Blake Lively is not letting her latest legal battle with Justin Baldoni get in the way of a good time.

The Gossip Girl alum, 38, attended the 2026 World Cup final in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium with three of her friends on Sunday, July 19, sharing a glimpse of their sun-soaked day via her Instagram Stories.

Posing for a selfie just steps away from the pitch prior to the game commencing, Lively beamed for the camera while wearing jeans and a white T-shirt beneath a printed open shirt. She paired her summery ensemble with a chunky statement necklace and sunglasses.

While her husband, Ryan Reynolds, was not in the snap, the actor, 49, also showed his love for the sport at the FIFA World Cup’s Fanatics Fest over in Manhattan on Sunday, sharing photos from a panel appearance via his Instagram Stories that day. (Reynolds is the co-owner of the professional Welsh football club Wrexham A.F.C.)

Related: Blake Lively Requests Damages After Justin Baldoni Settlement

Blake Lively requested financial damages after her shocking settlement with Justin Baldoni over their It Ends With Us legal dispute. Lively, 38, filed a notice of settlement, in which she requested damages to cover her  attorneys’ fees and costs, as well as compensatory and punitive damages, according to court documents obtained by Us Weekly on Thursday, […]

Lively’s public outing comes days after Baldoni, 42, announced via his lawyers that he is fighting the actress’ request for him to pay approximately $8 million in legal fees following their recent settlement after a 17-month legal battle sparked by Lively’s sexual harassment complaint against him in December 2024.

Baldoni, who directed and starred alongside Lively in It Ends With Us, vehemently denied Lively’s accusations, which also included him orchestrating an alleged smear campaign against her, and countersued — though his lawsuit was thrown out of court in June 2025.

One month after the pair’s May settlement, which was announced just weeks ahead of a scheduled trial, Lively requested that Baldoni be held responsible for $8,035,040.88 in her attorneys’ fees and other costs.

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In a court filing obtained by Us on July 13, Baldoni’s lawyers Ellyn S. Garofalo and Bryan Freedman argued that Lively’s motion should be denied. “Lively fails to meet her burden to present credible evidence showing that the fees and costs she seeks to recover are reasonable and, accordingly, her fee motion should be denied in its entirety,” the pair stated in the filing.

The legal representatives also compared Lively’s request to that of the New York Times seeking $181,622.70 in attorneys’ fees “to dismiss precisely the same defamation claim,” referring to Baldoni’s defamation case against the newspaper. (Baldoni had unsuccessfully sued the outlet for $250 million over accusations that he engaged in a smear campaign against Lively.)

Earlier this month, Baldoni and his wife, Emily, broke their silence over his legal battle with Lively, taking to Instagram to share a joint video. “We have not done this in a while, so we have not spoken publicly for the better part of the last two years and it’s not because we haven’t had anything to say,” Baldoni said in the July 8 clip before Emily, 41, jumped in. “There is so much to say and it makes it hard to speak, it makes it hard to figure out what is right for us for this specific moment. But what does feel important is that we can genuinely say that we are sitting here today feeling immense gratitude for so many things and so many people and so many people that have happened to us.”

Spice Girls singer Melanie Chisholm is officially off the market after saying “I do” to fiancé Chris Dingwall.

“I love weddings [and] when I go to other people’s I always have good craic, but I wasn’t a girl who grew up dreaming about her dress,” Chisholm, 52, told British Vogue in a Sunday, July 19, profile, announcing her nuptials.  I was always just focused on my career. I think even relationships took a backseat for me because I’ve been so driven to do what I love, which is performing.”

She continued, “I’d gotten to the point in my life where I just didn’t think it was going to be a part of my story.”

Chisholm, mom to 17-year-old daughter Scarlett whom she welcomed during a previous relationship, changed her tune once she met Dingwall in 2024 via celebrity dating app Raya.

“The spark was immediate. I was 49 when I met Chris and I was in a really good place,” the singer recalled to the outlet. “We had a date in Australia, and it’s been difficult to separate us ever since. He’s been such a beautiful addition to mine and my daughter’s life.”

Chisholm gushed that it’s been “a beautiful dynamic” welcoming Dingwall into her family.

“I’m a single mum. My daughter is 17, and we’re pretty resilient, the two of us, we’re a team,” she stated. “For anybody coming into our world, it was going to be tough, and he just fits perfectly.”

Dingwall ultimately popped the question during the couple’s July 2025 Mallorca, Spain, vacation. The pair wed in a simple legal ceremony in Australia, followed by a relaxing celebration in Cumbria this summer.

“I didn’t feel like a big traditional wedding was right for me,” Chisholm acknowledged, revealing that she picked out a bridal gown from former bandmate Victoria Beckham’s eponymous label.

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Related: Spice Girl Mel C Talks Raising Daughter Out of Spotlight Amid Beckham Drama

Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm says she made a “conscious” choice to keep her daughter out of the spotlight. Chisholm shares daughter Scarlet, 16, with ex-partner Thomas Starr, but despite her mom’s global fame, the teenager has no plans on following in her footsteps. The singer told The Times of London in an interview published on […]

“I was actually having dinner with Melanie and asked her what she was up to. She very casually told me she was leaving for Australia in two days and getting married!” Beckham, 52, told Vogue. “When I asked what she was wearing, she mentioned she had actually ordered one of my dresses but that it didn’t quite fit, and she didn’t have time to get it altered before leaving. I happened to have that exact dress in my own wardrobe and offered to lend it to her.”

Chisholm wore Beckham’s Lace Cami Dress to her Australian ceremony and the fashion designer also offered to make a bespoke creation for her friend’s lavish party in England.

“Victoria wanted to make it much more personal to me. She found some gorgeous vintage lace, and everything was really delicately dyed to the perfect shade,” the bride gushed. “It’s very flattering, open at the back.”

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 31 seconds ago

As a huge genre nerd, I have complex feelings about television reboots. Specifically, I think it’s a waste of time trying to reboot something truly great because the new show is likely to be a huge disappointment compared to the earlier one. Honestly, that’s why I was happy the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot got canceled; that depressing sixth season notwithstanding, the original show was nearly perfect, and trying to improve on that would be inevitably disappointing. Instead, it’s better to reboot a disappointing show that had potential, like Ronald D. Moore did with Battlestar Galactica.

With that in mind, there has never been a genre show more in need of a reboot than Sliders. The show had an absolutely perfect concept, and it explored how fun the multiverse can be way before Marvel ran this idea into the ground. But after a couple of seasons of awesome storytelling, Sliders transformed into a schlock action show that ripped off almost everything and started bleeding cast members until the series was almost completely unrecognizable. The result is a decent show that should have been a great show, and a reboot may be the only way for Sliders to achieve its full potential.

Playing Slide-And-Seek

The plot of Sliders is that Quinn Mallory (Jerry O’Connell) develops the technology to “slide” to different parallel realities, and he takes three companions (including a professor played by John Rhys-Davies) on a visit to a new universe. Unfortunately, the device they use to slide soon loses the ability to track the coordinates of their home dimension. Now, they are forced to travel to random worlds, hoping to eventually get back to their original reality. But there’s a timelock: they must travel to a new dimension when the countdown timer reaches zero. Otherwise, they’ll be stuck in an alternate reality for decades!

It’s a great concept, and the series is basically the lovechild of The Twilight Zone and Quantum Leap. As in the Twilight Zone, different dimensions are used to explore one fantastic scenario after another, including a world where America lost the Revolutionary War and worlds where time flows backwards. But much like Quantum Leap, our heroes typically spend their time in each reality trying to improve as many lives as possible. The result is a surprisingly heartwarming show in which our characters navigate prickly moral dilemmas while wearing their hearts firmly on their sleeves. 

A Cast Driven Away By Bad Writing

Sliders had two seasons of nearly perfect storytelling, and if it had been canceled after that, genre fans would speak of it with the same reverence that we speak about Firefly. Unfortunately, the show went on for two more seasons, and it began to go seriously downhill in Season 3. That’s because the Fox network demanded that the show transition from thought-provoking sci-fi stories to action schlock. In an interview with Digital Spy, Rhys-Davies noted how Sliders “could’ve been the best show on television” but that the network interfered and turned most of the scripts into “incomprehensible gibberish.” This is one of the reasons he exited the show.

Rhys-Davies has been hilariously blunt in describing what went wrong with Season 3. When he was interviewed at the Toulouse Game Show, he discussed how the writers just started ripping off others’ ideas. “We did an episode like Tremors, one like Twister, one like The Night of the Living Dead, and even one like The Island of Doctor Moreau, using the film’s original masks!” Continuing, he said, “The breaking point for me was when I walked in and saw the writers sitting around looking at a DVD of Species, which had just been released, and saying: ‘Look, we could take a bit of that scene there and a bit of that scene there.’

Does Whatever A Slider-Man Can

Conveniently enough, the Raiders of the Lost Ark actor has summed up exactly why Sliders needs a reboot. A new series that never tries to do crappy ripoffs of other movies and shows could take its time exploring all of the practical, ethical, and moral conundrums involved with interdimensional travel. This would reduce the risk of core actors abandoning the show; like, by the end of the original series, only one member of the original cast (Cleavant Derricks) was still there! But a Sliders with a consistent cast and a perfect premise for episodic adventures? That’s a reboot that would be utterly unstoppable.

However, a reboot of this show seems less likely than ever before. Previously, Jerry O’Connell and John Rhys-Davies discussed a possible reboot with Sliders creator Tracy Tormé, who was working on reviving the franchise as recently as 2021. Sadly, he died in 2024, meaning we might have to slide into a new universe to see what a reboot looks like. Fortunately, fans can still experience the original show in its entirety at the click of a button. Sliders is currently streaming for free on Tubi. Just be sure to keep the remote handy; Season 2 is a countdown, and once it hits zero, you’ll want to slide your TV over to a better show!!

Gisele Bündchen is soaking up the summer with her husband, Joaquim Valente, and her children.

In a Saturday, July 18, Instagram post, Bündchen, 46, uploaded an image featuring the model in an all-white bikini and holding the hand of the pair’s son as they stepped into the water in Tahiti.

In other rare family pics, Bündchen shared snaps of her and ex-husband Tom Brady’s two children: Benjamin, 16, and Vivian, 13. (Brady, 48, is also the father of son Jack, 18, whom he shares with ex Bridget Moynahan.)

The model also smiled as she danced with Valente, 38, and their son as musicians played in the background of the image. In another pic, Valente could also be seen holding their son above water as a stingray seemingly swam past in the water.

“What a special place!☀️✨,” Bündchen captioned the series of images.

Bündchen began dating Valente in 2023, one year after her divorce from Brady was finalized. The pair welcomed their son, whose name has not been publicly shared, in February 2025. That December, Us Weekly confirmed that the couple tied the knot.

“This is the first time I am seeing someone that was a friend of mine first,” she said in a 2024 interview with the New York Times. “It’s very different. It is very honest, and it’s very transparent.”

Despite speculation that she had an affair with the jiu jitsu instructor before her split from Brady, Bündchen denied the idea.

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Related: Gisele Bundchen Shares 1st Photo of Her and Joaquim’s Baby

Gisele Bündchen is one proud mama to all three of her kids, including her newborn with boyfriend Joaquim Valente. “I’ve been quiet over here but very busy living life. Sometimes, the most beautiful moments aren’t shared — they’re simply lived,” Bündchen, 44, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, May 11. “Lately, I’ve been embracing the slower […]

“That is a lie. This is something that happens to a lot of women who get blamed when they have the courage to leave an unhealthy relationship and are labeled as being unfaithful,” she reflected. “They have to deal with their communities. They have to deal with their family. Of course for me, it just happens to be a little bit amplified.”

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Earlier this year, Bündchen shared her gratitude for Valente while celebrating Father’s Day and sharing several rare images with her husband and little one.

“Happy Father’s Day @joaquimvalente!” she wrote via Instagram in June 2025. “Thank you for leading by example, and for the values you embody, love, humility, integrity, discipline, kindness and consistency.”

She continued, “You are an incredible role model. We are all so grateful for you, and we love you so much. And dad, thank you for your unconditional love, wisdom, and support through every stage of my life. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. ❤️.”

Vice President JD Vance’s journey to the White House wouldn’t be complete without his wife, second lady Usha Vance.

Long before being chosen as President Donald Trump’s 2024 running mate, JD developed a unique love story with Usha when they were both in law school.

Their relationship, however, took on the spotlight even more when the Vance family entered the White House on January 30, 2025.

In November 2025, the couple faced headlines when Usha was spotted without her wedding ring while visiting military training facility Camp Lejeune in North Carolina with first lady Melanie Trump.

Related: Barack Obama and Michelle Obama: A Timeline of Their Relationship

When Michelle Obama met Barack Obama in 1989 at the Chicago law firm where they both worked, it was not exactly love at first sight — even though he was quite popular around the office. “In my experience, you put a suit on any half-intelligent Black man and white people tended to go bonkers,” Michelle […]

A spokesperson for Usha later released a statement to People that read, “[She is] a mother of three young children, who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets her ring sometimes.”

A few months later, in January 2026, Usha and JD announced that they’re expecting their fourth baby together.
The pair welcomed son Alec Vance in July 2026.

Keep reading to learn more about JD and Usha’s relationship timeline:

2010

When JD and Usha were both students at Yale Law School, the pair met when they joined a discussion group on “social decline in white America.”

In an interview with NBC News in 2017, Usha said she and JD took all of their classes together and were friends before they started dating.

When they were assigned to work on a brief together, Usha became even more impressed by his diligence.

“I’ve never seen anybody so starstruck,” their law school professor, Amy Chua, said of JD in an interview with NBC News. “It was love at first sight.”

2014

In 2014, the couple got married and held both Christian and Hindu ceremonies. (JD later converted to Catholicism in 2019.)

“There are a lot of things that we just agree on, I think, especially when it comes to family life, how to raise our kids,” Usha told Fox News in June about her interfaith marriage. “I think the answer really is that we just talk a lot.”

2016

JD released his bestselling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. The book detailed his childhood in the working-class United States Rust Belt. It later became a 2020 movie directed by Ron Howard.

At one point in the book, JD recalled the time he “fell hard” for Usha at Yale. He described her as a “genetic anomaly” because she possessed so many ideal qualities.

He also admitted that he “violated every rule of modern dating” by telling her he was in love after one date.

2017

Vance and Usha welcomed their first child, son Ewan, in June 2017. The couple later welcomed their second son, Vivek, in February 2020, before welcoming daughter Mirabel in December 2021.

“We were blessed with an early Christmas present this year,” JD wrote via Instagram after Mirabel’s birth. “Everyone please meet Mirabel Rose Vance, our first girl. Mama and baby both doing great, and we’re feeling very grateful this Christmas season.”

August 2024

Amid the 2024 presidential race, Usha sat down with Fox News for her first solo interview.

During the chat, the future second lady was asked about her husband’s 2021 remark about the United States being run by “childless cat ladies.”

“The reality is, JD … made a quip in service of making a point that he wanted to make that was substantive,” she said. “What he was really saying is that it can be really hard to be a parent in this country, and sometimes our policies are designed in a way that make it even harder.”

January 2025

JD and Usha celebrated their new home in the White House with a familiar tradition.

“The inaugural balls are a beautiful, time-honored tradition of the Presidency,” JD wrote via Instagram at the time. “Usha and I were honored to join President Trump in celebrating the beginning of the new golden age of America. Now let’s get to work 🇺🇸.”

Related: Meghan Markle and More Stars Voting on Election Day Through the Years

Get out the vote! Celebrities are using every tool in their arsenals to encourage people to vote, including posting photos of themselves exercising their civic duty. Thank You! You have successfully subscribed. Subscribe to newsletters Enter your email Please enter a valid email. Subscribe By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy […]

October 2025

Despite living in the White House, both JD and Usha wanted to give their kids a relatively normal Halloween by dressing up as a family.

“We hope you had a spooktacular Halloween!” Usha wrote via Instagram with photos from their celebration in Washington, D.C.

November 2025

Usha sparked divorce rumors after she was spotted without her wedding ring during a November 2025 visit to Camp Lejeune. A spokesperson for the Vances explained that Usha is “a mother of three young children, who does a lot of dishes, gives lots of baths, and forgets her ring sometimes.”

The occasion came weeks after Erika Kirk embraced JD Vance during a public speaking event and noted that the Vice President shares “similarities” with her late husband.

December 2025

The Vice President addressed rumors of marital discord during a December 2025 interview with NBC News. He insisted that the pair’s relationship is “as strong as it’s ever been” and said of the rumors, “I think that we kind of get a kick out of it.”

“With anything in life, you take the good with the bad,” he also said. “You accept that there are some sacrifices and there are some very good things that come along with it, too. But our marriage is as strong as it’s ever been, and I think Usha’s really taken to it, and it’s been kind of cool to see how she’s developed and evolved in this new role.”

January 2026

Usha and JD announced via Instagram that they’re expecting baby No. 4.

“We’re very excited to share the news that Usha is pregnant with our fourth child, a boy,” read a statement joint shared via Usha’s Instagram. “Usha and the baby are doing well, and we are all looking forward to welcoming him in late July.”

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The statement continued, “During this exciting and hectic time, we are particularly grateful for the military doctors who take excellent care of our family and for the staff members who do so much to ensure that we can serve the country while enjoying a wonderful life with our children.”

July 2026

The couple announced that they welcomed their fourth child in a statement shared via social media, which read, “We are excited to announce that our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, was born this morning. Usha and the baby are happy and healthy, and our kids are overjoyed to meet their little brother.”

“The incredible military doctors and staff members of Walter Reed Medical Center and the White House Medical Unit have been a blessing,” the announcement continued. “We are deeply thankful for all they have done for our family.”

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 14 seconds ago

Right now, Ghost in the Shell has a new anime series, one that blends top-notch animation with heady stories set in a kind of cyberpunk dystopia. The new show is great, but it put me in the mood to go back to the original source code for this seminal animated franchise. Back in 1995, the original Ghost in the Shell movie premiered, and it blew everyone’s minds in every possible way. Like, this was the kind of movie you’d show skeptics who thought that anime was nothing but lowbrow fight scenes. Forget Dragon Ball Z, y’all; Ghost in the Shell is art, full stop!

One of the ways we can tell Ghost in the Shell is art is that it inspired some of our greatest filmmakers to experiment with different kinds of stories. Without this early cyberpunk adventure, the Wachowskis would never have made The Matrix, and James Cameron would never have made Avatar. For that matter, Steven Spielberg would never have made A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. Just what is it about this legendary anime that has inspired so many creators, and where can you see its influence on the big screen? No need to scour the ‘net with your artificial body; just keep scrolling to fill your cyberbrain with all the knowledge fit to download.

Hack The World

The plot of Ghost in the Shell is that Motoko Kusanagi, who works for Public Security Section 9, must investigate a mysterious villain known as the Puppet Master. This Big Bad has the ability to hack into the brains of just about anyone, making him hard to find, much less to stop. Kusanagi and her team may be the only ones who can eliminate this threat for good. Along the way, however, she will learn some uncomfortable truths about her own government, all while tackling crunchy questions about consciousness, autonomy, and what it means to be truly alive in an increasingly postmodern world. 

Ghost in the Shell is one of the most influential anime movies ever created, one that has inspired a growing number of sequels, TV shows, and even a fairly forgettable live-action movie. But what most fans of this film don’t realize is how much of an influence it had on other creators and their works. Perhaps the greatest example is The Matrix: the Wachowskis were inspired to create their own world where human consciousness could be digitally uploaded, forcing a protagonist to question the nature of both reality and consciousness. How deeply does the anime influence the later film? Get this: even the green Matrix code is inspired by prominent green text from Ghost in the Shell!

The Most Influential Anime

It pretty much doesn’t get more blatant than The Matrix, which the Wachowskis pitched by handing the Ghost in the Shell script to Joel Silver and saying “we want to do this for real.” Many years later, the anime inspired James Cameron to create Avatar, though his film involved transferring a human mind into an organic alien body rather than a ghost shell. While that’s a fairly big difference, Cameron explored similarly existential concepts as Ghost in the Shell. This includes how much of our identity is tied to our physical selves and how much our perspective changes when we look at the world through (quite literally) new eyes.

Even Steven Spielberg, Hollywood’s greatest director, was inspired by Ghost in the Shell. It directly inspired A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, a movie in which the lead character deals with the major philosophical question of the earlier anime: does an artificial being still possess a soul? The fantastic technology of Ghost in the Shell also inspired the future tech of Minority Report, where (as in the anime film) it is misused by nefarious agents. How much did Spielberg love this animated film? For better or for worse, he spearheaded the effort to buy the live-action rights so that DreamWorks, his own company, could bring the film to life.

A Genuine Work Of Art

This brings us back to why Ghost in the Shell is art. Certainly, it fits the more conventional definitions of the term: the movie is jaw-dropping beautiful and perfectly written. But it also meets the more comprehensive definition of art because it became a foundational text to the entirety of the sci-fi and cyberpunk genres. Just as we wouldn’t have Star Wars without earlier films like The Hidden Fortress, we wouldn’t have The Matrix without Ghost in the Shell. When you think about just how insanely influential that Keanu Reeves movie was, you get a better idea of how big this anime’s cultural footprint really is.

Care to experience what is possibly the most influential sci-fi movie of all time? Do you want to ponder philosophical questions about mind, body, and soul, or maybe explore the fractured nature of human consciousness? Or (and no judgments here), maybe you just want to see the hottest protagonist in anime history wandering around Japan like an unstoppable, one-woman army? No matter the itch, you’re just a click away from scratching it: Ghost in the Shell is currently streaming for free on Tubi!

Apple TV might not have the biggest streaming library, but it’s definitely become one of the best places to find high-quality television. In fact, the platform houses some of the best original series of modern times and has steadily built an impressive track record of releasing shows that take creative risks rather than play it safe.

Of course, committing to a new series isn’t always easy, especially when they have been without a clear ending in sight. Fortunately, the brilliant Apple TV shows on this list have five seasons or fewer that deliver some of the best storytelling the medium has to offer.

10

‘Presumed Innocent’ (2024–Present)

Image via Apple TV

Presumed Innocent technically tells the oldest story in the book, but manages to make it feel completely fresh. The legal thriller is based on the bestselling novel by Scott Turow and follows chief deputy prosecutor Rusty Sabich (Jake Gyllenhaal), whose life unravels after his colleague and former lover Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve) is brutally murdered. Rusty is initially assigned to help prosecute the case, but once his affair with Carolyn comes to light, he quickly becomes the prime suspect. The evidence keeps piling up, and Rusty has to fight to prove his innocence as his family and career fall apart under the weight of it all.

Now, Presumed Innocent could have easily been a standard courtroom thriller, but it never treats the murder as the only mystery worth solving. Every episode digs deeper into Rusty’s relationships to expose new motives, hidden resentments, and uncomfortable truths that make almost every major character feel like a believable suspect. Gyllenhaal delivers one of the strongest performances of his career and consistently leaves the audience unsure whether Rusty is an innocent man trapped by circumstances or someone truly capable of dark deeds. The series builds its suspense through this moral ambiguity, where almost everyone feels innocent and guilty at the same time.

9

‘Shrinking’ (2023–Present)

Image via Apple TV

Shrinking is a comedy series that balances humor with genuine heart. The dramedy, created by Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel, and Brett Goldstein, follows therapist Jimmy Laird (Segel), whose life falls apart after the sudden death of his wife. That leads to a unique kind of meltdown where Jimmy throws all professional boundaries out the window and starts telling his patients exactly what he thinks instead of sticking to therapy-appropriate responses. His unconventional methods begin changing their lives in unexpected ways, but that also forces Jimmy to confront his own fractured relationship with his teenage daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell).

At the same time, his mentor, Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford), and colleague Gaby (Jessica Williams) try to keep things from completely spiraling out. As chaotic as this premise is, Shrinking is honest with its characters’ emotional arcs. Everyone in the show is dealing with some form of grief, and the story gives them the room to make mistakes and slowly find their way forward. This balance between heartfelt drama and hilarious comedy is hard to pull off, but Shrinking makes it look effortless. Of course, the show’s brilliant ensemble deserves a lot of credit for its success, but through its touching storytelling, Shrinking is one of Apple TV’s most rewarding originals.

8

‘Pachinko’ (2022–2024)

Image via Apple TV+

Pachinko is one of the most ambitious family dramas of all time. The series, based on Min Jin Lee‘s bestselling novel, spans nearly a century and follows four generations of a Korean family whose lives are shaped by sacrifice, war, and displacement. The story begins in Japanese-occupied Korea with Sunja (Yu-na Jeon, Minha Kim, and Youn Yuh-jung), whose unexpected pregnancy forces her into a life-altering decision that ultimately changes the course of her family’s future. From there, the narrative stretches across decades and moves between Korea, Osaka, and Tokyo as Sunja’s descendants struggle to build lives for themselves while facing discrimination, poverty, and the lasting consequences of their family’s past.

Pachinko is brilliant in the way it treats history through the lens of ordinary people. Rather than focusing on major historical events themselves, the series shows how those events shape families across generations. The show’s nonlinear storytelling constantly draws parallels between different eras to show how the hardships of one generation are passed down to the next. The show tells an intimate story on an epic scale, and that’s what makes it one of Apple TV’s most remarkable masterpieces.

7

‘Silo’ (2023–Present)

Image via Apple TV+

The sci-fi genre is pretty crowded right now, but Silo still holds its own. The series, based on Hugh Howey‘s bestselling novels, is set in a dystopian future where the last 10,000 people on Earth live inside a massive underground silo because they believe that the outside world is too toxic for human life. The story follows engineer Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson), who begins investigating a series of suspicious deaths after the sheriff breaks one of the community’s oldest rules and willingly leaves the silo. This leads to Juliette uncovering long-buried secrets about the silo’s history, the people running it, and the lies that have kept generations living in fear.

The great thing about Silo is that it never rushes to explain its biggest mystery. Every season of the show carefully expands the world and reveals just enough information to keep the audience guessing. Juliette is the perfect guide through this world built on secrecy and control because she approaches everything with curiosity instead of the blind obedience that is expected of her. The show has a four-season plan to adapt Howey’s complete trilogy, and it’s already feeling like one of those stories that stay with the audience forever.

6

‘Pluribus’ (2025–Present)

Image via Apple TV

Pluribus is another science fiction show on Apple TV that has taken the world by storm. The series, created by Vince Gilligan, takes a familiar post-apocalyptic premise and turns it completely on its head. The story follows fantasy novelist Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), one of the few people left untouched after a mysterious extraterrestrial virus transforms almost all of humanity into a peaceful collective consciousness known as the “Others.” Unlike most apocalypse stories, the world isn’t consumed by violence or chaos. Instead, it has become eerily calm, with the hive mind insisting that assimilation will ultimately make everyone happier. However, Carol refuses to surrender her individuality and begins searching for a way to reverse what has happened before the last remnants of humanity disappear forever.

What makes Pluribus so fascinating is that it never presents its central conflict in simple terms. The Others aren’t mindless monsters, nor are they presented as outright villains. This ambiguity makes every encounter Carol has with them feel more unsettling than a traditional sci-fi battle. Gilligan constantly raises new questions about identity, free will, and what it actually means to be human without sacrificing the momentum of the story. Pluribus currently just has one season, which means the show is extremely addictive and easy to catch up on.

5

‘Widow’s Bay’ (2026–Present)

Image via Apple TV

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Widow’s Bay is one of the most original horror-comedy series to come out in years because of how hard it commits to both genres. The Apple TV series, created by Katie Dippold, follows Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys), the skeptical mayor of a struggling island town off the coast of New England that has spent generations being defined by stories of curses, ghosts, and supernatural disasters. Tom is determined to change that, though, and launches a major campaign to attract tourists so the world can see that Widow’s Bay is a charming seaside destination. Unfortunately for him, the island seems intent on proving its legends are real. When increasingly bizarre and terrifying incidents begin occurring,

Tom is forced to investigate the town’s history alongside his assistant Patricia (Kate O’Flynn), Sheriff Bechir (Kevin Carroll), and a cast of eccentric locals who have spent their entire lives accepting the curse as fact. Before they even know it, the audience is laughing and feeling truly unsettled at the same time. Every episode peels back another layer of the island’s mythology while introducing new supernatural threats that somehow feel connected to a much larger mystery. The show’s quirky humor makes the horror even more effective because the characters never feel like archetypes. Widow’s Bay is an incredibly easy binge, and by the time the credits roll on the finale, it’s hard not to immediately want another trip back to the strangest town on TV.

4

‘Bad Sisters’ (2022–Present)

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Bad Sisters is one of the darkest comedies on television, where the audience just can’t help but root for its protagonists. The Apple TV series follows the Garvey sisters, Eva (Sharon Horgan), Grace (Anne-Marie Duff), Ursula (Eva Birthistle), Bibi (Sarah Greene), and Becka (Eve Hewson), whose lives have always revolved around protecting one another. The villain in the story is Grace’s manipulative and emotionally abusive husband, John Paul Williams (Claes Bang). When his behavior becomes increasingly worse, the sisters gradually begin entertaining the thought that if John Paul were no longer around, all of their lives would be better. The central story unfolds across two timelines.

One follows the sisters’ increasingly desperate attempts to deal with John Paul, and the other takes place after his death, when two insurance investigators begin questioning whether it was really an accident. Now, the audience knows who the victim is from the beginning, but the series builds its suspense around how he died. Every episode of Bad Sisters makes John Paul more insufferable, to the point where the audience almost understands why the ladies would want him dead. The show’s greatest strength is that it never lets its dark premise overshadow its characters. Beneath all the murder plots and twists, Bad Sisters tells a heartwarming story about family and the lengths people will go to protect the ones they love.

3

‘Margo’s Got Money Troubles’ (2026–Present)

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Margo’s Got Money Troubles is one of the funniest and most emotionally honest dramedies Apple TV has recently released. The series is based on Rufi Thorpe‘s novel. It follows college dropout and aspiring writer Margo Millet (Elle Fanning), whose chaotic affair with her married English professor leaves her unexpectedly pregnant. Margo is determined to raise her son on her own, but quickly realizes that things aren’t going to be as easy as she thought. In a desperate moment, she makes an OnlyFans account, inspired by advice from her estranged father, Jinx (Nick Offerman), a former professional wrestler who unexpectedly reappears in her life.

From there, the show follows Margo and her dad as they try to figure life out when everything seems to be falling apart. The show thrives on the idea of radical empathy and presents every major character as a flawed person who is doing their best. Even when Margo makes questionable decisions, it’s impossible not to understand where she’s coming from and root for her as she navigates her messy family, motherhood, and ambition. The show refuses to judge its protagonist for the choices she makes. It finds humor in Margo’s increasingly chaotic life without ever undermining the genuine struggles she’s facing. The show has been renewed for Season 2, which means now is the perfect time to catch up on Margo’s messy, funny, relatable, and surprisingly inspiring life.

2

‘Severance’ (2022–Present)

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Severance is unlike anything else on TV right now. The Apple TV sci-fi thriller takes a brilliantly original premise that also happens to be a sharp corporate satire. The story follows Mark Scout (Adam Scott), an employee at the mysterious Lumon Industries, where workers voluntarily undergo a procedure known as severance that permanently separates their work memories from their personal ones, creating two completely distinct identities. Their “innie” exists only inside the office and knows nothing of the outside world, while their “outie” has no idea what actually happens during the workday. Initially, the solution appears to be the answer to a great work-life balance.

However, this carefully controlled system begins to unravel after the arrival of a rebellious new employee, Helly R. (Britt Lower), whose refusal to accept her reality forces Mark to question everything he has been told about Lumon and the true purpose of the severance program. It’s interesting how Severance builds its entire mystery around the question of what people do at work. Every answer the show delivers complicates things further and makes Lumon’s sterile office hallways feel all the more unsettling. The show explores large philosophical ideas about identity and free will but grounds itself in something almost everyone can relate to. Severance has established itself as one of the smartest and most original TV shows with just two seasons, and things are only going to get better as the mythology deepens.

1

‘Ted Lasso’ (2020–Present)

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Ted Lasso is a feel-good comedy that one just can’t dislike. The Apple TV series follows optimistic American college football coach Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), who is unexpectedly hired to manage AFC Richmond, a struggling English Premier League club, despite knowing almost nothing about soccer. Ted quickly realizes that his appointment wasn’t based on his qualifications at all because Club owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) secretly hopes his inexperience will cause the team to fail as part of her plan to get back at her ex-husband.

However, instead of giving in to the pressure, Ted slowly wins over his skeptical players, coaching staff, and the entire club through kindness, empathy, and an unwavering belief that people can become better than they think they are. Don’t be fooled, though, because the show isn’t naive in its optimism. The narrative acknowledges anxiety, failure, and heartbreak, but does so in a positive light. Every major character in the show experiences moments of growth, and that’s what makes Ted Lasso such an uplifting and emotionally satisfying watch.

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Ted Lasso

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Release Date

August 14, 2020

Network

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Apple TV

Directors

Declan Lowney, MJ Delaney, Erica Dunton, Matt Lipsey

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The YA demographic remains one of the most elusive for streaming services because the rules change every couple of years. What worked in the past is not guaranteed to work in the future. However, Prime Video has quietly been positioning itself as the ultimate destination for all kinds of teen and YA shows. From The Summer I Turned Pretty to We Were Liars, Off Campus, and Every Year After, the streamer has delivered some of the most popular teen shows of this decade. And the streaming service seems to be doubling down on book-to-series adaptations. Still, other streaming services have not been left behind, chief among them Netflix.

While Netflix has broad generational appeal, teen dramas like Elite, Outer Banks, Heartstopper, and Ginny & Georgia have proven that the streamer also knows what people want. Many of the aforementioned shows have ended or are nearing their natural conclusion, but Netflix has replacements lined up. This next one is comparable to Off Campus meets Maxton Hall meets Gossip Girl. The series focuses on a young woman whose world is upended, and she must adapt to her new reality.

Miku Martineau plays Teagan in the series titled Crew Girl. The 16-year-old’s world changes overnight when her family is caught up in a scandal that forces them to relocate to the East Coast. Teagan is forced to abandon everything she had worked for, including her rising status in single sculls rowing. On the East Coast, she joins Easton Prep, a prestigious school that smells of old money, and competition is the order of the day. Teagan has a choice to make: abandon her rowing dreams or join the school’s team. The catch is that Easton Prep does not have a girls’ rowing team, so if she wants to compete, she must train with the boys.

‘Crew Girl’ Is the Epitome of Modern Teen Shows

This is where things get interesting. An elite school with rich kids breeds arrogance and entitlement. Meanwhile, a girl on a boys’ rowing team is a spectacle more distracting than many would want. Additionally, the boys’ team has a very arrogant captain. Between trying to earn her place on the team and dealing with her family’s escalating problems, Teagan has a lot going on. The last thing she needs is to find herself in the middle of a love triangle with the team captain, Josh Regis (Sam Braun), and Cam Dillinger (Kyle Clark), the quiet and overlooked local whose intense drive makes him the team’s unsung hero. Vivian Lin serves as the showrunner of Crew Girl. Other cast members include Jessica Paré and Thomas Cadrot.

Crew Girl hits Netflix on Thursday, September 10. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

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Release Date

September 12, 2026

Network

Netflix

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Showrunner

Vivian Lin

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Directors

Alysse Leite-Rogers, Norman Buckley, Jacquie Gould, Simon Barry

Writers

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Jennica Harper, Julian Doucet, Vivian Lin

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Cast

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  Jessica Pare

  Ella Emerson-Tao

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By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 6 seconds ago

As an elder millennial, I have a lot of respect for Kevin Smith. When the filmmaker has something to say, he often creates weirdly profound movies. Clerks is funny, sure, but it also perfectly captured the malaise of getting older and still not knowing what you want to do when you grow up. Chasing Amy had some of the best sex jokes ever put on film, but it also shone a spotlight on the insecurities that can destroy even the strongest relationships. Heck, beneath its many sacrilegious punchlines, even Dogma had powerful things to say about faith, redemption, and embracing the divinity within our flawed, human shells.

When Smith doesn’t have much to say, you are left with self-indulgence and little else. Beyond its charming characters, for example, Mallrats had little to offer but verbose jokes aimed squarely at pot-smoking English majors. One of the worst offenders was Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, a movie whose only redeeming quality was its banger of a soundtrack. As a fan of the director, I was really hoping that earlier outing would be as bad as it could possibly get, but Smith later outdid himself in the worst possible way. The follow-up film, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019), is an absolutely awful sequel that barely deserves to be called a movie.

Coming Down From The High

The plot of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is that Bluntman and Chronic are getting a reboot film from director Kevin Smith. Because of this and a surprise court ruling, Jay and Silent Bob have lost the rights to their own name. The two erstwhile stoners hatch an insane plan to head to California and keep the film from being made, thus winning back their names. Once these not-so-young men head west, they discover something shocking: Jay has a daughter he never knew about from a previous girlfriend. With the help of this gal and her band of enthusiastic weirdoes, our heroes hope to blaze (in every sense of the word) their way through Hollywood.

There’s no gentle way to say this, but Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is a hot mess from top to bottom. To start with, our titular duo is played by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, neither of whom is a very good actor. They work as zany side characters in movies like Clerks, where their lack of skill as performers gives them a kind of rough-around-the-edges authenticity. But as leading performers, they are seriously lacking, something that is made even clearer by the sheer number of big-name cameos in this film.

Nepo Avengers, Assemble!

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot has appearances from just about everyone in Smith’s beloved Viewaskewniverse. The movie features cameos by Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Justin Long, Rosario Dawson, and more. Several franchise newcomers are also big names, including Joe Manganiello, Fred Armisen, and Val Kilmer. While most of these established stars aren’t in the film for very long, they don’t need much screen time to act absolute circles around Mewes and Smith. Conversely, our dimwitted duo seems like Oscar winners compared to Harley Quinn Smith. She plays Jay’s daughter in the movie, but in real life, her father is Kevin Smith.

As a family guy myself (and not just because I’m working on a Peter Griffin waistline), I understand the director’s impulse to try to make his child a star. Unfortunately, the result is a perfect storm of sh*t: the collective talent of the bigger stars of this film leaves the younger Smith looking even more out of place than her famous father. But even if she were the best actor in the world, performing in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot would be an uphill battle because she is dealing with one of the worst comedy scripts ever written.

He Needs To Talk About Kevin

Sadly, this isn’t a so-bad-it’s-sometimes-good sequel like Mallrats. Nor does it descend into full schlock like Tusk, which might have made it perfect to watch when imbibing Jay and Silent Bob’s favorite drug. Instead, this reboot is just kind of there: most scenes just feel like excuses to bring old characters back, and the result is less like a feature film and more like a series of shorts held together by forced punchlines. Beyond allowing for reunions with many of his previous actors, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot exists for one reason: so Kevin Smith can offer half-baked (pun very much intended) homages to his own life and career.

Unfortunately, this is another area where this sequel falls flat. Smith’s later film Clerks III does a much better job of looking back on his life and wringing something heartfelt out of all the d*ck and fart jokes. But Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is the worst of both worlds because its broad, deeply unfunny comedy flattens every emotional moment into something flat and brittle. At the same time, the director’s attempts at poignant depth keep the movie from fully embracing stupid slapstick that might, at the very least, earn a smile from time to time.

Let’s Blow This Joint

You won’t smile much while watching Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. You won’t frown, either. Instead, you’ll spend most of your time looking at the screen, head tilted in horrified anticipation at each new scene. Who will be the next famous actor Smith trots out instead of telling a story? What ‘90s-ass punchline will he drop on you next with the full force of your best friend’s pog collection? How else will he screw up the pacing while giving us the cinematic equivalent of a 12-year-old’s “isn’t this so deep” fanfiction?

These are just a few of the questions you’ll ask while watching this film. This is a natural side effect of your mind wandering in its naked attempt to escape the once-funny world of Kevin Smith. Still, there’s a lot here for superfans to glom onto, and it provides unexpected closure to several of this universe’s most beloved characters. Maybe that sounds like something you’d enjoy, or maybe you just want to give your brain a chance to get away from it all. Either way, it’s time to grab the remote and practice your best “snootchy-bootchies!” war cry, because Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is currently streaming for free on Tubi.

JAY AND SILENT BOB REVIEW SCORE

The 2026 FIFA World Cup came to a thrilling conclusion on Sunday, July 19, with Spain and Argentina squaring off in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

After a tied match at 0-0 at the end of scheduled time, Spain emerged the victor — and squashed Lionel Messi‘s World Cup reign — securing their second World Cup Final win in extra time, 1-0.

Spain’s victory came in front of a sold out MetLife Stadium with scores of soccer dignitaries and celebrities in attendance, including President Donald Trump, who was loudly boo’d after Jennifer Hudson‘s rendition of the U.S. national anthem.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Trump, 80, would be at the final on Thursday, July 16, despite not attending any other matches played in the United States.

Related: All the Celebrities Cheering on Global Soccer at the 2026 World Cup

The 2026 World Cup is officially here— and the stars are stepping out to root for their favorite teams. The global soccer tournament will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with the qualifying teams competing in matchups throughout the three countries this summer ahead of the championship game at MetLife Stadium in […]

“We look forward ⁠to the final match on Sunday, ​and I know ‌the President ‌looks forward to attending,” she said. “This is a fitting conclusion to a tournament that showcased America’s ability to host the world on the grandest stage.”

The World Cup final turned out to also be a showcase of some of the best soccer players in the world, including Argentina’s Messi.

Messi, 39, entered the match with confidence, having already won a World Cup with Argentina in 2022.

“We’ve been the best over these past four years, either you like it or not, and no matter what anyone says,” he said after Argentina defeated England in the semifinals on Monday, July 15. “Once again, we’ve established ourselves among the top two teams in the world. That proves that everything we’ve done is no fluke and that nothing was handed to us.”

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He added, “Reaching two consecutive World Cup finals is something very few achieve, and this group did it. If we had lost to England, there would have been people coming out to spout some nonsense, but we didn’t give them the chance.”

On the other side, Spain entered on a mission itself as a country that has won the World Cup only once, in 2010.

“It means a lot, because we have only been [to the final] twice in our history so we want to win the World Cup,” Spanish defender Rodri said after Spain’s semifinal win over France on Tuesday, July 14. “We need to rest now and see what we can improve because we want to win the next one.”