Latest news with #NBCUniversal-owned
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Real Housewives' has filmed in RI before. Do you remember their 2020 romp in Newport?
Bravo announced an Rhode Island expansion of the "Real Housewives." On May 7, the network teased four new shows in a cheeky X post. "IT'S. ALL. HAPPENING," read an Instagram caption from the NBCUniversal-owned cable network. "Set against the shores of the Ocean State, 'The Real Housewives' franchise expands into the world of a tight-knit circle of Rhode Islanders who have deep community roots and families that go back generations," the official description said. However, did you know that the "Real Housewives" have actually been in Rhode Island before? "The Real Housewives of New York City" had a big blow-out in one of Rhode Island's most glamorous cities. Here's a flashback to when the "The Real Housewives" were in the Ocean State. In season 12, episode nine of "Real Housewives of New York City," the girls decide to go on a planned trip to Newport, Rhode Island. "Newport is like a very shi shi place," show mainstay Ramona Singer said. "Great shops, great oysters, great restaurants, a lot of atmosphere." Singer later said that Newport is akin to a miniature Southampton, New York. The main cast stayed at the famous Castle Hill Inn. "Look at the ocean," Luann de Lesseps said, marveling at the view from her inn suite. They also went to Bannister's Wharf and visited the store tyler böe, 33 Bannister's Wharf #3009. While the cast thought of Newport as a "shi shi" place, the episode was messy with some cast members wondering if they would be "thrown out of Rhode Island" for inappropriate behavior. They cast also had a fight between two of the stars over alcohol consumption. Jay Stahl and Paul Edward Parker contributed to the reporting of this story. Rin Velasco is a trending reporter. She can be reached at rvelasco@ This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: 'Real Housewives' has filmed in RI before. Here's what they thought
Economic Times
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Economic Times
Netflix star executive is grateful that she was once fired from her dream job. And she now has the job everyone dreams of
Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria In 2016, Bela Bajaria faced what many would consider a career catastrophe — she was fired from her position as President of Universal Television. After five years of leading the NBCUniversal-owned studio and helping it become a significant force in the industry with hits like The Mindy Project, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Chicago Fire, the news came as a devastating blow. At the time, her departure was attributed to internal tensions between the studio and the network, but the experience left her personally shaken and professionally adrift. Losing the role she once considered her dream job forced Bajaria to confront some tough emotional and identity-related questions. Having poured herself into her work, her sense of self had become closely tied to her professional achievements. With the sudden loss of her position, she was faced not only with uncertainty about her career but also with the difficult task of explaining the situation to her children and navigating the emotional turmoil that followed, she had earlier said in an interview. Rather than rushing into the next opportunity, Bajaria allowed herself time to process the emotional roller coaster. She resisted the immediate urge to bounce back, recognizing that some lessons only come through stillness and self-reflection. Though the first few months after being let go were particularly difficult, this period ultimately became a turning point — one that reshaped her approach to failure, resilience, and leadership. That same year, Bajaria joined Netflix, beginning a new chapter that would prove to be the most defining of her career. By 2023, she had ascended to the role of Chief Content Officer, becoming one of the most powerful executives in global entertainment. In this role, she oversees content across all Netflix markets, including global blockbusters like Stranger Things, Wednesday, Squid Game, Bridgerton, Heeramandi, and Lupin . She also led the platform's move into live programming and sports, securing major deals with the NFL and WWE and greenlighting high-profile events like Chris Rock: Selective Outrage and The Roast of Tom Brady. Her ability to transform a public setback into a platform for reinvention and success has earned her widespread acclaim. Bajaria has been featured in TIME's 100 Most Influential People list, Variety's LA Women's Impact Report, and Fortune's Most Powerful Women rankings for five consecutive years. In 2024, she was elected to the board of The Coca-Cola Company, further cementing her position as a leader across back, what once seemed like a professional failure has proven to be a pivotal experience. Bajaria now views that chapter not with bitterness, but with appreciation for the clarity and courage it gave her. The firing that once left her reeling ultimately freed her to take risks, redefine success on her own terms, and lead with a deeper understanding of resilience."There's amazing books and quotes and all this stuff about [how] you learn so much from failure, and failure is important, and you're not trying hard enough if you're not failing,' Bajaria told CNBC. 'And all of that is true, but then when you fail, nobody wants to talk about it.' 'The first three months (after being fired) were really rough,' she said. 'In retrospect I am so grateful that it happened,' Bajaria said. 'I'm not scared of getting fired. It's very liberating, actually.'
Time of India
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Netflix star executive is grateful that she was once fired from her dream job. And she now has the job everyone dreams of
In 2016, Bela Bajaria faced what many would consider a career catastrophe — she was fired from her position as President of Universal Television . After five years of leading the NBCUniversal-owned studio and helping it become a significant force in the industry with hits like The Mindy Project, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Chicago Fire, the news came as a devastating blow. #Operation Sindoor Live Updates| From Sindoor to showdown? Track Indo-Pak conflict as it unfolds Indian cities that were on Pakistan's radar India hits Lahore's Air Defence Radars in proportionate response At the time, her departure was attributed to internal tensions between the studio and the network, but the experience left her personally shaken and professionally adrift. Losing the role she once considered her dream job forced Bajaria to confront some tough emotional and identity-related questions. Having poured herself into her work, her sense of self had become closely tied to her professional achievements. With the sudden loss of her position, she was faced not only with uncertainty about her career but also with the difficult task of explaining the situation to her children and navigating the emotional turmoil that followed, she had earlier said in an interview. Rather than rushing into the next opportunity, Bajaria allowed herself time to process the emotional roller coaster. She resisted the immediate urge to bounce back, recognizing that some lessons only come through stillness and self-reflection. Though the first few months after being let go were particularly difficult, this period ultimately became a turning point — one that reshaped her approach to failure, resilience, and leadership. That same year, Bajaria joined Netflix, beginning a new chapter that would prove to be the most defining of her career. By 2023, she had ascended to the role of Chief Content Officer , becoming one of the most powerful executives in global entertainment. In this role, she oversees content across all Netflix markets, including global blockbusters like Stranger Things, Wednesday, Squid Game, Bridgerton, Heeramandi, and Lupin . She also led the platform's move into live programming and sports, securing major deals with the NFL and WWE and greenlighting high-profile events like Chris Rock: Selective Outrage and The Roast of Tom Brady. Her ability to transform a public setback into a platform for reinvention and success has earned her widespread acclaim. Bajaria has been featured in TIME's 100 Most Influential People list, Variety's LA Women's Impact Report, and Fortune's Most Powerful Women rankings for five consecutive years. In 2024, she was elected to the board of The Coca-Cola Company, further cementing her position as a leader across industries. Looking back, what once seemed like a professional failure has proven to be a pivotal experience. Bajaria now views that chapter not with bitterness, but with appreciation for the clarity and courage it gave her. The firing that once left her reeling ultimately freed her to take risks, redefine success on her own terms, and lead with a deeper understanding of resilience. "There's amazing books and quotes and all this stuff about [how] you learn so much from failure, and failure is important, and you're not trying hard enough if you're not failing,' Bajaria told CNBC. 'And all of that is true, but then when you fail, nobody wants to talk about it.' 'The first three months (after being fired) were really rough,' she said. 'In retrospect I am so grateful that it happened,' Bajaria said. 'I'm not scared of getting fired. It's very liberating, actually.'
USA Today
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Bravo announces 'Real Housewives of Rhode Island' is coming to cable network
Bravo announces 'Real Housewives of Rhode Island' is coming to cable network Show Caption Hide Caption Bodycam video shows Karen Huger's arrest following drunk driving Newly released bodycam footage showed "The Real Housewives of Potomac" star Karen Huger's interactions with police during her arrest. The country's smallest geographic state received big news May 7: Rhode Island is getting a "Real Housewives" franchise. Bravo announced the news Wednesday after teasing four new shows in a cheeky X post. "IT'S. ALL. HAPPENING," read an Instagram caption from the NBCUniversal-owned cable network. "Set against the shores of the Ocean State, 'The Real Housewives' franchise expands into the world of a tight-knit circle of Rhode Islanders who have deep community roots and families that go back generations," the official description said. The statement continued: "With aspirational lives, thriving businesses and tangled family dynamics, these decade-long friendships prove that in a state this small, there's no escaping your past… or each other." 'Real Housewives' star Teddi Mellencamp has stage 4 melanoma. What's next? The franchise follows the drama filled, table flipped lives of wealthy women's lowbrow fights in upper crust cities across America. The franchise boasts shows in Atlanta, Potomac, Orange County, Beverly Hills, Salt Lake City and Miami. The New Jersey, New York City and Dubai editions are in flux. Dallas and Washington, D.C. are no longer airing. Since 2005, the "Real Housewives" franchise has explored deeper themes that go beyond glitz and glam, including financial instability, divorce, domestic violence, DUIs and the aftermath of home invasions. Two cast members from the franchise have been sentenced to federal prison for fraud charges. The "Real Housewives of Rhode Island" hails from production company Evolution Media and is slated to be executive produced by Bravo star and "Real Housewives" franchise figurehead Andy Cohen as well as Lucilla D'Agostino, Joseph Ferraro and Jen McClure-Metz. Rhode Island Film & TV Office executive director Steven Feinberg praised the news in a Facebook post confirming the upcoming program, which has garnered rumors in recent months. "One of the most popular reality-shows ever to grace television, 'The Real Housewives' franchise sparked an avalanche of enthusiasm when word spread that this entertaining series just might land in the Ocean State," Feinberg said. Ocean State political leaders praise 'Real Housewives of Rhode Island' Rhode Island politicians also applauded the upcoming "Rhode Island" show in respective statements after the news was made public. Gov. Dan McKee, a Democrat, praised the decision to bring the "Real Housewives" to the state. "We're excited to welcome 'The Real Housewives' and their millions of viewers to Rhode Island," McKee said in a news release. "Our state is home to vibrant communities, amazing food, rich history, and stunning coastal beauty – perfect for the spotlight. This is a great opportunity to support our local economy and bring national attention to all Rhode Island has to offer." 'Real Housewives' star Dorit Kemsley files to divorce PK after Shana Wall spotting The state's legislative House speaker, K. Joseph Shekarchi, said, "The Real Housewives of Rhode Island" filming is a "great way to showcase some of the Ocean State's world-class dining and hospitality." The Rhode Island state Senate president, Valarie J. Lawson, agreed, adding that she is pleased to welcome Bravo's "Real Housewives" franchise to Rhode Island, "and I am excited for the show's millions of fans to get a glimpse into our state's rich history, culture, and natural beauty."
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Peacock review: NBC's streaming service is nice for a few dates, not a lifelong commitment
Want to unwind with some episodes of The Office? Watch all the Harry Potter movies with the kids? See what Bridget Jones has been up to, lo these many years? (Apparently she's gone mental over some young fella.) Peacock is the NBCUniversal-owned streaming service that's home to all that and plenty more, including original movies and TV series, a smattering of sports and an extensive selection of "channels." It's also the exclusive place to find some major movie releases not long after they've left the theater: Conclave, Nosferatu, The Wild Robot and Wicked, to name a few notable recent ones. The price tag is reasonable, too, especially if you're able to snag one of Peacock's occasional discount offers. However, certain aspects of the interface are irritating, and I'm often left feeling there's more and better content available elsewhere. (You may disagree; these are just my preferences talking.) Here's my Peacock review. Related: Disney+ review: A streaming candy store for kids, but parents should be wary of Hulu Hulu review: The single best value in streaming services, especially if you bundle Paramount+ review: Come for the police procedurals, stay for the news, sports and movies In its earlier days, Peacock offered a totally free tier with access to a subset of its library. That's gone, alas, leaving you with either a Premium or Premium Plus subscription (the former a bit of a misnomer because premium, by definition, suggests there's something below it). The two plans cost $7.99 and $13.99 per month, respectively, or $79.99 and $139.99 annually. The latter options effectively give you two months free, a savings worth considering if you intend to keep the service for at least a year. You should definitely be on the lookout for deals, though: Peacock occasionally offers a substantially discounted annual rate, such as $29.99 for one year of Premium. That works out to less than $3 per month, a pretty exceptional price. So what does Premium Plus buy you? Ad-free viewing, for one thing, though keep in mind that you'll see commercials during any live content (such as sports) and possibly a handful of other streams as well. (Peacock notes there are "limited exclusions" from this promise of no ads.) That's pretty common; similar rules apply at Paramount+. The Plus subscription also lets you download content for offline viewing (handy if you're getting on a plane and want to load up, say, a season's worth of Yellowstone). Finally, it includes a live-stream of local NBC channels in most areas. Just as Paramount+ plays host to past and present CBS shows, Peacock serves up current NBC offerings (such as St. Denis Medical, The Traitors and The Voice) along with some classics: Sanford and Son, Little House on the Prairie, The Bionic Woman, etc. Peacock is also the only place to catch all five seasons of Yellowstone (though, weirdly, its spin-off series 1883 and 1923 can be found only on Paramount+). Like other streamers, Peacock is home to its share of originals; I've enjoyed Mrs. Davis, Poker Face and Day of the Jackal, to name a few. There's also a rotating lineup of movies; at this writing, for example, you can watch a handful from the Fast & Furious franchise, the aforementioned Bridget Jones sequel (Mad About the Boy), various Shrek and Despicable Me entries and so on. And speaking of those latter titles, Peacock has a robust catalog of family-friendly fare, TV and movies alike. On the sports front, you'll find live and recorded NBC Sports programming, which runs the gamut from Sunday Night Football to Premier League soccer to summer and winter Olympics. There's also some college basketball and football as well as a whole section devoted to WWE wrestling. Outside of sports and your local NBC station (the latter included only for Premium Plus subscribers), there's not a ton of live content here. In fact, although Peacock touts a channel guide with over 50 choices, it doesn't bear the label "live TV." That's because the majority of these — Sitcom Staples, Comedy Movies, Peacock Reality and so on — are simply the service's on-demand libraries reformatted as a channel guide. Only a handful of news and sports channels are actually live, and even those are mostly of the repackaged-from-various-sources variety. (For example, you won't find CNBC or MSNBC livestreams here, but some shows from the latter news channel are available after airing.) You do get the Hallmark Channel, as well as plenty of Bravo content: Real Housewives, Below Deck, Vanderpump Rules, etc. And because NBC owns Telemundo, you'll find lots of Spanish-language content in Peacock's eponymous hub. It's hard to say whether all this content amounts to good or bad, enough or not enough; it's simply what's there. Some of it you'll like, some you won't. Speaking personally, I've found less to enjoy on Peacock than I have, say, Hulu or Paramount+. But that's just me; if you want to perma-binge on the likes of The Office and Parks and Recreation, Peacock will be a good fit. I tested the service on a Sansui S55VOUG TV using both its native Google interface and a Roku Ultra streamer. The experience was largely identical, with a couple head-scratching exceptions. At first blush, Peacock's interface closely resembles that of Disney's, Paramount's and others: A home screen stuffed with rows of recommended and categorical content, anchored by a fly-out main menu to take you to search, movies, live channels and more. It's a familiar, effective design, but things fall apart a bit once you venture into some of the sub-menus. For example, head to Movies and you'll see a carousel of top picks, a row of personalized recommendations and then a set of "browse by genre" icons: comedy, drama, kids, etc. But when you choose any of these, you get one long page of matches sorted alphabetically; there's no further division, no additional categories or top picks or the like. Scrolling through an endless alphabetical set of thumbnails isn't a good time. Similarly, the My Stuff page — which is where you'll find any content you've marked for future viewing — seems to be ordered completely at random. It's not alphabetical, not divided into TV and movies. Search works well enough, with results appearing dynamically as you type and my standard "Tom Cruise" search producing a couple hits (including the underrated Far and Away). However, while voice search is available in Roku's Peacock app, it's not supported in Google's — odd considering that the TV itself has that feature. Like a lot of streamers, Peacock automatically plays a preview video of whatever your cursor lands on, which I find incredibly annoying. You can disable that — if you can find the right menu. There's no settings icon in the main menu where you'd expect; instead, you have to scroll up and choose your profile, which takes you to the profile-selection page. No obvious settings menu there, either, though there is an "Account" option with the familiar gear icon alongside it — but, nope, that's just account stuff, terms of service, privacy settings, etc. No, to change this one setting, you have to actually edit your profile, which is done by selecting the little pencil that appears below the profile picture. None of this is difficult; it's just not intuitive, not logical. To make matters worse, when I actually selected "Autoplay trailers" in order to toggle it off, a message informed me I had to venture into Roku accessibility settings in order to do this. That seemed odd. Two final complaints. First, the aforementioned channel guide disappears far too quickly when you're browsing. Stop scrolling for just a few seconds and, poof, it's gone. And while the Roku version of the guide includes a categorical menu (News, Movies, Sports, etc.) so you can quickly jump to the section you want, the Google TV has no such shortcut menu. Second, if you have the Premium plan, Peacock displays a full-screen ad seconds after you pause a movie or TV show. In a way that feels even more intrusive than the occasional commercial block. Peacock is... fine. For my money, it's a streamer you subscribe to for a month or two so you can binge favorite shows or watch a few movies that aren't available elsewhere, maybe some soccer or the Winter Olympics. It's definitely a strong choice for parents, as there's plenty of worthwhile stuff for kids. I do wish the company would spend some time addressing the numerous interface annoyances, most of which feel like they could be fixed with a few lines of code. At least Peacock isn't overly expensive, especially if you snag one of those $30-for-a-whole-year deals. At that price it's easier to overlook the UI shortcomings. Check out Yahoo's latest streaming advice, based on hands-on testing. Best streaming services | Best live TV streaming services Disney Plus review | Hulu review | Hulu + Live TV review | Paramount Plus review | Sling TV review
