HBO Max’s ‘Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin’ Embraces Teen Slasher Tropes to Blunt, Addictive Effect: TV Review

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThe basics of “This Fool” are straightforward and familiar enough. Hulu’s new comedy stars stand-up comedian Chris Estrada as Julio, a 30 year-old who lives with his strict mother (Laura Patalano) and not-so-secretly badass grandmother (Julia Vera).

Fans were very concerned after the latest episodes of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin debuted on HBO Max.

Keeping the mystery alive! Over the years, the Pretty Little Liars franchise has engrossed fans with complex secrets, murders and shocking reveals.

HBO Max and Discovery+ will merge to become one streaming service next year.In a second quarter earnings call on Thursday (August 4), Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO David Zaslav announced that the merged streamer will launch in the summer of 2023 in the US, with Latin America, Europe and other territories to follow soon after. The combined streaming service will be released with ad-free, ad-light and ad-only options.As reported by Entertainment Weekly, Zaslav addressed concerns that the merger would result in less emphasis on original programmes.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticAs a newcomer to Neil Gaiman’s seminal comic book series “The Sandman” (cue diehard fans immediately clicking out of this review, and fair enough!), I came to Netflix’s adaptation with an open mind and curious eye. Knowing this 1989 title had spawned onscreen spinoffs of “Sandman” characters — “Lucifer,” “Constantine,” etcetera — but never one of its own, it was hard not to wonder what about it might have made a live-action version so hard that it never happened until now.

, the past truly does come back to haunt you. Every town has its secret, and Millwood is no different. In the  premiere, we learn the five main characters are all connected to a 20-year-old murder case.

There are some interesting, somewhat odd things happening over at Warner Bros. Discovery, huh? Obviously, we have yesterday’s news that “Batgirl” and the new “Scoob!” films are both being shelved even though they were seemingly close to being finished.

Pretty Little Liars is back! A new version of the popular series is coming to HBO, and one of the main characters this season is none other than the talented and stunning Argentinian actress Maia Reficco.A new generation of Pretty Little Liars has fans thrilled to find out more about the new characters and the storyline, including Maia, who portrays Noa Olivar, and will be the first Latina joining the fan-favorite universe of PLL.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Maia’s parents are both from Argentina, and the charismatic actress was raised in South America from the young age of 7, admitting that she is proud of her Latin identity.The PLL star confessed that she was a big fan of the original show, revealing that she even decorated her bedroom wall with posters.

TheWrap: Obviously this property is very beloved. How did you decide what you’d take with you from the original series and what you’d leave behind to forge this new path?Bring: We were fans of the original show and a couple of things that we really clung to that we love so much about it were one, that it’s centered on female friendship. We love that.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Grassi is staying in business with Warner Bros. Television.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticThere’s a desperate restlessness at the heart of the first, fantastic season of “Reservation Dogs.” Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi’s FX series, which premiered last August, kept a watchful eye out for the strange, and strangely beautiful, moments woven into each hazy day for four best friends reeling from the sudden death of their fifth. It took no time at all to understand Bear (D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai), Elora (Devery Jacobs), Cheese (Lane Factor) and Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), nor to slip into the show’s world where the banal could meet the surreal at any given moment.The same holds true in Season 2, which opens just hours after Elora’s not only skipped town with laconic bully Jackie (Elva Guerra) and all their money, but has also left a furious, confused Bear behind.

EXCLUSIVE: Tyler Blackburn, who plays the lead role of Alex Manes in Roswell, New Mexico, has signed with APA for representation.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticLet’s get this out of the way now: The comparisons “Paper Girls” will get to “Stranger Things” are inevitable, but not especially fair.Yes, “Paper Girls” also opens in the 1980s with four 12-year-olds on bikes who end up tackling otherworldly forces way bigger than themselves. But by the middle of the first episode, “Paper Girls” — which was a comic book series before “Stranger Things” was a TV show, anyway — turns itself inside out to become something else entirely.

By Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, on HBO Max, may be a sequel series to PLL, but it's far removed from the tony Rosewood of the original. Where the first was a soapy mystery cut with humor and romance, the much-anticipated sequel leans closer to teen drama meets slasher.

Mark Dacascos (Hawaii Five-O) and Chelsea Muirhead (Slo Pitch) are set as series regulars on the upcoming third season of martial arts crime drama Warrior on HBO Max.

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.The upcoming reboot, which drops its first three episodes Thursday on HBO Max, shifts the focus to Millwood, a small town not far from Rosewood. A series of tragic events 20 years ago almost tore the blue-collar town apart and now, in the present day, a disparate group of teen girls — aka the main Liars — find themselves tormented by an unknown assailant, «A,» and made to pay for the secret sins committed by their mothers two decades ago — and their own. Bailee Madison, who plays Imogen, shared that she connected with former star Lucy Hale, who portrayed Aria in the original series, throughout the process of getting cast on In fact, after Madison's casting was announced last July, Hale and fellow alum Shay Mitchell celebrated by leaving comments on her Instagram post. «Lucy's a dear friend of mine and was really with me through the whole process of finding out if I got to be a part of the show or not, and just held my hand through every step of the way, which meant the absolute world to me as a friend,» Madison told ET's Deidre Behar. «And just as someone I respect and have admired her for so many years.

rust belt town down on its luck. It’s a little grittier than Rosewood. It was like, ‘This will be part of the ‘Pretty Little Liars’ cinematic universe,’ as we jokingly call it.

and HBO Max will all air Shark Week-inspired content or cross-promote the event, so I hope you all like these fascinating predators because they're about to be everywhere. On the scripted side, there's the new mystery drama The Resort airing later this week on Peacock starring Cristin Milioti and William Jackson Harper. The White Lotus season two doesn't premiere for a bit, but if you're creating drama and suspense in a tropical/resort-like setting, then The Resort will help fill that void.

The future of HBO Max’s European originals team has appeared bleak ever since it emerged Warner Bros Discovery was stopping production in the continent, and it now looks to be facing the end.