Oprah Winfrey has ignited a fierce debate after arguing that young people should not expect work-life balance at the beginning of their careers. The 72-year-old media mogul said recent college graduates need to “lay in the work” before earning the freedom to make decisions based entirely on what they want. While some fans praised Oprah Winfrey for sharing the work ethic that helped her build a multibillion-dollar empire, others argued that her extraordinary wealth has disconnected her from the financial and emotional pressures facing younger workers.

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Winfrey discussed her career philosophy during an appearance on the “Baby, This Is Keke Palmer” podcast. The conversation began when Keke Palmer asked, “What is for you the definition of living your best life now? What does it look like?”

“Well, it looks like freedom,” Winfrey responded. “It looks like being able to make the choices that are based on what you really want, which I think is the most important question.”

The former talk show host explained that people who are not completely free may have to make choices based on necessity rather than personal fulfillment. “You know, I think when you’re not free, not completely free, you can’t make decisions based upon what you want. You have to do what you want,” she said.

Winfrey then connected that philosophy to the advice she gives young women entering the workforce.

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Winfrey said she regularly hears recent college graduates discussing their desire to establish boundaries between their careers and personal lives.

“This is what I say to my girls, you know, graduating from college and starting their first jobs and they’re talking to me about, you know, work-life balance,” Winfrey said. “At this point, I go, ‘you ain’t had no work life balance at 22… It’s not there. You’re not supposed to have it. You’re supposed to lay it in. Lay in the work.’”

According to Winfrey, the ability to decline unwanted opportunities and pursue only personally meaningful work must be earned over time. The billionaire said she has now reached a stage where her decisions come from “the purest part of myself.”

“I only do what I want to do and I’ve earned the right to do that because there was lots of times I had to do what I had to do,” she explained.

Winfrey added, “A lot of people think ‘oh I just want to do what I want to do.’ You got to work to be able to do what you want to do. You have to do what you have to do, until you can do what you want to do.”

Critics Say Oprah Can No Longer Relate To ‘Normal People’

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Winfrey’s comments quickly divided social media users, with some arguing that her billionaire status makes her advice difficult to apply to ordinary workers.

“Don’t take advice from billionaires,” one critic wrote. “They can’t relate to normal people’s lives and give advice based on real-life struggles. She became a millionaire at 32-years-old and has been living with financial freedom for a few decades now.”

Someone else expressed, “That’s right, keep working your life away so the rich can have a few more airplanes in their hangar.” A third wrote, “Work-life balance right now means you need to work hard enough to pay your bills. That’s the balance.”

“No one listens to her anymore and it’s time for her to stop preaching to everyone,” another said.

Fans Challenge The Culture Of Chronic Overworking

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One social media user described Winfrey’s perspective as part of a “generational” tendency to “chronically overwork.”

Another fan argued that the absence of work-life balance is not simply an individual problem that can be overcome by working harder. “I disagree on this take! Love Oprah down but she more than anyone can speak to/understand that it’s a systematic reason why we aren’t able to have work life balance,” the user wrote.

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Winfrey’s advice comes from her own decades-long rise through the entertainment industry. She began working in media at 17 and became the host of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1986. She reached millionaire status in 1989 and became the first Black female billionaire by 2000.

According to Forbes, Winfrey has an estimated net worth of $3.4 billion, built through television, brand deals, production, and real estate. She founded Harpo Productions in 1986 and launched the cable channel OWN in 2011. Her property portfolio reportedly includes $200 million in real estate, including a 66-acre Montecito estate featuring a 23,000-square-foot mansion.

Winfrey has also directed a portion of her wealth toward charitable projects. She established Oprah’s Angel Network in 1998, provided more than 400 scholarships to Morehouse College, and donated $12 million to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2013.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated 15 seconds ago

Right now, Christopher Nolan is on top of the world. Despite all the concerns that it would flop (mostly from people who think Citizen Vigilante is the best movie ever made), The Odyssey has proven to be a massive success in its first weekend. Unlike Odysseus himself, it looks like the film has some smooth sailing ahead of its voyage to earning (with the blessing of the gods) at least a billion at the box office. Considering how this literary epic is so different than his previous works (which focused on everything from Batman to Oppenheimer), fans all have the same question: what will Nolan do next?

Now, it seems we have an answer … sort of. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he discussed how large portions of The Odyssey essentially function as a horror film and that each scary scene in that film “whets my appetite for more.” It seems the Dark Knight director is interested in making his own horror movie, and he went so far as to praise Curry Barker for turning Obsession into a microbudget success story. As a huge horror fan myself, I’m crossing my fingers Nolan transforms the genre with the exact opposite: a macrobudget film that stretches the boundaries of cost as much as it stretches the boundaries of imagination.

Christopher Nolan’s Newest Obsession

Have you ever wondered why there are so many new horror movies each year? It comes down to basic math. It doesn’t take much money to make a movie where young, virtually unknown actors die in gruesome ways, making these films a safe gamble for the studios. Their goal is the kind of success that happened with Obsession, a movie made for $750,000 that has earned over $443 million at the box office. When you have a chance to get that kind of insane return, you better believe studio execs are happy to roll the dice on horror.

That particular cinematic success story seriously impressed Christopher Nolan. In his interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Nolan indicated a desire to direct his own horror movie, but he doesn’t want to rush into anything. “I’ve always believed that horror as a genre has to be approached very carefully from a conceptual point of view. In other words, you have to have an amazing idea,” he said. “When you go see a film like Obsession, that’s an amazing idea. That movie works like a motherf*cker. It’s not about the technical side. It’s not about what technical itches I would have to scratch. It’s about story. So I’m always looking.”

Beer Taste On A Champagne Budget

That means all you horror fiends can mark down Nolan as being tentatively interested in crafting his own spooky movie. His praise of Curry Barker is both sweet and charming; it demonstrates that Nolan (who is reportedly a huge fan of lowbrow comedies like Talladega Nights) is no snob, and he’s impressed with what the younger director could do on such a shoestring budget. While I’m confident Nolan could deliver a similarly thrilling film on a similarly tiny budget, I’d like to see him go in another direction. That is, I’d like to see him make a horror movie with an Odyssey-sized budget!  

Traditionally, horror movies have been made on the cheap for the reasons I outlined earlier. It’s one thing for a studio to gamble on a microbudget film, and it’s another for them to gamble on a blockbuster. Of course, this wouldn’t be just any blockbuster scary movie; it would be one from Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan, whose critical and commercial success rate is undefeated. As both a fan of Nolan and the spooky genre, I can’t help but wonder how cool it would be if he got to film a lavish horror movie in IMAX, replete with special effects and the most famous working actors, all of whom want to star in one of his pictures.

We Deserve Better Big Budget Horror

Beyond my fanboyism, the main reason I want to see Nolan tackle a horror movie is that big-budget spooky films are rare, and the ones we get are usually pretty bad. Like, that awful Van Helsing movie cost $160 million to make, and the deeply disappointing World War Z cost $190 million. Most genre fans can acknowledge those movies are forgettable trash. But what if Nolan, the most ambitious modern director, used that kind of money to bring the scariest story he can think of to life? It could do more than scratch his proverbial itch; it might, in fact, transform the horror genre into something else entirely.

Until he makes any official announcements, the idea of Christopher Nolan directing a horror movie remains a beautiful (or, at least, beautifully bloody) dream. But it’s a dream worth having. This guy just turned a 3,000-year-old poem that 99 percent of the world hasn’t read into a blockbuster nobody can stop talking about. He’s already transformed the tired superhero genre and the bland biopic genre. Why not go for the hat trick and transform scary movies, too? At the very least, Nolan would give spooky fans something to argue about other than their favorite subject: whether “elevated horror” is the best thing ever or the stupidest marketing term ever created.

Fans of the classic mecha anime Mobile Suit Gundam have a lot to look forward to. Not only will Sydney Sweeney and Noah Centineo star in a live-action Gundam movie for Netflix, but a new anime series is on the horizon. New details about the series were revealed at San Diego Comic Con this week, and they’re taking the franchise in a whole new direction.

The long-running franchise has had a good run in recent years. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury saw the series take on corporate greed and social stratification, while Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX went down the road not travelled in the original Mobile Suit Gundam, exploring a universe where the Principality of Zeon triumphed over the Earth Federation. Meanwhile, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe, the sequel to 2021’s well-received Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway, hit theaters earlier this year, and a third film to complete the trilogy is in the works.

Now, Gundam is rocketing into 2027 with Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO. The new series will be directed by Kenji Kamiyama. Best known for the acclaimed Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Kamiyama recently directed the animated feature The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. He is also the director of the Star Wars Visions short The Ninth Jedi, which is being expanded into a full series. The new series will take place in a totally new Gundam timeline; after humans ventured beyond the solar system, they discovered technological advancements that led to a golden age of peace and prosperity. However, before long, an unstoppable interstellar force rendered Earth uninhabitable, leaving the survivors on the Moon and offworld colonies to pick up the pieces. Now, 45 years after the apocalpyse, a new hero arises from the ashes: Azumi Ray, who will pilot the anti-apocalypse Gundam ZERO mobile suit.

What Is the RG Project?

The Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO is only the first part of the RG Project that will lead Gundam into the future. A new video game, Gundam: Rogue Orbit, is also in development; set in the same universe as RG XARX-ZERO, but 100 years into its future, it promises to take gamers into the cockpit of a mobile suit like never before.

Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO and Gundam: Rogue Orbit will launch in 2027. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

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Release Date

1979 – 1980

Network

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Nagoya TV

Directors

Yoshiyuki Tomino, Ryoji Fujiwara, Shinya Sadamitsu

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Writers

Kenichi Matsuzaki

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• 

  Hirotaka Suzuoki

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  Gihren Zabi (voice)

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  Tôru Furuya

  Degwin Sodo Zabi (voice)

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Maybe there was a time when TV was seen as inferior to cinema, and maybe overall, it still is (it does kind of depend on what you’re after, entertainment-wise), but there are undoubtedly shows now that rival movies. Some shows rival great books, too, which might be the better medium to compare television to, since a book – or a series of books – can take hours upon hours to get through, and the same goes for a multi-season-long TV show.

Some of the following shows helped further the idea of television being great/cinematic art, beyond something more disposable that you might’ve tuned into weekly for light entertainment. These all rank among the most ambitious TV shows ever made, and while that’s not exactly the same as singling out the best TV shows ever made, there is, undeniably, quite a bit of crossover between two such rankings.

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‘Deadwood’ (2004–2006)

Image via HBO

There probably isn’t a Western series better than Deadwood, though calling it a TV Western and leaving it at that is also doing it a disservice, since it works as a fantastic crime/drama series as well (one that just so happens to be set during Old West times. It has some basis in history, with Deadwood being a real town and many of the characters being based on people who actually lived there in the 1870s.

Of course, that’s far back enough that not everything was documented, so Deadwood isn’t – and doesn’t try to be – 100% historically accurate. It’s fantastically written and acted, and then on a technical front, it’s also very impressive, putting that HBO money/production value to good use (and it’s definitely not going to be the only HBO show mentioned here).

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’24’ (2001–2010)

Image via FOX

24 ran for eight full-length seasons, each 24 episodes long, and each one of those episodes covered an hour in real-time… for the most part. Commercial breaks meant the episodes weren’t literally an hour long, but whenever it would cut to commercials, the events of the show would continue playing out, albeit off-screen. And so much would happen within every single season/day.

There was a ninth season called 24: Live Another Day, and that was 12 episodes long, but still retained the real-time storytelling, just with a time skip right near the season’s end. 24 was also pretty boundary-pushing in terms of its content, being very violent and dark for a network TV show, and also surprisingly willing to bump off major characters who weren’t Jack Bauer (he was kind of the only person with permanent plot armor) at just about any time.

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‘The Rehearsal’ (2022–2025)

Image via HBO

It’s a bit hard to summarize The Rehearsal, even more so than was the case with Nathan Fielder’s Nathan for You, which is similarly funny and clever, but not nearly as mind-bending. The Rehearsal is about as good as meta comedies have ever gotten, at least on television, with the second season (about airline safety… just go with it) being especially mind-blowing.

The first season of The Rehearsal felt a bit looser, like the direction of it was sort of made up as things went along, but the second season does feel more purposeful, albeit in a way that still feels spontaneous, at least at times. That’s very in line with Nathan Fielder, to not know whether you’re seeing something scripted, completely real, or in the middle somewhere, but The Rehearsal (and especially the second season) has him pushing all that to extremes that really do feel quite groundbreaking.

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‘Twin Peaks’ (1990–1991, 2017)

Image via ABC

The history of Twin Peaks, in terms of how and when it aired, is quite unconventional, which is fitting, considering the sort of show it was. Twin Peaks is noted for being an initial phenomenon, despite being – or maybe because it was – unlike anything else on TV at the time, owing to the whole thing being surreal, dark, sometimes funny, and ambitious with how many characters it followed.

There was a strong mystery that likely hooked a lot of people, and then that mystery was resolved effectively, but too soon, and then the show was canceled after two seasons… all before being brought back for a third season, dubbed Twin Peaks: The Return, over a quarter of a century later. And Twin Peaks: The Return really is one of the most out-there and groundbreaking pieces of television ever, feeling like pure undiluted David Lynch (plus Mark Frost, who was the co-creator of the show who sometimes gets overshadowed by Lynch), for better or worse.

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‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ (1997–2003)

Image via The WB

As far as special effects went, Buffy the Vampire Slayer did its best, for the time and with the money it had. It’s not as technically dazzling as many of the other shows being mentioned here, but it having a go at bringing so many different supernatural creatures to life, pretty much weekly, counts for something. But in any event, it’s really what Buffy the Vampire Slayer was going for narratively and thematically that makes it stand out as notably ambitious.

It’s a show that initially took place in high school, and then had its characters graduate, with the show’s back half being about young adulthood. So, it’s a coming-of-age narrative that spans more time than most coming-of-age stories, and then it touches upon a huge number of topics throughout, all the while balancing so many genres all at once. Honestly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was pretty much every genre, at one point or another, across seven seasons, and the balancing of all that stuff throughout was immense.

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‘Cowboy Bebop’ (1998–1999)

Image via Toonami

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Speaking of shows that can count themselves as part of every genre, at one point or another, here’s Cowboy Bebop, which manages to do all that genre-hopping within a single season of 26 episodes. It’s about a crew of bounty hunters traveling throughout the Solar System, essentially, so with every new target, there is the chance to go somewhere fresh and mix things up tonally, but Cowboy Bebop does manage to have an overall narrative at the same time.

There are character arcs and one central antagonist, and that main storyline – though not touched upon in every episode – is incredibly compelling, and balanced well against some amazing episodes of a more standalone nature. Cowboy Bebop really does feel ideal in terms of having single episodes that stand out and an amazing ongoing storyline, and that it does all that while having incredible (and varied) animation/music alongside homages to so many different genres and types of movies out there really does make it an all-timer, whether you want to judge it among anime or all TV shows more generally.

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‘Lost’ (2004–2010)

Image via ABC

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Twin Peaks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and 24 were all incredibly groundbreaking by the standards of network television, but it was Lost that arguably pushed what you could do on a non-cable show to its absolute limits. It began as a TV show about people trapped on an island after their plane crashed there, though before too long, it turned out Lost was about much more than just survival in a Lord of the Flies kind of way.

Lost had fantasy/supernatural elements, increasingly complex science fiction ideas, mysteries that kept piling upon mysteries, and all the while, it was thrilling as an action/adventure series, too. It was also bold in how it told its progressively wilder story, with flashbacks, flash-forwards, time travel, and eventually some “flash sideways” too. And then it also looked tremendously cinematic, and balanced a greater number of important characters than the majority of long-running TV dramas out there, too.

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‘The Sopranos’ (1999–2007)

The Sopranos is an obligatory pick here, and not really the kind of show that feels like it needs much of an introduction. That introduction, if it has to be given, can’t help but contain information you probably already know. It ran for six seasons. It was about the mob, therapy, and family drama. It was sometimes very funny. It was extremely creative and surprising. It ended in a way that people still talk about and debate. It has gabagool.

And then lots of other things. It’s a towering TV show, and it has to be brought up in a ranking like this because it really helped push forward television as a medium and method of storytelling. Almost nothing in The Sopranos dates it, and the fact that it felt groundbreaking when it was being made – and continues to hold up as something truly special, as far as television is concerned – is very much worth emphasizing.

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‘The Wire’ (2002–2008)

Image via HBO Max

Though it’s not a mystery show like Lost was, The Wire is another show from the 2000s that gets noticeably larger in scope with every passing season. It’s also comparable to Lost because its premise is a lot simpler than what ultimately happens throughout, because the earliest season of The Wire is mostly about members of the Baltimore Police Department taking part in an operation that aims to take down a drug-dealing organization.

The members of both those groups remain relevant beyond season 1, but then each season beyond the first adds a new area of Baltimore that gets explored, in effect, as The Wire grows to also deal with the docks, the political sphere, the education system, and then the media. The Wire does get compared to a great novel, sometimes, but that’s a fair comparison to make, because what it achieves really does go beyond the bounds of most television (HBO or otherwise).

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‘Game of Thrones’ (2011–2019)

Image via HBO

It didn’t even have to finish all that well to find itself at the end of a ranking like this. Game of Thrones went all-out in terms of often looking better than a good many genuine blockbuster movies, building a unique world as well as Deadwood, but on a much bigger scale. There’s a lack of a protagonist and dozens upon dozens of characters, like with The Wire, but on a bigger scale than “just” a city, as was the case with that HBO series.

Also, though it’s got more to do with the source material paving the way, Game of Thrones is bold on a narrative front, and it establishes itself early on as a show where just about anything goes. It might well have overextended itself, leading to a final couple of seasons that weren’t amazing, but even without a smooth landing, what Game of Thrones did right is enough to make it feel about as ambitious as a TV show has ever felt.

Jesse Solomon is recalling how his past testicular cancer diagnosis changed the way he looked at the world.

Speaking to People in an interview published on Thursday, July 23, the Summer House star, 33, said his health scare majorly shifted his perspective.

“I was never fulfilled doing finance,” Jesse explained of his career path before joining Summer House and pursuing his music ambitions. “Getting diagnosed with cancer the first time was a scary thing and then when it comes back, it was really a lesson of, ‘You never know what’s gonna happen tomorrow so you might as well live life to the fullest today.’”

Jesse added that he’s also hoping for a more fulfilling type of relationship in this stage of his life — which he sings about in his latest single, “Wildfire.”

Related: Jesse Solomon Was ‘Scared’ to Rewatch Cancer Scare on ‘Summer House’

Things got “super real” for Jesse Solomon as he broke down during the latest Summer House episode about a possible cancer scare. During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Jesse, 28, said watching back his emotional moment with costar and friend West Wilson was “not as bad as I thought” it would be. “I was […]

“I try not to write about love and relationship stuff too much because not that it’s overdone… But this one just came to me, and it was kinda like, if it’s not that wildfire love, I don’t want it,” he told People. “I‘ve dated people, and I just haven’t felt that truly passionate… I don’t want anything else.”

Jesse was diagnosed with testicular cancer in August 2017 and again in July 2018. The reality TV star underwent chemotherapy and has been in remission for the past seven years.

In March 2024, Jesse shared a candid insight into what it was like hearing the bad news about his health.

“I felt, like, a twinge of pain in my testicle. I didn’t really think anything of it,” Jesse told Today at the time. “The doctor said, ‘You know it’s probably nothing but go get an ultrasound.’”

At first, Jesse assumed that he had “chlamydia or something,” but the ultrasound, which he received in 2017, revealed that he had testicular cancer.

The doctor was like, ‘Hey, so it looks like you have cancer. We won’t know for sure until we remove the testicle but that’s likely the next step,’” the Bravo star recounted. “It was a bit of a shock.”

Jesse described the “painful” surgery to remove his testicle, comparing it to “piranhas jumping around in your stomach while getting kicked in the nuts by a small child.”

Related: Teddi Mellencamp Received ‘Good Advice’ About Cancer From Jesse Solomon

Teddi Mellencamp has been leaning on fellow Bravo star Jesse Solomon amid her cancer battle. “Guess who I’ve been messaging back-and-forth with about cancer? Jesse Solomon,” Mellencamp, 43, told cohost Tamra Judge on the Tuesday, April 8, episode of iHeartRadio’s “Two T’s in a Pod” podcast. “He’s actually given me a lot of good advice.” […]

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Nearly a year after the surgery, Jesse’s doctor found cancer in the lymphnodes in his stomach — meaning he had stage 2 testicular cancer. He underwent four rounds of chemotherapy from July to September 2018.

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“I was nauseous all the time and didn’t feel great,” Jesse told Today. “I definitely lost my hair, like my eyebrows towards the end. I definitely had, like, tingling in the fingers and the toes and ringing in my ears.”

Jesse told Today that he hoped that by sharing his story, it would influence other men to get tested and hopefully, he would help save lives.

“I want men to know that they should be giving themselves regular physical exams because that’s the best way to be able to tell if there’s something going on,” Jesse told Today. “I caught it early … Maybe it will encourage other people to go and get checked.”

Filmmaker Scott Derrickson has publicly criticized Elon Musk following the billionaire’s comments about Christopher Nolan‘s “The Odyssey.”

Musk had earlier called out the film over what he claimed were historical inaccuracies, prompting Derrickson to question the billionaire’s understanding of cinema.

Despite Musk’s criticism, “The Odyssey” has enjoyed strong success since its release on July 17.

In a now-deleted tweet, Derrickson criticized Musk over his comments about Nolan’s “The Odyssey.”

Before the film’s release, Musk had already questioned Nolan’s casting choices and, following its debut, claimed that his AI tool, Grok Imagine, would create a “historically accurate” version of the story before the end of the year.

Musk’s remarks appeared to dismiss the creative effort and craftsmanship involved in producing a film of this scale, prompting Derrickson to respond with a sharply worded criticism of the tech mogul.

“Clearly @elonmusk doesn’t know sh-t about cinema & he stopped reading in his 20s,” the “Doctor Strange” director wrote on X. “His opinions on art are worthless.”

Elon Musk Faces Backlash After Scott Derrickson’s Criticism

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Reacting to Derrickson’s comment, several social media users also criticized Musk.

“Not just cinema,” one user wrote. “Musk is an echo chamber of quislings, so his la la land.”

“Pretty much, his eye for aesthetics or understanding of anything other than the generic is absolutely worthless, as the director said,” another user commented.

Another critic argued that if Musk follows through with his plans, the result could end up being a mess.

“Grok will plagiarize the copyrighted work done by humans on real movies, fed to it by X employees, and will regurgitate incoherent AI slop,” the individual wrote.

Some support did come Musk’s way amid the backlash, with one user citing the tech mogul’s business track record.

“I wouldn’t bet against Musk, he seems to be pretty handy with various industries,” the user said.

Christopher Nolan Addressed ‘The Odyssey’ Backlash Before Release

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Ahead of “The Odyssey’s” July 17 debut, Christopher Nolan addressed the backlash surrounding the film in an interview with The Telegraph.

He said he was not surprised by the reaction, adding that the criticism carried little weight before audiences had actually seen the film.

“But look, these conversations that happen before people see the film – they’re always irrelevant, because no one having them knows what the film actually is yet,” he told the outlet.

Nolan went on to compare the scrutiny surrounding “The Odyssey” with the reaction he faced while directing his Batman trilogy, which began with 2005’s “Batman Begins.”

“What I learned over my time on that trilogy is you can’t worry about any of that at all,” Nolan said. “What you have to do is honor the original text by interpreting it in the strongest way you personally can.”

Christopher Nolan Says Sincerity Matters More Than Criticism

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Reflecting further on that period, Nolan said his experience directing the Batman trilogy ultimately proved rewarding.

“In the end, fans of the property – even when we were doing something that was not what they would have done – enjoyed the sincerity of the attempt to put as good a version of it on screen as we could,” Nolan said.

Now, he hopes audiences will respond similarly to “The Odyssey” as its box office run continues.

“All I can do is make the best film I possibly can in the most sincere way. It’s very different from how anyone else would do it, but that’s what adaptation is,” he remarked.

‘The Odyssey’ Scores Huge Opening Despite Early Backlash

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“The Odyssey” is already proving to be a box office success despite the criticism it faced before its release.

The film debuted with more than $264 million worldwide during its opening weekend, with revenue split almost evenly between domestic theaters and international markets.

Much of the skepticism surrounding the film also appears to have faded, as critics are now praising its performances and production design.

It is already being considered a potential Oscar contender, including for Best Picture and Best Actor for Matt Damon’s performance.

Anchorman and Elf star Will Ferrell is the latest iconic comedian to take the #1 spot on the Netflix charts, courtesy of his new comedy series, The Hawk. Sure, the series might’ve earned his lowest-rated Rotten Tomatoes score yet, and it might be far from the comedy peaks of his 2000s catalog, but the numbers don’t lie, and The Hawk has remained the most popular show on the world’s biggest streamer for a week. But it is far from the only show worth watching on the platform right now. So, with that in mind, here’s a list of three shows you should binge-watch on Netflix.

For more recommendations, check out our list of the best shows and movies on Netflix.

Disclaimer: These titles are available on US Netflix.

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‘Ransom Canyon’ (2025–Present)

Rotten Tomatoes: 45% | IMDb: 6.8/10

The biggest TV arrival this weekend is the second season of Netflix’s answer to Taylor Sheridan‘s ever-expanding Yellowstone universe. Of course, the series in question is Ransom Canyon, a Texas Hill Country-set gem created by April Blair that follows three ranching dynasties feuding in the name of land, love, and legacy.

The return of Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly‘s Staten Kirkland and Quinn O’Grady will come as great news for many, following the first season’s 1.12 billion viewing hours earned in its initial release period. For anyone who enjoys gritty soap dramas with plenty of twists and revelations, this easily binge-worthy Western series should be right at the top of your watchlist.

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‘The Sinner’ (2017–2021)

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% | IMDb: 7.8/10

For fans of police procedurals, there is no better gem to unearth on Netflix this weekend than The Sinner. Originally aired on the USA Network from 2017 to 2021, this True Detective-esque anthology series follows police detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) as he is driven by a tragic past to use deep empathy to solve all manner of dark cases.

Also starring Jessica Biel in a scene-stealing first-season role, as well as the likes of Jessica Hechtz, Dohn Norwood, and Adam LeFevre and Carrie Coon, Matt Bomer, Chris Messina, and Frances Fisher in later seasons, The Sinner is the next TV addiction you need. This Primetime Emmy-nominated series has flown under many radars, and it’s time that it earns more recognition.

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‘The Decameron’ (2024)

Rotten Tomatoes: 70% | IMDb: 6.5/10

Inspired by the 14th-century Italian short-story collection of the same name by Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron is set during the deadliest pandemic in human history, as a group of nobles and servants run away to a gorgeous villa, only for their time together to quickly spiral out of control.

Created by Kathleen Jordan (Teenage Bounty Hunters) and executive produced by Jenji Kohan (Orange Is the New Black), this gem of a period drama is both raucous and strangely timely. Likened to Saltburn meets The Great, the show received plenty of positive reviews after its release, and even earned a Primetime Emmy nomination. In a post-COVID world, The Decameron is a perfect binge-watch.

Candiace Dillard Bassett announced her departure from “The Real Housewives of Potomac” in 2024 following the show’s eighth season. Now, years later, the fan-favorite Bravo alum is opening up about her decision, saying she felt forced to fight both the cast and the production team behind the show.

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Dillard-Bassett appeared on the “Pop Syllabus” podcast in July 2026, sitting down for an almost hour-long conversation with the show’s host, Christiana Mbakwe Medina. During the chat, the topic of her much-talked-about exit from “The Real Housewives of Potomac” came up, with the host asking when the show stopped being “worth it.”

She responded, “I think for me, I realized that it was not worth it…I guess that was season seven, around the discourse around my husband.” For context, it was during the show’s seventh season when cast member Gizelle Bryant accused Dillard-Bassett’s husband, Chris Bassett, of making her feel uncomfortable in a hotel room.

She continued, “And really, it became, it was more so about me looking at him and watching the breakdown in his eyes and the fact that no one was really willing to do anything to rectify or correct it.”

Candiace Says She Didn’t Feel Supported By Production

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The former “Housewives” star continued her reasoning for leaving the hit Bravo show, stating that in addition to being at odds with her costars, she felt the production crew made matters worse for her and her husband.

According to her, “And it was also that I started to feel like I’m fighting with the girls, but now I’m also fighting with production, and I cannot have this kind of discourse of both sides of this camera.”

Dillard Bassett went on to describe her then situation with the cast as existing in an “emotional dumpster.” She said, “Okay, you sign up for that, you’re paid to do that, but now I’m having disagreement and issues with the people that are supposed to be protecting me.”

From there, she briefly discussed how the producers interact with the cast, noting that the ladies are assigned a segment producer that they work directly with. The “RHOP” alum then said, “It started to feel like I was not being supported or believed.

In the end, she stated that the “real” reason she left was that she was undergoing IVF treatments amid the stress of the show.

The Singer And Reality Star Announced Her ‘RHOP’ Exit In March 2024

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Dillard Bassett shocked fans in March 2024 when she announced via a statement to PEOPLE that she would not be returning for its 9th season. She said, “As I embark on a new chapter after six remarkable years with ‘The Real Housewives of Potomac,’ I am filled with gratitude for the enriching friendships, personal growth, and moments of introspection that have defined this journey.”

Dillard Bassett continued, “With a whirlwind of new opportunities and responsibilities on my plate, I have decided to take a break from ‘RHOP.’” After that, she left the door open for a potential return, saying, ‘This is not a farewell, but a ‘see you later.’”

The “Driveback” singer then said, “Your unwavering support has been my guiding light, and I look forward to the exciting adventures that lie ahead — and more importantly, sharing them all with you!”

Candiace Dillard Bassett Recently Ran Into Gizelle Bryant

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Dillard Bassett is one of the several “Real Housewives” stars who will appear on the upcoming “Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th,” which will celebrate 20 years of the franchise. In February 2026, while appearing on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live,” host Andy Cohen asked her to dish on seeing Bryant and Ashley Darby during the filming.

For context, not only was Dillard Bassett at odds with Bryant during her time on “RHOP,” but she and Darby also maintained a rocky relationship. She told Cohen, “You all may have some nostalgia.” The “WWHL” host then asked if it was cordial between the ladies.

She reacted with a facial expression before saying, “It was.”

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The Mom Of One Opened Up About Experiencing ‘Gender Disappointment’

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The “Real Housewives of Potomac” alum delivered a baby boy in October 2024, several months after leaving the show. Recently, in July 2026, she appeared on the “If You Knew Better” podcast and revealed that she experienced what’s called gender disappointment, meaning she initially wished she’d had a girl instead of a boy.

According to her, “I had gender disappointment that a lot of moms talk about because I really wanted a girl first, and I remember being fine [at the gender reveal], and I remember going upstairs to shower to get the paint off me, and I like broke down in the shower crying.”

She went on to say that she “always knew that I wanted a daughter. I knew that what was growing inside of me was a daughter, and I was wrong.” Regarding why she decided to open up, Dillard-Bassett stated that “we do need to normalize that that is a thing and it doesn’t mean that you love your children any less or any differently or that you’re not happy.”

Madison Square Garden reportedly restricted access to its surveillance system during Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce‘s wedding celebrations, granting the couple an unusually high level of privacy. The move stands out amid years of debate over facial-recognition technology at live venues, which has even prompted some artists to boycott venues that use it.

MSG also reportedly imposed strict access controls on employees and production staff as preparations intensified for Swift and Kelce’s closely guarded celebration.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce reportedly went to extraordinary lengths to keep their wedding celebrations at Madison Square Garden private, even securing a rare restriction on the venue’s surveillance system.

WIRED reports that MSG executives ordered a seven-hour lockdown of the arena’s internal video management system on July 2, preventing nearly all security personnel from accessing cameras and facial-recognition technology “due to a client privacy request.” Sources also claimed the restriction was repeated on July 3, the night of the couple’s star-studded wedding.

The debate over facial-recognition technology at live venues has simmered for years. In 2023, more than 100 artists, including Tom Morello, Zack de la Rocha and Boots Riley, pledged to boycott venues that use face-scanning systems, citing concerns over privacy and potential misuse.

MSG Employees Faced Tight Restrictions Before The Wedding

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Madison Square Garden’s unusual security posture reportedly extended well beyond its camera network, with employees facing sweeping restrictions ahead of Swift and Kelce’s wedding festivities.

As The Blast previously reported, corporate staff were allegedly told the venue was “off limits” for the entire week, with one source claiming employees “were not given a reason why it’s a no-go zone.” The restrictions were reportedly set to remain in place until July 5.

Production workers also allegedly faced tighter controls inside the building. Staffers were said to be barred from carrying phones, issued wristbands and required to pass through an additional security checkpoint before entering.

The measures unfolded as vendors moved into the arena and unusual activity was spotted around the surrounding streets, further fueling speculation about the tightly guarded celebration.

Taylor Swift Wedding Leaks Reportedly Cost Employees Their Jobs

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The secrecy surrounding Swift and Kelce’s wedding reportedly carried serious consequences for Madison Square Garden employees who allegedly failed to follow the rules.

According to Bloomberg reporter Myles Miller, the venue parted ways with staff members accused of violating NDAs tied to the celebration. He also backed up reports that everyone entering the arena, including law enforcement officers, was required to surrender their phones, while access to the building remained tightly restricted ahead of the ceremony.

MSG has not publicly addressed the reports, leaving unanswered questions about the alleged dismissals and the nature of the purported NDA breaches.

Deleted CEO Post Offered Rare Look Inside Taylor Swift’s Wedding

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Despite extensive efforts to keep the celebration under wraps, guests briefly got an unexpected glimpse inside the superstar couple’s wedding after AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron shared — then quickly deleted — a detailed account of the event.

Aron, who attended the ceremony after overseeing the theatrical release of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, called it “such a privilege to be THERE” before describing how Madison Square Garden had been transformed with peach-and-white décor, oversized photos of the couple through the years and an arena floor redesigned to resemble “an outdoor garden at a lush countryside retreat.” He also praised the ceremony as “long, entertaining, personal, charming, emotional, irreverent and endearing.”

Although the post was swiftly deleted, screenshots quickly spread across social media, offering one of the only firsthand accounts so far from inside the tightly guarded celebration.

The Security Logic Behind Taylor Swift’s Wedding Venue

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For many fans, Madison Square Garden seemed like an unconventional choice for a wedding venue. But beyond its status as one of the world’s most famous arenas, it reportedly offered something few traditional locations could: the ability to host nearly 1,000 guests while maintaining an extraordinary level of privacy.

Unlike sprawling private estates or luxury resorts, the New York venue features controlled entry points, underground access and the infrastructure to manage large crowds away from public view. Wedding experts also noted that its size made it easier to accommodate a star-studded guest list without sacrificing security, while allowing the arena to be completely transformed into an intimate setting.

The location also carried personal significance for Swift, who has headlined multiple sold-out shows at MSG throughout her career, making the iconic venue a fitting backdrop for one of the biggest moments of her life.