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The past few years have seen some of the best true crime documentaries of all time, and that’s especially true for the rollout of HBO-produced original films and series. Multi-part explorations of sinister serial killers, hilarious and informative chronicles of fast food frauds, and just about everything else under the “true crime” umbrella has been covered in great detail, one way or another.

Now there’s a new multi-part documentary available to anyone with a Max subscription, or those who still prefer to watch HBO the old-fashioned way. This docuseries, titled Telemarketers, premiered in August 2023, and introduced viewers to one of the most absurd and widespread scams in modern history, and a group of former call-center workers who set out to take down their former employer.

Here are five things you should know before you watch Telemarketers…

Telemarketers Follows Two Former Coworkers As They Attempt To Expose An Entire Industry

If you’re in the mood to check out a documentary where two former call center workers attempt to bring down an industry that has collected hundreds of millions of dollars from people over the course of the past few decades, then Telemarketers is going to do the trick. The documentary follows Patrick J. Pespas and Sam Lipman-Stern (who also co-directs alongside Adam Bhala Lough) as they set out to expose not only their former employer – Civic Development Group – but everyone else involved in a scheme that preys on people for their money in the name of charity.

The Docuseries Features Extensive Footage Captured From Within Civic Development Group And Interviews With Former Employees

Telemarketers also features a massive amount of footage captured by Lipman-Stern while he was working at Civic Development Group throughout the 2000s and early 2010s. These videos, which were at one time on YouTube, are less like undercover videos to capture nefarious acts and more a video diary of what Lipman-Stern’s life was like at the time. 

Many of the people featured in the old videos are also shown in present-day interviews where they talk about working for the company, their thoughts on the work they were doing, and how they felt like one big family.

Investigative Journalism With Humor

The best way to describe the tone of Telemarketers is to compare it to Michael Moore’s various documentaries (Pespas even acknowledges this at one point) like Roger & Me, The Big One, and most famously, Bowling for Columbine. The documentary blends investigative journalism with humor that pushes the envelope, even by HBO’s standards to create an experience that will leave you shaking your head in disbelief one moment and slapping your knees the next. 

The Docuseries Is Split Into Three Episodes; The First Is Available Now

Telemarketers is split into three episodes, with the first becoming available on Sunday, August 13th. The second and third parts of the docuseries will be released August 20th and August 27th, respectively. The lengths of the later episodes have not been revealed at time of this writing, but the first chapter was around an hour long, give or take.

Telemarketers Is Rated TV-MA For Language And Drug Use

Telemarketers is Rated TV-MA and it doesn’t take too long to figure out why. Not long into the documentary, you will see call center employees doing coke, nodding off after doing heroin, and so many other things while on the job. The language, which should come as no surprise, is also extreme, and no one really holds back when it comes to throwing around certain four-letter words. 

If this sounds like something that interests you, check out the first episode and see what you think. And don’t forget to check out all the other shows coming to HBO (and Max) in the final months of the 2023 TV schedule.

Stream Telemarketers on Max.

Meagan Good has always been a talented performer, and she's having a moment right now. The actress is one of the stars of DCEU Shazam! films and has starred in Amazon Prime Video’s Harlem since 2021. She has also received a lot of attention for her personal life and is rumored to be dating Marvel star Jonathan Majors amidst controversies surrounding the actor. Good recently celebrated her 42nd birthday, sharing posts from the day wearing a beautiful sheer paneled dress and sporting a new love-filled tattoo. She also was spotted out with Majors during the day, adding fuel to the relationship rumors.

The Day Shift actress had a very special birthday over the weekend, and decided to spend the day with Majors. According to People, they were seen out walking around in West Hollywood, California, seemingly confirming that they are still together. Later that day, Good posted a video on Instagram of her brand new tattoo that reads “love her but let her be wild.” The message seems to hint that she enjoys her independence and freedom within a relationship. Whether or not that references her love life with Jonathan Majors is up for debate, but you can see the actress’s tattoo below:

She also posted an Instagram photo carousel of herself in a stunning green gown as she celebrated her big day. She looks incredible, as the shimmering sheer panels dress highlights her natural beauty, and emerald is totally Good’s color. The dress is by Galia Lahav, who also has designed gowns worn by Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, and Paris Hilton. You can see the show-stopping look below:

While she didn’t mention where she would be wearing the gown, I’d imagine it would have to be somewhere spectacular. Majors could possibly be involved considering he had already spent the day with the Think Like A Man star. Good was first linked to the Creed III actor in May, around the time when Majors was charged with assault and domestic violence. Good seemed to support the actor through the accusations, as they were seen holding hands at the airport later that month. They continue to be subsequently spotted together, suggesting their relationship has not faltered. 

Even while they continue to be seen side by side, even celebrating birthdays together, neither actor has publicly commented on the relationship. Based on the new tattoo and the stunning Instagram photos, Good seems to be in a great place as she turns one year older. The tattoo quote also seems to hint at her singularity as a person within her love life, not distracting from her own achievements as a fantastic and successful actress.

You can see both Meagan Good in her latest film, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which is available to stream now with a Max subscription. For more information on other films heading to streaming later this year, make sure to consult our 2023 movie release schedule. 

When it comes to celebrity couples, few are as adorable as Zooey Deschanel and Property Brothers alum Jonathan Scott. The two stars have been dating for four years now, since meeting when they filmed an episode of Carpool Karaoke alongside their respective siblings. As their relationship has progressed, they’ve gradually been hounded with more questions regarding whether they intend to tie the knot. Well, folks, you no longer need to ask, as Scott and Deschanel are officially engaged. The two confirmed the news themselves and sweetly marked the occasion with only three words. 

The couple chose to reveal the news by way of an Instagram post jointly shared by their accounts. The message features a lovely photo of the happy couple, with the New Girl icon showing off her engagement ring. While the picture is worth a thousand words, I’d say the pair chose three perfect ones to sum up their feelings. Check out the post for yourself and peep the caption as well: 

“Forever starts now” is a perfect way to sum up the engagement, which comes on the heels of their anniversary – and that was celebrated with a 500 Days-inspired post. This exciting turn of events truly marks the beginning of the rest of their lives, and you really love to see it. At this point, it seemed like an engagement was pretty much inevitable for the pair, and their fans are sure to be comforted that it’s official at this point. Of course, few are probably more excited than their loved ones, some of which were apparently involved in the proposal. 

Exclusive details on the big to-do were shared with People, which revealed that the HGTV veteran popped the question this past Sunday. He and his lady were apparently in Scotland for a family trip. The setup was already perfect enough, given that the country is significant to Jonathan Scott due to his heritage. But what was even more special is that Zooey Deschanel’s two kids – Elise (8) and Charlie (6) – were able to participate in the proposal. According to the trade, everyone was thrilled when Deschanel ultimately accepted.

Based on what we know, there was chemistry between the two pretty early on. The Buying and Selling star admitted that he was flirting hard with his eventual girlfriend when they first met in 2019. More recently, he’s been candid about the “pressure” he’s felt to marry his partner and was even asked about having a baby with her after his twin brother, Drew Scott, welcomed a child in 2022. Earlier this year, Jonathan clarified that he and his then-girlfriend would simply continue to progress at their own pace, and it seems now was the time to present her with a ring.

Zooey Deschanel and Jonathan Scott have already been renovating their dream house together, but it looks like they could find themselves busy with wedding plans as well soon. It goes without saying that they’ll have a lot to consider but, of course, they don’t have to jump the broom right away. Again, they can move forward at their leisure and exchange vows when the time feels right. The pair have a lot to look forward to, and you can’t help but smile when thinking about it.

We here at CinemaBlend extend our congratulations to Jonathan Scott and Zooey Deschanel as they prepare to enter this new chapter!

While HBO has always had quality TV content, the popularity of Game of Thrones was on another level entirely. The show was water cooler content, one that was devoured by countless fans throughout its original run. Said fans were thrilled when they returned to Westeros in House of the Dragon, which is a prequel set many years before the events of the series. And the HOTD’s VFX supervisor recalled one thing they learned from George R.R. Martin about the dragons he created.

While Dany had three dragons in Game of Thrones, the new series has way more of the winged creatures. Various members of the Targaryen and Velaryon houses have dragons, and smart money says they’re going to be battling in the air as the show’s run continues on. Visual effects supervisor Angus Bickerton recently spoke to Deadline about the process of creating the titular dragons, and how Martin influenced that work. In his words:

Points were made. Since there are so many dragons floating around Westeros in the Game of Thrones prequel, the VFX team got to give each one a unique design. This not only differentiated the winged creatures, but also helped the audience keep track of which one was which. And the results were pretty spectacular.

Game of Thrones had epic visual effects added in post-production, and House of the Dragon followed suit. The budget for HOTD is wild, and VFX are a notoriously expensive part of filmmaking. But the team seemingly had the resources to make dragons exist, including going back to George R.R. Martin’s books, as well as the original show.

Season 1 of House of the Dragon was a fun return to form after the controversial final season of Game of Thrones. The season spanned years, and starred two different casts to show the passing of time. But now that all the set up has happened, it seems like anything could happen in Season 2. Especially after the horrifying death of Luke in the HOTD Season 1 finale. We saw the first dragon battle, and it’s likely not going to be the last before the Greens and Reds end their conflict. 

While the wait between season for anything GOT is always long, fans will be pleased to know that House of the Dragon didn’t shut down Season 2’s production in relation to the ongoing strikes. And smart money says the VFX team is already hard at work.

House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones are both streaming on Max. Be sure to check out the TV premiere list to plan your next binge watch.

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Back in 2009, retired NFL star Michael Oher’s life was spotlighted in the movie The Blind Side, with Quinton Aaron playing the football player and Sandra Bullock playing Leigh Anne Tuohy, his adoptive mother. Written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and based off the book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis, the sports drama was both a critical and commercial success, with CinemaBlend giving it 3.5 out of 5 stars in our review. However, now Oher is saying a large chunk of The Blind Side is fabricated, specifically that he was never adopted and that his alleged parents exploited him.

As reported by ESPN, a 14-page petition was filed in Shelby County, Tennessee alleging that rather than Leigh Anne Tuohy and her husband Sean adopting Oher, the couple supposedly “tricked” him into signing a document just a few months after he turned 18 that made them his conservators and gave them the legal right to “make business deals in his name.” Furthermore, it’s claimed in the petition that the Tuhoys and their two children have received millions of dollars in royalties  from the success of The Blind Side (specifically $225,000 each, along with 2.5% of the movie’s “defined net proceeds”) thanks to the power wielded by this conservatorship, yet Oher received nothing for a story “that would not have existed without him.” As it’s specifically stated in the petition:

Michael Oher’s petition is asking the court to end the Tuhoys’ conservatorship and issue an injunction to prevent them from using his name and likeness, as well as pay him his “fair share of profits” from their business deals revolving around him on top of “unspecified” compensatory and punitive damages. The petition claims that since August 2004, the Tuhoys made both Oher and the general public think that they’d adopted him, and they “used that untruth to gain financial advantages for themselves and the foundations which they own or which they exercise control.”

Oher being in a conservatorship isn’t new information, as he wrote in his 2011 memoir I Beat the Odds that the Tuhoys allegedly told him that this arrangement “means pretty much the exact same thing as 'adoptive parents,' but that the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account.” But that’s not the case, as being adopted by them meant he would have been a legal member of their family and retained control of his financial affairs, whereas under a conservatorship, he lost that control. 

It’s noted in ESPN’s writeup that despite the Tuhoys having profited off The Blind Side (though they’ve previously claimed they didn’t make much money off the movie, instead receiving a “flat fee” that was divided five ways), Oher reportedly signed a contract in 2007 that looked to “give away” the life rights to his story  “without any payment whatsoever.” The petition states that Oher doesn’t remember signing this contract, and if he did, no one explained what it meant for him. The former Baltimore Ravens player started looking into this deal after he retired in 2016, and this past February, his attorney, J. Gerard Stranch IV, uncovered the conservatorship.

We’ll keep you apprised on how this legal saga concerning the real life events on which The Blind Side is based on ends up progressing. If you’re interested in watching the movie, it can be streamed with the Live TV add-on to your Hulu subscription. Otherwise, you can read about how Michael Oher said The Blind Side hurt his football career, or look through our 2023 movie release schedule to see what cinematic entertainment comes out late this year.

The last few months have been rough at Walt Disney World and the Disney Company overall. The resort is currently embroiled in a massive lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Then Disney laid off 7,000 cast members as part of a plan to reduce costs. And it made the announcement that the highly touted, and clearly very expensive Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, would be closing its doors in September. Anecdotal evidence has also indicated that Walt Disney World, while certainly not a ghost town, is less crowded this summer than we’re used to seeing. And yet Disney’s Parks division actually saw an increase in revenue last quarter.

Disney’s Q3 2023 earnings call did, in fact, confirm that attendance and hotel occupancy at Walt Disney World were down last quarter compared to the same period last year. This was chalked up to the fact that Disney World’s 50th-anniversary celebration was happening last year but officially wrapped up a few months ago. But attendance at Disneyland Resort, as well as the Disney Parks in Hong Kong and Shanghai, were all up. When combined with an increase in the cost of Genie+ domestically over the last year, the parks division posted a 13% increase in revenue for the quarter.

In a time when a lot of Disney’s feature films have not been the massive billion-dollar success that they once were, and the linear cable business has an uncertain future, Disney’s Parks, Experiences, and Products division has been a near-constant money-maker over the last several years. Having said that, Disney did warn investors that it expected the domestic parks numbers to remain soft in the coming months, though they will likely see a boost during the holiday season.

And while Disney World announced the closure of the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser recently, the location won’t actually close until the end of September. Not only that, but the two-night Star Wars experience quickly sold out for all its remaining dates after the closure was announced, so we won’t actually see any significant drop in revenue from it until October when it stops making any money at all. It seems there are some plans, or at least ideas, for what will replace Galactic Starcruiser, but whatever that will be is likely at least a couple of years away.

Disney’s international parks numbers have helped buoy the division for some time, and it seems like Disney is going to be leaning on them more and more in the future. New lands are currently under construction, with World of Frozen coming to both Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, while a Zootopia-themed land is set to open at Shanghai Disney Resort soon.

By comparison, after the refurbished Epcot area, known as World Celebration, opens with a new Moana attraction later this year, little is known about what’s coming to the domestic parks. New Avatar and Avengers attractions have been announced for Disneyland Resort, but no work has begun on either one. Disney World has teased a new land at Magic Kingdom located near Thunder Mountain, as well as a replacement for Dinoland U.S.A. at Disney‘s Animal Kingdom, but nothing there has even been officially announced. This means all this is still years away.

Rodion Amirov — the Toronto Maple Leafs 2020 first-round draft pick — died Monday after courageously battling a brain tumor, his agent announced. He was just 21 years old. “It is we great sadness that we announce the passing of Rodion Amirov.…