Oscar-nominated writer/director Noah Baumbach reunites with two-time Oscar nominee Adam Driver and three-time Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig (his real-life partner) for White Noise, based on the book by Don DeLillo. The one-minute teaser trailer doesn’t give away much; if you haven’t read the book, odds are you’ll have no better idea what the film’s about after watching the trailer than you did before pressing play.
Netflix hasn’t set a premiere date for the comedy/drama which is embarking on a festival run before its wide release. White Noise is the opening night film at the Venice Film Festival on August 31, 2022 and will screen at the New York Film Festival in September.
“Noah Baumbach’s adaptation of White Noise is an unequivocal triumph: a wildly entertaining and morbidly funny meditation on the way we live now that is also the director’s most ambitious and expansive film,” said Dennis Lim, artistic director at NYFF. “Aided by a brilliant cast led by Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig, Baumbach has not only captured the essence of Don DeLillo’s beloved, era-defining book — he has turned it into a movie that speaks profoundly to our moment.”
Baumbach is returning to the Venice Film Festival after premiering Marriage Story there in 2019.
“It is a great honor to open the 79. Venice Film Festival with White Noise. It was worth waiting for the certainty that the film was finished to have the pleasure to make this announcement. Adapted from the great Don DeLillo novel, Baumbach has made an original, ambitious, and compelling piece of art which plays with measure on multiple registers: dramatic, ironic, satirical. The result is a film that examines our obsessions, doubts, and fears as captured in the 1980’s, yet with very clear references to contemporary reality,” said festival director Alberto Barbera.
Baumbach previously directed Adam Driver in Marriage Story, The Meyerowitz Stories New and Selected, While We’re Young, and Frances Ha. Baumbach and Greta Gerwig worked together on Mistress America, Frances Ha, and Greenberg.
The White Noise cast also includes Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, Lars Eidinger, Andre Benjamin, and Jodie Turner-Smith. Baumbach’s behind-the-scenes team features director of photography Lol Crawley, production designer Jess Gonchor, editor Matthew Hannam, and costume designer Ann Roth, with music by Danny Elfman.
Netflix’s teaser trailer arrived along with a batch of photos and the following synopsis:
“At once hilarious and horrifying, lyrical and absurd, ordinary and apocalyptic, White Noise dramatizes a contemporary American family’s attempts to deal with the mundane conflicts of everyday life while grappling with the universal mysteries of love, death, and the possibility of happiness in an uncertain world.”
A scene from ‘Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin season 1 episode 9 (Photograph by Karolina Wojtasik/HBO Max)
We’re down to just two new episodes left of HBO Max’s Pretty Little Liars Original Sin’s first season and it seems as though the girls have figured out who’s A. Episode nine begins on Sunday, December 11 with Imogen (Bailee Madison) declaring, “So that’s it.” Sidney (Sharon Leal) asks if Karen was pushed and if Tyler’s dead. Tabby (Chandler Kinney) confirms they were murdered by A.
The camera pans out to show all the moms and their daughters gathered to discuss what’s happening. The girls explain who they think A is and that the moms went to school with Joe. He’s the one who sent the creepy gifts and all the cryptic texts.
After Tabby delivers the CliffsNotes version of why they think Joe did it, Imogen says, “The sins of the mothers visited upon their daughters.”
Sidney asks why they didn’t tell them about any of this and Imogen explains that A threatened them. Marjorie (Elena Goode) wonders why he killed himself and Tabby thinks it could be because Imogen busted him and because he did what he set out to do.
Noa (Maia Reficco) chimes in, “Punish the guilty.”
Imogen demands the truth from the moms about what they did to Angela Waters. Sidney admits they were horrible bullies and they each describe their actions. Imogen asks why they were so cruel to Angela and Elodie (Lea Salonga) offers a poor excuse, saying it was a different time then. Girls were meaner in the ‘90s.
Imogen wants to know what her mom did, and Sidney describes Davie driving off and leaving Angela alone on Halloween after she threw poop at a house.
Corey (Zakiya Young) warns that everything they just said must stay in this room.
Back home, Marjorie tells Noa that considering everything going on, she wants to try to get clean. Marjorie believes she can do it at home because she’s a nurse and knows how to detox. Marjorie suggests that Noa stay at Shawn’s for a few days and asks her daughter to cover her Pinball Pizza shifts. Noa agrees.
Noa shows up at Shawn’s (Alex Aiono) and lies that her mom has the flu. Noa doesn’t want to get sick and miss track.
Sidney tells Tabby they still need to talk about what happened to her. Sidney doesn’t want to make the same mistake she made with Angela with her own daughter. Tabby confirms she really doesn’t know who did it and Sidney wonders if they should go to the police together. Tabby’s forced to reveal it’s not just about her; Imogen was raped, too, and it might be the same guy.
Tabby assures her mom they’ll be okay and just need more time.
Noa wakes at 4am to the sound of Shawn doing sit-ups. She decides to confront him about the pills she found in his bag. Shawn calls them supplements and admits half the football team is taking them.
Noa knows the pills are performance enhancers and wonders why he thinks he needs them since football season is over. Shawn gets defensive, claiming he’s not an addict and that it’s basketball season now. Noa thinks he’s just coming up with excuses and she’s all too familiar with all that.
Noa pleads with him to stop, saying, “I can’t handle two addicts in my life.” Shawn agrees but says he’ll wean himself off.
Imogen has a nightmare about finding her mom dead, but this time A’s in the bathroom with a knife and comes toward her. She wakes up screaming.
Monday, December 15: Faran (Zaria) decides to let her hair down and go with her natural hair.
As Tabby and Imogen walk to school, Tabby confesses she hates lying to her mom. That should end when they get the DNA test back from the blood drive. Imogen is still fixated on A and questions whether Crazy Joe was really A. Maybe A killed him and staged it to look like a suicide to throw them off the trail.
Imogen suggests that maybe A killed her mom too. She’s having a difficult time believing her mom was an evil bully because that’s not the mom she knew. Tabby sympathizes but wonders at this point how they can find out what happened in the bathroom. Imogen has a plan and is going to go talk to the coroner after school.
Kelly (Mallory Bechtel) and her mom, Martha (Jennifer Ferrin), argue over Kelly skipping helping at church to work on a dance piece with one of the girls who Martha thinks hurt Karen. Kelly insists Faran didn’t hurt Karen and Kelly’s dad insults her dance skills. “Let’s face facts – you never were the dancer your sister was.”
Kelly reminds him they all miss Karen but no one else is lashing out like a drunk bully. He tosses out another insult, saying if there were any justice in the world it would have been her that slipped and not Karen. Kelly screams, “F**k you!” at him before leaving the room.
Mouse rehashes her night with Ash (Jordan Gonzalez), explaining she had a come to Jesus moment with one mom while the other one asked her to set her up on lesbian dating apps. After Mouse confirms her moms are Disney fanatics, Ash suggests they should Parent Trap her moms. Mouse thinks that is a brilliant idea.
Chip (Carson Rowland) wants to be supportive and accompanies Imogen for her normal checkup with the school nurse, Nurse Simmons. The nurse confirms she’s on track at 38 weeks of pregnancy, but she’s concerned about Imogen’s high blood pressure. She should try not to get stressed. (Yeah, that’s not an option.)
Faran shows off her new hairstyle at lunch and the girls love it. Faran reveals she also took on a new project: the choreography of a retelling of Adam and Eve. She credits Tabby with inspiring her when they did her vision of Psycho.
Kelly comes strutting into the lunchroom wearing Karen’s clothes and no longer hiding she’s with Karen’s boyfriend, Greg.
Tabby shows Wes sketches of her storyline for her film and he thinks they’re awesome. He offers to lend her some of his equipment for the shoot. (Chip’s watching this and doesn’t look happy.)
Imogen asks the coroner if it’s possible someone could have murdered her mother. She doesn’t believe her mom would do that to herself. He offers to exhume her mom’s body, but she needs to file a petition with Sheriff Beasley.
Mouse’s moms can’t believe they’ve been Parent Trap-ped, but Elodie wastes no time and dives in with the questions, including whether as a young trans man in Millwood he’s ever felt scared.
Later, Mouse lies to Ash while facetiming and says she reconnected with her dad on Thanksgiving. Ash suggests they go bowling together.
Tuesday, December 16: Imogen manages to convince Sheriff Beasley to allow her mom’s body to be exhumed. She’s sure her mom was murdered but she doesn’t know by who. Sheriff Beasley needs an adult relative’s consent to begin the exhumation. She asks if her father would count.
Mallory Bechtel and Zaria in ‘Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin season 1 episode 9 (Photograph by Karolina Wojtasik/HBO Max)
Henry confesses Kelly kissed him and Faran confronts Kelly about what happened. Kelly claims it was a mistake and that she’s sorry, confessing it’s been really intense at home. Faran sees blood on Kelly’s thigh and Kelly squirms and makes excuses. Faran urges her to talk.
Kelly admits it’s her dad. He’s always been bad, but it’s recently gotten worse for her and her mom. Her dad resents the fact that Karen is dead while she’s alive. In fact, he said that out loud. Faran points out he’s a lunatic but warns Kelly that hurting herself isn’t the answer.
Faran makes her promise she will talk to someone if she feels like hurting herself again. Kelly asks why, given their history, Faran’s being so nice to her. Faran says she wants to break that cycle.
Shawn and his teammates show up at Pinball Pizza and he’s shocked to see Noa working there. She admits she’s covering her mom’s shifts while she’s at detoxing at home. Shawn takes a jab at her mom and Noa points out he shouldn’t judge. He’s offended that she compared him to her mom since he’s not using drugs recreationally. Noa reveals her mom started off with painkillers and Shawn feels bad because he didn’t know that.
Noa suggests that if he means that, he should throw away his pills. He claims he did and offers to let her check his bag.
Sidney receives a text from Tabby that she’s working late. Sidney offers to pick her up, but Tabby doesn’t need a ride; Wes is taking her home.
Sidney is suspicious of Wes and shows up at the theater demanding Wes get away from her daughter. Sidney accuses him of making Tabby work late so he can groom her. He admits he made a move on her one time and Sidney tells him she’s calling the police, adding that she’s protecting Tabby from this rapist.
Tabby’s had enough and drags her mom away. But as they leave Sidney’s parting words are, “If I see you within 10 feet of my daughter, I will cut your f**king dick off.”
Chip appears to have witnessed this all go down.
Outside the theater, Tabby assures her mom Wes didn’t rape her. Tabby thinks it was someone from school and fills her mom in on what they did to figure out who the rapist is. Sidney volunteers to talk to Corey and see if she knows anyone in the DA’s office who can help them navigate the investigation.
Faran confronts Sheriff Beasley and informs him his daughter is cutting herself because he’s abusing her verbally and emotionally. Faran is there to hold him accountable, and she admits to knowing all about his thing for boys. Of course, Sheriff Beasley assumes Noa said something, but Faran claims she didn’t. However, now she can’t wait to ask Noa questions.
Chip asks Tabby what that thing was between her mom and Wes. Was Wes inappropriate? Tabby wonders where this is coming from since he’s into Imogen, and Chip admits he’s only into her friend because she wouldn’t give him a shot. Tabby doesn’t want Imogen to get hurt but Chip claims that now he actually likes her. Chip also claims Wes is a creep and she shouldn’t trust him and needs to be careful.
The way Chip is acting alarms Tabby.
Imogen has a heart-to-heart with her dad and he explains when they first got together, her mom suffered from depression. She saw a therapist and took medication. He thinks something happened in high school because she wouldn’t talk about that time in her life much.
Imogen’s having difficulty dealing with this because the mom she knew loved life. Her dad reveals that Davie emerged from depression because of Imogen. Her outlook on life changed and stopped taking pills. He also explains that he couldn’t take care of his daughter the way she needed to be taken care of. The reason he’s not taking care of her now is that her mom put it in her will that she wanted Imogen to go to Sidney.
He signs the paperwork to exhume Davie’s body.
Tabby thinks about what her mom said – “nine times out of 10 it’s someone you know.” She thinks about Wes making a move on her but then remembers he wasn’t at the parties.
Tabby has a flashback to the party and recalls Chip was drunk. He kissed her and she pushed him away while telling him she doesn’t think of him that way. He left after saying he wanted to be alone. That was the night Imogen was raped.
The girls meet up and Noa reveals her mom received the results of the DNA test. To everyone’s shock, the DNA match isn’t to a jock. They narrowed it down to 66 boys and Faran, Noa, and Mouse say it wasn’t Henry, Shawn, or Ash. Imogen includes Chip, but Tabby isn’t so sure about that.
Tabby finds Greg and asks if Chip was at the bonfire party. He’s not sure.
Mouse receives a call from a very distraught Steve. They found his daughter Rachel’s body. He begs to see her and says he needs someone to talk to. She agrees.
Steve’s acting erratic and says he was too busy playing with Mouse when he should have been there for Rachel. When Mouse gets a text from Ash and reaches for her phone, Steve tells her not to answer it. She asks what she can do, and he gives her clothes to put on…Rachel’s clothes.
Sheriff Beasley calls Imogen and demands to know what kind of game she’s playing. He told her it would take time, but she just couldn’t wait. Imogen’s confused and asks what he’s talking about. Beasley’s at the cemetery and her mother’s grave has been dug up. Her body is missing. Imogen responds by passing out.
Faran comes home and her mom’s frantic. Faran’s dad was arrested for his taillight being out, and supposedly he resisted arrest. Faran says that doesn’t sound like her dad and Corey agrees. It’s more like some racist Millwood cop is abusing his powers.
Ash is worried and tells Mouse’s moms that Mouse left school early and hasn’t been answering his calls or texts. He then reveals they had a crazy night at the bowling alley with her dad. Elodie doesn’t think Mouse has been in touch with her father and Ash explains they met Steve several times. Elodie’s alarmed; Steve isn’t Mouse’s father’s name.
Elodie tracks Mouse’s phone and finds her at a motel.
Ash and Mouse’s moms locate her, but they have no idea what she’s wearing and why she’s dressed that way. Elodie recognizes Steve, and Mouse says they were playing a game but now it’s over.
Faran tells Kelly and her mom what’s going on with Sheriff Beasley. Kelly had no idea that was happening, and Faran claims he’s gone off the deep end and went after her dad. It’s going to get worse.
Imogen’s asleep when her dad calls because he remembered something. Her mom mentioned a high school boyfriend a couple of times, and he recalls the boy’s name was Tom or Tommy. Imogen asks if it was Tom Beasley, and her dad says it might have been.
Season one episode nine ends with a shocking twist. Kelly asks her mom, Martha, if she knew about her dad and her mom confesses that she did. “He always had his demons. Even in high school when he forced himself on that poor girl.”
Faran’s eyes go wide with shock. The scene switches to Imogen looking at her mom’s senior yearbook and spotting a photo of her mom and Tom Beasley.
Faran asks Martha what “poor girl,” and she answers, “Her name was Angela.”
Alfonso Ribeiro returns to host ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ season 33 (ABC/Liliane Lathan)
After two years without a studio audience (thanks to Covid-19), ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos is back to taping in front of a live crowd and offering double the normal prize money. The upcoming 33rd season of the longest-running primetime show in the network’s history will premiere on October 2, 2022 with Alfonso Ribeiro returning as host.
“We’re thrilled to welcome a live audience back to the studio after two years,” stated Vin Di Bona, Executive Producer and Director of America’s Funniest Home Videos. “We’re starting with a limited audience size of 50 people, and hope to be back to full audience capacity of 200, soon. The studio audience has always been an essential part of our set, and an integral part of the show, providing an effusive energy felt by our viewers, host and crew. Now, more than ever, people need the laughter AFV provides and with the doubling of the weekly prize money, we’re set for our biggest season yet.”
Season 33’s weekly grand prize winners will take home $20,000. In addition, the second and third-place finishers will receive $6,000 and $4,000, respectively. Weekly episode winners will be entered in the next round of competition for a shot at $100,000. All season 33 $100,000 winners will move on to compete for a grand prize vacation package.
According to ABC, America’s Funniest Home Videos has awarded more than $17 million in prize money over its past 32 seasons. They’ve also received over 2 million funny videos from viewers. Anyone who thinks they’ve shot something worthy of being featured on the show can submit their clip via www.afv.com.
Season 32’s grand prize winner was submitted by Carol Billardo from Millsboro, DE. The video, titled “Camera Confuses Canine,” featured her two dogs reacting to hearing their owner’s voice through a home security system.
Netflix’s critically claimed The Umbrella Academy has officially been renewed for a fourth – and final – season. The announcement confirmed Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Justin H. Min, Ritu Arya, and Colm Feore are all on board for season four.
“I’m so excited that the incredibly loyal fans of The Umbrella Academy will be able to experience the fitting end to the Hargreeves siblings’ journey we began five years ago. But before we get to that conclusion, we’ve got an amazing story ahead for season four, one that will have fans on the edge of their seats until the final minutes,” said series creator, writer, director, and showrunner Steve Blackman.
Season three wrapped up with the group stuck in a new timeline without their powers. In an interview with Netflix’s TUDUM, Blackman explained what fans can expect from the upcoming fourth season.
“This new timeline has been dictated by Hargreeves, who reprogrammed the Universe at the end of the Season 3 finale. But because of Allison’s actions, he didn’t get to finish what he started before Allison pressed the reset button,” explained Blackman. “So, the siblings losing their powers isn’t going to be the only oddity in this timeline. There are new enemies who want to see them wiped out of existence, but how do they manage without their powers? Is there even a way to get them back? The stakes have never been greater.”
Netflix’s renewal announcement did not include a targeted date for the premiere of the final season.
Creator Steve Blackman just extended his partnership with Netflix and will be writing/producing new projects for the streaming service under his Irish Cowboy production banner. Horizon Zero Dawn (based on the PlayStation Studios game) and Orbital are two of his projects currently in the active development stage.
“Horizon Zero Dawn and Orbital are elevated, event-level projects grounded in characters that fans will love and relate to, which are hallmarks of Irish Cowboy productions,” said Blackman. “We’re thrilled to be working with Netflix and all of our partners on developing these ground-breaking stories.”
Horizon Zero Dawn is described as “an epic sci-fi adventure series set a thousand years in the future, in a strange and beautiful world full of primitive tribes and high-tech machines, all built on the bones of the ‘Old Ones’ – the ruins of our present-day United States. The disaster that destroyed our world is long forgotten, but when these formerly peaceful machines mysteriously turn into dangerous hunters of all life, a young outcast named Aloy discovers that the only chance to save her world is to fight to uncover what happened to ours.”
Orbital is co-created by David Lynch, Keith Lynch, and Steve Blackman, based on an original idea by David and Keith Lynch. Orbital will be set on the International Space Station and is described as a thriller event series.
Justin Hartley’s first big project released post-This Is Us will be Netflix’s The Noel Diary, a drama set around the holidays and based on the novel by Richard Paul Evans. Today, Netflix released the first photo featuring Justin Hartley and a canine co-star. The streaming service also announced they’ve set a November 24, 2022 premiere date.
Director Charles Shyer adapted the novel with Rebecca Connor and David Golden.
“I wanted to adapt this novel for a few different reasons. The story of The Noel Diary felt to me like one that could comfortably embrace humor and humanity – while at the same time offer great visual and directorial possibilities. A movie that, as Billy Wilder once said, ‘Could make ’em laugh and make ’em cry.’ I chose to cast Justin Hartley from his work on This Is Us. I just knew that, given his remarkable range, Justin could knock this one out of the park,” explained writer/director Charles Shyer (1991’s Father of the Bride, The Affair of the Necklace).
Hartley’s also an executive producer on the project along with Norman Stephens and Andrew Gernhard. Timothy O. Johnson, Stephanie Slack, and Margret H. Huddleston serve as producers.
In addition to Hartley, The Noel Diary cast includes Barrett Doss, Essence Atkins, Bonnie Bedelia, and James Remar.
The Noel Diary was published in 2017 and is the first of four books in Richard Paul Evans’ The Noel Collection. Netflix released this synopsis of the 2022 film adaptation:
“When best-selling author Jake Turner (Hartley) returns home at Christmas to settle his estranged mother’s estate, he discovers a diary that may hold secrets to his own past and that of Rachel (Doss) – an intriguing young woman on a mission of her own. Together, they embark on a journey to confront their pasts and discover a future that’s totally unexpected.”
Malia Pyles, Maia Reficco, Zaria, Chandler Kinney, and Bailee Madison in ‘Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin’ episode 8 (Photograph by Karolina Wojtasik/HBO Max)
HBO Max’s Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin episode eight opens with the girls freaking out as they head into their usual decision spot: the ladies room. Episode seven ended with A sending a text with a photo of Tyler, dead. Tabby (Chandler Kinney) admits she thought A would kill Tyler and Mouse (Malia Pyles) begs them to call the police.
Faran (Zaria) wants to forward the photo to the cops but Tabby thinks since A sent it to them, he’d know how the cops got it. Mouse points out that A’s killed at least two people and Faran adds they were all horrible people. Imogen (Bailee Madison) thinks they need to get back to the basics and investigate the sixth signature from the Radley log. That could be A.
Tabby decides now’s the time to reveal what happened to her and Imogen. The girls are sorry, and Imogen points out this happened to them after “jock-centric” parties. Mouse asks if that’s how Imogen got pregnant, and Imogen confirms it is.
Tabby’s devised a plan to use the blood drive at school to collect samples and compare them to the DNA of Imogen’s baby. Noa (Maia Reficco) agrees to ask her nurse mom for help with the DNA part of the plan. With solid proof, they can go to the authorities.
Noa will also talk to Shawn about getting the football team to donate blood. Imogen thinks they should ask Kelly for help, too, since she works in the nurse’s office.
Tabby and Imogen are planning on questioning Crazy Joe again since he sent them to the Radley in the first place.
Sidney (Sharon Leal) steps outside and finds a copy of The Scarlet Letter on her doorstep. Inside, the check-out card has Angela Waters written on it repeatedly, along with a note that reads: “Silence Kills.”
A flashback to 1999 shows Sidney (Kristen Maxwell) finding a crying Angela (Gabriella Pizzolo) in a bathroom stall. Angela claims something happened to her and Sidney heads to the library to tell her friends they have a problem. Davie (Ava DeMary) asks, “What did that dumb pudding do now?” Sidney says it wasn’t what Angela did but what was done to her.
Imogen and Tabby visit Joe and explain they found the sign-in book. Five of the signatures were their moms’, but they can’t figure out who the sixth signature belongs to. Imogen asks if it’s his and Joe orders them to leave. Undeterred, Imogen asks if he knew that Angela was raped.
“Someone told you that?” replies Joe.
Imogen realizes Joe didn’t expect them to learn anything, and she asks if he sent them to Rosewood because he thought it would be a dead end. Joe warns them they don’t know what they’re getting themselves into.
Joe refuses Imogen’s offer of more money and says, “I want you to drop this now or it’s going to be very bad for you! GO!”
Noa explains the situation to her mom, telling her Imogen and Tabby were raped and want to figure out who did it. Marjorie (Elena Goode) is shocked, and Noa reveals their blood drive/DNA plans. Marjorie points out that illegally obtained DNA won’t hold up in court. Noa still hopes it’ll be enough to open up an investigation. Marjorie agrees to ask a friend in the lab for help. She also suggests Imogen take a paternity test.
Tabby and Imogen return home and Sidney wonders if Imogen wants anything special for Thanksgiving. Imogen explains that she and her mom weren’t big on Thanksgiving and always volunteered at the soup kitchen. Sidney suggests she do that during the week and then have a family dinner with them. Imogen agrees, and they head upstairs.
“Oh my god, we are dealing with a serial killer and possibly serial rapist, and my mom is asking you what you want for Thanksgiving dinner,” says Tabby.
Imogen wonders if they can match the signatures to the ones in her mom’s yearbook. She admits it’s not just about Angela Waters and how she’s connected to all this. She wants to figure out who her mom was in high school.
Thanksgiving week arrives and Henry (Ben Cook) asks Faran to a movie. She can’t go because she has PT. He doesn’t give up and asks about getting together over Thanksgiving break, revealing his family will just be watching football and he’d rather be with her.
Mr. Smithee talks to Tabby about her project, and she explains her plans for a rape revenge story that will be restrained and metaphoric. He’ll discuss it with the principal, but she needs to get written permission from her mother to do that storyline.
Noa tells Shawn (Alex Aiono) what happened to Tabby and Imogen, and he thinks it’s horrible. Both attacks happened after parties with football players, and she wonders if any of them could have done it. Shawn’s adamant there’s no way any of them committed rape.
Noa doesn’t share the same opinion of the players as Shawn.
Tabby seeks permission from her mom for the film class project due to its subject matter. Her film will be about a woman who was raped and gets her revenge by carving an A on her attacker’s chest. Sidney, obviously taken back, is curious where this subject matter is coming from.
Instead of telling her mom the truth, Tabby says it’s inspired by Angela Waters. Imogen found out Angela was raped before she killed herself. Tabby claims Imogen’s obsessed with Angela and when Imogen told her the story, it stuck with her.
Sidney signs the permission slip.
Imogen lets Kelly (Mallory Bechtel) in on her secret and Kelly feels bad for being awful to her. Cutting to the chase, Imogen explains she’s here because they need her help with the blood drive. Kelly confirms she’s working it and Imogen explains they need to work it too.
Imogen fills her in on their DNA collection plans and Kelly stops her. “Wait…you’re asking me to steal my classmates’ blood?” Imogen confirms they just a few drops and plays the “we were friends” card, hoping Kelly will do the right thing now.
Mouse tries to talk to her mom, Elodie (Lea Salonga), who’s currently separated from Mouse’s other mom and living in a motel. Mouse wants to know why they broke up and asks if it’s because of Angela Waters. Elodie refuses to talk about that and also refuses to answer Mouse’s questions about the identity of her father.
Mouse secretly visits her mom’s pawn shop and locates her birth certificate. Aaron Stevens is listed as her father.
Imogen checks the signatures in her mom’s yearbook but isn’t having any luck. Plus, her senior year is missing. Tabby suggests she take a break since it’s Thanksgiving and they have the blood drive. Imogen admits she’s missing her mom, and it’s almost easier when she’s keeping busy.
Zaria, Maia Reficco, Malia Pyles, Chandler Kinney, Bailee Madison, and Mallory Bechtel in ‘Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin’ episode 8 (Photo by Stephanie Mei-Ling/HBO Max)
Tuesday: Kelly shows up with the girls and tells the nurse they’re ready to volunteer for the blood drive. The nurse sends them out to remind people to donate. Any student who does will get to leave school for the rest of the day and get a free movie pass.
Principal Clanton (Robert Stanton) informs Tabby she can’t do her project. “We can’t have our students exposed to such inappropriate content.” Tabby points out that the sexual assault and trauma in her story is something young women deal with 24/7. It’s the reality we’re living in and he can’t ignore it.
Principal Clanton sympathizes, but he cannot allow the assignment.
Chip (Carson Rowland) asks Imogen over for Thanksgiving and she says she’s already planned to join Tabby and her mom. She offers a counterproposal, telling him that every year she and her mom would volunteer at the soup kitchen. Before she can finish, Chips says he wants to volunteer with her.
Faran shows up in dance class and Madame Giry (Kate Jennings Grant) is surprised to see her. Faran explains she’s been studying Giselle but then Madame Giry breaks the news she’s pushing Giselle back until next year. By then, Faran’s back should be fully healed. Faran insists she’s getting better and has been wearing her brace religiously. Plus, when she isn’t doing PT, she’s exercising at home. Giry explains that even if she wears the brace double time, it won’t speed up her recovery.
Shawn breaks the news to Noa that the football team won’t participate in the blood drive. Some of them use performance-enhancing drugs – even though he doesn’t.
Noa has a Plan B. She tells the girls they should sneak into the locker room when the football team’s practicing and swipe DNA off their mouth guards and other things. If they isolate just the football team’s DNA, it will be easier to tell if one of them is the rapist.
The moms meet and Sidney informs them that Tabby and Imogen are still asking about Angela Waters. Elodie and Marjorie admit both Mouse and Noa are as well. The girls somehow found out that Angela was raped and Corey (Zakiya Young) insists Imogen and Tabby are clearly the ringleaders. Corey urges Sidney to find out how much they know.
Mouse tells Ash (Jordan Gonzalez) that her moms still aren’t speaking to each other. She wants Ash to lie to her that his family’s messed up too, and Ash confesses he was adopted. Still, his parents have been very supportive and loving, even when he came out as trans.
Mouse wonders if he’d want to meet his birthparents if he knew their identities. Ash admits he would, just to see who they are.
Mouse gets the idea to visit her dad and digs out her old Girl Scout vest.
At the theater, Tabby tells Wes (Derek Klena) that she needs to develop a new script for her project because Principal Clanton said it’s too controversial. Wes wonders if it has to do with their conversation about The Last House on the Left and she admits it is, partly.
“In that case, I think you should tell Mr. Smithee to f**k off and make your movie,” says Wes. He suggests she make two movies: one for them and one for her. Tabby agrees he’s right.
A disgruntled man causes a stir at the soup kitchen, and Imogen has a flashback to her mom speaking with a woman while they were volunteering. The woman got upset, and her mom rushed back and said they had to leave at once.
Imogen tells Tabby about the flashback and they both think it might have been Rose Waters. Maybe she came back to Millwood after the Radley Sanitarium shut down. (Sidney’s eavesdropping on this conversation outside the door.)
Wednesday: The blood drive is in full swing. Kelly uses a cotton ball on Chip but then replaces it with a Band-Aid and tosses the cotton ball in a bag. Noa then snags Kelly’s trash bag.
Imogen offers to get more cookies from the nurse’s office and quickly gets on the computer and looks up Angela Waters’ address.
Noa’s mom meets the girls outside and gets the bag full of DNA samples. Faran explains they have the names of every boy who donated blood.
It’ll take a week or two for the results.
The girls plus Kelly make plans for what to do next. Faran asks if they can take one night off from the horror show that is their lives to go to a club that doesn’t ask for IDs.
As the girls dance the night away, Sidney has a flashback to the night Tabby was raped. Tabby came home late and wasn’t acting like herself, but Sidney thought she’d been drinking.
Sidney decides to look through Tabby’s room.
Bailee Madison and Mallory Bechtel in ‘Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin’ episode 8 (Photo by Karolina Wojtasik/HBO Max)
The girls have a blast and officially welcome Kelly to The Losers Club.
Later, Kelly quietly enters her house but her dad, Sheriff Beasley (Eric Johnson), waited up. He demands to know where she’s been until 2am and she doesn’t lie. She even texted her mom. He reveals her mom was asleep when he got home, and Kelly asks where he was. (We’re shown a brief scene of him making out with a guy.) He lies that he was working, and she points out he’s not wearing his uniform.
A giggling Tabby and Imogen come home to an upset Sidney. Sidney speaks with Tabby alone and Tabby demands to know what she’s doing with her laptop. Sidney shows her a shot of the boys locker room and asks if she took those videos.
Sidney can’t believe how much trouble Tabby could get in and blames Imogen for being a bad influence. Tabby cuts her off. “Imogen isn’t the problem, mom. You are – and your secrets are.”
Tabby asks her if she wants to have a real conversation because that’s something they don’t do. Tabby suggests to her mom that if there’s something she wants to ask her, just do it. Sidney doesn’t respond.
Thanksgiving Day: Mouse shows up at her father’s house pretending to be a Girl Scout. A woman and a little girl answer the door and Mouse claims the woman’s husband ordered cookies. The woman walks off to get money and Aaron Stevens comes to the door saying he didn’t order any cookies.
“Do you know who I am, Dad?” asks Mouse. Aaron doesn’t know what she wants but says she needs to leave. Mouse claims she just wants to know him. His wife returns and asks how much she owes, and Aaron says, “Nothing.” Aaron claims it was a misunderstanding and shuts the door in Mouse’s face.
Imogen heads to the soup kitchen and will be back by 6pm.
Noa has Thanksgiving with Shawn’s family since her mom’s working. She asks to use the restroom and goes through Shawn’s gym bag. In an odd turn of events, given that he was so against her mom using, she finds pills in his bag.
Tabby’s deleting all the locker room videos when she gets a text from unknown: “Silence kills.”
Tabby hears shouting downstairs and finds Tyler’s dad telling her mom his son’s still missing and that Tabby must know something. Tyler’s dad knows Tabby attacked his son and thinks she did something else to him, too.
Tabby admits things got out of hand that night, but she swears she doesn’t know where he is.
Imogen goes to the Waters’ house and it’s as run down and creepy as you’d expect it to be. She shouldn’t be going alone, but there she is…knocking on the door.
When no one answers, she walks in and calls out, “Hello! Anyone home?” – a true horror movie cliché.
She explores and sees a bed with restraints tied around the posts. She then spots some kind of animal cage. Instead of getting the hell out of there, she goes upstairs. She discovers the creepy mask hanging up and a body on a bed.
Joe walks in as she’s running downstairs. “I told you to let it go. Why couldn’t you?!” he asks while producing a knife.
A chase breaks out and Imogen gets away.
As Tabby and her mom wait for Imogen to come home, her mom asks if Tyler hurt her and if that’s why she punched him and is making her short film. Tabby admits Tyler didn’t hurt her but then she reveals she was raped. Her mom cries and hugs her.
Greg (Elias Kacavas) and Kelly are making out in his car when she tells him to call her Karen. So weird!
Imogen meets with the girls at the pizza place and tells them what happened at Angela’s house. They decide to confront Joe and end it tonight.
They show up at the Waters’ house armed with butcher knives, but Joe and the body are gone.
They go to the train car where Joe lives and find him hanging, dead. A note below him reads: “Angela Waters did not die in vain.”
Imogen finds her mom’s senior yearbook and Faran asks if they can finally call the police. Imogen agrees but suggests they do it anonymously.
Joe’s writing matches the sixth signature and he’s scratched out their moms’ faces in the yearbook. It’s obvious he hated them for what they did to Angela. The girls believe they’ve solved the puzzle and that Joe was A.
CBS’s The Amazing Race is switching the game up a little with the upcoming 34th season of the Emmy Award-winning reality competition series. The 12 new teams will kick off their adventures in Munich, Germany, marking the first time in the show’s history the racers haven’t begun their adventures in America. Season 34 will also be the first season without any non-elimination pit stops.
Among the contestants embarking on globe-trotting adventures are former NFL cheerleaders, motivational speakers, and long-lost twins. The 12 teams will be traveling to exotic locations including the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, Italy, Spain, Iceland, and Austria. The race will wrap up in Nashville with the presentation of the $1 million grand prize.
Phil Keoghan returns as host and will announce a special twist at the end of the first leg. Keoghan also executive produces along with Jerry Bruckheimer, series co-creator Bertram van Munster, Jonathan Littman, series co-creator Elise Doganieri, Mark Vertullo, and Patrick Cariaga.
The Amazing Race season 34 premieres on September 21, 2022 in its new 10pm ET/PT time period.
The Amazing Race Season 34 Teams
Aastha Lal (33, VP of Operations) and Nina Duong (34, Director Business Dev.)
Engaged from Marina Del Ray, Calif.
Abby Garrett (24, Data Scientist) and Will Freeman (25, Accountant)
Childhood sweethearts from Birmingham, Ala.
Aubrey Ares (29, Dance Studio Owner) and David Hernandez (29, Helicopter Mechanic)
Ballroom dancers from Los Angeles, Calif.
Derek Xiao (24, Product Manager) and Claire Rehfuss (25, AI Engineer)
Reality romance from Los Angeles, Calif.
Emily Bushnell (36, Law Firm Admin) and Molly Sinert (36, Healthcare Admin)
Long-lost twins from Ardmore, Pa. and Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., respectively.
Glenda (41, Insurance Underwriter) and Lumumba Roberts (41, Middle School Teacher)
Newlyweds from Norcross, Ga.
Luis Colon (34, Firefighter) and Michelle Burgos (34, Dancer)
Married from Miami, Fla.
Linton (50, Assistant Principal) and Sharik Atkinson (23, Masters Student)
Father and daughter from Brooklyn, N.Y.
Marcus (38, Army Tank Commander) and Michael Craig (30, Air Force Fighter Pilot)
Military brothers from Richmond Hill, Ga. and Alamogordo, N.M., respectively.
Quinton Peron (29, Choreographer) and Mattie Lynch (27, Dance Coach)
Former Rams cheerleaders from Pasadena, Calif. and Vista, Calif, respectively.
Tim Mann (40, Probation Officer) and Rex Ryan (59, ESPN Analyst)
Golf buddies from Brentwood, Tenn.
Rich Kuo (32, Life Coach) and Dom Jones (35, Gym Owner)
Motivational speakers from Huntington Beach, Calif.
The Amazing Race Synopsis:
The Amazing Race sends 12 teams on a trek around the world. Each team is comprised of two people who have a pre-existing relationship with one another. At every destination, each team competes in a series of challenges – some mental and some physical – and when the tasks have been completed, they learn their next destination. Teams who are farthest behind will gradually be eliminated as the contest progresses, with the first team to arrive at the final destination winning at least $1 million.
Searchlight Pictures just launched a gorgeous teaser trailer for Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light. The 2022 release marks Mendes’ first feature film solo screenwriting credit and is described as “a powerful and poignant story about human connection and the magic of cinema.”
Empire of Light‘s cast includes Oscar winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite) as Hilary, Oscar winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) as Mr. Ellis, Micheal Ward (Small Axe: Lovers Rock) as Stephen, Toby Jones (First Cow) as Norman, Tanya Moodie (A Discovery of Witches) as Delia, and Crystal Clark (The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain) as Ruby. Tom Brooke (The Crown) plays Neil and Hannah Onslow (Call the Midwife) is Janine.
“I’m really thrilled to be working with so many wonderful collaborators across both cast and crew on such a personal project,” said Sam Mendes when production on the film got underway in February 2022. “It’s a particular thrill to be working for the first time with Olivia Colman, and to be working once again with my long-term collaborator Roger Deakins.”
In addition to cinematographer Roger Deakins, Empire of Light‘s behind-the-scenes team includes hair and makeup designer Naomi Donne, editor Lee Smith, sound mixer Stuart Wilson, casting director Nina Gold, and production designer Mark Tildesley.
Mendes is producing the film with Academy Award nominee Pippa Harris under their Neal Street Productions banner. Michael Lerman and Julie Pastor are executive producing.
Searchlight Pictures has set a December 9, 2022 theatrical release date.
A horned, goose-riding magical mystery tour-ish Jason Momoa (Aquaman) welcomes a young girl to the world of dreams in Netflix’s Slumberland teaser trailer. The film’s based on Winsor McCay’s classic comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland and introduces a fantastical dream world far different from Netflix’s The Sandman.
In addition to Jason Momoa, Slumberland stars Kyle Chandler, Marlow Barkley, Chris O’Dowd, Weruche Opia, India de Beaufort, and Humberly González. Francis Lawrence, director of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Mockingjay, directs from a screenplay by David Guion and Michael Handelman. (Lawrence is also currently busy with The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.)
Producers include Lawrence, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, and David Ready.
The teaser trailer was accompanied by new photos from the family-friendly film that’s set to premiere on November 18, 2022.
The Plot:Slumberland takes audiences to a magical new place, a dreamworld where precocious Nemo (Marlow Barkley) and her eccentric companion Flip (Momoa) embark on the adventure of a lifetime. After her father Peter (Chandler) is unexpectedly lost at sea, young Nemo’s idyllic Pacific Northwest existence is completely upended when she is sent to live in the city with her well-meaning but deeply awkward uncle Phillip (O’Dowd).
Her new school and new routine are challenging by day but at night, a secret map to the fantastical world of Slumberland connects Nemo to Flip, a rough-around-the-edges but lovable outlaw who quickly becomes her partner and guide. She and Flip soon find themselves on an incredible journey traversing dreams and fleeing nightmares, where Nemo begins to hope that she will be reunited with her father once again.
June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) feels no remorse for killing the monster who took away her country in the trailer for The Handmaid’s Tale season five. June not only admits to killing the founding father of Gilead, but she also confesses she “loved it so much.”
The trailer also confirms an epic battle between June and Serena Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski) is in store for season five.
In addition to Elisabeth Moss and Yvonne Strahovski, season five stars Bradley Whitford, Max Minghella, O-T Fagbenle, Samira Wiley, Ann Dowd, Madeline Brewer, Amanda Brugel, and Sam Jaeger. Alexis Bledel (“Emily/Ofglen”) is not returning for the new season.
The Handmaid’s Tale season five will premiere on Hulu on September 14, 2022 with the release of the first two episodes. New episodes will follow on Wednesdays.
The critically acclaimed series is based on the bestselling novel by Margaret Atwood. Bruce Miller created the series and serves as an executive producer along with series star Elisabeth Moss, Warren Littlefield, Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, Eric Tuchman, Yahlin Chang, Rachel Skukert, Sheila Hockin, John Weber, Frank Siracusa, Steve Stark, and Kim Todd.
Hulu released the following descriptions of the series and season five:
The Handmaid’s Tale is the story of life in the dystopia of Gilead, a totalitarian society in what was formerly the United States. Offred (Moss), one of the few fertile women known as Handmaids in the oppressive Republic of Gilead, struggles to survive as a reproductive surrogate for a powerful Commander and his resentful wife.
Season 5: June faces consequences for killing Commander Waterford while struggling to redefine her identity and purpose. The widowed Serena attempts to raise her profile in Toronto as Gilead’s influence creeps into Canada. Commander Lawrence works with Nick and Aunt Lydia as he tries to reform Gilead and rise in power. June, Luke, and Moira fight Gilead from a distance as they continue their mission to save and reunite with Hannah.
