The Daily Friday: Monday 9/18

It’s another week in paradise. Here’s what you need to sound smart today.

1. Saints vs. Panthers tonight to wrap up an eventful NFL Week 2 that saw Falcons, Commanders and Bucs go to 2-0 while the Bengals remain winless and the Bears and Jets remain quarterback-less.

2. Russel Brand accused of sexual assault by 4 women, including one victim who was 16. Andrew Tate and Alex Jones have come to his defense, so let’s just skip a trial and convict him now.

3. Colorado gets double OT W against Colorado State, and Kawhi was there to see it. Dude doesn’t go to his own games but is sideline at a Week 3 Mountain West matchup. Deion effect is real.

4. Rolling Stone founder said black and female artists ‘weren’t articulate enough’ to include in his book and was removed from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Give Mason Ramsey his spot.

5. Drew Barrymore’s show is no longer returning to air after intense backlash from striking members of the entertainment industry. LET’S BREAK IT DOWN.

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Let’s get into it.

DAYTIME TV DRAMA

To strike, or not strike? That should not be a question.

After the announcement of her show’s return last week drew a shitload of backlash, Drew Barrymore announced yesterday that the return would be delayed until after the strike.

Here’s What You Need to Know

Why Did She Want to Return? Barrymore citing supporting crews and their families, who have been without a paycheck during the strike, as the main reason to return.

However, she received intense backlash due to her own high net worth and actions that other hosts have taken to support striking workers, like the launch of the Strike Forces Five podcast and Lena Dunham’s murals.

Would This Have Been Allowed? Technically, talk show hosts are not under the same contract as SAG actors, so they can still work. However, they’re not allowed to hire writers due to the WGA strike (most shows hire at least 2 writers) so would have to improvise their segments and monologues.

This actually might not be a change for Drew Barrymore. I don’t believe she plans a single thing that she says. The lady is a kook.

Why Were People Pissed? The point of a strike is to make the networks suffer until they cave for demands. Shows going back help the network and undermine the strike efforts.

Also the lines between ‘written’ and ‘not-written’ talk shows are super not clear.  Ellen tried to get away with this in 2007 and everyone saw through it. 

Is Anyone Else Still Airing? “The Jennifer Hudson Show” and “The Talk” were scheduled to return but have since announced they will also postpone. ‘The View’ and ‘Live With Kelly and Mark’ will continue to air and Bill Maher still plans to return. That dude sucks.

I truly had no idea that half of these shows existed. Can we end this strike so I can stop paying attention to daytime TV drama?

What’s Next? Labor talks are set to resume this week but hopes are not high. Luckily, there’s still Almost Friday TV. 

HOW TO BE HAPPY

All these sound super hard. Where is the section for “scrolling social media for 90 straight minutes while ignoring every responsibility in your life?” That generally does the trick for me.

NFL: All-time challenge flag throw by Bill Belichick. What a sassy little fella.

Injury Roundup: Colts Richardson in concussion protocol. Burrow tweaks calf in Bengals loss. Saquon goes down with ankle injury after rallying Giants to W.

Someone needs to be thrown in jail for what happened at the end of the Rams-49ers game. Worst beat ever.

MLB: Ohtani cleans out his locker, done for the season to focus on rehabbing elbow. Did we really see this situation going any other way?

NL Wild Card race getting tight with just 2 weeks to go. God I love this time of year. Peak sports season.

CFB: Alabama scrapes by USF and falls out of the top 10 for the first time since 2015 (128 straight weeks!) Saban sucks now that other teams can pay players :/

Kinda love this poke-job by Shedeur Sanders. All’s fair in love and football.

This dude needs to just get a job.

OTHER: Mike Babock resigns as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets after display players’ personal photos on a wall in his office with AirPlay. Weird move from a bad guy!

Yes, Serena working out fucking sucks. Welcome to normal people life.

WHAT ELSE IS GOOD

Anyone want to traumatize the shit out of me? A study showing that MDMA helps with PTSD could lead to the drugs’ legalization and I’m trying to get some free doctor molly.

New dream job alert. Tik-Tokers are now making six figures as Baby Name Consultants and Elon and Grimes need to hire them ASAP.

Hassan Minhaj admits to making up stories, including his daughter getting sprayed by anthrax, to help his act. If you’re gonna lie, at least do it like Lebron. 

Getting a tug-job from Lauren Boebert at a regional Beetlejuice production has now soared to the top of my bucket list. Just good old fashioned fun.

Shoutout to that theater’s CCTV picture quality, btw. Very crisp.

MONDAY MOVE

Just a veteran move right here. I also lean heavy on ‘research shows’ and ‘experts have said,’ with almost a 100% success rate. Any data can be real if you believe in yourself and dream big. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

STUFF TO CLICK WHEN YOU’RE BORED TODAY

• Justice for Dan Musk.

• Kawhi Potter? The Boy Who Lived could not stay on the Quidditch pitch.

• The grip that this song by TJ Mack (a Brian Alvarez character) has on my life is hard to overstate. Cannot get it out of my head.

• If you watched the documentary ‘Torn,’ about alpinist Alex Lowe, you’ll love this article about his son.

• Max Kellerman’s recently unearthed rap song has me firmly on his side in the Stephen A Smith feud.

• Oz the Mentalist is a witch.