NOW SEE THIS OCTOBER 23, 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. Everybody's Playing the Game, But Nobody's Rules Are the Same Premiering Friday, Netflix's The Queen's Gambit, written and directed by Scott Frank, is top-notch entertainment for adults. Adapted from the Walter Tevis novel, it’s the story of a young chess prodigy (Anya Taylor-Joy) forcing her way into traditionally male spaces in the '60s. It's beautifully shot, smartly structured, requires very little actual chess knowledge and serves as a superb showcase for Taylor-Joy, who gives a standout, award-worthy performance. Paddington: Suicide Squad After menacing poor Paddington on the big screen, Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman join forces for a relatable story of being rich, white and accused of murder in pre-COVID New York City. I found it bad, but occasionally trashy fun (less fun, sadly as it goes along). THR's Inkoo Kang deemed it a lowlight for all involved. Ultimately, The Undoing isn't even HBO's best new NYC-set show premiering this weekend. Fans of Nathan Fielder's Nathan For You should definitely quick out the Fielder-produced documentary-comedy hybrid How To with John Wilson, which is often funny, occasionally poignant and really comes together in its astonishing season-ending fifth episode. We Have No Choice But to Kazakh-stan Just when that one annoying friend of yours stopped making "My wife!" jokes, Sacha Baron Cohen's America-entrapping alter ego is back for a movie most simply called Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. Like the original film (and TV character), this straight-to-Amazon sequel is sure to be a bit polarizing. On the one hand, the media is already breathless about several scenes that allegedly will expose new layers of our national ignorance. On the other hand, THR's John DeFore says that in the Trump years, Borat has become "painfully redundant." I had similar feelings about Cohen's Showtime comedy Who Is America? Living For the 'City' I tend to orient this newsletter a bit more toward weekend viewing options, but carve out time for next Thursday's five-hour presentation of City So Real, Steve James' chronicle of Chicago's 2019 mayoral election and one of the best things I saw at this winter's Sundance Film Festival. The Hoop Dreams and America to Me filmmaker offered a nuanced portrait of democracy in motion in one of America's most diverse and stratified cities — and then added an hour this spring to show how COVID-19 and George Floyd protests impacted Chicago's difficult year. It's good stuff. Masker and Commander Slowly but surely, broadcast TV is beginning to return with episodes produced under the peculiar and heightened circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Black-ish, The Connors and The Goldbergs were all back this week and Superstore and This Is Us are among many new shows slated to come back next week. Give a listen to last week's TV's Top 5 podcast for America Ferrera's stories from her last two Superstore episodes, while this week's TV's Top 5 features Dan Fogelman discussing how This Is Us will weave the challenges of coronavirus into its storylines. I Asked Him His Name and in a Raspy Voice He Said, "Yoda. B-A-B-Y Yoda" Last year, The Mandalorian didn't actually sneak up on anybody, but Disney+ was able to pull off a heck of a pilot surprise with the introduction of the adorable Glo Worm colloquially known as Baby Yoda. Season two premieres next week, and casting announcements have already revealed several characters who left devoted fans hyperventilating and casual fans head-scratching. So if you want to get pumped when Katee Sackhoff appears as Bo-Katan Kryze or Rosario Dawson shows up as Ahsoka Tano, this is the time to do some catch-up on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, available on Disney+. This Week's THR Staff Pick Deputy editorial director for digital media Tom Seeley pays tribute to one of TV's most prolific character actors. He raves, "While the hellscape of 2020 has prevented most of us from connecting with our actual friends, it has allowed plenty of time to reconnect with some faces from the past. I’ve been enjoying diving back into the Breaking Bad universe with Better Call Saul (Seasons 1-4 now on Netflix). And while Bob Odenkirk, Michael McKean and Rhea Seehorn are all great, settling back in with Giancarlo Esposito and Jonathan Banks is where the series really got going for me. And then lo and behold, who turns up in The Boys — another recent binge (Seasons 1-2 on Amazon) — but Esposito once again, playing Stan Edgar, a similarly steely, simmering yet likable villain to his Gus Fring in Better Call Saul. And if that wasn’t enough, Do the Right Thing has been making the rounds on premium cable, featuring Esposito in his breakout role of Buggin Out. Thank you, Giancarlo Esposito for making 2020 a little more bearable."
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