Polygamist breaks 23M views; Plas Johnson dies at 94
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- The Polygamist pulled 23 million views in its first month on Netflix, debuting in mid-June and topping charts in Africa while breaking the global non-English top five.link ›
- S'dumo Mtshali stars as polygamist tycoon Jonasi opposite Gugu Gumede's influencer wife Joyce in the 22-episode drama, adapted from Sue Nyathi's novel and directed by Nigerian Akin Omotoso.link ›
- Plas Johnson, the session saxophonist behind the 1963 Pink Panther Theme, died at 94 on July 15 — the solo took just two takes and won three Grammys plus an Oscar nomination.link ›
- The Strokes released 'Reality Awaits,' their first album in six years, with 'Going to Babble On' singled out as their most winsome song since the 2001 debut 'Is This It.'link ›
- Charli xcx's new album 'Music, Fashion, Film' closes with a David Cronenberg monologue on mortality — 'oblivion is freedom' — reframing her shift away from the synth-heavy 'Brat' sound.link ›
- Lionsgate redesigned the 10th-anniversary 'La La Land' poster to give Ryan Gosling the raised-hand pose he originally intended, ahead of the Aug. 16 Dolby Cinema re-release.link ›
- Charlotte MacInnes appealed Justice Raper's ruling that Rebel Wilson's Instagram posts weren't defamatory, accusing Wilson of giving 'false evidence' in the September 2023 Sydney bath case.link ›
- Carlton Cuse warned that the NBA's $77 billion rights deal and NFL renegotiations are squeezing scripted budgets, noting football drove 80%+ of last year's top-rated U.S. broadcasts.link ›
South African Netflix drama The Polygamist pulled 23 million views in its first month without translating itself for Western audiences — a pan-African hit, entirely Black cast, 22-episode run built around polygamy as both legitimate African tradition and a cynical flex. S'dumo Mtshali's tycoon Jonasi and Gugu Gumede's influencer wife Joyce anchor the kind of specific, textured storytelling that topped charts in Africa and cracked the global non-English top five. The bigger story: African drama no longer needs Western permission to sustain a long-form hit. Session saxophonist Plas Johnson also died at 94, taking with him the two-take Pink Panther solo that won three Grammys.
The stories behind this week
Why The Polygamist is so much more than trash TV and a guilty pleasure streaming hitWith 23 million views in a month and a 22-episode run, The Polygamist establishes that South African and pan-African drama can sustain global hit status without translating itself for Western audiences — a 23-million-view debut that proves audiences will commit to long-form non-English African series rooted in specific cultural textures.
Carlton Cuse On How Sports Rights Fights Are Hurting Scripted, Fair Residuals, AI & Netflix Series ‘The Secret Of Secrets’Cuse, co-creator of Lost and an Emmy winner, is putting a public face on the $77B NBA rights deal that's diverting entertainment spending away from scripted production. His admission that streaming residuals lag the old network model gives guilds a quotable ally heading into future contract fights over the ad-hoc talent pool model.
Julie Andrews Doc From R.J. Cutler Set for Disney+This documentary gives fans and cultural historians unprecedented access to Julie Andrews’ private journey, including struggles and reinventions not widely known. The depth of her participation suggests a level of personal disclosure that could reshape public understanding of her legacy, especially as it will reach millions through Disney+.
Cronenberg’s Voice Ends Charli xcx’s Album With Mortality LessonFor Charli xcx, embracing impermanence through Cronenberg’s voice shifts the stakes of her artistry: it’s no longer about legacy or reinvention for acclaim, but creative freedom in the face of inevitable oblivion. This reframing makes the album’s sonic departure feel earned, not performative.
Reality Awaits: Strokes' Best Album in YearsThe review reframes the Strokes from what Casablancas's longtime fans feared was a 'cash-grab project' into a band with 'a whole lot more road left to explore.' That tonal shift — from side-project inertia to a genuinely playful, tuneful reinvention — reframes Casablancas's dual-band career as complementary rather than competitive, and gives the band's legacy a credible new chapter.
Lionsgate Redesigns 'La La Land' Poster for 10th AnniversaryFor a decade, the poster has been one of cinema's most parodied images, with Gosling himself publicly calling out the awkward hand — Lionsgate's quiet correction signals the studio is willing to tweak a piece of film history to appease its star and refresh the marketing ahead of the Aug. 16 re-release and upcoming Broadway adaptation.
MacInnes Appeals Wilson Defamation RulingWilson now faces parallel defamation-related litigation on two continents: MacInnes' appeal in Australia escalates the dispute by directly attacking both the judge's credibility and Wilson's honesty, while the LA suit adds a second front tied to Wilson's writing credit dispute on The Deb — meaning a single 2023 bath incident could drag through courts for years and shape Wilson's reputation and career in both jurisdictions.
Plas Johnson, Saxophonist Behind ‘Pink Panther Theme,’ Dead at 94Johnson's death closes a chapter on the golden era of Los Angeles session musicians who quietly shaped pop, rock, and jazz recordings across six decades. His Oscar-nominated, three-Grammy-winning Pink Panther solo — captured in just two takes — became one of cinema's most recognizable instrumental hooks, yet the source emphasizes that much of his vast catalog remains unattributed to him. The Wrecking Crew documentary tried to correct that invisibility; his passing sharpens the urgency of that recognition.
Why it matters: The Polygamist's debut reshapes the assumption that global non-English hits require Western-friendly packaging — every producer chasing the next Squid Game now has a Soweto case study to point to.
