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Ben Stiller praises one of the most iconic scenes from the 2008 comedy Step Brothers.

In a post on X, Stiller praises the comedy starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as the eponymous step-brothers. Responding to a tweet from a popular parody account

@ShooterMcGavin_, showing the film's iconic dinner scene with the caption, "17 years ago, Dale ruined the story and possibly the entire evening." Stiller's response praises the film and the scene, stating, "One of the funniest scenes in all of movies ever made in history of movies being made."

One of the funniest scenes in all of movies ever made in history of movies being made. https://t.co/xVI66YI7dZ— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) February 18, 2025

RelatedStep Brothers' Big Musical Climax Is One of Cinema's Best Endings - Seriously

The surreal and goofy ending of Step Brothers is also a surprisingly moving climax that stands out in the comedy landscape 15 years later.

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The White Lotus is a satirical comedy-drama anthology series created by Mike White. The HBO series revolves around the guests and employees of the fictional White Lotus resort chain. It explores the dysfunctionality and secrets of both the employees and guests, which completely ruins what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation. The White Lotus stars Murray Bartlett, Alexandra Daddario, Sydney Sweeney, Jennifer Coolidge, F. Murray Abraham, Theo James, Aubrey Plaza, Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, and Walton Goggins. So, if you loved the scathing satire, hilarious comedy, and compelling characters in The White Lotus, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Hulu

Nine Perfect Strangers is a mystery thriller drama series created by David E. Kelley. Based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty,...

Actor and director Ben Stiller will return to television in The Band. The hour-long dramedy will be developed and housed at HBO.

Per Deadline, The Band will focus on Stiller’s character, Oscar, a pop music promoter and talent tycoon who is plagued by scandal and takes on the task of forming a new act to save his career, and maybe even his own soul. The series is being produced by Media Res and Stiller's Red Hour Films, which also produce The Morning Show and Severance for Apple TV+. The new series is created by Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers, who co-created Search Party, which ran for five seasons and starred Alia Shawkat.

RelatedSeverance Star Adam Scott to Lead New Supernatural Horror Film From Acclaimed Director

Severance star Adam Scott will headline a new supernatural horror movie.

Bliss and Rogers will also serve as showrunners on The Band and will...

Ben Stiller has been set to lead the dramedy series ‘The Band’ at HBO. The series is said to be set on the music industry.

The series offers an inside look at the music industry centred on Oscar (Stiller), a pop impresario and talent mogul beset by scandal who is tasked with forming a new act in order to save his career – and perhaps his soul.

Also in news – First look image drops for sequel ‘Another Simple Favor’

Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers created the show and will serve as executive producers and showrunners. Stiller and John Lesher executive produce under their Red Hour Films banner, along with Savan Kotecha Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer of Media Res. Media Res will co-produce with HBO.

Stiller was last seen in front of the camera in the streaming comedy film ‘Nutcrackers.’ He is set to reprise his role as Hal the orderly in ‘Happy Gilmore 2.

Deadline reports that Ben Stiller is set to star in The Band, an hourlong dramedy series in development at HBO. Although Stiller has made plenty of small screen appearances over the years, this would be his first regular role in a TV series since The Ben Stiller Show in the ’90s. He also played the recurring role of Tony Wonder on Arrested Development and himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

The Band has been created by Sarah Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers, co-creators of Search Party. The series “offers an inside look at the music industry centered on Oscar (Stiller), a pop impresario and talent mogul beset by scandal who is tasked with forming a new act in order to save his career – and perhaps his soul.” The new act will be a boy band, with Stiller’s character sharing a few similarities with Simon Cowell.

Related Interviews: Ben Stiller, Adam...

Ben Stiller is looking for the next big thing in pop.

The actor is attached to star in and executive-produce the music industry dramedy The Band, which is in development at HBO, TVLine has confirmed.

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The one-hour project “offers an inside look at the music industry centered on Oscar (played by Stiller), a pop impresario and talent mogul beset by scandal who...

It’s taken Ben Stiller 35 years to return in a lead role for TV, but the multihyphenate filmmaker is officially back on the small screen.

Stiller, who infamously left “Saturday Night Live” after only a few episodes to create his own 1990 sketch series “The Ben Stiller Show,” is set to lead HBO series “The Band,” which is currently in development at the network, an individual with knowledge told IndieWire. This will be Stiller’s first lead role in a narrative scripted series, though he previously had cameos in “Arrested Development” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Of course, Stiller has more recently been a TV staple behind the scenes: the writer/director/producer is the executive producer and director of “Severance.” He also helmed true crime series “Escape from Dannemora.”

“The Band” is the latest project produced by Stiller’s Red Hour Films. The series is co-created by “Search Party” filmmakers Sarah Violet Bliss...

Ben Stiller has found his next TV project — both behind and in front of the camera.

The Severance executive producer and director is set to star in a dramedy called The Band for HBO. The project, from Search Party co-creators Sarah Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers, is in development at the premium cabler.

The Band is set in the music industry. Stiller, who will also exec produce via his Red Hour Films, will play Oscar, a “pop impresario and talent mogul beset by scandal who is tasked with forming a new act in order to save his career — and perhaps his soul,” per the show’s description. Should it go to series, The Band will be Stiller’s first ongoing TV acting role since he recurred on Arrested Development (In both its Fox and Netflix iterations).

Media Res, the studio behind The Morning Show and Pachinko at Apple TV+, is co-producing The Band with HBO.

Ben Stiller is attached to star in a new music industry drama series currently in the works at HBO.

The series, titled “The Band,” will see Stiller star as Oscar, a pop impresario and talent mogul beset by scandal who is tasked with forming a new act in order to save his career – and perhaps his soul, per the official logline.

“Search Party” co-creators Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers will serve as creators, writers, executive producers and showrunners for “The Band,” which is co-produced by Media Res.

Stiller will serve as a non-writing executive producer, with Red Hour Films attached to the project as well. Red Hour Films’ John Lesher will executive produce alongside Savan Kotecha and Media Res’ Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer.

The series is billed as a one-hour dramedy, and falls in line with the network’s industry-centric series, including “The Other Two,” which ran on Max for three seasons,...

Ben Stiller is attached to lead a dramedy series set in the music industry currently in the works at HBO, Variety has confirmed.

Titled “The Band,” the official logline of the series states that it “offers an inside look at the music industry centered on Oscar (Stiller), a pop impresario and talent mogul beset by scandal who is tasked with forming a new act in order to save his career – and perhaps his soul.”

The show hails from Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers, who also serve as executive producers and showrunners. Stiller and John Lesher executive produce under their Red Hour Films banner, along with Savan Kotecha Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer of Media Res. Media Res will co-produce with HBO.

The role would mark a rare lead acting role for Stiller, who has mostly been focused on working behind the scenes as a director and producer for the last several years,...

Exclusive: HBO is developing The Band, an hourlong dramedy series starring Ben Stiller in a rare TV role. The project comes from Media Res and Stiller’s Red Hour Films, the companies behind two of Apple TV+’s biggest series, The Morning Show and Severance, respectively.

Created by Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers, co-creators of the acclaimed TBS/Max comedy Search Party, The Band offers an inside look at the music industry centered on Oscar (Stiller), a pop impresario and talent mogul beset by scandal who is tasked with forming a new act in order to save his career – and perhaps his soul.

Stiller’s Simon Cowell-esque Oscar will be putting together a boy band, as hinted by the series’ title. Cowell was behind the creation of one of the biggest boy bands of all time, One Direction.

Bliss and Rogers serve as showrunners. They executive produce alongside Red...

When you purchase through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

No Good Deed is a dark comedy mystery thriller drama series created by Liz Feldman. The Netflix series revolves around three families competing to buy the same 1920s Spanish-style villa, believing it would solve all of their problems. However, they don’t know that the house and its owners have their own deeply hidden dark secrets. No Good Deed stars Ray Romano, Lisa Kudrow, Linda Cardellini, O-t Fagbenle, Abbi Jacobson, Denis Leary, Poppy Liu, Teyonah Parris, and Luke Wilson. So, if you loved the dark comedy, a thrilling mystery, and compelling characters in No Good Deed, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Dead to Me (Netflix) Credit – Netflix

Dead to Me is a dark comedy crime thriller drama series created by Liz Feldman. The Netflix series follows Jen, a sardonic woman who recently lost...

Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez star in Hulu’s original crime comedy series Only Murders in the Building, and with that cast, it is almost impossible that you get a bad show, because Only Murders in the Building is one of the most well-received Hulu series of recent times. Created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman, the Hulu series follows three eccentric strangers who team up to investigate a mysterious murder in their apartment building while discussing their findings over a true-crime podcast. Only Murders in the Building is like one of those old comedy detective crime series that was televised for the masses, but with a new twist and even more twisted humor, So here are the best 13 shows like Only Murders in the Building to watch while waiting for new episodes.

Bodkin (Netflix) Credit – Netflix

Bodkin is a dark comedy mystery thriller series created by Jez Scharf.

Bodkin is a dark comedy crime-drama series created by Jez Scharf. The Netflix series is set in the fictional town of Bodkin in Ireland. It follows the story of an American podcaster Gilbert, a London-based investigative journalist Dove, and a researcher Emmy as they investigate a decades-old disappearance of three young people on the night of the Samhain festival. Bodkin stars Will Forte, Siobhán Cullen, and Robyn Cara in the lead roles with David Wilmot, Chris Walley, Seán Óg, Peter Bankole, and Kerri McLean starring in supporting roles. If you loved the dark humor and thrills of a murder investigation in Bodkin here are some similar shows you could watch next.

Only Murders in the Building (Hulu) Credit – Hulu

Only Murders in the Building is a murder mystery comedy-drama series created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman. The Hulu series follows a trio of strangers who share the love of...

Wings holds up over time due to its authenticity, with the director and actors having real World War I combat experience. The movie's massive budget and lengthy film shoot allowed for extensive planning, resources, and the capture of stunning aerial footage. Wings broke new ground with its use of synchronized sound, onscreen nudity, and LGBT representation, making it reflective of society in 2024.

Directed by William A. Wellman, Wings was released in 1927 and became the first film in Hollywood history to receive the Academy Award for Best Picture. The silent and synchronized sound film follows American fighter pilots Jack Powell (Charles Rogers) and David Armstrong (Richard Arlen) as they enter combat during World War I together while falling in love with the same woman named Sylvia Lewis (Clara Bow). In addition to winning Best Picture in 1929, Wings also earned an Academy Award for Best Engineering Effects.

Although most silent films and...

A production assistant who worked on the Max original series “Search Party” has accused showrunner Charles Rogers of drugging and sexually assaulting him in 2020.

A past investigation by the network into the alleged assault cleared Rogers, but Evan Schwartz said he was “gaslit” into “exonerating” the writer-producer in social media posts shared on Saturday.

“The facts speak for themselves as evidenced by this individual’s decision to retract his own statement amid a thorough, third-party investigation which found no wrongdoing. Charles unequivocally denies this claim regarding a mutually consensual relationship,” an individual close to Rogers said in a statement to TheWrap.

This is a selfie Charles Rogers took on my phone the morning after sexually assaulting me in 2020. I was his driver on the shoot for Search Party. After he took this selfie he joked, “I have a lawyer in case someone me too’s me”. I don’t remember falling asleep that night.

Back in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Hollywood operated with a different set of rules. Before the Hays Code cracked down on content in the middle of 1934, films were brushed with hot topics such as sex, female liberation, alcoholism, and depression. These movies are the Pre-Code films.

Working within this realm was just one female director – the Queen, Dorothy Arzner. This director not only created films at a time where men dictated and controlled the industry, she also produced films that had a clear feminist voice. With snappy and head-strong female leads dominating her movies, Arzner helped change the landscape with these incredible films. She was so popular that she was the first woman to be included in the Directors Guild of America.

Thanks to the BFI Film On Film Festival, audiences got to see a newly restored print of her nifty comedy, Working Girls (1931).

Written by Zoe Akins...

After news broke that “Baskets” star Louie Anderson died Friday morning, celebrities took to social media to mourn the loss of the Emmy-winning comedian. Anderson, who started the 1990s cartoon series “Life With Louie” and appeared in “Coming to America” and “Search Party,” was also a Las Vegas comedy staple, with his stand-up show “Louie: Larger Than Life” running from 2003 to 2012.

Michael McKean took to Twitter to honor Anderson and his work in “Baskets” alongside Zach Galifianakis. “Baskets was such a phenomenal “second act” for Louie Anderson,” McKean wrote. “I wish he’d gotten a third. Rip.”

Baskets was such a phenomenal “second act” for Louie Anderson. I wish he’d gotten a third. Rip

— Michael McKean (@MJMcKean) January 21, 2022

Posting a photo of Anderson, Bob Saget and himself, Gilbert Gottfried wrote on Twitter, “This photo is very sad now. Rip Bob Saget and Rip Louie Anderson. Both good friends that will be missed.

Spoiler Alert: This piece contains spoilers for the series finale of “Search Party.”

“Search Party” began with a simple premise: When a former college classmate goes missing, Dory Sief (Alia Shawkat) and her cohort of Brooklyn twenty-somethings embark on a mission to find her. Five seasons later, Dory — now a spiritual guru and cult leader — hides in an underground bunker as zombies ravage the streets of New York City.

While “Search Party” has never shied away from bold ideas — the HBO Max show killed off its protagonist-turned-antihero at the end of last season, only for Dory to reawaken 37 seconds later — Season 5 sunk its teeth into completely new territory: Dory escapes a psychiatric facility and teams up with billionaire tech mogul Tunnel Quinn (Jeff Goldblum) to produce “enlightenment pills,” which quickly turn the population into flesh-eating monsters. However, despite drastic genre shifts across seasons, at its core, the show remains the...

Frameline, the arts nonprofit that hosts San Francisco’s International LGBTQ+ Film Festival, has announced seven new selections for their 10th annual Frameline Voices short distribution program.

Frameline Voices is a curated program of short films and episodic content representing experiences unique to LGBTQ+ people and communities. Voices fosters career advancement for queer and gender non-binary creators through the exhibition of their work. Voices also aims to improve and equalize mainstream media representations of LGBTQ+ people through content distribution and career development of LGBTQ+ creators.

“We’re delighted to continue to bring the special fun of a Frameline festival to all screens, everywhere through our Frameline Voices program,” says Frameline’s Director of Distribution and Educational Programming, Lindsey Hodgson. “Our new cohort of Voices filmmakers are the fiercest and finest of LGBTQ+ storytellers, bringing us stories with unique points of view and all kinds of hilarity, heart and soul. We...

Search Party continues to build its stacked Season 5 cast as Kathy Griffin joins the HBO Max dark comedy in a recurring role, Deadline has confirmed.

From creators Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers and Michael Showalter, Search Party stars Alia Shawkat, John Reynolds, John Early and Meredith Hagner. The first three seasons followed best friends Dory (Shawkat), Drew (Reynolds), Elliott (Early) and Portia (Hagner) through a messy private investigation, semi-accidental murder, absurd cover-up and sensational trial. In Season 4, Dory was held prisoner by her psychotic stalker (Cole Escola), forcing Drew, Elliott and Portia to again become a search party – but this time for Dory.

The Emmy-winning My Life on the D-List comedian will recur as Liquorice Montague, a conspiracy theorist who takes Clare McNulty’s Chantal under her wing as a codependent apprentice. Season 5 will see Dory enter a very public business partnership with charismatic tech billionaire Tunnel Quinn, played byJeff Goldblum.

Australians in Film (AiF) has partnered with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Screen Australia to launch Untapped, a breakthrough talent development program for undiscovered and underrepresented filmmakers.

The nine-month online program will include masterclasses and mentorship from internationally successful production companies.

It begins with open-access conversations with Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers (Search Party), Nisha Ganatra, Alma Har’el, Warwick Thornton and Taika Waititi.

Following the masterclasses, five creators or creative teams will then be selected for the Untapped Development Lab, a four-month intensive mentorship program.

Selected participants will receive individualised mentorship, story consultation, creative feedback and professional development support from top industry mentors including executives from Blossom Films, Made Up Stories, LuckyChap Entertainment, See-Saw Films and Truant Pictures. Each creative team will receive a $2000 stipend.

Overall the Untapped program aims to give emerging screenwriters and directors the education and access needed to fast track their careers and their projects.

Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization Australians in Film on Tuesday unveiled a talent development program for undiscovered and underrepresented filmmakers.

Dubbed Untapped, the nine-month online program will feature masterclasses from top filmmakers such as Honey Boy director Alma Har’el, Thor: Ragnarok helmer Taika Waititi, Late Night director Nisha Ganatra and Search Party co-creators Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers.

Priority for inclusion in the program will be given to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander filmmakers, as well as those with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ community and people living in remote locations. Applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents.

“We see and understand the ...

Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization Australians in Film on Tuesday unveiled a talent development program for undiscovered and underrepresented filmmakers.

Dubbed Untapped, the nine-month online program will feature masterclasses from top filmmakers such as Honey Boy director Alma Har’el, Thor: Ragnarok helmer Taika Waititi, Late Night director Nisha Ganatra and Search Party co-creators Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers.

Priority for inclusion in the program will be given to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander filmmakers, as well as those with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ community and people living in remote locations. Applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents.

“We see and understand the ...

When it came to casting Search Party‘s eccentric, glamorous and often talked about Lylah, the show’s EPs knew they needed a stunner.

“Early on, we were like, ‘Whoever plays Lylah has to be the most exciting and incredible casting you can imagine,'” co-creator Charles Rogers told TVLine.

More from TVLineSearch Party Renewed for Season 5Search Party Bosses on That Wild Season 4 Finale: 'We Discussed More Endings Than You'll Ever Imagine'Performer of the Week: Hunter Schafer

Well, mission accomplished.

Stage and screen veteran Susan Sarandon was more than game to dive into Search Party‘s special brand of kooky comedy.

The searches will continue. The Search Party TV series has been renewed for a fifth season on HBO Max. In addition, showrunners Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers have signed an overall deal with the streaming service.

Search Party stars Alia Shawkat, John Early, Meredith Hagner, John Reynolds, and Cole Escola. Guest stars include Susan Sarandon, Busy Philipps, Ann Dowd, Griffin Dunne, and Lillias White, with author R.L. Stine in a cameo role. The dark comedy mystery series centers on a group of self-absorbed twenty-somethings. After an old college acquaintance disappears, they become entangled in an ominous mystery. In season four, Dory (Shawkat) is held prisoner by her psychotic stalker Chip (Escola), who is determined to make her believe that they are best friends. Portia (Hagner) stars in a film about the trial (although not as herself). Elliott (Early) switches...

Your favorite privileged millennials will be back for even more messy investigative shenanigans. Search Party has been renewed for Season 5, TVLine has confirmed.

Season 4 ended on a massive cliffhanger in which Dory (Alia Shawkat) appeared to have died in that fire set by her psychotic stalker Chip (Cole Escola) and his Aunt Lylah (Susan Sarandon), only for the episode’s final moments to reveal that she actually survived the destructive blaze. Series creators Charles Rogers and Sarah-Violet Bliss previously opened up to TVLine about what to expect if the show were to be picked up for a fifth installment.

More...

“Search Party” showrunners Charles Rogers and Sarah-Violet Bliss will have to explain what the “everything” Dory (Alia Shawkat) saw when she died was, as the comedy series has been renewed for a fifth season, HBO Max confirmed to Variety.

The showrunners also signed a two-year overall deal with the streamer.

“We are thrilled that HBO Max has not only given the world a fifth season of ‘Search Party,’ but also shown this much faith in our partnership with them as we develop new projects for the platform,” said Bliss and Rogers. “Potential titles for upcoming shows include ‘Monkeys Love Manhattan’ and ‘The Pineapple Predicament.’ Those aren’t actual shows we would ever pitch but it exhibits that we can make up titles if we need to.”

The fourth season saw Dory be the character that needed a titular search party after Chip (Cole Escola) kidnapped her and held her captive...

Exclusive: HBO Max has ordered a fifth season of acclaimed comedy series Search Party and has expanded its relationship with the series’ creators Charles Rogers and Sarah-Violet Bliss, who have signed a two-year overall deal. Under the pact, Rogers and Bliss will develop new programming for the WarnerMedia streamer.

The duo spoke with Deadline about what to expect from Season 5 of Search Party and their new development for HBO Max.

“We are thrilled that HBO Max has not only given the world a fifth season of Search Party, but also shown this much faith in our partnership with them as we develop new projects for the platform,” Bliss and Rogers said in a statement before channeling the tone of their work. “Potential titles for upcoming shows include Monkeys Love Manhattan and The Pineapple Predicament. Those aren’t actual shows we would ever pitch but it exhibits that we can make...

HBO Max is forging stronger ties with Search Party.

The WarnerMedia streaming platform has renewed the dark comedy for a fifth season and also signed creators Charles Rogers and Sarah-Violet Bliss to an overall deal.

Under the two-year deal, Rogers and Bliss will continue overseeing Search Party while also developing new projects for HBO Max. The renewal for the series comes about two weeks after the final episodes of season four debuted.

“We are thrilled that HBO Max has not only given the world a fifth season of Search Party, but also shown this much faith in our partnership with them as ...

HBO Max is forging stronger ties with Search Party.

The WarnerMedia streaming platform has renewed the dark comedy for a fifth season and also signed creators Charles Rogers and Sarah-Violet Bliss to an overall deal.

Under the two-year deal, Rogers and Bliss will continue overseeing Search Party while also developing new projects for HBO Max. The renewal for the series comes about two weeks after the final episodes of season four debuted.

“We are thrilled that HBO Max has not only given the world a fifth season of Search Party, but also shown this much faith in our partnership with them as ...

It’s been a rough season for Dory Sief. After her hellish experience of being abducted, drugged and tortured throughout, Search Party‘s finale once again found a way to turn her world completely upside down.

The season’s last four episodes hit HBO Max Thursday, delivering even more psychological trauma and identity crises than any one person should ever have to endure. But in the final installment — Major Spoiler Alert here! If you aren’t fully caught up, you know what to do — we followed Drew, Elliott and Portia as they spoke at Dory’s funeral (!) and grieved for...

This article contains spoilers for Search Party season 4.

At this point, Search Party has done just about everything a dark comedy can be asked to do. Through four seasons, the show has: captured a Nancy Drew-style mystery through a millennial aesthetic, maneuvered through an unnerving, at times violent paranoid thriller, and deftly executed a wonky legal drama.

Season 4 was to be the “captive” genre a la Misery and The Silence of the Lambs. And it successfully was…until the season’s final episode goes way, way off the reservation. This final half-hour finds our hero Dory Sief (Alia Shawkat) unambiguously dead from her captor’s mother locking her inside a burning mansion. Then the many distinct, yet incorporeal versions of herself take in how the people she left behind choose to mourn her. They all do so in their own self-serving fashion of course, hammering home once again that...

Spoiler Alert: Do not read if you have not yet watched the fourth season of “Search Party,” streaming now on HBO Max.

As “Search Party” creators and executive producers Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers worked on evolving their dark comedy season over season, they always wanted to find a new way to focus on how “fractured and extreme” some people’s psyches can be, as Rogers puts it.

Starting with Dory’s (Alia Shawkat) wishful thinking that she could play detective and save a missing friend in the first season, the writer-producer duo kept seeding denial into the story, digging their main character into deeper and darker trouble as time went on. She ended up committing two murders and standing trial, vehemently denying her guilt all the way through and ultimately becoming the one who needed to be saved — from herself, sure, but also in the fourth season from being...

This article contains spoilers for Search Party season 4 episodes 4 through 6.

One of the most tried and true laws of the entertainment industry is: Ann Dowd makes everything better.

The character actress livens up just about everything that she’s in, whether it’s as a shockingly charismatic cultist in Hereditary, a shockingly charismatic cultist in The Handmaid’s Tale, or a…shockingly charismatic cultist in The Leftovers. Ok, so we might be boxing Anne in a bit here. When it came time to cast basically the exact opposite of a shockingly charismatic cultist in Search Party season 4, however, the show’s creators still knew there was but one place to look.

“We got really lucky with her wanting to do it,” co-creator Charles Rogers says. “She could not have been sweeter. Everyone is ‘darling’ to her, she’s just got this really warm spirit. And then we put her through hell.

This article contains spoilers for Search Party season 4 episodes 1-3.

Through two seasons on TBS and one on HBO Max, Search Party has defied genre expectations. While ostensibly a comedy about young Brooklyn millennials, each new year of the show has brought another unexpected tone to the table.

Season 1 was a Nancy Drew-style mystery, with Dory Sief (Alia Shawkat) and her friends searching for their old missing college acquaintance Chantal Witherbottom (Clare McNulty). When that search went…poorly, season 2 dealt with the life and death consequences and added “paranoid thriller” to its genre collection. Season 3 then took on the formatting of a legal drama, all the while maintaining the show’s original millennial comedy charms.

For season 4, which premieres its first three episodes Jan. 14 on HBO Max, the latest genre is a bit harder to identify. In fact, even the show’s creators Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers aren...

The Alia Shawkat-led dark comedy “Search Party” gets even darker in its fourth season, which debuted its first three episodes Jan. 14 on HBO Max.

In its first season produced exclusively for a streaming service, “Search Party” is still inventing new twists, beginning with the kidnapping of its lead character, Dory Sief (Shawkat) by an obsessed fan Chip (Cole Escola) moments after she gets acquitted for a murder that she actually did help commit.

“Search Party” season three ended with a scene of Dory being kidnapped. Co-creator and director Charles Rogers told Decider, “this season is definitely our darkest season yet.”

Rogers said the writers, including co-creator Sarah-Violet Bliss, tried to balance the show’s increasingly creepy mood with comedy. “In writing it we set out to also make it our funniest season, in that the comedy was just as pronounced as some of the darker moments,” Rogers said.

Warning: Spoilers below.

Dory Sief may have escaped a jail sentence, but in Search Party Season 4, she finds herself in a very different kind of prison. Karma? We think so.

Drew and Dory’s not-guilty verdict rang loud and clear in the HBO Max series’ Season 3 finale — loudly enough, in fact, for Dory’s very-alive stalker to hear. Season 4 finds Dory exactly where we left her (chained up to a chair in the weirdo’s sketchy basement), leaving Drew, Elliott and Portia to ponder her whereabouts and take stock of the group’s complicated, problematic, yet still very funny friendship.

More from TVLineCan the Search Party Find Dory?...

Every New Year’s celebration comes along with some excitement, pomp, and circumstance, but rarely has the countdown from 10 felt more urgent in the waning seconds of 2020. Yes, 2020 is just a number and yes, time is just an abstract concept created to explain celestial bodies moving around one another. But darn it all, it still feels great to see “2021” at the top of this article.

2021 will hopefully come along with some good news (though admittedly early signs aren’t looking great on that front). At the very least, however, it should come along with some interesting TV options. Due to Covid-19 production delays, there perhaps aren’t as many confirmed release dates for early 2021 as we’ve seen in years’ past. Still, there are plenty of exciting new and returning TV shows to keep you occupied throughout the chilly season.

Winter 2021 is when Marvel makes its triumphant return to television.

Search Party Season 4 Trailer — HBO Max‘s Search Party: Season 4 TV show trailer has been released and stars Alia Shawkat, John Early, John Reynolds, Meredith Hagner, Cole Escola, and Jennifer Lafleur. Crew Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers, and Michael Showalter created Search Party. Daniel Wohl created the music for TV series. Jonathan Furmanski crafted [...]

Continue reading: Search Party: Season 4 TV Show Trailer: Kidnapped Alia Shawkat’s Hapless Friends Search for Her [HBO Max]...

HBO Max has released the Season 4 trailer for Search Party, the former TBS comedy series that will premiere the first three episodes of its new season on January 14th. (Three more will premiere on January 21st, with the final four coming to the streamer on January 28th.)

In the latest installment of the dark Brooklyn comedy, Dory (Alia Shawkat) is captured and held prisoner by her stalker Chip (Cole Escola), who desperately tries to coax Dory into being his friend while recreating a “perfect” version of her own life. Meanwhile,...

Created by “Fort Tilden” writer/directors Charles Rogers, Sarah-Violet Bliss, and filmmaker Michael Showalter (“The Big Sick“), the series “Search Party” has become one of the sharpest, unpredictable, and insightful shows on television about identity, denial, and self-actualization—not something you’d likely expect from a would-be millennial comedy on TBS. But “Search Party,” now graduated to HBO Max which recently premiered its third season, has always been much more emotionally complex than it’s looked on the surface.

Continue reading ‘Search Party’ Creators On The Unpredictable Evolution Of Their Irreverent Millennial Murder Mystery Comedy [Interview] at The Playlist.

"Search Party", Season Three, now streaming on HBO Max, is the moody, comedy TV series created by Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers and Michael Showalter, set in New York City, following a group of friends who become involved in crime while searching for a missing woman:

"...'Dory Sief', her boyfriend 'Drew Gardner', 'Elliott Goss and flighty actress 'Portia Davenport'...

"...search for Dory's college acquaintance 'Chantal Witherbottom':

Cast includes Alia Shawkat, John Reynolds, John Early, Meredith Hagner and Brandon Micheal Hall.

Click the images to enlarge...

HBO’s upcoming adaptation of “Perry Mason,” HBO Max’s new ballroom competition series “Legendary” and reunions of “Justified” and “Psych” are among the series taking part in Atx Television Festival’s first-ever virtual television festival, the organization announced Friday.

Other newly announced programming includes Pop TV’s “One Day at a Time,” HBO Max’s “Search Party,” Hulu’s “Little Fires Everywhere,” Showtime’s “Outcry” and the “One Chicago” franchise. Additionally, the three-day screening and panel series of events will be raising awareness and funds for Direct Relief and the Actors Fund, in an effort to benefit those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In choosing to go virtual, we knew this was also an opportunity to raise awareness and support for those who have been negatively impacted by Covid-19. It was important for us to partner with organizations that support the industry we are celebrating and the healthcare workers...

By Cooper Peltz

“There hasn’t been a time when humans haven’t been entirely psychotic.” There are very few shows on TV that are able to comment on millennial culture in a realistic way. Obviously, the millennial identity is not just one thing, but there is a general image that comes to mind when the word is used. The […]

The article Searching for the Meaning of Life with ‘Search Party’ Creators Charles Rogers and Sarah-Violet Bliss appeared first on Film School Rejects.

This year’s Sundance Film Festival will boast an eclectic mix of 66 short films across four sections, including U.S. Narrative, International Narrative, Animated, and Documentary. This year’s slate includes new offerings from filmmakers like Don Hertzfeld, who is bringing the followup to his previous Sundance effort, “World of Tomorrow,” to the annual festival, plus names like Marshall Curry, Diane Obomsawin, and Marc Johnson. Talents best known for their on-screen skills, like Dev Patel and Anna Margaret Hollyman, will also be bringing directorial efforts to the festival.

After debuting at Sundance, select short films will be presented as a traveling program at 75 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, and short films and filmmakers take part in regional Master Classes geared towards supporting emerging shorts-makers in several cities. The Short Film program is presented by YouTube.

Read More:Sundance 2018 Programming Breakdown: Big Buys, Actor-Directors, and Hot-Button Issues

Mike Plante, Senior...

[Editor’s Note: The following interview contains spoilers for this week’s episodes of the TBS series “Search Party.”]

When your season of television begins with a murder, one of the biggest challenges is finding a way to go forward. “Search Party” reached a boiling point with its two episodes this week, with multiple characters coming to terms with their involvement in the incident that’s fueled a season-long desperate attempt to hide the truth from the world and themselves.

Series co-creator Michael Showalter stepped behind the camera was behind the camera for this week’s pair of installments, because they’re a pivotal step for him and fellow co-creators Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers in expanding the world of the show farther than it’s ever been before.

“What’s appealing is to be given the latitude to just imagine what would happen, and then be able to do that,” Showalter said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “We allowed ourselves to imagine what we believed would happen next,...

Shows about the misadventures of twentysomethings are a television staple, but the TBS breakout Search Party -- with its sly combination of suspenseful thrills and tons of character-driven laughs -- is in a class all its own.

Alia Shawkat, whose rising profile includes work on Arrested Development and Transparent, plays Dory, the face of this ragtag search party. Dory’s restlessness to do something meaningful with her life leads her to look for former schoolmate Chantal Witherbottom after happening on a missing person sign at the series outset. She winds up dragging her reluctant friends into the search: her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend Drew (Stranger Things’ John Reynolds), her aggressively vapid-seeming besties Portia (Meredith Hagner, of Younger and Strangers on Facebook Watch) and Elliott (John Early, of the Wet Hot American Summer Netflix series and High Maintenance), and her ex-boyfriend-turned-journalist Julian (Brandon Micheal Hall, who also stars on The Mayor).

By the season one finale, the four friends...

[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “Search Party” Season 1. There are no spoilers for Season 2, but fair warning for any reader who’s not fully up-to-date.]

“Search Party” ended its first season in a completely unexpected spot. The group set up to be saviors — or at least the only people who cared about Chantal, a young New Yorker gone missing — turned out to be killers. No, they didn’t off the woman they spent the whole season looking for, but Dory (Alia Shawkat), Drew (John Reynolds), Elliott (John Early), and Portia (Meredith Hagner) nevertheless found themselves on the run after murdering someone else during the investigation.

Read More:‘Future Man’ Review: Seth Rogen’s Zealously Bawdy Hulu Series Riffs on Sci-Fi Classics for New-ish Adventures

Keith’s (Ron Livingston) death in the Season 1 finale threw a crazy twist at fans and sent their minds scurrying. With Chantal found and a man dead, what would Season 2 look like? What would be the TBS comedy’s new focus? Is there a fresh mystery to be solved, or will...

Despite the insanity of announcing year-end award nominations with still well over two months to go in 2017, we have to give it to the annual Ifp Gotham Awards for being more on-point than most trophy ceremonies this season.

They’ve now unveiled the nominations for their 27th edition and leading the pack is Jordan Peele’s social thriller Get Out. Also among the stellar group of Best Feature nominations are Call Me by Your Name, The Florida Project, I, Tonya, and Good Time.

Check out the full list of nominations below, including Columbus, Ex Libris, Rat Film, Lady Bird, Marjorie Prime, and more of the best films of the year. If The Academy takes just a few notes from this group come next year, we’ll be mightily pleased.

Best Feature

Call Me by Your Name

The Florida Project

Get Out

Good Time

I, Tonya

Best Documentary

Ex Libris – The...