Actor Kevin Spacey has been ordered by a Los Angeles judge to pay around $31 million to MRC Entertainment, the producers of Netflix's hit series "House of Cards," after he was kicked off of the show for alleged sexual misconduct behind the scenes.

The order came down last year to pay MRC after claims of sexual misconduct on young crew members forced show leadership to push for his exit. Superior Court Judge Mel Red Recana confirmed the award that had been previously ordered in October 2020.

Spacey denies the allegations and had filed an appeal to overturn the judgment.

The award ordered was for around $29.5 million in damages plus $1.5 million in costs and fees to be added on top of that, Variety reported.

Earlier this year, the BBC reported, Spacey's lawyers tried to have the $31 million award thrown out by saying, in his defense, what was called sexual misconduct on set was just some "sexual innuendos" or "innocent horseplay" which didn't violate MRC Entertainment's anti-harassment policy.

Judge Recana ruled on Thursday that Spacey's legal team failed "to demonstrate that this is even a close case." Therefore, Spacey will have to pay the award originally handed down in October.

MRC argued that Spacey owed them damages after they were forced to kick him off of the sixth season of the show, and the production company said they had to cut the season down from 13 episodes to eight.

Production for Netflix's royal drama "The Crown" paused briefly while filming season six of the show as the world paid their final respects to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II after her death.

Season five is still set for release on Nov. 9 and will feature a new actress playing the queen.

Claire Foy played Queen Elizabeth II for the first two seasons of the show. Then for seasons three and four, Olivia Colman took over portraying Her Majesty.

Now for the latest season, Imelda Staunton will take over the role.

Season five is expected to focus on the queen's preparations for the 40th anniversary of her ascension to the throne, Netflix revealed.

"She reflects on a reign that has encompassed nine Prime Ministers, the advent of mass television, and the twilight of the British Empire," the streaming giant said.

The role of then-Prince Charles is portrayed by Dominic West, and Elizabeth Debicki was cast in the role of Princess Diana.

If you share your Netflix password with others, the streaming service will be cracking down on it beginning early next year.

Netflix unveiled how they plan to do just that Tuesday during its earnings report, the Associated Press reported.

In March, CNN reported that the company began testing two features, "extra member" and "profile transfer," with its customers in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru.

The "profile transfer" allows viewers to transfer their current profile to a new account, the Associated Press reported.

The company launched the "profile transfer" on Monday in the U.S.

How it'll work is you'll hover over your profile icon in the dropdown menu on the homepage, select “Transfer Profile," then continue following the instructions, the company said on its website.

“We’ve landed on a thoughtful approach to monetize account sharing, and we’ll begin rolling this out more broadly starting in early 2023,” the company said in a letter to shareholders, USA Today reported. “After listening to consumer feedback, we are going to offer the ability for borrowers to transfer their Netflix profile into their own account, and for sharers to manage their devices more easily and to create subaccounts (“extra member”) if they want to pay for family or friends.”

According to CNN, a fee to add the “extra member” option has not been announced, but in Costa Rica, consumers paid $3.

The company also announced during Tuesday's meeting that it gained 2.4 million subscribers in its third quarter, which is a bounce back after it lost 1.2 million customers during the first half of 2022, the Associated Press reported.

The news outlet reported that Netflix hopes they'll add 4.5 million subscribers during the October-December period.

"The Orbital Children" is a two-part film series written and directed by Mitsuo Iso recently released on Netflix.

As of writing, all we have is the first film, which has been chopped into six 30-minute episodes for easier consumption.

While you may not know Mitsuo Iso, fans of science fiction anime will undoubtedly know the shows he has worked on.

From some of the classic "Gundam" series of the late 80’s to "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "Ghost in the Shell," Iso has been involved either as a writer, director, or animator on several iconic shows.

"The Orbital Children" marks the first time he’s done it all, directing, writing, and even doing key animation.

Because of that dedication and singular vision, you can tell what "The Orbital Children" labor of love is.

This first set of episodes (or the first movie, if you prefer) focuses on a group of children trapped on a Japanese space station and forced to use their problem-solving skills to survive increasingly dangerous situations.

Three of the children were lucky winners of a trip to the station, and two others were born on the moon and are a kind of enigma; among the first “space children."

Politics, technology, and survival all come into play as this rag-tag group battles the growing threat of a powerful AI, a group of terrorists using a previous AI’s Nostradamus-like predictions as the rallying cry for a mass depopulation event, and the harsh realities of space.

To say this anime feels like it was made for me is an understatement.

You rarely get a complex sci-fi series dealing in not just scientific but philosophical concepts, and putting it into a (mostly) single-setting film gives "The Orbital Children" a quaint, "Star Trek" quality.

But the setting doesn’t mean it’s hamstrung by only looking at events on the space station. Political intrigue comes from Earth’s UN2, a second attempt at the United Nations after the first failed.

And from the moon comes the children and the implants in their brains, built by an AI called Seven, known by earthlings as the Lunatic, because of its predictions on the direction of humanity.

This all feeds into questions of humanity's connection to the internet and machine intelligence, the role of determinism in how humans craft their lives, and existential questions as to whether AI’s are gods and humans have the potential to become gods themselves.

Which is pretty heavy for a show that seems focused on precocious, naive kids.

But at the same time, I appreciate that while we are dealing with immature people, they’re allowed to discover themselves through situations that even adults would have a hard time wrapping their heads around.

On top of the plot and navel-gazing, I love the near-future technology.

The design of everything is very realistic and doesn’t go too far into the fantastical.

I especially enjoyed the idea of a kind of glove phone, a screen projecting from the hand and arm (by implants or some other tech, I’m not entirely sure).

There are genuine hard science fiction concepts here that make this a show for anime fans and easily accessible for anyone with an appreciation for the genre.

Probably the weakest part of the movie is the characters. While they’re all likable, none are well-developed beyond maybe Mina, a live streamer who has to have a personality just because of what she does.

I grew to like her, but the others, especially her nerdy brother, didn’t make much of an impression.

Aside from that, the animation is gorgeous, the music is good, and the American dub is great for the most part, making "The Orbital Children" a well-rounded package.

If you’re looking for a high-concept science fiction series that never lets up on the adventure and thought-provoking ideas, "The Orbital Children" is going to satisfy.

If you enjoyed films like "Gravity" or even "2001: A Space Odyssey," "The Orbital Children" will satisfy your need for a zero-G jaunt into the beauty and horror of the final frontier.

Rating: 4/4

"The Orbital Children" is streaming exclusively on Netflix

Sean Newgent tries to survive watching anime on his website
Sean's Twitter

Netflix is raising prices for its video streaming customers in the U.S. and Canada, less than a year and a half after its last price increase.

The move comes as competition from other streaming services ramps up.

The company said Friday that prices are going up depending on the plan. The "standard" plan that most people subscribe to is increasing by $1.50, to $15.50. The Canadian version is going up by the same amount in their local currency, to $16.50 Canadian dollars.

Price increases are becoming more of a regular feature at Netflix, which is facing saturation in the U.S. market. Of Netflix's 213.5 million subscribers, some 74 million are in the U.S. and Canada.

Netflix received an influx of global subscribers early in the pandemic, but is investing in video games as it looks beyond movies and TV for growth.

In the U.S., Netflix's most expensive plan is increasing and the platform's basic plan is up too. The plans vary based on options like the number of screens users can watch Netflix on at the same time and the number of phones or tablets that can download content.

The company still mails out DVDs in a service that requires a separate plan.

Netflix will tell customers by email and inside the Netflix app before the new price is applied to them. Customers in New York, Alabama and Louisiana also got hit with a new local sales tax bill, which Netflix says was because of the addition of video games to the service.

Raising prices carries the risk that people will cancel. Netflix remains the dominant U.S. streaming service, but others, such as HBO Max and Disney+, have increased in popularity.

This story was originally published by Dave Briggs of Newsy, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES —

10:00 p.m.

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” is making it a marathon. And a rout.

The VH1 show won the Emmy for top reality-competition show for the fourth straight year.

Ted Lasso has roped himself an Emmy.

Jason Sudeikis, who plays the title character in the Apple TV+ show about a happy-go-lucky American football coach hired to head a British soccer team, won the Emmy Award for best actor in a comedy series on Sunday night.

It’s the first career acting Emmy for Sudeikis, and the third Emmy of the night for “Ted Lasso.”

Jean Smart won an Emmy to mark a remarkable career renaissance.

Smart won best actress in a comedy series night for her role in HBO Max’s “Hacks.”

9:30 p.m.

“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” won the Emmy Award for best variety talk series for the sixth straight year. It was the second award the show won Sunday. It also won for best writing.

The Emmy for best supporting actor in a drama series went to Tobias Menzies for “The Crown.”

9:00 p.m.

Gillian Anderson has turned the Iron Lady into Emmy gold.

Anderson won best supporting actress in a drama series on Sunday night for playing British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the fourth season of “The Crown.”

Evan Peters won best supporting actor in a limited series or TV movie for HBO’s “Mare of Easttown” on Sunday night, and Julianne Nicholson won best supporting actress for the show.

8:40 p.m.

Feel-good comedy “Ted Lasso” started off on a high note at Sunday's Emmy Awards, with castmates Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein earning the evening’s first honors.

An ebullient Waddingham, winner of the best supporting actress award for a comedy, said series star and producer Jason Sudeikis “changed my life with this, and more importantly my baby girl’s."

Goldstein, who won the counterpart award for supporting actor, said he had promised not to swear and either mimed or was muted for a few seconds, then called the show the “privilege and pleasure” of his life.

Original story

Emmy Awards host Cedric the Entertainer and the show's producers promise it will be a celebration for all. But it could be much more rewarding, even historic, for some.

That includes Netflix's drama "The Crown" and Apple TV+ comedy "Ted Lasso." Each is considered a frontrunner Sunday for top series honors in their respective categories, and their casts received armloads of nominations.

Most of "The Crown" cast, including stars Olivia Colman, Gillian Anderson and Emma Corrin gathered in London while in Los Angeles Cynthia Erivo, Kathryn Hahn, "Pose" star Billy Porter and Aidy Bryant and Bowen Yang of "Saturday Night Live" were among those walking the red carpet for Sunday's ceremony.

Cedric the Entertainer wore a teal suit before show, but promised a lot of costume changes during the Emmys, He said he hoped people didn't look too closely at his feet.

"I haven't really done quick changes in a while. I usually take my time because, you know, it's the socks with men. The socks take a minute. So don't look down. All the socks might be the same."

More than the shows on streaming would benefit. Victories in both the best drama and comedy series categories would mark a first for streaming services and reinforce their growing dominance, to the dismay of competitors.

The top nominees include the British royal drama "The Crown" and the Star Wars-universe derived "The Mandalorian," which received a leading 24 nominations each.

On the comedy side, the feel-good comedy "Ted Lasso" is competing with "black-ish"; "Cobra Kai"; "Emily in Paris"; "Hacks"; "The Flight Attendant"; "The Kominsky Method" and "PEN15."

Other drama series contenders include past winner "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Lovecraft Country," which was canceled after a single season but yielded nods for cast members Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett, Aunjanue Ellis and the late Michael K. Williams, who died Sept. 6.

They're part of a diverse field of nominees. Of the 96 acting nods for drama, comedy and miniseries, nearly 44% — a total of 42 nominations — went to people of color. Their rise echoes the change in the U.S. population, with the number of people who identify as white shrinking for the first time in census history.