Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and challenger Nithya Raman will be on the same stage Tuesday night for their final debate before the Nov. 3 election, but the two mayoral candidates are expected to come in with starkly different game plans.
With recent polls showing Raman in the lead, the councilmember will likely try to avoid making any kind of flub during the in-studio debate hosted by NBC4 and Telemundo52 in Universal City.
“A successful debate for Raman is one in which not very much happens,” said Dan Schnur, a professor of politics at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine.
Raman floundered at the last NBC4/Telemundo debate during the mayoral primary, when Spencer Pratt was also on stage. She got better marks after a debate with Bass before the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. in August.
Along with avoiding mistakes, Raman will need to paint a positive view of the city she hopes to lead, said Sara Sadhwani, a professor of politics at Pomona College.
“She needs to able to spell out a vision for the city of Los Angeles and inspire confidence that she would be able to deliver on such a vision,” she said.
For Bass, it’s a different task entirely. The mayor was the top vote-getter in the June 2 primary, but numerous several polls now show her trailing. The Berkeley IGS / L.A. Times poll, conducted Sept. 15-20, showed Raman with an 11-point lead over the incumbent.
To gain ground, Bass needs to go on the attack and convince voters that Raman isn’t fit to lead, Schnur said.
“Bass needs to explain to voters why voting for a relatively unproven candidate would be a dangerous risk to take,” he said. “I’m curious if it will go down the road of the nasty,” Sadhwani said. The debate, being conducted in partnership with Loyola Marymount University, will run from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and will be moderated by NBC4 news anchor Colleen Williams, NBC4 chief political reporter Conan Nolan and Telemundo 52 news anchor Alejandra Ortiz.
The Times will have live coverage.
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An influencer digs in on Bass
Social media creator Ed Choi made headlines this week, posting and then removing an Instagram video showing him and Raman declaring in unison: “Only you can stop fascist liars.”
The pair used that phrase as an image of Bass appeared on the video. Raman, facing criticism for her words, said she was referring to Trump and Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, not the mayor or Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell, and had asked for the video to be taken down.
Choi defended his messaging, saying in a subsequent Instagram video that Bass is in fact a fascist, pointing to to Bass’ decision to appoint McDonnell, a former L.A. County sheriff. He also cited the Los Angeles Police Department’s treatment of anti-ICE demonstrators as evidence that the city is “descending into fascism.
Raman voted in 2024 to support Bass’ selection of McDonnell, even as her fellow Democratic Socialists of America colleagues on the council cast opposed his appointment. On the campaign trail, she has repeatedly criticized McDonnell, saying the LAPD should not have used tear gas on anti-ICE protesters exercising their First Amendment rights.
Choi also claims in his video that Raman is committed to defunding the police. But Raman no longer supports that idea, saying in February that LAPD staffing should not get any smaller.
Banned word lawsuit
When the Los Angeles City Council considered banning the use of the N-word and C-word at its meetings last year, Stacey Segarra-Bohlinger was in attendance to give the politicians a piece of her mind.
“This is going to bring lawsuits,” said Segarra-Bohlinger, who often sings parody songs at council meetings and has been a member of the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council.
Segarra-Bohlinger filed suit Tuesday, represented by lawyers with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. The group contends that word bans — which can lead to people who use those words getting kicked out of meetings and potentially barred from future ones — violate First Amendment protections of free speech.
“The Council has weaponized the Word Ban and Meeting Ban to silence, remove, and prospectively exclude its critics,” asserts Segarra-Bohlinger’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
Segarra-Bohlinger filed the suit after her repeated use of the C-word at two council meetings last year, once while singing a parody song of the Ghostbusters theme song in which she repeated the line “Council is afraid of the word c—” four times.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson is standing by the ban.
“In a moment of very serious attacks on our basic rights in this country, it’s especially absurd that some individuals would waste the court’s time defending the right of racists and misogynists to hurl invectives at the public simply to hear their own profanity,” he said in a statement to The Times.
State of play
—MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: Hedge fund manager Aaron Sosnick dropped another $3 million into Estamos Con Nithya, the pro-Raman independent expenditure committee sponsored by Western States Regional Council of Carpenters. Sosnick, who has been pushing for an expansion of the city’s bike lane network, has now put $6 million into the committee.
— UNION KERFUFFLE: The LAPD’s officer union said Tuesday it will oppose Measure FD, the half-cent sales tax measure on the Nov. 3 ballot pushed by the city firefighters’ union — setting up a bitter and expensive clash between two of the city’s most powerful unions.
— LEFT UNREAD: Citing lingering concerns about the potential misuse of police license plate readers, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to delay an agreement that would enable the deployment of hundreds of the controversial devices until officials are satisfied that the technology will be wielded responsibly.
— LAUSD WOES: The state’s school Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team concluded that the Los Angeles Unified School District is at “high risk” of insolvency — and needs to move quickly to avoid losing control over budget decisions.
— HIT THE SKIDS: Federal authorities along with local partners like LAPD made more than a dozen arrests on Skid Row during a massive drug trafficking crackdown in the troubled Downtown neighborhood.
— LAPD’S LEGAL BILLS: The city of Los Angeles has shelled out nearly $480 million over the last five and a half years to end legal disputes involving the Police Department, including claims of excessive force, litigation over traffic accidents and cases filed by employees who allegedly faced retaliation after reporting misconduct.
— POLLING UPDATE: New polling from the pro-Nithya Raman independent expenditure group that was conducted between Oct. 2 and Oct. 7 found that Raman is leading the mayor 43% to 33% with 23% undecided. The poll’s margin of error is 3.5%.
— A separate poll sponsored by the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, Local 112 and conducted between Sept. 25 and Oct. 5 found a tighter race, within the margin of error, with Raman leading 35% to 33% with 19% undecided. That poll’s margin of error was 4%.
— A third poll conducted for the Bass independent expenditure group Unidos con Bass of 602 likely Latino voters found the incumbent ahead by 12 points, 40% to 28% for Raman. The poll, conducted between Oct. 1 and Oct. 8, has a margin of error was 4%. That’s a 36-point swing from a UC Berkeley IGS/L.A. Times poll from September that found Raman ahead with Latinos by 24 points, 45% to 21%.
QUICK HITS
Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program went to Councilmember Ysabel Jurado‘s district on Santa Fe Avenue and 23rd Street and moved 35 people indoors.
On the docket next week: Bass and Raman will square off in a debate Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. on NBC4/KNBC and Telemundo 52/KVEA.
Stay in touch
That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.
Twenty-one years into its run, “Dancing With the Stars” is one of the hottest and buzziest shows on TV right now.
ABC’s competition series kicked off its 35th season in September, scoring its biggest premiere ratings since 2020. Fueling a lot of that viewership power are Gen Z and millennial viewers, attracted by a cast loaded with social media influencers, reality TV stars and nostalgic favorites. And a certain 55-year-old late-night sidekick has emerged as a social media hit with his lovable underdog journey: Guillermo Rodriguez.
Best known as the former parking lot security guard-turned-sidekick on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” who was discovered after he was caught sleeping in the car of the show’s announcer, Rodriguez regularly steals the spotlight on the late-night talk show with his humorous, humble interactions in comedy bits and as a red-carpet correspondent. Now, he’s expanding his profile as a celebrity contestant on “Dancing With the Stars,” paired with dance pro Witney Carson.
Rodriguez says he’s been asked to join the show before, but he passed because of a busy schedule and his insecurity as a dancer — “I’m not a dancer,” he tells me. “I dance when we have Thanksgiving, Christmas, but it’s for two seconds, four seconds. Not a minute and a half!”
He praises Carson, who is competing while pregnant, for her patience and encouragement in his journey.
“Oh, my God, Witney is a great partner,” he says. “She’s telling me, ‘Listen, just follow me. Follow the steps. Remember, do not look at the floor; look up. And just be yourself. If I want to ask you to be a diva, you be a diva. I don’t want you to laugh.’ She’s been fantastic. She’s helping me a lot. She tells me, ‘The audience know that you’re not a professional dancer, and that you’re trying hard and everything. Just enjoy because this only happens once in a lifetime.’” Read more from my conversation with Rodriguez in Guest Spot.
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Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our writers recommend a miniseries about a mysterious sea creature terrorizing a small coastal town and a pair of psychological horror dramas exploring female rage. And just a quick PSA — not funded by taxpayers, I promise — before I wrap up: “Felicity” is now streaming on Netflix. If you want to get (re)acquainted with collegiate angst, the art of making “hey” pack the same power as a Keats poem or experience Keri Russell’s controversial haircut moment, give it a whirl. As a superfan who returned to it often when it was on Hulu, it’s my duty to warn you to proceed with caution when it comes to Season 4. — Yvonne Villarreal.
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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times
Josh Hartnett as Calvin and Mackenzie Davis as Fonda in Netflix’s “Below.”
(Netflix)
“Below” (Netflix)
A first-rate sea monster miniseries, set in a small fishing village in Newfoundland, where the natives add an “s” to some verbs (“anyway you slices it,” “I gets it”), making them sound a little like Popeye. Creator Jesse McKeown drops enough “Jaws” references to let you know he’s aware of the similarities, but “Below,” which goes some crazy places in its latter half, is very much its own aquatic whirligig. Josh Hartnett plays fisherman Calvin Penney, attempting to harvest blue ice for vodka in the face of declining stocks, but finding his haul smelling strangely of ammonia. Mackenzie Davis is marine researcher Fonda Howander (year’s best name), who has an idea about that. (Global warming, your real-world villain.) The series, in which I detect a quality of Canadian naturalism, uses its special effects budget sparingly, and I would say, wisely; when something extraordinary happens, it doubly registers. But the series’ strength is in its evocative background and nicely drawn characters, going about their messy human business, as the town debates whether to let the government transplant them to somewhere less remote while Calvin tries to get his adult kids on his page. — Robert Lloyd
Summer H. Howell as the titular teenager in Prime Video’s “Carrie.”
(Robert Falconer / Prime Video)
“Carrie” (Prime Video) and “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story” (Netflix)
Killer women usher in the Halloween season with these two new horror series. The TV adaptation of Stephen King’s novel loosely follows the 1976 big-screen classic starring Sissy Spacek, but reimagines the bloody prom queen Carrie (Summer H. Howell) in today’s world, replete with cyberbullies and smartphones. The limited series from horror master Mike Flanagan (“The House on Haunted Hill,” “Midnight Mass”) pits the terror of the modern world — school shootings, conspiracy-theory fanaticism — against a naive girl’s deadly telekinetic powers for a smart and powerful reimagining of the chilling classic. “The Lizzie Borden Story” is the fourth season of the “Monster” anthology series from Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, and it stars Ella Beatty as the titular character. With the help of an enviable cast (Sarah Paulson, Vicky Krieps), it dramatizes the events before, during and after the 1892 ax murders of Borden’s father and stepmother, and jumps timelines to connect Borden’s story with that of another violent female killer who shocked the country a century later. Does it take historical liberties? Absolutely, and it makes for a thrilling new take on a notorious chapter in American crime. — Lorraine Ali
Guest spot
A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching
Witney Carson and Guillermo Rodriguez perform during Mariah Carey night on “Dancing With the Stars.”
(Eric McCandless / Disney)
When Guillermo Rodriguez signed up to compete on “Dancing With the Stars,” he came in with no dance background and the least nimble body, but he had experience in how to win over fans as the scene-stealing sidekick on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Now, Rodriguez has danced the cha-cha, paso doble, foxtrot and samba before millions of people — captivating audiences with assisted knee walks, floor drops and a bare-chested message for the world. He may be the lowest-scoring star on the leaderboard each week, but the 55-year-old knows how to hold an audience and, with professional partner Witney Carson, has managed to stay alive in the competition. After channeling his inner diva for Mariah Carey night on the show (cheekily performing to “Obsessed”) and making it past this week’s elimination round, Rodriguez spoke to us about how he’s feeling at this stage in the competition. — Y.V.
How is the diva life treating you?
Oh, my God, Yvonne, it’s hard work. Being a diva is not easy.
What body part is hurting you today?
You know what — my legs. My legs and my back hurt bad. If you’re in the 20s and 30s, it’s OK, but when you’re like in the 50s, it’s hard. In the 20s and 30s, you have all the energy and also your body is young.
When you get home from rehearsals or after performance night, what’s your routine? Are you doing a bath soak? Are you elevating your feet?
I actually I get in the pool, I get in the hot tub. But someone was telling me I gotta get a massage and I gotta get a cold plunge because that’s gonna help the body. Also, you know what is helping me. I haven’t [had a] drink in two months, and I feel good. I have a shot, I have a drink, so it can relax me and everything. But with “Dancing,” I cannot have a drink because I don’t wanna forget the steps.
You’ve said that you’re doing the show because you want to dance with your wife. How’s that going? Have you been showing her any moves at home?
I have a little bit. And she said, “Well, wait, this is it?” I go, “No, this is only the beginning [steps]. I still got to show [you] more. She goes, “Oh, now I understand why you’re so tired.” And I go, “Yeah, we have to rehearse and everything, and you gotta smile at the camera, you gotta watch your steps, you gotta move your hips and everything.” And I tell her, “When I move to the left, I hear a noise like [mimics creaking noises], ‘Oh, oh, my body is clicking!’ I move left to the left — my knee is making noise!’” But I’m having a lot of fun. It’s great.
How has this experienced changed you so far? How do you feel when you’re out there performing?
It changed me in that I get nervous and it’s hard, but when I go over there [onstage], I like it. I enjoy. You get like a minute and 12 or 40 [seconds], depending on the music. But I’m happy. I get to push myself.
I get out there and [I think], I gotta give my best. And I feel so good because a lot of the audience, they like it a lot. They go crazy and everything, and that makes me feel so good. You know what — I might not be the best dancer, but I’m trying my best, and the people see it. But who knows what’s gonna happen. I might go home next week.
Witney Carson and Guillermo Rodriguez perform the paso doble on “Dancing With the Stars.”
(Christopher Willard / Disney)
We’ve seen you in the bottom a few times. This week, you were there again. What was going through your head this week as you waited for the names to be called?
I feel very nervous. I said, “Oh, my God, this is it. We going home.” I told Witney [before the show], “Witney, I think this is it. I think we’re going home.” She said, “Well, listen, if we’re going home, we did a good job. You told me that you wanna pass the first week, and you already passed the first week, so you don’t have nothing else to lose.” But I feel very nervous. And then when they say, “The couple going home is Ciara [Miller] and Brandon [Armstrong],” I was like, “Oh, my God.” It was hard. And the dance was hard too. Samba is a fast dance. We didn’t have too much time to rehearse because we were going to New York back and forth.
The fandom for “Dancing With the Stars” goes hard. What has surprised you about the fan response?
A lot of the fans are voting for us. I want to say thank you to all the fans. They‘re keeping us alive. They’re voting a lot. They’re making it happen and everything. I was so surprised. [This week,] Carrie Ann [Inaba] give us bad comments, and the audience started booing. I was like, “Wow, this is so amazing! The audience is on our side.” They want us to keep going. And I told Witney, “Witney, we gotta keep going.” We dance for the people. If we make it past next week, it will be great. If we go home, we did it and that’s it.
On the other side of that, there can be some negative talk too, some frustrated fans who think other contestants should still be there. How do you deal with that? Or when the beefs get stirred up on social media? Are you paying attention to that?
I don’t know. The first week I was listening to the comments and everything, but now I don’t listen. I just go have fun. Everybody has different opinions. You cannot please everybody. So I just go have fun, enjoy, and that’s it. If they like it, [or] they don’t like it. Some people say, “Oh, he’s too old. He’s out of shape.” I say, “You know what? Come and dance yourself. It’s not easy.” Every week I try to do better and better.
How do you think Jimmy Kimmel would do in the competition?
Oh — you want me to be honest? He doesn’t dance. And he told me that. He told me, “You know me, that I’m not good.” And I go, “Yeah, I know you’re not good. You’re like a rock.” I told him, “Jimmy. I think when it’s time and they say, ‘Dancing the cha-cha-cha, here’s Jimmy Kimmel,’” I said, “I’m gonna come right away before you start and I’m gonna spray WD-40 so you can move good.”
Is there a song you really want to dance to if you had the opportunity to pick it?
Oh, I would like to dance to one that goes [begins singing “You’re the Best” by Joe “Bean” Esposito, which is featured in the “Karate Kid” soundtrack]: “You’re the best. You’re the best around. No one’s ever gonna keep you down. You’re the best.” I’m like, oh, my God, I would love to dance that one.
I know you’re super busy with all the rehearsals, but is there a show that you are enjoying right now,one that helps you unwind?
Oh yeah, there’s a show that I’m watching right now. It’s called “The Studio” with Seth Rogen. I cannot wait for the new season. I love the show. Seth Rogen is doing a great job. Bryan Cranston too, and Ike Barinholtz. Oh, my God, everyone in the cast is so funny.
We have to get you on that show, Guillermo. You can play yourself.
Yeah, I want to. I want to be in that show. Hopefully, it happens soon.
NOT only is the Algarve one of Europe’s most affordable holiday destinations, but also still gets some great October warmth.
But if you want to avoid the crowds, there are some barely-known-to-Brits islands that are just of the coast where you can enjoy gloriously quiet beaches.
Don’t skip over Faro when heading to the AlgarveCredit: GettyIlha Deserta is the place for Caribbean like sandsCredit: Alamy
To get to the Algarve, most Brits will fly into Faro before heading over to their resort along the coast.
But I highly recommend staying in the city as it is home to Ria Formosa, a group of islands.
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I was told about the islands by a local, as I had never heard about them or even seen them promoted as a holiday destination.
But just a few euros by boat (taking around 20 minutes) you’ll find empty beaches that rival Caribbean.
But don’t expect to see any huge holiday resorts or even houses, as no-one lives on the island.
Instead, the boardwalk stretches around the coastline, making it a gloriously peaceful walk.
There is one building on the island, however, which is a restaurant called Estamine.
It first opened in the 1960s, but sadly burnt down in 2021.
Thankfully it has since been rebuilt and it’s worth the boat ride – after all, where else can you go to a desert-like island just to see a restarant?
The only thing on the island? Estamine RestaurantCredit: Unknown
The huge glass windows mean you still get fantastic views, albeit the Portuguese wine and freshly caught fish help too.
Otherwise if you want something a bit more built up, try Isla Armona instead.
There are a few houses and cafes, with a pathway winding through the boat pier to the beach.
Yet that peace and quiet remains, with the stone cottages covered with flowers and tiled patterns.
Get to the soft sand and you can grab an ice cream and a drink before sitting on the beautifully quiet beach.
It still remains quiet however – the boat gets onto the island at one end, with along single path winding through the tiny cottages to the beach on the other side.
However, this beach is just as quiet, with just a small bar serving drinks and snacks.
Now is a great time to go – it’s 27C next week and you can still get flights to Faro for under £20.
If you need somewhere to stay, I highly recommend splashing out on 3HB, which was Faro’s first 5* hotel.
Rooftop restaurant, chic bedrooms and friendly staff all make it worth the stay.
Welcome to Bunker Talk. This is a weekend open discussion post for the best commenting crew on the net, in which we can chat about all the stuff that went on this week that we didn’t cover. We can also talk about the stuff we did or whatever else grabs your interest. In other words, it’s an off-topic thread.
This week’s caption reads:
Illustration shows a visit to the Commandobunker of Kemmel, in Heuvelland, Friday 18 March 2022. After World War II, in the middle of the cold war, several countries including Belgium, France and Great-Britain, decide to build a bunker to coordinate west Europe aerian defence. BELGA PHOTO KURT DESPLENTER (Photo by KURT DESPLENTER / BELGA MAG / Belga via AFP) (Photo by KURT DESPLENTER/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)
PRIME DIRECTIVES:
If you want to talk politics, do so respectfully and know that there’s always somebody that isn’t going to agree with you.
If you have political differences, hash it out respectfully, stick to the facts, and no childish name-calling or personal attacks of any kind. If you can’t handle yourself in that manner, then please, discuss virtually anything else.
No drive-by garbage political memes. No conspiracy theory rants. Links to crackpot sites will be axed, too. Trolling and shitposting will not be tolerated. No obsessive behavior about other users. Just don’t interact with folks you don’t like.
Do not be a sucker and feed trolls! That’s as much on you as on them. Use the mute button if you don’t like what you see.
So unless you have something of quality to say, know how to treat people with respect, understand that everyone isn’t going to subscribe to your exact same worldview, and have come to terms with the reality that there is no perfect solution when it comes to moderation of a community like this, it’s probably best to just move on.
Finally, as always, report offenders, please. This doesn’t mean reporting people who don’t share your political views, but we really need your help in this regard.
We are weathering a truly apocalyptic heat wave in L.A., but that hasn’t stopped Halloween from sneaking up on us. For those who like to give themselves the creeps, the city has its fair share of spook shows, including Griffith Park’s Haunted Hayride and the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor. These mainstays offer hardworking actors seasonal jobs, but usually don’t allow for any real narrative besides jump scares and chainsaws. Which is why I’m so jazzed about a new entry to the immersive Halloween show scene: “Hospital of Emotions After Dark,” with its specially ticketed basement creep-fest, “Below.”
For readers who haven’t been inundated with a million ads for “Hospital of Emotions” on your Instagram feeds, it’s an immersive art show that unspools in 80 discrete rooms over four floors of the shuttered St. Vincent’s Medical Center near downtown L.A. The 45,000-square-foot exhibition opened in late May and was supposed to close in late July, but has extended its run due to popular demand. This month that run includes an after-dark option, which features the regular show — only after-hours — with ambient lighting and roving actors who show up in the most unexpected places (I won’t spoil it, but I got one of the most serious jump scares of my life in one of the exhibit rooms).
A separate ticket (which can be purchased in a bundle with the main exhibition) gets you a ride in an elevator to the hospital’s long-abandoned basement where you are treated to an immersive theater show with a nun for a tour guide. My nun was played by Penny Wiggins, and I’m not sure I have ever witnessed such true commitment in a spook show. Wiggins sold her character — at one point with genuine tears.
I won’t give away the plot, but it’s harrowing, especially if you are someone familiar with the hospital, which opened in the late 1800s and was the first hospital in the city. I had my daughter there in 2016, so it was extra chilling to know that this basement of horrors was there even then. The show uses the building’s actual abandoned infrastructure as its framework, so guests are led through dank subterranean corridors, old examination rooms and specimen labs, as well as an autopsy room.
“Below” isn’t as viscerally gory as “Dark Harbor” or “Haunted Hayride,” but it’s more artistic. There is dancing and an actual script that features a “gotcha” twist — as well as an upsetting demon who appears out of nowhere. I applaud the commitment by the actors who, I imagine, must find it kind of scary just waiting down there for the next round of guests. Plus, it’s good fun to be in the “Hospital of Emotions” at night when everyone is a little wild and there’s a sense that something out of the ordinary might pop out at you at any minute.
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt begrudgingly wearing a tank top and shorts in early October. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
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The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
Felipe Dulzaides / Bradley Baboc Cuban-born artist Dulzaides uses photography, drawing, video, performance, sculpture and sound to capture the sublime nature of Havana knife sharpeners in the exhibition “Balance in Place.” L.A. painter Boboc drew on the Toy District as inspiration for a new series of paintings, “Shadoobie (Shattered).” Opening, 6-9 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, through Nov. 8. Arcane Space, 324 Sunset Ave., Unit G, Venice. arcanespacela.com
Ludovico Einaudi The popular Italian pianist and composer returns to Disney Hall for the first time since 2019 on this solo tour. 8 p.m. Friday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
Mälkki Conducts Bartók Susanna Mälkki leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Béla Bartók’s “Concerto for Orchestra.” 11 a.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
Takács Quartet with Jeremy Denk The Grammy winning ensemble teams up with the MacArthur Grant-winning pianist for a program of chamber music featuring works by Haydn, Mendelssohn and Franck. 7:30 p.m. Broad Stage at Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th Street, Santa Monica. broadstage.org
SATURDAY
Laura Andreson, 1979, Forrest L Merrill Collection, Photo by M. Lee Fatherree
(Photo by M. Lee Fatherree)
The Eternal Quality of Aesthetic Joy: Laura Andreson and Her Legacy The artist bristled at “superfluous” decoration, favoring distilled jar, box, bowl and vase forms influenced by her love for Scandinavian and Bauhaus design. She became a wizard with glazes, conjuring lustrous surfaces resonant with elements of the Southern California landscape. This show offers a rare opportunity to savor the gorgeous purity of her work, alongside that of several of her mentors and peers, such as Gertrud and Otto Natzler and Glen Lukens, as well as some of her students, including JB Blunk and Bernard Kester. (Leah Ollman) Noon-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, Oct. 10-Jan. 9, 2027. Craft in America Center, 8415 W 3rd St. craftinamerica.org
Haunted Soiree: True Crime An immersive theater experience inspired by the 1928 Hex Hollow murder with cocktails and curious encounters. Selected nights through Oct. 31. Nocturne Theatre, 324 N. Orange St., Glendale. hauntedsoiree.com
Pacific Jazz Orchestra’s Benefit Concert Songwriter and producer David Foster, singers Katharine McPhee, Joanna “JoJo” Levesque, Veronica Swift, Adam “AeJaye” Jackson, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and pianist Emmet Cohen are the headliners for a celebration of founding Artistic Director Chris Walden’s 60th birthday, which also includes a buffet reception and dancing under the stars. 7 p.m. Private estate in Toluca Lake, address to be provided upon confirmation of attendance. pacificjazz.org
Saint Megan Playwright Joy Gregory, inspired by the journey of the granddaughter of the founder of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church, examines the long history of American Christian zealotry. Opening, 8 p.m. Saturday, 8 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays, 2 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 22 (no performance Oct. 12 or Oct. 31. Rogue Machine at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave. roguemachinetheatre.org
SUNDAY
Akram Khan Company In the London-based dance troupe’s final touring production, “Thikra: Night of Remembering,” an international cast of women perform contemporary and Bharatanatyam dances. 8 p.m. UCLA, Royce Hall, 340 Royce Drive, Westwood, cap.ucla.edu
Camerata Pacifica The chamber ensemble opens its 37th Season with Rachmaninoff’s “Variations on a Theme of Chopin, Op. 22” and Schubert’s “B-Flat Major Trio.” 5 p.m. Sunday. Bank of America Performing Arts Center, Janet & Ray Scherr Forum Theatre, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Huntington, Rothenberg Hall, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino; 8 p.m. Wednesday. The Colburn School, Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A.; and 7 p.m. Thursday. Music Academy of the West, Hahn Hall, 1070 Fairway Road, Santa Barbara. cameratapacifica.org
Heartbreak House The Antaeus Theatre Company launches its 35th season with George Bernard Shaw’s dark comedy. Directed by ATC Artistic Director Nike Doukas. The cast includes Elinor Gunn, Harry Groener, Arye Gross and Bernard Addison, Previews, 2 p.m. Sunday, 8 p.m. Tuesday-Oct. 16; opening, Oct. 17-Nov. 16. Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center, 110 East Broadway, Glendale. antaeus.org
Musical Theater Guild members Valerie Larsen and Gabriel Navarro during a reading of “The Light in the Piazza” in 2024.
(Stan Chandler)
Here’s to Us! The Musical Theatre Guild marks its 30th anniversary with a benefit concert featuring show tunes from “Titanic,” “Fanny, “The Pajama Game” and “Sunday in the Park with George.” 7 p.m. Broad Stage at Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th Street, Santa Monica. musicaltheatreguild.com
Untitled, n.d. Mavis Pusey
(Neil Lane Collection / Estate of Mavis Pusey)
Mavis Pusey Two exhibitions this fall will help familiarize audiences with this remarkable woman. “Mobile Images” at the Hammer is a full-scale survey co-organized by the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, and is accompanied by a rich and thorough catalog. “Restless” also adds a Pusey publication to the shelf. The Benton show focuses mostly on Pusey’s prints, drawing exclusively from the collection of Ian White, artist, educator and son of esteemed artist Charles White. (Leah Ollman) “Mobile Images,” through Feb. 28, 2027. UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. hammer.ucla.edu “Restless,” through Jan. 3, 2027. Benton Museum of Art, Pomona College, 120 W. Bonita Ave., Claremont. pomona.edu
MONDAY
Art Of Elan: In The Desert Inspired by a trip to Bryce Canyon, Olivier Messiaen wrote his percussion-rich chamber music masterpiece “From the Canyons to the Stars” as a 1976 U.S. Bicentennial commission from Alice Tully Hall in New York. Replete with Messiaen’s characteristic bird calls, it’s been done out of doors before, and memorably at the Ojai Music Festival. But the San Diego imaginative new music series Art of Elan is now taking it to the desert for a special performance led by percussionist Steven Schick at an outdoor theater in Borrego Springs. (Mark Swed) 6:30 p.m. Stargazing Theater, La Casa del Zorro Desert Resort & Spa, 3845 Yaqui Pass Road, Borrego Springs. artofelan.org
TUESDAY
Angela Hewitt The pianist performs an all-Mozart recital accompanied by Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra concertmaster and violinist Margaret Batjer for the first installment in LACO’s inaugural recital series. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Colburn School, Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laco.org
WEDNESDAY
Lisa Batiashvili/Gautier Capuçon/Jean-Yves Thibaudet The superstar violinist, cellist and pianist team up for an evening of Shostakovich, Debussy, and Dvořák. 8 p.m. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
Joey Soloway.
(Loshara Vova)
A 1 They/Them Show The Emmy and Golden Globe-winning creator of “Transparent” steps out from behind the camera to try out their stand-up routine in L.A. before hitting the road with a deeply personal solo comedy performance exploring family, Hollywood, gender, sex, Judaism, ambition and reinvention. A tour is expected to include a November stop in Chicago. 8 p.m. Wednesday and Oct. 28, doors open at 7 p.m.. The Virgil, 4519 Santa Monica Blvd. dice.fm
THURSDAY
Houston Ballet
(Quinn B. Wharton/Segerstrom Center for the Arts)
Houston Ballet The Texas dance troupe brings celebrated young pianist George Li for an ode to Frédéric Chopin. Making its West Coast debut, and created by Stanton Welch AM, artistic director of the Houston Ballet, the piece, “Sons de L’âme” (Sounds of the Soul), merges choreography with a live performance of Chopin’s famed piano pieces, showcasing the talents of the nation’s fourth-largest ballet company and a rising star of classical music. (Eloise Rollins-Fife) 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. scfta.org
Speaking In Tongues The world premiere of a Luis Alfaro play is always a welcome event. And his latest work, commissioned by Latino Theater Co. and developed at the theater’s Circle of Imaginistas playwriting group, resonates thematically with Alfaro’s 2023 play “The Travelers,” which LTC produced in 2023 and made my list of that year’s best theater productions. The new play, infused with Alfaro’s trademark Chicano humor, returns us to the world of California’s Central Valley and the stories of migrant farmworkers and their spiritual quests in a societal landscape transforming faster than anyone can keep up. (Charles McNulty) Previews, 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; opening night, 8 p.m. Saturday; 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, through Nov.. 15. Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street, downtown L.A. latinotheaterco.org
The SoCal scene
Cuban-born artist Enrique Martinez Celaya paints the new curtain for the L.A. Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)
ICYMI, the best of this week’s L.A. Times arts coverage:
L.A. artist Enrique Martínez Celaya hand-painted a brand new 70-foot curtain for L.A. Opera’s new season.
A documentary about Asco, the revolutionary arts group founded in the 1970s, is streaming for the first time on PBS.
As 24th Street Theatre prepares to celebrate its 30th anniversary, it has announced that it raised $3 million to officially buy the converted 1928 carriage house it’s called home for the past 29 years. It also purchased properties next door and across the street in order to expand its mission and community programming, including plans for an outdoor garden and a black box theater, which is, according to a news release, “officially named the 24th Street Black Box Theatre in honor of longtime supporter Jack Black, who is also the new venue’s first donor.” Black is set to host the theater’s gala on Oct. 18.
Tesserae — Andrew McIntosh, left, Ian Pritchard and Joshua Rubin — perform “Bowling, Animals and the Ocean” at the Sierra Madre Playhouse.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
The 99-seat Sierra Madre Playhouse announced it has received $2.5 million from the State of California for a slew of exciting upgrades to its 100-year-old building — marking the largest gift in the organization’s history. The funds were secured by Pasadena Assemblymember John Harabedian, and will be used toward making the historic venue ADA-compliant, as well as to renovate lobbies and other areas open to the public. It will also help with new programming and building infrastructure.
The LA Phil and Orchestre de Paris have announced the launch of a new opportunity: the Salonen International Conducting Fellowship, which is, according to a news release, “designed to nurture and accelerate the careers of the next generation of orchestral conductors … the fellowship will offer early-career conductors unparalleled access to artistic mentorship, practical podium experience, and professional development opportunities at Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Philharmonie de Paris.” The first yearlong program will start in the 2027-28 season, and will feature two to four fellows, who will spend about six weeks working with each orchestra.
The Hammer Museum at UCLA announced this week that Eric Esrailian is succeeding Marcy Carsey as the new chair of the museum’s board (after previously serving as vice chair). Karen Hillenburg will now serve as vice chair. The Hammer also named three new members to its board: philanthropist Leslie McMorrow, attorney Alicia Miñana de Lovelace and Joan Weinstein, vice president of program planning at the Getty.
Tech scion David Ellison spent three years doggedly pursuing his dream: acquiring Paramount, then Warner Bros. Discovery.
Ellison pulled off his bold feat this week by completing Paramount’s $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros., uniting two industry pioneers and a wealth of cherished properties — Batman, Bugs Bunny, Harry Potter and Maverick of “Top Gun,” as well as CBS, HBO, Comedy Central and CNN. All will be tucked under a corporate umbrella that Ellison is calling Skydance — the name of the studio he formed two decades ago.
The mogul and his lieutenants celebrated their victory in style, ringing the New York Stock Exchange opening bell on Thursday, capping a bruising battle to secure approval of a deal that had sparked protests across Hollywood over fears of looming job cuts.
Ellison and his team must braid together two huge film studios (housing nine film labels), four streaming services, three TV production studios, three animation units and more than 50 television networks, including two prominent news organizations. That could be a daunting task, particularly based on how previous Hollywood mergers have fared.
“Now, the real work begins,” David G. Fubini, a Harvard Business School senior lecturer, said in an interview.
Anxieties were evident Tuesday — the day the deal closed — when Ellison held a town hall meeting at Warner Bros., which drew nearly 500 employees.
During the session, CNN’s Anderson Cooper quizzed his new bosses, including about anticipated layoffs and news independence.
“Do you stand with CNN and our effort to completely restore access to covering President Trump?” Cooper asked, referring to CNN’s legal fight alongside MS Now and Politico to reverse the president’s ban on the three organizations.
“Of course,” Ellison replied.
CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper, pictured here in 2021, quizzed his bosses at a Burbank town hall.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press)
Hours later, Ellison parried with reporters in Paramount’s darkened Stage 3, recently revamped with laser projection capabilities to simulate fantastical and far-flung settings for TV shows, such as the streets of New York.
“This was a turbulent process, and, at times, a really ugly process, to actually get this deal over the finish line,” Ellison acknowledged to reporters. “What I want to be able to do now is turn the page, and actually make sure that we are in the business of rebuilding trust.”
To do that, Ellison intends to make more movies and TV shows than rivals. He wants to ensure the Warner Bros. and Paramount studios, which will be kept separate for now, remain talent-friendly destinations.
Ellison has taken an opposing view from his predecessors who confronted crumbling industry economics by cutting expenditures to boost their corporate bottom lines.
The 43-year-old executive, son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, proudly views his family as “owner-operators,” unshackled by quarterly earnings expectations or the need to dole out dividends to keep investors happy. The Ellison family controls the company’s voting stock, allowing David Ellison to take a long-term view as he charts Skydance’s course.
The goal is to “win in storytelling,” Skydance said in an investor presentation. It intends to build the media industry’s most “technologically capable” firm, which uses artificial intelligence to speed work flows. Skydance plans to spend at least $30 billion a year on film, television and video game content.
Skydance co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, Sarah Ellison, CEO David Ellison and investor Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital Partners on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.
(Yuki Iwamura / Associated Press)
The realities of Ellison’s big swing will soon sink in as he and his team turn their focus to integrating the myriad operations and about 55,000 employees.
In some ways, Ellison is behind the curve.
Most major mergers are consummated after executives have dedicated months to quietly drafting detailed operational plans and organizational hierarchies. Ellison, in contrast, has spent the last nine months in a pitched battle for Warner Bros. — ultimately vanquishing Netflix, hundreds of vocal merger opponents, and California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and his coalition of 11 other state attorneys general who filed an antitrust lawsuit in July in an attempt to derail the deal.
Ellison and Bonta resolved their legal fight Sept. 21. A week later, a federal judge cleared the way for the merger to close.
The lawsuit settlement with Bonta requires that the combined company produce at least 30 movies a year for five years. It also must maintain the studio facilities in Los Angeles, making “reasonable efforts to operate the lots in a manner consistent with past practices,” according to the agreement.
Skydance has committed to maintaining operations on the Warner Bros. lot, pictured here, and at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Ynon Kreiz, former chief executive of Mattel toys in El Segundo, has been tasked with leading the integration. The 61-year-old executive joined Ellison at Skydance as his co-CEO earlier this week. Day One of the combined company marked Kreiz’s second day on the job.
“They have a whole new management team that will be expected to immediately lead this massive integration,” Fubini, a former partner at consulting firm McKinsey, said. “The clouds have cleared, and they are at the base camp of Mt. Everest facing this enormous undertaking.”
In a report this week, TD Cowen Global Research maintained its “hold” rating on the newly constituted Skydance, expressing some doubts about Ellison and his team’s ability to “avoid integration and execution problems that have bedeviled other major media mergers.”
Hollywood has had a history of failed mergers, including Discovery’s 2022 takeover of WarnerMedia from AT&T, which led to years of cost cuts that ultimately seeded the ground for Ellison’s takeover. AT&T’s purchase of the same assets in 2018 also quickly unraveled, some 20 years after the epic failure of AOL Time Warner.
Ellison now must grapple with the hefty acquisition costs for Warner Bros., which climbed as the deal was delayed. The company emerged from the transaction with $86.8 billion in total debt; with most of that going toward buying out Warner Bros. Discovery’s stockholders at $31.17 a share.
The debt burden also includes more than $18 billion in obligations leftover from past mergers. Skydance has nearly $7 billion in cash on hand.
Oracle’s Larry Ellison and executive producer David Ellison arrive at the L.A. premiere of “Star Trek Into Darkness” at the Dolby Theatre in 2013.
(Eric Charbonneau / Getty Images for the Hollywood Reporter)
The Ellison family brought in foreign investors, including royal families of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi as passive owners, to contribute equity to the deal. Gerald Cardinale’s RedBird Capital Partners, a longtime Skydance stakeholder, added $4 billion, bringing its total investment in Skydance deals to $6 billion.
The deal’s financial terms pose deep challenges, analysts said. Fitch Ratings this week downgraded Skydance credit, citing “materially higher leverage after the acquisition and significant execution and integration risks,” according to its report.
“Interest rate increases made financing this transaction far more expensive than anyone anticipated,” said Eric Talley, a professor at Columbia Law School. “Those lenders are going to start expecting their interest payments — Skydance executives won’t have the luxury of time.”
The company could struggle, Talley said, to “generate the cash flow needed to easily service that debt unless they can significantly cut costs.”
Skydance has promised investors that it will make $6 billion in cost cuts over three years. It anticipates $2 billion in reductions within a year, with the bulk of the rest occurring in the second year of the merger.
“They are going to be firing a lot of people,” TD Cowen Global Research media analyst Doug Creutz said.
During the press briefing, Kreiz sought to downplay the expected workforce toll, saying Skydance would achieve savings by combining technologies that support streaming services and marketing expenditures. It plans to save costs on real estate by locating employees at Skydance-owned properties in Santa Monica, Hollywood and Burbank.
Ellison and Kreiz said they would jointly manage the new colossus.
“Where David will focus on creative, technology, long-term strategy, including especially as it relates to the creative part of the business, I will focus more on the operations and the day-to-day management of the business,” Kreiz said.
Kreiz was named to Skydance‘s expanded board this week along with Laurene Powell Jobs, founder of the Emerson Collective; and Bobby Kotick, former CEO of Activision.
The new leaders expressed confidence they could expand and integrate their two major streaming services to drive growth. HBO Max and Paramount+ combined will reach more than 200 million subscribers.
The plan, they said, is to combine the two streamers within a couple of years, but the company may offer subscribers a bundle with the two offerings sooner.
Skydance, according to sources, also expects to bolster its free, ad-supported service Pluto TV, which offers more than 200 channels. The service hasn’t had much corporate attention in recent years amid the cuts and deal-making.
The executives have not disclosed which teams would soon be affected or how they will structure overlapping business units.
For example, the company’s three TV studios each have their own leader: Channing Dungey runs the largest, Warner Bros. Television; David Stapf has long managed CBS Studios; and Skydance executive Matt Thunell has been president of Paramount Television Studios since last year.
Integrating CNN and CBS
Anxiety over whether CNN and CBS News would be mashed together was quelled, at least for now.
Skydance announced that it was retaining CNN Worldwide Chairman Mark Thompson as head of the larger news organization. CNN journalists had worried that CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss, who has presided over a year of turmoil at the network, would be put in charge of both.
Any news consolidation could take years, in part, because CBS News is largely unionized while CNN is a non-union shop.
“We are going to spend the next several months basically getting under the hood,” Ellison said.
CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss, pictured here in 2023 in Los Angeles, has had a turbulent tenure at CBS.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Another challenge will be stabilizing the Warner Bros. film unit, which has had a rough year at the box office. This month, the top two Warner Bros. film executives, Mike DeLuca and Pam Abdy, exited abruptly, clearing the way for longtime Ellison lieutenants Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein to oversee both film studios. The co-heads of DC Comics, James Gunn and Peter Safran, segued to the new Skydance.
Skydance also will have to deal with the NFL, which could demand substantially higher fees for CBS to keep its Sunday games.
The current contract allows the league to reopen negotiations because of the ownership change. Skydance is hoping it can wait three years until the contracts of other broadcasters also are up for discussion.
Skydance will be a major player in sports. Last year, Paramount agreed to spend $7.7 billion for UFC fights. The combined company also has rights to professional golf, including the Masters tournament; National Hockey League; Major League Baseball and NCAA basketball, including March Madness, as well as European rights to televise the Olympics.
“Until you actually get inside the company, there are things you won’t know,” Creutz said. “But they are going to have to come up with answers pretty quick.”
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Thursday that he will not order a resumption of military strikes on Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections in the United States.
Trump, while stumping for Republicans this week, has hinted that he was confident that an endgame to the war could come in the days before or after the election, while also hinting that he remained open to resuming full-scale military operations against Iran.
For weeks, Trump has been threatening that a post-midterm election escalation in the seven-month-old war remains a viable option, despite his initial promises to Americans of a military campaign that would last a matter of weeks.
But Trump in a social media post on Thursday said the U.S. “will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd.”
Trump added that his team has been “having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Negotiations had appeared at a standstill since Trump late last month publicly rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the U.S. met certain conditions.
Iran, however, said last week it had received a U.S. counterproposal. And Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday said he expected Tehran would offer a formal reply within days.
Trump’s post comes as the military has dispatched more resources to the region. U.S. officials have said a third aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and thousands of troops aboard it and accompanying ships could arrive as early as the end of October.
Trump’s announcement was made the same day the USS Abraham Lincoln was due to arrive to its home port in San Diego after a record-long deployment in support of the Iran war. There have been reports of crew stress and poor mental health, as well as supply shortages, including food and hygiene products.
The USS George Washington, which is usually based in Asia, relieved the Lincoln in August. The other aircraft carrier in the Middle East, the USS George H.W. Bush, has been deployed for about six months, but it pulled into Phuket, Thailand, for a port visit several days ago.
This is a bad time for the Chargers to see Denver. Their offense is still struggling, Justin Herbert took a beating at Seattle, and here comes that Broncos pass rush. With the exception of last week, Denver’s offense has scored on good defenses.
However, if you are due to fly with the likes of Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air or British Airways – ground handling for these airlines is carried out by another provider at the airport.
The strike action comes as workers protest against governmental policies.
Unfortunately, as this strike is outside of the airline’s control it will be deemed an ‘extraordinary circumstance’, which means if your flight is cancelled you will not be entitled to compensation.
Ground handling staff are set to walk out and around 140 flights are expected to be cancelledCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
However, airlines do still have a duty of care to passengers.
This means that they should rebook or refund your flight free of charge as well as provide you with food and drink, as well as accommodation if required.
Several years ago, DreamWorks Animation veterans Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado pitched the studio an original story centered on friendship and steeped in Filipino culture.
That draft became the animated film “Forgotten Island,” which opened in late September and counts singer H.E.R., Liza Soberano and Dave Franco among its voice cast. The movie focuses on best friends Raissa and Jo, who will soon be separated when Raissa goes to college in the U.S., and the final adventure they take to the fantastical island of Nakali.
The movie opened to a softer $13 million in the U.S. and Canada and has so far made $23.6 million at the domestic box office over two weekends. Globally, “Forgotten Island” has brought in $38.5 million on an $80-million production budget.
That opening haul is lower than the average for original animated films from a major studio, which is about $14.6 million, according to the FranchiseRe movie industry newsletter. But the studio is hoping the movie — which has garnered a strong 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes — will pick up steam and benefit from the relative lack of animated competition at the box office until the early November debut of “The Cat in the Hat,” developed by Warner Bros. Pictures Animation.
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“Forgotten Island” is a big bet for Glendale-based DreamWorks Animation, which like many studios, has largely depended on sequels to drive box office success.
Original animated stories — or original movies at all — have become rarer gambles in Hollywood these days, when sequels and reboots feel like safer options. But Crawford and Mercado knew they wanted to develop a new story together.
The pair, who wrote and directed the film, have been friends for nearly two decades after they met at DreamWorks Animation as storyboard artists. Together, they’ve worked on 2011’s “Kung Fu Panda 2,” 2013’s “The Croods” and 2022’s “Puss in Boots: The Final Wish.” The two bonded over their similar sense of humor and their love for movies, and their longtime friendship was apparent in their easy banter during a joint interview shortly after the “Forgotten Island” premiere last month.
Early on, Crawford and Mercado knew they wanted to tell a story set in the Philippines that celebrated Filipino culture. Mercado is Filipino American and Crawford’s wife is Filipino, so a movie that authentically represented Filipino culture was important to them. In the film, the island of Nakali has many creatures inspired by Filipino folklore, and the characters casually use Tagalog words alongside English.
“There’s a sophistication in terms of respecting that the audience is smart, and doing our part as filmmakers to make sure that the visual storytelling and the context gives everything the audience needs to know,” Mercado told me.
Audiences, too, are more comfortable with content in other languages these days, as I wrote last week about Neon’s Korean-language thriller “Hope.” After all, kids will sing Korean lyrics in K-pop songs, and even “Puss in Boots: The Final Wish” interspersed Spanglish into the story.
“It feels timely to update the way we tell stories, to not treat the audience like, ‘They won’t understand this,’ but really treat them with respect,” Crawford said. “It just felt right to chase authenticity and let go of expectations, especially of what an animated movie should be and has been, and really do something fresh because it’s just coming from who we are.”
In the last few years, animation has been a powerhouse at the box office. Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” and Universal Pictures, Nintendo and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” have each crossed $1 billion at the global box office, two of only five movies to do so this year. In 2024, Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” was the highest grossing movie in the U.S. and Canadian markets.
Original stories have been tougher. Pixar has recently struggled to match the theatrical success of its prior original films and the slower start for “Forgotten Island” may be a sign of similar hurdles for new stories. But culturally accurate storytelling has paid recent dividends — just look at the success of Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters,” which won two Oscars, broke streaming records and sold out theatrical singalongs.
“We believe that there is a platform and space for everyone’s story, for people to feel seen and to know they matter,” Mercado said. “Even when they see a story that is specifically Filipino, if we’ve done our job right, we’ve shown you that you could connect to the story, whether or not you have this experience with the Filipino community or the culture.”
With “Forgotten Island,” Mercado and Crawford also want to push the boundaries of animation beyond its perception as films just for kids. Later this year, films such as Laika’s PG-13 rated “Wildwood” and Brad Bird’s noir film “Ray Gunn” will test the audience appetite for more adult animated and original fare.
“We’re in a time of massive sequels,” Crawford said of stories today. “When you expand where you’re telling them and who is telling them, you naturally get originality. This year has been really exciting for original stories in both animation and live action. You are taking a chance on originality, but it pays off.”
The Warner Bros. film was plagued by very mixed reviews from critics, as well as a challenging marketing campaign. The film stars Cruise as an aging oil tycoon whose drilling operations trigger a catastrophic climate change disaster. Worldwide, the film brought in $20 million on a production budget of $125 million.
It’s been a tough theatrical year for Warner Bros., which has seen a string of disappointments before “Digger.” Beyond the cinema, the company is now in the process of being absorbed by Paramount Skydance, with the merger set to finalize Tuesday.
What I’m watching
It’s been yet another busy week, so about the only thing I was able to watch was a few WNBA playoff games. Since the Sparks were left out of the playoff picture again, I’ve sort of adopted the Golden State Valkyries as the next best California team to root for, and what a wild game that was over the weekend against the Las Vegas Aces.
The newbies have a lot of work to do: The Lakers lost 50.8% of their points, 55.7% of their rebounds and 47% of their assists from last year. As coach JJ Redick acknowledged during his preseason press conference alongside Rob Pelinka, “There’s a lot of minutes … up for grabs.”
All things Lakers, all the time.
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We know three of the starters. We start with the biggest question mark in that rotation:
Position battle we’re watching most this preseason
Austin Reaves has tormented the NBA with his crafty finishes in the lane and step-back threes. In many of his new Lakers’ teammates, he has found equally frustrating counterparts, defenders that twist him into knots like he does to them.
It’s the best — and most important — problem for the Lakers to have. The Lakers’ deep group of perimeter defenders have the most to prove and could be the biggest X-factor in the season’s success.
The wing group felt so unsettled late into the offseason that the Lakers were among the final teams willing to wait out the Jonathan Kuminga sweepstakes. The 6-foot-7 forward did not make his decision until Aug. 26, spurning the Lakers for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Kings’ Darius Acuff Jr. dribbles under pressure from Laker Ziaire Williams during a preseason game in Sacramento on Monday.
(Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
The only other offseason bandaids the Lakers could acquire were Williams and Thybulle. After signing minimum contracts, they were both in the starting lineup for the Lakers’ preseason opener Monday.
Williams, the 6-foot-9 forward from Sierra Canyon High, is relishing the chance to play for his hometown team. The former top-10 pick is on his third NBA team in six seasons, never finding solid footing with Memphis or Brooklyn. He is coming off a career-high 10.3 points per game for the tanking Nets. The expectations will be drastically different with the Lakers and the Lancaster native is ready to meet them.
“There’s not really anything I’m not comfortable with,” said Williams, who reported he currently weighs 215 pounds, up 30 from his previously listed weight with Brooklyn. “If it’s a smaller guy bringing the ball up, I pick up 94 [feet]. If it’s a bigger wing who likes to play off a live dribble and jab step, being more physical off the ball.”
Thybulle is listed at 6-foot-5, but renowned for a nearly 7-foot wingspan. Not only does he torment opponents with his length, his defensive anticipation is “top-tier,” Reaves gushed.
The Washington alumnus was a two-time second-team all-defensive honoree with the Philadelphia 76ers. The hope has always been that his three-point shot could match that defensive talent.
Thybulle is a 34.9% three-point shooter, averaging only 2.6 attempts per game during his career, although his attempts increased in Portland. Thybulle and Williams (32.2% on threes in his career, four attempts per game) are consistently shooting threes after every practice. Williams made all three of three-point attempts in Monday’s preseason game while Thybulle made two of four.
Lakers forward Sandro Mamukelashvili drives to the basket in front of Kings guard Daeqwon Plowden during a preseason game in Sacramento on Monday.
(Sara Nevis / Ap Photo/sara Nevis)
“For me personally, at this point, [it’s about] having the confidence in my shot to know that when it comes, I’m ready for it, as opposed to just hoping for the best,” Thybulle said. “I think it goes a long way as well.”
Mamukelashvili offers three-point shooting that stretches the floor. Redick described the 6-foot-9 forward as “an offensive connector” who can revive seemingly dead plays with a simple pass or a cut. After shooting 38.9% from three last season (115-of-296) with Toronto, he’s a potential starter at power forward, but the defensive matchups could be different when he and Walker Kessler share the floor compared to one of the other perimeter-oriented wings pairing with Kessler.
Young wing players including Adou Thiero and Cameron Carr have also impressed coaches and teammates with their athleticism and eagerness to learn. Reaves affectionately hailed Thiero, who was Reaves’ primary matchup during offseason pickup games, as a “freak of nature” and “one of the best athletes in the league.” That talent was obvious during his injury-plagued rookie season when Thiero scored his first NBA basket on a high-flying dunk last November.
Redick said Thiero’s development in the summer has been “unbelieveable.” The most critical part has been his health, said Thiero, who battled nagging injuries to both knees last season.
Between the veterans trying to prove themselves and the young players hoping to make an impact, the Lakers could go six or seven deep at the wing, Redick said. Depth is a critical ingredient of this era of the NBA. The Lakers are confident in theirs.
“We got some dogs on this team,” Williams said. “Everyone plays one through four. All the wings are great. There’s no slack; you see four or five wings out there playing hard, everybody else has to pick it up a notch.”
Position we should watch this preseason
Lakers center Kevon Looney drives to the basket under pressure from Kings Dylan Cardwell and Nique Clifford during a preseason game in Sacramento on Monday.
(Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
There is no reason to panic about Kessler’s preseason absence. He jammed his left pinky finger on the backboard in practice last week and Redick said Kessler is “day-to-day.”
But the sight of the star center on the sideline is still an unnerving way to start preseason games, especially after the Lakers invested so much to get Kessler. The 7-foot-2 center, who cost the Lakers four first-round draft picks and a four-year, $130-million contract, is supposed to be a lynchpin of their defense. Without him, the Lakers’ entire plan could fall apart.
The only true center the Lakers have behind Kessler — who only played in five games last year because of a shoulder injury — is Kevon Looney. The former UCLA star started in Kessler’s place Monday, playing 18 minutes with nine rebounds, three assists and two points. Mamukelashvili, a power forward, can also rotate to center.
The Lakers have so much riding on the center position this year. Their backup options don’t feel strong enough to bear the weight of a possible Kessler injury. But Redick said the team’s wing players could shoulder some of that burden.
“Loon, Mamu, those guys, they’re not going to be Kessler,” Redick said. “Mamu is versatile enough that he can do different things, whether that’s a hedge or a switch or a drop, and we’ll figure out what works best for this team with that when we’re in man. Then with Loon, I think he’s smart enough and savvy enough that he can get the job done. But again, none of that matters if we’re not guarding the basketball.”
Looney, 30, is the unexpected veteran on a team of 20-somethings. Redick used the three-time champion’s experience with the Warriors for inspiration on the first day of practice, saying Looney faced plenty of adversity during those years. The Warriors fell behind in multiple series and still clawed back to win, Redick said. The Lakers expect Looney to stablize the team during the inevitable rocky periods of the season.
“What a great vet,” Kessler said. “He’s done it before. He knows what it takes to win a championship on and off the court.”
On tap
Tuesday at Warriors, 7 p.m. PDT
The Lakers open the preseason with a road back-to-back. Expect that while the Lakers have no pressing injury concerns, most of the key players will be on an early load management schedule.
Thursday vs. Kings, 7:30 p.m. PDT
The Lakers’ third game in four days – a workload that should be banned in the preseason – will be the debut of Lakers public address announcer Derrin Horton. The former KTLA broadcaster will take over for franchise legend Lawrence Tanter, who died last week at 76. Tanter retired from his game day role in June after 43 iconic years as the “Voice of the Lakers.”
Favorite thing I ate this week
From Broken Spanish Comedor, the ceviche (left) and the camote, a coal-roasted Japanese sweet potato served with pork rinds.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
I’d been reading great things about Broken Spanish Comedor, and after finally trying the new Culver City restaurant, I’m surprised to report that my favorite dish from a modern Mexican restaurant was a Japanese sweet potato. The camote was an ideal combination of textures thanks to the creamy coal roasted sweet potato and crunchy pork rinds and sweet, smokey and spicey flavors. We also ordered the ceviche, which came with a deserved heat warning, and the chicharron. The server insisted we get the hand-pressed tortillas and who’s saying no?
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Left tackle Rashawn Slater sustained a high ankle sprain and is a candidate for injured reserve, Harbaugh said. Right tackle Joe Alt (neck) is still being evaluated but is less likely to be placed on IR. Offensive lineman Trevor Penning is in concussion protocol.
Safety Derwin James Jr. (hamstring) is week-to-week, but is expected to stay off IR. Cornerback Donte Jackson (hamstring) is also week-to-week.
Wide receiver Ladd McConkey, who has already fought through a cracked rib this season, is day-to-day with a foot injury.
“Next man up,” Harbaugh said. “Putting the plan together and treating it like it’s a one-game season. That’s what we’re doing.”
Harbaugh said guard Kayode Awosika (fibula), wideout Brenen Thompson (quad), defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson (hamstring) and tight end Charlie Kolar are “all making good progress” with their injuries.
Harbaugh added that offensive lineman Branson Taylor and fullback/defensive lineman Scott Matlock, who were placed on injured reserve for undisclosed reasons before Week 1, have a “good chance” to open their practice windows this week. However, linebacker Denzel Perryman (undisclosed) isn’t “quite there yet.”
The 0-4 Chargers host the Denver Broncos (2-2) on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
Frankie Bridge was forced to pull out of Paris Fashion Week last-minute after a brutal anxiety spiral left her bed-bound and unable to function properly.
The Saturdays singer, 37, revealed she had a “dark day” last week that left her in floods of tears before collapsing into bed for the entire rest of the day.
Frankie Bridge was forced to pull out of Paris Fashion Week after she was left bed boundCredit: YouTube/Frankie BridgeThe Loose Women star said her anxiety spiralled and she was unable to function properlyCredit: Getty
Frankie also said she has been suffering anxiety-related heart palpitations for the last six months and admitted she had not been eating or sleeping enough.
The mum-of-two had been due to travel to Paris for Fashion Week, which ends on Tuesday, but had to cancel the trip after it began triggering health issues.
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Speaking in her YouTube vlog on Monday, Frankie explained: “Paris is like my favourite place, and it’s like my favourite part of fashion week, but it was just giving me anxiety.
The singer, who was due to attend one of the shows as a guest, said she spoke to her agent, who told her the trip was “just not worth it”.
The mum-of-two had been due to travel to Paris for Fashion WeekCredit: Shutterstock EditorialFrankie said she has been suffering anxiety-related heart palpitations for the last six monthsCredit: YouTube/Frankie Bridge
She added: “At the same time, I feel relieved, but also so disappointed and annoyed.”
Her decision came after a punishing few weeks including a trip to New York and her Faves Live runway event during London Fashion Week.
Frankie said sons Parker, 12, and Carter, 11 – her kids with her husband, ex-footballer Wayne Bridge, 46 – had returned to school, while a family member was “really really sick”.
She admitted: “I think I just didn’t realise how stressed I was and how tired and overwhelmed I was. And I just haven’t had a break or a moment to stop and think about any of it.”
The Loose Women star said: “I was really scared this week that I was heading towards burnout.
“On the way home from filming something on Wednesday, I basically cried the whole way home. I just haven’t been able to function. I think it just finished me off. That was a really dark day.”
Frankie said she had kept turning up for work but felt other parts of her life were slipping.
She revealed Carter went to school at the wrong time one day, adding: “I try and be the best mum that I can be, best friend, best wife, whatever.”
Frankie also revealed her physical health had taken a knock after falling ill. Describing the exhaustion, she said it felt like she had been “hit by a bus”.
She added: “I’ve had heart palpitations all day today, which is like a new thing for me like the last six months if I’m anxious or anything.”
Frankie also admitted stress had affected her appetite. She said: “I think I’ve just not been looking after myself.
“I think I’ve been really stressed, really busy, which I love. I thrive under pressure and stress, but it kind of came with not being hungry.
“So, I probably haven’t been eating enough. I haven’t been sleeping enough.”
Frankie has previously spoken openly about depression and anxiety and spending time in a psychiatric hospital aged 21.
She has also undergone ketamine-assisted therapy for her mental health.
She added: “This is just the reality of trying to do it all. You just can’t. And sometimes something’s got to give. And this week, that something was me.”
THE actress sister of a Hollywood star looked super stylish as she stepped out at Paris Fashion Week – but can you guess her famous relative?
This New York-born actress, 34, played the lead in HBO Max comedy-drama The Sex Lives of College Girls.
This actress looked very stylish at Paris Fashion Week – but can you guess her famous sibling?Credit: Shutterstock EditorialThe star attended the Zimmermann Womenswear Spring/Summer 2027 showCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
She has appeared in films including The King of Staten Island and The Devil Wears Prada 2 – but does she look familiar?
It’s Pauline Chalamet, whose younger brother is Golden Globe-winning actor Timothée Chalamet.
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Pauline attended the Zimmermann Womenswear Spring/Summer 2027 show, held in the French capital.
Pauline’s younger brother is Golden Globe winner Timothee ChalametCredit: GettyTimothee has been dating Kylie Jenner since 2023Credit: Getty
Pauline had seemingly taken not-so subtle social media digs at Kylie in the past, slamming billionaires, extreme wealth and private jets.
Two well-placed insiders close to the siblings told The U.S. Sun that their relationship was at an “all-time low” due to Pauline’s disapproval of Kylie.
The first source said “something is broken” between the pair, claiming Pauline believed Kylie “doesn’t share the same values and morals as he does,” and that she will “leave him when she gets fed up.”
“Pauline thinks that Kylie is with her brother because it looks cool and it’s nice to be in a relationship with one of Hollywood’s most exciting young stars,” said the first source. “She thinks she’s with him to keep the spotlight on her.”
Different sources told The U.S. Sun there were serious family concerns about the relationship, suggesting it would be “a terrible mistake” for the couple to get married.
A family member, speaking anonymously, questioned how “two complete opposites” could make a marriage work.
Meanwhile, superstars Timothée and Kylie first began their relationship back in 2023.
Kylie, 29, has two children with her ex-boyfriend, rapper and record producer Travis Scott.
Kansas City have dominated their rivalry with the Raiders in recent years, but Las Vegas are vastly improved after winning only three games last season and pushed the Chiefs all the way.
The Raiders led 13-10 heading into the final quarter in Vegas, which featured three lead changes before Kansas City held on for a 30-27 win.
The turning point came as new running back Kenneth Walker maintained his stunning start by scoring two touchdowns in 19 seconds, with the Chiefs regaining possession immediately by forcing a fumble on the kick-off return.
The Raiders gave themselves hope with a Brock Bowers score and stayed alive until the final play, when Kirk Cousins was tackled as he threw and his wayward pass was intercepted.
Walker finished with 177 yards from 22 carries, while team-mate Tyquan Thornton also had two touchdowns and 111 receiving yards.
After missing last season’s play-offs, the Chiefs look capable of getting back into Super Bowl contention. They next face the Los Angeles Chargers, who are 0-4 after losing 30-23 to defending champions the Seattle Seahawks.
Sixty-nine years ago this day, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first satellite to orbit Earth, opening the Space Age and setting off a race with the United States.
Ten years later, on October 10, 1967, the Outer Space Treaty came into force.
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In 1999, the United Nations started observing World Space Week – from October 4 to 10 – to celebrate the contribution of space technology for the benefit of humanity. Schools, space agencies, museums and astronomy clubs around the world hold stargazing nights, science classes, exhibitions and talks by astronauts and scientists.
Today, more than 80 countries have put satellites into orbit, and people from over 50 of those have travelled to space.
In this visual explainer, Al Jazeera looks at which countries have done so, how many space travellers have been women, and what comes next for human spaceflight.
The first man in space – Yuri Gagarin
On April 12, 1961, Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space.
On board the Vostok 1 spacecraft, he completed one orbit of Earth at about 27,400km/h (17,025mph) during a 108-minute flight. He later ejected from the spacecraft and landed by parachute.
The mission demonstrated that humans could survive launch, weightlessness and re-entry, giving the Soviet Union a major early victory in the Cold War Space Race.
Yuri Gagarin, the world’s first spaceman [File: Getty Images]
Six years later, on October 10, 1967, the Outer Space Treaty entered into force. Signed by the US, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, it established that space should be explored and used peacefully and that no country could claim it as territory.
Less than two years later, NASA’s Apollo 11 mission landed the first humans on the moon. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on its surface.
Astronaut Neil Armstrong, in training for the projected Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, is being suited up for the first full dress rehearsal of activities he is to perform during the projected moon landing [File: Getty Images]
Where does space begin?
There is no single agreed boundary for where space begins: most international bodies use the Karman line, 100km (62 miles) above Earth, while the US military, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration count anyone who flies above 80km (50 miles).
Either way, it is closer than it sounds: if Earth were the size of an apple, space would begin about as far from the surface as the thickness of its skin.
Which countries have sent people to space?
By the Karman line measure, at least 746 people from 52 countries have travelled to space, including professional astronauts and paying tourists.
Some hold dual nationality, and some flew for countries that no longer exist, such as the Soviet Union.
The graphic below breaks down space travellers by country.
Two countries still dominate the list. The US has sent 369 people to space, and the Soviet Union and Russia have sent 138 combined. China, the third country to launch people on its own rockets, has sent 29.
American astronaut Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr, commander of NASA’s Apollo 14 lunar landing mission at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on November 14, 1970 [Space Frontiers/Getty Images]
One in seven space travellers is a woman
Space remains a male-dominated frontier. Science fiction may be full of women commanding starships, but of the 746 people who have travelled to space, only 112, or 15 percent, have been women, about one in seven.
Soviet astronaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel to space in June 1963. The US did not follow for another 20 years, until Sally Ride flew in June 1983.
The share of women is rising, though, largely because of commercial flights. More than half of the women who have flown since 2020 went up as paying passengers or guests on Blue Origin’s suborbital rocket.
Valentina Tereshkova, who became the first woman in space in 1963, at the Science Museum in London, March 15, 2017 [Leon Neal/Getty Images]
The typical space traveller is 40
Most people who have flown to space were in their 30s or 40s on their first flight, which together account for 85 percent. The median age is 40. Commercial flights have widened that range.
The youngest traveller, Oliver Daemen, was 18 when he flew in 2021. The oldest, Ed Dwight, was 90 years and eight months old when he flew in 2024, about two months older than William Shatner had been on his flight three years earlier.
What comes next for human spaceflight?
In April 2026, the Artemis II crew flew around the moon and reached about 406,771km (252,756 miles) from Earth, breaking the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.
Next is Artemis III in 2027, a rehearsal in Earth orbit to test docking with lunar landers built by SpaceX and Blue Origin. NASA is targeting 2028 for Artemis IV, which aims to land astronauts near the moon’s south pole, the first crewed landing since 1972.
India plans its first crewed Gaganyaan flight in 2027, making it the fourth country to launch people on its own rocket. China aims to land astronauts on the moon around 2030.
Brooks Nader went braless in a plunging black suit during Paris Fashion Week for an appearance at the Muger showCredit: GettyThe model looked incredible in a plunging jacket with shoulder pads, which she teamed with a thigh-split skirtCredit: Getty
She paired the outfit with strappy heels, a big bouncy blow dry and glamorous make-up.
The actress has recently been filming scenes for the Baywatch reboot in Malibu, where she plays a character called Selene based on the iconic series that made Pamela Anderson a global sex symbol in the 1990s.
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The actresshas become known for herrisque red carpet style that leaves little to the imagination.
She paired the outfit with strappy heels, a big bouncy blow dry and glamorous make-upCredit: GettyThe actress has become known for her risque red carpet styleCredit: GettyThe model often shares photos on her social media accountsCredit: Instagram/BrooksNaderBrooks is starring in the upcoming remake of BaywatchCredit: Hulu
The model shared photos from her stay at the swanky Splendido hotel, posing for a cleavage baring snap.
And in one photo, she pushed together her cleavage underneath her sexy zebra-print bikini.
Brooks, who is best friends with British singer Ellie Goulding, got married to advertising exec Billy Haire in 2019 after four years together.
They split in 2024 and she went on to have short-lived relationships with former Strictly Come Dancing star Gleb Savchenko and Greek Prince Constantine-Alexios.
SEATTLE — In a game that looked lopsided for the better part of three quarters, the Chargers did enough Sunday to scare the defending Super Bowl champions.
Small victory, but at least it was something for the winless Chargers, who scored a touchdown and field goal in the fourth quarter before falling to the Seattle Seahawks, 30-23.
The visitors, who trailed by 19 in the third quarter, were behind by a touchdown when they took over at their 11 with 1:42 remaining. Three plays into that against-all-odds drive, the Seahawks stripped the ball from Justin Herbert, recovered the fumble and ran out the clock.
The Chargers dropped to 0-4, likely crossing the point of no return. The last time the Chargers started 0-4 was 2017, their first season back in Los Angeles.
Only one team — the 1992 San Diego Chargers — made the playoffs after losing its first four games, and that Bobby Ross-coached squad won 11 of its final 12 games.
These Chargers have 13 games left, and identifying potential wins on the remaining schedule is a nearly impossible task.
Remember the thought that new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel would unlock all the potential of Herbert? Almost sounds silly now, with the way the team has stumbled and bumbled its way through the first four games.
Previous little rhythm or continuity. Nowhere to go but up.
Sunday was the first time the Chargers finished within a touchdown of their opponent.
For much of the game, Herbert looked lost. His pass was intercepted on the first play from scrimmage and again late in the first half, when his throw landed right in the belly of linebacker Ernest Jones IV.
Chargers running back Kimani Vidal scores a touchdown during the fourth quarter of a 30-23 loss to the Seahawks on Sunday.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
Injuries didn’t help. All-Pro safety Derwin James Jr. was deactivated by the Chargers because of a hamstring injury, and the team subsequently lost No. 1 receiver Ladd McConkey (foot) and right tackle Joe Alt (neck) for the second half. In the fourth quarter, left tackle Rashawn Slater lay for several moments on the turf and was examined by medical staff before rising to his feet and walking gingerly to the sideline with an ankle injury.
Herbert took a beating. He was sacked four times, and the Seahawks were flagged twice for roughing the passer. He had three turnovers. His toughness was not in question, though, not after some of those crushing hits.
At least last season the Chargers could point to a specific positional breakdown. Their offensive line was a disaster. This year, nothing is working well — although the defense did turn in a gem for three quarters in the Week 3 loss at Buffalo, including five takeaways.
It has been a disastrous and unfamiliar start for Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, who before this season had never lost his first two games, either in college or the pros.
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh reacts during the third quarter Sunday.
(Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
As unpleasant as his job might be at the moment, Harbaugh is ostensibly safe. He’s signed for two more seasons, and the Chargers would owe him more than $30 million were they to part ways with him. Cutting loose McDaniel would be expensive, too, and there’s no clear successor waiting in the wings.
There’s little respite to be found in the Chargers’ upcoming games. They play host to Denver next Sunday, then are at Kansas City, and play the Rams after a week off. Then, the Chargers have a home game against Houston — also surprisingly winless — then play at Baltimore, where the 3-1 Ravens are coached by former Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.
The Seahawks, defending Super Bowl champions, got a collective whiff of smelling salts before Sunday’s game, having suffered an embarrassing loss at Washington a week earlier. They weren’t about to lose back-to-back games for the first time since 2024.
They were far from perfect, however. After the Seahawks picked off Herbert on the first play from scrimmage, the Chargers returned the favor on Seattle’s first play, intercepting a Sam Darnold pass. That set up a field goal drive and a fleeting 3-0 lead by the visitors.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Chargers-Seahawks game marked the first since 1978 — as far back as the stats go — that began with consecutive interceptions.
The advantage didn’t last long. The Seahawks pulled away as the second half wore on, scoring three unanswered touchdowns and tearing through the heart of the Chargers’ defense, sometimes scarcely touched.
Major League Baseball wrapped a postseason advertisement around the front page of The Times this week. “OCTOBER STARTS TODAY,” the headline screamed.
Beneath those enormous letters, Shohei Ohtani smiled. Who else?
And so dozens of reporters crammed into a cramped room within Dodger Stadium on Friday afternoon, on the eve of the National League Division Series between the Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves, waiting for Ohtani to answer a few versions of “How are you?”
It’s not just about attracting casual fans to watch the icon whose face adorns everything from airplanes to skin care products. For the Dodgers and their fans, it’s about whether their most famous player can be a game-changer in October.
The Dodgers could have shut him down as a pitcher rather than let him continue to try to pitch through knee and biceps injuries. They didn’t, and that backfired.
The Dodgers could have shut him down as a hitter, not for the season but for a stint on the injured list. They didn’t. They gave him just a few days off, and that backfired.
Then the Dodgers did put him on the injured list, but activated him for the final five games of the regular season rather than give him extended rest for the playoffs, limiting his activity to controlled workouts.
That might backfire, or it might not, and the repercussions of the former could represent a significant hurdle in their quest for a third consecutive World Series championship. Giving Ohtani time off during the regular season would have carried no penalty; the Dodgers would have won the NL West with or without him.
If the Dodgers decide Ohtani needs a few days off now, they would face this unpleasant dilemma: play one man short, or put him on the injured list. Under MLB rules, a player put on the injured list during a postseason series must sit out the next series. So, if Ohtani starts wincing at the end of his swings during the NLDS, a stint on the injured list would mean he could not play again until the World Series — if the Dodgers get there.
Shohei Ohtani speaks during a news conference at Dodger Stadium on Friday.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
Ohtani has not hit a home run since Aug. 18. Since then, he is batting .157, and he has struck out in 41% of his at-bats. In those final five games, he hit the ball hard in the first two, then hit ground balls in the final three. In the on-deck circle, he did not always take a swing.
In batting practice Friday, he hit lots of home runs.
The general sense of how Ohtani is feeling now: good enough.
Ohtani said he feels “really good” as compared to before he went on the injured list, but acknowledged he isn’t sure what he might need to do to address the injuries over the winter.
“As of now, it’s something I’m just going to have to manage,” he said through interpreter Will Ireton.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts offered this medical update: “Shohei’s not 100%, but he’s going to be in the lineup.”
Same for Freddie Freeman, who has not homered in a month. The difference, Roberts said, is how encouraged the manager was by Freeman’s workouts this week.
“With Shohei, I’m not so sure,” Roberts said. “I know that once the lights turn on, the postseason starts, the focus will be heightened. I expect good things. I really do. We just haven’t seen it enough to really — for me to forecast it.”
Ohtani plays when he says he can. After he tore up his left shoulder in Game 2 of the 2024 World Series, he had trainers tape the shoulder in place and took 11 at-bats over the final three games of the series. He had one hit, a single.
“I do pride myself on playing every day,” Ohtani said. “I do see it as an obligation as a professional to be on the field every single day.”
Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, acknowledged recently that communication with Ohtani has been “awesome” but “fully sharing exactly how he’s feeling, maybe not as awesome.”
Said Friedman: “He’s not always the best reporter of how he feels. Freddie’s the same way. Clayton Kershaw. I’ve been around a lot of these guys that feel like their job is to be out there to help the team however they can, and sometimes will downplay some things that are bothering them. But again, it’s because he wants to help the team win.”
The Dodgers are talented enough that Ohtani not hitting well would not damage their chances as much as, say, Sale not pitching well for the Braves. In the NLDS and the first three games of the NLCS last October, Ohtani hit .103 with no home runs and struck out in 48% of his at-bats.
In the NLCS clincher, he hit three home runs (and struck out 10 batters). The Dodgers could trade a few bad days from Ohtani for that one really good day.
In that MLB advertisement, the one that featured Ohtani, the league acknowledged that its screaming headline was not exactly accurate. The explanation also fits the Dodgers’ hopes of Ohtani starring in October.
The ad, after all, appeared on Sept. 29.
October starts today?
“Logic and reason would tell you otherwise,” the ad read. “But October isn’t about being reasonable.
The first full week of October, though light, brings a diverse earnings slate spanning consumer staples, beverages, travel, apparel, and AI infrastructure, with companies offering fresh reads on both consumer demand and the capital-intensive technology buildout. PepsiCo (PEP), Constellation
![Yuri Gagarin, the world's first spaceman. [Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/GettyImages-514885012-1791125806.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
![Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, in training for the projected Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, is being suited up for the first full dress rehearsal of activities he is to perform during the projected moon landing. [Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/GettyImages-515287304-1791126174.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
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