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Made In Chelsea star Georgia Toffolo continues to pack on the PDA with new millionaire fiancé James Watt as she shares festive photosThe 50 best albums of 2024

Swansea boss Luke Williams thought his side were second best for the majority of the contest despite earning a 2-1 win at Derby. The Swans stunned Pride Park into silence with less than two minutes on the clock when Zan Vipotnik sent a bullet past Jacob Widell Zetterstrom before Ronald slotted home his first of the season in the 14th minute. Cyrus Christie brought Tom Barkhuizen down inside the box and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing dispatched the resulting penalty to cut the deficit in half and, despite piling on the pressure, Derby succumbed to a second home defeat of the season. Williams told a press conference: “We started the game very well, we were good up until we scored the second goal then we lost the grip on the game and I thought Derby were the better team. “The next thing for us we have to be able to maintain that level throughout the game and we weren’t able to do that to be quite honest today. “They made it difficult, reacted very well after the second goal and didn’t go under, far from it.” Swansea leapfrogged their opponents into the top half of the table with their sixth win of the season and took three points back to south Wales following two last-minute defeats by Burnley and Leeds heading into the match. Williams added: “We’ve recently conceded late goals but they’re a very resilient group and we saw it out in the end. “We’ve dominated games a lot but probably failed to score when we’ve been that dominant and tonight we managed to score the goals when we were dominant. “We scored the goals at the right time today.” Derby had been unbeaten in their last three matches coming into this one but Paul Warne put defeat down to a poor start. He said: “We conceded two and didn’t get close enough, weren’t aggressive enough, not enough body contact and looked soft, that’s my fault. “Maybe I didn’t message it properly. Sometimes it doesn’t come down to shape and tactics but I thought that was what the difference was. “Credit Swansea for the win but after the 25 mins it looked like we would score. I really enjoyed it, that’s the truth. I had 70 minutes of a team giving everything, I don’t think we’ve had that many attempts in the Championship this season. “It’s a rude awakening, last year we would’ve won that 4-2.”

Boxing Day shopper footfall was down 7.9% from last year across all UK retail destinations up until 5pm, MRI Software’s OnLocation Footfall Index found. However, this year’s data had been compared with an unusual spike in footfall as 2023 was the first “proper Christmas” period without Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, an analyst at the retail technology company said. It found £4.6 billion will be spent overall on the festive sales. Before the pandemic the number of Boxing Day shoppers on the streets had been declining year on year. The last uplift recorded by MRI was in 2015. Jenni Matthews, marketing and insights director at MRI Software, told the PA news agency: “We’ve got to bear in mind that (last year) was our first proper Christmas without any (Covid-19) restrictions or limitations. “Figures have come out that things have stabilised, we’re almost back to what we saw pre-pandemic.” There were year-on-year declines in footfall anywhere between 5% and 12% before Covid-19 restrictions, she said. MRI found 12% fewer people were out shopping on Boxing Day in 2019 than in 2018, and there were 3% fewer in 2018 than in 2017, Ms Matthews added. She said: “It’s the shift to online shopping, it’s the convenience, you’ve got the family days that take place on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.” People are also increasingly stocking-up before Christmas, Ms Matthews said, and MRI found an 18% increase in footfall at all UK retail destinations on Christmas Eve this year compared with 2023. Ms Matthews said: “We see the shops are full of people all the way up to Christmas Eve, so they’ve probably got a couple of good days of food, goodies, everything that they need, and they don’t really need to go out again until later on in that week. “We did see that big boost on Christmas Eve. It looks like shoppers may have concentrated much of their spending in that pre-Christmas rush.” Many online sales kicked off between December 23 and the night of Christmas Day and “a lot of people would have grabbed those bargains from the comfort of their own home”, she said. She added: “I feel like it’s becoming more and more common that people are grabbing the bargains pre-Christmas.” Footfall is expected to rise on December 27 as people emerge from family visits and shops re-open, including Next, Marks and Spencer and John Lewis that all shut for Boxing Day. It will also be payday for some as it is the last Friday of the month. A study by Barclays Consumer Spend had forecast that shoppers would spend £236 each on average in the Boxing Day sales this year, but that the majority of purchases would be made online. Nearly half of respondents said the cost-of-living crisis will affect their post-Christmas shopping but the forecast average spend is still £50 more per person than it was before the pandemic, with some of that figure because of inflation, Barclays said. Amid the financial pressures, many people are planning to buy practical, perishable and essential items such as food and kitchenware. A total of 65% of shoppers are expecting to spend the majority of their sales budget online. Last year, Barclays found 63.9% of Boxing Day retail purchases were made online. However, a quarter of respondents aim to spend mostly in store – an 11% rise compared with last year. Karen Johnson, head of retail at Barclays, said: “Despite the ongoing cost-of-living pressures, it is encouraging to hear that consumers will be actively participating in the post-Christmas sales. “This year, we’re likely to see a shift towards practicality and sustainability, with more shoppers looking to bag bargains on kitchen appliances and second-hand goods.” Consumers choose in-store shopping largely because they enjoy the social aspect and touching items before they buy, Barclays said, adding that high streets and shopping centres are the most popular destinations.Arsenal, Man City and Bayern advance to Women's Champions League quarterfinals

Lauren Betts, No. 5 UCLA get past No. 17 Louisville

Amazon has just dropped prices across the board on various Apple iPad models for Black Friday , including the best deal we've ever seen on the new 2024 Apple iPad Pro. Right now the 11" model costs $849 (normally $999) and the 13" model costs $1099 (normally $1299). The new iPad Pro boasts a couple of significant upgrades over its predecessor, including a powerful M4 chip and, for the first time ever, a tandem OLED display. Black Friday iPad Pro Deals In our 2024 iPad Pro 11" M4 review , Jacqueline Thomas wrote, "For creative professionals, the 2024 iPad Pro is the most powerful tablet on the market and is going to shine if your work revolves around a touchscreen. For the rest of us, though, the iPad Pro is simply the most beautiful display you'll find in a tablet, with hardware that's powerful enough to be a top-end device for years to come." The 2024 iPad Pro is the best tablet on the market, iOS or otherwise, thanks to the new M4 processor which is both powerful and power efficient. Compared to the previous generation iPad M2, it performs about 20% better. However, the biggest update of the iPad Pro is not the M4 chip, but instead the tandem OLED panel which hadn't previously been seen on an Apple product. Tandem OLED is better than traditional OLED in two ways: (1) it's far brighter and (2) it's less prone to burn-in. If you're wondering why this technology hasn't found its way into TVs, the answer is simply because it's not cost effective at larger sizes. The iPad can get away with it because the 11" screen is much smaller, but that's also a major reason why the iPad Pro is priced considerably higher than the other iPads in Apple's 2024 lineup. More Apple iPad Deals for Black Friday If you're looking for other Apple devices, check out our Apple Black Friday hub with deals on AirPods, Watches, and more. Should You Wait Until Black Friday? Black Friday is the best opportunity to score some great deals on electronics, and Apple products are no exception. You might be wondering just how low these prices can go. Although we have no direct feedback from Apple themselves, we have years of our own historical price trends to back up our predictions. At this point, Black Friday is close enough that there's certainly no harm waiting. We might see as much as a $50 or even $100 price drop on the more expensive models like the iPad Air or iPad Pro. The iPad and iPad Mini might drop another $20 at most if retailers are feeling generous. If Amazon isn't your preferred vendor (or if it runs out of stock), I expect these deals to be available at Best Buy and Walmart as well. The Apple Store will also host its own Black Friday Sale, although these deals usually aren't nearly as good. Looking for more iPad resources? If you're not sure which iPad is best for you, we have an iPad guide which details which iPad is ideal for which use case. If you intend want to get an iPad for schoolwork, we have an iPad guide for students as well. If you're looking for options outside of iOS, check out the best Android tablets of 2024. Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.

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Sitcoms enjoyed a serious renaissance in the 1990s, only to sputter out by the new millennium. But that didn't mean the sitcom genre died . It just changed. And there's at least 32 great sitcoms that came out after the 1990s to prove it. Throughout the 1990s, hit TV shows like Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld, Full House, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Mad About You, and so many more defined the decade, a time when families still gathered around the same television sets. But the eventual rise of the internet and fractured viewing, not to mention changing taste and sensibilities, sent the laugh-track sitcom packing to give way to new forms of situational comedy. Many shows took on a mockumentary-style approach, which gave the hysterical antics a touch of authenticity that traditional sitcoms never could. Towards the streaming era, comedies introduced more intricate filmmaking – with cutaway gags, elaborate transitions, sometimes even stunts – which weren't possible with a traditional studio audience. Sitcoms didn't die out with the advent of high-speed internet and smartphones. It just changed. Here are the 32 greatest sitcoms that aired after the 1990s. 32. Modern Family Easily one of the biggest and most successful TV sitcoms of the social media era, Modern Family lives up to its title to follow several different families in contemporary Los Angeles. The families are connected through wealthy businessman Jay (Ed O'Neil) and his two adult children with families of their own, one of them a same-sex couple. (This was a big deal when gay marriage was still fiercely debated in national politics.) Jay is also divorced from his first wife and remarried to the passionate and fiery Gloria (Sofia Vergara in her star-making role). A juggernaut with critics and audiences, Modern Family mixes traditional sitcom conventions with mockumentary formatting and cringe sensibilities to mark a new phase in the sitcom canon. 31. Reba She's a single mom who works too hard, who loves her kids and never stops. When multi-cam sitcoms were a dying breed, country singer Reba McEntire kept it on life support with her own successful TV sitcom, simply titled Reba. The 'Can't Even Get the Blues' singer stars as Reba Hart, a middle-aged divorcee who is just trying to keep her Houston home together after her husband has an affair with a younger woman – dim-witted but well-meaning dental hygienist, Barbara (Melissa Peterman) – while her own teenage daughter becomes pregnant. Reba doesn't reinvent the wheel, but the show was popular both for McEntire's sharp comic timing and her show's honest (and funny!) portrayal of broken home dynamics. 30. Rutherford Falls At a time when America was all too eager to move past monuments to its problematic past, Rutherford Falls balanced the importance of heritage with empathy for the marginalized – all while keeping things funny. From Parks & Recreation's Michael Schur, Rutherford Falls was a Peacock sitcom that followed Nathan Rutherford (Ed Helms), descendant of a local dynasty who is determined to preserve his family's history in their namesake town of Rutherford Falls. He is sometimes aided, sometimes at odds with his lifelong best friend Reagan (Jana Schmieding), a Native activist. Although it ran for a short two seasons, Rutherford Falls packed a lot in its run, highlighting difficult topics – such as systemic oppression, capital as an uneven distributor of power, and the importance of preservation – with a truly delightful sense of irony and humor. 29. Tacoma FD Broken Lizard, the manic minds behind cult comedy classics Super Troopers and Beerfest, grew out their mustaches and slid down poles for the underrated workplace sitcom Tacoma FD. Set inside a firehouse in Tacoma, Washington – one of America's wettest cities, climate-wise – the bored firefighters put up with all kinds of day-to-day problems while ensuring their relevance against local bureaucracy. Basically "Super Troopers with firefighters," Tacoma FD put some late-2000s raunchiness back on cable TV for four solid seasons. 28. Still Standing Long before he was Robert Baratheon on Game of Thrones, he was blue-collar Bill raising three children in suburban Chicago. In the overlooked CBS sitcom Still Standing, Addy and Jamie Gertz co-star as two parents still struggling to grow past their wild and carefree days of their own youth. The parents are flocked by their unbelievably mature kids, in particular their booksmart eldest son. During its run on network TV, Still Standing failed to stand out against other likeminded shows (see also: The King of Queens), but the show was smarter than its basic sitcom premise seemed, with a grounded and honest look at what it really takes to grow up. 27. Wilfred Shortly after Elijah Wood saved all of Middle-earth in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, he moved on to playing a depressed lawyer suffering a breakdown in the psychological black comedy Wilfred. A remake of an Australian TV show, Wilfred stars Wood as a suicidal lawyer whose life changes when he meets a gorgeous neighbor (Fiona Gubelmann) and her dog Wilfred, who appears to Wood as a foul-mouthed man in a dog costume. (Jason Gann, who played the same role in the Australian original, reprises his part for the American version.) Talk about man's best friend: themed around mental health and the importance of companionship, Wilfred enjoyed cult success on FX with its blend of vulgar humor and dashes of surrealism. 26. The Sarah Silverman Program In Sarah Silverman's self-titled farcical sitcom, which ran for just three seasons on Comedy Central, the comedienne plays a fictionalized version of herself – an immature 20-something woman in the San Fernando Valley with a childlike view of the outside world. She is surrounded by supportive if also neurotic friends, namely her gay neighbors Brian and Steve (played by Brian Posehn and Steve Agee) and her more responsible sister Laura (Laura Silverman, also Sarah's real-life sister). Nothing really happens on The Sarah Silverman Program, just episodic escapades that always take a turn for the worse and sometimes surreal, like Sarah's one-night stand with "God" and what is really on Brian's iPod. 25. Childrens Hospital Sick kids aren't funny – they're really funny. In this dark comedy satire that originated as a low-budget webseries for TheWB.com, creator Rob Corddry also stars as Dr. Arthur Childrens, a misguided pediatrician whose hospital in Brazil (or is it?) is staffed by some of the most eccentric doctors you'll ever see on TV. A brilliant parody of medical shows like ER, Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, and movies like Patch Adams, Childrens Hospital boasts a strong ensemble cast – including Lake Bell, Ken Marino, Megan Mullaly, Malin Akerman, and even Henry Winkler – to surgically rip the genre open a new one. 24. Better Off Ted A workplace sitcom unlike any other, Better Off Ted is about what it means to do good in a place where evil is business. The show follows Ted Crisp (Jay Harrington), the likeable lead of research and development at soulless megacorporation Veridian Dynamics. The show's comedy comes from the juxtaposition between Ted's positive demeanor and inspiring leadership against the sinister work of his company. Portia de Rossi co-stars as his elegant but cold boss Veronica Palmer, with whom he shares a relationship that would send HR into a panic. While Better Off Ted drew critical acclaim and is now seen today as a cult classic, the show's low ratings led to its premature cancellation after just two short seasons. 23. Cougar Town Just before Bill Lawrence found success with Ted Lasso, he and co-producing partner Kevin Biegel defied the odds and bad show titles with Cougar Town, a critically acclaimed sitcom that lasted an impressive six seasons. The series follows Courtney Cox as a recently divorced woman in her 40s who starts all over with the help of her teenage son and supportive (if also wine-drunk) friends. While the show's gaudy title failed to draw in audiences at first – with name changes considered virtually every season – the show cultivated a dedicated fandom who deemed it one of the best and smartest shows during its run on both ABC and TBS. 22. Schitt's Creek Once a little Canadian sitcom that could, Schitt's Creek eventually found a massive audience towards the end of its five-season run, collecting numerous Emmy Awards on its way out. Created by comedian and actor Danel Levy with his father Eugene Levy, Schitt's Creek follows the affluent Rose family who lose their vast fortune and must rebuild their lives in remote and rural Schitt's Creek. While the first season drew only lukewarm reviews, later seasons – which had ample wit and warmth in its story about building community and valuing what really matters most – attracted wide acclaim. Its slow-burn, buzzy word-of-mouth reputation turned Schitt's Creek from an obscure Canadian gem into a legitimate hit as one of the few successful sitcoms of the late 2010s. 21. Fresh Off the Boat Springing from celebrity chef Eddie Huang's 2013 autobiography, Fresh Off the Boat chronicles young Eddie Huang (played by Hudson Yang) as his Taiwanese-American family moves from Washington D.C. to Orlando as his father Louis (Randall Park) opens a steakhouse. While the show, by Nahnatchka Khan, largely sanitized the gritty realness of Huang's childhood in the 1990s, the show was still groundbreaking for the industry – putting a spotlight on a majority Asian American cast – as it was universally entertaining in its portrait of the American dream. Constance Wu often steals the show as the pragmatic and competitive wife/mother Jessica, who later pursues her own literary career. Huang distanced himself from the show after its first season, but Fresh Off the Boat remained a consistent ratings winner until it ended in 2020. 20. Everybody Hates Chris Before the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn underwent hipster gentrification, it was home to many Brooklyn natives – among them, comedian Chris Rock. In 2005, the Hollywood star invited TV audiences to witness a fictionalized version of his childhood in the '80s through his hit sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. Tyler James Williams plays a young Chris Rock who navigates adolescence, family problems, and inner-city struggles with sincere heart and sometimes ironic humor. (Rock himself narrates the show all throughout.) Besides a young Williams demonstrating early mastery at comic timing, Everybody Hates Chris drew a wide audience for its balance of harsh life lessons and laugh-out-loud antics. 19. What We Do in the Shadows Vampire horror meets dysfunctional households in FX's supernaturally popular What We Do in the Shadows. Spinning off from the acclaimed 2014 movie by Taika Waititi, What We Do in the Shadows is a mockumentary where cameras follow a household of self-absorbed vampires living in Long Island, assisted by stressed-out human familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén). As Guillermo's wish to become a vampire is frustratingly dangled before him, the ancient vamps – Nandor (Kayvan Novak), Laszlo (Matt Berry), Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), and "energy vampire" Colin (Mark Proksch) – relish in the dark sides of everyday living. A critical darling for all of its seasons, What We Do in the Shadows is sinfully hilarious. 18. The Office As Michael Scott once said: "I want people to be afraid of how much they love me." A generation-defining success story, The Office's rise is parallel to that of the internet and streaming. Originating as a sandpaper dry British comedy, the American version of The Office takes audiences inside the beige offices of a Pennsylvania paper company to chronicle the ups and downs of a workplace in disarray. Steve Carell is unforgettable as frequently misguided but earnest Michael Scott, a dreamer whose reach never quite matches his ambitions. Synonymous with mid-2000s comedy, The Office made mind-numbing 9-to-5 jobs look like an adventure. 17. New Girl Who's that girl? It's Jess! What started out as a vehicle for Zooey Deschanel to flex her manic pixie dream girl image slowly became so much more. Set in L.A., New Girl sees Deschanel as quirky 20-something Jessica Day who moves into a loft apartment full of dudes after a breakup. Over time, these housemates – including Jess' best friend Cece (Hannah Simone) – grow close, taking on the ups and downs of life with gritted teeth and tight hugs. (Megan Fox steps in for a time, during Deschanel's real-life pregnancy which is written off as "jury duty.") While roommate-oriented sitcoms are hardly anything new, New Girl's specific brand of improvised comedy and cast chemistry made it so much more worthwhile than its "adorkable" surface implied. 16. The IT Crowd With the advent of high speed internet, people knew enough about computers even if they didn't understand them. Enter the boom of information technology departments, which inspired one of the greatest British comedies of the 2000s. The IT Crowd revolves around the eccentric, mostly antisocial IT department of a London corporation. The story begins when clueless Jen (Katherine Parkinson) is hired to oversee the department as their official Business Relationship Manager, only for her to wind up their personal relationship manager. Like most British TV, The IT Crowd ran for a mere 25 episodes, but the show enjoys a prolific legacy as one of the funniest shows on any side of the pond to (affectionately) roast a new breed of freaks and geeks. 15. Scrubs They're no Superman, but they're trying their best. While most medical TV shows go hard in relationship melodramas and the high-stakes race to save the sick and wounded, Scrubs sought the funny bones of the medical genre. The series takes place in Sacred Heart Hospital to follow young interns J.D. (Zach Braff), Turk (Donald Faison), and ambitious Elliot (Sarah Chalke) as they learn about what it means to live life while saving them. Across a whopping 180-plus episodes, Scrubs expertly balanced slapstick humor and comical surrealism – thanks to dalliances into J.D.'s daydreams – while never forgetting the heart and soul of the sacred profession. 14. Malcolm in the Middle What appears to be a run-of-the-mill sitcom about adolescence is actually one of the sharpest and wittiest shows of the 2000s. Premiering on January 9th, 2000, Malcolm in the Middle follows titular Malcolm (Frankie Muniz), a young boy with a genius intellect who is "stuck" with his dysfunctional family, including clueless dad Hal (Bryan Cranston), his domineering mother Lois (Jane Kaczmarek), and his numerous siblings. Though he's a certified genius, Malcolm still isn't mature enough to handle life's curveballs, which inspires all kinds of episodic hijinks. One of the first network sitcoms to ditch studio audiences and laugh tracks for more intricate filmmaking, Malcolm in the Middle was as clever as it was jagged, foreshadowing a specific mood that was settling in amid the new millennium. 13. Community It never went the whole distance of "Six seasons and a movie," but just like your own college years, it was good while it lasted. From Dan Harmon, Community is the story of a diverse group of students at a suburban community college who come together as a Spanish class study group after slick ex-lawyer Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) inadvertently makes one up to get the attention of Britta (Gillian Jacobs). Inspired by Harmon's own experiences going to community college and forging strong friendships with unlikely people, Community made the most of its unconventional yet mundane setting and unforgettable characters. (Most notable of all: Britta's slow-burn transformation into an actual idiot is nothing short of impressive.) From suspenseful games of paintball and Dungeons & Dragons to zombie outbreaks at Halloween parties, Community did so much to earn its extra credits. 12. Veep Vote Meyer! In the HBO hit Veep, Julia Louis-Dreyfus shines as Vice President Selina Meyer, an ambitious politician who starts the show having fallen short of her Presidential dreams. Settling for the role of VP, Meyer deals with her loyal yet buffoonish staff who breathlessly race to cater to her every whim. If The West Wing was about the best in politics and House of Cards the worst, Veep was about how hysterical the dweebs in DC can be. Political blunders galore, Veep is easily the funniest sitcom ever about the (second) most powerful office in the free world. 11. Superstore Attention Cloud 9 shoppers: If you haven't seen Superstore, check it out now. Set in a fictional big box store in St. Louis, Superstore chronicles the daily lives of the store's employees as they put up with bizarre customers and corporate overlords. Much of the show primarily revolves around the budding romance between cynical supervisor Amy (America Ferrera) and intelligent business school dropout Jonah (Ben Feldman), who is hired in the pilot episode. A workplace comedy that was boldly unafraid to get real – with episodes about everything from illegal immigration to dealing with COVID-19 – Superstore is anything but a budget discount. 10. How I Met Your Mother All these years later, fans remain split over the ending. But until it hit that polarizing finish line, How I Met Your Mother was among the most popular sitcoms of its kind – and one of the last. The series revolves around Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), a New York City architect who tells his kids in the year 2030 how he met their mother. (The late Bob Saget voices the older Ted, the show's narrator.) Hailed by critics as one of the freshest laugh-track sitcoms in a time when the format was all but dead, How I Met Your Mother launched some careers (Jason Segel and Cobie Smulders) and revitalized others (Neil Patrick Harris) while telling a heartfelt and often heartbreaking story about one man's tireless search for "The One." The cherry on top: The show had an especially great curation of late 2000s indie rock. 9. Shoresy You gotta set the tone, boys. Spinning off from the dry and quick-witted Letterkenny, Jared Keeso laces up his skates for the similarly acerbic Shoresy. Keeso stars as Shore, a rough and aggressive yet calculated hockey player for a regional Ontario league. Following a massive losing streak, Shoresy takes control of his team, the Sudbury Bulldogs, by promising his impossibly beautiful owners (Sudbury has a strange concentration of beautiful women) that they'll "never lose again." Shoresy is all about winning by any means necessary, and the show's endless dispensary of insults, clever comebacks, and cutting remarks make it as hard-hitting as the boys on the ice. Are you ready? Good, 'cuz you're going! 8. Curb Your Enthusiasm It's a show where Larry David, loosely playing himself, yells at everyone around him. And it's been one of HBO's most successful sitcoms since it debuted in October 2000. Curb Your Enthusiasm follows David playing a fictionalized version of himself, that of a stubborn, semi-retired TV writer in Los Angeles who puts up with the mind-numbing minutiae of everyday life. A masterclass of improv comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm epitomizes David's own cantankerous and cynical outlook, believing that everyone around him who projects empty enthusiasm ought to be taken down a peg. 7. The Good Place Welcome! Everything is fine. In this modern classic broadcast on NBC and created by Michael Schur, Eleanor Shellstrop (Kirsten Bell) dies and goes upstairs to "The Good Place," where she's paired by Good Place architect Michael (Ted Danson) with her soulmate, a neurotic ex-ethics professor named Chidi (William Jackson Harper). And life seems heavenly at a glance, except Eleanor hides a secret: She's not who The Good Place thinks she is. And there's an even bigger secret about The Good Place that's only revealed at the end of the first season. Lauded by critics and audiences for its exploration of social ethics and philosophy mixed with dirtbag humor, The Good Place is an uplifting sitcom that finds hilarity in the bigger picture. 6. Parks & Recreation While it started off on the wrong foot as a sort of "The Office in local government," Parks & Recreation quickly found its own voice as an optimistic sitcom about the good things people are capable of in service to their communities. Amy Poehler stars as Leslie Knope, a perky government official working in the suburban nowhere of Pawnee, Indiana. Never mind how she behaves in Season 1. Starting in Season 2, Leslie shines as a confident go-getter who inspires everyone around her to do their best – even against their own wishes. Featuring a charismatic ensemble that made stars out of talent like Rashida Jones, Nick Offerman, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, and more, Parks & Recreation is a modern sitcom triumph. 5. Abbot Elementary In 2021, the mockumentary format had grown long in the tooth through shows like Parks & Recreation and Modern Family. But it found new life after enrolling in Abbot Elementary. A hilarious workplace sitcom created by and starring Quinta Brunson, the show takes place inside the chaotic classrooms and hallways of a predominantly Black public school in Philadelphia. Brunson takes charge as Janine Teagues, an idealistic second grade teacher who only wants to inspire her students. Besides bureaucratic red tape and systemic underfunding, Janine's work life is made complicated by her relationship to another teacher, Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph), a will-they-won't-they romance with substitute teacher Gregory (Tyler James Williams), and the often irresponsible but surprising principal Ava (Janelle James). Even in the streaming era, Abbot Elementary made honor roll as a legit network hit on ABC. 4. Brooklyn Nine-Nine Cold opens, Halloween heists, and karaoke line-ups: These are just a few things that make Brooklyn Nine-Nine so arresting. Centered around irresponsible but capable cop Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and his relationship to strict new chief Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher), Brooklyn Nine-Nine turns the 99th precinct of the NYPD upside down with episodic antics. Initially a hit on FOX before moving to NBC in its final years, Brooklyn Nine-Nine found success with both its gut-busting hilarity and occasional sincerity at difficult topics, ranging from police profiling to queer sexual identity. Nine-Nine! 3. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, one of the longest consistently running sitcoms in TV history, has found unbelievable longevity in a simple question: "What's The Gang up to this week?" Premiering in 2005, It's Always Sunny takes place in and out of a grimy dive bar in Philly that's owned and operated by a group of toxic and destructive friends: sociopathic Dennis (Glenn Howerton), passionate but naive Charlie (Charlie Day), slimy Mac (Rob McElhenney), and Dennis' sister Dee (Kaitlin Olson). The gang is soon joined by Dennis and Dee's weird dad Frank (Danny DeVito), and together their various schemes and plans spiral out of control. With a sublime sense of dark and morbid humor, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia can leave you laughing through the horror. 2. Arrested Development Wealth can't buy stability. Such is the ethos of Arrested Development, an absurdist sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz which follows the fictional Bluth dynasty after their wealth totally dries up. Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) steps up to take over his family's business while trying to keep all his opportunistic relatives in check. (Ron Howard, also the show's executive producer, served as the show's main omniscient narrator.) Originally a cult hit that was canceled too soon on FOX, Arrested Development found new life on Netflix when it saw season revivals in 2013, 2018, and 2019. Deemed by critics one of the greatest TV shows of all time, Arrested Development enjoyed acclaim throughout its run, winning six Emmy Awards during its lifespan. 1. 30 Rock In the immortal words of Jack Donaghy: "Good God, Lemon." A modern classic with an embarrassment of riches, Tina Fey's 30 Rock takes audiences behind the scenes of a weekly sketch comedy show that is totally not Saturday Night Live. The show centers around head writer Liz Lemon (Fey), a type-A "know it all" who must deal with the drama of having a sudden new star Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), a total loose cannon. Through the ups and downs of making TV, Liz clashes – and receives guidance – from her new boss Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), a suave but controlling executive. Brimming with comic genius and self-referential humor, including many jabs at NBC's corporate culture and many acquisitions during its run, 30 Rock is simply one of the greatest TV sitcoms to ever make it to air.

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You've finished watching Black Doves and are contemplating that ending, wondering what will become of Sam, Helen -- and the nanny -- in season 2. While you wait, there's another new-ish thriller that transports you across the pond and into several countries where there's so many close calls you may feel conflicted about whose side you're on. But probably not. While Black Doves has spy hijinks, double lives and hand-to-hand combat sequences and a mystery at its core, it's not a 100% assassin's tale. For that, I urge you to watch the clever, suspense-filled Peacock series, The Day of the Jackal . There are moments that are teeth-clenching. I don't know if you've seen Eddie Redmayne play a killer before, but his Jackal -- who goes by Charlie and many other names -- has swagger, excellent marksmanship and extreme work-life balance issues like Keira Knightley's Helen in Black Doves. However, these shows are not the same. The Jackal is a hitman-for-hire who's been making millions from his illegal profession, taking advantage of technology and sophisticated prosthetics to do his job. Based on the 1971 novel by Frederick Forsyth, the 10-episode series pulls some bits from the 1973 film adaptation but builds out the narrative to give the protagonist an origin story and affluent life with his unaware wife and baby. He speaks multiple languages, can blend in and is willing to hole up for three days and pee in water bottle to fulfill his end of a deal. That's dedication. While he exhibits a certain amount of aloofness, the Jackal isn't completely unflinching or unfeeling. At home, he's Charlie, a loving husband, father and in-law. Season 1 isn't just about following him on missions. The show also stars Lashana Lynch as Bianca Pullman, an MI-6 agent on his tail after he assassinates a politician. As you watch, you learn that she is smart as an agent but creates messes on the job and at home, some of which cannot be fixed. Bianca's obsession with capturing the Jackal comes with a high price. In the midst of her kicking off her investigation, our assassin is chasing after someone who chooses not to pay a debt and simultaneously lands a high-paying gig that comes with a hard deadline and conditions. If he succeeds, he can leave this profession, but if he fails, he'll have to run from MI-6 and the people who hired him. To make matters more complicated, his wife, Nuria (played by Money Heist star Úrsula Corberó) grows suspicious about him and starts digging. While the Jackal is very meticulous and maps out almost every move, he can't always account for last-minute logistical changes, law enforcement sweeps and checkpoints or nosey family members. There seemingly aren't enough passports in the world to help him recover from a sloppy escape. And at one point in the show, he cracks emotionally. Have you ever seen a contract killer cry? With British intelligence inching closer to discovering his true identity and whereabouts, there are tense scenes where the Jackal comes dangerously close to being found, caught or killed. He has a little bit of help, but that doesn't always pan out the way you expect it to. The season finale made me gasp. Stream all 10 episodes of season 1 of The Day of the Jackal, and patiently wait -- like him -- for season 2 to come to Peacock.By James Royal, Ph.D., Bankrate.com Cryptocurrencies are enormously volatile, but that volatility can create opportunities for profit if you’re looking to trade these digital assets. Cryptos such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have risen a lot since their debut — but they’ve also experienced tremendous boom-bust cycles along the way. Experienced traders have been speculating on cryptocurrencies for years, but how can you get started if you’re new to the crypto market? Here’s how to start investing in cryptocurrency and the significant risks you need to watch out for. First things first, if you’re looking to invest in crypto, you need to have all your finances in order. That means having an emergency fund in place, a manageable level of debt and ideally a diversified portfolio of investments . Your crypto investments can become one more part of your portfolio, one that helps raise your total returns, hopefully. Pay attention to these five other things as you’re starting to invest in cryptocurrencies. As you would for any investment, understand exactly what you’re investing in. If you’re buying stocks, it’s important to read the annual report and other SEC filings to analyze the companies thoroughly. Plan to do the same with any cryptocurrencies , since there are literally thousands of them, they all function differently and new ones are being created every day. You need to understand the investment case for each trade. In the case of many cryptocurrencies , they’re backed by nothing at all, neither hard assets nor cash flow of an underlying entity. That’s the case for Bitcoin , for example, where investors rely exclusively on someone paying more for the asset than they paid for it. In other words, unlike stock, where a company can grow its profits and drive returns for you that way, many crypto assets must rely on the market becoming more optimistic and bullish for you to profit. Some of the most popular coins include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana , Dogecoin and Tether (a stablecoin) . So before investing, understand the potential upside and downside. If your financial investment is not backed by an asset or cash flow, it could end up being worth nothing. A mistake that many new investors make is looking at the past and extrapolating that to the future. Yes, Bitcoin used to be worth pennies, but now is worth much more . The key question, however, is “Will that growth continue into the future, even if it’s not at quite that meteoric rate?” Investors look to the future, not to what an asset has done in the past. What will drive future returns? Traders buying a cryptocurrency today need tomorrow’s gains, not yesterday’s. The prices of cryptocurrencies are about as volatile as an asset can get. They could drop quickly in seconds on nothing more than a rumor that ends up proving baseless. That can be great for sophisticated investors who can execute trades rapidly or who have a solid grasp on the market’s fundamentals, how the market is trending and where it could go. For new investors without these skills — or the high-powered algorithms that direct these trades — it’s a minefield. Volatility is a game for high-powered Wall Street traders, each of whom is trying to outgun other deep-pocketed investors. A new investor can easily get crushed by the volatility. That’s because volatility shakes out traders, especially beginners, who get scared. Meanwhile, other traders may step in and buy on the cheap. In short, volatility can help sophisticated traders “buy low and sell high” while inexperienced investors “buy high and sell low.” If you’re trading any asset on a short-term basis, you need to manage your risk , and that can be especially true with volatile assets such as cryptocurrency. So as a newer trader, you’ll need to understand how best to manage risk and develop a process that helps you mitigate losses. And that process can vary from individual to individual: Newer traders should consider setting aside a certain amount of trading money and then using only a portion of it, at least at first. If a position moves against them, they’ll still have money in reserve to trade with later. The ultimate point is that you can’t trade if you don’t have any money. So keeping some cash in reserve means you’ll always have a bankroll to fund your trading. It’s important to manage risk, but that will come at an emotional cost. Selling a losing position hurts, but doing so can help you avoid worse losses later. Finally, it’s important to avoid putting money that you need into speculative assets. If you can’t afford to lose it — all of it — you can’t afford to put it into risky assets such as cryptocurrency, or other speculative assets, for that matter. Whether it’s a down payment for a house or an important upcoming purchase, money that you need in the next few years should be kept in safe accounts so that it’s there when you need it. And if you’re looking for an absolutely sure return, your best option is to pay off high-interest debt. You’re guaranteed to earn (or save) whatever interest rate you’re paying on the debt. You can’t lose there. Finally, don’t overlook the security of any exchange or broker you’re using. You may own the assets legally, but someone still has to secure them, and their security needs to be tight. If they don’t think their cryptocurrency is properly secured, some traders choose to invest in a crypto wallet to hold their coins offline so they’re inaccessible to hackers or others. Remember that investing in cryptocurrency can be part of a broader investment strategy, but shouldn’t be your only one. While investing directly in cryptocurrency is popular, traders have other ways to get into the crypto game, some more directly than others. These include: Each of these methods varies in its riskiness and exposure to cryptocurrency, so you’ll want to understand exactly what you’re buying and whether it fits your needs. In theory it takes only a few dollars to invest in cryptocurrency. Most crypto exchanges, for example, have a minimum trade that might be $5 or $10. Other crypto trading apps might have a minimum that’s even lower. However, it’s important to understand that some trading platforms will take a huge chunk of your investment as a fee if you’re trading small amounts of cryptocurrency. So it’s important to look for a broker or exchange that minimizes your fees. In fact, many so-called “free” brokers embed fees — called spread mark-ups — in the price you pay for your cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is based on blockchain technology . Blockchain is a kind of database that records and timestamps every entry into it. The best way to think of a blockchain is like a running receipt of transactions. When a blockchain database powers cryptocurrency, it records and verifies transactions in the currency, verifying the currency’s movements and who owns it. Many crypto blockchain databases are run with decentralized computer networks. That is, many redundant computers operate the database, checking and rechecking the transactions to ensure that they’re accurate. If there’s a discrepancy, the networked computers have to resolve it. Some cryptocurrencies reward those who verify the transactions on the blockchain database in a process called mining. For example, miners involved with Bitcoin solve very complex mathematical problems as part of the verification process. If they’re successful, miners receive a predetermined award of Bitcoins. To mine Bitcoins , miners need powerful processing units that consume huge amounts of energy. Many miners operate gigantic rooms full of such mining rigs in order to extract these rewards. As of October 2024, running the Bitcoin system burned as much energy per year as the country of Poland. If you’re looking to invest in Bitcoin, you have a variety of ways to do so, and you can work with a number of companies, including: If you’re looking to buy Bitcoin, pay particular attention to the fees that you’re paying. Here are other key things to watch out for as you’re buying Bitcoin . An altcoin is an alternative to Bitcoin. Many years ago, traders would use the term pejoratively. Since Bitcoin was the largest and most popular cryptocurrency, everything else was defined in relation to it. So, whatever was not Bitcoin was lumped into a catch-all category called altcoins . While Bitcoin is still the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization by far, it’s no longer the only game in town. Other altcoins such as Ethereum and Solana have grown in popularity, making the term altcoin somewhat outmoded. Now with a reported 15,000 or more cryptocurrencies in existence, it makes less sense than ever to define the industry as “Bitcoin and then everything else.” Cryptocurrency is a highly speculative area of the market, and many smart investors have decided to put their money elsewhere. For beginners who want to get started trading crypto, however, the best advice is to start small and only use money that you can afford to lose. Bankrate’s Brian Baker contributed to an update of this story. ©2024 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Correction: Indigenous Affairs-Native Voting story

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