Stop Everything!

Director Denis Villeneuve's Dune Part 2, starring the youthful and attractive foursome of Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh and Austin Butler, is riding a high-speed sandworm of success at the box office.

Guest critic Wenlei Ma is in to share her Dune review and ponder the psychological horror of the viral sandworm popcorn bucket.

Also: closing the loop on J.Lo, BW reports back on The Greatest Love Story Never Told, which is the making-of documentary of the superstar's chaotic musical feature, This is Me … Now.

We're obsessed with TikTok user Reesa Teesa's 50-part TikTok series, Who TF Did I Marry?!?

Guest critic Tahlea Aualiitia is in to help explain, analyse and marvel over Reesa Teesa's storytelling prowess and the wild details of her marriage to a pathological liar.

Remember this moment: when Taylor Swift played the biggest shows of her career on the Melbourne stop of her Eras tour.

As Sydney gears up for its own weekend of Taylor Swift mania, we're getting deep into Swiftology with Brittany Spanos, a senior writer for Rolling Stone who's followed Swift's career and teaches a course about her at NYU. And Stop Everything! resident Swiftie Sarah Mashman shares her concert review.

The Super Bowl feels the Taylor Swift effect, with record high viewership around the world.  

We’re talking Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce wish fulfilment, Usher’s half-time show and Beyonce’s new music announcement with guest critic Maria Lewis! 

And Jennifer Lopez’s This is Me ... Now feature musical is out. Is it as chaotic as the trailer led us to believe?  

Millennial dream couple Maya Erskine and Donald Glover star in a reimagined Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the 2005 assassin action film that launched Brangelina (rip) into the strastosphere, and we are bathing in the new series' moody, gig economy, sexy misfit vibes.

Also, a Grammys wrap with this ep's guest critic, Jack Evans, BTN reporter, Beyoncé aficionado and new dog daddy.

This ep guest critic Hannah Reich opens up about how she spends her TikTok Time, introducing us to the accounts of famous mumfluencers, Indy Clinton and Nara Smith.

Are mumfluencers purveyors of wholesome, relatable content, like a healthy, homemade snack? Or are they flaunting their curated, unattainable privilege during a cost of living crisis?! How are regular mums supposed to read these online performances of motherhood?

Also: a look at The Brothers Sun, Netflix's new series about a Taiwanese organised crime family, starring Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh.

Justice for Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig, who were left out of the Oscar nominations for best actress and director. Meanwhile Ryan Gosling, who played Ken, scored a best actor nod. Is this the patriarchy, and horses, at work?

Kween Kong of RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under (season 2) is the first Stop Everything! guest critic of 2024.

Also in this ep: JLo's trailer for This Is Me … Now, the Emmys, Disney's Wish, Singles Inferno season 3 and detoxing from MAFS

We're ushering in Drag royalty and their champions.

Local legend Kween Kong stops by to talk about how life has changed since being a finalist on the second [and best] season of RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under.

And Fenton Bailey was a queer kid coming of age in the UK in the seventies. Television changed his life, inspiring him to move to New York and start a production company with co-founder Randy Barbato: World of Wonder.

From there, World of Wonder worked with Britney Spears, Carrie Fisher and Tammy Faye Bakker but their most enduring collaboration is of course with RuPaul Charles. In 1993 they shot the film clip for RuPaul's 1993 hit, Supermodel (you better work) which became a staple on MTV, and in 2008 they produced season one of RuPaul's Drag Race.

We're getting the inside story on a new documentary about legendary YA author Judy Blume and spending time with disability inclusion advocate Sinéad Burke

How did Sinéad Burke go from teen fashion blogger to two-time British Vogue cover model with over 200,000 instagram followers? Sinéad shares her story with Stop Everything! and talks about why inclusive design is important to everyone.

And at 85, global bestselling author Judy Blume is a living legend who's long overdue for celebration. Filmmakers Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok are directors of the feature documentary 'Judy Blume Forever' that takes stock of the life and legacy of the beloved groundbreaking author.

We're learning about managing fame, making mistakes and the art of forgiveness.

Celebrity chef, cookbook author and millennial influencer Alison Roman takes BW + BL behind the scenes of her YouTube Home Movies and shares her biggest regret of 2020.

And Ronald Gladden, star of Jury Duty answers all our burning questions about his experience on the mockumentary series and how his life has changed since its release.

We're talking happily-ever-after with Julia Quinn, author of the Bridgerton romance novels.

With its multiracial (and hot) casting and steamy sex scenes, Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series found new and enthusiastic audiences via Shondalands's hit screen adaptations for Netflix. BW and romance correspondent Rudi Bremer talk to Julia about collaborating with Shonda Rhimes on the new Queen Charlotte series and novels, and what she's learned about writing non white and queer characters.

And BL and BW hear from the director and cast of Rye Lane, a British romcom that sends its leads on a colour-saturated caper through the landmarks of South London.

We're going behind the scenes and in front of the cameras of documentary series Alone Australia.

Alone Australia, SBS's version of the international series hit our screens and our hearts as ten contestants battled and embraced the elements on the West Coast of lutruwita/Tasmania.

BW + BL spoke to Producer Riima Daher about everything from training participants how to use camera gear in the wilderness to where they poop.

And after 67 days surviving solo, Alone Australia winner, Gina Chick packed her possum skin coat and left her home. Gina shares how she packed on the kilos to prepare for the show and why she kept the camera rolling as she grieved her late daughter Blaise.

Stop Everything! It's a big one this week.

It's our final show before we break for summer, and we're wrapping the year in pop culture with two of our favourite members of the Stop Everything! cinematic universe: comedian, author and Drag Race Down Under judge, Rhys Nicholson; and broadcaster, film and tv critic and Stop Everything! fill-in cohost, Wenlei Ma.

And — we are farewelling co-host Benjamin Law, who's stepping back from Stop Everything! After SIX years, so he can focus on some big exciting and non-disclosable projects in 2024. BW and BL tell their Stop Everything! origin story, laugh through a classy selection of bloopers and hug it out as they close the book on a very special era of the show.

We're sad but we're also excited! Because Stop Everything! continues in 2024 in a new format, with BW hosting solo and welcoming a rotating roster of guest critics each week to talk all things pop culture.

Award-winning director Corrie Chen takes us behind the scenes of The Artful Dodger, a re-envisioning the Dickens classic, Oliver Twist, set in 1850s colonial Australia. Corrie talks about directing an all star cast and how she coped with all blood and gore of the series many surgery scenes.

BL has a religious experience watching Beyoncé's Renaissance tour film, and BW and BL trawl through the pop culture news of the week: Former US Congressman George Santos' Cameo-powered pivot; Billie Eilish's coming out story; and how the Dutch translation of a new book about Harry and Meghan put names to bombshell disclosures made during the couple's 2021 Oprah interview.

Nineties supermodel Linda Evangelista isn't dating because she doesn't "want to hear somebody breathing" — and frankly, we're into it! With that quote, Evangelista joins a pantheon of unbothered older women (Whoopi Goldberg, Kim Catrall, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters) who dgaf what you think about them.

And we're getting on the blower for a phone call with writer, humourist, and New York City icon Fran Lebowitz! Fran talks about her resistance to the digital age, playing a judge on Law and Order and how she's getting ready for her 2024 tour of Australia.

Also: BW watches 3+ hours of Faraway Downs, Baz Luhrmann's six-part recut of his 2008 epic, Australia, to find out what's new, and the answer is — more ham; BL reports back on Bottoms, a hectic, genre bending queer high school comedy starring The Bear's Ayo Edebiri and The Idol's Rachel Sennott.

Dr Kate Adams is here to spill all the behind-the-scenes beans about The Real Housewives of Sydney. Dr Kate talks about the drama of #FurGate, explosive arguments and why she said yes to joining the cast of RHOS.

In other drama, BW and BL gossip about the shock firing and sudden rehiring of Open AI CEO Sam Altman; and what they think of reality competition show Squid Game: The Challenge and spooky true crime podcast Ghost Story.

We’re gossiping about the end of the actors strike; Fellow Travellers, a new series that blends history with horny sex scenes; and that Vogue photo shoot of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and fiancee Lauren Sanchez.

And Kelsey McKinney and Alex Sujong Laughlin, co-creators of Normal Gossip, take us behind the scenes of their hit podcast that trades in low stakes, high drama gossip about normal people.

Britney Spears' long-awaited memoir delivers the goods — from Justin Timberlake's betrayals to details of the conservatorship that ruled the pop star's life for 13 years. BW read the book in one day and has lots of views.

And live from Kaurna Country — Stop Everything's show from In Other Words at Oz Asia Festival! Cookbook author and MasterChef fan favourite Sarah Tiong and author and restaurateur Durkhanai Ayubi on everything from how they like to eat their feelings to why you should pay $30 for Bánh mì

Friends fans of all ages are mourning the death of Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing on the long-running sitcom. But is Friends what Perry wanted to be remembered for?

Hasan Minhaj has clapped back at a New Yorker article that found inaccuracies and embellishments in stories he's told in comedy specials. Minhaj published a 20-minute fact check video of The New Yorker's fact check of him — and we're wading through the entrails.

And hear from Jessica Yu, director of Quiz Lady, a new comedy starring Sandra Oh, Awkwafina and Will Ferrell; and Xavier Ho, ABC Top 5 Arts resident, who's got gaming tips for non gamers.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is box office gold. Geriatric millennial correspondent Ben Law checks out the nearly three-hour concert movie and reports back on his favourite eras. 

Screenwriter and showrunner Greg Daniels is the creative mind behind beloved shows like The Office (US), Parks and Recreation and King of the Hill. He talks to Ben and Beverley about his current show, Upload, which takes a dystopian turn into the world of big tech and digital afterlives.

And file it under the category of things no one asked for: a four-hour recut of Baz Luhrmann’s 2008 epic (flop) Australia is heading to Disney+. Beverley revisits Australia — the movie — to see how it holds up (spoiler alert: Hugh Jackman’s jacked torso holds up.)