Table of Contents

There’s no better way to pregame the Patriots vs. Seahawks game on Sunday than with a puppy palooza. The longest-running call-to-adoption television event is back in 2026 with Puppy Bowl XXII. This year’s event includes 150 dogs from 72 shelters across the United States, Puerto Rico, and the British Virgin Islands, which marks a new record.

The reigning champions, Team Fluff’s lineup includes Benito, a Siberian Husky-Chihuahua from Puerto Rico, Showgirl, a Chow Chow-Rottweiler, and Chappell Bone, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. They’ll take on Team Ruff, which includes Lobster Roll, a Bulldog-Border Collie, Brûlée, a Boston Terrier-French Bulldog, and Miso, an American Cattle Dog-Beagle, to get their paws on the “Lombarky” trophy. Prepare for adorable puppies, heartwarming adoption stories, and play-by-play commentary from sportscasters Steve Levy and Taylor Rooks. A special halftime exhibition game (new this year) with senior dogs on Team Oldies and Team Goldies will also surely tug at your heartstrings.

If you need some cozy and comforting content before the chaos of the Big Game, here’s what you need to know to watch the Puppy Bowl.

When is the 2026 Puppy Bowl?

Puppy Bowl XXII kicks things off on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. ET, making it the perfect pregame for the Big Game at 6:30 p.m. ET. A Puppy Combine pre-show will air just before the 22nd annual adoption awareness event at 1 p.m. ET.

How to watch Puppy Bowl XXII

Got cable? You can watch the 2026 Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet, TBS, or TruTV — take your pick. Those without cable have options as well. The event will simulcast on both HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services. You can also opt for a live TV cable replacement service, which usually will give you a free trial. We’ve rounded up the best (and cheapest) ways to watch below.

Best way to watch without cable: Get a free 7-day trial to Discovery+

Hands down the best option to watch the Puppy Bowl without spending a cent is to sign up for a free seven-day trial to Discovery+, either through Discovery+ directly or as a Prime Video add-on. After your trial, it’ll cost you either $5.99 per month with ads or $9.99 per month without ads unless you cancel first.

Best way to watch the Puppy Bowl and Super Bowl live: Get a Hulu + Live TV free trial

If you want to watch both the 2026 Puppy Bowl and the football game, you’re going to need a live TV cable alternative. Fortunately, most options offer free trials — including Hulu + Live TV. While you’ll only get three days for free, you really only need it for Sunday, Feb. 8, so that’s plenty. Just be sure to cancel your subscription before the three-day trial ends, or else you’ll be charged full price — *gasp* $89.99 per month. Other options include YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream.

Best HBO Max deal for most people: Save 16% on HBO Max annual subscriptions

If you don’t qualify for the trials above, or if you just want to commit to HBO Max for more than the Puppy Bowl, we recommend signing up for the annual plan over the monthly plan. The HBO Max Basic plan with ads typically costs $10.99 per month, but if you pay for an entire year upfront, that price drops down to just $9.17. You’ll pay $109.99 total for the year, which saves you about 16% compared to paying each month.

Rather go ad-free? The annual HBO Max Standard or Premium plans will also save you about 16% over their monthly counterparts. The Standard tier costs either $18.49 per month or $184.99 per year (about $15.42 per month), while the Premium tier costs either $22.99 per month or $229.99 per year (about $19.17 per month). Both tiers unlock ad-free viewing, but the Premium tier also adds 4K Ultra HD video quality, Dolby Atmos immersive audio, and the ability to download more offline content.

Best way to get HBO Max for free: Switch to Cricket’s Supreme Unlimited plan

One of the best ways to get HBO Max for free in 2026 is to switch your phone plan to Cricket’s $60 per month Supreme Unlimited plan. It includes HBO Max Basic with ads for free — a $10.99 per month value. When you open up the HBO Max app or website, you’ll just select Cricket as your provider and use your credentials to log in.

Best HBO Max deal for students: Save 50% on HBO Max Basic with ads

College students can sign up for an entire year of HBO Max with ads for half price. Just verify your student status through UNiDAYS and use the unique discount code to drop the price from $10.99 to just $5.49 per month. After 12 months, the price will jump back up to the full $10.99 monthly fee unless you cancel.

Best HBO Max bundle deal: Get HBO Max, Disney+, and Hulu for up to 42% off

The Disney+ bundle deal that includes Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max is one of the best deals in streaming. That lineup of streamers would usually cost you $34.97 per month if you paid separately for each, but you can bundle them for only $19.99. If you prefer to watch without ads, the bundle will run you $32.99 per month as opposed to $56.47. That’s up to 42% in savings for unlimited access to all three streaming libraries.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency markets are rebounding on Friday after hitting lows not seen in years.

As of publication, Bitcoin has since soared back over $70,300 following yesterday’s crash.

But is the worst really over? Or is the worst yet to come? Despite the recent rebound, one of the experts we talked to warned of further decreases to come.

In a statement provided to Mashable before today’s bounceback, early Bitcoin investor Michael Terpin foresaw an uptick in the market before another potential downturn.

“Most likely we will have a bounce back over $80k before the final plunge, exhausting weary ETF investors into capitulation, despite how oversold we are right now,” Terpin said. “It would be awesome if we could rip the band-aid off quickly and hit the bottom this week or month, but there is really strong buying resistance at $65k and $60k. If we lose that support, price could drop all the way to $45k.”

Other analysts have also predicted that Bitcoin could drop as low as $40k if the current market trends continue.

According to a CryptoQuant analysis, investors should still proceed with caution as crypto whales are currently very active and “account for a disproportionately large share of total deposits.”

“This behavior typically signals that whales are aggressively moving funds onto the exchange, a precursor often associated with heavy selling (dumping) or hedging activities,” the report says.

Head of Bitfire Research Allen Ding told Mashable in a statement that a rebound in the market is “likely to be constrained by the pace of institutional capital returning and the unwinding of market leverage risks.”

With big holders still actively selling, analysts say crypto prices could continue to fluctuate and even start to plunge once again.

The current price range, even after the rebound, also provides a challenge for Bitcoin miners. As CoinDesk reports, the current Bitcoin price is well under the average cost of $87,000 to mine a single Bitcoin. The outlet notes that this has traditionally been one of the signs of a bear market.

By Robert Scucci
| Updated 37 seconds ago

Here’s a little word of advice for anyone who’s always hunting for the next thing to watch. When the burnout guitar tech named Zippy (portrayed by Bill Hader) in the 2016 musical mockumentary satire Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping casually mentions that he loves falling into a medically induced near-death experience for the rush, and cites 1990’s Flatliners as his inspiration, it’s not an open invitation to seek the film out and actually watch it. I did, and I have regrets.

My curiosity got the best of me because of a single throwaway joke that made me laugh harder than I care to admit, which ultimately forced me to seek out Flatliners. On paper, it checks a lot of boxes for me. It’s a sci-fi psychological horror thriller built around a pulpy concept, and it’s stacked with a mostly reliable roster of talent, including Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, and Oliver Platt. This should have at the very least been a solid B-movie, but it doesn’t even satisfy on that level. 

Medical Students Playing God With Each Other

On paper, Flatliners has a great concept, but the execution is anything but desirable. We’re introduced to Nelson Wright (Kiefer Sutherland), a medical student obsessed with experiencing death because he believes glimpsing the afterlife will provide answers to life’s biggest philosophical questions. Joining him are fellow students, including Rachel Manus (Julia Roberts), outspoken atheist David Labraccio (Kevin Bacon), womanizing sexpot Joe Hurley (William Baldwin), and the self important coward and unofficial scribe Randy Steckle (Oliver Platt).

The object of Nelson’s game in Flatliners is simple. He convinces his classmates to force him into a medically induced death, reviving him at the last possible moment so he can come back and report his findings. The first experiment is technically successful, but Nelson is permanently altered by the experience and immediately wants to go under again when given the chance. Joe pushes things even further when he volunteers, letting the clock run longer than is even remotely responsible, and comes back with his own unsettling revelations.

Tensions rise within the group as Nelson and Joe begin acting erratically, but David, the resident atheist, insists there has to be a logical explanation for what they’re seeing. Naturally, David gets flatlined next and experiences similar visions, followed shortly by Rachel, who has her own troubling experience.

The group eventually surmises that they’re being haunted by physical manifestations of their past sins, and resolve to figure out how to atone for their mistakes. The unfortunate reality in Flatliners is that the only way forward involves going under again, for longer and longer periods of time, in order to make peace with themselves and the increasingly hostile specters that follow them back.

Beware The Blue Light Special

Flashbacks and crossover sequences in Flatliners look like stock footage blasted with blue and red lighting as medical students play god with a makeshift death machine, recklessly chasing glimpses of the afterlife and dealing with the consequences later. Those consequences include disembodied kids beating Kiefer Sutherland with a hockey stick, along with other equally ridiculous encounters. Nobody owns furniture. And these deeply irresponsible medical experiments take place in a run-down wing of the university that seems perpetually on the verge of flooding or electrocuting everyone involved.

Listen, I’d like proof of an afterlife too, but there are better ways to go about it is all I’m saying. You could probably get similar results by pounding two Ghost energy drinks back to back and hopping on a Tilt-A-Whirl. You’re still putting your life in a carnie’s hands, sure, but at least afterward you can grab some funnel cake and call it a day.

Despite its cast and concept, Flatliners ultimately falls flat for reasons that still baffle me. For a movie with a reported production budget of $26 million, I genuinely have no idea where that money went, because it never shows up on screen in any way that justifies the expense. I own an LED strip and a phone full of Instagram filters that could recreate the same wobbly, blue soaked experience from my living room without breaking a sweat. None of this makes sense.

If you’re still intrigued by Zippy’s enthusiasm for Flatliners, the film is currently available on demand through YouTube, Apple TV+, Prime Video, and Fandango at Home.