When Julie Uhrman and a fledgling ownership group that would quickly grow to more than 100 announced plans to start a women’s soccer club in the summer of 2020, the goal was to build something unique and different.
And in that she was wildly successful: four years after its founding, Angel City became the most valuable team in the history of women’s professional sports while funneling millions of dollars to community programs throughout Southern California.
What the team hasn’t done is win. And that, Uhrman said, has to change.
“It’s time to win,” said Uhrman, who this month is stepping down as the team’s chief executive to take a new role as principal advisor. “We’re in L.A. We live in a city of champions and we want to be on the same mantle as them. It’s a process but we have the right team in place, on and off the pitch, to accomplish that.”
Angel City will kick off its fifth season Sunday at BMO Stadium against the Chicago Stars. Over its previous four seasons, Angel City lost 12 more games than it won, finished with a winning record only once and made just one playoff appearance. And it has used four coaches, three sporting directors and more than 70 players in its search for success.
“We needed to rip it up and start again,” Straus said.
As a result, more than half the players on the opening day roster weren’t with Angel City at the start of last season. And nine women who started at least a half-dozen games last season aren’t there this year.
“This is Angel City 2.0,” Parsons said. “We’ve gone through a huge amount of staff change. We’ve gone through a huge amount of roster change. And January 2026 has become Year 1.
“Year 5 is Year 1 of building what we believe is a sporting organization that can get to the top and stay at the top.”
That’s probably not what the team’s long-suffering fans wanted to hear. They wanted to hear that this is the year Angel City wins a trophy. But after watching his team finish 11th in the 14-team NWSL in 2025, Parsons said that’s not realistic.
“You don’t go from 11th to being a top-four team. I think you come from 11th and you become a playoff team ,” said Parsons who, as a manager, took a Portland Thorns team with a losing record to an NWSL Shield and a league title in his first two seasons. “Last year was a tough year. Now we’re in a better place. So we’re still on the journey.”
Angel City coach Alexander Straus watches over a practice session at the team’s training facility in Thousand Oaks in February.
(Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)
So is the league. With the addition of expansion franchises in Denver and Boston, the NWSL entered its 14th season Friday with a record 16 teams, meaning each club will play a record 30 games. The top eight finishers in the table will make the playoffs.
For Angel City, the makeover to 2.0 really launched about six months before Parsons arrived when Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, became controlling owners of the club and committed $50 million to improving it. Part of that investment paid for the purchase and renovation of a sprawling state-of-the-art training center at Cal Lutheran University and part of it allowed Parsons to come in and tear things up.
When he took over as sporting director last winter, Parsons quickly set about overhauling the roster, leaving Angel City with one of the youngest teams in the NWSL, averaging 25 years of age, this season. Two players are still in their teens and eight others have yet to turn 23.
A year ago, eight players on the roster were 32 or older.
Among the key offseason additions are defender Emily Sams, an Olympic champion with the U.S. national team, and midfielder Ary Borges, a Brazilian international. They will join a core that includes Japanese midfielder Hina Sugita and Zambian striker Prisca Chilufya, who joined the team at the end of last season.
Of the four, only Sugita, a two-time World Cup veteran, is older than 26.
“We’re getting closer to competing for trophies,” Parsons said. “But making [the] playoffs right now is a logical next step. This year is about showing that we’re going in the right direction. But we can’t jump from 11th to one. Those days are over.
“We have overachieved the last 12 months in building a sporting organization, staffing departments and [constructing a] roster. There’s going to be ups and downs this year, like there is every year.”
Goalkeeper Angelina Anderson, entering her fourth season with Angel City, making her one of the team’s longest-tenured players, believes in Parsons’ deliberate approach and is confident the team is about to turn the corner.
“Having that methodical approach is really smart and it gives us kind of an overview of like, we want to win the championship, we feel like we’re in a really good spot, but there are daily, monthly, season-long challenges that we’re going to have to overcome if that’s where we want to get to,” said Anderson, one of three team captains. “It’s actually a very smart way for all of us to manage our expectations.”
Uhrman agrees too but being realistic is hard. When she helped launch Angel City, it was with the vision of building a winning team and nearly six years later, she’s still waiting for that vision to be released.
“Our aspiration is to win the championship. Our goal is to make the playoffs,” she said. “And we feel very comfortable that we can do that. It is a process. We’re realistic about where we are in the process and what we need to do to develop and grow.
“Believing in the fact that it’s a process is comforting because we are being realistic about what we are. But that doesn’t change what we want to accomplish.”
In late November, Gabriela Jaquez scored 29 points against Tennessee. It wasn’t her career high; that came when she tallied 30 points two years prior.
But that game, when Tennessee had no answers for a player who was then the UCLA women’s basketball team’s fifth offensive option, felt like Jaquez’s coming-out party after years as a quieter cog in the Bruins’ rotation. It changed the way teams had to defend her. Previously known more for attacking the rim than for shooting from outside, Jaquez showcased a different dimension.
Suddenly, one of the best teams in the nation had one of the best breakout stars. Entering the NCAA tournament, the 31-1 Big Ten champion Bruins are relying on Jaquez as one of their super seniors to guide them back to the Final Four.
UCLA guard Charlisse Leger-Walker hugs teammate Gabriela Jaquez, who led the Bruins in scoring during a win over Tennessee on Nov. 30 at Pauley Pavilion.
(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)
“I do think she’s always been that player,” said senior guard Kiki Rice, who has played four seasons with Jaquez. “But I do think she’s had a lot more opportunity to demonstrate that, and you saw that in the beginning of the year. She just started off such a hot shooter, and the way that she’s developed every single year, gotten better and just found a way to impact the team.”
Though she hasn’t reached that same scoring peak again, Jaquez has quietly buoyed UCLA’s dominant run this season as the Bruins have emerged as one of the favorites to win a national title. She ranks second on UCLA (among players with at least 30 attempts) in field-goal percentage at 54.3%, second in three-point shooting at 41.1% and third in scoring.
Jaquez has gotten attention for being part of a family legacy at UCLA and spending an offseason with the Bruins’ softball team. But in the background, even when she hasn’t been the leader for the UCLA women’s basketball team, Jaquez has honed herself into one of just 25 Power Four conference players shooting better than 40% from deep this season.
Jaquez, who tallied her 1,000th career point early this season, is having a career-best season with 13.6 points per game, has added double-digits in 25 of her 31 games this season.
“There’s so much depth to her,” said guard Charlisse Leger-Walker, who often dances alongside Jaquez in videos posted on social media and Leger-Walker’s YouTube video series. “Getting to understand her off the court, I think has really helped our connection on the court, and kind of how her personality is so outgoing. She likes to bring people along. You can see that on the court.”
Jaquez came in as a 5-foot-11 freshman who played primarily as an undersized forward and would crash the net and collect rebounds.
The shooting, though, has been the biggest change this season.
“I think of her as someone who, especially early on, like she doesn’t need to have the ball on hand, she doesn’t need to have plays run for her to impact the game,” Rice said. “But then she’s been shooting so well too.”
Early in the season, teams doubled Lauren Betts, who leads the team with 16.4 points per game as a center, which opened Jaquez to shoot from deep, establishing herself as someone who needed to be keyed on.
UCLA’s Gabriela Jaquez shoots the ball under pressure from Oregon’s Katie Fiso on Dec. 7 at Pauley Pavilion.
(Luke Hales / Getty Images)
Her 107 three-point attempts are a career-high this season, with her shot selection jumping to 32.4% coming from behind the arc. That’s come with a career-high 2.2 assists per game and an 85.2 defensive rating, ranked in the top 20% of the nation.
“She can shoot the ball, she can finish, she defends,” shooting guard Gianna Kneepkens said. “I love playing with Gabs. Sometimes I get caught watching her because she’s just so amazing.”
Now, Jaquez projects as a first-round WNBA pick, in large part because of her versatility on offense. She is listed as a guard on the Bruins’ roster, but often starts at forward, where she can stretch the floor. Her 5.4 rebounds per game are third on the team, thanks in large part because of her ability to fill positions one through five.
During UCLA’s Big Ten semifinal win over Ohio State, Jaquez shot four for 12 but Bruins coach Cori Close noted Jaquez’s importance when her shooting isn’t on target.
“What I liked about that the most is that she struggled a little bit in the middle of the second half,” Close said. “It just showed a lot of her mental toughness that, when we needed her the most, she was going to be there for us on the defensive end and on the rebounding end.”
While all five starters have been mentioned as possible WNBA first-rounders, Jaquez has perhaps made the biggest leap, two WNBA scouts not authorized to publicly discuss prospects said.
UCLA senior Gabriela Jaquez celebrates with the Big Ten tournament trophy after the Bruins beat Iowa in the finals on March 8 in Indianapolis.
(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
When Rice and Leger-Walker are on the bench, Jaquez has taken on point guard duties.
“She does all those little hustle plays,” Leger-Walker said. “She will score if you need her to, she’ll cut, she’ll rebound, like, she’s so versatile. You know what you’re getting from her, and she’s kind of that person who’s the engine of our team.”
Jaquez hasn’t thought much about what happens after this season. This year’s mantra of joy has resonated after last year’s crushing Final Four loss to Connecticut.
“It’s been fuel,” Jaquez said. “That started [last] spring and into the offseason, knowing exactly what to work on, how to prepare…. But I just love the team aspect of basketball, I love this group of girls specifically and I think having so much fun out there has [been the most important thing] and winning has made it even better.”
The night Jaquez hit five three-pointers against Tennessee may have felt like her arrival. But for the teammates who have watched her develop for four years, it looked less like a breakthrough and more like the rest of the country finally catching up.
The rest of the country may have only noticed this season. But inside UCLA’s locker room, Jaquez has been that player all along.
“Gabs is an extremely confident person, so I feel like if you’d asked her this freshman year, she would have believed that she’d become just the incredible player that she is,” Rice said. “Just the opportunity, her experience at this level these past few years has really helped her develop into what she is.”
Dejan Joveljic had a goal and an assist against his former team, Lasse Johnsen had a goal and an assist in his league debut and Sporting Kansas City beat the Galaxy 2-1 on Saturday night.
Neither team scored until Joveljic used assists from Manu García and Johnsen to score two minutes into stoppage time for a 1-0 lead at halftime. García earned his first assist after tallying nine as a rookie last season.
Joveljić, along with Stephen Afrifa, set up an insurance goal by Johnsen in the 74th minute for a 2-0 advantage. Afrifa’s helper was first this season and his second in 39 appearances.
That proved necessary for the victory after Marco Reus used his head for an unassisted score in the 82nd minute to cut the Galaxy’s deficit to a goal. Reus scored for the first time this season and the seventh time in 31 career matches.
John Pulskamp finished with four saves to help Sporting KC (1-2-1) earn its first victory of the season while putting an end to a seven-match losing streak on the road dating to last season.
Novak Micovic saved two shots for the Galaxy (1-2-1).
Joveljic totaled 34 goals and 11 assists in 106 starts with the Galaxy from 2021-24. He had 15 goals and six assists during the Galaxy’s championship run in 2024 when he scored the second goal in a 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bullls. His third goal this season gives him 21 along with three assists in 36 matches with Sporting KC.
The Galaxy played without Gabriel Pec, who was suspended for the match after receiving a red card in a 4-1 road loss to the Colorado Rapids last week. Joseph Paintsil was sidelined with a hamstring injury.
The Galaxy have a slim lead in the all-time series 29-28-18, including a 19-9-9 record at home.
Both teams posted home victories in two matchups last season.
Up next for the Galaxy: at Portland Timbers on Sunday.
Virgin River star Tim Matheson teased the upcoming eighth season of the Netflix show and the fallout from Doc’s decision to partner with Grace Valley
Virgin River season 8 puts Hope and Doc’s marriage ‘in jeopardy’
Warning – this article contains spoilers for Virgin River season 7.
Virgin River’s Tim Matheson has teased a turbulent path ahead for Vernon ‘Doc’ Mullins and his wife, Mayor Hope McCrea (portrayed by Annette O’Toole ) in the Netflix drama’s forthcoming eighth season.
The series made its comeback for its seventh run last Thursday (12th March), witnessing Mel Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack Sheridan’s (Martin Henderson) honeymoon period disrupted by fresh obstacles.
After Charmaine’s (Lauren Hammersley) abrupt vanishing, the pair encountered a difficult predicament when Marley (Rachel Drance) presented them with a chance to adopt her infant, before the baby’s father unexpectedly returned.
Simultaneously, Mel’s boss Doc carried on battling the medical board following the revocation of his licence for a dangerous yet life-preserving procedure, whilst competing hospital Grace Valley encroaches on his patch, reports the Express.
The season finale delivered a shock revelation, though, as Doc started contemplating a collaboration with Grace Valley despite his conflict with Dr Hayes (Kaj-Erik Eriksen), a move that enrages Hope.
In an exclusive conversation with Reach, Matheson verified that Virgin River’s confirmed eighth season will address the aftermath of their row directly from the outset.
“Well, it focuses a great deal on [that challenge] in season eight,” he revealed. “Like in any relationship there are changes and bumps and adjustments that need to be made. So, that continues on and it’s all about people finding their true path in life. And we all know that changes from day to day.
“So, things get a little bumpy, perhaps. I’ve only seen the first two episodes in script form, but… strap on your seatbelt. It’s going to be a wild ride.”
Production for series eight is set to commence in April, meaning viewers potentially won’t have long to wait before fresh information about the next instalment begins to emerge.
The forthcoming chapter will probably see Doc legally practising medicine once more but, following the strain of defending his licence and the prospect of Grace Valley taking control, could retirement be a possibility?
Matheson was swift to dismiss this theory, stating: “I don’t see that right now, no.
“Basically, he just keeps adjusting and in season seven, he actually came to a conclusion which threatened his relationship with Hope, that it’s better for his patients to try and adjust to more modern ways to help the patients by partnering with Grace Valley hospital.
“And using some of their improved equipment in the clinic and providing more immediate service to the patients, maybe through an ambulance and more modern care. And more money because a hospital can provide more modern equipment.
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“So I think he’s going to try that and see how that works, because really his goal is to be of service to the patient and whatever’s better for the patient is worth trying. And that may or may not have a deleterious effect on his relationships, and people have strong feelings one way or the other about bringing in an outside medical facility to help the clinic.
“He has mixed feelings about it, so that’s the thing that he’s going to be weighing throughout season eight.”
Will Doc and Hayes’ partnership prove harmonious or will Virgin River’s steadfast physician live to rue his choice? Keep watching for more small town drama arriving shortly.
Virgin River is available to stream on Netflix.
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NBCUniversal is cutting “Access Hollywood” and several other of its daytime talk shows, effectively ending its first-run syndication business as daytime television atrophies.
The company confirmed that “Access Hollywood,” and its counterpart “Access Live,” will be coming to an end in September. The shows, produced in Los Angeles, are currently hosted by Mario Lopez, Kit Hoover, Scott Evans and Zuri Hall.
Talk shows “Karamo” and “The Steve Wilkos Show,” produced out of NBC’s facility in Stamford, Conn., are also shutting down. The programs have already completed their production for the season and will run through the summer.
NBC previously announced that “The Kelly Clarkson Show” is also ending later this year after seven seasons.
“The Steve Wilkos Show” ran for 19 seasons. The host is a former bouncer for “The Jerry Springer Show.”
Francis Berwick, chairman of Bravo and Peacock unscripted, said in a statement that the company will continue to distribute library episodes of its talk programs and network shows such as “Law & Order.” But NBCU’s days of launching series for daytime and the hour before prime time are over.
“NBCUniversal is making changes to our first-run syndication division to better align with the programming preferences of local stations,” Berwick said. “The company will remain active in the distribution of our existing program library and other off-network titles, while winding down production of our first-run shows.”
“Access Hollywood” was first launched by NBC in 1996 as a competitor to CBS Media Ventures’ “Entertainment Tonight.”
First-run syndication allows producers to sell TV shows to stations on a market-by-market basis, instead of distributing them through a single network. This model was a major success for talk show staples such as Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres.
But streaming has pulled viewers away from traditional television, as viewers can watch their favorite shows and movies anytime on demand. The audience levels needed to generate enough ad revenue to support first-run programming in daytime no longer exists.
Many TV stations are filling their hours with more local news as daytime talk goes away.
OTTAWA — Linus Ullmark made 23 saves for his second shutout of the season and the Ottawa Senators blanked the Ducks 2-0 on Saturday.
Michael Amadio and Thomas Chabot scored for Ottawa. Shane Pinto had two assists. It was the 14th shutout of Ullmark’s career. The Senators have won four of five.
Nick Cousins won a battle along the boards, which sprung Pinto down the ice. Pinto fed Amadio on a 2-on-1 and he made no mistake, beating Husso short-side 3:54 into the second period.
At the 9:21 mark of the second period, the Senators capitalized on a turnover. Pinto intercepted a pass and found Chabot in the high slot for his seventh goal of the season and second career short-handed score.
Anaheim challenged for goaltender interference but was unsuccessful.
Warren Foegele had a couple of chances from close range in the opening period, but just couldn’t settle a bouncing puck.
Husso then stopped Amadio on a short-handed 2-on-1 breakaway.
Amadio later drew a penalty, but Husso made a big glove save on Tim Stutzle on the Senators’ power play.
Up next: Ducks: at Montreal on Sunday; Senators: host San Jose Sharks on Sunday.
SACRAMENTO — Senior Ayla Teegardin of Palisades held her head high on Saturday morning. A 51-37 loss to Yuba City Faith Christian in the state Division IV girls basketball final at Golden 1 Center couldn’t lessen the inspiring backstory of how she and her Dolphin teammates had already won by making it to the final despite all the trial and tribulations of the Palisades Fire that destroyed a community in January 2025.
Teegardin lost her home, spent three months in a hotel and battled to regain her teenage life.
“I struggled with a lot of anxiety coming into games,” she recalled.
Basketball and teammates kept her focused. This season has been another challenging time with practices at night and at middle schools until the high school gym was finally re-opened at the end of January.
On Saturday, Palisades (16-14) fought Faith Christian (34-1) to almost a draw at halftime, trailing 29-26. But the Dolphins scored only 11 points in the second half and had no answer for Long Beach State-bound Lauren Harris, who came in as the nation’s career three-point scoring leader while averaging 31.2 points this season. She finished with 26 points, 16 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals. She made a half-court shot at the end of the first quarter.
Elly Tierney of Palisades did her best on offense with 15 points and six rebounds. Teegardin finished with three points and six rebounds. Only three players scored the entire game for Faith Christian.
The Dolphins outrebounded Faith Christian 43-33 but made only 15 of 63 shots.
Faith Christian’s Lauren Harris, the national career record holder for threes, makes half-court shot. End of 1, Faith Christian 13, Palisades 11. pic.twitter.com/iWbDdKPwOf
The 10th season of “Love Is Blind” ventured to Ohio, yielded a record seven engaged couples and made structured cape blazers and the idea of daily Pilates classes feel like rage bait.
With the season over, and just two couples saying “I do,” the cast of the popular Netflix dating series came together for this week’s reunion special to share updates on their lives since the cameras went down — and to unpack the twists, turns and lies that played out over the season. The result was a reunion that finally provided (mostly) satisfying questions and answers about participants’ pasts and presents instead of dancing around topics.
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Unable to budget the time for a trip to Cabo — or even Malibu — to process it all, TV editor Maira Garcia and I have brought our running “LIB” thread out of our Slack DMs to unpack our thoughts in this safe place.
Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our streaming recommendations include a spray-tan crime comedy and a Morgan Freeman-narrated mind trip about the rise and fall of dinosaurs. Plus, we tell you where you can stream the slate of best picture nominees ahead of this Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony.
This is your cue to block off some “couch time” in your calendar this weekend.
— Yvonne Villarreal
Turn on
Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times
Will Forte as Martin and D’Arcy Carden as Vicki in a scene from “Sunny Nights.”
(Lisa Tomasetti / Hulu)
“Sunny Nights” (Hulu)
D’Arcy Carden fans, and I can’t imagine anyone who’s ever seen her work isn’t one, will be elated to find her at full force starring in this dark, sometimes violent Australian crime comedy alongside Will Forte, who, yes, has fans of his own. They play brother Martin (cautious) and sister Vicki (impulsive), who have traveled to Sydney to flog a tanning spray at a lifestyle convention, though Martin has an ulterior motive, to win back his wife, Joyce (Ra Chapman). What with one thing and another, they find themselves repeatedly in need of cash and mixed up with a panoply of criminals, some fairly sympathetic (former rugby star Willie Mason, excellent as former rugby star Terry; Jessica De Gouw as Susi), and others not at all (Rachel House as kingpin Mony, just out of the jug). All are trying to change their lives, or at least their business plan, including Joyce, a journalist stuck writing clickbait articles for an editor who doesn’t want to know, and Megan Wilding as Nova, an animal control worker who knows something important about an exploding crocodile. — Robert Lloyd
A still from “The Dinosaurs.”
(Netflix)
“The Dinosaurs” (Netflix)
This four-part series will have you mentioning the Carnian pluvial episode in every conversation. Aptly narrated by Morgan Freeman and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the sweeping CGI-enhanced nature documentary traces the evolutionary history of dinosaurs, from their origins in the Triassic period to their extinction 66 million years ago. And it’s more proof that attention spans, no matter a person’s age, will always lock in for dinosaurs. Before morning, your Google search history will include terms like “Marasuchus,” “Vulcanodon,” “Heterodontosaurus” and that Carnian pluvial episode (a.k.a. the longest downpour in history, which lasted more than a million years). Prepare to have your perception of time forever altered. Still, it’s a surefire way to give your mental health a break from current events — though, for a certain generation, it may also unlock those “Land Before Time” memories. — Y.V.
Catch up
Everything you need to know about the film or TV series everyone’s talking about
Scenes from “One Battle After Another,” left, “Hamnet” and “Sinners.”
(Warner Bros. Pictures; Focus Features)
The 98th Academy Awards will broadcast Sunday at 4 p.m. Pacific. How many of the best picture nominees have you seen? Is it less than the number of think pieces you’ve read on Timothée Chalamet’s comments on ballet and opera? We’re here to help. If you’re feeling inspired to be a studious viewer ahead of film’s big night, here’s where you can stream the best picture nominees:
“Bugonia” (Peacock): Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the surreal comedy thriller follows a paranoid bee keeper (Jesse Plemons) who kidnaps a pharmaceutical CEO (Emma Stone), convinced she is an alien responsible for destroying humanity. The film received four Oscar nominations.
“F1” (Apple TV): From “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski, the sports drama stars Brad Pitt as retired F1 driver Sonny Hayes, who agrees to compete in the globe’s most prestigious racing event to salvage his reputation and the failing team of his buddy. The film received four Oscar nominations.
“Frankenstein” (Netflix): Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of the classic horror tale transforms Jacob Elordi into the tragic monster, known here as The Creature, and features Oscar Isaac as its titular mad maker. The film received nine Oscar nominations.
“Hamnet” (Peacock): Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, Chloé Zhao’s historical drama explores the grief, love and strained marriage of William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife, Agnes (Jessie Buckley). The film received eight Oscar nominations.
“Marty Supreme” (Available to rent or buy on platforms like Prime Video and Apple TV): Directed and co-written by Josh Safdie, the film is loosely based on the life of American table tennis player Marty Reisman, here called Marty Mauser and played by Timothée Chalamet. It is expected to be released on HBO Max later this spring. The film received nine Oscar nominations.
“One Battle After Another” (HBO Max): Paul Thomas Anderson’s satirical political thriller, a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland,” follows a paranoid ex-revolutionary (Leonardo DiCaprio) trying to save his daughter when an old enemy (Sean Penn) resurfaces. The film received 13 Oscar nominations.
“Sentimental Value” (Available to rent or buy on platforms like Prime Video and Apple TV): Joachim Trier’s Norwegian drama follows two sisters (played by Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) as they reunite with their estranged filmmaker father (Stellan Skarsgard). The film received nine Oscar nominations. It is expected to be released on Hulu later this month.
“Sinners” (HBO Max): Ryan Coogler’s gothic horror drama is set in 1932 Mississippi and follows twin brothers (played by Michael B. Jordan) who, trying to leave their troubled past behind them, return to their hometown to start anew — only to face new horrors. It became the most-nominated film in Academy Awards history with 16 total nominations.
“The Secret Agent” (Hulu, Disney+): Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, the Brazilian historical political thriller stars Wagner Moura as a former professor fleeing persecution during the 1970s military dictatorship while trying to protect his son. The film received four Oscar nominations.
“Train Dreams” (Netflix): Based on Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella of the same name, the film is an intimate birth-to-death portrait of a quiet railway laborer (Joel Edgerton) as he watches the world change around him. The film received four Oscar nominations.
Break down
Times staffers chew on the pop culture of the moment — love it, hate it or somewhere in between
It’s crazy to think that about six years ago, golden goblets, pods and “the experiment” were disparate ideas and objects that were on the precipice of infiltrating the culture. Now, you can’t think of one without the others. “Love Is Blind,” the reality dating show that tests the premise of whether singles can find love sight unseen and marry at the end, marked a milestone this year with its 10th season, filmed in Ohio.
While the series has produced a number of marriages and engagements, some have ended in breakups and divorce, as we saw on Wednesday’s Season 10 reunion. So while the answer to the question “Is love blind?” seems to be no, the series has nonetheless made for entertaining television for viewers who have made dissecting the people, fights and makeups a sport. Why are we so invested? Because it’s a reflection of where we are as a society when it comes to relationships and what we expect from partners emotionally, politically, physically and financially. With that in mind, Yvonne and I sat down with our golden goblets to unpack the Season 10 reunion. Here are five moments that stood out. — M.G.
Jordan and Amber are now divorced
Jordan Faeth and Amber Morrison were one of two couples to say “I do” at the altar. Morrison, a single mom, discussed with Faeth over the course of the show if he was ready to be a stepparent and where they would live, given that Morrison owned a home and her daughter was happy at her school. At the reunion, the couple revealed that they never moved in together and that they divorced after four months. Morrison talked about how her daughter was distraught after the breakup, leading to an emotional moment where Morrison ran offstage in tears. It raised an important question that fans have debated closely: Should parents be on the show? Seasons 6 and 9 also featured single parents, neither of whom made it to the altar. Given the compressed timeline of when people meet, become engaged and head to the altar, deciding whether marriage should include parenthood at the start adds another layer of complexity, not to mention how it could affect a child, who suddenly has a stranger in their life. The outcome wasn’t necessarily surprising, but it was sad.
Vic and Christine: boring but perfect. More, please
The other couple to make it down the aisle was Vic St. John and Christine Hamilton, who hit it off from the get-go and seemed to exist in their own blissful bubble. According to Netflix production, the show only budgets for six couples to go on a trip after the reveal and engagement. But they continued to track them, with St. John and Hamilton spending time in Malibu instead, taping dispatches together and getting to know each other without the rest of the cast in proximity. Throughout the course of the show, you see their connection grow. Their mature and thoughtful conversations about being an interracial couple and potentially raising biracial children were exactly the type of discussions you would hope they’d have before proceeding down the aisle. It may not make for dramatic TV, but it was genuinely thrilling to see a couple so well-suited for each other continuing to thrive. And in an effort to make up for not getting to go to Cabo, Mexico, with everyone else, the show offered them a trip paid by … Turbo Tax? It was an odd product placement, but if they want to foot the bill for their honeymoon, no one’s complaining. As long as it’s somewhere tropical on a beach — and not Lake Erie.
Who took accountability?
Despite not making it to the altar on screen after the blazer cape breakup, Connor Spies and Bri McNees are still together. But the bigger record-scratch moment arrived later, when it was revealed that Devonta Anderson broke up with Brittany Wicker a few days after what he told her was a work trip but was actually a getaway to Austin, Texas, to attend a concert with McNees, Ashley Carpenter and Priyanka Grandhi. Wicker didn’t seem thrilled that she had to find out about the trip from Amber (who found out from Jordan, who can’t remember that he even knew about it). McNees didn’t like the implication that she may have broken “girl code” with the whole fiasco — but if all the women are as close as they say they are, why wouldn’t you check in about such an arrangement regardless of the relationship status? (It was weird, too, that Connor thought it was a girls’ trip.) And the fact that it was the same three women who listened to Chris Fusco talk poorly about his former fiancée Jess Barrett — giant sigh. During the reunion, after Barrett voiced her disappointment in her friends about that incident, Carpenter apologized for not doing more to defend her in the moment.
Meanwhile, Nick unleashed his best attempt to channel Andy Cohen and grilled Fusco about his highly questionable behavior and the backlash over his comments to Barrett about her body, specifically stating he usually dates women who do Pilates or workout daily, and for trying to make the moves on McNees. Fusco, mostly quiet and stone-faced (could it be the shame?), acknowledged he was not proud of the moments he watched back and apologized to Barrett. His seat mate, goalkeeper Alex Henderson, was also on the defense. The self-proclaimed nomad never fully seem to vibe with his fiancée, Carpenter. He admitted she’s not his usual type. She still maintained he wasn’t telling the whole truth about his job or dating history, and overall lifestyle. Throughout his segment, Henderson was noticeably irritated by the insinuation that his stories didn’t add up. But he did seem to enjoy being asked to describe his relationship with Carpenter as if it was a soccer match, prompting him to cite a Liverpool game that ended in a tie. Are you laughing too?
Can this be a TikTok?
To commemorate the milestone season, the audience for the reunion special consisted of 150 former participants of the series. And while the time spent getting life updates with some of them throughout the show felt less forced and time-consuming than reunions past, it still felt like an add-on better suited to live in a separate (shorter) special or as social media content. If we wanted an update on these people’s lives, we can find them on social media. A gender reveal courtesy of someone’s dead grandmother, as sweet and touching and lovely as that may for an expectant couple, is not the sort of jaw-dropping moment a show like this needs. And maybe the money saved — assuming production footed the bill for those flights — could have sent every couple to Cabo.
Did you hear? Nick Lachey is from Ohio, guys.
His constant mention of his hometown roots was unquestionably the biggest declaration of love in the 90-minute special. Sorry, Vanessa.
Meanwhile, Lizzie (Sarah Dugdale) and Denny (Kai Bradbury) welcomed their baby daughter, but Lizzie began to struggle with post-natal anxiety.
Elsewhere, Brie Sheridan (Zibby Allen) and Brady (Ben Hollingsworth) were trying their best to get along as friends, but they were both in denial about their feelings for one another.
Also, Brie was on a mission to track down Charmaine Roberts (Lauren Hammersley), who had gone missing following a disturbing death. Here are just some of the major plot points from the finale.
Brady was in a motorcycle accident
The final moments of the season saw Brady on his way to meet Brie for breakfast after the pair rekindled their relationship.
While they had tried their best to remain just friends, Brie realised Brady was the only one who had made her feel alive and free.
They made their relationship official at a huge community event, and Brady was excited to spend the morning with his girlfriend.
However, whilst on his motorbike, he was distracted by thoughts of Brie and did not see a lorry approaching.
Viewers saw Brady come off his bike after it collided with the huge vehicle, but his ultimate fate remained a mystery.
Preacher wanted to leave Jack’s bar
Jack’s best friend and business partner, Preacher (Colin Lawrence), was keen to explore new opportunities at the bar and took on a whole new menu.
He was excited to share his vision of expanding the bar, but when he put the idea to Jack, he was not keen on taking such a big risk.
Feeling that Jack was unappreciative of his work, Preacher asked Jack to buy him out of the business so He could explore his own opportunities.
After some deliberation, Jack decided to grant Preacher his wish and draw up the paperwork, but it appeared Preacher was starting to have second thoughts.
Fans are still waiting to find out whether Preacher signed the paperwork, ultimately cutting ties with Jack and the business.
Roland confessed his love for Hope
Hope McCrea (Annette O’Toole) and Doc Mullins (Tim Matheson) ended up falling out after Doc began having second thoughts about partnering with the doctors at Grace Valley.
Feeling he had gone behind her back in making such an important decision, Hope stormed out on Doc and ended up spending time with her ex-husband, Roland (John Ralston).
During an emotional conversation, Roland revealed the truth about Hope’s father, who was the reason she had come to hate Roland so much, and it transpired that neither was to blame after all.
Roland eventually admitted he still loved Hope and helped her scatter her father’s ashes, so fans may be left wondering whether they will start to rekindle their romance.
Charmaine was kidnapped by Grant and he killed Calvin
A huge storyline in season seven was the disappearance of Charmaine after it was revealed her ex Calvin (Josh Blacker) had been shot and killed.
It transpired that Charmaine’s boss, Grant, had developed an obsession with Charmaine, and they had clearly spent a lot of time together.
Recalling the events of the night of Calvin’s death, Grant, who was holding a gun, revealed Calvin had not wanted him around the babies, and he had come to Charmaine’s house to threaten her.
As Calvin and Charmaine got into an altercation, Grant shot and killed Calvin in order to protect Charmaine. Grant was ultimately arrested for killing Calvin and kidnapping Charmaine and the twins.
Marley’s baby was born with a rare heart defect
Mel’s patient Marley (Rachel Drance) had spent the entire season debating whether or not she wanted Mel and Jack to be the parents of her unborn child.
After the baby’s father came back into her life, the pair decided they were not ready to have a child and agreed Mel and Jack could keep the baby once it had been born.
In a tragic twist, it was discovered that the baby had a rare heart defect that he would need to have a series of operations.
Marley was whisked off to the hospital the next day, and Mel helped deliver the baby, who was then taken off in an ambulance with Mel and Jack present.
Fans were left wondering whether the baby would recover.
Virgin River season 7 is on Netflix
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Lakers center Deandre Ayton shoots over the Timberwolves’ defense on Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena.
(Ethan Swope / Associated Press)
With 33 missed shots between both teams in the first quarter, Deandre Ayton certainly had plenty of opportunities for rebounds, and the 7-foot center made the most of them.
Ayton almost single-handedly kept the Lakers in contention in the first half, scoring 12 of his 14 points in the second quarter and had a first-half double-double with 11 rebounds.
Ayton, who was scoreless in the first quarter but had six rebounds, scored three of his first four baskets off offensive rebounds. The only exception came when Reaves drove in the lane, wrapped a pass around his back as he found Ayton cutting down the lane for a vicious two-handed dunk. The crowd roared.
“He was a monster,” said Reaves, who had 31 points and eight assists. “… He was the only person scoring for us efficiently and then just being high energy on the other end, just doing what he does. That’s what we need him to do. When he does that, we’re a different team and we’re thankful to have him.”
Ayton’s effort has waned throughout the season, sometimes resulting in him getting benched late in games. But he provided major lifts in marquee wins against the Knicks (six points, eight rebounds) and Timberwolves to earn the confidence and trust of his teammates.
The Lakers needed Ayton at his best after backup centers Jaxson Hayes (back soreness) and Maxi Kleber (lumbar back strain) were ruled out of the game about 15 minutes before tip-off. Hayes was starring in his reserve role in recent weeks, bringing much-needed energy off the bench and a seamless connection with Doncic, but hearing that Ayton would have to hold down the front line by himself gave the former No. 1 draft pick extra motivation.
“I know I’m the only big,” Ayton said, “so I try my best to stay out there as long as possible, especially down the stretch.”
PHOENIX — When he was selected with the 13th pick of the 2024 MLB draft, outfielder James Tibbs III envisioned himself roaming the outfield of Oracle Park in a San Francisco Giants uniform for many years.
He could never have foreseen that a year and a half later, he’d be playing for a longtime Giants rival, already at the third stop of his young career.
The Giants packaged Tibbs along with Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks and Jose Bello in a trade to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for three-time All-Star Rafael Devers last June.
A month and a half later, Tibbs’ life was uprooted yet again, as the Red Sox moved him and Zach Ehrhard to the Dodgers in a trade for Dustin May.
MLB Pipeline prospect analyst Jim Callis has covered the draft for over 30 years, and can’t recall a situation quite like it.
“Tibbs is the only player I can think of who was taken in the top half of the first round and then traded twice during his first full pro season,” Callis said. “He really took off after joining the Dodgers, and I bet we see more consistency out of him when he’s not bouncing between [organizations] in 2026.”
Tibbs seems to have found a comfortable landing spot with the Dodgers. He posted seven home runs, 32 RBI and a .269/.407/.900 slash line over his 36 games in the Dodgers organization, rounding out his season at double-A Tulsa. And during his first camp with the Dodgers, Tibbs has turned heads. Through 15 Cactus League games, he’s hit two home runs, batting .281, with a .351 on-base percentage and .914 OPS.
He likely won’t open the season on the Dodgers’ big-league roster, but manager Dave Roberts sees his potential.
“I like James Tibbs,” Roberts said. “I like him a lot. He loves baseball, he is obsessed with getting better at the game and he just fits who I am as a baseball coach, and the players that we want, so he’s going to play in the big leagues. He’s a championship-type player.”
Tibbs was thrown for a loop by both trades, and taught him a lesson about facing adversity.
“Honestly, I might be one of the first first-round draft picks to be traded twice in their first year,” Tibbs said. “For me it was hard. I’m not going to sugarcoat it; it was hard. And really, mentally draining. [I] felt like I got punched in the face a bunch of times, and really had to learn how to get back up, and keep competing, and figure out how to be true to myself, and true to what I do well.”
Tibbs said that joining the Dodgers helped him to rediscover himself and return to his form from his time at Florida State.
“[When I joined the Dodgers, they] were like, ‘Hey, you know, we just want you to be yourself,” Tibbs said. “We want you to do what you need to do to be successful. Like, we believe in you, we believe in what you did in college. We want you to get that back and be able to be successful with how you swing the bat and how you play defense, and like, we don’t want to take that away from you.’ So obviously, there was tweaks being made, and there was things we needed to change a little bit to get to that spot, but I think for the most part, they just allowed me to be me and work within those boundaries to help figure out how to continue to make that better and better and better.
“And with that being said, I just felt a lot of relief from that.”
Tibbs clubbed 28 home runs in his junior year at Florida State, powering the Seminoles to their first College World Series trip since 2019. He received ACC Player of the Year and consensus First-Team All-American honors.
“Tibbs was one of the best offensive prospects in a loaded 2024 college class,” Callis said. “He makes good swing decisions and hits balls hard, giving him the ingredients to hit for average and power. Most of his value will come from his bat, but it’s a potentially potent bat.”
For now, Tibbs is content to be fulfilling his potential with one organization.
“Props to the Dodgers, they did everything they could to help me transition to that smoothly and make that a better process,” Tibbs said. “And it’s been a lot easier for me to go out and play every night, with the way that they’ve encouraged me and believed in me. It’s just been a blessing to be here.”
CHICAGO — The eventual end of the USC men’s basketball season came the same way that it fizzled out during the past month, with yet another second-half collapse that featured the added pain of overtime.
The Trojans led the Huskies by 13 in the second half and had chances to win at the end of regulation and overtime, only to miss all three potential game-winning or game-tying shots and go 2-for-5 from the free-throw line in overtime. For a team that was once in NCAA tournament consideration before stumbling, that failure to finish was a persistent flaw.
USC guard Alijah Arenas talks with coach Eric Musselman during the Trojans’ loss to the Huskies in the Big Ten tournament on Wednesday in Chicago.
(Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
“That’s been the story of our last eight games,” Musselman said. “I think we’ve led at halftime four of our last eight games, and as a group, we haven’t figured out how to close games, the last 20 minutes with a lead. It’s a disappointing last eight games of the season. I thought up until that point we played good basketball.”
With the Trojans likely to decline any postseason invitation, Musselman said, he was headed to the team hotel Tuesday night to get back to work filling out next season’s recruiting class, starting with more freshmen before the transfer portal officially opens next month.
That group already includes two top-30 recruits in the Ratliff twins, Adonis and Darius, but if USC learned anything from the way this season ended, all too similar to the way last season ended, it’s that whatever depth and talent Musselman has assembled in his two years at USC hasn’t been enough, whether that’s freshmen or transfers.
“We want a blend of both,” Musselman said. “It’s early in our tenure, and we’ve got to figure out a way to get better than what we’ve done the last two years.”
Tuesday, the Trojans had no shortage of chances to fend off the end.
They had a double-digit lead with 13 minutes to play. They had the ball at the end of regulation with the score tied. They had a chance to win it in overtime and were gifted a last-chance shot to tie it.
They missed all three pivotal shots — the first two by Kam Woods, the last a 3-pointer by Jordan Marsh — to see a game they once led comfortably slip away again and again.
“On the last one, I feel like I missed Ezra [Ausar] on that cut,” said Woods, a grad transfer who joined the team in midseason. “Coach trusted me with the ball in my hands, and I feel like I let him down.”
Woods finished with 24 points while Jacob Cofie scored 14, Marsh 13 and Ausar and Ryan Cornish 10 each for 13th-seeded USC (18-14) as the 12th-seeded Huskies (16-16) beat the Trojans for the third time this season.
Freshman Alijah Arenas, who led the Trojans in scoring in both games without Baker-Mazara, was held to six points on 3-for-10 shooting and sat out the final six minutes of regulation and all but eight seconds of overtime. Musselman said that was his decision, as was the virtual absence of senior Terrance Williams, who played only one minute.
That left USC with what was essentially a six-player rotation to conclude a season that began without the injured Arenas and ended without Rodney Rice and Amarion Dickerson, both hurt, as well as the departed Baker-Mazara — all of which factored into Musselman’s position on any postseason plans.
“I haven’t had in-depth conversations with the administration yet about that, but I would assume we’re not going to play, just based on the number of bodies and how we played the last eight games,” Musselman said.
It was not all that long ago that USC was thinking about the NCAA tournament. Winners of the Maui Invitational, USC was 18-6 and above .500 in the Big Ten standings after a February 8 win at Penn State, solidly in a workable position on the NCAA tournament bubble.
But as the injuries mounted and momentum waned, second-half struggles just like the Trojans’ on Tuesday became an increasingly fatal flaw as they slumped to their longest losing streak in a decade. The loss to Washington compounded the misery of a second straight frustrating season, in familiar fashion.
“As a team, we faced a lot of adversity,” Cofie said. “I felt like we did a good job sticking with it and trying to play for each other. We had to deal with a lot of injuries. I felt like that played a huge deal in it. We still fought. We tried our best.”
