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.
Let's Go On With the 'Show'
What's old is new on TV this week. NBC already premiered its fresh incarnation of Night Court, and I'd tell you that you can watch the so-so pilot on Peacock, but the series — mostly notable for the pleasures of John Larroquette's return as Dan Fielding — had a pretty massive premiere already. Keep your nostalgia hat on and head over to Netflix for That '90s Show, a continuation of That '70s Show featuring Kurtwood Smith, Debra Jo Rupp, cameos from every castmember the show is able to acknowledge, plus a reasonably likable young cast. Our Angie Han praised the show for reproducing the charm of the original and establishing "confidence and consistency" of its own. I'm not sure I was much of a fan, but it's an OK broad sitcom. You can still just stick with the originals, of course. Night Court is on Freevee and That '70s Show is on Peacock.
For Those Who Do Not Wish To Wait for Their Lives To Be Over
Dawson's Creek premiered on The WB on Jan. 20, 1998. I'm not good at math, but that would seem to make this the 25th anniversary of the day we first met Dawson, Pacey, Joey and Jen. This feels illogical to me and would suggest that those of us who vividly remember the premiere of the Kevin Williamson soap might possibly be old. So feel young again by revisiting all the meta-humor and teenage angst on a wide assortment of streaming platforms, including Amazon and HBO Max. Plus, be sure to read Lesley Goldberg's great Williamson Q&A from the 20th anniversary. This is also the first anniversary of the series premiere of Single Drunk Female, which is worth checking out on Hulu.
The NeverEnding 'Sorry'
Were the streamers too busy looking for new feature content at Sundance to program any new movies for this weekend? There's something called Sorry About the Demon on Shudder. It appears to be a horror comedy. Tubi has a thriller called The Assistant. And… yeah. That's about it. So maybe you're better off reading THR's terrific Sundance coverage, featuring news, reviews — pictured, Little Richard: I Am Everything— and on-the-ground tidbits, and looking ahead to the future.
Lost and 'Fauda'
This one goes out to my parents! The new season of the Israeli thriller Fauda hits Netflix on Friday. I promise that someday I'll catch up on this one and Shtisel — also on Netflix. And yes, you're allowed to watch both Israeli dramas even if you aren't my parents.
Honoring Gina Lollobrigida
My sense is that many viewers know the IDEA of Gina Lollobrigida more than the actress. Yes, she was a bombshell, and yes, she was famous enough to be the source of several classic Looney Tunes punchlines, but she was also, for stretches of the 1950s and 1960s, one of the most beloved movie stars in the world. The Italian icon died this week at 95, and even though some of her biggest titles aren't available for streaming, you can still catch some highlights. Amazon has both John Huston's Beat the Devil and Carol Reed’s Trapeze. You can also find Trapeze on Tubi, which is home to King Vidor’s Solomon and Sheba and Eugenio Martin's Bad Man's River as well. I haven't seen Death Laid an Egg (or Plucked), but it's on Mubi.
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