telly’s morning briefing: the murder plot fits in your pocket
Bravo's pocket-sized murder romance, EastEnders' UK archive channel, a one-player planet, Slayground's teaser, and PowerToys' mouse relief.
Sunday, October 25, 2026 · morning briefing
Bravo is shrinking the drama, EastEnders is getting an archive channel, and one platformer has made the entire planet take a number. Also: a haunted attraction with staffing issues and two useful mouse fixes.
bravo has made the drama pocket-sized
Bravo’s October 23 announcement includes its first scripted microdrama, Charmed by a Southern Monster, with Craig Conover and Nicole Mattox leading a romance involving a family estate and a rumored murderer. It premieres November 9 exclusively in the Peacock mobile app; the same announcement orders Next Gen Atlanta and renews Next Gen NYC, Southern Hospitality and In the City. The television is apparently too large for this particular property dispute.
jono has invented the global queue
Jono, Part Time Monkey’s free Windows platformer released earlier this month, gives the entire world one character and each player a one-minute turn. Everyone else watches and chats while waiting, and cleared rooms count toward a shared million-room journey. In this week’s developer interview, Tuomas Erikoinen explains how that queue became the game’s social center. Finally, a multiplayer game willing to admit most of the evening is waiting for somebody else.
albert square is getting its own channel, with a geographical catch
UKTV announced eight new free, ad-supported channels on October 21, including EastEnders on U, with a rollout on LG Channels and Freely before the end of the year. The EastEnders selection goes back to the mid-2000s; Casualty and Holby City also get dedicated channels. This is a UK announcement, not a new U.S. streaming option, and no exact launch day is given. Albert Square can now keep arguing while the remote takes the afternoon off.
From my media collectionEastEndersNetwork: BBC iPlayer • Genre: Drama • Year: 1985View on Trove
the haunted attraction has an incident report
A24 has posted a teaser for Slayground, written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, with Cory Michael Smith, Chase Sui Wonders and Sophie Wilde among the cast. A scare actor wakes up at his haunted attraction surrounded by dead colleagues and cannot remember how it happened. The official page sets the theatrical release for January 29, 2027, so this is a trailer to inspect, not a Halloween streaming premiere. Seasonal employment continues to offer a concerning benefits package.
the mouse can hold its own button down
Microsoft’s October 21 stable PowerToys release, 0.102.2933.0, adds Mouse Button Lock and CursorHide. The first lets a brief hold keep a mouse button engaged for dragging or selecting until another click; the second hides the pointer while typing or after inactivity, then restores it when moved. There is also a quick-access shelf for pinned Command Palette actions. Sometimes the useful update is simply fewer things to keep holding down.
Image credits: featured Charmed by a Southern Monster artwork © Bravo/NBCUniversal, via its announcement; Jono screenshot © Part Time Monkey, via Steam; Slayground still © A24, via the official film page. Videos: Part Time Monkey and A24.
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