Netflix, the streaming service that got us hooked on Making a Murderer, doesn’t have any qualms about satirizing the true crime genre. The official Netflix trailer for American Vandal, released Thursday, hilariously parodies dark investigative documentaries and docuseries such as Making a Murder, Serial, and others. Instead of trying to solve a brutal crime, however, the series asks a sillier question: “Who drew the dicks?”
American Vandal comes from Tony Yacenda (Pillow Talking) and Dan Perrault (Honest Trailers), two comedians with experience writing short internet videos. They have taken on a story that spans eight half-hour episodes, so we’re curious to see how it holds up over the course of an entire season. The preview is promising, as long as you don’t mind humor that is a little dirty and sophomoric.
The series centers on “known dick drawer” Dylan Maxwell (Jimmy Tatro), a high school kid accused of vandalizing 27 faculty vehicles. In keeping with the true-crime narrative, he maintains his innocence, and the show will investigate whether or not he is guilty or not in the same manner as the new flood of legal-oriented documentary series. Along the way, expect to see more drawings of penises than you probably would care to count.
With the story being set at a high school, the humor is fittingly what you’d expect from the average teenage boy. The ridiculousness of it all set against gritty cinematography, dreary music, and dramatic cuts makes for a funny contrast with the fake investigation. Also included is the NPR-style narration, a key ingredient to the true-crime genre.
The trailer includes clips featuring various teachers, administrators, and students weighing in with their theories on Dylan’s guilt.
“There is no way,” one student says in the trailer, apparently shedding doubt on Dylan being able to pull off such a crime.
“He is the stupidest kid I’ve ever met,” another adds.
With this being a true crime satire, there is, of course, a hint of conspiracy as well. The interviews teases the possibility, but the school denies it. We’ll hope to discover the truth when American Vandal premieres on Netflix on September 25.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.