TV Series

‘Squid Game: The Challenge’ – Critics Weigh In Ahead of Its Netflix Premiere

Published

5 months ago

November 21, 2023

Netflix’s “Squid Game: The Challenge“, set to premiere on November 22nd, has sparked a mix of anticipation and skepticism among viewers and critics. This real-life adaptation of the hit Korean drama “Squid Game” involves 456 contestants vying for a $4.56 million prize, with the challenges being non-lethal (dang it) but still mentally and physically demanding.

Squid Game: The Challenge Clip

Positive reviews highlight the show’s compelling narrative and engaging format. The Guardian praised it as a distillation of the best of reality TV, describing it as “sports day, vintage Big Brother, The Traitors, the Stanford prison experiment; it’s one of those funhouses on lorries that you get at the local fair… But as a gameshow, as the spectacle it sets out to be, it is very hard to look away”. The Independent, acknowledging the shift from the original series’ anti-capitalist themes to a more consumerist approach, still lauds it as “an epic of its genre”. The Daily Beast commends the show for living up to the original’s intrigue, stating, “It still manages to stand up to the original show, with new twists that match up to Squid Game’s intrigue—which is saying a lot, considering how thrilling the original was”.

Read about reported problems on the set of **Squid Game: The Challenge** here

However, the show has also faced criticism for its ethical implications. The Daily Beast pointed out the irony of converting the original show’s critique of capitalism into a reality-TV spectacle, even as it acknowledged the darkly engrossing nature of the adaptation. Slant Magazine labeled the show as “morally dubious” and a “morally bankrupt drag”, critiquing its approach to adapting dystopian fiction into a reality show and noting its repetitiveness and predictability.

Despite these mixed reviews, “Squid Game: The Challenge” is undoubtedly generating buzz and debate, reflecting the complexities of adapting a popular fiction into reality TV. The show seems to balance high-stakes drama with ethical quandaries, offering viewers a unique entertainment experience. Whether it will live up to the hype or fall short of expectations remains to be seen, but it certainly has caught the public’s attention.

Drawing parallels to Mr. Beast’s wildly popular gameshow adaptation, which has already amassed over half a billion views, “Squid Game: The Challenge” is poised to be a sensational hit for Netflix. You can watch Mr. Beast’s video below and mark your calendars for the Netflix series premiere on November 22nd.

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News

Netflix Releases First BTS ‘Fear Street: Prom Queen’ Footage

Published

12 hours ago

April 30, 2024

Timothy Rawles

It’s been three long years since Netflix unleashed the bloody, but enjoyable Fear Street on its platform. Released in a tryptic fashion, the streamer broke up the story into three episodes, each taking place in a different decade which by the finale were all tied together.

Now, the streamer is in production for its sequel Fear Street: Prom Queen which brings the story into the 80s. Netflix gives a synopsis of what to expect from Prom Queen on their blog site Tudum:

“Welcome back to Shadyside. In this next installment of the blood-soaked Fear Street franchise, prom season at Shadyside High is underway and the school’s wolfpack of It Girls is busy with its usual sweet and vicious campaigns for the crown. But when a gutsy outsider is unexpectedly nominated to the court, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of ’88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night.”

Based on R.L. Stine’s massive series of Fear Street novels and spin-offs, this chapter is number 15 in the series and was published in 1992.

FEAR STREET: PROM QUEEN IS NOW IN PRODUCTION 🩸 Welcome to Shadyside High. We're gonna have a killer time. pic.twitter.com/jDl0zRa2CH
— Netflix (@netflix) April 30, 2024

Fear Street: Prom Queen features a killer ensemble cast, including India Fowler (The Nevers, Insomnia), Suzanna Son (Red Rocket, The Idol), Fina Strazza (Paper Girls, Above the Shadows), David Iacono (The Summer I Turned Pretty, Cinnamon), Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Chris Klein (Sweet Magnolias, American Pie), Lili Taylor (Outer Range, Manhunt) and Katherine Waterston (The End We Start From, Perry Mason).

No word on when Netflix will drop the series into its catalog.

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News

Live Action Scooby-Doo Reboot Series In Works at Netflix

Published

13 hours ago

April 30, 2024

Timothy Rawles

The ghosthunting Great Dane with an anxiety problem, Scooby-Doo, is getting a reboot and Netflix is picking up the tab. Variety is reporting that the iconic show is becoming an hour-long series for the streamer although no details have been confirmed. In fact, Netflix execs declined to comment.

If the project is a go, this would be the first live-action movie based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon since 2018’s Daphne & Velma. Before that, there were two theatrical live-action movies, Scooby-Doo (2002) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), then two sequels that premiered on The Cartoon Network.

Currently, the adult-oriented Velma is streaming on Max.

Scooby-Doo originated in 1969 under the creative team Hanna-Barbera. The cartoon follows a group of teenagers who investigate supernatural happenings. Known as Mystery Inc., the crew consists of Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and his best friend, a talking dog named Scooby-Doo.

Normally the episodes revealed the hauntings they encountered were hoaxes developed by land-owners or other nefarious characters hoping to scare people away from their properties. The original TV series named Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ran from 1969 to 1986. It was so successful that movie stars and pop culture icons would make guest appearances as themselves in the series.

Celebrities such as Sonny & Cher, KISS, Don Knotts, and The Harlem Globetrotters made cameos as did Vincent Price who portrayed Vincent Van Ghoul in a few episodes.

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News

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

Published

5 days ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.