It’s September, and many among us are dealing with back to school, and anticipating the colder weather that’s on its way (at least, if you live in the northern climes). This, plus a somewhat fraught political atmosphere, means that you might be looking for reliable, affordable ways to escape the doldrums.

You don’t need us to tell you that a way to do that is by watching some movies and TV shows. Through September 18th, Paramount is offering a doozy of a deal on both tiers of its Plus streaming service. You can save 50 percent on an annual subscription to Paramount Plus Essential, or its mostly ad-free Premium plan. The Essential Plan is down to $29.99 (from $59.99) and a Premium plan goes to $59.99 (from $119.99). The neat thing is that you can take advantage of this whether you’re a new or a returning subscriber (but be careful to mark your calendar; it will renew after that year at full price).

Paramount Plus Essential (annual subscription)

Essential gets you ad-supported access to TV shows and movies. You won’t be able to download content, but you get many of the same benefits as Premium.

Where to Buy:

~~$59.99~~ $29.99 at Paramount Plus

Paramount Plus Premium (annual subscription)

The Premium tier allows for downloads, and content can be viewed without ads (except during live TV). You’ll also get access to Showtime series and CBS.

Where to Buy:

~~$119.99~~ $59.99 at Paramount

It’s a tempting deal, whether you go for the ad-supported Essential or the skip-the-ads Premium. The latter also lets you download your shows, which could be very handy when you’re traveling with kids, and from its library of Showtime Originals. Either way, you not only get recent shows like Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the entire Yellowstone catalog, Top Gun: Maverick, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Bob Marley: One Love, but animation series like South Park and SpongeBob Squarepants, and live NFL games. Also, it hosts every Mission Impossible movie, aside from the latest one, The Final Reckoning.

Other deals our readers loved this week

Lego kits are really popular, but the more elaborate types can quickly get pricey. If you just want to brighten up your home and do a quick bit of affordable building, you can get a pair of Lego sunflowers for only $7.99 (normally up to $14.99) at Amazon, Target, and Walmart. If you’d rather spend your entire weekend absorbed in Lego building, you can get the house from the Pixar movie Up for $38.49 (normally $59.99, a savings of $21.50) at Walmart.
Several Verge readers have dug this launch deal on the Baseus VD1 Pro dash cam, which is $109.99 at Amazon (instead of $169.99). The system comes with two components: the front camera has a solar panel that powers its rechargeable battery, allowing it to detect motion and impacts for up to 14 days — without sipping on your car’s battery. It also includes a rear camera that can see what’s happening behind your car.
The college football season is well underway, and if you can’t get enough of seeing your favorite team hit the field every week, we suggest getting EA Sports College Football 26 for the PS5 or Xbox Series X. The game was $20 off when we first covered the deal earlier this week, but it has since dropped to almost $30 off at Amazon, at least for the PS5 version. It’s $49.99 for the Xbox version, which is still a nice deal.
If your chosen way to escape is to take a refreshing run while listening to your favorite tunes, then you may want to check out the Nothing Ear Open, the company’s first pair of open-style earbuds, which are now on sale at Nothing’s online storefront or Amazon for an all-time low $99 ($50 off) with a Prime membership.
Not every gamer wants a bulky over-ear headset. Sony’s Inzone Buds are a great, significantly more compact alternative, and they’re cheaper than ever this week. GameStop has them for $143.98 ($86 off), and no other retailers are matching the price. These wireless earbuds offer superb sound quality, effective active noise cancellation, and a USB-C transmitter that works in everything from a PS5 and Switch 2 to a PC.
Finally, if you’re looking for a new phone and are not into the idea of waiting for an iPhone 17 preorder to arrive, you can find a cute and useful budget foldable for a great price. Motorola’s latest Razr is currently matching its all-time low price of $599.99 ($100 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Motorola’s online storefront, It’s solid, lightweight, and offer an internal OLED display that stretches to 6.9 inches when the phone is open.

The Verge

Time is running out to get half off a year of Paramount Plus

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