So, Is Apple TV+ Worth It?

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“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”—Oscar Wilde.

Celebrities Dressing as Celebrities

Never-Ending Halloween

Thursday was Halloween, but it felt like it went on forever. The celebrity Halloween costumes started popping late last week, and really hit a peak over the weekend as the party circuit kicked up. So far, we’ve seen Halsey dress as Marilyn Manson, Ciara and Russell Wilson dress as Beyoncé and Jay Z, and little Stormi Webster dress as her own mother, Kylie Jenner, at this year’s Met Gala. You can see our favorite celebrity Halloween looks so far here, but, maybe nothing compares to watching Heidi Klum get into her elaborate costume. She certainly took her time and saved it all for the big day. Sometimes we wish everyone did—but Halloween costumes do make great Instagram content, don’t they?

The Jewelry-Market Wars

Breakfast at an Independent Tiffany’s?

Everyone dreams of having breakfast at Tiffany’s, but LVMH is one of the few entities on earth that could afford to eat Tiffany’s for breakfast. LVMH, already the world’s biggest luxury conglomerate thanks to subsidiaries like Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Givenchy, is looking to get bigger. News broke this week that the Paris-based LVMH made a $14.5 billion bid to buy New York’s iconic Tiffany and Co. While LVMH already owns Bulgari, Chamuet, and Fred, jewelry and watches only made up 9 percent of the company’s total sales. Which may be concerning for the C-suite, as jewelry is the fastest-growing segment in luxury right now. Aside from Chopard, which is privately owned by a German family, Tiffany and Co. is one of the largest remaining independent players in the industry. So it’s no surprise that buyers are interested. Some analysts, though, are predicting that the company may hold out for a better deal.

Acquisitions aren’t the only way LVMH can grow its share in the jewelry market. Last year, Louis Vuitton poached Francesca Amfitheatrof, the former design director of Tiffany and Co., to beef up its own jewelry line. Sophie Turner was the first celebrity to debut Amfitheatrof’s new wares on the red carpet by wearing a necklace that featured 945 diamonds to the Emmys.

Apple TV+ and the Continual Stream of New Streamers

Apple TV+’s Actual Content

You really seem to love your Netflix subscription, and both Hollywood and Silicon Valley have noticed. Which, of course, means a cavalcade of major companies of all sorts will launch their own Netflix competitors through next year. Apple TV+ will get a head start on the onslaught by launching this weekend before HBO, NBC, and Disney launch their own, but it may fall behind in other regards. Although it’s the cheapest, at only $4.99 per month (or free for a year when you buy a new qualifying Apple device), Apple TV+ lacks an expansive back catalog of beloved films and TV shows. Instead, it will launch with a nature documentary and a smattering of original series. The four major launch titles, however, are getting decidedly mixed reviews.

The Morning Show, starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, is clearly the most major, but critics who have seen the first three episodes are worried the program may be straining under the pressure to be a big, important, network-defining show straight out of the gate. “It is a serious show that, in every frame and every performance, announces that it wants to be taken seriously,” writes Jen Chaney from Vulture in one of the more positive reviews. “Based on the first three episodes, it is also a well-executed work of television that never lets you forget you’re watching a work of television.”

At least it’s not getting totally savaged, like the very expensive dystopian saga See. Apparently the charm of Jason Momoa can’t carry the reportedly $15 million–per–episode series alone. Dickinson, which, oddly, reimagines the youth of the author Emily Dickinson with a modern tone, and For All Mankind, an alt-history take on the space race, have fared slightly better in early reviews. But if Apple TV+ wants to be the next Netflix, it still seems a far way off from finding its Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards. Not that anyone should feel bad: Apple plans to commit billions of dollars to content over the next few years until it finds its must-watch hits.

Netflix will keep chugging along as usual this weekend, churning out new seasons of Atypical and *Queer Eye* alongside a film remake of American Son, in which Kerry Washington reprises her celebrated Broadway role. HBO, meanwhile, is holding out its next big premiere for Monday with an adaptation of Philip Pullman’s fantasy novel series His Dark Materials.

Despite all this television we’re expected to watch, Hollywood is putting out movies this weekend as well. Terminator: Dark Fate has set itself up as a direct sequel to 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, thus invalidating the three less-than-memorable sequels that had appeared earlier this century. The critical reception basically boils down to this: It’s better than the more recent films, but not as good as the original two. Oh, well, at least Linda Hamilton is back as an action star at age 62. Harriet is being hailed for the strong star turn of its leading lady, Cynthia Erivo, but not so much as the biopic that Harriet Tubman deserves. Finally, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman arrives in very limited release this weekend before premiering on Netflix in late November on its way to becoming a major contender at the Oscars.

Carys Douglas

@Carys.Douglas

Carys Douglas is third-generation Hollywood royalty (her parents are Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, while her grandpa is Kirk Douglas). At only 16 years old, she’s not wasting any time stepping into the spotlight. She’s already starring in a Fendi campaign alongside her mother.