Jim Carrey as Jeff Pickles in ‘Kidding’ season 1 episode 2 (Photo: Erica Parise / Showtime)
Jim Carrey was the biggest comedy star of the ‘90s with his hit movies Ace Venture: Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber, Liar Liar, and The Truman Show. Then he proved himself adept at drama with Man on the Moon, The Majestic, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. His new character on Kidding is also struggling to make people accept there’s more to him.
Jeff Pickles (Carrey) is a children’s television show host. One year after the death of his own son, he wants to do a show about death for children. His producer (Frank Langella) doesn’t want Mr. Pickles compromising the kid-friendly formula. Carrey gave an interview with the TCA this summer about the new series. Kidding premieres Sunday, September 9, 2018 on Showtime.
Jim Carrey Kidding Interview:
Did you go back and watch Mr. Rogers preparing for Kidding?
Jim Carrey: “I’ve seen plenty of Mr. Rogers, sure. I’ve also lampooned him on In Living Color so I studied him a little bit, but he’s an energy. It wasn’t an impression in any way whatsoever. He’s just an energy, a softness, an understanding and just this beautiful open person.”
What’s your opinion about comedy on the big screen now? Is streaming just better?
Jim Carrey: “There are so many choices, so many ways, so many forms to do things in. Now it’s just pick of the litter, wherever you want to go. There’s so much good stuff everywhere. The hardest thing is to cut through the clutter.
The only hope we have of cutting through the clutter these days is either you go bigger than everybody else where you’re lopping 10 heads off per episode, or you hit a nerve where you touch people in a place that’s real. Nothing gets to the back row like truth. If truth is in there, then people will be interested. They want to see themselves. They want to see their own truth.”
How much television do you watch?
Jim Carrey: “I watch a ton of stuff and it’s all very disparate, all over the place. I watch the stupidest sh*t that you would ever imagine that a person could watch, and then I also look up Gnosticism, whatever.
The fact is I want to know things. The internet is a place to know things. You can get a college education. You can get a PhD. Well, maybe not a PhD because you actually have to put something out to get a PhD, but you can get a damn good education just by tapping into social media, tapping into media.”
What’s your favorite TV comedy of all time?
Jim Carrey: “Well, that’s really hard because I go back to Ed Norton, Ralph Kramden, the basics. The Honeymooners. The Honeymooners set it down for everybody. Also, Dick Van Dyke was huge. Dick Van Dyke.”
Is Dr. Robotnik going to be an animated character?
Jim Carrey: “No, he’s live action but there’s animation in the piece.”
How are you going to create him?
Jim Carrey: “Magic, mixed with desperation.”
Jim Carrey as Jeff Pickles and Cole Allen as Will in ‘Kidding’ (Photo: Erica Parise / Showtime)
Do you look at Jeff Pickles as somewhat an inverse of The Truman Show where that was a very genuine person living in this very constructed world, and Mr. Pickles has this very elaborate facade, but the real things are starting to crack through it?
Jim Carrey: “Yeah. I think the idea of identity, the search for identity, what it is, who we are, what’s an authentic person is a theme that’s always been attractive to me, and I think there’s definitely something in this piece that calls to me as far as the idea of being hit by a freight train in life and trying to hang on to the idea of yourself that you had before it happened that’s really attractive. That’s an incredible concept to me.”
What was it like collaborating with Michel Gondry again?
Jim Carrey: “Well, he, for me, was the linchpin. I was incredibly interested in the material, but when Michel came on board, I thought, ‘I get to go play with a teammate, and that’s really wonderful.’ So, it was a thrill.
I mean, it’s funny because you learn to trust somebody, and that has a lot to do with it. It’s also just it’s a matter of seeing what happened before. And some of the things that I questioned before that I went, ‘Oh, wow. He really had a vision for what he was doing,’ and there were many times on Eternal Sunshine where I said, ‘It doesn’t make any sense at all to me.’ And he said, ‘Well, why don’t you try? How do you know? How do you know what’s in my head?’ And it was great that way.
So trust has happened, and I think anybody creative who is honest has electricity between them, and we have that for sure. But he was surprised a couple times. He came up and said, ‘You’re not arguing with me. What’s happening?’ And I said, ‘Oh, I guess I like the ideas.'”
Do you have input on the Mr. Pickles show?
Jim Carrey: “We’ve all been very creative as far as the creation of the puppets and things like that are concerned. Oops was an idea that came to me when I was thinking how could I personify on this show, some kind of character that gives people the excuse to be flawed? How would he give children an excuse to make mistakes? And my idea was that the Oops shows up in everyone’s life. So, we’ve had this wonderful creative process developing the puppets together.
We have the most unbelievable puppet team, just incredible people, and it really is that type of children’s show vibe on the set when we get working with the puppeteers because they just bring with them this beautiful…I don’t know…appreciation of that simplistic, simple communication with children. There’s a vibe about these people. They are willing to do anything. It’s all fun to them. They want to jump in and be creative, and so it’s just such a wonderful feeling to go from super serious, whatever, to go be surrounded by a bunch of people that create these illusions for a living. They are lovely people.
I don’t know if that answers your question, but I’m making sound and that’s the important thing.”
You always have some crazy hair, from Ace Ventura to Dumb and Dumber. How does Mr. Pickles’ hair compare?
Jim Carrey: “I wanted to make it as hard as possible for myself to look attractive to anyone on the Earth. I was in teenage runaway mode. You want to change yourself when you get a part, man. You want to do some things. I don’t feel crazy at all. I think it’s good. I think it’s just, to me, it’s a juvenile kind of like a children’s hairdo, like an arrested development-type situation where you are being something for them, and that’s kind of the point.”
Behind the scenes of ‘Roma’ (Photo by Carlos Somonte / Netflix)
Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma just took a leap forward in the Oscar race with its Golden Lion win at the Venice Film Festival. Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite also increased its year-end awards odds with a win in the festival’s Grand Jury category.
Last year, Guillermo del Toro took home the Golden Lion for The Shape of Water which went on to earn the Best Picture Oscar at the 2018 Academy Awards. This year Guillermo del Toro handled the job of the Venice Film Festival’s jury president and had the honor of presenting his friend, Alfonso Cuaron, with the festival’s highest honor.
Roma is described as writer/director Cuarón’s most personal film. According to the synopsis provided by Netflix, the film “follows Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a young domestic worker for a family in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma in Mexico City. Delivering an artful love letter to the women who raised him, Cuarón draws on his own childhood to create a vivid and emotional portrait of domestic strife and social hierarchy amidst political turmoil of the 1970s.”
Venice Film Festival Awards:
GOLDEN LION for Best Film – Roma by Alfonso Cuarón
SILVER LION GRAND JURY PRIZE – The Favourite by Yorgos Lanthimos
SILVER LION AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR – Jacques Audiard in The Sisters Brothers
COPPA VOLPI for Best Actress – Olivia Colman in The Favourite
COPPA VOLPI for Best Actor – Willem Dafoe in At Eternity’s Gate by Julian Schnabel
AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE – The Nightingale by Jennifer Kent
MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD for Best Young Actor or Actress – Baykali Ganambarr in The Nightingale
Venice Award for a Debut Film
LION OF THE FUTURE “LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS” VENICE AWARD FOR A DEBUT FILM – The Day I Lost My Shadow by Soudade Kaadan
Horizon Awards
BEST FILM – Kraben Rahu (Manta Ray) by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng
BEST DIRECTOR – Emir Baigazin for Ozen (The River)
JURY PRIZE – Anons (The Announcement) by Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun
BEST ACTRESS – Natalya Kudryashova in Tchelovek Kotorij Udivil Vseh (The Man Who Surprised Everyone)
BEST ACTOR – Kais Nashif in Tel Aviv on Fire
BEST SCREENPLAY – Pema Tseden for Jinpa
BEST SHORT FILM – Kado by Aditya Ahmad
Venice Classics
BEST DOCUMENTARY ON CINEMA – The Great Buster: A Celebration by Peter Bogdanovich
BEST RESTORED FILM – La Notte Di San Lorenzo by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
Candice Bergen steps back into the shoes of Murphy Brown with the return of the critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning series. Bergen’s surrounded by her co-stars from the original series in the 2018 revival of the half-hour comedy that aired for 10 seasons beginning in 2008.
Joining Candice Bergen in the 2018 return of Murphy Brown are Faith Ford as Corky Sherwood, Joe Regalbuto as Frank Fontana, Grant Shaud as Miles Silverberg, Jake McDorman as Avery Brown, Nik Dodani as Pat Patel, and Tyne Daly as Phyllis. Diane English created the series and returns to guide the show’s 11th season.
Murphy Brown season 11 is set to take its spot on CBS’s primetime lineup on September 27, 2018. The series will air on Thursdays at 9:30pm ET/PT.
The Murphy Brown Plot:
Multiple Emmy Award winners Candice Bergen and series creator Diane English reunite for Murphy Brown, the revival of the ground-breaking comedy about the eponymous broadcast news legend and her biting take on current events, now in a world of 24-hour cable, social media, “fake news” and a vastly different political climate. Amid a divided nation, chaotic national discourse and rampant attacks on the press, Murphy decides to return to the airwaves and recruits her FYI team: lifestyle reporter Corky Sherwood, investigative journalist Frank Fontana, and her former wunderkind news producer Miles Silverberg. Joining them is social media director Pat Patel, who is tasked with bringing Murphy and the team into the 21st century.
Murphy’s millennial son, Avery, shares his mother’s competitive spirit and quick wit, and is following in her journalistic footsteps – perhaps too closely. The team still lets off steam at Phil’s Bar, now run by his sister, Phyllis. Now back in the game, Murphy is determined to draw the line between good television and honest reporting, proving that the world needs Murphy Brown now more than ever.
Emmy Award winner Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) stars in this new video clip from Her Smell. The drama’s set to premiere on September 9, 2018 at the Toronto International Film Festival followed by screenings at the New York Film Festival.
Her Smell was written and directed by Alex Ross Perry (writer, Christopher Robin). In addition to Elisabeth Moss, the cast includes Cara Delevingne, Dan Stevens, Amber Heard, Agyness Deyn, Gayle Rankin, Ashley Benson, Dylan Gelula, Virginia Madsen, and Eric Stoltz.
Writer/director Alex Ross Perry, Matthew Perniciaro, Michael Sherman, Adam Piotrowicz, and Elisabeth Moss produced, with Christos V. Konstantakopoulos serving as an executive producer. The behind the scenes team includes director of photography Sean Price Williams, editor Robert Greene, production designer Fletcher Chancey, and costume designer Amanda Ford, with music by Keegan DeWitt.
The Plot: Becky Something (Elisabeth Moss) is a ’90s punk rock superstar who once filled arenas with her grungy all-female trio Something She. Now she plays smaller venues while grappling with motherhood, exhausted band mates, nervous record company executives, and a new generation of rising talent eager to usurp her stardom. When Becky’s chaos and excesses derail a recording session and national tour, she finds herself shunned, isolated and alone. Forced to get sober, temper her demons, and reckon with the past, she retreats from the spotlight and tries to recapture the creative inspiration that led her band to success.
Her Smell examines the grit, grace and gravitas of an unforgettable fictional rock star crashing down to earth into the harsh realities of mid-life. With his incendiary and deeply humane fifth feature, writer-director Alex Ross Perry (Listen Up Philip, Golden Exits) pumps up the volume and shines a light on the terrifying moment when superstardom wanes – and quiet becomes the new loud.
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn on Lifetime’s ‘Project Runway’ season 16 (Photo by Barbara Nitke / Copyright 2018)
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn have struck a deal with Amazon Prime Video and will be working on a new reality fashion series. The Emmy-winning Project Runway co-hosts will be continuing their partnership with the new show which, according to Amazon’s announcement, will make fashion accessible to a wide audience.
“After 16 incredible seasons, I am saying ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ to Project Runway, a show that I was honored to host and help create,” stated Heidi Klum. “I am incredibly proud of the show, and it will always have a special place in my heart. I am so appreciative of the dedicated fans, and most of all, I am grateful that we could shine a light on creativity and help launch so many talented designers’ careers. I’m most excited that my journey with my dear friend and colleague, Tim Gunn, is far from over. We will be partnering with Amazon for a new show, and we’re excited for everyone to see what we’re designing next!”
Per Amazon, the series “will be a fresh take in the reality space and will appeal to a global audience who are entertained by competition, storytelling, and authenticity. Additionally, Amazon Fashion will create a shoppable experience for viewers. This intersection of content, commerce, and technology is perfectly suited to the cord cutter generation and streaming consumers.”
Commenting on the new project, Tim Gunn said, “I am grateful to Project Runway for putting me on a path I never, in my wildest dreams, thought my career would take me! I am so proud to have been a part of the groundbreaking process that showcased talented young designers as never before. Most importantly, I am indebted to our incredible fans, they are the heart and soul of what we do, and continue to inspire us to raise the bar in this arena. I’m excited for them to see what’s next, as I partner with Amazon and Heidi Klum on our next great ‘fashion’ adventure.”
“Heidi Klum completely changed the television landscape by developing a competitive reality fashion series that was unproven and different from what was popular on-air. The show became wildly successful, and in turn Klum and Tim Gunn have become an iconic pop culture duo. Their drive to deliver fashionably entertaining, engaging and trendsetting content speaks for itself, and we believe their next iteration in this space will find an even larger audience on our global Prime Video runway,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios.
Details on the series’ title and anticipated premiere date haven’t been announced.
Netflix will be bringing Marvel’s Daredevil, Big Mouth, The Haunting of Hill House, The Umbrella Academy, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance to the 2018 New York Comic Con. Among the stars heading to the fanfest are Daredevil‘s Charlie Cox, Elden Henson, Deborah Ann Woll, Vincent D’Onofrio, Joanne Whalley, Wilson Bethel, and Jay Ali. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will be represented by Kiernan Shipka, Miranda Otto, Lucy Davis, Ross Lynch, Michelle Gomez, and Chance Perdomo.
Big Mouth‘s Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jenny Slate, Jessi Klein, and Jason Mantzoukas will be making the trek to New York, as will The Umbrella Academy‘s Ellen Page, Mary J. Blige, Tom Hopper, Robert Sheehan, Emmy Raver-Lampman, David Castañeda, Aidan Gallagher, and Cameron Britton. Fans can expect to see The Haunting of Hill House‘s Michiel Huisman, Elizabeth Reaser, Kate Siegel, Henry Thomas, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Victoria Pedretti at this year’s NYCC.
Netflix’s New York Comic Con Schedule:
NETFLIX PRESENTS: BIG MOUTH
Friday, October 5 – 4:00PM – 5:00PM
Javits Convention Center | Room 1A06
Get comfortable being uncomfortable with your favorite puberty-driven animated series Big Mouth! Join Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, and Jason Mantzoukas, along with executive producers as they take on NYCC with an exclusive live read from a new episode of the highly-anticipated second season. Hilarity is sure to ensue as the show takes on all things borderline raunchy.
NETFLIX & CHILLS
Friday, October 5 – 7:30PM – 9:30PM
Javits Convention Center | Mainstage
The midnight hour is close at hand with Netflix’s Mega Block of chills, thrills, and everything else of the other-worldly variety. Join the casts of The Umbrella Academy, The Haunting of Hill House and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina as they descend upon New York Comic Con to discuss their highly anticipated new series’. Plus, get a first look at The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance before anyone else. The conversations will leave you sleeping with the lights on and texting your friends about the surprises along the way!
MARVEL’S DAREDEVIL
Saturday, October 6 — 1:30PM – 2:45PM
The Theatre at Madison Square Garden
Witness New York Comic Con’s highly anticipated return of Daredevil, Marvel’s first superhero on Netflix! Join the series’ stars Charlie Cox, Elden Henson, Deborah Ann Woll, Vincent D’Onofrio, Joanne Whalley, Wilson Bethel, Jay Ali, series showrunner Erik Oleson and Executive Producer and Marvel’s Head of Television Jeph Loeb for what promises to be an epic panel full of surprise reveals.
A scene from ‘The Romanoffs’ (Photo Courtesy of Amazon Studios)
The 2018 fall primetime television season will be offering up a wide variety of new shows covering nearly every genre, all hoping to catch on with viewers. Among the new selections are a Lost-styled mystery, a reimagining of the classic Magnum P.I. series, cop dramas and comedies, the revival of Murphy Brown at a time when it’s needed the most, and a surprising number of new thrillers/horror series.
Here’s a look at the new TV shows debuting in September, October, and November. The series are listed in premiere date order, beginning with the Sons of Anarchy followup, Mayans M.C., and ending with the television adaptation of John le Carré’s The Little Drummer Girl.
Mayans M.C. (FX) – Tuesday, September 4 Mayans M.C. is the next chapter in Kurt Sutter’s award-winning Sons of Anarchy saga. Set in a post-Jax Teller world, Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes (JD Pardo) is fresh out of prison and a prospect in the Mayans M.C. charter on the Cali/Mexi border. Now, EZ must carve out his new identity in a town where he was once the golden boy with the American Dream in his grasp.
The Purge (USA) – Tuesday, September 4
Based on the hit movie franchise from Blumhouse Productions, The Purge revolves around a 12-hour period when all crime, including murder, is legal. Set in an altered America ruled by a totalitarian political party, the series follows several seemingly unrelated characters living in a small city. As the clock winds down, each character is forced to reckon with their past as they discover how far they will go to survive the night.
Kidding (Showtime) – Sunday, September 9 Kidding centers on Jeff, aka Mr. Pickles (Jim Carrey), an icon of children’s television and a beacon of kindness and wisdom to America’s impressionable young minds and the parents who grew up with him. But when this beloved personality’s family begins to implode, Jeff finds no fairytale, fable or puppet will guide him through this crisis, which advances faster than his means to cope. The result: A kind man in a cruel world faces a slow leak of sanity as hilarious as it is heartbreaking.
Throughout the season, Jeff begins to push back against the limits of the well-oiled machine that is “Mr. Pickles’ Puppet Time,” and of his executive producer, Seb (Frank Langella). Seb fears Jeff’s mental state could ruin the branding empire they’ve built, and thus begins preparing the show for a life after Jeff, while Deirdre (Catherine Keener), the head puppet maker, grapples with her own personal and professional life issues.
Rel (Fox) – Sunday, September 9
Inspired by the comedy of Lil Rel Howery, Rel is a multi-camera comedy starring Howery as a successful, hardworking father and husband on the West Side of Chicago, whose life is perfectly on track. That is, until he finds out his wife is having an affair with his own barber – the worst person for your wife to sleep with, because as hard as it is to find love, it’s even harder to find a good barber.
Now separated, and with his son and daughter having moved to Cleveland with their mother, Rel must begin the difficult task of rebuilding his life as a long-distance single dad. Offering Rel support are his best friend and unfiltered sounding board, Brittany (Jessica “Jess Hilarious” Moore), and his recently out-of-jail, excitable and overly encouraging younger brother, Nat (Jordan L. Jones), as well as his prideful and recently widowed Dad (Sinbad), who finds both his sons deep disappointments.
You (Lifetime) – Sunday, September 9 You is a 21st century love story that asks, “What would you do for love?” When a brilliant bookstore manager crosses paths with an aspiring writer, his answer becomes clear: anything. Using the internet and social media as his tools to gather the most intimate of details and get close to her, a charming and awkward crush quickly becomes obsession as he quietly and strategically removes every obstacle – and person – in his way.
American Horror Story: Apocalypse (FX) – Wednesday, September 12
“It’s our world now.” – FX is keeping the plot under wraps although it’s known this season will see the worlds of American Horror Story: Murder House and American Horror Story: Coven collide. What’s also known is Sarah Paulson, Frances Conroy, Taissa Farmiga, Billy Eichner, Kathy Bates, Jessica Lange, Cody Fern, Leslie Grossman, Evan Peters, Joan Collins, Connie Britton, Zoe Benson, Lily Rabe, Dylan McDermott, Stevie Nicks, Gabourey Sidibe, and Emma Roberts will be returning.
Forever (Amazon) – Friday, September 14
Married couple June (Maya Rudolph) and Oscar (Fred Armisen) live a comfortable but predictable life in suburban Riverside, California. For 12 years they’ve had the same conversations, eaten the same meals and taken pleasant vacations at the same rented lake house. But after June talks Oscar into shaking things up with a ski trip, the pair find themselves in completely unfamiliar territory.
Melissa George and Sean Penn in ‘The First’ (Photo by: Paul Schiraldi/Hulu)
The First (Hulu) – Friday, September 14
Sean Penn leads an ensemble cast in this near-future drama about a crew of astronauts attempting to become the first humans on Mars. Under the direction of visionary aerospace magnate Laz Ingram Natascha McElhone, the crew contends with peril and personal sacrifice as they undertake the greatest pioneering feat in human history.
I Feel Bad (NBC) – Wednesday, September 19
Emet (Sarayu Blue) is the perfect mom, boss, wife, friend and daughter. OK, she’s not perfect. In fact, she’s just figuring it out like the rest of us. Sure, she feels bad when she has a sexy dream about someone other than her husband, or when she pretends not to know her kids when they misbehave in public, or when she uses her staff to help solve personal problems. But that’s OK, right? Nobody can have it all and do it perfectly. From executive producer Amy Poehler comes a modern comedy about being perfectly OK with being imperfect.
The Good Cop (Netflix) – Friday, September 21
In The Good Cop, Tony Danza plays Tony Sr., a disgraced, former NYPD officer who never followed the rules. He lives with his son, Tony Jr. (Josh Groban), an earnest, obsessively honest NYPD detective who makes a point of always following the rules. This “odd couple” become unofficial partners as Tony Sr. offers his overly-cautious son blunt, street-wise advice on everything from handling suspects to handling women.
Maniac (Netflix) – Friday, September 21
Set in a world somewhat like our world, in a time quite similar to our time, Maniac tells the stories of Annie Landsberg (Emma Stone) and Owen Milgrim (Jonah Hill), two strangers drawn to the late stages of a mysterious pharmaceutical trial, each for their own reasons. Annie’s disaffected and aimless, fixated on broken relationships with her mother and her sister; Owen, the fifth son of wealthy New York industrialists, has struggled his whole life with a disputed diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Neither of their lives have turned out quite right, and the promise of a new, radical kind of pharmaceutical treatment—a sequence of pills its inventor, Dr. James K. Mantleray (Justin Theroux), claims can repair anything about the mind, be it mental illness or heartbreak—draws them and ten other strangers to the facilities of Neberdine Pharmaceutical and Biotech for a three-day drug trial that will, they’re assured, with no complications or side-effects whatsoever, solve all of their problems, permanently. Things do not go as planned.
Magnum P.I. (CBS) – Monday, September 24 Magnum P.I. is a modern take on the classic series centering on Thomas Magnum (Jay Hernandez), a decorated former Navy SEAL who, upon returning home from Afghanistan, repurposes his military skills to become a private investigator. A charming rogue, an American hero and a die-hard Detroit Tigers fan, Magnum lives in a guest cottage on Robin’s Nest, the luxurious estate where he works as a security consultant to supplement his P.I. business. The “majordomo” of the property is Juliet Higgins, a beautiful and commanding disavowed MI:6 agent whose second job is to keep Magnum in line, with the help of her two Dobermans.
When Magnum needs back-up on a job, he turns to his trusted buddies and fellow POW survivors, Theodore “TC” Calvin, a former Marine chopper pilot who runs Island Hoppers, a helicopter tour business, and Orville “Rick” Wright, a former Marine door-gunner-turned-impresario of Oahu’s coolest nightclub and the most connected man on the island. Suspicious of Magnum’s casual attitude and presence at his crime scenes, Detective Gordon Katsumoto finds that he and Magnum are more alike than either of them care to admit. With keys to a vintage Ferrari in one hand, aviator sunglasses in the other, and an Old Düsseldorf longneck chilling in the fridge, Thomas Magnum is back on the case!
Manifest (NBC) – Monday, September 24
When Montego Air Flight 828 landed safely after a turbulent but routine flight, the crew and passengers were relieved. Yet in the span of those few hours, the world had aged five years and their friends, families and colleagues, after mourning their loss, had given up hope and moved on. Now, faced with the impossible, they’re all given a second chance. But as their new realities become clear, a deeper mystery unfolds and some of the returned passengers soon realize they may be meant for something greater than they ever thought possible.
FBI (CBS) – Tuesday, September 25 FBI is a fast-paced drama about the inner workings of the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These first-class agents bring all their talents, intellect and technical expertise to tenaciously investigate cases of tremendous magnitude, including terrorism, organized crime and counterintelligence, in order to keep New York and the country safe.
New Amsterdam (NBC) – Tuesday, September 25
Inspired by Bellevue, the oldest public hospital in America, this unique medical drama follows the brilliant and charming Dr. Max Goodwin (Ryan Eggold), the institution’s newest medical director who sets out to tear up the bureaucracy and provide exceptional care. How can he help? Well, the doctors and staff have heard this before. Not taking “no” for an answer, Dr. Goodwin must disrupt the status quo and prove he will stop at nothing to breathe new life into this understaffed, underfunded and underappreciated hospital — the only one in the world capable of treating Ebola patients, prisoners from Rikers and the President of the United States under one roof — and return it to the glory that put it on the map.
A Million Little Things (ABC) – Wednesday, September 26
They say friendship isn’t one big thing, it’s a million little things; and that’s true for a group of friends from Boston who bonded under unexpected circumstances. Some have achieved success, others are struggling in their careers and relationships, but all of them feel stuck in life. After one of them dies unexpectedly, it’s just the wake-up call the others need to finally start living. Along the way, they discover that friends may be the one thing to save them from themselves.
Single Parents (ABC) – Wednesday, September 26
This ensemble comedy follows a group of single parents as they lean on each other to help raise their 7-year-old kids and maintain some kind of personal lives outside of parenthood. The series begins when the group meets Will Cooper, a 30-something guy who’s been so focused on raising his daughter that he’s lost sight of who he is as a man. When the other single parents see just how far down the rabbit hole of PTA, parenting and princesses Will has gone, they band together to get him out in the world and make him realize that being a great parent doesn’t mean sacrificing everything about your own identity.
Murphy Brown (CBS) – Thursday, September 27
Multiple Emmy Award winners Candice Bergen and series creator Diane English reunite for Murphy Brown, the revival of the ground-breaking comedy about the eponymous broadcast news legend and her biting take on current events, now in a world of 24-hour cable, social media, “fake news” and a vastly different political climate. Amid a divided nation, chaotic national discourse and rampant attacks on the press, Murphy decides to return to the airwaves and recruits her FYI team: lifestyle reporter Corky Sherwood, investigative journalist Frank Fontana, and her former wunderkind news producer Miles Silverberg. Joining them is social media director Pat Patel, who is tasked with bringing Murphy and the team into the 21st century.
Murphy’s millennial son, Avery, shares his mother’s competitive spirit and quick wit, and is following in her journalistic footsteps – perhaps too closely. The team still lets off steam at Phil’s Bar, now run by his sister, Phyllis. Now back in the game, Murphy is determined to draw the line between good television and honest reporting, proving that the world needs Murphy Brown now more than ever.
The Cool Kids (Fox) – Friday, September 28
Hank (David Alan Grier) is the leader of this motley crew, a gruff, opinionated, 21st century Archie Bunker who will go to any lengths to have a good time. His loyal, but less than helpful, friends include Charlie (Martin Mull), a bumbling wanderer who constantly goes off on tangents about some bizarre, barely believable episode from his life; and Sid (Leslie Jordan), a fun-loving hedonist with a flair for the melodramatic. Complicating matters is Margaret (Vicki Lawrence), a brash, confident woman who forces her way into their group and refuses to leave because she’s not going to take crap from anyone – especially not these three.
But what unites them all is their shared belief that they’re not done yet – not by a long shot. Growing old with dignity is for chumps. These self-proclaimed “cool kids” are determined to make the third act of their lives the craziest one yet.
God Friended Me (CBS) – Sunday, September 30 God Friended Me is about an outspoken atheist whose life is turned upside down when he receives a friend request on social media from “God” and unwittingly becomes an agent of change in the lives and destinies of others around him. Miles Finer is intelligent, hopeful and optimistic, but he doesn’t believe in God. This puts him at odds with his father, Reverend Arthur Finer, a beloved preacher at Harlem’s Trinity Church for 25 years who is stung by his son’s strong rejection of his faith. Miles feels he’s found his purpose in life hosting a podcast where he’s free to speak his mind, but that changes when he receives the ultimate friend request.
After repeated pokes by “God,” Miles’ curiosity takes over, and he accepts the request and follows the signs to Cara Bloom, an online journalist suffering from writer’s block. Brought together by the “God” account, the two find themselves investigating “God’s” friend suggestions and inadvertently helping others in need. Joining them on their journey are Miles’s supportive sister, Ali, a doctoral psych student by day and bartender by night, and his best friend, Rakesh, a sometime hacker who helps Miles and Cara research the enigmatic account. Miles is set on getting to the bottom of what he believes is an elaborate hoax, but in the meantime he’ll play along and, in the process, change his life forever.
Happy Together (CBS) – Monday, October 1 Happy Together stars Damon Wayans, Jr. in a comedy about a 30-something happily married couple who begin to reconnect with their younger, cooler selves when a young pop star drawn to their super ordinary suburban life unexpectedly moves in with them. Jake, an accountant, and his dream wife, Claire, a restaurant and bar designer, are very comfortably settled into their marriage, enjoying evenings together on the couch watching TV and scheduling time to change their outgoing voicemail message.
Their tame routine gets a makeover when Jake’s client, exuberant music superstar Cooper James, arrives on their doorstep looking for refuge from the paparazzi following a high-profile breakup with his girlfriend. Jake and Claire quickly discover there’s no way they can keep up with their world-famous houseguest’s effortlessly cool, fast-paced lifestyle. Cooper, however, enjoys Jake and Claire’s more relaxed way of life, discovering that a touch of ordinary can be extraordinary for all three of them.
The Neighborhood (CBS) – Monday, October 1 The Neighborhood stars Cedric the Entertainer in a comedy about what happens when the friendliest guy in the Midwest moves his family to a neighborhood in Los Angeles where not everyone looks like him or appreciates his extreme neighborliness. Dave Johnson is a good-natured, professional conflict negotiator. When his wife, Gemma, gets a job as a school principal in L.A., they move from Michigan with their young son, Grover, unfazed that their new dream home is located in a community quite different from their small town.
Their opinionated next-door neighbor, Calvin Butler, is wary of the newcomers, certain that the Johnsons will disrupt the culture on the block. However, Calvin’s gracious wife, Tina, rolls out the welcome wagon; their chipper younger son, Marty, thinks the Johnsons could be good for the community; and their unemployed older son, Malcolm, finds Dave may finally be someone who understands him. Dave realizes that fitting into their new community is more complex than he expected, but if he can find a way to connect with Calvin, they have an excellent chance of making their new neighborhood their home.
Into the Dark (Hulu) – Friday, October 5
In partnership with Blumhouse Television, Into The Dark is a horror event series from prolific, award-winning producer, Jason Blum’s independent TV studio. The series includes 12 super-sized episodes, with a new installment released each month inspired by a holiday and will feature Blumhouse’s signature genre/thriller spin on the story.
All American (CW) – Wednesday, October 10
Spencer James (Daniel Ezra) is a rising high school football player and A student at South Crenshaw High. Compton is the place he calls home. But when Beverly High School’s football coach Billy Baker recruits him to join his team in Beverly Hills, Spencer’s mother, Grace, and his best friend, Coop, convince Spencer it’s an opportunity he has to seize. Now Spencer must navigate two worlds, the south side neighborhood that he knows and the affluent Beverly Hills world that has offered him an opportunity for something bigger.
When Spencer is forced to move in with Billy and his family to protect his transfer permit to Beverly, Billy’s son, Jordan (the team’s starting quarterback), is less than thrilled to be sharing his father’s attention — or the team spotlight — with Spencer. While Spencer struggles to find his footing, he makes an unlikely friend in Jordan’s sister, Olivia, who is dealing with her own demons. He also quickly develops a crush on his classmate, Layla, something her boyfriend, Asher, quickly realizes — and so, he sets out to drive Spencer off the football team and out of Beverly Hills for good.
The Romanoffs (Amazon) – Friday, October 12 The Romanoffs features eight separate stories about people who believe themselves to be descendants of the Russian royal family. Set in seven countries around the globe, The Romanoffs was shot on location in three continents collaborating with local productions and creative talent across Europe, the Americas, and the Far East. Each story takes place in a new location with a new cast.
Light as a Feather (Hulu) – Friday, October 12
An innocent game of “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board” goes wrong when the five teen girls who played start dying off in the exact way that was predicted, forcing the survivors to figure out why they’re being targeted – and whether the evil force hunting them down is one of their own.
The Haunting of Hill House (Netflix) – Friday, October 12 The Haunting of Hill House explores a group of siblings who, as children, grew up in what would go on to become the most famous haunted house in the country. Now adults, and forced back together in the face of tragedy, the family must finally confront the ghosts of their past — some of which still lurk in their minds while others may actually be stalking the shadows of Hill House.
Camping (HBO) – Sunday, October 14
To celebrate her husband Walt’s 45th birthday, the obsessively organized and aggressively controlling Kathryn gathers together her meek sister, her holier-than-thou ex-best friend and a free-spirited tagalong – and what was supposed to be a delightful, back-to-nature camping trip quickly becomes a weekend of tested marriages and woman-on-woman crime that won’t soon be forgotten.
Charmed (CW) – Sunday, October 14
“Stronger together.” That’s what Marisol tells her daughters, firebrand social justice warrior Melanie “Mel” Vera, and her sister, fun-loving Maggie, about their family. Mel is a graduate student in the women’s studies department her mother heads at Hilltowne University; Maggie is a freshman considering rushing a sorority (to Mel’s amused dismay) and going “on” again with her on-again off-again boyfriend Brian. But then, a shocking tragedy shatters their world and threatens their sibling bond: Marisol dies in a horrifying accident. Or was it?
Three months later, we find Mel unable to accept the official explanation of their mother’s death while Maggie accuses her of being morbidly obsessed. And then, another huge shock shows up at their front door: they have an older sister, brilliant geneticist Macy, whom their mother kept a secret all these years! Macy is new in town and doesn’t know a soul (except for Galvin, the cute fellow scientist who’s been showing her around). Macy is eager to connect with Mel and Maggie, but Mel can’t handle another shock and shuts her out.
With the emotions of all three sisters running high, each of the girls suddenly exhibit impossible new abilities: Mel can freeze time, Maggie starts hearing others’ thoughts, and Macy has telekinetic powers. But don’t worry, there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation…or so says Harry Greenwood (who as far as they know is the officious new chair of the women’s studies department), when he gathers the three sisters together to reveal they’re actually powerful witches, as was their mother. And he’s not really a professor, he’s their “Whitelighter,” a witch’s advisor and guide! Not only that, but Mel was right: their mother’s death was no accident – she was murdered by unknown dark forces.
It’s a lot to take in, but ultimately the sisters accept their new destiny as The Charmed Ones…and their new duty to protect humankind from the demons that walk among us…one of whom killed their mother. With the Power of Three, they are stronger together… even if they have no idea what they’re really up against.
The Alec Baldwin Show (ABC) – Sunday, October 14 The Alec Baldwin Show (new title), which first debuted as a sneak preview in March, will also air this fall. Starring the three-time Emmy winner, the one-hour show will showcase Baldwin’s in-depth conversations with compelling personalities.
The Conners (ABC) – Tuesday, October 16
After a sudden turn of events, the Conners are forced to face the daily struggles of life in Lanford in a way they never have before. This iconic family – Dan, Jackie, Darlene, Becky and D.J. – grapples with parenthood, dating, an unexpected pregnancy, financial pressures, aging and in-laws in working-class America. Through it all, the fights, the coupon cutting, the hand-me-downs, the breakdowns – with love, humor and perseverance, the family prevails.
The Kids Are Alright (ABC) – Tuesday, October 16
Set in the 1970s, this ensemble comedy follows a traditional Irish-Catholic family, the Clearys, as they navigate big and small changes during one of America’s most turbulent decades. In a working-class neighborhood outside Los Angeles, Mike and Peggy raise eight boisterous boys who live out their days with little supervision. The household is turned upside down when oldest son Lawrence returns home and announces he’s quitting the seminary to go off and “save the world.” Times are changing and this family will never be the same. There are 10 people, three bedrooms, one bathroom and everyone in it for themselves.
The Rookie (ABC) – Tuesday, October 16
Starting over isn’t easy, especially for small-town guy John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) who, after a life-altering incident, is pursuing his dream of being a Los Angeles police officer. As the force’s oldest rookie, he’s met with skepticism from some higher-ups who see him as just a walking midlife crisis. If he can’t keep up with the young cops and the criminals, he’ll be risking lives including his own. But if he can use his life experience, determination and sense of humor to give him an edge, he may just become a success in this new chapter of his life.
Wanderlust (Netflix) – Friday, October 19 Wanderlust looks at how we build and maintain happy relationships and asks whether lifelong monogamy is possible – or even desirable. Toni Collette plays Joy Richards, a therapist trying to find a way to keep her spark alive with her husband after a cycling accident causes them to reassess their relationship. As we meet her family, friends, neighbours and clients, remarkable yet relatable stories of love, lust and forbidden desire emerge.
Legacies (CW) – Thursday, October 25
For the last decade, the iconic heroes and villains of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals have captivated audiences worldwide. They left an enduring legacy of love and family in their wake, which continues in Legacies, a thrilling new drama that tells the story of the next generation of supernatural beings at The Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted. It’s here that Klaus Mikaelson’s daughter, 17-year-old Hope Mikaelson; Alaric Saltzman’s twins, Lizzie and Josie Saltzman; and other young adults — including political scion MG and the mysterious Landon Kirby — come of age in the most unconventional way possible, nurtured to be their best selves…in spite of their worst impulses.
Will these young witches, vampires and werewolves become the heroes they want to be — or the villains they were born to be? As they fight to protect their secret, their town of Mystic Falls and eventually the world, they will have to rely on ancient folklore and tales to learn how to battle their far-reaching enemies.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Netflix) – Friday, October 26 Chilling Adventures of Sabrina imagines the origin and adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch as a dark coming-of-age story that traffics in horror, the occult and, of course, witchcraft. Tonally in the vein of Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist, this adaptation finds Sabrina wrestling to reconcile her dual nature — half-witch, half-mortal — while standing against the evil forces that threaten her, her family and the daylight world humans inhabit.
Tell Me a Story (CBS All Access) – Wednesday, October 31 Tell Me A Story takes the world’s most beloved fairy tales and reimagines them as a dark and twisted psychological thriller. Set in modern-day New York City, the first season of this serialized drama interweaves “The Three Little Pigs,” “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Hansel and Gretel” into an epic and subversive tale of love, loss, greed, revenge and murder.
Homecoming (Amazon) – Friday, November 2 Homecoming is a mind-bending psychological thriller starring Julia Roberts and directed by Sam Esmail. Heidi Bergman (Roberts) is a caseworker at the Homecoming Transitional Support Center, a Geist Group facility helping soldiers transition back to civilian life. Walter Cruz (Stephan James) is one of these soldiers, eager to begin the next phase of his life. Overseeing Heidi and the facility is Colin Belfast (Bobby Cannavale), an ambitious company man whose manic demands point to questionable motives.
Four years later, Heidi has started a new life, living with her mother (Sissy Spacek) and working as a small-town waitress, when a Department of Defense auditor (Shea Whigham) comes to her with questions about why she left the Homecoming facility. Heidi begins to realize that there’s a whole other story behind the story she’s been telling herself.
The Kominsky Method (Netflix) – Friday, November 16
The sun isn’t setting yet on the once famous Sandy Kominsky and his longtime agent Norman Newlander. Academy Award winners Michael Douglas (Kominsky) and Alan Arkin (Newlander) star as two friends tackling life’s inevitable curveballs as they navigate their later years in Los Angeles, a city that values youth and beauty. Both comedic and emotional, The Kominsky Method is an 8-episode, half-hour single camera show created by 8-time Emmy Award nominee Chuck Lorre.
Escape at Dannemora (Showtime) – Sunday, November 18 Escape at Dannemora is based on the stranger-than-fiction prison break in upstate New York in the summer of 2015 which spawned a statewide manhunt for two convicted murderers, aided in their escape by a married female prison employee who carried on months-long affairs with both men. Benicio del Toro plays convicted murderer Richard Matt, an artistic yet intimidating force within the prison, who masterminds the escape. Patricia Arquette plays Tilly Mitchell, a working class wife and mother who supervises the prison tailor shop and becomes sexually involved with both men, ultimately agreeing to hide hacksaw blades in frozen hamburger meat to help them get out. Paul Dano plays David Sweat, a convicted cop-killer who may have genuine feelings for Tilly and becomes a reluctant partner in Richard Matt’s plot.
The Little Drummer Girl (AMC) – Monday, November 19
Blurring the fine lines between love and hate; truth and fiction; and right and wrong; The Little Drummer Girl weaves a suspenseful and explosive story of espionage and high-stakes international intrigue. Set in the late 1970s, the pulsating thriller follows Charlie (Florence Pugh), a fiery actress and idealist whose resolve is tested after she meets the mysterious Becker (Alexander Skarsgård,) while on holiday in Greece. It quickly becomes apparent that his intentions are not what they seem, and her encounter with him entangles her in a complex plot devised by the spy mastermind Kurtz (Michael Shannon). Charlie takes on the role of a lifetime as a double agent while remaining uncertain of her own loyalties.
Sweet-natured and extremely funny, Huntz Hall made a career of playing a youthful dope in the Bowery Boys, East Side Kids, and Dead End Kids beginning in 1935 and lasting through the 1950s.
Hall was born August 15, 1920 in New York City as Henry Richard Hall. There were 13 siblings before him! Hall was an Irish Catholic whose dad was an air-conditioning repairman who obviously loved children. There were two more born after Huntz.
Hall’s formal education was in Catholic grammar school, which was followed by a stint at New York’s Professional Children’s School, where he learned about drama. In addition, he could sing and performed as a boy soprano in the Madison Square Quintette professional group.
Hall was discovered by actor/director Martin Gabel, Best Supporting Actor Tony Award winner for the Broadway play Big Fish, Little Fish and also known for TV’s What’s My Line?. Gabel had Hall audition for one of the tough street kids in Sidney Kingsley’s play Dead End in 1935. Hall was 15. One of the other kids was Leo Gorcey, then 18.
The play was a tremendous success on the New York stage. Subsequently, Hollywood producer Samuel Goldwyn bought the play for a film production to be directed by William Wyler in 1937. Since there were no kid actors in Hollywood who could match the natural “New York” look and attitude of the actors in the play, Goldwyn signed all six of the play’s kids to contracts. They included Billy Halop, Gabe Dell, Bobby Jordan, Bernard Punsly, Huntz Hall, and Leo Gorcey.
In Hollywood, the film was being produced by The Samuel Goldwyn Company and distributed by United Artists. The film version starred Joel McCrea, Sylvia Sydney, and Humphrey Bogart, with Claire Trevor, Marjorie Main, and Wendy Barrie in significant supporting roles. Of course, the “boys” were making their film debut as the Dead End Kids. Come Academy Awards time, the movie was nominated as Best Picture and for Best Art Direction (Richard Day). The Oscar nominations also went to cinematographer Gregg Toland and Claire Trevor for Best Supporting Actress. All the accolades for the picture gave the Dead End Kids a spectacular send-off in Hollywood.
Warner Bros tried to capitalize on the gang’s popularity by shoving them into some other pictures of similar genre such as Angels With Dirty Faces, Hell’s Kitchen, Little Tough Guy, and Angels Wash Their Faces, all in the late 1930s.
In 1940 Hall was 20 years old. He got romantically involved with a dancer named Elsie May Anderson and they got married. Their marriage lasted until 1944. While all this was happening, World War II was raging. Being patriotic, Hall enlisted in the Army to do his duty. There is some discrepancy about how he managed to be in the Army and still crank out a series of films during the war years.
Starting in 1946, Hall got together again with Leo Gorcey to make a series of Bowery Boys comedies for Monogram Pictures. It was the lowest of the low studios and cranked out potboilers by the dozen. It was quite a successful studio for what they did, but they were definitely on the “Z” list of studios.
Their first film was Live Wires (1946) which starred Leo Gorcey as “Slip,” a good for nothing who can’t keep a job. But, he gets hired by the District Attorney’s office to serve summons and warrants to criminals. The film was in black and white, was 65 minutes long, and co-starred Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, and Mike Mazurki as a tough guy. As a comedy, it was a good second feature.
The year 1946 was a busy one for the boys because they churned out five films that year, including In Fast Company, Bowery Bombshell, Spook Busters and Mr. Hex. In all the films, the boys got involved in some cockamamie scheme that led to trouble, laughs, and escapes!
The Bowery Boys films were very popular with audiences, usually young kids, and the series ran from 1946 until 1958. There were approximately 47 films in the series, and some of the titles were Bowery Buckaroos (1947), Trouble Makers (1948), Hold That Baby! (1949), Blonde Dynamite (1950), Ghost Chasers (1951), Here Come the Marines (1952), Loose in London (1953), Paris Playboys (1954), Bowery to Bagdad (1955), Hot Shots (1956), Hold That Hypnotist (1957), and their final film, In the Money (1958). Hall, himself, was “in the money” because he owned a 10% stake in all the Bowery Boys movies.
While all the Bowery Boys movies were being made, Hall had time to marry beautiful showgirl Leslie Wright. They produced a son named Leslie Richard (Gary), born September 22, 1949. Gary snubbed show business and became a Reverend. He also had a son, Hall’s only grandson.
Hall took some time off and went into semi-retirement. But an actor doesn’t stay retired for long. Hall jumped right back into the Hollywood whirl, this time in television. He was cast in many, many television series. He acted in a couple of the Flipper TV shows in 1966, Gentle Giant in 1967, five episodes of The Chicago Teddy Bears in 1971, a movie Herbie Rides Again in 1974, and two featured episodes of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color in 1975.
He jumped back into feature films by appearing in Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood in 1976, and played Jesse Lasky, one of the founders of Paramount Pictures, in director Ken Russell’s 1977 biographical film Valentino, about silent film star Rudolph Valentino.
Casting directors still remembered Huntz Hall and he was still favored as a guest actor in many more series, including Matt Helm, CHIPS (1978), Different Strokes (1982), The Ratings Game (1984), Night Heat (1988), and Daddy Dearest (1993). Hall also took to the boards and did some dinner theater until 1994, when he retired.
The man who gave us so many laughs by playing goofy characters suffered from a severe heart condition and died January 30, 1999 in North Hollywood, California. But, his performances live on in all those whacky Bowery Boys movies.
“We’re here to investigate the death of a nun,” says Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) to Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet), the man who found the nun’s dead body in the 2018 horror film, The Nun.
The film takes place in 1952 when a young nun at a cloistered abbey in Romania is found hanging. She’s believed to have taken her own life, and The Vatican sends a priest, Father Burke (Demián Bichir), to investigate the incident. Father Burke is the church’s unofficial miracle searcher, and it’s clear The Vatican wants to know if the abbey is still holy ground or if something evil is occurring. Father Burke is also instructed to take a young novitiate who has not yet taken her vows with him, believing she may be able to help him in his investigation.
Once in Romania, Father Burke and Sister Irene seek out Frenchie, the individual who found the nun’s body. Needing to examine the area she was found, as well as the remainder of the abbey, Father Burke and Sister Irene ask Frenchie to be their guide and help them determine what’s going on. Frenchie is initially reluctant but eventually agrees because he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to them. Plus, he’s attracted to Irene.
The three unlikely travel companions reach the abbey and Father Burke and Irene aren’t there very long before strange, eerie, and odd things begin happening. As they continue to investigate, the trio discovers a malevolent force that takes the form of a demonic nun. They’re forced to confront, battle, and defeat the demon in order to stop the evil from spreading beyond the confines of the abbey.
The film effectively sets the mood with the use of dark forests, dimly lit hallways, haunted graveyards, and the appearance of the same demonic nun from the film, The Conjuring 2. Unfortunately, The Nun is a barely effective gothic horror prequel to The Conjuring films that settles for the quick jump scares while sacrificing character depth and substance.
Taissa Farmiga does a solid job of portraying young Sister Irene who reveals her visions to Father Burke and becomes both the target of the demon’s evil plans and its greatest threat. She conveys both the innocence and inner strength Irene has at this stage of her life.
Demian Bichir is a bit overdramatic in his performance as Father Burke, a holy man who’s still haunted by an exorcism he performed that went horribly wrong. His performance, at times, pushes the film from being a gothic horror movie to being a melodrama/horror film.
Jonas Bloquet delivers the best performance and adds some much-needed humor as Frenchie, the simple farmhand who gets caught up in the demon-fighting at the abbey because of his fondness for Sister Irene and his desire to help her and Father Burke stop the demon from escaping the abbey. There’s a scene in the graveyard when the demon goes after Frenchie, and it plays out as both scary and very funny. Frenchie is basically the equivalent of a live-action “Shaggy” from Scooby-Doo.
The look and feel of the film are reminiscent of the old 1950s and ’60s British Hammer horror films more than The Conjuring movies. Where the film is weakest is in getting the audience to really engage with the characters.
The Nun is nothing more than a dark, demon-hunting quest with creaking doors, shadows slithering across walls, and the ever-obvious jump scare around the corner.
GRADE: C+
Directed By: Corin Hardy
MPAA Rating: R for terror, violence, and disturbing/bloody images
NBC’s new half-hour comedy I Feel Bad will make its debut on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 at 10pm ET/PT. The series, which stars Sarayu Blue (No Tomorrow) as a working mom, will move to its permanent time slot of 9:30pm ET/PT on October 4th as part of the Thursday night comedy block.
Sarayu Blue’s joined in the cast by Paul Adelstein, Madhur Jaffrey, Brian George, James Buckley, Zach Cherry, and Johnny Pemberton. I Feel Bad is executive produced by series creator Aseem Batra, Amy Poehler, Dave Becky, and Josh Maurer. Batra also writes the new comedy, and Julie Anne Robinson directed and executive produced the pilot.
NBC’s fall 2018 Thursday lineup begins with Superstore at 8pm followed by The Good Place at 8:30pm, Will & Grace at 9pm, and I Feel Bad at 9:30pm. The Thursday night primetime schedule ends with the drama Law & Order: SVU at 10pm.
The I Feel Bad Plot:
“Emet is the perfect mom, boss, wife, friend and daughter. OK, she’s not perfect. In fact, she’s just figuring it out like the rest of us. Sure, she feels bad when she has a sexy dream about someone other than her husband, or when she pretends not to know her kids when they misbehave in public, or when she uses her staff to help solve personal problems. But that’s OK, right? Nobody can have it all and do it perfectly. From executive producer Amy Poehler comes a modern comedy about being perfectly OK with being imperfect.”
Sarayu Blue as Emet and Paul Adelstein as David in ‘I Feel Bad’ (Photo by: Evans Vestal Ward/NBC)arayu Blue as Emet and Paul Adelstein as David (Photo by: Evans Vestal Ward/NBC)Madhur Jaffrey as Maya and Sarayu Blue as Emet (Photo by: Evans Vestal Ward/NBC)Johnny Pemberton as Griffin “Grif”, James Buckley as Chewey, Zach Cherry as Norman, and Christopher Avila as Hux (Photo by: Evans Vestal Ward/NBC)Brian George as Sonny and Sarayu Blue as Emet (Photo by: Evans Vestal Ward/NBC)
