Category: Entertainment

‘White Lotus’-like Asian Drama ‘The Season’ Set for U.S. Launch on Hulu in June

PCCW Media has locked down a June 2026 launch for The Season, its glossy Hong Kong-set limited series co-produced with SK Global, the studio behind Crazy Rich Asians.

The rollout, announced at Hong Kong’s Filmart content market, will see the buzzy, rich-people-behaving-badly series stream on Hulu — and Hulu on Disney+ — in the U.S., while regional streamer Viu airs the title across markets in Asia, the Middle East and South Africa, and Now TV launches it in Hong Kong.

Fremantle is leading international sales for the title in other territories with support from De Maio Entertainment. The companies are giving buyers a first look at the series during Filmart this week.

The series has a buzzy, White Lotus-like premise set amidst Hong Kong high society. The official logline reads: “Set against the opulence and striking contrasts of Hong Kong, The Season follows a privileged group of friends gathering for a summer of sun-drenched luxury as boating season begins. What starts as a glamorous escape soon spirals into a web of deception, power struggles, and life-altering consequences.”

‘The Season’

PCCW Media

A champagne-fueled revenge drama, The Season unfolds during Hong Kong’s high-society summer, “where connections are everything and nothing is quite as it seems.” At the center is the Hext family, an old-money Hong Kong institution, who rule the city’s elite through yacht parties, horse races, and charity galas – while secrets and scandal simmer beneath the surface. The plot ignites when Cola, a newcomer with a hidden agenda, arrives and begins upsetting the high-society ecosystem, sending rivalries flaring and alliances tilting toward something darker.

Jessie Mei Li (Shadow and Bone) stars as Cola, with Toby Stephens (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) and three-time Golden Horse winner Karena Lam leading as the family’s patriarch Christopher Hext and matriarch Fiona Hext. The ensemble also includes Chris Pang (Crazy Rich Asians), Celina Jade (Wolf Warrior 2), Justin Chien (The Brothers Sun), Yvonne Chapman (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Japanese performer Kōki and Lee Jae-yoon (Physical 100 Season 2).

‘The Season’

PCCW Media

The series is created and executive produced by Yalun Tu (NCIS: Hawai‘i), with Marialy Rivas (The Jetty, Perry Mason) directing and executive producing. Janice Lee and Agatha Lo executive produce for PCCW Media, while SK Global’s Chloe Dan executive produces alongside Matt Aragachi and Dylan Tarason.

Janice Lee, CEO of PCCW Media Group & Viu, said in a statement: “Set against the pulsating energy of Hong Kong and its spectacular cityscape, we believe The Season, at its core, is a story of redemption with characters who will resonate with audiences globally. We are thrilled to partner with SK Global and our platform partners to share it with viewers everywhere. Returning to Filmart one year after our initial announcement, and with the series now complete, we are excited to share a first glimpse of the work realised by an amazing creative team and cast.”

‘The Season’

PCCW Media

March 18, 2026
The Best Peacock Subscription Deals and Free Trial Hacks

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Whether you’re eager to catch Wicked: For Good‘s streaming release (March 20 on Peacock), tune into weekly episodes of SNL (plus reruns) or follow the 2025-26 NBA season, there are little-known ways to save big on Peacock — or even get it for free.

Best Peacock Deals 2026: Get Peacock Free With DirecTV

Starting strong with the standout promotion, customers who sign up for one of DirecTV’s signature packages — Entertainment, Choice, Ultimate or Premier — can get two months of the Movies Extra Pack + Peacock at no cost (a $19.98 value). Plus, DirecTV offers a five-day free trial for any plan, meaning new members can stream Peacock (and everything else the packages have to offer) at no cost during the trial period.

Here’s exactly how to claim the offer: Simply select your preferred signature package, then opt to add “Movies Extra Pack + Peacock Premium” where it instructs you to pick your add-ons. As indicated, you’ll automatically get two months of the Movies Extra Pack + Peacock included in your subscription (click here to see everything the add-on offers on top of Peacock). After two months, unless cancelled at any time, DirecTV’s Movies Extra Pack + Peacock will renew monthly at the then-prevailing rate, presently $9.99 per month plus tax.

Best Peacock Deals 2026: Get Peacock Free With Instacart+, Walmart+

Streamers can also get free Peacock access through partner subscriptions, including Instacart+ and Walmart+, which both include Peacock Premium in their membership. Plus, since both Instacart+ and Walmart+ offer free trials — 14 days for Instacart+ and 30 days for Walmart+ — members can stream Peacock at no cost during the trial period. Claim the offers directly below, and scroll down for a further dive into what Instacart+ and Walmart+ have to offer.

Best Peacock Deals 2026: Peacock Student Discount, Young Adult Discount (Age 18-24)

Moving along to younger audiences, the NBCUniversal streamer not only offers a year-long student discount, but it also extends the same 45 percent price drop to users ages 18 to 24, officially called the Peacock Young Adult Discount. After 12 months, the plan auto-renews at the then-current annual rate.

Best Peacock Deals 2026: Apple TV and Peacock Bundle

On Oct. 20, 2025, the Apple TV and Peacock Bundle launched, meaning customers can now bundle the two services and save. Bundle options include Apple TV and Peacock Premium ($14.99 per month), and Apple TV and Peacock Premium Plus ($19.99 per month). Since Apple TV is currently $12.99 per month on its own, these bundles represent a discount of over 30 percent.

This bundle is a smart choice for Formula 1 fans as the 2026 season marks the start of F1 and Apple TV’s five-year streaming deal, where Apple TV is the exclusive U.S. home for every practice, qualifying, sprint and race.

Best Peacock Deals 2026: Mastercard

Save on a Peacock Subscription Through Mastercard

Mastercard users can also save on a Peacock subscription.

Right now, eligible World or World Elite Mastercard holders can get a statement credit of $3 per month if they pay for Peacock Premium or Premium Plus with their card. The offer expires Dec. 2027.

Best Peacock Deals 2026: Annual Subscription vs. Monthly

At the back half of 2025, Peacock added a lower-priced Select tier for $7.99 per month, which includes current seasons of NBC and Bravo shows and select shows from the broader NBCUniversal library. This is in addition to the more popular ad-supported Premium tier for $10.99 monthly, and the ad-free Peacock Premium Plus package for $16.99 per month. For the best bang for your buck, opt for the annual plans ($79.99 to $169.99), which offer 12 months for the price of 10. See below for more on each plan.

Peacock Plans: Premium vs. Premium Plus

Both Peacock Premium and Premium Plus packages include access to over 80,000 hours of movies and TV show episodes, including brand-new and Oscar-winning films; next-day access to NBC and Bravo series such as Love Island, Vanderpump Rules and the entire Real Housewives franchise; and both new and past seasons of Peacock original series.

Peacock Premium also has over 50 channels and live sports, including MLB Sunday Leadoff, Premier League, Sunday Night Football and WWE. It was also the streaming home of the Women’s World Cup and the U.S. Gymnastics Championship.

Peacock’s Premium Plus tier includes all of the above, plus your local NBC channel live, no ads (except on select live TV shows) and the ability to download select titles to watch offline later.

Additional Details on Instacart+

Get Peacock for Free Through Instacart

Want to get Peacock for free? If you’re looking to cut the cord and expand your binge-watching library while saving time on grocery shopping, Instacart is offering one of the best free deals on Peacock.

The ad-supported Peacock Premium plan (reg. $10.99 per month or $109.99 annually) is included for free with Instacart+ memberships, which offers unlimited free delivery on orders over $35, lower service fees, 5 percent credit back on eligible pickup orders and other perks for $9.99 per month or $99 per year with annual billing. Instacart says the service pays for itself if you order twice per month.

Instacart+ users get free access to Peacock’s ad-supported Premium plan for as long as their membership is in effect and the offer is available. The deal doesn’t apply to existing Peacock accounts, and you cannot use the offer to upgrade to Peacock’s Premium Plus, which has fewer ads.

Additional Details on Walmart+

Get Peacock with a Walmart+ Membership

Walmart+ members can now get Peacock included with their membership. Try it out with a free trial, then continue with $98 per year (just $8.17/month) or $12.95 per month for the monthly plan. Learn more about Walmart+’s benefits and streaming options here.

Related: Paramount+ Runs Limited-Time Promo Aligned With March Madness, The Madison and More

March 18, 2026
‘Brian’ Review: A Hilarious High-School Comedy With Dark Jokes and Multiple Meltdowns

Whether for relatability, or digestibility, the American coming-of-age genre tends to focus on broadly awkward characters with mild social anxiety. Will Ropp’s feature debut “Brian” makes that idea more specific and turns it up to 11, with a teenage protagonist whose mental health issues cause not infrequent outbursts, and who maintains a keenly self-aware sense of self-loathing. That sounds like a recipe for gloomy melodrama, and the film does get serious on occasion, but “Brian” is also one of the most relentlessly, darkly funny films of its kind.

This is thanks in no small part to screenwriter Mike Scollins, whose monologues for Seth Meyers seem to have carried over in the form of rapid-fire punchlines — the comedy is brisk and to-the-point — and to lead actor Ben Wang, who creates a memorable, multi-dimensional loner you can’t help but love, hate, and cringe at all at once. The result is a movie that ought to be mentioned in the same breath as recent high school landmarks like “Eighth Grade” and “The Edge of Seventeen.” It follows a maladjusted 17-year-old, Brian (Wang), who messes up a drama club audition and counterintuitively runs for class president to be closer to his attractive teacher, Miss Brooke (Natalie Morales), a scheme that catalyzes the unraveling of his already unstable social life.

Brian’s troubles begin at home, with a popular older brother, Kyle (Sam Long Li), who bullies him playfully but relentlessly, taking advantage of his perturbed reactions. Anytime Brian is alone, he’s usually muttering under his breath, or flipping off invisible people; in his own words, there’s “a lot” wrong with him. Wang’s performance makes an immediate impact, with a high-pitched voice, twitchy gesticulations, and the avoidance of eye contact, all of which, in the hands of a lesser actor, could’ve come off as mockery of neurodivergence. Wang, however, projects each of these choice from deep within, crafting a character who’s both uncomfortable with his reactions to people, emotions and external stimuli, but is, at this point in his life, also unfortunately used to his discomforts, and begrudgingly accepts them.

Everyone around him seems to have their own protocol for his emotional episodes too. This allows Brian, his acerbic parents (Randall Park, Edi Patterson) and his kindly therapist (William H. Macy) to joke around and laugh with him about his litany of issues — as opposed to laughing at him — which grants an immediate sense of normalcy to even his prickliest moments. Most of his classmates, however, aren’t so kind, and they poke and prod at him about his obvious crush on Brooke, if only to watch him erupt in anger. However, a new student, the friendly, effortlessly charming, outwardly queer Justin (Joshua Colley) immediately befriends Brian, confusing him as to why anyone would want to actually spend time with him in the first place, given how the other kids tend to treat him.

A layman might assume Brian is on the autism spectrum (in addition to issues that cause frequent panic attacks), but film never gives a name to his diagnosis. However, its writing process involved putting the script in front of actual child therapists to ensure its verisimilitude, so rare are the moments (if any) when Wang’s performance doesn’t feel rooted in the familiar. What ends up being funny about Brian isn’t just that he keeps putting his foot in his mouth, but that each faux pas comes from a place of discernible anxiety. It’s a clear (if wobbly) mirror.

Films laden with this many jokes per minute can come across as try-hard if they aren’t well-modulated. However part of that modulation in a case like this is, paradoxically, recognizing Brian’s own try-hard nature, as someone who knows he struggles to fit in, but tries to join conversations before crashing and burning on a daily basis. It’s a difficult tight-rope to walk, but Ropp and Scollins never tip over into the mean-spirited.

There’s a tremendous sweetness to the film and its central relationships, but the banter ping-pongs swiftly between the intimate and the darkly absurd. You’ll seldom find a high school movie loaded with these many jokes about school shootings, but they’re situationally appropriate (as much as such a thing can be). If nothing else, they’re the natural endpoint of a culture that refuses to deal with the gun epidemic in any more useful a manner; it’s a surprise that gun massacres aren’t a more frequent topic of conversation in films like these.

Ropp’s tonal balance is greatly assisted by his steady, unobtrusive hand, and by some particularly seamless comedy editing by Anisha Acharya, who also edited one of this year’s most devastating dramas, the Sundance breakout “Josephine.” The underlying principles, however, appear to be the same: cutting for maximum impact without ever letting the cuts themselves intrude upon the actors’ natural rhythms (which, in this case, involves button after button of hilariously improvised punchlines, especially by Park).

Wang is the focus of practically every scene, but he meets this challenge with aplomb, creating a young character at the mercy of his own neuroses who also remains immediately empathetic, even if he isn’t always likable. Years of rejection have hardened Brian to other people, but letting them back in, and learning to be a good friend, are what ultimately define his delicate journey, far more than anything relating to his run for student government. That’s just a conduit for the more important and longer-lasting facets of the movie’s story, in which an isolated character is constantly around other people, for better or worse, and can seldom stand to be around himself. That such a hefty topic can be used to create such breathless, eye-watering comedy without tipping into self-indulgence — and without robbing the film of its most meaningful drama — is practically a miracle.

March 18, 2026
Taylor Frankie Paul Attends ‘Bachelorette’ Event Amid Domestic Violence Investigation and Says ‘I’m Struggling For Sure’

Reality star Taylor Frankie Paul opened up to People at an NYC press event for “The Bachelorette” on Tuesday about her ongoing domestic assault investigation.

“Honestly, just like, my heart hurts to see it, to go through it, especially at this time,” Paul said. “Just the timing is hard, and it’s a big deal. I feel like every premiere that I’ve experienced, I’ve never enjoyed fully, so this is another one… it’s extremely hard, and it took everything to get me here today.”

She continued, “It’s just heavy. It’s a heavy time, and it’s unfortunate. I’m struggling for sure, but also at the same time, I feel like if I don’t show up, then I’m just giving these opportunities away and not enjoying what we’ve worked on and something super exciting that’s coming. I just feel like it was the right thing to do… show up even though it’s hard.”

On March 16, a source told Variety that the Draper City Police Department in Utah is investigating domestic assault allegations from Paul and her ex-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, after a recent incident. Filming for “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” Season 5 was paused because of the investigation. The source added that the break should not impact the release timeline for the new season.

Paul has led the cast of Hulu’s “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” since its debut in 2024. She also stars in Season 22 of “The Bachelorette,” which premieres on ABC on March 22. The investigation will not impact the release schedule or the press tour for “The Bachelorette.”

March 18, 2026
Taylor Frankie Paul Says It’s Been “Really Difficult and Heavy” After Alleged Domestic Violence Incident

Taylor Frankie Paul is breaking her silence after The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives paused filming due to an alleged domestic incident involving the Bachelorette star and her ex, Dakota Mortensen.

While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday at a press event for her upcoming season of The Bachelorette, Paul admitted she’s “struggling,” but also “trying to show up” amid the domestic assault investigation.

“I think it’s been really difficult and heavy given, you know, all the headlines and what’s going on,” she said. “But I would say I am handling it like any normal human would, like struggling, but trying to show up at the same time.”

On Monday, TMZ and People both reported that filming for the Hulu reality show’s fifth season was halted. A spokesperson for the Draper City Police Department also confirmed to People that there’s an open “domestic assault investigation” between Paul and Mortensen.

Authorities added that “allegations have been made in both directions” and “contact was made with involved parties on [Feb.] 24th and 25th.”

Hulu has not confirmed the status of production, but sources told THR on Tuesday that season five is still on pause.

While chatting with THR, Paul also shared where she currently stands with the other women on Mormon Wives. A source previously told People that the cast was distancing themselves from the Bachelorette lead amid the situation.

“From my end, I’ve always been good with all of them,” Paul said. “I mean, I think we’ve kind of seen how I am very graceful with all the girls, even at their darkest and hardest times. So for me, I feel like the same thing, just with all of them to this day. I have nothing against any of them. So if they have any hesitancy or have an issue with me, that is, you know, their prerogative, not mine.”

Season four of Mormon Wives premiered earlier this month on Hulu. As for The Bachelorette season 22, it premieres on March 22 on ABC.

March 18, 2026
Paramount+ Runs Limited-Time Promo Aligned With March Madness, ‘The Madison’ and More

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Timed with March Madness, Taylor Sheridan’s The Madison and Yellowstone spinoff Marshals, to name a few highlights, Paramount+ has announced a limited-time promotion for both new and former subscribers: any monthly plan for $2.99 per month for the first two months (reg. $8.99+ per month). This is on top of two little-known ways to get Paramount+ for free through partner subscriptions: DirecTV and Walmart+. More on each offer below.

How to Get Paramount+ Free Trial

Starting off strong with DirecTV, customers who sign up for one of the streaming service’s signature packages — Entertainment, Choice or Ultimate — will get the first three months of HBO Max, Paramount+ Premium (formerly Paramount+ with Showtime), STARZ, MGM+ and Cinemax included (see here for more details on these premium add-ons). Plus, DirecTV offers a five-day free trial for any plan, meaning new members can stream Paramount+ (and everything else the packages have to offer) at no cost during the trial period.

Moving along to the second option, deal-savvy streamers can also enjoy free Paramount+ access through a Walmart+ membership, which includes the choice of Paramount+ Essential or Peacock Premium in its subscription. And since Walmart+ offers a 30-day free trial, members can stream Paramount+ at no cost during that period. Learn more about Walmart+ streaming offers and pricing here.

Best Paramount+ Deals

Through March 31, Paramount+ is offering two months of any monthly plan (either Paramount+ Premium or Paramount+ Essential) for $2.99 per month. This deal equates to a savings between 67 and 79 percent for the first two months. Following the trial period (unless cancelled at any time), the plan auto-renews at the then-current full price of the selected plan, presently $8.99 per month for the ad-supported Essential and $13.99 per month for the ad-free Premium. (Scroll down for a comparison of the two plans.)

Paramount+ Student Discount

Verify your student status for 50 percent off any Paramount+ plan for the first 12 months. Learn more and get the deal here.

Paramount+ Plans Compared: Paramount+ Premium vs. Paramount+ Essential

Paramount+ Essential is the streamer’s ad-supported base package, regularly $8.99 per month or $89.99 annually. It includes 40,000+ episodes and movies, NFL on CBS and UEFA Champions League live, access to select Showtime series and the ability to stream on three devices at once.

Paramount+ Premium (formerly known as Paramount+ with Showtime) is regularly $13.99 per month or $139.99 per year and offers everything in the essential plan without ads (except for live TV), plus access to all of Showtime, the ability to stream CBS live with more sports and events, the option to download movies and shows and the ability to watch in 4K Ultra HD, Dolby Vision or HDR10.

March 18, 2026
‘CBS Evening News’ Viewership Drops Below 4 Million After Tony Dokoupil’s Colorful Start

Suddenly, “CBS Evening News” is back where executives at the news division behind the show hoped never to return.

Viewership for the program has once again dropped below 4 million, a critical demarcation point that previously spurred alarm at the Paramount Skydance news division. CBS News recently scrapped a version of “CBS Evening News” anchored by Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson after the program shed audience and fell below 4 million viewers on many weeknights.

The overall audience for the program for the five days ended March 13 stood at nearly 3.83 million, according to data from Nielsen, and at 468,000 among viewers between 25 and 54, the demographic most coveted by advertisers.

In contrast, ABC’s “World News Tonight,” long the leading program among the three broadcast-network evening news shows, won an average of nearly 8.48 million, according to Nielsen, along with 1.03 million in the demo. NBC’s “NBC Nightly News” captured an average of 6.51 million overall in the same period, and 946,000 in the demo.

CBS News “retitled” the Friday broadcast of “Evening News,” so its results are not included in the tabulations.

One reason Dokoupil was moved from a perch on “CBS Mornings” to become anchor of the show is because CBS News executives worried they were falling further behind ABC’s “World News Tonight” and NBC’s “NBC Nightly News” with Dickerson and DuBois, who led a show that focused more heavily on enterprise stories and news features than it did on breaking headlines. Now those concerns are poised to rise anew.

Quarter to date as of March 12, “CBS Evening News” has shed 15% of its viewership in the critical 25-to-54 demo, the audience coveted by advertisers in news programming, over the year-earlier period. In comparison, NBC’s “NBC Nightly News” is up 8% in the demo, while ABC’s “World News Tonight” is off 4%.

When Norah O’Donnell ended her tenure at “CBS Evening News” in 2024, she left with an audience of nearly 5.4 million. Dokoupil’s first five days, from January 5 to January 9, won an average of nearly 4.17 million, according to data from Nielsen — and in a subsequent week, he even nabbed an audience of 4.6 million.

The slide in audience comes after CBS News took Dokoupil around the nation and into the Middle East just after the conflict erupted between Iran and the U.S. and Israel. Dokoupil was the only one of the so-called “Big Three” evening-news anchors to get so close to the battle.

Dokoupil has gained traction over the years during his time as a co-anchor on “CBS Mornings,” won the notice of both former CBS News President Susan Zirinsky and current CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss. He has demonstrated a proclivity for developing interesting features, and, more recently, for taking on author Ta-Nehisi Coates on whether his writing expressed antipathy for Israel.

CBS News executives ascribe some portion of the viewership results to changes tied to the recent shift to Daylight Savings Time, according to a person familiar with the matter. And they have been encouraged by results that show Dokoupil’s “Evening News” gaining viewers when compared to broadcasts of the show from earlier in the season. The show’s viewership is up 7% in viewers and up 10% among viewers between 25 and 54 when compared to the average viewership of the current season to date.

March 17, 2026
Cinnabon Cuts Ties With ‘The Bachelorette’ and ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ Amid Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen Domestic Violence Investigation

Cinnabon has ended its partnership with “The Bachelorette” and “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” in light of allegations of domestic violence between reality star Taylor Frankie Paul and her ex-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen.

“Cinnabon has made the decision to terminate its collaboration with ‘The Bachelorette’ and ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,’” a spokesperson for the company told Entertainment Weekly on Tuesday. “Recent developments and allegations surrounding the lead cast member led us to reassess this collaboration as it no longer aligns with our brand values.”

A source told Variety that the Draper City Police Department in Utah is investigating the allegations from Paul and Mortensen after a recent incident. Season 5 of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” has been paused due to the investigation. The pause is likely to be relatively brief, the source added, and production is expected to resume soon with little impact on the Season 5 release timeline.

On March 9, Cinnabon unveiled a new Swirled Soda, which was “inspired by the viral beverage trend popularized” by the cast of “Mormon Wives.” The company carried cup sleeves and packaging themed around “The Bachelorette” and “Mormon Wives.”

Paul has led the cast of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” since its debut in 2024. She also stars in Season 22 of “The Bachelorette,” which debuts on ABC on March 22 and is currently in New York City promoting the season ahead of a premiere event in Los Angeles this weekend. The investigation will not impact the release schedule or promotional campaign for “The Bachelorette.”

This is not the first time Paul and Mortensen have been in such a dispute. In Season 1 of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” Paul was arrested for allegedly hitting, choking and throwing metal chairs at Mortensen, with one of the chairs allegedly hitting one of her children from a previous relationship. She pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault. The charges of domestic violence in the presence of a child, child abuse and criminal mischief were dismissed. Paul’s arrest and probation caused major delays in filming between the first and second episodes of “Mormon Wives” Season 1.

March 17, 2026
TV Ratings: Oscars Fall to 17.9 Million Viewers, Lowest Since 2022

The TV audience for the 2026 Oscars declined some, in keeping with a pattern from other recent awards shows.

Sunday’s 98th Academy Awards drew 17.86 million viewers on ABC and Hulu, based on Nielsen’s big data plus panel ratings. That’s down about 9 percent from last year’s Oscars, which drew 19.69 million viewers for a post-pandemic high, and the smallest audience for the awards since 2022, when 16.68 million people watched.

The show delivered a 3.92 rating among adults 18-49 (equivalent to about 5.34 million people in that age group), a 14 percent decline from 4.54 last year.

On the plus side, the Oscars maintained its usual spot as the most watched primetime entertainment telecast of the season. The show’s social media stats also were up significantly, rising by 42 percent to more than 181 million impressions during the telecast (according to Talkwalker’s Social Content Ratings).

One Battle After Another and Sinners ruled the night, with the former winning six Oscars (including best picture and best director for Paul Thomas Anderson) and Sinners taking home four awards (including a best actor win for Michael B. Jordan and best original screenplay for Ryan Coogler). Conan O’Brien took his second turn as host of the awards.

The Oscars followed the trend of the season’s other two big awards telecasts, albeit with a slightly steeper drop. Both the Golden Globes in January and the Grammy Awards in February fell by about 6 percent vs. their 2025 editions.

The telecast was marred by audio glitches and other technical issues — though not the streaming problems that plagued last year’s ceremony, the first to live stream on Hulu — and cut off a couple of winners while letting some scripted bits go on too long. The show also, however, featured heartfelt speeches by Jordan and best actress winner Jessie Buckley, well-received musical performances of nominated songs from Sinners and KPop Demon Hunters (the latter’s “Golden” took home the award) and funny opening and closing filmed pieces featuring O’Brien riffing on the nominated films.

The Oscars also had an unusual, and unexpected, bit of competition Sunday night in the form of a World Baseball Classic semifinal between the United States and the Dominican Republic. FS1 and Fox Deportes’ telecast of the game drew 7.37 million viewers, the largest audience ever for a WBC contest in the United States.

March 17, 2026
Ex-‘Real Housewives’ Star Leah McSweeney’s Lawsuit Against Bravo to Proceed in Federal Court

A lawsuit filed by former The Real Housewives of New York City star Leah McSweeney against Bravo, producer Andy Cohen and others involved in the hit franchise will proceed in federal court after a judge this week denied a request to move the case to private arbitration.

McSweeney broke her silence on the ruling in an Instagram Story on Tuesday, writing that it has been “emotionally and mentally draining” to discuss the case. She called the decision a “huge ruling” and noted that it has been a long two years since she first filed the lawsuit.

“Reality TV might look like entertainment, but behind the drama, there can be harmful misconduct that should never be normalized,” she said.

The suit alleges discrimination, a hostile work environment and claims that producers “nefariously” pressured her to drink on camera. According to the filing, despite being aware of McSweeney’s struggles with alcohol and mental health, top producers coerced and coaxed her into drinking while filming two seasons of The Real Housewives of New York City and a season of The Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip.

The complaint also targets Cohen directly, accusing him of playing favorites with castmembers who socialized with him.

“[Cohen] engaged in cocaine use with ‘Housewives’ and other Bravolebrities that he employs,” the suit claims, adding that he rewarded those individuals with more favorable treatment and edits.

Cohen has denied the allegations, previously calling the lawsuit a “shakedown” and rejecting claims that he encouraged substance abuse or used drugs with cast members. Bravo, Cohen and the production companies have also argued that McSweeney was an independent contractor — not an employee — and therefore not entitled to certain workplace protections.

McSweeney, who founded the fashion brand Married to the Mob, joined RHONY in 2019 for two seasons. She later appeared on the third season of The Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip, which aired in 2023.

In her filing, McSweeney describes what she calls a “rotted workplace culture” that depended on pressuring cast members to consume alcohol. The suit alleges that producers, with full knowledge of her struggles, “colluded with her colleagues to pressure Ms. McSweeney to drink, retaliated against her when she sought sobriety and intentionally failed to provide reasonable accommodations,” including transportation to AA meetings.

March 17, 2026