Blaine Duncan

Someone took control!

Zoom down the mountain this week!

"Starget" sets up things to come, but little else

Someone's fate was sealed since last week!

We see the new cast, get an elimination, and Ayanna immediately grates the nerves

Weekly coverage of The Challenge is here every Thursday!

Weekly coverage of The Challenge is here every Thursday!

Weekly coverage of The Challenge is here every Thursday!

Season 39 of The Alabama Take’s favorite thing — next to college football — continues with   Battle For a New Champi...

Weekly coverage of The Challenge is here every Thursday!

Weekly coverage of The Challenge is here every Thursday!

Weekly coverage of The Challenge is here every Thursday!

Weekly coverage of The Challenge is here every Thursday!

Weekly coverage of The Challenge is here every Thursday!

Weekly coverage of The Challenge is here every Thursday!

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

Weekly coverage of The Challenge is here every Thursday!

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

Weekly coverage of The Challenge is here every Thursday!

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

The loss of a building in a small town

How politicians are shaping education's future in light of school shootings

Spoiler-free review of Apple TV+'s new series

Weekly coverage of The Challenge is here every Thursday!

Weekly coverage of The Challenge is here every Thursday!

We have finally arrived at The Challenge final. We got part one this week, and said goodbye to Horacio & Olivia due to injury. It's a...

Much of the episode's dialogue revolved around who should be sent into elimination, athletic favorites Fessy & Moriah or 7-time champ...

As we inch ever so closer to the final, we said goodbye to two teams this week. Kaycee & Kenny fell to Jordan & Aneesa in the fin...

The final is inching ever closer, and tensions are rising on The Challenge. Despite Chauncey quitting and earning a shaming from T.J., Fe...

A week after Team Moriah finally broke through to win a daily challenge, they failed to keep their momentum going, losing a lead over Tea...

The best of TV in 2022

The Underdogs win! The Underdogs win! This week Team Moriah finally broke through to win the daily challenge. They responded by s...

This week's episode featured T.J.'s favorite challenge: trivia. As per tradition, the contestants embarrass themselves on questions a sec...

Who are we without the social media site?

Our first episode post-split gave us a physical daily where, unsurprisingly, Team Faysal won easily. However, cracks began to show when i...

This week's episode brought us a mini-final and a major shakeup in the season's format. After Faysal & Moriah dominated the daily -- ...

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

The drama certainly kicked up a notch this week, Takers. We’ve hit the point in the season where alliances become more cemented, an...

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

We are back with our much-beloved recaps of MTV's seminal reality show, The Challenge.

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

We are back with our much-beloved recaps of MTV's seminal reality show, The Challenge.

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

We are back with our much-beloved recaps of MTV's seminal reality show, The Challenge.

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

We are back with our much-beloved recaps of MTV's seminal reality show, The Challenge.

No, not this one.

It's our weekly predictions of college and N.F.L. football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college and N.F.L. football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college and N.F.L. football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college and N.F.L. football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college and NFL football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college football against the spread!

It's our weekly predictions of college football against the spread!

Review: Old-Time Folks

Short Takes with Camille Bennett

From the Vault: The Original Alabama Take Podcast Episodes

What happens when you change?

Will movies make a big return?

The best of TV in 2021

This week's coverage of The Challenge!

This week's coverage of The Challenge!

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

This week's coverage of The Challenge!

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

This week we spent more time on the Tori/Devin drama, for some damn reason. We also saw what a million dollars actually looks like, and i...

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

It’s the weekly coverage of The Challenge!

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

It’s the weekly coverage of The Challenge!

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

It’s the weekly coverage of The Challenge!

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

It’s the weekly coverage of The Challenge!

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

It’s the weekly coverage of The Challenge!

As it turns out, we did need this.

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

It’s the weekly coverage of The Challenge!

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

Short Takes with Beth from Electric Blue Yonder

It’s the weekly coverage of The Challenge!

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

The weekly coverage of The Challenge continues here

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

Prepared for a shorter episode this week, we dove right back into the Josh/Fessy and Amber/Esther drama, which ended with hugs because fr...

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

Short Takes with Garrett McNamara

It's the weekly coverage of The Challenge!

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

Our crew weighs in on another episode of The Challenge. answering all the hardest questions.

It's our weekly coverage of college football against the spread!

The fourth episode of "Spies, Lies & Allies" was high on action and drama, giving us a lot to look at in this week's recap.

The third episode of The Challenge was quite an action-packed affair. We had drama in the house and in competition. We said goodbye to ye...

Spies, Lies & Allies Recap: Bertha

The List

A country album that adheres to roots and plays with the genre

'That Spell' by Andrea von Kampen

Dylan brings the haunted and the beauty together again

Breeders second season doesn't disappoint

TD answers some questions about the report that the CFP will announce an expansion in the near future.

You're the Best Around

It's the Big Easy show

Um, Alton? You okay?

A riveting reflection of melancholy and growth

Ladies and gentlemen, your season 36 champions: CT and Amber B. After last season, we proclaimed Johnny Bananas the Challenge GOA...

I've Got the Power

Looks like MTV is gonna make us wait to see how the final plays out, as this week we only got the opening stage of the big event. ...

The Challenge: All Stars Episode 2

There was no shortage of drama this week, as we found out which four teams will run T.J.'s final.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Queen is gone. Although never gone from our hearts, we had to say goodbye to Big T on this week's episo...

Good enough doesn't work for the gods

We're inching closer and close to the final, but there's some business to attend to before then.

We have hit the time in the season where we expect our fearless leader T.J. to announce the final any moment now. That moment did not com...

Things are heating up in Iceland as we get closer and closer to the final

This week CT made a move that toppled a few dominoes and ruffled a few feathers, but isn't that what this show is all about?

MTV gave us a cliffhanger ending, but not before building a lot of drama heading into next week.

This week's episode gave us an all-time blunder from a rookie

TJ Lavin's favorite game of every season brought us a lot of laughs and a big move from a rookie

As the famous line from legendary professional wrestling announcer Jim Ross goes: “Business is about to pick up.” Aft...

Sometimes there isn't enough time on the Taking It Down podcast to get to all of pop culture. With "What Else?" Blaine Duncan covers some...

This week's episode was all about the fallout from Theresa and Jay's big move last week

After finishing this week's episode, I found myself asking the same question I've asked a hundred times before over the 36 seasons of wat...

As a great poet once said (sort of): Come at the Queen, best not miss.

Another pretty forgettable episode from The Challenge, but it was saved by some late drama.

There are always the bad ones.

In these (final?) days of Peak TV, shows reach far and wide, from streaming to on demand. Here, I offer the best shows -- or at least the o...

After last week's blockbuster episode, it was only natural that this week's episode came back down to Earth. Not that it was a bad episod...

The second episode of the season delivered big time, fleshing out the format and givings us a few more twists

The Challenge is back, baby!

Every so often, there isn't enough time on the Taking It Down podcast to get to all of pop culture. With "What Else?" Blaine Duncan cover...

Jeanine Cummins, author of American Dirt Ignore the controversy . Ignore the writer's background, ignore ...

There's a magnificent solace happening on Instagram. Since the pandemic forced people into their homes, musicians and artists alike have ta...

All hail Bananas and Jenny! We have come to the end of a strange, sometimes tame, sometimes outrageous, mostly entertaining seaso...

  The finals have arrived on The Challenge. At the end of this week's episode (which was excellent ), T.J. told the cast...

We've arrived. No, not at the final, but at the part of the Challenge season where every single thing matters. After the smoke cleared th...

In all honesty, this week's episode wasn't particularly interesting (besides, I guess, whatever is going on with Kaycee and Nany that mad...

Things get back to whatever passes for normal this week on The Challenge , as we get a full episode (we still got a card before the episo...

I suppose we should start with Dee Nguyen. She got fired this week for saying a bunch of dumb shit online regarding Black Lives Matter. I...

We have reached the point in The Challenge where the competitors’ true selves are revealed, and, oh boy, did we learn a lot this we...

We have reached the meat of this season of  The Challenge.  T.J. Lavin has been telling the contestants they need to get off thei...

In a bit of a curveball, this week's episode of  The Challenge  focused almost entirely on the Purgatory elimination challenge. L...

Perhaps that's what makes this show so compelling: the connection between relationship and competition.

The more things change, the more they stay the same in The Challenge house.

The FX on Hulu show brought me deep thoughts and joy in quarantine

The champions are falling, my friends. Last week, Challenge legend and defending champion CT was upset in Purgatory by rookie Jay, ending h...

There is no need to bury the lede here, folks, this week's episode had a few big happenings, but none bigger than the monumental upset that...

No need to sit and worry!

It's all happening again

Taffy Brodesser-Anker's debut is wonderful!

What happens when strangers meet? Ask Gladwell.

Shows that care

Flashy and fun, this documentary series is a must-see

The mighty EW needs a fix.

Time to vote, not stick to a side

Don't look now, but Lights Out is pretty good

There are always the bad ones.

The top shows of the year!

Before the final movie, our writers rank the rest from worst to best

Snippets of a decade in hindsight

Peak TV saved us from one thing, at least.

We aren't the champions, my friends. Well, Blaine's picks haven't been shabby. TD? Lord a mercy!

In the moment

Rivals will go down, rivals will win.

Not much amongst the awful games...but we're getting too close to the end now.

Is it really almost over?

The biggest games of the year: here's what we think are worth betting.

The Egan's of old is truly dead now

A lull in colossal games means nothing to the bettors on The Alabama Take.

Week Nine gives you a plethora of games to bet. Now which shall you chose?

Our two most unqualified writers give some more picks against the spread in Week Eight of college football!

In the throes of the season comes more conference play where the true contenders make their moves towards championships.

Figuring out that David Pollack is sort of a douche took a while, but now that the realization's here, he can move on out.

Week Six: the bye weeks begin to take bite out of quantity, but the overall quality? It's a good-looking slate. Here we present to you two ...

It's Week Five in the blessed college football season. The season is blowing right through nap time .  As you now know, two of the mos...

Week Four! College football is full steam ahead! Each week two of the most unqualified writers at  The Alabama Take will give our agai...

Week Three is here and there may be an idea of what each team is for the first half of the season. Don't forget that each week, two of the ...

Week Two is in full swing! Each week, two of the most unqualified writers at  The Alabama Take will give our picks for the college foo...

We are back at it for the 2019 season! Each week, two of the most unqualified writers at  The Alabama Take will give our picks for the...

We ultimately get to the SEC, the conference everyone loves to hate, as well as our picks on the College Football Playoffs for 2019. And le...

The Big Ten doesn't show a lot of promise unless Ohio State wins out or there's a surprise lurking elsewhere. The ACC is another of those t...

Finally, it's here: the first, full week of the college football season! (Please, for now, disregard Week 0 that's the new fashion.) And al...

Zombie movies -- and now, zombie television shows -- are as ubiquitous as McDonald's. And if you're counting the writing on Fear the Walkin...

No one will claim that Casey Cep doesn't do her research. In her first book Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee ...

It’s no secret that I harbor a ton of unpopular opinions. Here: the 4th of July is the worst of all holidays. While it's not utterly,...

After relishing in the magic of  Avengers: Endgame , I wondered what more the Marvel Cinematic Universe could offer. That seemed like ...

Normal People , Sally Rooney's second novel, doesn't sound magical or special in summary: Connell is the popular high school boy, Mariann...

There's a chapter in Harper Lee's seminal work To Kill a Mockingbird where innocent narrator Scout loses one more aspect of that innocence ...

How often is it that we hear, even from ourselves, the longing for more rest, more sleep? In my house alone, it's once a day. In Karen Thom...

The Alabama Take's Summer Movie Preview: I'm there, I'm curious, and I'm out!

Season Three, Episode Twelve: "Tell Him Something Pretty" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any futu...

Season Three, Episode Eleven: "The Catbird Seat" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episod...

The rut of bad movies are done. Summer is almost here. Music is in the air. People are already looking for some beach reads. And some of th...

Season Three, Episode Ten: "A Constant Throb" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episodes....

Season Three, Episode Nine: "Amateur Night" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episodes. T...

Wyatt Earp comes to camp in a tense Deadwood. Read our review on The Alabama Take. #Deadwood #HBO

Season Three, Episode Seven: "Unauthorized Cinnamon" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future ep...

Season Three, Episode Six: "A Rich Find" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episodes. The ...

Season Three, Episode Five: "A Two-Headed Beast" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episod...

Season Three, Episode Four: "Full Faith and Credit" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future epi...

Season Three, Episode Three: "True Colors" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episodes. "T...

Season Three, Episode Two: "I Am Not the Fine Make You Take Me For" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discus...

Season Three, Episode One: "Tell Your God to Ready for Blood" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any ...

Season Two, Episode Twelve: "Boy-the-Earth-Talks-To" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future ep...

Two things strike immediate concern with Tara Westover's highly lauded  Educated: A Memoir : author J.D. Vance  offers the first ...

Season Two, Episode Eleven: "The Whores Can Come" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episo...

Season Two, Episode Ten: "Advances, None Miraculous" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future ep...

Season Two, Episode Nine: "Amalgamation and Capital" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future ep...

Season Two, Episode Eight: "Childish Things" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episodes. ...

Season Two, Episode Seven: "E.B. Was Left Out" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episodes...

Season Two, Episode Six: "Something Very Expensive" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future epi...

Season Two, Episode Five: "Complications" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episodes. The...

Season Two, Episode Four: "Requiem for a Gleet" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episode...

Season Two, Episode Three: "New Money" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episodes. New mo...

Season Two, Episode Two: "A Lie Agreed Upon: Part II" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future e...

Love, anger, and trickery develop in Deadwood in the first episode of Season Two. Read our review here. #Deadwood #HBO

Season One, Episode Twelve: "Sold Under Sin" (Season Finale)  Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss...

Viewers know exactly who Al Swearengen is by the end of "Jewel's Boot Is Made For Walking," the first season's penultimate episode. #Deadwo...

It's doing what's wrong even when it's what's right in the tenth episode, a crowd favorite. #Deadwood #HBO

Season One, Episode Nine: "No Other Sons or Daughters" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future ...

Everyone's God's child, and many are suffering, in Deadwood's eighth episode. #Deadwood #HBO

Season One, Episode Seven: "Bullock Returns to the Camp" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any futur...

There's a moment in Tessa Fontaine's extraordinary memoir  The Electric Woman: A Memoir in Death-Defying Acts  where the owner of...

Season One, Episode Six: "Plague" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episodes. "Plague" op...

Season One, Episode Five: "The Trial of Jack McCall" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future ep...

Season One, Episode Four: "Here Was a Man" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episodes. Al...

Season One, Episode Three: "Reconnoitering the Rim" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future epi...

Season One, Episode Two: "Deep Water" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episodes. Gem Sal...

Season One, Episode One: "Deadwood" Note: each writing will spoil the episode in review but will not discuss any future episodes. The pilot...

To see my choices 6--10 of the favorite shows of the year, click here.  It may be prudent once again to note that much like last year ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1xDzgob1JI How fitting that Bruce Springsteen's undervalued 2007 album is called  Magic . One of the ...

We are not experts (though our percentages are better than some of the experts, god dammit). If you go by these picks, you're bound to be l...

We are not experts (though our percentages are better than some of the experts, god dammit). If you go by these picks, you're bound to be l...

We are not experts (though our percentages are better than some of the experts). If you go by these picks, you're bound to be lose money. T...

We are not experts (though our percentages are better than some of the experts). If you go by these picks, you're bound to be lose money. T...

We are not experts. If you go by these picks, you're bound to be lose money. But you know what?! It's entirely possible that you'll finally...

We are not experts. If you go by these picks, you're bound to be lose money. But you know what?! It's entirely possible that you'll finally...

We are not experts. If you go by these picks, you're bound to be lose money, though it's entirely possible that you'll finally be able to p...

The horror genre often works at its best when the characters are not only people that are believable but also fictional beings that cause r...

We are not experts. If you go by these picks, you're bound to be lose money or it's possible that you'll finally be able to pay off all tho...

Let's be clear: we are not experts. If you go by these picks, you're bound to be lose money or it's possible that you'll finally be able to...

Let's be clear: we are not experts. If you go by these picks, you're bound to be lose money or maybe you'll be able to pay off all those st...

Let's be clear: we are not experts. If you go by these picks, you're bound to be upset or maybe you'll be able to pay off all those student...

Let's be clear: we are not experts. If you go by these, you could lose a lot of money or you could win some major cheese! You never know! E...

Let's be clear: we are not experts. If you go by these, you're bound to lose money, maybe a lot. But who knows? Each week, a few writers at...

Wow, does Ron Stallworth have a story. Lucky for readers, he divulges exactly how it all came to be in Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the ...

Let's be clear: we are not experts. If you go by these, you're bound to lose a lot of money. But who knows? Each week, a few writers at The...

Finally, we here at The Alabama Take get to sink our teeth into the mighty SEC as well as the College Football Playoff contenders. Who will...

We at The Alabama Take  have more to say about the upcoming college football season. Who has the best chance at struttin' that ass int...

College Football looms in the background and haunts each day of every year for those of us at The Alabama Take . We couldn't wait to give o...

In the director's seat, Burnham creates a beautiful portrait

Ant-Man and the Wasp felt like a movie in the MCU than one could skip. That's not the case.

It sounds hyperbolic, but Won't You Be My Neighbor? is the most important film released in recent times.

Treeborne is a novel that forebodes a future while prodding the past.

As a serious drama, Little Fires Everywhere has depth that works, but not to its full potential.

The most vital band in the United States could also be its most unlikely: the War on Drugs

And here we are all over again: Greta Van Fleet seem wholly manufactured for you, rock lover.

The Alabama Take's Summer Movie Preview: I'm there, I'm curious, and I'm out!

There's still a lot of comedy to be mined in school, which 'A.P. Bio' does in spades.

What does it mean to "be" from a place? 'Exit West' is a brilliant examination of that and more.

This isn't just true crime.

Netflix takes us through some serious 90's nostalgia with Everything Sucks!, which doesn't totally suck.

The near beauty of Denis Johnson's recent, and final, work.

It's the plight of mankind in the snow and how we can all stop being stupid in one way.

The most useful and benign social media app could just encourage you to be a little smarter or at least more well read.

One author is ready to make a decision on The Last Jedi.

There were a ton of shows to watch this year, and some were just bad. I tried (in some cases repeatedly) to give each of these shows the be...

To see the bottom half of my favorite shows of the year and to see the shows that barely got cut, click  here .  It may be pruden...