Your Pop Culture Horoscope for October

Happy autumn, pop culture fanatics! TV premieres have started arriving almost daily, and soon, the only thing dropping faster than the leaves from the trees will be the prestige pictures from the studios. We know it can be hard to make decisions during Libra season, so why not let the cosmos be your guide when it comes to choosing the entertainment to enjoy with your pumpkin-y beverage this month? We’ve gazed upon the stars to find the books, movies, shows, and music that will light your jack-o’-lantern this October, so read on for your pop culture horoscopes!

We know you identified deeply with Californication and are probably still mourning its end, Aries. So good news! Creator Tom Kapinos is back with White Famous (Oct. 15), a new comedy about an up-and-coming African-American comedian (Jay Pharoah) trying to break out in the industry and become “white famous.” Based on the true Hollywood experience of Jamie Foxx (and executive produced by that fiery Sagittarius), the show will also see the return of Meagan Good as her Californication character Kali.

It’s always a challenge finding what will resonate with you every month, Taurus -- how to pick from an untested crop of new things when what you crave is the tried-and-true? Luckily, October brings something that falls into both categories -- Tom Hanks, the most reliable guy in Hollywood, is releasing his first-ever book, Uncommon Type (Oct. 17). The beloved actor doesn’t share your sign, but he does, in a rather Taurean twist, collect typewriters; the 17 stories in this collection are linked by the presence of one in each. Hanks may be a Cancer, but you, Taurus, are just his type.

Your birthday may have been months ago, but October is really your time to shine, Gemini. There’s no other time in the year when you can be your complete and true self (or, um, selves) as wholly as you can at Halloween, and your pop culture diet for the next 31 days will be thoroughly devoted to the creepiest, campiest holiday of the year. Whether you’ll be reading and watching things to make yourself shriek with terror or with laughter, your month ahead is both trick and treat — just like you.

Who doesn’t love a good comeback? You certainly do, Cancer, and you will be moved and thrilled by Adam Sandler’s triumphant return to sensitive drama in Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (Oct. 13). Sandler stars as one of the unhappy members of the dysfunctional family at the heart of the film, which was very warmly received at Cannes and also features Dustin Hoffman as the curmudgeonly Meyerowitz patriarch, Emma Thompson as his alcoholic wife, and Ben Stiller as the favorite son.

First of all, calm down, Leo: The Platinum Life (Oct. 15) is not, in fact, the reality series about your life that you’ve always half-suspected someone was secretly filming. But hey, it’s the next best thing! It’s basically a new Real Housewives, but with a much cooler clique — the wives and girlfriends of the music industry’s power players. You’ll love it for the lifestyle as much as the backstage pass (and the inevitable drama).

Don’t despair that your birthday is over, Virgo — just because the most tasteful time of the year is behind us doesn’t mean that you can’t have nice things for the next 11 months. If you swooned over Jennifer Egan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2011 novel A Visit to the Goon Squad, you will need no convincing that her follow-up, Manhattan Beach (Oct. 3), will consume your October. And even if you were unmoved by that post-postmodern opus, then give a fellow Virgo a second chance — the superlative Egan has branched away from PowerPoint presentations and entered the more traditional territory of historical fiction.

Happy birthday, oh lovely Libra! You deserve to celebrate with some TV that’s as devastatingly elegant as you are — and to fill that Downton-sized hole in your heart. Luckily, this month is the perfect time for you to check in to The Halcyon (Oct. 2), a British period drama chronicling the exploits of London socialites at a five-star hotel in the early days of WWII. The glamour! The heartbreak! How could you possibly resist?

It’s no wonder that Halloween itself arrives in the early days of Scorpio season — costumes and candy are cute and all, but the true spirit of the holiday is much darker and more powerful than the black-and-orange explosion of consumerism you suffer through every year. Instead of spending the next month gluing sequins onto a sexy unicorn costume (ugh), you’ll be bingeing Amazon’s new horror anthology series Lore (Oct. 13), based on the podcast of the same name. The history of macabre storytelling will give you more of a high than any post-trick-or-treating sugar rush ever could.

You’ve spent your fair share of time pondering the meaning of life, Sagittarius, and this month, you’ll be all about listening to a once-and-always Idol do the same. Kelly Clarkson’s Meaning of Life (Oct. 13), which the singer told EW was the most fun she’s ever had making an album, will be the soundtrack to your October. From her independent spirit to her commitment to having a good time, Clarkson is one tough Taurus who sings directly to you.

It’s been over a year now since we said goodbye to Muhammad Ali, and now, Jonathan Eig’s hotly anticipated new biography of The Greatest, Ali: A Life, hits shelves Oct. 3. You’ll spend this month immersing yourself in the world of the champion boxer and civil rights icon, with whom you share a great determination, remarkable discipline, and, of course, your astrological sign. Yes, that’s right, Capricorn! The G.O.A.T. was a goat just like you!

The 2015 awards race is long over, Aquarius, so it’s time you finally abandoned your campaign for Sean Baker’s Tangerine to win everything — if for no other reason, then because the sweet sensitive Pisces is back with The Florida Project (Oct. 6), another feature about your favorite kind of people (that is, people who never get features made about them). The drama, which follows a little girl who lives in a candy-colored budget motel just outside Disneyworld, debuted to great acclaim at Cannes and will surely earn a rave from you too, speaking to both your playful nature and your humanitarian heart.

This October, your gentle heart will be struck to pieces by Todd Haynes’ latest, Wonderstruck (Oct. 20), an adaptation of Hugo author Brian Selznick’s YA novel of the same name. The film marks the director’s fourth collaboration with Julianne Moore, who appears in both halves of the time-hopping narrative as a key figure in the childhood quests of the movie’s pair of heroes, 50 years apart. The visuals will thrill you, the music will pierce you, and if you’ve ever gotten lost — or wished you could live — in a museum (and don’t pretend for one second that you haven’t, Pisces), Haynes’ sincere film will enchant you all the more.