National Entertainment

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Navneeth Murali would strongly prefer for the Scripps National Spelling Bee to get rid of the onstage, multiple-choice vocabulary questions that were introduced to the competition two years ago.

NEW YORK (AP) — HBO said 2.9 million people watched or streamed the series finale of “Succession” on Sunday night, a series record that is expected to grow as delayed viewing is taken into account. That beat the first-night record of 2.

PARIS (AP) — Ten noted thinkers, writers and filmmakers, including director Ken Loach and Nobel literature laureate Annie Ernaux, signed an open letter published Tuesday, calling on the president of Algeria to free a jailed journalist they said was p

Time is a precious commodity and some readers need to be hooked from page one. T.J.

OXON HILL, Md.

Top New Shows (US): 1. Scamanda, Lionsgate Sound 2. Freeway Phantom, iHeartPodcasts and Tenderfoot TV 3. Pretty, Not Smart with Louie and Yoatzi Castro, Louie and Yoatzi Castro & Studio71 4.

Top Paid Books (US Bestseller List): 1. Identity by Nora Roberts - 9781250284327 - (St. Martin’s Publishing Group) 2. Tom Clancy Flash Point by Don Bentley - 9780593422793 - (Penguin Publishing Group) 3.

Top Movie Purchases and Rentals (US): 1. John Wick: Chapter 4 2. The Super Mario Bros. Movie 3. Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves 4. Creed III 5. 65 6. Sisu 7. Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant 8. John Wick 4-Film Collection 9. Evil Dead Rise 10.

Celebrity birthdays for the week of June 4-10 June 4: Actor Bruce Dern is 87. Saxophonist Roger Ball (Average White Band) is 79. Singer-actor Michelle Phillips (The Mamas and The Papas) is 79. Jazz saxophonist Anthony Braxton is 78.

Nonfiction 1. Atomic Habits by James Clear, narrated by the author (Penguin Audio) 2. Outlive by Peter Attia, MD and Bill Gifford - contributor, narrated by Peter Attia, MD (Random House Audio) 3.