When it comes to television, there seems to be the philosophy that a good thing must be kept going by all means necessary. If a show proves to be successful, it must run until it’s completely lost steam — whether that happens as the result of lower ratings or a lack of funding.
Nowadays, in the era of the limited series and streaming services, that isn’t the only option anymore. It is possible for a show to end on its own terms, without any external factors influencing its overall arc. But back in the days of cable, the mentality was to keep a show running, as long as it was proving to be popular with viewers. Some shows even warranted the rare second chance — the revival. Why revive a show that’s long-since gone off the air?
Sometimes, a network sees an opportunity to market a show to a new demographic of viewers, so the show is brought back on the air. Other times, a streaming service will pick up a cult favorite series that couldn’t survive on cable. Either way, launching a TV revival is always a risk — can a show recapture what fans loved about the original series, while also introducing something fresh and original? While there are plenty of reboots that get it right (think The Office, The Twilight Zone, and Doctor Who) there are more than a few that get it very, very wrong.
Here are 10 TV revivals that were so bad, they actually threatened to ruin the legacy of their original series.
10 TV Revivals That Were So Bad They Ruined Their Original Shows
TV Spinoffs That Are Better Than Their Original Shows
These 10 TV spinoffs from successful shows actually found a way to be better than the series that were based on.
“There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to. To fight the battles that we never could.”
That’s Nick Fury talking about the Avengers. But he could also be talking about the movie The Avengers and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After 15 years and dozens of movies, look at what became of this idea; bringing together all these remarkable people and seeing that, yes, they could be something more when they worked together, when their films were interwoven together until a giant meta-narrative. 15 years ago, the whole notion seemed crazy. An Iron Man movie? Who cares about Iron Man? Starring Robert Downey Jr.? Didn’t he have a drug problem? And then they’re going to make an Ant-Man movie? It’ll never work.
And yet here we sit more than a decade later and we can say, quite conclusively that it worked. Iron Man begat a sequel, plus The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers. Then six more movies. Then seven more after that. (Ant-Man showed up eventually, but it took a little while.) 14 years later, we’re at the start of Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. What better time than now to rank them all?
After watching Quantumania and rewatching the previous MCU movies, I have arrived at this guaranteed to be in-no-way controversial ranking, from the worst film Marvel has made so far (you know what it is) to the best. Again, these are my personal references. Come back in a few months when we do this all over again for … whatever Marvel releases next.
Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best
It started with Iron Man and it’s continued and expanded ever since. It’s the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with 30 movies and counting. But what’s the best and the worst? We ranked them all.
One good TV show deserves another, right? Well, this seems to be the logic when it comes down to which series get greenlit each year. As is the case with movies, it’s no surprise that viewers are naturally drawn to characters and fictional worlds that they’ve been acquainted with before. While there are quite a few original shows, and TV shows derived from movies, and TV shows based on books, there are also a surprising number of TV spinoffs — series whose characters come straight from a show already on the air.
The thing is, not all of these spinoff series are good. Some are, in fact, quite bizarre. But every now and then, there comes along a spinoff that’s just as good as the original series. Dare we say, in some ways, it’s actually better. That’s not to say anything about the quality of its predecessor. After all, a spinoff has a better chance of being great if its source material is well-written, directed, and acted. However, it’s no easy feat for a spinoff series to stand on its own, but it does happen.
Oftentimes, the show acts as a sequel to the events depicted in the original series. But instead of simply serving as a continuation of said series, a spinoff typically follows a new — or previously introduced — set of characters that exist within the same universe. Spinoff shows may attempt to recreate the tone of their original show, or they may branch out into new genre territory. Here are 10 TV spinoff series that are just as good — and even better — than the shows they’re based on.
TV Spinoffs That Are Better Than Their Original Shows
These 10 TV spinoffs from successful shows actually found a way to be better than the series that were based on.
10 Popular TV Shows That Were Almost Cancelled Too Soon
Every year, the Academy Awards come along to grace a handful of nominated actors with a golden statue. But let’s face it. Hollywood is teeming with talent, and just because you’ve risen to A-lister status doesn’t mean you’re automatically guaranteed an Oscar. In fact, over the years, there have been plenty of seasoned actors who have experienced tremendous success in the movie and television industry — but they’ve never won an Academy Award. While it may be hard to believe based on their impressive careers, these celebrities have never gone home with that coveted award.
Why is that, exactly? Well, it’s pretty obvious that there are several different factors that go into selecting a winner for Best Actor or Best Actress. Like pretty much every other art form, reception to a performance is subjective. What might be one person’s idea of “best” is another person’s “very good.” And, even if everyone’s performances were all considered equal in terms of quality, there still has to be one winner.
Some actors — such as Leonardo DiCaprio, for instance — spend years delivering memorable performance after memorable performance, only to be passed over continuously by the Academy. DiCaprio finally broke this cycle with his ambitious performance as frontiersman Hugh Glass in the 2015 film The Revenant, which won him the Oscar for Best Actor. While some famous actors go their whole careers without ever achieving that milestone, it doesn’t mean they aren’t deserving. Sometimes, the timing just isn’t right. Here are 12 actors who have surprisingly never won an Oscar.
12 Actors Who Have Surprisingly Never Won An Oscar
These great actors have given unforgettable performances in classic films. None of them have won an Academy Award.
Even though retirees have historically flocked to Florida, Rhode Island and Delaware may be two great alternatives for those ready to enjoy their golden years.
That’s according to Insider’s analysis of various datasets to find the best states for retirees to live in. Based on our methodology, 20 states ranked above Florida.
According to one analysis of the American Community Survey from the Census Bureau, Florida was the No. 1 state retirees were heading to.
Insider wanted to see what other states may be great for retirees based on several factors, including average temperatures as well as the cost of living. According to our analysis and methodology, there were 20 states that ranked above Florida. This includes Arkansas, Texas, and Maine.
The following are 20 states that may be great for retirees. Below these top states is more information about our methodology and our full list of data sources we used in creating this ranking.
19 (tie). Nebraska
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Nebraska may be good for retirees interested in a cooler average temperature compared to other states. The state had a 60-month average from December 2017 to November 2022 of 49.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The state had pretty high employment in nursing care facilities in June compared to most other states, with 6 per 1,000 residents.
For retirees looking to move soon, recent data on Redfin shows there were more sales for homes in the state as of December 2022 than there were a year earlier, but the median sale price has risen from a year ago.
19 (tie). Arizona
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Home to the Grand Canyon and a beautiful desert landscape, more people in general are moving into Arizona from elsewhere in the US, Census Bureau data suggests. Net domestic migration to the state was 70,984 between 2021 and 2022, higher than most states. Some retirees may also want to head to this Southwest state.
Arizona had a relatively high average annual growth in Medicaid spending per enrollee from 1991 to 2020 with a value of 4.1%. It also had a relatively high 60-month average temperature with a value of 61.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
The state, where 18.3% of the population was aged 65 or older as of 2021, is also home to the “most luxurious active retirement community” per a SmartAsset post: Rio Verde Community and Country Club.
18. Illinois
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Illinois ranked highly for its average annual growth in Medicaid per enrollee from 1991 to 2020 with a value of 4.0%. It can be expensive to live there, however. Prices in Illinois were 1.4% higher than in the country as a whole. The state had a relatively high employment of nursing care facilities in June compared to most other states, with 5 per 1,000 residents.
The state is also home to what one post on Investopedia names as a top active retirement community: Sun City Huntley. That community has different sporting activities, like golf and tennis, as well as different clubs to join. Retirees may also be interested in independent living or retirement communities located in Chicago.
Illinois’ relatively low share of the population aged 65 and older and its slow growth in this older population from 2019 to 2021 brought down its spot on our ranking based on our methodology.
17. Arkansas
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17.4% of Arkansas’ population was 65 and older as of 2021. Prices were 10.6% lower than in the country as a whole. Arkansas had a higher employment of nursing care facilities per 1,000 residents in June compared to most other states, with 6 per 1,000 residents.
It had the lowest increase in its 65 and older population from 2019 to 2021 among states, at 0.2%, bringing down its overall average rank of metrics used to create the ranking.
One place to maybe retire to in the state is Bella Vista, which ranked No. 1 on Niche as the best place to retire to in the state.
16. Massachusetts
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In the New England region, Massachusetts has seen its 65 and older population soar by 3.8%. As of 2021, 17.4% of its population was 65 and older. The state also ranked highly for its home health care services employment in June 2022 with a value of about 6 per 1,000 residents. The state may be good for retirees looking for a cooler temperature, given the state had an average temperature from December 2017 to November 2022 of 49.9 degrees Fahrenheit.
The state also has one of the fastest-growing retirement places according to a list from Realtor.com: Springfield. Realtor.com notes one pro of Springfield is its affordability.
Prices are high in the state though. Prices were 6.6% higher than in the country as a whole.
15. Kentucky
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Prices in Kentucky were 10.9% lower than in the country as a whole. The state also had one of the higher average annual growth rates in Medicaid per enrollee from 1991 to 2020 with a value of 3.7%.
Its percent change in its older population of those 65 and older from 2019 to 2021 and its employment per 1,000 residents of home health care services brought down its position in the rank. Kentucky saw its 65 and older population increase by 1.8% from 2019 to 2021, lower than many other states. And its home health care services employment in June 2022 was about 2 per 1,000 residents.
The state has one of the lowest shares of its population aged 65 or older, with a share of 13.2% as of 2021, but still has seen an increase from 2019 by 4.1%. It had a pretty high average temperature of 66.2 degrees Fahrenheit from December 2017 to November 2022. Among states and DC, it ranked No. 2 for its employment per 1,000 residents in home health care services in June, with a value of 9 per 1,000 residents.
13 (tie). Maine
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Maine had the highest share of its population being 65 and over as of 2021, at 21.7% or 297,101 of its 1.4 million people. The state has seen its 65 and older population grow by just shy of 4.0%.
The state also ranked higher than many other states in the analysis for its nursing care facilities employment residents in June 2022, with a value of 5 per 1,000 residents.
Retirees may also be interested in Portland, which Realtor.com named as one of the fast-growing retirement places. The post on Realtor.com notes that being able to get to “high-quality health care centers” is one reason this place in Maine is attractive to retirees.
11 (tie). New Mexico
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In New Mexico, 18.5% of the population was at least 65 years old as of 2021. Prices are relatively low; prices were 10.1% lower than in the country as a whole. Additionally, the state ranked highly for its home health care services employment in June 2022 with a value of about 7 per 1,000 residents.
According to SmartAsset, the state may be considered “moderately tax friendly.” SmartAsset noted these states include ones that “offer smaller deductions on some or all forms of retirement income” and were places where “sales, property, estate, inheritance and income tax rates in this category range in friendliness based on the degree of retirement deductions available.”
11 (tie). Mississippi
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Mississippi may be attractive for people looking for a lower cost of living. Prices were 13.4% lower than the country as a whole, much lower than other states.
It also ranked third for its average annual growth in Medicaid per enrollee from 1991 to 2020 with a 4.4% growth rate. The state also had a higher average temperature compared to most other states.
People looking to retire there may want to note that the median home sale price has climbed year-over-year in December, according to Redfin. However, there were also more homes for sale with a 43.9% year-over-year increase.
10. West Virginia
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About 21% of West Virginia’s population was at least 65 years old as of 2021. The state hasn’t seen much change in its older population, with an increase below 1% from 2019.
The state may be of interest for retirees looking for a cheaper state to live in. Prices were 9.2% lower than the country as a whole, lower than most other states.
Retirees looking to move there may enjoy going to Blackwater Falls State Park and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park or seeing if they should move to Summersville, which ranked as Niche‘s best place to retire in the state.
9. Vermont
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From ski resorts to visit to hiking at State Parks, Vermont may be attractive to some retirees. Vermont had one of the higher shares of its population being at least 65 and over as of 2021, with a share of 20.6%. There were 133,173 people 65 or over in the state, an increase of 6.4% from 2019 and much higher than most other states.
It also ranked highly for its average annual growth in Medicaid per enrollee from 1991 to 2020 with a value of 3.7%.
8. Missouri
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While Missouri hasn’t seen its older population climb as much from 2019 to 2021 as other states, with a growth of 2.5%, it may still be a great destination for retirees to think about living in. It came just short of the highest average annual growth in Medicaid per enrollee from 1991 to 2020 with a value of 4.5%.
The state also ranked relatively high for its nursing care facilities employment in June 2022 with a value of about 6 per 1,000 residents.
7. Louisiana
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While more people may be moving out of this state to elsewhere in the US according to net domestic migration data from the Census Bureau, the metrics we used show that Louisiana is among the states that may be good for retirees.
Almost 17% of the state’s population was 65 and older as of 2021. It had one of the higher 60-month average temperatures in our analysis, with an average of 67.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The state also ranked relatively high for its home health care services employment in June 2022 with a value of 4 per 1,000 residents.
For those looking to move to the state to retire soon, they may want to note that home prices have dropped. According to Redfin, the median sale price of $240,200 for Louisiana homes is down from a year ago by 2.0% with more homes for sale than a year ago. Homes are spending more time on the market, suggesting further that the housing market is moving in favor of buyers.
It’s also one of the states that doesn’t tax Social Security. Retirees may be interested in living in or traveling to New Orleans, including the well-known French Quarter, or Baton Rouge.
5 (tie). Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania ranked highly for its average annual growth in Medicaid per enrollee from 1991 to 2020 with a value of 3.7%. The state, where 19.0% of its population was aged 65 and over, may also be good for retirees looking for a lower average temperature. The 60-month average from December 2017 to November 2022 was 50.3 degrees Fahrenheit.
The state also ranked highly for its home health care services employment in June 2022 with a value of 5 per 1,000 residents.
U.S. News ranked two Pennsylvania places at the top of its list of the top places to retire in 2022 to 2023. Lancaster ranked No. 1 followed by Harrisburg. York, Pennsylvania, also ranked highly at No. 5.
5 (tie). Alabama
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In the southern region of the US, Alabama ranked toward the top of our list. Almost 18% of Alabama’s population, or 885,809 of the 5.0 million population, were at least 65 years old as of 2021.
One attractive factor that may appeal to retirees prices were 11.9% lower than the country as a whole. It also had a warmer average temperature between December 2017 and November 2022 of 64.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
Niche ranked Orange Beach, followed by Fairhope and Gulf Shores, as the best spots for retirees to live in the state.
3 (tie). Tennessee
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Retirees may be attracted to “Music City” or Nashville, staying in Memphis, checking out if Niche‘s top two places in the state for retirees Farragut or Germantown is right for them to live in, and hiking at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The state is also one of a few states that doesn’t have personal income tax. And according to Redfin, there were more homes for sale as of December 2022 than in December 2021. However, the median home sale price as of December in the state was $368,600, which means prices have climbed year-over-year by 6.7%.
Prices were 9.1% lower than the country as a whole. The state also tied for 10th for its average annual growth in Medicaid per enrollee from 1991 to 2020 with a 3.4% growth rate. The state has also seen its older population of those 65 and older climb during the pandemic in 2021 from before the pandemic in 2019.
3 (tie). Ohio
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In Ohio, 17.8% of its population was 65 and older. Prices were 7.5 lower than in the country as a whole.
Ohio had a higher employment of nursing care facilities per 1,000 residents in June compared to most other states, with the fifth-largest figure. Similarly, it ranked eighth in our analysis for the number of employees in home health care services per 1,000 residents.
2. Delaware
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The East Coast state of Delaware with various beaches and close proximity to Pennsylvania and Maryland for those who want to travel may appeal to some retirees.
With about 20% of its population being 65 and over as of 2021, it’s among the states with the largest share of its population that is of this age group. Additionally, it’s seen a 6.3% increase in its 65 and older population from 2019. That growth is higher than most other states. Among states and DC, it ranked 11th for its employment per 1,000 residents in home health care services in June.
The state may also appeal to retirees because of its tax friendliness. One ranking from Kiplinger ranked Delaware at the very top in its list of the “Most Tax-Friendly States for Retirees” with the site noting “no sales tax, low property taxes,” and “no estate or inheritance taxes.”
1. Rhode Island
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With a relatively high share of its population being 65 and over and places like Newport for beaches, Rhode Island may be an attractive state for retirees. It may also be a nice place for people who want a cooler temperature with the 60-month average from December 2017 to November 2022 of 51.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
Almost 20% of its population, 200,201 people, were 65 or older. And there are more older people than there were a few years ago in the Ocean State. The state had one of the highest percent changes in its population 65 and older, with an increase of 7.0% from 2019 to 2021. It also had a high employment of nursing care facilities with 7 per 1,000 residents.
However, the state is expensive to live in. Prices were 2.1% higher than in the country as a whole.
Here’s how we created our ranking
To create our ranking, we looked at seven different metrics. We used data for each state and Washington, DC to figure out the top states for retirees.
The percent change in the population 65 and over from 2019 to 2021. We used 2019 and 2021 one-year data from the American Community Survey.
Employment in home health care services per 1,000 residents. Employment data is from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages where the most recent month available was June 2022. Since we wanted to look at per capita figures, we used Census Bureau population estimates of the population as of July 1, 2022 with these employment figures.
Employment in nursing care facilities (skilled nursing facilities) per 1,000 residents. Like employment in home health care, we used June 2022 data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and population estimates as of July 1, 2022 from the Census Bureau.
The average temperature from December 2017 to November 2022. This data was from NOAA National Centers for Environmental information. For DC, we used the average temperature for Reagan National. For Hawaii, we used the average temperature for Honolulu International Airport.
Regional price parities (RPP) for all items to get a sense of a states’ cost of living. We used 2021 data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
We then ranked each state and DC for each metric. Afterward, we took the average of each rank and used that average to determine the best states to retire to.
Are you a retiree who moved to or lives in one of the top states part of our analysis? Email this reporter at mhoff@insider.com.
Every year we expend so much effort on the Oscars. Who will win? Who should win? Who got snubbed? Who gave the best speech? It’s pretty much five straight months of this, non-stop.
But can you name last year’s Best Picture winner off the top of your head? Okay, you might remember Moonlight because of the crazy wrong envelope kerfuffle. What about the Best Picture in 2020? How about the year before that? (It was Coda and Nomadland. I looked it up, because I didn’t remember.)
The Oscars are fun, and yes, they are important for a lot of reasons. But they do not guarantee cinematic immortality. Plenty of the most famous and most beloved movies of all time didn’t win a single Academy Award (including Dr. Strangelove, It’s a Wonderful Life, Taxi Driver, Do the Right Thing, Vertigo, and The Shawshank Redemption). And then there are the classics that didn’t even merit a single nomination. All 12 of the films below are classics of their respective genres. Some of them have been watched for almost a century. And none of them got even one (1) Oscar nomination. So don’t fret, fans of awesome films like Nopethat are almost certainly going to be ignored by the Academy this year. Pundits may talk about the Oscars as a race. But in the macro view, they’re just the beginning of a much longer journey.
Great Movies That Got Zero Oscar Nominations
These all-time classics not only didn’t win any Oscars — they weren’t even nominated!
The Worst Oscar Best Picture Winners
These movies won the Academy Awards for Best Picture over better, more deserving films.
Every year, film buffs and casual viewers alike get excited when the Academy releases their annual list of nominations — especially when it comes to the Best Picture category. You see, unlike every other category, the Best Picture trophy carries a bit more weight to it. There are less quantifiable elements to it than a more specific category, such as Sound Editing or Costume Design. In those categories, you can pinpoint certain merits based on technique or attention to craft. As a concept, “Best Picture” implies that a film manages to score highly in several departments — but even beyond that, it leaves the biggest impression on its audiences.
The term “Oscar bait” refers to a movie (typically, a drama) that seems particularly geared toward a certain demographic — the industry professionals who get to decide the nominations each year. These films often feature A-list actors in challenging roles, heavy-hitting themes, and sweeping scores. They’re the clear front-runners, and no one is really surprised when they take home the big prize. But other times, a movie has an unexpected victory. Whether it falls into a genre that isn’t typically celebrated at the Academy Awards, or it snubs a more “Oscar-worthy” title, sometimes a film’s win comes as quite a shock to the audience. At the end of the day, though, the news shouldn’t come as a shock to the Academy — they’re the very ones who picked it, after all.
Below, you’ll find 10 of the most shocking Best Picture winners in Oscar history.
The 10 Most Shocking Best Picture Winners In Oscar History
These movies shocked the film world on their way to winning Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The Worst Oscar Best Picture Winners
These movies won the Academy Awards for Best Picture over better, more deserving films.
The Marvel Universe is a web of stories that stretches back across 80 years. Its open-ended nature can pose a problem for creators. How many times can the X-Men defeat Magneto before it gets stale? How many times can Doctor Doom try to conquer the world before readers feel like they’ve seen it before? How do you craft a really satisfying character arc if said character arc can’t ever really end?
That’s one explanation for an interesting phenomenon: Given enough years, and enough appearances, almost every major Marvel villain has become — or at least tried his or her hand at — being a Marvel hero. While a few Marvel baddies have remained unredeemed (so far), many of the company’s top antagonists have, over time, become its biggest protagonists. Some eventually returned to their nefarious ways, but others have remained heroes, headlining comics and even a couple movies and TV shows. (You wouldn’t have a Black Widow film or a Hawkeye TV show without this phenomenon.)
See the list of 20 examples below for a small sample of what we mean. And this list is only sure to grow thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the way its interpretations of classic Marvel characters tend to become dominant over time. (See: Nick Fury looking like Samuel L. Jackson, or Hawkeye preferring tactical gear over purple and blue Spandex.) It’s good to be bad, but at Marvel it’s often better (at least for sales) to be good.
Marvel Villains Who Became Heroes
These characters were introduced in Marvel Comics as villains. But that didn’t last.
We live in a movie world that is increasingly concerned about spoilers. A few decades ago, it wasn’t that uncommon for a film review to reveal certain aspects of its subject’s plot — and it was very rare for a reader to actively get upset about it when it did. Heck, a few decades before that it wasn’t that unusual for someone to wander into a movie theater during the middle of a screening and just start watching the film from that point. They might come in during the last 20 minutes, watch the ending, then hang around for the trailers, cartoons, and newsreels, before watching the beginning of the movie.
Times change. Now I would say at least 15 percent of my job is making sure that whatever I write doesn’t spoil something — or at least ensuring that if I do spoil something, it’s with the proper warnings. Like I wouldn’t just come out and say Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father. That kind of thing needs careful preamble to ensure you don’t just blurt it out and potential-OH NO, WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?
Anyway, if you think I have it rough, just imagine what it’s like for movie actors. They learn these closely-guarded secrets months or years before the rest of us, and then they have to keep those secrets, even as part of their jobs involves answering endless questions from the press about their work. Invariably, mistakes are made.
This list is a collection of those mistakes. It contains a dozen examples of actors accidentally spilling their guts on talk shows, in interviews, or just talking with colleagues. So the next time you see a filmmaker inadvertently spoiling their own work, take pity. We’re all just trying our best out here.
12 Actors Who Accidentally Spoiled Their Own Movies
These actors inadvertently (or maybe intentionally!) revealed key details of their characters or the films around them before said films were even released. Oops.
10 Famous Actors You Forgot Were In Disney Channel Original Movies
These big stars made appearances in Disney Channel Original Movies. How many do you remember?
Over the course of their professional lives, actors wear many “hats,” so to speak. It’s nearly impossible to work exclusively in one genre — most actors must diversify themselves across the board, dipping their toes into both television and film work. And then there’s something entirely different: The TV movie. Not just any TV movie, however. The Disney Channel Original Movie.
Referred to as “DCOM” for short, the Disney Channel Original Movie often serves as a springboard for young actors at the start of their careers. For some actors, such as Zac Efron in High School Musical and Demi Lovato in Camp Rock, these movies were responsible for turning them into stars. That’s not always the case though — it’s just as common for an actor to pass through the ranks of the DCOM relatively unchanged. While a Disney Channel credit is without a doubt a resume-booster for any young actor, not every DCOM can churn out a new crop of celebrities.
But then some time goes by. Suddenly, the young aspiring actors of DCOMs past are now the successful working actors of Hollywood present. With high-profile roles under their belts, these actors have come a long way from their Disney Channel roots. So far, you might not even realize that they acted in a Disney movie to begin with. Thankfully, Disney+ is a treasure trove of nostalgic DCOMS — and a handful of them even star some of today’s most in-demand talent. Here are 10 famous actors that surprisingly starred in Disney Channel Original Movies at some point in their careers.
10 Famous Actors You Forgot Were In Disney Channel Original Movies
These big stars made appearances in Disney Channel Original Movies. How many do you remember?
Over the course of a television show, we grow close to the characters on screen. We see them in a wide range of situations, learning much more about their quirks, habits, and core beliefs than we ever could from a single feature film. We cheer along with them, get angry at them, and find bits of ourselves in them. And then, sometimes, they come back as a completely different person. No, we’re not talking about TV characters with unexplained personality shifts. We’re talking about instances where the actor playing a role is completely recast with someone else. In many cases, there isn’t even an explanation — the show just continues along, as if nothing’s changed.
Why do producers do this? One might argue that it completely takes the viewer out of the constructed world of the show, and to a degree, it certainly does. But in some instances, there seems to be no other choice. Producers can fire an actor for any number of controversies, whether it be a disagreement on the character’s creative direction or a dispute over working behavior on set. On the flip side, an actor can also sometimes get out of a contract if there’s a major issue that can’t be resolved any other way.
While an actor’s departure from a TV show is often chalked up to “scheduling difficulties,” there are plenty of other reasons why producers may choose to recast a certain role. Below, you can learn about 10 TV actors who were replaced on their respective television shows due to controversial reasons.
10 TV Actors Who Were Replaced For Controversial Reasons
These actors were replaced from hit shows under clouds of controversy.
10 Popular TV Shows That Were Almost Cancelled Too Soon
The 1990s: A time of prosperity, promise, highly questionable fashion, and, above all, movies.
So many movies.
So many, in fact, that a lot of the better ones have fallen by the wayside in the intervening decades. Sure, everyone has seen Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, and Fight Club, but the ’90s movies that have become classics represent a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the thousands of films that came out during that halcyon decade. And yet thanks to streaming and digital rentals, many of these titles have never been easier to watch — even if so few people actually do.
Let’s try to change that. Below are 12 movies from the 1990s. Some were critical hits in their day, a few even had decent runs at the box office. All of them have largely been forgotten — or at least have never been seen — by all but the most dedicated and nerdy of ’90s cinephiles. If you’ve seen the decade’s big titles like The Matrix or Titanic or Jurassic Park and you’re ready to dig a little deeper, any of these titles will fit the bill.
The picks include comedies, dramas, teen films, thrillers, action movies, and sequels. If they weren’t on your radar before, now they are.
Forgotten ’90s Movies You Need to See
These movies weren’t hits. They’re not considered ’90s classics. But more people should watch them.
10 VHS Tapes You Totally Owned As A ’90s Kid
These movies were part of every ’90s kid’s VHS collection.
According to Letterboxd, 57,130 movies were released in the 1990s. Part of what makes the site (and accompanying app) so useful, is that you can sort and list all those movies in various ways: By release date, popularity, length, by your personal ratings on the social network, and by the average rankings of all users on Letterboxd. And you can either list the films from highest to lowest, or from lowest to highest.
Choose the latter and what you’ll get is all 57,130 ’90s movies ranked from the worst to the best, at least according to Letterboxd’s massive community of movie lovers. The films below represent their picks for the absolute dregs of ’90s cinema — the bottom 0.01 percent of all films of the decade. (There are a couple titles on the list that are not feature films, like the 25-minute A Bug’s Life ripoff An Ant’s Life, so we excluded those.)
And so here they are, the ten worst movies of the 1990s according to Letterboxd users, listed from the closest to passable to the single most unwatchable disaster ever put to celluloid (or, in this case, video tape). Whether you’re looking for something so terrible it’s kind of fantastic to watch, or you just want to put some mediocre new movie into proper perspective, these films should do the trick.
The Worst ’90s Movies, According to Letterboxd
Out of the tens of thousands 1990s movies listed on Letterboxd, these have gotten the ten worst reviews.
Period films give us a glimpse into what life was like during a completely different era of history. Well, sort of. They may give us an idea how people lived, but since they’re movies, we need to leave room for a certain degree of artifice. Movies are designed to either entertain us, or to explore universal themes, or to provide a feast for our senses. They’re not designed to tell us the truth, and nothing but the truth.
So, that’s why it’s not surprising to learn that some of the most popular period films ever made are full of historical inaccuracies. As with most films based on true events, creative liberties are taken to ensure the narrative flows in an effective, compelling way. But when you add the period element — think ancient civilizations, English royal society, or wars that spanned multiple years — there are even more opportunities for facts to be replaced by fiction. It could be a certain style of clothing that hadn’t been invented yet, or the inclusion of a historical figure who, by all accounts, shouldn’t have been alive during the events of the film.
In some cases, these changes feel completely warranted. Reality is almost always messier than what’s presented to us on the big screen, and leaving out certain details results in a more satisfying end result. Other times, the inaccuracies are so glaring and obvious, they take us out of the film entirely. Here are ten period movies that relied on audiences’ suspension of disbelief to tell their (mostly) true stories.
Historical Movies That Are Wildly Inaccurate
These films are based on real people and events … but just barely. Most of what was up on screen was invented by screenwriters.
The Bubble had a 21 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Firestarter earned a 10 percent. Even Morbius — angry Jared Leto Morbin’ it up out in international waters — got a 15 percent.
Some combination of those three movies appear on almost every published list of the worst films of 2022. And in fact, all three show up on ScreenCrush’s own worst of 2022 list. Yet despite widespread consensus around this trio of cinematic turkeys, all three found at least a few critics who could find enough positive things to say about them to give them a mildly positive review.
In other words: It is very hard to get a zero on Rotten Tomatoes. A Rotten Tomatoes zero score goes beyond consensus to total and universal agreement. That level of comprehensive critical revulsion is extremely rare. But it does happen — and in fact it happened at least ten times in 2022.
It should be stated that for the most part relatively few critics reviewed these titles. It’s a lot easier to get a zero score out of ten reviews than out of 273 reviews — which is the number of notices that Morbius currently has on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s simple mathematical probability; the odds of only ten critics agreeing are a lot higher than 273 critics doing the same.
Still, it’s very unusual for a movie to get absolutely no positive reviews, even out of just ten or 20 articles. In a twisted sort of way, it’s kind of an incredible achievement. And these ten movies all pulled off that incredible achievement in 2022…
2022 Movies That Got a 0 on Rotten Tomatoes
It might be an understatement to say these 2022 releases were not popular with critics…
The Worst Movies of 2022
ScreenCrush’s picks for the 10 worst films released in 2022. Watch them at your own risk.
Along with their weekly list of the most watched shows of the moment, Netflix also took these final days of 2022 to announce the TV series that were most watched on the streaming service over the entirety of the year. As you might have guessed given all the internal Netflix records they both broke over the course of 2022, the top shows of the year were Stranger Things Season 4 and WednesdaySeason 1.
Netflix: The place to go to watch teenagers do spooky and/or nostalgic things!
Here is how Netflix says they calculate the somewhat nebulous concept of popularity: They track the total amount of time its subscribers watch a show over its first 28 days on the service. (After that, it doesn’t count. In fact, don’t even bother watching anything on Netflix once it’s more than a month old. It’s just not worth it.)
The full list of titles that follows ranks the most watched shows on Netflix from January 1 through December 18 of 2022. In other words, 200 million people could have all decided to watch Mike Myers’ The Pentaverate on Christmas Day, and it still wouldn’t show up here anyway. (Sorry, The Pentaverate. Maybe next year?)
Here are the most-watched Netflix shows of 2022:
The Most Popular Shows on Netflix in 2022
These were the most-watched shows on Netflix over the course of 2022.
This list only includes shows in English. The most watched international shows of the year on Netflix include All of Us Are Dead, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, The Marked Heart, Til Money Do Us Part, Elite: Season 5, High Heat, The Empress, Business Proposal, Wrong Side of the Tracks, and Welcome to Eden.
What was your favorite Netflix show of the year? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter.
The Most Popular Films on Netflix in 2022
These are the most-watched English language films on Netflix in 2022.
With days left to go in 2022, Netflix has revealed the titles that were the biggest hits of the year. It is an … interesting list.
As Netflix does with all of their lists of highly-watched content, they measure popularity by the amount of hours of a title viewed in its first 28 days of availability for streaming. (After that, I guess, you could watch 120 million hours of Marmaduke and it won’t make a bit of a difference.)
By and large, the year’s biggest hits on Netflix were all about stars: Big-time Hollywood talents like Chris Evans, Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Hart, Adam Sandler; basically people who are brands unto themselves. You see their face on the top of your Netflix account and that alone gives you some idea of what you are going to watch. Which makes sense — people turn on Netflix, they look at what comes up and they decide whether or not it’s something they think they would like.
Here’s the full list of the most popular movies on Netflix in 2022:
The Most Popular Films on Netflix in 2022
These are the most-watched English language films on Netflix in 2022.
The list is exclusively English-language films. The most watched movies in languages other than English include Troll from Norway, All Quiet on the Western Front from Germany, Black Crab from Sweden, Through My Window from Spain, and The Takedown from France.
Absent from the list is Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which will likely pass a lot of these movies when all is said and done, but only debuted on Netflix a few days ago and thus wasn’t included on this list. (In just those first few days of release, subscribers already watched 82.1 million hours of the film.) Also absent from the list are just about all of Netflix’s would-be awards contenders this year, including Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Bardo or the Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde or the musical. They had a lot more success this year with star vehicles. Don’t be surprised to see even more of those types of films in 2023.
The Random Movies That Are Inexplicable Hits On Netflix Around the World
These old, random, or flat-out bad films appear in the Netflix Top 10 most-watched movies in many countries around the world.
When it comes to watching movies, film critics and the majority of theatergoers are going to have a very different experience. Critics are going into a movie with the intention of reviewing it, making note of things they liked and disliked. Sure, everyone is subconsciously doing that when they view a film, but critics are tasked with putting those feelings into words.
What’s interesting, though, is that critics and audiences often disagree about the quality of a movie. Things that appeal to reviewers may not sit well with those who just popped into the local theater on a Friday night. And, thanks to aggregate review sites such as Rotten Tomatoes, it’s easier than ever to see how critics’ opinions stack up against that of the audience’s.
Of course, all taste is subjective. There’s no real way to distinguish a “good” film from a “bad” one — it all comes down to personal preference. You might turn to a critic to tell you which movies are worth seeing, but that doesn’t mean that you will automatically like it. In the cases of these 10 movies, the response from reviewers was way more positive than how conventional audiences reacted. Now, that doesn’t mean that every critic loved each movie — aggregate sites determine a film’s score based on the percentage of positive reviews to negative ones. But after enough reviews, it’s easy to get an overall picture of how people reacted to a movie.
Here are 10 films that critics raved about but a majority of audience members didn’t care for. Whose side are you on: The critics or the audience?
Movies That Critics Loved But Audiences Didn’t
These movies all got high marks from critics, but general audiences were less than enthusiastic.
The Franchises With the Most Bad Movies
Usually, when a franchise gets bad, that’s the beginning of the end. But some film series are too successful to ever truly die.
Would you rather watch Bad Santa or Santa Is a Pervert? What sounds more appealing: No Strings Attached or something called Sex Friends?
I thought so.
Welcome to the wonderful world of strange foreign titles for American movies. Modern Hollywood films are made for a global audience, but sometimes their titles don’t translate perfectly to all markets. When that happens, familiar movies can wind up with very unfamiliar (and hilarious) names. Occasionally those names are nonsensical, but once in a while they are a drastic improvement over the original. Step Up: All In? I mean, that’s fine. But Sexy Dance 5: All in Vegas? That’s a hit! Where do I buy my ticket?
If you search for examples of these online, the ones you find aren’t always accurate. In 1998, The New York Timespublished a piece on funny foreign titles for American movies. A few weeks later, the Times published a lengthy correction, acknowledging that a lot of the titles in their article were actually invented by a satirical website (like I’m Drunk and You’re a Prostitute for Leaving Las Vegas and Help! My Pretend Boyfriend Is Gay for My Best Friend’s Wedding). Almost 20 years later, both of those totally fake foreign titles routinely show up on lists that cover this topic.
The 30 titles in our gallery are legit (although my translations may not be perfect; my German is really rusty). These movies were really sold with these titles. And with good reason; because no one in their right mind would say no to Sexy Dance 5: All in Vegas. I wish I was watching that movie right now.
Bizarre Foreign Titles For Classic Movies
These iconic films are known by very different names around the world.
10 Popular TV Shows That Were Almost Cancelled Too Soon
Watching a movie is an inherently voyeuristic act. The lights go down, the projector flickers to life, and the audience looks. And looks, and looks, and looks.
And what do you think people like to look at?
Duh, they like to look at beautiful people in various and sundry states of undress.
In the past, ScreenCrush has explored the history of onscreen sexuality at length, chronicling everything from the greatest TV sex scenes in history to the weirdest movie sex scenes ever committed to celluloid to horrifying porn parodies of beloved childhood favorites to the greatest NC-17 and X-rated films ever made. The movies on the lists that follow fall into two distinct but interconnected categories: Sex scenes that were so important and influential when they were initially released that they changed the course of cinema history (and maybe even sex history!), and sex scenes that were considered so shockingly raw and intimate when they were initially released that some audiences actually thought they were were not simulated. (Modern audiences might still think a few of them are legit.) In a few very special cases, the two categories below even overlap.
You can find most of these movies available to stream or rent at home right now; a few of the older ones have long lapsed into the public domain and can be viewed on YouTube. Even on a computer, watching a movie is still an inherently voyeuristic act.
The Most Important Sex Scenes Ever Made
Sex has been a key part of movies since their invention — and these scenes are the ones that are the most important.
Sex Scenes People Thought Were Real
These love scenes were so convincing, some audiences thought the sex wasn’t simulated.
