Pretty Little Liars – Lily Dodson, Contributor
Every fall, there’s little my sister and I enjoy more than sitting on our couch and binging episodes of Pretty Little Liars (PLL). Since discovering it on our parents’ Netflix account at the ages of 10 and 12, we’ve been hooked.
The eerie, ominous nature of the show makes it perfect for fall. Set in the fictional town of Rosewood, PA, PLL follows a group of four friends grappling with the murder of the fifth member of their clique, while also receiving threatening messages from an anonymous stalker who signs off as “A.” Even though it has some of the most absurd story arcs and one-liners in television history—“Call off your techno boy toy, or I tell the cops what your mom keeps in the lasagna box” is a quip I can’t begin to explain to a non-viewer—it is thoroughly entertaining. Despite rewatching it around half a dozen times, the show’s seemingly endless supply of nonsensical plot twists ensures it never gets tiring.
Beyond its absurdity, the show is a touching ode to friendship. The four ‘liars’ stick together despite all of the chaos they face throughout the show’s seven seasons. My sister and I enjoy watching to get a good laugh in, but I have grown to appreciate the absolute loyalty that the girls have for each other, and that itself reminds me of why we keep going back to it every fall.
Tell Me Lies Season Two – Siena Torres, Contributor
Season two of Tell Me Lies just finished airing last week, and I am still reeling from its cliffhanger ending. Since it first aired in 2022, Tell Me Lies has created a scandalous, raunchy, and toxic world worthy of its Gossip Girl influences. One major difference is that it is a rare television show set in a university, which allows for more scandal and consequences than a high school setting does.
Told mostly through the eyes of Lucy (Grace Van Patten), we follow her from her freshman year with her new friends and observe how she becomes involved with the narcissistic Stephen (Jackson White). The show is held together by the real-life couple’s intense chemistry, which provides the only justification for why Lucy keeps coming back to such a toxic relationship.
In flash-forward moments, the friend group celebrates a wedding that threatens to implode due to past secrets. The new season expands on other characters’ troubles including an affair, a sexual trauma, and explorations of queerness. The episodes aired weekly which allowed for anticipation to build for the finale and its relentless string of reveals. If you are looking for a new show to binge with characters that will provoke out your emotions, Tell Me Lies is well worth a watch.
Saturday Night – Annabella Lawlor, Staff Writer
90 minutes until showtime. The final bricks are being laid. There are too many sketches for too little time. Cigarettes are smoked in anticipation. The microphones stop functioning. There’s no one to work the lights. Fights break out over a bee costume. Scripts are burned. 20 gallons of blood are misplaced. It’s Oct. 11, 1975, and Saturday Night Live is set to premiere at 11:30 p.m.
Jason Reitman’s new film, Saturday Night, thoughtfully replicates the growing tensions between the cast and crew of the historically acclaimed sketch-comedy show. The film follows showrunner Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) on his quest to tame the chaos of comedic creativity. With his performance, LaBelle captures the looming fear of failure in the show’s conception and the anxieties of harnessing the self-involved talents of up-and-comers including Chevy Chase, John Belushi, and Gilda Radner. The set and costuming transport the audience back to 1975, perfectly capturing the dying state of late-night comedy in the period with its juxtaposition of the kitsch comedy then airing to SNL’s seemingly revolutionary approach to the genre. Saturday Night is an ode to the original show’s everlasting legacy and cultural impact, memorializing it in 16mm film as the rebirth of comedic culture. It’s emotional and tense, reminding viewers of the young comedians who once sought to revitalize late-night television with their daring absurdism and refreshing humour.
