A new royal book has shed light on the tension that simmered between Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle before and after their 2018 wedding.

Sources say disputes began over the duchess’s request to rehearse with Queen Mary’s historic tiara, which the monarch reportedly denied, siding with her dresser, Angela Kelly.

Over time, Prince Harry and Meghan’s distance from royal duties, along with intense media attention, reportedly left Queen Elizabeth cautious and guarded during interactions with the couple.

Queen Elizabeth II Was Allegedly Frustrated By Meghan Markle’s Tiara Rehearsal Request: ‘It’s Not A Toy’

A new royal biography is revealing details about an alleged behind-the-scenes clash involving Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex ahead of their 2018 wedding.

According to author Robert Hardman, tensions reportedly arose when Harry and Meghan requested that Queen Mary’s diamond bandeau tiara be sent over in advance so the duchess could rehearse her look. The request allegedly didn’t sit well with the late monarch.

In his book, Hardman claimed that Elizabeth grew frustrated after hearing that her grandson had been repeatedly “calling around the Royal Household demanding that the tiara be dispatched forthwith.”

“The mood turned sour nearer the wedding when the couple rang the palace to ask the Queen’s dresser and curator, Angela Kelly, to send over the tiara. Meghan wished to practice putting it on,” Hardman wrote per the Daily Mail.

Siding with her longtime dresser, Angela Kelly, Elizabeth is said to have dismissed the request for the tiara entirely, stating bluntly that “it’s not a toy.”

She also allegedly referenced how Kate Middleton prepared for her own wedding, noting that her hairstylist practiced with a replica of the tiara instead of the real one. From her perspective, Meghan’s team could have taken a similar approach.

Royal Wedding Jewels Reportedly Faced Extreme Scrutiny Over Prince Harry And Meghan Markle’s Tiara Request

Hardman further emphasized that royal wedding pieces are handled with extreme care due to the intense global attention they receive, particularly when historic jewels are involved.

He noted that “even if the tiara had only a few offcuts from South Africa’s mighty Cullinan diamond, that could be enough to generate furious headlines about colonial theft.”

According to the account, one staff member even questioned how such a situation might have played out publicly on the wedding day, suggesting it could have caused unnecessary controversy.

The Duke Wrote About The Tiara Debacle In His Memoir

Harry himself addressed tensions with the late queen’s dresser, Kelly, in his memoir “Spare,” describing her as “obstructive” and calling her “a troublemaker” he did not need as an enemy.

Separate reports have also painted a more difficult picture of Harry’s behavior in the lead-up to his wedding.

According to royal commentator Sally Bedell Smith, the duke was allegedly short-tempered with Elizabeth II, at one point speaking to her in a way that left her feeling unsettled.

The late monarch was also said to have been concerned after Harry reportedly approached the Archbishop of Canterbury about officiating the ceremony without the Dean of Windsor’s permission.

Queen Elizabeth II Reportedly Took Precautions During Calls With Prince Harry

In “Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History,” author Hugo Vickers alleges that after the Sussexes stepped back from royal duties, Elizabeth took precautions during phone calls with her grandson, often asking her “lady-in-waiting to stay with her.”

He added that the “distress the Sussexes caused the Queen in the last years of her life cannot be overestimated.”

Sources also claimed that conversations between Elizabeth and Harry became increasingly brief and distant, with the monarch reportedly keeping her guard up following the fallout.

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“There were lots of one-word answers, ‘yes’ and ‘no,” an insider told Page Six. “The Queen clearly wanted some kind of protection. I think the Queen was also on her guard with Harry because she was so hurt by what he had done.”

Meanwhile, Susan Page, in her upcoming book “The Queen and Her Presidents: The Hidden Hand That Shaped History,” alleges that Elizabeth had grown cautious of Meghan early on, viewing her as highly media-savvy in a way that outpaced the “palace’s outdated press operation.”

Queen Elizabeth II Reportedly Kept A Guarded Distance During Harry And Meghan’s Visit With Princess Lilibet

Royal author Vickers further claims that Elizabeth II chose not to meet Harry and Meghan alone when they introduced their daughter, Princess Lilibet, during the Platinum Jubilee in June 2022.

According to his account, the couple was staying at Frogmore Cottage at the time, where they marked Lilibet’s first birthday with a small celebration. When they later visited the Queen, a lady-in-waiting was reportedly present throughout the meeting.

Vickers also alleges that the monarch declined a request to allow a photographer to capture the moment, reportedly concerned that the image might later be shared publicly.

He goes on to suggest that the monarch struggled to understand her grandson’s new life in the United States, claiming she once questioned his decision to step back from royal duties, wondering what he had ultimately gained from the move.

By TeeJay Small
| Published 1 minute ago

Do you recall the 2021 GameStop stock trading story that took over the media and made a bunch of broke college kids thousand-aires overnight? It’s an incredible underdog story, about how the little guys can band together to take on financial behemoths, using the very tools that the billionaire elite employ to keep us down.

If you told that story with a stacked cast including Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, Sebastian Stan, Vincent D’Onofrio, and more, you might have a certifiable hit on your hands. Unfortunately, the film Dumb Money fails to deliver on any big laughs and reminds me of why movies about internet trends so often miss the mark.

The True Story Behind Dumb Money

In case you missed it, Dumb Money follows the true story of Keith Gill. Gill is a broke financial analyst living in Brockton, Massachusetts, who maintains a middling social media presence discussing low-value stocks with a small group of would-be day traders.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gill’s channels began to pick up major steam, especially as he bought up cheap shares of GameStop. As Gill reads into the financial reports, he arrives at the conclusion that the big firms are betting on Game Stop to fail, and shorting the stock with the intention of raking in billions from the business’s impending bankruptcy.

Thanks to an army of loyal Reddit users, Gill and his pals manage to fight back against Wall Street and raise the stock price of GameStop significantly. Doing so makes millions for people with pennies and takes billions from companies with hundreds of billions. If you’re not a complete sociopath, you should see it as a win-win for every party. Sure, the billionaires lose a fraction of a percent of their wealth, but they can dry their tears with lobsters on the decks of their massive yachts.

Reddit Forums Are Not Interesting

I wasn’t actively part of the GameStop stock push in 2021, but I did follow it as it took place. I was super excited to see Dumb Money when it released just a few years later, but I ultimately left the film extremely disappointed. As it turns out, it’s really hard to make a movie engaging or visually interesting when 90 percent of the action takes place on Reddit forums. The result is roughly 100 minutes of watching Paul Dano shout “holy shit” while sitting in a gamer chair, or watching America Ferrera make shocked expressions at her cell phone.

Dumb Money is also loaded with random, unnecessary, and downright obnoxious needle drops. The narrative hardly progresses for five minutes at a time without some licensed pop song stopping the action so we can watch people dance around pointlessly. Look, I’m not a monster, I enjoy Kendrick Lamar‘s “Humble” as much as anyone. But if I wanted to watch 6 music videos back-to-back, I’d be on YouTube, not Hulu. My estimate is that the team behind Dumb Money realized they didn’t have enough story to make a feature film and relied on these musical portions to pad the runtime.

Has Craig Gillespie Ever Met Another Human Being?

To further that point, it seems like director Craig Gillespie really struggled to juggle the moving parts behind this story. Sure, Keith Gill is the centerpiece of the narrative, but all the side characters feel more like cameo appearances than supporting performances. Nick Offerman’s character is meant to loom over the movie like a video game final boss, but he gets only about 5 minutes of screen time. Seth Rogen was all over the trailer for Dumb Money, but in the narrative, he has practically nothing to do. The two college girls created for the film are portrayed so obnoxiously that it makes me wonder if Craig Gillespie has ever met another human being in his entire life.

Personally, I’d skip this movie, but if you’re interested in checking it out for yourself, Dumb Money is streaming on Hulu. My best advice would be to throw it on while you’re cooking, cleaning, or looking at your phone. That way, you can soak up the interesting parts without committing to an hour and 44 minutes of Pete Davidson lip-syncing.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 1 hour ago

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a show filled with amazing characters, and fans love to debate which one is the best. Many prefer Buffy, the natural leader who uses her abilities as a Slayer to put vamps and other supernatural baddies in their place. Others prefer Willow, the geeky girl next door who eventually embraces her own magical mojo. Other fan-favorites include Spike (the bad boy with slick hair and a slicker accent), Anya (the former demon who loves nothing more than sex and money), and Faith (the sexy Slayer who goes from being Buffy’s frenemy to being her worst nightmare).

Few fans name Cordelia, and for good reason: while she grew as a character once she joined the Angel spinoff, she spends the vast majority of Buffy as a mean girl who does nothing more than disparage the other characters we know and love. After a while, it’s easy to start asking yourself a very blunt question: “why is Cordelia even in this show?” However, the answer is deceptively simple. She’s here as a constant reminder of how much Buffy (who was basically Cordelia before becoming a Slayer) has grown as a character. 

The Softer Side Of Sneers

In those first three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cordelia is seemingly the opposite of Buffy in every way. Buffy is defined by her duty to protect others, and she often misses out on the best parts of her high school days because she is busy fighting vampires. Cordelia, meanwhile, is a spoiled little rich girl who constantly berates Buffy for being so different than pretty much everyone else in Sunnydale High School.

While she gets some fun, sarcastic lines here and there, Cordelia can often feel like a superfluous character. However, she serves a more basic function in Buffy the Vampire Slayer by being an ongoing foil for Buffy. Like all good foils, Cordelia is everything that Buffy isn’t: she’s weak instead of strong, cruel instead of kind, and cowardly instead of brave. Nonetheless, Buffy is sometimes envious of Cordelia, like when she wishes she could be more like the resident mean girl because she thinks that’s the kind of woman Angel liked when he was still a mortal.

The Yin To Buffy’s Yang

Of course, Cordelia is a foil with a very specific purpose: she’s here to highlight how much Buffy has grown as a character since becoming the Slayer. Before Buffy moved to Sunnydale and fully embraced her destiny of fighting vampires, she was a vapid valley girl in Los Angeles. She just wanted to buy cute clothes and enjoy being popular, and she was so good at this that she was eventually elected Fiesta Queen. All of this is supremely shallow, of course. But to Buffy, this was the normal life she had to sacrifice in order to become the Slayer.

The constant presence of Cordelia highlights the significance of Buffy’s sacrifice. Until her family went broke and she had to move to Los Angeles, Cordelia enjoyed all the privileges of being Sunnydale’s most popular girl. All the women want to be her, and all the men want to be with her. She gets what she wants wherever she goes, and she generally gets to rule the school with the indifference of an imperious queen.

She’s A Killer Queen

In short, she has the life that Buffy desperately wants to have. When we see Cordelia sneeringly enjoying the fruits of her popularity, it’s easier to appreciate how Buffy sets her own needs aside for the sake of others. After a while, Buffy grows into her new life, and aside from occasional relapses (like her desperate bid to get elected homecoming queen), she never seriously tries to become a vapid Valley girl again. When we look at Cordelia, we see everything that Buffy is not, which only helps us to appreciate the Slayer’s growth that much more.

Buffy fans might hate Cordelia for being endlessly cruel to their favorite characters. But she is a constant reminder that Buffy, had she never become the Slayer, would be just as bad, if not worse. Greatness was thrust upon Buffy, and she rose to the occasion so well that she ended up saving the entire world, time and time again. Without Cordelia, the fandom might (like so many Sunnydale residents) very well take Buffy’s sacrifices for granted. Thanks to Cordelia, though, we got to spend three years appreciating how Buffy left her childhood behind to save everyone’s life but her own.

If you still really hate Cordelia, though, you should start rewatching Angel. By the end of that show, you’ll realize that nobody hated Sunnydale’s snarkiest Scooby more than Joss Whedon, who proved himself the meanest girl of them all by ruining her character (and, allegedly, Cordelia actor Charisma Carpenter), one insane plot point at a time. 

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 13 seconds ago

Sabotage, blackmail, extortion, it’s all another day at the office for the political representatives onboard Babylon 5. The intergalactic space station is supposed to be a neutral zone for trade, commerce, politics, negotiations, and all manner of diplomatic activity, but early on during Babylon 5’s run, viewers learned how dirty politics can get in the 23rd century.

“Born to the Purple,” the third episode of Season 1, is the first of many episodes to focus on the Centaurian Ambassador, Londo Mollari (Peter Jurasik), this time, he’s fallen for the classic spy move: the honeypot. 

Women Were Always Londo’s Greatest Weakness

It’s a classic move in real-world espionage that exploits sexual relationships for the purposes of blackmail and information gathering. In “Born to the Purple” Londo finds himself smitten by a gorgeous Centauri dancer, Adira Tyree (Fabiana Uderno), to the point that he’s abandoned diplomatic duties, including the crafting of a peace treaty with the Narn and his future best friend forever, G’Kar (Andreas Katsulas).

That’s an unintended side effect of her attention. The plan hatched by Adira’s owner Trakis (Clive Revill, the original voice of Star Wars Emperor Palpatine) is to steal the Purple Files and blackmail the Centauri into doing everything he wants. 

The Purple Files contain information on the highest ranks of the Centauri government, including secrets that very powerful, very important individuals don’t want to be made public. Londo is, allegedly, an important Centauran, and also an easy mark.

Adira manages to scan his brain while he’s sleeping off the drugs she slipped him, gets the information, and then has a change of heart and betrays Trakis. Trakis responds by convincing Londo she’s really a Narn agent and uses the lovestruck fool to help track down where she’s hiding. 

While Londo and Sinclair infiltrate the Dark Star club, G’Kar and Talia Winters (Andrea Thompson) meet with Tarkis to verify that he has the Purple Files. Talia uses the old psi-corp trick of saying, “don’t think of what I’m about to tell you,” and gets the location of where he kept Adria. The ability to read minds feels like a cheat code in a world of political espionage. 

Adira is eventually recovered, and her ownership papers are taken from Trakis, allowing her to stay, as a free woman, with Londo onboard Babylon 5. She breaks his heart when she decides to go to a Centauri planet instead. One day, she’ll return for Londo. 

The Honeypot Has Been Used Throughout History

“Born to the Purple” is the first hint at the incredible chemistry between Londo and G’Kar when they give the exact same advice to their subordinates at the negotiating table: “Don’t give away the home world.”

It’s a glimpse into the depths that hide beneath Londo’s foppish appearance and his unique view on the world of love. As a standalone episode, there’s not a lot connecting it to the rest of Babylon 5 outside of the fantastic character moments that would eventually define the series. Not every episode has to push the mythology arc forward, something that creator J. Michael Straczynski was well aware of, and the episode’s writer, Larry Ditillio, helped lay the foundation for the revelations of later seasons. 

Honeypots like Adria were used in actual, real-world espionage and popularized by Russia during the Cold War. Watch The Americans, and you’ll quickly realize most of their spy work involved pretending to be in relationships with the target.

An argument could be made that poor Anne Boleyn from The Tudors is an early historical example. If anyone on board Babylon 5 would fall head over heels for the honeypot, it would be Londo, and if anyone could eventually convince a honeypot to come back to him, it’s also Londo.                  

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 22 seconds ago

If you know much about Star Trek: Voyager, then you know that nobody on the cast complained quite as much as Garrett Wang. The Ensign Kim actor sometimes had very righteous gripes, like when he revealed how the writers allegedly fat-shamed him and Robert Duncan McNeil by writing their recent weight gain into a script. Sometimes, his complaints are shocking, like his unsubstantiated claim that he was told to underact by Rick Berman in order to make the show’s aliens seem more realistic.

In fact, when he repeated a version of that complaint to a TV Guide reporter, who dutifully reported that a Star Trek actor was badmouthing his own TV show. To this day, Wang is convinced that this snafu is why he never got a chance to direct. Fortunately for the actor, not all of his complaints fizzled out. If we had never complained about the writing for his character being boring, then rockstar writer Brannon Braga would never have created “Non-Sequitur,” arguably one of the best episodes to ever feature Ensign Kim.

The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Grease

What is “Non-Sequitur” about? In this tale, Ensign Kim awakens in San Francisco to discover that he never joined the Voyager crew and, thus, never got stranded in the Delta Quadrant. He still has his memories from his time aboard ship, but it’s easy enough to forget all of that in the arms of his hot girlfriend. But his absence from Voyager also meant that Tom Paris lost his spot on the ship, becoming a drunken loser with no purpose. In the ultimate “bros before hoes” moment, Kim teams up with Paris to restore the timeline, ensuring that their bromance will continue on the other side of the galaxy.

“Non-Sequitur” is a very solid Star Trek: Voyager story, especially if (like me) you’re a big fan of both Harry Kim and Tom Paris. As it turns out, though, this episode would never have been written if Garrett Wang hadn’t complained to writer and producer Brannon Braga. As the actor confessed to The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, this episode “was the result of me going into the production office and saying….When is Harry gonna get the girl? When is he gonna have the action?” Braga responded, “Don’t worry about it,” and went on to create “Non-Sequitur.”

Too Cool For Pool

Generally speaking, Wang was quite happy with the finished result because it delivered everything he wanted. The altered timeline of “Non-Sequitur” gave Ensign Kim a cute girlfriend, and it let him kick a little butt once he decided to return reality to the way things were before. He also gets to become a full-on action hero, stealing a runabout, escaping Starfleet pursuit, and even beaming out into the vacuum of space, all in a desperate bid to restore the timeline. 

However, this wouldn’t be a Garrett Wang story if there wasn’t one more complaint. According to the actor, he asked Brannon Braga to intersperse all the action and romance “throughout that year,” hoping Kim would become a more dynamic character throughout Season 2. Instead, Braga “put it all in one episode.” Fortunately, “Non-Sequitur” served as a fun showcase for Wang’s abilities as an actor, one that almost (but not quite) made up for what he really wanted: a promotion for his eternally underused, eternally underacting ensign.

It’s not easy to make a thriller show as gripping, suspenseful, mysterious, and engaging as all the best ones always are; and it’s even more complicated to make a thriller show where every single episode, no matter what it contributes to the show’s overall narrative, is an absolute masterpiece. Thankfully, for fans of thriller television, however, there are noteworthy masterpieces that achieve such a feat.

These are all among the greatest thriller shows of their respective era. Some HBO classics, like Oz, others modern British gems like Broadchurch, others excellent miniseries like The Night Of. No matter what subgenre of thriller it belongs to or what kind of story it tells, a show that manages to deliver banger after banger over the course of its run is one that’s an instant must-see.

‘Broadchurch’ (2013–2017)

Image via ITV

Created by Chris Chibnall, the British crime drama Broadchurch stars the legendary David Tennant and Olivia Colman, who play two detectives solving a case that sends the media into a frenzy. No one does crime dramas like the Brits, and this one is easily among the nation’s best. Well-shot, slow-paced, and exquisitely mysterious, it’s a masterpiece that everyone who loves the genre should check out at least once.

Every single episode of Broadchurch is phenomenal, as proven by the fact that each of the show’s three seasons was met with great critical acclaim. This is one of the best detective TV shows with great acting, building an atmosphere of small-town intrigue that’s as gripping as it is emotionally compelling. Every episode of this masterful police procedural feels like it’s effectively building up to something greater.

‘Narcos’ (2015–2017)

Image via Netflix

One of Netflix’s first original shows was Narcos, a crime drama chronicling the exploits of Pablo Escobar, played by Wagner Moura, and the many other drug kingpins who plagued Colombia through the years. It’s one of the most nearly-perfect crime shows ever made, bolstered by a star-studded cast and writing so great that it hardly matters that the show is practically devoid of any sympathetic characters—you can’t help but be fascinated by their conflicts.

Over the course of three exceptional seasons, Narcos remained high-concept drama television-making at its most ambitious and addictive, helping to popularize the concept of binge-watching in the streaming era. Every episode is sharply written and acted, mostly well-researched, and richly complex, making for a series that feels like it keeps evolving into something bigger after every single episode cuts to credits.

‘Bodyguard’ (2018)

Image via Netflix

The BBC political conspiracy thriller Bodyguard is one of those single-season thriller TV show masterpieces that show why the genre is so widely acclaimed. Led by Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes, who deliver a pair of towering lead performances, it’s a show so exceptional that fans have been clamoring for a second season for years. Whether it will ever actually materialize remains to be seen; but even if not, it’ll still be remembered as one of the best thriller series of the 2010s.

Pulpy, psychologically complex, and almost overwhelmingly suspenseful, the whole show feels like a ticking time bomb whose time of explosion is a total mystery. That keeps every episode brimming with tension, which allowed Madden and Hawes to really show off their acting chops, and directors Thomas Vincent and John Strickland to display a masterful understanding of what makes a thriller show like this work.

‘Dark’ (2017–2020)

Image via Netflix

Dark is a show so complex, so profoundly layered, and so intentionally mind-bending that you almost need a notebook to keep track of the whole thing as you watch. But it’s also incredibly addictive, wildly creative, and tautly written. So tautly written, in fact, that it’s worthy of the utmost admiration that over the course of three incredible seasons full of paradoxes and parallel universes, the writers managed to culminate in one of the best sci-fi show finales of the last 10 years, which left no loose ends and zero plot holes.

That’s precisely what makes it so that Dark‘s every episode feels like a masterpiece; one that simultaneously adds to the greater whole yet feels entirely self-contained. It’s one of the most impeccably constructed sci-fi series of all time, and there isn’t a single moment in it that’s not visually impressive, full of fascinating characters, and rewarding in its intellectually challenging nature.

‘Mindhunter’ (2017–2019)

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Fans of the practically-flawless Mindhunter are still upset that Netflix cancelled this Joe Penhall and David Fincher true-crime masterpiece after only two short-lived seasons. However, that makes it so that this is one of the best crime shows to binge in a single week, which has to count for something. Whatever the case, this gem about a pair of FBI agents who launch a research project to interview imprisoned serial killers and understand their psychology will forever be remembered as one of the greatest crime shows of the 2010s.

Instead of functioning as a case-of-the-week type of show, Mindhunter intelligently makes its story feel like a more serialized, masterfully slow-burning psychological drama. That format, mixed with the psychological depth and complexity of each episode, as well as the excellent performances and production values, makes it so that the whole show makes you go “that was a masterpiece!” after every single cut to credits.

‘Dexter: Resurrection’ (2025–Present)

Image via Paramount+ with Showtime

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Showtime’s Dexter was one of the most popular crime shows on television throughout its whole run from 2006 to 2013—at least until the series got to its finale, one of the most hated of any mainstream 21st-century show. Seven years later came Dexter: New Blood, a sequel that tragically also had a finale fans despised. Now, we’re getting Dexter: Resurrection, and so far, things are looking remarkably promising.

Irrefutable proof of that is the fact that this threequel is one of the highest-rated shows of the 2020s on IMDb, with an impressive score of 9/10. This is, of course, still a pretty new show, and there will be plenty of chances for it to go off the rails in the future (knock on wood). At the moment, however, Resurrection‘s every episode has been a masterpiece, much like all fans of Dexter were hoping.

‘Oz’ (1997–2003)

Image via HBO

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Oz is not only one of the best prison shows ever made, but also one of the most groundbreaking crime dramas and thrillers in the history of the small screen. It was the first one-hour dramatic television series produced by HBO, and it ran for six consistently masterful seasons. It’s hugely commendable that a show which has almost 60 episodes doesn’t have a single one that’s anything less than a masterclass of dramatic television.

The show invented prestige television before The Sopranos established the term itself, with a relentlessly intense tone and a delightfully theatrical structure. As brutal as it may often be, though, Oz tackles its themes and complex characters with tremendous courage and admirable humanism. That heart of gold is what makes it such a perfect show, where every single episode is a must-see.

‘The Night Of’ (2016)

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If there’s any network that has constantly proven to be a master of crime and thriller miniseries, it’s HBO, whose The Night Of is far and away one of the greatest miniseries of the 21st century thus far. Based on the first season of the 2008 British series Criminal Justice, the show stars an incredible Riz Ahmed, whose tour-de-force performance anchors the whole thing throughout.

It’s one of the most nearly-perfect thriller shows ever, a hyper-focused slow-burn tragedy that turns the police, legal, and court work of its story into some of the juiciest drama imaginable. Every episode evolves the story in a way that’s irresistibly engrossing, all done with a technically stunning atmosphere and a structural tightness that even most miniseries aren’t capable of achieving.

‘Chernobyl’ (2019)

Image via HBO

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The HBO miniseries Chernobyl is not for the faint of heart. In exploring the story of the 1986 nuclear disaster in the titular Ukrainian city, the show holds back no punches, making it an absolutely brutal watch. But as stomach-testing as it may be, Chernobyl is still a masterpiece; and over the course of its five episodes, it builds itself up as perhaps the greatest miniseries in history.

It’s no surprise that every single one of Chernobyl‘s episodes is among the highest-rated TV episodes on IMDb. Form, theme, and structure are all perfectly aligned in this beautifully acted, visually striking, technically faultless gem of a show. Scary, thrilling, suspenseful, and deeply dramatic, it’s one of the greatest masterclasses in thriller television that the world has ever seen, without a single dead spot in any of its episodes.

‘Breaking Bad’ (2008–2013)

Even 13 years after its conclusion, many people still call Breaking Bad the single greatest TV show ever made—and for good reason. Created by the brilliant Vince Gilligan, it serves simultaneously as a gripping character study, a suspenseful drug crime thriller, and an adrenaline-pumping neo-Western that does all manner of fascinating things with the tropes of every genre it falls into.

It is, indeed, one of the best TV drama masterpieces of all time, and it’s not even close. The story of Walter White and Heisenberg (Bryan Cranston) is one as engrossing as it is tragic, and every single episode contributes something absolutely essential to that arc—yes, even “Fly,” the show’s lowest-rated episode on IMDb, which is consequentially one of the most underrated episodes in TV history. Some are slow-burning, some are action-packed, some are hugely suspenseful, some are emotionally cathartic; but every single episode of Breaking Bad is an undeniable masterpiece.

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Breaking Bad

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Release Date

2008 – 2013-00-00

Network

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AMC

Showrunner

Vince Gilligan

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Directors

Vince Gilligan, Michelle Maclaren

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Sullivan’s Crossing has gone through some surprise cast changes — and twists — but is the hit show returning for season 4?

Based on a book series by Robyn Carr, Sullivan’s Crossing follows neurosurgeon Maggie (Morgan Kohan) as she returns to her hometown in rural Nova Scotia. She finds herself reconnecting with estranged father, Sully (Scott Patterson), newcomer Cal (Chad Michael Murray) and more members of the community.

Sullivan’s Crossing was previously renewed for a fourth season, which premiered March 22, 2026, on CTV. After airing in Canada, the hit show will follow up with April 20, 2026, on The CW and then on Netflix presumably in the summer once the show wraps up on cable.

Before its premiere, Us Weekly broke the news in March that Patterson would not be reprising his role when season 4 returns.

“Season 3 of Sullivan’s Crossing ended with Sully leaving for Ireland, beginning a new chapter in his life. Season 4 picks up the next day, with Sully still overseas,” Sullivan’s Crossing executive producer and showrunner Roma Roth exclusively told Us. “While he isn’t physically present in this season, the character remains an important part of the world with the potential to be included in future seasons should that align with the ongoing creative.”

In response, Patterson hinted at what caused his surprising departure, writing via Instagram, “The creative differences were becoming untenable and I just sadly realized that the show was not something that I could agree to continue.”

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Related: Sullivan‘s Crossing‘s Shocking Cast Exits After Scott Patterson Departure

Scott Patterson isn’t the only Sullivan’s Crossing star who has made a shocking departure from the show. Based on the book series by Robyn Carr, Sullivan’s Crossing centers around neurosurgeon Maggie (Morgan Kohan) after she moves back home to rural Nova Scotia to reconnect with her estranged father, Sully (Scott Patterson). The brief getaway turns […]

Patterson clarified it wasn’t his choice to leave Sullivan’s Crossing.

“It’s unfortunate that it is now being implied that they moved on from me/Sully when the fact is the complete opposite, and those who sadly already have spoken out are also fully aware of this fact, and yet chose to say otherwise,” he continued. “I was not intending to make any statement but the fans of the books and the show deserve to know the truth as I have always been respectful of those who support this industry by watching and loving these characters we are so dang lucky and blessed to portray and bring to life.”

Seasons 1 through 3 of Sullivan’s Crossing are currently streaming on Netflix. Season 4 premieres on The CW April 20 at 8 p.m. ET

FBI Special Agent Brittany Garcia is the one who provided the “facts” presented in the criminal complaint against Pooh Shiesty, his father Lontrell Williams Sr., rapper Big30, and six others. The doc is 31 pages long, accusing the group of conspiring to and committing kidnapping. It spares no details about what allegedly happened to at least three victims, including Gucci Mane. From a Staples pit stop to fingerprint evidence left behind, here are seven WILD criminal allegations pulled from the complaint pages!

RELATED: Prosecutors Reveal Everything Allegedly Stolen By Pooh Shiesty & His Conspirators In Gucci Mane Kidnapping Case

For context, here are the names of everyone accused: Lontrell Williams Jr. (Pooh Shiesty), Lontrell Williams Sr. (Pooh’s dad), Rodney Wright Jr. (Big30), Demarcus Glover, Damarian Gipson, Kordae Johnson, Darrion McDaniel, Terrance Rodgers and Kedarius Waters.

1. Pooh Shiesty’s Dad Allegedly Printed Contract At Staples

As previously reported, Pooh Shiesty allegedly held Gucci Mane at gunpoint, forcing him to sign and date his contractual release on January 10. About two hours before arriving at the studio to meet Gucci Mane, Pooh Shiesty and Williams Sr. stopped at a Staples in Frisco, Texas (pages 12-13). That visit is listed as probable cause in the federal government’s case.

Surveillance footage shows the dad entering the store at 1:50 p.m. after parking near the front. After entering Staples, he walked straight to the copy/printer machines. Investigators pulled a receipt that shows a transaction at 1:59 p.m. at the printer/copy section, the same time Williams Sr. was near the machines.

“Due to the close timing of this visit to Staples prior to the offense, the fact that Williams Sr. went straight to the printing area of the store, and the timing of the receipt confirming a transaction occurred while Williams Sr. was at or near these printers, investigators believe that Williams Sr. and Williams Jr. went to Staples for the purpose of printing off the contractual release that was presented to R.D. (Gucci Mane),” the criminal complaint says, page 13.

2. Pooh Allegedly Stole Gucci Mane’s Wedding Band

The kidnapping and robbery of Gucci Mane and other victims allegedly happened in two rooms: the studio control room and recording room. Shortly after entering the building at 3:43 p.m., the nine defendants split up. Pooh asked Gucci to speak privately, and those two, plus Big 30 and Williams Sr. went into the recording room while two victims and six alleged co-conspirators stayed in the control room.

Inside the private room, Pooh Shiesty allegedly forced Gucci Mane to sign and date his release form at gunpoint. Meanwhile, Big 30 recorded a video of Gucci announcing the “release” on a cellphone. After he got his contract signed, Pooh Shiesty then robbed Gucci Mane of his wedding ring, watch, earrings, and cash.

RELATED: From Co-Signs To Controversy: A Look Back On Pooh Shiesty And Gucci Mane’s Business Relationship (VIDEOS)

3. Co-Conspirators Watched TV With The Victims Before Robbery

As mentioned, six alleged co-conspirators and two victims, M.M. and B.P., were in the studio control room during the contract signing. They were all chilling, watching football together. B.P. offered the alleged conspirators liquor purchased earlier that day. At least two of them poured up in red Solo cups. M.M. peeped the tense scene in the recording room and texted Gucci’s head of security. However, it seemingly didn’t lead to immediate action.

“M.M. and B.P. could see inside the recording room and initially believed R.D. and Williams Jr. to be discussing business, but as M.M. saw the conversation intensifying, he texted C.W. (who was still in the music studio’s lobby),” per the criminal complaint (page 6).

4. Pooh Shiesty Allegedly Held A Gun To A Victim’s Head

After the forced contract signing, Gucci Mane, Pooh, Pooh’s dad and Big30 left the recording room and joined the others. That’s when Demarcus Glover, Damarian Gipson, Kordae Johnson, Darrion McDaniel, Terrance Rodgers and Kedarius Waters allegedly pulled out “handguns or AR/AK style pistols” on M.M. and B.P.

B.P. was robbed of his wallet, chain and 1017 necklace. Also, Darrion McDaniel allegedly threatened to shoot him for moving, but Pooh Shiesty told him not to, per complaint pages 7-8.

Speaking of Pooh Shiesty, we know he allegedly pointed a gun at Gucci Mane. However, he also “placed the barrel of a firearm to the back of B.P.’s head and ordered him and [Gucci] to leave the control room and the studio through the west entrance of the office building,” per page 9. Gucci responded by asking his two security guards, who had forced their way in but were outnumbered, to escort them to his vehicle.

5. Alleged Co-Conspirators Left Fingerprints At The Crime Scene

As said, two alleged conspirators accepted B.P.’s offer to drink liquor in the control room. Those Solo cups later helped investigators place two men at the crime scene. On Jan. 16, 2026, a Forensic Fingerprint Expert ran latent prints from the scene through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). The results came back the same day. Damarian Gipson left his left ring finger on a Solo cup, while Terrance Rodgers left his right thumb on another Solo cup, per complaint page 18. In addition to surveillance footage, the latent prints put both men at the crime scene.

6. Pooh Had His Shiesty On During The Kidnapping & Robbery

During this alleged kidnapping and robbery, Pooh Shiesty stayed true to his stage name! In the criminal complaint (page 19), Gucci Mane, M.M. and B.P., who all identified Pooh by his legal and stage name, described what he was wearing during the offense. He allegedly wore “a black Nike brand ‘shiesty’ mask, black hooded shirt, and black pants.” 

7. Alleged Conspirators Flexed Stolen Goods On Social Media

Surveillance footage from the studio building allegedly shows Terrance Rodgers exiting with M.M.’s stolen Louis Vuitton bag. A few days later, on January 15, Rodgers allegedly posted a video on the Instagram account @_Damfool375, wearing a “Batman” Rolex that looked similar to the one M.M. reported stolen and provided proof of purchase and photo evidence of.

Additionally, M.M. identified Demarcus Glover‘s Instagram account as @_twinncmo_. The morning after the kidnapping and robbery, Glover shared an Instagram Stories post flexing “a large amount of cash and a Rolex visually similar to the one stolen from M.M.” Also, he tagged his location in the post as Dallas, Texas, per complaint page 23. Later that same day, Glover and Damarian Gipson appeared in a video “flashing large amounts of money and a watch,” per complaint pages 23-24.

Several days later, on January 17, another IG Stories post showed Glover “with a Rolex that appears identical to the one stolen from M.M.” In the post, he claimed he “got a new rope.” Two days after that, on January 19, Glover posted videos “wearing a necklace with a ‘1017’ pendant that appears identical to the one stolen from B.P.,” per complaint page 24.

RELATED: Surveillance Images Show Key Moments From Gucci Mane Kidnapping As Pooh Shiesty’s Lawyer Speaks Out (PHOTOS)

Former “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Jen Shah is getting candid about how her reported crimes had a major impact on her two sons, Sharrieff Jr. and Omar.

Jen Shah was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison in 2022 after pleading guilty to her role in a telemarketing fraud scheme that left a number of elderly and vulnerable victims emotionally scarred.

Why Jen Shah Had Her Two Sons Write Impact Letters To Her While She Was In Prison

Speaking with PEOPLE in her first interview since being released from custody, Shah, 52, stated that she took many steps to fully understand how her reported crimes affected more than just her.

To start, the former Bravo star said that she asked her family, Sharrieff Shah, and their two sons to write impact letters to her, detailing how her reported actions made them feel.

“I needed to know how I hurt them,” Shah said. “I needed them to be honest with me and tell me everything. I needed to hear that raw feedback, because that’s the only way you grow and heal. You can’t get better if you don’t know what you did.”

Jen Shah Said Her Children Were Apprehensive About Writing Impact Letters To Her

Shah explained that her sons, who were showcased in the first three seasons of “RHOSLC,” didn’t feel comfortable telling their mother about how she hurt them.

“They were like, ‘Dad, I don’t want to hurt mom’s feelings,’” Shah said, later revealing that she had second thoughts about what she was asking of them.

However, Shah’s husband, known as “Coach” to Bravo viewers, told their children that being honest about their feelings was for the best.

“And Coach told the boys, ‘You’re doing this for Mommy,’” she said.

Jen Shah Cried Many ‘Tears’ After Hearing What Her Sons Had To Say To Her