The highly-anticipated virtual reality headset Oculus Rift is finally going to be available for purchase early next year. But there's a problem: If you own a Mac or Linux system, or a basic PC, you're out of luck. At least for now.

Facebook-owned Oculus VR on Friday released the technical requirements for running the Oculus Rift — it will require a PC with a powerful graphics card. But it won't work on any Apple or Linux computers. And the system specifications are far above the levels of any basic PC.

"Our development for OS X and Linux has been paused in order to focus on delivering a high quality consumer-level VR experience at launch across hardware, software, and content on Windows," Oculus' chief architect Atman Binstock wrote in a blog post. "We want to get back to development for OS X and Linux but we don’t have a timeline."

We always knew the first-generation Oculus Rift would require a computer to work, but it's disappointing that it won't work across all platforms just yet. And furthermore, you'll have to own an at least $1000 PC with a beefy graphics card if you want a quality experience.

Delayed gratification

The Oculus Rift was responsible for re-sparking interest in virtual reality back in 2012, when gaming enthusiast Palmer Luckey promised a better virtual reality experience that was also accessible and affordable for most people.

Luckey's original Kickstarter campaign surpassed its goal in less than 24 hours on its way to raising over $2.4 million. It was endorsed by countless gaming executives, including Valve CEO Gabe Newell and "Doom" creator John Carmack. It became an even bigger deal when Facebook saw its potential and acquired the company for $2 billion in March 2014.

Over that time, Oculus built three official development kits for the Rift headset, but everyone wanted to know when they could expect the first consumer version to ship. The company finally answered that question earlier this month, promising the first units of the Oculus Rift would ship early next year.

Unfortunately, just because it's officially called the "consumer version" doesn't mean the first-generation Rift is for "all consumers." Due to these technical requirements and restrictions, it sounds like the Oculus Rift will only appeal to hardcore gamers at this point, who already own a gaming rig that can handle the computational load.

Personally, I was looking forward to buying the first-generation Oculus Rift, but I probably won't at this point. I'm a big gaming enthusiast but only a casual gamer — I don't have a crazy setup like a massive computer tower with three monitors, I just have a MacBook Pro. I would need to buy a completely separate PC just to play around with the Rift.

Here's what they say you'll need to actually use this thing:

• NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 equivalent or greater
• Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
• 8GB+ RAM
• Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
• 2x USB 3.0 ports
• Windows 7 SP1 or newer

That is not going to come anywhere near approaching the average user's home computer system. And as a result, it's going to leave a lot of people who want to experience virtual reality out of the loop.

Of course, this is not what Oculus wants, either. Most virtual reality companies say their goal is to get their VR products untethered from computers to simply become plug-and-play experiences like many living room game consoles. But that future isn't quite here yet, and unfortunately, that means many people — non-gamers and casual gamers included — will be missing out on the first wave of virtual reality. 

SEE ALSO: 3 virtual reality products will dominate our living rooms by this time next year

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NOW WATCH: Watch Henry Blodget Freak Out When He Tries Oculus Rift And Looks Down From A Virtual Skyscraper

John Cena posted a video of himself squatting 396 pounds on Twitter. Earlier reports claimed that the superstar was squatting 600 pounds but Cena cleared up the confusion. 

Video courtesy of John Cena 

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The first couple weeks of May each year can be a stressful time for television fans, but also quite informative.

This is when the networks make many of their final decisions about which shows will get to stay on the air, which shows are canceled, and which TV pilots are ordered to series.

It all culminates at the week of Broadcast TV Upfronts in which each network is given roughly two hours (and usually a party that afternoon) at a fancy New York City venue to convince advertising representatives to buy commercial time on the network.

The networks trot out their high-level executives, biggest stars, and most eye-catching video presentations in order to pimp their upcoming fall schedule for the first time.

It's also a great time to get a sense of where the TV networks stand business-wise. Are they faltering at a certain genre? Is there a difficult patch ahead? Is it time for an about face with its programming or is it all about keeping the status quo?

Here are five things that we learned about the TV networks this week:

1.) NBC is in a comedy rut.

The network canceled every comedy on its schedule, but one. "Undateable" was given a last minute reprieve when its producers agreed to a season of live shows. The test, of course, was last week's live finale episode. Yet, the live show saw only a slight increase in ratings and total viewership compared to the previous week's episode. But, a live comedy does fit in with NBC's push for event programming, which has included live airings of musicals like "Sound of Music" and "Peter Pan," as well as the upcoming live staging of "The Wiz."

In the fall, it's only airing one hour of comedies with "Undateable" followed by new Mark-Paul Gosselaar show "People Are Talking," about young married couples with children airing on the notoriously tough Friday nights.

It's a sad predicament for the network that represented a golden age of comedies with "Friends," "Will & Grace" and "Seinfeld."

2.) CBS really doesn’t want to be known as the old geezer network anymore.

Although CBS is the most-watched network in total viewers, the network steers way older than the advertiser-coveted 18 to 49-year-old audience. Well, CBS is actively trying to change that with slicker shows that appeal to younger viewers like last season's "Scorpion."

Next season, it's the home of "Supergirl," which stars "Glee" alum Melissa Benoist as Superman's 24-year-old cousin. And it has ordered "Life in Pieces," a zany single-camera family comedy. Single-camera comedies appeal to younger audiences who have become accustom to shows without laugh tracks like "The Office," "Parks and Recreation," and "Modern Family." During CBS's upfront presentation this week, CBS Corp. president Les Moonves said the network was just 124,000 viewers away from overtaking NBC in the 18-49 category – and they'll probably do it with the help of the Super Bowl in January.

3.) Something is working at The CW.

It must get very tiring for CW's executives to be continually asked by reporters if the network is making money for its owners, CBS and Warner Bros. The assumption comes from comparing the network's 18-49 ratings and total viewers to that of the other networks – always an unfair comparison. CW has always skewed younger than the other networks and has long embraced a holistic way of looking at total viewership that includes On Demand, online and streaming numbers – way before the other networks – as well as international sales.

Despite the fact that CBS has said that The CW is profitable, the proof is really in the pudding. This year, it renewed pretty much its entire lineup of shows and ordered just three more that fit into its mix of comics-inspired, female-centric and genre-leaning slate.

4.) ABC is sitting pretty. Thanks, Shonda Rhimes.

While NBC can claim the No. 1 overall spot among the broadcast networks, that includes a lot of help from sports and the Super Bowl this past year. ABC can claim the No. 1 spot for entertainment (that's without the help of sports). That can be attributed to an entire night of hits for Shonda Rhimes-produced shows "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal," and "How to Get Away With Murder." And it will have one more coming this year with "The Catch."

That allows the network to continue leading the charge for diversity in TV with "Black-ish" and "Fresh Off the Boat" earning solid ratings. Sure, "Cristela" had to go, but ABC still gets credit for trying and forging ahead on its diversity quest. The upcoming season will include the TV series adaptation of movie "Uncle Buck" with a black cast; "Dr. Ken," headed by "Community" alum and "Hangover" star Ken Jeong, and "The Real O'Neals," about a traditional Irish-Catholic family with a gay son.

5.) Fox is ripe for reinvention, but it's playing it safe.

As the No. 4 network on TV in the 18-49 demo, Fox has an opportunity to reinvent itself – much like ABC had a year ago when it was in the same position. In many ways, that could be liberating and experimental.

This will be the first full season under new CEOs and chairmen Dana Walden and Gary Newman. Even Fox's big hit "Empire" was an order under the previous Fox chief Kevin Reilly. But, it does give the new heads some steam going into this season.

They're saying tough goodbyes to ratings-challenged, yet previously sacred cows like "American Idol," "The Mindy Project," and "The Following." But instead of experimenting, they're taking a safe route with easily marketable shows, such as comedies headed by known stars like John Stamos, Rob Lowe and Fred Savage, a TV adaptation of blockbuster movie "Minority Report," an "X-Files" return and "Scream Queens" from hit-maker Ryan Murphy, whose musical series "Glee" just ended on the network. We'll see if that works out for them.

SEE ALSO: TV networks just released their fall schedules — here's where to watch what

MORE: 45 new TV shows that just got picked up by networks

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NOW WATCH: The trailer for the 'Minority Report' TV show looks better than the original movie

Erin Lee Carr, the director of HBO's latest documentary "Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop," has been following the trial of Gilberto Valle since November 2013.

When Carr first started visiting him in January 2014, he was behind bars on a charge of kidnapping conspiracy and illegal use of federal databases. In July 2014, his case was overturned.

Now, Valle might have to stand trial again.

According to the New York Times, a prosecutor requested to reinstate the kidnapping conspiracy conviction against Valle, a former New York police officer. He was accused of plotting online to "abduct, torture, kill and eat women." 

HBO's documentary "Thought Crimes" takes a sort of ambiguous stance on the case. Valle is allowed to speak for himself, and he asserts that all of his conversations were fantasies. However, he also illegally used police databases to research women that he possibly planned to victimize.

In reality, Carr takes a more certain stance on the case happening now. 

"Judge [Paul] Gardephe threw out the acquittal in July 2014 and right now we're hearing oral arguments of the prosecution to reinstate that conviction. I hope that does not happen." Carr told Business Insider.

"Judge Gardephe's decision was well researched and thought out and ultimately, the truth and I would be deeply uncomfortable if the conviction was reinstated or if he had to get a new trial," she added.

Valle might stay out of prison, as two of the three judges looking into the new conviction are not on board with putting him back in prison. One of the judges said his cannibalistic fantasies should be treated the same as "hypothetical drug dealers caught on a wiretap talking about delivering cocaine 'from the moon by leprechauns.'"

Though Carr is still deeply invested in the case, she tell us she doesn't plan to do any follow-up projects with Valle.

"I will always personally follow the case, but no, I do not think that I will continue working on that story. My part is done." Carr said.

SEE ALSO: This new HBO documentary will make you want to delete your search history

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NOW WATCH: Watch this documentary short about a tragic crime featured on the hit podcast 'Serial'

In the time of year when movies with big explosions and little else trumps all, director George Miller’s latest film in the Mad Max franchise, “Mad Max: Fury Road,” epitomizes the summer movie blockbuster.

And we are not complaining.

Decades in the making, “Fury Road” is basically Miller’s 1981 “Mad Max” sequel, “The Road Warrior,” pumped with supercharged 3D visuals to provide a fun two-hour escapism experience.

The plot is extremely thin, but if you need one …

Tom Hardy plays Max — the original Mad Max, Mel Gibson, left the project in the early 2000s due to his legal trouble— the one-time cop who is now a desperado roaming the post-apocalyptic desert wasteland. He’s captured by the “War Boys” of a near-by tribe and after a failed, yet thrilling, attempt to escape, is used as a blood transfusion for one of the “Boys,” Nux (Nicholas Hoult), who is on the mend from battle.

While this goes on, the tribe’s leader, Immorten Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), an aging tyrant who breaths out of a sinister, teeth-designed oxygen tube, has sent off his War Rig driven by Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) to get the latest shipment of gasoline from the far away refinery. But on the drive there, she suddenly goes rouge and attempts to escape the tribe. Joe sees what she’s doing and unleashes the War Boys, including Nux and Max in tow.

The rest of the film is basically a chase for the War Rig, with Max and Nux soon becoming allies with Furiosa.

Very similar to the incredible chase we see in “The Road Warrior,” this one is extended to span most of the movie.

And again, there’s nothing wrong with that. The cars created for "Fury Road" are visual marvels and the stunts pulled off with them can only be described as thrilling moves you only thought possible back when you played with your Tonka trucks as a kid in the backyard.

And instead of gasoline being what the bad guys want this time the precious cargo are the beautiful five wives (Riley Keough and Zoë Kravitz, among them) of Immorten Joe, who are also trying to escape.

If you’re familiar with the three previous "Mad Max" films ("Mad Max," "The Road Warrior," "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome"), "Fury Road" is incredible fun that is close to two-hours of non-stop action. And this is only elevated by the fact that at the helm of this reboot is Miller, the brainchild of all the movies in the franchise.

But this is also a summer movie for those who don’t get a rush from the countless superhero adaptations thrust upon us this time of year.

Rated R (and a hard R at that, with loads of violence and gore), "Fury Road" is perfect counter-programming. There are no witty one-liners from the stars (in fact, Hardy doesn’t talk much at all), and no mission to save the universe.

Our "hero," Max, is a troubled soul who’s gone through a lot and just trying to survive. Hardy does play him with a bit more sentimentality than Gibson did, but Miller is good at keeping those moments brief.

With the "Mad Max" films Miller always seeps in a bigger meaning. Often it’s the world killing itself (like his commentary on our addiction to gasoline in "The Road Warrior"). In "Fury Road," water is what motivates the characters, as Immorten Joe holds it from his tribe, releasing it sparingly only to keep them in line (perhaps playing on our world's decrease in water supply). But Miller also explores family. Immorten Joe is determined to get his wives back so he can contine to create his pale War Boys, while Max can’t get the memory of his dead child out of his head.

And then, perhaps what trumps all, are the striking visuals from longtime cinematographer John Seale ("The English Patient," "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Harry Potter and the Scorcerer’s Stone"). If possible, find a huge screen to watch this. The wide shots of the desert, the explosive action sequences and the evening scenes with its cool blue glow, are done with an incredibly talented eye.

This is definitely going to be the most beautful-looking film you'll see this summer.

SEE ALSO: South Africa is quickly becoming a go-to destination for Hollywood movies and TV shows

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NOW WATCH: This Lego version of the 'Batman v. Superman' trailer is absolute gold

The show that made old-fashioneds hip again (and "not great, Bob!" a thing) comes to a close this Sunday. Since "Mad Men" has always been marked by its excess in the booze department, we decided to ask a bunch of modern-day advertising pros what the drinking landscape looks like today.

The resounding answer? Not too different. Sure, people can't drunkenly flub pitches like the SDCP gang, but our sources shared some party stories that would make Roger Sterling's battered heart glad.

Everyone was kept anonymous for obvious reasons, but what follows are 100% real accounts from seven people currently working in the ad biz.

Is the modern drinking scene anything like the show's?

"There’s definitely some parallels. I think people are a little more tongue-in-cheek about it now. They’re aware they’re drinking at the office. On the show, it seems like people are like, 'Give me my whiskey and my coffee.' It’s a routine. So I think that’s a bit different. But the party scene, depending on where you work, is still pretty prevalent." -Designer, New York

"It’s an industry where you’re always on edge and you’re always having to put out fires. And then once it’s done, it’s like, 'Great, now I can relax.' But your body can’t really relax, so you have a drink. Obviously we’re not drinking — mostly not drinking — during lunch, but you have one in the late afternoon." -Account executive, New York

Would hard-partying Don Draper fit in with ad agencies today?

"The thing is they’ll put up with just about any behavior as long as you produce good work. So yeah, he’s drinking all the time, but as long as he can produce great work, no one cares." -Copywriter, New York

"Certainly, I’ve worked with partners who seem to have the shakes in the morning. It does exist out there, but I don’t know if it's a career path that I would advise young, burgeoning students or people who are in their first year working somewhere to follow. But people find success on the sauce. I mean, half of New York seems like it needs a liver transplant." -Designer, New York

So do people still keep bottles on their desks?

"I have a 40 of OE on my desk right now. It’s pretty commonplace to have some whiskey or like red wine in the drawer. You can openly drink that stuff, too. I could crack open that 40, and people would make comments, but there wouldn’t be any blowback. I wouldn’t get in any trouble, and nobody would be offended." -Senior copywriter, New York

"You might just pour it in a paper cup instead of glass tumbler." -Producer, New York

How are the happy hours?

"We tend to do a Friday thing here where I work now. When I was at my last job, it was an all-the-time thing. Happy hour was very ambiguous because some people would start drinking at like 3." -Designer, New York

"It's once a week. There’s an official Thursday night happy hour. People cut loose, and they’ll get pretty drunk. There’ll be some flirting going on but it’s relatively tame. And I feel like that’s just normal office stuff, I don’t know that it’s an advertising-unique situation." -Senior copywriter, New York

Just how boozy are client dinners?

"Yeah people definitely still love to schmooze. Every project I work on, if it involves a production company, or anyone else nearby, chances are we’re going to have some dinner where we abuse the crap out of a corporate card." -Art director, New York

"I think the key thing is for clients, they’re working 9 to 5, more often with people they don’t like, and they have to deal with a lot of red tape and bureaucracy. And that’s the mystique of working with the agency. These guys are fun, these guys are cool. These guys are going to have a good time, so I’m going to have a good time. " -Account executive, New York

"I’ve never been to a strip club with a client. I do know someone who has." -Designer, New York

Are the holiday parties total shitshows?

"It’s the worst! It’s where everyone makes the worst decisions. And the next day, it’s tallying up the damage." -Art director, New York

"You have a tequila room, a whiskey room, a beer room..." -Producer, New York

"At one of my old jobs, it was an open bar affair and I remember the CEO getting on his microphone and saying something like, 'Hey, things have gotten a little weird at these things before, and I think they’ll get weird again, so don’t worry about HR.' I’m completely paraphrasing, but it happens." -Account executive, New York

"They spend hard on the holiday party. It does seem like the agencies try to outdo each other. Especially if they’re younger. The younger the agencies are, the more they try to be hip and cool." -Designer, New York

What's the craziest thing you ever witnessed at a work party/function?

"The year before me at an agency I worked at, the holiday party was in the office — supposedly, this couple had drunken sex in the cubicle upstairs. It ended up being about 40 people gathered around, peeking over the corners." -Producer, New York

"I saw a CEO guy get drunk and drive a golf cart through the halls and basically take out a plaster wall." -Vice president, New York

"The craziest thing I heard about is ... previously, company parties were [held] at the agency. I’ll just say it this way: there are pieces of office furniture that you probably don’t want to sit on. Because somebody has found some romance there." -Account executive, New York

SEE ALSO: 6 things you need to know before Sunday's final episode of 'Mad Men'

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NOW WATCH: The trailer for the final season of 'Mad Men' is here

It's raining Rob Lowe.

Both Fox and NBC have greenlit series starring the popular actor, which led some to wonder how he could carry off both shows.

First on Sunday, NBC announced that it had greenlit "You, Me, and the End of the World." The one-hour comedic drama is a co-production with UK's Working Title Television. It features Lowe as a rebellious priest who crosses paths with an eclectic group of people on their way to an underground bunker as a comet is about to collide with Earth.

And then on Monday, Fox revealed that it had greenlit "The Grinder," on which Lowe plays an actor whose legal series was just canceled, but then tries to parlay the skills he learned on the show into actually practicing law in his hometown.

"The Grinder" is set to air Tuesdays this fall, while NBC has yet to name a premiere date for its Lowe show, which will also air in Europe, though no premiere date is set there as well.

A reporter asked about the possible conflict during an executive press call with Fox on Monday. The answer is actually very simple.

"[NBC's] show has wrapped production," Fox's co-CEO and co-chairman Dana Walden cleared up. "I believe it's a limited series event and he's done his obligation. He's in first position to 'The Grinder.'"

In this case, both networks get off scot-free. But it isn't always such a clean exchange when an actor stars on two or more projects during pilot season. In those cases, the actor indicates one project in first position and then another in second. In the case that both projects move forward, the actor is contractually obligated to stick with the project in first position.

We saw this conflict go down with Damon Wayans Jr. when he appeared on Fox's "New Girl" pilot and then ABC renewed "Happy Endings." He had to leave "New Girl," because it was in second position.

NBC and Fox were able to escape losing Rob Lowe, but it's currently in another casting conflict. Apparently, "Being Human" star Meaghan Rath appears on NBC's newly ordered comedy pilot "People Are Talking," but she also appears on Fox's new comedy "The Guide to Surviving Life." "Guide" is in first position for the actress, which means that NBC will most likely have to recast Ruth's role.

SEE ALSO: There's more '24' in the works at Fox

MORE: Here's how Fox's 'X-Files' revival plans to please diehard fans

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NOW WATCH: Disney just dropped another 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' trailer — and it's the best one yet

It wasn't enough for Australian-raised actor Hugh Keays-Byrne to have one legendary character on his resume, he had to go and create another.

Behind the fiberglass body armor, long white hair, and sinister oxygen mask of villain Immortal Joe in “Mad Max: Fury Road” is the man who, 36 years earlier, terrorized the Australian plains as the memorable Toecutter in the original "Mad Max.”

Keays-Byrne, 67, started his career as a trained theater actor who was part of the Royal Shakespeare Company for numerous years. But in 1979 he gained international acclaim in the low-budget apocalyptic cult hit “Mad Max,” starring a then unknown Mel Gibson.

“I was a young actor trying to do films and suddenly I realized, 'God, people are talking about this film,'” Keays-Byrne told Business Insider. “A friend of mine phoned from Japan and said, ‘Hugh, you're on television every 10 minutes over here.’”

Though Keays-Byrne would go on to act in numerous movies and TV shows for decades following “Mad Max,” he would always be known as Toecutter. Even to this day he gets stopped in the grocery store by fans.

Then, eight years ago, Keays-Byrne got a call from “Mad Max” director George Miller about the opportunity to come on “Fury Road.”

“I thought, didn’t Toecutter drive in front of a moving truck and die?”

He did.

Instead, Miller wanted him to play another villain, Immorten Joe, the leader of a post-apocalyptic village in which he rules by limiting the water supply and using beautiful women to birth his followers, coined “War Boys.”

This time things were different. Much of that was because of the hour-long hair and makeup routine he underwent to become unrecognizable every day before shooting.

Keays-Byrne said it took a few days to get comfortable on a big budget Hollywood set.

“This film took me into an area of technology that I’d never been anywhere near before, it was a bit scary," he said. “How does one judge one's performance?” he wondered. Since a mask covered his face throughout the whole production, he was required to do his dialogue in post production months later. “But George kept me relaxed. I had an ear piece and he’d speak to me [during scenes] from time to time, which I found reassuring,” Keays-Byrne said.

It’s hard for Keays-Byrne to pinpoint aspects of Immorten Joe that originated from him, as he spent years talking to Miller and others on the production about the character before they began shooting. However, there is one piece of his character he can unequivocally say came from him.

“Immorten Joe has a war club, and that was my mother-in-law’s," he said. "It was given to her during the second World War. After she died it was laying around and I thought, oh, that's an interesting thing.”

Here’s a picture of Immorten Joe holding the club on set.

In fact, the giant axe Toecutter used in "Mad Max” was also Keays-Byrne’s contribution. “A friend of mine had given it to me and I thought it had a look about it.”

Keays-Byrne loved the experience of doing a movie like “Fury Road" and hopes to do another one on that scale again, but he admits what he’s really excited about is watching the film with the actors who were members of Toecutter’s gang in "Mad Max.”

“Quite a few of those guys are still dear friends of mine,” he said. “We will indeed all go see ‘Fury Road’ together.”

SEE ALSO: "Mad Max: Fury Road" has no plot but it's still incredible

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NOW WATCH: 70 people were injured while filming this movie with 100 untamed lions

On Monday, Fox announced that the coming 15th season of "American Idol" would be its last.

The show's host, Ryan Seacrest, said after the news that "American Idol" had "been a big part of my life for so long, it's frankly hard to imagine it without it."

But while Seacrest has been a part of the show for its entire run, his season one cohost, Brian Dunkleman, wasn't as lucky.

Dunkleman left the show after its initial season in 2002 to pursue stand-up comedy and acting. Meanwhile, "Idol" went on to become one of the most successful TV shows of all time and made Seacrest a millionaire many times over.

After news of the show's cancelation on Monday, Dunkleman sarcastically tweeted to his nearly 3,000 followers:

The internet was thrilled with Dunkleman's sense of humor about the situation, and he received quite the response:

In his Twitter bio, Dunkleman refers to himself as a "Television history footnote."

Dunkleman, now 43, acknowledged during a 2011 interview on the "Joy Behar Show" that leaving "Idol" may not have been his smartest move. "Listen, I'd like to say I was just young and stupid, but the truth is, I really wasn't that young," he said. "I mean listen, I was a comedian and an actor … What I wanted to do with my life is be an actor and that's going great," he joked while giving the thumbs-up.

Since "Idol," Dunkleman has appeared in bit roles on TV and in movies, participated in "Celebrity Fit Club," and performs stand-up comedy in Los Angeles, where he lives with his family.

In Fox's press call announcing the cancelation on Monday, network execs promised the show's final season would be full of "surprises we can have for the fans to make it feel special."

What kinds of surprises? Fox is still in discussions, but co-chairman and co-CEO Dana Walden said former show judges had already expressed interest in making appearances during the final season. When Dunkleman was suggested by a reporter on the call, Walden responded: "Yes! Where's Brian nowadays? If you give me his number, I will call and invite him."

Dunkleman regularly jokes on Twitter about his time on "Idol":

SEE ALSO: 18 TV shows that have just been canceled

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NOW WATCH: The Muppets are getting their own TV show on ABC — here's the hilarious trailer

On Friday, Netflix premiered“Granite Flats,” a TV series set in 1960s Colorado during the Cold War where not everyone in town is who they seem. The news here isn’t that the streaming service acquired an existing show to make available for its subscribers, it’s where it came from.

“Granite Flats” is the first scripted drama series from the thriving cable network BYUtv, operated and funded by Brigham Young University. The channel has been in existence since 2000 and is available on Dish Network, DirecTV, and 900 cable providers. But now being tapped by the most prominent streaming service, the network suddenly has many more eyes looking at it.

“I would love to say this was in our master plan, but we just got lucky,” Derek Marquis, BYUtv’s managing director told Business Insider.

The first season of “Granite Flats” aired on BYUtv in 2013 and quickly found an audience with its family-friendly values mixed with edgy subjects like the town’s chief of police on the trail of a KGB spy and the local VA hospital experimenting with mind control as a way to defeat the Soviets. They then upped the ante by bringing on veteran characters actors like Christopher Lloyd (“Back to the Future” films) and Parker Posey (“You’ve Got Mail”) the following seasons.

“We found ‘Granite Flats’ spreads across demographics,” said Marquis. “We don’t refer to it as family-friendly television because for some reason people think that’s sappy. It’s really co-viewing.”

Showrunner Scott Swofford, who is also BYUtv’s director of content, described the show’s draw as: “We wanted to create something where parents and children could share an experience. They are going to watch and then sit down and talk about it.”

When BYUtv was putting the final touches on the third season, talks with Netflix began to pick up.

In April, the deal was announced that Netflix would not just exclusively premiere season three of "Granite Flats" but also carry the first two seasons — making "Granite Flats" the first show that’s currently on the air on another network to debut a new season on Netflix.

Season three of “Granite Flats” will air on BYUtv in October.

Marquis wouldn’t go into specifics on who courted who, but he will say the deal was a no brainer for BYUtv. Reports out of Salt Lake City suggest Netflix were the ones who came calling.

“People want to watch shows when they want to watch it, where they want to watch it,” said Marquis. “And if you make them wait you’ll lose some percentage of them. This seemed like the natural next step for us.”

Brigham Young University — a private university based out of Provo, Utah, owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — has been in the media business since the 1940s when it started its own radio station (which is still on the air). To date, it operates six television stations, a station on Sirius radio, as well as TV stations in Latin America.

But in 2000, BYUtv was created with the mission of exporting the BYU experience to their alumni. Soon, according to Marquis, the network started to gain attention from people who didn’t have BYU ties.

“We were not out their knocking on cable system doors,” he said. “Dish Network launched us first and literally within weeks we were getting calls from cable operators outside of Utah [wanting to carry us].”

The network has their own “Saturday Night Live”-like sketch comedy show, “Studio C,” and reality TV shows like “American Ride,” which follows the travels of a motorcycle-riding history teacher around the US. It also airs BYU Division I sporting events, which includes a deal to air exclusively with ESPN.

BYUtv is currently manned by 120 full-time staff, and many contract workers from Hollywood who come on as crew on the shows. It also works with the university to help students gain real-world experience.

And in doing so, led to the network’s most successful show to date.

In 2010, senior James Shores was accepted to the university’s class “Writer’s Block,” in which students write and produce a 30-minute short film that then airs on BYU’s public access channel. Shores came up with “Heaven Under A Table,” which follows a young boy who paints art under his school desk.

“LDS (Latter-day Saints) people, like any religious group, can be a tad easy to get offended sometimes, but there are fringes everywhere,” said Shores. “So I pictured the story in the '60s. You have cool costumes, we’re trying to get to the moon, and the way people talked was a little more conservative back then.”

After Shores graduated, Swofford came across “Heaven Under A Table.” Along with some other ideas Shores had pitched BYUtv, the networked asked him to create a pitch for a show that combined them all.

And “Granite Flats” was born.

Shores has creator credit on the show and wrote episodes for the first season. He’s no longer actively on the show and is currently working on getting another project off the ground.

“Granite Flats” is made for about a quarter of what Hollywood does per episode, according to Marquis, because it’s done entirely out of Utah — including an abandoned 1960s-preserved town just outside of Salt Lake City that’s used for many exteriors. They also have a 100,000 square-foot production studio and distribution facility on campus.

The number of subscribers BYUtv has and how large the “Granite Flats” viewership is are kept under wraps. And though Marquis said a fourth season of the show hasn’t been confirmed yet, he feels if there is one it would likely also premiere on Netflix.

"We are not driven by advertisers or ratings,” said Marquis, “so we have flexibility to experiment and be pretty aggressive with the stuff we do.”

Watch all episodes of "Granite Flats" now on Netflix.

SEE ALSO: This is what will save TV, according to Netflix

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Before he starred in "Mad Max" in 1979, Mel Gibson was unknown to the rest of the world. 

Then, "Mad Max" became a box-office smash. It grossed $100 million worldwide and held the Guinness world record for most profitable movie of all time for nearly two decades.

After that, Gibson was on his way to international stardom. He reprised his role as the titular Max Rockatansky two more times in sequels "The Road Warrior" (1981) and "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" (1985). 

So for some fans of the series, it may have been a little bit of a surprise that he won't be making an appearance in the latest sequel "Mad Max: Fury Road."

The film itself took nearly 17 years to get made. Besides geographical and weather-related problems delaying production, director George Miller saw many reasons that made it difficult to get Gibson in his latest film.

"We were going to do it with Mel and we were within reach of doing it with Mel. Then 9/11 happened and the American dollar fell against the Australian dollar." Miller told The Huffington Post.

After the film was revisited years later, Miller started looking at others to play the lead as Gibson became older and his life was rocked by a series of scandals.

"By the time we got there, not only had Mel hit all the turbulence in his life, but this is not a ‘Mad Max’ in which he’s an old warrior,” Miller told the New York Post.

In 2006, he was arrested for drunk driving and heavily criticized for an anti-Semitic rant. In 2010, a profanity-laced voicemail further tarnished his reputation.

Miller also wanted to go for somebody younger, as this film, which is set in the future, isn't supposed to take place long after the original films. 

“He’s meant to be that same contemporary warrior. I guess in the same way that James Bond had been played by various people, it was time to hand over the mantle.” Miller said.

Gibson's part is now being played by Tom Hardy.

However, there seem to be no hard feelings, as Gibson was present at the premiere with both Hardy and Miller.

"Mad Max: Fury Road" opens nationwide on Friday, May 15.

SEE ALSO: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ is easily the best movie of the year so far

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NOW WATCH: The latest 'Mad Max: Fury Road' trailer is a wild ride into madness

Talks of the twisted metal and high octane vehicles that would populate “Mad Max: Fury Road” began when director George Miller showed production designer Colin Gibson three walls filled with storyboards of the film 15 years ago.

“He said, ‘One day this could all be yours,’” Gibson recalls to Business Insider of what Miller presented him. Gibson just didn’t realize how far away that “one day” would be.

Gibson began building the cars to be featured in the film as far back as 2003, when it was originally going to be shot in South Africa with Mel Gibson returning as Max, a loner in a post-apocalyptic world who navigates through the different gasoline-starved tribes in order to survive.

But the plug was pulled on the film leading up to the Iraq War, and the project lingered in development hell until four years ago.

The final version is an action-adventure film starring Tom Hardy as Max and Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa. Responsible for driving the massive “War Rig” to replenish her village’s gasoline needs, Furiosa goes rogue and dashes in the truck to parts unknown in hopes of freedom, picking up Max along the way. The village’s evil ruler, Immortal Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) unleashes his “War Boys” and their gonzo fleet of vehicles to hunt them down.

 Built over 11 months before production began in late 2011, the close to 200 vehicles Gibson created range from a sedan with massive metal spikes sticking out of it to a giant truck covered with stereo speakers.

Below, Gibson breaks down some of the most memorable vehicles.

Interceptor:

The iconic vehicle from the “Mad Max” franchise is Max’s 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT. The super-charged car made its first appearance in "Mad Max" in 1979 when Max was chasing down bad guys with it while he was still a cop. It returned in “The Road Warrior” (1981) where Max used it to escape the clutches of the evil forces who want to take it from him for the gasoline.

Gibson knew the importance of the car, so he didn’t make many changes to its look. “All we had to do with it was make it another 45 years older,” he said. “More rust. More rattle. Less original parts.” But with Hardy now as Max, Gibson also saw the car as a passing of the torch. “When we changed Maxes, it becomes even more important that we have that particular handoff.”

The War Rig:

Like in “The Road Warrior,” much of the action in "Fury Road" is on a massive 18-wheeler. But like all things in the movie, it’s unlike any you’ve ever seen. With two V8 engines, and modified cabins throughout, Gibson created a vehicle that the audience wouldn’t get tired of looking at half-way through the movie.

“War Rig was one built more to a prescription than an imagination,” he explains. “It was such an important part of the story that George and the storyboard artists had come to a greater consensus of what was required.” Gibson points out that there are up to 13 different characters inside the rig at any one time through the movie. Gibson said the classic John Wayne western, “Stagecoach,” was an inspiration for creating a moving location where the drama plays out over a long stretch of time.

The Gigahorse:

For Immorten Joe’s vehicle Gibson thought of a creation that would suit a crazed post-apocalyptic leader. What he came up with, he says, is his favorite of the vehicles. Stacked with two 1959 Cadillac Coupe De Villes on top of massive tires, Gibson’s thinking was “in a world where there was barely one of everything, it seemed the only person liable to have a pair would be the lead villain.”

Plymouth Rock:

To create this porcupine on wheels, Gibson took inspiration from the tribe that would drive them, the Buzzards. “George saw the Buzzards as the lowest common denominator,” he said.

The first group to go after The War Rig after Furiosa tries to escape, Gibson said they are the “scrap merchants” of the tribes and was allowed to use the rustiest of materials for their vehicles. “We used bent and battered steel panels,” he said. “All the spikes and panels were built out of old cars. But the stunt guys expressed some concern about rolling them at high speeds into rocks, so I had to replicate a couple where the steel spikes were stiffened goat skin which buckled and were less dangerous.”

The Doof Wagon:

Perhaps the most challenging vehicle, for all involved in the film, was the bandwagon that follows Immortal Joe’s armada of twisted vehicles into battle. “George said every army has a little drummer boy and ours was Spinal Tap on acid,” said Gibson.

The Doof Wagon is a big rig strapped with massive drums in the rear, endless speakers in front of it, and a stage where the blind and disfigured Coma the Doof Warrior rocks out on his flam-throwing guitar. Gibson said it was the most difficult vehicle to run as its six foot wheels (which they took from old mining tractors) would get buried in the sand. And then there was the noise. “George Miller has very expansive tastes so everything has to be real,” said Gibson. That means the speakers blared music all the time. “Some of the actors could barely hear themselves act,” he said. But Gibson made the error of when creating the flame-throwing guitar that it did not also play. “I foolishly built it as a prototype,” he said. “George was most emphatic that the guitarist had to be able to play, so we went back to the drawing board and made something that could play and shoot flames.”

With a decade-worth of storyboards for the film, Gibson said the main thing he had to do to get an idea of how to make the vehicles was to write some backstory.

“After conversations with George about the different tribes, I put together this bible of looks and from that we drew the inspiration for each vehicle,” Gibson tells Business Insider.

Some of the cars and trucks created came from scrap material Gibson’s team found in junk yards throughout Australia. But mainly what was used came from what Aussie’s call the “paddock.” 

“It’s at the back of your house where you drop off two cars that you intend to work on one day,” Gibson described. “So we were out searching for other people’s passions that hadn’t come to pass.”

SEE ALSO: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ has no plot but it's still incredible

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Kris Jenner is a total boss.

The 59-year-old runs the Kardashian-Jenner empire and manages the careers of all six of her successful children.

In a recent New York Times magazine profile on Jenner, Taffy Brodesser-Akner writes: 

Without Kris, Kim might not have pulled in a reported $28 million in 2014. Kendall wouldn’t necessarily be an in-demand model ... Kourtney and Khloé and Kim might not have three retail stores, a hair-and-makeup line, bronzer line, and a children’s clothing line ... Kendall and Kylie might not have licensing deals with PacSun, Steve Madden, Topshop and Sugar Factory. Rob, the lone brother, would probably not have a sock company that features socks that say things like “LOVE HURTS” and “YOLO” or sell adult onesies at places like Macy’s ... There would be no endorsement deals, either ... 

The thing is, no one in her family knew what they were doing until Kris took charge.

In February, Jenner — an executive producer of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and its spin-off shows — reportedly signed a $100 million deal to continue showcasing her famous family's antics on the E! network for yet another four years.

Thanks to the spin-off shows, product endorsement deals, lucrative video games, books, and millions of followers on social media tracking their every move, the family is now worth millions — much of which is due to Jenner's business savvy and guidance.

But Jenner didn't enter the business world until later in life. It is her second chapter.

Kristen Mary Jenner was born in San Diego in 1955, with the maiden name Houghton.

"She was 17 when she met Robert Kardashian, a lawyer 11 years her senior, at the Del Mar racetrack," the NYT magazine profile states. "He pursued her, but she wanted to discover the world. She became a flight attendant for American Airlines. She accepted his second proposal, and they married when she was 22." 

By the time she was 30, Kris had four children — Kourtney, Kimberly, Khloe, and Robert Jr.

The family lived a lavish lifestyle in Beverly Hills, where they hobnobbed with celebrity friends like Sugar Ray Leonard, the Hilton family, and O.J. Simpson (whom Robert would later defend during Simpson's 1995 murder trial).

For her 30th birthday, Kris put together a must-see video titled "I Love My Friends."

But Jenner was restless.

"She loved Robert and the life he gave her, but she still felt young and vital," writes NYT magazine. Kris had a short-lived affair with a 23-year-old soccer player, and Robert found out. He retaliated by canceling her credit cards and she was shunned by friends.

The marriage was destroyed, and Kris was devastated. 

In 1990, while the couple was separated but not yet divorced, Kris was set up on a blind date with Bruce Jenner and it was essentially love at first sight.

Jenner, a former Olympic athlete, had four kids from two previous marriages.

Kris, too, had four children. (Son Rob not pictured below.)

Both wanted to start another family and have more children together.

"Bruce went to Robert and asked him to finalize the divorce so that he could marry Kris, telling Robert that they didn’t want any of his money," explains the NYT. "Robert agreed, and Kris and Bruce were married a month after the divorce papers were signed. (She and Robert were on good terms when he died in 2003.)"

The only downside of the new union? The couple didn't have the money to lead the lifestyle to which each had become accustomed.

But Kris saw an opportunity for her new husband, who at the time was making a small amount doing motivational speeches.

She became his manager and publicist, sending out press kits and contacting speakers' bureaus. Soon, she lined up high-paying clients like Coca-Cola and Visa.

Kris helped Bruce market his motivational speeches to a broader audience. The two also created a workout video series, called "Super Fit With Bruce and Kris Jenner," which they sold on infomercials. 

Slowly, Kris helped the family's financial situation and began to realize their earning potential.

"It was a mix of blood, sweat and tears, enthusiasm, determination and just never sleeping and getting the word out there," she told NYT magazine.

In 1995, the couple welcomed daughter Kendall. Then in 1997, another daughter, Kylie, was born.

Now a blended family with 10 kids in total, Jenner realized she might even have had some earning potential under her own roof.

In 2007, Kim rose to fame thanks to a sex tape with singer Ray-J and BFFs like the Hilton sisters.

Kris capitalized on the opportunity.

In 2007, Kris scheduled a meeting with Ryan Seacrest to talk about her idea of doing a reality show about her family. Jenner believed that her six children, who ranged in age from 7 to 26 at the time, could be reality TV gold.

Seacrest liked the idea but decided to shoot a short reel at a family barbecue to help him decide if it could be turned into a series.

"On the way home, the producer called and said: 'We have a show. This is going to be amazing.' Watch the tape, and you know, you see the craziness that is their family," Seacrest recalled to NYT magazine.

In 2007, "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" premiered on E! to about 898,000 viewers. By the season's final episode, the show attracted 1.9 million viewers.

Today, "Keeping up with the Kardashians" is in its 10th season.

With Kris as "Momager" — a term she trademarked in 2012 — she used the show's success to forge new deals for each of her children.

In 2009, the sisters hawked QuickTrim diet pills, only to have the deal result in a lawsuit over allegedly misleading claims about the diet pills’ effectiveness. 

In 2010, there was a partnership with Skechers.

And The Sugar Factory’s $25 Kardashian-endorsed lollipops.

In 2011, there were Silly Bandz bracelets.

That same year, the family launched the Kardashian Kollection for Sears.

There have been hosting gigs.

Commercials.

Countless magazine covers.

And a deal with Midori liqueur, despite the fact that Kim doesn't drink.

There have been books.

Beauty lines.

And now, lucrative video game deals, which could rake in as much as $200 million annually according to one analyst.

Along with many, many other endorsement deals. 

Today, each of Kris' children are millionaires: Kim Kardashian raked in $28 million in 2014 alone and is estimated to be worth north of $85 million; Khloé is worth $25 million. Kourtney is worth a reported $20 million, Kendall $6 million, Kylie $5 million, and Rob $2.75 million. 

One of the only things that haven't worked is Kris Jenner's 2013 talk show, which took place on a set that replicated the Kardashian home's grand entrance. It ultimately wasn't picked up beyond its six-week order.

But it hasn't slowed down Jenner, who now also runs her own production company, Jenner Communications.

She can still be found promoting her new cookbook, "In The Kitchen With Kris."

Sitting front row at fashion shows all over the world alongside Kim and Kanye West.

Attending this month's Met Ball.

Standing by her former husband of 24 years, Bruce Jenner, as he transitions into a woman. On Sunday, E! will air "Keeping Up with the Kardashians: About Bruce," featuring his ex-wife and children.

And doing what she does best — promoting and supporting her children.

To read the NYT magazine's full profile on Kris Jenner, click here.

SEE ALSO: Kim Kardashian's late father taught her a great lesson about business and money

MORE: Before she was famous, Kim Kardashian had a successful eBay business

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How can Fox build on the momentum of TV's biggest hit in years? The network executives spoke for the first time on Monday about its plan for "Empire's" return and how it hopes to grow the show's already huge viewership.

Despite reports that "Empire" wouldn't return until the midseason, Fox isn't letting that much time pass before capitalizing on its success. The drama from creator Lee Daniels ("The Butler") and Danny Strong ("The Hunger Games") will return this fall. It will also air in the very same time slot it held during the spring.

"Fans made 'Empire' an appointment on Wednesday nights all season long. We'd be crazy to move it and we want to thank and reward our fans by keeping it in that time period," Fox's co-CEO and co-chairman Gary Newman said on a press call Monday.

It will also expand to 18 episodes, split into fall and spring seasons with no repeats. Season 1 had just 12 episodes. 

"The stories we've heard for Season 2 already is just going to blow away the audience," Newman promised.

Of course, many shows have breakout first seasons and then lost their audiences during the wait for their return. Fox knows this all too well with Kevin Bacon drama "The Following," which it just canceled.

That's one reason Fox executives admitted that they started working on "a bridge plan" while the first season was still airing and it saw the audience grow, but knew there could be a long gap between seasons.

"The requests for this cast are so numerous, we're trying to make it so that they can be out there and still get a little bit of rest prior to an enormous production season with all new music," co-CEO and co-chairman Dana Walden said. 

So, how is Fox trying to keep "Empire" thriving during the wait for Season 2?

1. All 12 episodes available On-Demand, Hulu and other platforms, so that new audiences can "catch up." Fox chief operating office Joe Earley said they're already seeing record numbers for viewing on these platforms, but the network is not planning to air repeats.

2. The cast is making appearances. The show's young stars Jussie Smollett and Bryshere Y. Gray, who play Jamal and Hakeem respectively, have been touring and performing music from the show. Breakout star Taraji P. Henson, who plays mother Cookie, hosted "Saturday Night Live" in April and will appear with co-star Terrence Howard, who plays patriarch Lucious, on Spike TV hit "Lip Sync Battle."

3. Season 2 has "amazing guest stars" who Fox hopes will help to bring in new viewers. Fox has already booked comedian Chris Rock and singers Alicia Keys and Lenny Kravitz. Season 1 guest stars included Jennifer Hudson, Rita Ora, Patti LaBelle, Raven Symone, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Estelle.

4. Fox hopes Rapper Ne-Yo, who has joined the next season as a music producer on Timbaland's team, will bring in new viewers. Ne-Yo will write new original music for the series. 

At the same time, Fox is not looking a gift horse in the mouth. "Empire" is the only show in TV's recent history to improve on its ratings each week. The first season averaged a 5.09 with Adults aged 18-49, the demographic advertisers most covet, and 13 million viewers.

"We don't want to be greedy," Walden added. "If we came back with the audience that we left off with, we would be thrilled. Based on the creative that we saw from producers the week before last, I don’t think that's going to be a problem."

SEE ALSO: Fox to cancel 'American Idol' after one more season

MORE: Why everyone is watching Fox's new hit show 'Empire'

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Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron may be the leads in "Mad Max: Fury Road," but long after leaving the film you'll likely be talking about five other women.

The plot of the apocalyptic high-octane car-chase film revolves around five brides — the prized possessions of the film's villainous warlord Immortan Joe. Theron's Imperator Furiosa sets about a plan to break them free from a vicious breeding cycle as an act of vengeance on Joe.

After leaving the film, you may be left wondering the identities of the five young women all playing characters with rather extravagant, flamboyant names. Played by models and even Elvis' granddaughter, here are the wives of "Mad Max: Fury Road."

British supermodel and actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, 28, plays the leader of the wives, The Splendid Angharad.

Here's how Huntington-Whiteley looked at the "Fury Road" premiere.

If the actress looks familiar it's because you may remember her from "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," in which she took over the lead female role from Megan Fox.

Before her acting career kicked off, she was one of Victoria's Secret Angels. Here she is in November 2010 at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

She was also the face of Burberry's 2011 campaign, "Burberry Body."

Riley Keough, 25, plays the fiery, red-headed Capable.

Keough is the oldest granddaughter of Elvis and the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and musician Danny Keough.

Here she is with both her famous mother and grandmother, Priscilla Presley, at the premiere for "Mad Max: Fury Road."

Keough has been in several films including the 2010 indie "The Runaways" with Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning. She also appeared in the original "Magic Mike," in which she played a stripper.

In celebration of the release of "Fury Road," Keough posted a collage of images from on set to Instagram. 

Keough recently married stuntman Ben Smith-Petersen, who you may recognize as the guitar-wielding man in "Fury Road." The two met on set while the film was shooting in 2012.  

Zoe Kravitz (26), the daughter of rock star-actor Lenny Kravitz, plays Toast the Knowing.

The actress-model often appears alongside her famous dad at events, including the "Hunger Games" premieres and the Academy Awards.

Kravitz has appeared in two big franchises, "X-Men: First Class" as the mutant Angel and the "Divergent" series as one of the leads, Christina. As a hobby, she started a band, Lolawolf, named after her two younger half-siblings (Lola Lolani and Nakoa-Wolf).

Australian actress and model Courtney Eaton, 19, plays the youngest of the wives, Cheedo the Fragile.

Here she is in real life with director George Miller at the film's premiere.

Eaton, who makes her film debut in "Fury Road," told The Hollywood Reporter she auditioned for the role because of her father.

"I was with a modeling agency and the casting directors came to my agency and asked me to do a tape," said Eaton. "And then my dad, he's a massive fan, made me do the audition. So I have him to thank."

Her next role will be in 2016's "Gods of Egypt," featuring Gerard Butler.

Abbey Lee also made her film debut in "Fury Road" as The Dag.

In reality, Lee looks much different.

The 27-year-old is an Australian fashion model who has been modeling since 2008 in New York Fashion Week and the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

She has also been photographed by Terry Richardson. In 2016, she will be in "Gods of Egypt" with her friend Eaton.

SEE ALSO: How this actor ended up playing 2 different villains in the 'Mad Max' franchise 36 years apart

AND: Why you won't see Mel Gibson in the new "Mad Max" movie

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NOW WATCH: The latest 'Mad Max: Fury Road' trailer is a wild ride into madness

Warning: Spoilers ahead (if you’re not caught up on season 7)

After seven seasons on the air, this Sunday marks the final episode of AMC's hit show "Mad Men."

If you haven't been keeping up with the current season, here's the key points you need to know before watching the finale.

1. Sterling Cooper & Partners is no more.

The advertising agency that housed the talented and very sought-after creative director Don Draper was finally absorbed by its parent company, McCann Erickson, a few episodes ago. When the partners revealed the news to the SC&P staff, Draper announced “this is just the beginning.”

But everyone could see that things would never be the same, and soon Don would too. 

2. Joan has left McCann Erickson after being sexually harassed. 

Out of all the SC&P partners, Joan Holloway had the hardest transition moving to McCann Erickson. In fact, she quickly learned that her status at SC&P didn’t mean squat. First, she was talked down to by a male junior member on her team. Then she was hit on by one of the executives at the company.

But Joan finally realized where she stood in the company when her chat with McCann Erickson’s head honcho, Jim Hobart, ended with her threatening to get the ACLU involved for sexism in the work place. When it was all said and done, she never reported the company and agreed to leave with only half the money it owed her.  

3. Peggy has turned over a new leaf.

As Joan was fighting the boys club at McCann Erickson, Peggy Olson was just trying to get in the door. At first the company thought she was a secretary. But Peggy stood her ground and stayed in the SC&P offices until she finally was told that McCann Erickson had an office for her. But in those final hours at SC&P she had a heart-to-heart with Roger Sterling. And through that she realized that going to McCann Erickson can be a new chapter in her career. A place where no one knows her past and she can create an edgy, no-nonsense persona. 

4. Peter and Trudy are staring over.

On last week’s episode, Pete Campbell stumbles into a job opportunity at Learjet. This makes him think about the future, which would mean leaving New York. When he gets a serious offer, he decides to profess to his ex-wife Trudy that he still has feelings for her and wants her and their daughter to come with him to Wichita if he accepts the job. Following an emotional pre-dawn heart-to-heart, the two decide to give it another shot. 

5. Betty has cancer.

One of the most shocking developments from these final episodes is the reveal that Betty has lung cancer. She learned about it after injuring herself falling on stairs at the school where she’s taking psychology classes. The diagnosis is not good. The cancer is terminal and the doctor believes she has a year left to live, at the most. But Betty is staying strong about the news. She refuses to undergo treatment, and plans to continue taking classes and living her final months to the fullest. 

6. Don is on the road.

What will more than likely be the main focus of the final episode is the journey Don is currently on. He quickly realized McCann Erickson wasn’t for him after sitting in on a pitch meeting for Miller Beer with a table full of the McCann Erickson creative team. Seeing he was just a fish in a large pond, he walked out of the meeting and has been driving across the country ever since. He first tried to track down the waitress he’d been sleeping with for the last half of the season. When he couldn’t track her down, he began driving west. He’s even told people that he “used to be in advertising.” Last we saw him, he gave up his car to a kid he recently met and sat alone at the side of the road.

Join the conversation about this story »

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There’s a scene in "Mad Max: Fury Road" where you’re watching Tom Hardy’s titular character rise slowly out of the sand.

You hear every little speck of sand shaking loose from his body from his head downward. Every sound is intensified tenfold until Hardy’s character stands tall and comes to his senses. 

That sort of attention to detail makes "Fury Road" incredible. 

For those unfamiliar with "Mad Max," "Fury Road" is the fourth installment in the George Miller franchise which started in 1979 with Mel Gibson. Without too many spoilers, in the original, Max Rockatansky was a patrol officer in a dystopian Australia, before he lost everything of value to him. His further adventures involve putting others lives ahead of his own.

Max's origin story isn't imperative to the new film, though.

It took Miller over 15 years to bring “Fury Road” to the screen after delays and reshoots, and it was well worth the wait. 

"Fury Road" may just be the best movie you’ll see all summer.  

It’s definitely the best film so far this year.

While much of the two-hour extravaganza starring Hardy and Charlize Theron is a wild non-stop car chase, it’s so much more than that. 

The entirety is a delicious assault on both your visual cortex and auditory system — a giant orchestral blend of machine engines roaring and wheels peeling combined with a booming overture of drums and guitar.

The lighting and visuals are a work of art to behold. As others have noted, you could watch this film in silence and just be blown away by the contrasting browns of the desert sands against the piercing blue skies and eyes of Theron and Hardy.  

There’s a short leg of the film where everyone is cast in a soft blue gradient. It’s like watching the film under a filter, and it’s beautiful. 

Staying true to the character, Hardy’s Max doesn’t say much — often speaking in grunts or with simple gestures — but he doesn’t need to. The smallest movement of his eyes or gestures do the talking. Most of the time, he’s a terrifying badass who eats lizards raw and can take down a pack of men single-handedly without blinking an eye. 

Both he and Theron’s Imperator Furiosa (one of many lavish names in the film) are a ragged tag-team of warriors who you can’t get enough of on screen.

And the guitar man. Oh the guitar man. 

You know who I’m talking about if you’ve seen the trailers — the wild guitarist playing his own personal concert atop a spectacular Macy’s Day Parade-like vehicle. Every time he comes on screen, you can’t help but grin because it’s so utterly over the top that it’s just another welcome addition to the mixed bag of eccentric characters on display.

One thing that may surprise you given the film's testosterone-heavy marketing in trailers is that it’s driven by a female-centric storyline. Going in with little expectations having only watched the first “Mad Max,” I was ready for an all-out bro-movie filled with car chases, brawls, and mindless fun. While you certainly get all of that, you get a bit more, too, and it’s refreshingly welcome. 

The film follows Furiosa (Theron) as she helps five “brides” (including Riley Keough, Zoe Kravitz, and the wonderful Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) escape a breeding circle responsible for birthing future members of the villain’s War Boy group. Max just happens to get tangled up in this whole charade. (A bit of wrong place wrong time.) 

While the movie clocks in at two hours, it feels like it goes on for longer, and it’s one of the rare times you won’t think that’s a bad thing.

Just when you think it may end, it kicks back up and revs into high gear. The entire final stretch of the film is on an entirely different level, which is sort of strange to say because the whole movie is on an entirely different level.  

Imagine a gorgeously wild and hellish “Wacky Races” meets “Twisted Metal” (replace the scary clown face from the popular game with Max’s Immortan Joe). Numerous parties engage in combat — some hanging from wiry poles that would make Cirque du Soleil members jealous.For the final 30 minutes or so, I surrendered myself to the film, dropping my pad and pen with which I usually jot down notes to claw nervously into my cheeks and the back of my neck, awaiting the uncertain fate of our film’s protagonists over a majestic desert car battle. 

That feeling of your heart beating in your chest, having no idea what’s coming next is what you head to the movies for, and the 70-year-old Miller more than delivers.  

As far as any viewer will be concerned, this is a great cinematic triumph.  

If you’re going to see a movie this weekend, or this summer, make it “Mad Max.”

"Mad Max: Fury Road" is in theaters Friday, May 15.

SEE ALSO: How the vehicles in "Mad Max: Fury Road" were created

AND: How this actor ended up playing two different characters in the "Mad Max" franchise 36 years apart

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If you've ever watched one of your favorite animated Disney classics like "Robin Hood" and have felt like you've seen it before, you may be right.

A lot of the scenes in the film are from older Disney movies including 1967's "The Jungle Book" and 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves."

Here's Maid Marian ("Robin Hood") and Snow White both clapping in tune to a group of critters and dwarves, respectively, singing and dancing.

Little John from "Robin Hood" and Baloo ("The Jungle Book") not only shared a voice actor, Phil Harris, but also looked similar, with the same crazed eyes in the scenes below.

While that may seem alarming, it's not. The Mouse House often recycled its old animated footage to save costs on film. 

Called rotoscoping, the process involves animators drawing and tracing over old footage to create anew.

Earlier this week, an HD video we first spotted on /film broke down a lot of similarities between a number of classic Disney films.

While the HD video is new, if you're a Disney fan, this isn't anything new.

A search for "Disney reused animation" on YouTube brings up over 10,000 results. The Daily Mail first wrote about it in 2009.

Regardless, it's still stunning to see the side-by-sides if you're just hearing this for the first time.

Dancing was repeated a lot in films. Here you can see a similar sequence in both the endings to 1959's "Sleeping Beauty," where fairies are shifting the color of her dress between blue and pink, and 1991's "Beauty and the Beast."

A scene of Maid Marian dancing in "Robin Hood" was previously seen in 1970's "Aristocats."

That famous drum-banging scene in marketing for "The Aristocats" was also used in "Robin Hood."

Another video, entitled "The Disney Deja Vu" shows a lot of other animation that was reused across films.

Among them is a scene from 1961's "101 Dalmatians" that can also be seen in 1963's "The Sword in the Stone."

Those are just a few examples from tens of Disney films that borrow and reuse animation.

To be clear, it's not just Disney who has done this. Plenty of other films have recycled content over the years.

You can watch the video below:

SEE ALSO: 2 reasons Disney movies often don't have moms

AND: "Toy Story 4" will not be a sequel to the third film

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The "Mad Men" series finale aired Sunday evening on AMC.

If you tried to watch any of AMC's sister networks at the same time, they advised fans to do the same.

In honor of the "Mad Men" finale, the network's four sister channels BBC America, IFC, Sundance, and WE decided to black out.

Here's how the networks look:

Curiously, WE was airing other programming during the "Mad Men" finale though the channel claimed it was airing the same content as the former three.

SEE ALSO: Here's the Coca-Cola ad that played during the "Mad Men" finale

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NOW WATCH: How the stars of AMC's blockbuster 'Mad Men' have changed over the years

Warning: There are spoilers ahead if you are not caught up with "Game of Thrones."

It's no secret "Game of Thrones" deviated many times from the text in season five. We've seen this with Sansa's character and the expansion of a fan favorite on screen. But there's one change from the text which has increasingly confused fans of the beloved book series this season.

Ser Loras Tyrell, the brother of Margaery and a popular side character in "Game of Thrones," has been increasingly reduced to a caricature of homosexuality — and no one is sure why.

Loras was very subtly alluded to as being gay in the book series, but it was so quietly done that George R.R. Martin had to confirm the speculation. On the HBO adaptation, Loras' homosexuality is his most obvious trait.

In season five episode four, we saw the Faith Militant, a military branch of the Faith of the Seven, exercise their recently granted power by aggressively stamping out “sinful” behavior. They concluded their raid on King’s Landing with the arrest of Ser Loras, on charges of “perversion” in the form of homosexuality. 

Let’s go back to see how Loras landed in a jail cell.

Loras was introduced back in season one during a jousting tournament, where he beat Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane (an impressive and rare feat). Afterward, it was quickly made apparent that he was not just a skilled fighter, but also Renly Baratheon’s lover.

The series took a lot of liberty almost immediately with Renly and Loras’ relationship. In the book series, each chapter is told from the point-of-view of a character, and Renly and Loras never have POV chapters. This means their relationship is only ever conveyed through the impressions that main characters have of it. There are no sex scenes between the two, or overt acknowledgments of either characters’ sexual orientation made in the books.

George R.R. Martin’s subtle references to Renly and Loras being gay were so minute that many overlooked it. He is referred to in the text once as "Renly's little rose" and the "Knight of Pansies," but this could be interpreted as rumor mongering.

The most obvious quip came from a scene between Jaime Lannister and Loras in the third book, A Storm of Swords. Jaime is frustrated with Loras, and snaps "Now sheath your bloody sword, or I'll take it from you and shove it up some place even Renly never found." This definitely implies a gay relationship between Renly and Loras, but it still could be chalked up to rumors. And among the thousands of pages of text, it was an easy inference to miss.

Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss decided to do away with the ambiguity, and take advantage of HBO’s allowance of nudity and adult material. Renly and Loras were immediately established as a gay couple in season one.

This is all fine and dandy for the first two seasons of “Game of Thrones” where we saw Loras do more than just dote on Renly. Loras had a great fight scene with Brienne of Tarth in season two, and was shown conspiring with his sister Margaery to keep Renly in power. He was one of the heroes at the Battle of Blackwater, saving King’s Landing from Stannis Baratheon’s attack.

But from season three onward, his role on the show became far less complex and his character development came to a grinding halt. After Renly’s death, it seemed every time Loras was shown on screen it was either in a sex scene with Olyvar or him complaining to Margaery about being in King’s Landing. 

There haven't been any more signs of him serving as a noble knight or crucial warrior the way he is in the books. Instead, his sexual orientation has become Loras’ defining characteristic.

Now, the show has created a narrative where Loras is arrested for being gay — a plot that does not exist in the written series. 

This is equally disappointing and confusing on several levels.

It seems anti-progressive to have a gay character who is overtly defined by the fact he is gay. One online user pointed out this difference by explaining that on HBO, Loras is “a gay character,” whereas in the book series Loras is “a knight and a son of House Tyrell, who happens to be gay.” There have been many outcries online about this treatment of Loras, especially in recent episodes where Loras is now being persecuted by the Faith for his sexual orientation.

One of George R.R. Martin’s book editors, Jane Johnson, has been very vocal on Twitter recently, referring to show-Loras as a "gay cartoon."

There was also a recent post on the "A Song of Ice and Fire" subreddit, where a user explained the many ways in which this is an abominable adaptation of Loras. The user points out that the Faith in the books does not seem to dictate that homosexuality is a sin. It seems to be more of an Ancient Greek-inspired social rule, where the norm is heterosexuality but gay relationships are tolerated among men as well.

The user, a self-identified gay man, stated: “When I watch my favorite series about a fantasy world, why the hell do I need to see guys being accosted for being gay...At best I feel pandered to in some sort of weird pity, at worst I'm outright offended.” 

The purpose for adding this storyline is unclear. The Faith Militant do exist in the books, but they are more concerned with closing the gap between the elite and the common folk, as well as clearing out corruption from inside the castle. In fact, it is Margaery that is arrested at the behest of Cersei, under charges of adultery and treason.

Showrunners have opted to put both of the Tyrell siblings behind bars, with Margaery taking the fall for knowing about Loras. But they could also be trying to make some larger commentary on the nature of religion and homophobia.

Are Weiss and Benioff attempting to equate the Faith Militant with the persecutions carried out by religions of the real world? If so, how is this going to play out?

Olyvar, Loras' lover on the series, works for Littlefinger, so by providing testimony against both Margaery and Loras he is choosing to destroy the alliance he built with the Tyrells. But that doesn’t make much sense. The Tyrells have proven to be strong players in the game of thrones, with more financial resources than many of the main houses and a cunning matriarch, Olenna. Did Littlefinger really instruct Olyvar to testify? 

The worst outcome (that Loras is tried and executed) would provide the Tyrells with motivation for revenge, and perhaps another coup. But that scenario would just cement the Faith as being an extreme brand of fanatics, which is also a one-dimensional take on religion and its practices.

We’ll have to wait and see how this new plot progresses, but fans are not optimistic it will get any better. Of all the side characters, Loras has been doled the weakest writing, and it’s a true shame.

SEE ALSO: What the big moment from last week's 'Game of Thrones' means for the rest of the season

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