Bill Hanstock

The holidays are tough, especially if you’re trapped in a sex dungeon. That’s why the good folks of the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department have made this PSA to get the good word out: it’s olly olly oxen free on sex dungeons. This informative video, and others like it, will air ... More »

It’s bewildering how the last ten years have flown by, but also that the most legendary bit of comedy ever put to film is only a decade old. It’s such a cultural touchstone of universally agreed-upon comic genius that it feels like it’s been around forever. But the numbers don’t ... More »

That trademark blue polo shirt might soon be seen on the big screen. According to Deadline, Tony-winning Best Musical Dear Evan Hansen, which follows an awkward high schooler who attempts to get close to the family of a classmate who dies by suicide, is being developed into a movie. Marc ... More »

Following a countless stream of signatures, technicals, and showstoppers in that ungodly balmy tent — and only one trash-bin disaster! — The Great British Baking Show has managed to produce nine seasons of culinary perfection, seven of which are available for us Americans to watch. So now, time for some ... More »

Connie Britton, when will you learn that men are toxic? What if we play an eerie cover of “Toxic” to really reinforce what’s going on? In Bravo’s Dirty John, based on the true-crime podcast, Britton plays Debra Newell, a Newport Beach interior designer who falls for a mysterious doctor named ... More »

He loves your beautiful art memes about him and your thinking he’s a dreamboat and your wanting to give him an Oscar, but Timothée Chalamet promises he’ll still never become that guy. “You know the guy,” he laughed on The Tonight Show Wednesday, conveying literally everything with his eyebrows like ... More »

Finally, charming, handsome Hollywood heartthrob Mark Ruffalo will share the screen with a scene partner equal to his talents, also Mark Ruffalo. According to TVLine, Mark Ruffalo and Mark Ruffalo have signed on to star in an HBO mini-series adaptation of Wally Lamb’s novel, I Know This Much Is True, ... More »

Fans of Star Trek: Discovery will soon be throwing up their Vulcan salutes as everyone’s favorite sharp-eared space voyager will debut in the forthcoming second season. At New York Comic Con 2018, a new (bearded!) Spock made his first appearance in a trailer for the new season, set to premiere ... More »

The world of stand-up sure seems to be conflicted about how to treat men who have either admitted to or been arrested and charged with doing terrible things to women. In the case of T.J. Miller, a Denver comedian/open-mic host wrote an essay earlier this month about his decision to ... More »

In the second season of HBO’s The Deuce, the series about New York City’s burgeoning porn industry has jumped ahead to 1977, and many of the women are making moves toward a modicum of autonomy. Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) has gone from tricking to adult-film auteur; Abby (Margarita Levieva) is managing ... More »

Chris Pine entered Toronto’s Roy Thomson Theater wearing a brown double-breasted jacket, a movie-star tan, and a twinkle in his eye. At first glance, this might have been because his Robert the Bruce biopic Outlaw King was the opening-night selection for the Toronto Film Festival, thus making him, for the time being, ... More »

Last night, the New York Times published an op-ed authored by an anonymous White House senior official titled: "I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration." The subhead reads: "I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations."

That alone is enough that every single one of us should be angry — because it is not the disclosure of a "resistance" within the White House; it is the casual announcement of a coup.

Just yesterday, on the subject of current and former White House staffers who participated in Bob Woodward's book about the administration, I wrote:

To whatever degree Trump is truly inept and dangerous (both of which he certainly is), the people who stick around in his administration, unless and until they are fired, aren't trying to protect the country or the world from Trump. They are trying to protect the conservative agenda from being derailed by him.

Over and over, we are asked to mistake as "keeping him in check" what is in actuality keeping him on track.

These are very different things. And we can't be fooled by traitors who want us to believe they are patriots.

Nothing could have more perfectly anticipated the anonymously-penned op-ed, and its author's mendacious and vainglorious attempt to frame their secret coup as an act of heroism.

The senior official makes plain, just as I observed, that they do not seek to derail Trump's vile agenda, but to protect it from him: "To be clear, ours is not the popular 'resistance' of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous."

Trump, they argue, is not a real Republican, however, and so they must intervene in his presidency. Here, then, is the justification for their "resistance": "Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets, and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright."

This, of course, has long been a popular argument with conservatives who want to distance themselves from Donald Trump's worst behavior, even as they exploit it to achieve their agenda. It has always been wrong and it is wrong now: Trump is not an anomaly of Republican politics, but its inevitable endgame.

But now that his exchange of dogwhistles for bullhorns has leapfrogged the GOP's consolidation of power exponentially forward in two years, and these "heroes" and the interests they represent (which does not include We the People) are ready to resume the veneer of a political party that prizes democracy and doesn't seek to destroy it at every turn, Trump has become less useful.

And so, writes the senior official:

The erratic behavior would be more concerning if it weren't for unsung heroes in and around the White House. Some of his aides have been cast as villains by the media. But in private, they have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful.

It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what's right even when Donald Trump won't.

The result is a two-track presidency.

This is not of comfort to me, cold or otherwise. It should not comfort anyone who remains committed to democracy. If these "unsung heroes" truly value democracy, as they claim, then the way forward is not to undermine the sitting president, but to unseat him. To make a principled and visible exit. To argue for his removal. To persuade their colleagues in Congress to do their job and hold this president accountable.

But that would require actual risk and sacrifice. It would require losing their jobs, and it would require letting go of their ability to control the narrative via anonymous op-eds, and it would require risking the conservative agenda.

All of which any person who really cares more about this country than themselves and their political party would do. Especially if they're brazen enough to call themselves "unsung heroes" in the pages of the paper of record.

The fact is: The person who submitted this op-ed and their White House conspirators are not heroes. They are sinister authoritarians who are positioning themselves as defenders of democratic institutions even as they aggressively subvert them.

I loathe Donald Trump as much as any human can, but I love my country. Its stewardship doesn't belong in the hands of these reprobates any more than the president they are willing to undermine but not overthrow.

They want to keep him in place while the GOP consolidates power behind this presidency, whoever is running it. While elections are rigged, while districts are gerrymandered, while votes are suppressed, while dark money funds their candidates, while the judiciary is stacked with corrupt right-wingers, while state legislatures are gerrymandered and stolen, while marginalized people are oppressed, while babies are kept in cages, while class warfare is waged against the 99 percent, while unions are busted, while workers lose their rights, while public education is destroyed, while the environment is irretrievably fucked.

These are not people who value democracy. They are people who want to destroy it on their terms.

Who want to do it with civility.

They are hoping that the rest of us will be grateful — and, more importantly, be quiet — as they covertly take over the presidency as they see fit, until Trump is removed and replaced with someone whose vulgarity won't belie the obscenity of their agenda.

Let us understand this cynical and deplorable manipulation, and never trust a single person who has had anything to do with this administration, not ever again.

* * *

Note: People have naturally been speculating about the author of the piece. Vice President Mike Pence and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats seem to be the most popular suggestions. As I said on Twitter, I don't know if Pence wrote the piece; I do know that he's definitely the kind of person who would. Frankly, so is Coats.

Fun Fact: Mike Pence once wrote a paper about trash calling Dan Coats a Nazi! Really.

Comedy Central’s inventive and inebriated show Drunk History was renewed for a 16-episode sixth season back in February, the biggest order of its run thus far. One thing we can be assured of is that creator, host, and (reen)actor Derek Waters is striving to make the show something more evolved ... More »

Aside from great actresses, overwhelming humidity, and pervasive dread, one of the most noteworthy aspects of Sharp Objects is its music. The show’s needle drops tend to come from diegetic sources, often an iPhone, or, as in the many creepy scenes in the Crellin family’s Victorian house, a sound system. ... More »

Has any mustache ever caused more blockbuster agita than the one Henry Cavill sports for Mission: Impossible – Fallout? The 35-year-old actor grew out his facial hair last year upon joining Tom Cruise’s venerable action franchise, but when Warner Bros. asked Cavill to also squeeze in summer reshoots for the ... More »

The ending of the fourth season of The Last Man on Earth looked like it was going to be a happy one. Tandy showed tremendous and earned growth, encouraging his brother Mike to go out in search of a family of his own and convincing the group to “make like ... More »

In the second episode of HBO’s Sharp Objects, there’s a moment when Amy Adams, playing intrepid reporter Camille Preaker, pulls up to a woman on the side of the road and conducts an impromptu interview. The older woman tells her that she’s taking down posters featuring the face of Natalie ... More »

Looks like The Americans’ executive producers Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields will be trading in their Russian spy gear for some leather chaps, as Freeform has ordered a pilot of Breckman Rodeo to be produced by the critically acclaimed duo. The show was written by Steve Lerner, and it takes ... More »

Gather ‘round Hammer Heads, Armie Wives, and those among us still rocking Adidas tracksuits: After performances of Hammer’s Broadway play Straight White Men, fans meet him at the stage door asking him to sign fresh peaches. “They’re going to put that peach on a shelf because it has my signature, ... More »

As Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again director Ol Parker put it, if you’re making a sequel, “it’s an American sports thing: If you’re not playing offense, you’re playing defense.” In order to top the original Mamma Mia, Parker wanted to make sure that the sequel was bringing in something ... More »

If you just can’t get enough of The Purge, don’t worry, there’s a ten episode series of it coming to USA this September. And today, attendees at San Diego Comic Con got a look at this brand new, fully terrifying trailer. It’s looking like the show will be another chance ... More »

i hate this word. but like all words it has a meaning, ignore at your peril

One of Chris Hardwick’s most prominent stomping grounds won’t be graced by his presence this year. THR reports that Hardwick has pulled out of moderating two panels at next month’s San Diego Comic-Con, following claims from his ex-girlfriend, Chloe Dykstra, that he was sexually and emotionally abusive throughout their three-year ... More »

Lynn Shawcroft, the widow of beloved stand-up comedian Mitch Hedberg, wrote a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter today titled “The Late Comic Isn’t Done Being Funny.” The piece serves as a look back on Hedberg’s comedy 13 years after his death from his wife’s perspective (“He’s often referred to ... More »

It will now be possible to tour through Anthony Bourdain’s travel series Parts Unknown on Netflix for longer than previously thought. Parts Unknown was originally scheduled to disappear from Netflix streaming on June 16, less than a week after the TV host’s death. But Netflix announced today that the streaming ... More »

Tom Hiddleston (Loki)

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Hugh Jackman (Wolverine)

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Mark Ruffalo (Hulk)

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Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool)

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Chris Hemsworth (Thor)

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Paul Bettany (Vision)

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Chris Pratt (Peter Quill)

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Chris Evans (Captain America)

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Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man)

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Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange)

Paul Rudd ( Ant-Man)

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Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes)

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Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye)

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Vin Diesel (Groot)

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Dave Bautista (Drax)

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Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon)

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Ian Mckellen (Magneto)

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Josh Brolin (Thanos)

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Michael B. Jordan (Erik Killmonger)

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Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther)

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Patrick Stewart (Professor Charles Xavier)

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Tom Holland (Spider-Man)

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he’s a very strong and persuasive alpha male

Geeks with a taste for the highbrow were amped last year when Legion and Fargo auteur Noah Hawley announced that he was working on a film starring the world’s greatest supervillain, Marvel’s Doctor Doom, for Fox. The hooded baddie has made a few screen appearances before in the four attempts ... More »

Based on a real story and book by John E. Douglas, Netflix’s Mindhunter follows two FBI agents and a psychologist as they begin to study serial killers, in order to figure out how they can quickly catch and hopefully prevent future murderers. As they study these killers, we start to ... More »