There’s a very specific kind of sci-fi hangover that Silo leaves behind. It’s truly all about wanting to watch something else that keeps putting you in that uncomfortable position of living in a world where everyone (including the government) is lying, and that curiosity is dangerous because you could potentially unearth truths that others have hidden from you through deliberate acts of deception.

If that itch needs to be satisfied while waiting for Silo to return, Fallout does a much better job than it initially appears to; underneath the bright colors and comic angst of Fallout, there is a significant amount of the same thematic material that has been so compellingly present in Silo that will help keep you above water while it returns.

‘Fallout’ Is About Life Inside a Lie

Prime Video’s Fallout is set more than 200 years after a nuclear war wiped out the world as we know it. Some people survived on the surface. Others were sealed into underground Vaults, where generations grew up believing they were humanity’s last, best hope. That belief, of course, is a lie.

The show follows Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), a relentlessly optimistic Vault dweller who’s been raised on politeness, rules, and the idea that the Vault system exists to protect people. When her father is kidnapped, Lucy is forced to leave that controlled environment and step into a wasteland that doesn’t care how well she followed protocol.

That basic setup will sound extremely familiar to Silo fans, and that’s no accident. Like Silo, Fallout is obsessed with how societies maintain control long after the apocalypse is over, and how much information you have to erase to keep people compliant.

Image via Prime Video

On a tonal level, Silo and Fallout couldn’t look more different. Silo is muted, grim, and deliberately slow while Fallout is colorful, chaotic, and frequently funny, but structurally, they’re pretty much cousins. Both shows begin inside sealed underground worlds where residents are taught a carefully edited version of history. In Silo, the outside is framed as deadly, and in Fallout, Vault dwellers are told they represent civilization at its purest. In both cases, leaving home means discovering that the truth is far more complicated — and far more damning — than anyone in power was willing to admit.

Lucy’s arc mirrors Juliette Nichols’ (Rebecca Ferguson) in ways that feel intentional without being derivative. Neither character starts out as a revolutionary. Instead, they’re rule-followers, problem-solvers, and people who believe, at least at first, that systems exist for a reason. Watching that faith erode piece by piece is the engine that drives both shows.

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The Big Difference Between ‘Silo’ and ‘Fallout’ Is Tone, Not Substance

Image via Prime Video

The easiest mistake to make with Fallout is assuming it’s “lighter” sci-fi. It isn’t; it’s just messier about how it presents its ideas. Where Silo buries its commentary under silence and bureaucracy, Fallout dresses its critique up in retro-futurism and violence. Corporate greed, manufactured morality, and institutional rot are all front and center — just filtered through irradiated deserts and absurd side characters.

Walton Goggins’ Cooper Howard, a former actor turned ghoul bounty hunter, embodies that contrast perfectly. He’s funny in a way that hurts, cynical without being hollow, and deeply tied to the world before it ended. Through him, Fallout makes it painfully clear that the apocalypse didn’t create these power structures — it just froze them in place.

With two seasons available, Fallout is a genuinely satisfying binge. It layers its mysteries gradually, builds out its world with confidence, and doesn’t rush emotional payoffs just to hit spectacle beats. Like Silo, it’s a show that understands the appeal of controlled information — who has it, who doesn’t, and what happens when the wrong person starts asking the right questions. The difference is that Fallout eventually pushes beyond its bunkers, expanding its scope in ways Silo deliberately avoids, which makes it feel less like a pressure valve: familiar enough to scratch the itch, different enough not to feel redundant.

If Silo pulled you in with its atmosphere, its conspiracies, and its slow dismantling of authority, Fallout is an easy recommendation. It’s proof that post-apocalyptic sci-fi doesn’t have to look the same to ask the same uncomfortable questions — and that stepping outside the bunker is still the most dangerous thing a character can do.

By Jennifer Asencio
| Published 1 minute ago

When I reviewed the first two episodes of The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin, I said it wasn’t a prestige show. I was wrong.

The Pendragon Cycle Gives Merlin A Magical Presence

Episode 3 of The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin picks up an unspecified number of years after the end of episode 2. The baby Merlin is now a golden-eyed adult, played by Tom Sharp, who has been riding with the “Sons of Constance,” Aurellius and Uther, in their quest to unite the fragmented England into a single kingdom under a high king. The last high king didn’t fare so well, and the three men are hoping to install Aurellius in his place. They go to Ynis Avallach for a well-deserved rest before Merlin and Uther take off to go rally more aid.

Aid is needed because the Saxons have been threatening and raiding along the coast. Ynis Avallach is weakened and unable to provide military support, but has been harboring refugees among the Britons. Everyone, from Avallach to the Maridunum and Belgae monarchies to Morgain, who is married and living on the Isle of Fear, is afraid of the Saxon threat and is protecting themselves by hoarding resources or isolating themselves.

Politics are tense, and negotiations are happening just as often at the end of a sword as by diplomacy. War is about to erupt, and divided, the regional kings of England are not strong enough to defend themselves. In the midst of all this is an aloof Merlin, initiated in the ways of his people but sure that something is missing, and having visions of a young woman. He is also certain of another magical presence observing his every move.

The Rise Of Merlin Delivers Beautiful People And Gorgeous Vistas

This third installment of The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin is a vast improvement over the other two. The effects are awesome, treating us to ornate castles and frightening visions; gone are the cheesy CGI keeps of the first two episodes. They are embedded in sweeping shots of gorgeous vistas of seaside cliffs, lush valleys, and primeval forests. The Britons live in very well-designed sets built to resemble period wooden keeps. Visually, this episode knocks it out of the park.

Awesome natural views are not the only things that make the episode beautiful. Ynis Avallach is awash in white and green, with Charis managing the crisis there in her usual stunning, ethereal white. She takes on even more of the unearthly air that defined her in the first episodes, even as her character is more grounded in the events around her. Morgain, in contrast, is dressed in rich greens and feathery blacks, an earthy combination that honors her femininity as much as it remains modest.

The men, more active in the story, are clad in the blacks and browns of travelers rather than the rich robes of those they’ve left behind. This gives them a chance to go hunting and camping, get dirty, and for Myles Clohessy as Uther to show off his shirtless physique, muscular but not overbuilt. Even with the significant influence of the two Atlantean ladies involved in events, this episode is all about the men and their quest.

Incredible Performances Carry This New King Arthur Show

There’s even a great buddy comedy between Uther and Merlin’s steward, Penelaus, which is a great cue to talk about the acting. One of my only three complaints about the episode and the performances of the numerous actors who appeared was that, once or twice, someone let out an anguished cry or a shout that was out of place and overemphatic.

Otherwise, the acting is incredible: Merlin’s smoldering intensity, Uther’s fiery temper, the hesitant nervousness of King Taldric, the grim determination of Rose Reid’s Charis, and Arellius’s idealism are all to be commended. An intense negotiation between some of the men builds significant tension because it is so well-performed (except for a single Anakin Skywalker “Noooooooo!”).

In the first two episodes, my favorite performer was Emree Franklin for her layered, nuanced portrayal of Morgain. In this episode, she doesn’t disappoint, emanating strong feminine power and demonstrating that she has her husband and sons wrapped around her finger without breaking a sweat. Rose Reid represents her foil, using her dignified strength to portray Charis as she handles things her own way.

But the show is stolen by Alex Laurence-Phillips as Pelleas. This actor conveys more with his face in scenes with no lines than a thousand lines of dialogue. His reactions to what is happening around him are priceless, and his banter with Uther is comic relief for what could have been a very heavy episode.

A Tale Of Two Amazing Scenes

While the majority of The Rise of Merlin’s third episode is focused on diplomatic negotiations between leaders who are proud, angry, and desperate, the political maneuvering is engrossing. The comic relief between verbal battles is essential to the flow of the episode, otherwise you’d need a Xanax by the end.

However, there are two scenes in particular that I need to single out for their excellent screenwriting and the framing by which they were presented.

The first is a presentation of two opposing points of view in two different conversations. The perspective of this intertwined scene shifts between the two discussions, comparing and contrasting how they relate to one another and to the show’s complicated politics. The technique of aligning these conversations side by side rather than as separate scenes is riveting and relevant because it shows how these perspectives bypass and misunderstand one another.

The second tandem scene that deserves recognition is a feast of production value, featuring two battles that unfold concurrently. With tight frames, we are brought closely into the action in the same way as some of the hardest-hitting battles in Game of Thrones (I was reminded specifically of the “Battle of the Bastards”). Once again, our perspective is switched from one fight to the other, brilliantly centered in all the action. The color contrast between the two skirmishes makes them easy to follow, even in all the chaos. The tandem presentation connects all the episode’s events into a beautiful, unified whole.

Room For Improvement In The Pendragon Cycle

For all the praise I have lavished upon this episode, there were some glaring flaws. I already mentioned the occasional overacting. This was further amplified by the inclusion of so many characters that I lost track of some of their names (e.g. I think his name was King Taldric?). All the important characters are easily identifiable, but ancillary characters are easy to get lost in, and conversations drop names of people that I’m not sure turned up on-screen.

Another major issue is that Merlin’s eyes look fake. The character is said to have golden eyes, similar to those of the bird he was named for. The problem is that the contact lenses the actor is wearing look more like bad CGI in many scenes. I’m not sure they weren’t. Since Merlin is the main character of the show, it is very distracting when his eyes are highlighted in a way that makes them stand out more than they normally do.

How Christian Is This Christian King Arthur Show?

One other thing to note is that while magic is discussed and used in the episode, Christianity is not as prominently emphasized. This is somewhat of a break from the first two episodes, which were very preachy.

Magic and the pagan gods have not been disrespected in this series so far, but have been shown as primal and demanding forces of nature, contrasted with a giving and benevolent Christian god. However, little of that is featured in this episode, and Merlin is still wearing his druidic spiral on his cheek. Future episodes will pick that thread back up, but so far, I have been impressed with how religion has been handled by a show that was expected to be very heavy-handed.

The Pendragon Cycle Levels Up In Episode Three

Overall, Jeremy Boreing has done a wonderful job adapting this story, and the third episode shows that The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin is learning and improving. As it goes along, production values are becoming sharper and the majority of its effects are getting better. If the next four episodes are as good as this one was, The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin will absolutely earn its place among prestige epics.

THE PENDRAGON CYCLE EPISODE 3 REVIEW SCORE

The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin is streaming on Daily Wire+. Episodes drop on Thursdays.

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February 5, 2026
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Fans of the Transformers franchise have a great catalog of films to enjoy, rewatch, dissect, and everything in between. But when they run out of Transformers films to watch, they, thankfully, have another, even larger, catalog of films to view that are just like the robots in disguise, whether because they share similar characters, thematic ideas, or even action sequences.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a film with giant robots or giant beings fighting each other. It can be an entry in a franchise soon to be connected with Transformers or even a movie that simply features a large, city-wide disaster. Whatever the case, plenty of films resemble the Transformers saga, making them ideal for fans to enjoy before the next installment in the franchise arrives. It’s also safe to say that a lot of the films below are arguably better than most of the Transformers films, anyway, so that’s a much-appreciated bonus.

15

‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’ (2018)

Image via Legendary Pictures

Be warned: Pacific Rim: Uprising is not nearly as good as its prior installment (most mecha movies, in all honesty), but it finds itself differing from it in a way that could most definitely appeal to fans of the Transformers franchise. It serves as a complaint from fans of the Pacific Rim franchise, because it’s different from the original film in a way they didn’t like, but Pacific Rim: Uprising‘s Jaegers move far faster and more agile than the likes of the first project.

This aspect makes the action a lot faster-paced in its choreography, which is a landmark of the action in Transformers. They may be giant robots, but boy, do they move fast. So, while the quicker movements in Pacific Rim: Uprising may be a bit of an antithesis to the physical language in Pacific Rim, it serves fans of Transformers relatively well. That doesn’t stop the movie from being quite mediocre, though, so go in with lower expectations.

14

‘Robot Jox’ (1989)

Image via Empire Pictures

While it may be an older film, and some Transformers fans are most certainly more used to the high-octane visual effects from the more modern films, Robot Jox is a great watch for fans of the classic era of the franchise. The original series in the Transformers franchise, The Transformers (also called Transformers: Original Series), first aired just a few years before this movie came out: 1984.

This means that fans of this original show can bask in the glory of those, well, glorious 80s vibes that can be found in the series. Robot Jox is a staple of mecha projects from the 80s (and even early 90s), which means it’s also a pretty monumental movie when it comes to mecha projects. It can’t balance tone too well, but over the years, it’s found a niche fanbase who see it as a “so-bad-its-good” film, which can make it a comedic watch for those looking for something new, too.

13

‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ (2021)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Titanic creatures kicking the crap out of each other will always have great cinematic appeal. It doesn’t matter if it’s giant robots, kaiju, monsters, or aliens; there is something spectacular about larger-than-life beings making Earth their battle ring. Such movies keep audiences’ eyes glued to the screen for hours.

Godzilla vs. Kong features a giant monster fighting another giant monster before they eventually team up to fight another robotic monster. It’s a great parallel to the Transformers saga, capturing the sheer awesomeness of the monster-battle concept. Opening at the height of the pandemic, Godzilla vs. Kong proved to be a much-needed distraction by simply being one of the best recent monster movies. Thankfully, Warner Bros. Pictures seems to have zero plans to halt production on their MonsterVerse films, so fans can expect many more giant monsters fighting more giant monsters.

12

‘Cloverfield’ (2008)

Image via Paramount Pictures

From the brilliant mind of Matt Reeves, the man who directed The Batman, Cloverfield remains a groundbreaking film that changed the cultural zeitgeist. When a giant monster begins rampaging in New York, a group of friends struggles to get out alive while attempting a daring rescue.

Fans of Transformers will love Cloverfield for its giant monster and the sheer amount of destruction it causes throughout the film’s 1-hour and 25-minute runtime. One of the strongest aspects of any Transformers film is the excitement that comes from watching giant robots destroy everything in their wake. The robots in disguise also do a pretty good job of making the humans in the films feel small and at the mercy of something much larger, which Cloverfield does pretty much perfectly.

11

‘Kong: Skull Island’ (2017)

Image via Warner Bros.

Another film that does a great job of making humans feel small among giant action sequences is Kong: Skull Island. However, it differs from Cloverfield in the sense that the film’s protagonist is the giant creature, getting to fight other gargantuan monsters on the island he calls home. Meanwhile, the humans unexpectedly exploring the island attempt to survive the rampage.

Kong: Skull Island is one of the best and most rewatchable movies in the MonsterVerse because of its competent direction and surprisingly emotional story. It succeeds as a summer blockbuster smash hit without feeling too shallow, even if it still prioritizes spectacle and action. It does what most Transformers films honestly fail to do, making the story just as important and resonant as the monster action.

10

‘Mazingrer Z: Infinity’ (2017)

Image via Toei Company

A landmark mecha film that many outside of the anime fanbase unfortunately don’t know about is Mazinger Z: Infinity. The Mazinger franchise has been pretty dang beloved over the years, and for Transformers fans who haven’t visited this universe before, Mazinger Z: Infinity is a pretty great movie to check out.

Fans gave mixed reactions for the exact reason that Transformers fans might enjoy it: they felt it was an unnecessary revisit to the franchise, which also makes it more palatable for newer fans. When the world’s longest era of peace is interrupted, the former pilot of Mazinger Z, Koji Kabuto (Showtaro Morikubo and Wayne Grayson), finds a wild discovery beneath Mt. Fuji, which spawns a conflict with a classic villain.

9

‘Edge of Tomorrow’ (2014)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Edge of Tomorrow can be best described as Groundhog Day meets robotic action and war. The plot centers on William Cage (Tom Cruise), who battles through the same day of an alien invasion over and over, losing the war each time. However, he gets better with each redo, bringing him closer to beating the aliens once and for all.

Most Transformers movies end with an act three big war/invasion battle, which is done perfectly in Edge of Tomorrow. Not to mention that the soldiers in Edge of Tomorrow wear mechanized suits to help them combat the alien threat, capitalizing on the desire to be an automaton, even if just for a while. Edge of Tomorrow also just so happens to be one of the most underrated action blockbusters of all time and is worthy of a watch no matter what someone is a fan of.

8

‘Independence Day’ (1996)

Image via 20th Century Studios

As stated, the end of almost every Transformers film pretty much always has an end-of-the-world scenario where humans must team up with the robots to stop an incoming invasion. As arguably the original apocalypse flick, Independence Day pretty much defined a lot of the typical tropes seen in modern doomsday sequences in film.

The story sees aliens invading Earth, and with far inferior technology, humans must use their sheer indomitable spirit to make it out alive and win the day. This type of scenario is the same that many humans face in the Transformers films. Being far outmatched by the incredible might of the Decepticons, humanity typically needs to get creative and find incredible willpower to make it through to help the Autobots keep the planet safe. Beyond its similarities with the robotic vehicles saga, Independence Day is a seminal and triumphant sci-fi action spectacle that lends itself to multiple rewatches.

7

‘The Terminator’ (1984)

Image via Orion Pictures

When it comes to robots in the film, it doesn’t ever really get more classic than The Terminator. When a cyborg assassin comes to the present day with a mission to kill the young Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), she must team up with Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) to escape. She soon learns her unborn son will lead the fight against the evil Skynet one day, thrusting her into the middle of a deadly adventure.

The Terminator features humans helplessly going up against advanced robotic beings who seek to destroy everything they know and love. Aside from that, The Terminator is one of director James Cameron’s best movies and continues to be a blueprint for filmmaking (especially low-budget filmmaking) to this day. The Terminator is one of the first and best examples of humans fighting against tech greater than themselves to stay alive.

6

‘Promare’ (2019)

Image via Toho Animation

In a post-dystopian world in which a massive outbreak of spontaneous human combustion races across the planet, the world finds its response in a team of mech pilots called Burning Rescue. However, not all is easy when they’re facing off against a terror group known as Mad Burnish and the police force, called the Freeze Force.

Depending on the era of Transformers one likes, the post-apocalyptic vibe can fit the vibe of whatever era they are watching, as the destruction during the war for Cybertron can most certainly be considered apocalyptic. And, as most “watch this because you like Transformers” films have, Promare features some iconic mech action.

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UPDATE: 2/5/26 at 2:40 a.m. ET — Canadian singer Tate McRae appeared to hit back at backlash after appearing in an ad promoting Team USA’s 2026 Winter Olympics team.

The pop star shared a childhood photo of herself holding up a Canadian flag to her Instagram Stories on Wednesday, February 4. “… Y’all know I’m Canada down,” the “Run for the Hills” singer wrote over the image.

Original story:

Singer Tate McRae is just as excited for the 2026 Winter Olympics as the rest of us — but not everybody is a fan of how she’s expressing it.

Related: Behind-the-Scenes on Team USA‘s Dramatic Journey to the 2026 Winter Olympics

The 2026 Winter Olympics are officially here — and Team USA is arriving in Italy with star power, storylines and sky-high expectations.  As the world’s best athletes descend on Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, all eyes are on the Americans: from Ilia Malinin’s can’t-miss moment in men’s figure skating to Mikaela Shiffrin’s long-awaited redemption tour on […]

McRae, who was born in Canada, starred in an ad for NBC Sports promoting Team USA released on Tuesday, February 3.

“I’m trying to get to Milan for an amazing Opening Ceremony and meet Team USA,” the pop star, 22, tells a snowy owl in the commercial. 

McRae continues, “It’s the weekend with America’s best skating for gold and Lindsey Vonn’s epic comeback.”

The 2026 Winter Olympics kick off with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, February 6, the same day that team figure skating competition begins. Vonn, meanwhile, is scheduled to hit the slopes on Sunday, February 8, despite suffering a torn ACL after a crash in Switzerland last week. 

The decision for McRae to support Team USA didn’t sit well with some fans, who called her out for abandoning her Canadian roots. 

“Promoting team usa is actually crazy… girl ur from calgary, u grew up going to the saddledome and the stampede, quit pretending ur from the country that was threatening to annex us this time last year  😭😭,” one person wrote via X. 

McRae was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and spent most of her upbringing in the province. She has long supported the NHL’s Calgary Flames, who play at the Scotiabank Saddledome. 

“Tate McRae, who is from Calgary Alberta, is doing Olympic promos for Team USA… more like ‘Trait McRator’ AMIRITE!” a person commented via X. 

Another wrote, “Tate mcrae doing a olympic ad for the usa is lame af but also why is a us network even choosing a canadian to endorse them?”

“Tate McRae doing a promo for NBC and Team USA for the Olympics and not Canada has me a bit sad but okay,” a dejected fan said. 

McRae appearing in the ad might not be entirely random, however, as the “Sports Car” singer has recently been linked to New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes, who will represent Team USA in Italy. 

McRae and Hughes, 24, were spotted together in New York City in December 2025 after she attended one of his home games. 

Hughes discussed dealing with an increased level of fame during an exclusive interview with Us Weekly last month. 

“The number one thing I focus on is my game,” Hughes said. “That’s the part I have the most fun with. Obviously there’s a lot of things that come with it. But the most fun thing is to go out to a sold-out rink, ball out and play well. That’s the most important thing for me.”

He added, “All the other stuff is good, it comes on the side if you’re playing well. You kinda got to put the cart before the horse. I’m lucky to be in the position that I’m in. The most fun I have is on the ice.”

Hughes and the Team USA men’s hockey team will begin their quest for gold in Italy against Latvia on February 12. 

Teddi Mellencamp has one of the most iconic last names in music, so it’s no surprise that she turned to her famous father, John Mellencamp, for advice before taking on The Masked Singer.

“My dad said, ‘Just sing loud and proud, and if you don’t hit a note, you don’t hit a note, but as long as you’re giving it your all, that’s what matters,’” the former Bravo star, 44, exclusively told Us Weekly after her unmasking during the Wednesday, February 4, episode of the Fox singing competition. “And so that’s what I was doing.”

Teddi didn’t initially tell John, 74, that she’d landed a gig on The Masked Singer, but when it came time to show off her pipes, she decided it was time to ask the Grammy winner for some tips.

“Once I was singing a song, then I talked to him about it. I needed advice,” she. “He’s like, ‘Don’t go out there trying to think that you’re a singer. Just go out there and sing the song the way you would if you were singing along. Have fun.’”

The advice seems to have worked, because Teddi blew the judges away with her performances of Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” and her dad’s “Jack & Diane.” The former song, she explained, has become “an anthem” for her as she battles stage IV melanoma. (A scan in October 2025 showed “no detectable cancer,” but Teddi explained on her podcast last month that she’s still considered stage IV while she remains on immunotherapy.)

“I’m probably even going to get emotional talking about it,” Teddi said of Platten’s inspiring track. “I’m almost a year [after] having all my cancer surgeries, but it’s been a fight, and I wanted to be able to share the softer side, but also [show] you can work really hard and do the things that you want to do still.”

As for the second song, John’s 1982 No. 1 hit, Teddi initially didn’t think it was an option to even sing one of her dad’s songs because of who owned the rights. When she realized his masters had been sold, however, his catalog was on the table, and she was willing to give it a shot.

When Teddi spoke to Us, her dad hadn’t yet seen her take on “Jack & Diane” — he was planning to come over and watch with her so she could get “nice and embarrassed” — but he previously expressed his approval for her “Fight Song” performance.

“He thought the first episode was great,” she told Us. “I mean, he’s my dad, so it’s different. But he was like, ‘I thought you were great.’”

Tuning into The Masked Singer is apparently always a family affair in the Mellencamp household, no matter who’s under the costume. As Teddi said in Calla Lily’s first clue package, she wanted to do the show for her kids, who love the show. (She shares Slate, 13, Cruz, 11, and Dove, 5, with ex Edwin Arroyave.)

Related: Teddi Mellencamp and Father John Mellencamp’s Best Quotes About Their Bond

Teddi Mellencamp will always appreciate her dad, John Mellencamp, despite their well-documented ups and downs. John welcomed daughters Teddi and Justice with ex-wife Victoria Granucci in 1981 and 1985, respectively. The singer also shares daughter Michelle with ex Priscilla Esterline, and sons Hud and Speck with ex-wife Elaine Irwin. In May 2024, Teddi shared that […]

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“My kids have seen me in a situation where I was recovering from brain surgery, and I wanted them to know that there’s life after that,” she explained. “And once you’re feeling better, you can push yourself and you can try new things. So, that was part of the reason that I wanted to do The Masked Singer, but the other part was because it’s my kids’ favorite show.”

The kids didn’t know in advance that their mom was on the show, but she said they figured it out as soon as they heard her voice because she always sings in the car.

“I was like, ‘How do you know?’ Because I wanted to wait [to tell them],” she recalled. “And they were like, ‘Don’t even try to fool us. We know.’”

They were then “so worried” that their mom would go home first, but that didn’t happen: She notched two performances before Calla Lily’s run came to an end despite being so nervous that she found herself shaking on stage.

“I just was like, ‘You’ve got to do this. There’s no choice,’” Teddi recalled telling herself. “You’ve just got to fight through the nerves and remember the words and sing loud.”

Teddi has been fighting hard for the past year, sharing raw insights about her health journey on her “Two T’s in a Pod” podcast, which she cohosts with The Real Housewives of Orange County’s Tamra Judge. Listeners may come expecting reality TV gossip, but Teddi hasn’t shied away from discussing the serious topic of her treatment, in part because she thinks it would be “impossible” for fans not to notice something was going on.

“You can hear the way that my voice has changed throughout the time. You can see my personality change. And I’m aware of it,” Teddi explained. “When you have brain surgery, there’s so many things affected, and I didn’t want to feel ashamed by it. So, I just wanted to talk about it and make other people not feel alone. But also, if I talk about it, then I’m less nervous about it, then I can just go along being me. I’m not trying to hide something like, ‘Hey, guys, I’m really shaky today,’ or, ‘You might notice my voice sounds funny.’”

She added, “It’s one of the side effects of one of the treatments I’m going through, and just kind of letting people know that you’re not alone. I think so many people talk about the physical aspect of having cancer, but the mental aspect has kind of been forgotten. So, as much as I can talk about that, I do.”

Just last month, Teddi opened up about starting therapy to help process all that she’s been through between her cancer battle and her divorce from Arroyave, 48.

“It’s really hard for me to tap into my feelings, because I think I’ve put up a wall,” she shared with Us. “I was so scared of what happened that I didn’t want to really dig into it and get into those emotions, but now that I have, it’s like the floodgates are open. It’s definitely been helping, because I think that when you go through a trauma and you’re just trying to white-knuckle it the whole time, it’s gonna come around. And when it came around, I was completely shocked.”

The Masked Singer, she said, helped remind her that she can keep going.

“You become such a creature of habit when you’re healing,” she said. “I’m home. I do my podcast from the house. I’m not allowed to drive yet, so my podcast room is 15 steps from where my bedroom is. It’s like everything is in one area. Being able to get out there and do that was something that showed me I can do hard things.”

The Masked Singer airs on Fox Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Hulu.

Cheers stands as one of the most iconic sitcoms of the 1980s. The series, led by Ted Danson as Sam Malone, centered around the staff and regulars of the titular bar in Boston as they took time away from their day-to-day life to go “where everybody knows your name.” The characters are among television’s most beloved: Danson’s Malone, the bar owner and former Red Sox relief pitcher; Diane (Shelley Long), the academic barmaid and love interest; Carla (Rhea Perlman), the cynical, wise-cracking and irritable waitress; Norm (George Wendt), a popular bar regular greeted with a resounding “Norm!” whenever he showed up (which was often); and Cliff (John Ratzenberger), another bar regular, a mail carrier, and know-it-all.

As the series progressed, Woody (Woody Harrelson) replaced Coach (Nicholas Colasanto) as bartender following Colasanto’s passing, while Long departing the show opened the door for Kirstie Alley‘s Rebecca, all without the series missing a beat. A spin-off was inevitable, and while any of the characters would have been effective, the call went to Kelsey Grammer‘s Frasier Crane, and Frasier (which premiered in 1993, the same year Cheers ended) would prove to be just as popular as its parent series. But the first spin-off didn’t feature any of the characters mentioned above. Preceding Frasier by six years, The Tortellis centered around characters that only ever made a handful of appearances… and unsurprisingly, it bombed.

Carla’s Ne’er-Do-Well Ex-Husband Lands ‘Cheers’ First Spin-Off With ‘The Tortellis’

In the first season of Cheers, all we knew about Carla’s ex-husband Nick was what she shared caustically. He’s a deadbeat father to five of her children, making few attempts to contact them, and no attempt to support them financially. He also cheated on Carla with another woman, Loretta. We don’t actually meet him or Loretta until Season 2’s “Battle of the Exes,” and, well, he lives up to his reputation. Nick (Dan Hedaya) is loud, boorish, and scruffy, with nary a hint of sophistication. Loretta (Jean Kasem) is a tall, blonde, and “ditzy” woman, a trophy wife who marries Nick in the same episode. And yet, after the wedding, he beelines to Cheers and begs Carla to come back to him. It’s not the last time he attempts to woo Carla back either, and it often even comes close to happening — with Nick still proving to be irresistible to her.

The Tortellis sees Loretta leave Nick and move to Las Vegas, where she hopes to make it as a performer. She moves in with her sister Charlotte (Carlene Watkins), who seemingly took her share of the smarts, and her son Mark (Aaron Moffat). Nick follows her to Las Vegas in an attempt to reconcile with her, promising to change his ways. She takes him back, tentatively, and Nick sets up a TV repair shop, and, true to his word, changes his ways. (Kind of. Not really.) Then Nick and Carla’s teenage son, Anthony (Timothy Williams), and his petulant wife Annie (Mandy Ingber) also move to Las Vegas, joining Nick and Loretta in Charlotte and Mark’s home. Six wacky stereotypical characters under one roof? Cue the hilarity.

‘The Tortellis’ Is Mercifully Cancelled After 13 Episodes

Image via CBS

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The decision to center a spin-off around characters who’ve had a handful of appearances is questionable at best, but to make it about such a despicable character and his bubble-headed wife is downright baffling. Storylines like a customer holding Nick accountable for his advertised claim of fixing a TV in a day or he’ll “eat a bug,” or Loretta confronting Charo after Nick takes longer than expected to fix a TV in her dressing room are so far apart from the savvy, well-written episodes of Cheers that it’s criminal. And speaking of criminal, Nick’s criminal past, rooted in offensive stereotypes of Italian Americans, didn’t help either, with the South Florida SunSentinel saying, “The Italian-American Anti-Defamation League should be about as enchanted with Nick Tortelli as it was with The Untouchables.” Coupled with poor ratings, The Tortellis was cancelled after only 13 episodes.

Frasier worked because people knew the character and were willing to follow him to Seattle. The series didn’t sacrifice those things that made Frasier who he was, bringing characters into the series with him that worked to both complement him and challenge him. The writing, too, was up to the same level of quality as its predecessor. Joey, the infamous spin-off of Friends, failed partially because the series changed those things that made Joey who he was, expecting fans to follow a different version of Joey to Los Angeles. The Tortellis didn’t sacrifice the characters at all, and maybe they should have. To add insult to injury, Wings, a sitcom that exists in the same world as Cheers and Frasier, had a healthy 8-season run, with characters that never showed up in Cheers at all.

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The Tortellis

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Release Date

1987 – 1987-00-00

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Directors

Michael Zinberg, Jack Shea, Greg Antonacci

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