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In 2020 the pandemic, protests against racial injustice, and political unrest challenged virtually every aspect of life in New York City. As we enter 2021, New Yorkers will discern how these challenges will be met by deciding who will lead the city as mayor and council members. Get ready for the upcoming city elections by joining the Rev. Phillip Jackson as he talks with Errol Louis, political analyst and host of New York 1s Inside City Hall, as they consider the pressing issues facing the city.

Errol Louis is the political anchor of NY1 News, where he hostsInside City Hall,a nightly prime-time show about New York City politics, featuring interviews with top political and cultural leaders, including an exclusive weekly one-on-one conversation with Mayor Bill de Blasio. Louis has also conducted interviews with former mayors David Dinkins, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Bloomberg; governors Andrew Cuomo and George Pataki; and presidential candidates including Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump.

Louis has moderated more than two dozen debates between candidates for mayor, public advocate, city and state comptroller, state Attorney General, congress and U.S. Senate. In 2016 he was a questioner in the final CNN presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

In addition to political leaders, Louis has interviewed iconic cultural figures including filmmaker Ken Burns, activist Gloria Steinem and authors Robert Caro and Gay Talese. In 2019 he launched a popular weekly podcast, You Decide with Errol Louis, that features longer discussions with political and cultural figures including presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders; playwright Aaron Sorkin; actors Edward Norton and Brian Cox; and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Louis is a longtime CNN contributor, providing on-air commentary on key events including presidential primaries and election night. He writes regularly for CNN.com, as well as a weekly column for theNew York Daily Newson a range of political and social affairs.

Louis was recently ranked #40 on the list of the 100 most powerful people in New York City politics. He is an adjunct professor of Urban Reporting at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, where he has taught political and investigative reporting to more than 100 graduate students. He is co-editor ofDeadline Artists, a two-volume anthology of Americas greatest newspaper columns published in October 2011.

Louis graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. in Government. He also earned an M.A. in Political Science from Yale University and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Juanita Scarlett, and their son.

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The Future of New York City: A Conversation with Errol Louis - Episcopal News Service

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a first-term member of the House, has endorsed QAnon and other violent conspiracy theories. (Erin Scott / Pool Photo via AP)

Warning: Disturbing stuff ahead.

Theres a conspiracy theory called Frazzledrip. Even for QAnon types, its pretty fringe, which is saying something. Recall that the central belief in Q-world is that theres a secret cabal of Satan-worshiping, sex-trafficking pedophiles running the government.

Frazzledrip is worse. It is the name of an imagined video of a young girl on Huma Abedins laptop in a folder labeled life insurance. Abedin, the ex-wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner, was an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

According to Vice, the nonexistent video shows Clinton filleting off the young girls face. The two women take turns wearing the girls face as a mask to terrify the child so blood is suffused with adrenochrome. They drink her blood as part of a satanic ritual.

Oh, Frazzledrip also believes Clinton murdered New York City police officers who saw the video and covered up their deaths as suicides.

Now, you dont have to be a Clinton fan Im certainly not to recognize this garbage as evil and insane. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon-friendly Republican representative from Georgia, disagrees. She endorsed the theory on her Facebook page in 2018.

Greene has spread other wicked stuff: Mass school shootings were false flag operations, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should be shot for treason. Etc.

And yet, to listen to some Republicans, it would be too divisive to excommunicate Greene or other QAnon-aligned Republicans because the party must unify.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy plans to have a conversation with Greene. Hes under pressure to at least take her off the Education Committee, but some Republicans fear he wont even go that far because, Politico reports, Greene represents an energetic wing of the party and hell feel he cant afford to risk punishing one of Trumps favored office-holders.

The Hawaii GOP recently tweeted out support for QAnon, saying it was largely motivated by a sincere and deep love for America. When newly elected Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) appeared on a QAnon streaming site, the National Republican Congressional Committee responded to criticism by noting his opponent appeared on Russia conspiracy network MSNBC.

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Meanwhile, these same people think real heretics in need of canceling are Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and nine other Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, who reportedly said that QAnon just believes in good government. Various state parties have moved to censure Cheney and others for supporting impeachment.

So, in the name of fighting cancel culture, Republicans who condemned a president who tried to topple the Constitution to hold power must now be canceled yet Republicans who think Clinton drinks the blood of children must not be canceled or even criticized in the name of conscience.

Indeed, QAnon is being recast into a kind of oppressed religious minority with an inalienable right to its beliefs and any attempt to curtail it would put America on a slippery slope to tyranny.

Tucker Carlson, a prime-time host at Fox News (where I am a contributor), recently ran a long montage of pundits not politicians fretting over QAnons influence. After mocking them for making such a fuss, Carlson declared, Theres a clear line between democracy and tyranny, between self-government and dictatorship. And heres what that line is. That line is your conscience. They cannot cross that.

Government has every right to tell you what to do, Carlson said, citing things like laws against rape, murder and jaywalking. But, he insisted, No democratic government can ever tell you what to think. Your mind belongs to you. It is yours and yours alone.

Once politicians attempt to control what you believe, he continued, they are no longer politicians. They are by definition dictators. And if they succeed in controlling what you believe you are no longer a citizen, you are not a free man, you are a slave.

This is all nonsense.

Sure, the government can police behavior like rape and murder. But it doesnt have every right to tell you what to do. See the Bill of Rights or, for that matter, conservative objections to the individual healthcare mandate.

Sure, government cant make you violate your conscience (if your conscience says you should rape or murder, youre out of luck, though). But government can and should try to make you believe some things. It should try to convince you that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and necessary. It can tell you the correct date of election day.

This isnt dictatorial by any definition. Its telling the truth, and truth-telling is supposed to be the first obligation of both politicians and pundits, because democracy doesnt work without the truth. And neither will the GOP.

@JonahDispatch

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Originally published February 2, 2021, 6:30 AM

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Column: Where QAnon goes, so goes the Republican Party - Yahoo News

In 2020, for the first time in a generation, Democrats scored huge victories in the state of Georgia by winning the presidential election and subsequently both Senate seats. While not completely unprecedented after the strong Democratic showing in Georgia in 2018, this flip illustrated the partys increasing electoral strength in the Sun Belt and it should scare Republicans. As we shift our focus to the midterm elections and beyond, it is imperative that we do not slip and lose ground in places like Georgia and similar states swinging blue in recent years, such as Arizona and Nevada. As Democrats continue to build a diverse and powerful coalition, it is crucial that our focus turns to the next states we can flip. The two that stand out, and that Democrats should most fervently pursue, are North Carolina and the behemoth of Texas.

A realignment of the American electorate has been underway for the past several cycles and played a major role in Donald Trumps 2016 win. For the first time since 1988, Republicans won three key states in the Rust Belt Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan on the backs of white working-class voters, many of whom are ancestral Democrats. According to one study, Republicans won only 32 percent of white working class voters in 1992, while in 2016, they won 62 percent. Conversely, Democrats have increasingly become the party of urban and suburban voters. The latter class of voters, once a reliable moderate Republican voting bloc, has become increasingly diverse and educated over the years and subsequently has started tilting left. While President Biden won back those three midwestern states in 2020 in part because he cut into Trumps rural margins and benefited from increased turnout in cities the largest reason for his victories were his gains among these suburban voters. It is for this reason that some southern states are now in play for the Democrats.

Georgia is one of a number of southern states that has experienced rapid population growth in the last 10 years, a large part of which has been concentrated in urban areas and their surrounding suburbs. In cities across the South and West, there has been accelerated population growth, both due to a lower cost of living as well as large businesses migrating to those areas. The Atlanta metropolitan area, which has become one of the Souths premiere technology and financial hubs, is no exception. For example, the largest county in the state, Fulton County, has grown by 15 percent in population since 2010, compared to the national average of 7 percent. Hillary Clinton won Fulton by a 180,000-vote margin against Trump in 2016, compared to Biden, who won it by a margin exceeding 240,000 votes. This trend is consistent in other parts of the Atlanta metropolitan area. The grassroots organizing of Fair Fight, Mijente and other groups throughout the state bolstered existing Democratic strength in large metropolitan counties like Fulton to carry Biden, Sen. Raphael Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff to victory this past election season. The areas growth combined with its overwhelming population, which constitutes about 60 percent of the state, allowed Democrats to bleed votes in rural Georgia yet still win the state.

A similar situation could occur in both North Carolina and Texas, likewise driven by increasing population growth in cities and simultaneous Democratic gains in the suburbs. North Carolina is perhaps a more immediate possibility after Bidens narrow loss to Trump in 2020. With an open Senate seat up for grabs in 2022 and with well-liked, impressive retail politician Jeff Jackson in the race, there is a very real chance Democrats can win in the state in 2022. That victory could be used as a springboard to flip the state in the presidential election as well. Just like in Georgia, some of the fastest-growing areas of North Carolina are places like Wake and Mecklenburg County, the two largest counties in the state and Democratic strongholds to boot. This is in part because Wake County is part of the Research Triangle, a fast-growing and highly educated region anchored by North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University. Even as Democrats have lost ground in the rural areas of North Carolina, they have, following a countrywide pattern, run up the score in urban areas while becoming more competitive in or flipping suburban areas.

Texas suburbs and metropolitan areas mirror these trends, which have fueled Texas shift from ruby red to magenta. The Austin metropolitan area, which has become a technology hub, has experienced even faster population growth. Just a few days ago, Senator John Cornyn tweeted about another tech company moving from San Francisco to Austin. While he perhaps meant to attack California for anti-business policies, he ironically merely illustrated that large groups of liberals are leaving blue states for jobs in Texas, thus turning the state bluer. In the Dallas-Fort Worth Area, the national suburban tilt toward blue has already manifested in successes such Beto ORourkes 2018 win in Tarrant County, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb. In the last election, Biden rode on Democrats recent success in the state and trimmed the margin there to fewer than six points, garnering the greatest percentage of the vote since 1976 coincidentally the last time a Democrat won Texas.

Despite these positive trends, which bode well for the future, Democrats still have a lot of work left to do. North Carolina is notably less diverse than Georgia, and more rural. And unlike in Georgia, Democrats have not already bottomed out in rural areas while being able to count on a single, massive metropolitan area to carry them over the line. However, Jeff Jackson should excite North Carolina Democratic voters. He has the potential to hold the line in rural areas while expanding Democrats lead in other areas, in part because of his 100 county campaign, in which he plans to visit and hold a town hall in every single county. This was a strategy that Beto ORourke utilized in 2018, which almost won him Texas, and North Carolina is a much bluer state now than Texas was then.

The Democratic strategy failed to deliver in Texas during this past election, in part because the party lost a large swath of traditionally Democrat-supporting Latino voters in the Rio Grande Valley. For example, Hillary Clinton won Starr County by 60 percent but Biden only won it by 5 percent. This failure was partially rooted in Democrats primarily immigration-focused outreach to Latinos, which treated these voters as a monolith as opposed to distinct ethnic and ideological groups. Democrats would do well to tailor their messaging to more specific groups of voters in Texas in the future.

The Democratic Party used to win in the South, but on the back of a very different coalition. Dixiecrats ruled the roost for decades, often advocating for more conservative or flat out racist policies. Now, however, the Democratic Party is made up of an incredibly diverse coalition of voters, and it has become competitive in the South because of its embrace of progressive ideas, not in spite of it. If Democrats are able to flip North Carolina and Texas, they would be nearly impossible to beat in the Electoral College, a system which is already rigged against them. Now is not the time to stop or rest on our laurels, but to keep pushing and continue flipping the Sun Belt blue.

Caleb Apple 21 can be reached at caleb_apple@brown.edu. Please send responses to this opinion to letters@browndailyherald.com and op-eds to opinions@browndailyherald.com.

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Apple '21: Dems turned Georgia blue and they shouldn't stop there - The Brown Daily Herald

Was the hair accessory that Amanda Gorman wore to the presidential inauguration a headband? Or was it a crown?

The wide padded satin piece by Prada, in a shade the brand calls Fiery Red, sat not astride Ms. Gormans head but on top, encircling her braided updo. It heightened the presence of the petite 22-year-old poet behind the large podium with the presidential seal, drawing the viewers eyes from her sunny yellow coat up to her face as she recited her work.

Accessories aficionados rejoiced. It read so powerful and strong, like she had crowned herself, said Jennifer Behr, an accessories designer in New York.

We saw that the whole world saw that the way Amanda Gorman held herself like a goddamn queen, said Ateh Jewel, a British beauty journalist and diversity advocate. Ms. Jewel began wearing headbands last spring when the pandemic started, both at home for herself but also in her television appearances, as a celebration and a call to action.

The headband has made me turn the volume up on who I am, my ambitions, my aspirations, she said. She collaborated with Roseings London, a hair accessories brand in the U.K., on a limited-edition pink embellished style called the Kamala; she encourages people to post pictures with the hashtag #crownyourself.

The humble headband has morphed from a preppy status symbol to an empowering exclamation point, its purpose now less controlling than crowning. The designs trending today, puffed up with padding and glittering with gemstones, have the height and sparkle of fine jewelry reserved for royalty. Cast aside your childish Alice in Wonderland connotations; these headbands are about making a statement.

Its such a powerful way for women to take back symbols that traditionally were used to diminish female power, said Nell Diamond, the chief executive and founder of Hill House Home, the lifestyle brand. Fans of the brands Nap Dress styles often scoop up a padded headband in a matching print.

The one-size-fits-all, mood-lifting headband owes a bit of its popularity to the pandemic, too, standing out in a shoulders-up Zoom. Youre not going out, youre not buying party dresses, youre definitely not buying shoes and bags, said Lele Sadoughi, the founder and creative director of her namesake accessories brand. The headband has been something super special. Recently Ms. Sadoughi introduced a new collection with embellished headbands, priced between $150 and $195. The brand sold 500 within a half-hour.

Heres where this reporter should confess her own headband enthusiasm. Ive graduated from the elastic ones I relied on to keep my hair out of my face for a run or, in the case of my first son, childbirth. Inspired by the royal connotation, I went all in on statement headbands last year in appearances for my book, HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style. I chose a bright purple satin one for my publishers pre-pandemic media lunch and a black beaded version for an appointment at the bank to deposit my first advance check. For two virtual book parties I wore a light blue velvet headband, picking the color to match my book cover. My collection has swelled to require its own drawer in my closet. I can confidently report that these oversize designs do make you stand a bit taller, and stand out in the crowd.

This maxed-out headband moment is just the latest in the accessorys long history. From Grecian goddesses to bobbed flappers, there has been a headband for every fashion era. Just think of its visible roots in modern times: the simple band Grace Kelly wore or how chic Catherine Deneuve looked with her oversize black bow. Diana, Princess of Wales, stripped an emerald choker across her forehead in 1985, and Whitney Houston sported a wide white headband with her tracksuit to sing the national anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl. Hillary Clinton donned a padded headband as first lady, then a super thin version as secretary of state. Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy opted for the tortoiseshell look. Would the style of Clueless be so iconic without headbands on Cher Horowitz and Dionne Davenport? As if!

Headbands are such a potent place for personal expression, said Elizabeth Way, assistant curator at the Museum at F.I.T. and co-curator of an upcoming accessories exhibition, Head to Toe. People must wear shoes or carry bags, but headbands are something completely accessory, Ms. Way said. Decadent is how Ms. Sadoughi describes them.

Todays headband craze owes a special thanks to another queen bee: Blair Waldorf of Gossip Girl. Hers were preppy, yes, and prim on occasion. But the embellished, oversize pieces had a hint of campy rebellion to them when worn tucked into tousled hair. In the beginning, people just didnt know how to wear headbands, said Ms. Behr, the designer. The teen drama gave people a visual of how to have fun with them.

Back in the summer of 2018, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge ne Kate Middleton arrived at her youngest sons christening in a towering Jane Taylor creation. The padded, woven piece was dotted with beads, and topped off with a corsages worth of faux flowers. It looked like a headband aspiring to be a hat; a hatband, if you will. One could wonder if the Duchess just sparked a new trend of chunky headbands going forward, Marlen Komar at Bustle mused. A few months later, Prada sent a parade of padded headbands down the runway for its spring 2019 collection.

In the years since, the statement headband crowd has split into two factions, the have-knots and the not-knots (padded). Both have been bedazzled in a big way pearls, beads, rhinestone, bows. Babba Rivera, founder of the hair care brand Ceremonia, recently launched the Frida Headband, a voluminous braided piece inspired by Frida Kahlo. Eugenia Kim was so inspired by the inauguration fashion that soon her accessories brand will launch a capsule Unity collection with headbands in red and yellow, la Ms. Gorman, but also the other colors on the stage, including vibrant purple and deep burgundy.

Todays bold pieces demand intentionality. Its not something you put on without thinking, its something you pick out, said Carmen Myer, 31, a Montessori teacher in Houston. Ms. Myer has two dozen headbands, including a pink knotted pearl one. A parent mistook it for a costume last Halloween, commenting that she loved Ms. Myers princess look. It was an aha moment for her. This is what it projects to people, she said, meaning regalness.

As a new year dawned, Ms. Myer feared the headband trend could be waning. Then she saw Ms. Gorman at that podium, single-handedly securing the accessorys continued reign. It was particularly meaningful for Ms. Myer as a Black woman.

It was a great way to show anybody can wear this. Its not just for a white woman who has straight thick hair, said Ms. Myer. It could also be for braided, curly, kinky and coily hair.

If youve never worn a statement headband, it can take a bit of courage to wear your first. Ummm, am I even worthy to wear this gorgeous piece? someone on Instagram asked Autumn Adeigbo, who designs headbands as part of her eponymous fashion label. Um yes you are queen, Ms. Adeigbo wrote in her repost, punctuating her reply with a crown emoji. Her creations, she told me, are to remind ourselves that were worth it.

Ms. Gorman recently wore one of Ms. Adeigbos designs on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, but the designer assures me that theres no need to go anywhere in order to wear a fancy headband. You can be the queen of the Zoom, she said. Or the queen of your home, or the queen of your car.

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Why Amanda Gorman's Headband Joins Others in Fashion History - The New York Times

This Super Bowl anecdote revolves around a fictional Rough Collie named Lassie. An adventurous and spirited dog that had a way with barking, Lassie starred in seven movies from 1943 to 1951. Then in 1954I swear Im going somewhere with thisshe became the star of her own wholesome Depression-era TV series on CBS. People just loved that dog. In fact, after the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the very first NFL championship game in 1967, about 33 percent of the audience (who also had the option of watching the game on NBC that year) tuned in to the episode Lassies Litter Bit in its regular 7 p.m. ET slot. Lassie also aired as scheduled after the 1968 game. And in an upholding of tradition, Lassie stayed home in 1970, too.

Please keep this history in mind during the waning moments of the Super Bowl LV post-show this year, when youre deciding whether to tune in to the series premiere of the latest reboot of The Equalizer on CBS. The episode may not be great, but at least were no longer in the postSuper Bowl doghouse. With nearly 100 million people watching the last game of the NFL season every winter, the powers that be now make it a top-priority mission to harness that massive audience and deliver a unique, must-see offering that showcases its respective network. (The game rotates among CBS, NBC, and Fox every year; ABC peaced out in 2006.) On average, about 25 percent of the Super Bowl audience stays on to watch the show that followsor just forgets to turn off the TV; those count too. Some series capitalize on this gift; others wilt in the spotlight. All have become a part of TV lore.

A confluence of small but important events helped change this concept. Until 1978, the championship aired in the late afternoon on the East Coast. When the kickoff time shifted to around 6 p.m., network executives realized that there was still time for one marquee program on that special Sunday night. (Even better, viewers were likely still feeling the effects of chicken wings, chips, and beer, and too tired to change the channel.) At first, the options were relatively stale and safe: a 60 Minutes here, a CHiPs episode there. But in 1983, NBC took a risk by airing the second-ever episode of a new action series titled The A-Team. It retained nearly 40 percent of the Super Bowl audience, and now everyone but your Gen Z cousin knows who Mr. T is. The A-Teams success signaled the lead-out potential to network programmers, and five years later, the breakout buzz of The Wonder Years premiere cemented it.

The Big Game now serves as the ultimate TV launching pad. Weve witnessed pilots for series both classic (Homicide: Life on the Street) and horrific (Grand Slam). Lower-profile acclaimed shows (Alias) have received some much-needed exposure, while bona fide hits upped the ante with A-list guest stars (Prince! Tom Brady! Julia Roberts!). The dramatic sports extravaganza has also given way to a handful of intriguing unscripted TV premieres. Heck, even 60 Minutes produced one of its most salacious segments ever. But among the eclectic mix of Super Bowl lead-ins, which was the most definitive in the modern era? Get out that bag of chips, because Im digging in.

The elevator pitch: Take the thrilling adrenaline of the movie Cliffhanger and the sudsy melodrama of Melrose Place and boom-chicka-boom! The actual result: a laughable mess of a pilot in which an ultra-attractive search and rescue team in the Rocky Mountains attempts to work hard and play! harder! James Brolin is top-billed, attempting to grit his teeth through lines like, Picking up a snowboarder is not exactly what I trained this team to do! Hes joined by future Melrose resident Brooke Langton, future Donna Martin love interest Cameron Bancroft, and future two-time Emmy winner Julie Bowen. Despite the plum perch, the series lasts seven episodes and is canceled by April.

I actually had to Google this one and all I got was An American action drama television series that aired from January 28 to March 14, 1990. IMDb was more helpful, sharing that this pilot chronicled two San Diego bounty hunters and starred John Schneideryup, Dukes of Hazzard John Schneideras Dennis Hardball Bakelenekoff and Paul Rodriguez as Pedro Gomez. Together, they join forces and shake things up. Im guessing.

Want to hear something shameful? (Er, relatively speaking.) Fox execs never scheduled the original classic 24 in this spot. Hellooooo? If youre going to air a highly serialized action thriller in which each of the 24 episodes needs to be seen to fit all the pieces together, why not ensure that as many eyeballs as possible watch Hour 1?! Instead, we were forced to make due with the first episode of a forgettable Kiefer Sutherlandless spinoff starring Corey Hawkins from Straight Outta Compton. Too little, too late.

Behold the one and only TV miniseries on the list. Based on a 1984 bestseller, it stars Peter Strauss, David Morse, and Robert Mitchum in a story of two Philadelphia orphans adopted and raised to become assassins. When a mission goes afoul, the guys start to reconsider the man they call dad. I know what youre thinking, but, per Wikipedia, its initial two-part, two-night broadcast was the highest-rated TV movie of the 1988-89 season.

Ill give you a million bucks if you can tell me what happened in this second-season installment of the meh James Spader drama. Hint: It ends with a cliff-hanger, and not in the Stallone movie/Extreme sense.

Heres a fascinating twofer semi-fail. First, Drew Carey stars in a prototypical, cute family sitcom pilot thats dead on arrivaland yet hes charismatic enough in his goofy man-boy part for ABC executives to hand him the keys to his own show nearly two years later. The real star on this night is Larroquette, one of the premiere comic actors of the late 80s and early 90s thanks to his Emmy-winning performance as a smarmy attorney on Night Court. He goes darker in his follow-up, playing a recovering alcoholic mixing it up with eclectic characters while working as a manager of a seedy bus terminal. But audiences dont cotton to it, prompting NBC to give it a boost midway through its first season. Although the series lasts three years in all, its ahead of its time in terms of the arch punch lines. Take away the laugh track, fast-forward 25 years, and youve got a perfect companion for Superstore.

Otherwise known as the nadir of the earnest-celebrities-attempt-to-judge-aspiring-entertainers reality TV genre. Here we have Drew Barrymore, Faith Hill, and RuPaul sitting at a shiny table to watch a series of international performers compete for a grand prize of $1 million. The reason why this show isnt titled Universes Got Talent is because a wall of world panel consisting of 50 entertainment experts also contribute to give a score ranging from 1 to 50, which, combined with the judges scores equals ... oh my god, stop making us do math! This was canceled after 12 episodes.

Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu were probably psyched when they learned that an episode of their Sherlock-inspired procedural had landed the primo slot during its first season. Alas, because of the power-outage delay after Beyoncs sizzling half-time performance, the start time is pushed back past 11 p.m. and only 20.8 million people stick around.

Its like everywhere you look and everywhere you go in the 1990s, theres a Full House rip-off. Here, a widower (Randy Quaid) trying to raise his three kids asks his irascible dad (Jonathan Winters) to move in with him to help. Though Winters wins an Emmy for the role, the only Davis who truly rules during this era is the tall redhead whose character somehow drops the ball at the end of A League of Their Own.

What a nothing-burger episode of a medical procedural that legit had its share of quirky, fun, dramatic moments during its eight-year run. In this mid-series installment, Mira Sorvino is a doctor in Antarctica who mysteriously falls ill. Hugh Lauries acidic, smarty-pants House diagnoses her remotely via webcama de rigueur medical activity 13 years later, but I digress. After she lapses into a coma, House has her boyfriend taste her urine to see if its kidney disease (nope), brain swelling (nope), or lupus (duh, its never lupus). Turns out she just broke her big toe. Ouch?

The Season 3 premiere of this absolutely bonkers hit show. Ill spare you all the ridiculous guesses from Robin Thicke, Nicole Scherzinger, Jenny McCarthy, and Ken Jeong and just tell you that the Night Angel was former Xscape singer and current Real Housewife of Atlanta Kandi Burruss. All I can think about is the 55-year-old guy from Kansas City who probably thought he accidentally did acid while celebrating the Super Bowl win.

James Van Der Beek plays a killer with multiple personalities. Youve got to respect that.

In theory, this is a shrewd move: Ditch the random episode of a procedural that mainly appeals to an older demographic in favor of Stephen Colbert and his new late-night gig. But the show fumbles its prime-time promotion. Tina Fey and Margot Robbie plug their totally average movie Whiskey Tango Foxtrot; Will Ferrell does his loopy Will Ferrell thing; and then-in-demand Megyn Kelly talks about the upcoming presidential election. (Please do note the year.) The whole thing would be a wash if not for Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. Already masters of the football spoof, the comedy partners use the occasion to revive one of Key & Peeles most beloved sketches, McCringleberrys Excessive Celebration.

NBC broke ratings records with a goofy and guest-star-heavy Friends in 1996 (more on that way below). In a blatant attempt to recapture the magic, the suits programmed a supersized episode of this broad sitcom about aliens on Earth starring the collectively great John Lithgow, Kristen Johnston, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jane Curtin, and that guy who always squinted his eyes. Evil Venusians show up in the form of beautiful women to attach themselves to all the available men. Their secret weapon is to air the worlds most powerful beer commercial during the Super Bowl (When you Earth men are bombarded with images of hops, barley, breasts, and fun, you become weak and suggestible). The convoluted and amusing setup is really just an excuse to let supermodels Cindy Crawford, Angie Everhart, Irina Pantaeva, and Beverly Johnson (as their leader!) strut their stuff.

Doesnt it seem like this manic comedy is more appreciated and interesting in hindsight because of the Bryan Cranston factor? Anyway, young Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) and his fam go to a company picnic where lunacy ensues. Please welcome Susan Sarandon, Patrick Warburton, Christina Ricci, Heidi Klum, Stephen Root, Magic Johnson, Fox NFL announcers Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long, and matriarch Jane Kaczmareks then-husband Bradley Whitford to the parade of postSuper Bowl celebrity cameos. (Bonus points for casting Root and Whitford in a socially strange outdoor setting a full 15 years before Get Out.)

Its generally accepted that The Simpsons hasnt been excellent in many years, especially in comparison to the Sam SimonConan OBrien golden era of the 90s. That still doesnt excuse this peculiar installment, in which Ned makes a film called Tales of the Old Testament thats supposed to double as a barbed commentary on the controversial 2004 Mel Gibson project The Passion of the Christ. (Your voice-cameo lineup: Tom Brady, LeBron James, Michelle Kwan, Yao Ming, and Warren Sapp.) It leads into the pilot of American Dad, which, um, sorry, Ive got nothing. I repeat: Why didnt Fox schedule the season premiere of 24 here?! WHY?!

Given that this Ryan Murphy confection was a weekly pit stop for celebrities, what a relief that Katie Couric is the only extra name on hand. Maybe thats because the producers wanted to focus on the elaborate musical numbers in this loosely football-themed episode. The centerpiece is a mashup of Thriller and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Heads Will Roll. Though only 168 seconds long, it contributes to what would be the most expensive Glee episode and postSuper Bowl episode in history.

This second-season premiere represents that speck of time when those swiveling red chairs still seemed cool. Plus, OGs Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera, and CeeLo were still sitting in them.

The premisean out-of-touch CEO slums it in a ridiculous disguise and is aghast to learn what his regular-folk employees do for a living!is perversely genius. (Even Kylo Ren learns a thing or two from his experience.) This premiere encapsulates its appeal, as the honcho of Waste Management Inc. is sent to clean up port-a-potties. Maybe not the most appetizing TV after inhaling those fried mozzarella sticks, but its the third-best-rated postSuper Bowl show ever and more than 120 episodes later, the show is still chugging.

The other late-90s David E. Kelley hit about a Boston firm full of scrappy legal eagles enjoyed a solid run as water-cooler television back when offices still had water coolers and people still worked in offices. This Season 4 episode is the first of a two-parter, as Lindsay (Kelli Williams) takes the firm to L.A. to defend an acquaintance on trial for murdering his online girlfriend. No creepy serial killers dressed as nuns are part of the proceedings, for better or for worse.

The Simpsons was already on the air in some form for more than a decade by the end of the last centuryor longer than the 10-year-old Bart Simpson had ostensibly been alive. No matter! Viewers are still supplied with a thematic episode about Homer and his fellow Springfieldians following a sleazeball tour guide (Fred Willard) on a faux trip to the Super Bowl. (Subplot: Marge and Lisa stay home to decorate eggs with a Vincent Pricebranded kit.) More significantly, viewers catch a surprisingly mature debut of a future animated behemoth. Titled Death Has a Shadow, the Family Guy episode touches on the pitfalls of heavy drinking after a football game. If Seth MacFarlane wants to sober up viewers in a hurry, it works.

After the phenomenon that was the first season of Survivor during the summer of 2000, CBS executives didnt have to think too hard as to when to launch its follow-up. And while this highly rated episode doesnt possess a standout moment per se, it still introduces a slew of memorable playersproving that you dont need a Machiavellian schemer like Richard Hatch to yield juicy TV. Seriously, if the names Colby Donaldson, Elisabeth Filarski, Tina Wesson, Jerri Manthey, Alicia Calaway, and Kimmi Kappenberg mean nothing to you, I suggest you stop reading this story right now and queue up CBS All Access to devour every episode.

One word, all caps: PRINCE. Not only did His Royal Purpleness rock the Super Bowl halftime show seven years earlier, he creamed the post-show celeb competition by unexpectedly showing up on New Girl. (Apparently, he was a fan.) And this is no hi-and-bye pop-up: Prince helps Jess (Zooey Deschanel) and Nick (Jake Johnson) say their I love yous and also plays Ping-Pong with Cece (Hannah Simone). Prince died two years after this episodetitled Prince, obviouslywhich makes it all the more special. His appearance does overshadow a cameo from Clayton Kershaw, not to mention a perfectly fine episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine featuring Adam Sandler and Joe Theismann.

Granted, How did Jack die? is no Who killed J.R.? Its not even Who Shot Mr. Burns? But judging from the way all the This Is Us characters had cryptically talked about the tragic passing of Milo Ventimiglias earnest patriarch up until this point, you would have thought that the man self-combusted after his Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2006. This hyped-up episode finally reveals all, and wow, is it a humdinger. Stay with me here: Jack accidentally leaves the Crock-Pot in the kitchen on overnight. The heat causes a massive house fire. Jack runs out of the house to safety, yet rushes back in to save his daughter or a cat or something. Jack survives that, but goes to the hospital anyway just to be safe. Then he dies because his lungs cant take the prolonged smoke inhalation. To Ventimiglia and Mandy Moores credit, they totally sell it.

Though this edition of the CBS news stalwart lasts only 20 minutes, its plenty of time for then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clintonwho was running for the Democratic presidential nominationand his wife, Hillary, to address rumors of an affair with a singer named Gennifer Flowers. He denies it, and then the future FLOTUS/U.S. senator/secretary of state/presidential candidate retorts with a dream of a sound bite: Im not sittin here, some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette. Later, Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales wisely opines, Hillary Clinton appeared impressively impervious, suggesting perhaps that the wrong Clinton is running for office.

Peak Mulder and Scully. While the Leonard Betts episode refuses to delve into the series dense alien mythology, it does unfold as an effectively creepy monster story. If you recall, Paul McCrane is an EMT who eats cancer, enabling his whole body to regenerate. The shocker of a twist? Gillian Andersons Scully has the cancer. Later that year, McCrane starts his run as the deliciously uncouth Dr. Romano on ER.

OK, sure, The A-Team hit pay dirt in 1983. But in the subsequent years, networks dont exactly keep the good times rolling. (May I present MacGruder and Loud, The Last Precinct, Airwolf, and Hard Copy.) (No, not that Hard Copy.) Then, a good-hearted preteen named Kevin Arnold changed everything. The Wonder Years is everything Airwolf is nota sweet and sentimental comedy about the delightful challenges of growing up in 1969. Critics were awestruck by this brilliant pilot starring that kid from The Princess Bride: It received an A+ from People magazine, with its critic raving that it was fresh, imaginative and intelligent, and The L.A. Times marveled that Its a refreshingly gutsy half-hour. Following that sterling pilot, the Emmy-winning series ran through 1993. And the postSuper Bowl game changed forever.

If the emergence of Colby Donaldson in Australia three years earlier wasnt satisfying enough, hes now joined by Hatch, Manthey, Rudy Boesch, Sue Hawk, Ethan Zohn, Rupert Boneham, and more favorites in Survivors very first returnees edition. This ranks better than Australia because well-established characters bring instantly compelling drama, which culminates in the ouster of a popular former winner whose name rhymes with Shmina Messon. And, wait! Tribemates and relative strangers Boston Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich also meet and decide to form a tentative alliance. Theyd go on to steal kisses on the beach, make the seasons final two, get married, welcome four daughters, and compete 15 years later on Survivor: Winners at War. In retrospect, they really should have named one of their girls after the producer who decided to pair them on the same tribe.

Good for NBC for having the stones to unveil a gritty and unconventional cop drama with flawed characters played by unknowns Andre Braugher, Melissa Leo, and Kyle Secor. (Ned Beatty is the most recognizable face.) The Baltimore-based crime series was groundbreaking TV at the timeSteven Bochcos NYPD Blue didnt premiere until that falland its pilot episode led to awards galore for director Barry Levinson. The crime series, which went on to a healthy seven-year run, also launches the TV career of journalist David Simon. In other words? No Homicide, no Stringer Bell takedown.

Though the sublime comedy had already been on for five seasons, it rises to the occasion on Super Bowl Sunday with one of its most quintessential episodes. The fun begins when Dwight Schrute starts a fire in the hallway at Dunder Mifflin, giving poor Stanley a heart attack. In the second half, Michael Scott holds a company roast for himself, which of course he cant tolerate. The staff also holds a CPR class, doing chest compressions to Staying Alive. And despite superfluous cameos from Jack Black, Jessica Alba, and Cloris Leachman (RIP), every actor in the stacked cast gets an opportunity to shine.

Oh, so youve never seen this slick spy series? Well, heres star Jennifer Garner trying on skimpy black and red lingerie in the opening sequence so she can seduce and outmaneuver a bad guy on an airplane just before blowing out the door! Thats how creator J.J. Abrams and Co. shamelessly lured curious new viewers to their honeypot. Gimmick aside, the episode kills because its both an excellent entry point and an absolute fan-service-y stunner. For the uninitiated, the episode incorporates disguises, secret identities, slick fight sequences, heartache, and a fresh-faced Bradley Cooper. And for its final act, Garners Sydney Bristow and the CIA take down rogue cell SD-6, revealing her double-agency to the enemy. Unfortunately, this episode ranks as one of the lowest-rated postSuper Bowl episodesbut I choose to think thats because ABC decided to slap a Bon Jovi concert onto the end of an already long game. Garner didnt go undercover until after 11 p.m., as only those who sat through Livin on a Prayer found out.

While this series is somehow still going strong, I cant overemphasize its set-the-TiVo! status way back in Season 2. No doubt the highlight is this tense two-parter that, just saying, starts out with a steamy shower dream sequence. Back at the hospital, theres unexploded ammunition inside the chest cavity of a patient, and the only thing keeping it from going kablooey is the shaky hand of a newbie paramedic (Christina Ricci, somehow making a habit of guest starring in postSuper Bowl TV episodes). This crisis sets Seattle Grace into Code Black, and the interns all react differently under the life-or-death stress. (Viewers are kept in suspense until the following Sunday.) Its a laughably preposterous story line set to emo-pop music, but Greys has never presented itself as a medical documentary. If anything, we should all be thankful for the histrionics because its an excuse for a dashing Kyle Chandlerpost-Early Edition, pre-Coach Taylorto show up as the bomb expert.

Theres a reason this two-part, second-season episode is titled The One After the Super Bowl and not, say, The One Where Monica and Rachel Fight Over Jean-Claude Van Damme or The One Where a Crazed Fan Licks Joeys Fingers. Friends producers sensed this outlier installmentwhich touched down just as Friends was shooting into the cultural stratospherewould be remembered solely as a funny, starry, low-stakes hour of television that aired on the same night as you-know-what. And boy do they deliver on the promise.

The first half is buoyed by Phoebe singing truth-telling ditties to kids at a library while Joey, the Days of Our Lives hunk, dates a beautiful stalker. Then Monica and Rachel both vie for Jean-Claude Van Damme (whos filming the retroactively foreboding Outbreak 2: The Virus Takes Manhattam), Chandler goes out with a former classmate who secretly despises him, and Ross reunites with his pet monkey, Marcel. Theyre all inspired setups, and only now am I mentioning that Julia Roberts, Brooke Shields, Chris Isaak, and Dan Castellaneta appear in key spot roles along with Van Damme. Whats more impressive, these guests seamlessly blend into their respective story lines without diffusing the charms of Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer. Dare I say that the most hilarious scenesMonica and Rachel tussle in the kitchen; Ross catches Joey and Chandler in a compromising position in a restaurant bathroomare cameo-free.

More than 52 million viewers stayed put to get their fill of the effective laughs, making Friends the most-watched postSuper Bowl lead-out in history. But the fact that The One After the Super Bowl still holds up as classic TV 25 years later (and fits in among Friends other 235 episodes) is why this super episode shines above all.

Mara Reinstein is a New York Citybased film critic and entertainment journalist who contributes to Us Weekly, Billboard, The Cut, HuffPost, and Parade.

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A Ranking of the Most Definitive PostSuper Bowl TV Episodes - The Ringer