Six years after being punted from Empire amid allegations of staging a homophobic attack and making a false police report, Jussie Smollett is officially heading back to our screens. Fox has just dropped a trailer confirming the actor is joining the season four cast of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. He’ll be tackling a gruelling Moroccan desert bootcamp alongside a roster that’s absolutely chocka with familiar faces who are no strangers to making headlines.
The 18-strong squad leans heavily into reality telly veterans and actors. We’re talking Teresa Giudice and her daughter Gia from the Real Housewives franchise, Sister Wives patriarch Kody Brown, and The Valley’s Brittany Cartwright. The lineup also features actors Eva Marcille and Ravi V. Patel, supermodel Chanel Iman, alongside Jessie James and Eric Decker. Sports fans have heaps of names to get behind, too. Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson East and her husband Andrew East are lacing up with former NFL players Randall Cobb and Johnny Manziel, NBA veteran Nick Young, and football legend Christie Pearce Rampone. Throwing influencers Brianna LaPaglia and Mark Estes into the mix rounds out a massively diverse group.
Hitting screens on Thursday, September 25, the upcoming season throws a massive spanner in the works. Even though a few recruits are turning up with their spouses or whānau, everyone is forced to tackle the brutal physical challenges completely solo. The programme promises to ditch the Hollywood glam, forcing these celebrities to truly embrace the hard yakka as they navigate the unforgiving desert terrain.
What’s Dominating the Streaming World
While network television is banking on extreme reality bootcamps, streaming platforms are still keeping punters glued to the couch with endless on-demand options. Sorting out what to watch next can be a bit of a mission, but having a squiz at regional data—like the current top 10 trends over in Germany—gives us a brilliant snapshot of what’s currently hooking international audiences. Right now, the series charts are all over the show when it comes to genre.
ONE PIECE is undeniably having a massive moment. Its second season is sitting pretty at number one, while the first season has managed to claw its way back into the top 10. Nipping at its heels are the first season of Detective Hole and the highly anticipated seventh season of Virgin River. The rest of the leaderboard is fleshed out by a mix of heavy hitters: Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, Unicorn Academy: Secrets Revealed, the first season of Peaky Blinders, Bridgerton season four, Homicide: New York season two, and The Dinosaurs.
Movie Marathons and Shifting Catalogues
It’s not just about episodic binges, mind you. Sifting through the film library is an even bigger task. According to Statista, Netflix boasted a staggering catalogue of around 5,360 different films as of July 2024. At the moment, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is dominating the film side, holding onto the top spot. The rest of the current movie leaderboard features an eclectic mix including The Little Things, The Unholy Trinity, War Machine, Close to the Horizon, My Spy, Barbara – Becoming Shirin David, Grown Ups, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and The Losers.
Keeping a catalogue this massive feeling fresh requires a ridiculous amount of constant updates. In 2024 alone, the platform pumped out 589 original projects. That works out to roughly 13 new original films or series dropping every single week. Building up your watchlist, however, is often a race against the clock. Thanks to complex, constantly shifting licensing deals, third-party content routinely vanishes from the platform. Some films might stick around for ages, while others are gone in a few short months, though the streamer generally tries to give viewers a heads-up before pulling the plug.
On the flip side, their homegrown originals are basically permanent fixtures. Massive hits like Stranger Things, The Crown, and You, alongside big-budget original films such as Bird Box, Okja, The Irishman, and Annihilation, aren’t bothered by those strict licensing timeframes.
If you’ve ever wondered how the streamer actually sorts out what deserves a spot on those coveted top 10 lists, the system had a major overhaul back in 2021. Instead of just tallying up how many individual accounts clicked on a title, the company now tracks the total hours viewers actually spend watching. It’s widely considered a far more accurate metric, especially for series, because it finally takes into account people re-watching their absolute favourite moments.
