week in vulture

10 Pop-Culture Questions Answered by Vulture This Week

Photo: Shawn Ehlers/Getty Images, Helen Sloan/HBO, Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Every week, Vulture faces the big, important questions in entertainment and comes to some creative conclusions. This week, we dried our tears over Game of Thrones, looked at the future of Mad Men, and wondered how the mighty Pharrell manages to get so much done. You may have read some of these stories below, but you certainly didn’t read them all. We forgive you.

1. Just how shocking was the Red Wedding on Game of Thrones?
Pretty damn shocking. Catelyn Stark herself, Michelle Fairley, walked us through the episode, and book fans and TV fans debated whose heartache was more intense: readers who were filled with dread all season, or TV-show-only watchers who were blindsided.

2. Speaking of GoT, just how popular is it?
Super, super popular for an HBO show. It’s second only to The Sopranos for the network.

3. How does Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing relate to Buffy?
In a whole bunch of ways, Whedon tells us.

4. How do you get Matt Damon to wear a jewel-encrusted Speedo?
Just ask! Behind the Candelabra’s costume designer, Ellen Mirojnick, says Damon had a ball.

5. Was Ryan Gosling good on Goosebumps?
Oh boy, yes. Say cheese and die!

6.How is John Oliver prepping himself for his twelve-week hosting gig on The Daily Show?
“David Lynch is all booked up, so instead I’m going to need to go to a mountaintop with Jon to learn all the jujitsu skills to run this show,” Oliver tells us.

7. How does Pharrell get so much done?
“No social life,” the producing superstar tells us. “That’s all it is. I love it, I’m thankful, I’m cool. You can’t get anything done hanging out all day long.”

8. What’s better than a regular Bob’s Burgers song?
A Stephin Merritt cover. “Electric Love” was already the best song Bob’s had ever done, and this “Bob’s Buskers” version just adds to the delight. “They’ll say Aw, Topsy/at my autopsy” never sounded so lovely.

9. What was UCB like back in the day?
Lots of drugs and sex, like you’d think.

10. Is Mad Men ever going to bring back Sal?
One hopes.

The Week in Vulture: June 1 to 7