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      A Decade Later, ‘The Leftovers’ Seems Almost Like Prophecy

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      In interviews, the creators, Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta, look back at their HBO grief drama and how it plays differently after the coronavirus pandemic.In “Guest,” an episode in the first season of the HBO drama “The Leftovers,” a woman named Nora Durst (Carrie Coon) approaches a disheveled self-proclaimed prophet named Holy Wayne (Paterson Joseph). She is looking for relief from the torment of her entire family disappearing in a Rapture-like event known as the Sudden Departure, and the prophet clutches her head and quotes from the Bible: “For whoever is joined with all the living, there is hope.”These words from the book of Ecclesiastes are an ideal summation of the show, which premiered just over a decade ago, in June 2014. Created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta, based on Perrotta’s novel, the series tells a dark story about the aftermath of an inexplicable tragedy in which 2 percent of the world’s population vanishes. But it treats its characters with great care and (eventually) has a wicked, unexpected sense of humor. “The Leftovers” was always joined with all the living, intent on fanning the embers of hope.When the show premiered, it was speculative fiction about an imagined catastrophe. Rewatching it now, it seems more like prophecy, foreseeing an emotional and corporeal reality the world experienced during the coronavirus pandemic. In separate interviews, Lindelof and Perrotta talked about the experience of creating the show, and the ways in which it anticipated our present. These are edited excerpts from the conversations.How did you two come to collaborate?DAMON LINDELOF I think it was 2012. I’m never going to do television again. I’ll never make another thing like “Lost,” so why even chase it? And then, as I was reading the book, I was like, “It’d be really cool to do this as a TV show.”TOM PERROTTA I said, “I’d really like to be in the writers’ room and to have a significant role in writing the show.” But I knew that I needed somebody who could run the show.Damon Lindelof, left, and Tom Perrotta in 2014. They adapted the series from Perrotta’s novel.Sam Comen for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Yo Gabba GabbaLand!’ Revives a Cult Kids Show

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      This reboot features the same characters and still emphasizes music and dance while seeking to “make the world of Gabba an actual place,” a creator said.When “Yo Gabba Gabba!” premiered on Nickelodeon in 2007, the series looked and sounded like nothing else on children’s TV. It starred five toys that have come to life, including Brobee; a half-broccoli, half-bee hybrid with a bushy black unibrow; and Muno, a giant Cyclops with bumps all over his cherry-red body. Preschool viewers, typically treated to less challenging musical fare, heard performances from acts like Bootsy Collins, the Roots, My Chemical Romance and Weezer.Like Disney theme parks, the music and dance-centric show sought to entertain children while also appealing to their parents, a particularly tough task for shows aimed at the preschool set. In many ways it succeeded, garnering a loyal fan base that spanned generations.The show eventually became a kind of cultural phenomenon, spawning a live touring show and a line of toys, and showing up at places as dissimilar as the Marvel series “WandaVision” and Coachella. At the concerts, fans could sing along to lyrics about, say, worms and centipedes hanging out underground (“Follow the Oskie Bugs”) or carrots and green beans that get sad if you don’t eat them (“Party in My Tummy”).“I do think that’s part of the beauty of the show,” said Scott Schultz, who created the show with Christian Jacobs. “It’s confusing, but in a fun way.”“Yo Gabba Gabba!” was canceled in 2015, but the creators continued to dream of ways to revive the characters and the show. “We kept thinking, let’s make it bigger, let’s make the world of Gabba an actual place, almost like a destination,” Jacobs said. They eventually found a willing partner in Apple TV+, and production began in 2022.Now the gang is back in a new series, “Yo Gabba GabbaLand!,” which premieres on Aug. 9. The original host, DJ Lance Rock, has been replaced by Kammy Kam, played by Kamryn Smith, a 13-year-old dancer from Phoenix. The show’s “Beat of the Day” duties have transferred from the late rapper Biz Markie to Reggie Watts, Big Daddy Kane and others.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘House of the Dragon’: 5 Questions as We Look Ahead to Season 3

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      Where is that wagon going? And who were those unfamiliar dragons? The Season 2 finale left viewers with many cliffhangers and much to ponder.The Season 2 finale of “House of the Dragon,” which aired Sunday on HBO, provided a surprising amount of new information. But it stirred up a lot of new questions, too. Characters with magical abilities showed their hands. One missing major character reappeared, while others began to make their exits. And a few new dragons were spotted along the way.One thing that wasn’t seen? Anything resembling a resolution. As the many cliffhangers hang and the various armies get into position, here are a few questions we’re still contemplating as we await Season 3.Who was that strange figure in Daemon’s vision?Aside from the dragons themselves, this has been a low-magic season — except at the cursed castle of Harrenhal. There, Daemon (Matt Smith) was plagued by waking dreams, apparently influenced by the mysterious Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin). In the finale, Alys granted him a larger vision — one that mostly got him up to speed on events to come in “Game of Thrones.”One small detail — a pale face bearing a wine-colored birthmark — stood out as particularly unfamiliar, though. It appeared finally to confirm the identity of the man previously known as the Three-Eyed Raven, revealing him to be none other than Brynden Rivers, a.k.a. Bloodraven. This is a future descendant of Daemon’s, which may be why Daemon can access the weirwood network.What about Helaena?The appearance of Helaena (Phia Saban) in Daemon’s vision indicates that she could be more aware than previously thought. Certainly, this odd and tragic soul was positioned to be her generation’s dreamer. But now there are larger questions about her clairvoyance, and about what Alys and Bloodraven might have to do with that. Are they helping or manipulating her? Is she their Bran Stark?What larger part will she soon play? Or will she play any part at all? Her one-eyed brother, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), threatened her life after she refused to ride her dragon into battle. He’s a dangerous guy. How willing is he to make good on that threat?We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What’s on TV This Week: ‘Pretty Woman’ and ‘Don’t Forget the Lyrics!’

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      HBO airs the classic rom-com. And the competitive singing show broadcasts its season finale.For those who still enjoy a cable subscription, here is a selection of cable and network TV shows, movies and specials that broadcast this week, Aug. 5 to Aug. 11. Details and times are subject to change.MondayWWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW 8 p.m. on Syfy. This franchise first aired in 1993, making John Cena, Mark William Calaway as the Undertaker, and Dwayne Johnson as the Rock household names in the years that followed. The spandex-clad legacy continues from the CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, where the Wyatt Sicks will take on Chad Gable and the Creed Brothers, and Sonya Deville will face Dakota Kai.TuesdayPat O’Brien, Jean Harlow and Ivan Lebedeff in “Bombshell.”Everett CollectionBOMBSHELL (1933) 6 p.m. on TCM. Sick and tired of sleazy publicists, ambitious movie studio demands and endless fabricated scandals, Lola Burns (Jean Harlow) daydreams of a life outside of golden-era Hollywood, free of bright lights and lofty expectations. Will she get what she wants or will she be forced to stay in the pictures?WednesdayHULK (2003) 7 p.m. on Syfy. In the early 2000s canon of comic book characters making their way onto the big screen — “Spider-Man” starring Tobey Maguire was released the year before, in 2002 — “Hulk” smashes in with bigger fights, bigger explosions and, well, everything is just bigger. After an experiment gone wrong, Bruce Banner (Eric Bana), a genetics researcher, is left with a side effect of mammoth proportions: Get him angry and he’ll transform into a raging green monster.PRETTY WOMAN (1990) 9 p.m. on HBO. Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts), a prostitute in the red-light district of Los Angeles, catches the attention of Edward Lewis (Richard Gere), a charming entrepreneur, and suddenly finds herself in a real-life fairy tale — with real-life consequences. One thing is certain: Missing this film would be a “big mistake. Big. Huge!”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2 Finale Recap: Hold Your Fire

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      There may be time yet to avoid mass burning and bloodshed, but it is running out very quick.Season 2, Episode 8: ‘The Queen Who Ever Was’Chekhov warned writers against placing just one gun on the mantel without firing it by the end, let alone a dozen. In its second season finale, “House of the Dragon” calls Chekhov’s bluff 11 times over.Vhagar, Dreamfyre, Syrax, Vermax, Vermithor, Caraxes, Seasmoke, Silverwing, Moondancer and the newcomers Sheepstealer and Tessarion: These are the living dragons introduced thus far, all available — theoretically, anyway — to take part in hostilities when the episode begins. (Aegon pronounces his dragon, Sunfyre, dead, so that takes him out of the action; more on Sheepstealer and Tessarion later.) Eleven beasts locked and loaded, and not a single one fired when the closing credits roll.True, Vhagar torches a town off-camera at Aemond’s command, a horrific crime that shocks both the Black and Green camps. Still, the entire episode — the entire season — builds to a conflagration that never arrives. Even the abundance of dragons soaring together in the opening credits’ tapestry feels like a bait and switch.That final cut to black knocked the wind out of my sails. Unfortunately, the episode is so good at building tension and anticipation for the three-front war on the horizon that it becomes a victim of its own success when the action doesn’t arrive.In the Narrow Sea, Ser Tyland Lannister, the Greens’ master of ships, forges an unlikely alliance with a bawdy pirate queen, Lohar (Abigail Thorn), after beating her in mud wrestling. (Her demand that he impregnate her apparently many wives is either a caveat or a bonus, depending on your perspective.)Their combined fleets will be arrayed against that of Lord Corlys, with his son and first mate, Alyn, by his side. But only reluctantly: The younger man angrily rejects his father’s overtures as too little, too late. Alyn grew up poor and hungry, watching Corlys and his heir, Laenor, strut around in their finery. Since Laenor is gone, now Corlys wants Alyn for a son? The sailor gives the offer a hard pass.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Joe Rogan Plays Dumb in His Netflix Special

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      On his podcast, Rogan indulges his own obsessions and eccentricities. But in “Burn the Boats,” his Netflix comedy special, contempt for the crowd is a theme.On Saturday night, Joe Rogan started glitching.Minutes into his live comedy special “Burn the Boats,” the movements of his mouth did not match what he was saying. Audio went in and out. Certain phrases repeated, Max Headroom-style. Someone as conspiracy-minded as Rogan might wonder: Was this payback for his criticism of vaccines and lockdowns? Is the mainstream media behind this? Aliens?More likely, just boring old technical difficulties. Livestreaming remains a work in progress for Netflix. Following stand-up hours by Chris Rock and Katt Williams, Rogan became the third comic to try this experiment, putting out his first special in six years. You could see the logic of getting him to do it during election season but oddly, he didn’t address the latest developments in the presidential campaign. Rogan made more news last week on his podcast, where he suggested that the assassination attempt on Donald J. Trump has been “memory holed” and that Kamala Harris could win. He also suggested that the reason President Biden sometimes seems more coherent is that he uses a body double.Part of the reason that Rogan has built the most popular podcast in the world is that he promises to explore ideas that he says the mainstream media ignores or downplays. Was the Moon landing faked? Are aliens landing in Roswell the reason we invented fiber optics? Does wearing a mask make you seem like less of a man? Joe is on it.And yet, there is one question you don’t hear investigated on his podcast, one relevant to his success but taboo in certain precincts of the comedy world: Is Joe Rogan good at standup comedy?That can be a dangerous one for some comics to touch on because Rogan has become a powerful gatekeeper, the owner of a club in Austin, Texas, and a host who drives viewers to specials and movies. Rogan tends to be talked about as a political or sports figure, a guru for bros, a symptom of a culture rampant with conspiracy, transphobia and misinformation. But his current notoriety is all built on a decades-long career of standup, which provides a contrast with his other media job.Whereas he performs patient thoughtfulness in his podcasts, his standup is frantic, animated, full of unmodulated yelling. His eyes pop out and his face reddens. Midway through “Burn the Boats,” a jagged line of perspiration forms on his tight yellow shirt, making him look like Charlie Brown on steroids. Even if it seems too hammy for a close-up, there’s a cartoonish aspect to his persona that tells you to not take him seriously.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘The Interview’: Vince Vaughn Turned This Interview Into Self-Help

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      The Vince Vaughn who lives in my head is one of my favorite comedic actors. He’s the swaggering, charmingly sarcastic and cheerily ingratiating star of that great run of hit comedies from the early 2000s: “Old School,” “Dodgeball,” “Wedding Crashers,” “The Break-Up.” (His cameo in “Anchorman” and recurring role as Freddy Funkhouser on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” are also prime comedic Vaughniana.) And putting my own preferences aside, I’d argue that there’s a whole microgeneration of dudes who tried to swipe the neo-Rat Pack vibes that Vaughn was able to deploy so winningly in “Swingers.”Listen to the Conversation With Vince VaughnI went in expecting a swaggering, overconfident guy. I found something much more interesting.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon Music | NYT Audio AppIn more recent years, though, after the often R-rated, kind of bro-y comedies with which Vaughn made his mark lost some of their cultural mojo, he has focused more on dramatic roles: the highly anticipated, widely maligned and then critically reconsidered second season of “True Detective,” for example, or his performances in the brutally uncompromising crime films of the director S. Craig Zahler (“Brawl in Cell Block 99,” “Dragged Across Concrete”).But as good as Vaughn can be with darker characters, I never connected those parts to the man who played them. Ahead of our interview, I made the perhaps-common journalist’s mistake of expecting to talk with someone akin to the playfully glib guy from those comedies I love. (That’s in no small part thanks to how Vaughn’s role as a world-weary, wiseass former detective in the new Apple TV+ series “Bad Monkey” scans as a mature update of his comedic persona.) But what I was expecting from Vaughn wasn’t what I got. Instead, I found someone more provocative and earnest, who came most alive when he put me under the conversational microscope. Which is to say, I got a surprise.Hollywood doesn’t know what to do with R-rated comedies anymore. Why do you think they’ve become harder to crack? When you talk about the R comedies in Hollywood, I feel like there’s a set of rules that the executives follow. The goal is not to get fired — they can defend why they greenlit something. The R comedies that took off was the studio saying to young people that were funny, “Go ahead.” They didn’t micromanage. We were on the sets changing lines and trying to make each other laugh. It’s not done as well by committee. They started managing everything too much and trying to control it all.Vince Vaughn with John Favreau in “Swingers” (1996).Miramax Films, via Everett Collection More

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      ‘House of the Dragon’: All the Dragons and Their Riders So Far

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      The dragons are amassing, and just like their humans, they have histories and personalities, too. Here’s a rundown of who’s riding whom.“House of the Dragon” has finally lived up to its name; it’s all about the dragons ahead of the Season 2 finale, airing Sunday on HBO.The Targaryen civil war between the Blacks (supporters of Queen Rhaenyra’s claim to the Iron Throne) and the Greens (those who support her half brother Aegon) has had its share of palace intrigue, betrayals and populist tactics. But ultimately, the side with the greatest number of dragons has the edge.As Daemon Targaryen, Rhaenyra’s errant king consort, once said: “Dreams didn’t make us kings. Dragons did.”Here’s a look at all of the dragons and their riders from the show so far.Team BlackSyraxRhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and her dragon, Syrax, who is fearsome but young.Theo Whiteman/HBORider: Rhaenyra Targaryen (played by Emma D’Arcy)Status: AliveThe queen’s dragon with yellow scales is on the younger side and has been a presence in the show since Season 1. She is named after a goddess of Valyria, the doomed city in Essos that was also the ancestral home of House Targaryen.VermaxRider: Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett)Status: AliveRhaenyra’s firstborn son bonded with his dragon, who on the show has olive scales with pale orange wing membranes.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More