score

The script is familiar.

Fourth quarter or overtime. Rams trail or are tied. On comes Matthew Stafford.

The veteran quarterback is the master of comebacks.

And he appeared to be on the verge of doing it again on Thursday night against the rival San Francisco 49ers.

But the 49ers stopped running back Kyren Williams on a fourth-and-one play at the 49ers’ 11-yard line, sending the Rams to a 26-23 overtime defeat before 73,652 at SoFi Stadium.

After the game, Rams coach Sean McVay blamed himself for the failed fourth-down run, saying “it was a bad call by me.”

Stafford tossed two touchdown passes to Williams and another to Puka Nacua, but on a night when the Rams’ kicking woes continued, it was not enough to beat an injury-riddled opponent as the Rams fell to 3-2 and wasted an opportunity to take over first place in the NFC West.

Rams kicker Joshua Karty, who last year beat the 49ers with a winning field goal at SoFi Stadium, missed a long field-goal attempt and had an extra-point attempt blocked, the second time that has happened this season. His kickoff in overtime did not reach the landing zone, giving the 49ers the ball at the 40-yard line.

The 49ers improved to 4-1, with victories over the Rams, Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West.

McVay this week good-naturedly blamed his late grandfather John McVay for creating so many 49ers fans by helping assemble 49ers teams that won five Super Bowls.

And McVay and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, his former mentor, have squared off for some classic matchups, including the NFC championship game at SoFi Stadium in January 2022.

But these were not the same 49ers — at least on paper.

San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Alfred Collins (95) celebrates with teammates after forcing Rams running back Kyren Williams to fumble at the goal line late in the fourth quarter Thursday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

With quarterback Brock Purdy receiving a massive extension before the season, the 49ers let go of numerous high-profile stars that helped them make two Super Bowl appearances in the last six years.

Even quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is with the Rams.

Journeyman Mac Jones started in place of Purdy, who is nursing a toe injury. Tight end George Kittle, receivers Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings and star defensive end Nick Bosa also did not play.

But the 49ers still prevailed.

Mac Jones completed 33 of 49 passes for 342 yards and two touchdowns.

Rams linebacker Jared Verse celebrates after making a tackle in the third quarter against the 49ers on Thursday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Christian McCaffrey caught eight passes for 82 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 57 yards in 22 carries.

The score was tied 23-23 at the end of regulation after the Rams blew a chance to win when Williams fumbled at the 49ers’ one-yard line — but then tied the score on Karty’s 48-yard field goal with two seconds left.

Piniero’s 41-yard field goal gave the 49ers the lead.

The Rams then drove from their 33 to the 49ers’ 11, where their hopes for a victory ended.

Maybe this was a pressure-creating-diamonds situation.

Somehow in the 1930s, amid the immense stresses of economic collapse, natural disaster, Olympic anxiety and the looming shadow of World War II, Los Angeles built some of its best-loved architectural gems. The jaw-dropping lobby of the Pantages Theatre (1930), the hilltop domes of Griffith Observatory (1935), the grand halls of Union Station (1939) — all were produced in that harrowing decade.

How rough were the ’30s in L.A.? The Depression, beginning with the stock market crash in October 1929, put the brakes on new construction and farm production, pushing California unemployment to an estimated 28% in 1932. The City Council, meanwhile, was led by one of the most corrupt politicians in L.A. history, Mayor Frank Shaw.

The city did pull off the 1932 Summer Olympics, drawing a record 101,000 people to the Memorial Coliseum opening ceremony. But those Games drew only 1,332 athletes from 37 countries — half as many athletes as gathered for the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.

In 1933, the Long Beach quake killed more than 100 people and destroyed at least 70 schools. The 19-story Los Angeles General Medical Center was completed (and after decades mostly idle, is now being repurposed).

In 1934 and 1938, major floods along the Los Angeles, Santa Ana and San Gabriel rivers took scores of lives and prompted the Army Corps of Engineers to build Hansen Dam in the San Fernando Valley and encase 51 miles of the L.A. River in a concrete channel.

Begun in 1936 and completed in 1959, that channel might be among the city’s largest and least attractive man-made landmarks — in the words of historian Kevin Starr, “A tombstone of concrete.” But it does its job.

As the city weathered these changes, its signature industry shrunk, then bloomed, as movies (priced at about 25 cents) distracted the masses. The arrival of color deepened the spell, as did blockbusters like 1939’s “Gone With the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

The landmarks that went up during those years aren’t all great architectural innovations; many flow directly from the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne trends of the 1920s. But all carry hints about how Angelenos changed with the times.

As critic and author David Kipen has written: “If you don’t like the weather in San Francisco, they say, just wait five minutes. If you don’t like the architecture in Los Angeles, maybe give it ten.”

Here we take a year-by-year architectural stroll through the 1930s. You can enter most of these buildings, in some cases for free, in some cases by booking a tour, buying beer or seeing a show.

MANCHESTER UNITED clash with Brentford in Saturday’s Premier League showdown at the Gtech Community Stadium.

And bookmakers William Hill are marking the occasion with an EPIC BOOST for new and existing customers that’s available to claim right now!

Punters can get either Bryan Mbeumo OR Bruno Fernandes to score for Manchester United at a colossal 6/4 – that’s boosted from odds-on 4/6!

Find The Sun’s betting publishing principles here

Brentford vs Man Utd EPIC BOOST

William Hill

William Hill have a price boost on Saturday’s Premier League clash between Brentford and Manchester United at the Gtech Community Stadium.

All customers can get this EPIC BOOST with Bryan Mbeumo OR Bruno Fernandes to score at 6/4!

You can claim this price boost HERE

No William Hill account? No problem!

This is your opportunity to take advantage of William Hill’s welcome offer, which gives brand new customers a whopping £40 in free bets!

Simply register an account using the Promo Code: G40 and deposit a minimum of £10 in your main account.

After that, place a bet with a minimum stake of £10 at odds of 1/2 or greater on any football market.

Once that’s settled – win or lose – your account will be credited with £40 (4 x £10) in free bets to use on the sportsbook.

*18+. Play Safe. Online only. For new UK register customers using promo code G40. Deposit & place £10 cash single bet (min odds 1/2) on sportsbook (excl. Virtuals). Get £40 in Free Bets (4x£10), valid for sportsbook (excl. Virtuals), 7 days expiry, must use in full (£10 each). Not valid with deposits via PayPal, Neosurf, Paysafe, Apple Pay, NETELLER, Skrill, ecoPayz, Kalibra/Postpay or WH PLUS Card. One per customer. Full T&Cs apply. www.gambleaware.org

Remember to gamble responsibly

A responsible gambler is someone who:

• Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
• Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
• Never chase their losses
• Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed
• Gamcare – gamcare.org.uk
• GambleAware – GambleAware.org

Read our guide on responsible gambling practices.

For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites.

Marlon Wayans is putting up a “defensive run-stopping front” after his latest film received negative reviews from critics.

The actor took to his Instagram account over the weekend to promote his latest film, “HIM,” which hit the big screen Friday, and told fans to form their own opinions on the project. The movie currently holds a 29% score with critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

“An opinion does not always mean it’s everyone’s opinion. Some movies are ahead of the curve,” Wayans said. “Innovation is not always embraced and art is to be interpreted and it’s subjective.”

The post include screen grabs from the Rotten Tomatoes pages of his other movies that have been classified “rotten” by the website but were later embraced by audiences like 2004’s “White Chicks,” the first two films in the “Scary Movie” franchise, 2013’s “A Haunted House” and 1996’s “Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood.” The post ends with a screen grab of the “HIM” Rotten Tomatoes page.

“I’ve had a career of making classic movies that weren’t critically received and those movies went on to be CLASSICS. So don’t take anyone’s opinion just go see for yourself,” Wayans added.

So far, audiences have given the film a 58% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Times film critic, Amy Nicholson, credited the the film for its “stylishly” craftsmanship but said it was lacking plot.

There’s a particular niche of sophisticated, loungy music that thrived from the late ’90s into the mid-2000s. It grew out of ELO’s regal rock and Serge Gainsbourg’s loucheness, taking on bits of U.K. trip-hop, midcentury exotica, the Largo scene’s orchestral flourishes and Daft Punk’s talkboxes. I don’t quite have a word for it — conversation-pit-core? — but a primary text of it is Air’s “Moon Safari.”

The French duo of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel released “Moon Safari,” Air’s debut LP, to wide acclaim in 1998. The band’s meticulously hazy synth pads paired beautifully with ultra-minimal funk bass and loping tempos. “Moon Safari” set a new benchmark for upmarket French pop, with singles like “Sexy Boy” and “Kelly Watch the Stars” proving they had chops for hooks as well. The band immediately followed it with the score for Sofia Coppola’s debut feature, “The Virgin Suicides,” and those two albums locked in Air as the ultimate turn-of-the-century band for tasteful European melancholy.

At the Bowl on Sunday, the band revisited the whole of “Moon Safari” with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, capping off KCRW’s festival season there. Since that album’s release, Coppola’s daughter Romy grew old enough to become an influencer herself, yet “The Virgin Suicides” remains a mood-board favorite for Gen Z. Fellow travelers like Bonobo, who opened the night with a DJ set, have become arena stars in their own right.

“Moon Safari” has held up wonderfully on its own merits. But as algorithms funnel audiences deeper into formless background listening, Sunday’s show was a reminder that chill can be compelling. Air’s intense focus gave these wispy songs a strong backbone too.

From the opener of “La Femme d’Argent,” lifted by Godin’s nimble basslines, the vibes were, as they say, immaculate. Dressed in all-white formalwear, the band took care to show how much compositional rigor went into this album’s laid-back feeling. The arrangements highlighted the nuanced tones of each of Dunckel’s many synths, and how the band’s Beatles-y chord changes could keep your ears locked into the most stark passages.

Extra credit goes to Air’s creative direction and lighting designer, who locked the band inside a rectangular elevated platform that gave the look of performing inside a James Turrell sculpture. It’s a neat conceptual challenge to visually enliven a famously blissed-out album like this onstage, and Air did it with exquisite panache on Sunday.

The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra usually kicks back on shows like this, adding some sizzle and arrangement richness but functioning more as another band member. The orchestra’s horns perked up during “Ce Matin-là” and raised the dramatic temperature on closer “Le Voyage de Pénélope,” but the whole set was an exercise in restraint as a means of making sure every good idea gets its shine. “Moon Safari” didn’t need much else, but what it got was illuminating.

The back half of the set went into the band’s score work for Coppola — “Highschool Lover” and “Alone in Kyoto,” from “The Virgin Suicides” and “Lost In Translation” respectively, stirred the wistful elder millennials among the crowd, this writer included. They adopted a Daft Punk-ish distance on “Electronic Performers,” touting how “MIDI clocks ring in my mind … We need envelope filters to say how we feel,” but they didn’t really need that wink and nudge. When they broke the spell of ethereal cuts like “Cherry Blossom Girl” for heavier, krautrock-driven numbers like “Don’t Be Light,” they proved that being roused from tasteful stoned pondering is as fun as falling into it.

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

SOUTHERN SECTION

Nonleague

Webb 66, Channel Islands 7

Aquinas 69, Riverside Notre Dame 6

8-MAN

SOUTHERN SECTION

Nonleague

Cate 40, Coast Union 20

Flintridge Prep 20, Faith Baptist 14

INTERSECTIONAL

Florida School for the Deaf 32, California School for the Deaf Riverside 14

Fresno Christian 68, Santa Clarita Christian 32

Trona 50, PAL Academy 18

Viewers have branded the Kristen Bell series a “masterpiece”.

Netflix viewers have just a few days to binge a “masterpiece” TV series.

Starring Kristen Bell, William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, D’Arcy Carden, Manny Jacinto and Ted Danson, The Good Place first premiered in 2016 and quickly became a huge hit.

It followed a woman named Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen) finding herself in “The Good Place” after dying, though she’s not certain she belongs there.

After questionable behaviour in her life, she fears being found out and being sent to “The Bad Place” instead, and so attempts to make herself a more ethical person and deserve her spot in the Heaven-like utopia.

While in The Good Place, Eleanor meets her soulmate Chidi (William) who teaches her ethics and helps her become more moral.

However, in a shock twist season one ending, Eleanor discovers that she’s actually been in The Bad Place all along, doomed to emotional and psychological torture forever as she continues to fail at becoming a better person.

The Good Place scored rave reviews from fans, with seasons two and four gaining a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score while the first and third earned 92% and 98% respectively, as well as numerous awards and nominations.

One fan praised: “This is the best thing Netflix have made, IMHO. The Good Place is clever, witty, sometimes wickedly so, irreverently thoughtful, and beautifully written, and it does that thing that only really well conceived shows can do — it gets great performances from the entire cast. And it’s very, very funny.”

Another said: “The Good Place earns a glowing 5 out of 5 for its brilliant fusion of heartfelt humor, philosophy, and imaginative storytelling. From likable misfits in a heavenly bureaucracy to jaw-dropping moral twists (hello, definitely not the Good Place surprise) and a deeply satisfying finale, the series constantly evolves to keep you laughing and thinking.”

“I just finished watching The Good Place and honestly, I don’t even know what to feel right now. It’s one of those rare shows that makes you laugh out loud while also making you stop and think about life, morality, and what it means to be a good person. Every character was written so beautifully—from their flaws to their growth—and the twists kept me hooked from start to finish,” someone else wrote.

Others called it “the best sitcom [they’d] ever watched”, and another said: “This is without a doubt an outstanding show!”

“From my perspective, The Good Place is a masterpiece of modern television. It’s awesome, thought-provoking, and engaging from start to finish. The show manages to tackle profound philosophical and ethical questions while remaining hilariously entertaining. The mind-bending twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat, making it impossible not to binge-watch,” one fan wrote.

Despite fans begging for a fifth season of the show, creator Mike Schur previously explained why the fourth was its final.

He told Newsweek in October 2019 that it was always the plan for the show to come to an end after a few seasons, explaining: “That’s why we named the episodes chapters instead of episodes or whatever, because it feels like a novel that is being carefully sort of laid out chapter by chapter.

“We wanted the end game, in particular, to pay homage to that and to make it feel like everything that came before matters and it’s all part of one big long story.”

The Good Place is available to watch on Netflix

The political thriller boasts an impressive 90% Rotten Tomatoes score

Netflix has just given thriller fans a glimpse into the ‘catastrophic’ drama set to unfold in its top-rated political thriller.

The Diplomat first landed on the streamer in 2023 and has since gripped viewers with the story of American diplomat Kate Wyler (played by Keri Russell).

Now, the streaming giant has just dropped the trailer for its third season, set to premiere on October 16th.

The two-minute teaser thrusts viewers into the heart of the action following the president’s death, which sparks questions about his demise.

Netflix’s synopsis teases: “Ambassador Kate Wyler lives the particular nightmare that is getting what you want. She just accused Vice President Grace Penn (portrayed by Allison Janney) of hatching a terrorist plot and admitted she’s after the VP’s job.

“But now the President is dead, Kate’s husband Hal (Rufus Sewell) may have inadvertently killed him, and Grace Penn is leader of the free world.”

With the new political head in place, the synopsis adds: “None of this slows Hal’s campaign to land Kate the vice presidency.

“Kate steps into a role she never wanted, with a freedom she never expected, an increasingly complicated friendship with Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison, and an unnerving bond with First Gentleman Todd Penn.”

Following the trailer’s release, Fans could barely contain their excitement. One took to Netflix’s YouTube comments and raved: “OH MY GOODNESS! This is INSANE!!!”

Watch Wednesday on Netflix for free with Sky

This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more

from £15

Sky

Get the deal here

Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan.

This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows like Wednesday.

Someone else chimed in with: “I’M SO EXCITED THE SHOW IS BACK!!”

While a third voiced their recommendation: “People be really sleeping on this show, first season was good, the second was fantastic, can’t wait for the third. While the trailers make it look like a serious political drama, it’s also really funny.”

And a fourth said: “I really liked S01. S02 took my breath away. This next season looks INCREDIBLE!”

Considering its star-studded cast, including Emmy winner Bradley Whitford and British icon Rory Kinnear, it’s no surprise The Diplomat has received rave reviews.

It currently boasts an impressive 90% Rotten Tomatoes score, with season one earning an impressive 84% rating and season two bagging a stellar 96%.

The Diplomat season 3 premieres on Netflix on October 16th.

It looks like wowing the judges on “Dancing With the Stars” is now an Irwin family tradition.

Robert Irwin hit the stage Tuesday for the first time with pro partner Witney Carson on the Season 34 premiere of “Dancing With the Stars,” knocking out an upbeat jive set to “Born to Be Wild.” The first thing the wildlife conservationist did after nailing the routine was run to hug his sister, Bindi Irwin, who was in the audience along with other family and friends.

The judges called the performance, which closed out the night, “absolutely brilliant.”

“Crocs are my comfort zone, dancing is not,” Robert Irwin said in the introductory package that was shown right before his performance. In the same compilation, Carson explained that a jive is difficult for a first dance and praised Irwin’s positivity.

Bruno Tonioli was the first judge to address the pair, getting on his feet to tell Irwin that the performance “wasn’t [just] good, that was great.”

Derek Hough, who was Bindi’s pro partner when they won the Mirror Ball during “Dancing With the Stars” Season 21, told Robert that he was “so relieved because you had some big shoes to fill.”

“You didn’t just fill them; you owned those shoes,” said Hough, who asked if Irwin had been practicing for this moment for the last 10 years. “That was probably the best first dance I’ve ever seen on this show.”

Earlier in the episode, Irwin said that when he watched his sister win 10 years ago, he had thought, “One day, that’s going to be me.”

Watching Bindi win in 2015 also served as preparation for Robert.

“I feel like I had a good idea of what this show was about coming into it, cause my sister had done it,” Irvin told E! News. “Bindi just said, ‘Take a breath and enjoy every single second of it … really try and enjoy this cause it goes by so fast.’”

Irwin and Carson was awarded 15 points, which put them in a tie for top marks alongside team Whitney Leavitt and Mark Ballas.