Paris & Nicole: The Encore review: Hilton and Richie have a new reality TV concept and we are HERE for it

Paris & Nicole: The Encore

Friday, streaming on Hayu

The more time that passes, the more convinced I become that Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie might actually be geniuses. After all, both women have managed to not only keep themselves in the public eye for over 20 years — yes, it’s been that long since they first teamed up for their reality series The Simple Life — but also to carve out super-lucrative careers for themselves in the process.

Love that for them!

Two decades after first appearing in their pop-culture-defining series, the girls are back for this three-part special, which sees them “bringing fans up to speed on their lives and friendship in a way that only true legends can”.

Oh yeah — and they’re also putting on an opera.

Yes, you read that right: Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are back with cameras following them as they “try to produce a once-in-a-lifetime operatic performance based on their self-coined phrase ‘Sanasa’”.

No shade if you didn’t understand any of that. But if, like me, you watched more than your fair share of their mind-numbingly silly series back in the early Noughties, you’ll know that Sanasa is the stupidly catchy made-up song that they sang over and over in series three.

I know, right? Ridiculous! And I can feel the intelligence leaching out of me as I write this. Which is to say, I already know this is EXACTLY the kind of television I want to be watching in the run-up to Christmas, when I have precisely eight and three-quarters brain cells left to get me to December 25.

Nicole and Paris, both mums to small children, have kindly gifted us this piece of pure, unadulterated banality — and I am THERE for it.

See — geniuses.

Dexter: Original Sin

Friday, streaming on Paramount Plus

I was a huge fan of Dexter in its early seasons (the less said about that finale the better) so I’m eager to check out this prequel series, which looks at everyone’s favourite serial-killer-in-training as he hones his, ahem, craft.

This is set in 1991, and follows Dexter (played in his early years by Patrick Gibson, though Michael C. Hall returns as the show’s narrator) “as he transitions from student to avenging serial killer”.

The show’s original creator returns to helm this one — he was the one responsible for those great early seasons, plus the well-received spin-off New Blood, so I have high hopes for this.

Here’s hoping Gibson can do Hall’s character justice.

Dear Santa

Streaming now on Paramount Plus

I’m not sure what this says about me, but I love a Farrelly brothers flick. This one’s all about a 10-year-old dyslexic boy who accidentally writes to Satan instead of Santa — and conjures up Jack Black as a demon from the underworld. A bit of silly fun.

Gavin & Stacey

Streaming now on Binge

All eps now streaming on Binge? Tidy! In the lead-up to the final ever episode airing on Boxing Day, Binge has dropped all three seasons of this perennial British fave so you’ll be all caught up before the big day. Nobody talk to me for approximately three to five Business Days.

Bluey Minisodes

Sunday, 8.10am, ABC Kids

Though they’re only a fraction of the length of a regular ep, I’ve really been enjoying these little “minisodes” — and there are more on the way, just in time to save tired parents’ sanity over the festive period. God bless you, Bluey producers!