Steve Pond's Blog, page 2059
November 23, 2019
Fox Sports Host Incurs Wrath of Twitter for Using the Phrase ‘Superman and the Avengers’
Fox Sports football color commentator Joel Klatt incurred the wrath of Twitter on Saturday when he mixed up the Marvel and DC Universes while calling a college football game.
“To throw the ball down the field is virtually impossible against Superman and the Avengers,” Klatt said of Ohio State’s defense. Of course, almost everyone knows Superman is part of the DC Universe, while the Avengers belong to the Marvel Universe. Everyone but Klatt, it seems.
If Klatt had any nerd cred, he’d know that Superman is a member of the Justice League, but perhaps he skipped the 2018 team-up movie (don’t even ask him about the Synder Cut). And somehow, the biggest grossing movie of all time, “Avengers: Infinity War.”
Also Read: 'Justice League': Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck Join Call to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut
Twitter responded immediately and savagely to the mix-up. Here are some of the funniest replies:
Twitter user Seth replied, “WTF. That’s like saying “Darth Vader and the Enterprise”. Wow. Just wow. Don’t mix references.” That’s “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” for those of you not in the know.
One of the commentators just said, “Superman and the Avengers” … #WTF … That’s like saying “Darth Vader and the Enterprise”. Wow. Just wow. Don’t mix references. ???? #OSUvsPSU pic.twitter.com/hKcWm4SCaD
— Seth Stokes-Leifeste (@texasrebelaggie) November 23, 2019
One poster tweeted a photo of a clearly counterfeit Superman toy in Avengers packaging, writing, “I think it’s safe to assume Fox Sports bought this bootleg:”
"Superman and The Avengers".
I think it's safe to assume Fox Sports bought this bootleg. pic.twitter.com/eOwKTGv5V8
— Shaurya Chawla (@_ShauryaChawla) November 23, 2019
Also Read: Russo Brothers to Executive Produce Marvel-DC Rivalry Docuseries at Quibi
Kathiana posted a video from “Avengers: Age of Ultron” where the heroes share a look of disbelief when Vision picks up Thor’s hammer Mjolnir. Some fans are feeling that disbelief over Klatt’s comment.
Everyone when Joel Klatt said Superman and the Avengers pic.twitter.com/Mqo951PgA4
— Kathiana (@iconkathiana) November 23, 2019
Anthony Y. wrote, “TV Announcer just called Buckeyes D-Line ‘Superman and the Avengers’. He will now spend the rest of the night saying ‘shut up, nerd’.”
Klatt got the message. After making the on-air mistake, he addressed his critics.
“Gotta be honest…not gonna lose much sleep over a failed comic reference,” the commentator posted. “If you’re upset – get a life,” he added with the trending hashtag #SupermanandtheAvengers.
Gotta be honest…not gonna lose much sleep over a failed comic reference
If you're confused – join the club
If you think I'm dumb and this is funny – I agree
If you're upset – get a life#SupermanandtheAvengers
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) November 23, 2019
Also Read: Martin Scorsese Expands on Marvel Criticism in New York Times Op-Ed: 'Nothing Is at Risk'
He then doubled-down, saying that he would repeat the phrase during next week’s game. “Screw it…I’m using it again next week in the 1st quarter,” he posted.
Screw it…Im using it again next week in the 1st quarter#Superman AND the #Avengers pic.twitter.com/g4ncyjJLAV
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) November 23, 2019
Watch Klatt’s gaffe below:
“Against Superman and the Avengers” @joelklatt you have outdone yourself today. pic.twitter.com/SEgDFP6Thg
– Brother Keck (@sean_keck) November 23, 2019
Related stories from TheWrap:
'Titans': See Your First Look at the DC Universe Show's Version of Nightwing Here (Photos)
John Turturro to Play Carmine Falcone in Matt Reeves' 'The Batman'
Andrew Yang: I Will Go on MSNBC ‘After They Apologize’ for Bad Coverage of My Campaign
Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang has given thumbs down to MSNBC, saying that it has not treated his campaign as they do other candidates, and he won’t appear on the network until they apologize.
“Was asked to appear on @msnbc this weekend — and told them that I’d be happy to after they apologize on-air, discuss and include our campaign consistent with our polling, and allow surrogates from our campaign as they do other candidates’. They think we need them. We don’t,” Yang tweeted Saturday.
“They’ve omitted me from their graphics 12+ times, called me John Yang on air, and given me a fraction of the speaking time over 2 debates despite my polling higher than other candidates on stage,” he continued. “At some point you have to call it.”
Also Read: Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang Responds to New 'SNL' Cast Member Bowen Yang's Impression (Video)
Yang added, “The whole time we have gotten stronger. This is actually bad for MSNBC. It will only get worse after I make the next debates and keep rising in the polls. The people are smarter than MSNBC would like to think.”
A representative for MSNBC did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
“Yang has spoken less than a candidate polling at his level would be expected to at every single debate he’s been to so far,” Business Insider reported Saturday based on Morning Consult: The New York Times data.
Thursday’s debate was the least-watched of seven Democratic candidates debates so far this year, but not the least-watched on MSNBC, which previously partnered with other channels for simulcasts that delivered higher numbers.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Andrew Yang Announces $120,000 Giveaway During Democratic Presidential Debate
Inside the Democrats' Podcast Presidential Primary, Where Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang Rule
Andrew Yang Addresses Mic-Cutting Dispute During First Presidential Debate (VIDEO)
When Does ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian’ Take Place?
(This post contains a minor spoiler for “Star Wars: The Mandalorian”)
It’s a new world for “Star Wars,” now that Disney Plus has arrived. The streaming service brought with it the first ever live-action “Star Wars” TV show, “The Mandalorian.” As we head into a hiatus for the films, fans with have this and probably several other series in the franchise to tide them over until it returns to the big screen.
Disney Plus launched with just a single 39-minute episode of “The Mandalorian,” followed by the second last Friday, and the third this week, as the new streaming service defies the binge-watching trend that Netflix started to go with a week-to-week model. The rest of the eight-episode run will come each Friday through the end of the year.
The first few episodes certainly inspire a lot of questions, because it’s very vague on a lot of details. It just kinda drops viewers into this story of a bounty hunter (Pedro Pascal) — a Mandalorian like Boba Fett and Jango Fett before him — as he gets tangled up with some bad folks and takes on a job that looks like it’s gonna put him in some deep water.
Also Read: 'Mandalorian' Director Deborah Chow to Direct Obi-Wan Kenobi Series for Disney+
But I’m not gonna get much into those details, because this post isn’t about those spoiler-type details. What it is about is when “The Mandalorian” takes place in relation to the movies and other pieces of “Star Wars” media. And if you just turn on the show and watch it without reading up on it and all that then you don’t have a lot of clues to work with.
The answer, by the way, is that “The Mandalorian” is set a few years after “Return of the Jedi.” This is not a secret, as Jon Favreau and co. have said numerous times that it’s set between the Original Trilogy and the new Disney trilogy — which take place 30 years apart. But it’s important to note that it’s much closer to “Return of the Jedi” than it is to “The Force Awakens.”
Where we are in “The Mandalorian” is just a bit after the “Aftermath” novels, which detailed the collapse of the Empire’s power after the second Death Star was destroyed and the Emperor defeated. The Empire’s collapse is a recent state of affairs in the show, as we see when the Mandalorian’s client (Carl Weathers) tries to pay him with Imperial credits, which the bounty scoffs at because “the Empire’s gone.”
Also Read: 'The Mandalorian': How Pedro Pascal's Bounty Hunter Differs From Boba Fett
I should note that the Empire is not completely gone at this point — after the war ended, the Empire still had some territory left, with the remaining leaders choosing to sit back and casually re-build and re-arm before starting another war decades later as the First Order. And we see a few Imperials still shuffling about on the show. But the Empire was still mostly gone, and certainly no longer the government in whatever part of the galaxy the Bounty Hunter’s Guild has set up shop.
It’s a bit interesting that “The Mandalorian” doesn’t really play up the greater situation in the “Star Wars” galaxy at all given another detail that we’ve gotten during the run-up to the Disney Plus launch: that “The Mandalorian” will provide some info about how the Empire made the transition into the First Order. Clearly, the situation that this bounty hunter finds himself in at the end of the episode will lead us into some big-picture worldbuilding. But we’ll see how long it takes to get there.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Disney+ Has More 'Star Wars' TV Shows in Development, Bob Iger Says
Randy Rainbow’s Latest Parody Song Insists Trump Is ‘Just a Gurl Who’ll Quid Pro Quo’ (Video)
President Donald Trump’s impeachment hearings may have been set in Washington, D.C., but comedian Randy Rainbow brought them to the Sooner State of “Oklahoma!” with his latest parody song set to the tune of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “I Cain’t Say No.”
“He’s just a gurl who’ll quid pro quo/blackmail’s his fav’rite response,” the lyrics go in Rainbow’s latest video. “He’ll badger any friend or foe/until he gets what he wants.”
Rainbow edited himself into real footage from the five days of hearings, posing as the House Intelligence Committee chairman questioning State Department employees Stephanie Williams and George Kent, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and Ambassador William Taylor.
Also Read: Comedian Randy Rainbow Releases Latest Trump Satire Music Video: 'Cheeto Christ Stupid Czar' (Video)
Cuing Republican Rep. Devin Nunes to “give me my note” on a clarinet – you read that right – Rainbow began.
“His phone calls ain’t as ‘perfect’ as the picture that he paints,” Rainbow sings. “He’s full of so much crap he’s turning’ brown.”
By song’s end, Rainbow calls the POTUS “a ho,” “a petulant kid,” and “a fool who’ll gladly throw any old country a bone, long as they bow to his thrown.”
In an August interview with CNN’s John Berman, Rainbow explained the popularity of his videos, which lampoon Trump and nearly everyone in his administration: “I understand now that what I’m doing is really even more important than I knew. I think it’s just a testament to how healing and important — especially in times like this — humor is.”
Watch his latest video above.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Comedian Randy Rainbow Says His Satirical Trump Songs Are 'Healing' (Video)
Randy Rainbow Channels Madonna in Latest Trump Take Down With 'Border Lies'
Kellyanne Conway's 'Commander of Cheese' Flub Gets Randy Rainbow's Musical Spoof Treatment (Video)
What Does That ‘Man in the High Castle’ Ending Mean?
(Spoilers ahead for, you know, the ending of “The Man in the High Castle.” Like the headline says.)
“The Man in the High Castle” on Amazon Prime Video was always a pretty strange show on several different levels. But the biggest weird thing has always been the story’s sci-fi hook — you know, all that stuff about parallel universes. It often felt during the show’s four-season run that that conceit primarily served a metaphorical purpose, and that feeling extended all the way to the final scene of the series.
So as arrive at that final scene, things are looking up in the, ah, Prime Earth of this story. The Japanese have abandoned North America, and the Black Communist Rebellion is setting up a new, presumably much better government. The east coast has autonomy from Germany, and is now being run by a guy who clearly wants the Nazis gone. John Smith (Rufus Sewell), perpetrator of so many crimes against humanity, is finally dead and gone. These are all good things.
Also Read: Here's Everything New Coming to Amazon Prime Video in November
But after all that happened, there was still one last scene for “The Man in the High Castle.” The final scene takes us to the portal the Nazis built so they could travel to alternate universes. Something weird has been going on there all season, with the portal turning itself on a couple times and giving Juliana (Alexa Davalos) weird feelings that something is about to happen with it.
So in this scene, the American resistance has taken the facility where the portal is located from the Nazis, and we’ve got Juliana, Hawthorne (Stephen Root), Wyatt (Jason O’Mara) and a bunch of others hanging out in the portal room as it fires itself up. And once the portal stabilizes, out walks a whole bunch of people. These folks just stroll right through the room, not really acknowledging the people who were already present. And Hawthorne, the Man in the High Castle himself, walks through the crown and into the portal.
It was a very moving moment for me to watch, even though I honestly do not understand what it means. Juliani says these people are coming from “everywhere” but that’s obviously very vague. Was this some kind of metaphor, with the souls of those killed in the past two decades of atrocities around the world returning? Or was it really, literally happening?
Also Read: 'Jojo Rabbit' Film Review: Taika Waititi Insists That Nazis Can Be Funny
“The Man in the High Castle” doesn’t really provide anything in the way of setup for this turn of events, either way. It never established firm details about the travelers who had been bringing those alternate universe films to this version of Earth, and those films came from many more Earths than just the one the Nazis had been using the portal to travel to.
Was there some kind of parallel universe organization affecting events in this world the way the Nazis had been interfering in that other world they kept visiting? And they decided that now was the time to pay it a visit? Or maybe these were refugees who had fled this reality and were now returning?
Over at Entertainment Weekly, showrunner David Scarpa said the scene was intentionally ambiguous. “Part of the intention was to invite the audience to have their own interpretation of what they’re seeing on screen.” Though he does offer a tantalizing detail. “The portal is, essentially, open and it is going to remain open. In effect, what that means is two worlds have become one. There’s a doorway from one world into the next, and now people can move freely between them.”
Since the show is over now, that might be a detail I didn’t need confirmed, because it might keep me up at night as I try to figure out what that means. But since the show is over now, we’re probably never going to get a more real or informative answer than that. But even though I don’t get it, I like the scene a lot anyway. I like the vibe of it.
It feels like victory.
Related stories from TheWrap:
How 'Man in the High Castle' Grapples With Its Frightening Real-World Relevance In Season 3
Is There a New ‘SNL’ Episode Airing This Week?
Season 45 of “SNL” is now underway, returning at the end of September after that four-month summer hiatus. The most recent new episode, hosted by Harry Styles, saw Jon Hamm pop up in the cold open sketch, which turned the Trump impeachment hearings into a “Days of Our Lives” parody.
In season 45, Alec Baldwin has made two appearances as Donald Trump thus far, in the premiere episode and in the cold open on October 26, when he shared the stage with Darrell Hammond, the former “SNL” cast member who played Trump on the show for years. Baldwin popped up less often in season 44 than he did in the previous two seasons, when he would appear as Donald Trump in the cold open most weeks. It’s tough to guess how often we’ll see him this year, but he’s shown up in two of the four episodes so far.
This week, on Saturday, November 23, there WILL be a new episode of “SNL.” This week’s episode will be hosted by “SNL” alum Will Ferrell, with King Princess as the musical guest. This will be the fifth time that Ferrell has hosted the show since he quit as a regular, making him the newest addition to the Five-Timers Club. For King Princess, this will be the “SNL” debut for the 20-year-old artist. This episode will air live coast-to-coast, as is almost always the case for a new episode these days.
Also Read: 'SNL' 5-Timers Club: Most Frequent Hosts, From Alec Baldwin to Will Ferrell (Photos)
While season 44 saw “SNL” seemingly tire of doing political commentary late in the season, season 45 has seen it return its politics-heavy form. Every cold open this season has been political, and each has featured some surprise celebrity cameos. Including, perhaps most shockingly, Darrell Hammond’s brief appearance — Hammond was devastated three years ago when it picked Baldwin to play Trump over him. We’ve also seen Lin-Manuel Miranda and Billy Porter feature in one cold open, and Matthew Broderick in another.
The start of the 45th season of “SNL” is not that different from how season 44 began — though later in the season it shied away from the political stuff in favor of general pop culture jokes.
Last year, the Season 44 premiere was eventful for a number of reasons. Matt Damon appeared as Brett Kavanaugh in the cold open. Musical guest Kanye West wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat on stage and giving a pro-Donald Trump speech that didn’t air. Cast member Pete Davidson addressed West’s pro-Trump speech during the “Weekend Update” portion of the Oct. 6 episode the following week.
The political bent did, of course, continue throughout the season. Ahead of the midterm elections, we got a cold open sketch that parodied Fox News’ hysterical coverage of the immigrant caravan ahead of this week’s midterm elections. The sketch saw cast member Kate McKinnon playing “Ingraham Angle” host Laura Ingraham, with guest appearances by Kenan Thompson as right-wing former sheriff David Clarke and Cecily Strong popping up as “Judge” Jeanine Pirro. The three took turns spouting false narratives about the caravan and presenting videos of things like a mob of Black Friday shoppers and crabs scrambling around on a beach as being footage of the caravan.
We’ve been surprised to see Robert De Niro pop up fairly regularly as special counsel Robert Mueller — he showed up in two episodes late last season and has returned for several more episodes as Mueller in the past couple months, such as when he bid farewell to Kate McKinnon’s still tremendously impression Jeff Sessions impersonation after Sessions was fired as Attorney General.
Alec Baldwin’s most recent appearance, his sixth time this season portraying Donald Trump, came in a sketch mocking the way the Mueller Report was initially filtered by Attorney General William Barr and Trump himself.
In the previous two seasons of “SNL” you’d have been hard pressed to find many cold open sketches that dodged the political happenings of the week, but lately the show has been delving more into general pop culture stuff and — aside from eternally mocking Trump — even taking more of a neutral stance in its political sketches. Recent examples of such apolitical sketches include a parody of that infamous R. Kelly interview on CBS News, and the previously mentioned Julian Assange prison sketch — while Assange is certainly a political figure, the sketch was just for lulz, not for making political statements.
Related stories from TheWrap:
'SNL': Kit Harington's 'Game of Thrones' Co-Stars Pester Him for Spoilers (Video)
'SNL': Joe Biden Goes to Sensitivity Training to Try to Learn to Be Normal (Video)
'SNL': Robert De Niro and Alec Baldwin Return to Sum Up the Mueller Report (Video)
'SNL': R Kelly Is Upset That Gayle King Asked Him Real Questions in Interview Parody (Video)
November 22, 2019
Stephen Colbert Taunts Mike Pompeo With a Goodbye Calypso Tune Sung by Trump and Team (Video)
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” had a little fun at Mike Pompeo’s expense Friday night with a goodbye elegy set to the tune of Harry Belafonte’s famous Calypso favorite “Day-O.”
As impeachment hearings that left Pompeo in the center of the political storm concluded Thursday, speculation has heated up that he would step down as Secretary of State in order to make a Senate run in his home state of Kansas. And Colbert and his team of writers made the most of the guesswork by animating Pompeo, John Bolton, Donald Trump and Mike Pence in a sing-along.
“Pompe-o, pompe-o,” Bolton, Trump and Pence’s mouth. “Hearing come and I wanna go home,” Pompeo replies in sing-song.
Also Read: Colbert Takes a Gleeful Look at the First Day of Public Trump Impeachment Inquiry Hearings (Video)
“Clearly we all knew of a quid pro quo,” Bolton, Trump and Pence continue in harmony, saying from side to side in rhythm to the music, to which Pompeo continues to respond, “hearing come and I wanna go home.”
You want a good laugh? Check out the link below.
On #LSSC tonight: Mike Pompeo wants to go home. pic.twitter.com/nWQbNJBzap
– The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) November 23, 2019
Related stories from TheWrap:
Colbert Cringes at Gordon Sondland's Possible Testimony in Trump Impeachment Hearings (Video)
Colbert Reveals the Winner of Donald Trump's Rap Contest and Yeah, It's Putin (Video)
Colbert Dunks Hard on Complaint by Reporter That Impeachment Hearing Needed 'Pizzazz' (Video)
M Night Shyamalan’s ‘Servant’ Gets Early Season 2 Renewal at Apple TV+
It’s a twist! Apple TV+ has renewed M. Night Shyamalan’s “Servant” for a second season ahead of its series premiere next week on Thanksgiving Day, the executive producer announced during his Friday appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
The psychological thriller is the fifth of Apple’s original shows to receive a second-season pickup, as four of the freshmen series that were available when the service launched on Nov. 1 have all already been renewed, including “Dickinson,” “See,” “For All Mankind” and “The Morning Show.” (“Morning Show” had a two-season order from the start, while “For All Mankind” was renewed ahead of the streaming service’s launch.)
Directed by Shyamalan and created by Tony Basgallop, “Servant” follows a Philadelphia couple in mourning after an unspeakable tragedy creates a rift in their marriage and opens the door for a mysterious force to enter their home.
Also Read: 'Dickinson,' 'See' Renewed for Season 2 at Apple TV+
In addition to Shyamalan and Basgallop, “Servant” is executive produced by Ashwin Rajan, Jason Blumenthal, Todd Black and Steve Tisch. Taylor Latham and Patrick Markey serve as co-executive producers.
The first three episodes of “Servant’s” 10-episode first season will drop on Apple TV+ on Nov. 28, with new episodes rolling out weekly on Fridays.
Apple TV+ is priced at $4.99/month. However, the service will be free for one year when you buy a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod Touch and a 7-day free trial is offered for new subscribers.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Watch the First Trailer for M Night Shyamalan's Spooky Apple TV+ Series 'Servant' (Video)
Apple TV+ to Make NYCC Debut With M Night Shyamalan's 'Servant' – Watch a Teaser Here (Video)
Local TV Reporter Goes Viral After Accidentally Sending Sick Day Request to Thousands
A sick day for Kansas City, Missouri, traffic reporter Nick Vasos took over the internet Thursday when an email announcing he wasn’t feeling well wasn’t just sent to his supervisor at Fox 4, but was also accidentally sent to all 4500+ Nexstar Media Group employees in nearly 200 stations across the country.
What resulted was a huge email chain from his colleagues — both wishing him well and serving up some lighthearted ribbing — and the Twitter hashtag #prayersfornick.
“I am one of @NickVasos’ managers,” wrote Jana Calkins, an assistant news director at Fox 4. “Grateful to report he and I have communicated and he is going to pull through. You guys are a scream!”
“And to think earlier this week, he was so happy to try Casey’s pizza. I long for the simple days,” joked Abby Eden, who is an anchor at Fox 4 Kansas City, where Vasos also works. “#PrayersForNick (for the record- he just called in sick. He’s ok.).”
Eden took it a step further, sharing a photo on Twitter of a mock memorial set up at the studio in his honor, complete with candles, flowers, framed photos of him and small American flags.
The updated shrine @NickVasos #PrayersforNick pic.twitter.com/OsgtaVXFW4
– Abby Eden (@AbbyEden) November 22, 2019
Also Read: Colbert Dunks Hard on Complaint by Reporter That Impeachment Hearing Needed 'Pizzazz' (Video)
And the teasing continued to flow in all day…
Sweet lordt. The shrine at @NickVasos‘ desk is growing. We are officially off the rails @fox4kc. My sides hurt from laughing! #NexstarNation #PrayersForNick #SickNick pic.twitter.com/NcmiyVTCSu
– Jana Calkins (@Jayhawk96) November 22, 2019
Good news, a New Orleans-based company made a candle for us. You can’t have a vigil without a candle. #PrayersForNick pic.twitter.com/7Qkud9koTB
– Rob Zerwekh (@zerwekh) November 22, 2019
#PrayersforNick #NexstarNation pic.twitter.com/NILIb7RQQR
– Chief Keith Monahan, CBM (@ChiefKeith) November 22, 2019
Don’t worry #NexstarNation, we here at @FOX4KC are keeping @NickVasos in our prayers until he comes back to work healthy and strong. #PrayersforNick pic.twitter.com/GnXJdzuDty
– Jonathan McCall (@JonathanMcCall) November 22, 2019
Also Read: Rudy Giuliani Butt-Dials NBC News Reporter, Leaves Embarrassing Voicemail: 'We Need Some Money'
… until the company stepped in and locked down the “breaking news list,” as the replies were growing into the thousands.
They can take away our emails, but they can’t take away our #PrayersForNick pic.twitter.com/jrXGnoG1iS
– Sam and The Faves (@Holtzue) November 22, 2019
Vasos told one of his colleagues at Fox 4 that he had gotten lightheaded after fasting to prepare for oral surgery. He said he sent a text to his manager to tell her he wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t be in on Friday, and when she didn’t respond, he turned to email.
“I don’t think I realized that I was sending it to all of Nexstar, and I hit ‘send,'” Vasos said. “And that’s where we are today.”
After thanks the scores of well-wishers, Vasos offered an apology to fellow “Nicks.”
Sorry to @RealNickCage @nickjonas @NickCannon @NickLachey @nickcarter fans. #PrayersForNick
– Nick Vasos (@NickVasos) November 22, 2019
Related stories from TheWrap:
Local Reporter Fired for Hopping on Car During Auto Show Broadcast
Colbert Dunks Hard on Complaint by Reporter That Impeachment Hearing Needed 'Pizzazz' (Video)
Rudy Giuliani Butt-Dials NBC News Reporter, Leaves Embarrassing Voicemail: 'We Need Some Money'
Why Are ‘The Mandalorian’ Episodes So Short?
It feels like most “Star Wars” fans are pretty happy with “The Mandalorian” on Disney Plus so far, but one thing has been causing some consternation: the length of the episodes. Specifically, the shortness of them.
The first episode dropped at a svelte 39 minutes — or 36 if you subtract the credits. Then the second episode landed last week and it was even shorter — listed at 32 minutes, with a running time of about 27-and-a-half minutes when you subtract the credits and the recap of the previous episode at the beginning. And then the third episode came in listed at 37 minutes but, again, the real length without the recap and credits — which are very long for a TV show by the way — is only 31 minutes. It’s an interesting thing, given that it’s so rare for any drama series, even network ones with commercial break, to have such short episodes.
Episode length is neither a good nor bad thing in a vacuum, of course. Making episodes of “The Mandalorian” an hour long wouldn’t make them inherently better, and it wouldn’t be inherently worse if they were ten minutes long. But setting that aside, it’s definitely unusual for a show like this to have episodes that are this short. That’s just a fact.
Also Read: 'The Mandalorian' Has Already Been Nominated for Something: Best Publicity Campaign
It’s not the only drama series in recent memory to have done shorter-than-normal episodes. “Homecoming,” the Amazon Prime Video series starring Julia Roberts, also had half-hour episodes. The creator of that show, Sam Esmail, said he wanted to do short episodes as a way to disorient the audience — “Homecoming” is intended to make the viewer uncomfortable, and he thought he could add to that by ending episodes “before the audience is expecting it to.”
By contrast, Jon Favreau and co. haven’t, as far as I can tell, given any kind of creative reasoning for the short lengths, so we’re left having to wonder and speculate wildly. Maybe the shorter length just felt like a good fit to them. Maybe it was originally planned to have fewer episodes overall but something will happen in the later episodes that would be a spoiler for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and so before shooting they split up the episodes to make sure that part aired after the movie comes out. Maybe literally any other reason.
This topic does not ultimately matter. As Julia Roberts noted in that “Homecoming” article I linked above, this is all about expectations. “To me, drama is an hour,” she said, describing her initial reaction to the half-hour running times. “Only teenagers can get drama done in 30 minutes. I was like, ‘What are you talking about? We’re tall. We need an hour.'”
Also Read: Disney+ Has More 'Star Wars' TV Shows in Development, Bob Iger Says
By the time we get midway through the season maybe nobody will care anymore and half-hour episodes will just be business as usual. But right now it still feels kinda confusing and weird for those of us who expected each episode to be at least as long as a network drama sans commercials — which would be 42 minutes or more. That they haven’t talked about the reasoning for going with shorter episodes only exacerbates the confusion and fuels internet arguments about why they’re doing this.
But, hey, it’s always nice to have something knew that doesn’t matter to argue about.
Related stories from TheWrap:
5 Big Takeaways From the New 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' Trailer
Steve Pond's Blog
