In the mood to watch shows like The Bachelor now that Peter Weber’s season has ended? I mean, we do have several weeks before Clare Crawley’s season of The Bachelorette airs. You have a reality-TV itch that needs scratching. And not just any kind of reality show: You need one that perfectly blends romance, drama, hot people, and gorgeous locations. A show that’s equal parts sappy and salacious. One during which you’re laughing hysterically in one scene but then oddly sentimental the next.
The Bachelorette and The Bachelor are masters of this craft, of course, but there are other reality shows that do it too—and they’ll save you during this rose ceremony drought.
Take Love Island, the British dating series that, on the surface, is completely bonkers. But by episode three you’re emotionally attached to all the contestants. Or how about Netflix’s Love Is Blind, which will have you shouting at your screen within minutes? Bottom line is there’s plenty out there to keep you occupied until that first rose ceremony.
Here are our recommendations for shows like The Bachelor and Bachelorette, but be warned: Once you start any of these shows, you won’t stop.
Glamour: How prepared are you for the onslaught of fans worried for Randall?
Isaac Aptaker: I don’t know. [Laughs] We’re never quite prepared, but we sort of knew what we were getting when we had our beloved family man face to face with an intruder holding a knife in his kitchen, so yeah, I think we’re as prepared as we can be!
Did you ever think about having this episode be the fall finale? Because talk about a cliffhanger.
IA: No, I think that would be a little too long to wait [to find out what happens] to someone in mortal danger. We never want to be cruel, so I think a week is the perfect amount of time.
How soon into the next episode will we find out what happens with Randall and this man in his house?
IA: It’s not going to be a waiting game. This is our most to-be-continued direct pick-up that we’ve ever done, so we’re going to jump back in next week right where we left off and find out what happens to Randall. And we’re launching into a trilogy of episodes [starting next week], which we haven’t done since season two, where the next three episodes will be about a different sibling, following them over the same week in time. So Randall is first up, and we’ll see right away what happens to him and that intruder.
Sterling K. Brown said we will examine more of Randall’s struggle to maintain his mental health, but obviously a situation like this—no matter what the outcome is—won’t help. What more can you say?
IA: I think that intruder is coming into his house at a time where Randall’s plate and brain are so fully loaded, on top of having the crazy job and what’s going on in his immediate family, he now has Rebecca and her well-being and he takes that so seriously. That L.A. trip is so important to him. He’s returning home from Los Angeles after having gotten this really confusing and ambiguous, but not positive, news about his mom. And then this is just the last thing he needs on his plate, this very physical menace.
Switching gears, let’s talk about Kate and Toby. Will we meet Cara, otherwise known as Lady Krptonite?
IA: Maybe! I don’t want to give anything away, but I know that’s something people are eager to find out who is this woman.
Is she still a threat? It seems like Toby has done his best to distance himself from her, but obviously she sounds very into him.
IA: Yeah, I’d like to think we should believe Toby. He’s a trustworthy guy and he really loves Kate. That said, there’s always that lingering doubt and a little bit of trust issues that something like that brings up—when you find out that your partner is talking about you behind your back to a group of people, including this woman, who is eager to rush to his aid.
We’ve always known Dame Helen Mirren is a legend—there’s a dame in her title, after all. Still, on Thursday (September 26), she made a show-stopping entrance at the London premiere of her new HBO series “Catherine the Great,” and the drama of it all proves that she’s also acutely aware of her royalty status.
Mirren did not walk onto the red carpet. She was carried in on an English sedan chair by four mere mortals. The actress exited before flashing cameras, showing off an ensemble clearly inspired by the Russian empress she plays in the show. The star paired wide-legged trousers with an elegant, square-necked navy blouse. As if that weren’t enough, she added a sparkling black opal and diamond Chopard necklace and matching earrings for some extra elegance.
Helen Mirren at the “Catherine the Great” premiere.
Mike Marsland/Getty Images
There’s basically no reason for anyone to ever walk a red carpet after this. On social media, people gave Mirren the praise and applause she truly deserves. “The Mirren out there winning at red carpets for life. Pure sass, loving this,” one person wrote. “Helen Mirren is FABULOUS!!” someone else declared, while someone else called her a goddess. All true.
“Catherine the Great” will premiere on October 21 and includes countless opportunities to see Mirren rock more regal costumes. According to HBO’s website, the mini series is a “four-part historical drama” that follows “the end of Catherine’s reign and her affair with Russian military leader Grigory Potemkin that helped shape the future of Russian politics.” Mirren, who won an Academy award for her role in The Queen is also an executive producer on the new show, so you know it’s going to be good.
Mirren has a busy slate of projects. Up next for her is Fast & Furious 9, which she is currently filming. I really hope she’s carried onto that red carpet, too.
It appears even Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is a member of the Bey Hive. On Sunday, Markle, alongside her husband Prince Harry, attended the London premiere of The Lion King. And it was there that the British royals met their equally regal American counterparts: Beyoncé and Jay Z.
Rebecca English, a royal reporter for The Daily Mail, happened to get a front-row seat to the two couples meeting and exchanging pleasantries after appearing on the red carpet. And, as English humorously pointed out, it appeared as though there was more security for Beyoncé than there was for the royal pair.
“There’s honestly more security around Beyoncé and Jay-Z than there is around the royals,” she wrote in a tweet showing off the first images of Beyoncé, who stars as Nala in The Lion King, as she steps foot on the carpet.
Then, in her next tweet, English wrote, “I’ve got a feeling this is what you might have been waiting to see,” along with a video of the couples shaking hands and hugging.
The meeting, The Daily Mail pointed out, came just a few months after Beyoncé and Jay-Z paid tribute to Markle by posing for a photo in front of a portrait of the duchess during their BRIT Awards acceptance speech.
Although the duchess is still technically on maternity leave, she reportedly attended in a show of support for one of the royal charitable foundations. The Daily Mail reported that with the release of The Lion King, Disney also announced the launch of a new campaign called Protect the Pride, aimed at raising awareness for the dwindling lion population. That campaign will also be supported by the Royal Foundation.
Disney’s live-action remake of The Lion King won’t hit theaters until July 19, but last night (July 9) the stars hit the red carpet for the big premiere in Los Angeles.
Beyoncé, who stars in the film as the grown-up Nala, obviously won the night, arriving in matching Alexander McQueen looks with her daughter, Blue Ivy. The duo looked incredible in their tuxedo jackets and sparkly tulle skirts, with intricate braids and accompanying silver hair accessories.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
Beyoncé also reunited with her fellow Destiny’s Child members, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, who looked stunning at the premiere.
The return of HBO’s Big Little Lies is a gift to us all for many reasons: the drama, the music, the incredibly savage levels of shade, the real estate porn, and, yes, the memes.
Sunday night’s season two premiere offered up a spoil of riches for the Internet to latch onto, like Shailene Woodley dancing to Sufjan Stevens on the beach or every time Meryl Streep straight-up insulted Reese Witherspoon. But this week’s biggest meme moment goes to Laura Dern’s Renata and her incredible power woman photo shoot. Renata, of course, is a hardcore businesswoman, wife, and mother to Amabella—she of the bullying situation that kicked off the first season.
Everything about Renata’s photoshoot is glorious. As Renata sings along to Diana Ross’s “It’s My House,” she is fully embracing the badass within and lamenting about lesser shoots. “I’m so tired of those shots of women,” she says. “I mean, they’re in power right? They own banks, and they’re all, like, demure. Bullshit.”
Twitter took the moment and ran with it. “My queen bitch hath risen! #BigLittleLies,” one user wrote. “PSA: Laura Dern is a national treasure. #BigLittleLies,” another said.
“Me: Eh, I don’t know if #BigLittleLies needed another season that goes beyond the book,” someone tweeted. “Also me: This is the best show on television and I’d watch 200 episodes.”
“Renata is fierce and complicated and a nightmare, and also just wants a girlfriend and deserves to be seen because she’s lived in a man’s world her whole life,” Dern told The Guardian about Renata. “And what it takes for a woman in tech, a woman in banking, a woman in publishing—who you have to be and what you have to walk through to get the one seat in that boardroom of 13…”
It seems like she channeled all of that into the photoshoot scene, and we seriously cannot wait to see what she serves up next week.
