And just like that, Katseye is down yet another member. A few weeks back, I wrote about how the international girl group is basically becoming that photo from the end of an America’s Next Top Model episode. Both Sophia Laforteza and Manon Bannerman are on indefinite hiatuses, and now Megan Skiendiel is also on a break after a sprained ankle. With only three members left standing, the group pulled out of Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields festival. Being a member of Katseye is starting to feel like being hired as the Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

But ankles aside, this has been a big week in pop culture news. Billie Eilish officiated her brother Finneas’s wedding, Travis Kelce appeared in a Tommy Hilfiger ad, and Ariana Grande’s tour finally came to an end. After Ariana pulled out of the West End version of Sunday in the Park with George to “take a step back from visibility,” her Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey also announced his departure this week.

In perhaps the most surprising news of the week, however, nearly all of the Love Island USA Season 8 couples are still together, or at least claimed to be on the show’s reunion. The couples still going strong include Trinity and Bryce, Melanie and Sincere, Aniya and Carl, Kayda and Zach, Titi and KC, and Kenzie and Dylan. The only breakups so far were Jaiden/Caleb and Parmida/Corbin. Especially given that the series wrapped up at the beginning of July, it’s wild that six pairs have lasted two months in the real world. Call me a pessimist, but I’m bracing for a slew of breakup announcements once the first set of influencer checks clear.

But now onto the biggest story of the week…

Update On My Close Personal Friends — The Dancing With the Stars cast just dropped

After months of slow-rolling the casting announcements for Dancing With the Stars season 35, the full list of celebs, along with their partner pros, has finally been shared. Here’s who’s competing:

• Tatyana Ali (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star) & Jan Ravnik

• Tyler Cameron (The Bachelorette contestant) & Sharna Burgess

• Giada De Laurentiis (Celebrity chef) & Alan Bersten

• Jenna Dewan (Step Up star) & Val Chmerkovskiy

• Ezra French (Paralympic track and field athlete) & Daniella Karagach

• Amber Glenn (Olympic figure skater) & Pasha Pashkov

• Taylor Hanson (Hanson band member) & Britt Stewart

• Maura Higgins (Love Island contestant) & Mark Ballas

• Conner Leavitt (The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives cast member) & Adele Zaikman (The winner of Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro)

• Ciara Miller (Summer House cast member) & Brandon Armstrong

• Sarah Jane Nader (Love Thy Nader cast member) & Hailey Bills

• Jackson Olson (Savannah Bananas baseball player) & Emma Slater

• Guillermo Rodriguez (Jimmy Kimmel Live! star) & Witney Carson

• Harry Shum Jr. (Glee star) & Jenna Johnson

• Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You star) & Ezra Sosa

• Connor Wood (Comedian and podcaster) & Rylee Arnold

I don’t know if this is a hot take, but I feel immediately bad for everyone who is not Jenna Dewan, Amber Glenn, and Harry Shum Jr. on this cast. Those are three people who have built careers out of dance/dance-adjacent fields, which doesn’t quite seem fair. Everyone else is just competing for that Dylan Efron finale slot for audience favorite who somewhat improves. The show premieres on September 15, so get your texting fingers ready to go.

The Couch Report — Finding Emily

Since I just spent a whole newsletter talking about everything to watch coming out in September, I figured I’d throw it back slightly to shout out an August release that’s still playing in theaters. Finding Emily is a delightful British rom-com starring Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Angourie Rice Tell Me Everything’s Spike Fearn. On a drunk night out, Owen (Fearn) has a whirlwind encounter with a girl named Emily, who has to leave the bar in a rush before he can get her contact information. Completely smitten, Owen then sends a mass email to everyone in the university directory, including Emily Raine (Rice), who decides to help him find the correct Emily as part of her psychology thesis on love. As is often the case with rom-coms, however, in the process of finding the first Emily, Owen ends up falling for the second. Especially if you loved Voicemails From Isabelle earlier this year, this one’s for you.

Be So For Real — The Met Gala’s in search of a new theme

The Met Gala needs a new theme if anyone has any ideas. The 2027 “Super Bowl of fashion” and its accompanying exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art were initially announced as honoring John Galliano, the former creative director of both Givenchy and Dior. However, after intense backlash regarding anti-semitic and anti-Asian remarks resurfaced, Galliano announced on Instagram that he is withdrawing from the event. That leaves the 2027 Met Gala, set to take place on May 3, without a dress code or an exhibit to honor. While there is still plenty of time to pivot, an event of this scope traditionally takes over a year to plan, so Anna Wintour and co. will need to announce a new theme ASAP. I’d like to suggest “Double Ds: A Celebration of Style Icons Diane Keaton and Dolly Parton.” Tell me that wouldn’t be fun!

Current Hyperfixation — The Anne Hathaway-aissance is headed to a racetrack near you

There’s no rest for the weary…or the pregnant in the case of Anne Hathaway. After her five-movie/one-baby year in 2026, she’s already announcing new projects including a requel of Tom Cruise’s 1990 NASCAR drama Days of Thunder. In a slightly awkward Instagram post, Hathaway said she’s going to give birth and then start shooting this film, which is set to premiere June 2, 2028. She’ll be playing the racecar team owner, but we don’t know much about the plot aside from that. While Anne does have a Ron Howard-directed war drama waiting in the wings without a release date, this is her first big project announcement following the success of The Odyssey and The Devil Wears Prada 2, so it will be interesting to see what else she’s got up her sleeve.

Movies. TV shows. Comedy specials. Middle-aged women bickering about whose house in the Hamptons is nicer. There’s never been more content, and it can be overwhelming to keep track of what to watch and when (not to mention whether you need to see it in 70MM IMAX). Luckily, we here at Betches have you covered. We’ve combed through the release calendars, watched our screeners, and have assembled a list of everything worth watching this month. From buzzy new TV shows premiering to old favorites returning, there’s plenty of great content hitting the airwaves this month, while excellent films are debuting on the big screen. So get ready to set some calendar reminders for yourself; here are 15 movies and TV shows arriving in September 2026 that you won’t want to miss.

15 must-see movies and TV shows coming out in September 2026

The Family Plan

Release Date: September 1
How To Watch: Netflix

Betches’ own Jared Freid has a second Netflix special dropping this month to follow up 37 & Single (both of which Betches executive produced). From vacationing with his parents to watching Karen videos, Jared keeps his issues in the family in this rapid-fire hour-long set.

Fall 2: Deadpoint

Release Date: September 2
How To Watch: In theaters

I watched Fall, the movie about two girls getting trapped on top of a 2,000-foot TV tower, while on a plane, and was THOROUGHLY engrossed. Now the thriller series is back with two new women stranded on the side of a Thai mountain trying to survive. If you’re afraid of heights, I wouldn’t recommend watching. You will be stressed out.

The Real Housewives of New York City Season 16

Release Date: September 8
How To Watch: New episodes weekly on Bravo, next day streaming on Peacock

After a disastrous Season 15, Bravo is attempting yet another RHONY reboot. This time they’re bringing back the beloved Carole Radziwill (who starred on Seasons 5-10) to helm a cast featuring three reboot returnees (Sai De Silva, Erin Lichy, and Jessel Taank) and three brand new faces (Jon Gosselin’s ex, Hailey Glassman; the wife of a billionaire, Erika Hammond; and Martha Stewart’s make-up artist, Daisy Toye). I’m tentatively intrigued.

Hope

Release Date: September 8
How To Watch: In theaters

Set in a sleepy South Korean mountain town, Hope follows a bumbling local police chief trying to keep his town safe when it’s beset upon by a terrifying monster. The rip-roaring, adrenaline-soaked action thriller pits the locals against the bloodthirsty creature in an epic battle for survival that also features husband-and-wife duo Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander.

I Don’t Trust Adults

Release Date: September 10
How To Watch: Veeps

Another Betches familiar face, Ruby Karp, is also debuting her stand-up special this month. In I Don’t Trust Adults, Ruby tells the story of 6 different adults who cause her to be forever suspicious of adults. The Veeps recording follows a hit 6-week run at the SoHo Playhouse, where the special was filmed.

Practical Magic 2

Release Date: September 11
How To Watch: In theaters

28 years after the original Practical Magic cemented its place in the Halloween movie canon, Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Dianne Wiest, and Stockard Channing are back for a witchy sequel. As with most legacy reboots, we’ve also got a new generation of witches, played by Joey King and Maisie Williams, entering the action. It’s the perfect start to Spooky Season 2026.

The Emmys

Release Date: September 14
How To Watch: NBC/Peacock

Hacks vs. Widow’s Bay. Pluribus vs. The Pitt. The Daily Show vs. The Late Show. The 2026 Emmy Awards will feature nail-biting matchups as it honors the best TV of the past year. Newbies like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, and All Her Fault will face off against longtime hits like Abbott Elementary, Only Murders in the Building, and The Bear. I’m just hoping that Paul W. Downs and Meg Stalter win his & hers Emmys.

Dancing with the Stars Season 35

Release Date: September 16
How To Watch: New episodes weekly on ABC

While Dancing with the Stars is taking their sweet ole time announcing the cast and returning pros for the upcoming season, we do know that Maura Higgins, Ciara Miller, Jackson Olson, and Guillermo Rodriguez will all be there. Plus, we’ve also got three finalists left on Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro, which will reveal its winner tonight. Everyone, make sure to pay your phone bills, because we’re going to be sending texts like crazy come premiere night.

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 7

Release Date: September 16
How To Watch: New episodes weekly on Bravo, next day streaming on Peacock

RHOSLC has quickly become the most reliable Bravo franchise on air, and with a trio of divorces and the introduction of a new “friend of,” Season 7 is destined to keep the SLC girls in rarefied air. Sadly, this season will also cover the death of Mary Cosby’s son Robert Cosby Jr., which took place in February. Hopefully the women will be able to put aside their differences to rally around Mary during this difficult time.

The Traitors: New Blood

Release Date: September 17
How To Watch: New episodes weekly on NBC, next day streaming on Peacock

While the UK version of The Traitors has been rocking with normal people contestants since the beginning, the US version quickly jettisoned the normie half of their cast in Season 2, focusing on an all-celeb version. Now the US is releasing a civilian version of The Traitors, which will air on NBC and feature some interesting new gameplay given that the cast won’t know each other as the celebs do. Consider me seated.

Slow Horses Season 6

Release Date: September 18
How To Watch: New episodes weekly on Apple TV+

Apple TV+’s unlikely hit is back for a sixth season this fall. The spy thriller, starring Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, and Kristin Scott Thomas, has become beloved since its 2022 premiere, scooping up numerous Emmy nominations along the way. The sixth season will follow the events of two of the novels in Mick Herron’s series, Joe Country and Slough House, in case you want to read the books first.

Youth

Release Date: September 20
How To Watch: New episodes weekly on HBO

Sharon Horgan is back! The Irish comedian behind Catastrophe and Bad Sisters has a new series, Youth, debuting on HBO this month. The romantic comedy, starring Horgan and Ruper Friend, will focus on a 50-year-old divorcee juggling romance with taking care of her aging parents and adult son. Horgan doesn’t miss, so this is bound to be hilarious.

The Voice Season 30

Release Date: September 21
How To Watch: New episodes weekly on NBC, next day streaming on Peacock

There’s nothing quite like The Voice airing its 30th season to make me feel old, especially since it premiered while I was in college (*PRIMAL SCREAM*), but NBC’s singing competition is marking this anniversary with something big: the arrival of Queen Latifah. The iconic rapper/actress will be joining veteran judges Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine, along with newcomer Riley Green, to coach this year’s contestants to greatness.

Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!

Release Date: September 25
How To Watch: In theaters

If Dancing with the Stars isn’t enough ballroom dancing for you, this Sundance Festival darling about a ballroom dancer whose partner suddenly passes away will plop you back in the magical world of dance. Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi stars in this delightful portrait of grief, love, and Dirty Dancing needle drops.

Primetime

Release Date: September 25
How To Watch: In theaters

My Robert Pattinson Oscar campaign is about to kick into high gear. The never-been-nominated star will play To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen in this thriller/biopic. It’s the cherry on top of Pattinson’s already stellar year that includes The Drama, The Odyssey, and Dune: Part Three. Oh, and Phoebe Bridgers is also in this movie.

Many have tried to crack the Gen Z young-adult sitcom, but, much like Penelope’s suitors' failure to string Odysseus’s bow, it’s a deceptively difficult task.

Friends was the product of a simpler, happier time that our present-day dysphoria could never hope to brush. If How I Met Your Mother premiered in 2026, Ted would be cancelled by TikTok for being a sad-boy pick-me. If a show is too nice, it feels sterile and sanitized, like you can almost see the actors’ modesty garments outlined through their jeans. If it’s too “edgy,” the characters sound like skibidi toilet Claude on cocaine.

The pilot episode of Adults begins with Issa (Amita Rao) in an unblinking stare-down jerk-off-off with an unsavory public masturbator on the subway. It’s a shock-value play that earns your initial attention, but the easy connection between the floundering roommates, who all share a house in Queens, keeps it.

The comedy cleared the first-season hurdle, evading the why-didn’t-this-go-viral-overnight cancellation curse, with its sophomore season now streaming on FX and Hulu. Ahead of the drop, I caught up with the Adults newlyweds, Jack Innanen and Owen Thiele, whose characters Paul Baker and Anton got green-card-married in the season one finale.

“I get really nervous for these,” Thiele, one of the most charismatic individuals I’ve ever met, offers as we’re about to get started.

“He’s fibbing,” Innanen quickly counters, and I’m much more inclined to believe him.

Betches: Season 1 of Adults came out a little over a year ago, so you were probably on a very similar press circuit around this time in 2025. How is it different this time around?

Innanen: The one word that comes to mind is “playful.” It feels like going into grade 10. You’re not scared of high school anymore or needing to make friends or not knowing who the teachers are. It feels like we’re back in our groove. We’re so in the pocket. Season one was a blast on set, but season two was like, “Oh, we can fuck around.”

Thiele: It was absolutely a horrible experience. It was an abusive set. No, I really feel that because we established these relationships outside of work, it was so much easier to play the characters. I never went to college, but I assume it’s what college feels like.

Innanen: Yeah, I actually dropped out, too, but that’s a bar.

Betches: In the Season 1 finale, Anton and Paul get green-card married. It’s heavily implied that even though Paul is with Issa, there’s a spark that’s more than platonic with Anton. Can you give us a peek into what’s going on in your characters’ heads?

Thiele: The tensions are high when season two picks up because, obviously, Anton and Paul Baker have had this romantic kiss, and it feels like both of them might have unspoken feelings. Will they speak them? Who knows! You should find out by watching the television show.

Innanen: The season explores what love means in all of its capacities.

Thiele: That was gorgeous. That should be the tagline of the show.

Betches: In the Season 2 premiere, there is a large discussion around scrubbing embarrassing or downright problematic posts from one’s social media. Is there anything you’re glad you removed from the internet before you got famous?

Innanen: So many things immediately come to mind that I don’t even want to name in case you put it in the article and it hasn’t been properly scrubbed.

Thiele: Here’s the deal. I don’t scrub. I am an open book. I’m noticing that people are going down on my Instagram and commenting, “What is this?” And I’m like, “Leave it. I don’t care.” I think we’re all who we are, and we shouldn’t be ashamed of our past unless we’ve done something absolutely horrifying.

Innanen: At the end of that episode, there are real clips of us as teenagers. For me, they used the cringiest YouTube videos you can imagine that I made at 14 or 15. That made my stomach hurt.

Thiele: When it played at the premiere last night, I was sitting next to Jack, and when his video came on, he started screaming at the top of his lungs so that people in the audience wouldn’t hear. And I’m like, “My love, this is going on screens across the world. You’re not going to be able to scream in everyone’s living room.”

Innanen: I’m gonna tell them to cut it.

Betches: Speaking of internet lore, you both kickstarted your careers on the internet. Are there any emerging creators who you love right now that remind you of where you were a few years ago?

Inannen: Oh, what a nice question, and I’m blanking immediately. Can I look at my phone really quick?

Thiele: Emma Chamberlain is an emerging creator I really love. I think she’s really special and has something really unique there.

Innanen: There’s this guy, Jony Brony; I think he’s hilarious. Simon Mayer is hilarious. There are a lot of people who are keeping TikTok sketch comedy from 2019, 2020 alive, and I’m like, they’re the last bastion.

Thiele: I think Lisa Gilroy is so brilliant. She’s not an emerging creator; she’s been on every television show that ever existed. And of course, Jake Shane. Super emerging. Really working his way up.

Betches: Both of your characters have a bit of a fixation on being likable – Anton needs every stranger to fall in love with him, and we learn this season that Paul Baker molds his personality to be a perfect fit for his surroundings. Is that something either of you can relate to personally?

Innanen: That’s a really good question. It was honestly therapeutic to play that out in a simulation and then see what that actually means for me in my real life. I recognized through doing that episode that there’s shame associated with using a joke with Friend Group A that you wouldn’t use with Friend Group B.

I definitely have a bro side to me. But then I can meet my friend’s mom and be like, “Oh my god, how are you?”

Thiele: Jack will be with me looking at hot men’s bodies being like, “Gorgeous,” and then I see him with the bros, and I’m like, “What does this mean?” You become a different person.

Innanen: I contain multitudes.

Thiele: I’m a friend slut through and through, and I didn’t have to search much for that. I have a lot of people’s numbers in my phone that I don’t know. It was fun to play that [on the show] because I was realizing, “God, I got to shape up. I got to be different. I have to ultimately stop this habit.”

Betches: A major theme on Adults has been the young adult challenge of balancing finding your passion with having a job that pays the bills. If you guys weren’t in entertainment, what type of sad, eating-Cava-at-your-desk email job do you think you would have?

Thiele: Wait, that sounds amazing. I love Cava.

Innanen: I went to school for this STEM program, and on my first day they showed us this pie chart and said: “50% of you are going to go into academia, and 50% of you are going to go into military technology.” And I was like, “Oh, I don’t want to do either of those actually.” So I guess I’d probably be a research assistant for a comm satellite and be pulling up data.

Thiele: I don’t know one word you just said. Genuinely. Not one word. What comm? What satellites?

Inannen: Just like, GPS satellites. I’d be the guy who’s like, “Yup, it’s still up.” That’d be me all day.

Thiele: You know what I’d love to do? Go through people’s bags at TSA.

Inannen: Just because you’re nosy.

Thiele: I’m like, “Can I see your passport? Okay, show me your fake too. Lemme just see it, girl. Is it a good pic or what?”

It’s hard to imagine a more beloved human being than Dolly Parton. The country singer/actress/songwriter/author/style icon/theme park owner/COVID vaccine advocate/Beyoncé collaborator/office sharpshooter died on Tuesday at age 80. Her team shared a statement that read, “After bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones.” Obviously, the world was gutted by the news, with fans young and old flooding onto social media to share their grief. Dolly occupied a rare place in pop culture, built over the course of her 50+ year career, where just about everyone loved her. 22-year-old Bushwick hipsters have Dolly Parton tattoos, while my 86-year-old grandfather in Michigan plays her music on his guitar. She was one-of-one, and as her volunteering to get the COVID vaccine early proved, she brought a sense of hope, warmth, and stability even in the scariest of times.

My first memory of Dolly Parton came as a child spending the night at my grandmother’s house while my parents were out of town. My grandma broke out a VHS copy of 9 to 5, and I was instantly enamored by Dolly’s charm and perfect sense of comedic timing. I listened to the catchy title track for weeks afterwards, and still play it on days when I’m commuting into the office early.

Over the course of her career, Dolly appeared in hit films like The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Steel Magnolias, guest-starred in Hannah Montana and Grace and Frankie, and was awarded an honorary Oscar for her humanitarian work. She earned 11 Grammy Awards and over 50 nominations and wrote timeless classics like “I Will Always Love You,” “Coat of Many Colors,” and “Jolene.” Not to mention she’s got an entire theme park named after her. She will be greatly missed, but her legacy will live on.

Update On My Close Personal Friends — The Dolly Parton tributes prove just how loved she was

Over her long career, Dolly Parton worked with nearly everyone in Hollywood and the music business, and so touching tributes came pouring in on Tuesday, following the announcement of her death. Here’s just a handful of the many kind words she received.

• Taylor Swift wrote that “She was truly the gift that kept on giving. Dolly gave us someone to look up to while encouraging us to be who we are as individuals. Somehow she was able to give us her lessons about the world gently and honestly, simultaneously, and oftentimes hilariously.”

• Jane Fonda, Dolly’s 9 to 5 costar, wrote, “I am devastated. More than anyone I have ever known, Dolly will always be with us because she was so present, so powerful, so generous and playful that she is woven into all our lives and hearts forever.”

• Sally Field, who starred with Dolly in Steel Magnolias, wrote, “If there are truly angels on earth, then we just lost one, Dolly Parton. There will never be another. I adored her with all my heart and will always cherish our time together.”

• Julia Roberts, another Steel Magnolias costar, wrote, “I hold knowing her as a treasure in my life. The sun has dimmed today.”

• Beyoncé, who collaborated with Dolly on Cowboy Carter, wrote, “You were the barometer. The North Star. Bold and brilliant. Talented and Tenacious. You taught so many lessons on how to be uniquely oneself.”

• Country music icon Reba McEntire wrote, “Dolly, thank you for all the wonderful things you did for us here on earth. Your love, your music and you gave us so much with your huge, huge heart. There will never ever be another you.”

• Even Eminem posted about Dolly, sharing, “Even for a kid who mostly listened to rap music, she was an icon. A superstar in every sense. Rest easy Dolly.”

  

The Couch Report — Adults is back for Season 2

In cheerier news, Adults comes back on Thursday, August 27 for its second season. The FX hit about five friends living in Queens became an instant hit in 2025, and is finally back with eight new episodes, which will drop two-at-a-time over the next month. This comes just a month after a one-episode special that focused on the backstory of Paul Baker (Jack Innanen) aired. Returning alongside Innanen are Malik Elassal, Lucy Freyer, Amita Rao, and Owen Thiele, but Season 2 will also boast an impressive lineup of guest stars including Raven-Symoné, Gaten Matarazzo, Jake Shane, Isaac Powell, Ben Marshall, and Girls star Zosia Mamet. Will Adults become the Gen Z Girls? Only time will tell.

Be So For Real — This Harry Potter show is having trouble finding actors

Speaking of guest stars, HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series will boast quite a few across its planned seven seasons. While Season 1 has wrapped filming and will premiere on Christmas, Season 2 is struggling to fill out its cast. Nicholas Hoult was announced to play the role of Gilderoy Lockhart in Season 2, but after a deluge of negative feedback related to J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans political statements, he dropped out, citing “scheduling conflicts.” Game of Thrones actor Kit Harington was then announced as his replacement. This is only the latest in a string of casting controversies, however, that included Jon Lithgow facing intense public blowback for signing on to play Albus Dumbledore and SNL pointing out that casting a Black actor, Paapa Essiedu, as Severus Snape, the one professor who Harry hates, might not be the wisest choice. Perhaps the biggest issue with casting the new Harry Potter TV series, however, is the sheer number of iconic UK actors who were already in the Harry Potter movies. It seems like we could be destined for a half-American cast by the time we get to Order of the Phoenix. We’ve already got an American Dumbledore after all.

Current Hyperfixation — Taylor Lautner’s baby name

For those of you who are unaware, Twilight star Taylor Lautner married a woman named Taylor, who took his last name. That means that yes, Taylor Lautner is married to Taylor Lautner (or Tay as she goes by now). However, the two are expecting their first child together, and the internet obviously wants them to name the child Taylor Lautner as well. On an episode of Call Her Daddy, Tay said that the naming choice isn’t off the table and that they’ve joked about just calling the baby TJ. “I feel like if I don’t name my baby Taylor, the Internet’s literally gonna cancel me,” Tay quipped. “I’m gonna get canceled.” I would feel really bad for a second child, however, if it’s named Greg Lautner when all three of its immediate family members are named Taylor. Like, imagine those Christmas Cards. “Happy Holidays from Taylor, Taylor, Taylor, and Greg.”

With Labor Day just two weeks away, everyone is packing their final summer weekends to the gills, and that includes the stars. A wave of announcements, appearances, and appendicitis rolled in this weekend, so you’d be forgiven for missing a few of these news items while at your beach/barbecue/block party. But let me catch you up on everything that happened:

Emmy juggernaut The Pitt dropped its first teaser trailer for Season 3. Dr. Robby is clocking back in for another shift, which I’m sure will be as low-key and uneventful as ever. While not officially announced by ABC, Page Six is reporting that 10 Things I Hate About You star Julia Stiles will be competing on the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars. In other dancing-related news, Harry Styles and Zoë Kravitz have arrived in NYC ahead of Harry’s residency at Taylor Swift’s wedding venue, Madison Square Garden, which will kick off on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Kacey Musgraves hung from a giant disco-ball scrotum (aka disco balls) during her tour, and Phoebe Bridgers learned her new album hit #1 in the UK while in the hospital recovering from appendicitis. Plus, Sydney Sweeney dressed up as Wonder Woman, Margot Robbie dressed up as Meredith Blake, and Jonathan Bailey dressed up as a lawyer taking on a chemical company. As I said, it was a busy weekend.

Update On My Close Personal Friends — Nicolas Cage is back for National Treasure 3

After years of on-again, off-again updates on the fate of a third National Treasure movie, Nic Cage is finally back and ready to steal the Declaration of Independence again (well, actually, that’s probably not the plot, but a guy can hope). The director of National Treasure, Jon Turteltaub, confirmed on Friday that Disney has approved a script for the third film and that Nicolas Cage has signed on to star. It doesn’t get much realer than that, and given the speed with which The Devil Wears Prada 2, Practical Magic 2, and Freakier Friday were all yanked out of obscurity and blasted onto the big screen, we could see National Treasure 3 in the next couple of years. Turtletaub did give one caveat, though: “If Nic gets hit by a bus, there’s no National Treasure.” So we’re begging bus drivers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area to please be careful.

The Couch Report — Is God Is is now streaming on Prime Video

More likely than not, you missed Is God Is when it made a brief stop earlier this year in theaters. Luckily, the revenge thriller starring Kara Young, Mallori Johnson, Vivica A. Fox, Sterling K. Brown, and Janelle Monàe is now streaming on Prime Video. Kara and Mallori play twins taking a cross-country road trip to seek retribution against their father, who burned down their home when they were children, leaving both of his daughters with severe burns. Pivoting from action sequences to dark humor, the film earned a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and is well worth a watch.

Be So For Real — Jen Shah’s house arrest is almost over

Hide your outdoor bathtubs, and hide your sprinter vans, because in less than a week, Jen Shah will be a free woman. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star, who was convicted of fraud and spent 33 months in prison, will be finishing up the house arrest stage of her confinement this Friday, according to Page Six. That means that after three years, Jen Shah will be ready for influencer brand deals, podcast appearances, and perhaps a spot on House of Villains. Aside from a People interview, we haven’t heard much from the “shahmazing” reality TV star since she was transferred to house arrest eight months ago, but that seems likely to change in the near future. Will any of her former RHOSLC besties meet up with her? We can’t wait to find out.

Current Hyperfixation — Paranormal Activity on Broadway

I’ve seen plenty of musicals on Broadway. I’ve seen plenty of family dramas and comedies. I’ve even seen magic shows, puppets, and the Back to the Future car get stuck mid-scene. Up until this weekend, however, I’d never seen a horror show on Broadway. That changes with Paranormal Activity, a West End transfer about a recently married couple living in a London house they quickly learn is haunted. Complete with plenty of practical effects, flickering lights, and jump scares, Paranormal Activity is a genuinely terrifying show. The play’s storyline is not taken from any of the films, but never fear, it will cause you to jump in your seat just like those movies do. If you were at the Sunday matinee and you think you heard me scream, no, you didn’t. That was definitely someone else, because I’m super brave.

When we look back at 2026 as pop culture lovers, we will undoubtedly remember it as the year of Anne Hathaway. With Mother Mary, The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Odyssey, The End of Oak Street, and Verity all released within the span of seven months, Anne Hathaway has had a better year than almost anyone. Not to mention the fact that she’s been pregnant with her third child throughout this entire journey. She will most likely earn an Oscar nomination (and possible win) for The Odyssey; she will certainly have her choice of plum Hollywood roles in the years to come, and she will have enough money to buy a whole collection of full-body swimsuits.

With all that said, I do fear a cursed Anne Hathaway artifact has entered the timeline, namely the K-pop boy band wig she’s donning on the cover of Vogue China. Now Annie is no stranger to bold fashion moves, but wearing a BTS bowl cut wig for an entire photo shoot is certainly a choice. She sort of looks like Liza Minnelli meets Moe from the Three Stooges, with a pinch of The Beatles circa 1964 sprinkled in. I cannot stop looking at these images and imagining the conversations that led to this choice. It must have been made out of exhaustion, right? After 100+ red carpets/photo shoots/magazine profiles this year, she must have just been itching for something out of left field. Like “You know what we haven’t done yet? A whole shoot wearing a Party City bachelorette trip wig?”

When the post-Les Misérables short hair era ended for Anne Hathaway, I never dreamed that someday we’d revisit that time in such a ridiculous fashion, but here we are. And you know what? As ill-advised as I think this decision was stylistically, I do love the camp aspect here. I’m lowkey hoping she brings this wig to a Verity premiere. Can you imagine? Nicole Kidman, step aside, there’s a new wig queen in town.

Update On My Close Personal Friends — Meghan and Harry are headed back to the UK

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s study abroad trip has officially come to an end. After six years living in California, the royals are finally returning to the UK. Harry and Meghan fled Great Britain back in 2020 after stepping away from their royal duties. They’ve since been involved in a string of nebulous ventures that have included not-so-successful deals with Netflix and Spotify, Prince Harry’s controversial memoir Spare, in which he discussed his frostburned peen, and Meghan’s bizarre lifestyle show, With Love, Meghan, which was oddly filmed at her neighbor’s house instead of her own.

So why are Meghan and Harry moving back to the UK now? Well, one reason is that Meghan Markle is reportedly returning to acting. While very few details have been announced, People reported that the pair are returning so that Markle can restart her acting career for the first time in a decade. Fans will of course remember her as a Suits cast member before she became a British royal. Will the return mean that Harry and Meghan will rejoin the ranks of the royal family? Only time will tell.

The Couch Report — Your new favorite Gen Z horror film has arrived in theaters

Move over Backrooms and Obsession, there’s a third Gen Z horror hit making waves at the box office. It Ends, written and directed by 27-year-old Alexander Ullom, follows a group of recent grads who turn onto a wooded road, only to find that it has no ending. Moreover, every time they stop the car, a horde of angry people sprint from the forest and start to attack the vehicle, desperate to get inside. What the hell is happening, and why did these four friends get trapped in this nightmarish Groundhog Day loop, where all they can do is drive? Those are the questions of It Ends. The movie is currently sitting pretty with a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, and if you’re looking for an end-of-summer thriller, this is the one.

Be So For Real — Margaret Qualley, those aren’t shoes

It appears Anne Hathaway wasn’t the only star seduced by bizarre fashion choices this week. Margaret Qualley, fresh off her separation from Jack Antonoff, arrived at the London premiere of her new film The Dog Stars, wearing only the back half of her shoes. The actress, sporting all black, opted for a pair of Chanel “shoes” that are basically just heel coverings tied to her ankle. To what end? Her feet are still getting dirty, and I’d imagine they’re quite uncomfortable to walk in. I’d rather just be barefoot at that point, no? And certainly, it is a fashion statement that draws attention (I am, after all, writing about it), but that doesn’t make it good fashion. Like, I’m glad that Chanel is experimenting with something new, but like when I experimented with a faux hawk in college, I think this is a mistake.

Current Hyperfixation — The Next Gen NYC love triangle (square?)

Oh to be young, stupid, and horny! I’ve watched so many middle-aged women on reality TV that I’d all but forgotten how chaotic 24-year-olds are, but Next Gen NYC has reminded me. Like early seasons of The Real World, Bravo’s Gen Z entree follows a group of twentysomethings who are trying to figure out their lives, and one of the subplots involves Ariana Biermann juggling not one, not two, but three different men. Her ex-boyfriend Hudson McLeroy, her current beau Liam Obergfoll, and the group’s resident bad boy Charlie Zakkour are all vying for Ariana’s attention, and as young people are prone to do, she’s making a massive mess out of the whole situation. She’s filming scenes naked in bed with Liam; she’s showing up drunk to Charlie’s apartment in the middle of the night; she’s still texting her ex even though he’s hiding out in Georgia. It’s giving me a massive hit of nostalgia for my early twenties in NYC, and simultaneously reminding me why I never want to be 20 again. This is perfect reality TV.

With less than three weeks until Labor Day, fall is on the way, and with it comes approximately 3,000 announcements about new movies, TV shows, books, etc. headed our way. The onslaught of reveals kicked off last weekend at Disney’s massive D23 event, where the studio laid out their slate of content for the next few years. Coming up we’ve got a slew of sequels, spinoffs, and remakes including: VisionQuest (Oct. 14, 2026), Avengers: Doomsday (Dec. 18, 2026), Ahsoka Season 2 (Jan. 20, 2027), Ice Age: Boiling Point (Feb. 5, 2027), Star Wars: Starfighter (May 28, 2027), The Bluey Movie (Aug. 6, 2027), The New Simpsons Movie (September 2027), Frozen 3 (Nov. 24, 2027), a live-action Tangled (March 31, 2028), a new X-Men movie (May 5, 2028), Lilo & Stitch 2 (May 28, 2028), Incredibles 3 (Summer 2028), Coco 2 (November 2029), Zootopia 3 (TBD), and Princess Diaries 3 (TBD). Might as well get that AMC A-List subscription fired up now, because you’re going to be at the movies a lot in the coming months.

Disney also announced that a staged musical version of The Greatest Showman would be arriving on the West End next spring. This news came only days before another announcement heralding a new Broadway musical based on 10 Things I Hate About You will be bowing a year from now as well. Fascinatingly, the 10 Things musical will be written by Lena Dunham and Carly Rae Jepsen. Clearly they are eyeing the millennial audience, and let me be the first to say, it’s working. Consider that ticket purchased.

Over in TV world, The Traitors: New Blood, the first U.S. all-normie version of the show, dropped its trailer. While the celebrity-filled version of the show has been a smash hit (and I can’t wait for Season 5), I’m excited to see a version where the contestants truly know nothing about one another. I’m also just happy that Alan Cumming and his fabulous outfits will be back on my screen next month.

And rounding out the pop culture announcements, author Sarah J. Maas revealed on Monday that the next two books in her hit series, A Court of Thorns and Roses (aka ACOTAR), will come out back-to-back. Book six, A Court of Splintered Harmony, will hit bookshelves on Oct. 27, 2026, while book seven, A Court of Forgotten Melody, will arrive only three months later on Jan. 12, 2027. So clear your schedules, everyone; we’re eating good.

Update On My Close Personal Friends — Let’s discuss these VMA nominations

The 2026 MTV Video Music Awards (aka the VMAs) announced their nominations yesterday, and in a move that’s both extremely shocking and not shocking at all, Madonna won the morning with 11 total nominations. While Madge has previously won 19 VMAs, not to mention the prestigious Video Vanguard award, the 68-year-old hasn’t taken home a trophy since 1999 (the same year her Video of the Year competitor Sabrina Carpenter was born). Carpenter and Ariana Grande each earned seven nominations, while Taylor Swift edged the pair out with nine.

Now I’d like to raise a few objections to this year’s set of nominations if you don’t mind. First, how the hell is Zara Larsson not nominated for Artist of the Year? This is the year of Zara Larsson, and yet we’re nominating Morgan Wallen and (forgive me) Taylor Swift over her? Can’t we all admit that The Life of a Showgirl was a bit of a flop? The only nominations that Zara got were for “Stateside,” which she shares with PinkPantheress, and the girl deserves better. Second, how is “Golden” still getting nominations? That song is 500 years old at this point. Third, where is Adela in Best New Artist? She’s the KGBitch! She deserves a nomination. And lastly, the best music video of the year was Haute & Freddy’s “Dance the Pain Away.” I understand that they’re a niche pop group, but THIS CHOREOGRAPHY deserves an award.

The Couch Report — Outer Banks says goodbye

Lasting five full seasons on Netflix is quite the feat, but Outer Banks has completed that task. The North Carolina-set teen drama became one of Netflix’s biggest hits when it premiered in 2020 during peak lockdown season, and hasn’t lost steam since. The show, which turned Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline, and Drew Starkey into bona fide stars, will come to an end tomorrow when the final season drops all ten episodes on Netflix. It’s been a fun six years, cruising around OBX with the Pogues, and they will be sorely missed.

Be So For Real — I’m going to need DWTS to stop breadcrumbing me with these casting announcements

I’m sorry for being a hater, but we’ve got to just announce this Dancing with the Stars cast already. On Monday, DWTS revealed that professional dancer Whitney Carson, who won last year with Robert Irwin, will be returning to dance with Jimmy Kimmel Live! Star Guillermo Rodriguez. She’ll also be pregnant while competing. This is just the latest announcement in a slow string of information that’s been doled out, one crumb at a time, since April, and I’m tired of it. Season 35 premieres on Sept. 15, and I need ABC to just announce the cast already. We know a couple of the celebs. We now know one returning pro. There’s a whole TV show that’s slow-rolling out another new pro for the season. This has just gone on for far too long. We have to stop announcing people one at a time for seemingly no reason. It takes too much energy, and I keep having to check the Wikipedia page to see if I missed something. JUST TELL US ALREADY!

Current Hyperfixation — Chanty Beluga

Is “Chanty Beluga” the funniest name ever created? I think so, and the internet appears to agree with me, given how viral this meme is getting. Back in July, comedian Courtney O’Donnell created an Instagram account for a fictional woman named Chanty Beluga, posting a video of her confirming her name with an Uber driver. Chanty has since appeared in a dozen innocuous videos where she’s performing mundane tasks like ordering coffee, meeting new people at a pool party, or buying a key chain that involve her saying her name. The videos have since gone viral on chronically online corners of the internet, spawning adoration from fans and confusion from everyone else. There’s really nothing to understand other than “Chanty Beluga” is a funny name and that paired with Chanty’s bright optimism is exciting. Now we’re all just waiting to see what delightful little errands Chanty runs next. #ChantyBelugaSummer

It’s a sad, sad day, following the announcement of Hayden Panettiere’s death on Sunday. While the 36-year-old actress had been largely out of the spotlight for the last few years, she was a millennial pop culture staple throughout the early aughts. From her early roles as a child soap opera star through her triumphant return to the Scream franchise in 2023, she always lit up a screen, scooping up Golden Globe, Grammy, and Critics’ Choice Award nominations along the way.

Earlier this year, Panettiere released her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, in which she detailed her upbringing as a child star, her battles with postpartum depression and addiction, surviving domestic abuse, and rediscovering herself. She also most recently starred in a psychological thriller called Sleepwalker, co-starring Justin Chatwin and Mischa Barton.

Following the devastating news of her passing, we’re looking back at seven of Hayden’s most iconic performances. We’ve also included the streaming information in case you want to spend the evening watching the legend at work.

The 7 best Hayden Panettiere performances

A Bug’s Life (1998)

Hayden was only 9-years-old when she landed her first major movie role in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, playing the impetuous princess Dot. Constantly sparring with her older sister Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Dot became a standout character in a film packed with veteran talent. I’m a firm believer that A Bug’s Life is one of Pixar’s best films, and that’s certainly thanks, in part, to Dot and her tiny little wings.

Available to stream on Disney+.

Remember the Titans (2000)

While Hayden had been racking up TV credits for years, her breakout on-screen film performance came in the Denzel Washington-helmed Remember the Titans. Hayden played Sheryl Yoast, the daughter of the town’s white football coach Bill (Will Patton), who tells the story of how her father and Herman Boone (Washington), a black coach, integrated the high school football team in 1971. With her wild, curly blonde hair untamed and a large dose of spunk, Hayden served as the perfect audience surrogate.

Available to stream on Hulu and Disney+.

Ice Princess (2005)

Only watch Ice Princess if you’re prepared to cry, not because the movie is a sad one (it’s not), but because along with Hayden, it stars Michelle Trachtenberg, another millennial favorite gone too soon. The sports dramedy, based on a Meg Cabot story, follows Casey (Trachtenberg), a high school student who uses physics to become a better ice skater (makes total sense). Hayden plays her friend/figure skating compatriot Gen. Images from the movie featuring the pair of young actresses have gone viral on Twitter following Hayden’s death.

Available to stream on Disney+.

Heroes (2006-2010)

Save the cheerleader. Save the world. NBC’s modern-day superhero series starring Milo Ventimiglia, Masi Oka, Greg Grunberg, and Panettiere, launched with that cryptic statement. Hayden played a high school cheerleader named Claire Bennet, who is gifted with the ability to spontaneously regenerate, basically becoming indestructible. Hayden stayed with the show through all four seasons, becoming a fan-favorite character.

Available to stream on Tubi and Netflix.

I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009)

If you’re looking for peak Hayden Panettiere, there’s nothing quite like I Love You, Beth Cooper, which has grown a cult following despite getting horrifically bad reviews when it came out. Riding the wave of Superbad, I Love You, Beth Cooper follows Denis (Paul Rust), a nerdy valedictorian who professes his love for the head cheerleader Beth (Panettiere) in his graduation speech. What follows is one wild night in which Hayden proves to audiences just how easy it is to fall in love with her.

Available on video on demand.

Scream 4 (2011) and Scream VI (2023)

Any Scream superfan will tell you that after the original, Scream 4 is perhaps the best in the entire franchise. Joining David Arquette, Neve Campbell, and Courteney Cox are a host of youngsters including Emma Roberts, Adam Brody, Rory Culkin, and Hayden, who plays the necessary horror film fanatic, Kirby Reed. While Kirby appears to die at the end of the fourth installment, since she’s never proclaimed dead, she returned for the sixth installment, much to the delight of fans everywhere.

Scream 4 is available to stream on Paramount+. Scream VI is available to stream on Paramount+ and Netflix.

Nashville (2012-2018)

No list of Hayden Panettiere performances would be complete without mentioning Nashville, the ABC country music drama that she helmed with Connie Britton. For six seasons, Hayden played Juliette Barnes, the Taylor Swift-inspired country/pop singer, attempting to replace Rayna Jaymes (Britton) as the face of country music. The hit drama earned both Britton and Panettiere Golden Globe nominations and spawned an incredible soundtrack.

Available to stream on Pluto TV and Netflix.

Happy Friday, Betches! Do you feel that? There’s an energy shift in the universe. I don’t know if that solar eclipse kickstarted something, but the vibes are changing. Taylor Swift got a little post-wedding haircut, Demi Lovato made a Camp Rock 3 cameo, and Whitney Leavitt is heading back to Broadway. Not to mention it’s a summer Friday in August, so you’re almost contractually obligated to leave work early and grab an Aperol spritz. Good times are here.

Yesterday also brought more exciting casting news for Heated Rivalry Season 2, which will now include Schitt’s Creek’s Emily Hampshire, The Young Royals’ Edvin Ryding, and Canada’s Drag Race winner Priyanka. Clearly Season 2’s budget got upped, because this year’s cast keeps adding big names. Standing by for a Wayne Gretzky cameo announcement.

Perhaps we’re also seeing a change in celebrity-backed brands. Bloomberg reported that Alex Cooper is shutting down her line of Unwell beverages this fall, after only two years on the market. Following the success of George Clooney’s Casamigos tequila line, seemingly every celeb launched a new product line, but the market is getting a bit saturated. Despite the influx of celeb-backed beverages, it is shocking that Unwell is calling it quits. See, there’s something in the air.

And speaking of vibe shifts,

Update On My Close Personal Friends — A Next Gen: NYC hot mic reveals Charlie and Ariana are more than just friends

Something is going on between Next Gen: NYC’s resident bad boy Charlie Zakkour and the show’s de facto lead Ariana Biermann. Since day one, Charlie, a noted playboy, has been trying to hook up with Ariana, but she was previously dating Zaxby’s heir Hudson McLeroy and stated that she wouldn’t touch Charlie with a ten-foot-pole. On last night’s episode of Next Gen: NYC, however, the water began to get murky. While neither Charlie nor Ariana admitted to hooking up, Charlie candidly told producers that he wouldn’t tell them even if they did rendezvous. While on a bathroom hot mic, however, Charlie told Shai Fruchter that he’d have to figure out how much he could grab Ariana’s ass at BravoCon because she’s “reluctant to play ball in front of the cameras.” If my critical reading skills are serving me, I do believe that means that consensual ass-grabbing has gone down in the past. THINGS ARE GETTING MESSY!

The Couch Report — Anne Hathaway’s dinosaur movie is really good

This is the year of Anne Hathaway, and I’m excited to inform you she’s going 4 for 4 on hits. After the critical success of Mother Mary and twin box office smashes with The Devil Wears Prada 2 and The Odyssey, she’s now helming The End of Oak Street. If you’ve seen the ludicrous trailers in which a whole 1980s neighborhood is transported to the prehistoric days of dinosaurs, you might have scoffed at the premise. Well, I’m pleased to inform you that The End of Oak Street is the best dinosaur movie since Jurassic Park. It’s an adrenaline-fueled romp, and if you need a movie to see over the next couple of weeks, treat yourself to a screening. Who doesn’t want to watch Anne Hathaway fight a T-Rex?

Be So For Real — Nicole Kidman is in Troye Sivan’s new music video

I’ve never seen a campaign for MTV’s Video Vanguard Award executed quite as flawlessly as what Troye Sivan is currently doing. The pop star has been on a music video hot streak, and he’s drafted Nicole Kidman and Sasha Colby for his salute to women, “She’s the Best.” Nicole is looking better than ever as she flags down a cabaret singer version of Troye, cuddles with him, and then puts him in drag. Meanwhile, Sasha Colby is strutting through the city and voguing for the dolls. Someone clear a spot at the 2035 MTV VMAs because Troye is coming for that Moonman.

Current Hyperfixation — Angela’s epic rant on Big Brother

There is NOTHING better than an unhinged reality TV meltdown, and Big Brother gifted us one for the ages this week, when Angela Murray started screaming at Haley Thogmartin (aka Thog) in the tiny house gym. While the expletive-laden rant was censored for the TV show, Pluto TV graciously published the NSFW version. Oh, to watch a 52-year-old woman cuss out the season’s villain. “It’s malicious lies!” is my new favorite vocal stim.

I hate to bring this up, but we officially have less than one month left of summer. I saw pumpkin spice products in the grocery store over the weekend and briefly dissociated in the coffee creamer aisle, ruminating on my own mortality. And while cuffing season won’t officially begin for a few months, there’s something about the dog days of summer that’s pumping romantic pheromones into the air. LOVE IS EVERYWHERE! Don’t believe me?

Just take a look at the latest headlines. Kim Kardashian and Lewis Hamilton are posting cute selfies together, Outer Banks star Madelyn Cline has a new boyfriend, and something is going on between Michael B. Jordan and Raye (more on that in a minute). Jax Taylor is “in love” with his former publicist, Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper are maybe engaged, and I’m still not over that Shaboozey/Ciara Miller kiss. If only all this love could inspire Taylor Swift to release a single photo of her wedding dress.

While Taylor and Travis’s wedding remains the best-kept secret in Hollywood (outside of a very legitimate source claiming the reception was mostly passed apps and Twister), the pop star did make headlines for being the youngest inductee ever into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. I must admit I had never heard of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame until I read that article, BUT I am excited for Mrs. Swift nonetheless.

It should also be mentioned that Rosie O’Donnell was on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast earlier this week and said it was “horrifying” to film a sex scene with her good friend Cynthia Nixon. I will remind you that Rosie O’Donnell did play a Wicked-obsessed nun on And Just Like That’s cursed final season, and that Miranda did take Sister Mary’s virginity. I too would find filming an intimate scene with my close friend “horrifying,” so I’m right there with you, Rosie.

Update On My Close Personal Friends — Are Michael B. Jordan and Raye dating?

Okay, I need us all to lock in for a second to figure out what exactly is going on between recent Oscar winner Michael B. Jordan and “Where Is My Husband?” singer Raye. The pair were spotted riding roller coasters together at Six Flags Magic Mountain on August 7, which immediately sparked dating rumors. People then reported that the pair “really like each other” but that “things are new between them.” If I were a celebrity newly dating another celebrity, I’m not sure I’d want to go to a crowded amusement park on the weekend, but to each their own.

However, yesterday TMZ reported that the pair are not actually dating, but rather co-workers. Raye is apparently writing a song for the soundtrack of a movie MBJ is working on, and so perhaps this outing is more akin to corporate team building. To quote Raye herself, though, “I would like a ring. I would like a ring. I would like a diamond ring on my wedding finger. I would like a big and shiny diamond that I can wave around and talk, and talk about it.” So don’t mind if I’m rooting for our girl to find her husband via an office romance.

Be So For Real — Julie Andrews deserves to stay home

If Julie Andrews wants to work-from-home, we should let her. The icon of stage and screen disappointed fans this week when she revealed on TODAY that she wouldn’t be returning for The Princess Diaries 3. She separately told InStyle that she is “retired” from on-camera work, choosing to focus on voiceover performances and writing. While we will all certainly be disappointed not to see former Genovian queen Clarisse Renaldi on our screens in the third installment of the hit franchise alongside Anne Hathaway, we should all respect Julie Andrews’ decision. She is 90 years old, after all, and with an Oscar, three Emmys, three Grammys, and seven Golden Globes (not to mention the fact that she probably would have won a Tony and completed her EGOT if she hadn’t declined her final Tony nomination), she’s earned the right to stay home. Besides, maybe this means Fat Louie will get more screen time.

Current Hyperfixation — Harry Jowsey got married!?!

Harry Jowsey is married! Or, at least, that’s what the finale of his latest Netflix show, Let’s Marry Harry, wants us to believe. The reality TV star became famous on the COVID-era hit Too Hot To Handle, where he met and started dating Francesca Farago. After posting one of the most iconic photos ever to grace Instagram, the pair separated, and Harry has since been part of several high-profile relationships. This summer, however, he helmed Let’s Marry Harry, a dating show on which he searched for a wife. In the series finale, Harry did, in fact, get married to Amber Mozo. Are the couple still married, though? That question will be answered on the August 26 reunion, if internet sleuths don’t solve the mystery earlier. I will admit I’m skeptical.

The circle of life was in full effect over the weekend. On the birth side of the circle, Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen reportedly both welcomed their first child. A source confirmed to People that Aubrey Plaza and her boyfriend, Christopher Abbott, were expecting a child in April, and TMZ spotted Aubrey with her newborn on Sunday. Meanwhile, her Ingrid Goes West co-star was papped with a baby bump back in June and has reportedly given birth to her first child with musician husband Robbie Arnett. Ingrid getting pregnant because Taylor got pregnant would also be an incredible plotline for Ingrid Goes West 2, if producers need any ideas.

Meanwhile on the death side of the circle of life, House of the Dragon saw several more key characters killed off in the Season 3 finale. This season we’d already seen main characters decapitated, stabbed in the neck (that’s different from decapitation), shot with arrows, and burned alive, but the finale still found new ways to kill people. Never fear, though! There’s still plenty of Targaryens and Hightowers left to murder in the fourth and final season, which is set to premiere in 2028. More dragon burning to come.

Also this weekend, two new Heated Rivalry leads were cast with Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie set to play Harris Drover and Troy Barrett, respectively. Their romance is detailed in the fifth book of Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series, Role Model, meaning that Season 2 of the show will again intertwine several different gay hockey sagas. Heated Rivalry characters are hot in a different way than House of the Dragon characters.

In other news…

Update On My Close Personal Friends — Katseye is down another member

On Friday, Sophia Laforteza, a member of the international girl group Katseye, announced that she would be taking a break from the group to focus on her physical and mental health. This came just months after another member, Manon Bannerman, also announced her hiatus for similar reasons. This leaves just four of the original six members, Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel, and Yoonchae Jeung, performing for the time being. Katseye took the stage as a foursome over the weekend at Head in the Clouds festival, with fans beginning to wonder if HYBE and Geffen Records are possibly pushing the girls too hard too quickly. While both Sophia and Manon expressed a desire to rejoin the group eventually, neither has announced a return date. Joining an international girl group, as it turns out, seems a bit stressful.

The Couch Report — The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip has returned

One season of The Real Housewives with 82 housewives?!?! I really can’t even begin to fathom how this will turn out, but Season 5 of Ultimate Girls Trip, titled Roaring 20th in honor of the franchise’s 20th anniversary, will catch up with dozens of stars, past and present. The series, which features seven housewives on a road trip across the country, started in Orange County this week, where Luann de Lesseps, Teresa Giudice, Kyle Richards, Vicki Gunvalson, Gizelle Bryant, Porsha Williams, and Lisa Barlow got to rub elbows with the RHOC ladies. The series is basically a BravoCon roadshow, and my eyes will be glued to the TV all season long.

Be So For Real — Kylie Jenner’s Birthday Cake

If there is one thing influencers are especially good at influencing, it is a birthday cake trend. From the naked cakes and ombre cakes of the early 2020s to this year’s frilly kitsch cakes, we love to follow a cake trend, and I do fear that Kylie Jenner’s edible gemstone birthday cake is about to take the world by storm. Keep your eyes peeled, because every Virgo/Libra influencer is calling up the nearest bakery, requesting a Kylie Jenner cake for their shindig. I guess I’ll find out soon enough if those edible gems are tasty.

Current Hyperfixation — One Night Only’s fake prescription drug songs

One Night Only is a highly unserious movie. Starring Monica Barbaro (aka Mrs. Andrew Garfield) and Callum Turner (aka Mr. Dua Lipa), the film is set in a semi-dystopian future where non-married people can only have sex on one night a year. Think The Purge, but way hornier. The movie is RIDICULOUS from start to finish, but my favorite part is that Barbaro’s Allie works as a prescription drug jingle singer. The movie opens with her singing a version of Sara Bareilles’ “Brave” rewritten about plaque psoriasis. Like, I’m sorry. How can you not find that so delightfully hilarious? Whoever is giving this a 45% on Rotten Tomatoes hates fun.

May we all enter this weekend with the energy of 85-year-old Martha Stewart. The Leo octogenarian, who just celebrated her birthday, is a nonchalant queen. When People asked if she thinks about her age, she said, “I really and truly don’t.” She didn’t want any birthday parties, but people are throwing them for her anyway. She’s never had plastic surgery. She goes horseback riding. She’s taking sexy pool selfies.

“I have good genes. My mom looked great at 95,” she said. “We eat well. We don’t drink very much. We don’t smoke. We eat healthy food. We exercise daily.” Oh, to be so unbothered.

Other celebrities currently thriving include musician Role Model and Dakota Johnson, who recently confirmed their relationship after she made a cameo in one of his songs. Perhaps this means that Dakota will land a prime Sally placement on Role Model’s next tour.

Also having a good week is Kit Connor, who will take home a big fat Marvel paycheck thanks to his casting in the upcoming X-Men movie. Connor will take over the role of Cyclops, joining Sadie Sink as Jean Grey and Samara Weaving as Emma Frost. With SO MANY X-Men to cast, we’ll likely see a whole rollout of under 30 A-listers landing the coveted mutant roles in the weeks to come. I know Zendaya is already in the MCU, but would it be so bad if we also cast her as Storm?

And speaking of Zendaya…

Update On My Close Personal Friends — Tom Holland is finally wearing a wedding ring

While Zendaya has been flashing her wedding band around since March, Tom Holland only just started wearing his post-Spider-Man: Brand New Day press tour. The pair were spotted in London yesterday, with Tom publicly rocking a gold ring for the first time. This came just days after Tomdaya hosted a secret wedding reception at a fancy hotel in the English countryside. Opting out of the now-customary Madison Square Garden 1,000-person wedding, Tom Holland and Zendaya threw their party at the Beaverbrook Hotel in Surrey, but we don’t know many details aside from the date and location. I’m totally fine with celebrities having private weddings, but I must insist that we get at least one photo of their dresses. It’s honestly cruel to keep us in the dark.

The Couch Report — Next Gen NYC takes BravoCon

If you haven’t been watching the second season of Next Gen NYC, now is your time to catch up. Bravo’s youngest cast is halfway through a season that has largely focused on a love triangle between a former Real Housewives of Atlanta star’s daughter, the heir to the Zaxby’s fortune, and a volunteer firefighter/motorcycle driver/actor. Still, there’s also been plenty of petty drama swirling around disastrous fashion lines, bowling alley IP, and, of course, a musk-scented all-purpose cleaner. Things are heating up again as the entire cast descended upon Las Vegas in Thursday’s episode for last year’s BravoCon. What happens in Vegas will most decidedly not stay in Vegas in the case of Next Gen NYC, and I CANNOT wait to see the fallout.

Be So For Real — Do we need a third season of Big Little Lies?

Did we need a second season of Big Little Lies? No. After a perfect first season of the show based on Liane Moriarty’s hit novel, the cast reunited for a far clunkier sophomore year. Now, HBO is reportedly eyeing 2028 for another return of the Monterey Bay-based mom thriller. If you don’t remember how Season 2 ended (I just had to look it up), Zoe Kravitz is about to confess to murdering Alexander Skarsgard in Season 1 by pushing him down that flight of stairs. So what is the plot of Season 3? Is a new murder committed? Will Meryl Streep and her veneers return to town? What wig will Nicole Kidman wear? So many questions. While I’m not particularly excited by the prospect of Season 3 and certainly don’t think it will be good, I will watch it nonetheless, so I guess HBO knows what they’re doing.

Current Hyperfixation — Bowen Yang in Oh, Mary!

The most coveted role on Broadway is that of Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh, Mary!, and Saturday Night Live alum Bowen Yang will be taking the role over from Meg Stalter this fall. They are the most recent in a long line of incredible Marys that has included Cole Escola, Betty Gilpin, Tituss Burgess, Jinkx Monsoon, Jane Krakowski, and Maya Rudolph. I’ve put together a list of other celebrities I’d like to see play Mary in case producers are interested:

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus

• Jim Carrey

• Ana Gasteyer

• September L. Davis

• Regina Hall

• Nick Offerman

• Rachel Dratch

• Amy Poehler

• Niecy Nash

• Kristen Wiig

• Aidy Bryant

• Keke Palmer

• Nathan Lane

• Jennifer Coolidge

• Lily Tomlin

• Beth Leavel

• Anne Hathaway

• Al Pacino

• Miss Piggy

You can’t tell me that Al Pacino crawling around on that desk wearing a wig wouldn’t be funny.

Mary Beth Barone could be a Fortune 500 CEO in another life. She even dropped out of a prestigious university after her sophomore year — a renegade rite of passage for the self-made tech-billionaire archetype. When we meet at the Betches office, one week before her debut Netflix comedy special, Galaxy Brain, is set to premiere, her sleek chestnut hair is styled straighter than a Paul brother, despite the 84% humidity. “My hair holds well,” she admits when I can’t help but compliment the feat. “Put that in the article.”

Barone carries herself with the quiet poise of someone who’s never had to speak up in order to be heard. She’s direct, clever, and all business; in her elevated leather ensemble, I can picture her coolly negotiating the terms of a nine-figure pharmaceutical merger, or firing off a quick “pls fix” email to her underlings at a fancy finance firm. But lucky for us, she chose to use her powers for good.

“I totally understand why pop stars have teams of like a hundred people,” Barone says of the village effort required to get Galaxy Brain, which launched on July 28th, from idea to execution. Her first special, Thought Provoking, was self-produced and self-financed for YouTube on a scrappy $15,000 budget. That was a dry run; this is the big leagues.

“With [Galaxy Brain], I ran the set a lot more. I toured the material in 2025 and then again this year to refine it and make sure it all made sense as a complete piece,” Barone tells me. The hour follows a non-linear, non-narrative format, united by Barone’s wry mélange of sardonic cultural observations and political unrest. With a steadily aloof demeanor and deadpan delivery, Barone eschews the typical affable charm comedians often leverage to extract audience goodwill, instead relying on the merits of her joke-writing to earn the crowd’s respect and attention. If you feel like laughing, that’s cool.

Growing up in coastal Connecticut, Barone “devoured pop culture,” sometimes prioritizing Lizzie McGuire over her social life. She was allowed to watch television only on the weekends, “so when all my friends wanted to play outside, I’d be like, ‘Well, I need to catch up on my TV.’” When Barone’s aspirations of getting scouted at the mall for the next big Disney Channel show slowly evaporated alongside the gauchos and ballet flats of the mid-2000s, she shelved her marquee dreams in the back of her brain.

Thus began Barone’s brief, practical flirtation with an English degree at Boston College. From watching her five older siblings revel in the College Experience™, Barone fully expected the hallowed halls of BC to be the backdrop of the best four years of her life. But football games and hacky sack at the devout Jesuit university turned out not to carry any allure — “I felt very much like my world was getting smaller instead of bigger,” she recalls.

“I wasn’t reading any of the books, and my grades were really good. So I was thinking, ‘What is the point of this?’” Firing off Chaucer essays without even cracking the spine of The Canterbury Tales didn’t feel like a strategic use of her parents’ money, so Barone made the pragmatic decision to take a semester off and reevaluate. She moved to New York, got a job at the then millennial corporate utopia of Warby Parker, and never returned.

Barone got a second chance at making collegiate memories when she joined the cast of Amazon’s Overcompensating, a campus comedy about a closeted gay football player (Benito Skinner), which just wrapped filming its second season. Skinner is Barone’s longtime friend and creative collaborator, and the two host the cult podcast Ride. Ride is the comedy equivalent of how we all think we sound like Ariana Grande when we sing in the shower — it epitomizes the “omg, we’re so funny, we should totally start a podcast!” epidemic, except for the fact that Barone and Skinner’s chemistry is objectively delightful, while you and your friends are probably just annoying.

As frivolous as some of the show’s conversation may be (one episode features a 10-minute, non-sponsored segment on the orgasmic flavor burst of the Ice Breaker Ice Cube), the parasocial relationship between the dedicated “Baronies” fanbase and the hosts is incredibly real (“they know more about me than some of my friends”), yet not always pleasant.

“At first, it feels like all the right people are [listening] and you can be really conversational with the audience, but then it hits a point where that sort of has to end,” Barone says of the increased scrutiny she faces as her celebrity status grows. “You’re making a choice by being a public figure. . .Knowing that the concept of who we are is no longer in our hands can be really scary to let go of. . .And as someone who loves to have the last word, it’s really hard for me not to comment on everything.”

It’s living proof that the internet is much more sensitive in 2026 than it was when Barone first began her open mic journey 10 years ago, making the risk of getting dragged by keyboard warriors akin to ordering a Cobb salad in the Summer of Cyclospora. Still, Galaxy Brain never shies away from a provocative joke, like when Barone, who has been public about her own eating disorder, theorizes that Ozempic has made people too lazy to have them anymore.

“I’m sure some people are going to watch the darker material and think, ‘That’s not funny, you shouldn’t joke about that,’” Barone acknowledges. “But I think if you’re going to do comedy, your goal should be to be your own favorite comedian. So I’m like, what are the jokes that make me excited? Some of them, the audience agrees. Some of them, you’re taking a huge swing, and it might not land every time.”

In the back half of the special, Barone endeavors a different type of creative risk. After speaking on the singular, canonically female experience of a best-friend breakup, she asks if anyone in the audience wants to share their own friend-fallout story for her to adjudicate.

The thing about audience participation is that it can go horribly wrong, especially when you’re fully ceding the floor to an untrained civilian who’s never even heard of a Harold. You can’t guarantee that they won’t ramble incoherently or overestimate the intrigue of their anecdote, leaving behind a chasm of dead air for the comedian to revive. Barone had run the bit successfully throughout the tour, but as her New York taping approached, she started to get cold feet.

“I emailed my producers and my director, and I said, ‘I don’t think we should do the [friendship] bit at the taping. It’s too risky.’ If it goes badly, there is no momentum heading into that last 15 minutes, which is such a crucial part of the show,” Barone reveals. Her team pushed her to take the plunge.

As Barone tees up the section, you can feel the energy in the room tighten with conspiratorial anticipation — I can imagine that every girl, both in the audience and watching the special at home, is immediately bombarded by the name of someone they wish they could forget. When a young woman named Grace is given a mic, she launches into a saga about how her two-decade, semi-sapphic best friend dumped her after she asked to reschedule their Coachella Weekend One plans to Coachella Weekend Two. Barone deftly moderates, emphasizing the humor in all the right places while still letting Grace enjoy the spotlight.

“The story had very rich specifics that made it so colorful. I was glad the people on my team fought for me to do it, and that’s exactly why you want those people in the room,” says Barone. “I would love for people to reflect on their own ex-best-friend experiences and maybe reach out, or maybe acknowledge that it’s good that that person isn’t in their life anymore.”

When I ask Barone if she’s gotten to relax at all now that the hardest part is over, the answer is an emphatic “no.” The multi-hyphenate rarely has an off day — she only had a chance to binge Widow’s Bay because of a flight delay. “I never want to come off as like, ‘I’m so busy,’” she intones in a mock influencer humblebrag dialect. “I feel like saying ‘I’m busy’ got this weirdly bad reputation around the 2010s. And it’s like, well, we are busy and we’re all sort of fighting to survive.”

As she enters this next level of stardom, she says that the way her body vibrates has completely shifted as she’s grown accustomed to operating with zero downtime. She has multiple scripted projects in the works and is in the throes of planning her 2027 standup tour, which “feels insane,” but she needs to lock in her locations now because “you never know if Taylor Swift is going to renew her vows at some sort of venue in America.”

But Barone isn’t complaining. Her success story has been a decade in the making, and she’s not taking it for granted or letting the momentum slip away. Pressure, scrutiny, and no longer having time to watch prestige television are tolerable parts of the calculation. “I think I read Lena Dunham’s book at the right time,” she half-jokes. “This is what I asked for. This is what I wanted.”

It’s August, and that means it’s wedding season, and not just for your cousin, your college roommate, and that girl on your high school debate team who has seemingly now become a bridal influencer. Celebrities are getting married as well. On Saturday, Vogue dropped its feature on Emma Roberts’ Idaho wedding to actor Cody John, complete with 91 photos and a Julia Roberts cameo. Kristen Stewart, Sarah Paulson, and Billie Lourd (aka Chanel #3) were also in attendance for the stunning affair.

This weekend, Grammy-winning musician and actor Coco Jones also tied the knot with basketball player Donovan Mitchell in Greenwich, CT. The guests at their nuptials included Jaylen Brown, Jalen Brunson, Russell Wilson, and Ciara. That same day, across the Atlantic Ocean, The Real Housewives of New Jersey star (and winner of The Traitors) Dolores Catania attended the wedding of her son Frank Catania Jr. The Bravo child married Nicole Perricho in Portugal’s wine country.

If you weren’t attending a wedding this weekend, you were most likely at a movie theater watching Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The fourth Tom Holland Spidey film raked in nearly $1 billion on its opening weekend, making it the second biggest opening ever, trailing only Avengers: Endgame. With The Odyssey also still in theaters, Tom, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal (we can’t forget him) really are having an incredible month as movie stars. I hope they all have nice vacations planned after the amount of press they’ve had to do.

And speaking of vacations…

Update On My Close Personal Friends — Ariana Grande is taking a break

On Sunday, Ariana Grande’s reps announced that, “Ariana will be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour.” This announcement followed the release of her latest album Petal on Friday along with a music video for a single with the same name. The music video instantly sparked health concerns from fans regarding her thin frame, with celebrities like Jameela Jamil and Charli Howard sharing their concern for the pop star as well.

Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine tour wraps up on Sept. 1, and her reps stated that Grande “looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which have led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny.”

In the announcement, Grande also announced that she’s dropping out of a West End revival of Sunday in the Park with George, which was set to open next summer. The production, which also stars Grande’s Wicked castmate Jonathan Bailey, will now need to recast the lead role. (Is Rachel Zegler available?)

No mention of Focker-in-Law, the Meet the Parents sequel which also stars Ariana Grande, was made in the announcement. The movie releases on November 25, 2026, and traditionally stars participate in “public-facing work” while promoting their films, so we shall see if Grande opts out of the red carpets and interviews leading up to the release or not.

The Couch Report — Ted Lasso is returning from a break

While yes, Ted Lasso did make his grand return as a part of the World Cup halftime show, the beloved soccer coach played by Jason Sudeikis will be returning to your television screens in a more substantial way this Wednesday when Ted Lasso Season 4 premieres on Apple TV+. While the Ted Lasso team initially stated that Season 3 would be the show’s final, rumblings of a possible fourth season began several years ago, before it was greenlit in 2025.

Season 4, which will air one episode a week for ten weeks from August 5 to October 7, will focus on Ted coaching a women’s soccer team in the U.S., and so several main characters from the first three seasons, including Phil Dunster’s Jamie Tartt and Nick Mohammed’s Nate Shelley, won’t be returning. However, Hannah Waddingham, Jeremy Swift, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, and Juno Temple are all set to return.

Be So For Real — Barbie should stay on a break

This weekend, The New York Times broke a story saying we might not be getting a Barbie sequel after all, and I am totally okay with that. When Barbie first premiered, director Greta Gerwig said that she didn’t think there needed to be a sequel, and then following the film’s success, Gerwig revealed that she’d suddenly had a sequel idea. Well, now it looks like that sequel might not happen after all, as Warner Bros. head David Zazlov reportedly won’t agree to Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s compensation packages. Oh, and because of a rights deal with Mattel that expires in December, if Barbie 2 contracts aren’t signed by then, it could take years to renegotiate. But we don’t always need a sequel. Sometimes one movie is enough, and unless they’re making an Oppenheimer 2, I think we can do without Barbie 2.

Current Hyperfixation — Ciara Miller might have a new man post-breakup

After everything that Ciara Miller went through this year on Summer House, she deserves a little happiness, and sometimes happiness does involve a new man. The reality TV star sparked dating rumors last week when she accompanied country star Shaboozey on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon for a performance of his song “Cowgirl.” At the end of the number, the pair appeared to kiss behind Miller’s massive cowboy hat. The pair both appear in the “Cowgirl” music video, so it could all just be an act, but according to Deuxmoi, they were “cozy af” at a club later that night. You must admit they’d make a cute couple!

Happy Friday, Betches! We’ve made it through another week, and as a reward, Zendaya is back on the big screen (and this time she’s got more than three lines). Spider-Man: Brand New Day has arrived in theaters, and it’s THE monoculture event of the weekend (sorry, House of Stassi). Zendaya and Tom Holland have reunited for more quippy banter and flying through the New York City sky.

We also seem to be running out of Tom Holland/Zendaya Spider-Man movies. Tom said on a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast that there are plans for him to hand off the Spidey suit. “It’s laid out. It’s gonna change for sure, but I have a really clear vision of the passing on of the baton, and I think it’s really exciting,” he said. Which begs the question: who will be our next Spider-Man? And more importantly for me, who will be Spider-Man’s next girlfriend?

So actually let’s go down a rabbit hole really quick. (It’s Friday, we have time.) The Kirsten Dunst/Emma Stone/Zendaya lineage of Mary Jane/Gwen/MJ is an iconic run, so whoever takes over the mantle next has some big shoes to fill. Presumably Sony/Marvel will cast an actress under 25 (even though I’d love a world in which gay Spider-Man exists), so let’s look at our options:

• Sadie Sink — She would be the obvious choice if she wasn’t already in this film in a secret non-girlfriend role that I won’t spoil.

• Jenna Ortega — She’s probably the most famous actress in this age range, but she’s already got several franchises under her belt, so she might not need another.

• Rachel Zegler — I’d love a world in which Spider-Man is dating a singer. Let’s give the next movie some musical numbers.

• Emilia Jones — The CODA actress has big Mary Jane energy IMHO and has the acting chops to follow the Oscar/Emmy-nominated actresses who have had the role before her.

• Maitreyi Ramakrishnan — I loved Never Have I Ever, and she’s got the best comedy chops out of this group.

• Maisy Stella — And she’s actually my #1 choice. You may recognize the Canadian actress from The End of Oak Street trailers, and if you haven’t seen My Old Ass, now is the time to go watch it on Prime Video. Bring tissues.

And speaking of Canadians…

Update On My Close Personal Friends — Heated Rivalry is about to film Season 2!

After Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie became international celebrities OVERNIGHT this fall when Heated Rivalry became the only show anyone was talking about, they’ve spent the last eight months on PR intensive. From the Vanity Fair Oscar Party and Paris Fashion Week to the Golden Globes and magazine covers, HudCon have seemingly been everywhere except for the set of their hit TV show. BUT the pair were spotted multiple times together this week in Toronto, which can only mean one thing: Season 2 is about to begin filming. Heated Rivalry Season 2 will supposedly adapt The Long Game, another novel in Rachel Reid’s smutty Game Changers series. What will a bigger budget and a massive fandom change for Season 2? Here’s hoping that they spend that money on more steamy romance scenes and not on more hockey footage.

The Couch Report — Watch Thunderbolts as Spider-Man prep

You may have seen a stat making the rounds that shows there’s been over 300 hours of Marvel content in between Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Doomsday if you factor in all the TV shows. As someone who has watched a fair amount of that 300 hours (including all the movies and a handful of the TV shows), I am here to tell you that the best movie from that intervening period is Thunderbolts, aka Thunderbolts*, aka The New Avengers. The Florence Pugh-helmed movie assembles a rag-tag group of depressed misfits who must work together to defeat a big bad. Florence Pugh (who also shows up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day) is very funny, and the movie has a lot of emotional resonance beyond kick, punch, pow. I’d argue it’s the best Marvel movie in years.

Be So For Real — When, for the love of god, is Alix Earle going to talk about Alex Cooper?

The #BattleoftheBlondes has been going on for months now, and we’re still awaiting any real response from Alix Earle. On April 13, Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper posted a TikTok calling out Alix Earle for constantly shading her, presumably about a podcast network deal that went sour. While influencer Alix Earle commented “Okay on it!!” that appears to be a lie, because it’s now been four months and we’re waiting for a response as rumors continue to swirl. Well, now Alix Earle has a reality TV show called Earle Meets World that debuts on Netflix on Sept. 4, and she’s teasing that she’ll discuss the beef on the show. While this is a genius ratings ploy, and I, for one, will be tuning in to figure out what the heck happened to make two blonde Ale(i)xs hate each other, I am skeptical that we will ever get real answers. As a gossipy person, I find all of this delaying REALLY ANNOYING, and I need to get to the beef.

Current Hyperfixation — Was Taylor Swift’s wedding sort of just a big Chuck E. Cheese?

We knew that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce had raffles at their wedding and that items like a Chanel handbag and a vintage car were up for grabs. However, we have retired football star Rob Gronkowski to thank for providing more details, and by the sounds of it, T&T may have been inspired by the location of my 7th birthday party, Chuck E. Cheese. “What was really cool was that you had to play the games in order to get the raffle tickets,” Gronk said. “You had to earn the raffle tickets, and that’s why I appreciate it. It wasn’t no hand-me-outs, you had to earn the raffle tickets.” The same could be said at Chuck E. Cheese, where I spent all my tokens on ski-ball and whack-a-mole trying to earn tickets to help buy me an inflatable balloon hammer (to hit my siblings with). Taylor also had pizza delivered to her wedding, but we’re waiting to learn if there were any singing animatronic mice present.

Hollywood is going to Hollywood, and even with The Odyssey, Obsession, and Backrooms earning money hand over fist, every movie producer is looking for a sure-fire reboot, and several have made announcements in the last few days. Moving from “wait, why am I actually kind of excited about this” to “this is soul-crushing,” let’s start with Michael B. Jordan’s reboot of The Thomas Crown Affair, which just dropped its trailer. MBJ is, of course, now an Oscar winner, and rebooting a good old-fashioned sexy thriller is never going to make me mad. We need more hot people doing crime on the big screen.

Next up, Ryan Murphy might be rebooting Glee. While I think that the campy energy of Glee would lend itself nicely to a reboot, AND most of the cast would be thrilled to come back and make guest appearances, there’s something a bit cursed here given what’s happened to many of the cast members.

Ryan Murphy also revealed that American Horror Story Season 13 is not just a Coven season, but a massive crossover event in which Sarah Paulson will play 6-7 different roles, Evan Peters will play five, and Jessica Lange will play four. Do I think that this has any potential to be good? Not at all. Will it lead to some excellent gifs? Most assuredly.

And lastly, Disney has reportedly met with Macaulay Culkin about a new Home Alone movie. *insert gif of Inde Navarrette saying “no” over and over* Especially without Catherine O’Hara, I do not want a Home Alone reboot. We already have three perfect Home Alone films (yes, the third one is good even though it’s a completely different cast). We do not need corporate synergy coming in and mucking with a Christmas classic. I’m not going to stand for this, and I’m praying that Joe Pesci won’t either.

Update On My Close Personal Friends — Madison Beer is engaged

In yet another example of Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” music video coming to life, one more pop star is tying the knot to a football player. Madison Beer announced her engagement to Los Angeles Charger Justin Herbert on Tuesday via an Instagram post captioned, “meet my fiancé.” The pair join Russell Wilson and Ciara, Josh Allen and Hailee Steinfeld, and Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift as a part of the footballer x musician industrial complex. While the engagement carousel did not include a close-up of the ring, some experts, who zoomed in on the shots, have estimated that the ring could have cost upwards of $1 million due to its rare cut. If I had an engagement ring worth a million dollars, I’d have to become a shut-in, because there’s no way I’d wear that out in public. But then again, I guess marrying a football player sort of means you have a built-in bodyguard to keep you and your ring safe.

The Couch Report — The Devil Wears Prada 2 has finally come to streaming

Whether you’re a visionary or a vendor, you can now rewatch The Devil Wears Prada 2 (because I’m assuming that if you’re subscribed to a Betches newsletter, that you already saw the film in theaters). The sequel starring Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep, and Stanley Tucci raked in a ton of cash this spring before settling into paid video-on-demand. Now it’s finally available to stream for free on Hulu, which means you can rewatch Miranda Priestly drag Andy Sachs over and over and over until your heart is content. I know I spent the top of this newsletter complaining about unnecessary sequels, and this movie, on paper, should have been disastrously bad, but somehow it is one of my favorite movies of the year.

Be So For Real — Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula only had sex three times while they were married…

At this point, I’m starting to feel a little bit bad for Kyle Cooke and Amanda Batula, not because I think they’re good people, but because they’ve been dragged through months of a Bravo humiliation ritual at this point. Kyle is a playboy, and Amanda did start dating her ex-bestie’s ex-boy toy, but how many couches can they sit on and be forced to divulge sad aspects of their personal lives? In Part 2 of the In the City reunion, the couple discussed their sex life, or lack thereof. According to Cooke, the pair only had sex three times during their four-year marriage.

Amanda says that part of the reason for that was her battle with depression, but part of it was also Kyle not putting energy into the relationship. “He would work all day, work all night, then come to bed, tell me an email, and then try to have sex with me,” Amanda recalled. “It felt like there was no foreplay. There was no emotional intimacy. There was no conversation. There was nothing else happening in the relationship.” There is a fine line between fizzy reality TV gossip and watching sheer misery, and I fear we crossed it some time ago with this pair.

Current Hyperfixation — Will Ferrell’s son Magnus is now a charting musician

A new nepo-baby has entered the chat. Will Ferrell’s oldest son, Magnus Ferrell, is now a Billboard-charting musician. While Magnus, who has over 640K followers on Instagram, has been releasing singles for several years, his recent track “Asleep Talking” has blown up on TikTok over the last few weeks. He also released a more dancey bop, “Waste Your Heart,” at the beginning of summer. As Gracie Abrams has proved, there is certainly space in the pop music pantheon for a nepo-baby, and we are always in need of more male pop stars. There’s only so much heavy lifting that Harry Styles and Charlie Puth can do after all. Standing by for Magnus’s first full album to drop.

ICYMI, the infamous San Diego Comic Con took place this weekend, which meant a boatload of panels, trailers, and announcements flooding the airwaves. It can be difficult keeping track of the revelations spiraling forth from the convention center because for every mainstream Marvel casting announcement, there are hundreds of news items on anime, comic books, and video games that are probably too niche for non-superfans to care about. For example, are you excited that the character Eddie Brock will take back the mantle of Venom in a new series of comic books? Perhaps not. But do you care that Ryan Gosling is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Ghost Rider? Perhaps also not, but at some point in 2028, you probably will watch a dozen TikTok interviews with Gosling while he’s promoting the film.

Luckily for you, I spent my weekend reading the Comic Con announcements as they rolled out so that you didn’t have to pay attention. Here are the major revelations:

• Apple announced Neuromancer, a new series about a hacker starring Mr. Dua Lipa himself, Callum Turner.

• House of the Dragon premiered Sunday’s episode early, and spoiler alert, another major character died.

• Simon Pegg is joining The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which is getting a third season.

• The Vampire Lestat, previously known as Interview with the Vampire, is getting a fourth season and a new name, Queen of the Damned.

• Hunter Schafer and Michelle Yeoh are teaming up for a Blade Runner sequel.

• Johnny Depp is playing Scrooge in Ebenezer, because we don’t already have too many versions of A Christmas Carol.

This all leads us to the most important reveal from SDCC 2026…

Update On My Close Personal Friends — A new Black Panther has been crowned

While rumors of a third Black Panther film have been swirling around since 2022, and Denzel Washington told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024 that director Ryan Coogler was writing a role for him, we’d heard very little about Black Panther 3 in recent years. At Comic Con, however, Coogler took the stage to not only announce that the film would release on December 15, 2028, but that it would have a new lead, British sensation David Jonsson. You may know Jonsson from Industry, but he’s also starred in the rom-com Rye Lane, the latest Alien film, Alien: Romulus, and the Stephen King adaptation of The Long Walk. He was also rumored to be a James Bond contender, but I doubt they’d cast the same person as both Black Panther AND James Bond.

According to Coogler, the third film will be about the son of T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), growing up and taking on the Black Panther mantle with Jonsson playing the adult version. Letitia Wright and Winston Duke, who were also at the Comic Con announcement, are set to return for Black Panther 3, although they could be getting some old age makeup applied given that T’Challa’s son was an infant when we saw him at the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and will now be played by a 32-year-old man.

The Couch Report — Horror film Leviticus arrives on VOD

Between Obsession, Backrooms, and Evil Dead Burn, we’ve been on quite the horror run as of late. Leviticus, another excellent 2026 horror film that you might have missed in theaters, is headed to video-on-demand tomorrow, July 28. The Australian film focuses on two gay boys, beset upon by an evil supernatural presence after their parents drag them to a deliverance healer who claims he can cure the boys of their homosexuality. The film stars Joe Bird, who you may remember from another Australian horror film, Talk To Me, and Alice in Wonderland star Mia Wasikowska. Luckily, you can now watch Leviticus from the comfort of your home with the lights on and your doors locked.

Be So For Real — Poor Tom Holland, the first person to throw up on Hot Ones

It’s been a rough week for our boy Tom Holland. First, the internet got upset that he’d been cast as Fred Astaire in an upcoming biopic, claiming he couldn’t dance (although true heads were quick to point out not only his iconic “Umbrella” video, but also that he’s a trained ballet dancer). Then he didn’t recognize his wife Zendaya’s pop song, and finally he became the first interview subject ever to vomit on Hot Ones. Given that Hot Ones has released over 400 episodes since 2015, it’s SHOCKING that we’ve lasted this long without some of that hot sauce coming back up. Unfortunately, it was The Odyssey star, who couldn’t keep everything down while filming. He’d later say that the issue was not, in fact, the hot sauce, but his drinking too much milk. And now that I’m thinking about it, I would rather eat a death wing than drink a whole glass of milk, so this makes sense.

Current Hyperfixation — Charli XCX’s new album has some bangers

While Charli XCX claimed that the dance floor is dead, her new album Music, Fashion, Film certainly has some tracks I’ve been dancing to. While the vibe is decidedly different from Brat and Crash, and also unlike her Wuthering Heights companion album that came out earlier this year, it is still danceable. I’ve been listening to “Wink, Wink” and “Camera,” two of the singles on repeat, but “Magic Metal Montana” is also a bop. Of course, audiences are a bit divided on this polarizing (and very short) album, with some loving the directional pivot, while others hate that it’s a little bit weird. Charli also directed a short film to go along with the release and announced a tour that will begin on September 11 (very Deborah Vance).

A quick poll for the readers: Have you listened to Music, Fashion, Film, and what are your opinions? Let us know in the comments.

Everyone loves a hot girl summer, but celebrities are deciding en masse that they simply CANNOT be in relationships this year. Maybe it’s Mercury in retrograde (which just wrapped up, thank god), maybe it’s those #KnicksIn5 good vibes, or maybe it’s the fact we all spent a whole month watching hot soccer players run around, but seemingly every celebrity is breaking up. From one-year-long Love Island romances to decades-long marriages, everyone is saying “I do” to a post-divorce bob and “I don’t” to matrimony.

And while breakups can be difficult, sad, and potentially lead to an unhinged thirst trap competition between you and your ex (*cough* Benito Skinner and Terrence O’Connor *cough*), they can also lead to growth, new adventures, and several incredible seasons of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (I pray).

Here are ten of the celebrity couples who have called it quits this summer (and mind you, we’re still in July so there are bound to be more to come).

Olandria Carthen and Nic Vansteenberghe

Is Love Island a dating show? Or is it a launchpad for influencers? It depends on who you ask, but the US Season 7 fan favorite couple announced their breakup earlier this week, with a source telling People that, “The distance between them and their busy schedules made it challenging to maintain their connection.” With both Nic and Olandria boasting ~2M Instagram followers, they’ve certainly walked away from Love Island winners, even if they didn’t find lasting love. Stay tuned for the Season 8 reunion on August 31, where we will inevitably learn that several of this year’s couples have parted ways as well.

Angie Katsanevas and Shawn Trujillo

While The Real Housewives stars have a long history of getting divorced on the show, I certainly wasn’t expecting Angie K to be the RHOSLC star separating, especially given she and Shawn had been married for 27 years. Page Six announced their separation, pointing out that the pair not only share a 15-year-old daughter, but also a chain of hair salons. Of course, their marriage was the subject of ruuuuumors on the show, with other cast members alleging that Shawn was cheating on Angie with men, but the couple denied those claims vehemently. The real question is whether their relationship drama was captured for the upcoming season, which filmed this spring, or if we will have to wait for Season 8 to see the drama unfold.

Whitney Rose and Justin Rose

Joining Angie K, Heather Gay (who got divorced before Season 1), and Bronwyn Newport (who told audiences that she was single in the Season 6 reunion), in the single girls club is OG RHOSLC star Whitney Rose, who is reportedly separating from her husband of 16 years. Whitney and Justin’s relationship has been rocky for several years due to various financial issues, which were highlighted on the show as well. Of course, it wouldn’t be Real Housewives without a little shade. Longtime Whitney opp, Lisa Barlow posted a photo of her and her husband, John Barlow, on Instagram with the caption “Partners in it all.” I’m CERTAIN we will be hearing about this at the next reunion.

Matt Rogers and Fraser Olender

And while we’re on the subject of Bravo breakups, Below Deck star Fraser Olender and Las Culturistas host Matt Rogers called it quits this month as well. The pair announced their relationship in November 2025 after several months of dating. According to Rogers, their relationship started with a good, old-fashioned DM slide. Presumably, the fact that Fraser has to spend large quantities of time on a boat was one obstacle to a long-term relationship.

Julia Garner and Mark Foster

Another Instagram DM relationship that took a hit this summer was that of Ozark actress Julia Garner and her husband Mark Foster of Foster the People. After some banter on Instagram during the 2010’s, the couple got engaged in 2019 and married later that year. People reported that the couple had separated after over six years of marriage.

Frankie Muniz and Paige Price

The star of Malcolm in the Middle (and also the incredible movie Big Fat Liar), Frankie Muniz, announced his divorce from Paige Price, his wife of ten years, with an old video of the two of them dancing with their son Mauz. Followers immediately dragged the actor for his chipper post, prompting him to take down the video and repost a more somber divorce announcement. Paige, frustrated with the fan response, commented on the second post, saying, “Frankie, I am so sorry that you felt the need to delete an old fun video of our family because people are so cruel to you. This world is so f---ed... divorce is bad, sure — it’s not like we’re excited about it... but we’re two adults who know how to be on the same team. I can’t believe people could scrutinize that.” Very mature!

Courteney Cox and Johnny McDaid

The Friends star and the Snow Patrol musician have called it quits, according to People. The pair had been dating on and off since 2013, following Cox’s divorce from fellow Scream actor David Arquette. While Courteney and Johnny were engaged at one point, they never officially tied the knot.

Jelly Roll and Bunnie XO

In June, TMZ broke the story of country musician Jelly Roll filing for divorce from his wife of ten years, Bunnie XO. Since then, the internet has speculated wildly as to the cause of the separation, with many accusing either Jelly Roll or Bunnie XO of cheating. However, on Sunday, Jelly Roll’s daughter, Bailee Ann DeFord, took to TikTok to vent about the rumors. She stated that neither of the pair cheated, but did say, “Y’all have no f–king idea what happened, and wait till y’all find out. Just f–king wait,” she said. “Because I promise y’all, the view of what y’all have of not only the situation, but their relationship … The internet in totality is about to f–king crumble the day that I open my mouth.” Color me intrigued.

Margaret Qualley and Jack Antonoff

Amidst the hullabaloo surrounding Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s MSG wedding, actress Margaret Qualley and musician Jack Antonoff separated after what a source told People was a “rocky” three years of marriage. Fans began speculating that there was trouble in paradise when Jack showed up to Taylor’s wedding not with his wife, but with his sister, Rachel Antonoff. Qualley later issued a statement combating a rumor that one had cheated on the other.

Ethan Slater and Ariana Grande

Sure, you could have a single girl summer, but Ariana Grande, post-breakup with her Wicked co-star Ethan Slater, is proving that you can also just reconnect with an ex post-breakup. After repeatedly changing song lyrics about her ex, Ricky Alvarez, in recent concerts, the pair are reportedly back together and “taking things very slow.” RIP Spongebob, but if there is one thing about Ariana Grande, it is that she loves to be in a relationship. So happy #hotgirlsummer to all who celebrate, but also happy #whenyoureadycomeandgetitsummer to others.

Happy Wednesday Betches! Quick question: how is it already late July? Summer is halfway over, and I haven’t visited the beach, read through my summer reading list, or been to a single park picnic. Yet, somehow I’ve kept up with multiple reality TV franchises and liked nearly 500 Tweets about The Odyssey, so maybe this is cause for a bit of self-reflection on my part. To be fair, this summer has delivered a LOT of stellar content though. From Backrooms and The Invite in theaters to Love Island USA and The Real Housewives of Rhode Island on TV, there’s been plenty to watch.

Unfortunately for my dreams of eating charcuterie on a park bench or tracking down a lobster roll by the sea, the onslaught of movies and TV shows doesn’t seem to be letting up. We’ve got Spider-Man: Brand New Day hitting theaters before the end of the month, and Big Brother is airing three nights a week. Plus, I’ve got to keep refreshing Taylor Swift’s Instagram page waiting for photos of her wedding dress. The longer we wait, the more I’m beginning to believe the documentary theory, because it doesn’t take a wedding photographer this long to turn around ten shots for an Instagram carousel, right?

And while we’ve still got six weeks left for me to cram every item from my summer bucket list into, I’m already looking forward to fall and specifically September 8. Why? Because…

Update On My Close Personal Friends — RHONY is returning!

After the disastrous Season 15 of The Real Housewives of New York City, I know I should be trepidatious about the upcoming season, which is Frankensteining the reboot’s cast with three newbies and Carole Radziwill. And yet, when the Season 16 trailer dropped yesterday I found myself giddy with anticipation. First of all, the RHONY reboot cast has shed a lot of dead weight with only Jessel Taank (icon), Erin Lichy (gossipmonger extraordinaire), and Sai de Silva (I’m more meh on her) returning. These three now have years’ worth of history, so I’m hopeful that they’ll create a solid base for the season.

While there had been plenty of online speculation that Season 16 would be half newbies and half OGs, the only old-school returnee is Carole Radziwill, who was on Seasons 5-10. My unified theory of The Real Housewives is that the show is best when the cast already know one another to a certain degree, and throwing Carole in with the younger women seems a bit ill-conceived, but in the trailer, she’s being accused of going to Jeffrey Epstein’s island and she was close with JFK Jr., so at the very least we’ll get some interesting content there.

The trio of newbies seem wacky as hell, so while I again don’t love that this cast didn’t seem to know each other before filming, I am intrigued with the cast members individually. First up, we’ve got Martha Stewart’s makeup artist Daisy Toye, and then there’s Erika Hammond, who used to be a WWE wrestler under the name Veronica Lane and then married a tech billionaire who owns his own island. Lastly, Hailey Glassman, the daughter of a famous plastic surgeon and ex-girlfriend of Jon Gosselin, who apparently was bullying Claudia Oshry online. What a wiiiiiiiiild trio of women. I just know the memes are going to be good even if the drama isn’t.

There’s Still Time To Upgrade Your Cooler This Summer

In Paid Partnership with Josh Cellars

We may be nearing the halfway point of the summer (sorry, it’s true!), but there is still plenty of time for sunny hangs and plans that make it out of the group chat. And whether you’re packing the cooler for a spontaneous beach day or a casual backyard hang, Josh Cellars has you covered with their new bubbly Seaswept Sparkling, or their classic, citrusy Seaswept. These bright, refreshing wines are begging to be sipped while basking in the sun and giggling over the same gossip you’ve been unpacking since college. So if you’re ready to turn up the music, keep the good times flowing, and soak up the rest of the summer with your besties, make sure your cooler is stocked with Josh Cellars Seaswept and new Seaswept Sparkling. Grab a bottle now!

Please drink responsibly. For more information, visit https://www.joshcellars.com

The Couch Report — There’s now a movie about pickleball out

Given the rise in pickleball, aka tennis for weaklings, it was only a matter of time before we got a pickleball movie. Now The Dink, in which Jake Johnson plays an aging tennis pro who pivots to pickleball after he gets injured, is headed to Apple TV+ on July 24. The sports comedy also stars Ben Stiller, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Harris, Chloe Fineman, and two former tennis pros, John McEnroe and Andy Roddick as themselves. Oh, and just as an FYI, “dink” is a type of pickleball shot. I assumed the film’s title was a reference to the acronym for “double income no kids,” but I was wrong.

Be So For Real — Bethenny Frankel is going to Burning Man

While Carole Radziwill will be promoting RHONY, her former co-star will be heading into the Nevada desert. Bethenny Frankel recently announced that she’ll be making her first trek to Burning Man this year following her new year’s resolution to be more open. Fans were surprised that Bethenny would tag along with the more traditional Burning Man crew made up of artists, ravers, and more recently, Silicon Valley tech bros. However, she stated in an Instagram post that she’ll be doing the festival her way. She’s not doing drugs, and will be staying in a “nice” RV. She’s also bringing hydration IVs with her as she’s managing two chronic health conditions that require her to stay hydrated. Presumably she’ll also be bringing some supermodel snacks to help her stay nourished.

Current Hyperfixation — Contortionist Jessica Chastain

There’s nothing I enjoy more than when a lauded Oscar winning actor takes a role in a movie destined to be horrible. Think Frances McDormand in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Anne Hathaway in The Hustle or Eddie Redmayne in The Aeronauts. Jessica Chastain seems poised to join this elite club, playing two versions of a mother, one normal and one evil contortionist in Other Mommy. From the goofy title to the laughable trailer, everything about Other Mommy, which comes out on October 9, is asking the question, “Why did Oscar winner Jessica Chastain agree to be in the movie?” But I love an actor who likes to have a little fun, and I will be seated to watch Jessica crouched like a spider under the family dining table.

This weekend, everyone only really cared about two things: the FIFA World Cup and The Odyssey. On Saturday, Chunnel rivals England and France faced off in one of the highest-scoring games of the tournament, battling for third place, with England winning 6-4. On Sunday, however, there wasn’t a single point scored in the World Cup final until overtime when Spain finally bested Argentina 1- 0. This marked Spain’s second World Cup win, after beating the Netherlands in 2010 (also 1-0 in overtime). After the match, Argentina’s star player Lionel Messi was visibly emotional, leaving many fans to speculate that this would be the 39-year-old’s final World Cup. He also posted a photo on Instagram with the caption “The Last Tango,” which seems to be another clue.

If you weren’t watching the World Cup this weekend, you were most likely watching The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s retelling of the Greek epic starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, and approximately 45 other famous actors. The R-rated action drama stormed into theaters, raking in $124M in the U.S alone. That’s the third-highest opening gross of the year, behind only Toy Story 5 and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, both of which were bolstered by large child audiences. While I wouldn’t recommend bringing a 10-year-old to The Odyssey, I will say that watching Circe turn a bunch of men into pigs would really reinforce the “don’t talk to strangers” rule. Globally, this is Christopher Nolan’s highest opening ever, which means The Odyssey, backed with a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, is well on its way to earning a billion dollars.

And if The Odyssey earns $1B and critics love it, the movie will be a lock for a slew of Oscar nominations. Will Matt Damon finally earn his acting Oscar? Will Robert Pattinson earn his first nomination? All signs point to yes. While there are obviously dozens of awards-thirsty flicks (Dune: Part Three, The Social Reckoning, Digger) waiting for fall premieres, it will be a steep uphill climb to unseat The Odyssey as the frontrunner. Perhaps most importantly, however, The Odyssey doing so well means we’re going to have another eight months of Anne Hathaway and Zendaya red carpets. Praise Zeus for that!

Update On My Close Personal Friends — Sporty Spice got married in a Posh Spice dress

After decades in tracksuits, Sporty Spice, aka Melanie Chisholm, aka Mel C, finally ditched her matching sets for a wedding dress. The former Spice Girls member got married to Australian model/actor Chris Dingwell on July 18 in the UK’s Lake District. Singing in a girl group with a lauded fashion designer, of course, has its perks, and so Mel C tapped Posh Spice, aka Victoria Beckham, for a wedding dress. Vogue published a photo diary of the gown’s journey from fittings through the big day, where Mel B, aka Scary Spice, Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice, and Emma Bunton, aka Baby Spice, were all in attendance. Oddly enough, Victoria skipped the nuptials because she was at the World Cup with her husband, and ex-soccer player, David Beckham. Something about that rubs me the wrong way. Like, Sporty Spice only has one first wedding; there’s a World Cup every four years.

Oh, and don’t worry, Mel C changed into a white matching set with a sports bra at the reception. #SportySpiceForever

Betches goes to Broadway!

Our very own Tess Tregellas is taking her solo show EPIC off-Broadway this July 22-25 in New York City! You’ve seen her in your favorite Betches videos, and now you can see her live!

EPIC is a solo comedy hour about a hopeless romantic looking for epic romance in a world of casual dating. It answers the question: Does running around NYC in a wedding dress lead to finding your “prince charming?”

Written and performed by internet sensation Tess Tregellas (@tesstreg), directed by Ryan Cunningham (Broad City), and produced by Amy Boland, the show is full of comedy, music, and, of course, romance.

SHOW INFO:

When: July 22nd- July 25th (with Special Taping July 25th)
Where: Asylum NYC
What time: 7 pm
How can I get tickets: https://asylumnyc.com/epic/

The Couch Report — The Real Housewives of London finally jumps the pond

If you’re sad that The Real Housewives of Rhode Island has wrapped, fear not, because we’ve got a brand new series, The Real Housewives of London, arriving on Bravo/Peacock July 21. If you’re thinking to yourself, “Didn’t we just see a Real Housewives series set in London?” The answer is: sort of. This whole situation is a bit complicated, but I’ve got your back. We can get through this together.

In 2014, Bravo premiered Ladies of London, a Real Housewives-esque show about women living in London, but which didn’t operate under the Real Housewives banner. This ran for three seasons, but was cancelled in 2017, before one of its stars, Caroline Stanbury, went on to star on The Real Housewives of Dubai, which ran for two seasons from 2022-2024. Ladies of London was then rebooted in 2026, again on Bravo, only with a completely new set of characters and the title Ladies of London: The New Reign. If you’re a Bravo fan, you’ve most likely seen ads for this or the cast on Watch What Happens Live.

In 2025, however, The Real Housewives of London, a completely separate show with a completely separate cast, premiered on Hayu, NBCUniversal’s international streaming service. (NBCUniversal is also the parent company of Bravo & Peacock). Up until now, The Real Housewives of London has been unavailable to watch in the U.S., but their first season is finally premiering stateside this week. And unlike Ladies of London: The New Reign, which was put on hiatus, The Real Housewives of London is returning for a second season.

Also, not to confuse you even more, but there is a separate British Real Housewives series, The Real Housewives of Cheshire, that’s been running for 19 seasons in the UK. That’s not available to watch in the U.S., though. Did any of this help you? Are you more confused than ever?

Be So For Real —The FIFA World Cup halftime show was random as hell

Almost as confusing as the world of British Real Housewives was the first ever FIFA World Cup halftime show, produced by Global Citizen and curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin. The whole event felt like some sort of Mad Libs fever dream. The 11-minute spectacular began with Madonna in the bowels of the stadium surrounded by roller skaters, presumably lip syncing to her song “Music.” Then she was in a dune buggy with two Brazilian soccer stars, before the trio stumbled out into the broad daylight of the stadium.

In the first of several jarring mood shifts, the production took a hard pivot to a section that combined a Venezuelan conductor, the New York Philharmonic, and the Muppets (yes, you read that right). This was followed up with a jaunty performance from BTS.

In another bizarre choice, we then got an interstitial scene in which Jason Sudeikis reprised his role as Ted Lasso to introduce Justin Bieber, performing an acoustic rendition of his very slow song, “Everything Hallelujah,” which ground the proceedings to a halt.

Then Shakira, the patron saint of the World Cup, returned to rev up the engines a bit, before a pitchy children’s choir (no offense to the kids, but there were some missed notes) and more Muppets returned for a grand finale with Coldplay and BTS chilling in the background.

I do fear this may also be the last ever World Cup halftime show.

Current Hyperfixation — Tom Cruise is on a one-of-a-kind press tour

It has been years since Tom Cruise has had to embark on a proper press tour. He hasn’t been in a real drama since 2007’s Lion for Lambs, mostly sticking with action flicks like Mission: Impossible and Jack Reacher. Now, at long last, he’s returning to the awards race in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Digger. The full trailer dropped on July 13, and since then, Cruise has been on the circuit promoting his film, and if he intends to get an Oscar nomination for his work, the publicity run won’t stop anytime soon.

What is so fascinating, however, is that unlike most actors who will just sit for hundreds of interviews, Tom Cruise, plagued with rumors involving his previous marriages and relationship to Scientology, can’t really be casually chatting with the press. This has led to some already fascinating PR choices, and if the past week is any indication, we’re in for a thrilling several months of stunts.

First, Tom Cruise posed on top of a giant shovel for a photo opp. Then he took a bunch of AMC workers to go see The Odyssey. And most recently, he hung out with BTS at the World Cup. Stay tuned to see just how many events Tom Cruise can attend that involve zero talking.