What’s New in Pop Culture: October 7-13, 2024
New this week in TV, Music, Movies, and Games
TELEVISION
10/8: “Ali Wong: Single Lady” (Netflix; Stand-Up Comedy)
The comedian — now an Emmy winner! — returns for her first special since 2022. In the meantime, she’s gotten divorced and hooked up with Bill Hader, which she will spill the tea on here.
10/9: “Abbott Elementary” (ABC; Comedy)
Arguably the most relevant network comedy of the moment returns for Season 4; expect a crossover with “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” down the road. Seriously!
10/9: “House of Villains” (E!; Reality Competition)
Antagonists from various reality TV shows — “Real Housewives” star Terese Giudice, original “Survivor” winner Richard Hatch, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” runner-up Kandy Muse — compete for cash and continued relevance.
10/10: “Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft” (Netflix; Animation, Action)
The “Tomb Raider” franchise gets rebooted again, this time as an American anime featuring the voices of Hayley Atwell (“Marvel’s Agent Carter”), Richard Armitage (The Hobbit), and other.
10/10: “Teacup” (Peacock; Horror, Drama)
This horror story about a family in rural Georgia trying to survive a mysterious threat features familiar TV faces Yvonne Strahovski (“Chuck”), Scott Speedman (“Felicity”), and Kathy Baker (“Picket Fences”).
10/10: “Roller Jam” (Max; Reality Competition, Sports)
This new reality show features roller-skating teams from across the country competing for $150K. “American Idol” winner Jordan Sparks hosts, and the Crystal Enchantress of the Ice Jonny Weir as a judge.
10/11: “Disclaimer*” (Apple TV+; Drama, Thriller)
Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, and Sacha Baron Cohen star and Alfonso Cuaron directs this miniseries about a journalist whose scandalous past is exposed after a mysterious delivery.
MUSIC
10/11: The Blessed Madonna Godspeed (Dance/Electronic)
The American DJ — named Mixmag’s DJ of the Year in 2016 — releases their first album, featuring a debut single featuring Kylie Minogue.
10/11: Charli XCX Brat and it’s completely different but also still Brat (Electro Pop)
Arguably the defining album of the year — and possibly Gen Z — gets the remix treatment for every song on the original, with some additional collabs and…I don’t know, I’m too old to understand this.
10/11: GloRilla GLORIOUS (Hip-Hop/Rap)
The Tennessee rapper already has two Top 40 singles off this, her debut album.
10/11: Jelly Roll Beautifully Broken (Southern Rock/Hip-Hop)
The wildly successful artist has been working for more than a decade, but has been seemingly everywhere lately thanks to his song “I Am Not Okay.”
10/11: The Linda Lindas No Obligation (Pop Punk)
This exciting girl group has started to break through the past few years, including the song “Growing Up” appearing on the Inside Out 2 soundtrack.
10/11: Samara Joy Portrait (Jazz/Pop)
The 2023 Grammy winner for Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album releases her third (not counting holiday project) album.
10/11: The Offspring SUPERCHARGED (Rock/Punk)
We’ll see if the 90s skate-punk band is still pretty fly after all these years with its 11th studio album.
MOVIES
10/11: Terrifier 3 (Wide; Horror)
Damien Leone’s wildly gory horror series returns for a Christmas edition, as Art the Clown hunts down final-girl Sienna five years after she survived his rampage.
10/11: Piece by Piece (Wide; Animated, Music)
This documentary about the life and work of Pharrell Williams is told entirely via Lego animations. Yeah, I don’t know. Featuring Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, and Snoop Dogg — all in Lego form.
10/11: Saturday Night (Wide; Drama, Comedy)
Jason Reitman co-wrote and directed this dramatic reenactment of the chaotic minutes leading up to the premiere episode of “Saturday Night Live” in 1975.
10/11: The Apprentice (Limited; Drama, Crime)
Ali Abbasi’s controversial drama explores the mentor-mentee relationship between a young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) and notoriously ruthless lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) in the 1980s.
10/11: Lonely Planet (Netflix; Romance)
Laura Dern stars as a recently single writer who finds an unexpected connection with a younger man (Liam Hemsworth) at a writer’s retreat in Morocco.
10/11: Rumours (Limited; Satire)
In this wild-looking film starring Cate Blanchett and Charles Dance, the leaders of the G7 countries are abandoned at a summit and forced to survive bizarre supernatural threats.
GAMES
10/8: Silent Hill 2 (PC, PS5; Horror, Remake)
The 2001 survival-horror classic is remade from the ground up, the first new (kind of?) installment for the series in a dozen years.
10/8: Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox S|X; DLC, Action RPG)
Blizzard’s wildly successful fantasy game gets an expansion that gives you even more demons and monsters to kill.
10/10: Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero (PC, PS5, Xbox S|X; Anime, Fighting)
If you enjoyed the prolonged groaning and wildly OP characters of the classic anime, this is your chance to play them yourself.
10/11: Metaphor: ReFantazio (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox S|X; Action RPG)
This new series from Persona director Katsura Hashino has has taken eight years to come to fruition. The character designs are lush and the scope looks sweeping.
10/11: Transformers: Galactic Trials (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox S|X; Action, Racing)
Play as one of 11 classic Transformers — both Autobot and Decepticon — as you both engage in combat and drift racing tracks.
10/11: Europa (PC, Switch; Exploration, Puzzle)
This “peaceful game of adventure, exploration, and meditation” allows you to go higher and higher with a jetpack-wearing protagonist.
