📺 He’s a full-on tuna melt
Welcome to Thursday. We’re nearing the end of the week and also the month. With July on the horizon comes the promise of a few new shows and returning seasons (Only Murders in the Building, looking at you). Hope you all had a lovely solstice and spent the longest day of the year doing something out in the sun, but if you spent it in front of your TV…who are we to judge?
In today’s edition:
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Becoming Elizabeth
Welcome to Flatch
Love Island
— Jenni Cullen and Jess Spoll
First time reading? Subscribe to receive Double Take weekly.
Like being up to date on the latest TV? Share with a friend.
Where we each choose a recent-ish show to review and feature.
If you’re looking for the equivalent of a “beach read”, try… The Summer I Turned Pretty
Keywords: teen drama, rom-com, coming of age
Watch if you like: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Looking for Alaska, Never Have I Ever
Jess’s Rating: A-
Jenni’s Rating: B+
I know, I know, ANOTHER teen drama. I’m sorry. I guess there’s just something about the escapism. However, I truly wasn’t planning to watch this show; I wrote it off thinking it would be emotionally threadbare and full of cheesy dialogue and problematic sexism. I gave it a chance after seeing surprisingly good reviews, and I’m happy to report that I was wrong about my initial judgment.
The teen dramas that premiered in my own teen years were full of unrealistically good-looking actors in their 20s (playing 16 year olds) who portrayed overly mature characters that behaved nothing like any high schooler I’d ever met. (I’m looking at you, Gossip Girl). Maybe that’s why I like The Summer I Turned Pretty so much. Although the writing occasionally sounds like the writers googled “teen slang”, there is authenticity in the portrayal of these teens, including a healthy amount of awkwardness. I was also surprised by the emotional depth of the series, especially in the story arcs of the mom characters, who (also surprisingly!) weren’t relegated to one line per episode like you might expect from a teen series.
Honestly, this show won’t be for everyone. My boyfriend, Matt, gave it about ten minutes before proclaiming that it’s “not the show for him.” It’s a little fluffy; it’s definitely not trying to be edgy or groundbreaking. But it’s cute and it’s honest and it’s got a killer playlist (that is if you, like me, love Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo unabashedly).
Length: ~45-min runtime, 1 season / 7 episodes
Watch on: Amazon Prime
If you’d watch a Game of Thrones written by Sofia Coppola, try… Becoming Elizabeth
Keywords: Tudor England, historical drama, gritty
Watch if you like: Tudors, Succession, The Virgin Queen
Jenni’s Rating: B-
The series begins with the death of King Henry VIII and immediately sucks you into the power vacuum left in his wake. Tensions are high as the English court strains to predict (and influence) which half-sibling heir — Mary (15) , Elizabeth (14), or James (9) — will take the throne when the dust settles. Even though we know whose regime Becoming Elizabeth is building toward, witnessing the tangled web of royals and courtiers jockeying for power and control is extremely gripping. Like Succession set in 1547, Becoming Elizabeth is essentially a character-driven drama about control over the family business.
I will warn you, the first episode is a liiiiittle dense. There’s a lot of backstory and setup needed to pave the way for all the political chess, forged and broken alliances, and romantic schemes to come, but episode 2 does a better job of keeping the plot moving. The acting is top-notch and the vibe is decidedly less stuffy than a lot of period dramas — I’m really excited to keep watching.
Length: 60-min runtime, 2 episodes out with new ones every Sunday
Watch on: Starz
We reviewed a show in its early days on air. Now that a full season is out, would we still recommend it?
Welcome to Flatch - Season 1
Keywords: comedy, mockumentary, small town
Watch if you like: The Office, Schitt’s Creek, Letterkenny
Jess’s Rating: B
As a refresher, Welcome to Flatch is a mockumentary-style series based on a British comedy (This Country). The show centers around Kelly and Shrub, two best friends who live in the tiny rural town of Flatch, Ohio. They, along with an oddball group of citizens, get up to some provincial hijinks.
After watching the first half of Flatch back in March, I thought the show had a lot of potential, even if it didn’t blow me away. Some of the jokes were hitting, but the characters felt like caricatures and I couldn’t imagine how they’d stretch out the premise over multiple seasons. After watching the rest of the available episodes, I feel more confident that there is a future for this show, and I guess the network agreed, because it’s been picked up for a second season. The characters still need to be developed further, so they aren’t so one-note, but that’s a classic problem for an early sitcom.
I’m keeping my original rating (B) because I think I may have been initially too generous for how skeptical I still was at the halfway point of the season. (I am an overly optimistic rater, if you haven’t noticed yet). But I would certainly recommend this series to sitcom lovers — it provided a lot of laughs, and I think it’ll keep getting better.
— Jess
Length: 1 season / 14 episodes
Watch on: Hulu
Where we give our takes on reality TV and give these unscripted shows a time to shine.
Love Island
Keywords: reality, dating, game show
Watch if you like: Bachelor in Paradise, Too Hot to Handle, Your Perfect Match
Jenni’s Rating: C
I don’t watch a ton of dating reality TV and I’ve never seen a full episode of The Bachelor, but I will argue with anyone for hours that this trashy dating show is far superior. I mean, it’s also awful in the way any reality TV show is awful, with manufactured conflict and an often dizzying lack of diversity, but the setup is soo much better, as is the prize.
A group of about 15 men and women begin at the Love Island villa in Mallorca and immediately must couple up with another “Love Islander.” The eventual goal is to make a “genuine connection” with one of the other Islanders. Couples shift throughout the series as new contestants arrive and others are voted off. When there are uneven pairings, any single Islander is vulnerable to be voted off, and during the frequent games and challenges, the contestants have the chance to win perks and prizes. In the final week, the audience votes on the couple they’d like to win 50,000 pounds. (So much better than a forced proposal!!) Idk, it’s just very addictive and mindless and the slang that comes out of it is so good — I’ll have to put my extended thoughts and analyses about this show in some other format someday.
The newest season for the UK version of the show (the OG and my personal favorite) just began, and you can catch the first two episodes on Hulu. One warning: the seasons are long. And there are hundreds of other episodes from other countries’ spinoff versions, so the binge-watching potential is a little too endless. Maybe save Love Island for the rainy days this Summer so you don’t get rickets from months on end watching people flirt and scheme by a pool.
— Jenni
Watch on: Hulu
Your shows, returned:
The Chi, Season 5: Premieres June 24 on Showtime
Westworld, Season 4: Premieres June 26 on HBO
Only Murders in the Building, Season 2: Premieres June 28 on Hulu
Upcoming new releases:
The Bear: Released June 23 on Hulu
The Gordita Chronicles: Premieres June 23 on HBO Max
The One That Got Away: Premieres June 24 on Amazon Prime
Chloe: Premieres June 24 on Amazon Prime
Loot: Premieres June 24 on Apple TV+