Ani Bundel has been blogging professionally since 2010. This is her second major independent site launch. A DC native and Keyboard Khaleesi, she spends all her non-writing time photographing her cats. Regular bylines also found on MSNOW.
BritBox
BritBox's deep dive into original programming in the U.S. has had its ups and downs. Some of its series, like Sherwood, are absolute corkers, while others are perhaps less. One of its most successful last year was The Sister Boniface Mysteries, based on the small-time recurring quirky
Drama
ITV initially commissioned the series Nolly, written by Doctor Who and It’s A Sin showrunner Russell T. Davies in November 2021. The three-part drama series, produced by Nicola Shindler’s new Quay Street Production, would focus on the inimitable Noele Gordon, a British TV legend who rose to fame
Mystery
It’s a rare series that manages to be a ripping TV adaptation of a murder mystery novel while also acting as a meta-commentary on murder mystery novels, TV adaptations of those novels, and why we love them. Magpie Murders was a nesting doll of story and deep dive meditation
Movies
Women Talking, the latest film by Canadian director Sarah Polley, has been on the awards junket train since its release during the 2022 Telluride Film Festival on September 2. It debuted in the U.S. just before Christmas weekend on Friday, December 23, in limited release, to rave reviews and
Mystery
As viewers may remember last time Vienna Blood was on the air, Season 2 left things on a cliffhanger. However, it's been a year since then, both in our time and theirs. Since viewers were last in Edwardian Vienna, Max has written a best seller on the subject
Acorn TV
Twin projects happen in Hollywood regularly, both in films and on TV. Litvinenko and Londongrad, for example, were announced within days of each other, with David Tennant and Benedict Cumberbatch both playing the late Russian ex-pat who was famously poisoned to death. However, it's rare for two actors
Luther
When Netflix announced it was reviving the Luther franchise as a feature film, it seemed like the culmination of Idris Elba's campaign to continue the franchise that the BBC had put to bed. However, it appears that Netflix genuinely believes there's still life in the aging
FX
FX has had a bumpy couple of years since its parent company 20th Century was swallowed whole by the Walt Disney Company. At the time, it was uncertain how the family-oriented Disney would change the edgy and adult-leaning FX, concerns that were further exacerbated when one of FX's
Paramount+
Paramount+ has been going full speed ahead with the global series since launching in the U.K. Its parent company, Paramount, at the time declared it wanted to put 50 international series in production for 2023. While it's unclear if it hit that target, the sheer dint of
Sundance Now
The sheer number of U.S. streaming services can feel like a lot, from the big four (Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and HBO Max) to the mid-tier services (Hulu, Discovery+, BritBox, Acorn TV, and so forth), plus the little guys like the AMC niche offerings. However, the numbers get
Happy Valley
It's a truism that shows on the BBC and ITV are never canceled; they disappear for a while before wandering back. That can lead to shows that forget they needed to end already, like Steve Moffat's never-ending threats to revive Sherlock. But in many cases, it
MGM+
Ever since Amazon Studios announced it would be rechristening the newly acquired Epix streaming service as MGM+ in December 2022, there have been multiple announcements heralding what's to come. From the surprise revival of Belgravia for Season 2 to overhauls of Domina, Epix's older stuff is