When a TV series has already won nine Primetime Emmys and is only two seasons in, you know it has to be good. The Pitt is not only good, but exemplary. The hit series starring Noah Wyle centers around a 15-hour shift at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, nicknamed “The Pitt.” Having a time constraint on the action creates an immediate sense of urgency and gives the show unparalleled momentum.

As Season 3 of The Pitt is set to release in January 2027, fans are left with some vacant viewing time on their hands. Luckily, there are several other medical and procedural-type TV shows that make for excellent placeholders as devotees wait patiently for the new season. So if you have a Pitt-sized hole on your watchlist, adding these eight series is a great way to fill it until January.

‘House’ (2004–2012)

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In an absolute masterpiece of a series that has been called “The Pitt meets Sherlock“, House features Hugh Laurie as the titular protagonist, Dr. Gregory House. Together with his long-suffering team, the temperamental, moody, and highly insightful doctor attempts to diagnose some of the rarest and most unique medical conditions. Laurie is spectacular as House and earned seven Emmy nominations for his performance.

House combines the drama of The Pitt with the pressure of not having the answers readily available. As House and his team encounter each patient, they have to think outside the box, explore multiple theories, and try to diagnose patients that no one else has been able to. Like The Pitt, House delivers on compelling storylines full of intrigue that happen both in and outside the hospital.

‘High Potential’ (2024–Present)

Similar to The Pitt, another new series that has been a winner from the start is ABC’s High Potential. The show stars Kaitlin Olson as Morgan Gillory, the ultimate working mom with an amazing ability to solve riddles and remember even the minutest details with a photographic memory. Hired to be a cleaner at a local police precinct, Morgan soon becomes invaluable to the team as her unique mind proves exactly what they need to help solve baffling murder cases.

Fans of The Pitt can commiserate with followers of High Potential as they too are waiting with bated breath until the long-anticipated Season 3 releases in January 2027. Given the synchronicity of their release dates, High Potential is an ideal show to have in rotation to watch alongside The Pitt. Both shows have a procedural format and dig into science and medical facts. Now is the prime time to get started on this hit series that continues to dominate on streaming.

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ (2005–Present)

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When it comes to medical dramas, one of the foremost reigning dynasties is Grey’s Anatomy. Blending the everyday ins and outs of a medical center with due attention given to the characters’ personal lives, this audience-favorite show is 22 seasons strong and still going. Grey’s Anatomy has had a rotating cast of stellar talent and has made household names out of series regulars like Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, and Patrick Dempsey.

You don’t get to be the longest-running American medical drama in history for no reason, and Grey’s Anatomy continues to excel on every front. Some credit The Pitt for drawing viewers back to medical dramas, and series like Grey’s Anatomy are reaping the residual benefit. With series creator Shonda Rhimes — Bridgerton, Scandal, Private Practice — at the helm, it is clear that Grey’s Anatomy is on par with her level of TV excellence, and it is a superb addition to anyone’s watchlist.

‘9-1-1’ (2018–Present)

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If Grey’s Anatomy and House feel a little too laid back, then 9-1-1 is the perfect choice. Focusing on the professional and personal lives of fictional first responders, 9-1-1 has everything from structural emergencies to medical crises and more. The cast is an embarrassment of riches and includes acting titans such as Angela Bassett, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Peter Krause.

9-1-1 captures the urgency of The Pitt and deals with high-stakes situations. It is terrific for a weekly dose of adrenaline on the screen. Season 10 will be released with ABC’s fall lineup in a few days, and with nine seasons to watch, you can get fully invested before January.

‘Scrubs’ (2026–Present)

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Rebooting a beloved series is tricky, and several have tried and failed. One that has succeeded with flying colors is Scrubs. Fans of the 2001 sitcom will be pleasantly surprised by the latest iteration of everyone’s favorite medical team. J.D. (Zach Braff), Elliot (Sarah Chalke), Turk (Donald Faison), and Carla (Judy Reyes) are back and navigating their medical careers as seasoned professionals while mentoring an entirely new team of interns.

What Scrubs does very well is keep the focus where it needs to be, on the core four. While the new interns are exciting to watch and the new characters are reinvigorating the show, Scrubs‘ creators know that the attention needs to be an 80/20 split in favor of the original gang, who are the main draw and who everyone wants to see. Original series creator Bill Lawrence brings his signature magic back to the revival, and it is a must-watch for fans of medical comedies.

‘St. Denis Medical’ (2024–Present)

Image via NBC

A quirky medical comedy that has been a big success with viewers is NBC’s St. Denis Medical. The show depicts the interesting conundrums of a hospital staff at the fictional St. Denis Medical Center in Oregon. Though the hospital is underfunded, the people who devote their lives to the care of their patients make do. St. Denis Medical is absurdist comedy at its best, and it never stops delivering laughs and hilarious character performances.

Filmed in a mockumentary style similar to The Office and Parks and Recreation, St. Denis Medical aims to tickle your funny bone rather than set it. It is one of the best new sitcoms of the past five years, and you will wonder why you haven’t watched it sooner. Life in an emergency room setting can be full of chaos, but St. Denis Medical chooses to dance to the beat.

‘Doc Martin’ (2004–2022)

Image via ITV

Somewhere between a drama and a comedy, Doc Martin is a British series that has won the world over. The story involves a highly skilled doctor named Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes) who has a radical change in his life circumstances. After being a successful surgeon in London for many years, Martin spontaneously develops a severe case of haemophobia, an intense fear of blood. Needless to say, his days as a big-shot London surgeon are over, and as he follows the major twist that life has thrown him, he ends up being a local doctor for a small village called Portwenn.

Doc Martin is a fantastic fish-out-of-water scenario. As the cynical and introverted doctor relocates to a small town, he must learn to vastly improve his social skills and bedside manner. Clunes is brilliant in the series, and it has become a favorite for audiences around the globe. Doc Martin has inspired several remake series in multiple countries, including America’s version, Best Medicine starring Josh Charles, which debuted in January of this year. Doc Martin is the cozy medical dramedy to round out your watchlist.

‘ER’ (1994–2009)

Image via NBC

Fans of Noah Wyle may or may not know that one of his biggest roles was in the epic medical drama, ER. In a complete role reversal, Wyle’s character in ER is not a hardened, seasoned professional, but a wide-eyed and naive underling, trying to prove himself to everyone. His character, John Carter, became a fan favorite, and he unassumingly stole every scene he was in.

ER was a powerhouse of network television, and it consistently drew in viewers over its 15 years on the air. ER has won 23 Primetime Emmys and is still considered by many to be the gold standard when it comes to medical dramas. If you are an admirer of Wyle and The Pitt looking to fill some watch time between now and January, ER can’t be beat.

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ER

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Release Date

1994 – 2009-00-00

Showrunner

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Michael Crichton

Directors

Michael Crichton

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Martin Short stepped out for a rare red carpet appearance at the 2026 Emmy Awards following the death of his daughter, Katherine, earlier this year.

Short, 76, posed for photos alongside Only Murders in the Building costar Steve Martin at the 78th annual Primetime Emmys in Los Angeles on Monday, September 14. The pair of longtime pals looked dapper in classic tuxedos and bow ties.

Selena Gomez was also spotted turning heads on the red carpet in a glistening gold gown but did not appear to cross paths with her costars before the awards ceremony.

Short is nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance as Oliver Putnam on Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building. The show received a total of five Emmy nominations this year, including Outstanding Comedy Series.

Related: Emmys 2026 Red Carpet: Stars Turn Up the Glamour for TV‘s Biggest Night

Television’s biggest stars stepped into the spotlight for the 2026 Emmys, bringing plenty of personality to the red carpet. Celebrities showed their sartorial flair while posing for the cameras at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, September 14. From bold fashion statements to timeless Hollywood looks, there was no shortage of glamour […]

Nearly seven months before the awards show, news broke in February that Short’s daughter had been found dead at the age of 42.

“It is with profound grief that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short,” read a statement from the Saturday Night Live alum’s rep. “The Short family is devastated by this loss and asks for privacy at this time. Katherine was beloved by all and will be remembered for the light and joy she brought into the world.”

Katherine’s death was eventually ruled a suicide. According to an autopsy report obtained by Us in May, Short called one of his daughter’s friends to “check on her welfare” after he hadn’t heard from her in “over 24 hours.”

The report indicated that there were “multiple notes” at the scene presumably left by Katherine. Her friend discovered the notes and called 911.

Related: Martin Short’s Daughter Katherine Short’s Neighbors React to Her Death

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Martin Short’s daughter Katherine Hartley Short’s neighbors are “sad” over the death of the “great” resident. A next door neighbor exclusively tells Us Weekly that Katherine was a “great neighbor and gardener,” ahead of her death at age 42, which her family confirmed on Tuesday, February 24. “It’s incredibly sad,” the resident, who wishes to […]

According to the Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner’s summary, Katherine “had a history of depression and other mental health illnesses.” She tested positive for benzodiazepines at the time of her death.

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Short shared his daughter with late wife Nancy Dolman, along with sons Oliver, 40, and Henry, 37.

In May, Short spoke about his daughter’s death for the first time in depth during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning.

“It’s been a nightmare for the family,” he said at the time. “But the understanding [is] that mental health and cancer, like my wife’s, are both diseases, and sometimes with diseases they are terminal. And my daughter fought for a long time with extreme mental health, borderline personality disorder, other things, and did the best she could until she couldn’t.”

What’s got you down, champ? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Maybe even under it? Did your partner leave you, or – no judgment – did they decide to stay? Did you pour scalding coffee on yourself, because your mug doesn’t have that “Caution – contents may be hot” warning, causing you to jump up and hit the nearby radio, inadvertently changing it to a station that plays John Mellencamp‘s “Jack and Diane” on repeat 24/7, and you couldn’t stop it so you threw it out the window where it hit a bus, forcing it off the road to hit a streetlight, injuring all the orphans and nuns aboard? Hey, I’ve been there. But don’t be glum, chum – we here at Collider want to turn your frown upside down, and to that end we’ve got a list of 20 tunes, in no particular order, guaranteed to do the job.

1. “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves

In early 1983, Katrina and the Waves pooled their funds together to record an album they could sell at gigs. But one of the songs on the album, “Walking on Sunshine,” wasn’t exactly a favorite of the band, with bass player Vince de la Cruz citing it as “irritating.” They weren’t the only ones unenamored with the tune, with Katrina Leskanich saying, “It proved to be a total dance floor emptier. So we dropped it.”

Then fate stepped in, with their album getting radio play and The Bangles covering their song “Going Down to Liverpool.” That prompted Capitol Records to sign the band, and for the first album with the new label they looked to change up “Walking on Sunshine.” According to Leskanich, when they were recording the song “an arranger popped by and said: ‘You should put horns on that.’” Now, with upbeat saxophones and trumpets, tighter production, and live drums, the new and improved 1985 version was released. The rest, as they say, is history. “Walking on Sunshine” is a consistent presence on happiest song lists like this one, a song that exists purely to celebrate joy. Fun fact: even the ever-optimistic Dolly Parton took a crack at it in 1996.

2. “Best Day Ever” by SpongeBob SquarePants

Songs from children’s programming could fill this list alone, guilty pleasures like “Get Ready to Wiggle” from The Wiggles or “The Yodeling Veterinarian of the Alps,” a classic Silly Song with Larry from VeggieTales. But we’ll settle for one entry, a classic from Nickelodeon mainstay SpongeBob SquarePants: “Best Day Ever.” There’s waking up on the right side of the bed, and then there’s this, where SpongeBob’s (Tom Kenny) excitement for the day begins before he even leaves the bed. It’s virtually impossible not to get caught up in the unabashed giddiness of living, so just run with it. Close second? “Campfire Song Song.”

3. “California Gurls” by Katy Perry (feat. Snoop Dogg)

Once upon a time, Katy Perry had a great sense of humor in her songs, a cheeky, in-on-the-joke vibe that was a fresh breath of air among her self-serious peers. Alas, those days may be gone, hopefully not for good, but it did leave us with “California Gurls,” the pinnacle of that era. It’s bubble-gum, camp pop at its purest, a celebration of all things California that’s playfully naughty, upbeat, and yes, humorous, with one of the few rap interludes that didn’t suck in the 2010s, thanks to the effortlessly cool Snoop Dogg.

4. “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” by Monty Python

Trust Monty Python to turn a crucifixion into a boisterous sing-along moment celebrating the glass as half-full, as they did in Monty Python’s Life of Brian. “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” with its joyful whistle refrain, is a reminder that as dark as things can get, there’s always a glimmer of hope. Funny, inspirational, and, in the context of the movie, a brilliantly clever summation of the Easter season. Every life lesson should be this much fun.

5. “AM Radio” by Everclear

Songs about reminiscing can go in one of two directions: morose and depressing, like Terry Jacks‘ “Seasons in the Sun” or Nickelback‘s “Photograph”; or fondly and fun, which is where Everclear‘s “AM Radio” sits. With an infectious sample from Jean Knight‘s 1970 classic “Mr. Big Stuff,” the song is a catchy, loving tribute to growing up in the 1970s. It was the days before VCRs and the world-wide web, when hanging out with friends, listening to the rich mix of music that could be found on AM radio (on a single station no less, well before the siloing of genre formats) was all it took to be happy.

6. “Jesus Is a Friend of Mine” by Sonseed

What do you think of when you think of Christian pop music in 1981? You probably don’t, and with good reason: it sucked. That was the year that Catholic pop rock band Sonseed released their one and only album, First Fruit. To promote the album, they appeared on a religious public service TV program in New York and performed “Jesus Is a Friend of Mine.” The performance was taped, broadcast, and stowed away, never to be seen again. Until 2008, that is, when someone posted the performance on YouTube, where it became a huge, huge hit, landing six million views and an appearance as a number for TV’s Glee.

The question, of course, is why. One listen and you’ve got your answer. It’s catchy and cheesy as all hell – errr, heck – with a horribly dated organ and an Osmond-like vocalist, but with an almost unbelievably excellent bass riff that runs through the entire song. Theologically, it’s about as deep as a Sunday School lesson for kindergarteners, likening Jesus to a Mountie because he “always gets his man,” but damn, they’re enthusiastic about it.

7. “The Booze Cruise” by Blackjack Billy

Women, liquor, and the open sea. Is there a simpler joy than that? Not according to Blackjack Billy, whose 2014 hit “The Booze Cruise” extols the virtues of such vices. It’s not deep by any stretch, nor does it have any aspirations to be: it’s an unapologetic party-time track for people who just want to turn off the noggin and enjoy some shallow revelry, like a hillbilly martini off a string bikini.

8. “Buddy Holly” by Weezer

What do you get when you mix 90s alt-rock with 50s pop into a short and bouncy two-and-a-half minutes? Weezer‘s “Buddy Holly.”

Bright and cheerful, with its earworm “oo-wee-oo” hook, nostalgia and geek-chic cred, “Buddy Holly” is impossible to resist. Written to uplift the spirits of his Asian girlfriend, who was teased by his friends (“What’s with these homies dissing my girl?”), the song almost didn’t make it onto their debut album. Thankfully, music icon Ric Ocasek of The Cars, who produced the album, convinced the band to include it, where it’s uplifted spirits since its release in 1994.

9. “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M.

“It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” is a rapid-fire wave of apocalyptic nightmares, pop-culture references and the commonplace, like “We Didn’t Start the Fire” on speed. Then comes the twist of “I feel fine.” It’s a spiritual cousin of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” to a degree, finding hope, or at least not outright despair, in life despite its impending demise. Whether it’s the buoyant groove, the try-to-keep-up vocals from Michael Stipe, or both, the song is more infectious and uplifting than it probably should be… but I feel fine about it.

10. “Get Rhythm” by Ry Cooder

“Get Rhythm” was written by none other than Johnny Cash, the B-side to “I Walk the Line” in 1956 before earning its own release as a single, with overdubbed “live” effects in 1969, where it reached number 60 on Billboard’s Hot 100. While it’s been covered a number of times in the years since, it’s Ry Cooder‘s 1987 version that stands out from the pack. The song itself, about a shoeshine boy who keeps his spirit up with music and rhythm, is already uplifting, a positive, straightforward statement about how music is the key to overcoming the blues. Cooder’s version ups the dose with an uptempo roots-rock, borderline zydeco approach that adds horns and an accordion into the mix, a recipe that guarantees foot-stompin’ and smiles.

11. “Good Time” by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen

“Whoa-oh-a-whoa-oh-oh-whoa-oh – It’s always a good time!” The chorus is simple and repetitive, like a mantra designed to channel your focus toward sunshine and stay in your head to ensure that you do. “Good Time” doesn’t have a lick of cynicism, with Adam Young‘s smooth vocals playing a delightful call-and-response to Carly Rae Jepsen‘s ingénue playfulness. If “Good Time” doesn’t elicit a smile, you’re clearly dead. You should get that looked at.

12. “Good Time Music” by The Brady Bunch

Full confession: yours truly is a big fan of The Brady Bunch, and I have actually uttered the words, “Yes, I would like to buy this CD of It’s a Sunshine Day: The Best of the Brady Bunch.” Their songs are as wholesome, upbeat and chipper as the series, with pearls like “Merry-Go-Round,” “Keep On,” and the titular track an absolute guilty pleasure (although “Candy (Sugar Shoppe)” is probably a little racier than intended). What is not on the album is “Good Time Music,” which appeared in the 1973 episode “Adios, Johnny Bravo.”

Thankfully, A Very Brady Sequel, the follow-up to 1995’s The Brady Bunch Movie, resurrected the tune, which initiates an impromptu choreographed sequence by the Brady kids aboard an airplane, like how the first film used “It’s a Sunshine Day” for a similar sequence in a Sears store. The scene itself is gold, but “Good Time Music” stands on its own as a shot of glee when you’re down in the dumps. Heck, you might even “create a lot of lovin’ good vibes for humanity” too, after hearing it.

13. “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers

It could be the heavy Scottish brogue. It could be the galloping call-and-response “la-da-da-da” bridge. It could be the story of a man who would walk 500 miles — twice — just to be with his girl. Whatever it is, there’s no denying that once that opening acoustic guitar riff starts, the compulsion to grab a beer with your mates and sing-along to “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” is impossible to resist. The Proclaimers‘ other big hit, “I’m On My Way,” is just as joyful, with its “I’m on my way from misery to happiness today” optimism, narrowly missing out on the list by a “la-da-da-da.”

14. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” by The Beatles

The Beatles are no strangers to the upbeat and cheerful tune, the likes of “Yellow Submarine” and “All You Need is Love.” But for our purposes, the Caribbean-inspired “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” is the one that does the trick. It’s right in Paul McCartney‘s wheelhouse, a perfect fit for his bright and friendly vocal stylings, with John Lennon and George Harrison adding cheeky wit with their background vocals. The lyrics tell of the simple, laid-back life of Desmond and Molly Jones, driven by McCartney’s catchy bass groove, with Lennon’s double-time piano introduction setting the cheerful tone.

15. “Red Solo Cup” by Toby Keith

“Red Solo Cup” is the second of two country songs to make the list, but unlike “The Booze Cruise,” Toby Keith‘s tune is an even simpler declaration of good times, personifying the immortal red Solo cup (not blue or yellow) that has been an iconic party staple since the 1970s. It’s a comical, yet sincere, love letter to the vessel, whose presence indicates that the party can proceed as planned. No thinking involved: it’s only as deep as the 18-ounces the cup holds.

16. “Weird Al” Yankovic’s Polka Medleys

Truth be told, you can’t go wrong by turning to any “Weird Al” Yankovic song for the cure to your blues, but for pure, straightforward delight, you need a shot of a “Weird Al” polka medley. Doesn’t matter which one, there’s enough to make a list based on them alone (and there is one!). For the uninitiated, the medleys are pretty straightforward: “Weird Al” takes snippets of lyrics from multiple pop/rock songs, typically ones released in between albums, and blends them together in a high-energy polka. Musically, how “Weird Al” and his band transition between those songs within the medley is brilliant, making each recognizable without losing the frenetic polka pacing. Hey, if you can make Soundgarden‘s morose “Black Hole Sun” jaunty, you can do anything.

17. “I Really Like You” by Carly Rae Jepsen

There may be no other artist that personifies 2010s joyfulness better than Carly Rae Jepsen, whose sweet, light voice and impressive range elevate the positive leanings of “Call Me Maybe,” “Good Time” and this, “I Really Like You.” It edges out the former simply by being slightly more relatable — no one makes phone calls anymore — and the presence of her buoyant doppelgänger, actor Tom Hanks, in the video. Again, it’s the catchy chorus that draws you into Jepsen’s sunny world: It isn’t love (yet), but “I really, really, really, really, really, really like you” is pretty darn close.

18. “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate” by Captain Tractor

This entry needs a little context, so take a piece of paper and hold it horizontally. That’s Canada’s Saskatchewan, flat as a board and completely land-locked. Now apply that to “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate” and you understand the ridiculousness, and hilarity, of its premise. Originally recorded by fellow Canucks The Arrogant Worms, Captain Tractor‘s version has a faster pace and kick-ass flute riffs (seriously, it’s awesome). Furthermore, it’s a vicarious delight, with the song’s protagonist taking matters into his own hands when job cuts and taxes force him into piracy, making off with bales of hay off the shores of Regina (fun fact: only Wascana Creek runs through Regina, adding to the song’s absurdity).

19. “Mah Na Mah Na” by Mahna Mahna and the Snowths

“Mah Nà Mah Nà” is a song by Piero Umiliani, an Italian composer who included it in the score for the Italian softcore mondo film Sweden: Heaven and Hell in 1968. That version, however, isn’t the one here, and more likely an entry on a very, very different list. No, we’re talking about the famed Muppets version of the song, which first aired on Sesame Street in 1969 before hitting it big on The Ed Sullivan Show mere days following its introduction.

Really, though, it’s the 1977 version that appeared on The Muppet Show that is the most memorable, with its two pink, tube-mouthed creatures, the Snowths, singing the “do doo do doo doo” part, while a purple Muppet with wild orange hair and a green tunic, Mahna Mahna, constantly interrupts, saying his own name and scatting. “Mah Na Mah Na” is just nonsense, with no rhyme or reason to its existence, but its continued presence in the zeitgeist is almost mythical. Those four words alone are enough to crack a smile on the most dour of faces.

20. “Bottle of Smoke” by The Pogues

If I Should Fall From Grace With God is a must for any fan of Celtic folk-punk legends The Pogues and its frontman, the “Gorgeously Messy Soul of Irish Music,” Shane MacGowan. It’s where you’ll find a track of pure, unadulterated NSFW celebration that demands beer drinking and sing-along: “Bottle of Smoke.” In a nutshell, the narrator placed a huge bet at 25-1 on a horse, “Bottle of Smoke,” to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup. And it does, coming “up on the left like a streak of light” to win, or, in the more colorful simile, “like a drunken f**k on a Saturday night.” To say he’s happy about it is an understatement, and the blistering Celtic drive and MacGowan’s trademark slurry vocals reflect it.

dsafdasReligion is a constant theme in Pogues songs, but MacGowan also never lost that obsession with horse racing. He once wrote an entire ramshackle tune called Bottle of Smoke with fellow Pogue and Fairytale of New York co-writer Jem Finer that gloriously — and profanely — details cashing a huge bet at 25-1 on a horse named Bottle of Smoke that wins the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Scooter Braun has no plans to give up on his love with Sydney Sweeney.

The businessman is reportedly working towards putting a ring on the actress’s finger anytime soon, as he sees her in his picture for the future. They kicked things off last year but kept their relationship out of the spotlight until April this year. 

Their relationship began years after Scooter Braun’s divorce from Yael Cohen, with whom he shares three kids, was finalized. Sydney Sweeney, meanwhile, has never been married but was previously engaged to Jonathan Davino.

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Insiders say the music executive plans to marry Sweeney soon. They speculate that Braun might pop the question at any time over the next six months.

The source explained that he is putting a lot of effort into supporting her and her career, which is part of his grand scheme to get Sweeney to agree to marry him. “He is trying very hard to marry her,” the insider revealed, adding:

“He is following her and chartering private planes. He’s going to stay focused on her until she marries him.” 

According to reports by Page Six, Braun “thinks she is the modern Marilyn Monroe,” emphasizing that he is bent on making their relationship permanent. The lovebirds recently attended Rosh Hashanah services at Temple Sholom in Greenwich, Connecticut, but kept a very low profile.

The Businessman Is Hands-On With His Girlfriend’s Career

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Insiders shared that Braun is also highly “involved now in her career.” Puck echoed a similar sentiment in last week’s release, saying the father of three was instrumental in helping his beau find her new manager. 

Braun reportedly went around Sweeney’s agent, Jennifer Millar, to set up a dinner with CAA’S Kevin Huvane. This meeting opened doors for “The Housemaid” star, leading her to sign with Huvane over rivals that had been clamoring for a similar sit-down.

The music executive’s involvement in his girlfriend’s career may not shock many, as it was predicted last year. At that time, a source noted his urge to “market everything” before speculating that “he’ll probably get more involved in her career.” 

The Music Executive Gushed About His Bae In Heartfelt Birthday Post

Celebrating Sweeney’s 29th birthday on September 12, Braun took to Instagram, sharing a cute video of them dancing and sharing kisses in front of a castle while Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine” played in the background.

“Happy birthday to the woman who is the exception to every rule,” he wrote in the caption. “The person who surprised me and showed me how life with true partnership can be lived.”

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He went on, expressing how she makes him feel and even hinting at thoughts for the future. “You’ve made the ordinary feel exciting, and the future feel like something I can’t wait to get to,” Braun penned.

The record executive said Sweeney’s giggle can change his entire day and that he enjoys the time they spend being corny together. “Happy birthday, Syd. Many more celebrations ahead. I love you [red heart emoji],” he ended the post.

Scooter Braun’s Kids Are A Subject Of Conversation

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Braun is a father to Jagger Joseph, Levi Magnus, and Hart Violet, whom he welcomed during his marriage to Cohen. Having children in the mix while building a relationship is often tricky, especially for the bonus parent.

Relationship expert Nicole Moore weighed in on the couple’s relationship, highlighting that spending more time together as a family could strengthen their connection; however, it could also leave fewer opportunities for the lovebirds to bond and focus on each other. 

She advised that they make a conscious effort to keep their relationship alive, such as by going on regular date nights. The Blast reported that licensed clinical psychotherapist Robin Hamilton spoke about ensuring the kids’ lives remain private and that they are not yanked into the spotlight because of Sweeney’s career or their father’s involvement in the industry.

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Sydney Sweeney Previously Expressed Her Desire For Motherhood

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A few years ago, while the “Euphoria” star was still in a relationship with her ex-fiancé, Davino, she discussed her hopes of starting a family. “I want to have a family; I’ve always wanted to be a young mom,” she said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Sweeney also admitted she worried about the stigma the entertainment industry places on young women who become mothers. She also acknowledged the financial responsibility that having children comes with, saying, “If I don’t work, there is no money and no support for kids I would have.”

The actress revealed that she took advice from her “Sharp Objects” costar, Amy Adams, who is also a mother. Adams reportedly told her costar that it is possible to strike a balance between private and public life.

Lady Gaga is living a dream she spoke about for years, but friends say the road to motherhood was far more difficult than fans realized.

Days after reports emerged that the singer and fiancé Michael Polansky welcomed their first child, insiders claimed Gaga had been trying for a baby since 2024 and experienced major emotional highs and lows.

According to Page Six, friends say Lady Gaga had wanted to become a mother for years and was trying for a baby as far back as 2024.

One source described the journey as a “hard road to travel physically,” claiming there were “moments of giddiness” as well as “moments of despair.”

“It’s a real tale of hard times, both physical and emotional, en route to this happy ending,” the insider said.

The source also pointed to Gaga’s severe hip problems, other physical ailments and the physical demands of performing as factors that made the period especially challenging.

Neither Gaga nor Polansky has disclosed the child’s name, sex or birth date. There is also no confirmation on whether the baby was born via surrogate,

Lady Gaga Has Lived With Serious Physical Pain For Years

Gaga’s health history gives context to what her friends are describing.

In 2013, the singer underwent surgery after a serious hip injury. She later said a surgeon warned that continuing to perform could have left her needing a full hip replacement.

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Years later, Gaga revealed in her 2017 Netflix documentary “Gaga: Five Foot Two” that she lives with fibromyalgia, a chronic condition associated with widespread pain and fatigue.

She has also spoken about performing through intense pain, explaining that adrenaline from music and fans can carry her through a show even when her body hurts.

Becoming A Mom Had Been Lady Gaga’s Dream For Years

Motherhood was not a sudden change of direction for Gaga.

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She spoke about wanting children in 2020 and returned to the subject as her relationship with Polansky became more serious. In 2024, Gaga said starting a family was what she was most excited about in the next stage of her life.

Then, during an October 2025 appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” she made the goal unmistakable.

“What I really want is to be a mom,” Gaga said, calling motherhood her hoped-for “next starring role.”

That dream is now reality. PEOPLE reported that Gaga and Polansky welcomed their first child, while a source told the outlet the new parents “both beam” when discussing their baby.

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Michael Polansky Has Been Lady Gaga’s Partner Through A Major Life Shift

Gaga’s new chapter comes after years of building a private relationship with Polansky.

The couple began dating around late 2019 and went public in 2020. They became engaged in 2024 after Polansky proposed following a rock-climbing trip.

Gaga has called him her best friend and partner. She previously explained that their relationship deepened during the pandemic, when time away from her career allowed them to focus on each other.

Polansky has also become part of her creative world, encouraging Gaga’s return to pop music and collaborating with her professionally.

Now, family appears to be the priority. A source told PEOPLE the couple took time away from work during the summer to focus on their newborn and described them as a strong team entering parenthood.

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Lady Gaga Already Knows What She Wants To Prioritize As A Mom

Before welcoming her child, Gaga had already thought seriously about motherhood.

During a July 2025 appearance on “The Howard Stern Show,” she said she did not necessarily expect to disappear from public life after becoming a parent, but stressed that her child’s needs would come first.

Gaga said music would remain part of her child’s life, while safety and happiness would come first, describing motherhood as her “No. 1 priority.”

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That makes the couple’s recent privacy notable, as Gaga and Polansky have revealed virtually nothing about their newborn.

Award-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg has been a fixture on “The View” since joining in 2007 at Barbara Walters’ request as the moderator. Now, 20 years later, the 70-year-old is opening up about her time on the show, revealing that she often considered leaving.

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ABC kicked off the milestone 30th season of “The View” in September 2026, with Goldberg returning as the moderator. While promoting the show, the “Ghost” star revealed that, despite loving her tenure, she often considered leaving the daytime talker.

According to her, “Oh, I’ve thought about leaving all the time, all the time.” She went on, “It’s a little bit shocking that I’m here as long as I have been. I didn’t need to hear that today, but we’re lucky. We’re really, really lucky.”

On why she’d previously considered leaving “The View,” Goldberg said it had to do with her opinions being dissected by millions of people, often misunderstood or taken out of context.

She said, “One of the things that you have to know about this job, and it’s really hard, is that disagreement can come from anywhere, for any reason, and really nobody wants to hear your reasoning or your truth of why you thought this way. It’s just easier — people want to be mad; they’re mad.”

Goldberg continued reflecting, saying, “You have to learn that. You have to learn that that’s part of this. So now that I know that, it’s just kind of like, okay, well, listen, don’t watch. If you’re that mad, you don’t have to watch. Take a break.”

The ‘Sister Act’ Star Says She ‘Needed’ ‘The View’

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Goldberg has been open over the years about needing work for one reason or another when Walters asked her to join “The View.” In her interview with PEOPLE, the Oscar-winning actress reiterated those comments.

According to her, “I needed a job desperately. I needed a job. And I’m just grateful. I’m grateful that Barbara plucked me when I needed to be plucked. Goldberg said Walters initially made the moderator job sound easy, but she later learned that wasn’t the case.

She explained, “She said, ‘Will you come and do this?’ I said, ‘I don’t know how to do this.’ She said, ‘It’ll be all right. You just do lead-ins. It’s like, ‘Oh, okay.’ So I came, and then she gave me the job.” 

In the interview, Goldberg also shared why she began adding a sign-off to the episodes during season 29. She stated, “I wanted to give people a little message of hope. The topics we’re covering every day can be heavy, and hopefully, this allows people at home to feel a little lighter.”

Whoopi Goldberg Previously Reflected On Her Job At ‘The View’

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Goldberg appeared on an episode of the “Baby, This is Keke Palmer” podcast in August 2026. During the episode, KeKe Palmer asked Goldberg about her time on the show and whether she had a favorite aspect of the job. She responded, “The check,” before teasing that the actress and podcast host would be shocked by the amount.

After that, she stated, “I needed a job. Barbara offered me a job. She said, ‘We just lost one of the people on the show; would you consider coming over?’ And I’d been doing a radio show, and I said, ‘Absolutely, yeah!’ She brought me over, and it’s like I’ve been crazy-glued to that chair!”

She then said, “I see my family, and I see pictures of folks, and I think, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s good to have a job.’ And I come to work. A lot of people don’t have jobs, so I’m lucky. I like to talk; I like talking about stuff; I like people. And I’m okay with what I think I believe. I don’t mind doing that. Even when it irritates people? That’s what the show is. It’s not irritation, necessarily, but it is called ‘The View.’”

Whoopi Has A New Netflix Series In The Works

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According to Deadline, Goldberg has been tapped to lead a new Netflix comedy series, “Women Like Us,” from Macro Film Studios and The Obamas’ Higher Ground. In addition to the “View” moderator, the show will star Jenifer Lewis, Vanessa Williams, and Vivica A. Fox.

Per the outlet, shooting will begin this fall. The series centers on a recently widowed woman whose friends whisk her away for a trip to the Hamptons. The kicker is that the trip was initially planned for her 30th wedding anniversary.

There’s A Documentary In The Works About Goldberg’s Life

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Goldberg announced on “The View” in March 2026 that director Geeta Gandbhir was working on a documentary about her life.

She shared, “So, for many years, people have been asking me to do a documentary about me. I have been me for a very long time, so, if you want to know who I went out with, when, what color he was … it’s all there.”

Goldberg continued, “So, there’s not a lot that I think is going to be interesting. But I think of myself very differently than other people do. So, it’s an opportunity to learn more about me.”

Currently, it’s unclear what stage of development the documentary is in or when it will be released.

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy represents some of the finest blockbuster filmmaking of the 21st century. The director’s vision balanced the epic scale of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy saga with a light, humanist touch (as well as plenty of the gross-out jump scares that Jackson mastered with early films like his Muppets parody Meet the Feebles). In the trilogy, the human element is closely tied with the story of the four hobbits who leave their home in the cozy, provincial Shire to face certain death in exchange for defeating the great evils that haunt Middle Earth. The first film of the trilogy, 2001’s Fellowship of the Ring, sets its opening moments in the Shire, and those scenes become very important the further the characters get from home. As the movies go on, the hobbits face monsters, enter war zones, and find themselves spiritually tormented, leaving the Shire as just a memory.

Tolkien’s original Lord of the Rings concluded with a brief fight to reclaim the Shire after it too was sucked into the vortex of war, which was ultimately cut from the films because 2003’s conclusive Return of the King already had a long and unwieldy epilogue. But the novels and the films end the same way, with gardener Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) returning to his home after tearfully seeing off Frodo (Elijah Wood), taking in the scene of his wife and children, and saying, “Well, I’m back.” Sam’s famous declaration put the focus of the series ultimately back on the hobbits, on the gravity of returning home after trudging through life-threatening danger for the greater good. Returning to the Shire doesn’t necessarily heal the wounds the characters experienced, or the ones still to come.

The Hobbits of ‘Lord of the Rings’ Go Through The Most Difficult Journey

Image via New Line Cinema

While Frodo is the character initially tasked with carrying the One Ring to its resting place in Mount Doom in Fellowship of the Ring, he doesn’t have the combat chops of Legolas (Orlando Bloom) or Gimli (John Rhys-Davies). Nor does he share the hidden dignity of Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen). He’s not a hero but a hobbit, with the weight of the world resting around his neck. When the Fellowship breaks apart after the death of Gandalf (Ian McKellen) in the first film, he and Sam are left to their own devices to trudge through to Mount Doom. The nature of their journey makes the war more abstract for them — they are often too distant from the action to really observe it, with the exception of the climactic moment in The Two Towers in which they have to fight their way through the wartorn Osgiliath.

By the end of Return of the King, the Fellowship has seen it all. Devastation wrought by the forces of Sauron and Saruman (Christopher Lee), the brutal deaths of friends and countrymen, and a victory found at a moment of great desperation. The massive sense of scale in the films is balanced lightly by the horrors of what the characters have seen, and the sense of adventure that is frequently overwhelming to the diminutive hobbits. Sam, tasked with keeping Frodo safe, spends most of the movies fighting with Gollum (Andy Serkis, now directing his own Lord of the Rings film) and keeping the Ring from breaking his best friend’s spirits. The psychological weight of their journey is directly juxtaposed against the Fellowship’s epic adventures.

Sam and Frodo Can Never Truly Go Home in ‘Return of the King’

By the time Frodo eventually succeeds in destroying the Ring (through a nice bit of irony), it’s largely through the help of Sam and the Fellowship’s work from afar. His stature made him a perfect vessel through which the Ring could be destroyed, and the relative reputation of hobbits — the most insular and humble of fantasy races — is kept largely the same by the films’ end. Hobbits are Tolkien’s slight exaggeration of the typical provincial British villager, with an aversion to adventure that is comical and, by the end of the 10-hour film saga, truly poignant. Knowing their distance from home and the weight of their journey, it’s hard not to be moved by their success and the movie’s surprising ambivalence towards their time back, particularly Sam’s journey from gardener to savior.

Borrowing from war movies like The Deer Hunter, Peter Jackson keeps the return to the Shire relatively uneasy. After what they’ve experienced, can they truly go back to the Green Dragon for drinks? Can one ever really go back home? Frodo, in particular, seems to feel a profound disconnect from the home he’s returned to, which ultimately leads to his abandoning the Shire for the Undying Lands in the movie’s penultimate scene. That leaves the burden of perspective on Sam, who speaks the movie’s final line upon returning to his family, a perfect and small-scale capper to the fantasy epic. For all the incredible heroism and spectacle of the trilogy, this last moment is the key to its lasting resonance.

Former Buffy the Vampire Slayer stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz enjoyed a heartwarming reunion at the 2026 Emmy Awards.

Gellar, 49, and Boreanaz, 57, posed together at the red carpet on Monday, September 14. The duo were all smiles before their planned onscreen reunion as presenters at the awards ceremony held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The actress rocked a bright pink gown while posing alongside Boreanaz, who kept it classy in a traditional suit.

Gellar and Boreanaz’s reunion on Sunday comes ahead of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s 30th anniversary in March.

The list of presenters also sets another expected reunion, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer stars Gellar and Boreanaz, the latter also promoting his new NBC series, The Rockford Files. The cult vampire drama is headed into its 30th anniversary this coming March.

Related: Emmys 2026 Red Carpet: Stars Turn Up the Glamour for TV‘s Biggest Night

Television’s biggest stars stepped into the spotlight for the 2026 Emmys, bringing plenty of personality to the red carpet. Celebrities showed their sartorial flair while posing for the cameras at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, September 14. From bold fashion statements to timeless Hollywood looks, there was no shortage of glamour […]

Gellar and Boreanaz have remained close since playing love interests on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Based loosely on a 1992 film, the supernatural series followed Buffy (Gellar) as she fulfilled her destiny to destroy vampires, demons and other forces of darkness. Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Head and Nicholas Brendon also starred. (Head and Brendon both died earlier this year.)

Boreanez, meanwhile, brought the role of Angel during the show’s run from 1997 to 2003. He subsequently starred in a spinoff that ran for five seasons on the same network. As Buffy’s first love, Boreanez’s character often found himself at odds with James Marsters’ Spike, who was also smitten with the vampire slayer.

Gellar previously reflected on Buffy‘s success two and a half decades after its premiere.

“25 years ago today I had the honor to introduce the world to my version of Buffy Anne Summers. It was an uphill battle,” she wrote via Instagram in 2022. “A mid season replacement, on a new network based on a movie, that was by no means a giant success.”

More recently, Gellar attempted to revive Buffy with a reboot set to air on Hulu. The show, titled, Buffy: New Sunnydale, starred Ryan Kiera Armstrong as the new slayer. Faly Rakotohavana, Ava Jean, Sarah Bock, Daniel Di Tomasso, Jack Cutmore-Scott and Kingston Vernes made up the rest of the cast — with Gellar set to return as Buffy.

News broke in March that Hulu was not moving forward with the reboot.

“We had an executive on our show who was not only not a fan of the original, but was proud to constantly remind us that he had never seen the entirety of the series and how it wasn’t for him,” Gellar claimed in an interview with People at the time. “That’s very hard when you’re taking a property that is as beloved as Buffy, not just to the world, but to me and Chloé [Zhao].”

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She continued, “So that tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one, when your executive is literally proud to tell you that he didn’t watch it.”

Disney addressed the claims that same month, saying in a statement, “We have had a long and very successful relationship with Chloé [Zhao], Sarah [Michelle Gellar] and Gail [Berman] — their track records speak for themselves and they are incredible partners. Our decision not to move forward with a series order is not a reflection of our respect and admiration for the creative team, including Lilla and Nora.”

Gellar threw shade at the decision on Monday while presenting an award with Boreanaz. She quipped that viewers will never know if their characters will end up together as the audience visibly reacted.

Jane Austen wrote six novels, which feels like a small number considering how often her work pops up in a contemporary setting. Her books have been adapted into prestige films, miniseries, loose Hollywood reimaginings, and at least one zombie mashup. They’ve shaped how novelists from the Brontës to Sally Rooney think about interiority and dialogue, and the way two people in a room can say one thing and mean another. Even unfinished fragments like Sanditon and The Watsons have made their way mainstream.

Readers don’t just like these books, they feel ownership over them, which is why ranking them almost always sparks a fight in the comments section. We’re issuing that warning now because, yes, we did assign numbers. And yes, you will have feelings about what ends up where on the list below.

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‘Northanger Abbey’ (1817)

Image via Penguin Classics

Catherine Morland is seventeen, sheltered, and an absolute fiend for Gothic novels. When a family friend brings her to Bath for the social season, she falls in with two very different crowds: the Thorpes, who are loud and scheming, and the Tilneys, who are warm, witty, and very much Catherine’s speed. She develops feelings for Henry Tilney, the clergyman son, and he seems to return them. But, when his father invites her to their estate, Northanger Abbey, Catherine arrives expecting something out of The Mysteries of Udolpho. Basically, she lets her imagination run completely off the rails and almost ruins everything.

The novel was written in the late 1790s, sold to a publisher in 1803, and didn’t see print until 1817, after Austen’s death, which means it’s simultaneously her youngest book and her most delayed. You can feel it. The satire of Gothic fiction is sharp and very funny, and Catherine’s naivety makes her one of Austen’s most endearing heroines, but the novel lacks the layered psychology Austen brought to her later work. Henry Tilney is charming enough, though he has a tendency to lecture, and the plot wraps itself up with a speed that suggests Austen had other ideas she wanted to get to. It lands at the bottom because it’s Austen still figuring out what she could do with a story.

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‘Sense and Sensibility’ (1811)

Image via Penguin Classics

Austen’s first published novel gets treated like a warm-up act for the rest of her work, and within the first hundred pages or so, you can see why. The premise is deceptively simple: two sisters who process the same disaster in completely different ways. Elinor Dashwood is steady and private. Marianne Dashwood feels everything at full volume. After their father’s death strips the family of their home and income, they relocate to a small cottage in Devon, and Marianne throws herself into a romance with John Willoughby, a charming man she meets after tumbling down a hill in a rainstorm. Elinor is also in love with Edward Ferrars, but she’d rather die than make a scene about it.

Then Sense and Sensibility gets mean. Willoughby’s exit is brutal. Lucy Steele’s secret engagement to Edward is a gut punch. The tidy set-up cracks open and what’s underneath is a novel about what it costs women to have feelings in a world that will punish them for it. By the time Marianne falls dangerously ill, you’re fully in it. And even though Austen wraps the love interests up almost suspiciously fast at the end, you don’t care because you’ve spent the whole book worrying about these two women, and you’re just glad they’re okay.

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‘Mansfield Park’ (1814)

Image via Penguin Classics

Nobody agrees about this one, and they haven’t since it was published in 1814. Mansfield Park is the Austen novel that splits readers down the middle, and where you end up on the fault line is almost always because of your feelings about Fanny Price. She’s a shy, morally serious girl who gets shipped from her parents’ chaotic house in Portsmouth to live with her wealthy uncle’s family at age ten. The Bertrams take her in, but only Edmund, the younger son, treats her like she belongs. Fanny grows up grateful and overlooked, quietly in love with Edmund and increasingly invisible to everyone else. When the glamorous Crawford siblings show up and start charming the household into chaos, Fanny is the only person who can see through them.

She watches Henry Crawford toy with the Bertram sisters. She watches Mary Crawford’s wit pull Edmund in. Fanny says almost nothing about either, which is admirable or frustrating depending on your preference. That’s the gamble of this novel. It doesn’t give you the pleasure of rooting for someone bold, but it does get you to notice how someone’s principles can cost them almost everything.

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‘Emma’ (1815)

Image via Penguin Classics

Emma Woodhouse is twenty, rich, and has decided she has a gift for matchmaking based on a sample size of one successful setup. She takes Harriet Smith, a sweet girl of unknown parentage, under her wing and promptly starts steering her away from a perfectly decent farmer and toward Mr. Elton, the pompous local vicar. When that blows up, Emma tries again. And again.

Austen famously said she was creating “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” It’s been two centuries now, but we’re pretty sure she was joking. Emma is bossy, snobbish, and wrong about almost everyone and everything. She’s also one of the most vivid characters in English fiction. She spends the whole novel misreading the people around her, including Mr. Knightley, the one person who calls her on it. It takes her an embarrassingly long time to realize she’s in love with him, but before that, multiple failed marriage proposals and a secret engagement stir chaos in Emma’s small circle. Austen manages to have fun while taking her time with a character that deserves it. And we get to watch a young woman grow into herself in the process.

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‘Pride and Prejudice’ (1813)

Image via Penguin Classics

You already know the broad strokes even if you’ve never read it. Pride & Prejudice was published in 1813 and adapted roughly once a decade ever since. The Bennets have five daughters, no sons, and an estate that will pass to a male cousin when Mr. Bennet dies. Mrs. Bennet has turned getting those daughters married into a full-time occupation. When Charles Bingley moves into the neighborhood, he brings his friend Fitzwilliam Darcy, who is rich, proud, and determined to find the whole scene beneath him. Elizabeth Bennet, the second eldest and with the sharpest tongue in any room she enters, takes an instant dislike to Darcy. He, despite himself, can’t stop noticing her.

The Elizabeth-Darcy dynamic is one of the great romance engines of English literature: two haughty, intelligent people who have each other wrong in complementary ways. The supporting cast is Austen at her most generous. So why is it ranked second? Because it might be the happiest ending Austen ever wrote, and the more times you read it, the more you notice how convenient that happiness is. Darcy swoops in to fix everything. Every sister lands where she should. The older you get, the more it starts to feel a little like a fairy tale. That’s not a knock. But it is the thing that puts it at number two instead of number one.

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‘Persuasion’ (1817)

Image via Penguin Classics

Anne Elliot is 27-years-old, which in Austen’s world is practically a spinster. Eight years ago she was engaged to Captain Frederick Wentworth, a poor naval officer who had nothing but ambition. Lady Russell, her late mother’s best friend, talked her into breaking off the betrothal, and Wentworth went to sea to make his fortune during the Napoleonic Wars. Anne stayed home and turned into the person in her family who handled everything: running the finances for her vain father, Sir Walter, and watching her own life get smaller. Then Wentworth comes back.

He’s rich now, still hurt and angry, and he won’t look at her. (If you have ever been in a room with someone you used to love and had to pretend you were fine, this novel will take years off your life.) Austen wrote this while she was sick. She’d be dead within a year of finishing it, and you can feel that in the writing. There’s still comedy, but there’s also this constant awareness of time running out. The climax is Wentworth writing Anne a letter from across the room because he can’t say the words out loud, and it is the most romantic thing Austen ever put on a page. The ending is happy, but you feel what it costs to get there, and that’s why it’s her best.

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Persuasion

Release Date

July 15, 2022

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Runtime

109minutes

Director

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Carrie Cracknell

Writers

Ron Bass, Alice Victoria Winslow

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Britney Spears is determined to be the best to her boys, Jayden Federline and Preston Federline. 

The pop icon shares her two children with ex-husband Kevin Federline. The pair got married in September 2004 and welcomed Preston a year later. Jayden was born the following year, in 2006. 

Despite a rocky past with the boys, Spears seems to be doing all she can to be a great mother to her children, and she is letting the world know it! 

Over the weekend, the “Toxic” singer took to her Instagram to wish her son a happy birthday in an emotional post. 

“Happy birthday to my handsome young boy. Oh dear Lord, we have this beautiful thing called life in front of u; it’s such a beautiful, delicate thing,” the caption on the carousel read. 

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The first photo showed her son in a button-down flannel shirt and black pants while posing for a photo. She completed the post by saying, “I hope I can be the best mommy in the world every day of ur life!!!!”

The second photo took followers down memory lane, showing a throwback photo where he sported a red T-shirt, the hem held between his teeth to show his stomach. 

Britney Spears Also Wished Son Preston A Happy Birthday 

Her son Preston was not left out of the birthday wishes, as just hours later, she followed up with a second post to wish Preston a happy birthday. 

“Happy early B-day to u as well,” the Pop icon posted. Preston turned 20 on Monday, September 14, while his younger brother turned 19 on September 12, just two days before. 

“Please stop working out so much because your muscles r starting to scare me …. JK! Well…I’m so proud of the young man you have become,” a proud Spears wrote.

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The photo showed an old picture of the singers and her boys in a golf cart, and she added: “P.S. This was in London, strolling in the park …. Preston absolutely loved London!!!” 

Britney Spears Spoke Out About Failing Her Children Amid Secret Outing With Her Parents 

The birthday wishes came shortly after the award-winning artist opened up about her parents’ dark secrets involving her sons. 

The “Oops, I did it again” singer and her boys reunited earlier this year and have spent more time together since. She then shared a moment that confirmed one of her biggest fears: that she’s been a bad parent to her kids, like her own parents were to her. 

The Blast reported that during a rant, Spears revealed that it wasn’t till five years ago that she saw they were secretly taken to the beach by her mom and dad. 

“I felt demoralized to live in a country where it was accepted for people like my mom and dad to live secret lives with my children.” Spears lamented

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She also opened up about one of her sons’ struggles with faith after he told her he doesn’t believe in God. Admitting the information hit her hard, Spears confessed he felt she “had failed as a mother.”

However, she remains hopeful that the Holy Spirit that touched her will do the same to her boy.

Britney Spears’ Son Pushed Back On Clone Rumors 

Before the online rant, Spears’ son was recently the topic of discussion after he pushed back on clone rumors about his mother. 

The Blast reported that Jayden spoke about how he saw a video online with 1.2 million likes with the caption ‘The biggest theory ever: Is Britney Spears still alive?’ 

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“Like, bro, you can go to her page and see her right now,” he responded, calling the accusations ridiculous. “It makes me know that a lot of the stuff on the media is exaggerated and fake.”

Britney Spears’ Son Teased New Music 

20-year-old Preston is also proving that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as he has expressed interest in music alongside his other passions. 

He landed his first cover of MAC Cosmetics’ digital editorial platform, MaCzine, where he stated that the next item on his list was to share his music with the world when he was ready, per The Blast.

He described sound as the foundation of everything for him, adding that he and his brother have gravitated toward music their entire lives. 

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