NOW SEE THIS

MARCH 12, 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.

Talkin' Bout Max's 'Generation'

Stop me if you've heard this before, but it's the third straight weekend without a high-profile Friday series premiere on any of the major streamers. That will end next week with Disney+'s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but for now your best bet for fresh weekend series content is HBO Max's Generation, which launched its first three episodes on Thursday. I saw both structural clunkiness and ample potential — plus some great performances, especially by Justice Smith — in this teen dramedy, which is sure to attract comparisons to Euphoria and the British Skins. This week's TV's Top 5 podcast has a great interview with series creators (and father and daughter) Daniel and Zelda Barnz.

The Trouble With 'Cherry'

TV premieres are limited, but there are movies hitting various streamers with mixed reviews. THR chief film critic David Rooney was decidedly not a fan of Apple TV+'s Cherry, deeming the drugs-and-PTSD drama a "two hour-plus marriage of dirty-realist misery porn with flashy technique followed by five minutes of the most clichéd and unearned redemption." Ouch. Inkoo Kang wasn't much more enamored of Soleil Moon Frye's Hulu doc kid 90, saying it delivered neither nostalgia nor real insight. And, finally, I'll accept John DeFore's one-word bottom line of "Nope" for the Netflix family flick Yes Day, though Lacey Rose's THR cover story on star Jennifer Garner is a great read.

The Queen Interviews the Duke and Duchess

Oprah Winfrey's sit-down with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was such a hit last Sunday that CBS decided to shelve original Friday dramas to re-air the interview that Inkoo Kang deemed a "barn-burner" (which is not a reference to Archie's Chick Inn). I found the interview less shocking than sad, which isn't a criticism; the fourth season of The Crown definitely helped prepare me for stories about how the pressures of the monarchy can impact a relationship and how repulsive royal meddling in such matters can be. So watch the encore if you missed the original airing, but also make sure you're caught up on the award-winning Netflix drama.

InConvenience

One of this week's under-the-radar news stories was Canadian broadcast network CBC's abrupt cancellation of Kim's Convenience after its current fifth season. The announcement was under the radar unless you're a fan of the comedy, focusing on a Korean-Canadian family and their Toronto convenience store, in which case it was a massive shocker to lose a big-hearted favorite. If you're curious what the buzz is about, Kim's Convenience is available on Netflix, and I've been finding episodes to be an amiable and welcome diversion. Plus, it's a good chance to get to know Simu Liu before he becomes a massive Marvel superstar.

Selection Sunday Selections

The weekend's big live events are Sunday's Grammy Awards telecast on CBS, as well as the announcement of the NCAA Tournament bracket. I'm not sure I have a good solution for how to whet your appetite for the Grammys, but to get yourself in the mood for the NCAA's annual exploitation of student athletes, you can't beat Netflix's Last Chance U: Basketball, focusing on the tumultuous 2019-20 season for the East Los Angeles College Huskies. It's eight episodes of terrific unscripted TV.

This Week's THR Staff Pick

Senior digital media editor Natalie Jarvey writes, "Last summer, I inexplicably became a Formula 1 fan. I blame Netflix. At the beginning of the pandemic, I discovered the docuseries Formula 1: Drive to Survive, which had just dropped its second season. It didn’t matter that the show detailed races that had taken place months earlier or that Lewis Hamilton emerged victorious at the end of practically every episode. There was something soothing about pouring my anxiety about COVID-19 into a show about racing fast cars in exotic locations. Having now watched the entire 2021 World Championship season, I’ve been waiting for the Netflix show to return. I might already know the outcome of the races, but I’m looking forward to getting a behind-the-scenes look at how the drivers and team principals handled the unprecedented challenges of competing during the pandemic."

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MARCH 12, 2021

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