Walton Goggins is back as The Ghoul

I cannot believe it, but amidst the year-end Oscar push, the onslaught of Stranger Things’ final season, and Death By Lightning and The Chair Company—the only television I want to talk about right now—Fallout is coming back for a second season on December 17. December! 17! That is just WEEKS away! It’s too much. 

The trailer for season two dropped yesterday, and it looks good. I enjoyed season one, I look forward to the show continuing to build its version of the Fallout world, and I’m not enough of a gamer to care about the “New Vegas” stuff from the games that real gamers hated. 

 

It’s funny to me that so many men are like “what do women want, surely it is beefy manly men” and women are like, actually it’s Walton Goggins as The Ghoul, give me a waifish nose-less freak any day of the week. 

You may have forgotten because 2024 was nine centuries ago, but everyone was SUPER into The Ghoul for like a month when Fallout came out. Will that happen again when season two rolls out next month? Or will the law of diminishing streaming returns apply? You ever notice that streaming shows seem to get less popular the longer they go on? Stranger Things is an exception, but shows that are huge hits out of the gate, more often than not become whispers on the wind by season three or four.

Can Fallout defy the trend? The games have been going since 1997, there SHOULD be plenty of world to explore for several seasons of television, but it’s actually kind of rare for streaming shows to maintain momentum over multiple seasons. Even when a show stays popular, it feels like the fan reaction turns the longer the show goes on (see also: Bridgerton). I’m interested to see how Fallout holds up after a strong start in 2024. You know, a million years go. 

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What else happened today…

A list of Latinas over 40 who set the standard for mid-life love. Kind of shocked Jennifer Lopez isn’t on this list, to be honest. No one loves love more than her. (Popsugar)

Stranger Things hit London last night. I like Millie Bobby Brown’s take on Victoriana. Sadie Sink, meanwhile, came with a Pre-Raphaelite look. Her hair is the perfect shade of red right now. Meanwhile, Caleb McLaughlin is sticking with his pop-inspired military jackets. It’s a little bit MJ and a lot Prince. I don’t hate it. (Go Fug Yourself)

Yet another data point that famous people from TV often are not as rich as we think they are, and/or, the US healthcare system inevitably extracts every resource from you, no matter who you are. James Van Der Beek is auctioning off Dawson’s Creek and Varsity Blues memorabilia to pay for his cancer treatment. Wishing him the best. (Celebitchy)

The Latin Grammys were last night, and of course, Bad Bunny was the main character. He won five awards, including Album of the Year for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (you can see the full list of winners here). Benito is going from strength to strength, and in just a few months, he’ll be headlining the Super Bowl halftime show. Inevitably, someone will try to say he’s not a big deal, that the NFL has gone woke, whatever. Remind those people that Bad Bunny is one of the biggest recording artists in the world, that he is not just a crossover hit, he’s just a plain hit. And he’s fun! I feel bad for people who can’t let themselves enjoy Bad Bunny. The songs are bangers, and he is fun. The Super Bowl is going to be fun! (Billboard)

Lainey is, once again, wondering why the House Sussex PR is so bad. On Harry & Meghan, the Kardashians, and that party. (The Squawk)