This Week in TV News: Jen Aniston Joins Instagram and Syfy Fan-Submitted Spots

This week we’re talking about the “Friends” cast member making waves on Instagram, the most-watch Netflix movies and TV shows from the past year, Syfy fan-submitted creative inspired by classic horror scenes and more.

Jen Aniston joins Instagram. Right before the November launch of her new Apple + show, “The Morning Show,” Jen has decided to join Instagram. Soon after joining, her account crashed because so many people rushed to follow her. Her first post was a 25th anniversary reunion of her Friends castmates. As of Thursday, Jen has 12.3 million followers on the social platform. She broke the world record for reaching one million followers on Instagram, clocking in at 5 hours. (CNN)

The best Halloween TV episodes. What’s scary is that there are only about two weeks left of October to watch a lot of Halloween-themed TV. On Esquire’s list: an episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” in which the characters unknowingly buy cursed Halloween costumes; an episode of “The Office” where Michael procrastinates firing an employee; and a “Freaks and Geeks” episode called “Tricks and Treats,” in which Bill dresses up bionic woman. (Esquire)

Syfy fans create Halloween spots. New promos pay respect to classic horror movie moments, including scenes from Annabelle, The Blair Witch Project and Halloween. Syfy created the promotion with Tongal, a content creation platform, asking for text, treatment, links, storyboards and a pitch video, and Syfy decided which submissions to fund from there. (Adweek)

Netflix’s top movies, as revealed by Netflix. Netflix decided to share its viewership data for a year’s worth of its most-watched original movies and TV shows, from October 2018 through this month. Sandra Bullock vehicle “Bird Box” came in as the top-watched original movie, with 80 million views. “Murder Mystery” came in second with 73 million viewers. Top TV shows included “Stranger Things” with 63 million viewers; “The Umbrella Academy” with 45 million viewers; and “La Casa de Papel” with 44 million viewers. Viewers who watched 70% or more of a title were counted. (The New York Times)

Read last week’s TV news.