any show of the decade. – Charles Curtis
Atlanta: Streets on Lock, Season 1, Episode 2, September 6, 2016
Atlanta has never been a show that stuck to the conventions of a traditional TV show, often going at its own pace and dealing deftly with complicated issues like race, masculinity and black identity. Streets on Lock picks up right after the pilot episode, and focuses on Earn as he waits to get bailed out of county lock up after his proximity to a shooting. It’s a tense, quiet episode that focuses on not just the prison system, but homophobia, mental health and transphobia, with humor and insight. I held my breath through much of Streets acutely aware that Earn’s fate rested entirely the hands of an unjust and exploitative system.
Honorable mention: B.A.N., Season 1, Episode 7, October 11, 2016
B.A.N. doesn’t totally work as a 30-minute episode, but it’s sketch on “trans-racial” identity which focuses on a black teenager who believes he’s a 35-year-old white man, is transcendent. – Hemal Jhaveri
Veep, Election Night, Season 4, Episode 10, June 14, 2015
It was impossibly hard to pick the best episode from this series, led by the ever brilliant Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Nearly every episode is sharply written with a balance of laugh-out-loud and cringe-worthy dialogue with a wonderfully heinous group of characters who flutter about while JLD reminds everyone she drops the best f-bomb in Hollywood.
But the election night episode is something special because, as she’s trying to avoid getting rejected by the American electorate for not the first time, nor the last, her incompetent staff is left frantically Googling what happens if there’s a tie in the Electoral College. Everyone’s reaction to the potential tie is quintessential digital age, and the possibility of her losing the election ultimately to her running mate is supremely Veep. And the fact that “Continuity with Change” — almost as bad as “Some New Beginnings” — is plastered on the stage of their election rally just before the tie is announced is just *chef’s kiss*. – Michelle Martinelli
BoJack Horseman: Stupid Piece of Sh*t, Season 4, Episode 6, September 8, 2017
Fish Out of Water, in which BoJack visits an underwater city and is unable to speak and yet the episode unfurls without dialogue, and Free Churro, an episode entirely built on his bitter eulogizing of the mother who caused him so much angst, are rightfully lauded for both format and content. But there wasn’t a better or more impactful episode than Stupid Piece of Sh*t.
The gimmick here is that we’re tuned in to BoJack’s inner monologue, riven as it is by depression, anxiety and alcoholism as he goes through a bender of booze and doubt brought on by the nearness of the family he has yearned to be close to. And it feels in many ways like the show has been winding here all along. The entire premise is absurd — a humanoid horse who was once a famous actor — and by this time you’ve already watched three whole seasons and five episodes of another, so you’ve settled in to this world when you’re confronted by an unsparing look at all the ways the brain folds in on itself. In a decade where we finally started talking more about mental illness. I’m not sure there’s a better example out there to help people understand and feel its effects. – Chris Korman
Game of Thrones: The Winds of Winter, Season 6, Episode 10, June 26, 2016
HBO via AP
Yeah, yeah, the Red Wedding (The Rains of Castamere is the episode name) is probably neck and neck here. But let’s see: Cersei blew up a building (!!) filled with her enemies, Jon Snow is declared King in the North, Daenerys and her dragons are FINALLY on their way to Westeros and Bran finds out key information through time travel: Jon Snow is actually a Targaryen, which has HUGE implications in who belongs on the Iron Throne. What a season finale. – Charles Curtis
True Detective: Who Goes There, Season 1, Episode 4, February 9, 2014
The first three episodes of True Detective were good, don’t get me wrong. But the show didn’t really pick up steam until this episode. This was arguably the best of the entire series and gave us one of the best action sequences of the decade — in film or television. I’m talking, of course, about the six-minute tracking shot during a botched drug raid. Words cannot do the scene justice, and I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but after watching that scene, you may need a few minutes to regroup and get your heart rate down. The first season of True Detective will ultimately be remembered for Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson’s acting and dialogue, but, in this episode, director Carey Fukunaga and cinematographer Adam Arkapaw steal the show. – Steven Ruiz
Atlanta: Alligator Man, Season 2, Episode 1, March 1, 2018
This was the episode where, for me at least, Atlanta went from being something I could appreciate to something that blew my mind. Season 1 of Atlanta was smart, and measured, and moody, and had moments of great beauty. Alligator Man, the first episode of Season 2 (AKA Robbin’ Season) was when Donald Glover and Hiro Murai decided they didn’t care about rules, or form, or really anything anymore. Stunning set pieces, a meme reference to “Florida Man,” Katt Williams as the titular Alligator Man… the episode showed that Atlanta was no longer going to be contained by something as simple as “reality” when it came to finding truth with its storytelling. – Nate Scott
30 Rock: When It Rains, It Pours, Season 5, Episode 2, September 30, 2010
(NBC Photo: Nicole Rivelli )
I used to think the first half of 30 Rock was significantly better than the second half, but after trying to pick out the best episode from the brilliantly written show that aired in the first few years of this decade, I realized that might not be true. I spent entirely way too much time on this and just couldn’t pick one. It’s impossible. The genius of 30 Rock largely revolves around its layers and unbelievable frequency of jokes. It seems like there’s a joke in every other line, and you have to devote your undivided attention to have a chance at catching every one.
So instead of a best episode, here is my favorite joke from the whole show, which happens to be from an episode that aired this decade. Dot Com is explaining to Liz that he and Grizz are guarding Tracy — he’s werewolfing himself — to ensure he doesn’t miss the birth of his third child:
Dot Com: Also, we took Tracy’s cell phone, his wallet…
Tracy: …And my mood ring! And I don’t know how I feel about that.
– Michelle Martinelli
Walking Dead: No Sanctuary, Season 5 Episode 1, October 12, 2014
Tense, gory and emotional, No Sanctuary is The Walking Dead at its absolute best. Rick and the gang are captured by the crazy cannibals of Terminus and must fight their way out. Rick, Glen and Daryl remain bound and gagged over a trough, just milliseconds away from death until Carol (bad-ass MF-ing CAROL) saves the day with a massive explosion. Satisfying emotional resolutions are a rarity on Walking Dead, but this episode has one of the best of all. This tear-jerking embrace between Daryl and Carol. – Hemal Jhaveri
I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson: Has This Ever Happened to You? Episode 1, Season 1, April 23, 2019
Thankfully, I saw someone tweet about this sketch show last summer and decided to give it a shot. I then watched all six episodes (which are all like 20 minutes long) in one sitting and proceeded to text everyone I know, telling them they have to watch this show. I was that annoying friend, but the ones who did watch it agreed with me: It’s phenomenal.
It all starts with the first sketch in the first episode in which a pleasant job interview in a coffee shop comes to a hilariously awkward end that will immediately hook you to this show. The “Baby of the Year” sketch might be one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen (one particular line about baby Harley Jarvis almost made me fall off my couch). And the gift receipt sketch at the end is so bizarrely funny that you’ll immediately press play on Episode 2. Seriously, if you haven’t watched this show do so immediately. Don’t make me text you about it. – Andy Nesbitt
Snowfall: Other Lives, Season 3, Episode 10, September 11, 2019
This episode was just a stroke of brilliance all around. It takes the entire series so far, all 30 episodes, and brings them full circle.
In the midst of a near-death experience after being shot, the episode begins in an alternate universe where Franklin Saint — our protagonist (?) — has made the choice to go off to college instead of staying home in Los Angeles and becoming the city’s biggest drug kingpin. He’s eventually kicked out of school after being treated unfairly by a racist dean and is sent back home. He comes home where, eventually, he’s recruited by a CIA agent.
Essentially, this vision Franklin is having of an alternate universe is a nightmare that shows him what life could’ve been. But it essentially leads him to the same place.
Once he wakes up, he has a revelation. He decides not to run from Los Angeles. Instead, he decides to fight for his people — but in such a twisted way. He realizes that the system he lives in, his community is built in, is one that is built to keep them down. And the only way he sees to fight it is by taking his drug game to another level despite all the carnage it’s led to and will lead to in the future. It’s sad, but it’s also a reality that’s all too common for some. This episode, and season, captured that perfectly. – Mike D. Sykes, II
Bob’s Burgers: Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl, Season 5, Episode 1, October 5, 2014
(FOX)
It’s a musical about Die Hard! And Working Girl! Combined! There’s not a more perfect half hour of television than Bob’s Burgers, and this is one their absolute best episodes ever. Gene decides to stage an underground, one-man Die Hard musical on the same night as the school’s officially sanctioned production of Working Girl. Not only are the musical numbers here phenomenal, but the attention to detail is everything. Gene’s Hans Gruber hair! Tina’s shoulder pads! Louise’s wig! Because this show always believes in the fundamental goodness of people, the kids combine to perform a new musical that combines the two movies, called Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl, which is as much musical as it is a cultural commentary on late capitalism. – Hemal Jhaveri
Mr. Robot: 407 Proxy Authentication Required, Season 4, Episode 7, November 17, 2019
In an effort to provide a spoiler-free summary for one of the finest hours of television I’ve seen, I won’t say what happened in the episode. But rather I’ll give credit to Sam Esmail — who formatted this episode as a commercial-free, five-act play — and the acting masterclass by Rami Malek, Elliot Villar, Christian Slater and Gloria Reuben. The episode was almost entirely dialogue, but it was delivered and produced in a manner that had viewers at the edge of their seats as the episode progressed towards the inevitable and heartbreaking reveal. – Andrew Joseph
The Good Place: Janet(s), Season 3, Episode 9, December 6, 2018
The Season 1 finale is an easy choice here, but I’m going with Chapter 36, arguably the most head-trippy episode in a series full of mind-twistiness. This time the humans are all placed in Janet’s void after they’re taken off Earth again. We get to see the super talented D’Arcy Carden proceed to play multiple characters (right down to their tics and line reads) and a dramatic climax as her void nearly destabilizes. If you’re reading this and are completely confused… well, now you’re going to have to sit down and stream the series to find out how special this episode is. – Charles Curtis
Parks and Recreation: The Fight, Season 3, Episode 13, May 12, 2011
Is the The Fight a perfect sitcom episode? It might be. This Season 3 episode, which was written by Amy Poehler, comes at the height of the show’s creative peak, and focuses mainly on the friendship between Ann (Rashida Jones) and Leslie (Amy Poehler) and all its crazy dynamics. I’ve watch The Fight more times than I can remember, not just because it’s hilarious from start to finish, but because it’s a loving but unsentimental portrayal of female friendship in all its complexity. Leslie pushes Ann too hard, Ann and Leslie both submerge their annoyance at each other until it all spills over in a messy, drunken fight at the Snakehole Lounge.
Every beat of this episode is perfect, including all the subplots! We’ve got Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) being peak Chris Traeger, an appearance from Burt Macklin, plus a very sweet moment between Ron and Tom (Aziz Ansari) bonding over the limitations of government. Among my favorite moments are the last series of quick cuts, showing everyone totally wasted, plus the final shot of Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) puking and running at the same time. – Hemal Jhaveri
Fleabag: Episode 5, Season 2, Episode 5, May 2019
The Season 2 opener of Fleabag is the one seemingly everyone wanted to talk about this year. It was great and perhaps best captures all that the show was. But the penultimate — in Fleabag’s voice, Penultimate? — deserves some attention as well for how exquisitely it pulls each character’s arc to a peak.
Fleabag’s ill-advised, mid-confession makeout with the Priest leads to him lying about why he can’t officiate her father’s wedding, and, as she struggles to come to terms with the consequences of her actions with a heavy hangover, the main character is summed up in one simple yet hysterical image with the perfect soundtrack. Here sits Fleabag, on a bus bench, bent over at the waist, face in her hands and contemplating the disastrous ripple effect of her uninhibited life decisions. Later, Claire has a spectacular meltdown over the exact, beyond bold haircut she asked for and is ultimately comforted by Klare, the kind of partner she deserves. The madness also gives us the best short monologue of the whole series, when Fleabag and Claire indignantly confront hairdresser Anthony.
And all this leads us to the moment where the Priest is trying to explain his complicated feelings while the Hot Misogynist — “He’s a feminist.” “I have a sister.” — vigorously yells at her front door. The tense final scene between Fleabag and the Priest elicits a full range of emotions and is largely what makes this episode an absolute masterpiece, bringing the season to its climax. – Michelle Martinelli
Nathan For You: Finding Frances, Episode 7, Season 4, November 9, 2017
Nathan For You is undoubtedly one of the most underrated shows of the decade. It’s a hard show to sell without video clips but I’ll try my best: The show stars Canadian comedian Nathan Fielder and real-life business owners looking for advice on how to improve their operations. Fielder comes up with wild ideas — like starting a band featuring the “jazz smoke detector” in order to allow a shipping company to reduce tariff costs on smoke detectors by marketing them as musical instruments — that he somehow gets these people to go along with.
Now, the Finding Frances episode is totally different from the others and almost plays out like a movie. Fielder helps an old man named Bill, who was used as a Bill Gates impersonator in past episodes, track down a long-lost love. I don’t want to oversell it, but this might be the greatest love story of all time. The 120-minutes episode (the other episodes are a half-hour) is full of laughs but there are some emotional scenes thrown in there as well. The best part about Finding Frances? You don’t have to watch any of the past episodes in the series to appreciate it. – Steven Ruiz
Downton Abbey: A Journey to the Highlands, Season 3 Christmas Special, December 25, 2012
(Giles Keyte/Carnival Film & Television Limited 2012 for MASTERPIECE)
Our son refused to sleep unless he was held, so I found myself, in mid-2013, binging Downton Abbey with my wife while I cradled the most precious person I’d ever encountered. And it was a pleasant diversion. The sweeping music. The luxurious sets. The order of it all. (Though, honestly, revisiting this show now made me realize how not-charming the aristocracy is as we appear to lurch toward a new form of feudalism.) What I liked most about the show was the main romantic plot, which involved the snooty Lady Mary falling for Matthew, who was vaguely distantly related to her and, gasp, a lawyer (the rest of her suitors appeared to be dudes who just bounced from castle to castle, cavorting.)
The context here is important. The Crowley family has already lost one member this season, when Sybil, the youngest daughter, died after childbirth. Mary and Matthew, meanwhile, have had trouble conceiving but are set to finally have a baby in this, the last episode. They do, and it’s astoundingly beautiful: Matthew arrives late, after traveling, and hoists his son for the first time and says, “Hello my dearest little chap.” Then pauses for a beat before asking, “I wonder if he has any idea how much joy he brings with him?” And I am just weeping at this point, tears streaming down onto my own baby. Then Matthew goes for a drive, the exultant kind we’ve all had where we think a movie camera should be following us and an orchestra playing in the background as we contemplate how much life has suddenly changed and how lucky we are.
And then he crashes and DIES, and we see his dead eyes looking up at the sky and the camera goes back to Mary holding the baby and why — why, why, why — would anyone do this to us? I still haven’t gotten over it and never will. Because the answer is that the actor playing Matthew just didn’t want to be on the show anymore, so the rest of had to endure that ending to what was marketed as the season’s “Christmas special.” Thanks, Britain. – Chris Korman
Sherlock: The Great Game, Season 1, Episode 3, August 8, 2010 (UK), November 7, 2010 (U.S.)
What a cliffhanger of a finale. This tight hour long episode gives us some fun John and Sherlock domestic fighting, a cute Ms. Hudson moment, plus a bit of Mycroft and LeStrade. Written by Mark Gatiss, Sherlock has to solve three seemingly unrelated cases all while the clock ticks as innocent people’s lives hang in the balance. The tension and pacing of this episode is almost smothering, and just when we think things are going to be alright, out steps Andrew Scott as Moriarity. You may know him as the Hot Priest, but he was our Hot Villain well before being cast in Fleabag. Benedict Cumberbatch is fantastic as the idiosyncratic detective, playing all of his quirks and antisocial behaviors with just the right edge of sympathy. It’s a surprisingly emotional and gripping episode and representative of the show at its absolute best. – Hemal Jhaveri
Mad Men: Person to Person, Season 7, Episode 14, May 17, 2015
(Michael Yarish/AMC)
“The finale of Mad Men was suburb, absolutely superb.” – Michelle’s mom
