You may remember Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker from a viral 2013 interview that turned a homeless surfer into an overnight Internet sensation. He was regarded as a hero, per Esquire, after memorably explaining how he “suh-mashed” a man while hitchhiking to stop the driver from attacking a woman. The clip has garnered over 3 million views since it debutedalmost 10 years ago.
Kai appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”posing himself as a good samaritan at the time and even grabbed the attention of producers for a show of his own, but it never came to fruition, per Decider.However, his 15 minutes of fame came to a hard stop when he was arrested for killing a man just two months after going viral.
Here’s everything you need to know about the new documentary.
Who Is Kai AKA Caleb Lawrence McGillvary?
Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, known as Kai, was introduced to the world via viral video in February 2013. He was 24 years old at the time and living a nomadic life in the States after growing up in Canada.
When he recorded his viral interview, Kai was hitching a ride to Fresno, Calif.
At the time, Kai told news station KMPH that Jett Simmons McBride picked him up while hitchhiking, and while they were en route, McBride allegedly told the nomad that he raped a 14-year-old girl. Kai then said that McBride hit a pedestrian with the car on purpose.
Once the ride came to a halt after hitting a pedestrian, bystander Tanya Baker ran to help but McBride attacked her. At that point, Kai said he stepped in and stopped the attack by hitting McBride with a hatchet.
“A guy that big can snap a woman’s neck like a pencil stick. So I f–king ran up behind him with a hatchet. Smash, smash, SUH-MASH!”Kai recalled in the viral interview.
Kai also shared a positive message to the camera, stating, “No matter what you’ve done, you deserve respect. Even if you make mistakes, you’re loveable.”
His remarks garnered viral attention, including an auto-tuned song that garnered 11 million views.
Days later, a KMPH released a follow-up interview with Kai and revealed he may have been more troubled than the world first thought.
According to the report, his past “is darker and more gut-wrenching than you can imagine.”
What Happened to the ‘Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker?’
Just months after Kai’s interview went viral, the nomad was wanted by the police.
A 73-year-old man was found beaten to death in his New Jersey home, according to People, when investigators found evidence in the house connecting Kai to the crime.
Kai was arrested for killing the man, Joseph Galfy, whom he met in Time Square, per Esquire, after migrating from the West Coast to New York City, in May 2013.
Once Kai was found by police at a Philadelphia bus station, he confessed to the murder but claimed it was self-defense after Galfy allegedly sexually assaulted him. He pleaded not guilty to the crime and was held on a $3 million bond after being deemed dangerous, CNN reported at the time.
After spending six year in jail awaiting trial, he was convicted of first degree murder and was sentence to 57 years in prison in 2019.
Where Is Kai Now?
Kai is currently serving his sentence at New Jersey State Prison and isn’t eligible for parole until October 27, 2061, according to Decider. He filed to appeal his sentence in 2021 but was denied.
For years it seems we’ve heard the story of Pamela Anderson. Blonde bombshell hair. Thorn arm cuff tattoo. Red bathing suit. Sex tape with Tommy Lee.
After incessant labeling of Pamela as a sex symbol and clamoring to see private videos that were sold online as blackmail, maybe the public got it wrong. With the recent release of Hulu’s Pam & Tommy – starring Lily James and Sebastian Stan – we see a Pamela who worked hard to be taken seriously as an actress when everyone kept sexualizing her. But the focus of the Hulu series still seems to be the release of the sex tape.
Now, Anderson has decided to tell her story for the first time ever in her documentary Pamela, a love story – on none other than Hulu’s rival streaming platform, Netflix.
“I blocked that stolen tape out of my life in order to survive, and now that it’s all coming up again, I feel sick. I want to take control of the narrative, for the first time,” she says in the preview.
Anderson may be a victim of being Woman’d, but that’s not stopping her from taking back her power – nice revenge for the Hulu series re-airing of her dirty laundry. In this new docu, the audience will see Pamela through new eyes, in her own words – something I’m sure no one’s seen before.
“I had to make a career out of the pieces left. But I’m not the damsel in distress. I put myself in crazy situations… and survived them. You have to be brave and you’ve gotta use what you got.”
Pamela, a love story premieres on Netflix January 31.
Royals—as we’re rapidly discovering—are just like us. Since the bombshell release of Spare,Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir about life within and beyond the palace walls, he’s provided relatable details on everything from familial strife to his affinity for Friends. (He’s “a Chandler,” by the way.) On Tuesday night, the Duke of Sussex stopped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where he revealed that he also binge-watches The Crown with Google open.
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Between anecdotes about brotherly betrayal and his frostbitten penis, Harry admitted, “Yes, I have actually watched The Crown,” clarifying, “the older stuff and the more recent stuff.” (So…all of it?) When asked if he did any “fact-checking” while watching the series, he replied, “Yes, I do, actually. Which, by the way, is another reason why it’s so important that history has it right.” Alas, Harry didn’t do any live corrections on the depiction of his father, King Charles, and stepmother Queen Consort Camilla’s infamous Tampongate phone call or Elizabeth Debicki’s portrayal of his late mother, Princess Diana.
He previously confessed to watching the Emmy-winning show about his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, during another late-night appearance. “They don’t pretend to be news—it’s fictional, but it’s loosely based on the truth,” Harry told James Corden (who gets a shout-out in Spare’s acknowledgments section). “It gives you a rough idea about…what the pressures of putting duty and service above family and everything else—what can come from that.”
The estranged royal continued, “I’m way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family, my wife, or myself. That is obviously fiction—take it how you will—but this is being reported on as fact because it’s supposedly news. I have a real issue with that.”
Life and art are coalescing for Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp, who has officially come out as gay six months after confirming his character Will’s sexuality.
“I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought,” he captioned a TikTok video released on Thursday, which read: “When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all they said was ‘we know.’” Schnapp was lip-syncing to audio of someone saying, “You know what it never was? That serious. It was never that serious. Quite frankly, will never be that serious.”
Schnapp, who is currently a freshman studying business at the University of Pennsylvania, addressed his character’s sexuality for the first time over the summer. “It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, is it just him growing up slower than his friends?” Schnapp said of Will’s lack of romantic story line to Variety. “Now that he’s gotten older, they made it a very real, obvious thing. Now it’s 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike [his best friend, played by Finn Wolfhard]. But before, it was a slow arc. I think it is done so beautifully, because it’s so easy to make a character just like all of a sudden be gay.”
Prior to Stranger Things’ fourth season, Schnapp had dodged questions about whether or not Will was gay, insisting that it was “up to the audience’s interpretation.” But that was all part of shielding the Netflix show’s ultimate reveal, the actor explained. “I mean, it’s pretty clear this season that Will has feelings for Mike. They’ve been intentionally pulling that out over the past few seasons,” he told Variety. “Even in season one, they hinted at that and slowly, slowly grew that storyline. I think for season four, it was just me playing this character who loves his best friend but struggles with knowing if he’ll be accepted or not, and feeling like a mistake and like he doesn’t belong. Will has always felt like that.”
In Stranger Things’ upcoming final season, Schnapp said that creators the Duffer brothers are planning to “focus more on Will,” and that he’s hoping for a proper “coming-out scene” for his character.
“Stranger Things” star Noah Schnapp came out as gay in an 8-second TikTok video on Thursday.
The 18-year-old actor, who plays closeted gay teenager Will Byers in the hit Netflix series, wrote on-screen, “When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared and in the closet for 18 years and all they said was ‘we know.’”
In the video, Schnapp was also lip-syncing along with an audio clip popular on TikTok of someone saying, “You know what it never was? That serious. It was never that serious. Quite frankly, will never be that serious.”
Schnapp captioned the video, “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought.”
Noah Schnapp attends as Netflix hosts “Stranger Things” Los Angeles FYSEE Event at Netflix FYSee Space on May 27, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.
Kevin Winter/ Getty Images
Commenters on the video showed a great deal of support for Schnapp, with some users writing messages like “SO proud of you!!” and “Can we all appreciate that Noah came out to the whole world and realize how much courage it takes to do that when you’re a literal celebrity.”
Last July, Schnapp confirmed fan suspicions that his character, Will, is gay and in love with his best friend.
“It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, is it just him growing up slower than his friends?” Schnapp told Variety. “Now that he’s gotten older, they made it a very real, obvious thing. Now it’s 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike.”
Last year, Netflix and the creators of “Stranger Things” said the upcoming fifth season would be the last of the series, though there have been no details about the season’s release date.
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We’ve all been overwhelmed by streaming TV choices, only to give up and watch something you’ve already seen. But this curated list of the best shows on Netflix is here to narrow down your choices and help you figure out exactly which titles you want to sample next.
Every high school has its legendary scandals, notorious pranks, and perennial screw-ups. Not every high school has them chronicled in an elaborate docu-series with lavish production values. In this extremely straight-faced mockumentary that’s also one of the best comedies on Netflix, Hanover High senior Dylan Maxwell (Jimmy Tatro) is assumed to have vandalized 27 faculty members’ cars by spray-painting phallic images on them, and gets expelled for it. When he maintains his innocence, classmates Peter Maldonado (Tyler Alvarez) and Sam Ecklund (Griffin Gluck) decide to film their own investigation. Season 2 takes them to another state, and another equally juvenile high school “crime.”
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Following her work as a writer on Breaking Bad, Moira Walley-Beckett took a wild right turn: she adapted Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 young adult novel into this family drama series. Matthew (R.H. Thomson) and Marilla (Geraldine James)—middle-aged, unmarried siblings living together on their family farm—arrange to adopt an orphan boy to help work the property. Matthew is not quite sure what to do when the orphan who arrives at the train station is Anne (Amybeth McNulty), a wildly imaginative girl. Fortunately, they eventually figure out how to be a family.
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In 1929 Germany, Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch) is a World War I veteran now working as a police inspector in Cologne. His assignment to unravel an extortion ring in Berlin is complicated by his use of morphine to dull his painful memories of the war; however, his efforts are soon aided by Lotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries), a sometime sex worker at one of the city’s hottest cabarets. Run, Lola, Run director Tom Tykwer is among the creative forces behind the show that debuted in 2017 but remains among the best shows on Netflix right now.
Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff will go down in infamy for orchestrating the largest Ponzi Scheme in history, conning investors out of $65 billion over several decades.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 felony charges including securities fraud and money laundering in 2009. He was sentenced to 150 years in prison and died 12 years into his sentence at the age of 82 in April 2021.
“He stole from the rich. He stole from the poor. He stole from the in-between. He had no values,” said former investor Tom Fitzmaurice at Madoff’s sentencing, per AP News. “He cheated his victims out of their money so he and his wife … could live a life of luxury beyond belief.”
Netflix is set to revisit the con that rocked the 2008 financial crisis and unpack how Madoff used his status as a respected money manager to perpetrate the ruse in a new four-part docuseries “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street” hitting the streamer on January 4.
The series chronicles Madoff’s rise to power and the poor oversight that allowed the scam to flourish. So far, only $14 billion in recovered funds has been distributed to victims so far, per ABC News, and the fallout of Madoff’s fraud is still felt today.
Here’s everything you need to know about Madoff and his infamous Ponzi scheme.
Who Was Bernie Madoff?
Before Bernie Madoff became a Wall Street powerhouse, the New York native came from humble beginnings. After growing up in Queens and attending Hofstra University, he started Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities with just a few thousand dollars.
The firm traded penny stocks in the 1960s until Madoff convinced family and friends to invest with him, using an investing strategy called a split-strike conversion. He promised big returns to his clients and he delivered, however, he was keeping all the funds in a single Chase bank account. After decades in business, he became one of Wall Street’s biggest and most respected players.
Madoff was also instrumental in launching the Nasdaq, the first electronic stock exchange, in the 1970s and he even worked with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the project, per The Guardian.
He later became chair of the Nasdaq in the 1990s. That, coupled with big returns on investments gave him the credibility investors needed to trust him with their assets. Some of his most notable investors included Steven Spielberg, Kevin Bacon, and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.
What Did Bernie Madoff Do?
Bernie Madoff’s legitimate business endeavors and his status distracted from a $65 billion Ponzi Scheme that was hidden behind the scenes. A Ponzi Scheme is when investors are told their funds would be used for investment opportunities but were actually given as compensation to earlier investors, in other words, Madoff was robbing Peter to pay Paul.
The dark side of his business was hidden on an entirely different floor of his office that had very limited access, even Madoff’s sons who worked at the company were allegedly out of the loop.
To keep his ruse going, he printed false monthly statements that showed steady double-digit returns.
Despite several alarms made to the SEC about the too-good-to-be-true nature of Madoff’s business, his power in the industry and the billions of dollars involved allowed the scheme to prosper for years.
What Happened to Bernie Madoff?
The woes of the 2008 financial crisis left Madoff unable to continue his Ponzi Scheme with investors who were scrambling to gather back their assets. He knew the game was over when he only had $300 million left of investor money in his account, so he came clean to his sons, telling them the family business was “all just one big lie,” per AP News.
His sons, Andrew and Mark Madoff, then turned him in to the FBI, and Madoff was arrested the next day. He pleaded guilty to several counts of fraud in March 2009 and was released on a $10 million bond. Months later he was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
After being slapped with the maximum possible sentence, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said: “Here, the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff’s crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of irresponsible manipulation of the system is not merely a bloodless financial crime that takes place just on paper, but it is instead … one that takes a staggering human toll.”
Twelve years into Madoff’s sentence, he died behind bars due to “natural causes related to his failing health,” according to the outlet. He was 82 years old.
“No one sees this as a great loss,” said Jerry Reisman at the time, an attorney who represented a number of Madoff’s victims. “No one is going to mourn Bernie Madoff. They are happy they have survived him.”
Madoff’s son Mark died by suicide on the second anniversary of his father’s arrest in 2010, and his other son Andrew died from cancer in 2014. His wife, Ruth, is still alive today.
What Was Bernie Madoff’s Net Worth?
Before Madoff’s empire came crashing down, ABC News reported that Madoff and his wife, Ruth, had a total net worth of $823 million by the end of 2008.
According to the outlet, the assets consisted of $22 million worth of homes in Manhattan, The Hamptons, Palm Beach, and France, plus $17 million in cash, $45 million in securities, and his investment business valued at $700 million.
After Madoff was sentenced in 2009, a judge ordered him to forfeit all of his property, real estate, and investments, in addition to $80 million of Ruth’s personal assets, leaving her with $2.5 million, according to AP News.
Knives Out premiered in 2019 after director and screenwriter Rian Johnson first conceived the idea for the film back in 2005. However, other commitments, including his work on the films Looper and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, resulted in the film not officially becoming a reality for over a decade. Knives Out wasn’t officially announced until 2018, but it proved to be worth the wait, enjoying widespread critical acclaim upon its debut in 2019.
Knives Out was a box office success, and received rave reviews from critics, attaining a nearly perfect 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film introduced a detective, or gentleman sleuth, to rival Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, in Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc. Additionally, Knives Out was a testimant to the appeal of an eccentric, abstract, and deeply flawed ensemble cast. Plus, the star-studded nature of the cast and the bevvy of A-list actors who signed on to the film also held its own appeal.
Needless to say, Knives Out was a raging success, so much so that Netflix paid a hefty sum of over $450 million for the rights to the film and set out to make it into a franchise. Here’s how many Knives Out films there are so far and how many there are anticipated to be.
1. Knives Out
(Lionsgate)
First of all, we have Knives Out which, as said above, was the 2019 film that started it all. The film follows Detective Blanc as he investigates the suspicious death of Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), a wealthy novelist discovered dead shortly after his 85th birthday. Due to his fortune, nearly every member of Harlan’s greedy family is desperate for his inheritance and, therefore, a suspect. Fortunately, the esteemed private detective, Blanc, has been anonymously hired to probe the murder and soon gets to the bottom of the family drama and murder mystery.
2. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
(Netflix)
Following the success of Knives Out, Netflix purchased the rights to the film’s sequels and ordered two standalone sequels. The first of the sequels to premiere was Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. The film hit the streaming platform on December 23, a month after enjoying the widest limited theatrical debut of a Netflix film so far. Craig’s Benoit was the only major Knives Out cast member who returned for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. This is because he tackled an entirely new mystery, featuring five wealthy friends who are invited to their benefactor, Miles Bron’s (Edward Norton), birthday party on a secluded island. Blanc inexplicably shows up on the island with the friends, but his unexplainable presence proves worthwhile when a dead body turns up, and the death is ruled a homicide. As in the first film, everyone is a suspect and nothing is as it seems.
3. Knives Out 3
(Lionsgate)
Even though Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery only just premiered, the franchise has already confirmed a third film. This is because, when Netflix acquired the rights to the franchise in 2021, they acquired the rights to both Knives Out 2 and Knives Out 3. Given the Netflix deal, and the success of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Knives Out 3 is all but 100% guaranteed to happen. Johnson has already confirmed that he is planning out the film. There was about a three-year gap between the first and second film, but that was also taking the COVID-19 pandemic into account. Hence, Knives Out 3 can likely be expected to premiere in 2024 or 2025, at the latest. While Blanc, the star of the franchise, is expected to return, no other details of the film have been released.
4. Knives Out 4 (?)
(Netflix)
So far, there are only two Knives Out films that have premiered, and one that is planned. However, Knives Out 4 is definitely a possibility. The franchise has experienced a very high level of success, both for the original film and the sequel. If the third film can carry on the momentum, we could be looking at a Knives Out 4 in the future. After all, both director Johnson and franchise star Craig, have indicated they will stay involved in the franchise as long as the other does.
Craig told Variety, “If he [Johnson] keeps writing them, I’ll keep doing them. That’s what makes it easy then, he’s such a wonderful writer that it’s there on the page for me to do.” Meanwhile, Johnson countered with, “I’m going to keep making these until Daniel [Craig] blocks me on his phone.” So, the Knives Out franchise could go on for quite a while, especially if it turns out to be a competition between Craig and Johnson about who will stick to the franchise longer.
PlayStation expanded beyond the console in 2022.Illustration: Angelica Alzona
The decision-makers behind Sony’s console juggernaut spent a lot of 2022 putting down railway for 2023 and beyond, dumping money and time into growing the PlayStation brand beyond the funky-looking device in your entertainment center. The company wants the PlayStation name to be ubiquitous, and that has meant expanding not just in the form of video game acquisitions and new services, but bringing the PlayStation line into new mediums and markets. So, while Horizon Forbidden West and God of War Ragnarök bookended the PlayStation 5’s 2022 on the video game side, the brand was busy throughout the year.
Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg brought Nathan Drake and Sully (or people going by those names) to the big screen in 2022.Photo: Sony Pictures
PlayStation becomes a movie and TV brand
PlayStation Productions, Sony’s film and television subsidiary dedicated to putting out adaptations based on the company’s video games, released its first project this year in the form of the Uncharted movie. Featuring Spider-Man star Tom Holland as a vague amalgamation of Nolan North’s original interpretation of Nathan Drake and his own version of Peter Parker if he was slightly more stoic, the film also has Mark Wahlberg as a character who shares his name (and little else) with Nate’s father figure, Victor “Sully” Sullivan. The movie is, at best, aggressively fine. It took a critical beating, but did rake in over $401 million globally at the box office. Sony has plans to make Naughty Dog’s cinematic action game series into a full-blown movie franchise.
Whether any of the above will be any good remains to be seen, but Sony is making deals to put PlayStation characters on more screens and subscription services. The company has clearly decided that PlayStation games aren’t enough, and that they can instead be the origin point for an expanded universe that ties into the games its first-party studios are putting out. Speaking of…
Sony and Naughty Dog released The Last of Us a third time with its PS5 remake.Screenshot: Naughty Dog / Kotaku
PlayStation movies and TV get re-released tie-ins
Putting an Uncharted movie in theaters and a Last of Us show on TVs is one piece of Sony’s new business model, but the company is also pairing these live-action adaptations with re-releases of the source material. Just a week before the Uncharted film launched, Sony released the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, which brought both Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy to PlayStation 5, a console they were readily playable on through backward compatibility. Oddly enough, this only included the last two games in the series, rather than the three games that preceded them. But it was an Uncharted product that people could buy after seeing the movie, or even before, as it included a free ticket to the film.
The Last of Us Part I, a remake of the 2013 original, launched in September to both praise for the source material and the technical upgrade the release brought to it, as well as a slew of criticism surrounding its $70 price point. The remake carried a cloud over it after a Bloomberg report exposed internal politics at Sony surrounding the project, which began under a PlayStation support studio before gradually becoming a Naughty Dog product. The whole situation stinks to high heaven, but it did conveniently fit into Sony’s business model of making its games into an extended universe. Now, there will be a (near) full-price Last of Us game on store shelves when the HBO show premieres on January 15.
God of War came to PC this year, but its sequel only came to consoles.Screenshot: Sony Santa Monica / Kotaku
PlayStation continues to expand beyond consoles and to PC
Both of these re-releases were part of a PlayStation initiative to get more of its games on PC. Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves brought the series (again, just the last two games, rather than any of the foundational ones that came before) to PC for the first time in October, and The Last of Us Part I will bring Joel and Ellie’s story to a computer near you in March. But it wasn’t just Naughty Dog’s games that got PC love, as God of War, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and Marvel’s Spider-Man and its Miles Morales spin-off also launched on PC in 2022.
All that being said, we still have yet to see PlayStation release its first-party games on both its consoles and PC simultaneously. God of War launched four years late on PC this year, but its sequel, Ragnarök, only came to PS4 and PS5 in 2022. It’s been heartening to see Sony make more strides in the space, but hopefully in 2023 we see a more immediate commitment to bringing its games to those who play on PC.
Sony paid a lot of money for Bungie, but Destiny 2 will remain multiplatform.Image: Bungie
Outside of the AAA space, Sony also acquired Savage Game Studios, whose founders previously worked on mobile hits like Angry Birds and Clash of Clans, in an attempt to kickstart a new mobile gaming division. The studio is apparently at work on a new project for phones and tablets based on an established PlayStation IP.
The PlayStation VR2 will launch next year, but won’t be usable with old PSVR games.Image: Sony
PlayStation VR2 seems like an upgrade, but with caveats
Sony kicked off 2022 by announcing its second virtual reality headset, aptly named the PlayStation VR2. It sounds like a meaningful upgrade from the original PlayStation VR headset Sony released in 2016, with an impressive-sounding OLED, 4K resolution display, dedicated controllers so you won’t have to use your old PlayStation Move wands anymore, and a single-cord setup that will make using the whole thing more manageable. However, as news has come out about the device, things have gotten a bit more troubling.
The most egregious drawback Sony has confirmed is that original PlayStation VR games won’t be compatible with the PSVR2 headset. Senior Vice President of Platform Experience Hideaki Nishino said on the PlayStation Podcast that this is because “PSVR2 is designed to deliver a truly next generation VR experience,” citing much of the new headset’s tech as being incompatible with old PSVR games. Regardless of whatever explanation Sony has to offer, it’s a bummer that the PlayStation 5 seemed to be developed with more future-proofing in mind and now we’re dealing with backward compatibility issues again. So if you want to keep playing your old PSVR games, don’t throw your old headset out.
PlayStation Plus now has tiers, and whether you’ll get much value on them depends on where you live.Image: Sony
PlayStation Plus launches new tiers with new problems
PlayStation Plus, Sony’s long-running subscription service for playing games online and collecting a vast array of “free” games, saw a revamp this year that put it more in-line with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass. It doesn’t seem like it’s gotten the same resounding love as its direct competitor, though. PlayStation Plus now has multiple tiers, which each have different included features and perks.
The cheapest is Essential, which is basically just what PlayStation Plus has been for years: online play, sales, cloud storage, and a few free games each month. The second tier is called PlayStation Plus Extra, which includes all of the above, as well as an on-demand library of PlayStation 4 and 5 games. The most expensive tier is PlayStation Plus Premium, which adds a streaming library of classic games from across all the PlayStation consoles, and even the PlayStation Portable.
The PlayStation 5 is two years old now, but the console is still relatively difficult to find due to supply chain issues that are expected to last well into 2023, if not longer. But as we get further away from the original launch and demand starts to calm down, it’s become marginally easier to track down and buy a PS5 of your own. Brick-and-mortar stores are still hit or miss, but Kotaku had a bit more luck finding the box on digital storefronts. So hopefully by the time Spider-Man 2 launches next year, those still looking for a PlayStation 5 won’t face a massive ordeal.
The PlayStation 4 is nine years old and still got most of Sony’s big games in 2022.Image: Sony
The PlayStation 4 hangs on a little bit longer
That being said, Sony still wasn’t quite ready to let go of the PlayStation 4 in 2023. The company’s biggest games this year, Horizon Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7, and God of War Ragnarök, all launched simultaneously on the PS4 and PS5 and were pretty alright experiences on the last-gen console. You know, if you’re cool with your PS4 sounding like it’s ready to take off on a flight across the Atlantic.
But looking forward, it seems 2023 will be the year Sony really starts to leave the old system behind. That’s a respectable ten years of service since its original 2013 launch, and PlayStation Studios now seem squarely focused on the PS5. Spider-Man 2, the VR spinoff Horizon Call of the Mountain, and Insomniac’s take on Wolverine were all announced as PS5 exclusive, so hopefully as this transition takes root, the PS5 becomes more readily available next year.
Cheesecake Factory appears to be “running the same play,” wrote J.P. Morgan analyst John Ivankoe in a recent restaurant industry outlook. I don’t think he meant it as a compliment—the stock, he noted, trades where it did in 2004, adjusted for splits.
Why the long stall-out? My first thought was that maybe hitting the mall for a hypercaloric sit-down meal off a menu the size of a Gutenberg Bible has fallen out of favor over the years. But no: Sales have bounced back and then some from the Covid pandemic, with plenty of takeout business and dessert orders. The average
Cheesecake Factory
(ticker: CAKE) restaurant does more than $10 million in yearly sales, or twice as much as an Olive Garden.
As the title suggests, That ’90s Show is set 20 years in the future, as Red and Kitty Forman reopen their Point Place, Wisc., basement to a new generation of teenagers.
The new show focuses on the misadventures of Leia Forman, the teenage daughter of That ’70s Show characters Donna and Eric. Leia (Callie Haverda) has been shipped off to her grandparents’ home for the summer of 1995.
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‘That ‘90s show’ official teaser released by Netflix
And while an earlier teaser for the reboot showed recurring stars Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) and Red (Kurtwood Smith) welcoming a host of new characters into their home, Netflix’s latest trailer gives viewers a long-promised glimpse of what the original cast has been up to since we last saw them.
First off, we learn that Fez (Valderrama) has opened his own chain of hair salons called “Chez Fez” — which he advertises with a wonderfully cheesy commercial.
We get a glimpse of Jackie (Kunis) and Michael Kelso (Kutcher) looking all grown up in business suits. The first canon couple from That ’70s Show now have a son, Jay Kelso, who appears to take after his dad and isn’t afraid to smoke pot in the Formans’ basement.
We also see Eric (Grace) and Donna (Prepon) chatting with Red and Kitty in the kitchen, where Red shows he hasn’t softened at all with age, and Kitty is as chipper as she’s ever been, making plans to buy the new generation of teens Doritos, Fritos, Tostitos and any other -itos she can think of.
There’s even an appearance by Tommy Chong, who reprises his role as Leo, the insightful and chronically-high owner of the Foto Hut.
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Absent from the original cast, however, is character Steven Hyde, who was played by Danny Masterson. Masterson stood trial earlier this year for rape charges, but a mistrial was declared over a deadlocked jury.
That ’90s Show begins streaming on Netflix on Jan. 19.
When news first broke that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were living in the Los Angeles mansion owned by Tyler Perry, it was a little surprising. Over time, it became clear that Perry, the entertainment mogul known for films and TV shows that center the stories of Black people, had a “front-row seat” to Meghan and Harry’s new American life, as he put it in an August Instagram post, but it wasn’t until the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan that the three friends opened up about how they met. Perry turned out to be so important to the couple that he is now the godfather of their one-year-old daughter, Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor.
By the end of Harry & Meghan, Perry’s role in the family’s lives and in the series made perfect sense. He explained that he initially reached out to Meghan after noticing that her father, Thomas Markle, was seemingly cooperating with the press. A few years later, they developed a friendship when he validated her fears about safety and helped her find a place where the family could spend the early months after their royal exit became official. For those familiar with Perry’s work, there is clearly a deeper meaning to their connection. Themes like family betrayal, abuse, and rescue are all over the work of the gospel playwright turned independent filmmaker, especially early films like Diary of a Mad Black Woman or Madea’s Family Reunion.
For Tamika Carey, an associate professor of English at the University of Virginia, Perry’s presence in the royal story was more than just a pleasant surprise. Her academic work focuses on Black women’s literature alongside more mainstream self-help texts, like Oprah, Perry, and Iyanla Vanzant. In her 2016 book Rhetorical Healing:The Reeducation of Contemporary Black Womanhood, she did a close reading of Perry’s work to understand how his portrayal of abuse and overcoming or responding to it reflect broader themes in American life. In her writing about Perry, Carey has been critical of the ways that his work occasionally falls into stereotypes about Black women and families, while also understanding its resonance.
This week, Vanity Fair spoke to Carey to get an overview on the connections between Perry’s work and his role in Meghan and Harry’s life, and how understanding the stories in Harry & Meghan can help us become more empathetic.
“I’m thinking about the concept of sanctuary and what that means, for hypervisible figures, and how the attention that we’re seeing to this fleeing, this basic escape, should be pushing us towards a better understanding of the complicated lives that these individuals lead,” she says. “What kind of additional sensitivities and literacies could we develop in our relationship as spectators of the royals?”
Vanity Fair:The documentary had an explicit focus on the racial politics of the British media, but the inclusion of Tyler Perry and Meghan’s mom, Doria Ragland, naturally meant that I was thinking about race in America while I watched. What do you think about Meghan Markle as a symbol for Americans? What does she mean to us?
Tamika Carey: I think, for a symbol of feminism, she shows a particular type of grace in the midst of attack. She has used her ability to tell a singular and consistent story about that abuse really well. She models speaking out in an unapologetic way about her own experiences, and those are the things that I think will be part of her legacy and part of the way we see her for a long time. One of the other themes that I was seeing was the influence of the mother’s experience. Meghan’s motherland, the fact that they end up in California again as a married couple. The way that Tyler Perry was using both his own mother’s experience as well as Princess Diana as ways to understand what Megan was experiencing.
There was the early episode where she mentions that she didn’t have to think about race a lot [before her relationship with Harry]. Unfortunately, I know of a lot of cynical black women that were like, “How did you not have to think about race?” The racial politics are a little less clear for me, simply because I can’t ignore that. I’m not quite sure how to put those two together.
Oh, totally. I think her initial discomfort with race speaks to why Perry’s role in the story is so fascinating, because he is such a prolific interpreter of Black America. In the sixth episode of the show, his relationship with Meghan sounds almost like a therapist. As someone who is very familiar with Perry and his work, what did you make of that?
Obviously, we could read the documentary as a way to take back some control of the narrative, which in therapeutic culture, that’s a kind of interesting move in and of itself. Like, ‘We’ll get in front of this. We’ll tell the story from our vantage point.’ That particular episode brings it to an end that’s more positive than where I thought we were going. It’s certainly not saccharine, but I didn’t expect it to come to this conclusion the way that it did.
The time for New Year’s resolutions is right around the corner, and for many, that means doubling down on commitments to health and fitness in an attempt to better themselves.
Netflix is hoping to capitalize on the popular sentiment by announcing a new partnership with Nike that will roll out at the end of this month.
Starting on December 30, the streaming giant will begin providing subscribers with Nike Training Club videos, released in two parts and totaling 30 hours worth of content.
The first batch to roll out will include 46 videos divided among five programs, including “Two Weeks to a Stronger Core” and “Feel-Good Fitness.” The collection will live under a specialized Nike area of the Netflix app but can also be accessed by simply searching “Nike.”
“NTC is the ultimate training partner, providing outstanding guidance, inspiration and motivation to help all athletes reach their fitness goals,” a company release said. “The NTC workouts offered in the Netflix collection feature a dozen of Nike’s world-class trainers, including Joe Holder, Kirsty Godso and Betina Gozo.”
The new initiative, which includes videos designed for people of all fitness levels, will be the first of its kind for Netflix and will likely separate the streaming giant from competitors following a less-than-stellar year.
The company is coming off a better-than-expected Q3 2022, with year-over-year revenue growth hitting 6% and has a hopeful outlook as Q4 comes to a close.
“After a challenging first half, we believe we’re on a path to reaccelerate growth. The key is pleasing members,” Netflix said in a letter to shareholders at the end of the quarter. “It’s why we’ve always focused on winning the competition for viewing every day. When our series and movies excite our members, they tell their friends, and then more people watch, join and stay with us.”
As of Thursday afternoon, Netflix was down just over 52% in a one-year period.
The last few years have been fairly bursting with TV shows and movies adapted from popular games. And even more are coming down the pipeline. If you ask some fans, many of these shows have strayed too far away from their original source material, so it might be nice to hear that the producers of Amazon’s God of War TV show aim to stay “incredibly true” to its original source material: the games.
While it had been reported early this year, it wasn’t until last week that Amazon officially confirmed it was developing a TV show based on the popular and long-running God of War franchise. The PlayStation series features Kratos, a god-like Spartan warrior, running around the world killing everything. Recent games have aged him up and given him a son, changing the tone of the series and helping make it more popular than ever. And now, in an interview with Collider, Amazon Studios Head of TV Vernon Sanders explained that the upcoming streaming show will be “incredibly true to the source material” which he says has a “real emotional core.”
“We know that there’s such a passionate fanbase for God of War,” Sanders told Collider. “But the thing that we’re always looking for is whether there is a real emotional core, if there’s a real narrative story, and I think [that’s] part of what makes God of War so special.”
The Amazon TV boss continued, explaining that the newer games, while being “giant epic” adventures are still focused on telling a story about “fathers and sons, and families.” He thinks this will appeal to everyone, even people who haven’t played the games.
“So what [showrunners] Rafe Judkins and Mark Fergus and [writer] Hawk Ostby have come up with for the first season, and for the series, I think, is both incredibly true to the source material, and also compelling on its own,” explained Sanders. “So we think it’s going to be huge.”
Paramount / Xbox
Recent video game adaptations, like Resident Evil on Netflix and Halo on Paramount+, have been heavily criticized online by fans for veering too far from the original source material the shows are supposedly inspired by. And while I do hesitate to agree with angry fans online and I think adaptations should be allowed to make changes, it’s hard not to get a bit annoyed by how often the Master Chief takes off his helmet in the new Halo show. And as Sanders points out, Amazon has a good track record with adaptations that fans like, listing The Boys and Invincible as examples of how to do adaptations correctly.
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Of course, talk is cheap, and making TV shows is hard. It’s always nice to say you’ll stay true to a video game’s storyline and narrative, but it’s much harder to do when so many of the games being adapted into TV shows are mainly 20 hours of combat with about four hours of cutscenes and script. But hey, maybe God of War on Amazon Prime and The Last of Us on HBO Max will be fantastic and true to their source material. Apparently, The Last of Us is actually the greatest story ever told in a video game. Seems like that should make for a few good episodes of prestige TV?
Can someone please tell me just what it is about those Netflix series that cause us to adapt our entire personalities to a show particularly surrounding its release? Wednesday had everyone in an all-black haze…but move over, because Emily in Paris has returned for Season 3.
Anyone who’s watched the show says the same thing: “it’s so bad but I can’t stop watching.” The corny dialogue and trite, predictable plotlines makes us cringe, but at the same time it makes us feel so good.
Or, how about the fact that Lily Collins’ Emily didn’t speak a word of French before conveniently relocating to Paris…then falling in love with the hot chef who conveniently lives in her building? It’s a love story fit for a Disney movie.
Each episode, Emily does something to colossally mess up her professional and personal life. Season two brings us a fresh love interest – predictably, a finance bro – because she finally decides to go learn French after living there for quite some time.
However, Emily in Paris has no problem stepping on a few toes in the process. The tea is…Parisians detest the show due to the way the series portrays them. Chicagoans hate it because it bashes their pizza. And to further fuel stereotypes they even depict a Ukrainian man stealing from stores!
And finally, the outfits. In the City of Light and neutrals, Emily dons loud and bright colors. She wears stilettos…which I’m sure can’t be comfortable on those cobblestone streets. We are anticipating a whole season of mistakes and offenses with Emily in Paris Season 3.
The major takeaway from the teasers we’ve seen is Emily’s trauma haircut. The girl gets bangs (gasp) which I fear will inspire an overnight tsunami of women chopping off their hair. Stay strong, girls!
Warning: Spoilers for the first three episodes of “Emily in Paris” season three below.
Our favorite accidental marketing wunderkind Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) has become a sought-after Parisian professional — even though she still can’t speak French fluently.
In season three of the popular Darren Star series “Emily in Paris,” the charming (yet, at times, exasperating) Chicagoan juggles deux high-profile job opportunities, as opposed to two love interests, like when we last saw her. (Well, at first, anyway. This is “Emily in Paris.”)
Ahead, Fitoussi takes us through Emily’s new fashion arc, which was inspired by a drastic haircut; the color she won’t be wearing again; and a hint at her path for season four. Plus: a preview of Camille’s newfound appreciation for color and Mindy’s sure-to-go-viral Mugler moment.
Emily’s Literally Dreamy — and Symbolic — Pink Feathered Cape
Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) confronts a post-dinner Emily (Lily Collins), in a custom cape, over a Magda Butrym dress, with custom Christian Louboutin platforms.
Photo: Stéphanie Branchu/Courtesy of Netflix
Season three opens with Emily still working for American boss Madeline (Kate Walsh), while accepting a position with Parisian mentor Sylvie (Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu). She hasn’t fessed up to either yet, and the anxiety is getting to her.
Of course, Emily’s stress dream — which foreshadows a disastrous dinner involving McDo (McDonald’s en français) — is essentially a fashion editorial, concluding with her falling off the Eiffel Tower. Madeline overbears in a sparkling black P.A.R.O.S.H. jacket over a sequin-checked Michael Kors number, which is actually two dresses reworked into a maternity look. Sylvie then appears in a stunning metallic sequined cape from the Barbara Bui archives, over a Victoria Beckham dress.
“She’s in the middle of a very dark nightmare with those two witches, who are coming on top of her,” says Fitoussi. “They need to look terrifying.”
Since Emily ends up in a freefall, Fitoussi wanted a costume adorned with fluttering feathers, which also connect to the gleaming eagles on Sylvie’s cape.
“I wanted Emily to be much more fragile, very bird-like and sweet, like she’s about to be bitten,” says Fitoussi. She couldn’t find a cloak like what she imagined, so she custom-designed a feather-embellished cape and collaborated with Parisian brand Marcy to build it. To perfectly match the pink and red on Emily’s midriff-baring Magda Butrym ensemble, artisans custom-dyed all the plumage, which were hand-sewn on.
Fitoussi also points out that Emily’s profusion of pink pays homage to her Parisian origin story in season one — and also marks a new turn for the character’s fashion story. “That’s the end of the pink. Everyone’s wearing it, and it’s not interesting anymore.”
The Very Camp-y Pierre Cadault Retrospective
Pierre Cadault (Jean-Christophe Bouvet) and one of ‘his’ creations in season two.
Photo: Carole Bethuel/Courtesy of Netflix
Sylvie’s longtime client Pierre Cadault (Jean-Christophe Bouvet) is honored with a museum retrospective in the third season.
The exhibition’s opening gala calls back to Emily’s season-one career successes, including a client gig modeling a Pierre Cadault bird-of-paradise white dress, which was actually designed by couturier Stéphane Rolland.
“All the display gowns [in the Pierre Cadault retrospective] are by Stéphane Rolland,” says Fitoussi, “167 haute couture dresses.”
Fitoussi recalls “splashing” Rolland’s gowns with paint to masquerade them as Cadault designs for his disruptive Paris Fashion Week runway — the one that Emily masterminded. The ghost-designed pieces are described as as “‘ringarde‘ and ‘tacky,’” in the script, but according to the costume designer, “[Rolland] is a very, very adorable man and he was very satisfied with the project. He has no problem at all with that. It’s my tribute to him, because he has such a sense of humor. It’s rare.”
Emily, Madeline and Sylvie in Pierre Cadault Archival Couture
Emily, obviously in Cadault at a Cadault event.
Photo: Marie Etchegoyen/Courtesy of Netflix
The retrospective gala also provides a suitably glam setting for a comedy of errors, featuring a professional and sartorial showdown between Madeline and Sylvie.
Sylvie, of course, pulls a severely sculptural black gown, with a molded spherical collar, out of the Cadault archives. Needing a last-minute option, Madeline savvily rents the same one from Louer the Runway. (Bravo to the writers on that one.) “It’s a couture car crash,” observes a bystander.
Of course, Sylvie wears hers in the most understated French way, while Madeline goes Midwestern American Maximalist with loads of chunky gold jewelry.
Sylvie’s gown is actually a past-collection Rolland, which Fitoussi replicated as a maternity look for an almost-due Madeline. “I chose this design because I was sure that the dress would look wonderful and equally beautiful on those two beautiful woman,” she says.
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Emily’s winged zebra-print blazer, paired with Miu Miu shorts (above), is actually by Dolce & Gabbana. Fitoussi originally had the piece in mind for outrageous best friend Mindy (Ashley Park), but realized that it would be the ideal counter to Emily’s bosses’ stark monochrome.
“She needed to be more powerful and to have more presence,” says Fitoussi.
Mindy’s Sparkling and Slinky Solo-Artist Wardrobe
Mindy (Ashley Park) in her sequined and studded denim theme for season three.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
Mindy realizes her singing dream — with Benoit (Kevin Diaz)’s blessing and, erm, pre-performance support. She also steals the spotlight off-stage in an expanded wardrobe stacked with bedazzled denim, like fully bedazzled jorts by Kevin Germanier for a gathering celebrating Alfie at le chef hot Gabriel (Lucas Bravo)’s restaurant.
“She has no limit,” says Fitoussi. “She’s onstage performing, but she’s performing in her own life all the time. She likes excess. She likes success. She’s the typical girl with total freedom, because she can wear sequins during the day and doesn’t care.”
Mindy goes solo in Mugler.
Photo: Courtesy of Netflix
But Mindy contains multitudes. She makes her jazzy solo debut at La Trompette Bleue in a real statement outfit commensurate with Park’s Tony- and Grammy-nominated talents. Of the illusion-paneled neon-yellow catsuit from Mugler‘s Spring 2022 collection, Fitoussi predicts: “It will be one of the most reposted outfits.”
“She’s very confident, so she can afford to have this strong color,” she adds.
Camille’s Foreshadowing With Color
Camille (Camille Razat) wears — gasp — color!
Photo: Stéphanie Branchu/Courtesy of Netflix
Camille comes to support Mindy’s solo outing — sans Gabriel, who’s working yet another late night at the restaurant. I did a double-take at the usually all-black, Marant-clad Parisian “It Girl,” waiting for her friends in a pink (!) sequined gingham dress by Carolina Herrera. In episode four, Camille also shocks in a lime-green oversize blazer (above) by Jacquemus.
“If I remember well, those are the only two colorful moments [for Camille],” says Fitoussi. “Because she was very, very happy at this point in the story, and we’re preparing the audience. We’re lying to the audience, because we want to show the drama which would be happening in the next episode.”
Sylvie’s Sartorial Influence on Emily — and Vice Versa
Sylvie (Phillipine Leroy-Beaulieu) and Emily, also in color.
Photo: Stéphanie Branchu/Courtesy of Netflix
Staunch Parisian boss Sylvie seems to have reluctantly warmed to Emily and may even be picking up on some of her underling’s traits — and, of course, Emily has always looked up to Sylvie.
“I like to play a mirror game between them because, at this point, clever Emily knows the French rules. She knows what the French style is about, and she’s very respectful and full of admiration for Sylvie,” says Fitoussi.
Emily begins to take on Sylvie’s French minimalism, with a pewter-and-black square-printed blazer by Junya Watanabe, vintage Dries van Noten shorts and black suede tall boots by Roger Vivier in episode seven.
“At the same time, Sylvie’s full of admiration for this annoying little American girl, who’s insolent,” adds Fitoussi, who presented Leroy-Beaulieu with the mirroring concept.
“She said, ‘Mmmm so much color… Doesn’t it look too much like Emily?’” recalls Fitoussi, with a laugh. “Sylvie will still be more French. She needs to keep the crown of the the iconic French woman, but Emily, this time, tried to take the crown.”
Emily’s Mod Influence
Emily goes mod in Paris.
Photo: Stéphanie Branchu/Courtesy of Netflix
Torn between her two mentors and conflicted about her future job situation in Paris, Emily does something drastic: She cuts her own “trauma bangs,” as Mindy says, while a perpetually clueless Gabriel asks, “What did you do to your hair?”
Fitoussi took Emily’s new fringe as a catalyst to veer into new fashion territory.
“It was the starting point of a little bit [of a] ’60s iconic silhouette,” she says, referencing mod muses like Françoise Hardy, Jane Birkin and Jean-Luc Godard favorite Anna Karina.
In episode three, Emily wears a vintage cropped orange Courrèges jacket from Plaisir Palace over a Jean Paul Gaultier mesh bomber with black straight-leg trousers by Ines de la Fressange. To make her strolls along the cobblestone streets a bit easier, she also transitions from stilettos to platforms (like the burgundy patent-leather pair by Christian Louboutin above).
“She’s more in chunky shoes and boots,” says Fitoussi. “You will see a journey.”
Emily’s mid-century inspiration also indicates her trajectory towards becoming a true French Girl™ — “We’re progressing to season four, where she’s supposed to be ‘Parisian,’” explains Fitoussi — although the jury is still out on whether or not she’ll finally learn to speak French.
Through the rest of the season, Emily’s color palette will soften, too — although, Fitoussi can’t totally give up her own “trademark” prints for the character, assuring: “She will never finish in a full black look.”
There is an awkward press junket in Netflix’s future because while Henry Cavill is not returning for the fourth season of the popular fantasy series The Witcher, a third season with Henry Cavill is still happening.
Filming for season 3 of The Witcher started back in April 2022, around the time Deadline shared an image of the three leads sitting together during production: Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg, and Freya Allan as Princess Cirilla of Cintra. They also shared a rough idea of what we would see in the upcoming season:
“Per the official logline, in season 3, as monarchs, mages, and beasts of the Continent compete to capture her, Geralt takes Ciri of Cintra into hiding, determined to protect his newly-reunited family against those who threaten to destroy it. Entrusted with Ciri’s magical training, Yennefer leads them to the protected fortress of Aretuza, where she hopes to discover more about the girl’s untapped powers; instead, they discover they’v landed in a battlefield of political corruption, dark magic, and treachery. They must fight back, put everything on the line — or risk losing each other forever.”
Will Henry Cavill return to The Witcher?
We recently learned that Liam Hemsworth will be replacing Cavill as Geralt in future seasons. What we don’t yet know is how the transition from Cavill to Hemsworth will be addressed in-universe, if at all. This wouldn’t be the first time something like this happened. The “Other Darrin” trope exists because of the semi-commonality of this very thing. On the show Bewitched, Darrin Stephens—the mortal husband of Samantha—was played for most of the series’ run by Dick York, but when York got sick, Dick Sargent replaced him for the final three seasons. Other Darrin, other Dick.
I don’t know how they will make it work in the show, but we do get one more season of The Witcher with Cavill before saying goodbye.
Actor Adam Sandler sits down with Tracy Smith to discuss his film “Hustle,” and the life lessons he learned from his parents. Then, Rita Braver travels to the Detroit Institute of Arts to learn about the “Van Gogh in America” exhibit. “Here Comes the Sun” is a closer look at some of the people, places and things we bring you every week on “CBS Sunday Morning.”
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It’s strange to imagine the days when Netflix was essentially the only option in terms of streaming. People had very little choice but to subscribe to Netflix (considering the fall of video rental chains) to access certain content. Fast forward some years and people are no longer without options. In fact, there are loads of streaming services for folks located in the US (Canada is unfortunately still far behind).
Of course you don’t need to cancel your subscription today. This list merely offers you some alternatives if Netflix isn’t doing it for you as much. And believe me, Netflix often cancels or discontinues the content we enjoy. Keep reading to discover other lesser-known options (aside from Hulu or Peacock for US-based folks) that you may not know about for your streaming pleasures.
Plex
(NBC)
Plex is a free (with ads) streaming service that you can download onto your device or console of choice. It’s not better than Tubi by any means, but it’s FREE and the selection is decent. And if you’re a horror nerd you can find Black Christmas (1974), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Hannibal (series), Better Watch Out (2016), and more on the app. It’s crucial to mention that Hannibal isn’t as widely available anymore. Netflix really dropped the ball when they removed it and so Plex decided to give us what we want (and for free no less).
Tubi
(Madhouse and Viz Media)
Tubi is a dream come true as far as free (with ads) apps go in this world. Please don’t fret when it comes to the selection either because it’s got you covered. The selection on Tubi is even more vast than Plex and there are countless genres you can watch. If you’re missing Skins (UK) and don’t want to watch poor quality YouTube uploads – Tubi has got you covered. Looking for top notch anime? Tubi has got you covered. Craving horror classics or newer releases? Tubi likely has what you’re looking for. There’s plenty to find on the app and you won’t be disappointed.
Shudder
(Shudder)
Shudder is undoubtedly one of the top streaming services out there. The horror, thriller, Shudder exclusives etc. selection is f*cking superb. The only downside I can come up with is how the app isn’t available for consoles and there’s no option to download content for offline use. Otherwise? You won’t be bored browsing the wide selection of horror content. The service is always adding new titles and there’s an obvious passion for the genre built into the app. It’s also one of the more affordable (knock on wood) services out there right now. The app is available for download on your device of choice.
Amazon Prime
(Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios)
I understand the reluctance to support this app (Amazon is horrible, I know). However, as far as paid streaming services it’s not that bad. Depending on your taste, Prime Video exclusives like The Wilds, The Boys, I Know What You Did Last Summer (series), Paper Girls etc. may satisfy your craving for content. The wide variety of films and TV series available outside of their exclusives are great too. And Amazon Prime gives you the option to add-on subscriptions (like AMC+ for example) which are available both in the U.S. and internationally. So if you’re looking to watch Interview with the Vampire 50+ times over then you’re good to go.
You can download the app on your device or console of choice. And visit your country’s Amazon website to find more information about the service.
Funimation
(Funimation Studios)
There aren’t a lot of anime exclusive streaming services, but Funimation is a wise choice. Of course some will argue that Crunchyroll is better, but it all comes down to preferences. Funimation has a free option, has relatively affordable plans, and if you’re interested in dub as well as sub, this has you covered! You’ll find popular series like Attack on Titan, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Death Note, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (part 1-3 only), Jujustu Kaisen and more.
The app is available on your device or console of choice and more information can be found here.
Crave
(HBO Max)
Crave may not scratch every itch, but it’s a Canadian app that allows individuals located in Canada access to all sorts of content. You can access HBO, HBO Max, Showtime titles like House of the Dragon, Euphoria, Game of Thrones, True Blood, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, Gossip Girl (2021- ), The L Word: Generation Q and so on. There are only two plan options though and the better one is more expensive. But those are the only downsides if I’m being honest.
Disney+/Hulu
(FX)
Disney is a giant and has no problem trying to crush accessibility where their releases are concerned. If you’re a big fan of Disney movies and series, Marvel, or Hulu exclusives then you’ve got very limited options for streaming. Popular series like WandaVision, American Horror Story, and She-Hulk can be watched on Disney+ and Hulu. And surprisingly some of the most talked about 2022 horror films are available on the Hulu platform as well.
