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So Excited

Luis hasn’t been able to put down his phone since announcements began rolling out of Toy Fair this weekend, but I saw a few reveals on Thursday morning TV.

My laundromat plays Channel 7, so first I saw Good Morning America show off the animatronic baby Yoda, letting him babble, blink, twitch his ears, and use the Force. Then later on Live, Ryan Seacrest asked Kelly Ripa if she was a fan of The Mandalorian. She started a rant about how she ordered the Child for Christmas, but has not received it—and she’s a Disney employee! Then Seacrest pulled out the Build A Bear plush to her genuine surprise. It came with guards, though, so, like all the rest of us, Ripa’s wait continues for them all to hit the market. —MV

Let ’em Breathe

Luis saw the video I made to promote getting to be a fly on the wall at Global Wholesale Flowers and said, “I can’t wait to see the rest!” And I was confused because he had already seen the whole issue. So, I took a picture of unboxed flowers for him this week...

Madeline Vega

Madeline Vega

Snack Attack

I used to work at a magazine that asked celebrities what they carried in their handbags, so I needed to click the headline saying I’d never guess what Julia Butters was smuggling into the Academy Awards ceremony. A turkey sandwich. She was carrying a turkey sandwich.

That sounded so Anna Kat (her regular character from American Housewife) and she was wearing Christian Siriano. I had to fangirl and illustrate the moment as I pictured it from the story’s text. —MV

Madeline Vega

Last to Know

Walking down Northern Boulevard the other day, I passed so many raised grates, I finally had to Google what the story is. As David W. Dunlap beautifully writes for The New York Times, “Made of hammered stainless steel and available in three different heights, their almost sculpturally undulating form is a deliberate reference to the problem they are supposed to help solve. ‘You’re aware that this is here for storm water,’ said Rob Rogers,” whose firm designed the grates after a storm completely flooded the subway system in 2007. —MV

Thundercats Noooooooo

When I heard Cartoon Network was working on a new version, I instantly thought of the brilliant but short-lived Thundercats relaunch from 2011. While that version gave a truer characterization of the core group, the new version, titled Thundercats Roar, is jokier and absurdist, more in line with Teen Titans Go (but more ridiculous). Lion-O doesn’t know how to use the Sword of Omens. While I was finally able to enjoy Teen Titans Go, I see myself taking a hard pass on Roar. —LV

The title character’s joyful nightmare where she performs a full blown musical number with everyone she knows

Zoey Doesn’t Want to Sing—or Hear You

I like musical television. I watched Rise hoping it would be the next Glee. If you do not want to see high schoolers singing competitively, you’re in luck—Zoey’s Extraoridnary Playlist is about a coder (Zoey, played by Jane Levy) who can suddenly hear people’s inner most thoughts in musical format after San Francisco suffers an earthquake while she is getting a brain MRI. Glee was campy fun, but Zoey is more wicked—the musical numbers are over the top amazing moments where people pour out their hearts but Zoey doesn’t want to hear them and has to act like she doesn’t know what the performer is thinking after. Her top two co-stars (Alex Newell from The Glee Project and Skylar Astin from Pitch Perfect) are charming standouts. For a small look at how this is perfectly executed, watch the “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” number from Episode 2. Zoey is hands down my favorite new show of the TV season. —LV