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‘Wednesday’ Review: The Strange Girl Is on the Case

Netflix’s addition to the Addams Family universe turns the death-obsessed daughter into a high school sleuth.

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By Mike Hale

The news that Tim Burton would be directing half the episodes of “Wednesday,” Netflix’s new dramedy about the Addams Family’s death-obsessed young daughter, piqued interest. It would be Burton’s first real television work in nearly 40 years, since he directed episodes of “Faerie Tale Theatre” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” And Burton, an often magical storyteller attracted to off-kilter material, seemed as if he might be a good match for Charles Addams’s macabre cartoon family.

But neither Addams nor Burton appears to be the primary force behind “Wednesday,” whose eight episodes premiere on the appropriate day this week. The show was created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, best known for the young-Superman series “Smallville,” and the sensibility of “Wednesday” lines up with that earlier work: high-minded teenage melodrama. More focused on morbid humor, for sure, and, like “Smallville,” reasonably well executed and entertaining. But still, teenage melodrama.

Toward that end, the rest of the Addams Family is mostly absent from the show, though the actors playing those well-known characters are the big names in the cast. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán, as Wednesday’s parents, Morticia and Gomez, feature largely in just one episode; the same goes for Fred Armisen as her Uncle Fester. Besides Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday , the one family member with a regular role is Thing, the disembodied hand.

“Wednesday” begins with a trademark act of calculated violence by its heroine, as if to establish her bona fides. It gets her expelled from high school — she’s older here than in earlier iterations, turning 16 in the course of the season — and sent to her parents’ alma mater, Nevermore Academy, a Vermont school for “outcasts” where the cliques are made up of werewolves, vampires, sirens and the like.

This situates the show among the post-“Harry Potter” proliferation of supernatural high school dramas, with the requisite town-versus-gown conflict, here characterized as the normies versus the outcasts. And when Wednesday discovers that people are being killed by a monster in the nearby woods, she goes into girl-detective mode, complete with voice-over narration that recalls “Veronica Mars.”

Amid these various familiar TV structures, the morbidity and sarcasm that have always characterized Wednesday become more of a motif, a running gag, than a defining trait. More fundamentally, her alienation from her schoolmates, teachers and parents becomes something she has to overcome. The through line of “Wednesday” is toward learning the value of teamwork, tolerance and human connection. Perhaps for the first time, an Addams Family story pushes Wednesday toward being more like everyone else.

This will not be what real fans of Charles Addams and his characters are looking for, and “Wednesday” is satisfying only on the level of formulaic teenage romance and mystery. On that basis it’s pretty tolerable, though. Burton’s episodes — the first four — have style and some wit, from an opening shot of Wednesday’s brother, Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez), falling out of his locker to the candy-colored beauty of a nighttime carnival scene, which includes a wonderful long shot of Wednesday chasing a schoolmate through the midway beneath a scrim of exploding fireworks. (Burton closes out his episodes with a baroque bit of mayhem, clearly inspired by “Carrie,” that is more excessive than inspired.)

The teenage-redemption themes of “Wednesday” are also a good fit for the 20-year-old Ortega, who broke in as a child actor on the Disney Channel and in CW’s “Jane the Virgin” and has since branched out into slasher films like this year’s “Scream.” She doesn’t do much with Wednesday’s mean-girl punch lines, which is at least partly the fault of the writing — they drop into the script like stones. (“I don’t bury hatchets, I sharpen them.” “Sartre said hell was other people. He was my first crush.”)

She’s good, though, with the side of the character that’s been invented for the show — she puts across this Wednesday’s submerged desire to connect with her effervescent werewolf roommate, Enid (Emma Myers, giving the show’s liveliest, funniest performance), and she gets at the small core of poignancy that’s there among the soap opera machinations and routine scary-creature battles. (Most of the latter come after Burton’s episodes, unfortunately.)

Also in the cast, in a medium-size role as the only non-supernatural teacher at Nevermore, is Christina Ricci, who portrayed a younger Wednesday in the two live-action Addams Family films of the 1990s. The joke is that the woman famous for playing the strange child is now the most aggressively normal character onscreen, and Ricci cleverly amps up her energy a little, as if it were a strain for her to make the switch. Like “Wednesday” itself, she’s crossed over to the side of the normies.

Mike Hale is a television critic. He also writes about online video, film and media. He came to The Times in 1995 and worked as an editor in Sports, Arts & Leisure and Weekend Arts before becoming a critic in 2009. More about Mike Hale

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Wednesday review: making goth great again

“Series star Jenna Ortega and director Tim Burton bring The Addams Family to life in a quirky gothic mystery for Netflix that's monstrously fun.”

• Jenna Ortega perfectly embodies the character
• Great blend of supernatural horror, teen drama
• Adds depth to the entire Addams Family
• Visual effects are good, not great

Wednesday Addams isn’t the first character that comes to mind when you’re searching for someone with the cachet to carry a solo series, but it doesn’t take long for Tim Burton and Wednesday star Jenna Ortega to make her star power abundantly clear in Netflix’s dark, delightfully entertaining series .

Color us scared

Darkness becomes her, they mostly come out at night.

A spinoff of The Addams Family franchise,  Wednesday follows the titular, elder Addams sibling after she finds herself expelled from high school due to a nasty incident involving the water polo team and two bags of piranhas . The event prompts her parents, Gomez Addams (Luis Guzmán) and Morticia Addams (Catherine Zeta-Jones), to enroll her in their former alma mater, prep school Nevermore Academy, which specializes in educating “outcast” children. As she attempts to forge her own path at the school, where her parents’ legacy looms large, Wednesday soon finds herself wrapped up in a mystery tied to killings in a nearby town.

Wednesday hails from Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and although it manages to channel some of the same young adult drama the pair brought to their teenage Superman series, it’s Burton’s aesthetic that informs much of the look and feel of Wednesday ‘s first, eight-episode season.

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The Sleepy Hollow and Beetlejuice director helms the series’ first four episodes, and draws from a similar palette as his 1990 film Edward Scissorhands , which had its characters bouncing between two contrasting environments: One dark and gothic, and the other bright and colorful. Like the title character of that film, Wednesday’s adventures have her and her classmates — werewolves, sirens, and gorgons among them — navigating between the stark stone and dark forest of their gothic home and the bright streets of an exaggerated small-town America.

As one might expect, Burton is right at home in the comic-gothic vibe of Wednesday’s world, but he also manages to fit Nevermore surprisingly well into the brightly colored, traditional Americana surrounding it. The two aesthetics  shouldn’t mesh as well as they do, but Wednesday makes the weaving together of these worlds feel surprisingly seamless.

While the look and feel of  Wednesday is executed amazingly well, it’s Ortega’s performance as the title character that ultimately sells the series.

It’s difficult to imagine anyone nailing Wednesday’s dry, morbid personality as well as Christina Ricci in the live-action Addams Family films of the 1990s, but Ortega runs away with the role in the Netflix series. Ortega is a talented actress whose recent, well-received performances in Ti West’s X  and  Scream suggest she’s no stranger to dark subject matter, but  Wednesday flexes an entirely different sort of approach to the material, and Ortega rises to the occasion. Her deadpan delivery rarely falters, and in those rare moments where the story calls for her to do so, Ortega finds just the right amount of subtlety to keep her character’s coming-of-age experience in character.

She’s not alone in giving a great performance, either.

In supporting roles, Guzmán and Zeta-Jones offer a version of the Addams Family central couple that’s both familiar and unique  and plays to the celebrated actors’ strengths. It’s no easy task to measure up to the portrayals of Gomez and Morticia in the original television series (John Astin and Carolyn Jones) and the two live-action theatrical features of the ’90s (Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston), but Wednesday ‘s version of the deeply romantic, macabre duo finds the happy medium between their past and present incarnations. The same is true of Fred Armisen’s too-brief appearance as Wednesday’s iconic Uncle Fester, with the Portlandia star’s wacky performance playing well off Wednesday’s dry presence.

Despite the series’ focus on Wednesday Addams, it also does a remarkable job of building out the entire Addams Family’s backstory in some fun, fascinating ways.

The fictional history of creator Charles Addams’ family of characters has rarely adhered to any sort of canon, and Wednesday sends the Addams Family timeline in some new, clever directions. The series sheds some light on Morticia and Gomez’s early years and burgeoning romance at Nevermore Academy, for example, and reveals some intriguing plot points about their time there and how it shaped some well-known aspects of the characters. Although the show keeps the spotlight on Wednesday, the story of the entire Addams Family feels significantly richer with the lore Wednesday brings to their saga.

Outside of the established Addams Family characters appearing in the series,  Wednesday also introduces some compelling supporting characters to her world.

Gwendoline Christie ( Game of Thrones ) offers a nice foil for Wednesday as the headmistress of Nevermore, while Emma Myers portrays Wednesday’s eternally perky, optimistic roommate (who also happens to be a werewolf), Enid Sinclair. Both actresses give strong performances that tease out more of Wednesday’s character and give her the sort of surrounding cast of enemies and allies that make her feel like a more fully realized character.

Ricci herself plays a recurring role in the series , too, as the school’s botany instructor, Marilyn Thornhill, and watching her and Ortega interact makes for some extra fun, self-aware humor.

Fans of popular Netflix series The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will likely feel some familiarity with Wednesday , which manages to hit the sweet spot between dark, supernatural adventure and teen drama surprisingly well.  Wednesday goes quite a bit darker than that series, though, thanks to Burton’s influence and even more quirky characters.

Fans of Burton’s work, anyone looking to fill that Sabrina void, or viewers simply intrigued by the idea of a gothic horror-comedy with a compelling mystery at its center and a great cast of unique, colorful characters will find plenty to like about  Wednesday . Mysterious and spooky and altogether ooky, the series is a scream in all the right ways.

Season 1 of Wednesday premieres November 23 on Netflix.

Wednesday (2022)

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'Wednesday' Review: A More Chilling Spin on the Creepy, Kooky Addams Family

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The creepy and kooky Addams Family, arguably the First Family of spooky season, have had a perpetual presence in popular culture over the decades. After getting their start in Charles Addams ' New Yorker comics in the '30s, and debuting onscreen in the 1964 television series The Addams Family , they make their return to the small screen this November with Netflix's supernatural teen drama Wednesday .

Rather than focusing on the family as a whole, the series instead centers on teenage daughter Wednesday Addams, played to woeful perfection by Jenna Ortega , as she is expelled from yet another school and sent by her parents Gomez ( Luis Guzmán ) and Morticia ( Catherine Zeta-Jones ) to Nevermore Academy, the same school where the two of them met and fell in love. As much as she thrives in darkness, Wednesday bristles at the idea of being expected to live in the significant shadow cast by her parents, and her mother in particular, who was as much of a social butterfly overachiever as it's possible to be in a school proudly populated by outcasts.

Wednesday's arrival at Nevermore is anything but easy. She is placed in her mother's old dorm alongside Enid ( Emma Myers ), a late-blooming werewolf who loves bright colors as much as Wednesday loves various shades of black and gray. Though their different personalities lead to friction at first, in the manner of all good coming-of-age stories, the two start to realize they might be stronger together than they are apart. Also making settling in somewhat difficult are the two mysteries that may or may not be connected, but both of which somehow trace back to Nevermore and the surrounding town of Jericho. The first is a case that may or may not involve someone close to Wednesday, while the other — arguably more pressing — is the issue of the gruesome murders taking place around town.

RELATED: 'Wednesday': Tim Burton Celebrates the Creation of Nevermore Academy in New Featurette

Unlike the earlier TV incarnations, including the 1992 animated series and the 1998 live-action series The New Addams Family (a campy staple of my own childhood), Wednesday does not follow a problem-of-the-week format, opting instead for a season-long supernatural mystery in the vein of Stranger Things , or The Hardy Boys . Unlike those earlier incarnations as well, the series really leans into the horror-adjacent aspect that has always surrounded the Addams family, but which earlier incarnations never fully explored. While this is definitely a show the whole family can watch together, there is just enough horror and gore to really earn that TV-14 rating.

Where Wednesday really thrives is in its cast. Ortega, Guzmán, and Zeta-Jones, as well as Isaac Ordonez , who plays Pugsley Addams, are picture-perfect choices, looking like the Charles Addams cartoons come to life. The entire family takes these beloved characters and truly makes them their own, maintaining the aspects that have made the kooky Addams so recognizable over the decades, while infusing them with an energy that breathes fresh life into the role. As quirky Uncle Fester, Fred Armisen is a source of some needed comedic relief, with a deadpan cheerful delivery that pays homage to Jackie Coogan 's take on the part back in 1964.

As far as new characters, the series also stars Gwendoline Christie as Nevermore headmistress Principal Weems and Riki Lindhome as Wednesday's court-mandated therapist Dr. Kinbott. They, alongside Wednesday's Nevermore classmates Bianca ( Joy Sunday ), Xavier ( Percy Hynes White ), and Ajax ( Georgie Farmer ), as well as Hunter Doohan as the sheriff's "normie" son Tyler, really round things out and make the show a cross between a supernatural mystery series and a high school drama. Because all the trappings of a high school drama — school dances, trouble with crushes, after-school clubs, and fitting in — are present, albeit with a gloomy, spiderweb-covered gloss.

Of course, the true highlight of the ensemble cast — for diehard Addams fans, anyway — is former Wednesday Addams herself Christina Ricci , who plays Ms. Thornhill, one of Wednesday's Nevermore teachers. Though the two do share quite a few scenes, and though there are references to the wider meta of The Addams Family throughout (except for the tragic absence of the catchy theme song), I applaud the creative team for resisting the urge to make Ricci's Wednesday history too obvious.

Previous incarnations of The Addams Family have always focused on the family as a whole, either dealing with their own interpersonal drama or more frequently casting them in a sort of "us versus them" situation, "them" being conventional society. That conflict is still very present in Wednesday , with the teenagers of Nevermore Academy looked at with skepticism and fear by the town of Jericho. With eight episodes devoted to the mysteries that connect the town and the school, the series has time to dive into this divide with some nuance beyond the idea that one of the two sides is objectively "wrong."

My biggest fear, as someone who has seen and loved every incarnation of The Addams Family , was that the undercurrent of family and love and support present in every version would be lost in Wednesday in favor of a grittier take on the well-known characters. After all, this would not be the first time decades-old characters got an unrecognizable makeover ( Riverdale comes to mind). But while the Addams are not quite the rock-solid unit they are in perhaps the best-known adaptations, 1991's The Addams Family and 1993's The Addams Family Values , it's very clear that they do care about each other.

Ultimately, despite being a darker-than-usual take on The Addams Family , Wednesday retains all the hallmarks that make the stories and the characters special. It succeeds very well at pushing the story outside its usual genre and into something a little more grown-up, and a little more supernatural, but never loses sight of the heart, humor, and kooky horror that have kept us all double-snapping for decades.

Wednesday hits Netflix on November 23, which is — appropriately — a Wednesday.

• Wednesday (2022)

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, netflix's wednesday combines teen angst and murder.

Netflix’s Addams Family series “Wednesday” successfully combines two genres in a way that makes more sense than most—the teen coming-of-age story and the murder-mystery plot. Over the last decade or so, there’s been a lot of shows that have merged the two, using violence to juice up the general teen fair of crushes, college admissions, and meddlesome parents. But where shows like “ Riverdale ” can feel forced to the point of silliness, “Wednesday” succeeds thanks to its familiar protagonist and her macabre-loving family.

Fans of the Addams clan get plenty of service in this eight-part series. Thing, the living, moving severed hand, is a full-fledged character with ongoing gags about skincare and manicures, plus an (only metaphysical) heart of his own. Fred Armisen shows up for episode seven as Uncle Fester, winkingly playing the bald criminal. And the show plays with the highly sexually charged dynamic between Morticia ( Catherine Zeta-Jones ) and Gomez ( Luis Guzmán ). There’s even a bit with the two snaps from the famous theme song. For those with only a passing affection for the Addams family or the aesthetic of executive producer and director of half the episodes, Tim Burton , some of these bits may come to grate (we get it—they’re dark!). But there’s enough other stuff for fans and non-fans to enjoy.

Jenna Ortega 's performance as Wednesday elevates the series above pure nostalgia. She’s become a force in horror thanks to roles in 2022’s “Scream,” A24’s “ X ,” and Netflix’s “You” but while Wednesday may fancy herself to be living in a scary movie, her adventures are less blood-drenched and more camp comedy. Ortega excels in the role, leaning into a deadpan humor made all the funnier by her character’s lack of interest in anything approaching laughter.

The show’s directors get a lot of mileage out of Jenna Ortega ’s physicality, particularly in the high school dance scene, where she manages to own the floor while staying true to her dark nature. And it’s not just for comedy—more than once, we see the smallness of her body on the screen as she faces off again forces much bigger than her. These angles give her confrontations extra power, marking her as an underdog even as her superior insight and tenacity set her up to be the story's clear winner.

The show also leverages classic teen tropes to bring lightness to its dark halls, starting with the “ Clueless ” tour of the cliques at Wednesday’s new school. There’s also a convoluted sporting event that's a clear parallel to Harry Potter’s Quidditch . The aforementioned prom/dance comes complete with a (what else?) “ Carrie ” moment. And there’s so much more—the stuffy headmistress, the love triangle, the secret society.

Along the way, everything works. The mystery is hard to figure out but clearly in place all along and concludes satisfactorily. The action is suspenseful with real danger looming for likable (if mostly side) characters. And the social commentary—about the vileness of settler colonialism—is gratifying. 

Adding to these elements is Wednesday’s evolution out of, or at least through teen angst. She’s extremely sure of herself but with plenty of growing up to do. That makes her both an extraordinary and typical teen, someone who thinks they know everything while continuously being made to learn more. Over the series, we see her come to better understand her parents (even her mother!) as she comes into a more mature, less knee-jerk contradictory understanding of herself.

It’s rare to see a show so successfully mix coming-to-age character development with gross and gory ghouls and a serial murder plot on top of it all. By the end, I was smiling broadly, happy to have been back with these old friends and witnessing their familiar, family-driven hijinks. 

If there’s ever a character for whom death and darkness don’t weigh her down but are a normal part of her high school years, it’s Wednesday Addams. And Netflix’s “Wednesday” makes the most of its heroine’s unique disposition.

All eight episodes screened for review. "Wednesday" premieres on Netflix on November 23rd.

Cristina Escobar

Cristina Escobar is the co-founder of LatinaMedia.Co, a digital publication uplifting Latina and gender non-conforming Latinx perspectives in media.

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Loved Wednesday ? Here Are 10 Things To Watch Next

Supernatural academies, murder mysteries, monsters, and bizarre love triangles — if you love those elements of netflix's addams family sequel series, you'll find your next binge on this list..

TAGGED AS: Comedy , Drama , Horror , streaming , television , TV

Wednesday , Netflix’s extremely popular Addams Family spinoff series, stars Jenna Ortega as the titular character and explores her disgruntled journey as a new student at supernatural boarding school Nevermore Academy. Classmate conflicts, a growing psychic power, and an otherworldly murder mystery are just a few of the challenges she must grapple with in this new environment.

Executive produced by Tim Burton (he directs four of the eight episodes), Wednesday also stars Emma Myers as Enid Sinclair, Hunter Doohan as Tyler Galpin, Percy Hynes White as Xavier Thorpe, Gwendoline Christie as Larissa Weems, Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester, and Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán take on the iconic parental roles of Morticia and Gomez Addams.

(Photo by Courtesy of Netflix)

Since premiering on November 23, the series shattered streaming records in its first week with 341.2 million views. Thanks to Burton’s signature stylistic mix of gloom and glee, along with the performance of Ortega in the iconic role, Netflix had a guaranteed hit on its hands.

So, while we wait for a new season to hit the streamer, we’ve compiled a list of 10 shows and movies like Wednesday or otherwise related to the show that will surely tide you over.

The Addams Family

As the lyrics state, “They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky.” Yes, the Addams Family TV series (which ran from 1964 to 1966 and starred John Astin , Carolyn Jones , and Lisa Loring , among others) is a must-watch for any fans of Wednesday . The original sitcom enshrined this quirky family unit in pop culture. Sure, it may be dated in its comedy and storylines, but comparing this program to that of a modern depiction of Wednesday Addams is a fun way to see how far these characters have come.

Where to watch both seasons: for free on Pluto TV or Tubi  or buy it at Vudu , Apple TV , Prime Video , Google Play

The Addams Family movies of the early 1990s succeeded at bringing the spooky, kooky, and offbeat crew to the big screen. Not only did Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston bring chemistry and romance to the roles of Morticia and Gomez Addams, both installments (each directed by Barry Sonnenfeld) captured the comedic tone of the comics and original series, while adding a welcome element of dark humor to the mix. It’s here that a young Christina Ricci originated the deadpan panache that would become a trademark of the character Wednesday Addams.

Where to watch The Addams Family : by subscription on Netflix  or AMC+ , rent or buy it on Vudu or Prime Video , or buy it on Apple TV or  Google Play Where to watch Addams Family Values : by subscription on Netflix ; rent or buy it on Vudu , Prime Video , or Apple TV ; or buy it on  Google Play

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina follows half-witch and half-human teenager Sabrina ( Kiernan Shipka ) as she navigates that duality while fighting the sinister threats to her, her friends, and her family. Like Wednesday, who attends the Nevermore Academy, Sabrina is a student at the Academy of Unseen Arts. The similarities continue beyond the supernatural schooling and macabre production value of each series; both characters work to solve murder mysteries while butting heads with authority figures and other classmates. Oh, and there’s a pesky love triangle in each, as well.

Where to watch all four seasons:  by subscription on Netflix or buy them on Vudu , Prime Video , or Apple TV

Supernatural began as a monster-of-the-week series that followed hunter brothers Sam ( Jared Padalecki ) and Dean Winchester ( Jensen Ackles ) as they strived to save people by taking out demons, vampires, werewolves, and other such sinister creatures. The universe expanded with each season, helping to evolve the program into a grandiose genre affair that lasted a whopping 15 seasons, making it the longest-running CW show ever. Sam and Dean’s adventures eventually came to an end, but thanks to the CW’s freshman spinoff The Winchesters , which explores the origin story of how the brothers’ hunter parents met, the Supernatural universe lives on.

Where to watch: all 15 seasons of Supernatural can be seen by subscription on Netflix  or buy them on Vudu , Prime Video , Apple TV , or Google Play ; episodes of season 1 of The Winchesters can be seen on CWTV.com and can be purchased on Vudu , Prime Video , or Apple TV

If you’re looking for another program that takes place at a supernatural school, we suggest Legacies . The spin-off of The Vampire Diaries follows Hope Mikaelson, a half-vampire, half-werewolf, and half-witch, who enrolls at the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted, a boarding school for beastly teens. Considering the aesthetic and storylines of the original series it’s spawned from, prepare yourself for loads of conflict, drama, and genre indulgence.

Where to watch all four season: by subscription on Netflix or buy them on Vudu , Prime Video , Apple TV , or Google Play

Without Buffy the Vampire Slayer , it’s tough to imagine a supernatural teen drama centered around a snarky young heroine who fights monsters. Sarah Michelle Gellar ’s take on the titular vampire slayer finds the humanity amid the chaos as the series focuses on a high school girl just trying to live a normal high school life. Thanks to the humorous character dynamics and smart writing, Buffy is a genre series that was ahead of its time.

Where to watch all seven seasons: by subscription on Hulu or buy them on Vudu ,  Prime Video , Apple TV , Google Play

Before Wednesday Addams took up the amateur-sleuth mantle in Wednesday , Lucifer Morningstar ( Tom Ellis ) did it to varying degrees of success in Lucifer . In a crime procedural with a twist, Lucifer, the Lord of Hell, finds himself retiring from his boring station in the afterlife to moonlight on Earth as a consultant for the Los Angeles Police Department. As it happens, Wednesday star Gwendoline Christie plays a second, and quite different, representation of the Lucifer Morningstar character in Netflix’s The Sandman series. Both are iterations of the DC Comics character created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg.

Where to watch all six seasons: by subscription on Netflix or buy them on Vudu , Prime Video ,  Apple TV , or  Google Play

After the tragic deaths of their parents, the recently orphaned Baudelaire children – Violet ( Malina Weissman ), Klaus ( Louis Hynes ), and Sunny ( Presley Smith) – set out to uncover the truth behind their demise. Things get complicated when unhinged con-man Count Olaf ( Neil Patrick Harris ) invade their lives to claim their massive fortune for himself. Based on Daniel Handler’s Lemony Snicket books, the Netflix series taps into the quirky gothic fairytale style that put Tim Burton on the map.

Where to watch all three seasons: by subscription on Netflix

This list started with the work of young Christina Ricci, whose most recent television project may also hold some appeal for Wednesday fans. Aesthetically, Yellowjackets doesn’t tread the same narrative or stylistic ground that Wednesday does, but the series, which follows members of a high school girls soccer team who become stranded after a plane crash, explores two timelines – and the conflict that plays out between the girls in the wilderness may appeal to fans of Netflix’s Addams Family sequel series. Not to mention, Ricci’s ruthless character Misty Quigley is extremely fun to watch.

Where to watch season 1: by subscription on Showtime or Paramount+ , or buy it on Vudu , Prime Video , Apple TV, or Google Play

“If my family was a week, I’d be Wednesday,” Ortega says as Harley Diaz in the opening moments of Stuck in the Middle ’s first episode. Talk about foreshadowing. Disney’s family comedy about a family of seven kids and the one stuck right in the middle lasted just three seasons, but helped introduce Ortega to television audiences. It’s a low-stakes fun watch and gives a peek at the star Ortega would become.

Where to watch seasons 1-3: by subscription on Disney+ or buy on Prime Video , Apple TV , or Google Play

On an Apple device? Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Apple News .

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Netflix Just Added The Perfect Thriller Show To Watch After Wednesday Season 1’s Villain Twists

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WARNING! This article contains minor SPOILERS for Wednesday season 1! Wednesday ’s positive reviews mean a decade-long Tim Burton ratings streak has come to an end. Despite directing cult classics and beloved movies from the ‘80s and ‘90s like Beetlejuice , Batman , and Edward Scissorhands , Tim Burton’s movies from the 2010s began a downward trend with critical reception. The filmmaker’s releases are still typically box office hits, but negative or average reviews for major films like Alice in Wonderland (2010), Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016), and Dumbo (2019) signaled the need for a major comeback.

The revival of Tim Burton’s career has finally arrived, as his Addams Family TV show Wednesday has been received positively by critics and audiences alike. At the time of writing, Wednesday ’s Rotten Tomatoes score is 70% positive for critics and 88% positive for audiences. While Wednesday ’s critical rating is still low relative to the most popular ventures of Burton’s career, the gothic series is his first project since 2012’s stop-motion film Frankenweenie (holding an 87% score for critics and 70% score for audiences) that has been given largely positive reviews by both critics and audiences. Burton’s decade-long poor ratings streak has finally been broken, with his career likely being reinvigorated through future seasons of Wednesday on Netflix.

Related: Tim Burton's Addams Family Show Delivers On 31-Year-Old Hype

How Wednesday’s Ratings Compare To Burton’s Latest Movies

Perhaps the most impressive feat with Wednesday ’s ratings is its high audience score, as Tim Burton’s movies haven’t reached such acclaim from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes since 2007’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (81%). Wednesday has a much higher audience rating than Tim Burton’s past five movies, including Dumbo (48%), Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (60%), Big Eyes (68%), Frankenweenie (70%), and Dark Shadows (46%). Since the series only debuted on November 23, the audience score will inevitably be subject to change, but it seems Wednesday season 1 will maintain a wide gap between its critic and audience scores.

On average, Wednesday ’s critical response is still higher than Tim Burton’s recent films, but falls short of the acclaim of 2014’s Big Eyes (72%). At a 70% score on Rotten Tomatoes, Wednesday is significantly higher than Dumbo (45%), Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (64%), and Dark Shadows (35%). However, Wednesday also trails behind the critical response to 2012’s Frankenweenie , which holds a Certified Fresh 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Since Wednesday ’s critical and audience reviews are both relatively high for Tim Burton’s recent slate of films, The Addams Family spinoff show is arguably his biggest success since Frankenweenie .

Why Wednesday’s Reviews Are So Positive

The majority of the praise for Netflix’s 2022 series is attributed to the deadpan, gothic performance of Jenna Ortega, who portrays the title character Wednesday Addams . In addition to Ortega’s performance, the positive reception seems to be based on the line that Wednesday draws with how dark its material goes. While it maintains a wider reach by holding back with some macabre elements, the show still adds a creepier layer to the Addams Family themes that suit Wednesday ’s young adult focus.

Tim Burton directing a project liked by both audience and critics has been a long time coming, so seeing his gothic touch on The Addams Family franchise undoubtedly adds to Wednesday ’s positive reception. However, Wednesday ’s biggest shortcomings are its writing being compared to CW teen dramas and criticisms of studio influence on Burton's direction, indicating an even darker take could have aided the 2022 Netflix series. Ultimately, critics deem Wednesday a worthy spinoff of the beloved Addams Family , with Tim Burton’s style and Ortega’s acting making the project a success.

Related: Every Tim Burton Horror Movie Ranked

What Wednesday’s Success Means For Tim Burton’s Comeback

Tim Burton fans have been waiting for his comeback since the early 2010s, with Wednesday marking his big return to critical and audience acclaim. However, Burton isn’t entirely back to being the iconic macabre filmmaker who brought Edward Scissorhands , Ed Wood , and Corpse Bride , as critics are right in that his unique eerie style seems to have been partially restrained by Netflix’s input. Nevertheless, Wednesday is proving that Burton is still ripe for dark adaptations of popular outcast figures, indicating he could be scouted by non-Disney studios to tackle their gothic projects.

While Netflix has yet to confirm Wednesday season 2 , the probability of a follow-up season is high, with the series certainly requiring the macabre eye of Burton’s direction. Aside from Wednesday , Burton isn’t attached to any upcoming movies or TV shows, despite reports that a sequel to Burton’s cult classic 1988 film Beetlejuice could finally be in the works. If anything, Wednesday reiterates that Tim Burton ’s niche is where he will continue to excel in his comeback; giving dark, macabre tones to supernatural stories centered on outcasts is where he initially found his popularity, and it’s where his career will be strengthened after Wednesday .

Next: Tim Burton Has 1 Unreleased Movie That's Been Filmed Since... 1991?!

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Wednesday’ on Netflix, A Sharp Modern Take on the Eldest Addams Sibling

'wednesday' actor percy hynes officially dropped ahead of season 2 after being accused of sexual assault, 'miller's girl' ending explained: what actually happened in this jenna ortega age-gap affair, sydney sweeney savvily shows off her scream queen chops in 'immaculate', neve campbell makes surprise return to 'scream' franchise after exiting over pay dispute.

The Addams Family (snap, snap) has been a hallmark of the horror-loving crowd for years. Whether in the form of the classic TV series or the live-action films, people can’t seem to get enough of this macabre family. Matriarch Morticia and the fiery Gomez may be the reasons some fans are so into the property, but it’s the eldest Addams sister who’s otherwise captured viewers’ attention: Wednesday. Though played to perfection by Christina Ricci in the past, the torch has been passed to a newcomer for Netflix’s add-adaptation. Is she fit to wear Wednesday’s all-black wardrobe?

WEDNESDAY : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We see the exterior of Nancy Reagan High School and teens milling about. In walks Wednesday Addams, clad in black and in contrast to her fellow students. She walks down the hallway to find brother Pugsley stuffed in a locker with an apple in his mouth, freeing him from the bondage his bullies trapped him in.

The Gist: Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) has finally done it. After being expelled one too many times from high school after high school (her most recent offense being a pool full of piranhas with the swim team inside it), she’s finally being moved somewhere more “appropriate”. Gomez and Morticia (Luis Guzmán and Catherine Zeta-Jones) decide to send her to their own boarding school, Nevermore Academy.

There, Wednesday can be among those who are “like her”, and by that the show means werewolves, vampires, and all manner of other supernatural creatures, despite Wednesday being none of that herself. It’s all about being an “outcast” or a “normie” there, and you can guess which one Wednesday is.

But just as she’s resigning herself to her new life at Nevermore, Wednesday realizes something more serious than her flagrant disregard for authority is going on: murder. And some school gossip, or whatever. That part’s unimportant. What is important is the fact that Wednesday may be the only one at the academy who can help solve the mysterious deaths that keep occurring. And look good in monochromatic outfits.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? While of course we can draw comparisons to other versions of The Addams Family , Wednesday feels more in tune with shows like Riverdale or even the modern Nancy Drew . Yeah, it’s all about the mysteries here, and coming of age at a new school. It’s a new frontier for Wednesday.

Our Take: Overall, Wednesday is a fun departure from the typical “let’s remake The Addams Family” mode that creators often find themselves in. Its approach is novel and Jenna Ortega is a breath of fresh air in the role. Giving Wednesday a purpose beyond being dark and gloomy with a chip on her shoulder gives even the most hardcore fan a reason to tune in to see what she’ll do next on her mission to get out of Nevermore Academy – oh, and figure out who’s behind that string of murders.

Sure, it’s strange to turn Wednesday into a sleuth just like all the other shows you can think of starring snarky teens, but somehow it works here, even though it would have made much more sense to keep Miss Addams with her family as we do end up missing that dynamic a bit. Still, there’s a whole new world to explore at Nevermore with strange new characters you won’t be able to figure out right away. That element of the unknown already elevates the series into something more promising.

And Ortega pulls off her role with an astounding amount of grace and creativity, considering she already had such massive shoes to fill in Ricci’s place, though the actress does have her own character to play in Wednesday as Nevermore alum Marilyn Thornhill. It’s Ortega’s star power alone that helps drive this series from the very beginning into something that could have been mediocre into a totally watchable and exciting twist on a familiar franchise.

It isn’t all good, of course, as most of the dialogue is absolutely awful and sounds nothing like the way teens would actually communicate with each other. But these things can be overlooked, even if they do drag what should be regarded as higher-level Netflix-quality content down to The CW’s level. But overall, it’s a fun show that younger viewers will undoubtedly flock to, even with its occasionally cringe approach to worldbuilding and establishing scenes.

Sex and Skin: None in this episode, and likely none to come.

Parting Shot: Wednesday comes face to face with the very creature that looks to be causing the deaths that have been unaccounted for around Nevermore. And with a piece to the puzzle under her belt, she retreats to her room to look over her new set of clues. When her parents contact her to discuss her first week at Nevermore, she recounts the events she’s been through — admitting she “thinks she’s going to love it here” before grinning at the camera.

Sleeper Star: Emma Myers is perfectly grating as Enid Sinclair, Wednesday’s roommate at Nevermore Academy. She’s a colorful foil to Wednesday’s dark personality and style, and somehow she manages to say the right thing every single time to be completely and hopelessly irritating. Myers knocks it out of the park as this character, especially when given some horrific dialogue that in no way, shape or form sounds like a teenager would say it. She’s fantastic in this role, which speaks to her acting chops, because somehow she manages to endear herself to you in the first episode, even when she really shouldn’t.

Most Pilot-y Line: After Wednesday is expelled from her “normal” high school, she makes it clear to her parents she doesn’t want to be like them, which effectively forecasts her approach to Nevermore Academy. “I have no interest in following in your footsteps,” an indignant Wednesday replies. “Becoming captain of the fencing team, Queen of the Dark Prom, President of the Séance Society.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Addams Family has long captivated audiences, especially Wednesday’s macabre style and deadpan demeanor. While this adaptation makes some strange decisions, it ends up working in a weird way, which will interest both old and new viewers. Just try to ignore some of the “fellow teens” dialogue from time to time, which is here in abundance.

Brittany Vincent has been covering video games and tech for over a decade for publications like G4, Popular Science, Playboy, Variety, IGN, GamesRadar, Polygon, Kotaku, Maxim, GameSpot, and more. When she’s not writing or gaming, she’s collecting retro consoles and tech. Follow her on Twitter: @MolotovCupcake .

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Wednesday review: For a show about vampires and werewolves, this Gen Z-baiting drama has very little bite

Jenna ortega leads the cast of netflix’s latest addition to its supernatural teen show canon, article bookmarked.

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Sometimes a piece of culture becomes so deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness, that we forget how weird the core concept is. An animate sponge, for example, who wears nothing but a tiny, square shirt and trouser combo, or a felt frog who’s shacking up with a felt pig. The Addams Family is rather like that. A camp, gothic romp, populated with a series of characters who have become icons of eccentricity. Morticia, Gomez, Uncle Fester, Thing, Lurch: all instantly recognisable weirdos. But perhaps nobody from that famous family has broken out quite like troubled child Wednesday, who lends her name to the title of Netflix ’s new, Gen Z-baiting, prequel.

Wednesday sees the Addams’s daughter, played here by Jenna Ortega (the latest star off the Disney conveyor belt), heading to Nevermore Academy, her parents’ alma mater and a special school for “outcasts” (she’s just been expelled from Nancy Reagan High School for releasing piranhas on the swim team). There she has to deal with besties and bullies, classes and cliques, and many other hormonal disasters. All with the trademark pigtails and sulk. “Wednesday always looks half-dead,” comes the verdict of papa Gomez (Luiz Guzmán); “She’s allergic to colour,” confirms her mother, Morticia ( Catherine Zeta-Jones ). And so Wednesday heads off to a school filled with werewolves, vampires, sirens and assorted other dark creatures. A goth Hogwarts, you might think, and that’s a comparison the show is desperate to encourage. The premise is a lowest common denominator fusion of a prestige piece of IP and a winning format. Or, as the teens would say, Wednesday is giving Hermione Granger.

The series has a relentlessly quippy Gen Z tone. Wednesday Addams is here to disrupt the hierarchy and solve a grizzly series of murders – and she’s all out of entrenched social codes to subvert. “I find social media to be a soul-sucking void of meaningless affirmation,” she tells her peppy new roommate Enid (Emma Myers), and yet everything she says seems to have been handcrafted to go viral on TikTok. “Want to take a stab at being social?” asks Enid. “I do like stabbing,” replies Wednesday. Oat milk versus soy, gender-neutral toilets, the whitewashing of American history: Wednesday covers everything that tabloid journalists fear that teens are talking about.

It’s a shame then, that despite its credentials (Tim Burton directs the first four episodes) the show is rather lacking in quality. From writing that sounds like it’s been reverse engineered through Google Translate ( Christina Ricci , returning to the Addamsverse as Miss Thornhill, declares herself “a tad bit wary”) to a deeply confusing central mystery, the world that series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have built is gossamer thin. Of Netflix’s supernatural teen dramas, it more closely resembles The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina than Stranger Things , though it lacks the production standards of either. And the moody Wednesday Addams shtick – enjoyable in a feature film or as a supporting character in the Sixties TV show – is so deliberately one-note it becomes frustrating. As such, it’s hard to say whether Ortega’s performance is grating simply by dint of over-exposure, or whether she fails to add the necessary warmth – certainly it will prove more divisive than Ricci’s beloved performance from the Nineties version. Most successful, in this patchy adaptation, is the depiction of Thing – the scuttling disembodied hand who serves the Addamses – where modern CGI unlocks infinite possibilities.

“Wednesday Addams is not the girl of your dreams”, says Queen Bee Bianca (Joy Sunday). “She’s the stuff of your nightmares.” This is a world where everyone talks in zingy one-liners, where the creature design is too scary for children but too cartoonish for adults, where the performances are more two-dimensional than the New Yorker comic strip in which the characters first appeared. For a show about vampires and werewolves, it has very little bite.

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Wednesday becomes most popular Addams Family adaptation with viewers since 1960s

The Netflix series has a high Rotten Tomatoes audience score

Wednesday has been a hit with viewers, shooting up Netflix’s streaming charts into the coveted number-one spot in multiple countries. The series has also set an impressive new milestone as well to become the highest-rated Addams series on Rotten Tomatoes with audiences since the 1960s. 

Focusing on Wednesday Addams (played by Jenna Ortega), the show follows her – and her spooky family – as she gets shipped off to a new boarding school called Nevermore. Here, she finds herself investigating a series of strange murders after discovering that she has psychic powers. 

It’s the latest in a long line of Addams Family adaptations since the classic cartoon was created by Charles Addams in the 1930s. But, according to The Independent , it’s also been one of the most popular.

Wednesday landed some mixed reviews upon release, but viewer consensus has been much more positive. The eight-part series currently has a 88% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes . The score means it’s the highest-ranked adaptation on the platform since the 1964 TV series, which ran until 1966. The first season has an audience score of 94%, based on 25 reviews. 

Wednesday tops the 1991 film The Addams Family which holds a 66% audience rating, whereas its 1993 sequel Addams Family Values has 63%. In recent years, MGM has also produced two animated adaptations of the Addams Family, released in 2019 and 2021. Both have an audience score of 69%.

For more on the Netflix series, check out what the showrunner had to say about Wednesday season 2 and what Tim Burton revealed about the Hyde monster . If you’re searching for your next binge, we’ve also rounded up the best Netflix shows available now.

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I’m the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for the Total Film and SFX sections online. I previously worked as a Senior Showbiz Reporter and SEO TV reporter at Express Online for three years. I've also written for The Resident magazines and Amateur Photographer, before specializing in entertainment.

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Jerry Seinfeld is unfazed that 'Unfrosted' got terrible reviews: 'It doesn't matter what you think of me'

• Jerry Seinfeld addressed the poor reception of his movie, "Unfrosted."
• "There is nothing funnier to me than people complaining," he said.
• He said he only wants to read bad reviews. 

Jerry Seinfeld doesn't care that " Unfrosted ," his directorial debut, got terrible reviews.

The comedian stars in the movie that charts the creation of PopTarts in the 1960s, as Kellogg's employee Bob Cabana, alongside Melissa McCarthy, Hugh Grant, and James Marsden. It received a 43% rating on Rotten Tomatoes , and the critics' consensus on the site calls it "an empty experience that may leave the consumer feeling pangs of regret."

One critic described it as "one of the worst films of the decade."

But during an appearance on Wednesday's episode of the " Honestly with Bari Weiss " podcast, Seinfeld said he's unfazed by the negative reception to the comedy.

"The only thing I want to read are the absolute worst reviews the movie received because there is nothing funnier to me than people complaining that they didn't laugh," he said.

He added: "They want to laugh. I related to it. I get it. I think it's funny that you hated it because you wanted to laugh and you didn't laugh."

"It's funny! It doesn't matter what you think of me. Why would I think that I'm going to make something that everyone will like?" Seinfeld continued. "What sense does that make? You have to be insane to think like that."

"Unfrosted" follows a handful of successful recent movies about the creation of popular products, including "Steve Jobs," " The Social Network ," and "Tetris." 2023's "Barbie" also examined the cultural impact of the Mattel dolls, and was a huge hit, making over $1 billion.

"Unfrosted" reportedly had a $70 million budget including $14.2 million from the $60 million tax credit that the state of California gave Netflix to produce films there.

Even though it failed to make waves, Netflix didn't lose as much money on "Unfrosted" as it could have. Judging by the critical response, it may have fared worse financially if it had gone straight to theaters, where marketing and distribution costs would've also taken a bite out of Netflix's wallet, alongside potentially poor ticket sales.

That's not to say that the streaming model works for every film.

Actor Glen Powell recently pointed out that Tom Cruise refused to put "Top Gun: Maverick" on a streamer during the pandemic, and his reluctance resulted in the film raking in $1.5 billion .

If you enjoyed this story, be sure to follow Business Insider on Microsoft Start.

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Wednesday Reviews

No All Critics reviews for Wednesday.

Review: ‘Wednesday’ Season 1

“Monday’s child is fair of face, Tuesday’s child is full of grace. Wednesday’s child is full of woe, Thursday’s child has far to go. Friday’s child is loving and giving, Saturday’s child works hard for a living. And the child born on the Sabbath day Is bonny and blithe, good and gay.”

Wednesday Addams — both Charles Addams’s original character and the incarnation seen in Alfred Gough and Miles Millar’s new Netflix series Wednesday — was named after the above nursery rhyme. The word “woe” appears in every episode title of the new show, and that’s sadly appropriate for a series determined to be as cold and dour as possible. Though the cast is stellar, with star Jenna Ortega and the delightfully arch Gwendoline Christie serving as standouts, the writing falters. A convoluted mystery, generic hijinks that miss the point of the Addams Family entirely, and shockingly out-of-touch ideas about race, gender, and sexuality make Wednesday a missed opportunity to bring a new classic to the creepy and kooky family’s live-action legacy. It bears repeating that Ortega shines brightly as the titular character, because her efforts, up to and including viral dance scenes, are nearly the only things that save the series from itself. 

When Wednesday gets kicked out of Nancy Reagan High for dropping bags of piranha into a swimming pool where the boys who bullied her brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) are swimming, she is expelled and forced to enroll in Nevermore Academy, where her father Gomez (Luis Guzmán) and mother Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) attended school and fell in love with each other. The piranha sequence is a highlight of the series, underscoring everything that people love about the ‘90s Barry Sonnenfeld films: morbid humor, wicked sociopolitical commentary, cartoonish violence, and the Addamses getting retribution against those who harm them. Sadly, the majority of the series can’t live up to this strong opening,. Once Wednesday arrives at Nevermore, a school for “outcasts” (try to keep track of how many times the show uses the word “outcast” or “normie” — just don’t turn it into a drinking game), the show becomes a disappointing mishmash of Veronica Mars , Chilling Adventures of Sabrina , and Harry Potter . Wednesday becomes embroiled in a murder mystery, which is tied up in a monster mystery, which is itself tied up in a prophecy involving Wednesday and her witch ancestor. 

If any of these mysteries worked on their own, the series might stand on stronger footing, but they are simultaneously too easily solved and too convoluted. Worse still, each one is wrapped up in a shallow, blinkered exploration of colonialism and straight white privilege. Nevermore Academy is located in Jericho, Vermont (which is clearly a Romanian set tragically awash in omnipresent shades of grey and blue). Jericho is home to Pilgrim World, a celebration of all things related to religious extremism and — as Wednesday rightly points out — genocide. Fans of Addams Family Values might perk up at this point, hoping for another righteous takedown of colonialism and the lies white people tell themselves about their history in North America. Unfortunately, Wednesday’s truth-telling is just a fleeting moment. The “normies” who support Pilgrim World include its Black owner, Mayor Noble Walker (Tommie Earl Jenkins), and his son Lucas (Iman Marson). Lucas’s introduction on the series includes a bizarre moment when he threatens Wednesday with sexual violence. (Wednesday is an accomplished fighter, however, and she dispatches Lucas and his two friends, though Tim Burton’s direction muddles the fight scene to the point where you have to watch it a few times to piece together what would have otherwise been an impressive bit of stunt work.) Presenting a Black man as the owner of a theme park devoted to colonialism, and having his son be a bully who threatens small girls, is just one of the many wrong-headed decisions Wednesday makes. 

In an attempt at a classic Odd Couple moment, Wednesday ends up with a roommate named Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers), a Luna Lovegood type who loves rainbows, chit-chat, and hugs…all of the things that Wednesday despises. When Enid takes Wednesday on a tour of the school, she tells her that “Nevermore was founded in 1791 to educate people like us: outcasts, freaks, monsters; fill in your favorite marginalized group here.” For a show that wants to tackle racism, religious extremism, genocide, and other forms of oppression, it’s laughably offensive to gloss over actually marginalized groups in favor of the generic “outcasts” and “freaks.” It’s in keeping with Burton’s whitewashed goth approach to film, but it has no place in an Addams Family adaptation. The Addamses are Latinx themselves, and Wednesday’s ancestor Goody Addams (also played by Ortega) — who never gets a first name — is a Mexican woman living in what would become Vermont. The script occasionally allows Wednesday to point out real injustice, but it also pulls regrettable stunts with a shoehorned-in #MeToo subplot involving Morticia. The script actually has her tell Mayor Walker — a Black man living in the United States — that since he’s a man, he’s never been in a position where people didn’t believe him about something. The Addamses may be historically kooky, but they are not oblivious to political reality, and it’s a disservice to both the character and the audience to have Morticia be so obtuse and espouse such a white feminist idea. 

The students at Nevermore are divided into cliques — fangs, furs, scales, etc. — depending on what kind of “monster” they are. Enid is a werewolf (a fur, obviously), but she’s a “late bloomer” who can’t “wolf out” like the rest of her friends and family. Enid’s character is a clear stand-in for a queer allegory. She has white-blonde hair with blue and pink ends, going as far as possible to wear a trans pride flag on her head without affixing a literal piece of cloth to her body. (She also wears a sweater that could easily double as a lesbian pride flag.) Her mother tells her that they are sending her to a conversion therapy camp — yes, the character uses those exact words — to help her wolf out so she can go through the proper form of puberty and express her identity in an acceptable way. The idea of conversion therapy, a form of abuse that causes immense harm to its victims in real life, is never interrogated on the show. Later on in the season, Enid wolfs out fully when she has to protect Wednesday, and the looming threat of conversion therapy is simply abandoned. So too is Enid’s queer coding: rather than confessing her feelings for Wednesday, which had been hinted at throughout the season, she ends up romantically involved with a male classmate. Enid’s queer coding — her fondness for rainbows and trans color scheme, her infatuation with and loyalty to Wednesday, the mention of conversion therapy and all its implications — was either a bait and switch meant to satisfy queer viewers, or it was a half-baked attempt at sociopolitical commentary that didn’t have the courage or the ability to go where it needed to go. 

It is this pathetic approach to social commentary that gives the show’s narrative the air of being poorly thought out. If your understanding of Wednesday Addams begins and ends with the fact that she’s a goth girl and an outsider, you end up with the underdeveloped Wednesday and its waste of a talented cast and crew. The show has “great gowns, beautiful gowns”: Colleen Atwood’s costume design is outstanding, Danny Elfman and Chris Bacon’s music is suitably macabre and witty, and Jenna Ortega cements herself as a star on the rise. Her Wednesday is deadpan but never boring; Ortega keeps her expressive eyes and mouth controlled but never lacking in personality. When Wednesday can’t suppress a grin, you can feel the emotion come from deep within her. Even when her face appears stoic, Ortega’s eyes show Wednesday’s sharp intelligence and immense depth of feeling. Wednesday Addams has never been an emotionless character. Like her mother, she feels quite keenly; she just doesn’t let anyone else in on her secret inner life. To let other people know you is to be vulnerable, and vulnerability (or weakness, as Wednesday sees it) is the enemy. 

Ortega understands Wednesday intimately. She’s clearly done her research, even choreographing the outstanding routine Wednesday performs at a school dance. The viral dance is emblematic of the series itself, both in its positives and its negatives. Wednesday occasionally seems designed for virality — a montage in the pilot of Wednesday playing “Paint It Black” on her cello is a crowd-pleaser designed for social media shares, as is the now-ubiquitous “Goo Goo Muck” dance. Prioritizing social media palatability over thematic cohesion might have worked in Wednesday ’s favor ratings-wise (though who can say, given how tight-lipped Netflix is about such things), but it harms the actual quality of the series. Also, while the dance itself is choreographed well (Ortega is self-deprecating about the routine, but she impresses both as a dancer and a choreographer), it is not shot well. Burton (who also directed the episode featuring the incoherent fight scene) frames Ortega poorly, chopping up the routine so that we can barely tell what her body is doing when that should be the entire focus of the scene. Ortega throws in a nod to Lisa Loring, the original Wednesday from the 1964 sitcom, that’s barely visible due to Burton’s direction. Like the series itself, the dance scene is a star turn from Ortega that the showrunners fumble at every opportunity. It is only Ortega’s talent and charisma that salvage it. 

Wednesday Addams has always been a fan favorite, so it’s no surprise that she would get a modern YA treatment. That’s part of the problem, though. The show does little to distinguish itself from better and more interesting YA series, choosing instead to rest on its IP laurels while simultaneously misunderstanding the wit and charm of the Addams Family. The cast does its best, especially the tremendous Ortega, but they can’t overcome the overwrought and underbaked writing, particularly its egregious mishandling of issues pertaining to race, sexuality, and gender. Wednesday’s child is full of woe, and so is Wednesday itself.

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Is Wednesday Ranked Higher On Rotten Tomatoes Than Other Addams Family Movies?

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When Netflix's The Addams Family spin-off Wednesday premiered, fans were eager to check it out, and it definitely got some buzz. Opinions on the series are mixed. Some say that it's fun and others don't think that it feels like the Addams Family, but everyone agrees on how talented Jenna Ortega is. Wednesday is given the same nostalgic look that fans are used to, but she gets involved in some brand new situations at Nevermore Academy, the school that she is anything than pleased to be attending. Even though Gomez and Morticia had a great experience there, Wednesday would rather be anywhere else.

It's fun to see how Wednesday stacks up on Rotten Tomatoes compared to the '90s movies about this dark family and the 2019 and 2021 computer generated films. Does Wednesday have a higher ranking?

RELATED: Jenna Ortega Talks Similarities Between Her and Wednesday Addams

There are many versions of Wednesday from The Addams Family and it's interesting to compare how each film has fared on Rotten Tomatoes. While some critics think that Jenna Ortega is the best part of Wednesday , it turns out that the show has a higher Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score than other Addams Family projects. It has a 72% score on the Tomatometer and an 88% Average Audience Score. These are both really high given some of the reviews.

In contrast, The Addams Family 1991 movie has 67% on the Tomatometer and a 66% Audience Score. The sequel, The Addams Family Values, which was released in 1993, is the only film to have a higher Tomatometer ranking than Wednesday at 73%. It has a lower Audience Score, though, of only 63%. The Addams Family Reunion , which was released in 1998, might be the least popular of the franchise. It doesn't even have a Tomatometer score and has a 33% Audience Score which is super low. It's interesting that the 1991 movie ranks pretty low given how great Christina Ricci is as Wednesday. It's fun seeing Ricci in the Wednesday cast as Marilyn Thornhill.

Both of the computer-generated Addams Family films have fairly low Rotten Tomatoes rankings. The Addams Family , which was released in 2019 and has Charlize Theron as the voice of Morticia Addams and Chloe Grace Mortez as the voice of Wednesday Adams, only has 45% and 69%. The Addams Family 2 , which was released in 2021 , did even worse on Rotten Tomatoes. It has 28% on the Tomatometer and a 69% Audience Score.

What explains Wednesday 's high Average Audience Score? It's possible to argue that while fans and critics do wish that there were more Addams Family vibes in the Netflix series, it's still an enjoyable viewing experience. Wednesday has well-drawn characters and Wednesday 's funniest quotes are spot-on. It's also fun to see Jenna Ortega, the Scream Queen of 2022 , continue to thrive in her acting career. After playing Ellie Alvarez in You and Tara Carpenter in Scream (2022) , Ortega shows that she can take on basically any role and excel.

What might explain the low Rotten Tomatoes ratings for the other Addams Family films? For one thing, the movies were made in the early 1990s and it's possible to say that they feel a bit dated by now. The 2019 and 2021 movies also didn't strike a chord with fans the way that the '90s movies did, with many preferring the earlier ones.

It's also interesting to note that the reviews of the 1991 The Addams Family weren't amazing. While the film explores the great relationship between Morticia and Gomez Addams , it didn't impress critics all that much. For fans, it's just fun and campy enough, and it's endlessly entertaining to see how this family differs from other ones.

While some Addams Family fans aren't completely happy with Wednesday, its high Audience Score could be because it works at a standalone show. Those who aren't super familiar with the franchise might genuinely enjoy it. Nevermore Academy has the same vibe of Hogwarts and the students are different since they each have magical abilities or something that makes them stick out. At Nevermore, their uniqueness is celebrated, which is a nice, positive message to see.

There are also some fun storylines focused on the monster, an annual boat race at the school, and a visit to a pioneer village where every student has to volunteer. While these things might make Wednesday feel like any other teenage horror show , they are still great plotlines.

While The Addams Family Values has a slightly higher Tomatometer ranking than Wednesday , the Netflix spin-off definitely has a higher Audience Score, which suggests that even if there are some problems, the show is generally considered to be solid. If the show is given a second season renewal, it will be interesting to see the reaction to those new episodes.

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Bradley cooper dud ‘burnt’ among movies new on netflix this week.

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GOOD MORNING AMERICA - Bradley Cooper talks about his days as a chef and his new film "Burnt" on ... [+] GOOD MORNING AMERICA, 10/20/15, airing on the Walt Disney Television via Getty Images Television Network. (Photo by Ida Mae Astute/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

Bradley Cooper’s movie bust Burnt and a 1984 sci-fi cult classic lead the slate of movies new on Netflix this week.

Unlike previous weeks in May, there are no new high-profile Netflix original films like Unfrosted , Mother of the Bride or Atlas on this week’s schedule.

Instead, a bunch of previously released films in theaters are making their debut on the streaming service, starting with an obscure Cooper film that attracted far less attention—and box office dollars—than most of his movies in the last 15 years including The Hangover , American Sniper and A Star is Born .

Here’s a look at Burnt and other movies coming to Netflix this week.

‘Burnt’ (2015)

Burnt stars Bradley Cooper as Adam Jones, a temperamental Michelin star-winning chef in Paris whose drug addiction leads to his downfall and ultimately an attempt at recovery and a career comeback.

Also starring Cooper’s American Sniper co-star Sienna Miller, Burnt —per Box Office Mojo —earned $36 million at the worldwide box office against a $20 million production budget before the film’s prints and advertising cost.

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In addition to the film’s tepid reception at the box office, Rotten Tomatoes critics burned Burnt with a 28% “rotten” rating based on 162 reviews. RT’s Audience Score was a little more favorable, with a neutral 45% rating based on 10,000-plus ratings by verified users.

Burnt makes its streaming debut on Netflix on Tuesday.

‘Dune’ (1984)

Long before director Denis Villeneuve brought his vision of Dune to life with the blockbuster two-part tale in 2021 and 2024, legendary director David Lynch tackled Frank Herbert’s classic novel from 1965 with an ambitious film 40 years prior .

Starring then-newcomer Kyle MacLachlan as the messianic hero Paul Atreides, Lynch’s Dune —unlike Villeneuve’s films—was stonewalled at the box office, with virtually all its $31 million tally coming domestic ticket sales.

With a production budget of $40 million—per Box Office Mojo—Dune was left in the dust-filled environs of the sand planet of Arrakis at the box office, but since has developed a cult following with viewers. Rotten Tomatoes critics haven’t warmed up to Lynch’s Dune , however, giving it a collective “rotten” rating of 37% based on 117 reviews.

Dune is new on Netflix on Saturday, June 1.

‘1917’ (2019)

American Beauty and Skyfall director Sam Mendes took the Birdman approach in telling this harrowing World War I tale about a pair of two British soldiers (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) tasked with delivering a message to 1,600 troops that will prevent them from walking into an enemy ambush.

The camera acts as a third participant that follows the duo as they cross enemy lines including the unforgiving No-Man’s Land complete their mission. If successful, the mission will save the troops—including the brother of one of the two soldiers delivering the message.

Mendes’ 1917 was hailed by the movie industry as one of the best films of 2019. The film earned 10 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Director nods for Mendes and won three Oscars including a Best Cinematography statuette for Roger Deakins.

The film was also a big success with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts with BAFTA First Trust Large Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund wins for Best Film, Best British Film and Best Director for Mendes.

The war drama was lauded by Rotten Tomatoes critics with an 88% “fresh” rating based on 472 reviews and an 88% positive Audience Score based on 25,000-plus verified user ratings. Audiences also helped make 1917 a blockbuster theatrical hit, as the film earned $384.5 million at the global box office against a $95 million budget.

1917 is new on Netflix on Saturday.

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019)

Deadpool and Wolverine star Ryan Reynolds brings the beloved Pokémon character Pikachu to life via his voice and a facial motion-capture performance in this animated and live-action movie hybrid from 2019.

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu stars Justice Smith in the main human role of Tim Goodman, who enlists the help of the intrepid Detective Pikachu to help solve the mysterious disappearance of his father.

Also starring Kathryn Newton, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu was a massive hit with audiences, earning $450 million at the worldwide box office against a $150 million budget. Rotten Tomatoes critics gave the film a 68% “fresh” rating based on 318 reviews, while 10,000-plus verified RT users gave it a positive 79% Audience Score.

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu debuts on Netflix on Saturday.

Several other hit movies will be debuting on Netflix on Saturday, including Will Smith’s Muhammad Ali biographical drama Ali (2001), the blockbuster animated family comedy The Lego Movie (2014) and The Conjuring movie trilogy of films from 2013, 2016 and 2021 starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.

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'Dancing for the Devil' doc tells a troubling story that still lacks an ending

Insightful at times but also incomplete, netflix series explores shekinah church and its company 7m, which manages tiktok stars but resembles a cult..

Dancer Melanie Wilking used to create TikTok videos with her sister Miranda and now fears she is under the control of a cult.

It’s almost a certainty the three-part Netflix documentary series “Dancing for the Devil: The 7M Tik Tok Cult” will be a Top 10 hit on the streaming giant, given the nature of the subject matter and the amount of attention this story has garnered over the last couple of years. via social media and articles from mainstream outlets such as Daily Beast and Rolling Stone.

Still, it would not be accurate to call this a “true crime” series, because no criminal charges have been filed against the clearly shady and manipulative and allegedly monstrous villain at the center of the story. Many of the major storylines in this tangled and complex tale remain unresolved, and because of that the docuseries, though at times insightful and emotionally resonant, feels incomplete.

Not that “Dancing for the Devil” doesn’t have all the ingredients of a high-buzz documentary series, what with a narrative that features talented young dancers with millions of followers and an alleged cult leader whose sermons (heard on audio recordings) are filled with grandiose proclamations and who fancied himself a Hollywood player, at one point having his name as a producer on the credits for an unremarkable rom-com co-starring one Meghan Markle.

Filmed in a style that favors stylish screen grabs and snippets of TikTok videos, along with interviews with former members of the alleged cult and family members who are still trying to get their relatives to leave the organization, the docuseries focuses on the story of the Wilking family of Detroit. From an early age, Melanie and Miranda Wilking loved dance and, like thousands of other teens and twentysomethings, started posting videos of themselves doing choreographed routines.

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When Miranda graduated from high school in 2016, she moved to California to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional dancer; a year later, Melanie joined her. With the advent of TikTok, the online dance world exploded — and Miranda and Melanie created their own brand in which they would share their ultra-upbeat personalities, do dance numbers, unbox merchandise, etc. Soon they had more than 3 million followers.

In 2019, a well-known dancer and influencer known as “BDash” (real name James Derrick) reached out to the Wilking sisters to talk about collaborating. This set off a chain of events that led to Miranda and Melanie meeting one Robert Shinn, the oily and narcissistic pastor/founder of the Shekinah Church (unaffiliated with other churches bearing that name) and the founder of a talent management company called 7M, which handled a number of dancers who had sizable followings. Many of them lived in a “content house,” and spent their days recording routines.

This is no small-time operation; we’re talking about gifted dancers who appeared on talk shows, toured with major acts, scored endorsement deals, etc. The question, and in some cases the centerpiece of pending civil litigation, is how much of the income derived from these endeavors found its way into the Shinn’s pockets, and whether or not Shinn is running a cult and took “full physical and economic ... control over Shekinah members,” as an ongoing lawsuit contends.

Melanie, concerned about the Bible-thumping, controlling vibes of the organization, declined to sign with 7M. Miranda, on the other hand, was all-in. She changed her look, entered into a romance (and eventually marriage) with Derrick, and all but severed ties with her family.

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In January of 2021, when Miranda’s grandfather died and Miranda said she wouldn’t be coming home for the funeral, her parents flew out to California, where Miranda said she would need the blessing of someone closer to God than her parents in order to attend the service. His voice breaking, Dean Wilking, father of the Wilking sisters, says that was the moment when he felt Miranda was “gone.”

After the Wilking parents and Melanie posted a video on Instagram expressing their concerns that Miranda was in a cult, the story exploded. A super-cheery Miranda responded by posting videos in which she said, “I’m not in a cult,” and read from the Bible. Some of the dancers left 7M, but Miranda and Derrick stayed.

Melanie Lee, a former member of the Shekinah Church, poses with its pastor and founder, Robert Shinn.

The series also devotes considerable time to the stories of Melanie Lee, who left Shekina more than a decade ago, and her sister Priscylla, who only recently fled after some 23 years in the organization. Their attempts to reconnect with one another are heartbreaking to watch; it’s as if we’re eavesdropping on a therapy session, and we feel maybe we shouldn’t even be in “the room.”

By the conclusion of Episode III, we have heard numerous and credible allegations against Shinn by former members, including some who say they were assaulted. At best, he is a slippery and onerous control freak. At worst, he should be locked up for life for horrific alleged offenses including sexual battery and human trafficking. Still, as the end title cards tell us, at this point no criminal charges have been filed against Shinn, and the civil litigation is pending.

One can only hope the full truth comes out one day.

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George clooney and brad pitt reunite in tense ‘wolfs’ trailer.

Sony is set to release Jon Watts' thriller feature in theaters this September.

By Ryan Gajewski

Ryan Gajewski

Senior Entertainment Reporter

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George Clooney and Brad Pitt aren’t exactly team players in the first trailer for their new comedic thriller, Wolfs .

Sony Pictures is set to release Jon Watts ‘ movie in theaters Sept. 20. Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams and Poorna Jagannathan round out the cast in the feature that hails from Apple Studios and centers on two lone-wolf professional fixers hired to do the same job.

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In the trailer, released Wednesday, Clooney, a professional fixer, is hired to cover up a crime.

“There’s nobody who can do who I do,” he says as he gets to work.

However, he is surprised and dismayed when a second fixer (Pitt) unexpectedly shows up. When they both realize the assumed deceased is actually alive, the two “lone wolves” have to work together in what turns into a “long night.” Despite the similarities with each other, from the way they talk to the way they dress, both Clooney and Pitt’s characters agree they’re not partners.

The film’s previously released teaser trailer showed Clooney and Pitt sitting silently in a car as the windshield wipers move back and forth.

Clooney voiced a character in IF , which hit theaters this month, and directed the Amazon MGM Studios feature The Boys in the Boat that debuted late last year. He is attached to star alongside Adam Sandler in a new Netflix film from Noah Baumbach.

Pitt’s recent onscreen credits include the features Babylon , Bullet Train and The Lost City . He also had a voice cameo in IF and is set to star in Joseph Kosinski’s forthcoming Formula 1 drama movie for Apple.

Clooney and Pitt previously shared the big screen in Joel and Ethan Coen’s 2008 feature Burn After Reading . They also co-starred in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven franchise, with their most recent entry, Ocean’s Thirteen , hitting theaters in 2007.

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