Harry Potter gets the Friends treatment
Harry Potter gets the Friends treatment
New Spidey trailer and a cult sitcom returns
What to know
Harry Potter trio, Chris Columbus, and others to reunite for HBO Max special… The Potter gang is getting the Friends treatment and coming together for a 20th anniversary retrospective on New Year’s Day. The special will be produced by Casey Patterson, who did the West Wing reunion last year, so you know it’s going to be good… as long as James Corden isn’t involved. 🪄
Party Down cast to return for six-episode revival, minus Lizzy Caplan… Adam Scott, Jane Lynch, Ken Marino, Martin Starr, Ryan Hansen and Megan Mullally will pull their white button-downs and pink bow ties out of the closet for 6 more episodes on Starz, while Caplan is busy doing shows at Paramount+ and FX. The original creators of the beloved cult sitcom will be back too. For a show about following your dreams and failing, it will be interesting to see how the cater waiters’ lives have changed over the years. Maybe we’ll finally find out if we’re having fun yet. 🎀
Netflix is getting more transparent with its views… HBO never used to release its ratings — until its shows started doing so well, it couldn’t help but brag. Looks like Netflix is slowly following that path. It will put out weekly numbers and Top 10 lists showcasing the shows it says are doing best. There should be some interesting insights to come — if you trust Netflix’s numbers! Speaking of which, the TUDUM platform says Squid Game is its biggest show ever 1.65 billion hours streamed in its first four weeks. 🍿
A real San Francisco bus driver analyzed the Shang-Chi bus fight… This is a shockingly engaging Twitter thread. As you could have guessed, the movie’s bus driver should have hit the emergency brakes way earlier than he did. 🚌
Kirsten Dunst calls out ‘extreme’ pay gap on Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies… Good on Kirsten Dunst for capitalizing on all the Spidey buzz and nostalgia with an important reminder about pay inequality! Very savvy activism 😮
Kathleen Kennedy reups at Lucasfilm for 3 more years… Some Star Wars fans detest Kennedy and her leadership—and while the franchise hasn’t been perfect during her tenure—it has put out a number of great things. ✨
Karen Gillan to star in Disney+ animated musical series from Danny Elfman and Suburgatory creator Emily Kapnek… That’s an interesting team up! Can Gillan sing? Interestingly, she and Kapnek previously worked together on ABC’s Selfie, a sitcom co-starring John Cho that was titled Selfie. 🎼
Times Square to welcome back (vaccinated) partiers on New Year’s Eve… Seems risky to me, but you do you, Times Square New Year’s Eve people 🔮
Exciting new Don’t Look Up trailer is here… can’t wait for Netflix to ruin Christmas with this pitch black satire on Dec. 24 ☄️
LeVar Burton to host Trivial Pursuit game show… you happy now Jeopardy!-LeVar Burton folks? 🎤
For more pop culture news, discussion, and what-to-watch recommendations subscribe to my pals over on the Kickball Friends podcast. 🎙
What’s new this week:
Cowboy Bebop — Nov 19 Netflix sci-fi series | 🍅 41%
The Wheel of Time — Nov 19 Amazon fantasy series | 🍅 69%
King Richard — Nov 19 HBO Max & theaters drama film | 🍅 92%
tick, tick… BOOM! — Nov 19 Netflix & theaters musical film | 🍅 89%
Ghostbusters: Afterlife — Nov 19 in theaters sci-fi family film | 🍅 67%
What to watch:
Trailer: Spider-Man: No Way Home — Dec 17
Hot damn! Now that is a trailer. The hype for this movie is already at peak levels, but Sony just somehow raised the stakes. This thing is high octane front-to-back, forgoing too many plot details for big action sequences instead. And why the hell not? You can feel the emotion and the drama through all that bravado. [SPOILERS HEREIN] This trailer also hard confirms 3 more villains: Jamie Foxx’s Electro, Thomas Hayden Church’s Sandman, and Rhys Ifans’ the Lizard, bringing the total to 5 out of the Sinister Six. Additionally, we get the twist that Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock will be helping or at least aligned with Peter and the gang at some point. Very interesting! No, we didn’t get confirmation of Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire — so if they are indeed in the movie, it will be a nice surprise — unless leakers spoil it for everyone first.
For all past ‘what to watch’ recommendations, see the full list here!