“The power of Christ compels you, Fox! You are commanded to abjure your supernatural dramas about devils this very instant! Cast them back into the pit of hell from whence they came—then salt the earth, preferably with the family-friendly comedic stylings of Tim Allen. We love him up here.”
Catholicism is hotter than ever thanks to the Met Gala, and now Sony Screen Gems is looking to cash in on all of this religious fervor buy buying the life rights to Father Gabriele Amorth, an Italian priest who performed “tens of thousands of exorcisms” for the Vatican and died in 2016. That comes from Deadline, which…
Welcome back to AVQ&A, where we throw out a question for discussion among the staff and readers. Consider this a prompt to compare notes on your interface with pop culture, to reveal your embarrassing tastes and experiences, and to ponder how our diverse lives all led us to convene here together. Got a question you’d…
There are plenty of genuinely terrible things going on in the world, some of which are playing out in TV reportage. But a gay kiss isn’t one of them, and it’s certainly no reason to stop watching The Exorcist, showrunner Jeremy Slater says. But, if anyone is so delicate as to be unable to tolerate seeing grown men…
Given the pedigree of the actors, the Rance family was never going to stick around long. And by the end of The Exorcist’s first season, they had little reason to, regardless of whether or not the parents were played by Geena Davis and Alan Ruck. Pazuzu was once again defeated and the Rances were safe—if somewhat…
The formula for making an exorcism movie is well-defined at this point: Take a young woman (preferably with two first names), put her in a nightgown and muss up her (long, wavy) hair, add white contact lenses, a heroic priest, and some animal noises played backwards, and voila! Which is all fine, except that it’s not…
Fox’s The Exorcist scored a miracle for itself earlier this year, pulling down a surprise renewal notice despite the fact that the network chose not to order a full season of the supernatural drama. Now the show’s producers are loading up with TV star power while the getting’s good, tagging Star Trek star John Cho for…
Fox doesn’t have any revivals of classic sitcoms or new adaptations of popular movies on its fall TV schedule, but it does have X-Men-related show, a live-action Star Trek parody from Seth MacFarlane, and a show about Adam Scott and Craig Robinson hunting supernatural creatures. Now Fox has announced when you’ll get…
Welcome back to AVQ&A, where we throw out a question for discussion among the staff and readers. Consider this a prompt to compare notes on your interface with pop culture, to reveal your embarrassing tastes and experiences, and to ponder how our diverse lives all led us to convene here together. Got a question you’d…
The Exorcist has assumed a new form on Fox, where Jeremy Slater’s small-screen iteration was recently granted a season-two renewal. But William Friedkin, the director of the feature adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s book, has far from washed his hands of the whole thing. In fact, he recently helmed a documentary…
Ignoring the lessons of history about what happens when you give a sequel to anything Exorcist-related, the power of relatively decent ratings has compelled Fox to save its TV version of The Exorcist from cancellation. The network has granted the show a second season, according to Entertainment Weekly; the move comes…
Parties are hard. You don’t know how many people are coming, how much booze and in what variety to provide, and god forbid you have scheduled some “activities,” which involves corralling people, teaching them something, and gauging their enthusiasm throughout to make sure everyone is properly engaged.
When the late William Peter Blatty’s novel The Exorcist was first released, it freaked some people out so bad that they thought that the book itself was cursed. British advertising executive Dave Trott tells a story about his boss being so unsettled by the book, he declared it “evil” and threw it off of Brighton pier.…
William Peter Blatty, author of The Exorcist, widely considered to be one of the greatest contemporary horror novels, has died. William Friedkin, who directed the also well-regarded 1973 film based on Blatty’s book, broke the news on Twitter, saying, “William Peter Blatty, dear friend and brother who created The…
When Father Tomas finally drives the demon Pazuzu out of Angela, it’s through a mixture of theme and methodology we’ve been seeing all season long on The Exorcist. The reaffirmation of one’s faith, the importance of family—none of it’s exactly revelatory.
Here’s what’s up in the world of TV for Friday, December 16, and Saturday, December 17. All times are Eastern.
“162” is easily the most Angela-centric episode of The Exorcist. To be clear, that’s Angela the vehicle for Pazuzu, not Angela the human being. Now under the control of her childhood demonic tormentor, she visits various allies and would-be foes around Chicago, throwing around her weight and laying the groundwork for…
In the wake of controversy surrounding comments from Last Tango In Paris director Bernardo Bertolucci—and the renewed criticism they’ve focused on the film’s depiction and use of sexual assault as a narrative device—a number of prominent TV writers and producers have spoken out against the mishandled use of rape as a…
While The Exorcist has shown several failed and successful exorcisms so far—probably more than all of the films combined—tonight feels like the first one we’ve seen in earnest. Alright, technically, it’s the conclusion of the same exorcism we’ve been witnessing for the back half of the season, but you see what I’m…
The Exorcist creator Jeremy Slater was smart to blow open the world created by William Peter Blatty. Keeping a large chunk of a horror narrative confined to a single house in Washington D.C. works well for a novel or a film, but a TV show—a medium with an indefinite end—requires expansion. The format requires…
