| | | | Welcome to Now See This, THR chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg’s weekly viewer guide newsletter dedicated to cutting through the daunting clutter of the broadcast, cable and streaming TV landscape! Comments and suggestions welcome at daniel.fienberg@thr.com. |
Horgan's Heroes Why, on one of the most crowded premiere weeks of the year, did Apple TV+ decide to launch second seasons of both Silo AND Bad Sisters? Dunno. Choices had to be made. I watched one episode of Silo — Rebecca Ferguson IS Lara Croft — and then all eight of Bad Sisters. Sharon Horgan’s dark comedy starts off with a hefty dose of Big Little Lies Syndrome — unnecessary sequel requiring needless escalating drama, plus Fiona Shaw basically playing the Meryl Streep part — but as it progresses, the strength of the ridiculously great cast and the audacious bleakness of its humor carry the day. Horgan, whose Eva makes some bad choices, Eve Hewson, whose Becka makes some tough choices, and Eva Birthistle, whose Ursula melts down in some very funny ways, are the standouts, though I also like Saise Quinn, in large part because I enjoy saying the name "Blánaid.” The biggest new non-Shaw addition is Thaddea Graham as an inexperienced detective investigating the Garvey Sisters. While it took me a while to warm to the inconsistently written character, by the end I thought she fit in well. Damn good show. No need for a season three, though. |
Belfast and the Furious Speaking of Irish sisters doing bad things — I'm gunning for a Pulitzer Prize for segues here — the week's best new show is probably Say Nothing. Kinda. Hulu's FX-produced adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe's 2018 bestseller tries to tell at least three tales at once in its chronicle of life in Belfast during the Troubles. There's the rather excellent story of sisters Dolours (Lola Petticrew) and Marian (Hazel Doupe) Price as they become pivotal figures in the IRA, a Goodfellas -esque arc that's ultimately harrowing and yet contains more laughs than you might expect. There's the powerful but thinly told story of Jean McConville (Judith Roddy), mother of 10 and one of the Disappeared. And there's the rather Wikipedia-esque story of Gerry Adams (Josh Finan) and Brendan Hughes (Anthony Boyle) and the compromised idealism of the IRA. I wish these threads came together more successfully, but there are very good parts throughout, and the middle of the season is excellent. |
| | | My 'Brilliant' Career Say Nothing may briefly take the unofficial crown as TV's Best Currently Airing Show with the conclusion of My Brilliant Friend this week. (Actually, it's probably Somebody Somewhere ’s turn.) The finale of HBO's four-season adaptation of the Elena Ferrante novels stuck the landing on every emotional level. Featuring betrayal, heartbreak and creepy callback dolls, “The Restitution” looped back to the opening scene of the pilot in a way that honored and explained the toxic/nurturing/beautiful/ugly Lenù-Lila friendship at the narrative's heart. It also somehow made the top-notch opening credits into a gorgeous summation of the entire series, which I suppose they always were. At least for a little while, every other show on television is going to seem a little slight in comparison. |
‘Jackal’ Me, Maybe I wasn't kidding about how packed this week is. None of it is GREAT, but there's something for nearly everybody. Peacock's The Day of the Jackal is wildly padded at 10 hours, but Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch are solid leads. And especially in the first two and last two episodes, there are thrills to this game of cat-and-mouse. Amazon's Cross may help Aldis Hodge become the star he has deserved to be for a decade, even if the material around him is run-of-the-mill serial killer stuff. Premiering Sunday, Paramount+'s Landman has everything you expect from a Taylor Sheridan release, though whether that's a positive or negative may be subjective. And just as The Penguin played as a stealth Sopranos reboot, Dune: Prophecy , which hits HBO Sunday, is a meditation on sisterhood, worms and spice that has a lot of House of the Dragon in its DNA. |
'Pérez'-ervation Dogs So far, there's no truth to the rumor (I started) that the winner of Friday night's Netflix showdown between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson will be appointed as Donald Trump's new Secretary of Education. That fight could take the space of a normal Friday streaming movie, since otherwise your options are a little light and a little Christmas-y. Netflix has the erotic snowman rom-com Hot Frosty, while Hulu has the less erotic animated The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland. Full disclosure: I haven't watched either, so I'm guessing on their respective levels of eroticism. Perhaps the services were anticipating that the weekend's major cinematic draw would be Netflix’s Emilia Pérez, the Jury Prize and collective Best Actress winner at May's Cannes Film Festival. Our David Rooney called the Jacques Audiard-directed Spanish-language musical hybrid "bracingly original," "ballsy" and "fresh, full of vitality and affecting." |
Honoring Tony Todd Known for his deep voice, looming 6'5" frame and commitment to genre franchises, Tony Todd died last week at the age of 69. It's the stupid nature of our streaming landscape that although its two sequels are on Max and the 2021 remake is on Amazon (Todd appeared in all three), 1992's iconic Candyman isn't streaming anywhere. Also absent are the Final Destination films. While you can find lots of Todd's indelible voice work, and while The Rock is on FX's OnDemand, a slew of other Todd movie favorites are unavailable. His TV work is better represented, thanks to his recurring role as Kurn on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, which are both on Paramount+. |
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