Valerie Ettenhofer

Paula Pell, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Sara Bareilles, Girls5eva, Netflix Apologies for one last, anticlimactic Substack post. My first Ghost newsletter is live, but since I haven’t been able to verify to the Ghost crew that I’m not a spammer (it’s my…

Danny Phantom, Nickelodeon I’m finally leaving Substack, and I hope you’ll come with me. Why are you leaving? Late last year, news broke that Substack was allowing Nazi newsletters to earn money on its platform, and, by extension, making money from…

Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Drive-Away Dolls, Focus Features Here’s a quick rundown on everything I watched and read about last week: The shows: 3 Body Problem, Netflix’s brainy adaptation of Liu Cixin’s even brainier novel series, is…

Lin Lin, Maria Zhang, Ian Ousley, Avatar: The Last Airbender Here’s a not-so-quick rundown of everything I watched, read, and wrote about in the past two weeks: The shows: Given how much I’ve covered Avatar: The Last Airbender over the years (and the…

Andrew Lincoln, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, AMC Here’s a quick rundown on everything I watched, read, and wrote* about last week: The shows: I finally finished Six Feet Under, and no amount of reading about the series finale over the years…

Donald Glover, Maya Erskine, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Prime Video Here’s a quick rundown of everything I watched, read, and wrote about over the past two weeks: The shows: Abbott Elementary is back, and the winning sitcom’s two-part premiere felt like one…

Emma Stone, Poor Things, Searchlight Pictures Here’s a quick rundown of everything I watched, read, and wrote about last week: The shows: For years now my mom has insisted her favorite show ever is Hill Street Blues, but tonight we put on the pilot…

William Shatner, Angelique Pettyjohn, Star Trek: The Original Series, Paramount Television Here’s a quick rundown on everything I watched, read, and wrote about last week: The shows: I’m a little short on TV recommendations this week, but I was…

Kali Reis, Jodie Foster, True Detective: Night Country, HBO After a brief hiatus, we’re back. Here’s a quick rundown on everything I’ve watched, read, and wrote about recently: The shows: The new True Detective slaps in a way that I never expected…

Walker Scobell, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Disney+ AN IMPORTANT NOTE: For reasons that are succinctly explained here, I’m no longer comfortable asking readers who support me to do so financially through Substack. I have paused the paid…

Lucas Paul, Skinamarink, IFC Midnight/Shudder Here’s a quick rundown of everything I watched, read, and listened to last week: The shows: Without giving anything away, I can tell you that the Doctor Who Christmas special this year is a delight and a…

Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman, May December, Netflix Hi all! Here’s a not-so-quick rundown of everything I’ve watched, read, and wrote about in the past two weeks. The shows: A Small Light was one of my final year-end catch-up shows for work, and I…

Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin, Searchlight Pictures NOTE: For assorted reasons, this week’s regular newsletter will be folded into a double-sized edition next week, and regular readers should expect at least two extra…

Barry Keoghan, Saltburn, Amazon MGM Here’s a quick rundown of everything I watched, read, and wrote about this week: The shows: I caught up on Boots Riley’s Prime Video series I’m A Virgo this week, and can safely say it’s a total trip in the best…

Rachel Zegler, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Lionsgate Here’s a quick rundown of everything I watched, read, and wrote about this past week: The shows: I still have two episodes left of the Keri Russell-led political drama The…

Invincible, Prime Video Here’s a quick rundown on everything I watched, read, and wrote about last week: The shows: In a strange turn of events, I spent one night this week looking up quirky old Christmas specials and shorts with my partner. This led…

Kiernan Shipka, Totally Killer, Prime Video Here’s a quick rundown on everything I watched and wrote about last week: The shows: I ended up back in Scotland again (it’s a long story) so this past week I’ve mostly been checking out random Scottish TV.…

Matt Bomer, Jonathan Bailey, Fellow Travelers, Showtime Here’s a quick rundown on everything I watched, read, and wrote about last week: The shows: I think Fellow Travelers is one of my favorite shows of the year. I know it’ll be an uphill battle…

Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon, Apple TV/Paramount A quick note for new subscribers who joined this week: every third post of this Substack is a paid subscriber exclusive (with an unpaywalled portion), so free subscribers, your first…

A Ghost Story, A24 I love the movies, but I had forgotten how much they can love me back. I remembered tonight, sometime between the second and third trailer that played before Killers of the Flower Moon. Before tonight, I hadn’t used my AMC A-List…