If anyone tries to tell you that reality television isn’t full of culture, tell them to watch the first drop of “Love Is Blind UK” season 2. Not only does it provide an American audience with a crash course in a wide array of British accents and terminology, but viewers can also learn about the grift of “human design” — and perhaps most importantly, “sp…

“Love Island” and “Love Island: Beyond the Villa” may have wrapped their latest seasons, but if anything the drama has only gotten more explosive — and unsettling — off-camera. In this episode, we discuss how the JaNa and Kenny breakup unfolded and dig into the rumored reason for the breakup, based on public statements by JaNa and her friends. We also get into the perils of insincere men on reality dating shows, and how racism and misogynoir put Black women in particularly vulnerable positions when dating on TV. (In this conversation, we reference Taryn Finley’s excellent Refinery29 essay, “JaNa Craig’s Split Proves A Pattern & It’s Black Women Who Pay The Price." We also discuss the Huda and Louis relationship, the apparent rift it has caused among the “Love Island” and “Too Hot to Handle” crews, and the warped incentives of sudden fame and dating on TV.

“The Hunting Wives” is one of those rare shows where nothing makes much sense, but it still somehow works. Thanks to her very middling husband, coastal liberal Sophie O’Neill (Brittany Snow) gets dropped into the gun-toting world of East Texas socialites, led by Queen Bee Margo Banks (Malin Åkerman). Longing glances are exc…

Titling your new Netflix rom-com series “Too Much” is the sort of move that comes off as either a provocation or an easy set-up. It’s as if co-creator Lena Dunham is inviting critics to assess whether her show and her heroine are, indeed, too much. And given the decade-plus of fevered discourse around her last semi-autobiogr…

Pedro Pascal + Dakota Johnson + Chris Evans + love triangle + New York City + an exploration of modern dating should = pure joy. Unfortunately, the math behind Celine Song’s sophomore feature, “Materialists,” simply doesn’t add up.

You know things aren’t going great when you watch a movie and can’t stop mentally cataloguing each …

Let’s talk reunions, y’all! We’re back from our summer vacations, rested and ready to reunite for all the reunion specials we missed during our OOO week: “The Ultimatum: Queer Love” and “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” Hosts Joanna Garcia Swisher and Nick Viall took their best swings at the Andy Cohen crown, with varying results, but each reunion offered at least a few juicy moments.

“The Ultimatum: Queer Love” finale had it all: Proposals! Confrontations! A dramatic breakup! This season was a true emotional rollercoaster, in all of the best ways. We got to see some real growth from both couples as well as individuals, while others couples are to untangling hard truths right up to the end. (Yes, we ARE talking about you, Mel and Marie.)

We taped this episode ahead because of our insane schedules, so this podcast will only include discussion of episodes 8 and 9 of “Queer Love” S2. A separate podcast about the (honestly quite juicy) reunion will be coming soon.

Just in time for the end of Pride Month, “The Ultimatum: Queer Love” has returned to our screens. And after watching the first seven episodes of season 2, we couldn’t help but wonder… why does the straight version even exist when “Queer Love” is so far superior?

The new season follows six couples who have reached a crossroads in th…