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Peacock’s Based on a True Story unmasks a new serial killer — and exposes a killer inside someone close to Ava and Nathan Bartlett — in the true-crime sendup’s deliciously twisted sophomore run.

The Season 2 finale reveals that the copycat killer is none other than Sara Paxton’s Paige, the sister of Westside Ripper victim Chloe Lake (Natalia Dyer), whose brutal murder played out in the series’ very first episode. Paige traps Ava and Nathan in the Lipinski Sisters’ podcast studio, and she’s prepared to kill them for profiting off of Chloe’s death, before Matt shows up in the knick of time,...

Did “Based on a True Story” need a second season? Arguably no, but credit where credit is due: Season 2 the Peacock series — now led by Annie Weisman — is significantly more confident, entertaining, and batshit (respectfully) than the first, so when the inevitable cliffhanger rolls around, it actually feels earned.

Season 2, Episode 8, “This Week’s Guest” starts with Ava (Kaley Cuoco) and Nathan (Chris Messina) held hostage at a podcast studio by the as-yet-unidentified Copycat Killer. This is a show with so few characters that I was genuinely stumped as to the murderer’s identity, and thrilled by the reveal that its Chloe Lake’s (Natalia Dyer) sister (Sarah Paxton) — whose sister was killed by Matt (Tom Bateman), the West Side Ripper.

It’s a turn very much of a piece with the rest of the season, which smartly pulls away from Ava, Nathan, and Matt’s hit podcast and its dubious ethics.

GrX Studio has set its sights on an international expansion that matches its leading position within Taiwan’s film and TV production industry.

At a fast-paced event on Monday held on the margins of the Busan International Film Festival, the company detailed plans to invest some $50 million over five years into 15 Mandarin-language series and five horror films through a new fund.

The launch event also included a roster of current shows from the group, which was formerly known as Greener Grass Productions. It was previously responsible for “Copycat Killer,” a series which has performed strongly for streaming giant Netflix.

Taiwan actor Ning Chang and Vietnam actor Lien Binh Phat from “The Outlaw Doctor,” a crime series which is now in post-production and which GrX co-produced with Public Television Service Foundation (Pts) and Chunghwa Telecom (Cht), and Korean celebrity Jinyoung and Taiwan actress Moon Lee from “The Photo from 1977.” The title...

Netflix is to further invest in Chinese-language content and focus on local stories with a particular emphasis on Taiwan.

The streaming giant launched in Taiwan in 2016 and has steadily been building its audience through licensing hit titles such as Marry My Dead Body and Incantation as well as commissioning original content, with a raft of projects unveiled earlier this year.

Netflix’s head of Chinese language content, Maya Huang, has now revealed next steps for the platform in the region.

“Our audience in Taiwan has such a strong passion and sense of pride for Chinese-language content,” she said during an...

Netflix has unveiled plans to bolster its Chinese-language content slate, anchored by the streamer’s hub and partnerships in Taiwan.

The streamer’s head of Chinese Language Content, Maya Huang, detailed her team’s originals strategy in Taiwan and also unveiled the English-language teaser and release date for upcoming series Born for the Spotlight.

The 12-episode series will be the first time that Taiwanese actresses Hsieh Ying-xuan and Cheryl Yang star alongside each other.

Born for the Spotlight will have its world premiere in the On-Screen section at the upcoming Busan International Film Festival, before releasing on Netflix on November 7.

Written and directed by Yen Yi-wen (The Making of an Ordinary Woman) and produced by Olive Ting (Oh No! Here Comes Trouble), the series is set in the cut-throat world of showbiz, where Hsieh and Yang portray Hsueh Ya-chi and Chou Fan respectively. They start out as inseparable best friends...

After operating relatively quietly in Chinese language content since 2016, global streamer Netflix is now making a noise about its presence in the sector and in Taiwan in particular.

Among the highlights is “Born for the Spotlight,” a 12-part series about the unravelling of a friendship between two top actresses, and an upcoming youngster who will do anything to achieve success in show business. It is written and directed by Yen Yi-wen (“The Making of an Ordinary Woman”) and produced by Olive Ting (“Oh No! Here Comes Trouble”). It stars Hsieh Ying-hsieh and Cheryl Yang.

The series is also selected for the On-Screen section at the Busan International Film Festival, hosting its world premiere next month, and will be released on Netflix on Nov. 7, 2024.

With mainland China closed to Netflix as a streamer and Hong Kong largely working in the Cantonese minority variant of Chinese, Taiwan has become the de facto...

Exclusive: The newly-installed leaders at Taiwan’s GrX studio highlighted the firm’s desire to make inroads in the Korean market as well as a strategic shift to focus on English-language titles.

Earlier this month, the studio announced Dennis Wu as Strategy and Chief Investment Officer and Shing-ming Ho as Chief Creative Director. They join the team that is currently headed by CEO Phil Tang and founder Hank Tseng.

GrX is behind Copycat Killer and The Victims’ Game season 2, which was the first Mandarin-language original series renewed by Netflix.

Wu told Deadline that the studio is focused on Asia-Pacific as its main market. GrX already has an office branch in Singapore, a representative in Japan and partners in Beijing to solidify its regional focus.

He also highlighted how GrX is working to develop stronger partnerships in the Korean film industry this year.

One of the studio’s upcoming projects is...

Hank Tseng’s GrX Studio has appointed veteran producer Dennis Wu and screenwriter Ho Shing Ming in senior level roles as part of the Taiwanese studio’s drive to ramp up international collaboration and reinforce itself as a key film and TV producer in the region.

The Taipei-based company recently produced a second season of The Victims’ Game, which launched globally in June as the first Chinese-language drama series renewed by Netflix.

It will be followed by The Outlaw Doctor in the third quarter, a medical crime drama series set up as an international co-production. Starring Taiwanese actress Janine Chang...

Prime Video might be pulling back from Southeast Asian originals, but Netflix remains is doubling down on originals in the region.

The streamer has unveiled several titles from Indonesia and Thailand, and a Chinese-language slate for 2024.

One of the bigger titles on the streamer’s Indonesian slate is sci-fi series Nightmares and Daydreams, which marks Netflix’s first collaboration with Joko Anwar.

Anwar’s horror films are often well-received at the box office, with Satan’s Slaves and its sequel both in the top 10 list for highest-grossing films in the country.

Director Timo Tjahjanto will return with action film The Shadow Strays, after making comedy action flick The Big 4 in 2022, which became the second most-watched non-English film on the streamer. The Shadow Strays will star Ario Bayu, Lukman Sardi, Marissa Anita, Nirina Zubir, Sita Nursanti, Fachri Albar and Asmara Abigail.

The Indonesian slate also includes Borderless Fog, which stars Putri Marino,...

With a background in Taiwanese public television and now president of leading production company Greener Grass Culture, Phil Tang has been one of the key players in Taiwan’s evolving drama production space.

Founded by Hank Tseng in 2008, Greener Grass is both a film and TV producer, with film credits including horror movie The Tag-Along, and series including period drama Gold Leaf and crime dramas The Victims’ Game and Copycat Killer. The latter two shows were produced for Netflix and Greener Grass is currently working on the second season of The Victims’ Game, about a forensic scientist with Asperger’s syndrome.

Separately, Tang continues to lend his drama production expertise to other Taiwanese companies and was also a producer on Damou Entertainment’s ground-breaking show The World Between Us, which delved into a range of social issues and won several prizes at Taiwan’s Golden Bell Awards.

Tang is now...

Once among the premier newspaper comic strips, The Far Side has long been known for its elliptical, meta-textual humor that left many a fan scratching their head. Though it is often the infamous strip “Cow Tools” that gets pilloried as the perfect “confusing” comic, it was far from the only bewildering punchline The Far Side produced.

Gary Larson’s romping ride through the realms of ridiculousness had hundreds of strips that left readers with their heads cocked to the side and brows furrowed in vain attempts to understand. In celebration of this absurdist vein of comedy, Screen Rant presents the 10 Most Confusing Far Side installments in its entire 14-year run.

Related: Far Side's Creator Explains Why He Still Loves One Controversial Comic

The Bewitched Writers’ Room

This cartoon features a supposed meeting of the writers of the ‘60s sitcom Bewitched, with one character describing a plot for a new episode,...

Rob Moose, the yMusic violinist who has worked with Miley Cyrus, Alabama Shakes, Maren Morris, Bon Iver, Taylor Swift, and many others, will put out his first truly solo release, Inflorescence, this summer. The five-song EP features collaborations with Brittany Howard, Phoebe Bridgers, Bon Iver, Sara Bareilles, and Emily King, and the first track from the album, out Aug. 11, that he’s releasing from it is “I Bend but Never Break,” his shimmery, elastic collaboration with Howard.

The track starts with string glissandi that sound a bit like slide whistles...

“The Night Agent” has jumped to No. 6 on Netflix’s most popular shows of all-time with 605.62 million total hours viewed since its March 23 premiere.

The thriller series, which scored an early Season 2 renewal at the streamer, logged another 90.04 million hours viewed for the week, and has tallied more than 73 million viewers to date. Last week, the action-packed series entered Most Popular Top 10 List at the No. 9 spot in the third week since its release.

While “The Night Agent” continued to hold onto lead on the week’s top 10 English TV Shows list, revenge dramedy “Beef” slid into the No. 2 spot on the English TV list with 70.38 million hours viewed. The Ali Wong and Steven Yeun-led series climbed to the top 10 in 87 countries.

Also Read:

‘The Night Agent’ Cracks Netflix’s Top 10 Most Popular Shows of All Time in Just 3 Weeks

As reality dating TV lovers geared up for Netflix...

Netflix always seems to know when it has a potential hit. Although the action-comedy sequel “Murder Mystery 2,” starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, was probably a no-brainer, the continuing success of the spy thriller series “The Night Agent” certainly must be a nice surprise. Read on for the Netflix Top 10 (Week of April 3) viewing chart analysis.

Last week, Season 1 of “The Night Agent” spent its third weekend as the #1 English language series on the streamer with 130.5 million global hours viewed, which was enough to put it into Netflix’s all-time most popular English shows in ninth place with 515.6 million total hours viewed worldwide. The show is in the top 10 in 92 countries, many of which it remains in the #1 spot. Wisely, Netflix has already greenlit a second season.

Season 4 of “Love is Blind” follows in second place with 43.1 million viewing hours. The season finale of the popular reality TV series will drop this coming Friday,...

A growing range of Thai, Japanese and Chinese-language films and TV shows are reaching global audiences – joining the by-now well-established international viewership for South Korean shows.

Netflix’s Global Top 10 for the week April 3-9, sees made-for-streaming Korean title “Kill Boksoon” on top of the non-English-language films list, with 27.5 million hours watched in its second week of release.

It is immediately followed by Thai film “Hunger,” about a young woman apprentice in an upmarket restaurant working under a tough boss. The film is directed by Sitisiri Mongkolsiri and stars “Bad Genius” breakout Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying.

Indian mid-air heist thriller “Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga” claims fourth spot in the chart. (India has had a film in the non-English top 10 every week in 2023 so far.)

In the non-English series rankings Korean revenge drama “The Glory” returned to the number one position in its tenth week of release. Its endurance makes it now the...

Episode 9 of “Copycat Killer” had Kuo finally confronting He Ping because he is done pretending that he does not know who the real serial killer is. He Ping is on a rampage and in denial about the whole saga that is unfolding in front of him. There is no way Kuo can prove the man accused, and in that process, he ends up losing Yu Huei. Kuo will have to come up with an elaborate plan to make sure He-Ping is convicted.

Spoilers Ahead

Kuo’s Predicament

The episode begins with Kuo being asked some basic questions about where his loyalty stands and how he will make sure the people standing in front of him can expect him to give out the right verdict and prove to them that he has given them justice. Kuo cannot express all those emotions through words because, at heart, he knows he is here...

“Copycat Killer” Episode eight, has Kuo concluding that the mastermind is Chen He-Ping, the ex-colleague of Ya-Cih. Chen He-Ping had created a huge ring that was somehow kept under wraps, and no one knew about it except the few boys who kidnapped women for him. Will Kuo be able to find evidence for He-Ping to be indicted and finally put him behind bars for killing four women, including Ya-Cih?

Spoilers Ahead

Tian’s Predicament

Tian was one of the boys who worked with He-Ping to get the women for him to torture and kill. Tian took the fall for one of the girls that had died two years ago, Jiang Yu-Ping. The woman was branded a prostitute by Tian, and he got a life sentence for killing her and burying her. The boy confessed to the crime, and since then, he has not seen the light of day outside of jail.

“Copycat Killer” episode 7 has Kuo and Ya Cih coming across a breakthrough in the case, which was considered closed after the deaths of Jian Ho and Jian Wun. They both were considered suspects in the serial killer case, but with Kuo making sure there is something more to that case, they come across evidence to prove there was a mastermind that pushed and trained Jian Wun to carry out the murders in the most gruesome manner. The quest now is to find out who the mastermind is.

Spoilers Ahead

Who Is The Suspect Now?

With Ya-Cih and Kuo on the same path to find out the mastermind behind Jian Wun’s murder and rape spree, they come across plenty of footage of the man wearing a mask who called himself Noh. Grandfather Nan claimed that the voice he had heard belonged to someone older, and this made it easier for...

In “Copycat Killer” Episode six, all of Kuo’s work goes down the drain with the death of Jian Wun, who was being hunted by Kuo and his team; for he had been identified as the serial killer/rapist of Songyang city who had created havoc, especially among the female population. Along with Jian Wun, his best friend from childhood, Jian Ho, died, which was a pity as he was turning out to be a great asset to the investigation team because Kuo had hoped to get more information about Jian Wun from him. Jian Ho and Wun did not survive, but Yong Lin’s daughter Yu-Tong survived the accident. It will take her a while to recover from the shock she has been through. But Kuo feels there is more here than they are being shown; he does not know what, but he is keen to find out. What is this missing piece?...

Episode 5 of “Copycat Killer” had the police go after Jian Ho and Jian Wun because they both had evidence that pointed to the fact that either of them could be the serial killer who is on a rampage and has managed to kill the third victim. Kuo has come very close to cracking the case, and he can only hope to get closer still so that the final 2% of the case also gets solved and they can get yet another serial killer off the streets. Kuo is walking on eggshells right now, and he is making sure to stay focused and not get distracted. Yong Lin, on the other hand, manages to get hold of Jian Wun and physically assault him in the hope that the boy will confess and reveal his daughter’s location. Yong Lin ends up getting injured. How will Kuo get to the final 2% of the...

Episode 4 of “Copycat Killer” had the viewers dangling on the edge of their seats because, for a moment, it came to a point where it was assumed that Yong Lin’s daughter had been killed by the kidnapper/killer, and Yong Lin probably wouldn’t be able to live with this guilt of not trying enough to save his kid. Simultaneously, Jian Ho, an employee of Tnb News, comes forward to let Kuo and his team know that he received a call from the killer twice; the second time, there was a message for Yong Lin, which stated the father should apologize on national television and humiliate himself, which Yong Lin almost does. The bigger question here is whether his daughter is going to become the next victim of the game the killer/kidnapper is playing.

Spoilers Ahead

Who’s The Girl?

Yong Lin finds the body of a decapitated...

Episode three of “Copycat Killer” had Yong’s daughter being kidnapped and him losing his mind over the fact that he had an intuition that this would happen. He had warned his daughter about the dangers out there, but she wouldn’t listen. Yong would do anything to get his daughter back. Along with that, Grandfather Nan lost his granddaughter to the kidnapper, and there was nothing else Nan was expecting. He is happy that she is no longer suffering and is free from the pain she was enduring. Kuo is feeling helpless and clueless about how to find a breakthrough when the killer is not following a pattern, but rather, he is running zigzag just to confuse the investigators. How will Kuo and Yong manage to get Yong’s daughter back alive?

Spoilers Ahead

The Man Who Received Calls From The Killer

Hu Jian Ho, an employee of the...

In the second episode of “Copycat Killer,” Prosecutor Kuo makes breakthrough after breakthrough and concludes that there is indeed a serial killer situation involving someone who is kidnapping young girls and harming them. Kuo also unearths a two-year-old case and figures that the case had something to do with a serial killer who is out again kidnapping girls. At the home of Tiam, who had confessed to killing Jiang Yu-Ping, the investigation comes across another box that contains a severed hand just like before. Kuo and the team are puzzled to know what the kidnapper is up to because, so far, the kidnapper has not left any obvious trail, which would help them find something that would lead them to the kidnapper. What is the game plan here?

Spoilers Ahead

A Video Emerges

To Mr. Nan’s chagrin, a video of his granddaughter Yi-Jyun being physically abused is released by...

The first episode set up the show quite well for what “Copycat Killer” is all about. Prosecutor Kuo is a no-nonsense public figure who is making sure to keep crime at bay and be an honest officer. He always plans to be ten steps ahead of the people around him. This approach led him to arrest another high-profile public prosecutor, which built Kuo a reputation as someone who would go so far as to arrest people from his department, and he would go after anybody from his circle if he found them breaking the rule; Kuo would make sure they would be put before the law and given a fair trial. Ya-Cih, another headstrong journalist, and her assistant, Jhen Lu, are tailing Kuo to find out what his plan is about the severed hand that showed up inside a box at a public park. Even Kuo is not ready to...

Serial killer television always has a lot of traction because it is always exciting to know the kind of Mo every serial killer uses out there, and the hunt to find out who the perpetrator is excites the viewers all the more. A lot of shows and films in this genre are either hits or misses. A lot of things must fit perfectly, like dots that must be joined, to make an investigative thriller interesting. “Copycat Killer” was directed by Henri Chang and Jung – Chi Chang and written by Miyuki Miyabe. Set in 1997, the show is about a serial killer on the loose. But this serial killer has no clear-cut motive for the investigating officers to trace him down and make an arrest. Will the investigative team reach a dead end, or will the team slowly and steadily get to their end goal?

Spoilers Ahead

Who Is Hsiao-Chi Kuo?...

Copycat Killer is a Taiwanese series directed by Henri Chang and Chang Jung-Chi starring Kang Ren Wu, Ruby Lin and Fandy Fan.

Copycat Killer takes us down the now familiar path of serial killers in this entertaining Taiwanese series that mixes thriller and horror, nothing original.

Copycat Killer (2023) About the Series

With a competely Saw-style appearance, the series is presented as a classic thriller of the kind that we’ve seen so many of already. No, we don’t have David Fincher to revolutionize the genre, the series wants to stick to the road well-trodden, and, yes, without playing a note out of key at any time, brings us back to the already retro world of video cameras, old monitors and a story that, also retro in its conception, seems either old-fashioned or charmingly familiar.

As always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder: Copycat Killer has nothing original,...

Netflix’s newest spy thriller series “The Night Agent,” based on the novel by Matthew Quirk and starring Gabriel Basso and recent Oscar nominee Hong Chau, seems to be a bonafide hit for the streamer. It debuted at #1 on the English television list with 168.7 million hours viewed. Created by Shawn Ryan of “The Shield,” the series ending up in the top 10 for 93 countries, many of them at #1. Read on for the Netflix Top 10 (Week of March 20).

Season 2 of “Shadow and Bone” was in second place with 55 million hours viewed – it was #1 in the Ukraine –followed in third by Season 4 of “You” with 30.2 million hours viewed. The first five episodes of the fourth season of reality series “Love is Blind” entered the charts in fourth with 25.5 million hours viewed. The documentary series “Waco: American Apocalypse” entered the charts right behind it with 21.5 million hours viewed.

“Luther: The Fallen Sun” remained #1 for...

Love Is Blind season four, Murder Mystery 2, Rob Lowe starrer Unstable and docuseries Waco: American Apocalypse and Emergency: NYC are among the much-anticipated projects hitting Netflix this month.

Dating show Love Is Blind returns on March 24, featuring a new group of singles looking to make a connection based on something other than looks.

Later in the month, the streamer drops Rob and John Owen Lowe’s Unstable, a scripted comedy inspired by the playful dynamic between the real-life father and son. In the series, co-created by Santa Clarita Diet creator Victor Fresco, the elder Lowe plays successful biotech entrepreneur Ellis Dragon who is struggling after the death of his wife. John Owen Lowe plays his introverted son, Jackson, who seems to be the only one who can save his dad.

And Netflix closes out the month with Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler’s Murder Mystery 2. The sequel finds Aniston...

The drama about two sisters is from first-time feature director Sasha Chuk.

Hong Kong project Fly Me To The Moon won five awards at the closing of this year’s Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum.

The film will mark the feature directorial debut of Sasha Chuk and is produced by Hong Kong filmmaker Stanley Kwan, whose films as a director include Venice 2005 title Everlasting Regret, Cannes 2001 film Lan Yu and Berlin competition titles Center Stage, The Island Tales, Hold You Tight and Red Rose White Rose.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Fly Me To The Moon was among...

There’s something for everyone this month on Netflix, including the streamer’s first-ever live-streamed global event: Chris Rock’s comedy special “Selective Outrage.”

The last time the comedian was on a stage of this scale, he was slapped in the face by Will Smith. You’ll have to tune in at 7 pm Pm Pt/10 pm Et on Saturday, March 4 to find out if he addresses the Oscars incident!

On the drama front, the second half of “You” Season 4, starring Penn Badgley, returns March 9. Fans of political intrigue will want to tune into “The Night Agent.” Former child star Gabriel Basso stars as a vigilant FBI agent who answers a call that plunges him into a deadly conspiracy involving a mole at the White House. Idris Elbra returns as disgraced London detective John Luther in “Luther: The Fallen Son” on March 10. And of course, we can’t forget the steamy series “Sex/Life,...

March is a time for madness, whether it comes from basketball, Mercury retrograde, or a person’s home streaming habits. Netflix joins in on the chaos by updating its library with all three “Hangover” movies, a whole lot of workout content, “Magic Mike Xxl,” and much, much more.

On March 9, the streamer will premiere Part 2 of “You” Season 2, starring Penn Badgley, Charlotte Ritchie, and Ed Speleers. The five remaining episodes find Joe (Badgley) trapped in a volatile dance with London mayoral candidate and serial killer Rhys (Speleers), trying to prevent more murders but also not go down for the many he’s committed in the process. The trailer shows Joe and Kate (Ritchie) growing closer, more brushes with Kate’s wealthy socialite friends, and the return of Victoria Pedretti as Joe’s wife Love — or maybe the ghost of his wife, and of sins past.

“You” Season 4 Part 2 premieres March...