The trailer for AMC’s Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches season two arrived on Halloween and shows Rowan prepared to do whatever it takes to stop Lasher. The new season will premiere on January 5, 2025, with new episodes airing on Sundays.
The cast is led by Alexandra Daddario as Rowan Fielding, Jack Huston as Lasher, and Tongayi Chirisa as Ciprien Grieve. Harry Hamlin plays Cortland Mayfair and Alyssa Jirrels is Moira Mayfair. Season two also features Ben Feldman, Ted Levine and Thora Birch.
Alexandra Daddario as Rowan Fielding in ‘Mayfair Witches’ season 2 (Photo Credit: Skip Bolen/AMC)
AMC season two synopsis reads: “Based on Anne Rice’s Lives of the Mayfair Witches, season two of Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches continues the journey of Rowan Mayfair (Daddario) after she has unwittingly given birth to the demon Lasher (Huston). She is determined to understand what he has become – human or monster? – and to use him to fulfill her purpose as a healer, but when tragedy strikes, she must put aside her own desires and fight to protect her family.”
Esta Spalding is the showrunner and serves as an executive producer along with Mark Johnson, Tom Williams, Michelle Ashford, Christopher Rice, and the late Anne Rice.
I’m a Virgo‘s Jharrel Jerome stars in Unstoppable, which just dropped a new trailer. The inspirational sports drama, based on a true story, will open in limited theatrical release on December 6, 2024 followed by a streaming premiere on Prime Video on January 16, 2025.
In addition to Jharrel Jerome, the PG-13 film’s cast includes Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Anthony Robles, Don Cheadle, and Jennifer Lopez. Oscar-winning editor William Goldenberg (Argo) makes his directorial debut with the film, and Eric Champnella, Alex Harris, and John Hindman wrote the screenplay based on Anthony Robles and Austin Murphy’s book.
“Unstoppable is the inspiring true story of Anthony Robles (Jharrel Jerome) who was born with one leg but whose indomitable spirit and unbreakable resolve empowered him to defy the odds and pursue his dreams. With the unwavering love and support of his devoted mother Judy (Lopez) and the encouragement of his coaches, Anthony fights through adversity to earn a spot on the Arizona State Wrestling team,” reads Amazon MGM Studios’ synopsis. “But it will demand everything he has, physically and mentally, to achieve his ultimate quest to become an NCAA Champion.”
The real Anthony Robles is Jerome’s double and performs the complex wrestling moves and stunts.
An influencer shoots a video in the wrong place at the wrong time on Fox’s Rescue: HI-Surf season one episode seven, “Pau.” Episode seven will air on Monday, November 4, 2024 at 9pm ET/PT.
The one-hour drama stars Robbie Magasiva (Wentworth) as Harlan “Sonny” Jennings, Arielle Kebbel (Midnight, Texas) as Emily “Em” Wright, Adam Demos (Sex / Life) as Will Ready, Kekoa Kekumano (The White Lotus, Aquaman) as Laka Hanohano, Alex Aiono (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin) as Kainalu Emerson, and Zoe Cipres (Roswell, New Mexico) as Hina Alexander. Sea Shimooka (3 Body Problem), Shawn Hatosy (Animal Kingdom), and Ian Anthony Dale (The Resident) guest star in recurring roles.
“Pau” Plot: Will, Laka, and Em receive a call to rescue an influencer in a wedding dress that gets swept into the ocean while trying to film a new video. Kainalu and Hina discuss setting boundaries within their home, and Mayor Emerson makes good on his word with Captain Sonny. Meanwhile, Will breaks it to Em that his fiancé does not want her invited to their wedding, and Jenn finally agrees to go on a date with Laka.
Rescue: HI-Surf Series Description, Courtesy of Fox
Rescue: HI-Surf follows the personal and professional lives of the heavy-water lifeguards who patrol and protect the North Shore of O’ahu—the most famous and dangerous stretch of coastline in the world. Each episode will feature these dedicated, heroic and adrenaline-seeking first responders saving lives in the difficult and often life-threatening conditions of Hawaii’s Seven Mile Miracle.
Poster for ‘Lady of the Dunes’ (Photo Credit: Oxygen True Crime)
Oxygen True Crime takes a deep dive into a murder case that stymied investigators for five decades in Lady of the Dunes: Hunting a Cape Cod Killer. The two-hour special runs over two nights and premieres on Friday, November 9, 2024 at 8pm ET/PT. It concludes on November 30th at 9pm ET/PT.
“In 1974, the idyllic and close-knit community of Provincetown was stunned when the body of an unidentified woman was discovered in a remote area of the dunes. Over the next 50 years, investigators worked tirelessly to identify her, relentless in their pursuit of her killer and her name,” reads Oxygen True Crime’s synopsis. “The twists and turns of the Lady of the Dunes mystery tell the story of a hidden family, a suspect’s violent past, and a detective willing to sacrifice her career for answers.”
The special is produced by Left/Right Productions, with Banks Tarver, Ken Druckerman, Maija Norris, and Steve Yaccino executive producing.
Lady of the Dunes will feature brand new details about the lengthy investigation, including “the most extensive allegations about contaminated DNA samples and lost physical evidence from the crime scene,” according to Oxygen. It also includes new on-camera interviews with the Provincetown detectives who worked on the case as well as the victim’s family members. The two-hour special spotlights the FBI’s involvement and how it ultimately transformed the investigation and helped solve the case.
Montana Jordan and Emily Osment star in ‘Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage’ (Photo Credit: Bill Inoshita / 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc)
Over 10 million viewers checked out the Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage series premiere during its first seven days in release. Those numbers are impressive enough for CBS to announce the half-hour comedy series will be sticking around for a full first season.
“With the resounding success of The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon, we were instantly on board when Chuck, Steven and Steve brought us the idea to further explore this world through Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage,” stated Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment. “The enthusiastic audience reception has demonstrated the enormous appeal of these characters and we can’t wait to see all of the hilarious fun this season will undoubtedly deliver.”
The cast is led by Montana Jordan as Georgie and Emily Osment as Mandy. Rachel Bay Jones, Will Sasso, Dougie Baldwin and Jesse Prez also star. Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro, and Steve Holland created the series and serve as executive producers.
The new comedy premiered on October 17, 2024. New episodes air on Thursdays at 8pm ET/PT, followed by Ghosts at 8:30pm ET/PT.
Kiernan Shipka and Nico Hiraga star as high school friends who head off to college and then come to the conclusion that remaining in relationships with the high school sweethearts who remained back at home might not be the best idea ever. The lengthy Sweethearts trailer shows the BFFs making a pact to break up with their partners and the ensuing chaos.
The cast of the comedy film includes Caleb Hearon, Tramell Tillman, Ava Demary, Charlie Hall, Joel Kim Booster, and Christine Taylor.
“Two college freshmen make a pact to break up with their high school sweethearts over Thanksgiving break, leading them on a chaotic night out in their hometown that puts their codependent friendship to the test,” reads Max’s synopsis.
Jordan Weiss (Dollface) co-wrote the screenplay with Dan Brier and makes her directorial debut with the comedy. Weiss and Brier executive produce, along with Julia Hammer, Samie Kim Falvey, and Shayne Fiske Goldner. Picturestart’s Erik Feig and Jessica Switch serve as producers.
Sweethearts premieres on Max on Thursday, November 28, 2024.
Nico Hiraga and Kiernan Shipka in ‘Sweethearts’ (Photograph by Anthony Platt/Max)
It’s all about celebrating the holidays in Rachael Ray’s new A&E series, Rachael Ray’s Holidays. The six-episode season premieres on December 8, 2024, with new episodes airing on Sundays at 10am ET/PT during the Home.Made.Nation programming block.
“Cooking and entertaining are both central parts of my life, but around the holidays it takes on an especially significant role for myself, my family and many others,” stated Ray. “It’s a time where we all gather to celebrate, and the joy of food and cooking is so unifying, so I’m especially excited to invite audiences into my home to share the familial traditions and recipes that make this time so meaningful.”
Rachael Ray, Brian Flanagan, Anthony Amoia, Sean Lee, Teri Kennedy, and Jordan Harman serve as executive producers. The series is produced by Free Food Studios for A&E Network.
“Rachael loves to cook and entertain, but especially during the holiday season when friends and family gather to celebrate. In each half-hour episode, Rachael Ray’s Holidays brings viewers into Rachael’s kitchen as she shares some of her favorite holiday dishes,” reads A&E’s synopsis. “From chestnut and sausage stuffing and roasted garlic and rosemary prime rib to beef and chorizo chili with queso and holiday lasagna, Rachael has every type of holiday recipe covered for any type of gathering and celebration.”
Episodes of Rachael Ray’s Rebuild will follow at 11am PT/ET.
Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in ‘Here’ (Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc)
Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, and much of the crew that made Forrest Gump reunite for Here, an ambitious undertaking telling a series of stories through time that take place in one specific patch of earth. For most of the film, that patch is the living room of a suburban home.
The film opens with an elderly man named Richard Young (Hanks) being allowed to visit his old home before it goes up for sale. The film then travels back to when dinosaurs roamed the earth and then whooshes through the ice age before taking another time jump to native Americans hunting. All of this occurs in the same spot where the house will eventually be.
Here is comprised of a series of short stories featuring different couples living in the home. In the early 1900s, Pauline Harter (Michelle Dockery) worries that her husband, John (Gwilym Lee), will die in a plane crash because of his obsession with flying. Another set in the late 1930s and early ‘40s shows an inventor and his wife working on what eventually will become known as The Lazy Boy.
The film’s primary focus, though, is on the Young family, Al and Rose (Paul Bettany and Kelly Reilly), who move into the house in the 1940s after World War II has ended. Al hesitates, but when Rose tells him she loves it and is pregnant, he agrees to buy her dream home. Al goes to work as a salesman and Rose becomes a homemaker and mother of three.
Another time jump shows Richard, now a teenager, bringing home his high school sweetheart Margaret (Wright) to meet his parents. He’s a talented artist who hopes to pursue his dreams until Margaret gets pregnant. He and Margaret, not being able to afford a place of their own, move into the house and live with his parents. To help provide for his new family, Richard takes a job selling insurance and gives up his dream of being an artist.
The Young family’s living room is the setting for their holiday celebrations, family conflicts, and tragedies as time passes.
Based on the graphic novel by Richard McGuire, Here’s experiment of telling multiple stories in a fixed-framed format and using computerized de-aging on the actors fails miserably. It’s a shallow, thinly scripted story with one-dimensional characters and no pacing. The constant jumping to different stories and eras in the film’s timeline makes it a jumbled mess.
The lack of character development makes it impossible for the audience to connect with or become invested in any of the characters. Paul Bettany’s Al Young is a World War II veteran who drinks too much to drown the memories of the horrors of war but works to support his family. That’s it. There’s nothing else. His character lacks any deeper or more intriguing aspects.
Kelly Reilly’s Rose is even more of a surface-level character, just an average supportive, loving wife and mother of the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s. Marion Ross as Marion Cunningham in the TV comedy series Happy Days had more depth and character development. It’s a waste of an extremely talented actress.
The computer de-aging process that makes the actors, primarily Hanks and Wright, appear younger/older doesn’t work at all. It looks like clay animation and is reminiscent of the same look the animated characters have in Zemeckis’ The Polar Express. It’s creepy.
Sadly, Here is merely a squandering of talented people, time, and money. Don’t waste your time and money on it.
GRADE: C-
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic material, some suggestive material, brief strong language and smoking
Release Date: November 1, 2024
Running Time: 1 hour 44 minutes
Danny Trejo in ‘Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo’ (Photo Credit: The HISTORY Channel, Carlos Jaramillo)
Danny Trejo (Machete) handles hosting duties on The History Channel’s new nonfiction series Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo. The eight-episode series premieres on December 6, 2024, with new episodes airing on Fridays at 10pm ET/PT.
The new series, which dives into the history behind significant discoveries, is executive produced by Steve Ascher, Matthew Pearl, Mary E. Donahue, and Brooke Townsend. A+E Factual Studios™ group produces the series for The History Channel.
The History Channel offered this description of the series:
“Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo examines the fascinating stories surrounding buried artifacts and lost civilizations, shedding light, and offering new insight and information on various mysteries of the past and present. Anchored by Trejo’s affinity for history and his natural curiosity into exploring the unknown and coupled with captivating archival material, expert interviews, and compelling recreations, the series seeks to unearth what the human eye cannot easily detect, as objects, structures and creatures concealed under earth, ice and water are suddenly, and often accidentally, revealed.
From ancient animals uncovered as permafrost melts to excavations that make international headlines, each episode explains the significance of these discoveries and offers surprising context to these amazing finds. What exciting revelations can these preserved objects expose about our history and the legends and myths that surround them?”
Daniel Sunjata, Judy Reyes and Kaitlin Olson in ‘High Potential’ episode 6 (Disney/Carlos Lopez-Calleja)
ABC’s High Potential episode six opens with a young woman named Sam waking up in her boss’ office, hungover with no idea what happened the night before. It looks like the office has been trashed, but that’s not the worst of it. Nope, not by a long shot. Sam’s boss, Elaine, is lying dead on the floor in a pool of blood.
Morgan (Kaitlin Olson) is in the middle of a little spring cleaning when Detective Adam Karadec (Daniel Sunjata) calls requesting her presence at Metkair TechCorp. The company leases the entire floor, and last night they hosted a party celebrating the launch of a new product. The murder victim is Founder and CEO Elaine Barton who was killed with her Female Innovator of the Year Award. A video on a loop reveals Elaine seems to have modeled herself after Elizabeth Holmes/Steve Jobs.
We get another Apple reference when it’s revealed the assistant’s last name is Wozniak. Sam claims she doesn’t remember anything as she’s not much of a drinker and she’s on new meds. Elaine was Sam’s hero, and she says she liked working for her. However, Morgan notices her fake smile and Sam confesses Elaine wasn’t easy to work for recently. Elaine was getting increasingly paranoid as they approached the launch of their new product, Canary. “Every day was hell,” says Sam, and Adam reveals he thinks she’s the prime suspect.
Morgan looks through Sam’s laptop and sees her latest search was at 10:21pm for [gsd ;imhd. Morgan assumes the gibberish search means she was too drunk to type. Adam finds a notebook on Sam’s desk and inside is a drawing of Sam standing behind Elaine, holding a knife. Morgan, who has been on Sam’s side, admits that’s a little suspicious.
Adam interrogates Sam as Lt. Selena Soto (Judy Reyes) and Morgan discuss whether Elaine possibly pushed Sam too hard, even though Sam was totally committed to the company. Despite how it looks, Morgan still believes Sam is innocent.
Adam and Morgan break the news to Eric, Elaine’s husband. Eric praises his wife and reveals he was her first investor. They’d been getting along fine, and he stayed at the party until 10pm. Eric asks for details on his wife’s death and then confirms she had enemies among her employees.
Mayans M.C.’s JD Pardo shows up 10 minutes in, playing Tom, a janitor at LAPD. He accuses Morgan of leaving orange, cheesy smudges on the doors, but Morgan points out she’s not the only one with fingers. Tom chuckles and walks off.
Kaitlin Olson in ‘High Potential’ episode 6 (Disney/Carlos Lopez-Calleja)
The team, including Detectives Oz Osman (Deniz Akdeniz) and Daphne Forrester (Javicia Leslie), go over what they’ve learned. Sam’s toxicology report indicates a mix of Diazepam and alcohol that could trigger amnesia. Daphne reveals Elaine wrote a check last night for $45,623 to cash. And no one knows why “FOREVER” was written in large letters on Elaine’s office wall. Adam’s money is still on Sam being the murderer.
Party guests show up to answer questions, and while some describe it as nice, Amanda the receptionist said the vibe was weird. Elaine wasn’t in a great mood. Multiple people report hearing an argument in Elaine’s office and not checking on it. It wasn’t unusual for Elaine to cuss people out.
Morgan gets her hands on the karaoke playlist. The argument in Elaine’s office was heard while the entire sales team sang “Since You’ve Been Gone,” ending at 11:01pm. “Nothing Compares to You” was performed at 11:03pm, and no one heard anything from Elaine’s office during it. So, she must have been murdered between 10:58pm and 11:01pm.
Morgan works on getting more information out of Sam by being genuinely nice to her. Sam becomes emotional and admits she’s scared that she might have killed Elaine. Morgan assures her she didn’t, but they need to figure out what happened.
Sam discovers a strip of photos in her bra that includes one of her posing with a magazine cover of Elaine’s face made to look like a devil. The photos also show Sam with red lipstick that matches another employee named Denise. Adam questions her and Denise admits that her job is boring. After she signed everyone in on the invitation list, she left her post and went into the party. She’s always had a thing for Sam, and they kissed a little. Sam went into the restroom and Denise waited for her, but an unidentified woman came out. Denise hadn’t checked this woman in, and the woman rushed to the elevator and took off before Denise could catch up with her.
Denise recalls she had brown hair, an average build, and something square stuck to her arm. That rings a bell with Morgan who points out an ad photo. Denise confirms that’s the woman. Her name’s Carmen Jimenez and the square is an insulin pump.
Daphne informs Adam and Morgan that they couldn’t pull prints from the murder weapon.
Adam and Morgan visit the Jimenezes and Carmen reluctantly admits she was at the party but wasn’t invited. Carmen refuses to say anything else, so Morgan points out that she noticed they just moved into this house which they can’t afford. Mr. Jimenez tries to end the interview but not soon enough as Morgan notices that Carmen is hiding her hands. Morgan deliberately spills a glass and Carmen reacts by reaching for it, revealing the bruises and cuts on her knuckles. That’s enough to make Adam bring her in for questioning.
The interrogation begins with Adam describing what he thinks happened. Medkair paid her to fabricate a story about the product’s success, but then something went wrong. He’s got probable cause to arrest her but gives her a chance to come clean. Carmen remains silent.
Selena asks Daphne to look into who’s paying Carmen’s mortgage. As Daphne’s typing, Morgan realizes what she thought was gibberish in Sam’s web search wasn’t gibberish. Her hands were just shifted over. If they were in the right place, she would have typed “pfas lungs,” leading to a report on Forever Chemicals causing lung disease. And that’s why FOREVER was on Elaine’s office wall.
Morgan asks to speak with Carmen alone and asks if it’s true Medkair was buying her silence because their product was hurting kids, including her son. Morgan believes Carmen reached the limit of what she could ignore since it affected her son. Carmen admits that’s true. She just couldn’t live with herself and went to the party. She was angry that people were dancing and celebrating, and she went into Elaine’s office to wait for her. She admits to writing Forever on the wall and stabbing a stuffed bird, cutting her hand in the process. Elaine walked in and threatened to bury her in lawsuits if she said anything. Although Carmen wanted to hurt her, she chickened out. She punched the photo on the wall as she walked out.
“I swear, she was alive when I left,” says Carmen.
Carmen recalls “Californication” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers was being sung when she left. That would mean it was at 10:15pm. Carmen also recalls that she ran into Sam in the bathroom, and she can corroborate her story. When Carmen told her what happened, Sam got angry.
Although it’s not looking great for Sam, Morgan and Selena pick up on Carmen saying that Elaine’s husband, Eric, disagreed with paying her off. Maybe that led to an argument between Eric and Elaine since Eric was the money behind the company.
Daniel Sunjata and Kaitlin Olson in ‘High Potential’ episode 6 (Disney/Mitch Hasseth)
Adam and Morgan barge into a board meeting and confront Eric about the payouts to Carmen and other families. Eric’s lawyer claims they’re not illegal, but Morgan points out the Securities Act “doesn’t look kindly on companies that have materially false statements in their investor prospectus.” Since that makes what they’ve done illegal, that could lead to a fight between a husband and wife.
Eric dismisses his lawyer and agrees to talk. He admits to providing hush money to Carmen’s family and others when health issues popped up. Elaine promised to fix the issues, and the FDA was never involved because Canary isn’t a medical device. He didn’t think they were ready for the launch, but Elaine disagreed. Eric tried to stop her, but she was full steam ahead. He claims he loved her but didn’t like who she’d become.
Morgan watches Elaine’s promo video again and doesn’t buy her act or her story about helping her niece. Thomas, the janitor, interrupts, asking to clean Morgan’s desk so he can take off for medical school, and Morgan promises to clean up after herself.
Before Thomas leaves, Morgan asks if he had a niece, wouldn’t he have photos of her. Thomas agrees he would and has tons of photos of his nephew. Morgan continues using Thomas as a sounding board, asking why Elaine suddenly switched to Chinese medicinal herbs for Canary when her background is in Western medicine. Between Thomas and Morgan, they come up with a new theory that Nina, her former assistant, is into Chinese medicine and has a daughter. Morgan believes Nina made the first prototype and shared it with Elaine, and Elaine was going to make millions off it.
Adam interrogates Nina and she confirms she came up with the idea, but Elaine paid her for it. She wasn’t angry and enjoyed a nice life. Plus, she believes Elaine genuinely wanted to help people. Morgan and Selena are observing, and Morgan’s convinced by Nina’s smile that she really loved Elaine.
After Nina describes it as horrific that Elaine was murdered with her own trophy, Adam asks how long she’s been sleeping with Eric. He’s the only one who knew how she died, so either she’s the murderer or she’s sleeping with Eric. Nina admits it looks bad, but they were both fighting for Canary and didn’t mean to fall in love.
It now seems the best suspect is Sam, but Morgan remains firmly on her side. When Sam’s brought in, Morgan reminds everyone they still haven’t figured out what the $45,623 check was for. Sam becomes physically ill and runs for the bathroom. After vomiting, she tells Morgan that’s the amount left on her student loans. Sam realizes this means she killed Elaine and that her life is over.
Morgan’s taking down the murder board when she suddenly remembers Sam saying that Elaine became paranoid and had eyes and ears everywhere. She and Adam return to Elaine’s office because it doesn’t make sense that Elaine hung a mirror behind her desk. Morgan’s suspicion is correct; it’s a two-way mirror with a camera behind it.
Morgan and Adam inform Sam that the video shows she told Elaine she was quitting and why. Elaine tried to bribe her, and when that didn’t work, Elaine attacked Sam. Sam fought her off, and Elaine wound up falling on her award, which killed her. Meanwhile, Sam hit her head and passed out. It was self-defense and Adam believes she won’t serve any time.
The day’s done and Selena asks Morgan to join them for drinks. At first, Morgan declines, but then she changes her mind. Before taking off, she uses chip dust to leave her phone number on the glass for Thomas the janitor.
Morgan thanks Selena for being a really great boss. This is one job she doesn’t want to run from.
