Dear friends,
Quibi is gone. The “quick bites” competitor to Netflix raised $1.8 billion from Disney, NBC, and almost every other major network. The BBC alone invested $150 million. It lasted six months.
Stay safe.
THE TOP TV SHOW OF THE WEEK
The Queen’s Gambit
📺 New on Netflix everywhere this month; 🍅 rating: 100%
This excellent miniseries set in the 1960s is about a fictional chess prodigy and her quest to become the world’s best chess player.
The story goes back to the mid-50s when Beth Harmon loses her mom at the age of 8. She is sent to an orphanage where children are given sedatives but where she also discovers the game of chess. Based on the Walter Tevis novel of the same name.
THE TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb
📺 New on Netflix everywhere today; 🍅 rating: 100%
This new documentary about the biggest Egyptian archeological discovery in decades feels like your typical History Channel film. It has that music they’re famous for, slow aerial shots, and the same kind of interview style.
But the story of this discovery is unique. The extravagant tomb has been untouched for 4000 years although there is no record of the person who was buried there.
Another unique aspect of this story is that it doesn’t just portray diggers as silent characters, but gives everyone a name and a backstory. The team that makes the discovery is 100% Egyptian, a welcome change from the trope of the foreign discoverer who unearths treasures in Africa.
Readers’ top picks
The comedy The Forty-Year-Old Version is our readers’ favorite movie this week. It’s about a New York playwright in her 40s who starts a new career as a rapper.
For a solid month, Doctor Foster, the BBC drama, is our readers’ favorite show. It’s streaming on Netflix.
New titles worth your time
For hardcore fans, Metallica: Through the Never is a new movie on Netflix that’s half a concert and half a thriller. This original mix finds a roadie in a Mad Max-style adventure while the band plays concerts in Vancouver and Edmonton.
Truth Seekers is a new show on Amazon Prime with Nick Frost and Simon Pegg (the duo from Shaun of the Dead). It’s about a team of part-time paranormal investigators.
The Newsflash: Netflix prices
This week Netflix announced new prices for its US customers. The standard subscription is going up to $13.99 from $12.99, while the premium 4K plan will go up to $17.99 from $15.99.
New customers will have to pay these adjusted prices, while existing customers will see the increase once their billing cycle comes up.
The basic plan is not changing and will remain at $8.99.
In issue #110 (two weeks ago), I wrote about the price increase in Canada and how it foresaw this increase in the U.S. That letter was also about another important change: Netflix no longer offers free trials in the U.S.
Netflix subscriptions plummeted in recent months, and these changes are likely in reaction to that.
That’s it for today, I hope there is something in there for you.
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The next edition will be in your inbox on Friday, November 6th. Gosh, we’ll know who’s president by then.
Terrifyingly,
Bilal
Edited by Salwa Benaissa. Carried with the support of the Creative Europe Program – MEDIA.