All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
This week on television, women made serious power moves. Margaery Tyrell grabbed her future by the throat, with those lovely, manicured fingers, before Cersei could grab ahold of hers. Emma Stone politely dismissed the reigning king of late night on his own Tonight Show stage, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer traded barbs with the lords of TechTown on Veep. Bill Nye also dropped in on the party to show us that science still rules. What began in April will now come of age in May, so let us celebrate this spring awakening with TV's top moments of the past seven days.
Jimmy Fallon is TV's most affable host, but he's also a competitor. During interviews he's a guest's biggest fan, but when it's time for one of his signature silly games, there's a shift. He gets an edge about him. He starts peacocking. He even trash-talks people like America's kookiest drunk aunt, Diane Keaton. And since The Tonight Show is Fallon's home turf he's typically got the edge on guests. But Emma Stone is hardly typical. Jimmy should have practiced in the mirror a little more before challenging the Goddess Stone to a lip-sync showdown, because his Iggy Azalea has got nothing on her Blues Traveler. Between being hilarious and being beautiful and being a mega-star, all this girl does is win.
Oh, Tommen. Sweet, sweet Tommen Baratheon. The next new king of Westeros has two possible futures ahead of him: One is bright and optimistic, defined by a prosperous society and an unchallenged, peaceful reign. And the other is what he is 99.9 percent more likely to endure. It's the future in which a simple "Targaryen girl" bent on the crown marches towards King's Landing with her growing legions and her dragons while two other armies, one made of wildlings and one made of white walkers, descend from the North motivated by nothing but bloodlust and destruction. In either case, Tommen is going to have to grow up fast to shoulder the burdens of the Iron Throne, and the ever-clever Margaery Tyrell is prepared to do whatever it takes to make a man out of this boy king. Since Lady Olenna is basically the Oracle of Game of Thrones, that makes The Little Rose both her granddaughter and her Neo. Margaery is The One, and when The Queen of Thorns reveals in yet another fantastic garden scene what Highgarden's most promising scion must do to ensure her place in the royal bloodline, Margaery moves swiftly into action. When Tommen calls out "Sir Pounce?" and the sultry young Tyrell glides through his door instead, lit only by the candle she carries, you can basically hear the kid hit puberty. The only thing better might be seeing how Cersei counter-moves for the heart of her only remaining son. Game on.
Neil deGrasse Tyson has long had a cult following of admirers—those who've yearned for an intelligent, charismatic figure to take the cultural place of Tyson's own esteemed mentor, Carl Sagan. A kicky little group called the Phenomenauts even wrote a song about him! And with the re-christening of the Ship of the Imagination under NdGT’s command, astrophysics has reached unprecedented levels of sexy. But two decades before "I'm With Neil" became a battle cry, Bill Nye was the science guy, and he had a theme song to prove it. Obviously this isn't a competition—when science wins, we all win—and Tyson and Nye are pals in addition to being colleagues, but Tyson has been getting a larger share of the spotlight since becoming the new face of Cosmos. That's why it's so nice to see Bill and his bowtie sit down with Seth Meyers to discuss taking on Creationists, selfie etiquette, and how he wasn't good enough to make it as a NASA astronaut. The guy is witty, charming and, not for nothing, remarkably well preserved. And it's nice to know we've got two competent, engaging individuals bringing science to the masses. No offense, Neil, but at least for today: I'm with Nye!
For being a bastion of freedom, anonymity, and creativity, the internet sure has a lot of rules, ranging from the obvious (Rule 49: One cat leads to another), to the … less obvious (Rule 2013: Rule 2012 is a lie. So are the Mayans). And since all these rules seem pretty arbitrary, we're going to add one of our own right now: If Cobie Smulders appears as agent Maria Hill on television, it must be posted, and further re-posted. Last week agent Melinda May set out to track down Hill and dig up information on the missing Nick Fury. This week, we find Hill fresh from a Congressional grilling and getting debriefed by now-coworker Pepper [presumably Potts] as May waits to continue the evening of interrogation on her own terms. Hill, as ever, remains unflappable, and May is going to have to get a lot better at striking fear into the hearts of others if she wants the high level answers she's looking for.
No amount of praise for Julia Louie-Dreyfus or HBO's Veep will ever be satisfactory. Dreyfus is the funniest person on television, and Veep is the funniest show. Full stop. Halfway into the third season, this ensemble is a living, evolving comedy organism. Making Jonah Ryan a trashy infotainment blogger? Perfection. Sending Vice President Meyer to Palo Alto and having her pledge to send the den of man-children she finds back to dial-up? Huzzah! In one episode, Veep manages to send up Silicon Valley more effectively than the show Silicon Valley. Dreyfus so fully embodies the cunning-yet-bumbling VP it's enough to move Elaine Benes from career-defining role to a clip on the highlight reel. Oh yeah, we said it. Dreyfus is, appropriately, the Master of Her Domain on TV. With a record 14 Emmy nominations, she is the only actress ever to win the trophy for work in three separate comedy series. That makes four total, since she's already doubled down with Emmys for her work as Selina Meyer. She may play second fiddle on her show as a lowly vice president, but if you want to know who holds comedy's highest office in TV Land, it is unquestionably Dreyfus.
On February 14, Ellen Page gave a thoughtful, heart-felt speech at the Human Rights Campaign's first annual Time to Thrive Conference. Page was there to speak on the need to promote safety and well being for LGBT youth, and, unbeknownst to probably everyone in the audience, she was also there to announce to the world that she herself is a gay. TMZ and its ilk had long ago filed Page under "closeted lesbian," and we've seen periodic third-hand-sourced stories about the actress' sexuality ever since. But this Valentine's Day, Page finally took her narrative back. And now, hearing her talk to OG Ellen about the transformative power of coming out is inspiring and beautiful. In a perfect world, admissions like the one Page made, and the one DeGeneres made long before her, will be pleasant non-events—relegated to tabloid side-bars even during slow "news" weeks—but until then, we need as many people as possible talking on national TV shows about the joy and relief of sharing their true selves with the world, regardless of what convention dictates. (Hey, it might even land you a sweet proposal from Kate Mara.)
Here's one we didn't see coming: a staid game show landing in the ranks of the weekly recap! On Wheel of Fortune's 6000th episode, Pat Sajak and his team broke new ground by inviting the first-ever special needs contestant on to spin the wheel—and spin he did! Trent is a 21-year-old lifelong fan of the Wheel, and seemed to experience nothing short of a dream coming true. What's extra good about Trent's appearance was the outpouring of support and encouragement from the online community. Now, this may come as a shock to some, but these things called "trolls" can make the internet an inhospitable, treacherous place. I know, right? Crazy. And even though TV and Twitter are the new peanut butter and jelly, sometimes that union can produce disastrous results in the form of bullying, wanton spoiling, and anything under the hashtag #GRAMMYmoment. But social networks at their best have the power to unite us and help people find community where they previously felt isolated. So here's to you, internet. This week you helped bring down a world-class racist, and lift up an everyday hero by spreading #TeamTrent far and wide. We done good.
