Season two of the saucy period piece "Bridgerton" will continue without Simon Basset, Duke Hastings, played by everyone’s favorite sex symbol, Regé-Jean Page.  The Official "Bridgerton" page announced the break-out star’s departure in a heartfelt Instagram post penned by Lady Whistleton.         View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Bridgerton (@bridgertonnetflix) The star posted on his personal page that “It’s been an absolute pleasure and a privilege to be your Duke. Joining this family - not just on screen, but off screen too.”  Phoebe Dynevor will continue her role...

These days, there are so many shows on streaming services that, with a click of a button, we have access to an endless supply of entertainment, making it quite easy to get lost in the sea of TV. But even in this day and age, female main characters are still sometimes portrayed as one-dimensional, or they are overshadowed by their male counterparts. Below are eight shows of all genres led by female characters who are nuanced, dynamic, and emotionally complicated — and, above all else, real. 1....

When I tell Michael Aloni, star of the hit Israeli dramedy series, Shtisel, that I’ve heard the show described as “The Sopranos, but with soup,” he agrees, but with one caveat. “With kneidlach—with matzah balls. Like The Sopranos with matzah balls,” he says, laughing. Indeed, the show, about a Jewish family who belong to the ultra-Orthodox Haredi sect, is as wonderfully scripted, shot, and acted as the groundbreaking HBO series. “What’s so special about Shtisel is that it’s about this very particular family living in...

Warning: this article contains Wandavision spoilers. By now, we've all heard of the hit Disney+ show Wandavision. The show revolves around Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) as the main protagonist and Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) as Wanda’s neighbor-turned antagonist. (Grief, of course, is the main antagonist.) Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) play supporting characters. Watching this show will take you on an emotional journey: Wanda, Monica, and Agatha experience loss of loved ones, but throughout the series, we're able to see them grow stronger and...

Greta — Haley Sanchez’s character on HBO Max’s Generation — might be the most realistic teenager on television. She’s close with (and perpetually annoyed by) her cool aunt, Ana (Nava Mau), and has a complicated relationship with her mother, who has recently been detained by ICE. She’s awkward around the girl she likes, perpetually confused about whether or not their burgeoning friendship has romantic undertones. “When I read the script, I was like, ‘I know this person,’” 24-year-old Sanchez tells BUST. “This person exists out...

Some of Saturday Night Live’s “Cut for Time” sketches are as noteworthy, if not more so, than the ones that make it to air (here’s looking at you, Kyle “Cut for Time” Mooney). On February 6, 2021, Schitt’s Creek co-creator and star Dan Levy hosted the show, and appeared in clever sketches such as a horny Zillow ad and a realistic “It Gets Better” campaign. But one of the most clever of all, “Men’s Cosmetics,” was cut from the live show due to time constraints...

The City That Never Sleeps. The Big Apple. Gotham. The Center of the Universe. The City So Nice They Named It Twice. I’m sure writer and public personality Fran Lebowitz would gag hearing any of these nicknames for New York City, America’s most iconic metropolis. Pretend It’s a City on Netflix toes the dangerous precipice of New York City’s most irritating cliches, but Lebowitz’s grounded, derisive storytelling and director Martin Scorsese’s sensatory cinematography keep the show from ever falling into a void of cornball mawkishness. Claiming...

Excellent news for YA and literary nerds everywhere: the first images for Shadow and Bone, Netflix's upcoming adaptation of Leigh Bardugo's acclaimed YA novel, were released this week. The new photos come on the heels of the teaser trailer Netflix released in December.  The show is set to premiere on April 23. I'm not sure if these images will hold over my excitement until April, but it will have to do for now. Because let me tell you: the story of Shadow and Bone is extra juicy. "Shadow and Bone takes...

During our Zoom interview, actor Jessica Marie Garcia tells me she wants to read me something from comedian Nicole Byer’s book, but she can’t stand up to get it because she’s not wearing pants. When she admits this, I laugh, not only because it’s funny, but also because she sounds just like her character Jasmine Flores on the hit Netflix show On My Block, who once famously declared she doesn’t show her “chonies” (Spanish for underwear) “to no phonies.” On the show, Garcia personifies teen angst,...

“No one thinks they’re signing up for a cult,” says Mark Vicente in the final episode of HBO’s The Vow. It’s an interesting statement, seeing as Vicente just spent the better part of a decade essentially acting as a propagandist for a cult leader. No one thinks they’re signing up for a cult is the echoing refrain throughout The Vow, the HBO documentary series chronicling the rise and fall of the sex trafficking cult NXIVM through the eyes of former members who then became dedicated to dismantling the organization....