Charlize Theron took her girls on a post-Thanksgiving getaway! The actress was casual in an oversized jean jacket as she touched down in Mexico.

Charlize Theron, 46, is enjoying a vacation with her daughters Jackson, 9, and August, 6! The Bombshell actress was spotted arriving with her girls in sunny Los Cabos, Mexico on Friday, Nov. 26 — just a day after Thanksgiving. Charlize was casually dressed in a pink floral sundress which she covered up with a ’90s inspired oversized jean jacket as the trio were about to get into a waiting white SUV in the photos published by the DailyMail.

She also sported a protective black face mask due to COVID-19, also accessorizing with a pair of sunglasses. Charlize opted to keep her blonde hair up in a tiny bun for the travel day. Jackson stood to her right in what appeared to be a black-and-white floral dress, while the younger August sported a casual white t-shirt. Jackson appeared more than ready to get into the car — presumably taking them to a hotel — as she walked in front of her Oscar winning mom to get inside.

The Los Cabos region, which is part of the Baja California region of Mexico, includes the towns Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo. The area has an array of resorts and hotels, and is a popular destination for Los Angeles natives due to the short travel distance.

Charlize became a mother after adopting Jackson in 2012, followed by August three years later. “I have two beautiful daughters who, just like any parent, I want to protect and I want to see thrive,” she said to DailyMail back in 2019. “They were born who they are and exactly where in the world both of them get to find themselves as they grow up, and who they want to be, is not for me to decide,” the South Africa native added.

“My job as a parent is to celebrate them and to love them and to make sure that they have everything they need in order to be what they want to be. And I will do everything in my power for my kids to have that right and to be protected within that,” she also said to the outlet about parenthood.

‘The Bachelorette’ star took to Reddit to explain that he and his new girlfriend Katie Thurston didn’t start up their romance while she was still engaged to ex Blake Moynes and only had a ‘friendship.’

John Hersey, 27, is speaking out against the critics who are questioning whether there was infidelity involved in his new relationship with Katie Thurston, 30. The former Bachelorette star recently confirmed his romance with his new girlfriend, who was previously engaged to Blake Moynes, 31, and admitted that they started off as friends after meeting on the Bachelorette and when they unexpectedly became more, it was not when she was still involved with her ex.

“Katie and I developed an incredible and deep friendship over the last half year or so,” Hersey, 27, wrote in a Reddit thread on Nov. 26, which Page Six verified. “The circumstances by which this friendship formed was a series of crazy, random, and coincidental events, that I’m sure you will all hear about at a later time. My point for now, is that we were ALWAYS platonic.”

“The boundaries of our friendship with respect to her ongoing relationship never even required addressing, because it was never a thought in our minds that we would ever be anything more,” he continued before further explaining that although Katie, who was the “bachelorette’ on the 17th season of the reality show, was “engaged” at the time, her fans “misjudged” the way they viewed the “commitment.”

“Neither Katie nor I would ever cheat, push someone to cheat, or be involved in cheating,” he shared. “It is not in our nature. It is not acceptable. It is not okay.”

“There was no wrongdoing prior to the end of their engagement,” he added.

John’s message comes after fans have been questioning the timing of he and Katie’s new relationship, which they went public with one month after she broke off her engagement to Blake. Although he denied cheating in his Reddit post, he did open up about the possibility of “emotional cheating” in a recent interview on Bachelorette alums Mike Johnson and Bryan Abasolo‘s Talking It Out podcast.

“There was clearly emotional [cheating] for it to transition as quickly as it did,” he said. “I don’t know if it was partially me too. Like, was she in some sense emotionally cheating to some degree?”

Blake also made headlines when he admitted he was having “a hard time processing” John and Katie’s new relationship, and John also responded to that in his new Reddit post. “Once Katie and I realized there was a romantic connection that we were interested in exploring, we were not starting from scratch; we were building off of the foundation of a close friendship through which, we had already gotten to know each other so well,” he wrote. “Every step of the way felt so right.”

Scott Disick was spotted on a dinner date with his new/old flame Christine Burke, almost a week after they enjoyed a night out together in West Hollywood.

Scott Disick stepped out with his ex Christine Burke once again, adding fuel to the rumors that the pair are back on! The former flames, who have dated on and off since 2016, were spotted leaving a dinner date at Nobu in Malibu the day after Thanksgiving. Scott, 38, kept it casual in a black bomber jacket, pants and baseball hat, while the 25-year-old model followed suit in a a white tank top, sweater and faded jeans. They appeared to be enjoying themselves as they walked alongside each other while exiting the celebrity hot spot.

The outing comes after the duo were spotting hitting the town in West Hollywood earlier this month. But Scott doesn’t appear to be settling down just yet after his split from Amelia Hamlin, as he was also seen hanging out with Brooklyn Beckham‘s ex Hana Cross, 23, on Nov. 9. And last month, the father-of-three was photographed with 23-year-old model Elizabeth Grace Lindley.

Scott definitely seems to be having fun with his new single status, even in the midst of his ex Kourtney Kardashian’s whirlwind engagement to Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. “Scott is handling this situation as best as he knows how,” a source EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife about the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star’s feelings on Kourtney and Travis’ engagement. “As much as Scott knows that Kourtney will always be in his life, it’s not the same as it was last year. After Scott and Sofia [Richie] broke up, he was closer than he’s been with Kourtney in a long time and a big part of him thought a reconciliation was a possibility.”

Scott and Kourtney even kept it drama-free during their awkward reunion on Nov. 5 at Kourt’s mom Kris Jenner‘s 66th birthday party, which was being filmed by Hulu for the family’s upcoming show. “Scott was there at the same time as Kourtney and Travis at Kris Jenner’s birthday party, but he did not stay for long after they arrived,” a source revealed exclusively to HollywoodLife. “Hulu cameras were filming the whole thing and this will absolutely be used on the show. Regardless of how they feel about each other, Kourtney and Scott know that they have a job to do at the end of the day.”

The former couple have had an on-again/off-again relationship since 2006, but split for good in 2015. They share three children together, Mason, 11, Penelope, 9, and Reign, 6.

Kanye West looked somber as he sat court side at the NBA game on the same day he posted the sweet throwback of him and ex Kim Kardashian.

Kanye West, 44, appeared to look sad while attending an LA Lakers and Sacramento Kings game at Staples Center. The Yeezy rapper was sitting on the floor for the NBA game on Friday, Nov. 27,  but seemed to have other things on his mind: likely Kim Kardashian, 41. Kanye’s outfit appeared to match his mood, as he opted to go with an all black leather outfit including an oversized leather jacket, snow pants, boots and a baseball cap.

The outing came just after he posted a throwback kiss photo of he and Kim, which was originally shared in 2019 by the SKIMS founder. The two only had eyes for each other in the black-and-white snap as they stopped for the moment by some scenic desert rocks. Kanye’s photo post was attached to a recent headline about his pre-Thanksgiving speech at Skid Row where he said that he believes God will bring him back together with Kim, who filed for divorce in Feb. 2021.

.@KanyeWest via IG Stories: pic.twitter.com/QqQhQOnuph

— Photos Of Ye (@PhotosOfKanye) November 26, 2021

“I’m trying to express this in the most sane way, the most calm way possible, but I need to be back home…we’ve made mistakes. I’ve made mistakes,” Kanye said on Wednesday, Nov. 24. “I’ve publicly done things that were not acceptable as a husband, but right now today, for whatever reason — I didn’t know I was going to be in front of this mic — but I’m here to change the narrative,” he added.

Ye’s was made alongside the CEO of the LA Mission, which is focused on fighting homelessness in Los Angeles. Kanye was set to meet with him to discuss ideas to help improve the situation in Los Angeles.

In recent weeks, Kim — who married Kanye in 2014 — has publicly been dating Pete Davidson, 28. The pair worked together on her Oct. 9 Saturday Night Live debut, which included an on-screen kiss between the pair. Kim and Pete have since been on multiple dates, and spotted holding hands in Palm Springs and at LA hotspot Giorgio Baldi.

“I have to be next to my children as much as possible. So, when I’m out the house,” Kanye also said, referencing his kids  North, 8, Saint, 5, Chicago, 3, and Psalm, 2. “I’ve got a house right next to the house. I’m doing everything to be right next to the situation. I’m not letting E! write the narrative of my family. I’m not letting Hulu write the narrative of my family … I am the priest of my home,” he concluded.

Madonna took to Instagram to share a sweet video that featured epic clips of her Thanksgiving ‘family affair’ with five of her six kids and pets.

Madonna, 63, proved she had a memorable Thanksgiving when she shared her latest social media post! The iconic singer showed off a loving video full of moments of her fun-filled holiday with five of her six kids, including Lourdes, 25, David, 16, Mercy, 15, and nine-year-old twins Estere and Stella. Her oldest son Rocco, 21, didn’t appear to there during the celebration.

In the clips, the kids are happily greeting the camera while helping to prepare food for a set a table. There are also shots of Lourdes sitting on a floor in front of a mirror and an outside play fest that included some of the family dogs. David is playing a guitar near a fireplace in another clip while Mercy played a piano in a separate clip.

The group took to the dance floor as well when Madonna, who was dressed in a black dress, showed off some solo moved before flaunting her skills with David, who was dressed in a white tied top and yellow pants. Lourdes also looked stylish in a multi-colored wrap dress while Mercy rocked a patterned dress and the twins went for their own black and turquoise outfits.

“It’s a Family affair 💛🍁💛🍂💛#givingthanks #slyandthefamilystone,” Madonna captioned the video, referencing the song playing over the clips. It didn’t take long for her fans to comment and share kind words about the clips. “The most beautiful thing in the life : the family,” one fan wrote while another shared, “Lovely family ! You are so beautiful all together!”

Madonna’s Thanksgiving post comes just hours after she openly criticized Instagram for taking down photos she posted that showed her posing on a bed while wearing lingerie and fishnets along with an added heart emoji to cover her left breast. She explained the reason they took it down was because part of her nipple could be seen underneath the emoji.

“It is still astounding to me that we live in a culture that allows every inch of a woman’s body to be shown except a nipple,” she wrote alongside another set of photos from the shoot, including a seemingly altered version of the one in question. “As if that is the only part of a woman’s anatomy that could be sexualized. The nipple that nourishes the baby! Can’t a man’s nipple be experienced as erotic ??!! And what about a woman’s ass which is never censored anywhere. Giving thanks that I have managed to maintain my sanity through four decades of censorship…… sexism……ageism and misogyny.”

Netflix’s televised revolution began in earnest in February 2013, when the machiavellian political schemer Frank Underwood looked straight into the camera and casually snapped a dog’s neck. It was the first episode of House of Cards– a $100m TV series that would only be available on the Internet.

The show represented a huge risk for the streaming service as it sought to make the leap from tech start-up to entertainment industry goliath.

Eight years on and the gamble has paid off. Netflix was a major winner at the Emmys, its haul of 23 awards attesting to its power-player status. And while House of Cards quickly descended into potboiler nonsense (with leading star Kevin Spacey being fired from the series after sexual assault allegations), Netflix has rumbled on. Here are 65 of its most essential shows.

Squid Game

Anyone for “Red Light, Green Light”? Netflix’s fastest word-of-mouth phenomenon since Stranger Things, the Korean drama finds a rag-tag of gambling addicts and bankrupts vying for the payday of a lifetime by playing a series of traditional children’s games. These are presided over by guards dressed like refugees fromSuper Mario Brothers by way of Patrick McGoohan’s The Prisoner. There’s only one catch – put a foot-wrong and a machine gun will take your arm off. The shock factor is high – but the characters are compellingly drawn and the implicit criticism of the widening gulf between rich and poor earns parallels with Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite.

BoJack Horseman

A cartoon about a talking horse, starring the goofy older brother from Arrested Development… on paper little about BoJack Horseman screams “must watch”. Yet the series almost immediately transcended its format to deliver a moving and very funny rumination on depression and middle-age malaise. Will Arnett plays BoJack – one time star of Nineties hit sitcom Horsin’ Around – as a lost soul whose turbo-charged narcissism prevents him getting his life together.

Almost as good are a support cast including Alison Brie (Glow, Mad Men), Aaron Paul, of Breaking Bad, and Amy Sedaris as a pampered Persian cat who is also BoJack’s agent. Season five touches the live rail of harassment in the movie industry, offering one of the most astute commentaries yet on the #MeToo movement with an episode based centred around an awards ceremony called “The Forgivies”.

Stranger Things

A valentine to the Spielberg school of Eighties blockbuster, with Winona Ryder as a small-town mom whose son is abducted by a transdimensional monster. ET, Goonies, Close Encounters, Alien and everything Stephen King wrote between 1975 and 1990 are all tossed into the blender by Millennial writer-creators the Duffer brothers. It was clear Stranger Things was going to be a mega-smash when Barb – the “best friend” character eaten in the second episode – went viral the weekend it dropped. Series three introduced Soviets tunnelling beneath Hawkins, Indiana and homages to Terminator and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. A fourth season has been confirmed with the Duffers signing an over-all development deal with Netflix. “We’re not in Hawkins anymore,” went a recent teaser, hinting that the franchise is about to engage with the wider world. A fourth season has been pushed back to 2022.

Marvel’s Daredevil

Netflix’s Marvel shows tend towards the overlong and turgid. An exception is the high-kicking Daredevil, with Charlie Cox’s blind lawyer/crimefighter banishing all memory of Ben Affleck’s turn donning the red jumpsuit in 2003. With New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood as backdrop, Daredevil is caked in street-level grit and features a searing series one performance by Vincent D’Onofrio as the villainous Kingpin. The perfect antidote to the deafening bombast of the big screen Marvel movies.

The Staircase

Did he do it? Does it matter considering the lengths the Durham, North Carolina police seemingly went in order to stitch him up? Sitting through this twisting, turning documenting about the trial of Michael Peterson – charged with the murder in 2003 of his wife – the viewer may find themselves alternately empathising with and recoiling from the accused. It’s a feat of bravura factual filmmaking from French documentarian Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, which comes to Netflix with a recently shot three-part coda catching up with the (very weird) Peterson clan a decade on.

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Call My Agent!

A UK remake is in the works but will be doing well to top the French original. The setting is a high-powered Parisian talent agency, where our heroes do their best to keep real-life stars happy (there are cameos by Charlotte Gainsbourg, Monica Bellucci, Sigourney Weaver and others), even as they walk the tightrope of their own complicated personal lives.

Schitt’s Creek

The wry sitcom that has become everybody’s favourite escape hatch from real world events. Schitt’s Creek stars father and son Eugene and Daniel Levy, alongside Catherine O’Hara and Annie Murphy as a well-to-Canadian family forced to start over, in the eponymous no-horse town, when their millions vanish. The humour is addictively wry, reeling you in gag by subtle gag. 

I’m Not Okay with This

A coming-of-age drama is about a 17 year old (It’s Sophia Lillis) who discovers she has telekinetic powers whilst also coming to terms with her sexuality. A hit with critics, Netflix announced in August that the series had been cancelled owing to Covid-19 related restrictions.

Emily in Paris

Guilty pleasure? Lazy rehashing of gallic stereotypes? Sex and the City with berets? There are many opinions on the latest comedy drama from Darren Star (aka the producer who gave us the adventures of Carrie Bradshaw). What is indisputable is that this tale of a twentysomething Chicagoan (Lily Collins) embarking on a new life and career in Paris goes down as easily as a flaky pastry. Whether it leaves an aftertaste depends on the individual viewer. A second series arrives on 22 December 2021.

Dark

Stranger Things: the Euro-Gloom years. Netflix’s first German-language production is a pulp romp that thinks it’s a Wagner opera. In a remote town surrounded by a creepy forest locals fear the disappearance of a teenager may be linked to other missing persons cases from decades earlier. The timelines get twisted and it’s obvious that something wicked is emanating from a tunnel leading to a nearby nuclear power plant. Yet if the story sometimes trips itself up the Goonies-meets-Götterdämmerung ambiance keeps you hooked. Series two introduced further time-hopping and a nod towards Mad Max and Terminator. Series two introduced further time-hopping and a nod towards Mad Max and Terminator and series three brought the story to a shocking conclusion. 

A Series of Unfortunate Events

The wry and bleak Lemony Snickett children novels finally get the ghastly adaptation they deserve (let’s all pretend the dreadful 2004 Jim Carrey movie never happened). Neil Patrick Harris gobbles up the scenery as the vain and wicked Count Olaf, desperate to separate the Baudelaire orphans from their considerable inheritance. The look is Tim Burton by way of Wes Anderson, and the dark wit of the books is replicated perfectly (Snickett, aka Daniel Handler, is co-producer).

Selling Sunset

What would happen if Location, Location, Location was reborn as a manic American reality TV. We now have our answer in the shape of this OTT documentary about Los Angeles real estate brokers whose business is flogging multimillion dollar homes on Los Angeles’s Sunset Strip. It’s ludicrous – but with the world gone increasingly crazy, how better to escape than in feasting your eyes on a suite of pornographically vast LA kitchens?

Bridgerton

Take Downton Abbey and pour in sex appeal by the gallon drum and you have Shonda Rhimes’s Bridgerton. A tale of naughty derring-do in Regency London, it made stars of Phoebe Dynevor and Regé-Jean Page, who has since departed and is starring in a reboot of The Saint.

Maniac

No Time to Die’s Cary Fukunaga directs Emma Stone and Jonah Hill in a mind-bending sci-fi story set in an alternative United States.It’s a mind-bending sci-fi story set in an alternative United States where computers still look like Commodore 64s and in which you pay for goods by having a “travel buddy” sit down and read you adverts.

Stone and Hill are star-crossed outcasts participating in a drugs trial that catapults them into a series of trippy genre excursions – including an occult adventure and a Lord of the Rings-style fantasy. It is here that Fukunaga demonstrates his versatility, handling potentially hokey material smartly and respectfully. 007 fans can sleep easy.

Better Call Saul

The Breaking Bad prequel is starting to outgrow the show that spawned it. Where Breaking Bad delivered a master-class in scorched earth storytelling Saul is gentler and more humane. Years before the rise of Walter White, the future meth overlord’s sleazy lawyer, Saul Goodman, is still plain old Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), a striving every-dude trying to catch a break. But how far will he go to make his name and escape the shadow of his superstar attorney brother Chuck (Michael McKean)? Season five has just arrived and journeys even deeper into the Breaking Bad expanded universe. ​Everyone is counting down to the next season, delayed after Odenkirk had a heart attack on set.

Black Mirror

Don’t tell Channel 4 but Charlie Brooker’s dystopian anthology series has arguably got even better since making the jump from British terrestrial TV to the realm of megabucks American streaming. Bigger budgets have given creators Brooker and Annabel Jones license to let their imaginations off the leash – yielding unsurpassable episodes such as virtual reality love story “San Junipero” and Star Trek parody “USS Callister”, which has bagged a bunch of Emmys.

But Brooker has recently struggled with quality control. The one-off interactive “​Bandersnatch” was a fantastic valentine to the era of 8-bit video games. However, series five was largely undercooked. The worst episode saw Andrew Scott as a ride-share driver freaking out upon realising social media might be bad for humanity. You don’t say, Charlie.

Mindhunter

David Fincher produces this serial killer drama based on the writings of a real-life FBI psychological profiler. It’s the post-Watergate Seventies and two maverick G-Men (Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany) are going out on a limb by utilising the latest psychological research to get inside the heads of a motley assembly of real-life sociopathic murders – including the notorious “Co-Ed” butcher Ed Kemper, brought chillingly to live in an Emmy-nominated performance by Cameron Britton. Series two is arguably even better, as we meet Charles Manson and became acquainted with the Atlanta child murder case. The bad news is that there is unlikely to be any further helpings – with Fincher recently stating that 90-hour weeks he was putting in on the show were ultimately unsustainable. 

The Crown

A right royal blockbuster from dramatist Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost / Nixon). Tracing the reign of Elizabeth II from her days as a wide-eyed young woman propelled to the throne after the surprise early death of her father, The Crown humanises the royals even as it paints their private lives as a bodice-ripping soap. Matt Smith is charmingly roguish as Prince Philip and Vanessa Kirby has ascended the Hollywood ranks on the back of her turn as the flawed yet sympathetic Princess Margaret.

Most impressive of all, arguably, is Claire Foy, who plays the Queen as a shy woman thrust unwillingly into the spotlight. Foy and the rest of the principal cast have now departed, with a crew of older actors – headed by Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies – taking over as the middle-aged Windsors for season three and four and Emma Corin turning heads as a young Princess Diana. Two final seasons will bring down the curtains, and feature Imelda Staunton as the Queen, Jonathan Pryce as Philip, Dominic West as Charles, Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles, Elizabeth Debicki as Diana and Jonny Lee Miller as John Major.

This drug trafficking caper spells out exactly what kind of series it is with an early scene in which two gangsters zip around a multi-level carpark on a motorbike firing a machine gun. Narcos, in other words, is for people who consider Pacino’s Scarface a touch too understated. Series one and two feature a mesmerising performance by Wagner Moura as Columbian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, while season three focuses on the notorious Cali cartel. Reported to be one of Netflix’s biggest hits – the company doesn’t release audience figures – it turns its attention in its fourth and fifth season to Mexico’s interminable drugs wars, with Diego Luna playing Guadalajara cartel honcho Miguel Gallardo. Narcos : Mexico will conclude with a third season, released on 5 November 2021.

Trial by Media

This cheerfully gossipy miniseries drills into high profile legal cases from across the decades. These include a lawsuit caused by the murder of a guest on the Jenny Jones Show – by another guest – and the jailing of disgraced Chicago politician Rod Blagojevich. The big conceit is that the media circus distorts the justice system, which is slightly hypocritical given the giddiness with which Trial By Media relays these stories.

The Chair

When Game of Thrones show-runners David Benioff and DB Weiss signed a production deal with Netflix, the expectation was that they would furnish the service with a lifetime supply of dungeons and dragons. But their first series, created by Benioff’s wife Amanda Peet, is a deft satire of campus politics – which also thoughtfully critiques so-called “cancel culture”. Above all, it’s a vehicle for the wonderful Sandra Oh, as an English professor who receives more than she bargained for on becoming the first woman of colour named department head in her Ivy League-style university.

Tiger King

In March, as the world adjusted to the new normal things got very abnormal on Netflix as the streaming service debuted this true crime documentary about Oklahoma Tiger zoo owner Joe Exotic and animal rights nemesis Carole Baskin. Big cats, murder accusations, glow in the dark mullets and wild conspiracy theories added up to car-crash TV from which it was impossible to avert your gaze. Two dramas based on the doc have been greenlit, while an inevitable second season lands in November 2021.

Master of None

A cloud hangs over Aziz Ansari’s future after he was embroiled in the #MeToo scandal. But whatever happens, he has left us with a humane and riveting sitcom about an Ansari-proximate character looking for love and trying to establish himself professionally in contemporary New York. In 2019, Ansari returned to stand-up and to Netflix, with the Spike Jonze directed Right Now comedy special. And in May 2021 it returned as Master of None Presents: Moments in Love, with the focus switching to Lena Waithe’s character, Denise, with Ansari directing.

Bloodline

One of Netflix’s early blockbusters, the sprawling soap opera updates Dallas to modern day southern Florida. Against the edge-of-civilisation backdrop of the Florida Keys, Kyle Chandler plays the local detective and favourite son of a well-to-do family. Their idyllic lives are thrown into chaos with the return of the clan’s black sheep (an unnervingly intense Ben Mendelsohn). The story is spectacularly hokey but searing performances by Chandler and Mendelsohn, and by Sissy Spacek and the late Sam Shepard as their imperious parents, make Bloodline compelling – a guilty pleasure that, actually, you shouldn’t feel all that guilty about.

The Alienist

You can almost smell the shoddy sanitation and horse-manure in this lavish murder-mystery set in 19th New York. We’re firmly in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York territory, with a serial killer bumping off boy prostitutes across Manhattan. Enter pioneering criminal psychologist Dr Laszlo Kreisler (Daniel Brühl), aided by newspaper man John Moore (Luke Evans) and feisty lady detective Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning). Season two, Angel of Darkness, has just debuted. 

Lupin

A debonair thriller starring Omar Sy as a “gentleman thief” who will stop at nothing to take revenge against the man he blames for the death of his father – but who never looks less than completely dashing while doing so. In addition to providing a shop-window for Sy’s charm, the series explores racism in contemporary France. Yet even as it tackles heavy themes, Lupin’s tone is never less than delightful.

Love

Judd Apatow bring his signature gross-out comedy to the small screen. Love, which Apatow produced, is a masterclass in restraint compared to 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up etc. Paul Rust is Gus, a nerdish movie set tutor, whose develops a crush on Gillian Jacobs’s too-cool-for-school radio producer Mickey. Romance, of a sort, blossoms – but Love’s triumph is to acknowledge the complications of real life and to disabuse its characters of the idea that there’s such a thing as a straightforward happy ending. Hipster LA provides the bustling setting.

Queer Eye

Who says reality TV has to be nasty and manipulative? This updating of the early 2000s hit Queer Eye for the Straight Guy has five stereotype-challenging gay men sharing lifestyle tips and fashion advice with an engaging cast of All American schlubs (the first two seasons are shot mostly in the state of Georgia). There are laughs – but serious moment too, such as when one of the crew refuses to enter a church because of the still unhealed scars of his strict Christian upbringing.

Chef’s Table

A high-gloss revamping of the traditional TV food show. Each episode profiles a high wattage international chef; across its three seasons, the series has featured gastronomic superstars from the US, Argentina, India and Korea.

Cobra Kai

Here’s an idea which shouldn’t work but does: Eighties teen hit The Karate Kid re-imagined as latter-day meditation on middle age. That’s a mouthful and yet Cobra Kai goes down easy as Karate Kid stars Ralph Macchio (Danny LaRusso) and William Zabka (bully boy karate champ Johnny Lawrence) reprise their roles from the original film. The twist is that they’re now in their 50s. Danny is a successful car salesman, William a loser scraping by on odd jobs. When he starts teaching karate to local kids, a decades-old rivalry is rekindled. 

Sweet Tooth

Adapted from a DC Comics series set in a post-apocalyptic future in which children are born with tusks, horns and other animal appendages. Gus – aka “Sweet Tooth” – is a boy with the features of a deer. And while that sounds both strange and creepy, this saga is underpinned by a welcome sense of optimism (it is part of the sci-fi “hopepunk” genre). As the story begins, Gus (Christian Convery) sets out across a dystopian America in search of his mother. He is soon joined by grumpy but bighearted Jepperd (Nonso Anozie), a former American football star who, in this post-doomsday new reality, has had to do some shady things to stay alive.

Arrested Development

A disastrous group interview in which actor Jason Bateman “mansplained” away the bullying co-star Jessica Walter had suffered at the hands of fellow cast-member Jeffrey Tambor meant season five of Arrested Development was fatally compromised before it even landed. Yet Netflix’s return to the dysfunctional world of the Bluth family stands on its merits and is a worthy addition to the surreal humour of seasons one through three (series four, which had to work around the busy schedules of the cast, is disposable by comparison).

Altered Carbon

Netflix does Bladerunner with this sumptuous adaptation of the cult Richard Morgan novel. The setting is a neon-splashed cyberpunk future in which the super-wealthy live forever by uploading the consciousness into new “skins”. Enter rebel-turned-detective Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman), hired to find out who killed a (since resurrected) zillionaire industrialist while dealing with fallout from his own troubled past. Rumoured to be one of Netflix’s most expensive projects yet, its second run sees Anthony Mackie (aka Marvel’s Falcon) replace Kinnaman as the shape-shifting Kovacs. He’s a perfect fit for the part too, delving into the inner turmoil of a character who accumulates a multitude of ghosts across his endless lifespan. In August 2021, Netflix confirmed Altered Carbon had been cancelled.

Rick and Morty

Dan Harmon, creator of cult sitcom Community (also on Netflix), finds the perfect outlet for zany fanboy imagination with this crazed animated comedy about a Marty McFly/Doc Brown-esque duo of time travellers. Every genre imaginable is parodied with the manic energy and zinging dialogue we have come to expect from Harmon.

Glow

Mad Men’s Alison Brie is our entry point into this comedy-drama inspired by a real life all-female wrestling league in the Eighties. Ruth Wilder (Brie) is a down-on-her luck actor who, out of desperation, signs up a wrestling competition willed into being by Sam Sylvia (podcast king Marc Maron). Britrock singer Kate Nash is one of her her fellow troupe members: the larger than life Rhonda “Britannica” Richardson. Season three relocated the action of Las Vegas. Glow has been renewed for a fourth and final season, but in October 2020 Netflix announced it would not be proceeding. “Covid has killed actual humans,” said the showrunners. “It’s a national tragedy and should be our focus. Covid also apparently took down our show”.

Archer

Deadpan animated satire about an idiot super spy with shaken and stirred mother issues. One of the most ambitious modern comedies, animated or otherwise, Archer tries on different varieties of humour for size and even occasionally gives you the feels.

Shadow and Bone

Epic fantasy but with a twist. Game of Thrones’s addiction to sexual violence has left an increasingly foul taste. But Netflix’s adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone series shows that fantasy can be sweeping and thrilling without becoming vulgar and exploitative. The setting is a quasi-steampunk universe inspired by Renaissance Amsterdam and the 19th-century Russia Empire. Jessie Mei Li is Alina Starkov, a young women inducted into a magical order after she displays uncanny powers. Though the tone is strictly YA, the world-building is breathtaking, while Ben Barnes’s “Darkling” makes for a wonderfully compelling baddie.

Ozark

Breaking Bad for those with short attention spans. The saga of Walter White took years to track the iconic anti-hero’s rise from mild mannered everyman to dead-eyed criminal. Ozark gets there in the first half hour as nebbish Chicago accountant Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) agrees to serve as lieutenant for the Mexican mob in the hillbilly heartlands of Ozark, Missouri (in return they thoughtfully spare his life). Bateman, usually seen in comedy roles, is a revelation as is Laura Linney as his nasty wife Wendy. There is also a break-out performance by Julia Garner playing the scion of a local redneck crime family. Bateman recently won a best director Emmy for his work on the series, seizing the gong from beneath the noses of Game of Thrones’s David Benioff and DB Weiss. A fourth and final season is set to arrive in 2022, following a Covid delay.

The Good Place

A heavenly comedy with a twist. Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) is a cynical schlub waved through the Pearly Gates by mistake after dying in a bizarre supermarket accident. There she must remain above the suspicions of seemingly well-meaning but disorganised angel Michael (Ted Danson) while also negotiating fractious relationships with do-gooder Chidi (William Jackson Harper), spoiled princess Tahani (former T4 presenter Jameela Jamil) and ex-drug dealer Jason (Manny Jacinto).

Disenchantment

It’s been forever and a few years since The Simpsons was even vaguely essentially viewing. But Matt Groening’s Homer mojo clearly hasn’t abandoned him yet. His Netflix series, just back for a second season, is a hilarious pastiche of fantasy tropes, with Abbi Jacobson as a hard-drinking princess, Eric Andre and Nat Faxon as her demon pal and elf sidekick and Matt Berry as – to quote Wikipedia – “Prince Merkimer, from the kingdom of Bentwood, who is arranged to marry [Princess] Bean, but was turned into a pig”.

Top Boy

Netflix has been binning shows as if it is going out of fashion. But that didn’t stop Drake from persuading it to revive the Channel 4 drama about rival drug dealers in a fictional south London neighbourhood. Middle-aged Irishman Ronan Bennett captures the reality of life for many young black British people with tremendously sensitivity, while the cast is headed by Ashley Walters, Kane “Kano” Robinson, rapper Little Simz and Mercury Prize winner Dave.

Unbelievable

A police procedural adapted from a long-form magazine exposé of American justice’s entrenched misogyny sounds like nobody’s idea of a fun night in. But Unbelievable makes serious points about how sufferers of sexual assault are marginalised and victim-blamed while also drawing the viewer into a compelling mystery. Unflinching yet never gratuitous, it stars Toni Collette and Merritt Wever as hard-bitten detectives investigating a serial rapist. Booksmart’s Kaitlyn Dever, meanwhile, plays a young woman wrongly accused of crying wolf when a man attacks her in her apartment.

Russian Doll

Time becomes a loop in this sci-fi parable about a troubled New Yorker who finds herself reliving the final hours of her life over and over. Is the cosmos itself trying to tell her something? Or is she simply losing her marbles. Natasha Lyonne excels as damaged, potty-mouthed Nadia. Her improbable love interest is played by Charlie Barnett. A second series began filming in March 2021.

The Umbrella Academy

Gerard Way’s surreal comic book has translated impressively to the screen. Umbrella Academy unfolds as a lightly unhinged anti-Avengers. A family of super-powered siblings tries to solve the mystery of the murder of their domineering adoptive father, who plucked them from the arms of their mothers and raised them to be humanity’s first line of defence. Ellen Page, Tom Hopper and Robert Sheehan head the cast in a series that plays out like a Marvel movie directed by Wes Anderson. Watch out for a cameo by R&B queen Mary J Blige as an inter-dimensional assassin.

When They See Us

Oscar-nominated Ava DuVernay makes a foray into television with a gripping four-part retelling of the 1989 Central Park Five case in which five African Americans were charged with the rape of a jogger in central Manhattan.

The Dark Crystal

This return to the world of the Jim Henson 1982 fantasy movie is very much a series of two halves. The first five episodes are a confused hodgepodge of exposition and world building. But once it settles down this prequel to the film spins a fantastic tale of puppet Gelflings and Skeksis vying for power in a feudal kingdom… a game of thrones, as it were. Westeros regulars Natalie Dormer, Lena Headey and Nathalie Emmanuel star alongside Simon Pegg, Mark Hamill and Alicia Vikander. Sadly, the puppets were not as popular as hoped and the reboot has been cancelled.

The Haunting of Hill House

A rare TV horror that genuinely gets under the skin. Very loosely adapted from 1959 Shirley Jackson gothic classic, Mike Flanagan’s series chronicles the adulthood agonies of a family whose childhood was traumatised by a run-in with a creepy mansion. Rather than lazy jump-scares, the series ratchets up the dread slowly yet unyieldingly. A few episodes in and you may find yourself holding your breath, so searing is the tension. To really freak you, Flanagan has also inserted dozens of hidden ghosts into the background. See how many you can spot – and good luck getting to sleep afterwards. A 2020 spiritual sequel, The Haunting of Bly Manor, piles on the melodrama but forgets the chills. Happily, Flanagan’s latest series, Midnight Mass, packs more of a punch.

The OA

Bonkers on a swizzle stick, this series from Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij makes Twin Peaks look like an Only Fools and Horses repeat. Prairie (Marling) is an inter-dimensional wanderer with a strange past and an even weirder future. She recruits a group of high school students, teaching them the “movements” that permit travel across time and space. That’s the jumping off point for a meditation on existence, identity and fate. Controversially cancelled after just two seasons – and the mother of all cliff-hangers – the OA is nonetheless a sensory experience worth your time. Did we mention the talking octopus?

Our Planet

David Attenborough provides the narration – but the real star is the stunning camerawork and general sumptuousness, courtesy of the team behind BBC mega-hits Blue Planet and Planet Earth. Shots of flamingos running across salt flats and blue whales chilling off the coast of Mexico are the perfect excuse to spring for a Netflix HD subscription.

The Dragon Prince

Game of Thrones exited to the strains of a thousand damp squibs imploding at once. And it’s too early to say whether adaptations of the Witcher or The Wheel of Time will be any use. But one fantasy saga worth getting your chainmail in a twist for is this kid’s animated series from Avatar: The Last Airbender director Aaron Ehasz. The setting is bog standard swords and sorcery – there are dragons, elves and magicians – but the execution is riveting. Ethnic tensions between elves and humans are compellingly drawn – and did we mention the dragons?

Castlevania

A gothic adult cartoon based on an obscure video game does not sound enticing. Yet this baroque fever dream starring Richard Armitage (Thorin from The Hobbit movies) as the last living member of an excommunicated family of vampire hunters and Graham McTavish as a misunderstood Count Dracula (he’s upset after his wife is burned the stake) is a riveting slow burner. Season four brought down the curtains – though a spin-off saga is planned.

Tuca and Bertie

Netflix has lately turned cancelling shows into a competitive sport. This new animated drama from the creators of BoJack Horseman was canned just two months after its debut despite much critical acclaim. In Netflix’s defence, it is rather wacky. To quote Deadline, it tells of “the friendship between two 30-year-old bird-women who live in the same apartment building, Tuca (Tiffany Haddish), a cocky, care-free toucan and Bertie (Ali Wong), an anxious, daydreaming songbird.” The humour is surreal but, just like BoJack Horseman, the emotional beats – specifically its depiction of the central relationship – yank the heartstrings.

Blown Away

Reality TV, the Netflix way. Imagine Bake Off with glass-blowing instead of marzipan manipulation and YouTube star Nick Uhas in for Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig. Ten artists test their glass blowing mastery in a series of challenges. The winner walks away with $60,000 and a residency at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. Just like Bake Off, it’s riveting viewing even if you can’t tell a kiln from a kangaroo.

Dead to Me

Linda Cardellini and Christina Applegate join forces for this super-dark comedy about two women who meet at a therapy group for the recently bereaved. They strike up a natural friendship – but, as we slowly learn, each has secrets they’d rather not share. James Marsden is fantastic as the smarmy ex of Judy (Cardellini) while the behind the scenes involvement of producers Will Ferrell and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy director Adam McKay provides a clue as to the mad-cap humour. A word-of-mouth success, it has been renewed up for a third and final series.  

The Queen’s Gambit

Anya Taylor-Joy is magisterial in an icy psychodrama about an orphan chess prodigy who will stop at nothing to become the world’s greatest player. Think of it as Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan with similar levels of anguish but with tutus replaced by chess clocks. The 1950s period detail is wonderful yet is thoroughly outshone by Taylor-Joy as a chess star who was pawn to be wild. The Queen’s Gambit was duly honoured at the 2021 Emmys, where it was named Best Limited or Anthology Series.

The Witcher

Still suffering Game of Thrones withdrawal pangs? Help is here in the form of a silly and sometimes baffling but also satisfyingly fantastical adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher novels. Yes, that’s correct – the show is based on the moderately popular books rather than the massively successful video games that followed. Still, whichever Witcher you’re a fan of this one ticks the boxes, with Henry Cavill bring the bulging biceps as eponymous monster hunter Geralt of Rivia and Anya Chalotra waxing mysterious as sorceress Yennefer. All together now, “Toss a coin to your Witcher…Wooahooohoh”. Season two arrives on 17 December.

The Stranger

An old-school, over-the-top thriller, adapted from the Harlan Coben bestseller. The setting is a fictional town of Cedarfield, which seems to be somewhere within commuting distance of Manchester. Richard Armitage plays a loving dad and husband whose world falls apart when a mysterious woman tells him his wife (Dervla Kirwan) faked her pregnancy. Jennifer Saunders later pops up as a mother whose family has its own secrets.

Next in Fashion

Feel-good reality TV was once a contradiction in terms. But the vibes are agreeably optimistic in this fashionista contest in which professional designers compete for a $250,000 price. Presenters Tan France and Alexa Chung bring the common touch and the contestants appear to be enjoying themselves rather than undergoing the ordeal of a lifetime. Essentially, it’s Bake Off on the catwalk.

Locke and Key

Joe Hill’s bestselling graphic novels receive the YA treatment in this urban fantasy about a house full of portals to other worlds and the grieving family who make their home there. The break-out performance is by Emilia Jones – daughter of singer Aled – playing middle child Kinsey Locke. Hill, the son of Stephen King, moved heaven and earth to bring his story to the screen and the effort has paid off. Season two lands on 22 October.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Baroque with bells on and camper than a disco ball at a tent convention, Netflix’s rebooting of Sabrina the Teenage Witch makes a virtue of excess. Kiernan Shipka – Don Draper’s daughter from Mad Men – lights up the screen as the half-human/ half witch teenager drawn into a tangle with the devil himself. Miranda Otto and The Office’s Lucy Davies play her eccentric aunts. And there’s a cat named Salem, though he doesn’t talk.

Star Trek: Discovery

Trekkies have agreed to disagree regarding this often madcap reboot of the venerable sci-fi saga. Suffice to say, if starships powered by “spore drives” or Harry Potter’s Jason Isaacs over-acting across multiple dimensions is off-putting then this isn’t the Trek for you. But others have warmed to the ambitious storytelling, top-notch FX and Sonequa Martin-Green’s earnest performance as science officer Michael Burnham.

Money Heist

The Spanish thriller has become one of Netflix’s most popular non-English language shows. There’s certainly lots going on. The story begins with a daring raid on the Royal Mint of Spain in Madrid, overseen by the mysterious Professor (Álvaro Morte) Thereafter it gets steadily more bonkers and the location shifts from Spain to Germany and Thailand. Though all the twists and turns, highs and lows, Money Heist is never less than gripping. The fifth and final season is divided into two “volumes” , the first of which arrived in September 2021.

Night on Earth

David Attenborough’s Our Planet has hoovered up all the attention. But this UK-made series, narrated by Orange is the New Black’s Samira Wiley, brings a new perspective to wildlife TV. Shot using heat-sensitive cameras, Night on Earth features lions romping by moonlight and cacti blooming under the desert stars. It’s like journeying to another world, with reality only returning as the sun rises.

Spinning Out

Kaya Scodelario – recently seen in the new BBC adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The White Horse and set to star in Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City– owns the screen as a promising young skater recovering from a serious injury. Her real challenge is off the rink as she tries to conceal her family’s history of mental illness. It’s clearly pitched at a YA audience and is a bit overwrought in places. But Spinning Out is never less than watchable and it’s a shame it was cancelled after just one series.

Living with Yourself

Paul Rudd and Aisling Bea have good chemistry in this mordant comedy about a white collar schlub (Rudd) who, in the depths of a midlife crisis, accidentally clones himself. He is forced to compete with his happier, more confident, wittier alter-ego while his wife (Bea) tries to make sense of the transformation. You’ll chuckle rather than fall over clutching your sides but the leads are likeable and the script hums along.

For more tips on new shows to discover, as well as hidden gems to have on your radar, watch our Independent TV series “Binge or Bin” here.

Kelly Rowland is back for ‘Merry Liddle Christmas Baby’ on Lifetime. She spoke EXCLUSIVELY with HL about Jacquie and Tyler’s next chapter, a fourth movie, and more.

There’s a Liddle baby on the way! Kelly Rowland and Thomas Cadrot return as Jacquie and Tyler in Lifetime’s Merry Liddle Christmas Baby, which premieres on November 27 at 8 p.m. ET. This holiday season, the beloved couple is gearing up for parenthood! HollywoodLife got EXCLUSIVE scoop from Kelly about how Jacquie is handling pregnancy, a fourth movie, and why this Christmas is extra special for her.

“She’s honestly trying to figure out everything in the least stressful way possible because she is OCD,” Kelly told HollywoodLife. “She loves to make sure that everything is the way she would think it should go. She’s a bit of a control freak. She’s trying to plan it out to perfection and things with her family and with pregnancy, which she’ll realize it’s really out of her control.”

Merry Liddle Christmas Baby marks the third Merry Liddle movie. Kelly would love to explore more stories with the Liddle family in a potential fourth movie. “I think that everyone loves this family. I think they’re very relatable,” she said. “I think that there’s someone in your family that you feel relates to someone from the Liddle family or a dynamic that relates to the Liddle family. If we can keep sharing these stories with people, why not? I would love to, and I love being around my family cast. They’re so much fun and we have a great time. There are so many stories that we can tell.”

Over the course of the past two movies, fans have watched Jacquie and Tyler’s love story blossom. Kelly revealed that she loves how Tyler has made Jacquie “relax” more. “He definitely made her relax because she was always moving and busy and uptight and this and that, you know what I mean? He was just like, you gotta chill. He’s a center for her, and I think that it’s so sweet. I think that as far as who she is with him, I think that he’s just always inspired by her. It’s a really sweet relationship that I think that everybody really gravitates towards,” she told HollywoodLife.

This holiday season is going to be extra special for Kelly and her family. It will be her first with her second child, Noah. Kelly gushed she “cannot wait” for Noah’s first Christmas with his family.

“Noah’s growing at such a rapid rate because of his brother [Titan],” Kelly said. “He’s trying to keep up with Titan and the rest of his cousins. We’re always around family, and Noah’s trying to keep up with all the big kids. I’m actually wishing that he would slow down a little bit, but he already feels like a one-year-old. It’s the strangest thing. He’s trying to walk and he’s only 10 months. He’s trying to walk, and he’s just doing so much. I just want him to slow down just a little bit. But shopping for presents and stuff for him is going to be fun and just showing him what we do and tasting different things. It’s going to be fun. I’m just excited that we just get to have a beautiful Christmas all together just settled as a family. We’ve been doing a lot of traveling and moving around this year, so we’re just going to be still.”

The singer/actress also stressed that her oldest son, Titan, is the “best big brother you’ve ever seen. He really is. He’s so proud. He has his moments where he can be a little rough with his brother because he’s thinking that he’s actually older sometimes. But for the most part, he’s just so grateful that his brother’s here. He’s really is and it’s the sweetest thing. He wanted a sibling so bad and has the nerve to actually be asking me for one more. I’m really happy with my two for now.”

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.

MOVIES

— Jane Campion whose last movie was 2009’s “Bright Star,” makes a triumphant return to filmmaking in “The Power of the Dog, ” a frontier psychodrama starring Benedict Cumberbatch Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jesse Plemons. Adapted by Campion from Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel, Cumberbatch plays a domineering Montana rancher who resents his brother’s new wife and her son. Widely hailed as one of the best films of the year, “The Power of the Dog” begins streaming Wednesday on Netflix. In my review, I called it a “masterful vision of the West” that plays out “in a juxtaposition of rugged exteriors and murkier, more mysterious interiors.”

— Documentary filmmakers E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin last made the Oscar-winning “Free Solo,” about mountain climber Alex Honnold In “The Rescue” (streaming Friday on Disney+), they swap high peaks for watery depths, chronicling the 18-day rescue of 12 young soccer players and their coach in a flooded Thailand cave. As well covered as that 2018 event was, the riveting documentary details anew how a global coalition and a handful of cave-diving hobbyists pulled off an extraordinary feat. In her review, AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr called “The Rescue” “affirming, truthful, funny, macabre and unembellished,” and said “it achieves something extraordinarily difficult for a global news story that ended three years ago: It makes you feel like you’re there.”

— Director Matthew Heineman (“Cartel Land,” “A Private War”) has filmed before in an active war zone. In “The First Wave” (streaming on Hulu beginning Sunday), he plunges into the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic in a bracingly intimate portrait of doctors, nurses and patients during the first four months COVID-19 in New York. Heineman shot his film at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens amid the virus’ first surge to craft an emotional and vital time capsule of the health crisis.

— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle

MUSIC

— Five decades have passed since The Doors released “L.A. Woman,” their double-platinum album that contained “Love Her Madly,” “Riders on the Storm,” and the title track. To honor its anniversary, Rhino Records has a box set being released Friday, Dec. 3, that has the album remastered and adds more than two hours of unreleased recordings, including covers of Junior Parker’s “Mystery Train,” John Lee Hooker’s “Crawling King Snake,” Big Joe Williams’ “Baby Please Don’t Go,” and “Get Out Of My Life Woman,” Lee Dorsey’s funky 1966 classic, written by his producer Allen Toussaint.

— Saxophone legend Kenny G will release his first new album in six years, “New Standards,” on Friday, Dec. 3 through Concord Records. The 11-song collection of original compositions takes inspiration from the jazz ballads of the ‘50s and ’60s. Some songs on the set include “Paris By Night,” “Rendezvous,” “Blue Skies” and “Moonlight.” He writes: “I truly hope that you will all experience the same wonderful feelings I have had the pleasure of experiencing whenever I listen to the amazing sounds of my predecessors.”

— AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy

TELEVISION

— “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” has wrapped its two-season NBC run, but there’s another chapter for the musical dramady starring Jane Levy. In “Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas,” the title character is determined that her family get the memorable Christmas that her now-ill father always provided. The movie, which picks up where the series left off, debuts Wednesday, Dec. 1, on the Roku Channel and co-stars Mary Steenburgen, Skylar Austin, Bernadette Peters. Peter Gallagher plays dad Mitch, who suffers from a neurological disease. The holiday movie is available free on the channel, as are the series’ 25 episodes.

— The sun will come out Thursday, Dec. 2, for NBC’s live production of the hit Broadway musical “Annie.” Based on the “Little Orphan Annie” comic strip, the show includes the tunes “Tomorrow” and “It’s the Hard Knock Life.” Celina Smith has the title role, backed by co-stars including Harry Connick Jr. as Annie’s rescuer, Daddy Warbucks, and Taraji P. Henson as the orphanage’s callous Miss Hannigan. Nicole Scherzinger, Tituss Burgess and Megan Hilty also are in the cast of “Annie Live!”, airing at 8 p.m. EST and directed by Lear deBessonet and Alex Rudzinski.

— If the big city vibe falls short of your holiday expectations, UpTV is offering a travel-free solution with its new “Small Town Christmas” reality series, hosted by Megan Alexander of “Inside Edition.” Each episode (airing 9 p.m. EST) promises to share what the “heart and magic of Christmas celebrations” in towns nationwide, showcasing their music, entertainment, food and faith. The destinations and air dates: Branson, Missouri, on Sunday, Dec. 5; Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday, Dec. 12; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, Dec. 19; and Natchitoches, Louisiana, on Friday, Dec. 24.

— AP Television Writer Lynn Elber

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Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/apf-entertainment.