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A few weeks ago, Katie Porter’s campaign for California governor was reeling. A day after an irritable TV interview went viral, an old video surfaced of the former Orange County congresswoman cursing and berating one of her aides.

Around the same time, the race for U.S. Senate in Maine was shaken by a number of disturbing online posts. In them, Democratic hopeful Graham Platner disparaged police and Black people, among other crude remarks. Soon after, it was revealed Platner had a chest tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol.

Meanwhile, in Virginia, several old text messages swallowed attorney general nominee Jay Jones in a cumulus of controversy. The Democrat had joked about shooting the Republican leader of the state House and blithely spoken of watching his children die in their mother’s arms.

Once — say, 20 or 30 years ago — those blow-ups might have been enough to chase each of those embattled candidates from their respective races, and maybe even end their political careers altogether.

But in California, Porter has pressed on and remains in the top tier of the crowded gubernatorial field. In Maine, Platner continues to draw large, enthusiastic crowds and leads polling in the Democratic primary. In Virginia, Jones was just elected attorney general, defeating his Republican opponent by a comfortable margin.

Clearly, things have changed.

Actions that once caused eyes to widen, such as the recreational puffs of marijuana that cost appeals court judge Douglas Ginsburg a Supreme Court seat under President Reagan, now seem quaint. Personal indiscretions once seen as disqualifying, such as the extramarital affair that chased Gary Hart from the 1988 presidential race, scarcely raise an eyebrow.

Gary Hart quit the 1988 presidential race soon after reports surfaced of an extramarital affair. He later unsuccessfully jumped back into the contest.

(Getty Images)

And the old political playbook — confession, contrition, capitulation — is obviously no longer operative, as candidates find it not only possible but even advantageous to brazen their way through storms of uproar and opprobrium.

Look no further than the extravagantly checkered occupant of the White House. Donald Trump has seemingly survived more controversies — not to mention two impeachments, an $83.3-million judgment in a sexual abuse and defamation case and conviction on 34 felony counts — than there are stars winking in the nighttime sky.

Bill Carrick has spent decades strategizing for Democratic office-seekers. A generation or so ago, if faced with a serious scandal, he would have told his candidate, “This is not going to be sustainable and you just better get out.” But now, Carrick said, “I would be very reluctant to tell somebody that, unless there was evidence they had murdered or kidnapped somebody, or robbed a bank.”

Kevin Madden, a veteran Republican communications strategist, agreed. Surrender has become passe. Survival is the new fallback mode.

“The one thing that many politicians of both parties have learned is that there is an opportunity to grind it out, to ride the storm out,” Madden said. “If you think a news issue is going viral or becoming the topic everyone’s talking about, just wait. A new scandal … or a new shiny object will be along.”

One reason for the changing nature of political scandal, and its prognosis, is the way we now take in information, both selectively and in bulk.

With the chance to personally curate their news feed — and reinforce their attitude and outlook — people can select those things they wish to know about, and choose those they care to ignore. With such fragmentation, it’s much harder for a negative storyline to reach critical mass. That requires a mass audience.

“A lot of scandals may not have the impact that they once had because people are in these silos or echo chambers,” said Scott Basinger, a University of Houston political scientist who’s extensively studied the nature of political scandal. “They may not even hear about it, if they don’t want to hear about it.”

The sheer velocity of information — “not only delivered to you on your doorstep, or at 6:30 p.m. by the three networks, but also in your pocket, in your hand at all times, across multiple platforms,” as Madden put it — also makes events more fleeting. That makes it harder for any one to penetrate deeply or resonate widely.

“In a world where there’s a wealth of information,” he said, “there’s a poverty of attention.”

Seven months after abruptly dropping out of the 1988 presidential race, Hart jumped back into the contest. “Let’s let the people decide,” he said, after confessing his marital sins.

(He also said in the same interview, a few months before relaunching his candidacy, that he had no intention of doing so.)

Hart did not fare well. Once he’d been the overwhelming front-runner for the Democratic nomination. As a reincarnated candidate, he trudged on for a few months before dropping out for good, having failed to secure a single convention delegate or win double-digit support in any contest.

“The people have decided,” he said, “and now I should not go forward.”

That’s how it should be.

Porter in California and Platner in Maine both faced calls to drop out of their respective races, with critics questioning their conduct and whether they had the right temperament to serve, respectively, as California governor or a U.S. senator. Each has expressed contrition for their actions. (As did Jones, Virginia’s attorney general-elect.)

Voters can take all that into account when they pick their candidate.

If they want a governor who drops f-bombs and snaps at aides, a senator with a history of off-putting remarks or — gulp — an adulterous convicted felon in the White House, that’s their choice.

Let the people decide.

During each of his last two Decembers at USC, Lincoln Riley faced a critical decision at quarterback: Pursue a new passer in the portal or trust the one who’s next in line?

In each case, Riley has opted to keep with the known quantity. But as his fourth regular season at USC comes to a close Saturday against UCLA, the coach could face a more complicated conundrum at the position this offseason.

Run it back with Jayden Maiava, who statistically has been one of the more accomplished passers in college football this season? Or turn the page to electric five-star freshman Husan Longstreet, who might not be willing to wait much longer for his shot as USC’s starting quarterback?

It’s a question that has confounded many college football coaches during the transfer portal era, as the notion of a top quarterback prospect patiently waiting his turn to be named a starter has become increasingly rare. Of the top dozen quarterbacks in the class of 2024, six have already transferred. From 2023, it’s seven of the top 12. From 2022, it’s eight. And of those who do stay, only a handful were still waiting to start as sophomores.

USC quarterback Jayden Maiava looks for an open receiver during a win over Michigan at the Coliseum on Oct. 11.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

It’s not clear yet if that’ll be the case with Longstreet. But this week, Riley made a clear plea for the young passer’s patience when asked about the challenge of convincing a top prospect to stick around in a reserve role.

“For any player, especially a quarterback, I don’t know if this would be the right time to leave this place,” Riley said. “This thing is getting pretty good. And I think a lot of people recognize that, both in what we have now and what we’re bringing in, where this thing is going.”

Speaking to Longstreet’s situation, Riley pointed to his track record with quarterbacks who waited their turn.

“Other than Jalen Hurts, we haven’t had any quarterback that’s come in and was the guy right away,” Riley said. “Every one of them, all the guys that did all the things, they all had that time. And if you ask them now, maybe then they wanted to be playing of course, the competitor in them. But if you ask them now, they’re all damn happy they had time and it made a big difference. Because when it became their time, they were ready.”

USC quarterback Husan Longstreet scores a touchdown against the Missouri State at the Coliseum on Aug. 30.

(Luke Hales/Getty Images)

Maiava, of course, has been more than just a mere caretaker. After all, he leads the Big Ten in passing yards per game this season (3,174), while also leading USC in rushing touchdowns (6). With Maiava and his cannon arm at the helm, USC’s offense has returned to its right place as one of college football’s most explosive outfits, producing 51 plays of 20-plus yards this season, fourth-most in the nation.

On paper, there’s no reason to think Riley would be eager to replace Maiava, who has rejuvenated both the read-option game and the downfield aspect of his offense since taking over for Miller Moss last season. But the conversation about USC’s future at the position was complicated by the second half of the season, during which Maiava stumbled against stiffer competition.

During the Trojans’ first six games, Maiava appeared to have taken a major step forward. He was completing 72% of his passes, up 12% from the previous year. He was averaging an eye-popping 11 yards per attempt, two yards better than Caleb Williams in his Heisman-winning season. Plus, after vowing to cut down on turnovers, Maiava had only thrown two interceptions over those six games, showcasing a much better grasp of the game and Riley’s offense.

“A very high percentage of our plays, he knows what to do and where to go with the ball,” Riley said. “He’s very comfortable with what we’re doing. Very focused, confident on his reads. That’s why he’s been so efficient all year.”

The strong start garnered serious NFL interest. Pro Football Focus just recently ranked Maiava as the No. 5 draft-eligible quarterback in the upcoming draft. But his second half of the season has begged some questions — not just about whether Maiava is ready to declare for the draft, but whether he’s the right quarterback for Riley to prioritize heading into next season.

Up against three of the nation’s top 11 defenses in pass yards allowed — Oregon, Iowa and Nebraska — Maiava keeps up the same consistency from the season’s first half. His completion rate, through his last five outings, sits just above 59% — lower than it was during his 2024 stint as USC’s starter. Maiava’s turnovers have also tripled during that stretch (6), while he’s averaging more than three yards fewer per attempt (7.64)

Riley said Tuesday that Maiava’s inconsistencies of late were due to the caliber of defenses he’s faced — and circumstances that forced USC’s offense to be aggressive downfield.

“We’ve continued to score points and win games and have one of the best offenses in the country, and he’s been a big part of that,” Riley said. “He’s still learning. He can play better. But he’s continuing to give us chances to win every week.”

USC quarterback Jayden Maiava gestures to teammates during a win over Iowa on Nov. 15.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

He’ll also have the chance in the coming weeks to consider if he wants to enter the NFL draft.

In the meantime, Longstreet will continue to watch dutifully as the No. 2 quarterback. He’s appeared in four games, completing 13 of 15 passes, on his way to a redshirt season. That time waiting, Riley said, has been essential.

“This has been such a valuable year for him — to serve as a backup quarterback, to learn, to just kind of be there to see all of these things transpire,” Riley said. “These are just things you can’t simulate. It gives you an opportunity to watch these different situations, how they happen, be able to go back, like, ‘What would you do? How would you handle it?’

“The hope is maybe you learn, ‘All right, I wasn’t the one playing, but when I am, I know exactly what I need to do or what I don’t need to do.’ It might be about on the field. It might be about leadership. It might be about a number of different things.”

USC quarterback Husan Longstreet is pushed out of bounds by Illinois’ Miles Scott at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 27 in Champaign, Ill.

(Justin Casterline / Getty Images)

When Longstreet will get a chance to put that knowledge to use remains to be seen. But his teammates at USC have been impressed so far by what they’ve seen from the freshman.

“Husan is a machine, for real,” said freshman Tanook Hines. “He throwing that thing about 80 [yards], then turn around and run 4.3, 4.2.”

Others were even more encouraging of the quarterback they hope stays a part of USC’s plans.

“He’s destined for greatness,” guard Kaylon Miller said of Longstreet. “Every single time I see him out there, I tell him, keep doing your thing. You keep going on the route you are right now, you’re going to be great.”

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who needs zone-out time while spending the holiday with family.

Whether you’re planning to get lazy on the couch together to alleviate your food coma, need to escape the latest round of anxiety-inducing conversation at the dinner table, or just want a streaming companion while feasting on leftovers in the days that follow the holiday, this special Thanksgiving edition of The Times’ weekly guide to at-home viewing has you covered. Just be warned: You must provide your own stretchy waistbands.

Below, find 12ish films and TV shows released this year that our pop culture experts at The Times are looking forward to catching up on this weekend. Gobble, gobble.

“Being Eddie” (Netflix)

A still of Eddie Murphy with his brothers, Vernon Lynch Jr. and Charlie Murphy, in Netflix’s “Being Eddie.”

(Eddie Murphy / Netflix)

For anyone who came of age in the ’80s inhaling comedy, Netflix’s new Eddie Murphy documentary hits a very particular nostalgia vein. Murphy wasn’t just another comedian; he was part of the glue that held Gen X together, the soundtrack to sleepovers, school hallways, summer camps and every half-rewound tape in the house. You passed around VHS copies of “Delirious” and “Raw,” their very pre-PC bits the kind of thing you quoted under your breath in class. You watched “48 Hrs.,” “Trading Places,” “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Coming to America” on a loop, and you mimicked his “Saturday Night Live” creations — Gumby, Mr. Robinson, Buckwheat — on playgrounds, at bus stops, anywhere kids gathered long enough to goof off. Murphy’s magnetism, timing and swagger helped turn him into a new kind of Black Hollywood superstar, and even with the inevitable peaks (“Shrek,” “The Nutty Professor,” “Bowfinger,” “Dreamgirls”) and valleys (“The Adventures of Pluto Nash,” “Norbit”), he carried that stardom across decades. This is more of a victory-lap retrospective than a warts-and-all documentary, and now 64, the famously private Murphy has never been one to reveal much anyway. But when I spoke with him nearly a decade ago while he was promoting the drama “Mr. Church” — candid, funny and strikingly self-aware about fame and longevity — it was a reminder that when he does open the door a bit, he can be as compelling offstage as on. If even a bit of that Murphy turns up here, “Being Eddie” might give us something we rarely get: Eddie talking like Eddie. — Josh Rottenberg

“Eddington” (HBO Max)

Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal in a scene from “Eddington.”

(A24)

Few films are as purpose-built to start arguments within a family as Ari Aster’s “Eddington.” (And even if you already saw the movie when it was released earlier in the year, it bears repeat viewing, especially in the context of the holidays.) Part contemporary Western, part social satire, the film will bring out PTSD vibes for its heightened, tense reenactment of the very specific mania of the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The mayor (Pedro Pascal) and sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) of a small New Mexico town find themselves at odds over a variety of issues, as a tech company’s push to build a data center in the area looms over everything. If you think your weird relative has some strange ideas about the way the world works, fire up “Eddington” to really put them through their paces, as the film’s “everybody’s wrong” mindset is designed to expose the madness within us all. — Mark Olsen

“Nouvelle Vague” (Netflix), Directed by Jacques Rozier collection (The Criterion Channel)

Zoey Deutch as actress Jean Seberg in “Nouvelle Vague.”

(Photo from Netflix)

I’m not one for biopics, but as a person who owns “Slacker” on Blu-ray and has worn out a 1998 special issue of Cahiers du Cinéma focusing on the French New Wave, I was excited by the notion of Richard Linklater, the most European of American directors, re-creating the creation of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 breakthrough film “Breathless.” Appropriately presented in French, in period black-and-white and in the 4:3 aspect ratio, with look-alike stand-ins for Godard (Guillaume Marbeck) and stars Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch) and Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin), “Nouvelle Vague” looks like a cinephile’s dream. I’ll watch it as a curtain raiser for my continuing exploration of the Criterion Channel’s celebration of director Jacques Rozier, whose long-form fictional films feel like cinéma vérité and whose 1963 “Paparazzi” documents the making of Godard’s “Contempt” and the news photographers fighting to get a shot of Brigitte Bardot. — Robert Lloyd

“KPop Demon Hunters” (Netflix)

Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation’s hit movie “KPop Demon Hunters” has gained a massive following since it was released in June.

(Netflix)

Is this the weekend I finally watch? That would be smart. I’ve already been berated by several scowling tweens, not to mention a few Oscar prognosticators, serene in their conviction that Netflix’s massive viral hit will leave the ceremony golden. Four of the animated movie’s earworms have cracked the Billboard Top 10 at the same time, a feat that could make a Gibb brother green with envy. In preparation for voting in some critics’ organizations, I’ll stream the movie at home, though I’m already wishing I’d gone to one of the film’s many sing-along screenings, just to feel the phenomenon firsthand. If you no longer recognize me on the other side, call it an occupational hazard. I’m done hiding, now I’m shining, like I’m born to be. — Joshua Rothkopf

“Billy Joel: And So It Goes” (HBO Max)

Billy Joel in concert circa 1977 as seen in “Billy Joel: And So It Goes.”

(HBO)

I have caught a few bits and pieces of this documentary while flipping channels, and always quickly switch it off. I’ve been a huge Billy Joel fan since “The Stranger” album and have seen him in concert a few times, including the show when he ripped up the Los Angeles Times’ review by music critic Robert Hilburn. The documentary is two parts and nearly five hours long, so I was determined to give it my full attention. Billy Joel is one of pop music’s treasures, and the ups and downs of his personal life should make for fascinating viewing. The bonus will be diving into the 155-track (!!!) playlist on Spotify that is a companion to the documentary. (HBO Max) — Greg Braxton

“Pluribus” (Apple TV)

Rhea Seehorn in “Pluribus.”

(Apple TV+)

Rhea Seehorn as a cranky, cynical, misanthropic writer who remains mysteriously immune, and super-angry, when an alien-generated RNA virus turns the world into one huge seemingly calm and helpful collective consciousness? Sign me right up. As Robert Lloyd points out in his excellent review, the hive mind is the most terrifying of all the sci-fi premises. The universal niceness that results here also seems very much at odds with it being a melting pot of all human experience so I can’t wait to see what creator Vince Gilligan (“Breaking Bad”) is going to do with that. But early glimpses of Seehorn’s Carol fighting for her, and humanity’s, right to be prickly and pissed off promises all kinds of insights into the difference between empathy and sedation, not to mention a fabulous chance to watch Seehorn shine as one of many women on TV today who are willing to state the obvious even when it appears no one is listening. — Mary McNamara

“Paradise” (Hulu, Disney +)

James Marsden and Sterling K. Brown in a scene from “Paradise.”

(Brian Roedel / Disney)

This Hulu drama caught my attention when it hit the streamer early this year, but at the time, I was already knee-deep in theories about Lumon as I dove into the second season of “Severance.” I couldn’t handle a political conspiracy thriller on top of that. Created by Dan Fogelman (“This Is Us,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love”), the series stars Sterling K. Brown as Xavier Collins, a secret service agent accused of killing the president, Cal Bradford (James Marsden). The murder and the search for the true killer unfold inside an underground community after a massive catastrophe threatens the extinction of the human race. So, that’s obviously a lot. But I’m never one to turn down a series that keeps you guessing — and my colleague Robert Lloyd confirmed in his review that this one does just that. I’ve also had enough people whose taste I trust recommend “Paradise” to me that I think it’s time to tune in. And it’s getting a second season that’s expected to arrive sometime in 2026. If anything, I’m just curious to see Fogelman’s take on this genre. Plus, I’ll watch anything Marsden or Brown are in. — Kaitlyn Huamani

“Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake” (HBO Max)

A still from Season 2 of “Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake.”

(HBO)

What’s Friendsgiving if not a time to reconnect with longtime pals who you might not get to see as often as you like? That’s why I’ll be spending my long weekend catching up on Season 2 of “Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake.” This spinoff of the acclaimed Cartoon Network series features gender-swapped versions of beloved “Adventure Time” characters — Finn and Jake — who are endearing in their own right. The first season of the show involved Fionna, a young woman with an unfulfilling job living paycheck to paycheck along with her pet cat, Cake, discovering that her world was an unauthorized creation of a cosmic entity. The pair then set off on a magical, multiversal journey to save it. There’s admittedly quite a bit of “Adventure Time” lore involved, but yearning for a fantastic escape from the daily stresses of a fairly mundane life is pretty relatable even if you aren’t personally acquainted with recovering ice wizards. The show is charming and weird and all about friendship — a cozy comfort I am definitely looking forward to getting wrapped up in again. — Tracy Brown

“Companion” (HBO Max, Prime Video)

Sophie Thatcher in the sci-fi thriller “Companion.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

The poster for “Companion” put me off due to a personal jinx: I don’t trust horror movies where the heroine has perfect hair. Usually, I dodge some dreck. But all year long, people have elbowed me to catch up with Drew Hancock’s debut about a nervous beauty (“Yellowjackets’” Sophie Thatcher) stuck in a vacation house with her newish boyfriend (Jack Quaid) and his cruel and snobby best pals. Produced by Zach Cregger of “Barbarian” and “Weapons,” it’s apparently an energetic, empathetic thriller packed with twists. If you like watching movies blank (as I do), don’t Google it. Spoilers abound. But “Companion” is streaming, and has been on every in-flight entertainment system I’ve come across since May. Assuming it lives up to the buzz, I may have to rewire my own codes. — Amy Nicholson

“All Her Fault” (Peacock)

In the series, Dakota Fanning and Sarah Snook play working mothers Jenny and Marissa.

(Peacock)

Upper-class mess is my favorite genre of TV. So I’ve been desperate to dig into this series that people in my orbit promise is one of this year’s most addicting shows. Based on a novel by Andrea Mara, the psychological thriller stars Sarah Snook as a mom who goes to pick up her son from a play date, only to be greeted by a stranger who claims there is no one there by that name. Uh, what? Twists and turns ensue from there in this deep dive of what it’s like being a working mother. Spoiler alert: It apparently gives a striking portrayal of male ego and incompetence, and how that shapes the lives of women around them. Gee, wonder what that’s like. The series also stars Dakota Fanning, Jake Lacy and Jay Ellis. — Yvonne Villarreal

“The Chair Company” (HBO Max)

Tim Robinson stars in HBO’s “The Chair Company.”

(Sarah Shatz / HBO)

Have you ever been slighted at work? Did you ever think it was part of a conspiracy to take you down? If the answer is no, you might be a normal person and this show may not be for you. But if you’ve ever wondered if something small could be much bigger, and if you get some sick satisfaction from going down rabbit holes on the internet to find answers to your questions, then this show is for you. “The Chair Company” is the latest series to come from comedic writers Zach Kanin and Tim Robinson, who stars as Ron, a man who becomes obsessed with reaching the manufacturer of the office chair he unexpectedly broke, leading him down a bizarre path involving an empty warehouse, a giant red ball and Jeeps. With the finale airing Sunday, it’s the perfect time to catch up on the show (episodes are only a half hour each). It’s already been renewed for a second season, which makes me wonder if we’ll get to the bottom of Ron’s mystery or if the chair will be pulled out from under us. — Maira Garcia

SAN FRANCISCO — Maybe it’s time to worry.

Some uneven play from UCLA over the season’s first few weeks could be shrugged off as a team filled with new players finding its footing.

But there was no reasonable explanation for what happened Tuesday night.

Playing a former Pac-12 rival in a matchup that should have stirred some intensity, the Bruins instead looked like they had little interest in being here.

Passion wasn’t a problem for California. The Golden Bears were the tougher and more determined team in handing the No. 18 Bruins an 80-72 loss in the Empire Classic at Chase Center.

Things bottomed out with about two minutes to go when UCLA point guard Donovan Dent went down with an apparent lower leg injury and limped off the court.

The Bruins’ comeback hopes formally ended when Cal’s Dai Dai Ames unleashed a crossover move that he followed with a three-pointer to give the Golden Bears an eight-point lead with 1:24 remaining.

Most concerning for UCLA were the continued struggles of Dent. The transfer from New Mexico who arrived with great fanfare has hardly looked like a top-level player through the season’s first month.

His showing Tuesday represented a new low. He never looked comfortable on the court while making just one of eight shots on the way to three points and committing nearly as many turnovers (six) as assists (seven). His season-long shooting woes are particularly acute at the three-point line (10%) and free-throw line (56.7%).

UCLA’s Trent Perry scored 19 points and Eric Dailey Jr. had 17, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Bruins (5-2) allowed the Golden Bears (6-1) to make 11 of 22 three-pointers (50%).

Big trouble loomed for the Bruins when Chris Bell (22 points) rose for a corner three-pointer that gave Cal a 65-53 lead with 9:29 left, prompting UCLA coach Mick Cronin to go to his only reliable tool, a timeout.

His team rallied, pulling within 71-67 with a little less than five minutes to play on a corner three-pointer from Jamar Brown. UCLA center Xavier Booker then got the large contingent of Bruins fans roaring with a ferocious block. That was as good as it got for the Bruins.

UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau, the team’s leading scorer, missed his second consecutive game with a knee sprain that could keep him out another week or so. But he appeared to be moving well while getting in some pregame dribbling work with assistant coach David Singleton.

An entertaining, if not crisply played, first half ended with UCLA holding a 41-36 lead. With Dent’s funk deepening with a one-point effort in which he missed all three shots, Perry stepped up with 12 points off the bench to lead the Bruins.

Aggressively attacking the basket, Perry rewarded fans who had unleashed a loud “U-C-L-A!” chant with an old-fashioned three-point play on a driving layup in which he was fouled. The Bruins went with a four-guard lineup for a stretch late in the first half that seemed to stabilize things after Dailey struggled with his shot selection and forward Brandon Williams picked up two fouls.

Dent, the guard that UCLA needs most, still has not showed up this season in the fashion expected. Now there’s an injury to add to the list of worries.

There was a time when KevOnStage was a very literal description of comedian Kevin Fredericks as a hungry comedian looking for stage time. These days, he might as well be called KevOnEverything. You can find him cracking jokes on live comedy tours, TV sketch shows, books, podcasts and just about every social media platform you care about. From books like his 2025 New York Times bestseller “Successful Failure” to his latest podcast, “Not My Best Moment,” the idea has always been about forward momentum to breed a funny brand that, just like his name, continues to stick with a sense of humor that ultimately succeeds at being relatable.

Moving from Washington state to L.A. with his wife and kids to fulfill his comedy dreams, he focused his comedy on the Black church and family life in a way that hadn’t been done before. The result was his breakout success with the show “Churchy” that started as a self-funded series that was picked up by BET and recently ran through its second season. It created a lane for him to expand his content universe with sketch shows like “The Hospital” and “Safe Space” on Tubi that allows him to retain creative control and put on more comedians working with veteran stand-ups like Tahir Moore and Tony Baker. The latter is his podcasting partner in crime whom he’s been touring with on the Bald Brothers comedy tour which wraps up in L.A. at the Wiltern on Sunday. Recently we spoke to KevOnStage about the secret to building his comedy brand — by being everywhere.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

I love that this is a year where so much is happening for you from so many angles.

It’s wild.

You’re KevOnStage, KevOnPodcasts, KevOnBooks, KevOnTV …

[Laughs] Literally KevOnEverything.

When did you decide to go from being Kevin Fredericks — working a regular job and doing comedy on the side — to becoming “KevOnStage”?

I was working at the Spanaway [Washington] branch of Key Bank and I was on Twitter. This must have been 2009 — very early on Twitter. And people were just making jokes and people were getting fired [from their jobs over their jokes on Twitter]. People would not like a joke you said, search your name, Google you, find out where you worked and email like your boss, and people were getting fired. And I was like, “I can’t afford to lose my job over some ports take.” So I’m gonna take my full actual government name out of my handle, which was just Kevin Fredericks at the time. And I was like, “I’m Kev and I be on stage.” And that was literally as much thought as I put into it. I was just not trying to be easily found and fired. So I switched my handle to KevOnStage because I was doing stand-up all the time at that time and it stuck. Hindsight being 20/20, I would have just kept Kevin Fredericks, which was my Facebook name, but I think KevOnStage is cool as a moniker. I’m trying to be like Beyoncé, Bono, Sting, Oprah, KevOnStage — one name. People think my actual name is Kevon because of that. If they think that, then I know they found me because of the internet. Which is also fine. As long as people know me, it doesn’t bother me.

KevOnStage with Tony Baker on the Bald Brothers comedy tour.

(Joshua Gonzales )

When did you really find your tribe of comedians in Washington state that you still hang out with today?

In Washington state there was only really like Nate Jackson, he was the only working comedian who was working nationally. In Washington it was me, Nate, Big Irish Jay, a comedian named Terrence — those are the only people that were kind of doing comedy consistently. And then we had the Bay Area Black Comedy Competition, I don’t remember what year it was, and I met Lance Woods, who I’m still cool with. But then when I moved [to L.A.], that’s when I met Tony Baker and Tahir Moore through All Def Comedy. Because I didn’t really do stand-up on stage that much when I first moved to L.A. My wife was like, “we’re not gonna move to L.A. and then you’re on stage four or five nights a week.” And it was hard to get on stage … you have to go and hang out, go to Denny’s and like hang out all night. And [my wife] was not going for it and I had small children who had to go to school. So the majority of the people that I know I met through All Def.

You brought up an interesting point about the lifestyle of comics because it is a lifestyle that doesn’t really agree with everything else for most of the 9-to-5 working world — especially being married and having kids. So how did you then decide to focus more on content creation as a means to perform?

Well, interestingly enough, it started before I moved to L.A. There’s hardly any entertainment opportunities in Washington. There’s very rarely a TV show, even shooting there, much less a show you can actually audition and be on. So what happened was we were doing plays. We’re trying to be like Tyler Perry, David E. Talbert or Je’Caryous Johnson. And we were on our way, but there weren’t enough people in Washington to mount a successful black play — or “urban plays” as people called them. So we did our best, but even if we got 3,000 people, that was only for one night. And we weren’t doing that, by the way. We’re getting like 68 people. So I was watching a lot of YouTube at the time and I was realizing these people have fans everywhere. So I was like, we can do internet comedy and make people laugh on the internet and hopefully we get fans all across the United States. And from the first two videos we did, I was like, forget the play thing, I think the internet is the thing. Just like focus on that. I think we do that, we will build our own audience, and everything will be easier for us.

As far as the ability to own your content and guide however you want, how has that been important for your comedy career?

For me it’s been like, “He who pays says.” Like if you pay for it, you get the final say. So for a long time, it was by default because nobody’s getting paid. I’m just making it and posting it. The first big thing we did that was like really expensive was “Churchy” [on BET]. And there was a lot of [money from previous brand deals] that I saved, a lot of [money from doing] Spectrum commercials that I saved. I made eight episodes of “Churchy.” And shout-out to Jamal Henderson, he helped us meet executives at BET and they bought it. And they couldn’t have any creative control because it was already done.

So that’s kind of a process that we’ve repeated with [my sketch shows] “The Hospital” and “Safe Space.” We pay for it and then license it or partner with a company and make it now. And with Tubi, they’re a little bit different. They let you have creative control, even if they pay for it. They’re like “hey, we trust that you built your audience, you know your audience.” They’re the only platform that I’ve worked with that’s completely like, “we don’t have any say-so, no notes, you don’t have to send us a script, you don’t have to send an edit for approval, we trust you.” And that’s fantastic for me because you get to make it as close to [the original vision] without any impurities as possible.

Now I gotta be honest, when I work with BET, we had amazing executives and they’ve given us a lot of great notes, but they also give you some notes that you don’t agree with that you have to take. And that’s also part of just making things. It’s not a full negative. They also made [the show] better in a lot of different ways. And the one thing that I’m very grateful for with our partners at BET is every note they gave was to make the overall project better and for more people to enjoy it. I am a comedian at heart, so sometimes I’m loyal to the joke to a fault. The executive is like, we gotta tell the best story — so it’s not all bad. A lot of times we hear people bemoan partnering with people, and it has its negatives, but also my TV exec was more experienced than I was at making good TV, so some of their notes were really helpful, and I can carry those with me when I’m making other projects.

“The Hospital” and “Safe Space” are both like sketch shows. What was important about the formats for both shows — one at a hospital, the other on a therapist’s couch — that allow you to find the funny?

Richard Washington, who is a creative exec at KevOn Stage Studios, head of T V and film, and I built the systems and then we allow the people to work within the systems to the best of their personality. So I think the great part about “Safe Space” is the talent. Like you give them a premise, you find the right people, and then they take it and make it funny. “Safe Space” was really the same with “The Hospital.” Like, you know, we hired more sketch writers for the hospital, but Safe Space was more improv than even “The Hospital.” We had some fully written sketches for “The Hospital,” but we didn’t stick to everything exactly. Some are almost all improv. Like comedian CP’s episodes, he’s just riffing. So it’s as close to a stand-up version of content as you can get. And what I mean by stand-up is the audience is sitting there not knowing what the person’s gonna say. And that’s why I think it works.

KevOnStage recording a podcast.

(Mike Folabi)

As a creator of these shows, you often hold the door open for new talent to shine. How does that help your own vision of allowing there to be space for new actors and comedians to come up?

I grew up playing sports and then I went into plays. And with both of those elements, it’s it’s a team environment. You need other people to be successful and you gotta rely on other people to do their thing. With plays, you wanna have the best show possible. And then you put it all together and it’s the best product. And I think that’s the same approach that I take to creation. A lot of comedians, I’ve been told, they won’t take the best comedians. They’ll take people who are OK, but nowhere near as good as them.

Considering you post three to five videos a day, how do you find the time to produce as much content as you do?

So the thing is like this is my job. And I work really hard. I think people compare themselves to me, but they also have a job. Like you’re thinking of “how does he do this?” because you’re thinking of your actual day job. For the most part, I get up and think of funny things to say all day. And the other thing is I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what I’m gonna do or editing it at all. If something funny happens right now, if I walk out of here and I trip and fall, I’ll probably make a video immediately and within five minutes that video’s gonna be on seven different platforms. So I’m not really precious about what I make. And I feel like people think it’s hard, but this is not hard for me. It’s something I love to do, I create freely out of joy. The guy who runs my doughnut shop who hasn’t taken a day off in 20 years, literally I was talking to him about this. He never takes a day off. Twenty years he’s at that doughnut shop, every night at 8 p.m., he makes doughnut, preparing for the day. Every day at 4 a.m., he comes and bakes them. That is hard. Not to say what I’m making is not hard. It is, but it’s not hard like that. People have hard jobs. I just be silly for two minutes and post it within five minutes. That’s not really hard for me.

“For the most part, I get up and think of funny things to say all day,” says KevOnStage.

(Joshua Gonzales )

I guess you’re not getting cellphone calluses.

Not at all [laughs] … I kind of designed my content to be able to make it easily because I feel like my approach is just inundating you with Kev. Like I want to be unavoidable. Yeah. I want to make content on so many different topics. It’s not even always comedic. I want people to just share you and or have a thought or make you have a thought. Right now I’ve been doing a lot of podcasts. So if you don’t follow me, but you follow for example “The Pivot,” which I did last week and they collab with me, now you’re seeing me on “The Pivot” or Funny Marco or I interviewed Issa Rae for the first episode of [my new podcast] called “Not My Best Moment.” And Issa Rae doesn’t do a whole whole bunch of interviews if she’s not promoting something. So if you’re interested in what Issa has to say, you got to hear me because I asked the question. So people rip my stuff, I’m like, “this is great!” They rip it and post it on threads. This is like as close to getting bootlegged as possible.

That’s what you want.

Yeah, bootleg me! Obviously I’d love to make the money, but it’s like the exposure will become capital or currency later. I just want to be out here so much that you’re eventually like, “All right, what is he talking about?” Because think about how many videos do you see in a day now. Back in the day, we used to have to be like, OK, I want to watch the videos. I’m gonna go to my computer and go to like, I remember before YouTube, I used to go to Break.com and watch videos. It was a thing I did for some time and then I went on about my day. Think about how many videos you consume on a daily basis. … So you gotta really hit ‘em over and over before they make a decision. So that’s why I just wanna flood you. I want you to be like, “Oh, my God, enough!”

Well, add one more to the pile right here.

Yeah, absolutely. Once I saw cameras here [at the L.A. Times studio], I was like, “Yeah, baby, I thought this was just an interview, we got video content, baby. Let’s go!” So yeah, it’s like that’s my approach. Just keep going — a lot.

Hugh Jackman never thought he’d be a karaoke guy. But then Neil Diamond happened.

Starring opposite Kate Hudson in the Christmas Day release “Song Sung Blue,” the 57-year-old Australian actor portrays not the legendary Grammy winner and shaggy-haired sex symbol, but rather a Neil Diamond “interpreter,” the real-life Mike Sardina, who, with his wife and stage partner, Claire (Hudson), found unexpected success with a tribute band in mid-1990s Milwaukee.

It was this film that recently brought the “Greatest Showman” star to Diamond’s Colorado ranch, where the two participated in a singing session that convinced Jackman to buy his own karaoke machine.

The only guide you need for holiday entertainment.

“Normally, I’m like, ‘I don’t want to do that,’” says Jackman, over Zoom from a New York hotel room, as if he’s confessing a mortal sin. “But I did karaoke with Neil, and I’m like, ‘All right, now I’m in.’”

What did they sing? Diamond soloed on “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Misérables,” paying tribute to Jackman’s musical theater bona fides, before the two duetted on Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and, of course, Diamond’s own “Sweet Caroline.” The good times never seemed so good.

It was a hang session so epic that Hudson, joining the call, seems green with an envy that matches her sweater. “I can’t believe I missed this karaoke party,” she says. “I have a whole karaoke setup at my house with a microphone and everything. I feel very left out.”

Thankfully, when it came to making “Song Sung Blue,” it didn’t seem so lonely for her. Based on Greg Kohs’ 2008 documentary of the same name, the film is as much Claire’s tale as it is Mike’s, following the real couple’s love story set to the tune of Diamond’s extensive songbook. At the height of their success, which included playing with Pearl Jam at Eddie Vedder’s request, the Sardinas became local celebrities, billed as the duo “Lightning & Thunder.”

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in the movie “Song Sung Blue.”

(Focus Features)

A Vietnam vet and mechanic with a dream of entertaining, Sardina seems a role tailor-made for Jackman, who can go from Wolverine to Broadway in a single season. “Song Sung Blue” writer-director Craig Brewer, who first saw the documentary at a small film festival in Memphis, Tenn., never envisioned anyone but Jackman as the insatiable Wisconsinite.

“It was always Hugh because there’s not anybody else out there who could understand the wild showmanship that Mike Sardina had,” says Brewer, calling from his Memphis home. “He’s doing two layers of a character. He’s playing this working-class guy that loves to entertain any way he can. If he’s got to wear sequined shirts, he’s going to. He’s going to give you everything he has.”

The role presented a puzzle for Jackman, despite having played career impresarios like pop idol Peter Allen and P.T. Barnum. “I had to lose Hugh Jackman to be Mike,” says the actor, relaxed in an umber-colored button-down shirt. “How does Mike find himself within his love of Neil? It took me a second to find him and lose my shtick, because I’m a performer too.”

Ultimately, the solution wasn’t his Neil Diamond impersonation, though Brewer encouraged Jackman to make a meal of that. “You can lay a little bit more butter on it,” the director remembers telling him.

Instead, Jackman’s breakthrough came via deep self-identification.

“His dream was always huge but this was not how he thought it was going to go,” Jackman says. “It was that ‘one plus one equals three’ thing where, all of a sudden, they found themselves being the next big thing.” Similarly, Jackman never intended to become a movie star synonymous with musical theater. He’d never even sung before a post-university audition changed the course of his life.

“One of the hardest things to do is fake chemistry,” Kate Hudson says. “You can’t do that. You have to actually fall in love with each other and find the chemical connection.”

(Victoria Will / For The Times)

Hudson is a less-obvious casting choice. Though she’s made a career playing rom-com heroines, with “Song Sung Blue,” she’s already generating awards buzz for her turn as a guileless Midwestern mom miles away from the glittering women Hudson typically portrays, and one with her fair share of trauma. She has to go to some dark places, channeling Claire’s depression, addiction to painkillers and more — but despite her penchant for playing more carefree women, Hudson says she wasn’t intimidated by the role’s meatier aspects.

“When you grow up with storytellers,” she says, referencing her actor parents Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, “you forget the camera’s there. You’re not thinking about anything glamorous. You’re looking at the role and what it needs. It’s what you long for as a performer. It allows you to almost leave your body.”

For Hudson, the opportunity also dovetailed with a new act in her own life as a recording artist. Even though she released her debut album “Glorious” only last year, Hudson has long identified as a singer-songwriter. “I was always so scared of it,” she confesses of her fear of going public about her songwriting. “But the studio is where I’m very happy. I’ve been in the studio since I was 19, but I just never shared my music because I was too scared to put it out.”

It was a discovery Jackman made while they were recording their vocal tracks for the film. “I said, ‘You’re a musician,’” he recalls, Hudson beaming at him. “You were so relaxed and in your home.”

“I’ve always had a lot of cheerleaders for me to do music,” Hudson replies, sheepishly.

Some might see it as a full circle moment for Hudson, who received an Oscar nomination for her performance as the groupie Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe’s 2000 rock memoir “Almost Famous.” It was such a formative experience that Hudson still remains close with Crowe. She tells me she’s reading his new book, “The Uncool,” to prepare to interview him on his tour.

But no matter how much Penny Lane has shaped her life, Hudson doesn’t see a through line from her to Claire. Instead, she draws a line between fandom and musicianship, specifically the distinction between those who chase the high of being in the room or backstage living the lifestyle, and those who have a song they have a visceral need to share.

“With Claire, it needs to come out,” she continues. “It doesn’t matter where or what we’re doing or how we’re doing it — we just need to do it. That is also how I feel about music.”

The real-life Claire Sardina and her two children (played by Ella Anderson and Hudson Hensley on-screen) threw their full support behind “Song Sung Blue.” But Hudson’s instinct was to build her own version of Claire without too much outside influence. “You want to make a choice in a film because it’s the right choice for the character, not because you’re trying to mimic something,” says Hudson.

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in the movie “Song Sung Blue.”

(Focus Features)

That need to avoid mimicry and feel the moment was particularly crucial for the film’s heartbreaking second act, in which Claire is hit by a car in her front yard and loses a leg, plunging into self-loathing, depression, body dysmorphia and addiction. Hudson had to do extensive physical work to prepare to authentically represent Claire’s lived experience. “Movement is a huge part of what actors do,” she says. “There’s the emotional part but the physicality is like rebalancing your brain.”

In addition to watching YouTube videos of amputees and speaking with those in the disabled community, Hudson got useful advice from another screen legend — her dad.

“Kurt said that Claire is like Rocky,” she says, referring to the iconic character’s grit and determination to go the distance. “The part that really got my dad emotional was that she just wanted to figure out how to get on her feet.”

Jackman marvels at the bravery and skill of Hudson’s performance, noting that she even captured something the real Claire told him off-camera.

“Claire said, ‘The thing is Mike was a leg guy,’” he remembers. “Kate played that so well. That feeling of shame about: Is my partner attracted to me anymore? I found that incredibly moving.”

Hudson welcomed the challenge, but she did worry about one thing outside her control. For “Song Sung Blue” to work, the actors playing Claire and Mike need to be in perfect alignment: one the words, the other the tune.

“One of the hardest things to do is fake chemistry,” Hudson says. “You can’t do that. You have to actually fall in love with each other and find the chemical connection. That was my biggest anxiety.”

Jackman shared this concern. “I remember the first day after our table reading, you said, ‘This movie works if we work,’” he reminds her.

They needn’t have worried. “They were a net for each other as the other one was up on a tightrope,” Brewer says. “It was incredibly inspiring for the crew to see that kinship and respect.”

Their mutual generosity is evident in the way Jackman checks in with Hudson after each anecdote during our interview, confirming she has nothing to add or correct. Though this is their first film together, their repartee is so easy and warm it’s hard to believe they haven’t co-starred in at least a dozen movies.

“It felt easy to just inhabit these characters,” Jackman says. “The word that comes to me is trust. All of the scenes, particularly in that darker period, we could just live in that — the frustration, the paranoia, the anger, the loss, the fear. Every take felt really very different. I felt very free.”

Hudson agrees, adding with a giggle, “I told Hugh, ‘I’m really tactile. Just tell me if I make you uncomfortable. I’m going to kiss you all the time.’”

It helps that Hudson and Jackman are naturally sunny, curious people, celebrities who’ve never cared for the sound of being alone. “We like to connect with people,” Hudson says. “There’s no internal process that removes us. We’re both community people. We like to be in the circus. When we’re on set, we sit on set. There’s no separation of crew and cast. It’s very rare that you work with someone who is like that.”

Ultimately, that openness allowed Hudson and Jackman to approach Claire and Mike with honesty, essential for a film that’s a fullhearted paean to dreamers at their highest and lowest.

“Eddie Vedder told me something that moved me so much,” Jackman says, a note of emotion in his voice. “He goes, ‘Some might say these people led small lives. Their dreams were so huge and perhaps, naive. But dreams are so powerful that 30 years later, it’s come true.’”

From playing Milwaukee dive bars to becoming the subjects of a major motion picture, the Sardinas have far exceeded even their own expectations. To quote another beloved Diamond tune, it’s enough to make anyone a believer.

All those hits finally caught up with Nico Iamaleava.

After absorbing one punishing blow after another, the UCLA quarterback will miss Saturday’s game against top-ranked Ohio State at Ohio Stadium because of concussion symptoms related to hits he sustained last weekend against Nebraska, a person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly said.

Iamaleava was participating in the early portion of practice Tuesday, the last session observed by reporters this week.

His absence against the Buckeyes presumably means that top backup Luke Duncan, a redshirt sophomore who has never thrown a pass at the college level, will make his first career start.

Iamaleava’s ability to take hits and keep on playing had been a major topic of discussion early this week between reporters and UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper. The quarterback was easily his team’s leading rusher, his average of 52.7 yards per game nearly doubling the output of running back Jaivian Thomas (30.8), the team’s second-leading rusher.

Skipper had praised Iamaleava’s fearlessness, saying the 6-foot-6, 215-pound redshirt sophomore didn’t want to slide or run out of bounds.

“Nico’s the first like tall, skinny dude that I know that will lower the pads on you and is not afraid, he’s going to always be going forward and getting yards and things like that,” Skipper said Monday. “He’s got little legs and skinny arms but has no fear at all.”

Skipper also acknowledged the need to preserve Iamaleava’s availability by preventing him from taking more hits than necessary.

“Obviously, he’s your starting quarterback,” Skipper said. “You don’t want him taking big hits and things like that, but if they’re going to give him running lanes, you might as well take them. I kid with him all the time, ‘Hey every now and then, you might want to slide a little bit.’ But you know, when you have a natural runner like he is, you kind of just let them go do their thing.”

Immediately after UCLA’s 28-21 loss to Nebraska, Iamaleava did not indicate that all the hits he had taken impacted his performance. He completed 17 of 25 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns without an interception while also running 15 times for 86 yards.

“Yeah man, shoot, I’ve played football a long time and I’ve gotten hit a lot of times in many games,” Iamaleava said. “So, I don’t think it affected me in that way. Overall, we just gotta play better as a whole and finish games.”

Kai Trump, a high school senior playing in an LPGA Tour event for reasons beyond her ability to hit a golf ball, went from “definitely really nervous” in the first round Thursday to “very calm and peaceful” Friday in the second.

All in all, an impressive improvement.

Still, Trump, 18, didn’t make the cut, not after finishing last among 108 players with a two-round total of 18-over par, 27 shots behind leader Grace Kim and 17 away from the projected cut line. The granddaughter of President Trump improved eight strokes to a 75 in the second round of the tournament hosted by Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla.

How dramatic was the improvement? Trump had nine bogeys, two doubles and one birdie Thursday. A day later she was briefly under par when she birdied the par-three third hole, but she bogeyed the fourth and triple-bogeyed the par-four fifth hole.

Trump rebounded to birdie three of her next six holes. How relaxed was she? She literally laughed off her triple bogey.

“Things are going to happen,” she said. “Once it happens, you can’t go back in time and fix it. The best thing I could do is move on. Like, I told my caddie, Allan [Kournikova], kind of just started laughing, ‘it is what it is.’

“We got that out of the way, so let’s just move on. It was pretty easy to move on after that.”

Especially on the par-three 12th where she nearly made the first hole-in-one of her life.

“I hit like a tight little draw into it,” Trump said. “Tried not to get too high because of the wind. Yeah, it was a great shot.”

What would she tell her grandfather about the round? “That I hit a great shot on 12 two days in a row.”

“I did everything I could possibly have done for this tournament, so I think if you prepare right, the nerves can … they’re always going to be there, right?,” she said. “They can be a little softened. So I would just say that.”

Critics among and beyond her nearly 9 million social media followers were relentless in noting her obvious privilege for securing a sponsor invitation. Dan Doyle Jr., owner of Pelican Golf Club, cheerfully acknowledged that Trump’s inclusion had little to do with ability and a lot to do with public relations.

“The idea of the exemption, when you go into the history of exemptions, is to bring attention to an event,” Doyle told reporters this week. “You got to see her live, she’s lovely to speak to.

“And she’s brought a lot of viewers through Instagram, and things like that, who normally don’t watch women’s golf. That was the hope. And we’re seeing that now.”

Trump attends the Benjamin School in Palm Beach and will attend the University of Miami next year. She is ranked No. 461 by the American Junior Golf Assn.

Stepping up to the LPGA, complete with a deep gallery of onlookers and a phalanx of Secret Service agents surrounding her, could have been daunting. Trump, though, said the experience was “pretty cool.”

It was an eventful week for Trump. She played nine holes of a pro-am round Monday with tournament host Sorenstam, who empathized with the difficulty of handling an intense swirl of criticism and support.

“I just don’t know how she does it, honestly,” Sorenstam said. “To be 18 years old and hear all the comments, she must be super tough on the inside. I’m sure we can all relate what it’s like to get criticism here and there, but she gets it a thousand times.”

Sorenstam recalled her own exemption for the Bank of America Colonial in 2003 when she became the first woman to play in a men’s PGA Tour event in 58 years. She made a 14-foot putt at the 18th green to give her a 36-hole total of five-over 145. She hurled her golf ball into the grandstand, wiped away tears and was hugged by her husband, David Esch.

“That was, at the time, maybe a little bit of a controversial invite,” Sorenstam said. “In the end, I certainly appreciated it. It just brings attention to the tournament, to the sport and to women’s sports, which I think is what we want.”

Look around lately and 20th century science fiction has become 21st century fact. Real life in the year 2025 — the date in which Stephen King set his 1982 novel “The Running Man” — involves technological surveillance, corporate feudalism, infotainment propaganda and extreme inequality, all things that his story about a grisly game show predicted. King, like the great sci-fi authors Philip K. Dick and George Orwell before him, was writing a cautionary tale. But the decades since have seen people take their bleak ideas as a blueprint, like when Elon Musk bragged on X that the Tesla Cybertruck is “what Bladerunner would have driven,” missing the point that we don’t want to live in a dystopia (and that Bladerunner isn’t even Harrison Ford’s name in “Blade Runner”).

The timing couldn’t be better — and worse — for Edgar Wright to remake “The Running Man,” only to put no fire into it. He and his co-writer Michael Bacall have adapted a fairly faithful version of the book, unlike the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger meathead extravaganza. (The only way to suffer through that one is if you imagine it’s a parody of pun-driven testosterone flicks.) Tellingly, they’ve left off the year 2025 and only lightly innovated the production design with spherical drones. But there’s little urgency or outrage. Instead of a funhouse mirror of what could be, it’s merely a smudged reflection of what is.

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Glen Powell stars as Ben Richards, a cash-strapped, employer-blacklisted father who begrudgingly agrees to be a contestant on a television hit that no one has survived. There’s only one network, FreeVee, and its goals overlap enough with those of the government that the distinction between them isn’t worth parsing. Every day Ben dodges a death squad, he’ll earn money for his wife, Sheila (Jayme Lawson), and sick baby, up to a billion “new” dollars if he can last a month. (The updated bills have the Governator’s face printed on them.)

But as ever, the game is rigged. The network’s boss, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), and smarmy host Bobby T (Colman Domingo) rally viewers to turn Ben in for a cash prize, fibbing that he’s a freeloader who refuses to get a job, the typical tax-leeching scapegoat trotted out to turn the middle class against the poor and the poor against themselves. One enraged FreeVee-addicted granny (Sandra Dickinson) genuinely believes Ben eats puppies. “She used to be a kind, clever woman,” her son says with resignation.

Clearly, Wright wants to make a political satire that echoes the drivel of our own actual news. The politics are there in the armored vehicles rolling down city streets and the masked militias out to nab Ben for the bounty money. Yet we don’t feel the paranoia of eyeballs over the streets, even though it turns out that there’s no way to disguise Powell’s foxlike features under a silly stick-on mustache. A hustler named Molie (William H. Macy) warns that the TVs themselves are watching people. It doesn’t really feel like they are. I’ve felt more uneasy in a house with an Alexa.

As for the satire, this faintly cruder version of right now doesn’t have much bite. Little we see is surprising, stimulating or even that futuristic. Screens blare commercials for a drink called Liquid Death (real) and a Kardashian-esque reality show called “The Americanos” (essentially real). The film’s sole representative of upper-middle-class normality — a hostage named Amelia (Emilia Jones) — could trade places with any Pilates instructor.

When an underground rebel, Bradley (Daniel Ezra), breaks down how the network chases ratings by flattening people into archetypes, he’s not telling today’s audience anything it doesn’t already know. King wrote the character as an environmental activist; here, he’s more of a TV critic. Likewise, Bradley’s crony Elton (Michael Cera) has mutated from a pathetic idealist to a Monster-chugging chaos agent — as if “Home Alone’s” Kevin McCallister grew up to join Antifa. Elton’s motivations don’t make sense, but at least Cera barges into the movie with so much energy that his sequence is a hoot. Chuckling that he likes his “bacon extra crispy” as he takes aim at a police squad, he also breaks the seal on this remake’s use of bad puns. From his scenes on, the script crams in as many groaners as it can.

Wright has talent for casting actors that pop. Domingo’s fatuous celebrity host is fantastic, even doing the retro running man dance with Kid ‘n Play aplomb. We see just enough of Ben’s fellow competitors, played by Katy O’Brian and Martin Herlihy, to wish we had more time with them. One of the hunters, Karl Glusman, has so much intensity that I’ll be looking out for what he does next. Pity that the charismatic Lee Pace’s main villain has to spend most of the film covered by a shroud.

Meanwhile, Powell is being put through his own test of Hollywood survival. Everyone seems to agree that he’s the next movie star, but he hasn’t yet landed the right star-making vehicle. Here, as ever, he’s being treated like a Swiss Army knife on a construction site: Handy at a lot of things from humor to action to drama to romance, but his character lacks the oomph to truly showcase his skills. We’re told over and over that Ben is the angriest man in the world, but Powell’s innate likability, that cocky-charming heroic twinkle in his eye, makes him come across peevish at worst. His best moments are all comedy, like when Ben slaps on a thick brogue to hide out as an Irish priest, or his snappy back-and-forth with a psychologist who puts him through a word-association test. (Anarchy? “Win.” Justice? “Hilarious.”)

Still, I missed the truly misanthropic lead of King’s novella, a sour bigot radicalized to see himself not just as a cog in a machine but as a spoke in a revolution. There’s lip service to that idea here, but the film doesn’t take itself seriously enough to give us the chills. It’s not fair to judge “The Running Man” by how closely it hews to the book — and if you remember King’s ending, then you know there’s no way Wright could have pulled that off, although his fix is pretty clever. But tonally, there’s just not enough rage, gore or fun.

Maybe Wright feels the same way too. He’s been wanting to make this movie since 2017 and had the lousy luck to do it for Paramount in the year that the studio embraced the government and sacrificed its employees for its own billion-dollar reward. There’s no bleaker satire than making it through “The Running Man’s” end credits, past images of a raised fist that reads “Together Against the Network,” to see the last words on screen: A Skydance Corporation. Or maybe there is, if someone makes a documentary about what Edgar Wright may have had to cut.

Elizabeth Berkley has been on tour with “Showgirls” to commemorate its 30th anniversary — but 30 years ago there was nothing to celebrate.

As the former “Saved by the Bell” star told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Monday, the reception to the 1995 film was so brutal that she was unable to land any acting jobs in the aftermath.

“For a good two years, I wasn’t allowed to audition for things,” Berkley said. “The hardest part was being literally locked out of something I loved so much.”

This meant the actor had to fight her way back into Hollywood’s good graces — and she has. One of her most recent roles is a guest spot on the star-studded (but similarly panned) campy legal drama “All’s Fair.”

Directed by Paul Verhoeven from a script by his “Basic Instinct” collaborator Joe Eszterhas, “Showgirls” was Berkley’s first starring film role as well as her first big project after her time on the teen TV breakout “Saved by the Bell.” But the movie was mired in controversy, from its NC-17 rating to the hostile reviews and cratering at the box office.

“I took a beating, guys,” Berkley reportedly said during a fan Q&A before a recent screening. “It was not fun for a little while. I’m not going to lie. It was painful. I was isolated. I felt abandoned by the very people I collaborated with.”

The Times reported in 1995 that Berkley was “unfairly” taking most of the heat for how “Showgirls” was received, noting at the time that she had been dropped by her agent and had yet to line up her next job.

The latest Hollywood Reporter interview recounts how at the time Berkley was left to fend for herself on the film’s press tour and that preparation involved publicists showing her clips of reviews that insulted her looks and acting ability.

“A lot of things went on that wouldn’t be allowed now — someone could not be pummeled to that degree,” Berkley said to the outlet. “I couldn’t understand how people could be so cruel, but I’m tough. I had to separate out what they said from what I believed to be true.”

“Showgirls,” of course, has since been reevaluated and embraced by audiences and academics, elevating it beyond even its cult status. It’s a redemption arc that Berkley especially deserves to celebrate.

“I’ve had some obstacles,” she said, “but I’ve never given up.”

Destin Conrad didn’t expect to release a jazz project so early in his career — let alone just a few months after dropping his debut album, “Love on Digital.”

The 25-year-old singer-songwriter, who first made millions of people laugh on Vine when he was a preteen, entered the music industry as a fresh-faced R&B artist, following in the footsteps of the artists he grew up listening to such as Brandy, Musiq Soulchild and Usher. His first official EP “Colorway” (2021) and the slew of bite-size projects that followed were melodic and honest meditations on love, lust, queer identity and simply having a good time.

But during the summer, Conrad found himself gravitating to jazz, the genre he was introduced to in high school when he was enrolled in jazz choir. He was inspired by all of the greats and contemporary work by artists like Vanisha Gould, and decided that it was time for a slight departure in his own sound.

“I feel like it’s always kind of been in me,” Conrad says over Zoom during an off day from his second headlining tour in support of “Love on Digital.” “It’s always been a tool that I never really got to exercise that I knew I really wanted to.”

After a two-week whirlwind in L.A. filled with studio sessions with some of his bucket list collaborators like Gould, trumpeter Keyon Harrold and beloved L.A. saxophonist Terrace Martin, Conrad unveiled “Whimsy,” an 11-track alternative jazz detour. Rich with songwriting tinged with sensual winks, live instrumentation (piano, horn section and drums) and a spoken word interlude by Bay Davis (that is reminiscent of Meshell Ndegeocello), “Whimsy” is a masterclass in following your own intuition and creating freely — a testament to his Cancer sun.

“I think it’s some of my best work actually,” Conrad says, adding that it was the most fun to make, which is evident on tracks like “Whip,” a cheeky double entendre about trading places in the bedroom and “A Lonely Detective,” which explores the life of a man living a double life. “Things that I’ve spent more time on, I don’t feel as connected to, but I really love “Whimsy.”

Conrad, who performs at the Wiltern on Nov. 14, phoned in the day before Grammy nominations were announced to talk about why he was nervous to release “Whimsy,” why he thinks jazz deserves more attention and what he’s still learning about being an artist in the digital age. Little did he know that by the next morning, he’d receive his first solo Grammy nod for progressive R&B album.

Now that your debut album, “Love on Digital,” has been in the world for a few months and you’ve experienced fans singing it back to you at shows, how does it feel to look back on the journey of releasing it?

It’s been amazing. I think it’s made me look forward to putting more music out. I feel like this tour taught me a lot. While making this album, I had touring in the back of my mind, so I’m really excited that it’s being received well. Also, it’s kind of wild that I put out another project a [few] months later but I’m glad I have such cool fans that receive me in a good way.

Speaking of that, you turned around and released “Whimsy” in August. Can you talk about how that all came together and how your single “Wash U Away” inspired it?

I made the majority of it in a two-week span. “Wash U Away” and “Whip” I had, but they weren’t jazz songs. So I had “Wash U Away” in the tuck for years — I think I made it in like 2021 — but we had it replayed by actual musicians because before, it was just a very bare beat. Then the rest of it I made within those two weeks. I also had “The W” with James Fauntleroy and Joyce Wrice already, but same thing — it wasn’t a jazz song. I knew I wanted to make a jazz album. I didn’t know I was going to do it so soon after my debut album, but I was kind of on a wild one and was like “Why not?” But I’m really glad I did it because I feel like my fans really like that album and I really like that album as well. I think it’s some of my best work actually. Things that I spent more time on, I don’t feel as connected to but it’s something that I’m really proud of.

Take me back to those two weeks in L.A. when you starting working on this project. Was it summer time?

It was summertime, yeah. I live in Brooklyn now, so I was like “I’m going to fly to L.A. and stay there for two weeks to knock this project out.” I told my managers, “Get me in with everybody. Here’s my list of people I want to work with. Let’s figure it out.” We flew out Vanisha Gould, who’s one of my favorite jazz musicians. I was so ecstatic that she was down. She’s such a jazz head. She was kind of like “What the f— am I doing? Are they going to kidnap me? I’m just flying out here to work with this random ass R&B singer.” But I’m so glad she came and we low-key became besties. Same with Terrace Martin. I’ve been a fan forever. He’s the G.O.A.T. James [Fauntleroy]. All these people who I was very adamant about working with. And eventually I want to do another jazz [project]. Maybe a “Whimsy 2” and just keep that world alive because I feel like jazz is such a special genre that gets overlooked and it’s something that I really feel passionate about. Especially because I was in jazz choir in high school and it kind of taught me more about soul music and the origins and how there’s so many synchronicities within other genres like gospel, and how R&B and all of them just tie into each other. I think it’s just really cool.

What was going on in your world when you started making “Whimsy?” Were you listening to a lot of jazz at the time?

Yeah, I was listening to a lot of jazz music. I was listening to a lot of Vanisha Gould and I was like, “I need to do this jazz album.” I thought I was just going to start it and be like “I’m not done.” But I was like “No, I’m done. This is it. This is what I have to say.” But yeah, I always listen to jazz. As I said, I was in jazz choir in high school. My jazz instructor Mr. O put me onto hella jazz. He showed me Frank Sinatra and all these jazz standards. I have videos that I’ll eventually show the world of me performing at my jazz Christmas show. I feel like it’s always been within me. It’s always been a tool that I never really got to exercise but I knew I really wanted to. But like I said, I didn’t know I’d make it in two weeks and that it’d be such a quick thing. It was so fun to make. It’s probably one of the most fun projects I’ve made.

You can definitely hear how much fun you were having on tracks like “Boredom” and “Lonely Detective.” I feel like jazz was once viewed as a genre that older people listened to, but that’s been changing within the last few years. It feels like it’s becoming more popular with younger audiences. What do you think about this?

Personally, I don’t think it’s becoming more popular. I would love to be part of some sort of push of making it more of a thing and I feel like a lot of my fans are younger. I’d like to say in my head that I’m helping push the genre forward.

It’s just not super prominent. There’s not a lot of new jazz artists. If you look at the jazz charts, a lot of what’s still charting is like Frank Sinatra [and] Miles Davis. Laufey is one of the newer faces of jazz that I feel like is pushing it aside from like Robert Glasper. But I don’t know. I feel like a lot of the jazz even that I listen to is the older stuff. There’s a very select few of newer jazz artists that I’m like “Yes.” Like Vanisha Gould, a perfect example. I’m obsessed with her. I think she’s one of the most talented musicians that I know, period.

How did you feel about dropping “Whimsy”? Were you nervous about how people would receive it?

Umm I thought about it [but] what I really thought about were the jazz heads. I thought the real, super crazy into jazz people were gonna be like, “This s— ain’t f— jazz” because I do consider it an alternative jazz album. I remember talking to Terrace [Martin] about that because he’s a jazz head and he’s also older than me and he’s been in it for longer. I was telling him [that] I feel like people are going to have s— to say about it because it’s not traditional and I’m not a trained musician. I don’t know how to read music. I just go with my [gut], and he was like, “That’s why it’s so fire. That’s what makes people feel it.” He was like, “I can tell that you’re young and when I listen to this, I hear a 25-year-old,” and I’m like, “Tight.”

You’ve essentially grown up online and in the public eye. How has that evolution shaped the way you see yourself as an artist, and what have you learned about navigating visibility over the years?”

I feel like it’s an advantage. I always talk about that especially with my artist homies. I was an internet baby so I kind of have just a slight advantage because I knew really early how it worked. I feel like I’m still learning how to promote my music because I know how to get on the internet and be an idiot all day. I can do that literally in my sleep, but being an idiot who knows how to promote his music is different. [laughs] So yeah, I’m still learning that. I used to think it harmed me because I was so scared that people wouldn’t take my music seriously. But no, I use it to my advantage for sure.

We’re at a time in music where it’s common for artists to be open and proud about their identity and sexuality without feeling like they need to use coded language. I think of artists like Frank Ocean, Steve Lacy and Durand Bernarr. Can you talk about why talking about your queerness is important to you?

I feel like I’m a pretty honest person in general. I try not to lie and I feel like all I can do really is just keep it a bean. Most of the time, I try to write about my personal experiences and I deal with men, so that’s just my truth [laughs]. I do also write from other perspectives like things that my friends or my homegirls tell me. I don’t always write from my point of view, but when I do, it’s about a man and that’s all I can really do.

Well, it was fun while it lasted … wait, it’s not over?

There’s somehow at least four games left in a UCLA football season that feels like it’s already exhausted its story arc and run out of acts.

Act I: The fall of a proud Bruin.

Act II: The rise of a proud (Fresno State) Bulldog-turned-Bruin.

Act III: A 50-point implosion that sucked the air out of the season and didn’t please any Bruin.

What’s left after an 0-4 start that included the firing of a coach followed by a three-game winning streak and a 56-6 loss to one of the nation’s top teams? Somehow, there’s still at least a third of a season to go.

A victory over Nebraska on Saturday evening at the Rose Bowl could essentially put the Bruins right back where they were a few weeks ago, giving interim coach Tim Skipper another chance to reclaim the hearts of the college football world with an upset of top-ranked Ohio State the following weekend.

But first they have to get past a Cornhusker team missing its biggest kernel. Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola is out for the season with a broken leg, forcing the team to turn to a true freshman who was throwing passes for Orange Lutheran High this time last year.

Don’t expect TJ Lateef or any of his teammates to walk into the Rose Bowl waving a white flag.

“It would just be so average to go out there and be like, well, we’ve got a freshman quarterback and it is what it is,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule told reporters this week. “Like, no, we’re not doing that. We’ve got TJ Lateef and we’re going to rally around him.”

Here are five things to watch when the Bruins (3-5 overall, 3-2 Big Ten) face the Cornhuskers (6-3, 3-3) in a game that starts at 6 p.m. PST and will be televised by Fox:

Quarterback quandary

Nebraska quarterback TJ Lateef hands off the ball to running back Emmett Johnson during the second half against USC.

(Bonnie Ryan / Associated Press)

Lateef is about to become just the fourth true freshman quarterback to start a game for Nebraska since 1950.

Will it be a performance for the ages?

Lateef didn’t wow in relief of Raiola last weekend against USC. He completed five of seven passes as the Trojans rallied for a 21-17 victory, those completions going for a grand total of seven yards — 1.4 yards per completion. Lateef might be more dangerous as a runner than a passer, having averaged 4.5 yards and scored two touchdowns in his 11 carries.

Skipper said the Bruins would watch Lateef’s high school game footage to get a fuller understanding of his potential.

“We know we’re going to get some unscouted looks, unscouted plays,” Skipper said. “I’m sure there’s things that he does well that they’re gonna want to do that they haven’t really shown. He kind of had to do the game plan and scheming that they had up for Dylan and his reps [against USC], so we’ll have to adjust as the game goes.”

On the other hand . . .

Nebraska’s uncertainty at quarterback likely means more opportunity for its running game.

And the Cornhuskers have a good one.

Emmett Johnson has already topped 100 yards rushing in five games this season, totaling 1,002 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. Against USC, he ran for 165 yards and a touchdown while averaging 5.7 yards per carry.

“We’re going to need to know where he is at all times,” Skipper said. “He does a great job of just making people miss, I’m really impressed by how he plays. You know, I come from a family of running back coaches, and I’ve watched a lot of backs, and he’s one of the top guys I’ve ever seen.”

Another mantra

Skipper could keep a custom T-shirt shop busy with all his slogans.

He’s told his players to strain. He’s asked them whether they were one-hit wonders. He’s implored them to uphold the standard they had established.

Over the two weeks that followed his team’s 56-6 loss to Indiana, he’s delivered a new message.

“We’re just getting back to the basics,” Skipper said. “It’s about fundamentals and little details. That’s kind of been what we’ve been really preaching.”

Linebacker Jalen Woods said plenty of time has been spent on tackling after the team experienced significant slippage in that area against the Hoosiers. Offensive tackle Garrett DiGiorgio said players ran between drills to quicken the tempo of everything they were doing.

With an extra week to prepare for the Cornhuskers after a bye, the Bruins have tried not to let the disappointment they experienced in their last game linger.

“Don’t let it carry over into the next game,” Woods said of the team’s collective mindset.

A line redrawn

Eugene Brooks celebrates a UCLA touchdown against Penn State.

(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)

UCLA guard Eugene Brooks was back at practice this week, a significant development for an offensive line that had struggled in his absence.

The Bruins ran for just 88 yards — 60 by running backs — and allowed three sacks with Brooks sidelined against Indiana.

It appears they’ll be back at full strength against a Nebraska defense that’s allowing only 289.9 yards per game, ranking No. 13 nationally.

Skipper said the Cornhuskers create confusion using multiple defensive fronts with hybrid players who either rush the quarterback or drop into coverage.

“They’re going to create a lot of havoc that way with the people that they use,” Skipper said. “They create a lot of turnovers. They’re very good on third down. They don’t give up big plays in the passing game. They’re really good at keeping people in front of them.”

Another boost

Running back Anthony Woods also returned to practice after missing the Indiana game.

His ability to run the ball and catch passes out of the backfield could help an offense that did not score a touchdown for the first time this season when it faced the Hoosiers.

Running back Jalen Berger said the success UCLA had on the ground during its three-game winning streak, when it averaged 236.7 yards rushing per game, was largely a result of an increased emphasis on its ballcarriers.

“I’d say it’s more of a commitment,” Berger said of an approach the Bruins had to abandon after falling behind big against Indiana. “Just being run-first, you know?”

This summer, Netflix’s animated hit “KPop Demon Hunters” might have created the most popular K-pop girl group in America. And seemingly the only people unaware of that distinction are its members.

“Is that what it is?,” asks Rei Ami, who with fellow artists Ejae and Audrey Nuna forms the film’s fictional trio Huntr/x. “Is that what it’s being labeled as?”

The stats are behind them: “Golden,” a contender for the Oscar for original song, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for more than eight consecutive weeks, with three other numbers earning a place in the Top 10. As a result, the film’s soundtrack hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and recently went platinum. With success has come an array of other opportunities as well. The group have since made a cameo on “Saturday Night Live” and performed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

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But as Ejae points out, theirs has not been the usual route to K-pop stardom. A former K-pop trainee herself, she notes that many hopefuls spend years developing their craft and chemistry with future group members. “We were all individually our own person. They had their music career, and I have my career as a songwriter,” she says. “[Becoming a K-pop group] later is unheard of with K-pop training. You do it when they’re kids, before anything [can develop], so they can shape them together, whereas we’re our own individuals coming together. Having this synergy is incredibly rare.”

That’s what singing in the most-watched Netflix film of all time will do for you. Premiering in August, “KPop Demon Hunters” propelled the members of Huntr/x — all of them already established in the industry, Nuna and Ami as artists and Ejae, who recently released her first solo single, as a songwriter for K-pop groups — into a new intensity of spotlight. (Ejae also wrote several tracks for the film, including “Golden,” with co-writers Mark Sonnenblick, Ido, 24 and Teddy.)

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1. Rei Ami is the singing voice for Zoey. 2. Ejae is the singing voice for Rumi. 3. Audrey Nuna is the singing voice for Mira. (Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)

“We were thrown together, basically,” says Nuna. “I’ve seen photos of us and I [thought], ‘Damn, we look like we were perfectly calculated to be in this group.’ The balance is nuts. But to think how serendipitous it was that this happened — we didn’t audition in rooms or go through multiple rounds of pairings to find each other… It just speaks to the beauty of the universe and how things go and when things just happen.”

In fact, the singers did not even meet until nearly five months ago, on the carpet at the film’s premiere. They recorded their parts separately with executive music director Ian Eisendrath, who then worked with the music team to edit them all together.

Ami was the last to record her part, which meant she got to hear “This Is What It Sounds Like” in its entirety with all the voices meshed together. The moment recalled the film’s final scene, in which Huntr/x — whose members double as the demon hunters of the title — reunites to fight the main villain to the sounds of the very same song, when “This Is What It Sounds Like” plays.

“I got to hear the song in full and all of our harmonies for the first time,” she recalls. “I was completely moved. I knew in my heart that this was going to be great.”

Still, they never expected the film to become a global phenomenon, resulting in their now chaotic schedules filled with press interviews, panel engagements, media appearances and special performances. Ami smiles, “We’re doing our best.”

Through it all, they’ve hyped each other’s achievements and held hands while expressing their appreciation for each other.

“These women have worked so hard on their journeys individually,” says Ami. “The industry has been so tumultuous, and the amount of pain, struggle, blood, sweat and tears that we’ve individually had to deal with … These two girls are the only ones in the world who will fully understand what I’m going through. I can’t talk to anyone else about this. Only they understand, and I feel so supported and not alone.”

They all clasp hands, with Ami telling the others, “I love you guys.”

And, for all the challenging moments, they are immensely grateful for the chance to fulfill their dreams. They all express their gratitude for the opportunity, as it has always been their dream.

“Literally, a month before the movie came out, I was doubting myself as a songwriter,” Ejae explains. “My goal was to get No. 1 on the Hot 100. I was going to do that — move to California, write so many sessions, and get No. 1. It felt impossible.”

“Those are all things we have on our bucket list,” Ami, right, says of the prospect of performing at the Oscars or Grammys.

(Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)

Ami becomes emotional about the film’s success when she talks about its impact on her career.

“I’m so blessed,” she says, holding back tears. “It’s really introduced me to more fans and new fans. This whole experience has taught me a lot about myself and what I want to do as an artist. My dreams are coming true.”

That hasn’t necessarily been the experience for her groupmates, though. “It takes a very long time [for me] to process and metabolize emotions,” Nuna says of her own lack of waterworks. “I’ve never wanted somebody to cry so much in my life,” Ami chimes in, laughing. “Feel something!”

The “instant chemistry” displayed in their interview was recently on display when the three were asked to perform “Golden” together for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” — their first as a group. And the more they rehearsed, the more they cohered. Just like a real K-pop group.

“It’s really wild and weird,” says Nuna. “Honestly, the mesh of our voices just felt so intuitive. It was very organic and easy. The song is not easy, but the mesh and connecting were. It was literally our first time singing together, and I feel like we were hearing overtones in our harmonies and stuff, because they’re just really locked in.”

Awards buzz, for both the Oscars and the Grammys, has come as a surprise to the group, but it leads to questions about reuniting Huntr/x onstage at the biggest pop culture events of the year.

“[Performing at the Oscars or Grammys] would be the biggest deal,” says Ami. “I think we can all relate. That’s probably one of the highest accolades and achievements you can accomplish as an artist, songwriter, and producer. Those are all things we have on our bucket list.”

The trio hasn’t thought far enough ahead about an actual performance on either stage, as they’ve only recently begun rehearsing together.

“Jimmy Fallon will be a good practice,” Ejae laughs. “Good warm-up preparation.”

Indeed, though they have joked about forming a (real-life) K-pop group, all three are busy with individual projects — at least for now.

“If we were to get together, the charts better watch out!” Ami shouts. “You might not ever see another name other than us.”

A mutant killer baby. Lampshades and pickle jars that come alive. Sinister sewers. A demonic clown that preys on children.

HBO Max’s “It: Welcome to Derry,” the latest adaptation of Stephen King’s epic 1986 novel about a deadly clown named Pennywise, has already scared up a lot of buzz since its Oct. 26 premiere with its mix of evil events and nightmarish images.

The first episode featuring Robert Preston warning “Ya Got Trouble” via the classic musical “The Music Man” is an ominous introduction to the subsequent terrors. Gruesome sequences revolving around birth in the first two episodes will likely make several viewers cover their eyes. (The second episode drops Friday on HBO Max in time for Halloween, and it will air in its usual 9 p.m. PT Sunday slot on HBO.)

A prequel to 2017’s “It” and 2019’s “It: Chapter Two” — both directed by Andy Muschietti — the new drama is set in 1962 in the fictional small town of Derry, Maine. Bill Skarsgård, who played Pennywise in the films, will reprise his role during the season.

The large ensemble of child actors and adults features several Black characters, including Air Force Maj. Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo); his wife Charlotte (Taylour Paige), a civil rights activist in a Jackie Kennedy pillbox hat; and son Will (Blake Cameron James). Also featured is Hank Grogan (Stephen Rider), the town’s theater projectionist, and his teen daughter Ronnie (Amanda Christine).

Developed by Muschietti, his sister Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs, the creators have prioritized increasing the intensity of the films. But the Muschietti siblings add that they are also incorporating certain messages into the mayhem. Many of the Black characters face bigotry and resistance in the predominantly white town that echo challenges that people of color currently face.

“Stephen is a master of weaving these issues into his stories, and it’s impossible to think of doing one of his stories without having that texture front and center,” Barbara Muschietti said.

The Muschiettis, in a video call, discussed diving deeper into the story of Pennywise, getting their young cast to act like kids from the 1960s, and what gives them nightmares. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Siblings Barbara Muschietti and Andy Muschietti on the set of HBO’s “It: Welcome to Derry.”

(Brooke Palmer / HBO)

How soon after the two “It” movies did the idea of a deeper dive into the world of Pennywise come about?

Andy Muschietti: The novel was the inspiration. There are all these enigmas still lingering, enigmas intentionally left unresolved in the book. Part of the greatness of the novel is that you finish 1,200 pages and at the end, you still have no idea what “It” is and what it wants. It’s all speculation. We had conversations with Bill about how great it would be to do an origin story of Bob Gray, this cryptic character, and give him the opportunity to play the human side, the man behind the clown. It’s about completing the puzzle and uniting the stories that lead one to another, creating a story with the final purpose of getting to this conclusive event, which is the creation of Pennywise, the incarnation of evil.

Barbara Muschietti: Once the idea start percolating, we got in touch with Mr. King and he loved the idea. At the beginning of the pandemic we went to (then-Warner Bros. TV chief) Peter Roth. He bought it in the room and we’ve been on it ever since. Not a day of rest.

“The Music Man” plays a prominent role in the first episode, and it gets dark pretty quickly. I’m a huge fan of that movie, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to look at that joyful musical the same way again.

Andy Muschietti: I actually wanted us to create a musical ourselves that would pretend to be a movie from 1962. But we would have spent so much money and energy. So we started a quest for the right musical. “The Music Man” was made by Warner Bros. in 1962, and it’s about someone coming to a small town not unlike Derry, talking about trouble, trouble. And it just seemed to fit.

Barbara Muschietti: We also hope a lot of younger people will be curious and go see “The Music Man.”

What is the superpower of “It” that makes it a story that keeps giving and giving?

Andy Muschietti: There are a lot of things people connect to. One of them is childhood. Most of us cherish those years as being full of magic and imagination. We’ve all been children and we’ve all been afraid of something. The novel is a testament to the virtues of childhood, and those virtues normally disappear when you become an adult. Arguably the adults are always the enemy in the world of ‘It.’”

Apart from the clown, there’s a whole mythology that has yet to be connected. My purpose in this series is to reveal the iceberg under the water.

Black characters, including Hank (Stephen Rider), Ronnie (Amanda Christine), Leroy (Jovan Adepo) and Charlotte (Taylour Paige) play central roles in HBO’s “It: Welcome to Derry.” (Brooke Palmer / HBO)

You could not have planned the timing of the show coming on, but it seems like the topical issues addressed in this show, like bigotry, have a relevance to what’s going on in the country today.

Andy Muschietti: What’s going on is not new. It’s just found a new expression. It has been going on and on in cycles. We have this illusion that things are good, but around the corner is another dictator trying to come. We came from Argentina, and we don’t have the kind of racial tension that America has had for hundreds of years. Most of Stephen’s books are a song to empathy in general, and denouncing injustice everywhere. It is important to show, especially in an era where some people in the country are trying to delete history.

Barbara Muschietti: Sadly, these horrors keep haunting us, and racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia is still sadly a human condition, needing to find someone below you that you can punch. Yes, our history makes us a little more sensitive. We live in the United States, it’s a country we love, but it is surprising …

Andy Muschietti: Alarming.

Barbara Muschietti: … that more people are not more concerned.

Andy Muschietti: It’s the fog that Stephen King was talking about. People, basically out of fear, look the other way, trying to suppress things they see, and forget. It’s all part of the same reflection.

It’s immediately obvious that some horrific things will be happening in this show, even more so than the films. The imagery is really nightmarish.

Andy Muschietti: Being a shape-shifter is the thing which keeps giving and giving, and there was a clear intention for us to raise the volume of intensity. You need to meet the expectations of the audience — they don’t want to see more of the same. And we are also dealing with a different time when the collective fears were different because of the social and political situation of that era — the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis — was just around the corner. Then there’s social unrest and segregation.

Barbara Muschietti: I’d like to say it’s all very cathartic. We’re very nice people. I swear.

A demon baby birthed in Episode 1 is among the monsters seen in “Welcome to Derry.”

(HBO)

The show also has a great feel and look to it when it comes to depicting the 1960s.

Andy Muschietti: There was a lot of instinctive respect and attention to accuracy, aesthetically and spiritually. It was the true work of a team in every department, the same folks who had worked on the movies. There was also the research from the writers.

Most of the cast members are kids who did not live in that era. How do you communicate that era and feel to a young cast?

Andy Muschietti: There is a lot of talking. Stephen King knows a lot about this because he was a kid in the 1950s. The book is so rich in detail. We have Ben Perkins, who is a child actor coach. And there is imagination. These kids like to play and at this age, they thrive when you don’t put a lot of restrictions on them. The only thing that went overboard was the cursing.

Barbara Muschietti: That’s one thing that Stephen came back to us with. “There’s too many f—.” We also send the kids with Ben who basically sets up a camp — a bicycle riding camp, a swimming camp, stuff like that which kids in 2024 did not have access to. We’ve been doing that since 2016 very successfully. Because of all of this, all these kids have an incredible bond. They’re friends for life. They get to say goodbye to adolescence on our sets in the most beautiful way.

How long will you keep expanding the ”It” universe?

Andy Muschietti: It’s Derry, Derry, Derry all day. “Welcome” is an arc that expands over three seasons. Why is “It’” Derry, and why is Derry “It”? We will eventually reveal a bigger story revolving around the existence of Pennywise.

I have to ask — what gives you two nightmares? What is scary to you?

Barbara Muschietti: Fascism. Guns.

Andy Muschietti: Violence in general. We’ve come so far as a civilization, and it seems like we haven’t learned anything. What happened to empathy, and seeing what makes us similar, instead of things that divide us?

Barbara Muschietti: And love and respect.

Welcome to Screen Gab, the spooky newsletter for everyone who loves scares, thrills, tricks and treats.

Happy Halloween! Whether you plan to stay home or don a costume and hit the town, at some point this weekend, it’s worth putting on a movie or show to fit the theme of the season. The great thing is that there’s something for everyone, as our guide to Halloween programming shows. Whether you prefer something kid-friendly like “Is It Cake? Halloween” or something more sinister like the newly released HBO series “It: Welcome to Derry,” which expands Stephen King’s horror universe (more on that below), there’s plenty to choose from. And if you‘re in L.A., film editor Joshua Rothkopf and reporter Mark Olsen have compiled a guide to local theaters hosting screenings of classic horror films like “Black Sabbath” and “Bride of Frankenstein.” (If you can’t snag a ticket, their list also doubles as a great reference for films to watch at home, as many are available to stream.)

If that’s not enough, we have more recommendations that you can add to your queue, including a special episode of a (sadly) recently canceled Apple TV series and the pair of “It” films that led to the creation of “Welcome to Derry.” Additionally, Jovan Adepo, who plays Leroy Hanlon on the prequel series, which dropped its second episode on HBO Max in time for Halloween, spoke to us about some of the real-life themes of horror the show covers.

ICYMI

Must-read stories you might have missed

Rhea Seehorn stars in the new Apple TV series “Pluribus.”

(Anthony Avellano / For The Times)

To lead his next show, Vince Gilligan thought: Better call Rhea Seehorn: In his first series outside the “Breaking Bad” universe, Gilligan tapped Seehorn to play “the most miserable person on Earth” as the lead of Apple TV’s “Pluribus.”

In Rachel Sennott’s ‘I Love L.A.,’ Gen Z is desperate and difficult but very watchable: HBO’s new series about 20-somethings living in L.A. has some characters that are more trying than charming, but that’s part of its appeal.

Forget ‘I’m too old for this’: Women over 60 are redefining action stardom: The growing army of 60-ish women who kick ass, take names and rarely complain about getting too old for anything has been joined by Emma Thompson’s Zoë Boehm in “Down Cemetery Road” and the menopausal punk rockers of “Riot Women.”

Inside the ‘wild and weird’ rise of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ phenoms Huntr/x: Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami hadn’t even met in person until the premiere of Netflix’s animated blockbuster. Now they’re taking the world by storm.

Turn on

Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

Noel Fielding in Apple TV’s “The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin.”

(Apple)

“The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin: The Night of the Werebear” (Apple TV)

That this period comedy, on my best of 2024 list, failed to complete a second season is one of the great television tragedies of this year. (Star and co-creator Noel Fielding stopped showing up partway through production, reportedly due to health issues.) It has nevertheless left us this one extra, excellent, just-released Halloween-appropriate episode. A mysterious creature (see title) has been attacking coaches along the highway, leaving Dick (Fielding), the notorious English highwayman, and his motley crew without anything to rob. Although technically about a criminal, its hero is good-hearted — essentially a version of the Fielding one sees co-hosting “The Great British Baking Show” — and its approach to monsters trends more to understanding than horror. (A recommendation in itself.) Continuing in the All Hallows Eve spirit, you’ll find more paranormal doings in the series’ still-available first season, including witches, warlocks and a cursed coach. And you may want to carry on (and should) to its equally fine twin sister, “Renegade Nell” (Disney+) — another period supernatural comedy about an early 18th century highwayman (or woman, as the case may be), which adds a feminist twist. — Robert Lloyd

Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise in “It: Chapter Two.”

(Brooke Palmer/Warner Bros. Pictures)

“It” and “It: Chapter Two” (HBO Max)

The Halloween season is in full swing, and there are few things more terrifying than a demonic clown with a red balloon. HBO has just launched “It: Welcome to Derry,” the prequel to “It” and “It: Chapter Two,” the recent hit film adaptations of Stephen King’s 1986 epic novel featuring Pennywise, the deadly clown who preys on children and adults. Co-created by Andy Muschietti, who directed the films and directs on the series, the drama is set in the early 1960s in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, and takes on an even more nightmarish quality in delving into the origins of the notorious villain. Bill Skarsgård, who played Pennywise in the films, reprises the role in “Derry.” Before more episodes are released, viewers should get their scare on by revisiting the films or watching them for the first time. The first film is particularly chilling, and Pennywise will give you the shivers. Be afraid. — Greg Braxton

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Jovan Adepo as Maj. Leroy Hanlon in HBO’s “It: Welcome to Derry.”

(Brooke Palmer / HBO)

The monster at the center of Stephen King’s “It” remains one of horror’s most terrifying figures. The author’s novel provided readers with the original tale of a group adolescents who battled a demonic clown, but it wasn’t until 1990 that we got an onscreen adaptation via the ABC miniseries that starred Tim Curry as the story’s terrifying villain, Pennywise. His devilish clown was merciless, preying on children and taunting them with bursts of blood, dead loved ones and a frightening set of sharp teeth. And while those things were scary, what made the adaptation horrifying was how it made mundane things like storm drains, old pipes and red balloons appear much more sinister.

Nearly two decades later, the feature films introduced a whole new generation to the terrors of “It,” and now with “Welcome to Derry,” we get a new story that adds more layers and aims to show who or what It really is. The HBO series, which will have a three-season arc, begins in 1962 with the story of the Hanlons, a Black military family that moves to Derry. The patriarch, Air Force Maj. Leroy Hanlon, played by Adepo, is a respected war hero who almost immediately has to battle a different kind of demon: bigotry. It’s a central theme and shows how “these horrors keep haunting us,” according to Barbara Muschietti, who alongside her brother Andy, spoke recently about the series to senior reporter Greg Braxton.

Adepo is no stranger to stories where race and bigotry are explored, having starred in series like Netflix’s “When They See Us,” a dramatization about the Central Park Five, and HBO’s “The Watchmen,” in which he played Hooded Justice. He stopped by Guest Spot this week to talk about the kinds of horrors “Welcome to Derry” portrays, what helped him unwind after filming and how he turns to a pair of TV comedies for comfort. — Maira Garcia

“It” has been adapted for the screen before. How familiar were you with King’s universe and “It” before taking on this role? Had you read the book or watched the films or miniseries?

I hadn’t read the book in the years before, but I was quite familiar with the recent two films, as well as the classic miniseries. Taking on the role of Leroy gave me a special opportunity to dive deeper into the lore and to also explore some of my own choices for how Leroy was portrayed.

“Welcome to Derry” begins by giving us some of the back story for Mike Hanlon’s family — a key character in “It.” In Episode 1, we’re introduced to your character, Leroy Hanlon, Mike’s grandfather, an Air Force major who encounters overt racism almost immediately when arriving on base in Derry. You’ve explored themes of race in previous roles — what was it like to explore it in the context of this show and the time period it’s set in, the ‘60s?

I think it’s the perfect lens through which to tell this story within the context of the era, because it adds another layer of life challenges for the Hanlons. It explores the struggle of dealing with prejudice and oppression among the members of the community, who are being tormented in a completely different way. That dynamic already creates an interesting environment that only deepens when you add the individual obstacles these characters face.

I’m compelled by an idea that this series brings forth: Monsters are terrifying, but the real world — with war, racism, genocide and so forth — is frightening enough. Did that resonate with you and your character at all?

Yes, in fact, I think that idea runs through the veins of a few characters here. I truly think this genre — and what Andy and Barb have brought to this season — beautifully showcases a very relatable experience of fear, one rooted in real historical moments and woven into a much more sensational element. Along with [co-showrunners Jason] Fuchs and [Brad Caleb] Kane, they’ve created space for viewers to connect with characters’ lives before the monster really begins to engage.

Working on such heavy material, how would you unwind after shoots?

I spent a lot of time at home recharging — watching films, exploring my neighborhood on walks with my dog, and so on. Building a routine of going shopping at the market, visiting my butcher shop, and going out to eat with my castmates was also quite relaxing. Most of us lived close to each other, so I saw everyone quite often.

What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?

I’m a creature of habit, so on my off days I usually recharge by watching previously released shows or films. I think the last thing I brought up in conversation on set was the HBO show “Animals” [HBO Max].

What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the movie or TV show you go back to again and again?

Oh, man. Comfort watching, to me, is something I can put on in the background after a long day on set. I’d have to give it to “Family Guy” [Hulu] or “The Office” [Peacock].

READ MORE >> ‘It: Welcome to Derry’ will satisfy fans of horror and of Stephen King’s deadly clown