NOW SEE THIS APRIL 23, 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.
Darkling, Duck If you're like me, you confuse the title of Netflix's new YA drama Shadow and Bone with the Marion Cotillard film Rust and Bone and the Jennifer Connelly/Ben Kingsley offering House of Sand and Fog. But learning to tell the difference between various types of Grisha — magic-wielding soldiers led by a brooding general dubbed The Darkling (Ben Barnes) — in this adaptation of Leigh Bardugo's novels is even more perplexing. I found elements in showrunner Eric Heisserer's take on this mix of the supernatural, romantic and tsarist-Russian-historical to be very well handled, even if the various narrative threads don't always hold together. Heisserer discusses the adaptation process on this week's TV's Top 5 podcast. I Wonder, Wonder Why the Wonder 'Falls' Speaking of TV's Top 5, last week's podcast included our interview with Sierra Teller Ornelas, co-creator of Peacock's Rutherford Falls. The comedy's first season is now available on Peacock and THR's Inkoo Kang saw promise in the series, which makes a big leap in terms of Native American representation on the small screen. I thought a lot of the performances, especially relative newcomer Jana Schmieding and Michael Greyeyes, hilariously freed from playing "scapegoated Native" in various prestige dramas, were especially strong. New Moon on Friday Friday also marks the second season premiere of one of my favorite comedies and the second season finale of one of my recent favorite dramas. I've watched the first few episodes of HBO's A Black Lady Sketch Show and it remains sharp, silly and packed with cameos, even if I miss departing cast member Quinta Brunson. Over on Apple TV+, For All Mankind closes a season of building audience and critical buzz. Personally, I prefer Ron Moore's astronaut alt-history in slower, more methodical mode, but if you've been eagerly waiting for the show to go totally nuts on the Moon, you will love the eventful finale. Interestingly, both Moore and Black Lady creator Robin Thede have been TV's Top 5 guests! Finish That Oscars Checklist We've had weeks of precursor awards. The producers have spoken about their ambitious plans for the Oscars telecast. The great Scott Feinberg and David Rooney have weighed in on what will win and should win on Oscar night. Rooney and THR’s new arts & culture critic Lovia Gyarkye have offered their takes on the meaning of the event this year, as well as many of the films in contention. Ahead of Sunday might's big show, there's still time for one final round of last-second Academy Awards catchup on the major streaming services. Assuming you've seen frontrunners like Nomadland on Hulu and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom on Netflix (and caught The Father and Minari on VoD), maybe this is a good weekend to knock out three international nominees (Another Round, Collective and Quo Vadis, Aida?) on Hulu or three documentary shorts (Collette, Do Not Split and A Concerto Is a Conversation) on YouTube. Fatality Bites You'll have to wait until next year's Oscars to see how the Academy chooses to recognize Mortal Kombat, Warner Brothers' ambitious new attempt to top the cinematic legacy of the 1995 film directed by Paul [Not Thomas] Anderson, which half of my freshman dorm floor trotted out to see in our first week in college. This gory remake hails from Simon McQuoid and features many of your favorite video game brawlers including Sub-Zero, Sonya Blade, Scorpion and more. Part of WB's HBO Max-debuting theatrical slate, Mortal Kombat has a hard "R" rating, but according to THR's John DeFore, "the kills mostly lack the kind of shocking thrill that is offered by pulpier, more unrepentant genre pictures." Sounds like it might be hard to… FINISH IT! Some Homework If you're like me, you don't remember anything about August of 2019, much less where the third season of The Handmaid's Tale concluded way back then. The new season, the first to premiere without the looming shadow of our 45th president, hits Hulu on the 28th, but you may want to catch up. You also might enjoy a refresher on Paul Theroux's The Mosquito Coast ahead of next week's Apple TV+ launch of the new TV adaptation — my review is already up — starring Paul's nephew, Justin. This newsletter doesn't recommend books, mind you (though this is a good one). Fortunately, Peter Weir's terrific 1986 adaptation, featuring Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and great performances from a young River Phoenix and Martha Plimpton, is on Tubi for free.
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