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There’s a lot of chatter around reality TV right now and the hazards of leaning into mess for the sake of potential viewership. Before Utah-based reality star and social media influencer Taylor Frankie Paul was making national headlines over domestic violence allegations brought against her by former boyfriend Dakota Mortensen — putting “The Bachelorette” and “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” series under interrogation — The Times was working on a group of stories that captured the longevity and cultural impact of the unscripted format.

News and culture critic Lorraine Ali took a look at the reality TV-to-politics pipleline. Writer Pamela Chelin spoke with “Survivor” host Jeff Probst and others to discuss why CBS’ competition show continues to endure after more than 25 years. And I wrote an oral history on the first episode of “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” which premiered 20 years ago and, in that time, expanded and morphed into a franchise, spreading to 12 other U.S. locales, including the upcoming series set in Rhode Island.

Speaking of reality TV — Valerie Cherish and “The Comeback” have returned for another round of the showbiz satire. The HBO comedy, which blends scripted comedy with a mockumentary format, originally premiered a year before the “Real Housewives of Orange County” and lampooned the effects of the early-2000s reality TV boom. It followed Valerie (Lisa Kudrow), a former sitcom star from the ’90s, as she attempts to revive her career by starring in a new sitcom while allowing a reality TV crew to document her journey. When the short-lived series was revived in 2014, it poked fun at the rise of prestige TV and the evolution of celebrity culture in the social media era. Now, its third and final season finds our favorite leading lady navigating Hollywood’s AI revolution. Michael Patrick King, who developed the series with Kudrow, stopped by Guest Spot to discuss the show’s latest timely exploration.

Also in this week’s Screen Gab, we take a breather from current programming and dust off two bygone titles. One is an animated sitcom that revolves around a mild-mannered therapist and his sessions with a notable clientele of real-life comedians playing exaggerated versions of themselves; the other is a mid-aughts thriller (of the Lifetime TV variety) that follows a heroic doctor who moonlights as a dangerous predator — its Letterboxd rating spread is something to behold. And it’ll make you wonder what Valerie Cherish might have brought to camp like that.

Let it all be incentive to spend some extra time on the couch this weekend — it’ll cut down on trips to the gas pump! Until next week.

— Yvonne Villarreal

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Dr. Katz, played by creator Jonathan Katz, invites his ex-wife, Roz, played by actor/author Carrie Fisher, to indulge in a dysfunctional family Thanksgiving on “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist.”

(Comedy Central)

“Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist” (YouTube)

Once in a while the algorithms that rule our lives do us an actual favor, and so it was that YouTube alerted me that the entirety of this great turn-of-the-century cartoon lives there, hosted unofficially on a variety of channels. (Just type in the title.) Created by star Jonathan Katz with Tom Snyder, the inventor of an animation workaround called Squigglevision — in which vibrating outlines give a crude effect of action — and co-produced by Loren Bouchard, who would go on to co-create “Bob’s Burgers,” this six-season, semi-improvised, Peabody Award-winning Comedy Central series is founded on the notion that a comedian’s patter can resemble the neurotic unloading one might encounter in a psychotherapist’s office. And so onto Katz’s couch comes a parade of future comedy elder statespersons, naively but recognizably rendered, including Ray Romano, Lisa Kudrow, Dave Chappelle, Garry Shandling, Marc Maron, Catherine O’Hara, Margaret Cho, Wanda Sykes, Patton Oswalt, Sandra Bernhard, Paul F. Tompkins, David Cross, Jim Gaffigan, Steven Wright and Conan O’Brien. Rodney Dangerfield, already an elder comedy statesperson, has some things to say about his wife. Framing the therapy sessions are the domestic misadventures of Katz and his adult child son, Ben (H. Jon Benjamin, the Mel Blanc of adult animation, if Mel Blanc only used his own voice). Can’t-be-bothered secretary Laura (Laura Silverman, recently seen as Jane the documentarian on the new season of “The Comeback”), fills out the regular cast. — Robert Lloyd

“Stalked by My Doctor” (Tubi)

Last weekend, the Museum of Home Video hosted an interactive game at Vidiots where the sold-out crowd watched the first five minutes of 10 films and then voted on which flick to finish. “Stalked by My Doctor” won in a landslide. This 2015 Lifetime TV movie is one of the most bizarrely watchable trash films of the 21st century. Eric Roberts stars as Dr. Beck, a lovelorn, egotistical California cardiologist who is convinced he’s a catch. This graying bachelor falls for his patient, a high schooler named Sophie (Brianna Joy Chomer) and, when rejected, threatens to clobber her disabled boyfriend (Carson Boatman) with the guy’s own crutch. Filmmaker Doug Campbell makes B-pictures like a plastic surgeon does liposuction: He hacks off all the fat. Subtle? Absolutely not. Yet, there’s not a single dull scene and the characters make smarter moves than you’d expect. By the end, I was hooting and clapping, and giddy to hear that this top-notch schlock launched a five-film franchise. Some night soon, you can bet I’ll put on “Stalked by My Doctor: Patient’s Revenge.” — Amy Nicholson

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish in “The Comeback.”

(Erin Simkin / HBO)

Could ChatGPT deliver a script worthy of Valerie Cherish’s talents? More than 11 years after it was last revived, “The Comeback” returned this month with a third season that explores the fear of technology replacing artists, and the ethical compromises that arise, through its sharp and uncomfortable comedic touch. Valerie is offered the lead in a new sitcom, “How’s That?,” on a faltering streaming service called the New Net. But there’s a catch. It’s the first-ever TV series to be written by AI — a fact that network brass wants to keep secret to avoid industry backlash. Valerie is initially resistant to the idea, but a humiliating experience on an indie shoot has her reconsidering. Is she about to be part of the new future of TV? A new episode of “The Comeback” drops Sunday on HBO and HBO Max. Over email, King shared his worries over how AI may transform the entertainment business and the series he’d pick to join the comeback circuit. — Y.V.

This season has Valerie Cherish starring in the first sitcom written by artificial intelligence. The series has always hilariously explored industry shifts. What concerns or curiosities do you have regarding AI, and did those evolve as you worked on the season?

Concerns — yes, many. They range from young writers with nowhere to learn their craft to no writers, young or seasoned, anywhere but the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. And yes I’m curious — white-knuckle curious — to see how the threat of AI (Season 3) will change how we make TV compared to how way the threat of reality TV (Season 1) and the threat of prestige cable and streaming (Season 2) did. Spoiler alert …television and TV writers are still here. When is this being published?

Without spoiling anything, there’s a scene in this week’s second episode where Valerie takes a meeting with some Hollywood folks — and it’s an odd experience. Do those meetings feel any more confusing or bizarre to you, in terms of how network brass thinks about the landscape, than they did a decade or two ago?

That billion-participant Zoom scene in the episode is very reflective of the “pitch process” today — in fact more than reflective — it’s a documentary … minus the occasional “pop-up pet.” What’s missing from this current Zoom pitch process is the in-person connection, which also accounts, I think, for why you no longer hear the phrase: “I sold it in the room.” No room, more people — less sales?

What does your writing process with Lisa Kudrow look like? Place me in those weeks of writing the first episode of this season.

The first and every episode has the same process. We talk, we laugh, we eat, we improv, we take turns writing it down — you know, things human writers do.

In addition to this third go with “The Comeback,” you worked on multiple seasons of “… And Just Like That.” What have you found interesting about the process of revisiting characters at a different stage in your life? Has one felt easier to navigate than the other in the current entertainment landscape?

I’m fascinated by a character’s personal evolution — how they can grow over the years. Who they were, who they might be now, what they’ve let go of — how they’ve changed. I’m also fascinated by how some fans of these characters don’t want them to change. In the current TV landscape — the fans are very vocal.

What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?

“The Pitt” [HBO Max]. In addition to the good characters, it’s the thrill of being introduced to new actors.

As a viewer, which show — excluding those in your catalog — do you think would be worthwhile to revisit in 2026?

“Freaks and Geeks” [Prime Video, Paramount+]. One season only. Sometimes … a special show that was canceled — deserves a comeback.

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AUSTIN, Texas — One of the most anticipated events at this year’s SXSW Film & TV Festival wasn’t a movie at all, but a speaking appearance by director Steven Spielberg. The talk, a live taping of the podcast “The Big Picture” lead by co-host Sean Fennessey, covered many aspects of the Hollywood legend’s career, with a through line of sci-fi and space aliens in conjunction with Spielberg’s upcoming alien invasion thriller “Disclosure Day,” due June 12.

Though no real details about the new film were revealed, references to it peppered the conversation as if it were very much on Spielberg’s mind — the film he was ostensibly there to promote.

To an audience that included filmmakers Robert Rodriguez and Daniel Kwan, the event began with a clip reel that served as a reminder (as if anyone in the packed hotel ballroom needed one) of just how influential the 79-year-old filmmaker is. A selection of Spielberg’s work plays like a trailer for the idea of movies themselves; this one included “Jaws,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T.” “Schindler’s List,” “Jurassic Park,” “The Sugarland Express,” “Catch Me If You Can,” “Munich” and many more.

Fennessey noted that Spielberg wanted to make 1977’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” his first sci-fi movie about the existence of aliens from other worlds, even before making 1975’s “Jaws.” Spielberg went further, saying he had actually wanted to make “Close Encounters” — then just referred to as “The UFO Movie” — even before 1974’s “Sugarland Express.”

Asked about President Obama’s recent comments about the possible existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe and how his own feelings may have evolved over the years, Spielberg said, “I think that for one thing, when President Obama made that comment, I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is so great for “Disclosure Day,”’ and then, two days later, he stepped back the comment and said what he believed in was life in the cosmos, which of course everybody should believe that because no one should ever think that we are the only intelligent civilization in the entire universe. So I’ve always believed, even as a kid, that we were not alone. So that just goes without saying. The big question is: Are we alone now?”

He added this interest was “reinvigorated” by a 2017 New York Times article about U.S. Navy pilots seeing unexplained aerial phenomenon, then by a 2023 Congressional subcommittee hearing on the topic.

“I don’t know any more than any of you do,” Spielberg said, “but I have a very strong, sticky suspicion that we are not alone here on Earth right now. And I made a movie about that.”

Spielberg and “The Big Picture” co-host Sean Fennessey taping a live podcast at SXSW on Friday.

(Tibrina Hobson / Getty Images)

As to how he feels about that possibility, Spielberg added, “I’m not afraid of any aliens, there or here. I have no fears about that, whatsoever. I think our movie does take into consideration, without giving too much away, the social dislocation that could occur, theologically, if it would be announced that there’s evidence — not only evidence, where it’s interaction that’s has been going on for decades, that we are not just now finding out about. It is going to cause a disruption in a lot of belief systems, but I don’t think it’s a lethal disruption at all.”

Among other topics that were discussed, Spielberg revealed he is developing a western that would shoot in Texas, though he was reluctant to discuss it in any further detail except to say it would contain “no tropes.”

He also said he is not on any social media, but did install Instagram on his phone once for two weeks and felt as if he had been abducted by aliens for the amount of time he lost.

To that end, he also noted, with comic frustration, how he himself has never had any sort of alien encounter.

”I made a movie called ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind.’ I haven’t even had a close encounter of the first or second kind,” Spielberg said. “Where’s the justice in that? If you’re listening out there, I’m talking to you.”

There was a brief moment of confusion when Fennessey asked Spielberg for his thoughts on AI and Spielberg wasn’t clear if he was asking about his own 2001 movie or the broader topic of artificial intelligence.

Once that was cleared up (Fennessey meant the latter, a serious labor issue in Hollywood), Spielberg noted he has not used AI on any of his own films. “I don’t want to go into a whole rant about AI because I am for AI in many different disciplines. I am not for AI if it replaces a creative individual.”

Speaking to the theatrical experience, Spielberg made a brief allusion to the flare-up around comments by Timothée Chalamet regarding the popularity of opera and ballet in relation to the movies.

He noted that he does not decry the at-home streaming experience and that he works with Netflix, but that “for me, the real experience comes when we can influence a community to congregate in a strange dark space. All us are strangers and, at the end of a really good movie experience, we are all united with a whole bunch of feelings that we walk into the daylight with or into the nighttime with. And there’s nothing like that. I mean, it happens in movies, it happens at concerts and it happens in ballet and opera.”

Here there was a round of applause from the audience. “And we want that sustained and we want that to go forever.”

Spielberg noted how many of his favorite filmmakers, including David Lean and Billy Wilder and more recent examples such as Paul Thomas Anderson and Christopher Nolan, are always making films that feel different from what they have done before. He sees himself as part of that same school.

“If we’re just not making the same sequel over and over and over again and they’re not the same Marvel title over and over and over again, we all get a real chance to experience something, which is freshness,” Spielberg said. “And that is why I don’t judge my accomplishments based on a single film.”

The 10th season of “Love Is Blind” ventured to Ohio, yielded a record seven engaged couples and made structured cape blazers and the idea of daily Pilates classes feel like rage bait.

With the season over, and just two couples saying “I do,” the cast of the popular Netflix dating series came together for this week’s reunion special to share updates on their lives since the cameras went down — and to unpack the twists, turns and lies that played out over the season. The result was a reunion that finally provided (mostly) satisfying questions and answers about participants’ pasts and presents instead of dancing around topics.

Unable to budget the time for a trip to Cabo — or even Malibu — to process it all, TV editor Maira Garcia and I have brought our running “LIB” thread out of our Slack DMs to unpack our thoughts in this safe place.

Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our streaming recommendations include a spray-tan crime comedy and a Morgan Freeman-narrated mind trip about the rise and fall of dinosaurs. Plus, we tell you where you can stream the slate of best picture nominees ahead of this Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony.

This is your cue to block off some “couch time” in your calendar this weekend.

— Yvonne Villarreal

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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

Will Forte as Martin and D’Arcy Carden as Vicki in a scene from “Sunny Nights.”

(Lisa Tomasetti / Hulu)

“Sunny Nights” (Hulu)

D’Arcy Carden fans, and I can’t imagine anyone who’s ever seen her work isn’t one, will be elated to find her at full force starring in this dark, sometimes violent Australian crime comedy alongside Will Forte, who, yes, has fans of his own. They play brother Martin (cautious) and sister Vicki (impulsive), who have traveled to Sydney to flog a tanning spray at a lifestyle convention, though Martin has an ulterior motive, to win back his wife, Joyce (Ra Chapman). What with one thing and another, they find themselves repeatedly in need of cash and mixed up with a panoply of criminals, some fairly sympathetic (former rugby star Willie Mason, excellent as former rugby star Terry; Jessica De Gouw as Susi), and others not at all (Rachel House as kingpin Mony, just out of the jug). All are trying to change their lives, or at least their business plan, including Joyce, a journalist stuck writing clickbait articles for an editor who doesn’t want to know, and Megan Wilding as Nova, an animal control worker who knows something important about an exploding crocodile. — Robert Lloyd

A still from “The Dinosaurs.”

(Netflix)

“The Dinosaurs” (Netflix)

This four-part series will have you mentioning the Carnian pluvial episode in every conversation. Aptly narrated by Morgan Freeman and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, the sweeping CGI-enhanced nature documentary traces the evolutionary history of dinosaurs, from their origins in the Triassic period to their extinction 66 million years ago. And it’s more proof that attention spans, no matter a person’s age, will always lock in for dinosaurs. Before morning, your Google search history will include terms like “Marasuchus,” “Vulcanodon,” “Heterodontosaurus” and that Carnian pluvial episode (a.k.a. the longest downpour in history, which lasted more than a million years). Prepare to have your perception of time forever altered. Still, it’s a surefire way to give your mental health a break from current events — though, for a certain generation, it may also unlock those “Land Before Time” memories. — Y.V.

Catch up

Everything you need to know about the film or TV series everyone’s talking about

Scenes from “One Battle After Another,” left, “Hamnet” and “Sinners.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures; Focus Features)

The 98th Academy Awards will broadcast Sunday at 4 p.m. Pacific. How many of the best picture nominees have you seen? Is it less than the number of think pieces you’ve read on Timothée Chalamet’s comments on ballet and opera? We’re here to help. If you’re feeling inspired to be a studious viewer ahead of film’s big night, here’s where you can stream the best picture nominees:

• “Bugonia” (Peacock): Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the surreal comedy thriller follows a paranoid bee keeper (Jesse Plemons) who kidnaps a pharmaceutical CEO (Emma Stone), convinced she is an alien responsible for destroying humanity. The film received four Oscar nominations.
• “F1” (Apple TV): From “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski, the sports drama stars Brad Pitt as retired F1 driver Sonny Hayes, who agrees to compete in the globe’s most prestigious racing event to salvage his reputation and the failing team of his buddy. The film received four Oscar nominations.
• “Frankenstein” (Netflix): Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of the classic horror tale transforms Jacob Elordi into the tragic monster, known here as The Creature, and features Oscar Isaac as its titular mad maker. The film received nine Oscar nominations.
• “Hamnet” (Peacock): Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, Chloé Zhao’s historical drama explores the grief, love and strained marriage of William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife, Agnes (Jessie Buckley). The film received eight Oscar nominations.
• “Marty Supreme” (Available to rent or buy on platforms like Prime Video and Apple TV): Directed and co-written by Josh Safdie, the film is loosely based on the life of American table tennis player Marty Reisman, here called Marty Mauser and played by Timothée Chalamet. It is expected to be released on HBO Max later this spring. The film received nine Oscar nominations.
• “One Battle After Another” (HBO Max): Paul Thomas Anderson’s satirical political thriller, a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland,” follows a paranoid ex-revolutionary (Leonardo DiCaprio) trying to save his daughter when an old enemy (Sean Penn) resurfaces. The film received 13 Oscar nominations.
• “Sentimental Value” (Available to rent or buy on platforms like Prime Video and Apple TV): Joachim Trier’s Norwegian drama follows two sisters (played by Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) as they reunite with their estranged filmmaker father (Stellan Skarsgard). The film received nine Oscar nominations. It is expected to be released on Hulu later this month.
• “Sinners” (HBO Max): Ryan Coogler’s gothic horror drama is set in 1932 Mississippi and follows twin brothers (played by Michael B. Jordan) who, trying to leave their troubled past behind them, return to their hometown to start anew — only to face new horrors. It became the most-nominated film in Academy Awards history with 16 total nominations.
• “The Secret Agent” (Hulu, Disney+): Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, the Brazilian historical political thriller stars Wagner Moura as a former professor fleeing persecution during the 1970s military dictatorship while trying to protect his son. The film received four Oscar nominations.
• “Train Dreams” (Netflix): Based on Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella of the same name, the film is an intimate birth-to-death portrait of a quiet railway laborer (Joel Edgerton) as he watches the world change around him. The film received four Oscar nominations.

Break down

Times staffers chew on the pop culture of the moment — love it, hate it or somewhere in between

It’s crazy to think that about six years ago, golden goblets, pods and “the experiment” were disparate ideas and objects that were on the precipice of infiltrating the culture. Now, you can’t think of one without the others. “Love Is Blind,” the reality dating show that tests the premise of whether singles can find love sight unseen and marry at the end, marked a milestone this year with its 10th season, filmed in Ohio.

While the series has produced a number of marriages and engagements, some have ended in breakups and divorce, as we saw on Wednesday’s Season 10 reunion. So while the answer to the question “Is love blind?” seems to be no, the series has nonetheless made for entertaining television for viewers who have made dissecting the people, fights and makeups a sport. Why are we so invested? Because it’s a reflection of where we are as a society when it comes to relationships and what we expect from partners emotionally, politically, physically and financially. With that in mind, Yvonne and I sat down with our golden goblets to unpack the Season 10 reunion. Here are five moments that stood out. — M.G.

Jordan and Amber are now divorced

Jordan Faeth and Amber Morrison were one of two couples to say “I do” at the altar. Morrison, a single mom, discussed with Faeth over the course of the show if he was ready to be a stepparent and where they would live, given that Morrison owned a home and her daughter was happy at her school. At the reunion, the couple revealed that they never moved in together and that they divorced after four months. Morrison talked about how her daughter was distraught after the breakup, leading to an emotional moment where Morrison ran offstage in tears. It raised an important question that fans have debated closely: Should parents be on the show? Seasons 6 and 9 also featured single parents, neither of whom made it to the altar. Given the compressed timeline of when people meet, become engaged and head to the altar, deciding whether marriage should include parenthood at the start adds another layer of complexity, not to mention how it could affect a child, who suddenly has a stranger in their life. The outcome wasn’t necessarily surprising, but it was sad.

Vic and Christine: boring but perfect. More, please

The other couple to make it down the aisle was Vic St. John and Christine Hamilton, who hit it off from the get-go and seemed to exist in their own blissful bubble. According to Netflix production, the show only budgets for six couples to go on a trip after the reveal and engagement. But they continued to track them, with St. John and Hamilton spending time in Malibu instead, taping dispatches together and getting to know each other without the rest of the cast in proximity. Throughout the course of the show, you see their connection grow. Their mature and thoughtful conversations about being an interracial couple and potentially raising biracial children were exactly the type of discussions you would hope they’d have before proceeding down the aisle. It may not make for dramatic TV, but it was genuinely thrilling to see a couple so well-suited for each other continuing to thrive. And in an effort to make up for not getting to go to Cabo, Mexico, with everyone else, the show offered them a trip paid by … Turbo Tax? It was an odd product placement, but if they want to foot the bill for their honeymoon, no one’s complaining. As long as it’s somewhere tropical on a beach — and not Lake Erie.

Who took accountability?

Despite not making it to the altar on screen after the blazer cape breakup, Connor Spies and Bri McNees are still together. But the bigger record-scratch moment arrived later, when it was revealed that Devonta Anderson broke up with Brittany Wicker a few days after what he told her was a work trip but was actually a getaway to Austin, Texas, to attend a concert with McNees, Ashley Carpenter and Priyanka Grandhi. Wicker didn’t seem thrilled that she had to find out about the trip from Amber (who found out from Jordan, who can’t remember that he even knew about it). McNees didn’t like the implication that she may have broken “girl code” with the whole fiasco — but if all the women are as close as they say they are, why wouldn’t you check in about such an arrangement regardless of the relationship status? (It was weird, too, that Connor thought it was a girls’ trip.) And the fact that it was the same three women who listened to Chris Fusco talk poorly about his former fiancée Jess Barrett — giant sigh. During the reunion, after Barrett voiced her disappointment in her friends about that incident, Carpenter apologized for not doing more to defend her in the moment.

Meanwhile, Nick unleashed his best attempt to channel Andy Cohen and grilled Fusco about his highly questionable behavior and the backlash over his comments to Barrett about her body, specifically stating he usually dates women who do Pilates or workout daily, and for trying to make the moves on McNees. Fusco, mostly quiet and stone-faced (could it be the shame?), acknowledged he was not proud of the moments he watched back and apologized to Barrett. His seat mate, goalkeeper Alex Henderson, was also on the defense. The self-proclaimed nomad never fully seem to vibe with his fiancée, Carpenter. He admitted she’s not his usual type. She still maintained he wasn’t telling the whole truth about his job or dating history, and overall lifestyle. Throughout his segment, Henderson was noticeably irritated by the insinuation that his stories didn’t add up. But he did seem to enjoy being asked to describe his relationship with Carpenter as if it was a soccer match, prompting him to cite a Liverpool game that ended in a tie. Are you laughing too?

Can this be a TikTok?

To commemorate the milestone season, the audience for the reunion special consisted of 150 former participants of the series. And while the time spent getting life updates with some of them throughout the show felt less forced and time-consuming than reunions past, it still felt like an add-on better suited to live in a separate (shorter) special or as social media content. If we wanted an update on these people’s lives, we can find them on social media. A gender reveal courtesy of someone’s dead grandmother, as sweet and touching and lovely as that may for an expectant couple, is not the sort of jaw-dropping moment a show like this needs. And maybe the money saved — assuming production footed the bill for those flights — could have sent every couple to Cabo.

Did you hear? Nick Lachey is from Ohio, guys.

His constant mention of his hometown roots was unquestionably the biggest declaration of love in the 90-minute special. Sorry, Vanessa.

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Universal Pictures will now keep its new films in theaters for at least five weekends, a reversal from the studio’s previous policy of at least 17 days that was set during the pandemic.

The change takes place immediately, the studio said Thursday. That means it will apply to its newest film, the Colleen Hoover romance “Reminders of Him,” which is out in theaters this weekend. Other upcoming films include Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” which will be released in July.

“Our windowing strategy has always been designed to evolve with the marketplace, but we firmly believe in the primacy of theatrical exclusivity and working closely with our exhibition partners to support a healthy, sustainable theatrical ecosystem,” Donna Langley, chair of NBCUniversal Entertainment, said in an email to the New York Times, which first reported the news.

Focus Features, Universal Pictures’ specialty film arm, will keep its existing theatrical exclusivity policies, which vary on a case-by-case basis. Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet,” for instance, was in theaters for 99 days, while 2024’s “Nosferatu” played for 58 days. The minimum is 17 days.

The amount of time films are available exclusively in theaters — known as “windowing” in industry jargon — has become a contentious topic of conversation in Hollywood.

That debate ramped up during the pandemic, when some studios shortened theatrical exclusivity periods in order to move films to release for video on demand or streaming.

Prior to the pandemic, those windows could be as long as 90 days. Now, the average is around 30 days.

Theater owners have argued that shorter windows cut into box office profits and train audiences to wait to watch a movie at home. Distributors have countered that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t necessarily work for smaller or mid-budget films, which may find a bigger audience via at-home viewing.

At last year’s CinemaCon trade conference, top theater lobbyist Michael O’Leary called on distributors to establish a minimum 45-day window, arguing there needed to be a “clear, consistent starting point” to set moviegoers’ expectations and affirm commitment to theatrical exclusivity.

The debate has become even more fierce as box office profits still have not recovered from the pandemic. Last year, theatrical revenue in the U.S. and Canada totaled about $8.87 billion, just 1.5% above 2024’s disappointing $8.74-billion tally.

In its second week of release, the sophomore season of “Paradise” is already at its midpoint. And it just delivered one of the season’s shocking twists with the death of — don’t worry, we won’t spoil it for you.

The post-apocalyptic drama, which dropped its fourth episode this week, has ventured outside bunker life this season as our Secret Service protagonist Xavier (Sterling K. Brown) continues his journey through Atlanta to find his wife — and now, he’s got a baby to keep safe in the process. Meanwhile, back inside the idyllic simulated town in the depths of Colorado, which anchored the first season, things have started to unravel and the fight for control intensifies. And the mastermind behind it all — Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond (Julianne Nicholson), the tech billionaire who set up the bunker town after a massive catastrophe threatened the extinction of the human race — isn’t MIA anymore. Last seen unconscious in a hospital bed after being shot, she’s awake and ready to regain order and control. Nicholson stopped by Guest Spot to talk about what she finds intriguing about her character’s motivations.

Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our recommendations include an ever timely reminder from Anthony Bourdain on the gift and privilege of discovering a new culture and engaging it without judgment, as well as a suburban noir starring a trio of TV heavyweights that spins middle-age malaise, swinging and murder into an addictive tale.

Read on. Then press play and give your thumb a break from all the fast-forwarding you did while watching the wedding episode of this season’s “Love is Blind.” See you next week.

— Yvonne Villarreal

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Anthony Bourdain visits Havana in 2015 for an episode of “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.”

(David Scott Holloway / CNN / Turner Entertainment)

“Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” (HBO Max)

It was Bourdain’s masterpiece, the last and best of his several series, and arguably the greatest travel show ever. Bourdain will occasionally fetch up at some fancy eatery, but the heart of any cuisine is formed on the street, or in the country, or along the sea. As a story of how people live, with a good bit of historical context thrown in, the series is explicitly and implicitly political, philosophical and autobiographical; Bourdain has no time for bigots, fascists or bullies — or, one would imagine, McDonald’s cheeseburgers — but he revels in complexity and contradiction. (See Season 4, Episode 6, “Iran.”) The episode on Massachusetts encompasses clambakes and heroin. “I visited and learned to love many places not my own,” says the host, “cultures and beliefs very different from the Upper East Side of Manhattan.” They include, among many other places, Cuba, Ethiopia, Beirut, Buenos Aires, Hanoi, Sri Lanka, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Borneo, Los Angeles and Hanoi, where he sits down with then-president Barack Obama in a family-run noodle shop. Gorgeously filmed, the series can be heartbreakingly beautiful, and sometimes plain heartbreaking. There are 12 seasons running from 2014 to Bourdain’s death in 2018, and I can’t help but believe that anyone who watches them attentively will come out a better person. — Robert Lloyd

Jason Bateman, Linda Cardellini and David Harbour in “DTF St. Louis.”

(Tina Rowden / HBO)

“DTF St. Louis” (HBO Max)

The true-ish crime series about a deadly love triangle is so wonderfully twisted and unexpectedly deep, it’d be criminal to miss this dark comedy starring David Harbour, Jason Bateman and Linda Cardellini. Initially inspired by a real scandal (covered in the 2017 New Yorker article “My Dentist’s Murder Trial: Adultery, False Identities, and a Lethal Sedation”), it evolved into something else. Set in the suburbs of St. Louis, the seven-part series follows fastidious local news weatherman Clark (Bateman), the TV station’s guileless sign language interpreter Floyd (Harbour) and Floyd’s calculating wife, Carol (Cardellini), as each grapples with a middle-age identity crisis. Seeking to spice up their sex life, the men join the discreet, eponymous hook-up app, and one of them ends up dead. Solving this peculiar whodunit is anything but predictable, and the case consumes seasoned detective Homer (Richard Jenkins) as well as young crimes officer Jodie (Joy Sunday). But it’s the quest for connection among all these misfit characters, including Floyd and Carol’s troubled son Richard (Arlan Ruf ) and an unlikely hookup (Peter Sarsgaard), that makes this series so powerful. — Lorraine Ali

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Julianne Nicholson as Sinatra in a scene from Season 2 of “Paradise.”

(Ser Baffo / Disney)

If you see Nicholson on screen, you know things are about to get good. She consistently and compellingly delivers strong performances in some of your favorite films and TV shows, whether she’s expressing both quiet strength and palpable desperation as a mother in “Mare of Easttown” or bringing comedic pizzazz as a social media star in “Hacks.” Her latest captivating performance, in Hulu’s “Paradise,” brings power to a complicated character. She plays Samantha “Sinatra” Redmond, a deeply emotional and eerily ruthless billionaire mastermind responsible for the underground bunker city that grounds the series. Driven by the intense grief of losing a son and a desire to control her environment to protect her family, the character is faced with trying to regain order of the simulated utopia after tension and chaos erupts. Over email, Nicholson shared her thoughts on the morally ambiguous character and the Dustin Hoffman film that brings her comfort. — Yvonne Villarreal

Sinatra is not the usual “villain” in a post-apocalyptic story. Despite her approach, there is an altruistic motive, at least initially, that drives her actions. Which version of her fascinates you the most: pre-global disaster Samantha, who is trying to figure out a way to protect her remaining family, or post-apocalyptic Sinatra, who is closer to facing a reckoning in the aftermath of what she’s created?

I am especially interested in Sinatra after she wakes from the coma. Finding the balance between vulnerability and control. Taking back her power while also recognizing no amount of it or money will necessarily keep herself/her family safe. And then the idea that the bigger picture she’s been working towards the whole time may actually be coming true with the introduction of Link [Thomas Doherty], and who he may be to her, cracks her wide open.

There have been real-life assessments of the power billionaires wield and their influence in the White House — those figures are primarily men. How have those conversations shaped your performance or how you think about the power dynamics of “Paradise’s” fictional world?

I love that Dan Fogelman wrote the most powerful person in the room as a woman. Normalizing women in power can only be a good thing. Even if we don’t necessarily agree with her tactics, she sure is fun to play. I love her take no prisoners/no apologies attitude.

This season Sinatra wakes from her coma and faces a new obstacle in Jane (Nicole Brydon Bloom). What intrigues you about how they play off each other and how Sinatra is navigating the threat Jane may pose?

One of the most fun scenes to play in Season 2 was when Jane is trying to find out what Sinatra remembers of the shooting. The wonderful director, Ken Olin, really encouraged us to make a cat and mouse game of it with neither giving anything away. And I love we don’t ever find out what Sinatra remembers. I think it’s a real case of keep your friend close here. Sinatra realizes Jane is much more valuable as an ally than an adversary.

In “Paradise,” Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson), left, was last seen in a coma after being shot.

(Ser Baffo / Disney)

You delivered a brilliant performance in Season 4 of “Hacks” as TikTok sensation “Dance Mom.” What’s a memory that stands out from filming those scenes? And did you find yourself giving a dance lesson on the set of “Paradise”?

I loved every moment of working on “Hacks.” I loved having dance/choreography sessions with Cory Baker in the run up to filming and the utter absurdity of the “boofing” scene. I also almost lost it when DM was passed out on the stoop on Wisteria Lane and Jimmy [Paul W. Downs] and Kayla [Megan Stalter] come driving around in the golf cart looking for her and shouting, “Dance Mom!” That name alone is so funny to me. Alas, there were no dance lessons in “Paradise.”

What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?

I was blown away this year by the film “Sirât.” I recommend but also warn as it is a deeply affecting, intense film and not for the faint of heart. I love its exploration of a world I know nothing about (a traveling rave culture set in Morocco), the humanity in it and the real faces and performances of the actors. [And] its originality and bravery.

What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the movie or TV show you go back to again and again?

“Tootsie” is one of my favorite films and I can watch that any time. It’s partially nostalgic as I remember watching it in the theater when it came out and I was so taken with NYC at that time. The tall buildings, yellow cabs and hustle and bustle. It’s such a smart comedy with brilliant performances across the board, starting with Dustin Hoffman but each actor is as perfect as the next! So much heart and depth without ever taking itself too seriously. And just very, very funny.

ICYMI

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