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Ted Lasso returns, Archie Comics gets pied, and Netflix for shut-ins: Popverse Playlist for August 1-7, 2026

Some say football is life, but we think that it's just part of a well-rounded diet that also involves Netflix horror movies and Jughead wanting to eat a lot of pies

Guides by Graeme McMillan, Editor

Published on Tue Sep 22 2026

Welcome back, dear friends, to the show that never ends but did take a week off for San Diego Comic-Con last week without any warning, for which I apologize profusely. This week, we’re back to highlight the three pieces of pop culture that you should make a point to ingest across the next seven days. And what a tasting menu we have ahead of us, with a long-awaited television return, a streaming horror movie that harkens back to the bad old days, and a comic book that wants to know just how hungry you are for classic Americana from an unexpected creator. This is Popverse Playlist and, as Z-Man once put it, it freaks me out.

If you only watch one show this week, then it really has to be… Ted Lasso Season 4

It’s hard to shake the feeling that the long-awaited return of Ted Lasso is a month too late, coming after the end of America’s love affair with the World Cup. Is soccer past its prime in the fast-paced world of popular culture after Spain’s victory? For that matter, is Ted Lasso itself past its prime, three years after what we all thought at the time was the series finale? The promotion for the new season has leaned heavily on nostalgia for how much we all loved the first run of the show, and… well, that’s true, we really did. Maybe what the world needs now really is more of the kindness, empathy, and gentle humor with occasional football that’s Ted’s stock-in-trade. We just need to, you know… believe.

Ted Lasso Season 4 begins August 5 on Apple TV.

If you only check out one movie this week, then it should be… The Last House

If ever there was a horror movie that felt very specifically shaped by recent events, it’s The Last House, in which a family of four finds themselves trapped inside their house for reasons beyond their comprehension, and struggling to deal with how to survive — and whatever is happening outside their house that just may kill them anyway. Yes, it’s Metaphor-For-Covid: The Movie, but I’ll be honest: with a cast list that centers around the iconic Greta Lee of Past Lives fame and The Secret Agent’s Wagner Moura, I’m in - which may not be the best choice of words, considering.

The Last House debuts on Netflix August 7.

If you can only pick up one comic this week, then make sure it’s… Jughead: Piemageddon #1

Writer Tom King is known for intense character studies like DC’s Mister Miracle, The Human Target, or Rorschach, not to mention the just-adapted-into-a-movie Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. That might make this latest project — a purposefully silly take on the classic Archie Andrews mythos (with art by classic Archie artist Dan Parent) that centers around a pie-eating contest, the many many rivalries at the heart of Riverdale, and the complexities of Jughead just being Jughead. It’s delightfully throwaway, enormously fun, and the kind of thing that might make you look at both Tom King and Archie Comics just a little bit differently.

Jughead: Piemageddon #1 will be in comic book stores on August 5.

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Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for more than two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.