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The It List: 'The Walking Dead' spinoff finds fan favorite Daryl Dixon in France, the 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' gang returns for third installment, Olivia Rodrigo drops 'Guts' and all the best in pop culture the week of Sept. 4, 2023
The It List is Yahoo's weekly look at the best in pop culture, including movies, music, TV, streaming, games, books, podcasts and more. Here are our picks for Sept. 4-10, including the best deals we could find for each.
STREAM IT: Daryl Dixon defends himself from French zombies in the latest Walking Dead spinoff
A (literally) washed up Daryl Dixon finds himself across the Atlantic in France following the events of the final season of The Walking Dead in the franchise’s newest spinoff. Lost in a foreign land, the gruff, crossbow-toting Good Guy we’ve all come to know and (at times begrudgingly) love meets a new group of survivors, who have been waiting for “the messenger” to deliver a young boy somewhere. Where is Daryl headed with this mysterious ‘tween at the behest of a… nun? (played by Louis Puech Scigliuzzi) — you’ll have to tune in to find out. The six-episode series sees Norman Reedus return to reprise his beloved role, with an appearance from Melissa McBride’s Carol also rumored to be in the works. — Danica Creahan
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon premieres Sunday, Sept. 10 on AMC and AMC+.
WATCH IT: Nia Vardalos heads to Greece in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
Two decades after My Big Fat Greek Wedding conquered the box office, writer/director/star Nia Vardalos takes her signature franchise back to the motherland for the third installment. Greece serves as the setting for a Portokalos family reunion, led by Toula and Ian (Vardalos and John Corbett) as well as their daughter and almost all of Toula's extended clan. Expect plenty of cross-cultural comedy — as exemplified by this exclusive clip of Vardalos trying to clamber on a donkey's back for a sunset beach ride — and a touch of Mediterranean romance. — Ethan Alter
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 premieres Friday, Sept. 8 in theaters; visit Fandango for showtime and ticket information.
HEAR IT: Olivia Rodrigo goes for the Guts
One of the most anticipated releases of 2023, Olivia Rodrigo’s sophomore LP Guts, led by the darkly alluring lead single “Vampire,” seems poised to prove that Rodrigo is no one-album wonder. “For me, this album is about growing pains and trying to figure out who I am at this point in my life,” the Best New Artist Grammy-winner, who has not released any new music since her 2021 quadruple-platinum debut Sour, said in a statement. “I feel like I grew 10 years between the ages of 18 and 20 — it was such an intense period of awkwardness and change. I think that’s all just a natural part of growth, and hopefully the album reflects that.” — Lyndsey Parker
Guts by Olivia Rodrigo is available Friday, Sept. 8 to download/stream on Apple Music.
STREAM IT: Trace the shocking true story of how sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts went on for years in new Netflix doc
Scout's Honor: The Secrets Files of the Boy Scouts of America zeroes in on the organization's disturbing history of sexual abuse. At last count, more than 82,000 people had come forward to say they were preyed upon. Director Brian Knappenberger's film explains that the organization, which was founded in 1910, had such problems from the beginning, with leaders maintaining a list of "perversion files." Still, the abuse happened again and again. "What happened to me just took something away," one survivor says emotionally. Another hopes that, by speaking out, he can help save others: "What I'm hoping is that no child will ever be hurt again the way I was." — Raechal Shewfelt
Scout's Honor: The Secrets Files of the Boy Scouts of America premieres Wednesday, Sept. 6 on Netflix.
STREAM IT: Season 2 of Crime Scene Confidential investigates more real-world CSI stories
Who needs Horatio Caine? Real-world crime scene investigator Alina Burroughs returns for the second season of ID's docuseries Crime Scene Confidential and uses her in the field experience to revisit supposedly solved murder cases from around the country. The Season 2 premiere tackles the 1988 murder of Margie Coffey, whose alleged killer was identified courtesy of two microscopic fibers that were found at the scene. Burroughs re-examines the evidence and, in this exclusive clip, talks with the man accused of her murder. — E.A.
Crime Scene Confidential Season 2 premieres Wednesday, Sept. 6 on ID.
STREAM IT: The Changeling offers a chilling fairy tale of parental horror
Horror and fantasy collide in this gripping new Apple TV+ series about a young couple (LaKeith Stanfield and Clark Backo) driven by a Faustian bargain that sends them on a terrifying odyssey through a twisted fairy-tale version of New York City. Based on the novel by Victor LaValle that plays with parental fears and unsettling folklore, the eight-episode series makes for perfect pre-Halloween viewing. You might want to keep the lights on, just in case. — Marcus Errico
The first three episodes of The Changeling begin streaming Friday, Sept. 8 on Apple TV+.
HEAR IT: The Chemical Brothers make a Beautiful return
The Grammy-winning, groundbreaking electronica duo of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons return for the Chemical Brothers’s 10th album — their first album since 2019 — along with special guests Beck (on the single “Skipping Like a Stone”) and Halo Maud. For That Beautiful Feeling coincides with the October release of a new book about the Chems’s history, The Chemical Brothers' Paused in Cosmic Reflection, which will feature contributions from Beck as well as from past iconic collaborators like the Flaming Lips’s Wayne Coyne and Oasis’s Noel Gallagher. — L.P.
For That Beautiful Feeling by the Chemical Brothers is available Friday, Sept. 8 to download/stream on Apple Music.
STREAM IT: Popular British comedy Dreaming Whilst Black makes its way across the pond with new streaming home
You won’t hear a shortage of British lingo in the new Showtime series Dreaming Whilst Black, “innit bruv?” The show features a mostly Black cast with aspiring filmmaker Kwabena (Adjani Salmon) trying to work his way up from the bottom as he navigates the tough film landscape along with a professional career and romantic ambitions. The dry humored comedy-drama comes with plenty of racial microaggressions, flamboyant personalities and American pop culture references that will have you turning your head and chuckling from the first episode. The controversial and bold themes joked about will certainly translate to audiences beyond England. Although recently picked up by Showtime, the BAFTA-winning series has been around since 2021, donning a similar vibe and beginning as Issa Rae’s Insecure. The show began as a web series co-created by Salmon himself before becoming a BBC pilot and series, and now picked up by Showtime. — Garin Flowers
Dreaming Whilst Black is available for streaming Sept. 8 on Paramount+ (with the Showtime add-on) and premieres on television Sept. 10.
READ IT: A new book asks, What Would Velma Do?
For anyone who's ever admired Scooby-Doo smartie Velma Dinkley — who's usually clad in, first and foremost, glasses, as well as her signature knee-high socks and bright orange turtleneck — author Shaenon K. Garrity has written a book just for you. Officially titled What Would Velma Do?: Life Lessons From the Brains (and Heart) of Mystery, Inc., the heavily illustrated tome digs into the lessons we can learn from the character who debuted in 1969, including her history and the reason she's so beloved. Garrity has a hunch. "You didn't often see brainy girls at that time, especially brainy teenage girls," she tells Yahoo Entertainment. "The other character archetypes in Scooby-Doo are pretty familiar sort of teen comedy characters. You've got your clean-cut lead guy (Fred), and your clean-cut lead girl (Daphne), and like a kind of goofy guy (Shaggy). A smart nerdy girl was something that a lot of people saw themselves in or aspired to develop traits from, and it was important to developing the world of girl nerds over the decades. You see a lot more characters like that now." — R.S.
What Would Velma Do?: Life Lessons From the Brains (and Heart) of Mystery, Inc. is available now on Amazon.
WATCH IT: Across the Spider-Verse somehow lives up to Into the Spider-verse
It’s honestly absurd how good these animated Spider-verse movies are. 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was rightfully raved about ad nauseam, even called the best Spidey movie ever made in some circles, on its way to an Oscar win. And somehow its follow-up, June’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse matches — if not surpasses! — the vibrancy, humor, wit, action and put-every-frame-in-the-Louvre style of the first. The hit sequel and future Oscar winner itself lands on 4K Ultra HD this week with bonus features including filmmaker commentary, deleted scenes and featurettes. — Kevin Polowy
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse spins in on 4K Ultra HD on Tuesday, Sept. 5 on Amazon.
READ IT: Get ready for some museum-worthy Marvel art from the legendary Alex Ross
Known for his masterful painted renditions of DC’s and Marvel’s greatest superheroes, Alex Ross’s singular, stunning work has graced comics since the 1990s. This supersized volume collects the artist’s portraits of the biggest, baddest villains in the Marvel Universe — including Loki, Thanos, Ultron, Venom, Green Goblin and both Doctors Doom and Octopus — in a ready-to-frame format, along with his working sketches, additional illustrations and commentary. The highlight, for those with wall space to spare, is a four-page fold-out illustration collecting all 37 rogues into one massive, malevolent team-up that would give the Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four all they could handle. —M.E.
The Alex Ross Marvel Comics Super Villains Poster Book is available Tuesday, Sept. 5 at Amazon and other booksellers.
PLAY IT: The Mouse House enters the trading card game market with Disney Lorcana from Ravensburger
Watch out Pikachu — Stitch is coming for you. Disney partners with Ravensburger for the animation company's first foray into the trading card game space previously occupied by Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh! Boasting beautifully illustrated playmats and cards featuring new variations on vintage Mouse House characters, Lorcana allows players to build their own decks in turn-based gameplay that's filled with surprises and challenges. Launching with over 200 pieces of original Disney art, there's still lots of room to grow in the world of Lorcana — additional decks and game developments are planned for the years ahead. — E.A.
READ IT: Carry Calvin and Hobbes with you everywhere courtesy of a new portable edition
Calvin and Hobbes is a security blanket for multiple generations of comic strip readers. And now, you can take Bill Watterson's beloved series with you on the go via new softcover portable editions overseen by the legendarily reclusive artist himself. The first of seven planned sets is available now at most major booksellers and features more than 500 strips from the comic's early years. New sets will be released every fall and spring between now and 2026 to cover the entirety of Calvin and Hobbes's legendary run. Each set comes with a handy slipcase and a guarantee that you'll fall in love with the boy and his tiger all over again. — E.A.
The Calvin and Hobbes Portable Compendium, Set 1 is available now at most major booksellers
READ/PLAY IT: Get your kids ready for Zombie Season with Scholastic's new book and game
Zombies literally leap off the page in Scholastic's new cross-media franchise, Zombie Season. Written by Justin Weinberger, the book follows three California friends as they attempt to survive another season where the walking dead run rampant. And when you're kids finish this zippy zombie tale, they can take the story online with the Zombie Season game on Roblox, which features fresh missions and challenges. — E.A.
Zombie Season releases Tuesday, Sept. 5 at most major booksellers, including Amazon.
HEAR IT: James Blake returns with more metal machine music
Prolific British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and Best New Artist Grammy nominee James Blake’s sixth studio album, Playing Robots Into Heaven, finds him continuing in the direction of 2021’s Friends That Break Your Heart as he further reconnects with his electronic music roots as evidenced by the trap/dancehall-inflected lead single, “Big Hammer.” The record follows a 2022 recording experiment, for which Blake used the generative music app Endel to create the ambient project Winding Down. Blake was also recently featured on Metro Boomin Presents Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Soundtrack From and Inspired by the Motion Picture). Always expect the unexpected when it comes to this genre-defying artist. —L.P.
Playing Robots Into Heaven by James Blake is available Friday, Sept. 8 to download/stream on Apple Music.