NOW SEE THIS

MARCH 05, 2021

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.

Every Time That Flag's Unfurled

They're Coming to America … again! Sure, we're all just killing time until Norb2it in 2040, but Eddie Murphy in all of his latex-encased glory is back in the appropriately titled Coming 2 America, an Amazon feature that either answers or raises the question, "Wait, the director of Black Snake Moan is doing WHAT?" THR’s Frank Scheck says the long-gestating sequel gets most of its amusement from celebrity cameos, and that the film suggests there are limits to nostalgia.

There Are No Limits to Nostalgia

Feel like experiencing a time loop, but don't want to support Mel Gibson in a movie THR's John DeFore deems "passably satisfying"? Hulu is counterprogramming its own Boss Level premiere by declaring it "'90s Week," which I'm pretty sure it always is on the Internet. In this case, it means that Hulu is finally getting streaming rights to Blossom (March 8), Felicity (March 9) and My So-Called Life (March 11). Before that Felicity drop, it never hurts to satisfy your Keri Russell craving with The Americans on Hulu. And before that My So-Called Life debut, check out the back-and-forth Inkoo Kang and I did last Spring about how much of the show still holds up decades later.

'Heaven's' a Place on Earth

For all the tens of millions spent on Super Bowl commercials, the arrival of Paramount+ happened in the dead of night, and for CBS All Access subscribers, it mostly involved a new homepage icon. There's a ton of content there to surf around, but one of the few new shows is For Heaven's Sake, an odd semi-comic true crime docuseries about a pair of amateur gumshoes (and comedians) trying to solve a cold case mystery. It has a bumpy start, but if you make it to the fourth or fifth episode, the series finds a surprisingly poignant, occasionally funny rhythm of its own.

Heaven Is a Place on 'Earp'

Look, if you're a fan of Syfy's supernatural, darkly comic Western Wynonna Earp, you definitely do not need me to tell you that Friday marks the beginning of what is, as of now, its final six episodes. You may, however, need me to tell you that series creator Emily Andras has a terrific interview on this week's TV's Top 5 in which she offers hope that some streaming network or another might eventually rescue the cult favorite.

Binge 'n' Stream High School

Next week's TV's Top 5 will feature Zelda and Daniel Barnz, creators of HBO Max's uncomfortable teen dramedy Generation. Now's the time, then, to catch up on other great authentic looks at high-school life so that you can make the proper comparisons. Euphoria will be everybody's immediate touchstone, and that's on HBO Max. Hulu, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, has both the NBC classic Freaks and Geeks and the original UK Skins (which I think is actually the best point of reference), plus Friday Night Lights, which is always relevant. And if that's not enough, Amazon has 14 seasons of Degrassi: The Next Generation.

Take a 'Chance' on 'U'

Oddly, it's a second straight week without a marquee weekend streaming premiere (though Murder Among the Mormons, which premiered on Wednesday on Netflix, is an OK time-filler), which means that you can spend the weekend getting ready for next week's biggest (if you're a sports fan) premiere: Last Chance U: Basketball. Over five seasons, most recently focusing on the football team at Laney College in Oakland, Greg Whiteley's franchise has become the most imitated brand in sports TV, blending exciting underdog football action with personal stories, all held together by screaming authority figures. Sure, you might be able to follow the new season, which leaves football behind for hoops, without having seen what came before. But would you want to?

This Week's THR Staff Pick

Staff writer Rick Porter raves, "I could go on for hours about how amazing it is to watch The Muppet Show on Disney+ with my kids, about how they cackled at the Muppet crocodiles harmonizing to "Crocodile Rock" in the season two Elton John episode or cracked up at Piggy's ever louder "Parsley, sage, rosemary and THYYYYMME!" when Paul Simon hosted. We've yet to encounter a content warning episode, but when we do, we'll talk about whatever jokes didn't age well and laugh really hard at all the ones that did."

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MARCH 05, 2021

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