MUST-WATCH TITLES FOR OCTOBER
OCTOBER 1 – NEW HBO DOCUMENTARIES
- All-new HBO documentaries premieres this month include THE RINGLEADER: THE CASE OF THE BLING RING (Oct. 1), featuring a candid, first-time interview with Rachel Lee, the so-called teenage mastermind behind a string of high-profile celebrity robbers in Hollywood. From executive producers Mark and Jay Duplass, LAST STOP LARRIMAH (Oct. 8), detailing the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty and his dog from the remote Austrailian town of Larrimah, resulting in all residents of the town becoming suspects. And AKA MR. CHOW (Oct. 22), a vibrant portrait of the legendary, multi-hyphenate artist, actor, and famed restaurateur Michael Chow.
OCTOBER 5 – HBO Max’s OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH *Season 2 Premiere*
- HBO Max Original comedy series OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH, from creator-showrunner David Jenkins, Emmy®-nominated executive producer and star Taika Waititi, and Emmy-nominated executive producer Garrett Basch, returns with three episodes Thursday, Oct. 5. OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH is based (very) loosely on the true adventures of 18th century would-be pirate Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby). After trading the seemingly charmed life of a gentleman for one of a swashbuckling buccaneer, Stede became captain of the pirate ship Revenge. Struggling to earn the respect of his potentially mutinous crew, Stede’s fortunes changed after a fateful run-in with the infamous Captain Blackbeard (Waititi). To their surprise, the wildly different Stede and Blackbeard found more than friendship on the high seas… they found love. Now, they have to survive it. Season 2 continues with two new episodes weekly dropping Thursdays.
OCTOBER 13 – Crave Original BRIA MACK GETS A LIFE *Series Premiere*
- Following a buzzy world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the hysterical, six-episode, half-hour Crave Original comedy series, BRIA MACK GETS A LIFE, premieres with three episodes on Crave, Friday, Oct. 13. After seven long years in University, fresh graduate and newly minted valedictorian, Bria McFarlane (Malaika Hennie- Hamadi), moves back home to the suburbs ready to finally take a break. But when her mother Marie (Leslie Adlam) shares her plan to retire early – and soon – Bria must coordinate her life, friends, dating, a place to live, and most importantly, a job, to fund it all, before time runs out. With her hype girl and most-trusted imaginary confidant, Black Attack (Hannan Younis), by her side, the series follows the pair as they take on the world… one microaggression at a time. The final three episodes drop the following week, on Friday, Oct. 20.
OCTOBER 13 – STARZ’s SHINING VALE *Season 2 Premiere*
- Season one of SHINING VALE introduced Pat (Courteney Cox) and Terry Phelps (Greg Kinnear), a dysfunctional family that tried to run from their problems by moving their kids into a possibly-haunted Victorian mansion in small-town Connecticut. Once settled in, Pat encountered Rosemary (Mira Sorvino), a demon who possessed her body and turned her life upside down. When the family steps in to “save” Pat, they commit her to a psychiatric hospital where she sees an old photo of a nurse who looks just like her demon Rosemary. Season 2 kicks off four months later, when Pat’s insurance runs out and she is released from the psychiatric hospital early. Pat returns home, determined to pick up the pieces of her broken family, but she quickly finds out her children don’t need her, Terry doesn’t remember her, and to make matters worse, Pat’s new neighbour Ruth looks exactly like Rosemary. Meanwhile, the house starts to reveal the shocking secrets of its dark past. The series follows a weekly release schedule, with new episodes streaming Fridays on STARZ.
October 17 – Crave Original DARK SIDE OF COMEDY *Season 2 Premiere*
- Produced by Vice TV in partnership with Crave, the Crave Original series DARK SIDE OF COMEDY returns for a second season, continuing to explore the dark stories of addiction, suicide, and self-destruction that lurk behind the laughter. Season 2 subjects include: Robin Williams, Sam Kinison, Joan Rivers, Carlos Mencia, Phil Hartman, Tracy Morgan, sitcom FAMILY MATTERS, Ellen DeGeneres, Norm MacDonald, and Gilda Radner.
OCTOBER 23 – HBO’s 30 COINS *Season 2 Premiere*
- Season 2 of the HBO Original horror series 30 COINS returns with most residents of Pedraza, a remote town in Spain, plagued by inexplicable, demonic events, having lost their minds and confined to a psychiatric hospital. Elena (Megan Montaner) lies comatose in a Madrid hospital bed, while Paco (Miguel Ángel Silvestre), shattered by remorse, tries to take care of her. As horror intensifies around them, the group of heroes must face a mysterious new enemy (Paul Giamatti) – someone so perverse that even the devil fears him. Subsequent new episodes drop on Mondays, and the new season joins Crave’s International TV & Movies Collection which also features critically acclaimed international HBO series such as BEARTOWN, MY BRILLIANT FRIEND, and THE INVESTIGATION
OCTOBER 29 – HBO’s THE GILDED AGE *Season 2 Premiere*
- From the creator of DOWNTON ABBEY, Julian Fellowes, the HBO Original drama series THE GILDED AGE returns for its eight-episode, second season Sunday, Oct. 29 at 9 p.m. ET. Season 2 begins on Easter morning 1883, with the news that Bertha Russell’s (Carrie Coon) bid for a box at the Academy of Music has been rejected. Through the season, audiences see Bertha challenge Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy) and the old system, and work to not only gain a foothold in society, but to potentially take a leading role in it. George Russell (Morgan Spector) takes on his own battle with a growing union at his steel plant in Pittsburgh, while in the Brook House, Marian (Louisa Jacobson) continues her journey to find her way in the world secretly teaching at a girls school while much to everyone’s surprise Ada (Cynthia Nixon) begins a new courtship. Of course, Agnes (Christine Baranski), approves of none of it. In Brooklyn, the Scott family begins to heal from a shocking discovery, and Peggy (Denée Benton) taps into her activist spirit through her work with T. Thomas Fortune (Sullivan Jones) at the NY Globe. The series follows a weekly release schedule with new episodes dropping Sundays.
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HIGHLIGHTS
OCTOBER 1 – CREEPY CRAVINGS COLLECTION
- Countdown to Halloween begins on October 1, with fan-favourite fright films, series, and specials on Crave’s Creepy Cravings The go-to place for spook-filled content, collections found on the hub include Terrifying TV including YELLOWJACKETS, TRUE BLOOD, and 30 COIN; Frightening Films including Halloween Ends, Videodrome, Infinity Pool; Masters of Horror such as John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), Essential Horror like classic, The Exorcistand A Nightmare on Elm Street; Family Friendly Frights featuring Beetlejuice, as well as Halloween Episodes, Freaky Franchises, Blood Horror Comedies, a She Slays collection, and more.
OCTOBER 6 – THE BLACKENING *Movie Premiere*
- Based on 3Peat Comedy’s acclaimed sketch of the same name, director Tim Story’s savvy and vicious skewering of genre film tropes poses the sardonic question: if the entire cast of a horror movie is Black, who dies first? THE BLACKENING centres around a group of Black friends who reunite for a Juneteenth weekend getaway, only to find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a twisted killer. Forced to play by his rules, the friends soon realize this isn’t a game. THE BLACKENING drops Friday, Oct. 6 on STARZ.
OCTOBER 27 – GODFATHER OF HARLEM *Season 1 & 2*
- Seasons 1 and 2 of the crime-drama series GODFATHER OF HARLEM, land on on STARZ on Friday, Oct. 27. The series tells the story inspired by infamous Harlem crime boss Bumpy Johnson, played by Oscar® winner Forest Whitaker, who in the early 1960s, returned from 11 years in prison to find the neighbourhood he once ruled in shambles. With the streets controlled by the Italian mob, Bumpy must take on the Genovese crime family to regain control. During the brutal battle, he forms an alliance with radical preacher Malcolm X (Nigél Thatch), catching Malcolm’s political rise in the crosshairs of social upheaval, and a mob war that threatens to tear the city apart. Godfather of Harlem is a collision of the criminal underworld and the civil rights movement during one of the most tumultuous times in American history.
OCTOBER 27 – ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET *Movie Premiere*
- Based on Judy Blume’s classic and groundbreaking novel of the same name, ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET, follows 11-year-old Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) as she’s uprooted from her life in New York City for the suburbs of New Jersey, going through the messy and tumultuous throes of puberty with new friends in a new school. She relies on her mother, Barbara (Rachel McAdams), who is also struggling to adjust to life outside the big city, and her adoring grandmother, Sylvia (Kathy Bates), who isn’t happy they moved away and likes to remind them every chance she gets. The movie drops Friday, Oct. 27 on STARZ.