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In brief: Fleetwood Mac documentary coming to Apple TV and more

The landslide is bringing them to Apple TV. Fleetwood Mac is telling their story in their own words in the Apple Original Films documentary Fleetwood Mac: The Chain. Apple announced the “unprecedented look” is the first fully authorized documentary about the award-winning, culture-defining band. It brings together the voices and memories of Fleetwood members Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks and the late Christine McVie. Fleetwood Mac: The Chain will debut Jan. 29 ...Ramy Youssef’s feature directorial debut has added some more star power to the cast. Amanda Seyfried will join Youssef and Sharon Stone in Martha & Muhammad, a new comedy for A24, according to Deadline. Youssef will direct from his own script, in addition to starring. Plot and character details are being kept under wraps, though The Hollywood Reporter previously described the project as telling the story of “a white widowed socialite in New York who develops a relationship with a young Muslim man” ... TNCMS.AdManager.render({region: 'fixed-big-ad-top-asset', slot: 1, fold: "above"}); Another book adaptation is coming to Prime Video. Amazon MGM Studios confirmed Thursday it has picked up Butcher & Blackbird, the bestselling thriller novel by Brynne Weaver. Emma Laird and Thomas Doherty are signed on to star in the new film, which follows vigilante serial killers who fall in love as they compete to take out the most targets ... Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Thank you for reading kmaland.comAt KMA, we attempt to be accurate in our reporting. If you see a typo or mistake in a story, please contact us by emailing kmaradio@kmaland.com.

Oct 23 • 8:30 AM EDT • Entertainment • kmaland.com

Movie review: 'Clayface' a doomed romance with body horror trappings

In order to find the best comparison to “Clayface” — the new Warner Bros. DC Universe installment — we have to go back to 1990, to Sam Raimi’s “Darkman,” starring

Oct 21 • 3:05 PM EDT • Entertainment • recorderonline.com

Healthcare on the trail in Arizona

The signature Republican reconciliation bill is playing a starring role in Arizona Democratic messaging two weeks out from the midterms.

Oct 20 • 6:13 PM EDT • Health • punchbowl.news

Streaming’s Biggest Show Returns…and a Buzzy Genre Struggles

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Obviously, the big news of the week (if not month) is Netflix letting go of executive Bela Bajaria, their chief content officer. I’m going to cover this in my next “Most Important Story of the Week”, but I also have a data angle that I might publish before then. (Too much news this month, am I right?) But first, I have a bonus Streaming Ratings Report issue for you. Today’s article is a bit of a grab bag of topics I’ve wanted to write about, but couldn’t squeeze into the (already very long) Streaming Ratings Report issues. The NFL drives huge viewership numbers, so I’ve got a look at that. A whole bunch of TV shows returned to the traditional broadcast channels, and I have thoughts. And I have a quick look at adult animated shows, since a couple flopped earlier this month. Plus, the Emmys aired earlier this month, and we got some fun data bout how popular those nominated shows are and why I’m not optimistic about the show’s future. That’s a lot, so let’s dive right in. Subscribe Sports - Football Remains the King of Streaming Over the last two Streaming Ratings Reports, I sorta ignored the biggest “show” each week. (I was tempted to say “piece of content” but I know that word bugs folks.) In my database, I call these “specials”, and they sure are special. I speak of the king of American TV: football!!! Streaming football is back and, unlike some other sports, it routinely dominates all viewership. Probably the best way to show this is to update one of my favorite graphics, the “40 Million Hour Club”1 since football games have joined that club each week they’ve premiered: (Yep, that’s the data through 28-Sep, the first four weeks of the season. As a reminder, I take the average minute audience provided by Nielsen, factor out a percentage of linear TV viewers in home markets, and multiply the run time by the three-hour runtime.) Again, the numbers are huge. Let’s start with Netflix. They grabbed the rights to the bonus opening week NFL Kickoff game (which was on YouTube last year) and it put up 18.5 million viewers on average. That nets out to 47.4 million hours of estimated streaming hours. That’s good! Though, notably, it’s well below Christmas Day games from previous years. Compared to other streamers/broadcasters, that’s a bit of a mixed result. On one hand, Netflix’s 18.5 million average is about what YouTube claimed last year, though Nielsen used a bespoke methodology at that time, so I trust this viewership figure more. So that’s good. (The game also shifted from a Friday to a Thursday and that could have helped the viewership as well.) And Netflix continues to best Prime Video in total viewership—as you’ll see next—though Netflix has had much higher-profile (opening week and Christmas Day) games. NBC/Peacock’s opening game the night before averaged 25.1 million average viewers, which is just much bigger than Netflix (or Prime Video). That’s the big caveat to all streaming viewership records: even in success, they can’t compete with traditional linear TV. Previously, I called this my “hierarchy of viewership”, and the data keeps supporting that thesis. The downside for NBC is that this game’s viewership was down compared to previous years, though it may be a counting issue. Here’s a great chart from Sports Media Watch: Indeed, looking at all the opening week games across all windows, Netflix still lags the other primetime windows, but does well compared to the afternoon games: I saw a few folks make the case that streamers still lag traditional broadcasters in reach, and I’d add they really lag compared to “broadcast plus streaming” options like NBC/Peacock, ESPN/Disney+ and CBS/Paramount+. The best data I saw for this came from Samba TV, who charted reach through the 2025 season, and, wow. (Samba TV’s numbers are historically lower than Nielsen’s, so don’t compare their household figures to Nielsen’s hours, but use them as a proxy for the relative reach of the streamers.) The good news is Prime Video is NOT having a down year. Their opening Thursday Night Football game reached 18.6 million viewers (about what Netflix got), but that’s a high for Prime Video on Thursdays and the biggest Thursday night game since 2015. The TNF games the weeks of 21-Sep and 28-Sep continued this streak, getting 43.1 (16.8 million average viewers) and 42.5 total hours (16.6 million average viewers), which were both up from last year. Still, that continues the (typical) season slide: (For those new-to-streaming-football-numbers folks, the viewership declines for Thursday Night Football as the year goes along.) Overall, it appears as if Prime Video is now part of the “football habit”, be it for customers at home or out at places like bars and restaurants. And its viewership is slowly catching up to broadcast. One last chart shows this. Last season, Nielsen started adding out-of-home viewership to the charts, so I try not to do season-to-season comparisons as I did for the first few years. And while Nielsen added Big Data viewing this year, I’m going to compare the last two seasons. Here’s that chart, which shows the season-over-season gains: When it comes to streaming football, we have to keep a few seemingly contradictory thoughts in our head… First, streaming doesn’t come close to matching broadcast’s reach and, thus, viewership. Second, even with that gap, football is still the biggest “thing” on streaming. It’s very, very popular. Third, while some methodology changes have likely helped Prime Video’s numbers, their viewership does appear to be growing. Lastly, yeah, the NFL started the season off poorly, with week one dragging down the numbers in year-over-year comparisons. However—and again, methodology changes may have helped this—the viewership grew compared to previous seasons over the next couple of weeks. So football is still king. On streaming and off. Television - Adult Animation Continues to NOT Make the Streaming Charts In the last two reports, two adult-animated shows whiffed: Netflix’s animated comedy, Dang! Paramount+’s Sega-video-game-inspired fantasy/comedy, Golden Axe. Neither made the charts, but that’s usually the case for animated shows. I mean, here’s literally every animated show that’s made the Nielsen Original charts since the start of 2025: And one of those shows is G_abby’s Dollhouse_! A kids show! The problem with charts like this is that they don’t give you a sense of how many shows miss the charts. Netflix had at least eleven animated flops, including comedies like Big Mouth (a show everyone assumed was popular in the pre-Streaming Ratings Era), Long Story Short, Haunted Hotel, Mating Season, Strip Law, and Alley Cats, and action shows like Blood of Zeus, Castlevania: Nocturne, Devil May Cry, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. Prime Video had at least six animated misses, two in the same universe (Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss), three more comedies (#1 Happy Family USA, The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy and Kevin) and an action show (The Mighty Nein). Disney+ had MCU and Star Wars animated misses (Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies, Star Wars: Visions, Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, and Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld) but I can’t tell how many of those shows were geared towards adults. HBO Max had Harley Quinn and Hulu had Solar Opposites. None of these shows made the charts! That’s a lot of misses! If I remade the chart with all those misses, here’s how it would look: Listen, I know the counter arguments. First, it’s cheaper to produce animated shows than live action. Fair enough, but with viewership this low, even that cheaper price point starts to not matter. Second, just look at the acquired charts. Hit animated comedies can generate viewership for years! Shows like The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, and Bob’s Burgers do really, really well. Fair enough, but streaming has failed to recreate the dynamic that Fox has mastered so well. That’s a problem for streaming still. Television - Emmys! The annual Emmys broadcast was a few weeks ago, and I’ve got data on how the nominees performed on streaming, plus hot takes on this year’s viewership (and the big news about the broadcast’s, er, streamcast’s future). We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… The top Emmy-nominated shows… ...why I’m worried about the future of the Emmys telecast... ...the pros of broadcast television ...and the cons... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Coming Soon! Next week, we’ve got a double issue (since the weeks of 21-Sep and 28-Sep were so light), but then I’ll be all caught up after a deluge of streaming ratings data from Nielsen in September. In the meantime, I’m going to try to take a look at Netflix’s stats to explain why Bela Bajaria is out. But even light weeks give me plenty to talk about. The Great British Baking Show returns to Netflix and Apple TV has a buzzy new star-studded comedy. And Netflix has a controversial-but-appears-to-be-popular new game show. Plus big films like Toy Story 5, Backrooms and The Breadwinner head to streaming. And is East of Eden a hit? After that, The Kardashians return to Hulu, Prime Video has a reboot of Carrie, and Netflix has a horror show, Below. Disclosure Day heads to Peacock, The Housemaid heads to HBO Max_,_ a new Ben Affleck film, Animals, lands on Netflix, and Apple TV has a new John Cena action film based on, checks notes, Hasbro’s Matchbox toys. Okay. Longterm, some interesting TV production news. HBO Max ordered How to Survive Without Me, starring Kaley Cuoco, Joshua Jackson, Ray Romano and Rita Wilson, for fifteen episodes! I love that some streamers (or, at least, HBO Max) are finally ordering TV shows with more than eight episodes. In less wise production news, Landman does not appear to be coming back this year, since it just started production. Frankly, I don’t love this (get your shows out on time) but Landman is so popular, I doubt it matters.

Oct 18 • 3:59 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

Da Red Gobbo returns with a new festive miniature

Plus, there’s a new novel starring the galaxy’s greatest revolutionary gretchin.

Oct 15 • 8:00 PM EDT • Technology • warhammer-community.com

'The Diplomat' Season 4 is now streaming: Expect more political chaos — and plenty of marital drama.

"The Diplomat," Debora Cahn's critically acclaimed political drama starring Keri Russell, is back for its fourth season.

Oct 15 • 4:26 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

IP Saves the Day On Streaming

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Before we get started, I wanted to highlight a new idea I saw from Real Good AI, proposing a ratings system for AI use. (H/T to Anthony Kaufman’s article highlighting this.) It would look something like this: In general, I think that this is a solid, middle-ground solution that should appease both the pro-AI camp (who love AI) and the anti-AI camp (who wants to know if what they’re watching didn’t come from humans). Regardless of your feelings on AI/LLMs—I’ll never use it for my writing—transparency is often the best solution to many problems. In general, I think way more media outlets need to be using way more AI disclosures. My quick “Yes and...” to this idea: what about ads? In particular, I hate it when I see or hear ads that are obviously AI-generated, but a person or voice says, “I used this product”. AI doesn’t use products! Just today, I watched a YouTube ad where a “person” said they use some sort of rain wind chime...but that’s not a real person! They didn’t use this product. (Especially since the video of the wind chime itself also appeared to be AI-generated...) I believe most traditional advertising already has standards like this anyway.1 Okay, on to this week’s issue. We’re covering the week of 14-Sep, and then next issue, I’ll be fully caught up with Nielsen’s new release schedule. In the future, I plan to put out Streaming Ratings Reports each Monday after Nielsen’s Thursday releases. Overall, we had some big new shows this week, like Prime Video’s Reacher spinoff_, Neagley_, which is off to a big, big start, and Netflix’s latest in its Monster anthology, which is their largest opening since June and the second-largest since One Piece came out in March. All that, plus Slow Horses returns, the trio of returning shows (Lioness, Reacher and Ted Lasso) continue to dominate the top tens, Paramount+’s latest crime drama, a big whiff for a Netflix original film and a precipitous drop for Netflix film charts, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of September 14th to September 20th 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Television - IP For the TV Win Can I use the dirty word of entertainment journalism right now? IP. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone I said it. But IP works at the box office, and we’ve seen some evidence it works in TV too. Not as well, and not all the time—no absolutes here!—but often enough. And glancing at the Nielsen top ten…it worked this week! Take Prime Video, who has a monster hit in the crime drama Reacher. Would a spinoff work for that show? Yep! They binge-released Neagley, about a detective from the original Reacher series, and its eight episodes debuted to 29.6 million hours. Here’s how it stacks up to Reacher, one of Prime Video’s biggest shows: That’s great. Nearly as strong as Reacher’s opening! (Both shows started with eight, binge-released episodes, so this comparison is apples-to-apples.) Notably, Prime Video scheduled the debut of Neagley to overlap with Reacher’s most recent season, to help drive tune-in. Obviously, I love smart release strategies like that. And even though I wrote “obviously”, it’s not really that obvious, since streamers don’t often take advantage of natural overlaps like this_._2 Other data backs how well Neagley performed. It opened at second place on Samba TV for two weeks and got 51.7 million hours on Luminate. That’s the eleventh biggest opening on Luminate since May of 2024 and tied with Bridgerton’s third season opening. That’s a huge opening! Its IMDb is solid too, a 7.7 on 24K reviews. Netflix’s latest edition in the “Monster” series—which started with Jeffrey Dahmer and comes from Ryan Murphy—did well too, opening to 24.7 million hours. That’s the biggest opening for Netflix since I Will Find You in June, and second biggest since March. Unlike the Reacher series, this franchise is trending downward, though. The first Monster show—Dahmer - Monster—was giant. More than anything, I think this reflects that Netflix running out of extremely popular—if that’s the right word?—serial killers to feature. Still, the data says this is a very good opening. It made it to third place on Samba TV for two weeks. It also opened to 40.0 million hours on Luminate. That’s not quite as elite as Neagley, but still very, very strong. I’ll be honest: my priors coming into any given week are that IP works to help drive buzz for new shows, but TV shows need to stand on their own even more than movies, so they will succeed or fail based on their quality. But these two spinoffs definitely worked. Quick Notes on TV The top show, film or special this week? Football, again. Specifically, Prime Video’s season opener of Thursday Night Football. The games run long (three hours) but mainly a lot of people watch each game. That adds up to a lot of viewership. Paramount released the second season of MobLand on an unusual day for that service, a Friday! Often, they put their new shows out on a Sunday, as they did last year with a run of shows (Lioness, Tulsa King and Landman). MobLand didn’t make Nielsen in its first week, but on Samba TV it got to eighth and seventh place. Luminate had a smaller opening too, only 5.3 million hours. MobLand missed the Nielsen charts for its first eight weeks, so this season is off to a stronger start. (Bonus note: the first season streams on both Prime Video and The Roku Channel, but I only have it as Paramount+ on those charts.) I’ve mentioned a few times that foreign-language originals do lower numbers than English-language originals on Netflix most of the time. But I don’t usually emphasize what country those originals come from, and observationally, they tend to be from Western or Northern European countries, in general. So credit to Not a Stranger, a Turkish Netflix original, for breaking through on Luminate, getting to 7.9 million hours in its first full week on those charts. As I mentioned last issue, Crew Girl ended up making the Nielsen charts in its second week. That’s still a soft performance compared to many shows, but again this, one looks affordable. And if you’re curious, here’s how it stacks up to some other sports romance shows: We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… …about a new data source and how it drives streaming viewership… ...what reality show is struggling in its latest season…. ...what Netflix film bombed…. ...How Reacher, Ted Lasso, and Lioness are doing on the charts… ...what obscure sport put up great viewership numbers… …how far streaming films are falling… …all the flops, bombs and misses for the last week… …and more… ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. If you want an idea of just how much content you’d get in a full issue, check out this older issue. Coming Soon! Next week, we’ve got a double issue, then we’ll be all caught up with Nielsen’s data. Yes! The goal is to have my report out on the Monday after I get Nielsen’s data. So next issue, I’m looking at East of Eden, The Great British Baking Show, a Willy Wonka game show (that people are upset uses AI, but viewers might not care), and a Cosby show spinoff reboot on Netflix, and Brothers on Apple TV (starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey). That’s about it for TV, but who’s going to win the streaming week, The Breadwinner or Backrooms on streaming? Answer: Toy Story 5. Plus Netflix has a Unabomber film and a new Tyler Perry film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma tries to repeat The Substance’s run on MUBI, and Paramount+ has Jackass: Best and Last. Long term, Netflix is remaking Lonesome Dove. I love this choice, but man, there are a lot of westerns on TV right now. And they’re making Sega TV shows, including a Crazy Taxi TV show and Sonic show with an “edge”.

Oct 15 • 3:32 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

K-POP SENSATION LE SSERAFIM HEADLINES NEW BRAND CAMPAIGN FOR ASIAN ENTERTAINMENT STREAMER, RAKUTEN VIKI

/PRNewswire/ -- Rakuten Viki, the leading destination for Asian entertainment, has launched a new brand campaign starring global K-pop group LE SSERAFIM. "Viki...

Oct 14 • 11:30 AM EDT • Entertainment • prnewswire.com

Chris O’Donnell Launches Lone Cypress Entertainment

Chris O’Donnell Launches Lone Cypress Entertainment With First Project 'Kilkenny' starring P.J. Byrne and directed by Jay Duplass.

Oct 13 • 5:55 PM EDT • Entertainment • deadline.com

‘The Diplomat’ Season 4 promises more political chaos — and plenty of marital drama.

"The Diplomat," Debora Cahn’s critically acclaimed political drama starring Keri Russell, returns for its fourth season later this week.

Oct 13 • 3:57 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

‘The Diplomat’ Season 4 promises more political chaos — and plenty of marital drama.

"The Diplomat," Debora Cahn’s critically acclaimed political drama starring Keri Russell, returns for its fourth season later this week.

Oct 13 • 3:57 PM EDT • Politics • yahoo.com

Reba McEntire shares memories of Dolly Parton’s “Reba” 2005 guest-starring role

The music legend, who died in August, played Reba’s real estate rival turned potential boss on the sitcom.

Oct 12 • 10:30 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

'Verity' film adaptation honors original story

On Oct. 2, the movie adapted from Colleen Hoover’s novel “Verity” hit theaters starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett.

Oct 12 • 1:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • valpotorch.com

Aaron Sorkin’s ‘Social Reckoning’ is off to a weak start

What does this mean for a fall full of movies starring villainous tech CEOs?

Oct 11 • 4:51 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

'Other Mommy' scares up N. American box office win

Horror flick "Other Mommy" starring Oscar winner Jessica Chastain debuted atop the North American box office with $27.5 million in ticket sales, while awards hopeful "The Social Reckoning" flopped with...

Oct 11 • 1:54 PM EDT • Entertainment • afp.com

Squadron 42 opens for Steam wishlisting ahead of a planned Q2 2027 release

Cloud Imperium's single-player space epic Squadron 42, starring Mark Hamill and Gary Oldman, is now on Steam for wishlisting ahead of a Q2 2027 release.

Oct 11 • 7:43 AM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net

“The Exorcist ”film, starring Scarlett Johansson, should feel ‘dangerous’: ‘It made me wildly uncomfortable’

“I want this to be a world where God is dead,” writer-director Mike Flanagan tells EW as the new trailer drops.

Oct 9 • 6:32 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Daredevil Star Charlie Cox Confirms He's in an Unannounced Sega Game

Daredevil star Charlie Cox has confirmed that he is starring in another video game, this one for Sega.

Oct 8 • 7:37 PM EDT • Technology • ign.com

‘Boy Meets World’ star Matthew Lawrence recalls ‘dysfunction’ on ‘Girl Meets World’

‘Boy Meets World’ star Matthew Lawrence spoke to EW about the ‘dysfunction’ on the ‘Girl Meets World’ set, and his ‘strange’ experience guest-starring on the spinoff.

Oct 6 • 10:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

‘Primetime’: Is catching predators justice or just entertainment?

Rating: ★★★​​½ Starring Robert Pattinson, Skyler Gisondo, Merritt Wever Directed by Lance Oppenheim Rated R Release Date: Sept. 25, 2026 A man waits unknowingly inside a sting house. His eyes draw up to the sound of curtains ruffling as Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson), host of Dateline NBC’s “To Catch a Predator,” enters flamboyantly. Hansen descends...

Oct 5 • 11:40 AM EDT • Entertainment • ucsdguardian.org

Walmsley hopeful Grand Final role leads to new club

Departing Wakefield winger Lachlan Walmsley hopes his starring role in their Grand Final win over Warrington can help him pick up a new team.

Oct 5 • 9:13 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

New TV shows to watch this week: Tune in to 'Cupertino' on CBS, stream 'Carrie' on Prime Video and revisit 'The Haunting of Hill House' on Netflix

The new TV shows worth watching — from the HBO divorce drama "War" to Netflix's "East of Eden" adaptation and a seaside mystery starring Josh Hartnett.

Oct 5 • 8:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Ethan Hawke names surprising thriller co-starring ex Uma Thurman as his breakout: ‘Changed my life’

If you ask Ethan Hawke, it wasn’t ‘Dead Poets Society’ or ‘Reality Bites’ that gave him his big break — it was this under-seen, experimental thriller from a master of indie cinema that made him a star.

Oct 4 • 4:11 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

Goddess Empire Entertainment proudly presents EARTHA... I'M STILL HERE!

STARRING THOMASINA GROSS THOMASINA GROSS HEADLINES SOLD OUT / SRO ACCLAIMED EARTHA KITT TOUR-DE-FORCE

Oct 3 • 2:43 PM EDT • Entertainment • einpresswire.com

In brief: 'Reacher' spinoff gets a second season and more

We’ve got an official trailer for NBC’s Newlyweds, the new sitcom starring real-life married couple Tim Daly and Téa Leoni. The show, co-created by Jamie Lee Curtis, follows a later-in-life love story between a free-spirited woman and a professor who marry after a quick courtship. It premieres on Oct. 23 …The Reacher spinoff Neagley is getting a second season, just two weeks after the first season debuted on Prime Video. Maria Sten stars as the fan-favorite character Frances Neagley, a private investigator from Chicago and the former protégé of Jack Reacher, in the action series. The original Reacher series, starring Alan Ritchson, was picked up for a sixth season earlier this week … TNCMS.AdManager.render({region: 'fixed-big-ad-top-asset', slot: 1, fold: "above"}); Bradley Cooper is gearing up to star in Paramount’s new G.I. Joe film. He’ll be playing Duke, the leader of the Joes. Danny McBride is on board to direct. Further details on the project have not yet been revealed …Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Thank you for reading kmaland.comAt KMA, we attempt to be accurate in our reporting. If you see a typo or mistake in a story, please contact us by emailing kmaradio@kmaland.com.

Oct 2 • 8:30 AM EDT • Entertainment • kmaland.com

‘Digger’ review: Climate change satire will leave you feeling cold

Alejandro G. Iñárritu's latest film, starring an unrecognizable Tom Cruise, wears out its welcome far too quickly, writes Moira Macdonald.

Sep 30 • 5:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • yakimaherald.com

A 'Verity' meme is outshining the 'Verity' movie. They have nothing to do with each other.

A movie starring Anne Hathaway shares the same name as a meme that's popular with Gen Alpha.

Sep 30 • 4:57 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Steven Spielberg's 'Disclosure Day' Returns Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Sept. 30

Universal’s Disclosure Day returned atop of the Official Film Chart, the weekly U.K. home entertainment sales chart through Sept. 30, for the first time since reaching No. 1 in August. Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson and Colman Domingo, the sci-fi thriller has been on the sales … Continue reading "Steven Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’ Returns Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Sept. 30"

Sep 30 • 11:01 AM EDT • Entertainment • mediaplaynews.com

“Primetime:” The Tragedy of Ethics vs. Entertainment

A review of the newest A24 film, “Primetime” which follows Chris Hansen on his search for ratings and fame during his docu-series “To Catch A Predator” in the early 2000s. Starring the star of 2026, Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen.

Sep 29 • 1:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • technicianonline.com

Canada Goose Teams Up with Elixir Films and Lief Entertainment on Documentary Series Starring Ewan McGregor

The performance brand brings its legacy in exploration to the open ocean, setting sail with Ewan McGregor and his crew on their journey across the Atlantic Ocean

Sep 29 • 4:04 AM EDT • Entertainment • lbbonline.com

John Cusack sets the record straight on longtime rumor he turned down starring in ‘Breaking Bad’ as Walter White

A rumor has long persisted that John Cusack passed on playing Walter White on ‘Breaking Bad,’ and the ‘Say Anything’ actor admits he had to double-check if that was the case.

Sep 28 • 12:34 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

In brief: '9 to 5' headed back to theaters and more

Pour yourself a cup of ambition and head out to your local movie theater. 9 to 5 is headed back to movie theaters for a special, weeklong run starting on Oct. 9. This will be a newly restored version of the classic satirical workplace comedy starring the late Dolly Parton. Additionally, Disney is set to donate net proceeds from each ticket purchased for the rerelease in the U.S. to the Dollywood Foundation in support of its flagship program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Disney is the parent company of ABC News ...Off Campus star Ella Bright has found her next gig. The actress confirmed she will star opposite Mason Thames in the movie Narcs in a post shared to her Instagram Story. This marks Bright's first major studio feature role. The upcoming coming-of-age comedy will be made for Sony Pictures. While the movie's plot is being kept under wraps, it will serve as the directorial debut of John Phillips, the writer of No Hard Feelings, Good Boys and Dirty Grandpa ... TNCMS.AdManager.render({region: 'fixed-big-ad-top-asset', slot: 1, fold: "above"}); Did you miss Evil Dead Burn in theaters? Not to worry. The film is set to make its global streaming debut on HBO Max on Oct. 2. Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Erroll Shand and Maude Davey star in the film that was directed by Sébastien Vaniček ...Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Thank you for reading kmaland.comAt KMA, we attempt to be accurate in our reporting. If you see a typo or mistake in a story, please contact us by emailing kmaradio@kmaland.com.

Sep 28 • 8:30 AM EDT • Entertainment • kmaland.com

The 10 movies to see at this year's Houston Cinema Arts Festival

From the anticipated 'Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother' with Mahershala Ali to films starring Sandra Hüller, Julianne Moore and Kenneth Branagh, there's a lot to choose from this year.

Sep 28 • 7:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • houstonchronicle.com

Planned Parenthood workers rebel against group's Prop 40 stance

Dozens of workers across the state say they oppose the organization’s position on the measure, and one staffer is starring in a new pro-Prop 40 ad.

Sep 28 • 7:00 AM EDT • Politics • sfchronicle.com

Taylor Swift debuts ‘Patient Zero’ music video at VMAs starring Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell

The pop star and actress play women who have dated the same man — who secretly poisoned both of them the whole time.

Sep 27 • 10:11 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

‘Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother’ Starts Strong, Eyes ‘American Fiction’-Style Rollout

Bassam Tariq’s Mahershala Ali-starring TIFF favorite Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother had a strong limited opening as distributor Amazon MGM launched the awards contender into a platform release he...

Sep 27 • 5:19 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Bijol plays starring defensive role in Slovenia draw

Jaka Bijol was at the heart of Slovenia’s defence as they opened their UEFA Nations League campaign with a goalless draw against Scotland in Ljubljana.The Leeds United defender started at centre-bac...

Sep 27 • 3:02 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Ken San Jose set for Broadway debut in ‘Evita’ revival

Ken San Jose will star in the upcoming Broadway revival of "Evita" via Instagram/@ kensanjose Filipino American performer Ken San Jose will make his Broadway debut in the 2027 revival of Evita, joining the ensemble of director Jamie Lloyd’s production starring Rachel Zegler as Eva Perón. Previews begin Feb. 27 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York,…

Sep 26 • 2:43 AM EDT • Entertainment • asianjournal.com

Nintendo Reportedly Rejected A Ubisoft Zelda Spin-Off Starring Ganondorf

What if?

Sep 24 • 8:55 PM EDT • Technology • nintendolife.com

Ubisoft Was Reportedly Working On A Legend Of Zelda Spin-Off Starring Ganondorf

Nintendo liked the concept, but reportedly passed on the project after it saw the prototype

Sep 24 • 4:31 PM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com

Nintendo Reportedly Canceled A Ubisoft-Developed Zelda Game Starring Ganondorf

The project apparently began life with a different protagonist.

Sep 24 • 4:18 PM EDT • Technology • gamespot.com

Disney's 'Moana' Remains Atop U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Sept. 23

Disney’s live action Moana remained No. 1 on the Official Film Chart, the weekly U.K. home entertainment sales chart, through Sept. 23. Universal’s Disclosure Day, returned to the Top 10 at No. 2, up 22 spots in its ninth week on the chart. At No. 3, Warner’s new release The End of Oak Street. Starring … Continue reading "Disney’s ‘Moana’ Remains Atop U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Sept. 23"

Sep 23 • 2:04 PM EDT • Entertainment • mediaplaynews.com

The NBA's 5 most interesting newcomers, starring LeBron James, LaMelo Ball and the Lakers' big swing

Sep 23 • 12:21 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Robert Pattinson is an unhinged delight in gonzo 'Primetime'

Starring an unhinged Robert Pattinson, the drama “Primetime” exposes the ickiness and discomfiting qualities of reality TV.

Sep 23 • 11:12 AM EDT • Entertainment • centraloregondaily.com

Calvin Klein Introduces the New Perfectly Fit Bra Starring Teyana Taylor

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 22, 2026--

Sep 22 • 9:34 AM EDT • Business • rutlandherald.com

Exclusive: Inside Brad Bird’s 30-Year Quest to Hard-boil the Future in Ray Gunn

The ‘Iron Giant’ filmmaker is shooting for another sci-fi favorite with his private-eye tale starring Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Waits.

Sep 21 • 9:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • esquire.com

Jennifer Garner & Ben Affleck Almost Reunited on Screen After 23 Years

Ben Affleck revealed why Jennifer Garner didn’t end up starring in his new Netflix thriller, Animals. The actor-director explained how a series of unexpected production changes led to Garner’s departu...

Sep 21 • 7:10 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

I Haven't Watched Many Big Movies Like Practical Magic 2 Starring Middle-Aged Women, So I Did A Deep Dive

Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock back on the big screen got me thinking.

Sep 21 • 7:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Sound of Music museum opens where the von Trapp story met Hollywood

SALZBURG, Austria (AP) — An Austrian museum is alive with “The Sound of Music,” a first-ever venue devoted to the classic 1965 singalong movie starring Julie Andrews. The Sound of Music Salzburg museum, situated in an Austrian city famed for music and perhaps best known as the home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, opened Sunday. The

Sep 21 • 1:12 AM EDT • Entertainment • mymotherlode.com

TV Shocker: 96% RT James Bond-Like Show Canceled by Prime Video

Prime Video has pulled the plug on one of its most-watched originals of the summer. The streamer declined to renew the spy comedy starring Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer for a second season. Pa...

Sep 20 • 11:44 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Barbara Crampton Will Face THE KENTUCKY GOBLINS In New Festive Found-Footage Creature Feature

She's taken on zombies, killer robots, cursed puppets, and a whole lot more, but now genre icon and Fango fave Barbara Crampton will face her trickiest foe yet with a starring role in The Kentucky Gob...

Sep 20 • 11:02 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

1993 Classic, Starring Kurt Russell, Features the ‘Greatest Western Movie Character of All Time'

This film became a success at the box office.

Sep 20 • 7:55 AM EDT • Entertainment • sacbee.com

1993 Classic, Starring Kurt Russell, Features the ‘Greatest Western Movie Character of All Time'

This film became a success at the box office.

Sep 20 • 7:55 AM EDT • Entertainment • star-telegram.com

Firefly's Adam Baldwin Starred In A Forgotten Sci-Fi Show About NASA Space Shuttle Astronauts

There is a forgotten '90s sci-fi adventure drama starring Adam Baldwin of "Firefly" fame called "The Cape," which tried to replicate the work of those at NASA.

Sep 20 • 7:17 AM EDT • Technology • bgr.com

Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer’s ‘Ride or Die’ Canceled at Prime Video After One Season

Amazon's "Ride or Die" starring Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer will not return for a second season on Prime Video.

Sep 19 • 8:17 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Bill Skarsgård Sounds Very Excited To Be Starring In Hideo Kojima's Physint

The actor released a new video promoting the project

Sep 19 • 2:08 AM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com

Javier Bardem to star in, produce 'The Spread' for HBO

HBO announced Friday that it has ordered the series "The Spread," starring and executive produced by Javier Bardem, directed by Matthew Vaughn.

Sep 18 • 4:40 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Niko Tsakiris grows into starring role for San Jose Earthquakes

By Charles BoehmThe term ‘statement game’ is probably overused in sports these days. It was nevertheless quite difficult to avoid the phrase after Niko Tsakiris tore San Diego FC apart in last wee...

Sep 18 • 12:16 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Duncan Sheik, Tony Award-winning composer, dies at 56

Duncan Sheik attends 'The Broadway Legacy Foundation Launch' at the Broadway Museum on November 11, 2025 in New York City. (Santiago Felipe/Getty Images)Duncan Sheik, the Tony Award-winning composer behind Spring Awakening and more, has died, according to his Instagram. He was 56.The Friday morning Instagram post said the "father, husband, son, brother, and friend" died on Thursday night "surrounded by love."A message shared on Sheik's Instagram earlier this week by his family said he was "receiving medical care" and was "in critical but stable condition.""The world has a lost a singular talent, and deeply influential voice in music and theater," Friday's statement said. "From his Grammy-nominated hit “Barely Breathing” to his groundbreaking, Tony and Grammy Award-winning work on Spring Awakening, Duncan’s artistry touched many and leaves an indelible mark on the cultural landscape."Born on Nov. 18, 1969, in Montclair, New Jersey, Sheik rose to fame in 1996 when he released his self-titled debut album, which included his hit song, "Barely Breathing."The song peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned him a Grammy nomination for best male pop vocal performance.Following his debut album, he released Humming in 1998, Phantom Moon in 2001 and Daylight in 2002.While "Barely Breathing" established Sheik as a singer-songwriter, his career later expanded into musical theater, where he found success as a composer.Sheik collaborated with lyricist Steven Sater and composed the music for Spring Awakening, which opened on Broadway in 2006.He told Broadcast Music, Inc. in 2015 that around the time he was making the music for Spring Awakening, he wasn't "a huge fan" of music that was happening on Broadway and he wanted to make the music for an audience "beyond the normal crowd that would go to a Broadway musical."The rock musical, based on Frank Wedekind's 1891 play and starring Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, John Gallagher and Skylar Astin, became a major success. It won eight Tony Awards in 2007, including best musical, best original score and best orchestrations.He went on to compose music for several other stage productions, including American Psycho and Because of Winn-Dixie. He also collaborated with Sater again on Alice by Heart and The Secret Life of Bees.In his interview with Broadcast Music, Inc., he added that working on musical theater has "helped broaden my palette."Sheik went on to release several more albums throughout his career, including White Limousine, Whisper House, Covers 80s, Legerdemain and Claptrap.In May, it was announced that Sheik's new musical, Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen, would make its off-Broadway debut this fall. The musical is based on Moyoco Anno's manga graphic novel of the same name.An off-Broadway revival of Spring Awakening is also set to open this fall. Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sep 18 • 9:58 AM EDT • Entertainment • willmarradio.com

Drag star Alaska Thunderf*ck, a Provincetown favorite, to star in Broadway hit

Drag performer Alaska Thunderf*ck has a popular show in Provincetown. Now she's starring in a national tour of the Tony-winning play 'Oh, Mary!'

Sep 18 • 6:01 AM EDT • Entertainment • capecodtimes.com

New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson to make an appearance on 'Law & Order: SVU' this fall

New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson will make a guest-starring appearance on “Law & Order: SVU” this fall | KCBS All News 106.9FM and 740AM

Sep 17 • 4:31 PM EDT • Entertainment • audacy.com

New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson to make an appearance on 'Law & Order: SVU' this fall

New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson will make a guest-starring appearance on “Law & Order: SVU” this fall | Talk 1370

Sep 17 • 4:31 PM EDT • Entertainment • audacy.com

Disney's Live Action 'Moana' Bows No. 1 on Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Sept. 16

Disney’s live-action Moana debuted No. 1 on the Official Chart, the U.K.’s weekly home entertainment sales chart through Sept. 16. Starring Dwayne Johnson and Catherine Laga’aia, the movie generated $321.9 million at the global box office before hitting digital retail channels on Sept. 8. The title supplanted the three-week No. 1 run for Disney’s Toy … Continue reading "Disney’s Live Action ‘Moana’ Bows No. 1 on Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Sept. 16"

Sep 16 • 12:36 PM EDT • Entertainment • mediaplaynews.com

'The Visit' review: Money reshapes morality in the modern classic

Darko Tresnjak directs Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 'The Visit' at Pasadena Playhouse, starring Tony winner Jefferson Mays and Melinda Page Hamilton.

Sep 16 • 6:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • latimes.com

Will Netflix’s Latest Horror Film Save Its Summer? And Introducing a New Data Source...

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) All month, I’ve been polling you, my readers, on how we think the summer’s biggest blockbusters will do when they eventually land on streaming, and I wanted to share the results. First up, how readers think The Odyssey will perform when it comes to Peacock... People are pretty bullish that The Odyssey will smash it for Peacock. I don’t know that it will have as much rewatchability as Wicked did for kids, but we’ll see. It is now Universal’s highest-grossing film of all time. One note: almost half of Christopher Nolan’s films weren’t available for streaming the week The Odyssey came to theaters, including some of his biggest films like Inception, Dunkirk, Tenet, Oppenheimer and Insomnia. If you did want to watch the others, Prime Video had Memento and The Dark Knight trilogy, HBO Max only had The Dark Knight trilogy (even though Warner Bros. produced most of Nolan’s films), Hulu had The Prestige and Interstellar, and Paramount+ had Interstellar. So you needed at least two streaming subscriptions to catch the rest. Warner Bros. whiffed right here. I know they have long term licensing deals, but they should have tried to get as many Nolan films on HBO Max for launch as possible. Here are the results for Spider-Man: Brand New Day: The audience is a bit more mixed on this one, with everyone agreeing Spider-Man will swing to a big opening, but not necessarily elite or best all time. On to this week’s issue. Netflix continues searching for a hit straight-to-streaming summer film and Lioness and Ted Lasso allow me to look at the difference between a “hit” and a ‘hit for them”. All that, plus new YA/teen melodramas on Prime Video and Netflix, the House of the Dragon finale, USA Network claims a big opening, more big NFL ratings, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. But we start with a fun new data announcement. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of August 3rd to August 9th, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe A New Data Source: Reelgood’s Data on Content Libraries Here’s a fun new treat for you. Reelgood—an online service and app that lets users track where shows or films are streaming—is providing data every month for the Streaming Ratings Report on the size of each streamer’s catalogue, along with the new shows and films for each streamer. Yay! Previously, I had pulled “new shows on streamers premiering on the first of the month”: While I liked that data cut, it was a big wonky since it didn’t show all of the new shows or movies that came to a streamer each month. Instead, I would have preferred something like this from Reelgood’s annual report: And now we have it! I’m going to feature Reelgood’s data monthly, showing both total catalogue size and new shows and films appearing on the charts. That’s going to make these two cool new charts. First, here’s the size of various streamers’ film catalogues… (By the way, Reelgood offered to make the charts for me, but I like doing that task by hand to understand the data better.) They also provided data back to last year. Here’s the number of films timeline: And here are the new films on each streamer for the month prior to Aug: As I get used to this data, I plan to keep tinkering with how I display it, but I’m excited to feature it monthly. Today, I’m sharing the film charts; next issue, I’m going to feature TV shows by streamer. Now, in full disclosure, Reelgood is a sponsor of this little-newsletter-that-could. But in my constant quest to figure out what streamer various shows and films are on, I was already a Reelgood user before this sponsorship. I go to their website all the time, and their data is very accurate on where shows are (or have been). Plus, I’ve been sharing their weekly top ten lists for years now, pre-sponsorship. For me, this is a great win-win, since I get to amplify a service I love, and I get a cool new data source to play with. Now, normally folks don’t usually mention their sponsors directly, but as I wrote before, as I start featuring ads in my newsletter, I plan to be extremely open about who is sponsoring my writing so you can trust what I write. Television - Two Big Returning Shows Look Set to Take Over The Charts One key question when it comes to judging streaming shows is whether a show is a “hit” or a “hit for them”. To be clear, the former means a show that’s one of the top shows on streaming, no questions asked. The latter means a show is one of the biggest, for a given streamer. That distinction makes a big difference! It’s really good to be one of the biggest shows on a streamer; it’s much better to be the biggest on streaming, despite the size of a streamer. Because, as we’ve seen now, nearly every streamer—while lacking the number of subscribers or usage of Netflix—can make hit TV shows: Paramount released Landman, whose first and second seasons were among the top two TV shows the year they came out. HBO Max’s The Pitt’s second season is the biggest show of the year so far. Love Island USA was the top show in 2025 for Peacock. And, crucially for today’s discussion: Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy back in 2023, Ted Lasso was actually the top streaming show of the year according to Nielsen! So even Apple TV (formerly +) can make hit shows. It just doesn’t make them that often. And looking at the Nielsen charts this week, we have two prime candidates for this discussion: That’s right: Ted Lasso returned to Apple TV for its fourth season. Did it return in all its expected glory? Sure, though right now it’s still just a “hit for Apple TV”, but we’ll see how long it lasts on the charts. Its ten episodes are coming out weekly. (Smart choice, Apple!) Ted Lasso started out strong, actually making the Nielsen charts the week before new episodes dropped, which is a rare feat. (Shows like Stranger Things or Bridgerton have pulled that off. That’s terrific company to join!) On Nielsen, it opened to 14.4 million hours in its first week, and 16.6 million the week of 10-Aug. Here’s how that compares to previous seasons: Apple put out that this is their biggest TV launch through two days ever, and looking at the chart and Apple TV’s viewership history, I’d believe it. Here’s Apple’s top shows for season two and beyond: Other data tells a (mostly) similar story. Ted Lasso made Samba TV and it has elite IMDb scores, an insane 8.7 on 465K reviews. The only outlier is Luminate, where the latest season only had 7.4 million hours, and no other seasons made the top ten. As you’ll see below, that’s well below some other solid, but not spectacular shows like Sterling Point, Ride or Die or Furious. I’d be surprised if Ted Lasso isn’t bigger than those other shows, but it’s fine for different data sources to occasionally disagree. And while it’s sucky to bring this up, given that Warner Bros. produced this show, I do wonder how the streaming wars may have been different if Ted Lasso landed on HBO Max initially instead of Apple. I don’t think one show can make or break a streamer, but given HBO’s brand, it could have helped bring people to that streamer much earlier in its lifespan. (Though yeah, I don’t love calling out executives for passing on hit shows, since that’s just the nature of the job. Even the absolute best execs will pass on lots of successful shows. The key is not greenlighting the under-performers/misses.) The other show I’m thinking about in the “hit or hit for them” category is Lioness from Paramount+. Like Ted Lasso, its first season missed the charts, but it’s grown its audience since then. Here’s how season three opened: We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… How Lioness did on streaming... Two new melodramas for Netflix and Prime Video... Whether Netflix’s latest horror film saved its summer... Hulu’s Furious and Prime Video’s Ride or Die continuing their strong runs... The latest high profile showrunner to flop on streaming... All the flops, bombs and misses... And a whole lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Next week, we’ve got a double issue—since the week of 17-Aug had very few notable new shows or films—so I’ll look at HBO’s Lanterns, Prime Video’s Reacher, Netflix’s Tires, Outer Banks (which posted up huge numbers four years ago), an Aussie romance, and another baseball event (that didn’t resonate). And a bunch of movies like the latest dramedy from an Adam Sandler daughter, Don’t Say Good Luck, Camp Rock 3 on Disney Channel and Disney+, Michael on Starz, and more. Later this month, we’ve got a ton of shows and films to analyze! Movies will be the big story, featuring a box office bomb (Supergirl on HBO Max) and an “underperformer” (The Mandalorian and Grogu on Disney+) contending with a bunch of star-studded straight-to-streaming films like Netflix’s The Whisper Man (Adam Scott, Michelle Monaghan and De Niro!), Mayday on Apple TV+ (Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh!), The Runner (Gal Gadot) and The Last Sunrise (Eva Longoria and Maia Reficco) on Prime Video. Plus, a ton of TV shows have sophomore seasons coming out. Will The Gentleman put up big numbers on Netflix or suffer from a sophomore slump? Leanne and Beauty in Black on Netflix seem small, but they both might be bigger than you think. Hulu has a bunch of shows: a new season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (the first after all the controversy last year) and the second season of Chad Powers (from Peyton Manning’s production company and starring Glen Powell). This one flopped last year; can it score a touchdown this year? Same goes for FX’s Adults, which I didn’t track last year; will it hit this year? Peacock’s The Office spinoff, The Paper and Apple TV’s Dark Matter also return for second seasons. And Netflix has more Untold specials featuring Vince Young, Raygun (that horrible breakdancer) and Mr. T. Long term, Paramount+ is rebooting yet another franchise, Clueless, and I’m somewhat bullish on this new show. The talent attached (Alicia Silverstone) and creative Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (of The O.C. and Gossip Girl) also feel solid...if they make it funny like the original.

Sep 14 • 6:43 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

Sydney Sweeney: Amy Hunt among the athletes to respond to controversial Sydney Sweeney advert

British sprinter Amy Hunt is among the female athletes to criticise the controversial betting advert starring actress Sydney Sweeney.

Sep 14 • 5:43 AM EDT • Sports • bbc.com

'Practical Magic 2' conjures a No. 1 box office debut with $30 million

“Practical Magic 2” conjures a box-office victory this weekend, topping the North American charts nearly three decades after its predecessor. The Warner Bros. sequel, starring Sandra Bullock and...

Sep 13 • 2:01 PM EDT • Entertainment • houstonchronicle.com

'Practical Magic 2' conjures a No. 1 box office debut with $30 million

“Practical Magic 2” conjures a box-office victory this weekend, topping the North American charts nearly three decades after its predecessor. The Warner Bros. sequel, starring Sandra Bullock and...

Sep 13 • 2:01 PM EDT • Entertainment • stamfordadvocate.com

Former FSU playmakers power Tulane comeback

Former Florida State players Jaylin Lucas and Destyn Hill played starring roles in Tulane’s comeback win.

Sep 13 • 12:55 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Tarik Muharemović: We have to be ready

Centre-half Tarik Muharemović has settled into life as a Leeds United player impressively, starring in the heart of defence as Daniel Farke’s side have remained unbeaten in the first three matches ...

Sep 12 • 12:33 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

First look at ‘Arctic Skies’ starring Morfydd Clark and Ariyon ...

EXCLUSIVE: Independent continues sales on the sci-fi thriller at TIFF.

Sep 12 • 7:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • screendaily.com

This Fan-Favorite Netflix Show Was Canceled, But Now It’s Getting a Spin-Off

Though the fan-favorite show will end after its fifth season airs in 2027, "The Lincoln Lawyer" is getting a spinoff starring an unexpected character.

Sep 11 • 11:01 AM EDT • Entertainment • purewow.com

The surprising reason one of science’s most famous creations was named after Dolly Parton

scientific history

Sep 10 • 7:15 PM EDT • Science • hola.com

NBC 5 to launch new live sports and entertainment show starring Lou Canellis

NBC 5 has announced it will launch Tonight with Lou Canellis presented by Toyota, a live, half-hour weeknight Chicago sports, entertainment, pop culture, and special guests program hosted by veteran Chicago media personality Lou Canellis.

Sep 9 • 6:31 PM EDT • Entertainment • nbcchicago.com

After a decade as GOP’s main character, Trump gets one more starring role at midterm convention

For a decade, President Donald Trump has made himself his party’s main character — a singular force around whom its rallies, conventions and political identity have revolved.

Sep 9 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

Dario Russo's 'The Fox' Acquired By Aura Entertainment For Theaters

Aura Entertainment has acquired Dario Russo's 'The Fox,' starring Sam Neill, Olivia Colman & more with a theatrical release date set in December.

Sep 8 • 4:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • deadline.com

Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem Say 'It's Impossible' Not to Talk Politics After Starring in Projects Like 'Bunker'

Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem agree that "it's impossible" not to talk politics as actors when they're starring in timely stories

Sep 8 • 10:00 AM EDT • Politics • thewrap.com

All About ‘Street Fighter,’ the Upcoming Video Game Adaptation Starring Noah Centineo

‘The Street Fighter’ movie will premiere on Oct. 16. Here’s everything to know about the ‘Street Fighter’ movie, including the cast and trailer.

Sep 6 • 8:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • people.com

Analysis: Tigers continue impressive start

Hull entered the third round of fixtures as one of only four Premier League clubs with a 100% record after two games. The majority of Hull's attacks on Saturday went through Mohamed Belloumi on the right wing and he almost gifted a third win from as many matches to the Tigers here with a stunning effort. The Algerian winger, 24, has shown in the opening weeks he has the quality to make an impact in the Premier League after starring in their promotion campaign.

Sep 5 • 4:14 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

The Fierce Battle For Kids’ Eyeballs...Plus Two “Devils” Face Off

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) During the week of this report, Spider-Man: Brand New Day hit theaters and went on to become one of the biggest films of all time. So, you know what that means! It’s time for a poll! Recently, Project Hail Mary came to Prime Video and became a top five film for them, but didn’t smash streaming records, a feat I cautiously thought it could accomplish. Can Spider-Man 4 do better? To set the stakes, some of the biggest films of all time do just okay on streaming. Wicked, Top Gun: Maverick, and Barbie come to mind... But unlike those films, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a Sony film which means it’s headed to Netflix, the world’s largest streamer. Now, per friend of the newsletter and my go-to Netflix expert, Kasey Moore of What’s on Netflix, Sony films usually appear on Netflix 120 days after they premiere, which means Spidey 4 would land on Netflix on, checks notes, 28-November, one of the two biggest streaming weekends of the year! But Sony occasionally delays its biggest hits for a bit longer, to give them more time to make money on PVOD, so Spider-Man: Brand New Day might not swing onto Netflix until late December or even February 2027. Loading... Okay, on to this week’s issue. Since The Super Mario Galaxy Movie made its way to Peacock, I’m looking at the true workhorse of streaming viewership: kids films. And the surprising film that bested most Netflix animated movies. All that, plus Hulu has a new show that might be a hit (for them…?), two “Devils” square off on streaming, Zendaya tries to find some streaming magic, Netflix’s I Will Find You continues to do well, House of the Dragon tries to break into the season three top ten, some big NBC sports and summer programs, what friendly neighborhood Spider-Man character actually generates the most viewership on streaming, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of July 27th to August 2nd, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Film - As The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Hits Peacock, How Have Kids Films Fared in 2026? Like Mario hopping on a Koopa, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie landed on Peacock on 30-July. (Yeah, I kinda forced that Mario reference.) How did it do? Great, just like the first film. It got 13.0 million hours on its opening, and that’s good enough to take second place among Peacock films on the Nielsen charts all time: As I mention all the time, Peacock just isn’t the world’s biggest streamer—in fact, nowhere close—so its films struggle to put up numbers like Netflix (or even Prime Video and Disney+). So this is a solid debut for that streamer. And as we saw last time, The Super Mario Bros. Movie had a HUGE second life on Netflix when it moved streamers. This chart doesn’t even show how long the first Mario lasted on Netflix: a whopping, KPop-esque 31 weeks. For NBCUniversal, though, the big win was the second Mario movie grossing $429 million in America and over $1 billion globally. But yeah, to add a very strong streaming performance only makes its success even greater. Illumination pretty clearly has another hit franchise on their hands. This is a good time, though, to check in on kids films so far in 2026. We’ve had a few big, big titles, a rare Netflix success, and some disappointments. Let’s start with the top animated films since November of 2025, over their first four weeks on the charts, along with a few of the “best all time” animated films: (As a reminder, if a film doesn’t make the Nielsen top ten lists, I don’t have data for it, so it gets a “zero” in terms of viewership. Now, it had some viewership, but I don’t know what it is, so it gets a zero.) I added a few titles to get an idea of what the best of the best looks like in terms of animation. And you can see, through four weeks, Zootopia 2 can now claim “one of the biggest streaming films of all time” titles. GOAT too did surprisingly well, besting Netflix’s biggest films (Swapped and In Your Dreams) through four weeks. When I’ve talked about how films can have varying performances on streaming compared to their box office, this is what I mean. Goat just managed to gross even $103 million at the box office—so it’s popular, but just barely—but did very well on streaming. Of course, what set Encanto and KPop Demon Hunters apart from the rest was their absolutely insane longevity. Here are the kids film charts through eight weeks to show that: And really KPop Demon Hunters just kept going, and no 2025 or 2026 kids films have had that sort of longevity. I can’t wait to see the sequel in theaters. Film - Two Devils and a Drama As I wrote last week, in the past, theatrical-first film flops weren’t eligible for “Miss of the Week” or “Miss of the Year” honors/dishonors, but since so many more films go to theaters first these days, I’ve made them eligible now! But it’s complicated. You see, this is a Streaming Ratings Report, emphasis on streaming, which makes analyzing this week’s two biggest streaming misses—The Drama on HBO Max (A24’s dramedy starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson) and Prime Video’s The Devil Mouth (a killer shark movie starring young attractive people)—somewhat tricky. The Drama isn’t eligible for Luminate, but The Devil’s Mouth only had 1.5 million hours in its first week: The Devil’s Mouth notched 5.2 million hours according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, The Drama missed the charts entirely. Not great! But Prime Video is a much bigger streamer than HBO Max. That said, HBO Max titles are on Prime Video, but I think Prime Video prioritizes their original/exclusive titles, which helps boost their viewership. Complicating this further, The Drama made $48 million in the US—while A24 sells foreign distribution; the $57 million of overseas grosses helps A24 sell overseas rights for money in the future—off of a $28 million budget (which seems low for Zendaya and Pattinson, so they might have backend). The Devil’s Mouth, though, had zero dollars at the box office. The other stats for The Devil’s Mouth are bleak, and by “bleak”, I mean horrendous: a 4.7 on 15K reviews on IMDb (yikes) and a 46 on Metacritic (double yikes). The Drama, though buzzy online, only has a solid (but far from elite) 7.1 IMDb score on 121K reviews and a 59 on Metacritic (which is far, far lower than I’d have guessed). So which film is the “Miss of the Week”? I’m giving it to The Devil’s Mouth for one simple reason: it’s a horror film. And almost all horror films, even poorly reviewed horror films, should get a shot in theaters to at least try to recoup some of their budgets. The Drama made money at the box office and The Devil’s Mouth didn’t. It’s just like the situation last issue with Obsession and Masters of the Universe. Sure, Obsession didn’t pop on the streaming charts, but at least it already made it money at the box office. And as we’ve been seeing for years now and we’ll see all fall, theatrical films just do better on streaming. After all, the big “devil” winner this week was actually The Devil Wears Prada 2 with 14.8 million hours according to Nielsen. That’s right, The Devil Wears Prada 2—one of the box office success stories of May—came to streaming and parlayed its $220 million box office into 14.8 million Nielsen hours. Disney also put out a datecdote that it had 15.2 million “views” globally in five days, but again we don’t have a lot of great context for what that means. Here’s how it stacks up to other Hulu films, since I’m categorizing this mainly as a Hulu title (though it was also on Disney+): Share Quick Notes on Film We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… Whether Hulu has a new hit show on its hands... The top first and third seasons of all time and which shows are climbing those charts… What version of Spidey is the most popular... What sport and TV show are performing better on NBC than the NBA... All the flops, bombs and misses... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Coming Soon! Next week, wow, things stay so busy. One of streaming’s biggest shows of all time, Ted Lasso, returns along with new YA-ish shows from Hulu (The Shards, from Ryan Murphy) and Prime Video (Sterling Point). The Challenge moves to Paramount+, plus My Life with the Walter Boys returns to Netflix and Futurama returns to Hulu. And Netflix has a new horror film, The Last House. Lots to talk about! All month, things stay busy. We’re talking Reacher on Prime Video! Outer Banks and Tires on Netflix! Lanterns on HBO Max! UFC 330 on Paramount+ and the MLB Field of Dreams game on Netflix. And a ton of smaller films come to streaming. Long term, the VMAs are back on 27-Sep! I feel like I haven’t heard much about this show in past years, but I’m seeing more news coverage and buzz for this show than in past years. I’m curious to see how it does.

Sep 4 • 3:16 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

Martin McDonagh’s \'Wild Horse Nine\' hits Venice Film Festival with a dark CIA tale

Martin McDonagh has crafted a new film, “Wild Horse Nine,” which debuts Thursday at the Venice Film Festival. The film, starring Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich, focuses on the CIA

Sep 3 • 9:26 AM EDT • Entertainment • lancasteronline.com

Business Briefs: Sept. 4, 2026

Garden Cinemas plans special events for ‘Practical Magic 2’ release GREENFELD — The Garden Cinemas is bringing “Practical Magic 2,” the long-awaited PG 13 sequel to the 1998 classic starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, to the city not only through a themed float in the Franklin County Fair Parade, but with two events. “Practical […]

Sep 3 • 9:00 AM EDT • Business • recorder.com

‘Onslaught’ Review: They’re Next

Aaron Neuwirth reviews the action-horror mash-up Onslaught, a gritty 80s throwback from director Adam Wingard, starring Adria Arjona.

Sep 2 • 12:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • weliveentertainment.com

Javier Bardem, Marion Cotillard & Vanessa Redgrave Join Animated Movie ‘The Turning Door’

Oscar winners Javier Bardem, Marion Cotillard and Vanessa Redgrave will voice starring roles in the upcoming family fantasy animation film, The Turning Door, written and directed by filmmaker and arti...

Sep 2 • 11:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

‘Atlanta is Deion’s city’: Deion Sanders begins pivotal Colorado season in city where star was born

In the early 1990s, Deion Sanders was Atlanta's two-sport athlete, starring for the Falcons and playing in the World Series with the Braves.

Sep 2 • 6:00 AM EDT • Sports • nytimes.com

Johnson’s starring role in World Business Chicago videos draws ethics hearing

The videos feature Johnson narrating investments his administration has made in city neighborhoods.

Sep 1 • 5:12 PM EDT • Business • chicagobusiness.com

Johnson’s starring role in World Business Chicago videos draws ethics hearing

The videos feature Johnson narrating investments his administration has made in city neighborhoods.

Sep 1 • 5:12 PM EDT • Politics • chicagobusiness.com

Meet Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's new dog. She's already a model.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s dog stepped into the spotlight with a starring role in Kelce’s new Tommy Hilfiger campaign.

Sep 1 • 1:11 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

‘Ebenezer’ director Ti West explains how Johnny Depp makes Scrooge ‘an unlikable guy’ with ‘humor and charm’

Get your first look at Tramell Tillman as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Ian McKellen as Jacob Marley in Ti West’s ‘Ebenezer,’ also starring Johnny Depp.

Aug 31 • 10:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

‘The Dog Stars’ review: Ridley Scott’s postapocalyptic drama falls short

"The Dog Stars," starring Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin and Margaret Qualley, is a modest movie limited in scope, writes our reviewer.

Aug 25 • 8:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • yakimaherald.com

Rainbow Six Tactics Announced, First Single-Player Rainbow Six Game Since Vegas 2 in 2008

Ubisoft has announced Rainbow Six Tactics, an upcoming turn-based tactics game starring familiar Rainbow Six Siege Operators. Revealed at Gamescom's Opening Night Live showcase, it will retail for $49.99 and is due out in 2027 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. It's the first single-player game in the franchise since Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2008.

Aug 25 • 2:15 PM EDT • Technology • ign.com

£86m at 18

BBC Sport reported earlier this week that Manchester City and Lille were in advanced talks over a deal for Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi to move to Etihad Stadium. An agreement for the 18-year-old to join Enzo Maresca's side is now in place, with Bouaddi set to complete his protracted move to England - Lille accepting an initial fee of £81.4m, plus £4.2m in add-ons. Bouaddi impressed at this summer's World Cup - starting five of Morocco's six matches in their run to the quarter-finals - after a starring role in Lille's Champions League victory over Real Madrid in 2024 announced him on the big stage.

Aug 24 • 2:42 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

The Riotous and Raunchy New Comedy I've Been Raving About to All of My Friends

The brand-new movie 'Spa Weekend' starring Michelle Buteau, Isla Fisher, Anna Faris and Leslie Mann just hit theaters. Is the comedy as laugh-filled as the wild trailer implies? Here's my honest review of 'Spa Weekend.'

Aug 21 • 1:38 PM EDT • Entertainment • purewow.com

‘Parent Trap’ star compares Margot Robbie’s ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ outfit to Meredith Blake

‘Parent Trap’ star Elaine Hendrix compared Margot Robbie’s ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ outfit to her own look as Meredith Blake in the Lindsay Lohan-starring comedy: ‘This looks familiar,’ Hendrix wrote.

Aug 20 • 4:02 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

"Delta Reign" TCG Set Officially Revealed for November, Full...

Delta Reign starring Mega Rayquaza ex has now been fully revealed! As posted before, it will release on November 6th as our sixth English Mega Evolution

Aug 20 • 9:05 AM EDT • Technology • pokebeach.com

'Michael' Remains Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Aug. 19

Lionsgate/Universal’s Michael Jackson biopic Michael continues its Official Film Chart run, spending a fifth non-consecutive week atop the weekly U.K. home entertainment sales chart through Aug. 19. Also making a return at No. 2 in its 10th week on the chart was Amazon MGM Studios’ Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling as science teacher who … Continue reading "‘Michael’ Remains Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Aug. 19"

Aug 19 • 10:46 AM EDT • Entertainment • mediaplaynews.com

'Michael' Remains Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Aug. 19

Lionsgate/Universal’s Michael Jackson music biopic Michael continues its Official Film Chart run, spending a fifth non-consecutive week atop the weekly U.K. home entertainment sales chart through Aug. 19. Also making a return at No. 2 in its 10th week on the chart is Amazon MGM Studios’Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling as science teacher who … Continue reading "‘Michael’ Remains Atop Weekly U.K. Home Entertainment Sales Chart Through Aug. 19"

Aug 19 • 10:46 AM EDT • Entertainment • mediaplaynews.com

Pat McAfee joining ‘Monday Night Countdown’ as his ESPN role expands

McAfee will contribute to ESPN's most valuable property in addition to his weekday talk show and starring role on "College GameDay.

Aug 19 • 8:08 AM EDT • Sports • nytimes.com