| | | | 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. |
Pride of Lyonne In terms of visibility for travelogues featuring quippy redheads, this is a landmark weekend. Was I a bit disappointed in the second season of Peacock's Rian Johnson-created Poker Face? Yes, but mostly because I want the show to be great and the 10 episodes I've seen are mostly merely good. Still, it's always a pleasure to watch Natasha Lyonne growling, vaping and calling "bullshit" on various murderous liars. I enjoyed the five versions of Cynthia Erivo in the premiere, as well as the Everybody's Live with John Mulaney casting in the third chapter, even if I didn't like the twist at the end. If you're feeling tepid after the start of the season, at least stick it out until the sixth episode, which was my favorite of this run. But if you'd prefer less death and more hilarious cultural misunderstandings around your ginger stars, might I recommend … |
Conan the Explorer The second season of Max's Conan O'Brien Must Go is only three episodes and the locations — Spain, New Zealand and Austria — feel a little safe. But man, this is a show that has confidently settled into its comic rhythms after only seven hours in total. The new batch is filled with the usual Conan O'Brien pleasures: He sings (a TON in the Austria installment), he pulls silly stunts, he ruthlessly mocks Jordan Schlansky and he empathetically chides a variety of call-in guests from his Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan podcast. In addition, the season features great co-stars, especially a ridiculously game Javier Bardem, whose extended participation in the Spain episode makes a great case for Bardem's humor as an underutilized national resource. Can't get enough Conan? Be sure to watch Netflix's Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, a 90-minute tribute packed with hilarious and touching salutes to the late-night icon. At the very least, watch for John Mulaney's show opener and O'Brien's own speech, a loving salute to Mark Twain and a pointed repudiation (one of several) of the current administration's threat to the Kennedy Center and to the arts. |
| | | Free to Be … You and Calamari Halfway between the hypothetical silliness of Cunk on Calamari and the hypothetical substance of David Attenborough's Wacky WallWalkers, Amazon's Octopus! mostly continues our recent cultural obsession with cephalopods. A somewhat formless two-parter that feels like a pilot for an actual series combining narrator Phoebe Waller-Bridge's affectionate snark with actual wildlife photography and commentary, it is, if nothing else, an amusing response to embarrassing Oscar winner My Octopus Teacher . The second episode in particular deals with the dangers and possible advantages to anthropomorphizing these undeniably intriguing creatures, while doing more than a little anthropomorphizing of its own, in the form of a stop-motion animation octopus named Doris. I wish Octopus! had more depth and a clearer intellectual arc, but I laughed a few times and I enjoyed the idea of a series that treats octopus super-fan Tracy Morgan as an autodidactic expert. |
The Name Game Mara Brock Akil's adaptation of Judy Blume's YA classic Forever — with a frequently risqué emphasis on the "adult" part — is a great Los Angeles show, with a strong young cast and an exhausting number of teenage romantic misunderstandings, as noted in Angie Han's mostly positive review. It isn't to be confused with Amazon's Maya Rudolph/Fred Armisen afterlife rom-com, Forever, nor the short-lived Ioan Gruffudd immortality procedural, Forever. This week also saw a Peacock pickup for the Amy Poehler/Mike Schur comedy Dig, which at least three or four people will now get mixed up with USA's short-lived Jason Isaacs Holy Land thriller Dig, the 2021 Ralph Fiennes drama The Dig (streaming on Netflix), some 2022 Thomas Jane thriller called Dig (streaming on Hulu) and/or Ondi Timoner's excellent Portland indie doc documentary Dig! (only available for rental). All I'm saying is that there are lots of available names out there. Try to vary them. |
Nice Did Netflix schedule the premiere of Stephen Chbosky's big-hearted — or so our Sheri Linden says — culinary comedy Nonnas because it's Mother's Day weekend and grandmothers are mothers too? Or as a specific, but misspelled, Mother's Day gift for my own mother, Nona? I choose to believe the latter, even if I haven't seen it. Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Also new to streaming this weekend is Jillian Bell's suggestively titled comedy Summer of 69, which is on Hulu. According to our Lovia Gyarkye, it’s "competent," and some weekends that's all you want. |
Honoring James Foley James Foley, who died this week at 71, had some duds on his resume, but when he was on, he was a tremendous genre director, delivering thrills and suspense and getting exceptional performances out of his actors. At Close Range (Tubi and Pluto) and Glengarry Glen Ross (Amazon) are his obvious standouts, but After Dark, My Sweet and Fear (neither streaming) are pulpy delights. A prolific music video director who regularly collaborated with Madonna, Foley's prestige television credits included episodes of Twin Peaks, House of Cards, Hannibal and Billions. |
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