Supposedly, summer is a slow period for TV, but from where I’m sitting (my couch mostly), it sure doesn’t feel like that. Love Island is taking a break tonight after six days of new episodes in a row. The islanders have been split up between the Love Island Villa and Casa Amor as their original relationships are tested via a whole crop of new hotties. Stay tuned for the next recoupling ceremony to see the fallout.

In the world of prestige TV, House of the Dragon has returned for its third season and wasted no time killing off several characters (we won’t say who, but a severed head was involved). The Bear also returns tomorrow for its final season, with all episodes dropping on Hulu at once, so hopefully you’ve cleared your weekend of all important plans. Another binge option is Paramount+’s star-studded spy thriller The Agency, starring Michael Fassbender, Jeffrey Wright, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Richard Gere, which dropped its whole second season on Sunday.

Rounding out this week’s new TV offerings, we’ve got the second season of the live-action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which drops seven new episodes tomorrow, and my beloved Bravo reality TV masterpiece, Next Gen NYC, which premieres Season 2 tonight (more on that in a bit). Oh, and the World Cup is still on if you’re into that sort of thing.

But let’s dive into what’s been going on in the world of pop culture while you’ve been watching people in bikinis, chainmail, and/or soccer jerseys.

Updates On My Close Personal Friends — Keke Palmer and Sean Evans are not not dating

After nine years of on-screen, hot-sauce-infused chemistry, Keke Palmer and Hot Ones host Sean Evans are quite possibly, maybe, almost, sort of dating? After the pair played Twister together on Palmer’s podcast, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, the internet reupped their rooting interest in the pair. Evans and Palmer (or Mr. and Mrs., Evans as Sean cheekily called them) fanned that flame when they were spotted at dinner together in New York a week later.

Fellow podcaster Jay Shetty, doing the lord’s work, asked Palmer about the relationship when they appeared together on a panel at Cannes Lion yesterday. “We hangin out, you know what I mean?” Palmer responded. “First of all, I love Sean Evans — I love Sean, hey Sean. That’s my guy. You never know what can arise from there. We just take it day by day. One wing at a time so to speak.”

As an English major doing a close read on that statement, I’m not seeing a “No, Jay, we are not dating. We are just friends.” Therefore, I will be holding onto hope for a Hot Ones wedding in the near future.

The Couch Report — My favorite Bravo show, Next Gen NYC, makes its triumphant return

When Next Gen NYC, a show about Bravo nepo-babies and their non-Bravo nepo-baby friends, premiered on Bravo a year ago, fans were skeptical, as they had every right to be. I, however, was locked the moment I heard one cast member tell another that she doesn’t wash her hands. Next Gen NYC’s first season delivered a delightfully out-of-touch set of characters, on one hand woefully flawed, but on the other, oddly charming and sympathetic. Whether they be fighting over a Bluetooth speaker, asking their parents to cover an outrageous bar tab, or trying to out-clout one another with Hamptons events, the cast delivered eight extremely watchable episodes of reality TV.

Now, the entire original cast, including bad boy Charlie Zakkour, who was ostracized from the group following Season 1, and Ariana Biermann (daughter of Kim Zolciak) and Hudson McLeroy (heir to the Zaxby’s fortune), who broke up after Season 1, are returning. Season 2 will also introduce Brooke Shields’ daughter, Rowan Henchy, into the already chaotic friend group. I am buying a bottle of Oyster Bay and parking myself in front of the TV.

Be So For Real — An animated movie based on Survivor is in the works

I’d like for us all to unpack this recent bit of news together. Jeff Probst has announced that Survivor, the beloved, long-running reality TV show, will partner with Paramount Animation to create an animated movie based on the game that features animals as players. The press release synopsis reads, “Set on a remote and mystical island, animals from all around the globe compete for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be crowned the sole Survivor.”

I have an endless number of questions, such as, “Who is this for?” and “What’s the point of a scripted version of a reality TV show?” and “I thought in the jungle there were only two types of animals, snakes and rats?” On the heels of Survivor’s 50th season, clearly the brand is trying to expand, but I’m not sure an animated movie was on anyone’s bingo card. That said, if kids love it, they could snag a whole new crop of fans, which is probably the aim.

If they get Cirie Fields or Boston Rob to voice an animal, I will certainly watch, though.

Current Hyperfixation — Connor Storrie just chatting casually with Madonna

No one has had a better year than Connor Storrie. On November 28, when Heated Rivalry premiered, he was a nobody, and now seven months later, he’s sitting next to Madonna at a Paris fashion show. This is, of course, after a video of him dancing to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” while dumping a bottle of water all over himself went viral several months ago. At the Saint Laurent men’s fashion show, Storrie sat sandwiched between Madonna and Kate Moss with Charli XCX, Rami Malek, Joe Alwyn, Austin Butler, and Daisy Edgar-Jones all nearby.

Connor Storrie, who typically has golden retriever energy, certainly does a better job playing it cool in these situations than I would (or maybe he’s just wearing sunglasses). If someone sat me next to my pop diva of choice (Beyonce, obviously), I would probably pass out and need to be medically evacuated. I would pay big money for a Star City KGB-esque secret recording of their conversation.

“Oh, hello Madonna, how are you today?” “Oh, I’m doing okay. How are you, Connor? You were the one in the gay hockey show, right? I’ve been meaning to watch, but I’ve been busy recording a new album.” “Oh, it’s okay. I love your music, by the way. I’ve watched your VMA performance of ‘Vogue’ about a thousand times.”

Or at least, that’s what I’m imagining.