1. Redemption Tour Continues

UPDATE: Carolina defeated Oregon 77-76 to play for the NCAA Title on Monday night! 

UNC is back in the Final Four by virtue of an incredible, game winning jumper from Luke Maye that propelled the Heels to a 75-73 victory over Kentucky in the Elite Eight on Sunday. Carolina is in the Final Four for an NCAA record 20th time and Roy Williams now has nine Final Fours under his belt. Only John Wooden, Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzweski have more. Up next is a date with Oregon on Saturday night.

2. The Big 2-5

Saturday is April 1. It’s also my 25th birthday. Dang! A quarter century. It’s hard to fathom that I’ve been on Earth for that many years. A wise soul once told me that time passes by faster the older you get – and I believe it! And, yes, I’m an April Fools baby! Some still chuckle when I tell them that I was born on April 1 but I’ve always thought it was pretty cool haha!

P.S. I don’t really plan on doing anything extravagant for my birthday – except go to my favorite restaurant, Olive Garden. It would’ve been cool to head to Phoenix for the Final Four but that didn’t happen, unfortunately. Oh well!

3. The Return of Cash Cab

Cash Cab is returning. The hit gameshow is reportedly coming back thanks to a plan to reboot it by Discovery Channel. The original show ran from 2005-2012 and was hosted by Ben Bailey, who drove a decoy New York City taxicab that picked up unsuspecting passengers and quizzed them on a variety of topics. Players earned money for each question they got correct. On the new Cash Cab, stars of television, film and comedy will take the wheel. This will be interesting change as Bailey made the original show a hit. I’ll probably give it a chance but it’s sometimes better just to leave well enough alone.

4. Closer to a Reboot?

Speaking of reboots, could American Idol be closer to getting the reboot treatment as well? Several reports, including this one from TMZ, indicated that NBC and FOX are in a bidding war over the series. TMZ also reported that the networks have submitted bids and a decision could be made in the coming week. I first mentioned about this on my blog – item number four in this “Friday Five” post – and it’ll be intriguing to watch if this happens. If it does Idol could be back on air as soon as 2018.

5. Oscars to Keep PwC

We all know of the insane flub by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ accountants at this year’s Oscars ceremony. Just in case you need a refresher, it was widely reported that PwC partner, Brian Cullinan,  handed the duplicate Best Actress envelope to presenters, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, by mistake as opposed to Best Picture. What ensued was one of the most embarrassing gaffes in Hollywood history: La La Land was incorrectly announced the winner when Moonlight actually won the award.

Good news for PwC: the firm will work the Oscars again. However, safeguards have been put into place for next year’s ceremony. According to Fortune, Cullinan and his counterpart, Martha Ruiz, will not work the ceremony again. All electronic devices will be banned backstage as well. This measure is a result of reports that surfaced later on that Cullinan was busy tweeting on his phone right before the snafu. PwC’s U.S. Chairman and senior partner, Tim Ryan, will have a bigger role in the oversight of the proceedings and an extra staffer will be in the control room to cut down on the response time if such gaffes happen in the future, all according to Fortune. I hope these safeguards will work because it would be a shame to have another gaffe like this at the Oscars again. Both Moonlight and La La Land are brilliant films and it was terribly unfortunate to all involved that this happened.

Thanks for Reading