TV
Why Viktor Hargreeves’ Experience in The Umbrella Academy Was Always a Trans Allegory
[Editor’s note: The following contains mild spoilers for The Umbrella Academy Season 3.] Cliffhangers rule The Umbrella Academy. Every season, including the just-premiered third, of Netflix’s adaptation of Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s comic book series has ended with the status quo being shaken up more than it already has. And Season 2 ended with a particularly intriguing move: The Hargreeves, a dysfunctional family of adopted super-siblings, returned to the present from 1960s Dallas, only to find their home is no longer their home. Instead, Reginald Hargreeves adopted a different group of children with special powers (including original Umbrella Ben) for what’s now known as “The Sparrow Academy.” But a different sort of lingering question about the show’s direction arose between the second...
Home Renovating Gets Horny in Trailer for How to Build a Sex Room: Watch
When it comes to home renovation shows, the opportunities for spinoffs are endless. Nothing proves this point better than Netflix’s latest addition to the genre, How to Build a Sex Room, which just released its first trailer. How to Build a Sex Room comes from ITV America’s High Noon Entertainment and is executive produced by Adam Sher, Jim Berger, Scott Feeley, Corrina Robbins, and Sarah Howell. In the series, premiering July 8th, luxury interior designer Melanie Rose classes up the sex dungeon, offering couples a room that’s both posh and seductive. “When people hear the words ‘sex room,’ they concentrate on the word ‘sex,’ and that connotates [sic] dirty, disgusting,” Rose explains in the preview. “But when I design them, they can be beautiful.” Advertisement Related Video Wit...
Challenge Couple Jenna Compono And Zach Nichols Reveal Sex Of Second Child
Make way for a mini Barbie Beast: Jenna Compono and Zach Nichols’ second child is a girl! The Challenge couple — who shared earlier this month that baby number two would arrive at the end of this year — just revealed the sex of their munchkin on Instagram. “💖,” Jenna captioned the photo above featuring soon-to-be big brother Anthony with an “It’s a Girl” sign, the sonogram and a pink balloon (Zach shared the same image and pink heart). What a smile on this kid about his little sister! Jenna is due in December and she opened up to E! News, who was first to report about the pregnancy, about having two kiddos under the age of two. “I come from a huge family and feel confident and comfortable with the two babies!” she said. &#...
Netflix Adds Cheaper Tier for Customers Who “Don’t Mind Advertising”
Netflix has confirmed it will be launching a cheaper, ad-supported tier. The streamer’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos explaining the reasoning behind the lower-priced plan at Cannes Lions advertising festival on Thursday, June 23rd during a sitdown with Sway podcast host Kara Swisher. “We’ve left a big customer segment off the table, which is people who say, ‘Hey, Netflix is too expensive for me and I don’t mind advertising,’” said Sarandos (via The Hollywood Reporter). “We’re adding an ad tier; we’re not adding ads to Netflix as you know it today. We’re adding an ad tier for folks who say, ‘Hey, I want a lower price and I’ll watch ads.’” During Netflix’s last quarterly call in April, the company reported a loss of 200,000 subscribers, marking the first time its customer base has de...
How Only Murders in the Building’s Music Supervisors Perfected the Needle Drop
It’s hard to think of an element of filmmaking that is as simultaneously critical and hidden as music. It is the unassuming link that binds a film together from moment to moment; it is the final piece of the puzzle that makes the whole experience that much more cohesive; more emotional; more impactful. So what is the key to curating the perfect soundtrack or score? Patience? Determination? For music supervising power-duo Bruce Gilbert and Lauren Mikus, the secret to success is enjoying the work, and having the most fun as possible. In fact, Mikus describes the perfect project as, simply: “a fun conversation,” and the approach seems to work for them: The two have overseen, both individually and as a team, music featured in an impressive catalog of films and TV shows, including, but certainl...
The Obi-Wan Kenobi Finale Pushed Our Exhaustion With Prequels to the Limit
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the season finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi, “Part VI.”] Sure, it’s a metaphysical impossibility in the real world (for anyone outside of an X-Files episode), but it’s still a good thing that none of us know for certain how our friends and family are going to die. It’s the kind of knowledge that would hang over every interaction, make us wonder if every decision they make is one which will bring them ever closer to their ultimate fate — it’d be hard to connect with your friends and family, if you knew how they were all going to die. It might make it hard for you to care about what happens to them. Which brings us to the season finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi, an action-packed hour of television where all of its major climaxes had, for a Star Wars fa...
Sneak Peek: Kayla’s Relationship With Luke Is ‘Still Tense’ On Young And Pregnant
Over the past year, “so much has happened” in Kayla’s teen mom life, and her relationship with Luke is “still tense.” “Me and your family got into it, so they don’t really like me anymore,” she reflects to Luke in the Young and Pregnant sneak peek above. “And then the abortion. I’m just exhausted in every single way. Physically, mentally, emotionally. I just feel drained.” Luke responds that he is trying to be as supportive as possible but that he finds it challenging that she does not let him help her. How does Izaiah’s and Ariah’s mom answer, and why does she think they should spend some time apart? Watch the entire clip, and do not miss the return of Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant on Tuesday, June 28 at 9/8c. Yo...
The Boys Showrunner Confirms Homelander Is a “Trump Analogue”
The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke has clarified what more discerning viewers of Season 3 of the superhero parody series already figured out: the evil Superman character Homelander is a stand-in for former president Donald Trump. “He’s always been a Trump analogue for me,” Kripke said in a recent Rolling Stone profile. “I’ll admit to being a little more bald this season than I have in past seasons. But the world is getting more coarse and less elegant. The urgency of our team’s writing reflects that. We’re angrier and more scared as the years go on, so that is just being reflected in our writing. But part of it is where Homelander’s story naturally goes. He has this really combustible mix of complete weakness and insecurity, and just horrible power and ambition, and it’s just such a dead...
Mr. Bean’s Rowan Atkinson Slams Cancel Culture: “The Job of Comedy Is to Offend”
Rowan Atkinson, star of Mr. Bean and Netflix’s new series Man vs. Bee, has slammed cancel culture in a new interview with The Irish Times, claiming, “The job of comedy is to offend.” It’s unclear what he sees as offensive about Man vs. Bee — in which a bumbling man tries to remove a malicious insect from a house full of breakable objects — or why Atkinson is so riled up at the thought of people criticizing famous comedians. But after cancel culture came up, he said, “It does seem to me that the job of comedy is to offend, or have the potential to offend, and it cannot be drained of that potential. Every joke has a victim. That’s the definition of a joke. Someone or something or an idea is made to look ridiculous.” Atkinson has spent his career p...
Meet Baby Kingston: Kam Williams And Leroy Garrett Officially Introduce Their Son
Kam Williams and Leroy Garrett welcomed their first child Kingston in May (he’s a Taurus) and shared a sweet photo as a new family of three several weeks after the birth. Such sweet curls! Now, The Challenge couple is formally introducing “amazing” Baby Kamroy — who was born the day after his doting day’s bday — and we can all finally see his little face. “Introducing Kingston Lee Garrett #BabyKamroy 🤍,” Kam and Le captioned the Instagram album above. “He’s the perfect mix of us both & fits perfectly into our family. God is great & really blessed us with our beautiful healthy baby boy 🙏🏽.” Baby King (one of the munchkin’s nicknames) is truly “the perfect mix” of his mom and dad! Of...
Stephen Colbert Addresses Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s Capitol Arrest
Stephen Colbert addressed the arrests of members of his production crew at the US Capitol late last week during the opening monologue of Monday’s episode of the Late Show. Seven members of the production crew were charged with unlawful entry after taping a sketch involving Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Among those arrested was Triumph creator and voice actor Robert Smigel. “Triumph offered to go down to D.C. to interview some Congress people to highlight some January 6 hearings,” Colbert said of the sketch. “I said, ‘Sure, if you can get anyone to agree to talk to you. Because, and please don’t take this as an insult, you’re a puppet.” Advertisement Related Video “After they finished their interviews, they were doing some last-minute puppetry and jokey make-em-ups in a hallway, when Triump...
Only Murders In the Building Season 2 Continues the Twisty Mystery Fun: Review
The Pitch: When we last saw Charles Haden-Savage (Steve Martin), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez), things weren’t looking great for the trio. Season 1 of Hulu’s Only Murders In the Building was a 2021 hit following the journey of the aforementioned crew as the grew from strangers and neighbors in glamorous New York apartment The Arconia to something of a chaotic family. After setting out to solve the murder of fellow Arconia resident Tim Kono by way of true crime podcast — and somehow succeeding in the matter — Charles, Oliver, and Mabel think all that’s left to do is pop some champagne and celebrate. When a mysterious text urges them to get out of the building while they can, things take a turn for the worse — Charles and Oliver stumble into yet another murder s...
