Kace Schermerhorn
Fall is a great time for new show releases; it’s when people bundle up and binge watch for hours and hours on end. This fall, Netflix, along with Hulu and Amazon Prime will be releasing several new shows, including premiering a few movies that have been out for a while. Hulu has also had some interesting releases this fall. On October 23rd, they released the second season of “Castle Rock.” The show is primarily horror set in the Stephen King multiverse. “Castle Rock” combines the storytelling of King’s best works, creating a very dark series. It prominently figures on King’s famous books, such as Cujo, The Dark Half, IT, and Needful Things. The show has had very positive ratings, having an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and received a four out of five star rating by Common Sense Media. The second season looks very promising and may surpass the first in views and overall rating.
On October 17th, Netflix premiered “The Karate Kid” directed by Harald Zwart, starting Jaden Smith. The film is about a 12-year-old boy named Dre Parker who has moved to China due to his mother’s career path. Dre meets Mr. Han to help him improve upon his karate skills, as he wants to conquer the school bully, Cheng. Mr. Han teaches Dre all about Kung Fu so that he will be able to get the better of Cheng and prove to Mei Yeng, his school sweetheart, that he’s the one for her.
Following that major release, Netflix will be broadcasting “The Bucket List” after they have removed it and released it several times. The movie, being released on Christmas Day in 2007 was directed by Rob Reiner and starrs Morgan Freeman as Carter Chambers (who is a car mechanic) and Jack Nicholson as Edward Cole (who is a billionaire). It’s about the two getting extremely ill and landing in the same hospital room. They have no relation to each other, but soon find out they are similar in the sense that they want to see and much as they can and do as much as possible before their deaths. Even though the doctor doesn’t agree with their choice, they leave the hospital and set out on an incredible journey together.
In recent news, it was announced that “The Office” will soon be taken off of Netflix, roughly around the end of 2020. This sparked up a lot of controversy as it is arguably Netflixs’ most popular show. “My favorite show is ‘The Office,’” sophomore Grace Kallberg said. “I watch T.V. more because of the show, and I started watching it around 4 years ago.” The show aired in 2005 and ran until 2013 with 9 total seasons and 201 episodes within those seasons. Throughout its run, racking in millions of views and tons of loyal fans.
Along with “The Office” being removed, “Pretty Little Liars” was removed from Netflix in late July. “My favorite show is Pretty Little Liars,” sophomore Jaymeson Hacker said. “I like the show because it’s a modern day mystery show, but I can also relate to the characters.” The show released its final season in June of 2017, after having a total of 7 seasons. It’s one in Netflix’ most watched shows, and fans are still wondering when, or if, the platform will bring the show back.