As “Heated Rivalry” continues to… heat up and become a massive hit for HBO Max, conversations have begun regarding the upcoming Emmy season. While romance series have broken through at the award show recently — see “Nobody Wants This,” which broke through with three nods for its first season — this adaptation will not get the same treatement.

“Heated Rivalry” is fully funded by Canadian company Bell Media, Crave’s parent company. The 2024-25 Emmy rules state that a “foreign television production is ineligible unless it is the result of a co-production (both financially and creatively) betwen U.S. and foreign partners,...

Danny Ramirez will not be returning for “The Last of Us” Season 3.

After co-starring in Season 2 opposite Katilyn Dever as a Firefly in Season 2, the actor has had to drop out of the project due to scheduling conflicts, TheWrap has learned.

He appeared in four episodes as Manny Alvarez. As TheWrap previously reported, Ramirez (“Top Gun: Maverick”) was cast for Season 2 in November 2024. His character Manny is a loyal soldier whose sunny outlook belies the pain of old wounds and a fear that he will fail his friends when they need him most. He is instrumental in Abby’s (Dever) journey of revenge against Joel (Pedro Pascal) after Joel’s...

The “Stranger Things” series finale is shaping up to be a major theatrical event.

1.1 million people have RSVP’d to watch the final episode of the Netflix sci-fi series in theaters on New Year’s Eve, according to an Instagram post from co-creator Ross Duffer, who also said that 3,500 showtimes across more than 620 theaters are completely sold out.

Duffer teased that he and his brother Matt Duffer, his co-creator, would be attending a screening or two. “What a way to close out a ten-year journey—together,” Duffer wrote. “Maybe we’ll see some of you in LA.”

Volume 1 of Season...

The numbers don’t lie: American viewers like their old TV favorites, and they really like TV they can watch for the nice price of free. After studying Nielsen top 10 streaming in data from the start of 2020 to late 2025 — and including Netflix’s self-reported viewership — Bloomberg has found that American viewers aren’t tuning into new shows as much as they are old ones. Of the 10 most-watched original shows — in terms of minutes watched while in Nielsen’s weekly top 10 — zero are new series, marking the first time in several years that new series haven’t broken into that top 10 list, Bloomberg notes. Squid Game is at the top with 18.6 billion minutes,...

Canadian romance novelist Rachel Reid first saw Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams in person on the set of “Heated Rivalry,” Jacob Tierney’s television adaptation of her queer hockey book series “Game Changers.”

“They were filming the very first sex scene, their first hookup and it’s the longest sex scene on the show,” Reid tells me. “It was a closed set, so I was just sitting on a couch for four hours while they did that. I had headphones, so I could hear it and I had read the script, but I couldn’t see it. I was just listening.

Believe it or not, two of broadcast TV’s biggest events aren’t even in primetime. They also happen to pretty much bookend the year: ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Years Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest” opened 2025 with record numbers, while NBC scored another big win last month with the 99th “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.”

Kicking off the year by peaking with 29 million viewers at midnight as 2024 turned into 2025, “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest” continues to be a juggernaut as viewers watch the ball drop in Times Square.

Related: The 100 Most-Watched Telecasts of 2025: Super Bowl,...

You may know him as a certain superhero, but Chris Hemsworth has a wealth of film roles that go beyond Thor. Sure, he’ll pick up the hammer for the ninth time in Avengers: Doomsday —which got a Hemsworth-centric teaser this week — but the Australian actor is still an onscreen action hero when he’s not hanging out with Captain America and Rocket Raccoon. After getting his big break on the soap opera Home and Away, Hemsworth pivoted to films in the 2000s — starring in flicks like J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek reboot, Snow White and the Huntsman, Rush, Black Hat, and more — and has only had growing success since.

Shrinking will return for Season 3 in early 2026. Apple TV revealed the Shrinking Season 3 premiere date and first-look photos on October 21. Among the returning guest stars this season are Jason Segel‘s How I Met Your Mother costar Cobie Smulders and Damon Wayans Jr. New cast members are Michael J. Fox, who will have a significant arc tied to Harrison Ford‘s character, and Jeff Daniels, who will play the father of Segel’s Jimmy. Fox and Daniels are seen in the Shrinking Season 3 trailer, as is Candice Bergen, another guest star this season. The trailer (above) was released on December 30. Series co-creator Brett Goldstein will also be back as Louis,...

When content creator Ruby Franke met family counselor Jodi Hildebrandt through their church community in Utah, their friendship seemed inevitable. Hildebrandt, founder of the life-coaching company ConneXions, was a powerful voice within the Mormon church, as was Franke: The mom and wife vlogged about her life raising six children with her then-husband, Kevin Franke, on the YouTube channel 8 Passengers.

Hildebrandt soon became a constant presence in Ruby’s life. But the religious influencer’s focus on “fixing” the vlogger’s family led to both women being arrested on suspicion of child abuse against two of Ruby’s children. The documentary Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story, from director...

Warning: The article below contains major spoilers for the Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2 episode “The Bridge.” Viewers have rewarded Stranger Things’ first four seasons with Popcornmeter scores ranging from 83 to 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. But for the Netflix hit’s current fifth season — which ends with the series finale tomorrow, Wednesday, December 31 — the Popcornmeter score is practically in the Upside Down, at a lowly 56 percent. Much of viewers’ ire comes from frustrations with the writing, the heavy exposition, and the special effects of Season 5 — and Season 5’s second volume in particular. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show has been review-bombed since the drop of Volume 2, which included the show’s penultimate episode “The Bridge,...

There's gold in that there Paramount mountain, and for the past seven years, a lot of it has come from Taylor Sheridan's critically acclaimed and immensely adored Montana-based family saga, "Yellowstone." The Dutton family name has now perhaps gained as much notoriety as the Starks of "Game of Thrones" or the Sopranos of "The Sopranos," but there was a time when John Dutton & Co. almost didn't get a second of airtime thanks to one of their most volatile family members.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Sheridan explained that in the early days, when he was trying to find a home for "Yellowstone,...

Will someone else beat out 99 other people for the chance to win $1 million? After Reverend Peter Nevins won Season 1 of 99 to Beat, fans wondered if there would be a Season 2, and some of them spotted a clue about the game show‘s future. 99 to Beat follows 100 players who compete in various challenges and games. Each round, at least one contestant is eliminated. Sometimes, it is more if there is a group challenge, and $10,000 is added to the prize pot each time a contestant is eliminated. This makes the final prize $1 million. The show is hosted by Ken Jeong and Erin Andrews, who offer commentary and advice to the contestants.

There are two things you can count on right now in television: football and “Tracker.” Both once again dominated Variety’s annual look at the most-watched telecasts in primetime.

This year, a full 48 of the top 100 slots went to NFL games — up from 45 in 2024 — and that number actually jumps to 55 if you include six NFL-related studio shows and one weather delay.

This year’s list was led, of course, by Fox’s coverage of Super Bowl Lix, which attracted an average of 126.7 million viewers as Philadelphia beat Kansas City on Feb. 9.

Related: Top-Rated Television Networks: Ranking 2025’s Winners and Losers

Among other pro sports,...

The Price Is Right host Drew Carey said the contestant’s win was a “Christmas miracle” after a close call on Cliff Hangers. The contestant won a trip after only being two numbers away from losing. Paul Allen, from Huntington Beach, California, came to the podium during the fourth item up for bid on December 24. However, he did not win until the sixth item up for bid, which was hockey gear that included two pairs of figure skates and two pairs of hockey skates, gloves, pants, helmets, and pads. Allen won the items when he bid $1,301, just $1 above his opponent, Shannon. The actual retail price was $1,626. Allen came to the...

Need more toxicity? Hulu is prepared. The streamer is launching the “‘Tell Me Lies’ Official Podcast,” hosted by Stassi Schroeder, Variety can exclusively announce.

The nine-episode podcast will premiere on Jan. 6, one week before the premiere of “Tell Me Lies” Season 3, with a Season 1 and 2 recap episode.

Video episodes will be available on Hulu, Hulu on Disney+, Disney+ and YouTube, domestically. Audio episodes are distributed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, SiriusXM, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Amazon Music, Pandora, as well as through audio channels in partnership with ABC News Audio.

Podcast guests include showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer; series stars Grace Van Patten, Jackson White,...

Stephen Colbert for U.S. president in 2028? Don’t count on it. In a recent panel discussion, the Late Show host tempered hopes of him running for office. “Absolutely not. Yeah, absolutely, I should not run for president,” Colbert told John Dickerson, David Plotz, and Emily Bazelon, hosts of Slate’s Political Gabfest, at a live taping of the podcast this month. “I understand why you’d want me to,” a deadpan Colbert added as the audience laughed and cheered. “That is something I’m going to have to discuss with my faith leader and my family to see if, once my service on [CBS talk show] The Late Show ends in May,...

We’d like not to solve this puzzle. Wheel of Fortune fans have debated whether or not the Prize Puzzle round should be retired from the game show. The Prize Puzzle round has the contestant competing to win a prize, usually a trip, rather than money that round. However, the price of the prize is added to the contestant’s total, typically putting them way ahead of their competitors, as they are usually $10,000 or more. The other rounds include the Mystery Round, the Toss-Ups, and the Bonus Round. Typically, those who win the Prize Puzzle advance to the Bonus Round because they usually tack on the most money. However, that...

It's been more than half a century since "Gilligan's Island" first appeared on screens. Sherwood Schwartz's sitcom ran for three seasons between 1964 and 1967, but thanks to syndication deals and multiple spin-off projects, including two animated series and three TV movies, the show remained in the public consciousness for decades following its cancellation. Today, "Gilligan's Island" doesn't command the same cultural influence it once did, but it remains a TV classic that's frequently cited as one of the best and most beloved sitcoms of all time (with Bob Denver's mysteriously-named Gilligan being one of the most charmingly dumb TV...

It all comes down to this: The Stranger Things series finale starts streaming — and hits select movie theaters — tomorrow, Wednesday, December 31, and Netflix has shared one last trailer for Season 5 of the sci-fi hit. “I need you to fight one last time,” an emotional Hopper (David Harbour) tells Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) as we see her and the rest of the Hawkins kids — including Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and Will (Noah Schnapp) — facing Henry Creel/Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) and other supernatural threats in Hawkins, Indiana. “Life has been so unfair to you,” Hopper adds. “Your childhood was taken from you. You’ve been attacked,...

There really is so much television, right? So many shows with multiple seasons to binge that can sometimes be a struggle to get through. What's a good number to draw the line at? Four seasons? Five? If that's a number you're happy with, then we'd advise keeping your distance from the likes of "Supernatural," "Grey's Anatomy," or both "Law & Order" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." If you think less is more, though, then you're in luck, as we've gathered together a great batch of miniseries that were one-and-done in a single season, and we promise none of them...

Arden Cho and Ahn Hyo-seop, the voice actors who play love interests Rumi and Jinu in “KPop Demon Hunters,” will do their first-ever joint interview on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.”

The episode will air on Jan. 12 at 11:35 p.m. on NBC before streaming on Peacock the next day. News of Cho and Hyo-seop’s sit-down with Fallon was announced in a teaser video NBC released on social media. In the video, a young girl approaches Fallon with a piece of paper, saying, “Excuse me, mister, I made this for you.” He takes the paper and sees a...

Ricky Gervais has hosted the Golden Globes five times, making Hollywood sweat with his take-no-prisoners approach to jokes mocking showbiz.

In his new Netflix stand-up special “Mortality,” which was released Tuesday, the comedian reveals that while the awards ceremony never nixed any of his material, he actually scratched one joke himself. He then proceeded to share it near the end of his special.

“I said earlier, I’ve never had a joke stopped by the Golden Globes, and that is absolutely true,” Gervais said. “But I’ve just remembered the joke that I stopped myself, ’cause I bottled it a bit,...

Many celebrities have posted online tributes to Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer, after their deaths this month — and now, Cary Elwes, who led the cast of Reiner’s fan-favorite movie The Princess Bride, has added his voice to the chorus. “Enough time has passed that I can finally put my grief into words. I was 24 when I first met Rob Reiner on The Princess Bride. And from that very first meeting, I fell in love with him,” Elwes wrote on Instagram on Monday, December 29. “I was already a fan of his work, so meeting him in person was a dream come true. As we began spending more time together,...

A Wheel of Fortune contestant was called “clingy” after he talked about his wife throughout the Bonus Round. Despite landing on his wife’s name on the wheel, the boxing referee lost $74,000 after not solving the bonus puzzle. Jeff Wallitsch, from Henderson, Nevada, played against Carolynn Brower, from Austin, Texas, and Idette Stokes, from Raleigh, North Carolina, on December 29. Wallitsch is a boxing referee for an amateur team in the junior Olympics and Golden Gloves. He has been married to his wife, America, for 20 years. “I get to tell everyone that I’m married to Miss America, so I’m very honored about that,” Wallitsch said. He won the game...

The Season 3 trailer for the Apple TV+ comedy “Shrinking” teases Michael J. Fox’s return to acting after stepping away from his career in 2020 due to speech issues associated with his Parkinson’s diagnosis.

In the trailer, he’s shown in the waiting room of a medical facility sitting near Dr. Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford).

“What are you in for?” asks Fox’s character, whose name is not yet known. “Parkinson’s. You?” Paul responds. Dryly, Fox says, “Just a haircut,” and they both laugh.

Ford’s character in “Shrinking” has had Parkinson’s since Season 1, though he initially tries...

The release of the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” seems to have given a boost to “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” the Broadway play that serves as a prequel to the Netflix sci-fi series.

“Stranger Things: The First Shadow” grossed $2,510,948 at the box office across nine shows during the week ending with Dec. 28, marking the highest nine-show total ever achieved at the Marquis Theater, where the play has been open since April.

Amid the debut of “Stranger Things” Season 5 — with four episodes on Thanksgiving, three on Christmas and the series finale yet to come on New Year’s...

Bill Maher sent a blunt message to people who constantly hate on President Donald Trump during a conversation with Full House star John Stamos. On the December 29 episode of Maher’s Club Random podcast, the Real Time With Bill Maher host and Stamos chatted about a number of topics. Stamos, 62, at one point, brought up Maher, 69, having dinner at the White House with Trump, 79. “All I’m saying is he was extremely different,” Maher said of meeting the Potus in person. “Maybe I’m the Trump whisperer. But I think we would do a lot better to have more people like me talk to him. He’s not against talking to people.

If you watched Jeopardy! on December 29 and do not have a Gen Alpha in your life, you might have been wondering what one category meant. Fans reacted to the “annoying” “6,7” category on the game show last night. “6,7” is a phrase used by Gen Alpha. They typically move their hands up and down when they say it. The exact meaning isn’t clear, but according to Merriam-Webster, it is a “nonsensical expression used especially by teens and tweens that is connected to a rap song and also to a 6′ 7” tall basketball player,” specifically the song “Doot Doot (6 7)” by rapper Skrilla and memes featuring NBA player Lamelo Ball. However, most children use the phrase out of context,...

No matter how early in the morning or how late at night, you can turn on the TV and find "The Big Bang Theory" playing on at least one, if not multiple, channels. And that's not even counting the show's growing cadre of spin-off shows, like the prequel "Young Sheldon" that gave us the origin of Bazinga, sequel-to-the-prequel "Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage," which continues the origin story of Sheldon's brother, and the upcoming "Stuart Fails to Save the Universe," a direct offshoot coming to HBO Max in 2026.

But even with all this content on the air, there's one...

Netflix has released the trailer for the “Stranger Things 5” finale, which debuts in theaters and on the streamer Dec. 31.

Titled “The Rightside Up,” the finale is the eighth episode in the show’s fifth and final season. Netflix released the first four episodes of Season 5 on Thanksgiving Day as “Stranger Things 5: Volume 1” and then the subsequent three episodes on Christmas as “Volume 2.”

Volume 2 concluded with Episode 7, where Max (Sadie Sink), successfully brought back to consciousness, reveals archvillain Vecna’s plan to merge the world with a parallel dimension on the other side of the Upside Down, dubbed the Abyss.

Are you ready for one last trip to Hawkins, Ind.? If not, perhaps this just-released trailer for the series finale of "Stranger Things" will get you in the mood.

"I need you to fight one last time," Hopper tells Eleven in the trailer above. "Life has been so unfair to you. Your childhood was taken from you. You've been attacked, manipulated by terrible people, but you never let it break you. Fight for the days on the other side of this. Fight for a world beyond Hawkins. Let's end this, kid."

The trailer begins with flashbacks to the Hawkins crew's...

Every day, TVLine's What to Watch column spotlights new and returning English-language shows (and select movies) premiering or airing fresh episodes across broadcast, cable and streaming — organized below by release time and alphabetically within each slot.

On TV this Tuesday: Ricky Gervais tackles life and death, college football bowl games continue, and tensions boil over on "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."

If you'd like a recommended watch-list like this delivered to your inbox each morning, you can sign up for our free What to Watch newsletter here!

Read more: Young Sheldon Easter Eggs: Every Big Bang Theory Cameo,...

As "The Pitt" makes its basic-cable debut on TNT — rolling out three uncut episodes every Monday in December — TVLine is looking back at the Emmy-winning medical drama's first season and resurfacing key coverage ahead of Season 2's Jan. 8 premiere on HBO Max. (Click here for coverage of Episodes 1-3, Episodes 4-6, Episodes 7-9, and Episodes 10-12.)

Read more: Noah Wyle Reveals That an ER Revival Was In The Works — Here's Why It Didn't Move Forward

Episode 13 Pushes Robby to the Brink

Episode 13 brings Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch to his emotional breaking point. After failing to save Jake's girlfriend Leah, Robby...

Just like the genre's cinematic prevalence for the last 20 years, superhero stories have wowed fans on television. With the genre exploding in recent years, there is no shortage of superhero shows during the streaming era. Whether part of a larger shared universe or postmodern series deconstructing the genre, there is a multitude of tales following heroes and villains duking it. Though often based on various comic book properties, there has been a growing number of original superhero stories offering fresh takes on familiar tropes.

From family-friendly animated shows to more mature series that literally don't pull their punches, modern superhero shows cover a wide spectrum.

“Community” director Jay Chandrasekhar is interviewed in the upcoming CNN documentary “I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not” and recalls that he “was there, directing, the night that Chevy Chase got fired” from the NBC sitcom (via People). Chandrasekhar, who is best known for his work with the Broken Lizard comedy group, said the actor had a “meltdown” on set after an incident in which he used the N-word on set leaked to the press.

The alleged incident occurred between Chase and co-star Yvette Nicole Brown, with Chandrasekhar explaining: “I know that there was a history between [Chevy and Yvette] around race,...

Jim Carrey has embodied pop culture's most prominent Christmas cranks, The Grinch and Ebenezer Scrooge, in big-budget movies. But when he's played festive figures who are all about good vibes — or generally positive intentions, at least -- it's often been on television.

In Funny or Die's "Drunk History Christmas," the rubber-faced Canadian portrayed Santa Claus opposite Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes. This episode of "Drunk History" — one of the best shows currently streaming on Paramount+ — saw the cast act out a five-minute rendition of "A Visit from St. Nicholas." It didn't go smoothly, though, as narrator Allan McLeod drank half...

The second season of Cross is almost here. Season 2 of the Prime Video crime drama will follow Alex Cross (Aldis Hodge) as he tracks a vigilante who hunts down corrupt billionaires and premieres on February 11, 2026. Like the first season, the second is not based directly on a specific installment of James Patterson‘s Alex Cross book series but does incorporate the characters created by the novels. So will the third season follow suit? Here’s what we know so far. Is Cross renewed for Season 3? Not yet. What will happen in Cross Season 3? Although Cross hasn’t officially been renewed for Season 3, creator Ben Watkins has teased that he is...

Bryan Cranston earned his spot on the Mount Rushmore of TV dads starting in 2000, when he first starred as Hal in Malcolm in the Middle. Hal — father to Francis (Christopher Kennedy Masterson), Reese (Justin Berfield), Malcolm (Frankie Muniz), and Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan) — was an affable if wildly immature middle-class family man who loved his wife, Lois (Jane Kaczmarek), but struggled to keep his eccentric sons on track. The majority of the cast, including Cranston, will return in a series revival, Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, in April 2026.

The original series put Cranston on the map, but it was far from his first time onscreen. He began acting...

Grab your flashlights and bicycles: The trailer for the Stranger Things series finale is here, and it’s an electrifying sneak peek at what’s to come for Hawkins.

As our heroes gear up for their final battle against Vecna, Hopper (David Harbour) rallies Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) with a rousing speech that reminds her exactly what she’s capable of. “Life has been so unfair to you,” he says. “Your childhood was taken from you, you’ve been attacked, manipulated by terrible people, but you never let it break you.”

Eleven’s surrogate father tells her that she’s fighting for “a world beyond Hawkins” and “the days on the other side of this.

Danny Ramirez’s role in “The Last of Us” will be recast for Season 3 due to scheduling conflicts.

Ramirez joined the cast of the HBO apocalypse drama in Season 2. He played Manny, who was described as “a loyal soldier whose sunny outlook belies the pain of old wounds and a fear that he will fail his friends when they need him most” when his casting was announced in 2024. Manny is a former member of the Fireflies, a rebel militia, who is friends with Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and helps her seek revenge on Joel (Pedro Pascal) for the massacre he carried...

Ghosts Season 5 continues to deliver on laughs, and after the recent “Ghostmas” double feature, we’re looking ahead to the future and Young Sheldon star Iain Armitage‘s upcoming guest appearance. When TV Insider caught up with showrunners Joe Wiseman and Joe Port in December, the duo revealed they were currently filming the episode, which will see Armitage play a heightened version of himself. “He’s a long-time, very supportive fan of the show,” Port explained, of how Armitage got involved with Ghosts. “We’ve been looking for a way to get him on the show, and so we were fortunate that that worked out.” At the time when we spoke with the Joes,...

Keep your new year's revelry brief: It's almost time to get back to work with New York's (fictional) finest. 

"Law & Order" Season 25 and "Law & Order: Svu" Season 27 both return to NBC on Thursday, Jan. 8, at 8/7c with a two-hour crossover event that doubles as both series' winter premiere. In the first hour, titled "Snowflakes," an injured woman goes missing from the hospital, and Brady happens to be a witness to the crime. After Brady partners with the Special Victims Unit, the official episode summary tells us, "an explosive discovery puts both squads in danger." 

In the second hour,...

with enough to sink your fangs into. In Part 2 of the Final Season, premiering on Netflix in March 2026, Legoshi and Haru’s journey meets its thrilling conclusion. The trailer above reveals a sneak peek at the dramatic action ahead and features the ending theme: “Tiny Light” by K-pop juggernaut Seventeen.

Based on Paru Itagaki’s award-winning manga, blurs the lines between coming-of-age story, romance, crime thriller, and daredevil action. The series is set in a world of anthropomorphic animals where carnivores and herbivores coexist — though tensions remain sky-high. The , adapted by Orange, one of Japan’s leading CG studios, follows a wolf named Legoshi and his relationship with a rabbit named Haru,...

“Stranger Things” has been review bombed after the Dec. 25 release of Season 5 Vol. 2.

The recent episodes have dragged the season’s fan-driven Rotten Tomatoes score from the 70s down to 56%, a stark decline from the show’s previous seasons.

A backlash campaign seemed to ignite after the Netflix series’ penultimate episode, “The Bridge,” which features a scene in which Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) comes out as gay to his friends. The lengthy monologue came as the Hawkins gang geared up to face Vecna, the big bad from the Upside Down. “The Bridge” is now the lowest-rated episode of “Stranger Things” on IMDb,...

Only one member of the main cast of "Friends" directed episodes of the NBC comedy during its original run: David Schwimmer, who helmed 10 installments over the show's last five seasons.

Schwimmer began directing on "Friends" in 1999 with the Season 6 episode "The One on the Last Night," becoming the only principal cast member to step behind the camera while the sitcom was still on the air. He would go on to direct nine additional episodes — "The One With Rachel's Assistant" (Season 7, Episode 4), "The One With Ross's Library Book" (Season 7, Episode 7), "The One With All the Candy" (Season 7, Episode 9), "The One With...

"The Mentalist" walks on well-trodden ground. A crime procedural with an odd couple at its center, the broad outline of the characters and their stories will feel familiar to fans of the genre. Simon Baker plays Patrick Jane, the quirky police consultant with hidden depth and a dark past. Robin Tunney plays Teresa Lisbon, his no-nonsense boss, always frustrated by Jane's antics. They're joined by a group of earnest, slightly odd junior agents.

The basic plot of "The Mentalist" describes the plot of many crime procedurals, but what makes it stand out is the compelling dynamic between the characters and Jane's particular brand of eccentricity.

TVLine is taking stock of the many nods, cameos and crossovers linking "Young Sheldon" to its predecessor, "The Big Bang Theory."

First launched in September 2017, the long-running prequel filled in the details of Dr. Sheldon Cooper's upbringing in Medford, Texas. The story begins in 1989 and is told from the point of view of a more mature Sheldon, "who is older now and seeing his parents in a different light for the first time," according to series co-creator Steve Molaro. That altered perspective allowed the spinoff to chart its own path, occasionally diverging from "Big Bang" canon without ever disrespecting what came before.

What a difference a Super Bowl makes. Last year, Fox was down double digits in Variety‘s year-end ranker of the year’s most-watched networks in primetime. But in 2025, Fox had the Big Game: And a a result, the network was up double digits in both total viewers and adults 18-49 (where it was No. 1).

But don’t count out the strength of regular programming, as CBS — even sans Super Bowl, which it broadcast in 2024 — managed to stay No. 1 in total viewers thanks to series like “Tracker” and “60 Minutes.” ABC, meanwhile, was up 5%, after being virtually flat in...

The pilot script for Apple TV's bittersweet dramedy "Shrinking" left Harrison Ford with one important question: "Am I in the next one a lot?"

This is according to series co-creator Bill Lawrence, as told to Variety in 2023. It happens to be the case that Dr. Paul Rhoades — curmudgeonly surrogate father figure to Jason Segel's wayward therapist, Jimmy Laird -- doesn't have much screen time in the first episode.

"You're in whatever you want to be in, man," responded Lawrence, also known for "Scrubs" and "Ted Lasso." "You could be in every scene if you want. You tell me."

Lawrence...

It’s Ok to play Survivor for yourself. So says Season 49 winner Savannah Louie, who delivered a standout answer to Jawan Pitts‘s question about her “why,” her reason for playing the game in the December 17 finale. Jawan wanted to hear Savannah’s emotional reason for competing on the show, the thing from her life back at home that was motivating her to win. Savannah gave her answer, but then argued that it shouldn’t matter. She explained why people don’t need a “sob story” to play in our finale interview. Jawan asked the Survivor 49 Final Three, “What is your why, and do you think your why should play...