Entertainment
Criminally Overlooked 90s Comedy Is The Ultimate Life Reset For An Iconic Sitcom Star
By Robert Scucci
| Updated
Faking your own death in order to start a new life is complicated by the fact that there aren’t any real resources out there to educate yourself on the process. Think about it. If somebody disappeared without a trace successfully, they’re not going to host an AMA on Reddit explaining how they did it because that would leave a digital footprint and defeat the entire purpose. George Wendt’s (or, Norm from Cheers) Warren Kooey in 1994’s Hostage for a Day finds himself in such a predicament, but instead comes up with an insane plan to kidnap himself so he can escape his unfulfilling marriage, move to Alaska, and finally live life on his own terms.
Complications arise along the way in this Canadian made-for-TV movie, which also happens to be John Candy’s first and only directorial effort, released posthumously one month after his death. As a low-budget TV feature, Hostage for a Day leaves a lot to be desired, but its premise and acting talent carry it further than its 15 percent audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes would lead you to believe. It won’t change your life by any stretch of the imagination, but if you want to see one of the dumbest life escape plans imaginable pushed into increasingly absurd territory, it’s a solid, low-stakes watch with a healthy amount of genuine laugh-out-loud moments.
Don’t Let The Promo Material Fool You
John Candy is given top billing in the promotional material for Hostage for a Day, but he’s only seen in a couple of scenes since most of his work here was done behind the camera instead of in front of it. The real star of the show is Warren Kooey, our hapless, hopeless, middle-aged protagonist who feels completely trapped in an unfulfilling life. Warren works as a clerk at his father-in-law V.D.’s (John Vernon) copy shop, and as a result has to bend to his will at the drop of a hat.
Warren experiences similar treatment from his wholly unsatisfied stay-at-home wife, Elizabeth (Robin Duke), who uses her father’s influence to get whatever she wants on the home front, including exorbitant home renovations from world-renowned handyman Hondo (Currie Graham). It’s clear that Elizabeth is having an affair with Hondo, as he’s always gutting Warren’s property under the guise of a professional working relationship. Warren, being the pushover that he is, just lets it happen.
After confronting his existential dread by talking to his own reflection on various flat, shiny surfaces, Warren finally hits his breaking point when he learns that Elizabeth has stolen $40,000 from his credit union account in order to fund her illicit affair with Hondo. Around this same time, Warren has a welcome run-in with his old flame, Diane St. Clair (Christopher Anne Templeton), with whom he once made elaborate plans to move to Alaska and live off the fat of the land.
With no money to his name and desperate to start fresh, Warren decides to act on his midlife crisis in the most extreme way possible. He straps road flares and an alarm clock to his chest, tells Elizabeth that he’s been kidnapped by Russians, calls the SWAT team, and demands a ransom for the exact amount of money that was stolen from him.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Hostage for a Day earns its namesake when the criminally underfunded SWAT team shows up, woefully unprepared to handle the situation. To make matters worse, Russian terrorist Yuri Petrovich (John Candy) conveniently breaks into the Kooey residence and actually holds Warren hostage for real. As you’d expect, Warren, who was only trying to orchestrate an elaborate ruse in order to start a new life, suddenly has to deal with genuine danger as his house gets pumped full of lead and he digs himself deeper into his self-kidnapping plot than he ever intended.
While you do have to settle for mid-90s made-for-TV production values, Hostage for a Day still has its moments, even if it ultimately plays like a middle-of-the-road comedy of errors. The main issue I had with the movie, and the thing that took me out of it the most, was how conveniently unlikable every single person in the film is. You can’t blame Warren Kooey for wanting out when his wife is a cold-hearted scorpion woman who robs him of his solitude while offering zero companionship. She’s also clearly testing out the new bedroom with Hondo faster than you can say, “Can I pour you a beer, Mr. Peterson?”
In other words, Warren is too likable, everybody else sucks, and it’s a little too convenient as a setup. I personally would have found it funnier if Warren’s life was simply average and he took these extreme measures because he was blowing everything else out of proportion. What we get instead is still funny, but you can only escalate a ridiculous setup so much before it starts to lose its luster.
Hostage for a Day is streaming for free on Tubi.
Entertainment
Gene Roddenberry Secretly Fixed Star Trek’s Earliest Plot Hole
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Star Trek is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Part of why that is so impressive is that this franchise has managed to maintain the same continuity for so many years. Sure, the Kelvinverse rebooted everything for a few movies, and we occasionally get glimpses of alternate universes with their own twisted history. But the main Trek timeline, from The Original Series through Starfleet Academy, has remained the same, which is an amazing creative achievement. But it also leads to something as annoying as it is inevitable: plot holes!
There are many seeming plot holes throughout the franchise. Heck, Starfleet Academy introduced more than its fair share in only one season. However, the earliest plothole goes back to William Shatner’s very first episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” This episode features a mock grave for James Tiberius Kirk that reads “James R. Kirk.” This weird screwup inspired decades of attempts by fans and creators to explain what happened. However, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry had a simple explanation from the very beginning. That is, the godlike character who created the tombstone was still fallible, meaning that this would be an in-universe screwup rather than a production error.
A Ghoulish Plot Hole
“Where No Man Has Gone Before” was actually the second pilot episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It’s the episode that sold NBC on this new show, which isn’t surprising, because this is a great hour of television. Strange energy from the galactic barrier gives one of Captain Kirk’s best friends, Gary Mitchell, godlike powers. Those powers are getting stronger by the minute, so Kirk eventually has to make the difficult decision to kill his buddy in the name of keeping the entire ship (and quite possibly the entire galaxy) safe.
At one point, Mitchell uses his powers to summon a tombstone that reads “James R. Kirk.” It makes for a great threat, but there’s just one problem: the character’s name is James Tiberius Kirk. Incidentally, Gene Roddenberry seemingly knew Kirk’s middle name early on, even though it wasn’t officially revealed (outside of The Animated Series) until The Undiscovered Country. In the introduction to Star Trek: The Classic Episodes 1, Original Series writer D.C. Fontana claimed that once Roddenberry noticed the mistake, he came up with a quick and easy explanation. “Gary Mitchell had godlike powers, but at base he was human. He made a mistake.”
Powers Like A God, Mind Like A Human
Unfortunately, Roddenberry kept this plot hole explanation to himself. I say “unfortunately” because this mistake sent fans into a tizzy trying to explain the discrepancy. On top of that, various Star Trek writers tried their hands at providing explanations. One such explanation came from Michael Jan Friedman’s non-canonical My Brother’s Keeper series. In these books, when the future captain meets Gary Mitchell, he claims his middle name is “Racquetball.” Later, when Kirk steamrolls through a discussion, Mitchell says the man’s middle name should be “Rhinoceros.” Therefore, Friedman explained that the “James R. Kirk” on the tombstone is just an in-joke between former friends.
Additionally, the late, great Star Trek writer Peter David tried his hand at an explanation. In his novel Q-Squared, the events of “Where No Man Has Gone Before” take place in a parallel reality in which Kirk’s middle initial really is “R.” In this non-canonical book, we also find out that Mitchell’s powers came from briefly being possessed by Q, who had to pull himself together across all of time and space. Quick side note: while Marvel has really played out the concept of multiverses, Q-Squared is an amazing novel, and every Trek fan should read it at least once.
These writers did their best to explain where “James R. Kirk” came from. On top of this, fans have constantly debated this issue, all trying to one-up each other in coming up with a suitable explanation for this plothole. As it turns out, though, none of this debating and speculating was necessary because Gene Roddenberry had the perfect explanation ready. Namely, that having the power of a god isn’t the same as having the unlimited knowledge of a god. It’s short, it’s simple, and it’s effective. Most of all, it does what Star Trek has always done best: keep the sci-fi storytelling centered around humanity.
Entertainment
The most read Kindle books of 2026 (so far)
Table of Contents
For my fellow Kindle users, ever wonder what other people are reading on their Kindles? Well, Amazon has some answers.
Each week, Amazon puts out a list of the most read books, which ranks books by the average number of daily Kindle readers and Audible listeners. So unlike a bestseller list, it shows you what titles other Kindle users are actually reading. Because let’s be real, we’re all guilty of buying a book and letting it sit on the shelf for a little too long.
Now that we’re nearly halfway through 2026, it’s time reveal the most read books, according to Kindle readers and Audible listeners. We gathered this list using Amazon’s Most Read charts, collecting which books (both fiction and non-fiction) spent the most time in the top 10 spots. It’s a fun mix of titles, compromised of new releases and old favorites.
So without ado, here are the most read Kindle and Audible books of 2026.
25. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
You’ll find Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke on every lists naming the best books of the year. The tradwife satire was released April 7, 2026 but it’s made such a splash that it’s already spent seven weeks in the Most Read top 10.
24. The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
First published in September 2020, The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel is still wildly popular. A compilation of 19 short stories, exploring the way we think about money, The Psychology of Money has spent seven weeks on the Most Read list in 2026.
23. London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe
Acclaimed author Patrick Radden Keefe returned with his latest book London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth, a feat of reporting diving into London’s seedy underbelly as a family fights to find the truth behind their son’s death. Released April 7, 2026, London Falling has already spent eight weeks on the Most Read list.
22. Famesick by Lena Dunham
The moment Famesick was released on April 14, 2026, it seemed like everyone was reading it and the Amazon charts confirmed that. Spending nine weeks on the Most Read charts, Dunham’s memoir which recounts the decade of her life marked by her HBO show Girls as well as the chronic illness that weighed her down, is a must read among Kindle and Audible readers.
21. Stripped Down by Bunnie XO
Bunnie XO has 2.5 million followers on Instagram and 12 million followers on TikTok all on top of her popular podcast Dumb Blonde. So it’s no surprise that her unapologetic memoir, Stripped Down, has spent nine weeks on the Most Read chart. Released, February 17, 2026, Stripped Down details Bunnie XO’s rise from the trailer parks of Vegas to the top of the podcast charts.
20. Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden
Dear Debbie is just one of Frieda McFadden’s books to spend weeks on the Most Read chart. Landing on the list for nine weeks, Dear Debbie is a thrilling read about a woman taking justice into her own hands, even if there are killer consequences.
19. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
Kindle and Audible users are all about self-help in 2026. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson has spent nine weeks on the Most Read chart, helping reachers develop a mindset to weather the storm of modern day living.
18. Brimstone by Callie Hart
Finally, some romantasy on the Most Read charts. Callie Hart’s second book in the Fae & Alchemy trilogy, Brimstone, spent nine weeks on the charts. The sequel to Quicksilver dives back to the vampire courts where newly crowned queen Saeris Fan must send Fisher to her homelands, a mission that could kill him.
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17. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
Despite being released in 2022, The Housemaid by Freida McFadden remained one of the most read books of 2026. Interest in The Housemaid hasn’t faded thanks to the movie adaptation starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. With over 3 million Goodreads ratings, if you still haven’t read The Housemaid, it begs the question — what are you waiting for?
16. You with the Sad Eyes by Christina Applegate
Beloved actress Christina Applegate is ready to say it all in her memoir You with the Sad Eyes, that spans her five decade long career, including her Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis in 2021. You with the Sad Eyes, spent 10 weeks on the Most Read charts since its March 3, 2026 release.
15. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
There’s this little known series about a boy named Harry Potter. We joke. But it is cool to see the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the Most Read charts 23 years after its release. What’s even cooler is that Amazon notes the average reader age of the book is nine, meaning kiddos are still diving in as this book spent 12 weeks on the charts.
14. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Dungeon Crawler Carl is just the beginning of Matt Dinniman’s epic, genre-bending series. First released in 2020, Dungeon Crawler Carl has spent fifteen weeks on the Most Read charts.
13. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
What’s fun about following the Most Read chart from the beginning of the year, is seeing how the books in the Harry Potter flunctuate position on the list as kiddos move through the series. Plenty made their way through the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which spent 15 weeks on the list.
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
The popularity continues with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling, which spent 15 weeks on the Most Read list in 2026, even 28 years after its release.
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire must be a fan favorite in the series as it spent 16 weeks on Amazon’s Most Read chart, letting readers bask in the magic of the Triwizard Tournament.
10. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Capturing the life of Sybil Van Antwerp, The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, tells the story of one’s life all through the letters she writes. Released in April of 2025, the novel has stayed on the Most Read charts for 17 weeks in 2026.
9. Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
Theo of Golden tells the story of a small town and the power of one stranger who slowly collects the stories of the people there. Allen Levi’s book has consistently been on bestseller lists and spent 20 weeks in the top ten most read books on Amazon.
8. Strangers by Belle Burden
Perhaps the most read memoir of 2026 is Belle Burden’s Strangers, which unpacks the end of her marriage in the early days of COVID. Already a bestseller, Burden’s memoir has spent 21 weeks on the Most Read chart.
7. The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Green
A classic can stand the test of time, best evidenced by Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power, which was first released in 2000, but has stayed on the Most Read chart for 22 weeks of 2026.
6. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Of course the most read Harry Potter book is the first. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone spent 22 weeks on the Most Read chart with readers as young as eight years old enjoying the classic fantasy.
5. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Project Hail Mary topped the box office and the Most Read chart this year. Andy Weir’s sci-fi novel was the fifth most read Kindle book of 2026, spending a staggering 23 weeks on the Most Read chart.
4. Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre
Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s posthumous memoir details her brave stance against Jeffery Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. The powerful, riveting read has spent 24 weeks among the top 10 Most Read non-fiction books.
3. Atomic Habits by James Clear
Also in the 24 weeks club is James Clear’s Atomic Habits, a guide and framework for changing your habits and your life. Released in 2018, Atomic Habits remains one of the most read Kindle books eight years later.
2. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin
In his bestselling book Too Big to Fail, Andrew Ross Sorkin details the history of the 2008 banking crisis. In his latest, 1929, Sorkin dives into the infamous 1929 crash that shaped our society today. 1929 has spent 24 weeks on the Most Read chart.
1. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
Mel Robbins’ Let Them Theory has sold millions of copies, so it’s no surprise it remains one of the most read books, too. Spending 24 weeks on the Most Read chart, Kindle users are diving into Robbins’ bestselling book.
Entertainment
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for June 20, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition will be easier if you know collegiate sports.
As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight, and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes before the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
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Yellow: Baseball nicknames
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Green: Cyclist clothing
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Blue: Geographically specific
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Purple: Same word, different meanings
Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: New York Yankees, informally
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Green: Tour de France jerseys
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Blue: Locations of Big 12 Schools
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Purple: What “boot” might mean
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #635 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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New York Yankees, informally: BRONX BOMBERS, EVIL EMPIRE, PINSTRIPES, YANKS
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Tour de France jerseys: GREEN, POLKA DOT, WHITE, YELLOW
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Locations of Big 12 schools: BOULDER, FORT WORTH, MANHATTAN, WACO
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What “boot” might mean: CLEAT, EJECT, KICK, MISHANDLE
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to the latest Connections.
Japan shut out Tunisia, which will not advance from group stage
Spacestation Gaming move atop OWCS Stage 2 standings
