I would definitely cancel Peacock and Hulu this month — here's why
With summer in full swing, you're probably spending more time outdoors—and less time glued to your TV. So why keep paying for streaming subscriptions you barely touch? Summer is the perfect time to cut down on monthly costs.
In 2025, streaming costs are higher than ever. Americans pay an average of $61 a month for streaming services, according to a Deloitte report — or a hefty $732 a year.
But you can save a chunk of that by pausing a service or two. It's easy to hop back in when a must-watch show or movie finally drops.
In July 2025, I recommend canceling Hulu and Peacock. Both services are rated highly on our list of best streaming services for their solid catalogs, but their upcoming lineups are pretty quiet, with no big premieres or buzzworthy originals dropping soon. Unless there's something specific you're catching up on, you can safely drop them for now and resubscribe when they have something you really want to watch.
Here's why I think you should consider canceling Peacock and Hulu this month.
Hulu boasts a fantastic library, particularly when it comes to TV shows. Not only does it have acclaimed originals like "The Handmaid's Tale," it houses FX series like "The Bear" and "Shogun" and airs new episodes of ABC shows the next day.
"The Bear" season 4 recently dropped all episodes in late June, and if you haven't binged them, perhaps you may want to consider keeping Hulu. But likely, most fans have run through the entire season.
July doesn't have much new to offer. The biggest original is "Washington Black," a limited series drama following a young boy fleeing a sugar plantation in the early 1800s. It's got a star-studded cast that includes Sterling K. Brown, Tom Ellis, Charles Dance and Billy Boyd.
"Washington Black" looks fantastic and I'll certainly watch it ... after I resubscribe to Hulu down the road. The miniseries doesn't premiere until July 23 and I can wait a couple of weeks to binge it.
Meanwhile, the only other noteworthy new titles on Hulu this month are "Bachelor in Paradise" season 10 (premiering July 7) and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" season 17 (premiering July 9). The latter is a show that's much better binged, so waiting a month or two is more than doable.
As for "Bachelor in Paradise," you can watch ABC for free the old-fashioned way — with a TV antenna. Mine is hooked up to a Sling AirTV Anywhere device so I can record shows to watch later. But if you don't have this setup, some smart TVs have a built-in antenna or you can get an antenna to hook up to your smart TV.
As for Peacock its July schedule is a desert when it comes to originals. The only one is "Twisted Metal" season 2. Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz return in the post-apocalyptic action comedy, which sees their characters entering the deadly Twisted Metal tournament, a sinister demolition derby hosted by a mysterious man known as Calypso.
Looks like a riot, but "Twisted Metal" season 2 doesn't even premiere until the very last day of the month, July 31.
You're not missing out on much else ... unless you're a fan of "Love Island." Season 7 of the dating competition series will continue airing episodes throughout July. So if you can't get enough of the drama and romance in the villa (and Casa Amor), you should keep Peacock.
How much you can save by canceling Peacock and Hulu depends on which tiers you currently have.
The ad-supported Peacock Premium is $8 per month, while ad-free Premium Plus (with the live NBC feed) is $14. Ad-supported Hulu is $10, and ad-free Hulu is a whopping $19.
So, if you have the basic standalone versions of both, you'll save $18. If you have the highest, ad-free tiers, you'll save $33. That may not sound like a lot, but churning various streaming services throughout the year can save you well over a few hundred dollars. Put that toward your summer vacation or stockpile it for holiday shopping at the end of the year.
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USA Today
32 minutes ago
- USA Today
Julia Whelan is the voice of the summer: Meet the narrator of your favorite bestsellers
She's your favorite author's favorite audiobook narrator. Julia Whelan is the voice of the summer, the smooth-talking vocals behind some of 2025's biggest books – 'Atmosphere' by Taylor Jenkins Reid, 'Great Big Beautiful Life' by Emily Henry and 'Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil' by V.E. Schwab, to name a few. As an audiobook listener will tell you, the narrator can make or break a good listen. So what about Whelan has authors clamoring to get her on their stories? It's more than just her voice and acting skills – Whelan has become the face of an industry known only for voice, a public figure in a social media era where readers have unprecedented access to the creatives that bring their favorite books to life. Whelan's voice on an audiobook can lead to a boom in sales. There's a responsibility that comes with that, and Whelan is determined not to let it go to waste. Whelan is fighting for more pay and better working conditions for audiobook narrators, who do not receive royalties like other actors. The voice behind Taylor Jenkins Reid, Emily Henry books Credited to her English major background, Whelan is a 'generalist' reader – she's done romance, book club fiction, erotica, fantasy, thrillers and historical fiction. She's the voice of Tara Westover's memoir 'Educated,' Kristin Hannah's 'The Women' (for which she won an Audie Award), narrated a few chapters of Taylor Jenkins Reid's "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo' and all of Emily Henry's books. She's at a point in her career she calls 'an embarrassment of riches.' The key to a Whelan narration is close collaboration. Sometimes that's sending voice memos back and forth to get pronunciation right, sometimes that's envisioning actors an author dreams would play their characters. For Laurie Forest's 'The Black Witch,' a series Whelan has been narrating since 2017, she worked with the author to create fictional accents for the fantasy world. Sarah MacLean, a historical romance author whose first contemporary romance, 'These Summer Storms,' comes out July 8, said it was a 'dream' to get Whelan on her novel. 'She's just such an authentic person who cares so much about the adaptation of the book being perfect,' MacLean says. 'She says the audiobook is the first and best adaptation that you're ever going to get as a writer and I think that is so true and it's so powerful. I just trust her implicitly.' A post shared by Sarah MacLean (@sarahmaclean) From child actor to renowned audiobook narrator Whelan got her start as an actor when she was 9, with a notable role on ABC drama 'Once and Again' alongside Sela Ward and Evan Rachel Wood. She left acting in high school to study English in college, assuming she would resume her TV days after she graduated. But with the 2007-2008 writer's strike and recession, Whelan had to look elsewhere. By the time she got in the booth, it was the 2010s boom of YA romance and dystopia, and Whelan's narration of these young protagonists filled an industry age gap. She did the 'typical Hollywood hustle of catch where catch can,' thinking one book a month could give her a steady enough income for her car payment. Then 'Gone Girl' took off. Whelan narrated the calculated, cunning Amy Dunne. She knew from the first 10 pages that it would be huge. Amid the rise in digital reading, platforms like Audible ballooned. Whelan still has people tell her that 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn was the first audiobook they listened to. By then, she was narrating full-time – around 70 books a year – plus writing her first book, 'My Oxford Year.' The quantity was unsustainable and she says she 'almost had a breakdown.' But she was also making a name for herself among both listeners and publishers. When she wrote her second book, 'Thank You For Listening,' she dialed back, but her success didn't. She became known in book communities as an audiobook narrator who intentionally chooses quality books. As audiobook narrators become public figures, Whelan leads fight for change Audiobooks were the perfect happy medium for Whelan, who never liked the public recognition that came with acting. Narrating let her continue acting while maintaining the privacy she craved. Then, about five or six years ago, that changed. Readers started following audiobook narrators like they did their favorite authors or actors. There was a push to be a public figure because her voice helped sell books. When Whelan went on tour for 'My Oxford Year' in 2018, the stops were filled only with a handful of friends and family members. Then the pandemic hit, and Whelan thought it would be the end of audiobooks because people weren't commuting. She was wrong. 'I started getting messages from people saying things like 'You're the only voice I've heard for weeks now,'' Whelan says. 'It was a very intimate experience for a lot of people and a moment of human connection where we were all so isolated.' On her 2022 tour, audiobook fans sold out venues for 'Thank You For Listening.' 'That's when I went, 'OK, we're being exploited,'' Whelan says. Traditional audiobook narrators get paid per finished hour of recording, often a few $100 per hour. Most span from eight to 12 hours. They don't get royalties after, even though others in the publishing industry, like authors and editors, do. Whelan still gets residuals for Lifetime movies she did when she was 12. But she says she's only ever received $2,500 for 'Gone Girl,' popular as it may be a decade later. Meanwhile, as new players like Spotify, Apple and Amazon enter the space, the audiobook industry reached $2.22 billion in 2024, up 13% over the previous year. The fight is especially pressing now that artificial intelligence is encroaching on the industry. In May, Melania Trump announced her memoir would be narrated entirely by AI. 'Synthetic voice is just sitting there waiting to take jobs,' Whelan says. 'So we're going to very quickly find ourselves in a situation where there is not enough work and all the work you've done previously is still out there, still making money for people.' As her platform grew, Whelan realized it was futile to ask big companies 'to do the right thing.' So she started Audiobrary, an audio platform that applies publishing models with royalties to both narrators and authors. And she'll keep talking about it until she sees change on an industry-wide level. 'There comes a point where continuing to just complain about a problem, you are perpetuating a problem if you're not actually fixing it,' Whelan says. 'And this is my attempt to give it a shot and fix it. And jury's out, but I will say that the response I've gotten from listeners and from the industry is just one of massive support.' Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'The Bear' Season 4 Ending, Explained: What Does Carmy's News Mean for the Restaurant's Future?
Warning: season 4 spoilers ahead! Time appears to have run out on Carmy 's time with The Bear. Thus far, The Bear has centered around world-class chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) trying to turn his late brother's sandwich shop (formerly The Beef) into a fine-dining restaurant while still grieving him. The emotionally damaged, yet highly talented Carmy is helped by a colorful cast of characters, including the ambitious and skilled chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) and his volatile, yet passionate 'cousin' Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Still, The Bear season 4 finale, which premiered on June 25, hints that food might not be at the center of Carmy's life for much longer. In a twist, he announces that he's going to retire from the restaurant business for good, breaking the news during a no-holds-barred conversation with Sydney and Richie. With 21 Emmy Award wins — the most of any show this decade — The Bear's fourth season was highly anticipated after season 3's cliffhanger involving Sydney's decision whether to helm her own restaurant or stay at The Bear. The show's fourth season not only resolves this issue but also provides a resolution to Carmy and Richie's longstanding feud. Here's everything to know about The Bear season 4's finale, including how it ties up loose ends and the future of the series. The Bear concludes with its prodigy chef, Carmy, quitting his restaurant, The Bear, and announcing his retirement from the industry. In season four's penultimate episode, Sydney receives a call from Sugar's (Abby Elliott) husband Pete (Chris Witaske) who informs her that Carmy has left himself out of the new ownership agreement. When Sydney confronts him on this, Carmy reveals his decision to leave. During their argument, Carmy tells Sydney that he knew she had an offer to leave The Bear and helm her own restaurant before ultimately turning it down. Carmy also expresses his admiration for Sydney and wants her to run the restaurant. 'Any chance of any kind of good in this building, it started when you walked in, and any possibility of it surviving, it's with you,' Carmy says. 'I believe in you more than I've ever believed in myself ... because you're The Bear.' Richie walks into their heated discussion, and after first expressing contempt, he and Carmy have a brutally honest hashing out of their differences, sharing secrets along the way. After an initially tumultuous relationship, Sydney advocates for Richie to become a partner of the restaurant with her and Sugar. As the season ends, Jimmy (Oliver Platt) — the restaurant's investor — and The Computer's (Brian Koppelman) bring up a timer that they implemented at the beginning of the season. The clock indicates that the restaurant would need to cease operations if it didn't turn a profit or receive a Michelin star when it reaches zero, but it wasn't fully clear what the status of these stipulations was. At the end of The Bear's second season, Carmy and Richie get into an explosive fight while Carmy is locked in the refrigerator room. The tension between them later boils over in the next two seasons. While the former friends have appeared civil at times, Carmy finally apologizes to Richie for his chaotic conduct at the restaurant during season 4's finale and tells him his big secret: Carmy secretly attended Mikey's (Jon Bernthal) funeral for a moment before walking out. Richie gets emotional and confronts Carmy both physically and emotionally at first before the two address the issues from their season 2 fight. Carmy admits he didn't realize that Richie went through a huge loss of his best friend when Mikey died by suicide. Richie then admits that he felt like Carmy resented him, and Carmy acknowledges that he did resent him because of how close Richie and Mikey were compared to Carmy and Mikey. 'You were inside my family, like you really knew my family. You got to spend time with him and you really ... knew him,' Carmy said. 'It's not the same. I didn't really know him. I didn't know him like you did.' Richie further reveals that he tried to get Mikey to talk to someone about his mental health issues and that he worked at The Beef to keep an eye on Mikey, but feels like he failed. Carmy tells Richie he didn't fail him, as Richie shared that he thought Carmy didn't go to the funeral because he was upset with Richie for not being there enough for Mikey. Richie reveals he resented Carmy because he always felt like an outsider before telling Carmy that he missed him while he was in New York, as the two seemingly make up. In the second episode of The Bear's fourth season, Sugar tells Carmy that she saw a spark and love in him when he left Chicago to be a chef in New York, but she no longer sees that. It turns out Sugar was right, as Carmy admits to Sydney that he no longer loves the restaurant business and working in the food industry, recognizing that he used it as an escape. 'I think I put a lot of things in the way of dealing with very real things,' Carmy tells Sydney regarding his decision to quit. 'I think I was trying to put hurdles in the way.' Additionally, Carmy reveals to Claire (Molly Gordon) that he still loves her and apologizes for being scared. Jimmy had previously told Carmy that being involved with Claire wouldn't work if he wanted to be all in on the restaurant business, which led to Carmy accidentally confessing that to Claire while stuck in the refrigerator room in season 2. Carmy also tells Sydney and Richie that he doesn't know what he's like as a person outside of the kitchen and needs to leave to figure that out and get rid of his chaotic ways because he doesn't like who he is right now. This was also partially inspired by Carmy reconciling with his mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) for the first time in years as she apologized for being a bad mother and admitted to going on her own journey of self-discovery. In the end, Carmy feels comfortable leaving the restaurant in Sydney's hands, telling her she is a natural leader and teacher. As Sugar hears their conversation, she learns of Carmy's decision and begins crying while hugging him with a slight smile, harkening back to their earlier discussion. With Carmy quitting the restaurant and Jimmy's clock from the beginning of the season, the restaurant's future has never been murkier, but it may not be over yet. First of all, Carmy plans to stay on briefly to get the restaurant out of debt, while Jimmy has openly acknowledged how much better the restaurant is doing. Additionally, a single man was visiting the restaurant and seemingly taking note of all the ways the restaurant went out of its way to provide exceptional service to a visiting family. This included making a fine dining version of The Beef sandwich and creating artificial snow, which greatly impressed the man, who could be the one to give them a Michelin star. Potential future consigliere and lawyer Albert Schner (Rob Reiner) has been meeting with Ebra (Edwin Lee Gibson) all season about how profitable The Beef sandwich window attached to The Bear has been. He further elaborates on an idea to franchise The Beef, which was the original name of The Bear, as The Computer seems excited upon hearing of this idea as well, although Jimmy's reaction is unclear. Carmy may be quitting, but Sydney advocated for Richie to be added to the partnership agreement with Sugar leaving three passionate individuals in charge. With Tina (Liza Colòn-Zayas) getting her prep time in check and Marcus (Lionel Boyce) having been named one of Food and Wine's best new chefs, The Bear may not only be staying open, but could be on the upswing. The Bear was not yet renewed for season 5 at the time of season 4's release, but FX head John Landgraf said that he would love to have more of The Bear if series creator Christopher Storer was up for it. 'We really don't know. These decisions are really creative decisions,' Landgraf told Variety in July 2024. 'So it's really Chris [Storer's] decision on The Bear. It's about, how much more story does he have to tell? I mean, obviously, I'm hoping he has more than one more season of story to tell.' It appears The Bear may return for a final course after all. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 24/7. Read the original article on People
Tom's Guide
33 minutes ago
- Tom's Guide
5 teen thriller shows like 'We Were Liars' to stream right now
Based on a 2014 novel by E. Lockhart, "We Were Liars" is the latest teen drama to hit Prime Video. It stars Emily Alyn Lind as Cadence, a girl from a wealthy family who is struggling to recover her memory after an accident she experiences during the show's first episode. Surrounded by her three closest friends — the group dubs themselves 'The Liars,' hence the title — Cadence desperately tries to figure out what happened to her, since she has no memory of the event itself. But the deeper she digs, the more it becomes clear to her that the truth is being hidden by those closest to her. A perfect summer watch, "We Were Liars" keeps you captivated through all its twists and turns. After you finish bingeing it, here are a few other teen thriller shows like "We Were Liars" that will fill a similar niche. The main difference between "We Were Liars" and "One Of Us Is Lying" appears to be exactly how many of the characters are being dishonest. OK, so that's not quite true, but lies and secrets are still a huge part of the game. Like "We Were Liars," "One Of Us is Lying" is also based on a YA mystery novel adapted for the small screen, revolving around four teenagers who have been implicated in the death of their classmate. The plot thickens when we learn that the deceased left behind a poem containing potentially life-altering secrets about each of the four students who are now being considered as suspects in his death. Did one of them do it? Did all of them do it? Well, you have to watch to find out. Watch on Peacock Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Like Cadence in "We Were Liars," Maddie (Peyton List) in "School Spirits" is suffering from a bout of amnesia. She spends the better part of the first season attempting to unravel what led to her own disappearance and — without spoiling anything _ things don't exactly get easier to explain once she understands what's going on. And just like "We Were Liars," there are some supernatural elements at play that defy the expectations of a typical teen drama. "School Spirits" ran for two seasons on Freeform, the second of which wrapped up in March 2025. It may not have had a chance to reach its full potential, but it's still an underrated and criminally underseen show. Watch on Paramount Plus "We Were Liars" revolves around one central mystery; "Riverdale" thinks that having one mystery is for babies and instead features about 10 different convoluted plotlines going on at any given time, each popping up like a demented game of whack-a-mole (we mean this as a compliment.) Nominally based on the Archie comics that began in the late 1940s, "Riverdale" takes the kernel of those origins and turns them into a teen drama on steroids. With Archie (KJ Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart), Veronica (Camila Mendes), and Jughead (Cole Sprouse) getting up to increasingly outlandish antics, you never know what's going to happen next in their not-so-sleepy town. Watch on Netflix Secrets are basically part and parcel on "Pretty Little Liars." A safe assumption to make is that no one on the show is telling the truth at any given time, which is how "We Were Liars" often feels. The immensely popular teen drama ran on Freeform for seven seasons, putting its central cast through the ringer the entire time. After the queen bee of their high school clique suddenly disappears, the mysterious figure known only as A begins to target the group of friends, threatening to reveal all of their secrets. As the story unfolds, it seems like new mysteries and twists emerge at every turn, ensuring that "Pretty Little Liars" held the interest of audiences over the course of several years, never giving them — or the characters they became fascinated by — a moment's rest. Watch on Hulu or Max At the very beginning of "Cruel Summer," Jeanette (Chiara Aurelia) appears to be a perfectly sweet, if somewhat awkward, girl who experiences a glow-up over the summer, as many teenagers do. But when she's essentially able to step into the shoes of her missing classmate Kate (Olivia Holt), a popular girl at school, you kind of start to wonder if Kate got Single White Femaled. Especially when Kate turns up after a year of having been gone and accuses Jeanette of knowing about her abduction and purposefully keeping silent about it to preserve her new social standing. A frothy teen soap, "Cruel Summer" was at its peak during its explosive first season, but its second — which features an entirely new cast of characters — is worth a watch as well. Watch on Hulu
