The 40 Best HBO Series of All Time, Ranked |
Roughly 25 years have passed since HBO first dominated television with The Sopranos and The Wire. Today the network continues to age like a fine wine. Tony Soprano eventually passed the baton to the Boardwalk Empire, and now ol' Nucky's handed it off to Colin Farrell's waddling Penguin. Elsewhere, recent shows like True Detective: Night Country sent viewers down (freezing) rabbit holes, while comedies such as Hacks and The White Lotus reminded audiences that HBO isn't only about the drama. Just don't remind me that we now live in a world post–Curb Your Enthusiasm and Succession. With House of the Dragon and The Last of Us continuing to dominate watercooler chatter, it's obvious that HBO figured out how to rise above the clutter of the streaming wars. On the horizon, the network promises to continue in 2025 with The Pitt, Welcome to Derry, and the first-ever Harry Potter television series. While we wait to find out if any of the new series will break the list, we've ranked the 40 best HBO series of all time. |
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How to Find the Perfect Pair of Jeans |
In 2022, a pair of 150-year-old Levi's sold at auction for almost $90,000. These blue jeans were special—they had been at the bottom of a mine shaft since the Victorian era. Fundamentally, however, they were regular cotton-denim jeans, very much the kind of thing you can easily buy today. But if you want the quality that can outlast a generation, you need to know what to look for. An estimated 450 million pairs of jeans are purchased in the U.S. every year, and they can't all be of good quality. In fact, most of them are rubbish. But when it comes to denim, what defines quality? Here is your guide, including ten great pairs worth buying now, from global brands to indie designers, at every price point. |
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Everyone Wants a Piece of Drew Starkey |
Two years ago, Drew Starkey was eating breakfast in L.A. with Luca Guadagnino, the Italian director behind Call Me by Your Name and Challengers. Starkey was in disbelief. Guadagnino is an Academy Award nominee who's worked with Tilda Swinton, Timothée Chalamet, and Zendaya. Starkey had spent the past three years on Netflix's Outer Banks—a wildly popular show (now in its fourth season) that bears little resemblance to Guadagnino's moody, hyper-stylized films. But the director had seen the actor's audition tape for an unrelated project and asked him to breakfast. The topic of conversation that morning: Queer, a movie about a gay heroin addict living in Mexico City in the 1950s, based on the William S. Burroughs novel of the same name. It was Guadagnino's next project, and he was eyeing Starkey to play opposite Daniel Craig. "Halfway through the first meeting, I was like, 'This is amazing, and I don't really care what comes of it,' " Starkey says. "I'm getting to sit down and have deep conversations with a director—an artist—that I really look up to? That's incredible. The whole time, I was thinking, 'It's not gonna happen.' " |
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72 Best Gifts for Your Wife in 2024 |
She deserves the world. Your wife, that is. I will be so bold as to assume that she's an incredible human full of wisdom, laughter, beauty, and emotional complexity. You love her a whole hell of a lot, so yes, she's entitled to more than just a last-second, half-baked gift. Getting her the perfect present, no matter the occasion, is paramount because she really is that special. Get her a gift that's so romantic she'll brag about her partner's superior gift-giving prowess. Hey, dream big. I can help make that dream a reality. Well, not reality reality but damn near close. I only recommend gifts that I believe a woman, wife, and best friend—of course—would truly want. And there's a secret sauce: don't get her something she needs but something she wants. I'm here to expose the truth about the trendy items on our wish lists. No woman is made the same; we all want different things. That's why this long, definitive list can guide you. |
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Watch the SpongeBob SquarePants Cast Celebrate Their 25-Year Anniversary |
Would you believe it? SpongeBob SquarePants is celebrating it twenty-fifth anniversary this year. For '90s kids, the animated Nickelodeon series about a laughing sponge and his underwater friends was the talk of Bikini Bottom when it debuted in 1999. As the cartoon heads into its fifteenth season this year, there's a very good chance that SpongeBob's outlandish antics and memorable voice performances will make the series the next generation's favorite cartoon as well. To celebrate the occasion, SpongeBob SquarePants' main cast, including Tom Kenney, Bill Fagerbakke, Roger Bumpass, Clancy Brown, Mr. Lawrence, and Carolyn Lawrence, all sat down with Esquire for good burgers and hearty laughs. Plus, they crack jokes only real SpongeBob fans will understand. "You know what's funnier than twenty-four?" Bumpuss asks the group. "Twenty-five!" |
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The Best Bars in America 2024 |
Sometimes you just want to settle in. Sometimes you need to call the audible, cancel the next meetup, ask the sitter to stay late, and get your friends to come to you, because you've found the place with an energy so perfect—exactly what you were looking for on that day, in that moment—that, really, could anything go up from here? More bars these days seem to be a complete package, like a nightlife one-stop shop. They can be a club if you want—you know, the kind you dance in. They can be the place where you order a bottle of Champagne and endless oysters. They can be a jazz lounge. They can be the place where you think you've stumbled on a garage party attended by the city's coolest people (in a city you didn't know had cool people). They can be that dimly lit vault where you and everyone else become someone else. Bars have always been that third place, the spot where you hang outside work and home. But as we've discovered crisscrossing the country over the past twelve months to visit the new bars, they're doing that in more nuanced and varied ways than they have in a long time. It's not just about the drinks. Then again, it's never just about the drinks. |
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