‘Vampire Academy,’ From ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Team, Embraces Grand Mythos and Cheesy Tropes Equally: TV Review

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic It was only a matter of time before broadcast TV — where police procedurals reign supreme — took a harder pivot into exploring the lives of firefighters. With audiences either craving more cop content or deeply skeptical of its lionization, it makes sense that networks might be more into the idea of spotlighting firefighters, who tend to point hoses at the danger they face rather than guns. Now joining the likes of ABC’s “Station 19” and NBC’s “Chicago Fire” is CBS’ “Fire Country.” Executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and with the explosive stunts and set pieces to match, the new drama takes place in Northern California’s increasingly endangered woodlands, where a single spark can become a catastrophic nightmare within minutes. Promotion for the show has made sure to highlight the fact that it came from a pitch by star Max Thieriot (“SEAL Team”), as based on “his experiences growing up in Northern California.” But “Fire Country” isn’t just about firefighters battling brushfires. It’s also about incarcerated people trading months of their sentence for dirt cheap, backbreaking labor — an experience that, as far as I can tell, is not one Thierot or his firefighter friends have ever had.

Fancy getting your hand on some free makeup? All it’ll cost you is a pint of blood. No, this isn’t the plotline of some twisted new horror film, but instead Lottie London’s big-hearted new Blood for Beauty campaign.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic As every network jockeys to own the shiniest piece of IP possible to attract distracted viewers, the best thing to say about any adaptation is that it honors the source material while also evolving it, believably and purposefully, to fit a new medium. AMC aims to do exactly that with “Interview With the Vampire,” the first installment of what it’s calling “The Immortal Universe,” having bought the rights to many of Anne Rice’s most iconic works. With both the books and evocative 1994 film to contend with, creator Rolin Jones (“Perry Mason”) took on an admittedly enormous challenge. How do you stay faithful to what makes Rice’s novels so popular while bringing something to the screen that the likes of Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and a tiny Kirsten Dunst didn’t?  

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor AMC hopes that when viewers aren’t watching its new “Interview with The Vampire” series, they’ll be shopping it instead. The media company, which has made a significant investment in the “Vampire Chronicles” and “Lives of the Mayfair Witches” properties devised by author Anne Rice, is opening a virtual boutique with items all related to the first series in the new venture. “Interview With The Vampire” is slated to debut on Sunday, October 2, the same day the shopping outlet, known as “Night Market,” goes online. Bedding, sleep masks, “forever flowers,” and even a casket are available for purchase, notes Kim Granito, an executive vice president of integrated marketing for AMC Networks who is overseeing the project, devised by the company’s Content Room, a brand studio. “You don’t have to be dead to enjoy them,” she says of the vampire-related goods.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic On its surface, “So Help Me Todd” is fairly straightforward. Based on creator Scott Prendergast’s own experiences, the new dramedy tells the story of high-powered lawyer Joan (Marcia Gay Harden) and her private investigator son (Skylar Astin) forging an unlikely partnership. Each episode follows a different case before the odd couple team inevitably catch the culprit and teach each other a valuable lesson. So far, so fitting for a CBS procedural. And yet there’s something deeply uncanny about “So Help Me Todd,” which pairs an aggressive perkiness with moments of drama that feel more forced than moving. Todd and Joan spend the first few episodes sniping at each other in between finding clues. Once Todd proves that he’s a good enough private investigator to overcome his spotty past, he joins Joan’s office, where he locks horns with an uptight coworker Lyle (Tristen J. Winger) and ex-girlfriend Susan (Inga Schlingmann), neither of whom get much to do outside giving Todd other people to talk to besides his mother. At home, Todd’s sister Allison (Madeline Wise) occasionally gives the show a much needed dose of dry skepticism, though she also is only here to support her brother and mother’s leading stories.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic It takes six episodes for “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” (yes, that is indeed the show’s full name) to meaningfully expand beyond the scope of either the serial killer or Evan Peters’ portrayal of him. In that episode, “Silenced,” directed by Paris Barclay and written by Janet Mock and David McMillan, the story of Dahmer victim Tony Anthony Hughes comes to the forefront. Tony (played with warm charm by “Deaf U” alum Rodney Burford) was a gregarious aspiring model with a big heart. He was Deaf, Black, gay, a great dancer. His friends and mother (a moving Karen Malina White) loved him very much. With every moment Burford gets to give Tony new life, the inevitable end of “Silenced” becomes all the more harrowing, and the cops’ inaction to find the truth all the more infuriating. But as the show’s nonsensical maze of a title suggests, this episode is an exception rather than the rule. Otherwise, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s new Netflix series is a grim, sepia-toned slog that rarely justifies its own existence.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic “Andor” is, both by design and circumstance, immediately different from its “Star Wars” television predecessors. Where “The Mandalorian,” “Boba Fett,” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi” wove their biggest reveals into the larger fabric of the Lucasfilm universe, “Andor” doesn’t rush toward those moments that might make fans gasp out of pure recognition. Instead, it does something more surprising still: it tells the story of people who have nothing to do with Solos, Skywalkers or Palpatines, but whose lives matter nonetheless. Of course, at least part of the reason the series can take its time this way is because haunted hustler Cassian Andor (Diego Luna, also an executive producer) isn’t a brand-new character at all. As the reluctant hero of 2016’s “Rogue One,” which portrayed the rebel pilot mission to steal the Death Star plans which drive “A New Hope,” Cassian’s “Star Wars” legacy is already written. We already know Cassian’s life will eventually intersect with someone like rebel leader Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly, returning for more in-depth work in “Andor”). We already know his fate — dramatic and hopeful and unforgettable in those final minutes of “Rogue One” — and that it’s well and truly sealed.  

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic It stands to reason that “Reboot” is immediately an entertainment biz turducken of industry lingo and in-jokes. From “Modern Family” creator Steven Levitan, the new Hulu series depicts the reboot — also airing on Hulu — of a family sitcom and all the behind-the-scenes drama that inevitably follows. Levitan, whose credits include “Just Shoot Me” and “Wings,” obviously knows his way around a multi-cam, and his pilot co-writer John Enbom made a meal in “Party Down” of exploiting the seediest corners of Hollywood ambition. The combination of the two sensibilities makes for a (mostly) realistic peek into life on a studio lot, but that’s probably a given. That it ends up (mostly) toothless comes as a genuine surprise.

Paul Wesley and his wife, Ines de Ramon, are going their separate ways after three years of marriage. The “Vampire Diaries” actor’s rep confirmed the news to People, exclusively telling the outlet that “they have separated” and have been living apart for several months.

Paul Wesley and his wife, Ines de Ramon, are going their separate ways after three years of marriage.  actor's rep confirmed the news to , exclusively telling the outlet that «they have separated» and have been living apart for several months.«The decision to separate is mutual and occurred five months ago. They request privacy at this time,» the rep added.Wesley, 40, was first romantically linked to Ramon, 29, in June 2018 when they were seen holding hands after a dinner date in New York City.

It’s over. The Vampire Diaries star Paul Wesley and wife Ines de Ramon have called it quits after three years of marriage.

HBO Max To Build ‘The Bridge’ In Hungary

Peacock series “Vampire Academy,” it was a dream come true from her younger years. “I read the books when I was a teenager,” Stringer, 25, told the Post, referring to the titular series of novels by Richelle Mead that the show is based on. “My sister was really into them, so I stole her books and read them when I was younger, and loved it. When I got the call saying I got the part, I messaged my sister, and her response was a paragraph of capital letters and nonsense.

King Charles III, who arranged to visit his wife before she died from lung cancer last year. Joan Washington, who was a voice coach to celebrities including Penelope Cruz and Jessica Chastain, died in September last year at the age of 74. Swazi-English actor Grant, whose wife died eight months after she was diagnosed with lung cancer, praises the new King in his forthcoming memoir, A Pocketful Of Happiness.

Richard E Grant has praised King Charles III, who arranged to visit his wife before she died from lung cancer last year. Joan Washington, who was a voice coach to celebrities including Penelope Cruz and Jessica Chastain, died in September last year at the age of 74. Swazi-English actor Grant, whose wife died eight months after she was diagnosed with lung cancer, praises the new King in his forthcoming memoir, A Pocketful Of Happiness.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic If you were to see the trailer or basically any promotional material for “The Serpent Queen,” Starz’s new series about the infamous life of one Catherine de Medici, you’d be forgiven for assuming it’s a showcase for Samantha Morton in a historical drama with modern touches, following in the footsteps of her recent turn in “Harlots.” Even its arresting opening credits sequence, which sees Morton stride to a throne to a heavy guitar lick as snakes slither out and toward her, suggests a show preoccupied with being Edgy and Different — a show that would consider itself to be not like Starz’s many other historical drama girls, as it were.   However: as adapted from Leonie Frieda’s biography by Justin Haythe, this perception proves to be only somewhat the case. In fact, the first few episodes of “The Serpent Queen” — which premieres Sunday, Sept. 11 — feature Morton sparingly, with an elder Catherine telling the story of how she came to France as a teenager (played by Liv Hill) to a spirited maid (Sennia Nanua), in whom she sees a kindred spirit. In truth, Morton should only barely be considered the show’s lead until the fourth episode, which moves Catherine’s flashbacks far enough forward in time that she can safely assume the role in both the past and present, as she begins to square off against her formidable daughter-in-law, Mary Queen of Scots (Antonia Clarke). 

EXCLUSIVE: Career Opportunities in Murder and Mayhem, the Hulu series in the works that stars Mandy Patinkin, has put the finishing touches on its already starry ensemble by adding Linda Emond (The Gilded Age) and Jayne Atkinson (House of Cards) in heavily recurring roles.

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic At first, Hulu’s “Wedding Season” seems to be a charming enough take on a British “Four Weddings and a Funeral”-style romantic comedy, complete with a hopeless romantic boy, his boisterous friend group, and the enigmatic American girl he falls for the minute he meets her at — where else? — a wedding. But both Oliver Lyttelton’s take on the setup and the American at its center have more up their sleeves than a charming meet-cute. The second that initial layer’s peeled, “Wedding Season” (not to be confused with Netflix’s recent movie of the same name) is off and running in another direction entirely — a murder mystery with roots in the kind of deep corruption that would give Jason Bourne nightmares. Whether or not it all hangs together will be for the audience to decide, with all eight episodes out Sept. 8 on Hulu (but only seven made available for critics ahead of its premiere). What is clear regardless of how the mystery ends, however, is the talent of its cast, and its charismatic lead in particular. 

Caroline Framke Chief TV Critic In the months after Donald Trump became president and a flush of liberal rage manifested in impassioned Women’s Marches across the country, Hillary Clinton took a sizeable step back from public life. Having been a flashpoint of both controversy and sympathy for her entire adult life, Clinton found herself having to forge a new kind of identity — one that wouldn’t be tied to any kind of political office, but could still use support from those Democrats whose first reaction to Trump’s inauguration was to crochet pink “pussyhats” and march as a unified pink wave of righteous fury. “Gutsy,” Clinton’s new and self-consciously #feminist show produced with her daughter, Chelsea, helps the former candidate do exactly that, tapping everyone from Gloria Steinem to Megan Thee Stallion to explore what it means to be a “gutsy” woman. But watching the show’s eight curated episodes, all of which premiere September 9 on Apple TV+, feels like stepping back in feminism to Clinton’s campaign selling “NASTY WOMAN” T-shirts or Women’s March protesters lifting “IF HILLARY HAD BEEN ELECTED, WE’D BE AT BRUNCH RIGHT NOW” signs. Even with titles like “Gutsy Women Refuse Hate” and “Gutsy Women Have Rebel Hearts,” “Gutsy” bears the appearance of taking on The Hard Questions without doing much to move its conversations forward. Determined to find a silver lining in every cloud, and less furious with the world than annoyed at being misconceived, the Clintons spend much of their time in this series seeking out people who feel the same rather than challenging their own worldviews — or their likely viewers’ — at all.