This weekend, sit down with Cheddar recommendations for found family feels, fake band drama, small town laughs, and a travelogue about the jewel of the Pacific Northwest.
Rain Dogs - HBO Max
Picked by Digital Editor Mike Nam
It wasn't on my radar, but this dramedy from the UK caught my eye on the HBO Max home page. It's about a single mum and her daughter navigating life after being evicted from their flat. Add in her gay best friend with anger management issues who stands in as the daughter's father figure, and the series seems to be winning the hearts of reviewers who call it a warm and darkly funny story about a found family. The first episode released this week, and I'm looking forward to giving this one a good look.
The trailer is NSFW for language:
Daisy Jones & The Six - Amazon Prime Video
Picked by Growth Associate Keara O’Driscoll
Riley Keough stars as Daisy Jones in this highly-anticipated book-turned-movie that just hit Amazon Prime Video last week. The three-episode miniseries follows a Fleetwood Mac-type of band giving their first (fictional) interview since their final performance, recalling what led to the band's hostile breakup. If you gave the book a try but found it hard to follow due to its writing style, I’d suggest watching it for a better take. It's a Hello Sunshine production (Reese Witherspoon's production company), so if you liked Big Little Lies or Little Fires Everywhere you will for sure enjoy this one.
Welcome to Flatch - Hulu
Picked by Senior News Editor Dina Ross
Welcome to Flatch Season 2 is currently available on Hulu. Not Season 1 ... just Season 2 of the sitcom, but tbh, it's fine to jump in there. Barb Flatch (Jaime Pressly) returns to her namesake town, a sleepy suburb that is a far cry from her beloved Pompano Beach, and is ready to zhuzh things up. The wacky residents of Flatch welcome the platinum blonde, pink-clad babe with laugh-out-loud funny lines. I can't wait to figure out where to watch Season 1.
CityBeautiful - YouTube
Picked by Newsletter Writer Graison Dangor
I recently visited Vancouver for the first time, and apart from the ridiculous beauty of the surrounding ocean and mountains, the city felt pleasant in a way that I couldn't put my finger on. So I was excited when my wife came across City Beautiful, the YouTube account run by urban planning professor Dave Amos. His explainer on how Vancouver was planned to be so relaxed and walkable was endearingly nerdy but also not too in the weeds for someone who, like me, has no urban planning knowledge. He's got dozens of other videos I'm looking forward to. First up: "Should cities expand into the sea?"
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WW, the company formerly known as Weight Watchers, is looking to expand past its mostly-female base by partnering up with celebrities like DJ Khaled and brands like Blue Apron to inspire a new demographic of members. WW Chief Brand Officer Gail Tifford said Blue Apron was a "very natural fit" for WW members, despite struggles that have driven the meal kit company's stock down sharply since its 2017 IPO. WW is also partnering with Headspace's mindfulness app, Aaptiv for audio fitness content, and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. "I think you will start to see the makeup of our community really start to change in an exciting way," Tifford said.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Jan. 4, 2019.
Fitness and beauty booking tool Mindbody is planning to make a play for the next big thing in wellness ー on-demand video, CEO Rick Stollmeyer told Cheddar on Thursday. "You can expect us to be playing in that space because we think that the on-demand and streaming video revolution hitting the fitness space is a big breakthrough," Stollmeyer said.
Roku's new content partnership with Showtime, Starz, and other premium channels is "just the beginning" of a greater expansion into paid content, the company's VP of programming and engagement told Cheddar Thursday.
For a country that spends $72 billion a year on its pets, it would follow that some of the biggest trends in health and wellness eventually make their way to the domain of our furry friends. Vanity Fair reporter Joanna Brenner says CBD, the non-psychoactive compound in marijuana, is the next frontier in pet wellness.
PepsiCo is spearheading an autonomous food delivery service on the campus of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., where students can now order snacks via an app that are then delivered to them via a small robotic vehicle. The "snackbot" is a "first-of-its-kind" experiment in self-driving and robotics technology, Scott Finlow, vice president of innovation and insights at PepsiCo, told Cheddar.
Chipotle may be best known for stuffed burritos and chips and guac, but the fast-casual chain is kicking off 2019 as an unlikely source of health food ーlaunching a new collection of diet-friendly "Lifestyle Bowls" just in time for New Year's resolutions. The new bowls are branded around four of the trendiest diets, but the company's VP of marketing said the new venture is "a lifestyle approach, it's not a fad."
Stress and the pressure of perfection all too often get in the way of achieving goals ー or at this time of year, resolutions. But rethinking stress, "trusting the process," and practicing gratitude are some simple ways to make serious strides, according to Monica Berg, author of "Fear is Not an Option" and chief communications officer for the Kabbalah Centre.
In a new era of transportation, safety testing is critical for cars that are now more dependent on tech than on steel and rubber. The American Center for Mobility is a 500-acre testing facility located in Ypsilanti, Mich., just over 30 miles from Detroit. On the center's highway speed loop, vehicles are tested for safety on a range of roadway and weather conditions. "It's gotta work all the time, every time," the center's interim CEO, Kirk Steudle, told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin.
Tesla's latest production miss proves it is no longer a "hyper-growth story," Tesla short Mark Spiegel told Cheddar. Tesla shares tumbled close to 7 percent on Wednesday after the company missed expectations on car deliveries and broadly discounted its vehicles to offset subsidy cuts.
