📺 What to watch this week
'Goosebumps', 'Wolf Like Me' S2, an underrated British comedy, plus 6 new shows and 2 movies premiering in the next week
Welcome back to Thursday. Negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood studios resumed on Tuesday after stalling out on October 11. One “insider” claims that no new production will start before 2024 unless both sides come to an agreement this week, putting extra pressure on the talks. All of our fingers are crossed for a deal before Halloweekend is over — otherwise we’re sliding into truly spooky territory.
In today’s edition:
Weekly Watchlist
Wolf Like Me - S2 (Peacock)
Goosebumps (Hulu/Disney+)
Stath Lets Flats (Max)
— Jenni Cullen and Jess Spoll
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This newsletter was written during the SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the work of the actors, the shows we review wouldn’t exist.
We keep an eye on all of the new streaming content that is set to premiere. Here’s a list of new shows and movies to watch this week.
American Horror Stories (Season 3) — The spin-off of the long-running American Horror Story is back for a third season in a 4-episode release as part of “Huluween.”
Watch on Hulu: October 26 (all 4 episodes)Five Nights at Freddy’s (Movie) — Adapted from a video game, this supernatural horror film centers around an abandoned arcade where the animatronic mascots come alive after midnight. Josh Hutcherson stars.
Watch on Peacock: October 26 at 8pm ETFellow Travelers (Limited Series) — Created by Ron Nyswander (Homeland) and based on the novel by Thomas Mallon, this miniseries is an epic love story and political thriller chronicling the volatile romance of two very different men (Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer) who meet in McCarthy-era Washington.
Watch on Showtime: October 27 (1 of 8 episodes, then weekly)The Enfield Poltergeist (Limited Series) — This four-part docuseries explores the “real” paranormal events in 1977 that inspired the story behind The Conjuring 2.
Watch on Apple TV+: October 27 (all 4 episodes)Pain Hustlers (Movie) — A broke but ambitious single mom lands a lucrative opportunity in pharmaceutical sales, but soon finds herself in the midst of a criminal conspiracy. Chris Evans and Emily Blunt star.
Watch on Netflix: October 27The Gilded Age (Season 2) — This follow-up season of the period drama will continue to explore the themes of old vs. new money and dramatic societal changes in late 19th century New York.
Watch on Max: October 29 (1 of 8 episodes, then weekly)Black Cake (Season 1) — Based on the NYT-bestselling book by Charmaine Wilkerson, Black Cake is described as a “family drama wrapped in a murder mystery.”
Watch on Hulu: November 1 (3 of 8 episodes, then weekly)All the Light We Cannot See (Miniseries) — In this miniseries based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller by Anthony Doerr, a blind girl and a young German soldier form an unlikely friendship. Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie star.
Watch on Netflix: November 2 (all 4 episodes)
Our thoughts on brand new streaming content, and where you can watch.
Goosebumps
Keywords: mystery, young adult, supernatural, horror
Watch if you like: Harlan Coben’s Shelter, Lockwood & Co, Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Jess’s Rating: C-
Dubbed the Stephen King of children’s literature, R.L. Stine is known for bringing the horror genre to a younger audience with his Goosebumps books, introducing frightening themes into kid-friendly settings. The franchise has since spawned many TV and movie adaptations, with this newest series from Disney blending elements from his most popular stories into an original mystery.
Centered around a group of high schoolers, the series begins with a Halloween party at a haunted house. From there, the teens find themselves embroiled in sinister, creepy situations that seem to stem from their time at the event. The football star finds a polaroid camera that predicts death, the quiet girl stumbles upon a mask that turns her into a monster, and so on. Drawn together by these happenings, the teens work to uncover the truth behind the town’s haunting.
Goosebumps books were ubiquitous in the late 90s/early 00s and incredibly popular with kids in elementary school. It follows that an adaptation aimed at the adults who were children at that time would be popular for nostalgic reasons. Instead, this adaptation seems to be targeting young teens, who are neither the books’ audience nor the audience that would appreciate the trip down memory lane. Along with that confusing choice, the show suffers majorly from Disney Channel syndrome; the dialogue is corny, the acting is exaggerated, and the sub-plots are a regurgitation of every YA melodrama you’ve seen before. It also feels muddled and overstuffed, trying to merge an episode-of-the-week format with a serialized mystery arc.
I’m very clearly not the target audience here, so take my rating with a grain of salt. There are a lot of things that could have been executed better, but if you have (or are) a child that’s too young for Stranger Things and craves some supernatural spookiness, then this could be adequate.
— Jess
Length: 45-min runtime, 1 season / 6 of 10 episodes available, a new one each Friday
Watch on: Disney+ and Hulu
These popular shows came back with new episodes. Here’s what we thought and where you can watch them.
Wolf Like Me - Season 2
Keywords: drama-comedy, rom-com, supernatural
Watch if you like: Based on a True Story, Teen Wolf, The End of the F***ing World
Jess’s Rating: B
🚨 MILD SPOILERS FOR SEASON 1 AHEAD 🚨
If you recall from a few weeks ago when I reviewed the first season of Wolf Like Me, I was somewhat disappointed that the tone of the series was not as campy or as humorous as I’d hoped. Well, maybe they heard me! Season 2 course-corrected and proved itself to be the laugh-out-loud funny dramedy that I knew it had the potential to be.
Josh Gad and Isla Fisher return as Gary and Mary, a single dad and a woman who turns into a wolf every full moon. This time around, they’re dealing with Mary’s pregnancy and grappling with questions like “is the baby a human or a wolf?” and “what happens if Mary goes into labor during the full moon?”
The second season is yet again a short one, with a total runtime of just under 3 hours, and that is, once again, a bummer. For the first season, it meant that the storytelling suffered from pacing issues, with not enough time to organically develop the relationship between our leads. In this season, it means that right when the action really picks up, the season ends and we’re left with a cliffhanger. Now, I have to endure a likely multi-year wait before I get to see more of Isla Fisher as a werewolf. Wolf Like Me still won’t be winning any awards, but it’s become fairly addictive with its quick pace, lovable characters, and wry humor.
— Jess
Length: 30-min runtime, 2 seasons / 13 episodes
Watch on: Peacock
Where we highlight shows that were one-and-done, have ended, or been canceled — and are well-worth revisiting.
Stath Lets Flats (2018 - 2021)
Keywords: sitcom, frantic, British cringe humor
Watch if you like: The Office (UK), Black Books, Peep Show
Jenni’s Rating: A-
Credit for this rec goes to Jess’s sister, who has been urging us to watch Stath Lets Flats for weeks now. She was right, it is 1000% up my alley, and I binged all three seasons in a matter of days.
Stath Lets Flats was created and co-written by its lead Jamie Demetriou, whom you may recognize from his role in Fleabag. The series revolves around Stath, an enthusiastic but utterly inept letting agent (aka leasing and property manager to the non-Brits here) who only has his job because his dad owns the business. Natasia Demetriou also stars as Stath’s lovable, but equally awkward and incompetent sister Sophie, who dreams of becoming a professional singer and dancer.
The most obvious comparison for this show is The Office (UK). Both series feature weird coworker relationships, workplace shenanigans and a tenuous grasp of professionalism. There’s even a will-they-won’t-they romance that will remind you of Tim and Dawn — if Tim and Dawn were both ten times more socially inept. The main difference is that no one in Stath Lets Flats is outright horrible. It’s funny without being mean, and the show leans more on peculiarity than anything else.
With its incredible specificity, physical comedy, and nested jokes, every episode feels a bit like a chaotic, elongated and brilliantly refined sketch. I mean that as a positive, but I know that is not the energy everyone is looking for in their sitcoms. The show definitely has its cringey moments, but if you can soldier through the endless disfunction of people who are truly awful at their jobs, you’ll find the cringe offset by sweet and goofy scenes that help serve as a reminder not to take anything in Stath Lets Flats too seriously.
— Jenni
Length: 22-min runtime, 3 seasons / 18 episodes
Watch on: Max
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I loooved Stath Lets Flats and wish more people knew about it!