Evolution in reality television is natural. In fact, it’s necessary. To establish longevity in the industry, shows need to evolve to avoid staleness while maintaining their integrity. For the hit Netflix series Love Is Blind, the evolution of the reality TV genre has been on full display within its ten seasons, as it’s gone from a fascinating experiment to mindless entertainment.

The Ohio season marks Season 10 of Love Is Blind. When it began in 2020, it served as a groundbreaking series that not only shaped reality TV dating shows but also how we examine dating in the real world. The premise of the experiment was to truly test whether men and women could remove sex and attraction and find their person through emotional connection. At first, we learned it was possible. But 10 seasons later, we’ve learned the experiment is broken. Between Jessica Barrett dumping Chris Fusco because he tends to go for “pilates girls” to Priyanka Grandhi and Alex Henderson knowing each other pre-pods, it’s just not the same anymore. Love Is Blind needs a hard reset.

‘Love Is Blind’s Participants Are Missing the Point of Netflix’s Experiment

Like in any reality show, casting is key. Not only do we have to care about the characters, but they have to be engaging. For a show like Love Is Blind, finding genuine individuals who want to explore the depths of the dating experiment is crucial. Recruiting via LinkedIn to fill a gap will destroy the experiment. While each season is geographically specific, the casting appears to detract from the series’ mission.

Maybe the casting team is being snowed by the prospective Pod Squad, who claim they’re all in on the experiment, but the number of individuals who prove to be looks-only and deal-breakers ruins the optimism the show once had. In the first two episodes, it was shocking to hear Chris tell Jessica that he needed more in the bedroom and explain how her physical attraction didn’t match the women he would be into. Jessica, a beautiful woman, cut ties because Chris’ admission was a slap in the face. But Chris wasn’t alone. Other participants doubled down on their shock when meeting their match based on physical appearance. It’s a trend that is taking over more and more each season.

‘Love Is Blind’s Mission Has Been Completely Lost

Not every couple is as fixated on physical appearances, thankfully. We have some incredible characters this season, including Emma Betsinger, who felt like her scarred arm from precancerous birthmarks on her body may have hurt her with dating in the past. She revealed to Mike Gibney that, as someone who was adopted, she was unsure of having kids because she didn’t know if her health history would affect them. Mike and Emma have had strong conversations about the family matter, which makes this experiment work. But the overwhelming chatter online continues to be about how the men on Love Is Blind this season are very fixated on appearances.

Related

‘Love Is Blind’ Season 9 Is Incredibly Cringey for Many, Many Reasons

‘Love Is Blind’ Season 9’s couples are giving very strange energy.

While we have a celebratory couple in Christine Hamilton and Vic St. John — the most promising pair to head to the altar, who had a random solo honeymoon — the focus is not on the promise, but on the drama of the other couples. The Pod Squad’s meet-up once again led to individuals who did not pair up trying to break up established couples. (At least Bri McNees shut Chris down, even after he slid into her DMs.)

Netflix’s ‘Love Is Blind’ Needs One Stellar Season ASAP

Image via Netflix

Love Is Blind has a brilliant premise, but the show that it used to be is no longer what is being presented. The individuals the casting department pick must be pre-compatible. We know hard conversations about politics, faith, and family occur, but that part of the social experiment has become second fiddle. Gone are the days of our perfect couple, Lauren Speed-Hamilton and Cameron Hamilton.

Perhaps, instead of two seasons per calendar year, the focus should be on generating one solid season where “I do” actually happens. Coming off of Season 9’s marriage-less season, our anticipation of success is waning. Season 10 is once again leaning on the drama rather than the excitement of how we, as a society, can find our person sight unseen.

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February 13, 2020

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Netflix

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Chris Coelen

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Chris Coelen

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Chris Coelen

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  Nick Lachey

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  Vanessa Lachey

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In the 2001 espionage thriller series, 24, Kiefer Sutherland plays a man in crisis as he seeks to prevent a larger catastrophe. The series was told in real time, with each episode covering an hour of the story. Sutherland plays Jack Bauer, a CTU agent racing against time to stop political crises. The series ran for 9 seasons and made Sutherland a household name, with many lauding his ability to bring the character to life. Two years later, the actor returned to the thriller genre with the ABC political drama, Designated Survivor. He starred as Tom Kirkman, a low-level Cabinet member who is named the designated survivor when the US President and other senior administration officials gather for a State of the Union address that ends in tragedy following a terrorist attack.

Data from FlixPatrol shows that Designated Survivor is seeing renewed interest five years after its final season. The thriller is the fifth-most-watched series on the Apple TV Store in the US at the time of writing. The surge coincides with the planned State of the Union address, which is scheduled for Tuesday, February 24, 2026, at 9:00 p.m. EST. Designated Survivor was inspired by the real-life phenomenon in which a Cabinet member is named as the successor to ensure government continuity in the event of a catastrophe. Representative Mike Thompson has been chosen for this year’s address. “I’ve been selected as a designated survivor for tomorrow’s State of the Union, so I won’t be there in person, but I’ll be watching. Americans deserve accountability for the militarization of ICE, terrorization of our communities, and killing of American citizens,” he said on his X account ahead of the event.

Will There Be a Fourth Season of ‘Designated Survivor’?

The series launched to critical acclaim in 2016, with Sutherland praised for his performance as the brilliant Kirkman. It was placed in the same category as The West Wing, House of Cards, and 24 for its sharp writing. However, the acclaim did not carry over into the second season, which lost focus and meandered into melodrama. ABC opted not to renew it for Season 3 after a sharp ratings drop, but Netflix picked it up for a third season, giving the show a chance to continue the story. Ultimately, the streaming service cancelled it after one season due to contract issues. “We had an amazing experience with Netflix, and a kind of freedom that was wonderful,” Sutherland explained to Simon Mayo in a radio interview. “But the reality is, because the contracts were so complicated and different from network television to Netflix, etc. They didn’t book a lot of the actors that were on the show, and they took other jobs, and I don’t blame them for a second for that.” Over five years since the third season was released, it’s even less likely the show will return.

Designated Survivor is available to stream on Netflix or for purchase on the Apple TV Store. Stay with us for more updates.

There’s nothing more frustrating than finishing your entire skincare routine (serum! moisturizer! eye cream!) and still serving flat skin by midday. Shine pops up in the wrong places, fine lines look more noticeable, and that “glowing goddess” finish never quite arrives. At some point, it’s not about adding more products — it’s about choosing the right one.

That’s where Flora Mirabilis’ Holy Grail Face Oil comes in. Designed as a 4-in-1 serum, moisturizer, eye cream and retinol alternative, the all-natural formula replaces multiple steps while restoring hydration and luminosity. Instead of layering on product after product, this one simplifies everything into one glow-boosting step.

Get the Holy Grail Face Oil for $120 at Flora Mirabilis! 

Crafted from 10 powerful, all-natural ingredients, the formula delivers serious nourishment without overwhelming the skin. A base of fruit seed oils rich in fatty acids helps soften the look of fine lines while calming dryness and visible redness. The result is skin that looks balanced, smooth and healthy — not greasy or overloaded.

It also has antioxidant-rich vanilla and saffron, which help brighten over time, while frankincense and sandalwood support a clearer, more even-looking tone. Rose helps refine the look of pores and oud revives dullness for that lit-from-within finish. Despite its rich, velvety feel, the oil melts into slightly damp skin in seconds — and just one to two drops is all you need.

And it’s no surprise this is a brand bestseller — shoppers are clearly seeing results. One buyer raved that it left their face “healthy and moisturized,” minus any “oily residue.” Another noticed a “great change,” describing skin that felt “clearer, firmer, and [has] no more dry patches.”

If your layering skincare routine hasn’t delivered the radiance you wanted, it may be time to upgrade instead of adding. Yes, this face oil is an investment at $120 — but when one bottle replaces multiple products and actually delivers a visible glow-up, it starts to pay for itself. Shop it at Flora Mirabilis now, and see what fewer, better steps can do.

Get the Holy Grail Face Oil for $120 at Flora Mirabilis!

By Robert Scucci
| Published 1 hour ago

As somebody who spent years working the graveyard shift, I can tell you first-hand that a questionable sleep schedule eventually catches up with you and forces some serious lifestyle or occupational changes. My sleep problem had a simple fix, like avoiding caffeine in the afternoon and sticking to a rigid nap schedule. I still wear one of those cushy sleep masks so I can experience total darkness during those nights when 12:00 am quickly turns into 3:00 am, and I need to catch a solid REM cycle in a pinch.

Christian Bale’s Trevor Reznik in 2004’s The Machinist, on the other hand, is well past the point of saving, and there’s no way a cozy cup of Sleepytime Tea is ever bringing him back. Bale looks the part of a tormented man whose demons have consumed him from the inside out in The Machinist, famously losing 62 pounds on a crash diet of water, apples, black coffee, and sometimes whiskey. Appearance aside, his portrayal of an insomniac slowly losing his grip on reality is one of the best I’ve ever seen, and The Machinist still holds up as a perfect psychological thriller over 20 years later.

We’re Gonna Need Something Stronger Than Camomile

The Machinist wastes no time establishing its conflict through Trevor Reznik, who has barely slept in a year and toils away at the machine shop where he works. It’s immediately clear he’s not all there, his wandering mind leading to a brutal workplace accident that costs one of his coworkers an arm. In his near-constant delirium, he has frequent run-ins with a coworker named Ivan (John Sharian), who nobody else can confirm exists. This becomes a serious problem because Trevor insists Ivan distracted him, causing the accident.

Outside of work, Trevor lives in squalor and moves through life in a daze. To distract himself from his own internal machinations, he spends time with a prostitute named Stevie (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and frequents a nearby airport diner, where he exchanges pleasantries with a waitress named Maria (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), for whom he seems at least romantically interested. As Trevor gets to know Maria better, he’s introduced to her son, Nicholas (Matthew Romero), whose presence triggers disturbing visions of his past.

As Trevor’s mental state continues to decline, he grows increasingly paranoid and distracted. His constant state of mental flux eventually costs him his machinist job, sending him further into his spiral. Fully convinced that Ivan, Stevie, and Maria are conspiring against him, Trevor sets out to discover who’s pulling the strings, and who’s been leaving the Post-It note on his refrigerator with an incomplete game of hangman scratched onto it.

Worth Its Weight In Christian Bales 

By now well known for his willingness to undergo extreme physical transformations, Christian Bale goes all in with his portrayal of Trevor in The Machinist. He reportedly dropped to 120 pounds during production, then had to gain roughly 100 pounds in about six months to prepare for his portrayal of Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, which kicked off in 2005.

Insane physicality aside, Bale is fully dialed in as a man who has completely lost himself to the silent grief eating away at him, his repressed memories resurfacing as his mental faculties hit a dire low point he may never recover from. The stress seen in his face in every single scene is palpable because he’s living it. I’d imagine that smelling the craft service on the production lot during principal photography helped fuel the illusion more than we’ll ever realize. 

Experiencing everything from Trevor’s fractured perspective, we catch a glimpse of a world that’s pale and tinted green, as if the decay he feels at his core is projected onto his surroundings. It’s a grim depiction of what can happen when you live in a constantly heightened, sleep deprived state, clocking every single interaction as one loaded with ulterior motives, as if everybody is trying to expose you for committing some heinous act in the past that you only vaguely recall.

The next time you find yourself tossing, turning, and worrying about how much tomorrow is going to suck if you can’t get a few unbroken hours of sleep before dawn approaches, just throw on The Machinist for a dose of perspective. You’ll be glad that the car backfiring outside your bedroom window, waking you briefly before you drift back to slumberland, is the worst of your problems after spending time with Trevor.

As of this writing, The Machinist is streaming on Paramount+.

Raven-Symoné is switching up her look three months into the new year! Known for keeping a short cut in recent years, the ‘Disney’ star went with another natural style. Rae is rocking starter locs now, and the update from her and the loctitian has even celebs weighing in. Roomies, what do you think? Is Raven-Symoné eating up this look? 

RELATED: Go Rae, Go Rae! Fans Sound Off After Video Shows Raven-Symoné Dancing In Tribute To Brandy (WATCH)

Raven-Symoné’s Hairstylist Shows Off Starter Locs Process

On Monday night, Los Angeles hairstylist Erinn Courtney posted about working on Raven-Symoné’s starters locs. Her Instagram Reel is a recap of their dual live on Sunday (Feb. 22). The video showed Erinn and Rae laughing it up and confirming that her locs will be small instant locs, not sister locs. In her caption, the stylist said she finished the transformation at 11:55 p.m. At the end of the video, Raven-Symoné was shaking her new locs, which have a curly end finish and a bang. She also said:

“I really f*cking love this. It feels right. It really does feel good. I’m really happy.”

Afterward, Raven-Symoné said that’s five years of a hairstyle and joked about not sitting in the chair again! Our sis was smiling the whole end of the video! “This is very correct…it’s very cute,” she said at another point. Raven shared a longer video of the BTS process.

In a separate post, Raven-Symoné talked about being very excited about her new hair and showed off some earrings she was turning into hair charms. The actress teased that she has “a lot” of things coming up in the next two years, and she wanted to “stay connected” while she executed!

Celebs And Fans Weigh In On Raven’s New Look

In the comment section of Erinn Courtney’s recap, fans and celebs applauded the hair transformation and the hairstylist’s talent. Eva Marcille commented, “Welcome to the club. She @e_scizorhands started my locs six years ago.” Skai Jackson’s mother, Kiya Cole, wrote, “When it grows out, it’s going to look nice!” Ebie, daughter of the late Eazy-E, added, “Everybody loves Raven! This [fire emoji].” 

Roommates, y’all showed out in the comment section! After TSR reposted on Instagram, over 2,000 comments ranged from friendly jokes, both about Rae and her wife, to compliments on Rae’s glow.

Tiny’s daughter, Zonnique commented, “Raven can do no wrong !😍”

@melthediva commented, “The fact that she looks so overjoyed by it makes my heart smile…I can NEVA hate Ms Raven🥰🫶🏾🥰 I love this new look too 🥰”

“Oh this gonna eat!!!!!🔥🔥🔥,” @wife_statuss7 added.

“I’m actually loving this. This is gone be her look! 😍,” @xodiaraye wrote.

Disney Fans Grieving Loss Of A ‘Lizzie McGuire’ Star

While Raven-Symoné fans are living for her update, another side of the Disney 2000s fandom is grieving a tragic passing. Robert Carradine, who played Lizzie McGuire’s dad Sam, passed away. His brother, firstborn Ever Carradine, and Hilary Duff have all spoken out in heartbreaking statements.  The Carradine family revealed that Robert died from suicide after living with Bipolar Disorder. He was 71.

RELATED: Prayers Up! Hilary Duff Speaks Out After Her ‘Lizzie McGuire’ Dad Robert Carradine Passes Away (PHOTOS)

Tyrese treated his daughter, Shayla Gibson, to a surprise girls’ day with Zelie Timothy, and internet users cannot get enough of how cute it was!

RELATED: He Can’t Even! 5 Tyrese Meme Moments That Broke The Internet And Still Have Us Laughing

Tyrese Treats Shayla Gibson To Surprise Girls’ Day With Zelie Timothy

On Tuesday, February 24, The Shade Room obtained footage narrated by Shayla Gibson with the on-screen title, “Day In The Life.” In the clip, Shayla explained that Tyrese took her and Timothy out for a “mini surprise.” As the footage showed, this ultimately consisted of the singer dropping a couple of thousand dollars into their accounts, taking them to Starbucks, and treating them to shopping at Bath & Body Works and Ulta Beauty.

Throughout the clip, Shayla included off-guard moments of her dad “patrolling,” as well as girly shots of her and Timothy.

Check out their “day in the life” below.

Internet Users Can’t Get Enough Of The Girls’ Day Footage Featuring Zelie Timothy

Social media users reacted to Tyrese’s surprise girls’ day for Shayla Gibson and Zelie Timothy in TSR’s comment section.

More On Shayla Gibson & Tyrese’s Relationship

As The Shade Room previously reported, in May 2024, Tyrese and Shayla Gibson’s mom, Norma Mitchell, made headlines when it was reported that she was seeking a restraining order against him. This, reportedly occurred after Tyrese took to social media, bashing Norma’s alleged actions.

After the online posts, Norma Mitchell reportedly filed a defamation lawsuit against the singer, per TMZ. In it, she accused him of alleging that she committed false, fraudulent financial actions. Additionally, she accused him of disclosing private information about their daughter and her school. Ultimately, Mitchell requested the restraining order for herself and their daughter.

Despite this, PEOPLE reports that Tyrese and Shayla Gibson kept a close relationship and appeared on red carpets together. It is rumored that Shayla ultimately decided to live full-time with her dad in 2025. However, that claim remains unconfirmed.

RELATED: Tyrese’s Ex-Wife Norma Mitchell Is Reportedly Seeking A Restraining Order Against Him

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 46 seconds ago

The musical episode is one of many ways Buffy changed television forever. “Once More, With  Feeling” is considered one of the best episodes of the long-running series. But, it came out in November 2001, a full two years after the campy, horny sci-fi series Lexx unleashed its own musical episode, “Brigadoom.”

Airing on April 9, 1999, fans had no idea what to expect when the crew of the Lexx encountered a theater troupe in the middle of space, and they especially weren’t prepared for a full-blown musical. The cast gives it their all, and well, they try really hard to perform the elaborate song-and-dance numbers, but through the obvious limitations and stumbles, “Brigadoom” is Lexx’s greatest episode. 

The First Sci-Fi Musical Episode

This was the first time fans were shown Kai’s tragic past. The last stand of the Brunnen-G, and the battle song, was seen in the very first episode of Lexx, but “Brigadoom” put it in a brand new perspective.

Tragic, beautiful, and moving, which is what a great musical does. It’s especially impressive because by the standards of musical episodes that have followed, “Brigadoom” can’t match the pageantry, the songs, and the performances, making it the first that ever aired, but also one of the worst, which ironically, makes it the best. 

No Time, No Budget, No Problem

Lexx’s cast and crew only had one week to prepare “Brigadoom,” forcing them to get creative with the sets used by the in-universe theater troupe and to keep the songs simple, but manageable. Both Michael McManus and Xenia Seeberg were singers, and the entire production was keyed around McManus’s vocal range, but it’s a testament to how good they are that, with such a short production runway, they sound as good as they do. There are noticeable wobbles and notes that are out of tune; some were edited in later by music director Andre Haines. 

Brian Downey, an experienced musician himself, by his own admission, was terrified of singing and dancing, which is why Stanley was kept out of the production. No one at the time knew that adjusting the story to include Stanley’s reluctance to take part would serve only to amplify the message of “Brigadoom.” Lexx may be unabashedly horny and the finest of low-budget sci-fi, but as the musical episode reveals, the cast and crew were masters at getting the most out of every single dollar and every single second of film. 

Compared to “Once More, With Feeling” and “Subspace Rhapsody,” “Brigadoom” looks like a local theater production. And yet, it’s still considered the best episode of Lexx by the show’s fans and an example of how it embraced its low budget and absurd premise to tell a surprisingly in-depth sci-fi epic. Instead of being a gimmick designed to bring in eyeballs, “Brigadoom” is a heartfelt episode that reveals new depths to the crew, broadens fans’ understanding of the world, and shows you don’t have to be a perfect singer or have elaborate, ship-wide song and dance numbers to move the audience.