NOW SEE THIS

AUGUST 07, 2020

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.

Hey, 'Pickle' You're So Brine

THR’s David Rooney calls HBO Max’s double-Seth Rogen vehicle An American Pickle an “oddball mix of goofy ’90s-style comedy with a big fat sentimental heart.” Given my enjoyment of writer Simon Rich’s short stories, plus his TV work like Man Seeking Woman and Miracle Workers, the idea of a Jewish Encino Man is more than enough motivation for me to give this Pickle a taste.

Speaking of 'Immigration' Stories…

But An American Pickle isn’t the weekend’s only immigration-based story. Netflix’s docuseries Immigration Nation is absolutely the best new thing you could binge this week. That said, this nuanced and revealing examination of flaws in our immigration system, complete with unprecedented access to ICE raid teams and detention facilities, is also six episodes — each over an hour — of outrage, sadness and infuriation. So plan accordingly.

Slow Week

I mention Immigration Nation because in terms of new and new-ish releases, it’s a rough week. CBS All Access’ animated Star Trek: Lower Decks contains a lot of Star Trek references, but very few jokes. THR TV critic Inkoo Kang wasn’t a huge fan of Showtime’s We Hunt Together. And as of the moment I’m writing this, I’m still not sure there’s enough new material in Lifetime’s Surviving Jeffrey Epstein to warrant watching this two-night doc if you already checked out Netflix’s Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich.

Support 'Stath'

If you happened to glance at the results of last week’s British Academy Television Awards, you might have noticed that something called Stath Lets Flats won the scripted comedy category, beating Catastrophe, Fleabag and Derry Girls — and you might have thought “Holy cow! Those are three of the best shows going, could it possibly be THAT good?” Well, no. Not quite. However, the Channel 4 real estate comedy, created by Jamie Demetriou and co-starring sister (and What We Do in the Shadows favorite) Natasia, is very funny in a particular cringe-y British way. And it’s all on HBO Max.

Honoring Wilford Brimley

Character actors don’t come much more versatile than Wilford Brimley and you can stream a wide array of the late mustache icon and Quaker Oats pitchman’s films. The Thing is on Starz’s OnDemand platform, The Firm is on Netflix and The Natural is on Amazon. Hulu is where you’d go to watch his turn as Postmaster General Henry Atkins on the “The Junk Mail” episode of Seinfeld. You’ll have to pay a few bucks if you want to see Cocoon or Tender Mercies and you have to know a guy who knows a guy who has a VHS dub of Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. Or you can just watch various YouTube remixes of his iconic diabetes commercials.

'Lovecraft Country' Prep

My review is already up and I’m not sure anything will prepare you for the provocative, gross, wildly fun audacity of HBO’s Lovecraft Country — but there are definitely things you can watch to get you in the mood, things I’ve certainly told you to watch before. First, if you haven’t checked out Lovecraft Country showrunner Misha Green and star Jurnee Smollett’s previous collaboration Underground, get over to Hulu. You’ll have to rent Lovecraft EP Jordan Peele’s Get Out if you haven’t already seen it, but you should definitely do that. And just as a little tease, everybody is going to be talking about the season’s fifth episode, directed by Cheryl Dunye, so head over to Amazon and watch her debut feature Watermelon Woman to be one of the cool kids.

This Week's THR Staff Pick

Senior writer Seth Abramovitch recommends Selling Sunset and writes, “Even if you aren’t a fan of the Adam DiVello (creator of MTV’s Laguna Beach and The Hills) universe, his latest reality-soap concoction — season 3 drops on Netflix this Friday — is hard to resist. Set at the Oppenheim Group, a Sunset Strip real estate brokerage run by a pair of womanizing twin brothers, it’s high-end real estate porn meets Dynasty, as a cast of gossiping, conniving and bickering realtors (all gorgeous women) stop at nothing to close those eight-figure sales. Breakout villain: the strangely robotic Davina Potratz.”

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AUGUST 07, 2020

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