I don’t think anyone expected the summer 2025 TV schedule to become an HGTV cancellation bloodbath, but here we are. The network that’s known for making stars by launching shows like Flip or Flop with Christina Haack and Tarek El Moussa, Home Town with Ben and Erin Napier and Fixer Upper with Chip and Joanna Gaines has recently canceled seven of its popular home renovation series. Now, though, we’re hearing that the channel has two major reasons for all the cuts.
What Are Insiders Saying About Why HGTV Has Canceled So Many Shows?
While the spring and summer months always bring about cancellations, I doubt that most people expected the 2025 canceled shows list to include quite so many home renovation series from HGTV. The cuts have been coming along at a fast and furious clip since late June, and have included series from previously mentioned stars Christina Haack and Tarek El Moussa.
Deadline, the reasons for all the cuts can basically be traced back to two issues that producers on all the reno shows have to deal with. As one insider said:
thinks editing cost that show a renewal), and Married to Real Estate (hosts Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson returned from vacation to the unfortunate news).
A producer who works on such series for HGTV opened up about budgetary and supply problems that have plagued the genre lately, and noted that “stuff wouldn’t arrive on time” when they were already “depending on contractors” and had to deal with the possibility of not being able to “come in on budget” for shows that always have “really strict budgets.” They added:
Some of our episodes took 16 weeks to shoot; it’s more labor intensive than doing a real estate show.
Apparently, real estate shows (like House Hunters) are also cheaper, costing from $200,000 to $300,000 per episode, as compared with up to $500,000 for reno shows, so it would seem like those behind the channel have decided to tighten the purse strings by lopping some renovation branches off of their tree.
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HGTV is also down to about half the viewers it had back in 2017 (with heavy losses among the 18-49 key demo) and I suppose something had to change. It’s just bumming me out that we had to lose such entertaining and inspirational series in the process.
Tyler Perry’s Madea franchise isn’t exactly the sort of movie series that generates headlines. People don’t discuss them obsessively online like the most recent Marvel movie or consider them in conversations with “blockbuster” films. More often, Madea is the butt of jokes and has also been the source of criticism, as the seemingly endless franchise of comedies continues, seemingly forever. Perhaps because of that, it’s easy to forget that the reason there are so many Madea movies is because they’re actually insanely popular, and that becomes clear when you compare them with other Netflix hits like KPop Demon Hunters.
When Madea movies get released in theaters, they are regular box office winners, and now Tyler Perry has revealed just how many people watched Madea’s Destination Wedding in its first week, and…it’s a lot.
Kpop Demon Hunters, which has been an absolute juggernaut on Netflix, is only at a bit over 350 million minutes viewed, and while that movie has been out for over a month, its rewatchability has kept it at the top of the charts for weeks. It’s now being dwarfed by an order of magnitude.
Netflix subscription. This is the second Madea movie made for Netflix, and both films have been successful. The previous flick, Madea’s Homecoming, reentered Netflix’s movie charts alongside the release of the new film.
The one-two punch of KPop Demon Hunters and Madea’s Destination Wedding, while certainly an odd combination, has made Netflix a top streaming platform. Any movie studio releasing movies this summer would love to have two major box office hits on par with what these films are doing. Sequels to both of them would seem quite likely given the success. The fact that we have yet to get a KPop Demon Hunters sequel announcement is something of a shock.
In the U.S., Madea’s Destination Wedding has fallen behind KPop Demon Hunters on the Netflix charts, but both movies are still doing incredibly well globally. Whichever one ends up on top, Netflix and movie fans are winning.
The DC Universe is here, with co-CEO Jame Gunn bringing its first entry to theaters with Superman. The first slate of projects is titled Gods and Monsters, and includes both movies and project streaming with a Max subscription. Every frame of Gunn’s DC blockbuster is being dissected by fans, and the filmmaker recently shared the surprisingly sweet backstory behind one of Superman‘s weirdest characters.
Superman did well at the box office, and has moviegoers hyped for upcoming DC movies. Now that his movie is out, Gunn has been able to speak freely about it contents. Over on threads the filmmaker spoke about a small but memorable character: Mr. Handsome aka the creature that drove Lex around his pocket universe. He explained its origins, offering:
When people ask me my favorite character from @Superman it just might be Mr. Handsome. Lex created Mr. Handsome in a Petri dish when he was 12 – he was trying to make a human. He didn’t come out so well, but he just might be the only one in the world Lex has any true sentiment for, as evidenced by the photo on his desk. Our Mr. Handsome was portrayed by the wonderful @trevor_newlin
Superman threw the desk across the room in a rage upon finding Krypto missing. Now I have to wonder what happened to this creepy creature after Superman’s ending. Is the poor guy in prison as well, or was he left in that pocket universe?
Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor was totally ruthless throughout Superman, inciting wars and trying everything in his power to murder David Corenswet’s title character. He was also shown to kidnap anyone who slightly bothered him and stuck him in the pocket universe where Mr. Handsome resided. So seeing the softer side of the DC villain via this weird creature is both adorable and so on brand.
(Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)
It’s fascinating to see the way the DCU is coming together, and (of course) how James Gunn is putting his own spin on things. Superman featured a number of heroes, and introduced characters that will be returning in future DC projects. And we’ve already seen crossovers from the small to silver screen, as Frank Grillo reprise his role as Rick Flag Sr. from Creature Commandos in Superman. Even John Cena got a cameo ahead of Peacemaker Season 2.
Superman is in theaters now as part of the 2025 movie release list, and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow will follow suit on June 26, 2026. We’ll just have to see if Mr. Handsome gets to return at some point in the future.
As a student of journalism, a lifelong avid TV watcher, and a fan of late-night TV hosts, I have always been fascinated by the way television personalities are depicted in fiction. Sometimes these characters represent the best that the media can offer, while others serve as a mockery of the profession. Either way, I can’t get enough of them, and these are some of my favorites.
(Image credit: DreamWorks Pictures)
Ron Burgundy (Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy)
Most would agree that the best Will Ferrell character has to be the title role of his 2004 favorite, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. The former SNL star actually gave the world a taste of what it would be like if the charismatic, scotch-loving teleprompter loyalist were a real person when he hosted The Ron Burgundy Podcast.
Network remains a disturbingly relevant commentary on news media and society in general, with much credit due to Peter Finch’s bold, Oscar-winning performance as Howard Beale. That being said, you rarely hear of a broadcast journalist being as boldly direct and brutally honest about their feelings as he is these days.
slasher movie favorite, Scream, Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) was your typical sleazy, self-serving gossip reporter, but would slowly evolve into a professional with some tact in the sequels. Not to mention, few people in her field can claim to have the kind of first-hand experience with the deadly topics she discusses, having survived several Ghostface killers over the years.
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Mike Myers and Dana Carvey debuted as Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar, who later became the stars of two beloved movies based on the Saturday Night Live sketch from which they originated.
Betty White was brilliant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Sue Ann Nivens, balancing her perky, kindly on-camera persona as host of The Happy Homemaker with her vindictive and highly competitive off-screen personality with incredible ease.
How I Met Your Mother cast member Cobie Smulders’ role on the hit sitcom, is a real go-getter in the world of broadcast journalism. She always opted to put her career before everything else, even if it cost her a few chances in the department of romance. At least, that was the case in earlier seasons.
celebrities playing wild versions of themselves.
Robert De Niro stars in a DC Comics adaptation that heavily borrows from some of his grittiest roles, especially Taxi Driver‘s Travis Bickle. The acting legend appears in 2019’s Joker opposite Joaquin Phoenix’s Academy Award-winning role of Arthur Fleck as Murray Franklin, the host of the Gotham-based late-night program, Live!, who might not have survived the airwaves today with his meanspiritedness. Yet, I can’t help but respect his bold approach to humor and showcasing risque topics.
The Simpsons is Kent Brockman, a Springfield-based TV editorialist who has no filter when it comes to sounding off his typically judgmental opinions.
Christina Applegate) would have undoubtedly gone down in history as one of the most important figures of women’s progress in the world of broadcast news.
David Dastmalchian gives one of his career-best performances as infamous TV legend Jack Delroy, who has a life-changing brush with the supernatural in Late Night with the Devil. I imagine I would have been a fan of the Nite Owls host, at least right up until the night he brings his program to a screeching halt by conjuring a demonic spirit during a live broadcast on Halloween 1977.
1987 adaptation of Stephen King’s dystopian novel, The Running Man, is abhorrent, and I pray it never becomes a reality. However, one thing I can commend it for is hiring a host as charismatic and enthusiastic as Damon Killian, played by former Family Feud emcee Richard Dawson.
Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom had the courage to call out dishonesty and corruption when few others would dare, which is a quality more TV journalists in the real world could certainly benefit from.
funniest recurring Saturday Night Live characters, including, arguably, his signature role as Enid “The Church Lady” Strict. No matter how many times she uttered her signature catchphrases, the host of a faith-based talk show called Church Chat, which was mainly devoted to accusing her guests of worshipping Satan, was always a joy to laugh at, which certainly makes her “special.”
Parks and Recreation side character whom I cannot get enough of is Perd Hapley (Jay Jackson), the host of the brilliantly titled program, Ya Heard? with Perd. I would watch the Pawnee, Indiana-based, hilariously matter-of-fact broadcaster religiously if his show were real.
Friends cast as Rachel Green, but the actor has never quite given a performance as powerful as that of Alex Levy on the acclaimed Apple TV+ original TV show, The Morning Show. The consummate professional makes it a personal goal of hers to maintain control of the eponymous news program she has anchored for years when her share of the power over it begins to fall through the cracks.
best animated TV shows of all time is the incredible line-up of surprising talents in the voice cast. For instance, former MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann lends his voice to several episodes as a talking, anthropomorphic whale named Tom Jumbo-Grumbo, who is a host for the network MSNBSea.
best episodes of Atlanta, the clever, experimental, Emmy-winning “B.A.N.,” is structured to appear as a snippet of programming from the eponymous network with a focus on Black audiences. Alano Miller guest stars as Franklin Montague, the host of his own self-titled talk show on B.A.N., who is clearly guilty of baiting his guests with combative rhetoric, but at least he manages to keep his show interesting.
his priceless one-liners.
funniest catchphrases from Saturday Night Live comes from Maya Rudolph as Jodi Deitz, who often complains about her husband’s frequent tendencies for moronic behavior, only to tearfully proclaim, “But I love him!” In fact, Jodi’s husband is one of various recurring topics that she and fellow New York housewife Betty Caruso (Amy Poehler) like to boisterously sound off on as the co-hosts of a local talk show called Bronx Beat.
(Image credit: Sony Pictures)
Dave Skylark (The Interview)
James Franco gives one of the funniest performances of his career in directors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s 2014 comedy, The Interview, as Dave Skylark, who discovers that he is the favorite TV personality of none other than Kim Jong-Un (Randall Park). Little does the leader of North Korea know, however, that, after he invites the talk show host and his producer (played by Rogen) to visit his home, the CIA has recruited them to help carry out his assassination.
Season 2 of Wednesdayis finally dropping soon on the 2025 TV schedule, meaning that fans will soon be reunited with Jenna Ortega’s take on the beloved Addams Family character. The series, which premiered in 2022, launched Ortega to new heights. Not only did the Wednesday dance go viral, but she was getting recognized more than ever before. Even now, though, she’s scared of fan encounters, and I don’t blame her.
Ortega has been in the public eye for over a decade now, but her big break came when she landed the role of Harley Diaz in Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middlein 2016. Her career has found new heights with Wednesday and the Scream franchise. That being said, she’s still not used to meeting fans, recalling to The Hollywood Reporter some scary encounters and why she’s not too fond of them:
I’m always scared. Somebody shouting your name in public is insane. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable when it’s grown men approaching me. Also, sometimes people shout vile things. Like, you don’t stop for somebody because you’re going to be late for something, and they’re calling you a “cunt whore” in front of your mother. It’s horrific.
stars to get really famous after landing a role on Netflix, and it seems like she’s been working nonstop since Wednesday’s first season. She’s previously opened up about the changes in her life post-Wednesday, noting how she missed having less pressure despite still being as grateful as ever for the role. It’s definitely hard to find a new normal, and knowing how cruel some people can be does not make it easy.
(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)
Of course, scary fan encounters and the pressures that she experiences are not the only price to pay when it comes to fame. Ortega has been on the wrong side of the rumor mill more than once throughout her career, even more so in recent years after word got out about her putting her foot down on the set of the first season of Wednesday. Luckily that didn’t diminish her star power, and she’s now a producer on the upcoming second season and has been landing role after role.
It can only be assumed that the fan encounters won’t get any easier for Ortega as she only continues to grow in Hollywood. If anything, hopefully, they will at least get a little less scary the more she gets used to it.
After nearly 30 years of waiting, the highly anticipated Happy Gilmore 2 has finally landed on the 2025 movie schedule for anyone with a Netflix subscription. The flick is stuffed full of great callbacks and cameos, one of which is Bad Bunny as Gilmore’s new golf caddy, Oscar Mejías. The two have undeniable hilarious chemistry on screen, and now they’re sharing the funny and sweet way the two A-listers met the first time, before Happy Gilmore 2.
In a clip posted to the official YouTube account of Late Night with Seth Meyers, the two dished about how they met. According to the two prolific stars, in their own right, they made eye contact at an LA Lakers game. Adam Sandler set the stage, telling the host:
I was with my daughter, and she started hitting me. She’s going, ‘That’s Bad Bunny. That’s Bad Bunny.’ I go, ‘Where, where, where, where?’ And then we locked up eyes, and I gave you some love across the court.
SNL alum knowing who he was. As he hilariously told it:
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Bad Bunny isn’t just moonlighting on screen—he’s owning it. His turn as Oscar, Happy Gilmore’s new caddy, is way more than a stunt cameo. He’s magnetic, weirdly charming, and somehow hilarious without needing to say much at all. That might be the real trick: how someone can make a single word—“Breadsticks?”—a recurring punchline that keeps landing harder each time. It’s subtle, dumb in the best way, and entirely his own.
And then there’s Oscar’s cousin, Esteban (played to perfection by SNL standout Marcello Hernandez), whose brief appearance as a would-be caddy spirals into a rapid-fire bit of absurd generosity. It’s pure comic gold—the kind of throwaway gag you’ll find yourself quoting a week later.
I expected Happy Gilmore 2 to be a fun ride full of nostalgia and slapstick—and sure, there’s plenty of both, maybe even a little too much fan service at times. What I didn’t expect was the emotional gut punch. Between the laughs and callbacks, the film quietly explores grief and legacy, honoring the actors who’ve passed since the original. Carl Weathers’ death in particular allegedly reshaped parts of the script, and those rewrites carry real weight. There’s a moment where the tribute is so heartfelt, so sincere, it hit me like I’d just seen the man courtside in real life. It’s a sequel that knows when to swing for the heart, not just the cheap shot.
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(Image credit: Netflix)
If you’re a fan like I and Bad Bunny, of Adam Sandler and Happy Gilmore more specifically, then you’re in luck. Gilmore 2 is a fun sequel that respects its core audience and has a ton of laughs.
It’s pretty funny that Bad Bunny and Sandler first crossed paths courtside, with one of them a little tipsy and the other focused on his daughter. That unexpected moment kind of captures what Happy Gilmore 2 is all about: mixing laughs with some real feels, giving a nod to the past while making room for new stuff.
