January 17, 2026 – THE HORROR REPORT

Lets pretend it’s 2016

Nostalgia is not healthy .. but maybe watching 2016 Netflix is on a snowy weekend in January..

This morning when I woke up, I noticed that Netflix added a new category to its main page called Let’s Pretend It’s 2016. It features movies and television shows like the Ghostbusters remake, The OA, and of course Stranger Things, since Season 1 appeared ten years ago.

Seeing that listing was a reminder of just how many things have come and gone on Netflix… and, honestly, how much better things used to feel. Over the last decade, everything seems to have gone downhill. So much of what’s released now feels rushed, made without much care or concern, with lackluster scripts and very few fresh ideas. But go back just ten years, to 2016, and we kind of had it made. We just didn’t know it.

Back then we were probably complaining that Netflix had already dumbed things down, that there wasn’t much to watch, and that the best entertainment was from ten or twenty years earlier. Little did we realize that here in 2026 we’d be decrying the bad writing of Stranger Things Season 5 and missing shows that were genuinely binge-worthy, not ones you casually glance at on a boring snowy weekend.

It’s nice to see this category, but it’s also bittersweet. Nostalgia can be one of the most dangerous things… it has a way of creating unrealistic memories of the past. Things weren’t always that great, and tomorrow isn’t always as bad as it seems. But when it comes to entertainment, movies, and television shows on Netflix, things really might be as bad as they feel right now.

So I guess this weekend, as the snow falls outside, I’ll watch what I watched ten years ago… and maybe it’ll feel new again.

Rightside up: David Harbour opens up about personal struggles and ‘intense psychotherapy”

There were a number of rumors about David Harbour during the filming of Stranger Things 5.. Now the star is being interviewed and opening up in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY about his personal mental health since 1999…

“I have been in therapy since I got sober in 1999,” Harbour shared in a Future of Personal Health article, per Entertainment Weekly. “When I quit drinking, it forced me to confront a lot of demons that rose to the surface,” Harbour added, emphasizing how important therapy has been for him in getting through.

The 50-year-old Netflix star noted he “has not had a manic flare-up since I started psychoanalysis with a good therapist.”

Describing those episodes, Harbour explained that his thoughts become “disordered and chaotic,” with meaningless details suddenly taking on significance.

He added that the flare-ups were accompanied by what he described as a “fundamental narcissism,” which made him feel like the center of everything.

According to Harbour, a recent change in his approach has made a significant difference. “Only recently have I started intense psychotherapy, and it has made a world of difference in my treatment,” he said.

Netflix promises not to destroy movie theater

Sarandos insisted that Netflix has no intentions of disrupting “a theatrical distribution engine that is phenomenal and produces billions of dollars,” and that he believes there is value in the movie theater experience.

At least not outright..

In a new interview with The New York Times, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that, should the WBD acquisition go through, the streamer will commit to 45-day theatrical release windows for the legacy studio’s upcoming releases.

“I’m giving you a hard number,” Sarandos said. “If we’re going to be in the theatrical business, and we are, we’re competitive people — we want to win. I want to win opening weekend. I want to win box office.”

“I mean, like the town that Sinners is supposed to be set in does not have a movie theater there,” Sarandos reasoned. “For those folks, it’s certainly outmoded. You’re not going to get in the car and go to the next town to go see a movie.”

Matthew McConaughey fights AI

Matthew McConaughey may have figured out a potential way to fight AI using his image..

The Wall Street Journal reports that McConaughey has filed eight trademark applications to the US Patent and Trademark Office that featured videos and audio clips of him “staring, smiling and talking.”..

MORE..

All 8 have been approved..

“My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is ever used, it’s because I approved and signed off on it,” McConaughey told the newspaper in an email. “We want to create a clear perimeter around ownership with consent and attribution the norm in an AI world.”

The goal is to pave the way for litigation in case a company or individual were to attempt to profit from the actor’s likeness with the help of AI.

“In a world where we’re watching everybody scramble to figure out what to do about AI misuse, we have a tool now to stop someone in their tracks or take them to federal court,” one of McConaughey’s attorneys, Jonathan Pollack, told the newspaper.

No more frailty in Hollywood as this may lead the way for more such trademarks..

Changes in the galaxy: Many fans celebrate the departure of Kathleen Kennedy at Lucasfilm

Kennedy out as president

This news is coming from some LUCASFILM PR releases..

Lucasfilm announced that after 14 years of leading the studio, President Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down from her role. Kennedy will return to full-time producing, including the studio’s upcoming feature films The Mandalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter.

So gone.. but not totally..

Dave Filoni, who worked closely with creator George Lucas to build the Lucasfilm animation department on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and helped launch Star Wars live-action series alongside Jon Favreau on The Mandalorian, will take on creative leadership of the company as President and Chief Creative Officer and Lynwen Brennan will serve as Co-President.

While she is not being trashed by Lucasfilm on the way out, fans are certainly pointing out her biggest flops..

This summation from detractors on social media:

– Over a dozen high profile canceled projects

A Star Wars Trilogy that damaged the brand

Indiana Jones 5 was seemingly meaningless

An inability to get anything made; even simple slam dunk projects like Rogue Squadron

The Willow Series was a complete disaster and there’s no way to legally watch it anymore Outside of Rogue One and Andor..

Another reaction: Finally, the long nightmare ends. Kathleen Kennedy is out as Lucasfilm president after 14 years of turning Star Wars into a lecture hall disguised as space opera.

Kathleen Kennedy has quit Lucasfilm! Star Wars is free! pic.twitter.com/HEhyOqNa7G
— Marshal Bohemond ⚔️⛨ | Space Marine Vtuber (@HMBohemond) January 16, 2026

Cold as ICE: Was Renee Good still alive when federal ICE agents blocked a medic?

“Can I go check a pulse?” a man said after Good was shot, his hands in the air.

“No! Back up!” an ICE agent told him.

“I’m a physician!”

“I don’t care!” the agent replied

New records from emergency responders obtained by The New York Times show that Good was not breathing but had an irregular pulse when local medics arrived at the scene, and had no pulse by the time they removed her from her car. This comes after an initial video captured by bystanders showed ICE agents screaming at a medic who offered help as Good lay dying in her car.