NOW SEE THIS

APRIL 02, 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.

Just an Old-Fashioned Love 'Kong'

Early box office returns for Godzilla vs. Kong suggest that the theatrical movie-going experience is back, baby! But if you're unvaccinated, still cautious about crowded public venues or just thrifty, Godzilla vs. Kong is also on HBO Max and THR chief film critic David Rooney says the film "delivers plenty of visceral excitement." Technically, this mega-sequel continues a story you've probably forgotten from Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, but I'm viewing it as the latest entry in Nacho Vigalondo's Colossal-verse. Colossal is available on Hulu, but short version: It's all an allegory about alcoholism and I hope the monkey and lizard both get the help they clearly need.

Wanna Put My Tender Heart in a Blender

Are you a big fan of linear storytelling, of films and TV shows that start at the beginning and end at the ending? Maybe you want to skip new TV this weekend or run the risk of getting dropped into the middle of a story you might not care about anyway. HBO Max's Made for Love at least has spectacular leading lady Cristin Milioti to ground its story of a near-future in which romance is about to get a scary new enhancement. Much more egregious is Netflix's The Serpent, telling the story of '70s serial killer Charles Sobhraj in the most convoluted way possible, and squandering nearly every ounce of a terrifying tale that's relayed better via Wikipedia.

I Love You a Bushel and Raoul Peck

David Rooney called Netflix's Idris Elba-centered urban western Concrete Cowboy a "moving, well-acted drama,” while THR's Robyn Bahr writes that the FX female-comic documentary Hysterical is well-meaning, if insufficiently nuanced. Inkoo Kang offers a much more positive take on Raoul Peck's Exterminate All the Brutes, calling the HBO docuseries hybrid about colonialism and genocide "daring, imaginative and defiantly challenging." That premieres next Wednesday, so perhaps a catch-up on Peck’s Lumumba (Amazon), Sometimes in April (HBO Max) and I Am Not Your Negro (Hulu, Amazon) would be in order.

Burns, Hollywood, Burns

Only some of PBS Patron Saint Ken Burns' epic documentaries are available on the standard PBS app, but between the PBS app, the Passport app (available through your local library) and Amazon's PBS add-on, you can get nearly everything as you prepare for Monday's premiere of Burns and Lynn Novick's six-hour Hemingway. For more of Burns and Novick discussing their relationship with PBS and their approach to America's most bearded, boozing acclaimed novelist, check out this week's TV's Top 5 podcast.

Honoring Larry McMurtry and Beverly Cleary

The literary world lost a pair of titans last week. Beverly Cleary shaped children's literature for decades and died at a robust 104. The 2010 adaptation of Ramona and Beezus is streaming currently on Hulu, though the Canadian TV series featuring Sarah Polley is not. It's much easier to stream Larry McMurtry adaptations, especially if you have Starz, which serves as the OnDemand home for Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment and the TV movie adaptation of Streets of Laredo. The acclaimed author, who died at 84, wrote the source material that was the basis for the Paul Newman classic Hud, available to stream on Amazon, which also has the Emmy-winning adaptation of The Murder of Mary Phagan. 

This Week's THR Staff Pick

Newsletter editor Alex Weprin recommends joining a beloved character actor on a European vacation. He raves, "I've really been enjoying CNN's Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. It's the right type of escapism and has me dreaming of taking a trip to Tuscany when all... this...is over. CNN hasn't made a big deal out of this, but it is also the first travel-food show the channel has aired since Anthony Bourdain passed away in 2018. 'I am not nearly as adventurous as Tony was, not nearly. Or as brave,' Tucci told me ahead of the show's premiere. 'But what he did is open the doors to all of us who were interested in food, and travel, to explore in our own ways.' Indeed, the show is distinctly Tucci, in a great way."

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APRIL 02, 2021

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