Hey hey! I’m Nora, and I write the Screen Time newsletter, BuzzFeed’s weekly roundup of all the TV and movie news you need to know, the shows and movies you need to be watching right now, and much more. And if you’re saying, “Hey! I love all of that stuff,” then you can get Screen Time delivered directly to your inbox by subscribing here!
Here’s what the newsletter is covering this week:
It: Welcome to Derry — watch for: The most terrifying show of the year (complimentary)
Holy shit, this show! Pennywise is back in director Andy Muschietti’s new HBO prequel series to his beloved It and It Chapter Two. The new installment in the franchise, It: Welcome to Derry, takes us back to the 1960s, and things will never be the same. Set in 1962, the series allows fans to see what happens when Derry begins to experience some very unusual things, starting with the disappearance of a young boy. Bill Skarsgård returns as the creepy and famous Pennywise the Clown, as we see how he starts to terrorize the people in this town.
The first episode of this show is BONKERS. I don’t even want to say anything more, for fear of spoiling it for you. If you love horror, you need to move this show to the top of your watch list. It’s a great continuation of the jump scare horror that Muschietti started in the It movies, but it somehow makes those look tame. I cannot recommend this terrifying show enough.
The Way Home — watch for: Highly bingeable time travel fun
I spent the last week binge-watching The Way Home, so I naturally need to recommend it here. Starring Chyler Leigh, Sadie Laflamme-Snow, and Andie MacDowell, the series follows three generations of Landry women, who live together in the small town of Port Haven. Following life-changing events 20 years prior, Kat (Leigh) and her daughter Alice (Laflamme-Snow) move back to town, with Kat trying to reconnect with her estranged mother, Del (MacDowell). While everything might seem ordinary, the Landry family is far from it, and soon Alice finds herself able to travel back in time through her family’s past. As secrets are revealed and past mistakes revisited, all three women learn more about their family’s history and each other.
Y’all, yes, this show is on Hallmark, but it is filling a void that The CW has left me with. The cast is so good, the show is very wholesome, and it also knows how to deliver plot twists after plot twists. Why was I gasping at the TV, like I was watching a prestige HBO series?! If you’re looking for just some fun and lighthearted TV, I highly recommend canceling your plans and watching all of The Way Home (because I have theories and I need to discuss them ASAP).
To celebrate the return of Nobody Wants This — and Noah and Joanne’s chemistry — we had Adam Brody and Kristen Bell play with puppies while answering a ton of questions. They talked about the cast’s group chat, how Justine Lupe is most likely to break character while filming a scene, what it was like working with Leighton Meester, and what they each think Noah and Joanne’s green (and red) flags are.
Outside of the show, Adam and Kristen also found time to chat about the roles they auditioned for but didn’t get, such as how Kristen auditioned for Tangled, and that failed audition led to her getting the role of Anna in Frozen. You can watch all the cuteness below:
This week was Halloween Night on Dancing with the Stars. Not only did the couples each perform a dance, but the show also brought back the dance marathon for extra points. There was also drama in the ballroom, with Elaine Hendrix unable to perform this week due to an injury during rehearsal.
Personally, my favorite dances this week were Jordan Chiles and Ezra Sosa’s contemporary to “Elastic Heart,” Robert Irwin and Witney Carson’s Argentine tango to “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” and Alix Earle and Val Chmerkovskiy’s tango to “Bury a Friend.” Robert and Alix both scored their first 10s of the season, too! In the end, Jen Affleck and Jan Ravnik were sadly eliminated, which Whitney Leavitt didn’t seem too upset about…
So, here are some of the funniest (and best) reactions to this week’s DWTS episode:
Also, Netflix officially released the trailer for Stranger Things Season 5. Set in the fall of 1987, the final season follows our group as they have one goal in mind: to find and kill Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). As Hawkins continues to deal with opening rifts and other general chaos, the town’s quarantine intensifies, and a new hunt for Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) begins. The final battle is upon us, and with the full party ready to fight together, anything can happen. Listen, I got emotional in this trailer when Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) was hugging all of the kids. Also, Will (Noah Schnapp) finally coming face-to-face with Vecna!!! HUGE!
I’m ready for this show to end, but I know it’s going to emotionally destroy me. The final season will be divided into three parts, with Volume 1 dropping on Nov. 26, Volume 2 on Dec. 25, and the finale on New Year’s Eve. Each part will drop on Netflix at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. You can watch the full trailer by clicking below:
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Netflix / Via youtube.com
What is the best comedy TV show from before 1980?
My favorite comedy show from that time period that I grew up watching was Soap. My mom bought me the DVD box set for Christmas one year because she thought I would love it, and I binge-watched it in, like, a week. It’s such a smart and funny comedy series with an incredible cast and bonkers storylines.
You can’t call yourself a true comedy fan unless you’ve experienced Katherine Helmond as Jessica Tate and Robert Guillaume as Benson. They are two of the best TV characters. Plus, Billy Crystal played the first openly gay character on primetime TV with his portrayal of Jodie. You can actually watch the first episode for free on YouTube here.
Well, that’s all I’ve got for this week’s edition of Screen Time. Come back every week to get more TV and movie recommendations, find out which celebs we’re working with, and so much more!
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