The Update with Brandon Julien

Today’s Update Journal is all about wishlists — the ones the city makes, and the ones parents secretly sabotage. On one hand, we’ve got MTA chief Janno Lieber rolling out his 2026 transit wishlist like a kid circling every single toy in the December catalog: more service, better reliability, maybe a miracle or two if the budget elves cooperate. It’s ambitious. It’s hopeful. It’s… probably going to...

Today’s Update Journal takes you from the chaos of primetime to the calm glow of midtown. First up: Deal or No Deal: Island of Confusion — the reality show so bewildering that even Howie Mandel couldn’t save it from itself. We break down why the concept never quite added up… and why maybe some classics are better left untouched. Then we pivot from TV turbulence to holiday perfection with The Rocke...

Today’s edition is pure New York energy — equal parts drama, confusion, and “did that really just happen?” The Mets have once again treated the Yankees like their own personal lost-and-found bin, reaching in and pulling out Devin Williams like a kid grabbing the last toy on the shelf at Target. Apparently the city now has a baseball transfer portal, and the Mets are the only ones who know the pass...

Another winter, another round of “Snow Day Politics,” the annual NYC ritual where logic goes to die. Once upon a time, we stayed up until 1 a.m. refreshing the DOE website like we were waiting to see who got the first pick in the NBA Draft. Then De Blasio came along and declared the snow day extinct, replacing it with remote learning—because nothing says “holiday magic” like logging into Zoom whil...

Today in The Update Journal, we revisit the annual tradition that turns even the bravest among us into rule-writing tyrants: the 2025 Potluck. Yes, it’s that magical time of year when everyone suddenly discovers they have dietary restrictions, allergies, or moral objections to dishes that have existed for centuries. This year, however, I’ve decided to do something bold. Something daring. Something...

New York football has officially left the chat… again. The Jets have clinched their annual tradition of heartbreak, the Giants became the first team eliminated from the postseason (because of course they did), and all of us are already Googling “When does baseball season start?” like we didn’t swear off the Mets at least twice last year. Misery truly does love company—good thing both teams are pro...

This week on The Update Journal, we’re carving up a holiday trio so wild it makes the Macy’s balloons question whether they should’ve just floated away for good. First up: Marjorie Taylor Greene decides she’s had enough of Congress — or maybe Congress finally had enough of her. Either way, she’s resigning in January, proving once again that sometimes the biggest plot twist is the ending everyone s...

On the road from American Dream, we learned that even a mall with a ski slope, a theme park, and pretzels priced like luxury items can’t compete with the glory of going home, taking off your shoes, and collapsing like a drained iPhone. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Friday, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said that he’s “not concerned” his upcoming meeting with President Trump could be a political...

This week in the wild world of The Update, the internet caught a full-blown case of pneumonia after Cloudflare let out the tiniest sneeze — reminding us once again that our entire digital universe is apparently held together with bubble gum and hope. Meanwhile, the MTA promised a bold new era where rear-door boarding might finally become a thing… just as soon as OMNY stops behaving like a fussy to...

Tis The Season- For Unaffordability. This Thanksgiving will cost the average American almost $1,000, new research has revealed. That’s according to a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults who celebrate Thanksgiving, split evenly by generation. In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Tuesday, an NYPD cop took a shotgun blast to the face after being ambushed in Brooklyn by a suspected killer — but got off the fat...

Hello everyone! We're going into #TheUpdate vault to play one of our many episodes throughout our many years of the show. For today's episode, we go into the world of 2020- or as we call it around here, Year 4 of The Update. It was a weird year- starting off in the WKRB studios and then going out on the road (in the middle of a pandemic no less!), but somehow, we found a way to make it wor...

Hello everyone! We're going into #TheUpdate vault to play one of our many episodes throughout our many years of the show. For today's episode, we go into the world of 2020- or as we call it around here, Year 4 of The Update. It was a weird year- starting off in the WKRB studios and then going out on the road (in the middle of a pandemic no less!), but somehow, we found a way to make it wor...

Hello everyone! We're going into #TheUpdate vault to play one of our many episodes throughout our many years of the show. For today's episode, we go into the world of 2020- or as we call it around here, Year 4 of The Update. It was a weird year- starting off in the WKRB studios and then going out on the road (in the middle of a pandemic no less!), but somehow, we found a way to make it wor...

Hello everyone! We're going into #TheUpdate vault to play one of our many episodes throughout our many years of the show. For today's episode, we go into the world of 2020- or as we call it around here, Year 4 of The Update. It was a weird year- starting off in the WKRB studios and then going out on the road (in the middle of a pandemic no less!), but somehow, we found a way to make it wor...

Today’s Update Journal is taking you on a rollercoaster — the kind where one minute you’re debating childcare policy and the next you’re suddenly emotional over cranberry sauce. Buckle up. First, we dive into The Childcare Question: the promise, the price tag, and the collective New York skepticism of “Okay… but can we actually do this, or are we all just pretending?” It’s ambitious, it’s inspirin...

Hello everyone! We're going into #TheUpdate vault to play one of our many episodes throughout our many years of the show. For today's episode, we go into the world of 2020- or as we call it around here, Year 4 of The Update. It was a weird year- starting off in the WKRB studios and then going out on the road (in the middle of a pandemic no less!), but somehow, we found a way to make it wor...

Hello everyone! We're going into #TheUpdate vault to play one of our many episodes throughout our many years of the show. For today's episode, we go into the world of 2020- or as we call it around here, Year 4 of The Update. It was a weird year- starting off in the WKRB studios and then going out on the road (in the middle of a pandemic no less!), but somehow, we found a way to make it wor...

Today’s Update Journal delivers a full buffet of stories — and like any good buffet, you’re not sure how these dishes ended up next to each other, but somehow it works. We kick things off with a genuine MTA miracle — yes, you read that right — as the Mamdani proposal inches from pipe dream to possible reality, proving that sometimes transit justice does show up fashionably late. Then we pivot to t...

On today’s Update Journal, we celebrate Day 44 of the government shutdown finally coming to a close — or at least going on winter break until January, where it will undoubtedly return like an unwelcome Netflix reboot. In the next Mamdani proposal, we dive into “The Public Option for Produce,” the latest idea that sounds promising, confusing, and slightly like a farmers’ market run by the DMV. Mean...

Day 43 of the government shutdown, and Congress swears they’re almost there — though at this point, “almost” has been working harder than most members of Congress. Meanwhile, the post-election hangover continues as the last of the attack ads finally fade off our screens — leaving us with that eerie silence where you start to question if your own toaster is secretly endorsing a candidate. On a more...

Day 41 of the government shutdown — or as Congress calls it, “Sunday.” Senators gathered for a rare weekend session to “work things out,” which in D.C. language means grandstanding with snacks provided. Meanwhile, in Major League Baseball, the Cleveland Guardians are living up to their name by guarding their right to embarrass the sport. Two of their pitchers have been arrested for gambling, provi...

Hello everyone! We're going into #TheUpdate vault to play one of our many episodes throughout our many years of the show. For today's episode, we go into the world of 2020- or as we call it around here, Year 4 of The Update. It was a weird year- starting off in the WKRB studios and then going out on the road (in the middle of a pandemic no less!), but somehow, we found a way to make it wor...

We've done a lot of episodes throughout our many years of #TheUpdate, but some of them are my personal favorites. Every month, we're going to go into The Update vault and play one episode from my personal list of favorite episodes. I hope you enjoy them as much as i did hosting it.

Hello everyone! We're going into #TheUpdate vault to play one of our many episodes throughout our many years of the show. For today's episode, we go into the world of 2020- or as we call it around here, Year 4 of The Update. It was a weird year- starting off in the WKRB studios and then going out on the road (in the middle of a pandemic no less!), but somehow, we found a way to make it wor...

If it feels like we’ve been here before—it’s because we have. Day 38 of the government shutdown has Congress stuck in the political version of Groundhog Day, where everyone swears this time they’ll fix it, only to hit “repeat” like a Netflix user who fell asleep on episode one. Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi is officially stepping off the stage—for real this time. It’s the political equivalent of your fa...