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In 'The Decameron,' the Black Death makes for black comedy

Zosia Mamet and Saoirse-Monica Jackson in The Decameron. Giulia Parmigiani/Netflix hide caption

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Giulia Parmigiani/Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In 'The Decameron,' the Black Death makes for black comedy

In Netflix's weirdly compelling dark comedy The Decameron, the bubonic plague is ravaging Florence in 1348. A group of rich nobles and their servants decide to retreat to a picturesque villa in the country to wait it all out. The large ensemble includes Tony Hale and Zosia Mamet. Every character is hiding something, and those secrets get revealed — and more than a few uglies get bumped.

In 'The Decameron,' the Black Death makes for black comedy

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An NBA logo is seen on an official game ball before a game, Feb. 1, 2014, in New York. The NBA said Wednesday that it is not accepting Warner Bros. Discovery's $1.8 billion per year offer to continue its longtime relationship with the league and therefore has entered into a deal with Amazon Prime Video.

An NBA logo is seen on an official game ball before a game, Feb. 1, 2014, in New York. The NBA said Wednesday that it is not accepting Warner Bros. Discovery's $1.8 billion per year offer to continue its longtime relationship with the league and therefore has entered into a deal with Amazon Prime Video. Jason DeCrow/AP hide caption

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Jason DeCrow/AP

Sports

NBA signs media rights deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon, leaving TNT behind

The NBA signed its 11-year media rights deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon Prime Video after saying it was not accepting Warner Bros. Discovery’s offer to continue its longtime relationship with the league.

A view of the Olympic rings beneath the Eiffel Tower, lit up at night.

Tens of thousands of athletes, spectators and journalists are descending on Paris to cover the Olympic Games. Many more will be watching from home. Michael Reaves/Getty Images hide caption

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Michael Reaves/Getty Images

2024 Paris Olympics

Your guide to keeping up with the Paris Olympics

The 2024 Olympics kick off in Paris with a splashy opening ceremony on Friday and will run through Aug. 11. Here's how to keep up with the action, from primetime viewing to occasional scrolling.

Vice President Kamala Harris appears in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington on Feb. 27, 2024, left, and actor Maya Rudolph appears at the season two photo call for

Social media is crying out for comedian Maya Rudolph (right) to bring her Kamala Harris impression back to SNL. AP/AP hide caption

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AP/AP

Pop Culture

Hey SNL, we're ready for Maya's Kamala

Social media is crying out with calls for Saturday Night Live veteran Maya Rudolph to bring back her Kamala Harris impression.

MAYA RUDOLPH'S KAMALA

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(From left) Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, Arthur Ashe, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova all feature in new documentary series, Gods of Tennis.

From left, Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, Arthur Ashe, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova all feature in new documentary series, Gods of Tennis. Mindhouse Production Team hide caption

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Mindhouse Production Team

Sports

'Gods of Tennis' explores trailblazing legends of the sport and why we remember them

John McEnroe, Billie Jean King and other tennis legends discuss their legacies in a new PBS documentary series.

GODS OF TENNIS - Simon Draper

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'Sunny' is a robot buddy comedy about loss

Rashida Jones in Sunny. Apple TV+ hide caption

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Apple TV+

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Sunny' is a robot buddy comedy about loss

In the new Apple TV+ series Sunny, Rashida Jones stars as a woman living in Kyoto, whose husband and young son go missing in a plane crash. To help console her, her husband's electronics company gives her a robot companion. The show is an interesting mix of styles and genres – it's a buddy comedy, a crime thriller and a drama about loss. But at the center of it all is the mystery of what happened to her husband and son – and why.

'Sunny' is a robot buddy comedy about loss

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Bob Newhart played psychologist Robert Hartley in the 1970s sitcom The Bob Newhart Show.

Bob Newhart played psychologist Robert Hartley in the 1970s sitcom The Bob Newhart Show. Gerald Smith/NBCUniversal via Getty Images hide caption

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Gerald Smith/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Obituaries

'I've lived in an incredible time': Comic Bob Newhart dies at 94

Best known for an everyman persona that powered two classic TV sitcoms, Newhart managed to be the funniest guy in the room while playing unassuming characters.

Legendary comedian and longtime TV star Bob Newhart dies at 94

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LeVar Burton has portrayed the Black experience "from our enslavement to the stars"

LeVar Burton on Wild Card Etienne Laurent/Getty Images hide caption

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Etienne Laurent/Getty Images

Wild Card with Rachel Martin

LeVar Burton has portrayed the Black experience "from our enslavement to the stars"

LeVar Burton has three roles he'll forever be known for: Kunta Kinte on the TV series Roots, Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation and host of Reading Rainbow. Those roles have had profound impacts on people and he now understands, as he puts it, "my job is to be LeVar Burton." He talks to Rachel about the tension of that job, his changing definitions of success and learning to embrace the chaos.

LeVar Burton has portrayed the Black experience "from our enslavement to the stars"

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We unpack the 2024 Emmy nominations

Jeremy Allen White in The Bear. FX hide caption

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FX

Pop Culture Happy Hour

We unpack the 2024 Emmy nominations

The nominations the Emmy Awards were just announced, and it was a good day for The Bear, which set a new record in the comedy category. And plenty of our favorites also got Emmy nods, including Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Shōgun, Reservation Dogs and What We Do in the Shadows. We'll help you unpack this year's the notable nominees and snubs.

We unpack the 2024 Emmy nominations

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Reality TV star Savannah Chrisley speaks on stage on the second day of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday in Milwaukee, Wis.

Reality TV star Savannah Chrisley speaks on stage on the second day of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday in Milwaukee, Wis. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Politics

Reality star Savannah Chrisley says her parents were victims of political persecution

Reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley were found guilty of conspiring to defraud community banks. Speaking at the Republican National Convention, their daughter, Savannah, blamed "rogue prosecutors."

'Exploding Kittens' turns a simple card game into a wild cartoon

Tom Ellis as Godcat and Ally Maki as Greta in Netflix's Exploding Kittens. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Exploding Kittens' turns a simple card game into a wild cartoon

The best-selling card game Exploding Kittens has been adapted into a new Netflix animated series. It does plenty of its own world-building: God (Tom Ellis) and the devil (Sasheer Zamata) are sent to earth, where they take the form of talking cats — and meddle in the lives of a struggling family.

'Exploding Kittens' turns a simple card game into a wild cartoon

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Shannen Doherty, best known for her roles in Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed, died Saturday after her years-long battle with breast cancer.

Shannen Doherty, best known for her roles in Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed, died Saturday after her years-long battle with breast cancer.
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Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Culture

Actress Shannen Doherty dies at 53, after a nearly decade-long battle with breast cancer

Doherty, who died at 53, almost ten years after she was first diagnosed with breast cancer, was a child actor, most notably on Little House on the Prairie. She was in Heathers in 1988, which is a bright spot on any résumé. But she became an icon as Brenda Walsh on Beverly Hills, 90210, one of the biggest hits of the early '90s and the spark for many teen soaps that came later.

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