When you’re trying to drift off to sleep, your TV choice can make or break the mission. You want something calm enough to help you nod off, but not so boring that you start scrolling through TikTok instead.
According to an analysis from the site AmberWillo, some shows are basically melatonin in streaming form – while others are more like a triple espresso at midnight.
Researchers ranked shows by how likely they are to help or hinder your sleep, looking at factors like episode length, genre, content rating, and whether they contain frightening or jarring scenes.
The 10 Most Relaxing Shows to Fall Asleep To
Bluey
Seinfeld
Mr. Bean
Pride and Prejudice (the 1995 BBC miniseries)
The Office (U.S. version)
Friends
Fawlty Towers (British classic from the ’70s)
Haikyuu!! (a Japanese anime about volleyball)
Yes Minister (a sharp British political sitcom from the ’80s)
Arrested Development
Basically, if it’s lighthearted, nostalgic (aka, you’ve seen it before), and doesn’t involve anyone being chased by a demon or tortured in a basement, you’re safe to snooze.
The 10 Least Relaxing Shows to Fall Asleep To
Hannibal
Sons of Anarchy
Daredevil
Boardwalk Empire
Peaky Blinders
Dexter
Spartacus
The Boys
Mr. Robot
Black Mirror
So if you’re planning to fall asleep to Black Mirror, don’t be surprised if you wake up questioning the nature of reality – or your toaster. Or basically, just avoid anything that might cause your dreams to feature a soundtrack of screaming and existential dread.
The general guideline? When it’s time to power down, skip the gore and go for something that feels like a warm blanket for your brain. Because sometimes, the best bedtime story is just Bluey asking her dad to play one more game.
“Wheel of Fortune” just made history… and it came with a seven-figure payout.
Christina Derevjanik of Stamford, Connecticut became the biggest winner in the game show’s 43-season run, walking away with a jaw-dropping $1,035,155 in cash, plus trips to Montana and Tokyo.
All of that after solving the puzzle phrase “Pack of Coyotes.”
This wasn’t just a lucky spin. Christina is only the fourth contestant in “Wheel” history to hit the million-dollar mark, and notably, the very first to do it since Ryan Seacrest took over as host. (Technically, she’s the fifth if you count “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune”, where Melissa Joan Hart snagged the prize in 2021, but that’s its own lane.)
Fans have been quick to point out that this is a milestone moment for the show, proving the million-dollar wedge is more than just a shiny piece of cardboard. In fact, it’s so elusive that fewer than five people have ever made it happen since it was added for the 26th season in 2008.
The win adds a little extra shine to Seacrest’s first season at the helm.
Viewers have been curious whether the long-running show would feel the same, following Pat Sajak’s retirement, but Christina’s historic night was the kind of buzzy TV moment producers dream of.
For fans of the game, “Pack of Coyotes” is already trending as one of those legendary puzzles people will be talking about years from now, much like the infamous “Flamenco Dance Lessons” or the viral clip of “A Streetcar Naked Desire” (yeah, that one still haunts the internet).
Christina now joins an exclusive club of contestants who didn’t just win big but changed Wheel of Fortune history. And let’s be honest, if you’re going to have your name forever linked to the show, “Pack of Coyotes” is a pretty epic way to do it.
Even though the 50th anniversary celebration of “Saturday Night Live” aired in February, October 11th is the real anniversary of the first show back in 1975.
But some markets shouldn’t really be celebrating, because they didn’t carry the show for the first few seasons. Some, even longer!
In a handful of areas around the U.S., the “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” weren’t ready for late night either. So, Chevy Chase’s only season on the show – with his classic phone calls going into the first ever Weekend Update segments – were never seen in some big markets. 26-year-old Bill Murray’s debut season? Same.
Missed were the sketches and commercial parodies from John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Lorraine Newman, Garrett Morris and Jane Curtin – as well as special guest hosts, comedians, and musicians performing live on television. Trailblazers.
Some stations found the show too edgy, or downright unfunny
If you’ve seen the 2024 movie “Saturday Night,” you’ll recall some of the affiliates weren’t too amused, and they made sure their local viewers weren’t either. One of the stories that would eventually make those poor un-entertained souls curious about the show was when Johnny Carson commented negatively about the humor, at one point calling it mean and tasteless. (Lorne Michaels asked Carson to host for years, but he always refused.)
Viewers in spots all over the country couldn’t tune in
So let’s review some of the markets that didn’t see the need to air satirical comedy sketches, commercial parodies, and live performances from some of the most famous musical artists of the time. Here are a few that are noteworthy – according to the “L.A. Times,”as many as one-third of NBC affiliates around the U.S. didn’t air the first episode.
Not blazing the trail? Let’s begin with the NBC affiliate in Syracuse, New York. Even after receiving irate calls and letters from viewers wondering why they couldn’t see the show, WSYR kept it off the air for the first two seasons.
WNDU in South Bend, Indiana also opted not to air the show initially. But after seeing its success, they eventually relented and picked it up.
According to the “Daily Oklahoman,” KTVY-TV in Oklahoma City (now KFOR) didn’t air the first two seasons (during which ratings had doubled), but eventually decided to pick the show up in July 1978 for summer reruns.
Their program manager at the time, Bill Thrash, said, “We received constant requests to carry the show, [and] they were very angry with us because we didn’t carry it.” He continued, “I now think the show will do very well in Oklahoma City.” (Ya think so, Bill? You’re three years late to the party!)
An affiliate in Tulsa also passed for two years, but people there could apparently see another state’s feed if they had cable.
Even major markets like Detroit and Pittsburgh couldn’t watch
Oklahoma is one thing. But certainly major markets like Detroit and Pittsburgh got to see it, right? Wrong. They missed the first several seasons as well, although another station was somehow allowed to air it in Detroit on a fuzzy UHF channel. (Kids, ask grandpa what “UHF” was. You could sometimes see the people through the snow.)
One station refused to air it into the mid-2010s
Salt Lake City’s KLS-TV gets the “Modern Era Hold Out” award, not airing the show from 1995 until 2013! That was Season 39, with Tina Fey hosting the premiere. So, she’d completed her entire run on the show before the NBC affiliate allowed her to show her face in SLC.
The Mormon-owned KSL opted to stop airing “SNL” when it switched from CBS to NBC in 1995. The station manager’s explanation at the time was, “SNL’s’ content is frequently objectionable, not to mention its overall quality has been in decline for years.”
An affiliate for the WB aired “SNL” in SLC from 1998 to 2013, but it was fully unavailable for about two years in the mid-90s. Most didn’t have internet access then, and YouTube wouldn’t be born for another decade anyway.
So if you lived in the Salt Lake City area during those dark years, you were just out of luck. But at least you now know that if you ever got iced out of “SNL,” you most definitely weren’t alone.
A “TV Guide” ad for the very first show in 1975. A couple things would be different by the time it aired – namely, it could only be called “Saturday Night” because Howard Cosell already had an ABC show called “Saturday Night Live.” Also, Billy Crystal got cut for time and never appeared. He became a cast member nine years later in 1984.
Brick Taylor has been covering entertainment since the ’80s. He lived in one of the aforementioned markets and was caught in the “SNL” void. One of the first “SNL” musical artists he ever saw was David Bowie singing “TVC 15” in a dress. Sorry if you missed it, South Bend.
October is here, and while we say goodbye to summer and start dodging pumpkin spice everything, there’s plenty to actually get excited about this month. From big-time sports events to major movie releases (and yes, a few bizarre food trends), here are some of the top things happening in October 2025.
Sports Fans, This Is Your Month
If you’re into sports, October is kind of a buffet. Baseball’s postseason is in full swing, with Game 1 of the World Series scheduled for October 24. Over in the NBA, the new season tips off October 21, and hockey fans get their fix starting October 8 when the NHL drops the puck on its new season.
In short, you can basically glue yourself to a couch and not run out of games to watch.
Big Movies (and Big Stars)
The box office is stacked this month. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is back in action with The Smashing Machine, an MMA biopic landing in theaters this Friday. If you’ve missed Daniel Day-Lewis (who hasn’t?), he returns after a seven-year hiatus in Anemone, also out this Friday.
Tron: Ares hits theaters October 10, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein drops in limited release on the 17th (before heading to Netflix), and Jeremy Allen White stars as The Boss in Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, coming October 24.
So basically, whether you’re into robots, monsters, or moody musicians, you’re covered.
TV Shows Are Coming Back to Life Too
Streaming fatigue? October’s got some comfort food TV returning to your screen. Abbott Elementary is back, Saturday Night Live returns for its 51st season this weekend, and Grey’s Anatomy and 9-1-1: Nashville premiere October 9. Other dates to circle: Elsbeth and Tim Robinson’s new HBO Max show The Chair Company on October 12, NCIS on the 14th, 9-1-1 (OG flavor) on the 16th, Tracker on the 19th, and The Witcher season 4 wraps it all up on October 30.
So yeah, your DVR (or algorithm) is about to get real busy.
Holidays, Both Big and Bizarre
Obviously, Halloween caps the month off on October 31. But along the way, we’ve also got Yom Kippur starting tonight, and a double holiday situation with Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day on October 13.
Some of the lesser-known holidays are a little more… creative. Like International Beer and Pizza Day (October 9), National No Bra Day (also the 13th, which makes for a fun combo), and National Cat Day on the 29th.
Whether you’re watching baseball, binging TV, or contemplating green spaghetti (we see you, Arizona), October 2025 is ready to entertain.
Katie Couric is proving once again that she knows how to mix humor with a serious message.
In her latest PSA, the longtime journalist pokes fun at Sydney Sweeney’s viral American Eagle ad campaign, but with a twist designed to get people thinking about their health.
The video starts with Couric in a jean jacket, looking very denim-chic, before the camera zooms out to reveal she’s actually on a hospital gurney in a medical gown. Her line: “Speaking of genes. Did you know that the majority of people who develop colon cancer are not genetically predisposed to the disease? That’s why doctors recommend everyone 45 and older get checked.”
The spoof nods to Sweeney’s splashy American Eagle ad that dominated pop culture this summer. Couric told “People“ magazine the campaign’s ubiquity inspired her to piggyback on the moment. “That ad showed how pop culture and a pair of jeans could really shape the cultural conversation, it was everywhere,” she explained. “It was a moment in time, and we thought, ‘Why don’t we ride that horse a little bit longer and have some fun with it?’”
This isn’t Couric’s first time breaking boundaries around the conversation on colon cancer.
It’s been 25 years since she made headlines by televising her own colonoscopy on national TV, a groundbreaking move at the time that was credited with raising awareness and boosting screening rates. Her advocacy comes from a deeply personal place. In 1998, Couric lost her husband Jay Monahan to colon cancer when he was just 42 years old.
The timing of this new PSA couldn’t be more relevant. Colon cancer remains one of the most common and deadly cancers, but it’s also one of the most preventable with early screening. By blending a little pop culture parody with public health urgency, Couric manages to keep the message accessible and memorable, especially for the audience now reaching the recommended screening age of 45.
Jimmy Kimmel came back to late night last night with what was easily one of the most-watched monologues in recent memory, and let’s just say he didn’t waste the moment.
Kimmel opened by thanking fans and even some unlikely allies, like Senator Ted Cruz, who defended his right to free speech during his suspension. But the jokes took a backseat when Kimmel got emotional, clarifying that he never intended to, in his words, “make light of the murder of a young man.” He admitted he understood why some found his earlier remarks “ill-timed or unclear or maybe both.”
His most heartfelt moment came when he praised Erika Kirk for forgiving her husband Charlie’s killer. With his voice cracking, Kimmel said, “That is an example we should follow. If you believe in the teachings of Jesus as I do, there it was.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Kimmel monologue without some political criticism. He accused President Trump and the FCC of trying to silence him, calling it “un-American and so dangerous.” Kimmel even joked that Trump’s attempt to “cancel” him only boosted his ratings: “Instead, he forced millions of people to watch the show. That backfired bigly. He might have to release the Epstein files to distract us from this.”
Trump blasted Kimmel for filling ABC’s airwaves with “99% positive Democrat garbage” and suggested ABC might end up paying him millions, as they allegedly did before: “Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 million. This one sounds even more lucrative.”
Better get your popcorn. Seems like the drama is only beginning.
Disney may have just learned a very expensive lesson about late-night TV.
After suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live, the company’s market value reportedly dropped by a staggering $3.87 billion overnight. That’s not a typo. Billion, with a “B.”
The decision instantly sparked waves of backlash online, where hashtags calling for a Disney boycott gained traction.
And we’re not just talking about skipping a theme park vacation. People were vowing to avoid anything with the Disney stamp on it, including ABC, ESPN, Disney+, and even Marvel.
That’s where things got even messier. Actress Tatiana Maslany threw her support behind the boycott. She headlined her own Disney+/Marvel series, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
It’s rare for a studio actor to openly criticize their employer while still technically working for them, which is why Maslany’s stance lit up social media almost as much as the news of Kimmel’s suspension itself.
Whether this backlash will cool off or grow into a full-on cultural standstill is still up in the air. What is clear is that Disney’s financial hit shows how quickly fan frustration can turn into real-world consequences.
But it was just announced that Kimmel will be returning to his show starting tonight… so we’ll see if the boycotts continue, now that he has his job back.
The Emmys are happening this Sunday, and host Nate Bargatze has come up with a clever way to keep those acceptance speeches from dragging on forever. Instead of relying on the orchestra to play people off, he’s turning time limits into cold, hard cash for a good cause.
Here’s the deal: every winner gets 45 seconds to say their thank-yous. After the show, Bargatze will donate $100,000 to the Boys & Girls Club. But if winners go over their allotted time, every second costs the kids a thousand bucks. Yes, you heard that right — $1,000 per second. Suddenly, thanking your third-grade drama teacher doesn’t seem so urgent.
It’s not all bad news for the charity, though. If someone wraps up early, Nate will actually add $1,000 to the donation for each second they leave on the clock. So theoretically, if enough winners keep it short and sweet, the Boys & Girls Club could walk away with more than the original $100,000.
To make things even more awkward, they joked that kids from the Boys & Girls Club will actually be at the ceremony, ready to look winners in the eye if their rambling cuts into the charity check.
Bargatze put it bluntly: “They’re gonna come out. You’re gonna have to look them in the face. It’s real, real.”
Of course, Nate admits he feels a little guilty about the setup, since he knows how much work nominees put into getting to the Emmys. Still, he insists that’s the plan, and he’s sticking to it.
This move is classic Bargatze, blending deadpan comedy with a little social experiment. Acceptance speeches are notorious for running long, and every year someone goes viral for either getting cut off or ignoring the music altogether. His “cash clock” idea could be just the motivation winners need to speed things up — or the reason we all see a tearful actor apologizing to children while the timer ticks away.
Either way, Sunday night just got a lot more interesting. And for once, viewers might actually be rooting against long speeches. After all, every second counts when kids’ charity money is on the line.
Mel Owens, the 66-year-old “Golden Bachelor”, stirred up controversy when he said he wasn’t interested in dating women over 60. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have much of a choice.
ABC has revealed the cast for the new season, and the age breakdown is raising eyebrows. Out of the 23 women vying for Mel’s attention, only one is under 60, and she’s 58. There are two who are exactly 60, and the rest are all older.
In fact, four contestants are over 70, with the oldest clocking in at 77.
So, if you’re placing bets on who makes it past Episode 1, you might want to think carefully before putting money on Grandma. But hey, maybe she’s got the secret weapon: decades of wisdom and a mean lasagna recipe.
The show has always leaned into its mix of sweet moments and messy drama, and this season looks like it won’t disappoint. Whether Mel ends up finding true love or just another round of reality TV chaos, the cast lineup suggests this will be one of the more unpredictable seasons yet.
The Golden Bachelor returns Wednesday, September 24th on ABC. Grab your wine, text your group chat, and get ready to cringe-watch together.
If you’ve ever watched “The Bear” and found yourself wondering, “Wait… is this supposed to be a comedy or a drama?” you’re not alone. The hit FX series about a struggling Chicago sandwich shop has been called both. It’s intense, stressful, heartbreaking, and yet, somehow, it keeps racking up wins in comedy categories.
In fact, “The Bear” has already taken home several trophies as a comedy, and it’s up for Best Comedy Series again at the 2025 Emmys. Which begs the question: are we all laughing through tears, or has someone at the awards shows been mixing up their ballots?
Ayo Edebiri, who plays chef Sydney on the show, was asked to weigh in on the debate. Her answer? Basically, don’t ask her.
“My feeling is that that is a question that is honestly above my pay grade,” she told “The Hollywood Reporter“. “That’s a question for the studios. We get asked a lot about it as actors and they don’t ask the producer, so that’s kind of my answer to that.”
Translation: the cast just makes the food chaos look real. What you call it is someone else’s problem.
The debate isn’t new. Awards voters have been blurring the line between comedy and drama for decades.
Remember when “Orange Is the New Black” started off competing as a comedy, despite making people cry more often than laugh? Or when “Shameless” hopped back and forth between categories? It’s a Hollywood tradition at this point.
So maybe “The Bear” is less about punchlines and more about pressure-cooker comedy. The kind of “funny” that comes when your co-worker sets the kitchen on fire or your boss has a meltdown mid-shift. Not ha-ha funny… more like, “if I don’t laugh, I’ll cry” funny.
Either way, Ayo Edebiri is officially out of the classification game. Call it what you want, just don’t expect the actors to settle the debate. For now, it looks like “The Bear” will keep cooking in the comedy section—whether or not it actually makes you laugh.
