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Apple TV Viewership Hit All-Time High In June Quarter

Published

3 hours ago

July 31, 2026

Apple TV viewership hit an all-time high last quarter but tough comps from the release of F1 the year before led to slower growth at Apple’s giant Services division, executives said Thursday, delivering a bit more color than usual on the entertainment business as they were peppered with questions by Wall Street.

Services, which houses Apple TV, posted sales of $30.7 billion for the tech giant’s fiscal third quarter ended in June. That was up 12% and a new record but below analysts’ forecasts and the company’s guidance. Apple indicated growth would continue to moderate in the current quarter.

Asked why on a call after earnings, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Kevan Parekh largely blamed foreign exchange. Parekh also noted that in 2025, “We had the theatrical release of F1, which is one of the highest grossing sports films in history. And this year, we didn’t. So that had an impact on both the June quarter, and also the September quarter.”

Apple released F1: The Movie, directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Brad Pitt, in late June of 2025 with Warner Bros. distributing. It’s grossed $190 million domestic and $634 million worldwide.

Parekh also noted headwinds in mobile gaming in the App Store. “Keep in mind, we also made some changes to the App Store business model in certain countries. And, in the U.S., we continue to operate under a court ruling impacting link out transactions. But we’re pleased the Supreme Court will hear our appeal.”

He was referring to a civil contempt finding in an ongoing antitrust battle with Epic Games over whether Apple’s 27% fee on external third-party web purchases violates a court order requiring it to allow external payment links in apps. The Court is expected to take up the case in its next term, which starts in October.

The App Store still set a June revenue record, Parekh said, along with every other Services category from advertising and AppleCare to music and video.

In total, Services topped 1.5 billion paid subscriptions in the quarter, he said.

Apple doesn’t break out financials of the various Services businesses but Cook, speaking on his 90^th and last earnings call, gave his usual shoutout to the streaming service.

“Apple TV continues to leave audiences spellbound with new releases like Widow’s Bay and Cape Fear, alongside returning favorites like Silo and Sugar. And next week, we’re excited that Ted Lasso is back for its fourth season.

“It was wonderful to see Apple TV with the industry’s top honors, adding Tony Awards this year to its Emmy, Grammy, and Oscar wins.” The Broadway musical adaptation of Apple TV’s Schmigadoon! won four Tonys including Best Musical.

“We reached that milestone faster than any streamer in history,” Cook said. “We’re also looking forward to this year’s Emmy awards, where Apple has landed a record 89 nominations, leading all networks in both the major drama and comedy series categories … “Widows Bay also stands out as the year’s most nominated new program, earning 19 Emmy nominations. In the six and a half years since launch, Apple TV has earned more than 850 wins and nearly 3,800 nominations.”

In sports, Cook noted that “in time for the World Cup, we expanded Apple Sports to include more than 170 countries and regions worldwide, and made it easier than ever for fans to follow every moment of the tournament from the opening game to the final whistle. At the same time, we’re halfway through an unforgettable year of F1, and Apple TV subscribers have been tuning in all season to follow their favorite drivers and teams.”

Cook’s successor John Ternus will step up as CEO on September 1.

In farewell remarks, the outgoing CEO thanked Apple shareholders — “particularly our long term shareholders who have put their trust in us for so many years” — and analysts, “who have followed our company so closely.”

“As you know, this will be my final earnings call, and John will leave these calls going forward. The transition is going seamlessly, and I am beyond excited for John to step into his new role and lead Apple into its next era. He is truly one of a kind, and there is no better person to take the helm of the company. As I’ve said, I couldn’t be more confident in his leadership, in our executive team, and in the extraordinary people at Apple who are determined to enrich the lives of our users all over the world. We have a bright future ahead, and I truly have never been more optimistic.”

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Tom Selleck Says ‘Blue Bloods’ Cast Took 25% Pay Cut To Keep Show Going

Published

1 hour ago

July 31, 2026

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Nearly two years after the Reagans had their last Sunday dinner on Blue Bloods, Tom Selleck is still frustrated over the show’s cancellation.

The Golden Globe winner recently noted that the cast took a 25% pay cut in attempt to keep the CBS procedural going past its 14-season run, which lasted from 2010 to 2024, before it was succeeded by the Donnie Wahlberg-led spin-off Boston Blue.

“Blue Bloods was a labor of love… I think for everybody,” he said on the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast. “The real truth to that is in the last year of [Blue Bloods], at our last family dinner, everybody wanted to come back. We’d already taken a 25 percent cut in salary. We’d already done all sorts of things to keep the show going.”

Selleck continued, “It was very frustrating because… out of the top 100 shows on broadcast television, Blue Bloods was number six in our fifteenth year. Nobody wanted to leave. Everybody was gonna stay on. That’s hard to get. It may be some kind of record to have the same cast intact for that length of time. Usually if it wasn’t a family, it would be different, but you know, you couldn’t very well replace Jamie [played by Will Estes] or Danny [Wahlberg] or anybody with another actor.

Having previously starred in shows like Magnum, P.I., Friends and Las Vegas, Selleck raved about his experience starring as patriarch, Commissioner Frank Reagan, on the Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess cop family drama.

“Maybe people don’t realize, but a lot of shows become miserable to work on. You get a lot of egos and ‘I’m not coming out of my dressing room until he’s coming out’… and it’s miserable,” explained Selleck. “Blue Bloods was never that.”

Following Blue Bloods‘ 2024 finale, Wahlberg reprised his role as Det. Danny Reagan in the spin-off Boston Blue, which premiered in October and has been renewed for Season 2, returning Oct. 9.

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‘Stuart Fails To Save The Universe’ Stars On Episode 2 & Stuart’s Bold Move

Published

2 hours ago

July 31, 2026

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SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about Episode 2 of HBO Max’s Stuart Fails To Save the Universe.

After Denise (Lauren Lapkus) got separated from Stuart (Kevin Sussman), Bert (Brian Posehn) and Kripke (John Ross Bowie) at the end of the first episode of Stuart Fails To Save the Universe as the guys were transported from the post-apocalyptic CalTech lab to an alternate universe, Stuart made it his mission to find Denise — or that alternate reality’s version of her.

He tracked her down to find her “happily” married to Gary (Tommy Walker), the same guy who was Denise’s boyfriend in post-apocalyptic Pasadena in the premiere where he was senselessly killed by CalTech guards.

Happily is in quotes because in that universe, society is ruled by an evil AI through a buzzer on everyone’s neck which sends electric shocks through their body if they express any negative emotion.

“Denise, you and I are destined to be together, and I have come from a parallel universe to claim you,” Stuart said while sitting in Denise and Gary’s living room.

Deadline asked Sussman about Stuart’s gutsy move.

”That’s interesting that you bring that up because that’s pretty un-Stuart like,” he said. “So I guess if there is some growth for Stuart, it’s that his love for her pushes him into a kind of assertiveness that he never would have had on the original show.”

Lupkus spoke about Denise’s unhappy marriage, which had driven her to drinking, and Stuart’s arrival.

“In that universe, we have buzzers on our necks that stop us from ever being rude or saying what like anything that’s not totally happy, so she’s conditioned at that point to just act like everything’s fine, and to have someone coming into her apartment saying like, you don’t have to live like this like, I’m gonna get you out of here, she can’t even react because she knows that she’ll just be writhing on the floor,” Lapkus said. “So I think, as we see later, she gets swept up in it with him, but then her real feelings for him start to return, and she can feel again.”

Added Sussman, ” Yeah, and it actually is a good metaphor for anybody who’s ever felt stuck in a relationship.”

What about Gary? Once again, he was left behind as by the end of the episode, Denise had joined Stuart, Bert and Kripke, and she and Stuart were seen holding hands while leaping into the next universe together.

“I think Denise has some sort of love for Gary, even if he’s the wrong guy for her, because she’s excited to see him every time she sees him, and she’s back with him over and over again,” Lapkus said. “There are those people in your life where you’re like, you got to break up with that guy, but she kind of likes him for some weird reason, and then she cares for him, so when he’s killed over and over, that’s also pretty upsetting.”

Added Sussman, “It’s bad enough when your loved one is murdered once.”

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‘Stuart Fails To Save The Universe’ EPs Talk Ep 2, Kaley Cuoco return

Published

2 hours ago

July 31, 2026

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SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about Episode 2 of HBO Max’s Stuart Fails To Save the Universe.

As Stuart Fails To Save the Universe revealed in the Episode 2 opening credits spoiler (You can read all about the show’s unique, ever-changing main title sequence here), “Zack is in this one.”

Zack, a recurring character on The Big Bang Theory played by Brian Thomas Smith, was Penny’s (Kaley Cuoco) dim-witted but kind-hearted on- and off- boyfriend while she and Leonard (Johnny Galecki) were broken up.

Stuart Fails To Save the Universe, from The Big Bang Theory creators Chuck Lorre & Bill Prady and Zak Penn, has established a pattern with the first two episodes, each featuring a surprise return of a Big Bang Theory original cast member. Following Kunal Nayyar’s appearance as Raj in Episode 1 where he is shockingly killed by Kripke (John Ross Bowie), Cuoco showed up in the second episode alongside Zack (Smith). In it, Penny is a leader of the resistance against an AI-imposed mind control in an alternate universe where everyone is forced to be perpetually nice and happy by shock-inducing buttons on their necks. Zack is her second in command.

Multiverse and all, why did the Stuart Fails To Save the Universe creators opt to have Penny be with Zack as if her relationship with Leonard — one of the hallmarks of The Big Bang Theory from the pilot — never happened?

“Because that’s what happened in that universe, we don’t know what Leonard is doing in that universe,” Prady said. “Every universe gives every character a completely different history. There’s no continuity because they lived a different life, they lived in a different world. That Penny lives in a world where an evil AI controls people through shock collars, and so she had a completely different experience.”

Added Lorre, “There was no Cheesecake Factory in her life,” a reference to Penny’s place of work for most of Big Bang‘s run.

Stuart Fails To Save the Universe presents a very different version of Penny who is pretty ruthless, violently slapping Stuart (Kevin Sussman), Bert (Brian Posehn) and Kripke (John Ross Bowie) to “deprogram” them and ordering them killed with no hesitation once she realizes that they don’t know how to defeat the AI overlord. The trio are ultimately saved by a drone attack launched by the AI, with Penny, Zack and the rest getting incapacitated while Stuart, Bert, Kripke, along with Denise (Lauren Lapkus), use Leonard and Sheldon’s machine to transport themselves to another universe.

With Raj teetering on the edge of madness in Season 1, are Big Bang OGs relishing going dark in the spinoff?

“Beyond,” Prady said.

Added Lorre, “Beyond. It was fun to do something different, that was part of the promise, come and play with us, and we’ll make sure that you’re playing a version of your character you never got to play before, an entirely different approach to the character, and that was fun for the actors.”

Said Penn, “And everyone wants to play the bad guy, that’s always the most fun role.”

Episode 2 also includes appearances from The Big Bang Theory‘s Christine Baranski and Riki Lindhome.

Baranski, who played Leonard’s mom Beverly on the mothership series, is the host of the 30-month re-education program Stuart, Bert are Kripke are forced to attend as a version of herself. (Interestingly, neither Stuart nor Bert or Kripke reacted to her uncanny resemblance to their friend’s mother.)

‘Stuart Fails To Save the Universe’ E2: Christine Baranski

Lindhome, who did only three but memorable guest appearances on Big Bang as Ramona Nowitzkis, an obsessive CalTech graduate student, plays a version of the same character who is now a receptionist from hell at her alma mater.