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By Robert Scucci
| Published 8 seconds ago

There’s only one thing more amusing than watching 2004’s Team America: World Police, and that’s listening to the Season 8 commentary tracks on the South Park DVDs. Not only did Team America: World Police require a biblical amount of work from Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and their puppeteering production crew to pull it off, they were also concurrently working on their flagship series, a time they now refer to as the year from hell when looking back at this era of their careers.

Parker and Stone worked themselves into the ground with Team America: World Police, resulting in some of the most unhinged episodes South Park has to offer.

Episodes like “Cartman’s Incredible Gift,” which I consider essential viewing and a perfect entry point to the series, have commentary tracks from Parker and Stone suggesting they don’t even remember making the episode because they were so locked in at that point that they were putting very little thought into the minor details. They were contractually obligated to stick to their grueling production schedule, and relied on their manic, do-or-die energy to pull it off. The finale, “Woodland Critter Christmas,” one of South Park’s most notorious episodes, is another example of a zero-hour effort that was constantly reworked until just a day before it aired.

Team America’s Grueling Production

Always leading with what’s funny and figuring out how to do it later, Parker and Stone had no idea how complicated it would be to pull off their movie, which they fully intended to play like a Jerry Bruckheimer production starring marionettes. Dozens of scale replica set pieces were constructed, including Paris, Cairo, the Panama Canal, Mount Rushmore, and North Korea.

Their vision was simple. They wanted each location to look like how it’s depicted in action movies, and therefore how the average American thinks it looks.

Additionally, 270 puppet characters had to be built, along with over a thousand costumes to make Team America: World Police possible. Given the puppets’ roughly two-foot stature, countless props had to be custom made to accommodate their size, along with multiple animatronic heads that would be attached to their bodies. Controlling the puppets proved exhausting, resulting in unthinkably long shooting days with only a handful of usable dailies passed off to editors compared to films made through more conventional means. Rumor has it that designing Kim Jong-il’s glasses was a painstaking process due to camera glare, making them one of the most expensive props in the movie.

America, F*** Yeah!

Team America: World Police centers on the titular international counterterrorist organization, run by its fearless leader, Spottswoode (Daran Norris). Under his command are psychologist Lisa, psychic Sarah, martial arts expert Chris, Carson, and all American jock Joe. Together, they fight terrorism by causing so much collateral damage to whatever locale they visit, that a terrorist attack would actually leave the area better off. When Carson is killed and a new threat reveals itself, Spottswoode recruits Gary Johnston, a Broadway actor, to use his acting skills to infiltrate various terrorist factions.

Meanwhile, Kim Jong-il is revealed to be the true mastermind behind the terrorists, and the supplier of WMDs, unbeknownst to Team America, resulting in the Film Actors Guild throwing Team America under the bus for their sloppy, reckless work.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of watching Team America: World Police, all you need to know is that it carries itself like every over the top action movie, but with enough raunch that it almost landed an NC-17 rating. 

By then, knowing exactly how to work with censors, Parker and Stone knew what they had to do. By filming a prolonged sex scene with the puppets that was far longer than what they needed for the film, they simply waited for the production notes explaining how short the scene would have to be in order to secure an R rating.

Appreciate The Hustle

Though it’s not my favorite Trey Parker and Matt Stone vehicle, Team America: World Police is indirectly responsible for some of the best episodes South Park has to offer. Had they not taken on such an ambitious project while also working on the series in tandem, we may have never gotten episodes like “Good Times with Weapons,” “Awesome-O,” “Goobacks,” “Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes,” “Quest for Ratings,” or “Cartman’s Incredible Gift.”

Don’t get me wrong. Matt Damon only being capable of saying his own name, poorly, in Team America: World Police because his puppet came off the production line looking a little dim is comedy gold. But topical political humor is fleeting. South Park is forever.

Team America: World Police is streaming on Paramount+.

Roommates, something had the timeline squinting a lil’ harder this morning. Early Friday, Ari Fletcher popped out on Instagram with a message that instantly got folks talking. Without offering too much context, she shared a post… and the energy is giving recovery mode.

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Ari Is Laid Up & In Recovery Mode

In a boomerang clip posted to her Story, Ari appeared to be laid up in bed, seemingly resting and taking it easy. The text read “Beauty is pain” followed by a heart-with-bandage emoji and a weary face. Additionally, her left leg was isolated and propped up on pillows, with a visible bandage placed between her knee and thigh. The TV could be seen playing in the background while she relaxed, suggesting she’s currently in chill-and-heal mode. While she didn’t spill specifics on what led to the bandage, the post definitely raised eyebrows. And, it sparked questions among fans about whether she recently underwent a procedure or is simply recovering from something minor.

So… What Exactly Did She Have Done?

As always, Ari kept it cute and cryptic — but the Roommates didn’t have to dig too hard. In a recent video, Ari Fletcher actually opened up about preparing for leg surgery on her thigh, revealing it’s something she’s been dealing with for quite some time. She shared that the “dent” has been there “forever” and admitted it’s one of her biggest insecurities. Ari even rolled up her pants in the clip to show exactly what she was talking about. She even further explained that she’s tried different things in the past to correct it.

According to her, this one-time procedure is meant to help fix the issue — especially since she’s said she doesn’t even like wearing shorts because of it. While the “dent” appears to resemble something like cellulite — which many would say doesn’t take away from her beauty at all. And procedure or not, let’s be real… Ari is STILL that girl.

@arithedonfanpage_1

Prayers up for Ari as she goes in for surgery this week for her leg, wishing her a speedy recovery in this video already talks about having surgery on her thigh is something she’s been dealing with for quite some time wishing her the best of luck#therealkylesister #arithedon #ari #arifletcher #surgery

♬ original sound – arithedonfanpage_1

Ari’s Fresh Ink & Diamond Are Doing ALL The Talking

While Ari’s leg has the internet talking, some folks are wondering — is that the only recent change she’s made? Just days earlier, Ari Fletcher had social media swooning after she shared a heartfelt post dedicated to her man, Moneybagg Yo. Taking to her Instagram Story, Ari posted a flick of her hand showing off fresh ink of his legal first name, “Demario,” tatted on her skin. And, let’s not forget the massive diamond sparkling heavy on that ring finger.

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By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 43 seconds ago

Since Starfleet Academy first began, haters have lobbed one accusation at it above all others: “it doesn’t feel like Star Trek.” Older critics often lament surface-level issues with the show, including its poor humor and its reliance on distractingly modern slang. But to these veteran fans, the real structural issue with this new spinoff is that it feels so glaringly different than the shows (like The Next Generation and Voyager) that came before.

Recently, though, Starfleet Academy has been addressing this problem by directly calling back to earlier Trek, including dedicating an entire episode to the mystery of what happened to Sisko after Deep Space Nine. Now, the most recent episode (“The Life Of The Stars”) calls back to two of Voyager’s best episodes while providing us with plenty of familiar franchise tropes. The result is an episode that decently channels classic Trek but fails to deliver on its full potential. 

Unpacking Trauma

 “Life of the Stars” is a follow-up to “Come, Let’s Away,” and it’s all about our Starfleet Academy cadets unpacking the trauma of that earlier episode. In that story, some of our heroes were ambushed by the Furies, fearsome foes who ultimately killed multiple members of the War College. Chancellor Ahke calls in Nus Braka for help, and Tarima weaponizes her telepathy, but both efforts go away: Braka destroys a Starfleet ship and ransacks a Starbase while Tarima blows her mind, landing herself in a coma that required treatment on her homeworld of Betazed.

Believe it or not, “unpacking trauma” is my lowkey favorite Star Trek episode genre. The stories are predictably good, like the TNG episode “Family,” helping Picard work through his time (as seen in “The Best of Both Worlds”) as the ruthless leader of the Borg. Over on DS9, “It’s Only A Paper Moon” explored how Nog dealt with the trauma of what happened in “The Siege of AR-558,” an episode in which he lost a leg.

Done well, this kind of story makes for great Star Trek, but this Starfleet Academy episode delivers mixed results. It has some great highs, including a killer, dramatic performance from Robert Picardo and the triumphant return of Sylvia Tilly. But “Life of the Stars” drops the ball by focusing so much on its ensemble that its central cadets (namely, SAM and Tarima) don’t get enough screentime or development. 

The Doctor Gets Serious

Perhaps the most interesting thing about “Life of the Stars” is that it permanently intertwines the lives of the Doctor and SAM. She’s the holographic girl who is suddenly on the fritz, and the Doctor travels with her back to her homeworld for repairs. There, he discovers that her glitch is emotional in nature (she’s stuck in a trauma loop, in case you thought the episode was being too subtle), and he volunteers to parent SAM, raising her for the equivalent of 17 years on her homeworld. But that’s only two weeks back at the academy, which is a callback to “Blink of an Eye,” the Voyager episode where three years on a planet is only about three minutes back on the ship.

In “Blink of an Eye,” the Doctor adopted a son, and he later lamented that, thanks to the time dilation effects, his kid is long since dead. In “Real Life,” the Doctor used the holodeck to simulate having a family, and he makes the program so realistic that he loses his holographic daughter to a freak sports accident. “Life of the Stars” basically mashes these plots together: after revealing that he hesitated to bond with SAM because she reminded him of his dead daughter, the Doctor agrees to raise her as a father; 17 years will pass on SAM’s planet while only two weeks pass at Starfleet Academy.

This plot is mostly an excuse to let Robert Picard do some serious acting, and this comedic actor does an amazing job with the dramatic material. Plus, the episode finally answers why the Doctor has had a bug up his holographic butt about SAM all season. However, this focus on the Doctor comes at a cost: SAM is either shut down or mind-controlled for most of the episode, which feels that much weirder considering how much new lore this episode is giving her.

The Girls Are Back In Town

“Life of the Stars” features the long-awaited return of Sylvia Tilly, a fan-favorite Discovery character that most of us originally assumed would be a regular on Starfleet Academy. She is here to help our cadets (no point in guessing) unpack their trauma, and at the chancellor’s suggestion, she is doing so in the craziest possible way: by making them take a theater class. They end up studying “Our Town,” and with all the subtlety of Quark’s sweater, the play becomes a metaphor for returning student Tarima to process her feelings about being transferred out of the War College and into Starfleet Academy after the injuries she sustained in “Come, Let’s Away.”

The results on both ladies’ returns were mixed: while it is always great to see Sylvia Tilly, she barely feels like herself, and she isn’t afraid to get mildly combative with students. She cheerfully tells the class that she doesn’t care if they all fail, and she practically gets into a verbal sparring match with Tarima. Granted, these are both acts of tough love, and her methods get results, but the woman taking these actions rarely feels like the adorkable Tilly we all fell in love with back on Discovery.

As for Tarima, she is a victim of performer’s success: actor Zoë Steiner does an excellent job playing a recently traumatized cadet, but thanks to the script, that means she spends most of her time in a dull stupor punctuated only by bouts of anger and drunkenness. Is this realistic for someone who narrowly survived an attack that killed multiple colleagues? Sure. But it’s not very engaging to watch, and unlike Patrick Stewart in “Family” or Robert Picardo in this very episode, Tarima never gets a satisfyingly cathartic release of her inner pain, and we have to settle for her having a light bulb moment while reciting an ancient play.

The Final Verdict? Good, Not Great

If it sounds like I’m nitpicking, that’s because I am: “Life of the Stars” is a mostly solid episode, and it’s notably better than the early episodes of Starfleet Academy. The show continues to improve, and as usual, spending less time on forced comedy has made the episode stronger. It also features the return of Sylvia Tilly, deep lore for the Doctor, and even updates on Caleb and Tarima, the couple who have quickly become the hottest Star Trek pairing since Riker and Troi.

But we really just get Tilly in name only here, and the Doctor’s cool new lore comes at the expense of sidelining SAM. The Caleb and Tarima stuff remains very cute, but Tarima mostly spends the episode in a boring daze before snapping out of it due to a sleepy inspirational speech. It all adds up to an episode that’s good, not great, and one that showcases both the potential of Starfleet Academy and how much the show fails to reach that potential.

Once again, Starfleet Academy is getting better, slowly clawing its way back from its negative reputation at a snail’s pace (and not even a warp snail). One episode at a time, it’s channeling more classic Star Trek than ever before. The question is, will any Trekkies still be watching by the time this show crawls past the finish line? 

Singer-Songwriter Neil Sedaka
Dead at 86

Published
February 27, 2026
1:48 PM PST

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Published
February 27, 2026
1:10 PM PST

Kenya Moore is shutting down a report claiming she defaulted on rent payments to her hair spa’s landlord. She teased a YouTube livestream in which she appears to plan to delve into the issue further. For now, she says the landlord failed to pay $80,000 in tenant improvement allowance, and they’re in a legal dispute. Initial reports said Moore is who owes more than that.

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Report Says Kenya Moore Owes Landlord $87,000

Kenya Moore’s business expenses came under public judgment last week after TMZ reported that she owed $87,976 to her landlord. For context, Kenya Moore Hair Spa has been in business in Atlanta since 2024. Last October, the landlord, Northland Chamblee LLC sued Kenya Moore for the unpaid rent, claiming she spotted paying in December 2024. Kenya Moore Hair Spa denied the allegations and said the landlord failed to make improvements.

Citing court documents, a Georgia judge gave Kenya two payment dates to repay the money. She allegedly was supposed to pay $43,988 by the end of February and the same amount, plus $0.467. The judge also reportedly ordered the spa owner to pay $5,500 in monthly rent if she planned to keep her business at the property. A few weeks after the judge’s ruling, the landlord accused Moore of missing the deadline for the first payment and is seeking possession of the property, per TMZ.

Moore Says She Doesn’t Owe Rent

Though a few days later, Kenya Moore is strongly denying that she owes her landlord money. It appears her Instagram post on Friday is the first time she’s speaking out directly, rather than via a statement from her business. She plans to go live on Sunday to presumably tell it all. For now, she’s standing on previous word. Moore said money is owed to her, not the other way around! And apparently, she’s trying to handle it in court. Kenya shared that she dropped six figures to build out her hair salon and the landlord failed to reimburse her.

“The reports about me being behind on rent are false. As I have stated before, my company is in an active lawsuit against my salon landlord for failing to pay nearly $80,000 in tenant improvement allowance OWED TO ME. I invested over $300,000 of my own money to build out my salon in a commercial space from a white box. When the landlord failed to reimburse contractual expenses, I withheld rent in an effort to reach a fair settlement, and subsequently filed a countersuit for the amount they failed to reimburse.”

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