Category: Entertainment

If Ariana Grande ever decides to give up singing and acting, she could always play Vegas as an impressionist. She showed off her incredible gift for mimicry on the Oct. 12 edition of Saturday Night Live, which she was hosting for the first time since 2016.

Ari kicked off the show with a monologue in which she swore to keep it “low-key,” and then busted out a song that was all about how she wasn’t going to do any number of things, which she, of course, did. One of them was doing vocal impressions, followed by her impersonating Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and Gwen Stefani in rapid succession. “Either way, this much is clear/ If you’re looking for a diva, don’t look over here,” she sang, while striking a diva pose.

She then went on to appear in nearly every sketch. Some highlights:

Ari hilariously impersonates Céline Dion’s recent promo for Sunday Night Football, except this time, she’s singing about how great (and violent) the UFC is: “It’s all coming back to me, but maybe not to them, because of the concussions, no?”

She and Chloe Fineman do dueling, spot-on Jennifer Coolidge impressions in a fake commercial for Maybelline — which causes Ari to briefly break and start laughing.

Ari plays a highly competitive mom who verbally abuses her son’s boyfriend, played by Bowen Yang, as a way of testing whether or not he’s “strong” enough to be with her “weak” son. She and Yang, her Wicked co-star, share a kiss at the end.

In a short called My Best Friend’s House, Ari plays a young girl who sings about how she loves how her bestie’s house smells — only to learn that her best friend’s dad is a serial killer.

In Renaissance Italy, Ariana plays a young boy whose parents castrated him to preserve his super-high singing voice — a real thing that was done back then. This gives Ari the chance to sing “Twist and Shout” at the very top end of her register.

Ari and the female SNL castmembers sing an “Espresso” parody as bridesmaids detailing what they got up to at the bride’s bachelorette weekend.  Spoiler alert: The marriage is over.

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Ella Purnell stars as Rhiannon Lewis in the new six-part Starz drama Sweetpea, about a young woman who transforms from meek wallflower to emboldened serial killer. Think Dexter meets female rage.

Purnell, who can also be seen in hit shows Yellowjackets and Fallout, says taking on this role in particular scared her because of its moral ambiguity.

“That was our goal with this series, was to conflict the audience, you know, make them relate to Rhiannon’s emotions and her motivations, but obviously not her actions,” she tells ABC Audio. “And that was just really interesting to me. I didn’t know if I could do it, and it really scared me.”

She was able to tap into Rhiannon’s rage — which manifests into some pretty intense kill scenes — by shaking off any inhibitions she may have had while filming.

“[I had to] not think about the cameras, not think about all my mates who are standing around on the set and just like let it out,” she says. “And it actually became quite therapeutic. And I think with all of those scenes, I didn’t practice them, I didn’t plan them, I didn’t really know what was going to come out and that was quite exciting.”

So what’s one pet peeve that would land someone on Purnell’s metaphorical “kill list”?

“One big one for me is … when people like constantly interrupt you,” she says. “We all have that one person who every time we speak, they decide to pipe up. And it’s only when we speak and they cut you off.” 

Sweetpea debuted Thursday on Starz and will air new episodes every Friday.

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Freakier Friday has a release date.

On Friday, Walt Disney Studios announced that the highly anticipated sequel to Freaky Friday will arrive in theaters on Aug. 8, 2025.

Disney also shared an image from the film of Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as Tess and Anna Coleman in what appears to be a scene of them finding out that they’ve switched bodies, as they did in the first film.

The Freaky Friday sequel was announced in June as filming for the project had begun. At the time, Disney released a fun photo of Curtis and Lohan sitting outside each other’s trailers on set.

In August at D23 in Anaheim, California, the duo announced that Freakier Friday would be the official title for the film.

They told Good Morning America in an interview that the sequel is “freakier.”

“The switches, the music, comedy,” Lohan said.

“The emotion,” Curtis added. “You now have a grandparent and a grandchild. We can’t tell you much, but Lindsay has her own 15-year-old in the movie, which makes me, then, the grandma. So there’s just more emotion.”

Curtis also described the film as a “love letter to mommies.”

“It’s a love letter to mommies and daughters and families,” Curtis said. “This is a love letter to them to just being mothers and the beauty of it all.”

In addition to Curtis and Lohan, Chad Michael Murray will return as Jake, who was Anna Coleman’s crush in the first film.

Mark Harmon, Christina Vidal, Haley Hudson, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky and Rosalind Chao will also return in the film.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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The third film in the growing Terrifier slasher series is now in theaters.

The franchise that centers on masked killer Art the Clown had humble beginnings: its 2018 original was made for $34,000, but went on to earn 10 times that. 

Director Damien Leone tells ABC Audio he hoped to raise $50,000 for a sequel, and fans on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo ponied up a quarter of a million dollars instead. The 2022 film was a smash, making nearly $16 million. 

“Every time I make something new with this character, the fan base grows just a little more,” Leone tells ABC Audio. “And we were always surprised with just how much it has grown.”

“This time,” Leone adds with a laugh, “Art the Clown ruins Christmas.” 

The lifelong horror fan explains he has always loved the “Christmas-horror subgenre,” adding, “To me, there’s nothing creepier and cozier than a maniac dressed as Santa Claus trying to break into your house on Christmas and chop you up with an ax.”

Admitting the evil Santa Claus “trope has been done a million times,” the filmmaker adds, “now that I could put Art the Clown in a maniac Santa Claus getup, it makes the ‘maniac Santa Claus’ fresh, and it makes Art the Clown fresh.”

Leone notes, “I always say, as extreme as these movies are and as violent as they are, we always remind the audience, especially with this character, that this should be a fun experience. … It’s a fun roller-coaster ride that you shouldn’t take too seriously.”

Again starring David Howard Thornton as Art, Terrifier 3 also stars Lauren LaVera, Chris Jericho and The Lost Boys vet Jason Patric.

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The DVD rental company Redbox is no more — but unfortunately, its more than 20,000 DVD vending machines still are, and that’s causing a pricey problem for the stores in front of which they’re parked. 

At issue: The 890-pound, movies-stuffed boxes aren’t easy to remove.

The Wall Street Journal reports the 24,000 machines that can still be found in front of Walgreens, 7-Elevens and myriad other stores across the country have become a headache. Not only are they heavy, but in many cases, they’re bolted to the concrete and hard-wired into the store’s electricity. They also contain coolant that has to be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.

The paper reports that Walgreens, for example, is still shelling out $184,000 a month to keep its nearly 5,400 machines powered up — even though you can’t rent anything from them — because they’re connected to their stores’ power supply.

The stores also need permission from the bankruptcy court to spend hundreds of dollars to have them disconnected and carted off.

Once they are disconnected, what to do? In most cases, the machines are being scrapped. However, one enterprising person is ditching the DVDs and figuring out how to dispense cannabis from it. 

Another got lucky and struck a deal with someone hired to cart one of the boxes off. Nineteen-year-old Jacob Helton plans to donate its 500 movies and use the machine to display his own collection. “I wanted a Redbox machine because I felt like Redbox is important in the history of American media,” he says. “Its collapse marks the end of the video rental era.”

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Two-time Tony winner Hugh Jackman is using his social media presence to help in the search for a fellow Broadway veteran.

According to ABC News’ South Carolina affiliate WOLO-TV, 28-year-old Hamilton dancer Zelig Williams was last seen on Oct. 3, according to his family, who reported him missing.

In an Instagram Story, Jackman posted a photo of Williams, noting, “Please, if anyone has information as to the whereabouts of Zelig Williams, please reach out to the local authorities.” 

He continued, “ZELIG we love you and are praying for your safe return. Please pass this message on!!!”

According to the authorities, the dancer was last seen driving in the area of the Congaree State Park in South Carolina; officials say his vehicle was later discovered near the 500-mile-long Palmetto Trail. 

His family says it is out of character for Williams to not contact them; a statement from the Richland County Sheriff’s Office says a family member received an SOS message from his phone the day he was last seen.

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John Leguizamo, Gina Torres and Eva Longoria are among the actors appearing in the new ABC special Latinos in Hollywood: Owning Our Destiny.

The special, part of the network’s monthlong coverage celebrating Hispanic and Latin American Heritage Month, is hosted by What Would You Do? host John Quiñones, with the stars opening up about their careers, and giving insight into the importance of representation and visibility, both in front of and behind the camera. 

Leguizamo tells Quiñones he was inspired to produce more Latino-based shows, like his hits Mambo Mouth and Spic-o-Rama, because of what he didn’t see as a child.

“When I was growing up, there was very little of Latin content that I could see myself reflected back in so I started writing my own stuff,” he shares. “I was writing it for Latino youth like myself, so they can see themselves the way we saw ourselves. Vital, alive, intellectual, funny.” 

Torres, star of 9-1-1 Lonestar, says she fought to make her character on the show, Tommy Vega, Afro-Latina, sharing it was important to her “because there’s still women and men who don’t understand that they’re important.”

Other actors participating in the special include Edward James Olmos, Will Trent star Ramón Rodríguez, Rita Moreno and Xochitl Gomez.

Latinos in Hollywood: Owning Our Destiny airs Friday on ABC at 8 p.m. ET and streams on Hulu the next day.

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Deadpool & Wolverine has set another record: The Marvel Studios team-up has had the bestselling digital debut week for any R-rated movie. 

The film starring Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds hit digital platforms on Oct. 1; it comes to Blu-ray and HD DVD on Oct. 22.

The film is also the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time worldwide with a take north of $1.3 billion; currently, it is the second-highest-grossing movie of 2024, following another Disney release, Inside Out 2.

On July 26, the third movie starring Reynolds’ potty-mouthed mercenary also had the biggest global opening for an R-rated movie, breaking the record set by his 2016 original.

Domestically, the film ranks at #13 of the highest-grossing movies of all time. 

Disney is the parent company of ABC News. 

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Have no fear, your reality roundup is here! Here’s a look at what happened in the world of reality television this week:

Love is Blind (Netflix)
Amber and Matt Barnett, who found love on the first season of Love is Blind, are expecting their first child together. The pair made the announcement on The Love Seat podcast, hosted by fellow season 1 couple Lauren and Cameron Hamilton. “I sent myself back to school because I felt like we were in a place where I could do that. I had the support, and I was mentally there,” Amber said. “And then over summer break he just went and knocked me up.”

Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Anna Delvey went viral when she remarked that she would take “nothing” away from her Dancing with the Stars experience after she was voted off the show. Now, her professional dance partner Ezra Sosa has tattooed the word “nothing” on his body. “im such an idiot,” he captioned his TikTok about the experience.

Deal or No Deal Island (NBC)
Reality TV fans, rejoice. Big Brother legend Will Kirby is returning to TV screens to compete on season 2 of Deal or No Deal Island. This marks his first time competing on a reality show in 20 years. “My kids are 11 and 14, and they’ve never seen me on a competition reality show,” Kirby told People. “My daughter in particular, we watched Deal or No Deal Island season 1. I won’t tell you what it was, but she said, ‘It would be really, really funny if you did this on that show.’ And I said, ‘You know what, sweetheart? I’m going to do that.’ And I did it. I think she’s going to watch it and love it, and it’s going to be hilarious.”

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Ready, set, binge! Here’s a look at some of the new movies and TV shows streaming this weekend:

Netflix
The Menendez Brothers: Thirty years after the murders, the Menendez brothers tell their story in a new documentary film.

Outer Banks: The crew has got their gold, so now they’re causing trouble back at home. You can watch part 1 of season 4 now.

Hulu
Abbott Elementary: School’s back in session! Tune in to the season 4 premiere of the popular sitcom.

Prime Video
Citadel: Diana: The spinoff to the Prime Video series Citadel is here, and it’s set in Italy. You can binge the new action series now.

Starz
Sweetpea: Rhiannon has a hit list, and you better hope you’re not on it. Try out the killer new series.

Peacock
Teacup: A rural farm in Georgia faces a mysterious threat in the new horror series.

That’s all for this week’s Weekend Watchlist – happy streaming!

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