Category: Entertainment

Hey, let me ask you a question. If I told you about a political candidate with impeccable patriotic bona fides, a compelling backstory and a deep war chest, wouldn’t you think he’d win by a landslide or at least turn out a competitive race?

That’s what Alex Vindman and his supporters thought. But they underestimated the Larry David factor.

Vindman, a Florida Democrat, seemed a lock to win his Senate primary bid on Tuesday. A retired lieutenant colonel in the Army. A Purple Heart-decorated Iraq veteran. A whistleblower on Donald Trump for the 2019 quid pro quo attempt with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that led to an impeachment trial. Vindman had major name recognition. He raised $16 million ($15 million more than his opponent) and was believed to be a big favorite over said rival, Angie Nixon — a little-known Jacksonville-based member of the Florida House of Representatives.

Nixon was a DSA candidate in a state that leaned moderate, and these days really doesn’t lean Democrat at all. No way a million Democrats would give the edge to her. (The pair were battling to take on sitting Senator Ashley Moody, a Republican, to finish out the remaining two years of Marco Rubio’s term.)

But that’s exactly what happened Tuesday. Nixon swamped Vindman by more than 12 points, garnering over 700,000 of the total 1.25 million votes. She pulled off the ultimate chat-and-cut.

How could this happen for the retired Army lieutenant colonel and Soviet refugee? What did Vindman do? Did he not respect wood?

I’ll tell you what happened. What happened was Larry David. 

Vindman appeared in two episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm as himself, including the series finale in which he testifies against Larry for his political bribery. David even campaigned for the candidate, sending out a fundraising text message earlier this summer (including to people who didn’t live anywhere near Florida). “The man is everything I’m not, which should give you an idea of what a tremendous person he is. Vindman is not a puppet. He loves this country. He loves it so much it’s almost off-putting. I love it too, but come on. Get a life, Vindman!”

And David, in addition to schlemieling up everything on the show, has a curse attached to him. A curse that ensures people never get the votes they should.

It’s called the Curb curse, and it seeks to explain — because there is no explanation — how David never won a writing or acting Emmy in the entire 12-season, 24-year history of the show. Yes, 120 episodes and he never got a thing. (The show won just two overall, for directing and editing.) A post on Screen Rant after his most recent strikeout and last attempt in 2024 said: “Curb Your Enthusiasm Continues a 24-Year Larry David Curse After The Show’s Ending.”

And now that the show is over, it carried over to Vindman. David couldn’t win an Emmy in 2024 and Vindman couldn’t win a primary in 2026.

If this was a Curb episode, you could almost imagine Vindman showing up at David’s house. 

“You cost me the election, Larry.”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t cost you the election.”

“You cost me the election.”

“Get the hell out of here! Cost you an election. Poor Candidate Vindman. Like Al Gore. [Fake crying] Cost him an election.”

And then Vindman would angrily leave, but at the end of the episode happen to be in the Santa Monica restaurant when Larry does something untoward and the camera would pan to him and he’d tip someone off and then have his revenge. The curse would be avenged.

Of course this may not be a curse so much as, you know, simply irascibility. For the character but also the personality — the real-life David wasn’t one for the glad-handing, even at parties, and it’s not like he kissed the awards ring. He didn’t even show up to the Emmys the last time he was nominated. When you attack Elmo, you don’t get love.

That irascibility also may have singed Vindman. Who wants to get a hectoring message from David? Especially asking for money. It’s not cool de la.

Sure, if you’re trying to analyze the results of the election, you can talk about the swing of Democrats to the DSA even in a place like Florida, auguring a new future for the party. Or that many of the moderate Dems in Florida have ditched for the GOP and couldn’t vote in the state’s closed primary.

But, eh. It was probably Larry.

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Little League Baseball‘s top 10 U.S. teams and top 10 international teams are competing once again for the World Series title. All 38 games in the 12-day tournament — taking place from Aug. 19 through 30 — will air across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, all three of which can also be livestreamed via DirecTV (with a five-day free trial), Fubo (with a five-day free trial), Sling and Hulu + Live TV.

In terms of coverage, ESPN is home to the majority of games while ABC will broadcast higher stakes games including the Aug. 30 LLWS championship final.

At a Glance: How to Watch Little League World Series 2026

Where to Watch Little League World Series 2026: Dates, Channels

Between Wednesday, Aug. 19 and Sunday, Aug. 30, games are set to air across three key networks: ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.

Where to Stream Little League World Series 2026 Live Online

Since games air across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, they’ll also be available to watch live on any live TV streaming service that carries said networks, namely DirecTV (with a five-day free trial), Fubo (with a five-day free trial), Sling and Hulu + Live TV.

More on each live TV streaming option — and their new subscriber discounts — below.

Learn more about each plan option, including how to build your own channel lineup (starting at just $19.99 per month), at directv.com.

Little League World Series Schedule 2026

The 2026 World Series runs from Wednesday, Aug. 19 through Sunday, Aug. 30. It culminates in the Little League World Series championship game at 12 p.m. PT/3 p.m. ET on Aug. 30. See here for the full 38-game schedule.

Little League World Series Teams 2026, Format

The 20-team double-elimination tournament switches to a single-elimination format for the final bracket games.

United States teams include:

International teams include:

The Drug Enforcement Administration has joined the investigation into the death of Hayden Panettiere, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News on Wednesday.

The actress, who was best known for her roles in Heroes, Nashville and the Scream franchise, died on Sunday at age 36 at an apartment complex in Greenville, South Carolina.

The Greenville County Coroner’s Office said on Monday that her cause and manner of death remain pending further investigation, and that there were no obvious signs of trauma. However, officials were reportedly heard discussing an “overdose” and “cardiac arrest” on a 911 call at the time of her death. A police report also said her on-again, off-again boyfriend Hickerson and his brother were at the South Carolina townhouse when the actress was pronounced dead by authorities. Hickerson was later visited by police, according to a redacted police report.

Panettiere had been open about her struggles with alcohol and opioid addiction, further detailing her experiences in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, released earlier this year.

The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to the DEA for more information, but did not hear back at the time of publication.

TMZ reported that DEA agents will be assisting the parallel investigations currently underway by the Greenville County Coroner’s Office and the Greenville Police Department, according to sources.

Panettiere’s death investigation isn’t the only high-profile celebrity death that the government agency has gotten involved with in recent years. The Los Angeles Police Department also teamed up with the DEA in 2023 after high levels of ketamine were found in Friends star Matthew Perry’s system after he died at age 54.

The lengthy multi-agency probe led to five arrests and convictions, including two medical doctors and a supplier dubbed the “Ketamine Queen,” for distributing the drugs that resulted in Perry’s death.

Hayden Panettiere‘s neighbor in West Hollywood recalls calling 911 at least half a dozen times to report disturbances at the actress’s apartment.

Following the star’s death at age 36 on Sunday in Greenville, South Carolina, Mia Terrazzas spoke with Inside Edition on Wednesday about her experience living next to Panettiere and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson. When asked if she noticed any signs of domestic violence, Terrazzas said, “Oh, absolutely.”

“I saw her leaving on a gurney. Brian was right next to her, and I asked her if she was OK, and it looked to me that she had suffered some type of trauma that looked to be battering,” she claimed. “It was clear she was terrified.”

Terrazzas also shared that notices were posted around the property by the Homeowners Association last year, warning residents to call 911 if Hickerson was spotted. However, the signs were removed a week later.

Panettiere, best known for her roles in Heroes, Nashville and the Scream franchise, had detailed physical abuse by Hickerson in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, released earlier this year. He was also sentenced to 45 days in jail in 2021 after pleading no contest to two felony counts of injuring the actress.

“This predator was in our community. He never stopped living at her place. There were times he ripped apart her bathroom, where he just took a sledgehammer at five in the morning,” Terrazzas alleged.

Amid the investigation into Panettiere’s death, a police report said Hickerson and his brother were at the South Carolina townhouse when the actress was pronounced dead by authorities. Hickerson was later visited by police for a welfare check in the days after her death, according to a redacted police report.

The Greenville County Coroner’s Office said that Panettiere’s cause and manner of death remain pending further investigation, and that there were no obvious signs of trauma. However, officials were reportedly heard discussing an “overdose” and “cardiac arrest” on the 911 call at the time of her death. Sources also told ABC News on Wednesday that the Drug Enforcement Administration has joined the death investigation.

Earlier this week, Panettiere’s mother, Lesley Vogel, also broke her silence on her daughter’s death, criticizing Hickerson, saying, “This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death and that was Brian Hickerson.”

Filmmaker Griff Furst, who worked with the actress on his 2025 film A Breed Apart, also shared on Instagram Tuesday that when Hickerson would visit Panettiere on set, “it was pretty clear that she wasn’t OK and the energy in her room was pretty dark.”

The Busan International Film Festival has selected Kim Jong-kwan’s The Table: Day and Night, a tender drama about four couples who experience romantic moments in the same Seoul cafe, as the opening film of its 31st edition. The drama will world premiere at the Busan Cinema Center on Oct. 6, the festival announced Wednesday. 

Kim has built his reputation in the Korean film industry with a flair for elegantly constructed short stories. He won the jury prize at the Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival for his 2004 debut How to Operate a Polaroid Camera, and has returned repeatedly to anthology work — directing segments of the Netflix series Persona (2019), which featured filmmakers building shorts around K-pop star IU, as well as Vestige (2022) and The Killers (2024).

Even his features have tended to operate like collections of interlaced shorts. The Table: Day and Night appears to be a loose follow-up to his 2016 feature The Table, a chamber piece featuring four women discussing their past and present romantic entanglements at the same table in a Seoul cafe over the course of a single day. That feature premiered at BIFF in 2016 and became one of his best-known works.

The Table: Day and Night follows four couples as they experience sparks of romance in a Seoul coffee shop over the summer and autumn months. Mostly conversation based, the film depicts a chance encounter between Yoo-jin (Kim Minha) and Hyeon-oh (Joo Jong-hyuk); an unexpected reunion between Sang-mi (Han Sun-hwa) and Young-min (Chang Ryul), who were friends in middle school and discover a fresh bond; a rush of creative chemistry between web novelist Hye-jin (Shim Eun-kyung) and indie filmmaker Dong-nam (Lee Hee-jun); and a bittersweet moment between idol trainee Na-kyeong (Jeon So-young) and her boyfriend Jong-su (Kim Dong-hwi). 

In its announcement, BIFF described its choice of curtain-raiser as “an elegant and assured film in which the cinematic interests, style, perspective, and world that Kim Jong-kwan has persistently explored as a filmmaker reach a provisional culmination.”

“Without relying on excessive setups or dramatic turns, it greatest merit lies in how thoughtfully it captures the unique inner voices and emotions of its characters, as well as the subtle shifts in their relationships,” the festival added. 

One of the film’s stars, Kim Minha of Pachinko fame, will also host Busan’s opening ceremony, where Michelle Yeoh will be honored as the event’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year, Ann Hui will receive the Chanel-backed Camellia Award, and Kim Dong-ho, the festival’s own founder, will be presented with the Korean Cinema Award. The 31st Busan International Film Festival runs Oct. 6-15, with the Asian Contents & Film Market held Oct. 10-13.