Valerie Ettenhofer
School
Saint Mary's College Of California
Expertise
"The Last Of Us", "Stranger Things", Streaming TV Shows
- A major "Avatar: The Last Airbender" fan since 2005, Valerie has previously ranked every episode of the series and even has a tattoo of the four element symbols.
- Valerie wrote an essay about the Nicolas Cage drama "Pig" – her favorite movie of 2021 – that appears in the 2023 Simon & Schuster anthology "Sad Happens."
- Valerie has previously served on the Critics Choice Awards TV comedy nominating committee, where she was thrilled to help highlight breakout performances from great shows like "Reservation Dogs" and "Abbott Elementary."
Experience
Valerie has been working professionally as an entertainment journalist since 2012, when she began freelance writing for her local college newspaper and quickly rose through the ranks to become editor-in-chief. After college, Valerie interned at the historic Roxie Theater in San Francisco, writing copy for their website and falling even more in love with film in the process. Since then, her work has appeared in print in the East Bay Express, as well as on websites like The Playlist, IGN, Dread Central, IndieReader, Movie Mezzanine, and more. Valerie is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association's TV and Documentary branches and the LGBTQ+ critics' circle, GALECA. For several years, she served as the head TV critic at Film School Rejects. She also publishes a weekly pop culture newsletter titled "Hey, What Are You Watching?"
Education
Valerie graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor's degree from Saint Mary's College of California, where she studied English. Her film-heavy education allowed her to study special topics in pop culture, including independent film and the works of Alfred Hitchcock.
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Stories By Valerie Ettenhofer
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Before he published Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin penned a time travel script about Elvis Presley for The Twilight Zone.
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A classic moment from the comedy Broadcast News was inspired by a real moment in an NBC studio.
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Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Alex Kurtzman, the head of Star Trek at Paramount+, knows the first season was too dark for fans, but that was intentional.
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Before she was Archie's 'little girl' on All in the Family, Sally Struthers got brutally dropped from one of her early shows.
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Bruce Lee's classic martial arts film Enter the Dragon was beset by behind-the-scenes problems, including rewrites, literal fights, and a plan to recast Lee.
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If Loki season 2 was confusing for Marvel fans, it was even more confusing for the show's cast, who were misled about the Temporal Loom scene.
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The Simpsons' chalkboard gags are quick, visual comedy gold, but a handful have been changed in reruns (and sometimes for amusingly odd reasons).
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New Exorcist director Mike Flanagan is wary of taking on the classic horror franchise, but has (mostly) good things to say about the previous sequels.
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Rian Johnson's Knives Out sequel Wake Up Dead Man is starting to take shape with new cast members.
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When it came time to film the pilot for Gilligan's Island, the cast and crew had to deal with an invasion of frogs.
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Sally Struthers is just one of two All in the Family connections seen on Gilmore Girls
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Rod Serling's classic series The Twilight Zone is a monument in television history, but not every season is equally strong.
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The cast of the original 1954 Godzilla had to make a long journey in extreme heat to get to the film's Odo Island set.
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How well does a classic but controversial Love, Actually scene hold up? It depends on who you ask.
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The Bob the Builder movie will apparently give Bob an existential crisis. Poor Bob.
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Liam Hemsworth steps into the shoes of Henry Cavill, playing Geralt of Rivia in season 4 of Netflix's The Witcher. Get your first look at him in costume here.
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Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is almost unrecognizable in the first look image from A24's The Smashing Machine, also starring Emily Blunt.
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Those well-versed in their Trek lore may have deduced L'ak's true identity in Star Trek: Discovery ahead of time based on his costume.
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Here's where to watch the Showtime serial killer series Dexter starring Michael C. Hall.
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There's only one Marilyn Monroe film with a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes, but that's far from the whole story.
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Sony's Marvel series Silk: Spider Society is no longer moving forward at Prime Video after years of stop-and-go-development.
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Mabel, Charles, and Oliver are going Hollywood! Here's everything we know about Only Murders in the Building season 4 so far.
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A24 and Alex Garland's controversial film Civil War is headed to the home market. Here's how you can check it out.
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Here are the only major actors still alive from 1971's Vanishing Point, the cult favorite movie recognized for its car scenes and stunt work.
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Nicolas Cage is officially starring in a Spider-Man Noir live-action series on Amazon Prime Video spun-off from the animated Spider-Verse film.
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Here's how Skinny Steve was created in Marvel's Captain America: The First Avenger.
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THX 1138 was Star Wars director George Lucas' first feature film, but only two major actors from the cast are still alive today.