An eye-popping structure in Glastonbury, CT, that appears to be floating among the trees is this week’s most popular home on Realtor.com®.
The Cedar Bridge House was designed by architect Wilfred Armster and appears to hover some 50 feet above the wooded lot, anchored to a steel support structure above the garage.
Other offerings you clicked on this week include an affordable tiny home in Colorado, a retro residence in Vermont, and the former home of the Galveston Wedding Chapel in Texas.
For a full look at this week’s 10 most popular homes, keep on scrolling.
Price: $829,000 Why it’s here: This Normandy-style Tudor features many period details: casement, boxed-out windows; stone parapet walls; exposed-beam ceilings; preserved hardwood flooring; and even a window seat.
Offering five bedrooms, this petite castle was built in the 1930s. The living room comes with a stone fireplace and built-in seating.
On the market for just 11 days, the home is already pending sale.
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Price: $210,000 Why it’s here: This adorable and affordable tiny home boasts a modern interior.
Built in 2021, this two-bedroom abode is part of a small-home community. Offering just 670 square feet of living space, the home is bright and airy and features many modern amenities. A floor-to-ceiling electric fireplace can be found in the combined living-dining area.
The first-floor primary bedroom has direct access to a patio. A spiral staircase leads to a second bedroom/loft area. The property is pending sale.
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Price: $149,000 Why it’s here: What a deal! This modestly priced farmhouse needs some TLC, but there’s a lot of charm and character.
The three-bedroom home was built in 1878. Period details include wide-plank floors and arched ceilings. Recent updates include a new metal roof and a modernized kitchen with lots of cabinet space.
The 2.6-acre lot comes with a detached barn with a workshop. The property is pending sale.
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Price: $499,000 Why it’s here: The bland exterior of this home hides a surprising log cabin interior.
The three-bedroom home was custom-built in 2015 on a 10-acre wooded parcel. The two-story living room features a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace, and the large windows let in plenty of natural light. Out back, there’s a hot tub.
The home is pending sale.
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Price: $4,900,000 Why it’s here: This enormous, seven-bedroom estate comes with a brick-walled wine cellar, cozy bar, spa with indoor lap pool, fitness center, and home theater.
The 10,159-square-foot floor plan boasts custom millwork and six fireplaces. The wood-paneled library has a coffered ceiling, built-in bookshelves, and a fireplace with an ornate mantelpiece.
The 16-acre lot also features six garages, a carriage house with two apartments, and a tennis court.
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Price: $625,000 Why it’s here: Inspired by midcentury modern style, this home was designed by architect Charles Marks.
The home was built in 1974 on a 14-acre parcel in the Green Mountain State. The bright living room is lined with windows and built-ins, and features a fireplace. The 3,000 square feet of living space includes a dining area with a raised ceiling and sliders that open to a bluestone terrace with an in-ground pool.
The primary suite has a fireplace, built-in bed, and bathroom with cedar walls. The property is pending sale.
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Price: $510,000 Why it’s here: This large, log cabin comes with a matching, four-car garage.
The three-bedroom home features vaulted ceilings and hardwood floors. The great room boasts a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace, and the spacious kitchen comes with a curved island with seating. Two en suite bedrooms are upstairs, and the third is located on the lower level.
The 1.4-acre lot is private and wooded.
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Price: $799,900 Why it’s here: This fabulous farmhouse on 6 waterfront acres overlooks the Clinch River. The spot is ideal for launching a boat, kayaking, or fishing.
The three-bedroom, 1,857-square-foot home boasts a two-story family room with a stone fireplace and a kitchen with custom cabinets. Two bedrooms are located on the main level, and the primary suite with a private balcony can be found upstairs.
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Price: $799,500 Why it’s here: Here comes the chance to live at the former site of the Galveston Wedding Chapel!
While the wedding business itself is not for sale, all of the furnishings of the turnkey place are negotiable, according to the listing.
The waterfront property offers Gulf views from the top floors. The chapel is on the main level, and two bedrooms are upstairs.
The 2,211-square-foot interior also includes a formal parlor for cocktails, an elevated area for ceremonies, and an outdoor gazebo for photos.
There are also multiple terraces and patios to take in the views.
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Price: $497,000 Why it’s here: The innovative Cedar Bridge House, designed by architect Wilfred Armster, appears to float among the trees.
Built in 1983, the two-bedroom residence has been on and off the market over the past three years, with an original list price of $530,000. As several calls to the listing agent have gone unreturned, we (and social media) are left wondering why this modern marvel hasn’t sold.
The unconventional, bridge-like design features 2,118 square feet of living space filled with skylights and windows. The stylish kitchen has granite counters, a wine cooler, and high-end stainless-steel appliances, according to the listing. The minimalist living room offers a sleek fireplace.
The primary bedroom includes access to one of two decks. A third deck boasts a hot tub and views of the 3-acre lot.
Late last week, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a decades-old Minnesota property tax law was unlawful when it allowed the government to seize wealth from an elderly Black homeowner. The decision in Tyler vs. Hennepin County serves as a warning about legal defects in other property tax laws that unfairly harm communities of color, including California’s own Proposition 13.
The Minnesota case began when Geraldine Tyler failed to pay the taxes on her longtime Minneapolis home. Over several years, the tax debt accumulated to $2,300, exploding to $15,000 when penalties and fines were added. The county seized her condominium and sold it, keeping the entire proceeds — $40,000 — not just the $15,000 she owed.
The Supreme Court proclaimed that this money grab was unjust and unconstitutional under the 5th Amendment’s takings clause. It rejected Hennepin County’s legal reliance on the 13th century Statute of Gloucester, a law that Justice Neil M. Gorsuch characterized during oral arguments as being “about lands owned by the feudal lord and what happens when a vassal fails to provide enough wheat to his lord.”
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The court’s determination that what happened to Tyler didn’t meet constitutional standards echoes and revives a concern raised in the 1990s about Proposition 13.
California’s tax-assessment limits demand radically different property taxes from owners of similar properties, based only on their time of purchase. Thirty years ago, Stephanie Nordlinger balked at paying nearly five times in property taxes for her Los Angeles home as longer-settled neighbors. An unmoved Supreme Court majority held that the differential treatment had a rational basis, but Justice John Paul Stevens disagreed.
In his dissent, Stevens concluded that Proposition 13 created “a privilege of a medieval character: Two families with equal needs and equal resources are treated differently solely because of their different heritage.”
The Supreme Court’s blessing in Nordlinger vs. Hahn upheld Proposition 13’s legality and established its feudal — and unfair — nature.
Proposition 13 raises race discrimination concerns. Assessment caps benefit long-standing homeowners — who are often white — at the expense of their more diverse neighbors who arrive later. The effects of such property taxes on homeownership’s demography suggest violations of the 1968 federal Fair Housing Act. Recent estimates show that Proposition 13 gives the average homeowner in a white neighborhood of Oakland, for example, a tax break of nearly $10,000 each year — more than triple the break provided to average homeowners in Latino neighborhoods, and about double those in Black and Asian neighborhoods in Oakland.
Ironically, people just like Tyler were the original faces of the battle to enact Proposition 13 in California and similar measures around the country. Activists in the 1970s and 1980s invoked stories of elderly widows losing their homes to convince voters that property taxes should be based on a home’s purchase price and allowed to rise just 2% a year from there, regardless of market value.
But such assessment limits have not lived up to their promise to protect homeowners. Michigan also limits the amount that an owner’s assessment can rise. Yet as real estate values declined in Detroit, those limits did not ensure that assessments fell to match, leaving low-income Black homeowners with inflated, unaffordable taxes. Like Tyler in Minnesota, many residents were forced out of their homes through tax foreclosures.
In California, Proposition 13’s overbroad system protects the propertied at a high cost to more diverse, first-time buyers. People may stay put to hold on to a tax advantage, limiting inventory and driving up home costs. Parents can also pass low tax assessments on to their children, exacerbating the problem.
The California Housing Finance Agency notes that “for the entire 2010s, California’s Black homeownership rate has been lower than it was in the 1960s, when it was completely legal to discriminate against Black homebuyers.”
While Proposition 13’s precise inequitable effects are complicated, more inclusive and less legally tenuous alternatives exist.
There are other tax reforms that could protect low-income and elderly homeowners without hamstringing cities’ tax bases and enriching wealthy owners.
Philadelphia allows low-income senior citizens to freeze their property taxes, and low-income families to spread rapid assessment increases over several years. In Massachusetts and some Connecticut towns, low-income homeowners can defer part of their property tax bill, which is paid off upon the home’s sale. California has its own property tax postponement program, which it should expand, instead of relying on Proposition 13.
The Supreme Court’s rejection of Minnesota’s greediness reminds us that the courts are watching as states tighten the vise of property tax systems on the poor and racially diverse. To be sure, Proposition 13 does not result in unconstitutional “takings.” But the concerns that motivated the court in Tyler vs. Hennepin County also apply here. And given the court’s willingness to reverse long-held constitutional precedent, perhaps the Nordlinger decision itself will be due for reconsideration.
California’s admirable protection of struggling, older homeowners can occur through less discriminatory and irrational means. Tax injustice shows up not only in the foreclosure of an elderly Black woman’s $40,000 Midwest condominium but also in the inability of diverse, immigrant families to purchase a $400,000 condominium in Mid-City.
Shayak Sarkar is a professor of law and an economist at UC Davis. Josh Rosenthal is legal director of the Public Rights Project, a civil rights and economic rights nonprofit.
Wealth isn’t always the key to a prosperous or peaceful life. Money doesn’t always answer all things – ask Tony Stark. Rich people suffer, too. It’s like they say, more money, more problems. Many movies have done an excellent job of portraying this.
Sometimes, it helps struggling upper-class members to know they are not alone. It also shows lower-class folks that not all that glitters is gold; the higher you go, the higher the chances of falling.
More than that, it helps inform society that everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic class, is more than what meets the eye. These are some famous instances.
1. Triangle of Sadness (2022)
Triangle of Sadness is a film directed by Ruben Östlund and released in 2021. The film, a satirical commentary on the fashion industry and its exploitative nature, garnered positive reviews.
1. Triangle of Sadness (2022)
The movie targets and simultaneously turns the table from the rich, encouraging viewers to question societal norms and beauty standards and to seek fulfillment and happiness in more meaningful ways.
2. The Favorite (2018)
The Favorite is a 2018 period black comedy film co-produced and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. It is set in Great Britain in the early 18th century and received widespread critical acclaim, with critics praising the cast’s performance.
Through Queen Anne, the movie presents a profound scope of how lonely the top can get. It also explores the themes of power, manipulation, and the relationships between women in a male-dominated society.
3. Blue Jasmine (2013)
Blue Jasmine is a 2013 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. It centers on a rich, now struggling woman who moves to her working-class sister’s apartment in San Francisco. Sometimes, tough times strike hard. Cate Blanchett was the film’s star and won several awards for her outstanding role.
4. Parasite (2019)
Parasite is a 2019 South Korean black comedy thriller directed by Bong Joon-ho. The film depicts a financially struggling family’s plan to secure employment with a wealthy household.
4. Parasite (2019)
To do this, they pose as accomplished individuals without apparent relation to one another, thus infiltrating the wealthy family deceitfully. Desperate times call for desperate measures, eh?
5. Force Majeure (2014)
Here’s another gem from Ruben Östlund. Force Majeure is an internationally co-produced black comedy film written and directed by Ruben Östlund.
5. Force Majeure (2014)
Marriage often requires one to choose between themselves and their partner. In this film, a man prioritizes his safety over his family’s during an avalanche. His marriage suffers the brunt of his decision. Even though they are financially stable, the marriage suffers as any other would when a partner puts themselves first.
6. Ready or Not (2019)
Nope, not the song or the video game. This is a 2019 American black comedy horror film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.
6. Ready or Not (2019)
The story’s plot revolves around Grace, a recently married woman targeted by her spouse’s Satan-worshipping family on her wedding night. Usually, newly married couples look forward to the wedding night so they can – you know. But most wealthy people have weird fetishes, and Grace finds herself entangled with them.
7. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
The Talented Mr. Ripley is a 1999 American psychological thriller written and directed by Anthony Minghella. It is based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel of the same name.
7. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
It garnered wild critical acclaim and featured prominent actors Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Time called it a “devious twist on the Patricia Highsmith crime novel.”
8. The Menu (2022)
The Menu is a 2022 American comedy horror film directed by Mark Mylod, based on an original story created by Will Tracy.
8. The Menu (2022)
In the movie, a group of highly wealthy individuals receives an invitation to an extravagant multi-course dinner at a restaurant on a remote island, where the chef has prepared a lavish menu. But not all that glitters is gold, and things get fiery.
9. The Edge (1997)
The Edge is a 1997 thriller directed by Lee Tamahori. According to internet sources, the plot follows wealthy businessman Charles Morse, photographer Bob Green, and assistant Stephen. They must trek through the elements and try to survive after their plane crashes down in the Alaskan wilderness, all while being hunted by a large Kodiak bear and the men’s fraying friendships.
10. Assault on Wall Street (2013)
Assault on Wall Street is a thriller starring Dominic Purcell, Erin Karpluk, Edward Furlong, and Keith David. In a time of financial crisis, a man must care for his sick wife and pay for the medical bills. And so, he takes extreme measures to survive the trying times.
A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do, huh?
Source: Reddit.
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There are plenty of reasons to love living in Louisville, but will the Derby City fit your lifestyle? Let’s see how the cost of living and culture stack up.
Set alongside the Ohio River, Louisville is a great city, full of history. Home to the Kentucky Derby, and a lot of bourbon, Louisville offers up urban amenities, parks, foodie-friendly restaurants and more, all at a relatively affordable cost of living.
All combined, the cost of living in Louisville is 4.9 percent below the national average. This is almost identical to Lexington, the other big Kentucky town, and exactly the same as its close, big-city neighbor, Cincinnati.
This means that all the key factors that contribute to the cost of living in Louisville should be pretty reasonable as well, but sometimes we find surprises. Let’s take a closer look at how a budget could play out.
Housing costs in Louisville
Overall, housing in Louisville is very reasonable. Even with apartment rents rising significantly over the last year, housing costs are 21.7 percent below the national average. This is identical to costs in Lexington and less than a percentage point below costs in Cincinnati.
A one-bedroom apartment in Louisville averages out to $1,128 per month, up 19 percent over last year. A two-bedroom apartment, up a little less with a 24 percent increase, has an average monthly rent of $1,287. To compare, average apartment rent in Lexington is $1,262 for a one-bed, and $1,453 for a two-bed.
Equally affordable are home prices for those who are looking to shift away from renting. The median sale price in Louisville is $239,950, up 8.1 percent over last year.
Apartment hunting around Louisville
Throughout Louisville, you’ll find no shortage of great neighborhoods to call home. Even better, with such a low average rent, you’ll have a large number of locations accessible to almost any housing budget.
At the high end of the rent spectrum, you’ve got The Highlands. This popular neighborhood is considered one of the most unique areas in Louisville, and is also home to “Restaurant Row.” The average one-bedroom rent here is $1,558 per month.
More closely aligned to the city’s rent average, Clifton Heights, has one-bedroom apartments with an average monthly rent of $914. This neighborhood boasts more of an urban feel, with access to everything from a botanical garden to parks, galleries, bars and restaurants.
Other popular neighborhoods include the highly walkable Deer Park, with an average one-bed rent of $1,199. Germantown, whose rent is nearly one third less, on average, still holds an annual Oktoberfest. At $795 in average rent for a one-bed, Tyler Park has a 13-acre green space at its center. Even Clifton, with all its boutiques, local shops and restaurants has an average one-bedroom rent of $695.It’s nice to know you’ll have options when apartment hunting in Louisville.
Food costs in Louisville
With the Kentucky Derby as the biggest event of the year in Louisville, you can’t talk about food without sharing the ingredients for a mint julep. It’s super easy to make. All you need is bourbon, simple syrup, fresh mint and crushed ice. Muddle the first three ingredients, add the ice and you’re good to go.
Another unique food you may encounter while eating out in Louisville is a hot brown. A favorite brunch entree, this is actually a warm, baked, open-faced sandwich consisting of a single slice of bread, turkey, tomato, bacon and Mornay sauce, which turns creamy and bubbly when heated.
When you’ve had your fill of drinking and eating out, though, it’s good to know that the cost of living in Louisville when it comes to groceries is 6.7 percent below the national average. This can make your shopping list pretty affordable, especially with the average price of staple items like a loaf of bread ($3.79) or a pound of ground beef ($5.64) both costing less than they would in nearby Lexington.
Utility costs in Louisville
Louisville has four seasons that are very distinct. You’ll see peak temperatures in the hot and humid summer and extreme colds in winter. This movement up and down the thermometer means there’s a good chance your heater and AC will take turns working pretty hard.
It’s a good explanation for why utility costs are 7.3 percent above the national average, and a typical energy bill can come to $205.56. This average is over $55 more than what you’d pay in Cincinnati, just two hours away.
Transportation costs in Louisville
You definitely need a car to get around Louisville. Even with a bike score of 51, the rating only means some places are accessible by bicycle. The walk score is even lower, at 46, so don’t plan on many walkable spots (though there are some).
Having a car though means having to deal with parking. Louisville has plenty of metered spots with a cost of $2 per hour for the first two hours and $3 an hour for any additional. Meters are free on Sunday though. If you’re headed to the downtown area, you can also park in one of 15 parking garages and two surface lots.
If public transportation is more your thing, and you live close to it, the Transit Authority of River City, or TARC, offers a long list of local, frequency, express and circulator bus routes. A single-way cash fare is $1.75, but most locals use a myTARC card, paying only $1.50 per ride. You can also buy a MyTARC card pass. A seven-day pass costs $15, while a 30-day pass is $50.
Regardless of how you get around, when it comes to the cost of living in Louisville for transportation, you’re paying 18.8 percent above the national average. This is a 7.4 percent increase over last year and almost 20 percent more than people are paying in Lexington.
Healthcare costs in Louisville
Healthcare is a big industry and major employer in Louisville, but when comes to being the patient, the final bill can get a little scary. However, that’s not often the case here, where healthcare costs are 23.9 percent below the national average. This is an 8.2 percent decrease over last year.
How this impacts your personal healthcare costs will vary though based on your insurance coverage, your medical history and your current healthcare needs. Everyone’s costs are different in this category, so it’s always good to budget accordingly.
To help, you can use average costs (without insurance) as a guide. That means in Louisville, a doctor’s visit is $82.20, a dentist visit is $88.33 and an optometrist appointment is $61.67.
Goods and services costs in Louisville
In Louisville, goods and services are 6.4 percent above the national average, so they can get a little pricy. While this total is slightly less than in Lexington, you still may pay more for certain extras than you would elsewhere.
For example, a movie ticket in Louisville is $12.28, while a haircut is $16.65. Grabbing a pizza out will cost you about $12.99, and a bottle of wine averages out to $8.49.
Taxes in Louisville
Kentucky is somewhat of a unique state when it comes to taxes in that it sets tax rates as a whole. Counties don’t add anything when it comes to sales tax, keeping the rate relatively low. In Louisville, and across the state, the sales tax rate is 6 percent. This means that for every $1,000 you spend furnishing your new apartment, $60 will go straight to taxes.
This same statewide approach is also applied to income tax. The entire state’s flat rate is 5 percent.
How much do I need to earn to live in Louisville?
With a lower cost of living in Louisville when it comes to housing, your biggest expense, it’s okay to assume you won’t need that much income to live comfortably. To get exact information on what you can afford when it comes to rent, take advantage of our rent calculator.
For a general estimate of what you’d need to make to afford an average-priced one-bedroom apartment, we’ll take the advice of most experts. They suggest you put about 30 percent of your annual income toward rent. Using this formula, at $1,128 per month, you’d need to earn $45,680 per year.
This is entirely possible given that the median household income in Louisville is $54,929.
Free things to do in Louisville
The affordability of Louisville becomes even better when you consider how much fun there is to have throughout the city for free. Louisville offers free activities that connect you to history, culture, the outdoors and more. Some places to consider include:
Filson Historical Society Museum: Giving free, guided tours every weekday at 2 p.m. your tour will include Ferguson Mansion and Wood Carriage House. The historical society itself works to preserve the history and culture both of Kentucky and the Ohio Valley.
Carnegie Center for Art and History: Free admission to this museum is something special. Here, art and history collide. Exhibits focus on the heritage of Floyd County as well as the visual arts.
Louisville Nature Center: Situated across from the zoo, free admission here gives you access to a sensory garden, rain garden, play area, nature library and a bird blind, where you can view birds through one-way tinted glass.
Big Four Bridge: A part of Waterfront Park, Big Four Bridge is a footpath that crosses the Ohio River, ending in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Originally a railroad bridge, it’s now the perfect place for a two-mile (per way) stroll.
Beechmont Open Air Market: Yes, you may end up tempted to buy some fresh produce or an artisanal candle, but a stroll through the market is totally free and a perfect Saturday morning activity.
You also have the option, when looking for free activities in Louisville, to take advantage of one of the more than 120 public parks throughout the metro area. Some sidle up to the Ohio River, and others are perfect pockets of green space, providing spots for picnics and relaxation.
Living in Louisville
First, you figure out if the cost of living in Louisville will work for you. Then, you start thinking about where you want to live in the city. Next, it’s time to craft a budget and you’re off, transforming yourself into a Louisville local. It’s as simple as that, made easier by the fact that overall, this is a pretty affordable place to call home. So, when are you moving?
The Cost of Living Index comes from coli.org.
The rent information included in this summary is based on a calculation of multifamily rental property inventory on Rent. as of November 2022.
Rent prices are for illustrative purposes only. This information does not constitute a pricing guarantee or financial advice related to the rental market.
Radford Studio Center, a storied movie lot in Studio City that has been home to generations of landmark television shows — including “Gunsmoke” and “Seinfeld” — is set to get a $1-billion upgrade to expand its facilities and bring them further into the digital age.
The owners of the lot formerly known as CBS Studio Center submitted plans to Los Angeles officials Friday to revamp and enlarge the aging studio and broadcasting complex, adding as much as 1 million square feet of new soundstages, production facilities and offices.
Founded by movie comedy legend Mack Sennett in 1928, the lot became known as “Hit City” in the decades after World War II as popular TV shows such as “Leave It to Beaver,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Will & Grace” were made there. Current shows include “Big Brother 24” and “Physical.”
“It’s got this mystique that if you come there you’re going to make it,” said studio President Mike Klausman, who has worked on the property since he started there as a CBS page in 1971.
The Radford complex was the very studio lot that gave rise to the name Studio City. It’s had numerous incarnations, including decades as Republic Studios, home to such screen legends as Roy Rogers, John Wayne and Joan Crawford. Among Republic’s popular movies were “The Quiet Man,” “Sands of Iwo Jima” and “Johnny Guitar.”
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The current state of the 55-acre studio is less glamorous than its heritage would suggest, having evolved like an old city where new additions, often built on a tight budget, were layered over and around existing structures.
“There was never really a master plan,” Klausman said. “You would never tear down anything, just add on. We had to work around what was there.”
Bungalows for writers and stars — often quaint structures from Hollywood’s Golden Age on other historic movie lots — are clusters of mobile homes delivered in the 1990s when times were lean, he said. The vast roofs of soundstages used to drain rainwater directly onto the asphalt roads below.
“You almost needed a boat to get from one studio to another,” Klausman said. “It was like a river in that place.”
The drainage issue has been fixed, and times are no longer lean as the rise of streaming has escalated demand for soundstages and other production facilities and prompted the development of new studios in the Los Angeles region. Radford and other studios are booked year-round.
Though it is outwardly unassuming with its main entrance tucked around a corner from Ventura Boulevard on Radford Avenue, the Radford studio is among the most valuable in the world based on price. It sold in 2021 for $1.85 billion to Hackman Capital Partners, one of the largest providers of entertainment production facilities, and New York real estate investor Square Mile Capital Management.
“The history of hit shows that have been produced at Radford trace the trajectory of culture and entertainment in Los Angeles,” said Zach Sokoloff, a senior vice president at Culver City-based Hackman, who plans to complete its makeover.
Its location in an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood near other illustrious movie studios beloved by filmmakers made Radford highly sought after when it hit the market nearly two years ago, said real estate broker Carl Muhlstein of JLL, who represented seller ViacomCBS in the deal. There were multiple bidders for the property, he said.
“Between Studio City and Burbank there are four iconic studio lots. Disney, Warner Bros. and Universal haven’t changed hands for over 100 years,” he said. “Here was an opportunity to buy something that only became surplus with the merger of CBS and Viacom” in 2019.
In addition to the real estate assets, ViacomCBS (which now goes by Paramount Global) turned over its lucrative studio operations business at the former CBS Studio Center, which includes stage rentals, facilities management and production support services on the Radford lot.
ViacomCBS sold another former CBS property, Television City in L.A.’s Fairfax district, to Hackman for $750 million in 2019. Paramount Global controls legendary Paramount Studios in Hollywood.
CBS’ two L.A. television stations, KCBS-TV (Channel 2) and KCAL-TV (Channel 9), are housed at the CBS Broadcast Center on the Radford lot, and the local news operation will stay put as part of a long-term lease-back.
CBS, which acquired the property from Republic Pictures in the 1960s, will continue to occupy stages and produce content on the Radford lot. CBS-produced shows there now include “SEAL Team,” “Entertainment Tonight,” “The Neighborhood” and “The Talk,” which is recorded before a live audience.
In its present form, Radford Studio Center offers tenants 18 traditional soundstages and four other stages. The site also has about 210,000 square feet of production office space and its own mill to provide carpentry services and special effects, a commissary and a carwash.
It has a backlot with a “Central Park” and a “New York Street” with 11 building fronts, including four brownstones. It also includes simulated residential neighborhoods with a hodgepodge of houses in different architectural styles, including a facade used as the Cleaver residence in the sitcom “Leave It to Beaver.”
Hackman’s proposal calls for creating a largely new studio with 2.2 million square feet of buildings, including up to 25 soundstages and 300,000 square feet of production support space such as wardrobe, storage and a mill. There would be 725,000 square feet of offices to support productions and an additional 700,000 square feet of offices available for rent to companies in the entertainment industry.
Historic structures, including the Mack Sennett Building and Stages 9 and 10, would be preserved.
To improve access, an entrance off Ventura Boulevard at Carpenter Avenue would be “resurrected,” Sokoloff said. The studio once had an entrance there, but it closed several decades ago.
Also planned is a new bridge over Tujunga Wash at Moorpark Street that would make Radford Avenue a through street. Only vehicles going to the studio could cross the bridge, but it would be open to members of the public on foot or on bicycles. The Los Angeles River Greenway, a 51-mile bike and pedestrian path, is currently interrupted at Radford Studio Center and a new bridge would close that gap.
Hackman owns five studios in the L.A. region, along with facilities in New York, New Orleans, Ireland, Canada, London and Scotland.
The company plans $1.25 billion worth of improvements to Television City that will add soundstages, production support facilities and offices for rent.
Though the Los Angeles area has the largest number of soundstages of any city in the world, studios are operating near 100% capacity with waiting lists as long as five film productions deep for those spaces, financial advisor Deloitte said in a 2021 report.
“To meet the booming demand, supply would need to more than double in Los Angeles County” in the next few years, Deloitte said. Planned projects for more studio space fall far short of that.
The Radford Studio project would add more than 4,000 workers upon completion, doubling the number of people employed there now, according to a study by the L.A. County Economic Development Corp.
Yesterday, as I was otherwise occupied (I spent five hours writing a post about programmable thermostats, a post nobody will even like!), the conversation on Donna Freedman’s article got a little cranky. Donna wrote about pinching pennies on some things so that she could splurge on others. In Donna’s case, that meant a trip to England.
Tyler K., who’s always a little cranky, wrote in response:
I’m just waiting for the post where someone’s passion, the thing they’re willing to scrimp on everything else so that they can afford, is a Range Rover. Or anything else but travel, really…It’d be fantastic to see someone write about not going to Europe so they could buy a luxury SUV…
The Other Brian expressed his frustration, too:
I agree with Tyler 100%. I’m pretty sure the person that wrote that post would get absolutely BLASTED in the comment section for their prioritization of Stuff over experiences…
And Jane, who is usually mild-mannered, chimed in:
I would love for someone to actually have the courage to write a reader story or guest post about how they scrimped and went without for a big screen television! Why is that any less valid than saving for a trip to Paris? I’m sure everyone would say that it is just as valid and cite J.D.’s mantra “Do what works for you.” But let’s be honest — there is a pretty obvious privileging on this site and others of certain types of ways to spend your money. Travel is one of the ones that people categorically praise.
First of all, I’m as tired of travel articles as everyone else. Yes, it’s one of my pet topics, but we’ve featured it a lot around here lately. Time for it to take a back seat for a while. Second, I think travel gets praised a lot because people enjoy it. For years, I heard people extolling the virtues of travel, but until I tried it, I didn’t really understand.
That said, Tyler, Jane, and The Other Brian have a valid point. We do talk a lot about Experiences here — but I think that’s because in Real Life, so much attention is heaped upon Stuff.
Stuff isn’t evil (though too much of it can certainly become a burden). Maybe it’s time for a little reality check…
How to Spend Your Money
Jane is right: My gut reaction is to cite my motto: “Do what works for you.” Because that’s what it’s all about. If you’re out of debt and meeting your savings goals, spend your surplus on whatever you want.
If you want a big-screen television, buy a big-screen television.
If you want a Range Rover, buy a Range Rover.
If you want a surfboard, buy a surfboard.
And if you want to travel, travel.
I don’t care what you spend your money on, and neither should anyone else. Travel isn’t inherently better than television, and I’m not arguing that it is. (For me, travel is better than television, but maybe not for Jane.)
I spend plenty of money on Stuff. In the past two years, I’ve bought a used car, a new bike, some nice furniture, season tickets to the Portland Timbers, and more comic books than a grown man really needs. (Trust me: If I’m buying all these comic books, I’m not about to judge you for buying a television!) I’ve also paid for an expensive gym membership and traveled to nine other countries.
I’m careful to avoid debt and meet my savings goals, but I spend my surplus on Experiences and Stuff. Both have value.
And Donna, who just wrote about eating lunches of cheese and crackers so she can afford to travel the U.K.? Well, Donna’s willing to pay $9 for half a dozen cupcakes. Is that frugal? Of course it is! Well, maybe not frugal, but it’s certainly a reasonable expense. Donna can afford it, and it makes her happy.
There’s no one right way to do this. Donna splurges on cupcakes. I splurge on comic books. Maybe you spend on cable television. So what? If these are conscious decisions and we can afford it, there’s nothing wrong with buying Experiences or Stuff. Or both. (After all, that’s why we scrimp and save.)
What Do YOU Splurge On?
Financial writer Greg Karp recently dropped me a line. “I’m doing a column on what people splurge on,” he said. “Any thoughts?” I wrote back to share my main splurges: travel, travel gear, fitness, and computers.
I did a similar survey of personal-finance bloggers almost three years ago. “What do you splurge on?” I asked. Free Money Finance spends on cycling gear. Trent at The Simple Dollar splurges on videogames. And SVB from The Digerati Life buys stuff for around the house. Most of the people I polled spend on experiences: especially food and travel.
What about you? How do you spend your money? Assuming you have some sort of surplus after saving, do you focus on Experiences or Stuff? Do any of these purchases ever make you feel guilty? Or do you see this spending as a reward for making smart financial choices? (I used to feel guilty, but now I see spending as a reward for doing the other things right.) Chime in with your comments.
And, hey — if you want to write a reader story about how you saved for a boat or a television or a Range Rover, please send it in!
This guest post from the redoubtable Tyler K is part of the new “reader stories” feature here at Get Rich Slowly. Some reader stories contain general “how I did X” advice, and others will be examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success — or failure. Tyler is an active commenter at GRS, and never afraid to share his opinion!
Like J.D., I once had a big problem with debt. Unlike J.D., I didn’t dig myself out from under that problem gracefully.
About eight years ago, I was a college student, living in an apartment near campus, and working full time while going to school. I felt like I was on top of the world. Here I was, seeing all my friends making $6 or $8 an hour, while I was making about $17. That seemed like a lot of money. It was about $35,000 a year — not just a college student’s salary, but a real salary. I felt like I deserved to be living it up a bit, especially considering all the work I was doing with a full-time job and a full time class load.
I went overboard. I spent well beyond the $35,000/year I was making (it wasn’t as much money as it felt like). I bought a Mustang, and modified it into an amateur race car. I had the latest laptop and a desktop computer with a flat screen display (in 2001). My $35k/year salary was enough to live on, but it wasn’t enough to support spending $1500 on a laptop computer and on a desktop computer and on high-performance cylinder heads, but that’s what I did.
I bought all of them, and more.
This kept up for a year or two. I kept justifying these purchases to myself, and my credit card balances slowly rose along with my required minimum payments. A bout of bad luck exacerbated the problem. I was mugged outside my apartment, and having no medical insurance, ran up an emergency room bill. My race car was stolen, and being 21 and owning a race car, I couldn’t afford comprehensive car insurance, I had liability only. I bought another car to replace it, again with borrowed money.
Things fall apart
Eventually, I realized I was in over my head. I was gasping for air. I couldn’t make my credit card payments and also pay my rent and buy groceries. I was driven to the edge, and I gave up. I stopped paying all my credit card bills, and they went into collections. I voluntarily surrendered my car to be repossessed. I figured if I was going to ruin my credit score, I might as well go all out — I even hired a bankruptcy attorney. She managed to stop the incessant flood of phone calls from creditors, but I found I couldn’t afford even to pay for the bankruptcy proceedings, and so that process stopped shortly thereafter.
At this point, I owed approximately $30,000 on about four different credit cards, the medical bill, and the car loan, all of these in collections. My credit had been destroyed, but my creditors had been silenced by the bankruptcy attorney. I decided to get my life in order and worry about paying back the debts I owed later. It was easy to justify — I could barely put food on the table and the credit card company was still bringing in billions every year. They didn’t need an extra few thousand dollars as desperately as I did. So I let my debts ride, and worked on running my life in a sustainable way.
Turning things around
The first thing I did was give up credit cards entirely.
I decided to only spend money I actually had, and so my purchases of toys slowed dramatically. My extravagances in life dropped to going out to eat with my roommate a couple times a week, and not at particularly fancy places. I got into bicycling as a hobby, on a used, mid-range road bike — not a brand new, high-end model like I would have bought before. And there I sat, content with the computer I already had, my modest bicycle, and the occasional trip out for dinner. I was living quite comfortably on my salary with my new outlook on life. For the first time in years, I felt comfortable with myself. I actually managed to save a few dollars from paycheck to paycheck instead of spending them!
I did decide that I needed a car, though. I hadn’t enough money to pay cash for one, and I doubted anyone would give me a loan, so still being young and in school, I asked my parents to help. This time though, I was much more conservative.
I borrowed about $5,000 from my parents and created a definite plan for paying them back. I bought a nine-year-old but well-maintained Honda Accord, and I stuck to the payments religiously. This time if I were to fall behind, not only would I give up my newfound peace I’d made with myself financially, but I’d be letting my parents down instead of faceless mega-corporations.
No credit needed
Shortly thereafter, I finished school, and took a software engineering job in San Francisco. Rents were higher in the city, but my salary doubled. My brother needed a car, and I worked out a deal with my parents to give him mine, along with the rest of the payments on the loan. I wanted to get a brand new one.
I went down to the car dealership with my pay stubs from my new job, and my ruined credit score, and a pre-approval I’d gotten online for a loan of up to $26,000. I was determined to make something work. As it turned out, this was easier than I’d anticipated. Car dealerships will do anything to sell cars, and that includes selling cars to people with horrible credit and a repossessed car on their credit report. I bought this car with no money down, which in retrospect, is the stupidest financial decision I’ve made since I began my financial recovery.
Still, it wasn’t a horrible decision — I now made a salary that could justify a car like this. Sure, I got a crappy 12% interest rate on the loan, but I eventually refinanced the loan to 10%, and a shorter term, and then I paid the loan off early, about two-and-a-half years after I first bought the car. When I called the bank to pay off the first loan (when I refinanced), they were practically begging me to take a credit card from them, seeing as I’d overpaid my car loan every single month, on time, for the life of the loan. But still, I wouldn’t break my ‘no credit cards’ rule, and I refused.
Renting an apartment was another thing I was scared to do with bad credit, but it turned out easier than I thought, as well. I got my first new apartment with my ruined credit when I moved to San Francisco. I decided to share a place with a friend of a friend. We found a two-bedroom place listed on Craigslist, and went to see it. It was a four unit building, quite common in San Francisco, owned by a little old Chinese lady. She didn’t care to even run a credit check. Two well-dressed young men showed up, with pay stubs indicating an above-average combined annual salary, and job titles of ‘Software Engineer’ and ‘Accountant’. She was more than happy to rent the place to us for $1800/month.
I continued my life living the way I had since I’d given up on my debt a few years ago, but now on a much larger post-college salary. I bought few toys, aside from the car and some furniture. I’d go out to eat with friends sometimes, or I’d go out for drinks occasionally with my new coworkers. I actually found money piling up in my checking account because I was making it faster than I even wanted to spend it. I had nothing I needed to buy.
After a year, my roommate took a promotion that had him moving from San Francisco to Denver. I decided that I wanted to get my own place, but $1800/month was too much for me to spend by myself. The little old lady who’d been our landlord actually asked if we’d reconsider staying, and if I could find another roommate, as we’d been such good tenants, but I told her I had to leave.
I was questioning my ability to get lucky with finding an apartment a second time, but figured I’d done it before, and I could do it again. I looked at one place I like, and decided to take it, but was turned down by the rental agency due to my bad credit. I found another place a few blocks away that actually ended up being nicer — It was an old Victorian house divided into two units, one upstairs and one downstairs. The family that owned the place lived upstairs and rented out the downstairs.
Wary because of my bad credit and previous rejection, I wrote down my story, and gave the owners my bank statement showing the money I’d accumulated in the last year I’d spent living below my means, and the phone number of the landlord that’d asked me to stay in San Francisco. In light of this information, they rented to me regardless of my credit score, and they too ended up extremely happy with me as a renter.
The road to recovery
Several years after I’d given up on my credit card bills, I was finally contacted again by one of my creditors (or really, the collection agency to which they’d sold my debt). They demanded, in a rude and threatening manner, payment in full of an outstanding debt over $10,000.
My girlfriend (now my wife), who worked at a law firm, asked a co-worker of hers to help me out. He was an attorney who had previously worked in this specific area, representing clients being sued by creditors, and had no sympathy for a threatening collection agency. With a single phone call on my behalf, he had the collection agency offering a settlement of about half their initial demand. I paid it in full from the surplus I’d been accumulating.
Slowly, over the course of several years, my other creditors would contact me, and we’d agree on a settlement like this. Eventually, the statute of limitations for them to collect on the debt through legal channels expired. After that, all I needed to mention to creditors was that I knew it was too late for anyone to sue me, and I’d have a reduced settlement offer.
Now, at the beginning of 2010, it’s been nearly seven years since this whole mess started, and these old marks are due to start dropping from my credit report soon. Surprisingly, I’ve found in the intervening time that I haven’t been impacted much at all by my poor credit — certainly not as much as you would have thought, given the emphasis the financial media puts on credit score.
I paid maybe 5% more than market value for the car I financed, not a huge deal.
I was turned down for one apartment rental.
I’ve since rented one other place, where I live now, in a manner similar to the second — it’s a privately-owned little house with landlords that live next door.
I told them my story, showed them my bank statements and pay stubs, and they were happy to rent to me, and I love it here. Aside from the lousy car interest rate and a single apartment rejection, I haven’t even noticed my poor credit score. Employers haven’t cared. Cell phone companies haven’t cared. The electric company hasn’t cared. For the most part, nobody but myself has even looked at my credit score for the past six years.
While all this has been happening, my life otherwise has been going fantastically. My career has progressed well, I make roughly four times what I did when the story started. I got married. I moved back to my hometown, which I love. I’ve been traveling a bit, to five other countries and various places in the US. My life is going as well as I could hope.
Strangely enough, I’m not sure that any of this would have happened if I hadn’t given up on those debts years ago. That began a change in lifestyle — a focus on experiences instead of things, on making do with what you have instead of needing the latest and greatest. Those lessons have shaped my life since then, and I don’t know if I would have learned them as well without going through that experience.
Final words
I was originally hesitant about sharing this story. I was afraid of being judged for the method I used to pay off my debts. I’m not proud about having done this, but at the same time, I don’t feel bad about it.
These credit card companies were willing to do everything in their power to make a profit off me. They had teams of actuaries calculating the exact interest rates and credit limits that would maximize profits from their customers, and they had the legal system at their disposal if they thought it would have been beneficial. I used the same tactics. I was never sued and in the end, I came to mutual agreements with my creditors that satisfied both parties.
Was it an ideal solution for either party? No, but once I was in in over my head, there wasn’t a realistic ‘ideal solution’. The situation was eventually salvaged, and now, years down the line, it’s water under the bridge.
According to a recent U.S. News & World Report collaboration with HomeLight to list Memphis, Tennessee’s top real estate agents, Crye-Leike’s Danny Freeman eclipsed all other agents in the region.
The listing, an unbiased recommendation created using in-depth key performance indicators, ultimately helps home buyers and sellers with the best-qualified professionals in Memphis. The following is a rundown on each of the top 5 agents listed alongside their recent transaction information. I’ve also included a spot check on each agent’s digital presence on Facebook, which readers may find interesting.
Danny Freeman has been in the real estate business for over 35 years. A top rates agent perenially, Freeman has had 208 recent transactions and is Move Safe™ Certified by HomeLight on account of his COVID-19 strategies for keeping his clients safe. Overall, he’s listed as having created over 600 transactions with an average sale price above 175k. The Freeman Home Team on Facebook shows mediocre engagement, but Freeman’s ratings at Realtor dot com are rock solid.
Second on the U.S. News list is Keeler William’s Chuck House, who is also a Zillow Premier Agent. House, who has been in the business for almost 20 years. He is also Move Safe™ Certified and has had over 160 recent sales. Overall, House has 412 sales with an average selling price in excess of 260k. A Memphis area resident for over 40 years, House is not the supreme ruler of digital real estate, but I did find his personal Facebook page interesting. Web-wide, the Keeler Williams broker has stellar reviews on every major real estate platform.
Next on the list Mark Sallerof Premier Realty Group. This longtime Memphis agent has superhuman sales numbers with over 2,300 sales (HomeLight shows 68 recently) over the last 10 years, averaging 230 sales per year. He specializes in wholesaling, so his transactions are listed at lower sales prices (69k). A public speaker, Saller’s Reedy & Company Facebook profile is a train wreck which reminds me that almost all of Memphis’ property professionals just don’t get it online.
Melinda Crosslin of Crye-Leike is fourth on the list with 134 recent transitions of between $123,000 and $324,400. With over 20 years of experience, Crosslin has sold over 650 properties, most of which were single-family homes. Eddie and Melinda Crosslin Crye-Leike Realtors Facebook presence is not quite as pitiful as most of the others, but its all but useless for sure. Crosslin’s overall digital footprint seems demonstrative of agents stuck in the age of brick and mortar business, but her record on Zillow is fairly impressive.
Rounding out the list is Tyler Tapley, another Zillow Premier Agent affiliated with Crye-Leike Memphis. A buyer’s agent primarily, Tapley has more than a decade of experience in the industry. His accolades include Multi-Million Dollar Club Active Member, PINNACLE PRODUCER AWARD WINNER, and Certified Relocation Specialist. He and his wife Meatha’s Facebook presence is, like all the others, simply a placeholder, but one made a lot more interesting because of Mrs. Tapley’s superstar videos showing the couple are indeed real people.
Interestingly, I ran across a few other top Memphis agents via Top Agents Ranked. The funny thing being, not one of the HomeLight agents was on the email list sent me when I engaged the service that is supposed to connect the best agents with clients. Tops on the list sent me was Michele Johnston – Dream Maker Realty, followed by Verna Littleton of KAIZEN Realty.
I’m sure the rating criteria is to blame for the discrepancy here, but in fairness, I thought mentioning these other Memphis professionals appropriate here. Also, none of the agents in either list seem to put much stock in social media, or even their websites. The lone exception being Kaizen Realty. More on this in another report. And as a parting note, it seems like a lot has not changed in Memphis, except that previously profiled area agents don’t seem to have made either one of the lists mentioned in the current story. This seems like another prompt for a follow-up, don’t you think?
To be continued…
Phil Butler is a former engineer, contractor, and telecommunications professional who is editor of several influential online media outlets including part owner of Pamil Visions with wife Mihaela. Phil began his digital ramblings via several of the world’s most noted tech blogs, at the advent of blogging as a form of journalistic license. Phil is currently top interviewer, and journalist at Realty Biz News.
There are tons of amazing TV shows that set the world on fire with their stories but, for some reason or another weren’t continued. It’s tragic enough when a long-running series gets curtained, but it’s even more heartbreaking when a stellar show begins to hit its stride, and then gets abruptly canceled. We turned to Reddit to find out which canceled shows people miss the most. Whether you’re mourning a beloved show, or want an introduction to some television gold, here are 10 series that came and left far too quickly!
1. Mindhunter
One user said, “Probably anything canceled by Netflix.”
Another user replied, “Mindhunter has entered the chat.”
A third added, “Mindhunter is the first series I actually got super bummed out about being canceled. The story, actors, and music. Shame.”
One Redditor commented, “Soundtrack was elite. Almost got lost in the shuffle of everything else is so well done.”
Another user shared, “Inside Job made it two seasons before getting axed on a cliffhanger. I still want to know what happens.”
One commenter replied, “This is how I found out Inside Job got canceled… sigh.”
2. Rome
One user exclaimed, “ROME!!!!”
One commenter added, “Yes. Rome! It was Game of Thrones before Game of Thrones.”
One user replied, “Rome walked so GoT could run….into a post.”
“Yeah, the later seasons weren’t as good, but I don’t know how much better they could be considering everything that happened behind the scenes… Though I guess the real weakness was injecting Caesar and that one guy’s the stupid horrible son. Ugh…yeah…now I’m remembering everything…geez… you’re right…I was only thinking about the first season and the prequel,” one user responded.
3. 2003 Teen Titans
One user posted, “This may seem a bit childish, but Teen Titans—the original one from 2003…”
Another replied, “It’s a bummer because every character got one season where they were the focus of the ongoing plot. Season 1 was Robin, season 2 was Terra, season 3 was Cyborg, season 4 was Raven, and season 5 was Beast Boy. It was set up perfectly to have a 6th season focused on Starfire, and we never got it.”
One commenter added, “Rewatched the whole series reasonably recently. It really was such a unique show for the time. I remember seeing reruns on Boomerang after the series had finished airing on CN. Unfortunately, they no longer air anything from the original series or movie. Season 5 absolutely ended in a way that demanded something more, and the movie did not scratch that itch.”
4. Reaper
“Reaper—Absolutely loved that [show], oh and Firefly, but everyone says that,” one Redditor posted.
Another user added, “I hate that they don’t cast Tyler Labine in more comedy stuff. Reaper was a fantastic showcase of his hilarity, and one of my all-time favorite movies is Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.”
One user commented, “I can’t believe Reaper was so far down the list.”
Another added, “From what I remember, it was canceled because they wanted The Vampire Diaries in that time slot. Guess they made a good move, considering the success of TVD. But I still hate them for canceling it.”
One user added, “The network canceled it, they tried to syndicate to SciFi, but the cast would have to take pay cuts, so they weren’t on board, and then the showrunners were going to produce a comic book to at least wrap the cliffhanger they left us on, but… nothing. They did at least do an interview where they revealed the secrets behind Sam and the devil’s deal, his parentage, etc., if you’re interested. (Warning: spoilers for a show canceled 14 years ago).”
5. Jericho
One user posted, “Jericho.”
Another added, “Every time I see this thread, I come just to upvote or add Jericho. Nuts to CBS.”
One user also commented, “Same. I keep scrolling until I see Jericho, and then I upvote.”
“Let’s be honest. This would be one of the best ‘remakes’ of our time. Jericho and not just season one and a half. But seasons 3, 4, 5, and 6. Let’s see how the country is rebuilt. I would watch every last second of this. I also really like that long before preppers and all this other [stuff]. They were doing things that were way ahead of their time. Granted, they were probably public knowledge to somebody, but they weren’t mainstream. And I thought that was really cool that they were touching on a lot of topics. I think this show was ahead of its time, and it was canceled during a writer’s strike, and that [was terrible],” one user responded.
Another user concluded, “I think HBO or Paramount would do a good job on a Jericho reboot. However, if it ever does happen, I hope they use the original cast.”
6. Venture Bros
One user posted, “Venture Bros.”
One of the users then shared, “Venture Bros was easily a solid decade ahead of its time.The Boys, Invincible, Harley Quinn, Doom Patrol, Peacemaker. All these shows deal with deconstructing the superhero mythos, and the Venture Brothers did this in 2004. At least we’re getting a movie.”
“Venture Bros started as a pitch-perfect parody of old Hanna-Barbera cartoons and went on to skewer every element of pop culture they could get their hands on while maintaining well-written, context-driven comedy. It was never cheap. It was well-acted and scripted. It grew and evolved and allowed its characters to step outside the narrow channels they were born in, developing them from single characteristic, classic archetypes into something more complex. I [really] love the Venture Bros. Dead excited for the film, but I’d equally take another few seasons,” one user replied.
Another user concluded, “Honestly, the fact that most (all?) VB characters have some sort of arc is part of what makes the show great. Most shows (especially adult cartoons) have these flat, static characters. Venture bros are nothing like that.”
7. I Am Not Okay With This
One user shared, “I Am Not Okay With This.”
Another responded, “It had so much potential, not to mention they left so much unanswered at the end of the season purposely so they could make a second one.”
One Redditor commented, “Netflix does not [care at all] about finishing a story. It is not worth investing any time in any of their content, even the stuff that looks good.”
One user replied, “This cancellation made me give up on Netflix. I just can’t get excited by anything on their platform at this point because I know whatever I get interested in, no matter how good it is, will get dropped without a conclusion. I WON’T LET THEM HURT ME AGAIN!”
8. Pushing Daisies
One Redditor posted, “Pushing Daisies.”
One user replied, “Definitely this one. I loved the series and wanted to see where it was going.”
Another user seconded, “This and Dead Like Me. Both sensational shows.”
Another commenter responded, “I’ve just come to accept that anything Bryan Fuller makes, I’m going to love and then be heartbroken when it’s canceled too soon.”
One user commented, “Or when he’s ousted from it. American Gods took an extreme nosedive when he left.”
One user also shared, “I don’t really fault Fuller for Discovery. After all, CBS dropped him early in development, and they only used some of his outlines. As a result, the final product is different from what he was originally going for. As an example, he wanted to do an anthology series that explored many different eras of Star Trek.”
One user concluded, “Yeah, I thought he was there for the whole production of season one, but reading the Wiki page, it looks like there was a lot of turmoil early on.”
9. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
One of the Reddit users shared, “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. Edit: so many people didn’t like the 2nd season, which is entirely fair. It’s hard to live up to the expectations of such a solid first season. The reason I personally would like a 3rd season is that the cliffhanger is so damn tasty. Also, I want more Rowdy 3 (6?), Alan Tudyk, and Tyler Labine.
“I recognize that it deviates completely from the source material, and I understand why a lot of people are upset by that. There are a lot of examples where I hated the adaptation (looking at you, World War Z), but I personally believe this is a perfect example of how you take inspiration and run with it.
“A dark, gritty version where Dirk was the fat slob the books described him as might also be fantastic, and I’d probably watch… it. However, I think this adaptation perfectly captures the whimsical nonsense of Douglas Adam’s writing, and I’m ok with it. It’s just a shame that the show was attached to such a scumbag. Otherwise, we might have seen that 3rd season that gave us all the answers they teased.”
One user commented, “That show is still my absolute favorite. With absolute [great lines] like, ‘The Rowdy Three!’, ‘But there are 4 of them!’, ‘I’m WILDLY aware.’
“They captured Douglas Adams’ whimsical nonsense so perfectly in that show. I feel like the second series went completely off the rails, but I still loved it.”
“This was so gloriously, bizarrely brilliant. It was completely different from the (excellent) books, but it took on some of the core ideas and added a bunch of its own, then ran simultaneously with them in multiple directions. It was a joy to watch and made me feel an almost childlike wonder. It surprised and delighted me; a modern-day fairy-tale for grown-ups. Gutted it was canceled,” one user replied.
Another user added, “It was a book adaptation done right. Borrowed concepts from the book, but instead of trying to squeeze the book’s story onto the screen (which would have been a… trainwreck), they went their own way and made something unique.”
10. Better Off Ted
One Redditor posted, “Better Off Ted. The show was a brilliant satire of corporate business that was far too funny. The amazing cast was incredibly quotable and ended far too soon. Punisher should have had a season 2 with more gang/mafia shenanigans. Altered Carbon should have been able to wrap up its story. Rubicon. It didn’t have to be a continuation, but I would love to see more like it. Edit: I have corrected it. Punisher had a season 2—my mistake.
Another added, “The episode where they installed motion detectors for everything that didn’t see black people, so they had to assign every black person a white person to open doors, but then because of diversity rules, they had to hire more black people was phenomenal.
Ted: ‘That’s more than weird, Veronica. That’s basically, well… racist.’
Veronica: ‘The company’s position is that it’s actually the opposite of racist because it’s not targeting black people. It’s just ignoring them. So they insist the worst people can call it is indifferent.’
Ted: ‘Well, they know it has to be fixed, right? Please… at least say they know that.’
Veronica: ‘Of course they do, and they’re working on it. In the meantime, they’d like everyone to celebrate the fact that it sees Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Jews.’”
One user concluded, “Definitely. Whenever people ask me about good, fun TV, they usually know the standards like Office and 30 Rock, so I point them to Better off Ted and outline this specific episode. And each time, they are eager to check it out. It’s such an unusual, new trope that hits all the right points.”
Source: Reddit.
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It looks like Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Billy Joel isn’t in such a New York state of mind these days.
The New York native recently listed his trophy property on the very posh Oyster Bay Harbor for a hefty $49 million.
The 26-acre estate, known as Middlesea, comprises the original 14-acre property the musician bought for $22.5 million in 2002 and the adjoining parcels he’s picked up over the years, according to the Wall Street Journal. It comes with more than 2,000 feet of frontage on Centre Island.
The highlight of the estate is an elegant, 20,000-square-foot main house with spectacular water views.
There are five bedrooms, six full baths, two half-baths, a playroom, a spa and hair salon, a bowling alley, and a wine cellar. There’s also an indoor pool, which Joel has covered up so he could use the space as a music room, because of its excellent acoustics, according to listing agent Bonnie Williamson, of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty.
Parts of the main house are being renovated and are expected to be completed within the next several months.
The estate also features a three-bedroom beach house, a three-bedroom guest apartment, and a four-bedroom gatehouse.
Other luxe amenities include a floating dock and boat ramp, two outdoor pools, and a helicopter pad.
You might be wondering why, after spending more than 20 years developing this trophy property so close to his hometown of Hicksville, also on Oyster Bay, the musician would let it go. The Journal reports that Joel, wife Alexis Roderick, and their two young children are spending more time in Florida.
Joel purchased a $22 million Florida estate in 2015 and reportedly owns a Sag Harbor, NY, property. So it appears the music titan will not be moving out of New York completely.
Joel, 74, is a multiple-Grammy winner and one of the world’s bestselling artists of all time.