The sordid story of the faked 2016 disappearance of Redding housewife Sherri Papini, and her subsequent guilty plea in federal court to charges of lying to law enforcement and mail fraud, is now getting the documentary treatment on Hulu.

Papini, who you may recall disappeared while out jogging in November 2016 and then mysteriously returned to Redding, bruised, branded, and wearing a chain around her waist several weeks later, has had her story compared to Gone Girl. And since it took place just over 18 months after the disappearance of Denise Huskins from Vallejo, there were comparisons made there, too — only in the case of Huskins, she actually was abducted and sexually assaulted, while Papini just staged her kidnapping for attention, or something.

Huskins's painful story was recounted in the Netflix docu-series American Nightmare earlier this year, and now Papini's will get the Hulu treatment in The Perfect Wife, a docu-series that will drop later this week.

The series had a special screening Monday in New York, and Papini's soon-to-be ex-husband Keith Papini is an active participant in it.

Papini spoke with SFist alum Eve Batey for a piece in Vanity Fair this week, in which he says that he has had no contact with his ex, outside of court dates, since he filed for divorce from her in 2022. That divorce filing came after the obviously horrifying revelation that Papini had been lying to him and to law enforcement for years about the kidnapping.

Papini said that her abductors were two Hispanic women who decided to release her after an argument they had in Spanish, when in fact, as federal investigators would discover, Papini had spent her entire time away at the home of an ex-boyfriend in Southern California.

She had even had that ex-boyfriend help her to injure and brand herself in order to corroborate her abduction story, something that she ultimately admitted in federal court when she pled guilty in 2022.

The FBI publicly released Papini's interrogation video in 2022, in which Keith Papini was present, showing her bizarre, squirming reaction when she was presented with the incontrovertible evidence of her lies.

What's worse, is that Papini continued manipulating her husband after she returned home — he says that after she returned, she told him, "I have to live with the fact that you never found me." — and she is apparently still telling lies to her family, and she's still living in Redding after her release from prison last year, as Keith tells Vanity Fair.

"Based on what we've heard from people that are closer to Sherri, it seems like she's sort of sticking to her story, that she was abducted," Keith Papini says to Vanity Fair.

Keith also says that he agreed to participate in the documentary series because he's grateful to people for their support, and he wants to give thanks — and he wants to make sure his ex can't continue spinning her lies.

The Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini debuts Thursday, June 20, on Hulu.

See the trailer below.

Previously: NorCal's 'Gone Girl' Who Faked Her Own Kidnapping Let Out of Prison After Less Than a Year

Premiering May 31 on Hulu will be Drag Me to Dinner, a new, tongue-in-cheek cooking competition show in which drag queen friends compete against each other hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and husband David Burtka, along with Bianca Del Rio.

You can almost hear Harris and Burtka, perhaps with gay friends over watch Drag Race some night over cocktails, brainstorming this idea in real time. What if we paired up a bunch of drag queens who are pals or sisters in real life and gave them silly cooking challenges, and then let the ad-libbing and spontaneous shade begin? What do they win? Oh just a golden grater, of course! And some added publicity.

The late, great Heklina just got a special mention from Entertainment Weekly — given that this will be a final appearance, of sorts that was shot some months ago — for the episode she has with longtime friend Peaches Christ. And is this a first-time mention for Heklina in that publication, and it had to be posthumous?

"I only wish she could be here to see the finished episode," Peaches says on Facebook today. "We had a blast filming this TV show last year and sadly, this episode will mark our last appearance together as a duo."

Unlike that atrocity from New York Magazine in 2019 that ignored all the established queens from big cities who had never appeared on Rupaul's Drag Race, the casting for Drag Me to Dinner did a little better. While still very Drag Race-heavy, at least it includes some of the old guard like Heklina, Peaches, Jackie Beat, and Sherry Vine, and a few outside the Rupaul orbit like Jasmine Rice LaBeija and Biqtch Puddin'.

The show's "competitions," whatever they will be, are to be judged by head judges Harris, Del Rio, and Haneefah Wood, with famed New York City drag king Murray Hill hosting, and Burtka serving as "resident food expert." I guess that means he'll be in the Tim Gunn role here, before they let Tim judge?

The object of each episode is for the queens to throw "the best dinner party," and the show  has been described by Hulu as a "riotous, format-busting, fourth-wall-breaking, unapologetic sendup" of traditional competition shows.

The queens will be judged in three categories: Food & Drink, Design & Decor, and Entertainment & Overall Vibe, and the winner on each episode takes home the Glorious Golden Grater.

The rest of contestants include Alaska, Alexis Mateo, Bebe Zahara Benet, BenDeLaCreme, Chelsea Piers, Darienne Lake, Detox, Gigi Goode, Ginger Minj, Heidi N Closet, Jaida Essence Hall, Jinkx Monsoon, Kiki Ball-Change, Kim Chi, Latrice Royale, Manila Luzon, Marti Gould Cummings, Mayhem Miller, Meatball, Merrie Cherry, Morgan McMichaels, Mrs. Kasha Davis, Naomi Smalls, Nina West, Peachez Iman Cummings, Pixie Aventura, Raja, Rhea Litré, Selma Nilla, Symone, Thorgy Thor, Trinity the Tuck, Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, and Willam. See the full array of cast photos at Entertainment Weekly.

The episodes drop on Hulu on May 31, a week and a day after we'll be mourning/celebrating Heklina in the Castro.

Previously: SF Queens On How 'Rupaul's Drag Race' Has Hurt (and Helped) The Larger World of Drag

In what can only be read as a direct challenge to fellow video streaming company Netflix, Amazon has announced a new monthly subscription service called Prime Video. The service, which unbundles the video streaming element of Amazon Prime, will cost $8.99 per month. This, of course, will be less expensive than Netflix's across the board $9.99 rate (coming after a May price hike), and will allow subscribers to watch Amazon content without first needing to commit to a $99 yearly payment for Amazon Prime.

The Chronicle reached out to both Amazon and Netflix for comment, however were unable to get a response from either company. Regardless, the move makes sense for Amazon — they have been increasing their original programming over the past several years, and it appears they determined that customers see it as a viable standalone product.

CNet suggests that this is likely only the first unbundling from the company, and that we may soon see Amazon go after music streaming giant Spotify with a standalone Amazon Music.

Amazon Prime is still available for the yearly $99 fee. If you want to try Prime, but are hesitant to plop down a crisp C-note, you can now sign up for a monthly Amazon Prime subscription — although at $10.99 per month you will be paying a premium.

Related: Report: San Francisco Ranks Last On List Of TV-Watching Cities

The following post is from our advertiser, Hulu.

Check out Up to Speed, A Hulu Original Series, from director Richard Linklater. Best known for his movies “Waking Life,” “Dazed and Confused,” and Oscar-nominated “Before Sunset,” Linklater teams up with Timothy “Speed” Levitch, a quirky tour guide, to create a new kind of historical travel show.

Each week, Speed visits the monumentally ignored monuments of America's cities, including San Francisco, Chicago, Virginia and New York. From the shoe gardens of San Francisco to the luckiest subway grate in New York City to Monticello in Virginia, Speed shows you what it means to truly travel, finding beauty in the unexpected.

Watch the New York episode of Up to Speed, A Hulu Original Series, right here, only on Hulu.

Have you stopped to appreciate the wonder in marvelous things right under your nose? The historical travel show, Up To Speed, a Hulu Original Series hosted by tour guide extraordinaire Timothy "Speed" Levitch and directed by Richard Linklater, will take you on an eye-opening journey. One of Speed's many entertaining stops is here in the Bay Area—watch the whole episode on Hulu.

Sure, San Francisco has plenty of great, well-known destinations to scope out, like the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. But as Speed shows us, there are places worth checking out just off the beaten path, such as the Defenestration Building and the Japanese Tea Gardens. Or check out one of our favorites, the birthplaces of Gonzo journalism.

Hunter S. Thompson, the godfather of Gonzo, lived at 318 Parnassus Avenue while writing his landmark debut 1967 book, Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gang. While the term “Gonzo journalism” wouldn't be coined until 1970, Hell's Angels was the one that put Thompson in front of a wide audience. He followed the gang for a year and, legend has it, the Parnassus house was the site of many wild parties with the Angels—evidence of which is still apparently visible in the form of bullet holes.

As you well know, no one should trust anything on the internet today, April Fool's Day. What's more, most jokes fall flat. However, Hulu's 4/1 gag wins for sheer '90s adorability. Behold. We especially enjoy the hat tips to Chicago Hope, Dave Matthew Band, and Netscape.

Well played, Hulu. Everyone else, please stop.

We've heard is all the rage for those of you into relentless comedy (e.g., Arrested Development, Seinfeld, etc.), so this news might sadden you a bit. That is, if you don't already know. See, on Friday, Hulu pulled all but 5 episodes of the popular F/X show. Today, Hulu's chief executive apologized on his blog for the yanking the episodes without warning. Rights issues, it seems, are to be blamed. But "[a] new episode will be added and an old one removed each Monday," so, you know, at least there's that. But it's back to BitTorrent for fans who need their Philadelphia fix right-quick. Conversely, you could always try Alluc.org, but that site has the potential to blow your entire bedroom to smithereens, so proceed with caution.