The It List: The Oscars roll out red carpet, 'The Masked Singer' welcomes new crop of costumed celebs, RuPaul releases new memoir
Plus, Zac Efron returns to R-rated comedy in "Ricky Stanicky."
The It List is Yahoo's guide to what's new in pop culture. Each week, we share staff picks for the latest releases that we can't wait to watch, stream, listen to, read and binge.
What’s new this week: Awards season culminates with the 96th Oscars, RuPaul's memoir promises to be his “most revealing and personal work to date” and The Masked Singer returns for a new season.
What to watch
?? Hollywood's biggest stars come together to celebrate the Oscars
When: The 96th Academy Awards air March 10 at 7 p.m. ET on ABC and stream on Hulu Live.
What to know: Oppenheimer leads the pack with 13 nominations. Stars Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. are frontrunners in the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories, respectively. The film, which was one half of Barbenheimer box office mania over the summer, seems to have a slight edge as Best Picture.
One of the tightest races is Best Actress. Could Emma Stone (Poor Things) take the Best Actress category once more? Or will Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) make history as the first Native American actress to win in the category?
Margot Robbie's and Greta Gerwig's snubs in the Best Actress and Best Director categories, respectively, shocked Hollywood. Barbie was the highest grossing movie of 2023. Will Academy voters try and make up for the slight in other categories? — Taryn Ryder, entertainment reporter
Read more: Here's how to watch all the 2024 Best Picture Oscar nominees
?? Stars compete for the Golden Mask trophy on The Masked Singer
When: The Masked Singer Season 11 premieres March 6 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox and streams March 7 on Hulu.
What to know: “Masked mayhem is back in full swing,” says host Nick Cannon, and Rita Ora is replacing Nicole Scherzinger on the judging panel for Season 11.
The “Your Song” singer isn't a stranger to the franchise. She’s appeared as a panelist on five seasons of the U.K. version of The Masked Singer.
Judges Robin Thicke, Ken Jeong and Jenny McCarthy are all returning to help unmask the celebrity guests.
Some of the costumes revealed this season include Book, Goldfish, Gumball, Lizard, Starfish and Ugly Sweater. Tune in to find out who is hiding their talents beneath elaborate getups. — Garin Flowers, entertainment reporter
?? Ricky Stanicky is real
When: Ricky Stanicky premieres March 7 on Prime Video and in select theaters.
What to know: Ricky Stanicky follows three best friends who, since childhood, have been keeping up a charade, pretending there is a fourth member of their squad whom they use to get out of everything from work to family commitments.
When their families finally demand to meet this imaginary fall guy, the men enlist the help of a washed-up Atlantic City performer — who turns out to be a bit of a loose cannon.
Goofy R-rated Zac Efron is back. The High School Musical icon most recently donned a wig and sobbed in a wrestling ring in The Iron Claw, but the A24 prestige can’t beat the fun of Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates or Neighbors.
Efron stars alongside John Cena, Andrew Santino, Jermaine Fowler and William H. Macy. — Danica Creehan, streaming editor
What to read
?? Sashay into RuPaul’s memoir
When: RuPaul’s memoir, The House of Hidden Meanings, is available for purchase March 5.
What to know: RuPaul, drag icon and Emmy-winning host behind the hit series RuPaul’s Drag Race, is releasing his first memoir.
It promises to be a “self-portrait of the legendary icon on the road to global fame and changing the way the world thinks about drag,” according to a HarperCollins synopsis.
It opens with RuPaul’s early years as a queer Black kid in San Diego. It also touches on his journey toward sobriety amid his rise in the punk and drag scenes of Atlanta and New York.
RuPaul also pulls back the curtain on his 30-year relationship with husband Georges LeBar.
Want an early look? Time published an excerpt from the book: “The Moment I Knew I Needed to Get Sober” — David Artavia, entertainment reporter
What to binge
?? Hit the links with Full Swing Season 2
When: All eight episodes of Full Swing Season 2 stream March 6 on Netflix.
What to know: Box to Box Films's popular docuseries Full Swing, which follows the ups and downs of the professional golf world, is back for a second season.
The series quickly gained a following for showing the many sides of the sport that fans rarely get to see.
The show's sophomore outing will center on the spectacle surrounding the PGA Tour's shaky tentative merger with LIV Golf, with many golfers feeling a sense of betrayal from the bombshell news. (Rory McIlroy even says in the trailer that he feels like “a sacrificial lamb.”)
It's also a Ryder Cup year, when American and European competitors face off on separate teams.
For Joel Dahmen fans out there: Don’t fear! The unexpected breakout star of Season 1 is back. — Lily Herman, The Yodel newsletter writer
Read more: Netflix recently released Season 6 of Drive to Survive. How the docuseries made F1 racing an American cultural phenomenon.
We'll be back next week with our latest picks. Want more It List? Click here.
