The It List is Yahoo’s weekly look at the best in pop culture, including movies, music, TV, streaming, games, books, podcasts and more. Here are our picks for July 10-16, including the best deals we could find for each.
WATCH IT: The scandals of America’s oldest beauty pageant are unraveled in Secrets of Miss America
More than 20 former Miss Americas tell their stories about how the organization perpetuated racism, bullying, body shaming and mental health issues. Miss America 2010 Caressa Cameron, who was the eighth Black titleholder, dishes to Yahoo all about the buzzy docuseries. “This is the first time that we’ve had an opportunity to put a voice to our experience. I think we’ve shared our feelings and things that have happened to us among the sisterhood — like none of these stories are shocking to us — but I think it’s the first time that we have actually had the opportunity to [speak out] to bring forth a meaningful change so that Miss America charts forward in a more positive way,” Cameron shares. “This is the story of the girl behind the photo, behind the crown, behind the rhinestone curtain.” — Taryn Ryder
Secrets of Miss America premieres Monday, July 10 at 10 p.m. on A&E.
WATCH IT: Black Ice tells little-known story of Colored Hockey League
It’s one of the most damning statistics you’ll find in sports. After P.K. Subban scored the overtime winner in a 2014 playoff game against the Boston Bruins, the Black Montreal Canadiens defenseman was targeted in 17,000 tweets that used racist language. Hubert Davis’s powerful new LeBron James and Drake-produced documentary Black Ice not only confronts the bigotry that’s still all-too alive in today’s National Hockey League head-on, but looks back at the groundbreaking, little-known history of professional Black hockey players, dating back to the Colored Hockey League, launched in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1895 — more than 20 years before the NHL. — Kevin Polowy
Black Ice premieres Friday, July 14 exclusively in AMC Theaters.
WATCH IT: The legacy of Playboy is explored again as Secrets of Playboy returns for another season
Last year, the docuseries examined disturbing allegations against Hugh Hefner and the iconic brand. Season 2 looks at the ripple effect of being involved with Playboy and how women’s lives were impacted long after posing for the magazine. The series looks at how Playboy’s promise of sexual freedom posed a much different reality in the outside world for the women who lived it. The show features new, never-before-seen interviews with former Playmates, models and Hefner’s former girlfriends. — T.R.
Secrets of Playboy premieres Monday, July 10 at 9 p.m. on A&E.
WATCH IT: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is here on Blu-ray and DVD
Judy Blume famously waited 50 years before allowing anyone in Hollywood to touch her seminal coming-of-age book, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Ultimately, though, she found the perfect collaborators in writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig and producer James L. Brooks. Craig (Edge of Seventeen) delivered a sharp-witted and soulful take on the story of an 11-year-old (Abby Rider Fortson) desperate to go through puberty — or at least start wearing a bra. Check out an exclusive clip from the acclaimed comedy also starring Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates and Benny Safdie above. — K.P.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is available now on digital and releases on Blu-ray and DVD Tuesday, July 11 at Target.
STREAM IT: The League fills in a too-often overlooked slice of baseball history
Long before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier, Black players were slugging homers and pitching no-hitters in Negro league baseball, which flourished outside of the spotlight dominated by white-owned media properties and sports agencies. Sam Pollard’s new documentary, The League — produced by Oscar-winning Summer of Soul director, Questlove — traces that underexposed part of baseball history, with previously unseen interviews from famous players and new commentary from sports historians. This exclusive clip reminds viewers that Black players have always been a part of America’s national pastime. — Ethan Alter
The League premieres Friday, July 14 on most VOD services.
STREAM IT: Jack Ryan wraps up his Prime Video adventures
Looks like your dad is going to have to find a new show to binge. For four seasons now, Jack Ryan has been bringing the Tom Clancy crowd to Prime Video, consistently making it one of the streamer’s most successful shows. July 14 officially marks the end of John Krasinski’s tour of duty in the role as the final two episodes go live. This exclusive clip from the two-part series finale find Jack’s CIA associates, Mike November (Michael Kelley) and Domingo Chavez (Michael Pena), organizing an effort to get Ryan to his endgame. — E.A.
Jack Ryan’s final season is currently streaming on Prime Video; the two-part series finale premieres Friday, July 14.
WATCH IT: Laura Linney, Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates share the screen in The Miracle Club
Dramatic powerhouses Kathy Bates, Maggie Smith and Laura Linney show their softer sides in Thaddeus O’Sullivan Tribeca Festival-premiering tale of a thorny friend reunion. Years ago, Chrissie (Linney) left Ireland for America under wrenching circumstances, and now she’s back to attend her mother’s funeral. Her return stirs up resentments among the women she left behind, including Lily (Smith) and Eileen (Bates). Despite lingering animosities, they go on a planned trip together, which inevitably re-opens old wounds. But it also gives those wounds a chance to heal at last. This exclusive clip from the film depicts the moment when Linney returns to town for the first time, to the shock of her former friends. — E.A.
The Miracle Club premieres Friday, July 14 in theaters; visit Fandango for showtime and ticket information.
WATCH IT: Christian Petzold’s Afire is a vacation worth taking
What if a self-absorbed killjoy went on vacation and annoyed everyone around him? That’s the jumping off point for Afire, the latest festival hit from German auteur Christian Petzold, which follows frustrated novelist Leon (Thomas Schubert) who is all too aware that his latest book is a dud. No wonder he’s already in a snit when he arrives at a Baltic Sea cottage with his pal Felix (Langston Uibel), only to discover that they’re sharing the place with another visitor, Nadja (Paula Beer). Oh yeah, and there also happens to be out-of-control wildfires spreading in the forests not too far away from their vacation spot. Petzold mines this situation — not too mention his main character’s psychology — in compelling ways, resulting in a film that’s both hilarious and strangely moving. This exclusive clip finds Leon revealing the terrible title for his terrible book to Nadja, whose response speaks for all of us. — E.A.
Afire premieres Friday, July 14 in theaters; visit Fandango for showtimes and ticket information.
WATCH IT: Final Cut is a super-meta remake of a super-meta zombie film
Back in 2017, the Japanese horror film One Cut of the Dead became a cult favorite by gleefully getting meta. The film’s hall of mirrors structure presented a one-take zombie movie and then pulled back to reveal how the problem-plagued production came about — think Shaun of the Dead meets Noises Off. Those meta games continue in the French-language remake Final Cut, overseen by the Oscar-winning director of The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius. In addition to the on camera/behind the scenes shenanigans, this new version also comments on remake culture in general. This exclusive clip from the film showcases that part of the remake, with the French cast questioning some of the genre excesses from the original film. — E.A.
Final Cut premieres Friday, July 14 in theaters; visit Fandango for showtime and ticket information.
HEAR IT: Kool & the Gang are still celebrating good times
People Just Wanna Have Fun, the 34th studio album by the most-sampled R&B band of all time, coincides with Kool & the Gang’s 60th anniversary and founding member George Brown’s new memoir, Too Hot: Kool & the Gang & Me. The full-circle record features some of the last studio work by founding horn players Ronald “Khalis” Bell and Dennis “D.T.” Thomas, who respectively died in 2020 and 2021, and spans the breadth of the funk/soul/disco legends’ influential and timeless sound. In a recent statement, surviving group founder Robert “Kool” Bell said of the LP: “You’ve got the funk, you’ve got the jazzier tracks, we have a few ballads on there. Then there are songs that cross over to a pop sort of thing. We go from the ’70s, the ’80s, right into now. It’s old-school, it’s new school — we kind of captured it all here. With all our music over the years, people have had fun. So, I’d say this album just about sums it all up.” —Lyndsey Parker
People Just Wanna Have Fun by Kool & the Gang is available Friday, July 14 to download/stream on .
STREAM IT: The Afterparty remains deadly funny in its sophomore season
“Has there been another murder?” You already know there had to be considering how funny this Tiffany Haddish-led whodunnit was the first time around. The Afterparty once again sees every suspect retell the same night’s events from their unique perspectives, breaking genre boundaries and leaving the audience (and reportedly even the actors) guessing, “whodunnit?” Season 2 gets even wackier and more whimsical with a nearly brand new cast chock-full of comedy’s best and perhaps most bloodthirsty. When the groom (Zach Woods) is poisoned the night before the wedding, every shady ex and overdramatic family member is a suspect, including Ken Jeong, Elizabeth Perkins, Anna Konkle, Paul Walter Hauser and Jack Whitehall. Sam Richardson and Zoë Chao reprise their roles alongside Haddish in this new somewhat-anthology season of Afterparty. — Danica Creahan
The Afterparty Season 2 premieres Wednesday, July 12 on Apple TV+.
STREAM IT: The Summer I Turned Pretty isn’t afraid to mature with its fanbase
After making quite the splash with a long-awaited teaser trailer set to an ethereal new version of Taylor Swift’s August, fans are more than ready to return to Cousins Beach with Belly Conklin for Season 2 of The Summer I Turned Pretty. With a few new faces (most notably, Eighth Grade’s Elsie Fisher) and a year-long time jump, this sophomore season adaptation of Jenny Han’s YA romance novel manages to maintain its nostalgia-laden sweetness while introducing some bitter, more mature storylines that keeps the show growing alongside its fanbase. The show’s ever-charming big three (Lola Tung, Christopher Briney and Gavin Casalegno) are back with better chemistry, polished acting chops and somehow even more love triangle tension than the comparatively tame first season. — D.C.
The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 2 premieres Friday, July 14 on Prime Video.
HEAR IT: Rita Ora is ready for her praise
“I’ve been gone for a minute/Been low-key with my business,” British diva Rita Ora sings in “Praising You,” the Fatboy Slim-interpolating/sampling lead single off You & I, her first album since 2018. Ora has been a ubiquitous pop/television/tabloid star in the U.K. and many other parts of the globe for more than a decade now, but for various reasons, she’s never quite gotten her big break in the States. Perhaps You & I will change all that. Ora co-wrote all 12 tracks on her third LP, which the 32-year-old artist and recent bride has described as her “most diaristic project yet” and a “high-spirited record about what it feels like to fall in love and enter a new stage of life.” — L.P.
You & I by Rita Ora is available Friday, July 14 to download/stream on .
BUY IT: Smell like a pineapple under the sea with now SpongeBob-themed Lush products
Who smells like a pineapple under the sea? You will thanks to Lush’s new collection of SpongeBob Squarepants bath products. Released as part of Plastic Free July — a cause that’s near and dear to SpongeBob’s spongey heart — these packaging-free items include orange-scented bath bombs, pineapple-scented soaps and a seaweed bubble bar. But the crown soap jewel has to be the Krabby Bathy, which houses watermelon-scented lettuce and tomato soaps between two fizzy bath bombs. Order up! — E.A.
Lush‘s SpongeBob Squarepants bath products are available in stores now.
HEAR IT: Lauren Spencer Smith is your next Canadian idol
When Lauren Spencer Smith competed on American Idol three years ago, at age 16, the experience was marked by disappointment. A pandemic broke out midseason, forcing Smith and her fellow semifinalists to compete remotely from home, and then she didn’t make it past the top 20 round. But the Canadian singer-songwriter — who’d already experienced some success in her native country, with her 2019 release Unplugged, Vol. 1 earning a Juno Award nomination — has gone from strength to strength ever since, and she has established herself as the most successful contestant to emerge from Idol Season 18. Last year, Smith’s self-released singles “Fingers Crossed” and “Flowers” became global hits, thanks to TikTok, and now, as she releases her anticipated debut studio album Mirror (featuring guests GAYLE and Em Beihold) on major label Republic Records, she’s being heralded as the next Olivia Rodrigo — if not the next Kelly Clarkson. — L.P.
Mirror by Lauren Spencer Smith is available Friday, July 14 to download/stream on .
PLAY IT: Mickey Mouse gets a Lite Brite glow up for Disney’s 100th birthday
Walt Disney Studios is celebrating the big 1-0-0 and the Mouse House is still shining brightly thanks to Lite Brite’s new collection of centennial designs. This Super Bright HD board comes with 900 mini-pegs that allow Disney lovers of all ages to complete 12 designs of famous faces from the studio’s long history, from Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck to Simba and Woody and Buzz Lightyear. With double the LED power, this set is definitely shiny enough to attract Tamatoa’s attention. — E.A.
Lite Brite’s Disney edition is available now at Amazon.
