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☆ Emmy Nomination Snubs: John Mulaney, ‘The Curse’ and More
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-17 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Surprise: Idris ElbaThe lead acting categories were virtually surprise free, which makes sense when you consider that the comedy series and drama series categories were even more surprise free. The one really unexpected nomination was for Elba’s performance as a professional negotiator trying to get a hijacked airliner safely to the ground in the surprisingly popular Apple TV+ potboiler “Hijack.” Never bet against Stringer Bell. (Performers who were thought to have a better chance included Cosmo Jarvis for “Shogun” and Colin Farrell for “Sugar.”)Snub: Kelsey GrammerIf there were a category for Lead Actor in a Comedy Rebooted After 20 Years, Grammer would have been a shoo-in for “Frasier” on Paramount+. Snub: A few people in ‘The Bear’ and ‘Shogun’“The Bear” received the most comedy nominations ever in a single year and on the drama side, “Shogun” received the most of any series this year. As well as FX’s presumptive winners in their series categories did, however, they did not sweep the nominations to quite the extent they could have: Oliver Platt and Matty Matheson of “The Bear” did not receive bids for comedy supporting actor and Moeka Hoshi and Fumi Nikaido of “Shogun” were shut out for drama supporting actress.

Persons: Idris Elba, Stringer Bell, Cosmo Jarvis, ”, Colin Farrell, “, Kelsey Grammer, Grammer, Frasier ”, D’Pharaoh Woon, Matt Berry, Larry David, Jeremy Allen White, Steve Martin, Martin, ’, Shogun ”, Oliver Platt, Matty Matheson, Moeka Hoshi Organizations: Apple, Paramount Locations: Indigenous Oklahoma, “

☆ ‘In the Know’ Review: This American Narcissist
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Within that sphere we’re treated to a voice performance by Woods that is a small, hilarious, somewhat dismaying tour de force. Lauren doesn’t bother to keep a lid on his simmering contempt, he just recodes it as a stream of virtue-signaling cant. But on balance their subplots are just a distraction from the endless permutations of Lauren’s perpetual ego trip. (It’s less able to afford the dull stretches that start to crop up in later episodes.) But all things considered, “In the Know” is pretty funny.

Persons: Kaia Gerber, Ken Burns, Mike Tyson, Tegan, Sara —, Woods, Gabe Lewis, Lauren doesn’t, Jonathan Van Ness, Van Ness, Jennifer Lopez, “, Norah Jones, James Earl Jones, Indiana Jones, Ravi Shankar, Lauren’s, Fabian, Caitlin Reilly, who’s, Sandy, Charlie Bushnell, Barb, Smith, Cameron, Carl, Carl Tart Organizations: ” Locations: Indian, Silicon

☆ ‘The Woman in the Wall’ Review: Searching for a Daughter Taken by Nuns
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Then there’s the much more entertaining murder mystery, in which one or two people have been killed, or perhaps none. A priest once posted to Kilkinure is found dead in his Dublin home, and suspicion falls on the protesting women. At about the same time, Lorna hits her head in a pub and wakes up at home, to find a dead woman propped against the wall of her sitting room. Murtaugh, greatly abetted by Wilson, balances the heaviness of his material with a humor and a lightness of spirit that make “The Woman in the Wall” a brisk, engaging production. And the closing credits offer a bonus: a few bars of a haunting, unreleased number, “The Magdalene Song,” that Sinead O’Connor recorded shortly before her death which dovetails with Wilson’s performance.

Persons: Lorna, Wilson, Daryl McCormack, “, Leo Grande ”, Simon Delaney, Cillian Lenaghan, Murtaugh, — Murtaugh, Magdalene, ”, Sinead O’Connor Organizations: Dublin Locations: Dublin, American, England

James PoniewozikBest Shows of 2023TV in 2023 was like synchronized swimming. A number of hall-of-fame series left the air, with no clear plan of, as it were, succession. As usual, I made it a rule not to repeat shows from the previous year, and as usual, I broke that rule. Even if Peak TV is dead, Off-Peak TV should keep us plenty busy. Now “The Bear” has that pride of place (at least until “Abbott Elementary” makes it back on my list).

Persons: James Poniewozik, ’, whittle, ”, “ Abbott Organizations: Hulu

☆ Five TV Treats for Halloween
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

‘Creepshow’Now in its fourth season on the horror-centric streaming service Shudder (as well as AMC+), this anthology series wears its comic-book sensibility and B-movie aesthetic proudly. And the best of its 22-minute stories (two per episode) also exhibit the cleverness and industriousness that contribute to real pop-culture satisfaction. You’ll see the first twist coming, but the second and the third may take you by surprise. In “George Romero in 3-D,” Romero comes back to life in animated form to battle ghouls of his own creation. King and Romero were, of course, the writer and director of the 1982 film “Creepshow” from which the series was spun off.

Persons: ‘, You’ll, “, Stephen King, “ George Romero, ” Romero, King, Romero, Usher ’ Mike Flanagan’s, Edgar Allan Poe’s, Usher, ” Organizations: AMC, Netflix Locations: Red, homburg

☆ ‘The Sea Beyond’ Review: Juvenile Detention, Italian-Style
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It’s hot in there and we’re not just talking about the steam in the showers, though there’s a lot of that, too. A naval base in real life, it has a picturesque location on a pier; the show’s Italian title, “Mare Fuori,” translates more literally to “The Sea Outside,” as in the sea outside the prison windows. Italian viewers are getting ready for Season 4, whose filming was occasionally interrupted by the screams of fans clustered outside the prison gates. Based on the first season, it is easy enough to understand the impact of “The Sea Beyond” on T-shirt sales and young heart rates. Its heart is pure soap opera, and the writing and direction do not aspire to more.

Persons: “, molto bello, we’re, ”, “ Mare, James Dean Locations: Italy, Naples, Mount, America

☆ ‘Special Ops: Lioness’ Reconsidered
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Also present was the cynical frontier moralism, balanced by sentimentality, that runs through most of Sheridan’s shows (including “Yellowstone” and its Old West spinoffs). But Sheridan’s tics were easier to take in “Special Ops,” which felt more relaxed but also more tightly constructed than his previous shows (with the exception of the droll gangster drama “Tulsa King,” which is overseen by Terence Winter). Maybe it’s just practice — across his six dramas, Sheridan has written or co-written close to 80 episodes of television over the last five years. supervisor and Morgan Freeman, in a few scenes, as the querulous secretary of state. The problem with Sheridan’s other shows is that they give you too much time to think; in “Special Ops,” you could just focus on the mission.

Persons: Cruz, Joe, Terence Winter, Sheridan, Anthony Byrne, Paul Cameron, John Hillcoat, Saldaña, De Oliveira, Nicole Kidman, Joe’s, Morgan Freeman Organizations: Hamptons, Tulsa

☆ 44 Shows to Watch This Fall
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 2020, to be exact, when it was the pandemic that played havoc with fall network television schedules. But once again we are looking at lineups full of reality programs and game shows. On cable, streaming and PBS, meanwhile, with shorter seasons and more flexible scheduling, the effects are not so noticeable. Here is a roundup of strike-proof shows on fall schedules. (Apple TV+, Sept. 20)‘SEX EDUCATION’ With Moordale Secondary closed, everyone has to get used to a new school in the fourth and final season of this popular, award-winning, sex-positive soap opera.

Persons: We’ve, ’, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington Burns Organizations: Fox, CBS, CW, Netflix Locations: Canadian

☆ ‘One Piece’ Review: Netflix Tries to Translate the Anime Magic (Again)
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

With “One Piece,” Netflix repeats history, and there isn’t much evidence that it paid attention to what happened the first time around. “Cowboy Bebop” was a cult-favorite Japanese animated series that fetishized cool American jazz and film noir and Hollywood westerns, and in 2021 Netflix returned the cultural homage by making an American live-action adaptation. It wasn’t a disaster, but it quickly fell from sight. The original “Cowboy Bebop” and “One Piece” are very different creatures, but they have something important in common: They are propelled by style. Texture, composition, sound and movement engage us and trigger our emotions; the moody revenge plot of “Bebop” and the rousingly affirmative coming-of-age story of “One Piece” are just serviceable scaffoldings.

Persons: ”, Buster Keaton, Blood ” Organizations: Netflix Locations: American, Hollywood

☆ ‘Ahsoka’ Review: Rosario Dawson Finds the Force
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The first episode of “Ahsoka,” the new “Star Wars” mini-series on Disney+, is titled “Master and Apprentice,” because of course it is. Obi-Wan and Luke, Yoda and Luke, Obi-Wan and Anakin, Anakin and Ahsoka, the Mandalorian and the floating baby. “Star Wars” has one story and it’s sticking to it. “Ahsoka,” two of whose eight episodes were available for review (they premiere on Tuesday night), is particularly true to the time-tested narrative of fractious mentorship and surrogate parenthood. If found, he could be a danger to the nascent New Republic, which is in power after the events of the original “Star Wars” trilogy but not yet facing the existential threats it encounters in the most recent movies.

Persons: “, Wan, Luke, Yoda, Obi, ”, Ahsoka Tano, Rosario Dawson, Mandalorian protégé, Sabine Wren, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Baylan Skoll, Ray Stevenson, Shin Hati, they’re Organizations: Disney Locations: New Republic

☆ ‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’ Review: The Right Kind of Melodrama
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The title of the new Amazon offering “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart,” with its echo of V.C. Andrews’s Gothic novels of family calamity, is a case of truth in advertising. “Lost Flowers” is a reminder that when it is handled with skill, sophistication and a measure of restraint, melodrama can be as satisfying as any other style of storytelling. June is one pole of a story in which the keeping of shameful family secrets is the foundation of tragedy. The other pole is Alice, who is a child when we first see her (played by Alyla Browne) and knows nothing about June, her grandmother.

Persons: Alice Hart, Holly Ringland, Sigourney Weaver, Leah Purcell, Frankie Adams, Alice, Alyla Browne, Savage Locations: Thornhill, June’s

☆ ‘Futurama’ Review: Latest Go-Round Mines the Past
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-23 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

If “Futurama” were a person, you could imagine it saying “Doh” when it returns after 10 years and “The Simpsons,” the show in whose shadow it has always resided, is still around. The new season picks up in the next moment, with both fictional time and the actual show rebooted. If you haven’t watched the show before, you won’t know what you’re missing, but you probably will be aware that you’re missing something and that this is a problem. A greater concern is that a little of the zip has gone out of the writing and the overall comic conceptualism. Episodes aimed at big, easy targets like Bitcoin and Amazon feel routine, no matter how many opportunities they provide for making connections to the show’s past.

Persons: Matt Groening, David X, Cohen, Philip J, Fry, Billy West, ”, Homer Simpson, Leela, Katey, Farnsworth, Bender, John DiMaggio, it’ll, you’re Organizations: Hulu Locations: Hulu

☆ ‘Creamerie’ Review: Where the Boys Aren’t
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Contains many spoilers for Season 1 of “Creamerie.”The New Zealand post-viral-apocalypse comedy “Creamerie” likes to begin an episode right where the previous one left off. “Creamerie” is in the science fiction subgenre of world-without-men shows; others include the new Netflix anime “Ooku: The Inner Chambers” and FX on Hulu’s “Y: The Last Man” from 2021. “Creamerie” was created by the actresses who play the leads — J.J. Fong, Perlina Lau and Ally Xue — along with the writer and director Roseanne Liang. The four have been collaborators for a decade, making Web series about relatably snarky young women in urban New Zealand. Fong, Lau and Xue play Jamie (determined, sorrowful, sexy), Pip (uptight, repressed, resourceful), and Alex (rebellious, profane, loyal), the proprietors of a dairy farm in rural New Zealand.

Persons: ”, cowering, French, It’s, “, Creamerie ”, — J.J, Fong, Perlina Lau, Ally Xue —, Roseanne Liang, Lau, Xue, Jamie, Pip, Alex Organizations: Hulu, Netflix Locations: Zealand, New Zealand

☆ Little Big Men: ‘The Luckiest Guy in the World’ and ‘Goliath’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Pity the poor 7-footer. That’s the message of two new documentary series about storied basketball players: “The Luckiest Guy in the World,” about Bill Walton (available in the “30 for 30” hub at ESPN Plus), and “Goliath,” about Wilt Chamberlain (premiering Friday at Paramount+ and Sunday on Showtime). The sportswriter Jackie MacMullan delivers what could be a thesis statement for both in “Goliath”: “I’ve found that big men are much more sensitive than we realize.”Chamberlain, who died of heart failure in 1999, and Walton both have well-defined personas, which they participated in creating. It’s engagingly introspective and personal, in part because James pushes back against Walton’s incessant recitation of the title phrase. How can Walton call himself the luckiest guy in the world, James asks from behind the camera, when his career was utterly ravaged by injuries that eventually crippled him and drove him to consider suicide?

Persons: Guy, Bill Walton, “ Goliath, ”, Wilt Chamberlain, Guy ”, Goliath, ESPN's, Michael Jordan, Jackie MacMullan, “, ” Chamberlain, Walton, Chamberlain, Steve James, Lionel Hollins, Dave Twardzik, James Organizations: ESPN Plus, Paramount, Showtime, Walton, Portland Trail Blazers

☆ Emmy Snubs and Surprises: ‘Jury Duty’ In, ‘Yellowstone’ Still Out
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Mike Hale | More About Mike Hale | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

With minor exceptions, the major categories were filled in the expected ways when the 2023 Primetime Emmys nominations were announced on Wednesday. Some surprises cropped up further down the page, where the members of the Television Academy apparently started checking off every name they saw from favored shows like “Ted Lasso” and “The White Lotus.”Snub: Taylor SheridanHe may be the most successful maker of television currently working, but Sheridan gets no respect at the Emmys. But it was a mild shock to see a second Disney+ “Star Wars” show (along with “Andor”) break through in the limited-series category. Ewan McGregor, who reprised his Obi-Wan role from the prequel films, apparently draws a lot of good will. The merger of TV comedy into satirical drama is just about complete.

Persons: Ted Lasso ”, Taylor Sheridan, Sheridan, ”, Tulsa King ”, Kingstown ”, Helen Mirren, ‘ Obi, Wan, “ Andor, Ewan McGregor, Obi, “ Obi, Wan ”, “ Abbott, ” “ Barry, Maisel Organizations: Television Academy, Tulsa King, “ Tulsa King, Disney Locations: Kingstown, “ Tulsa

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