No creator is more prolific in television right now than Taylor Sheridan. He’s had one hit after another on Paramount+. The writer of Sicario and Hell or High Water hit it big as the mastermind behind Yellowstone. That was followed up by shows such as 1923, Tulsa King, and Dutton Ranch. Among them is a series headlined by Hollywood heavyweights Billy Bob Thornton and Demi Moore. Landman premiered on Paramount+ in 2024. After two successful seasons, it’s getting ready for a third. Like HBO’s hit Emmy winner Succession, Landman is a compelling series that centers its focus on the drama of a powerful family. If you have yet to check it out, give it a watch before Season 3 arrives.

What Is ‘Landman’ About?

As Succession is about the power and the conflict it creates between the Roy family, Taylor Sheridan’s Landman finds the same intrigue with the Norris’s. Tommy Norris (Thornton) serves as oil company M-Tex’s crisis manager. Known as a landman, Norris is the go-between between his boss, Monty Miller (Jon Hamm), and landowners in West Texas. It’s his job to calm conflicts and secure deals for M-Tex. Tommy is a man in great pain. He’s besieged by alcoholism and immense debt, and he finds no relief with his family. Tommy is estranged from his father, T.L. Norris (Sam Elliott), is divorced from Angela Norris (Ali Larter), and doesn’t get to see much of his kids.

Tommy Norris doesn’t have some dull desk job. He’s in the thick of it, whether it be dealing with deadly drug cartels or the horrors of oil rigs and the death they can cause if something goes wrong. Throw in the back-and-forth relationship with Angela that won’t die, and Tommy has his hands full. It gets even more complicated in Season 2 of Landman when a shocking twist puts Tommy in a higher position with even more stress when Monty’s wife, Cami Miller (Moore), begins to show off her power. With the corporate and family chaos driven by dark humor, Landman takes what worked in the New York City boardrooms of Succession to the oil fields of Texas.

‘Landman’ Is Carried By Its Impressive Performances

Landman is controversial, but controversy creates intrigue. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t fail to deliver on this point, and his series gets better where it first fails. The most disappointing part of Season 1 was how it didn’t do justice to its female characters. They come across as simple, cookie-cutter tropes who are there to carry the plot for the men. Ali Larter’s Angela Norris doesn’t have a lot to do other than come across as shallow and materialistic, and Demi Moore’s Cami Miller is barely around. This means Season 1 of Landman‘s weight is carried by the men.

Tommy Norris is an anti-hero in the same way that many characters in Succession are. If he was a great guy with no issues, where would the conflict and growth come from? Just ask Jon Hamm how doing the opposite worked out on Mad Men. Tommy does bad things for bad men; still, there is good underneath his actions. He loves his ex-wife dearly, and he wants her and his children, Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) and Cooper (Jacob Lofland), back in his life. He’s a problematic character, but not one who is irredeemable, and Thornton makes him a joy to watch evolve.

Season 2 of Landman only gets better. Tommy Norris remains charming in the most frustrating of ways, and Sam Elliott’s screen time brings more drama to his life. Sheridan improves on his woman problem in Season 2, with the season bringing in Kayla Wallace‘s Rebecca Falcone. Her character is the answer to the questions that come with the ethics of what Tommy and others like him do. Most importantly, Landman‘s second season realizes what they have with Demi Moore. Just as Succession has powerful female characters like Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Gerri (J. Smith Cameron), Landman Season 2 leans into Cami Miller’s storyline. She’s not in the background this time around. Cami is a force to be reckoned with, a character who demands your attention thanks to the Oscar-nominated actor who plays her. Landman isn’t perfect. It embodies some of the best and worst of what Taylor Sheridan has done before. What it never is, though, is boring.

Kelly Osbourne has sparked fresh speculation after sharing a string of emotional social media posts as reports surfaced that her ex-fiancé, Sid Wilson, was allegedly out of Slipknot. 

Although Kelly never mentioned Wilson by name, the timing of her messages quickly caught fans’ attention. 

The television personality, who split from the longtime Slipknot keyboardist earlier this year and shares a young son with him, appeared to vent frustrations while urging someone to take responsibility.

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Kelly Osbourne set social media buzzing after posting a series of emotional and cryptic Instagram Stories. 

The “One Word” singer who ended her engagement to the musician in March, opened with a blunt message that immediately fueled speculation.

“I can’t protect you from yourself anymore,” she wrote per the Daily Mail. Kelly followed it with another post that suggested she was drawing a firm line.

“Wake the f*ck up and take some responsibility. I will not take your sh*t anymore. I’m done. I want to be happy and I have a beautiful son to raise. Leave me alone. Let me heal,” the songstress shared. 

Kelly’s posts didn’t end there. In another Story, the 41-year-old reflected on accountability while appearing to criticize someone she believed refused to face the consequences of their actions.

“Strange how the loudest defence of the guilty is rarely innocence… It’s distraction. When the mask slips, they don’t face the mirror they throw it at someone else. I heard that when you break a mirror you get seven years bad luck. Or is that karma? This is why I always take accountability. As they say some are sicker than others,” she wrote.

Kelly Continues Her Message With More Personal Posts

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Kelly Osbourne later shared another pointed message that hinted at unresolved issues following her split, noting, “Also while I’m at it can I have my dogs back and all my possessions Oh yeah and maybe some child support?”

She also reposted several quotes and a poem centered on “protecting my kid,” adding another emotional layer to her series of Stories.

Kelly and Wilson had been together for several years before ending their engagement in March. The pair first met in 1999 when Slipknot toured on Ozzfest, the music festival founded by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, but their friendship didn’t become romantic until 2022. 

Wilson proposed to Kelly backstage at Ozzy’s farewell Black Sabbath concert in July 2025, creating one of the family’s happiest moments before Ozzy’s death later that month. 

The former couple welcomed their son, Sidney, in 2022 and often spoke publicly about embracing parenthood together. 

Kelly Osbourne And Sid Wilson’s Engagement Hit A Rough Patch

In March, reports emerged that Kelly was facing a difficult period in her relationship. According to a source who spoke with PEOPLE, the couple had been navigating “strain,” with Kelly said to be in a “challenging headspace” following the death of her father.

 The insider claimed the grieving reality star had been dividing her time between supporting Sharon in England and returning to Iowa, where she and Wilson had lived with their 3-year-old son, creating additional pressure on the relationship. 

Despite reports suggesting the pair had quietly ended their engagement, the source emphasized that the situation remained complicated rather than straightforward.

Kelly’s Ex Faces Uncertainty As Slipknot Bandmate Urges Fans To Wait

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The renewed attention on Kelly Osbourne and Wilson’s former romance arrived as questions continued to swirl over the 49-year-old’s future with Slipknot. 

The Blast reported in July that the longtime keyboardist and DJ had allegedly been informed that he was no longer part of the band after nearly three decades.

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Adding to the uncertainty, Slipknot guitarist Jim Root appeared to address the speculation without confirming or denying the reports. 

In a message shared to his Instagram Stories, Root urged fans not to rush to conclusions, writing, “Don’t believe everything you read. Stop. Think. Take a breath. Sit with it for awhile.” He later added that people should “maybe even wait until there’s more information.” 

Neither Wilson nor Slipknot has publicly confirmed the reported departure, and no official explanation has been given. 

What Kelly Osbourne’s Ex’s Reported Exit Could Mean For Slipknot’s Future

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Sid Wilson is back in public for the first time since getting the boot from Slipknot … making a low-key appearance as he headed into a recording studio in Los Angeles.

🎥 Backgrid pic.twitter.com/OE7NQCiAut

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— TMZ (@TMZ) August 3, 2026

If reports of Sid Wilson’s departure are ultimately confirmed, Slipknot would lose one of the few remaining members who helped define the band’s identity from its earliest days. 

Wilson joined the metal group in 1998 as its DJ and keyboardist, becoming the ninth member of the lineup that would go on to transform Slipknot into one of heavy metal’s most recognizable acts. 

His chaotic stage presence and electronic elements became an integral part of the band’s live performances and studio recordings.

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The reported departure would also continue a dramatic period of change for Slipknot. Since the death of bassist Paul Gray in 2010, the band has undergone a series of high-profile lineup shifts, including the exits of drummer Joey Jordison, percussionist Chris Fehn, sampler Craig Jones, and drummer Jay Weinberg. 

While the group has consistently found ways to evolve, each change has altered the chemistry that longtime fans associate with Slipknot’s classic era.

Access Hollywood anchor Kit Hoover is showing off her new mystery man amid her divorce from Crowley Sullivan.

“Italy … you were Magic. ✨🇮🇹 Grazie for the memories. #Sardinia #Portofino #ForteDeiMarmi #Rome,” Hoover, 56, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, August 2, alongside a photo of herself hugging her boyfriend, who has not been identified, as the sun set behind them.

Hoover’s cohost, Mario Lopez, commented on the post, “Oh the hard launch! Ok Hoover… :).”

Hoover’s hard launch comes more than one year after her December 2024 split from Sullivan, 54.

Related: The Most Shocking Celebrity Breakups Us Didn’t See Coming in 2023

This past year had Us questioning whether love is even real after a months-long onslaught of celebrity breakups. One of the first shocking splits that took the world by storm in 2023 was Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix. Us Weekly confirmed in March that the Vanderpump Rules stars broke up after nearly a decade of […]

“She’s been telling people she is single and getting divorced,” a source told Us at the time.

Hoover ultimately filed for divorce in Los Angeles in March 2025, citing irreconcilable differences as a reason for the former couple’s split, according to court docs obtained by Us at the time. She listed their date of separation as May 1, 2024.

Hoover and Sullivan share daughters Campbell, 23, and Hayes, 21, and son Crowley Jr., 19.

Hoover indicated in the docs that she and her estranged husband came to a separate support agreement.

Hoover tied the knot with Sullivan, the CEO of Athlete Advantage, in August 1999.

One week after news of their split broke, Hoover had Elizabeth Hurley on her podcast, “The Coop With Kit,” where she asked the actress how to maintain relationships with one’s exes.

“How do you maintain that? I mean, it’s one thing to say it, but I know you really live it,” Hoover inquired. “Any nuggets you could share on that?”

Hurley, 61, who was married to ex Arun Nayar from 2002 to 2011 and shares son Damian with ex Steve Bing, responded, “I wouldn’t know how to not have them in my life, in a way, because it would really be like not talking to my brother again. Or a family member.”

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The model continued, “I do feel like they’re family and still have all those same feelings that you have for family. Where you can be frustrated and pissed off with them, of course you can. But you’d also be incredibly protective over them.”

Related: Kit Hoover Asks Elizabeth Hurley How to Be Friends With Exes

Kit Hoover is seeking out advice for her listeners on how to maintain a relationship with exes one week after Us Weekly confirmed that she and her husband, Crowley Sullivan, split. “You’re best friends with all of your exes,” Hoover, 54, said to Elizabeth Hurley on the Wednesday, December 11, episode of “The Coop” podcast. “Isn’t […]

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Hoover and Sullivan first sparked split rumors in December 2024 when she was spotted without her wedding ring and seemingly stopped posting about Sullivan on social media. She notably did not pay tribute to Sullivan on their 25th wedding anniversary, despite doing so on Instagram the year before.

“Holy Cow – We are 24 years old in this pic and NOW – Happy 24th anniversary Honeybun!!!” she wrote in August 2023. “Thanks for loving this lunatic and for our beautiful family that is my EVERYTHING. I love you. 💚🍀💚 #stillhavingfun #stilltheone #grateful #joyfulliving.”

July was a historic month at the box office, and it all started with the release of Christopher Nolan’s new historical epic, The Odyssey. Starring Matt Damon and Tom Holland, The Odyssey passed $900 million at the box office during its third weekend in theaters, and with the IMAX demand higher than ever, it’s expected to pass $1 billion soon and easily become Nolan’s highest-grossing film. July was especially a big month at the box office for The Odyssey stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal, who can also be seen playing Peter Parker, MJ, and The Punisher, respectively, in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which just premiered in theaters this past weekend. After scoring $360 million at the domestic box office during its opening weekend, Spider-Man 4 has officially defeated Avengers: Endgame to hold the record for the biggest box office opening of all time.

What makes this box office opening for Spider-Man: Brand New Day even more impressive is that the film did not secure any IMAX screens during its first weekend in theaters — Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has had IMAX exclusivity since it premiered on July 17. However, IMAX announced yesterday that the film would begin playing on larger screens this weekend, starting August 7, and IMAX tickets for Spider-Man: Brand New Day are now on sale. Before the film swings into its second weekend in theaters, it has officially passed $1 billion at the box office thanks to a behemoth first Monday. It took only Spider-Man: Brand New Day five days to reach $1 billion at the global box office, and the film could reach $2 billion by the end of its run to become one of the biggest movies in history.

Is Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’?

Tom Holland has not yet been confirmed to have a role in Avengers: Doomsday. While it would be surprising to see him left out of the film entirely, especially considering he had such a key role in the last two Avengers movies, Marvel may want to reserve Spider-Man’s role for more street-level stories and not Avengers-level threats. It’s heavily speculated that Holland’s Spider-Man will show up in some capacity in Avengers: Secret Wars, though, which will likely feature one of the biggest ensemble casts in movie history.

Check out Spider-Man: Brand New Day in theaters now and stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage of the film.

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Release Date

July 31, 2026

Runtime

145 Minutes

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Director

Destin Daniel Cretton

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Writers

Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Steve Ditko, Stan Lee

Producers

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Amy Pascal, Kevin Feige, Rachel O’Connor, Avi Arad

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  Spider-Man / Peter Parker

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This fall, Ghosts is rolling out the (blood) red carpet to welcome a spooky new sister series to the Thursday night lineup on CBS. Last week, at San Diego Comic-Con, the lucky attendees in Ballroom 20 were the first to see the pilot episode of Eternally Yours, a new series from Ghosts showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman. The preview episode was followed by an exciting panel introducing the wickedly talented cast, moderated by Collider’s Perri Nemiroff​​​. Naturally, when Nemiroff caught up with the cast at Collider’s SDCC interview studio, she had to ask what a potential crossover between the shows helmed by Port and Wiseman might look like, and the Eternally Yours cast came prepared.

When asked which character from Ghosts they’d like to see their characters share a scene with, Ed Weeks, who plays vampire patriarch Charles, instantly imagined his character “having a quarrel with Isaac about who is the de facto leader of the group. […] An arrogance-off.” Jaren Lewinson — who plays Max, the human boyfriend of Charles and Liz’s (Allegra Edwards) vampire daughter, Emma (Helen J. Shen) — said he would be happy to “maybe just watch some sports with Jay.” Lewinson continued: “I think we would have a really nice time. I think it’d be like a nice, really lovely, normal interaction for the both of us,” he laughed. “He doesn’t get to have that, and I don’t think I do very much either. There’s a lot of supernatural stuff going on,” explained Lewinson, to which Weeks joked, “And he’d be able to see you, which is so lovely. That’s one of my favorite qualities about you — how visible you are.”

Edwards, who Ghosts fans will recognize from her guest role on the series as Pete’s (Richie Moriarty) island girlfriend, Donna, naturally took the opportunity to reference her time on the show. “I would have a little sit-down with Pete and freak him out because of how much I resemble a certain ex-girlfriend of his. […] I don’t even have to do anything. It would just be Richie [Moriarty] going, ‘Do I know you?’” Meanwhile, Shen couldn’t resist poking fun at a certain pants-less ghost, saying, “I feel like a pants-less conversation would be like, ‘I’m not not thinking about the fact that you’re not wearing pants.’ […] With Trevor. He’s so funny. There’s a dryness to his legs, his ashen, Asher [Grodman] legs.”

What Do You Need to Know About ‘Eternally Yours’ Before It Premieres This Fall

While their backstories are subject to change as writing moves forward on the new series, the cast of Eternally Yours revealed some juicy details about their character choices as they film the rest of Season 1 alongside Ghosts in Montreal, Canada. When asked about backstory details they’ll use to inform their performances, Weeks once again had a perfectly succinct answer. He told Nemiroff: “For me, I think because in the cold open, so 500 years ago when we’re first getting together, and we both speak with English accents, I love the idea that I have kept mine, just stubbornly, whereas Liz has, has assimilated into American culture, and I refuse to. No, thank you. So, to me, that was kind of a statement in my kind of stick-in-the-mud conservatism.”

For Shen, she’s ready to dive into Emma’s dating history to further explore why she’s so drawn to Max now. “To be in the body that she’s in eternally, she’s probably gotten many degrees, done many skills, experienced, honestly, everything under the sun, and to decide, ‘I’m going to try the thing that I’ve never tried before,’ — normal — is quite an interesting kind of outside-in experience to me,” explained Shen. “I’m excited to see how that deepens our relationship. Then, when, potentially, if things get rocky, how there’s maybe some apprehension about it or, like, ‘This is the whole reason why I didn’t do normal before!’ Things like that. To have 200 years of backstory is, I think, daunting at times, but also, it’s an exercise in my imagination and our imagination, and talking about it. I just am excited about getting around a campfire and talking our histories together.”

Comparatively, as the show’s main human character, Lewinson’s Max has significantly less backstory than the others, having only been alive for “20-something years.” However, that gave Lewinson plenty of inspiration for how to play Max, explaining, “I think that also brings a freshness and a newness, and sort of, I don’t know if it’s a little puppy energy in the grand scheme of how long everyone else has been alive, but I think that Max probably is really excited because this is only the first time that he’s really lived this life, versus maybe they have had several, like Helen was saying. So, I think hopefully, as Max interacts more with this family and this coven, he brings in some freshness and some excitedness, which hopefully will inspire others to rekindle things or take on new adventures, or whatever.”

Edwards had an equally thoughtful answer, revealing that she actually worked with some of the show’s “amazing wardrobe designers” to create a beautiful bit of backstory built right into her costume. “We’ve got some amazing wardrobe designers on our show, and they have such a task in front of them with the flashbacks, which is going to be fun, but also a lot of work,” said Edwards, making sure to give the below-the-line team their well-deserved flowers. She went on to reveal a subtle costume detail that Liz wears that reveals a deep love for history. She told Nemiroff:

“One of the things that they gifted me with for the pilot was this really cool ring. It’s a wedding ring, and it’s a replica of something that would have been around in the 1500s that is two separate rings. So, it’s like a gemstone on the bottom, and then you slide on another gemstone, and they interlock once they’re together, but the man would have worn the top one, and then once they get married, I would wear both of them together. So, I’m always wearing something from the 1500s. Or there’s a blazer that I wear that has the initial B for Blythe, and I like the idea that maybe it’s 300 years old and not just something…

The way that I’m thinking about her is this sort of collected house that she lives in, that maybe the pieces of art are really from her family, 400 years ago. The things that she wears reflect a version of herself from another century, and their not being able to help holding onto the heritage, or being attracted to the things from the eras that we’ve lived through and that we’re not in anymore, while also trying to be modern at the same time.”

While Young’s character detail can also be spotted in his wardrobe, his article of choice is significantly less subtle than Edwards’ wedding ring. “One little thing that I fought for in the pilot was, Jesse was described as being a personal trainer, so as you would expect, my wardrobe was that of a personal trainer. It was Lululemon, and it just felt like it was missing an opportunity to showcase someone who has lived for a couple of centuries,” said Young before revealing he had strong feelings about including a bit of anachronism in the way Jesse dresses.

“I was stuck on this idea of, he lived in the 1800s. He was a farmhand, and he was a cowboy. […] So, I fought to wear cowboy boots. I wanted to have something reminiscent of that time, even if the rest of my wardrobe was indicative of a personal trainer. And it was so funny, the costume designer, who’s incredibly talented, describes seeing me for the first time in my workout pants with cowboy boots as nails on a chalkboard for her. She’s like, “I could not accept this, but then seeing it now, it makes sense.” Weeks joked that they’re “just justifying the fact that he has cowboy boots and I have a British accent. Everyone else has thought about this…”

Why ‘Eternally Yours’ Is the Perfect New Series to Make the Wait for ‘Ghosts’ Season 6 Feel Shorter

During a separate interview, Ghosts star Utkarsh Ambudkar hyped up the new series that will be premiering in their usual time slot this fall. “You get a great sort of cousin to Ghosts in Eternally Yours, which is premiering, and they will slide into that Thursday spot that folks are really used to seeing. Eternally Yours is replacing us, but I think it’s a great show.” He explained, “We watched the pilot today. It’s really funny, really smart, and hopefully will give them a boost because we want them to stay on and be part of the CBS family, especially because they’re children of the Joes, as well. And if they do well, then we get that crossover, which would be great.” Asher Grodman then joked, “And they have to stay in Montreal with us because we’re really lonely.”

When asked which Eternally Yours character they would like to see their Ghosts characters interacting with, Grodman revealed more delightful behind-the-scenes overlap, explaining, “Oh, I mean, I went to grad school with Allegra [Edwards], so we spent many, many an hour working together, so that would be a no-brainer. And Trevor would love that character. So yeah, that would be a nightmare and so exciting.” Román Zaragoza, who was pulling double duty at SDCC for Ghosts and Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, missed the pilot screening, but said he would happily share the screen with Shen after seeing her performance in Maybe Happy Ending on Broadway. “It brought me to tears. I took my mom, and it was such an amazing Broadway performance. If anyone has not seen Maybe Happy Ending, check it out. […] She’s incredible. Tony-nominated. So, selfishly, I would love to work with her. It could be really fun.” Meanwhile, Ambudkar would love to have a The Mindy Project reunion with Weeks: “It’s been many, many years, so it’d be nice to see him in a work environment.”

Eternally Yours premieres on October 8, and Ghosts will air a 1-hour Halloween special on October 29 on CBS. Stay tuned at Collider for more.

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Showrunner

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Joe Port, Joe Wiseman

Directors

Trent O’Donnell

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Every decent action movie is thrilling, but not every action movie is a thriller. If ever there was a more pedantic splitting of hairs to make when it comes to genre categorization, I don’t know what it would be. But this is an online list written by someone with too much time to overthink movies on a site frequented by people with equally too much time to argue over those movies, so pedantry is the word of the day. What we’re looking for are those movies where the action puts you on edge more than blows you away, where you genuinely get nervous for the protagonists because they’re not going to make it out alive.

It helps if the protagonist isn’t some He-Man who can shrug off bullet wounds like bee stings and whose human frailty is part of their particular charm — think John McClane in Die Hard instead of John Matrix in Commando. Baseline established, there are actually many films that properly fit the bill, and many of them do so perfectly. I won’t try to define perfection in this context, but if it’s a movie that thrills you from start to finish with some solid action set pieces, it’s qualifying here. These are ten action thrillers that are perfect from the first scene to the last.

‘Duel’ (1971)

Image via Universal Television

Steven Spielberg‘s first feature film, Duel is a no-frills road thriller that paved the way for his future success and showcased his natural talents. Based on a short story by Richard Matheson, who also wrote the script, Duel was produced as an ABC Movie of the Week, but its success led Universal to give it a theatrical release internationally, with additional footage added by Spielberg. Whichever version you watch, it’s abundantly clear that Spielberg’s skill elevates the film from any other bog-standard television movie from the era.

David Mann (Dennis Weaver) is a traveling salesman on a driving trip through the deserts of California. His trip takes a serious wrong turn when he passes a semi-truck that then starts to terrorize him. The driver of the truck is never seen except for some small glances at his appendages, and the way Spielberg shoots the truck at low angles gives it a demonic sort of presence. The truck is as much a villain as the shark in Jaws. It’s a movie that might not work as well if it were made in the post-smartphone era, but which captures the anxieties of long, lonely drives incredibly well.

‘The Driver’ (1978)

Image via 20th Century Studios

From the lost highways of the Mojave to the mean streets of Los Angeles. Walter Hill‘s minimalist action-thriller The Driver was eviscerated by critics when it was originally released. Initially deemed violent and pretentious, it’s since undergone a reappraisal thanks to several prominent filmmakers who have called it a major influence. It’s a stripped-down neo-noir thriller that may be light on characterization, but it’s heavy with atmosphere, style and thrilling action.

The Driver (Ryan O’Neal) specializes in getaways, offering his specialized services to criminals with enough cash to meet his price. He’s caught the attention of the Detective (Bruce Dern), who’s hellbent on catching him, and the Player (Isabelle Adjani), a gambler who gets drawn into his orbit. You’re not going to learn the names of these characters, and what exposition or backstory that is offered is sparing. The Driver is Hill operating with lean, mean efficiency, a 90-minute action with no time to spare. It gets in, gets the job done and gets out, and it does it all with style.

‘To Live and Die in L.A.’ (1985)

Image via United Artists

William Friedkin already had two thrilling masterpieces under his belt, The French Connection and Sorcerer, with The Exorcist sandwiched in between. Sorcerer failed to hit at the box office, and his career was never truly the same after, but he continued to deliver exemplary thrillers until his death in 2023, and To Live and Die in L.A. is right at the top of that list. Based on the novel of the same name by Gerald Petievich, it follows Secret Service agents and their attempt to bring down a notorious counterfeiter by any means necessary.

Richard Chance (William Peterson) has been assigned to Los Angeles to combat counterfeiters. When his partner is killed by the ruthless Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe), he makes a vow to get even. With a new partner in tow, Chance bends or breaks every rule he knows, slipping further and further into an obsessive abyss. To Live and Die in L.A. is a gritty, grimy action-thriller of moral relativism that’s been lauded for its mid-film car chase, which still ranks among the best, and is now considered a seminal ’80s crime film.

‘City on Fire’ (1987)

Image via AVCO Embassy Pictures

If you haven’t seen Ringo Lam‘s heist-thriller City on Fire, you may have at least heard it referenced as the film Quentin Tarantino “plagiarized” for Reservoir Dogs. There’s no use in relitigating that argument, since both directors have since spoken about it, except to say that there is so much more to City on Fire than being a part of Tarantino’s pastiche. Particularly when it comes to its action, it’s a clear inspiration for many other high-octane Hollywood films, alongside the work of Lam’s Hong Kong contemporaries, John Woo and Tsui Hark.

Ko Chow (Chow Yun-fat) is an undercover cop placed within a crew of jewelry thieves. His morals and mettle are tested as his personal life begins to fray, and he begins to bond with members of the crew, all while a dedicated inspector is dead set on taking them all down for killing a cop on their last job. Every character in City on Fire feels like they’re living on a razor’s edge. Tensions boil over repeatedly, and by the end the bodies really start to stack up. City on Fire is an incendiary action-thriller that’s grittier and nastier than its Heroic Bloodshed brethren, with characters that shed plenty of blood, sweat and tears together.

‘Heat’ (1995)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

If we’re going to mention action-packed heist movies, we can’t ignore Michael Mann‘s magnum opus, Heat. It’s an epic, sprawling crime thriller that first brought together two titans of cinema to share the screen for a showdown. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro square off as a cop and a professional thief, respectively, circling each other in the streets of L.A., each determined to take down the other should it come to trading bullets.

Neil McCauley (De Niro) runs a tight crew of criminals who specialize in armed robbery. Vincent Hanna (Pacino) is the robbery-homicide detective determined to take them down, even if his personal life crumbles in the process. There are a lot of crime movie archetypes in the mix of Mann’s film, but all of them are played with such specificity by the immaculate cast that they never feel rote. Mann’s direction is also so rooted in deep research of both cops and criminals that it lends the film an authenticity even when it explodes with grandiosity. Heat established a more militaristic kind of heist thriller that everything from The Town to The Dark Knight owes a debt to.

​​​​​​​’Crimson Tide’ (1995)

Image via Buena Vista Pictures

If you want high stakes and taut tension, submarine movies have got you covered. There are a fair few of these movies, but if you want the movie that took the subgenre to its max, watch Tony Scott‘s Crimson Tide. Russia still features in the plot of this underwater action movie, but the tension is all between the two men whose names are above the title.

After civil war erupts in Russia and nationalists take control of a missile silo, Ron Hunter (Denzel Washington) is sent to serve as the new XO on a submarine captained by Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman). When they receive potentially conflicting orders to launch their missiles, the two men clash over their next course of action. Crimson Tide raises the stakes with World War III as the ultimate consequence. Scott jacks the film up with his signature visual intensity, but still gives Washington and Hackman plenty of claustrophobic room to battle with their words and wits. It’s a nerve-jangling, sweat-inducing thriller that gives Scott plenty of high-tech toys to drive the tension, and he goes full ahead.

‘Black Hawk Down’ (2001)

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

90% of what the late Tony Scott directed were action movies, but his brother, Ridley, has also ventured into the genre with great success. Most of what could be considered action in his filmography are sword and sandal movies like Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. For anything modern, it basically boils down to Black Rain, G.I. Jane and the intense war thriller Black Hawk Down. That film shares the military connection with G.I. Jane and the outlandish depictions of non-American cultures with Black Rain.

Based on the book by Mark Bowden, which chronicled the real-life Battle of Mogadishu, the film is a harrowing modern war epic with incredibly visceral action and graphic violence. It also reduces the Somali characters to an essentially faceless force, which is problematic, and people have argued whether it is anti-war or pro-war propaganda for a long time. Still, this movie should absolutely make you hate war for how much it makes it look like hell on earth, and under no circumstances should this be anyone’s inspiration for foreign policy.

‘Oldboy’ (2003)

Image via Show East

While some of the previous films on this list might be a little nihilistic, none will have you feeling as bad as the end of Oldboy. This South Korean revenge thriller directed by Park Chan-Wook hit like a damn hurricane of shock and violence, offering a twisty and twisted plot about trauma, guilt, and the cycle of revenge that also has some very memorable fights along the way. It’s the second installment of Park’s Vengeance Trilogy, and it was one of the heralds of the 2000s breakthrough of Korean cinema into America that also brought directors like Bong Joon-ho and Kim Jee-woon to Hollywood.

Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is just another drunk businessman when he’s abducted and imprisoned in a room for fifteen years with no explanation. When he’s just as summarily released, it sends him on a dark journey to look for answers, and it leads him somewhere even darker. If you don’t know the ending to Oldboy, it’s best to just experience it for yourself, and if you’re already thinking it might be too much for you, it probably is. If you don’t think you’ve got the stomach for it, at least watch up until the iconic long-take action scene where Oh Dae-su takes on a dozen men armed with only a hammer and his steadfast refusal to quit.

‘The Night Comes For Us (2018)

Image via Netflix

What Oldboy was also an early harbinger of was a new ultraviolent intensity in action movies that continues to dominate in the 21st century. The heroes of these movies all take damage, and it is painful as hell. They come from all over the world, but if there’s anyone who really puts everyone on notice, it’s Indonesia, first with The Raid, and then with the brutalizing The Night Comes for Us. Both are amazing action thrillers, but the latter is the pinnacle of the ultraviolent subgenre.

There are more violent movies than The Night Comes for Us, but they’re also horror movies. This action-thriller, directed by Timo Tjahjanto, is certainly horrifically violent, but it’s not horror. The plot, which is only there to justify the fight scenes, involves Triad enforcer Ito (Joe Taslim), who turns on the syndicate in order to save a little girl. Wave after wave of henchmen are then sent his way, and he breaks dozens of bones and severs multiple arteries to keep the girl alive. The Night Comes for Us is a dazzling display of brutality that will have you as impressed as you are disgusted.

‘The Killer’ (2023)

Image via Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

David Fincher‘s The Killer is a dazzling minimalist action-thriller that carries on the tradition of detached cinematic hitmen. The hitman here is played by Michael Fassbender as the most lethal assassin in a gig economy. The Killer is a thoroughly modern movie that shows its hitman ordering his supplies over Amazon as opposed to some black market dealer. The movie carries the same kind of wicked sense of humor that infects Fincher’s other thrillers, allowing the director to flex some proper action muscles that weren’t as utilized in his prior films.

The Killer (Fassbender) is on assignment in Paris when he misses his target. The fallout from the botched assassination cascades, and the Killer goes on a globe-trotting effort to take out those who tried to have his loose end tied up. He works his way up the food chain with efficiency, but some of the best bits are when his calm and collected plans don’t go accordingly, and he has to hastily improvise. They’re what makes the movie funnier than it seems like it should be, but it’s never far from putting you back on edge with a perfectly timed fight scene.

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The Killer

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Release Date

November 10, 2023

Runtime

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118 minutes

Writers

Andrew Kevin Walker

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Editor’s Note: The following article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4, Episode 2.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been a standout in the Star Trek franchise thanks to its ability to play with different genres. Over the course of four seasons, there have been episodes that took place within a fantasy realm, a murder mystery, and even a full-blown musical. Season 4 takes this up a notch with its latest episode, “The Griffin Incident,” where members of the U.S.S. Enterprise stumble across a Starfleet vessel that mysteriously disappeared years ago. They soon learn that the ship isn’t as abandoned as they thought, and suffer a series of psychological torments ​​​​​​before being rescued. Strange New Worlds is no stranger to horror, but “The Griffin Incident” is on a whole other level.

It’s the final moments of the episode that prove to be the most interesting. After the Enterprise rescues Kirk (Paul Wesley), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and La’an (Christina Chong) from the Griffin‘s clutches, a section of Starfleet known as “Division 12” is contacted to study the haunted ship. According to Captain Pike (Anson Mount), Division 12 is a group of “Starfleet analysts who explore unexplained phenomena,” and this isn’t the first time he’s been in touch with them. The idea of a Starfleet division that explores the mysteries of the universe is ripe for a spinoff series and the best way to push the Star Trek franchise forward.

A Division 12 Series Could Explore Hidden Corners of the ‘Star Trek’ Universe

Image via Jan Thijs/Paramount+

If Division 12 got its own series, it’s a chance for Star Trek to further explore some of its biggest mysteries. There are still a lot of mysterious figures within the franchise, most notably the reality-bending Q (John de Lancie) and the other members of the Q Continuum, or the Guardian of Forever, who was first introduced in the iconic Star Trek: The Original Series episode “City on the Edge of Forever.” Revisiting those characters could touch on different aspects of beloved Star Trek series, and give Trek fans a deeper appreciation of the overall franchise. There’s also the matter of the other times that Division 12 has crossed paths with Pike, which begs the question: what did he find too strange for the Enterprise to explore?

Division 12’s mission to explore the unexplained also brings another iconic science fiction series to mind, namely The X-Files. That series featured FBI agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) delving into cases that featured paranormal phenomena, and even spawned a franchise of its own. One episode of The X-Files revealed that there was a government division known as the “Majestic 12,” which operated out of Area 51 after the infamous Roswell Incident. It’s not a stretch to imagine that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds brought in Division 12 as a homage to that same group.

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Continues A Tradition Set By Other ‘Star Trek’ Spinoffs

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds isn’t the first Star Trek series to reveal a hidden part of Starfleet. That’s been a tradition stretching back to other Trek spinoffs, most notably Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and its revelation of the secret intelligence organization known as Section 31. Star Trek: Enterprise introduced the concept of the “Temporal Cold War,” and Starfleet agents who fought to preserve the timeline. Deep Space Nine writer Ira Steven Behr, who penned the episode that introduced Section 31, said he was inspired by a line Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) says in the series about “being a saint in paradise” and wanted to further explore what that meant:

“Why is Earth a paradise in the twenty-fourth century? Well, maybe it’s because there’s someone watching over it and doing the nasty stuff that no one wants to think about.”

That same approach should be applied to a potential Division 12 series, if it ever comes to fruition. Though next year will mark the end of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, “The Griffin Incident” just introduced a unique way to continue the franchise on television.

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Release Date

2022 – 2027-00-00

Network

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Paramount+

Showrunner

Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman

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Directors

Dan Liu, Amanda Row, Maja Vrvilo, Akiva Goldsman, Dermott Downs, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeffrey W. Byrd, Jonathan Frakes, Jordan Canning, Leslie Hope, Valerie Weiss, Sydney Freeland, Christopher J. Byrne, Rachel Leiterman

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Writers

Onitra Johnson

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Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper are at the center of speculation after their latest public outing fueled marriage rumors. The couple, who have been dating since 2023, recently stepped out wearing matching bands on their ring fingers, prompting many to ask whether they secretly tied the knot. While they have made occasional public appearances together, the pair generally avoid discussing their romance publicly.

On August 3, photographers caught up with Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper as they walked the streets of Paris. The couple, dressed in simple workout clothes and sunglasses, were spotted holding hands as they made their way to their destination, each carrying a water flask.

Eagle-eyed fans noticed that Hadid and Cooper, who have been in a romantic relationship since 2023, wore identical bands on their respective ring fingers, leading many to speculate that they secretly got married. Later that same day, they were again photographed in different clothes wearing their rings.

Reports noted that two days prior, Cooper was spotted going to the gym without a ring on his finger.

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While some were excited by the idea of Hadid and Cooper marrying, others noted that merely wearing matching bands does not corroborate their union. “Matching rings don’t confirm marriage. Wishing them happiness, whatever the truth may be,” one user commented.

The Couple Has Attended Some High-Profile Events This Year

Though Gigi Hadid walked up the steps at the Met Gala solo, her boyfriend Bradley Cooper joined her inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art fundraiser for a sweet, private date night. pic.twitter.com/c7sz3wNiNe

— E! News (@enews) May 5, 2026

Before their recent Paris trip, Hadid and Cooper were spotted attending Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding on July 3. The model wore a sparkling pink dress while the actor donned a classic tuxedo.

In May, Hadid walked the Met Gala carpet and posed for photographers alone, but as reported by The Blast, Cooper made a brief appearance at the event. She also gave a rare comment about her relationship with the actor while discussing her “happy place,” citing her daughter and Cooper.

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“When I think about Khai, maybe I’m giving joy. And then I’ll serve something else to Bradley for the camera,” she said.

Despite being together for three years, the couple has never made their relationship red carpet official.

Gigi Hadid And Bradley Cooper Are Notoriously Private

Hadid and Cooper have both had high-profile relationships in the past. The actor was briefly married to actress Jennifer Esposito, and he was also in a four-year relationship with model Irina Shayk, with whom he shares a daughter. Hadid, on the other hand, dated former One Direction singer Zayn Malik on and off from 2015 until their permanent split in 2021. They welcomed daughter Khai in 2020 and remain co-parents.

Hadid and Cooper maintain a low profile, choosing to keep much of their romance out of the public eye. While the model has shared a few rare comments about their relationship, Cooper has refrained from commenting on it publicly.

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For her 30th birthday in 2025, Hadid posted a carousel of photos from her celebration, including one where she was captured kissing Cooper.

The Model Gushed About Her Partner In Vogue

Hadid previously opened up about the challenges of dating, saying the experience can be difficult even for her friends who aren’t public figures. She explained her need for privacy when it comes to personal matters, especially after becoming a mother and feeling the need to protect her child.

The model didn’t share many details, but she offered a glimpse of her relationship with Cooper, which she described as “very romantic and happy.”

“I feel that he gives so much to me: encouragement and, just, belief,” Hadid told Vogue in 2025. Hadid added that she and the actor were on the same page, and she felt lucky to have found him.

“You both do work separately to come together and be the best partner that you can be. I just feel really lucky. Yeah, lucky’s the word,” she said.

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Insiders Shared Bradley Cooper’s Intention To Marry Gigi Hadid

While the couple has not confirmed whether they tied the knot, many are convinced they are now married. In late 2025, as reported by The Blast, sources shared that the actor intended to take the next step in their relationship.

According to reports, Cooper asked Hadid’s mother, Yolanda, for her daughter’s hand in marriage. “He wants her to know how serious he is about Gigi,” the insider claimed.

Given how private the couple has been about their romance, it may be some time before fans learn whether the marriage rumors are true.

Sports may not be for everyone, but comedy sure is! When it comes to television‘s greatest comedies, we often think of family sitcoms or workplace comedies; rarely do sports-themed shows come to mind at first. But then, when we really think about it, we realize that some of our favorites are among the best of the best. This list is meant to celebrate those titles.

Though there are many other shows that could have easily slipped in, these shows are the champions of the world. From coaches that bring inspiration beyond their team to athletes whose egos know no bounds, many of these sports shows use the game as the canvas for exceptional characters. No matter the game or the subject, they have brought us hearty chuckles and moments of inspiration that have stayed with us for a long time.

10

‘Shoresy’ (2022–Present)

Image via Crave

Perhaps you’re arriving at this entry unaware of this show, but Shoresy is one of the most underappreciated comedies in recent memory. Created and starring Jared Keeso, Shoresy is a spin-off of Letterkenny, the 12-season comedy about the adventures of the residents of the fictional rural Ontario community. One such resident is the titular character. The series follows Shoresy (Keeso), the foul-mouthed hockey trash-talker on a quest to save the struggling team, the Sudbury Blueberry Bulldogs, a lowly Senior AAA hockey team. With a mission to “never lose again,” Shoresy completely revamps the locker room culture and recruits a colorful cast of gritty players to turn their losing streak around. Five seasons in, the series progresses past his initial playing days, transitioning into a mentor role, tackling sports talk commentary, and dealing with the changing, increasingly physical nature of hockey.

Jam-packed with non-stop crude humor, rapid-fire insults, and raunchy locker room banter, Shoresy is the modern take on the classic hockey film, Slap Shot. Beyond the vulgarity is a show with genuine heart, deep loyalty, and emotional depth. The series highlights a diverse, tight-knit group of athletes bonded by fierce love for the sport and pride for the community. Shoresy transitions a one-note joke character from the original series and turns him into a deeply passionate and hilarious character who just so happens to be surprisingly wholesome. Keeso makes Shoresy a character you want to champion. It’s certainly a “dudes rock” comedy, but it’s not one that alienates viewers. If you like underdog stories, adversity on the ice, and training monologues, Shoresy has you covered. Don’t fret that it may be too grotesque for you; Shoresy has more heart and charm than you’d imagine. With a fast-paced format of short episodes, you’ll end up binging the series quite quickly.

9

‘Eastbound & Down’ (2009–2013)

Image via HBO

HBO was dominated by a certain fantasy series during the early 2010s, but during that era, there was a sports comedy you certainly saw commercials for: Eastbound & Down. Created by Ben Best, Jody Hill, and Danny McBride, the series follows Kenny Powers (McBride), an arrogant, washed-up former Major League Baseball star. After his career collapses due to his toxic personality, he returns to his North Carolina hometown of Shelby County as a middle school teacher, perpetually chasing a delusional comeback through chaotic misadventures in Mexico and local television. Eastbound & Down brilliantly subverts the sports comedy genre as chaotic humor anchors the series through a deeply dark character study of an egoist refusing his own obsolescence. It balances offensive, over-the-top comedy with moments of pathos about failure, aging, and redemption.

McBride shines brightly as he introduced the world to one of the most iconic characters of his career. Kenny Powers is a powerhouse. He has zero self-awareness and endless toxic bravado, and yet we don’t dismiss him because his journey to rock bottom and fight to leave it is relatable. Keny believes he belongs on top, turning his constant self-sabotage into a hilarious spectacle. Kenny is the ultimate embodiment of the desperation for the American Dream. In turn, the series is a wonderful satire that makes his failures repulsive and magnetic. Kenny is only as good as the individuals he surrounds himself with. Steve Little as Stevie, Kenny’s pathetic, fiercely loyal sidekick, and John Hawkes as Dustin, Kenny’s brother who is forced to serve as his grounded foil, build a world that lasts for four seasons. Each season reinvents the show by placing Kenny in a new environment with fresh targets for his chaos. Eastbound & Down treats professional sports and fame not with reverence, but as a gritty, greasy machine.

8

‘Blue Mountain State’ (2010–2011)

Image via Spike

Between playing a hero like Aquaman and long before becoming the ultimate warrior as Jack Reacher, Alan Ritchson made a name for himself as a complete buffoon as Thad Castle on Blue Mountain State. He was the heart of the completely hilarious and totally unhinged comedy created by Eric Falconer and Chris Romano. The raunchy sitcom follows a fictional Midwestern university and its powerhouse college football team, the Mountain Goats. Alex Moran (Darin Brooks) is a talented backup quarterback who prefers the low-stress life of a second-string player so he can focus on partying. Thad Castle (Ritchson) is an overtly intense captain and linebacker who is known for extreme hazing rituals and undergoing completely uncouth antics. Coach Marty Daniels (Ed Marinaro), the former NFL player and head coach, is grossly obsessed with winning, doing whatever it takes to lead his team to victory. And then there is Sammy Cacciatore (Romano), Alex’s best friend, who is not altogether there, becoming the team’s eccentric mascot. Modeled after classic 1980s and 90s college party movies like Animal House and American Pie, Blue Mountain State focuses on crude humor, absurd situations, and fraternity culture with the actual sport sprinkled in as the backdrop.

Blue Mountain State may not have been your college experience, but it leans completely into unhinged, high-energy college humor. It mixes outrageous party culture, raucous locker room hilarity, and memorable, cartoonish characters that elevated it to its legendary status. Other football shows of the time focused on growing as individuals and winning as a team; Blue Mountain State couldn’t care less about that. There was never any preaching or moral lessons. Everything was for a laugh. These student athletes just wanted to have fun. And fun they had. The writers pushed boundaries with absurd, no-holds-barred jokes that fully committed to the bit. It’s why Ritchson became an instantly memeable character who could have lived long beyond the show’s three-season run. To be fair, Ritchson does not get the praise for his comedic prowess, as Thad Castle is one of the greatest and most ridiculous characters of the 21st century. Blue Mountain State is pure, unadulterated fun. It’s completely self-aware and highly entertaining. Earning a cult following and a feature film following its ending, Blue Mountain State‘s infectious energy made it a brilliant single-camera sitcom whose mission is to make you escape reality and laugh.

7

‘Sports Night’ (1998–2000)

Image via ABC

Aaron Sorkin may be best known for The West Wing, but just before the legendary show’s arrival, he delivered one of his greatest and most underappreciated shows: Sports Night. Running for two seasons on ABC, the critically acclaimed comedy follows the behind-the-scenes chaotic environment, personal relationships, and professional ethics of the staff producing a fictional, live nightly cable sports news program. Casey McCall (Peter Krause) and Dan Rydell (Josh Charles) are charismatic, fast-talking co-anchors and best friends on and off the screen. Dana Whitaker (Felicity Huffman) is the high-strung executive producer who keeps the show running under intense pressure. Friends since college, Casey and Dana must keep their romantic tension at bay as managing editor Isaac Jaffe (Robert Guillaume) hovers over his staff as a benevolent but uncompromising father figure. Following an ensemble of producers, associate producers, and writers who navigate office romances, corporate interference, and personal crises, Sports Night showcased Sorkin’s signature style of snappy, highly intellectual, walk-and-talk dialogue that defined his future works.

Sports Night was very much the precursor to The Newsroom. Part of the reason why Sports Night was abandoned was so Sorkin could focus on The West Wing. Nonetheless, the 45 episodes that did exist were sublime. The scripts were both witty and deeply rhythmic, making other television shows look slow-paced in comparison. Sports Night focused on themes of human ethics, friendship, and professional dedication rather than constant sports trivia. It was there to center the story. Sports Night was an example of brilliant ensemble work. In addition to Krause, Charles, Huffman, and Guillaume, the cast featured Joshua Malina, Sabrina Lloyd, Brenda Strong, William H. Macy, and more. We all had a fascination with ESPN’s SportsCenter; Sports Night gave us a chance to see what that experience was truly like.

6

‘The League’ (2009–2015)

Image via FX

We may not have the opportunity to play the game or even work in the front office, so we get to play pretend through fantasy football. And that was the premise of the beloved FX series The League. Created by Jeff and Jackie Schaffer, The League follows a tight-knit group of old friends in Chicago who care deeply about one another—so deeply that they use every opportunity to sabotage, insult, and make each other’s lives miserable over their obsession with winning their fantasy football league. Pete (Mark Duplass) is the laid-back, perennial league champion who coasts on natural talent. Kevin (Stephen Rannazzisi) is the league commissioner trying to balance his family life and his wife’s secret influence over his team. Jenny (Katie Aselton) is Kevin’s sharp-witted wife, who is often the best football mind in the house. Ruxin (Nick Kroll) is a paranoid defense attorney convinced everyone is conspiring against him. Andre (Paul Scheer) is a successful plastic surgeon who serves as the group’s constant punching bag and target of ridicule. And Taco (Jon Lajoie) is Kevin’s stoner younger brother, a part-time musician who barely understands football. The show borrows the loose, half-improvised, boundary-pushing style of Curb Your Enthusiasm to focus on adult humor, relentless trash-talk, and how the cutthroat desire to win bragging rights spills over into marriages, jobs, and daily life.

The League uses fantasy football as a brilliant vehicle for sharp, semi-improvised comedy about male ego, deep-seated rivalries, and brutal friendly abuse. The best part about the series is you don’t have to love football to appreciate The League. The core appeal is the comedic chaos. Non-fans can easily enjoy the rapid-fire insults, recurring bit gags, and the sheer desperation of adults treating a minor local trophy, The Shiva, and a last-place punishment, The Sacko, like life-or-death matters. The League was an NFL fan’s favorite thanks to the revolving door of stars that popped through, including Terry Bradshaw, Jay Cutler, Deon Sanders, Marshawn Lynch, and many more. And that’s on top of some of Hollywood’s funniest people. The League was the type of show that delivered memorable moments and quotable lines, all thanks to the stellar dynamic of the ensemble. With such strong improvisers, the structured outline allowed the likes of Kroll, Scheer, and Duplass to do what they do best. The cast worked as an ensemble, supporting each other rather than fighting for individual punchlines, making the delivery feel authentic and unscripted. The League is a series of its time that just so happens to be timeless. Reboot when?

5

‘Brockmire’ (2017–2020)

Image via IFC

Often you see Hank Azaria as a supporting player in comedies, but in Brockmire, he was the star. In the underrated hidden gem, Azaria plays Jim Brockmire, a famous Major League Baseball announcer who suffers a very public, profanity-laden on-air meltdown after catching his wife cheating. A decade later, he tries to restart his career by calling minor league games for the Morristown Frackers in a struggling Rust Belt town in rundown Pennsylvania. He works alongside Jules James (Amanda Peet), the hard-drinking team owner, and Charles (Tyrel Jackson Williams), an eager young intern. A star vehicle for a profoundly versatile performer, Brockmire sees Azaria’s stellar, fast-talking comedic prowess paired with a surprisingly deep look at personal redemption. Brockmire balances vulgar, sharp-tongued humor with genuine emotional heart, creating a heartfelt arc that works even if you do not care about baseball.

Across four seasons, Brockmire refuses to stay in a single lane. It evolves from a genuine redemption story as it makes way to tackle addiction, modern cultural absurdities, and even jumps forward into a satirical, dystopian future for baseball. Azaria infuses a classic announcer into his titular character. Having a rhythm and cadence with a classic vocal boom, Brockmire sounds like he could have come straight from any real MLB broadcaster booth. Azaria and Peet have wonderful chemistry. Together, they add a lovely layer of wit and wounded humanity to the truly rich narrative. They’re magnetic. Underneath the booze, ego, and rants, Brockmire treats its titular character with heartbreaking truth and actual emotional growth. Brockmire is poignant and messy, offering laugh-out-loud, profane sports commentary with deep emotional vulnerability. Brockmire is a must-watch.

4

‘Stick’ (2025–Present)

Image via Apple TV

Perhaps thanks to the Ted Lasso boom, many streamers have tried their hand at sports comedies. While we have loved and admired shows and films like The Dink, The Hawk, and Running Point, the best new sports comedy is Stick. Created by Jason Keller for Apple TV, Stick stars Owen Wilson as Pryce Cahill, a washed-up former professional golfer whose career was ruined by an on-course meltdown decades prior. Struggling through a divorce and working in a golf shop, Pryce stakes his remaining hopes on mentoring Santi Wheeler (Peter Dager), a troubled 17-year-old golf prodigy. Pryce takes Santi under his wing to help shape the teen’s raw talent into professional potential, as they both deal with past trauma, broken family relationships, and the psychological hurdles of the game. Stick is a show that focuses on supportive, low-key community bonds and getting a second chance at life through the allure of the generation gap. Stick opts for understated, soulful humor and gentle pacing over loud, laugh-out-loud gags.

Like its Apple TV sports companion, Stick masters the comforting, low-stakes found family formula. You do not need to care about or understand golf to enjoy the character dynamics. The sport serves merely as a metaphor for dealing with past mistakes. Golf is treated as an internal battle of the mind, mirroring personal baggage and past mistakes. Wilson utilizes his strengths, bringing a signature laconic, wounded, and unexpectedly wise energy to a character looking for a second chance. The story may be about Pryce and Santi, but his chemistry with Marc Maron as a cynical former caddy Mitts and Mariana Treviño as Elena Wheeler, Santi’s fiercely protective mother, serve as the heartbeat of the piece. Oh, and if you’re a Timothy Olyphant superfan like myself, he’s a ham as Clark Ross, Pryce’s former playing partner and rival. Olyphant and Judy Greer, as Pryce’s ex-wife Amber-Linn, have been bumped up to main cast for Season 2.

3

‘GLOW’ (2017–2019)

Image via Netflix

Timing is everything, and unfortunately for GLOW, the timing couldn’t be worse as it was canceled just as it was about to blow up again. Nevertheless, the Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch-created comedy remains one of the greatest Netflix entries. Inspired by the real-life 1980s women’s professional wrestling promotion, the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, the series, set in Los Angeles, follows a group of outcast women who learn to wrestle and build a campy, spandex-clad TV show under washed-up B-movie director Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron). They are led by Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie), a struggling actress in 1985 who sees the wrestling show as her big chance at fame, and Debbie Eagan (Betty Gilpin), a retired soap star and Ruth’s former best friend who joins the cast after a personal betrayal creates intense real-life friction between them. The show pokes fun at and analyzes the over-the-top, stereotypical personas the women adopt for the ring. GLOW celebrated female artists and performers as they navigated sexism and searched for meaningful professional outlets in the entertainment industry.

GLOW was not only just a breath of fresh air, it was a brilliant female-led ensemble series with strong characters and daring scripts. It balanced sharp comedy with deep, emotional drama and tackled social issues without feeling preachy. The show thrives through its diverse cast of misfits, as each woman is allowed to grow beyond their initial 1980s stereotype. The standouts from the bunch included Britney Young, Gayle Rankin, Kate Nash, and Jackie Tohn. GLOW‘s brisk pacing and snappy, rhythmic narrative made every moment feel earned and exciting. GLOW is a seamless mix of genuine heart and neon-soaked ’80s fun. GLOW treats professional wrestling with genuine respect, using the mechanics of the squared circle as a brilliant mirror for personal conflict, teamwork, and breaking social stereotypes. GLOW remains one of the most important shows of the last decade. ​​​​​​​

2

‘Coach’ (1989–1997)

Image via ABC

The late ’80s and early ’90s were known for some legendary sitcoms—Cheers, Seinfeld, The Golden Girls, Designing Women, Wings—but one of the very best that doesn’t always get lumped into that group is Coach. For nine seasons, the Barry Kemp series told the story of Hayden Fox (Craig T. Nelson), the obsessive head coach of the fictional Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles football team. Alongside his quirky, loyal, but dim-witted assistant coaches, Luther Van Dam (Jerry Van Dyke) and Dauber Dybinski (Bill Fagerbakke), Hayden balances his intense career with his personal life and romance. Most of the show centers around the pressure to win, locker room antics, and campus athletics at Minnesota State, but the heart of the series is the comedy surrounding the friction between Hayden’s total obsession with football and his relationship with Christine Armstrong (Shelley Fabares), Hayden’s smart, successful news anchor girlfriend and later wife, and his daughter Kelly (Clare Carey). Coach is the epitome of a classic sitcom, blending old-school comedy with genuine heart and soul.

Coach is comforting and harmlessly funny, where nothing terrible ever happens, and you just want the characters to succeed. Hayden brings light-hearted banter as Luther and Dauber provide lovable slapstick stupidity. And yes, that is the guy who voices Patrick Star. Coach succeeded because they balanced authentic collegiate and professional sports culture with genuine character heart, avoiding pure slapstick to focus on the human side of athletics. Throughout its run, the comedy was rooted in teal-world football culture as many NFL stars popped up, including Troy Aikman, Mike Ditka, Eddie George, Frank Gifford, Joe Thiesmann, and Johnny Unitas. Coach was meant to have a sequel reboot in 2015, but sadly it was canceled. Nevertheless, Coach remains an integral product of the decade. Whenever you hear the theme song, which just so happens to be the real-life Iowa State Fight Song, you’ll be transported back to Coach. ​​​​​​​

1

‘Ted Lasso’ (2020–Present)

There truly is no other show that sparks more joy and brings ultimate comfort than Ted Lasso. Developed by Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly and based on a character Sudeikis portrayed in a series of promotional media for NBC Sports’ coverage of England’s soccer Premier League, the series follows Ted Lasso (Sudeikis), an optimistic American college football coach hired to manage a British soccer team, AFC Richmond. The club’s new owner, Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), originally hopes his total lack of experience will ruin the team out of spite, but Ted’s kind nature and relentless hope win everyone over. The series follows AFC Richmond’s journey through wins, losses, and major life changes. Over the seasons, the show explores mental health, personal struggles, broken relationships, and healing within the team and coaching staff in a heartfelt, vulnerable manner. Ted Lasso pairs a warm, fish-out-of-water sports comedy with deep emotional intelligence, using Ted’s relentlessly optimistic, biscuit-baking coach to subvert cynical tropes for morals and empathy.

Ted Lasso has given us all a reason to believe again. The titular coach is always offering a bevy of life lessons like “be a goldfish” and “be curious, not judgmental” in order to inspire players and audience alike. In turn, Ted becomes an individual who practices what he preaches. Ted Lasso is one of the most prominent series to discuss and address mental health, panic attacks, and toxic masculinity with surprising nuance. Ted’s golden-retriever outlook is balanced by real human vulnerability and hidden emotional depth. The series is filled with characters who grow and evolve from simple clichés into profound individuals. Ted Lasso boasts one of the greatest ensembles of the era, featuring Phil Dunster, Brett Goldstein, Nick Mohammed, Jeremy Swift, and Juno Temple. Ted Lasso is more than just the X’s and O’s. It’s a celebration of found family. As we celebrate the women coming to the pitch in Season 4, Ted Lasso remains at the top of the comedy list, regardless of the sports connection.

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Ted Lasso

Release Date

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August 14, 2020

Network

Apple TV

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Directors

Declan Lowney, MJ Delaney, Erica Dunton, Matt Lipsey

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