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Morning y’all,

This rain has been intense in my neck of the woods—how’s it been in yours? The forecast is looking like we’ll see some more showers throughout the weekend. If acquiring a Fletcher’s corny dog or the new brisket-stuffed Twinkie isn’t worth potentially drenched at the state fair, I, as always, have some couch rot suggestions.

Here are three reality shows whose current seasons feature North Texans.

The Traitors: This reality competition is the real-life murder mystery—I mean, except that nobody actually dies. The show usually features celebrities, but this season is just regular ol’ Americans, including Granbury barrel racer Ben McDonnell. Can a cowboy be a traitor? Watch it on NBC on Thursday at 7 p.m. or on Peacock the next day.

Survivor: For its 51st season, the original survival show features two North Texans. Thien An Nguyen is a med student at TCU and Angelica Loblack (they call her Jelly on the show) is a professor who calls Garland her hometown. Catch these two on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. on CBS.

Dancing with the Stars: I mentioned a few weeks back that Plano’s very own Olympic medalist ice skater Amber Glenn is competing for the mirror ball trophy this season. No spoilers, but she does do a mean tango. The show’s on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on ABC or Hulu the next day.

Joi Louviere

Managing Newsletter Editor, Courier DFW

Little Spark, big screams: Arlington studio ignites North Texas’ interest in horror

Little Spark Films recently wrapped production on a local project. (Getty Images/Unsplash+)

By Sam Cohen

When Catalina Querida and Joe Manco started Little Spark Films in Arlington back in 2013, they were seeking an alternative for their punk rock band’s music videos. As Querida put it, “We were working with someone else to make music videos, and Joe was not happy about how the music videos turned out, so I said you should try it since you went to school for it, just go ahead and do it. And then it started an obsession.”

That obsession grew into a full-blown horror movie production company based in North Texas.

More about these film projects

👨‍⚖️ Judge O’ No: After several videos surfaced of Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare restricting residents from speaking at commissioners court meetings, the judge is staring down two federal lawsuits accusing him of violating the First Amendment. (WFAA)

🫢 A good deed punished? It’s a heart-wrenching story: An 81-year-old DFW man was busting his butt delivering lost baggage to airport customers’ homes to help pay for his wife’s cancer treatments. The public heard his story and raised more than $700,000 to help. Then GoFundMe deleted the fundraiser. Get the story here. (Dallas Observer)

🛬 Trump in Denton: Is Trump nervous about how Republicans will perform during the Texas midterm elections? On Thursday, the president spoke at a trucking company in Denton; here’s what he said, plus reactions from party leaders. (CBS News)

🎩 Honest Abe: When a Lewisville man visited an ATM this past August, he was surprised to find a bag full of cash—$128,514 to be exact. Next to it, a smaller bag contained 19 checks. He took the bags and tried to find their owners, and eventually, called the police. See what happened next. (CBS News)

🏀 Wings break WNBA record: The Dallas Wings survived their playoff game Wednesday night, winning 108-100 against the Golden State Valkyries. Guard Arike Ogunbowale made WNBA history by scoring the most points by a single player in the league’s playoff history—45 points. Today, the team heads to San Francisco for game 3, where they’ll try to make it to the semi-finals for the first time since 2023. (ESPN)

🏋️‍♂️ The outperforming octogenarian: A Plano man has run at least 10 marathons in every US state and at least three on every continent. His goal became 800 marathons before is 80th birthday—in mid-September, he celebrated both. Learn more about the athlete here. (Local Profile)