What to Watch: Nine Perfect Strangers scene stealers, Macaulay Culkin in American Horror Story : Double Feature
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As one show about rich people going berserk at an unsettling resort closes, another one opens.
Ride the wave from HBO's The White Lotus to Hulu's Nine Perfect Strangers, the Nicole Kidman-led limited series based on Liane Moriarty's book of the same name and one of EW staffers' top two choices in this week's What to Watch video series. It premiered Wednesday, with a new episode coming on Aug. 25.
The Oscar winner plays Masha, the Gwyneth Paltrow/Goop-like leader of the exclusive wellness retreat Tranquillum House. Regarding the inevitable comparisons to The White Lotus, senior books editor Seija Rankin says Nine Perfect Strangers "will actually really benefit" from viewers' newfound obsession with the HBO series.
"It's continuing the enjoyment of watching crazy rich people do crazy rich people things," she says.
TV critic Kristen Baldwin adds that "it definitely has some moments of true camp" and "gets absurd at parts; it's not as nonstop ominous and dark as White Lotus."
And watch for standout performances from Michael Shannon (whose portrayal of a father grappling with loss "steals the whole thing" for Baldwin), Bobby Cannavale, and Manny Jacinto as Masha's employee. Melissa McCarthy, Regina Hall, Luke Evans, and others round out the cast as Masha's guests.
Another must-watch coming up is Ryan Murphy's 10th entry in his FX American Horror Story anthology. And by the sound of it, Double Feature is going to pack a one-two punch.
Part one of AHS: Double Feature is Red Tide, with a monsters-by-the-sea story line. The Provincetown, Mass.-set segment debuts Aug. 25 and will be followed by Death Valley, which boasts an aliens-by-the-sand theme. The new installment will reunite many AHS stalwarts like Sarah Paulson, Leslie Grossman, Billie Lourd, Evan Peters, Adina Porter, Lily Rabe, and Finn Wittrock.
Newbies joining the series include RuPaul's Drag Race star Chad Michaels and Macaulay Culkin, and the latter's appearance has digital writer Nick Romano most excited.
"He's got that element of crazy that fits so perfectly into the absurdist world of Ryan Murphy," he says. "I feel Ryan would be like, 'Have a crazy sex scene with Kathy Bates,' which we're told is actually happening in part 1 of the season."
Well, there you have it! What a sentence to end on. For more on Nine Perfect Strangers and American Horror Story: Double Feature, check out the full video above.
Watch the full episode of What to Watch: Nine Perfect Strangers and American Horror Story now on PeopleTV.com, or download the PeopleTV app on your favorite device.
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