AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The summer blockbuster season is over, but the question of what to watch is eternal. This fall, there's sci-fi, romance and the return of "Stranger Things."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "STRANGER THINGS")
CHARLIE HEATON: (As Jonathan Byers) This thing - it ties us together.
RASCOE: Linda Holmes hosts NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, and she's here to talk about what she'll be watching as the weather cools down. Hi, Linda.
LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: Hello, Ayesha.
RASCOE: Let's start with TV. "Stranger Things" fans will be happy to know that this one is coming back. I mean, the kids are all grown now. But what else are you looking forward to?
HOLMES: Well, "The Lowdown" is a show from creator Sterlin Harjo, who made the very well-regarded show "Reservation Dogs." In this drama series, which is set in Tulsa, Ethan Hawke plays a kind of self-styled citizen journalist who works out of a bookstore. He gets tangled up in a mystery about a powerful family with lots of secrets. It's funny. It's dramatic. It's exciting. It's a good mystery.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE LOWDOWN")
ETHAN HAWKE: (As Lee Raybon) What I've uncovered is insane - hidden tunnels, some freaky stuff, stolen art.
KYLE MACLACHLAN: (As Donald Washberg) You're sniffing at the wrong hole.
HAWKE: (As Lee Raybon) Oh, I'm sniffing at the right hole, and it stinks.
HOLMES: (Laughter) So that's coming to FX starting on September 23, then episodes will stream on Hulu after that. I have seen a bunch of episodes of this. I think people are really going to enjoy it. There's also "Pluribus" from Vince Gilligan. He's a beloved TV creator. He made "Breaking Bad." He made "Better Call Saul." And on "Better Call Saul," Rhea Seehorn played Kim, and she stars in Gilligan's new show, "Pluribus." We do not know a lot about it, I have to say, other than the tagline - the most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness. I don't know what that means.
RASCOE: OK (laughter).
HOLMES: But Gilligan's partnership with Seehorn has already been really good for both of them. I'm very psyched to see this. It starts November 7 on Apple TV+, and we'll find out, I guess, at that point what it's all about.
RASCOE: So how about movies? Like, is there a streaming option that we could watch from the couch?
HOLMES: There is. If you like thrillers, there is a Netflix adaptation of a novel by Ruth Ware called "The Woman In Cabin 10." And it's a novel that I like very much. The book is about a travel writer. She goes to cover a trip on a fancy ship, and she thinks that she witnesses a woman being thrown overboard. That leads to a mystery. The Netflix adaptation stars Keira Knightley as this travel writer. I'm very much hoping it lives up to the book, and that will be out October 10.
RASCOE: OK. Yeah, Ruth Ware definitely writes some thrillers, so...
HOLMES: Yes.
RASCOE: ...Yeah, that could be good.
HOLMES: Yes.
RASCOE: I understand you saw a boatload of movies at TIFF, the Toronto International Film Festival. Which ones did you see there that we should be keeping an eye out for?
HOLMES: One that I really liked is called "Roofman." Channing Tatum plays a real-life robber who went to jail and escaped and lived in hiding. That's very good. I also really liked "Blue Moon," which - Ethan Hawke plays the American lyricist Lorenz Hart as his partnership with Richard Rodgers is dissolving because Rodgers is now working on "Oklahoma!" and other things. Ethan Hawke is wonderful in it. Andrew Scott is in it, Margaret Qualley is in it. Lots to like about that one, too. So those are both really good movies about people playing real people.
RASCOE: Now, I hear you saw the new "Knives Out" movie, so I'm very jealous. Is that one just as fun as the others?
HOLMES: It is. "Wake Up Dead Man" is the latest Benoit Blanc detective story. It will be in theaters just before Thanksgiving and then on Netflix. Rian Johnson has said that the inspiration for "Wake Up Dead Man" was in part Edgar Allen Poe, right? So it has a darker tone.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY")
JOSH O'CONNOR: (As Jud Duplenticy) All right, stop. Here's what's going to happen. Benoit fricking Blanc and I are going to ask you all some questions, and you're going to answer them. We're going to get to the bottom of who killed Monsignor Wicks and why, and then that's it.
DANIEL CRAIG: (As Benoit Blanc) Now, who wants to go first?
HOLMES: So as you can tell, it is still funny, right? That was Josh O'Connor, who was very good, playing a young priest who's struggling with his purpose and trying to form bonds with this somewhat hostile congregation. Then there's obviously a murder. And there's a group of suspects that includes, again, Andrew Scott, plus Kerry Washington, Jeremy Renner. There's very nice performance from Glenn Close. This is maybe a little less jokey than "Glass Onion" was, let's say, although it's still, you know, as in that clip, quite funny. But it does have a little bit of a more melancholy feeling to it. I really liked it.
RASCOE: Well, I'm excited to see it. That's NPR's Linda Holmes. Thank you so much.
HOLMES: Thank you so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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