Let’s talk about ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ instead of the actual terrifying shit happening in D.C. right now

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized

It is Monday. 22 days until Election Day. 1 day before early voting here in Texas.

 

All Other TV News

I spent the weekend bingeing The Haunting of Bly Manor, and though it starts a little rough (some of the accents are really irritating) and it’s not SCARY scary, it develops into something really moving and special. And that ending … The bottom line: if you were a fan of The Haunting of Hill House, give it a chance, even if the first episode or two feels a little clunky.

What follows are potential spoilers, so tread carefully: Apparently, the dollhouse serves as a ghost tracker, if you’re looking for the spirits in the house. Here are all the times the children weren’t … themselves. Here are some BIG spoilers about Hannah’s story from the actress’s perspective.  TV Guide found a bunch of Hill House easter eggs.

Finally, the wonderful Joanna Robinson at Vanity Fair does a great job explaining the connection of each episode of The Haunting of Bly Manor to a particular Henry James story — it’s not just Turn of the Screw that is referenced in the show. This piece also helps explain some of the weaker elements of the series, in that the creator and the writers were trying to allude to James’ works while writing this cohesive haunted house story. Sometimes those story pieces might not have retroactively fit together as well as they may have hoped. Still: A for effort and for a terrific ending that really did make the series worth it.

Damon Lindelof reveals that the whispers were one part Smoke Monster, one part actual ghosts, one part convenient writing. As for who was on the outrigger, that secret will go with Darlton to their graves.

Can’t wait to see what this year’s Bachelorette scandal based on the show not doing adequate background checks will be!

Obviously, Jason Momoa came up with Khal Drogo’s most amazing “come at me bro” moment.

CBS is being sued by some actors on NCIS: New Orleans who played jewelry store robbers a few years ago. Turns out the show didn’t acquire proper permits, and so when they filmed the scene, people called the police who showed up and pointed their weapons at the actors. Whoops.

Tiger King‘s Doc Antle has FINALLY been charged with animal cruelty and wildlife trafficking. Somewhere in Florida, Carol Baskin is popping the champagne.

The official Netflix logline for The Witcher season two says that Geralt of Rivia believes that Yennifer is dead, but lookee here:

James Murdoch speaks out about his decision to leave the family business in this interview at The New York Times — basically, his family was pushing lies:

“I reached the conclusion that you can venerate a contest of ideas, if you will, and we all do and that’s important,” he told me. “But it shouldn’t be in a way that hides agendas. A contest of ideas shouldn’t be used to legitimize disinformation. And I think it’s often taken advantage of. And I think at great news organizations, the mission really should be to introduce fact to disperse doubt — not to sow doubt, to obscure fact, if you will.

“And I just felt increasingly uncomfortable with my position on the board having some disagreements over how certain decisions are being made. So it was actually not that hard a decision to remove myself and have a kind of cleaner slate.”

Also, he claims he doesn’t watch Succession, but come on.

Whoopi Goldberg refuses to be your magical negro.

The cast of GLOW had a YouTube reunion scheduled before they found out the show was unexpectedly canceled, but went through with it anyway. As Betty Gilpin said: “We scheduled this Zoom when we thought we still had a season four so it feels like we invited you to our wedding and then the groom had sex with a cross-eyed cocktail waitress and now we’re all just drunk at the venue together and we’re like ‘enjoy the quiches because it’s over,” she said on Saturday. “If this wedding is now a funeral, let’s make it one of those fun great ones.”

Eric Kripke talks about what to expect from Jensen Ackels on The Boys next season — but proceed cautiously, it contains spoilers about season two.

Tucker Carlson sure is bunched up about UFOs.

Political Crap

I’m going to be honest with you: I am too exhausted and furious to really talk about politics today. The cynical Republicans are barrelling through their own hypocrisy, COVID, and Justice Ginsburg’s final wishes to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, beginning hearings this morning. They’re going to fill this vacancy — despite the fact that most Americans don’t want them to, and despite the fact that over 9 million Americans have already voted in this most unprecedented election — with a woman determined to reverse Roe, and the ACA, and possibly turn over the election to President COVID, and there’s little we can do about it. For now.

Every time you hear someone in the media demand to know where Biden stands on court packing or clutching their pearls at the mere idea of it, I want you to mentally play that clip of Mitch McConnell giggling about how he single-handedly ran the federal judiciary during Obama’s administration to his favor. We will come back to this and we can talk about “court packing,” but it will have to be on a day when I have a little bit more emotional energy.

Right now, I am angry and am just keeping my eyes focused on tomorrow, the first day I can vote early. I hope you will join me if you are in the great state of Texas, and I hope you vote all the way down the ballot. If you’re not lucky enough to be a Texan (she said somewhat — but only somewhat — tongue in cheek), check when your state will begin early voting (if they haven’t already) here.

 

In other news, despite all their efforts to discredit and undermine Dr. Fauci, the White House knows perfectly well that the American people trust him more than President Hacky on the issue of COVID-19, which is why they used a manipulated quote by him in a campaign ad. Understandably, he’s pissed.

“In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate. The comments attributed to me without my permission in the GOP campaign ad were taken out of context from a broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials,” Fauci said in a statement to CNN.

On the one hand, Dr. Fauci should — and probably wants to — quit this shitshow. On the other hand, God only knows who’d they put in as his replacement. Jared? Ms. Ukraine 2007? The White House raccoon?

Finally, President Meme wanted his return home from Walter Reed to be a lot stupider than it already was. This is from The New York Times, and there is literally nothing I could do to possibly make this more ridiculous than it is:

In several phone calls last weekend from the presidential suite at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Mr. Trump shared an idea he was considering: When he left the hospital, he wanted to appear frail at first when people saw him, according to people with knowledge of the conversations. But underneath his button-down dress shirt, he would wear a Superman T-shirt, which he would reveal as a symbol of strength when he ripped open the top layer. He ultimately did not go ahead with the stunt.

OH HE DIDN’T? WHY NOT?

Seriously, is there such a thing as a Citizen’s 25th Amendment? Can we just all agree to 25th Amendment him already?

Going Viral

The Wrap has a good run-down of how TV shows have incorporated COVID into their storylines so far. Expect more to come.

Huh. According to the head of Netflix, the safety measures being put in place on set have actually saved them money. Great! So bring back GLOW!

Keira Knightley has pulled out of The Essex Serpent for Apple TV+ because of COVID-related child care issues.

Young Sheldon had to pause production after a production member tested positive.

Disney+’s Obi-Wan series will begin filming in March after having been postponed because of the virus.

A Discovery of Witches has resumed filming after a positive test.

We’re going back inside and taking off our masks and acting as though socializing with just a few people is safe when it is not and now we have hit over 56,000 positive cases in one day. YOU GUYS.

Disneyland is making plans like they’re going to reopen soon. Good luck with that, guys. I’m pretty sure we are at the start of a third wave, so maybe not just yet? I dunno.

Patty Jenkins, director of Wonder Woman, is warning Congress that if they don’t od something to save movie theaters, the industry may never recover. Yeah, good luck with that Patty. They’re too busy hypocritically shoving through a Supreme Court nominee to worry about anyone affected by COVID-19.

The Patriots continue to test positive. The game against the Broncos has had to be pushed back to next Sunday after already being pushed back once.

Finally, stock up on cleaning supplies — if you can find them.

In Development

Casting News

  • Susan Sarandon will star in the thriller Red Bird Lane on HBO Max. Kiersey Clemons, Isidora Goreshter, Danny Huston, Ash Santos, Fiona Dourif, Dizzie Harris, and Tara Lynne Barr will also star.
  • Ashley Park is joining the cast of Girls5Eva on Peacock.
  • Greta Lee and Ruairi O’Connor are joining the cast of The Morning Show.
  • Tracy Vilar is joining the cast of Maid on Netflix.
  • Anna Friel will star in the upcoming anthology series, The Box.
  • Karla Mosley is leaving The Bold and the Beautiful.

Mark Your Calendar

  • American Gods returns on Starz in early 2021.
  • Evil will return on CBS … at some point.
  • Animaniacs returns on Hulu on November 20.
  • A Teacher will premiere on FX on Hulu on November 10.
  • A Discovery of Witches returns on Sky in January. No word on a U.S. date yet.
  • Murder on Middle Beach will premiere on HBO on November 15.
  • Resident Alien will debut on Syfy in January.
  • Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous will return on Netflix in2021.
  • The Astronauts will debut on Nickelodeon on November 13.
  • Barbarians will debut on Netflix on October 23.
  • Love & Anarchy will premiere on Netflix on November 4.
  • Rogue City will debut on Netflix on October 30.
  • The Watch will premiere on BBC on January 3.
  • Suburra will return on Netflix on October 30.

R.I.P.

Tom Kennedy, Host of Name That Tune

Joe Morgan, MLB Hall of Famer and Broadcaster

Margaret Nolan, Actress known for Goldfinger

WATCH THIS

One Day at a Time: One Day at a Time — more like one network at a time. (That was terrible, and I am sorry.) The reboot of One Day at a Time which first debuted on Netflix only to move over to Pop TV now has its debut on CBS to fill some time until CBS’s actual shows can premiere next month sometime. It’s as good a time as any to check out this critical darling. Premiere (sorta). 8 p.m., CBS

Last Looks: Dakota Fanning narrates this new true-crime series which looks specifically at crimes that took place within the fashion industry. Series premiere. Quibi

Late Night:

  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Rashida Jones, Rufus Wainwright
  • The Daily Show: The Daily Social Distancing Show
  • Watch What Happens Live: Christine “Bugsy” Drake, Jessica More, Aesha Scott

MON. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Dancing With the Stars
(new)		 Emergency Call
(new)
CBS Big Brother
(new)		 One Day at a Time
(new)		 One Day at a Time
(new)		 Manhunt: Deadly Games
(new)
CW Whose Line is it Anyway?
(new)		 Whose Line is it Anyway?
(repeat)		 Penn & Teller: Try This At Home Too
(new)		 Local
FOX MLB Playoff
(live)		 News/Local
NBC American Ninja Warrior
(new)		 Dateline NBC

Leave a Reply