Guilty Pleasures 2025: THR’s Guide to the Stuff We Can’t Quit

From 'Love Island USA' to decades-old computer mystery games, this is what we turned to when the going got rough.

December 30, 2025 7:00am

Published on December 30, 2025

Patrick Schwarzenegger for Ketel One Love Island USA and Secret Lives of Mormon Wives

Patrick Schwarzenegger for Ketel One, 'Love Island USA' and 'Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.' Courtesy of Ketel One Vodka; Ben Symons/Peacock; Natalie Cass/Disney

A year ago, we divulged the deepest, darkest secrets of our pop culture diets. It turns out a lot of you have an inclination toward high-calorie, low-nutrient entertainment, too. So we’ve brought back The Hollywood Reporter‘s annual staff poll of our favorite Hollywood guilty pleasures. Take a look: You may not be alone in your secret shame. In a year when prestige entertainment kept insisting it was good for us, our actual habits told a juicier story.

‘Physical: Asia’

Image Credit: Casa De Foto/Netflix

You wouldn’t think that watching screaming, sweaty Koreans enduring agonizing challenges of impossible physical endurance would make for inspiring television, but Netflix’s sleeper competition series is oddly rousing to watch in the same way Olympic coverage can be — if the Olympics consisted of peak athletes spending hours hanging from a rope or pushing a 2,400-pound pillar until they collapse. — James Hibberd
‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’

Image Credit: Eric Milner/Warner Bros. Pictures

The sixth entry in the silly Rube Goldberg-esque murder franchise was arguably the best in the series and one of the year’s funniest stealth comedies, with its over-the-top sequences killing off an earnest cast of Gen Z characters. The set piece with an MRI machine was a franchise all-timer. — James Hibberd
‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’

Image Credit: Everett

Argue with the wall: Season three of The Summer I Turned Pretty was genre-defining. For those two-plus months of waiting for the weekly episode of Belly’s will-they-won’t-they romance with Conrad (or, for others, wedding planning with Jeremiah), writer-showrunner Jenny Han reminded us of the addictiveness of the love triangle — and the power of female fanfare. Even if you weren’t tuned in to the romantic shenanigans of Lola Tung and the Cousins gang, you likely saw a viral tweet or TikTok debating who should end up with whom (and why). Such was the popularity of Amazon’s Han adaptation that the TSITP crew swiftly confirmed a movie sequel shortly after the final episode dropped, prompting sighs of relief around the globe. Conrad fancam editors, we’ll see you in 2026. — Lily Ford
‘Shameless’ Podcast

Image Credit: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

It’s one of Australia’s biggest podcasts for a reason, and that’s mostly because Melbourne writers Zara McDonald and Michelle Andrews know their Shameless audience so well. The women are working their way up to becoming icons of the pop culture pod scene by pulling in a whopping 10 percent of the country’s podcast wealth, the . But how? The media empire is a safe space for those of us who like to unwind by listening to two eloquent Aussies discuss Timothée Chalamet’s controversial press run, the enduring likability of Robert Irwin or charting Lily Allen’s tumultuous relationship with David Harbour. That’s not to say they shy away from trickier conversations, such as celebrity Scientologists or the emergence of Lyme disease in Hollywood, but it’s all impressively balanced with lightness. And I truly believe the world needs a recap of the Jonas Brothers’ Christmas movie right now.