When Jeopardy! Masters hit the 2025 TV schedule last week, longtime fans were stoked to see Brad Rutter — the biggest winner in Jeopardy! history — return to the Alex Trebek Stage. After he turned down offers to appear in the JIT for the past couple of years, this was Rutter’s first time behind the podium since Ken Jennings beat him in 2020’s GOAT Tournament, and apparently we have their fellow GOAT contestant James Holzhauer to thank for bringing these old rivals face-to-face.
The three finalists from last year’s Masters — Victoria Groce, Yogesh Raut and James Holzhauer — were among the nine invited to compete on the third season of the elite tournament on ABC (and streaming with a Hulu subscription). However, much to my enormous dismay, Holzhauer was missing from the lineup. As executive producer Michael Davies explained in a behind-the-scenes blog:
James Holzhauer, the 2023 Jeopardy! Masters champion and last year’s third-place finisher, declined our invitation to participate. Graciously, he recommended that we reach out to the person who has won more money playing Jeopardy! than any human (or computer) alive: Ken’s rival of 20 years, Brad Rutter.
have Jeopardy! beef as well, but I digress.)
Jeopardy! greats Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter have shared the stage several times as competitors, including when Rutter beat the would-be host in the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions, when they were both beat by IBM’s Watson in 2011, when Rutter bested Jennings in the 2014’s Battle of the Decades, and when Team Brad beat Team Ken in Jeopardy! All-Star Games in 2019. Michael Davies continued:
So, when you saw that lighthearted exchange between Brad and Ken in the opening introductions — ‘I know you’re delighted to see me, Ken’ — think about how many games, years, and decades went into the formation of that moment. Even a supercomputer was involved.
When you look at how many times Brad Rutter has come out on top of Ken Jennings over the years, it’s no wonder Jennings has been ducking a GOAT rematch. In fact, it wasn’t until 2020’s Greatest of All Time Tournament that Jennings finally got revenge on his richer but less-famous counterpart. He won the first game, becoming the first human to ever beat Rutter, with James Holzhauer taking Game 2, then Jennings finishing the best-of-3 series with victories in Games 3 and 4.
I absolutely loved seeing these two come together again, and you can tell Brad Rutter’s ready to reignite the friendly rivalry, as he gave Ken Jennings hell for bringing up the 2020 tournament and said he planned to “make fun of” the host a bit while he’s there.
(Image credit: CBS)
It may have been Brad Rutter’s first game in five years, but Michael Davies certainly didn’t ease him back into the competition upon his long-awaited return. Rutter was immediately pitted against last year’s Masters champ Victoria Groce (complete with green jacket) and runner-up Yogesh Raut. Rutter struggled on the buzzer, which isn’t really a surprise, and he finished in third place for no match points.
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I’m still happy to have him back on the Alex Trebek Stage, especially reuniting with Ken Jennings. I do wish James Holzhauer was there with them, but I will just remain grateful that the game show villain decided to use his powers (and his absence) for good this time around.
Jeopardy!Masters continues at 9 p.m. ET Wednesdays on ABC and streaming the next day on Hulu.
Going from high-energy thrills in the air with Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick to the high-energy thrills on the ground with Brad Pitt in the upcoming film F1 might seem like a pretty obvious shift for director Joseph Kosinski. However, the director says the movies could not have been more different.
Kosinski’s work on Top Gun: Maverick does connect to his new film, as Formula One star Lewis Hamilton nearly cameoed in Maverick, and it was due to that the two began to talk, leading to Hamilton becoming a producer of the movie F1. However, the director tells EW that the movies were quite different in another key way. As in Top Gun, they were in the middle of nowhere, while much of F1 was filmed in front of a live audience. Kosinski said…
On Top Gun, we were off on an aircraft carrier 100 miles off the coast. This movie we shot in front of an audience of 400,000 people. Often, I had only a few minutes to shoot a scene because we were actually shooting it at the real live event. There was a stage-play-esque vibe to this where we had to be very well prepared, but execute in the moment and only get a few takes at a scene.
filming in the middle of them. This meant they didn’t need to bring in thousands of extras or fake crowds with CGI. However, it also meant that filming was on a fairly tight schedule.
Scenes of F1 would be filmed between the other festivities of the event. This meant everybody was limited in what they could do, as the shoot didn’t want to cause problems with the actual races. If they couldn’t get the shot they wanted, they had to move on empty-handed.
During Top Gun: Maverick, the film likely had all the time in the world. If a scene required multiple takes, not an unlikely situation given they were filming scenes with actors actually flying in jets, they could take the time to get what they needed. Here, everybody had to be ready to get it right in one take, because if they ran out of time, it could cause serious delays.
Based on the F1 trailer, this will be a movie full of pulse-pounding action. But it’s also likely that pulses were also pounding on the set as everybody dialed and knew they had to do their jobs perfectly to make sure they could get what they needed in the time they had. We’ll all get to see the results when F1 hits theaters next month.
Kanye West continues to garner headlines for his actions and, over the past few months, he’s specifically turned heads due to his activities on social media. He’s mostly taken to X, where he’s launched tirades regarding a variety of topics. One of his most recent rants involved his alleged inability to see his four children as he’d like. West shares those kids with ex-wife Kim Kardashian, who’s now said to be taking big measures as the rapper’s actions become more concerning.
Last week, the 47-year-old rapper launched a livestream in which he discussed his children. At the time, he wore an all-black ensemble and hurled f-bombs as he lamented his situation, according to DailyMail.com. Ye also said he was going to “go get these kids” and that he’d been “talking to the lawyers.” He also declared that it “gets to the point where I don’t lose my fuckin’ mind where I got to get used to not seeing my kids.”
West and Kardashian’s divorce was finalized, with the former required to pay $200,000 per month in child support.
The former celebrity couple has apparently clashed a few times as of late when it comes to their kids. Kim Kardashian apparently squashed one of daughter North’s hangouts with her dad, as he was meeting with Andrew and Tristian Tate (who faced sex crimes overseas) simultaneously. The “All of the Lights” rapper also included North on a new song featuring imprisoned rapper P. Diddy and allegedly promised to “unleash hell” on Kardashian if she didn’t release the trademark to North’s voice.
While Ye has been adamant about not having access to his children, long-standing rumors suggest he generally hasn’t been spending as much time with them as he could. The Grammy winner also claimed he didn’t want to have kids with the SKIMS founder in the first place.
Kim Kardashian hasn’t publicly spoken about any reported issues between her and Kanye. What has been said, however, is that Kardashian instituted a rule that her ex-husband not be bad-mouthed in her house, for the sake of her children. A report also suggests that Kardashian finds it “ridiculous” that she must have her lawyer on speed dial due to her ex’s actions. All of this should be taken with a grain of salt, and the public can only wait and see if West and Kardashian find some common ground as the former continues to go viral.
There are popular franchises and then there’s Harry Potter. The book to screen adaptation continue to be wildly popular, with fans re-watching the eight movies with their Max subscription. Actor Jason Isaacs famously played the villainous Lucius Malfoy through the Harry Potter movies, and recently shared why he was nervous when stepping onto the set.
The Harry Potter cast is part of film history forever, with Jason Isaacs being one of the adult actors who brought J.K. Rowling’s story to life. While the young cast has spoke about their nerves on the movie, it turns out that the White Lotus star also had his own concerns. In a talkback for Broadway’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (via People), Isaacs got honest by sharing:
The most nerve-racking is that all of the actors in the films were my heroes. They’re people I queued up in the rain to watch on stage, mostly.
Alan Rickman, and more.
Jason Isaacs said his job was to show why Draco Malfoy was such a jerk, but he played his father Lucius in five out of the eight Harry Potter films. In the same appearance, the star of The OA (which is streaming with a Netflix subscription) went on to share that he was nervous about working with late Dumbledore actor Richard Harris. In his words:
My very first day proper day was with the late great Richard Harris, who played Dumbledore in the first two films. I went to drama school with his son, Jared Harris, and the days when Richard Harris came to watch us at drama school were days you wore four pairs of underpants. To be standing opposite [Harris] was incredible. Cut to many years later … when we shot the courtyard scene with everybody, the big battle at the end, I looked around and there were just Oscar winners everywhere. The thrill never wore off.
Talk about daunting. While Isaacs is a talented actor, seeing his heroes on the set of the Harry Potter films was understandably nerve-wracking. While young actors might say the same about him nowadays, the 61 year-old star of the screen shared more about what it was like filming in Hogwarts and beyond. In his words:
Every day when you go to work on a film set, you get a piece of paper, it’s called a call sheet. It’s got everybody’s name on it and what scenes they’re doing that day. And I still, by the end of it, couldn’t believe that my name was on the list with all of those actors because they’re still my acting heroes.
Being an actor is a tricky thing, as the right project can see you paired with your heroes. While there were nerves involved, Isaacs was able to give a truly iconic performance as the patriarch of the Malfoy family. And however take that role next will have some big shoes to fill.
With the Harry Potter TV show developing, a new actor should be taking on the role of Lucius Malfoy. It should be fascinating to see who gets the role, and if they have similar nerve issues on set. Only time will tell.
Tom Cruise and Ana de Armas have the gossip pages bubbling. While there has been no confirmation of any kind that the two stars are dating, there is some smoke rising. Whether there is any (public) fire in the future remains to be seen. The two, who both have big upcoming projects on the 2025 movie schedule, have been seen together quite a few times over the past couple of months. I’ve been keeping track, so let’s take a look, and you can decide what to think of the situation
(Image credit: Paramount)
Valentine’s Day And A Couple Of Helicopter Rides
On Valentine’s Day this year, de Armas and Cruise were spotted getting carry-out from a restaurant in London. According to the Daily Mail, they were “mobbed” by fans as they walked in and out of the restaurant. They stopped and took some selfies before hopping in a cab together. There were no outward signs of affection, per the report, but they were all smiles and seemed to be having a very good time. The paper contacted reps for the two stars, but as of yet the article has not received a reply.
Mission: Impossible star and the Knives Out lead were spotted together was on March 16th, when TMZ reported Cruise and de Armas hopped out of a helicopter together at a helipad in London. According to the article, they had been seen at the same helipad the night before, as well.
About a month later, on April 14th, the two were photographed again by TMZ at the helipad. This time, according to the gossip site, they had just returned from a “whirlwind hop from Madrid, Spain.” The report was light on details about the trip, but this was now the third time they’d been spotted together.
Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s Sinners is one of the biggest hits of the year so far, and Cruise and de Armas were seen getting in on the hype at a movie theater in London. The Daily Mail reported that a fan also attending the movie spied the two taking it in. Cruise later posted a congratulatory message on X to the cast and crew of Sinners, though de Armas was not in the photo:
Congratulations Ryan, Michael, and to the entire cast and crew. Must see in a cinema and stay through the end credits! pic.twitter.com/rQ54y74j2eApril 27, 2025
according to Page Six, this time both at the heliport in London, and then later at a Mexican restaurant enjoying dinner. It also happened to be de Armas’ 37th birthday, April 30th.
Over the weekend, it was rumored that the two would appear together at David Beckham’s 50th birthday party. Page Six confirmed this when paparazzi caught a glimpse of Cruise and de Armas leaving the party together.
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It is entirely possible that this is all just business, as at least one source told Page Six. It wouldn’t be crazy for the two stars to talk about starring in a movie together or working together in other ways. Both have big movies coming out this summer, as well. Cruise has Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the (possible) final installment of the Mission: Impossible movies, and de Armas has Ballerina, a spin-off in the John Wick franchise. Ballerina is set for release on June 6th, while M: I – The Final Reckoning hits theaters a couple of weeks earlier, on May 23rd. Maybe things will be clearer after the premiere of one or both of those movies.
Walton Goggins’ presence on the 2025 TV schedule has been mightily impressive, save for the continuing Aimee Lou Wood drama. Regardless of those BTS details, his performances on White Lotus and the highlight-filled final season of Righteous Gemstones have been captivating, even arresting, we’ll say. Funnily enough, Goggins thought he was going to be booked by some actual cops while wearing his bathing suit for participating in a photoshoot during rush hour traffic.
The 53-year-old stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to talk about his success with both of his recent HBO shows (available to stream with a Max subscription), as well as his laid-back lifestyle. During the interview, part of which was shared on Instagram, the Fallout S2 actor broke down how close he came to getting hauled off to jail by a cop, and in his show-stealing Speedos no less.
Goggins would likely call his pal Pedro Pascal to bail him out.
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The Django Unchained star has a brief respite after the almost underwear arrest and Gemstones ending before hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend. Make sure to tune in on the titular night at 11:30 pm EST or stream it the following day with a Peacock subscription.
