Murdaugh Murders Podcast to Become Drama Series at Hulu

Last week, Fox renewed The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Bob’s Burgers for at least two more seasons each through 2025, and this week a new deal with Hulu will ensure that every one of those episodes will be on the streaming service the day after it airs. Deadline reports that this deal came just ahead of when the companies’ previous deal was set to end in September.

Some of this year’s most anticipated series will make their debuts at the 2023 SXSW Film & Television Festival taking place March 10 through 19 in Austin, Texas. The festival kicks off with the first look at Donald Glover’s Swarm (yes, the Beyoncé-inspired show Malia Obama worked on) and closes with the premiere of the dark comedy Beef, starring Ali Wong and Steven Yuen. 10 more series representing every streaming service out there will screen in between.

Jerrod Carmichael’s had a big year. Since his Emmy-winning comedy special, Rothaniel, dropped in April 2022, he’s gained widespread attention with major gigs like hosting Saturday Night Live and the Golden Globes. The latter allowed him to publicly criticize one of the entertainment industry’s largest institutions (the Hollywood Foreign Press Association), a move that during a different time may have made him a pariah in the business. But Carmichael seems to be doing just fine, and continues to be celebrated for the authenticity of his comedy — HBO just announced a comedy documentary project starring Carmichael has been ordered to series.

[Editor’s Note: This post contains spoilers for The Last of Us Season 1, Episode 4, "Please Hold My Hand."]. Last week, The Last of Us deviated from the course of the original video game narrative to tell a self-contained, pandemic-spanning love story between two survivors, to more or less huge acclaim. In this week's episode, the show departs some more, introducing a wholly original character into the mix. Melanie Lynskey makes her first appearance as Kathleen, the leader of a band of rebel citizens in Kansas City who are seemingly bent on a mission of vengeance for reasons that are only revealed in bits and pieces to the audience. Lynskey, an Emmy nominee for Yellowjackets who's riding one of the hottest streaks of her 30-year career, is a canny bit of casting for a role like this. She's an unlikely choice to lead a violent band of survivors, but that's exactly why she works so well.

Communities often form in the aftermath of a tragedy, from neighbors standing outside a burning house to survivors founding an advocacy group, and in 21st-century television, these ad hoc societies are often tinged with terror: Think of the cult on Yellowjackets, the smoke monster that chases the Lost islanders, or the troupe of artists that learns to kill on Station Eleven. Considering the anxiety that’s pervaded this century — and the catastrophes that have stacked up like leaves on the ground — this fraught tone might almost feel necessary. And that’s why Dear Edward is such a heartrending surprise. Though it begins in grief, it refuses to stay there.

When the story broke in 2019 that a coercive sex cult had been uncovered on the campus of Sarah Lawrence College, you could practically hear the documentary cameras getting set up. There's a fascination with cults on TV — look no further than HBO's The Vow for proof — and, in particular, with how free-thinking, rational people can fall under the sway of a charismatic figure who convinces them to act in ways that both harm them and isolate them from their loved ones. The Sarah Lawrence cult had a grotesque but compelling character at its center in Larry Ray, who moved into his daughter Talia's campus housing and within a couple of years wreaked emotional, physical, and sexual damage on a small group of Talia's friends and classmates.

Peacock is getting out of the free streaming game. A sign-up page on Peacock's website reveals new customers are no longer able to create a free account, once a key component of the service's branding. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, NBCUniversal launched Peacock in 2020 with the promise that it...

Madeley reveals Mrs. Hall's long-awaited reunion with her son opens the door for love. [Editor’s Note: This interview contains spoilers for All Creatures Great and Small Season 3, Episode 5, “Edward.”]. For three seasons, All Creatures Great and Small’s Mrs. Audrey Hall, played by Anna Madeley, has...

It’s all fun and games until somebody uses their superpowers to start a violent revolution. The trailer for Prime Video’s The Power goes hard on the show's high-concept premise, about all the teenage girls in the world simultaneously developing the ability to conduct electricity through their hands. Playing...

Series star Molino and showrunner Emily Fox tease what's to come for Freeform's new mystery. Editor’s Note: This interview contains spoilers for the first two episodes of The Watchful Eye, “Hen in the Fox House” and “Hide and Seek.”. After making her U.S. television debut in...

Anyone eager for a sophisticated dramatization of the Gwen Shamblin story should wait until HBO Max releases its upcoming series with Sarah Paulson. However, those craving a tawdrier take on the life, death, and weight-obsessed ministry of the accused cult leader can fire up their screens now. Lifetime’s new movie Gwen Shamblin: Starving For Salvation may not be tasteful or even very artful, but it lays out the facts with gossipy zeal, like someone screen-grabbing the juiciest bits of a tabloid story and texting them to a group chat. And to be clear: That’s fine. Sometimes, lurid escapism can be just as satisfying as tony drama, and Shamblin’s story is compelling enough for both.

[Editor's Note: This post contains spoilers for Poker Face Season 1, Episode 5.]. If it’s going to work, then “Time of the Monkey,” the fifth episode of Peacock's new mystery series Poker Face, has to trick us into loving the murderers. The gut-punch twist of the final act won’t land unless we spend the previous 30 minutes rooting for a pair of old hippies who have landed in an upscale retirement community. The script does a fantastic job of making them seem like counterculture heroines, but just as importantly, they’re played by Judith Light and S. Epatha Merkerson, whose careers have conditioned us to trust them on sight.

Freeform thriller The Watchful Eye may look like a spiritual successor to Cruel Summer, the anthology that became an instant hit when it debuted in 2021, but viewers would be wise to resist comparing the two. While Cruel Summer’s first season examined grooming and the villainization of women by 1990s media culture, The Watchful Eye layers a Hitchcockian premise with the “eat the rich” sentiment that has taken hold of contemporary pop culture. The result is a young adult drama that’s both compulsively watchable and socially aware, a rare combination in the genre.

When the Black vocal group The 5th Dimension released their 1969 anthem “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” they sought to capture their community’s skepticism about the government. Taken from the counter-cultural musical Hair, the song’s lyrics are a call to action: regain control of your environment, let the sun shine in, and you will have “no more falsehoods and derisions.” Three years later, when Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman to run for president of the United States, she echoed those sentiments in her announcement speech, calling for a need to “reshape our society and regain control of our destiny.” Music captured the feelings of a community, and the community responded with an organized social movement. The New PBS documentary Fight The Power: How Hip Hop Changed The World argues that this call and response helped hip hop become a tool for Black Liberation, but as it seeks to prove that thesis, it skims over the inherent challenge of advocating for radical political reform while trying to appeal to a mainstream audience.

Just when you thought media executives couldn't get any less creative when it comes to naming streaming services, along comes Paramount+ with Showtime. On Monday, Paramount CEO Bob Bakish announced that Paramount+ and Showtime will be integrated, with Paramount+'s premium streaming tier and the Showtime linear TV network set to be rebranded in the United States.

He may have the silliest name, but Tricki Woo is the most powerful dog on TV. Consider this clip from “What a Balls Up!,” the Season 3 episode of All Creatures Great and Small that aired January 29 on PBS. Clip provided by Masterpiece. Those who watch the...

[Spoilers abound for The Last of Us Episode 3, "Long Long Time," and both The Last of Us games.]. In the decade since its release, much has been written about representation within The Last of Us video game and, even more notably, its sequel Part II. The series has garnered as much praise for its handling of queer relationships in the midst of an apocalyptic scenario as criticism about the way the games approach everything from race to trans characters.

Netflix may not be cracking down on password and account sharing after all. Earlier this week the internet was abuzz when the streaming service announced new policies that would require Netflix users to verify home devices once a month. Devices that were not connected to the home wifi could be blocked unless the Netflix plan was upgraded at a higher cost. However, those policies are no longer on Netflix's website, and the company claims they were posted by accident.