Month: June 2026

For decades, theme park traditionalists and exhausted parents alike have shared a deep appreciation for one specific corner of Tomorrowland. As a welcome rest stop offering comfortable theater seats and crisp air conditioning in the middle of a sweltering Florida afternoon, the attraction holds a sacred status. But more importantly, it stands as one of the ultimate historical artifacts most closely tied to the company’s legendary founder.

Now, major changes are officially coming to the Magic Kingdom’s most enduring theater chronicle.

The Walt Disney Company has announced a substantial refresh for the iconic Carousel of Progress. The historic attraction is scheduled to officially close its doors on July 5, 2026, and will remain dark until its highly anticipated grand reopening sometime in 2027.

Fortunately for purists, the core identity of the show is staying intact. The unforgettable signature theme song, “It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow,” will remain the heartbeat of the experience. Furthermore, the audio-animatronic family that audiences have spent the past 51 years checking in on — including John, Sarah, Rover, and the notoriously stubborn Uncle Orville — are all staying on board. Phew.

A Meet-and-Greet With Walt

The brand-new iteration of the ride will feature a massive nod to Disney history right out of the gate. The show will kick off with a brand-new, state-of-the-art animatronic of Walt Disney himself, who will introduce the theater and offer a brief look into its real-world background.

It is a deeply fitting tribute given how incredibly hands-on Walt was with the attraction when it originally debuted at the 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair. After becoming one of the fair’s most-visited pavilions, the show moved to Disneyland in 1967 before permanently relocating to Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in 1975.

BREAKING: July 5 is the final day to experience the current version of Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom.

The attraction will reopen in 2027 with all-new scenes and decades:

• 1969 — moon landing
• 1985 — Halloween night
• 1999 — New Year’s Eve
• “The Possible Future” pic.twitter.com/xYsJ6jnimc

— Drew Smith (@DrewDisneyDude) May 28, 2026

Out With the Old, In With the New Eras

While the original show traditionally started its multi-generational journey at the turn of the 20th century, the 2027 update is completely shifting the timeline forward to reflect modern history:

• Act One (The 1960s): The family’s journey now begins in the 1960s. Fresh off their trip to the World’s Fair, the family will marvel at mid-century innovations and witness historical milestones like the moon landing.
• Act Two (The 1980s): The story jumps 15 years into the 1980s. Disney Imagineers are currently sourcing pop culture items and hidden Easter eggs to decorate the teenage children’s rooms — igniting some intense internal corporate debates over which specific band posters belong on the walls. Meanwhile, Uncle Orville will still be in his bathtub, though this time he has hilariously sunk his entire life savings into a tech startup called Apple. Expect John to deliver his iconic line: “It’ll never work.”
• Act Three (The 2000s): The third act transports guests to the dawn of the new millennium, where the family is utterly mystified and amazed by the early days of “the Internet.”
• Act Four (The Distant Future): The final scene replaces the severely outdated 1990s virtual reality video game from the current version. Instead, Imagineers have hinted that the family will be living entirely off-planet in the far-distant future.

The Modernization of Tomorrowland

Because the Carousel of Progress is one of Disney World’s longest-running shows, any adjustments are bound to draw a bit of healthy skepticism from nostalgic parkgoers. However, the attraction’s script has been visibly showing its age, having last received a major overhaul back in 1994.

The refresh falls in line with Disney’s massive $60 billion expansion and update initiative across its parks and experiences division. Classic attractions across the Magic Kingdom have been steadily getting highly successful, modern face-lifts. The Country Bear Jamboree successfully debuted an all-new, pop-infused setlist in 2024, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad just reopened earlier this month with major track enhancements, and a massive Hollywood Studios rebrand swapped out Aerosmith for the Muppets on the Rock & Roller Coaster.

Change is always tough for Disney fans to swallow, but a trip to the edge of the galaxy might be exactly what this theater needs to ensure a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

From 2005-12, The Closer established itself as a groundbreaking police procedural. As the series was drawing to a close, TNT decided to capitalize on its success by announcing a spin-off, Major Crimes.

Major Crimes went onto have its own stellar run, lasting six season and 105 episodes. Beginning today, the entire show is available for free on Pluto TV.

Pluto TV adding two shows, including Major Crimes

Major Crimes is making its Pluto TV debut starting Monday, alongside Everwood, the drama series that ran on the WB from 2002-06.

“The six-season successor to The Closer, starring Mary McDonnell as the head of the LAPD’s Major Crimes Division navigating a justice system where securing convictions depends as much on strategy as traditional police work,” Pluto TV said of Major Crimes in a press release shared with Men’s Journal.

More on Major Crimes

The series begins with Captain Sharon Raydor (McDonnell) taking over the reins of the LAPD Major Crimes unit from Brenda Leigh Johnson, who was the beloved star of The Closer, played by actress Kyra Sedgwick.

Other LAPD characters on the show include:

• G. W. Bailey as Detective Lieutenant Louie Provenza
• Tony Denison as Detective Lieutenant Andy Flynn
• Michael Paul Chan as Detective Lieutenant Michael Tao
• Raymond Cruz as Detective Julio Sanchez
• Kearran Giovanni as Detective Amy Sykes

Graham Patrick Martin, Phillip P. Keene, Robert Gossett, Jonathan Del Arco, Nadine Velazquez, Jon Tenney, Daniel Di Tomasso, Jennifer Merez and Leonard Roberts also have major roles, with Tom Berenger, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Ransford Doherty, Ever Carradine and others playing recurring characters.

Major Crimes has a 7.8/10 rating on IMDb, along with a 63 out of 100 (“generally favorable”) on Metacritic. The first season of the show also received an 82% overall rating on Rotten Tomatoes, along with strong reviews from Newsday, the Los Angeles Times, USA TODAY and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Some movie restaurants (even those in cartoons or animated movies) just feel like they’re supposed to exist in real life. Between the nostalgia and the cheese pulls, Toy Story’s iconic Pizza Planet undoubtedly tops that list.

For decades, we’ve frantically wondered why on earth (pun intended) Pizza Planet isn’t a real-life restaurant, and no, we’re not talking about the eatery in Dinseyland. That’s not real-life either, guys. Now, finally, Papa Johns has brought some sense to light, promising Pizza Planet pop-ups ahead of the Toy Story 5 premiere on June 19.

What to Know About the Papa John’s Pizza Planet Pop-Ups

So, no, we’re not getting an entire revamped version of Papa John’s rebranded as Pizza Planet permanently, but the baby steps will do … for now.

Instead of a total national rebrand, Papa John’s is launching four highly immersive, retro pizza arcade pop-ups across the globe to bring the legendary pizzeria into the real world. The temporary spaces are designed to fully transport guests into the Toy Story universe, complete with the aesthetic elements synonymous with the 1995 film, including a nod to the iconic arcade claw machine that gave us the iconic green aliens.

If you want to step foot inside the real deal, you’ll need to act fast depending on your location:

• Los Angeles: Opens June 12, 2026, with reservations having gone live on Friday, May 29.
• Seoul, South Korea: Runs from June 12 through June 14.
• London: Takes place over the weekend of June 13 and 14.
• Madrid, Spain: The longest activation, running from June 16 through June 21.

According to a press release from Papa John’s, the activations are built to evoke pure nostalgia for the original film while celebrating the classic connection between eating pizza and watching movies.

Papa John’s is launching Pizza Planet pop-ups in four cities for Toy Story 5, bringing the iconic sci-fi pizzeria first seen in the 1995 🔥 pic.twitter.com/MmiBEcwq0e

— My Mixtapez (@mymixtapez) May 31, 2026

The Nationwide Toy Story 5 Menu

If you don’t live near one of those four global hubs, don’t panic. You can still get a taste of the space-age menu from the comfort of your couch. From May 26 through July 19, Papa John’s is bringing a limited-time, Toy Story 5-themed personal pizza menu to all of its standard locations:

• Space Ranger Roni: A classic Buzz-approved pie loaded with cheese and double pepperoni.
• Sheriff’s Roundup: A nod to Woody featuring smoky Southern-style barbecue sauce, grilled chicken, and onions.
• Reach for the Pie: A savory option topped with Italian sausage and tangy banana peppers.

Eligible pizza purchases will also unlock exclusive, limited-edition Toy Story 5 collectibles featuring Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and Jessie. U.S. loyalty members can also jump into the brand’s first-ever in-app mobile game, Operation Pizza, starting June 1 to unlock additional rewards over the course of a month.

The first five months of 2026 are in the books. Over the final five months of the year, starting in August, Netflix is set to lose five major series from its library, according to a new report from What’s on Netflix’s Kasey Moore.

One of the shows leaving the platform is Shameless, the award-winning comedy-drama that aired on Showtime from 2011-2021. All 11 seasons are currently on Netflix, but officially have an expiration date.

When will Shameless be removed from Netflix?

Per Moore, the chronicles of Frank Gallagher and his outrageous Chicago-based family will exit Netflix on October 11, 2026.

“The Gallagher family has been wreaking havoc on Netflix US for years, consistently popping up in the Netflix top 10 charts whenever a new season dropped,” Moore wrote. “Even since then, it’s still regularly chunking in a lot of viewership. In fact, between 2023 and 2025, the series has pulled in 2.74B hours watched.”

“With its departure looming in October, you’ve got just enough time to grab a beer at the Alibi Room before the series leaves. Will it head to HBO Max like some of the distributor’s biggest other shows, like Friends, or will others want a piece of Gallagher action? We’ll have to wait and see.”

Currently, the only other place besides Netflix to stream Shameless is Amazon Prime Video, where the entire series can be bought for $100. Individual episodes or seasons are also available for purchase.

Stellar cast defines Shameless‘ success

In edition to William H. Macy as Frank Gallagher, the patriarch of a family of schemers and con artists, Shameless also stars Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Allen White, Cameron Monaghan, Emma Kenney, Ethan Cutkosky and Christian Isaiah as his six children.

Justin Chatwin, Shanola Hampton, Noel Fisher, Steve Howey, Joan Cusack, Laura Slade Wiggins, Emma Greenwell and others also have major roles. Macy and Cusack each won multiple awards for their work, as did stunt director Eddie Perez.

Shameless has an 82% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as an 8.5/10 mark on IMDb.

Barbecue is far more than just a culinary style in Texas, it’s pretty well the heartbeat of the state’s food scene. But the storied pits that have spent decades smoking oak-wood meats are suddenly facing an unprecedented threat that has nothing to do with the quality of their rub. Instead, a perfect storm of economic pressures is threatening to put beloved BBQ joints completely out of business.

A dramatic surge in beef prices has sent shockwaves through the Texas barbecue community, leaving restaurant owners and pitmasters struggling to keep their doors open while spending an astronomical share of their budgets on a single, vital ingredient.

The staple cut of the Texas barbecue crown jewel — brisket — has seen retail prices skyrocket. Driven by a combination of generational ranch land depletion, severe weather, and persistent inflation, the financial reality for local smokehouses has taken a devastating turn.

The Brutal Math of the Brisket Margin

For a classic Texas pit, the economic formula behind smoking a brisket has become completely unsustainable. Pitmasters are facing record-high wholesale costs for beef, but the unique physical nature of preparing low-and-slow barbecue compounds the financial sting.

“If I pay $5.25 a pound and I get a 50% yield, that beef is really costing me $10.50 a pound,” explained Justin Manning, co-owner of C&J Barbecue in the Brazos Valley. That raw cost is calculated long before factoring in the rising price of smoking wood, labor to trim the meat, overnight utility overhead, or Styrofoam takeout containers. To maintain a traditional restaurant profit margin under current market conditions, Manning noted he would need to sell brisket for an impossible $40 per pound.

Because middle-class families cannot absorb those types of prices in the current economy, restaurants are being heavily squeezed. Shawn Jones, the pitmaster behind Kirby’s BBQ in New Caney, Texas, was forced to permanently shutter his destination restaurant due to “absolutely insane” beef costs that entirely erased his bottom line. Jones revealed that rising costs had driven his final brisket prices to around $36 a pound, pushing a single family meal up toward $100.

Kirby’s BBQ isn’t alone; other regional staples like Brett’s BBQ Shop and Sabar BBQ have also recently gone under. Even award-winning, high-profile destinations like Burnt Bean Co. have reported entering pure “survival mode,” contemplating limiting their brisket service to just once a week despite having lines wrapped out the door.

BBQ restaurants are closing in Texas due to high beef prices under this administration. pic.twitter.com/AzAXEHax8T

— James Tate (@JamesTate121) May 31, 2026

A Decades-Long Shortage With No Quick Fix

According to industry experts, this isn’t a temporary inflation blip that will self-correct by next season. The Texas Restaurant Association reports that the U.S. is locked in a deeper, 30-year cattle shortage that has been compounding for decades.

Data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reveals that the domestic cattle herd has shrunk to its smallest size since 1951. Decades of ongoing droughts, spiking fuel and fertilizer costs, and high interest rates have discouraged ranchers from expanding their herds. Furthermore, Texas is losing close to 1,000 acres of rural land a day to commercial development, permanently erasing the physical resources required to raise cattle domestically.

To make matters worse, this historic dip in supply is crashing directly into an all-time high consumer demand for protein. Last year, domestic meat sales hit a record $112 billion, leaving restaurants trapped between a severe product shortage and an unyielding customer appetite.

Engineering Survival in the Smokehouse

Faced with an existential crisis, surviving Texas pitmasters are forced to completely re-engineer their kitchens to eliminate every ounce of waste.

At C&J Barbecue, Manning has shifted to utilizing 100% of his raw product to scrape together a profit margin. Brisket trimmings are being rendered down into liquid beef tallow for resale, pork scraps are tossed straight into the side beans, and extra brisket edges are ground down into hamburger meat, chili, and sloppy Joes. Other smokehouses across Houston and Austin are leaning heavily into pushing filling side dishes like “dirty rice” — a Louisiana staple that allows chefs to bulk up plates using leftover trimmings rather than relying solely on whole-muscle cuts.

Over the years, there have been plenty of iconic rock and roll debut albums, including one that turns 54 years old on Monday.

On June 1, 1972, Asylum Records released Eagles, the first studio album by the California-based band of the same name. The album, which reached No. 22 on the Billboard 200, produced three of the group’s signature songs and kicked off a decades-long run as one of the most popular American rock and roll acts.

Eagles was a success right from the start

One month before the album’s release, the Eagles–consisting of founding members Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner– unveiled their debut single, “Take It Easy.” The song was an immediate hit, climbing as high as No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on July 22, 1972.

“Witchy Woman,” the album’s second single, performed even better. Released on August 1, the song cracked the Billboard Hot 100 top 10, peaking at No. 9.

Lastly, Eagles‘ third single, “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” reached No. 22 on the charts following its Dec. 1 reveal.

Subsequent albums, like 1975’s One of These Nights and 1976’s Hotel California, would have more chart and commercial success, but Eagles was the project that kicked it all off.

More than 50 years later, the album’s legacy is secure

In 2023, Rolling Stone released its updated ranking of The 500 Best Albums of All Time. Checking in No. 207 was Eagles, one of multiple entries on the list for the band.

“This debut created a new template for laid-back L.A. country-rock style,” Rolling Stone wrote. “Behind the band’s mellow message — “Take It Easy,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling” — was a relentless drive.”

“Beyond the album’s three hit singles, songs like the somber waltz “Most of Us Are Sad,” the pickin’ and grinnin’ “Earlybird,” and the down-home rocker “Nightingale” showed a band that had perfected a sound right out of the gate,” Rolling Stone added.