The WGA writers’ strike is over, which means the late-night talkers are back starting tonight: The Late with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Seth Meyers (my two personal faves), Jimmy Kimmel Live, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. (Real Time with Bill Maher and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver returned over the weekend, so check your Max.)
This week’s What to Watch picks include the new season premieres of Loki and Our Flag Means Death, the comedy-slasher flick Totally Killer, the returns of Chucky and Quantum Leap, the horror prequel Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, and MLB Playoffs action. Bring on October!
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What’s premiering this week
Loki | Disney+ | Drama, fantasy
Season 2 premiere, Thursday, October 5: Let’s all pretend that Secret Invasion never happened and just rejoice over the return of Loki, shall we? Marvel’s multiversal mischief man Loki (Tom Hiddleston) was staring down a familiar-but-unfriendly Time Variance Agency at the end of season 1, and, even worse, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) had gone missing. Will Loki be able to stop this TVA’s evil plans and find Sylvie? Fortunately, he’ll have some help from newcomer Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once) and shameless McDonald’s product placement.
Coverage begins Tuesday, October 3: The Major League Baseball postseason kicks off with the Wild Card Series, a best-of-three contest to determine if the Milwaukee Brewers, the Philadephia Phillies (National League), or the Tampa Bay Rays (American League) will move on to next week’s Division Series on FOX, FS1, TBS, and MLB Network. As for the eventual World Series (October 27), the odds-on favorites to win it all are the Atlanta Braves, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Baltimore Orioles (not that we’re betting … as far as you know).
What to watch on Netflix this week
Everything Now | Netflix | Comedy, drama
Series premiere, Thursday, October 5: If you’re already missing Sex Education and Heartstopper, here’s another British teen coming-of-age dramedy: Everything Now. After a long hospital stay for anorexia treatment, 16-year-old Mia (Sophie Wilde, Talk to Me) is determined to make up for lost time by checking off a list of teen experiences she’s missed out on. Fun factoid: The series was created and written by Ripley Parker, the barely-post-teen daughter of actress Thadwie Newton (Westworld).
Brand New Cherry Flavor | Netflix | Drama, horror
Series, now streaming: “An aspiring film director in the sun-drenched but seamy world of 1990 Los Angeles embarks on a mind-altering journey of supernatural revenge”—how did you miss this in 2021? Brand New Cherry Flavor is a hallucinatory nightmare playing out in real-time with no sane end in sight—the perfect Halloween season binge-watch. You may recognize star Rosa Salazar from American Horror Story or The Maze Runner, but less likely as the titular animated lead of Alita: Battle Angel.
What to watch on Max this week
Our Flag Means Death | Max | Comedy
Season 2 premiere, Thursday, October 5: Taika Waititi’s delightfully daffy pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death ended its 2022 debut season with a bit of a bummer when the romance between Blackbeard (Waititi) and Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) crashed upon the shore. Season 2 finds “gentleman pirate” Stede penniless and shipless while heartbroken Blackbeard returns to his scourge-of-the-high-seas roots—will love find a way? Also: Watch for new cast members Minnie Driver and Bronson Pinchot.
Beetlejuice | Max | Comedy, horror
Movie, now streaming: It’s been a minute since the 1988 classic Beetlejuice has been available to stream without an extra rental fee, but the ghost with the most has materialized on Max for the month. The hilarious battle of the ghostly Maitlands (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) versus the annoyingly alive Deetzes (Catherine O’Hara, Jeffrey Davis, and Winona Ryder) versus manic spirit Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) can’t be topped, even though BeetleJuice 2 is coming in 2024—good luck with that, Tim Burton.
What to watch on Peacock this week
Season 3 premiere, Wednesday, October 4: Mr. Chucky Goes to Washington? That’s the plot of season 3 of Chucky, in which the red-headed terror is now under the arm of the youngest son of the President of the United States, making him the second-worst D.C. outsider ever. If old “pals” Jake (Zackary Arthur), Devon (Björgvin Arnarson), and Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind) can’t get to him in the White House, who knows what havoc Chucky will wreak? The third season of Chucky will air on USA and Syfy, but not MSNBC.
Season 2 premiere, Wednesday, October 4: Last year’s reboot of ’80s sci-fi series Quantum Leap surprised pretty much everyone by not sucking. This year’s surprise is actually having most of a new season ready to go for the fall despite the summer writers’ strike. (Did they … go back in time? How meta.) In the season 2 opener, Ben (Raymond Lee) finds himself not back in his own time, but in 1978, aboard a top-secret military flight with a mysterious cargo(!). You should really catch up on Quantum Leap.
W2W wildcards of the week
Totally Killer | Prime Video | Comedy, horror
Movie premiere, Friday, October 6: More time-travel action? Like, tubular. Decades after he hacked up three teens, the “Sweet 16 Killer” is back in the ‘burbs on Halloween night when he encounters Jamie (Kiernan Shipka). One photo-booth scuffle later, and Jamie is transported to 1987—just go with the weird science. Naturally, she decides to join up with her own teenage mom to take out the masked murderer before she becomes trapped in the time of big hair and bad weed. Totally Killer totally lives up to the title.
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines | Paramount+ | Drama, horror
Movie premiere, Friday, October 6: Paramount’s rebootapalooza continues with Pet Semetary: Bloodlines, a 1969-set prequel to the Stephen King novel and movies. Young Jud Crandall (Jackson White) discovers a local cemetery wherein the dead come back to life and a dark family secret that will forever tie him to the town of Ludlow—rough day for Jud. Pet Semetary: Bloodlines also stars Samantha Mathis, David Duchovny, and Pam Grier, with Montreal, Canada standing in for King’s beloved Maine backdrop.
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