ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING – “First Look” (Disney/Patrick Harbron)
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Richard Kind is back! So is Meryl Streep, the alleged apple of Martin Short’s eye in real life, along with Hulu’s humorous whodunit crime series, Only Murders in the Building (OMITB). Of course, Upper West Sider Steve Martin — whose 80th birthday is today, August 14 (happy birthday, Steve!) — returns alongside co-star Selena Gomez, both residents of The Arconia (Belnord), the full-block residence on West 86th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam.
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The trailer for season 5 has landed, and there’s blood in the water following the mysterious death of Lester (Teddy Coluca), the doorman found in the building’s fountain.
“We need to go face-to-face with the mob,” says Martin’s character, Charles-Haden Savage, to Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) and Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), after doing their best (terrible) Godfather impression. They’ve just been sent a severed finger—potentially Lester’s—a nod to the classic movie scene where a horse’s head was found in a bed. It’s a chilling threat from an underworld crime syndicate.
We also see our fearless trio ride the Staten Island Ferry to confront the suspects. The free ferry, which passes right by the Statue of Liberty, has become a summer ILTUWS tradition for beating the heat and exploring more of the city. We hope the OMITB cast and crew cracked into some prosciutto bread out there — a fine Italian delicacy not so easy to find in Manhattan anymore, but plentiful on Staten Island.
“We found three of the richest people in the world sniffing around a murder scene,” says Mabel Mora in the trailer. Putnam compares the trio to an era of “the new mob of New York.” He instantly realizes this is a perfect line for the characters’ OMITB podcast and hopes Mabel recorded it. She nods.
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This high society includes Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained). We also see the debut of Téa Leoni, Keegan-Michael Key, Jermaine Fowler, and Renée Zellweger. Casting for this show has always been aces, but the return of another Upper West Sider, Richard Kind — a suspect from season 4 — is especially notable. He’s back in the mix with none other than Nathan Lane (Teddy Dimas), another real-life UWS neighbor who moved into The Dorilton in 2022. Lane was a cornerstone character, often a murder suspect, in the early seasons. His return to the show is a joy, much like Meryl Streep’s.
Only Murders in the Building returns to streaming on Hulu Tuesday, September 9, with new episodes every week. Check out the trailer here and below.
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I watched Season 1 of this just to see the UWS locales but found it such a stupid show, I passed on the succeeding seasons. And there weren’t even that many UWS locales featured either. Big letdown.