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  • ‘The Other Two’ Is Taking “Big Swings” in Season 3

    ‘The Other Two’ Is Taking “Big Swings” in Season 3

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    Fans of The Other Two—the HBO Max comedy created, written, and executive produced by former SNL head writers Sarah Schneider and Chris Kelly—are used to a bit of jumping around. The critical darling, which follows Brooke and Cary Dubek (Heléne Yorke and Drew Tarver) in their quest to escape the shadow of their Justin Bieber–esque brother, ChaseDreams (Case Walker)—and, eventually, the shadow of their Ellen DeGeneres–adjacent talk show host mother, Pat (Molly Shannon)—premiered on Comedy Central in 2019 before getting scooped up by the streamer for its second season. Nearly two years after making the leap from cable to streaming, The Other Two returns to HBO Max on May 4 for its third season, where it will make its biggest leap yet. 

    After cruising through everything from a Hillsong-inspired baptism to an event dedicated to unveiling a secret Hadid’s face, season two ended on perhaps the best one-off pandemic joke we’ve seen on TV so far. Struggling actor Cary finally got a starring role in an indie film, with rehearsals set to begin—when else?—March 13, 2020. So, is season three all about the harrowing journey of making an indie film about essential workers amidst a global pandemic?  

    Yes, says Kelly. “All 10 episodes take place in real time on March 12, 2020.”

    Molly Shannon in The Other Two.

    Greg Endries/HBO Max

    He’s joking. Instead, Kelly and Schneider wisely decided to jump three years into the future for season three. “We did just skip right the hell over that,” Kelly says. “Please make sure you print that this is not, like, a COVID show. We are not all about COVID now.”

    But season three doesn’t pretend the pandemic didn’t happen, either. “Our show is so grounded in what feels real and current. We didn’t want to make a show that completely ignored our current situation and the ongoing effects of living through a global pandemic,” says Schneider. (Fittingly, we’re talking over Zoom.) “We are three years in the future, but all of our characters have been impacted in some way by what we’ve all gone through. And we just tried to explore different funny routes that that would take them.”

    Season two ended with Cary and Brooke both finding success in their own right—with Cary’s acting career finally taking off and Brooke becoming manager for every other member of her family. But that doesn’t mean all their problems have gone away. If anything, the more things change, the more things stay the same.

    Drew Tarver in The Other Two.

    Greg Endries/HBO Max

    “With the time jump, the family is years into being part of the public eye,” Tarver tells me in a separate Zoom call with Yorke. “I feel like they’ve settled into their fame, or their notoriety, and the issues that they were dealing with have become more commonplace. There’s maybe a deeper layer of, I guess, humiliation and sadness that comes along with that. The show continues to deliver in terms of the characters being humiliated—the ‘other two’ getting humiliated—in a very exciting, funny, new way.”

    The intersection between humiliation and hilarity has always been The Other Two’s bread and butter, whether that’s involved Cary’s nude accidentally going “gay-viral” or Brooke inadvertently leading a “Women can suck!” chant at a panel. But season two proved that The Other Two also excels at pointed cultural satire, with sharp takes on everything from HGTV to Vogue. Cary’s season two dalliance with Dean, a straight actor who wanted to seem gay in public, predated proliferating discussions of “queerbaiting,” while Pat’s talk show, Pat!, arrived right around the morning talk show renaissance that also brought us The Drew Barrymore Show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, and The Jennifer Hudson Show. Clearly, “Pat’s influence knows no bounds,” Kelly jokes. “This is all because of Pat.”

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    Chris Murphy

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  • Claire Danes on Fighting and Screaming Through ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble’

    Claire Danes on Fighting and Screaming Through ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble’

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    When Claire Danes first started filming Homeland, she did what many actors can’t help but do, and brought work home to her husband, Hugh Dancy—specifically, the Showtime drama’s liberal use of swear words. “The first season was littered with pretty foul language, and that bled into my personal life—I was talking like a sailor,” she tells Vanity Fair. “I remember Hugh being really grossed out by it and chastising me a little bit, like, ‘Claire!’” Cut to a decade later, with Danes deep into her new show, Fleishman Is in Trouble, FX on Hulu’s juicy and twisty tale of a bitter divorce. “Fighting in the way that I had been for 12 hours a day, for many consecutive days, just made me more inclined to pick fights with Hugh, who was entirely undeserving of it,” Danes says. “It was not at all his fault. But it’s hard to turn the spigot off because it feels good, in a perverse way.”

    Danes commits every time—and it’s not that the Emmy winner goes full Method, exactly. The intensity and fullness with which she brings her richest characters to life translates into the kinds of performances that stick to viewers for days. No wonder the portrayer finds them a little hard to shake herself. And that goes especially for Fleishman. For much of the limited series’ run, Danes’s Rachel exists as a projection of her ex-husband, Toby (Jesse Eisenberg). His old college friend, Libby (Lizzy Caplan), listens to him unpack the breakdown of their marriage, from Rachel’s traumatic experience while giving birth, to her ruthless professional ambition, and her unwillingness to see him fully, as he (says he) saw her. One day, after dropping the kids off at Toby’s place, Rachel disappears; at the end of last week’s sixth episode, Libby finds Rachel sitting on a park bench, hiding in plain sight—and realizes that there’s far more to the story than Toby’s righteous version of events had perhaps implied. Rachel tells Libby everything that happened from her own perspective. The account is devastating—with Danes, emotionally and heartbreakingly raw, delivering career-best work in the process of explaining how a driven woman can crumble. (Already, she’s been nominated for a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for her Fleishman performance.) 

    Due to some wonkiness in the production schedule, Danes filmed both this penultimate episode and the third episode—her other showcase, but told from Toby’s point of view—near-simultaneously. In other words, she and Eisenberg would be on the same sets, playing the same scenes, twice—through each other’s lens. “I’d never played a character as perceived by someone else, so to play a projection and then play a person, one after the other, took some coordination. I would lose track!” Danes says. “When we were shooting the scene at the therapist’s office, [our director] had to remind me that we were in what we called my episode. She’s like, ‘You’re right in this one.’ I said, ‘Well, I’m always right, but it’s a matter of how right: Am I episode three right, or am I episode seven right?’ These were the kind of deranged conversations that we found ourselves having.”

    “Episode three right,” as they called it, carries a certain coldness—Rachel still reads her dynamics with Toby rather correctly in the latter’s memory of their marriage, but she lacks empathy and patience. Danes magnetically plays into Toby’s minimizing while hinting at the depth, history, and pain later fully revealed in Rachel’s own telling of events. Her story is that of one woman being pushed to the brink, the true and layered experience behind what would be dismissed by most as a mental breakdown. It’s the kind of arc Danes excels at delineating, never in judgment or hysterics but not shying away from the cry for help at its core. In fact, when she first encountered Rachel as her next potential role, Danes worried about repeating herself. “Obviously, I played an unhinged person in Carrie Mathison for many seasons, and I played Temple Grandin, who has a different kind of makeup and is a deeply sensitive person,” Danes says. “There was part of me that was like, Oh, gosh, am I the go-to girl for this kind of expression?”

    But the difference is that Rachel is not a globetrotting, terrorist-hunting CIA agent. She’s not a hero of the American scientific community. She’s simply a working mom, someone many viewers know, or even are—and in Danes bringing her trademark, guttural power to that kind of everyday experience, she reaches a new sweet spot that hits hard, one rooted in the mundane. “I just find people who are in extreme states really, really fascinating—and I think that experience is probably more common than any of us would like to admit,” Danes says. “We all know what it is to be scared out of our minds, literally. It feels like a privilege to be able to communicate that.”

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    David Canfield

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  • Yvonne Strahovski Breaks Down That Shocking ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Finale Twist

    Yvonne Strahovski Breaks Down That Shocking ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Finale Twist

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    I’m curious how that builds to, as you said, a very simple moment like this that’s also setting up a whole new avenue for these two characters who have been on these sort of parallel journeys until now.

    I don’t know that we paid it too much thought. There was a line—is it there? I haven’t seen it, but do I ask her for a diaper in the scene?

    Yes, you do. That’s the last line of the season.

    Oh, my gosh. Okay. So they kept that. [Laughs] Yeah, we had honestly so much, the most discussion about the line. On paper it’s this big season finale, and here I am asking for a diaper. So it’s kind of like, That’s a bit weird! How do we make it so it’s not obviously about the diaper, but about what’s going on between these two women? We did many different takes of the ending. We did versions without the line. We did versions where I just said her name and she said mine. We did versions with the diaper line, then we changed up the diaper line. It was a whole different smorgasbord of potential endings with or without the diaper. Excited to see where they landed with that. [Laughs]

    It’s kind of sweet in a weird way—whichever take they used, that was my takeaway.

    There was also the practical conversation of, my baby’s much smaller than yours. Does it make sense to ask for a diaper? How many would I have already?

    To me the line really spoke in a lot of ways just to the characters’ history. There’s a humor to the moment of them recognizing, well, here we are.

    Yes. Maybe that’s why we didn’t talk too much about the scene itself, because I think we both felt like there was a lightness in this scene. We never kind of thought to lean into seriousness. The irony of it is what it felt like we should be leaning into. And therefore it was like, Oh, my gosh, of course, of course you are here.

    In terms of the episode structure and really the whole season’s structure, this reveal is obviously a surprise for the audience. In those kinds of moments where we’re not with Serena for a chunk of time, do you fill in the gaps, just in terms of what happened that we don’t get to see, that’s not on the page?

    Yeah, I thought about a lot of what might have happened to her. There was also that question of, Well, is she recognizable at this point? How expansive is that? Or how small is that kind of idea that she might be recognizable to some people? I was like, Well, what path would she have taken? In my mind, she would’ve ended up at some shelter where she could be anonymous and dressed down and receive aid of some kind, like clothing. She’s wearing super-normal stuff like jeans and somehow gets herself on that train, which I think would’ve been the biggest gamble. There was a discussion about how you’d have to receive a pass of some kind, a refugee pass, and be anonymous. I mean, she’s smart, so she would’ve had to figure it out.

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    David Canfield

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  • EXCLUSIVE: India’s Twitter alternative Koo now reaches 4,800 towns and cities

    EXCLUSIVE: India’s Twitter alternative Koo now reaches 4,800 towns and cities

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    Serial entrepreneur Aprameya Radhakrishna, known for building ride-sharing company TaxiForSure (which was acquired by Ola for $200 million in 2015), started Koo — a language-focused microblogging platform — in early 2020. It was meant to be a homegrown, hyperlocal alternative to Twitter, and a step towards fulfilling the government’s grand ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ vision. Later that year, Koo went on to win MeitY’s Atmanirbhar App Innovation Challenge in the ‘Social’ category, and was also listed among Google Play Store’s “Everyday Essentials’ apps. 

    Within 20 months of its launch, Koo says it racked up 15 million downloads. “Our first 10 million downloads happened in about a year and a half, while the next five million users joined the platform in a quarter,” Koo Co-founder and CEO Aprameya Radhakrishna tells Business Today. “Currently, we have over 45 million downloads with 7,500 eminent accounts.”

    But what worked? How did Koo find its audience in a cluttered social media space where attention spans are diminishing by the day? Radhakrishna says Koo was the answer to India’s language diversity problem. “In a country like India, where more than 90 per cent of the population thinks and speaks in a regional language, the power of expression in one’s mother tongue is truly immense. We noticed that the majority of the conversations on existing global social media platforms were in English. The native language speakers needed an immersive experience in their mother tongue. Koo is a solution to that problem,” he explains. 

    This problem is not just India’s though. “80 per cent of the world doesn’t speak English either. They speak some native language,” he says. 

    Koo’s native language proposition managed to woo some of the top venture capitalists of the world. In a little over two years, the Bengaluru-based startup has raise $64.1 million in funding from the likes of Tiger Global, Mirae Asset Management, One4 Capital, Accel, Casper, and prominent angels, including Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan, Ashneer Grover, among others. Koo’s last funding round came in February this year, and its valuation stood at $263 million in June, according to Tracxn. 

    Radhakrishna says, “Running a language-based micro-blog is way more complex than a single language platform in multiple ways. Koo has built tech to support billions of interactions from millions of users. It has one of the most exhaustive and deep usage of language-based technologies. Right from translations to transliteration, context extraction, categorization to recommendations and personalization. The language dimension adds many complexities, apart from the fact that a lot of the language tech, especially Indian languages, is still nascent.”

    Today, Koo enables interactions in Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada, Gujarati, and Punjabi, besides English. The platform allows creators to send their messages in real-time across languages while retaining the context and sentiment attached to the original text. “This enhances a user’s reach, as the message can be consumed by people across the country in a language of their choice,” says the founder.

    As a result of its deep language penetration, Koo claims to be reaching users in 4,800 towns and cities of India, with over 60 per cent of those coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 regions. With growing mobile internet usage, more and more first-time users are now taking to social apps. However, Koo stakes a claim to several seasoned netizens as well. “The average age of users on Koo is between 23 to 35 years. These are not necessarily first-time internet users, but language users who didn’t have a platform to express themselves earlier,” Radhakrishna reveals. 

    Despite the positive indicators, Koo — like most other social media platforms of the world — continues to battle charges of hate speech and discrimiation. Its content moderation policies have come under the scanner too. The company says it follows the laws of the land. “Our structured content moderation practice complies with Indian law and leverages the expertise of both humans and machines to curb online hatred and facilitate a cleaner ecosystem. We also have a ‘Voluntary Self-Verification’ feature on the Koo app which helps to curb anonymity and the presence of nuisance creators,” the founder explains. 

    Interestingly, self verification is something Elon Musk (who’s close to completing his Twitter buyout) has been pushing for a while. In April, the Tesla CEO and Twitter board member urged the social media platform to “authenticate all real humans”, which Koo claims it has already done. Radhakrishna, in fact, tweeted to Musk, asking him to try out the app. “Your specific point on democratized verification [is] already done btw,” he wrote. 

    But what really are the pros of self-verification? Is it effective enough? 

    He elaborates, “Self-verification empowers every user on Koo with the privilege of getting recognized as a genuine voice, something which is only available for eminent voices on other social media apps. Being a ‘genuine voice’ lends greater credibility to the thoughts and opinions that are shared. Profiles have witnessed a 75 per cent spike in followers and a 30 per cent increase in profile visits within a week of having self-verified themselves, says our analysis.”

    When it comes to monetisation, however, Koo is yet to turn a corner. The platform’s annual revenues stood at $145,000 as on December 31, 2020, according to Tracxn. It reportedly incurred losses of over Rs 35 crore in FY21, and with funding drying up in 2022, operations have been crunched further. Koo also laid off nearly 5 per cent of its workforce in August. 

    “These colleagues were let go for a mix of reasons like performance issues and restructuring that made some of these roles redundant. This is a constant exercise at any company,” Radhakrishna asserts. “We are still aggressively hiring people in areas such as product, analytics, and engineering. Our current workforce has a strength of 300 employees.”

    But is there a clear path to monetisation and profitability? Without divulging much, the founder says, “Koo is looking at sustained growth that will be backed by experiments related to driving value to brands, creators and other stakeholders linked to the Koo ecosystem.”

    Also Read: Koo relies on library of 6,300 words and phrases to spot abusive content

    Also Read: Koo signs MoU with Telangana govt, to open development centre in Hyderabad

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  • Pregnant south Omaha woman shares experience getting carjacked

    Pregnant south Omaha woman shares experience getting carjacked

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    A South Omaha woman who was carjacked this week at gunpoint tells KETV she is five months pregnant. Omaha police arrested four teenagers on Thursday and say they carried out the crime. Officers booked the teens on robbery and use of a weapon charges. They are all 13 to 17 years old. Police say the group carjacked the 27-year-old pregnant woman in a cul-de-sac at Spring Lake Park Wednesday afternoon. They say one of the teens shot a man in a separate vehicle as they were driving away. The soon-to-be mother, Perla, says she thought it was a joke at first because the carjackers were so young. Perla was just taking her dog out for a walk when a young man approached her and opened her passenger-side door pointing a gun. She did not want her face on camera, still recovering from the ordeal. “They told me ‘give me your money. I know you have money, give me your money.’ And like you said, they’re just kids so I was like is this a joke, is this, what?” Perla said.But it was no joke. Perla says the four carjackers took her keys and made a getaway. Police say they shot at another vehicle, striking the 32-year-old driver.”I started crying. I was at the park with my dog, I just took him out because he wasn’t feeling well. I just wanted to go on a walk with him,” Perla said.Omaha police eventually recovered Perla’s car in North Omaha along with another vehicle the suspects used in the carjacking. They say people commit this crime for a myriad of reasons: maybe it is on a dare, a challenge or for a joyride. It is much harder to sell a stolen vehicle or tear it down for scrap. Police say to lessen the chance of a carjacking, you have to be aware of your surroundings. “We always try to encourage people to look up while they’re walking to and from either a vehicle or into a business,” said Officer Chris Gordon, an Omaha police spokesperson. If someone aggressively approaches you to take your car, your well-being should come first. Use good judgement and be smart. Do not try to fight back if the robber is armed with something dangerous. It is also important to think like a witness: look for distinguishing features on the suspect and report the carjacking immediately to police. “If you walk out with your head up, looking around, making contact at people, making eye contact, that tends to minimize you as a perceived victim,” Gordon said.For Perla, the incident has left her shaken, but OK. She is looking forward to putting this behind her and being a mom. “She’s my first baby so I just don’t want anything to happen to her,” Perla said.Police also say it is best to park in well-seen areas, try to go in pairs to your car when possible and have your vehicle keys in hand ready to lock and unlock the doors quickly. The 32-year-old driver who was shot, Jorge Garcia, was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries, but authorities say those injuries are non-life-threatening.

    OMAHA, Neb. —

    A South Omaha woman who was carjacked this week at gunpoint tells KETV she is five months pregnant.

    Omaha police arrested four teenagers on Thursday and say they carried out the crime. Officers booked the teens on robbery and use of a weapon charges. They are all 13 to 17 years old.

    Police say the group carjacked the 27-year-old pregnant woman in a cul-de-sac at Spring Lake Park Wednesday afternoon. They say one of the teens shot a man in a separate vehicle as they were driving away.

    The soon-to-be mother, Perla, says she thought it was a joke at first because the carjackers were so young.

    Perla was just taking her dog out for a walk when a young man approached her and opened her passenger-side door pointing a gun. She did not want her face on camera, still recovering from the ordeal.

    “They told me ‘give me your money. I know you have money, give me your money.’ And like you said, they’re just kids so I was like is this a joke, is this, what?” Perla said.

    But it was no joke. Perla says the four carjackers took her keys and made a getaway. Police say they shot at another vehicle, striking the 32-year-old driver.

    “I started crying. I was at the park with my dog, I just took him out because he wasn’t feeling well. I just wanted to go on a walk with him,” Perla said.

    Omaha police eventually recovered Perla’s car in North Omaha along with another vehicle the suspects used in the carjacking. They say people commit this crime for a myriad of reasons: maybe it is on a dare, a challenge or for a joyride. It is much harder to sell a stolen vehicle or tear it down for scrap.

    Police say to lessen the chance of a carjacking, you have to be aware of your surroundings.

    “We always try to encourage people to look up while they’re walking to and from either a vehicle or into a business,” said Officer Chris Gordon, an Omaha police spokesperson.

    If someone aggressively approaches you to take your car, your well-being should come first. Use good judgement and be smart. Do not try to fight back if the robber is armed with something dangerous.

    It is also important to think like a witness: look for distinguishing features on the suspect and report the carjacking immediately to police.

    “If you walk out with your head up, looking around, making contact at people, making eye contact, that tends to minimize you as a perceived victim,” Gordon said.

    For Perla, the incident has left her shaken, but OK. She is looking forward to putting this behind her and being a mom.

    “She’s my first baby so I just don’t want anything to happen to her,” Perla said.

    Police also say it is best to park in well-seen areas, try to go in pairs to your car when possible and have your vehicle keys in hand ready to lock and unlock the doors quickly.

    The 32-year-old driver who was shot, Jorge Garcia, was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries, but authorities say those injuries are non-life-threatening.

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  • Austin Pets Alive! | 10 Days to 100: Austin Pets Alive! Sets Goal of…

    Austin Pets Alive! | 10 Days to 100: Austin Pets Alive! Sets Goal of…

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    Apr 22, 2021

    Austin Pets Alive! will begin a brand new campaign from May 1 to May 10 — 10 Days to 100. The innovative animal rescue organization hopes to add 100 or more additional donors to its monthly giving program, Constant Companions, in just 10 days.

    Constant Companions are the most dependable donors for the organization. Expanding the Constant Companion family allows APA! to continue setting its sights higher than ever. With its eyes set on making Texas No Kill, APA! relies on the generosity of Constant Companions to support this expansion and constant innovation.

    Launched nearly a decade ago, APA!’s monthly giving program allows loyal supporters from all over the world to regularly contribute to lifesaving efforts in Central Texas and beyond. Currently, the program has 1088 Constant Companions that give $46,269.88 a month to Austin Pets Alive!. That’s 154 pets saved every month by APA!’s Constant Companions alone.

    The 10 Days to 100 campaign will feature compelling stories of companion animal lifesaving that would not be possible without those who support APA! every single month. With the help of local artist and animal lover, Will Bryant, exclusive tote bags are being created for qualifying Constant Companions. New members and those who increase their membership level will be able to take home custom tote bags exclusive to Constant Companions. Be sure to follow Austin Pets Alive! on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to keep up with all of the action.

    Each monthly gift, no matter the level, sustains APA!’s mission and writes a brighter future for every companion animal in Central Texas.

    Want to join Constant Companions and can’t wait until May 1? Click here to sign up!

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  • Austin Pets Alive! | Austin Pets Alive! announces 10th Annual Paddle…

    Austin Pets Alive! | Austin Pets Alive! announces 10th Annual Paddle…

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    Apr 16, 2021

    Austin Pets Alive! is thrilled to announce the return of Paddle for Puppies, presented by Austin Subaru and hosted at Rowing Dock. Though the format may look a little different from years past, the concept — and the cause — are the same.

    Instead of hosting this fundraiser on one day, it has been spread out over the course of a weekend to accommodate social distancing needs. Participants can register for their preferred time slot on one of three days (May 7, 4-8 pm; May 8, 8 am-12 pm; May 9, 8 am-12 pm) and enjoy a leisurely paddle, kayak, or canoe ride on their own down Lady Bird Lake. All participants will receive an exclusive Paddle for Puppies t-shirt, and all proceeds directly benefit the APA! Parvo Puppy ICU.

    This is the 10th anniversary of Paddle for Puppies. Since its inception in 2011, Austin Subaru has raised over $20,000 each year through this community favorite activity. APA!’s Parvo Puppy ICU is a specialized facility designed to care for puppies that contract canine parvovirus, a highly contagious and life-threatening virus. Dogs with parvo are often at extremely high risk of euthanasia in certain shelters and regions that lack the resources to safely quarantine and treat these pups. Through this program, APA! provides shelters across Texas with an alternative to euthanasia and saves around 500 lives each year.

    Due to recent detection of toxins in an algae sample taken from Lake Austin, APA! is not encouraging participants to bring their dogs along for the paddle at this time. Humans of all ages, however, are welcome to attend. Registration starts at $40 per adult, with an optional boat rental fee. Children under 16 can be added on as a second rider for $25. All attendees can register on the Paddle for Puppies website ahead of time.

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