The camera pans across a vast expanse of desert before careening toward an artificial island lined with luxury homes in the Persian Gulf. Eerie chords ring out, as though warning viewers: This is not your "Real Housewives of Orange County."

For the first time in its 16-year history, the American franchise that has become an institution of reality television will take its glamor and soap opera abroad — specifically, to the skyscraper-studded sheikhdom of Dubai. While the franchise has sold countless global spinoffs from Lagos to Vancouver, none have been produced by the Bravo network before.

Tom Cruise has said he and Prince William "have a lot in common" as Britain's royals joined the Hollywood star on the red carpet in London for the U.K. premiere of the new "Top Gun" movie.

William and his wife, Kate, joined Cruise Thursday on a star-studded red carpet at Leicester Square for the premiere of "Top Gun: Maverick," in which Cruise reprises his role as U.S. Navy pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell more than three decades after the release of the original film.

To hear actor Ellen Barkin tell it, Johnny Depp was a controlling, jealous and angry man even back in the 1990s, when the two dated.

"Where are you going?" Barkin said Depp would ask her. "Who are you going with? What did you do last night?"

Ellen DeGeneres relishes what her daytime show has given viewers in its nearly two-decade run, a blend of the silly, sometimes earnest and, particularly in the last few years, a respite from hard times.

She's also acknowledges that who she is counts for a lot — a TV host with wide appeal who is lesbian and married — but would like to see the distinction rendered moot.

It's often said that fans at live concerts give the band a jolt of electricity. Coldplay wants to literally harness that.

The pop superstars have added kinetic dance floors and energy-storing stationary bikes to their latest world tour, encouraging fans to help power the show as they dance or spin.

Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision Song Contest in the early hours of Sunday in a clear show of popular support for the war-ravaged nation that went beyond music.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the victory, Ukraine's third since its 2003 Eurovision debut, and said "we will do our best" to host next year's contest in the hotly contested port city of Mariupol. He underlined "Ukrainian Mariupol," adding: "free, peaceful, rebuilt!"

Early on in "Top Gun: Maverick," Tom Cruise hops on his sleek motorcycle, wearing Aviator sunglasses and a leather jacket with patches, and speeds into a time machine. No, that's not right. It's actually us who take a trip back.

More than 30 years after Cruise smirked his way to the cocky heights of the '80s as the maverick Navy pilot codenamed Maverick, he effortlessly picks up the character in a new chapter of "Top Gun" that is an absolutely, thoroughly enjoyable ride — a textbook example of how to make a sequel.

A Ukrainian circus troupe is performing a never-ending "Alice in Wonderland" tour of Italy, caught in the real-world rabbit hole of having to create joyful performances on stage while their families at home are living through war.

Like many Ukrainian artists who were abroad when Russia invaded on Feb. 24, the acrobats and dancers of the Theater Circus Elysium of Kyiv were opening a limited engagement in Italy. The tour, originally scheduled to end in mid-March, has now been extended at least through June as the performers seek to keep working to send money to relatives back home.

Andy Warhol's "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" sold for a cool $195 million on Monday, making the iconic portrait of Marilyn Monroe the most expensive work by a U.S. artist ever sold at auction.

The 1964 silkscreen image shows Monroe in vibrant close-up — hair yellow, eyeshadow blue and lips red — on a rich blue background. It's also the most expensive piece from the 20th century ever auctioned, according to Christie's auction house in New York, where the sale took place.

Queen Elizabeth II will not attend the opening of Parliament on Tuesday for the first time in nearly 60 years, as she struggles with difficulties in getting around.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement Monday that the decision was made in consultation with her doctors and that the 96-year-old had "reluctantly'' decided not to attend. Prince Charles will read her speech, while for the first time her grandson Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, will have an official role in the event.