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By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated

As a Doctor Who fan, I recently felt like I was trapped in an episode of this beloved sci-fi series. That’s because, as soon as the BBC confirmed that the show was getting canceled, I entered some kind of bizarre time loop. My social media feeds were filled with people breathlessly claiming that Doctor Who was canceled because it was overly woke. Hadn’t I been here before, listening to the same arguments about how progressive messaging killed a progressive sci-fi show? Yup. The same thing happened three months ago, when Paramount announced that Starfleet Academy was canceled, effectively killing active production on Star Trek TV shows for the foreseeable future.
When that happened, many critics claimed that Starfleet Academy had been canceled because it was an overly woke show, what with its gay Klingon and characters endlessly talking about their emotions. Now, those critics are claiming that Doctor Who (which, like Trek TV, is on indefinite hiatus) was canceled because of its own wokeness, what with its openly queer Doctor and proud identity politics. However, wokeness didn’t kill either of these franchises; bad writing did. At the end of the day, both of these fantastically expensive sci-fi series were canceled because not enough people were watching. As Discovery’s Tilly might say in the cringiest possible way, that’s the power of math, people!

Right now, Star Trek and Doctor Who are in the same boat. Starfleet Academy was the only Trek show in active production; after it was canceled, Paramount (under new, post-merger leadership) decided to pivot entirely to movies. It could be a long time before we see a new Trek on television. Last time Paramount pivoted this IP to film, there was a 12-year wait between shows. Now, Doctor Who is effectively canceled because the BBC is looking for someone else to produce the show (Disney declined to renew their own production deal last year). Last time Doctor Who went on hiatus, there was a 16-year wait between shows.
So, Doctor Who and Star Trek are in the same boat: on hiatus for the foreseeable future. Another major thing that these shows have in common is that haters claim they were canceled because of their “woke” content. Doctor Who, for example, prominently features a queer Black actor, a trans supporting character, and preferred pronouns. Starfleet Academy, meanwhile, has multiple gay characters, polyamorous Klingons, and a dude prominently wearing a skirt. Once these shows got canceled, many critics pointed to this aforementioned content as the reason they got the axe, citing the oldest, dumbest axiom of the internet: “go woke, go broke!”

Star Trek has, of course, been woke from the beginning: the first pilot episode featured a strong female commander, the Original Series featured a multiracial crew, featured an interracial kiss, and so on. The franchise retained such progressive wokeness throughout the decades, and while Starfleet Academy was no more woke than what came before. What it was, however, was very badly written. The progressive messaging of this show is that much more noticeable because it’s that much louder and on the nose. This would be bad enough even if the show were otherwise well-written. Unfortunately, the poor writing and sometimes nonsensical plotting of Starfleet Academy ensured that obvious identity politics sometimes overshadowed everything else.
Similarly, Doctor Who has been very visibly woke since the NuWho era began back in 2005. These early seasons featured a male Doctor kissing his flamboyantly gay Companion, spouting anti-war messaging, and emphasizing that major corporations are evil.; nonetheless, it was successful enough to warrant nearly two decades‘ worth of new episodes. Fast-forward to the Disney era of Doctor Who, and the show hadn’t gotten any more woke. The Doctor was still kissing dudes, war was still bad, and corporations were still evil. Written well, none of this offends anyone, regardless of politics. Written poorly, the virtue signalling gets so loud that it’s tough to make out the message of any given episode.

Simply being woke would never be enough to get the respective Star Trek and Doctor Who fandoms to turn on their favorite franchises. After all, the franchises have each been woke for decades. But being badly written can destroy these brands in very short order. For example, both Trek and Who tried to pander to a wider audience, but this backfired. Old-school fans just stopped tuning in, feeling like what they saw onscreen no longer resembled the franchise they fell in love wth. Meanwhile, poor marketing and diminishing name recognition meant these shows didn’t gain any new fans. The result? A show that ends up bleeding money.
Paramount never really releases streaming numbers, so it’s impossible to know exactly how many people watched Starfleet Academy. Notably, it never cracked the Top 10 Nielsen streaming originals list. Citing an unnamed source, Mike Stoklassa of Red Letter Media claimed that Season 1 only got a cumulative number of 400,000 viewers, which averages out to 40,000 views per episode. Meanwhile, the first season reportedly cost $100 million, averaging out to $10 million per episode. At the end of the day, it’s just math: because Starfleet Academy cost a small fortune to make and didn’t attract enough viewers, it got the axe.

The same can be said for Doctor Who. Showrunner Russel T. Davies had a way bigger budget than he otherwise would have, thanks to Disney. They covered half the costs; the episodes featuring Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor reportedly cost between $8.5 million and $10.5 million. That’s about three times what it cost to make Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor Who episodes. However, these new episodes failed to crack the Nielsen top 10. And on the BBC, Gatwa reportedly lost about a million views from season to season, culminating in a Season 2 finale that garnered only 2.25 million views. Like Starfleet Academy, it’s not worth making super expensive episodes if nobody is watching them.
Wokeness didn’t kill these franchises because they’ve been woke since before most of their haters were born. But each franchise tried in vain to appeal to broader audiences, creating shows that drove away old fans while failing to recruit new ones. Old-school fans of Star Trek and Doctor Who were very accustomed to woke messaging, but it was usually packaged with stellar writing. Continuous poor writing drove away the base of each show until there was nothing left but a handful of diehards. Sobering as it is, the creators of Trek and Who just learned a brutal lesson: you can’t have a successful blockbuster show with only a handful of fans.
Never underestimate the power of loyalty when it comes to gamers, because they will die for a new video game in their favorite franchise. This medium has rapidly grown over the past couple of decades, with titles such as Red Dead Redemption 2 and God of War redefining what video games are. However, while new games are needed, the best-selling video games are usually part of a franchise.
There are countless video game franchises, and this list will rank the ten greatest of all time based on aspects such as a balance of quantity and quality, consistency, sales, popularity, innovation, influence, design, fan opinion, critical acclaim, and overall quality. Red Dead Redemption may have two of the best games ever, but it is hard to compete against an established game series with dozens of entries.
A lot of franchises on this list have undertaken massive identity shifts, but one of the biggest changes comes from Assassin’s Creed, which moved from stealth to open-world 3D action. Each game has players entering a machine that takes them into the past, controlling an assassin from history as they try to help save the world by taking down high-profile targets who threaten the peace.
Not every Assassin’s Creed game is a masterpiece, but the franchise is still a legendary one because of its revolutionary stealth mechanics and iconic look. Taking on a new setting in every game spices it up with new historical intrigue and political drama. The new Assassin’s Creed games focus on large worlds and mythological battles, which, while different, are still compelling.
The most mainstream genre is arguably the FPS, which simulates real combat experience under gunfire, and Xbox capitalized on this by delivering the Halo franchise. Playing as the iconic Master Chief, gamers travel throughout the galaxy in an endless war against aliens, specifically the Covenant and the Flood, in different games.
Halo has some of the best video game sequels, highlighting an incredible stretch from the first one until the fourth. The first revolutionized the shooter genre while the second continued to pioneer the multiplayer experience, with the latter ones perfecting said formula. However, Halo does stumble with its fifth game, and while Halo Infinite was good, it is rather forgettable, diminishing a legendary legacy.
Some of the best video game franchises also have the most iconic characters in the medium, such as Sonic the Hedgehog. Some gamers like to take things slow and explore, others prefer to go fast, and that is exactly what this franchise offers. Players control the legendary blue hedgehog as they run around green hills and scientific facilities in order to stop the dastardly Robotnik/Doctor Eggman.
While the franchise is more known for its movies nowadays and nostalgic cartoons, it is still a video game franchise with some of the most memorable gaming experiences. Unfortunately, the Sonic the Hedgehog brand is lesser known for their video games, but historically, the franchise is rooted in gaming excellence, delivering a feeling of velocity and engagement unlike any other.
As mentioned, the FPS genre might be the most popular, and the greatest franchise it has to offer is Call of Duty. Every year or so, Activision releases a new Call of Duty game centred around authentic shooting gameplay. Sometimes set in the modern age, other times in a historical setting or in the far future, it is all about warfare during different times.
Call of Duty is often criticized for producing the same video game every year, and while they do sometimes have repetitive gameplay and similar styles, the franchise is still too popular to leave off this list. The old games are known for having some of the most defining video game experiences. Playing late-night COD with friends and its satisfying combat is a common yet unrivalled time that popularized the franchise.
Even if some of the franchises on this list have disappointing games, they can make it on here if they are popular enough, and there is no franchise as big as Pokémon. This legendary RPG has players catching every Pokémon they can, defeating the eight gym leaders and whatever evil team threatens the region. Each game is set in a new region with different creatures and a fresh adventure.
Pokémon has lost a lot of credibility after making the move to 3D, especially recently on the Nintendo Switch with their buggy releases. However, no matter what happens, this franchise has already established itself as the most well-known gaming brand. Up until the 3DS era, every game was a riveting new experience. Pokémon is more than a gaming franchise; it is a pop culture identity that transcends video games, not to mention it is the largest media franchise in the world.
Everyone loves a good fantasy game, and after the recent remake, Final Fantasy is once again back on top. This JRPG gaming franchise first started in 1987 and is an anthology series, with each new entry following a new cast with a different story. Starting out as a top-down 2D adventure, it has since delved into the 3D realm.
With around 16 entries in this video game franchise, Final Fantasy is an expansive series that has a die-hard fanbase. However, it is best known for the sixth and seventh games, which are timeless experiences that innovated through their storytelling, scale, and gameplay. Final Fantasy has some of the best villains in video game history, which helps create such a rich and compelling experience.
The horror genre is one of the most renowned in video game history because of the immersion and greater sense of fear, and Resident Evil understood this. Whether it be zombies or mutated creatures, each game has supernatural fiends causing mayhem wherever they go, with the player needing to stop them. Resident Evil defined the survival horror genre while constantly offering new styles.
Currently celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2026, this franchise has never been more popular, with new remakes being announced, a ninth game being a game of the year candidate, and a movie coming out later in the year. Ranging from an immersive and haunting horror experience to an action-packed survival masterclass, Resident Evil constantly reinvents itself to innovate on the horror genre and push the franchise to new heights.
When it comes to franchises, Nintendo has some of the most critically acclaimed and popular, such as Kirby and Metroid. However, the best reviewed is The Legend of Zelda, which commonly follows Link as he travels around the kingdom of Hyrule to save the princess Zelda from the evil clutches of Ganondorf as he tries to claim the Triforce for himself.
The Legend of Zelda franchise has always been critically acclaimed, but it has also reached a new level of popularity with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which brought it to an open world. From the intricately designed dungeons to the sense of adventure and exploration it evokes to the whimsical world full of lore and wonder, this franchise is ageless. The Legend of Zelda has no bad games, whether it be the charming 2D games, the dungeon-based classic 3D Zelda titles, or the new age open-air experiences.
Rockstar is a prolific video game studio known for a couple of franchises, including Grand Theft Auto. Every game is set in a new world inspired by a real American city, from Los Angeles to New York City to Miami. Usually playing as criminals, gamers maneuver their way through the crime-filled city just trying to make a living, but this usually gets them involved with the police and other underworld enemies.
The Legend of Zelda is more recognizable as it never strays too far from its dedicated style, but Grand Theft Auto has better sales and general popularity. Not to mention, this franchise has some of the most critically acclaimed video games that are all revolutionary masterpieces, brimming with ambition and scale. Grand Theft Auto VI is bound to be the largest video game in history, further cementing this franchise as one of the best.
Some franchises are iconic because of the games, others due to the main character, but for Mario, it is both. The red plumber never takes a day off, always needing to rescue Princess Peach from the dastardly Bowser. However, the Mario franchise is more than just a platformer; it expands to sports games, party titles, RPGs, and kart racing sensations.
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While this entry doesn’t include closely related franchises like Luigi’s Mansion, Yoshi, Peach, Wario, and Super Smash Bros., it does count the Mario Party, RPG games like Paper Mario, Mario sports games, and Mario Kart alongside the 2D and 3D platformers. Mario is a staple in the video game industry, with everyone knowing the iconic character. All the games sell well, especially the inventive platformers that are the best of the genre.
When a movie takes you into the trenches, and in the houses of families supported by those in the trenches, that’s when a war movie becomes a masterpiece. Now, loud ones often get remembered through the biggest images first: battles, explosions, uniforms, speeches, flags, sacrifice. The underrated ones usually cut from a stranger angle.
They stay with one frightened unit, one prisoner yard, one broken soldier, one train line, one ruined village, one act of resistance that history could have swallowed whole. That is why this list needs a sharper standard. The 10 movies on this list are in my opinion, masterpieces, because they find pressure where louder films sometimes miss it. Or perhaps, louder films have it too and it’s the people who skipped it. Allow me help you see it.
Christmas in a war film should feel like relief, but in A Midnight Clear it feels like a cruel little reminder that these boys are still young enough to want peace more than glory. The story follows Will Knott (Ethan Hawke) and his American intelligence squad in the Ardennes during World War II, where they encounter German soldiers who seem less interested in fighting than finding a way to surrender without being executed by their own side. That setup gives the film a strange tenderness before dread starts pressing in.
What makes it special is how badly everyone wants the war to stop for even one night. The snow, the singing, the nervous attempts at trust, and the awkward little gestures between enemies all create this fragile pocket of humanity that feels too good to survive. Will carries the confusion of someone trying to be decent in a situation designed to punish decency. The movie hurts because hope keeps appearing in small human shapes, and each one feels exposed to gunfire.
The Big Red One follows a sergeant (Lee Marvin) leading a squad in the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division through North Africa, Sicily, D-Day, and the liberation of a concentration camp. The men around him, including Griff (Mark Hamill), are less like mythic warriors and more like survivors trying to stay alive long enough to understand what the war has done to them.
The film’s roughness is part of its force. Death can be absurd, ugly, quick, or almost casually placed in the corner of a scene. Combat doesn’t feel clean. The childbirth in a tank, the watchful silence before danger, the strange jokes soldiers make to keep fear from eating them, and the concentration camp material all build a war movie that feels remembered rather than manufactured. It is imperfect in shape, yet full of moments that cut deeper than smoother classics. That’s a war movie’s brutal beauty to me.
Few war movies make cowardice in command feel this enraging. A U.S. infantry unit in Europe is stuck under Captain Cooney (Eddie Albert), a weak officer whose rank protects him while better men die under his decisions. Lieutenant Costa (Jack Palance) sees exactly what Cooney is, and that knowledge turns every mission into a second battle. The enemy is out there, yes, but the danger inside the chain of command keeps poisoning the unit first.
That is what gives Attack its nasty potency. Cooney is frightening. His cowardice has social cover. He can smile, drink, excuse himself, and hide behind procedure while men pay for his fear. Colonel Bartlett (Lee Marvin) adds another layer of rot through ambition and political calculation. Costa’s rage feels earned because he is watching authority become a death sentence for the soldiers beneath it. The film deserves more love because it tears into a war-movie lie audiences still get sold too often: rank and courage do not always live in the same body.
A military prison in the desert should not feel more exhausting than a battlefield, yet this film turns punishment into its own war. The Hill has Joe Roberts (Sean Connery), a British soldier sent to a North African detention camp during World War II, where prisoners are forced to climb a brutal man-made hill under the control of sadistic guards. The camp has rules, uniforms, authority, and discipline, but all of that order is being used to crush men instead of preparing them.
The hill itself becomes sickening because it has no purpose beyond humiliation. Men climb it, fall, sweat, vomit, break, and climb again while the officers pretend cruelty is correction. Connery strips away every trace of glamour and gives Roberts a hard, burning refusal to let the system define him. Regimental Sergeant Major Wilson (Harry Andrews) and Staff Sergeant Williams (Ian Hendry) bring different shades of institutional violence, from rigid command to personal sadism. The movie is underrated because it understands war beyond combat. Sometimes the machine destroys its own soldiers before the enemy ever gets near them.
The Train is one of the greatest “how much is culture worth during war?” thrillers, and it never turns that question into a lecture. Labiche (Burt Lancaster) is a French railway inspector and Resistance member who is asked to stop a Nazi officer from transporting stolen French art to Germany. Labiche is practical, tired, and focused on lives rather than paintings, which makes his involvement more interesting than simple patriotic duty.
The suspense is all sweat, metal, timing, and sacrifice. Tracks are rerouted. Engines are sabotaged. Stations become traps. Railway workers risk themselves for canvases some of them will never fully understand in museum terms, yet the theft itself represents something larger than property. Colonel von Waldheim (Paul Scofield) is dangerous because he treats art as a possession he alone deserves to preserve. Labiche keeps losing people as the mission grows, and the film keeps asking what civilization means when human bodies are the price of saving its treasures. Few war thrillers move with this much muscle and moral anger at once.
The Steel Helmet is about a helmet with a bullet hole and a lost child walking through war can say more than a giant battle scene. Sergeant Zack (Gene Evans) is a hardened American soldier who survives a massacre and moves through hostile territory with a young Korean boy he nicknames Short Round (William Chun). They join a small American patrol and take shelter in a Buddhist temple, where exhaustion, prejudice, fear, and enemy pressure start colliding in close quarters.
The film is blunt in the best way. Zack is tough, bitter, and ugly in his assumptions, but the world around him keeps challenging the easy categories soldiers use to survive. The temple setting gives the story an eerie stillness, almost as if ancient calm is watching modern violence embarrass itself. Short Round gives the movie its emotional sting because childhood keeps wandering through adult cruelty without protection. Made so soon after World War II and during the Korean War itself, the film feels raw, angry, and shockingly direct about race, trauma, and survival.
Hunger eats the humanity out of this movie one scene at a time. You’ll know that when you watch Fires on the Plain. It follows Tamura (Eiji Funakoshi), a sick Japanese soldier rejected by his own unit in the Philippines near the end of World War II and told to find a hospital that barely has room for the living. He drifts through a collapsing landscape where soldiers are starving, command has dissolved, and survival has become more frightening than death.
The film is almost unbearable because it removes every romantic escape hatch. Tamura is not marching toward glory but wandering through a world where bodies, fields, smoke, and empty stomachs keep narrowing the idea of what a person can be. The other soldiers he meets are trapped between shame, desperation, cannibalism, and the animal needs to continue breathing. Fires on the Plain is war stripped down to appetite and ruin and calling it underrated feels insane after watching it, because few anti-war films look this directly at what defeat does to the soul.
The Burmese Harp may just be the gentlest film on this list but also the one that leaves the deepest bruise. Here’s how. Near the close of World War II, a group of Japanese soldiers in Burma surrender and try to hold onto music, dignity, and each other after the fighting has already taken so much. Mizushima (Shoji Yasui), one of their men, is sent to persuade another Japanese unit to surrender, then becomes separated from his comrades and begins a journey that changes the rest of his life.
What follows has a quiet spiritual ache that sneaks up on you. Mizushima sees dead Japanese soldiers left unburied across Burma, and the sight pulls him away from ordinary return. His harp, his disguise as a monk, and his growing need to care for the abandoned dead turn the film into something more painful than a survival story. The soldiers singing together gives the movie warmth, but that warmth keeps meeting the cost of the war they survived. It is a masterpiece because it understands guilt after surrender. Living is one burden. Remembering the dead properly is another.
The Ascent feels cold in a way that goes past the weather. Two Soviet partisans, Sotnikov (Boris Plotnikov) and Rybak (Vladimir Gostyukhin), search for food in Nazi-occupied Belarus and get captured after a desperate journey through snow, fear, and exhaustion. On paper, it is a wartime survival story. In the experience of watching it, the film becomes a moral furnace where pain, betrayal, faith, and fear strip both men down to what they truly are.
Sotnikov’s body is weak, sick, and battered, yet his inner stillness grows more powerful as the pressure increases. Rybak is more physically capable, and that makes his terror more devastating because he keeps trying to stay alive one compromise at a time. Larisa Shepitko gives the snow, faces, silences, and interrogations a force that feels almost sacred without turning the film soft. The villagers, the collaborators, the German officers, and the prisoners all seem trapped under the same dead sky. This is one of the greatest war films ever made because it treats survival as a question of the soul, not only the body.
No resistance film has ever made heroism feel this tired, lonely, and stripped of applause. This is hands down the most underrated war film ever made. Army of Shadows follows members of the French Resistance under Nazi occupation, especially Philippe Gerbier (Lino Ventura), a calm and disciplined operative who escapes, hides, organizes, and makes brutal decisions with almost no space for emotion. These people are brave, but the film never lets bravery become glamour. It feels closer to a job done in the dark by people who know the job may erase them.
That is why it sits at the top. The safe houses, coded meetings, prison breaks, executions, betrayals, and quiet waits all carry the same terrible understanding: resistance requires courage, but it also demands secrecy, suspicion, and choices that damage the people making them. Gerbier carries a heaviness that feels carved from experience. Mathilde (Simone Signoret) is brilliant, practical, and heartbreaking because competence cannot protect her from every consequence. The film’s greatness is in its refusal to flatter the viewer. It honors resistance by showing how much of it looked like fear, patience, grief, and silence.
September 10, 1969
145 minutes
Jean-Pierre Melville
Jean-Pierre Melville, Joseph Kessel
Lino Ventura
Philippe Gerbier
Jean-Pierre Cassel
Jean-François Jardie
By TeeJay Small
| Published

If you’re a sitcom fan of a certain age, you probably spent your formative years sitting in front of a glowing television set, watching Tim Allen grunt and shout about tools on Home Improvement. For years now, fans have asked for a Home Improvement reunion of some sort, since just about every other show from that era has been rebooted, remade, or squeezed dry with legacy sequels. Unfortunately, it looks like a Home Improvement reunion won’t be in the cards for the foreseeable future, according to Tim Allen himself.
Per a recent report in Variety, Tim the tool man is blaming his fictional kids for gumming up the works, claiming that they have severe “personality problems” that are keeping them from reuniting. Specifically, the Toy Story 5 star claims that network execs from ABC “keep talking about how it could move forward, but they get stuck [because] there are some personality problems right now with the boys.” When asked about his own vision for a possible Home Improvement reunion, Allen explained “I always thought it would be cool if it was a story about them. That’s a little challenging right now, to put it mildly.”

Allen’s comments seem to refer to a series of arrests and other headline-grabbing moments from his younger costars. Most notably, Zachery Ty Bryan, who portrayed Tim Taylor’s son Brad on the original series, has had numerous run-ins with the law. Having starred on Home Improvement from the ages of nine to 17, it’s easy to see how the young actor might have fallen prey to the same kinds of issues that plague many child stars.
Bryan was arrested in 2025 on charges of second-degree violence, after previously facing arrests for felony assault, third-degree robbery, and domestic violence over the years. While these charges are quite shocking, it’s worth pointing out that Tim Allen isn’t exactly a shining paragon of moral and lawful virtue. The Buzz Lightyear voice actor has carried numerous controversies of his own over the years, including on-set misconduct claims, accusations of creating a hostile work environment, and arrests for drug trafficking and drunk driving.

None of this is to say that Allen or his costars are singlehandedly preventing Home Improvement from returning. Still, it’s worth pointing out that the production has more to contend with than some simple “personality problems.” In fact, even if Allen and his TV children were squeaky clean legally speaking, there’s a good chance that a reunion still wouldn’t take shape. Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who portrayed Randy on the series, is no longer interested in acting, and hasn’t appeared on screen in over a decade.
Of course, ABC could take a page from the Malcolm In The Middle reboot by recasting Randy, but that would sort of conflict with Tim Allen’s vision that the series centers on the Taylor boys all grown up. As it currently stands, it seems like a Home Improvement reboot is less likely to be made today than ever before. Maybe we can hold out hope for a 40 year reunion special in 2031, but even that seems a little farfetched.
Tyrese Haliburton’s fiancée is mourning the heartbreaking loss of one of her closest friends after a luxury bachelorette getaway ended in tragedy.
Jade Jones shared an emotional tribute this week to Makenzi Kern, who died unexpectedly at age 26 while celebrating alongside friends in St. Barts.
As loved ones continue to grieve, questions surrounding Kern’s sudden death have fueled widespread speculation online, even as those close to the situation insist there is no indication of foul play or substance involvement.
Jones broke her silence on Wednesday night with an emotional Instagram post honoring her longtime friend following her sudden death.
Sharing a collection of photos from their years of friendship, she reflected on the bond they shared and the impact Kern had on those around her.
“I am forever grateful that I got to love someone as truly special as Kenzi, and to have been loved back by her,” Jones wrote.
She continued, “Kenz was truly a light in this world, and that light will continue to shine in everyone who was lucky enough to know her. I love you forever until the end of time Kenzi.”
Jones also described Kern as “a once-in-a-lifetime kind of friend” and thanked her for years of support, laughter, and memories.
“I’ll always miss you but I know you’ll be with me, wherever I go. ‘See ya,’” she added. Among those responding was Tyrese Haliburton himself, who simply commented, “I love you.”
According to an online obituary, Kern died on June 8, just two days after celebrating her 26th birthday.
The obituary noted that she passed away while “surrounded by her closest friends on a once in a lifetime trip to St. Barthelemy Island.”
Images shared by Jones on social media shortly before the tragedy showed the group enjoying the tropical destination, spending time by the pool and relaxing on the beach during the bachelorette festivities.
A source familiar with the situation later revealed that Kern died unexpectedly due to health complications.
According to the insider, her family does not suspect foul play and does not believe drugs or alcohol played any role in her death.
Kern is survived by her parents, stepparents, sister, step-siblings, grandparents, and boyfriend.
Since the news of Kern’s death made it to the headlines, numerous theories have quickly surfaced online about what may have caused her sudden passing.
One woman claiming to know the family wrote on social media that the 26-year-old suffered a sudden heart attack.
Others went further, with some attempting to connect her death to COVID-19 vaccinations despite no evidence supporting those claims.“Sounds sudden and vaxxy,” one X user posted per the Daily Mail.
Laura Miers, a vocal critic of COVID vaccines, also weighed in online, writing that “the New Normal really blows.” “We will be witnessing record premature death for the rest of our natural lives,” she added.
Despite the speculation, there has been no evidence linking Kern’s death to any COVID vaccine.
Those close to the situation have instead emphasized that she died unexpectedly from health complications.
The friendship between Jones and Kern stretched back years before the tragic trip.
Like Jones and Tyrese Haliburton, the deceased attended Iowa State University, where she and Jones were teammates on the school’s cheerleading squad.
Friends knew her affectionately as “Kenz.” After college, Kern built a career in Nebraska, where she worked as a membership director for a local YMCA branch.
Her connection to the NBA player’s fiancée remained strong throughout the years, making her sudden passing especially devastating for the bride-to-be.
Similarly, Jones and Haliburton have also built a long-term relationship of their own. The couple have been together for more than seven years, dating back to his days as a standout guard at Iowa State.
Their relationship continued as Haliburton’s basketball career rapidly expanded onto the national stage.

While supporting his partner through the loss of her friend, Tyrese Haliburton has also endured a difficult stretch professionally.
The 26-year-old was selected by the Sacramento Kings in the 2020 NBA Draft before eventually joining the Indiana Pacers.
He later helped lead Indiana to the 2025 NBA Finals, marking one of the biggest achievements of his career.
However, the Finals ended on a painful note. Haliburton suffered a devastating Achilles injury during Indiana’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, an injury severe enough to sideline him for the entire 2025-26 season.
By Steven Nelson
| Published

Sometimes, catching up with current stars back well before they had become household names and faces can be almost like a look back into a time capsule. And sometimes nearly the entire cast of a movie goes on to relative superstardom. With that in mind, get ready for a heartwarming and nostalgic journey with 10 Years, a hidden gem currently streaming on Tubi that brings together two rising stars, Chris Pratt and Channing Tatum (and a bunch of others).
Released in 2011, this film takes us back to the early days of Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt’s careers, where both actors were still on the cusp of becoming world famous.

In 10 Years, Chris Pratt and Channing Tatum lead an ensemble cast (which we’ll get to), portraying a group of friends who reunite for their high school reunion. As they come together to celebrate the passing of a decade since graduation, the film delves into themes of friendship, growth, and reminiscence.
Chris Pratt’s character, Cully, is a lovable and somewhat goofy guy who has yet to fully outgrow his high school persona. As the film progresses, Pratt’s performance brings both charm and vulnerability to Cully, capturing the essence of a character trying to find his place in the adult world.

Channing Tatum takes on the role of Jake, a successful music executive who has moved on from his high school days. Tatum’s portrayal of Jake exudes charisma and maturity, reflecting the growth his character has undergone since their shared high school experiences.
Throughout the movie, 10 Years weaves together multiple storylines, exploring the complexities of friendships that have evolved over time. As the characters reconnect and reminisce, the film strikes a balance between heartfelt moments and lighthearted humor, creating an emotionally resonant narrative.

And, of course, there’s the rest of the cast. If it sounds like the precursor for what would see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, well, you aren’t far off. In addition to Channing Tatum (not in the MCU, yet) and Chris Pratt (duh), there’s Oscar Isaac and Anthony Mackie who make up part of the core friend group. Plus, Aubrey Plaza is in there as well. Rounding it out are Rosario Dawson, Justin Long, Kate Mara, and Ron Livingston.
And while the film didn’t come out to much in the way of fanfare (less than a million at the box office), it does maintain a 58 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes.

For both Chris Pratt and Channing Tatum, 10 Years marks an important stage in their careers. At the time of the film’s release, Pratt had already begun gaining recognition for his role as Andy Dwyer in the popular TV series Parks and Recreation. However, his breakthrough into major blockbuster films was still on the horizon. His endearing performance in 10 Years showcased his comedic talent and set the stage for more significant opportunities that awaited him.
Similarly, Channing Tatum was establishing himself as a prominent actor in Hollywood, having already starred in films like Step Up and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. 10 Years further solidified his status as a leading man, with his charisma and charm shining through in the role of Jake.

As their careers continued to flourish, both Chris Pratt and Channing Tatum went on to achieve immense success. Pratt became a prominent figure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starring as Peter Quill/Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, while Tatum impressed audiences with his performances in films like Magic Mike, 21 Jump Street, and Roofman.
Looking back, 10 Years serves as both a heartfelt ensemble dramedy and a fascinating snapshot of Chris Pratt and Channing Tatum before they became major Hollywood stars. Their performances showcase the charm and talent that would later propel them to blockbuster success, making the film an endearing trip down memory lane that’s well worth revisiting.
As of this writing, 10 Years is streaming for free on Tubi.
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Katie Holmes clearly knows that sometimes, the simplest wardrobe staples can be the most luxurious. At the Chanel Tribeca Festival Artists Dinner, the actress paired a beige top with sleek black trousers and two-toned heels, serving the effortless polish she’s known for. The good news is that a similar quiet-luxury top is on Amazon, and doesn’t cost more than $20!
With its neutral palette, clean lines and slightly slouchy fit, this sleeveless summer knit is a celebrity-approved style that’s actually wearable. It’s something you can casually wear to dinner with friends, not just to an A-lister-packed event, which in short means we’re snagging at least two.
Get the Btfbm Sleeveless Knit Top for $20 at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate at the date of publication but are subject to change.
The Btfbm Sleeveless Knit Top comes in a light khaki shade that channels Katie’s exact vibe, with a relaxed crew neckline and a loose, breezy silhouette. It’s a piece that works as hard as you do, and whether it’s tucked into trousers for dinner, layered under a blazer for the office or paired with denim on weekends, it transforms your look into something luxe.
The stylish, affordable tank is also incredibly flattering. Aside from visually elongating your figure, the ribbed knit drapes away from your body rather than squeezing or constricting, making you appear slimmer by default. Oh, and it’s stretchy!
One five-star shopper wrote, “The fabric is soft and silky (no shine) and not see-through. The construction is like much more expensive garments . . . It hits at high hip and falls loosely without being tight . . . This top is sophisticated, timeless and classic.”
At $20, this chic wonder is basically begging to become the unsung hero of your warm-weather rotation. Holmes makes minimalist dressing look like an art form, and now you can borrow her formula. A great neutral knit, comfy pants, your favorite shoes and you’re done. No overthinking required.
Get the Btfbm Sleeveless Knit Top for $20 at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate at the date of publication but are subject to change.
A fourth celebrity will be lacing up their ballroom shoes for Dancing With the Stars season 35.
Jimmy Kimmel announced on the Wednesday, June 17, episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! that his onscreen sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez is joining DWTS this fall.
“This September, Guillermo will become the first-ever parking lot security guard to dance with the stars,” Kimmel, 58, declared. “Don’t lose a single adorable pound! ”
Rodriguez, 55, has been working on Jimmy Kimmel Live! for 23 years, having started on the show as a security guard. His quirky chemistry with Kimmel led to an on-air role as a sidekick and red carpet interviewer.

A full list of cast members (including stars and pro dancers) is set to be unveiled on September 2 on Good Morning America, with the series premiering this fall on ABC and Disney+. A new dancer from The Next Pro, which is hosted by season 34 mirrorball winner Robert Irwin, will also be joining the series.
Wednesday’s announcement comes one month after DWTS announced that Savannah Bananas’ Jackson Olson would be joining the show. Weeks earlier, news broke that Summer House star Ciara Miller and Love Island’s Maura Higgins would be trying their hand at the competition on season 35.
Maura, for her part, already has an idea of who she wants to be by her side in the ballroom.
“The training is meant to be quite grueling,” Maura, 35, exclusively told Us Weekly in May. “That’s why I want Mark [Ballas], because maybe he might go easy on me a bit. But then I do probably need to be pushed.”
While Mark — who connected with Maura on season 4 of The Traitors, which Rob Rausch won — said he’s “not sure” if he would return for DWTS season 35, Maura has a back-up plan at the ready. (After being famously betrayed by Rob, 27, in the finale, Maura was gifted a Birkin for her troubles.)
“If it’s not Mark, I think I’d want Val [Chmerkovskiy],” Maura told Us. “I mean, to be honest, I’m OK to have anyone else. I just don’t want Gleb [Savchenko]. That’s the main thing for me.”
For Maura, not being partnered with Gleb, 42, is important to her after his on-off relationship with her friend Brooks Nader.
“It’s not even being mean. It’s just because I get on with Brooks and that’s that. I’m on Brooks’ side,” Maura told Us, as she referenced her mindset from season 4 of The Traitors. “I’m a loyalist, OK?”
Ciara, whose casting was announced amid the ongoing controversy surrounding Summer House costar and ex West Wilson’s romance with ex-BFF Amanda Batula, is set on having Val, 40, as her partner.
“I’ve been campaigning for Val,” Ciara told E! News during the May Met Gala livestream. “I don’t know if they hear me, but yeah, sending out some emails, putting my word in. We’ll see where everyone wants to place me.”
Dancing With the Stars is set to premiere this fall on ABC and Disney+. A specific date has not been announced yet.
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The singer and five others were killed when two choppers collided in Brazil.
Jelly Roll‘s daughter, Bailee Ann, is speaking out as fans flood his comment section with STRONG words amid his filing for divorce from Bunnie XO.
According to Page Six, on Tuesday, June 16, Jelly Roll’s daughter, Bailee Ann, took to her Story on TikTok. This, to write, “Oh & one more thing I am disgusted at how invested everyone is in a very clearly private family matter. It’s fkn crazy. Go on somewhere yall. Worry bout your house- not mine. I’m not speaking on it – yet.”
@thebaileeann what can i say, i get it honest 😂 #baileeann #baileeandbunnie
Meanwhile, social media users are gathered in the comment section of Jelly Roll’s latest Instagram post, sharing their “invested” thoughts.
Instagram user @__sarahsunflower wrote, “Not the first time you see a man use a woman to help him be better then leave.”
While Instagram user @jacobfriesen32 added, “Bro was on Joe Rogan crying about how much he loved his wife and how she and his family supported him through his weight loss journey. Now you’re divorcing homegirl. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂”
Instagram user @the1andonlyshique wrote, “The difference in what he post and what she’s posting is key … but this marriage is not out business it’s theirs and I love how he is not sending subliminal messages he’s continuing on his growth journey…”
While Instagram user @katie_fogleman added, “And deleting her name from your bio… just made it real. 😮”
Instagram user @ginatheodore wrote, “A man of Christ would work on his marriage.”
While Instagram user @ali_porcelain added, “Got skinny and sucessful and now leaving the woman who put him there for ‘greener pastures’ 🙃”
Instagram user @sommerlacey wrote, “Never gonna get better than Bunnie my guy 😭😭😭😭😭 big mistake jelly”
While Instagram user @greekfreak_81 added, “Lost weight and ditched the wife!!!”
Instagram user @coco199900 wrote, “Jelly CLEAR THIS UP!! DON’T LET THE DEVIL DESTROY YOUR MARRIAGE”
While Instagram user @yoyokhlojo added, “Americas sweethearts cannot be divorcing!!!! I’m so sad!!!! I thought these 2 were in it for the long haul!!!! WHAT HAPPENED!!! Praying for yall! 😢”
As The Shade Room previously reported, Jelly Roll filed for divorce from his wife of ten years, Bunnie XO, on May 18. The filing reportedly surfaced on Tuesday, June 16, and revealed that he cited their separation date as May 9. Furthermore, in his filing, Jelly Roll reportedly noted “irreconcilable differences.”
On June 16, Bunnie XO appeared to react to the news of her divorce by sharing a photo of herself on her Instagram Story with the caption, “She’s getting her sparkle back.”
What Do You Think Roomies?
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Peanut butter? Craig Melvin doesn’t think so, honey.
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