Photo: Eva Marie Uzcategu/Getty Images for Netflix
Jake Paul is being very emo in his pre-bout trash talk. “I want him to cut me up, I want him to break my face,” he said of upcoming opponent Anthony Joshua, “but guess what, he’s gonna have to kill me to stop me, and I’m ready to die. Seriously, ready to die in the ring to win this fight.” Do you still technically win a fight if you’re dead? Sure there’s that ancient Greek wrestler, but that story seems apocryphal at best. TMZ reported the press conference, held ahead of their December 19 fight in Miami.
Paul was originally scheduled to fight WBA lightweight champ Gervonta “Tank” Davis last Friday, but that match was called off after Davis was accused of intimate partner violence inalawsuit. It’s a big change for Paul, who had been expecting to box against someone much smaller than him in an exhibition match. He’s now going into a sanctioned heavyweight fight against someone bigger and more experienced than him. Joshua is a former Olympic gold medalist and two-time unified heavyweight champion.
Joshua is on-board with Paul’s plan of getting his face broken. “If I’m being honest, I’m going to break his face,” he said, “I’m going to break his body up, I’m going to stomp all over him.”
You can watch this all-over stompage live on Netflix, by the by. The pair will face off at Kaseya Center in Miami. The live-streamed fight is scheduled for eight 3-minute rounds. Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, doesn’t like Paul’s odds. “They say be careful what you wish for, kind of feel like that’s all I need to say,” Hearn said in a statement obtained by ESPN. “Two of the biggest names in the sport will collide on Dec 19. Whilst I admire Jake’s balls, he’s going to find out the hard way in Miami.”
YouTube TV’s latest deal highlights the growing tension between richer bundles and rising consumer fatigue. Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The two-week standoff between YouTube TV and The Walt Disney Company may be resolved, but the frenemy dynamic between the Mouse House and the Alphabet-owned streamer remains as tangled as ever. YouTube TV is both a key distributor for Disney—helping channels like ESPN reach millions of additional viewers—and a direct competitor to Disney’s Hulu + Live TV bundle—and, for that matter, all Disney-owned networks for screen time.
On Nov. 14, the two parties announced a new multi-year distribution agreement, restoring all Disney-owned channels to YouTube TV after a blackout over carriage fees (the payments a provider like YouTube TV makes to carry another company’s programming). The deal also adds the upcoming ESPN Unlimited package to YouTube TV’s base plan at no extra charge for subscribers through 2026.
That addition is expected to raise YouTube TV’s programming costs, which may ultimately be passed on to consumers. The streamer may also still be feeling the effects of the blackout. To lure back customers who canceled, YouTube TV has reportedly offered targeted $60 welcome-back discounts—dropping some subscribers’ first month to roughly $22.99. It’s a pragmatic concession, but one that makes an eventual price hike even harder to avoid.
For now, YouTube TV is holding steady at $82.99 a month. Any increase would mark its sixth since the service’s 2017 debut at $35 and push its annual cost past $1,000.
Disney, meanwhile, gains more than just restored affiliate revenue. Keeping ESPN and ABC in front of YouTube TV’s sizable audience helps justify soaring sports-rights costs at a time when the traditional pay-TV base continues to erode. The agreement also secures YouTube TV’s ability to sell bundles of Disney+ and Hulu, creating additional pathways to bring viewers into Disney’s broader streaming ecosystem.
How viewers respond to YouTube TV’s integration of ESPN Unlimited could be pivotal. The industry is about to learn whether consumers truly want a single, consolidated TV app—or whether they’ll tolerate juggling multiple apps to avoid a bundle that keeps getting more expensive.
Streaming live sports has become so fragmented that fans may need three or more services just to follow a single team’s season. That patchwork experience forces viewers to juggle multiple apps and logins. ESPN’s own setup illustrates the divide: ESPN Unlimited offers essentially the full breadth of ESPN’s content, while the existing ESPN+ serves as a supplement—a curated add-on with select programming and live events.
According to a recent survey from Hub Entertainment Research, more than 70 percent of sports fans say sports matter more to them than anything else on TV, and nearly as many (65 percent) say they’re frustrated by having to use multiple streaming services to watch games.
Live streaming TV occupies a middle ground between legacy cable and on-demand apps like Netflix. Services like YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV mimic the traditional bundle—with cloud DVRs and linear channels—but without contracts or set-top boxes. The market remains concentrated: YouTube TV surpassed 10 million subscribers earlier this month, while Hulu + Live TV sits at just over 4 million. It’s still a small slice of the overall streaming piece—Netflix has more than 300 million subscribers globally, and Disney+ has more than 130 million.
John Chakalos had one of the biggest estates in the northeastern part of the US. But did his vast fortune lead to his downfall?
His grandson, Nathan Carman, was particularly close to the patriarch when he was alive. Family members described him as a volatile man in Netflix‘s The Carman Family Deaths. But it all boiled down to the day where John Chakalos was found dead in his bedroom with a gunshot to his head. Three years later, his daughter Linda Carman was missing after a fishing trip with Nathan.
All eyes were turned on Nathan after it was discovered that he bought a .308-caliber semi-automatic rifle before his grandfather’s death. He was arrested in 2022 for an eight-count indictment charging him with the 2016 murder of his mother, Linda Carman, on the high seas, and related frauds to obtain family and insurance funds.
According to CNN and the Boston Herald, John Chakalos’ net worth and estate exceeded $40 million. Shortly before his death, Nathan had emailed his grandfather’s trust and estate attorney, asking who had to die first for Nathan to inherit his grandfather’s money.
Who inherited John Chakalos’ fortune?
John Chakalos’ fortune was split between his children. NBC Connecticut reported that his youngest daughter was the executor.
After taxes and debts were paid, “there’s a number of 20 million federal estate tax. Paid over $100,000 for the funeral, mostly for a monument, $500,000.00 was given to a church in Hartford on Fairfield Avenue.”
“The trust probably continues in existence for his four children,” attorney John Gale told the outlet. “And it’s likely that if any one of his daughters were to pass away, that the trust would continue in existence for the benefit of any children the daughters had.”
NBC News affiliate reported that Nathan could have received up to $7 million after his mother’s death.
The Netflix documentary showed that Nathan Carman received money from the two bank accounts his grandfather had set up shortly after his death. Between 2014 and 2016, Nathan spent most of it and was considered “low on funds,” according to the indictment.
After Linda died, her siblings became suspicious of her son, and they filed a “slayer action” in New Hampshire so that he could not inherit their family wealth. Chuck Lapenna, says in the documentary that he believed Nathan was receiving $100,000 a year from his grandfather before his death.
“This is not about money, it is about justice,” Dan Small, an attorney for the Chakalos family, said in a statement during the filing.
Nathan was arrested and charged with murder in May 2022 after he filed an $85,000 claim with his insurance company for his boat, and the insurance company sued back. The FBI alleged that he engaged in a years-long scheme to ensure he would be John’s sole beneficiary and killed John and Linda to claim his inheritance early. He pleaded not guilty last year to fraud and first-degree murder in the death of his mother, per The Associated Press.
Nathan was due to be on trial in October 2022. He died by suicide on June 15, 2023, CT Insider reported. He was 29 years old. His grandfather’s case remains unsolved, while his mother’s murder case was dismissed.
“There is something very sinister happening behind the scenes on the set of Wicked, and somebody needs to do a wellness check on both of these young women,” Brown continued. “Apparently, everyone’s gay. The Wizard is gay, the witches are gay, the professors are gay, the animals are gay. Even though literally all of this is fantasy.”
Brown added that she wasn’t reacting this way due to fear. “I don’t think any of us feel threatened by you,” she said. “We’re just annoyed, frankly, that you are trying to canonically change our most beloved stories that tell timeless tales of the battle between good and evil.”
For Brett Cooper, who got her start at Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire and launched her own podcast earlier this year, the affection between Grande and Erivo had a disturbing subtext. “I really think, at the end of the day, it’s like this self-obsession with each other and an elitism,” she said this week. “They think that they and this, like, romance that they have with each other, and their connection with the project, is more important than doing their press.”
It’s cliché to say that every right-wing influencer is a failed actor, but in this case, the notion seems to be guiding their collective response to Wicked. Cooper said that doing community theater in Atlanta taught her that acting alongside others can lead to strong friendships, but she believes Grande and Erivo are taking it too far. “Genuinely, as a theater kid, I could say this is not normal,” Cooper said. “Like, ladies, what is the point of this?”
She then made the implication very clear. “Anyway, all I’m saying is that it is 2025. It is safe to come out. Gay rights have been secured,” she said. “You are welcome to tell us all what is going on behind closed doors. Anyway, that’s just my theory.”
For decades, conservatives have responded to cultural change by starting their own institutions and making their own versions of the Hollywood films they hate, with notably mixed results. Maybe they’ll try the same with The Wizard of Oz and finally create a version completely shorn of any rainbows or whimsy.
The new Netflix documentary Selena y Los Dinos tells an inspirational story of a hard-working family band’s ascent from playing tiny restaurant back rooms to selling out the Houston Astrodome. It’s also difficult to watch without wondering what Selena Quintanilla, the preternaturally gifted lead singer of Los Dinos, might be doing now had she not been killed in 1995 at the age of 23. How many more Grammys would she have under her belt? Would she have moved into films, shooting them in between albums? Would she have a clothing line at Fashion Week, or financially fruitful Target collabs? Would she be touring with her own children, or even grandchildren, just as her parents toured with her?
To tell the story of Selena and her family, Emmy-nominated director Isabel Castro (Mija) sifted through family archives and previously unseen footage from the Quintanillas’ private home videos. Castro also conducted candid interviews with Selena’s parents, Marcella and Abraham; her sister and drummer, Suzette; her bassist-songwriter brother, A.B.; and her guitarist husband, Chris Pérez.
Suzette is now the steward of Q Productions, the Quintanilla family’s hometown HQ. For this project, she wanted to find a director who could sift through the family’s massive archive to tell a story that would resonate with the generations of fans who still make the pilgrimage to visit the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas, and wider audiences as well. Castro is a lifelong fan herself who found she had “really great chemistry” with Suzette in their first Zoom conversation. For Suzette, the vibe was mutual. “She reminded me of home, like I’d known her for a long time,” she says of Castro. “Before we hung up on the call, I texted my lawyer, ‘She’s the one.’” The child of Mexican immigrants and raised in Connecticut, Castro could relate to how the Quintanillas had a foot in two cultures: “Selena was so inspiring to me because of her unapologetic confidence in her identity.”
Over the course of two years, Castro and producer J. Daniel Torres spent about 10 hours a day, five days a week, poring through the material, clocking moments that would best serve the story. The sheer volume was daunting. “Suzette opens the door to this room with floor-to-ceiling bookcases of VHS tapes, CDs, flash drives, original film, albums, and boxes with photos,” she says. “It felt like we entered a sacred space, and I found it overwhelming in this way I’d never experienced in my career—both in terms of process and deciding how to distill this into a film. But the responsibility of access to that archive is what drove me and the whole team to work as hard as we did.”
Interviews with the Quintanilla family were a delicate process that took six months. Marcella, the family matriarch, was especially reluctant about participating. Says Suzette, “My mother suffers from depression from losing my sister. She gets extremely emotional, and I didn’t think she was going to do it. I had to tiptoe around it and do the whole cute face on her, like, ‘Please, Mom, it’s important for you to be a part of this, because you played a huge role in keeping us grounded and showing us the way we deserve to be as women.’”
The Carman Family Deaths — The loss of his mother at sea puts the spotlight of suspicion on a young New England man, implicating him in the death of his grandfather years earlier. We have to make do with this documentary for now, because Ryan Murphy hasn’t been able to sign Robert Wagner or Christopher Walken. (Netflix)
Champagne Problems — Yes, we’ve reached that time of year when everybody wants to be the Hallmark Channel, and unrepentantly so. Follow Minka Kelly on business to France, where her mission to close a big deal might lead to love with a hunky local. So it’s like the Katy Perry story, but less embarrassing for everybody. (Netflix)
Premieres Thursday:
High Horse: The Black Cowboy — Jordan Peele traces the true, untold history of Blacks on the prairie in a documentary inspired by his provocative 2022 sci-fi/horror feature, Nope. Meanwhile, Scott Derrickson is insistent Black Phone 2 is really about AT&T’s reliance on the slave trade. (Peacock)
A Man on the Inside — Mary Steenburgen joins her real-life husband, Ted Danson, for Season 2, which sends Charles undercover at a liberal arts college. Careful, guys! Remember what happened the last time somebody named Charlie tried to be a big man on campus. (Netflix)
Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan and Zoe Colletti in The Family Plan 2Credit: courtesy Apple TV
Premieres Friday:
The Family Plan 2 — And here’s another chance to drink deep the reassurance of formula, specifically the tradition of shitty sequels set in Europe. Former assassin Mark Wahlberg faces a moment of truth on the continent, as he’s pursued by a mysterious foe who’s put his family in the crosshairs. You just knew Clark Griswold was going to snap one day if those British drivers didn’t let him merge. (Apple TV)
One Shot With Ed Sheeran — The multiplatinum simp takes to the streets of New York, serenading the locals in an impromptu concert that was filmed in one take. The good news is that since Mamdani got elected, a guy can now get his hand cut off for this. (Netflix)
Train Dreams — Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon and William H. Macy star in a 2025 Sundance hit set amid the railroad expansion of the early 20th century. Not to be outdone, Blumhouse is prepping a quickie horror flick about SunRail disasters. (Netflix)
Premieres Monday:
Bel Air — Senior year proves a serious crossroads for Will (Jabari Banks) as the dramatic reimagining of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air enters its fourth and final season. Will he get into a good HBCU, or does his future lie in smacking presenters on the NAACP Image Awards? (Peacock)
Missing Dead or Alive Season 2 — South Carolina’s finest sheriff’s department is back to solve more cases of people who upped and vanished without a trace. Or, as it’s referred to in politer company, “redistricting.” (Netflix)
Premieres Tuesday:
Is It Cake? Holiday Season 2 — Three returning bakers join three new contestants to compete for a $75,000 prize pot. Coincidentally, an assload of gingerbread is the reward in the upcoming Is It Pot? What Day Is It? (Netflix)
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The man accused in the killing of beloved Laney College athletic director John Beam in Oakland, Calif., was charged with murder on Monday and faces a gun enhancement count as well, authorities said.
Cedric Irving Jr., 27, faces 50 years to life in prison if convicted of Beam’s murder. The charges come with an enhancement that he discharged a firearm, said Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson at a press conference Monday.
Irving is accused of shooting and killing Beam, the former Laney football coach profiled in the Netflix series “Last Chance U,” at the Laney Fieldhouse sports facility last week. The 66-year-old Beam died of his injuries the next morning, hours after Irving was located at the San Leandro BART station following a manhunt.
Cedric Irving Jr.
Alameda County Sheriff’s Office
Dickson said at the press conference that Beam’s shooting, along with a second shooting last week at Skyline High School in Oakland and ongoing gun violence in the city have prompted her office to reinstitute mandatory minimum sentences in gun cases in Alameda County.
“I think it’s important to talk about accountability as it relates to gun violence. I think that there are way too many guns on the street in the hands they shouldn’t be in, and a lot of those hands, unfortunately, are young people,” Dickson said. “And so, this is my opportunity to try something that we’ve tried before, to see if we can put a dent in some of this violent crime that is related to gun violence in our community.”
Dickson said she would not release details about Beam’s shooting, and police have not released any information about a motive in the shooting, which police called a “very targeted incident.” Dickson did confirm that Irving made statements to officers about the shooting but would not divulge details about what was said.
Irving was not a student or employee at Laney College but was known to loiter on or near the campus, Oakland Interim Police Chief James Beere said last week following the shooting. Irving played football at Skyline High School, where Beam coached before being hired at Laney, but not during the time Beam was head coach, Beere said.
Dickson said on Monday that a gun found in Irving’s possession when he was arrested was registered to him. She also indicated that she would not comment on Irving’s state of mind or mental health.
“I can say he does not have a criminal record that we can find,” Dickson said. “And oftentimes, people who have significant mental health issues will come into contact with the criminal justice system, but we see none.”
Beam was revered in Oakland and the Bay Area for his impact on the student-athletes he coached over his decades-long career and gained national recognition from the “Last Chance U” series, which highlighted his unique coaching style and influence on players on and off the field. His program at Laney was known for having over 90% of his players graduating or transferring to four-year schools.
Over the course of his coaching career, Beam developed more than 30 National Football League players, including seven Super Bowl participants, according to the Peralta Community College District.
The man accused in the killing of beloved Laney College athletic director John Beam in Oakland, Calif., was charged with murder on Monday, and also faces a gun enhancement in the case, authorities said.
Cedric Irving Jr., 27, faces 50 years to life in prison if convicted of Beam’s murder, which comes with an enhancement that he discharged a firearm, said Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson at a press conference Monday.
Irving is accused of shooting and killing Beam, the former Laney football coach profiled in the Netflix series “Last Chance U,” at the Laney Fieldhouse sports facility last week. The 66-year-old Beam died of his injuries the next morning, hours after Irving was located at the San Leandro BART station following a manhunt.
Cedric Irving Jr.
Alameda County Sheriff’s Office
Dickson said at the press conference that Beam’s shooting, along with a second shooting last week at Skyline High School in Oakland and ongoing gun violence in the city, has prompted her office to reinstitute mandatory minimum sentences in gun cases in Alameda County.
“I think it’s important to talk about accountability as it relates to gun violence. I think that there are way too many guns on the street in the hands they shouldn’t be in, and a lot of those hands, unfortunately, are young people.” Dickson said. “And so, this is my opportunity to try something that we’ve tried before, to see if we can put a dent in some of this violent crime that is related to gun violence in our community.”
Dickson said she would not release details about Beam’s shooting, and police have not released any information about a motive in the shooting, which police called a “very targeted incident.” Dickson did confirm that Irving made statements to officers about the shooting, but would not divulge the details about what was said.
Irving was not a student or employee at Laney College but was known to loiter on or near the campus, Oakland Interim Police Chief James Beere officials said last week following the shooting. Irving played football at Skyline High School, where Beam coached before being hired at Laney, but not during the time Beam was head coach, Beere said.
Dickson said on Monday that a gun found in Irving’s possession when he was arrested was registered to him. She also indicated that she would not comment on Irving’s state of mind or mental health.
“I can say he does not have a criminal record that we can find,” Dickson said. “And oftentimes, people who have significant mental health issues will come into contact with the criminal justice system, but we see none.”
Beam was revered in Oakland and the Bay Area for his impact on the student-athletes he coached over his decades-long career and gained national recognition from the “Last Chance U” series, which highlighted his unique coaching style and influence on players on and off the field. His program at Laney was known for having over 90% of his players graduating or transferring to four-year schools.
Over the course of his coaching career, Beam developed more than 30 National Football League players, including seven Super Bowl participants, according to the Peralta Community College District.
Netflix has released a brand new trailer for Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, previewing the upcoming third film in the series and an “impossible” crime that Benoit Blanc will have to solve. It is set to release in theaters on November 26, 2025, and then later on Netflix on December 12, 2025.
“Benoit Blanc returns for his most dangerous case yet in the third and darkest chapter of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery opus,” reads the film’s official synopsis. “When young priest Jud Duplenticy is sent to assist charismatic firebrand Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, it’s clear that all is not well in the pews. Wicks’s modest-but-devoted flock includes devout church lady Martha Delacroix, circumspect groundskeeper Samson Holt, tightly-wound lawyer Vera Draven, aspiring politician Cy Draven, town doctor Nat Sharp, best-selling author Lee Ross, and concert cellist Simone Vivane. After a sudden and seemingly impossible murder rocks the town, the lack of an obvious suspect prompts local police chief Geraldine Scott to join forces with renowned detective Benoit Blanc to unravel a mystery that defies all logic.”
Check out the new Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery trailer below (watch other trailers):
What happens in the Knives Out 3 trailer?
The newest trailer opens up more about the story of the upcoming movie. After Jefferson Wicks is mysteriously killed, Josh O’Connor’s Reverend Jud Duplenticy is the prime suspect. It’s up to Benoit Blanc and a local police chief to try and figure out what happened, though, in what Blanc views as a nearly impossible crime.
Much like past Knives Out films, Wake Up Dead Man features an all-star cast. Alongside Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, the film also stars Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaney, Daryl McCormack, Thomas Haden Church, Jeffrey Wright, Annie Hamilton, James Faulkner, Bridget Everett, Noah Segan, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Ted Danson’s “A Man on the Inside” returning to Netflix for its second season and Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo belting out the “Wicked: For Good” soundtrack are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.
Also among the streaming offerings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Aerosmith teaming up with Yungblud on a new EP, “The Bad Guys 2” hitting Peacock and Jordan Peele looking at Black cowboys in a new documentary series.
New movies to stream from Nov. 17-23
— “Train Dreams,” (Friday, Nov. 21 on Netflix), Clint Bentley’s adaptation of Denis Johnson’s acclaimed novella, stars Joel Edgerton as Robert Grainier, a railroad worker and logger in the early 20th century Pacific Northwest. The film, scripted by Bentley and Greg Kwedar (the duo behind last year’s “Sing Sing” ), conjures a frontier past to tell a story about an anonymous laborer and the currents of change around him.
— The DreamWorks Animation sequel “The Bad Guys 2” (Friday, Nov. 21 on Peacock) returns the reformed criminal gang of animals for a new heist caper. In the film, with a returning voice cast including Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos and Marc Maron, the Bad Guys encounter a new robbery team: the Bad Girls. In his review, AP’s Mark Kennedy lamented an over-amped sequel with a plot that reaches into space: “It’s hard to watch a franchise drift so expensively and pointlessly in Earth’s orbit.”
— In “The Roses,” Jay Roach (“Meet the Parents’), from a script by Tony McNamara (“Poor Things”), remakes Danny DeVito’s 1989 black comedy, “The War of the Roses.” In this version, Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch star as a loving couple who turn bitter enemies. In his review, Kennedy called “The Roses” “an escalating hatefest that, by the time a loaded gun comes out, all the fun has been sucked out.”
— Musical theater fans, your time has come… again. “Wicked: For Good” is upon us, and with it comes the release of its official soundtrack. On Friday, after or before you catch the film in theaters, stream its life-affirming compositions to your heart’s content. Might we suggest Ariana Grande’s “The Girl in the Bubble?” Or Cynthia Erivo’s “No Place Like Home?” And for the Jeff Goldblum and Jonathan Bailey lovers, yes, there’s gold to be unearthed, too.
— Rock this way: Aerosmith is back with new music. Following their 2023 “Greatest Hits” collection and just a few months after the conclusion of their “Peace Out: The Farewell Tour” (the band said it would no longer hit the road due to singer Steven Tyler’s voice becoming permanently damaged by a vocal cord injury ) they’re teaming up with next gen rock ‘n’ roller Yungblud. It’s a collaborative EP called “One More Time,” out Friday. The anthemic opening track, “My Only Angel” sets the tone. What’s another one for the road?
— Raise your hand if you still miss “Succession” Sundays on HBO. An acclaimed Swedish drama called “Vanguard” debuts Tuesday on Viaplay that’s of the same vein. It’s a dramatization about Jan Stenbeck, one of Europe’s most influential media moguls. There’s ambition, betrayal and yes, sibling rivalry.
— Ted Danson’s “A Man on the Inside” returns to Netflix for its second season on Thursday. Danson plays a widower named Charles who has found a new sense of purpose as an amateur private detective. In Season One, Charles moved into a retirement home to catch his culprit. In Season Two, he goes back to college to solve a case. Danson’s real-life wife, Mary Steenburgen, joins the cast as Charles’ love interest as he explores the idea of a second chance at romance.
— Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore co-star in “The Assassin” for AMC+. Hawes (“Bodyguard”) plays a retired assassin living in solitude on a Greek island whose peaceful life is turned upside down when her estranged son (Highmoore) comes to visit. When the two find themselves in danger they must work together to stay alive. It premieres Thursday.
— Jordan Peele has a new documentary series called “High Horse: The Black Cowboy” coming to Peacock on Thursday. The three-part series examines how stories of Black cowboys have been erased from both pop culture and history books.
New video games to play from Nov. 17-23
— If you bought Mario Kart World when Nintendo launched the Switch 2 back in June, you may be wondering: Do I really need another racing game? Kirby Air Riders comes from designer Masahiro Sakurai, the mastermind behind Super Smash Bros., so it adds that franchise’s chaotic combat to the mix. Each of the competitors has different weapons and each of the vehicles has different benefits and drawbacks. And everyone can use Kirby’s signature “inhale” technique, which lets you absorb an opponent’s skills by, well, swallowing them. So if you like your racing weird, get your motor running Thursday.
John Beam, the legendary football coach from Netflix’s “Last Chance U” series, died one day after being shot on the Laney College campus in Oakland, California, officials said Friday.
The film, in which he plays a conspiracy theorist who kidnaps and tortures Emma Stone’s pharma CEO, believing her to be an alien, is the kind that might seem small in scope. On a certain level, it’s three people — the possibly insane mastermind Teddy (Plemons), his cousin and accomplice Don (Aidan Delbis) and their victim Michelle Fuller (Stone) — in a basement. And yet, in the hands of filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and his collaborators, it feels big in scope too, with a booming score, raw performances, grand themes about perceptions of reality and the human experiment and an ever-escalating tension as you try to figure out whom to believe.
“It’s a very entertaining film and a ride,” Stone said in an interview alongside her co-star. “It’s not this heavy meditation on something. There is a bit of absurdism and that stamp that he (Yorgos) puts on everything where there’s humor laced all throughout.”
“Bugonia” arrives in select theaters this weekend on a wave of good buzz and reviews after premiering at the Venice Film Festival. But it’s also coming into a theatrical marketplace that has been, at best, tough on art films and awards hopefuls, no matter how starry or well-reviewed.
Lanthimos’ films have broken through the noise before, especially when Stone is involved. “Poor Things” was hardly an assured box office hit, but managed to make over $117 million — over three times its production budget — by the end of its run.
“Bugonia” marks Stone’s fourth film with Lanthimos and Plemons’ second — they both recently appeared in his “Kinds of Kindness.” And they hope it breaks the current streak of art house fizzles.
Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone pose at the premiere of “Bugonia” in London, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone pose at the premiere of “Bugonia” in London, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
“It’s a movie that feels made to be experienced in theaters,” Plemons said. “I’d like to talk to all the people out there right now and say, ‘You can do it. You can pause Netflix, and come back to it, but you should see this in a theater.’”
Stone chimed in, laughing: “He said it! He said the controversial thing!”
From ‘Save the Green Planet’ to ‘Bugonia’
“Bugonia” is based on a 2003 Korean movie called “Save the Green Planet!” which also blended elements of science fiction and black comedy in its satirical meditation on truth and corporate misdeeds. It was the era of the coronavirus lockdowns when the idea of making an English-language version took hold, with screenwriter Will Tracy (“Succession,” “The Menu”) behind the adaptation. In Tracy’s script, the setting would switch to the U.S. and the CEO would become a woman.
“Sometimes you make these big decisions like that and it’s not like there’s a lot of premeditation about why and gender politics and any of it,” Tracy said. “It just seemed interesting.”
The gender switch had been made before Lanthimos came on board three years ago, but it was the kind of choice that opened up a door for him to call one of his favorites: Stone.
“So much about the story was intriguing,” Stone said. “This sort of tightrope walk of what she’s being accused of. The tension between her and Teddy.”
Also, she said, there was something exciting about playing the kind of boss who makes big pronouncements about staff feeling free to leave at 5:30 p.m. — unless, of course, they have work to do.
Emma Stone in “Bugonia” (Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features via AP)
Emma Stone in “Bugonia” (Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features via AP)
Emma Stone, Aidan Delbis and Jesse Plemons in “Bugonia” (Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features via AP)
Emma Stone, Aidan Delbis and Jesse Plemons in “Bugonia” (Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features via AP)
“Speaking these sorts of corporate-trained platitudes was really fascinating, to learn how to sort of give the illusion of humanity and connection, but done in a way that’s obviously allowed through HR,” Stone said.
It was Lanthimos’ idea to make the title “Bugonia,” which comes from a Greek word referring to a belief that bees were born out of the carcass of a dead ox. Teddy was always a beekeeper on the side, but suddenly they had an apt extended metaphor to play around with, too.
The non-professional breakout star
At Teddy’s side throughout the ordeal is Don, who seems to have his own misgivings about the plan and causing Michelle pain, but whose first loyalty is to his cousin — the only person who seems to care about him. Lanthimos wanted to cast a non-professional, neurodivergent actor in the role and worked with casting director Jennifer Venditti, who had helped make a documentary about a neurodivergent kid, to find the right person.
Delbis, who is autistic, did not do any training before joining the cast at age 17. Some little changes to the script were made to reflect his way of speaking and his presence. But the point, Lanthimos said, was that “he would bring his own experience and perception and way of thinking and energy. And that was what was so priceless.”
Stavros Halkias, Aidan Delbis, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Alicia Silverstone and Jesse Plemons attend the premiere of “Bugonia” at The Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Stavros Halkias, Aidan Delbis, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Alicia Silverstone and Jesse Plemons attend the premiere of “Bugonia” at The Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
It’s perhaps the most important relationship in the film, and Plemons said that he immediately felt bonded to Delbis.
“We just hit it off very quickly and very quickly he began to feel like my cousin that I wanted to protect and hang out with,” Plemons said.
Fighting for a vision
“Bugonia” is a surprisingly physical film, which everyone learned the hard way. Plemons and Stone worked with stunt coordinators for the big fights and the kidnapping scene. But she didn’t foresee just how much physicality was involved in being a captive, bloody, slathered in antihistamine cream and constantly trying to break free.
“Generally I think it was quite a challenge for everyone because it’s such a constrained film, just being in those few locations,” Lanthimos said. “We started forgetting what day it was, and if it was day or night outside.”
Plemons also had quite a bit of biking and running around for the exciting final 30 minutes of the film.
“Hats off to them for putting up with my writing,” Tracy said.
Emma Stone attends the premiere of “Bugonia” at The Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Emma Stone attends the premiere of “Bugonia” at The Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Stone, who also produced, remembered filming a scene one night in which she’s walking barefoot through a parking lot with ambulances all around her and giving Tracy some grief. What sounded fairly straightforward took on a lot of complications because they were shooting in England and the vehicles needed to be American.
“I was like, ‘You were just sitting there in your room, and you wrote one sentence: Michelle limps across the parking and there are ambulances,’” Stone said. “It was just like, wow must be nice! We spent a lot of money on that one line you wrote. You could have cut it!” Stone said.
She is mostly kidding. It might have been expensive, but they still did the shot. As a producer, Stone says she wants nothing more than to protect the integrity of a film, whether she’s acting in it or not.
“The American film system is really tricky with notes and studios and so many things that come in the way of people being able to realize that vision in the fullest capacity,” Stone said. “There’s no better feeling than getting to help facilitate someone bringing their story to life in the fullest way that they can imagine it being, and trying to be their advocate throughout every step of the process.”
At a news conference on Friday, Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell said that Beam died Friday morning. He was 66.
“We are devastated that John Beam, our loving husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, coach, mentor and friend, has passed,” Beam’s family said in a statement that was read at the briefing.
Piedmont police chief Frederick Shavies, who knew Beam since he was in 8th grade, said at the news conference, “John was so much more than a coach. He was a father figure to thousands of not only men, but young women, in our community.”
Laney College athletic director John Beam
KPIX
The announcement was made hours after police said an arrest had been made in connection with the shooting. Police identified the suspect as 27-year-old Cedric Irving Jr.
Police said Irving was located by Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies at the San Leandro BART station around 3:15 a.m. on Friday. Assistant Police Chief James Beere said at a press conference Friday that a suspect weapon was recovered, and confirmed that the suspect knew Beam but did not have a relationship.
“This was a very targeted incident,” Beere told reporters without elaborating. “And I will say that Coach Beam, although they did not have a close relationship, was open to helping everybody in our community. And this is not uncommon for him to have a relationship with someone that he would think needs help. In this case, I can just tell you that the individual that was arrested went to the campus for a specific reason.”
Beere also said the suspect was known to have loitered on or around the campus and that investigators were still determining a motive. Beere added that the suspect once played high school football in the city of Oakland, but did not play for a team that Beam coached.
“He played football at Skyline High School, but not for coach Beam,” Beere said. “To the best of our knowledge, he was never a Laney student and did not work there.”
Beam was the former head football coach for the Laney College Eagles and gained national recognition in the Netflix docuseries “Last Chance U.” The fifth season of the series followed the Eagles during the 2019 season, and highlighted Beam’s lifelong influence on generations of young football players on and off the field. Beam’s program at Laney was also known for having over 90% of his players graduating or transferring to four-year schools.
Before coming to Laney College, Beam was the longtime head football coach for Oakland’s Skyline High School, leading the Titans to 15 league championships and four undefeated seasons.
“Coach Beam’s legacy isn’t measured in championships or statistics, even though they are great. It’s measured in the thousands of young people he believed in, mentored and refused to abandon, including my nephew while at Skyline High School,” Mayor Barbara Lee said Friday. “He gave Oakland’s youth their best chance, and he never stopped fighting for them.”
Among the estimated 2,500 players Beam has coached across decades are multiple current and former National Football League players, including Super Bowl champions and Pro Bowlers C.J. Anderson and Marvel Smith. Brothers Nahshon and Rejzhon Wright, who currently play for the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints, respectively, posted their thoughts of Beam on social media Friday.
“You mean the world to me,” wrote Rejzhon Wright in one of his tributes to Beam on Instagram, followed by a broken heart emoji.
Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-Oakland) called Beam’s death “a deep loss for Oakland.”
“His impact reached far beyond sports. He gave young people confidence, structure, and a place to stand,” Simon said in a prepared statement. “Families trusted him because he showed up with discipline, care and a belief that every young person carried promise.
She added, “Gun violence has cut into our city again, and we cannot accept this as our future. We owe our people safety and a collective commitment to stop this harm.
Nile Jarvis shares more than a few passing traits with Bob Durst. On the series, Jarvis is the son of a New York City real estate tycoon Martin Jarvis, played by Breaking Bad’s Jonathan Banks. In the series, Martin runs Jarvis Industries, a massive real estate conglomerate that owns multiple skyscrapers in New York City and is under attack from a progressive political candidate calling out Jarvis Industries for monopolizing the city.
In reality, Durst was also the heir of a New York–based real estate dynasty. His grandfather, Jewish tailor Joseph Durst, emigrated to the US in 1902 from what is now Poland and founded the commercial and residential real estate company The Durst Organization in 1927. Joseph proceeded to purchase commercial buildings and skyscrapers across Manhattan. Robert Durst’s father, Seymour Bernard Durst, inherited the company in 1974 and helped grow it into a multimillion-dollar organization. According to Forbes, the Durst family’s real estate holdings were estimated to be worth more than $8 billion in 2020; as the eldest son, Robert Durst was once expected to inherit the throne and run the company.
Robert Durst appears in court during opening statements in his murder trial on March 4, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.Etienne Laurent -Pool/Getty Images)
This would never come to pass. Born in 1943, Robert Durst had a turbulent childhood in Scarsdale, NY, despite—or perhaps because of—his immense wealth. When he was seven years old, Robert’s mother, Bernice Herstein, died after either falling or jumping off the roof of their Scarsdale home. Robert would later claim that he witnessed his mother commit suicide, having been brought to the window by his own father to watch it happen. (In a 2015 New York Times interview, Robert’s younger brother, Douglas,denied that ever happened). A psychiatric report of Robert at age 10 mentioned the possibility that Robert might suffer from “personality decomposition and possibly even schizophrenia.” In 1992, Seymour ultimately chose Douglas to run the company, due to his eldest son’s erratic behavior—exacerbating a rift that already existed between Robert and his family.
On The Beast in Me, Nile Jarvis also has a fraught relationship with both his real estate mogul father, Marvin, and his extended family. Unlike Durst, whose father passed him over for the top job in favor of his younger brother, Nile considers himself the brains of the family business. “For all his kicking and screaming, I pulled my father into the future,” he says in episode three. “Got him to take a couple of big swings and grew the business tenfold.” But according to Jarvis, his father Marvin was a self-made man who “shoveled cow shit before school”—making him more like Durst’s paternal grandfather, Joseph, who emigrated to the US with just $3 in his pocket before amassing his fortune.
HBO delivers the legitimacy and value no rival can replicate. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Discovery
There’s a particularly trenchant quote from HBO’s House of the Dragon that keeps popping into my head as major media companies jockey for position in pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery: “Aegon Targaryen sits the Iron Throne. He wears the Conqueror’s crown, wields the Conqueror’s sword, has the Conqueror’s name. He was anointed by a septon of the Faith before the eyes of thousands. Every symbol of legitimacy belongs to him.”
Symbols are assets that can be leveraged for value in different ways. Zooming out to House of the Dragon’s home network, HBO finds itself in a position to be an integral symbol of legitimacy and value in the WBD sweepstakes. As all publicly circle the wagons, it’s time to explore the premium cable network’s merits and which company would benefit most from its addition.
This article contains a plethora of data points that highlight whitespace opportunities and strategic value in the market. But it’s not always the quantifiable elements that yield the greatest benefits. HBO’s multi-decade track record as a culture-shaping authority cannot be summed up in an Excel sheet.
“It is not merely a content library; rather, it is a brand that stands for prestige and audience trust, meaning an acquirer instantly uplevels its brand value with the acquisition, as well as attracts unrivaled talent,” Andrew Cussens, CEO of content studio Film Folk, told Observer.
This very notion was recently demonstrated when WBD re-rebranded its streaming service to HBO Max. The name carries weight throughout the industry while certain rival brands still search for a defined identity that elicits strong audience associations. The data backs up its position as a go-to destination and an illuminating opportunity.
HBO and HBO Max by the numbers
WBD’s streaming platforms had 128 million subscribers at the end of September, with the vast majority belonging to HBO Max. (Netflix has more than 300 million subscribers.) It’s a hits-driven platform that values prestige quality over quantity. That’s incredibly valuable, but it can run counter to mass market ambitions.
For example, The Last of Us Season 2 and The White Lotus Season 3 rank among the most-watched U.S. streaming series of 2025, according to Samba TV’s State of Streaming report. Yet, HBO Max only accounts for 7 percent of the Top 100 most-streamed series overall, per Samba, while WBD’s share of U.S. streaming sits at just 1.3 percent, per Nielsen, respectively. Even as the majority of viewing for HBO series occurs on streaming vs linear, HBO Max remains a top-heavy platform that accounts for a surprisingly small slice of the U.S. TV pie despite its namesake brand’s prestige.
From Watchmen and Penguin to House of the Dragon and It: Welcome to Derry, HBO has worked wonders in elevating brand-name intellectual property and franchise fare in pursuit of greater viewership (while still succeeding with more standard “prestige” fare like The White Lotus and Task). This raises the question: has it reached its scalable ceiling?
“There is definite upside in the number of subscribers and revenue-per-viewer, and HBO Max hasn’t saturated either,” Samba TV CEO and co-founder Ashwin Navin told Observer. “By adding new tier-one shows and tentpoles, they can continue to broaden their audience base. With more subscribers on the ad-tier, combined with more precision targeting and data, there’s definitely room to grow monetization. The ceiling is much higher with the right investment and growth strategy.”
HBO is already doing most of the heavy lifting for HBO Max, especially when compared to its high-minded cable counterparts. HBO titles account for 14 percent of the streamer’s library, but more than 18 percent of its audience demand, according to Parrot Analytics. That tops Showtime on Paramount+ (7.2 percent supply vs. 7.3 percent demand) and FX on Hulu (3.6 percent vs. 4.6 percent).
Who stands to gain the most if WBD is sold?
For better and for worse (mostly the latter), Hollywood is chasing scale to compete. Yet, no one is talking about the potential overlap when it comes to possible streaming combos. Paramount Skydance, Comcast and Netflix could all stand to gain from HBO’s prestige pricing power, but face challenges to continue scaling without sacrificing quality.
Roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults who subscribe to HBO Max also subscribe to Netflix, according to Greenlight Analytics, where I work as Director of Insights & Content Strategy. About 40 percent of HBO Max subscribers also use Paramount+, while only 20 percent overlap with Peacock.
“Either Paramount or Comcast would benefit the most,” Hernan Lopez, founder and CEO of media/tech management consulting firm Owl & Co., told Observer. “They would immediately more than double their global revenue and profits from streaming, and the size of the library — both for their own streaming services as well as strategic leverage for negotiation with Netflix.”
The end result for each suitor would be different. Generally speaking, we’re talking about more subscribers, greater pricing power, higher combined lifetime value per customer, higher engagement, lower churn and so on. On paper, that’s awfully tantalizing, though not without its obstacles.
“Netflix would only fully realize the value of buying WB streaming and studios if it keeps the TV and theatrical studios open, which would mean being willing to make and sell shows to third parties and distribute in theaters—things they haven’t done so far,” Lopez noted. Despite nudges in the theatrical direction, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandossaid as recently as April that movie theaters are an “outmoded idea.” Oof.
Interestingly, 78 percent of 2025 HBO Max engagement was directed at titles released before 2025, the second-highest rate among the premium streamers, per Samba. That speaks to the enduring power of HBO’s treasured library and the appointment-viewing gaps between high-profile HBO releases. On the flip side, Peacock (64%) boasts the largest share of engagement dedicated to programming that debuted in 2025. Meanwhile, Paramount+’s male-skewing originals fit well with HBO Max’s female-leaning audience. To Lopez’s points, one can see the non-Netflix fits.
It would be media malpractice to see HBO reduced to a mere tile in another company’s crowded streaming ecosystem. The small screen’s crown jewel deserves better than that, not only for its reputational value but for the tangible results it yields. Yes, time spent has become the all-powerful quarry of every streaming platform. No, HBO is not a content firehose designed to constantly scratch that itch. But much like the throne, crown and sword, the validation it offers is the first step in empowering whomever its parent company may be to rule the realm.
Being Eddie — Did you know that Shalimar Seiuli, the trans hooker Eddie Murphy was caught with in 1998, died a year later, after falling five stories down the face of her apartment building? Don’t expect to hear that fun factoid in this official retrospective of the legendary comedian’s career. But maybe we’ll get to see “James Brown’s Celebrity Hot Tub Party” again. (Netflix)
A Merry Little Ex-Mas — On the cusp of their divorce, Alicia Silverstone and Oliver Hudson have plans to spend one final holiday together. But when his new girlfriend shows up, even that humble aspiration becomes a tall order. See, this is why it’s always better to make a clean break, like the Murdaughs did. (Netflix)
Premieres Thursday:
The Beast in Me — Afflicted by writer’s block since losing her son, an author (Claire Danes) gets interested in life again when a suspected murderer moves in next door. And why shouldn’t she? In the best-case scenario, she could get a whole new novel out of it. Especially if she can figure out how to outsource the adverbs to ChatGPT. (Netflix)
Tiffany Haddish Goes Off — The irrepressible comic actor and some of her childhood buddies take a wacky girls’ trip to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. No Nigeria, though, because a Signal chat they’re all on said some shit is about to go down. (Peacock)
Premieres Friday:
Come See Me in the Good Light — Documentary cameras follow married poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley as they navigate Gibson’s diagnosis of ovarian cancer. This doc won the Festival Film Favorite Award at this year’s Sundance, just five months before Gibson passed away. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame want you to know they could be just as punctual if this country would get off its ass and standardize Daylight Saving Time. (Apple TV)
The Creep Tapes Season 2 — David Dastmalchian is among the guest stars as the found-footage series profiles new victims of the insidious Peachfuzz. Coincidentally, “the insidious peach fuzz” is what Usha has been calling JD ever since he started coming home smelling like Erika Kirk and White Claw. (Shudder and AMC+)
Malice — It’s Saltburn without the whacking off, as a vengeful nanny (Jack Whitehall) plots the destruction of an upper-class British family headed by David Duchovny. Wait a minute, if it’s Fox Mulder we’re talking about, this is probably more like BRIGHTburn. WITH whacking off. (Prime Video )
Nouvelle Vague — Richard Linklater dramatizes the filming of Godard’s Breathless in what Variety called “an enchanting ode to the rapture of cinema.” In their spare time, they all break into Barnes & Noble together and lick the Criterion Collection. (Netflix)
The Seduction — The umpteenth riff on Les Liaisons Dangereuses is a prequel series that has roles for Anamaria Vartolomei, Diane Kruger and Vincent Lacoste. Not to be outdone, Disney+ has placed an eight-episode order for Cruel Intentions Babies. (HBO Max)
Premieres Sunday:
Landman — High-profile cast additions in Season 2 of the Texas big-oil drama include Colm Feore, Andy Garcia and Sam Elliott. Wait a minute, you’re telling me Sam Elliott wasn’t already in this thing? I thought SAG had a rule that you have to hire him if your show is set west of New Orleans and there’s a role for Dennis Weaver with pharyngitis. (Paramount+)
Premieres Monday:
Epic Ride: The Story of Universal Theme Parks — This glorified ad for the Universal family of parks has now been delayed two times since its promised launch last July. The problem is that they keep having to update it every time somebody snuffs it on Stardust Racers. (Peacock)
The Mighty Nein — While you wait for the fifth and final season of The Legend of Vox Machina, enjoy the same cast of Critical Role principals in this stopgap animated show set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons. Or you could just visit your local comic shop on whatever day of the week everybody’s mom cleans out the basement. (Prime Video)
Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy — The Tejano sensation’s short but groundbreaking career is recapped in a doc that also won big at year’s Sundance, this one in the category of Archival Storytelling. The runner-up in that category: “The Inspiring Life and Brilliant Future of Andrew Cuomo.” (Netflix)
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One of the most shocking things about season two of Wednesday had to be the mid-season body swap episode.
After Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) messes with getting her powers back at the grave of Rosaline Rotwood (Lady Gaga), the powerful specter tricks her. Enid (Emma Myers) ends up waking up in Wednesday’s body and vice versa in a Freaky Friday throwback episode that took viewers on a surprising teen hijinks side quest. The swap shenanigans at Nevermore were a huge tonal gamble, which made for a fun chapter that really dug into why Enid and Wednesday’s polar-opposite friendship is the core of the show.
In a live award season Q&A (shared by Rama’s Screen), Ortega talked about the concerns she had with the challenging episode, which was a late addition to Wednesday season two.
“That script came in a couple of weeks before we shot it. I remember [the showrunners Alfred Gough and Miles Millar] were writing as we were going, and it wasn’t something that we had talked about in the pitch meeting. So it was a very brand-new story. I think it just kind of came out of left field. To be kind of knocked on your feet like that was exciting.”
She was glad to have a strong co-star to play off of. “If I had to do that with anyone, I was so immensely grateful that it was Emma Myers, who plays Enid.”
The time crunch was a concern, though. “To be a producer, there’s a lot more meetings and things like that that you have to go to. So my schedule was pretty tight. Emma and I just didn’t have a lot of time to practice. But she came in and did what she needed to do.”
The biggest challenge, Ortega recalled, was “wanting to do justice to [Enid] and making sure that Emma was happy with everything.”
She continued to give her co-star her flowers for becoming Wednesday. “She was so much of the character’s physicality, and it takes a lot of concentration to be that still. So I felt pretty proud when I saw her take that so seriously. It was just very sweet to see someone put so much time and effort into something that you had placed a lot of effort in.”
Ortega admitted that taking on the role of producer for season two on Wednesday came with a deeper sense of responsibility for the iconic Addams. “It’s a big character and a big show and definitely the most demanding, time-consuming, just kind of monstrous character and show that I’ve ever done. So it’s like, I had forgotten coming into the season what an endurance test is and just being there every day before everybody else and leaving and still working at home.”
Her protectiveness over her role gave her pause initially on the body-swap choice: “I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily proud of that episode. It really sent me into a bit of a panic. And something like that can turn out really bad.”
Thankfully, it all paid off and ended up becoming a hit, much to the star’s relief. “So far on the street and things like that, it seems like that’s what people are the most taken by,” she said, giving Myers credit once more. “Again, a lot of that was on Emma, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had so much energy, let alone in that costume.”
After eight years away from acting, Meghan Markle is making her Hollywood comeback with a small role in Close Personal Friends, an Amazon MGM comedy about two couples—one famous, one civilian—costarring Lily Collins and Brie Larson. According to reports, the Duchess of Sussex will play herself in the film, which also stars Jack Quaid and Henry Golding. And she has already been spotted on set. “She was joking that she felt a bit rusty, but it was obvious that she had rehearsed and that it was a big deal for her to be back,” a source told People on Monday of Meghan’s return.
Directed by Jason Orley, according The Hollywood Reporter,Close Personal Friends tells the tale of two lovers who meet a celebrity couple on a trip to Santa Barbara, California—which, coincidentally, is not far from the Montecito compound where Meghan has been living with her husband, Prince Harry, and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, since stepping back from royal duties in 2020. Vanity Fair has reached out to Meghan’s representative for comment.
Once upon a time, before Meghan married Harry in 2018, she famously played lawyer Rachel Zane on the Canadian series Suits, which had a sudden resurgence on streaming during summer 2023. Her final episode aired on April 25, 2018, with her character walking down the aisle just three weeks before Meghan did herself, becoming a Duchess and effectively halting her acting career. “I don’t see it as giving anything up, I just see it as a change,” Meghan said during her official engagement interview alongside Prince Harry in 2017. “I’ve been working on my show for seven years. So we’re very, very fortunate to be able to have that sort of longevity on a series, and for me, once we hit the 100-episode marker, I thought, You know what, I have ticked this box.”
Now, after two seasons headlining her own lifestyle talk series, With Love, Meghan, Meghan is returning to scripted film and TV. But unlike other performers who have made buzzy exits from acting, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz, less is known about Meghan’s past oeuvre. She was so under the radar pre–Prince Harry that she couldn’t even get booked on Bravo’s freewheeling late-night series, Watch What Happens Live, Meghan recounted on a 2022 episode of her now-shuttered podcast, Archetypes. Host Andy Cohen jokingly called it “the biggest blunder in the 13 years of the show.”
Ahead, all the TV and movies to revisit before her return to the big screen.
But it wasn’t Guiteau’s bullet that ultimately killed Garfield, rather a far more preventable medical condition: sepsis. Garfield was taken to the White House where his wound was repeatedly reopened as doctors, led by Doctor Willard Bliss, tried to remove the bullet from his back. He survived for 11 weeks, but his condition worsened. By the end, Garfield was having consistent hallucinations and was given nutrient enemas because he was no longer able to digest food. As portrayed on Death by Lightning, Alexander Graham Bell, credited with patenting the first working telephone, did drop by the White House to try and find the lodged bullet with a metal detector he invented, but it malfunctioned in part because Garfield was lying on a metal bed frame, and because Dr. Bliss only allowed to check Garfield’s right side.
Garfield died on Monday, September 19, 1881, in Long Branch, New Jersey. Many physicians believe that Garfield would have survived the surgery had proper modern sterilization measures been taken, which were already being used in Europe at the time. “It was the most horrific death you can imagine,” wrote Millard in Destiny of the Republic. “He was riddled with infection and, when they did the autopsy, there were huge gouges. The fingers had created these burrowing holes through him and they were filled with pus and infection. He lost so much weight and was horribly dehydrated. He almost certainly would have survived had it not been for his doctors.”
Guiteau’s end was no more merciful. He went on trial in November 1881, represented by his brother in law, George Scoville, and garnered attention for his bizarre behavior—insulting his defense attorney, and claiming that he was innocent because God demanded that he assassinate the president. According to Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, Guiteau’s trial was one of the first major trials to seriously consider the innocent by reasons of insanity defense. Ultimately, Guiteau was convicted on January 25, 1882, and sentenced to death by hanging. Guiteau stubbed his toe on the way up to the gallows on June 30, 1882, two days before the anniversary of the shooting. He then recited a musical poem he wrote, “I Am Going to the Lordy,” (further musicalized in Stephen Sondheim’s musical Assassins) before dropping to his death.
“Assassination can no more be guarded against than death by lightning,” Shannon says as Garfield in the film. While it sounds eerily prescient, Garfield did actually write that very sentiment in a November 1880 letter, unaware of the fate that would befall him only months later. But at least he wasn’t living his life in fear of the outcome: “And it is not best to worry about either,” he added.
It was the talk of the world, an epic love story now being given magnificent musical treatment
It was the talk of the world, an epic love story now being given a magnificent musical treatment, a new and musical telling of a fiery love story. The scandalous love affair between global opera superstar Maria Callas and billionaire shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis was a global sensation. The grand and tragic love story has been turned into an opera. Elizabeth Coppinger, a pioneering woman who made a name for herself in tech turned her talents and composed her first. The legendary tragic tale which eventually became a triangle with Jackie Kennedy Onassis is a saga for the ages. She decided this story needs to be framed in the grand, dramatic setting of opera to allow it to be memorialized in the perfect setting.
Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis shared one of the 20th century’s most passionate and tragic love affairs. Callas, the world’s reigning opera diva, met the Greek shipping magnate in 1957, and their magnetic connection defied their respective marriages. For over a decade, they lived a glamorous, tempestuous romance filled with luxury, jealousy, and devotion. Onassis was the love of Callas’s life, though he ultimately married Jacqueline Kennedy in 1968—a betrayal that shattered her. Despite this, Callas never stopped loving him. Their affair remains legendary—a tale of power, passion, and heartbreak between two icons who burned too brightly to last.
Maria Callas, born in New York and raised in Greece, was one of the most celebrated and influential opera singers of the 20th century, Think Taylor Swift famous. Her extraordinary voice, dramatic intensity, and command of bel canto roles transformed opera performance. She rose to fame in the late 1940s and 1950s with triumphs at La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and Covent Garden in London. Known for roles in Norma, Tosca, and Lucia di Lammermoor, she redefined operatic artistry. After her affair with Onassis, her career declined amid vocal struggles and emotional turmoil, yet her legend and recordings endure timelessly.
Experience the first act of La Callas at performances in Seattle December 5th and 7th to celebrate the famed diva’s birthday. The performance will be followed by an intermission with a special cake and champagne toast La Divina on her birthday week and a performance of bel canto and verismo arias made famous by Callas herself. The event is at
