Related: Jennifer Lopez Solved Our Transitional Wardrobe Woes With a $36 Dress Style
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Halle Berry’s Flowy, Fall-Ready Floral Dress Style Is on Amazon
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‘Fall’ and ‘floral dress’ may sound like opposites, but Halle Berry proves that the right style carries you from August barbecues to October vacations without a wardrobe overhaul. Berry’s summer-to-fall look is secretly on sale for only $20, and when we say it’s selling out, we mean it!
In a 60th birthday appreciation post, Berry glowed in an easy, flowy black maxi dress splashed with orange, brown and white blooms. Bare feet added to her effortless aesthetic. With this Amazon twin, you’ll channel the same energy, whether you pair it with sandals, boots or no shoes at all.
Get the Zeagoo Boho Maxi Dress for $20 (was $40) at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate at the date of publication but are subject to change.
This Zeagoo Boho Maxi Dress features soft beige florals, drapey fabric and halter straps that lean into the boho spirit that Berry wears so well. The sleeveless design and rounded hemline add to the appeal.
Choosing what to wear from now through November isn’t an easy task, but Jennifer Lopez makes it incredibly simple, wearing a loose, polished shirtdress that stuns with flip-flops, sneakers and booties alike. Somehow, her chic look is only $36! Exploring Italy with her kids, Lopez wore a striped shirtdress with easy sandals and a headband. […]
Better yet, this chic maxi dress is lightweight enough for late-summer heat, but substantial enough to layer under a cardigan once the leaves turn. One happy shopper raved that “the fabric has a really nice weight and softness to it.” They added, “It drapes beautifully and doesn’t cling to the areas I’m more self-conscious about right now.”
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Throw this dreamy maxi dress on with sandals for brunch, add ankle boots and a denim jacket, or wear it on vacation and let the florals do the work. Berry would approve.
Get the Zeagoo Boho Maxi Dress for $20 (was $40) at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate at the date of publication but are subject to change.
Looking for something else? Explore more chic dresses, and don’t forget to check out all of Amazon’s Daily Deals for more great finds!
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Genetics, daily activities, whatever the cause may be, I stand firmly in the broad-shoulder category. I accept it (and have learned to appreciate it), but shopping for chic seasonal dresses still throws me through a loop . . . until now. I recently cracked the shoulder-flattering code, and I now feel confident in nearly every […]
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Historically, the thriller genre has been immensely important to literature, easily among the global publishing industry’s favorite kinds of books. But while classics like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s Sherlock Holmes novels and modern masterpieces like Thomas Harris‘ Hannibal series have attained inimitable international acclaim, there have been other great thriller books from the past which have unfortunately been left behind.
Of course, saying that these books have been “forgotten” is a bit of an exaggeration for the sake of drama, but there’s no denying that they haven’t been read—or even heard of—by even a fraction of the number of readers that they deserve to be loved by. These are undeniable masterclasses in thriller writing; suspenseful, tense, and imbued with high stakes that make them all-around page-turners.
‘Beast in View’ (1955)
Canadian-American writer Margaret Millar was a groundbreaking pioneer in several senses, from her contributions to bridging the gap between old-school whodunnits and modern psychological thrillers to her unprecedented writing about the psychology of female characters. Beast in View is one of her most essential works, about a reclusive heiress who’s tormented by a series of phone calls from a mysterious woman claiming to be an old acquaintance.
The title may be best remembered as an episode of the beloved TV shows Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, yet the source material itself has been tragically forgotten despite having won the Edgar Award in 1956. It’s one of the best books of the 1950s, an exquisitely noir-ish thriller with shocking twists and subversive genre tropes that have allowed it to age better than many thriller books that are far more recent.
‘The Wheel Spins’ (1936)
The Lady Vanishes isn’t generally regarded as one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best-known or most widely celebrated movies, yet it’s an exceptional mystery thriller nonetheless. As such, it’s surprising just how underappreciated Ethel Lina White‘s The Wheel Spins, the book that inspired the movie, is today. In it, a young English socialite traveling alone on a train meets a mysterious stranger along her journey.
Though the book was a major critical and commercial success in its time (even more so by the time The Lady Vanishes hit theaters), White slipped into relative obscurity as time passed. That needs to change, and there’s no better starting point to change that than The Wheel Spins. Thanks to its intensely claustrophobic suspense, simple yet layered premise, and relentless pacing, it has aged wonderfully from cover to cover.
‘The Hours Before Dawn’ (1959)
During her peak, Celia Fremlin was a widely recognized and highly praised voice in the world of crime and mystery literature, but her work eventually began to fade out of the mainstream. It’s incredibly strong work; however, perhaps most notably, the Edgar Award winner The Hours Before Dawn. In it, an exhausted young mother in suburban London starts growing suspicious of her new lodger while suffering from severe sleep deprivation and the chaos of an apathetic husband.
Fremlin was a master of the domestic thriller genre, and nowhere is that clearer than here, one of those thriller books that became the blueprint for an entire subgenre. It’s a brilliantly chilling piece of paranoid thriller literature that should still prove to be an impossible-to-put-down page-turner for anyone who loves domestic thrillers. Add to that a surprisingly progressive and nuanced exploration of the weight of ’50s domestic expectations of women, and it shouldn’t be surprising that Hours Before Dawn has aged as well as it has.
‘Cat of Many Tails’ (1948)
Ellery Queen is both the name of the fictional detective of the book series that carries his name, and the pseudonym under which American detective fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee wrote the books. The 20th book in the series is Cat of Many Tails, where Queen must find and stop a serial strangler terrorizing a heatwave-stricken New York City while leaving behind no clues.
The Ellery Queen series is massive, but thankfully, it doesn’t need to be read in order, and considering that Cat of Many Tails is arguably the best of the bunch, one could very easily start there. A foundational and downright masterful serial killer thriller (written before the term “serial killer” was even coined), it’s an ahead-of-its-time puzzle-solving mystery that has aged wonderfully thanks to its atmospheric tone, thematic depth, and Dannay and Lee’s timeless prose.
‘Rogue Male’ (1939)
Geoffrey Household was a well-respected and prolific British author in the thriller and suspense spaces, but he never got to become a household name (pun not intended) of the stature of authors like Agatha Christie. Even still, he continues to be best-known for Rogue Male, a novel originally serialized in three issues of the Atlantic Monthly magazine. In it, a hunter plans to assassinate a European dictator, but his plan is neutralized, and he’s captured, tortured, and left for dead.
Rogue Male did one-man-army thrillers well before James Bond or Jason Bourne made them cool, establishing a blueprint for the genre that has continued to age like fine wine. One of the best mystery books of all time, it’s a gripping survival thriller that reads as shockingly fresh and modern for an 87-year-old novel. The BBC TV adaptation starring Peter O’Toole is fantastic, but this is one of those cases where there’s no beating the source material.
‘The Scapegoat’ (1957)
Daphne du Maurier was a hugely important British author of groundbreaking psychological thrillers, best known for masterpieces like Rebecca and Jamaica Inn. Even the greats have criminally underappreciated works, however, and in du Maurier’s case, that’s The Scapegoat. In it, a lonely English academic on holiday in France meets his doppelgänger, a French aristocrat who steals his identity and then quickly vanishes.
A dark, thrilling twist on The Prince and the Pauper.
There’s no actual evidence that du Maurier was actually inspired by Mark Twain, but The Scapegoat feels like some sort of dark, thrilling twist on The Prince and the Pauper. The book has aged beautifully, remaining a potently atmospheric and suspenseful study of dual identity whose ambiguous conclusion is still widely debated all these many decades later. Only the greatest of thrillers still elicit such ardent discussions so long after their publication.
‘The Face of a Stranger’ (1990)
Nowadays, British author Anne Perry is perhaps best-known as the subject of Heavenly Creatures, a Peter Jackson film chronicling the case in which she, then 15 years old, and her 16-year-old friend Pauline Parker, murdered Parker’s mother in New Zealand. After a five-year prison sentence, Perry changed her name from Juliet Hulme and went back to the UK. Written before that became public information, The Face of a Stranger is the first installment in the William Monk series, where the Victorian London police detective Monk wakes up with amnesia and must solve a brutal murder while trying to regain his memories.
The Face of a Stranger is one of the best thriller books of the 1990s. Some readers may understandably opt to steer clear of Anne Perry’s whole bibliography, but this undeniable masterpiece does stir up some interesting conversations on separating the art from the artist. The author’s reputation has certainly not aged well, but the book itself has retained every bit of its atmospheric, gritty, slow-burning edge.
‘Pressure’ (2005)
Though most of the thriller books that have had enough time to age like fine wine are classics from the 20th century, there are also a few awfully underrated gems from the early 21st century that keep getting better with age as well. Case in point: Jeff Strand‘s Pressure, an incredible horror thriller about a family man whose childhood friend turns out to be a dangerous killer determined to force him into becoming his partner in (literal) crime.
Strand is an exceptional horror writer who excels at both pitch-black humor and absolutely gnarly horror, and Pressure offers plenty of both elements to satisfy even the most demanding thriller book fans. The humor still holds up after several revisits; the pacing and cat-and-mouse character dynamics don’t lose any of their punch, and the remarkable tightness of Strand’s plotting further ensures that Pressure will remain timeless for as long as a copy of it exists out there.
‘Dissolution’ (2003)
C.J. Sansom was a British historical fiction master best known for his Matthew Shardlake novels, books that still serve as further evidence that there’s some incredible yet awfully underrated thriller literature from the 21st century to discover. The first installment in the series is Dissolution, about a lawyer and reformer from 16th-century England sent by Thomas Cromwell to investigate a brutal murder.
It’s one of the best thriller books of the 2000s, even if it isn’t often recognized as such. It was the subject of Disney+’s Shardlake, but in this case, the book is infinitely better than the adaptation, despite being even lesser-known. This Tudor-era mystery is a downright masterclass in crafting a historically accurate atmosphere, bringing a period of history to life vividly and in full service of a compelling story, and grounding a nail-biting thriller plot in such richly researched elements.
‘The Last Good Kiss’ (1978)
There’s a solid argument to be made that James Crumley‘s The Last Good Kiss is the forgotten thriller novel that has not only aged the best, but that most deserves a considerably bigger cult following. It’s one of the best hard-boiled detective books of all time, about a private investigator tracking down a missing author. Crumley, though vastly revered as a master of 20th-century thriller literature, never quite reached the mainstream like other hard-boiled fiction writers. If there’s one of his books that deserves infinitely more love, however, it’s this one.
It’s the first detective noir book featuring the character of C.W. Sughrue, one of the most underappreciated hard-boiled protagonists in the history of thriller literature. But aside from having excellent character writing, The Last Good Kiss benefits from Crumley’s timeless, beautiful prose and the gritty 1970s tone and atmosphere. It’s one of the greatest noir novels of all time, and it deserves to be rescued from the oblivion that it has fallen into as the years have passed.
Science fiction television got much braver after 2000. Networks and streamers increasingly trusted audiences with fractured timelines, morally compromised heroes, dense political systems, artificial consciousness, and entire episodes built around ideas that might take hours to fully unpack. The genre stopped needing to simplify itself just because it had a weekly schedule.
The best series from this period also understand that one clever premise cannot carry fifty hours of television, which is the main problem of shows that majorly came in the 90s. A world needs people whose decisions change it. Technology needs consequences. Politics need personal stakes. And when a show really gets all of that right, finishing an episode at midnight becomes an extremely dangerous decision. These 6 sci-fi TV shows were released in the 21st century and they’re my favorites.
6
‘Severance’ (2022– )
Severance takes the familiar fantasy of leaving work at work and turns it into something horrifyingly literal. Employees at Lumon Industries can undergo a procedure that separates their workplace memories from everything outside the office, creating an “innie” who never experiences home and an “outie” who never experiences the job. Mark Scout (Adam Scott) enters that system while grieving his wife, then gradually discovers that Lumon’s immaculate corridors are hiding far more than an unusual employment policy. Apple renewed the series for a third season after its second became the platform’s most-watched series at the time.
The corporate satire is vicious, yet the show gains its emotional power from treating innies as full human beings instead of conceptual puzzles. Helly R. (Britt Lower)’s rebellion, Irving Bailiff (John Turturro)’s attachment to Burt Goodman (Christopher Walken), Dylan George (Zach Cherry)’s growing curiosity about his outside life, and Mark’s divided existence keep widening the moral problem. Even waffle parties and employee rewards become unsettling once Lumon controls the workers’ entire reality. Few current shows turn office furniture into this much psychological pressure.
5
‘Dark’ (2017–2020)
A child disappears from the German town of Winden in Dark, pulling four interconnected families into a mystery spanning generations. What initially resembles a missing-person thriller gradually exposes caves, nuclear history, family secrets, and a relationship with time that becomes increasingly complicated. Netflix’s three-season series follows that structure all the way through rather than stretching its mystery indefinitely.
The achievement is organizational as much as emotional. Parents, children, younger selves, older selves, and family relationships keep crossing until remembering who someone is can become its own intellectual workout. Yet the complexity always circles back to recognizable desires. People want to save children, undo mistakes, preserve relationships, or escape grief, and those understandable impulses repeatedly create larger problems. Dark rewards concentration more than almost any streaming-era series.
4
‘Black Mirror’ (2011– )
Black Mirror has spent seven seasons taking recognizable human behavior and giving it slightly more dangerous technology. Its anthology format means one episode can explore artificial consciousness while another attacks social status, surveillance, digital grief, entertainment, or the temptation to preserve every memory. Netflix released six additional episodes with Season 7 in 2025, extending a series that has survived partly because its central anxiety keeps finding new material.
Its strongest stories understand that technology rarely creates the weakness being examined. Jealous people become more dangerous when memories can be replayed. Cruel people gain new tools inside virtual environments. Lonely people will accept uncomfortable compromises when software offers companionship. That grounding explains why episodes such as “The Entire History of You,” “San Junipero,” and “USS Callister” feel completely different while belonging to the same show. You can sample Black Mirror instead of committing to it chronologically, although one episode has a habit of becoming three.
3
‘The Expanse’ (2015–2022)
The Expanse imagines humanity spread across the solar system while remaining stubbornly human about territory, resources, identity, and power. Earth, Mars, and the Belt have developed distinct political interests, and the discovery of the protomolecule introduces something genuinely alien into a civilization already struggling to avoid war. James Holden (Steven Strait) and the Rocinante crew eventually become caught inside conflicts much larger than the mystery that originally brought them together. Its sixth season carried that story through the war with Marco Inaros (Keon Alexander) and the Free Navy.
The universe feels unusually convincing because economics and physics influence daily life. Belters grow up in low gravity and develop their own culture. Ships accelerate hard enough to punish human bodies. Water, air, distance, and acceleration remain strategic concerns rather than decorative science. The political material has equal weight, especially when personal loyalties collide with planetary ones. The Expanse requires attention during its opening stretch, then suddenly you understand why fans became so attached to one battered little gunship.
2
‘The Orville’ (2017–2022)
The Orville begins with the crew of a mid-level exploratory starship traveling four centuries into humanity’s future, encountering new civilizations while dealing with the ordinary complications of working together. Early episodes lean heavily into workplace comedy, which initially made the show appear much lighter than its ambitions actually were. And right after that, it gets real. They get an AI that’s basically a living ChatGPT or Claude’s finest model. They touch on themes of time, stars affecting a planet’s living and punishment cycle, land on a planet that decides when somebody dies based on their social media rankings, and so much more.
One of the episodes of the show focuses on the crew landing on a planet that has a whole simulation of the real-world inside it. And the people living inside don’t even know they’re on a spaceship. That’s how mind-bending it gets. And oh boy, the ending is the literal AI war that we’re now so afraid of. That evolution is exactly why it ranks this high. The series can examine artificial life, gender, prejudice, democracy, cultural interference, war, and relationships while retaining a sincere belief that people can learn from one another. Isaac (Mark Jackson)’s place among the crew and the continuing Moclan (remember that viral 500 cigarettes clip?) stories give several of those ideas room to develop across years rather than resetting after one episode. Anyone who misses optimistic space exploration with genuine ethical arguments should give The Orville more time than its comedic reputation suggests.
1
‘Battlestar Galactica’ (2004–2009)
Battlestar Galactica begins after the Cylons, artificial beings originally created by humans, nearly eradicate civilization. A surviving fleet led by the aging Galactica searches for a new home while Commander William Adama (Edward James Olmos) protects the ships and President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) attempts to preserve civilian government. The situation becomes immediately more dangerous once survivors learn that some Cylons can appear completely human. The series ran from 2004 through 2009 after the story was relaunched through a 2003 miniseries.
From there, the show treats survival as a political and moral problem as much as a military one. Elections still have consequences during extinction. Faith competes with evidence. Security can become an excuse for cruelty. Episodes such as “33” establish that pressure almost immediately, while later conflicts keep testing whether democratic principles can survive fear. Adama, Roslin, Kara “Starbuck” Thrace (Katee Sackhoff), Gaius Baltar (James Callis), Lee “Apollo” Adama (Jamie Bamber), and Number Six (Tricia Helfer) each approach that crisis from different emotional and ideological positions, giving the larger war a deeply personal shape. Battlestar Galactica can deliver enormous space battles, but the arguments afterward are often even better.
Battlestar Galactica
- Release Date
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2004 – 2009-00-00
- Directors
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Wayne Rose, Michael Nankin, Rod Hardy, Sergio Mimica-Gezzan, Edward James Olmos, Robert M. Young, Jeff Woolnough, Félix Enríquez Alcalá, Jonas Pate, Allan Kroeker, Anthony Hemingway, Jean de Segonzac, Marita Grabiak, James Head, Paul A. Edwards, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Brad Turner, Ronald D. Moore, Bill Eagles
Get a rundown of Us‘ top stories making headlines in celebrity news, sports and entertainment on August 27, 2026. Here are the key takeaways:
• Kylie Jenner shut down viral pregnancy speculation on the Wednesday, August 26, episode of the “Better Half” podcast, admitting she doesn’t “feel the need to say anything ever” about rumors she’s expecting. The makeup mogul, who shares two children with ex Travis Scott and has been dating Timothée Chalamet since 2023, has grown accustomed to squashing online speculation amid her many high-profile relationships.
• Sandra Bullock debuted a shoulder tattoo reading “LB²” at the Wednesday, August 26, European premiere of Practical Magic 2 in London alongside costar Nicole Kidman, sparking fan speculation the ink honors her children, Louis and Laila, and her late partner, Bryan Randall, who died in August 2023 after battling ALS.
• Rosie O’Donnell shared a photo on Instagram from her latest visit with daughter Chelsea O’Donnell at Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Wisconsin, where Chelsea is serving an 18-month sentence for violating probation tied to 2024 drug-related arrests, alongside a text exchange between the pair. Rosie has said Chelsea is now sober and that the visit was their first meaningful conversation in a decade.
Edited by Samantha Benitz. Story produced with AI assistance
Gladys Knight has announced she’s scaling back her live performances “after much soul searching.”
The singer, 82, announced her career decision in a statement made via her Instagram account on Thursday, August 27.
“After much soul searching I’ve decided that I will be easing into fewer performances while focusing on transitioning into the next stage of my career and life moving forward,” she wrote. “I’ll be spending more time on projects with my husband and visiting with my grandbabies and am looking forward to this new era.”
She continued, “I’d like to take a moment, in advance, to thank all my fans over this last three quarters of a century for making a little girl’s dream come true and supporting her every step of the way. I am immensely grateful to all of you and send my eternal love back to you. I hope to see your smiling faces out and about and on the road. God bless all of you and hope to see you soon.”
Gladys Knight is pushing back at her son’s claims that her husband, William McDowell, has inflicted “mental and financial” abuse on her. Knight, 81, assured fans she is “healthy and happy” as she continues her Queens Tour alongside Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle and Stephanie Mills. Her statement comes after her son, Shanga Hankerson, expressed to […]
Fans and followers threw their support behind Knight in the comments section, praising her for doing what’s best for her.
“Thank you for the memories and the melodies.🦋💜🦋You have blessed us so much. Relax and enjoy the fruit of your labor of 💜,” wrote one follower.
Another added, “You are world-class and one of the best altos I’ve ever heard. A true lover of the musical art! Thank you for all you’ve contributed to the world! ✊🏾🙏🏾”
The announcement comes after fans voiced concern after footage emerged of Knight appearing to be disoriented during some of her performances and walking off-stage without explanation.
Gladys Knight. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for the 2024 Carousel of Hope Ball)
In August 2025, Knight insisted she is “healthy and happy” as she continues her Queens Tour after her son, Shanga Hankerson, expressed to People that he was concerned for her well-being on the tour.
Speaking to the outlet, Hankerson, 49, described her involvement in the tour as “detrimental” to her health and claimed her husband William McDowell — who is also her manager — encouraged Knight to embark on the tour. (McDowell has denied insisting that Knight should work.)
“I’m sorry that my health and performances have been misrepresented,” Knight said in a statement shared with Us at the time. “I want my fans and those concerned to rest assured I am doing very well for someone who has been on stage for three quarters of a century, hard to believe, right? I’m healthy and happy and visiting friends and family these last few months. I’m excited to get back on the road with my sisters and on stage with The Queens Tour. See you soon.”
Gladys Knight didn’t just play any hometown gig on Sunday, February 3: She sang the national anthem in front of thousands of spectators at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium and millions of viewers watching at home to kick off Super Bowl LIII. As the 74-year-old belted out a soulful rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” in a white […]
Hankerson told The Shade Room the same month that he was concerned about Knight’s memory, citing a time Knight allegedly wandered off from her hotel room before turning up “across town.”
“I don’t want my mom out on tour on a tour bus, wondering where she’s at,” Hankerson said in the August 13 story. “I don’t want that for her. That’s my mom, I truly love her and don’t care about her ever working a second longer while she’s alive. The direction that she’s going in is pushing her to her departure, and I don’t want to see that.”
For the fifth and final time, Outer Banks has taken over the Netflix streaming charts. The twisting tale of John B (Chase Stokes), Sarah (Madelyn Cline), Kiara (Madison Bailey), Pope (Jonathan Daviss), and Cleo (Carlacia Grant) has come to an end with a final season that, although it might not be the best, wraps up each story in a neat narrative bow. As the final big release of August on Netflix, the show is ending the month as its most popular show. But before September begins, you’ll want to make the most of this last August weekend by streaming some of the other great options on the platform. With that in mind, here’s a list of three shows you should binge-watch on Netflix.
For more recommendations, check out our list of the best shows and movies on Netflix.
Disclaimer: These titles are available on US Netflix.
1
‘Leanne’ (2025–Present)
Rotten Tomatoes: 73% | IMDb: 7.1/10
Before August comes to an end, one of Netflix’s 2025 comedy gems has returned for a brand-new season. Co-created by comic Leanne Morgan with input from veteran executive producer Chuck Lorre, Leanne stars Morgan as she looks to reinvent herself after her husband, Bill (Ryan Stiles), leaves her for another woman.
Hilarious and heartwarming, this simple yet effective sitcom is an easy way to stay entertained this weekend. The first installment, likened to the 2001 hit Reba starring Reba McEntire, earned plenty of positive reviews from critics, with the bar set high for the new second season. 10 new episodes featuring a selection of talented comic writers await, with Morgan back facing chaos with her resilient brand of Southern humor.
2
‘My Brilliant Career’ (2026)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% | IMDb: 7.0/10
Dearest gentle readers, if you’re a fan of Bridgerton, then you simply mustn’t miss the perfect streaming replacement that arrived earlier this month on Netflix. My Brilliant Career, based on Australian writer Miles Franklin‘s book of the same name, follows headstrong farm girl Sybylla Melvyn (Philippa Northeast) as blossoming romance interrupts her bid for creative and societal freedom.
First adapted in 1979 as a feature film starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill, My Brilliant Career more than deserves the modern-day Netflix treatment, with the source material considered one of the most important pieces of Australian literature. Not only a hit with audiences, who helped it climb the global streaming ranks, My Brilliant Career has also won over critics, scoring a perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes and being called “your next streaming obsession” in Carly Lane‘s review for Collider.
3
‘Talamasca: The Secret Order’ (2025)
Rotten Tomatoes: 61% | IMDb: 6.5/10
AMC’s version of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, which first debuted in 2022, has exploded into a huge global hit. In 2025, the third series set in the Immortal Universe arrived following the first spin-off, Mayfair Witches. The series in question is Talamasca: The Secret Order, which is currently available to binge on Netflix in all its supernatural horror glory.
The series follows Talamasca, the titular organization tasked with tracking supernatural beings such as witches, vampires, and werewolves. When new law school graduate Guy Anatole (Nicholas Denton) is recruited to the group, it soon becomes clear that his purpose is much more specific and dangerous than he could’ve ever imagined. An exciting, edge-of-your-seat spy series with plenty of fantastical elements, Talamasca: The Secret Order is an easily bingeable way to enjoy your weekend.
- Release Date
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2025 – 2026-00-00
- Network
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AMC
- Showrunner
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John Lee Hancock, Mark Lafferty
- Directors
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Eva Sørhaug
- Writers
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John Lee Hancock, Anne Rice, Mark Lafferty, Donald Joh
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Nicholas Denton
Guy Anatole
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With The X-Files back in the limelight again following the streaming release of The X-Files: I Want to Believe – Vrach Frankenshteyn, fans are also flocking to some of the franchise leads’ other works, both old and new. Released on Hulu and Disney+ on August 14, 2026, Vrach Frankenshteyn is a director’s cut of the divisive 2008 original The X-Files: I Want to Believe, which restores previously removed horror elements.
Speaking of the franchise leads, Mulder and Scully, portrayed by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, respectively, are FBI Special Agents who investigate unsolved cases often revealed to be supernatural or extraterrestrial in nature. The character duo recently reunited in a new series from Dynamite Entertainment set to debut this winter. The project is said to mark The X-Files‘ return to comics in years and will explore previously untold cases that the two agents investigated between episodes of the original TV series.
While we await more release details about The X-Files comics series, one of Duchovny’s underrated sci-fi films seems to be attracting positive attention globally. According to FlixPatrol data, Evolution, released on June 8, 2001, is quietly dominating HBO Max’s global charts, where it currently ranks as the fourth most-watched movie right above the 2017 action fantasy King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. This is a big win for the 44% Rotten Tomatoes film after it failed to meet critics’ and audiences’ expectations when it was originally released. At the time, it grossed only $98.4 million worldwide against an $80 million production budget, but still managed to earn a cult following.
Is ‘Evolution’ Worth Watching?
Directed by Canadian filmmaker Ivan Reitman, Evolution sees Duchovny portray Colonel (Ret.) Dr. Ira Kane, a college science professor and disgraced top-level army researcher. When a large meteor crashes in the Arizona desert, witnessed by aspiring firefighter Wayne Grey, Ira, along with geologist Harry Block, investigate the crash site, discovering that the meteor has landed in a cave and secretes a strange blue liquid. Upon further study, they find that the meteor harbors extraterrestrial life that evolves rapidly and gives new meaning to the term survival of the fittest. David Diamond and David Weissman wrote the alien invasion film, based on a story by Don Jakoby. Orlando Jones, Seann William Scott, Ted Levine, and Julianne Moore also star in lead roles.
Evolution is available to stream on HBO Max. Follow Collider for the latest streaming news.
- Release Date
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June 8, 2001
- Runtime
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101 minutes
- Writers
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David Diamond, David Weissman
- Producers
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Daniel Goldberg, David Rodgers, Jeff Apple, Joe Medjuck
Entertainment
‘Adults’ Creators Break Down Season 2’s Most Shocking Moments and Tease a Potential Season 3
Editor’s Note: The following contains major spoilers for all of Adults Season 2.
Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw are no strangers to the comedy world. The two met in college, where they not only fell in love but also became a writing team who went viral for their comedic Yale graduation speech (in front of Hillary Clinton, no less). Shortly after, the two began writing for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, on which they are credited on over 450 episodes.
Perhaps no two people were better equipped to take on the mantle of the beloved “20-something New Yorkers hangout sitcom” genre. Adults follows in the tradition of classics like Friends, How I Met Your Mother, and Girls while putting a distinctly Gen Z twist on things. With a unique take on dating, sexuality, and technology — not to mention a specific, ever-evolving vocabulary and sense of humor — it can be tricky to pin down the personality and dynamics of today’s young adults; Kronengold and Shaw have all but mastered it. Blending irreverent, edgy humor with unexpected warmth and genuine heart, Adults is a hilarious gem that will make you smile and cringe in equal measure. While Season 1 showed promise, Season 2 offers an even sharper, more confident, and rewarding journey with Samir (Malik Elassal), Billie (Lucy Freyer), Paul Baker (Jack Innanen), Issa (Amita Rao), and Anton (Owen Thiele).
Collider got the chance to do a deep dive with Kronengold and Shaw, talking all things Season 2. From Issa and Paul Baker’s mid-season break-up to Samir and Billie’s shocking finale hook-up, the duo spilled the tea on all of the fizzling and sparking romances in the group. The two also discussed the season’s biggest cameos and guest stars, both subverting and paying tribute to sitcoms that came before, what to expect from a potential Season 3, and much more.
That ‘Adults’ Prequel Episode Is Even More Important Than You Think
“What better way to welcome people back or welcome people for the first time?”
COLLIDER: I’m so excited to chat with both of you.
REBECCA SHAW: God, the feeling is so mutual. We’ve been so looking forward to this.
BEN KRONENGOLD: We’re so honored, and we love your writing, so we’re so excited.
Oh my gosh, thank you so much. Well, I absolutely loved this season.
SHAW: I’m so happy! We haven’t talked to anyone who’s seen it yet, so this is so fun.
I’m so honored to be the first! I want to start by talking about the prequel episode a little bit. I thought it was so interesting how that episode is essentially serving as a new pilot, since it is listed as the first episode of the show on Hulu. I’m curious if you can talk a little bit about how that decision came about to put it there in the line-up.
SHAW: It’s funny — we talked about it as two different things. One is that we get a lot of questions from fans about how this group met each other. I think that, in the lineage of the friend group comedies, some of them drop you in on a random episode on a random day where they’re getting up to some adventure, but we’re not seeing the group form. When we knew we had the opportunity to do a Season 2, we wanted to tell that story partly to give to the existing fans of the show, and then the other part of it really was: when you think about a Season 2, you think about, “How do we want to welcome new viewers into the show?” So that was the other side of it as well. What better way to welcome people back or welcome people for the first time than to show the fifth member of the friend group getting welcomed in?
KRONENGOLD: This is the first time we’ve gotten to talk to someone about the response, but it’s been so heartening and so exciting to see people eat up this lore. What we really set out to do was make these two meet-cutes happen. Season 2 is a lot about these relationships and this love triangle, and we had it in our heads, “What if we pulled off a double meet-cute?” So now seeing fans use that language and be like, “Oh my gosh, the day that Paul Baker met Issa was also the day that he met Anton, and these two very different but both very valid relationships formed.” It was a cool opportunity to give viewers that a few weeks before coming into Season 2, where Issa and Paul Baker’s relationship is going to fall apart, and the Anton/Paul Baker relationship is going to blossom. It was a cool opportunity, and very cool of FX to allow viewers to experience it in this unique way.
Did you always know that Paul Baker met the group in this way, or were there other pitches that you considered besides the marathon?
KRONENGOLD: Oh, that’s such a good question.
SHAW: You know, it’s a funny thing. We knew we wanted to tell a marathon story. That’s been something that, from the beginning in the writers’ room — from Season 1 — we’ve talked about. It feels like such an iconically New York experience. The part that we started with was knowing that we wanted Paul Baker to have a special moment with Issa and a special moment with Anton, so that was really where the idea was built out of. That sort of formed the framework. We really wanted to see the group through Paul Baker’s eyes. We really wanted to watch what it feels like to be a newcomer in this friend group and see the delusional ridiculousness of the way that they interact with each other, but more than anything, the way that they really love each other and stand up for each other.
KRONENGOLD: We live in New York, so walking around New York and spending time in our 20s in New York is such fodder for Adults episodes. We went to the marathon. We had a friend who was running in our early twenties, and we waited for her at the finish line, and we expected the world to be like, “What a triumph of human resilience and the spirit of these incredible athletes.” And then we started hearing screams, and we looked to the side, and there was a runner cramped up, vomiting. That was why we always wanted to do a marathon episode. You never see the person who’s collapsing in the restaurant afterwards. We were like, “If Paul Baker would run a marathon, he’d probably do it without much training.” It’s such a “Rachel in the wedding dress” thing — such a vibrant way to crash into this group — so that’s sort of how it came together.
Would you ever go back further and do a high school episode, maybe Pen15 style? We got a little bit of that in “The Scrub.”
SHAW: Oh my god, I would love to watch an episode of Billie and Samir in high school together. That’s a great idea.
KRONENGOLD: It’s such a great idea. Now we’ll have to give you co-credit.
Season 3! I’m ready for it.
KRONENGOLD: It is always a really interesting conversation about who is going to play the younger versions of these characters. The writers and we looked back at our own embarrassing Facebook posts, and we were like, “We all still look perhaps too much like we did at the time,” so we sort of realized that our actors were going to be able to pull it off. Then again, I will say that we did use a mix, I’m realizing, because the actor who played Samir actually was not Malik, but he looked so much like Malik that I’ve encoded it in my mind as Malik. But the casting challenge of how to drop back into high school for Billie and Samir would be really fun and interesting.
‘Adults’ Isn’t Afraid to Break the Fourth Wall — Here’s Why
“There is that way of speaking that sort of acknowledges the ridiculousness and the stagedness of the way that we all move through the world.”
I loved Issa sort of breaking the fourth wall in the Season 2 premiere by saying, “We’re doing a oner!” It’s especially fun because a lot of comedies are these mockumentary-style things. Obviously, you don’t do that, but you do play with style and form a little. I’m curious if you can talk about breaking the fourth wall and doing some fun things with that.
SHAW: Adults has always dabbled a little bit in surrealism. I think it’s something that our generation is really comfortable with — maybe it’s because we spend so much time on the internet and consuming media. We are all used to jumping in and out of that fourth wall a little bit, but we try to keep the rules fairly consistent between the characters, and for us, Issa is the character who winks at the fourth wall. It feels very true to who she is. Despite seeming sort of flippant sometimes, she is a little more in on the joke than we realize. Even with our friends, sometimes we’ll say things that almost imply we’re breaking the fourth wall. You know, people will be like, “But I would never do something like that. Cut to later, I’m doing…” There is that way of speaking that sort of acknowledges the ridiculousness and the stagedness of the way that we all move through the world. So I think for us, Issa is really the character who does that.
KRONENGOLD: I was thinking the other day, in fact, about how she’s also the character who’s never seen any movies. You’d think those things would be mutually exclusive, but I actually am kind of delighted by the fact that she is incredibly media literate, because to be media literate nowadays does not necessarily mean you’ve seen a lot of films.
SHAW: Issa’s seen a lot of things in 15-second increments, but she has absolutely no context for them.
KRONENGOLD: She’s seen and heard a lot of references to things, which is kind of how she emits her media back out into the world. You’re totally right. She mentions that they’re doing a oner. She also mentions in the first episode that the fact that Paul Baker doesn’t have social media is canon, and she talks about spinning off in the finale of this season, so she’s very much tapping away at that fourth wall in a way that’s very fun and traces back to the first season, too.
I have to ask, what movies do you think she has seen?
SHAW: Good question. Nobody’s ever asked us that before!
KRONENGOLD: I think that she has seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is a big plot point in Episode 4 of this season. However, that’s a TV show, of course. I, literally moments before this, was watching the new Avatar: The Last Airbender movie, so it’s top of mind, but I wonder if Issa wouldn’t have watched that. I think she’s probably a fan of anime and read manga in her youth, but I do think that, when she started Avatar: The Last Airbender — the new movie — and realized it was a movie and not, in fact, a 23-minute episode, she was probably done.
SHAW: I think Issa thinks she’s seen Sophie’s Choice, but the more questions you ask her about it, the more you realize not only has she not seen it, but she doesn’t even know what the choice was. She had a dream once that she has, and it’s encoded in her head.
‘Adults’ Creators Break Down Season 2’s Most Shocking Break-Ups and Hook-Ups
“In some ways, the love story of the season is Issa and Anton.”
I’m going to be honest, I usually dread acid trip episodes, but this one might have been my favorite episode of the season. It felt very much like a modern twist on Friends’ “The One Where Everyone Finds Out.”
SHAW: I’m so honored.
I really was really getting those vibes. I’m curious, did you intentionally either pay tribute to or try to subvert the “drug trip episode” when writing this?
SHAW: That’s exactly right. We were really tickled by the idea of doing a drug episode where you never actually see any of them high, in the same way that often, with our friends, the pregame at the house is more fun than the actual party. We loved the idea of all the magic that happens in the half hour when everyone’s so tense waiting for the drugs to hit and all of that expectation. I feel like that anxiety leads to such weird behavior sometimes, and we knew that at the midpoint of the season, big feelings in this love triangle needed to come to a head, so it felt like such a natural time to do it and such a natural ticking time bomb to put on top of it. Everything has to be said before the acid hits. The raccoon has to be out of the house before the acid hits.
The other really fun challenge about the episode was trying to do something that’s basically in real time. The episode was written by Sanaz Toossi, who’s an absolutely brilliant Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. She also wrote the dinner party episode last season, and we thought it had a similar spirit — it’s a very contained episode and something that we’re really watching play out without cuts to other plot lines in the same way that we do in other episodes. It was such a fun one to give her, and she just knocked it out of the park.
That’s obviously a huge episode. That’s when we have Issa and Paul Baker finally break up, and it’s exactly halfway through the season. I’m curious, why did it feel like the right time? Were there ever conversations about doing it earlier or doing it later, or was it always the midpoint?
KRONENGOLD: It always was the midpoint. I think the first half of the season, we wanted to kick the tires on this relationship that we sort of took for granted in the first season — and frankly that these two characters, Issa and Paul Baker, took for granted as well. In the first episode, we realize that there are trust issues. In the second episode, we realize that there are chemistry issues. And in the third episode, we realize that…
SHAW: They’re not really picturing a future together.
KRONENGOLD: Exactly. And those are just cracks, right? They are cracks in the foundation of a relationship that I think one day would have exposed themselves, but we wanted to obviously explode it in a really big, climactic, Adults-y way, so it all does lead up to that fourth episode where the insecurities that have formed inside of their relationship and the lack of communication allow for this hugely chaotic schism. Anton is sort of in the wrong place at the wrong time — or, depending on how you look at it, at the right place at the right time.
SHAW: In Season 1, we see Paul Baker and Issa being really cute together, but we don’t interrogate that relationship. We don’t see that foundation, and we don’t have reason to believe that they’re going to spend the rest of their lives together. I think what felt very true to our friends and to the writers in the writers’ room as we were talking about it was, I think, sometimes on TV, people talk about things right away as soon as they happen. I’ll speak for myself: when I’m dealing with conflict, it usually takes a couple of weeks of marinating, maybe living in denial for a little bit, and hoping it goes away on its own, and then eventually realizing that these feelings are coming to the forefront. When we thought about Issa’s place in this love triangle, it didn’t feel truthful to either her character or to our friends to feel like she would immediately sit down and want to have a mature conversation with them about it. It felt much more truthful that it would simmer, and she’d be — for the first time — realizing things about her relationship and herself and what she wants. We loved the way that scene turned out where Paul Baker and Issa are sitting on the bed together, and they’re actually both telling each other why the relationship isn’t right for the other person, which, in some way, is the most aligned we’ve seen them in four episodes.
I really loved the decision to have her in that finale not be jealous and possessive. She was so supportive of Paul Baker and Anton, and I thought that was a really cool subversion. It felt very true to her and also this generation. I’m curious if we could talk about that choice to have her be the one to lead them to each other.
SHAW: In some ways, the love story of the season is Issa and Anton. We always knew that they had this really special friendship, and they’re so fun to watch together. They really understand each other, and love each other, and call each other out more than other members of the group do with each other. We always knew that, because Anton is a character who has his walls up and often doesn’t allow himself to go for what he wants; he needs his best friend to tell him that it’s okay — not just because she’s Paul Baker’s ex, but because she knows him better than anyone, and she is often the source of his confidence and empowerment. We really wanted that moment when they’re holding hands, running down the street together with the music swelling underneath them, to be romantic in its own right. That’s their friendship love story coming to a head. That’s their happy ending.
I’m so excited to get to see Paul Baker and Anton finally explore what’s been building. It’s two seasons in, which is not the slowest burn, but in today’s day and age, it really does feel like one. Can you talk to me a little bit about what we might see from them in the future?
SHAW: One of the many reasons we are really excited and feel like we have a lot more stories to tell is that it’s so fun to watch two characters have this big, climactic moment together, but as we know, life gets complicated. We were very intentional about the fact that we don’t see them behind closed doors at the end of that episode — we see two other people instead. There are a lot of open doors left creatively to explore within that. These are two characters with very strong personalities, who have these big feelings but also exist in a friend group of five people. A lot can go right, and a lot can go wrong.
I love that you mentioned that we see two other people behind that door. I feel like that one was more unexpected, but the seeds have definitely been planted. There have definitely been little breadcrumbs of that. Can you tease whatever you can about that, too? That’s a really interesting twist that was more shocking but definitely checks out character-wise.
SHAW: Thank you for saying that.
KRONENGOLD: It’s very different, right? We called it Schrödinger’s fuck in the writer’s room. [Laughs] We wanted to create the scenario where either couple could have been behind the door. We wanted to build to where your eye is on Anton and Paul Baker — that’s where we wanted to direct you. But when the door opens, because of the room swap that happened earlier in the season — we love that episode written by Sarah Naftalis, one of our EPs — one of the amazing sleights of hand that takes place is that Paul Baker and Samir now share a bedroom. Once we realized that we could take advantage of that and open the door to another couple, it was kind of too delicious to pass up. Billie and Samir, unlike Paul Baker and Anton, haven’t been thinking about this exactly. This hasn’t really been under the surface for them. What we’re finding is two people in very specific moments in their lives where this choice, as big and potentially reckless as it is, does fit in this current moment, but that does not mean it’s gonna make sense when they wake up in the morning. We want to play with that level of potential for mistakes, frankly.
SHAW: There are a lot of reasons you sleep with your best friend. Some of them are because you’re going to get married one day, and some of them are because you’re having really big feelings on a big, emotional night, and I think Billie and Samir don’t know which one this is right now. That, I think, is the question mark that we really want to leave the season on. There’s going to be a lot of big feelings to come that next morning, and whether or not they have the maturity to handle them is really anyone’s guess.
KRONENGOLD: I’ll add one quick thing, which is that Samir went through a breakup, of course, but more than just going through a breakup, he went through a breakup after realizing that being a boyfriend to someone is a big source of his self-worth. Billie, on the other hand, had to reckon with what it might be like to have her best friend, who she grew up with and has lived with, go away and realize the potential for that loss felt different than she expected.
SHAW: The thing we talked about with Billie this season was the idea that she’s spent two seasons now really trying to look ahead and figure out what to change about her life. And I think it took the thread of her life changing to realize that this has actually been some of the best months of her life. She, maybe for the first time, has really been happy and really relaxed. I think the instinct to want to hold onto that however possible is a really great one, and Lucy played it so beautifully.
KRONENGOLD: I love when she turns to Paul Baker when she knows Anton is running home to tell him his feelings for him, and she says, “Forget what you’re supposed to do. What would make you happy?” That’s a very different Billie than we met in Season 1 or even the start of Season 2. Now, she’s thinking about what in this current moment makes her happy, even if it’s not the most responsible choice. And that’s how we find her in that bedroom.
I also really loved Issa and her fellow weird little guy, the librarian. Is there potential for that to turn into something, or are we to assume that’s a more temporary thing?
SHAW: I don’t know. All I’ll say is that Issa has done a lot of growing this season. We’ve learned a lot about her, and for the first time in some ways, we are seeing someone who matches her weird. We love Mia Fowler, who plays Margot, and we’d be really excited to explore what it would look like for Issa to be in a relationship with someone who is, in some ways, more of a mirror and a match for her.
Oh, I would love that as well.
From Julia Fox to Jake Shane, ‘Adults’ Creators Spill on Those Season 2 Cameos
“She is an absolutely next-level, bar-none performer.”
There were so many fun cameos this season. We had Julia Fox, we had Raven-Symoné, we had Jake Shane, we had the man-on-the-street interviewers, which killed me.
SHAW: We were pinching ourselves that we got to do that.
Who was the most difficult for you guys to land?
SHAW: Logistically, planning that man-on-the-street day was awesome. We had one day to shoot all of those scenes in New York. It was a small crew, and we were running around with Jack Innanen. We had scheduled all of these interviewers back-to-back in, like, three square blocks of Manhattan, and then we ended up in Brooklyn for Julian Shapiro-Barnum’s last cameo. It was just so fun. It’s hard to act! I’m not the first person to say this, but I think even when you’re playing yourself, you really have to give into the naturalism of it, and then to interact against someone playing a character is a whole different skill set. And each and every one of those interviewers, I thought, did such a beautiful job. It was really so fun.
KRONENGOLD: And the lack of script guidance, I think we have to take personal responsibility for it because we were just like, “We’re on their turf, and they know their voice, and they know their show.” So we were the helpful writers being like, “Here’s a suggestion, but you should really just improvise,” and each and every one of those people all showed up so ready, so game. We got more than we knew what to do with.
It made it feel so lived in. I love how much sense of place you get with that. Were there any cameos you tried for that didn’t work out this season?
SHAW: I’m gonna punt on the question, only because we’re keeping our fingers crossed.
KRONENGOLD: But yes, there’s one that comes to mind that we’re still determined to get. And the color that I’ll give is that it’s very fun to think of the show as a sandbox for Gen Z comedians and personalities to come in and either act in one of their first things, play themselves, or see an actor take on a totally different version of themselves. Shout-out to Gaten Matarazzo, who showed off such a different side of his comedic chops, which are so, so deep and seemingly endless. I think audiences are going to be really surprised to see what he brings. So that kind of cameo — which is beyond a cameo; it’s really a guest star — that’s always so exciting for us.
That leads right into my next question because Zosia Mamet was maybe my favorite guest star this season. It felt so fitting, obviously because of her involvement in Girls. Can you talk about her character? I’m obsessed with the mean therapist.
KRONENGOLD: She transforms. For someone who plays such an iconic character, she is an absolutely next-level, bar-none performer, and she showed that in this finale. When she walks through that door, you don’t think of Shoshana. You really don’t. She is this force and this real threat to the group. She’s this really sophisticated woman who’s in town helping her dad with his campaign, but she is on the Upper East Side on her kids’ school board. When we, as fans of Girls, picture what Shoshana is up to today, it is not this person. Hats off to Zosia for coming in and, in a really limited amount of time, establishing this character that we’re really intrigued to see more of. I think audiences will be really intrigued to see more of her, too.
SHAW: Issa got her card. I’m just saying. And we know Issa and Anton do not have a therapist.
‘Adults’ Creators Talk Writing a K-Pop Song and Leaning Into Physical Comedy
“Our actors take funny so seriously, which is one of our favorite things about them.”
Oh my God, please. I need this so badly. I have to ask about “Hiccup (Body Go Crazy).” What were the conversations, and what was the process of writing a K-pop song like?
SHAW: We are such K-pop fans, and I think we had to disavow ourselves of the notion that we would be able to successfully write a K-pop song, but luckily, neither can Carly. We knew we wanted to learn more about Carly, Samir’s girlfriend, because a big part of Samir’s growth this season is learning about what he’s like as a boyfriend and as a supportive partner. We wanted to really challenge that and to throw a wrench in it and figure out that it’s easy to support your partner when you feel like they’re making good decisions, but what does it look like when you disagree with something they’re doing? Or if you want so badly to help them, but the right thing to do is say, “Hey, I think you’re making a mistake”? That was really, emotionally, where this episode came from.
And then when we got into the idea of it, the reason the episode’s called “Pop Girly” is because so many of our writers were realizing that we all know these people from different chapters of our lives who’ve had sort of an ill-advised singing career. Out of nowhere, they woke up one day, and it’s like, “Oh, okay. I guess you released a self-made music video now.” We really wanted to do that. We talked with our director, Paul Briganti, about those iconic movies where you hear one song over and over in terms of pieces of it. I love “That Thing You Do.” It’s one of my favorite movies. So the idea of picking a song that will become a little bit of an earworm, even if at first you’re laughing at it, was a really fun challenge.
KRONENGOLD: We worked with this composer, who was a genius and threaded this needle beautifully. The lyrics were written in the script by Rob Rosell, who wrote the episode, and expanded on by the room, but we really needed to rely on a composer who could thread that needle.
SHAW: “Make it bad enough that Samir is doing the right thing by telling his girlfriend to stop.”
KRONENGOLD: “But not so bad that Carly is on some other plane of existence.”
SHAW: We needed it to be the kind of song that, if you wrote it, you would listen back and be like, “Is this maybe awesome?” But the answer is no.
KRONENGOLD: I just have to say, Rachel Marsh gives one of my favorite performances of the season. When the group is listening to the song for the first time, she could have played it super embarrassed. She could have played it beyond proud, delusionally proud. Instead, she plays it like, “Is this anything?” It was so vulnerable and funny, and you feel for her, and it kicks off a truly emotional arc where Samir then has to muster the courage to tell her, “No, this is nothing,” which is a hard conversation to have.
My friend, who is also watching the screeners, and I were like, “This is coming for our Spotify Wrapped.”
KRONENGOLD: We should release it.
SHAW: I want to release that song.
KRONENGOLD: We’re proud of it.
The show is very stunt-heavy, from Samir chasing Issa around with the injection to Anton swinging Billie around at the club. Can you talk about integrating physical comedy? I feel like that’s sort of a lost art in a lot of comedy shows today.
KRONENGOLD: We are suckers for physical comedy. It makes us laugh so hard. You’re totally right that you don’t see it a lot on TV, but some of our favorite sitcom moments are Monica wrestling Rachel to get the eyedrops in her eyes or Leslie Knope and the cast of Parks and Rec on the ice. It’s deeply rewatchable. It gets us every single time. And luckily, we have performers on our show who are really, really funny physical comedians. I don’t think it was part of our original conception of the show, honestly, but watching the way that Owen moves through the world and sort of embodies his bits and his physicality, watching Amita be this modern-day pratfall master, and Malik — shout out to him — there’s always a bit with Malik. He does this really hilarious bit that is “ape pretending to be human.” They inspire us with their physicality on set. It’s harder to envision it for a character when you’re first writing a pilot because you’re mostly focused on their voice, but the more we get to know them, the more we get to write to their wild physical attributes.
Lucy’s a hilarious stunt dancer. In Episode 2, she kills us with the crazy dancing she does when she’s trying — and obviously failing — to impress these younger kids. Jack with Paul Baker and the Baker dichotomy with this secret persona. He completely transforms his physicality when he goes into this bro mode, so we had a lot of fun playing with that this season, too.
SHAW: It’s funny because physical comedy can often feel quite big, but to do it really well takes so much practice and intentionality, and our actors take funny so seriously, which is one of our favorite things about them. All of the beats of that injection montage and the later moments where Samir’s chasing Issa around the house and tackling her with the needle — we worked with wonderful stunt coordinators to choreograph every bit of it, but they also found things on their own. There was a certain point where our assistant director had to ask them to stop practicing off to the side. They were so worried that someone was going to get hurt because they were just taking each other down over and over like siblings wrestling. They were doing such a great job, and we think it really shows in the final product.
There are the big physical moments, but also something like the moment in “Raccoon,” where Billie and Samir decide that they’re not going to futz, and then we watch both of them immediately turn and walk into various rooms to meddle in their friends’ love lives. One thing we knew in the structure of the story was we wanted them to sort of mirror each other’s physicality. We wanted Billie and Samir to have a similar walk, which we called the futz walk, so we got together with Lucy and Malik before we started shooting that day and basically said, “Look, we have some ideas of the emotion that comes behind this. You’ve made a pact, and you feel a little bad about it, and you’re really trying to move quickly, but you’re trying to act casual and do it in a very intentional way. But really, what matters to us is just that you guys are doing the same thing, so can you work together and come up with something that works for both of you that feels true to both of your characters?” And they came up with the futz walk, and it’s one of our favorite moments of the season.
Adults Season 2 is now streaming on Hulu.
- Release Date
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May 28, 2025
- Showrunner
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Ben Kronengold, Rebecca Shaw
- Directors
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Anu Valia
- Writers
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Sarah Naftalis, Allie Levitan
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Lucy Freyer
Billie Schaeffer
Any film is either a comedy or a drama, and though both genres have produced several of the greatest films ever made, dramas in particular have delivered the movies that are most often counted among the biggest masterpieces the Seventh Art has ever seen. These are genres all about serious conflicts, characters clashing, and dialogue propulsing the story and plot forward.
For the purposes of this list, genre films will be excluded. Here, dramas will be considered non-comedy movies where the main focus is on emotionally-driven conflicts between characters and realistic struggles, leaving things like plot-driven thrillers, fantasy and sci-fi films, and horror movies off the table. Whether it’s an underrated biopic like Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters or a hyper-acclaimed classic like The Godfather, history’s greatest dramas are all essential viewing for cinphiles the world over.
10
‘Cinema Paradiso’ (1988)
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and of the Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Prix, Giuseppe Tornatore‘s Cinema Paradiso is not only the greatest Italian drama in history, but even one of the greatest films of all time. With its wonderful coming-of-age tale featuring one of the best depictions of childhood in movies, it’s no wonder why it has aged as well as it has.
Beautifully emotional without ever feeling saccharine, hopelessly romantic without ever feeling naive, and delightfully long without ever feeling excessive, Cinema Paradiso works simultaneously as a love letter to the movies and as one of the best of the ’80s. Anchored by Tornatore’s emotionally stirring direction and Ennio Morricone delivering one of the greatest musical scores in film history, it’s an international classic that everyone should watch at least once in their lives.
9
‘Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters’ (1985)
The biopic genre is one that has become increasingly tired and trite over the years. At some point, directors started feeling comfortable delivering movies that felt more like cinematic version of a Wikipedia article than like an actual encapsulation of a subject’s life and work. That isn’t the case with Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, a revolutionary masterpiece written and directed by screenwriter-turned-filmmaker Paul Schrader.
Mishima is one of the most underrated drama movie masterpieces the world has ever seen. Its director uses surrealism and creative elements from the books created by writer, martial artist, and model Yukio Mishima to create a drama that genuinely feels like it captures Mishima’s spirit perfectly. Impeccably written, visually stunning, and entirely unique, it’s right at the peak of what biopic dramas have to offer in the arthouse space.
8
‘Persona’ (1966)
Rarely has history seen filmmakers quite as great or influential as Swedish legend Ingmar Bergman, one of the most impactful directors in the history of European cinema. There are sprinkles of surrealism across all of his wonderfully complex, emotionally riveting filmography, but nowhere are those sprinkles more intense than in Persona. Fittingly, it happens to arguably be Bergman’s magnum opus.
Persona is one of the best psychological dramas in history, and a must-see for all those who love arthouse dramas. Magnificently directed by Bergman in full control of his craft, full of haunting black-and-white images, and bolstered by Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann‘s performances, it’s a masterpiece about identity, duality, and gender which only keeps getting better with age.
7
‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)
Steven Spielberg is the father of blockbusters and a master of popcorn genre flicks, but it just so happens that his best film to date is a biopic drama through and through: the World War II period piece Schindler’s List, one of the most powerful war movies of all time. It deservedly earned Spielberg his very first Best Director and Best Picture Academy Award victories.
It’s impossible to know where to begin singing Schindler’s List‘s praises. Spielberg’s direction is beautifully humanist and necessarily hopeful, but he never shies away from the purely harrowing nature of the material. John Williams‘ score is probably the most haunting he has ever composed for a motion picture. All the performances, from Liam Neeson to Ralph Fiennes, are absolutely flawless. All around and from top to bottom, Schindler’s List is one of the greatest drama movies the war genre has ever seen.
6
‘The Shawshank Redemption’ (1994)
Frank Darabont is perhaps the best creative that Hollywood has at its disposal when it comes to adapting Stephen King stories, and it just so happens that The Shawshank Redemption is perhaps the most notorious Stephen King movie that’s better than the book. It has been sitting as the highest-rated movie of all time on IMDb for many years, and that’s likely to continue being the case for many more.
It’s fully deserved praise, too, because The Shawshank Redemption is much more than just a drama movie. It’s a wonderfully emotional study of themes like justice, redemption, and male friendship, one told with such passionate love for life that it’s impossible not to be infected by it. Full of memorable set pieces and unforgettable performances, Shawshank Redemption really is one of the most perfect dramas the big screen has ever seen.
5
‘The Godfather Part II’ (1974)
How do you follow up what many refer to as the greatest film of all time? By making a sequel that some people think is even better, of course. Francis Ford Coppola set the bar sky-high for himself going into The Godfather Part II, but saying that he exceeded those expectations would be an understatement. Part prequel, part sequel, this is considered by some to be the greatest crime drama of all time.
The Godfather Part II is pretty much universally accepted to be one of the best American movies of the ’70s. Even though its being part period piece and 100% a gangster film may lead some to argue that it’s more of a genre movie, the focus is never on its genre conventions, but rather on its characters and their conflicts—and how flawlessly that focus is pulled off by Coppola and his team.
4
‘Citizen Kane’ (1941)
Other cinephiles point to Orson Welles‘ Citizen Kane as the greatest film of all time, and it isn’t exactly easy to offer arguments to disagree with them. After all, upon release, Welles’ jaw-dropping big-screen debut was unlike anything else Hollywood had ever seen. It may not seem so revolutionary by modern standards, but Citizen Kane is still the peak of what the filmmaking art form has to offer.
One of those movie masterpieces that were ahead of their time, Citizen Kane still feels remarkably modern thanks to its groundbreaking non-linear structure, its unforgettable visuals, its many incredible performances, and its thematically and emotionally powerful script. Golden-Age Hollywood rarely—if ever—produced dramas this timeless and worthy of the utmost praise.
3
‘The Godfather’ (1972)
As incredible as The Godfather Part II may be, there’s simply no beating The Godfather, regarded by a staggering number of people as the single greatest feature film of all time. Indeed, it’s one of the most universally beloved movies ever, a masterpiece that Francis Ford Coppola was initially reluctant to make but which ended up being widely accepted as his magnum opus.
The Godfather is the crime drama par excellence, an exquisitely character-driven and technically masterful gem that deconstructs the American Dream in ways that cinema had never seen before. From its game-changing performances, to its stunning visuals, to Coppola’s faultless direction, it has aged like fine wine in virtually every sense that matters.
2
‘High and Low’ (1963)
Akira Kurosawa is praised by many cinephiles not just as the greatest Japanese filmmaker of all time, but at times even the greatest filmmaker in general. He was, of course, a director best known for his contributions to the samurai genre, but he also dipped his toes into several other genres over the course of his career—including dramas like High and Low.
This is another instance of a film whose status as an adrenaline-pumping thriller may lead some to count it as a proper genre film, but Kurosawa keeps the focus on the characters and plot rather than on genre conventions so intensely that High and Low deserves to be counted among the greatest dramas in film history. Structurally, tonally, thematically, and in every other sense, it’s one of the boldest and most essential pieces of dramatic filmmaking in history.
1
’12 Angry Men’ (1957)
There’s a strong argument to be made that 12 Angry Men is not only the greatest feature film of Hollywood’s entire Golden Age, but perhaps even the greatest drama in film history. It is, at the very least, the peak of the many must-watch movies of the 1950s, a single-location psychological drama which proves that you don’t need a gargantuan premise or a dozen sets in order to make an absolutely timeless masterpiece.
Indeed, thanks to the many complex and layered ways in which 12 Angry Men explores ideas of justice and guilt, it’s a movie that doesn’t seem to age in the slightest. From its performances to its exceptional black-and-white cinematography to its universally compelling writing, it’s one of those dramas which prove just how remarkably close the Seventh Art can come to genuine perfection.
12 Angry Men
- Release Date
-
April 10, 1957
- Runtime
-
97 minutes
- Director
-
Sidney Lumet
- Writers
-
Reginald Rose
A brand-new Miss USA has been crowned at one of the biggest beauty pageants of the year.
Miss Virginia was crowned the winner on Thursday, August 27, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami. Competing against 50 other women, Justus Kelley wowed the judges with her brains, beauty and talents.
Kelley’s win marked a history-making moment at the event as she became the first mom – as well as the first married woman – to be crowned Miss USA.
In 2023, the event changed the rules that previously prevented women with children from winning the pageant. The rule change also removed the age cap that was previously in place.
The Miss USA Organization has announced that Brittany Boltinhouse, who was crowned Miss North Carolina 2026 in June, has been stripped of her title after she allegedly made racist remarks in resurfaced social media posts. “Today, Brittany Boltinhouse’s reign as Miss North Carolina USA 2026 came to an end,” Thom Brodeur, chairman and CEO of […]
Following tradition, the competition began earlier in the week with a preliminary costume show. Contestants dressed up in attire representative of the state they were representing.
During the preliminaries, contestants modelled both swimwear and evening gowns, while also undergoing closed-door interviews to assess their communication skills, intelligence and personality.
Justus Kelley. (Photo by Ivan Apfel/Getty Images)
The ladies lucky to make it to the final portion of the competition Thursday faced a variety of judges, including The Shade Room founder Angelica Nwandu, Miss USA 2016 DeShauna Barber-Echols, Michelle McLean, Madison Anderson, So You Think You Can Dance choreographer Mia Michaels and celebrity talent manager Steven Grossman.
The seventh and final judge was the viewer at home who had the opportunity to score the contestants live during the Top 20. (Miss USA was streamed live on Queen Beauty Network.)
Ultimately, hosts Ian Ziering and Kenya Moore had the honor of announcing the winner in front of a variety of special guests, including The Valley star and Miss USA 2014 Nia Sanchez Booko.
“Today we will welcome a new Miss USA into the sisterhood 😍,” she wrote via Instagram on Thursday. “I’m honored to be here celebrating the 75th anniversary of Miss USA. Let’s do this!”
Hours before a new Miss USA was crowned, organizers gave thanks to Audrey Eckert for all the work she did in the last year.
Beauty pageants aren’t always pretty. Competitive events from Miss USA to Miss Universe have all had their fair share of scandals and controversies over the years. In 1984, Miss America Vanessa Williams famously gave up her crown after nude photos were published in Penthouse. Years later, in 2006, Miss USA Tara Conner kept her sash […]
“Audrey, from the moment you became Miss USA, you stepped into this role with such grace, strength and authenticity. You brought a warmth and heart to this year that made your reign completely your own 🤍,” organizers wrote via Instagram. “You used your voice to inspire others, led with intention and represented Miss USA in a way that made us incredibly proud to stand beside you.”
The statement continued, “Your reign may be ending, but the impact you’ve made will always remain a part of Miss USA. Your story is only getting started. Once Miss USA, always Miss USA 👑✨.”
The winner of Miss USA has officially advanced to the Miss Universe competition, which will be held in Puerto Rico later this year.
“Charmed” aired for eight seasons on The WB, running from 1998 until October 2006. Now, almost two decades later, one of the stars of the beloved series, Holly Marie Combs, is opening up about why she’s no longer taking roles in Hollywood. This comes after she launched a rewatch podcast dedicated to the show in 2022.
Combs opened up about the current state of her career and her decision to take a step back from Hollywood during a recent episode of her podcast, iHeart’s “The House of Halliwell.” Notably, the “Charmed” alum revealed that multiple factors led her to essentially retire from acting.
She began, “It was a lot of family.” After that, the 52-year-old explained, “During COVID, we had three teenagers. Well, it was three teenagers and a preteen in the house, and it was just mayhem and chaos.”
Then, Combs also admitted that she hadn’t been the biggest fan of some of the roles she had been presented with. According to her, “The stuff that I was getting and coming across my desk was just nothing that I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is really great. I need to do this.’”
She added, “And being in, you know, that 40 to 50 range, the job pool gets even smaller and smaller. And I feel like the roles get a little less interesting.”
The ‘Charmed’ Alum Sometimes Misses Acting
Combs continued discussing her career, stating that her friends have attempted to “pull [her] out of retirement.” However, she leads a busy life in Washington State with her husband, Mike Ryan, and three kids. Plus, the actress also owns and operates a barbecue restaurant, Cattle Point BBQ in Friday Harbor, Washington.
Still, despite the fulfilled life, Combs admitted, “I miss it occasionally because, like you said, there’s those moments when you’re involved, and you’re acting and you’re working that are just, I think it’s like being present.”
She then said, “That’s what escapism is. And we get to escape into this different character with a different set of situations than our own life. And there is something about being in that moment that is quite peaceful, even if you’re doing something highly dramatic.”
However, she’s not ruling out a return to the screen once her kids are older. According to her, “I’ll be sitting around with a lot more time on my hands.”
Holly Marie Combs Hasn’t Appeared In A Significant Role Since 2017
Combs may be best known for her role as Piper Halliwell on “Charmed,” but she had a career before and after the series ended. Notably, several years before the WB show began, she appeared in over 80 episodes of “Picket Fences” as Kimberly Brock.
She appeared in several projects after “Charmed,” with the most significant being “Pretty Little Liars,” which ended in 2017. However, as she stated on her podcast, her career shifted in the years leading up to COVID, with her featured in only a “Grey’s Anatomy” episode in 2019, “Pretty Little Wine Moms Re-watch” in 2020, and a COVID-19 special in 2020.
Combs Paid Tribute To Shannen Doherty Following Her Passing
Shannen Doherty starred in the first three seasons of “Charmed” alongside Combs and Alyssa Milano. Sadly, the actress passed away in July 2024 following a battle with metastatic breast cancer. She was 53. Following her death, Combs took to Instagram to issue an emotional tribute to her former costar and “best friend.”
She said, “My better half of 31 years. There is a hollow in my chest, and I can’t seem to catch my breath. A part of me is missing, even though I know exactly what you would say to me right now. I know exactly what you would tell me to do right now.”
After that, Combs spoke about Doherty’s legacy, stating, “I know your undying spirit will live in me and my kids who you loved as your own. They will walk with your sense of purpose and pride. They will be truthful and stand up for what is right. No matter what, and zero f-cks given. Your fire will live on in them and the many other Charmed ones you helped raise.”
She concluded, “My most ardent champion. My loyal protector. My best friend. You taught me the meaning of family. You were and will be forevermore my sister. I love you.”
Shannen Doherty Was Set To Join Holly’s Podcast
Before her death in July 2024, Doherty was set to join the “House of Halliwell” podcast alongside Combs, Brian Krause, and Drew Fuller. The actress had managed to record five episodes, which were released after her passing.
Per Variety, Combs and the other podcast hosts said in a statement, “This show, this character, this podcast meant so much to Shannen she couldn’t wait to share it with Charmed fans everywhere. We want to honor her memory, and fulfill Shannen’s wishes by airing the first five episodes she recorded before her passing.”
It continued, “She was passionate about this project and proud to have played Prue Halliwell; we hope these episodes offer some comfort for everyone who loved her. Prue, your memory remains, and your magic lives on.”
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