It's a TV show opening scene that seems simple enough, but it spawned a lot of Internet and TV chatter with millions (and millions) amused.

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Hot takes arrived left and right on entertainment sites and political pundits had their thoughts, too. (Left and right, I'm sure.) It was something simple and something planned that generated some buzz and even some high-profile tweets that went out to some 20 million people. (Meanwhile, the episode itself had just 588,000 people watching per Nielsen. Go figure.)

What is it? It's the opening-credits scene for the fifth season of Ballers and it had player-turned-agent-turned-businessman Spencer Strasmore (aka Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) reading a copy of Elizabeth Warren's 2017 book This Fight is Our Fight as he sat on the beach in the first episode. It all takes place quickly and Strasmore's down-time is interrupted first by his girlfriend (Arielle Kebbel) asking him why he never goes into the ocean -- then that's interrupted by a phone call from Bossman (aka the Ballers-world owner of the Dallas Cowboys) before he walks off down the shoreline to chat. The scene isn't about a paperback with tattered edges at all, really -- it's about the mystery of the water, what Strasmore might be hiding -- but that's how the book's brief on-screen life comes to an end.

Meanwhile, that actual copy of the book? Well, it's still alive and well.

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The Vampire Diaries may be in its eighth season, but it's Season 4 that's in the spotlight this week when it comes to cardboard as the show's new trading card set arrives on Wednesday from Cryptozoic.

Every box of The Vampire Diaries Season 4 will include at least one autograph and one memorabilia card with a pretty deep roster of signers that includes some of the series' longest-running stars.

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