NOW SEE THIS

DECEMBER 11, 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.

Oooh, Baby, Baby It's 'The Wilds' World

If you watched Josephine Decker's Madeline's Madeline — available OnDemand through Showtime — you probably were blown away by Helena Howard's breakthrough performance and wondered when you'd see her next. Well, a few years later Howard is part of the ensemble of Amazon's The Wilds, which I can best describe as The Society meets The I-Land. The drama about a group of teenage girls stranded on an island that isn't what it seems after a place crash that wasn't as it seemed is often overwritten, the twists excessively telegraphed and the mostly unknown young cast — Rachel Griffiths is the most recognizable star in a role I shouldn't describe — a bit hit-or-miss. But I've watched around half of it and I'll watch the rest — and not in a hate-watching way like with The I-Land. 

'Stand,' In the End, You'll Still Be You

Next week's biggest new TV release is probably CBS All Access' long-gestating miniseries adaptation of The Stand featuring an eclectic cast including Whoopi Goldberg, Amber Heard, James Marsden, Ezra Miller and Alexander Skarsgard. Reviews are embargoed so mum's the word on opinions at least for a few more days, but showrunner Benjamin Cavell guested on this week's TV's Top 5 podcast to talk about the strangeness of premiering a TV show about a horrifying respiratory plague in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. Whee!

'Axe'-cellent Adventure

Another week, another "episode" of Steve McQueen's Amazon "TV series" Small Axe. This week's installment, Alex Wheatle, focuses on the titular author's youth and its intersection with the 1981 Brixton Uprising. Like previous definitely-not-episodes, Alex Wheatle has been getting rapturous reviews. THR's David Rooney calls it an "understated celebration of resilience and hope" and a "compelling snapshot." Only one more week until what we would call a series finale if Small Axe were an anthology TV series, which it definitely isn't!

The Brand Is Strong

If you're like me — and I hope you're at least vaguely like me — you've been missing Desus & Mero since the Showtime comedy's second season wrapped in November. The hosts can be a bit sycophantic when they interview A-list actors and rappers, but they're shockingly good when they can get political figures to answer questions nobody else on TV is asking, so I'm looking forward to Sunday night's special interview with Barack Obama. The teasers have already featured the former president chiding the hosts about shoes and basketball, so this shouldn't be your standard book promo conversation.

Screen 'Wolf,' Too

Fans of Tomm Moore's The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea have been waiting for the filmmaker's next animated exploration of Irish folklore for years, and the reviews for Wolfwalkers out of the Toronto International Film Festival this fall only raised expectations. THR's Michael Rechtshaffen called the film "a visually dazzling, richly imaginative, emotionally resonant production that taps into contemporary concerns while being true to its distant origins." Voices in this 17th-century blending of Celtic and pre-Celtic imagery (premiering Friday on Apple TV+) include Sean Bean, Simon McBurney and Honor Kneafsey. Oh, and Song of the Sea is on Netflix if you haven't seen it.

A Fine 'Prom'-ance

But wait! There's more. Wolfwalkers is just part of a busy weekend of new movies on streaming services. David Rooney deemed Ryan Murphy's Netflix adaptation of The Prom to be "bedazzled to within an inch of its life" and I'll definitely let you decide if that sounds good. THR’s Sheri Linden was a bit more mixed on Amazon's I'm Your Woman, though she praised Rachel Brosnahan's internalized performance. Disney+'s Safety, a college sports tale with heart, is “blandly likable,” according to our John DeFore, while Rooney found HBO and HBO Max's The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, airing Saturday, to be "a warm blast of musical nostalgia."

This Week's THR Staff Pick

Deputy design director Kelsey Stefanson raves: "More than ever, I crave entertainment that will transport me to another time and place, and Netflix's Babylon Berlin transports like no other. Set in 1929 Berlin, the fast-paced German series follows a dashing detective as he investigates gold-stealing Russians and corrupt politicians while living it up in Roaring Twenties nightclubs. Complemented by incredible costumes and an exuberant soundtrack, Babylon Berlin sucked me in — and had the bonus of forcing me away from doomscrolling (gotta read those subtitles!)."

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DECEMBER 11, 2020

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